December summary, live and online

Live tournaments

Ok, between November 28 and December 17 I didn't play any tournament online, I spent most of that time in Vegas concentrated in the Bellagio 5 diamond tournaments. I played the following tournaments in Vegas:

Wed-Nov-30 NLH $2000+80
Thu-Dec-1 NLH $2500+100
Sat-Dec-3 NLH $5000+150
Sun-Dec-4 NLH $1500+70
Tue-Dec-6 NLH $2500+100
Wed-Dec-7 NLH $3000+100

So, I spent $17,100 for these events, I cashed in two of them, and was out near the bubble on one more. My cashes:

4th place NLH 2.5k Dec-2 $33,830
18th place NLH 3k Dec-7 $2,320 (should have been $6960)

So, I won $36,150 for these 6 events.

I also played two NLH $1500+70 satellites to the main event

Sat-Dec-10 NLH $1500+70
Sun-Dec-11 NLH $1500+70

I was close in the first one, but I didn't win a seat, so I spent $3,140 playing satellites.

And of course I played the main event:

Mon-Dec-12 NLH $15,000+300 WPT

Since I didn't make the money, I spent $15,300 in this one, but I had 2% of SamENole and he cashed in the event, so I won $644 courtesy of this nice Florida boy, who happens to be a hell of a poker player, ranked #2 in the internet poker tournament world

I also spent like $2000 for my almost 3 weeks stay in Las Vegas Strip Hotels, Imperial Palace, Bellagio and the Aladdin.

As you can see, even with a final table at an event full of the best players in the world; I'm about even for the trip !!!
Well, for me, since I consider all the 10k plus events separately; this was a very nice trip (worth like +15k) and I'm glad I decided to go, I won some money and I'm a better player because of the experience.


Online tournaments:

Back home, I decided to play online again, I'm basically an online poker player and I love to play in the internet. These are the tournaments I played between Sat-Dec-17 and Sun-Dec-25

Sat-Dec-17

NLH $640 Party
NLH $215 Party
NLH $1000 Pokerroom

Cashes: 0 for 3
Total : -$1,855

Sun-Dec-18

NLH $215 Party
NLH $215 Stars
NLH $109 Rebuys Stars (I spent $309)
NLH $215 UltimateBet
NLH $200 Paradise
NLH $216 FullTilt

Cashes: 1 for 6

17th out of 364 and won $546, NLH $216 FullTilt

I also lost $1000 on a side bet in PocketFives

Total: -$1824

Mon-Dec-19

NLH $109 Party
NLH $162 Party
NLH $109 Party
NLH Rebuys $33 Party (I spent $273)
NLH $162 Stars
NLH Rebuys $11 Stars (I spent $51)
NLH $150 Paradise
NLH Rebuys $30 Paradise (I spent $240)

Cashes: 2 for 8

1 out of 541, won $13,464 , NLH $109 Party
33 out of 392, won $275.92 , NLH Rebuys $33 Party

Total: +$12,633.92

Tue-Dec-20

NLH $109 Party
NLH $162 Party
NLH $162 Stars
NLH Rebuys $11 Stars (I spent $41)
NLH Rebuys $11 Stars (I spent $71)
NLH Rebuys $55 Stars (I spent $155)
NLH Rebuys $109 Stars (I spent $509)
NLH $55 Stars
NLH $300 Paradise
NLH Rebuys $30 Paradise (I spent $90)
NLH Rebuys $30 Paradise (I spent $150)
NLH $200 Paradise
NLH $57 Bodog

Cashes: 0 for 13 !!! I definitely went crazy this day playing too many tournaments with just 3 hours of sleep the previous night

Total: -$2,061

Wed-Dec-21

No poker at all, we have to take the kids to the doctor.

Thu-Dec-22

No poker again, I went with my wife Diana to the movies to see King Kong and Harry Potter IV. Both movies were ok, maybe I expected a little more from King Kong.

Fri-Dec-23

NLH $109 Party
NLH $215 Party
NLH Rebuys $33 Party (I spent $213)
NLH $162 Stars
NLH Rebuys $11 Stars (I spent $81)
NLH Rebuys $109 Stars (I spent $309)
NLH $300 Paradise
NLH Rebuys $30 Paradise (I spent $180)

Cashes: 4 for 8

44 out of 924, won $739.20 , NLH $215 Party
5 out of 417, won $2,136.75 , NLH Rebuys $33 Party
6 out of 53, won $904 , NLH $300 Paradise
? out of ?, won $207.04 , NLH Rebuys $30 Paradise

Total: +$2,417.99

Sat-Dec-24

NLH $320 Party
NLH $162 Party
NLH Rebuys $33 Party (I spent $243)
NLH $320 Stars
NLH Rebuys $109 Stars (I spent $409)
NLH $216 FullTilt

Cashes: 3 for 6

14 out of 199, won $597 , NLH $320 Party
14 out of 276, won $351.90 , NLH $162 Party
23 out of 368, won $257.88 , NLH Rebuys $33 Party

Total: -$463.22

Sun-Dec-25

NLH $378 Party
NLH Rebuys $270 Empire (I spent $810)
NLH $530 Stars
NLH $380 Stars
NLH Rebuys $109 Stars (I spent $909)
NLH $320 Pokerrom
NLH $109 Bodog
NLH $200 Paradise
NLH Rebuys $30 Paradise (I spent $90)
NLH $215 UltimateBet

Cashes: 4 for 10

141 out of 1891, won $480 , NLH $378 Party
9 out of 118, won $320 , NLH $380 Stars
1*(Chopped when 3 left) out of 181, won $12,668.87 , NLH Rebuys $109 Stars
20 out of 619, won $975 , NLH $215 UltimateBet

I won also a Play Station Portable in UB because they had this promotion and I knocked out Shawn Rice from the tourney.

Total: +$10,503.87 + PSP

Mon-Dec-26

No poker, I decided to rest since I was so drained from the Sunday tournaments.

Dec 27-31

Most probably no poker at all, since we are traveling to visit my sister and mother. I'm planning to play the Sun-Jan-1 tournaments and try to start the new year with a bang.


So, I made the money 14 out 54 tournaments with 5 final tables good for about 20k in this 7 days of online playing, which is pretty damm good.

If you have any questions or comments about all this information, please don't hesitate to ask.

Feliz Navidad !!!!

Espero que todos pasen una muy feliz navidad y prospero año nuevo. Que el 2006 les traiga lo mejor y que todos sus deseos se hagan realidad. Espero que disfruten enormemente estos dias en compañia de los suyos. Para mis compañeros de poker, muchas mesas finales, buenos flops y no bad beats !!!!!.
Disfruten a los que aman, disfruten todos esos pequeños momentos, la vida esta aqui, ahora !!!!

Inducing a call online

This Monday, I won the Party NL $100 with 541 entries for $13,464. I returned to play online this Saturday after like 3 weeks in my Bellagio adventure and it is nice to have a big score this fast. I want to share one hand in the final table that I think was one of the most important ones to win the tourney. This final table was really interesting and I have to apply myself 100%.

#Game No : 3232310675 ***** Hand History for Game 3232310675 *****NL Texas Hold'em Trny:18436110 Level:19 Blinds (5000/10000) -
Tuesday, December 20, 05:03:22 EDT 2005

Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 4
Seat 2: sirio11 ( $207824 )
Seat 3: McScott ( $150692 )
Seat 5: RJA34 ( $113274 )
Seat 9: Noodler11 ( $69210 )
Dealing down cards **Dealt to sirio11 [ 6s 6d ]
RJA34 calls [10000].
Noodler11 folds.
sirio11 calls [5000].
McScott checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2d, 2c, 4s ]
sirio11 bets [19000].
McScott raises [59200].
RJA34 folds.
sirio11 is all-In [178824]

McScott will be using his time bank for this hand.

sirio11: "J high no good"

McScott is all-In [81492]

** Dealing Turn ** [ Ad ]** Dealing River ** [ Td ]

McScott shows [ 4c, 8c ] two pairs, fours and twos
.sirio11 shows [ 6s, 6d ] two pairs, sixes and twos.
sirio11 wins 57132 chips from side pot #1 with two pairs, sixes and twos.
sirio11 wins 311384 chips from the main pot with two pairs, sixes and twos.
Player McScott finished in 4 place and received $3646.50
McScott has left the table.


This player had been playing real aggressive, always playing back at me; and I decide to wait and wait for an opportunnity where he was going to overplay his hand.
I bet the flop, he raised me as always, but this time I went all in and he went to the tank; since he was taking long time to call, I was sure he had the 4; so I came with the idea to write "J high is no good" to try to induce a call from him; and it worked, after I wrote that he made the call and he was gone.

Back home !!

De regreso a casa y a jugar torneos online; me siento muy bien despues de mi experiencia en el Bellagio. Siempre estos torneos te ensenan mucho, si sabes aprender, claro esta. Mis proximos torneos grandes seran en Enero en Bahamas y luego Tunica. Por lo pronto a jugar todos los torneos importantes online. Este Sabado el del millon en Party y el de 1k en Pokerroom y el Domingo todos los grandes, esperemos que haya suerte.

The day before

Tomorrow I will be playing my most expensive tournament ever. The 15,300 Main Event at the Bellagio. They are expecting about 500 entrants, and that means first prize could be easily more than 2 million dollars. It was funny to walk to the cashier and register for the tournament with 6 chips, 3 white 5k ones and 3 black $100 ones; the annual salary for so many people; and here I am spending (investing) it for the right to play one poker tournament. The relativism in the value of money; but to be honest that is one of the things I love about being a poker player; the fact that, ironically, money is after all not that big of a deal. Well, I promise in a future entry in my blog to expand my thoughts in this concept.

The plan for today is simple, I'll stay inside my hotel room with basically 2 things to do. Study some general concepts for the tournament, especially some situations that I think I'm misplaying. I also have to input the final grades of my students at UTEP; this week probably will be the end to my career as a professor and the beginning of a full time career as a poker player. I have no regrets at all, this is what I am, this is what I want to do, and my family is 100% behind me.

My family is here, my beautiful wife and my 2 sons, they travelled to be here in Vegas all this week, I really missed them the last week and a half and I'm really happy they are here now.

So, all I have to do now is to play perfect, focus, and try to make the most of my share of luck in this tournament.

Play perfect every hand, enjoy the ride. Life is good.

$4640 lesson

Well, I just talked with Jack McClelland and of course they won't change a thing; but he gave me a comp dinner for 4 though; I guess my most expensive dinner ever.Well, lesson learned, even if it sucked I should have waited for a direct statement from the tournament director at that point before calling with my chips. I'm pretty sure he didn't say a word when I asked because he didn't want to affect the other 2 players, but still I didn't have to act and I should have demanded an answer from him before acting.I'm pretty sure my internet background affected me in this one. When the guy went out in the other table in the internet that's an automatic 20th place and then hand by hand start, since the other guy in my table has almost no chips, that was an automatic 19th in my head, for some reason, I still asked !! but in the heat of the moment and with so many people talking I took the lack of answer by the floor as a confirmation of what everybody was saying; a $4640 mistake I'm pretty sure the other 2 guys in the bubble really apprecciate.On a more important thing, I really need to work in my enjoying of tournaments results; when I'm playing I feel great, but after my 4th place finish and this bubble I felt so frustrated. Twice in the money out of 6 tournaments played and I feel so bummed; how sick is that.

Frustrating bubble Bellagio 3k

Ok here are the facts

20 people left playing in tables A, B and C.

18 places are paid.

18th paid $6,960

Blinds are 1k-2k with 300 ante

I have about a 32k stack

I'm playing at table B

A guy in my table just lost a big hand and announces he's all in in the dark with less than 1k.

I'm dealt 77 UTG, since I want to be sure the AI guy is gone and want to win the blinds, I raise to 8k.

UTG+1 calls and JC Tran in the button calls.

Pot is about 31k

flop comes JJ6

I check, UTG+1 checks and JC Tran bets about 8k

then I started to think and think

I know JC knows the bubble situation and he knows the AI guy has a random hand

I spent like 5 minutes and decided to call

Somebody went AI in table C and lost

19 players left

Hand by hand is announced

Turn card a Q and I check in the dark

Nobody noticed my check and after like 5 more minutes somebody calls the clock on me.

I told JC I already checked.

He then proceeds to bet like 20k

I have like 15k left and the pot is like 65k

18th money and 10th place money are almost the same

The floor is at my table

So, I asked that if I call and lost, Am I the guy with the bubble money?

I'm just thinking about the AI guy (with 1k and random hand and me)

.Somebody in the table (maybe possible even in the rail say yes)

The floor didn't say a word

So, I'm assuming it's true and make the call

JC Tran has TT and bust me out

After some minutes, I'm told that we're splitting 18th money 3 ways !!!!

The guy in table C, the 1k guy and me !!!

I go nuts and I am pretty mad because the floor didn't say a word when I asked.

So, instead of paying me $6960, they are giving me $2330

I'm just so frustrated now

Final Table Bellagio !!!!!

This Friday at 3PM PST I'll be playing at the final table of the 2.5k tournament.

The chip counts are:

J.C. Tran 290,000
David Cossio 199,000
Anthony Reategui 183,000
Scotty Nguyen 159,000
Eugene Katchalov 115,000
Rodeen Talebi 105,000
Jeff Cohen 68,000
Orlando Maldonado 66,000
Bobby Orr 31,000

And the top heavy payout

1st $234,095
2nd $124,030
3rd $62,015
4th $33,830
5th $25,370
6th $19,730
7th $14,095
8th $11,275
9th $9,020

Fighting Variance

This month has been terrible, October was my best internet month ever; and now November is in line to be my worse internet month ever. Damm variance, After winning more than 100k in September and October, I'm losing about 15k in November; what a job, with your negative monthly paychecks.

So, what do you do when you're running bad and you're stuck in your worse streak ever?

Reanalyze your game?

Study more hours a day?

Look at all the possible stats from PokerTracker to see what the hell is happening?

Read Daniel Negreanu's blog to feel that you're not running that bad?

Read HOH for the nth time?

Hell, go all the way and reread McEvoy and Clouthier?

Accept at last that this game is just dumb luck?

Stare and stare at your stats from better times to try to convince yourself that you don't suck?

No, no, no, no, no ,no ,no my friends

You take all the money hidden in all those poker books at home and GO TO VEGAS BABY !!!!

So, I'm writing from El Paso Airport, waiting for my Vegas flight to spend the following 3 weeks in Sin City.

Next time I'll post, it will be from some place in the Strip.

Terrible dia en 30-60

Uff, que dia en 30-60 acaba de terminar, mi peor en cash games que recuerde desde que empeze a jugar en internet. Empeze perdiendo algo asi como $2,500; segui jugando, me meti a jugar 50-100 y las cosas empezaron a mejorar, en 50-100 gane alrededor de $2000 y en 30-60 gane como $600, estaba ya a punto de salirme, para salir even del dia, pero me llegaron unos aces que no deberian, jeje, pues perdi un pot grande, de hecho 4 pots grandes casi simultaneos y otra vez cuesta arriba, segui jugando ya nada mas 30-60 hasta que ya no pude mas de bad beats; al final quede alrededor de $4500 abajo, de alguna manera me las arregle para perder $6500 en 30-60; sencillamente increible; gajes del oficio, dificil trabajo este el que escogimos, se perdio esta batalla, pero la lucha continua ......

Shocking findings while analyzing my stats

I was analyzing all my tournament stats from 2004 to the present and I decided to make a comparision between my 2004 stats and my July-November 2005 stats (this is after the WSOP).

One of the main changes in my game between both periods was that I think in 2004 I was less aggresive than today, I was very money conscious, always keeping an eye in the changes in the money, making considerations to make the money and then to make it to the next money change; and in the final table, very, very conscious of how to play my hand depending of the stacks and the money changes; in general I had a step by step approach to the money. Today, I barely care to make the money, my approach is to make the final table and of course I have had several bubbles in this span.

I remember when somebody mentioned that you should just care about first place and not about placing, I always thought of this as a macho-attitude in poker, since I had so good results without that attitude. But gradually I have been changing to that side of the spectrum, I still don't have that 1st place or die attitude, but I feel in the practice my game is moving in that direction.

The majority of winners in the poker tournament world think the 1st place or die is the best approach to win; they even critizice, often harshly to those who have a conscious making the money step by step approach.

So, this change in my game looked like it was all good, I'm joining the majority with my approach to the game and I have had a lot of 1st places finishes in the last months; so it should be right.

But then I decided to compare my ROI and I had a shocking surprise.

ROI(2004) > ROI(Jul-Nov 2005)

ROI(2004) >>> ROI(2005)

1st places finishes Jul-Nov 2005 >> 1st places finishes 2004

And of course ITM(2004) > ITM (Jul-Nov 2005)

I understand that maybe the number of tournaments is not enough and that the numbers could be some king of statistic aberration.

#tourneys 2004: Around 600
#tourneys 2005: Around 900
#tourneys Jul-Nov 2005: Around 350

Still, I think it is very interisting to analyze the possible causes for these numbers.

For now on, every time somebody write something about how he could care less about making the money and how he just play to win (whatever that means) my answer will be:

"Don't talk too loud man, just show me your ROI"

ROI rules.

Foxwoods trip report (1)

I flew from El Paso to Providence last Saturday November 12; with the intention of becoming the next poker millionare. I knew this would be a big WPT event and I really wanted to play. I arrived at the Providence airport at 5PM and there was Jason (MrMoo from 2+2) and his girlfriend waiting for me. I didn't know MrMoo in person, but luckyly for me, he knew my face, just in case I wore my Bodog shirt from the WSOP with my nickname (sirio11) on it. They were so kind to take me to Foxwoods, I have the feeling they both like to know people from the internet.
We got to Foxwoods around 6:30PM, I called Jordan (iMsoLucky0) because I have booked my hotel room from Sunday to Wednesday and would stay that Saturday night with Jordan and Darrell (Gigabet). Foxwoods is a really big casino, and immediately you have the sensation you're lost. We decided to wait in the lobby of the Pequot Tower and 15 minutes later, there were Jordan and Giga. Gigabet didn't waste any time to start critizicing me for wearing the Bodog shirt, "Are they paying you to do that?" He asked, "No", I told him, and then he told me he wouldn't advertized any site, not even for $10,000; I asked him, how much will do it?, and he said "Maybe $100,000". We proceed to go to their room, but the room was in fact a whole suite. Knowing Jordan, I thought it was probably his idea to get a suite, since he's such an internet poker superstar; but they told me later that they were supposed to get a regular room and they got the suite by mistake for the same prize; that makes sense also, since Jordan is just so lucky. I was hungry and Mr and Mrs. Moo and I went to look for something to eat, while Darrell and Jordan went to play some Pai Gow or any other game just to get rid of all those extra $100 bills in their wallets. It was Saturday night and the site was really packed, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe, but you have to wait like 1 hour; so, we ended at an Italian restaurant where the wait was just like 20 minutes; the food was meh, but the company was great. Later Mr and Mrs. Moo decided to check the casino and since I was really tired, I went to the room to rest. Later I went with Jordan and Dave (Darrell's brother) to check the registration for the tournament at the poker room, but it was packed also, a big line to register, so I decided to wait until the morning; we said hi to Carl (Colson) who was in the line, getting ready to donate $10,000 to TheTakeover fundation.
Back in the room, since I was not tired enough, I decided to play a heads up match with Jordan, a $5 s & g in PokerStars; just to know once for all who's the best internet poker player, we were face to face with our computers, so we can read into our souls; it was a tough match, it lasted a whole 16 hands and Jordan just destroyed me; he won 13 out of the 16 hands. But of course we know that internet poker is rigged, and one match does not mean anything, lol.
By then it was 3 or 4AM, and I really didn't sleep well; despite being really tired since I hadn't sleept the day before also. I woke up around 9 or 10AM and went to the poker room to register for the tournament. My starting day would be Monday, which was great since I could really use Sunday to rest.

TBC .......

Lessons from Foxwoods

Another dissapointing big tournament. I busted out from the WPT tournament in Foxwoods, yesterday about 1/2 hour before the day finished; played about 12 hours. As usual I was very depressed; and of course it didn't help to be in the same room with JohnnyBax, Sheets and ImsoLucky0; they all made it into day 2.
As usual I was mad and ranting about how I hate poker, how a f* bad luck I have in these big tournaments, I have always thought of myself about being in the left far side of the poker standard deviation luck, even with my recent nice internet streak.
Bad luck has many different ways to show up in poker, this time was in the form of an endless streak of garbage cards.
Bad luck was in the form of a pretty tough table, with Greg Raymer, Amir Vahedi and Billy Gazes.
Also bad luck was in the form of sickness, between the 4th and the 9th hour of the tournament, I was feeling real sick, so it was kind of hard to concentrate in the tournament.

But despite all the ranting the important point is, you can not control the cards you're dealt, you can't control the cards your opponents are dealt, you can't control the flop cards, the turn card, the river card. You can't control who your opponents will be at your table, and who will have position on you.
But you can control the decisions you make with the cards you're dealt. You can control how you react to your opponents actions. You control your decisions preflop, in the flop, turn, river. You control the size of your bets, raises.

So, it just does not make any sense to be mad about things you have absolutely no control of. You were dealt 72 off like 90 times in a row, so what, don't beat yourself up with these kind of things, it's worthless to spend any time and energy on this. Just worry about the decisions you made. That is the only important thing to do, just worry about the decisions you have some control of.

So, I'm posting all the mistakes I think I made, despite my "bad luck" I think I should have done better if I would not made some mistakes.

2+2 la telenovela

Ja, estos dias 2+2 se ha convertido en una especie de Oprah, unos dramas dignos de Sofocles. la verdad yo me divierto mucho siguiendo todos esos telenovelescos threads. Para los que no conocen 2+2, es simplemente el mejor forum de poker que hay en internet y les recomiendo ampliamente que lo lean si no lo han hecho. Ultimamente ha crecido mucho, debido a la explosion en el poker, pero aun asi sigue siendo simplemente el mejor forum para leer poker y ultimamente incluso para seguir los dramas de algunas figuras del poker.

Playing some cash games

One of the different things I made this weekend was to play some non-tournament poker; after about 2 and 1/2 months without playing any cash games, I decided it was enough and force myself to play some 30-60 limit holdem in PartyPoker this Friday, I played like 8 tables at the same time, played about 500 hands and quit, this is like 1 hour of taking decisions like every 3 seconds, lol. I won about $535 and it was ok. The funny thing when you play too many tables it's that it's pretty hard to be on tilt, since you barely know what's happening at the end of the hand, if you were paid in the river or not, if you bluff was succesful or not, since you have popping windows everywhere; but I like it, it's kind of fun. Saturday I played again for another marathon session of about 50 minutes; this time I decided to try 10 tables at the same time; boy, it's really something, especially when you're playing loose and have a hand in the 10 tables, lol. This time I won about $1500 and quit. I used to play much more, and my results historically in the 15-30 and 30-60 games in Party are pretty good, around 1.5 BB/hr. But these days I don't play much since I love to play tournaments and cash games are kind of boring (even 8-tabling). I should have the discipline to play a little more, since talking about money won per hour, easily I could win more money playing cash games than tourneys; but hey, tournaments are just too much fun ..... and the money is not bad also :)

Varianza

Despues de espectaculares Septiembre y Octubre la varianza volvio y entre en una racha de 25 torneos sin quedar en el dinero. Me parece que mi racha mas larga es 28 torneos, asi que esta estuvo cerca. Digo estuvo porque se rompio ayer sabado que llegue a la mesa final del torneo de $33 Rebuys en Party; quede en 6o lugar y gane $1,472.
La varianza es un elemento muy importante para un jugador profesional, las rachas buenas y malas ocurren una y otra vez, por eso debes estar preparado y tener un buen bankroll para soportar las malas rachas. Muchos jugadores cometen el error de en cuanto tienen un score grande, gastan a diestra y siniestra, piensan que pueden seguir jugando los mismos niveles siempre con un minibankroll; y esto es un error gravisimo, lo mas probable que pase con estos jugadores es que mas temprano que tarde van a estar quebrados. Yo rara vez hago gastos espectaculares cuando gano un torneo grande, si llego a hacerlos, es porque las necesidades de mi familia asi lo indican y nada tiene que ver con la proximidad de una buena racha.

My September and October cashes

I played 151 tournaments between September and October with 24 cashes.

Last week: 2 faces

First of all, I know I need to write more in the blog, I'll do my best to do it.

Last week had two faces, between Monday and Saturday, I just played 6 tourneys; made the money in 3 of them, damm, I made 3 final tables, winning the $150 Stars on Monday, 7th on Paradise $30R on Thursday and 2nd on the $150 Stars on Friday, on Sunday I played 7 tournaments and went 0 for 7. Yes, Sundays suck. Not really, it's just the nature of the game, from Monday to Saturday I was winning my coinflips and no badbeats at all. This Sunday I barely won a coinflip and had some terrible beats. Despite the variance, I think I made some mistakes on Sunday; one of the most important was to play too many tournaments at once, I was playing 4 or 5 at the same time, and 2 of them were rebuys in the first hour , so the pace is different. I think it's most important to concentrate in the tourneys you're playing, it's hard to improve if you're playing on autopilot; no room to analyze, maybe, once you are a decent player, you should play 2, maybe at most 3 tournaments. Another mistake I remember was in the $250 Rebuys EmpirePoker, a player in EP raised t0 700 and I rereaised to 2100 with AK, he called. Flop came 832, he checked and I checked, turn a 3, he bet 1500, I had like 3100 left, and instead of folding I went for the allin raise; a big mistake, since of course he's calling me almost all the time; he had QQ and no river help; but that's the problem when you're making decisions in too many tournaments at the same time. Today October ends, even if I don't cash today, October it's already my best internet month ever. I'll post all my October results tomorrow.

Una victoria mas y el cansancio

Este Lunes 24, gane el torneo de $150 en PokerStars, es dificil de explicar, pero conforme avanzo en las ultimas etapas de un torneo, siento una transformacion, como una fuerza arrolladora que me impulsa a tomar vetaja de mis oponentes; al final cuando quedabamos 2 nos repartimos el dinero, el tenia un poco mas de fichas pero el dinero lo repartimos a la mitad exactamente, asi que gane un poco mas de $13,000. Estos dias he estado tremendamente cansado, siempre que avanzo mucho en un torneo quedo exhausto, ademas con mi trabajo en UTEP y mis problemas de sueño simplemente no he podido descansar bien. Ayer martes no jugue poker, llegando de las clases en UTEP simplemente me fui a dormir. Es casi un hecho que ya este es mi ultimo semestre en UTEP, de plano me esta siendo cada vez mas dificil tener 2 trabajos de tiempo completo, asi que para 2006 espero poder solo dedicarme al Poker. Si quieres hacer algo muy bien, si quieres ser el mejor en tu ramo, es muy dificil llegar a serlo si tienes multiples ocupaciones, tienes que decidirte y enfocar tus energias. Focus, focus ..........

Super Tuesday and Super Thursday

The supers in PartyPoker are the biggest online tournaments between Monday and Thursday. They are a $150+12 tournaments, NL Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and LH on Wednesdays. This is the one tournament I usually play every day, with the exception maybe of the Super Wednesday, since it's a limit tournament and I usually play the $150 NL in Stars at the same time. I don't like to play different types of tournaments at the same time, since the pace is different, but sometines I do it; the last time I did it, I won :) .
The prize pools in the Supers are pretty good, I played on Monday and finished 761 out of 1036, on Tuesday I made it deep, until the last 2 tables, I finished 15 out of 1080; at the end selective agression was just agression, since I could not select anything to play, and I was out when my A6h run into AK. For wednesday I decided to take the day off, no poker at all, besides I have to apply exams to 2 of my classes on Thursday, so I needed to work designing the exams for my Calculus II and Math for Social Sciences II classes. Well as usual, I started to work in the exams until about 2AM Thursday, and doing all sort of things, I didn't sleep at all. I took my Modafinil to prepare for a long day, my first class at UTEP was at 9AM, a nice class called Properties of the Real Numbers, then at 10:30AM I give the Math 2301 class an exam, at 3PM I give my Calculus II an exam, and from 4:30PM to 6PM I taught my last class of the day. I was really tired. My wife Diana even drove from UTEP to home, and most probably I was not going to play any tournament. But since I didn't play on Wednesday, and why not, I can do no wrong these days. So I opened the PartyPoker client and waited to register until there were only 6 seconds left to do it, at the end I decided to play and click the register button. Six hours later I was playing in the final table. With about 3 tables left, I was the chip leader in the tournament, basically product of my skillful way to win coinflips. But then I started to have internet disconnections problems, I couldn't connect to Party, it was weird because I was talking by Messenger with Colson10 and P5s Adam and they both were connected to Party, I went nuts, my internet connection was working but not Party. I have Cable and a wireless connection at home, and always you can use the same old dialup, but neither was working. I called then Jose, a poker friend here who lives near my house, he could connect and started to play with me at the phone driving toward his place. We won a nice pot with AQ-AJ during that lapse. I arrived to his place and resume playing with a computer screen in front of you. I was still the chip leader, I raised with 87s and the 2nd in chips in the table called from the BB. The flop gave me a monster draw, he check and I made a weak bet in the flop, if he raises, I was going all in, but he just called. The turn was a blank, he checked again, I knew the guy and I knew the exact amount I needed to bet so he could fold. I was going to do exactly that, but then the damm disconnection again and I lost the pot because I couldn't bet !!!. I started to suspect then that maybe it was a general problem in El Paso, maybe even in all the southwest. We decided to go to UTEP to try the computers over there, in the midtime I called Enrique, a friend in Mexico and he had no problems to connect, so I was playing by phone one more time. The funny thing was after he reconnected my account I have like AA,AK,TT,AA,AK in 5 consecutive hands. Lost all ins with AK vs JJ and TT vs J7, with the AA hands I should have won more, but it was hard to tell him the right amounts to bet since I could not see the stack sizes of my opponents. After a while Jose and I made it to UTEP and the computers were fine, so I could resume playing by myself. By then I was not the chip leader anymore. But I had a decent stack going to the final table. In the final table I started playing well, but with 5 people left there was this guy with a huge stack to my left and maybe I played a little too carefully, and for sure with the lack of sleep and all the internet problems I was not in the best mode. At the end, I finished 3rd when my AT run into AJ. It was still a nice payday with $11,304, making October now the best month of 2005.

Servicio a la sociedad jugando al poker?

Esta pregunta nos la hacemos constantemente los que nos dedicamos a jugar poker, y la verdad la respuesta varia dependiendo de la filosofia personal de cada jugador. Cuando juegas poker, tu ingreso se deriva principalmente de los errores que cometen tus oponentes, la mayoria de ellos no son jugadores profesionales, sino simplemente personas que buscan un entretenimiento, en ese sentido podria uno pensar que prove un entretenimiento a las personas con las que uno juega, sin embargo, regularmente estas personas salen mas entretenidas cuando ganan algo de dinero, y jugando con un profesional lo mas probable es que pierdan parte de su dinero. La industria del juego es una industria enorme que proporciona trabajo a miles y miles de personas, en ese sentido somos una pieza mas en la complejidad de esta industria. Nuestra sociedad es extraña en cuanto a la decision de a quien otorga beneficios economicos dependiendo de la profesion a la que se dedican. Por ejemplo, los maestros son en general mal pagados en la mayoria de los paises. Sin embargo los cirujanos plasticos, modelos, diseñadores de moda y politicoides de todo tipo tienen sueldos altisimos. Yo por mi parte por mucho tiempo me dedique a enseñar matematicas a jovenes talentosos, sin remuneracion alguna; en cambio jugando poker que pudiera parecer menos beneficioso para mi sociedad, soy muy bien remunerado. Go figure !! .......
Para mi es simplemente una cuestion de dedicarte a lo que quieres hacer, siempre he vivido con esa maxima, y en mi presente esto es precisamente lo que quiero hacer, jugar poker, y quiero hacerlo lo mejor de lo que soy capaz, como cualquier otra profesion quiero escalar hasta el tope de mis posibilidades.

Foxwoods via Bahamas !!!, and folding AA

The blinds are 1k-2k with 100 ante, there are 12 players left in the tournament. You are in the big blind with 24k. A complete maniac in MP the big stack in the table raises to 100k for the nth time. Folded to you and you have AA. Do you call?
What !! Are you nuts David, of course you have to call !!!
Not so fast, this was a $650 satellite to Bahamas, 1st-11th would win a 12,000 package to Bahamas, 12th pace, 225 dollars. You have this guy in your table that is going all in every hand because his stack is so big. So, if you call and lose, you're out in 12th place. Even with your low chips, you're third in your table, 3 guys have less than you, 2 of them with less than half your chips, and in the other table there are at least other 3 guys with less chips than you. AA is a 85% favorite to win a showdown against a random hand. Is this edge big enough to call in this situation? The answer is no, this is a clear fold; the 3 guys at your table have to play as soon as possible, 2 of them twice before it's your turn. The odds of somebody losing one of these showdowns are greater than your 85%. The short stacks played great in my table, and in fact it was a guy in the other table the one who busted out, poor guy, terrible place to finish. I was just happy to finish this tourney, the bubble took so long and I was so drained, I'm so tired that I'm taking this Sunday off and not playing the big tournaments. This is the second Bahamas package I won this week, I'm using $10,200 of the $12,000 to buy in for the WPT tournament in Foxwoods next November, Poker Stars give you that option. So I'm pretty happy to win my entry to two WPT tournaments this week. This rush is just unbelievable and I hope it continues at least for 50 years more :) .

Mistakes, when you knew better.

I was playing yesterday the $30 Rebuys in Paradise, after a not so good first hour, I was in about $210. After that I manage to cruise my way to the money; there were 721 entrants and 70 spots were paid. Once in the money, I feel like I have a good chance to make the final table. The blinds were huge, but I usually know exactly what to do in this situation. With 22 people left I had a better than average stack with 172k in the big blind and QTh, everybody folded and the small blind with a 250k stack raised to 66k, the blinds were 6k-12k with 600 ante. My first instint was to raise, second was to call, but I didn't think in a fold. I have about 160k, if call that means about 1/3 of my stack, so I decided I was better off raising all in, I thought he could fold or even if called I have a good holding. He decided to call my raise with A3h, the board was AT667 and I was out in 22nd. After the hand with a little more time to analyze it. I realized the big mistake I made. Lets forget the fact he had A3h and he won the hand. He raises to 66k and I reraised to 172k. So he had to call 106k into a more than 240k, and he made such a large raise, 66k into a 12k blind, what was I thinking? Obviously he's calling. The right thing to do in this spot was to fold, as simple as that. Even as nice as QTh looks and the fact that you don't want to be pushed off your blind, the right play was to fold, and the thing that bothers me the most is that I knew better. Sometimes we made a mistake because we just don't know how to play better in a given situation; but in this case I knew. This game is just too complex and with just too many tough decisions to allow ourselves to make clear mistakes in the easy ones. The less we can do is to play "perfect" poker, and by this I mean to play perfect as our limited knowledge can; we owe it to ourselves. How can you improve as a player if you keep coming back to problems already solved?. I don't need that. I want to improve. I know better. I can play "perfect" poker every day, every tournament, every hand.

Problemas de sueño

Mis horarios de dormir estan totalmente sin control. No es que alguna vez haya tenido horarios definidos, desde que recuerdo siempre he sido una persona nocturna durmiendo "cuando se pueda". Pero a ultimas fechas yo creo se han exagerado, regularmente paso madrugadas en vela durmiendo de dia, o de tarde, o cuando sea, mi cuerpo no sabe a que horas hay que dormir; quizas es hora de ir al doctor y ver si me puede dar algo para moderar estas disparidades. Algo bueno del poker cuando tienes este tipo de problemas, es que puedes trabajar a la hora que quieras, aunque por otro lado, tambien ayuda a no desarrollar una rutina, en fin, si alguien sabe de algo que me pudiera ayudar, le agradezco el consejo.

Bahamas !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I'm just on fire and things keep going well. This Monday I won a double shootout that awarded a Bahamas package to play in the WPT event worth $12,000. There were 81 players, 9 tables with 9 players each. The buy in was $175. You have to win your table in order to advance to the final table, and then win the final table to get the $12000 package. The first table was ok, when I was heads up I have a 2-1 advantage, this guy was going all in just a little too much; I just waited for him, one hand I have A9 and I didnt call his all in preflop, I decided to do it, when he went all in with a flop 367, and I have K7, he has 65; so I was the favorite, but a 4 came on the turn, and now he had a 2-1 chip lead. I slowly take the lead again, and then wait again until he made a big mistake. He went all in with 88 vs my AA and I was in the final table.
As usual in the DS the final table is pretty tough. My friend Jordan (iMsoLuckyO), one of the best young internet players in the world was there and with position over me. So, I have to play carefully. Fortunatelly, a guy decided to overplay his AQ vs my QQ, and after that I played a very good game with just the right amount of agression. I busted out Jordan in the process, when I raised in the button with Q7h and he went all in with 33 in the LB, I had to call because the raise was not big enough and floped a 7. When we were heads up, I have 8k vs 5k of my opponent, I offered him $3,000 to surrender, but he wanted the package, so we played a very carefully heads up game. I increase my lead really slowly but consistently, in the last hand, I had KJ in a QT3 flop, he bet and I raised him all in, he called with AK, but a 9 in the turn give me the straight and the package. I'm really excited to play this WPT tournament. It will be held in the Atlantis resort in Bahamas next January. I was there last time, and it's such a wonderful place. Playing poker in Paradise with your love ones, what else could you ask for !!!!!!!!

Avoiding bullets

One of the skills every poker player should have, it's the ability to avoid bullets and there are just too many of them in any given tournament, almost all the tournaments we play we have to "die"; if you don't want to, well you have one and only one option; to win the tournament. Let me tell you about my last hands in the 5 tournaments I played this Sunday, to analyze if there was any chance to avoid the bullet.

(Sorry about not having the complete details, stack sizes, amount of bet, etc, but I'm playing 3 tournaments now while I write)

PS: I raised with QQ and get 2 callers. Flop came J82, I bet, one player called. Turn is a blank, I check to look weak, he bets and I check-raise him all in, he calls with 22.

FT: I raised with AA, one caller. Flop came K35 with 2 spades, I bet, he raises, I reraise he calls. Turn is a 3rd spade, I don't have the As, I push, he calls with A3s.

Para ($200): I'm in the BB with 66, UTG raises, I call, flop came 744, I check, he bets, because of his amount I thought he doesn't have a big pair, so I push, my all in is big enough so it would be difficult for him to call me with AK; no problem he just take 1 second to call me with KQ !!; of course, Q in the river.

PP: Short-stacked went AI with 99 vs AT and QQ, no help and lost.

Para($1000 Satellite to Foxwoods): Early in the tourney, UTG calls, I call with JJ and a 2500 stack, LP goes all in for about 800, now UTG thinks and decides to call, and now what to do, I decided to go AI to isolate the original raiser, but problem was, UTG had AA and I was gone.

After analyzing all these hands, I think the only bullet I could have avoided is the JJ, but it was pretty tough to fold JJ in that spot.

Domingo, Domingo

En la vida de un jugador profesional de torneos de poker en Internet, diria yo que el dia mas importante es el domingo. Es el dia en el que se juegan los torneos mas importantes en Internet. Por ejemplo, este domingo el torneo de $200 NL de Poker Stars, tuvo 3161 entradas, el prize pool fue $632,200, con el primer lugar llevandose nada mas $126,440; increibles estos premios en internet. El torneo de $200 de PartyPoker tuvo 2583 entradas, para un primer lugar llevandose $103,320. Es sencillamente increible; ademas Paradise, FullTilt and UltimateBet tienen tambien torneos de $200 NL el domingo. Yo este domingo jugue Stars, Party, Paradise y FullTilt, solo se me paso el de UB. Nada mas llegue al dinero en el de Party, quedando en lugar 260 de 2583. En Stars perdi QQ-22, en FullTilt AA-A3s y en Paradise 66-KQ.

The good streak continues !!!

Today, I won the $300 NL in Poker Stars, we made a deal when heads up, I took $14066 and my opponent $13383.
After making the final table in the $200 Paradise last Sunday; I have played 9 tournaments so far this week, with the following results:

Monday $150+12 NL Stars 45 out of 416, in the $ and won $294.60
Monday $150+12 NL Party 478 out of 992.
Tuesday $150+12 NL Party 259 out of 1073
Thursday $150+12 NL Party 90 out of 971, in the $ and won $291.30
Friday $200+15 NL Party 110 out of 943, barely missed the $
Friday $150+12 NL Party 404 out of 420
Saturday $200+16 Full Tilt 71 out of 161
Saturday $300+20 NL Stars 1* out of 183, in the $(duh!) and won $14066
Saturday $615+35 NL Stars 37 out of 289.

So, a very good week so far, a little dissapointed by the Bahamas one, but I'll eventually qualify. 3 in the $ out of 9; of course this is not typical, even for a good player, I think a good player should be in the $ about 1 out of 6-7 tourneys, but of course making the $ is not that important; making the final table and placing in the 1st 3 where the real $ is, it's most important.
I'll post later some important hands I played this week.

Otro muy buen dia !!!

Ahora Sabado jugue 3 torneos, uno de $200 calificatorio para el WPT de Foxwoods en Full Tilt, uno de $300 No Limit en Poker Stars y el semanal clasificatorio para el WPT de Bahamas en Stars. En el de Foxwoods no hubo suerte, en PS para Bahamas, casi califico, quede 37 de 289 y daban 14 paquetes de $12000 y hasta el lugar 29 les regresaban su entrada de $650. Pero en el torneo de $300 con 183 jugadores, me fue muy bien, quede en 1er lugar (aunque oficialmente en segundo), cuando quedabamos 2 jugadores hicimos un deal, el primer lugar eran $16470 y el segundo $10980, asi que decidimos repartirnos de acuerdo a las fichas que teniamos, yo tenia un poco mas que el, asi que me tocaron $14066 y a el cerca de $13400. En torneos es comun hacer deals al final para repartir el dinero de manera mas equitativa y no depender tanto de la suerte. Claro que si piensas que eres mucho mejor jugador no debes de hacer esto, en este caso mi contrincante era un buen jugador y pienso que el deal fue justo. Asi que mi racha buena continua, esperemos que no se detenga nunca ( je,je como si esto fuera posible), me siento muy bien con mi juego, siento que sigo progresando como jugador y esto siempre debe estar en tu mente si te dedicas a jugar poker, independientemente de tus resultados, siempre mejorar, jugar lo mejor de lo que eres capaz.

Some hands in the bubble

This Monday in the PS $150 NL tournament, there were 416 entrants. With about 47 players left, I had a healthy stack with about 24k, good for second at my table. Blinds were 400-800 with 50 ante and we were almost in the money, they paid 45 places, but at the time, I have not noticed this. I have ATc in the BB; Premier, a good online player, raised to 3200 in MP and a 15k stack, folded to me, and I decided to see the flop calling the 2400. The flop came Kc6c4h; so I had the nut flush draw, against some other player maybe I'd go for the check raise, but against him, I don't want him to be commited to call with his 99 or JJ, so I decided to bet the flop big enough, so he knows there is no fold equity at all, I bet about 5.5k, and he raised to 12k all in, of course I called, he had AK and no club came to recue me. So, I'm down to 9k chips. Very next hand I have 44 in the SB, I still have enough chips, but I'm in the post-big-pot-just-lost mode, and I want my chips back, a terrible mistake of course, EP calls the 800 and Premier raises again to 3200, I decided to play a big pot and reraise all in to 9k; I was not concerned about the EP. since he used to limp, but I should know that Premier is calling me for sure, and 44 is in terrible shape about his possible range. As soon as I went all in, the hand by hand screen is shown, damm it, I then realized my mistake, not precisely because of the bubble, but the bubble made the mistake just a little bigger. EP folded and Premier of course called with 99. Flop was 643, and maybe my PS curse is gone (yeah right!); I saw the turn and the river and didnt see a 9, I was happy, until I saw the chips moving in Premier's direction, what the hell, no 9, no flush board !!, but then I realized that the last 2 cards were 6,6 ; so he had a bigger full house. Fortunately, somebody with less chips decided to go broke in the same hand and I was out in 45th place, the poker Gods gave me a $250 gift despite my mistake. Of course you need to be aggressive in the bubble; but this is just a good example of stupid aggression.

Mexico campeon del mundo !!!!!

El pasado domingo 2 de octubre, los muchachos de la seleccion sub-17 de Mexico, hicieron historia, al coronarse campeones del mundo, derrotando a Brasil claramente con un 3-0 demoledor. En un pais con una tradicion futbolera que raya en el fanatismo, nunca ninguna seleccion se habia coronado, yo en particular recuerdo con gran angustia, varios fracasos futboleros en nuestra historia, que en su momento se sintieron como un fracaso personal, siempre nos ha dolido en el alma ver perder a nuestra seleccion en los mundiales de futbol; es increible, siempre me he preguntado que tiene el futbol que nos hace sentir en el alma cuando juega tu seleccion un partido importante, en Mexico la gente no sera muy patriotica para los cosas que realmenten importan, pero eso si, a la hora que juega el tricolor, ahi estamos todos cantando el himno a todo lo que da nuestro ronco pecho; como si nos fuera la vida en ello, definitivamente un fenomeno sociologico interesantisimo. Yo por mi parte, estuve viendo el juego mientras jugaba los torneos del domingo, y pues me senti muy contento con el resultado, definitivamente nuestro pais necesita ganadores y este grupo de muchachos lo son en lo suyo. Espero que cada vez haya mas ganadores mexicanos en todas las areas, yo por mi parte estoy haciendo lo posible en el mundo del poker ......

A good start in October

After the espectacular September I had, October started well. I made the money this Saturday in the Party Poker $200k guaranteed, 81st place out of 1194, of course it was kind of dissapointed because I had a good stack with 100 players left, but I think I played great. On Sunday, October 2nd, I played all the big ones, no luck in Party and Stars, but I made the final table again in the 100k guaranteed $200 buy in, in Paradise, the one I won 3 weeks ago, some. There were 2 controversial decisions I made in this tournament; both times I needed to call all in a very large bet with relation to the pot; both times I decided to call and both times I won. The first one was with the blinds 15-30, a player under the gun calls, small blind calls and I check in the big blind with Kd8c. Flop came Td8d3d, I bet 70 into the 90 pot, and UTG went all in !!!! with about 1600, now decision time, I always try to think that my opponents are acting with some logic, playing bad, playing good, but with logic; in this case, a big made flush didn't make any sense since the bet was so big, a little flush could be possible, but did he call UTG with little flush cards?. My main concern was that he had something like AdTh, and then I was in really bad shape if I call, but since he didn't think too much to make the all in bet, to me looked like an afraid bet, and since he just limped UTG before the flop, I thought this guy had a big pair with no diamonds. So, if he had QQ, I was a clear favorite, if he has AA, we were 50-50, so I decided to call and try to accumulate chips, he had AsAc and it was a coin flip; one of my outs came, an 8, and I doubled up early. After thinking a little more about the play, probably it was a fold. Later I was in the small blind with AKh, blinds 100-200, ante 25 and a 3100 stack. A player in middle position goes all in before the flop for 5k, mmmmmmmm, what's up with these guys just playing all in preflop?, well, again I decided to call, he had JJ and I won the flip. Going into the money and once near the final table, I think I played a great aggressive style, but still lost some all ins along the way and came to the final table with a short stack. I keep playing careful aggression (if there's such thing, but I hope you understand what I mean), and build my stack to a pretty good level, I was 2nd in chips playing 6 handed when the following hand came; a short stack limped UTG, the small blind complete and I checked with JT. Flop came QJT, great, small blind checked, the blinds were so big related to our stacks, so I decided to go all in, hoping UTG had AA, but UTG folded and SB instantly called, damm!!, he must have a real hand, he had K9 for a floped straight, and no help for me in the turn and river, and since he was the 3rd place at the moment, I was really crippled and have to go all in in the next hand with 74s in the small blind and lost to Q7 in the BB. 6th place good for about $5300 and I have no complains.

Blog goes bilingual !!!

Despues de pensarlo un poco mejor, me di cuenta de que no hay nada que impida que escriba el blog en Ingles y en Español, asi que estare escribiendo entradas en los 2 idomas.

Pocket Fives Rankings

Ahora fue dia de publicar nuevos rankings en Pocketfives . Supuestamente los rankings representan a los mejores jugadores de torneos de poker en internet en el mundo. A pesar del gran trabajo de los creadores del sitio, los rankings aun son algo subjetivos y tienen mucho lugar para mejorar. Sin embargo el sitio es serio y estoy seguro que los rankings han ido mejorando y seguiran con el paso del tiempo. Dicho lo anterior, no puedo creer que solo haya subido al lugar 23, jejeje, en Agosto estaba en el lugar 25 y despues del tremendo Septiembre que tuve, que continua en Octubre pues este domingo llegue a la mesa final del torneo de 100k garantizados en Paradise, solo subi 2 lugares !!!!. Esto ademas de que yo solo juego la mitad y quizas hasta la 4a parte de los torneos que muchos de los demas jugadores rankeados juegan. Este es el principal problema que yo le veo a los rankings, y que tienen que mejorar de alguna forma, el no tomar en cuenta cuantos torneos juega cada quien. Estoy seguro que algunos de los jugadores ahi rankeados solo estan ahi por la tremenda cantidad de torneos que juegan y no por la calidad de sus resultados. Ojala con el tiempo encuentren una forma de mejorar este aspecto para los rankings.

Septiembre 2005, mi mejor online poker mes del año.

Despues de un "slump" en Julio y Agosto, Septiembre fue un mes fantastico. Todo empezo cuando gane un torneo de No Limit en Party Poker el 5 de Septiembre. El torneo tenia un buy in de 100 dolares mas $9 de entry fee. Entraron al torneo 440 jugadores, y por terminar en primer lugar, gane 11,000 dolares. Poniendo fin a una mala racha en internet que me duro el final de Julio y todo Agosto. El dia siguiente, Martes 6 de Septiembre, tuve mi aparicion por primera vez en television nacional en Estados Unidos, cuando televiso ESPN la mesa final del torneo de Pot Limit Holdem de $2000 en la World Series of Poker, que se llevo a cabo en Las Vegas los pasados meses de Junio y Julio. En ese torneo quede en 3er lugar y gane cerca de 80,000 dolares; fue una experiencia interesante verse en television. Hicimos una reunioncilla aqui en la casa para ver el programa, con algunos parientes y amigos cercanos. Para el domingo 11 de Septiembre, volvi a ganar otro torneo importante; este vez un torneo de No Limit $200 buy in, en Paradise Poker, que entraron 573 jugadores, aqui gane $26,071. Excelente semana tuve. Ya para terminar Septiembre, el dia 28, gane otro torneo en Party Poker, el Super Wednesday de Limit Holdem, con buy in de $150 y 582 jugadores. Aqui gane $20,952. Como pueden ver fue un excelente mes, debe ser mi segundo mejor mes, desde que empeze a jugar poker en internet en Julio del 2003.

Adentrandome en el mundo de los blogs

Es "adentrandome" una palabra?. Espero que mi español siga intacto, despues de vivir por un buen, en este mundo "mixed" en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y Mexico.
Apenas estoy viendo como funciona esto de los blogs. La idea de este blog es relatar algo de mi vida, desde el punto de vista de un jugador profesional de poker; dirigido a aquellos que hablan español y que pudieran encontrar interesantes las aventuras en el fascinante mundo del poker.