New Year !!!! Living NOW

New year usually means new resolutions, and that is almost always good since it's one of the ways of stopping and looking at your life from a different angle. I'm optimistic about this year, I have some resolutions but these can be done or not, the important thing is to maintain the fire, to live and everything (at least most of the important things that really matter) will come.

Probably what I'm about to write it's a cliche, but I'm still want to share it anyway.

Without a doubt we'll all die, nobody will remember us years after we die; the universe has been here without us for billions of years and for sure it can exist without us for a few billion more.

Still, the most important moment is NOW


Why do we keep forgetting this and living plenty of unhappy/lifeless/mediocre moments?

The Cheating Society and the Cheating Archives

I have been involved in so many discussions on poker tournament cheating in the 2+2 forums (mainly on MTT). Some of the discussions have been really amusing, legendary, but most of them are just sad. I have always cared about the integrity of the game, but it's just too hard when so many of the top tournament players condone, endorse or just don't care about these cheating issues. I almost give up, I don't post anymore on the MTT forum on 2+2, mainly because I'm pretty disappointed with the reaction of the regulars toward this issue; same reason I just didn't post any more since long time ago on the Pocket Fives forums, back then, looked like 2+2 people used to care and condemn these practices, not anymore, so many cheating scandals. But why the young poker studs would be any different living on this pro-cheating society with all the sports, politics, corporation scandals, where it does not matter how you succeed, whatever it takes, looks like the path is not important anymore, no matter how many rules you broke, the important (and cool) thing is to get the money, fame, power. Sometimes playing poker I just feel like all those MLB players who work their ass to compete, but in reality will never have a chance with equally talented but steroid enhanced players. Hey, but we still make good money to have a decent living.

Just in case you have some hundreds of hours to kill, here are some of the legendary threads on this topic for your amusement:

On buying accounts and why you should care by sirio11

To the Multi-Accounters : some thoughts before this upcoming Sunday by ActionJeff

On Ghosting by Ansky

Cheating in Online Poker by uclabruinz

WCOOP ME champion is play2kill (Multi-Accounting) by Clayton

The Grandma dilemma: Debunking the myths by sirio11

Who is Next/Exclusive? by jaydoggie

Potential Multiaccounting in the 530$ WCOOP by FatalError

Online tournament integrity compromised - my email to Lee Jones by McMelchior

To all the multiaccounting cheaters by sirio11

Chris Vaughn BluffMag multiaccounting by Kongsgaard

On multible accts by thorladen

My Explanation by JJProdigy

EASY ON JJ PLEASE by Belowabove

Have you ever created a ghost online account? by sirio11

Noah's 2nd account taking on Raymer by jemenz

Lee Jones Reiterates his policy on cheating; BOYCOTT STARS by KaneKungFu123

ZeeJustin the next to get caught multi accounting Party MTTs by URMeowed

So like, JJProdigy just won $140k by Exitonly

PARTY RECTIFIES JJ/ABlackCar situation!! by kosmicd21

Chat revoked to Gank in PS by sirio11

"JJ-Land - All JJ Posts Here!" AKA "What really happened..." by JJProdigy

Teasing early this week

Today we have a NFL game, Denver-Houston, and the line moved today so HOU became a good teaser team, so I decided to act fast and have the following teams on teasers:
HOU +8.5
CIN -2.5
GB -2.5
SEA -1
Seattle is not a teasing team yet, but I think the line will move to -7.5, so I decided to take the better line now.

Hedging on those mediocre Ravens

Just when I was about to give up on my NFL bets (yeah right), I decided to tease again this Sunday MIN,TEN,IND,HOU,SEA and DEN. All my teasers covered and I won like 26 bets (26-0) and I recovered all the loses from previous weeks and win some. The Indy game was Sunday night, so about 11 of my teasers were depending on IND -2.5, that is, I could finish 15-11 or 26-0. I decided against my gambling nature and decided to hedge the game betting BAL +10, so if Indy didn't cover, at least I would win some with the Baltimore bet, but if Indy cover by 10+, I lost the amount I bet on Baltimore and win the 11 teasers, and I could still win both bets (teasers and BAL+10), if Indy win by 3-9 points; basically I wanted to reduce variance, since the jump from 15-11 to 26-0 was pretty steep. Well, Indy won by 24 points and it was really painful to watch those mediocre Ravens, instead of feeling like a responsible gambling guy by minimizing variance and assuring a good profit, I felt like I just wasted that money I bet on the Ravens, I waited until the last minute before kickoff to make the bet, I just wanted to let it ride my IND -2.5, but decided to assure a good profit, not a bad move at all, but I feel cheated by those Ravens, I mean, I don't care if they win or lose, but I do care if they DON'T PLAY. How the hell a Pro Sports team can play so differently from one week (versus the Patriots) to the next (versus the Colts). The answer is mediocrity, I already have them pegged as mediocre because they played so good versus the Patriots (why don't they play like that every week?), and the mediocrity level was just confirmed with their terrible performance versus the Indy Colts at Baltimore. No heart at all, no desire to win, no respect for the fans, nothing, man, these are pro athletes, maybe too much money may them forget what is to play your heart out EVERY WEEK, no matter who are you playing, no matter your position, always play to win.
Despite those Ravens, it was a wonderful weekend on Sports Betting coming back to the good side of variance.

Last 2 hands in the Super Tuesday $1K

Poker Stars, $1,000 + $50 NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,000/2,000 Blinds, 8 Players

UTG: 60,366

UTG+1: 53,888

MP1: 48,941

Hero (MP2): 71,002

CO: 65,683

BTN: 57,424

SB: 82,309

BB: 78,686

Pre-Flop: (4,600) K J dealt to Hero (MP2)

2 folds, MP1 raises to 6,000, Hero calls 6,000, 4 folds

Flop: (16,600) 2 7 6 (2 Players)

MP1 bets 18,000, Hero raises to 60,000, MP1 calls 24,741 and is All-In

Turn: (102,082) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (102,082) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 102,082 Pot

MP1 showed J J (a pair of Jacks) and WON 102,082 (+53,141 NET)

Hero showed K J (high card King) and LOST (-48,941 NET)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poker Stars, $1,000 + $50 NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,000/2,000 Blinds, 8 Players

MP2: 83,965

CO: 54,488

BTN: 98,282

Hero (SB): 19,261

BB: 64,683

UTG: 51,024

UTG+1: 77,309

MP1: 69,287

Pre-Flop: (4,600) A T dealt to Hero (SB)

6 folds, Hero raises to 19,061 and is All-In, BB calls 17,061

Flop: (39,722) K 8 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (39,722) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (39,722) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 39,722 Pot

Hero showed A T (high card Ace) and LOST (-19,261 NET)

BB showed 8 A (a pair of Eights) and WON 39,722 (+20,461 NET)

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First hand, I had the stack and I like to play from behind with a hand like KdJd, flop came perfect (little cards with 2 diamonds), unfortunately for me he had JJ, but still was a 46% to win after the flop, no king or diamond to save me.

Last hand, folded to me with AT in the SB, which was perfect because now if I went all in, he could call with Ax or any broadway hand thinking I wanted to buy the pot, my wishes were granted and he called with A8, but I lost the 72%.

So close ...... AGAIN

Since I'm being killed with my NFL teasers and some other sports bets, I decided to come back to the tourney variance !!!, such a ridiculous life we gamblers live, winning and losing big amounts of money (and some sense of reality); so, since the dark side of variance came back in sports, I decided to play some tourneys, after the $300 I played on November 28th, I decided to play this past Sunday all the big ones, I couldn't, I just played a $55 satellite, lost with a full house and got all mad, and decided to watch my loved NFL games instead.
Yesterday the PATS (aka the best football team ever) made me lose some more teasers I had with them and I got all mad and decided to play today some tourneys. Today (Tuesday) I played a $100, and the 2 big ones on PokerStars, the $150+12 and the $1000 Super Tuesday, I lost fast in the $100 and did pretty well in the other two, this is if the definition of doing well it's getting to the final 2 tables on both. I got 16th out of 313 in the $1000, and 15th out of 912 in the $150, my total winnings for such feat, just $3,686 !!, so close to the big money, once again, once again, yadayada ... I think I played pretty well on both, got lucky on the $150 and got unlucky on the $1000 (1st prize was 70K).
If I'm not mad by tomorrow I'll post some hands, the usual final hand badbeat ones, and some others with actual poker content. Meh, who am I kidding? Most probably I won't post nada, but it's nice to think I will do it.

Killed by horrible calls

I played my first tourney in like 2.5 months, the $300+20 Wednesday with a prize pool of almost $200K. I was cruising but then I was killed by these 2 hands:

Poker Stars, $300 + $20 NL Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 9 Players

UTG+1: 2,345
UTG+2: 3,520
Hero (MP1): 7,355
MP2: 4,608
CO: 2,630
BTN: 8,260
SB: 4,065
BB: 11,277
UTG: 7,786

Pre-Flop: (300) K A dealt to Hero (MP1)

2 folds, UTG+2 raises to 600, Hero raises to 2,200, MP2 calls 2,200, 5 folds

Flop: (5,300) 4 4 6 (2 Players)

Hero bets 2,600, MP2 calls 2,408 and is All-In

Turn: (10,116) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (10,116) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 10,116 Pot

Hero showed K A (two pair, Queens and Fours) and LOST (-4,608 NET)

MP2 showed 8 8 (two pair, Queens and Eights) and WON 10,116 (+5,508 NET)

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Mmmmmm, calling 50% of your stack preflop after a raise AND a reraise with 88?
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The second one:

Poker Stars, $300 + $20 NL Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 9 Players

BTN: 2,045
SB: 3,820
Hero (BB): 2,747
UTG: 10,116
UTG+1: 2,630
UTG+2: 7,560
MP1: 3,375
MP2: 11,867
CO: 7,686

Pre-Flop: (300) A 7 dealt to Hero (BB)

UTG calls 200, UTG+1 calls 200, 6 folds, Hero raises to 2,747 and is All-In, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 2,430 and is All-In

Flop: (5,560) 5 Q 4 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (5,560) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (5,560) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 5,560 Pot

Hero showed A 7 (high card Ace) and LOST (-2,630 NET)

UTG+1 showed A 8 (high card Ace) and WON 5,560 (+2,930 NET)

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Calling in EP with a semi-shortstack with A8d, and then calling the 14x all in, just in case your hand is good ??
_________________________________________________

Well, a warm welcome to donkaments, to be honest, I don't remember the field for the $300 being this bad, but that's a good thing, right?

Sunday Teasers

Doing all 2,3,4 on PHI,NYG,DET and MIA

Teasing these teams

I'm doing completely all 2,3,4 with BUF,SEA,GB,SD,DEN y HOU. Also doing some PIT.

Too many bets, and the problem is I have too many road teams, but I couldn't help it. Go teasers !!!!

And I couldn't bring myself to bet the Patriots, but I'm really excited for the Patriots-Colts game.

Lots of teasers, no tourneys at all and some cash games

This week I think I'm going to bet too many teasers on the NFL games, probably more than 40 bets, I know there are too many, but I think they have an edge and well, sports betting is all about finding a little edge here and there.

I haven't played a tourney probably since the Main Event of the WCOOP, really I don't even remember the last one I played, but I'm playing some cash games, I wouldn't say in a regular basis, but I put some hours some days of the week, I play 2-4,3-6 and 5-10 No Limit 6-handed, I'm doing well, probably variance is on my side, but I feel pretty comfortable with my 6-handed game. I just need to put more hours, so I can be rich, but I'm pretty lazy, well I guess it's more about lack of focus than laziness, I can't just concentrate for long periods.

I'm also solving a lot of Math Olympiad problems these days, I love them and I have always liked a good Math challenge.

Probably I'll post the teams I'm teasing this week, hopefully I won't lose my sports betting bankroll this week.