I haven't posted in awhile because I came to the realization "Who really gives a crap what I have to say?" I talked to Dante and he reeled me back in a little. I originally was going to talk about my trip to Mexico City or my recent 5th place screw up in the Cake 100k but settled on an event from today.

The following is a true story:

As many other members at cardrunners I applied for the Taylor Caby protege contest. I've been checking his blog and the forums daily to see if the winners have been announced. All of this is having an effect on my subconscious as I had a dream about it.

In the dream I was hanging out with Taylor drinking some beer and he was introducing me to a bunch of different people. Many of his friends said, "You must be Jeremy" which led me to believe in my dream that I was one of the winners. A gambling game started up where everyone received one card face up and the buyin was $1000. Although out of my price range I forked it over since I would be making some money once the lessons started. I lost.

At one point everyone was talking about where to go out that night and I looked down and noticed that I was wearing warmup pants and a t-shirt and needed to change. Next thing I know I'm in different clothes and everyone was getting ready to go out. There was one taxi and everyone wouldn't fit. Taylor says, "Hey man, It was nice hanging out with you...see you later" and proceeds to get in the car leaving me standing outside. Humiliated I yelled "F@#! you guys!" and began to walk home.

"Oh, we didn't know you wanted to go...come on"

"Screw you bastards" and I walked home which happened to be on the corner. My place was above a strip mall with a food court where I saw a girl crying that I used to mess around with years ago. Suave as can be I said "You want to come upstairs and talk?" She followed me up the stairs and as I led her into my place.....

my damn alarm goes off! No joke. I'm humiliated in a dream and I can't even make it better by getting a little.

Hopefully I can't foresee the future even though I am the Swami. I want to win that damn contest.

I'm extremely upset at how I ended this tournament. I was 2nd in chips with 15 left when the hand below happened. I was in a good situation in this tourney and only had to really worry about 3-4 players...Adanthar being one of them. I did not think through the hand properly and instacalled on the turn. Part of this is to vent because the few people I talked to at work don't understand my blunder. They just say "Holy crap, you won $5500" I'm a teacher and that's a season of coaching a 3-4 month sport for them that I made in one night...they don't get beyond that.

Full Tilt (6 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: 2+2 Forums)

Seat 2: MP (1,886,861)
Seat 7: Hero BB (1,317,097)


Preflop: Hero is SB with J, J. Hero posts a blind of 50000.
2 folds, MP raises 100,000, 2 folds, Hero (poster) raises 325,000, MP calls.

Flop: T, 2, 8 (2 players) pot 686,000
Hero bets 500,000, MP raises 1,000,000, Hero calls 486097 (All-In).

Turn: 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)
MP showed 8 8 and won (2,658,194) with three of a kind, Eights

Final Pot:


This isn't a bad beat post. He flopped a great hand but I did not analyze the flop like I should have. Once I reraised his minraise and he just called I can pretty much rule out KK+ from this type of player. He raised my flop bet and my dumbass instacalled without thinking...that's just poor. Hit the damn time button, talk out loud to yourself like you had been doing the whole tournament, don't act like a fing donk and instacall because you have an overpair to the board. There were no straight or flush draws and I was one of the only stacks that could put a dent in him so there is no way he's raising this spot without a set or the off chance he called preflop with kings or aces.

I still would have had a manageable stack if I folded (M=5)...especially with the players that were left. This isn't a post to advise "fold if you're beat" because I didn't know where I was at in the hand. That's the problem with this whole hand. My advice is to TAKE YOUR TIME. Think through the hand carefully...there is a lot of money at stake. I don't play in enough tourneys to be in these situations that often so fing up this prime opportunity really hurts.

My parents live out of state and so do one of my good friends parents, so for the past 2 years we've made a turkey, drank beer and watched football. Here's this year's turkey...

Turkey

Luckily we had a backup plan.

How do you embed videos?

I was playing very well in this tourney and self destructed. With 190 or so left I was in the top 20 with a 95k stack. My table was playing very tight near the bubble so I took advantage and was raising a ton and when the bubble broke I had 130k and was in 8th. I went card dead for awhile until:

Blinds 1700/3400 a400

Hero 95K on button
20/7 Villain 40k UTG limps
Everyone folds to me and I raise to 11,000 with 5 5 and he calls.
K 8 7
Villain checks
What can he have here? He's put in 1/4 of his stack. I assumed something like 33-JJ I discounted QQ+, AK as I would expect a reraise preflop.
He has 29k left and the pot is 30k. I bet pot and he instacalled with QQ. Interesting way to play the ladies.


A few hands later I was in the BB with A10o with 53k. New player to table is in the small blind with 100k and limps in after everyone else folds. My M=6 after the blinds and they were shortly moving to 1000/2000 so I shoved. He calls with AKs. Game over. 95th He ended up winning the whole thing.

It was disappointing because I felt I had an advantage over everyone at my table. Til next time!!!!
I was also going to play in the main event but was way too tired.

I haven't posted in awhile because I haven't played that much poker recently. On Sunday I got the itch to play in a tournament and was going to play the $300 FTOPS tourney. During the first few hands of a satellite I got in a mini argument with my girlfriend...enough of an argument where we needed to talk right away :) so I shoved with some crap hand and we had our little talk.

So since I didn't play on Sunday I entered the $1000 buyin tournament through a $200 sat. I took a nap when I got home from work and was giving a test the next day so I felt ready to play. Below are a few hands that I'd like some input on. I'll give any needed info first and then explain my thought process afterwards. I'd really like some input on hands #6 and 8.


Hand #1 The villain has been pretty straight forward thus far.

Hand#1

He raised from EP, called my rr and check called the flop. I thought 77-1010 and AK were most likely. I didn't see any other hand with a nine getting here. I didn't bet the turn because the range I put him on hit all of this. I didn't bet the river either because I didn't see him calling with anything that I had beat. He ended up having the one hand that might have called a bet.


Hand #2 The villain was playing tight. 8/4

Hand#2

His river raise seemed like 2 pair or a flopped straight and I didn't know how much of a raise he would call. He had about 4000 left so I raised a little less than half. Bigger raise?



Hand #3 At table for 1 orbit. Both opponents had been active.

Hand#3

Fold? I know this was a fold but it was tempting. In that 1 orbit the villain had reraised twice already which made me consider taking my chances for 20% of my stack. What range of hands should I push with?


Hand #4 The first raiser was Lynette Chan and she was playing 36/36. The caller had a big stack and was calling everything.

Hand#4

I thought this was a good time for a reraise and anything else but a shove left me nothing to bet the flop. Hello pretty ladies!!



Hand #5 The villain is Lynette again. She was playing very aggro 36/36 and we're on the bubble. 216 get paid, 250 or so left. She had been reraising frequently.

Hand#5

Bad shove? I called preflop assuming there was a good chance that Chan would shove and I intended on calling if badestchic folded. I thought Chan's range was very wide here and once she reraises I know she's not folding to my push. Normally I would reraise dabadestchic but I had already done so a couple of times recently.


Hand #6 Villain was very active 25/23

Hand #6

I flat called the reraise hoping to trap as the villain had been very active. I thought for sure that he would bet the flop as he had been and all of his reraising hands got there on the turn. AA, AK, QQ, JJ
My small turn call was more out of frustration than anything else. He most likely had QQ or JJ. I may have actually saved money on this hand as I would have been allin vs many other players preflop.


Hand #7 My bustout hand.

Hand#7

This was one of the first hands after the break and I was finishing up an email so I didn't evaluate the hand like I should have. The first raiser's range is very wide as he's pushed twice with some crap so I was really only concerned with badestchic. My M was 5 and I said "Screw it" and pushed. In retrospect Dabadestchic's flat call looks suspicious as I assume she would isolate with many hands. I'm not sure about this one with two players in the pot already.


Don't hold back with your comments.

After talking with Edmond tonight I figured I would write an entry. Poker is a side venture for me and one of the main things I'd like to spend my winnings on is traveling. I've been doing fairly well recently and decided I would fork over the money for my girlfriend and myself to take a trip over my Christmas break. I've always wanted to spend New Year's in another country and thought I might as well do it this year. We decided on Mexico...specifically the Mexico City and Oaxaca areas. I'm not a huge beach fan and would much rather see sites and culture. I like the beach but not for multiple days in a row. We've booked the flight and are still working out things to do, places to stay, eat, etc. If you have any suggestions please post them. We'll be there for 10 days.

I was pretty excited about Mexico and then dropped my biggest loss ever today...$1700. I'm not going to lie...I felt a little sick about it. At 3/6 the villain floated his A2s on a 943 rainbow board against my KK. I hit a K and then he hit a 5. I was upset but actually proud of myself for not tilting. This hand would have put me extremely close to my roll for 5/10.

Then I lost my stack again on a 4-outer river and the tilting started to begin, leading to a bluff on my part against the same villain from the first hand. He called down with some crap but I had nothing. The last one is a great example of knowing your opponent and playing when on tilt. Based on my other hands with him, I should have known that I shouldn't bluff him because he calls down light. So $500 of the $1700 is my fault. It's tough to grind and grind away and then lose your weeks of winnings, but I suppose that is the nature of the game.

I'm going to add some hands as I go...hopefully it will help me play better after my idiotic play I just made :)

I'm the chip leader on button with QJ
CO who's been fairly active limping or raising 70% of hands raises to 1000 at 150/300
I cold call and see a T 4 5 flop. He bets 1200 leaving himself around 3000. I shove like a monkey for 1/4 of my stack. Really? Did I just do that? He calls with QQ. This is bad on so many levels there's no reason to discuss it.


Bubble is ready to burst and I get K Q in mp and raise to 2500 at 500/1000 ante 100 and get 2 callers
flop 4 7 K
I bet 6000 into 9000 pot and second caller with 14k behind shoves. My king is probably good as he's likely on a draw and I called 8000 more and I hold up to his A Q .
We're on the bubble and his shove could be anything. I got lucky to survive the flip. Stack now 45k

Moved to a new table. Avg stack for tourney 25k...everyone at table has at least 40k :(
Getting some terrible cards and big stack to my right is raising a ton.


800/1600 MP player has been shoving every other hand but decides to fold this time when I have AA in the SB. Next hand big stack to my right raises to 4500 and I reraise with AQ on the button to 13,000 and he folds. Very next hand mp limps and I rr with 77. He calls and flop is Q 10 J.
He checks and even though this flop is scary as hell he has to be scared of AK and likely has a med pair so I bet 2/3 flop and he folds after thinking for awhile. Stack 62k



1000/2000 a200 Folded for a bunch of orbits. MP 25K stack raises to 6000. He has been raising or shoving a bunch to get his stack here. I call in bb with K J flop 36J rainbow...I check he bets 8000...I put him in and he calls with 88. I think I fold preflop to many players...not sure if correct or not...stack 89k
Big stack who was in 2nd is knocked out after playing like a dumbass...raising 73s ep and betting huge on flop. Then he shoved on an A flop with tens. His two opponents in those hands are the chipleaders now. I barely won anything off him. I need to switch tables :)



1500/3000 a300 2nd in chips minr and I repop to 18000 with 33 and he calls
flop is 3 2 5 He checks and I bet 2/3 pot hoping he looks me up with draw or med pair....he folds. I don't think he's betting the turn if I check.
Two hands later 10k short stack pushes and I isolate with 1010. I hit set but he sucks out with 4 flush A J
stack 101k



2000/4000 a400 Folding a bunch. MP player raises 4x leaving himself around 40K
I've been playing tight and shove (rr puts him in anyways) with AJs in the bb. He thinks for a long time and calls with 99 and I miss with overs and flush draw on turn. I thought for sure he would fold a medium pair....he said he almost did...o well. I was 9th in chips with an M of 10 and winning that hand would put me in 3rd. Stack 40k pushbot time



2500/5000 a500 Shove fest going on. Don't think 24o is good :)
I shoved with T2o from button with M of 2.5 into stacks that were my size and got called by AQo by sb. Bye bye
22nd $500 profit $350
Probably would have won more playing cash games but felt like playing a tourney.

Feel free to comment on any of the hands.

It's amazing to me that Absolute Poker is still running commercials on ESPN but the one I just saw has so much more meaning now. It shows a guy on his laptop at work (cubicle) with coworkers around cheering him on. I started laughing my ass off. They must have taken some real footage from the Absolute offices.

Poker Update
I'm taking a small break from poker...a few days. I was running crazy and felt like I was evaluating almost every situation correctly. Then I got too confident and noticed that I was making stupid ass decisions...ones that I would never make. Luckily I know when to stop.

I've been running pretty well lately until an $800 loss today but I thought I'd post a couple of my losing hands which I thought were played fine.


FullTiltPoker Game #3911937945: Table Trails End (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:32:40 ET - 2025/10/20
Seat 1: ericberen ($541.50)
Seat 2: Swami54 ($422)
Seat 3: Voronin ($147.20)
Seat 4: FAST4DOOR ($535.10)
Seat 5: bootleg-left ($521.70)
Seat 6: OsUBrutuss ($400)
Voronin posts the small blind of $2
FAST4DOOR posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Swami54 [4c 4h]
bootleg-left folds
OsUBrutuss folds
ericberen raises to $14
Swami54 calls $14
Voronin folds
FAST4DOOR folds
*** FLOP *** [6s 7s 6h]
ericberen bets $24
Swami54 calls $24
*** TURN *** [6s 7s 6h] [Qh]
ericberen has 15 seconds left to act
ericberen checks
Swami54 bets $60
ericberen has 15 seconds left to act
ericberen has requested TIME
ericberen calls $60
*** RIVER *** [6s 7s 6h Qh] [2d]
ericberen checks
Swami54 bets $150
ericberen has 15 seconds left to act
ericberen has requested TIME
ericberen calls $150
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Swami54 shows [4c 4h] two pair, Sixes and Fours
ericberen shows [5h 5d] two pair, Sixes and Fives
ericberen wins the pot ($499) with two pair, Sixes and Fives


I will sometimes rr pre but cold called this time because he had been cbetting any flop and I thought I could take him off a hand on certain flops. I liked the flop and he had only been firing 2 streets when he had the goods so I floated. His call on the turn seemed like a draw and his river check seemed very weak so I fired again. He took a long time to call and must have put me on a draw. Good call for him.


FullTiltPoker Game #3912032766: Table Beeline (6 max) - $3/$6 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:47:38 ET - 2025/10/20
Seat 1: JulienFR ($2,081.05)
Seat 2: Dieselduck ($149.25)
Seat 3: Miscela ($625.80)
Seat 4: Rocky99 ($897.40)
Seat 5: dean06 ($628.65)
Seat 6: Swami54 ($615.75)
Swami54 posts the small blind of $3
JulienFR posts the big blind of $6
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Swami54 [Kd Ad]
Dieselduck raises to $15
Miscela folds
Rocky99 folds
dean06 folds
Swami54 raises to $50
JulienFR folds
Dieselduck calls $35
*** FLOP *** [Ac 2d Th]
Swami54 checks
Dieselduck checks
*** TURN *** [Ac 2d Th] [6c]
Swami54 checks
Dieselduck has 15 seconds left to act
Dieselduck bets $28
Swami54 calls $28
*** RIVER *** [Ac 2d Th 6c] [Qs]
Swami54 bets $162
Dieselduck calls $71.25, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $90.75 returned to Swami54
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Swami54 shows [Kd Ad] a pair of Aces
Dieselduck shows [Kh Jh] a straight, Ace high
Dieselduck wins the pot ($301.50) with a straight, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $304.50 | Rake $3
Board: [Ac 2d Th 6c Qs]
Seat 1: JulienFR (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Dieselduck showed [Kh Jh] and won ($301.50) with a straight, Ace high
Seat 3: Miscela didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Rocky99 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: dean06 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Swami54 (small blind) showed [Kd Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces

I suppose I somewhat screwed this hand up but this guy was playing fast and I felt he was getting all in no matter what he had with his short stack after he called my rr so I tried to make it look like I didn't have an ace.



I actually played very poorly on many other hands today. I've been running so well that I was playing too many hands. I guess 6 tabling last night while slightly inebriated doesn't help either :)

"I've reset my goals from winning...to finishing ahead of Swami....to surviving long enough to post an ante." - EdmondDantes

I won the tworags championship...lol. I think Dante and I were the only ones who entered. He was getting some terrible cards and lost a big chunk of his stack with A6 vs 77 on a 667 flop. I took advantage of the weak play early to have 3x my original stack and then misplayed AK twice! It was so bad I don't even want to post the hand.

I stacked back up with some resteals and won AQ vs JJ. My bustout hand was bad. I had QQ in the BB. The tight utg raised 4x and everyone folded to me. At 1500/3000 ante 300, his stack was 200,000 and mine was 85,000. The 4x raise made me believe it was a scared JJ or AK so I thought I would call and see how he reacts. The flop came K 4 2 and I checked. He bet 1/2 pot and I should have folded but my dumb ass reraised. He had AK. Stupid, stupid, stupid.


I also played the 100K guarantee on Bodog and was reminded why I'm starting to lean extremely towards cash games. There was a LP raiser and I had AA in the BB. A few hands earlier he raised UTG+1 and I called in mp with KK because the guy in the blinds was playing crazy and reraising pots with a bunch of callers. Only original raiser and I saw a K 5 3. He bet 2/3 pot and I called. Turn was 8 and he bet 1/2 pot. I reraised 3x and he folded bitching that he had QQ. I reraised him a couple of times after that and he was getting pissed :)

Back to the AA hand. Blinds 75/150 His stack was 3000 and he raised 450. My stack was 10,000 I reraised to 1300 and he called. Q 3 2 Since I had been pushing him around, I shoved knowing he would call with any pair and a Q and he called with 24o. Hello chiplead!!! Oh wait....4 on the river. At least I still had a decent stack.

I eventually busted later when my AK was reraised by a LAG and I shoved. His AQ hit two pair. Oh well. Variance is a bitch.