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    <title>Doylestown</title>
    <link>http://www.tworags.com</link>
    <description>Tworags.com - poker guide for serious poker players who play Texas Holdem and Other Poker Games</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <lastBuildDate>Sat, 05 Jul 08 20:03:53 -0400</lastBuildDate>
    
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      <title>Quick Update</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=2776]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Had a few minutes this morning so I decided to throw in a quick update. I wish there was more time to keep up with my blog but lately it’s been tough to find that free time. 

 [b]Taking a month off from live[/b] 

I’ve decided not to make a visit to Borgata this month for a couple of reasons. For one I really want to stick to the 4 session per week schedule thru the end of July that I made up for myself and going to Borgata would throw that off course. In addition, I’ll be taking a trip there in August and will probably spend too much time there in September as the WPT rolls into town.

 [b]Online Cash[/b] 

Haven’t discussed online cash much lately because I haven’t been playing much and it’s certainly been showing in my results. Save for a good start to the month of July (it’s double FPP week) 3 of the last 4 months have been overall losers, though thankfully none of them were horrible. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 08 11:01:30 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Borgata 1K Recap + Back to the Online Grind</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=2739]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Got back from Borgata on Sunday and can report that I completely stuck to the game plan I had set for myself. I had the family along and on the first night we added to the riches of Guy LaLiberte by taking in the Le Grand Cirque show at Harrahs. The show was great but the venue is rather antiquated. The sight lines are poor and the sound system is terrible. Unless somebody we have to see is in town it’s likely we’ll stick to the Borgata for future shows. 

I played a limited amount of $5/$10 NL cash over my 3-day stay and had another good trip. The Borgata 1K had a start time of 10AM on Friday. I wish all of their events would have the same start time but it isn’t likely to happen. Got settled in for what I hoped would be a long day. I wound up getting what I hoped for without the financial reward at the end. It was a 399 player field paying 36 spots. About 11 hours after the tournament began I was sent to the rail with approximately 52 players remaining, sigh. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 08 11:07:38 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>&quot;I'm as Determined as a MOFO&quot;</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=2672]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Well it’s been a while since I last updated. Apologies go out to my friends and family who actually read this to keep up with my poker happenings, and thanks for bugging me to update.

A month has passed since Shaun left so there’s plenty to catch you up on. The big cashes continued to elude me as I continually fell just short of final tables in large fields or made them being short stacked. Part of this was clearly my own fault and I’m working with Shaun on some ways to fix this. Beyond that this year as a whole has been so frustrating where my deep runs are concerned. I’ve been reviewing a lot of my tournament hand histories and I simply want to vomit at the card distribution that has been dealt to me pretty much all year. To further compound the agony have been the coolers and bad beats I’ve taken when getting it in with premiums at final tables as thousands upon thousands in equity got flushed down the drain. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Jun 08 10:14:06 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Hanging With Shaun + the Borgata 2K Deep Stack</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=2522]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[A week ago Friday I met up with Shaun at Borgata for what would be my first face to face coaching session. While I waited for him to arrive I churned some $5/$10 NL profits. Shaun navigated his way to AC a little late due to his GPS going haywire on him. We grabbed a quick bite and headed to the room to begin the nightly grind. The plan we discussed at dinner where Shaun would limit his tables to about 6 or so to allow us to really focus on the coaching aspect quickly went out the window. Shaun just can’t help himself, he’s a true blue “degen” and I mean that in a good way. Within a short time there were a gazillion miniature tables all over Shaun’s laptop. From 8PM until 3AM Shaun kept up the grind and continued coaching me as I tried to absorb it all. 

At some point past midnight we loaded one of my old hand histories into a replayer on my laptop and reviewed it in fine detail as Shaun continued to multi table (he’s clearly a savant). [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Sun, 11 May 08 14:37:17 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Welcome Aboard, Shaun ****ing Deeb</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=2388]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I love poker, the Tournament side of it that is, which comes as no surprise to those of you who are close to me or happen to read this blog. I’ve been playing for the better part of 4-5 years now and despite moderate success here and there I am firmly sitting on the frustrated side of variance. Not being one to rant and rave about luck, in print that is, lets just say that if this variance thing is supposed to even out I’m due a big time major heater.  

Now, being a self reflective person by nature, I spend a lot of time thinking about my game, specifically tournament poker. While I consider myself better than the average player in the world of MTT’s, I’m far, far, far away from the elite level and it’s time for me to try to find new ways to close that gap some. The desire to improve upon my skill set and thereby increase my bottom line has been building within me for quite some time. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 08 08:54:08 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Good Riddance March</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=2334]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[It wasn’t enough being sick for more than half the month, the Poker Gods also decided to kick me while I was down. 


 [b]Tournaments[/b] 

March was my worst month of tournament poker in a long, long while. The bad beats and coolers that began in full force with the start of 2008 reached epic levels in March. Dare I say (or pray) that things can only get better from here? In limited play without any significant cashes I dropped nearly 5K, barf. What I hoped would be a breakout year has had a pretty horrible start. Alas, help is on the way.


 [b]Cash[/b] 

I may be done with $1/$2. My last 5 online sessions have been at $2/$4 and I intend to try to remain there during the infrequent occasions I sit down for a cash session. I think it became really difficult to take $1/$2 seriously after playing a lot of $5/$10 and $10/$20 live at Borgata over the past few months. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 07 Apr 08 07:28:46 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Long Overdue Update</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=2208]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[The long and short of it is I got absolutely walloped by the Flu. Been over 2 weeks now and I’m still not completely recovered. It started a day and a half before I was supposed to leave for a 5 night vacation with my wife to Vegas. Needless to say the trip got cancelled as I was relegated to bed for nearly 10 straight days. Hopefully I’ll be back to 100% soon because being sick just sucks.   

 [b]February Recap[/b] 

Made a late month cash surge and erased the deficit turning it into a shallow gain. Donkaments were profitable to the tune of @ $3500 but another month passed without a big score. Live action netted me @ $1500 as per my last entry.

 [b]March[/b] 

Haven’t played all that much obviously. Cash games show me even in $1/$2 and ahead 3 buy ins at $2/$4 which I am becoming more and more comfortable playing. Tournaments on the other hand have just been torture. I’ve had so many big chances and simply couldn’t seal the deal 1 time. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 08 09:55:25 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Great Read Gone Bad</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1982]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Left early yesterday morning on what was supposed to be a 3-night stay at Borgata. After grabbing a quick bite I sat down at $5/$10 NL at around 1PM. We began 5-handed (yum yum) and I scooped a bunch of small early pots before the table filled. Our table was a must move and about a half hour later I get moved and take a seat directly to the right of my buddy Jack who happens to be one of my closest friends in the world. 

About an hour in at the main game I scoop a sweet $2700 pot with pocket KK. About a half hour later I scoop a $900 pot with AK (tptk) against a player who calls me down with A hi thinking I was bluffing I suppose. All is good in the world except I feel like I’ve been hit by a mack truck. I’d been up since 4AM and am really tired. On top of that my family is all under the weather and I’m mentally wondering if I was fortunate enough to escape it or if it was starting to hit me too? [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 08 11:31:35 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Mid February Update</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1928]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Sorry it’s been a couple of weeks since I last updated. Where to begin? 

 [b]Sports[/b] 

Well the first part of 2008 made it a good decade for us Giants fans. Hey it has all been talked about to death so I won’t attempt to wax poetic on it but man what a run! You guys saw the weekly struggles us real fans went thru with this team during the regular season which makes the playoff run so gratifying. 

I’ve been a Giants fan since before Simms joined the team. A couple of months ago I was talking with a friend who I only get to speak with a couple of times a year and he asked me if I wanted to buy his old Giants games on VHS which he taped himself. After some negotiation I struck a deal for the 1986 and 1990 seasons, almost in their entirety, sans a few regular season games. I’m pretty excited about it and now I want to find a way to transfer them all to DVD. What a blast it’ll be to re-watch those great old teams. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 08 09:24:55 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>January.....in the books</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1807]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[It was a sluggish start online in the New Year for both cash and tournaments. The Borgata excursion mid month proved lucrative thanks to my success at the $5/$10 cash tables. 

 [b]Cash Games[/b] 

Ended the month positive just shy of 5 buy ins. I played cash on 21 of January’s 31 days, a slow month for me. Ironically my hand volume was its highest ever. This is obviously attributable to added tables and at times, multiple daily sessions. I also attained Platinum status on Stars which was another minor goal I had set for myself after being a very casual Gold level player seemingly forever. 5 days into the New Year I was in a 12 buy in hole so pulling out a positive month feels just fine. I also mistakenly played a session of $2/$4 this month. Somehow I misread the lobby and next thing I knew I was playing 3 tables of $2/$4, lol. The session went fine, I profited about ¾ of a buy in.

 [b]Tournaments[/b] 

Meh. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 31 Jan 08 10:11:52 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Back Home From Borgata</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1761]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[The Borgata is a first class establishment. Their accommodations are superb, they have a great poker room and of course their tournaments are among the best in the world. Their tournament director Tab is as good as it gets.

All in all it was a trip of good fun, good food, good friends and good poker.

 [b]Cash Games[/b] 

I spent my time playing the $5 $10 NL game at Borgata when I wasn’t in a tournament. There are always a good number of tables at this limit compared to the $10 $20 NL game where at times there weren’t any games running. I had a really good run at the cash games this trip, the action was outstanding and because the WPT was in town the regulars weren’t as heavily stacked per table with so many extra tables running.   

 [b]WPT Tournaments[/b] 

I passed on the $300 opening event which drew an astounding 1650 players. I played the $500 on Wednesday and had a pathetic run of cards. Bluffs and steals kept me alive into the 5th hour of play. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 23 Jan 08 13:03:14 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Thank you, shaundeeb</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1708]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[ [b]Snapped the Skid - Tournaments[/b] 

Last post I mentioned how badly the year had started in both tournaments and cash. Really couldn’t have been much worse as I was 3-51 in tourney cashes with none significant. Things seem to be getting back to normal. I’ve played a couple of sessions since. I took 3rd (1300 runners) in a $10 10-minute donkathon a few nights ago for $1100+. Had the chip lead 4-handed with KK in the BB. Utg shoved with A8 and turned an A ugh……. Winning that pot would’ve given me over 1 million chips with less than 2 million chips in play 3-handed where I would’ve been a heavy favorite to take 1st place. 

Even though it wasn’t a huge cash it felt good to get the monkey off my back. Kudos to shaundeeb for expounding the virtues of mixing in some lower level stuff to keep the confidence levels up. It was a nice slump buster. Ironically Shaun mentioned liking this specific event. Shaun let me know where to send your cut. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Jan 08 09:11:19 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Heading to Borgata</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1694]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Reservations are set and I’ll be heading to Borgata next Tuesday morning with a return home Sunday to hopefully watch the Giants in the NFC Championship game (one can dream right?). Not yet sure if I’ll be able to make it back for the 2nd week of the WPT events, one step at a time. 

This should be another fun trip. My best friend who also happens to be my long time business partner is planning to arrive on Wednesday night and stay thru the weekend. In addition, a couple of other friends from the old home game I hosted will also be there during the week. I’m really looking forward to the trip.

Borgata runs a great tournament from top to bottom. I’ll likely skip the $300 event (donkfest) on Tuesday and get settled in. The rest of the week there will be a $500, $750, $1000 and a $1500. I’m currently wrestling with where to spend my time while I’m not in a tournament. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 08 12:50:42 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Back in the Groove</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1604]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I’ve been back from AC for a couple of weeks and have finally gotten back into the online groove. Here’s a quick summary of what’s been happening.

 [b]Cash Games[/b] 

First off it’s totally weird going from live $5/$10 & $10/$20 NL to online $1/$2 NL and vice versa. I’m pretty disciplined when it comes to managing myself when it comes to poker. For the foreseeable future I’ll remain at $1/$2 until I’m dead certain that I’m a solid winner in this game. I do feel like I’ve made serious strides towards that over the past couple of months and again I have to think that writing this blog and taking poker more seriously in  my life are in a large part responsible. Since I’m back home I’m about break even but there’s quite a caveat to that. I detoured to Full Tilt and had a disastrous 2 days at the cash tables about a week ago, dropping about 8 buy ins. So much for that experiment. On Stars I’ve been solidly grinding profits. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 29 Dec 07 14:12:04 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Atlantic City Recap Part 2 - WSOP Circuit FT Bubble</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1572]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[[b]WSOP Circuit Event[/b] 

After a long and successful cash day on Tuesday I woke up early Wednesday morning feeling good. After a quick detour down the corridor to Starbucks I headed to the Poker Room where I joined a $10/$20 NL game. My session was rather uneventful. After some room service and a shower I headed over to Harrah’s for WSOP Circuit event #5.

My goal for the day was just to play my best in every situation. The whole reason for the trip was to sharpen up my live game before Borgata’s WPT series next month so this was going to be my last shot at doing so. 

My first table was pretty tight and for the most part lacked action. Fortunately we were the first table in the room to break. I headed to my second table down a few hundred chips from the 5000 we started with. We were on the back half of the hour long 1st level. Table 2 had a broad range of players, several who I recognized and knew to be very good players. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 22 Dec 07 09:28:30 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Atlantic City Recap Part 1</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1526]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Well I’m back from Atlantic City and I have plenty of poker related issues dancing around in my head. Don’t think they’ll all fit in this writing so I’ll break things up a bit.

My original plans called for leaving early on Monday morning (reservations Monday thru Wednesday nights at Borgata). My friend offered me his room on Sunday night so I made the drive down to AC early Sunday morning. Had breakfast with my friend and settled in to watch the Giants play the Eagles in yet another sloppy football game that saw the Giants come out on top. Met up with my friend after the game and hung with him in the poker room for a couple of hours before heading to dinner. My friend took off after dinner and I was on my own.

Having not played live poker for 6 months this trip was completely about getting back into the groove and preparing me for the Borgata WPT series that begins in mid January.

Sunday night I spend about 4 hours playing in a $2/$5 NL donkfest and I drop $1000. Nice. The plan is to play the WSOP Circuit events at Harrah’s on Mon, Tues and Wed. so I head up to the room for a good nights sleep. Wake up way too early Monday morning and am bored so I head to the Poker Room with coffee in hand. The high limit room is dead so I sit down at $2/$5 NL again. About an hour in I’m ahead a negligible amount when a kid sits down and takes $200 out of his pocket. Dealer hands him 2 stacks of red and he moves them all in blind before receiving his cards. He gets called by K7o loses and repeats. Wash rinse repeat over and over again……….. Triples up on his 4th try and shoves $600+ in blind next hand and busts it. Next hand he’s back to $200 blind shoves………. Meanwhile I’m sitting a few seats behind him and hand after hand I can’t find a broadway card let alone 2. This process continues until half the table winds up all in on any given hand. This was the sickest $2/$5 game I’ve ever been in and as luck would have it I remained beyond card dead. After a while I become so frustrated I decide to pick up and leave.

 [b]Harrah’s WSOP Circuit Event 3[/b] 

After breakfast I head to Harrah’s to register for the Monday event. The process is smooth and quick. Say hello to a couple of friends before the tournament starts and then settle in for what I hope will be a long day. We start with $5000 chips and 1 hour levels. I chip up a tad in the 1st hour. Early in the 2nd hour ($50/$100 blinds) I badly misplay a hand that costs me half my stack. One thing I’ve always been pretty good at is “live tells”. I pick one up from an early position raiser, he’s STRONG, seriously STRONG. After his raise to $275 and a couple of calls I look down to see AQo in the big blind, ugh. I say to myself that I need to throw it away but my right hand won’t listen and calls, huh? I quickly check the AJ4 rainbow flop and the opening raiser leads out for $500. Folds back around to me and the battle between my brain and right hand continues. My right hand wins, I flick in the $500 chip. The turn is a 10. I say to myself there’s absolutely nothing I can beat here except pocket KK’s or QQ’s but I KNOW he won’t bet again with one of those hands. I check with the intention of folding to a bet. Villain bets $700 and my right hand decides that it’s worth chasing a gutter ball for only $700 more. Seriously if you could see what transpired between my head and hand you’d fall over laughing. I had no self control. The river’s a brick and I check again. Villain doesn’t hesitate and tosses a $1000 chip to the center. Fold, Fold, Fold…………….. my right hand calls. Villain flips over AK and I want to punch myself in the nose or at least sever my right hand. I mean really, what’s the matter with me??? 

Now short stacked I know I need to step on the gas and double up or leave. I have the button a couple of hands later and with a couple of limpers I find A8 and raise it up. The BB must’ve picked up on my “move” because he shoves all in with about the same sized stack as I have. I picked up on a little something too and snap call him. My A8 is ahead of his J10o. The 8 on the flop wasn’t necessary and I double up to the mid $4000’s. On my next button I pick up KJss. With a couple of limps and a sweetener raise to $275 from the cutoff I decide to flat call. The limpers come along for the ride and we see an AsQs9d flop, yummy. It checks around to me, really? Nobody has an A here? I fire $1500 thinking that I’ll take it down here but not minding if I get a customer. The opening limper who is the same villain from hand 1 raises enough to put me all in, everyone folds and it’s back to me, OK I call. He’s got A9 and I have a trillion outs and miss the entire world with my royal flush draw of spades, meh!!!

I head back to Borgata and have quite a talk with myself. Amateurs’ play that AQ hand the way I did, good players pick up tells and trust them while amateurs’ choose to ignore them. Amateurs’ exude no self control at the tables. I’m rusty, yes, but I’m no damn amateur! The trip has started off on the wrong foot and there is more rust in tow than I realized. 

I somehow willed myself to sleep, deciding that the cash tables were the wrong place for me at the moment. I woke up feeling a lot better, grabbed some dinner (Fatburger mmm mmm good) and headed for the high limit room, determined to play some good poker. I took a seat at $5/$10 NL and had a nice 7 hour winning session. 

Got a pretty good night’s sleep but woke up feeling sluggish on Tuesday. This live poker stuff is tiring. Breakfast didn’t help so I decided to just relax for a while and skip the WSOP Circuit event #4 at Harrah’s. Several years ago I couldn’t have made that decision. In my mind it’s that ability, being able to be honest with myself that has made me a better all around player. There was flat out no way I was going to be able to play 14 hours of solid tournament poker and I knew it. Despite feeling tired I knew I was completely back in control and ready to do some good things at the tables. Early afternoon I sat down for a winning 12 hour session that included time at both the $5/10 NL and $10/$20 NL tables. I played really well and felt really sharp. I was now completely focused and a different person than the guy who arrived on Sunday morning. 

I’ll pick up in part 2 with highlight’s of Harrah’s WSOP event #5.  

-Doyle-
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      <pubDate>Mon, 17 Dec 07 10:44:39 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Road Trip</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1453]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[ [b]Live Poker[/b] 

After some creative juggling I’ve found a way to get some time off and I’ll be using it to head down to Atlantic City next week. The WSOP Circuit is coming to town at Harrah’s. Since beggars can’t be choosers I’ll have to settle for some of the preliminary events as my schedule only allows me to get away the early part of the week and the 1K and Main Events don’t start until the latter part of the week. Maybe it’s for the best as I haven’t played any live poker in 6 months. My plan is to play a couple or three of the $500 events at Harrah’s and some NL cash at The Borgata where I’ll be staying during my trip. The structure for the $500 WSOP Circuit events is decent at best. They don’t hold a candle to what The Borgata offers structure wise when the WPT comes to town a couple of times a year. The Borgata WPT next heads this way in January so I’ll use this trip to shake off the rust and prepare me for some nice events next month. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 06 Dec 07 11:38:15 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>November Recap</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1418]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[[b]Cash Games:[/b] 

I just wrapped up my best month at the online cash tables since I began playing 6-max back in August. I wound up winning 17 buy ins for the month. I also crossed the 10,000 hand plateau for the first time in the 4 months I’ve been playing. 

I feel good about November’s results primarily because I feel good about my game. I’m confident that my cash game is in a better place today than it was when I started writing this blog back in October. I’ve continued to examine both my game and myself during this time. Doing so has helped me identify a couple of leaks, both in game play and in what I’m bringing to the table. I believe both have made a difference in my bottom line. 

One of my early concerns which I voiced in a prior writing of this blog was that the size of my winning days were being dwarfed when compared to the size of my losing days. I wrote that I felt strongly that it was an issue of variance. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Fri, 30 Nov 07 11:02:13 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Happy Thanksgiving</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1347]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Happy Thanksgiving

It’s been a week since my last update. As I mentioned last time I was facing an extremely busy week at work so poker had to take a back seat. In keeping with the theme of remaining consistent with this blog here we go:

Last we left off one of my friends was fighting for the chip lead at the Borgata 5K. Unfortunately he busted just before the money bubble. I really thought he was going to do some serious damage in this one but it wasn’t to be as day 3 was very unkind to him.

 [b]My Cash Game:[/b] 

I ended last week ahead 3+ buy ins. This week I’m stuck a bit more than a buy in. There are so many hands that I want to post but I’ll limit it to a couple. I also want to be conscious not to post only bad beat hands so here goes. Here’s a loss first, I swear its hands like these that keep me from being a “successful” cash game player. If I could just learn to be successful against the donks I'd be dangerous. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 20 Nov 07 11:16:30 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Several Topics Today</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1311]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I have plenty to talk about today. Also I want to thank you guys for your comments, keep them coming.

 [b]Borgata Deep Stack 5K[/b] 

One of my two friends busted very early on a day 2 cooler when his trips ran into the same trips but lost to a bigger kicker. My other friend, Eric Bankoff, had a fine Day 2 ending the session with a big 325K stack. They begin the day with 49 players left. 18 places pay. Keepin’ my fingers crossed……….

 [b]Quick Cash Update[/b] 

Sunday was good for a 3 buy in positive gain. I was wrapping up my early Monday morning session with a profit in tow when I flat called a raise from a tight UTG on the button w 76s. Sorry I’m typing this out, can’t seem to locate the hand in my files to use the converter. The BB who is a bluffing LAG type completes and we see a suited flop of J76. BB cks, UTG bets out and I raise. BB reraises and UTG folds. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 07 10:56:18 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>End Of Week Update</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1295]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Just wrapped up an early morning cash session in what was likely an end to the week for me. The last 3 days totaled to a loss of ¾ of a buy in. My week ending cash total was + 5 ½ buy ins which is just fine considering the small volume I put in. 

On the tournament front just as I had done on Wednesday, I took Friday afternoon off and began loading up tournaments on both Stars and Tilt. I played 7 events in all and somehow managed to whiff despite having a chip lead or top 2-3 stack in 3 of the 7 tournaments, including the Stars 50K and the Stars $50 Rebuy. Everything felt great while I was playing. I’ve been experimenting with some new tournament ideas and I’m pleased with the early results.

Over time I’ve become much better, albeit not perfect at ignoring the day to day results in MTT’s. I’m of the belief that if I play well and make good decisions the good results I’m looking for will eventually follow. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 10 Nov 07 09:18:36 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>I Got What I Wanted</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1285]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I got what I wanted in more ways than one………

Last I wrote I had identified a couple of “leaks” in my game for lack of a better term, when looking back at my 3 months of data while playing 6-Max cash. One of the problems I identified had to do with variance, or so I still believe. Most of my sessions are typically an hour or less due to time constraints, there is nothing I can do about those and for the most part they have been pretty consistent with either a small win or a small loss as would be expected. The sessions where I was able to extend beyond that in length had a similar disturbing pattern. Either they would go bad early on and a big loss would ensue, or, I would be ahead a couple or three buy ins and would wind up giving much of it back instead of compounding a win. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 08 Nov 07 09:27:23 -0500</pubDate>
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      <title>3 Month Cash Game Overview</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1240]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[After this weeks horrific start I strung together 4 moderate winning days which somewhat lessened the damage. 

Wednesday + 1 ½ buy ins
Thursday + 1 buy in
Friday + 1 buy in
Saturday + ¾ buy in

I spent very little time playing this week but am pleased I was able to get back on track in such a limited amount of hands. While cash games aren’t a major part of my long term poker goals, I would still prefer being more successful at them than I presently am.

One major “leak” over my first 3 months at the 6-max tables is easily identifiable. This isn’t a leak in how I play a certain hand but rather an overview of my results after what I consider a fairly reasonable time frame. After looking at my daily results I see that my biggest winning day has been for ~ 4 buy ins. I already have 4 losing days that equal or exceed that with my worst coming a week ago of ~ 10 buy ins. 

From August thru October I played a total of 77 days. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 03 Nov 07 07:25:06 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Oh How I Miss The Pain</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1217]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Last week came to an end on a positive note with Saturday netting me + 2 ½ buy ins for a total of + 7 for the week. Unfortunately that’s where the good news comes crashing to a halt. 

This week is off to a poor start as I’m down ~ 12 buy ins. Sunday was a horrific day in which I dropped a total of 10 buy ins over 3 different sessions throughout the day. To make matters worse I was railing BadgerPro on Sunday night who was poised to do some serious damage in a couple of donkaments only to have things go horribly wrong right in front of my eyes. It was just a bad Poker day all around.

Reflecting back on my Sunday sessions I didn’t tilt and my game was solid start to finish. It was just one of those days where everything went wrong. Here’s a hand from Sunday which should better illustrate my point:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (6 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

Button ($199.80)
SB ($83.8 [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 30 Oct 07 17:46:07 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Some Thoughts For Us Lower Volume Players</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1196]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Still no tourneys for me this week though I’ve been reading and thinking plenty about them. I've been continuing to play cash on a daily basis. I've continued to build on what was already a solid week. Last I left off I was ahead slightly more than 3 buy ins for the week.

Thursday + 1 buy in
Friday + 1/3 buy in

With Thursday and Friday in the books I'm ahead 4 ½ buy ins heading into today, the final day of the week. 

I’ve been very happy with my game lately. I feel I’m concentrating better and making proper decisions more often than I’m not which is all that I can ask of myself.  

The reality for those of us who don’t put in major volume each week is that our short term results are more highly influenced by the fate of the cards as we don’t have the benefit of speeding up the big ‘V’ (variance). This may be one of the most important things for me to keep up front as a poker player. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 27 Oct 07 07:22:27 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Mid Week Update</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1173]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Sunday came and it was back to the cash tables. I’ve had a solid start to the week. 

Sunday + 2/3 buy in
Monday + 1 ½ buy ins
Tuesday + 1 1/3 buy ins
Wednesday – 1/3 buy in.

I’m ahead about 3 buy ins thus far this week which is nice considering the limited time I actually devote to playing. 

I’ve been really itching to play live, something I haven’t done since June when I spent a week or so at Borgata for their Summer Open. If you weren’t aware the Borgata introduced a newly structured $5,000 Main Event at this years’ Summer Open. The structure ranks as one of the best of all time, with slowly moving rounds and blinds scheduled over 4 days with a 50K starting chip stack. It was the first Main Event I ever bought into. Things didn’t go well for me but that’s a story for another day.

Borgata is running their 2nd ever mega stacked $5K Main Event in November. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 25 Oct 07 05:35:38 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Recent Poker History</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1136]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[First of all, thanks to everyone for the warm welcome to TwoRags.com

I’m not yet certain how I’ll be using this blog. For now I want to just briefly recap the last few months of my poker life. As I indicated in my hello post I’m regularly a MTT player, it being my game of choice. Around the 2nd week of August I had a change in my life schedule which impacted my ability to devote time to poker. This happens to me on occasion throughout the year and normally I’ll just take a break from the game until things clear up and I have time to play MTT’s again. In August I decided to do something different. I decided to find some time each day to play but for me this meant having to play cash as time wouldn’t allow for multis. 

After dabbling in online full ring cash on rare occasions over the past year or two without meaningful success I decided to switch to 6-max and give it a try. In case anybody cares I’m playing $1/$2 NL. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 22 Oct 07 14:10:49 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Hello Everybody - First Post</title>
      <link><![CDATA[http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=blogs&todo=view&ID=1127]]></link>
      <author>admin@tworags.com (Doylestown)</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hello everybody. I decided to start this blog mainly as a motivational tool for myself. It wasn't difficult to choose TwoRags.com as the place to host my blog. After looking around a bit I noticed that a couple of my teammates from the 2+2 2006 MTTC were blogging here (our Team Capt. BadgerPro & Pechorin). In addition a couple other Team Captains that I played the challenge with and whose games I respect alot are blogging here as well (shaundeeb and A_Junglen). As well there are a number of other 2+2ers who I also have a great deal of respect for that blog here including Adanthar, nath, Bond etc.... If I left your name off it wasn't intentional, I've only been here a couple of days and haven't seen every blog that's hosted here.

So with that said I hope to use this blog as a place to hold myself accountable and to keep me motivated to play well. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]]]></description>
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      <pubDate>Sun, 21 Oct 07 09:22:08 -0400</pubDate>
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