Swami54's blog

You got to know

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Tue, 06 May 08 13:28:53 -0400

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away I was tired and was going to quit but decided to play a few more orbits after midnight...what a mistake. It's definitely been a theme for me lately so I thought posting might make me think twice next time :) The hands after midnight were atrocious...completely my fault...no suckouts. [img]http://www.cardrunners.com/images/image/1(13).jpg[/img]

Sit to the LEFT!

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Wed, 02 Apr 08 03:14:24 -0400

I won about $1000 tonight and decided to sit in a juicy 5/10 game. There was a guy limping, raising and reraising with a wide range of hands. He was calling down with any pair and bluffing missed draws. The only seat open was one to his right so I gave it a shot...bad idea. I can't stress how important it is to be to the left of a player like this...you can dominate him. My KK ran into his AQ in a blind battle and I lost a good chunk of my winnings. I sat down because I knew I was much better than him. I left and waited 2 hrs to try and sit in better position but noone would leave. He ended up getting up to around $3000 and lost all of it to...... the two guys to his left. edit: When I went to bed the guy immediately to his left had won $4500 off him. Ahhh position.

Wii Coaching

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Thu, 27 Mar 08 21:59:15 -0400

I've asked a couple of people if they were interested in doing some coaching. I've been reading their forum posts and blogs and thought they did an excellent job in their analysis of hands. If all goes well I'll keep people posted on the ins and outs of coaching and how it all works. I had been doing very well in poker recently until today :( I lost the most ever for me in one day...$1500. Although I'm slightly upset, I played all of the hands correctly (I think) except one. I was a favorite in most of the hands and got sucked out on...what can you do? I also bought a Wii. Yay for me, I have a Wii! To tell you the truth I feel a little...well you know...for buying one but whatever. I had won some money and wanted to treat myself to something so I made an impulse buy. My gf is happy.

The Invincible Toilet

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Mon, 10 Mar 08 19:24:49 -0400

I've thought about this before but Bond's recent post about SCTrojans quitting poker due to high volume play and burnout made me think about it again. How the hell do you tourney pros play 6-10 tables at a time and find time to eat and more importantly take a dump? I'll play 3-4 at a time and you'll often find me sprinting up to the bathroom during the break or if I'm in early position on most of the tables. It's ridiculous! The other day I got back to the computer and I had folded KK and two players pushed preflop with medium pairs. I used to take the laptop into the bathroom with me which is pretty pathetic. My laptop broke though or else I'm sure I would still squat and play. I've been told that I poop more than the average man so maybe it's just me :) [img]http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~elmer/simpsons/homer/toiletchair.jpg[/img] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Son of a

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Wed, 05 Mar 08 17:38:53 -0500

I didn't win the protege contest Q@$%!@#$%@#$^@#$^@#^@#$^@#

Proteges and Coaching

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Fri, 29 Feb 08 16:36:09 -0500

I mentioned before that I applied for Taylor Caby’s protégé contest and I was thinking last night about what my realistic chances are of winning. My few paragraphs would have to stand out from everyone elses and I’m not sure if I did that. I’m sure much of my responses were just as generic as the rest. The one original thing I did do was cancel my membership and then rejoin a week later so that I could enter the smaller pool of contestants filled with new signees. Then I started thinking about why I want it so badly. The obvious choice would be money but it’s much deeper than that for me. It’s for freedom. I can hear Mel Gibson screaming it out right now…FREEDOM!!!! I have a full time job and have no inclination to quit that job for a poker lifestyle. I don’t make a ton of money but I live comfortably. The extra money I make from poker gives me the freedom to do what I could not with my normal income. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Rebuy or Musical Chairs?

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Sun, 10 Feb 08 20:18:37 -0500

Last Friday I was bored and entered a satellite for the FTOPS $100 rebuy. At the time I didn't even know it was a rebuy tourney :) I was in one of those moods where I felt like playing and entered one of the first satellites I saw. Obviously I won a seat. The tournament was Saturday and the field was extremely weak. Many of the players did not initially double their stack and some even quit after their first stack was gone. The tournament was interesting because I must have changed tables 9-10 times and had to get a feel for the dynamic at each new table and adjust my play. I would finally get a good feel and then I would move again. Sometimes I would curse for moving and other times I would say a quick prayer to the poker gods for moving me. It actually made me pay attention a lot more because I had to change gears so often. The worst table change came when I had a decent stack and the two chip leaders in the tourney were directly to my left. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Swami's back and he has a dream

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Thu, 24 Jan 08 16:43:00 -0500

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. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Full Tilt 750K gtd What not to do

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Mon, 26 Nov 07 18:15:58 -0500

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) [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-FullTilt.php#converter]Full Tilt[/url] Converter Tool from [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com]FlopTurnRiver.com[/url] (Format: 2+2 Forums) Seat 2: MP (1,886,861) Seat 7: Hero BB (1,317,097) [b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is SB with J:club:, J:spade:. Hero posts a blind of 50000. [color:#666666][i]2 folds[/i][/color] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

My Thanksgiving

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Sat, 24 Nov 07 11:55:59 -0500

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... [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf-TzF2rqHQ]Turkey[/url] Luckily we had a backup plan. How do you embed videos?

FTOPS #15 I blow

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Mon, 19 Nov 07 17:33:02 -0500

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[d] 5[s] and he calls. K [s] 8[h] 7[h] 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. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

FTOPS #8 $1000 buyin

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Wed, 14 Nov 07 21:04:53 -0500

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. [b]I'd really like some input on hands #6 and 8.[/b] [b]Hand #1[/b] The villain has been pretty straight forward thus far. [url=http://www.pokerhand.org/?1699693]Hand#1[/url] He raised from EP, called my rr and check called the flop. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Mexico or Bust!!!

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Wed, 31 Oct 07 19:36:33 -0400

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. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

$50 Cake rebuy

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Sun, 28 Oct 07 20:37:22 -0400

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 Q[d]J[d] 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[h] 4[c] 5[c] 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[h] Q[d] in mp and raise to 2500 at 500/1000 ante 100 and get 2 callers flop 4[c] 7[c] K[c] 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[c] Q[h] . 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... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Absolute poker commercial

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Tue, 23 Oct 07 17:41:18 -0400

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. [b]Poker Update[/b] 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.

A few hands

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Sat, 20 Oct 07 09:05:47 -0400

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 - 2007/10/20 Seat 1: ericberen ($541.50) Seat 2: Swami54 ($422) Seat 3: Voronin ($147.20) Seat 4: FAST4DOOR ($535.10) Seat 5: bootleg-left ($521. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Dantes 928th, Swami 139th...Winner!!!!!

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Sun, 14 Oct 07 16:42:13 -0400

"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. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Blog championship

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Sat, 13 Oct 07 11:07:46 -0400

Well...we'll see if this works because the requirement is to have a blog for a minimum of 2 months. I'm exactly at 2 months to the day tomorrow.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7258088

Go Bosox!!!

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Mon, 08 Oct 07 19:57:35 -0400

I've been trying to watch the Yankees lose tonight but the TBS feed keeps messing up so it makes it nearly impossible to watch. I figured I would make an update since I haven't in awhile. Sports are actually screwing with my poker playing time. Playoff baseball is fun to watch and Sundays is football time so I haven't played too much...which is ok. The nice thing about poker is being able to play when I feel like it. I can't imagine having to do it for a living. Nath seems really down about his play of late and it's taking a toll on his mental health. You'll get out of the funk Nath. Everyone says that if you want to make good money playing poker stick to cash games. Yet there are sooooo many people killing the online tournaments that I feel I'm missing out. My schedule right now suits cash games as I can only play for a few hours at a time but if I had more time I wonder what the best avenue to take would be? [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Vacuuming WHILE playing poker

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Sun, 30 Sep 07 09:51:55 -0400

So why the title of this post? I was actually vacuuming while playing poker the other day. First of all let me just say that I am a lazy ass and hate to do stupid chores when I would love to be doing something else. I think we work way too damn much as a society. Most people work a standard 9 to 5 (most times more) with an average commute time in a large city of around 30 min. You get home, unwind a bit, and then have to make yourself some dinner. By that time it's around 7:00-7:30 and you have about 2-3 hours to yourself. I'm a teacher so on many nights I'm grading papers while watching random television. On the weekends a variety of stuff usually has to get done: grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, etc. Throw kids in the mix (which I don't have) and you have no time to do the things you want to. Due to all this nonsense I try to eliminate as much of this crap out of my life as possible. I bought a townhouse so that I wouldn't have to mow the lawn or shovel any snow. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Tourney Time!! Input on last hand

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Thu, 27 Sep 07 17:51:59 -0400

I haven't played any tournies in awhile because I really don't have the 5-6 hours of time it takes to dedicate to playing one during the week. I got home from work the other night and took a nice hour and a half nap and was refreshed and ready to go for some tournaments. I entered the 25K on Stars, 24K on FTP, and 30K on Bodog. As always I busted out of the Stars with some cold ass cards and barely made the money in the other two so the night was pretty uneventful. I don't know how the hell I made the money in the Bodog tourney. After the first 2 hours I was in the top 15 in chips when the following hands happened. blinds 100/200 MP 2000 shoves HJ 5000 calls He had been playing very loose Hero BB 15000 AK shove MP KQo HJ AJo board 10 J 9 2 A few hands later I have QQ and get it all in vs 6000 stack who has AK Q 10 3 J 4 I was down to 4000 and managed to build my stack back up with some crafty resteals and taking advantage of my position. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Know your opponent

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Wed, 19 Sep 07 21:13:51 -0400

I'm not even sure many people read my damn blog....especially with all these higher profile people now joining :) Badgerpro, AJunglen the list keeps growing Oh well, maybe my last goal (#4) will finally be accomplished and I can enter their little community...lol The title I chose was know your opponent which should be an obvious thing but it's been important for me in the past few days. Some people suggest that before sitting in and playing you should watch a few orbits to see the general play of the players. This is an extremely good idea but sometimes I notice the % of players seeing the flop and I want to get in quick and sap the money from the fish before someone else does. One of the biggest things to know about players is if they're capable of folding? [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Zone

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Sat, 08 Sep 07 17:29:52 -0400

I heard Negreanu on tv the other day talking about being in a poker zone which got me thinking to how much "the poker zone" is very similar to the feeling in sports. Any time I hear that phrase I think of Jordan when he hit 6 threes in one half in the NBA finals as he shrugs to the scorer's table like "I don't know what's going on". My experience with the "zone" is basketball related. It's an almost euphoric feeling...as if you can do no wrong. When you're in the zone you feel like you can kick the ball in. The hoop feels as big as a pool. It's a great feeling. When you're not in the zone and shots aren't falling you start looking elsewhere for explanations. You start to analyze your mechanics, am I not following through, feet set properly - you hang your head after shots as if nothing is going your way. The same feeling can be true for poker. I've had times where I feel every decision I'm making is the correct one. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Back to life, back to reality

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Sun, 26 Aug 07 20:25:53 -0400

I started school last week so poker has taken a back seat for a little while. I was waking up between 10-11 most of the summer so getting up at 5:45 and working all day has been draining. I know...waaaa...poor me gets the summer off. I tried playing a little last Thursday but it is very difficult to make good decisions when you're drained. I spewed about $800 in cash games that night...half of the losses resulting from me being stupid. This weekend I camped and went to a Dave Matthews concert with some friends so I've had a little poker hiatus. DMB is ok but his fans are crazy, my girlfriend being one of them...I just don't get it. I wanted to get my poker goals in writing. [b]1. Make 30-40K a year playing poker[/b] I obviously would like to make much more but I'm trying to make realistic goals. Now that school has started most of this would have to come from cash games during the week. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Another first place

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Fri, 17 Aug 07 23:41:46 -0400

After writing my entry today I entered a Stars $109 and finished 2nd to last...lol. I had TP with a fdraw and villain flopped a flush with 24s. Then I entered the Bodog 25k gtd and took first place. I usually go out Friday and Saturday nights but I happened to be around and cha ching! The 5th place FTOPS was on a Friday too...hmmmmm Here was a critical hand that gave me the chip lead...kind of a donk move...curious what people think. Blinds 6k/12k 1200 ante 7 people left The button was the chip leader and had been active. Button 360k Hero SB 165k He raised to 30K. I had K[c] 9[c] I figured I was ahead of his range so I rr to 90k He pushed making the pot roughly 270k and I called getting greater than 2:1 He turned over A[c] J[c] ugh! but I spiked a 9 I was planning on calling a push with my rr as I felt the extra chips would well be worth it. Please let me know what you think.

I was a WHORE!

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Fri, 17 Aug 07 11:02:49 -0400

I started playing poker 2 years ago. The Moneymaker craze was in full effect and many of my friends were hosting tournaments which I never attended. I had never been a gambler and had no idea how to play poker. One night my friends asked me to come over later after a tourney to hang out. When I arrived they had just finished their first tourney and were going to start a new one. They talked me into playing since it was only $10. Small blind, big blind, button…these words were all foreign to me. I had to have a sheet in front of me to tell me what hands beat other hands. I ended up taking second which wet my appetite. A couple of weeks later my sister’s boyfriend was having people over to play so I joined them. There were 8-9 guys who had known each other forever so while they hashed over old stories I sat and paid attention taking 2nd in both of the tournies that night. I was hooked. I put $100 into Pokerstars later that week and started playing mainly sngs. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

First Entry

admin@tworags.com (Swami54) — Tue, 14 Aug 07 16:47:26 -0400

I never thought I would start a blog but I'm doing this for one main reason...to meet other poker players to help improve my game. I've read countless numbers of posts with people mentioning how other players have helped them grow as a player. "I would venture to say that there are very few excellent players online who haven't made any friends at the table, don't know anyone at the table, don't discuss hands with anyone, and make poker a completely solo project. It's just not very likely. I think that to be successful in this game, you need a good support system around you to help you develop your game." - Belowabove Below lives in the chicago suburb where I lived most of my life and my gf lives there currently. I would love to learn from him but he is a top rated player and understandably is not interested in someone like me. Below's statement is similar to tons that I have read. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]