A Friend Remembered

This blog post is a little different from my previous post.

On Saturday, my friend Stephen Mills passed away from his 9+ year battle with cancer.

I met Steve in 2006 when we both won our WSOP main event seats through the now defunct Tropical Poker website. We were the only two winners and the site gave us rooms at the Mirage and took us out to eat at Stack restaurant at the Mirage. As you can slightly see in the picture below, Stephen had already fought several battles with cancer including surgery on the right side of his head, but at this point he was healthy and in remission.



About a year ago the cancer unfortunately came back, and after 7 or so rounds of chemo this time Stephen finally left this world for a better place.

Stephen was truly one of the good guys in poker. He was a freeroll player and then built his bankroll slowly but surely to the point where he was playing $10 and $20 Sit'n'Go's. He loved sending me hand histories and chatting about poker for hours on end through windows messenger and skype. He even started playing some cash games and would watch me play from time to time on Teamviewer. He was a true student of the game, and a great friend.

Outside of poker, Stephen gave my wife and I some of the best help that we could get. Back in 2008 while living in Austin, TX, my wife was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Stephen was one of the first people who I told about this. He immediately assured not only me, but he spoke with her as well, and let us know what to expect and the best ways to keep a positive attitude. He gave my wife and I peace of mind in a time where we were both unbelievably scared and unsure of the future. For that I will always be greatful and remember my buddy "Bullmer."

May you rest in peace Stephen. You will be missed my friend.



Til Next Time....

Live Cash Games, Latest CardRunners Vid, and new interview

Building on my new years resolution to play more live poker, I actually ventured out to Biloxi twice last week to play in the cash games at the Beau Rivage. The 2/5NL games were unbelievably excellent. Gulf Coast legend and November Niner John Dolan was there, along with fellow Gulf Coast Poker Blogger Kai Landry. The games played much bigger than a standard 2/5NL game considering there is no max buy in and everyone for the most part was very deep.

Literally a few hands into my session I got involved in a big pot which I'm honestly not sure if I played right or not. Let me preface this statement by saying that I am very comfortable in most of my decisions when playing 100-200 big blinds deep (as most games online are played with these stacks), but in this case we were 450 big blinds deep effective. Here is the hand setup:

It was a 10 handed table. My starting stack was $2200 and I was in middle position.
Under the gun player raised to 30, there was 1 caller to me, I called for 30 w/ 22, and the button called for 30.
There was 120 in the pot and the flop came Q72r. The preflop raiser led for 80, the middle player folded, I called, and the button folded.
The pot now had about 280 in it and the turn came the 3c putting 2 clubs on the board. Now the preflop raiser overbets the pot slightly and bets 300. Our stacks are deep and I really felt like this bet made him pretty polarized to monster hands or air where he's trying to get me to fold a mid pocket pair like 55-TT. I ponder for a while and decided to call to induce him to make a bet on the river if he is bluffing.
Now the pot contains 880 and the river comes off a 9 which is a total brick. He now leads for 800. I'm left in a weird spot here where I'm not sure if I played it right. If I were to move in, it would cost him another 1k or so to call. After thinking about it for a while, it seemed to me once again by his sizing that he either had QQQ, a small chance of 333, or nothing. I really thought if he had AA or KK he would value bet in the 400-600 range to make sure to not let me get away from a Queen. Also, in case my read was wrong, I thought that he was good enough to fold AA or KK if I shove the river knowing that its rarely a bluff and that I normally always beat 1 pair hands.
So, eventually after deciding that he would fold worse hands if I raised and only call me with sets since 2 pair hands are pretty much obsolete on this board, I decided to call the river rather than putting in a raise for my last 1k.
Results wise it didnt really matter because he turned over King high and couldn't call a penny more, and it turned out my call on the turn was good because it induced an $800 bluff from him on the river.

Regardless of the great outcome, I still question whether I should have raised the river. Looking back, I think I may have given him too much credit for being able to fold AA or KK, or even a hand as weak as AQ. If he was stacking off with these, then I made a HUGE mistake by not shoving the river for 1k more. Some may say that I should have raised the turn, but I disagree as my hand looks so much like a slowplayed set when I raise the turn, giving him a chance to correctly fold his overpairs and not allowing him a chance to bluff the river with his air. If I had to chose between raising the flop or turn, I would rather raising this super dry flop as he may construe this as me polarizing and then I can just bet 3 streets for value. Overall though, on this board, I really think calling the flop and turn are best, and then making a decent river bet if he checks or raising his river bet (or possibly erroneously calling as I did) if he bets the 3rd time. I'm definitely open to suggestions here from any other players who play deep stacked live poker.

I wanted to bring up this hand because even though I won the pot, it is a great example of thinking back over a session and analyzing your hands, both winners and losers, to see if you cost yourself more than necessary, or if you missed value in hands that you won.

Other than that I've just been grinding a decent bit in the 2/4NL 6max games on FeltStars. The game are good as always and they have some awesome promotions running right now. Click on any banner on my blog to redirect to the FeltStars website where you can create an account and join in the fun. Oh, and make sure to enter bonus code BootnTee and email me your screename to bootnteepoker@yahoo.com if you want rakeback.

The last collaborative heads up training video between myself and JK (Nicolak) was released Friday on CardRunners. Hopefully everyone enjoys them as much as they did the first 2 parts. Also, I was recently a guest on the poker podcast "The FeltStars with Dr. CheckRaise and the Bear." This podcast is hosted on Rounders Radio and DrCheckRaise.com. Below is a link to listen directly (Just press the play button and give it a minute or so to load. I come in about mid way through the show). We mostly talk about live cash games, playing medium stakes online, and how I got my start in poker. Also, there is info about the current FeltStars promotion where you can play me heads up in a $500 freeroll. Check it out and hope you enjoy.

DrCheckRaise & The Bear With Special Guest Poker Pro Benton (BootnTee) Blakeman Powered by DrCheckRaise.com

Til Next Time....

Vegas, Utah, PokerRoad Interview, Cardrunners, and FeltStars

Yeah, lots of stuff to talk about/report on!

First off, I'm just getting back to Alabama from a ten day trip out west. I spent 4 days in Las Vegas playing cash games, with decent success I might add, then drove out to Brian Head, Utah, with my friends for 3 days of skiing/snowboarding. We'll get more into this later.

After I landed in Vegas I headed over to Bellagio to play some cash games. I sat in a 2/5NL game to start out the day. After about 2 hours in this game a quit as a small loser. This was the tightest 2/5 game I think I have ever played in. It seemed like every other hand was folded to the blinds and they would chop. On one particular hand, 4 players limped to me on the button, I looked down at 7c6c and decided to raise small, just to try to juice the game up. I made a tiny raise to $20 and then proceeded to watch both blinds as well as all 4 limpers fold. It was about this time that I realized this game wasn't going anywhere, so i racked up and headed over to the Wynn. There was a $15-$30 Mixed game going at the Wynn which was pretty fun, with some cool games like 2-7 Triple Draw, and Badeucy in the mix. I ran decent and won 20 or so big bets.

I also played mixed games one other time at the Aria with stakes of $12-$24 (played with $3 chips) and that was a blast. They played games like Razz-Dugi (split pot where the best razz hand gets half and best badugi gets half), Crazy Pineapple 8 or better, Badeucy, Badacey, and a few other fun games. I won about 17 big bets in this game as well. The only other notable poker session was a 2/5NL game at the Wynn where I won a few buy ins over 6 hours or so.

After all this poker, it was time to do some skiing in Utah. Jon Friedberg, Joe Tehan, John Kim (Nicolak online), and I drove out to Brian Head, Utah, where I had booked a suite for us for 3 nights at the lodge. Of course, leave it to me, an hour and a half into the first ski session I fell pretty hard on my shoulder and tore a ligament. I think it's called an AC Separation or something, but I'm going to the doctor tomorrow in Alabama to find out more. Anyway, this left me pretty much laid up for the next 2 days while the guys went skiing. I stood at the base of the mountain, drank coffee, and watched the skiers come down the mountain. It wasn't all that bad because at night we call played cards (mostly mixed games but some Chinese poker also). It seemed like everyone had a good time so all in all I think the trip was a success.

After getting back to Vegas I spent two more days hanging out with friends and playing some poker, then flew back home. It's always bittersweet leaving Vegas, because I really never want to leave, but at the same time I am always so happy to be coming back home to see my wife. Maybe one day we can just move back there so I can have my cake and eat it too!

So now to the announcements....

For those readers who don't know him, John Kim (Nicolak) is a friend of mine from Las Vegas who is a professional mid/high stakes poker player, a poker podcast co-host, and an instructor at Cardrunners.com, which is a leading poker training site. A few weeks ago John challenged me to a heads up match over 2 tables of 5/10NL spanning a 2 hour time frame in which he would record and make into a 3 part training video at Cardrunners.com. I accepted his challenge and we played our match. He thought it turned out very instructional and asked me to do dual commentary with him on the video where we each explained our thought processes through the hands we played. So far, 2 parts have been released and were well received, and the last part will be released in a few weeks. This was a cool opportunity for me and I hope to do some type of teaching in the future as I really enjoyed this experience.

Building on the success of the videos, John asked me to be a guest on he and Jeremiah Smiths' poker podcast called "Cash Plays" which is on PokerRoad Radio. A link to the podcast can be found here or by clicking on the words Cash Plays above. During the interview they asked me about my background in poker, and we discussed several key hands from our heads up match. This was a cool experience as well, and I am very thankful that they invited me to be a guest on the show.

Once I told the powers that be at FeltStars that I was going to be a guest on "Cash Plays"they immediately worked with me on setting up a promotion for cash game players on FeltStars that revolves around my Cardrunners videos and me being on "Cash Plays." The way it works is that any player who accumulates 5,000 player points during the month of February is eligible to play me heads up for a free chance at $500. Pretty simple. Accumulate 5,000 player points in February, email bootntee@feltstars.com with the words "Cash Plays Promo" in the subject or body of the email, then we'll set up a heads up match between me and you, and if you win your FeltStars account will be credited with $500! If you lose, nice try and stick around because we will have a similar promo in March (hint hint!) If you don't have a FeltStars account, just click one of the banners on the side of my blog and follow the instructions to create one. Another reason to create a FeltStars account if you don't already have one is that starting February 1st, FeltStars will be running NIGHTLY $215 and $109 Multi-Table Tourneys. They will have guarantees and since they are new you can definitely expect there to be overlays! Also, I'm pretty sure I will be a bounty in this months 100k Pro Bounty Challenge on Wednesday, February 16th. For only $5.50, you can have a chance of knocking out all 4 Team FeltStars Pros and winning $100,000! Hope to see you there.

As I stated on twitter (follow me @kajunkidpoker) yesterday, my plans for poker going forward are to put in a lot more hands in the 2/4 to 5/10 6max NL games on FeltStars, play more heads up at the 1/2 and 2/4 stakes on FeltStars, and to try to play live cash games by going to Biloxi to play in the 2/5NL game at the Beau Rivage at least twice a month, but hopefully more like once a week. Maybe I'll see some readers form GulfCoastPoker.net there. If so, make sure to say hi (and don't check raise me!)

In closing, I'll leave you some pictures from Vegas and the ski trip to Utah. Enjoy!

Our view from our seats at the UNLV Basketball Game


View of the mountain


John Kim, Joe Tehan, and Jon Friedberg


Picture Friedberg took of me right after my accident before I went for X-Rays


Pic of me wishing I could still be snowboarding


Jon Friedberg carving down the mountain


Me representing Team FeltStars!


I wonder who drew that FeltStars logo in the snow?!?!


Til Next Time....

2010 in Review (Long)

Hi All. Sorry its been so long since my last post. If you read this, you may be interested in my twitter updates which I do far more frequently. You can follow me there at www.twitter.com/kajunkidpoker or search twitter for @kajunkidpoker and click the follow button if you already have a twitter account.

2010 was a very interesting year to say the least. Not only interesting, but definitely the busiest/life changing year of my life. I thought when I moved to Las Vegas in 2003 at 21 years old with no job, no friends, and no clue of how life really worked that it would be the most life changing experience that I would ever have. Boy, was I wrong. Enter 2010....

2010 started off like most other years for me. I spent the first week or so watching all the big bowl games on TV with my Dad. This has kind of become a tradition that I look forward to every year with my Dad. The day after the National Championship game I drove from my parents home in south Louisiana to New Orleans airport and picked up my friend Joe Tehan (follow him on twitter under the handle @tehanj) who had flown in from Las Vegas. We then drove to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi and spent the next 3 weeks there playing both cash games and tourneys while the WPT event was going on. While I didn't do anything of note in the tourneys, I considered the trip a great success because I was able to spend a lot of time watching Joe play cash games online in the hotel room and picking his brain on why he played hands the way he did. I think the learning experience was well worth the money I lost in the tourneys over the course of the 3 weeks.

After I dropped Joe off at the airport in New Orleans, I continued back to Houston to start my online grind for the year. In February I discovered rush poker on FullTilt and played a massive 100k hands over the course of the month. I was very proud of both my winrate and volume that I played in February, but unfortunately I never put in another 100k hand month for the rest of the year. During February I also started building a better friendship with John Kim whom I had met in 2008 through Joe. John is an amazing player and one of the biggest, most consistent winning players in the mid stakes games on FullTilt. You can read John's blog at http://www.nicolakpoker.blogspot.com/. You can also follow him on twitter by searching @NicolakPoker. He is the co-host of "Cash Plays" on PokerRoadRadio and is an instructor at the poker training website http://www.cardrunners.com/. Anyway, in March I decided to make a trip to Vegas and spent some time with John watching him play and picking his brain. I point to this as my most recent "ahh-hah" moment in poker when I think things really started clicking for me. I didn't have a very profitable trip to Vegas, but did make enough to pay for the trip, so again I feel this was a very successful trip. After returning to Houston I continued grinding online for the remainder of March and April with pretty good success.

In May, my life changed forever. On May 12th, in the beautiful town of Nassau, Bahamas, my girlfriend and I were married. It was the most beautiful wedding that I could think of. Our ceremony was held on the white sand beach with the beautiful turquoise water as our backdrop. We were married in our bare feet. We stayed at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort for 7 days, 5 before the wedding and 2 after. While there we spent time with my best friend Ben and his girlfriend (now fiancee-congrats brother!) and enjoyed sailing, going to the casino at Atlantis (where Ben's girlfriend made a straight flush in Let It Ride!), pool basketball, waterparks, swimming with dolphins, and much much more. It is a week that I will remember for the rest of my life. Upon returning to Houston it was time for another big life decision for my wife and I. She was offerred a transfer from her companies Houston office to their Mobile, Alabama office. After weighing our options, we decided this move would be a great compromise allowing her to stay in the corporate world and allowing me to be only an hour from casino poker in Biloxi. On May 18th we moved to Alabama! We did return to Houston on May 29th, which was my birthday, for a party for all our family and friends to celebrate our marriage with us. It was a very nice party and it seemed like everyone had a blast.

The month of June was spent living in a corporate apartment in Mobile that my wife's company provided for us while we looked for a new home. During the day I would ride around with our realtor looking at homes. After looking at 50 or more homes, we finally decided on one. After 4 days of negotiations we walked away from the deal because we didn't feel the current owners were being fair with us. Luckily, we found another home within days that was brand new and perfect for us. It was only 50% complete when we purchased it, so we had to wait until the end of July for it to be finished. The good thing about it was that we were still able to pick paint colors, flooring, and countertops for the home. After our offer was accepted I headed straight to Las Vegas for a week to play some during the WSOP. While I only played 1 event (and essentially bubbled), I had a very profitable run in the cash games. I also participated in a tournament at the Golden Nugget that FeltStars sponsored and my table was broadcast live over the internet which was pretty cool. I then returned to Alabama for the remainder of July, and pretty much made preparations for moving all of our things from Houston to our new home in Daphne, which is a suburb of Mobile located just East of Mobile Bay, about 25 minutes from the Alabama/Florida state line.

After closing on our home the last week of July, we officially moved in on August 4th. My wife Kim's parents arrived that day and stayed for 10 days to help us unpack and set up our home. Her Dad was so helpful in changing electrical switches, drilling holes to hang things, installing shelves, etc. and I would never have been able to do those things without his help. The house was amazing and a perfect first home for my wife and I. The only drawback was the huge yard that I would have to maintain. Luckily, my parents gave us a riding lawnmower as a wedding present to help with that. So essentially, I got a new toy.

Just when I thought our life couldn't change anymore, well, let's just say I made a bad read there. On August 26th, which happens to be my mothers birthday, Kim and I found out that we were pregnant! This was a surprise to us, albeit a very pleasant one. Not to say we weren't nervous (I still am nervous), but we were definitely more excited than anything. We were very happy with our lives as they were, but welcomed the idea of this new addition with open arms. A few weeks later my parents came to Alabama to visit us and we told them of this great news. I'm an only child, so this will be their first grandchild. To say that they were excited to find out is an understatement. My Mom and Kim celebrated by going to the Beau Rivage and playing slots, LOL. My Dad and I stayed at my house and watched college football. It was a great day for all.

September and October were tough months for me because I was having trouble getting the internet hooked up at our house. Due to this, I didn't play much poker during this time. I was able to sneak away at the end of October to play a few events at the WSOP Circuit event at the IP in Biloxi. I didn't cash in anything and I ran pretty bad in the cash games. I finally did get DSL internet at our house near the end of October. In October my wife had several ultrasounds so I was able to see our baby growing, and also found out that it is actually a "he". We're going to have a baby BOY!

November flew by. At the beginning of the month I contacted another poker player, Jon Friedberg, who I knew through both Joe and John, and we embarked on a poker venture in which we both help each other to get better. This has worked far better than I ever imagined, as we have found leaks in each others games and worked together to correct these flaws. Although it started as a mutual way to get better at poker, we have became good friends and now have a vested interest in both seeing each other succeed in poker and having a friendship outside of poker. You can visit Jon's website at http://www.jonfriedberg.com/ , watch his poker show "The Showdown with Jon Friedberg" starting soon on http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/ , and follow him on twitter under the handle @JonFriedberg. After several study sessions with Jon I played some online with positive results. At the end of November my wife and I came to my parents home for Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving my wife, my Mom, and I left for Las Vegas. We spent 4 nights at the Palms and had a great time. I think all 3 of us actually won money on the trip. It was also cool because my Mom finally played live poker for the first time, logging 30 or so hours over the course of the trip playing $2-$4 limit hold em at the Palms. All 3 of us sat in the same game for a while and it was trippy playing poker with my wife and Mom. No, I wasn't able to check raise either one of them.

December came and went very quicky. During the month I spent time studying poker with Jon and playing 15k hands or so. I also made the transition to playing a little bigger stakes and finally saw my hard work begin to pay off. I fully intend to stay at these higher stakes moving forward. I came to my parents a week before Christmas and helped my Dad with the family business becuase he was sick (he's better now). Kim came to my parents on Christmas Eve and we had Christmas with my parents. I got Mom and Dad a new computer which they loved and got Kim a camcorder to record all the big things that will happen to us next year. The day after Christmas we went to Houston for 5 days to visit Kim's family. We had a great time but ate WAYYYYY too much food. Finally, we returned to Louisiana on New Years Eve and rang in the new year in Louisiana.

All in all 2010 was one of my best years in poker, not necessarily as far as money is concerned, but more as a whole. I feel like I took more time this year to tailor my game to the point where I feel I am a favorite in most of the games I play in. Hopefully I can carry this over into the new year and be able to utilize these skills by playing more in 2011.

While 2010 was by far the most important year in my life, I am glad to say that I KNOW 2011 will be THE MOST important year ever for us, as Kim and I will welcome our son into this world in 2011. He is due on April 21st. I can't wait to meet him.

My resolutions for the new year will be to be the best husband and father that I can be, to always make time for my family and friends, to work more hours than last year, to cash in a live tournament (LOL), to blog more frequently, and to not carry bad days at the office over into my personal life after I leave the table. And maybe to spoil my son a little (or a lot) :-)

First up in 2011 will be the WPT event at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi. Hopefully I can get my resolution of cashing in a live event out of the way this month! I'll try to post a blog after playing the 3 or 4 events I have scheduled. Also, take a look at my wifes' blog located at www.bootnteewife.blogspot.com where she chronicles her life as the wife of a professional poker player and her twitter by searching for @kimbinbama.

As always, join me on the tables at FeltStars. We will have new promotions throughout the year, and will continue to have the 100k Pro Bounty Challenge every month. Click on any one of the banners on my blog to create an account, and email me at bootnteepoker@yahoo.com for rakeback deals.

Til Next Time....

Biloxi and WSOP Circuit Event

I finally decided to leave my computer for a few days and headed down to Biloxi to play in the World Series of Poker Circuit event held at the IP casino in Biloxi a few weeks ago. If you've never been, the IP itself is a nice casino with several great restaurants. The staff there runs great tourneys as well. Between my several trips there I ended up playing in 4 events total. I unfortunately ended with zero cashes, and two bubble finishes which included playing 11 hours in each tourney just to barely miss the money. I guess thats tourneys for you!

While in Biloxi I also spent some time both at the Beau Rivage and the IP playing in cash games when I wasn't in the tourneys. Unfortunately my results in the cash games were pretty abysmal as well. There were a few interesting hands that came up in the cash games though which I think I'll include. The first hand is from a $2-$5 NL game at the Beau Rivage. Lets set the scene:

It's 2am and the table is playing pretty loose. There is a lot of money on the table with the average stack being about $1000. The player under the gun ($1000 stack) raised to $20, a loose player who had been 3 betting a ton preflop and who I thought was a little too loose, but yet very competent, called right behind him (we'll call him villain from this point forward, and his stack size covered everyone), the button called ($500 stack), and I called from the big blind with A9 of diamonds (I had a $1500 stack). The flop came out K-6-6 with 2 diamonds. I checked, the raiser bet $65, the villain called $65, the button folded and I decided to just call. I thought that the raiser would always c-bet this flop, and the villain could have called with a hand like 77 (remember I said he's competent but too loose, so he knows the guys c-betting his whole range, but also is too loose to realize that there are players to act behind so he could call with a middle pair here). So I could call and either hit my hand, or if the turn checks through I could bet the river repping a hand like KQ or KJ. Anyway, the turn is a 9 giving me a pair. I check again, the raiser checks, and now the villain bets $100. At this point I really don't think the villain has 77 anymore, but something along the lines of KQ. I debated my options, but knew that the aggressive dynaminc between myself and the villain would enable me to get paid off on a diamond river. Not only that, but my immediate odds from the pot were about 4-1, so I clicked call. The preflop raiser folded. This is where it gets interesting. The river comes the 3 of diamonds giving me the nut flush. I know he'll pay me off, but I also know he's capable of laying down if I bet too big. I decided on a half pot bet of $250. The villain immediately raised me $500 more. Of course I hated this since the board is paired, so I began replaying the hand in my mind to help make my decision. Based on the board texture of K-6-6-9-3, folding is out of the question in my opinion here. I rule out KK immediately since he had been 3 betting a ton, I knew he would have 3 bet KK preflop. I gave little credeance to him having 99 here since I had one of them in my hand. I can never put him on 33 because I really felt had he called with 33 he would have checked the turn back. As far as unpaired hands, I really didn't think that he called an under the gun raiser from early position with K6, 69, or 63. I was very close to shoving, but it seemed to me like he loved his hand. Finally it dawned on me that he could have 66 here and flopped quads, albeit unlikely, but thats actually the hand that makes the most sense. Lastly, I weighed the fact that he could be raising a smaller flush for value. Ultimately I decided that he wouldn't call a shove with a smaller flush so I just called the $500 more. The villain proudly displayed the 63 offsuit for the rivered full house. Amazingly I didn't perceive 63 offsuit as part of his ranging in early position after the under the gun player raised! Imagine that, LOL. I hated the end result of this hand but was very happy that I thought the hand out, replayed it in my mind, and came to a logical decision rather than just saying "I've got an Ace high flush, so I definitely call."

The second hand happened at the IP in a $2-$5 NL game. I was killing time while waiting for my Mom to arrive to meet me for dinner, and had bought in for $500. Lets just assume all players at the table covered me in this hand. There is a $10 straddle and a guy in middle position makes it $30. One player calls in front of me and I call $30 on the button with 6-5 of clubs. The straddler who had been hitting every hand and had over $5000 in front of him calls. The flop comes out 664 with 2 hearts. Jackpot! The straddler checks, the raiser bets $100, next player folds, I flat call the $100, and now the straddler folds his hand face up, showing AJ of spades, and comments how he finally missed a flop. The turn card is the Ace of hearts and now the raiser checks to me. I only have $350 left, and thats about what is in the pot. I don't like the heart at all, not because I'm worried about him having hearts as I knew he'd bet if he had a flush, but I thought it would kill my action. Anyway, I just shove in an effort to polarize my hand to flushes, 4's full or nothing (nothing being straight draws like 7-5, etc). The raiser starts asking if I have a flush. After I don't respond he starts saying that he thinks I have a hand like pocket Tens or Nines and am trying to get him to lay down a hand like AK or AQ with no heart. After about a minute he calls and turns over A-K...with no heart. I'm elated as I show my hand, especially knowing that the straddler showed AJ, meaning there is only 1 Ace left in the deck giving him the win, assuming it hadn't already been folded preflop by anyone else. Well, of course it hadn't, because the river peeled off the case Ace, a good ole one outer costing me the over $1000 pot. Luckily I played a bit longer and ended up breaking even that session, but I still have nightmares about those 1 outers with one to come, the absolute worst beat that can happen in Hold Em.

After having a crap week playing live, it was back to the internet for me last week. Luckily I ran well and won back all my losses from playing live the previous week. I even cashed in FTOPS Event #1 finishing 56th out of 4500 players. It was good for 7 times the buy in, but still a long ways away from a score of $150k+, which was the first place prize money. Oh well, maybe one day. I plan on playing online this week and enjoying Thanksgiving with my wife and my parents before heading out to Vegas for a few days with my wife and my Mom. While there I'm planning on playing one or two events at the WPT Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. Hopefully I'm just saving my run good for then!

As always, join me on the tables at FeltStars. The games have been great lately and don't seem to be slowing down. The Pro Bounty Challenge is just around the corner and always proves to be a great little tourney with a shot at BIG money if you knock me and my fellow Team FeltStars Pros out of the tourney. Speaking of the Pro Bounty Challenge, last month my Mom finished 2nd in the tourney! She was so happy and I'm so proud of her for getting better. She's doing well for someone who just started playing a few months ago. I always joke with her that she plays more hours in a week than I do (kind of a joke, but possibly the truth!)

Til Next Time....

Poker Poker Poker

Sorry its been 3 weeks since my last post. I have actually been busy grinding away on the virtual felt at FeltStars. The games have been good so I've been putting in work! Since my last post I've played about 50k hands with mixed results.

Building on my last post, I decided to move up in stakes. Lets just say this venture was not very successful. While I felt like I was as good if not better than the players, I had trouble adjusting to the overall money swings in the bigger games. I had a few medium winning days, and then had one awful day which erased those profits in a matter of 6 hours. After giving the bigger games a 15k hand trial, I decided that the extra stress in dealing with $5k+ swings in a day just wasn't worth the added benefit of increasing my hourly raye. I live a very comfortable life playing my current stakes, so ultimately I decided to drop back to my normal stakes and really work on my game, and try moving up again in a few months. This way, hopefully, I will grow my bankroll to the point where I can have 250+ buy ins for the next level and really be able to play and not worry about the money at all.

Since dropping back to my normal stakes I have absolutely crushed over the last 15k hands. I think after playing higher for a while, even thought it didn't technically "work out," I think playing verse better players really helped my game improve, which in turn will increase my winrate in my current game. Speaking of that, I recently had my best day ever in online cash games in terms of buy ins won, culminating in a nearly 18 buy in winning day (and the pretty graph to go along with it, with results tallied in big blinds). I truly believe that I will be moving back up and beating the bigger games soon.

In an effort to get better I have started doing training sessions with friends online. This is something that I wish I would have started doing earlier in my poker career. I always heard about the young players giving credit to the forums and their online buddies for really helping their game and now I know what they mean. For anyone out there who is serious about poker, find players who have similar abilities to yours and help each other out. In my opinion, there's no better way to get better than to watch each other play and then discuss how you would have played the hands differently from each other, and then explain why. You'd be amazed how much you can learn from each other.

In other poker news, I'll be playing a few events at the WSOP Circuit event at the IP Casino in Biloxi over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can have a deep run or two and maybe even win one of those WSOP Circuit rings to put in my office.

Til Next Time....

My Thoughts on Bankroll Management

Well my sorry excuse of an internet connection is down again, so I figured it would be a good time to write a blog. I'm just writing it in notepad and saving it until I can get online again to publish it, so no telling when that will actually be. (Edit: It was 5 hours later!)

I have still been playing a lot of poker lately and been having pretty good results. The games on FeltStars have been very good lately, with lots of loose action and bad calls. I have experimented playing a little bigger, mixing some 2/4, 3/6, and 5/10 in with my standard 1/2 games with mixed success. I'm not doing bad, but my hourly is no where near what it is when I 8-12 table the 1/2 games. I'm sure in time, once I see more hands and get used to the flow better, I will excell at those limits and surpass my current winrate. Until then, I just have to keep grinding the 1/2 games and mix in a few higher stakes ones until I really start to feel comfortable there.

This poses a good question concerning bankroll management for people who play or are considering playing for a living. Some people have lots of gamble in them, and others (like myself) don't. So, when to move up in stakes? Well, I think it is a very loose question with no definitive answer. The "book" states 200-500 big bets for limit poker as an adequate bankroll. When I played limit for a living, many moons ago, I leaned more towards 300 big bets plus 6 months living expenses on the side. By playing a little shorter than the 500 big bets, I of course had to deal with bigger swings in my bankroll. What saved me was that I was more than willing to drop down in limits if need be. This style may suit some but not others. If you don't like the idea of dropping down in limits after a few losing sessions, then I would recommend using 500 big bets and 6 months living expenses on the side as a proper bankroll. But then again, why am I talking about playing limit for a living?? I'm assuming anyone taking the time to read this plays much more No Limit than Limit!

No Limit poker is a different animal than Limit is. When discussing bankroll and bankroll management for no limit there are several schools of thought. No specific "bankroll" is correct for everyone. It is best to look at the different bankroll guidelines and decide which is right for you. The general rule that Andy Bloch gave me several years ago when speaking with him was 40 buy ins for live poker plus living expenses. Assuming you play $2-$5 NL with a $500 buy in, I would make sure you have $20k bankroll plus 6 months living expenses in reserve. This will give you a great shot at succeeding in poker (assuming you are already a proven winning player with minimal "life" leaks). Do you need this amount? Of course not. I have friends who have no problem playing these limits on a $5k bankroll with no living expenses behind. Does this mean they can't make it? Nope. All it means is that their "risk of ruin" is higher, meaning they have a higher chance of going broke and being out of the game if they run bad than the guy who is playing the same limits on the $20k + living expense bankroll. Some very well known players like Durrrr and Phil Galfond have admitted to taking shots early in their career, sometimes even with 25%+ of their bankroll in one sitting. It worked for them. For countless others though, this was an avenue to financial ruin and even an early end to what could have been a prominent career in poker.

My general bankroll rules, the ones that work best for me, are somewhere in the middle. When it comes to online I am very conservative, often playing with a 400 buy in bankroll for a specific limit. I am also willing to take shots at times with 50-75 buy ins, but I know that if it doesnt go well I have no problem dropping down to my normal stakes the following day. But in general, I feel very comfortable playing with 100 buy ins. I would suggest online players have a minimum of 50 buy ins when multi-tabling just to endure the swings and make life easier. Of course, it can (and I have been guilty of this) be done with less buy ins, but I think trying to sucessfully multi-table with less than 20 buy ins is asking for trouble.

As I stated over and over, these are just general guidelines and the ones that I use, but you need to experiment and see where you feel comfortable. No matter which route you take, make sure that you are a proven winning player who can handle the pressure of working for days, weeks, months, or even a year without making money. If the thought of that makes your stomach turn, you may want to continue using poker as a hobby rather than a sole means of income. Also, if you just use poker as a hobby and have a normal 9-5 job, then throw these considerations out the window. Play whatever you want and feel comfortable playing, but like with any other type of gambling, only bring to the table what you can afford to lose.

As always, join me on the tables at FeltStars. Click on any of the banners on my sidebar to create an account and email me at bootnteepoker@yahoo.com for rakeback deals. Use bonus code BootnTee for a 300% deposit bonus up to $3000. Many new promos as well as multiple deposit and withdrawal options in our new updated cashier system.

Til Next Time....