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....

FeltStars Video and a few Hand Histories

Just wanted to do a quick update and say hello. I have been playing a ton of hands at FeltStars and been doing pretty well. It's always nice to run good! Still waiting on DSL to get hooked up but in the meantime I've been using a VirginMobile wireless hotspot from RadioShack which uses the Sprint towers to pick up a 3G signal. Works OK, but still not "high speed."


FeltStars has been trying to promote its team pros lately by making videos of us playing. They are short clips but kinda neat. I wish I could have produced some bigger hands for them to add but this will do for now. Check it out at the bottom of this post. Hopefully they will be a bit longer with some real cool hands in the future.


I'll leave you with a few cool hand histories, and as always join me on the tables at FeltStars. Click on the word FeltStars or any of the banners to create an account. Also, use bonus code BootnTee for a 300% deposit bonus up to $3000 and email me at bootnteepoker@yahoo.com to get setup for rakeback IF, and only IF, you signed up through me!


Very aggro dynamic between myself and "lifegood". Funny the kinds of hands people show up with when you constantly 3 and 4 bet them.

FeltStars, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $325.83
BB: $203
Hero (UTG): $386
BTN: $167.46

Pre-Flop: K A dealt to Hero (UTG)

Hero raises to $6, 2 folds, BB raises to $22, Hero raises to $48, BB raises to $201 and is All-In, Hero calls $155

Flop: ($407) 9 K A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($407) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($407) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $407 Pot ($2 Rake)

BB showed T 7 and LOST (-$201 NET)

Hero showed K A and WON $405 (+$202 NET)



Really weird hand where I call a 4bet with garbage. It all has to do with my history with player "lifegood."

FeltStars, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $269.72
Hero (BTN): $200
SB: $134.53
BB: $266.62
UTG: $249.59

Pre-Flop: Q 3 dealt to Hero (BTN)

UTG folds, CO raises to $6, Hero raises to $18, 2 folds, CO raises to $44, Hero calls $26

Flop: ($91) 8 8 Q (2 Players)
CO bets $51, Hero calls $51

Turn: ($193) 5 (2 Players)
CO bets $4, Hero raises to $105 and is All-In, CO calls $101

River: ($403) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $403 Pot ($2 Rake)

CO showed A 9 and LOST (-$200 NET)

Hero showed Q 3 and WON $401 (+$201 NET)



And lastly, a little river run good never hurts, especially in pots where you're 200 big blinds deep each.

FeltStars, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $70
MP: $448.97
CO: $423.15
BTN: $200.50
Hero (SB): $399.54
BB: $215

Pre-Flop: K K dealt to Hero (SB)

2 folds, CO raises to $7, BTN folds, Hero raises to $24, BB folds, CO calls $17

Flop: ($50) 4 8 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets $36, CO calls $36

Turn: ($122) Q (2 Players)
Hero bets $74, CO calls $74

River: ($270) K (2 Players)
Hero bets $265.54 and is All-In, CO calls $265.54

Results: $801.08 Pot ($3.50 Rake)

CO showed Q Q and LOST (-$399.54 NET)

Hero showed K K and WON $797.58 (+$399.04 NET)



Also, big thanks to my friend John "Nicolak" Kim who helped me post the Hand Histories. He's an awesome guy, a good friend, and a great poker player. Get some insight into his life by reading his blog "JK's Blog" located at http://nicolakpoker.blogspot.com/, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nicolakpoker.


Til Next Time....

Playing with a Clear Head

Things have really been crazy around here lately. My wife and I love our new home, but we are still fighting with AT&T about getting high speed internet. I'm currently writing this blog on a wireless network card which honestly works like crap. But back to that later.

The point of this entry is just to stress to any of my readers the importance of playing poker only when you have a clear head. Currently their is a tourney series going on at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS which I have been planning on playing in for the last few months. With all that's going on in my life with the new home, lack of internet, unpacking the house, etc. I have decided to pass on playing this series. I have played a few online sessions, always with a clear head and only when I really am in the mood to play, but I don't feel comfortable playing on the unstable and slow AT&T network card. After 6 years of playing professionally I have learned the importance of having a clear head everytime you sit at the table. If you're thinking about other things like unpacking your house, lack of internet, a fight with your significant other, an upcoming test, or anything of the sort, you're better served studying the game during those times than playing it. If you can't focus at 100% you're just hurting yourself in the long run. Since I'm trying to follow my own advice I have been doing some studying and a lot of coaching in my free time. I find that coaching a few of my friends is both rewarding when I see them "get it" and helpful for me as I can't just say "I do this because I know it's right." I have to explain to them why I'd make certain plays in certain spots and explaining it to them helps refresh my memory and reinforces the basic principles of my game. Email me at bootnteepoker@yahoo.com if you are interested in cash game lessons. I specialize in 6 max no limit but also teach 9 handed no limit as well.

On the home front, I am so disguisted with so many people/companies. First off is AT&T. After saying they could set up high speed DSL for me, they showed up at my home and said that they had no such order and only set up home phone. When I called them back they told me that they could no longer set up DSL at my house. They said that there is only one internet port and it is already at maximum capacity of lines running out of it. In laymans terms, I cant get internet until they come out and build another port. When will this happen? The best answer I got was "Engineering has exhausted its budget for this year, so hopefully sometime early next year." Yeah, next frickin year. You gotta be kidding me. So since I received that terrible news, I have contacted the HOA and the builder to no avail. I even threatened my builder by saying I was going to put a sign in my front yard telling people not to buy any of the new homes because they won't be able to get internet. I was bluffing of course but hoping that the threat of possibly not selling new homes could get him to put pressure on AT&T to come put a port for me. The worst part is I do feel it is the builders responsibility, because when I had the house built I paid $500 extra to get the home pre wired for internet, and they had no problem taking my money to do this. I feel that I should have been informed that I was getting this done for no reason because internet wouldn't be available. Now I'm in a quandry and have no idea what to do next. Please leave any suggestions in the comments area if you have any ideas or a better understanding of the telecommunications business and how it works.

Last, play poker online at FeltStars.com. We are launching a new Mac client sometime in September for those of you Mac users out there. A whole lot of awesome things coming in the new software release slated for September 7th including a new cashier with quicker withdrawals, late registration for tourneys, new interface, bigger guarantees on daily tourneys, better promos for cash game players, and of course the monthly 100k Pro Bounty Challenge. See ya on the tables.

Til Next Time....

Gimme me a break!!!!

Sorry about not updating in 2 weeks but its been really busy. We moved into the new home in Alabama 2 weeks ago and then my wifes parents came visit for 9 days. Her Dad helped out a bunch around the house doing handywork that I'm totally clueless at doing. We are almost all unpacked now except for my wifes sewing room. Since I have no idea where anything goes in there, she'll unpack it whenever she has time. It's great being a homeowner but a lot of work (and many trips to Lowes and Home Depot), especially since it's a new build. I thought new builds would be totally done, but we needed to do things like seal the tile flooring, screen in the weep holes around the house, and other odd jobs. I did purchase my first ever riding lawnmower so that was pretty cool!

Bad news going forward is that we are having trouble getting high speed internet. My wife picked up a network card from AT&T so that we could at least pay bills, and I guess write blogs, LOL. I played poker using it for like 5 minutes but the cards dragged pretty bad and I almost timed out repeatedly. Hopefully they can get our internet hooked up soon. I do have my office all set up and ready to go. It's pretty awesome with my 3 monitor setup like I had in Houston. The coolest part of my new office is the dedicated TV with game systems hooked up for "recreational gaming". I have an original Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and PS2 hooked up to it currently. I have a 75 or so original Nintendo game collection which I love playing when I find free time. I just finished framing and hanging all my posters today which inlcude an original Rounders movie poster, a blown up poster of a 2005 CardPlayer magazine cover with Stu Ungar on the cover, and an original 2003 WSOP event poster that I bought at Binions Horseshoe the first year I attended the WSOP after moving to Las Vegas. This poster is cool because it has a picture of all the "Millionaires Club" on it (people who won $1 Mill or more at the WSOP LIFETIME) and it's only like 30 or so people. I'm guessing half that many join the club each year now at the series.

This Wednesday I'll be a bounty again in the FeltStars 100k Pro Bounty Challenge. Come take a chance at winning 100k by knocking out all 4 Team FeltStars pros for only $5 buy in. Last month one lucky FeltStars player won $1000 by knocking out 2 of the pros! If you don't have an account yet, click on any of the banners on my page and create one. Use bonus code BootnTee for a 300% deposit bonus up to $3000. Email me at bootnteepoker@yahoo.com with questions or for rakeback deals on FeltStars.

Sorry this was so short and lacked poker content, but I promise as soon as I get real internet and start playing thousands of hands a day there will be more. I will even post hands if I can figure out how. I know my buddy JK does it so maybe I can ask him. If you're looking for a good read check out his blog at www.nicolakpoker.blogspot.com for awesome poker content and lessons in the life of a pro poker player and family man.

Til Next Time....