well, another day at Canterbury...another kick in the balls...my wins of the last 4 sessions have been severely reduced...though not enough to send me to the cash machine yet...

left the Pocket A's promotion at 6:30 - went to a strip mall of sorts here in Minneapolis North of Lake Calhoun...two blocks from home....snagged (in this order - ) chinese food, three books, and a bottle of Jameson whiskey...

the whiskey...well...fuck...even I need a drink sometimes...ain't drank at home in a while...but I just felt like a bit of a buzz tonight..

the books...a book on the Saudi/Bush relationships that is explored to much lesser degree in Michael Moore's new movie - and two books on Poker Zen and Poker Tao....one of those things where I just felt like reading about poker, but not kicking my ass to the wall on rules, bets, mucks, and starting hands....something to rekindle lost loves, I suppose...

so the big secret is...Russ ain't playing as many cards as he used to lately..he's been sorta dating a girl, so he takes a couple nights off a week....big fucking loss, I know...:)

RB

it has been a down week in the poker rooms for me....

I'm sorta mucking around with 1/2 online and 4/8 live - but haven't gotten much live poker room time in - last week was too busy and tonight will be busy, but then I should have a small break to do what I want again....hard to saya...

played in my first WCOOP shootout...a definate waste of time...maybe next time. -

what else...not much...I guess I'll just let the personal stuff go and play poker.

RB

you know...I just put a post on here...but it's not me...

I wish I had a bolt action heart...I wish we were live on the scene, but we're not...

I just know I wish I lived near the ocean -

truth is...heaven casts a sad shadow...no one believes it does, but there's a shadow from heaven..

it's the same as when you see your fav. amusement ride in the park, and they say you're too short to ride...that's what it feels like to be in heaven's shadow.....

bolt action - reprise - by my amigo Bill Mallonee

-

baptize me in elijah creek
how could i continue
near the furnace at debtors forge
just east of west virginia
heard the strain as a small child
of the drum and bugle corps
oh my blister soul

we interrupt this program
this report just in
carnage continues unabated
according to recent bulletins
yeah we're live on the scene baby
so let those cameras roll
oh my blister soul

why did you spend so much
why did you give it all
poured out on cold little misers
and the returns are so small
yeah those strange economics
and the length that love goes
oh my blister soul

no doubt your honor
i stand condemned by law
wire photo of a grinning man
beside a bullet-riddled fuselage
i got this bolt-action heart
and a lot of ammo
oh my blister soul

well the patient looks healthy
and the citizen free
but there been lots of known cases
of mistaken identity
"and if the shoe fits"
the preacher extolled
oh my blister soul

all is quiet on the western front...

no Canterbury this week...too busy recording, dicking around, placed in two party tourneys (poor showings - only twice my buyin back) - but both times I got busted I had the best hand preflop

so I'll try again with a limit tourney...watch TV, and generally hibernate....now that my job contract is probably extended, I don't have to build a bankroll in record speed...

RB

Your Part of The Story - by Bill Mallonee...

yeah you get to tell your part of the story
yeah you get to live it for better or worse
her lips were alluring and slightly moist
so let's kiss away our part of the curse

we've been dragging our dreams across the asphalt and pavement
try to speak of the gift yeah and the one who gave it
but it's hard to distinguish to the untrained eye
yeah this thing that you love but it's taking your life

nothing feels as good as holding you again
breath and whisper pressed up against the skin
and oh that sweet caress we're so familiar with
sooner or later yeah it comes down to this
yeah it's all just gift that you're living with

we've been digging through notebooks some empty some full
yeah and mapping the caverns of our little skulls
i've been trying to find something you might need
maybe a little goodness in me

good people have sent me these cards and letters
say "we love what you do and we hope you feel better"
but you can't carry the weight when you're so unstable
you let us sleep in your beds yeah and eat at your table

nothing feels as good as holding you again
breath and whisper pressed up against the skin
and oh that sweet caress we're so familiar with
sooner or later yeah it comes down to this
yeah it's all just gift that you're living with

recently I made a commitment to improve my raked game - for the last two yrs, I've been a 3/6 - 4/8 player who's never moved up in limits cause of skill/BR requirements - and recent efforts at improving my game have been in play.

well, this morning (midnight - 5am) marked 4 days in a row of consecutive wins at Canterbury - I've won $500 in 27 hrs of play, which amounts to about 2BB/hr, which is sweet -

I'm finding more then a 5 hr session and I start to go mush...

I'm finding that there's usually one good sucker per game out there....last night was a guy who hit every hand for a while and I guess was up to $700 on a 4/8 game. He had $400 when I sat down and I got $100 of that before he busted out.

I'm finding it easier to read players live then online...things I've never looked for in the past (guys getting ready to act by mucking cards, grabbing chips) make some moves easier - when I see a guy with his hands on the cards on the river, I know a bet will likely get him out of there, even if it's a stone cold bluff on my part.

I'm finding my favorite waitress is the one with the cute cherry tattoo above the left breast...looks like a "naughty librarian" type...but I think she's gonna have none of that crap from me...LOL

and I'm finding the fun of playing live poker again - lots of suckers....feels good.

I'm gonna keep grinding the 4/8 games for a couple more weeks - I can't legitmately move up to 6/12 unless the BR is enough for about 3 losing sessions - and $600 is about 1.5 in my book - so a few hundred more and we'll be in business - then I get to duke it out with asdf...

RB

ay carumba.... the Canterbury jackpots have gotten so out of hand all tourneys are cancelled till July 5th to account for jackpot frenzy - and extra money is being taken from the back room to account for it -

pretty wild stuff...I may go out early, early tomorrow for pocket A's tues. promotion - but I don't know....had good luck at Planet lately...maybe I'll just slum some more online in 20 player tourneys.

RB

I've spent the last two days at Canterbury - the bad beat jackpot is up to 128,000 dollars, and the room is packed to the hilt till that and the secondary (102,000 and counting) is won - unfortunately I'm sorta screwed for the work week - so to speak - but I'll get back out there on Sun. morn.

my last three sessions at 4/8 have been winning ones - $100/$150/$70 - my goal is to get the bankroll to get to the 6/12 or 8/16 and be able to sustain a living wage at it SHOULD and only IF I end up losing my job in 3 weeks when the contract ends - Canterbury has a higher rake, but it also has wilder games...

the downer is after 12 hrs yestersday, I was up 70 when I had been up 200 :)- but hey....when the fish are biting, they go to the river sometimes - LOL

RB

just choked 11 spots from the money in a $11 rebuy -

played tight...waited till the right moment, got NO pocket pairs above JJ though I saw a lot of A/rag -

and when I was getting a bit tight and got 99 - I made the right move... and was up against 22

and a 2 hit the flop - and it took me down too far to come back without gambling - and when my A10 hit QQ - I was one from the bubble table

some days, I don't know what the fucking point is in playing this game - I really don't.

RB

ay carumba...

yesterday was one of the worst days of poker I've had in a while for results...loss after loss after loss - today's sit and go's weren't much better -

but I'm playing right...mostly making the right choices at the right times - gonna play a rebuy, where one can wait for the cards, and we'll go from there...ay carumba...

RB

I woke up this morning - decided to play all three turbo satellites for the Pokerstars 215 game

2 down one to go - and one seat won -

but given my current bankroll status, if I don't win a 2nd one, I don't think I can play it - so let's see how the third one goes...
------------------
UPDATE - barely made it in the 3rd one...(like an ante from busting)-

we're down to 75, and I've got 55 in LP with 15000 bucks....enough to steal from the BB - but by this time stalling is king, so I go take a piss...and as I'm wrapping up, I hear the beeping of 15 sec. warning... super. - so I rush out - raise 3 times BB - and go into shock

there are two callers before me - I moved too quickly - thought they'd muck - and one of them has me covered...sure enough he calls.

He had AA of all things - so now I'm down to 2500 on the button - I've gotta try to outlast 6 hands till that BB gets there...antes are up to 400, so once the BB arrives, I'm dead...

somehow...the stalling got to a point where it would be 10000/20000 blinds and 1000 antes...LOL - I've got 700 in UTG, and after joking about asking everyone to muck to me (and to my horror. they agree to, which I have to immediately dissuade to prevent the apppearance of collusion) - but they did stall long enough for two other all-in's on the other two tables -

meaning I made it 57th of 57 for a 215 entry...so I'm in the big one...and big it is...1617 players....we're gonna be damned close to 100 grand for first prize...holy cow..

Lord....I could use some luck today if you got it....it's been a dry season, and I'm about to become possibly unemployed....a little grace would be nice..

gratsi.

RB
RB

dropped 138 bucks in an hr...crud

not tilting really though...had motebonito - the worst party poker player ever on my table - look for him, but take a big bankroll, cause the swings are murder....fuck....

I see Creed broke up today....there really is a God, ain't there.

RB

the home game was cool - quarter/dollar stuff mostly, but it reminds me of how much fun this game can be when there's not hundreds of dollars riding on it... - people shouting to their friends to "Call Him/Her" - stuff that of course is nixed in the majors...

I then went to Canterbury and was out till 4am - took two hundred dollar chips home....started with one...a totally different game, with people upset about getting rivered with trash...only to watch the fish who rivered snapped off two hands later and getting outraged...LOL - 19 yr. old kids who have no clue... good night to double up (not to mention a hundred thousand dollar bad beat jackpot

I've been nickeling and diming my way back into positive territory lately - a hundred here...Eighty there - the little bites you need to munch out a now 860 dollar deficit.

I'm also memorizing the poker groups...LOL - never have gotten around to that....and haven't studied the way I should - I've owned the Theory of Poker for 2 yrs and haven't read it cover to cover yet...one more week should finish it...

well, today was a nice day...couple hundred closer to being ahead again...without needing the big ass ol' tourney win to do it - we'll go from there...

pax
RB

I've been playing LL raked games the last couple days...trying to rebuild a bankroll shattered by too many tourney losses - so far, after 7 days, I'm about even... - 6 days of winning/low loss play was ofset by one massive tilt session....bad, bad whiskeytown

thru the power of the internet, I have found an live home poker tourney I want to drop in on tonight - so that's gonna happen, I think...if there's anything to report, I shall do so tonight or tomorrow..

pax
RB