Today Is The First Day Of The Rest Of My Life II (The Sequel)

I'm typing this from my new apartment in Las Vegas. I drove the U-Haul down from Reno on Monday. This post would have been up sooner, but I've had big issues with my internet company's wonderful customer service, and I'm posting it from a McDonald's.

I know you're wondering if I transferred down here like I did from Ohio to Reno. Well, the answer is "No." I quit my job, although I prefer the term “Retired Early”.

So the next logical question for you to ask is, “Why would you walk away from a job that pays $65k a year with good benefits?” Well, that answer is a rather complicated, and will require a few paragraphs.

First, I've been with the USPS for 10 years, and I've known for most of that time that I was not gonna be there for the full 25 – 35 years like most of them. The plan for me was to save as much money as possible, and move on to other things when the time was right.

The post office has big problems, and has been deteriorating every year I've been there. First, it's one of the worst run organizations in the county. Although, in their defense, I think it's just too humongous of a company to be run with any efficiency. Second, they need to downsize drastically, but can't because of postal regulations and numerous union contracts. Any major changes, like elimination of Saturday delivery, can only happen with an Act Of Congress. But as everyone knows, Congress is not capable of doing any action these days.

$8/$16 Omaha-8 At Atlantis

$8/$16 Omaha-8 at Atlantis is a 4/8 chip structure with the yellow $2 chips they normally use for the rake. There is a half kill to $12/$24 (6/12) when someone scoops a $100 pot, which is on the small side. The Kill acts like a sleeper straddle, as it acts last preflop unless there is a raise in front of it. 

This is the 3rd week this game has run at Atlantis on Saturday afternoon. I played both times after work, and I'm up almost $300 so far. I had last weekend off, so I'm able to play from the start of the game. I thought I would try a Running Log for the session, as I haven't done a Running Log for a cash game in loooong time.

2:00 $200 - Full 10-handed table. I recognize most of the players, and it's a good mix of tight & loose. 

Other games in the room today include (2) $1/$2 NL, $3/$6 L, $10/$25 NL, and $100/$100 NL. No clue why they have the big NL games today, as it's normally hard to get a $3/$5 game going here. I recognize only one players at the $100/$100, but most of the $10/$25 are locals. I guess there are a couple of special guests in town this weekend. 

2:30 $230 - Normal action so far, as nobody's stuck yet. It was pretty quiet for me. The only significant pot was me limping the Button with Ts 9s 8d 7c. Flop was Jc 8h 7s. Checked to me, and I bet ($8). Three callers, and Turn [Jc 8h 7s] 7d. I bet ($16), and they all folded. 

WSOP Stats (Post-Boom)

As a mailman, I listen to various podcasts to pass the time while I'm delivering my route, including some poker podcasts. They often mention how many WSOP Bracelets and Final Tables a players has. But for older players, many of those successes came before the poker boom, which started with Chris Moneymaker's win of the 2003 Main Event.

To me, since the poker world changed in 2003, there should be WSOP stats that start after the poker boom. I've had this thought for a few years now, but have never found those stats.

So over the summer, I started playing around with this idea in my spare time. I ended up making a huge spreadsheat with results over the last 10 years, all the way back to the 2003 Main Event. I included all bracelet events except for the WSOP Circuit National Championship and the Casino Employees event. The National Championship is relatively new, and really has nothing to do with the WSOP. And with apologies to Chad Holloway, nobody of any significant has done anything in the Casino Employees event.

I decided to jot down all 1st and 2nd places, along with any 3rd places and Final Tables of player names that I recognize. Why 1st, 2nd, and 3rd? I don't know; Gold, Silver, and Bronze I guess. Here are what I determined to be a Final Table, which I believe is the same as the WSOP uses.

Rants & Raves: Reno Tournament Series

Hi!   I'm still here.

I haven't been writing because playing poker in Reno isn't very interesting to me these days. I'm keeping the blog open for the information in it, and just in case I have something to write about.

Well, something happened last Sunday that got me to sit down and type.

Grand Sierra started their Fall Pot Of Gold tournament series on Thursday, and it goes through today. However, it was announced on last Sunday that the series has been cancelled after four days. The reason was due to excessive overlays for the guaranteed events.

The big $100k weekend event, which had five starting heats, had a $30k overlay. The  tournaments that I played included a $10k Omaha-8, a $10k HORSE, and a $15k NLHE. They all missed their guarantees by a decent amount. I would estimate that GSR had to pay around $40k in overlays for all event over the first four days. Due to gaming regulations, management's only choices were to continue the series or cancel the whole thing. And with a $200k Main Event and various other smaller guarantees, it's not that surprising that they pulled the plug.

Never Give Up, Never Surrender

Grand Sierra just finished up their Spring Pot Of Gold tournament series last week. I didn't get to play much due to my work schedule. So I thought I would try something different, and play the two Limit Omaha-8 tourneys that started on the two Saturdays at 4pm. I don't get to punch out from work until 4:30, but late registration is for two hours.
For the first one,  I got to the table about 5:30, and there was 39 entrants. Things didn't go well, as I couldn't scoop a pot to save my life. I busted out around 6:45, and finished in 29th place.

For the second one, I got there just after 5pm. The Main Event was running, so I expected a smaller field for this Omaha-8 tourney. But I didn't expect to see just one table going. I registered as the 10th and final player, and got my 8000 chips in the 150/300 level. (Remember, this is a Limit tournament. The 150/300 is the Small Bet/Big Bet. The blinds are 75/150.)

I was extremely card dead for this tournament, and basically blinded off for a while. It took me almost an hour and half to win my first pot. I hit a Full House with QQXX on a Q66 Flop. The SB bet out. I just called, and so did another player. Turn [Q66] J. SB checked, and I bet. Both players folded, and the SB showed a 6. Drat!

Hand Of The Day #101

$1/$2 NLHE ~ Eldorado ~ 04.11.13

Full table on a Thursday evening. The play has been mostly limpy with the occasional preflop raise to $8 or $10. I'm UTG+1, and look down at A8d. I bought in for $100, and I'm up to around $160. I've been trying to play position, so I should fold this. But I don't listen to myself, and limp in.

Nobody raised, and six players see a Flop of Qh Jd Td. Pretty sexy Flop for me, as I have an Omaha-esqe draw with the Nut Flush and Double Gutshot. I like to bet my big draws, so I bet $10. If the Turn hits my Flush, then I can check, and hope someone hit a smaller Flush. If I hit my Straight or miss everything, then I can keep betting.

Three players called, and the Turn is [Qh Jd Td] Kc. A beautiful card, as I now have the Nut Straight, and the Nut Flush Draw. I bet $20, and I really hope somebody raises. Fortunately, a 70's gentleman cooperates, and raises to $70. The other two players fold, and I quickly shove my last $130. He calls, and asks if I have an Ace.

I say, "I've got a freeroll, baby," as I show my cards.

Reports Of My Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated

~ Yes, I'm still here. I've been saying for the past six months or so that I'm losing interest in blogging, and that I'll probably be posting less. I've have over 400 posts on this blog, and I highly doubt I will get to #500. I have no plans to close the blog, but posts will only come along when I feel like it.

~ Now for an update on how my year has been. First of all, I'm trying to take my recreational play more seriously. I've set a goal this year of $10k profit. That is far ahead of anything I've made in the past. It may seem like a big number, but it's only $2500 every 3 months or roughly $835 each month. That doesn't seem too unreasonable.

I'm also trying to follow stricter bankroll requirements, rather than just playing whatever I feel like. I started out just playing $1/$2 and small tournaments under $200. Right now, my "pile of cash" is up to the level where I can play bigger cash games ($2/$5 NL or $10/$20 Limit) once a week, and I'm occasionally taking a little out for gas and groceries.

Here are the monthly numbers:
+$2144 January
+$697  February
-$1019 March
+$842  April

Shootout At The Peppermill

No, this isn't a post about the shootout on the Las Vegas Strip that happened on Thursday morning. Although, that is a bizarre coincidence.

The Peppermill is having one of their little tournament series this weekend, One of their events is $145+$40 NLHE Shootout. It was a surprise to see this on the schedule, as it's rare to see a variety tournament in Reno. Fortunately, this happened to fall on my off day (Thursday), so I how could I miss it?

For those who don't know, a Shootout plays like a normal tournament, except they don't balance the tables. You stay at your table, and it plays down to a winner. The winner of each table goes to the Final Table with their chips and plays to a winner. Everyone at the Final Table has made the money.

Since a Shootout has never run in this town, I'm not sure how they are gonna handle this tourney. The one thing I can predict is they will probably screw it up

"Shuffle Up & Deal" - 10k chips and 30 min levels. Tables have nine chips stacks. But... There are currently only three tables, which is really sad. We have only three players at my table. Reno is so pathetic.

The Big Poker Question (Or Luck vs Skill II)

First of all, here are my stats from last month's Las Vegas trip. This is a good example of the topic of this post.

Donkaments < $100: 8 tourneys, 3 chops/wins, +$1005, 173% ROI

Tournaments >=$100: 5 tourneys, 0 cashes, -$860

Cash Games: -$104, 18.5 hrs

Pit Play: -$108

2012 was my first losing year as a poker player. There were various factors, including running terrible in Omaha-8 games (-$1187, 66.5 hrs, 26 sessions). I also lost a decent chunk in Pit games (again), although it was a little less than 2011.

But the biggest factor in my losing year was the tournaments, and that's what this post will focus on. Here are the numbers.

Donkaments <$100: 183 tourneys, 49 cashes, 30 wins/chops, +$5438, 43.9% ROI

Tournaments >=$100: 69 tourneys. 6 cashes, 4 wins/chops, -$7466, -46.1% ROI

Interesting Spots In Las Vegas

Since the world didn't end last week, I better get back to blogging.

I documented my entire Las Vegas trip through my Twitter account. But sometimes 140 characters just doesn't do a situation justice. So here's an extended version of some interesting spots.

- Stratosphere 7pm $65 12/07/12

74 runners for this one. We started with 9k chips. This tourney has a decent structure for a donkament, but any donkament with 74 players will become a shovefest long before the Final Table. I did a decent job of building a big stack before the Push-N-Pray started with a few tables left.

When we got down to the last two tables, I was at Table #3, so I was moved to a new table. I had 42500 in the 2k/4k level, which was a little over average.  The player on my right was a 50's gentleman whom we will call Larry, and is on the rather large size (over 350 lbs). He also had a near average stack somewhere around 35k.

Larry was mumbling to me and himself about the great poker that he's been playing. Evidently this happened right before I got to the table, but Larry was quite proud of how he skillfully folded AK from UTG. He said there was too many players to act after him, and it would have been reckless to raise with all those players to still act.