Klopzi's Mediocre Poker

Bad Beats?

2009-11-13T00:15:00.002-05:00

I had a whole "thing" planned for today's post. I was going to talk about short-term variance, complain about bad beats, and try to get sympathy from my readers. But I don't have the time to be philosophical about this. And the only reason that most of us review others' bad beats is to feel better about our plight at the tables. And so I'll see you off into the weekend with some hands that I played poorly, got unlucky, or both. Enjoy! PokerStars $1/$2 Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View...

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Remembrance Day, Family, and Poker

2009-11-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

I had the day off of work yesterday in honour of Remembrance Day. I feel a little guilty having taken the day off without doing anything to remember the veterans who fought and died for my freedom. I was at home taking care of both of my boys, one sick with a mild fever. Despite the fact that I was watching Disney's Cars during the minute of silence, I am infinitely grateful for all that everyone has sacrificed to keep the True North safe, strong, and free for me and my family. I really did...

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What's Old is New Again

2009-11-09T12:00:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I didn't play quite as much poker as I anticipated. I did squeeze in a fairly good session on Saturday night and things went well. I bookmarked a few hands that I wanted to post but forgot to copy them from Poker Tracker. If memory serves, I think one hand was a standard bad beat and a few others were of the "what the hell was my opponent thinking?" variety. Most of my weekend was spent just relaxing and playing Uncharted 2 on my PS3. I finished the...

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I Need a Vacation...

2009-11-05T12:00:00.002-05:00

It's finally Friday and I'm exhausted. Between work, contractors, and H1N1 vaccination clinics, I'm beat and ready for a couple days off. My plans for the weekend involve relaxing, having a few drinks, a bit of exercise, and trying to plan a healthy diet for me to take up as soon as possible. My body's getting too old for the food I eat and I need to change things around. But this change won't happen over the next two days so let's talk poker! I'm going to try and squeeze in a few sessions...

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A Rough Start

2009-11-03T23:14:00.009-05:00

I was pretty tired last night after a long day. I considered playing some Uncharted 2 on my PS3 but decided that my time would be better spent working on my limit hold'em game. I'm not sure if last night's session taught me much of anything. Maybe that's not entirely true. I was forced to re-focus my efforts after dropping a number of hands right at the beginning of my sessions. I made some fairly substantial mistakes against the calling stations at my tables and paid the price in...

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Take These and Call Me in the Morning

2009-11-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

I planned quite a bit of poker last night but it wasn't meant to be. After supper and a spot of mindless television watching with my wife, I needed to take care of a few administrative tasks. I still managed to squeeze in 40 minutes of poker before I went to bed. The first thing I wanted to do last night was to get myself a proper affiliate code for PokerSavvy Plus. I've discussed how much their site impressed me in the past (including both Foucault's and IStrong's awesome instructional...

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Month in Review: October 2009

2009-11-02T07:00:00.002-05:00

October was not my greatest month. My results were pretty poor and I barely played any hands. Family, video games, and illness took centre stage, pushing poker well into the background. I focused primarily on limit Omaha/8 at Stars but managed to squeeze in a bit of 6-max limit hold'em over the past week. And while my results weren't great, small sample sizes make it pretty difficult to ascertain what caused these losses: my poor judgment or my poor luck. Before I post my numbers, I do...

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Party On!

2009-10-29T07:00:00.009-05:00

I decided to stick with the 6-max limit hold'em last night instead of grinding out the Omaha/8 games. I felt like playing poker and wanted to challenge myself. I'd spent my commute to and from work watching a couple 6-max LHE videos and I was in the mood to play. I ended up playing a single table of $0.50/$1 at Party Poker. My wife watched Oprah while I sat quietly with my notebook on my lap, mouse in hand, and a starting hand chart nearby. I've got a basic understanding of LHE theory but I...

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H1N1 Vaccinations and Losing Sessions

2009-10-29T07:00:00.006-05:00

Anyone else concerned about the H1N1 virus? A second wave of this newest flu bug, also known as the "swine flu", is hitting Ottawa and things are bound to get ugly. There is a vaccine available but there are not enough clinics to handle the demand. Clinics are only open for six hours a day and the line-ups are so incredibly long (nine-hundred or more people) that most are turned away before the clinics even open their doors for the day. Canadian health care may be free but it's not the most...

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Still Learning

2009-10-28T11:40:00.004-05:00

It's amazing that I'm still so clueless about poker after all of these years. After four years of playing poker on a semi-regular basis and reading a ton of books on most forms of poker, I still have great difficulty with the game. I've tried to break into the mid-to-upper echelons of poker society but have been unable to post a winning record when I most needed it. I don't think I'm alone. I won't make excuses for my lack of outstanding results in poker. But I will say that having a...

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Fighting the Good Fight

2009-10-27T07:00:00.002-05:00

Anyone else out there desperately fighting the flu and other nasty viruses floating around? In the last couple of weeks, I've been sick three separate times and it's not getting any better. Today's symptoms including slight stomach ache, grogginess, and various nose/throat issues. I'll chalk up the stomach ache to the Hallowe'en candy that I ate last night. Diet's not going well but at least the trick-or-treaters won't have to worry about getting any delicious peanut-laden treats from my...

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A Wiggly Weekend

2009-10-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

It felt good to play poker again last night! I only logged around 80 hands of Omaha/8 and NLHE over the course of two hours but it was fun. I lost a couple real-life dollars but earned some much appreciated Sklansky Bucks in O/8 - par for the course. For the first time in a month, I'm actually planning on playing poker this weekend. My weekend is shaping up to be an interesting one. I'm going to catch The Wiggles live tonight. My kids really like The Wiggles and my wife and I thought this...

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Déja Vu?

2009-10-22T12:30:00.003-05:00

I started to feel poker calling my name yesterday morning. I was shaving at the time and thought, "I'd really like to play some poker". I've honestly given up trying to figure out the ebb and tide of my desire to play poker. For better or worse, poker is a part of my life now. It's more than a hobby, ridiculous as that sounds given my lifetime results. I don't define my life in terms of poker but it's become a part of my self-identity. There's no point fighting it: I'll keep playing poker...

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Guide to Poker

2009-10-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

For all the talk of casino games and sports betting that I've done this week, my favourite form of gambling is poker. I like the control - or sense thereof - that I get from poker. When I take my seat at the felt, I'm in charge of my own destiny. I'm not sure what that says about my supposed "skill" when I'm unable to put together more than a couple winning sessions in a row. I honestly believe that poker is more skill than hobby, more lifestyle choice than carefree pastime. Poker is a...

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Looking Ahead

2009-10-14T12:30:00.001-05:00

Is anyone else out there really getting worried about the future of online poker? As much as I want to devote myself fully into poker again, I think I'm really bummed about the December UIGEA deadline. I hate the fact that the future of online poker seems tethered to the success or failure of online poker in the United States. Honestly, I don't get it. There are a lot of poker players who don't live in the States. But look at any online site that doesn't allow U.S. players and you'll see...

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Betting Choice

2009-10-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

My holiday weekend is now over. Not much has changed from last week to this week save for a slightly larger waistline and an urge to avoid further turkey and apple pie dietary supplementation. On the poker front, I'm still not feeling "it" at the moment. It's times like these that my mind and imagination wander. I start scouring the Internet for new and exciting ways to make money. Let me re-phrase that: I start looking for easy ways to make money. And if there's one thing that movies and...

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Guide To Casinos

2009-10-12T11:15:00.000-05:00

I had my first really big meal of the Thanksgiving weekend yesterday morning. It wasn't turkey and stuffing; rather, it was a ridiculously large breakfast at a local restaurant. After finishing up everything on my plate (and a good deal of what my wife and kids couldn't finish on theirs), the waitress was kind enough to drop off the bill. It's at moments like those that I regret not having focused more on poker over the past few months. A little extra money is always a good thing. Nothing...

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Thanksgiving Weekend!

2009-10-09T12:00:00.024-05:00

It's been a very busy week. Kids' birthdays are always an exhausting fare. Two kids' birthdays within 7 days of each other is so incredibly draining that I can't even begin to describe it. Basically, I'm tapped out. My plans to play more poker this month have backfired. I got caught up in finishing off Lost Odyssey. And then I went and did something very silly last night: I bought myself a copy of a game called Demon's Souls. Imagine a game that follows the typical risk/reward strategy...

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Weekend at a Glance

2009-10-06T12:30:00.000-05:00

Played O/8 on Friday Night. 300 hands. Lost $2.58. Better than losing $68... Tried to finish Lost Odyssey on my Xbox 360. Failed. Why? Stomach bug hit me Sunday night. Shakes started around 1:00 AM on Monday morning. Body purged at 1:36 AM. Not a great experience but not as bad as I thought it would be. Slept until noon Monday. Considered playing poker despite cramping, dizziness, and general "blah" feeling. Played video games instead. What has two thumbs and hates flu season?

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Never Stop Learning

2009-10-02T07:30:00.003-05:00

I chose to play video games instead of poker last night. I was too groggy and sickly to fire up Stars and start grinding. I did do one thing to improve my Omaha/8 game last night: I started reading the Omaha/8 section in Super System 2. Thanks to that little section of the book, I've come to realize that I've been making many mistakes in my recent play that have undoubtedly contributed to my poor results. I've really got to force myself to be a patient poker player. In the loose, multi-way...

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Poker Bug or Flu Bug?

2009-10-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

I'm definitely coming down with something right now. I'm not sure if it's a cold, allergy, or some form of flu. I got a little extra sleep last night so I don't think it's a general lack of sleep. I'm not a doctor though. I'll down an energy drink tonight, take some cold medicine, and some pepto-bismol: that should just about cover everything. I'm not sure if I'm going to play any Omaha/8 tonight. I'm torn between poker, watching TV with my wife, or trying to finish off Lost Odyssey on my...

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Month in Review: September 2009

2009-09-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's been a long while since I felt it necessary to take a step back and review my past month's play. I find self-reflection much easier when things have gone either incredibly well or rather poorly at the tables; September 2009 falls into the latter category. To chalk up my losses to bad luck alone is ludicrous. We all make mistakes in poker and its these mistakes that have the most effect on our results. This is never more true than when learning a new game. I'll take the good with the...

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Busy Days at the Tables and Elsewhere

2009-09-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

Things have certainly been busy the past week or so. My sons birthdays' are coming up: my youngest's is tomorrow and my oldest's follows one week later. I'm very proud of my little guys even if they still don't really sleep through the night and like to play a game where they both start yelling at the same time. I think they may end up being pretty good singers because they're able to change their screams such that they are pitch-perfect with each other. My boys are also able to make fart...

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Settling for the Silver Lining

2009-09-24T06:30:00.000-05:00

I played a bunch of poker last night. I fired up four tables of Omaha/8 and settled in for a night of grinding. It was like taking a trip down memory lane. Full-ring poker, fixed-limit betting, nice passive play, and tons of clueless players. I purposely loaded up more tables than I usually play to force myself to play strict ABC Omaha/8 (or my version thereof). Trust me - you don't want to come down with a case of Fancy Play Syndrome while donking it up in the $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 Omaha/8...

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Nature of the Beast

2009-09-23T06:30:00.000-05:00

Until last night, I'd played poker on twenty-one straight evenings. Doesn't sound like much but still pretty impressive given my familial responsibilities. Of course, I really haven't played much poker in terms of hands. I've only put in about 1,000 hands total this month: 700 hands of PLO and 300 hands of Omaha/8. My most impressive achievement has been my ability to drop three times the value of the Full Tilt Take 2 bonus amount ($50) over the course of those thousand hands. I think my...

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