Adventures of Nutsboy

Poker Player Singer Extraordinaire

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:27:00 +0800

I need to concentrate

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 19:28:00 +0800

Just came home from my first winning session this year after 3 losing ones. It was pretty much a standard night, extravagant and intricate plays, only straight forward poker. Reads are hard to come by especially when I play with almost a different set of faces every single time. There are a few regulars that I play against so I have an idea how they play and what not.

I was trying to think about my game for the past days in hopes of figuring out the leaks and how to plug them. I might be playing a bit too loose for my own benefit. I think I am in a a lot of pots that sets me up for disaster. I tend to shy away from my game plan and play the way which most of my opponents are playing. I need to concentrate more on my game and just trust my skills.

I hope I can continue playing better this year.

Happy New Year!

Tue, 6 Jan 2009 21:51:00 +0800

Happy New Year to all!

To be honest, I did not have a great start to my year. I was down with the flu during the New Year's eve celebration and I already have two losing sessions playing live. Not the start that I was initially was hoping for, but what can you do?

A friend of mine introduced me to this great piece of reading material, The Power of Now. So, I will just try to live in the moment, not regretting what happened in the past and not worrying about what the future has to offer. And yes, I will try to apply that to my poker game, no matter how absurd it may be.

A reason I think I'm a bit sluggish lately is the fact that I have no exercise for the past 3 months I think. I have to keep my body healthy to keep my mind sharp. I will probably try to squeeze in a boxing session next week and take it from there.

Also, thank you to those of you who welcomed me to pokerwebblogs.com. More power to you guys and good luck at the tables.

Straight flush

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:23:00 +0800

Crazy two weeks of poker for me. I played the Metro 500 and the Metro 75 in one day. Placed 7th on the 500 and 16th I think in the 75. I hope to be playing more 75s in the coming weeks.

It was brought to my attention that my official title right now is a professional poker player, again. I have to say that it one of the most fun and the most stressful professions out there. As the popular saying goes, it is definitely the hardest way to make an easy living.

Anyway, just like to share this cray incident that happened to me a couple of days ago.

I played over at the Metro and was feeling good, was up right away around a thousand when suddenly the donkey in me appeared. Being card dead and tilting is not always the best combination ever, so after 8 hours of playing, I was already stuck around 7500.

I already raised the white flag and accepted defeat for that session, but decided to play for the following reasons: It was already 8:00 A.M. and I did not want to go home because if I do, I will just sleep the whole day, wake up in the middle of the night. This is bad considering I have an early engagement the following morning. Number two reason was I felt pretty good with my game and I know that I can just sit there and wait for the cards to come. I was pretty much sure that I was not going to tilt at any point since I already declared it to be a losing session.

I stayed with my table, a 25-50 table, but the action was kind of weak. The pots that we were playing was small and with my strategy, this was definitely not a good thing. Then I saw a seat open at the 10-20 table. Thought it was a good table, plenty of preflop raising and a bit weak post flop game. I know that I am a favorite in that table. There were a couple of players in the table which I am familiar with their game so I was confident.

Then this hand came. I limped in with 10s6x, thinking that the 6 was a heart. Villain raised to 100, with 2 callers in front of me, I also call. Flop was:

3d 4s 5d

Villain bets for another 100. Thinking that I has an open ended straight draw, I decided to call and see the turn. Turn card was a:

5d

He bets again. At that point, I was already trying to count for my outs, any diamond on the river will be no good for me, just the remaining 2 7 and 2 2.

River was a 7d. Villain bets 500.

One player said "diamond wins" and the player to my left, a friend of mine from high school said "6 of diamonds straight flush". Me? I was already saying all the bad words that I know in my head. This was already after playing for 20 hours straight, so my read was really off. I decided to call.

Villain shows me 2 of diamonds. I then said "sa lahat ng baraha ng pwedeng lumabas, bakit 7 of diamonds pa?". I was thinking of mucking my hand right there, but since I had teh straight, I want him to see that I had at least something so next time it reached the showdown they know I have at least a hand. I flipped over my cards and walked away from the table.

Then there was a commotion in my table. "Hoy gago! straight flush ka kaya!" I apparently had 10s6d! I then immediately apologized to the other player trying to explain that it was not my intention to slow roll or anything to that effect. I really had no idea I had the 6 of diamonds.

So my quick tip, always flip over your cards just to be sure, you might have the nuts without you knowing it.

It's been a good year for me having another chance to go at it again. All I know is 2009 will be a lot better and I just can't wait to ship the chips my way.

Merry Christmas to you all and have a wonderful new year ahead of you.

Pokerstars and 25th Birthday

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:43:00 +0800

I will be starting this blog again because I am playing lots and lots of poker right now. I have right around six months to grind it out, both live and online and be a winning player. The plan is to be a winning player online actually.

The reason for the time constraint is because I plan to go back to school next June. It is not easy to be working and trying to earn a living for yourself to all of a sudden becoming just a normal student. I have to find some means of income to finance my whatevers. So online is the plan. Will be playing live purely as a social event or gathering once I become a full time student again. Hehe.

Never thought I would be playing at Pokerstars but I am. You can look me up (happymikee) grinding the NL10 6max tables from time to time. The reason why I stayed away from Stars for the longest time is because I love Full Tilt Poker because I have a rakeback thing setup with my account. Then I realized that having rakeback is not really good for my game for it messes up my mind. I tend to play looser than normal and don't care if I am tilting because at the back of my head I know I have rakeback coming monthly. So basically, I was just grinding to get rakeback. The pursuit of improving as a player took a back seat. I will miss it though, it is something that will surely get you by during those dry runs. But I will have to go back to basics first and work on my game. I plan to return to FTP soon when my confidence is up there again. Thankfully, I have friends who are raking it in playing NL100 6max, Wild Burro and iBenga who, from that last time we talked, are more than willing to help me out and give me tips and strategies that will help me beat the game.

I also found out that cashing out from Stars is a lot easier since it is the most popular site here in our country. Back then, I used to use Click2pay to withdraw from FTP and let me tell, the charges are plain out robbery. But since a lot of poker players here prefer Stars, selling my Stars dollars via p2p transfer will be a lot easier and quicker.

And today marks my 25th birthday. Quarter of a century of ups and downs, laughter and tears. Thanks you to all of you that are with me throughout.

Note to self...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:19:00 +0800

When trying to catch a fish, it is always better to set out your nets and traps rather than chase it.

Hello again...

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:37:00 +0800

Been a long time and I have to say I miss blogging about poker. Been playing a little here and there and I have to say that I am rusty, but it looks promising. Actually, I am trying to make a run at it again before I eventually go back to school next June. For those of you out there, you will be seeing me more often now playing live at the Metro Card Club. I plan to take it easy, build up my roll again and give online another run.

Time for me to feel alive again ala Mike McDermont. Good luck to me!

Metal Gear Solid 4 and Poker

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:46:00 +0800

It's been almost two weeks now since I filed for LOA from work for personal reasons. I'm still awaiting the word if I can transfer to our Ortigas site. So it is just poker and MGS4 for me right now. MGS4 is a solid game and we've been fans of the franchise ever since day one. I wish I have an HD screen so that I can fully appreciate the stunning graphics.

I managed to squeeze out a little profit from live action last Tuesday with the old gang. I directly gave the winning to Mark and asked him to transfer some Full Tilt Cash to my account. I will try to revive my online career.

That's it for now, that is the only thing that's been keeping me busy. And by the way, The Joker rocks!

Keep on playing.

One Last Time

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:48:00 +0800

I have been using my Multiply site to post the current happenings in my life which are moslty non-poker related. Somehow I managed to seperate my private life from my gambling life. You can check it, michaeltee.multiply.com. But the itch is really hard not to scratch. Since my last post here, nothing has really changed, which I plan to by the way.

I'm still working and I will be soon be transferred to Ortigas. Yes, closer to home means less time to travel and more time for other stuff. I'm actually planning to play again and for the third and final time, hopefully get it right this time. For some reason, I suck in poker. I was not always this bad, I improved a little bit, but that was it. After that, it was all downhill from there.

I will give it one last fucking shot this time and I will have a new weapon, public accountability. Yes, it worked for me when I was trying to lose weight. I posted my daily activities so that people now what'g going on therefor mottivated me not to fail. So I plan to do it as well here and post other mumbo jumbo because I plan to use this as my main blog, I will just like this to my multiply account so that my contacts there can also have access to this one.

It will start now and I will keep this blog updated.

Mobile blogging fromthe metro

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:19:00 +0800

Just played the Metro 75, bustes, obvously. I'm havina a hard time with the structue of the blinds, but getting used to it. will take it down to chinatown next week. ya' heard?

thanks to wifi, i'm able to blog from my phone. sweet ass sweet

online poker sucked. got toasted playing the 12s. should have learned my lesson before about moving up levels. its already going up again, my roll that is. so with rakeback, i'll be ok.

I wish I'm this good...

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:13:00 +0800

They replayed the hand history of the cheating that happened at Absolute Poker. Here it is.

Chop or No Chop?

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 06:12:00 +0800

I want to get some opinions about this, I'm not really sure where I stand regarding this issue.

Lately, I have been playing live tournaments again, and I have been noticing this quite often: players chopping the pot 3 way.

I have nothing against distributing the prize and all that, I guess my question is what is proper way doing it? Do you share the pot equally, or will the stack size matter? After the agreement, how will be the eventual winner be determined? I don't think it will be fair to the other players who played the tournament if the eventaul winner will clinch the tournament by winning a satellite or by drawing for the high card.

I know money is a big part of the tournament, but we also play to figure out who played the best that night. For me, it is such a waste to see a great tournament end with the high card draw because it's already 5 in the morning and they have to be at the office by 8. You entered the tournament, I think you should be responsible enough to acknowledge taht it will take some time before it ends.

Want to hear from you guys... so I'll know what to do hehehe

Played the 75

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:25:00 +0800

Had the chance to play the Metro 75 for the first time and it was an awesome experience. I'm happy with my 5th place finish since it's the first time that I played a live MTT since the charity tournament last February where I placed 7th.

The 75 is one tough tournament to crack with the quality of the field, but I'm using some happy thoughts power here so I know I'll crack it one of these days. I plan to play 7 more 75s and see what happens.

I was never known to be an MTT player, never had a good showing when I play one. Most of the people who really know my game inside out say that ring will be my strongest game. I have some success playing live SNGs, but MTT, nada.

So that is my goal right now, to play in as much live MTT as I can. Cover as much ground as I can to catch up with the local scene. Get some street cred.

I know I will make it.

I see it.

I believe.

Do You Remember September

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 21:58:00 +0800

Results:

$6.50 Turbos
============
318 Games
6.6% ROI
37.1% ITM
Total: $136.20

Not bad for my first month of playing again. Trying to constantly work on my game to prepare myself for tougher competition when I move up. Also been planning in playing live at least once a week since the Metro is near by, bankroll permitting of course.

Will do my best to log in more games this October, off to a good start.

Click2pay rates are killing me! Any other payment processor we can use? Hit me up.

We'll see...

Keep grinding boys and girls.

Rollercoaster

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:01:00 +0800

More than a week now since I started playing again and I'm generally happy with my progress. I was not expecting to be playing like this after being away from the game for so long, still not the way we want it to be the way though. Basically, I'm trying to relearn the game which I find very difficult. Very similar to golf when you already developed some bad habits, it takes a lot of coaching, patience, and an open mind.

There are some things that are working in my favor right now which is definitely a plus. It at least takes half of the stress of losing and double the pleasure of winning.

Right now it's up and down with a little profit, but I know that I have to do way better than this to be a winning player and have a chance of making playing again full time. I know what thing to work on, it's going be tough but I can see it happening.

Until next time.

Back to square one

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:53:00 +0800

Been playing online since Saturday again, and let me tell you, it feels so different. It is similar to the feeling that you get after being able to scratch an itch that has been bothering you for some time now. What a relief.

A couple of things will make it better this time. One, I have a real job, which means that I don't have to rely so much from my poker earnings. This means that I will less pressure and more money to actually pad my roll and keep on playing and hopefully roll int the bigger games. Secondly, I have a coach, manilagrind. We actually talked about how to proceed with the whole thing to make sure that I maximize exploiting the 6.5. It also is becoming more clear that this is the thing that we really want to do in the near future. Hopefully this can create a healthy environment for players who are trying to take the game seriously enough to make a career out of it. I know he has some people in mind, so I just hope that the "crew" actually gets bigger.

Let's see what happens...

Slowly making my way back

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 06:42:00 +0800

April 21, 2007 was my last post here. Man, long time ago. Been paying attention to what has been happening with the local scene and quite happy about those developments. The people who are leading the way to a bright future are really doing a great job.

As for me, working is not so bad I have to admit, but I have to have my poker fix. Been slowly playing a little bit of online poker here and there. Been thinking of putting a little money in PokerStars and try the site. Played a 9 man SnG satellite for the $500k Sunday Guaranteed over at Full Tilt, I got the seat and will be playing this Monday at 6:00 A.M. Will do my best on that one, lets see what happens.

hiatus

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 01:27:00 +0800

I will be having a hiatus from playing poker for an indefinite time. I was playing hardcore for the half a year and decided to have a break. It's tough when all you see everyday is your monitors and no one else to talk to. It gets depressing at times. I've enjoyed the money and the freedom it gave me, but i just really feel like a bum. I've decided to work for real this time around. Haha! It actually feels good, for now at least. The days are a lot quicker, so are the weeks. Pay is good, can't really complain about it. I still play poker but only to satisfy my itch. By the way, no one really forced me into getting a job, it was just realization from my part, better to try working now. Makes me appreciate the value of money more. Playing poker is tough and it is hard-earned money, but compared to a 9-5, it is easy money, so I don't value it as much before.

Poker will always be there for me, but I don't think getting my first real job would be easy when I'm 42. LOL!

Probably my last post here, really don't now coz i'm using my multiply account now for my blog. Just to make it clear that I am not walking away from poker, i love it, just that I'll be playing way less, and posting way less too...

Datamining

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 03:24:00 +0800

I just learned this a couple of days a go when my new online poker buddy, Jayme, taught me how to do it. Basically, you get your Poker Tracker running, observe some tables, and it automatically gets the HH of your opponents. So the next time I play with them, I have sufficient stats on them, sweet. Also got a better HUD program, PokerAceHUD. Got a bit overwhelmed with the stats at first, but slowly got the hang of it.

Also got a $100 bonus from Full Tilt, which is sweet as always.

Been blogging mostly right now in my multiply account. You can check it out michaeltee.multiply.com. But I keep the poker blogs here still.

Played for charity

Tue, 6 Mar 2007 09:36:00 +0800

Played the charity event last Saturday. It was held over at the Robinson's Galleria. It was the first time a PAGCOR sanctioned event was held in such a public venue. The who's who of local poker was there. Just read Miguel's blog for the tournament report. I'm writing from my point of view.

Not really a fan of rebuy tournament I think this is the first time I played one. So I don't have any strategy whatsoever. I just kept saying to myself that poker is poker, and just tried to play my game, the way I know how.

Was seated together with the eventual winner, Che, Kelly, Aaron, Dondi, 2 young players, a dude, and the tita of Neil. Dealt with cowboys, went all after the raise of kelly, was sure he was going to call with whatever he had. I think I was the first one to double up after the first hand. Hehe. Having a field of 107, this may be the biggest live tournament I ever played, and it gave me the chills to tell you the truth. I don't do really well in the past tournaments I entered, but that was a a long time ago. Nonetheless, I don't regard myself as a strong tournament player. Luck helped me a lot this time around though, especially when I was facing elimination. Rivered an 8 for my trips and triple up. Then slowly, it was down to the final table, and I had a healthy stack. Eventually busted out 7th, my top pair with AQo vs the nut flush AKs of the winner, Che. I think we were the only ones who did not had to rebuy. I got a Sony Ericsson W810i walkman phone. Nice nice phone, way cooler than I expected.

Hope this carries on throughout the month. Good cards, good play.

Got Creamed Playing 25NL

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:40:00 +0800

I was having a good run playing 10NL. So I decided to test the waters of 25NL. Got creamed I tell you. I was stuck 4 buy-ins playing for the last 4 days. Aces cracked, Kings cracked, Straight vs. runner runner boat. You name it, it happened to me.

So it's back to grinding the 10NLs again. Sick sick world of poker.

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I'll be trying something new again this coming March. I'll be setting a target profit. Say $600 including rakeback? I think this number is attainable after a month of trying to adjust to the pace of ring. Will be reciting the phrase "I will earn $600 this month playing poker." Auto-suggestion, let's see if it will work.

Lessons learned

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:20:00 +0800

Almost a month now since I switched over to ring games, and I can say that I'm having a blast playing it. I'm enjoying it because I feel that I learn things, old and new, which is important for me to become a better player. I'm up playing it, but I should be up a lot more.

I steal pots well, play my position good, pocket pairs, suited connectors, the blinds, etc. The problem that I saw was that I tend to lose big pots, placing myself into situations that could be avoided. I'm guessing this is due to the fact that I came from playing hundreds of SnGs, turbo at that, where the strategy is push or fold. I seem to forget at times that I'm not playing a freeze out tournament. As a result, I lose big pots.

That happened during the first two weeks of me playing ring. Recovered from it already, and back on track.

Played a couple of SnGs, online of course, just to find out if I still have it in me. I still do... naks... But will still play ring primarily, planning on to move up stakes mid next month, or whenever bankroll permits, and have the numbers to show that I crushed the level which I'm playing.

A day in the life...

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 01:32:00 +0800

Two months into this going pro thing things have been pretty good. Stress free for I'm doing what I really want to do, probably not the smartest thing, but nonetheless happy. They say that poker is the hardest way to earn an easy living, and you know what, they are right. So I'd like to share with you all what goes on during my normal day.

5:00 - wake up, feed my dog, Sarg, walk him and clean up his crap. Then sleep again
8:00 - wake up, siblings going to school so a lot of noise around the house.
8:30 - Boot up the computer, check my mail, blog, surf, study strategy, doing my poker homework.

9:30 - start playing
10:30 - break, surf again, check my stats, review certain hands, do everything else,
11:30 - play again
12:30 - lunch break, watch some noontime television shows
2:30 - play again
3:30 - break, go down to the local fish ball guy, eat some kikiam, yellow corn, etc. (i live in front of a school, so expect a lot of street vendors)
4:00 - take a nap
5:30 - off to the gym(lost 10lbs since the new year, niiiceee!)
7:30 - dinner
8:30 - everything else, shower, etc.... surf, tv,
10:00 - start playing again, taking breaks after every hour of playing. but this depends, sometimes I spend around 2 hours tops playing then break again.
2:00 - tv, then some zzzzzz

Rinse and repeat, 7 times a week.

The beauty of rings, sit down and stand up anytime. Of course this is not a strict schedule. I go out with the girlfriend whenever she's free, I have no reason not to be free. Tuesdays or Wednesday play some bball jams with some fellas, including tipsy. And the occasional weekend parties. A lot of time to reflect, talk to my dog, sleep, dream and... Unfortunately, not enough interaction with real people. It gets annoying when all you have to talk to is someone who will just say NICE CALL YOU &^#@ING DONKEY!!!! Hey, I'm a people person, we need backup.

Will be having some minor changes to the schedule, You'll find out all soon enough hehehe.

Lord of the ring... game

Thu, 8 Feb 2007 06:06:00 +0800

Been playing the $10NL 6max tables, 4 tabling as always, and I'm glad to say that I'm actually doing pretty OK. So far, I've been able to match what I make playing the SnGs, if not, better. The rakeback is also good, if not, faster. With only 4000 hands played, which is not enough sample, I can't really say if this will last, but things look pretty good. I'll evaluate when I reach 15k hands, then 25k, 50k, and 100k. Hopefully by then I'll be able to move up to 25NL or even 50NL. I would like to think that I can hold my own playing those levels, I'll take shots one in a while. But for now, I'll just let my bankroll decide where I play.

Poker Tracker is an awesome program! It does everything for you, your stats, and opponents stats. Very comprehensive stats. I can find out if I'm better off folding my blinds than defending it, if I'm stealing enough, if I'm losing money playing suited connectors and connectors, etc. Identifying the leaks is quicker and eliminates the guess work. I know some of you have this program and don't use it because you don't know how to, let me know, will be glad to help.

Another program that I currently use is Gametime+. This little baby gets the information from my Poker Tracker and displays the stats of my opponents right beside their names on the table. Very cool. I can now have real time stats of my opponents, if the schmuck is a TAG, LAG, SLAG, etc. This helps me exploit situations and gives me confidence with my decisions because now I have some numbers to back me up, not just because I just felt it.

I'm still undecided if ring games make me lazier or gives me more optimum time to play. Unlike SnGs before, I wake up early to catch the traffic. But with ring, there's always a game waiting for me, not me waiting for players. I play for a minimum or an hour, and a maximum of two hours per session. Then have like a three hour break. LOL. But this goes throughout the day.

Sprained both my ankles playing my Tuesday day weekly bball jams thanks to my idiot brother.

February goals and IT WAS NOT ME!

Sat, 3 Feb 2007 19:47:00 +0800

Start of a brand new month and decided to set some goals so that I can have a guide and to track my progress better. I've decided to test the waters of online NLHE ring. Why? It is because of 2 reasons:

1. Most, if not all, SnG players shift to ring games one they reach the high stakes. They do so because it becomes harder and harder to have a +ROI because of the amount of rake they pay, and player pool becomes so small, that it is essentially a "shark eat shark" thing. Some players report that having a 1%ROI is very good, break even if you're lucky, using rakeback as profit.

I know I'm not yet playing that high, but if that's where the road will lead me to, then I would like to have a jump start. I plan to play the lowest level there is over at FT which is the $10NL, and will be playing the 6max tables rather than the full tables. Hopefully I can move up to the 25NL before the month is over. Then steadily moving up the ladder.

2. I'm much more of a ring player than a tourney strategist, or at least consider myself as one. The only reason why I don't playing ring online is because I got discouraged early on when I started playing whey going busto playing ring. Self-doubt kicks in and will kill your game. But with the help of some people, and some message boards, I think I will grasp the winning strategy playing ring. Plus, I finally learned how to analyze the stats PokerTracker is showing. It now has a use!!!! LOL!

Will still be playing the turbo sngs and some MTTs on the side, to add variety and help me become a more complete player. I really want to the crack the ring games this time around, and will not stop until I do.

An underground poker operation got raided the other night. Don't know much about the incident other than some of our friends saw me included in the raid.

Me? are you kidding? LOL! Well, it wasn't me! I was busy sipping my black forest drink over at Coffee Bean Promenade Greenhills when the event happened.

GL at the tables!