Welcome!

 
My fellow Irish homeless ...

Wages of Sin

 
I have the moral fiber of a used car salesman. No sooner had I outlined my SnG goals than I decided to try the $10 SnG's with only 15 buy-ins. I lost four in succession and plonked myself down in a $1-$2 NL cash game with $100 and change. After a few hands, I was crippled when my KK ran into AA leaving me with $30. I eventually got down to $14, when I tripled up with AA and continued playing till I hit $200.

Now the logical thing to do would be to go back and give the $10 SnG's another shot. But after winning $186 in a couple of hours, I find the prospect of returning to a $2 per hour grind rather unattractive and prefer the $1-$2 NL. Needless to say, this line of approach will decimate any bankroll, be it six digits or three.

Progress

I am enjoying continued success in the $5 SnG's at Full Tilt, having built my bankroll from $50 to $150 in 8 days. Surprisingly, I am still not tempted to start playing $10 SnG's, preferring to wait until I have at least 25 buy-ins. I may compromise on 20. Had I been this disciplined in the past with money management, I wouldn't be playing $5 SnG's today.

American Woman

Years of selfless voluntary work, together with a charming and flawless personality, have finally paid dividends. I've been asked to be an official chaperone for one of the contestants in the Miss America Pageant to be held later today at the Aladdin Resort and Casino. This entails accompanying the candidate to all the pre- and post-event functions, not to mention a change in socks and underwear. So far we have hit it off pretty well despite the age and height difference. I have been giving her pointers on how best to respond to the judges' questions, and later this afternoon will critique a private rehearsal of her swimsuit presentation. Her deportment should be fine; it's mine that I'm concerned about.

Ryan's Express

From the moment Ryan eliminated me in the 2005 WPBT Winter Classic, no mean feat against a player of my caliber, I knew he was destined for greatness. I had not, however, anticipated the speed in which this greatness would materialize. Yesterday, Ryan took down first place in the opening event of the LA Poker Classic, the $300+$30 No Limit Hold'em tourney, for a $113,583 payday.

Congratulations, Ryan. You have set the bar.

Sit N Go Sunday

 
It's no secret that I have long since abandoned Sit N Go's and MTT's in favor of cash games. Nevertheless, my good, close, personal friend Bobby has been urging me to look into the former with particular emphasis on the strategies espoused in Kill Phil. Now I am a stubborn bastard at the best of times and rarely listen to the advice of others. But somehow his repeated exhortations breached my thick skin and today I decided to play some exploratory $5 SnG's on Full Tilt, leaving the appropriation of the aforementioned book to a date in the near future.

I played 8 SnG's with the following results :

1st place - 1 time
2nd place - 1 time
3rd place - 4 times
4th place - 2 times

for a 64% ROI. Clearly this is a very small sample space, so there is plenty of room for reversion to the mean. Also this is a very low limit, so the competition is below average. The point, however, is that at all times I felt in full control of both myself and the game, and was rarely surprised by anything thrown at me. And even more interestingly, it was obvious that there were a couple of players who were playing what I can only guess to be something akin to a Kill Phil strategy - naturally they were my toughest competition and they always made the money.

I have played $100 and $200 SnG's in the past. It's a pity Kill Phil wasn't available back then. But even if it had been, the question remains whether I would have had the discipline to implement it religiously.

Have you seen this cart?

 
We are barely two weeks into the New Year, and already someone has stolen my shopping cart. The bastard cut through a cable lock securing the cart to the street light under which I read. More on this when I return from filing a police report.

Shuffle up and deal

I've spent about 40 hours in dealer's school, learning to shuffle and pitch cards together with the mechanics of dealing hold'em, seven card stud and omaha. The manager of a strip casino poker room has been gracious enough to let me come in and practice dealing tournaments. I've had two practice sessions to date. On my first, I was so nervous I could barely hold the deck of cards without shaking. One player sensing my discomfort said, "It's only a $40 buy-in tournament - don't be so nervous." My pitching left a lot to be desired with cards flying everywhere. I even managed to deal the cocktail waitress a hand as she was passing by.

The second session went a little better, but I was still jittery. It's amazing how difficult it is actually sitting in the box after having played so many hours on the other side. There is plenty of room for improvement, but with each practice hopefully my confidence will grow and the anxiety will subside.

2006 - off to a great start!

 
Yes, yes, yes! I will be sailing on a luxury poker cruise in March. I cannot divulge full details at this stage, but it will involve an online poker site, 6 WSOP bracelet holders and some of the best tournament pros all vying for a $5 million prize pool. Naturally I'm excited as hell, as this will be my first cruise as a galley hand.