My how time flies.

Good lord. Has it already been that long? Have not done much here because I was asked to help out at pokerati.com so I usually post any poker news there or help keep the place clean of spammers.

If anyone has missed me here is a "quick" update.

Still playing on Bodog. Decided to take a chunk of the bankroll out for Christmas shopping. Got it faster than expected. The last time I took some money out was in Jan. and it took a month to see it. This time I did a pay out on Sept 24 and had the check by Oct 5th. Thank you Bodog.

Started playing more SnGs than cash games again. Always nice to change up and do one more than the other. Not much to report except that I will go 3-4 bubbles then get paid in the next 3-4. Usually 3rd or 2nd place finishes when I do get paid. I sure do hate heads up.

When I get a chance to watch some TV I have a lot of poker things that TIVO has recorded. Loving the new season of High Stakes Poker. Poker After Dark has gotten a lot better to and I try to keep up with it. The only thing that makes me cringe is watching the 2007 WSOP coverage. The asshats they put on the tube astounds me. I like to be wierd and act like a goob but some of these guys just cross the line which they drew on the edge of a very big mountain.  Class is not something that is in their vocabulary.

I just signed up for Poker Stars. Never have been there but they are doing the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker and a few of the pokerati folk are signing up for it so I wanted to give the site a try. Oh I also have a crush on Daniel Negreanu and it might be fun to watch him play on there since he has been trying to improve his online game. If you are reading this Phil Laak...you are still #1 on my list.

On the non-poker side of life. Jen and I stopped playing WoW back in July. We miss it but were just not enjoying it as much as we had been. I am sure we will pick it back up once the new expansion comes out. In the mean time I have subscribed to Gametap so I have a lot of games at my fingertips through that service. I also bought the Orange Box via Steam and have fun games like Half Life 2: Episode One and Two, Portal, and TeamFortress 2 I can play. Oh oh and Guitar Hero 2 and not far away 3 can keep me busy.  Lots to do and so little time.

(P.S. I really hate this new blogger editor. I don't think it is very Opera friendly.)

New Year...New Stuff?

Happy New Year! So what if it has been nearly 10 months since my last entry...I never claimed to be a legit blogger. Due to the hounding I have received from my good friend, Jase, I am making a new year entry to give an update on things.

1. Poker!! Live game is still lacking. Been to Choctaw a couple times and have left broke or nearly broke. I usually play 4-5 hours before this happens so maybe if I left earlier I would be ahead. Online game has improved. Put $30 on Bodog back in Late July. My bankroll there has jumped to $1k! Mainly playing low limit PL games. I did place 5th in a $30+3 tournament back in Sept and that jumped the bankroll up another $300. From there it was just a grind by playing ring games when I got the chance.

As of Oct when this great government of ours passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and the popular donkey sites closed their doors to U.S. players things have changed at bodog. No longer did my chart move up at a steady pace. It began to see the variance that one would expect to see with PartyPoker refugees showing up in droves. It went from a steady climb to a crazy rollercoaster ride. Up $30 one session...down $60 the next...up $80 the next...down $10-20 the next few then back up again. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

My game has changed a bit as of the new year though and I am trying to change up how I play so the variance does not swing both ways so much. It has been working I guess as the climb has started again. One of the goals I made for this year is to play in more tournaments and try to enter in a few bigger ones with a hefty payout. Once I make a couple million so I can pay off nasty CC bills I can get on High Stakes Poker season 4 or 5. We shall see....we shall see.

2. World of Warcraft! Still playing it as much as I can with the wifey. We picked up the expansion (Burning Crusade) today so I am sure there will be lots of playing in the near future to level new toons and try new stuff with our old ones. I have played too much in the last year I think. 2 level 60s and another that hit 50...plus few I have that don't get played as often. Oh well...it is a cheap form of entertainment and less stressful than poker. :)

3. Uhhh...I guess that is it. Work is work...nothing exciting to talk about.

Until another 10 months...have a good one!

Ed

Woot! A new record for me!

I finally got over $100 in my bankroll! The last time I was nearly there I had nothing by $5 and $10 losses from playing SnGs and losing until it was all gone. This $100 was made from nothing. Ran out of money on DoylesRoom and decided to play a freeroll for 1,000 Action Points. Did not realize it was a speed tourney...so 3 min blinds. Good lord it was rough and turned into PokerLotto by Level 3. I stuck with playing quality cards and would call or push when I got them and roll the dice. Made it to 3rd and the payout was $27.

I then played over the next week doing SnGs and Ring games and got it up to $97. Today at lunch I played and the only table available was a $.02/.04 PL table (only doing PL these days and loving it). After close to an hour I had doubled up and felt like I did something right. Now we shall see if I can keep my bankroll growing or if the cards will turn on me and I lose it all. No matter what...it has been fun playing with free money.

This weekend should be fun. Going over to Justin's to hang with him and Jason on Sat night. WIll be playing FIFA '06 all night I am sure and it will be fun. Has been a while since we got together for FIFA instead of poker and this time it will be super fun because Justin turned 30 today so we need to get him wasted and kick his ass at FIFA. Happy Birthday Justin!

Edit: Still playing WoW. Having more fun with the game than I had imagined. We even started new characters on a full PvP server (Undead characters are fun) and I made a rogue and then a warlock...the warlock is getting more use and I never thought I would enjoy a magic character so much.

Ed

Still Alive!

Wow...has it been over a month already. November was a crazy month. Holiday season usually is but a lot of stuff happened last month and I guess I was never in a mood to post anything.

I am still having fun with The Lodge free poker tournaments on Sundays. Started playing World of Warcraft with the wife at the end of Nov. We are having a blast with the game like I figured we would. Now I am just waiting to see how long until I stop really getting into it. With Jason and Justin both playing and now we have Nick back in the game it may be fun with a group to go adventuring with now and then. Only time will tell.

For any poker fans that stop by here...there is a new site from the WPT folks called Chipleaders. It is basically nothing more than a myspace for poker players. Forums, blogs, and lots of people. Sign up and then invite me into your network. So far I am the only Ed from Dallas that I have seen on there.

Ed

Friday night poker fun!

Our DFW Poker Crew got together last night as Jason's house for a $20 buy-in tournament (short handed with only 6 people showing) and then afterwards 5 of us played some .10/.20 poker. It was one of my best nights with this crew because I went home with more than I brought. Usually I break even or bust out but this time I won the tournament which we let pay $60/$40/$20 and I made about $18 more than my $20 buy-in at the ring game. Both games I ended up short stacked and pretty much ready to call it quits when a few hands would finally go my way.

The best hands for me were probably near the end when I first got a straight flush with my 4h7h. The flop was a 3h6cqd and Jordan came out with like a half pot bet. Jason folds and I make a comment along the lines of "I am just going to call because I think this hand will piss you off." 5h hits the turn and I am feeling good...unless he had higher hearts in his hand and another one hits the river. I check to him and he checks. Hmmm...is all I think before I nearly shit my pants as the 6h falls. I look at the board...look at my chips...count a few...and throw in $1. He quickly calls and throws over AJ (but not making the flush). I slowly turn over my straight flush with a look of shock on my face that I even made it.

I think Jordan was more annoyed after that hand and a few more pass when he throws in a $4 pre flop raise. Jason makes a few comments about "What if I have AA...I will have to go all in." Along with Jordan's reply of "Go ahead because I will be pushing all in too." Jason smirks and folds his cards as I look at mine and see AA. I look at Jordan and say "Well here is your chance because I am all in." At this point I have him on KK or QQ and after I flip my bullets over he shows QQ. An ace is the first card to hit the flop and I feel 100% better about them not getting cracked. BIG pot raked in. Now Jordan is really annoyed and ready to finish up his $3 stack or make a few quick bucks. He goes all in a few times causing Jason and I to fold until I hit 66. I raise knowing he will push if he has something and he does...with A9. My pocket pair stays top pair and I finish off Jordan and feel good about it since he has won most of our poker night tournies and ring games.

It was very fun and I even enjoyed ribbing Jason after his pre flop raise, calling a big reraise with 2c4c...and then catching his straight on the turn (or river). Jason is one lucky mofo and I make sure he knows it anytime he sucks out. Thanks for hosting the poker night again Jase and hopefully we can get a few more of the crew to show up next time.

Buy-in: $20
Cash out: $78
Net: +$58

This looked good until I read Dan's recent blog over at pokerati.com.

Ed

Soul Caliber 3

Decided to spend some money on a new game for the wife and I to play. Soul Caliber 3 won over the new Pokemon game. So far it has been a lot of fun and we have enjoyed kicking the shit out of each other with our favorite characters from the past games. I like the create your own character option. I made a "Monk" based character who is albino and bright red hair. The only clothes he wears is his cool cape and purple underwear. Can not wait to unlock some of the other options and have more fun creating new folk.

All I need now are 32 friends that enjoy fighting games so we can have a huge tournament using the new Tournament feature.

I should finish up some of this work here at the office so I can leave soon. We are playing some poker at Jason's place tonight and it will just be a $20 buy-in tournament. Maybe I will finally place in one and go home with more money that I had at the beginning.

Ed

Poker fun for the whole family!

Thought it was about that time for something new in the blog I just had to start up.

Played some poker last night at the start of a new LAP season at The Lodge. A fun time was had by all and I must say that Dan did a great job in getting the Heads Up tourney put together and keeping it going like a pro tournament director.

I did ok....got to the 3rd round (or is it called the 3rd bracket?) before Zach Ballenger came back from a very crippled stack of about 18-20 in chips to take me out of the game. The worst hand for me was after he doubled up a couple times and then beat my flopped two pair (45o) with his top paired Q on the flop meeting his K kicker on the river after I put him all in. Was a nice call and he thought he had used up all his luck. He was wrong. Zach went on to beat 3 more people for the win! Ed Reese was second and I was really hoping to make it further in the tourney so I could battle it out with Ed.

Next week the regular poker tourney starts and I can not wait. The couple of games I played there at the end of last season were a blast and I am eager to start from the beginning. I think this is some of the best free poker out there and I would choose it over the APL or NPPL any day. Sign up starts at 3:30 and the game begins at 4:30 every Sunday! Come out if you live in the DFW area and show us what you got.

Ed