Update/2008 Year in Review

I haven’t updated my blog in a long time; I’m sorry for that. I haven’t found much time to write what’s been going because really not much has been going on in my poker life, so I’m not really sure how long this blog is going to be. I think I’m going to just do a quick poker update, 2008 year in review (yes, there is a whole month left), and a quick update on the blog as a whole. (FYI: I’m not editing this so don’t go grammar Nazi on me please and thank you)

I know I don’t get many hits on my blog spot website, so I’m going to make carbon copies on all the affiliate sites (my site, FlushDraw, Railbirds, CardMafia, maybe a few more). In fact I might make this the first carbon copy, not sure? I don’t really know if people care about me or whatever but this way I’m going to get my writing out to as many people as possible as well as getting my poker career out there. If you want to read my archives visit www.baseballtim.blogspot.com (if this get’s censored send me a im or pm and I‘ll give you a link to my site). I’m probably going to do a bi-monthly blog in 2009 but that will be decided in my next blog.

So I’ve been playing some poker in the last several months since my last update. Biggest news is probably my 3rd place finish in the $10+$1 Midnight Madness on Full Tilt. I cashed for about $1300 in that tournament which was a giant leap in the right direction for where I want to go. I don’t remember much in terms of details of the tournament. I vaguely remember 3 outting a guy to survive when I had like 10 big blinds and went on a huge rush and accumulated a gigantic amount of chips in next 30 minutes or so.
One hand I do remember was on the bubble between me and another big stack. I raised with like QJs and big stack called. Flop came out 3 baby cards and I c-bet the flop and got min raised and almost insta-shove on him. He insta-folded and I smashed Qjs down his throat. That hand was definitely a highlight of the tournament.
Basically, the last 50-75 people in the tournament I went in to hyper-agro mode which worked drastically in my favor. Of course, I changed gears here and there, but I basically was raising 90% of my buttons and cutoffs and like 75% of my hi-jacks. I really got lucky with the final table seat draw as I had all the short stacks to my right and the big stacks to my left. You say why is this good? With the big stacks on my left, I can open a wide range and not be worried about being committed to a call where as if the short stack was to my left I’m almost committed to any hand that I open. The big stacks were playing extremely tight and I big a lot of blinds and antes just raising any two.
Four handed, under the gun raised and I flatted with kings on the button (the blinds had been squeezing a lot of hands) and the big blind shipped it in having us both covered, under the gun called, and I snapped called. KK > 99 (utg) > AT (bb) and I had about 2 million with about 2.7 in play. Three races and a 60/40 later, I was out in 3rd for about $1300. I can’t complain at all about that tournament and I gladly went m way even though I really felt cheated out of the extra $2k I make by winning which I probably do in that 8 out of 10 times. Sigh!

Since the Midnight Madness, it’s really been downhill for me in poker terms. I started playing the $26 tournaments on Full Tilt as well as a few FTOPS events. The $26’s on Tilt have really good value as they are all double stack and have a decent structure. Also, with the FullTilt token system, a bunch of micro limit players with the tokens take shots that they are really dead money in. It doesn’t hurt that first place prize is somewhere between $4k and $8k for the bigger guarantees either. It seems when I started playing higher tournaments my doom switch has magically smacked on in my face, and the doom switch has felt its wrath on me. I’m down almost 1k since the Midnight Madness which isn’t huge but it’s still a dent that hurts. I’m finding every bubble possible and losing every huge pot along the way. It’s frustrating to say the least.
The FTOPS were frustrating as well. I played Event #1 ($216 6-max No Limit Hold’em) and Event #24? ($129 Full Ring No Limit Hold’em Knockout). I won a satellite into both. In fact I won two into the $129 so I was freerolling that one as I was playing it no matter what. I eventually lost two races in both and good game me in the FTOPS. If you add in the satellite fees plus the events themselves I was about even in money for FTOPS which was good but frustrating in the same light. I really wanted to break out in these FTOPS and all I could do was run in the same tracks I have been making for about a year. Another moral victory for me but no victory in the actual “W” column. Oh well, there’s another FTOPS around the corner. God bless FullTilt!

So your asking why I’m doing my 2008 Year in Review when there is still December left? I’m going to be taking a break in December to hang out with friends and such over the Christmas break and I just need a break from the grind of poker. I may occasionally play a tournament or two that I see good value in, but I’m probably going to take a good break and let my account cool and get the run good juiced back into it.
I started out 2008 primarily playing the Railbirds Real Money Tournaments and was in the top 5 or 6 for almost over half the year. I basically stopped playing the tournaments and got into a position where I was going to have to put in insane volume to when and I didn’t want to do that with school and such, so I stopped playing the tournaments. I have to give credit to those who are in the top of the rankings. It really takes dedication to put in the volume it takes to get in the top. I may be back depending on the changes there are to the points system (I head rumors of point change, maybe not?). Aside from the Railbirds Real Money I didn’t really wonder of into many different tournaments on the various sites. I may play the occasional $3 rebuy or something but never put in a lot of volume. Around world series time when Full Tilt ran their Mini Series of Poker, I really started to shine. Finishing 11th one event that had 5000 people in it and finishing 25th in one that had 2000 in it, really boosted my confidence in my poker game. I even finished in the top 50 in the MSOP leader board which is quite an accomplishment in itself.
If you bridge to my recent update, that is about all my 2008 was. I felt like I did a lot more, but I guess it doesn’t seem as much when it gets written down. I feel like I accomplished many goals that put in front of me. My bankroll isn’t where I want it to be, but having more at the end of 2008 than the beginning is definitely awesome! I played in a few FTOPS events and got my first 4 figure score this year. Soul reads, big folds, final tables, and wins have been a huge part of 2008 for this writer. 2008 has been a success for me in my poker career! (Read my archives for all 2008 blogs and updates).

That’s about it for this blog. My next blog will be a carbon copy on all my sites and should be a list of 2009 goals and how my blog will be run in the future. If you need to contact me please see my site or send me an instant message on the many messengers or a private message on all the sites I’m affiliated with.