Negreanu Open - Not Meant to Be

I played in the Negreanu Open tonight and think I was playing really well, but just got REALLY unlucky twice, both to 3 outters on the river after all the money was in the middle.

The First hand the blinds were 25/50 and I raised it to 200 to go from early position with AK and someone raised me all in making it 635 more to go and I call happy to see I was against A2. Flop 74J rainbow, turn 9, river 2, bleh.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=179768

I worked my way back a bit and then in the 75/150 blinds I picked up QQ and raised it to 450 with 1 caller, flop T68 2 clubs 1 heart, bet half opponents remaining chips which was $500 bet and call, turn was 5h, I put him in for last $510 and he calls and turns over 7J hearts needing a heart or a 9 for gutshot straight and ofcourse the river brings a 9.

I hung on and clawed my way back from 120 chips back to 2400 chips but lost with A9h to AQ.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=179769

Current BR - $1903

Pokersourceonline.com $100 Referral Bonus

I have reached another 10,000 points on Pokersourceonline.com (PSO) and turned those 10,000 points in for a $100 gift certificate on Party Poker. Instant bankroll boosters rock. Thank you to everyone who continues to use me as a referral source on PSO. No question if you are looking for awesome free gifts/prizes and killer bonuses on new pokerstars PSO is the place to go through.

Again their website is www.pokersourceonline.com and if you sign up I would appreciate you using dna4ever as your referral source. I always have a banner you can click on the right of my blog or you can just click here and go there now.

Current BR - $1914

A Predators Fan?

What in the world is going on here!?!? I have NEVER been into hockey in my entire life, but last night I went to my 3rd NHL hockey game in the last 3 weeks. I got offered 2 free tickets to last nights game between the Nashville Predators and the Calgary Flames so my son and I went to the game again. We had great seats $60 face value seats in the lower bowl. The Predators won 2-0 and man it was such a great time.

We got to go down right on the glass/ice during their warmups and my son just lit up at how fast and big those guys were. It was a great great time and I think my son is definitely sold on being a hockey fan. During the 3rd period these two teams got REALLY physical and were checking hard, slamming each other hard, and trying to start fights left and right. My boy (6 years old mind you) says "Now thats how ya play some hockey right there, right Dad!!??" Man it was awesome. He woke up for school this morning talking about the game and how he couldnt wait to tell his friends.

Didnt play any poker last night, but will be playing in the Negreanu Open tonight.

Current BR - $1814

Some SnGs and an Army Game

Last night I played one of the $20+$2 Stars 180 person SnGs and busted out 87th when I came over the top with an open ended straight draw on the flop and missed.

Then I played a $20 SnG with a fellow FCP'er (Whiskey16) and I finished 3rd for $36 and he finished 2nd.

I also played a $10 SnG with another FCP'er (MissIdaho aka Catcja) and I finished 2nd for $27 and she finished 1st so good run for the FCP crew.

I also played about 2 hours of some fun low limit ring games with the FCPHA (Fullcontactpoker Hardcore Army). About 8 or 9 of us played last night at the $0.05/$0.10 level and we do these just for fun and comoradory. I finished that table up $8.11 or + 81BB !

So had a fun night with little bankroll risk and ended the night up +$16.

Current BR - $1814

No Real Poker, Home Game, $30 SnG

I worked all weekend so didnt really get a chance to play any poker and I let my Party Poker $100 bonus expire so I wont be earning that one.

We did get about 8 people together Saturday night for a home game. They play so messed up that it really is more about luck then skill. We played a version of Texas Holdem where there was a Dealer Button, SB and BB. Everyone bought in for $20 and got 80 chips which were all worth $0.25 each. The SB would post $0.25 and the BB would post $0.25. There was no real limit structure by round but you could either check or bet a minimum $0.25 or maximum $0.50 with 3 raise max. With this structure the pots oddsare nearly always in your favor to stay in and its nearly impossible to chase anyone out. I ended the night up a big $3 but gave it to the house since I drank some of their beer.

Saturday night I came home and played a $30+$3 SnG on Party Poker and finished 3rd for $60 ($27 profit).

Current BR - $1798

Thanksgiving Holiday - No Poker

Long story short no poker the last few days as I have been spending my time with my family during this Thanksgiving Holiday.

Thanksgiving night my wife and I went to the Predators game and watched them beat the LA Kings 4-3 then we followed the night up with some late night bowling.

I played a $10 SnG today on Pokerstars and finished 3rd when a guy made an awful call and got lucky when I pushed with 88 and was another 10bb for him to call a 4bb pot and he called with A4o and hit an ace on the turn.

Good for +$7

Current BR - $1771

1 Hour $2/$4 Session

Just played a one hour 4 table session on Party Poker and saw about 130 hands, 95 which qualified for rake so up to 230 of my required 700 raked hands to clear the $100 bonus by Saturday. Not sure if I'll do it or not with the upcoming Holiday, but guess we'll see.

Made +$46 in the session so about 11hb/100 which is good. Was actually up $85 at one point but lost a straight to a flush and top 2 pair to a 4 flush on the river.

I'm still not really diggin poker, but kinda forcing myself to play a little for this bonus.

Current BR - $1764

45 Minutes of $2/$4 and a $10 Stars MTT

I played in the Pokerstars $10 MTT tonight

PokerStars Tournament #15369703, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
1358 players

I did not get any cards nearly the whole tournament and pretty much my tight image let me do a lot of stealing. I played for nearly 3 hours and only played 6 pots to the river, thats how bad it was. I barley made the money and finished 124th when I pushed short stacked with A6 called by Kx flop xxx, turn K, i was done. Only good for $2.58 profit.

You finished in 124th place (eliminated at hand #3123250686).

179 hands played and saw flop:
- 3 times out of 21 while in small blind (14%)
- 10 times out of 20 while in big blind (50%)
- 10 times out of 138 in other positions (7%)
- a total of 23 times out of 179 (12%)

Pots won at showdown - 2 out of 6 (33%)
Pots won without showdown - 21

---

During the first 45 minutes of the Stars Tourney I chipped away on some of the Party Poker reload bonus and managed to get in a 3 table $2/$4 session for about 45 minutes. I raked about 80 hands and finished up +$74. I have 135 of my require 700 to release the $100 bonus and need to do the other 565 within the next 5 days, guess we'll see if I feel like doing it or not.

Current BR - $1718

Sng, Army Game, and Predators

Last night played for an hour or two with the FCPHA at some big 0.02/.04 limits for funsies and actually won $2 lol (+$50BB!) I am so great!

I also played a $10 SnG and finished 2nd good for $27 ($18 profit).

I was caller 9 on this radio station and won 2 free tickets to the Predators vs Kings NHL Game on Thanksgiving night. My wifes parents are coming in to town so it looks like the wife and I will have a night on the town with a free babysitter.

Current BR - $1642

Bored with Poker

I havent played any poker the last 3 days because I have just not felt like it. I am going through one of those spells where its just simply not fun which is why the lack of updates the last few days.

There are 2 deposit bonuses I went ahead and took advantage of, pokerstars has a 20% reload up to $600 max deposit for $120 possible bonus and partypoker has a 25% reload up to $400 max deposit for $100 possible bonus. I went ahead and maxed out both bonuses. Pokerstars does not have a time restriction on the raked hands so not too worry about it, but I do need to rake 7x (700 hands) in the next 7 days or it will expire.

I couldnt sleep tonight so I thought I would chip away at a few of the partypoker hands. Just finished a short 30 minute 4 table session of $2/$4, I saw about 100 hands, only 49 counted towards the rake so still need another 651 to clear the bonus. I had a really nice 30 minute session though and profited $107. I won a $51 pot ($33 profit) on a preflop misclick when I was UTG and accidentally raise it with K7 offsuit and got 3 callers. Flop game KKJ and turn was a 7! Love it when things work out that way.

In other news I got my Pokerstars Shirt in the mail from placing in the Blogger Championship tournament. Its just a plain generic Black t-shirt with the Poker Stars logo on it but hey, free is free!

Current BR - $1622

Negreanu Open & Free Stuff

Yesterday I played in the Negreanu Open and had a horrible showing, 106 of 122 when I just got extremely unlucky. I had to lay down JJ pretty early when a QKx flop came and guy came over the top big of my continuation bet which put me down to about 1000 chips. I ended up getting all my money in the middle preflop as a huge favorite with AK diamonds versus AQ of clubs, but the flop brought 3 low clubs and I had no chance, bah! Stoooopid Game.

I played ONE hand of $2/$4 6 handed LHE and got dealt QK in the BB and flop was Q high board and I won a $18 pot. For some reason I just didnt feel like playing so I left, talk about a hit and run! Those people had to be upset, but oh well. So ended the night up +$7 after playing the tourney and that one hand of poker lol.

I did get two cool things in the mail yesterday. The first was a personalized and autographed copy of Nolan Dalla's Stu Ungar Book One of a Kind. I had ordered it with some of my Pokerstars Frequent Player Points and it said something like "Alan, Good luck at Pokerstars, Nolan Dalla".

On top of that I got my autographed Daniel Negreanu Fullcontactpoker.com FCP hat in the mail. Its a very nice hat actually made of strong material. Daniel autographed the brim and it has his name stiched into the side and also says "Fullcontactpoker.com" in a semi-circle around the back of the hat. Again, I got this hat for placing in the top 9 of last periods Negreanu Open leaderboard period.




Current BR - $1515

Penny Poker

Last night was tornado night here in middle tennessee so wasnt on the computer much, but did get on a little later at night to play some $0.05/$0.10 fun poker with some of my FCPHA friends and ended the night up a big 3bb, +$0.33.

I read a little more of Barry Greensteins Book "An Ace on the River" and I am enjoying it very much. I got an email from Pokerstars that my prize from placing in the Pokerstars Blogger Championship had shipped and I also heard from Daniel Negreanus Assistant Travis that my autographed hat from Daniel was on the way as well.

Tonight is the Negreanu Open so will be playing in that, full details available through the link on the right of my blog.

Current BR - $1508

The 1 AM SnG!

Well wasnt tired so my buddy joenin and I decided to play a $10 SnG on Partypoker for funzies.

This seems to happen alot with us but we both made it down to HU and he walloped me so I took 2nd for $30 ($19 profit) and he took 1st for $50.

I'll take it regardless

Current BR - $1508

Good Hour Long $2/$4 4 table session

Played an hour long $2/$4 4 table session on Party Poker and ended up +$110

Had AA once and KK once and flopped a set of 2's versus AA which paid well. Good cards sure help with this game, but good flops sure help more!

Current BR - $1489

Predators Game & Planning Vegas Trip

Saturday I didnt really get to play any poker because I took my son to a Nashville Predators Game. They played the St. Louis Blues and won 3-1. It was cub scout night and man we had a blast. Nothing better then the smile of a 6 year old watching those guys skate down the ice at those speeds.

Sunday I played in a $10 MTT on Stars and busted right at the first break like 700 something out of 1400 something. I played a little $2/$4 and lost about $18.

I'm finalizing details for a Vegas Trip Februrary 16th - 19th with about a dozen FCPHA members, should be a blast!

Current BR - $1379

Some Limit and NL

I played for about 2 hours Friday night and made $122 at the $2/$4 limit tables and lost about $48 at the $50 NL so ended the nigth up about $74.

Current BR - $1408

Rough Cold Decking

I played a $20+$2 180 person SnG last night on Stars and busted out fairly early when my Queens ran into Kings after a 9 high board flop.

I played some $100 NLHE Ring on Party Poker and ended up losing a buyin when I flopped a fullhouse when another guy flopped quads, brutal! I was steaming so I decided to quit playing for the night and get it back another time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=165141

-$122 day

Current BR - $1335

Negreanu Open and a little $2/$4

I played the Negreanu Open last night and finished 14th of 102 when I came over the top preflop with QK vs A9 and never improved. It was good for a whopping $1.24 profit!

I hit the $2/$4 tables and made $21 for about 30 minutes play as well.

I am about 1/3rd the way through Barry Greensteins An Ace on the River Book. Great read so far.

Current BR - $1457

Ass Kicked in the FCPHA Game

Well we had an FCPHA 'Home' Game last night on Pokerstars and I got my ass killed! I couldnt catch a hand for the 2 hours we played and literally only dragged 2 played pots and 1 walk. It was a fricking 30bb loss session. Glad we were playing at our normal stakes of $0.05/$0.10 so it was only $3, but still those guys/gals were brutal last night!

I did manage to get in a little short handed $2/$4 last night for about an hour as well and ended up $26 so +$23 for the night.

Tonight is the Negreanu Open so I'll probably play in that.

Current BR - $1435

Losing Session

Played some $50 NL and $2/$4 limit and ended up down $130 after about 3 hours of play.

Current BR - $1412

Couple Party Poker Tournaments

Last night I entered a $10+$1 NLHE that has 2154 people in it, crap shoot! I made it down to 500 something and busted nearly 2 hours in when my FH hit quads.

I went on to play a $10+$1 LHE SnG on Partypoker and managed to finish 1st again which was good for $50 ($39 profit).

I played some $50 NLHE Ring on Pokerstars for about 40 minutes, but never really played any hands and wound up a whole $2!

Current BR - $1542

Not playing much

Still not playing much poker.

My JA class was awesome on Friday, what a great group of kids, I look forward to going back.

I played a $20 SnG on Saturday Night and managed to win 1st for $90 ($68 profit).

Got up early this morning and took the family to IHOP for some eggs, pancakes, and what not.

Now watching the Titans play some football, will probably play a little Sunday night.

Current BR - $1512

Life Outside of Poker / Junior Achievement

The last few days I havent really played any poker.

Wednesday night I played in the Negreanu Opeon and finished 46/126 when my JT got beat by JQ on a J high board.

Thursday night I took my son to his regular cub scouts meeting and then watched Survivor with the family, love that show! I hate that Jamie guy!

I got in 1 $10 NLHE SnG on Partypoker last night and finished 2nd good for $30 ($19 profit).

One of the community projects I like to do every year is teach part time for an organization called Junior Achievement (J.A.) which is a pretty cool not for profit organzation that services young people through its partnership with the businesses and education communities. Its purpose is to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business, and economics to improve the quality of their lives.

I have been involed with J.A. since 1995 and even had the fortune to goto the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 as a JA representative.

I start my first class today in a course called The Economics of Staying in School. It is a 6 week course that is taught in 6 one hour classes and will be finished by Christmas. The year I drew a class of 25 6th graders in the ghetto of Nashville, wonderful! As long as I dont get called 'Cracka!' more then once I think I will make it through it, but its always nerve racking meeting so many students for the first time.

Current BR - $1444

I Made It Into Daniel Negreanu's Poker Journal

I didnt really play any poker last night except for an hour or two nickel poker with some of my FCPHA friends at pokerstars.

I woke up this morning and found out that the Fullcontactpoker site is starting its charter registration. Daniel wrote a blog this morning and mentioned about a dozen posters and included me which I thought was pretty cool

Heres the link to the full blog ... http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-journal.php?subaction=showfull&id=1130923501

I also talked to Daniels business team guy yesterday and found out that Travis (Daniels assistant) mailed out our Fullcontactpoker.com hats that we won from the first Negreanu Open leaderboard period. I had gotten my shirt a month or two back, but there was a production issue with the hats so its good to know I'll be getting that soon!

Tonight is the weekly Negreanu Open FCP tournament so I guess today is just Daniel Negreanu/Fullcontactpoker Day.

Current BR - $1425

Not Into It

The last few days I have just not been into playing poker. I played some $2/$4 for about 30 minutes on Pokerstars and ended up about $9.

I went and played a $10 LHE SnG on PartyPoker and finished 3rd which was good for another $9 profit. I should have finished 2nd or 1st as I got screwed with JJ vs A3 and all the money went in on a xxxx board and river was A, oh well.

I took the kids trick or treating last night which is always alot of fun. They are at that age were they really enjoy it, especially the 6 year old. They were a Vampire Mistress and a Star Wars Clone Trooper.

Evidentally I am playing enough on Pokerstars to keep getting FPPs as everytime I turn around it seems I have a new match. I just ordered the new "One of a Kind" book by Nolan Dalla which is the story of Stu Ungar, should be a good read.

Current BR - $1424