ThePokerhaus.com

i am currently sitting at o’hare international airport on complete life tilt because i just missed my flight to bloomington… i flew from san jose to chicago this morning and got into chicago at 12:30pm with my flight to bloomington set to board at 1:35pm and depart at 1:55. when i got into chicago i looked at the departure monitors and found that my flight to bloomington was leaving from gate F4 so i started walking in that direction… about halfway through my 10 minute walk i double checked the monitors to make sure i had seen the gate right (i had) so i continuted to gate F4. when i got to F4, i once again checked the monitors to make sure i was in the right place (i was) and so i sat down for the 45 minute wait until my flight boarded.

by 1:40 i have heard nothing and the bloomington flight isn’t listed on the screen at the gate so i walk to the desk and ask the asian gentleman there “what’s going on with the 1:55 flight to bloomington?” he replies that it hasn’t started boarding yet so i go sit back down and continue waiting for an announcement. finally at 2:15 i still haven’t heard anything so i go back up there and ask the new lady at the counter what the deal is with the flight to bloomington. she informs me that my flight left on time from gate F2 and was always scheduled to leave from F2. i get pissed and ask to talk to a manager who arrives after a few minutes… she basically has no explanation for why the monitors said gate F4 and gives me a $50 voucher on united for the three extra hours i have to spend sitting inside an airport on thanksgiving… TIIIIIIIIIIIIILT.

oh well so i go sit back down, plug my laptop in, sign up for the daily internet access, immediately log onto full tilt and play a (profitable) half hour 3/6nl heads up session (i prefer shorter heads up sessions). got owned once when he turned the nut straight against my top pair good kicker and i couldn’t get away (ton of money in the pot plus it was early in our session and he had been playing EXTREMELY aggressively so far so i wasn’t sure he could beat tp/second kicker), then won a big coinflip with 77 > his AKo, and then got lucky with 65 > 99 on a 6 3 2 flop (turn was a 4). i could have easily ended up down significantly instead of up if i hadn’t gotten lucky in some spots. i feel like my heads up game is developing well and i am definitely making fewer errors than i was a few weeks ago when i started playing the mid stakes nl heads up cash games. i want to start playing an hour or so a day of these 3/6 and (sometimes) 5/10 heads up NL cash games and hopefully put together a solid win rate over 10k+ hands.

in other news, i am going to pretty much discontinue my practice of disclosing exact figures in my blog. pretty much the only numbers i will post are the big scores i make; there will be no more in depth discussion of how much i’m up or down over any period of time. i am still very immature when it comes to lots of things in the world and knowing how to act while “in the spotlight” is definitely one of them. more generally, i often don’t stop to consider the repercussions of my actions, such as discussing specific numbers in this blog, and that is something i am really trying to work on improving about myself. i thought including numbers would make my blog much more interesting and exciting but to me personally the costs far outweigh the benefits.

so enough random blabbering… let’s see what has happened since i last updated. as i mentioned earlier i am in the process of returning home to champaign from san jose, california where ben (chong94, my roommate) and i were visiting the hometown of our other roommate faraz (the toilet). had a blast in cali… the weather was great and there was lots of poker. other highlights of the trip included meeting and hanging out with pat (pmjackson21), a friend i met from the fcp forums who also plays as pmjackson21 on all sites. definitely a cool guy and i look forward to meeting up with him in the bahamas for the PCA (if he doesn’t come to vegas in december like he should). on the last night there pat invited the toilet and i to his regular home game where i had a blast donating my money and enjoying the complete nor cal experience (i busted pretty early with top pair no good against pat’s brother’s gutshot straight flush draw).

lastly (this is getting kinda long) i moved up in the pocketfives ranking this week to 21st despite not playing more than half the week (i didn’t play a hand online while in cali)… i’m currently ranked #12 in the tournament leader board (the objective part of the rankings based on a formula that gives points based on the place you finished and the prizepool of the tournament) and #34 in the pro poll (the subjective part of the rankings that is determined by 200 odd votes of respected players in the community, including all ranked players). hopefully i can get my name out a little more on pocketfives and get some publicity so that my pro poll score can catch up to my tlb score. :] whether that happens or not is completely up to me, so here’s hoping i jump back into the online tournament circuit with a bang. good luck at the tables everyone.

so it’s been a while since i last updated… a brief rundown since i left off on october 27th: from friday the 27th to sunday the 29th i went through a streak of not cashing in 40 odd straight tournaments (which ended late sunday night when i final tabled the ub 25k guaranteed), and really felt there was something wrong with my game. i watched some videos on cardrunners but it was really a comment made to me by pat (pmjackson21 on fcp and all the sites) that pointed out to me what was wrong and what i needed to fix. he basically told me i needed to focus more on protecting my stack once i get one than building it through accumulating - and then it hit me that i had been playing way too many hands too aggressively in position when the stacks are not nearly deep enough to warrant it. i have always felt like the strongest part of my tournament game (and the most important part of being a solid tournament player) is being consistently solid - trying to make as few mistakes as possible and just play good solid poker: shove when the situation/my stack warrants it, fold when i know i’m beat, make value bets when i’m reasonably sure my hand is good, etc.

since monday the 30th i definitely feel like i have picked my game back up and am playing reasonably well (although i am constantly making mistakes and trying to learn from them). i had a pretty breakeven stretch from monday the 30th until saturday the 4th. i was taking lots of tough beats at the wrong times and just never got anything going at the right time - i made a few final tables and had several cashes but no top three (where the real money is) and hence no real profit. the highlight of that stretch was definitely the ub 10k guaranteed 33 rebuy, which i final tabled and ended up taking 3rd in on thursday the 2nd. i took a terrible beat when we were down to 18 (30 paid) when i got KK all in preflop with 88 only to lose to a river 8 which crippled me to just under 2 BBs. however, i was able to double up a couple times and ended up making the final table, busting in third when my J8 was bad beat by A4 all in on a board of K 8 4 7 - the river was an ace. i really felt like i played my a game this entire tournament and was very proud of fighting back to finish third - probably more proud than some of my other higher finishes. anyways, all told i ended up down a little under 2k for the week of october 29th - november 4th.

that brings us to today, sunday the 5th (i know this blog is being posted on the 6th but to me it’s still sunday night). i started off today with great expectations, as i do all sundays - sunday is the big day of the week for online poker players and all the biggest weekly tournaments (headlined by the pokerstars million dollar guaranteed) are on sunday. i played 14 total tourneys today and cashed in 4, including a win in the full contact us grand prix ($162 buyin, 60k guaranteed) for $15k. today is the last day US players can play on full contact’s software due to the new regulations on online gambling so i’m happy that i could hit and run all the donkeys on that site one last time :] tourney by tourney summary:

bodog 100k: lost most of my stack with top pair vs nut flush draw and then lost a few coinflips after chipping back up. pretty standard for me on bodog.
stars 1m: never got anything going, pretty sure i didn’t win a pot till i had lost 5k of my stack and ended up busting in 4000th shoving with KJ and running into A9. next week i pledge to make something happen in this tournament.
ub 200k: i lost half my stack early with AK vs AQ on a A Q 3 flop - i thought i played the hand pretty well and lost the minimum, but i had reraised preflop and the pot was decently large going to the flop so i was probably destined to lose a decent amount there. anyways as i’ve talked about previously, ub’s structure has a ton of play in the first few hours and i was able to fight back and ended up making the money with a very solid stack - in about 30th/100. anyways i played pretty standard but found myself shortstacked as we got to the final few tables and ended up busting in 29th when i pushed with 64o and ran into the big blind’s 88. cashed for $1.1k.
tilt 350k: busted in 800th or so out of 2006 when my top pair was no good against a naked flush draw that hit on the river (obv). the good news about this tourney is that my roommate the toilet made it very deep and eventually busted in 2nd for a gigantic 45.3k cash. the toilet owns, obv…
fcp 60k: i was able to build a huge stack early when i flopped two sets and stacked people both times, and from there i pretty much ran this tournament over. i’m not positive but i’m pretty sure i was top 10 or 15 in chips from 300 people (it started with 367) all the way down to the final table. anyways i entered the final table 2/10 and played standard tight poker - full contact (part of the ongame network) doesn’t have antes so with my large stack i was pretty much sitting around waiting for hands. i was able to eventually get heads up with a complete donkey who had made several questionable plays over the final two tables and pretty easily dismantled him when he kept paying me off with bottom pair and similar hands that were obviously no good. ship the 15k, weeeeeeeeee.
stars second chance ($215 buyin, 200k prizepool or so): i built a pretty nice stack early but lost it all to the table idiot with KK against his A7 and busted pretty early in 600th or so.
109 rebuy: ummmm yea not much to talk about here. i was in for 809, started the second hour with the bare minimum (5000) and busted 10 minutes into the second hour with QQ < JTs. at least i won't be tempted to play it again till next sunday!
ub 40k: played a pretty solid tournament and cashed in 35th for $220 when i pushed QTo as a shortstack in the cutoff and ran into AT in the BB. don't remember too much about this tournament as i was focusing on the fcp final table during most of it. i didn't even realize i was in the money or had cashed until after i busted and realized that 35th out of 397 is definitely the 10% and therefore probably paid. oops.
tilt 40k ($163): built a stack early but eventually got pretty short and pushed with 7s8s on the button and ran into 99. busted in 144/465.
stars $22 rebuy: i was very happy with my play in this tournament. after the first hour i was in for $302 and had 8.3k with the average right around 9k... not so goot. however, at the start of the second hour the blinds are only 75/150 so i had tons of play and was able to build a stack to take into the money. when we got in the money i lost a huge pot for a top 10 stack with JJ < AQo all in preflop. i was able to double up after that with AA > A6 but that still left me short and soon after the blinds went up, leaving me with an m of 5 or so. it folded to me in the cutoff with JTo and someone at the table had previously commented on how tight i had been playing when i turned over AA so i decided the time was right to push - unfortunately the big stack right behind me called with AQ and despite a ten high flop i went out in 48th for $143 to a river ace.
stars $55k guaranteed $11 rebuy: for once i was in to a rebuy tournament for the minimum and actually had a decent stack, 13.3k at first break with average at around 10k. i got crippled in the second hour with 44 vs AhQc on a ac7c8c flop but i was able to double up a few times and rebuild my stack. then a little later i got it all in with 63o vs 4Jo on a 4 5 6 5 board… obv the river was a 4 and i busted in 645/1800.
ub 25k: played pretty standard tournament and ended up busting in 79th out of 250 or so with AK < TT.
tilt 30k (6 handed): i have been playing very well in this tournament recently and tonight was no exception… i had an above average stack when we got down to about 70 but i took a bad beat to cripple me and busted soon after in 57th (42 paid, 461 started) when it folded to me in the small blind and i pushed with A6o and the big blind woke up with AQ.

all in all… 14 tournaments played, 4 cashes, and a very solid day. however, i’ll have to settle for second best night in the pokerhaus tonight (faraz and his monster 45k cash). also, lately two of my students, ssaul2 and wandigo, have been absolutely crushing the lower limit tournaments… both have won $22 180 mans in the last week (sinan has won 2) and they are both playing extremely well. so i’ll end this entry on that note… the pokerhaus owns. gl at the tables.

lots of exciting developments… let’s start with yesterday: yesterday pocketfives released their new online tournament rankings. in their previous rankings, which were based on the sole discretion of a panel of 3 or 4 admins, i was not ranked. the new rankings are based 50% on a tournament leader board (basically an automated ranking based on a database of results over the past three months) and 50% on a pro poll which about 100 people vote in (i am one of them), and therefore is much more objective than the previous rankings (although work still needs to be done to improve the rankings, especially with the pro poll). in the new rankings, i am ranked 39th (i am 31st in the TLB and 47th in the pro poll), which is very exciting for me. it’s great to go from being completely unrecognized to the 39th ranked player on the site, which boasts most (but certainly not all) of the best multi table tournament players on the internet. on that same note, i was mentioned in the latest pocketfives podcast (the one featuring scott fischman/emptyseat88). if you actually download the clip, i’m mentioned about two minutes in, although it isn’t all that exciting, not to mention they pronounced my name “bee-kice” instead of “bee-kay-ice.”

the other exciting piece of news is that i took down the $109 20k guaranteed on ultimate bet tonight for $6k.  i lost almost my entire stack early in the tournament with two overs and a flush draw but managed to hang around long enough to pick up some hands and get healthy again. ub easily has the slowest and deepest structure on the net, i definitely reccomend their $100+ freezeouts for anyone looking for lots of post flop play in a mtt. i entered the final table around average but a couple very quick eliminations left us 7 handed at the final table and me with decent shortstack. eventually when we got 5 handed i was the shortstack but doubled up with 55 > AJo. a few hands after that i got it all in preflop with AA against AKs and held, giving me a slender chip lead. i eventually reliquished the chip lead and got heads up with about a 2.5:1 chip disadvantage. early on when we were heads up he kept hitting the flop hard (i know becasue he kept showing his hands after i mucked) and at the lowest point i was outchipped 4:1. however, i was able to double up with JTo on a T 9 5 flop against K9 and a few hands later won a huge pot with AA over his A6o on a K 5 5 6 board, which gave me a 475k-100k chip lead. the next hand he limped, i shoved A5o hoping he would make a stupid tilt call, which he immediately did and turned over 63s. I won the 60/40 which gave me the tournament and the $6k first prize.

the rest of the night was pretty uneventful… had one other cash in the $54 fcp 13k guaranteed, but busted in 13th when my AQs failed to suck out on KK. also played 3 more $175 double shootouts to the PCA, none of which i advanced past the first round. in my last one i had a very good shot at winning my first table, but i got three handed right as i got heads up and then won the ub 20k and i unfortunately lost my focus for a few minutes and made some donkey plays. this is definitely a trend i have noticed - after i win a mtt, i do not play optimally in the rest of my mtts. definitely need to work on changing this trend, hopefully it will disappear as i gain more experience winning mtts. in total i was down $1.7k in buyins on the night and cashed for just under $6.2k. yesterday was very uneventful too… i played a lower volume than usual because i was tired after studying for my exam earlier in the day and ended up going 0 for 9 in the mtts i did play (-1.2k).

looks like a bunch of my friends are going to try and qualify for the PCA and if they don’t win a seat are going to fly to the bahamas for a vacation anyways. also i’ll hopefully get a couple of my non-poker playing friends to come and we’ll have a sick week on paradise island (check out www.atlantis.com). anyone who’s interested in buying a ticket and coming to the bahamas from jan 4-11, hit me up and let’s organize it. also, faraz asked me today about the origin of my name (BKiCe) so i thought i’d give you guys a brief history. BKiCe is short for BlackKnight i C e, which was my first counterstrike name back when i was very heavily into counterstrike. the blackknights were a group of college students who played together at the local internet cafe i played counterstrike at (evo) and after a lot of playing and begging the leader, vash, let me into the clan. i have affectionately retained the nickname for the five or so years since i started playing counterstrike more at home and less at evo.

i’m pretty tired - that’s about all i’ve got for tonight. thanks to everyone who railed my final table on ub today, good night and gl at the tables.

weeeeeeeeeee…. tonight i played my first $175 double shootout to the pokerstars caribbean adventure and TOOK IT DOWN for the $12k package… $8k buyin, $3k hotel/meals, $1k for flight… i am soooooo pumped. total spent trying to qualify: $825… woot. the PCA is a $8k buyin WPT event (final table will be made into a WPT episode, obv i will be there on tv) and will be my first live big-buyin event. i’m looking really forward to meeting lots of FCPers and pocketfivers and also hopefully cashing for a mill or so.

other than that, haven’t been doing too much lately… lemme start from where i left off last blog. i started sunday off with great expectations (as always) and ended up cashing in a monster ONE out of the 15 tournaments i played on the day. i almost went deep in the nightly tilt $163 (which is getting pretty solid prizepools… sunday was over $60k) but bowed out in 12th for $700 when my 99 got outrun by jj (yes this is a race where i come from). kinda a questionable hand… but i woulda had 72k if i folded which woulda put me at 11/12 and would have had 175k (2/12) if called and won, so i decided it was a race that i had to take… unfortunately he had me dominated and i didn’t hit for once. ended up down about 1.5k after all was said and done on sunday. can’t really blame anyone for myself… i bluffed off my stacks in the stars million and tilt 250k and definitely wished i had played those two tournaments better. other than that, standard assortment of shortstack shoves/races/coolers/bad beats, but i definitely ended the day feeling like i had donked off some tournaments, which is a feeling i absolutely hate.

i decided to watch a cardrunners mtt video today of some endgame mtt play… i picked actionjeff’s final table of the paradise $500 sunday tournament which he ended up taking down. i’m definitely noticing a trend of watching cardrunners videos and then winning mtts that day or the next… i should watch more cardrunners. anyways, i started today playing well and feeling very confident, and told a couple of my friends on AIM that good things were coming tonight. i was somewhat right in that i took down the $12k package, but other than that i had no cashes tonight.

a double shootout is a tournament format where 81 players play 9 9-person tables… each table plays down to 1 winner, and then the 9 winners play a single table tournament with the winner winning a seat to the PCA. i managed to win my first table thanks to the table donk (idiot) who shoved all in with 30/60 blinds twice, once with AJo (i had KK) and once with 66 (i had AA). the second table (comprised of the 9 winners of the first round) was much tougher, including gavin griffin, a 2005 bracelet winner. i ended up busting gavin in third with 55 > his KJo, getting heads up against some donkey who had a 8200-5300 chip lead on me. thanks to the deep structure on stars and me staying patient i was finally able to chip away at him and eliminated him when i rivered a straight against his top pair.

however, that was my only cash tonight, as i mentioned. i was 3/31 in the ub 20k with 31 paying but unfortunately busted in 31st when i played a big pot with top pair against the chip leader who was at my table… i had been playing aggressively and he me outchipped over 2:1 despite me being 3rd in chips in the tournament, so i thought i was very likely ahead when he check-raised my flop continuation bet (i had KQs on a Q 10 6 flop). unfortunately he had TT and i didn’t runner runner some trashy miracle. obviously bubbling isn’t a concern of mine, however i’m wondering if maybe i could get away from that hand. i’ll probably find the hh and post it on the forums tomorrow.

i have an exam again on wednesday evening so i won’t be playing tomorrow (tuesday) evening. however, my exam should be over my 5:30 or 6pm on wednesday, so hopefully i can get a full day after my test. i mentioned in my last blog that i reached my goal of $100k in profit by jan 1, 2007… so my new goal is $200k by jan 1st. more updates to come… that’s about all i’ve got for now though, gl at the tables all and SEE YOU IN ATLANTIS!!!

been a while since i last updated so i thought i’d write a short post and update you guys on the news. i had a pretty busy week (relatively) and didn’t play much. tuesday night i spent studying for an exam, wednesday night (my birthday) i spent taking the exam and then playing a little poker online later in the night (highlight of the night: getting into the $11rebuy for $331 and having a 9k stack (below average) at first break), thursday night i went out to dinner with my mom for my birthday and then went to a 1/2nl live game, and last night (friday) we had a party to celebrate my birthday and bao and faraz’s brother aamir’s visit to the pokerhaus. i did post my biography on thursday; you can find it by clicking here. please leave comments if i skipped over anything you might have wanted to know concerning my poker story.