Poker and... Baseball Cards?

So, I'm broke.
Not online of course, just in my bank account. Obviously I need to play more poker.
I played an $11 36-man turbo last night and after a guy chased a flush draw for all his chips and hit on the river, I found myself down to 140 chips. There were still 36 left and blinds were at 15/30.
But I started getting lucky and wound up finishing 7th for $22.
Whatever.

On to my baseball card hobby.
Would you believe I have 564 Will Clark cards? That's a ton; I just finished counting them.
I also have 161 different Scott Rolens, 110 Darin Erstads and a measely 70 Alex Rodriguezes...

$T Exhausted

Well I zipped through those T$162, and I'd say it went pretty well. I had no success in MTTs, but I did alright in SnGs and won just about every HU match I played.
I'm back over $300, and I'm pretty convinced that finding the right satellites is the best way to build back up the BR. I can't really afford the $36+3 sats to the $215 that I love so much. We'll see what happens.

I have money stuck on Party Poker that I'm not sure what to do with. It's just like $16, but they won't accept my wagers. It's less than the minimum Neteller amount (plus, my Neteller account is mysteriously defunct). So I'm trying to figure out how to just get that money back, let it amount to a couple free $8 dinners.
I got reminded about the money when PP emailed me to say they'd withdrawn a $5 maintenance fee because I'd left my account dormant for so long. That's such a fucking stupid policy. You're not going to have customers return after long stays away from the game if they're coming back to less money than they had before.
It just has a shady feel to it.
Anyway, I spit out a quick email to 'em and you can bet I got that $5 back.

Thepokerdb.com has expanded a ton since I've been there. I haven't registered a score on there since February. That's crazy.
Well no on the PokerStars side anyway. On the Bodog side I ITM'd an MTT a couple days ago. 27 paid; I finished 27th. But that's not so bad, I was card dead as hell. Plus, early I went through a 45-hand stretch where I didn't win once. So it was pretty nice to come through with anyting to show for it.

Update: I was playing a $12+1 6-handed SnG while I wrote that entry and ended up getting heads up. We both started with 40+ BBs, so there was a lot of play. I knew early that I was being really predictable, and so he got an accurate read on me pretty quickly I think. I started slowly changing my game hand by hand, and by the final two hands, he had no clue what I was doing.
See?

PokerStars Game #7408145795: Tournament #37888125, $12+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/12/12 - 02:57:54 (ET)
Table '37888125 1' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 5: nolan24 (3470 in chips)
Seat 6: BurntOrnge (5530 in chips)
BurntOrnge: posts small blind 75
nolan24: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BurntOrnge [8s 9s]
BurntOrnge: raises 300 to 450
nolan24: calls 300
*** FLOP *** [9d 2h Qd]
nolan24: checks
BurntOrnge: bets 425
nolan24: calls 425
*** TURN *** [9d 2h Qd] [2c]
nolan24: checks
BurntOrnge: bets 875
nolan24: calls 875
*** RIVER *** [9d 2h Qd 2c] [2d]
nolan24: checks
BurntOrnge: bets 500
nolan24: calls 500
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BurntOrnge: shows [8s 9s] (a full house, Deuces full of Nines)
nolan24: mucks hand
BurntOrnge collected 4500 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4500 | Rake 0
Board [9d 2h Qd 2c 2d]
Seat 5: nolan24 (big blind) mucked [Jc Kd]
Seat 6: BurntOrnge (button) (small blind) showed [8s 9s] and won (4500) with a full house, Deuces full of Nines

and then

PokerStars Game #7408153622: Tournament #37888125, $12+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/12/12 - 02:59:09 (ET)
Table '37888125 1' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 5: nolan24 (1220 in chips)
Seat 6: BurntOrnge (7780 in chips)
nolan24: posts small blind 75
BurntOrnge: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BurntOrnge [9c 4c]
nolan24: calls 75
BurntOrnge: checks
*** FLOP *** [9h 2c 7h]
BurntOrnge: checks
nolan24: checks
*** TURN *** [9h 2c 7h] [5s]
BurntOrnge: checks
nolan24: checks
*** RIVER *** [9h 2c 7h 5s] [5c]
BurntOrnge: checks
nolan24: bets 1070 and is all-in
BurntOrnge: calls 1070
*** SHOW DOWN ***
nolan24: shows [8s 3s] (a pair of Fives)
BurntOrnge: shows [9c 4c] (two pair, Nines and Fives)
BurntOrnge collected 2440 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2440 | Rake 0
Board [9h 2c 7h 5s 5c]
Seat 5: nolan24 (button) (small blind) showed [8s 3s] and lost with a pair of Fives
Seat 6: BurntOrnge (big blind) showed [9c 4c] and won (2440) with two pair, Nines and Fives

Hooray Poker

Basically I still hate this game, but I'm trying to play it more often still. After blowing through like $60 a few days ago, I came back and posted a nice win that made up for it and then some.



Ok, so it's not exactly big, but it was a nice way to spend my afternoon before running off to San Marcos to party. Being able to mention you won $150 in the two hours before coming to visit is always nice.

Right now I'm only awake because some guy was beating on my door for about an hour. That means, since 4 a.m. last night I've had two different people slamming on my door three different times. Each one bruised their knuckles for more than 30 minutes before giving up. Who the fuck does that?

After awaking just shy of 7 a.m., I tried to sleep for a couple hours then gave in, and decided to pull up PokerStars. I started with a 27-man 500 FPP sat to the $215 but was bounced in 20th after flopping a nut-flush draw with a straight draw, and a straight flush draw. I also had two overcards and they were each clean outs. Instead of me getting lucky, some douchebag hit their gutshot straight draw that gave him a higher straight than my wheel.

Now I'm in a $12+1 6-handed SnG. Five left and I have 2,495 chips. Not bad. Turning my $T into cash is the big goal right now. I want to at least break even and turn it into $162. So far, after losing a $10 HU match and winning a $20, I'm doing just fine.

A Bit O Poker

I'm trying to get back into poker, because even with how bad it's been to me, it's been too good overall for me to reject it. But it's still very trying. I feel like I'm in the same rut I was in was in when I took my break.
I played a $10+1 180-man SnG and lost a huge hand early as a huge favorite, but overcame that to finish 11th. I was card dead from around three tables on and died on an impatient re-steal attempt from the BB. The guy was the right guy to snap back at, but my stack was probably too short to get him to fold much of anything. He had a monster, so it was irrelevant.

After not being able to sleep after getting an accidental wake-up call from a girl I called last night, I decided to play a $5 NL HE tournament and a FPP sat to PokerStar's huge freeroll December 9.

I lost in the $5 MTT when a dumbass entered the pot by callling a big re-raise with JTcc. The initial raiser also called, and I pushed on the T-hi flop. Of course, he called and hit a third T on the turn.

That let me concentrate on my satellite, I guess. It's a double shoot-out, and I obliterated my first table with one good play and lots of good hole cards.
Just now, I pushed after an EP raise got two quick callers. I had QQ in MP and figured only one person wins anything, might as well get a bunch of chips or lose early.

They all folded, and I demonstrated my incredible prowess at shit talking.
Dealer: Game #7266162252: BurntOrnge wins pot (530)
BurntOrnge: All your base are belong to me