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TY UB!
- Jason "mkind0516" Laso | May 29, 2008
So nothing new has gone on since my last update. I’m still taking a shellacking in poker. I’m still doing my challenge where I’m not playing anything over $100 until I win something. That is obviously not going well. I haven’t cashed in a tournament in over a week now, so forget winning something until I can fix that. It would help if I could start winning some coinflips again. I swear it feels like the game is rigged sometimes.
I did get some good news today. UB announced refunds on the “nionio” superuser scandal and I was entitled to $7300, despite not having played cash games on UB in over a year. I have to give UB props (and this isn’t just the money talking). First, they took the first steps towards a half decent tournament schedule. Now, they’re fixing the superuser scandal. They even had a representative call me to let me know of the situation. Furthermore, they gave me a free entry into the Sunday 200k guarantee. The last time they gave me a free entry into that tourney, I took 3rd, so maybe karma is coming around again. Now if only they would fix their horrid end-game structure, UB might have a shot at being a top site again.
The WSOP is rapidly approaching. I think I’m going to play events 48 (2k nlhe), 49 (1500), 52 (1500), and the main event, while playing some Venetian Deepstack tournies on the alternate days I’m in Vegas. If anyone is interested in putting me into some other prelim events, please email me at jslaso@gmail.com and we can discuss deals.
21!!!!!
- Jason "mkind0516" Laso | May 21, 2008
So there’s been a big change in my life since last update: on Friday May 16th I celebrated my 21st birthday. So now I am legal to gamble (and drink!) anywhere in the US. Obv I’ve been looking forward to this day for a very long time. Yeah, I’m not going through the best of times right now, but at least I now have the option to get off my ass and drive an hour to Borgota to play anytime I want too.
I didn’t really do anything special for my birthday. My family and a few friends came out with me for hibachi food. My dad bought my first legal drink. It felt very satisfying when they asked to see my ID. Speaking of my ID, last week when I went to the DMV to get my liscense renewed, I got into my first accident in 4+ years of driving. I’m not hurt or anything, but my car (already a piece of trash) took a shellacking in the front.
In terms of playing poker, I only played on Sunday this past weekend. I intended to play the $2500 FTOPS event Saturday but I overslept it. I bricked every major on Sunday. My only cash was in a $109 tourney for $225. Things really look bleak in terms of turning around anytime soon. I feel helpless on the felt right now. The timing couldn’t be worse with the WSOP about to start in 2 weeks. I was originally planning on going out for the entire summer, but recently made the decision to only go out for the week before the main event and then play the main event. I just don’t think an entire month of expensive live tournies is a good idea right now. I think that’s something I excel in: not playing when I’m not in the right frame of mind. I only hope my patience gets rewarded handsomely this summer — both live and online. Only time will tell…
–Jason
Downswings
- Jason "mkind0516" Laso | May 15, 2008
It’s been a super tough couple of months for me. I’ve cut down on how much I’ve played severely in the last 3 months. It feels like I’m being punished for doing so. I’ve been running worse then I’ve ever run before. I can’t get deep in tournaments anymore. It seriously feels like there’s a black cloud hovering over my head. I just can’t win anymore.
On April 23rd I started a study to keep track of my all-in pots and the results of them. Since that time, I’ve only won 36% of my coinflips, which is a big reason why I’ve struggled so bad. Doesn’t matter what anyone else tells you; you just can’t win tournaments unless you win your coinflips. It’s extremely frustrating to play your best so many times only to lose a coinflip and have it all go for nothing.
It’s been awhile since I was so down on my luck. Right now, I just don’t have the urge to play poker anymore. Tomorrow is my 21st birthday. I’ve waited for the day to come since I turned pro when I was 19. I should be excited. I should be gearing up to go out for the WSOP and give it my best shot. Unfortunately, I’m just not in that place right now. I’ve already decided not to go out to Vegas for the summer, as I had planned for months. It feels like I’ve lost my mojo and until I get it back, I should not be playing poker. But alas, I am a total degen, and thus I will keep plugging along. I’ll probably avoid the higher stakes tournies for a while. I might even start playing some of the bigger weekly tournies at Borgota since I’ll be of age as of Friday. I will keep you guys updated as to my online (and live) happenings (if I even keep playing).
–Jason
Turning Stone $300 6 Max Report
- Jason "mkind0516" Laso | May 9, 2008
(75/150) Folds to aggressive player in the CO who opens to 450. I reraise w/ 77 on the button to 1300. He pretty quickly 4-bet me to 4k. I only had about 8100 to start the hand, so this was basically a decision for all my chips. However, I had just seen this guy bust Shaun Deeb when he made a terrible shove with no fold equity w/ T9o and got there, so I wasn’t about to make any spectacular laydowns to him. So I shove in my last 4100 and shockingly he folded. Whatever, a nice 50% increase to my stack w/o seeing a flop, so I don’t mind.
(150/300/25) Folds to me in the SB and I make it 1k w/ 2 red queens; the BB, who was super aggro and called a ton of my raises, called. Flop was Ac-5c-9s and we both checked. Turn was a 4s; I checked, he bet 1800, and I called, figuring he could be betting anything. River was the 8s, completing the flush, and he bet 2700 this time. I can’t really explain what came over me, but I just did not believe the guy, so I called and he tapped the table. Soul reads ftw. I was up to around 15k after the hand.
(300/600/75) Nothing significant really happened the next 2 levels had happened. I had chipped up to about 19k when this big hand happened: MP limps for 600 — he played really weird and spewy, so I thought he was definately weak — and I raise to 3k from the SB w/ AQo. I was very surprised when he called. Flop came 8c-6c-4. If I bet out, I knew he was going to shove on me with a very wide range because thats just how he plays. I decided to check/raise all-in because I thought that was the best way to win the pot: to get him to bluff and then put him to the test. So I checked, he bet 3775, I moved in for about 16k, and he gets up from the table. He was clearly unhappy with his hand, which made me like my move more and more. However, I was stunned when he called and turned over T7s for a double-gutter — I HAD THE BEST HAND! Running 3′s came out and suddenly I had a big stack.
(400/800/100) After losing a race, AT vs 88, I was back down around 30k when I got involved with Mr. T7 again. After I raised to 2100 w/ the ATh, I got flatted by both the CO and the button and our favorite spewtard shoved 12k from the SB. He definately seemed capable of squeezing fairly light in that spot and with all the dead money in the pot, it definately seemed like a good spot to get it in. So I isolated all-in and the CO said he folded 2 tens, which really sucked because the squeezer had AJ. Case ten on the turn, no problem. Up to about 45k now.
(500/1k/100) On the bubble now: 17 players left w/ 15 paying. I kind of bled down to around 35k. I raised JTo utg to 2600 and got a call from an older gentleman who was doing a lot of flat calling of my raises. Flop 8h-7h-5. I bet 3500, he insta min raises to 7k w/ about the same amount of chips behind. To me, this raise looked super weak and I really couldn’t think of a hand he could be doing this with that hit that flop. So I shipped it in and he snap folded, what he said was 99. Good fold, nice lay down, etc.
After busting a guy w/ KQ vs QJ, I got involved with the previous older guy from the last hand again. This time, he opened to 2800 in MP and I defended the BB w/ 78d. Flop came Qd-Jd-7, which is obv a huge flop for me. I check/raise his 3k bet to 11k and he folds. At this point, the guy was clearly fed up with me owning him so much, which led to this big hand: I raise J8s in MP and he flat calls me AGAIN. On an 843 rainbow flop, I led for 4500 and he raised to 12k. Due to our previous history, I felt like I had to go with the hand since I flopped top pair on another innoccuous. He SNAP CALLED my shove, so I thought I was dead, but he decided to raise/call the flop with the king and the four. I hold up and now I was over 90k.
(800/1600/200) Button limps for 1600, SB completes, I wrap it up w/ J7o. Flop J-4h-3h. Checked to the button who bets 4500 w/ 22k behind. I really don’t see any other play here besides putting him all-in. If I call, I’m potentially letting a lot of bad cards come off and I’ll have no idea what to do if he bets again. So I ship it in and he calls w/ the JT. SEVEN BALL ON THE TURN. TY MR. DEALER! GG sir.
Chipped up to about 190k (with 700k in play I was the chip leader) before I really lost my patience and fatigue set in. I really don’t even want to get into what I did because I completely ruined what I thought was a brilliantly played tourney with 2 stupid, thoughtless bluffs. It sucks to play for over 12 hours before imploding and only cashing out $1800 in 6th place. I feel my live game has a lot of potential but I need to work on not getting so impatient and running too many huge bluffs like I did towards the end today. I guess it’s up to me to find a fix for it. Until next time…
–Jason
1st Post
- Jason "mkind0516" Laso | May 7, 2008