It seems like anything I would write at the moment would be just one giant bad beat story. I’ll try to contain myself.

Blew through half of my (admittedly miniscule) online bankroll this weekend. It got to a point where I was calling out the cards I didn’t want to see in hopes of keeping them from hitting, but knowing deep down they were going to hit. And hit they did. No less than 3 times did I fall to the dreaded 3-outer, as well as a couple 2-out specials to make my weekend fantastic.

Went to a game last night, $5 with rebuys. Whoa nelly. 26 players, a total 73 buy-ins… quite a prize pool. Of course, I didn’t get anywhere close. I didn’t make it to the first table combination. I had one rush of about 5 great hands, but other than that it was 2 hours of folding or getting hosed on the river, or just betting into someone who didn’t have a folding bone in his body. It left the poker player in me a little smarting, but I have to remember that cards don’t always fall, and I honestly don’t feel like I was beat by a particular player (this time) as much as just one freaking cold deck.

Looking forward to a week without money poker where I can find some ways to remember how to not play like a scared little girl.

Also, congrats to Brother Nick, who made it to heads up at last night’s game, and ended up chopping the pot for his first live tourney cash - a smooth $125. Great work dude. Too bad we weren’t heads up, cuz I can read you like a book.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

I started this thing for no clear reason, just knowing that I had a place to write (however occasionally) was a little bit of personal comfort. Because let’s be honest, you can only tell your wife poker stories so long before she just tells you to shove a sweaty sock in it. Or, in my case, before she decides to just take up online poker herself so she can counter with stories of her own. At some point, the stories just need to be sent off into digital oblivion, and that my friends, is why I’m here.

I am a Poker Blogger. It’s true. I blog about poker. I have a whole list of blogs that I read and enjoy, each for a different reason.

I’m not clamoring for linkbacks. I admire the community poker bloggers have developed, but all I’m here for is to put my stuff out there, and as way of introducing myself I’ll be registering for the Blogger Tournament on PokerStars. If others appreciate what I write here, great. If not, great. My self-worth is not based on the number of subscribers, which as of now stands at 1. (me!)

I’ve learned a ton from the blogging community. Heck, it was Wil Wheaton’s blog that re-introduced me to hold ‘em poker and ignited this little fire for poker. So if you ever read this, thanks Wil. The story goes further than that, but I’ll leave that for another entry.

I’ve learned that it’s possible to be a Christ-follower, husband, and father, and still enjoy poker.
I’ve learned that dropping the HAMMER is one of the finer pleasures in life.
I’ve learned that I have a long way to go to be the kind of writer that gets noticed in the poker world.
I’ve learned that you can be a well-known poker pro and not come off like a complete ass.
I’ve learned that sometimes you have to just buckle down and grind it out.
I’ve learned that some people have an amazing sense of humor.
I’ve learned that dedication to one’s passion is a rare quality.

There’s much more. I’m going to be slowly adding links to all the blogs I read to the “Links” page. It takes a lot of time, I recommend using Bloglines to aggregate all these things so you’re not clicking across one by one. Skim the ones that don’t interest you, if you must. I admit, I do that often.

How else would I get a peek into the lives of such a diverse group of people that have only the love for a game in common? I’ve felt guilty reading these things and feeling like I know these people, but doing so in complete anonymity. I guess that’s why I’m here, to allow that reciprocal peek into my life, for those who care to take it. I’m just a guy. I’m staring down the throat of my 30th birthday. I’m a pastor– I pretty much play around with guitars and amps for a living. I’m a musician, I write songs and play out in the local bars, clubs, and coffeehouses. I’m married to a woman who loves to play poker almost as much as I do. We are a perfect match. So perfect, that we’ve made 3 amazing kids. My 6-year old daughter has a mean heads-up NL game. For a 6 year old. My 4 year old daughter plays a very loose, maniac style, all-in-all-the-time game because she likes pushing her chips into the middle. My 18 month old son likes to try to eat the poker chips. And I am a slightly obsessive poker player. I play for the lowest limits possible, because that’s the responsible thing to do for my families finances. Sometimes that means play money only. I’m competitive enough, that I even enjoy the free play. I love to play poker. I started at LHE, and have been absorbing so much NL information over the past few months, that I’m starting to try to get a feel for other games, stud and omaha specifically.

Thanks for listening.

i thought i should post about friday’s cinco de mayo fiesta while some of it is still fresh in my mind.

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i will be brutally honest, i don’t want to do a bunch of posting about specific hands, for a couple reasons. one, if i give detail about how/why i played a hand, anyone reading here will know exactly how i play. not that i’m THAT serious about it all, but you gotta keep a little mystery, right? i don’t play casino poker much, so these home games are all i’ve got. the second reason, is that in the same vein as reason one, i don’t feel right about just calling out all my observations on other players. not only do i not want to give up someone else’s tell for their benefit, it also benefits me to keep quiet the things i’ve figured out on certain people.

so. that sounds so serious, doesn’t it, just for a home game? i’m really not as crazy as that. i will say this– the CdMPF (Cinco de Mayo Poker Fiesta… i’m tired of typing that out) established something of a table image for me. i played good solid poker. i only misplayed a couple hands, and only one of them required me to actually show my cards and admit to my misplay. i’m not sure how i feel about my current table image, but i’ll work on it.

i did a whole heckuvalot of folding for the first hour, including some aces with weak kickers, lots of suited cards, and a couple connectors. i only played pocket pairs, and even then very carefully. played a few hands out of the big blinds that gained me some chips, but mostly i watched the table play. finally, just before the tables combined, got into a hand with scott (last month’s winner), where i was playing A9h against his KQh. The flop and turn collectively brought 2 hearts, which gave us 4 to the flush. had he moved in on me at the turn, i would have likely bailed on the draw, because he also had top pair. the river brought the flush, his was king high, mine was the nuts. he moved in, of course i insta-called. this was the hand that set me up for the rest of the night.

i went back into turtle mode for a while, the tables combined, i watched the short stacks drop, lost some chips calling with my ace high when an ace came on the river to give me top pair, knowing my opponent probably had a Q to complete the straight. he actually had two, so i was beat at every step, and totally failed to read him properly. that was my last misstep of the night. from there, it was bully time. things tightened up, and there was some good play, had i screwed up at all i probably would have bled off my chips quickly and taken second, but as it was i took it down 5 hours after it started.

thanks to everyone that played, it really was a fun time. it would have been even had i not won… but i have to admit, it was nice to not just finally cash in a tourney, but to push hard and take it down.

stay tuned for details on the next game. we’re thinking about memorial day still…