I am not one to talk at the table. I like to keep to myself and just take peoples money quietly. However, last night I got a little frisky and decided to have some fun. I sure did! I think it was the most fun I have had with online poker in a long long time.

McKim: what you have?
DeviLisHEyZ: you should have called to find out
McKim: i ran outta time i was gonna bet all in ahha
DeviLisHEyZ: too bad you didnt
McKim: its ok, ill get you next time im sure
DeviLisHEyZ: cant wait
Phillyb321: voted weakest trash talking ever
McKim: haha

I must admit, that was awesome Philly. I laughed for about fifteen minutes on that comment. Then this happened about an hour later:

DeviLisHEyZ: its my mistake.. i should have raised so you fxcking dong limp with 3 4 off s suite
McKim: is devil mad?
DeviLisHEyZ: who is talkig to you Kim
DeviLisHEyZ: hehe. unbelievable... eh.. when ur on a run.. thats it
McKim: wow devil lost his money, crazy
DeviLisHEyZ: why dont you shut your hole MC or i ll shut it for ya
SunnySide7Up: lol
McKim: that will not be necessary
SunnySide7Up: rofl
McKim: i was going to leave after this hand
McKim: but i think i might stay to take devils money
DeviLisHEyZ: so far all u did is talk..
McKim: well thats because i havent had any cards to play haha
McKim: except two hands ago haha
DeviLisHEyZ: while other did take my money.. is that all you do baby TALK
McKim: granted he did outdraw you like whoa
DeviLisHEyZ: i havent seening you add a buck to your money.. waiting for Aces and Kings.
McKim: this could be fun
DeviLisHEyZ: ppl like you dont make it very often dude..
DeviLisHEyZ: come on lets see it
McKim: hahaha
McKim: man i wish i had somehting
DeviLisHEyZ: no balls
McKim: well im not a moron
DeviLisHEyZ: i had pair of 7s
McKim: sure u did
McKim: you would have shown that haha
DeviLisHEyZ: i agree your not.. ur an As s
DeviLisHEyZ: no shut up and play dont wast my time
McKim: lol, anyone else find this amusing?
pokersk817: haha me
McKim: lol ok making sure it wasnt just me
DeviLisHEyZ: i m happy for you two

Good times at the poker tables.

I haven't played poker since Saturday. That's almost sad, it's only been four days but it feels like it has been forever. It's actually kind of nice to take a break. I had played so much the last few weeks that I think it was time for me to take an extended break.

I should not have done that. There was a sale at one of my favorite online retailers, http://www.newegg.com, for a 20.1 inch LCD Samsung Monitor. It is quite a beauty. They had a deal for the weekend, $354.99, no tax, free shipping, AND a $60 off mail in rebate. $294.99 for a 20.1 inch LCD is pretty darn good in my book.

Now I will be able to three table, have Instant Messenger open, and view web pages all at the same time. Let's hope my hourly wage does not get affected by this :)

So I had a pretty crappy July 4th. I was down about $200 in my four hours of playing. I guess it could be a lot worse, but I was feeling pretty crappy about my session. Here are the big hands (my hand will be first): AAv99, flop was J93, ended up losing $80; KKvJJ (he said he had JJ but I never saw, basically I raise preflop, he calls. Flop comes J43, i bet, he raises, I call. Turn comes blank, I check, he bets half pot, I call. River comes Ace, I check, he bets half pot, I fold. If he had AJ I would be very upset, but alas, it is definitely a possibility that he had JJ in that spot, anyway I lost $80 on that hand; 99vQQ. Raise by him preflop, I call. Flop comes 778. I check, he bets 3/4 pot. I call. Turn comes 9 (MONEY card). He bets, I just call (my mistake was not raising right here), River comes Queen. He pushes for $40 into a $100 pot, I call. He flips over QQ for QQQ77 to beat my 99977. Guess I deserved that one huh? Lost $80 on that one. So that was three pretty horribly played hands by me where I lost $240. I suppose ending up the night down $200 was not that bad after reading those three hands.

However, the poker gods were shining on me on July 5th and 6th. I played for three and a half hours on the 5th and was up $126. Then, on July 6th, I had the best session of my life. I played for ONE HOUR AND A HALF and profitted $460. That's insanity. My run of cards was absolutely absurd. I did not necessarily have insane hands (like top boat, four of a kind, flushes, etc). I basically had people just over play their hands like crazy and I happen to have solid enough hands to call them. Some guy pushes his stack of $100 on me after we raised back and forth, too bad for him that he had AK when I had AA. Then another time, some guy had AA and I had top set, he lost his stack. Another hand, I hit nut flush on turn and he pushes into me (he had the king high flush) won abou $80 on that hand. All these just amounted to my biggest win yet at the $100 buyin tables. I was very thrilled and happy after one of my worst sessions ever on July 4th.

I played for three hours today on the 8th and profitted $86. I'm running well these last few months and I'd like to keep it that way :)

I'll leave you with a hand that I played today that I played absolutely horribly.

Seat 1: twoods03 ( $71.92)
Seat 2: idler18 ( $106.20)
Seat 3: Bangkok_Bob ( $20)
Seat 4: theretheygo ( $156.05)
Seat 5: card_cash ( $107.95)
Seat 6: McKim ( $122.50)
Seat 7: STRIK_aNYWHR ( $224.14)
Seat 8: roybo680 ( $105.91)
Seat 9: nottheqb ( $97)
Seat 10: bobeldo ( $25)
McKim posts small blind (0.50)
STRIK_aNYWHR posts big blind (1)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to McKim [ Ah, Kd ]
roybo680 folds.
nottheqb folds.
twoods03 calls (1)
idler18 folds.
Bangkok_Bob folds.
theretheygo calls (1)
card_cash folds.
McKim raises (4.50) to 5
STRIK_aNYWHR calls (4)
twoods03 calls (4)
theretheygo calls (4)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ad, 4h, 2s ]
McKim bets (15)
STRIK_aNYWHR folds.
twoods03 folds.
theretheygo raises (30) to 30

Critical mistake here. I needed to raise (most likely push, if I thought my hand was good. I put this guy on AQ right when he minraised me on the flop. My reasoning at the time was maybe I could check the turn and get another bet out of him if he did indeed have AQ.

McKim calls (15)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Qs ]
McKim checks.
theretheygo bets (30)

UGH. The worst possible card I could have seen. I knew I should have folded here but he bet $30 into $76, I just couldn't force myself to give it up.

McKim calls (30)
** Dealing River ** : [ 7c ]
McKim checks.
theretheygo bets (31.02)
McKim calls (31.02)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $199.04 | Rake: $3
Board: [ Ad 4h 2s Qs 7c ]

theretheygo balance $259.07, bet $96.02, collected $199.04, net +$103.02 [ As Qh ] [ two pairs, aces and queens -- As,Ad,Qh,Qs,7c ]
McKim balance $26.48, lost $96.02 [ Ah Kd ] [ a pair of aces -- Ah,Ad,Kd,Qs,7c ]

Most unfortunate that he hit his three outter to beat me. But I am more mad at myself for not playing this hand more aggressively on the flop. I think in this situation, with that flop board, that I should pay off the set every time. Most people on party poker will call my all in with AQ and AJ and they will be in very bad shape. I just got unlucky on this hand, oh well, that's poker.

This was my night... I'll leave it at that.

***** Hand History for Game 4658054378 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Wed Jul 05 00:31:13 EDT 2006
Table Table 96041 (Real Money) -- Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: CDO_TRS ( $122.40)
Seat 2: FerretLegger ( $276.95)
Seat 3: goodtogonow ( $53.81)
Seat 4: joelb23 ( $34.87)
Seat 5: sm00th23 ( $51.90)
Seat 6: w00py69 ( $113.75)
Seat 7: McKim ( $154.95)
Seat 9: JimTheJakal1 ( $99)
Seat 10: sunryder ( $50.10)
JimTheJakal1 posts small blind (0.50)
sunryder posts big blind (1)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to McKim [ As, Qs ]
CDO_TRS calls (1)
FerretLegger folds.
goodtogonow calls (1)
joelb23 folds.
sm00th23 calls (1)
w00py69 folds.
McKim raises (5) to 5
JimTheJakal1 folds.
sunryder folds.
CDO_TRS folds.
goodtogonow calls (4)
sm00th23 folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Tc, Qh, Jd ]
goodtogonow checks.
McKim bets (8)
goodtogonow calls (8)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Kd ]
goodtogonow checks.
McKim bets (14)
goodtogonow calls (14)
** Dealing River ** : [ Ks ]
goodtogonow checks.
McKim checks.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $54.65 | Rake: $2.85
Board: [ Tc Qh Jd Kd Ks ]

CDO_TRS balance $121.40, lost $1 (folded)
FerretLegger balance $276.95, didn't bet (folded)
goodtogonow balance $81.46, bet $27, collected $54.65, net +$27.65 [ Qd Kh ] [ a full house, Kings full of queens -- Kh,Kd,Ks,Qd,Qh ]
McKim balance $127.95, lost $27 [ As Qs ] [ a straight, ten to ace -- As,Kd,Qs,Jd,Tc ]

So I logged onto party poker today and found a nice little $150 bonus in my account. Here is how this works.

Party Poker deposits $150 into my account. I get to use this money however I choose, the only catch is I can not cash out this money until I have played 1800 hands. Yes, I said 1800. That's quite a few hands but at least they give me ten days to do this in. That's only 180 hands a day, which is roughly an hour or so of poker a day for me. I'll probably finish the bonus by late Sunday night.

So that made my day today. Let's see how many I can get done by the end of tonights session. I have work early in the morning so I can not stay up too late. See you on the tables.

I played my first tournament in over a year last Saturday night. It was a $22 buyin $40k guarenteed on Party Poker. There were 2200 entrants and I placed 25th. Woot. I cashed $232 for a profit of about $210. Not too shabby considering I haven't played a tournament in well over a year.

I kept tally of the key hands that I played in (basically all-in situations and wrote down whether I won or lost them.) Here is the list (if I do not mention the blinds that means I forgot to write them down at the time) I will always say my hand first:

50/100: TT v AJ - win
AJs v TT - win
AKs v 66 - win
600/1200: AJ v KQ - win
800/1600: Q9s v 55 - win
QT v A9 - win
1500/3000: A6 v A7 - tie
A4 v AQ - loss
4000/8000: AK v AQ v AQ - HUGE win for me, this put me as chip leader with 100 people left
4000/8000: A6s v 99 - loss (he was sb, I was BB, folded around he raised to 24K, I reraised to 80k, he pushed, I had to call another 60K or so)
4000/8000: AJs v 99 - loss,he pushed for 50K in late position, I called on button , blinds folded.

didn't see much the rest of the way, stole the blinds once or twice, but got dwindled to 150k when this hand came up:

10000/20000: I'm the button, folded around to guy on my right who min raises to 40000. I have 150k he has 330k. I reraise all in with A4s. Blinds fold, he calls with 77 and I don't pair my Ace or get any flush.

I'm knocked out in 25th place out of 2200. I suppose I should be happy with that finish, but after having the chip lead with 100 people left I felt I was playing very solid. A couple key hands lost and that's all she wrote. Oh well, there will always be another day.