1/31 : From All Angles

Things don't seem to be going my way lately outside of cards (I've been running pretty well). I'm trying to get the point across to my coaches that I want to strictly train for hurdles and cut out the 400 workouts I've been doing. Needless to say it hasn't been the easiest process that I've dealt with. It's my senior year and all I really want is either an America East Championship in 55's or to break the school record of 7.62. Either works for me, but I've decided that those are my goals. This training regime I'm on right now however...doesn't feel like it's going to help me get there. I hope that things work out, but if they don't...well that sucks.

1/28 : Oook

So I got home yesterday from the Terrier Invitational. I did alright, all I ran was 55m hurdles...which was pretty awesome. I ran 7.82 in trials went into final ranked 4th, then ran 7.96 (throw up) in finals for 6th. I don't feel terrible about it considering there was about 35 kids running, but I don't feel great. here's a link to my races

Trials:
http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/races.php?vid=7816
Finals:
http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/races.php?vid=7856

Poker was annoying as crap today. I lost Aces to 98o for a game and then continued to drop 700, make it back, then split about 8 sets until finally going up $130 for the day. It was long. I survived though, and made a lot of FPP's while I was at it.

Here's a hand for the day:
Finally! I get a break!
PokerStars Game #14876149303: Tournament #75398925, $110+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level IV (50/100) - 2008/01/27 - 22:22:09 (ET)
Table '75398925 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: maxv2 (875 in chips)
Seat 2: Churchill83 (2125 in chips)
maxv2: posts small blind 50
Churchill83: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [Qc 8h]
maxv2: raises 775 to 875 and is all-in
Churchill83: calls 775
*** FLOP *** [8c Jd Qh]
*** TURN *** [8c Jd Qh] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [8c Jd Qh 7h] [Ad]
Churchill83 said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Churchill83: shows [Kh Ac] (a pair of Aces)
maxv2: shows [Qc 8h] (two pair, Queens and Eights)
maxv2 collected 1750 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1750 | Rake 0
Board [8c Jd Qh 7h Ad]
Seat 1: maxv2 (button) (small blind) showed [Qc 8h] and won (1750) with two pair, Queens and Eights
Seat 2: Churchill83 (big blind) showed [Kh Ac] and lost with a pair of Aces

1/19 : Where's the excitement

Life's been boring lately, I find myself engulfed in meaningless forms of entertainment that consume a large portion of my time throughout the day. Why I do this? I have no idea. My mind just simply refuses to take care of the things that I need to get done. It really just comes down to whether or not I want to do something. If I don't, I put it off for incredible amounts of time. I guess my new years resolution will be to improve upon this.

Anyways here's some hands of the day (I only played two 230's and won them both).

Hands One: Of course he calls in with 87s *sigh*
PokerStars Game #14673513529: Tournament #74400685, $220+$10 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level II (15/30) - 2008/01/19 - 15:16:21 (ET)
Table '74400685 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Churchill83 (765 in chips)
Seat 2: maxv2 (2235 in chips)
Churchill83: posts small blind 15
maxv2: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [Qs Ah]
Churchill83: raises 60 to 90
maxv2: raises 1710 to 1800
Churchill83: calls 675 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Qh 2c 9h]
*** TURN *** [Qh 2c 9h] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 2c 9h 6s] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
maxv2: shows [Qs Ah] (a pair of Queens)
Churchill83: shows [8h 7h] (a pair of Sevens)
maxv2 collected 1530 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1530 | Rake 0
Board [Qh 2c 9h 6s 7d]
Seat 1: Churchill83 (button) (small blind) showed [8h 7h] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 2: maxv2 (big blind) showed [Qs Ah] and won (1530) with a pair of Queens

Summary: Ha! for once my AQ holds, game over.

Hand Two: ...Thanks?
PokerStars Game #14673592965: Tournament #74400385, $220+$10 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level III (25/50) - 2008/01/19 - 15:19:30 (ET)
Table '74400385 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ElDentisto (795 in chips)
Seat 2: maxv2 (2205 in chips)
maxv2: posts small blind 25
ElDentisto: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [Tc Qh]
maxv2: calls 25
ElDentisto: checks
*** FLOP *** [9s Td 3c]
ElDentisto: checks
maxv2: bets 100
ElDentisto: raises 645 to 745 and is all-in
maxv2: calls 645
*** TURN *** [9s Td 3c] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [9s Td 3c 6s] [8d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ElDentisto: shows [9h 5d] (a pair of Nines)
maxv2: shows [Tc Qh] (a pair of Tens)
maxv2 collected 1590 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1590 | Rake 0
Board [9s Td 3c 6s 8d]
Seat 1: ElDentisto (big blind) showed [9h 5d] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 2: maxv2 (button) (small blind) showed [Tc Qh] and won (1590) with a pair of Tens

Summary: I know the blinds were a little higher, but this seems a little over-aggressive to me on this guys part. I actually had the feeling like I was either behind or barely out-kicking him. Lucky for me he was just being kind of dumb.

1/15 : Sprained Ankle :(

Sadly I sprained my ankle a little while ago. Doing hurdle drills I essentially came down with all of my weight rolling my ankle causing a high ankle sprain. It just sucks because I get the feeling it's a lot more serious then my coaches understand. It's been about 8-10 days now and the progress has been very stagnant. As much as I want to compete, this injury is less then ideal for hurdles. Girls can get away with it with lower hurdles, but the amount of pressure I'm landing with on 42 inch hurdles is going to be painful. I could just be a pessimist, but unless something magical happens over the next week and a half things won't be looking good.

On the cards front, things have been easier. I made back the $2300 that I lost and have some breathing room in the account.

Here's some news I've yet to share. My friend Kory and I are working to start up our own production company. The basic layout that we'll be working with is at http://www.bangarangclothing.com/riff-raph/index.html take a look and tell me what you think. I'll be in charge of web-design and will also work editing music video's and such. I put together that basic outline, but have plans to add some features that actually give it some functionality. Anyways, I'm heading to bed peace -Max

1/11 : Brink of busting

So I was literally down to merely a few dollars and a bunch of FPP's over the last few days. I had recently cashed out 2k and left myself with a small 2200 bankroll which I blew through pretty quickly during a tough downswing. Luckily I placed in one of those top 4 out of 10 for $215 tourney dollars and have rebuilt to $1750. Kind of crazy being down to it though, an interesting feeling; character building if you will. I feel back on track though, and hopefully will actually be a winning player in 08. Here's some interesting hands of the evening.

Hand 1: Holy crap...a coin flip win?
PokerStars Game #14473877257: Tournament #73415779, $110+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2008/01/11 - 03:02:17 (ET)
Table '73415779 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: maxv2 (1510 in chips)
Seat 2: Carenski (1490 in chips)
maxv2: posts small blind 10
Carenski: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [Ad Ks]
maxv2: raises 40 to 60
Carenski: raises 100 to 160
maxv2: raises 1350 to 1510 and is all-in
Carenski: calls 1330 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [3d 2c 8s]
*** TURN *** [3d 2c 8s] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [3d 2c 8s 4s] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Carenski: shows [Qs Qd] (a pair of Queens)
maxv2: shows [Ad Ks] (a pair of Kings)
maxv2 collected 2980 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2980 | Rake 0
Board [3d 2c 8s 4s Kc]
Seat 1: maxv2 (button) (small blind) showed [Ad Ks] and won (2980) with a pair of Kings
Seat 2: Carenski (big blind) showed [Qs Qd] and lost with a pair of Queens

Summary: Mmmmhhhmmm....haven't won one of these in a while. It felt good to win a flip for an entire game, straight gambling.

Hand 2: What were you thinking?
PokerStars Game #14473892922: Tournament #73415756, $110+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2008/01/11 - 03:04:01 (ET)
Table '73415756 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: maxv2 (1330 in chips)
Seat 2: harleez181 (1670 in chips)
harleez181: posts small blind 10
maxv2: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [Ad 9c]
harleez181: calls 10
maxv2: raises 60 to 80
harleez181: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [9s Qc 9d]
maxv2: bets 120
harleez181: calls 120
*** TURN *** [9s Qc 9d] [6d]
maxv2: bets 300
harleez181: calls 300
*** RIVER *** [9s Qc 9d 6d] [3c]
maxv2: bets 830 and is all-in
harleez181: calls 830
*** SHOW DOWN ***
maxv2: shows [Ad 9c] (three of a kind, Nines)
harleez181: shows [As 8c] (a pair of Nines)
maxv2 collected 2660 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2660 | Rake 0
Board [9s Qc 9d 6d 3c]
Seat 1: maxv2 (big blind) showed [Ad 9c] and won (2660) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 2: harleez181 (button) (small blind) showed [As 8c] and lost with a pair of Nines

Summary: This guy was really bad, I don't understand some people. Simple as that. I mean, I'm not one to talk. I try and make some really thin calls and fails constantly, but I'm pretty sure I would've let this one go...

1/5 : Happy Playoff Football Day

The holidays just keep coming. Anyways I'm going to be really fast because I'm missing the fourth quarter of the Washington Seattle game. I really just wanted to post my final project for my 371 class. Check it out, tell me what you thing. I'll warn you though, it's pretty depressing.

1/2 : Happy New Year!

Well, sadly...my new years has started off pretty crappy. My accounts relatively busted ($54) after recently cashing out 2k, I went on a $2300 slide to somewhat bankrupt myself. No big deal, I'm just going to take a vacation; and having recently sprained my ankle in practice, I'm going to be a huge waste lol. I feel like I deserve it though, I've really grinded trying to scrape this money back together. However, relentless bad beats decided to knock me out. To finish me off I lost consecutively AQ to A10 66's to A3 JJ to A6 and some other pretty decent beats. It was good though, it made me realize that atleast I'm playing well and it's simply out of my control. I'll probably take about 3 days off and then try and bounce back. I wanted to make a lot of money this break, but it just doesn't seem destined to be. Anyways, hope everyone had a fantastic New Year. I ended up going down to Portland with my friend Paul and having a pretty good time. Thing got crazy for a while, but once we landed back at my friends place (Alex and Matt's) things got way better. Until next time -Max