11/26 : +35

Here's my latest piece before I start talking about cards


Soooo, yesterday in a very short period of time I was able to drop $2185...well today in a relatively short amount of time (2 and a half hours) I was able to make all of that along with a whopping 35 bucks!  The contrast between days I can't put into words.  Rollercoast maybe?  It's true about what I've read in other HU blogs (whasssupppps) You really need to be able to play with the mindset of 'did I play well?' as opposed to 'losing lots of money sucks'.  I was able to just close the door on playing yesterday with the thought of playing today, well rested and with a fresh mindset.  I started off pretty solid even after losing a game 77 to 66 with a spiked 6 on the river all in preflop. At one point I was 6-3 then I think I won something like 6-7 in a row.  It was pretty fun.  Honestly I'm a little tired and it feels like it should be Sunday not Tuesday so I'm not going to do an in depth hand analysis or talk about bankroll management (which I will do in my next post). I'll just leave you with what was the most important hold of the session.  

Seat 1: maxv2 (1990 in chips) 
Seat 2: PiS.ToTo (1010 in chips) 
PiS.ToTo: posts small blind 10
maxv2: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [Kc Ks]
PiS.ToTo: raises 40 to 60
maxv2: raises 120 to 180
PiS.ToTo: calls 120
*** FLOP *** [7s 7d 8d]
maxv2: bets 250
PiS.ToTo: raises 580 to 830 and is all-in
maxv2: calls 580
*** TURN *** [7s 7d 8d] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [7s 7d 8d 8s] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
maxv2: shows [Kc Ks] (two pair, Kings and Eights)
PiS.ToTo: shows [Th 9d] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
maxv2 collected 2020 from pot

11/16 : +315

So I figure that a good way to go about this blog is to just post weekly.  I'm relatively busy and it's hard to add something like this to my daily routine.  However, this will be easy to maintain weekly and it'll make for more interesting material as far as what's going on in my life.  Today was a pretty good day, I drove back to Orono from Portland and watched football until about 8.  Then I played just 2 games, one against Layne Flack "Reloadthis" for $215 and another against a super aggressive guy.  I felt a little bad about the game against Flack, he timed out a lot and I picked up some free pots mid-hand that could've gone either way because he wouldn't act in time.  In the end I made a good call with 99 on a Q67Q7 board and then flipped for his half stack (750) and won 44 vs QJ.  Then I lost a flip against the other guys half stack after knocking him down, then got into an awful situation after the flop at 50/100 blinds, here's how it went.  

Seat 1: grubel9 (1285 in chips) 

Seat 2: maxv2 (1715 in chips) 

grubel9: posts small blind 50

maxv2: posts big blind 100

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to maxv2 [6d As]

grubel9: calls 50

maxv2: raises 200 to 300

grubel9: calls 200

*** FLOP *** [9h 4s 6h]

maxv2: bets 300

grubel9: raises 685 to 985 and is all-in

maxv2: calls 685

*** TURN *** [9h 4s 6h] [Ad]

*** RIVER *** [9h 4s 6h Ad] [Qs]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

maxv2: shows [6d As] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)

grubel9: shows [7h 8h] (high card Ace)

maxv2 collected 2570 from pot

I really didn't expect him to call the raise pre-flop, I just wanted to take it down there...but that didn't work out.  Then I flopped middle pair top kicker and was pretty much committed after my $300 lead out.  I know it wasn't a great play, but this guy was over aggressive so I went with it.  Somehow I won, I was about 32% after the flop, but that A on the turn shifted me to 68% which was nice.  So I ended up done for the day after just two games...nice.  Let me know if there's anything in particular anyone would like me to talk about! Peace

11/10/08  :  +177.5

So I may or may not start posting again.  I'm assuming I've lost the ridiculously limited amount of readers that I once had, but I'll see if  I can present myself as an interesting enough soul to lure people back into my mindless babble.  If anyone's still reading this I figure it'd be an interesting idea for me to analyze other peoples individual hands and see if I can be of any help.  So if anyone has anything...I mean if anyone's even reading, lay em on me.  For now I'll just analyze one of my own hands.  

Hand of the day:  
Seat 1: xx frankie (1620 in chips) 
Seat 2: maxv2 (1380 in chips) 
xx frankie: posts small blind 15
maxv2: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [As Ts]
xx frankie: calls 15
maxv2: checks 
*** FLOP *** [5s 4h 7s]
maxv2: checks 
xx frankie: checks 
*** TURN *** [5s 4h 7s] [6s]
maxv2: bets 60
xx frankie: calls 60
*** RIVER *** [5s 4h 7s 6s] [4c]
maxv2: checks 
xx frankie: bets 270
maxv2: raises 700 to 970
xx frankie said, "flush?"
xx frankie: calls 700
*** SHOW DOWN ***
maxv2: shows [As Ts] (a flush, Ace high)
xx frankie: shows [8c Kd] (a straight, Four to Eight)
maxv2 collected 2120 from pot
xx frankie said, "unreal"

This was a pretty interesting hand.  This guy was crazy so I wasn't doing anything aggressive to force the issue.  I just checked through my A10s because of this very reasoning and again checked the flop.  I know, kind of a pansy move...but it didn't take much to unleash serious action out of this guy.  So I turn the flush and throw out a small bet to see if he had the top or bottom end of the straight, I think irregardless I could check the river and he'd throw out a big bet.  It was a risk, but this was the monster situation that I was hoping for.  So it was worth risking the $150 or so value I would get on the river to go for the 970 that I ended up getting.  Directly after this I got all in on a simple flip KQ vs A9 for his last 400 and won.  

So I'll post some of the crap I've been up to, I'll let you know how the WSOP went (I played in the main event, I won a satellite on stars).  I probably won't go into my personal life, as that usually gets me in trouble haha.  But anyways, that's all for now.  

Oh, here's some of the work I've done

6/26 : Recovery

So I lost about $3500 a few nights ago, ouch.  However, that night I was able to cut it to $1500 and then woke up the next morning and took out the rest.  It was a relatively quick comeback, probably no more then 9-10 hours total.  I'm glad that I'm able to make this sort of recovery faster these days, and I'm especially happy that I extended my bankroll to 6k rather then the tiny 3k I used to use.  Once I get my car all paid off (I got a 2006 Jaguar X-Type 3.0) I'm going to work on building my bankroll a little more to eventually become a more serious poker plays.  Maybe I'll eventually put hours in rather then settling for minor profits daily.   Anyways, hope everythings working out for everyone -Maxv2.  

6/18/08

So I might drive to California to see this movie called "The Go-Getter" 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5rvx3JFJCU

It's only playing in Oregon and California, and I think it'd be a worth while trip to both clear my head and see a movie that looks really interesting.

And the Celtics won the championship tonight.  I think that's pretty awesome.  I really enjoyed watching them crush Kobe and Phil Jackson's spirit as well.  Outplayed. 

6/14/08 : Game 4 and 5

So I forgot to post my reaction to winning game four.  I think you can understand why.  I was excited; and watching Ray Allen burn Sasha for a back breaking lefty layup was a perfect ending.  Anyways, I just hope we don't get lax and blow game 5.  I know we have the comfort of two straight home court games coming, but I'm totally fine with ending it in LA.  

So I picked up a new album, She and Him Volume 1.  It's a duet of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward.  It has a poppy Norah Jones feel.  I liked it, so I picked up tickets to the show in North Hampton, MA on the 24th.  Should be fun, me Jay and possibly his girlfriend Alyssa are going.  They've been friends of mine since freshman year of college.  I recommend checking it out if you're running out of music, although it is summer so a new really good album should be released just about everyday starting soon.  Have a good weekend -maxv2

6/12/08 : Back from Boston

So my friend Jay had a job interview down in Boston, so I decided to accompany him on his trip. We drove down to Portland then took the Downeaster into Boston. That thing is amazing, they even have free wifi on it now; highly recommended. Anyways, it was sad to see the Celtics lose...but it was relatively expected. However, we put up a serious fight. I thought we did a really good job showing them that the fourth quarter of game 2 was just us being retarded, they can't ACTUALLY put up 40 a quarter on us. So tonight's game 4, I really have no bold predictions or expectations. I'm really just hoping that we can steal one of the next two in LA to make lives easy on ourselves. If we go into game 6 with a 3-2 lead I think there will just be too much confidence going into home court for LA to handle. So lets hope KG actually slept last night, and we can make something special happen tonight.
Here's a random hand from a $345 that really made today an easy day after coming out flat and dropping two $115's then rebounding with this and a $230 to end up +295 for now.

Seat 1: dannyp1988 (1720 in chips)
Seat 2: maxv2 (1280 in chips)
dannyp1988: posts small blind 10
maxv2: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [9s 9d]
dannyp1988: raises 60 to 80
maxv2: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [8c 3h 6s]
maxv2: checks
dannyp1988: bets 100
maxv2: raises 300 to 400
dannyp1988: raises 300 to 700
maxv2: raises 500 to 1200 and is all-in
dannyp1988: calls 500
*** TURN *** [8c 3h 6s] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [8c 3h 6s Ac] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
maxv2: shows [9s 9d] (a pair of Nines)
dannyp1988: shows [Qh Th] (high card Ace)
maxv2 collected 2560 from pot

I mean, at the point where he had committed 700 chips, you have to realize that he's getting decent money on the 23% chance that he has as long as I don't have a monster. For all he knew I could've had 45 or 57 and he'd just have to hold a coin flip. Although in reality he could've easily minimized this to a -180 chip drop...instead of 1280. Anyways gl everyone -maxv2

6/8/08 : Good Day 

First off I'd like to say that people are making more and more ridiculous calls.  It's refreshing to get caught bluffing by a guy who calls off with K6 on a 69JQ8 board then spinning it for 3 straight wins after that.  I mean honestly, I'm not one to talk.  I make some far out calls, it's one of my strengths (or weaknesses on some days).  But I fail to see the logic behind some of these calls.  I usually have a thought process behind my calls atleast.  

Anyways, tonight's game 2.  All of this talk about the Lakers not being able to rebound being down 0-2 is crap.  That's a reasonable comeback to make, but it wouldn't be easy.  So it'd be REALLLLY nice to put the pressure on them.  I applaude Doc for his coaching in game one (except for leaving Cassell in too long).  And I hope the focus is on the same areas in this game.  Aggressive drives to the hoop to put LA in the penalty, and REBOUNDING.  We dominated the glass, let's do it again.  -maxv2

6/5/08 : Game One Down

Was that Paul Pierce or Willis Reed? I'm not sure, but 15 points in the 3rd quarter on a sprained knee...amazing.  This game reminded everyone how good the Celtics really are.  Everyone picking L.A. in less then 7?  Are you kidding me?  Did you forget that we won 66 regular season games and just took down the team with the 2nd best record in the league in 6?  I can't wait to see the reaction to what the Celtics just threw down.  Beat L.A. -maxv2

6/5/08 : Game 1 Tomorrow

This thing has been hyped like now other.  Can't say that I really blame the league for doing it either.  This is the optimal matchup for ratings and revenue.  I've decided there's no way I can go into this as a pessimist.  After watching all year I have a strong feeling that we have a very strong possibility of winning this.  

First of all we simply need to push leads early.  We were so effective all year at producing overwhelming margines that demoralize teams.   I have high hopes that we can put together enough cohesion to produce atleast 2 blowouts at home.  From there? Putting Detroit in the penalty with 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter seemed to workout.  Why not try that again? Give it to Paul late.  Simple as that.  Yes KG can draw fouls too, but Paul picks up a much higher possibility of drawing a foul then KG.  It may seem ineffective while it's happening, but Doc...show some coaching ability and put fourth an abstract strategy that works.  Please.  

Anyways, as for the real world. I went down to Bar Harbor tonight to visit my friend Alex.  The place is beautiful.  Everytime I visit that place it's an enjoyable experience, and tonight was.  Even though it was pouring out, we just went out to a local bar for a while then went and watch the new Indiana Jones movie...Aliens? come on...lol.  Anyways I think I fell in love with a foreign girl who said three of the most beautifully accented words I've ever heard.  She  definitely in her mid-20's, but on vacation with her parents...awww.  Anyways, Beat LA -maxv2

6/2/08 : Seriously, does everyday need to be a marathon?

Today...yet another downswing to start.  Dropped $2250 to start the day losing to one guy like 5 times then taking a $550 off of him to make me feel less like an idiot.  I wasn't playing really well early, and he had pretty red hot cards; and I'll give him a little credit he was ok.  
Anyways, I went down to watch my brothers band play earlier today in Portland at the Big Easy.  It was a pretty good show and I'll post some pictures once I pull them from my camera.  Hope everyone's doing well themselves, good night.

5/30/08 : Going to the NBA Finals...Wow

This is like a dream.  All I can think of is how far we've come from last season.  Last year I drove down from Orono to about 8 games with my friends from school, we watched one win and seven losses...Now? The tickets were a little more expensive this year, but we still made it out to two games, Golden State early in the year and Game 2 of the first round vs. Atlanta. Both...blow out wins.  It's been an amazing transition and makes it worth grinding out the last 5-6 years of mediocracy.  

As for cards? Haven't played much over the last two days.  I've had a lot of things to take care of, some overlaying school work that I've needed to finish up and basic errands to run.  I'll get serious after this weekend.  However, I have to head down to Portland for Saturday and Sunday to watch my brothers band compete in Battle of the Bands (Saturday) and play in their biggest gig thus far at the Old Port (Sunday) playing with As Fast As and The Pete Kilpatrick band (?).  Anyways, it should be fun...I'll catch up later. -maxv2

5/29/08 : Lakers in 5?

It'd be interesting to see, something tells me the Spurs aren't interested in giving up so early though.  While I think the Lakers will inevitably take the series, I see the Spurs stealing this game 5.  

Anyways, cards was frustrating...but not AS frustrating as they've been.  I ended up +155 and really unmotivated to extend that at all.  Sort of a day off if you will; I have some stuff to take care of.  I have to make in my buy-in for the WSOP Main Event tomorrow and book tickets for everyone coming with me.  About 8-10 of my friends will be coming out with me and cramming into my hotel room, it should be pretty awesome.   Oh and the Pirates are winning 7-1, that's good...they've been losing with a little more regularity lately.  Jason Bay's been consistently good though, I just wish he had more RBI opportunities.  Freddy Sanchez isn't having a very good year thus far, hopefully he can turn it around. 

5/28/08 : Thank You Celtics

Ray Allen was amazing, finally.  That was a huge performance by him KG and Perk.  It was also scary to see how shut down Detroit could be if they actually tried throughout the game.  Their defense in the fourth was amazing. Oh and me and my friends also decided that we will now be calling "Rip" Hamilton, "Dick" Hamilton for the rest of the series.  

5/28/08 : HEADACHHHEEE!!!

I think my head exploded, reincarnated itself and then exploded about 4 seperate times over the last 2 days.  I've made a little bit of money throughout, about $350...but nowhere near the hassle.  The only positive in it all is the fact that I've racked up a crap load of fpp's.  Anyways, I need to sleep or I might die.  

5/25/08 : AC Trip

Just got back from Atlantic City, played a little 1/2nl at Tropicana. We really didn't go down there to play cards though so we gambled the rest of the day and broke even doing it...which in my book is a win. At the roulette table we got ID'd and the guy said "Wierd, both ID's say McLovin" and this girl goes "really?"...lol, her boyfriend gave her a death stare and she apologized.

And I'm obviously happy with how the Celtics are playing. Game 3 was a huge win. I haven't been watching ESPN lately because I've been in AC, so I don't know what the analysts are saying. But this opens up a huge opportunity to put the series out of reach in game four and possibly lead to a short series and some rest for the finals. That'd be nice. And I have to say that game 7 vs Cleveland was one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen out of Paul Pierce. Probably THE most impressive. Lebron was unstoppable, but luckily so was Paul and our supporting cast made it a little easier to come away with the win.

5/11 : Hellllloo

So I got this cool dashboard widget that automatically signs me in and lets me blog from my dashboard instead of loading up blogger.com to do so.  So, that means maybe I'll blog more often, because of sheer convienance.  I also have this word a day thing that never updates, so I'm stuck on Subjusc meaning dark or dull in color...atleast I have that word down, right?

2/5 : Whew

SO I played a little tired today, which is usually a bad idea. I managed to get up $70 and stop...mostly because my eyes are closing on me. The workout wasn't all that hard today, just 1 200 3 100's and 3 50's at 100%, but lifting after killed me...not to mention I only got four hours of sleep last night. Anyways, things have worked out for me. I'm no longer part of the 4x400 team and am strictly doing speed workouts. It's cool finally training for what I'm supposed to be training for, however I do miss working out with my friends on the team on a regular basis. Anyways here's some hands of the day.

Hand 1: Uh oh...is this going to be a rough night?
Seat 1: maxv2 (1585 in chips)
Seat 2: FloppedFlush (1415 in chips)
maxv2: posts small blind 15
FloppedFlush: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [Ac Ad]
maxv2: raises 60 to 90
FloppedFlush: raises 210 to 300
maxv2: raises 1285 to 1585 and is all-in
FloppedFlush: calls 1115 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [8c 6d 5c]
*** TURN *** [8c 6d 5c] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [8c 6d 5c Kd] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FloppedFlush: shows [9h 9d] (a straight, Five to Nine)
maxv2: shows [Ac Ad] (a pair of Aces)
FloppedFlush collected 2830 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2830 | Rake 0
Board [8c 6d 5c Kd 7s]
Seat 1: maxv2 (button) (small blind) showed [Ac Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: FloppedFlush (big blind) showed [9h 9d] and won (2830) with a straight, Five to Nine

Hand 2: NM, we're ok
Seat 1: vboll (1205 in chips)
Seat 2: maxv2 (1795 in chips)
vboll: posts small blind 15
maxv2: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to maxv2 [5d As]
vboll: raises 60 to 90
maxv2: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [8h 4d 2c]
maxv2: checks
vboll: bets 120
maxv2: calls 120
*** TURN *** [8h 4d 2c] [3h]
maxv2: checks
vboll: checks
*** RIVER *** [8h 4d 2c 3h] [8s]
maxv2: bets 300
vboll: raises 695 to 995 and is all-in
maxv2: calls 695
*** SHOW DOWN ***
vboll: shows [Tc 8c] (three of a kind, Eights)
maxv2: shows [5d As] (a straight, Ace to Five)
maxv2 collected 2410 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2410 | Rake 0
Board [8h 4d 2c 3h 8s]
Seat 1: vboll (button) (small blind) showed [Tc 8c] and lost with three of a kind, Eights
Seat 2: maxv2 (big blind) showed [5d As] and won (2410) with a straight, Ace to Five

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