Poker, Football, and everything sports

The past two days perfectly exemplify both why I love and why I hate poker, and why I could never use it as a consistent form of revenue. Going into play yesterday, I was flying high. I had jsut cash out 3200 bucks, and I was already deciding which tournament I was gonna make a deep run in this time. Well a couple hours later, and 200 dollars in buy ins later, I was left with nothing to show for it, running dead cold in every tournament I played. Down to 900 bucks after the cashout.

Today I was looking to get most of it back, and it wasn't looking good to start. After a couple turbos and some KO's I was down about 100 until I got 6th in a KO to get...108 bucks. Even on the afternoon. I decide to take a big poker night tonight and register for a ton of touranments, including a 55 and and a 75 I wanted to gamble with. Well, I once again ran dead cold. This time I was down to about 690 bucks with just one tournament left, a 26 buck stud hi/lo tournament. While holdem has been the main source of basiclaly all my winnings, I try to dabble in all of the other games, and for whatever reason I've had the best results in stud hi lo. I've had decent consistent success in cash games, and in the first live stud hi lo tournament I played, I got 9th place out of about 150 people for 210 bucks, where outside of one otehr 20 something year old, I was the youngest palyer by 20 years.

A quick crash course for those of you who don't know what stud hi lo is. Its just like regular stud, where you are dealt 2 cards down, 4 cards up, and 1 card down, and try to make your best 5 card hand. The catch is, a player can play a "lo" hand if he has 5 cards that are 8 or low that don't pair up. For example, if two players are heads up, and one guy has a full house KKKAA42 nad hte other guy has a low 8542A, they split the pot 50 50. The best hand to have in the game is called the wheel A2345, as it is the best possible low hand, and will often be hte best high hand. There will always be a high hand in every hand, but there may not neccessairly be a low hand. hope you guys followed all that lol.

Anyways, I played this tournament alittle differently then those in the past and I feel as though it definetely helped my game. In the past, I would always call with the starting hands of most pairs, flush draws, straight draws, and any 3 low cards. However, I decide to cut down on the low 3 cards rule, folding non connecting hands like 842 or 75A, espeically if I'm only against 1 or two players. The reason being is that I'm really only drawing to low cards, and even if I hit I only win half the pot, which in the case of a heads of battle, is equal to the money I put in. So the tournamet got around 150 people with 16 paid. I was chip leader from about 24 people to 12, and ended up starting the final table in 4th of 8th but with still alot of chips. So we get down to 5 handed and I have the chip lead, but the limits are so high, that even with all my chips I could be the short stack in two hands. Sure enough, by the time 5th place is eliminated, I only have 20k with the big bet at 5k. Aka I'm fucked. So I ended up pushing with starting Aces, and lose to a 6 card straight. For fourth place I get 300 dollars. I started the night with 950 bucks. I ended it with...990. Lol this is the life of a poker player. Oh well, you can never complain with a day when you are up! More updates coming. Football in one day!!! So exicted. Thanks for reading.

Sorry for the delay on the details of my second big cash but here they are. So the tournament I got 3rd in was a daily 30 dollar turbo that starts at like 2:30 each day. Its a tournament that has tortured me in the past. I've probably played it about 8 times, and finished one table from the money at least 3 times. The tournament usually gets anywhere from 60 to 100 people with the final table being paid out. So it surprised me when I logged in and there were 200 people registered and 27 spots paid out. Anyways I play it, and get to 3 handed when the SB big stack pushes all in on my AK(deja vu all over again from the previous nite). I snap call, only to have my internet disconnect right when the cards come. So its either I'm dominant chip leader or out in 3rd, and sadly it was the latter. I have no idea how the board ran out, but the guy claims to have had 22. Lame.

Full Tilt checks are apparently working now, coming in a reasonalbe time and have not been bouncing, so I requested a check of 3200 and its been approved and is on the way so very excited about that. This will be the biggest cash out I've recieved in poker, and puts my total at around 15.2k in my hand. Pretty awesome. Also, I set my goal for the semester at 5000 dollars, and it's awesome to already be over halfway there. Down day today lost pretty much everything but its all good nly lost about 100 or so. Thanks for reading more updates coming.

Anotehr big score this one in a 30 buck turbo that got around 230 people I got 3rd for 761. Details coming soon.

Ok huge night tonight played in a couple 26 KO's and continued my cold streak in those. Also played a 26 PL holdem multi and busted about an hour in. While this was going on I decided to playing one of FTP's nightly tournaments, the Turbo Hundo. Its a 100 dollar buy in turbo tournament, which I like because many of the usual tournaments I run are turbos. Despite being about 10% of my bankroll I was really feeling it and turbos fit my game well because 1. I'm impatient so a 3 hour tourney works perfect for me and 2. The tournament rewards players who are able to pick spots well and I'm good at that. Let me explain.

Say my stack is 5000 and the blinds are at 400 and 800. I'm deal A8 under the gun. Many players have the mindset of pushing with any A here in hopes of doubling up. The problem is, not only do you have to have 8 players fold, but also consider that there is a 0% chance you are ahead if you get called, unless the big stack tries to bust u with say an A4. This is an easy fold for me

On the other hand with the same stack and blinds, a push with 86 offsuit in late position folded around to me is an easy play. In this case, I only have to beat 2 or 3 random hands. Also, first they have to have a hand to call me with, then they have to beat me. By understanding these concepts, I feel as though I'm more then adequate to run deep in this tournament, despite its large buy in which is more then my usual. Also, this was the 4th time I had played this tournament, and I managed to bubble the final table once, so I knew a deep run was possible.

So I can't think off the top of my head of the main hands leading up to the money. I was about 10th with 17 left when I had to get really lucky. With blinds at 1500 3000 I pushed my stack of 20k in in late position with A2. The small blind snap calls with AQ but I get lucky and hit a deuce on the turn to double to 58k. From there I wasn't really able to make many moves. Won a good race with KJ vs 33 and suddenly I was at the final table 4th in chips. The stacks were not far apart and basically the short stack could double to 3rd in chips at any time. After 5 eliminations (one of which was poker pro Mandy B...don't worry I've never heard of her either) I was in the top 4. It was anyone's game with the big stack at 200k and 3 stacks of 100k one of which was me. I wake up with AK in the bb and snap call the chip leader's all in. She has 1010 and we race for the chip lead. Bad news was she had won the same coin flip earlier to get the chip lead, and sure enough, she wins again I'm busted in 4th for 2632 dollars. First got 6.3k so right now I'm honestly pretty bummed. Tommorow morning I'll wake up and be stoked about it but when all you think about is getting first in a tournament, anything short is disappointing right after, no matter how much you win.

So this win puts my account at 3500 dollars. There is a bit of bright news full tilt checks which had been taking forever and bouncing now seem to be running fairly smoothly so I will attempt a check cash out soon. Will keep you guys updated on the process. Thanks for reading.

PS; Live update I will b playing in the 120 dollar deep stack at the Commerce Casino in two sundays on September 7th.

Ok this post is a bit of a 2 parter. Life is taking a bit of a turn for me right now. For starters, classes start..well today so no longer can I lounge around and chill which is never fun but I'm still looking forward to the challenges up ahead. The start of the school year also means the start of FOOTBALL SEASON. Really pumped been looking forward to the OSU game for a while now and its jsut around the corner.

Lastly, the biggest change in my life right now is the departure of my girlfriend Kristal to Hong Kong. She'll be studying abroad there for the semester so I won't c her till January. I'm def. pretty bummed about her leaving, but I know how much she wanted to go and how excited she was to go so I'm happy she's getting to experience it and can't wait to see her in a few months. She has a blog for her asian adventures at spacegirl352.blogspot.com. Check it out

Now onto what you people really care about, poker!!! jk Kristal. Ok well last I left off I wasn't feeling online poker too much and its still affecting me a bit. I was expecting to run a handful of multi's today, but I ended up only playing a couple 26 KO's and my favorite tournament on FTP, the 10 buck 6 handed they run like 2 or 3 times in the morning and at night respectively.

I like these tournaments for a handful of reasons. The fields are very manageable, usually anyways from 80 to 200 people, and most of them are fairly soft. I've made at least 4 final tables and have a win under my belt in theses. 6 handed play is my favorite because it benefits a tight aggressive player like myself, and also emphasizes late position stealing preflop, which I'm a huge fan of!!! Because in a 6 handed game, even if you are the first person to act, u only need 5 folds as opposed to 8 which is huge in poker.

Anyways, the 26 KO's didn't go well but the 6 handed was a fun one. I really didn't get out of line too much I pretty much made standard plays stealing blinds twice an orbit and getting it in when i have the best of it. On my way to having the chip lead at the start of the final table, I really only got out of line twice. Once, I played back at a constant overbetter with mid pair when he had top pair and got lucky on the river. Then trying to pound the final table bubble, I risked about half my stack on a str8 draw against top pair and hit it.

So entering the final table, I have about 48k next closest stack has around 32k and short is at 17k with blinds at 300 600 so ALOT OF PLAY TO BE HAD. I get off to a horrible start losing over half my stack in about 10 mins. First I made a bad call preflop with A10 and folded to a rag flop. Then I went with a read after calling a raise with 55 then getting reraised all in. He had alittle less then half my stack and I felt they were splitting high cards. He had AJ and flopped a J and suddenly I was the short stack (the other guy said later he folded A3 oh well.) Then after a failed bluff attempt I was left with just 8k with blinds at 400 800 and 5 people left. I doubled with QQ vs A9 then doubled again big to get back to 45k when I get it all in with A9 on a 922 board against 44. After being chipped down to 25k I call a preflop raise with 77 and see a flop of 854. I bet 3100 and get raised to 12k. I had a bad feeling but he was the big stack and had been being a bully. I push and he snap calls with 1010. No 7 or 6 for me and I'm out in a disappointing 5th for 86 bucks. Good run overall but i really felt I could have taken it down. Ok that does it for me thanks for reading guys. Should have more reports coming.

Ok so I went to Vegas this week with a bunch of friends and we had an awesome time!! I'll do my best to provide a full recap but I'm sure there will be a couple things I forget. So we get in Saturday afternoon at around 3 o clock and spend most the afternoon exploring treasure island and the Ceaser's shops which were really cool. We had dinner at TI that night and it was great and then we spent the night doing more exploring and such so didn't do any gambling that night.

The next day I decide to continue the tradition that Chad and Platt had and went to Bally's to bet on some horses since I did well last time. Not much luck this time around I had 25 bucks I won in blackjack at Oshea's so I spent the money on this. Had 4 races where I wasn't really close then it looked like I had a score on the last race. I had 3 bucks on a 22 to 1 horse and it pulled out to a huge lead on the home stretch. No more then 10 yards from the end the horse practically pulled up!!! and ended up just short so that was a downer. Decided to go up and play some roulette. After coming up with like 4 or 5 different strategies in the past that sucked I decided to just put 3 bucks down on 10 numbers and 10 on a column of twelve and pray. Well sure enough, the ball lands on 23 (my gf's b-day) and I win 105 dollars! That made it alittle better.

Later on we go to the MGM Grand and me and my friend mikey decide to play some 1/2 holdem. I realized about 10 minutes in how bored I've become to live cash games after running 4 to 5 tables at once online. Anyways, I end up playing like 5 hands in one hour but got a huge score. Facing a raise to 10 and 2 callers, I look down at AA and raise it up to 40 leaving me about 35 left. I had KK earlier in the same spot and moved in, causing 2 folds, so I wanted to keep some people in this time. I get 2 callers, one from a new player who turned out to be loose/bad and another player who had burned through about 350 in 20 minutes. So the flop comes a harmless 834. I go all in and both call. The turn and river come 7 and 2 and I'm 99% sure I'm good. Sure enough I show AA and both players muck. I cash out at 260 up 180 from my original buy in.

From there we get dinner at my favorite place in Vegas, the Burger bar in Mandalay Bay. I get the amazing Hawaiian Chicken Sandwhich...delicious. That night we go clubbing and I gamble some more with moderate success. The next morning I play a 65 buck daily tournament at MGM Grand with 5 friends of mine, including my gf Kristal who I staked. As expected the structure is awful with 2k in chips and blinds starting at 25 50 going up every 20 minutes. So after an hour of play its all in or fold essentially. I double up on a weird hand with blinds at 100 200 I pick up 22 in 2nd position I raise to 600 and get a call in the BB. The flop comes 975 and he checks to me. I bet 1000, leaving 1350 behind, thinking he has high cards. He takes about 15 seconds and calls. The turn brings a 6, meaning a 9765 board. He checks and I go all in, thinking I'm bluffing. He thinks for about 1 minute or so, and I'm guessing he's pondering a call with A7 or A6 or something. He calls, and he shows....AQ?!?! I hold and get up to 5.5k.

On a side note, the best moment of the trip happened during this tournament. At Kristal's table, there is the BIGGEST TOOL I have ever seen. Bare in mind this is a 65 DOLLAR DAILY TOURNAMENT. This guy is wearing a WSOP hat, Oakley shades, and boom box head phones....at a daily tournament. My dream is for kristal to knock him out , and sure enough I look over to see him standing up and her collecting alot of chips. As it turns out, it was a pretty sick suck out (all in on flop of 977 he had 97 she had Q7 Q on river) but he had it coming. Such a tool lol. Anyways, I end up lasting the longest, but finished a table short of the money, having to push all in for 3800 with 400 800 blinds with J10 of spades. I get called by AQ of diamonds..flop comes J53 with 2 diamonds, and the turn brings the K of diamonds, and I'm drawing dead. Oh well.

So from there I gamble some roulette and my system wins again, as I win 100 dollars when it hits 12 (thanks Chad!). After that we get dinner at a nice japanese restaurant at MGM. Then Kristal and I go to Mystere at TI, fantastic show, 9.5 out of 10 and the best show I've seen of the kind. That night we mostly chill since people were tired I actually end up losing a couple hundo playing blackjack and roulette. So overall I actually end up breaking even on gambling so much better then I have done in the past. Aight so ends the epic that is this post. Probably giving an update this coming Sunday as my gf leaves for Hong Kong for the semester :( so I'll have some time to run some online multis. Thanks for reading .

Man alot can change in 24 hours. Just Tuesday night I had one of my best days in a long time got my roll back up into 4 figures was on fire...so much so I decided to make this blog lol. Then the next day tragedy(maybe too strong a word lol) strikes. Full Tilt Poker discontinues the cash pickup withdrawal method for cashing out money. This is such a downer becasue it was the best, most convinent, fastest, most dependable, and most importantly ONLY option full tilt had to withdraw money. With their checks bouncing and their bank transfer(an echecks) on temporary delay, it appears as though right now there is no way for me to get my money out. As a result I have temporarily(won't last long trust me) lost my desire to play online poker. I don't see the point in risking moeny right now if I can't recieve the rewards its a lose lose situation. God this whole government cracking down on online poker thing is really starting to get to me. Oh well gues that means mroe live stuff for me. Vegas this weekend so that'll cheer me up. Will keep you guys updated on any new cashing out options as they come. Thanks for reading.

tayke2.

Sup guys this is Kevin Taylor I'm a senior broadcast journalism major at USC. I've decided to create a poker blog as it is one of my current passions in life. I'm 21 years old and have been playing poker since 2003, after Moneymaker won the WSOP. My screen name on FTP is tayke2, where I play a majority of my poker. I have probably won about 18 to 20 thousand dollars playing online poker, though I have (only) cashed out about 12k into my hand. The main purpose of this blog is to keep a few good friends of mine update on poker since they will be working soon enough, so I'm hoping this will keep their fire lit. So a few brief highlights in my poker career. I have 6 four figure paydays in tournament play with my biggest cash being $2640. The biggest highlight of my career so far was cashing in the FTOPS main event, finishing 186th for 1400 dollars. While it was not my biggest cash, it was my biggest buy in, and was against the toughest in the poker world, including Phil Ivey amongst others. I've had limited live play so far but have enjoyed decent sucess. In just 4 live tournaments at the Bicycle casino, I've cashed twice with one final table finish. This upcoming semester, I'm hoping to play alot more live events and will keep those updated as they come. Today was one of my best days in a while, winning around 1100 dollars, which was needed after losing over half of my bankroll in the past week or so. Well I'll do my best to keep this as updated as possible. I'm going to Vegas this weekend so hopefully I'll have some good stories. Thanks for reading guys!

tayke2.