Live Update

Originally Posted by Jimmy Sommerfeld
Choctaw Casino
Spring $50k Series

No Limit Holdem
$300 + $45

12-May-11
12:00 PM

Players - 371 Prize Pool - $107,961
Directed by Poker Tournament Consultants
Place Name Hometown Prize
1 John Reynolds Tulsa, OK $15,188
2 Kenneth Piel Robinsonvl, MS $13,188
3 Mohammad Abedi-arani Dallas, TX $13,054
4 Ryan Bates Newcastle, OK $11,727
5 Shaun Jones Irving, TX $10,839
6 Drew Dumanski Richardson, TX $10,710
7 Isaac Do Irving, TX $7,745
8 Christopher Champeaux Fayetteville, AK $6,643
9 Kasra Khodayarkhani Plano, Tx $6,050
10 Andrew Hansen Dallas, TX $3,530
11 Omar Nawim Helotes, TX $1,130
12 Keith Budner Dallas, TX $1,130
13 Robert Layne Dallas, TX $1,130
14 Charles Hundt Austin, TX $930
15 Matthew Lawrence Tulsa, OK $930
16 Samuel Lee Mannford OK $930
17 Michael Bollinger Halstead, KS $777
18 Gregory Hyman Farmers Branch, TX $777
19 Grant Holmes Pilot Point, TX $777
20 Jody Rummel Frisco, TX $777

 A very well run event in Durant, OK by Jimmy Sommerfield. Five percent of the field from three day ones played SUnday for the money. Thursday five qualified, Friday 6 qualified and Saturday 9 qualified and we started with twenty people on three tables Sunday. We played down to ten and then did a chip chop when I was tied for the chip lead and played for 5, 3, 2 by taking 1k back from all ten players. I then got third and ended up with the most money. It was a good event and well run.

Going back this weekend for a 75k gtd event that is run the same way, gl to all.

Thursday 5-6

Sorry I haven't been blogging about my live play I haven't decided if I want to or not. I have been doing really well and am happy with my play and my hourly figures. Action has been decent and seems to be picking up. The Mid-South Poker Classic started today at the Hard Rock and I will be playing a $340 MTT tomorrow. Tonight there was a Jack and Jill but I chose to play 2-5 no limit instead and did very well. There was a really good player at the table amping up the action and I ended up making the correct play against him a couple times but he played very well.
I have been working on my live cash play but have not been playing many local MTTs leaving me fairly excited to go sling some chips around tomorrow. We have ten days of MTTS here and then I will be heading to Durant for their series and then Downstream is having the four states poker championship or something and I will go up there some too. Should be a busy May all in all and then I'll be heading to Vegas in June. I hope everyone is doing okay and making things work since Black Friday. I am sure like me several of y'all were not happy to see the bankruptcy for one of the AP/UB companies but hopefully they will pay us eventually. Meanwhile a big thank you to PokerStars for paying us so quickly and hopefully Full Tilt will soon as well.

Hold your head up and always remember today is the first day of the rest of your life. GOOD LUCK

Monday, Update liveaments

Poker on the live side of the world is still poker just slower and for the most part softer. When playing good and winning the fact that the game is slow isn't the biggest problem ever, but if a guy is losing and not playing optimally the fact a game is slow and can be quite frustrating. I was good winner in a PLO game saturday night and lost a huge pot and then began gambling a bit to much and lost. Sunday night I went to the casino and we got a round of each game going and had a few tourists in the game which kept things interesting but two big hero calls where I was right but wrong kept me loser. One time I had sixes and he had sevens with three over-cards and the other was about the same. Luckily I put twenty in a draw poker machine and hit four aces with a deuce for five hundred on a trip to the bathroom which kept me around even and then when it got late and I felt I was about to start gambling I picked up and went to blackjack and won a few hundred instead of spewing any at the table. All in all I am not happy with my spew Saturday night or the fact I played blackjack sunday but they are both rare occurrences. I knew I was spewing Saturday but kept on anyway and chose a different path Sunday although I don't know if playing blackjack is any improvement. While reflecting back on those two days I just laugh and learn from my mistakes.
Tonight I went to the casino after a text tells me they have a 2/5 game going and I win fifteen hundred in and hour and a half and busted two guys the last hand to break the game. I get into a four way pot for 15 pre-flop with 6h9h and the flop came 5s7cQs and its checked around with me being last to act. Turn is a 8c for 5s7cQs8c board giving me the nuts but leaving two flush draws possible. First guy leads 30 and gets called in two spots then I make it 115. First to act folds, next guy shoves for 300+ and the next guy goes in the tank. After a couple minutes the guy goes all-in for 400+ and then I call with the nuts and the river is a 4h. Guy with 300+ had 4c6c for a straight and a club flush draw and the guy with 400+ had Qc5c for two pair and a club flush draw. The first to act guy said he folded KK and played it poorly. All I know is the miracle 8c on the turn to give me the nuts followed by the blank on the river was pretty magical and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Mostly live poker is going pretty good and I am enjoying all the socializing after spending a year and a few months staring at a monitor. I hope most of you are also able to get out and play some live or are taking advantage of the small fields on carbon. Good luck to all of you.

Thanks for reading please leave a comment.

Happy Easter, Live Update

I am still doing decent playing live and handling the fact that I am one-tabling and not seeing very many hands pretty well. I have been doing good at NL and am even in two sessions of PLO. Unfortunately I won pretty good the first night of PLO and was up decent the second night but ended the night not playing very well after losing a big pot. I do know what I was doing wrong and why and will try to refrain from repeating those actions. I have been playing long enough to understand poker is a game of expectation and when you have a positive hourly rate just putting in the time is important. I do not think that the fact I kept playing after being ahead is why I lost, instead the reason I lost was because I changed the way I was playing after I lost a huge pot and started gambling to much. The game was still decent and there was money to be won, I just should have left as soon I stopped playing my best. I almost did leave a couple times and was aware that I was playing different but did not act accordingly. What I do know is that reflecting back on my mistakes and being honest with myself will help me avoid similar mistakes in the future and help me grow as a poker player.
Overall I am comfortable at every table I have played at and feel very good about my poker game. I do know I still have a lot to learn and plan on taking the steps needed to keep improving because poker is what I love to do and will be doing for a long time.
I am still anxiously awaiting news from Poker Stars and Full Tilt about when they will be able to process our withdrawals and am hopeful AP makes a deal with the D.O.J. to pay us as well.

Thanks for reading please leave a comment.

GL TO ALL

Thursday 4-21

I have been playing live everyday locally and doing pretty well. And as I always knew live is softer in general but takes more patience to put in the long one-tabling sessions to grind enough to have a decent hourly wage. And in a lot of poker communities 1/2 no limit is the most common game so you just have to grind. Luckily here in Tulsa, OK we get 2/5 no limit and 1/2 and 2/5 pot limit fairly often as well as a weekly game of 10/20 omaha hi/lo limit with a kill. The action is decent for not being a major gambling spot.
I was actually playing live a lot and doing fairly well before I started my mission to beat online poker in March 2010. It was an awesome journey of improvement and grinding. I am so glad I put in that time and went from thinking I was better than I was to understanding the game more and having a good idea of how I play after putting in the time to improve. By no means do I think I have it all figured out I am just on a better track and understand more about the game.  I am actually ready for this challenge of returning back to live and have been trying to tune up my cash game play with thoughts of playing some tournament series' soon.

I am glad Stars and Full Tilt made a deal to pay us our money and am equally happy that AP has started negotiations to do the same but we all are still waiting till they actually have a way to get us that money. Never the less it seems that all the sites and the D.O.J. have it as a priority to get us our money so I hope it happens soon.

Best of luck to everyone and hold your head up.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

Monday 4-18

WOW! Crazy what has happened over the last few days. I got mildly lucky in a way, I have almost all my money online and for reasons unknown decided to play some live poker for the first time in over a year and played four days in a row and won 3k before the news hit Friday or I would be broke with all my funds tied up. All the sites are saying our funds are safe and they are waiting for word that they can pay us out or what not but it really all sucks.

I suppose most of us will be playing live if there is casinos near and not sure what the others will do. Luckily for me I have lots of live experience and should be able to make money. There is no telling how long this could take until we know something so best of luck to everyone.

I doubt I will be blogging daily but will still be blogging, gl all.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Took all three days off of online poker and played live instead. It wasn't something I had planned, it just happened. I hadn't really played live in about a year and a half ever since I started my mission to get winner online in March 2010. I decided Sunday I would probably take a few days off this week and Monday evening after I decided I was not playing that day I chose to go to he casino to see a friend that was playing in a tournament. He had already busted out and left so I played some 1/2. The live competition isn't always the toughest around here and I won 650 without losing a hand and enjoyed the socializing. Then Tuesday I decided to go again and had another winning session and another good time.
Yesterday I woke up and thought about playing online but decided to go to the casino again because the change of pace was fun. I played a fourteen hour session that started with a few hours of 1/2, then a 2/5 table opened up so I moved over. I stayed winner all night and then the game got three handed and we changed it to 5/10 and I played another few hours due to a very soft opponent that kept rebuying and helped me to a profit of over 100 an hour. All total I am up almost 3k in 3 days and have enjoyed it. Now all though I have been having fun i will not be thinking about going back to the live grind. It's softer with less variance but slow and not as much potential to get where I want. I may try to add a few days a month into my schedule to help stop me from being a workaholic because I grind a lot and the change of pace and interaction with people I know is fun.


Now its time to get some rest, good luck to all the grinders and GL ME. See you on the virtual felt soon.