Post number 420. Get out the One Hitter Quitter...(that's really good weed for all you non smokers...like...uh...me). Quick shout to Kevin and his birthday. You are fucking old...like a prune.

So I'm going to blog this for the sole intent on getting feedback from the Pooky clan. I voiced my opinions to Eecs, where he then proceeded to grill me on what exactly I was thinking. I ask you to read the whole way through without trying to come up with opinions before I'm done blogging. That way you won't form any type of biased opinions before I'm done. (I know I have just asked the impossible...does anyone read anything objectively anymore? I don't. Gwahaha.)

So I told Eecs, and I expressed this to Eecs since he is the one that got me studying the game of Poker from the basics to the subtle nuances that Eecs and I share when we both have a losing session at Bay 101, that I am getting a little burnt out on Hold 'em with my friends. I bet none of you were expecting that to come up. Without getting too complicated, I decided to create a list of why I'm getting burnt out on Hold'em, mainly tournaments...before I even go down the list, you will have to believe me that I honestly don't feel this way because I've been knocked out of the tournaments lately. I know that is part of the game. I usually get my money in with the best of it or when I feel a bluff will work so when I lose I know that I did what I could with the cards that were dealt. You can go ahead and say this blog is part of me expressing opinions while I am on a getting knocked out streak, but quite honestly I think I handle tilt and losing better than most. On with the list.

- The first and foremost thing I want to express is that I realize that tournaments are NOT about the money. For some of you it might be. Quite frankly the buy in of five dollars or even the big 10 dollars is nothing compared to what I lose at a cardroom or online. My biggest loss and probably my last tilt session...was about 600 bucks...okay 725. (That happened about 2 years ago maybe…) I was just trying to save some face. Some HOT face. Inside joke. So needless I've come up huge at cardrooms also so the money in these games do not phase me. Keep that in mind while we go down this list.

- I miss the mix up of games. I'm not saying we need to play Screw thy Neighbor over and over again...or crazy 8 Ball or any other game that we used to play. Shit, I'd give anything to play Tails...and when Brian brought that to the table I wanted to puke. Haha! Why can't we try to 7CardHiLo8OB. Why can't we try five card draw with the jokers (just like they play in actual cardrooms)? You can go ahead and come up with some argument for this...but I present this and I think Eecs and my dad (who wanted to start hold em all night games before me) can vouche for me on this one...look at how long it took us to introduce Hold'em as a regular game. When the idea first came into play I can name off people that were NOT excited about the idea. I remember hearing, "Hold'em? For every round?" Now we can't even get away from it. If you were able to give Hold'em a chance why not something else? If anything, playing different games will help you as a card player. You might not believe it will help your Hold'em game...but it will. Who knows? Perhaps we will start playing 7-Stud and become confident at the cardrooms...then if the table is looking better than Hold'em, we can actually sit down and win!

- This one is going to be hard to argue because I stated above it is not about the money. Yet I'm just going to say it. I honestly enjoy Hold'em a lot more testing my skills against unknowns or people that live at cardrooms. Why? I've invested so much money and more importantly time in learning the game...and I have so much more to learn...but I like to see how I stack up against people that play all the time...like we all know...most of the FOBS at Garden do. Haha. In this case it might seem like the money is important...but you gotta believe me that I feel a lot better outplaying someone...the pot is just a nice side bonus. You might say...well why do you judge how well you are playing on how much you win? Well in all honestly that is somewhat true, but the bigger picture is that you will have losing sessions...and you will have sessions where the cards play themselves...but if I lose money one night I don't judge myself harshly unless I know I played bad. When I come up 3-400 bucks...I don't say I'm a kick ass player. I just take it all in stride...I know I'm up in the long run...I can't tell you exactly how much (which Eecs will tell me I should keep better records), but I know its significant. So I consider myself a winning player with a lot to learn.

- Since most the games take place at my house...I feel like I am the host of the game. As any good host should do, you should make sure your company is having a good time. We all know this. When I go to Bryant's house he asks me right from the get go whether I want something to drink or perhaps Candy Cane Ice Cream. When I got Eecs I get freshly baked brownies and mochi. As a host I feel that I need to let everyone have a good time. How does this relate to cards? Well with tournaments people get knocked out. When I get knocked out I'm obviously going to be bored, but no where near angry. I mean I can go paint Audrey instead...either way it is my house and I can find something to do while the tournament winds down. However, if one of you get knocked out then you leave the table. When you leave the table the table itself starts to get less fun for me. Lemme explain. Since it is not about the money, I pay the buy in for entertainment. Yesterday we had a kick ass game. Even Derek came and made an appearance...and he was sick. The table was funny yesterday...the cards were falling funny...everything was going awesome...until people started getting knocked out. You can go ahead and argue this...but I can remember Bryant getting knocked out and going home...I can remember Tony getting knocked out on some crazy draws and he leaves our table. As a host I feel bad that people get knocked out of the fun. You might say for example, Tony and John had a great time playing DDR when they got knocked out…okay that might be true…but they didn’t come over to play DDR, they came over to play Poker.

- It seems to me that a lot of you are striving to be better at the cardrooms. I have heard Steve say that he wants to get better so he can sit at the table for awhile and come up. I have heard that Bryant feels he is getting better at being more patient. That is all good and great, but the bottom line is that playing other card games and also playing limit holdem is a better way to practice than tournaments. Tournaments are good for practicing tournament situations. Look, in all honesty, I know where I come from. I know I am an online player (but Eecs and I both started before the rush really hit poker) and I know I am an online trained player. You gotta believe me when I say that online is a different game than the cardroom. Some people like Eecs are very good at adjusting their online game and in person game. However, it took me some losing sessions to finally realize that the strategy in online games is a bit different than live games. I can't explain how or why. It is just a different texture. If you want to get better in the cardrooms without playing against strangers for bigger amounts than you want to lose...you should play in home games with limit betting patterns. You can learn to adjust to the player by the way he looks and acts...you can practice reading people...all these things you cannot do as effectively online. I feel I kind of lost my point here...bottom line: Tournaments (in my opinion and by my experience) will only help you mostly in tournament situations. You cannot play the same game in limit games than no limit...and if we play nothing but tournaments...I feel that some of you might blur the lines between smart limit play and smart tournament play...and you could possibly pay one hundred dollars in a cardroom for it....rather than 5 bucks at my house.

- On the other side of the coin...as the host I feel stupid for never really bringing this up in the first place. I might have dropped hints here and there, but nothing really pointed out. If everyone is happy playing tournaments...then so be it. You might think this post is me hating tournaments. As far as I'm concerned I have won my share of these tournaments. I don't feel I need to prove anything. I've come in very high in online tournaments and will hopefully soon step into the live game tournaments. This post is not about me hating tournaments at my house...that is not the case. I love tournaments. I love the thrill of the tournament. If you think I don't like tournaments just because I have been getting knocked out...well that is you shitting on me as a cardplayer. Lemme say it again...I love tournaments. More specifically I love how our tournaments start out...I hate how they end. Also I don't feel that I am a WAY better player than all of you so don't take this post as me talking down to you. I just want to make sure that everyone is cool with being knocked out early...if they are then I won't feel so guilty when they do. All the other rambling is just some of my observations and some points you might want to consider next time we decide to play no-limit or limit games...for "fun".

Eecs said something along the lines of (and I don't EVER want to put words into his mouth...just my cock sometimes when he acts out of line) "I don't want to assume too much...but I bet you don't feel this way when you are going heads up for the championsihp." I replied along the lines of..."yeah I still feel for those that got knocked out." This suprised Eecs. What I didn't tell him was that I not only feel for those that got knocked out...but I feel the seriousness of the game that wasn't there when the game started...I feel myself taking the game too seriously when its down to me and one other player...how can I not play too seriously...after all...everyone already got up and left the house.