MAHOLLA For Your Kokua

 

It’s been about a week since I last updated my blog. As such I will take this time to give you (the general  public) a quick up-date of what I have been doing.

I decided to only play a couple of days last week. Obviously I played Thursday 4/17 when I won the $11 1r1a, I also played a couple of tourneys in the mornings on  4/19, 4/20 4/21, 4/23 with no real success.

 

Moving on to life outside of poker.. 

As some of you may know, I have a beautiful and stunning girlfriend of 2.5 years, whom I’ve lived with for the past 2+ years, all  of which has been an amazingly great time filled with fun, love, and excitement…

 

 She Gives Me Presents, With Her Presence Alone.

 

My girlfriend is a water woman, she loves the ocean and all sea life with an undying passion for knowledge and protection.

Every morning she loves to go on walks on Waikiki beach, past the zoo, but just before the aquarium (at the gay beach) there is a pier where a plethora of fish congregate to feed on bread crumbs being tossed in by older tourists trying to catch a glimpse of the colorful native fish such as the humuhumunuknuku’apua’a.  This past week was no different, each morning we took out hour long walk, greeted our fish friends then we started our day. This past weekend was filled with AWESOME, fun, and event-filled days outside of poker.

 

Saturday after our ritualistic walk we were mutually  pleased to discover that there was a high surf advisory in effect for all south facing shores in Hawaii (Waikiki is a south facing shore) with waves reaching on average of 8 feet but up to 12. SICK. We quickly got our body boards and flippers and headed out for some sick wave riding.

 

If It Swells, Ride It!

 

We spent upwards of 3 hours at Kuhio beach in Waikiki paddling out several hundred yards only to be speedily returned to shore by giant, glistening, transparent blue  waves that would engulf my board and body only to spit me back out at heart-pounding speeds only to get to shore to restart the paddling cycle. WHAT A RUSH.

 

Saturday night we walked over to Kapiolani park to catch the sounds of Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson who were performing at the Waikiki Shell.

 

Sunday, 4/20, Earth Day. I awoke to play some satellites to the Sunday Million as well as the $11 $100k aka the Pokerstars lottery, which boasted a field sise of 22.5k entrants and a prize pool of 225k. I won 1 seat to the SM out of 6 attempts (yes I lost money on that endeavour) however all was not lost as I cruised through 22.4k people to take 100th in the $100k for $225, soooo disappointing as this is the second time I’ve outlasted 20k+ people in this tournament to take top 100 and both times I was the best player remaining in the field hands down. Ah well I played great, I’ll get em next time.

 

Fast Forward to Sunday Afternoon.

 

The Jack Johnson and Dave Matthews Concert (Kokua Festival) had been sold out since 2 hours after the tickets went on sale 4 months ago. Being the self-indulgent person that I am, more importanlty being that I’m MADLY in love with my girlfriend and knowing how happy it would make her to go. I got on Craigslist and found someone selling a pair of general admission tickets for double face value. FUCK IT I’ll take em I said. I quickly scooped up the 2 tickets for $150 and headed to the shell to check out a sick show. God damn was it ever a sick show. To anyone who missed it, man did you miss out. A sellout Hawaiian crowd rocking out to Local boy and hero Jack Johnson with music icon Dave Matthews. It was special to say the least, well worth the $150.

 

When You Rise Again, I Will Have Become The Sun.

 

MAHOLLA

 

ALOHOLLA, Got That Monkey Off My Back…. Ship The $11 1r1a

yesterday I decided to skip my night class because we are coming down to the end of the school year and the only thing remaining to do in that class is a 30 page professional paper thats due in 2 weeks, so I decided it was unncessary to go. Instead I fired up 2 MTTs (a 7.7 plhe 360 manx and the nightly $11 1rebuy 1 add on) and several turbo 45man and 180 man sngs. I made several deep runs in the turbo sngs taking a 10th in a 180 man, + a 3rd and 4th in the 45 man. 

After busting out of the plho tourney and finishing up with my session of SnGs I found myslef with a top 5 stack as the money bubble burst in the 1r1a so I decided not to start up any more MTTs or SnGs. instead I would give this tourney my full concentration and ship it. which is exactly what I did. I made a rail call post on www.doworkpoker.com/forum when I was 5/54 calling for the win: http://www.doworkpoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=174 sfobv i call my shots w/ 100% accuracy. I’m a BEAST.  I felt like I played GREAT made some fantastic reads, owned some people. made some sick plays. anyways I’ve posted the Hand History to PokerXFactor replayer if anyone would like to take a look. however it does require a registerd username which is free so sign up to take advantage and watch this HH.

http://www.pokerxfactor.com/HA126572/11%201r1a%20win%20on%204%2017/10528

 

MAHOLLA

ALOHOLLA- DEEP RUN BLUES

 

I took the day off on Tuesday to clear my head and give myself time to concentrate on school. Obviously I didn’t neglect poker entirely I 2 hours in the morning dedicated to improving my short stack play, specifically with 5-15BBs  as I feel like this is my weakest part of my game. I watched several PXF videos on this topic and did some self-assessments of my own past HHs. I felt like I learned a lot and could use this improved knowledge to help my game in these spots.

 

Fast-forward to Yesterday, in the morning I woke up made breakfast, went to 24 hour fitness spent 15 minutes on the bike, 30 minutes lifting, and an hour playing basketball. I shot around for 20 minutes then played 2 games of 3-on-3 to 15pts. after that I showered up and got myself ready to play.

 

I played the $11 20k, $11 1r1a, the $109 25k on Pokerstars as well as the $75 35k on FTP. I made it to the second hour in all of the tournaments before getting coolered in the 20k, 1r1a and suffering a AK loss to AQ in the 35k. As for the 25k I played great imo. I rocked the shortstack with extreme confidence and effectiveness. After losing AK to AA for half 2/3 stack in the 1st hour I managed to come back to a respectable stack size but still short all the way through the third hour. At which point I tripled up with AA then chipped up very nicely without a showdown catapulting myself into a top 3 stack with 50 remaining. At which point I went absolutely card dead and my 45bb stack dissipated into a 10bb stack approaching the final 2 tables. ( I didn’t just blind down I lost a 20k pot bvb w/ A7 vs 8T on a 228A8 board, when I paid off a 2/3ps river bet and also lost a 20k pot aipf when I shoved the bb who had 8bbs w/ TJs and he snapped w/ K3. also I blinded down a bit ) with 16 players remaining, I’m in the sb w/ 9ish BBs and I look down at QQ. It gets folded around to the button who raises to 3x and I instantly reship my stack in his face, the BB shoves over the top an additional 8bbs and the button snap calls. The button holds KK, the BB holds 99 and my QQ is DOMINATED. The flop hits the BB right in the face as his 9 instantly falls, neither myself nor the button catch up and the BB triples up on a HUGE suckout.  GG me. What an unavoidable cooler which seems to be the trend for me recently.

 

 I’ve managed to make the Final 2 tables like 15 times in the past 2 months and every time I get coolered or unlucky and can’t muster anything better then an 8th place finish in any tournament of value. I mean I did get a 3rd place in an $11 10 min levels for like $1600 but that wasn’t significant at all as the buy in dictates. I just want to breakthrough that hump in the $100 buy ins. I have an 2 6th place finishes, an 8th and COUNTLESS 10-18th place finishes. It’s starting to get very frustrating. I’m breaking the drought this week, believe that! MAHOLLA!

 

On a similar positive note my boy Moh, aka Chicagocards1, aka sms9231 took down that same $109 25k on pokerstars that I took 16th in for nearly 12k. He’s also made deep runs in the 65k and 22r in the past 3 days. Needless to say it was well deserved and long overdue congrats Moh you’re a fucking BEAST keep up the good work man. On a side note, pocketfives.com needs to RANK CHICAGOCARDS1 already.

 

MAHOLLA

ALOHOLLA- Day Off

so I took yesterday off from poker to give myself some much needed time to relax and have fun via physical activity. I woke up at around 9:30 and immediately went to the pool with my girlfriend and swam laps for 15 minutes then laid out for another 15 before going inside and making breakfast. after breakfast I went to the Ala Wai golf course and walked the back 9. I was paired  with a group of 3 older asian people. for the record I am HORRIBLE at golf but I thoroughly enjoy being out on the course in such a serene and peaceful environment while challenging no one but yourself, no to mention it’s a nice little workout when you walk the course. After the 4 hour round of golf I went home devoured some pasta and smoothie before heading out to 24 hour fitness on Kapiolani where I worked out for an hour then shot around for a half an hour before playing a 5 on 5 pick up basketball game.

As some of you may know I used to play college basketball at HPU before multiple knee surgeries ended my career. since thenm I have been a lathargic and lacadaisical slug and have become WAYYY out of shape in the last 2-3 years. as such I have recently decided to get back into “game shape”– being able to play 3 consecutive full court basketball games to 15 without feeling too winded or cramping up.  the first time I played was about a month ago in which after 4 points I was winded and cramping up and lagging back on defense, I was quite embarrased. yesterday I was able to make it a full game, jogging back on both ends of the court, playing D and actually being semi-effective. It was a VAST improvement and I honestly am feeling good about my progress.

after basketball I showered up, caught the end of the NCAA championship game and a crazy memorable finish. wow what a finish. then headed to my IS 6000 night class for 3 hours of good times. when I got to class I was surprised to find out we had an exam which I was unaware of and unprepared for. however I am a BEAST and I CRUSH tests so it was not a problem as the test was on quantitative research and answers could be found via deductive reasoning, basic logic, and knowlege of basic statistics. I’m expecting an A when I get it back. after class I came home w/ my beautiful girlfriend and smoked a night ending J before watchng TV for a while.

overall yesterday was a GREAT day and  a much needed time away from poker.

today I have classes with a 3 hour break in which I’m gonna teach my friend Enis how to dominate and crush MTT turbo sngs on pokerstars. I’ll be back later with updates.

 

MAHOLLA

 

Aloholla- New Setup

So after returning to the HI state on Monday I was inspired by Chicagocards1 setup and decided it was time to upgrade to an additional 22″ monitor to have a dual display extended across 2 screens. so I went to wal-mart and picked up a 22″ widescreen monitor for $300.

I took some pictures and will post them here of my ‘office’ setup and view, i’m sure u’ll all be jealous.

What you guys think? post some comments and lemme know.

ALOHOLLA–Today I have Finally decided to open up my own blog!!

After 2 weeks or so of “piggy-backing” on Chicagocards1′s blog @ blog.rankchicagcards.com I have finally decided to secede and create my own blog here at bigdshaggyj.wordpress.com be sure and bookmark this page, add it to your favorites and check back frequently, as I’m sure you’ll enjoy what I have to say. I’m going to use this blog to talk about poker, keep people posted on my performance, analyze hands. give everyone a little insight as to what it’s like to be a 22 year old full time graduate stdent living in Hawaii while still putting up a decent volume online. what variables influence my decisions to play, party, and/or do school work. what I do for fun and overall just how i’m livin. I’m going to make my first post a repeat post from chicagocards blog just because I can’t get over how ‘baller’ my shit is.

MAHOLLA