Well, as every year, there have many unexpected up's and downs. This year also continued my track record, each year, of accomplishing something big or making another big step in my life. This year was moving into a big, new, house. The year before was my son being born and renting out the condo we bought a few years back,  and before that was celebrating a World Series of Poker, Main Event cash, and buying a new Corvette. The list seems to go back each year since graduating High School. 

2010 feels like the 1st year I expect to have all my endeavors in order and our home is mostly set. This is the first time I feel excited to start the year looking to get in better physical shape and have already been consistently doing mild daily exercises. I have also just started working again on doing homework on the hands I play. (BTW. If anyone knows a good hand replayer for Cake poker that plays out an entire session instead of 1 hand at a time, I would be happy to hear) I have been waiting for another break-out poker year and with all my ducks seemingly in a row, I hope to maximize my performance.

You can email me at Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com
Please see instructions below on signing up for our 33% rakeback deal on Cake Poker. Please make sure to use our SIGNUP code "FRAZ" (All Caps)

Looking to do some online shopping and want to save some money? This site has great deals on many major retailers like Target, Starbucks, Costco, etc.. You can even make some money if your friends sign on and buy stuff. Here is the link to check it out. Like I said it costs you nothing to signup and check out the deals and hopefully signup: my.blastoffnetwork.com/Donkeyherder/

I haven't been able to post much lately ever since Cake Poker started offering 6 handed "Double-Up" tournaments, which fill much better than the standard 10 handed and have been filling up to $300+12 on the regular especially in the evenings, which is perfect for me. Needless to say I stopped playing big tournaments last month and have been playing these like crazy, 5-7 games at a time, putting up my biggest month in total $ gambled and raked (I think around $60,000 in tournaments)!! I started off destroying them and have since had to make some adjustments, but the Cake Poker has such a good rakeback deal at 33% back, regardless of profit I can make over $1,000 a month only playing 2-3 hours per day. That being said, I've pretty much obsessed myself with these "Sit-and-go's" and haven't updated my blog or anything else in a while.

Today is the coldest it has been in a long time here in southern California. Are you ready......49 degrees!!! That's practically freezing here and all sorts of idiots are driving like morons in the rain, crashing all over the place. I practically never get sick and a couple weeks ago my wife, who gets sick all of the time (elementary school teacher) gave me something nasty and I'm still trying to shake it. I haven't taken off any work, as I never do, but I might make arrangements before the next big holiday push at my work.

A couple weeks ago I used up most of my Cake Poker "Gold Chips" to buy a stationary bike in their rewards store. I've had a personal goal to keep my weight from exceeding 200lbs. At 6 ft.+ I'm not much out of shape, and I do alot of walking at my job, but far from the athlete I was while in school. The consequence to playing alot of poker and having a kid now, I rarely take the time anymore to go surfing, golf, or play basketball like I used to. So I have very slowly been changing my routine. Like most people, I hope the equipment will help, however, I was never big into bike or treadmills so I'm not holding my breath.

I recently celebrated my buddy "Dawgonu"'s birthday which was alot of fun. We all bought wigs and went to a small concert venue in San Juan Cap. to see "Dread Zepplin" which was pretty good. The lead singer is dressed up like an old school chunky Elvis impersonator and sings Led Zepplin (and other songs) belting it out pretty solid as the king himself. Good time had by all. Happy B-Day buddy!!

If anyone follows MMA or UFC fighting, it's been a pretty good couple months. I love watching boxing, but MMA is so action packed and you can watch so many good fights in so little time, I find that's all I watch now. Fedor finally had a good fight on primetime TV in which he looked in trouble but calm and cool as ever, came back against Brett Rogers and knocked him out. The TUF heavyweight (featuring Kimbo Slice) finale was this week and much of the show was a bit boring and played up, but I have actually always liked Kimbo, who was totally over hyped not by his own doing, by Strikeforce before getting outted by a much lighter subpar fighter. I was worried once I heard he was fighting Houston Alexander, because that guy is a brutal attacker. Once in the ring, however, Kimbo looked way bigger than I thought, and Houston just ran around the ring trying to kick Kimbo in the knees and Kimbo actually looked pretty solid, including one of the best slams I have ever seen, slamming Houston on his head! In the end I think Kimbo got a little lucky after getting his legs kicked out, he looked pretty vulnerable, but ended up winning in a decision against a solid UFC fighter, which should silience some of his critics that he is more than just a backyard brawler and has no skills. I like humble underdogs, Go Kimbo!

Unfortunately it looks like most the top MMA fighters are hurt or have just fought, so it looks like it's gonna be a bit bland for a few months. On the boxing front, however, it has been pretty exciting watching Manny and the return of Mayweather leaving a wake of opponents leading to their superfight which should happen by mid-2010. I was also enjoying the "super-six" middleweight tourney, which looks to have an exciting finish if they can get all the fighters in the ring. My pick has been Arthur Abarham. I really looked forward to the Areola-Klitchko fight. It was too bad Areola got so beat up. He was the most exciting Heavyweight I've seen in a while and I hope it doesn't discourage him from coming back strong. Areola was a local kid (Riverside, CA) and I saw him in his up and coming fights at Pechanga Casino with my dad a couple years ago.

Again, anyone looking to get a great rakeback deal saving at least 33% on all the fees and rake you pay to play. Please give Cake Poker a shot if you haven't already. You must use our signup code to get a rakeback account though! Please contact us if you have any questions or interest in signing up. Cake poker is a great site with active table at all limits and alot of loose players.

To join our fast growing Cake Poker Crew!!

1. Download cakepoker.com - Click on the advertisement above or below, then download the Cake Poker Software.
2. Open a new "REAL MONEY ACCOUNT" (you don't have to deposit to do this at this time) using FRAZ (all caps) in the SIGN UP CODE box...you don't put anything in the promotional code box

For new players, you will get up to 110% of what you deposit, up to $600 on your first deposit as well...thats free money !!

I can also help you if you have any problems making any deposits if you send me an email and you wish to transfer money from another site. If you choose to join...shoot me an email to let me know you did and what your screen name is, so I can invite you to the free roll. For new players, I am always here to answer questions about the site or poker in general, so please ask.

You can email me at Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com
Please see instructions below on signing up for our 33% rakeback deal on Cake Poker. Please make sure to use our SIGNUP code "FRAZ" (All Caps)

My buddy recently turned me onto an easy opportunity to make some money for virtually doing nothing but referring a website to your friends, family, or anyone else who enjoys the advantages of buying stuff on the internet. It's basically a collection of big name retailer's who offer deals on all sorts of products called the "Blastoff Network" and you can buy things off their site at a discount and if you refer anyone else and they buy anything you get a % commission on anything they buy and of their referrals as well. I looked into it fairly closely and it isn't any kind of pyramid scheme. There is absolutely no obligation to buy or pay any money for anything!! In a nutshell Blastoff finds these major companies customers and say on a single transaction that company hypethetically makes $100 profit and they give "blastoff" say $30 for finding them this customer and "Blastoff" in turn splits this profit with you $15. Now, I believe all the numbers and percentages are different per transaction, but bottomline is alot of people are out of jobs or just looking for some extra cash and you can make money with nothing out of your pocket if you find sign up some people and they buy some stuff online from any of these major companies or they signup other people themselves.

Here is the link to check it out. Like I said it costs you nothing to signup and check out the deals and hopefully signup: my.blastoffnetwork.com/Donkeyherder/

With the holidays coming up alot of people are going to buying stuff online anyways, you might as well get some free money for signing them up!! On the "Blastoff" website they explain all the details and answer alot of questions. They also offer personalized websites for you when you sign up (Similar to setting up a "Facebook" account or blog site). I'm goin to try and add some signup links to my blogs and facebook, etc. Some people are getting crazy about this, making, and passing out flyers. Others are just signing up a few friends and family. I'll see how it plays out. Please pass along any ideas.


As far as my poker playing, I had a great run for a few months, but like I said before, if you ever have a great result be prepared for an immediate falloff. I'm sure there's some logic to it, but it seems like everything hits the fan fast after having a great run. For me, I had a great July and it followed with my 1st down month all year. I then had a couple more subpar months, I feel mostly due to distraction and vacations. I had a great time in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico last month and finally feel settled and re-energized to work on my game. I've noticed I've really fallen off the self assessment train and have been coasting on autopilot for many months. I have a tendency to coast if things are running well and lose focus on important details until it kicks me in the ass, but November's a new month and I've already started going to doing my homework and trying to plug some the holes in my game. My main falloff seems to be playing doubleups sng's (10 players, 5 get paid double on Cake Poker) I was killilng these games for months, cashing over 60% at the highest limits available, but I started adding more big multi table tourneys and got out of routine with the vacation and got a bit sloppy. I really enjoy playing the multi's and statistically had my best year ever with an averaging finish of 29/100, cashing 24% (with a profit), am in the top 20% - 43% of the time and in the top 6% - 14% of the time!! Despite all this would you believe I am still in the red for multi's on the year. Seems impossible, but I missed cashes on some big live and online $500-$2500 buyin tourneys which ate up all my profits. I've also managed to make 15 final tables out of 155 tourneys and have had numerous bad beats on final table and knocked out 2nd, 3rd, or 4th. I have yet to take a big 1st place cash in over a year. I cut back on playing these big tournaments since my son was born, but I feel I will win a big tournament very soon considering I'm getting deep in so many tournaments now.

There are still a few books I'm reading. I'm almost done with "Poker Wizards", by Warrick Dunnett. Very interesting and similar to the popular stock market series of "Market Wizard's" books on some the great stock traders and their strategies. I'm most of the way through Negreanu's big "Power Holdem Strategy" book, which I have some reservations with his strategies applied to online play, which is 95% of what I play, but still interesting, and I have Rizen, Apestyles, and Pearljammer's book (Can't remember title something like One hand at a time poker?) which is in my car.


Again, anyone looking to get a great rakeback deal saving at least 33% on all the fees and rake you pay to play. Please give Cake Poker a shot if you haven't already. You must use our signup code to get a rakeback account though! Please contact us if you have any questions or interest in signing up. Cake poker is a great site with active table at all limits and alot of loose players.

To join our fast growing Cake Poker Crew!!

1. Download cakepoker.com - Click on the advertisement above or below, then download the Cake Poker Software.
2. Open a new "REAL MONEY ACCOUNT" (you don't have to deposit to do this at this time) using FRAZ (all caps) in the SIGN UP CODE box...you don't put anything in the promotional code box

For new players, you will get up to 110% of what you deposit, up to $600 on your first deposit as well...thats free money !!

I can also help you if you have any problems making any deposits if you send me an email and you wish to transfer money from another site. If you choose to join...shoot me an email to let me know you did and what your screen name is, so I can invite you to the free roll. For new players, I am always here to answer questions about the site or poker in general, so please ask.

I spent alot of time looking for a way to replay hands on CakePoker and finally found something free and not posted for everyone else to see on some forum. You can just cut and paste hand histories from most sites. So far I have only been able to paste one hand at a time. Supposedly entire sessions can be posted, but I haven't figured it out. If anyone does please let me know how.

I will admit I had one great tournament last week. I dominated a $50 rebuy tournament as a huge chip leader down to heads up I had about a 2 to 1 lead and lost an allin pot both having top pair but my kicker was weak, then eventually I went card dead and fought back and forth for about 30-40 minutes until my opp limped with an A7 and I had 86 and the flop came A87 and I put him on a draw and came overtop his bet. Obv. he called and I didn't hit my outs, out 2nd place, $2,500. I was pretty bummed out after having such a huge lead the entire tournament and having it completely dissapear heads up because the blinds get so big that whoever catches a couple lucky hands can win. Either way I was pumped because I played pretty awesome 99% of the tournament and had some big tournaments coming up.
 
I can't wait till this month is over. I've been mixing in alot more multi table tournaments which can drive even the most seasoned pro, CRAZY!! I unfortunately have continued to be very successful winning satelites to big tournaments (ie WCOOP events on Pokerstars) and then getting deep in the big event only to be busted out with no money usually on some bad luck. This time I won a $500 entry into the $500 rebuy 1+1, which cost me an extra $1,000 in rebuys. My table was pretty mixed, but I had Pro Victor Ramdin on my left and Orel Hershiser across from me, along with a few other strong online players. I started off the event by doubling up with trips vs. AA and continued to pound away at my table and in the top 25 out of 1000+ players for a few hours. I eventually went card dead and sat back and waited for better hands when we got down to about 300 players,171 paid,  and an early position player limps along with 2 or 3 more and I had J10 suited, so I call. The flop come 5 10 10, and I was now a bit less than avg. stack. I can't remember how the hand played out, but and 8 hit the turn and the 1st ep limper raised me and I didn't feel like I could lay down trips. I uncomfortably called and he turns over 55, a flopped boat vs my flopped trips...sigh. I now wonder if I could have gotten away, but it would have been hard. I couldn't put him on 1010 or a higher kicker with a 10 from ep, so unless he had 55 or 88, I had everything else covered. Anyways, I also won a satelite to the 6 handed $1,000 limit tournament which played at the same time and had Humberto Brenes on my left and a few solid online players. Somehow I never got any traction and lost half my stack early, but managed to keep myself alive longer than the rebuy tourney. I eventually crippled Humberto before he was knocked out, but found myself on the virtual rail less than an hour later before the money I think about 120 out of 410. Net loss for the day of about $1,500 wiping out any gains for the whole month. Tis the life of a poker player.

I think I'll have a couple poker book reviews coming out soon. I've been reading Daniel Negreanu's big book on "small ball" stlye poker "Power Holdem Strategy".



It's been pretty interesting, but I'm not sure how much applicable to Online poker. I've noticed when I pull up alot of stats on most of the big name live tournament pros, their online tournament results haven't been all that good. There is also a fairly obvious difference in the way people play online vs. in a live tournament. I also started reading Mike Matusow's "Check-Raising The Devil", which is an autobiography of one of poker's most notorious stars (In case you didn't already know) and is a bit rough around the edges, but despite Daniel's interesting angle on how plays poker, suprise, I've found myself more interested in Matusow's crazy life.

Aside from poker, I'm still dealing with a condo thats value has tanked and have been renting it out this year and it has been a pain since the only renters we could find in this crappy market had big pitbull dogs which pissed off all the neighbors and now I've gotten a couple tickets from animal control and it looks like we're going to be losing money while looking for new renters again. If I could just sell it off and break even, I could probably quit my job and play as a full-time pro. Oh well, I'm very blessed otherwise and maybe we'll get some awesome tenants, so I hardly have reason to complain. I'm going to Cabo next month!! I still have 10 more days to get things together, we shall see what I can do.

I've been completely out of groove all month. Cake Poker opted to shut down all tournaments for a few days to fix some software issue, which is the first time since I started playing there for 2 years. Everything's fine now, but it forced me to go play on other sites which pay less rakeback and ended up playing a variety of games and tournaments leading to very inconsistent results. I also tried to take advantage of some free time to keep playing multi's and continued to get deep and busted before big money, which took some chunks out of my bankroll. Now it looks like I'm going to have to dig myself out of another hole again and grind out a bunch of sit n go's.

On a good note, I got everything booked to go to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!! It looks like a pretty fab resort. I'll try and include some pics.  It's still pretty warm, so hopefully the weather will hold up and we can dodge any other hurricanes or crazy religeous wackos who last week hijacked a plane in cancun, Mexico to warn the president about an impending earthquake??!! wtf.  You can also check on my buddy Dawgonu's poker blog/website: dawgonu.com .

Last month I had my best month in a long time, making multiple final tables. This month, I knew it would be hard to out due myself, but other than the actual money I made, I statistically played better than ever. I know it sounds like some sort of BS to make myself feel better, but I continued to cash deep into alot of multi-table tourneys and I absolutely killed the double-up sng's, cashing 68%!! My main downfall was finishing deep in alot of expensive multi's without any really big cashes. I had some vacation and other free time so I wanted to take advantage of the rare opportunity to play big tournaments. Luckily I made it back in sng's, but not by much, so it looks like it's going to be profitable by only my rakeback alone. I also played the most hours this month in a long time and have improved my abilities to play multiple games at a time. Previously I could only play 2-3 tables without screwing up or not paying attention, etc. This month I was running 3-6 games with little problems and expect to go back to a more grinding schedule in Sept.

There is one big caveat. I and my buddy Dawgonu were offered an opportuntiy to rent a week at someone's time share anywhere in the world for basically $800 or $400 split. So we're taking the girls and heading out to somewhere exotic!! It looks like our main expense will be the plane flight. We're thinking Hawaii since most of us haven't gone yet. Any suggestions?? We gotta book it fast, so it might throw off my plans somewhat.

Things are starting to fall together well at the new home. Everything is pretty well organized and we had a party for my sister who just moved to Arizona. After we get back I want to look into buying one of those big L shaped leather couches for my living room and maybe eventually get a LCD TV, which will be a nice compliment to when I finally get the cash to buy one of those real nice professional poker tables for my dining room some day.

It has been butt-sweatty hot the last couple weeks here for So. California standards around 90+ for many days. Too hot to take advantage of the beach or anything until after 7pm. I need to get back into some sort of an exercise routine. I'm not fat by any means, but nowhere near what I used to be and I feel more out of shape every month. My dad, who's in his late 50's just started running and now he's doing a marathon and practicing 15-20 miles a day!! That's so awesome and I'm so pathetic now. At 6' I used to be able to dunk a basketball and run a 5 minute mile and now I suuuucckk. Surfing has still been fun and I'm talking myself to get back onto the golf course, but it's really hard for me to try and pick things back up and suck when I used to be so good before. It's like coming out of retirement at 31 years old, lol. I guess I'm being a bit dramatic. I'll probably hit the driving range before I take off on vacation.

You can email me at Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com
Please see instructions below on signing up for our 33% rakeback deal on Cake Poker. Please make sure to use our SIGNUP code "FRAZ" (All Caps)


As I mentioned before, I started mixing some multi's back into my game each night and it has paid off well in $$$ but not much sleep. July ended as one of my best months ever in terms of consistent cashes. We also have signed up dozens of players to our rakeback deal on Cake Poker (See ad link above or below post, 33% rakeback). I did play 1 NL holdem event at the Bike in their "Legends of Poker" tournament series. There were 800 players and I made it to the 2nd day after the stopped play at almost 4am. Unfortunately, I was moved to a loose table the last hour and could not shove a single hand to maintain any kind of decent stack and had to come back the next day with a supershort stack and being put in front of the blinds, forcing me to shove allin the very 1st hand K2s getting called by 2 (AJs, and 1010) and missing. Ko'd somewhere around 100/800, 20 before the money.

This month looks to start off in a much different direction. My wife was selected to as a teacher to go to Virginia and get a 1st hand U.S. history learning experience, which is great, but I become Mr. Mom at home for the next week! Looks like poker might be a bit on the back burner until late night. I am on vacation though so I'm not complaining. My Computer also crashed last week which was a huge bummer and time waste. I didn't think it was a big deal and was in the middle of finishing some sng's until the whole system crashed. Fortunately it's all up and going now, but I lost all my pictures, music, and bookmarks, so I lost alot of good online links.

I plan on catching up on blogs, twitters, and house stuff so hopefully when I'm ready to play I can be 100% focused. I added some links and changed things up a little on the blog. Hopefully it doesn't look too bad. I'd like to track down some kind of a poker related background if anyone knows how to import you own backgrounds on livejournal please let me know.

Again, anyone looking to get a great rakeback deal saving at least 33% on all the fees and rake you pay to play. Please give Cake Poker a shot if you haven't already. You must use our signup code to get a rakeback account though! Please contact us if you have any questions or interest in signing up. Cake poker is a great site with active table at all limits and alot of loose players.

To join our fast growing Cake Poker Crew!!

1. Download cakepoker.com - Click on the advertisement above or below, then download the Cake Poker Software.
2. Open a new "REAL MONEY ACCOUNT" (you don't have to deposit to do this at this time) using FRAZ (all caps) in the SIGN UP CODE box...you don't put anything in the promotional code box

For new players, you will get up to 110% of what you deposit, up to $600 on your first deposit as well...thats free money !!

I can also help you if you have any problems making any deposits if you send me an email and you wish to transfer money from another site. If you choose to join...shoot me an email to let me know you did and what your screen name is, so I can invite you to the free roll. For new players, I am always here to answer questions about the site or poker in general, so please ask.

Yup, I've done it again. We're down to 4 left out of 161 of a $50 rebuy multi table tourney. The prize is $1500-$4000. I am 4th in chips, but healthy................Sigh, Unfortunately I am keeping my 3rd place streak alive with another suckout, my AQ vs KJ. 3rd place, $2,000.

You can email me at Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com
Please see instructions below on signing up for our 33% rakeback deal on Cake Poker. Please make sure to use our SIGNUP code "FRAZ" (All Caps)

Normally I like to wait till have some time to collect my thoughts and put something decent together like I did last post on bankroll management. I recently started mixing in some multi table tournaments online and just staying up late, really late!! Normally I completely avoid the multi's since we've had our baby, but my wife is off work during the summers and I've begun squeezing some in late night with some ridiculously good results, despite running constantly into total donkey's calling reraises with 610 suited and flopping 6,10,3 and I have AA etc. Before this month I only played 27 multi's this entire year, but did have 5 final tables to show. The bad part was every time I made a final table I ran into a horrible beats like the one I mentioned up above and typically they were on smaller tournaments with little winnings to show ($570 was the largest).

This month however was a different story. I've played 15 multi's this month so far and finished deep in 9 out of the 15, with 4 final tables: 4th ($1,200), 3rd ($1,500), 3rd ($1,200), and a 3rd last night in a $100 rebuy tournament (a profit of $3300)!! It seems like I've been having a rought ime trying to break through the 3rd mark lately, but that's much better than avg. so I won't complain. I had a small 1st place 75 players and a couple solid 2nd places, 200 players last year, but nothing since I won $12,000 seats to the WSOP Main Event 2 times in 2007.

I've been updating the look and links, etc. lately. Hopefully it is helpful. So far we've signed up over 85 players over the last few months onto Cake Poker, which is great. If you'd like to get in on the deal here's the info. Please email me if you have any questions.

Again, anyone looking to get a great rakeback deal saving at least 33% on all the fees and rake you pay to play. Please give Cake Poker a shot if you haven't already. You must use our signup code to get a rakeback account though! Please contact us if you have any questions or interest in signing up. Cake poker is a great site with active table at all limits and alot of loose players.

to join

1. download cakepoker.com here: Cake Poker
2. open a new real money account (you don't have to deposit to do this at this time) using FRAZ (all caps) in the SIGN UP CODE box...you don't put anything in the promotional code box

For new players, you will get 110% of what you deposit, up to $600 on your first deposit as well...thats free money !!

I can also help you if you have any problems making any deposits if you send me an email and you wish to transfer money from another site.

You can also download using the banner below....if you choose to join...shoot me an email to let me know you did and what your screen name is, so I can invite you to the free roll. For new players, I am always here to answer questions about the site or poker in general, so please ask.

You can email me at Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com

Over the last couple months, as a Cake Poker affiliates, we've signed up quite a few players and I'd like to give out some pointers on how to build and maintain a sustainable bankroll and hopefully learn from some of my experience, mistakes, and success.

When I 1st started out I had no clue how difficult it was to judge how good of a player you are and what kinds of swings your bankroll will go through on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. It seems to me the great majority of players coming in hoping to make a bunch of money playing poker, think the best way to take their shot is to be the next "Moneymaker" and treating poker like a lottery ticket rather than grind there way up the ranks like about 95% of all the REAL long lasting pro's have done like Ivey, Chan, Doyle...... 

Donate as little as possible to Poker University - The one thing I did know was I wasn't good enough to jump into anything bigger than $2/4 limit cash games and $10-20 sit in goe's or multi table tourneys. Not necessarily because I couldn't afford more, but my skill level was just not there yet. So if I'm going to lose a little money at 1st while trying to get down the basics, I wanted to lose as little as possible while I'm basically paying my poker "Tuition".  So if you're fairly new to poker or online poker, start off playing small until you feel completely comfortable with the game and online site and you actually have a consistant winning record. Each game and online poker site take some time getting used to. I personally spend about a week feeling out a new game before I risk anything substantial.

Track your stats - Almost every good poker player knows exactly what games they are most succesful. Alot of players seem to have a hard time doing anything other than sitting down and playing. Let's be honest, the majority of people who take there shot at being the next wannabe poker pro end up losing money because they don't even want to take the time to think about how, what, or where they play. I am personally a stat freak and love to break down my numbers into every possible category to help me maximize my profitability. Now I know many players aren't looking to turn their favorite hobby into a full-time job, but you at least need to have an honest record on how you're doing.

Do your homework - These days there is so much information on the internet, poker books have tend to be discarded by some as something not worth the time or up to date with the way games are played today. I think this might be true in some cases at very high limit play, but for someone starting out they can give you alot of great advice for usually only $15-40. I figure if any book is able to help me win just 1 pot in my lifetime, then it was worth the purchase. There are also alot of good magazines out there which are good to pull out while doing nothing and killing time.

Find an online poker site that gets rakeback and take advantage of bonuses - Obviously I'm a bit partial to Cake Poker which gives one of the highest rakeback deals at 33% back on all fees and generated rake, but if you do play anywhere else make sure you don't sign up without getting rakeback. For many players that are close to break-even, rakeback can turn some slightly losing players into winners and winners into healthy winners. Many online pro active players get $1,000 to over $10,000 a month in just rakeback alone. I have a link for my rakeback deal at the bottom of the entry and as a link on the left side. As far as bonuses, many sites offer 1st deposit bonus matches.  Cake Poker, in fact, offers a 1st deposit match of 100% up to $600! Just be careful not to play outside your normal comfort zone to get a few extra dollars and in the process lose hundreds or thousands of dollars in the games themself. I recently had 2 major sites institute a limited amount of time to earn the bonus dollars you could be tempted to play way too big to earn a couple hundred dollars. Luckily, Cake Poker had never had a time limit, so be careful anywhere else. 

Avoid becoming a satelite junkie - Ideally I would say to never play a satelite you can't afford to buy directly into without it heavily affecting your bankroll. It really doesn't make sense if you haven't gotten good enough to build your bankroll and buy directly into a tournament which poses much tougher competition than you're normally used to. Many times I've found myself buying into multiple satelites and bubbling out and in the end I could have just bought straight in. Better yet I have no problem winning satelites only to consistently not cash in on that BIG tournament and in the end depleting my bankroll from all the satelites I played.

Impose strict limits on what % of bankroll you risk per game - Especially for newer players who don't understand the time it takes to build a bankroll and how easy it is to lose it all after a few bad games/weeks etc. It can be a bit different for each game but I would say for standard sit-n-goes which payout about 33% of players, I would only risk at most 1-3% of my bankroll or $10 of a $500 bankroll. In a multi table tourney which usually only pays 10% of players closer to 1% or $5-10 of a $500 bankroll. Cash games are a totally different animal. Just to sit down to a $2/4 limit game you need $100 and the swings can be very wide. I would say you would need at least $2,000-3000, so about 20X the buyin seems about right. This can be abit shocking for some players, but if you really are a good player you will move up through the ranks fairly quickly. This also leads to the topic of bad runs.

Don't multi table if you have yet to become a long term consistant winner - I might get some crap for this because like me, alot of players are a bit A.D.D. and waiting 3 seconds to analyze a hand is just way to long so we play 3-4 tables at a time. The problem with this idea is that the great majority of online players struggle with just being profitable while playing 1 game and for every additional game you play your winning % typically drops. So if you're barely a winning player 2 games might push you to barely even and 3 games at a time can make you a loser. Typically the only players who succeed at this have already broken down every game they've ever played and figure out an exact strategy so that decisions are made easier (not necessarily the best play) and they already have very good notes on how all the others opponents play at the table. Playing only 1 table (Or 2 max) leaves you enough time to really evaluate every hand and opponent to make the best possible plays and improves your game the fastest, enabling you to eventually move up to higher limits much easier.   

If you're running bad, regardless of luck, you need to make some changes - This is probably what ruins most poker bankrolls than anything else. Maybe your patience is wearing thin, you're getting tired, distracted by too many things (TV, phone, work, muti-tabling too many games), maybe your opponents are beating you with total junk or maybe you are just not skilled enough yet to play at the limits you are playing. No matter the reason whenever things are going bad dramatic changes need to be made and usually for me it's because I'm playing too aggressively or too many hands or both, taking too many big risks. So tightening up for me works. Maybe that's not everyone's problem, but most athlete's/competetors have some weakness they have to always be on top of. It can be very hard to move down in limits especially after being at a limit for a long time. I remember killing $100+ 6mans on Pokerstars for months until I got a little too confident and my competition started to catch up in skill and I eventually dropped down to $30 sng's for a few months until I found a couple other games and new sites (Cake Poker included) that proved more profitable.

There is much work to be done and there are many skills needed to become a winner in the long run at the tables, however, if you can follow the techniques and rules I just mentioned, you will be far ahead of your competition. I wish you all luck at the tables. If you have any questions or comments feel free to share.

Again, anyone looking to get a great rakeback deal saving at least 33% on all the fees and rake you pay to play. Please give Cake Poker a shot if you haven't already. You must use our signup code to get a rakeback account though! Please contact us if you have any questions or interest in signing up. Cake poker is a great site with active table at all limits and alot of loose players.

to join

1. download cakepoker.com here: Cake Poker
2. open a new real money account (you don't have to deposit to do this at this time) using FRAZ (all caps) in the SIGN UP CODE box...you don't put anything in the promotional code box

For new players, you will get 110% of what you deposit, up to $600 on your first deposit as well...thats free money !!

I can also help you if you have any problems making any deposits if you send me an email and you wish to transfer money from another site.

You can also download using the banner below....if you choose to join...shoot me an email to let me know you did and what your screen name is, so I can invite you to the free roll. For new players, I am always here to answer questions about the site or poker in general, so please ask.

You can email me at Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com

Well thanks to a good run by Doug (a young online player I staked 10%) I was able to recoup about 1/3 of my losses. He made a great run, came back from a small stack a couple times, and had the best hand chopped or beat multiple times including his eventual bustout in 17th place out of 600+ for $7700!! You always get a little disappointed getting so close, but it's a great boost to his ego to cash well in his 1st WSOP event. I still have a piece on my buddy tdawonu, who won a seat to a $1500 WSOP tourney on Cake Poker, so there is still hope to come out with a profit.

As far as me, my wife and I went and saw "The Beatles Show" the other day. We paid for great seats (About 5 back from the stage) and it was well worth it. It's a great show at the Mirage. I also played a few hours of 1-3 No Limit Cash Games here which proved to be a long grind and very few hands worth playing until I finally lost about $200 and called it a night to meet Doug for the 1st time and see how he was doing. Last night we got 2 for 1 tickets for "Penn and Teller" which was great magic type show. I think we're just gonna hang out today and maybe tonight I'll play a smaller live tourney. It's definitely nice to get some time away from the house, baby, job, etc. It's a first in a long time. I still have another week of vacation when I get back so I still hope to get a couple more multi's in before I go back to the grind.

Well I guess that's it for now. Gotta go to breakfast. Again, anyone looking to get a great rakeback deal saving at least 33% on all the fees and rake you pay to play. Please give Cake Poker a shot if you haven't already. You must use our signup code to get a rakeback account though! Please contact us if you have any questions or interest in signing up. Cake poker is a great site with active table at all limits and alot of loose players.

to join

1. download cakepoker.com here: Cake Poker
2. open a new real money account (you don't have to deposit to do this at this time) using FRAZ (all caps) in the SIGN UP CODE box...you don't put anything in the promotional code box

For new players, you will get 110% of what you deposit, up to $600 on your first deposit as well...thats free money !!

I can also help you if you have any problems making any deposits if you send me an email and you wish to transfer money from another site.

You can also download using the banner below....if you choose to join...shoot me an email to let me know you did and what your screen name is, so I can invite you to the free roll. For new players, I am always here to answer questions about the site or poker in general, so please ask.

You can email me at Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com

Well I played in today's $1,500 NL event and started out the way I prayed I would by doubling up early and imposing my will throughout. I started with 4000 chips and picked up a couple small pots with AK's and later picked up KK in EP. I raised about 3X and got reraised by a late position player. I just called to see what kind of flop hit before committing. The flop came 10 8 5 and I bet 1/2 pot into the reraiser who raised me again. I felt pretty good and didn't think I could get away from my hand so I pushed allin and got a reluctant semi pot committed call from my opponent who suprisingly turns over QJ!! He turned a Q which freaked me abit expecting my usual bad luck, but to my suprise held up on the river.

So I doubled up early and proceeded to chip away and built my stack to 11,000 until I hit a road block. I get QQ in late position and a amateurish player raised small in early position then a mid position player somewhat light stacked just calls and I reraise about 5X only too be reraised allin 7000. The other player then calculates and calls, which I put on a medium PP hoping to get good pot odds. At this point I'm also getting pretty good odds, but I had a feeling that I was against AA or KK, but hoping I wasn't and getting great odds I took a bit of a big risk and called getting about 2-1 odds with QQ and left with my original 4000 stack if I lost. Unfortunately he did have AA and the 2nd player had JJ and the flop missed me including a straight draw.

I then proceeded to run into a bigger pair 2 hands in a row including my final hand still missing about 11 outs. That pretty much sucked because I couldn't ask to start out any better and unfortunately had to get involved in such a big pot. Maybe next time I might not take such a risk so early regardless I solid odds. Easy to say in hindsight only because this time it was against AA. 

The one good piece of news is I staked another online player that my buddy knows well, in the $1500 limit holdem tourney on Friday and is in the money down to the last 20 players!! I might come out ahead after all. I also have a piece in my buddy who will be playing another $1500 WSOP NL tourney in a week or so. So I will have to settle to bask in someone elses glory this year. Better than nothing right? Gotta go. Donkeyherder.

I just wanted to give congrats to our Freeroll winner in yesterday's FRAZ Freeroll on Cake Poker to "Puporunswell"!! It was a hard fought battle through 26 players and a very tough heads up match against "Bigdaddy775" who took 2nd, followed by our buddy "Billiamcdn" who played well and held the chip lead most of the tournament. For those who missed out or haven't signed up with us to get a 33% Rakeback account on Cake Poker, our next freeroll will most likely be on Thursday, 6/25 6:15 pm. Please contact us if you have any questions or interest in signing up. Cake poker is a great site with active table at all limits and alot of loose players.

to join

1. download cakepoker.com here: Cake Poker
2. open a new real money account (you don't have to deposit to do this at this time) using FRAZ (all caps) in the SIGN UP CODE box...you don't put anything in the promotional code box

For new players, you will get 110% of what you deposit, up to $600 on your first deposit as well...thats free money !!

I can also help you if you have any problems making any deposits if you send me an email and you wish to transfer money from another site.

You can also download using the banner below....if you choose to join...shoot me an email to let me know you did and what your screen name is, so I can invite you to the free roll. For new players, I am always here to answer questions about the site or poker in general, so please ask.

You can email me at Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com



Jumping forward to my personal poker playing career, Last month was a little bit disapointing. I had a pretty good run mid month only to donk it off through bad beats and some bad/distracted play. We have really taken to becoming serious Cake Poker Affiliates and now have almost 60 players signed up!! It has definitely become a bit of a distraction and change to my regular playing habits. I made the mistake of playing too many tables while trying to take on too many tasks at once. These days I get/send a ton of emails to interested players looking to join up, which is great, but very time consuming. I can't imagine what customer service issues an entire poker room must deal with.

The good news is my play has come around lately this month. I am actually on a 7 day positive run streak!! As I mentioned above I'm also going to leave this weekend to Vegas to play in 1 or 2 of the events in the World Series of Poker. On Saturday is a $1,500 NL tourney which I hope to cash and see where it takes me. It will also be the 1st time my wife is away from our baby for more than half a day. I'm sure it's gonna be tough for her so wish us both well. I hope my next post is of pictures of a bracelet or at least a few hundos to make up for my time. Take care everyone, Donkeyherder.
 

Hey Poker players, I have decided to team up with a good friend and successful poker player in becoming a Cake Poker Affiliate!!

I am not sure how many of you play online but I may have an offer and a few good reasons for you to start. I have played at Full Tilt, Party Poker, Ultimate Bet, Absolute Poker and now my primary site is on the Cake Poker network. We might all enjoy a good live game, but consider the advantages of online.

1. Play in the comfort of your home
2. No crowds
3. Games readily available at any time and at every limit
4. You DON'T tip (this is huge)
5. No gas expenses
6. play sit n go's in as little as 15 minutes ( and win )

and the biggest reason I would suggest you devote at least some of your time to online is RAKEBACK. Every time you sit at a table you pay rake, whether it is a tournament fee or rake per hand dealt, either way, there is money disappearing from the table. You NEVER get it back ! UNLESS you have rakeback. I can get you 33% back on every tournament fee you pay and / or every raked hand you play in, if you are a cash player. READ THAT AGAIN, it's that important to your profit line. In my opinion, you should NEVER play again without it.

I don't expect many of you will play as much as I do, but I am averaging $1000 back per month. Think about that, if you run a business and can pay 33% less expenses, wouldn't you do that ?

We also run a free roll every other week for $100 and if you join using the instructions I give below, you will be invited. We are having our next one Thursday evening at 6:15 so you have time to get joined and in....

to join

1. download cakepoker.com here: Cake Poker
2. open a new real money account (you don't have to deposit to do this at this time) using FRAZ (all caps) in the SIGN UP CODE box...you don't put anything in the promotional code box

For new players, you will get 110% of what you deposit, up to $600 on your first deposit as well...thats free money !!

I can also help you if you have any problems making any deposits if you send me an email and you wish to transfer money from another site.

You can also download using the banner below....if you choose to join...shoot me an email to let me know you did and what your screen name is, so I can invite you to the free roll. For new players, I am always here to answer questions about the site or poker in general, so please ask. I send out info about different aspects of the game to improve all my players games. It is in both MY and YOUR best interest to make you all profitable players....

hope to talk to you soon...You can email me at Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com

With the World Series of Poker about to start, I've been dreaming about trying to work out some kind of deal with a sponsor and representing some charity. Ideally I'd like to find some deserving charity to represent and find a sponsor out there somewhere who might put the money for me to play in a tournament(s) in return for advertising on my blog and on my clothing while I play and I would dontate 10% of the buyin whether I cash or not and if I cash a tournament I could donate half of any profits to that charity. It seems like a win-win-win deal. The sponsor would probably get good press, I would get a mostly free entry, and the charity would get money (possibly huge) and good press as well. I might not make as much money as I could buying in on my own, but it would be great to show that poker players and those in the industry are in fact contributors to society and doing good for those in need. It sounds like a good idea in my book. I just need to do the hard part of finding some sponsors and selecting a charity to back. I thought down the road I might be able to raise money for multiple charities or special individuals in need. If anyone has any experience in this I would love to hear any advice in getting started. I don't know if it's a bit too late for this years' WSOP, but with all the WPT events, maybe in the next year I can make something happen.

For some reason it seems my performance always comes in spurts. I've noticed the same thing when looking up many other good online players. It's kind of weird when I see solid consistent players who show some of their best results one month only to follow it up with a horrible next month! I'm guessing some players get overconfident after going on a hot streak and try to make a run at the higher limits or just get sloppy with their play and maybe have a run of bad luck to boot. Luckily for me, I've really tried hard the last couple years focusing on playing only my highest returning games at the right limits. I do maintain very detailed statistics breaking down every singe game/tourney into every category and focus on my highest return per hour. This year with a new baby, however, I've had to cut down my multi table tournaments by about 95% and focus strictly on sng's, due to time restrictions. I think this has actually helped my game quite a bit by keeping me completely focused on mostly one type of game.

This month started out pretty slow. The first half of the month I was struggling to break above even. I have improved my return on $100 double-up's which I felt I was way below potential, but my games $150+ ran into a little bit of a cool down keeping me around even. Lucky for me I was on vacation this week which meant I got a few chances to play some smaller multi table tourneys at night. On Pokerstars they run a $25 rebuy satelite to their $650 WSOP Satelite. Apparently the poker gods couldn't throw enough suckouts against me and I won the seat 2 nights in a row!! Finally. Since then my sng's have been better and now I'm currently up for now.  

I watched the end of the Celebrity Apprentice with Annie Duke (Pro Poker Player) vs. Joan RIvers (Media Hag) and was a bit disgusted. I'm not a real big fan of Annie Duke, but she kicked River's ass outraising Joan 3 to 1, put on a better show, and they still gave Joan the win. I thought it seemed a bit shady, and later found out that River's already signed a deal with the producer to deal a reality show before the final of this show and the charity Joan represented was run by a woman who is connected to Trump's family!!! You do the math.  

 Well got to go. Don't go and lose your roll on some WSOP satelite. Donkeyherder.

I wish I could say we came home with the trophy full of money, but both my teammates were bounced early on bad beats or bad luck and I eventually got KO'd in the last 100 out of over 400 players. It was a great trip regardless. We met up with my buddy's friend from Canada, who was a real nice guy. It was a total guy's weekend. We immediately jumped right into multi table tourney's every chance we got. The very 1st tourney I was playing and running quite well. We got down to the bubble and "Canada Bill" got cut down to a single chip (less than the small blind). Some how he miraculously tripled up like 3-4x including KO ing me out on the bubble and getting heads up before getting badbeat multiple times and taking 2nd place. An incredible chip and a chair story!! It wasn't a huge win, but a great story. I believe we ended the night taking in the Beatles Circe de ....... show which was really good. 

We proceded to play most of the trip coming up slightly short. There seemed to be alot of horrible loose passive players in Vegas. I had one guy on my right who was calling off tons of chips with weak hands and sucking out. He called some guys allin move with a bad hand because he said he saw him "blink his eyes". I was salivating to get involved with him and sure enough I got my chance. This guy raised as usual and I got KK. The blinds were pretty big and I reraised him about half my stack. The guy sat and studied me and I blinked my eyes like crazy!! lol He then shoved allin obviously oblivious to the fact I was pot committed anyways, I called and he turns over POCKET 5's!! LMAO......The board comes small and he backs into a straight knocking me out! SIGH....

After that point I thought it was going to be a down trip. I had some moderate success playing a little bit of craps and blackjack. I'm not much of a gambler outside of poker unless I think I have some sort of an edge, but it's nice to break the monotany.  On our last night we had a nice dinner at one of the Venetian dinner spots and proceded to say our goodbyes to Canada Bill who had to fly back the next morning.

I was about to close up shop for the night until I found a 2/5 NL cash game seat open at the Venetian.  It was a brand new table and everyone was buying in the maximum $1,000 which was a bit steep to me, so I just bought in for $500. I rarely play cash games or live poker and figured if I busted out, that would be my last shot. I quickly realized $1,000 was not so far fetched of a bankroll to play with. Almost every pot was raised and many times people would raise before the cards were even dealt just for fun. It was a nice lively table, but very crazy and easy to lose everything you had on any hand. I tried limp into alot of cheap flops to try and catch something big. Luckily I did just that and caught a few big hands and then was able to play my normal game with a bigger stack to work with. By the end of the night I won many pots and was up about $1,400. It was one of my best cash game sessions. 

One funny story.....One of the cocky FullTilt sponsored guys who was dumping money all night, commented to a solid heavyset player to my left that he thought one of the poker room massage girls who massaged both men, if she had choose one of the two men to "hook up" with, he would win unless the heavyset guy gave her his money. The heavyset guy in good spirits laughed and I said "Maybe you two need to make a bet?!" After a few hours later the cocky FullTilt guy dumped all his money (probably 3K!!?) and proceded to leave. About 15 minutes later he came back to the table and said "You bastard.... She did pick you after all!!!) In good spirits again they both laughed and FullTilt guy took off broke and probably unable to pay if they had bet anyways. The kicker....The heavyset guy told me 15 minutes later he took a break earlier and told the massage girl about the bet and he would give her half the money if they guy actually paid up!!! LMAO, Classic. 

I headed home with some great memories and a few hundred ahead. Can't beat that I guess? 

Since then I have been playing very well and won a seat to a $2,300 sng to play for a WSOP Main Event seat. My buddy won a 5K seat to an Ireland tourney which I have a peice, I worked out a nice rakeback deal on the CakePoker Network, and last night I killed some sng's last night up $1,500. I can't ask for more. Good luck all, don't lose the kid's college fund. Donkeyherder.

 

Somehow I managed to get the OK from the wife to go play in a "Team Poker" tournament in Vegas this coming weekend. It looks like it's gonna be bigger than I thought. 150 teams of 3 players sold out and more to add on the day of. At $1,500 per team, it looks like a prize pool of over $250,000 is likely. Some pros and celebs should also make it fun. I should take some pics maybe I can post later. Here is a link on Cardplayer.com about it. www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/6004/dream-team-poker-hosts-event-at-caesars

We're almost done with this month and it has been a roller coaster ride. I started off pretty hot and it looked like I was going to has a banner month. Then I had a few bad days and have been treading water ever since. I've been caught up with a few Step tournaments on Absolute Poker trying to win a seat to this years 10K Main Event. I have also been dabbling with some of the Ultra turbo sng's and I think it has cut into my wins and focus. I seem to be playing these games well and continue to get bad beat in the end, which makes me think I should just keep playing them in hopes my luck will even out and I'll get a better feel for what my profit margin(if any) really is. Regardless, I probably shouldn't let these games eat up all my profits from Double-up sng's on Cake which has been very good over the last couple months.

I hope to catch up on my work so I can put some decent posts together and do some homework on the games I'm playing, but I've been saying that for months. It reminds me of the gym membership I keep saying I'll use eventually.

Business in the "real world", seems to be doing a little better. I work for Kraft Foods and it might be the 1st solid finish to a quarter in a while. Since the downturn it has been constant bosses over the shoulder on everything and if you complain you're told that there are 20 in line to take your place. It's getting pretty old and we are supposed to be getting GPS tracking phones soon which track our every move.....sigh. I took my job because I enjoyed the freedom to do things how you want and all that mattered was results. This idea is quickly dissapearing in recent years and soon "big brother" will have shock collars on us all. I love technology, but I see the writing on the wall not just for me but everyone that works for a big company.

Looks like the baby woke up and it's time for daddy duty. Gl, all. Try not to bet the rent money. Donkeyherder.