In the next few days I am going to try to sit down and think about some goals I want to accomplish, some short-term, some long-term.  After reading my old blogs on blogspot.com I have realized that I used to be really focused and committed to making lots of money and having pride in my play.  However, when I play just to be playing.. I tend to struggle.  I have been doing really well playing live poker again in Louisville like always, but just not taking online seriously enough for some reason.  I think my last 4 sessions in Louisville were 11,000..3,500…7,000…and 1,300.  I have probably made about 3,000 online TOTAL during that time which is absolutely ridiculous.  Especially since at one point i was up about 30k last week.  I did run really really bad but it still didn’t have to be that bad.  I really need to work on my attitude sometimes when playing online… i just expect to lose every big pot I play.  Poker is hard enough, you don’t need to worry about all of those other little things or it makes it almost impossible to win. 

The point of this whole thing is to remember to take pride in what I am doing.  To remember that I want to be known as a great player and that day in and day out I need to PROVE I am a great player.  And as of right now I am not.  Because it takes alot more than just playing correctly to be a great player.

Tomorrow is the start of the WSOP-Circuit Event in Louisville so I will be spending alot of time down there the next two weeks.  I will probably play a few tourneys and hopefully we will get to play PLO everyday and if not then at least 30/60 stud. 

Good Luck,

Matt Humphrey

Humphreyin@hotmail.com

I haven’t been playing much online lately but have been traveling to play more, which I enjoy.  I have been playing in some small games around Indianapolis and also going to Louisville.  The Louisville PLO game has changed recently to 5-10 blinds(it used to be 10-25-50 dollar straddle.  The game seems much easier and you can still get some pretty good wins.  They have been playing 2/5 PLO in Evansville, Indiana every Monday and Wednesday and I have heard it is the best game in the country right now.  Evansville is where I first started playing poker so I understand how bad the PLO can be there sometimes. It is weird because usually this time every year the farmers get their money and the games  get really good. 

I have been hearing alot about the new Horseshoe casino near Chicago.  They have been playing 100/200 NL omaha which is a pretty dumb game actually but I guess the action is out of this world.  I will try to update my results on how I do the next few weeks.  As for Louisville I played it Friday and won 11k.. I played about 10 hours and never really had much going for me.. up about 3k most of the session then made quads and won a big pot. 

I will have some friends in town this week so I’m not sure how much I will be able to play but after that I plan on getting on the road and making some good money again.  I enjoy playing live soooooooo much more than online.  I struggle taking online serious anymore because i have just been having the craziest swings ever.

Update coming soon.

I know, I know… its been waayyyyy too long since I have blogged but to be honest, I haven’t had much to say. 

I just started playing again earlier this week and feel so much better about my vacation away from poker.  I think 3 weeks is the longest I have went without poker since I first started playing.  I still don’t feel like traveling to play much unless its just for the day.  Beau Rivage is having a tourney at the end of this month and I must be crazy to not go.. the action there will be really great and it was my favorite city to visit so far.  The food is amazing and the people will tell you stories forever about the history of Biloxi.  They would be mad if I didn’t mention that they “were the ones who got the storm, new orleans just got the flood”.  I can’t tell you how many times I heard that while I was down there and they all have their won reasons why they got 0 help and New Orleans got all of it.  Well actually most of them share the same opinions on it but I’m not going to say what they are on here. 

As for this week of poker, it has gone really great.  Low stress and good money.  I put 2k on 3 different sites and have done good on all of them.  I think I am up 14k on Cakepoker this week, 4k on UltimateBet and 2k on Fulltilt.  For the first time in my life I haven’t had the desire to play in the really big games and just concentrate on making good money every week in the middle stakes.  I probably wont have any 50k weeks for a while but I also wont have anymore -100k months…. at least I hope not.  I am really enjoying the balance I have found in life recently and even though it takes a little big more discipline, I can still be just as lazy :) 

I hope everyone is doing well and congratulations to my brother Adam who just got married and my brother Jason who recently had the first Humphrey girl in 3 generations “Lily”. 

Good Luck,

Matt Humphrey

humphreyin@hotmail.com

If you still aren’t getting rakeback email me and I can help you out.

I haven’t blogged in a while and I am sure it isn’t hard to guess why that is…. I CANT WIN!!!! Or at least that is the way it feels right now.  The real reason is probably because I have been playing in games too big and have refused to move down in limits…  It seems like in the old days I used to never get punished for making a bad bankroll decision, but now, if I play too high or take a “shot” at a big game then I always end up going off for a big number.  I am going to try to get back on the grind and regain my interest in poker again.  Just try to grind out 500-1000 a day for a while.  I can do that by playing 2/4 PLO everyday for about 3 hours.. so it isn’t too much to ask.  It is just hard for me to do that because of how competitive I am…. I see these big games going with bad players and I KNOW I CAN BEAT THEM but that isn’t the point.  I am really starting to realize that I care more about the money now than I do about being great.  Which is fine but that means I really just need to grind out a living for a few more years and give up on the idea of being a multi-gallizonaire… at least for a while.  The good news is that in PLO it usually doesn’t take me much time to get back on my feet.  I had alot of stressful things going on in my life while I was out in Vegas, family and friend type stuff, and I know I should have been tougher but it really did effect my poker. 

As for my Vegas trip… I played golf a few times, got to see alot of old friends, and proceeded to lose about 100k and to be honest, it couldn’t have been much worse.  I lose the 3 biggest pots of my life…. In one pot I was a HUGE FAVORITE.. having the guy draw to a gutshot 3 that wasn’t a spade.. and in the 100k pot i flopped top two and a gutshot and lost it 2 times to aces and the nut flush draw… there was a side pot and I only got 3/4ths of that because the kid made a straight both times….  The thing about it though is that I KNEW the game was too big and that there were alot softer spots around the casino.  It wasn’t that the big was tough, because it wasn’t… it is just we were playing 100 dollar straddle on the button and people were re-straddling 200 and 400 and sometimes 800 dollars…. that means we were just GAMBLING.. and with stack sizes around 5000.. that means there is almost NO PLAY….  I guess you live and learn though from the mistakes you make and I think I have finally learned from mine.  I am ready to live the good life from poker, not the easy life.. I am going to have to really get motivated again and constantly remind myself of what I want out of poker…..

-200k later I’m ready to grind

Wish me luck,

Matt

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about this but it was buried amongst a bunch of other stuff.  So this time I am going to give it the proper amount of attention.  So a few weeks ago my wife says “you know that new all gals radio station, they have been raving about The Strip Club”, previous to this little tidbit I thought the shows were all about shopping and feminine protection.  Of course I had to play it cool, otherwise I would be blowing my golden opportunity.  So I said “go on”, meanwhile my heart was racing trying to figure out if she would be getting the lap dances or if I would.  She said it was new and on the East Side of Saint Paul, OK, whatever, when do we leave?

The first time we were there we could not get a table, so we sat at the bar and amazingly it was an OK time.  I did figure out though that I was being set up, both guys and gals work at “The Strip Club”.  Ok, whatever, a little emasculating but I am sort of a freak like that.  After a few drinks and a little conversation we decided to dive into the main course, which definitely exceeded my expectations.  THERE WERE SO MANY COUPLES OUR AGE IT WAS UNREAL! So we did not feel so out of place.  As we left both of us had a devilish grin and we knew we would be back soon.

Which brings me to last night, on the last occasion we went on a Friday and it was packed.  Last night was a Wednesday so there were less couples and we got a table easily.  Immediately a very attractive gal came over to see if she could serve us in any way.  I have to admit, even after the second time my adrenaline was rushing and I could tell that my wife was also a bit excited and freaked out at the same time.  It was time for some wine to get this party started (for her not me, but her relaxing helped).  Gradually things became a bit less awkward, there were less men this time too, which was a good thing from my standpoint.  After about 2 hours of people watching it was time to go home.  But we will certainly be back soon.  There is more to the story but unfortunately my time is short.  Maybe I will give another update tomorrow.

I have written about Nick in the past and I likely will write about him a lot more.  He runs cardschat.com which is likely the best run forum online.  The classic sniveling and arguments that typically make up a poker forum do not happen at CC.  Most online forums begin as a community but then as they become more popular negativity begins to take over as a disconnect happens between users.  CardsChat is a reflection of Nick, he is pretty low key and that is how his forums are.

Nick is also 19, he can not even get into a bar and in case you have not figured it out he has been running things since he was about 15.  I do not know about you guys but when I was 15 I was thinking about who I was going to take to the homecoming dance.

It is not uncommon in poker for young people to do well because the game requires a fresh mind.  Looking at the results from every major tournament you can see what I mean.  In the poker industry however young people have not historically done well.  Part of the reason is that there are a lot of negotiations that need to happen.  In Nick’s case though he has a thriving community that is loyal to his cause, card rooms see that and want to be a part of it.  Nick does not need to yell, he let’s his actions do the talking.

As you can obviously tell I am impressed.  Nick is a tireless worker and his blogs and poker strategy sections are some of the best on the internet.  Unlike a lot of things in this industry where people pay each other to recommend them, this is unsolicited.  Virtually everyone in my family and everyone I know has heard about Nick.  If you are looking for a great poker site that is refreshingly low key in a world of flash banners and stupid prop bets check out www.cardschat.com.

because PPP thinks the guys at Facebook are douchebags.

Andreas looking overly happy.

Bobby and Derek

Pete looking infinitely less scared than he was.

Mostly it was all dudes but there were a few gals on the trip.

Diego

We didn’t really get to see any Lava flow on the trip but the Volcano is pretty impressive in its own right.

Monkeys

Commando ziplining with the guys from PartTimePoker

I have been very sick over the last few days, so that is why I have not been able to update my blog.  I did start a new facebook page so feel free to look me up using Paul Nobles or beaniepoker@hotmail.com (that is really my spam email, I do not check it often) for email. 

I have spent a lot of time watching the NBA Playoffs, for some reason this year has not been that great.  I am loving the New Orleans series but it looks like the Lakers are ordained this year.  There really needs to be an investigation into that Memphis trade, for them to get Pau Gasol for a couple of balls and an IOU is criminal.  The Hornets have been a lot of fun but it would surprise me if they beat the Spurs, I think it will come down to game 7 and the Spurs just know how to up the intensity, I doubt the Hornets will.  I do not think the Lakers will struggle with either of these teams though. (having Phil Ivey played up on the TNT telecast, he was courtside at the Lakers game,  was kind of cool, really shows how far poker has come and how big of a star Ivey has become.)

Daniel and Doyle have had a few back and forths about political issues.  One of the reasons why I like reading Daniel’s blog is that he speaks his mind so freely (so does Doyle apparently).  Occasionally though he comes off like a pompous ass, which of course is the danger of speaking your mind.  Apparently Daniel is a monster supporter of Obama, which I am as well but honestly I would vote for Hillary, I know I am not supposed to say that but really, I could never see myself voting for McCain, maybe the McCain of 2000, but not this guy.  Anyway, Doyle brought up some questions about Obama that a lot of people are expressing and Daniel basically dismissed him as being a silly old man.  Right, because that is the best way to show you are right in an argument.  The most interesting thing about what Daniel is doing is that it is supposed to be antethetical to what Obama is supposed to be about.  He clearly is not taking the high ground when it comes to his support.  To be so vehement about your support only gets you the people on your side, it does not sway anyone to see your point.  Do I wish Hillary would drop out? Yes I do.  But she is not going to do that and some people’s concerns about Obama are legit and will need to be addressed if he is going to win the White House. 

By the way, McCain will not have the same problems Hillary is having in terms of race baiting.  You can best believe it is going to get ugly.  Hillary has stopped just short of using the “N” word but she has definitely played on the fears of the unenlightened.  The same type of people that come out in droves against Flag Burning and Gay Marriage.  Not all of Hillary’s support comes from unenlightened people but a lot of it does.  To cater to the least common denominator of our society is reprehensible and that is exactly what McCain is going to do.  He has to, because it is his only way to win.  If Obama can win taking the high ground that says something about us as a country.  The fact that he has come as far as he has with his message is remarkable and already says a lot about who we are.  Soon though he is going to have to steal the attention of the American public again, McCain is doing a decent job of that right now.  I hope when Obama begins to gain on him and this goes negative that it does not divide us too much.  They are trying to put Obama in a box where only elitists and black people vote for him.  By the way, when they say elite, do they mean smart? When did smart become so bad? Personally I would like my leader to be pretty damn smart.  Any coal miner in a union voting against the “black guy” come November deserves to lose their job because as Ronald Reagan proved unions are enemy #1 of the corporate agenda.  Not to mention Social Security, anyone with an income less than 100k as a family and working class whites.  Anyone who thinks they are a “working class white” needs to realize that your experience is not far different than “working class Latinos” and “working class African Americans”, there is another word for all of you in corporate vernacular, expendable.  So in November you are going to have to decide whether you are going to give the smart black guy a chance, the guy that represents your interests. 

You would have to be pretty foolish to vote yourself out of a job but sadly I think many people will.  The good news is, those people are increasingly the minority.

I know this is big on the political talk but I just needed to get some of this out.  Why does Hillary’s camp keep making a point of saying they are out spending us “3/1″, “5/1″ or whatever.  How dumb are these people? In a sense they are saying our supporters do not support our candidate financially.  That is the sweet spot of the high road by the way, people buy into that type of message and want to support that candidate.  Both my wife and I have contributed to Obama and will continue to do so in the next round.  When Hillary says that she can win how much debt will she need to accomplish that goal? Apparently that is one of the cost of courting the unenlightened.  They are broke.

There have definitely been some bumps along the way but I am having a good week so far heading into the weekend.. I was up 38k at my last post and then went on a pretty big downswing.  I ran good at 50/100 but ran so bad at 25/50 cap it was unbelievable.  As of right now here is where I’m at for the week: +44k on UltimateBet.. +15k on Fulltilt.  I am happy with my week for sure  I really should have done better on FT.. When I was running bad I added to it by tilting when I should have just quit.. dropped stakes.. and regrouped.. instead I blamed it on bad luck and allowed it to give me an excuse to gamble too much.  One day I will solve that problem and be a MUCH better player because of it..

I still have Saturday and Sunday to close out my week but I doubt I play that much.  It is 3:30 right now on Friday and I still haven’t decided if I am going to go back down to Louisville with my friends for the derby or not.  I feel worn down and might end up just staying here in Indy for the weekend.  If that is what I end up doing then I will probably get some extra time to “work”.  Sunday blog coming soon…

Good Luck,

Matt Humphrey

humphreyin@hotmail.com 

First off I wanted to thank everyone for all of their emails… it’s nice to see that so many people read and follow your progress.  I really haven’t played much since my end of last week mostly because I hung out with friends all weekend but also because I wanted to start my weeks on Mondays for now on.  I probably lost around 8k this weekend playing and ran really really bad in the cap games but it was bound to happen at some point. 

I am still playing some of my best poker but it really is hard not to open up my game too much when I feel like I am running good.  When things go well you sometimes feel like you can do no wrong.. which is true for poker and life in general.  Just as long as I keep starting off my sessions tight and then adjust accordingly the game then I will be fine.  I have played about 3 hours today and won a little over 7.5k.  There was a really bad player sitting at 50/100 CAP PLO and i played him for a little which is where most of my profit came from (6,700).

I am going to head to Louisville on Wednesday to play some in the PLO game down there (10/25)(50 straddle).. golf with a friend on Thursday.. play Friday down there.. and then Saturday is the Kentucky Derby.  I can’t wait to go since it will be my first time and it should be interesting since me and my 2 friends have NO WHERE to stay.. anyone have any ideas?  All the hotels seemed to be pretty well booked for up to 40 miles away.  So I am guessing our plan will be to go to the race then out to 4th street for the rest of the night.  So with all that information it won’t take a genius to realize I won’t have as much time to play online this week as last.  Today, Tomorrow, Thursday and some of Sunday.  I still think i should be able to win around 20k though which would be great and hopefully another 10k in the live games(however, usually it is either win 30k or lose 15k) …lol. 

I am going to try to talk about one hand every post from now on out but today I will just leave you with the biggest pot I’ve ever lost… luckily for me it happened like 6 months ago..  http://www.pokerhand.org/?2513213

Also, if you don’t get rakeback right now then email and I can help you out.

Enjoy Your Week and Good Luck,

Matt Humphrey

Humphreyin@hotmail.com

I ended up losing about 10k last night before I went out but still had a pretty good week… won 10.5k on UB…won 45k on FullTilt… here is a screen shot of my pokertracker…
 

Good Luck,

Matt

Wow, what a rush… It has been a while since I have been on a heater like this and I really needed it for my confidence.  I am up 13k on UltimateBet this week and 55k on Fulltilt.  A pretty GREAT week and way ahead of my goal of winning 30k for the 3 weeks.  I am so excited for my trip to New Orleans and for the upcoming WSOP because I have finally started to remember so many of the little strategic things I have forgotten along the way.  The best part of it all is that I don’t feel like I have been running all that great… I am sure I have ran above expectation to some point but I know I have had some pretty sick beats in large pots that could have made the week a whole lot better…. but that is just like a poker player to remember the bad and forget the good.  Today is the last day of my “week” since I got here last Tuesday so tomorrow I will post some pictures of my pokertracker and my final results.  I can’t figure out how to use it for UB so that stinks and I also played alot of my PLO on a friends computer but at least I will have SOME IDEA at what BB/100 I am running at along with which limits I have won the most. 

Tonight we are going out for Emily’s B-day dinner then maybe out after but I am not sure, so that should be a nice break… and then I will finally be back home Thursday.  Going out Friday to the Indianapolis Indians game and Saturday me and some friends are going to a bags(cornhole) tourney.. TOP PRIZE……wait for it…wait for it.. 500 smackers!!  Hope everyone else is having a great week too!!

Good Luck,

Matt

Well I finally feel like I am back to playing great poker.  I realized I was playing too many hands out of position, not re-raising enough, and calling too light on the flop.  It feels so good to put in enough time and energy and actually be able to figure out what I was doing wrong- and then apply it.  I have been on a pretty good rush on FullTilt.. up about 23k this week and up about 2k on UB.  However, I wasn’t just playing 2/4… I have played almost exclusively 5/10 and I have played some short stack 25/50; which was probably a bad idea but every time I have gotten it all in, I AM WAYYY AHEAD.. so I am up pretty good for the short stacking 25/50.

I am really enjoying my time out here in Vegas.  I am not sure if I could live out here exclusively or not but I might look into getting a place out here and keep my place downtown as well.  One thing I don’t like about being on the road is that the only time I eat is during a meal, that means like NO SNACKING and every meal is like a stomach stuffer, which is fine but its not very good for the diet. 

I am going to try to play one of the NL events at Caesars before I leave but I’m not sure if I will have enough time since Emily is getting into town today and I don’t wanna leave her hanging.  My friend Jeanine Deeb is a half Lebanese and I guess we are all going to a Lebanese restaurant Tuesday for Emily’s birthday which should be interesting… I really have no idea what I will find there to eat.

I’ll be home on the 24th and probably stay there until I head to New Orleans for the WSOP circuit event.  Hope everyone is having as good of a week as I am…

Good Luck,

Matt

Just a quick update.  I ended up playing some online poker today once I arrived since there wasn’t much else to do …..and I am glad I did.  I started off playing 2/4 PLO on FullTilt but the games weren’t very good and it was a MAJOR grind, I ended up losing around 300-400.  Then I got onto UB and played some 5-10 PLO and played for about 3 hours and won close to 10k.  I will give exact numbers at the end of the challenge.  I will probably keep playing on UB since it is going so well on there and the games seem to have A TON more action.  Anyway, me and my friends Pat and Josh are about to head to Bellagio to eat at Noodles then maybe some poker.  I hear they have a pretty juicy 25/50 PLO game thats been going.

Good Luck,

Matt