Wednesday, August 31, 2011

AUG 31 -- NEW BLOG UP

Check out my latest blog entry under the "JUST ANOTHER GUY'S VIEW ON THE SPORTS WORLD" called "The Funniest Man on Sports TV -- Kevin Millar"

Enjoy

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

BALT999s HEADQUARTERS

I consolidated all my blogs in an easy one-stop place...The Links are to the left...Check them out and experience THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BALT999!!

Thanks for reading...Feedback is encouraged!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

CHANGES ARE COMING

For the past 3 days, I've been working on revising my blog to making it bigger and better than it's ever been. I'm very excited about the changes and hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I like writing it. Writing is a passion of mine since high school, and I hope the revisions to blog will enlighten, bring humor, and a new vision on how I see the world...

Hopefully, I'll roll out the new blog within the next week or so....

Monday, August 22, 2011

THE DECISIONS YOU MAKE SHAPE YOUR DESTINY

In Today's blog, I'm gonna talk about how important decisions make in your life....

I recently returned from my family vacation in Anaheim/San Diego, it was a blast. Saturday night, my family went to Old Town San Diego for dinner before a San Diego Padre game and came across a homeless man who was holding up a sign that read, "Help Me...Anything helps, God Bless". And i thought to myself, "What happened in this man's life that brought him to that point in his life where he's begging for money in front of a restaurant."

The Answer is "THE DECISIONS YOU MAKE!!" Every decision in your life sets off a chain reaction in your life that shapes your destiny. Some of them good, some of them bad, but most of them are subtle! Look at your life now and realize that moment of your life is because of the decisions you make...If you're a successful businessman or parents, the decision you make before got you there. Same goes for those who are unsuccessful like our homeless man.

If your rich, if your poor, if your happy, if your sad...remember the decisions you make shaped that destiny....


Thursday, August 11, 2011

HOW I CHOPPED THE CAESARS MEGA STACK -- PART II

Because my table was filled with weak-tight players who weren’t playing back at me when I was betting and raising, I continued my loose aggressive play. I was, by far, the most active player at the table…getting into a ton of pots. I figured someone would make a stand against me, but the resistance was minimal. At first break, I was sitting with 28,000. Nearly doubled my starting stack.

Then came the hand where I believed was the 1st turning point of the tournament…

IMPORTANT HAND #2 -- “My Pocket 9’s are good..I know it…I can feel it…JUST STICK YOUR CHIPS IN THERE, DAMMIT!!”

Blinds are 200-400...I opened raise under the gun (First to act) with Pocket 9’s to 1,000 from my 28,000 stack. I’m called in three places. First player has 14K, the Second player has 17K. The third player is the Big blind, who I consider the best player at the table. So it’s 4 handed to the flop, the pot is 4,200. The flop comes 7-6-5 with two hearts…Big blind checks, I have to bet in this spot. My read on the players is broadway cards, or a suited connector. The two players in the pot are very weak. I saw both make terrible calls against other players. So I’m positive I have the best hand. If I check..I risk it being checked out and an over card to my nines hit the board. So lead out for 2,700...The first players goes all in for 14,000..then the second guy also goes all in for 17,000...Big blind folds..now it’s up to me….I shoot from my seat, rubbing my head wondering “what the hell is going on??” My first instinct was folding. I mean, if one person goes all in and another goes all-in…you figure pocket 9’s is no good. Then I got to thinking, I believed the first player had a flush draw. Against the flush draw, I’m have about even money especially if he has two over cards to go with the draw…The second guy was a different story, he was a terrible player…who I’ve seen make big calls with middle pair…so I wasn’t too worried about him. At this point, about two minutes have passed, which seemed like an eternity. My wife, who was at the next table, came over to watch the action. I agonized about what to do…ultimately, it came down to going with your gut. In tournament poker, you can do all the math and odds, but sometimes you have to hold you breathe and go with your gut…SO I CALLED! The first guy turns over AK hearts for a flush draw..the second guy turns over 10 8 offsuit!!!! WHAT??? So I had to fade two cards…TURN a Jack…RIVER was an OFFSUIT 5!!! I rake a nice pot!!! Bringing my stack to around 60,000!!! YEAH!!! I pumped my fist, proud of making a sick call!! My confidence rose after that…

With 60,000, and my blind relatively low, I toned the aggression a little bit, because I have a tendency to blow off chips, when I get a big stack. I didn’t completely tighten up, but I wasn’t going to play subpar hands when I didn’t have to…Then this hand came up where sometimes players just hand you their chips…

IMPORTANT HAND #3 -- “JUST GIVE ME YOUR CHIPS ON A SILVER PLATTER”

The great no limit tournament players know how to manipulate their opponents to extract the most value from their monster hand.

Blinds are still at 200-400.…I now have 56,000 chips..I raise in early position with pocket Jacks to 1,100….In middle position, a tight straightforward player re-raises to 3,300 from a 35,000 chip stack. Everyone folds back to me…I thought about re-raising, but this player was pretty tight. I didn’t want to re-raise, then find out he’ll go all-in, then find myself pot-committed against a bigger pair to my Jacks…The best course of action was to call, then re-evauate on the flop. I call. Two to the flop, 7,200 in the pot. The flop comes Q J 9...Hooray, I flopped middle set in a coordinated board…I thought about betting the flop for value, but thought check raising all in was the best course of action. A raise from a tight, straightforward player usually indicates a very tight range…10’s or above, AK, AQ…possibly AJ. My thinking is this board probably hit 90 percent of his range and if I check to him, he’s gonna make a big bet to protect against his hand..hopefully enough to pot committ himself, when I check-raise all in. So I check..my opponent make a pot-sized bet of 7,000. I go with my plan and check-raise all in…my opponent insta-calls. I felt my heart sink as I was afraid he was going to turn over pocket Queens…Instead, he rolls over pocket 10’s for an opened ended straight draw…I was very surprised he would put his tournament life on the line, but maybe he was just sick of me running over the table and felt like gambling…Oh well, good for me….I faded the turn and river and raked another massive pot…my chip stack rose to 89,000!!!!

My confidence was sky high and felt a deep run coming. Our table broke a few minutes later and I racked my 89,000 to my new table. I was a little disappointed I was moving, because I felt like I could do anything I wanted…Oh well, the good thing about moving is it makes you that much closer to the final table…..

IN PART III, I’ll tell you about a hand where I was at the receiving end of a tilting player who self-destructed. Luckily, I was the recipient of all his chips!!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

HOW I CHOPPED THE CAESARS MEGA STACK -- PART I

My road to chopping the Caesars Mega Stack Event $81, started innocently enough with a last minute decision. My wife was going to play, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend 12 hours playing poker. The event was on a Saturday, I was usually like to chill because it’s a day before I have to go back to work, but my wife was relentless about wanting me to play. Also, I had been reading a couple of new tournament books I purchased in the last two weeks, and I figured I’ll give it a try.

So I get to the Caesars Palace poker room and as usually it’s extremely cold. I’m not a big fan of the room because I feel so isolated. The tournament was five minutes in, so I grabbed my seat and immediately get dealt in…junk hand and toss it into the muck. While I’m getting myself situated, I’m thinking about my game plan. The general feeling about the field is it’s extremely soft. Lots of dead money spewing around. A million thoughts are racing through my head about what I’m going to do…My early tournament strategy was playing a lot of hands, play in position, and be extremely aggressive. As far as what opponents I want to attack. I have a 3 general rules I follow: 1) Play against players who fold their button, 2) Play against players who fold after limping, and 3) Play against players who fold on the flop too much. If you just follow those 3 rules, you’ll be one step ahead of the competition….

We start with 15,000 Chips and right away I put the petal to the metal and raise and bet a ton of hands. Luckily, my table is letting me run them over without much resistance. My the 2nd hour, I’m sitting with 21,000 chips… Then my first important comes up:

IMPORTANT HAND #1 -- “Just Go with the read, dammit. Who cares if you get knocked out??”

The blinds are 100-200...I’m sitting with 21,000K…Player in middle position open-raises for 600 out of a 19,000 stack. Other than myself, this player has been very aggressive preflop, and I wanted a chance to play against him in position to see how he’s react to the 3-bet (Re-raise) I re-raise from the button to 1,600 with KJ offsuit. Everyone folds to the original raiser who calls..
3,500 in the pot and two players. The flops 9 7 2 with two spades…He checks to me. I put him on a range of two big cards and possibly a small pair of 4’s or 5’s. I bet 1,750..he calls. Pot is now 7,000. Turn card brings another 9...Suddenly my opponent bets 1,900. The bet screams flush draw! It’s an informational bet known as a “blocking” bet. Basically, it’s to see where he stands. Also, my guess is he’s putting me on big card as well like AK or AQ, and hoping I didn’t connect with the flop. My options are to fold or raise…My opponent has around 16K, so I decide to go with my read and put him on a flush draw and raise to 5,000K…My opponent instant calls. He called so fast that I’m now 100% sure I was up against a flush draw…The river brings a Jack. Even though I was sure he couldn’t call a substantial bet if the flush didn’t come…the jack put my mind at ease..my opponent check. I went all in…he folds…

That hand gave me a ton confidence and would set the stage for the early turning point of the tournament. One, that I believed, made me realize I have a chance for a deep run…..

Thursday, August 4, 2011

IRONIC OR NOT??

Yesterday, I'm sitting in my garage and watch one of my neighbors going to work. He works for Cox Communication, a cable company that serves the western United States. Anyway, I noticed something on the side of his house...A SATELLITE DISH FROM DISH NETWORK!! I laughed and thought of the 90's Alanis Morrisette song, "Ironic" cause isn't it ironic??

So it got me thinking, would you take a job with a company if you don't purchase or believe in the company's products or mission? For example, I work as a poker dealer and I know of 1 or 2 dealers who don't even gamble! People take jobs because the money is good and bottom line is sometimes you have to do things to support your family no matter what you think of the job. I'm sure strippers didn't think about becoming strippers when they're younger, but the money is good.

So isn't it ironic that a person who grows up in a religious family becomes a stripper?
So isn't it ironic that a poker dealer hates gambling??
So isn't it ironic, don't ya think?


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

RETURNING TO THE BLOG II

Once again, I'm going to revive my daily blog...things I'm going to talk about it is poker, life, gambling, my family, and my general thoughts about the world. I'll try to make it as interesting and compelling as possible....