Monday, July 24, 2017

Poison is still alive and kicking

Can't believe how long it has been since I posted here on the blog.  I think of the times when I used to play online every night and chat with my online friends.  Good times for sure!

I still play a lot of poker, just at the local casinos and a couple of fun home games.

On my bucket list is still the dream of playing in the WSOP main event.  Two of my good friends from past home games are poker pros in Las Vegas.  They have played this event for the last 2 years.  Although they have yet to cash, I can help but admire them participating.  One of them made it to day 3 this year.  Maybe next year will be the year I join...

How about you?  Did anyone play the main event?  Or one of the other WSOP events?

Would love to hear from you....

Cheers,

V

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Blogger Tourney Here I Come

Online Poker

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: XXXXXX 121813

Monday, December 13, 2010

2010 WPBT Bounty Babe

Every time I attend a Poker Blogger event I am reminded how this community of people from all walks of life is truly wonderful. This trip was no exception. And even though my interaction with my blogger friends has been limited over the last couple of years it did not affect the connection that I felt with this group.

I arrived late Friday night at about 1 a.m. which meant many of the bloggers had already left the MGM where mixed games were played. I did manage to see one of my favorite blogger friends, Waffles and his new pal Josie, Miami Don, Joanna, Buddy Dank, Lightning, Skidoo, Katitude, and few others.

The next day at the Aria, I arrived early to make sure I got registered okay for the Blogger tournament. AlCantHang and Falstaff were at a "Training" table and invited me to join. I paid the $25 bucks to get some training by Alex. The only things I remember were being told that "All In" wasn't my only move and to compare a semi-bluff to "Ghostbusters". In order to kill a ghost, you need multiple streams just like needing multiple things to work together in order to make a semi-bluff work. In addition, all the players at the Training table were entered into a last longer for $20 in the tournament.

There was also a team last longer, so I partnered with Patrick, the nephew of a blogger (Wolfgang or something like that), and Russ a blogger (Days at the Office) I had met at one of Smokkee's home games. We named our team - Days with Poison.

To sweeten the event, there were a few of the original bloggers with $100 bounties from Full Tilt - these bounties were represented by a small box of band-aids. Dr. Pauly had a $100 PokerStars bounty on his head.

As luck would have it, my starting table included 3 bloggers with $100 bounties, AlCantHang,Falstaff, and Dr. Pauly. Also at my table was Bree, Snuffy, Mattie, Geek and Proud, and Speaker.

My new title as 2010 WPBT Bounty Babe was earned by taking the following bounties:

1) Bree - Avenging Unicorn set with a White unicorn, 4 different horns with special powers, and 3 figures that could be stabbed in the abdomen by the unicorn. Once rewarded with this bounty, I put the set in front of my chips to act as defenders.

2) Mattie (I don't remember the blog name sorry) - He had the most original bounty - A dvd "Poker Secrets from Poker Champs - Money Management" and a salami football which I sliced once we were down to the final table for everyone to enjoy. It was pretty tasty.

2) Dr. Pauly - $100 Pokerstars- I called Pauly with Ax suited in the big blind and called his flop bet when I had a flush draw. The flush came on the turn. Pauly shoved with a set and was disappointed by my insta call and ultimate win when he didn't improve on the river.

3) Falstaff - $100 FT and a of his book "Returning the Favor" - So sad how bad my memory has gotten. I can't remember how I won this bounty.

4) Brian (FT Social Media rep) - $100 FT and Stanless Steal Flask.

5) Katitude - Beaver I did the honorable thing and called from the BB when she shoved her short stack. Unfortunately, she could not survive the hammer.

I also busted Gracie, but she didn't have a bounty - which I shouldn't be one to speak since I had no bounty for my slayer.

It was a great ride. I had a early chip lead, but didn't learn enough in my pre-game training (hahaha) to know how to play with a bigger stack in the middle tourney stages. I lost chips to Gnome when I misplayed pocket 4s.

Ultimately I busted 12th when BadBlood called my all-in from SB with KQ hearts with against his A4 off from the BB.

MiamiDon earned his first place finish (6 places chopped, but he had the chip lead) with his aggressive play when it was down to 2 tables.

So even though I didn't make the final table, I did make $300 in online bounties and $20 from the Training table last longer, plus the other cool rewards. And if Drizz could have just busted 7 or 8 on the final table, I would have made another $200 bucks from the team last longer.

It was great seeing everyone and especially nice to get a hug from the best midget in the world, Iggy.

Till next time.....

P.S. I think I'm ready to start a new round of heads-up matches against you bloggers, so let me know if you are ready to take on "The Poison"!!!!


Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Keep it Simple

"Keep it Simple" Veneno- This was the best advise I received during my private lesson with Phil Gordon - July 2009. Although I haven't gotten a big score from using his advise, I have seen improvement in my results.

After play poker for years, reading bits and pieces from poker books, blogs, and from players at the table. I was making the game too complicated. The biggest mistake was my focus and effort on picking up tales, which is not to say that I don't pick up tales now and then, but my focus on this was distracting from poker fundamentals.

As in poker, so with life, I've recently moved forward in resolving some big issues that had been a source of great stress. One of which is picking a new apartment that will give me a 15 minute commute instead of the hour plus commute that I currently make to work.

Looking forward to a anticipated improvements the simplicity will bring both at the tables and in life.

See ya on the felt!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Mookieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Sooooooooooo disappointed!!! I played a couple of the BBT 5 events this week. On Monday the Poker from the Rail Tournament. Finished 13th. And tonight played the Mookie. The winner gets into the BBT Tournament of Champions. It was fun to play with some familiar bloggers. I made it to the final table as the chip leader. And kept the lead until it was Head Up. Then this happened.

Full Tilt Poker Game #20979182667: The Mookie (160019403), Table 10 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:29:07 ET - 2010/05/20
Seat 2: yosoyveneno (183,706)
Seat 3: oossuuu754 (89,294)
yosoyveneno antes 300
oossuuu754 antes 300
yosoyveneno posts the small blind of 1,200
oossuuu754 posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yosoyveneno [Kc 2c]
yosoyveneno raises to 4,800
oossuuu754 calls 2,400
*** FLOP *** [2d Kh 3c]
oossuuu754 checks
yosoyveneno bets 6,000
oossuuu754 raises to 84,194, and is all in
yosoyveneno calls 78,194
oossuuu754 shows [5s Kd]
yosoyveneno shows [Kc 2c]
*** TURN *** [2d Kh 3c] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [2d Kh 3c 7s] [7h]
oossuuu754 shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
yosoyveneno shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
oossuuu754 wins the pot (178,588) with two pair, Kings and Sevens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 178,588 | Rake 0
Board: [2d Kh 3c 7s 7h]
Seat 2: yosoyveneno (small blind) showed [Kc 2c] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sevens
Seat 3: oossuuu754 (big blind) showed [5s Kd] and won (178,588) with two pair, Kings and Sevens

The match continued about 30 hands and I managed to get close to even. Oossuuu was shoving alot, so I finally took a stand on the following hand.

Full Tilt Poker Game #20979318094: The Mookie (160019403), Table 10 - 1500/3000 Ante 400 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:38:46 ET - 2010/05/20
Seat 2: yosoyveneno (127,424)
Seat 3: oossuuu754 (145,576)
yosoyveneno antes 400
oossuuu754 antes 400
yosoyveneno posts the small blind of 1,500
oossuuu754 posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #2
oossuuu754: nh
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yosoyveneno [Qh Th]
yosoyveneno raises to 9,800
yosoyveneno: ty
iaatg6296 (Observer): no running jacks rigged :P
oossuuu754 has 15 seconds left to act
oossuuu754 raises to 145,176, and is all in
yosoyveneno calls 117,224, and is all in
oossuuu754 shows [Ah 5c]
yosoyveneno shows [Qh Th]
Uncalled bet of 18,152 returned to oossuuu754
*** FLOP *** [Jd 5s Ad]
*** TURN *** [Jd 5s Ad] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 5s Ad Td] [Jc]
oossuuu754 shows two pair, Aces and Jacks
yosoyveneno shows two pair, Jacks and Tens
oossuuu754 wins the pot (254,848) with two pair, Aces and Jacks
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 254,848 | Rake 0
Board: [Jd 5s Ad Td Jc]
Seat 2: yosoyveneno (small blind) showed [Qh Th] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Tens
Seat 3: oossuuu754 (big blind) showed [Ah 5c] and won (254,848) with two pair, Aces and Jacks

So I finished 2nd. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Here was the final table...



Full Tilt Poker Tournament Summary The Mookie (160019403) Hold'em No Limit
Buy-In: $10 + $1
Buy-In Chips: 3000
91 Entries
Total Prize Pool: $910
Tournament started: 2010/05/19 22:01:00 ET
Tournament finished: 2010/05/20 1:39:13 ET

1: oossuuu754, $291.20
2: yosoyveneno, $177.45
3: DDionysus, $127.40
4: MemphisMojo, $100.10
5: NewinNov, $72.80
6: DakotaBlock, $54.60
7: PirateLawyer, $36.40
8: jimdniacc, $27.30
9: 1TATA1, $22.75
10: muhctim
11: Mondogarage
12: 23Warsaw
13: p1mpin
14: cmitch
15: corron10
16: wolfshead
17: jamyhawk
18: AgSweep
19: actyper
20: ekrr
21: Jestocost
22: Misterd2U
23: lightning36
24: RGC2005
25: classic
26: adamsapple19
27: twoblackaces
28: NoMetal
29: riggstad
30: heffmike
31: MorningThunder
32: DaBag
33: Stebe65
34: BrainMc
35: MaggieO
36: iaatg6296
37: NumbBono
38: MiamiDon
39: -WYLDKARD-
40: Mike_Maloney
41: Zeem
42: sellthekids
43: smokkee
44: microvillain
45: jjok
46: Chippy McStacks
47: BuddyDank
48: Shabazz Jenkins
49: Mattazuma
50: Loretta8
51: sexymelissa
52: Joanne1111
53: bigdav1967
54: pvanharibo
55: DueceDueceLoose
56: columbo
57: Troublecat
58: VBPro7
59: yestbay1
60: dbcooper53
61: Astin
62: SUPDAWG
63: gpjacobs
64: SmBoatDrinks
65: ck31
66: Bessin
67: thegroupie
68: veryjosie
69: mclarich
70: lucko21
71: pushmonkey72
72: Mikkael37
73: NYRambler
74: Maniac57
75: Julkeus
76: SuitedKings
77: APOSEC72
78: NightRanger
79: TripJax
80: maigrey
81: NJerseyAL
82: VinNay
83: edgie212
84: hoyazo
85: augie00
86: shamanalix
87: Julius_Goat
88: niktak
88: ChampSampson
89: BamBamCan
90: DeepChitNJ
yosoyveneno finished in 2nd place

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Poker Riddle

All the players long to have me
But I must keep my visits brief
Call me "the Hat" at the table
Where my owner is ruler and chief

Some say I don't matter
But just let me make my mark
I must control all the action
You will respect me if you are smart

Dressed in my plain attire
My title is very clear
I'm the biggest of all my family
Hence the buck stops here

By: Veneno

If you want to confirm your answer, send an email to yosoyveneno@yahoo.com with subject - Poker Riddle.

Later!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Poker Poison Dream Team

What an incredible weekend!!! The Dream Team Event at Ceasar's Palace is sure to be an experience I will never forget.

On Friday I arrived late to the Friday night reception and the first person I see at the entrance was none other than Phil Hellmuth. From that moment on, I was consumed with the excitement of being in a room of top notch players, poker enthusiast, and friends. Once in the room, I glanced at the wall of Team Jerseys and found the "Poker Poison" attire for the event. It was quite a sight. (See the picture from the Dr. Pauly's blog) Yes, he was there too! His recent post captures the essence of the event much better than I could ever do. You must read.

Once I get a chance, I will load the some awesome pictures including one with Phil and another with Kristy Gaze.

Congratulations to my team mate Masih, we all call him Mas - as in "queto mas", who finished 10th in the event! You did great job hanging in there with the likes of Tom McEvoy at your table.

I have soooo much to write about from this event, but for now I'm just going to leave you with a recap from the press release....


Hi YoSoy,

Please find below a press release with the official results from this past weekend’s sold out Dream Team Poker event at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Team Aced took down the team title and more than $59,000 with 2006 WSOP Champ Jamie Gold coming in 9th place and teammate Ashley Nataupsky taking 4th place. Danny Nelson of Team BikerHaven.net took home the individual prize of almost $24,000.

We have plenty of photos and a full list of team and individual cash prizes, if needed. Please contact me with any questions or for more information.

Thanks!
Jessie


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TEAM ACED WINS FIRST PUBLIC DREAM TEAM POKER TOURNAMENT
Record Turnout Sells Out Caesars Palace Poker Room


BEVERLY HILLS, March 30, 2009 -- Team Aced won the first public Dream Team Poker tournament that featured a sold out field, big name poker pros, celebrities and a packed house. 148 teams totaling 444 players entered the event at Caesars Palace Las Vegas with a $222,000 total prize pool.

Team Aced, led by Ashley Nataupsky’s 4th place finish and Jamie Gold’s 9th place finish, and also included Houston Waldie, took home the first place team prize of $59,940 and the championship trophies.

“It’s the most fun you can have without $12 million on the line,” said Gold. “My WSOP bracelet is in a vault, but my Dream Team Poker trophy will be on my mantel for all to see.”

Danny Nelson, Team BikerHaven.net, who entered the day with $119,000 chips, was able to fight through the final 25 players to win the individual prize of $23,976. Nelson went heads-up with Philip Rousseaux (The Claddaghs) for 45 minutes before sucking Rousseaux in on the final hand. Both players limped into a 4-8-K rainbow flop. Nelson (K9) check-raised Rousseaux (J8), who responded by making the mistake of moving all-in. The 6-7 turn and river were of no help and the individual champion was crowned.

Rousseaux entered the day second in chips with $408,500 and battled his way through the final table as The Claddaghs were locked in an epic struggle against The Clones for second place in the team standings. Rousseaux’s runner-up finish secured The Claddaghs second place team win and netted the team a cool $33,300.

“We blew the doors off of Caesars this weekend,” said Dream Team Poker Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Delshad. “The entire poker room was packed and there was a level of excitement in the air that you don’t see at most tournaments. The tournament exceeded our expectations and we expect to see more like it at Caesars Palace in the future.”

The top 5 individual players were:
· Danny Nelson (Team BikerHaven.net) - $24,063
· Philip Rousseaux (Team Claddaghs) - $13,320
· Jerry Percival (Team Runner, Runner) - $7,922
· Ashley Nataupsky (Team Aced) –$ 6,666
· John Regis (Poker Masters) - $5,328

The top 5 team finishes were:
· Team Aced - $59,940
· The Claddaghs - $33,300
· The Clones - $15,984
· Party at the Mansion - $10,656
· Hellmuth Busters - $6,660

The $500+50 buy-in event drew professional poker and celebrity star power to the event, including 2007 WSOP Main Event champion Jerry Yang, 1983 WSOP Main Event champion Tom McEvoy and 2009 WSOP Main Event Final Table members Dennis Phillips, David Rheem and Kelly Kim. Other notable players include Justin Bonomo (returning November team champion with Team Bluff), Jason Lilly (returning November individual champion), Phil Hellumuth, Johnny Chan, Todd Brunson, Paul Wasicka, Mike Matusow, Erica Schoenberg, T.J. Cloutier, David Williams, and Tiffany Michelle. Actors Mekhi Phifer and Chris Masterson, NBA star Chris Mills and L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss also played in the first open Dream Team Poker event.

For more information on future Dream Team Poker events visit www.dreamteampoker.com.

# # #
About Dream Team Gaming
Dream Team Poker is a new “team-based” structure and scoring system for tournament poker. Dream Team Poker’s patent-pending scoring system allows players to compete on an individual basis while getting scored as a team, giving each player better odds and chances to win money as they compete for individual and team prizes. Casinos benefit from Dream Team Poker’s structure as players have new incentives to stay at the property after busting out, resulting in longer hotel reservations, more meals eaten at casino restaurants, and general increase on property, which generates more side play revenue.

Founded in 2007, Dream Team Poker is growing rapidly and licensing its tournament structure to many of the nation’s largest and popular casinos. It is the first gaming product developed by Dream Team Gaming, a privately held company headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA. For more information, please visit www.dreamteampoker.com

Stay tuned for more of the story and fantastic pictures!!!!!!!! In the meantime, check these out.

One more must read. Go to Poker Listings site for pictures of the final table players, recaps of busting hands, and just an good historical write-up of the event.

If you are looking for an opportunity to play with some of the best poker players in the World for a relatively small buy-in then the Dream Team Event should be on your list of events to play. The experience was all that I hoped for and more. Dream Team Poker Rocks!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Dream Team Quest

It's official!!! My "Poker Poison" Dream team is registered for the event at Ceasar's Place next weekend. Take a look at our competitors on this link.

I will need to figure out the most convenient method to send live updates. I'm sure you will be anxiously anticipating the following updates...

Phil Hellmuth has just been powned by the Poison!

Jaime Gold offered to "show me his cards if I folded", only I forced him to show his when I called his second best flush..haha

Kathy Leibert in an attempt to read my strength, stared me down for a good two minutes, but I managed to keep my composure and not break a sweat. She laid down her cards to my "hammer" hand..hehe

Stay tuned.....

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Poison meets the "Chipburner"

In my quest to play in one of the NL events in the LAPC at the Commerce Casino, I decided to join one of the single table satelites with 10 players for an $80 buy-in. The prize was $600 tournament chips and $120 cash, plus a LAPC cap.

At my table I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of fellows promoting the
"Dream Team" event at Ceasars that I've posted about previously. One of them being the Chipburner and the other a young 22 year old (I forgot the name). Little did I know that I was playing with one of the top NL players as stated by Dan Harrington no less.

"He is mentioned in Dan Harrington's NLH Book as one of the top three No Limit Hold'Em players in the world."


Early in the game, I chipped up in a hand versus "Chipburner" when I hooked up a hand of AK and a board of AKx (all clubs though). This chip up helped me to patiently wait for playable hands and ultimately win the Sit-n-Go. Unforturnately, I did not score the $720 payout. When the table was down to 4 people we struck a deal to pay the 2-4th players $80, so that everyone was guaranteed to win at least the amount of their buy-in.

I had to repeatedly reject offers to chop when it was down to 4 people, 3 people, and even at HU. One player in peticular was anxious to leave when there was 4 left. He kept hoping that I would bust so that there would be chop. Instead, his impatience cost him and he busted 4th. There was less than an hour to the start of the NL Tournament. But I stood my ground because I was either going to win and play in the Tournament or take my $80.

Immediately after collecting my payout, at about 20 minutes to 1 p.m., I registered for LAPC Event #15, NL Holdem $545. Starting at table 24 (the day of my birthday). There were a few interesting people at the table including a Semi-Pro who was sponsered by Poker Stars by the name of Bob.

I didn't have too many exciting hands. My first big dent took place when I had JJ. The player on my left joined the table about 30 minutes into the tournament. Shortly after he arrived. I had JJ utg. I limped in for 50 and he raised to 300. It was folded around and I raised another 900. He called. The flop came with and Axx all diamond. I checked and then called his bet for 500. I was hoping that he would suspect a trap and let me see another 2 cards. The plan worked, but I didn't hit my 2 outter when we checked the turn and river. He had KK and won the pot.

In reflection, sure I could have started the betting with more and maybe folded preflop. Or saved $500 on the flop. But really I don't think how I played this one hand made a big difference.

The next hand that cost me was QQ. This time I bet for $300 in EP. There was a re-raise pre-flop, as was pretty common on this table, to which I called. The flop had an Ace. I lead the betting. Got called. Not sure how it went from there, but in the showdown I lost to AT. Drats! No respect!

Finally, when I was down to about 2k in chips with blinds at 100/200 and antes of $25. I chose to make a move with A9 suited in mid-position. My image was pretty good and it was folded around to the button where one of the short-stacked aggro players shoved for $400 less than my total chips. Previously he had shown down a few all-in hands with Ace rag or less. I called. This time he had the goods, AK. I was down to 400 chips. I doubled up a few hands later, but quickly blinded/anted down to $400 before switching tables. First hand on that table was QJ of spades utg. I moved all in and lost to KK. Ironically, I hit the flush on the turn but was countered when the Ace of spades came on the river. And I finished at about 245 in a pool of just over 400.

Despite the loss, it was a good experience. One day, I will be sharing a story of a victory instead of an experience. In the meantime, at least I got a free cap!

Laters all....

Sunday, January 25, 2009

More Good News

Dear yosoyveneno,
On Tuesday, January 20th, we experienced networking issues that caused a disruption to your play. The problems started at approximately 5AM ET, and tournaments weren’t paused and cancelled for a period of time after that.
You had more chips when the networking issues started compared to when the tournament was paused and cancelled, therefore we have determined that the $368.76 you received for the following cancelled tournament was insufficient:
Tournament #76049420 (Midnight Madness!)
Based on rule #31 of our Tournament Rules (the tournament cancellation policy), we have calculated that if the tournament were cancelled when the issues started, you would have received $627.44. The difference between the amount you received and the amount you should have received is:
$258.68
This amount will be credited to your Full Tilt Poker Account within 24 hours.
Rest assured that we are taking measures to ensure this problem doesn’t happen again.
Feel free to contact support@fulltiltpoker.com or simply reply to this email if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Full Tilt Poker

Thursday, January 22, 2009

If I can do it....

I've played two of the Tier One 11 + 1 Sit & Go games over the last couple of days in order to win entries to one of the bigger MTT's and/or an entry to the LAPC. So far, I'm 2 for 2.

76894869 Jan 19 22:23ET Tier One $11+$1 Sit & Go $11.00 + $1 9 1 $75 token
7127022 Jan 22 00:34ET Tier One $11+$1 (Turbo) $11.00 + $1 9 1 $75 token

The first token I used to play a LAPC Satellite. I won and got my entry -

75971911 Jan 20 00:26ET WPT - LAPC Satellite $69.00 + $6 18 1 $322
Entry to tournament

Unfortunately, I didn't win my 12k package to the LAPC with this attempt by finishing 36 of 123:

75971333 Jan 20 21:01ET WPT - LAPC Qualifier $300.00 + $22 123 36 --

I'm gonna try try again....

But before I do that, I decided to play for an entry to FTOPs event #1. So I entered a Satellite and scored again -

77173613 Jan 22 01:22ET Satellite to FTOPS Event #1 $69.00 + $6 9 1 $216
Entry to Tournament #73859850

Then I checked my account balance only to find out that instead of using my token, I paid $75 to enter that Satelitte. Shit!!!! So I unregistered for the FTOPS event for now and added $216 in tournament $ to my account.

Then proceeded to play another FTOPS Satellite (this time using my token) - Score again!

7178964 Jan 22 03:15ET Satellite to FTOPS Event #1 $69.00 + $6 9 1 $216
Entry to tournament #73859850.

I have no idea what I'm going to play, but for now I have $432 in tournament $. And still a few hundred from my payout in the Midnight Madness this week.

Something is very wrong here. I'm making money online?

You gotta try it!

Laters.....