Man it has been a while!

So where to begin. I stopped playing poker for the most part for most of the 2010 year. I had so much going on in my life, that I could not dedicate the time I had before. I recently got back in the game in November and have strung together a good number of live sessions. I have worked on balancing my variance and have used a couple different stayles to see what has been most profitable for me.

I wont go into too much detail of speciafic hands but Novemeber brought the best of the best and the worst of the worst. I turned a straight flush getting paid a nice high hand bonus and getting a big pot, I mad a couple really sick reads and calls on people, and I had 3 consecutive sessions where I ended my session being 2 or 3 outed.

Heading back to the east coast for a few days, but I will start posting after each session starting in December. Also thinking about writing a narrative on player profiles and the "Impressionable Factor". Ill soon dedicate a post to this to explain in a bit of detail.

The first day in the rest of my life

Well, I have taken time away from blogging and playing. But starting in 2009, some changes have been made. I will call today the first day of the rest of my life, as a whole new chapter has been written. After Stefanie came into my life, my poker time went down, disappeared and only came about on occasion. In January 2009 I made a commitment to myself to get back to the tables. Not the way the duke used to but with better control, playing a better style, with more knowledge and not trying to get to the long run in one session. Needless to say to break old habits isn't the easiest thing to do. I found myself jumping between 1 - 2 NL and 2 - 5 NL. Swinging uncontrollably for the month. When the smoke cleared I was up a little over a grand for the month, my new marriage was on the rocks and I needed some control. I have started February on an upswing I am playing shorter sessions with better earn rates, and in the month of February I have not lost. I am paying better attention to how I am playing forcing myself to play a very balanced, aggressive game. So far so good.

I started writing this blog with the intention that this was the First Day in the rest of "my" life. See my newlywed Wife and I are separating and getting a Divorce. I thought that playing Poker would allow me to pick myself back up and move on, but since the split I have not played, except in a home tournament with a $20 buy in. I have not had the drive or interest to play, maybe I got a little scared to risk my bankroll with the expenses that will arise, or I just feel like beating myself up emotionally. Never the less, I will be back on the grind soon, making sure that I am able to focus, play solid and move on. So its to me Living the rest of my life, one day at a time.

The Return of the Duke

If Poker was Baseball I'd be Roger Clemens, without al the legal issues and assumed cheating..... Hahhaha
(Based on the comebacks I keep making)

Well I have to say it has been quite a while since I have wrote. With my ever changing life moving full speed ahead, i feel it is only appropriate to get back in the swing of things. First off I have played off and on over the last year, but nothing consistently till the last few weeks. There is something about the WSOP that gets your interest back in the card rooms. Now before I go there, let me get you caught up quickly to what has gone on.

I opened a business in November Axis Entertainment www.axislv.com. Since its inception we have moved into more office space, merged with another company and are driving a positive upswing in revenue each month. This has taken a lot of my poker time away, which could be a good thing.

Poker mike (The Mad Man from Marakesh) has moved, he is now in Soul Korea. Haven't heard much from this guy outside of his first couple of weeks, hope he is doing well. I am engaged and will be married on November 10th at the Wynn here in Las Vegas. I have moved with the fiance to a Condo just her I and the Cat. Ok enough with this lets get to the poker.


I have played about 15 hours a week for the last 3 weeks, so far I have not had too much luck. In the 45 hours I have played I am at +$710.00. I was on a real good rush but caught a few real bad 3 and 5 outers. The worst of these beats came from a hand I played at the venetian $1 - $2 No limit $100 -$300 buy in. With just over $550.00 in front of me (Bought in for $200.00. I picked up 6c 6h in the BB. There was a raise to $12.00 in early position and 4 callers. I called as well which completed action and the flop of Ks 6s 2c was presented. I checked with that all so good intention to raise, and as expected the original raiser be out $75.00.

To my surprise, he got no called, or action, when it came back to me, I figured I would see where I was, this player had about $500.00 in front of him and I was sure if he had Aces he was wiling to go broke. If he has a set of King then "Oh Well" I am unlucky and I tuck my tail and pray to never flop set over set again. , I put a raise in and made it $200. He immediately asks the dealer what the minimum raise is and the dealer tell him $125.00 making it $325.00, he pulls out 3 stacks takes $50.00 back and says "Call This". OK i'll be honest this seemed so random, I was uneasy all i could think is i just did it flopped set over set and am gonna ship it.

I thought for a couple of minutes, then proceeded to push all my chips in. Now part of the thought process was he seemed very uneasy, almost like it was a semi bluff maybe a flush draw, maybe Aces I wasn't sure but I was about to find out. With all my chips in the middle now he starts thinking immediately I start hearing the crowd roar in my head, no set of Kings whew, then he said I call. he put his remaining $200.00 in the pot. I showed my 6's and he flashes Ah Kh to me, says "I thought you were bluffing". Awesome, this is what I want them all to think when i have a monster against them. The dealer turns and rivers the final two cards and starts pushing the pot to my opponent. I do a double take, look back at the board, and hear a sickening moan from the crowd that had built around our table and saw the carnage. The Turn and River, like it was suppose to happen came, Kc, Kd and mad AK quads. I was sick, I could not imagine this had just happened but it did. Needless to say I was no longer in the mood to play. I picked myself up from the floor and left.

After this I went on a run of catching any beat I could. When I would get my money in the middle they would catch. Most recently I played at caesars, it was this last Tuesday night and I was at Pure on business and thought I would stop in and see what it looked like. There were 15 $1 - $3 games going. Plus another slew of $2 - $5 games as well maybe even more. I sat and was seated to the left of David Williams mother. She seemed nice, wasn't running too well and left maybe 45 minutes in to play in a sit n go. I ended up having a nice little session, leaving up +$480.00 in about 2 hours, I flopped a set of 8's twice within 4 hands of each and got paid off both times.

So now I am back in the Saddle again, I will try to stay on top of my postings again, it has been a while, but now know the "Duke is Back".

Ducking Ombudsman (Reference to Highwaytimes blog)

Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino
$1 - $2 No Limit
August 12th, 2007
Start 10:00pm
End 1:00am
Total Hours: 3

Total Profit: (+$151.00)
Hourly: $50.33/hr


So I ventured back into the poker world. Ason was in town for a few days, so I thought I would roll out with him to Planet Hollywood for some $1-$2 no limit action. I made it down to the poker room to see only one table going with Ason, Mike, and Keavin another local with about 6 $50.00 short stacks. I waited for about 20 minutes til they were able to get a second game started, Once that game started Mike and Ason moved over to my table. The game was decent I played tight, but ran into a hand with Ason where I flopped Trip 5's and turned Quads, Ason didn't believe me but I didn't get too agressive with him.

This table was crazy in the big hands I saw Ason had quads also, I hit a straught flush and I saw two other set of Quads in the 3 hours. Overall it ws a good game they play was not too good, was the perfect game to get back into the swing of playing again.

The Duke Returns

Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino
$1 - $2 No Limit
July 4th, 2007
Start 2:45am
End 4:00am
Total Hours: 1.25

Total Profit: (+87.00)
Hourly: $69.60/hr

I was not planning on returning to the poker table this soon, as I felt it would not be til after the 15th before I could get the time to make my way back in for a good session. But I did end up at Planet Hollywood. After a group of current and previous Planet Hollywood dealer had came in the bar I was DJing at for a night of drinks, they invited me to head back to Planet Hollywood. Well instead of drinking, I ended up playing cards.

My table was a very easy table, early in I had to make a re buy after I called a $160 all in by a player when i was holding As 8h, when he pushed all in, in the dark. When the river card was delt he turned over A 4 and hit a 4 to make a pair and my stack was shipped to this player. Worked back, as every player at the table gave away their hands very easily, and made it one of the easiest tables I had been at in some time. I ended up having to leave as my girl was also at PH and was ready to go. My last hand I played I had pocket Q's, and got a player with KJ to go broke when she hit a J on the flop. I knew what she had so when she lead out the flop I did not wanna give away the strength of my hand so I just called, it worked out as I was able to then over bet the river, and get her to insta called thinking her hand was good.


Well I will be back again later today and Mike and I will be playing as PH will be hosting a Ladies only Tourny. This will put women into the cash games, which is a good thing, since guys have a hard time playing well with women at the table, I think it once again should be an easier day at the poker table.


The Duke

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Welcome To The World Series of Poker

Rio Resort & Casino 6/2/07

World Series of Poker Walk through


Today I got up early (Not something I am proud of), and made my way down to day two of The 2007 World Series of Poker. Well first of all I showed up at 11:40am. There was thousands of people waiting in long lines to get into today's event. The event a No Limit $1500 buy in event. Soon after I entered the madness I made my way around the room to see what this years series was offering.

Located in the back was a dry erase board with info posted for cash games. They were offing $2-$5 No Limit & $10-$20 No Limit Hold Em. Now these are not the only games they are spreading for cash, but were the starters. As I approached all I could hear was griping from players that were alternates, saying that they were told to be there at the start time. Yet while they grumbled, over the loudspeaker they were being told to wait in the hallways.

All I could think is, "You have a year to plan this? And it starts like this!" I finally got up to the cash game podium and asked the young girl working there, when they thought the first cash game would start, or if I could even get on the list. She told me, "We are not going to start any til around 4pm." I was amazed, I said, "Really?" She started telling me that today's event was way larger then planned and that they would not have any tables available til then. I decided it was time to head out from the Rio.

I worked my way through the crowed again. Once in the hallway, I am weaving in and out when all the sudden some guy steps back and shoulder checks me. I am about to say something (but I realize there are so many people), I look up and he says "Oh sorry." I look at him, he is familiar to me, I say "No problem Layne," and continue walking off. It was Full Tilt Poker Pro Layne Flack who like most others had made his way to play in that days event. On my way out I started noticing a lot of Poker Pros, I saw Phil Ivey talking to a couple Average Joe's (Not to be confused with the Dogeballs Average Joe's Team, although that would make this more entertaining). I passed an autograph signing, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson as I turned the corner. I saw the likes of Paul Wasicka, Dutch Boyd and more.

The most noticeable of these Pros is this little guy who cut me off, just before I exited the building. He was in an extreme hurry, and was weaving in and out of people with his eyes low and his backpack hiked high. He cut me off so abruptly I had to move quick, to keep from falling over him, he just looked up and smiled. I expected for him to say, "No time to waste, I'm late, I'm late for an important date." This little guy looking more like the White Rabbit in Alice In Wonderland was none other then Daniel Negreanu. He just smiled said excuse me and waved to a couple people as he walked on.



I finally made it out of the Rio, got in my car, took a second to reflect and thought, where to now? Home? Planet Hollywood? Nah I decided on the MGM. I made my way on the backstreets, and within moments I made I was asking to be added to the $1-$2 No limit list, and the $2-$5 No limit List. After about a 5 minute wait I was seated in a $1-$2 game. Bought in for $200, and started my first session of June.

MGM Resort & Casino
$1 - $2 No Limit
June 1st, 2007
Start 1pm
End 5:30pm
Total Hours: 4.5
# of Bets Called Pre-flop, then fold to re raise: 4
# of Hands: 177
# of Flops: 27
# of Turns: 12
# of Pots Won: 11
# of Showdowns: 4

Total Profit: (+440)
Hourly: $97.78/hr

This session started fast and furious. I planned on playing tight, but felt like i looked like pure action. Within the first 20 minutes I had been in three showdowns, had check raised 4 people and been all in twice. When the smoke cleared I was up to $740 in chips. All of this in less then a half hour. I had pocket Kings, AK, pocket 9's, Pocket 6's & KQ all good.

The rest of the session was me on cruise control. Folding to most raises and only playing back when I had big hands. It worked out, I was very happy with the results, and defiantly helped ease my mind of the last Planet Hollywood session I played. There were a few hands to note during this session. But only one stood out to me in this session.

An hour in I was in the Hijack position with the KQ of clubs. A player in early position made it $15 to go and was called in 3 seats. I thought about folding, especially since the player to my right exposed the K of spades when she was folding. But I thought, what the heck I have good position. 2 other players called and we saw the flop 6 ways for $15 (Pot at $90). The flop was Kh 9s 7h. The original raiser bet $40 and it folded to me. I called as did one other player. The turn card was the 7d. It was checked to me, I checked and the player on the button checked. The river was the 3d. It was checked again, and I made a bet of $40. At this point the pot was at $190. The button thought and then put in a raise to $120. The original raiser folded and I thought for a minute. I knew there was something he did not like about the turn card, the I thought that he was actually playing off his trips. I folded and was shown 8s 6s. Yeah he had a busted straight draw, I was mad, but I said nice hand and showed no emotion. He tried to put me on tilt by saying, "8 high, ship it".

I realized as soon as I folded, that he could not have me beat there. Trips would have wanted to make a flush draw pay when he made his hand on the turn, and; when you pulled in my bet of $40 with his call before he raised the pot was at $270, and was only $80 more to call. I was calling $80 more to win $350. What was I thinking....uggggghhh. Mike says he thinks I sometimes play more tight and passive when I am in situations like this. Well I guess I found something I need to work on. Improving my reads when I have top pair or two pair.

It seems I do not call enough hands when I have top pair, and have a tendency to overplay 2 pair. I will work on this, maybe make this a project to improve my reads etc. Overall this session was good. I will be playing more this next week, I hope to put in somewhere around 100 hours this month, although 80 would be OK. Good luck and keep grinding.


The Gamblin Duke