Zauc3's blog

The popularity of poker is steadily getting better in Miami. The juicy apart about this news is that there are TONS of new players everyday and they are sure risking a lot of money just trying to learn on the tables...and what did you say!?!?....of course, I follow those ATM's like a GPS. I've been invited to 3 home games full of lawyers in downtown and I was called excitedly to come down and play.

Caller-Yo, you free for tonight? Poker all night

Hero-who's gonna be there?

Caller-let's just say that you're not gonna be needing a job for a few months..........hello? You coming?

About 12 minutes later I show up knocking on the door. It usually takes about 35 minutes to drive to downtown and then another 10 minutes trying to find the cheapest parking lot. Anyways, the door opens and I'm greeted by my old friend who just recently graduated from UM law school and made some quick friends who play poker. I get myself comfortable with a beer and just start walking around the place looking at which table looks the juiciest. Place is packed with some VERY hot lawyers who i wouldn't mind letting them charge me for some bad behavior ;) haha...

My buddy comes up to me with a huge smile and says, "bro, I know you needed this. All these tables are full of players that have deep pockets so this is not a home game where you have everyone with just a buy in or two......why you drooling?"

hola coinflippeeeerrrrssssss,

ur man alex aka "zauc3" aint doing so well in the past 3 to 4 months. I've been in a real downer as a lot of things are going in my life including my job so sitting on the poker table is kinda like my stress relief but then that's not enough for me as I'm just doing horrible. I know a lot of people just rather want to read about something positive but keeping it bottled up is not working out so well lol...

Life wise, life is just a little crappy as my tech school gpa dropped from a 3.7 to a 2.9 in just two semesters. I am attending my classes but I guess when it comes down to homework and projects, I just rather take a bad beat online back to back lol =P but I always do then but extremely half ass. I do my quizzes and exams well and that's what's really keeping me in shape to pass.

Poker wise, I guess I'm making a lot of mistakes online and live. Number one mistake online is that I don't pay much attention because i enjoy multitasking to other things when I'm not in hand. The other mistake is that I need to practice myself from handling bad beats or just tilting. I have read articles and books about just forgetting about it and clearing my mind to the next hand....but guess what!?...the same fucking idiot is still on my table and that really stresses me out because revenge stays on my mind and I know I can't follow that.

Hola coinflippers =) since I've been taking this break, I've been doing really well on the tables. Been away from homegames and just reading a lot and taking it one day at a time on PS under SexyDumpling. New name, new game. I've been playing a lot of $5 sit n go's and crushing them. My little secret for the sit n go's is that I stick around for position and dominate from them. Usually when I take a big pot during the early levels, I slow down and just let everyone knock everyone out unless I have a pretty good hand. I try not to raise much in the late levels because the shortstacks usually take over...so the action is all done for me =D haha. Here's a little example at how tight and solid player I can be on a sit n go to make sure I don't lose much equity if my hand is actually beat. Both samples are in level one and two so it's only been a few minutes into the game :

Hola =] I know, I know...I've been a little under the radar for so long but that's because I had to take a little break from poker for a while. I don't know guys, poker has been really upsetting and really stressing for the past 2 months. It's been such a downswing for me that I can't even read a poker book without throwing it across the room. I tried sitting at a home game a week ago and I got donkey'd out from a tourny....I was the just the second person knocked out and I was sitting there for more than 2 hours. Three hours later I sit down for a cash game and my very first hand i receive AK off, I'm in late position and 3 bet a raiser in middle...he calls and flop comes out all in rags except jack of clubs. He bets and I go all in...and remember, this is a cash game....so he tanks a little, sighs, and says, "fuck it, I know you don't have shit" and calls. He shows A6 off with no draw of any type. I flip my AK and he hits his 6 on the river and he stands up pumping his fists in the air saying how good he is in poker....wow, right there made me walk away from the table to sit on top of my car wondering why poker has ran so bad for me. So i took one whole week from poker, which is super long for me lol, and just a little fresh from it. I stayed away from any poker table, poker videos, books, mags....and even sadly, I stayed away from coinflip lol =P. I'm so behind in the poker news and vids of all sorts. I picked up a book today at Barnes n Nobles and felt sooooooo good about it lol i am currently watching the Big Game from pokerstars and amazed how lucky KidPoker is by knocking out all the loose cannons. I'm about to jump in on PS and try some .5/.10 on a short handed table....naw fuck it, ima try a tourny first.

As my second blog about what's going through with me, I feel like I have evolved a lot through poker and essentially used that through life. Sounds kinda funny sometimes but whenever I have to say "two"...well haha, you guessed it, I would say duece! I remember when I had this huge project for school concerning law and court and I was in the defendant side. I was practiacally trying to protect this man and somehow show the judge that tons of his rights were violated *4th,5th,6th* and there was this one part where I had a had nice fight and before I sat down, I said out loud, "I had the nuts on this one!!" lol...the other side had a wierd look after that one. Poker is always on my mind and most def. everywhere I go. I collect ALL IN magz, WPT magz, as well as BLUFF magz and I always have one on me so I can read it when I can whenever I'm out. I went to school to be a poker dealing and I graduated around july, but I have not been able to get anything from anyone....I feel like I might have to start applying out of state to possibly get something. I feel like if I do get a poker dealing job in some type of casino, my poker career would really start in a great path as now I am completely surrounded by it. Phil Ivey's advice in becoming such a great poker player is to always work on your game and put a lot of hours in it. He once said in a interview that he would always think of poker, even when he's in the shower, he would just think of the game. I would have dreams of winning a major tournament and it would feel so great....then pissed off when I wake. I also recently got some crap job at a Cuban restaurant as a busboy just the other day.

What can I say about life? Life can be amazing sometimes, and life can be horribly aweful. Life has their ups and downs and sometimes what life has planned out for everyone one of us...can be a little scary if you think about it. I am going to be honest about myself. I am a man who suffers in life not knowing what is before himself. I see things in such an odd way which probably makes me think that it would never be possible for myself. I hate that. I feel like I would never accomplish something "major" in life. Some people play poker their whole life and die without ever having a royal flush before...I am currently running an 8 year streak. I have done so much in life and experienced so many things that I wonder how I would be placed in the future.

To be honest again, I have always wanted to blog about myself. I used to read other peoples blogs and follow how they are doing. I would laugh and try to imagine what it would be like to be in their shoes. I read other peoples blogs on here about how much money and how their grinding out throughtout the world. Watched busto and rebusto like 5 times already and that's because it's probably the closest way I can see myself in a similar case with them, and not that I'm as wealthy as them, but how we are both human beings and they were just like me once. Nothing is impossible...but what can we do to make things possible? Working harder? Not ever giving up? My question is...am I busting my ass for something that life has not planned for me?

So all last week I have been playing a ton of home games (including one for tonight =P haha) and I've been running into a lot of 2+2 forum users. These home games can be very week or sometimes a bit challenging but nothing too aggressive. For the most part, i get a lot of angry and frustrating looks my way because of my playing style. I love to bet draws. I love to bet any draw. If I don't hit, then I don't hit. That's poker. I trap a lot and gain the lost tempo on the turn by betting big on the river. In some of these home games, i over hear players using 2+2. In no disrespect to 2+2, they are a good site but over populated to understand anything in the replies....as for coinflip, we are one nice family. I feel completelely comfortable with this site and I am on here for most of the hours of the day! I remember this one session where I had the nuts holding a full house with KJ on the river and I went all in. My dear old friend claudia looked at me and said, "That's a very aggressive play Alex....let me ask you this, is Coinflip that good?" I looked back at her and winked. "Jeez bro, I have the nut flush and I don't think I can call you", she flips over AQ of diamonds and she was right, she had the Ace high nut flush and that's when I slowly cover my face so my neck pulse won't show.

Five minutes later she finally gave up the hand and struggled in her chair like something bit her on the ass. "I think I'm going to sign up for Coinflip because since you started entering that fucking place, your play got very solid. Sick. Tell those fuckers I'm coming." I smiled and that's when I fully wished I had some Coinflip gear =)

You know what's really annoying? Bad Beats on the river. When they F*(#*(_)#*(#&# suck out on me right on the river and they call themselves better poker players. Phil Hellmuth is a poker brat, but sometimes I do feel bad for him when they always suck out on him. Damn donkies that call raises with crap and hit better. I remember once having the beautiful rockets and I raised 50 BB in a level 4 and some idiot calles with 54 offsuit and hits a 5 on the flop. I raised again and he calls with a Q and 10 on the flop. The turn comes out to be a K! I raise more than half his stack and he calls!!! The river comes out to be a 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...........jeez bro....I swear.....

So i sit down in a NL $50 buy in cash game of $1/$2 at a casino. Obviously, there are people who are already stacked on the table and I must some how bring a table image of being tight till i have something huge enough to start betting. The problem is, it's kinda scary to play when you started with just $50 and someone might just reraise you enough to just call all in.....so the question is------------> what should be my hand range to play when I just jumped into a table?????????