Author: Nick Momrik

I'm searching for my first hole-in-one. I enjoy being active and making things. I work for Automattic.

Bring on the Tilt…Full Tilt

Nick Momrik3 Comments

Tonight I installed Full Tilt and deposited $50 just in case I feel like playing the WPBT HORSE event on Sunday. I figured I might as well check out the interface, so I signed up for a $5+0.50 SNG.

Minimum raises were the norm and it was a rather tight table for the most part. I didn’t pick up any steal hands in position, so I just waited for some monsters. My first winning hand was 43o that flopped two pair. No one called my pot bet. I couldn’t slow play it because there was a flush draw on board and I needed to make sure nobody had the odds to call. Soon after I found rockets and doubled up. Not too many hands for the next few orbits and then I get QhTh in the big blind with a limper and the small blind. The flop gives me top two pair, so when it’s min bet by the small blind I bet pot. I didn’t realize it, but this left him with 50 chips and he of course bet out on the turn, which brought another queen, filling me up. He turns over Q5o. The only cards that can help him are the two tens, which would give us a split pot. Do I even need to say what the river is? A fucking ten. The player survives to live another day. I was the chip leader at that point and I could have really used that pot, but instead I run into runner runner. Maybe I used up my bad luck though.

I take a few pots here and there without any showdowns and then with 5 players left comes this hand…a loose player min raises UTG. He’s been calling all-in bets with hands like QTo and QJo. My AsQs on the small blind is looking good, so I push in. He calls of course and flips over two tens. He actually has a hand this time but it’s a race. I’m loving the flop which brings an ace and a queen. I only needed one, but that’s fine. The turn is a blank and I bet you can’t guess the river. Yup, another 2 outer on the river beats me when that fucking ten comes again.

As I look back at this hand I didn’t give the guy a chance to fold. I should have just called his pre-flop bet and he would have had an easy fold on the flop when two overs hit. Do you agree? How would you have played the hand? This just goes to show my inexperience in tournament poker.

I didn’t mind Full Tilt’s interface and after my deposit I have $50 in bonus cash calling my name. From what I’ve seen it isn’t worth my time though. Empire should have a reload bonus coming up in a few days.

XM Update

Nick Momrik2 Comments

Yesterday I received a letter in the mail from XM regarding updates to their service.

Beginning April 2, 2005, we will expand the basic service package to include two premium services at no additional charge — the High Voltage channel (previously $1.99/month) and XM Radio Online (previously $3.99/month). The monthly subscription price for our new expanded basic service will increase to $12.95 beginning April 2, 2005.

At first I wasn’t too happy, but then I saw that I could lock in my current rate by paying for a whole year. I plan to do that in the next few days. I’m also glad that I’ll be able to use the XM Radio Online service and will get the High Voltage channel.

Could this be the start of a merge with Sirius? I’ve read rumors of XM buying Sirius and this seems like it could be a first step in that process. Sirius has already given their users an online option and included premium stations, so maybe XM is just stepping up to the plate in an attempt to get more of the market.

A Fresh Start

Nick Momrik5 Comments

I hadn’t played poker since the 28th and my sister is coming to visit for a few days so I figured tonight was my best chance to play some poker. I’m glad I played. After a few hours of play at the Party Poker .50/1 tables I got in 300 hands and lost 8.5 BB. It was the greatest poker I’ve played in quite some time.

You might be wondering how I can you lose and say I played my best. My VP$IP was less than 12.5% and my W$WSF was less than 17%! That’s just the cards I was getting; not many premium hands and not many flops hit my hand. I only cold called a raise pre-flop once in 300 hands. I had Ac4c and three other players had already cold called the raise so I figured I was getting some good odds if I nailed a flop. If I didn’t catch on the flop, it was an easy fold. Looking back I should have probably even folded that one.

I just wasn’t getting any quality hands or hitting any kind of flops. A week ago I would have been frustrated, giving away bets. Today I was patient. I was aggressive when I hit and my big hands paid off for the most part. There were only two hands where I lost more than 2 BB and one of them was only 2.5 BB. The other hand cost me 5.5 BB, which is about 3 more than I should have. I found AhQh in early position, so I raised it. Everyone folded around to a tight player on the button who re-raised me. I called. The flop came queen high so I bet my top pair top kicker and was raised. I told myself he had rockets or cowboys, but I re-raised and then the pot was capped. I knew I was beat, but I check-called the turn and river anyways. The player showed KhKc for a big surprise. In the future I’d like to be able to fold after the flop raise. I fell in love with my hand even though I called his hand. Bad play.

I reviewed my 10 biggest losing hands (most were in the 1-2 BB range) and I only made that one mistake I just went over. After looking over my 10 biggest winning hands I couldn’t see any place where I could have extracted another bet out of my opponent. I’d say that’s a pretty good day at the tables, even if it was a losing day.

How do I know all of this? Well, when you combine the information gathered by Poker Tracker with the great advice in the Poker Tracker Guide, you have an easy and effective way to review your online poker play. I wish I had this a few months ago when my game went down the shitter.

I know I’m only 300 hands in to my new start, but with the new auto rate rules from the guide book, Poker Tracker has me tagged as a Good Player (Tight Aggressive Solid). That must mean I’m doing something right so far. Let’s hope it continues and the cards improve. If so, my bankroll will quickly build back up and I’ll be sitting at the $1/2 tables again in no time.

Using Flickr

Aside Nick Momrik2 Comments

Over the past two days I’ve uploaded 572 photos to my new Flickr account. I didn’t do any compression of the files when uploading, but still only managed to use 69% of my upload capacity for this month. I’m really impressed by the service that Flickr offers. For more information and links to all of […]

The Jacket

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The JacketI hadn’t heard of this movie until last night when my friend Casey and I were trying to find a movie to go see. We watched the trailer online and thought it looked good. We were right.

The Jacket is one of those movies that gets you thinking and will definitely require a second viewing once the DVD comes out. The story is about Jack Starks (Adrien Brody), a man accused of killing a cop. He doesn’t remember anything and is sent to a mental institution where some of his treatments involve a jacket. I won’t go into any more detail on that. A girl named Jackie (Keira Knightley) helps Starks find the answers that he needs.

Adrien Brody played an excellent part and has to be one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. Keira Knightley doesn’t even need to say anything to look good in a film, but did a good job as well. If you’d like to see here nude, this is a film for you. 🙂

Overall it was a great flick with a suspenseful and mind working plot. I’m already looking forward to the DVD release to answer some of my questions. I give The Jacket a B+.