Author: Nick Momrik

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

Player of the Year

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My favorite poker pro, Daniel Negreanu won the final event of the season, the WPT Bellagio event, to take the Card Player Player of the Year. David Pham had passed Negreanu in the standings with only two events left on the schedule, so the pressure was on and boy did he ever come through. Negreanu […]

The Streak is Almost Over

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I’ve decided to stick it out at the $2/4 limit tables on Party Poker. I’ve proven to myself that I can play there, I just need the cards to start helping out a bit. People with 3-5 outs are killing me when the turn and river brings their miracle. I’ve moved away from the bad beat tables, but have run into some tighter play. I’m not sure if it’s been a good thing or a bad thing. I seem to be taking down more pots though, that’s for sure.

Last night I was recognized at the tables for the first time ever. It was -EV and he remembered my screenname from the blogger tourney I won. We chatted it up a bit and I think the table took notice. They were folding to our raises (good and bad) and shortly after, the table broke up completely. My luck is running so bad that even a blogger sucked out on me. I raised from UTG with KK and was called by one other and -EV in the big blind. The flop was a rainbow with no ace. I bet, -EV raised and I reraised him back. The turn brought an ace, to which he check-raised me. The turn paired the queen on the board and it went check-check. He showed down an ace and a nine, hitting his two pair on the turn to beat my cowboys and take down a 10+ BB pot.

Almost simultaneously on another table my QQ lost to AQ when an ace came on the turn. My big hands just aren’t holding up like they should be. If there is a hand my opponent could have to beat me, they have it. I’m doing my best to keep the pot where someone doesn’t have the odds to call, but that doesn’t really mean a whole lot to these players. Each time someone hits their 3-5 outter, I lose a pot that’s near 10 BB. If just a couple of these pots go my way, I’m ahead. Instead, I’m behind as of late. At least my pocket rockets are holding up though. After starting a new database in Poker Tracker, I’ve had them 19 times and only lost once.

I, Robot

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I, Robot (Widescreen Edition)I had heard great things about I, Robot so my expectations were unusually high. So, yes, I was disappointed in the movie. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good movie, but not DVD buying material. The story was just a little bit too out there for my tastes.

Will Smith did a great job in his role as the cop with a hate for robots. I won’t be spoiling any suprises by saying that he turns out to be the hero. What? Did you think he would end up dead? Other than Smith, there isn’t a whole lot of action by many others in the film. Well, besides the robots that is.

For a movie set in the future, I would have thought there would be more/better special effects. There weren’t. There was some good stuff with the robots, but nothing that blew me out of my chair.

With all of the hype the movie received, I really was expecting a lot more. I give it a B+.

Over The Weekend

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On Friday night, the family came down for Heather’s graduation. The speaker was dreadful, as expected, but the ceremony didn’t seem too long. After commencement, we headed off to Red Lobster for a little dinner celebration. I love that place. I had the Ultimate Feast and saved room for desert. It was some microwaved brownie thing with ice cream and chocolate syrup. Mmm mmm mmm!! I’ll usually have a Heineken with my dinner there, but I’m taking Tylenol 3 with codiene right now so that wouldn’t be such a good idea.

Let me tell you, this is one good drug. Not only does it wipe out the pain, but it makes everything else feel better too. I know why these things can be addicting. I’m also taking some Penicillin because my dentist thinks I might have an infection in my gums somewhere. The pain I was experiencing late last week is the worst I’ve ever felt in my life. At times I thought my teeth were falling out because it felt like someone hit me in the face with a hammer. The pain seems to be gone for the most part though. I’m trying just to get by with Ibuprofen and it’s working so far.

Heather and Steve woke me up on Saturday morning to go shopping for a digital camera that Steve was going to buy her for Christmas. I was sleeping the best I had in weeks, so I was not a happy camper. After checking out Best Buy and Circuit City, Heather had her mind made up on the Canon PowerShot SD300. She chose it mainly because I suggested getting a Canon and she loved the small size. It is one of their new models and looks pretty sweet. So we went back to my house and ordered it online with 2 day shipping so it would arrive for Christmas.

For the rest of the weekend I played poker and Xbox, when I should have been Christmas shopping. I’m not even done with half of my shopping and I only have until Thursday to finish up. I also need to renew my driver’s license this week before I have to pay late fees. It’ll be a slow week at work, so my stress level should be next to 0, making it easier to get motivated to get things done at night.

The Streak Continues

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Losing streaks suck!

I played some no-limit again last night and the cards are just not coming. I can’t hit a flush draw. Can’t win when I call someone’s bluff. Can’t get someone to fold when they should. It’s very frustrating. But…after winning for the first 2+ months of my new serious play, I figure variance is finally kicking in.

Over Thanksgiving break I had my best day ever at ring games, taking down almost $400 in a few hours of play. My bankroll was sitting near $2400, the highest it has ever been. Over the next two days I managed to give about $300 back and it has continued ever since. I’ve had a few small winning days over these three weeks, but the majority have been losses. I know that I’m going on tilt a little bit here and there, but the cards are just not cooperating. I think my bankroll is down around $1700 right now. It’s been almost a month since I set some goals for my poker game and instead of going forward, I’ve gone backwards.

I’ve tried to switch it up by playing no-limit this week, but that’s not where I play my best, especially when I’m losing. I’m a much better limit player because I can play the odds and my losses are limited by the betting structure. During my Thanksgiving peak I had moved up to $2/4 games and the bad beat jackpot tables at Party Poker. I did well to start, but then hit a brick wall and I don’t think I was quite ready for how fast the bankroll can disapper at the higher limit. I’ve been primarily playing the $1/2 6-max tables and they seem to be my favorites, but I may have to go back to the full 10-seat tables and just grind it out. Tighten up and be aggressive. Back to ABC poker with some SSH in the mix.

Thanks to working for SVSU, I have a long Christmas break from work and I expect to play a ton of poker while I’m up at my parents for almost 2 weeks. I’ll be taking my main computer with me so that I have access to Poker Tracker and all of my software. I’m also going to the casino in St. Ignace for New Year’s Eve, so I’m looking forward to some live play finally. I’m hoping to at least get the bankroll to $3000 or so, but in order to achieve my goals, I really need to get closer to the $4000 mark. We’ll see…

I’ve been reviewing bits and pieces of SSH, which really helps to remember things I had totally forgotten. For instance, protecting a hand by checking the flop and betting the turn, so that some of the draws are not getting the right price to call. It’s these minor leaks in my game that are making the bad cards look worse in the numbers.

I also need to rememeber that poker is just one big long session.

My new goal is to practice focus, concentration, logic, patience, aggresiveness, and THINK.