Don't get me wrong...

I'm not a quitter... TRUST ME... But I'm done with poker... It's not meant for me and it's been made obvious by recent events (not only last night's at Quan's - even though that was the worst)... Not the lifestyle I'm supposed to be involved in.

This month.. I've gotten the largest grasp of the game.. Strategy and skill wise.. But it hasn't seem to matter much. I'm not being outplayed - I'm being outlucked CONSTANTLY... and not just one bad night.. but almost every night... I hate complaining about luck because I don't really believe "luck" exists ... Ha... But I've seen it exists in poker.. and I'm okay with that... But I've just realized that I have too much (good) going on outside of my fascination with poker to continue to let "luck" dwindle my funds weekly... Now folks... I haven't lost a GANG of money to where I have to go grab a job at McDonald's... But I'm not a fan of losing money at all... So I'ma play it safe from here... Chill and really re-focus on my company (www.shamanwork.com) 'cus I've honestly been putting more focus into poker lately (thank God that I have good a business partner, contractors, and dedicated interns that have picked up the slack recently). It sucks 'cus I know what I'm doing at the table.. and I feel totally in control of how I'm playing and reading how/what my competition is playing... But I can't stand not being able to control how those cards fall.. The dealer has been killing me for about a month now...

I'm not going into a lot of specific hands but the one that pretty much did it was my AA losing to 9c 7c and buddy caught quad nines (this was last night at Quan's cash game)... Yes, he went all-in with 9c 7c PRE-FLOP and I knew he was bluffing.. I've had a chance to watch him play all night.. I had made a standard raise with my rockets pre-flop.. But I guess he thought I was bluffing... So yeah, I didn't 'lay down' the rockets... I called all-in pre-flop... and yeah buddy got the quads on me... Hey, it was his night.. He had caught all types of stuff previous to that AND after that... I guess I was suppose to look deeper into my pocket aces and read his "l-factor" for the night (luck factor? - I guess) and fold my aces... Right? Maybe? I really hope he needed my money haha.

Been fun fellas... I'm proud of myself for being a gentleman through out all the bad beats... I've come a LONG way with my temper.

I'll use my math skills counting the dough that I'll earn from the talents God gave me (music and business skills - not gambling).

Before I go... The person that I'm REALLY rooting for in poker out of all the guys I've played with is Frank... I really think Frank (don't know your last name bro) is the best player I've played with... I think our styles are similar so maybe that's why I like his game... So "good luck" and "good skill" to you homie.. and the rest of the guys I've had a chance to play with.

Peace and Blessings,
Chris

Thanks Party Poker // 2 at a time...

Party Poker randomly gave me $20 to play with... Totally out the blue... I also experimented with playing in two SNGs at the same time. One on Absolute Poker and the other on Party Poker... Came in second in both... It got a little hectic sometimes.. but I pulled it off. Greaaaaat.

Absolute Bankroll: $115.25
Party Poker Bankroll: $23.00

More later.

-Craft

The First Poker Saturday...

The wife is out of town... So today was a good day for my first Poker Saturday at my apartment... Chris Cox, Brian Scanlon, Panha Cheng, and Albert Sanders (whattup Morehouse fam!) all came through for a friendly 5-man tourney... Scanlon took home first. He knocked me out in 3rd when my Kc 9c went up against his K 10 offsuit... He ended up catching two more 10s for a set (a king might've come also to give him the boat - I forgot). Mr. Sanders took second place... The heads-up didn't take long since everyone fed Scanlon their chips. But it was a good time... Panha was pure comedy talking about stripper friends and his pondering on why "egg timers" were called "egg timers" - in his words, "you can time anything... not just eggs" ... Good Lord help the boy.

The day wasn't over though... I went to my first shooting range and was the only person to hit the target in the yellow in the middle. I got some nice head shots in too... We were shooting a 22 and a 38 revolver. That was fun. Then we went to Anita's for some cheap Mexican food and ended the night watching 'Rounders' at Scanlon's... What a day... Now it's Sunday and time to rest.

Peace and MANY Blessings,
Chris Craft

It's Part of the Process...

I sit down at Quan's cash game tonight out in Centreville.. and boy am I HOT!... Full boat here (on my boy Scanlon who left $70 up on the night)... Trips and top pair + top kicker there... My $30 buy-in had gotten up to a good $80.00 at one point... BUT! I kept on playing... The cards slowed down... And my stack started to dwindle... Chasing a flush here.. Chasing a straight there.. And I'm not even the one to "chase" but I had to try to make a hand at some point (while betting cleverly) ... It gets to the point where I'm down to $15 in chips and I'm all in (it's a little past 2 am and I need to get up early the next day to clean up for my Saturday game tourney / cash game) ... I'm up against two drawing hands w/ our cards flipped over... I'm holding top pair with a queen kicker... So I'm ahead going into the river... A four of spades comes and this kid wins the pot (that includes the rest of my money) with a 4-8 straight.. He was on a flush and straight draw.. so whatever... I immediately called my wife (sorry for waking you up baby) to vent to her... It was rough. At least I only lost my original $30 buy-in... Folks were dropping $60-$100 in that cash game.

I was playing so well tonight and I leave with NOTHING! It's all a process. You have to lose and learn from how you lose before you can REALLY be prepared to win.. right? I'm in this for the long haul. I'm not going anywhere... I'ma turn this into a positive and become even more fierce... Hit the books harder... Play with more concentration... I'm only 3 1/2 months into playing this game and I'm hanging with folks that have been playing for a couple years or more. On the bright side, I'm still here breathing and I went 3 for 4 betting on basketball games tonight... I had to bet against my hometown Rockets - dag.

Nice game Quan... I'll be back!

-Rico

The Second Game @ Scott's

Wow... I just played the silliest and most meaningless hour + of poker in my life... I guess it was entertaining... Got a high school kid (I guess with a lot of money to spend) going all-in blind 3-4 times and winning most of them... The same kid knocked me out on the river when I was holding pocket 8s... Ah oh well... I've learned my lesson... If you want to play somewhat serious poker at Scott's, go to the first game. Goodnight folks.

Ricardo

The Beginnings // Capitol Hill (D.C.) Game

Hey all,

Welcome to my poker diary... It's ya boy Craft... Some folks might not think I'm important enough to even have a poker diary... But hell.. It's 2005 and I can do whatever the 'hell' I want... Right?... I've been playing poker since August 2005 (Texas Hold'em to be exact). My good friend Jason got me into the game... I remember my first game with the Anser guys and I got completely owned... I was out within the first 15 minutes... I felt soooo bad. For anyone that knows me.. I'm VERY competitive and I don't take losing with a smile often (although I've been more of a gentleman at the table lately). After playing a few more games and a conversation with my buddy Brian Scanlon, I decided to pick up some literature on the game and "get smart." I was told by Brian that his friend Scott Gallant (Doubleas) went hard on the poker literature and he saw his game greatly improve... Well... Hmm... I'm a smart guy... I have an electrical engineering degree from Georgia Tech... I'm good with numbers... Let's see "what it do" (c) Paul Wall... After all... If I'm going to be dropping $20-$30 at these home games, I need to at least have some sort of knowledge of the game from the books so that I can compete.

Someone tell me if I'm too long-winded in my posts... I WANT YOU FOLKS TO SEE MY GROWTH DAMN IT!... The books I've been reading have been great... Especially Dan Harrington's Hold'em books (awesome - highly recommended) ... But nothing beats good ol' fashioned experience. I started noticing that I would leave home games with a little bit of cash 'cus of my reading... but the pure process of playing hand after hand after hand is the key for any poker player... You might read in a book about "getting away from a hand" but until you have AA KK QQ and ESPECIALLY AK cracked in person (online is 100000x worse to me).. you have NO clue how sobering and saddening that feeling is... Luckily it's been more sobering for me... While I'm still an "amateur," a lot of the poker buddies that know me can tell you how well I can "get away from hands" ... Sorry if I'm ramblin' all... Reading and live games folks... That's your education... I'll get into online poker (the Anti-Chris(t) right now) and my troubles with that in a later post.

Fast forward to November 2005... Brian and I are coming off a DREADFUL poker trip to Atlantic City... You will HARDLY ever hear me talk about "luck"... I don't believe in it... But gosh darnit... Brian and I had some "bad luck" in AC at those damn $1-$2 tables... But whatever... that's how it goes... Honestly ya'll.. I almost quit playing... But my buddy Willock (Jason) gave me a good pep talk and said I shouldn't waste all my playing experience and studying over one bad weekend (I lost $480.00 people - not much to some of you.. but a brotha is on a budget!) ... He told me that if I was really serious about playing this game that would pick myself up and bounce back (that was the sensitive moment of this post - I'll try to keep it to one per three posts). This Monday we went over to Phi's house in Georgetown for a super fun cash game with some of my favorite guys to play with (Nicky, Quan, and the host Phi) ... I did solid.. not a bad night... Anytime I leave with more money than I came with... I'm okay... Below is a picture I took of Phi's new poker table that he made his damn self!

Yesterday was my 4th try at this new game I'm playing on Wednesdays hosted by Chris Darmanin (check out Chris' brother's site at http://www.darm.com) ... Pretty solid competition there... I'm at the stage of my "career" where I'm just trying to play with all types of people... Aggressive, passive, loose, tight, drunk, etc... This is a 18-person tourney with a $30 buy-in... And I came in 4th... Ah man... I felt really good about my play last night... I survived several all-in moments - a race when I was holding a pair of 8s against Ace-something - and my BEST call of an all-in to date... my pocket 7s held up against Q7 suited... It was a gutsy call but I felt good about it... I got knocked out when my A 10 ran up against big slick (AK) ... Oh well... That's how it goes... I pocketed $50 bucks... And it makes me hungrier for next time.

That's it until next time... I might play at Scott Gallant's Thursday home tourney tonight (a tourney that I've won once already - not bad)... and I might host my first Saturday game this weekend while the wifey is out of town... So you'll be hearing more from me... LEAVE COMMENTS FOLKS!... Oh yeah before I go... Everyone go check out Brian Mollica over at Poker - MySportsRadio.com ... He hosts a really good podcast called "All In" ... I'm just spreading the word... See you in Vegas Brian M.!

You will soon be able to get to my blog by going to:
http://www.pokerrico.com

Join my sports / poker message forum!

To learn more about the music side of Rico - Check out:
http://www.shamanwork.com
http://www.essdub.com
http://www.aljera.com

Peace and Blessings,
Chris "Rico" Craft
ricocraft@gmail.com