Woah!! ... Haven't posted on here in AGES / Aljera.com

Hey my people,

Wow... Since moving from Northern VA (NOVA for the hip folks), I've barely played poker. I played last night at my buddy Joe's and last week at my buddy Josh's (who is one of the writers / founders of the popular Kissing Suzy Kolber blog) ... so I guess games are starting to heat up around here in SC. I came up nicely at the poker tables ($1/$2) at the MGM in Vegas in December 2007 during our annual Naaaaay Guuuuuy trip to the strip.. Purely taking money off drunk Brits / Hatton junkies and T-Pain look alikes. Online poker is still lame. I don't play NL Holdem online anymore... strictly Omaha Hi/Lo as far as online. Before going on online poker hiatus, I racked up enough Full Tilt points to get my daughter (who wasn't born at the time) a Full Tilt stuffed kangaroo w/ a baby 'roo in her pouch.. awwww cute!

I kinda miss posting here... I'll prolly post here every so often and copy and paste the posts to my new label site / sports & entertainment blog at www.aljera.com

Oh yeah... CentSports... It's too dope... Turn your $.10 into a fortune w/ free sports betting... Click HERE to join.

'Til next time folks. Have fun at the tables.

-Craft

Arlington Tournament Win + A BIG Lesson!

Sorry for the lack of updates... Poker has been solid lately... I did drop $120 in a cash game at Quan's last night... I couldn't connect with anything! But hey that's okay... I'm really happy that I took down a 19 person tournament in Arlington last Thursday (the 22nd) ... That felt GREAT! ... I played reaaaaally good poker and made a cool $200.00

One dissappointing thing recently was my 4th place finish in another tournament on the Saturday following my win... It was the big tournament comprised of the guys that I first ever played poker with... and honestly.. I was running that game no joke... I felt that I had the most game there.. I caught a guy bluffing with Ace high deep in the tournament and I had ace high also but I had a better kicker.. He put me all in but I knew it didn't make sense.. so I took down that huge pot... I was chip leader for a while after that but a crucial hand crushed me.. when it was four handed and I had Ace-four off.. not a bad hand four handed and I connected with the turn with my ace... But I made a crucial mistake.. I didn't raise pre-flop with my ace while in the big blind... so it opened up a lot of crap hands seeing a cheap flop... Well the person in the small blind (who eventually won the whole tournament) had 5-10 off and flopped two pair... I pushed all in when I connected with my ace on the turn (after he initially bet) and he called quickly... He boated with another 10 on the river... I was honestly crushed and I didn't last too many hands after that... I got PISSED that I lost the chip lead and I honestly went on tilt... I'm mad at myself 'cus I still had enough chips after that crucial hand to play with and I know that my skill probably could've taken me to still win that tournament... YOU LIVE AND YOU LEARN! ... CLEARING THE FIELD WITH THEIR TRASH HANDS IS IMPORTANT SHORT HANDED!!!! ... I will never ever ever ever forget my mistake in that tournament...

I FEEL SOOOO READY TO TAKE DOWN A TOURNAMENT NOW!! HOLLA AT ME!!

Peace and Blessings,
Chris Craft
www.myspace.com/ricocraft
www.shamanwork.com
www.aljera.com

+$200 in Vegas

+$200 for my Vegas trip... I played at Hooter's Casino mostly...

Competition wasn't that good.

Ayooooo... I'm on MySpace... Holla:

www.myspace.com/ricocraft
www.myspace.com/aljera
www.myspace.com/shamanwork

Peace,
Craft

YUCK!

What a yucky month of February... MY BIRTHDAY MONTH YA'LL! ... BLACK HISTORY MONTH YA'LL! ... C'mon poker gods give a brotha some LOVE!

The good ol' bankroll has taken a crazy dip... Time to griiiiiiind it out.

Craft

Why does my game suffer online??

Simple short and to the point...

I can't figure out online poker... I had an incredible run online at the $50 and $100 NL 6-handed tables; but that quickly came crashing down on Feb. 6th and 7th when I lost like 3/5 of what I had made during my run. In my live game, I know what I'm doing wrong when I'm not making money (or losing money).. But online.. I can't figure out exactly what I'm doing wrong when I'm on a bad run. I mean.. it seems like when I get bad cards.. I REALLY get back cards and I simply fold them.. I'll see a flop online with horrible cards about 5-10% of the time.. I honestly play pretty tight aggressive.. When I get good cards.. I raise like $3 or $4 (especially from early position to show folks that I mean business) in $50 NL (3x big blind is $1.50) and I still get 3-4 callers when things are out of control.. Aces get cracked... I get kings when someone else conveniently has aces... I get folks that call my hefty bets on the flop and call my all-ins when I try to push hard on the turn to protect my hand and folks call with runner runner straight draws / flush draws and HIT THEM!

We poker players always remember the bad times and bad runs... but I'm just dumbfounded as to why my bad runs online so outweigh my good runs... I've only had one good run online in my life... For those of you that have figured it out and are making good money.. I congratulate and really respect you because I don't know how you do it. Maybe I'm just a people person and I need to feel them out live in order to get a good read on them... Who knows?... But please give me some suggestions folks.. It just sucks to look at my excel sheet where I track my poker winnings and losses and see that I would be way above broken even if it wasn't for online poker... I probably need to just stop playing 'cus it's obviously -EV for me and stick to live games and make some sacrifices to get to AC and Vegas more... We'll see.

I'm down but not out folks.

Peace,
Rico Craft

Redemption at Quan's

Okay so this is version 2 of this post... I don't know HOW.. but it got erased while I was working on finishing it the first time.

Wowowow... What a night last night at Quan's... but before I get to that folks.. I'm just gonna let ya'll know that I've OFFICIALLY started my online cash game grind. Most of you guys know that I'm pretty much mainly a live game player. I'm only 4 days into the grind but things are going well so far. I'm not at the baller limits yet.. I'll get there. I'm currently playing $50 NL (.25 / .50) and I'm earning at an hourly rate of $32.39/hr (I want to get this up some more). I'm playing good poker and I'm taking down MOST of my big hands / big pots... I lost a set over set while all-in yesterday (sucks) but hey that's the way it goes sometimes.. There's all types of craziness online (hell.. live too) but below is an example of some of the crazy hands that I've been involved in:

#Game No : 3482705729
***** Hand History for Game 3482705729 *****
$50 NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, February 02, 17:03:59 EDT 2006
Table Table  68618 (6 max) (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: rubosworld ( $89.16 )
Seat 2: Stonebank ( $158.45 )
Seat 3: boblet24 ( $66.36 )
Seat 6: HipHopCEO ( $92.64 )
Seat 4: aumsents ( $71.40 )
Seat 5: Vete6 ( $0 )
aumsents posts small blind [$0.25].
HipHopCEO posts big blind [$0.50].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HipHopCEO [  As Ac ]
Vete6 has left the table.
rubosworld folds.
Stonebank folds.
boblet24 calls [$0.50].
aumsents calls [$0.25].
HipHopCEO raises [$0.75].
boblet24 calls [$0.75].
aumsents calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9d, Ts, 7d ]
aumsents bets [$2].
HipHopCEO calls [$2].
boblet24 folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9h ]
aumsents checks.
HipHopCEO bets [$4].
aumsents calls [$4].
** Dealing River ** [ Ah ]
aumsents bets [$2].
HipHopCEO raises [$6].
aumsents raises [$12].
HipHopCEO raises [$16].
aumsents calls [$8].
HipHopCEO shows [ As, Ac ] a full house, Aces full of nines.
aumsents doesn't show [ 7c, 9c ] a full house, Nines full of sevens.
HipHopCEO wins $57.75 from  the main pot  with a full house, Aces full of nines.
Tylertkw has joined the table.
Game #3482713695 starts.

Before I get to Quan's game... I played in Darm's D.C. tourney on Wednesday and got busted out pretty early.. I was playing okay but I got impatient and got busted when my AJ offsuit didn't improve on dude's flopped pair of 3s.. Blah.. I need to watch pushing on "gambling types" when my hand isn't made yet... I still had enough chips to grind with to stay competitive in the tourney. ARGH!

Now to the game at Quan's last night.. WOW!.. It was my largest cashout at a home cash game to date... I bought in for $30 and left with $243 (+$213). I knew that it was gonna be a wild night when the first hand I see when I walk in is a 3-way all-in with someone holding AA, another with KK, and the last person with JJ... The JJs made a straight and held up. My cards were hot from the jump. I got aces twice (didn't get paid one time with them when they ran into Tree's flush or straight), kings once, and queens when I first sat down (sorry Calvin). The fireworks came when after I worked my stack up to around $60 and I looked down at AQ off... I was in early position and raised to $1 hehe... a couple folks called then Joe re-raised me $6 on top.. I put him on a medium pocket pair... When it got back to me I pushed all in... Now the strange thing is that Ramel called my all-in with pocket 10s and of course Joe calls with pocket kings... I end up hitting two pair and taking down the pot of $160+.

I even flopped quad Aces against Joe but only made a few bucks out of it. Now I'm not saying that the ONLY reason why I won big was because I was getting some nice cards - that certainly helped but it wasn't the only reason... I did my fair share of bluffs, semi-bluffs, grinding, and blind / limp stealing last night (hell that's how I make most of my money in normal sessions). I want to ALWAYS remember the difference between and NEVER confuse simply catching good cards in a session and skill at the table. Skilled players know how to maximize their profits by getting their opponents to put most or all of their chips in the middle while getting most or all of their chips in the middle.. and that I did well. It won't be like that every night so I want to work even harder on playing outside of my cards.

But ya'll know me... NEVER satisfied. I'ma keep on studying, learning, and grinding. I'm waiting for my latest eBay purchase - a DVD set featuring Gus Hansen, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, and Andy Bloch.

I'm off to NYC ya'll on business. Go Steelers (I guess) - It'll be nice to see The Bus, Hines, Troy, Big Ben, and Cower take home the Lombardi.. The Seahawks need to pay some dues first... I'M OUT!

Peace and Blessings,
Chris Craft

Cool session in Arlington

+$57 session in Arlington last night.

I'm REALLY starting to see what the pros are saying about calling stations.. They can be QUITE lucrative.

As usual.. A fun atmosphere and Sanh is a great host.

Peace and Blessings,
Craft

Arrogance? ... Yep.

Wooow... I randomly read Scott Gallant's (DoubleAs) blog and ran across a post where he called me out for listening to music at his poker game... The words below aren't strictly about that.. there's other stuff I picked up from dude's attitude and personality that lets me know he's a prick and that he's REALLY smelling himself. Yes, you've had some success - congrats... but watch who you talk shit about... It REALLY might save you an ass whoopin' in future situations - not from me of course 'cus I'm a peaceful dude :)

So anyway.. I played at Scott's last night... I had a fun time... A lot of arrogance in the air from the host though... I see why though 'cus most of the dudes there pump his head up (dickriders we call them).

Won't play there again.

I got a tip for buddy... PLEASE be a man and call me, tell me to my face, or e-mail since you're a computer geek that you think it's rediculous that I'm listening to my iPod while I'm playing at your home game.. Don't try to be slick and drop some words discretely on your blog... I own a record label for God's sake.. I LOVE MUSIC prick!

I was very respectful the whole night.. helped him set up tables, chairs, etc. - was very polite... But everyone that knows that I'm not the most talkative person in general nevermind at the poker table.. AND music is my life.. so whoever reads this.. don't take my demeanor as not being friendly.. only a FEW of you reading this blog are really my damn friend anyway.. so I'm not gonna force laughter at corny ass jokes through out a night... I'll chuckle a little bit but that extra shit isn't me.

But Scott... sure you have talent but you never know who will bust your ass down the line. TRY to be humble dude and don't think everyone you play with is a friggin' donkey from the jump.. it's gonna be a hard task for you but try homie... It's not healthy having people dislike you.

Peace and Blessings,
Chris Craft

YIKES!

Bad play and bad run of cards tonight at Quan's

-$140.00 EEK!

Peace.

The Countdown to EVEN!

Short post.

I had a +$102 cash game session in Falls Church at Trevor's on Sunday... Hit a really crazy rush that included bad beating my buddy Scanlon when I caught an ace on the river to give me 2p (aces and sixes) .. cracking his pocket jacks. The hand was played very aggressively on both ends with a king on the board.

I also have won several $10 SNGs at Party Poker this month also... It's interesting.. I've been using online poker lately to replace losses at live game sessions this month.. It has worked out great for my bankroll.

Been an up and down month so far.. BUT! I'M UP!.. and I'm in arms reach of being a break even poker player over my "career" .. I'm excited ya'll. But that's all.. More later.

Peace and Blessings,
Ricardo.

Never.

Tell a bad player that he sucks. It's not worth it.

Peace.

Gettin' Bluffed / Too Pushy

Over the last two nights (Wednesday and Thursday):

1. I got bluffed out of a huge pot when I had the best hand by Ramel (spelling?) at Quan's cash game Wednesday.. when I was holding second highest pair (queens) and he had probably the second to lowest pair (6s)... He bet $3 or $4 on the river.. I came over the top and doubled his bet... He re-raised and put $15 on top.. I folded... There was a king out there that would've made him top pair and three to the flush on the board... I totally got outplayed... I've never been bluffed like that before and I'll remember that for the rest of my life. Seriously.

2. Got rivered when having two pair (A 7) and I placed this chick named Angela all-in yesterday at Chris Darmanin's tourney... She had AK of hearts (suited) and of course an 8 of hearts come on the river to make her flush. I was immediately crippled to short stack in the tourney (I was the chip leader at my table at the time and she had the second or third highest stack).. I would've been in GREAT shape if that river card wouldn't have been a heart.. but I battled back to to make it to the final 6 (of 18) and I was 3rd highest stack when I got busted out. I was impressed with how I didn't get rattled and battled back.. Now I just need to learn how to control my patience and control / time my semi-bluffs (especially the kind of the all-in variety - more on that in #3). I felt in control most of the night.. Feeling good about my game / progress.

3. I need to work on my tournament game... I need to work on my game period. I swear.. If I can just add one key skill to my game every so often.. I'll be happy and I feel that I can be a really good player - great even. So anyway.. We're down to the final 6 at Darm's tournament last night in Capitol Hill ($30 buy-in and $10 bounty)... As I mentioned in #2, I battled back fierce from being short stack after being rivered. I was mixing it up nicely - subtly changing gears.. value betting.. position betting.. slow-playing.. timely all-in bets / raises (eventhough most of them worked tonight - I need to have more control and not use this move too often.. pick my spots better) .. Fast forward to my "bust out" hand from last night:

I'm in the cut off position and the chip leader in middle position two-bets to make it $6000 to go (blinds were $1500.00 / $3000.00). I re-raised $6000.00 on top to make it $12,000.00. I'm holding Ac 10d ... The flop comes all clubs and I'm in position but neither my ace nor 10 were hit. He checks to me and I foolishly get in "hyper-bully" mode and push all-in. I didn't think he had two clubs but he calls and he had two clubs... He "slow-played" them... I don't plan on cursing much on here but WHY DIDN'T I TAKE THE FUCKIN' FREE CARD YA'LL?.. He flips over Qc Jc after he calls and I flip over my Ac 10d.. Two blanks came on the turn and river and my tourney was over.. I gave him my $10.00 bounty and that was that... $40.00 lost and $20 gained on bounties from me busting other folks out after 3+ hours of play.. -$20.00 for the night.. GREAT (sarcasm). Darm, thanks for the advice on taking the free card (oh and sorry for knocking you out when I had my pocket kings).. I shouldn't have tried to bully the big stack when I was on a draw myself.. I need to be more patient... MORE PATIENT... Take the damn free card Chris - I would've lost some money, but not my whole stack if I just would've checked behind him after the flop and let him bet out on the turn and I folded. Should've listened to Paul Darden in his Cardplayer Magazine interview about tangling with the big stack. Better me making this $40 (real dollars) mistake now and learning my lesson NOW than at a WSOP high dollar buy-in tourney right? RIGHT? Aaaaaaargh. I was a gentlemen though and left peacefully.. I got beat / outplayed fair and square and I saved my yelling / cursing for when I was in my truck alone driving back home to Alexandria.

Wanted to go to Atlantic City this Saturday with Frank.. but I'm going to wait and spend time with the wife this weekend and honestly work my bankroll up to $1000.00 before I go... I know $1000.00 isn't much to some of you ballers.. but I'ma beginner in this game and I need to first reach that 'G' threshold before I go AC grindin'. Let's see if I can get closer to that 'G' tonight in Arlington at another cash game (the same one where I pulled the squeeze play).

All is and WILL be well ya'll. I'm so motivated to crush any and all tables right now. I'm soooooo damn motivated right now folks. More than I've ever been.

Oh yeah.. Shout out to that Allen (or Alan or Allen) guy sitting to my right Wednesday at Quan's (Howard made me do that shoutout)... And Vince Young - Get your money homie... HOOK'EM HORNS - BCS CHAMPIONS!

Peace and Blessings,
Chris

Rule #1 (For me)

Don't play when you're not fresh. You can't think right and you get impatient.

:)

Peace,
Chris

New Year's Day Session @ Quan's

Short update..

I was ITCHIN' to play on New Year's day and I was waiting on someone to pull the trigger... Quan called me while I was at Target and I knew it was about to go down. I had a really solid session on 1-1-06 (also my dad's birthday) and left with $45 dollars profit after the session ended. I played some really disciplined poker... Letting go AK, AQ, and AJ several times (saving myself some money). They say in the poker books that you make money by not LOSING money with key laydowns.. but most beginners (and I'm still a beginner - ain't no ego here YET) don't put that into practice when they play.. Well I try my best to put it into practice when I play... and that doesn't mean that I'm going to let other players run over me while I'm holding solid cards by striving for the ULTIMATE laydowns. I just go off the vibe and my instincts and if it doesn't feel right to me, I'll let the hand go (especially pre-flop). Period.

Back to the session itself... I was in several pots with Quan and I'm happy to come out the victor in most of them that day. 1. I flopped the nut straight Ace to 10 and doubled up through him while holding QJ... 2. I didn't believe his bluff on the river on another hand.. called and took it down (I don't even remember my cards and the board) and 3. The best bluff of my "career" to date... I was on a draw with AQ of hearts and all I needed was one more heart to come on either the turn or river for my nut flush... I wasn't going to get good odds for drawing against Quan.. so I decided after the flop to play like my hand was made already and play strong.. I put out "feeler bets" after the flop and after the turn (I was out of position). He raised my bet after the turn and I called.. showing strength. I was thinking about pushing all-in on the turn but I decided to chill. On the river I missed my heart flush again but the card was scary (might have been a king) so I decided to make a move.. so I checked to him. He threw out a bet that I thought was suspicious and once I sensed a little weakness.. I knew my check-raise bluff would work. I pushed all-in immediately after his bet and he folded instantly. I showed my bluff (ace-high / missed draw) to the table and I regretted showing it right after I did it.. But thinking about it now, I'm glad I showed it because it'll give my buddy Quan a little more to think about while in a hand with me. This move and the squeeze play in Arlington make me really proud of my growth in poker.. but I'm not satisfied so I'm going to continue to hit the books, blogs, etc. as hard as I can.

At any rate... Solid session and I'm looking forward to playing in Chris Darmanin's tournament in D.C. on Thursday. Until then...

Peace,
Rico Rico

Cash Game @ Scanlon's // 2006 Goals

Long time no speak folks...

I couldn't end the year without a poker session. I had spent most of the day with my beautiful wife. Wanda and I had a late brunch and a movie yesterday - good times. GREAT FOOD at the diner on King St. (Bailey's Crossroads, VA) and a great Broadway musical comedy turned movie, The Producers, for a nicely timed matinee.. Aaaah the love birds.

I was thinking through out the day if someone would've wanted to play last night.. Before I know it, the calls start coming in from Frank and Scanlon. I got to Scanlon's around 10 something during a mini-tournament that Frank, Scanlon, Goldie and Steve were having.. Goldie (Russell) and Steve ended up pretty much chopping it.. and then the cash game started (yay!).

It was definitely a night of hot cards and a few bad beats... Saw 2 or 3 quads... A couple boats.. A lot of two-pairs.. So playing straight up solid poker was money last night (well for me and Steve). The most interesting thing of the night was Steve's weird "calling station" style sucking the money from the other stacks all night. The pros say don't even TRY to bluff a calling station - make sure you have something when you bet into them. Well it was early on and I hadn't played with Steve too much in the past so... I was testing him. This one particular hand.. I was pushing hard at him (I was holding Q 8 offsuit) and the board had all low cards I believe.. Well I bet $4.00 on the turn.. he called.. then a nine fell on the river and I bet $8.00.. dude CALLED and guess with WHAT - Q 10 offsuit... WTF!! ... What a call... See.. I'm not sold that he's just soooo good at reading people. I just think he knew he was on some sort of rush for the night, he was tired and sick so he was just gambling to gamble w/o much strategy, he was starting to build a killer chip stack so he could afford it, and maybe a liiiitle bit of it was him thinking that I was bluffing (I might not be giving him enough credit).. His 10 friggin' outkicked me BARELY and he took down the pot.. Honestly one of the CRAZIEST hands I've played since I started playing poker. He called another big bet on the river and outkicked Frank last night on another hand where both of them were holding ace high (Frank - A 10 and Steve - big slick).

I'm soooo happy that I played last night because I got a chance to play against a new style of player (Steve). He plays both his big hands AND crappy hands like trash... He hardly ever raises pre-flop... Hell, he HARDLY raises period... Dude just calls calls calls calls. He doesn't play poker frequently, so I'm not sure he even cares about his style working anywhere else in the future ('cus it's honestly not a good playing style to practice). It was also good practice at short-handed play. Anyway. Good times. I made $25.00 profit on the night, so I made my money back from losing $13.00 on Wednesday at Quan's 100000000000000 handed cash game (where I lost a good chunk of money to one of Nicky's cousins that looks damn 9 YEARS OLD!) - a solid week coming from a break in playing.. and as always, good experience!

Here are some of my goals for the New Year:

1. Mature spiritually.

2. Continue to practice having fun and not necessarily putting "money first" in the things I do (that includes stuff where it seems the main objective IS to make money - i.e. selling records & poker).

3. Put out at least 4 major releases on Shaman Work this year (and a GANG of street level mix-cds)... I going to do more with my Aljera (www.aljera.com) imprint also.

4. Finish 75% to 80% of my own production album tentatively titled Tone Box.

5. Get Arbitrage, LLC (Me, Willock, Tone, and Paul) crackin'.

6. Write/develop a comedy screenplay with my friend LaTina Emerson.

7. Put my Serato Scratch and my powerbook (FINALLY I HAVE ONE THAT WORKS!) to use and start to DJ here and there.

8. Finish my business plan and lock down solid contacts for my Sylvan Learning Center franchise that I'm going to open within the next two years.

9. Get the 10-person investment club that I'm heading up OFFICIALLY off the ground and turning some solid profits (can't wait to build with you more on all this Albert).

10. Have a large enough bankroll to be able to comfortably sit at the $2/$5 NL tables in Atlantic City and Vegas.

11. Have enough money in the "buy a damn house" part of my savings by December 2006 for at least 50% of a nice size down payment for me and Wanda's first home purchase in the spring/summer of 2007.

12. Just keep the inspired hustle alive PERIOD and make my parents proud - R.I.P.

Everyone bring in the New Year SAFELY!

Peace and Blessings,
Ricardo Craft
www.pokerrico.com