i got back from mexico from jed's bachelor party this weekend just in time for the Syndicate event. the turnout wasn't huge, i think we had about 15 people. i started off very slow and had to make moves to stay alive as i was pretty card dead. one hand that really sucked to chop: i had J-10 suited in a re-raised pot preflop (keep in mind that we were short handed). flop is JJQ. checks to me, i go all in for about the pot. i get called by AK. turn Q. river Q. chop it up. ugh. my favorite was busting john with 88 when i raised on the button and he shoved with KsQs which amounted to about a minimum raise. i called and flopped a boat : 8-J-J. the turn gave John an Ace high flush and he erupted in cheers. i quietly reminded him that he was drawing to 1 out, the 10s for a royal flush to beat my boat [verrryy niiiiice (borat voice)!!!!] i busted in 5th with KQ all in vs. Q3 and 78. flop was 10-J-J. pretty damn good flop for me. turn 4. their 9 outer hits with the river with a 7. oh well -- i got up to oceans and had a quick but good session there.
i played last night again and there were a couple of noteworthy hands. in a limped pot, i held 8-9 and flopped the top 2 pair on a 896 board. i bet and i got 2 callers. the turn was 6. the early position player led into me, so i raised, others folded, he called. the river was a 9 to fill me up. he checked, i value bet and he called. he showed down 7-5 for the flopped straight. ummmmm.....what the fuck were you thinking guy? he let me get there as best as he possibly could and when the hand came up in conversation a few minutes later, he hadn't realized that he flopped a straight! i should have gotten his number to start having him come to our home games.
i did well at the beginning of the session after flopping a set of 4s on my very first hand at the table. i also flopped top 2 pair with AQ and got a caller, which is pretty amazing for me to win a nice pot with that hand. then our table broke and it all went to shit.
early at my new table i turned top 2 pair with AK and got raised. i called and it turns out that he had called my 3 bet preflop with J-10 and made the nut straight as i hit my top 2 pair. ouch. oh then a really brutal hand came up when i made the nut 10 high straight on the turn and bet it big to protect against the flush draw and got 1 caller. of course the board paired on the river and it was the 8-9, 2 pair ---> boat hand coming back to bite me in the ass.
i just continued to get cold decked. not a good stretch in there. i was getting ready to leave after a long sucky session, when the following hand came up:
i folded. !!!!! yea! that was my best play in this hand. i wasn't really watching the action that closely, but i know it was 3 bet preflop and there were 3 players in the hand.
the flop was AQJ. bet, call, raise to $200, call, call.
turn 3.
short stack all in for $150, all in for $500 from the middle position, insta-call all in by the button. wow. as the three players revealed their hands, we saw JJ from the short stack, QQ from the middle position, and AA from the button!!
set over set over set. wow - what a hand. brutal cooler for the Queens and Jacks. but wait for it............
river J! BAD BEAT JACKPOT BABY!!! and the crowd goes wild. if you ever want to see a bunch of old fat men get excited and hug / high five each other, this was it. Aces full of Jacks beaten by Quad Jacks! $31,000 split 40% to the loser, 20% to the winner, and 20% divided among the rest of the table. pocket AA pocketed over $12k and the winner of the hand with 4 jacks got just over $6k (incidentally, it was this kid's first time ever at oceans 11. nice.....). the table share was just under $1800, which isn't bad after running cold for several hours. pocket QQ got just a table share after stacking off, which kinda sux for him.
weird though that i almost felt guilty about leaving with more money than i came with since i didn't deserve it from the poker. but i guess that's why we pay $1 a hand in perpetuity.
so after a good start and a terrible middle, the session redeemed itself pretty damn well!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
jerrett baker
you probably didn't know him if you're reading about poker, but a friend of mine died on sunday in a car accident. he was 33 and a firefighter in san diego. he was probably the most fun loving guy i know, always making you smile. whether it was laughing at him or with him, it was always good times. he was a great volleyball player and golfer and knew how to take advantage of the fun opportunities that life offers. he was a great guy and i will miss him.
here are a couple of pics from estero 2006:
here are a couple of pics from estero 2006:
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Jackpot, Nevada........?
Radness! Can’t remember being happy about finding a 3-6 limit holdem game, but I was last night. I drove most of the way up to boise yesterday with 3 work colleagues (for a conference). We stayed at a town along the border of idaho and nevada called Jackpot, Nevada. If you ever get a chance, I wouldn’t recommend going there. There were 3 motels / hotels, 2 little casinos, and 1 stoplight.
I haven’t played a lot of limit holdem, but I think the adjustments aren’t too difficult…..at least to play 3-6 holdem in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. it reminded me of Swingers when they play blackjack at the $5 table with the blue hairs and bikers. it was a fun time regardless of the outcome (I doubled my $100 buy-in within a couple of hours). though you can’t price people of out of chasing draws, you can build pots as a favorite and you can get people to pay off with 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) best hands on the river.
Anyway – I’m stuck in boise for the rest of the week, so I look forward to reading any of your poker exploits to tide me over. Ready……..go!
I haven’t played a lot of limit holdem, but I think the adjustments aren’t too difficult…..at least to play 3-6 holdem in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. it reminded me of Swingers when they play blackjack at the $5 table with the blue hairs and bikers. it was a fun time regardless of the outcome (I doubled my $100 buy-in within a couple of hours). though you can’t price people of out of chasing draws, you can build pots as a favorite and you can get people to pay off with 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) best hands on the river.
Anyway – I’m stuck in boise for the rest of the week, so I look forward to reading any of your poker exploits to tide me over. Ready……..go!
friday 9/28 @ O11
12 hours and dead even. It could have been worse. I could have lost money. Tried to catch the last of the drunkards on Friday night, but didn’t find any at my first table. Early on I doubled up a guy who flopped trip 5s versus my pocket 10s. then I lost a $500 pot with the 2nd nuts to da noootz. I made a king high flush and of course he had the acey deucey of diamonds. I am certainly not good enough to lay down the 2nd nut flush on an unpaired board with just 3 board flush cards. I guess I’ll have to continue paying that hand off.
I finally started making some hands and made it back to even about 6am. Even wasn’t good enough though – what was the point of leaving even? I figured out that leaving even meant I could have gotten some sleep. Our table broke and I got a seat at a table with 6 ladies who were there from oklahoma for the women’s tournament. It was a bad omen to flop 2 pair with 10-9 and win my first hand there. I proceeded to miss about a bazillion (or maybe it was a gazillion, I can’t quite remember) flops in a row, and get check raised when I continuation bet with AK high. I don’t think I flopped a set all session.
There was a terrible player who was sitting 2 seats to my left. He had mentioned that he was down close to $3k. I raised in late position with J-10 and he called, which didn’t mean much, cuz he played about 70% of hands. The flop was J-9-2, which looked pretty good to me. He lead out and I raised him big, being pretty sure I was ahead. Whoops, he insta-pushed for over $300 more and I had to lay it down. He showed 9-2 as he folded. And he wondered how he could be losing money.
I did, however, make 1 nice hand. I was getting a little frisky at about noon and re-raised a middle position raiser to $25 on the button with AhJh. He called. This player was pretty tight / weak, and I hadn’t seen him play big pots except when he flopped a straight flush with Qh10h. The flop was K high with 2 hearts and he check raised my $40 bet to $100. Ok, so he’s got KQ or AK. I thought about re-raising him all in, but my hand had a lot of potential and I didn’t necessarily want to lose him. I had the nut flush draw and a back door nut straight draw with an overcard. So I called the check raise on the flop. The turn was a Jack, so I picked up a pair to go with my nut flush draw. He checked to me on the turn (see, I told you – he was weak tight). I thought about moving all in with at least 11 clean outs plus some fold equity. In retrospect, I think I should have shoved here, I’m not sure he would have been able to call with 1 pair, albeit top pair. I checked the behind on the turn. The river was the lovely 9h. he checked to me again. I value bet $125 on the river and he called pretty quickly with AK.
The last hand I played I raised in late position with Qc9c. I think 4 people called the raise. The flop was all low cards with two diamonds and an early position player lead out for $15 into a pot of $75. This was almost always either a weak made hand or a draw and I didn’t think he could stand much heat. I raised to $55, he called. Heads up to the turn. The turn was a brick and he checked, I bet $105 and he thoughtfully folded. Think long, think wrong, right? He showed QdJd for a flush draw. Of course he asked what I had and of course I had an over pair. It was either that or show the bluff. I didn’t need to generate any action though as I was planning on leaving soon. That pot put me almost back to dead even for an eventful but non-winning / non-losing session.
I finally started making some hands and made it back to even about 6am. Even wasn’t good enough though – what was the point of leaving even? I figured out that leaving even meant I could have gotten some sleep. Our table broke and I got a seat at a table with 6 ladies who were there from oklahoma for the women’s tournament. It was a bad omen to flop 2 pair with 10-9 and win my first hand there. I proceeded to miss about a bazillion (or maybe it was a gazillion, I can’t quite remember) flops in a row, and get check raised when I continuation bet with AK high. I don’t think I flopped a set all session.
There was a terrible player who was sitting 2 seats to my left. He had mentioned that he was down close to $3k. I raised in late position with J-10 and he called, which didn’t mean much, cuz he played about 70% of hands. The flop was J-9-2, which looked pretty good to me. He lead out and I raised him big, being pretty sure I was ahead. Whoops, he insta-pushed for over $300 more and I had to lay it down. He showed 9-2 as he folded. And he wondered how he could be losing money.
I did, however, make 1 nice hand. I was getting a little frisky at about noon and re-raised a middle position raiser to $25 on the button with AhJh. He called. This player was pretty tight / weak, and I hadn’t seen him play big pots except when he flopped a straight flush with Qh10h. The flop was K high with 2 hearts and he check raised my $40 bet to $100. Ok, so he’s got KQ or AK. I thought about re-raising him all in, but my hand had a lot of potential and I didn’t necessarily want to lose him. I had the nut flush draw and a back door nut straight draw with an overcard. So I called the check raise on the flop. The turn was a Jack, so I picked up a pair to go with my nut flush draw. He checked to me on the turn (see, I told you – he was weak tight). I thought about moving all in with at least 11 clean outs plus some fold equity. In retrospect, I think I should have shoved here, I’m not sure he would have been able to call with 1 pair, albeit top pair. I checked the behind on the turn. The river was the lovely 9h. he checked to me again. I value bet $125 on the river and he called pretty quickly with AK.
The last hand I played I raised in late position with Qc9c. I think 4 people called the raise. The flop was all low cards with two diamonds and an early position player lead out for $15 into a pot of $75. This was almost always either a weak made hand or a draw and I didn’t think he could stand much heat. I raised to $55, he called. Heads up to the turn. The turn was a brick and he checked, I bet $105 and he thoughtfully folded. Think long, think wrong, right? He showed QdJd for a flush draw. Of course he asked what I had and of course I had an over pair. It was either that or show the bluff. I didn’t need to generate any action though as I was planning on leaving soon. That pot put me almost back to dead even for an eventful but non-winning / non-losing session.
Friday, September 28, 2007
1/2 NL fun
played the other night at winstar casino (http://www.winstarcasinos.com) just across the texas border into oklahoma. i should move there. [or not]
despite being in the middle of nothing (kinda like state line in nevada), they have a really nice poker room. they were spreading all kinds of games too, including PLO, omaha hi/lo, and no limit holdem games up to 5/10 NL. there were at least 2 maybe three tables of the "big game" going on and this was a wednesday night.
i didn't really bring much of a roll with me this trip, so i decided to play 1/2 NL. right away it was evident that these blumpkins were not serious poker players. most hands would see several people limping in or mini-raises to like $7. when i had something i would 3 bet preflop, or out of position i would call small raises with almost any two. the first hand i won was 8c4c when i picked up straight and flush draws on the turn, hit my straight and got paid by 1 pair.
i did help my image early on when i raised in early position with AA and flopped top set. i bet out into 4 other players and got 1 caller. really the only draw was a flush draw, which missed on the turn, so i went all in for about a pot sized bet thinking i would take down the pot. he called with KK!! wow, i guess he could beat a bluff or a missed flush draw, but i think he just saw his cards and they looked so nice, that he had to call. so i got to show my top set having played the hand fast and aggressively.
i almost got paid again when i flopped top 2 pair in the big blind with 10-6. i would have probably dumped the hand if someone had raised, but pocket 8s in late-ish position failed to raise preflop. he almost called my check raise all in! i showed the table my 2 pair letting them know i "always" had the goods. this gave me license to steal with any pair / any draw.
later after showing down some winners, i took down a pot with 7h4h. i called a raise to $10 in position with 5 players to the flop, which was 2c3h5h. [the other thing they all liked to do was make massive underbets.] the guy who bet the flop, bet $10 into a pot of over $50. i raised to $30 and everyone folded. i showed them my 7 high.
i can't even remember how many times i raised with middle pair or a straight draw and took down the pot. after about 5 hours of them giving me money, the crowning hand of the evening took place. the pot was unraised to me in the big blind with 99. i made a nice raise. i got 2 callers. the flop was A high, so i checked, middle position bet, the other guy folded, and i raised. he called. whoops. i didn't put him on an ace as he didn't raise preflop, and definitely not a strong ace. i thought he was probably a good enough player to lay down a bad ace, but most of the rest of the table would definitely call off their stack with top pair no kicker. i wasn't quite sure how i was going to proceed in the hand before the 9d hit the turn. i checked, hoping he would take a big stab at it. he didn't.....so i made nice value bet on the river (which did happen to complete a flush draw), and he raised! i just didn't believe him. i called and he tabled pocket 6s. i guess he was planning on stealing the pot the whole hand and figured i would be able to laydown a one pair hand. too bad so sad, i had better than 1 pair and plus i had him beat anyway.
i logged close to a +5 buyin session which was some of the easiest money ever with virtually no difficult decisions. thanks oklahoma, you're OK!
[am i seriously spewing out dad humor already.....? i'm not even pregnant.]
despite being in the middle of nothing (kinda like state line in nevada), they have a really nice poker room. they were spreading all kinds of games too, including PLO, omaha hi/lo, and no limit holdem games up to 5/10 NL. there were at least 2 maybe three tables of the "big game" going on and this was a wednesday night.
i didn't really bring much of a roll with me this trip, so i decided to play 1/2 NL. right away it was evident that these blumpkins were not serious poker players. most hands would see several people limping in or mini-raises to like $7. when i had something i would 3 bet preflop, or out of position i would call small raises with almost any two. the first hand i won was 8c4c when i picked up straight and flush draws on the turn, hit my straight and got paid by 1 pair.
i did help my image early on when i raised in early position with AA and flopped top set. i bet out into 4 other players and got 1 caller. really the only draw was a flush draw, which missed on the turn, so i went all in for about a pot sized bet thinking i would take down the pot. he called with KK!! wow, i guess he could beat a bluff or a missed flush draw, but i think he just saw his cards and they looked so nice, that he had to call. so i got to show my top set having played the hand fast and aggressively.
i almost got paid again when i flopped top 2 pair in the big blind with 10-6. i would have probably dumped the hand if someone had raised, but pocket 8s in late-ish position failed to raise preflop. he almost called my check raise all in! i showed the table my 2 pair letting them know i "always" had the goods. this gave me license to steal with any pair / any draw.
later after showing down some winners, i took down a pot with 7h4h. i called a raise to $10 in position with 5 players to the flop, which was 2c3h5h. [the other thing they all liked to do was make massive underbets.] the guy who bet the flop, bet $10 into a pot of over $50. i raised to $30 and everyone folded. i showed them my 7 high.
i can't even remember how many times i raised with middle pair or a straight draw and took down the pot. after about 5 hours of them giving me money, the crowning hand of the evening took place. the pot was unraised to me in the big blind with 99. i made a nice raise. i got 2 callers. the flop was A high, so i checked, middle position bet, the other guy folded, and i raised. he called. whoops. i didn't put him on an ace as he didn't raise preflop, and definitely not a strong ace. i thought he was probably a good enough player to lay down a bad ace, but most of the rest of the table would definitely call off their stack with top pair no kicker. i wasn't quite sure how i was going to proceed in the hand before the 9d hit the turn. i checked, hoping he would take a big stab at it. he didn't.....so i made nice value bet on the river (which did happen to complete a flush draw), and he raised! i just didn't believe him. i called and he tabled pocket 6s. i guess he was planning on stealing the pot the whole hand and figured i would be able to laydown a one pair hand. too bad so sad, i had better than 1 pair and plus i had him beat anyway.
i logged close to a +5 buyin session which was some of the easiest money ever with virtually no difficult decisions. thanks oklahoma, you're OK!
[am i seriously spewing out dad humor already.....? i'm not even pregnant.]
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
not to leave you hanging
in reference to the 9/20 posting below, i said i'd report what the kid held when i called his all in on the turn.
if you remember, i had 10-7, and the flop was 10-7-4. i check-raised on the flop and then lead out on the turn, when he raised all in over my bet. i called thinking he had an overpair and he had A-10 for top pair top kicker. my 2 pair held for the nice $1050 pot.
--------------
the other thing i didn't yet post was the brutal beginning to my week in texas a couple of weeks ago. i was flying to houston via dallas for a training seminar that began on monday morning. so, naturally, i left san diego on sunday. we were held up leaving due to weather in dallas and then when we finally got there, we sat on the tarmac for 25 minutes or so. they had announced that since the arrivals had been delayed into dallas, the connecting flights were also going to depart later than scheduled. i mosied (i didn't quite run, but i walked fast -- not the gay speed walking you see on the olympics, but a nice paced walk) over to my gate to fly to houston. the last passenger was just getting on and i was relieved i had made it just in time. "i'm sorry sir, we gave your seat away to a standby passenger 10 minutes ago."
wow - that sucked. we had been sitting on the tarmac for 25 minutes and i would have had plenty of time to get there. it was the same damn airline that i was connecting to (thanks american airlines -- you were not pocket Aces that day), you'd think they knew that we had landed and were waiting for a gate. maybe they could hold the very last plane of the night for the 6-8 of us that were connecting from the san diego flight. i guess not though.
i was sans luggage in a t-shirt and shorts in stormy dallas. thankfully, they hooked me up with a crappy ass hotel room for the night where i could get 5 hours of sleep and get back to the airport for a 6:20am flight. but the american flights were all full, so i had to fly american eagle to shreveport and then connect to a continental airlines flight to houston. that all went okay, except for the hotel airport shuttle almost causing me to miss the flight from dallas.
oh, but the real kicker was that continental only flies to houston intercontinental airport (Bush), not hobby, as i was originally scheduled. so i arrive in houston to no luggage. american says they can't track it cuz my final carrier into houston was continental. continental says the luggage is not in their system, so they have no way to track it. i spend the next 2 hours at the continental counter with up to 3 people trying to figure out what to do and how to find my luggage. in the end, we fill out a lost baggage claim form, and i just leave the airport, not knowing if i'll ever get it.
i rush over to the training seminar and get there about 12:30pm, not having really eaten anything yet, and in my shorts and t shirt from the previous day. i'm hoping they hadn't taken a lunch break yet, but of course they had, so i starve for an hour or two until the next break when i run to get something to eat.
when i get to the hotel that evening, i find that continental airlines had delivered my luggage that afternoon. it had flown to hobby airport based on my initial itinerary, of course.
anyway, it was a pretty "bad beat" to start my long week in texas.
[wow - those poker jokes are really really bad.....]
if you remember, i had 10-7, and the flop was 10-7-4. i check-raised on the flop and then lead out on the turn, when he raised all in over my bet. i called thinking he had an overpair and he had A-10 for top pair top kicker. my 2 pair held for the nice $1050 pot.
--------------
the other thing i didn't yet post was the brutal beginning to my week in texas a couple of weeks ago. i was flying to houston via dallas for a training seminar that began on monday morning. so, naturally, i left san diego on sunday. we were held up leaving due to weather in dallas and then when we finally got there, we sat on the tarmac for 25 minutes or so. they had announced that since the arrivals had been delayed into dallas, the connecting flights were also going to depart later than scheduled. i mosied (i didn't quite run, but i walked fast -- not the gay speed walking you see on the olympics, but a nice paced walk) over to my gate to fly to houston. the last passenger was just getting on and i was relieved i had made it just in time. "i'm sorry sir, we gave your seat away to a standby passenger 10 minutes ago."
wow - that sucked. we had been sitting on the tarmac for 25 minutes and i would have had plenty of time to get there. it was the same damn airline that i was connecting to (thanks american airlines -- you were not pocket Aces that day), you'd think they knew that we had landed and were waiting for a gate. maybe they could hold the very last plane of the night for the 6-8 of us that were connecting from the san diego flight. i guess not though.
i was sans luggage in a t-shirt and shorts in stormy dallas. thankfully, they hooked me up with a crappy ass hotel room for the night where i could get 5 hours of sleep and get back to the airport for a 6:20am flight. but the american flights were all full, so i had to fly american eagle to shreveport and then connect to a continental airlines flight to houston. that all went okay, except for the hotel airport shuttle almost causing me to miss the flight from dallas.
oh, but the real kicker was that continental only flies to houston intercontinental airport (Bush), not hobby, as i was originally scheduled. so i arrive in houston to no luggage. american says they can't track it cuz my final carrier into houston was continental. continental says the luggage is not in their system, so they have no way to track it. i spend the next 2 hours at the continental counter with up to 3 people trying to figure out what to do and how to find my luggage. in the end, we fill out a lost baggage claim form, and i just leave the airport, not knowing if i'll ever get it.
i rush over to the training seminar and get there about 12:30pm, not having really eaten anything yet, and in my shorts and t shirt from the previous day. i'm hoping they hadn't taken a lunch break yet, but of course they had, so i starve for an hour or two until the next break when i run to get something to eat.
when i get to the hotel that evening, i find that continental airlines had delivered my luggage that afternoon. it had flown to hobby airport based on my initial itinerary, of course.
anyway, it was a pretty "bad beat" to start my long week in texas.
[wow - those poker jokes are really really bad.....]
Monday, September 24, 2007
WSOP videos
i found some you tube videos from the espn broadcasts that show me in the wsop. these are clips from the third episode in the main event series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Vcg5wHM1U
part 3, 2:57
(shows my arm sitting next to varkonyi on his right)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bBczPe3zro
part 6, 1:11
(shows the back of my head, next to varkonyi in the red shirt and my brother on the rail with the camera)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axh1AXI-NT4
part 7, 1:06
(best view.....congratulating varkonyi on his double up)
i'm going to try to somehow download these videos and post them, but you tube has some weird encoding.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Vcg5wHM1U
part 3, 2:57
(shows my arm sitting next to varkonyi on his right)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bBczPe3zro
part 6, 1:11
(shows the back of my head, next to varkonyi in the red shirt and my brother on the rail with the camera)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axh1AXI-NT4
part 7, 1:06
(best view.....congratulating varkonyi on his double up)
i'm going to try to somehow download these videos and post them, but you tube has some weird encoding.....
i knew it was a matter of time
what a blow up last night. first i donkey my way out of the syndicate tournament (lost 2 big pots with big pocket pairs, then lost flush over flush), then i get unbelievably cold decked for an entire session at oceans 11. i had QQ and JJ about 7 times in the session and didn't win one of the hands. i did win a medium size pot with KK, but that was several buy ins in.
it seemed like every time i had one of those premium pairs, i was in the blinds and had 6 people already in the pot. i made the mistake of not re-raising enough out of position. that won't be happening again.
i think three or four times i had QQ or JJ the board came paired. i made bad decisions twice to not call an all in raise in one hand when i'm pretty sure i was ahead (the guy turned out to be an absolute tard-a-thon in a box), and then pay off a relatively passive player when he raised all in on my turn bet after we checked it around on the flop. of course he had A-8 offsuit under the gun, called my preflop re-raise........and then flopped trip 8s, obviously. the donkariffic guy claimed he had K-10 on a 2-7-7-10 board after calling a pot sized bet on the flop with no pair and no draw. i doubted he could be that bad at poker, but after watching and listening to his thought process on some later hands, i do believe he called me with no pair / no draw on the flop, then when i bet the pot again on the turn, he thought his K-10 was good, raised me all in and i laid down JJ.
oh yeah, one other time i had QQ, a guy had KK and turned a set to leave me drawing dead. that was nice.
early on i attempted a bluff on the definition of a calling station. of course, i had never played with the guy and gave him credit enough to be able to lay down 3rd pair with a J kicker. my mistake. damn that AQ. i raised with it in late position, and i raised him on the flop, and bet the turn strong, and then pushed on the river. nice call with J-8, one pair. wow.
the only, and i mean the only, bright spot was flopping a boat with 99 to win a medium pot. the other player was all in preflop with AQ, but at least there was some dead money in the pot.
the highlight of the night was my final encounter with QQ. we were down to 6 handed and there was a raise under from under the gun to $16 and a call by the idiot luckbox in seat 4 (wow - terrible player and hit the shit out of every flop.....he would call almost every preflop raise and kept hitting. it was maddening). i raise to $55 with QQ. the small blind cold calls $55 as do the other 2. 4 to the flop. flop is 4-8-8. pretty good flop for me and i'm almost sure i have the best hand. KK or AA would have likely repopped it preflop. it checks to me, so i push for about $135. the small blind calls the others fold. i still might be good if he has a pair under mine like 10s or Js. then he says : "i have quads." and flips over pocket 8s. the turn is not a queen, so i muck and get the hell out of dodge. it was not my night.
i was reminded of the lesson to not chase a losing session like that. it's hard to not get more and more frustrated and end up playing worse and worse. i tried to bet my hands when i had them, but continued and continued to get outflopped.
looking forward to a bit of time off this week.....i've still had great cumulative results over the past 2 months, so i just need to shake it off.
it seemed like every time i had one of those premium pairs, i was in the blinds and had 6 people already in the pot. i made the mistake of not re-raising enough out of position. that won't be happening again.
i think three or four times i had QQ or JJ the board came paired. i made bad decisions twice to not call an all in raise in one hand when i'm pretty sure i was ahead (the guy turned out to be an absolute tard-a-thon in a box), and then pay off a relatively passive player when he raised all in on my turn bet after we checked it around on the flop. of course he had A-8 offsuit under the gun, called my preflop re-raise........and then flopped trip 8s, obviously. the donkariffic guy claimed he had K-10 on a 2-7-7-10 board after calling a pot sized bet on the flop with no pair and no draw. i doubted he could be that bad at poker, but after watching and listening to his thought process on some later hands, i do believe he called me with no pair / no draw on the flop, then when i bet the pot again on the turn, he thought his K-10 was good, raised me all in and i laid down JJ.
oh yeah, one other time i had QQ, a guy had KK and turned a set to leave me drawing dead. that was nice.
early on i attempted a bluff on the definition of a calling station. of course, i had never played with the guy and gave him credit enough to be able to lay down 3rd pair with a J kicker. my mistake. damn that AQ. i raised with it in late position, and i raised him on the flop, and bet the turn strong, and then pushed on the river. nice call with J-8, one pair. wow.
the only, and i mean the only, bright spot was flopping a boat with 99 to win a medium pot. the other player was all in preflop with AQ, but at least there was some dead money in the pot.
the highlight of the night was my final encounter with QQ. we were down to 6 handed and there was a raise under from under the gun to $16 and a call by the idiot luckbox in seat 4 (wow - terrible player and hit the shit out of every flop.....he would call almost every preflop raise and kept hitting. it was maddening). i raise to $55 with QQ. the small blind cold calls $55 as do the other 2. 4 to the flop. flop is 4-8-8. pretty good flop for me and i'm almost sure i have the best hand. KK or AA would have likely repopped it preflop. it checks to me, so i push for about $135. the small blind calls the others fold. i still might be good if he has a pair under mine like 10s or Js. then he says : "i have quads." and flips over pocket 8s. the turn is not a queen, so i muck and get the hell out of dodge. it was not my night.
i was reminded of the lesson to not chase a losing session like that. it's hard to not get more and more frustrated and end up playing worse and worse. i tried to bet my hands when i had them, but continued and continued to get outflopped.
looking forward to a bit of time off this week.....i've still had great cumulative results over the past 2 months, so i just need to shake it off.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
pulled out a winner
started stuck pretty quickly on saturday night at O11, but i loved my table. there were a couple of super loose bad players at the table, so i felt like it was just a matter of time. one of the guys played about 80% of the pots and raised preflop about every other hand. in one hand, he raised, got a couple of callers, and i called in the small blind with 88. i knew i could take it down preflop, but out of position, i didn't want to play a big pot with 88 if someone called. i checked the 9 high flop which checked around. the turn was a 4, but it put 3 hearts on board, i lead out with a decent bet. the crazy loose player min-raised me. i thought he probably had a flush draw or maybe had paired the 4. i called. whoops, there goes my strategery of not playing a big pot with 88 out of position. the river was a blank, and i checked, he bet $100, which gave me about 3:1. i called and he showed a queen high flush.
our 2/3 NL game broke and i ended up sitting at 5/5 for most of the night / morning. there was a mix of players with several tighties, and a couple of loose cannons, and some solid players. i picked up some medium pots with pocket KKs twice, but slowed down a bit from the 2/3 game and played a bit tighter.
i raised a couple of limpers to $20 on the button with 4c5c. there were 3 callers. the flop was 2c3cKd, giving me an open ended straight flush draw. when you raise on the button with a speculative hand like low suited connectors, i'm not sure what more you can ask for. an early position player led out for $25 into a pot of $80. i raised to $80. he called and we were heads up to the turn, which was the 10d. he checked, and i decided to continue my semi-bluff rather than check behind and give him control. i felt he would have a tough time calling with anything less than 2 pair as i had played the hand strong and fast the whole time. i bet $200. he called relatively quickly. as it turns out, i probably should have eyed his stack before making this bet. he had only about $150 left after making the call. i should have bet about $150 on the turn to leave him with $200 on the river, so that it would be easier for him to fold on the river. anyway, the river was another blank, the 8h. he checked to me. obviously the only way i can win the pot is to push him in. i had him covered so i quickly pushed my "All-In" pumpkin into the middle. he thought for a few seconds and laid down Kc6c. wow. dodged one there. i showed him my 5 high, which got an angry "Nice hand!" out of him. i guess he must have put me on AA, AK, or KQ, or a set to fold the hand.
a bit later, i re-raised butch (of O11 infamy) in the small blind with QQ to $100. both he and the button called. the flop was Q-10-10. ummmmmm......jakepot! i wanted my action to seem pained, so i waited it out and watched butch carefully before i checked. he checked and the button bet $200. i thought for a few and pushed it all in. butch folded instantly, and the button made a pretty easy fold too with AQ [sorry brett - i was looking for butch to follow up with a continuation bet]. he had about $400-500 left which was the size of the pot, but there is really no hand he could be ahead of, except if i was making a suicide move with JJ or AK. i showed my top boat to take down a nice pot. butch said he folded KJ, but i was surprised he wouldn't try to take down the pot with his open ended straight draw, even though he was drawing dead.
anyway, after being down early, i pulled out a decent win for the session with those two big pots. after checking out my spreadsheet i started on Aug 1, that makes 20 of 23 winners.
our 2/3 NL game broke and i ended up sitting at 5/5 for most of the night / morning. there was a mix of players with several tighties, and a couple of loose cannons, and some solid players. i picked up some medium pots with pocket KKs twice, but slowed down a bit from the 2/3 game and played a bit tighter.
i raised a couple of limpers to $20 on the button with 4c5c. there were 3 callers. the flop was 2c3cKd, giving me an open ended straight flush draw. when you raise on the button with a speculative hand like low suited connectors, i'm not sure what more you can ask for. an early position player led out for $25 into a pot of $80. i raised to $80. he called and we were heads up to the turn, which was the 10d. he checked, and i decided to continue my semi-bluff rather than check behind and give him control. i felt he would have a tough time calling with anything less than 2 pair as i had played the hand strong and fast the whole time. i bet $200. he called relatively quickly. as it turns out, i probably should have eyed his stack before making this bet. he had only about $150 left after making the call. i should have bet about $150 on the turn to leave him with $200 on the river, so that it would be easier for him to fold on the river. anyway, the river was another blank, the 8h. he checked to me. obviously the only way i can win the pot is to push him in. i had him covered so i quickly pushed my "All-In" pumpkin into the middle. he thought for a few seconds and laid down Kc6c. wow. dodged one there. i showed him my 5 high, which got an angry "Nice hand!" out of him. i guess he must have put me on AA, AK, or KQ, or a set to fold the hand.
a bit later, i re-raised butch (of O11 infamy) in the small blind with QQ to $100. both he and the button called. the flop was Q-10-10. ummmmmm......jakepot! i wanted my action to seem pained, so i waited it out and watched butch carefully before i checked. he checked and the button bet $200. i thought for a few and pushed it all in. butch folded instantly, and the button made a pretty easy fold too with AQ [sorry brett - i was looking for butch to follow up with a continuation bet]. he had about $400-500 left which was the size of the pot, but there is really no hand he could be ahead of, except if i was making a suicide move with JJ or AK. i showed my top boat to take down a nice pot. butch said he folded KJ, but i was surprised he wouldn't try to take down the pot with his open ended straight draw, even though he was drawing dead.
anyway, after being down early, i pulled out a decent win for the session with those two big pots. after checking out my spreadsheet i started on Aug 1, that makes 20 of 23 winners.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
yes, i'm still alive....
rest easy, reading public. i have not perished. i wasn't arrested for my participation in illegal card room activities. i am alive and well. i thank you all for the virtual barrage of emails i've received begging for blog updates. so buckle in cuz here we go.
i've continued to dominate the poker table basically any time i work my magic with the cards. i really don't understand how or why i'm such a god on earth as of late, but i'm enjoying the run. i think i'm at about 17 winning sessions over the last 20 with relatively minor losses on those 3.
last weekend, i played a session at 2/3 NL oceans 11 in which i was +4 buy ins in less than 4 hours. i really was running hot, and i think got increased action due to people not believing that i had "it" every time. really the cornerstone hand was after i'd won a couple nice pots. i picked up the monster 10c7c in the big blind (with about $800 behind). there was an early-middle position raise to $12 (which was a small raise in this game) and three callers. i called $9. the flop was 10-7-4. i checked, the initial raiser bet $25, everyone else folded and i raised to $65. he called. turn was the 9d for a board of 10-7-4-9, no flush possibility. i bet $100. he thought for a second and pushed all in for $340 more than my bet. do you call?
[i reasoned that he held JJ. he was a fairly new player who had really only played 1 big hand when he flopped bottom set and doubled up. results posted in a later blog entry.....]
i did lose a pretty decent pot with 10-7 when i made a straight in a 3 way pot with 1 guy all in. i lost to a straight flush. nice hand. i was able to lose the minimum though when i checked behind on the turn when we both hit our card, the Js. damn that Jack of spades -- it's the card that caused me to lose 1/3 of my chips in the main event when a guy flopped a set twice in the same hand due to dealer error.
as a going away present from the session, the table thought they would give me something nice. two short stacks and myself ended up all in preflop when i held QQ. i was sure i had them both beat, but the Q on the river sent me the $350 pot.
i've also played this week a couple of nights. there was 1 hand that continues to boggle my mind from monday night. i triple barrel bluffed a guy out of a pot and i was absolutely shocked when he showed his hand as he folded on the river. it went something like this: i called a late position raise on the button with Q-10. the flop was A high and he bet into me. i raised, he called. i had no pair. on the turn, the good news was i picked up a gut shot straight draw. he checked, i made a pretty strong bet that should make him think i had something, but could stand a call. the river came and i held Q high. it did put possible straight and flush possibilities on the board. he checked again. obviously i had to bet. the question was how much? i made a bet that would leave him only about $50 if he called and lost. he tanked for a long time and ended up folding AJ, THE TOP TWO PAIR! he had me beat if i had any other two pair, so he must have given me credit for a set, a straight, or a flush. wow. he was getting 2:1 on the call. wow again. i showed the 10c only as i folded which created quite a stir at the table. i told him i had been bluffing, but caught the straight on the river, just to make him feel good about folding.
it seems like i am honing my weak vs. strong instincts as i've been able to occasionally raise with air when i sensed weakness. i stole a decent pot from an older guy (read: rock) the other day with K high when he fumbled around before making a continuation bet on a Q high flop. he folded instantly when i raised. ESPN baby!
last night, i still came out a small winner, but took a tough beat on one hand. i flopped the ass end of a straight with 3h4h in late position (board 5-6-7) and got raised big by the button on the flop. i thought his most likely hand was a set, cuz i didn't think he would raise so big with the nuts. i couldn't put him on 8-4, but 8-9 was a completely reasonable holding. i pushed him all in and he called with 5-6 bottom 2 pair. turn K. river 5. without having seen his hand, i knew i was beat when the board paired. ouch 4 outers. if you're him do you call off your stack with bottom 2 pair? he probably had to with the odds the pot was laying him, but he had to know he was behind. oh well, poker happens.
i've continued to dominate the poker table basically any time i work my magic with the cards. i really don't understand how or why i'm such a god on earth as of late, but i'm enjoying the run. i think i'm at about 17 winning sessions over the last 20 with relatively minor losses on those 3.
last weekend, i played a session at 2/3 NL oceans 11 in which i was +4 buy ins in less than 4 hours. i really was running hot, and i think got increased action due to people not believing that i had "it" every time. really the cornerstone hand was after i'd won a couple nice pots. i picked up the monster 10c7c in the big blind (with about $800 behind). there was an early-middle position raise to $12 (which was a small raise in this game) and three callers. i called $9. the flop was 10-7-4. i checked, the initial raiser bet $25, everyone else folded and i raised to $65. he called. turn was the 9d for a board of 10-7-4-9, no flush possibility. i bet $100. he thought for a second and pushed all in for $340 more than my bet. do you call?
[i reasoned that he held JJ. he was a fairly new player who had really only played 1 big hand when he flopped bottom set and doubled up. results posted in a later blog entry.....]
i did lose a pretty decent pot with 10-7 when i made a straight in a 3 way pot with 1 guy all in. i lost to a straight flush. nice hand. i was able to lose the minimum though when i checked behind on the turn when we both hit our card, the Js. damn that Jack of spades -- it's the card that caused me to lose 1/3 of my chips in the main event when a guy flopped a set twice in the same hand due to dealer error.
as a going away present from the session, the table thought they would give me something nice. two short stacks and myself ended up all in preflop when i held QQ. i was sure i had them both beat, but the Q on the river sent me the $350 pot.
i've also played this week a couple of nights. there was 1 hand that continues to boggle my mind from monday night. i triple barrel bluffed a guy out of a pot and i was absolutely shocked when he showed his hand as he folded on the river. it went something like this: i called a late position raise on the button with Q-10. the flop was A high and he bet into me. i raised, he called. i had no pair. on the turn, the good news was i picked up a gut shot straight draw. he checked, i made a pretty strong bet that should make him think i had something, but could stand a call. the river came and i held Q high. it did put possible straight and flush possibilities on the board. he checked again. obviously i had to bet. the question was how much? i made a bet that would leave him only about $50 if he called and lost. he tanked for a long time and ended up folding AJ, THE TOP TWO PAIR! he had me beat if i had any other two pair, so he must have given me credit for a set, a straight, or a flush. wow. he was getting 2:1 on the call. wow again. i showed the 10c only as i folded which created quite a stir at the table. i told him i had been bluffing, but caught the straight on the river, just to make him feel good about folding.
it seems like i am honing my weak vs. strong instincts as i've been able to occasionally raise with air when i sensed weakness. i stole a decent pot from an older guy (read: rock) the other day with K high when he fumbled around before making a continuation bet on a Q high flop. he folded instantly when i raised. ESPN baby!
last night, i still came out a small winner, but took a tough beat on one hand. i flopped the ass end of a straight with 3h4h in late position (board 5-6-7) and got raised big by the button on the flop. i thought his most likely hand was a set, cuz i didn't think he would raise so big with the nuts. i couldn't put him on 8-4, but 8-9 was a completely reasonable holding. i pushed him all in and he called with 5-6 bottom 2 pair. turn K. river 5. without having seen his hand, i knew i was beat when the board paired. ouch 4 outers. if you're him do you call off your stack with bottom 2 pair? he probably had to with the odds the pot was laying him, but he had to know he was behind. oh well, poker happens.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
back to even from underground
oh well -- last night i lost back what i had won on monday night playing 2/5 NL (instead of the 1/3 that we played on monday). it was still fun to play in that environment, quite different from my normal digs. the availability of insurance juices the action because even if you're all in, you still have a chance to lock up part of the pot before the river card is dealt.
there was a nutty hand that i was initially involved in that basically resulted in the table breaking up. i checked my option in the big blind with 9-8 and flopped top pair and a gut shot. i raised the weak lead of the small blind, who was the main reason most of us were sticking around at the table. he was a really bad player who was running super hot and had a lot of chips. we all knew they were on loan, and were chomping at the bit to get in a hand with him. anyway, the button smooth called my raise, then the small blind raised it up. i folded and then the button re-raised. [good fold by me as i didn't give the small blind much credit, but the button was a solid player]. after the re-raise they both got all their chips in the pot as fast as humanly possible. they had both flopped the nut straight with 7-8. and they both had a backdoor flush draw. runner runner diamonds shipped the $1500 pot to the button which was really disappointing to the rest of us. the donkey left, and the game broke up soon thereafter.
there was a 1/3 pot limit omaha hi/lo 8 or better game going on in the back room and there was no shortage of cash on the table (probably about $15k for 8 players). i sat and watched for about 30 minutes just to see how the game works. with 1/3 blinds, the game doesn't sound that big, but it was. the typical bring in was $15 with three or four to the flop. $50 on the flop was the initial bet with the pots escalating in a hurry. "Pot!" made for some big ones. if you could scoop or "sweep" as they called it, with both the high and the low you took down a nice pot. minimum buy in was $300, but that was about 1-2 hand's worth.
thanks J.T. [no, not me, the poker room host] for a fun 1st experience with underground poker.
i'm now in lovely laredo, texas and heading to dallas tomorrow night. if you want cheap mexican food and cheap real estate and don't mind the occasional carjacking or drive by, this place is for you!
there was a nutty hand that i was initially involved in that basically resulted in the table breaking up. i checked my option in the big blind with 9-8 and flopped top pair and a gut shot. i raised the weak lead of the small blind, who was the main reason most of us were sticking around at the table. he was a really bad player who was running super hot and had a lot of chips. we all knew they were on loan, and were chomping at the bit to get in a hand with him. anyway, the button smooth called my raise, then the small blind raised it up. i folded and then the button re-raised. [good fold by me as i didn't give the small blind much credit, but the button was a solid player]. after the re-raise they both got all their chips in the pot as fast as humanly possible. they had both flopped the nut straight with 7-8. and they both had a backdoor flush draw. runner runner diamonds shipped the $1500 pot to the button which was really disappointing to the rest of us. the donkey left, and the game broke up soon thereafter.
there was a 1/3 pot limit omaha hi/lo 8 or better game going on in the back room and there was no shortage of cash on the table (probably about $15k for 8 players). i sat and watched for about 30 minutes just to see how the game works. with 1/3 blinds, the game doesn't sound that big, but it was. the typical bring in was $15 with three or four to the flop. $50 on the flop was the initial bet with the pots escalating in a hurry. "Pot!" made for some big ones. if you could scoop or "sweep" as they called it, with both the high and the low you took down a nice pot. minimum buy in was $300, but that was about 1-2 hand's worth.
thanks J.T. [no, not me, the poker room host] for a fun 1st experience with underground poker.
i'm now in lovely laredo, texas and heading to dallas tomorrow night. if you want cheap mexican food and cheap real estate and don't mind the occasional carjacking or drive by, this place is for you!
Monday, September 10, 2007
underground poker
i am in texas all week and i popped my underground poker club cherry! i sat next to this lady in a rio cash game in june and she mentioned she was going to be opening a poker room in houston. well, i checked it out and it was pretty sweeeeeet. [duuuuuuude.........sweeeeeeeeeet]. it was a former restaurant and it is a perfect spot. very spacious with satellite tvs, huge kitchen facilities, great tables and chairs, and professional dealers. all three dealers were just as good as you'd find in any vegas poker room. in fact 2 of them had dealt in vegas before moving to houston. the best part about the place though, was the inexperience of some of the players. i mean, some of these guys were so easy to read and/or so bad it was laughable. [hahaha -- that's me laughing]. in tune with texas spirit, everyone was very friendly and there was nothing shady about it.
i won a few nice pots, but then donked off some chips at the end and left up 1 buyin. i actually made the high hand of the night with Aces full of Queens with AQ in my hand. thankfully the chick made a straight on the river and check-raised me all in. they never learn with a paired board.
the one thing that was completely different than anywhere i've ever played was the "insurance" factor. if 2 players are all in, the person who is ahead can lock up part of the pot by giving the house insurance, which is calculated based on the number of outs the trailing player has. the trailing player can then take the insurance and forego the pot, or let it play out. if the player who was behind in the hand draws out, the house has to pay him. i was still trying to figure out all the details as it was kind of confusing to figure if i should take insurance when i got a player in with JJ vs. my KK. i took it on the turn as he picked up a straight draw in addition to his J outs. as it turns out, i gave up $100 for taking insurance, but locked up 80% of the pot. ehhh.
i had fun and ate a great steak dinner for free. and with the added excitement of a possible raid, how can you go wrong??
i needed that night after a brutal last 2 days trying to get to houston from san diego, and then trying to find my luggage. i'll leave that story for next time...
i won a few nice pots, but then donked off some chips at the end and left up 1 buyin. i actually made the high hand of the night with Aces full of Queens with AQ in my hand. thankfully the chick made a straight on the river and check-raised me all in. they never learn with a paired board.
the one thing that was completely different than anywhere i've ever played was the "insurance" factor. if 2 players are all in, the person who is ahead can lock up part of the pot by giving the house insurance, which is calculated based on the number of outs the trailing player has. the trailing player can then take the insurance and forego the pot, or let it play out. if the player who was behind in the hand draws out, the house has to pay him. i was still trying to figure out all the details as it was kind of confusing to figure if i should take insurance when i got a player in with JJ vs. my KK. i took it on the turn as he picked up a straight draw in addition to his J outs. as it turns out, i gave up $100 for taking insurance, but locked up 80% of the pot. ehhh.
i had fun and ate a great steak dinner for free. and with the added excitement of a possible raid, how can you go wrong??
i needed that night after a brutal last 2 days trying to get to houston from san diego, and then trying to find my luggage. i'll leave that story for next time...
outdraws were due
ended up with a nice session on friday night winning over 2 buyins, but it was a rollercoaster. early in the session i checked my option in the big blind with 8-2, a veritable powerhouse i normally would have three bet preflop. i flopped top pair and checkraised the two other players in the hand. they both called. keep in mind it was a limped pot. i made a nice bet on the turn, which was a 9, and they both called again! i guess my pair of 8s wasn't the best hand. the river was a 2, giving me 2 pair, not a likely card to have helped my opponents. the pot was pretty decent and i was happy to show down 2 pair. i checked, and the middle position player bet $100, which was a relatively significant bet for the pot. the other player folded, but i was new to the table and didn't know how to interpret the bet. i hadn't played with this guy and i seriously considered folding. i ended up calling as there were no straights or flushes, and he confidently showed down pocket JJ. my 2 pair took down a pot worth more than an entire buy in! it was his own fault -- he didn't raise preflop with JJ!?!?
i later double barrel bluffed with Jd9d from the big blind after three betting preflop. the guy called significant bets on the flop and the turn, but then when i luckily made a king high straight on the river and pushed all in, he folded. if i had shown down that hand, which was a pure bluff up until the river, it would have destroyed any kind of tight image i had fostered and i could have gotten paid whenever i did actually have a hand !! but sadly he didn't call. it was still a nice pot, granted one in which i got lucky.
that same guy in seat 9 turned out to be my nemesis. i thought he was a typical tight aggressive player, but he switched it up on me and called my preflop raise with 2s4s from the small blind when i held JJ. with four cards to a straight on board, his 4 made the worst possible straight on the turn. i pot controlled with a check behind. i had to call his little value bet on the river and was kind of surprised that he played 2-4 for a raise.
2 more hands against that same guy: 1) i held 4-5 and called the blind in middle position. i flopped an open end straight draw with a 2-3-K flop and turned the nuts with a 6. seat 9 and i got it all in on the turn after he pushed over my raise. i (obviously) called instantly with the stone nuts. the K on the river put me in 2nd place when he showed down pocket 6s for the boat. ouch. 2) soon thereafter i made a nice re-raise in the blind with KK and seat 9 called me again. the flop was Q high and i bet close to the pot -- he called !! i thought he must have a nice pair like JJ, or that he was slowplaying QQ waiting for me to fire big on the turn before dropping the hammer. i checked the A on the turn and he checked behind. i checked the river and he showed down AK. brutal 3 outer on the turn vs my dominating hand. i couldn't beat that damn guy!
our table broke and we moved over to a new one. i hung around for a while without many hands. i raised in late position with 4-5 and flopped 2 pair........but the flop was 4-5-6. a good, but not fantastic flop for my hand. the first player checked, the 2nd bet, and i made a good raise, happy to take it down right now. the early position player cold called 2 bets. that's not really what i was looking for, i was hoping to isolate, or just to win the pot. they both checked the brick turn to the raiser, me. my stack was just about the size of the pot now, and i didn't fancy giving it up. i could be drawing very slim vs. 7-8 or 2-3, (7-3 wasn't a likely hand for these players). i was hoping they were both on pair/straight draw hands and i pushed all in. the early position player called instantly -- whoooooooops! the other guy folded and i knew i was all but dead. i made a bad read and put my money in on a dangerous board. he of course showed 7-8 for the nuts. i then made one of my biggest recent suckouts with a 4 on the river. wow. i felt bad as i stacked the mountain of chips (hahahaha!).
i stuck around for a while and won most of the small pots i entered. it was a fun night, but that was the end of the suckouts.
i later double barrel bluffed with Jd9d from the big blind after three betting preflop. the guy called significant bets on the flop and the turn, but then when i luckily made a king high straight on the river and pushed all in, he folded. if i had shown down that hand, which was a pure bluff up until the river, it would have destroyed any kind of tight image i had fostered and i could have gotten paid whenever i did actually have a hand !! but sadly he didn't call. it was still a nice pot, granted one in which i got lucky.
that same guy in seat 9 turned out to be my nemesis. i thought he was a typical tight aggressive player, but he switched it up on me and called my preflop raise with 2s4s from the small blind when i held JJ. with four cards to a straight on board, his 4 made the worst possible straight on the turn. i pot controlled with a check behind. i had to call his little value bet on the river and was kind of surprised that he played 2-4 for a raise.
2 more hands against that same guy: 1) i held 4-5 and called the blind in middle position. i flopped an open end straight draw with a 2-3-K flop and turned the nuts with a 6. seat 9 and i got it all in on the turn after he pushed over my raise. i (obviously) called instantly with the stone nuts. the K on the river put me in 2nd place when he showed down pocket 6s for the boat. ouch. 2) soon thereafter i made a nice re-raise in the blind with KK and seat 9 called me again. the flop was Q high and i bet close to the pot -- he called !! i thought he must have a nice pair like JJ, or that he was slowplaying QQ waiting for me to fire big on the turn before dropping the hammer. i checked the A on the turn and he checked behind. i checked the river and he showed down AK. brutal 3 outer on the turn vs my dominating hand. i couldn't beat that damn guy!
our table broke and we moved over to a new one. i hung around for a while without many hands. i raised in late position with 4-5 and flopped 2 pair........but the flop was 4-5-6. a good, but not fantastic flop for my hand. the first player checked, the 2nd bet, and i made a good raise, happy to take it down right now. the early position player cold called 2 bets. that's not really what i was looking for, i was hoping to isolate, or just to win the pot. they both checked the brick turn to the raiser, me. my stack was just about the size of the pot now, and i didn't fancy giving it up. i could be drawing very slim vs. 7-8 or 2-3, (7-3 wasn't a likely hand for these players). i was hoping they were both on pair/straight draw hands and i pushed all in. the early position player called instantly -- whoooooooops! the other guy folded and i knew i was all but dead. i made a bad read and put my money in on a dangerous board. he of course showed 7-8 for the nuts. i then made one of my biggest recent suckouts with a 4 on the river. wow. i felt bad as i stacked the mountain of chips (hahahaha!).
i stuck around for a while and won most of the small pots i entered. it was a fun night, but that was the end of the suckouts.
Friday, September 7, 2007
in and out in vegas
i passed In 'N Out while i was in vegas. mmmmmmm..........double double. i didn't eat there though.
i did, however, play 2/5 NL cash at the venetian. was up $760 after a 5 hour session. i'm happy with how i played and i obviously hit some hands in there. i played 1/2 NL for about 20 minutes waiting for my 2/5 seat and lost about $100 there. a guy slow played aces when i hit top pair, he milked the whole way. sometimes it's harder to play well against bad players. there was a girl at the table who was very blatant in stating that it was her first time playing and that she was a donator. at least she wasn't lying. she kept getting another $100 from her boyfriend and losing it in about 15 minutes. she was a good sport though.
when i made it to 2/5, i used my initially tight image well and picked up some nice pots with marginal hands. one nice hand that has to make the blog cut is AQ. i raised a couple of limpers to $25 in late position and got 3 callers including one of the blinds. the flop was Q high and one of the limpers bet $80 into $100. i made it $185. he reluctantly called. i was sure i was good now, unless he was hollywooding me. the turn bricked. the only draw was a heart draw on the flop. i pushed all in having him covered and he called for about $150 more after some thought. sweet sweet words then came out of his mouth: "i need some help". what a beautiful phrase that is. the river was the Ad and his pair of Qs with a flush draw was no good.
i later flopped a full house with AA after i got 1 caller on my preflop re-raise from the small blind. i got 1 continuation bet out of him, but he was a pretty decent player and didn't double barrel it. he folded to my river value bet.
the last big hand i played was fairly brutal. i flopped bottom set of 4s on a 3 club board. i lead out from early position, a short stack went all in, and another guy called! i called being pretty sure i needed to improve. i checked the Kd on the turn and the other active player made a relatively small bet of $115. this screamed value bet from him, cuz i knew he played vulnerable hands very fast. i had outs and there was a chance i was good, so i called. the river was the Ac, putting 4 clubs on board and not pairing board. oh well, can't win them all. i folded to his value bet and he showed KcJc for the nuts. the other player had AA and had made a set of Aces on the river.
after my meeting, i had another chance to get in a short session and quickly was up $400. it helps to flop the nuts. i called a raise in late position with Ac4c and flopped the nut flush on a king high board. the initial raiser made a nice bet on the flop and i just called, hoping the other two in the pot would come along. they folded. on the turn, the raiser pushed all in, and i had to check my hole cards just to make sure i still had the nuts. "i have the nuts, i call." he missed his boat on the river after flopping a set of Ks for a nice pot for me.
soon thereafter i raised with AQ in late position and got 1 caller. i three barreled it making a pretty substantial bet on the river when he had check called every other street. he obviously had me beat with at least 1 pair, but the board was 10 high and i had represented pretty well. i made him feel good about the laydown though.
i lost a big hand in a re-raised heads up pot with JJ when the flop was K high. he check called the 2 spade flop. i didn't think he had a very strong hand. possibly a pair below Jacks. the turn was a third spade and he checked again. nice trap buddy. i pushed and he called with the nut flush, AsJs. he was such a dog preflop too. oh well, good catch buddy.
i won back just a little bit over the next hour before my i had to leave for my plane and left dead even on the session for the day. a bit frustrating after being up a buyin early, but overall the trip went well. i raced around trying to find the newly relocated rental car center (nice lack of signage Vegas!!) and ran into the airport, only to find my flight had been delayed.
PS they have a pretty talented HR manager for the poker room's cocktail staff. pretty talented indeed.
i did, however, play 2/5 NL cash at the venetian. was up $760 after a 5 hour session. i'm happy with how i played and i obviously hit some hands in there. i played 1/2 NL for about 20 minutes waiting for my 2/5 seat and lost about $100 there. a guy slow played aces when i hit top pair, he milked the whole way. sometimes it's harder to play well against bad players. there was a girl at the table who was very blatant in stating that it was her first time playing and that she was a donator. at least she wasn't lying. she kept getting another $100 from her boyfriend and losing it in about 15 minutes. she was a good sport though.
when i made it to 2/5, i used my initially tight image well and picked up some nice pots with marginal hands. one nice hand that has to make the blog cut is AQ. i raised a couple of limpers to $25 in late position and got 3 callers including one of the blinds. the flop was Q high and one of the limpers bet $80 into $100. i made it $185. he reluctantly called. i was sure i was good now, unless he was hollywooding me. the turn bricked. the only draw was a heart draw on the flop. i pushed all in having him covered and he called for about $150 more after some thought. sweet sweet words then came out of his mouth: "i need some help". what a beautiful phrase that is. the river was the Ad and his pair of Qs with a flush draw was no good.
i later flopped a full house with AA after i got 1 caller on my preflop re-raise from the small blind. i got 1 continuation bet out of him, but he was a pretty decent player and didn't double barrel it. he folded to my river value bet.
the last big hand i played was fairly brutal. i flopped bottom set of 4s on a 3 club board. i lead out from early position, a short stack went all in, and another guy called! i called being pretty sure i needed to improve. i checked the Kd on the turn and the other active player made a relatively small bet of $115. this screamed value bet from him, cuz i knew he played vulnerable hands very fast. i had outs and there was a chance i was good, so i called. the river was the Ac, putting 4 clubs on board and not pairing board. oh well, can't win them all. i folded to his value bet and he showed KcJc for the nuts. the other player had AA and had made a set of Aces on the river.
after my meeting, i had another chance to get in a short session and quickly was up $400. it helps to flop the nuts. i called a raise in late position with Ac4c and flopped the nut flush on a king high board. the initial raiser made a nice bet on the flop and i just called, hoping the other two in the pot would come along. they folded. on the turn, the raiser pushed all in, and i had to check my hole cards just to make sure i still had the nuts. "i have the nuts, i call." he missed his boat on the river after flopping a set of Ks for a nice pot for me.
soon thereafter i raised with AQ in late position and got 1 caller. i three barreled it making a pretty substantial bet on the river when he had check called every other street. he obviously had me beat with at least 1 pair, but the board was 10 high and i had represented pretty well. i made him feel good about the laydown though.
i lost a big hand in a re-raised heads up pot with JJ when the flop was K high. he check called the 2 spade flop. i didn't think he had a very strong hand. possibly a pair below Jacks. the turn was a third spade and he checked again. nice trap buddy. i pushed and he called with the nut flush, AsJs. he was such a dog preflop too. oh well, good catch buddy.
i won back just a little bit over the next hour before my i had to leave for my plane and left dead even on the session for the day. a bit frustrating after being up a buyin early, but overall the trip went well. i raced around trying to find the newly relocated rental car center (nice lack of signage Vegas!!) and ran into the airport, only to find my flight had been delayed.
PS they have a pretty talented HR manager for the poker room's cocktail staff. pretty talented indeed.
syndicate event #4
still awaiting my noise making for the syndicate series. it didn't happen this time.
i flopped a set of kings early on in a raised pot and bet about 5/6 of the pot on flop vs. 1 opponent. he check-called. the flop was AKJ with 2 spades. the turn was an offsuit Q. he checked, i bet for value and to protect against the flush draw and he raised. i had a strong feeling i was beat, but i had outs, so i called. maybe he had made 2 pair with AQ or had been slowplaying AJ or even pocket Js. now i had about half my chips in the pot.
the river was a brick and he checked. i checked behind and he showed down 9c10c for broadway. when you make a speculative call on the flop like that and then hit your hand, why not bet on the river with the nuts? anyway, i got off relatively cheap, but still expensive in that i lost about half my stack on the hand.
i chipped down with AK after folding to a raise on the flop following my continuation bet with air. damn that hand. i should have either checked or moved all in on the flop based on my stack size relative to the pot. that was a mistake. i think part of the problem was that i felt like a stick of butter in a frying pan. i think that day was the hottest day of the year and that living room is like a heat sink. at least 10-15 hotter inside than out.
i got eliminated when i had 22 on the button with 2 limpers in the pot ahead of me. i moved in as i still had some fold equity but was fairly short stacked and the blinds were about to go up. mark in the BB called my all-in then the cutoff, who had limped, immediately moved in himself. mark had very few chips left and ended up folding after i had completely melted in the pan. the cutoff had AA and mark showed JJ as he folded. he would have spiked his J, but i had no such luck and the AA held. with a limper in the pot, i have never seen anybody limp with AA in the cutoff seat. an invitation to disaster in my mind.
i actually was semi-relieved to get knocked out as i was in my board shorts and into the pool in about 30 seconds flat. wow -- that was about the most refreshing feeling i have ever had after being on a slow brain simmer all day.
i flopped a set of kings early on in a raised pot and bet about 5/6 of the pot on flop vs. 1 opponent. he check-called. the flop was AKJ with 2 spades. the turn was an offsuit Q. he checked, i bet for value and to protect against the flush draw and he raised. i had a strong feeling i was beat, but i had outs, so i called. maybe he had made 2 pair with AQ or had been slowplaying AJ or even pocket Js. now i had about half my chips in the pot.
the river was a brick and he checked. i checked behind and he showed down 9c10c for broadway. when you make a speculative call on the flop like that and then hit your hand, why not bet on the river with the nuts? anyway, i got off relatively cheap, but still expensive in that i lost about half my stack on the hand.
i chipped down with AK after folding to a raise on the flop following my continuation bet with air. damn that hand. i should have either checked or moved all in on the flop based on my stack size relative to the pot. that was a mistake. i think part of the problem was that i felt like a stick of butter in a frying pan. i think that day was the hottest day of the year and that living room is like a heat sink. at least 10-15 hotter inside than out.
i got eliminated when i had 22 on the button with 2 limpers in the pot ahead of me. i moved in as i still had some fold equity but was fairly short stacked and the blinds were about to go up. mark in the BB called my all-in then the cutoff, who had limped, immediately moved in himself. mark had very few chips left and ended up folding after i had completely melted in the pan. the cutoff had AA and mark showed JJ as he folded. he would have spiked his J, but i had no such luck and the AA held. with a limper in the pot, i have never seen anybody limp with AA in the cutoff seat. an invitation to disaster in my mind.
i actually was semi-relieved to get knocked out as i was in my board shorts and into the pool in about 30 seconds flat. wow -- that was about the most refreshing feeling i have ever had after being on a slow brain simmer all day.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
small loss to start sept
just a couple of hands tend to make the difference. i flopped top pair with an open end straight draw and got check raised all in by a short stack, i had to call, and bricked out. her top pair, better kicker won the pot.
i raised from the small blind to $22 with QQ and was called in 2 spots. the flop was 9 high and i bet the pot. the big blind went all in for only $26 more, then another player called his bet! wow, this seems like an easy laydown with 1 pair, but for the odds i was getting (call $26 more into a pot of almost $300), i couldn't bring myself to fold. maybe i hit my miracle Q, or running straight cards. anyway, the big blind had flopped 2 little pair and the caller had flopped an open end straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. his straight came on the turn and i was drawing dead. this kid that took down the pot was a serious moron too, which made losing the pot so much more painful. he just wouldn't shut his chatty kathy ass up about the hand and why he called pre-flop and why he called on the flop, and how he thought i had an overpair, blah blah blah. i thought to myself, next time in the blinds, i'm bumping to $30 or $35.
i then proceeded to pick up some nice pairs and get little to no action with JJ, JJ, and AA.
i flopped a set of 3s in an unraised pot and somehow got it all in on the flop. the flop was A-3-6 with 2 diamonds. the small blind led for $15, player b called, i made it $40. the small blind called my raise, then player b went all in for another $65 on top of my raise. i raised his bet to $150, and the small blind shipped them in over the top of me. if i was beat, so beit, but i can't fold a set here. the small blind must have thought i was raising with a diamond draw. the small blind had me covered, so i'm all in for the main pot and all in for the side pot as well. winning this pot outright puts me back even for the night. i guess player b thought it was a tournament, cuz he flipped his hand over immediately once we were all in. he held AdJd for top pair with the nut flush draw. ok, i'm still a big favorite as his trips and 2 pair cards are dead (barring some crazy runner runner), he has 9 clean outs twice, so i'm a 70% favorite or so. wasn't sure what the small blind held yet. the turn is a 7s, which isn't a complete brick as 4-5 got there, but i'm not too unhappy with it. and the river......4d. those several big hands in a night make the difference, but i knew i played it right.
the small blind showed AQ (both black cards) for pretty much dead money in the pot on the flop. my set won the side pot, which gave me a modest profit on the hand. okay, but not exactly what i was looking for.
so i was down 2/3 of a buyin on the session. not too terrible considering how my big hands played out.
i raised from the small blind to $22 with QQ and was called in 2 spots. the flop was 9 high and i bet the pot. the big blind went all in for only $26 more, then another player called his bet! wow, this seems like an easy laydown with 1 pair, but for the odds i was getting (call $26 more into a pot of almost $300), i couldn't bring myself to fold. maybe i hit my miracle Q, or running straight cards. anyway, the big blind had flopped 2 little pair and the caller had flopped an open end straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. his straight came on the turn and i was drawing dead. this kid that took down the pot was a serious moron too, which made losing the pot so much more painful. he just wouldn't shut his chatty kathy ass up about the hand and why he called pre-flop and why he called on the flop, and how he thought i had an overpair, blah blah blah. i thought to myself, next time in the blinds, i'm bumping to $30 or $35.
i then proceeded to pick up some nice pairs and get little to no action with JJ, JJ, and AA.
i flopped a set of 3s in an unraised pot and somehow got it all in on the flop. the flop was A-3-6 with 2 diamonds. the small blind led for $15, player b called, i made it $40. the small blind called my raise, then player b went all in for another $65 on top of my raise. i raised his bet to $150, and the small blind shipped them in over the top of me. if i was beat, so beit, but i can't fold a set here. the small blind must have thought i was raising with a diamond draw. the small blind had me covered, so i'm all in for the main pot and all in for the side pot as well. winning this pot outright puts me back even for the night. i guess player b thought it was a tournament, cuz he flipped his hand over immediately once we were all in. he held AdJd for top pair with the nut flush draw. ok, i'm still a big favorite as his trips and 2 pair cards are dead (barring some crazy runner runner), he has 9 clean outs twice, so i'm a 70% favorite or so. wasn't sure what the small blind held yet. the turn is a 7s, which isn't a complete brick as 4-5 got there, but i'm not too unhappy with it. and the river......4d. those several big hands in a night make the difference, but i knew i played it right.
the small blind showed AQ (both black cards) for pretty much dead money in the pot on the flop. my set won the side pot, which gave me a modest profit on the hand. okay, but not exactly what i was looking for.
so i was down 2/3 of a buyin on the session. not too terrible considering how my big hands played out.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
August by the numbers
i see on-line players measure their win rates in poker tracker big blinds / 100 hands ("ptbb/100"). poker tracker (a software package that helps track everything about playing poker on line) apparently calculates a win (or loss) rate using limit holdem "big bets" per 100 hands. in limit holdem, the big bet (on the turn and river) are twice the big blind. so the units equte to 2 big blinds / 100 hands.
i am tracking dollars won and hours played, but was able to do a couple of quick calculations to gauge my results.
i played 106.5 hours of live games. if we guestimate about 35 hands / hour dealt in a typical live game (that would be 17-18 hands per dealer "down"), that makes a total of about 3727 hands played. assuming a big blind of $3 (i played 1 session in a 3/5 NL game and 1 session of 2/2), my win rate works out to +63.5 big blinds / 100 hands = +32 poker tracker big bets / 100.
or in non on-line terms 21 big blinds / hour.
i know 3700 hands is not a big enough sample size to really conclude anything, but i'm happy where i'm headed.
[any of you live cash game players: how many hands do you think are dealt in an hour on average?]
i am tracking dollars won and hours played, but was able to do a couple of quick calculations to gauge my results.
i played 106.5 hours of live games. if we guestimate about 35 hands / hour dealt in a typical live game (that would be 17-18 hands per dealer "down"), that makes a total of about 3727 hands played. assuming a big blind of $3 (i played 1 session in a 3/5 NL game and 1 session of 2/2), my win rate works out to +63.5 big blinds / 100 hands = +32 poker tracker big bets / 100.
or in non on-line terms 21 big blinds / hour.
i know 3700 hands is not a big enough sample size to really conclude anything, but i'm happy where i'm headed.
[any of you live cash game players: how many hands do you think are dealt in an hour on average?]
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Aug wrap-up session
what a month! i had 1 losing session in 11 and was up almost 25 buyins. i credit a lot of that to being on the right side of variance (running pretty hot), but i can also say i played well.
often sessions come down to 4-5 big hands that make the difference. following a session, on-line players have the luxury of reviewing their hand histories including every detail about their opponents etc. while i don't have all the hard data sitting in front of me on a screen, i seem to have pretty good recall for my big hands in a session. writing them down here in this blog also helps me digest my play and whether i thought i played a hand correctly. its been a good learning experience so far. thanks for coming along on my adventures.....
so i played in a home game last night for about 5 hours and ended down 1/3 of a buyin. i was running pretty cold and didn't really get too many hands. maybe it's a good thing though as one of the players stacked off twice with KK vs. AA and AK into AA on a K high board. and that was at a 7 handed table. pretty much coolers. the host (damn you CG!) mopped up the field as has typically been the case. he made a nice laydown when i flopped the nuts with the ace high flush and he held top pair / top kicker.
so after busting up another player with a turned straight vs. 2 pair, the game broke and i decided to head up to oceans 11 for short session. i got there about 1am and knew that i would only be playing til 4am or so when my brother was getting into town. [they drove at night due to the oppressing heat of late and a broken a/c in the car].
about 10 minutes in, i doubled up when i flopped 2 pair with KQ vs. AA. he let me get there cheap too. i made a standard raise in middle position and he just called on the button. i flopped 2 pair and bet out and he raised. i three bet him and he tanked and then pushed all in. i couldn't shove my "All In" pumpkin quickly enough. he bricked out and i took a nice pot.
i had already put in for a table change as there was some juicy action on the table next to me. a very loose aggressive player had a huge stack and there was another donkariffic guy who i've played with before (i wrote about a hand in which he told me he folded a flopped straight vs. my set on an unpaired board cuz he thought i might have a full house! i did end up with a boat, but whatever...) anyway, the table was looooooose and bluffy. i didn't need to wait that long to get paid off.
i raised a couple of limpers on the button with pocket 5s. loosey goosey called me in the big blind. the flop was ace high and he checked to me. him calling a preflop raise meant absolutely nothing. he has even told me before that hand selection is one of his least important criteria. once he is in a pot, he will call raises with any two. anyway, so he checked to me on the flop and i bet. he called. now i'm done with the hand. he probably has a hand like A-10 or A-9, and i'm drawing pretty slim. i was going to fold to a turn bet, until the jakepot card hit: a 5! he led out pretty strong. i have seen him push his hands when he thinks he has the best of it and make some pretty thin value bets on the river. i thought about raising the turn, but i knew he would lead again on the river if i looked weak. i smooth called his turn bet. river Q. he fires out a big bet of more than half of my remaining stack. i thought there was a good chance he made two pair. i pushed and he insta-called me with AQ, top 2 pair.
soon after i called after several limpers with K-9 and flopped top 2 pair. a guy who i wasn't familiar with check-raised me on the flop. i might lose him if i re-raise, so i just called. he led strong on the turn and i just called. the river brought another brick and unless he had check-raised with a straight draw, i had him. he made a big bet on the river, which i just called (instead of raising without the nuts). i knew i had him beat, but i "called" him so he had to show down his hand first. he, of course, could muck it and save himself the embarrassment but he chose to show a bluff with 3rd pair. when someone 3 barrel bluffs, i want to see what they have when i call.
anyway, it was a great session (+2.5 buyins including the small loss in the home game) to wrap up the month. later on, i'll post what my final BB/hour winrate was for the month. looking forward to the next syndicate event on monday. it's time to start making some noise.
often sessions come down to 4-5 big hands that make the difference. following a session, on-line players have the luxury of reviewing their hand histories including every detail about their opponents etc. while i don't have all the hard data sitting in front of me on a screen, i seem to have pretty good recall for my big hands in a session. writing them down here in this blog also helps me digest my play and whether i thought i played a hand correctly. its been a good learning experience so far. thanks for coming along on my adventures.....
so i played in a home game last night for about 5 hours and ended down 1/3 of a buyin. i was running pretty cold and didn't really get too many hands. maybe it's a good thing though as one of the players stacked off twice with KK vs. AA and AK into AA on a K high board. and that was at a 7 handed table. pretty much coolers. the host (damn you CG!) mopped up the field as has typically been the case. he made a nice laydown when i flopped the nuts with the ace high flush and he held top pair / top kicker.
so after busting up another player with a turned straight vs. 2 pair, the game broke and i decided to head up to oceans 11 for short session. i got there about 1am and knew that i would only be playing til 4am or so when my brother was getting into town. [they drove at night due to the oppressing heat of late and a broken a/c in the car].
about 10 minutes in, i doubled up when i flopped 2 pair with KQ vs. AA. he let me get there cheap too. i made a standard raise in middle position and he just called on the button. i flopped 2 pair and bet out and he raised. i three bet him and he tanked and then pushed all in. i couldn't shove my "All In" pumpkin quickly enough. he bricked out and i took a nice pot.
i had already put in for a table change as there was some juicy action on the table next to me. a very loose aggressive player had a huge stack and there was another donkariffic guy who i've played with before (i wrote about a hand in which he told me he folded a flopped straight vs. my set on an unpaired board cuz he thought i might have a full house! i did end up with a boat, but whatever...) anyway, the table was looooooose and bluffy. i didn't need to wait that long to get paid off.
i raised a couple of limpers on the button with pocket 5s. loosey goosey called me in the big blind. the flop was ace high and he checked to me. him calling a preflop raise meant absolutely nothing. he has even told me before that hand selection is one of his least important criteria. once he is in a pot, he will call raises with any two. anyway, so he checked to me on the flop and i bet. he called. now i'm done with the hand. he probably has a hand like A-10 or A-9, and i'm drawing pretty slim. i was going to fold to a turn bet, until the jakepot card hit: a 5! he led out pretty strong. i have seen him push his hands when he thinks he has the best of it and make some pretty thin value bets on the river. i thought about raising the turn, but i knew he would lead again on the river if i looked weak. i smooth called his turn bet. river Q. he fires out a big bet of more than half of my remaining stack. i thought there was a good chance he made two pair. i pushed and he insta-called me with AQ, top 2 pair.
soon after i called after several limpers with K-9 and flopped top 2 pair. a guy who i wasn't familiar with check-raised me on the flop. i might lose him if i re-raise, so i just called. he led strong on the turn and i just called. the river brought another brick and unless he had check-raised with a straight draw, i had him. he made a big bet on the river, which i just called (instead of raising without the nuts). i knew i had him beat, but i "called" him so he had to show down his hand first. he, of course, could muck it and save himself the embarrassment but he chose to show a bluff with 3rd pair. when someone 3 barrel bluffs, i want to see what they have when i call.
anyway, it was a great session (+2.5 buyins including the small loss in the home game) to wrap up the month. later on, i'll post what my final BB/hour winrate was for the month. looking forward to the next syndicate event on monday. it's time to start making some noise.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
another "wow" at the poker tables
i just remembered a story from the other night. it happened early on in my session. a guy who had recently sat down and bought in for only $100 (a full buy-in at 2/3 NL is $300), had played maybe 1 hand and hadn't gotten very involved yet.
there was a limper then an early position standard raise and he went all in over the top in late position. the total bet was $88, which was $73 more than the initial EP's raise. everyone folded back to the initial raiser. but apparently the late position all-in guy forgot the initial raiser was still in the hand and tabled his cards face up: pocket JJ. the raiser saw this and thought for a second, and said, "i'll give you action. i call." we expected to see AQ or AK. he tabled his hand face up as well and we couldn't believe what we saw. KJ offsuit.
merry christmas guy. the pocket Jacks held up for the biggest gift of $88 i have ever seen.
[well, the hand from bay 101 where a guy tried to 4 bet the flop with 1 pair of AA was a nice little bonus for me, but at least he had an overpair.]
there was a limper then an early position standard raise and he went all in over the top in late position. the total bet was $88, which was $73 more than the initial EP's raise. everyone folded back to the initial raiser. but apparently the late position all-in guy forgot the initial raiser was still in the hand and tabled his cards face up: pocket JJ. the raiser saw this and thought for a second, and said, "i'll give you action. i call." we expected to see AQ or AK. he tabled his hand face up as well and we couldn't believe what we saw. KJ offsuit.
merry christmas guy. the pocket Jacks held up for the biggest gift of $88 i have ever seen.
[well, the hand from bay 101 where a guy tried to 4 bet the flop with 1 pair of AA was a nice little bonus for me, but at least he had an overpair.]
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
made the cut
i got a total of about 5 seconds of air time on espn's broadcast of the main event last night! i was shown sitting next to robert varkonyi during the hand i anticipated them showing. pretty cool, as i don't think i've ever been on national television before. i was shown three different times in the episode including congratulating rob on doubling through chris ferguson.
near the end of the episode, they did a crowd scan and showed my table again. you could only see the back of my head, but my brother was clearly visible on the rail behind me. quite possibly his TV debut as well.
autographed photos now available. email me for a cost quote.
[hahaha!]
near the end of the episode, they did a crowd scan and showed my table again. you could only see the back of my head, but my brother was clearly visible on the rail behind me. quite possibly his TV debut as well.
autographed photos now available. email me for a cost quote.
[hahaha!]
it was a pretty good run
finally a losing session. well, not really too bad. down just 1/2 a buy in. i can't remember how many + sessions in a row that was -- somewhere near 10. got cold decked for a long stretch in the middle of the session. i flopped 2 pair a few times and bet it, only to fold to a big river bet when i knew i was beat. granted i made some good laydowns, but still it was frustrating to hit some nice hands and have to lay them down when my opponent out drew with 3, 4, and 8 outers. one guy in particular had my number all night. he continued to make calls when he was behind and outdraw. after a while i was hoping for his action just so i could possibly beat him in a hand. it took a while but finally, he flopped 2 pair when i flopped a set. we got it all in on the turn and he didn't hit his 4 outer.
about to head home about $20 up on the session after making a big comeback from down 2 buy ins, i asked the chip runner how long until she scanned the ID cards again (you can accumulate hours for casino benefits). she said, "2 minutes." on the very next hand, i called a small raise in the blinds with AsJs. the flop was J high, and with 5 players in the hand, i led out. i got raised from middle position and everyone else folded. nothing out there scared me and i thought the guy might be on QJ or KJ. i could have easily gotten away from 1 pair here, and out of position, i should have dumped it without a second thought. what did i do instead? i re-raised. he immediately shoved for $400 more. obviously i dumped it and he said he had bottom set of 4s. the timing (and quality) of my play was comical !! i had literally been racked up and ready to go, instead choosing to wait for one last scan. nice $260 choice that was.
about 5 minutes later i called a standard raise on the button with J-9. 3 of us saw the flop. i called a continuation bet from early position with an open end straight draw. i made the nuts on the turn with an 8-10-4-7 board. he lead out again. now i was pretty sure he was on an overpair or possibly top pair / top kicker. i thought if i smooth called, he would probably check/fold or check/call on the river, so i thought the best chance to get his chips in the middle was to raise the turn. he had only about the amount of the pot behind, so i raised enough to make him fully commit to the pot, but not all in. well, he tanked and then pushed all in. i insta-called. busting that guy caused the table to break, so i ended down just a bit on the session.
at least i learned a pretty valuable something -- i made possibly one of the worst raises i've ever made. oh, and another thing.....why am i calling raises with AJ in the blinds anyway?
about to head home about $20 up on the session after making a big comeback from down 2 buy ins, i asked the chip runner how long until she scanned the ID cards again (you can accumulate hours for casino benefits). she said, "2 minutes." on the very next hand, i called a small raise in the blinds with AsJs. the flop was J high, and with 5 players in the hand, i led out. i got raised from middle position and everyone else folded. nothing out there scared me and i thought the guy might be on QJ or KJ. i could have easily gotten away from 1 pair here, and out of position, i should have dumped it without a second thought. what did i do instead? i re-raised. he immediately shoved for $400 more. obviously i dumped it and he said he had bottom set of 4s. the timing (and quality) of my play was comical !! i had literally been racked up and ready to go, instead choosing to wait for one last scan. nice $260 choice that was.
about 5 minutes later i called a standard raise on the button with J-9. 3 of us saw the flop. i called a continuation bet from early position with an open end straight draw. i made the nuts on the turn with an 8-10-4-7 board. he lead out again. now i was pretty sure he was on an overpair or possibly top pair / top kicker. i thought if i smooth called, he would probably check/fold or check/call on the river, so i thought the best chance to get his chips in the middle was to raise the turn. he had only about the amount of the pot behind, so i raised enough to make him fully commit to the pot, but not all in. well, he tanked and then pushed all in. i insta-called. busting that guy caused the table to break, so i ended down just a bit on the session.
at least i learned a pretty valuable something -- i made possibly one of the worst raises i've ever made. oh, and another thing.....why am i calling raises with AJ in the blinds anyway?
Monday, August 27, 2007
it had to happen sooner or later
i didn't play at viejas, but i did sit in a live game at oceans 11 on saturday.
ran hot at the beginning of my session and was up $400 pretty quickly. normally i wouldn't overvalue 1 pair of 9s, but against this particular player who was in about 80% of the pots and raised / called raises almost every hand, i gambled with him a bit with 1 pair. i flopped top pair of 9s from the small blind and led out. he mini-raised and i re-raised, he pushed all in and i decided to call with 7-9. i put him on a flush draw and i was right. he had Kh8h for a flush draw with 1 over, so i was (slightly) favored. he bricked out and i took down a nice pot with 1 measly pair. i also turned the ace high flush vs. JJ and got paid off with his whole stack.
moved to a new table and quickly got hammered with my favorite hand, AQ. flopped an ace, and made a near pot size bet and was called in 1 spot. the turn was a pretty bad 5d, that put 3 diamonds on board and created a straight possibility. he check raised me all in, but with my Q high diamond draw and top pair, i couldn't get away for the price. i missed and he showed A-2 offsuit for the wheel. nice preflop and flop call. i should have shown more discipline and checked behind on the turn. wouldn't have had to play for stacks with 1 pair.
hung around not playing too many pots. it was a fun table with a decent amount of money on the table, so it was worth sticking it out for a bit. one player had been raising a lot, so i re-raised on the button with 66 to isolate. he called. flop was 3 diamonds including the 6d, so i felt pretty good about my hand. he checked and i bet 2/3 pot and he called. the turn paired the board with a 9. now i'm a lock. he check raised me and i pushed all in hoping for his call, which he did. the board is now : Ad9d6d-9h. unless he holds AA or 99, i'm a huge favorite. he flips over AsKd for top pair / top kicker and the nut flush draw. well, his flush was obviously dead vs. my boat and his top pair was only good if he could fill it up. 4 outs: Two Aces and two 9s.
the river, you ask? the 9 of spades. nice counterfit card. i would have rather lost to an Ace. just brutal. a big nasty bad beat was bound to happen sooner or later and i finally took it in the shorts on that hand. i've taken 2 outers on the river with an overpair many times, but when you have a full house and play it perfectly, it seems to hurt that much more.
i took a little breather, but still felt like i was playing well. after losing those two big pots, i was down for the evening. i persevered and made it back to + $50, which seemed pretty pathetic, but hey + is better than -. i felt like i made good decisions and that's the most i can ask for.
[EDIT:] oh yeah -- i was 12 hours into the session before i got AA. i made a standard raise from middle position and everyone folded. i won $5.
the 4 BB/hour i won brings me down to 23.5 BB/hour since Aug 1.
i got home, got a short nap in and heather and i headed to del mar racetrack for a day watching the races. a friend's girlfriend's family has some nice table service seats that were really cool. we could watch the races in comfort (including shade) and with drinks of choice. while they enjoyed frosty adult beverages, i stuck to red bull to stave off the sleep monster. we won our first bet and then lost all the rest, but it was a really nice afternoon with the horsies. also funny to see my normally cynical friend be so cutesy with his belle.
ran hot at the beginning of my session and was up $400 pretty quickly. normally i wouldn't overvalue 1 pair of 9s, but against this particular player who was in about 80% of the pots and raised / called raises almost every hand, i gambled with him a bit with 1 pair. i flopped top pair of 9s from the small blind and led out. he mini-raised and i re-raised, he pushed all in and i decided to call with 7-9. i put him on a flush draw and i was right. he had Kh8h for a flush draw with 1 over, so i was (slightly) favored. he bricked out and i took down a nice pot with 1 measly pair. i also turned the ace high flush vs. JJ and got paid off with his whole stack.
moved to a new table and quickly got hammered with my favorite hand, AQ. flopped an ace, and made a near pot size bet and was called in 1 spot. the turn was a pretty bad 5d, that put 3 diamonds on board and created a straight possibility. he check raised me all in, but with my Q high diamond draw and top pair, i couldn't get away for the price. i missed and he showed A-2 offsuit for the wheel. nice preflop and flop call. i should have shown more discipline and checked behind on the turn. wouldn't have had to play for stacks with 1 pair.
hung around not playing too many pots. it was a fun table with a decent amount of money on the table, so it was worth sticking it out for a bit. one player had been raising a lot, so i re-raised on the button with 66 to isolate. he called. flop was 3 diamonds including the 6d, so i felt pretty good about my hand. he checked and i bet 2/3 pot and he called. the turn paired the board with a 9. now i'm a lock. he check raised me and i pushed all in hoping for his call, which he did. the board is now : Ad9d6d-9h. unless he holds AA or 99, i'm a huge favorite. he flips over AsKd for top pair / top kicker and the nut flush draw. well, his flush was obviously dead vs. my boat and his top pair was only good if he could fill it up. 4 outs: Two Aces and two 9s.
the river, you ask? the 9 of spades. nice counterfit card. i would have rather lost to an Ace. just brutal. a big nasty bad beat was bound to happen sooner or later and i finally took it in the shorts on that hand. i've taken 2 outers on the river with an overpair many times, but when you have a full house and play it perfectly, it seems to hurt that much more.
i took a little breather, but still felt like i was playing well. after losing those two big pots, i was down for the evening. i persevered and made it back to + $50, which seemed pretty pathetic, but hey + is better than -. i felt like i made good decisions and that's the most i can ask for.
[EDIT:] oh yeah -- i was 12 hours into the session before i got AA. i made a standard raise from middle position and everyone folded. i won $5.
the 4 BB/hour i won brings me down to 23.5 BB/hour since Aug 1.
i got home, got a short nap in and heather and i headed to del mar racetrack for a day watching the races. a friend's girlfriend's family has some nice table service seats that were really cool. we could watch the races in comfort (including shade) and with drinks of choice. while they enjoyed frosty adult beverages, i stuck to red bull to stave off the sleep monster. we won our first bet and then lost all the rest, but it was a really nice afternoon with the horsies. also funny to see my normally cynical friend be so cutesy with his belle.
Friday, August 24, 2007
8/23 - O11
My first table last night was pretty dead with several short stacks and not much money on the table, so I requested a table change. Within the first 10 minutes of changing tables, I flopped quad 6s holding a pocket pair and actually got a little bit of money from a guy with top pair. I kept getting AK on the button and raising, and people obviously stopped believing me that I had a real hand. In one pot a EP limper re-raised to $60 after I raised to $17 on the button, and 3 of us saw the flop. I flopped the nut flush draw with AhKh, a straight draw, and 2 overs, and the guy in early position went all in for a little more than 1/3 of the pot. I called and the other guy folded from the blinds. Don’t ask me how, but I missed all 84 of my outs, and his pocket 5s held up.
Right about that time, we hear some rumblings and then some loud cheering from the table that I was initially sitting at. Brutal, they hit a bad beat jackpot! A guy I know (tyler – I’ll get you!) had just shown up and sat in the seat that I had been sitting in at that table and they hit a jackpot 10 minutes later. This happens about 20-30 minutes after a jackpot was hit on a 4-8 limit holdem table right next door.
After another table break I ended up back at the jackpot table. The 40% share guy ($8600) was keeping his rack of white chips on the table as a display of dominance, consistent with his jackassical ways. I’ve played with him before and he is a pretty bad poker player and has actually been kicked out of oceans 11 for being obnoxious. Anyway, he doubled people up twice soon after I sat down, with terrible river raises holding nowhere near the nuts. He apparently still hadn’t learned his lesson when I raised with AJ and got 5 callers, including him. I was in fairly early position, so I checked the Ace on the flop and Jackpot bet. I was the only caller and he says, “There it is!” we both checked the turn, and I felt pretty good about my AJ on the river, nothing scary out there, so I bet for value and he min-raised me. Against a good player I would probably muck here, but I called and he showed down A8, 1 pair.
The table started breaking up and we were down to 4 handed, which obviously is a much looser style game. I turned top 2 pair with 6-4 and made a nice bet when checked to, but was raised all in. I dumped top 2 pair and he showed 5-2 for straight. I later check raised when I turned two pair with 10-7 and the guy came over the top of me. I had bottom and 2nd pair and made a good laydown in a 4 handed game. he showed pocket 7s for a flopped set. I got a bunch back when I flopped two pair with K-10 and turned a K to fill up. The guy paid me off the whole way with what I assume was AQ, top pair, good kicker.
At this point I was right about even, being in the game for 2 buy ins. Our table broke and I had a choice to sit in a full game, so I did. On the very first hand I pick up pocket KK. In 10 hours, the biggest pocket pair I had up to that point was JJ. I raise in early position to $17, which was a pretty standard raise for the game, but I wasn’t sure how this table was playing. Hoped I didn’t scare everybody off. 1 caller and the small blind re-raises to $50, and the big blind cold calls 3 bets! I’ve got almost $300 more behind, so I’m faced with get the money in now and probably take down the pot, or see if I fade that damn Ace on the flop and then get the money in. there’s $117 in the pot of other people’s money, I won’t sweat it if I just take it down now. I shove. The small blind tanks for a bit and then calls……and then the big blind calls too! Obviously the small blind doesn’t have AA, but I’m hoping they both have Qs, Js, and/or 10s. well a Q and a J flop, which I pretty much hate. I river a K, and win a huge pot with top set vs. AK’s top pair. I was good the whole time though. The big blind didn’t show, but he had to have 9s or 10s. it turns out i had 56% equity in the hand vs. AK and 10s. but i got 3:1 on my money so i'm happy with the calls.
So after clawing my way back from down a buy in, I cash out up close to 2 buy ins. Nice way to wrap up. That session hurt my august bb/hour winrate though……down to +27 bb/hour.
Right about that time, we hear some rumblings and then some loud cheering from the table that I was initially sitting at. Brutal, they hit a bad beat jackpot! A guy I know (tyler – I’ll get you!) had just shown up and sat in the seat that I had been sitting in at that table and they hit a jackpot 10 minutes later. This happens about 20-30 minutes after a jackpot was hit on a 4-8 limit holdem table right next door.
After another table break I ended up back at the jackpot table. The 40% share guy ($8600) was keeping his rack of white chips on the table as a display of dominance, consistent with his jackassical ways. I’ve played with him before and he is a pretty bad poker player and has actually been kicked out of oceans 11 for being obnoxious. Anyway, he doubled people up twice soon after I sat down, with terrible river raises holding nowhere near the nuts. He apparently still hadn’t learned his lesson when I raised with AJ and got 5 callers, including him. I was in fairly early position, so I checked the Ace on the flop and Jackpot bet. I was the only caller and he says, “There it is!” we both checked the turn, and I felt pretty good about my AJ on the river, nothing scary out there, so I bet for value and he min-raised me. Against a good player I would probably muck here, but I called and he showed down A8, 1 pair.
The table started breaking up and we were down to 4 handed, which obviously is a much looser style game. I turned top 2 pair with 6-4 and made a nice bet when checked to, but was raised all in. I dumped top 2 pair and he showed 5-2 for straight. I later check raised when I turned two pair with 10-7 and the guy came over the top of me. I had bottom and 2nd pair and made a good laydown in a 4 handed game. he showed pocket 7s for a flopped set. I got a bunch back when I flopped two pair with K-10 and turned a K to fill up. The guy paid me off the whole way with what I assume was AQ, top pair, good kicker.
At this point I was right about even, being in the game for 2 buy ins. Our table broke and I had a choice to sit in a full game, so I did. On the very first hand I pick up pocket KK. In 10 hours, the biggest pocket pair I had up to that point was JJ. I raise in early position to $17, which was a pretty standard raise for the game, but I wasn’t sure how this table was playing. Hoped I didn’t scare everybody off. 1 caller and the small blind re-raises to $50, and the big blind cold calls 3 bets! I’ve got almost $300 more behind, so I’m faced with get the money in now and probably take down the pot, or see if I fade that damn Ace on the flop and then get the money in. there’s $117 in the pot of other people’s money, I won’t sweat it if I just take it down now. I shove. The small blind tanks for a bit and then calls……and then the big blind calls too! Obviously the small blind doesn’t have AA, but I’m hoping they both have Qs, Js, and/or 10s. well a Q and a J flop, which I pretty much hate. I river a K, and win a huge pot with top set vs. AK’s top pair. I was good the whole time though. The big blind didn’t show, but he had to have 9s or 10s. it turns out i had 56% equity in the hand vs. AK and 10s. but i got 3:1 on my money so i'm happy with the calls.
So after clawing my way back from down a buy in, I cash out up close to 2 buy ins. Nice way to wrap up. That session hurt my august bb/hour winrate though……down to +27 bb/hour.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
wsop main event on tv
espn began its coverage of the main event last night, airing the first two episodes of the series. i thought there was a chance that i would get a couple seconds of air time sitting next to varkonyi when he was all in on the flop and chris ferguson was in the tank thinking about the call.
apparently though, they separated the four starting days (Day 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d) into 4 episodes, so maybe i'll be on next week on the third show. not that i'll have any of the focus whatsoever, but i was sitting at a table with two previous main event champions. i know i'm going to become famous from an anonymous 2.5 seconds of air time!
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thinking of playing the viejas ace of aces $300 tourney this saturday. the first levels are fine, but it becomes a turbo after about 5-6 levels with the blinds and antes doubling every level. if you don't catch some nice cards, you're done. i've done well at the live games there, so that might push me over the edge on whether to go.
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i did a quick spreadsheet of my stats since Aug. 1 and they are on the high side of the variance curve to say the least! i've been running at the completely unsustainable rate of + 29 big blinds / hour over 65 hours of live play, sitting mostly at 2/3 NL. can it continue?
apparently though, they separated the four starting days (Day 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d) into 4 episodes, so maybe i'll be on next week on the third show. not that i'll have any of the focus whatsoever, but i was sitting at a table with two previous main event champions. i know i'm going to become famous from an anonymous 2.5 seconds of air time!
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thinking of playing the viejas ace of aces $300 tourney this saturday. the first levels are fine, but it becomes a turbo after about 5-6 levels with the blinds and antes doubling every level. if you don't catch some nice cards, you're done. i've done well at the live games there, so that might push me over the edge on whether to go.
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i did a quick spreadsheet of my stats since Aug. 1 and they are on the high side of the variance curve to say the least! i've been running at the completely unsustainable rate of + 29 big blinds / hour over 65 hours of live play, sitting mostly at 2/3 NL. can it continue?
Monday, August 20, 2007
syndicate #3
busted 7th out of 26 or so. considering i was 1 for 3 with KK, doubling people up twice, i think 7th was a pretty good showing.
the first time i held KK vs KJ. you would think i'm a slight favorite against that hand, yes? well he flopped a flush draw and came over the top all in on my flop bet and hit clubs on the turn and river to double through.
really the only sizable pot i won was when i was in the big blind with Q-4 in an unraised pot. i checked the two 4s on the flop and got a bettor and an all-in raiser. i pushed over the top and the AA limper had to fold! [thanks for limping mark!]. my trip 4s held up over top pair.
later i was a mild underdog when i raised in late position with 6-7 and the short stacked big blind pushed. he held AK. i felt like the guy from pechanga the other night who called my all in with 8c9c, except that i still would have had some chips left if i lost this hand. i hit a 7 and knocked him out.
the 2nd time i held KK, we were down to 7 players. i limped under the gun, UTG + 1 limped as well, then there was a nice raise from middle position. i of course, pushed all in, and the raiser called with AK. the other limper who had folded preflop said he held A-10. that left two Aces in the deck. i was about an 80% favorite to more than double and take the chip lead....until the ace on the turn left me with 1 out.
i never limp / re-raise from early position as i just think it makes my hole cards transparent. if i had raised from UTG, then called a re-raise, i could have pushed all in on the flop when he missed. oh well. of course if the KK had held up, i look like a genius as the chip leader.
i'll get em next time.
the first time i held KK vs KJ. you would think i'm a slight favorite against that hand, yes? well he flopped a flush draw and came over the top all in on my flop bet and hit clubs on the turn and river to double through.
really the only sizable pot i won was when i was in the big blind with Q-4 in an unraised pot. i checked the two 4s on the flop and got a bettor and an all-in raiser. i pushed over the top and the AA limper had to fold! [thanks for limping mark!]. my trip 4s held up over top pair.
later i was a mild underdog when i raised in late position with 6-7 and the short stacked big blind pushed. he held AK. i felt like the guy from pechanga the other night who called my all in with 8c9c, except that i still would have had some chips left if i lost this hand. i hit a 7 and knocked him out.
the 2nd time i held KK, we were down to 7 players. i limped under the gun, UTG + 1 limped as well, then there was a nice raise from middle position. i of course, pushed all in, and the raiser called with AK. the other limper who had folded preflop said he held A-10. that left two Aces in the deck. i was about an 80% favorite to more than double and take the chip lead....until the ace on the turn left me with 1 out.
i never limp / re-raise from early position as i just think it makes my hole cards transparent. if i had raised from UTG, then called a re-raise, i could have pushed all in on the flop when he missed. oh well. of course if the KK had held up, i look like a genius as the chip leader.
i'll get em next time.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
one guess on my bust hand from pechanga.....
yep. some of you probably got it: AQ vs. KK. hit the Q but that wasn't enough. it was a frustrating tournament for me in that i didn't win those medium sized pots to accumulate any chips. i won some small pots, but the big ones just escaped me. i had a couple of 2nd best hands and even with position couldn't make some mildly bad calling stations lay down 1 pair.
a hand that really crippled me was JJ. i raised 1 limper in middle position and got 3 callers including the small blind, the big blind, and the limper. the flop was ok, but not great: 2-3-4. they checked to me so i put out close to a pot sized bet. everyone called!! the turn was just about the worst possible card: 5. the only cards i didn't want to see were an Ace and a 5. we all checked around. the river was a 10 and the small blind immediately went all in and the big blind insta-shoved all in. what a sickening turn card. i tossed in my rags, and they showed some pretty quality hands to be calling raises with out of position: A-3 and A-6. the 6 high straight took it down.
i nursed a short stack for a bit and then another sucky hand came up. UTG made a pretty decent raise. 2 callers, and i look down at AsKs in the small blind. i call. the big blind re-pops it big to take it down. UTG immediately shoves for a bit more than the BB's raise. it folds to me. i have a chance to triple up, but stand a good chance of being dominated. to call was for all my chips. i folded. it was QQ vs. JJ and UTG got knocked out. i would have made the nut flush had i stayed in and more than tripled up with all that dead money in the pot.
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flip side: had just a sickly incredible cash session after busting! played 2/3 NL and logged a +5 buy in session! i can't believe how hot i've been running lately. just hitting the crap out of some flops and playing pretty well.
flopped 2 pair with 2c4c in an unraised pot and had a 2 guys call my flop raise and 1 guy pay me off on the river with 1 pair. my table was just sooooo juicy. it was a saturday night and there was the token drunk guy who was bluffing almost every time when checked to. he kept pulling money out of his pocket which was a beautiful sight. [side bar: he reminded me of "Urlacher" of oceans 11 infamy]. i got a bunch of chips from him when i flopped a set of 5s and he had top pair. he made, for him, a good laydown with top pair on the river.
i thought this would never happen again in my entire poker career, but this was a pretty amazing hand: i called a $6 straddle in the dark in late position and with a big stack. the big blind raised to $26. alright......i'll look at my cards: QQ. "okay, i call." the small blind called as well. flop is Q-8-4 rainbow. how can i flop the nuts again? and this time in position. please bet, please bet......neither of them bet. so i checked behind. turn was a 6. okay, there are some straight cards out there but i wasn't that scared. the SB lead out for $15, the BB raised to $30 and i raised to $65. they both called! the river was a 7. any old 5 had made a straight, but i didn't think either of them had 55 and had lead out with a gut shot on the turn. the small blind bets $100. without the nuts, i just called on the river. do you raise on the river?? he had about $300 more behind.
he had flopped top two pair with Q8 and the big blind had 99. nice pot.
the last big pot i played was for close to $700. i re-raised a middle position player with KK in the cutoff. the button and the raiser called. flop was J high with 2 clubs. checked to me, i bet 2/3 pot. the button called and the other guy folded. i had played with the guy on the button before, and i knew he liked to mix it up quite a bit and play position poker. he was definitely not scared to throw chips in the pot and try to take down orphan pots. but he had smooth called a raise and a re-raise, so i thought he probably had some kind of hand this time.
the turn was a 3rd club. i did have the Kc, so i had an over pair and the 2nd nut flush draw. i check-called his $90 bet. i actually thought he was using the 3rd club as a scare card to try to get me off the hand. maybe he had AJ with the Ac. the river was an offsuit Q. now the only real hands i'm scared of here are JJ or QJ for 2 pair. there was no straight, and he needed two club hole cards to make a flush. pot on the river is $380. i check to him. he fairly quickly moves all in for $135. i'm getting close to 3:1 on the call. if he had a hand like 1 pair with AJ, i would think he would be happy to show down. does he have JJ/QJ or a flush? i tanked for a bit and went with my read of this guy. i called. he showed 5s6s for bottom pair! do you really want to play for your whole stack with 56 in a re-raised pot? soon thereafter he moved to 5/5 NL. hahaha.
anywho, running hot and loving it. or maybe CG has cursed me into becoming a cash game player now!
a hand that really crippled me was JJ. i raised 1 limper in middle position and got 3 callers including the small blind, the big blind, and the limper. the flop was ok, but not great: 2-3-4. they checked to me so i put out close to a pot sized bet. everyone called!! the turn was just about the worst possible card: 5. the only cards i didn't want to see were an Ace and a 5. we all checked around. the river was a 10 and the small blind immediately went all in and the big blind insta-shoved all in. what a sickening turn card. i tossed in my rags, and they showed some pretty quality hands to be calling raises with out of position: A-3 and A-6. the 6 high straight took it down.
i nursed a short stack for a bit and then another sucky hand came up. UTG made a pretty decent raise. 2 callers, and i look down at AsKs in the small blind. i call. the big blind re-pops it big to take it down. UTG immediately shoves for a bit more than the BB's raise. it folds to me. i have a chance to triple up, but stand a good chance of being dominated. to call was for all my chips. i folded. it was QQ vs. JJ and UTG got knocked out. i would have made the nut flush had i stayed in and more than tripled up with all that dead money in the pot.
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flip side: had just a sickly incredible cash session after busting! played 2/3 NL and logged a +5 buy in session! i can't believe how hot i've been running lately. just hitting the crap out of some flops and playing pretty well.
flopped 2 pair with 2c4c in an unraised pot and had a 2 guys call my flop raise and 1 guy pay me off on the river with 1 pair. my table was just sooooo juicy. it was a saturday night and there was the token drunk guy who was bluffing almost every time when checked to. he kept pulling money out of his pocket which was a beautiful sight. [side bar: he reminded me of "Urlacher" of oceans 11 infamy]. i got a bunch of chips from him when i flopped a set of 5s and he had top pair. he made, for him, a good laydown with top pair on the river.
i thought this would never happen again in my entire poker career, but this was a pretty amazing hand: i called a $6 straddle in the dark in late position and with a big stack. the big blind raised to $26. alright......i'll look at my cards: QQ. "okay, i call." the small blind called as well. flop is Q-8-4 rainbow. how can i flop the nuts again? and this time in position. please bet, please bet......neither of them bet. so i checked behind. turn was a 6. okay, there are some straight cards out there but i wasn't that scared. the SB lead out for $15, the BB raised to $30 and i raised to $65. they both called! the river was a 7. any old 5 had made a straight, but i didn't think either of them had 55 and had lead out with a gut shot on the turn. the small blind bets $100. without the nuts, i just called on the river. do you raise on the river?? he had about $300 more behind.
he had flopped top two pair with Q8 and the big blind had 99. nice pot.
the last big pot i played was for close to $700. i re-raised a middle position player with KK in the cutoff. the button and the raiser called. flop was J high with 2 clubs. checked to me, i bet 2/3 pot. the button called and the other guy folded. i had played with the guy on the button before, and i knew he liked to mix it up quite a bit and play position poker. he was definitely not scared to throw chips in the pot and try to take down orphan pots. but he had smooth called a raise and a re-raise, so i thought he probably had some kind of hand this time.
the turn was a 3rd club. i did have the Kc, so i had an over pair and the 2nd nut flush draw. i check-called his $90 bet. i actually thought he was using the 3rd club as a scare card to try to get me off the hand. maybe he had AJ with the Ac. the river was an offsuit Q. now the only real hands i'm scared of here are JJ or QJ for 2 pair. there was no straight, and he needed two club hole cards to make a flush. pot on the river is $380. i check to him. he fairly quickly moves all in for $135. i'm getting close to 3:1 on the call. if he had a hand like 1 pair with AJ, i would think he would be happy to show down. does he have JJ/QJ or a flush? i tanked for a bit and went with my read of this guy. i called. he showed 5s6s for bottom pair! do you really want to play for your whole stack with 56 in a re-raised pot? soon thereafter he moved to 5/5 NL. hahaha.
anywho, running hot and loving it. or maybe CG has cursed me into becoming a cash game player now!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
pechanga
played the $235 at pechanga last night. doubled early with AA vs. AK (he went all in on the turn with no pair and no draw!!). then a couple of coolers knocked me down to a short stack.
i called the big blind in an unopened pot with 9s6s on the button. flop was 9c6c4d. the blinds checked to me so i bet 3/4 pot. the small blind called. the turn was a 3. he checked, so i bet 3/4 pot. he check raised 500 more chips. i could / should have dumped it right there -- this was an older gentleman that would not check raise with 1 pair. i called. on the river, he led out for 1000 chips. i really didn't want to call, but i did with top 2 pair. i said, "You have 2-5 or 5-7, don't you?" and then i called like an idiot. he showed 5-7 for the straight.
about 5 minutes later i raised one limper in the cutoff with As9s. she called. flop was Ad9h4d. i kinda liked that flop. she bet 500 chips, i raised to 1200. she called. ok, she has something. i thought she probably had something in the range of AJ or A10. i didn't think she'd limp in early position with AQ or AK, but i'm hoping that's exactly what she has. and i put her on being a very straightforward player not likely to lead out with a diamond draw. the turn brought the 5d, putting three diamonds on board. she lead out for 1000. i called. she only had 1000 chips left. the river was a blank and she checked, i could put her in for 1000, but i would have only had 2100 left if i did, so i checked behind on the river. the people at the table couldn't believe i checked behind when i showed down A9 for top 2 pair. she of course had pocket 9s for a flopped set. i can't believe she didn't shove on the river.
i hung around somehow now a short stack after a couple of brutal hands. i later came over the top of a limper and a raiser finally picking up AsKs. the guy who raised said "you're way ahead, but i call." he showed 8c9c. no help on the flop to either of us, but it came runner runner clubs to knock me out. that guy was putting almost his whole tourney on 8c9c as he only had 1000 chips left after calling my all in. that's poker!
almost immediately i got a seat in a single table satellite for today's $1080 tourney. $110 buy in. i hung around and picked up some chips when i bluffed a guy in a blind vs blind hand. i held 3h4h and hit absolutely nothing on the board. i bet enough to put him all in on the river and he dumped it. with 4 players left, i raised on the button with KhJh. a very aggressive player and the chip leader re-raised all in from the big blind. i called instantly. he held Jd9d. i flopped a K to double up. a few hands later that same aggro player open shoved. we were close to even in chips. i held A-10 offsuit. i thought about it and folded face up. he couldn't believe i folded the hand! he held AA and had been trying to get me to call with his table talk. i smelled something there and it was good instincts to fold it. i ended up heads up with a tight player and about a 2:1 chip lead. we played for about 10 minutes with no real change in chip stacks. we agreed to chop with me getting the seat and i gave him $300 cash. i also won the last longer bet that three of us did. we each put in $20 at the beginning and the last man standing got the $60.
i am looking forward to playing some good poker later today in the $1000. the guarantee is $300,000, so i'm guessing first prize is in the neighborhood of $85,000. strippers and blow are on me if i win!
i called the big blind in an unopened pot with 9s6s on the button. flop was 9c6c4d. the blinds checked to me so i bet 3/4 pot. the small blind called. the turn was a 3. he checked, so i bet 3/4 pot. he check raised 500 more chips. i could / should have dumped it right there -- this was an older gentleman that would not check raise with 1 pair. i called. on the river, he led out for 1000 chips. i really didn't want to call, but i did with top 2 pair. i said, "You have 2-5 or 5-7, don't you?" and then i called like an idiot. he showed 5-7 for the straight.
about 5 minutes later i raised one limper in the cutoff with As9s. she called. flop was Ad9h4d. i kinda liked that flop. she bet 500 chips, i raised to 1200. she called. ok, she has something. i thought she probably had something in the range of AJ or A10. i didn't think she'd limp in early position with AQ or AK, but i'm hoping that's exactly what she has. and i put her on being a very straightforward player not likely to lead out with a diamond draw. the turn brought the 5d, putting three diamonds on board. she lead out for 1000. i called. she only had 1000 chips left. the river was a blank and she checked, i could put her in for 1000, but i would have only had 2100 left if i did, so i checked behind on the river. the people at the table couldn't believe i checked behind when i showed down A9 for top 2 pair. she of course had pocket 9s for a flopped set. i can't believe she didn't shove on the river.
i hung around somehow now a short stack after a couple of brutal hands. i later came over the top of a limper and a raiser finally picking up AsKs. the guy who raised said "you're way ahead, but i call." he showed 8c9c. no help on the flop to either of us, but it came runner runner clubs to knock me out. that guy was putting almost his whole tourney on 8c9c as he only had 1000 chips left after calling my all in. that's poker!
almost immediately i got a seat in a single table satellite for today's $1080 tourney. $110 buy in. i hung around and picked up some chips when i bluffed a guy in a blind vs blind hand. i held 3h4h and hit absolutely nothing on the board. i bet enough to put him all in on the river and he dumped it. with 4 players left, i raised on the button with KhJh. a very aggressive player and the chip leader re-raised all in from the big blind. i called instantly. he held Jd9d. i flopped a K to double up. a few hands later that same aggro player open shoved. we were close to even in chips. i held A-10 offsuit. i thought about it and folded face up. he couldn't believe i folded the hand! he held AA and had been trying to get me to call with his table talk. i smelled something there and it was good instincts to fold it. i ended up heads up with a tight player and about a 2:1 chip lead. we played for about 10 minutes with no real change in chip stacks. we agreed to chop with me getting the seat and i gave him $300 cash. i also won the last longer bet that three of us did. we each put in $20 at the beginning and the last man standing got the $60.
i am looking forward to playing some good poker later today in the $1000. the guarantee is $300,000, so i'm guessing first prize is in the neighborhood of $85,000. strippers and blow are on me if i win!
Friday, August 17, 2007
bro fives!
so i walk into oceans 11 last night, put my name on the 2/3 NL list, and walk into the back room to see if i can play 2/2 NL while waiting. i immediately run into a buddy and we get seats at the same 2/2 table within about 2 minutes.
we pretty much owned it from the word go. there was some good action at this table, and by "good" i mean "bad". as in terrible players! within about an hour we were both up over 3 buy ins. they couldn't help themselves from bluffing off buy in after buy in. we were loving it and having a great time taunting these kids. i was playing any two cards against a couple of specific players and i did hit some nice flops. it was obvious that the $100 buy in was a lot of money for some of them, so putting out a $35 bet made them really nervous. i check-raised at will and took down some nice pots with the 2nd best hand.
i remember one hand that i called a UTG raiser in the small blind with 10-4 (the nuts!), flopped 2 pair, and turned a boat. sadly, in a 5 way pot, nobody took a stab at it.
i also won a nice pot with 2-6, flopping trips on a 229 flop. i check raised the flop and got 2 callers. i checked the turn, which was the worst card possible: 9. i had to make a tough call though when Bluffy McLiarpants bet the river. i tanked and called with the under boat and he immediately mucked his cards before i showed. yea for busted flush draws!
i was in the BB and called a raise with several other players in the hand. i had not yet seen my hole cards, so i checked the flop to the raiser. he bet. i peeked down at QQ. i raised him and he folded. i showed my Qs and he claimed to have QQ also, but there's no way. based on how he was playing, mr. mcliarpants would have been all in over the top of me with queens.
i think being able to detach from the meaning of the money really helped me play well. i was making pretty loose preflop calls and simply outplaying them after the flop. [thanks felix]. if i missed, i could get away cheap, but if a hit, at least 1 or 2 people usually paid me off.
i ended up almost 6 buyins (just wish that was at 5/5) after a really fun night.
we pretty much owned it from the word go. there was some good action at this table, and by "good" i mean "bad". as in terrible players! within about an hour we were both up over 3 buy ins. they couldn't help themselves from bluffing off buy in after buy in. we were loving it and having a great time taunting these kids. i was playing any two cards against a couple of specific players and i did hit some nice flops. it was obvious that the $100 buy in was a lot of money for some of them, so putting out a $35 bet made them really nervous. i check-raised at will and took down some nice pots with the 2nd best hand.
i remember one hand that i called a UTG raiser in the small blind with 10-4 (the nuts!), flopped 2 pair, and turned a boat. sadly, in a 5 way pot, nobody took a stab at it.
i also won a nice pot with 2-6, flopping trips on a 229 flop. i check raised the flop and got 2 callers. i checked the turn, which was the worst card possible: 9. i had to make a tough call though when Bluffy McLiarpants bet the river. i tanked and called with the under boat and he immediately mucked his cards before i showed. yea for busted flush draws!
i was in the BB and called a raise with several other players in the hand. i had not yet seen my hole cards, so i checked the flop to the raiser. he bet. i peeked down at QQ. i raised him and he folded. i showed my Qs and he claimed to have QQ also, but there's no way. based on how he was playing, mr. mcliarpants would have been all in over the top of me with queens.
i think being able to detach from the meaning of the money really helped me play well. i was making pretty loose preflop calls and simply outplaying them after the flop. [thanks felix]. if i missed, i could get away cheap, but if a hit, at least 1 or 2 people usually paid me off.
i ended up almost 6 buyins (just wish that was at 5/5) after a really fun night.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
So you think you can.....raise?
up almost 1 buy in last night and i'm disappointed with that? with how hot i've been running, up 3/4 of a buy in seems like a let down. i was up 1.5 buyins earlier in the night last night, but slid down a bit before i left.
i caught several premium pairs early on and won medium sized pots with most of them. i check raised a small stack with QQ on a 10 high flop and he shoved. i felted. he must have had A-10.
no enormous pots to speak of really. i called a raise on the button with 10hJh. the flop was J high and the BB lead out, the PrF raiser called and i made a nice raise. they both folded. i thought there was a good chance i was ahead, and if not, i thought the BB would laydown J-10 and maybe even QJ. the preflop raiser said he just had AQ high. and i think the BB had an under pocket pair like 9s.
in one decent pot i lost before leaving, i called a raise in middle position with 8s9s. the flop was 8 high and i bet when checked to. i got 3 callers! (?) a nice pot was building here. there was a flush draw and a straight draw, so i could easily put the others on draws and/or overcards. the turn was an 8 giving me trips with a 9 kicker. it checked to me, so i thought i'd take it down with a $100 bet. the short stack tanked and then called all in for $55 and 1 other player thought before folding his flush draw. the short stack held Jc8c for a better trips [he was trying to get the flush draw to call by acting weak]. oh well. kind of a cooler in that i thought i hit my money card. i didn't really want to make 2 pair either, cuz that would have put a straight possibility out there.
anyway, i still logged a winning session (i think that makes it 7 out of 8), but more importantly i think i played relatively well. i played aggressively -- i didn't just call when i could raise, and i made a couple of good laydowns. those saved losing calls definitely add up.
i will try to play one of the pechanga tournaments, possibly friday, and hope to qualify for saturday's $1000 tourney. also looking forward to syndicate event #3 on sunday.
i caught several premium pairs early on and won medium sized pots with most of them. i check raised a small stack with QQ on a 10 high flop and he shoved. i felted. he must have had A-10.
no enormous pots to speak of really. i called a raise on the button with 10hJh. the flop was J high and the BB lead out, the PrF raiser called and i made a nice raise. they both folded. i thought there was a good chance i was ahead, and if not, i thought the BB would laydown J-10 and maybe even QJ. the preflop raiser said he just had AQ high. and i think the BB had an under pocket pair like 9s.
in one decent pot i lost before leaving, i called a raise in middle position with 8s9s. the flop was 8 high and i bet when checked to. i got 3 callers! (?) a nice pot was building here. there was a flush draw and a straight draw, so i could easily put the others on draws and/or overcards. the turn was an 8 giving me trips with a 9 kicker. it checked to me, so i thought i'd take it down with a $100 bet. the short stack tanked and then called all in for $55 and 1 other player thought before folding his flush draw. the short stack held Jc8c for a better trips [he was trying to get the flush draw to call by acting weak]. oh well. kind of a cooler in that i thought i hit my money card. i didn't really want to make 2 pair either, cuz that would have put a straight possibility out there.
anyway, i still logged a winning session (i think that makes it 7 out of 8), but more importantly i think i played relatively well. i played aggressively -- i didn't just call when i could raise, and i made a couple of good laydowns. those saved losing calls definitely add up.
i will try to play one of the pechanga tournaments, possibly friday, and hope to qualify for saturday's $1000 tourney. also looking forward to syndicate event #3 on sunday.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Broadway?? [you're kidding.....]
Another good session on Friday night - Saturday morning at Oceans 11. I have really been running hot / not getting (too) unlucky the last few weeks. I like poker.
hands of note in the session:
i got a guy all in preflop with AA vs 10-10. he caught a 10 on the river. thankfully he only had about $120 behind to start the hand.
i called a raise in the small blind with Ac9c. flop was 5c7c9d. i check-raised all in vs. the UTG raiser. he called with pocket 10s. i won the coin flip making the nut flush on the turn. i felt a bit bad for the guy as i had his number all night. i later busted him again with 9h10h. i raised on the button with a couple limpers in the pot. i got 2 callers including the big blind. the flop was 6d-5h-8d giving me a gutshot draw to the nuts, 2 over cards, and a backdoor flush draw. it checked to me, so i continuation bet. the big blind called. the turn was the 7c, giving me the stone nuts. the BB checked to me again, so i value bet, hoping he made 2 pair. he raised! his bet left him only about $100 behind. i re-raised him all in. he called instantly with 9d5d, a straight and a gut shot straight flush draw. the river bricked out and i felted him for the second time with a 10 high straight vs. a 9 high straight. again someone raising me when i have the nuts. i think i like this trend.
for a stretch in the early morning, the table was fast and loose. there were some huge pots. a really terrible player came in about 6am. it became evident that he didn't know what was going on. he asked what a straddle meant and continued to flip over his cards when he didn't have anything or at least couldn't win at showdown. pretty much the definition of dead money. i was going to leave around that time, but couldn't pass up this opportunity.
i raised in late position with KQ and got a couple of callers. the flop was Q high with 2 clubs, so i bet. the donkey called. the turn was a K giving me top 2 pair. he check-called my pot size bet. i knew he was either on a flush draw or had a weak Q so i knew he was getting his money in with the worst of it by calling a near pot-sized bet on the turn. the river was the Jh. no flush possibility. he thought for a second and moved all in for $250. wow, this really surprised me. i thought he was just trying to steal the pot. i thought maybe he didn't know to raise the turn if he'd made a set. but with the range that i'd seen him show down, he might think QJ or AK was good. the final board read: 2-3-Q-K-J. obviously 9-10 or A-10 had made a straight, but what could he call with on the flop?? i had over $1000 behind, so i could make the call, but i really tried to get in his head to figure if i had the best hand. i failed though and made the all in call. he showed down A-10 for the nut BROADWAY straight (???). bad beat. he obviously couldn't wait to get rid of his chips.
soon thereafter i picked up AA and made my standard raise to $16 in early position. a middle position player re-raised me to $40. the donkey called $40 from the blinds. i re-popped to $110. they both called! flop was Q high and i moved all in after the donkey checked. the re-raiser called and donkey folded. my Aces held up over his JJ for a nice pot. i'd really like to know what some people are thinking when they call a 3 bet preflop with JJ. what hands are you ahead of there? i guess that's what keeps us coming back.
i called a raise with Ac10c and flopped 2 clubs in a 3 way pot, one of whom was the donkey. they both checked, so i bet. the initial raiser folded, the donkey called. i picked up a straight draw on the turn, but still had A high. we both checked the turn. i made a pair of 10s on the river with a 9-J-5-Q-10. he moved in ahead of me. i folded.
the last significant hand i played, i raised a couple of limpers on the button with A-10 (again??). 3 players to the flop of: 6c7cAh. giving me top pair with a decent but not great kicker. the early player checked, middle position bet, i called, and the other player folded. the turn was another A. he leads out for $100. i had already decided i thought i had him beat as he didn't raise from middle position. i thought he would have raised preflop with AJ or better and i thought there was a good chance he would laydown a weak Ace, possibly up to AJ if i raised on the turn. i raised his turn bet to $250. he called instantly with about another $220 behind. i was done betting. he had to have a set here, filling up on the turn, and setting me up to move in on the river. the river was the 4h. he checked!!! yea! i'm happy to show down three aces here without having to call his all in bet. he showed 8c9c for 9 high and my three aces took it down. i felt pretty lucky to survive his open end straight flush draw for a big pot. we were a coin flip on the flop. he muttered that he would have called all in on the turn when i was a 3:1 favorite. i didn't really want to play that big of a pot with A-10, and trips are so vulnerable; i definitely felt i dodged one.
in hindsight, i played the hand correctly, but for the wrong reasons. i put him on the wrong hand (a marginal ace) that i thought i could make him lay down by raising on the turn. when he called the raise, i again made a bad read and put him on a set. but in reality he was betting his monster draw and i made him pay for it on the turn, which is correct. if the cards were face up, i think i would have played it the same way. side bar: if not for the 10c i held in my hand, there was a potential bad beat jackpot on this hand. if i instead held the 10d and the 10c came up on the river, he wins the hand with a straight flush and i lose with aces full of tens. i would have loved to lose the hand that way.
that pretty much ended another great session and a fantastic couple of weeks. bed time for bonzo.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Bay 101 is my friend !
so i got a fantastic session in at Bay 101 in San Jose last night. but first....a couple of weird things they do there.
they have an enormous building with lots of empty space and 20 people or more waiting on every poker game being spread. the board is a white board and pen (even oceans 11 has a projection system for the board in both rooms for cripesaxe). they claim to have food service available for poker players, but there was about 1 service person in the room for about 35 tables. i think i saw her one time and i was lucky enough to flag her down for a scrap. the blind structure: wtf? 2-3-5. the small blind is $3, the big blind is $5 and the "button" blind (??) is $2. since when and/or where is the button forced to put money in the pot blind? AND THERE IS NOT EVEN A BAD BEAT JACKPOT. they use standard shuffle machines. but the dealers are not allowed to deal with them if there is a flashing red light. they are forced to stop the action and call a floor man over to deal with the shuffler and make sure all 52 cards are accounted for in the spare deck. why then do we have to stop playing the hand in progress???
ok, enough complaining. on to the poker.
it was a pretty incredible night. i was off to a relatively slow start down about $200. i don't really remember how, but i worked back to up 400-500. i was playing a bit looser than i normally do and playing well after the flop. 10-8 is the nuts baby!
i raised in middle position with Ah9h and the blinds both called. i completely missed the flop, but they both checked to me so i bet. the big blind called. he checked again on the turn so i bet again. he called. the river paired the board. he checked. i bet. he thought and thought and called with AQ high, and won the pot. wow. 3 bullets - 3 calls. he said he had a read on me.
a bit later i got it back "in spades" from that guy. 3 of us ended up in a pot. the third guy had only $60 behind before the hand. i was about $800 back and the small blind (the guy who called with AQ) was about $650 deep. i held Ad5d. the third guy made a small raise and we both called preflop. the flop was: Jd9d4d. the nuts! we all checked around on the flop. the turn was the A of spades. we both checked and the short stack moved in for like $40. the small blind called and i made a small raise. then something truly beautiful happened: he re-raised me big. "got meself one on the line here betty!" i came back over the top. he called! i was praying for the board to not pair on the river. i could have kissed the 3c. he checked, i value bet and he called. i said, "sorry dude, i got the nuts." he showed pocket Js and had flopped top set. he was left with about $110 after the hand. tough beat, but he was behind any 2 flush cards. his play surprised me a bit since he had made a great call on the river with AQ high. my impression was that of a pretty good player. i guess my 2 street slow play earned me a nice pot here.
i was able to play pretty loose with a big stack. it's fun to play in a lot of pots. i started calling some small raises and doing some betting in the dark. there was a small raise to $15 when i was on the big blind, so i called dark with 4 other players already in the hand. the flop was K-4-3 with 2 spades. i didn't know what 2 cards i held yet, so i had no reason to bet. i checked. the initial preflop raiser bet $15. the next player raised to $100. the cutoff was now thinking about his action, so i decided to peek at my hole cards. i held KhKd. uhhhhhhh......huh huh huh. what? i flopped the stone cold nuts? is that possible? meanwhile the cutoff raised to $200. (!!!) i was next to act in the big blind. how to get the most money in the pot ?? i raised it to $400. the $15 bettor folded and the next player who had raised to $100 tried to re-raise it to $600 [side bar: bay 101 has a couple of other rules. the maximum bet or raise is $200 and there were just 3 raises allowed per street]. his attempted raise to $600 was overruled and he was forced to just call my $400 bet. the cutoff folded. the turn was a third spade, which i didn't really like all that much. i checked and he bet $200. i called. the river was a blank and i checked and he threw in his last $60. i called. he showed AA and my three Ks took it down. thanks dude for getting all your money in the pot with 1 pair. crazy hand! the cutoff said he folded AK!
ok, i just have to say thank you for bad players. he could and should have gotten out of the hand for $115, but instead it cost him $675. i mean how could you think you're still good with AA after a bet, his raise, a re-raise, and my re-raise? it could easily have been set over set, with him in 3rd place. at the very least, one of us has to have at least 2 pair or a set. would i be re-raising from the blinds with KQ?? i know there is a tendency to fall in love with AA, but seriously guy -- you played that hand terribly.
occasionally you flop the nuts. rarely someone bets into you. never do you have a better, a raiser, and a re-raiser before you've acted.
the chip runner came over to help me rack the mountain of chips. i played a few more hands, but left soon thereafter after one of my best nights in poker.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Syndicate event #2
we haven't played very many re-buy tournaments in this group, but this one was. i chipped up early and never ended up re-buying, but of course i did the add on. so in the end it was $20 cheaper for me than a regular $100 freeze out. i came into the final table in pretty solid position relative to the other players, but not so much relative to the blinds. with a small turnout, there just weren't that many chips in play, so the average chip stack was pretty short compared to the blinds / antes.
i called a raise by a fairly strong young player (a new guy named David) with KcQc in position. flop was AQ7. he checked, i bet, he called. i was pretty much done with the hand now. on the turn, he checked again, and i felt like he was trying to induce a bet, so i checked behind. with my stack, i would have had to shove, and i didn't like my KQ that much. i folded to his bet on the river. he later said he had AK. i think my cash game sloshed over into tournament land on this hand, as KQ is so easily dominated and can make 2nd best hands all day long.
i re-stole a time or two, but didn't get too many hands at the final table. a couple of my steal attempts were foiled too. so now i was short stacked. that one hand with KQ crippled me just due to the large blinds and antes.
i open shoved with 66 on the button with a relatively short stack. brady called instantly in the big blind with KK and i was out in 6th. oh well. i felt like i played well except for that KQ hand. i didn't need to bet on the flop as i was either way ahead or way behind. i'll get em next time.
i was glad to see a couple of new faces in the money for this second event. congrats.
i called a raise by a fairly strong young player (a new guy named David) with KcQc in position. flop was AQ7. he checked, i bet, he called. i was pretty much done with the hand now. on the turn, he checked again, and i felt like he was trying to induce a bet, so i checked behind. with my stack, i would have had to shove, and i didn't like my KQ that much. i folded to his bet on the river. he later said he had AK. i think my cash game sloshed over into tournament land on this hand, as KQ is so easily dominated and can make 2nd best hands all day long.
i re-stole a time or two, but didn't get too many hands at the final table. a couple of my steal attempts were foiled too. so now i was short stacked. that one hand with KQ crippled me just due to the large blinds and antes.
i open shoved with 66 on the button with a relatively short stack. brady called instantly in the big blind with KK and i was out in 6th. oh well. i felt like i played well except for that KQ hand. i didn't need to bet on the flop as i was either way ahead or way behind. i'll get em next time.
i was glad to see a couple of new faces in the money for this second event. congrats.
Sat. 8/4 session
the bottom line is that i won money in the session. i left a little bit disappointed though, not because barry bonds chose saturday night (the night after we went to the game) to hit his record-tying 755th home run, but because i made a bad call to lose a big pot right before i was going to leave.
after sitting down at a new table when my first one broke, the first hand i witnessed was for $600 (and one guy's whole stack) and was won by a pair of 5s with a 6 kicker with 3 overcards on the board. wow. the winner of the hand is a notorious donator, but the point was do not bluff him. he called a $100 re-raise preflop with 5-6 suited !
i raised in late position with AK and got 2 callers including this maniac. flop was KQ5. i like this flop vs. 2 players. he checks to me, i bet the pot, the button calls, and the maniac raises! i call and the button calls. turn is a J. checks to me, i check, and the button goes all in. the maniac calls, and i end up folding. the button had KJ and the maniac wins the pot with 5s full of Queens when he rivers a 5. and his Q-5 was not suited. just sick.
i later called his straddle in early position with KK. by the script he raised, got a caller, and i re-raised. i knew he was coming along too. he called. flop of course had an A. (i had KK three times in the session and twice an Ace flopped.) he checked, i bet, and he called. turn was another Ace; check-check. he went all in on the river for about $165 with about $240 in the pot. if he didn't have an Ace, i had him crushed, but if he did.......i thought his range was so wide here, and i'm getting a good price, so i called. he showed down A-8.
about 1 orbit later, he later paid me off when i ended up getting all my chips in with AA on the turn. he didn't show, but he couldn't beat 1 pair thankfully. i think he was in the 2/3 NL game for over $1800.
that table broke and i got a seat at the 1 remaining table. there was a lot of money on the table and the game was fast the action was hot.
there was a remarkable hand that played out soon after i sat down. the early position player on my left called the blind, along with a couple of others. the cutoff raised to $12. two callers. the player on my left re-raised to $125. the cutoff smooth called, everyone else folded. the EP player had about $450 to start the hand and was covered by the cutoff. the flop was Q-10-4, they got another $300 in the pot. the turn was a Q and the player on my left went all in and was called by the cutoff! now $900 in the pot. the river was a 7 and then they showed down: the early position showed pocket 8s and the cutoff showed AK, no pair! he won a $900 pot with a two 8s. incredible and / or ridiculous read.
i chipped up pretty well at this table including your standard flopped sets, 2 pair, etc. one hand i doubled up with pocket AA. i re-raised an early position raiser from $10 to $20. 3 players to the flop, which was King high. it checked to me, so i bet $50. the initial pre-flop raiser raised to $120. i shoved and he insta-called. uh oh. until i turn an A. he showed down pocket Ks and had flopped a set, which lost to my turned set of As. suckout, re-suckout. sorry guy. weird though, that he raised to $10 preflop, which was a tiny pot building raise. if everyone just called he could be playing one pair vs about 6 people out of position. then i min-raise him and he just calls??! wow. i didn't feel that badly though, cuz he should have re-raised my $20 bet preflop and we would have gotten it all in anyway.
the hand that left a bad taste in my mouth was literally right as i was going to leave. i was about 13-14 hours into the session and i had As10s in the small blind. i called a mini preflop raise. the flop was 6s9s7d. i flopped the nut flush draw and a gut shot with 2 overs. pretty good flop for me. but with 4 players in, i decided to check and see what happened. there was a bet and a raise on the button. i called the raise and the bettor folded. turn was the 7s, giving me an Ace high flush. i didn't really like that card as it paired the board. i would have rather seen the 8h or the Qs, or a total blank. i'd rather have a draw to the nuts, than have a made flush drawing to 1 out (8s).
checked and called $50 by the button. the river was a blank. i still had an Ace high flush. i checked hoping to show down, but the button bet $200 with about $240 in the pot already. i could beat 2 pair, a straight, or a weaker flush. if he had pocket 6s or 9s, or 9-7, i was dead. he raised the flop bet, so he could have A-9, 6-7, or 8-10, or Ks8s. i called.
what would you have done there?
he showed 9-7 offsuit for the turned boat. don't like my call there. there are just too many ways i'm beat.
but like i said, i still left a winner, just not as winner-ish as i would have liked.
after sitting down at a new table when my first one broke, the first hand i witnessed was for $600 (and one guy's whole stack) and was won by a pair of 5s with a 6 kicker with 3 overcards on the board. wow. the winner of the hand is a notorious donator, but the point was do not bluff him. he called a $100 re-raise preflop with 5-6 suited !
i raised in late position with AK and got 2 callers including this maniac. flop was KQ5. i like this flop vs. 2 players. he checks to me, i bet the pot, the button calls, and the maniac raises! i call and the button calls. turn is a J. checks to me, i check, and the button goes all in. the maniac calls, and i end up folding. the button had KJ and the maniac wins the pot with 5s full of Queens when he rivers a 5. and his Q-5 was not suited. just sick.
i later called his straddle in early position with KK. by the script he raised, got a caller, and i re-raised. i knew he was coming along too. he called. flop of course had an A. (i had KK three times in the session and twice an Ace flopped.) he checked, i bet, and he called. turn was another Ace; check-check. he went all in on the river for about $165 with about $240 in the pot. if he didn't have an Ace, i had him crushed, but if he did.......i thought his range was so wide here, and i'm getting a good price, so i called. he showed down A-8.
about 1 orbit later, he later paid me off when i ended up getting all my chips in with AA on the turn. he didn't show, but he couldn't beat 1 pair thankfully. i think he was in the 2/3 NL game for over $1800.
that table broke and i got a seat at the 1 remaining table. there was a lot of money on the table and the game was fast the action was hot.
there was a remarkable hand that played out soon after i sat down. the early position player on my left called the blind, along with a couple of others. the cutoff raised to $12. two callers. the player on my left re-raised to $125. the cutoff smooth called, everyone else folded. the EP player had about $450 to start the hand and was covered by the cutoff. the flop was Q-10-4, they got another $300 in the pot. the turn was a Q and the player on my left went all in and was called by the cutoff! now $900 in the pot. the river was a 7 and then they showed down: the early position showed pocket 8s and the cutoff showed AK, no pair! he won a $900 pot with a two 8s. incredible and / or ridiculous read.
i chipped up pretty well at this table including your standard flopped sets, 2 pair, etc. one hand i doubled up with pocket AA. i re-raised an early position raiser from $10 to $20. 3 players to the flop, which was King high. it checked to me, so i bet $50. the initial pre-flop raiser raised to $120. i shoved and he insta-called. uh oh. until i turn an A. he showed down pocket Ks and had flopped a set, which lost to my turned set of As. suckout, re-suckout. sorry guy. weird though, that he raised to $10 preflop, which was a tiny pot building raise. if everyone just called he could be playing one pair vs about 6 people out of position. then i min-raise him and he just calls??! wow. i didn't feel that badly though, cuz he should have re-raised my $20 bet preflop and we would have gotten it all in anyway.
the hand that left a bad taste in my mouth was literally right as i was going to leave. i was about 13-14 hours into the session and i had As10s in the small blind. i called a mini preflop raise. the flop was 6s9s7d. i flopped the nut flush draw and a gut shot with 2 overs. pretty good flop for me. but with 4 players in, i decided to check and see what happened. there was a bet and a raise on the button. i called the raise and the bettor folded. turn was the 7s, giving me an Ace high flush. i didn't really like that card as it paired the board. i would have rather seen the 8h or the Qs, or a total blank. i'd rather have a draw to the nuts, than have a made flush drawing to 1 out (8s).
checked and called $50 by the button. the river was a blank. i still had an Ace high flush. i checked hoping to show down, but the button bet $200 with about $240 in the pot already. i could beat 2 pair, a straight, or a weaker flush. if he had pocket 6s or 9s, or 9-7, i was dead. he raised the flop bet, so he could have A-9, 6-7, or 8-10, or Ks8s. i called.
what would you have done there?
he showed 9-7 offsuit for the turned boat. don't like my call there. there are just too many ways i'm beat.
but like i said, i still left a winner, just not as winner-ish as i would have liked.
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