Not too much poker to write about this weekend. Had another rough night Friday night but pulled it back from the brink of disaster with a SNG win at the end. So it went from a disasterous night to a shitty night. Played a little on Saturday and booked a couple of cashes which at this point is more of a moral victory then anything else. Ending a day in the black was nice for a change. Congrats to Blindguy for winning the latest season of the PokerSlut Tour. Zooks hasn't done the standins yet but I'm 99.9% positive he won. Caught me at the end the bastid, now he and I are the only 2 time winners. Last night was stud8 and I was card dead for most of it. But when I finally did get the rest of my stack in with A23 to start, it couldn't compare to the monster that is 89J rainbow 3-bet preflop. Even when I made aces up with no low. C'est le vie I guess.
And here's your public service announcement for the day. If you live in or near a city with major league baseball, take your kids out of school today, tomorrow or next week, whenever opening day is for that team. If I had one and they were old enough to go, they'd be there. As is, I play hookie from work myself. Opening Day is always perfect no matter what the weather is for the game. You'll be happier and play better poker (<----- poker content) or at least that's what I'm hoping for.
And don't tell Snuffy that I included non-poker content or ima get banned.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Step 1 Update
With 6 left here is where I stood:
PokerStars Game #16357859191: Tournament #82830455, $7.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2008/03/30 - 08:48:44 (ET)
Table '82830455 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: MMM21 (1025 in chips)
Seat 2: scottc25 (1180 in chips)
Seat 3: yaboyya (4615 in chips)
Seat 5: fredbudweise (2735 in chips)
Seat 6: joostajax (2420 in chips)
Seat 8: superbrono (1525 in chips)
With 5 left:
PokerStars Game #16357897733: Tournament #82830455, $7.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2008/03/30 - 08:51:46 (ET)
Table '82830455 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: scottc25 (880 in chips)
Seat 3: yaboyya (4940 in chips)
Seat 5: fredbudweise (5135 in chips)
Seat 6: joostajax (1620 in chips)
Seat 8: superbrono (925 in chips)
4 left (woot!!!):
PokerStars Game #16357977465: Tournament #82830455, $7.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2008/03/30 - 08:58:03 (ET)
Table '82830455 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: scottc25 (4510 in chips)
Seat 3: yaboyya (825 in chips)
Seat 5: fredbudweise (7230 in chips)
Seat 6: joostajax (935 in chips)
I ended up getting a ticket to step 2. Holy shortstackaments!
PokerStars Game #16357859191: Tournament #82830455, $7.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2008/03/30 - 08:48:44 (ET)
Table '82830455 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: MMM21 (1025 in chips)
Seat 2: scottc25 (1180 in chips)
Seat 3: yaboyya (4615 in chips)
Seat 5: fredbudweise (2735 in chips)
Seat 6: joostajax (2420 in chips)
Seat 8: superbrono (1525 in chips)
With 5 left:
PokerStars Game #16357897733: Tournament #82830455, $7.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2008/03/30 - 08:51:46 (ET)
Table '82830455 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: scottc25 (880 in chips)
Seat 3: yaboyya (4940 in chips)
Seat 5: fredbudweise (5135 in chips)
Seat 6: joostajax (1620 in chips)
Seat 8: superbrono (925 in chips)
4 left (woot!!!):
PokerStars Game #16357977465: Tournament #82830455, $7.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2008/03/30 - 08:58:03 (ET)
Table '82830455 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: scottc25 (4510 in chips)
Seat 3: yaboyya (825 in chips)
Seat 5: fredbudweise (7230 in chips)
Seat 6: joostajax (935 in chips)
I ended up getting a ticket to step 2. Holy shortstackaments!
AIPS and Home Game
I haven't played a whole lot online since my last post. I did play in AIPS on Thursday though. It was a pretty uneventful night for me though. I never had more than 2000 the whole time. My high point was when the blinds were around 150/300 or so and I had 1600. It was folded to me in the SB and I shoved with 10,6. The BB woke up with A,K. I hit a 10 on the river to double up to 3400 which was my highest stack of the night. The next time the BB rolled around to me it was folded to the SB who raised. I shoved with AhJh. The SB called with 9,9. I bricked out and finished 39th, 12 short of the money and the points.
After that I played in a LAPT Step 3. There was one hand in the early going where I was in the BB and there was a raise to 90. There were 3 callers and I decide to shove with 10,10. A few of the callers took their time but folded. That got me over 2000 and I coasted into a redo spot (top 3). With 4 left I got my chips in but lost so I have a redo.
As I type right now I am using my last step 1 ticket. Damn, folded QhJ, to a 6x raise in level 1. Flop Q,J,X. Oh well.
Yesterday was the home game. I started off quickly. The first game called was limit hold-em and I picked up A,A and K,K in my first three hands. They both held and I was in the black most of the day. I did fall into the red about $25 at one point where I made 2nd best hand twice in a row and then in a razz hand I called down with a 9 and lost to a wheel. Then limit hold-em came around again.
In 3 consecutive hands Scott 2 bet in front of me and I 3 bet every time. I ended up winning all three hands, the last one when I had the hammer and won with a pair of deuces. The 4th hand I had AdQd in the BB and 2 bet it. I missed and my streak was over. That little sequence got me from down $25 to up $30 though. The biggest pot of the day was yet to come though.
Someone decided to call Juarez. For those not familiar with the game it is played somewhat like Omaha. The differences are you get dealt 5 cards instead of 4 but you still have to play 2 in your hand. There are two boards dealt except the river, which is a community card used for both boards. The high and low hand split the pot. Not for each board, but overall. The big hand came when I had K,J,9,8.X. Not a great hand by any means but I decided to play. The top board rolled out J,8,X and the bottom was 9 high. There was a bet as both boards showed 2 to a low. Chances are one is going to get there. I decide to call and hope to pair my J or 8 on top. The turn hits the 8 on top and the low got there on the bottom. The betting was capped 4 ways on the turn. The only hand that can beat me is J,J, The river didn't change anything and the betting was capped 3-ways. I had the high and the other 2 had the low and I won a monster half of a pot.
I only won one other biggish pot when we were playing 2-7 when I was dealt an 8,6. i bet the whole way and was raised after the 3rd draw. I called and he showed and 8,7. After six hours I ended up $108 on the day. Not too bad.
Still in that step 1, looking bleak with 6 left. Oh well, I still have that step 3 to fall back on.
After that I played in a LAPT Step 3. There was one hand in the early going where I was in the BB and there was a raise to 90. There were 3 callers and I decide to shove with 10,10. A few of the callers took their time but folded. That got me over 2000 and I coasted into a redo spot (top 3). With 4 left I got my chips in but lost so I have a redo.
As I type right now I am using my last step 1 ticket. Damn, folded QhJ, to a 6x raise in level 1. Flop Q,J,X. Oh well.
Yesterday was the home game. I started off quickly. The first game called was limit hold-em and I picked up A,A and K,K in my first three hands. They both held and I was in the black most of the day. I did fall into the red about $25 at one point where I made 2nd best hand twice in a row and then in a razz hand I called down with a 9 and lost to a wheel. Then limit hold-em came around again.
In 3 consecutive hands Scott 2 bet in front of me and I 3 bet every time. I ended up winning all three hands, the last one when I had the hammer and won with a pair of deuces. The 4th hand I had AdQd in the BB and 2 bet it. I missed and my streak was over. That little sequence got me from down $25 to up $30 though. The biggest pot of the day was yet to come though.
Someone decided to call Juarez. For those not familiar with the game it is played somewhat like Omaha. The differences are you get dealt 5 cards instead of 4 but you still have to play 2 in your hand. There are two boards dealt except the river, which is a community card used for both boards. The high and low hand split the pot. Not for each board, but overall. The big hand came when I had K,J,9,8.X. Not a great hand by any means but I decided to play. The top board rolled out J,8,X and the bottom was 9 high. There was a bet as both boards showed 2 to a low. Chances are one is going to get there. I decide to call and hope to pair my J or 8 on top. The turn hits the 8 on top and the low got there on the bottom. The betting was capped 4 ways on the turn. The only hand that can beat me is J,J, The river didn't change anything and the betting was capped 3-ways. I had the high and the other 2 had the low and I won a monster half of a pot.
I only won one other biggish pot when we were playing 2-7 when I was dealt an 8,6. i bet the whole way and was raised after the 3rd draw. I called and he showed and 8,7. After six hours I ended up $108 on the day. Not too bad.
Still in that step 1, looking bleak with 6 left. Oh well, I still have that step 3 to fall back on.
Friday, March 28, 2008
AIPS and Riverchasers
What a fucking success last night was!
In AIPS , I played probably the best I had in a while for one of those tournys which isn't exactly saying much. I was up and down in the beginning, but then caught aces in a key spot and got a nice stack. Was playing uber tight, which was the theme on the evening. With about 55 of the original 143 left, there is a standard 3x raise from a player with about 2800 to 600. I look down at AKos OTB and decide to jam my 4000ish. First player insta-calls, insta-calls with QJh. Rivers flush. Next hand with only 1100 or so left, it folds to me in the hijack with A6d, I shove. BB insta-calls, insta-calls for 1/3 or his stack with A4c, and promptly flops a 4 then rivers a flush. I don't understand such advanced plays, but it does lead to........
Riverchasers. I do not play a lot of blogger tournaments. I am not Hoy, who can stay up til all hours winning tournaments (maybe that would help me stay up late too), go to work and entertain his two HammerGirls. I'm not that good. I have a job and I'm lazy and like sleep, but I do go in to the office at 7:30 everyday, so eff you. That being said the main reason I don't play is because most of the blonkaments start later then I intend to be awake, but I do like to play them.
Coming back from tanget. However the end result of this is that early I usually fail to adjust my game to very aggressive preflop play. As was the case last night, I did though, manage to get lucky to get key hands when I needed them. This inlcuded a sequence with about 50 or so left when I got AA, AK, AQ, AK in about the span of 7 hands. Then with about 30 left I ran into KK from the same player twice. First time I reraised all in with 1010 OTB when he raised 3x from the hijack. This left me with 1100 chips and blinds of 300-600. Somehow I win a 4 way pot with 98h and I'm starting to think the stars maybe aligned. Then the same players raises 3x in the SB and I have AQd in the BB, an obvious shove. So I do. And he has KK, again. And he flops a set, and I get recockulously lucky and turn a gutter straight. Now I think it is my night. Fastforward to the bubble, my stats are 15/7 on the night, that is nitty effing tight people. So when with 8500 chips, blinds of 1K/2K, I shove from the button with K8s, I expect to be able to take the blinds. Especially when it represents 1/3 of the BB stack. Especially when he has Q7os. But when he turns the striaght on me so I can bubble I understand the advanced play there.
So Mr. Waffles as per your question last night. I must not be a ballah with mad skllz, cause well I can't explain that play for the life of me.
In AIPS , I played probably the best I had in a while for one of those tournys which isn't exactly saying much. I was up and down in the beginning, but then caught aces in a key spot and got a nice stack. Was playing uber tight, which was the theme on the evening. With about 55 of the original 143 left, there is a standard 3x raise from a player with about 2800 to 600. I look down at AKos OTB and decide to jam my 4000ish. First player insta-calls, insta-calls with QJh. Rivers flush. Next hand with only 1100 or so left, it folds to me in the hijack with A6d, I shove. BB insta-calls, insta-calls for 1/3 or his stack with A4c, and promptly flops a 4 then rivers a flush. I don't understand such advanced plays, but it does lead to........
Riverchasers. I do not play a lot of blogger tournaments. I am not Hoy, who can stay up til all hours winning tournaments (maybe that would help me stay up late too), go to work and entertain his two HammerGirls. I'm not that good. I have a job and I'm lazy and like sleep, but I do go in to the office at 7:30 everyday, so eff you. That being said the main reason I don't play is because most of the blonkaments start later then I intend to be awake, but I do like to play them.
Coming back from tanget. However the end result of this is that early I usually fail to adjust my game to very aggressive preflop play. As was the case last night, I did though, manage to get lucky to get key hands when I needed them. This inlcuded a sequence with about 50 or so left when I got AA, AK, AQ, AK in about the span of 7 hands. Then with about 30 left I ran into KK from the same player twice. First time I reraised all in with 1010 OTB when he raised 3x from the hijack. This left me with 1100 chips and blinds of 300-600. Somehow I win a 4 way pot with 98h and I'm starting to think the stars maybe aligned. Then the same players raises 3x in the SB and I have AQd in the BB, an obvious shove. So I do. And he has KK, again. And he flops a set, and I get recockulously lucky and turn a gutter straight. Now I think it is my night. Fastforward to the bubble, my stats are 15/7 on the night, that is nitty effing tight people. So when with 8500 chips, blinds of 1K/2K, I shove from the button with K8s, I expect to be able to take the blinds. Especially when it represents 1/3 of the BB stack. Especially when he has Q7os. But when he turns the striaght on me so I can bubble I understand the advanced play there.
So Mr. Waffles as per your question last night. I must not be a ballah with mad skllz, cause well I can't explain that play for the life of me.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Poker Stars and Home Game
I came back after my brief respite on Tuesday night to play CHIMPS, poorly as Snuffy would point out. Well actually just one hand poorly where I didn't want to believe that he flopped a set with my monster hand of pocket 55's. Bad play me, I can live with that. Making a blatantly bad mookish type play is easier to swallow then getting sucked out on, and that's a fact Jack. I also played my Step 3, and despite a bad hand early with pocket 1010's (which one can and maybe should argue I never should have played) was able to come back and win a step 4 ticket. This win included getting ricockulously lucky in a ridonkulous setup hand 3 handed when the SB pushed in to my BB for the 80th time with AK and I woke with AQ and insta called.
Moving on to the home game last night. Had a bad hand early where I was slowplaying top pair, and letting the OOP bet into me. Unfortuntaley he went runner runner flush to get me. So I was pretty short stacked early and was in full push monkey mode. I then proceeded to win every effing race I got into, I mean every one. With shit hands like K3s, Q8d, just facockta shit. Eventually, I ended up winning the thing for a nice little win on the night. I can't say I played well, but I didn't really play bad either, just balls out lucky, which isn't the worst thing sometimes.
I will play AIPS tonight. I may also play Riverchasers since it is the one blogger tournament that doesn't finish at 2 AM for us east coast lewzors.
And on a side note. Snuffy you can tame your little CHIMPS, but I pwn SLUTS , bitch. And will attempt to become the only 3 time champion and since I'm the only 2 time champion, that ain't to bad. You can have the monkeys, I'll take the bitches.
Moving on to the home game last night. Had a bad hand early where I was slowplaying top pair, and letting the OOP bet into me. Unfortuntaley he went runner runner flush to get me. So I was pretty short stacked early and was in full push monkey mode. I then proceeded to win every effing race I got into, I mean every one. With shit hands like K3s, Q8d, just facockta shit. Eventually, I ended up winning the thing for a nice little win on the night. I can't say I played well, but I didn't really play bad either, just balls out lucky, which isn't the worst thing sometimes.
I will play AIPS tonight. I may also play Riverchasers since it is the one blogger tournament that doesn't finish at 2 AM for us east coast lewzors.
And on a side note. Snuffy you can tame your little CHIMPS, but I pwn SLUTS , bitch. And will attempt to become the only 3 time champion and since I'm the only 2 time champion, that ain't to bad. You can have the monkeys, I'll take the bitches.
CHIMPS Love
This series has to be rigged, right? How else can you explain the reason for the creator sitting in 1st place with four events left in the season. I managed to take 3rd place last night which was my 7th final table and 4th top three of the season. I was able to take over 1st place by 12 points. There is still 4 events left and its anyones title to win. Congrats to SmBoatDrink's first CHIMPS bracelet.
I can't wait till I get another memory stick for my digital camera so I can show you what I did while playing Step tournaments yesterday on Poker Stars. I was playing a step 2 with 5 people left. While 5 handed and a slight chip lead I managed to lose ALL of the following when all-in pre-flop:
A,J < J,10
A,10 < Q,10
A,J < K,Q
I ended up busting in 5th and getting a step 1 ticket. That's when my heel went through the drywall in my office (picture coming soon). Yeah, I can tilt pretty good. Naturally I open up another step 2 and with 5 people left I have about 5 bb's left, which was 5th at the time but about the same as 3rd and 4th. I get A,A UTG and shove and everyone folds. I go through the blinds and on the button I get A,A again and shove. I am called by the chip leader in the BB with K,J. Flop K turn J and I am out the door with a step 1 ticket.
At the same time as my step 2 was going I played in a step 1. With 4 people left I have 7500 chips and 3x as much as 2nd place. I manage to finish 3rd in that one to get a step 1 redo.
Its amazing how much more fun and easy it is writing about bad beats compared to wins and cashes. Be thankful Snarf that I didn't mention that 5,5 hand. Oops, too late.
AIPS is tonight along with a fantasy baseball draft. Now that will be some multi-tabling to see.
I can't wait till I get another memory stick for my digital camera so I can show you what I did while playing Step tournaments yesterday on Poker Stars. I was playing a step 2 with 5 people left. While 5 handed and a slight chip lead I managed to lose ALL of the following when all-in pre-flop:
A,J < J,10
A,10 < Q,10
A,J < K,Q
I ended up busting in 5th and getting a step 1 ticket. That's when my heel went through the drywall in my office (picture coming soon). Yeah, I can tilt pretty good. Naturally I open up another step 2 and with 5 people left I have about 5 bb's left, which was 5th at the time but about the same as 3rd and 4th. I get A,A UTG and shove and everyone folds. I go through the blinds and on the button I get A,A again and shove. I am called by the chip leader in the BB with K,J. Flop K turn J and I am out the door with a step 1 ticket.
At the same time as my step 2 was going I played in a step 1. With 4 people left I have 7500 chips and 3x as much as 2nd place. I manage to finish 3rd in that one to get a step 1 redo.
Its amazing how much more fun and easy it is writing about bad beats compared to wins and cashes. Be thankful Snarf that I didn't mention that 5,5 hand. Oops, too late.
AIPS is tonight along with a fantasy baseball draft. Now that will be some multi-tabling to see.
Monday, March 24, 2008
A Weekend from Poker after a Weekend of Poker
Since my weekend of poker consisted of Friday and Saturday, that makes today the Sunday of the weekend off from poker since Sunday was the Saturday of the weekend off from poker but Saturday was the Sunday of the weekend of playing poker but Friday really isn't the weekend technically so that may change the whole analogy. Got it? So I'm on break until CHIMPS tomorrow night and that's 50/50 at this point.
Friday afternoon started great with a win the in 14+1 token frenzy in the afternoon, so now I have a nice one of them sitting in my coffers. Unfortunately that was the high water mark. Ended Friday night down a few bucks in the overall scheme, not really that bad. Saturday, however, saw the bevy of 2 and 3 outers on the bubbles of SNG's that broke my spirit. It's not worth recounting all of them. In fact some would say that recounting the negative does not help to reinforce the positive. More Freudian shit that doesn't make my bankroll recover. Don't get me wrong, the hit to the roll was not a stack off by any means (less then 15%), but it did not leave the mind in an optimal place for continued playing. Now I would be nieve to say there were some bad plays in there myself. The way I left Saturday's with Dr. Pauly comes to mind. Overcommiting with a set of 8's Jack kicker on a flush board agasinst a flopped boat in PLO. So in the interest of poker growth I shall focus on the positives and maybe Full Tilt will turn off my doomswitch.
Positives:
1) Won a 75 token.
2) For the most part got my money in well ahead of my opponents in key situations.
3) Did not use the cash tables to stack off more of my bankroll after the onslaught of bad beats (this is an enourmous leak for me and causes massive tiltage as opposed to being just cranky for the rest of the night).
So why the couple days hiatus? I need to figure out how I want to build back the missing postion of my bankroll. I feel like I am jumping around alot between ring and sng. I feel as though I should really focus on the ring games if that's what I choose to do and pick one and get better at it (flipping between PLO, PLO8, OM8, and NLOM8 is not good). Also I need to figure out what I am willing to invest of my bankroll to win a bracelet race and how much loss I am willing to accept. Just a better plan of action at this point. Finally I just need a few days to stop fearing the worst in every situation so that I can keep putting myself in good situations, cause then the results willl come. Right FullTilt? Are you listening? Hello?
Friday afternoon started great with a win the in 14+1 token frenzy in the afternoon, so now I have a nice one of them sitting in my coffers. Unfortunately that was the high water mark. Ended Friday night down a few bucks in the overall scheme, not really that bad. Saturday, however, saw the bevy of 2 and 3 outers on the bubbles of SNG's that broke my spirit. It's not worth recounting all of them. In fact some would say that recounting the negative does not help to reinforce the positive. More Freudian shit that doesn't make my bankroll recover. Don't get me wrong, the hit to the roll was not a stack off by any means (less then 15%), but it did not leave the mind in an optimal place for continued playing. Now I would be nieve to say there were some bad plays in there myself. The way I left Saturday's with Dr. Pauly comes to mind. Overcommiting with a set of 8's Jack kicker on a flush board agasinst a flopped boat in PLO. So in the interest of poker growth I shall focus on the positives and maybe Full Tilt will turn off my doomswitch.
Positives:
1) Won a 75 token.
2) For the most part got my money in well ahead of my opponents in key situations.
3) Did not use the cash tables to stack off more of my bankroll after the onslaught of bad beats (this is an enourmous leak for me and causes massive tiltage as opposed to being just cranky for the rest of the night).
So why the couple days hiatus? I need to figure out how I want to build back the missing postion of my bankroll. I feel like I am jumping around alot between ring and sng. I feel as though I should really focus on the ring games if that's what I choose to do and pick one and get better at it (flipping between PLO, PLO8, OM8, and NLOM8 is not good). Also I need to figure out what I am willing to invest of my bankroll to win a bracelet race and how much loss I am willing to accept. Just a better plan of action at this point. Finally I just need a few days to stop fearing the worst in every situation so that I can keep putting myself in good situations, cause then the results willl come. Right FullTilt? Are you listening? Hello?
Saturday, March 22, 2008
LAPT Steps
I have been playing a couple of the LAPT steps the last few days. I got a redo and an advance to step 2 on 4 buy-ins on Thursday night. I fired one up this afternoon and this was the first hand.
I wish the rest would have gone easy. I did get my step 2 out of this. If I didn't I might have to quit poker. When we were three handed the other two faced each other in all-ins 5 times and the short stack survived each time. I played against a short stack of 2000 when I rivered two pair. He rivered the straight to even everything up. Shortly after the other two got involved and the big stack won.
I wish the rest would have gone easy. I did get my step 2 out of this. If I didn't I might have to quit poker. When we were three handed the other two faced each other in all-ins 5 times and the short stack survived each time. I played against a short stack of 2000 when I rivered two pair. He rivered the straight to even everything up. Shortly after the other two got involved and the big stack won.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
A 3rd, An O-fer and Some Pwnage
Tuesday night was CHIMPS night, HOSE style. I hung around for the first 1/2 hour playing premiums hands. Collecting chips early in these limit games means virtually nothing. When you get back to hold'em for the second go around thats when it gets serious. I vowed to play only aces, kings or rolled up hands in the the Stud portion. That game just sucks ass lately for me. When we got down to two tables I picked-up a low hand in Stud8. I paired my 6 on 4th and hit trips on 5th. I check called the rest of the way because it looked like Zerb had a low. He ended up having two pair and I won a big pot to get me to around 4000 in chips.
Headed to the final table I was middle of the pack in chips. In back to back hands lost almost 3/4ths of my chips. In a big three way all in hand I had 10,10 in hold'em and it held and I was up over 4000 again. Down to 5 handed I played it fairly conservative because of the two large stacks at the table. When we got to 3 handed it was fairly even in chips. Nothing too exciting after that. I got short stacked but was able to double-up. We had just switched to Stud8 but I didn't notice the switch and thought we were still in stud. I shoved with A,Q,J and was called by Ad6d2d. Luckily my hand held but I was busted shortly after that in 3rd. Up to 2nd in points with five events to go.
The Blogger Skillz HOSE didnt go as well for me. I am now 0-3 in getting points for the BBT3. U busted in 46th out of 87. the key hand that crushed me was in Stud when I had (A,A)3. I had the bring-in and a player raised with a Jack showing. There were 4 bets in on 3rd and 4th and a couple on 5th. I never improved and my opponent improved to Jacks up on 7th. What could I have possible had there putting in so many bets? Did he think his Jacks were good?
I played a Latin America Poker Tour Step 2 this evening and was able to get up to 5000 in chips with 5 people left. I was able to abuse the mini-bubble and raised EVERY SINGLE HAND when there were two short stacks trying to hang on and get a redo at 4th. Before 5th was busted I got my stack up to 8000. After 5th busted the two remaining short stacks were knocked out fairly quickly. I have my step 3 ticket which I might hold onto for a bit. I am going to try and get another step 3 before I play one.
Its time for the Mookie in 1/2 hour. Lets see if I can get off of the 0-3 skid.
Headed to the final table I was middle of the pack in chips. In back to back hands lost almost 3/4ths of my chips. In a big three way all in hand I had 10,10 in hold'em and it held and I was up over 4000 again. Down to 5 handed I played it fairly conservative because of the two large stacks at the table. When we got to 3 handed it was fairly even in chips. Nothing too exciting after that. I got short stacked but was able to double-up. We had just switched to Stud8 but I didn't notice the switch and thought we were still in stud. I shoved with A,Q,J and was called by Ad6d2d. Luckily my hand held but I was busted shortly after that in 3rd. Up to 2nd in points with five events to go.
The Blogger Skillz HOSE didnt go as well for me. I am now 0-3 in getting points for the BBT3. U busted in 46th out of 87. the key hand that crushed me was in Stud when I had (A,A)3. I had the bring-in and a player raised with a Jack showing. There were 4 bets in on 3rd and 4th and a couple on 5th. I never improved and my opponent improved to Jacks up on 7th. What could I have possible had there putting in so many bets? Did he think his Jacks were good?
I played a Latin America Poker Tour Step 2 this evening and was able to get up to 5000 in chips with 5 people left. I was able to abuse the mini-bubble and raised EVERY SINGLE HAND when there were two short stacks trying to hang on and get a redo at 4th. Before 5th was busted I got my stack up to 8000. After 5th busted the two remaining short stacks were knocked out fairly quickly. I have my step 3 ticket which I might hold onto for a bit. I am going to try and get another step 3 before I play one.
Its time for the Mookie in 1/2 hour. Lets see if I can get off of the 0-3 skid.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tampa Bay Poker Part II and Bracelet Race Thoughts
On Sunday of my trip I was able to make it out to the Silks cardroom at Tampa Downs with esteemed Ante Up! co-host Scott Long. We started playing a little 2-4 limit while waiting for the OM8 table to open up some seats. I was able to chip up a little here before moving over. Once we hit the 2-4 OM8, I started well enough, making a few nice hands and getting up about 40 bucks until the deck decided not to cooperate. You must forgive me as I am trying to recall live OM8 hands from memory, which is spotty at best. First hand I have J9d-10-3 in the BB and see a free flop of Kx-Qd-3x. I check, UTG bets, 3 calls to me and I call. Turn is the lovely Ad. I lead everyone calls. Turn is another Q. Why I lead here I don't know but when everyone just calls I think I might be OK, until a guy shows AQxx, nice runner runner boat. Second hand and this one was much worse. In the SB I get A-10-9-3 and call for a half a bet. Flop comes Js-8s-6c. Not bad, I check call a bet on the flop not willing to go crazy with a FD out there. Turn is a perfect 7c, putting another FD out there but giving me second nut low and nut straight. I bet, UTG raises, UTG+1 3 bets, and I decided to cap at that point. The river is an ugly Jc. I check call a bet from UTG+1. End results. UTG+1 had A2c and was jamming the turn with nut low and a nut FD. I guess I could have slowed down on the Turn a little not having the nut low, but after seeing the play to that point I thought my A3 was more then good.
Moving on. Bracelet Races. Can anyone explain to me why there are 24+2 tournaments for a $2000 prize package? I realize this is a cheap option to get one but a 100-1 shot? Really? So for me the most viable option to grab one of these is the 200+16 on Friday and Sunday, not a cheap price tag. Now there are 69+6 and 24+2 sats into these, not bad, especially if I can secure a few of those 75 tokens. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they have the 50+5 sats like they did for the FTOPS events which had cheap sats themselves and were a good way to get in. Another option you ask? Well here is my latest and greatest thought. My alternative plan at this point is to take advantage of the 50/50 sats every night and FTP's new $T. This way for 8 and 14 bucks a pop I can try and grab 55T$ a shot. It "seems" like a good plan, but then again I am executing it so it could be doomed to fail.
Moving on. Bracelet Races. Can anyone explain to me why there are 24+2 tournaments for a $2000 prize package? I realize this is a cheap option to get one but a 100-1 shot? Really? So for me the most viable option to grab one of these is the 200+16 on Friday and Sunday, not a cheap price tag. Now there are 69+6 and 24+2 sats into these, not bad, especially if I can secure a few of those 75 tokens. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they have the 50+5 sats like they did for the FTOPS events which had cheap sats themselves and were a good way to get in. Another option you ask? Well here is my latest and greatest thought. My alternative plan at this point is to take advantage of the 50/50 sats every night and FTP's new $T. This way for 8 and 14 bucks a pop I can try and grab 55T$ a shot. It "seems" like a good plan, but then again I am executing it so it could be doomed to fail.
The MATH and Other Online Stuff
I am in lovely Albany, NY this week. What a great time to play online poker since there is absolutely nothing else to do here, unless you like harness racing when its 20 degrees out.
I played the MATH last night, which is part of the BBT3 Challenge. It was a $26 6-max tournament. I played fairly passive at the beginning of the 70 player tournament. I was laying down medium Aces early and was bouncing up and down around the 3000 starting stack for most of the first hour. I picked up three good hands in the first hour. I had J,J in the SB and raised it up 4x and the BB folded. I got K,K in UTG and raised it to 3.5x and had no callers. I had J,J again and raised it 3x from EP and got the BB to call. The flop came J,4,2 and I led out and the BB folded.
The end of the tournament for me came the 1st hand after the break. I picked-up 9,9 on the button. There was a 3x raise UTG and I called. The SB re-raised to 8x, UTG folded. The SB has done this two other times to me where I flat call in position only to see him re-pop and me fold. I shoved for 18x and he took a while. He eventually called with A,10 off. Maybe I did telegraph my play here. Flat call a raise and shove over a re-raise. It does smell like middle pair and he was getting odds to call if thats what he put me on. Oh, well.
I short stacked a .25/.50 NL game for $25 after that. I was on my last lap before going to bed and I picked up A,A on the button. After two limpers I raised to $2.25 and only the SB called. Something similar happend the hand before this where there were multiple limpers and the button raised to $3 and got no callers. The flop comes Q,3,2. The SB checks and I bet out $5. The SB min-raises to $10. I'm not buying this and I shove. He calls and shows 4,4. The board bricks and I double-up. One other interesting hand before I quit. I bet $3.50 into a $5 pot with A,J into a 4 club board with ace high (no flush). I got looked up by A,Q. He had no club and no pair and a bigger ace high. Nice call.
I also played a turbo PLO8 SNG with Snarf. I ended up finishing 2nd. Snarf finished 4th. It was very nitty, unlike what Snarf always tells me.
Don't forget, CHIMPS is tonight.
I played the MATH last night, which is part of the BBT3 Challenge. It was a $26 6-max tournament. I played fairly passive at the beginning of the 70 player tournament. I was laying down medium Aces early and was bouncing up and down around the 3000 starting stack for most of the first hour. I picked up three good hands in the first hour. I had J,J in the SB and raised it up 4x and the BB folded. I got K,K in UTG and raised it to 3.5x and had no callers. I had J,J again and raised it 3x from EP and got the BB to call. The flop came J,4,2 and I led out and the BB folded.
The end of the tournament for me came the 1st hand after the break. I picked-up 9,9 on the button. There was a 3x raise UTG and I called. The SB re-raised to 8x, UTG folded. The SB has done this two other times to me where I flat call in position only to see him re-pop and me fold. I shoved for 18x and he took a while. He eventually called with A,10 off. Maybe I did telegraph my play here. Flat call a raise and shove over a re-raise. It does smell like middle pair and he was getting odds to call if thats what he put me on. Oh, well.
I short stacked a .25/.50 NL game for $25 after that. I was on my last lap before going to bed and I picked up A,A on the button. After two limpers I raised to $2.25 and only the SB called. Something similar happend the hand before this where there were multiple limpers and the button raised to $3 and got no callers. The flop comes Q,3,2. The SB checks and I bet out $5. The SB min-raises to $10. I'm not buying this and I shove. He calls and shows 4,4. The board bricks and I double-up. One other interesting hand before I quit. I bet $3.50 into a $5 pot with A,J into a 4 club board with ace high (no flush). I got looked up by A,Q. He had no club and no pair and a bigger ace high. Nice call.
I also played a turbo PLO8 SNG with Snarf. I ended up finishing 2nd. Snarf finished 4th. It was very nitty, unlike what Snarf always tells me.
Don't forget, CHIMPS is tonight.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Tampa Bay Poker Part I
First and foremost let's state how nice it is to have free wireless access in the airport. Philly take a hint, no one wants to pay 7.95 to use the internet for 30 minutes before their flight. Since I can use the internet I can blog and can try and win a 26 dollar token for tonight's MATH . Snuffy "says" he is going to play this tonight as well but we shall see. Six handed NLHE is not my best game, but if either of us actually cashes we will get the honor of being linked to on a poker blog that people actually read. So really it has nothing to do with the nice prize pool that this generates or the chance to be in the BBT tournament of champions with 6 or so WSOP prize packages, nothing.at.all about that.
Anyway onto the Tampa poker report which is what this post promised. Yes I'm milking two posts out of a 4 day trip in which I only played poker twice but you'll just have to like it. Besides you're not really working at work anyway. Friday night was Gambit's home game as Snuffy posted about previously some of the Ante Up! brass actually made it out there to play. I played the cash portion and then MrsSnarf also played the tournament portion with us.
The cash game was pretty uneventful for me. I realized that I am a complete and uber donk at double flop hold'em. I lack the ability to lay down any piece of any flop in the mere hopes that I might win one of the boards. I was up a little in the beginning but really was chasing to many hands to make any real headway and pick up a nice win. One interesting hand was in OM8, where I saw a flop in the SB with AQcQ9 with only the button and the BB in the hand. Flop comes KQJ with two clubs. I bet, BB folds, Button raises, I 3 bet and he just calls. Turn is a blank, I bet anyway, button calls. River is a blank and I check call a bet from the button. He of course flopped Broadway, and I leave being glad this was OM8 and not PLO or all the money would have gone in on the flop. Ended up winning the last pot of the night, I think in limit hold'em to get me up 3 bucks, wooooooooooot.
Onto the tournament portion of the evening. I was put to the test in first 5 hands. With the blinds still at 25-25 and most of my starting stack of 1500, I limp in early position with QJs, late position raises to 125, button calls and I call and plan to proceed cautiously. Flop comes QJ4 two diamonds. I check with the intention of check raising and the PFR bets 600 and the button calls. Now for some assinine reason, I decide to just call. The turn is another blank, I think an offsuit 8, and I check to the PFR who goes all in and the button folds. I decided I can't lay this down and call. He has KK and I hold to win the pot but not the bounty as he had 50 more chips then me. MrsSnarf continues to chip up nicely and I get to play with a double stack for most of the tourny. Eventually I give some back in push time when I had my AK vs AQ vs KK but still hung on. The Mrs knocked out 2 when her AK turned broadway against Q6 and AJ aipf. In the end I took out Gambit in 3rd and since the Mrs was exhausted and wanted to sleep chopped 1st and 2nd with her (very +EV for marriage purposes).
Next post will be shorter I promise. Just a little recap of some low limit hold'em and OM8 at the Silks poker room in Tampa.
Anyway onto the Tampa poker report which is what this post promised. Yes I'm milking two posts out of a 4 day trip in which I only played poker twice but you'll just have to like it. Besides you're not really working at work anyway. Friday night was Gambit's home game as Snuffy posted about previously some of the Ante Up! brass actually made it out there to play. I played the cash portion and then MrsSnarf also played the tournament portion with us.
The cash game was pretty uneventful for me. I realized that I am a complete and uber donk at double flop hold'em. I lack the ability to lay down any piece of any flop in the mere hopes that I might win one of the boards. I was up a little in the beginning but really was chasing to many hands to make any real headway and pick up a nice win. One interesting hand was in OM8, where I saw a flop in the SB with AQcQ9 with only the button and the BB in the hand. Flop comes KQJ with two clubs. I bet, BB folds, Button raises, I 3 bet and he just calls. Turn is a blank, I bet anyway, button calls. River is a blank and I check call a bet from the button. He of course flopped Broadway, and I leave being glad this was OM8 and not PLO or all the money would have gone in on the flop. Ended up winning the last pot of the night, I think in limit hold'em to get me up 3 bucks, wooooooooooot.
Onto the tournament portion of the evening. I was put to the test in first 5 hands. With the blinds still at 25-25 and most of my starting stack of 1500, I limp in early position with QJs, late position raises to 125, button calls and I call and plan to proceed cautiously. Flop comes QJ4 two diamonds. I check with the intention of check raising and the PFR bets 600 and the button calls. Now for some assinine reason, I decide to just call. The turn is another blank, I think an offsuit 8, and I check to the PFR who goes all in and the button folds. I decided I can't lay this down and call. He has KK and I hold to win the pot but not the bounty as he had 50 more chips then me. MrsSnarf continues to chip up nicely and I get to play with a double stack for most of the tourny. Eventually I give some back in push time when I had my AK vs AQ vs KK but still hung on. The Mrs knocked out 2 when her AK turned broadway against Q6 and AJ aipf. In the end I took out Gambit in 3rd and since the Mrs was exhausted and wanted to sleep chopped 1st and 2nd with her (very +EV for marriage purposes).
Next post will be shorter I promise. Just a little recap of some low limit hold'em and OM8 at the Silks poker room in Tampa.
Jennifer Harmon's SPCA Tournament
Snuffy talked me into registering for this event tonight and proceeded to bust himself out in the first 15 minutes leaving me all alone with 3008 of Full Tilt's donks finest players.
This guy showed up at my table with a nice stack and was out a few hands later.
JJ three bet this hand. I was shocked when the QQ guy shoved.
This guy showed up at my table with a nice stack and was out a few hands later.
JJ three bet this hand. I was shocked when the QQ guy shoved.
Two hands later he shows:
Then very next hand he gets nailed by a gutshot:
He gets a hand to shove with:
Rut row, one move too many:
I guess he was steaming or got greedy.
I hung on to cash but I was playing real snug. I have to say that this "chick" that sat on my left most of the time was playing as snug as me and she managed a nice comeback at the end. She was a true testament to staying patient as my buddy Jamyhawk likes to say. Jamy just missed cashing in this. Thanks for the rail!
I went out when I shoved my 17K (1k/2k/250) with K2h from SB and BB woke up with AQo.
NH, GG, IGHN.
I hung on to cash but I was playing real snug. I have to say that this "chick" that sat on my left most of the time was playing as snug as me and she managed a nice comeback at the end. She was a true testament to staying patient as my buddy Jamyhawk likes to say. Jamy just missed cashing in this. Thanks for the rail!
I went out when I shoved my 17K (1k/2k/250) with K2h from SB and BB woke up with AQo.
NH, GG, IGHN.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Home Game w/ Snarf
I haven't played a whole lot in the last week. I played CHIMPS on Tuesday along with the Blogger Skillz with no decent results. I did play a Step 1 with the last W$ that I have left on Stars and was able to advance to Step 2. It was a pretty standard SNG. Hang on and play tight early. When its down to 5 left its shove or fold. I was fortunate enough to pick up a couple of hands and advanced.
Friday night was Gambit's home game. We started with 7 for the cash game that grew to 9 before the tournament started. Snarf was down on vacation and played. In the cash game I ended up $33 for the night. I had kings twoce and aces once when playing hold'em and double flop. The double flop hand I hit a set and won the other side with a pair of kings with an ace on board good for a scoop. Those three hands showed a majority of my profit for the night.
In the tournament I had A8cc early on, raised and got one caller. The flop comes with an Ace and a back door flush. I turned the flush draw and bet again and was called. The river was a blank and it went check check. I ended up losing to A,K. That took a good 600 chips away or so. Could have been much worse if I had to call a river bet. I tried one bluff the whole time which failed. I was down to 800 at 50/75 and picked up 9,9. there was a limp and I limped. Someone behind me raised and the original limper called. I shoved to get heads-up, the original raiser shoved and the person stuck in the middle folded. He tabled A,K but didn't improve and I was up over 2000.
Not much happened after that. With 7 left and the blinds at 150/300 and a stack of around 1200 there was a raise from Gambit to 600 and I shoved with A,Q. There was a re-raise from Snarf and and all-in from Gambit. Snarf had A,Q and gambit had K,K and I am pretty much dead. The board bricks and I am out in 7th.
Less the buy-in and bounty I made a total profit of $8 on the night. Weeeeeeeeee!
Friday night was Gambit's home game. We started with 7 for the cash game that grew to 9 before the tournament started. Snarf was down on vacation and played. In the cash game I ended up $33 for the night. I had kings twoce and aces once when playing hold'em and double flop. The double flop hand I hit a set and won the other side with a pair of kings with an ace on board good for a scoop. Those three hands showed a majority of my profit for the night.
In the tournament I had A8cc early on, raised and got one caller. The flop comes with an Ace and a back door flush. I turned the flush draw and bet again and was called. The river was a blank and it went check check. I ended up losing to A,K. That took a good 600 chips away or so. Could have been much worse if I had to call a river bet. I tried one bluff the whole time which failed. I was down to 800 at 50/75 and picked up 9,9. there was a limp and I limped. Someone behind me raised and the original limper called. I shoved to get heads-up, the original raiser shoved and the person stuck in the middle folded. He tabled A,K but didn't improve and I was up over 2000.
Not much happened after that. With 7 left and the blinds at 150/300 and a stack of around 1200 there was a raise from Gambit to 600 and I shoved with A,Q. There was a re-raise from Snarf and and all-in from Gambit. Snarf had A,Q and gambit had K,K and I am pretty much dead. The board bricks and I am out in 7th.
Less the buy-in and bounty I made a total profit of $8 on the night. Weeeeeeeeee!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Turbo SNGs
Snarf has turned me on to these Turbo SNGs. He prefers the PLO8 because the players are truly horrible. For the most part a little patience goes a long way when playing these Turbos.
As long as you realize you will be pushing fine edges you will be fine.
Just don't take unnecessary risks too early.
I donked out of a Tier 1 Turbo 2 table having played only two hands:
I raise it up from the small blind:
I shove with JJ.
IGHN
Well, I was home, but you know what I mean.
Next I fired up an $11 Turbo 1 Table NLHE.
I meant to raise pot here but the button didn't activate for whatever reason. The results would have been the same I'm sure.
I was really just stealing from the button here but it didn't quite go as planned at first. Glad they ultimately folded.
He was short enough to take it with KK. If he had me covered I might have thought about smooth calling and shoving any flop without an A.
The comeback begins.
The comeback continues.
Now I have some chips. Let's see if I can hold on to them.
He's been very aggressive from the button and I've been tight and shown down some big hands. He doesn't want to gamble with a weak A or a small pair.
The last 77 hand was good to me. Let's try again.
I can wait for a better spot.
I should have gone broke here but I couldn't pull the trigger.
Split pot? WTF? This was supposed to be my Get Out of Jail Free hand.
The bitter end.
Still a cash is a cash.
As long as you realize you will be pushing fine edges you will be fine.
Just don't take unnecessary risks too early.
I donked out of a Tier 1 Turbo 2 table having played only two hands:
I raise it up from the small blind:
I shove with JJ.
IGHN
Well, I was home, but you know what I mean.
Next I fired up an $11 Turbo 1 Table NLHE.
I meant to raise pot here but the button didn't activate for whatever reason. The results would have been the same I'm sure.
I was really just stealing from the button here but it didn't quite go as planned at first. Glad they ultimately folded.
He was short enough to take it with KK. If he had me covered I might have thought about smooth calling and shoving any flop without an A.
The comeback begins.
The comeback continues.
Now I have some chips. Let's see if I can hold on to them.
He's been very aggressive from the button and I've been tight and shown down some big hands. He doesn't want to gamble with a weak A or a small pair.
The last 77 hand was good to me. Let's try again.
I can wait for a better spot.
I should have gone broke here but I couldn't pull the trigger.
Split pot? WTF? This was supposed to be my Get Out of Jail Free hand.
The bitter end.
Still a cash is a cash.
Step 3 Resolution
So, because I am a nit, I ended up folding AQos OTB in this situation. How did the hand play out you ask (or maybe you don't but whatever I'll tell you anyway). Both blinds folded, UTG called with K10os. SS had something to the effect of J6os. Hit a 6 on the flop and UTG hit a 10 on the river. No queen nor ace to be found. Ultimately I made it to 3rd and lost when both players called my push with AK with 99 and Q10, alas I did not improve.
So was this the right play?
I'm still not sure. The way the cards fell it was but we can't make decisions based on that. I would have been putting my money in as a 60/40 fav against the big stack, which is more what mattered, and I'm not sure that that's enough of an edge especially with such a definative bubble spot there. I'm thinking that it's a pretty good chance the the big stack calls there for 1K more to try and kill two players. Also, even had I won a doubled I would have only had a slight lead on the big stack and the current second place. It would not have put me in a dominating spot to win.
So I think it was the right move, but I could be convinced otherwise.
So was this the right play?
I'm still not sure. The way the cards fell it was but we can't make decisions based on that. I would have been putting my money in as a 60/40 fav against the big stack, which is more what mattered, and I'm not sure that that's enough of an edge especially with such a definative bubble spot there. I'm thinking that it's a pretty good chance the the big stack calls there for 1K more to try and kill two players. Also, even had I won a doubled I would have only had a slight lead on the big stack and the current second place. It would not have put me in a dominating spot to win.
So I think it was the right move, but I could be convinced otherwise.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
A Step 3 Question
You are in Step 3 on PokerStars for the WSOP ME. Top 2 move to Step 4, 3-5 redo step 3. Blinds are 75-150. 6 players left. UTG is big stack with about 4500. One shorty. You have about 1600 and the other 3 players have between 1300-2100.
UTG makes it 450 to go.
UTG+1 goes all in for 600.
Hijack folds.
You are OTB with AQos.
SB and BB yet to act.
Your action?
UTG makes it 450 to go.
UTG+1 goes all in for 600.
Hijack folds.
You are OTB with AQos.
SB and BB yet to act.
Your action?
Monday, March 10, 2008
One of those weekends
I now sit at my desk on Monday morning still steaming from the throws of bad beats that comprised and entire weekend. Now don't get me wrong I think there were one or two sng wins hidden in there but not nearly enough to offset the losses. It started innocently enough when on Friday afternoon I played the 75 token frenzy at 1645. I had doubled my stack when the hijack limped and I saw a free flop in the BB with Q5. I proceeded to then flop two pair make a small check raise on the flop and then jam the turn hoping he hit the ace that was there and he did.........along with his 5 for a better two pair, IGHN. Meanwhile at the FT of a Tier 1 8.80 I jam with AK from UTG and the BB calls off his entire stack with 66. Of course I don't improve.
Saturday was more of the same but nothing really stands out. Maybe that's because the culmination came on Sunday. In a PLO8 SNG, UTG raises to 600 (blinds 100-200) and OTB I find AA23 single suited (I swear I heard a chorus of angels at the same time) so I jam for my entire stack of 1800. UTG, thinks and thinks, and finally calls with... wait for it wait for it.........KK25 no suits. Well after the turn and two high cards and two low cards on the baord I don't think I need to tell you what the river was. Brilliant play sir. Must be advanced. Then onto the 6 player sng where I raise to 600 (blinds 100-200) from the SB with 1010, BB insta calls. Flop 256, I bet pot he calls. Turn 9, I jam, he calls, flips over 78.
Somehow I thought this post would make me feel better, but it doesn't. Usually when I go through these spells I try to switch up the game. SNGs to ring. NLHE to PLO. But I tried that this weekend all with no avail. The one bright spot was putting 3/4 of of my PokerStars bankroll on the line in a $16 turbo sng and coming second, but even that has the caveat of me losing HU when I had him all in blind on consecuative hands and he won both and proceeded to win every race after that. Well hopefully I am going out to dinner tonight, which means little if any play. Then Tuesday is CHIMPS, which I'm sadistically looking forward to the multi-tourny event for this week. And Wednesday I leave for a little spring training baseball in Tampa/Clearwater. Which will also net some poker play with Snuffy, Gambit and a few others. So hopefully this will break the curse or at least put it on hold til I can better deal with it.
Saturday was more of the same but nothing really stands out. Maybe that's because the culmination came on Sunday. In a PLO8 SNG, UTG raises to 600 (blinds 100-200) and OTB I find AA23 single suited (I swear I heard a chorus of angels at the same time) so I jam for my entire stack of 1800. UTG, thinks and thinks, and finally calls with... wait for it wait for it.........KK25 no suits. Well after the turn and two high cards and two low cards on the baord I don't think I need to tell you what the river was. Brilliant play sir. Must be advanced. Then onto the 6 player sng where I raise to 600 (blinds 100-200) from the SB with 1010, BB insta calls. Flop 256, I bet pot he calls. Turn 9, I jam, he calls, flips over 78.
Somehow I thought this post would make me feel better, but it doesn't. Usually when I go through these spells I try to switch up the game. SNGs to ring. NLHE to PLO. But I tried that this weekend all with no avail. The one bright spot was putting 3/4 of of my PokerStars bankroll on the line in a $16 turbo sng and coming second, but even that has the caveat of me losing HU when I had him all in blind on consecuative hands and he won both and proceeded to win every race after that. Well hopefully I am going out to dinner tonight, which means little if any play. Then Tuesday is CHIMPS, which I'm sadistically looking forward to the multi-tourny event for this week. And Wednesday I leave for a little spring training baseball in Tampa/Clearwater. Which will also net some poker play with Snuffy, Gambit and a few others. So hopefully this will break the curse or at least put it on hold til I can better deal with it.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
What A Great End To The Effin Week
After the debacle from Friday night / Saturday morning I took almost all of Saturday off, mostly by sleeping till 5pm and following my St. Cloud State Huskies online clinching home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. I played two tournaments, a $8 turbo tier one in which I won a total of three hands, enough to get me a token. I then played a $13 heads-up for a token and won that one. Hey, maybe I am on the right track. Wrong!!!!
Fast forward to today and I play a $5 HORSE tournament. I was knocked out about 1 1/2 hours into it finishing middle of the pack in the 100 person tournament. I then played a $3 turbo and busted out at around the 1/2 hour mark when my A,K < A,Q on an x,x,Q,A board. Time for the slut tour.
On the first hand I limped with aces and Zooks potted it:
Full Tilt Poker Game #5571511947: Pokerslut Tour VIII (37772297), Table 1 - 15/30 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 21:01:00 ET - 2008/03/09
Seat 1: Mrs Slys Money (1,500)
Seat 2: Blazman (1,500)
Seat 3: scottc25 (1,500)
Seat 4: ElSnarfGrande (1,500)
Seat 5: gadzooks64 (1,500)
Seat 6: Zerbet (1,500)
Mrs Slys Money posts the small blind of 15
Blazman posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [Ac Ad Jc 6s]
scottc25 calls 30
ElSnarfGrande folds
gadzooks64 raises to 135
Zerbet folds
Mrs Slys Money folds
Blazman folds
scottc25 raises to 450
gadzooks64 raises to 1,395
scottc25 raises to 1,500, and is all in
gadzooks64 calls 105, and is all in
scottc25 shows [Ac Ad Jc 6s]
gadzooks64 shows [Kh 6h Th Kc]
*** FLOP *** [3h 6d 7h]
*** TURN *** [3h 6d 7h] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [3h 6d 7h 3c] [5s]
scottc25 shows two pair, Aces and Threes
gadzooks64 shows two pair, Kings and Threes
scottc25 wins the pot (3,045) with two pair, Aces and Threes
gadzooks64 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,045 | Rake 0
Board: [3h 6d 7h 3c 5s]
Seat 1: Mrs Slys Money (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Blazman (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: scottc25 showed [Ac Ad Jc 6s] and won (3,045) with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 4: ElSnarfGrande didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: gadzooks64 showed [Kh 6h Th Kc] and lost with two pair, Kings and Threes
Seat 6: Zerbet didn't bet (folded)
Moving on to the final table I am 3rd in chips with 8 left when this hand happens.
Full Tilt Poker Game #5571831302: Pokerslut Tour VIII (37772297), Table 2 - 25/50 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 21:24:20 ET - 2008/03/09
Seat 1: SmBoatDrinks (2,008)
Seat 2: Scotsman420 (1,300)
Seat 3: Zerbet (1,047)
Seat 4: blindguy74 (1,930)
Seat 5: loser64 (1,365)
Seat 6: IlliniFan (3,492)
Seat 7: ElSnarfGrande (3,698)
Seat 9: scottc25 (3,160)
blindguy74 posts the small blind of 25
loser64 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [Ts 8d 6c Tc]
Scotsman420: has the clocks changed in the states?
IlliniFan calls 50
ElSnarfGrande folds
IlliniFan: yep
scottc25 calls 50
SmBoatDrinks folds
Scotsman420 folds
Zerbet folds
IlliniFan: lst night
blindguy74 calls 25
loser64 checks
*** FLOP *** [Qc 4d 5c]
Scotsman420: forward one hour
blindguy74 checks
loser64 checks
IlliniFan bets 200
IlliniFan: yep
Scotsman420: dam it
scottc25 calls 200
blindguy74 calls 200
loser64 folds
*** TURN *** [Qc 4d 5c] [Th]
blindguy74 checks
IlliniFan bets 400
scottc25 raises to 1,600
blindguy74 folds
IlliniFan calls 1,200
*** RIVER *** [Qc 4d 5c Th] [3c]
IlliniFan bets 1,642, and is all in
scottc25 calls 1,310, and is all in
Uncalled bet of 332 returned to IlliniFan
*** SHOW DOWN ***
IlliniFan shows [Kc 8c Ac 4h] a flush, Ace high
scottc25 mucks
IlliniFan wins the pot (6,620) with a flush, Ace high
scottc25 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6,620 | Rake 0
Board: [Qc 4d 5c Th 3c]
Seat 1: SmBoatDrinks didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Scotsman420 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Zerbet (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: blindguy74 (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 5: loser64 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: IlliniFan showed [Kc 8c Ac 4h] and won (6,620) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 7: ElSnarfGrande didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: scottc25 mucked [Ts 8d 6c Tc] - a flush, Queen high
I got my money in good, which is all I can ask for. I typed in chat nice 7 outer. Illini said what about the J's. Read it right before you berate me. That set me off big time.
Winding down I played $0.10/$0.25 NL and lost $15 when my boat ran into quads. I played two more $5 heads-up SNG's. I ran into a player that flat called every single bet. I could not find a counter strategy to that. He called when he had it and when he didn't. When he didn't he hit the river for a better hand. I had him at a 2:1 defecit when A,Q < J,6 and lost. Coulldn't recover after that. I played a rematch and built a 2700/300 lead and I STILL lost. Time to call it a night.
Here is to wishing a better week for myself.
Fast forward to today and I play a $5 HORSE tournament. I was knocked out about 1 1/2 hours into it finishing middle of the pack in the 100 person tournament. I then played a $3 turbo and busted out at around the 1/2 hour mark when my A,K < A,Q on an x,x,Q,A board. Time for the slut tour.
On the first hand I limped with aces and Zooks potted it:
Full Tilt Poker Game #5571511947: Pokerslut Tour VIII (37772297), Table 1 - 15/30 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 21:01:00 ET - 2008/03/09
Seat 1: Mrs Slys Money (1,500)
Seat 2: Blazman (1,500)
Seat 3: scottc25 (1,500)
Seat 4: ElSnarfGrande (1,500)
Seat 5: gadzooks64 (1,500)
Seat 6: Zerbet (1,500)
Mrs Slys Money posts the small blind of 15
Blazman posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [Ac Ad Jc 6s]
scottc25 calls 30
ElSnarfGrande folds
gadzooks64 raises to 135
Zerbet folds
Mrs Slys Money folds
Blazman folds
scottc25 raises to 450
gadzooks64 raises to 1,395
scottc25 raises to 1,500, and is all in
gadzooks64 calls 105, and is all in
scottc25 shows [Ac Ad Jc 6s]
gadzooks64 shows [Kh 6h Th Kc]
*** FLOP *** [3h 6d 7h]
*** TURN *** [3h 6d 7h] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [3h 6d 7h 3c] [5s]
scottc25 shows two pair, Aces and Threes
gadzooks64 shows two pair, Kings and Threes
scottc25 wins the pot (3,045) with two pair, Aces and Threes
gadzooks64 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,045 | Rake 0
Board: [3h 6d 7h 3c 5s]
Seat 1: Mrs Slys Money (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Blazman (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: scottc25 showed [Ac Ad Jc 6s] and won (3,045) with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 4: ElSnarfGrande didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: gadzooks64 showed [Kh 6h Th Kc] and lost with two pair, Kings and Threes
Seat 6: Zerbet didn't bet (folded)
Moving on to the final table I am 3rd in chips with 8 left when this hand happens.
Full Tilt Poker Game #5571831302: Pokerslut Tour VIII (37772297), Table 2 - 25/50 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 21:24:20 ET - 2008/03/09
Seat 1: SmBoatDrinks (2,008)
Seat 2: Scotsman420 (1,300)
Seat 3: Zerbet (1,047)
Seat 4: blindguy74 (1,930)
Seat 5: loser64 (1,365)
Seat 6: IlliniFan (3,492)
Seat 7: ElSnarfGrande (3,698)
Seat 9: scottc25 (3,160)
blindguy74 posts the small blind of 25
loser64 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [Ts 8d 6c Tc]
Scotsman420: has the clocks changed in the states?
IlliniFan calls 50
ElSnarfGrande folds
IlliniFan: yep
scottc25 calls 50
SmBoatDrinks folds
Scotsman420 folds
Zerbet folds
IlliniFan: lst night
blindguy74 calls 25
loser64 checks
*** FLOP *** [Qc 4d 5c]
Scotsman420: forward one hour
blindguy74 checks
loser64 checks
IlliniFan bets 200
IlliniFan: yep
Scotsman420: dam it
scottc25 calls 200
blindguy74 calls 200
loser64 folds
*** TURN *** [Qc 4d 5c] [Th]
blindguy74 checks
IlliniFan bets 400
scottc25 raises to 1,600
blindguy74 folds
IlliniFan calls 1,200
*** RIVER *** [Qc 4d 5c Th] [3c]
IlliniFan bets 1,642, and is all in
scottc25 calls 1,310, and is all in
Uncalled bet of 332 returned to IlliniFan
*** SHOW DOWN ***
IlliniFan shows [Kc 8c Ac 4h] a flush, Ace high
scottc25 mucks
IlliniFan wins the pot (6,620) with a flush, Ace high
scottc25 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6,620 | Rake 0
Board: [Qc 4d 5c Th 3c]
Seat 1: SmBoatDrinks didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Scotsman420 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Zerbet (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: blindguy74 (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 5: loser64 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: IlliniFan showed [Kc 8c Ac 4h] and won (6,620) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 7: ElSnarfGrande didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: scottc25 mucked [Ts 8d 6c Tc] - a flush, Queen high
I got my money in good, which is all I can ask for. I typed in chat nice 7 outer. Illini said what about the J's. Read it right before you berate me. That set me off big time.
Winding down I played $0.10/$0.25 NL and lost $15 when my boat ran into quads. I played two more $5 heads-up SNG's. I ran into a player that flat called every single bet. I could not find a counter strategy to that. He called when he had it and when he didn't. When he didn't he hit the river for a better hand. I had him at a 2:1 defecit when A,Q < J,6 and lost. Coulldn't recover after that. I played a rematch and built a 2700/300 lead and I STILL lost. Time to call it a night.
Here is to wishing a better week for myself.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
On My Way to Busto
I went back to the Canterbury Card Club last night. I got there around 8pm and was able to get an immediate seat in a 3/6 game. I bounced up and down for around an hour and a half. I had my name on the 4/8 Omaha 8 list and was #5 on the list. My name didn't move for 1 hour and I saw they had a 6/12 Stud 8 game. A little higher than i wanted to play but how often do I get a chance to play live Stud 8. After 1/2 hour I was called to the game and won exactly $0 in the 3/6 game.
The Stud 8 game was made up of players mostly in their 50's and 60's. Five of the players were solid and the other two were nutballs. I sat with $220. In the first two hours at the table not once did I have four cards to a 7 low. Every time I completed with split aces and kings I was run down. I dusted off those chips. Then it was time to get serious. I bought in for another $300.
After I re-bought one of the nutballs went off on one hand. I was dealt split aces with a king. I completed, he two bet with an 8 showing and two of us called, the other guy with a low card. On 4th street I pick up a king for aces up. He led when he caught a jack, the other player caught another low card and called I two bet and both called. On 5th street the goofball caught another Jack. He couldn't have trip jacks as both were out. The guy with two low cards caught a brick. There was a total of four bets put in on 5th street. Unless Mr. Goofball was rolled up with 8's (which would be hard to put him on) I am ahead. On 6th street the boards read as follows:
Me (A,K)A,K,J,6
Mr Nutball: (x,x) 8,J,J,6
Low Guy: (x,x) 7,5,10,4
Nutball bet out, Low guy raised with the obvious made low, I called, Nutball 3bet, Low guy 4 bet, I called, Nutball 5bet, Low Guy called and I called.
River betting, nutball finally checked, Low guy bet, I called with the aces up and nutball called. Here is where it gets very interesting....
Nutball shows Jacks and 8's. WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr low guy made the straight on 6th street with the low.
I got scooped.
That fuckin nutjob cost me so many fuckin bets because he absolutely had no idea where he was at. Once we got to 5th street I was in call mode in case he was rolled up and the low could pump it with the chance of a scoop. That hand ended up costing me, let me see....
$1 ante
$12 on 3rd
$24 on 4th
$48 on 5th
$60 on 6th
$12 on 7th
----------------
$157!!!!!!!!
Yeah, that one hurt a but and Mr Low Guy scooped a $480ish pot.
The goofball at one point in the game had 14 rows of chips. Finally when he decided to get up and leave he had three rows left. Yeah, he sucked donkey dick. After that hand me and Mr. Low Guy discussed the hand in great detail. We agreed that I didn't think I can get away from the hand there, especially since he could not have had trip jacks and the likelihood that he was rolled up was remote considering the way he played throughout the night. Additional factors were that one of my aces and both kings were live based on the board.
The game ended up breaking when I had $169 in front of me. That was a total session loss of $351.
It was around 1:30am and I didn't feel like quitting yet. I took my money and went back to the $3/$6 game. I played like a complete lag-tard early and developed a great reputation. The best one was when I called a raise with 10s6s after I had already limped and we went to the flop 5 handed. The Flop came A,J,6. The raiser bet and I called and two others called. Before the turn came I called for a 6 and bam.... out came the 6. I lead at the pot and got one called. The river was a brick and I fired and he called. I showed the trip 6's and he fired is cards to the dealer right off of the table. Kinda funny.
I tightened up significantly but was never able to make my draws except twice. Once I held a suited jack in the blinds and made the flush in the turn. I two bet the turn and the other player in the hand called. I bet the river, he called and then showed me the king high flush. Guess I go away with the minimum there.
One other hand I limped with the Kd10d and we saw the flop six handed. The flop comes down jack high all diamonds. Bingo! I lead out and get called in one two spots. The turn brought a 4th diamond. I lead and got raised. Mother fucker!!!! How can this continue to happen! I called. A 5th diamond hit the river and I check called. He turned over the Ad9d. OK I can live with that one. At least he didn't have a ragged ace off-suit.
After a few hours I lost my buy-in and bought in for $100. One of the guys in the game, his buddy who plays 30/60 sat in and he raised every hand when it came to him. I got into two pots with him where there were 3-5 bets in on every street only to have him river me. The last one I had 10,10 and he had A,8. The A hit the river to give him two pair to bust me. I ended up leaving at 7am for an 11 hour session losing a total of $620. Not good. I did suprisingly feel pretty good after though and I think if my funds warranted I could have played another 4 hours or so.
I don't think I will be going back any time soon. I have a $40 home game on Wednesday. Hopefully that will go a little better.
The Stud 8 game was made up of players mostly in their 50's and 60's. Five of the players were solid and the other two were nutballs. I sat with $220. In the first two hours at the table not once did I have four cards to a 7 low. Every time I completed with split aces and kings I was run down. I dusted off those chips. Then it was time to get serious. I bought in for another $300.
After I re-bought one of the nutballs went off on one hand. I was dealt split aces with a king. I completed, he two bet with an 8 showing and two of us called, the other guy with a low card. On 4th street I pick up a king for aces up. He led when he caught a jack, the other player caught another low card and called I two bet and both called. On 5th street the goofball caught another Jack. He couldn't have trip jacks as both were out. The guy with two low cards caught a brick. There was a total of four bets put in on 5th street. Unless Mr. Goofball was rolled up with 8's (which would be hard to put him on) I am ahead. On 6th street the boards read as follows:
Me (A,K)A,K,J,6
Mr Nutball: (x,x) 8,J,J,6
Low Guy: (x,x) 7,5,10,4
Nutball bet out, Low guy raised with the obvious made low, I called, Nutball 3bet, Low guy 4 bet, I called, Nutball 5bet, Low Guy called and I called.
River betting, nutball finally checked, Low guy bet, I called with the aces up and nutball called. Here is where it gets very interesting....
Nutball shows Jacks and 8's. WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr low guy made the straight on 6th street with the low.
I got scooped.
That fuckin nutjob cost me so many fuckin bets because he absolutely had no idea where he was at. Once we got to 5th street I was in call mode in case he was rolled up and the low could pump it with the chance of a scoop. That hand ended up costing me, let me see....
$1 ante
$12 on 3rd
$24 on 4th
$48 on 5th
$60 on 6th
$12 on 7th
----------------
$157!!!!!!!!
Yeah, that one hurt a but and Mr Low Guy scooped a $480ish pot.
The goofball at one point in the game had 14 rows of chips. Finally when he decided to get up and leave he had three rows left. Yeah, he sucked donkey dick. After that hand me and Mr. Low Guy discussed the hand in great detail. We agreed that I didn't think I can get away from the hand there, especially since he could not have had trip jacks and the likelihood that he was rolled up was remote considering the way he played throughout the night. Additional factors were that one of my aces and both kings were live based on the board.
The game ended up breaking when I had $169 in front of me. That was a total session loss of $351.
It was around 1:30am and I didn't feel like quitting yet. I took my money and went back to the $3/$6 game. I played like a complete lag-tard early and developed a great reputation. The best one was when I called a raise with 10s6s after I had already limped and we went to the flop 5 handed. The Flop came A,J,6. The raiser bet and I called and two others called. Before the turn came I called for a 6 and bam.... out came the 6. I lead at the pot and got one called. The river was a brick and I fired and he called. I showed the trip 6's and he fired is cards to the dealer right off of the table. Kinda funny.
I tightened up significantly but was never able to make my draws except twice. Once I held a suited jack in the blinds and made the flush in the turn. I two bet the turn and the other player in the hand called. I bet the river, he called and then showed me the king high flush. Guess I go away with the minimum there.
One other hand I limped with the Kd10d and we saw the flop six handed. The flop comes down jack high all diamonds. Bingo! I lead out and get called in one two spots. The turn brought a 4th diamond. I lead and got raised. Mother fucker!!!! How can this continue to happen! I called. A 5th diamond hit the river and I check called. He turned over the Ad9d. OK I can live with that one. At least he didn't have a ragged ace off-suit.
After a few hours I lost my buy-in and bought in for $100. One of the guys in the game, his buddy who plays 30/60 sat in and he raised every hand when it came to him. I got into two pots with him where there were 3-5 bets in on every street only to have him river me. The last one I had 10,10 and he had A,8. The A hit the river to give him two pair to bust me. I ended up leaving at 7am for an 11 hour session losing a total of $620. Not good. I did suprisingly feel pretty good after though and I think if my funds warranted I could have played another 4 hours or so.
I don't think I will be going back any time soon. I have a $40 home game on Wednesday. Hopefully that will go a little better.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Chinese
I went over to deadmoney5's house last night to watch the state high school hockey tournament and we decided to play some Chinese Poker to see who would pay for dinner. We played 2/4 and started with 20 chips each. It was back and forth for an hour with not much movement. As soon as we started playing 2/7 TD in the middle and thats when I started picking up trips and pairs. Twice I had to play a pair in the middle. One time I had a boat down low and a trips up top. All of a sudden I was down to my last 4 chips when one massive hand took place.
We were playing regular Chinese and playing criss-cross. In my two hands I had a boat, flush and pair and in the other hand I had a boat, two pair and a pair. I ended up sweeping the whole thing for 16 points and was back to even.
So we played for 2 hours and got absolutely nowhere. We gave up and paid half each when the pizza arrived.
I am probably going to head down to Canterbury tonight to play. They have the deep stacked $150 buy-in tournament tomorrow at 10:30am which I will probably get in as long as there is room and I wake up in time.
We were playing regular Chinese and playing criss-cross. In my two hands I had a boat, flush and pair and in the other hand I had a boat, two pair and a pair. I ended up sweeping the whole thing for 16 points and was back to even.
So we played for 2 hours and got absolutely nowhere. We gave up and paid half each when the pizza arrived.
I am probably going to head down to Canterbury tonight to play. They have the deep stacked $150 buy-in tournament tomorrow at 10:30am which I will probably get in as long as there is room and I wake up in time.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum.....
So I return home today after a 2 day poker bender in Atlantic City that was planned around WSOP Circuit Event #1 at Caesar's. The event was to kick off at noon on Wednesday, so we arrived Tuesday night after work to get some pre-tourny play in. We decided to play in 7PM Showboat tourny (53+12 with 10K in chips no antes). This is a pretty fast structure after the first 4 levels, but is well worth it with pretty weak fields overall. Collected chips early, overplayed AK against a minraiser like a donk and flamed out less then halfway through the 90 person field.
So what to do next, well "Open Seat 1-2 NL", I'm in. Sit with 200. Lose a little, win a little. Then cold deck rears it's head. First I run into AA with a TP that I did lay down. Next in the BB, all limps, I see a 345 flop with A2, get a shorter stack all in on the turn, he's got 67. The I run 88 into aces, I fold flop. Then I lose my last 45 when I limp with A8, flop and ace, turn an 8 (all in at this point) and guy hits his flush on the river. Next! So a few of the guys decided to play the midnight tourny at the Taj (total and complete luckfest with a super fast structure). That's right people, it's not even midnight yet. So I decided to play cause I was not ready for sleep yet, well I eventually get crippled when I run top 2 into bottom set. Tilt monkey has arrived! So I watch two of my buddies cash at about 4AM and make the decision that I am not playing tomorrow. Why?
Well you may think this was a monetary decision, but it really had nothing to do with that. I was prepared (bankroll wise) to lose on Tuesday night and still play on Wednesday, but I couldn't shake the deck. So rather then piss away 340 for a tourny and played scared, I decided to make the choice to not play and it wasn't easy to do it. I immediately was disappointed that it had come to that but I really felt like it was the right choice. So, now I'm sitting here asking myself, "Have I matured as a poker player and now realize that I'm not playing optimal poker" or "Have I not matured enough in my poker playing to move on past a rough stretch and refocus to play my best"?
As for the rest of the trip. Played in the Showboat tourny at 2PM the next day. Played bad early, but got a couple key doubles, but eventually busted out first at the final table with 6 places paying when JJ < K2soooooooooooooooted. And this was after the guy limped UTG with K2sooooooooooooooooooooted. Uh huh, yup, good play sir. Also as a side note, a few players that busted from the Caesar's event were at my table. They said it was a total trainwreck with 1000 people and only 4000 in chips, people were playing like monkeys. So I'm very glad I didn't have to deal with that for a $340 price tag. Anyway, had a good dinner and then sat with a buddy at 3/6 at the Trop. We had good waitress service (read many free beverages) and thanks to Puff Daddy/Pdiddy to my right and a few other chasers we took over 300 out of that game between the two of us. All in all not a bad trip, but still disappointing.
So what to do next, well "Open Seat 1-2 NL", I'm in. Sit with 200. Lose a little, win a little. Then cold deck rears it's head. First I run into AA with a TP that I did lay down. Next in the BB, all limps, I see a 345 flop with A2, get a shorter stack all in on the turn, he's got 67. The I run 88 into aces, I fold flop. Then I lose my last 45 when I limp with A8, flop and ace, turn an 8 (all in at this point) and guy hits his flush on the river. Next! So a few of the guys decided to play the midnight tourny at the Taj (total and complete luckfest with a super fast structure). That's right people, it's not even midnight yet. So I decided to play cause I was not ready for sleep yet, well I eventually get crippled when I run top 2 into bottom set. Tilt monkey has arrived! So I watch two of my buddies cash at about 4AM and make the decision that I am not playing tomorrow. Why?
Well you may think this was a monetary decision, but it really had nothing to do with that. I was prepared (bankroll wise) to lose on Tuesday night and still play on Wednesday, but I couldn't shake the deck. So rather then piss away 340 for a tourny and played scared, I decided to make the choice to not play and it wasn't easy to do it. I immediately was disappointed that it had come to that but I really felt like it was the right choice. So, now I'm sitting here asking myself, "Have I matured as a poker player and now realize that I'm not playing optimal poker" or "Have I not matured enough in my poker playing to move on past a rough stretch and refocus to play my best"?
As for the rest of the trip. Played in the Showboat tourny at 2PM the next day. Played bad early, but got a couple key doubles, but eventually busted out first at the final table with 6 places paying when JJ < K2soooooooooooooooted. And this was after the guy limped UTG with K2sooooooooooooooooooooted. Uh huh, yup, good play sir. Also as a side note, a few players that busted from the Caesar's event were at my table. They said it was a total trainwreck with 1000 people and only 4000 in chips, people were playing like monkeys. So I'm very glad I didn't have to deal with that for a $340 price tag. Anyway, had a good dinner and then sat with a buddy at 3/6 at the Trop. We had good waitress service (read many free beverages) and thanks to Puff Daddy/Pdiddy to my right and a few other chasers we took over 300 out of that game between the two of us. All in all not a bad trip, but still disappointing.
Limit Results
I got to the room around 7pm. They they had HoldEm from 15-30 down to 2-4 available. The only non HoldEm game they had running was a 2/4 Stud. They did have an interest list for 10/20 Omaha8 that did eventually go.
I sat down right away in a 4/8 game and bought in for $200. I won a pot early and that was about the only time I was ahead for the night. The hand that put me in near perma red for the night was KK in middle position. I raise pre-flop and get 2 callers. Flop comes low ragged cards. I bet, player to my left raises and I three bet and he calls. Turn is a 10. I bet and he calls. River is an Ace. I bet and he calls and shows A,K.
I played for the next four hours where I was down as much as $90 and up as much as $15. One rood hand I had was when we were 5 handed and there was a straddle on. I raised with K,Q with one caller behind and the straddle (Rick, we have played home games before) caps it. Flop comes 8 high and I lead out and both call. Turn is a K. I bet and get one caller. River is a blank and I bet again and get the other player to call. My hand was good and I won a nice sized pot.
The game changed texture throughout the night. In the beginning it was very Taggish. After a while three SAG's (sick Asian gamblers) came in the game and it switched to weak passive. The whole time I don't remember the game being full with 9 people. We played at the end as low as 4 handed before the game broke at 11:30p/ 4 1/2 hour session and I lost a total of $27.
I was fairly pleased that I played well right away. Remember playing limit HoldEm came back fairly quickly.
I will probably play on Friday night and possibly play the $150 tournament there on Saturday. Next week I have a home game to play at. The word from Rick is that the host of the game has a bubble hockey game. Fuck the tournament, I wanna play that.
- Snuffy
I sat down right away in a 4/8 game and bought in for $200. I won a pot early and that was about the only time I was ahead for the night. The hand that put me in near perma red for the night was KK in middle position. I raise pre-flop and get 2 callers. Flop comes low ragged cards. I bet, player to my left raises and I three bet and he calls. Turn is a 10. I bet and he calls. River is an Ace. I bet and he calls and shows A,K.
I played for the next four hours where I was down as much as $90 and up as much as $15. One rood hand I had was when we were 5 handed and there was a straddle on. I raised with K,Q with one caller behind and the straddle (Rick, we have played home games before) caps it. Flop comes 8 high and I lead out and both call. Turn is a K. I bet and get one caller. River is a blank and I bet again and get the other player to call. My hand was good and I won a nice sized pot.
The game changed texture throughout the night. In the beginning it was very Taggish. After a while three SAG's (sick Asian gamblers) came in the game and it switched to weak passive. The whole time I don't remember the game being full with 9 people. We played at the end as low as 4 handed before the game broke at 11:30p/ 4 1/2 hour session and I lost a total of $27.
I was fairly pleased that I played well right away. Remember playing limit HoldEm came back fairly quickly.
I will probably play on Friday night and possibly play the $150 tournament there on Saturday. Next week I have a home game to play at. The word from Rick is that the host of the game has a bubble hockey game. Fuck the tournament, I wanna play that.
- Snuffy
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Limit Games - Here I Come!
I am headed down to Canterbury Card Club tonight, home of limit poker. Limit doesn't make for any kind of exciting report but we shall see. Maybe I can hit a piece of the bad beat jackpot. Last I saw it was $20k. AAA1010 losing is the BBJ, pretty low. I hope they have an O8 game going.
- Snuffy
- Snuffy
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Home Game
I have a pretty regular home game that started with people in my neighborhood but has evolved into a much more diverse group of poker players varying from the avid online player to the recreational player.
This past weekend saw the largest turnout for my home game yet with 19 runners. We had several new players that have indicated that they would play again. I was prepared with 3 tables just in case but we ended up needing only 2.
I started out at the 10 person table. I picked up so many suited connector hands in the first couple of rounds. I limped into more pots than I usually do because of it. I limp/called with JTs UTG+2. The flop came out T high. I check called a bet. The turn was a J. I led into the PF raiser and he let it go.
In the mean time all hell was breaking loose on the other table. Scoot was playing on that table, go figure. It seems big pots always end up happening on his table. I ended getting moved to that table after the first player busted out.
I was seated to the right of The Other Half who had won a huge 4-way pot. He had x5 and saw the flop for free: K55. I'm not sure when all the chips went in but it turned out he made quads on the river to beat out two Kx hands and AJc - who made the nut flush.
The Other Half was moved to my old table and I was left with 5 other players two of which (a married couple seated next to each other across the table from me) had been described to me as dead money. She limped in under the gun and he followed right behind her. Scoot folded and I looked down at AA.
I announced raise and threw out a pot sized bet. The husband went all in out of turn. I looked at her and she said I'm all in, too. I called and they turned over 88 for her and QQ for him. Dead. Money. I chipped up nicely. Within a few hands we were down to the final table (10).
I don't recall any other remarkable hands until we got down to the final 4 (ITM). I took out a new (and pretty serious) player when he shoved after a raise and a call - by me. The original raiser went away and I called with 77 vs. his 44. My 77 held up.
When it got to heads up I had a significant chip lead. I did dump him some chips when I hit a K on the turn and he rivered an A. The final hand was A2 v KJ, all in preflop; the board flopped me a wheel draw and the turn paired my A.
The comment was made at one point that nobody was going to want to keep playing if I kept winning (I've cashed all but once and won several times). I certainly hope that isn't true. We do have enough new players that are avid enough that I think we'll continue to have a good group of dedicated players. Many of the players have managed a cash or two along the way and I hope that's enough encouragement for them to keep coming back.
I honestly don't think I have any huge advantage or excess of skill. I think my best asset is my patience. I'm willing to fold and I don't succumb to the pressure to play too many hands or play poor quality hands.
-Zooks
This past weekend saw the largest turnout for my home game yet with 19 runners. We had several new players that have indicated that they would play again. I was prepared with 3 tables just in case but we ended up needing only 2.
I started out at the 10 person table. I picked up so many suited connector hands in the first couple of rounds. I limped into more pots than I usually do because of it. I limp/called with JTs UTG+2. The flop came out T high. I check called a bet. The turn was a J. I led into the PF raiser and he let it go.
In the mean time all hell was breaking loose on the other table. Scoot was playing on that table, go figure. It seems big pots always end up happening on his table. I ended getting moved to that table after the first player busted out.
I was seated to the right of The Other Half who had won a huge 4-way pot. He had x5 and saw the flop for free: K55. I'm not sure when all the chips went in but it turned out he made quads on the river to beat out two Kx hands and AJc - who made the nut flush.
The Other Half was moved to my old table and I was left with 5 other players two of which (a married couple seated next to each other across the table from me) had been described to me as dead money. She limped in under the gun and he followed right behind her. Scoot folded and I looked down at AA.
I announced raise and threw out a pot sized bet. The husband went all in out of turn. I looked at her and she said I'm all in, too. I called and they turned over 88 for her and QQ for him. Dead. Money. I chipped up nicely. Within a few hands we were down to the final table (10).
I don't recall any other remarkable hands until we got down to the final 4 (ITM). I took out a new (and pretty serious) player when he shoved after a raise and a call - by me. The original raiser went away and I called with 77 vs. his 44. My 77 held up.
When it got to heads up I had a significant chip lead. I did dump him some chips when I hit a K on the turn and he rivered an A. The final hand was A2 v KJ, all in preflop; the board flopped me a wheel draw and the turn paired my A.
The comment was made at one point that nobody was going to want to keep playing if I kept winning (I've cashed all but once and won several times). I certainly hope that isn't true. We do have enough new players that are avid enough that I think we'll continue to have a good group of dedicated players. Many of the players have managed a cash or two along the way and I hope that's enough encouragement for them to keep coming back.
I honestly don't think I have any huge advantage or excess of skill. I think my best asset is my patience. I'm willing to fold and I don't succumb to the pressure to play too many hands or play poor quality hands.
-Zooks
Monday, March 3, 2008
Snuffy, Part Two
After winning the seat to the Main Event I had a loooong trip to Vegas planned. I had already been planning on a two week trip but after I won the Main Event seat I added another week on to the trip. It was a terrible trip tournament wise which ate at my bankroll. By the main event I need to cash in order to break even. By the end of the second level I had tripled up only to bust by the end of 5th level.
So far my biggest cash in a live event was back in 2004 when I final tabled a $300 NLHE event at Canterbury Park in Minnesota. I finished in 8th in the 301 player field for a little over $2,600.
Going forward in this blog myself, Zooks and Snarf (and possible others) will blog about our live and online sessions and break some hands down for in depth discussion. I am also working on a store with t-shirts and other things. We are also thinking about doing some pod casts during CHIMPS events.
Mark down your calendars for Vegaspalooza scheduled for 6/6 - 6/14.
- Snuffy
So far my biggest cash in a live event was back in 2004 when I final tabled a $300 NLHE event at Canterbury Park in Minnesota. I finished in 8th in the 301 player field for a little over $2,600.
Going forward in this blog myself, Zooks and Snarf (and possible others) will blog about our live and online sessions and break some hands down for in depth discussion. I am also working on a store with t-shirts and other things. We are also thinking about doing some pod casts during CHIMPS events.
Mark down your calendars for Vegaspalooza scheduled for 6/6 - 6/14.
- Snuffy
I'll be last for now
Welcome to my first foray into the blogosphere. I'm a terrible typist and an atrocious speller, so Snuffy thought I would be perfect for a poker blog. Here's to hoping he's right. Currently I play almost exclusively at FullTilt (ElSnarfGrande) but I do have a few precious ducats over at PokerStars (snarf2597). I guess now I'll embellish you with some of my poker history.
Well I started as one of the poker boom children of the Moneymaker age, so somewhere in late 2003-early 2004. I first started playing online at Empire Poker then moved over the Party Poker (oh how I do miss thee). For about 2 years now I've been almost exclusively at Full Tilt. I'm mostly a SNG player online. I will attempt (with some success, other at the expense of my bankroll) to satellite into many of the larger buyin MTT's. Recently I was able to satellite in and cash in my first FTOPS event. However, I have recently discovered my love for 6 handed PLO ring games with some moderate early success.
As far as live poker, I live only an hour outside of Atlantic City. So somewhere after the first foray into online poker with fake friends I ventured to the beaches of New Jersey, to play in my first live game. I try to get there at least once a month. Live, I prefer mostly to play limit which in Atlantic City translates to the Taj, the Borgata, and the Trop. These are the only casinos you find limit games higher then 2-4. I'll usually play anywhere from 3-6 to 5-10 (at the Taj, my most profitable game by far) but have been known to show some bankroll mismanagement and play the pink chip game (7.50-15 all 2.50 pink chips, get it?) at the Trop on a Friday or Saturday night.
I can only hope my next post is more interesting as I am headed to Atlantic City on Tuesday. Some of my non-fake-non-internet friends and I are going to play in WSOP Circuit Event 1 at Caesars in AC. Hopefully this will yield something of substance and not just, "I busted early on a bad beat and drank until I felt better." But that could happen too and well at least I wouldn't be at work.
-Snarf
Well I started as one of the poker boom children of the Moneymaker age, so somewhere in late 2003-early 2004. I first started playing online at Empire Poker then moved over the Party Poker (oh how I do miss thee). For about 2 years now I've been almost exclusively at Full Tilt. I'm mostly a SNG player online. I will attempt (with some success, other at the expense of my bankroll) to satellite into many of the larger buyin MTT's. Recently I was able to satellite in and cash in my first FTOPS event. However, I have recently discovered my love for 6 handed PLO ring games with some moderate early success.
As far as live poker, I live only an hour outside of Atlantic City. So somewhere after the first foray into online poker with fake friends I ventured to the beaches of New Jersey, to play in my first live game. I try to get there at least once a month. Live, I prefer mostly to play limit which in Atlantic City translates to the Taj, the Borgata, and the Trop. These are the only casinos you find limit games higher then 2-4. I'll usually play anywhere from 3-6 to 5-10 (at the Taj, my most profitable game by far) but have been known to show some bankroll mismanagement and play the pink chip game (7.50-15 all 2.50 pink chips, get it?) at the Trop on a Friday or Saturday night.
I can only hope my next post is more interesting as I am headed to Atlantic City on Tuesday. Some of my non-fake-non-internet friends and I are going to play in WSOP Circuit Event 1 at Caesars in AC. Hopefully this will yield something of substance and not just, "I busted early on a bad beat and drank until I felt better." But that could happen too and well at least I wouldn't be at work.
-Snarf
I Guess I'm Second
I suppose I should get my introduction on here. Most of you know me as Snuffy. My given name is Scott Carlson. I play online by the name of scottc25 on both Poker Stars and Full Tilt. My previous blog (http://snuffysports.blogspot.com) has my poker history from 2005 if you are interested (if not eff u :) ).
Here is a quick history of my play. I started playing poker around 2001 online at PokerRoom. I played the weekly freerolls which were actually limit back then. In back to back weeks with 1200 entrants I made the final table and won around $60. That was the start of my poker playing for real money. I pretty much played $5 SNG's back then. I rolled with that money for a long time. I deposited money in 2003 on PokerRoom to try and win a seat into the Main Event of the WSOP. They ran a $200 and a $50 satellite giving away one seat. I actually made the final table of one of them only to lose with Top Top. My headphones paid the price for that beat.
Fast forward to 2006 and I was trying for a satellite again this time on Full Tilt. I took an $8 Turbo 2 table SNG all the way to an entry into the weekly $1000 satellite for the Main Event. They gave away 3 seats and 4th got $3000. Well, I ended up in 5th place. I remeber on the bubble Aaron Bartley as the short stack all-in when he had A,J and the guy who had him covered had A,A and slow rolled him (if thats possible online). The poker gods beat down the slow roller as a straight hit the board to keep him alive. Damn it. I ended up finishing in 5th for nothing.
The very next week I was going to play the $75 to get into the $1000 again when Full Tilt changed the tournament time from 9pm to 12am. I looked over at Poker Stars and they had a $80 to get into the $645. I played that and won. I then won my Main Event seat the following Sunday. Quite a week for me. I tried winning another seat in a $320 satellite. It gave a way one seat and $1500 for 2nd. Going to the final table I had double the chips of anyone else. I ended up tangling in a pot with the player 2nd in chips and lost. My set lost to his flopped straight. I was able to come back and take 2nd for a decent pay day.
Wow I used to run good online.
Uh oh, my flight is being called. I will finish this up tonight.
Thanks for reading the new blog. Some exiting stuff to come soon.
Here is a quick history of my play. I started playing poker around 2001 online at PokerRoom. I played the weekly freerolls which were actually limit back then. In back to back weeks with 1200 entrants I made the final table and won around $60. That was the start of my poker playing for real money. I pretty much played $5 SNG's back then. I rolled with that money for a long time. I deposited money in 2003 on PokerRoom to try and win a seat into the Main Event of the WSOP. They ran a $200 and a $50 satellite giving away one seat. I actually made the final table of one of them only to lose with Top Top. My headphones paid the price for that beat.
Fast forward to 2006 and I was trying for a satellite again this time on Full Tilt. I took an $8 Turbo 2 table SNG all the way to an entry into the weekly $1000 satellite for the Main Event. They gave away 3 seats and 4th got $3000. Well, I ended up in 5th place. I remeber on the bubble Aaron Bartley as the short stack all-in when he had A,J and the guy who had him covered had A,A and slow rolled him (if thats possible online). The poker gods beat down the slow roller as a straight hit the board to keep him alive. Damn it. I ended up finishing in 5th for nothing.
The very next week I was going to play the $75 to get into the $1000 again when Full Tilt changed the tournament time from 9pm to 12am. I looked over at Poker Stars and they had a $80 to get into the $645. I played that and won. I then won my Main Event seat the following Sunday. Quite a week for me. I tried winning another seat in a $320 satellite. It gave a way one seat and $1500 for 2nd. Going to the final table I had double the chips of anyone else. I ended up tangling in a pot with the player 2nd in chips and lost. My set lost to his flopped straight. I was able to come back and take 2nd for a decent pay day.
Wow I used to run good online.
Uh oh, my flight is being called. I will finish this up tonight.
Thanks for reading the new blog. Some exiting stuff to come soon.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
First!
Looks like I'm the first to make a post here.
The Corporation is a consortium of poker players that have decided to start this blog to post about various aspects of poker. Many of us have other blogs to contain poker content but aren't necessarily dedicated to poker alone.
I think you will have we have several different points of view as well as playing styles. We are "just" recreational players; we take the game seriously, but not too seriously.
You have my promise to post more than just bad beats as long as Blaz posts on more than the power of an A and a J.
Stick around. I'm sure there's more and better to come. You will be entertained and maybe enlightened.
-Zooks
P.S. My Home Game is tonight. With any luck that will give me some fodder to be posted!
The Corporation is a consortium of poker players that have decided to start this blog to post about various aspects of poker. Many of us have other blogs to contain poker content but aren't necessarily dedicated to poker alone.
I think you will have we have several different points of view as well as playing styles. We are "just" recreational players; we take the game seriously, but not too seriously.
You have my promise to post more than just bad beats as long as Blaz posts on more than the power of an A and a J.
Stick around. I'm sure there's more and better to come. You will be entertained and maybe enlightened.
-Zooks
P.S. My Home Game is tonight. With any luck that will give me some fodder to be posted!
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