My roll kept on going last night in CHIMPS. We had 14 runners in the $1 6-max re-buy event. I took the immediate re-buy to get to $2k for my 4-handed starting table. Our table started fairly normal and there wasn't a whole lot of gambling going on, with the exception of PokerGeek. I was making quite a few pre-flop raises. He seemed to find the wrong times for everything early on though. Every time he called a 3-bet he was beat. I slowly built my stack up to around 3500 or so 40 minutes in with no additional re-buys. I picked-up 9,9 and called PokerGeek's raise who had his stack by then and had me covered. Flop came 7 high and we both got our chips in. He had the J,J and it was double re-buy time for me. I was able to build chips in the last 20 minutes and after the add-on I had 8,300.
A special shout out to blindguy74 and deadmoney5 who both quit before the re-buy period ended. You are hereby called out.
One interesting note is that when there were 11 people left my table had the 1st-5th stacks and the other table had the 6th-11th stacks. Kinda odd how that works. playing down to the final table I had no playable hands and the marginal ones I had were raised in front of me. I slowly dwindled down to 3400 when the final table started. Here were the stacks:
Seat 1: mcomikey (17,530)
Seat 2: ElSnarfGrande (9,718)
Seat 3: warrendc73 (18,269)
Seat 4: scottc25 (3,255)
Seat 5: Blazman (16,203)
Seat 6: nzgreen (22,525)
With the blinds at 200/400/50 I need a hand fairly quick. On the 3rd hand I shipped K,10 and outran Blazman's A,J for the double. Blaz then lost a ton of his chips when he ran 8,8 into A,K and lost and was eliminated shortly after. I continued to blind down playing 5-handed, which lasted for quite a while. When Snarf was eliminated in 5th I was down to 6k in chips. I was able to double through Warrendc73 a couple times and eventually he was eliminated in 4th. At the start of 3 handed here were the counts:
Seat 1: mcomikey (30,485)
Seat 4: scottc25 (17,645)
Seat 6: nzgreen (39,370)
I ended up getting back to an even stack with everyone else twice as we played 3 handed for around 1/2 hour. The big hand for me was when I turned a straight against mcomikey when he held top top. That vaulted me up to a 3:1 chip lead over 2nd and 3rd. I pounded away from there and eventually won it for around $32. Let's keep the boomswitch going in Riverchasers Thursday.
Right now I have a less that stellar bankroll of $5.61 on Poker Stars. Remnants of playing step tournaments for the WSOP and APPT. I noticed that they now have 2-7 triple draw tables as low as $0.10/$0.20. I need to get my balance up to $11 by next Tuesday in order to play in both Pauly's 5th Anniversary tourney and CHIMPS. The third hand into the session I came upon a very interesting way than an opponent of mine played his hand and thought it would be good to go through here since not many people are too familiar with the game.
PokerStars Game #19221350631: Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball Limit ($0.10/$0.20) - 2008/07/30 - 12:38:24 (ET)
Table 'Oljato' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: scottc25 ($5.51 in chips)
Seat 2: dk_sne1 ($2.29 in chips)
Seat 3: acegim ($7.88 in chips)
Seat 4: CARSON67 ($3.05 in chips)
Seat 5: diffusser ($4.42 in chips)
scottc25: posts small blind $0.05
dk_sne1: posts big blind $0.10
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [5s 2h Jd Qs 4c]
acegim: raises $0.10 to $0.20- He had played the first 3 hands that I saw down to the river and showed weak 8's every time.
CARSON67: folds
diffusser: folds
scottc25: calls $0.15 - A little loose here but I am holding three to the wheel with a 2 in there. I will play it from the SB and see what happens, especially heads-up.
dk_sne1: folds
*** FIRST DRAW ***
scottc25: discards 2 cards [Jd Qs]
Dealt to scottc25 [5s 2h 4c] [Qh 7s] - Bingo! I got THE card that I needed on order to go all the way with this hand.
acegim: discards 2 cards - Most likely 3 to a wheel or 3 to an 8.
scottc25: checks
acegim: bets $0.10
scottc25: raises $0.10 to $0.20 - With two draws I can hit a 3 or 6 and almost always be ahead or hit an 8 and have a chance.
acegim: calls $0.10 - Guess he didn't hit good.
*** SECOND DRAW ***
scottc25: discards 1 card [Qh]
Dealt to scottc25 [5s 2h 4c 7s] [3c] - There is the wheel!!!!
acegim: discards 1 card - Perfect, he did improve.
scottc25: bets $0.20
acegim: raises $0.20 to $0.40 - I like
scottc25: raises $0.20 to $0.60
acegim: raises $0.20 to $0.80 - Please let him have hit a 7,6.
Betting is capped
scottc25: calls $0.20
*** THIRD DRAW ***
Here is where it gets very interesting........
scottc25: stands pat on [5s 2h 4c 7s 3c]
acegim: discards 1 card - What? How could he cap after I draw one and then draw one?
scottc25: bets $0.20
acegim: calls $0.20
*** SHOW DOWN ***
scottc25: shows [5s 2h 3c 7s 4c] (Lo: 7,5,4,3,2)
acegim: shows [6s 2s 7d 5c 4h] (Lo: 7,6,5,4,2) - This the most confusing thing of all here. He hits his 7,6 and only calls after capping the 2nd draw.
scottc25 collected $2.77 from pot
About the only thing that I can think of here is that he had a made 8,7 after the 2nd draw and once it was capped and then I stood pat he figured that hand was no good and broke. I may be thinking on way too high of a level for this guy though. I'm guessing that he had 4 cards to the 7,6 and hit on the end. I still have no clue why he just calls on the end though. Guess it saved him money.
So far I have been able to get my $5.61 up to $9.20. Only a little ways left to go.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Good Weekend
Do you believe in karma? Call it karma, superstition or whatever, I think everyone believes in it. Play good one day, keep the same routine the next, etc. After running bad on Full Tilt for an extended period (read: playing bad) I decided to take some Full Tilt points and order the license plate frame and mousepad thinking that Full Tilt will turn on the boomswitch for me since I am pimping their product. They were also nice enough to send me the metal license plate holder instead of the plastic one that I actually ordered.After my profitable live session and my 2nd place finish in AIPS I played the Pokerslut Tour heads-up tourney Sunday night. The FTP boomswitch is still on. I haven't had the greatest results in heads-up tournaments. I am a career 0-2 in CHIMPS and 0-1 in Riverchasers. Mu first match vs Wisconsin Lefty I was able to get a quick 2:1 lead when I turned the nut flush for a decent pot. Two hands later I got it all-in on the flop with a flush draw and two overs. It ended up being only one over as he had and overpair. I hit and 4 minutes into the match I advanced to the quarters.
My quarter-final match was against Mrs Slys Money. Again I was able to get out to a slight chip lead. It stayed around the 1700/1300 mark for most of the first level. Near the end of level 2 I had an 1800/1200 lead when the last hand came down. I raised 3x to 90 with the lovely 9,6 off. Flop came 6,6,Q and I lead for 120 and was called. Turn was a 7 and I lead for 250. Sly moved all-in for 970 and I called to see A,K having him drawing dead.
In the semi-finals I finally played someone who I knew how he played, predator06. I commented that this might be the fastest match in history. About 5 hands in I lost almost half my stack when I had to fold my double gutter on the turn to a shove. After that hand I had to adjust what I was going to do and I started limping and try and play smaller pots and wait for a hand. About a dozen hands later that plan went out the window when I raised to 60 with A,8 and predator shoved. I said eff it and called. He showed the 6,6. I spiked the 8 on the river to take a slight chip lead. We traded chips back and forth for around 25 hands or so when I flopped bottom two on a Q,9,7 board and we got it all in. He had 9,8 and I was able to eliminate him to advance to the finals.
In the finals I drew another player I was not familiar with, Rabid Llama. I picked-up A,5 on the first hand and called a raise to 60. Flop comes A,6,5. He leads and I raise and he calls. Turn is the 7 and we get it all-in. He ends up having A,5 as well. About a half-dozen hands in I built up and 1800/1200 lead which I held for quite a while before getting it up to 2000/1000. One interesting hand came up when I had the 2:1 lead. I raised 3x to 60 with the A,10 off and eventually folded to the shove. I had a good hand here but holding the lead I thought I could dump it here and find a better spot. I started to wonder if I should have called when my lead dwindled to 1800/1200 over the next 15 hands or so before I was able to find the spot I was looking for to end it. I completed to 30 with the 103hh and Rabid checked. Flop came 7,6,5hh. I checked, Rabid min-bet and I raised to 150 and he called. The turn was the Ah giving me the flush. I checked and Rabid checked behind. I was hoping for the straight to some in on the river which it did with the 4c, I lead for his stack of 1005 and he called with the straight and it was over good for around $34.
Don't forget about CHIMPS tonight!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Eff you 77
I found Loser and cgcpointledge on a $1/2 HORSE table tonight and decided to join them.
What an effing mistake that was.
I showed Snarf my stats from that table and I was seriously not getting any playable hands and the few I did get resulted in a fucking over of epic proportions.
Thank you very much, 77, for the lost of over 20 big bets.
I hate HORSE.
What an effing mistake that was.
I showed Snarf my stats from that table and I was seriously not getting any playable hands and the few I did get resulted in a fucking over of epic proportions.
Thank you very much, 77, for the lost of over 20 big bets.
I hate HORSE.
Freeroll Sunday
The RakeTheRake freeroll is usually the last Sunday of every month and sure enough I got the confirmation email a few days before. I registered as soon as I got the email but by then I was also registered for the Full Tilt Poker Fantasy WSOP Freeroll.
I had managed to donk my way into the top 10 of one of the Fantasy Freerolls which qualified me for the WSOP Main Event 2009 freeroll - a winner takes all event.
Oddly enough, my starting table had only 2 dead stacks and one came to life not long after the event started. After a while, I was moved to another table. As the first break approached people started to give up playing; my table was down to 3 live players by the break. Oh, joy.
The most painful part about playing freerolls is the wait for all the dead stacks to go away so you finally get to play a full table. It's really most unusual to start a tournament playing short handed then get to full tables and back down to short handed at the later stages. Freerolls are definitely a beast unto themselves.
As per my usual, I was sucked out on to bust out of the RTR freeroll. Nothing new there.
In the mean time I was doing quite well in the WSOP freeroll. I had briefly entertained the idea of donking it up at first to build a decent stack in order to go deep. Briefly. Somebody else, however, didn't stop there. This person started monkey shoving his stack in from the very first hand.
Oh joy.
I wake up with 99 and decide to gambol with him. My hand held up v his ATo and I was off to the races. I was in the top 20, sometimes top 5, on and off most of the tournament.
Granted I lucked my way into several glorious suckouts. (Reader viewers might as well click through now because this post is loaded with flash hand replays.)
Uh, oops. This guy was playing damn near every hand so I suppose I shouldn't have been shocked that he had a what he had. GG me for sucking out.
Blaz would be so proud of this next hand.
I enter full donk mode.
Another life down.
Time for a suckout. I misclicked and min raised when I meant to shove. D'oh.
This guy made some horrible calls at the end. He was calling all ins with Arag and getting pissed when he was totally dominated each time.
Time for another suckout of epic proportions.
Woooooot. Nice stack!
This guy had been raising our blinds EVERY CHANCE HE GOT. I finally woke up with a hand I would fight back but apparently so did the small blind. Another life down.
A few hands later this happens.
I went out 19/584. Realistically I should have been gone ages ago so I can't complain at all.
I had managed to donk my way into the top 10 of one of the Fantasy Freerolls which qualified me for the WSOP Main Event 2009 freeroll - a winner takes all event.
Oddly enough, my starting table had only 2 dead stacks and one came to life not long after the event started. After a while, I was moved to another table. As the first break approached people started to give up playing; my table was down to 3 live players by the break. Oh, joy.
The most painful part about playing freerolls is the wait for all the dead stacks to go away so you finally get to play a full table. It's really most unusual to start a tournament playing short handed then get to full tables and back down to short handed at the later stages. Freerolls are definitely a beast unto themselves.
As per my usual, I was sucked out on to bust out of the RTR freeroll. Nothing new there.
In the mean time I was doing quite well in the WSOP freeroll. I had briefly entertained the idea of donking it up at first to build a decent stack in order to go deep. Briefly. Somebody else, however, didn't stop there. This person started monkey shoving his stack in from the very first hand.
Oh joy.
I wake up with 99 and decide to gambol with him. My hand held up v his ATo and I was off to the races. I was in the top 20, sometimes top 5, on and off most of the tournament.
Granted I lucked my way into several glorious suckouts. (Reader viewers might as well click through now because this post is loaded with flash hand replays.)
Uh, oops. This guy was playing damn near every hand so I suppose I shouldn't have been shocked that he had a what he had. GG me for sucking out.
Blaz would be so proud of this next hand.
I enter full donk mode.
Another life down.
Time for a suckout. I misclicked and min raised when I meant to shove. D'oh.
This guy made some horrible calls at the end. He was calling all ins with Arag and getting pissed when he was totally dominated each time.
Time for another suckout of epic proportions.
Woooooot. Nice stack!
This guy had been raising our blinds EVERY CHANCE HE GOT. I finally woke up with a hand I would fight back but apparently so did the small blind. Another life down.
A few hands later this happens.
I went out 19/584. Realistically I should have been gone ages ago so I can't complain at all.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Tier Ones, Live Play and AIPS
Lots to go through today so I will get right into it.
If you ever play $26 tourneys on Full Tilt and you haven't hit baller status for your bankroll the Tier One two table tourneys are pure gold. I have been playing a few of them in the hopes of getting to a $75 token and then play some FTOPS satellites. So far I am running 50% (with a small sample size of 4. I hit my first one then lost in the 2nd one I played with my JJ lost to 1010 and K6. Lovely. The third one was interesting. I had A,K and shoved and a limper with A,Q called. I won that one. Next lap around the table I did the same thing and A,Q called me again. Won that one. Very next hand I get Q,Q and shove yet again. I am called by A,10. Lost that one when the A hit the turn. Guess this donkey thought I couldn't have it again. Nice read sir.
The last one I played was interesting. When we were down to 6-handed I was blinded down to being the short stack along with one other with 1600 and blinds at 150/300. 4th place had 2500 which will be important. I folded a lap and was in the BB pretty much committed with ATC. I was folded to the SB who raised to 900. I shove with Q,7 and he calls with Q,6. Huh? Raising into a short stack that is committed to the hand? I won the hand and he was knocked down to 900 and busted a couple hands later. Some of the plays these people make in satellites are just insane. I want to play another 6 of these or so before I move onto the Tier Two ones.
I got in another live session at Tampa Bay Downs. It was a new table and I bought in for the full $100 as usual. The raises in the game were a little bigger than normal, around $11. I saw a couple flops and tried a semi-bluff and bluff that failed miserably and I was down to $40 when I topped off to $100 again. Shortly after the re-buy there one one loose aggressive and a couple loose passive players. I saw the LAG raise to $15 with 42hh and get it in with the flush draw and miss a few hands earlier and he reloaded. UTG the LAG raised to $15 and a loose passive player flat called. I picked up K,K and raised to $40. Someone who just sat and bought in with $60 called (yep). The UTG LAG shoved for $78, fold, I called and the new player called. Wait for what they turned over, wait, wait.... UTG shows KJdd and new player shows Q,4 off. Flop comes 7,6,5. Now I have to fuckin sweat the rest. Turn J river 6 and my hand holds. Yes, the games are this good here. I don't even know why I get fancy and try running bluffs when they give away their chips that easily.
I got into one more hand vs the LAG when I limped with A,7ss and we saw the flop around 5 handed. Flop comes A,A,2. I lead for 10 and the LAG calls. Turn is the 2. I check, he shoves for around $40 and I call to see his J,2. River blank and I have a nice healthy stack now. Last noticeable hand was when i limped with A,9 off and called a raise to 6. Flop comes A,J,xsss and I call a $6 bet. Turn is the 9 and he checks. I check behind. River is the A for the boat. He checks and I bet pot of around $25. He says if you have the flush you win. He tables A,K. Thanks for letting me hit cheap.
After the three hour session there was one guy who got-up with $450 in front of him and another with $550. They were both in for $100. I left with $310 for a $150 profit. Pretty sure nobody else at the table made much if any. That win marked my 7th winning session in a row there playing 1/2. Overall on the year I have had 14 winning sessions and 5 losing ones for a total profit of a little over $1100. I was kinda surprised that the total was that low. I guess I wasn't thinking about a lot of the smallish wins I had early in the year.
I played AIPS today which was a $5 HA (1/2 PLHE, 1/2 PLO). There was a smallish turnout of 58 players. I almost didn't play but got home about 15 minutes before it started and signed-up. In the first level I managed to drop around 250 without even playing that much. The downward trend kept going till I was around $700 when I turned a set of Aces in PLO to get back to the starting stack of 1500. At the end of the 1st hour we were down to 41 players and I was sitting on around 1700 after being only as high as 2000.
In the second hour I saw myself down to 800 again before I was able to to double again with AAxx in PLO. I had it up to 3k when I played an interesting hand vs Gambit who had around 8k. He was on the Skype call with us and his son was distracting him in the background. It was folded to me in the SB and I raised with KKxx and he called. The flop came out 8,4,4 and I check called a 1/2 pot bet. Turn was something like a 3 and it went check check. River was a 4 and I put out a near pot sized bet and he called with 66xx. I was really shocked with the call there. I think he was really really really distracted. Shortly after that he dropped off the call and picked-up the concentration.
After the hand with Gambit I had the chip lead and held it until we were close to the money bubble of 13 players. I was able to increase the stack with some uncalled 3-bets and short stack all-ins in hold-em when i held A,K a gazillion times. On the bubble the chip leader was to my right and was abusing it badly as we had 4 stacks <4k class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">nd (Rant2112) was 17k. I played a big pot against rant when I bet the river when I missed the straight draw and he called me with 3rd pair. Wow. That knocked me down to 4th in chips. I was able to get a double and shortly after held the chip lead again. Rant took out 4th and Gambit in 3rd I believe and he held a slight lead going heads-up.
He was way the aggressor early on and I whittled away. I tried one move in hold-em and it failed miserable when he held top pair vs my 3rd pair. I got all the way down to a 8:1 deficit (77k vs 9k). I was able to mount a comeback and get it back to even. We moved to PLO and I fell behind 3:1. I battled back and got to within 3k of even when the last hand went down. I had A,A,3,5 single suited and raised pot from the BB and Rant called. Here was the hand:
Full Tilt Poker Game #7384812174: AIPS III Event #7 (53129691), Table 4 - 1000/2000 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 15:34:46 ET - 2008/07/26
Seat 4: scottc25 (41,845)
Seat 9: Rant2112 (45,155)
Rant2112 posts the small blind of 1,000
scottc25 posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [3h Ah As 5h]
Rant2112 calls 1,000
scottc25 raises to 6,000
Rant2112 calls 4,000
*** FLOP *** [Td 3c 7c]
scottc25 bets 12,000
Rant2112 calls 12,000
*** TURN *** [Td 3c 7c] [7s]
scottc25 bets 23,845, and is all in
Rant2112 has 15 seconds left to act
Rant2112 calls 23,845
scottc25 shows [3h Ah As 5h]
Rant2112 shows [6h 9h 8h 5c]
*** RIVER *** [Td 3c 7c 7s] [6s]
scottc25 shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
Rant2112 shows a straight, Ten high
Rant2112 wins the pot (83,690) with a straight, Ten high
scottc25 stands up
Rant2112 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 83,690 | Rake 0
Board: [Td 3c 7c 7s 6s]
Seat 4: scottc25 (big blind) showed [3h Ah As 5h] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens
Seat 9: Rant2112 (small blind) showed [6h 9h 8h 5c] and won (83,690) with a straight, Ten high
I was surprised to see what when I ran the hand at the turn through Two Dimes that I was only a 57% favorite when the money went in. Meh, so be it. I was more than happy to get my chips in there as a favorite but it didn't hold. 2nd place was good for $47 and change and no plastic produce. My second final table in three months moved me up to 9th in the standings on the year.
If you ever play $26 tourneys on Full Tilt and you haven't hit baller status for your bankroll the Tier One two table tourneys are pure gold. I have been playing a few of them in the hopes of getting to a $75 token and then play some FTOPS satellites. So far I am running 50% (with a small sample size of 4. I hit my first one then lost in the 2nd one I played with my JJ lost to 1010 and K6. Lovely. The third one was interesting. I had A,K and shoved and a limper with A,Q called. I won that one. Next lap around the table I did the same thing and A,Q called me again. Won that one. Very next hand I get Q,Q and shove yet again. I am called by A,10. Lost that one when the A hit the turn. Guess this donkey thought I couldn't have it again. Nice read sir.
The last one I played was interesting. When we were down to 6-handed I was blinded down to being the short stack along with one other with 1600 and blinds at 150/300. 4th place had 2500 which will be important. I folded a lap and was in the BB pretty much committed with ATC. I was folded to the SB who raised to 900. I shove with Q,7 and he calls with Q,6. Huh? Raising into a short stack that is committed to the hand? I won the hand and he was knocked down to 900 and busted a couple hands later. Some of the plays these people make in satellites are just insane. I want to play another 6 of these or so before I move onto the Tier Two ones.
I got in another live session at Tampa Bay Downs. It was a new table and I bought in for the full $100 as usual. The raises in the game were a little bigger than normal, around $11. I saw a couple flops and tried a semi-bluff and bluff that failed miserably and I was down to $40 when I topped off to $100 again. Shortly after the re-buy there one one loose aggressive and a couple loose passive players. I saw the LAG raise to $15 with 42hh and get it in with the flush draw and miss a few hands earlier and he reloaded. UTG the LAG raised to $15 and a loose passive player flat called. I picked up K,K and raised to $40. Someone who just sat and bought in with $60 called (yep). The UTG LAG shoved for $78, fold, I called and the new player called. Wait for what they turned over, wait, wait.... UTG shows KJdd and new player shows Q,4 off. Flop comes 7,6,5. Now I have to fuckin sweat the rest. Turn J river 6 and my hand holds. Yes, the games are this good here. I don't even know why I get fancy and try running bluffs when they give away their chips that easily.
I got into one more hand vs the LAG when I limped with A,7ss and we saw the flop around 5 handed. Flop comes A,A,2. I lead for 10 and the LAG calls. Turn is the 2. I check, he shoves for around $40 and I call to see his J,2. River blank and I have a nice healthy stack now. Last noticeable hand was when i limped with A,9 off and called a raise to 6. Flop comes A,J,xsss and I call a $6 bet. Turn is the 9 and he checks. I check behind. River is the A for the boat. He checks and I bet pot of around $25. He says if you have the flush you win. He tables A,K. Thanks for letting me hit cheap.
After the three hour session there was one guy who got-up with $450 in front of him and another with $550. They were both in for $100. I left with $310 for a $150 profit. Pretty sure nobody else at the table made much if any. That win marked my 7th winning session in a row there playing 1/2. Overall on the year I have had 14 winning sessions and 5 losing ones for a total profit of a little over $1100. I was kinda surprised that the total was that low. I guess I wasn't thinking about a lot of the smallish wins I had early in the year.
I played AIPS today which was a $5 HA (1/2 PLHE, 1/2 PLO). There was a smallish turnout of 58 players. I almost didn't play but got home about 15 minutes before it started and signed-up. In the first level I managed to drop around 250 without even playing that much. The downward trend kept going till I was around $700 when I turned a set of Aces in PLO to get back to the starting stack of 1500. At the end of the 1st hour we were down to 41 players and I was sitting on around 1700 after being only as high as 2000.
In the second hour I saw myself down to 800 again before I was able to to double again with AAxx in PLO. I had it up to 3k when I played an interesting hand vs Gambit who had around 8k. He was on the Skype call with us and his son was distracting him in the background. It was folded to me in the SB and I raised with KKxx and he called. The flop came out 8,4,4 and I check called a 1/2 pot bet. Turn was something like a 3 and it went check check. River was a 4 and I put out a near pot sized bet and he called with 66xx. I was really shocked with the call there. I think he was really really really distracted. Shortly after that he dropped off the call and picked-up the concentration.
After the hand with Gambit I had the chip lead and held it until we were close to the money bubble of 13 players. I was able to increase the stack with some uncalled 3-bets and short stack all-ins in hold-em when i held A,K a gazillion times. On the bubble the chip leader was to my right and was abusing it badly as we had 4 stacks <4k class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">nd (Rant2112) was 17k. I played a big pot against rant when I bet the river when I missed the straight draw and he called me with 3rd pair. Wow. That knocked me down to 4th in chips. I was able to get a double and shortly after held the chip lead again. Rant took out 4th and Gambit in 3rd I believe and he held a slight lead going heads-up.
He was way the aggressor early on and I whittled away. I tried one move in hold-em and it failed miserable when he held top pair vs my 3rd pair. I got all the way down to a 8:1 deficit (77k vs 9k). I was able to mount a comeback and get it back to even. We moved to PLO and I fell behind 3:1. I battled back and got to within 3k of even when the last hand went down. I had A,A,3,5 single suited and raised pot from the BB and Rant called. Here was the hand:
Full Tilt Poker Game #7384812174: AIPS III Event #7 (53129691), Table 4 - 1000/2000 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 15:34:46 ET - 2008/07/26
Seat 4: scottc25 (41,845)
Seat 9: Rant2112 (45,155)
Rant2112 posts the small blind of 1,000
scottc25 posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [3h Ah As 5h]
Rant2112 calls 1,000
scottc25 raises to 6,000
Rant2112 calls 4,000
*** FLOP *** [Td 3c 7c]
scottc25 bets 12,000
Rant2112 calls 12,000
*** TURN *** [Td 3c 7c] [7s]
scottc25 bets 23,845, and is all in
Rant2112 has 15 seconds left to act
Rant2112 calls 23,845
scottc25 shows [3h Ah As 5h]
Rant2112 shows [6h 9h 8h 5c]
*** RIVER *** [Td 3c 7c 7s] [6s]
scottc25 shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
Rant2112 shows a straight, Ten high
Rant2112 wins the pot (83,690) with a straight, Ten high
scottc25 stands up
Rant2112 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 83,690 | Rake 0
Board: [Td 3c 7c 7s 6s]
Seat 4: scottc25 (big blind) showed [3h Ah As 5h] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens
Seat 9: Rant2112 (small blind) showed [6h 9h 8h 5c] and won (83,690) with a straight, Ten high
I was surprised to see what when I ran the hand at the turn through Two Dimes that I was only a 57% favorite when the money went in. Meh, so be it. I was more than happy to get my chips in there as a favorite but it didn't hold. 2nd place was good for $47 and change and no plastic produce. My second final table in three months moved me up to 9th in the standings on the year.
Home Game Report
Early in the week I got an email from Tucker inviting me to his home game. I've played it before and it was a lot of fun. Mostly the usual characters mixed in with a few players I haven't seen before.
Last night was no different.
I had a woman on my right that was utterly, hopelessly CLUELESS. She actually called down with K high and was wondering if she made a back call. Honey, you made a whole series of bad calls.
She outran my TPTK when she called bets on every street and rivered a higher pair on me AND THEN CHECKED IT WHEN SHE HIT IT. Thankfully I checked behind and lost as little as possible.
Mike, an experienced player, was sitting across from me. We exchanged numerous "Can you believe how bad she is" looks over the course of the evening. Incredibly she made it to the final table with me; I was stuck with her on my right again but this time I managed to take her few remaining chips with KK utg v her Arag in the BB when she just called my raise leaving 75 chips behind and I put her all blind. I did hit top set on the flop but she had a chance to suckout a straight but, alas, EPIC FAIL.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.
I spewed chips with my TPTK versus Ms. Horrible. Then I picked up AJ in late position after a couple of limpers. I raised it up and get called my Mike. Flop comes AKx. Mike checks to me and I fire out my usual 1/2 pot continuation bet; Mike takes the opportunity to check raise my ass. Rut row. Now, I know Mike likes to play small ball and limps a lot of pots but I just don't see him limping AK or AQ here. My only worry was him hitting a small set but more than likely he's just trying to see if I really hit this board. Without really checking my chipstack I said all in. Turns out that was only a few more chips than his raise. I was sure I was ahead by the way he wasn't happy to call those few extra chips but was concerned that he had some draw. Turns out he was making a move with J9 and was drawing dead on the turn. Woooot!
Mike did manage to make a miracle comeback winning 4/5 hands - once with KK that almost tripled him up. He played his shortstack masterfully.
By the time we get down to six players we're all playing tight and not seeing many flops. Mike decides to shove his short stack in with Arag and I find JJ OTB. I just called his all in knowing the two guys behind me are tight and wouldn't get involved unless they had a HUGE hand. My JJ holds up and I knock Mike out.
During the play Mike started prop betting with me for $2 and $1 a shot. Things like, let's run it for $2 after he folds a hand to my raise. I said sure and my hand held up twice, +$4. Next it would be, I bet the bottom two cards of the deck beat your hand. I won, +$6. The first burn card would be less than a 7, I lose - down to +$5. Pretty soon the props started to get really complicated and I had to turn a few down mostly because this tired old woman couldn't think well enough to figured out if it was a good offer or not. In the end I was freerolling the tournament because I won my buyin from Mike's prop bets. Sure made for a fun final table.
Ok, back to the tournament, we're down to the money bubble now; top 4 get paid with 4th getting their $10 buyin back. I don't remember how the bubble bitch went out but after he was gone we were left with the T Boys (Tucker, Toby and Tim) and me!
Toby and I had the majority of the chips while Tim and Tucker were the short stacks. Tim ends up moving in UTG and Toby makes the pot odds call from the BB with two baby spades. His spades flopped a flush draw and turned the flush v Tim's AJ. Nice suckout. GG Tim.
Tucker moves in next from UTG and I look down to see K7sooooooooted in the BB and I call only to see him flip over K8, d'oh. Luck was with me though and I flopped a seven and rivered a K. Oops. Luck was definitely with the big stacks. GG Tucker.
Toby and I did a chip count:
Toby 10,400
Zooks 10,600
We did an even chop of 1st and 2nd! Woooooooot!
Last night was no different.
I had a woman on my right that was utterly, hopelessly CLUELESS. She actually called down with K high and was wondering if she made a back call. Honey, you made a whole series of bad calls.
She outran my TPTK when she called bets on every street and rivered a higher pair on me AND THEN CHECKED IT WHEN SHE HIT IT. Thankfully I checked behind and lost as little as possible.
Mike, an experienced player, was sitting across from me. We exchanged numerous "Can you believe how bad she is" looks over the course of the evening. Incredibly she made it to the final table with me; I was stuck with her on my right again but this time I managed to take her few remaining chips with KK utg v her Arag in the BB when she just called my raise leaving 75 chips behind and I put her all blind. I did hit top set on the flop but she had a chance to suckout a straight but, alas, EPIC FAIL.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.
I spewed chips with my TPTK versus Ms. Horrible. Then I picked up AJ in late position after a couple of limpers. I raised it up and get called my Mike. Flop comes AKx. Mike checks to me and I fire out my usual 1/2 pot continuation bet; Mike takes the opportunity to check raise my ass. Rut row. Now, I know Mike likes to play small ball and limps a lot of pots but I just don't see him limping AK or AQ here. My only worry was him hitting a small set but more than likely he's just trying to see if I really hit this board. Without really checking my chipstack I said all in. Turns out that was only a few more chips than his raise. I was sure I was ahead by the way he wasn't happy to call those few extra chips but was concerned that he had some draw. Turns out he was making a move with J9 and was drawing dead on the turn. Woooot!
Mike did manage to make a miracle comeback winning 4/5 hands - once with KK that almost tripled him up. He played his shortstack masterfully.
By the time we get down to six players we're all playing tight and not seeing many flops. Mike decides to shove his short stack in with Arag and I find JJ OTB. I just called his all in knowing the two guys behind me are tight and wouldn't get involved unless they had a HUGE hand. My JJ holds up and I knock Mike out.
During the play Mike started prop betting with me for $2 and $1 a shot. Things like, let's run it for $2 after he folds a hand to my raise. I said sure and my hand held up twice, +$4. Next it would be, I bet the bottom two cards of the deck beat your hand. I won, +$6. The first burn card would be less than a 7, I lose - down to +$5. Pretty soon the props started to get really complicated and I had to turn a few down mostly because this tired old woman couldn't think well enough to figured out if it was a good offer or not. In the end I was freerolling the tournament because I won my buyin from Mike's prop bets. Sure made for a fun final table.
Ok, back to the tournament, we're down to the money bubble now; top 4 get paid with 4th getting their $10 buyin back. I don't remember how the bubble bitch went out but after he was gone we were left with the T Boys (Tucker, Toby and Tim) and me!
Toby and I had the majority of the chips while Tim and Tucker were the short stacks. Tim ends up moving in UTG and Toby makes the pot odds call from the BB with two baby spades. His spades flopped a flush draw and turned the flush v Tim's AJ. Nice suckout. GG Tim.
Tucker moves in next from UTG and I look down to see K7sooooooooted in the BB and I call only to see him flip over K8, d'oh. Luck was with me though and I flopped a seven and rivered a K. Oops. Luck was definitely with the big stacks. GG Tucker.
Toby and I did a chip count:
Toby 10,400
Zooks 10,600
We did an even chop of 1st and 2nd! Woooooooot!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wheeling Island
I was able to play a quick session at Wheeling Island in West Virginia last night. They have around a dozen tables in the room. It is in a separate room away from the casino floor and down an escalator. I arrived at the room around 6pm and there were six tables going, four 1/2NL ($200 max) tables and two 2/4 LHE tables. They had a sign saying the featured game on Wednesday was 2/5 Omadraw 8. IT starts around 1pm but it was non-existent when I was there. There was a waiting list of two people to play 2/5, which never went. I was #3 on the 1/2 list and got a seat within 15 minutes.
I bought in for the full $200. It took less than a lap to pick out the 2-3 people you wanted to play pots with. I picked-up around 6 flush/straight draws on small raise pots or limped pots and missed every single time. I was down to $85 when I had my only winning hand of the session. I had 10,3ss in EP and limped (why not). We took the flop 5 handed and it came A,Q,Xss. Checked to me and I lead with my flush draw for $10 and got one caller. The turn was the As. I lead for $15 and he called again. With $58 behind the river was a brick and I lead for $30. The other player put me all-in and I called. He rolled the A,J and my hand was good. After that hand I Had around $170. I played another lap and got up with $165 in front of me for a $35 loss.
Overall not a bad room. When the highest game is 1/2 you get a very interesting mix of players. Some really good because that's as high as it gets and some really bad noobs. After I ate dinner I didn't feel like playing only an hour I sat at Pai Gow. I ended up losing around $40 there. I got up and went to the 4 card poker table where I had a killing at in Niagara Falls. My good fortune continued and I pulled nearly even thanks to a set of kings hand. After that I moved to Caribbean Stud and sat there till I showed a profit on the night and walked away with a whole $7 profit. Woot!!!!!!!
Invaded
Got an email in my inbox this morning from the lovely people at Trump, more specifically Trump Plaza. It seems that Atlantic city has now fallen victim to these monstrosities.
I don't know if I am for or against them at this point but I'm really leaning towards against. If I wanted to play online poker I'll sit in my underware watching porn and do so from the comfort of my living room. I don't need to drive an hour to AC to do that. However, I can see these things driving more fishies to the table. It's easier to feel more comfortable when all you have to do is push buttons and not talk to anyone. But half the fun of live poker is stacking big pots, which is why I like playin 4/8 with all dollar chips or the Pink Chip Game (7.50/15 with all 2.50 chips) at the Trop. There's nothing like a 3 puch pot gettin shoved your way.
Not sure when I will get there to check these out but I scribble some thoughts on it when I can. Maybe if the Snuff-in-ator makes the trip in October we can make it over there. Trump Plaza is not on my normal play lists nor is it really near any place that I normally play, but I shall do my best in the interest of research.
I don't know if I am for or against them at this point but I'm really leaning towards against. If I wanted to play online poker I'll sit in my underware watching porn and do so from the comfort of my living room. I don't need to drive an hour to AC to do that. However, I can see these things driving more fishies to the table. It's easier to feel more comfortable when all you have to do is push buttons and not talk to anyone. But half the fun of live poker is stacking big pots, which is why I like playin 4/8 with all dollar chips or the Pink Chip Game (7.50/15 with all 2.50 chips) at the Trop. There's nothing like a 3 puch pot gettin shoved your way.
Not sure when I will get there to check these out but I scribble some thoughts on it when I can. Maybe if the Snuff-in-ator makes the trip in October we can make it over there. Trump Plaza is not on my normal play lists nor is it really near any place that I normally play, but I shall do my best in the interest of research.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sluts, FTP Points Sat
Don't forget, CHIMPS is tonight. I know, kinda late to post.
On Sunday I reluctantly signed-up for the Poker Slut Tour. It was Stud this week. Its probably by least favorite game by far but I always play it fairly well. A tough conundrum. I chipped down to 1200 before someone at my table decided to get their last 400 in with a 10 showing and air below vs my split jacks. That kicked me back to 1600 and I played fairly tight from there.
I was proud of one read that I had. I had a Jack showing and BlindGuy was the bring-in. It was folded to me and I completed and he called. I hit nothing on 4th and lead again. He raised and I immediately know this was an information raise to see if his pair was good. I put in the 3rd bet and he folded. Good read me.
When we got to the final table I was the short stack with 1000 in chips. I then was able to pull rolled-up Queens. A king completed and I called, an ace 2bet, K 3bet, I called, A 4bet call call. On the turn I got an Ace. Ace led, K 2bet, I 3bet, A caps, call call. On 5th the K was all-in for the last bet and so was I. My set held and I more than tripled up to 3400. I didn't make much from there however. I made two pair on 4th and was called by Zerb. He hit the obvious flush card on 6th and I still lead out. He raised me on 7th and I paid him off. Down to 1300 I made a double-up or two but eventually busted in 6th.
Monday night I decided to play a 500 frequent player point satellite to the $750k satellite (2500 point direct entry). There were 96 runners for 19 seats. I worked my stack early to 2000 when I picked-up A,K in the BB with 5 limpers. I decided to check and see the 7,8,9 flop and folded. Two hands later on the button I get A,K again and this time its 4 limpers. I decided to ship it this time and got a call from a 1k stack with A,Q. That got me to 3k and I was in decent shape.
I decided to play uber tight and wait for premium hands, till I got 10,10 and limped. There was a 4x raise and I called. Flop comes KKx. Check check. Turn was a 9. I lead for 1/2 the pot and was called. River blank and I check called a 1/3 pot bet only to see J.J. Back down to 1500. I was moved to the chip leaders table who had 10k and its still early. I limp UTG +1 with A,J and he raises 6x and I fold. Next hand I get Q,Q and want to set the trap. I limp, CL raises 6x again. I shove and he calls with 3,3. My hand holds and I am back to 3k again.
The next interesting hand happens with around 45 left. UTG limps for 80 and I call from the SB with 4,4. BB checks and we see a flop of 7,4,3dd. I lead out, next player raises, next calls, I shove, call and call. The classic hands are revealed K,10dd and A,7. The A hits the turn but the river bricks and I am up to 7300.
After that I think I won two pots and that's it. With 32 left I was 3rd in chips. The guy who doubled me was the CL with 16k, 2nd was 12k and me with a little over 7k. I folded my way to the seat after that. I unregistered and took the 2500 FPP's. Interesting note, the CL with 32 left ended up busting out in 28th. How the fuck does that happen?
I have played two Tier Ones so far tonight. In the first one early on I had J,J and limped. There was a raise, call, call and I shoved. All 3 called. Hands were A,K 10,10 and K,6 (short stack). I ended up in 2nd place when the 10 hit the flop and I busted in 15th. The second one I won exactly one pot before the final table. I picked-up A,A and K,K with no action but was able to win a token.
Getting ready for CHIMPS now, fuckin' Stud again. Might play Blogger Skills too since its Stud8 tonight.
ESPN WSOP coverage starts in a few.
On Sunday I reluctantly signed-up for the Poker Slut Tour. It was Stud this week. Its probably by least favorite game by far but I always play it fairly well. A tough conundrum. I chipped down to 1200 before someone at my table decided to get their last 400 in with a 10 showing and air below vs my split jacks. That kicked me back to 1600 and I played fairly tight from there.
I was proud of one read that I had. I had a Jack showing and BlindGuy was the bring-in. It was folded to me and I completed and he called. I hit nothing on 4th and lead again. He raised and I immediately know this was an information raise to see if his pair was good. I put in the 3rd bet and he folded. Good read me.
When we got to the final table I was the short stack with 1000 in chips. I then was able to pull rolled-up Queens. A king completed and I called, an ace 2bet, K 3bet, I called, A 4bet call call. On the turn I got an Ace. Ace led, K 2bet, I 3bet, A caps, call call. On 5th the K was all-in for the last bet and so was I. My set held and I more than tripled up to 3400. I didn't make much from there however. I made two pair on 4th and was called by Zerb. He hit the obvious flush card on 6th and I still lead out. He raised me on 7th and I paid him off. Down to 1300 I made a double-up or two but eventually busted in 6th.
Monday night I decided to play a 500 frequent player point satellite to the $750k satellite (2500 point direct entry). There were 96 runners for 19 seats. I worked my stack early to 2000 when I picked-up A,K in the BB with 5 limpers. I decided to check and see the 7,8,9 flop and folded. Two hands later on the button I get A,K again and this time its 4 limpers. I decided to ship it this time and got a call from a 1k stack with A,Q. That got me to 3k and I was in decent shape.
I decided to play uber tight and wait for premium hands, till I got 10,10 and limped. There was a 4x raise and I called. Flop comes KKx. Check check. Turn was a 9. I lead for 1/2 the pot and was called. River blank and I check called a 1/3 pot bet only to see J.J. Back down to 1500. I was moved to the chip leaders table who had 10k and its still early. I limp UTG +1 with A,J and he raises 6x and I fold. Next hand I get Q,Q and want to set the trap. I limp, CL raises 6x again. I shove and he calls with 3,3. My hand holds and I am back to 3k again.
The next interesting hand happens with around 45 left. UTG limps for 80 and I call from the SB with 4,4. BB checks and we see a flop of 7,4,3dd. I lead out, next player raises, next calls, I shove, call and call. The classic hands are revealed K,10dd and A,7. The A hits the turn but the river bricks and I am up to 7300.
After that I think I won two pots and that's it. With 32 left I was 3rd in chips. The guy who doubled me was the CL with 16k, 2nd was 12k and me with a little over 7k. I folded my way to the seat after that. I unregistered and took the 2500 FPP's. Interesting note, the CL with 32 left ended up busting out in 28th. How the fuck does that happen?
I have played two Tier Ones so far tonight. In the first one early on I had J,J and limped. There was a raise, call, call and I shoved. All 3 called. Hands were A,K 10,10 and K,6 (short stack). I ended up in 2nd place when the 10 hit the flop and I busted in 15th. The second one I won exactly one pot before the final table. I picked-up A,A and K,K with no action but was able to win a token.
Getting ready for CHIMPS now, fuckin' Stud again. Might play Blogger Skills too since its Stud8 tonight.
ESPN WSOP coverage starts in a few.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Poker Free Weekend
Well mostly. I played one 7 dollar sat for FTOPS #1 and some cash on PokerStars on Friday night but that was it. Monster Baller PokerStars roll now up to 58 bucks, boooooooooooom bitches. Was planning on playing PokerSluts last night but Wii Fit > PokerSluts. Don't tell Zooks. Srsly though this is one of the coolest things the Wii has going for it even if my Wii Fit Mii is a fat ugly slob.
Back to poker. FTOPS is coming around the corner and I'm hoping to make a few of these events. Since I am not 22 years old with no other priorities then satelliting into FTOPS events I will have to pick and choose which I want to play. I definately want to make for Event 1 which will probably have one of the largest and softest fields going. Event 8 (6 max KO) and Event 24 (full KO) should be nice ones to get into as well. Other then those I will probably just shoot for the ME. I'm sitting on a few Tier II tokens, so if there is a last minute event the I want to get into then I may use them. My main plan of attack is to get into as many of the 50+5 sats. These things have been very soft in the past and with 1-4+ getting a seat (depending on the buyin of the event obv) it's a great way to get in. I will probably even plan in some that I don't want to play the event just to rack up some $T. So you should see me playing alot of 7 and 8 dollar supersats for these, hopefully it will work out with a nice cash like last time, maybe even better.
Back to poker. FTOPS is coming around the corner and I'm hoping to make a few of these events. Since I am not 22 years old with no other priorities then satelliting into FTOPS events I will have to pick and choose which I want to play. I definately want to make for Event 1 which will probably have one of the largest and softest fields going. Event 8 (6 max KO) and Event 24 (full KO) should be nice ones to get into as well. Other then those I will probably just shoot for the ME. I'm sitting on a few Tier II tokens, so if there is a last minute event the I want to get into then I may use them. My main plan of attack is to get into as many of the 50+5 sats. These things have been very soft in the past and with 1-4+ getting a seat (depending on the buyin of the event obv) it's a great way to get in. I will probably even plan in some that I don't want to play the event just to rack up some $T. So you should see me playing alot of 7 and 8 dollar supersats for these, hopefully it will work out with a nice cash like last time, maybe even better.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Khan's Home Game
Khan had warned me that her home game would be interesting. Turns out the players were mostly family and a few other people that have never played before.Before we started we played a few practice hands for the novice players. It's surprising how people will show their tendencies after only a few hands: P was an any two card player while his wife R was definitely a move maker.
Two of the more experienced players were on my left, KhanDad and KhanBrotherInLaw and the least experienced player, P, was on my right. I, of course, played my usual nitty game.
I called a raise from the BB with ATsoooooooooted and missed the flop entirely. I limped in with 55 and again missed my set on a flop of overcards and had to let it go.
We're approaching the end of the rebuy period when I pick up A7o in the BB. It's limped about 5 ways to me and I just check. The flop comes down A75 and I check-shove to a bet and a raise. The bettor, KhanDad calls me while the raiser, R, folds (uh, wtf?). The raiser was one of the newbs - the move maker - so maybe she was just trying to make a move or something. KhanDad, of the more experienced players, merely had a 5 and was drawing to 3 outs. Thankfully he missed and I practically tripled up keeping me from having to rebuy.
P was new to Texas Hold'em but not poker. He played darn near every hand. He was incapable of releasing any pair. He would call down to the river with 55, 88, or even KJ or AJ unimproved. The bad part is that he won a ton of hands playing this way. Some people just could not accept the fact that he could not be bluffed. The good news was, when you picked up a big hand against him he would pay you off.
We get down to the final 5 when Khan got into a huge hand. I limped UTG with Q9 because so few pots were raised hoping to hit something, KhanBrotherInLaw limps, Khan completes from the small blind and P (the any two card novice) checks his option. The flop comes down Q77. I'm thinking this is pretty nice until Khan leads out and gets called by P. Now I'm thinking my Q9 just shrunk up. I fold, KhanBrotherInLaw raises, and Khan shoves. Wow, now I'm really glad I got out of this hand. P goes away and KhanBrotherInLaw keeps saying he can't lay it down. He eventually calls and shows... Q3 v T's A7. He's waaaaaaaaaaaay behind. I suppose you can see it coming but at the time I was convinced there was no way Khan was losing this hand since I folded one of the two remaining Qs. But, no. The turn was the case Q giving KhanBrotherInLaw a huge pot and knocking Khan out.
Now it's down to P (the newb), me, KhanDad and KhanBrotherInLaw. P is down to a few chips and goes out putting me ITM! Woooooooot! Unfortunately I'm running card dead and except for a couple shoves with small PPs I haven't been picking up any chips.
KhanDad went out to KhanBrotherInLaw and I'm left HU with a huge chip deficit. The first HU hand I have T2c in BB and whiff the flop and have to fold. I ship it the next hand with 89o and get insta-called by 56s and end up losing when he spikes a 5.
Such is poker.
I played less than 10 hands the entire night and finish 2nd. I shouldn't be complaining but where's all the excitement I keep hearing about? Folding is awful boring. Profitable but boring.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Why you shouldn't final table the WSOP ME
If you haven't been there yet or are unfamiliar with, go to Dr. Pauly now and catch yourself up on the Tiffany Michelle story. That is if you care or are mildly interested. I'm trying to decide that for myself at this point. I don't know why this story should even register on my radar since it reads like a bad soap opera and covers a part of the game that we all know is out there but really don't want to/will never have to deal with.
Reading all this makes me think of The Partner by John Grisham. If you are not familiar, guy steals lots of money, makes perfect contingency plan for getting caught, and the broad fucks him over in the end. From reading the statements from Tony G's blog, posted on Dr. Pauly, it sure sounds like he knew what could potentially happen (a media and online poker site frenzy to sign/endorse a hot chick left in the field), took some measures to prevent it (loosely worded contract), but in the end the hot chick takes money and says, "What did I do wrong? I played by all the same rules, my lawyers said so".
This story has nothing to do with lawyers and contracts and exclusive deals, then it does with the fact that with all the money on the line, everyone is looking to fuck everyone else over. In the end, is this any different then the way Elton Brand completely ass fucked over the Clippers to sign with the 76ers? Except it doesn't involve a cheating shady ass online poker site and a hot chick. Facts is facts, and when there are millions of dollars on the line, everyone is looking to get theirs.
In the end I don't really know how to think of any of these people that are involved. Reason being, I have no idea what their intentions were from the start. Did Tony G really put Tiffany Michelle in the ME because he wanted to give her a shot or that he saw the potention dollar signs if she made a deep run? Did Tiffany really 'hit it off' with Lisandro or did she just shamelessly flaunt her sex to try and get into the ME? Knowing the entire time that she could jump ship from PokerNews whenever she wanted, having seen this play out before. As with anything, I find it hard to believe that any or all of the parties are innocent.
Without knowing anyone involved or their intentions here's my take. Tiffany wants to play in the ME, because well who doesn't. She tries to get the backing from Tony G but he knows she can barely play a lick (and after reading PokerNews updates this doesn't sound far fetched) and doesn't want to outlay that kind of money. She then proceeds to 'hit it off' with Lisandro (aka well you know) and convinces him that she should play. Tony sees that he can hit the big payday if she goes far while offloading some of the cost so he agrees. She goes deep, unscroupulous agent gets in her ear, convinces her that she can make things much better for her. She gets stressed, listens, fucks over everyone at PokerNews, and then says "my lawyers said I did nothing wrong." How it ends? She signed with a piece of shit online site, can't play that well, and screwed over her employer equating to out of work and out of poker in 6 months. It's too bad this story couldn't have a better ending.
Reading all this makes me think of The Partner by John Grisham. If you are not familiar, guy steals lots of money, makes perfect contingency plan for getting caught, and the broad fucks him over in the end. From reading the statements from Tony G's blog, posted on Dr. Pauly, it sure sounds like he knew what could potentially happen (a media and online poker site frenzy to sign/endorse a hot chick left in the field), took some measures to prevent it (loosely worded contract), but in the end the hot chick takes money and says, "What did I do wrong? I played by all the same rules, my lawyers said so".
This story has nothing to do with lawyers and contracts and exclusive deals, then it does with the fact that with all the money on the line, everyone is looking to fuck everyone else over. In the end, is this any different then the way Elton Brand completely ass fucked over the Clippers to sign with the 76ers? Except it doesn't involve a cheating shady ass online poker site and a hot chick. Facts is facts, and when there are millions of dollars on the line, everyone is looking to get theirs.
In the end I don't really know how to think of any of these people that are involved. Reason being, I have no idea what their intentions were from the start. Did Tony G really put Tiffany Michelle in the ME because he wanted to give her a shot or that he saw the potention dollar signs if she made a deep run? Did Tiffany really 'hit it off' with Lisandro or did she just shamelessly flaunt her sex to try and get into the ME? Knowing the entire time that she could jump ship from PokerNews whenever she wanted, having seen this play out before. As with anything, I find it hard to believe that any or all of the parties are innocent.
Without knowing anyone involved or their intentions here's my take. Tiffany wants to play in the ME, because well who doesn't. She tries to get the backing from Tony G but he knows she can barely play a lick (and after reading PokerNews updates this doesn't sound far fetched) and doesn't want to outlay that kind of money. She then proceeds to 'hit it off' with Lisandro (aka well you know) and convinces him that she should play. Tony sees that he can hit the big payday if she goes far while offloading some of the cost so he agrees. She goes deep, unscroupulous agent gets in her ear, convinces her that she can make things much better for her. She gets stressed, listens, fucks over everyone at PokerNews, and then says "my lawyers said I did nothing wrong." How it ends? She signed with a piece of shit online site, can't play that well, and screwed over her employer equating to out of work and out of poker in 6 months. It's too bad this story couldn't have a better ending.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Home Game and MATH Results
Friday night was Gambit's home game. It did not go well for me. I dropped my first buy-in with no exciting hands. In the second buy-in I ran the 2nd nuts vs the nuts in PLO8 vs gambit and I lost a $100 plus pot. On the THIRD buy-in it got a little better. Playing Badugi I picked up a 7 and a 5 which isn't too shabby. I also picked up a wheel in 2-7 TD. I made a late rally and ended up down $50 for the night after nearly six hours of poker.
I ventured back online last night playing the MATH. It was the first time playing online since I had a horrid exit in 16th out of 283 in a $5 tourney. I had K,K on a flop of Q,9,x and got someone to stick their whole stack in with 10,9. Turn 9, fuck you Full Tilt. Since I was not feeling the love for Full Tilt I decided to use my frequent player points and order a license plate holder and a mouse pad. I figured this would give me good karma.
I played a $8.70 2 table token SNG and ended up winning it by getting one double-up, winning the blinds once and shoving SB into the BB with ATC. Easy enough. I took the token and signed up for the MATH. There were 17 runners in the double shootout format so we had 3 tables of 6,6 and 5. I drew the 5 handed table. I actually only recognized one person at my table while Snarf had everyone over at his. This was a marathon. I chipped-up nicely and we lost a player fairly quickly. Moving on to when we get heads-up I had around a 2:1 lead. That fell and I was behind by about the same amount but managed to get it almost back to even again. The big hand was when I called a raise with 10,9 and saw the flop roll out Q,J,8. I was up against Q,10 and I crippled him down to 1k in chips. It didn't go so quick as he doubled up twice. Finally after around 1/2 hour of heads-up play (or it seemed like that) I advanced to the final table. Snarf made it past his tough starting table and we were 3 handed with only 1st - 2nd getting paid. We cut a deal right away to get 3rd $60. 1st was paying $210 then and 2nd around $100. We played for around 1/2 hour and we were back to the same starting stacks. We decided to do a 3-way chop and end it. We each took $136 each.
Don't forget CHIMPS is tonight. Three separate $3 NLHE tournaments starting at 21:00, 21:15 and 21:30 on Full Tilt. Password is always anteup. Good luck!
I ventured back online last night playing the MATH. It was the first time playing online since I had a horrid exit in 16th out of 283 in a $5 tourney. I had K,K on a flop of Q,9,x and got someone to stick their whole stack in with 10,9. Turn 9, fuck you Full Tilt. Since I was not feeling the love for Full Tilt I decided to use my frequent player points and order a license plate holder and a mouse pad. I figured this would give me good karma.
I played a $8.70 2 table token SNG and ended up winning it by getting one double-up, winning the blinds once and shoving SB into the BB with ATC. Easy enough. I took the token and signed up for the MATH. There were 17 runners in the double shootout format so we had 3 tables of 6,6 and 5. I drew the 5 handed table. I actually only recognized one person at my table while Snarf had everyone over at his. This was a marathon. I chipped-up nicely and we lost a player fairly quickly. Moving on to when we get heads-up I had around a 2:1 lead. That fell and I was behind by about the same amount but managed to get it almost back to even again. The big hand was when I called a raise with 10,9 and saw the flop roll out Q,J,8. I was up against Q,10 and I crippled him down to 1k in chips. It didn't go so quick as he doubled up twice. Finally after around 1/2 hour of heads-up play (or it seemed like that) I advanced to the final table. Snarf made it past his tough starting table and we were 3 handed with only 1st - 2nd getting paid. We cut a deal right away to get 3rd $60. 1st was paying $210 then and 2nd around $100. We played for around 1/2 hour and we were back to the same starting stacks. We decided to do a 3-way chop and end it. We each took $136 each.
Don't forget CHIMPS is tonight. Three separate $3 NLHE tournaments starting at 21:00, 21:15 and 21:30 on Full Tilt. Password is always anteup. Good luck!
MATH Win??
Well kinda. At that last minute Monday night, I allowed Snuffy to convince me to play the MATH , despite the awful pay structure. More on that later. Hoy has moved the format to 6 handed shootout which is a nice little change of pace and I had a token lying in the coffers, so I thought why the hell not. 17 peeps came out, I did end up with a 6 handed table, however not the easiest of draws. At my table I had Columbo , Bayne , and TripJax. Sweet. So this was good and bad. It was bad because I had people that know what they are doing and make you make difficult decisions. It was good, however, in that they can also make laydowns and for the most part play small pot poker. This meant not having to gamble with my entire stack early with chips flying in every direction. For the most part I played like a nit for the first 30-40 mins. It wasn't really hard when you get no hands to speak of. I had chipped up a fair amount from another player on my left who seemed to want to spew, so I helped him.
I was sitting at about 5K or so when the big hand comes up. Now on the previous hand Columbo raised my BB for about the 180th time, pretty standard 6 handed, so I got frisky and 3 bet him to make him go away. And he did. Next hand I get AhAd in the SB. Blinds I believe were 60/120 at this point, Bayne has about 7500 Columbo about 4000. Bayne raises to 420 from UTG and Columbo, next to act, calls. Button folds, I decide to go to 1200 and hop to get one call or a push. Plan works well as Bayne calls and Columbo folds. At this point we about 2800 in the pot. Now my instictive read on Bayne is that this is AK for him. 6 handed I think he would rejam QQ or KK there, maybe just call with 1010 or JJ, "most likely" fold any pair under that, but I did just three bet the last hand. Flop comes king high all diamonds, I believe there was a 10 out there as well which was a little scary in the set department. Now I check, hoping to induce a bet. Bayne obliges by betting the pot. I think for half a second but realize there is no way I can fold with the Ad and push my last 3500ish in and Bayne calls with AK no diamond. That hand got me up just over 10K and was able to get to 3 handed then HU with a little more then that.
Now commences one of the longest HU battles I've had in a while. I had Bayne outchipped about 11K to 8k when we started. Both of us were playing pretty careful, not alot if any big 3 bets preflop. The stacks were deep and we played them pretty carefully. I got him down to about 4500 when I ran my 1010 into his AA to get him to even. Then he pulled ahead a little and I got it back when I made a nut flush on a four flush board and he had 3rd nuts. After that he got it back when I 3bet with shit and he came over the top all in. A little bit later I called a pot bet on the river, that was half steaming half a fishy bet with bottom pair and it was good. Finally I bet a middle pair on the turn that turned into trips on the river but also got the flush there. I checked and Bayne shoved in, this seemed to big of a bet to be a flush, although it could have been, but I called and the trips were good.
Final table saw me, Snuffy and Corron make the final 3. The payout was only for the top 2, so we made a deal to pay 3rd between the 3 of us. I proceed to lose 1/3 of my stack in the first 10 minutes this time, through just some bad play/loose calls on my part. After a bit I start to grind it back. Then after about 40 mins we are all still completely even. Right at the starting stack number, plus or minus 50 chips. Snuffy suggested a 3 way chop as I was starting to doze at close to 1AM this sounded great to me. Corron agreed and we all went home happy.
Felt like I played pretty well last night. I needed the break I took from Thursday. I really hadn't played at all since Riverchasers on Thursday. It was nice break and now I feel ready to play. Tonight is multi-table CHIMPS. Should be interesting. Hopefully I should be there.
I was sitting at about 5K or so when the big hand comes up. Now on the previous hand Columbo raised my BB for about the 180th time, pretty standard 6 handed, so I got frisky and 3 bet him to make him go away. And he did. Next hand I get AhAd in the SB. Blinds I believe were 60/120 at this point, Bayne has about 7500 Columbo about 4000. Bayne raises to 420 from UTG and Columbo, next to act, calls. Button folds, I decide to go to 1200 and hop to get one call or a push. Plan works well as Bayne calls and Columbo folds. At this point we about 2800 in the pot. Now my instictive read on Bayne is that this is AK for him. 6 handed I think he would rejam QQ or KK there, maybe just call with 1010 or JJ, "most likely" fold any pair under that, but I did just three bet the last hand. Flop comes king high all diamonds, I believe there was a 10 out there as well which was a little scary in the set department. Now I check, hoping to induce a bet. Bayne obliges by betting the pot. I think for half a second but realize there is no way I can fold with the Ad and push my last 3500ish in and Bayne calls with AK no diamond. That hand got me up just over 10K and was able to get to 3 handed then HU with a little more then that.
Now commences one of the longest HU battles I've had in a while. I had Bayne outchipped about 11K to 8k when we started. Both of us were playing pretty careful, not alot if any big 3 bets preflop. The stacks were deep and we played them pretty carefully. I got him down to about 4500 when I ran my 1010 into his AA to get him to even. Then he pulled ahead a little and I got it back when I made a nut flush on a four flush board and he had 3rd nuts. After that he got it back when I 3bet with shit and he came over the top all in. A little bit later I called a pot bet on the river, that was half steaming half a fishy bet with bottom pair and it was good. Finally I bet a middle pair on the turn that turned into trips on the river but also got the flush there. I checked and Bayne shoved in, this seemed to big of a bet to be a flush, although it could have been, but I called and the trips were good.
Final table saw me, Snuffy and Corron make the final 3. The payout was only for the top 2, so we made a deal to pay 3rd between the 3 of us. I proceed to lose 1/3 of my stack in the first 10 minutes this time, through just some bad play/loose calls on my part. After a bit I start to grind it back. Then after about 40 mins we are all still completely even. Right at the starting stack number, plus or minus 50 chips. Snuffy suggested a 3 way chop as I was starting to doze at close to 1AM this sounded great to me. Corron agreed and we all went home happy.
Felt like I played pretty well last night. I needed the break I took from Thursday. I really hadn't played at all since Riverchasers on Thursday. It was nice break and now I feel ready to play. Tonight is multi-table CHIMPS. Should be interesting. Hopefully I should be there.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Tiffany Michelle Making Deep Run in Main Event
This could be the greatest thing in poker history. Bigger than Chris Moneymaker. Tiffany Michelle is currently making a monsterout run in the Main Event. Coming into today she sits 5th in chips with 79 players remaining.Could you imagine the hype and publicity the WSOP and poker would get if she ends up being one of the "November Nine"? SHe would be a household name by the time they start the final table back up. Good luck the rest of the way.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Win Some, Lose Some
I took my last $24 token and played a Turbo Tier 2 sng with it. My plan was to try to win the 3rd place $ instead of the token becuase my conversion rate for the $75 tokens is abysmal.
It looked like I wasn't going to get anywhere as I was absurdly card dead. However, the players around me were more than happy to donk it up while I watched. We lost the first player only a few hands in.
As I folded my way into a horrible place, I thought I could get somewhere if only I could double up. I ended up shoving it in with K9d v an UTG raiser.
Reader viewers can click through to see hand replayer. Boy did I get lucky!
Marco decided to get jiggy with it:
Poor Marco. Click through to see Marco in all his glory.
I just made the money. Did I mention I love Marco?
Remember, my whole goal was to get the $. Well apparently I wasn't the only one.
Well, crap. I tried to lose that. I really did.
Ok, I laid it out there for him. I want third. I said it. Maybe he didn't believe me.
Winna, winna! He he he.
Later in the evening I decided to play a $75 Token Frenzy.
Why? You ask.
Cause I'm a retard.
As Snarf watched on, I was so card friggin dead. I finally got some pairs and shoved with them to get back to starting chip stack when this hand came up.
If you haven't clicked through to see any of the hands so far, trust me, click through now.
I run gooooooooooot.
Still, I'm ahead overall. I just keep saying that over and over and over ....
It looked like I wasn't going to get anywhere as I was absurdly card dead. However, the players around me were more than happy to donk it up while I watched. We lost the first player only a few hands in.
As I folded my way into a horrible place, I thought I could get somewhere if only I could double up. I ended up shoving it in with K9d v an UTG raiser.
Reader viewers can click through to see hand replayer. Boy did I get lucky!
Marco decided to get jiggy with it:
Poor Marco. Click through to see Marco in all his glory.
I just made the money. Did I mention I love Marco?
Remember, my whole goal was to get the $. Well apparently I wasn't the only one.
SWITCH OFF: i want 3rd
Well, crap. I tried to lose that. I really did.
gadzooks64: actually I wanted third
Ok, I laid it out there for him. I want third. I said it. Maybe he didn't believe me.
Winna, winna! He he he.
Later in the evening I decided to play a $75 Token Frenzy.
Why? You ask.
Cause I'm a retard.
gadzooks1995: btw, I'm a retardI had no business playing this. I really had no use for a $75 token. The frenzies have been easy for me; I pretty much get a token at will. Or, well, I did for a long time there. Lately, not so much.
thesnarf10: i don't doubt your retardedness
As Snarf watched on, I was so card friggin dead. I finally got some pairs and shoved with them to get back to starting chip stack when this hand came up.
If you haven't clicked through to see any of the hands so far, trust me, click through now.
I run gooooooooooot.
Still, I'm ahead overall. I just keep saying that over and over and over ....
Friday, July 11, 2008
YAY Tilt!
I think I'm tilted but I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with poker, well at least mostly. I've had the oddest outlook/attitude with poker this whole week and I really have no idea why. Let's figure out the tilt thing first. Cause tilt comes from everywhere, not just poker. Usually it has to do with work and/or home life. Not the case this time. What is tilting me then? I don't know if you want to ask that, but here you go:
1) Phillies - My effing baseball team went from locking up the division by Labor Day to in the fucking tank in 3 weeks. Somehow they are still in first place but they can't score runs or pitch with any amount of consistency. They are maddening cause they score 15 runs one game then 2 in the next four. They had a chance to bury the Mets and let them off the hook. They won there last 2 so maybe this is subsiding and the All-Star break is next week.
2) Wii Mario Kart - OK, OK. The Rainbow Road on 150cc is fucking rigged. Srsly when you are trying to beat these stupid ass boards and as soon as you get the lead the fucking purple shell of death wrecks your shit then some ass clown behind you hits you with a red shell before you can recover then your ass gets knocked off the edge, you spazz out. FUCKING RIGGED! I finally got my 1st place in this series, so maybe this will subside now too.
3) Facebook - That's right asshole, facebook has me on tilt. Shut up. Work is actually slow and I've been playing stupid word games on there and I got put in a room where everyone kicks my ass now. It sucks. I was winning and now I'ma bottom feeder donkey. Ghey.
What the fuck does this have to do with poker? I'll tell you. To quote the second best baseball movie of all time, The Natural**, "Losing is a disease...as contagious as polio.......". My point. Being beat down in these other supposed fun entertainment type activities is poisoning the well. I said in the beginning that I've had an odd attitude this week. It has been. I've wanted to play but can't seem to keep concetration. Or I am just waiting for bad beat. Or seeing the bad play of an opponent work out and letting it get to me. All that said I haven't been going on full bore monkey tilt either, it's almost resignation. This is worse. I don't think I have been playing too much, cause really I haven't been on until later in the evening every night. I've had all these other things distracting me as well. It's weird. My head is foggy and needs to get some clarity. I'm need to fix things cause I am actually looking forward to the FTOPS coming up in August. Most of these tournies don't start until 9PM EST which works well for me, so hopefully I can get into a few with maybe some nice cashes in there.
**If you want to debate the merits of The Natural vs Field of Dreams for best baseball movie ever I am up for the debate. I don't think you can go wrong with either. My dad falls into The Natural camp and I am in the Field of Dreams camp. Now if there are any of you pantiewastes out there think that Bull Durham is the best baseball movie, you've got to know one thing. It's a chickflick. Sorry buddy but it is. I like the movie, it has great lines, and some really funny shit. BUT at it's heart it's a chickflick and therefore cannot be considered ahead of the other two.
I think there was some poker in this post.
1) Phillies - My effing baseball team went from locking up the division by Labor Day to in the fucking tank in 3 weeks. Somehow they are still in first place but they can't score runs or pitch with any amount of consistency. They are maddening cause they score 15 runs one game then 2 in the next four. They had a chance to bury the Mets and let them off the hook. They won there last 2 so maybe this is subsiding and the All-Star break is next week.
2) Wii Mario Kart - OK, OK. The Rainbow Road on 150cc is fucking rigged. Srsly when you are trying to beat these stupid ass boards and as soon as you get the lead the fucking purple shell of death wrecks your shit then some ass clown behind you hits you with a red shell before you can recover then your ass gets knocked off the edge, you spazz out. FUCKING RIGGED! I finally got my 1st place in this series, so maybe this will subside now too.
3) Facebook - That's right asshole, facebook has me on tilt. Shut up. Work is actually slow and I've been playing stupid word games on there and I got put in a room where everyone kicks my ass now. It sucks. I was winning and now I'ma bottom feeder donkey. Ghey.
What the fuck does this have to do with poker? I'll tell you. To quote the second best baseball movie of all time, The Natural**, "Losing is a disease...as contagious as polio.......". My point. Being beat down in these other supposed fun entertainment type activities is poisoning the well. I said in the beginning that I've had an odd attitude this week. It has been. I've wanted to play but can't seem to keep concetration. Or I am just waiting for bad beat. Or seeing the bad play of an opponent work out and letting it get to me. All that said I haven't been going on full bore monkey tilt either, it's almost resignation. This is worse. I don't think I have been playing too much, cause really I haven't been on until later in the evening every night. I've had all these other things distracting me as well. It's weird. My head is foggy and needs to get some clarity. I'm need to fix things cause I am actually looking forward to the FTOPS coming up in August. Most of these tournies don't start until 9PM EST which works well for me, so hopefully I can get into a few with maybe some nice cashes in there.
**If you want to debate the merits of The Natural vs Field of Dreams for best baseball movie ever I am up for the debate. I don't think you can go wrong with either. My dad falls into The Natural camp and I am in the Field of Dreams camp. Now if there are any of you pantiewastes out there think that Bull Durham is the best baseball movie, you've got to know one thing. It's a chickflick. Sorry buddy but it is. I like the movie, it has great lines, and some really funny shit. BUT at it's heart it's a chickflick and therefore cannot be considered ahead of the other two.
I think there was some poker in this post.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
More Live NL
I made sure to get there early so I could get a seat. The table was a good one. I recognized a few of the players and quickly found three soft spots at the table. One older guy was waiting for a seat in the 2/5 game. I saw him raise pre-flop to 15 with one caller behind. I dumped my A10hh from the BB. He ended up showing down Q,J off. I was able to take one pot off of him when i called a $10 raise with 6,4 off. Flop comes Q,J,x with two spades and I check called his $10 bet. The 6s hit the turn and I thought this was a great spot to check raise. He bet $10 again and I check raised him to $25. He thought for about 20 seconds and then called. I am guessing a high spade was in his hand. The river was an off-suit 4 giving me two pair and I lead for $30 and he insta-mucked.
There was one guy at the table that would limp with anything and then bet $10 every street with 3rd and 4th pair. When I hit top pair on him I would just check call all the way down. He would never put anyone to the test on the end with something like a $30 bet. I was able to take 2-3 pots off of him using the check call line. I slowly built my stack up to around $180 from the starting $100 when the only really notable hand came up. I had A6hh from MP and limped. Around 5-6 to the flop of A,6,6ss. The same guy lead for $10, I called and one other called. The turn was a J. He leads for $5 and I bump it to $15. Call behind and he calls. River is an off-suit K missing the flushes. He checks, I bet $30 and get a caller and the other guy folds. I show and he mucks and I win a decent sized pot.
After that it was winning a lot of small to medium sized pots. I tightened my range a little on the day. Every junk hand that I folded seemed to hit though. 4,2 would hit two pair, 7-4 flops the straight, 8,6 hits trips. The one time I decided to play J,7dd I see a flop of K,J,7. There was a bet, call and a shove of $25. I fold and one person calls. Turn is the J. Damn it. Top top ended up winning the hand. After the three hour session I got up with $351 in front of me for a very profitable $251.
Not sure if I will get to play live again till Gambit's home game on Friday night. Most likely will play Riverchasers online tonight.
There was one guy at the table that would limp with anything and then bet $10 every street with 3rd and 4th pair. When I hit top pair on him I would just check call all the way down. He would never put anyone to the test on the end with something like a $30 bet. I was able to take 2-3 pots off of him using the check call line. I slowly built my stack up to around $180 from the starting $100 when the only really notable hand came up. I had A6hh from MP and limped. Around 5-6 to the flop of A,6,6ss. The same guy lead for $10, I called and one other called. The turn was a J. He leads for $5 and I bump it to $15. Call behind and he calls. River is an off-suit K missing the flushes. He checks, I bet $30 and get a caller and the other guy folds. I show and he mucks and I win a decent sized pot.
After that it was winning a lot of small to medium sized pots. I tightened my range a little on the day. Every junk hand that I folded seemed to hit though. 4,2 would hit two pair, 7-4 flops the straight, 8,6 hits trips. The one time I decided to play J,7dd I see a flop of K,J,7. There was a bet, call and a shove of $25. I fold and one person calls. Turn is the J. Damn it. Top top ended up winning the hand. After the three hour session I got up with $351 in front of me for a very profitable $251.
Not sure if I will get to play live again till Gambit's home game on Friday night. Most likely will play Riverchasers online tonight.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Poker Stars
I was reminded of the $$ I have languishing over at Poker Stars when Poker Grump mentioned an update to the PS software. It's been quite some time since I even fired up the PS client. Yes, there was an update (at least one) for me to install.
This evening I perused the PLHE games instead of my usual PS fare of SNGs. The first difference between PS and FTP is the plethora of tables to choose from. At the stakes I usually play on FTP there's rarely more than 3 tables of PHLE running - usually just one or two.
My bankroll on PS is a fraction of my roll on FTP but I'm not in the mood to approach this from the Ferguson perspective. I build the roll up playing waaaaaaaaaaay outta my bankroll because I've never actually deposited any money on PS and always considered this expendable.
If these games really play as juicy as they appear (and isn't that what everybody always says about PS when comparing it to FTP?) then I'll definitely be spending some time on PS. Of course, I've been known to say that a time or two before. PS, for whatever reason, bores me.
There, i said it.
Nothing, nowhere, no donk infested waters will ever replace FTP as my home away from home. The software is the best. The interface is the best. The players, are unfortunately, the best.
Wish me luck.
This evening I perused the PLHE games instead of my usual PS fare of SNGs. The first difference between PS and FTP is the plethora of tables to choose from. At the stakes I usually play on FTP there's rarely more than 3 tables of PHLE running - usually just one or two.
My bankroll on PS is a fraction of my roll on FTP but I'm not in the mood to approach this from the Ferguson perspective. I build the roll up playing waaaaaaaaaaay outta my bankroll because I've never actually deposited any money on PS and always considered this expendable.
If these games really play as juicy as they appear (and isn't that what everybody always says about PS when comparing it to FTP?) then I'll definitely be spending some time on PS. Of course, I've been known to say that a time or two before. PS, for whatever reason, bores me.
There, i said it.
Nothing, nowhere, no donk infested waters will ever replace FTP as my home away from home. The software is the best. The interface is the best. The players, are unfortunately, the best.
Wish me luck.
Live and Online
I went to the track a couple days ago and arrived as the last 1/2 seat was being taken. Against my better judgment I sat in the 2/4 limit game before the $45 tournament started. I lasted a total of a lap and a half before I was too frustrated to continue. One guy was too interested in betting the horses. He held up EVERY...SINGLE...HAND. One guy was talking on the phone so his hand was killed multiple times. He decided to get up when it was his BB and said to pass. Then when the cards passed him he throws $2 in when his card was already looked at. Bring em and and start over. Now on to the hands. In the lap in a half I limped with pocket pairs 3 times and a suited ace once. I raised with KQhh UTG +2 and got 6 callers to a 7,7,2 flop. Fold. UTG I raised with KK and got 3 callers. Flop A,x,x. Fold. I ended up losing around $30 and got the fuck outta there.
In the tournament you get 4k in chips and 15 minutes levels. I won zero hands the first 50 minutes and was blinded down to 2600. At 150/300 I called a raise to 700 with 5,5. Even that is highly questionable but I wanted to double or get the hell out. Flop comes J,5,3. I call a 700 3-bet leaving me with 900 lolz. Turn is a 7. He checks and I shove. He calls with 4.4. NH sir. Going into the first hand after the break at 200/400 I have 5400 and its folded to me in the SB. I shipped ATC which happened to be 10,2. The BB woke up with A,J and I didn't improve and busted out.
They were about to start a $110 6-max SNG. I signed-up. I was the 2nd person eliminated when I limp shoved A,K UTG and faced Q,Q and did not improve. All told a $195 loss. Why didn't I just wait for a $1/$2 seat anyway?????????
Tuesday night as always is the big online night for me with the CHIMPS/Corporation Series, The Booze Cruise and Blogger Skillz. For the CHIMPS/Corp. it was every one's game to hate, Razz. We had 15 runners which is actually up from the last couple of weeks. I ended up busting in 6th in a very uneventful tourney for me. Nothing exciting at all. By bustout hand was against mrsloser64 when I had a 6 low draw on 5th against a made 9 and did not improve. The Booze cruise was an interesting one. There were only 8 runners. I busted in 7th in the first level with this winner hand:
I have AKdd UTG +1 and call a pot sized bet. Another player re-pots. Original raiser re-re-pots. I ship it in and both get it in as well before the flop. Original raiser has K,K. Other player has the magical Q,8. Huh? I probably don't need to tell you the flop came down A,Q,8. The board didn't pair for me and I was out in 7th. NH, GG, MF, FU.
Blogger Skillz went a little better for me. There were 16 runners with the top 3 getting paid. Snarf played as well and was bounced in 14th or 15th, can't remember. When he was out I was short stack with around 1200. I was able to get a near double-up in Stud to 2000 and get back in contention. I was able to get it back to 3300 when we sat for the final table. In stud again I picked-up the hand of the tourney for me. I had rolled-up 3's and had the bring-in. There was a completion. a call and I called. On 4th street I think I picked-up a Jack and called a bet and we were still three ways. I picked-up a 10 on 5th street and that's when I threw in the raise and didn't lose anyone. I boated with a 10 on the turn and both of the other players got their stacks in with two pair. Neither hit the higher boat and I was sitting on over 9k. After that I didn't get much. The short stacks busted and when we got down to 4 handed I was the shortie. I battled back to 2nd or 3rd in chips only to find myself folding for around 10 minutes straight to be back on the bottom and eventually busting in 4th on the bubble. One thing I noticed in the game was how bad people played Stud8.
Later tonight or tomorrow morning I will write-up my latest 1/2 session. My twitter on it says it all. It was a good session.
In the tournament you get 4k in chips and 15 minutes levels. I won zero hands the first 50 minutes and was blinded down to 2600. At 150/300 I called a raise to 700 with 5,5. Even that is highly questionable but I wanted to double or get the hell out. Flop comes J,5,3. I call a 700 3-bet leaving me with 900 lolz. Turn is a 7. He checks and I shove. He calls with 4.4. NH sir. Going into the first hand after the break at 200/400 I have 5400 and its folded to me in the SB. I shipped ATC which happened to be 10,2. The BB woke up with A,J and I didn't improve and busted out.
They were about to start a $110 6-max SNG. I signed-up. I was the 2nd person eliminated when I limp shoved A,K UTG and faced Q,Q and did not improve. All told a $195 loss. Why didn't I just wait for a $1/$2 seat anyway?????????
Tuesday night as always is the big online night for me with the CHIMPS/Corporation Series, The Booze Cruise and Blogger Skillz. For the CHIMPS/Corp. it was every one's game to hate, Razz. We had 15 runners which is actually up from the last couple of weeks. I ended up busting in 6th in a very uneventful tourney for me. Nothing exciting at all. By bustout hand was against mrsloser64 when I had a 6 low draw on 5th against a made 9 and did not improve. The Booze cruise was an interesting one. There were only 8 runners. I busted in 7th in the first level with this winner hand:
I have AKdd UTG +1 and call a pot sized bet. Another player re-pots. Original raiser re-re-pots. I ship it in and both get it in as well before the flop. Original raiser has K,K. Other player has the magical Q,8. Huh? I probably don't need to tell you the flop came down A,Q,8. The board didn't pair for me and I was out in 7th. NH, GG, MF, FU.
Blogger Skillz went a little better for me. There were 16 runners with the top 3 getting paid. Snarf played as well and was bounced in 14th or 15th, can't remember. When he was out I was short stack with around 1200. I was able to get a near double-up in Stud to 2000 and get back in contention. I was able to get it back to 3300 when we sat for the final table. In stud again I picked-up the hand of the tourney for me. I had rolled-up 3's and had the bring-in. There was a completion. a call and I called. On 4th street I think I picked-up a Jack and called a bet and we were still three ways. I picked-up a 10 on 5th street and that's when I threw in the raise and didn't lose anyone. I boated with a 10 on the turn and both of the other players got their stacks in with two pair. Neither hit the higher boat and I was sitting on over 9k. After that I didn't get much. The short stacks busted and when we got down to 4 handed I was the shortie. I battled back to 2nd or 3rd in chips only to find myself folding for around 10 minutes straight to be back on the bottom and eventually busting in 4th on the bubble. One thing I noticed in the game was how bad people played Stud8.
Later tonight or tomorrow morning I will write-up my latest 1/2 session. My twitter on it says it all. It was a good session.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
88 is ghey
90 man SNG 88 > AJ on a bad move by me. Eh, OK.
3+.30 Turbo KO MTT 88 > A5. Wait that's not that bad! When you flop the ace, make the right read after he commits all his chips, and then he turns his 2 outer it is. Ghey. At least I was in the money but if I win this pot I'm top 5 with 50 people left.
I'm sure I will go out with 88 in a SNG later tonight or lose a chunk with a flopped set in a cash game with it.
3+.30 Turbo KO MTT 88 > A5. Wait that's not that bad! When you flop the ace, make the right read after he commits all his chips, and then he turns his 2 outer it is. Ghey. At least I was in the money but if I win this pot I'm top 5 with 50 people left.
I'm sure I will go out with 88 in a SNG later tonight or lose a chunk with a flopped set in a cash game with it.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Fairly Quiet Weekend
This was a pretty quiet weekend for me on the poker front. Really tried to take some time to relaxe but did get a little play in here and there. Thursday night saw my Riverchasers money streak come to an abrupt halt. Only 8 people showed up for the pre-holiday weekend festivites and one wasn't there. So with 8 people (only really 7) and three making the money, you would think it would not be hard to cash. Well unless Full Tilt gives you one of the most ricockulous setups in the history of poker. What is is you ask? Only AA vs KK vs QQ all in preflop. 7 handed. Thank you Full Tilt. I didn't have the AA if you didn't guess.
On Friday afternoon I went to play what I thought was a shootout. Well it was, just a HU shootout. Can we decide now that this is assinine of FullTilt to classify the HU tournies this way? I think it's just an excuse to make more little letters and numbers show up next to the tourny ID to give some jackoff his jollies. At any rate, of course I win my first 3 matches to get to bubble, 64 left 32 get paid. I had the 2-1 chip lead in the 4th match when he limped with JJ and I of course make top pair and pay him off. Then after playing like a tighty nit the whole time he calls my push with 99 for half his stack with A10 and I don't win the race I need. I know, I know I woulda called with A10 there too but it still sucked.
Don't think I played at all on Saturday. Or at least nothing of significance. Sunday afternoon though I was able to play a little full ring PLHE. And finally I was the one able to take the money from the idiot. I hate when you find the moron at the table only to have him stack off to someone else before you can get his money. The best part about Sunday was I kept winning off him but no completely busting him. He would then go and win a bunch back and I would take that from him, lather rinse, repeat. Turned my 30 that I bought in with into 75 and then left at a .25/.50 table. So that was the highlight. Lost a few SNG's later in the evening. Spewed 10 bucks at a .05/.10 PLHE table for no good reason and called it a night.
CHIMPS tuesday.
RiverFuckers Thursday.
Standards.
On Friday afternoon I went to play what I thought was a shootout. Well it was, just a HU shootout. Can we decide now that this is assinine of FullTilt to classify the HU tournies this way? I think it's just an excuse to make more little letters and numbers show up next to the tourny ID to give some jackoff his jollies. At any rate, of course I win my first 3 matches to get to bubble, 64 left 32 get paid. I had the 2-1 chip lead in the 4th match when he limped with JJ and I of course make top pair and pay him off. Then after playing like a tighty nit the whole time he calls my push with 99 for half his stack with A10 and I don't win the race I need. I know, I know I woulda called with A10 there too but it still sucked.
Don't think I played at all on Saturday. Or at least nothing of significance. Sunday afternoon though I was able to play a little full ring PLHE. And finally I was the one able to take the money from the idiot. I hate when you find the moron at the table only to have him stack off to someone else before you can get his money. The best part about Sunday was I kept winning off him but no completely busting him. He would then go and win a bunch back and I would take that from him, lather rinse, repeat. Turned my 30 that I bought in with into 75 and then left at a .25/.50 table. So that was the highlight. Lost a few SNG's later in the evening. Spewed 10 bucks at a .05/.10 PLHE table for no good reason and called it a night.
CHIMPS tuesday.
RiverFuckers Thursday.
Standards.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Quick Addition
I did something yesterday in the game that I can't remember doing for a long time, if ever. I had K8cc in middle position and limped. We saw a multi-player flop of Ad,8d,3s. It was checked around when the 8s hit the turn. I lead out with what I thought was $10. The dealer said two but I paid no attention to it and I got two callers. When the callers threw out two blue $1 chips I realized that I grabbed from the wrong stack and made a silly $2 bet. Not the smartest thing in the world with two flush draws out there. The river bricked and I was able to take the pot down.
Even with the number of hours that I play I can still make stupid mistakes like that.
Even with the number of hours that I play I can still make stupid mistakes like that.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Small Win
The wife told me to go to the track today and win at least $100 cause we needed to buy some stuff at the mall. Who am I to deny her that right. Plus I get to play poker. Win win in my book. I got there when they opened at 12:30 and our table was filled and started about 10 minutes later. I could quickly tell that it wasn't the normal horrid players I usually see during the week. Of the 9 other players in the game I would say that 6 of them were solid. I blinded away about $20 before the first key hand of the day came up.I called a raise to $20 in middle position. Someone behind went all-in for $31 and both of us called. We checked all the way down and the all-in had 10,10 which was good. After that hand I had around $50 when I picked-up 8,8 and called a small $7 raise. On a 7,5,2 flop the pre-flop raiser who seemed to be raising light lead for $20. I shoved my last $50 in but unfortunately got a call behind and I knew I was no good. Original bettor folds. The caller had 7,7 and I was drawing to the two outer. I missed and reloaded for another $100.
I ran that $100 down to around $50 when I played the next big hand. I called a raise to $6 with the 7,7. The flop came 6,5,4 rainbow. The original raiser made it $20 and I shoved for my last $50 again. Damn it if he didn't flop a set on me too. He had the 6,6 but I had quite a few outs. The 8 hit the turn and the river was a blank and I nearly tripled up to $140.
A little ways into the session a younger kid sat in the game. He played around 95% of his hands splitting them between raising and calling. He led out at most flops too. I just seem to have a really hard time with this kind of player. I think I just have to tighten up a lot more. I always seem to want to play pots with them with ATC which is definitely not the right line. I don't see too much of it around here but when i travel I see it a lot more and need to improve against them. What usually happens with players like this they build a stack early, in this case to around $300. He made hero call after hero call to get the stack. After that people value bet him large on the end and by the time i left he had around $50 left.
After I got the stack to $140 I was able to slowly grind it up above my starting stack to $205 after I called it a day 2 1/2 hours into the session. Not the $100 I was looking for but a winning session none the less. I am more proud of wins like these when it is a tough line-up compared to bigger wins against fish. Its starting to tell me that I can be a long-term winning player in the cash games and can adapt to the different type of games that I run across.
Hope the winning keeps up. I should be able to play a couple more sessions next week.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Still Going Strong
I three tabled a little on Cake today. Wow is the play just horrid there. Playing 0.1/0.2 I raised to 0.7 with 9,9 in EP. There wa a raise to $1.55 and a shove for $12 before it got back to me and I folded. What did they show? A,K and K,10. K,10? WTF! Yeah, the flop came 9,4,4.
I got in another live session at Tampa Bay Downs. The table I was seated at was fairly soft. The same kid that was in the game from a few days ago was there. He lost a lot of money with top pair no kicker last time. Today was the same thing. I limped a few pots early. There wasn't much raising pre in the beginning. I think I flopped a straight draw 3 times in the first two laps but missed everything.
On one hand I limped with 65cc in MP and a LP player raised to $10. Earlier in the session I saw him shove for $40 with 4,4. I called along with one other limper and we saw the flop of 10,7,6hh. I checked and he bet $10 and I called. The turn was the 3h. I figured I could represent the hearts here and I lead for $20. After some thought he called. The river paired the 10. He had about $30 left and I decided to lead for $25. He shows the AK with the Kh and mucks. Who knew, I was bluffing with the best hand.
I picked up KK a short time later and raised to $10 with no callers. Shortly after that I get QQ and raise to $10. Mr. 44 ends up shoving for $61. I have an easy call in this spot I think. Based on how he was betting he easily could have a lower PP or A,K. I called and he showed me AA. Flop comes rags with two clubs. He has the Ac. Turn another club. I'm now drawing to one out. Well, it hit. Gotta love it when the old 2% gets there. That one sent him off of the deep end. He bitched for 15 minutes straight. Not at me but just at his luck in general. He then says how he can beat everyone in a pot at the table except me. Perfect. I took that to my advantage and was able to take a couple small pots off of him light.
Only other real hand of note is when I had J,J in middle position. I just decide to limp and we see the flop 8 ways (no that's not a misprint). Flop is 9,6,5dd. Checked to me and I lead for $20. Folded to the short stack kid who was spewing money and he went all-in for $18. Everyone else folded. He shows the Kd10d. The interesting Jd hits the turn. I get out "pair the" when the 6 hits the river.
That was about it. I ended up with $260 in front of me at the end of the session for a $160 profit. Not bad, a little over $400 the last two sessions totaling around 4 hours.
Might play Riverchasers tonight with Snarf.
I got in another live session at Tampa Bay Downs. The table I was seated at was fairly soft. The same kid that was in the game from a few days ago was there. He lost a lot of money with top pair no kicker last time. Today was the same thing. I limped a few pots early. There wasn't much raising pre in the beginning. I think I flopped a straight draw 3 times in the first two laps but missed everything.
On one hand I limped with 65cc in MP and a LP player raised to $10. Earlier in the session I saw him shove for $40 with 4,4. I called along with one other limper and we saw the flop of 10,7,6hh. I checked and he bet $10 and I called. The turn was the 3h. I figured I could represent the hearts here and I lead for $20. After some thought he called. The river paired the 10. He had about $30 left and I decided to lead for $25. He shows the AK with the Kh and mucks. Who knew, I was bluffing with the best hand.
I picked up KK a short time later and raised to $10 with no callers. Shortly after that I get QQ and raise to $10. Mr. 44 ends up shoving for $61. I have an easy call in this spot I think. Based on how he was betting he easily could have a lower PP or A,K. I called and he showed me AA. Flop comes rags with two clubs. He has the Ac. Turn another club. I'm now drawing to one out. Well, it hit. Gotta love it when the old 2% gets there. That one sent him off of the deep end. He bitched for 15 minutes straight. Not at me but just at his luck in general. He then says how he can beat everyone in a pot at the table except me. Perfect. I took that to my advantage and was able to take a couple small pots off of him light.
Only other real hand of note is when I had J,J in middle position. I just decide to limp and we see the flop 8 ways (no that's not a misprint). Flop is 9,6,5dd. Checked to me and I lead for $20. Folded to the short stack kid who was spewing money and he went all-in for $18. Everyone else folded. He shows the Kd10d. The interesting Jd hits the turn. I get out "pair the" when the 6 hits the river.
That was about it. I ended up with $260 in front of me at the end of the session for a $160 profit. Not bad, a little over $400 the last two sessions totaling around 4 hours.
Might play Riverchasers tonight with Snarf.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Welcome Back Kotter
Since I last posted its been pretty up and down, mostly down. First the good. On Sunday I had a final table finish, albeit 8th place in the pokerslut tour. That was good enough to keep me in 3rd place for the season. The bad was a $100 loss at the Hard Rock Tampa. Its the 1st time I have been back since the limits changed. If I would have been fortunate enough to pick-up cards I would have done well. There was one person who literally raised 95% of his hands. When he was UTG he would throw out a dead raise. Yep, that good, and I still lost. Over the weekend I lost around $100 playing 0.25/0/50 NL heads-up online. High variance and higher rake but there is some money to be had there. I just can't afford the swings right now. I have been sticking to the $5 heads-up SNG's. So far so good.
Back to the title of the post. I was able to get back to Tampa Bay Downs for a $1/$2 NL session. Early on I limped a few marginal hands only to see them raised. By the time it got back to me after 5 people called I am priced in for the extra $5 with hands like A5dd. I whiffed every flop. I was down to around 50 when I was able to see a flop from the SB for a limp with 83. Flop X,X,3. Checked around 5 ways. Turn X checked, river 3. I lead for $7 and everyone folds.
The brutal hand of the day comes up next when I get A,K off. After one limper I raise to $12, get one caller and the limper folds. 9,7,3 flop and I lead for $15 (leaving be $30 behind) and he calls. Turn Ace. I shove for my last $30 and he calls all-in for $28 and shows the Blaz, A,J. Well he was enough a donk to win with it as the J hit the river and it was time to reload for another $100. A couple hands into the $100 someone on the table hit a 9 high straight flush holding the 86ss good for a $200 high hand bonus. About 5 minutes later this hand comes up.
I get 86ss UTG. Yep, same hand as guy who hit the straight flush. I limp UTG. There are about 3 limpers and then the SB kicks it to $10. I call along with two others. Flop comes the beautiful 7d5s4s for the flopped straight plus redraws. SB leads for $15, I call and two others call. Turn is the gin card of the 7s. Check, I check, next to act bets $15, 1 caller, fold, and I call. River is an off-suit queen. I lead for $25 and get raised to $50. Next to act goes all in for around $50 and I shove for around $62 total. Lady calls having us both covered. She turns over the 74 for the turned boat and the other guy had J10ss for the turned flush. That was quite a turn card. I won the pot along with the $200 high hand bonus.
I played for around an hour longer and didn't win another single hand. I ended up leaving with a profit of $245. It sure is good to be back home. Time to build that bankroll again.
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