$5 MTT on PokerStars

It's Saturday and I decide to fire up PokerStars since Full Tilt has been treating me like a fugly step-child.

Late registration is open for a $5 MTT and, like the idiot I swear I won't be, I register.

Shockingly, the play is horrible.  People ship it with any pair, AK and AQ.  Mind you this tournament starting stack is 3000 chips not the usual 1500.  I get moved to another table full of people that have already doubled up.  Sigh.

My swan song:

Click through to see flash hand replayer.

All that time spent dragging the laptop and all my crap down to the basement to settle in for an afternoon of playing this donkament seems somehow wasted.  Poker can kiss my ass.

LuckTards

We all know a LuckTard.  We hate them, these people that run like gods. 

This is an encounter I had with one last night.  This guy is a friend of mine and I KNOW HOW LUCKY HE RUNS FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE... yet I continue to play with him.

I am a total dipshit.

No excuses.  Srsly.  I know better.

We are playing at a 6 handed, low limit, capped pot PLO table on Full Tilt.  Yes, I'm an even bigger idiot that you first thought.

Click through to see the flash hand replayer.

Yes, I admit, I was waaaaaaaaaaay behind pre-flop.

 

Once the flop hits I'm in much better shape:

 

But, nooo o o o o o o oo.  He still manages to suckout and win.  How on earth does he go from being a HUGE dog to a WINNER?  If only I knew.

This is guy owes me some serious Sklanky bucks.  No, really.

Corporation Worthy Events

The series is taking off a month or two but i wanted to give everyone the Corporation seal of approval of the following games on Tuesdays:

21:05 - Tuesday Night Booze Cruise - http://smboatdrinks.blogspot.com/
Every week its $5 HA, password is boatdrinks

21:30 Blogger Skillz - http://cemfrommd.blogspot.com
This week it is Pot Limit Omaha 8. Password is skillz

21:45 - Token Frenzy - $14 turbo NLHE gets you a chance at a $75 token.


I usually play in most if not all of these depending on the Skills Game going. Hope to see everyone out there tonight>

The Silks

I got in another session at the track and I'm happy to report its still the same. I got their when the place opened and we had a full 9-handed game. In the early going I see the guy in Seat 1 play a hand his way.

There was one limper and seat 1 limps from the button. The small blind completes and the big blind checks his option. Flop comes K,Q,3. The BB leads for $10 and seat 1 calls. The turn brings the 4 and the BB leads for $10 again and seat one calls again. The river brings the 5 and again the BB leads for $10 and seat one calls yet again. Seat one rolls over A,A and its good. How could this Mook play this hand any worse than he actually did? He said he was worried about the straight on the end. Does he really think the dude could have a straight betting every street? Genius! So many mistakes here its sick. One limper to him and he limps on the button. I'll just stop right there.

About 3 hands after that one goes down I'm UTG and raise it to $12 with Ks,Kd and get seat 1 calling along with one other. Flop comes Q,6,Xdd. I lead for $15 and seat one is the only caller. Turn is the Xd. I lead for $25 and he calls. The river pairs the 6. I was gonna shut it down till the board paired. I fired $25 again and he called and showed 95dd. WTF?!? First he calls UTG+1 with that trash (but its soooooted). Then when he makes his hand he calls. After that hand I was down to about $30.

The hand that took the rest of my money I had AdJc. I called a bet on the flop of A,X,Xccc. Turn was the Kc giving me the second nuts. EP led for $20 and next to act called. I shoved for $26ish and was called by the EP. Next guy asked if he could raise. Shit, I'm dead. River paired the board and I was up against the Qc and the river brought the otter guy quad 6's. Reload time.

After that I was a bit tilty but I was able to win a couple pots and after the two hour session I had it up to $318 for a $118 win. Playing was really strange today. After I got the second hundred to around $150 I was playing like I was on coke or something (or in my case dies mountain dew). I was fidgety, talking fast, etc. Strange for me. Dunno where that came from but I guess it works for me.

Tally It Up

The results for the week are in. I ended up winning more poker wise than I thought. Here was the final tally:

1/2 NL - +464
Tourneys - (99)
4/8 Limit - +20
Random Gambling - (202)

Final Total - +183

Biloxi Day 3 - Giving Some Back

Day three did not go as well as day two, that's for sure. Before the first poker of the day I did some random gambling:

Wheel of Fortune Slots ($40)
Video Poker ($20)

I also switched hotels in the morning as my two free days were up and I didn't feel like spending $200 for a single night. Free room at the Residence Inn time. On the way back to the Beau Rivage I decided to stop and see what Noon tournament the IP was spreading. It was a $50+$10 NHLE with 3k in starting chips. If you play between 8am and 11am they give you an extra 1k in chips to start. Too much of a handicap there so I passed.

I went back to the Beau Rivage and signed-up for their $130 tourney at Noon. Good structure with 10k in chips to start and 20 minute levels. They also added in a couple of levels early like 150/300/25 which was nice to see. I saw Johnny Grooms walking around before the tourney. Hadn't seen him since Tunica last year although I did see "Big Red" the satellite lady from Tunica out in Vegas this year.

As far as the tournament went it was a disaster. The first hand I played I flopped an OESD and had to pay a nearly pot-sized bet on the flop to see the turn and was blown out of the pot by an oversized bet on the turn. In the second level I called a 3x raise with K,9hh in MP. Flop comes K,x,xhh. I lead for 2/3 of the pot and get raised. I call. Turn bricks and I have to call another hefty raise. River bricks and I dump the hand to a shove. After that hand I was short with around 3k in chips. A few hands later the works player on the table raised to 1400 playing 00/200 and I called with the A,J. Flop comes out J,x,x. He leads and I shove. I get the snap call and he tables Q,Q. He actually had a hand that time compared to his last two raises of A,7cc and K,Q. I brick and am out in the 3rd level. Well worth the $130. GG me.

While waiting to head over the the Isle of Capri I did some more random gambling. Pai Gow hates me:

Pai Gow ($100)
Casino War ($20)

We headed over to the Isle of Capri and got there by 2:50. They had a $30 tourney with $20 rebuys starting at 3pm. Why not, I signed-up. There were four tables in the tourney and the players were mainly terrible, with the exception of a couple locals who knew what they were doing. There was one player who didn't have a fold button. He called down with 3rd and 4th pair so much it was unbelievable. His had was good a few times and when he was behind he would hit two pair on the end. He was by far the biggest lucksack I ran into the whole trip. Starting with 4k in chips I had it up to 10k before the break without a re-buy. I took the $20 add-on for another 6k in chips.

After the break I lasted exactly 3 hands. Playing 300/600/100 I called a raise to 1800 with the K,Qhh along with the lucksack dude. Flop comes K,Q,9. Pre-flop raiser shoves for around 12k, lucksack calls and I re-ship for 14k and he calls again. I was up against K,J and 9,9. Fuck me. I was just thinking earlier in the day I haven't run ito a set all week. What a time for that to happen. If I win that pot I am sitting on 46k and by far the chip leader. Oh well, at least it was only $50 invested.

I threw my name down on the 4/8 poo flinging list and was called fairly quickly to a new game. In the game I would win one decent pot and then lose the next. I hovered around my starting stack of $100 for a long time. After about 2 hours I had a nice little run and won 6 out of about 15 hands to build up to $200. I bled back down over the next 2 hours or so and ended leaving with a $20 profit.

Now it's 9pm and my flight is at 6:30. I decided to put in a couple more hours at the Hard Rock $1/$2 game. I lost the first half of my starting stack of $200 when I ran into a set and then the last half holding K,Q again on a flop pf K,Q,J to someones 10,9.

All in all not a bad trip. I came home with a very small profit after expenses. I will have to add everything up this afternoon and see what the final tally is. Note to self, stay in the cash games. Only that one losing cash game session at the end.

Biloxi Day 2 - Weeeeeeee

This one was quite a day. I went over to the Hard Rock and they had a 1pm NL Omaha Hi tournament at 1pm. It was $35+$10 juice+$5 toke. They had 13 people sign up and we started at one 10 handed table and they sat the three alternates. Since MS gaming regs are so strict they have to pay what their list says, which was the top 4. You got 4k in chips to start and 25/50 with 15 minute levels. They blinds doubled in the first 4 levels then slowed down. The first hand I won I had K,J,10,3dd from the SB and limped. About 6 ways to the flop it came out A,Q,xdd, about as good as it gets. I lead for 300 and got two callers. The flush hit on the turn and I led for 600 and got both caller (I think, maybe just one) The river is a blank and I bet out 1200 and get called by A,Q.

Not long after that I had KXXXcc from the BB and checked a multi-way pot. Flop comes J,9,6ccc. I checked and someone bet out 500. I check-raised to 1200 and he shoved for around 2500. I said I'm probably behind but I gotta call. He actually had a lower flush but still had 2 outs to the straight flush. He missed and I was up to around 9k in chips. When we reached the first break we had seated all 3 alternated and dropped more to get down to 6. Pretty damn fast. 6th dropped pretty quick and I was a short stack along one other. The other short stack busted and we were in the money. Two of the bigger stack battled and I moved to the final three.

Three handed I was really short but got my only double of the tournament through the average stack. I picked up 1 hand out of every five to stay afloat before the other two battled and I got to heads-up with 4600 and the blinds just jumped to 1000/2000/200. I shoved blind on the first heads-up hand and actually had a good one, Q,10,9,8. Unfortunately the other guy called dark and had A,K,K,x. Flop comes Q,6,6 and I'm pretty much fucked. I bricked out and took 2nd for $136 and a $86 profit. The play in this was absolutely horrid. There were very few who knew what were going on and it really showed.

After the tourney I walked back to the Beau Rivage and got my name on the list for a 1/2 game. When I got my seat there were 3-4 people with at least $800 on the table. The first hand I see when I sit down was like an $800 pot. Guess I'm playing for my stack the first hand I play. Well,m I blind down to around $155 and when I limp with A,2ss. The player to my left kicks it to $15 and gets 4 caller. I like the odds and call. Flop comes A,2,7. I check and the player to my left bets $50. All else fold and I shove for $140. The thinks for a bit and calls with A,K. Turn 6 when he says how much do I owe, then he says, oops nothing when the river is the K. Fuck me. Reload for another $200.

I had that stack down to $110 fairly fast when I missed some flops. I then pick-up 66 and flop a set on an all spade board. I call a $25 bet. The turn is a 4th spade and I call a $40 bet. The river didn't pair the board and he checked. Hmmmm. Only way to win is to bet and I shove. He folds. My set was good. That hand got me to $215. A little later I had A,K and raised to $15 and got 3 callers. Flop comes J,10,x. I check and the same guy from the previous hand bets $15. I check raise him to $45 and he is the only caller. The turn bricks and I lead for $60 and he folds, I show the bluff, which set-up the next hand.

Not long after I get A,7dd and limp UTG. About 5-6 to the flop and its bingo, all diamonds with no straight flush possibilities. I check to the same older guy from the previous two hands and he bets $25 and I am the only caller. Turn is a brick and I check. He bets $40 and I check raise him to $110. He immediately make it about $250 to go. I shove for a total of around $350 and he insta mucks. Huh/ He said I had the second nuts (KdXd). Well that card was on the board along with the Qd. He then said my mistake I had JdXd. The dude to my right said he say his hand and it was 10c8d for jack shit. After that hand I was sitting on around $700.

The last big hand of the session I had K,K and raised to $15 and got 3 callers including a loose passive lady. She would only lead or raise with a premium hand and would call down with less premium holdings including 2nd and 3rd pair. Flop comes Q,9,xhh. Its checked to me and I bet $25 and get just hte lady to call. The turn is the Kh. She checks. I just knew this one hit her and I checked behind. The river paired the board. Perfect. She leads for $75 and I raised it to $200. She called and did in fact have the flush. That one worked out perfect.

After that I didn't play anything too exciting and ended up leaving after about 2 1/2 hours with $945 in front of me for a nice $545 profit. Not bad for around 90 minutes earlier being stuck for $300 or so.

After that I did some random gambling for an hour after dinner.

Wheel of Fortune $0.50 Slots +$20
Pai Gow ($96) - Fucked numerous ways.
Video Poker +$58

Total loss of $18.

After that I walked back over to the Hard Rock and sat in an extremely soft 1-2 game. There were 3 other solid players in the game and that's it. I was greeted by the two outer on the river to deplete my stack to $125 early on. I built it back up and then got A,Q and limped (really really horrid). Flop comes A,K,5ss and I lead for $1o and get raised to $40 by one of the solid players and I called. The turn was a 9 and I faced a $75 bet. I folded face-up. Not sure what he had but I was pretty sure I was beat.

The very next hand I was able to get it back from the same player. I had 6,6 and limped. There were a few more more limpers and he made it $14 to go. One caller to me and I call and we take the flop 3-4 handed. Flop comes J,6,5ccc. He leads for $40, one fold and I ship it in for around $130 or so. I can see in figuring odds in his head and he eventually calls. Then pairs the J. Perfect. River blank and he tables A,A (no club) and I scoop a hefty pot. I got the stack as high as $290 before I bled some back. One hand in particular I raise in MP with Q,Q to $10 which was a big raise in this game. I get 5 callers. Fucked. Flop comes 7,6,5 and before it got to me it was bet to $25 and raised to $75. Insta-muck. Someone flopped straight and other turned the boat. Meh. I ended up leaving with $245 for a $45 profit cause I just hit the wall and was super tired (Why did I stay up and write this anyway?)

Overall a pretty good day. About time I show a nice profitable trip. Tomorrow I will probably play a cheaper Noon tournament followed by some more 1/2. Might have to play at Hard Rock, IP or the Isle of Carpi for a little less variance game.

Thanks for reading this super long post.

Biloxi Day 1

My first session started around 5pm at the Beau Rivage. I was able to get a seat right away in the 1-2 game. I promptly bled down to around $140 when there was a mas exodus from the table. We kept playing 4 handed and as we gradually got people to the table I reeled off 5 pots in a row and was able to get back to even. Over the course of the 2 1/2 hour session I flopped a set 3-4 times. One time the board ran out a four flush and I had to check the river but my hand was good. Every time I would win a pot with the set I would flop two pair shortly after and and get counterfitted my the river. I was up and down and finally ended with a $64 profit.

There were quite a few regulars in the game by the looks of it. They did a lot of limping which I just love. I was disappointed I didn't win more but a win is a win.

The second session of the day started after dinner. I was seated at a new table and bought in for $200 again. I have no idea if there is a cap in this game because someone to my immediate left had around $800 in front of him, I guess there isn't. This game was totally different. Lots of raising pre-flop to around $15. twice I flopped nut flush draws and had to call a $20 bet on the flop. When I bricked the turn the bet would be $60 and I would have to dump it. The table broke fairly quickly and I got moved to a new table with only $120.

I stayed between $100 and $120 for the next two hours or so before I picked-up K,Q off in EP and limped. The next person raised to $15 (standard for the game) and got 3-4 callers and I called. The flop came K,10,x. It got checked all the way around. The turn paired the 10. The UTG player lead for $25. I had around $87 behind and shipped it in. The pre-flop raiser quickly folded, next folded, next hummed and hawwed and folded. The UTG took about a minute and finally folded K,J face-up. Guess I wanted the call from him. I wonder what the pre-flop raiser had? Maybe Q,Q or J,J? I wonder if it was possible for him to fold A,K in that spot. Probably not.

The room iteself is beautiful. The only thing that I don't like about it is the $6 per half hour time rake. That is a lot of money for a 1/2 game.

Walking over to the Hard Rock next door this morning they have their very first $50 (35+10+5toke) NL Omaha High tournament art 1pm today. If they get 25 players they throw in an additional $500 into the prize pool. I wasn't planning on playing cash games till late this afternoon so this works out perfect. A low buy-in event that nobody around here has played before making it a juiceless tourney plus some. I can just wait for the sets or straights and take the chips of people holding two pair. Pretty sure there will be no such thing as bluffing in this one. You are gonna have to show down the best hand. Should be a fun one.

CHIMPS Champion

I won my second consecutive season title for CHIMPS last night. I'm not sure if I should brak or not. Kinda like winning a gold medal in the Special Olympics I would assume, right Snarf?. All kidding aside I was happy to take the win. It was more of me playing in 13 of the 14 events that did it. I played the most out of everyone. Either way I was on a nice little heater for two weeks in a row getting two wins in CHIMPS and a win and 3rd place in Pokersluts.

Season four will probably start-up in around 4-6 weeks. I want everyone th get their summer fun over before we go again. Season four will be re-named the Corporation Poker Series. I will set-up a poll to see if we want to move it to Wednesday or Monday or just keep it where it is. More of the events may be on Poker Stars if they allow me to set-up events like 2-7, Badugi and the 8-game mixed that Gambit, nzgreen, loser and myself enjoyed last night after CHIMPS.

I am in the airport right now waiting for my flight to Gulfport, MS and the Beau Rivage. I could use a couple "days off" and get a lot of poker in. I may still make some of the blogger events the rest of the week depending on how the poker action looks. I will be posting daily with results and anything else interesting that I find. Should be a lot of fun, as long as I'm winning.

Online Mega Satellites

How scary is it that I actually agree with most of a post that Hoy makes? He basically wrote everything that I know about megas in his latest post. Seriously, its right here. When you are playing these things the first step is to see what % of the field is getting seats. If 10% advances and you start with 1500 the average will be 15k when you reach the end. You DO NOT need to reach that figure. There always will be a monster stack or two when it gets to the end and they get the honor of raising EVERY, SINGLE, HAND while all of the medium stacks let 'em and the short stacks are desperately trying to hang on.

Early on in mega's I am trying to get the double. I will gamble it up and take flips early on so that I can start putting a lot of pressure on with my above average hands and hammer away with my premium hands. I played the token frenzy Sunday night after busting out of the Pokerslut Tour. It was a $14 buy-in for $75 tokens. There were 179 runners and 33 won a token with 34th getting the extra cash. This tells us that one in every 5.5 players will win a seat. Average stack at the end is going to be around 8250. So our goal is to be around 6k and maintain. Lets give it a go.

In the second level of this turbo event I limped with K,Q in MP. There was one caller and the BB checked. Flop comes K,x,x and this is a spot where I am going to get in a check-raise vs the button if I can. He doesn't have A,K or he would raise pre-flop. The only possibility is flopping two pair with K,x and when you average out hand ranges you are in good shape. The BB checked, I checked and the button bets out 80 or about 1/2 the pot. BB folds and I check raise to 320. He decides to shove and I make the call based on what I discussed before. He shows the K,10. The board bricks out and I am now up to 3000 just like that.

After that I ran in FT god mode and picked up AA four times, getting action from a short stack shove twice. I also had KK once, all of this in the first hour. At the break we had 45 people. I never had to play a hand after that and coasted my way to the token. I will most likely use the tokens to try and satellite into the Sunday $750k guarantee which is $216 and then unregister and take the T$ if I win a seat.

Bueller? Bueller?

Yeah I've been MIA for about a week and a half. I could go on and on about this, that, and the other thing, but it's just inconsequential crap. Basically it comes down to alot going on and not having much of a burning desire to play poker. Did have a quick trip to AC about week and a half ago to meet up with some effers. Nothing real spectacular to write about. Had a small 1/2 session where I was up about 100 then tried to squash FD on the turn when I had a set, didn't work. Two hands later got kept in with nut FD when overpair bet way to small on every street and of course I don't get there, but c'est la vie I guess. Didn't play bad, didn't play great ho hum. Played the 7PM tourny there and never really got started. Sans the AA in round 1 I was pretty card dead, eventually the blinds ate me up and I had to shove a FD (sensing a theme) first on in on a pot and couldn't get there. Bonus of the night was that Showboat opened a 2/4 mixed table for us since we had enough people. Even put it on the board and got a few random people that didn't know what they were in for. Some were more fun the others. The others left. The fun ones stayed.


Other then that I really haven't played much poker online at all. Played CHIMPS and Riverchasers last week. CHIMPS I lost AA2x and AA3x four times in total in OM8 to complete and utter garbage everytime and that's how that went in the HORSE. Riverchasers started well, then couldn't dodge a 4 outer on the river and really lost desire at that point. Eventually shoved middle pair in a SB/BB hand where I had a feeling I was behind but didn't much care. Missed PSTour again last night this time because I was out at the parentals until after the start time. I'm sure everyone missed me so.


I pretty much missed the entire FTOPS boat minus a few stabs at Event 1 sats. I did realize, however, that my magical Step 4 WSOP ticket on Stars can be used for any 215 event during the WCOOP. This is an unexpected bonus and hopefully will lead to an instant bankroll on Stars with any kind of cash. Now I just need to pick an event. I have to go look at the sched and see what is of interest. I'm sure I'll be able to find something.


Other then all this I've just kinda been podering my online direction. This is probably most of the reason for my lack of play. There has been opportunities to play but I just can never seem to decide what I want to do. For whatever reason cash games feel like a grind to me and after the last 50NL session where I got the monkey at the table all in 3 times as a 70+ fav each time and lost every one, there is a little bitter taste there. My attention span for MTT's seems to have reverted to ADD levels. SNG's are boring the crap out of me. So I need direction. The roll is on a bit of a downswing mostly due to a lack of cashes in the few MTT's I've played and the one bad 50NL session, so nothing of disastrous proportions but annoying nonetheless. We'll see where things go. I would say it is very unlikely for me to play CHIMPS this week as I have no token and have very little time to get one between now and then. If I can get one I will play but this is probably a one shot deal. Other then that no poker plans for the week.


Waffles is trying to level his mage, whatever the fuck that means. Columbo has bought cowbells for Rockband. I in turn am trying to be 10 year old kids at Wii Karts with very little luck. We all need our non-poker outlets. Hopefully this will spawn more inpired play in a week or so.

Failure

Figured I would throw a pic of the mini Bellagio up, the Beau Rivage. I will be leaving Wednesday afternoon for the Beau for three nights of poker. My plan is to just play 1/2 and maybe a smaller daily tournament or two.

Back to the topic of this blog post, failure. Seems like I have been doing nothing but fail in the last few days. On my way back from Orlando I made a little detour to the Hard Rock to play some 1/2. It took me about two hours to burn through $100. I had a ton of straight and flush draws but missed every one. Half the people in the game were giving their money away. Unfortunately, I was one of them.

I had Gambit's home game last night and for all the money I won the Saturday before, I gave almost all of it back. I ended down $100 for the night. My first buy-in of $40 lasted a little while. The one big bot that started the downward trend was limit holdem. I had JJ and 3-bet Scott's raise. Flop comes something like 9,7,4. I lead, he calls. Turn hits his gutterball and we get 3 bets in on the turn and I just call the river. After that I really, really, really played bad. No excuses, just bad. I would be calling raises in 2-7 with hands like 8,6,5. I would endlessly chase in Badugi. Just to show how bad it was on the last hand of the night in Stud8 I played K(A,2). I called a bet when I hit the Q. Called when I hit the J and got lucky to chop vs an obvious low in a heads-up pot when I hit the 10 on 6th street. Terrible.

I made my $5 on Wednesday playing 2-7. On Thursday when I wanted to play though There was a waiting list for .25/.50 and no .5/1 game going. I decided to sit on in the 1/2 game that had an open seat. I won the very first hand and had a $7 profit but stuck around after I won my second hand in the first lap and ended up cashing out for a $15 profit. i played a $50 super satellite to an FTOPS HA event. 100 runners, 23 got seats, 24th got cash. I ended up on the bubble in 25th. I was 3rd with around 42 people left. I thought I could safely fold my way in. well, I was wrong.

Friday I played a Tier 1 token tourney. I won my token and decided to play it right away in a one table Tier 2. I flopped a set early on and nearly doubled. I stood steady and won a flip vs a shorter stack on the bubble and then took out 3rd place in a 2:1 hand the very next hand and got my $75 token. I am going to try and look for a $75 sat into a $215 event and then unregister and take the T$. With FTOPS wrapping up there is not a whole lot of $215 events left so I may be sitting on that token for a while.

Pokersluts, CHIMPS and the $5 Rule

I wish this post would be able to live up to the title bit I am sure I will fall woefully short. Sunday night was PLO for the Pokerslut Tour. I was really short most of the way never getting anything remotely playable. I was super short heading into the final table. My double-up happened courtesy of a faulty connection for Clovis. I had flopped the nut flush draw and called a bet and had around t415 behind/ I missed on the turn and called a t300 bet. I missed on the river and Clovis ever so slowly timed out. I bet and he was folded. He then mentioned that he had the nuts when he reconnected. Yep, very lucky. If he was able to bet on the end I would of had to fold the lovely no pair ace high leaving 115 left to play.

When we got to the bubble of 5 people clovis had around 16k and the next closest was around 2k good for 2:1 lead. He could pot it pre-flop with anything and the rest of us would have to a) pick up a hand and b) hope it held. The bubble burst when Zerb called from the SB for 100 more and Clovis raised to 600 and Zerb called. Flop comes J,x,x with two clubs. Zerb checks, Clovis bets around the pot of 1200 and Zerb CRAI for around another 1200. Clovis calls with KK,x,x with two clubs. Zerb has JJxx for top set. The turn gives Clovis a second flush draw and he rivers the K to knock Zerb out on the bubble. Thats where it gets interesting.

Zerb goes on his rant about how terrible the play is. He told Clovis to "learn how to fold". Ok, so he is supposed to fold KKxx and the second nut flush draw to a check raise of 1200 more? He was getting 4:1 on a call when. if you put Zerb on a set, you have around 10 (9 flush cards less 1 club that could pair the board and two kings) outs or about 40%. Yeah, that would be a great fold there.

I ended up busting in 3rd place when I got my money in with top two which turned into top three on the turn but lost to the rivered flush. For not getting anything resembling a playable hand I was happy with the result.

Last night was CHIMPS HORSE. We had 13 runners. In the first go round of LHE I was dwindled to around 1100 and in next to last place. O8, Razz and Stud were good to me however and I moved to 2100 and 2nd place. After that I did a slow burn into the 1200 range when we reached the final table. I last more in LHE but was able to build it back in O8 and razz again. Down to 6 people and LHE again and I got a 3-bet in with 10,10. Flop comes J,x,x and I got my last two bets in and was way behind against Q,J and busted. I will take a 16 point lead into the final event trying to make it back-to-back seasons for me.

I have still been playing a lot of 2-7 on Stars. I deposited $100 and have played only 2-7 since the deposit. My goal is to make a whopping $5 per day there. I have since moved up to the 0.50/1 game where it is really easy to make the requisite $5 per day. I guess I should change it to the $10 per day rule. So far every day has reached that goal. I had one really interesting hand on Monday night when I was dealt the 7,5,4,3,2 vs an aggressive opponent. I have played with him quite a bit so far. He makes a ton of raises pre-draw and keeps the pressure on. I was able to 3-bet him and he capped it. I stood pat and he drew one. I bet and he called. He drew one again and I lead the betting. After the raising war it was capped. He stood pat and we got in another round of capped betting. I showed the wheel and he had a 7,6.

So far in this little experiment I have shown a profit of around $50. I am well on my way to getting enough for the Auckland APPT satellite. Maybe I should just keep playing this though and eff the donkaments.

Home Game Wrap-Up

Before I get to the home game I will write about my lack of playing online since CHIMPS. Wednesday night I played the Mookie. I never usually get a chance to play it because of the 10pm start time. I was out of town for work and only had to catch a flight in the morning so why not. I didn't last too long as I called a raise on about the 5th hand with 87cc. Flop comes 7,6,6 and I check called. Turn was another 6 and I check raised leaving myself about a pot sized bet behind. The river was a 5 and I shoved as was called my KK. Doh. I played a little 2-7 on stars, made a little profit, and called it a night.

Lately I have been playing a lot of 2-7 on stars. The games at the lower levels are super soft. If one was on a massively short BR they could play the .1/.2 limit game for about an hour per day and clear $5 per day easily with not a lot of risk. When I started playing on stars a lot again recently I started doing this and then moved up to the .25/.50 game and the .5/1 game. Games are a little tougher but still very beatable. I will probably try and grind the money up so I can play in a $500 mega for the Auckland, New Zeland APPT event. I would love to go there.

Saturday was the return of the monthly Ante Up home game. The usual cast o characters were there including Gambit, Fasso, Chris, Scott, Erik and Frank. This month the game was held at Frank's MediSpa that he just opened. The place was beautiful. I think I will be doing some Christmas shopping there for TOH. As usual, the game was 2/4 with pretty much every game under the sun. The first game called was LHE and I pretty much didn't get a hnad to play in the first 15 minute round. The second game was Razz and I was able to pick-up quite a few hands and build a little. Same for the 3rd game called which was O8.

Throughout the day I was not involved in a lot of interesting hands. I made most of my money playing 2-7 TD. These are always the bigger pots in our game. I have been playing it so much lately that I have a good feel where I am standing and know when to break a decent hand. Betting in this game is so key. I noticed a lot of betting mistakes being made in the game.

The last game of the night was PLO. I was in the BB with 4 limpers and I bet pot to $3.25 with A,A,9,7 single suited. I got not one, not two, not three, but all four callers. Before the flop I said good luck with your sets. Flop comes 5,4,4hh. I was suited in hearts. It was checked to Gambit who bet pot and everyone folded including me. He showed the 4. All told it was a good day for me as I pulled a profit of $132 on the day. I sold 5% of myself to Zooks for a rooting interest. Whenever I sell a percentage I always seem to pull out a win. Not sure why.

1 hour 40 Minutes = 5 hands

Well not really but they were the only ones of significance in the entire tournament. Played in the Tao of Poker birthday hoopla last night with 500+ of my closest blogger friends. Speaking of which, if there are that many poker bloggers then I think there is an epidemic, probably will need a vaccine for that. Anyways, played tight, shoulda would coulda ran deeper.

Hand 1 (about 5th hand of tourny) - I get AA UTG+1. Raise to 120 (4x), get an immediate call to my left. Flop of J1010, I bet pot. He min raises. I really put him on AJ at this point or another pair, I'm not really worried about a 10. Turn is 7 I think, I check raise him all in and he calls with QQ. I double.

Lots of folding and position betting for the rest of the first hour. Stack stays about 3K into first break.

Hand 2 - OTB I get 66 and make a raise to 450 (3x). I have about 2800 behind. SB pushes for 1400. Knowing I need chips and willing to take what I hop is a race I call. He shows QQ. I flop a 6. Boom. That will be the last boom of the night.

Hand 3 - UTG+1 raises to 600 (3x). I have QQ in the BB. I reraise him to 1400. He tanks then shoves. I call for about 1200 more. He has 1010. Flop is safe. Turn is 10. Un-booom.

Hand 4 - In the BB with A10h, folds to the shorty in the SB. He shoves for 900 and I instacall. He has 93h. 93 > A10.

Hand 5 - With 650 left OTB it folds to me. I shove Q10. BB calls with 95os. 95 > Q10. NH, GG, IGHN.

The QQ hand was disappointing because winning that would have put me in the top 20 stacks with about 220 remaining. Still alot of work to do but in a very nice spot. Also played CHIMPS last night, but because I didn't bet out with trip kings ace kicker on a rainbow board, I allowed my opponent to hit his 2 outer. Bad play me.

Heading to the ShowBoat on Thursday night to catch up with some effers and play the 7PM tourny. Maybe some cash after, maybe some pit degeneracy. We'll see what the night brings. Hopefully more 2 outers, YAY!

The Streak is Over

The streak at Tampa Bay Downs is over. I did get in one more session before the streak was over. When I got to the track there was going to be only one table of 1-2 going so I sat at the "rock" table. Most of the table is a bunch of older regulars who play every single day. It is an extremely tight table and one that I usually don't want to play. However, I just didn't feel like waiting to get the other table going. I played for a total of 2 hours with a profit of $34 and left. I never got many hands and was lucky to win what I did.

On Sunday I played the Pokerslut Tour which was limit hold-em. My starting table of 6 had Instant Tragedy, predator6 and a new player that was just about as aggressive, and Zerb. On the first hand my A,Q lost to Zerb's A,J and it was downhill from there. I ended up finishing 11th out of 12th and all but eliminated my chances of winning the season title.

On Monday I saw my streak end at Tampa Bay Downs. I lost the first $100 when I check-raised the turn when I hit the flush but my opponent was holding the nut flush. Reload. My next $100 was a slow burn and I gradually added to my stack along the way and was in for another $100. I finally picked-up a hand against one of the numerous horrid players at the table getting my stack to $225.

In the game there was one really really bad player. He got very lucky against the same younger kid twice. The kid felt the need to berate his play enough to where the guy now started playing tighter. How many times do people have to learn that you just don't do that shit. Make comments to yourself or your neighbors all you want. Just don't do it so he can hear you. I was able to get into a pot with said horrid player. I had X,4 in a limped pot when the flop came Q,4,4. He leads for $10. I know 150% that he is holding the Q and we will probably give me another $100 throughout the hand holding top pair. I just called. The turn was the motherfuckin cock-smokin Q. Fuckin two outer. I called the last two streets for some unknown reason and saw his Q.

A little later in the session the dude who put in $60 with the Q,4 off from a couple posts ago sat. When this guy limps in pre-flop you can raise just about any amount because he is just not folding. I was in the BB with 10,10 and he limped UTG. someone in late position made it $5 there were a couple callers and I made it $20 to go. He called leaving $40 behind (as usual he just had to reload for another $60) and everyone folded. Flo comes 9,x,x. I put him in for his last $40 and he calls showing Q,9. Turn Q. Fuck me. After that hand I'm down to $100 again. I really played poorly after that and ended up leaving after three hours stuck a total of $275.

It's amazing that when I have just one bad session in the last 8 or 9 that I can tilt so much and be so pissed off. I mean its only one session. Probably a contributing factor is that I have had to use the profits to buy stuff around the house and pay bills so virtually none of it had gone into the poker account. Within a week I had to have Reece's tubes removed, wife's root canal and a dead fridge. Bye bye profit.

Monday night I played the inaugural Live Poker Radio Tour event. It was a $10 NLHE event that is taking over for the MATH. I had Bam Bam at my first table and was able to double through him when I called his min-raise with Q,10. I flopped the open ender and hit on the turn to double through his top top. About 1/2 hour in I decided to play for 2/3 of my stack pre-flop with A,Khh vs QQ and lost. I bled down from there and made a button shove with 7,4 off that ran into aces and I was done less than an hour in. I was able to make a profit on the night though playing some 1/2 HORSE so it wasn't a total loss.

Tuesday I decided that I needed a break from the live cash games and decided to play a donkament. $50 buy-in and 4k in chips with 15 min levels and 48 runners. Top 5 were paid. I usually splash around in these things early but that day I decided to nit it up big time. I won a total of one hand in the first hour and a half. I really had no playable hands whatsoever. When the blinds were at 300/600 I had 2200 from the SB and shoved. I hit the 2:1 dog hand was got the double. I make it down to the last two tables still as the massive short stack. With 12 people left and 4k in chips playing 600/1200 I shoved over a raise with A,3 hh and was able to double through A,10. I was ble to get one more double with A,K vs A,6 when we broke for the final table.

There was 2-3 short stacks starting the final table. One lap in I put the BB in for his last 3300 playing 800/1600 from the SB and he called with A,2. I had the 9,6dd. Flop comes 3,4,5. I rivered the 7 to knock him out. I really did him dirty in the tourney. My 2:1, 3 outer and that one were all against him. I was blinding down but was able to get two big doubles and was sitting on 27k with 1k/2k blinds when we hit the bubble. We all agreed to throw in $20 for 6th place. The very next hand I have 8,8 UTG and raise to 6k. One guy with the same stack shoves. He sure looked like he was ready to give up when we made the save for the bubble. Knowing it probably was a flip I called and he had K,Q. A K in the door sealed my fate and I was eliminated and took the $100. If I win that one I'm at 57k and in 1st or 2nd place ready to make a deep run.

Last night was CHIMPS NLHE and Pauly's 5th anniversary tourney both on Stars. I got lots of hands in Pauly's tourney like mid-pairs and missed every time. I bled down and was out fairly early. CHIMPS had a only 11 runners tonight. I drew the 5 handed table to start. I had a ton of hands early and was able to chip up to around 1800 without any major pots in the first 20 minutes. When we reached the final table I think I was sitting on around 3k.

I pretty much hung on at the final table maintaining my stack. Deadmoney5 was eliminated in 5th the last hand before the final break when his top 2 rain into bottom set. We started hour 2 four handed between everyone on the Skype call, Zooks, Gambit, NZGreen and myself. We played 4 handed for a little over 1/2 hour. When we were 3 handed I still had around 3500 or so. I doubled through Zooks with a weaker ace to make it a 3-way race. Zooks pulled ahead again and held the chip lead when me and Gambit got into a hand.

Blinds were 200/400 and I called a raise to 1000 from the BB with 6,6. Flop comes 6,5,3. Gambit leads pretty much committing him to the hand. I shoved and he called with A,A and was eliminated in 3rd. I held a 9k/6k lead going into heads-up. We didn't play too long when I shoved over a raise with A,5ss vs Zooks J9ss. I turned the A and I was able to get my 2nd straight CHIMPS win and take over the points lead with two events to go.

Off to DC this morning. If I get back to the hotel early enough tonight I am going to try and play the Reed Poker Open and then maybe the Mookie later depending on how tired I am. Scott's home game is Saturday.

Later

Some Borgata 1-2 Action

Friday afternoon I headed down to Atlantic City for some dinner time poker action followed by drinking and merriment. The poker in the afternoon went fairly well. The drinking went well. The merriment went well until it was curtailed by the pits, harshly. But since this is a poker blog, we'll just talk about that.



I'm normally a limit player but have been trying to play more NL live, just because the games can be so profitable. I don't enjoy the game as much but I like to think I can be competetent at it. When we got to The Borgata the lists were somewhat long for 3/6 and 5/10, and not having an exceptional amount of time to play (maybe 2.5 hours) I decided to just take the open seat at 1/2 NL. Bought in for 200, max is 300. There are three things that I really need to work on NL. First and foremost is not just seeing a flop for 2 bucks. This is a horrible habit from limit that I need to ditch. Second is letting myself be pushed off winning hands. Third is missing value bets on the end, being content to check what figures to be the best hand. And let me tell you they all showed their head on Friday, but some were improved.



For the first hour I didn't do much of anything except bleed off. Kept trying to see flops, play in position. Problem was a I couldn't hit anything. Didn't really raise too much, but still managed to bleed off 80 bucks. Then with 1 limper I get AQd in the hijack and make it 12, limper calls. Flop comes low and I bet 20 into the 25 pot and he calls. Miss the turn and check. River misses and he fires 50 into me. Pot sized bet on the river means he may have had nothing, because that seems like a pretty big value bet. I obviously let it go. Two hands later I make it 7 to with AJos, get about 6 calls. Flop top pair with a FD on the board and bet 40 into the appox. 45 pot. Same guy calls. Turn pairs the 7 on the board, he checks. I think he maybe floating at this point or on the FD. If the flush card comes on the river its tough to call any big bet there, if it doesn't and he makes a big bet I could pick him off. In the end I just didn't feel like taking the chance and shoved. He folded.



Ok, the big hand of the night. I get AA near the button, I think there was an early limp so I make it 12 to go. 4 people call, including the button, SB, BB and early limper. Flop comes Kh7x9h. Checks to me and I bet 40 into the 50ish in the pot. Button folds, SB (fairly loose) calls, BB and limper fold. Turn brings another K and SB bets into me for 20. This bet seemed weird, because if he was protecting a King against a potential FD ( why i would have a fd here i don't know) why bet soooo small into a 100+ pot. Unless he was just trying to figure out if I had a king, weakly I just called, which I'm sure told him I didn't have one. The river comes a blank, something low. He takes the rest of his stack and sticks it in, about 80 bucks. Literally, takes the stack and not slamming but forcefully putting it in. This act just made me think he did not want to be called. I only had about 60 left. And yes, I felt like he didn't want to be called, but to say that I frustration didn't lend a part in that call wouldn't be completely true either. I called and flipped up my aces, he mucked.



After that hand I was up to about 275. I rode this and tightened up a bit preflop. Then like an ass I decided to play my last two hands before I left. I limp with KJ os, button calls, sb makes it 10, like an ass I call so does the button. Flop is jack high with 2 spades. SB bets 20 and I raise to 50 to try and get an answer. The answer comes in the form of the button going all in. SB folds, as do I. I really think this was a push with a FD, but I didn't feel like taking that gamble. Last hand I play K7h UTG. Yes I'm an ass. 2 calls from the field including the button from the last hand. Flop is all hearts. I check and previous button guy bets 20 into a pot of 15. I call and another guy calls. Turn pairs the board which is a little scary but not tremndously so. I check again and this time the guy bets 60, way too big for a boat. I just call and the other guy (aka Ace of hearts guy) folds. River is another blank and I check. This was dumb. I should have made a value bet of about 50 and he's almost gotta call. Alas I did not and he checked behind. I took down the pot. Over finished at +115 which was a nice session. Sans a few mistakes and I could've done better. Maybe I can learn this game eventually.



Like I said, the pits were brutal later in the evening. Taking all those winnings and then some. It was still a good time and I managed to make myself feel much better about the pits on Saturday. Headed out with the wife, brother, and brother's fiancee to a Orgy of Meat , then to Philly's Oldest Tavern for an after dinner drink, followed by a completely unnessesary dessert of dipping things in melty chocolate . I spent Sunday in a food coma and I think I am now just waking up. By the time CHIMPS and the Dr Pauly Special , roll around on Tuesday, I should be recovered.

Pokerslut Tour Tonight