PokerSlut Tour XIV Limit Holdem

Random Stuff

I got around to reading Daniel Negreanu's chapter in 2-7 yesterday in advance of playing the $200 event at the Golden Nugget on Tuesday. It has probably been well over a year since I read the chapter. It's amazing how much you remember AND how much you forget in that time period. It's always a good idea to go back and read some books as a refresher course, especially games that you don't play that often. I will probably read it again on the flight so it is fresh in my mind when I sit down at the tournament. I am really looking forward to this one and feel really good about my game.

I am heading out to Vegas in the right mindset. I like where my game is at. Should be fun. Plus its always good to see people that I haven't seen since the winter blogger gathering or the series last year.

I played two local cheat tournaments recently to get the cards in my hand again. I final tabled one of them but didn't cash. Going into the final table I think I was 7th of 10 in chips with only the top 5 paying so I took a few more chances. I ended up getting it in with KQ which was snap called by the CL's A8. His hand held and I was out. The other tournament didn't go so good. I was out shortly after the first break.

About one week ago I received some free play offers from the Tampa Hard Rock. I had $20 free play available this past Wednesday - Friday. I figured out the best way to clear the bonus was to play video poker. I was going to get on a $0.25 machine and play just a quarter at a time. Well, every single video poker machine was taken in the place. Guess I wasn't the only person with this idea. I decided to sit at a 1/2 NL game and wait for a bit then try again. After about 90 minutes I walked away with my $7 profit and decided to check out the video poker machines again. Still full. As I was about the just play it on a slot machine I walked by the high limit area. They had a bank of 4 video poker machines there with a $2 min bet, perfect. I played my 10 tries and walked away with $16. Free money!

I went this morning already and played my free money for Saturday - Sunday. No problem getting on the quarter machine at 7am. I ended up winning $13. I still have a couple more free plays. One is good this coming Monday - Tuesday and another which is supposed to be for a week starting tomorrow. Not sure if I go Monday I will have $40 available but we shall see. Oh, I also have a free one for when I get back from Vegas too. I'm soooo Allen Kessler (or OffDeadline's favorite, Anthony Curtis) like looking for the freebies.

Poker Etiquette

Making friends at the poker table can always be a dangerous proposition.  Realistically you should be trying to take every chip on the table.  That's not terribly conducive to making friends,  but we all try to be friendly at the table just to pass the time.

I was playing $.5/1 NLHE at the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Michigan this past weekend.  Not quite as fishy a clientele as the Vegas casinos but fun none the less.  My table had been quiet for a while - almost too quiet.  I'm in the SB with 56 crubs and have every expectation of seeing a cheap flop when the button decides to throw in a big raise.   Well, damnit, I really wanted to see a flop.  I start to joke with the table and said, "Ok, I need to know how many of you are going to call that raise 'cause if I call I really need all y'all to call, too."  There were several chuckles so I figured I was probably good to call. 

The button raiser wasn't too happy when he saw that most of the limpers were calling his raise and mentioned that he didn't think that I was allowed to ask that question.  Hmmm.  In all honesty, I was calling before I asked the question safe in the knowledge that there would be many callers behind me as well since this is no-foldem-holdem after all.  I almost commented that I was just helping him build a pot but I decided that, with this many callers, there was a strong likelihood that his hand - even if it was AA - wasn't going to hold up.

The flop came out 344, two hearts.  I checked, one of the callers bet and the button raised.  I decided I had better get out of dodge.  The bettor called and, after more betting, the hands went to showdown: Button AT, winner A4o.  I don't recall the exact board but I was pretty sure that Mr. Button was betting with air at this .5/1 table after I titled him to no end by showing his raise no respect.  Oops.

Later in the evening I the table had changed to much more friendly crowd even with some of the same players at the table.  I limped in with TT hoping to hit a set or get out.  Sure enough I hit a flop but not the best flop for me: KJT.  I lead out and get two callers.  The turn another K.  Nice card for me but people play KJ all the time.  I bet out and get a caller and then Billy raises.  Sigh.  I can't let this go here.  I hadn't seen Billy show down many hands at this point.  I call AND the other guy calls, too.  The river, fml, was a J.  OK, aside from the case K that was the worst river card I could have seen.  Billy leads out and I had to fold.  The guy behind me, on the other hand, calls and shows down a Q high flush.  He had an open ended straight flush draw and just couldn't throw away his flush on a KJKJT board. 

This table had become quite relaxed and chatty.  I was enjoying it when I limped in from the SB with AJ (Blaz would be so proud) after several limpers.  The flush guy from the hand above was on my left in the big blind and raised it up.  He gets a couple of callers and I call, too.  An ace flops and I decide to check call if he bets.  Sure enough he bets and it's folded to me.  I just call and we check it down the rest of the way.  Sure enough I had him outkicked.  I almost felt bad but it's a dog eat dog world at the poker table.  But, had I not been so friendly with him I probably would have continued to bet at that pot.  I guess I shouldn't be so friendly at the table, after all.

PokerSlut Tour XIV Stud

You probably won't see me at this event since I'll be live pokering in Michigan with my friends Sly Selea, Lillian, T and Zerb.  You probably won't see them at it either.  So play amongst yourselves.  Somebody needs to send me a recap so I can do the leaderboard. 

I'm sure the PokerSoup guys will be recording another sucky stellar show for the gentle listening audience.

Sam's Game

I saw this on Pokerati and thought it was a scream. 

Not sure this mix of pron and poker will be successful but I'm glad somebody decided to give it a try.

Vegas Plans

6/30 - 7/4

6/30 - $200 2/7 Triple Draw at Golden Nugget
7/1 - $340 Venetian or Caesars
7/2 - STT's and/or WSOP Main Event Mega and/or $340 Caesars
7/3 - WSOP Main Event or $330 Caesars


That should about do it.

BBT4 and Vegas

What are two things that I don't have time to do a proper write up for today. First day back after a week off from work, means not enough time here and I'm still trying to sober up from Vegas. The short version goes like this:

Vegas was more about drinking the partying like I was 22 as opposed to playing cards. Did squeeze a few hours in. TOC I didn't feel like I was playing especially well, but managed to hit a few hands early to get some chips. Folded alot when sammiched between Hoy on my left and CK on my right, each with a metric fuckton of chips. In the no hand is greater then AJ, even when you hit your Queen after shoving AQ preflop.

I'll expand later. GG and congrats to all the winners. Especially Al.

Poker Soup

Poker Soup will be interviewing Eugene Todd (Bro)
during Sunday Night's PokerSlut Tour. 

Isolating a Shover

When you are playing an MTT you can find yourself with a decent hand after somebody has shipped all of his chips into the pot.

Now, if you have enough information about the player to KNOW you are ahead of his range but your hand isn't necessarily a huge hand you can be in a quandry. Do you just flat call? Do you re-raise all in to isolate?

This exact situation came up for me in a private MTT.  A player shipped from UTG+1; I knew I was ahead of his range so I shipped to isolate only to have a player wake up behind me with AA.

I suppose that's always a risk you take whenever you aren't the last to act.

If I had had no history at this table or with this player I probably would have folded here but that wasn't the case.  I still had a decent amount of chips based so I wasn't in shove monkey mode just yet.

Do you play it any differently? Why?

Oddball

I played one of my more interesting tournaments in recent memory last night. I had more happen in that one in a short period of time that I think has ever happened to me.

I met up with Blaz to play in the nightly tournament at Mohegan Sun. It was a $100 + $20 MTT where you started with 10k in chips and 20 minute levels. The blind jumps were decent enough to give us plenty of play. They had around 60 people and payed the final 9. So much for randomness by the computer as we signed up at the same time and drew the same table, Blaz in seat 3 and myself in seat 5.

I won a smallish pot early vs Blaz when I called his 150 raise with his own hand, the AJ. I flopped middle pair and called the cbet. Turn and river went check check and I took it down. In the second level I decided to play the hammer UTG like it was KK. Unfortunately I found out too late that the lady I titled una-brow (form the Austin Powers movies) who rivered top 2. After the hand I was sitting on 6600.

Late in the 2nd level I got in another hand with Blaz. I was UTG and was getting short so I decided to limp KK with about 3k left. There were 3 callers including Blaz from the SB. Flop comes J10x. Blaz leads for 500 and I just decide to call. Turn is a 9. Blaz bets 1k and now I have no idea where I'm at but call. River is a 7 for a final board of J1097x Blaz puts me in for my last 1500 or so. I just don't think I'm good here, even vs Blaz. I folded and showed him the KK. At the break he later told me he had QJ so I folded the best hand. I just didn't think he would bet a hand that weak on the river knowing that if I wanted to dump off my chips to him he still might lose the hand with the worst of it.

I was down to 1200 at 100/200 and picked up AQcc UTG and open shipped my monster 6bb stack. A big stack called behind me and Blaz called from the SB. Flop comes QQ3. Triple me up. Blaz lead at the pot for around 2k and the other guy called. Turn A. Blaz bets 4k and gets called again. OK I know Blaz has a Q and we actually might be chopping here. River a brick 7 and Blaz fires 6k and is called again. I'm thoroughly confused as to what the other guy had. Blaz shows QJ and is up against KK?????? What? Blaz wins the monster side pot and I win the main and am up to around 3800 or so.

Coming back from the break and at 100/200/25 I am still really short. I dribble all the way down to around 2k when I ship with 66 over a raiser and get a shove behind me. Original raiser folds and shows and A. Shover has AK and the board rolls out Kxxx6 and I double to around 4k. Shortly after at 200/400 I get AdQh suited and ship. The person who had AK in the previous hand ship 1200 in or so and we are heads up. He shows 44. I flop the Q and get the 4flush on the river to knock him out and I'm back over 5k. Not long after that still in the 5th level I ship AK suited vs 99 and win another flip and all of a sudden I'm over my starting stack again.

STILL in level 5 there is an EP raise to 1200 a call to my right. I look at QQ and re-raise it to 3600. EP calls and person to my right calls. Flop Axx. Checked to me and I check. Turn rag and the EP player fires like 6k. Fold and I fold the QQ face-up. She said that she had KK. I asked if I ship the flop that she is calling anyway. OK.

Moving to level 6 and 300/600 there is an UTG limp, a MP limp and another limp. I ship 22 and 8k in to win the limpers and will take a chance vs a caller. UTG ships and I'm effed. He shows JJ and I do not improve and am bounced out.

I sweated Blaz till 1am when he bounced in 6th for $280.


Side note: On Tuesday I played two DoN's for the Kink of the Mountain Challenge and I won them both to get the roll up to $42.60.

Poker, Poker, and Poker

We here at Corporation Poker have gone off in three different directions lately.  Snarf has been tearing up the BBT4, Snuffy has also been playing some BBT4, making a trip down under for pokers and has just started the King of the Hill challenge while I have been spending my time playing the PokerRoad League in addition to the PokerSlut Tour.


All of us have been making regular appearances at the PokerSlut Tour and the Poker Soup TV events while we broadcast on Poker Soup.

Both Snarf and Snuffy are making trips out to Vegas during the WSOP but I can't get out there this year.  No, I'm not bitter.  I lie.  The rat bastards better have a horrible time.  I kid.  Not really.

If you haven't noticed, the WSOP has started.  Full Tilt is once again running their mini-WSOP and the ever popular Fantasy WSOP Team League.  I'm a huge fan of both of these but since FTP has seen fit to start most of these events late in the afternoon it's unlikely that I'll be able to play many of the events.  The Fantasy League, on the other hand, is one of my favorite pastimes.

I'm in two different Fantasy WSOP leagues: FTP's and Ante Up.  We drafted teams for the Ante Up league and I am happy with my team but wanted a few players that were picked before I could get to them.  Justin Bonomo is a hot commodity this year.  I fully expect him to tear it up at the WSOP.  Too bad Snuffy drafted him before I could get him.  I did get Erick Lindgren, Jeff Madsen, Micheal Binger, David Singer, Michael DeMichelle and Yvgeny Timoshenko.

I may not be able to play many of the mini-WSOP events on Full Tilt but I can make a good run at the Poker Road League season 2 which is also a mini-WSOP.  I made it deep in the freeroll event finishing 153/9361 for a whopping $0.55, fml.  The second event, the $40 NLHE, didn't go so well.  Not many runners and several of them didn't even bother to show up on time.  My starting table had 7 players of which only 3 where live.  I sucks when you start out short handed.  My AKs got out flopped by KQo on a KQx flop and I went out early on.  What a waste.  At least I have already won a season and they aren't offering new prizes this season but a repeat would look good on my resume' so don't count me out yet.

Pokersoup, Brit Blogger & King Of The Mountain

First off we tried to record Pokersoup during the Pokerslut Tour last night. The sound quality was so horrible that we ended up scrapping the show. Good thing we did not have a guest scheduled for last night. Hopefully we can get this shit straight as we have Eugene Todd (bro) scheduled for next week.

Sunday marked an end to the BBT4. I failed to win my TOC seat this year. I just ran and played so badly that I was disgruntled by the end that I really didn't play many events the last month. At least I found out what it was like to make a final table yesterday in the Brit Blogger and finished 5th when I played a pot for the chip lead but my 7's didn't outrun 8's. At least I was able to ship the $11 I borrowed fron Snarf to play back right away.

The King of the Mountain challenge is going well. Thanks to comments by Zorag and from pointledge during the Skype call last night, they pointed out that Stars rund $2.20 MTT satellites to the 1/4 million at :25 and :55 past the hour. I played in the 10:25pm and 10:55pm ones last night. the first one I ruckboxed all-in about 12 short of a seat when my A3 chopped a pot with A9 when the board ran out 9,5,6,8,7. I was able to shove a couple more times and the SB game me a walk at two key points and I was able to win a seat.

The second event went even better. First hand I pick-up QQ and win a small pot. I get AA not long after that but just win a small one again. I quickly got moved to another table where somehow 20 minutes in someone had 14k in chips. I doubled through him with KK vs his like 108 off or something like that and shortly after I was able to triple-up with QQ vs the same guys A10 and another A10. Flop comes Q99 for no sweat on the turn and river. After the hand I had 9500 and was able to fold my way into a seat.

Now I am sitting on $33 in the challenge and I have enough to move on to step 2. I have enough for 5 buyins at the double or nothings but I am thinking about playing two more $2.20 MTT's instead to go a little more conservative. Any thoughts out there?