A Good Couple of Days for Live Poker

 

Day One

At some point I will get back to doing the WPBT weekend wrap-up. After getting my ass kicked playing poker in Vegas I had to wait a little bit to play after getting back. Wednesday was a day off and I wanted to get as much felt time in as possible so a little after 9am I headed to the Tampa Hard Rock.

They have a new room that was opened a few day prior that has somewhere near 50 tables in it. The room is laid out nicely with room to walk between tables no matter where you are in the room. One noticeable fail is the bathrooms. They are just for the poker room but they are way to small. The mens room has two urinals and two stalls. One positive is they have a computer right when you walk into the room where you can check your comp balance and sign-up for the wait lists. You get $0.60 per hour for games up to 1/3 and $1 for games bigger than that, which is more than you get from other rooms in the area.

Little did I know when I arrived there they were running a high hand promotion every half hour. You had to qualify with quads and both had to be in your hand. It was $500 every 30 minutes and if there wasn’t a winner it rolled over to the next half hour. When I arrived there was a good 15 tables running. I was able to get a seat at a 1/2 ($100 max) table as none of the 1/3 ($300 tables) were running yet.

I won a little bit and was up to around $130 when I picked-up A-K and raised it up to $10 and received a one caller. Flop comes Qh-10h-X. My opponent checks and I decide to check it back. Turn comes the Ah. My opponent leads for $15. If I’m calling the turn I’m going to call his $30 shove on the river which in all likelihood is coming. I tank call and the river brick comes and I call the shove. He turns over the Kh-Jh for the royal. He wins the $500 high hand for the half hour and a $500 bonus for a royal. One interesting thing is that you have to get to the river for the high hand to count. His $15 turn bet almost lost him $1k. He was damn lucky that I happened to have an ace in my hand.

After losing about $85 I moved over to the 1/3 table and sat with a full $300. After dropping down to $225 or so I picked-up the hand of the day. I called a raise to $8 with Qd-Jd along with a couple others and the flop came Kd-8d-5d. Pre-flop raiser bets $20 and I am the only caller. Turn is the 10d and opponent leads for $25. Does he have the Ad here? I call and see the beautiful looking 9d on the river. Opponent leads for $50 and I ship my remaining $160 or so. He immediately says “really?”. There is really only three hands I can shove on the river there, two straight flushes and the Ad. Well it’s obvious my opponent has the Ad now. He tanks for a good three minutes and calls. Now I have to wait 25 minutes for the high hand to hold. I really have to run bad if someone hits a royal before time is up.

So the half hour comes to a close and since the last half hour didn’t have a winner I am in line to win $1k. About four minutes into the next half hour I still hear nothing and I am in a limped pot with 8-8. Flop come 10-8-8. Flop gets checked through and I call a $5 bet on the turn. River is checked to me and I bet $20 and everyone folds. I show the quads and yell “floor”. The floor comes over and I ask if it’s a new half hour and they say it is, they just didn’t have time to announce it yet. That’s $1k in the bank and I get to sweat another half hour for $500 more. It ends up holding and I win $1500 in high hands. After tipping the dealer (who dealt me both) and my profits I walk out with around $1600 more than what I came with. Not a bad day.

Day Two

After working for my last half day of the year I headed to Tampa Downs. I waited for about 30 minutes before a new table was opened. I played for around 90 minutes and had a $3 profit. Not really wanting to play any more cash games I opted for the tournament. This is by far the best structure you will ever find in a tournament. Check it out here. We started with 20k in chips and 20 minute levels. There were 59 runners and it paid the top five.

The structure almost proved to be too good. We made the final table after 5 1/2 hours of play. I was never all-in for my tournament life the whole time. When we reached nine-handed I just wanted to go home. Someone proposed an even chop of $445 each and I agreed. Average stack at the time was 130k and I had 176k. I was probably 2nd in chips at the time. I wasn’t about to hold the deal up cause I just wanted to leave after playing 14 hours the last two days. I ended up with a little over $300 profit on the day.

The Micros–Holiday Special

You will have to watch this several times just to get half the stuff.  Awesome!

The Greatest Two Minutes In Cinematic History

Enjoy!

PokerSlut Tour XX 7 Game Mix

WPBT Part Two

Friday morning I slept in a little and went off to play the Wynn $120 tournament at noon. I was able to build up to around 16k from the 10k start in the 3rd level when I check-raised all-in with a gutter, flush draw and overs. I was called by 2nd pair and couldn’t hit the 18 outer. One of these days I will hit the 18 outer, I just don’t know when.

I did a whole lot of nothing for a while before I went to check out the bloggers at the MGM for some mixed games. Nothing was going early so I made it over to my favorite room. Excalibur. In nine previous sessions there I had yet to post a losing session, that this day would be no different. There was one cowboy hat in the game along with three other good spots. I turned my $200 into $600 in a couple hours.

I didn’t have too many exciting hands but the two most profitable were both against the cowboy hat. I flopped the nuts with Q-10 in a K-J-9 flop and bet every street, $20, $40 and $100 and was called down. The other hand was a flopped top set and I was called on the flop and turn before he gave up.

After the win I walked over to the MGM again and got in on the second 3/6 mixed table to open. I played with $100 for like 3-4 hours with the likes of Poker Grump, Josie, Luckbox, CK and Jess Welman. I ended up losing about $40. I must say Josie runs really well, check out the details here. After playing till about 1:30 or so I called it a night.

Part three to include a Winter Classic recap. Till then….

WPBT Recap – Part One

 

Thursday – The Arrival

Arrived in Vegas early Thursday morning and grabbed a cab to Paris. I was shocked that I was able to check-in before 10am and I actually got some work done. I was not impressed with the room though. Everything just seemed to be old. For a lesser price, I think Harrah’s (where I stayed the last four nights) is much nicer.

I played the Noon tournament at Caesars. I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of t7500 to start and 20 minute levels. Last time I played this one I think it was 40 minutes, maybe I’m mistaken. I bowed out fairly early with nothing eventful happening.

After busting I walked over to Flamingo for some 1/2 action. I can’t remember how I did exactly, but I am pretty sure that I lost around half of a buy-in. After that was over I walked over to the IP to look for some bloggers but found none (it still was kinda early). I blasted through $100 at a five handed 2/4 LHE table in about 1/2 hour winning exactly one hand.

Done with poker for the day I played some Pai Gow and ran good to end up around $100. After some Pai Gow the bloggers started showing. After some BS time I walked over the the Venetian to sweat the Thursday Night game with CK and AlCantHang. CK will now be known as the Asian Cooler (or AC for short). I ended up losing my bet literally on the last play of the game. Tennessee with the back-door cover FTL, FML.

I recovered to win around $40 at Pai Gow back at Paris before calling it a night.

Part two later….

PokerSlut Tour PLO8 DS

WPBT and Current Legislation

As I write this I am less that 24 hours away from hopping on a flight and making my way to Vegas for the WPBT festivities. I didn’t make it last year and I vowed to never do that again.

Reid Legislation

I have done a couple of articles on Rakeback the last few days, which can be seen here and here. Since the last article was posted it looks like the fate of PokerStars and Full Tilt has reverted back to version one and if passed they would be out for a significant amount of time (39 months). Now it looks as if no legislation will pass before year end, which may end up being a good thing.

If legislation pushes through I wouldn’t like seeing the 15 month blackout of online poker. I mean, I do make some money writing about it. What would really suck is to see Stars and Tilt not be available immediately after the blackout is lifted. You would think those sites would be able to grease the wheels with a little bit of extra cash. Isn’t that what Washington is after anyways? Agree to pay a $20 million fine or something like that.

Now the question to answer is what to do with my online money? I’m certainly not worried about not getting it back. I’m looking at how I can profit most before a possible blackout. I think my best shot is to start playing some steps. Try to get as many step 6’s (on Full Tilt) and step 5’s (on PokerStars) as I can. If the US players get shut out of the market they would have to give you cash value for them, right?

I guess it’s time to start grinding away at them. Even if nothing happens between now and the end of the year, the worst that could happen is me having a boatload of step tickets in the bank. That’s not all bad.

After all, I have been running good in the step 1 super turbos lately:

PokerSlut Tour XX Starts Tonight

Brag Post

It’s not too often that I get to do one of these posts so fuck it, I’m gonna do it. The pic to my left is a shout out to my brothers and sisters from the Great White North. I’m looking at you and you. I wish this were a brag about some big five or six figure hit, but alas it’s not THAT good.

With the extra workload (which I love, hi boss!) it has been a little more difficult to play online lately. I have re-dedicated my time (read: in the wee hours of the morning) to playing more.

It all started one week ago when I had to deposit $20 on Full Tilt just to play the Pokersluts $1 rebuy. I was in for around $8 all told and I was able to take it down after a heads-up match against PokerGeekMN for around $50.

In anticipation of Rush Week happening on Full Tilt beginning tomorrow, I started to play the micro-stakes level of $5nl Rush. The results have been very promising so far. I am going to try and do the 10 FPPs per day to get the $10 bonus. Let’s just hope it doesn’t cost me that much to do it.

Also on Full Tilt I started playing some of the step tournaments. With three buy-ins at step 1 I have been able to work one of them up to a step 3. I will try and work that to a step 4 and then play a $750k guaranteed satellite. Also between steps going off I played a satellite to a Mini FTOPS event and binked a win in that.

Thanksgiving night was the 4th annual Turkey Cup hosted by Dr. Pauly. With 56 runners and the top 9 being paid I was able to final table and finish 6th. I ran like god in hour one when I picked up KK three times, QQ once and flopped a set and had 22 flop a set twice. When we reached the money bubble I was brutalized by Dr. Chaco. I was 2nd at the start of the bubble and was 7th once it burst.

I also played in the 2nd chance PLO event. I was in a three-way all-in early with top set and no redraws on the turn against a wrap draw and a flush draw. The wrap got there and I was left with around 100 chips. I was able to double up twice and then I tripled up in a three-way hand where my single suited aces held. I then doubled up to 3k against Jess when we both flopped broadway but I also flopped two pair to go along with it and I boated up. The double was short lived as I shipped all of my chips back to her when I flopped top set against her flopped straight and I failed to boat.

The last mini-brag was AIPS yesterday. A disappointing 27 runners showed up for the HORSE event. I was at the bottom of the chip counts most of the way. I was once down to 500 chips before I doubled-up twice in quick succession in Stud. When we got down to 12 people left I was in last place and had about 1/3 of the chips of 11th. The rungood was then activated and I was able to make the final table with a slightly below average chip stack. I think I took out one or both of 8th and 7th place and I was 2nd in chips. Once we reach 6-handed it was a coin flip as the average stack was somewhere near 5bbs.

I think all of us held the chip lead at one point or another when we were 6 handed. I was able to get to heads-up play down 3-1 in chips and it quickly went to down 5-1 after getting the bring-in three times to start off. I was actually able to build back up to the chip lead when the wheels fell off. We both had a 4 card 10 on 5th street in Razz when most of the chips went in. I was drawing dead by 6th street and I was done. I could have saved my last 13k on 6th and would have faced a big deficit but I couldn’t find the fold button.

Not a bad week for me overall though.

Tunica vs West Palm Beach

Is that even a serious question? With the recent news of a WSOP-C event happening in Florida, it was a question I had to answer. I was originally going to hit the Circuit event in Tunica in early February with Jerry, Brad and maybe even Blaz Seriously though, where would you rather be in February, Tunica or West Palm Beach? Nuff said.

The event in West Palm takes place February 17th through March 1st. Although a schedule isn’t out quite, the Circuit events are using a fairly similar schedule. That means I will probably try and hit the $200 satellite Thursday night and then play the $300 event on Friday. Schedule is up in the air from there. Maybe I will add the Saturday $300 event in as well. I would REALLY like to hit that $200 satellite to get the lammers for a $300 and the $1,500 main.

Needless to say the cash games down there will be insane.

Coming Up With a Plan

After the Winter Gathering I have the fortunate situation to be on vacation for the rest of the year. What I need to do is come up with a plan on how to spend my time. I may have some extra work for the other job but I should have plenty of time to play some poker.

I’m trying to decide where to play. Basically I have to be able to end my sessions by about 3:30 in the afternoon. I could sit and grind online in the morning and then go play at the room closest to my house. The second, and best option in my opinion, is to go hit the Hard Rock first thing in the morning.

The morning players at the Hard Rock are interesting to say the least. The vast majority are people who are stuck from playing overnight. It’s not exactly low variance poker but it definitely can be profitable. I don’t have to worry about variance too much these days as I can afford to drop 2-3 buy-ins a few days in a row and not run the risk of busting the bankroll.

Here are my local options:

• Tampa Bay Downs
• Hard Rock
• Derby Lane
• Tampa Greyhound
• One Eyed Jacks

Obviously I spend most of my time at Tampa Bay Downs. It’s about five minutes from my house but I think it probably has the toughest players in the area (relatively speaking). Hard Rock is always a great place to play, nuff said. Derby Lane is a bit of a haul for me and they don’t open till a little after 11am which would mean some short sessions. I have not made it back to Tampa Greyhound since the limits changed. The play is terribad but the games were always populated with short stackers. Like $20 in a 1/2 game. I see they have a 1/3 $100-$300 game now. I may want to check that one out. I have never been to One Eyed Jacks. It’s over an hour away but maybe I can get Smokkee to meet me there one day.

It should be a fun few weeks for me.

PokerSlut Tour $1+1 NLHE Rebuy!

Where In The World Is Snuffy - Volume 5

Volume 5 takes me to Detroit, Michigan. There are four casinos in town (not including charity rooms) including Caesars Windsor (Canadian Side), Motor City Casino, Greektown Casino and where I played, MGM Grand Detroit.

I got a chance to go play on a Wednesday night before heading out of town. When I arrived around 5pm or so there were two 1/2 games going and I was able to immediately get a seat. Just by looking at the table it would be no different than my other sessions in Detroit, very loose and a mix of aggressive and passive players.

After a couple of laps and seeing raises to $10 being called in 7 spots I knew what kind of table I had. Early on I was seeing some flops but generally missing. One hand I can think of I called a raise to $8 with A-10 and saw a 10 high flop. Before action reached me there was a $20 bet and a shove for around $50. I folded and saw someone flat the raise with A-A and take the pot. Not exactly the greatest strategy when 7-8 people are seeing the flop.

I was chopped down to around $100 from my $200 starting stack before I finally won a pot about two hours into the session. It was shortly lived as I fell back in a hurry. The first raise hand I had was A-K when I kicked it to $12 and received 3 callers. Flop comes K65 and I c-bet to $25 and was check raised to $60. I actually thought that was all of his stack and I called. He shoved his last $35 on a brick turn and I called and saw the set of 6’s. I was all the way down to $37 after the hand. Then the fun started.

A couple hands later I am in the sb and call a raise to $12 with 52ss. Yeah, you read that right. Flop comes 662 and I shoved my last $25 and was called in two spots. Board runs out 4,Q and my hand ended up being good. Back over $100!

From there I was able to climb up to $150 when I won my only big pot of the night. There were several limpers to me in late position when I found Q-Q. I raised it to $22 and had two callers. Flop is Q-10-Xssc. I lead for $40 and get one caller. Turn is a brick club and I put my lone opponent in for about $50 more and he calls fairly fast. I roll over the set and he holds. I asked if he is drawing live, he says no. River is an inconsequential card and I ship the pot.

After that the play was pretty meh and after a four hour session or so I left up $51. One large pot and running bluffs vs the right people on the right kind of boards was the rule of the night. My twitter feed says it all, “I left Detroit alive AND with more money than which I came with. How many people can say that?”

PokerSlut Tour XIX Stud Hi/Lo

Promotion!

Well I have been on the job for around two and a half months writing news stories at Rakeback.com. I received the good news late last week that I am being promoted to Senior Reporter. Basically my job will be to oversee a staff of 3-5 people writing up poker news stories. The promotion will probably double my workload but I am really looking forward to it. In tough economic times you have to take every opportunity you can to make some extra money.

What can you do for me? Glad you asked. I encourage everyone to go over to Rakeback.com and sign-up for an account. Even if you have rakeback on all of your accounts go ahead and sign-up for the forums and post away. The site traffic definitely helps my bottom line. Who knows, I might even set-up a freeroll in the relatively near future to show my gratitude.

Feel free to peruse the news page and send me feedback about what you like and don’t like.

I finally found a way to make money in poker.

PokerSlut Tour XIX HORSE

A horse is a horse, of course, unless it’s a donkey.  Then all bets are off.

Online Poker Commercial

I totally ripped this off of foucault at Thinking Poker.

Happy Halloween

Sundays, but not today.  Go give yourself a sugar coma sneaking candy from your kids’ treat bags.  That is, after all, what Halloween is all about.

PokerSlut Tour PLO DS

Not only will I be hungover from my Home Game, I will be trashed from attending the Central Illinois Youth Symphony’s Wine Tasting and Silent Auction fundraiser. 

So, come take my chips.

The Situation Continued…

After re-loading for another $200 I had it up to around $260 after one hand by tilting and firing three barrels with air before my opponent folded on the river. Sitting around that amount I picked-up KK and raised to $12 with two callers. Flop comes J102 rainbow. I lead for $25 and get one caller who has about $50 left behind. Turn is a brick 4 and I put him in for his last $50. He calls and turns over KQ and gets up to grab his coat and walks one step away from the table before the 9 hits the river.

I was as low as $140 on my second buy-in when things started to turn around. After taking a 15 minute break I came back and the deck started hitting me hard. I had my stack north of $300 in one lap. I picked-up AA against a loose aggro player who, based on the comments at the table, is a regular player in the 2/5 game there. I raise to $12 pre and he is the only caller. Flop comes KQ7ss. I fire out $20 and he calls. Turn pairs the 7 and I bet $35 and he calls. River is a the 6s and he donks out for $35. I took a good bit of time going over the betting and it didn’t make sense so I called. He had bottom pair. Helped a bit that I had the As as well.

Two hands later I have AK off UTG and limp. The reason I limped is because the player from the last hand was in the SB and I’m pretty sure if we get multiple limpers that he is making a move with his $90ish stack. If he doesn’t and I miss a flop I have no problem pitching the hand. There were multiple limpers to him and he makes it $21 to go as expected. Folds to me and I make it $102. All fold to him and he throws the rest of his stack in saying “I just have low cards.” Board rolls out 543KA and he mucks after seeing my hand.

I played a little while longer and had my stack as high as $540 but dribbled down a bit to $470 when I got up.

Situation #2:

After dinner I came back and bought in for $200 again. I had $230 in front when yet another tough decision came my way.

I have 33 and call a raise to $10 along with three others and we take the flop five handed. Pot is $50 and we see a 632ss flop. It checks to me in MP and I bet $30 and get 3 callers. $170 in the pot and the turn is a bad looking 5 bringing a second spade as well. EP leads for $25 and next to act min-raises to $50. I tank and gamble hoping for the board to pair on the end when a late position players 3-bets to $200. EP folds and next to act is all in for less and it’s back to me.

I took a good two minutes or so and counted out the pot and figured out the odds I needed. Please don’t check my math here with the pot as I am guessing on numbers but I needed to be getting 5:1 to make a neutral EV play and I was only being laid 4:1. Add to the fact that I may be facing a higher set I opted for the fold. When players rolled their hands over one had 74ss and the other hand A4. Unfortunately the river paired the 2 and I would have scooped a $650 pot.

If I end up holding in the first two hands (first one in particular) I am going to gamble it up on the last hand. That’s a total of $1600 in pots that I would have won. I ended up leaving with a $29 profit. A lot of action for a small win.

/ bad beat and cooler stories

Where in the World Is Snuffy Volume 4 – The Situation

Volume 4 is back where I brought you Volume 2, The Meadows in Washington, PA. I made it to the casino in the late afternoon wanting to play some 100 play video poker. Two problems with that as it’s 10x points day at the casino and there were a bunch of busses there meaning the average age was about 80. Both of the 100 play games were taken. Time for some poker instead.

First off I will give you a slight warning that there are some bad beat stories in here but along with it I wanted to talk some strategy with the hands. I sat with $200 and early on won a decent sized pot to get to $280. In the second lap around the table the following hand occurred.

I am on the button with 1010. There is an EP raise along with 2 callers to me. I call along with the BB and we see the flop 5 ways. Flop comes 1082hh. EP leads for $10 and a MP player raises to $25.

Question #1: How much do you raise here?

It’s pretty obvious that you must raise in this spot, I just need to figure out how much. I opted for a raise to $50. Looking back at it I think I need to make it $75 here. With that board texture you need to push out at lease some of the players drawing. EP calls and MP calls. Three to the turn and the board pairs the 8 (non-heart). EP and MP check to me.

Question #2: How much do you bet?

Stack sizes at this point are important. EP has $170 behind, I have $220 and MP covers. Now I’m not scared of anything that comes on the river (except maybe the case 8) and I want to keep all draws in the hand. I opted for $50 on the turn again leaving $170 behind and both EP and MP call.

River is a non-heart king. EP shoves his last $120 in and MP shoves over the top. Action to me.

Question #3: Is there any way you can find a fold in this spot?

I have to call $170 to win nearly $800. I think it’s pretty obvious that the EP player has something with an 8 and I’m 99.9% sure it’s EXACTLY 10,8 (note he was not the pre-flop raiser). What the hell do you put MP on? You can take an 8 out of the equation.

I make the crying call (if you can call the 3rd nuts there a crying call) and MP is the first to roll over the KK. EP mucks and I just got kicked in the junk early and I am on to buy-in #2. I think it’s really hard to put MP on KK considering there was no 3-bet pre-flop.

If I had the hand to play over I think I raise to $75 on the flop but with the board pairing on the turn I still don’t think I shove there. I probably make it another $75 leaving a short-ish $100 river shove.

Since this is getting a bit long I will wrap it with a part 2 later.

Answers on all three questions are appreciated.

PokerSlut Tour XIX Limit Holdem

Yes, it is time for that slow painful death known as Limit Poker. 

Nick Schulamn on ‘World of Jenks'

World of Jenks - MTV Shows

Full Tilt sponsored Nick Schulman talks about being a professional poker player

I took a look at this video today and I had two immediate reactions to the piece. The first one is that I think it fairly portrayed the life of a professional poker player. The second is not as nice.

Every time I see one of these pieces the player has some other kind of outside issues. Schulman indicates that he has anxiety attacks. Even though he has had these since high school, the casual viewer will think ‘yep just another degenerate gambler.

How about one time having a piece on a professional player with a family? Show the rest of the world that us poker players are like everyone else.

PokerSlut Tour XIX Stud

Time to prove how studly you really are….

Only in AC

Seriously this is the type of shit that deserves the death penalty.

Harrah’s New Orleans Report

I was able to get in a session last night in the Crescent City. Harrah’s is nicely situated on the corners of Canal and Poydras just a few blocks from the French Quarter.

The first and only interesting story on the night was when I was on the elevator down from my hotel room. A middle-aged lady is on the elevator staring at the buttons. She asks me '”where is all of the food?” After thinking about that for a second I told her everything was on the first floor. “Where is the button?” I said the one on the bottom that says ‘lobby’. “Oh, I’m so fucking drunk I don’t even know what’s going on. I feel like such a fucking idiot.” I should have told her that the first thing is identifying the problem. Second part is fixing it. Yep, I’m pretty sure that I am in New Orleans.

After a nice dinner at Gordon Biersch on the patio watching the Twins lose number 512 in a row to the Yankees, I was ready to play some poker. There was probably eight 1/2 games going at 6:30pm. I was number two on the list and got a seat within five minutes.

My first thought was that the table was a bit on the older side so I was ready for a bunch of nits. While that was somewhat true there was two particularly bad players at the table. One was a middle-aged guy (MAG) and the other was an older guy (OG). MAG was a river aggro player. He loved to fire on all rivers whether he had something or not. OG was a calling station. You never tried to bluff him off of a hand for any amount. One of the fun hands of the night was when these two battled. MAG fired $20 on the turn and $60 on the river with air and was called down by OG with 4th pair. MAG goes off saying he is the worst player he has ever seen. Really? You saw him calling down with any pair for the last two hours and you try and run a bluff on him? Who is the bad player?

My night wasn’t too entertaining at all. I only had two somewhat interesting hands on the night. The first one there was a one limper before the button raised to $12. I had KK in the small blind and just called and the limper called. I opted for just the call because we were going to be three handed at most and the button liked to fire all flops once he put in a pre-flop raise. Flop comes out Q109 rainbow. To my surprise the limper leads for $20 followed by a button call. Based on the limper’s earlier play he has to have two pair plus in this spot. I opted for a call and will re-evaluate on the turn. The turn comes a 4. I check and limper leads for $60. I just don’t think I am good here and pitch without a lot of further thought. I think the only thing I am possibly ahead of here is QJ.

The last slightly interesting hand was late in the session when I called a MP raise to $11 with 97dd along with a lady that came to the table. The lady was very tight and the MP player was aggro but tended to give up on the turn when he didn’t hit. Three to the flop it came down J104 rainbow. MP c-bet $16 and I called with the gutter and the lady called. I was slightly concerned when the lady called. She acted like she had a piece of the flop but not a really big piece. The turn brought and ace. Lady checked, MP checked and this pot was ripe for the taking. I bet out $36 and the lady hummed and hawed before folding and MP folded fast. She commented that she thought she had the best hand. I’m guessing she had something like QJ and couldn’t find a call with my tight-ish image. I told her I turned two pair with A10 to make her feel better.

After that I was at my high point of the night showing a profit of $125. The table got older and amazingly got a lot more aggressive. Since the table was looking a little tough I opted to get up with an $87 profit on the day after about 3 1/2 hours.

Parking at the casino was a touch high at $25 for 24 hours. After 30 minutes of play you got a ticket for free parking. Unfortunately the poker room doesn’t track play. At least they didn’t last time I was there and I never asked. Maybe if asked they give you one. I opted to play some 5 cent 10 Play Jacks or Better. After dropping $5 after what had to be nearly 45 minutes I went to look for something else to play. I found nothing before heading back to the video poker machines and dropped the $15 in a 5 cent 100 Play Jacks or Better machine that took all of 5 minutes to lose. Damn card reader didn’t work either.

I go to get my free parking and it says that I have played 24 minutes, WTF? I go find a penny machine to play to satisfy the time and happened to run good and won $5 over an hour of play. I got my free parking and called it a night.

One side note I wake up at 4:15 (had to get up at 5:30 for flight) by a loud ass party in the room next door. They quiet down just in time for me to get ready to leave for the airport.

Where in the World is Snuffy - Volume 3 and 3a

This week I am in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Last night I hit the Hollywood Casino in downtown Baton Rouge. No poker room there (knew that going in). It was gonna be a short stay anyways after dinner so I opted for one I have never been to before.

I played budgetcoach's favorite game Mississippi Stud. Ended up winning $50 and gave back $20 playing 10 play video poker. Quick $30 profit is fine by me.

I will be staying at Harrah's New Orleans tomorrow night and hopefully will get in an extended cash game session. Results to follow.

PokerSlut Tour XIX Razz

It's time to Razzle Dazzle!

Baller Strip Poker Highlights (NSFW)

Via CalvinAyre.com:

I think that's Vanessa Selbst in the background at the end.

Edit: Removed cause damn think opened every time you go to the blog.

PokerSlut Tour XIX 7 Game Mix

Tonight: 7 Game Mix

Tournament Report

On Tuesday night I played a tournament at The Meadows. Buy-in was $65 with t5k to start and another t1k with the $5 dealer add-on. There were a total of 46 runners paying top five. The structure was pretty standard, no doubling of the blinds late, and 18 minute levels.

In the first level at 25/50 we had an older dude raise to 300 and a younger guy 3bet to 2k. Old dude tanks for like 3 minutes (lol with 18 min levels) and calls off 1/3 of his stack. Flop 10 high and its all-in and a quick call. Young guy had AA and old dude tables AK. After the hand old dude is down to 75.

Next hand after a couple limpers old dude puts in his last 75. One other caller to me in the sb and I call with J,3 and all limpers call. Five to the flop (1 all-in) comes Q93 rainbow. Older guy (OG) in ep bets 75 into the 375 pot. Folds to me and I call. Turn 10 bringing second diamond and I check call the 200 bet into the 725 pot. River 8d and I fire 600 and he starts bitching "can't get him off of a draw". Well yeah when you bet 1/3 pot or less you can't. He folds and I was gonna fold but had to show because of all-in.

OG won't let it go. After that every pot I'm in he enters as well. About a lap later I raise AK UTG to 200 at 25/50 and get 2 callers including said OG. Flop comes AJXhh. I bet 400 and he calls. Turn Kd bringing diamond draw in as well. I lead for 800 and he raises back. I shove and he turns AQdd over "hmm what do i do, I call". Brick river and I have a double stack.

After that I yo-yo up and down. 9k to 12k to 7k back to 12k. That happens when in the first two levels you get AA, QQ AK and AQ. When we break to 3 tables left I am sitting on 15k. I started paying for good cards early as I had nothing. Raise and 3bet was the standard and I went fold fold fold. I actually blind down to 9k when we break to 2 tables.

With 2 tables left I was able to get back to 18k without showing down a hand. A combination of hands and opportune spots. I think with 11 people left I raise to 2.3x and the bb shoves for 4.4x. I call with the K4dd and was up against A7. Not the worst in the world but I don't catch up and I am knocked down to around 9k when we break for the final table.

Having 11bb's isn't great but workable. First hand at the final table I draw the sb and see UTG shvoe for around 10k, CL at (90kish) flats. Late position old guy shoves for 30k and chip leader calls. EP has AQ, CL has AJ and old dude of course has AA. Bullets hold and old dude is now the chip leader around 80k. I don't pick up a hand in ages and fold all the way down to 3bbs 8 handed. I'm on button with 33 and call all-in vs lady who has me covered and I see JJ. I flop a set and hold for the double.

Down to 6 handed we all throw in $10 for bubble. Bubble burst shortly after and I am down to like 4bbs again. After a limp and raise I jam J6. Limp folds out and I am up against A7. Jack in the door and I get a double.

Still 5 handed the chip leader is running the table, that is until he is called down by QUEEN HIGH and it's good. He shut down after that. I am sitting on around 9bbs and raise 2.2x with K10 and see a 3bet. I am never good vs this dude and opt to fold. He shows AK. Very next hand in the bb short stack shoves and I wake up with QQ. I flop the set but still have to fade straight outs which doesn't come and we are 4 handed.

While 4 handed I pull off a sweet bluff with 83 which leads to next hand. At 3k/6k I limp the sb with 98 and bb checks. Flop 1065 and I bet 6k and bb calls. Turn binks a 7 and I bet out 24k, bb jams and I call. He had 109. Now 3 handed I am 2nd in chips but close to the chip leader. Shortly after that I am in the sb and put bb all-in with 44 and he calls with J10 and I hold.

Here is where good negotiating skills come in. 1st is $1011 and 2nd is $563. I have a 3/2 chip lead and feel really good vs my opponent so I'm gonna propose a deal well in my favor and if he doesn't take it I am fine with playing on. I offer $100 off of 1st and he immediately snaps it up. $911 score for me. Guess I picked the right tournament to win when 1st pays around 40%.

Cash Games and Casino

I played 1/2 on Thursday with horrid results. There was an older guy who would bet 2x pot on every dry flop. I didn't quite have him figured out yet when I went to war with him. I raise with JJ and he is the only caller. Flop 10 high and I bet 3-bet my stack and he flopped a set of 4's. I bought in for another $100 and nitted it up for another 4 hours and got up with $100 in front of me.

The casino was good to me. I actually turned a small profit in Pai Gow and probably broke even on the 100 play JOB machine over around 30k hands.

Back to the track

The wife said today I'm leaving for around 5 hours, why don't you take $20 and go to the track and win some money. After a good laugh I took just a bit more than that and went. About 4 hours later I won about $300.

A good week for me.

Where in the World is Snuffy - Volume 2

This week I am in Washington, Pennsylvania which is about 45 minutes outside of Pittsburgh. Just a few months ago the Pennsylvania legislature passed a law allowing table games and poker in the state. There are two major casinos around here, The Rivers Casino which is located in downtown right next to Heinz Field and The Meadows Racetrack and Casino which is located in Washington, PA, where I'm at.

I was able to get two nights of poker in while I was there including a tournament. If you follow me on Facebook you know the results. If I get a chance this weekend I will try and write up a tourney report.

PokerSlut Tour PLO8 DS

Where in the World is Snuffy - Volume 1

Gonna start a new series all about the poker options wherever I go. Number one on the series, Connecticut.

Right now I am in Hartford. I have two options in this area, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. No way in hell am I ever going back to Foxwoods after what has happened in the past there. A quick check of the blog along with my old one and I can't find the post. Just leave it at teh suck and move on.

I am going to hit Mohegan Sun on Thursday and do a poker room review for my writing over at the Rakeback.com site. Not sure what or if I will play when I'm there or not. I see that they have a $100 bounty tournament at 7:30. That could be an option.

PokerSlut Tour XIX

Wow!  Season XIX kicks off tonight with NLHE DS!

Blogger Winter Gathering

Well, it's official. After receiving permission from the President (read: wife) I went ahead and booked my trip for the WPBT Winter Classic in December. I will be staying at Harrah's arriving Friday early evening and leaving Tuesday. I pulled a cheap rate through the Total Rewards site ($65 weekend, $35 weekday). I just can't stand staying at the IP any more.

I decided to come in later so I could have a day to myself at the end of the trip to try and get unstuck from whatever I lose the first few days. Plus I have never been in Vegas for a MNF game.

What perfect timing too because the lovely people at PokerStars have decided to put together a tremendous added prize pool to the tournament. Adding a total of $4500 to the prize pool is awesome.

CK was nice enough to introduce me to a potential teammate last night. Now if only this person or this person would get off of their ass and book the trip we could have a full team of three.

I vowed last year to never miss one of these again and I'm keeping my word.

3d5e8eeb-92c1-402f-9edd-5310b8ec7138

1.03.01

Love Satellites

Where else can you confidently fold a hand like KK pre-flop?

(click to enlarge)












We were two spots away from the seat so not really a tough decision to make. I get to freeroll into the AIPS event tonight. I think I should take it a little more seriously compared to the last AIPS I played in where I was probably playing an 80/30 style.

Been Doing a Lot of Writing

Well I am one week into my new writing gig at Rakeback.com. It's been an eye opening experience getting a peek into the poker news industry. It is definitely a lot harder than I anticipated. The most difficult part is writing news articles on topics that I really don't care that much about. Through the first six articles the best ones that I have written are the two that I was really interested in:

Negreanu v Duke Feud Heating Up Again

$2 Million PokerStars Collusion Ring Caught

I now have a totally new respect for people like Pauly and Shamus and their writing skills. Also, thanks Shamus for answering some of my questions about the industry for me before I ended up getting the job. You helped out a ton.

One item I find difficult to do when writing the articles is that I am not allowed to link to sites that try to turn their traffic into rakeback arrangements such as Poker News. I am allowed to mention them but not allowed to directly link them. It's a hell of a lot easier writing on this blog where I can link what I want and when I want.

As time goes on I will be able to start picking my own news items and the writing should flow a whole lot better. One of a series of articles I will be doing is poker room reviews for the various locations that I visit through my regular job. Coming up over the next few months will be trips to Mohegan Sun, The Meadows (Pittsburgh area) and Harrahs New Orleans.

Feel free to check that Rakeback.com site often to check out the articles. The traffic created certainly helps me out.

Some People Never Learn

So I have been bum hunting this player in the NL 2-7 sng's named buldoog. They actually show up on the Sharkscope leaderboard for 2010.
























Not a particularly bright player in the sense that he (assuming here) refuses every rematch request that I accept but then he turns around and registers for the next one where I can just register after him and play again. These things don't fill too fast so I can easily do it. To date I have registered a 7-0 record vs him. His aggro style must work against most opponents if he is showing an ROI of around 17%. All you really have to do is wait for a spot and he will hang himself.

I played an interesting game last night. The horrible players were out in full force. In the first match of the night I was playing an opponent who would raise 5x and then draw 3. That match didn't take too long. The next one was really fun:

Seat 1: Graf783 (1235 in chips)
Seat 2: scottc25 (1765 in chips)
Graf783: posts the ante 5
scottc25: posts the ante 5
scottc25: posts small blind 10
Graf783: posts big blind 20
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [3d 5d 2c 8s 6d]
scottc25: raises 40 to 60
Graf783: raises 40 to 100
scottc25: raises 100 to 200
Graf783: raises 100 to 300
scottc25: raises 140 to 440
Graf783: raises 140 to 580
scottc25: raises 220 to 800
Graf783: raises 220 to 1020
scottc25: raises 220 to 1240
Graf783: calls 210 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (10) returned to scottc25
Graf783: discards 3 cards
scottc25: stands pat on [3d 5d 2c 8s 6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Graf783: shows [Ad Kh Th Jc Js] (Lo: a pair of Jacks)
scottc25: shows [3d 5d 2c 8s 6d] (Lo: 8,6,5,3,2)
scottc25 collected 2470 from pot
Graf783 finished the tournament in 2nd place
scottc25 wins the tournament and receives $6.00 - congratulations!

10-bet FTW!!!!!!!

Overall I am sitting at 32-12 for a profit of $51.20. Do you think a 36% ROI is sustainable?

Some NL 2-7 Single Draw Strategy

I know not many of you play the game so I thought I would put down some numbers on some common spots in the game. Last night I was playing a sit & go and ran across a situation that comes up often, but I didn't know the exact odds. Let's start with the first part of the hand:

Table '304139281 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: MITYAY317 (1320 in chips)
Seat 2: scottc25 (1680 in chips)
MITYAY317: posts the ante 20
scottc25: posts the ante 20
MITYAY317: posts small blind 40
scottc25: posts big blind 80
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [6s Jc 7h Ts 8s]
MITYAY317: raises 160 to 240

My opponent has been doing a lot of 4x raises with their 2 card draw hands from the sb/button and 3x raises with his 1 card drawing hands. Having a made hand vs drawing hands is such a huge advantage in this game. Basically if someone jams you are never getting good odds even with a 1 card draw.

scottc25: raises 1420 to 1660 and is all-in
MITYAY317: calls 1060 and is all-in

I am at the very top of my jamming range in this spot with a pat Jack hand. Keep in mind that I would never open jam here but this is a perfect spot to jam over raises. Looking at the numbers my opponent should only call with a made hand in this spot.

Uncalled bet (360) returned to scottc25
scottc25: stands pat on [6s Jc 7h Ts 8s]
MITYAY317: discards 1 card
*** SHOW DOWN ***
scottc25: shows [6s Jc 7h Ts 8s] (Lo: J,T,8,7,6)
MITYAY317: shows [4h 5d 3c 5s 2s] (Lo: a pair of Fives)
scottc25 collected 2640 from pot
MITYAY317 finished the tournament in 2nd place
scottc25 wins the tournament and receives $6.00 - congratulations!
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2640 | Rake 0
Seat 1: MITYAY317 (button) (small blind) showed [4h 5d 3c 5s 2s] and lost with Lo: a pair of Fives
Seat 2: scottc25 (big blind) showed [6s Jc 7h Ts 8s] and won (2640) with Lo: J,T,8,7,6


Let's look at his odds vs my made hand. My opponent was holding 2,3,4,5 meaning he could catch any 7,8,9,10 or jack to win the hand. at first glance that looks like 20 cards to hit his hand or approximately 40%, right on the number(1060/2640) to make a profitable call. Keep in mind in draw games I have to have some of his outs in order to have a hand worthy of jamming. Let's take 2 cards out if his possible outs (as it turns out I had 4) for 18 total and an approximate 36% chance of winning. That turns his one card draw into a losing proposition.

Let's further look into my jamming range. Knowing the odds I am never making this play with a made queen. My range is limited to made J,10,9,8 and 7 hands. My head hurts too much to figure out those numbers, but let's look at a pat 10 hand for example. My opponents outs are reduced to 16 and even further reduced to the cards I have already in my hand (guessing 2), their percentage drops all the way to 28%.

OK enough math and strategy. Time to rest.

New Writing Gig

Rakeback.com has been kind enough to offer me a writing job for their site. I just signed the contract today and will be starting at some point next week. I will be mainly writing news articles that go up on there site. Once everything starts going full steam ahead I will post up links on here, but the articles should be showing up on this page.

When I started my old blog back in November 2005 (has it been that long?) I never thought I would be making any money from it. I welcome the challenge and it should be a ton of fun. Again, more details as they occur but in the mean time go check out the site and if you have any article suggestions drop me a comment. Also, check out their forums. I will probably be trolling around there quite a bit as well.

The Wonderful World of Deuce

I have a new found favorite game. Don't worry, I'm sure I will curse it to no end soon enough. Back a few months ago I was playing some pot-limit heads-up 5 card draw sit-n-gos. I found that it was fairly easy to read my opponents hands based on betting patterns. About a week ago I decided to try another draw game, 2-7 no-limit single draw. I have been playing the turbo heads-up sit-n-go version with a decent amount of success.

So far I have played 27 $3.20 turbos and I have amassed a 19-8 record. Right out of the gate I started off 12-1 but have since posted a break-even record. I would really like to move up as fast as I can due to the rake structure. When you move up to the $6 ones the rake is only $0.25. Way more beatable. I need to take a peek at that level one of these days to see how the quality of play is. Someone mentioned a possible challenge. It's possible but not too likely because of the lack of volume in these and I haven't even tried multi-tabling them yet.

I have noticed a bunch of regulars in these. Taking notes is so important in these. One of the players that is on the Sharkscope leaderboard for heads-up draw games I have pegged as an aggro monkey. You never have to bet your hands, he will for you. So far I am 4-0 vs him. He has always refused the rematch.

The strategy I have developed for these has been working well. Even if I am down 300 to 2700 I never feel that I am out of it. I have actually come back from this deep of a hole around a half dozen times already.

I will give you one good tip. When you are both drawing one and you are out of position, check your big made hands (7s, 8s and 9s). If your opponent misses they are not calling your bet anyway. Give them a chance to bluff off some chips and bet hands they normally wouldn't even call with. One rare exception to this is when you get a player that pays off with any non-paired hand (and even some small pair hands).

I will post after I get a couple hundred of these done and see if I notice any more trends.

At Least It Was Fun....

while it lasted.

Wednesday

Step 4 - busto
Step 4 - busto
Step 5 - redo

On the step 5 redo we were 4 handed and I had about a 3k stack and a 3700 stack shoved in front of me and I snap called with AQcc. I was up against 33 and the board bricked off for a redo.

Thursday

Step 5 - Step 4 - Step 5 - busto
Step 5 - busto

On the last step 5 I had a chance to possibly drop to a step 4 but it was folded to me in the small blind and I shoved my KQhh 4bb stack into the big blind with A7. We both improved but nor enough for me. I think if I fold there I am just an uber-pussy and would do it again if I had the chance.

I did reach Silver Star status for the first time ever. Not going to do me a whole lot of good right now since I will probably take an extended break except for a random AIPS event here and there. Oh, I also have the FPP satellites in a few weeks as well.

I suppose if I wanted to I could start from step 1 with 8 buy-ins my using my FPPs and the remaining cash in the account.

Maybe that extended break isn't coming too soon after all.

Quick Stars Steps Update

Starting Monday I had 2 step 3's and 2 step 4's. Here were the results:

Step 3 -- Step 4
Step 3 -- Step 3 -- Step 3 -- Step 4
Step 4 -- Step 5

Today

Step 4 -- Step 5
Step 5 -- Step 5


On the step 5 that I played I was able to build a lead early, all the way up to 2800, without showing down a single hand. When we reached 100/200 we still had 9 people left and a lot of short stacks. I didn't have any calling hands and I watched everyone else battle and build stacks while I blinded down. I pushed one hand with no callers still six handed. After that I folded into 3rd place and shoved my last 1400 with Q8 but lost to 106. If I win that one I have a slight lead over 3rd. Oh, well I have run good so far I can handle that little loss.

So right now I am sitting on 2 step 5's and 2 step 4's. Back to the grind tomorrow.

AIPS and the PCA FPP Path

I ended up playing AIPS on Saturday afternoon. It was 2-7 Triple Draw that had 35ish runners with 5 being paid. My opening table was 5 handed with one person sitting out. Fasso was at my table as well. Early on we had one player that raises every hand. If someone bet to him he raised. I was able to get a hand vs him and put in a number of bets in (I think it was capped after 2nd and 3rd draw). I won the hand and he promptly sat out never to be seen again. Now playing 3 handed I was able to open up quite a bit playing a ton of 2 card hands. Every time someone defended I showed down an 86 or better. By the time we reached the first break I had my starting stack north of 7k which was almost triple the average stack.

In the second hour my table ended up breaking and on my new table I pretty much stayed steady. I would pop up and down but I was always around that 7k stack. When we dropped to 3 tables left and I was moved again I was able to accumulate some chips and when we fell to 2 tables I was at or near the chip lead around 11k. Then the wheels started to come off.

On the final 2 tables I was outdrawn like a mofo. I counted a total of 10 times I was pat after the second draw only to lose on the end. My stack was like a yo-yo. Down to 3k, back to 12k, etc. I ended up making the final table with around a 4th place stack. I lasted a little while before I finally busted in 5th. I think I had a different mentality at the final table over the 3rd-6th place stack entering. I wanted to win, they wanted to cash or move up a spot. When 1st is only $64, why? To each their own though.

So far on the year in 7 events I have 3 final tables (1st, 2nd, 5th) and a final table bubble. Not to bad of a series so far. I might even be near the top of POY if it wasn't for edwardm111's 4 wins on the year.

Sunday I played my round 3 and round 4 FPP MTT satellites for the PCA. The round 4 was the first one up. I played exactly two significant hands and folded a ton. I limp shoved about 15bbs with Ak and it held vs AQ. Later on I limped J10dd from the button and flopped the flush draw and min-bet the ace high board. I got there on the turn and was called by AdX and faded the higher flush draw for the double. From there I coasted into the seat. In the round 3 we had 4 live people at the table and 5 sit-outs. Someone decided to shove every hand. After about 10 hands in a row of this I defended with KQ and it held vs 97. From there I steadily increased and actually sat out at the end and coasted into a seat. The next tourneys are not till 8/29.

This week I will be working heavily on the steps. I really need to get it done by the end of the week. If not I am just going to have to bank what I have left and wait till there is something else I want to play. It's not looking too good though as I have never seen more than 4 people registered for the step 6 at any given time.

Trying for APPT Auckland

Since more than a few of you know what I am trying for I decided to just post it. I wanted to have it a secret and say "Surprise" I am going to Auckland. I stared off with 5 buy-ins to the step 2's. I had originally planned on having about 10-11 buy-ins but life expenses got in the way and I was left with 5.

I was able to convert all 5 of them to step 3's. I won straight away in 4 of them. The 5th one i was kicked back to a step 1 and then won that and the step 2 to get it to a step 3.

Step 3's have been quite the grind. I won the first one I played and then lost the next. The third one I won. Here is where it gets interesting. The last 8 step 3's that I have played I finished between 3rd and 5th for a redo. Yes, 8 in a row. I had one really brutal beat when we were 3 handed. I was near even stacked with my opponent when I got it in pre-flop with AA vs 88. Board runs out 97610A. Thanks for giving me the ace on the end for fun. I have also had some nice 3 outer suckouts to stay alive in others so it all evens out in the long run. One thing about being in the step 3 wash is I am accumulating a lot of VPP's. In less than a week of work on these I am over half way to Silver Star. Too bad today is the last day of the month and I won't make it. A single step 5 and 6 pretty much gets you there though.

So now I have 2 step 3's and 2 step 4's. I am going to try and get this completed by the end of next week cause I would need to make some changes to my work schedule. One possible problem is that I have not seen a step 6 for Auckland go off yet. The most people I have seen registered is 4. If one doesn't go I will probable hold onto what I have and wait for NAPT Los Angeles sats to go. There have been some rumors on 2+2 though that there may be a NAPT stop before LA. Florida one time?????

AIPS is starting in less than a half hour and I am waffling on playing or not. It's 2-7 triple draw and right now they have 19 registered so at least it's a manageable field.

Sunday I have a round 3 and a round 4 FPP satellite for the PCA.

gogogo

Quick Little Update

I am working on a fun task right now that I think only one or two of you know what it is. Good or bad I will disclose it in about a week or so.

PA Poker Part I....Hopefully

Alright my excuses are dwindling. I've pretty much played 0 poker from February to July. No time and mostly no real desire to play. I jumped back online last week for a nice little score. Why? Well Pennsylvania has opened up its casinos for table games and poker. Now being only a half hour from a room as opposed to a little over an hour has my itch back. Finally care to start playing again and being able to shoot out for a few hours after kiddies are in bed makes it a whole helluva lot easier.

The skinny. There are going to be three rooms eventually in the immediate Philadelphia area. There are others in the state but for my purposes, these are the ones that sooooot me. Harrah's Chester opened it's doors to tables and poker this Sunday. Parx Casino at Bensalem Race Track opened on Sunday for table games and their poker room is supposed to open mid September. Finally Sugar House Casino is in the finishing stages of being built on the river just north of the Ben Franklin and set to open fully (table games and poker) in mid September. Ultimately this will be my most likely destination as it is the closest to my house. Actually both rooms that aren't open are a bit closer, but for the time being beggers can't be chosers.

Last night, I trucked over to Harrah's Chester to see what the deal was. Interesting side note for all those married men out there, if you give your mother grandchildren she will drive you to play poker while she plays slots. Scouts honor. Casino itself was packed as was the poker room. I was about 40 on the list for 1-2 when I got there but they cleared it pretty fast and I had a seat in about 15-20 minutes. The room itself has 25 tables, and they crammed them in there. not much room to move at all. As of now they are not offering any tournaments but the should change when the crowds die down. I don't know if there is any talk of expanding the room. One of the nice things is they have the electronic tables to punch people in and out, so the open seat count is pretty quickly relayed to the front desk. Now given the crush of people that were there and the newness of the staff working there things were not without a hitch. I heard some grumblings from the players but in all honesty I didn't think they were doing that bad of a job. Open seats were getting filled fairly quickly and I didn't see many player/dealer/house confrontations.

The actual poker part of this post. Obviously I played 1-2, which I still think I suck at but am trying to improve and last night I felt like a did a better job. There wasn't much to talk about really. Key hand of the night I get AA UTG and I have about 250 behind (started with 200). I limp, another limp, 1 off the button pops to 15, I reraise to 35, first limper calls, original raiser calls. Flop is K96 rainbow, I bet 80, limp/caller folds, original raiser calls. Turn comes out a Queen, I'm not thrilled with this card. I tank for a bit here, wondering if he could have kings but thinking AK is a stronger possibility. I don't like the Queen but calling 80 there with QQ seems a bit of a stretch. I'm also thinking 66 and 99 are possibilities too. I decided to check and he insta shoves, at this point my gut just told me he's not doing that with a set and I snap called. River blanks and he turns over K10. Um yeah, exactly what I thought. There were three other hands that I think I misplayed that cost me. One that I should have bet the turn OOP when I hit, that cost me money. One where I bluffed at a small pot that probably wasn't worth it and didn't tell any kind of story that would make someone think I had a hand. Finally one where I had a good feeling I was beat but couldn't let the hand go.

All said and done it was a good night. I walked off +225 for the night so I can't complain. Starting to get excited to play again which is nice and now that I have children that get at least a medicum of sleep there is a little time for poker. Come September I'll definately be doing my best to check out the other rooms.

The Results

Saturday I started out playing at Tampa Bay Downs. I got in a 2/4 LHE game for a short while waiting for the 1/1 game. People in this game as expected are horrid. One of the few hands I played I raised AJ in EP and got a few callers. Flop is 8 high and it gets checked through. Turn J and I bet and get one caller. River brick and the blind leads and I call. He turns over KK. You can't make that stuff up. I was called to 1/1 after a couple laps after I dropped $25.

I played the 1/1 game for about 90 minutes dropping $15 before I decided to play the satellite into the $350 tourney the next day. Total investment of $55 including both add-ons. There was only three of us on my table to take all add-ons. Action was fast and I folded for the first two levels before my table was the first to break. From there I was able to build a stack without putting anything at risk and I breezed into a seat which I ended up selling for $320 the next day.

I was a little late getting over to Derby Lane and I missed the Hooterific dinner with Gambit. When I got there Fasso was playing 4/8 O8 and Gambit was in a 1/1 game. I was able to get an immediate seat at the 1/1 game and bought in for $60. I actually didn't realize the max there was $80 instead of the $60 it is at Tampa Downs. In the first lap I picked-up AA and was able to get a full double. Not long after that I took another $60 off of someone in no particularly memorable hand and was up to $180.

I was somewhere around $250 deep when I played a hand with a husband and wife at the table. They were by no means teaming up. I raised to $7 with AKss and was called by the sb (husband) and the ep limper (wife). Flop J109 rainbow and its checked to me. I fire a $12 cbet and am called in both spots. Turn is a lovely Q completing the rainbow. Husband in the SB leads for $30 and wife quickly calls. I jam putting them both in. Husband snap calls Hellmuth style and wife snap calls as well. Husband tables AK with a total of $80 behind. Wife tables K7 with about $170 behind. River 4 and I scoop the nice side pot and chop the main. His wife took off in a huff.

I ended up being as deep as 4425 on the night before I took a couple of beats and ended up leaving with $295 in front of me good for a $235 profit.

Saturday results: +$465

Sunday was a fairly slow day. I went to Tampa Downs to sell the tournament ticket and sat in the 1/1 game. They had aces cracked till 1pm. I did pick them up once and had them cracked for $100. I ended up winning exactly one hand in 90 minutes but thanks to the aces cracked I won $80 on the session.

later on in the day I went out the Hard Rock and played 1/3. I was only out there for about two hours before I lost interest in playing and walked with an $18 profit.

Sunday results: + $98

I was planning on taking Monday off but I got the itch to play later in the afternoon. I opted for the $40 tournament at Tampa Downs. Starting with 6k with 79 runners and 9 spots paying. I was able to work my stack up to 9k by the first break without anything exciting. With about 4 tables to go I was down to around 8bbs and shipped A6 over a EP raise. He was folding his limps quite a bit to pressure. He didn't this time and called with AJ. I spiked the 6 on the river for the double. From there I was able to build up a bit and when we got to the final two tables I was in average chip position with around 12bbs.

With 15 left I was whittled down tow around 10bbs and jammed the button after it was folded to me with A10. The short stack with 3bbs called with J8. I flopped the 10 but the bb rivered a straight and I was crippled. From there I could not find a spot to shove. There was either multiple limpers who were not going to fold or there was a raise in front. When we came back from a break the blinds were 1500/3k/500 and I had 9k in the cutoff with 13 people still left. First hand back it was folded to me and I jammed 94off (for less than 3bbs) and saw the button, sb AND bb fold. How does bb fold there? I showed and took the free 7500. Very next hand folded to me and I jammed QJ off and everyone folded with the bb open folding K7. Weeeeee. Next hand I have A9hh and jam again. Short stack calls and the bb snap calls. Short stack hand A3 and bb has KQ. River bricks out and all of a sudden in three hands I go from 9k to 60k and above average. Shortly after that we reached the final table.

At the start of the final table we took $5 off of each spot to pay 10th. I drew UTG. On the second hand a short stack shoved into my bb and had KK. I held vs his AQ and was now a bigger stack at the table. About a lap later I raised A10 to 10k at 2k/4k in ep and the bb called. Flop come 987 and the bb shoved for 22k. I called and saw 66. Turn 5 and I doubled him up. About 4 hands later the UTG shoves and I get KK on the button and call to see AQ. I hold again and I am back to where I started. We dropped two more players fairly fast and were 6 handed. We ended up working out an even chop for $261 each.

Monday results: +$200

Total profit: $763

After some living expenses I have about $660 profit left. I never did jump up in staked but I have been happy with the results. I have one more day of play on Wednesday (taking today off) before the family comes home and its back to normal life. Been a fun few days.

1667% ROI

I am going to try it this weekend. Within 24 hours I am looking to turn $60 into $1k. I am going to start out in the 1/1 game and try and work my way all the way up to 5/10. If I bust along the way who care, I will only have $60 invested.

I am going to start out at Tampa Bay Downs and eventually move over to Derby Lane and meet-up with Gambit. By the end of the night I plan on being at the Hard Rock. Should be a fun little 24 hours.

Um Hi

I'm not dead. Mostly.

I decided last night a Rush Tournament sounded cool.

Think I'll take 6 months off before I play again.

Recap: Hi, not dead, rush tournaments more gooder.

Baby Steps

Tripled the roll on FT though.

Commerce, Congrats, New FL Limits and More Steps

Tons of odds and ends to get through today...

My trip to the OC after Vegas allowed me to hit the Commerce for the first time. I first put my name on a 200nl list but then I remembered they had odd blinds. I asked the floor and the blinds were 5/5. A little higher than I was looking for so I put my name on the 100nl 2/3 list and was able to get a seat almost immediately. Everything that everyone has told me about the place is true. Craisians everywhere! It took me a total of about three hands at the table to figure out who the droolers in the game were. In particular there was a Russian/Eastern European in the 1 seat. In two separate hands in the first 1/2 hour at the table I was able to nearly double against him. I went from my $100 starting stack to $285. My second near double all but busted him. He left the table but wanted the seat locked up. Yes!

About 15 minutes pass and he buys back in for $100 with 20's 10's 5's and 1's. The very first hand there is a raise to $15 and a caller to him. He raises to $35 and gets called in 3 spots. Flop comes QJx. He ships his last $65 in and gets called in 2 spots before there is an all-in and another caller. One of the players had K10 and the other flopped two pair. River A and K10 takes it. Russian/Eastern European slams downs the AA in disgust and walks away saying "keep my seat locked up". He ended up throwing his cards so hard they almost hit me in the 4 seat, landing on the rail. We waited for 45 minutes but unfortunately he never returned.

After our Eastern-European friend left the table turned into one of the nittiest ever. The 30-something guy to my left played the nuts and nothing else. When he was in a pot you folded. An older gentleman who took the 1 seat was nitty along with another older guy in the 2 seat. In one hand I had AK and the guy in the two seat raised to $15 with about $40 behind. I raised to $45 straight and he tanked for about a minute before folding QQ face up. Yeah, that tight. I told him he could pick either card cause they were both the same, he picked the ace. I bled down slowly over a couple more hours and ended up walking with around an $85 profit.

Congrats to CK for her 4th place finish in the Venetian $500 event for a little north of $20k. Great job! It figures the year after I buy pieces of her in a few events that she hits a big score. I run good.

As of 7/1 the new limits have arrived in Florida. We now have all of the games offered in Vegas. I stopped by the room near my house for a second to see what they were offering. Looked like the biggest game in the room was two 5/10 no-limit games. I was ale to play my first action 7/2 albeit only in the 1/1 $60 buy-in game. After having my roll depleted by Vegas and life expenses that's all I could afford. As expected the play was absolutely horrendous. I turned my $60 starting stack into $149 in less than 90 minutes before I had to leave. I might stick to that game for a little bit while building back up to the 1/2 game.

I witnessed one lol thing and one rofl thing in the game. I saw a dude win a $60 pot and tip $5. Shortly after that he won a $45ish pot and tipped another $5. I weep every time I see that. It's bad enough you have a 10% $5 rake plus a $2 high hand rake in the game. I swear Florida dealers have it made over their Las Vegas brothers and sisters. The rofl was truly one of the funniest things I have ever heard at a table. There were 3 limpers before the small blind raises to $3 and naturally everyone calls. Flop comes out and it gets checked through. Small blind check folds the turn and says to the player next to him, "To be honest I was just trying to steal the limped money". Buhahhahaha. He raised 3x (to $3) after 3 limpers. Does he honestly think everyone is gonna fold?

I have been perusing the steps and satellites on Poker Stars lately looking to see if I can win my way into a LAPT or ANZPT event. Unfortunately the ANZPT events do not utilize the step system. Their seat only satellites run around $265 and their package satellites are around $415. I even sent a PM to the ANZPT Tournament Director Danny McDonagh to see if he could do something. He said he actually tried the same thing with no luck. At least he tried, which is commendable. I really wanted to use the steps to try and win a seat. Guess that is just not going to happen for me and I am resigned to try and win a LAPT (or possibly an APPT) seat since they do use the steps.

My current step plan is to play a step 2 about every other week and try and build up some step 3's. Nearing the end of the year I will then try and press them into some step 6's for a shot at a seat. So far I am 2/2 in advancing. I probably won't play another one till around the end of the month.