See the Flop. Be the Flop.

Final Table Finish

2006-06-02T12:32:00.000-05:00

I placed 5th out of 239 for a $170 cash. Nothing big, I was pleased considering I haven't played an MTT in something like 8 months. Then again, the little $5 re-buy tournaments are very easy, so I can't just assume MTTs are always going to be EV+ for me.

I ended up becoming the short stack at the final table when a guy with about 10k less than me open raised all-in and I called from the BB. He had AQ and I had KK. He spiked his ace.

Then I pushed into the BB as the SB with AhKh. He had black Aces and IGH in 5th place. There were a couple big hands that came up where I wasn't involved, and I thought for sure I'd go right into third place, but the other players turned into pussies on the turn and river, and checked the hands down after some aggressive flop play. It's funny having the day off -- the final table was me and 4 guys from France who cursed at each other a lot.

The MTTs are exactly how I remember them. Be patient early, play aggressive late, and don't make stupid calls. Win a couple coin flips, and you're looking good.

I've also made about $30 in profit at 1-2 NL so my loss for the morning has been completely erased and I'm happy again. So, back to cash games for the rest of the weekend. I also have Monday off so I'll be playing more MTTs then.

Wowzers in My Trousers

2006-06-02T10:43:00.000-05:00

I was down to just 8 BB when this hand comes up ... blinds 300/600

I called in MP with 8h9h and we saw the flop 4 handed. Flop: Jd 9D 4c

both blinds check and utg limper checks. I bet 1500. BB check raises all in and I feel pot committed so I call. He has JQ and I spike a 9 on the river.

Now I'm in 8th of 58, so I have a decent chance. More to come later...

Update: Just pulled off a sweet bluff to move up to 4th. Blinds 750/1500 and I raise UTG with AQ to 3500. Only BB calls.

Flop 10s 7s 4c

BB checks. I check.

Turn Ks

BB checks. I bet 3000. BB mini-raises. I move all-in. BB folds.

We're 5 players out from being in the money...

A Tough Morning

2006-06-02T09:51:00.000-05:00

This morning I was sucked out of $200 when I got my money all-in as a 3 to 1 favorite twice and lost both of them. My profit over the last month at these stakes has been absolutely ridiculous, though, so it doesn't put much of a dent into my bankroll. It's more annoying that anything else. I'll probably pull my money out of here and go over to Full Tilt pretty soon. Just waiting for an email from someone to hook me up with rakeback.

Now I'm playing the Noble Poker $2500 guaranteed re-buy tournament. With 10 minutes left until the re-buy period is over, I am in 20th out of 160 and have not had to re-buy. I'll do the add-on as will virutally everyone else. This is the first MTT I have played in 2006. Wow ... I'm going to let that sink in for me. I can't believe I have stayed away from MTTs for this long.

I haven't been dealt the Hammer yet, but if I am, I will raise it up. I will also Hoy someone the first chance I get. Hopefully I'll have some decent hands to talk about soon. Right now I'm stealing the blinds and folding everything else because I am card dead.

Tight Is Wrong

2006-06-01T08:03:00.000-05:00

Once you peg someone as a rock, and having the PokerTracker stats to back it up helps, you can beat them easily. The same is true to a slightly lesser extent when you read someone as TAG (Tight-Aggressive). But, if you've identified someone as a LAG (Loose-Aggressive) player, that doesn't do as much for you. Granted, the one time you flop a monster, you have a chance to let them keep bluffing into you if you are last to act, but a good LAG player knows when to put on the brakes.

This is the style I've adopted over the last couple months, and even though it's always a work in progress, my profits have increased exponentially. Playing < 1000 hands of short handed $50 max buy-in, I made $600 in profit. I'm not going to write about how I play any hands, though, because I feel like I've found a style that works very well at this level.

I plan on bringing it to the $100 max buy-in level next and I expect to have success with it there, as well.

The main point of this post is this: If you play a patient, tight style, think about how that looks to everyone else at the table. Now think about how it looks to an observant player when they've seen you fold 17 out of 20 hands and then re-raise someone pre-flop. This is why tight players get busted. Loose players will call a re-raise with a lower pocket pair or suited connectors looking to flop a baby set or two pair vs. an overpair, and then they'll punish the tight player on a ragged flop.

Playing a tight and patient style might work for someone looking to grind out minimal profits each day, but you won't get very far with this style as you move up in stakes.

2006-05-29T09:02:00.000-05:00

New day, same luck. Current win rate today at a $50 max buy-in level is $38/hour. I have to say, people must think I am a total donk because of my late position strategy, because ever single big hand is getting paid off, and these callers don't have much. I feel like I've never played better. My bluff success % is way up because I am picking my spots much better -- i.e. always with position and heads-up in a pot. Yes, that's common sense, but a year ago I wasn't displaying much of that.

I'm tired of posting nothing but hand history, so I won't do any of that unless I find myself at a total loss and need some opinions. Truthfully though, that's never going to happen at these stakes. Most of the choices are pretty cut and dry at the $50 and $100 max games.

The only question I do have today is this: are there any knowledgable PokerTracker people out there? I tried using it once, and never figured it out. I want to get into a serious routine of using that plus whatever that other device is that runs during your games -- Poker HUD, I believe.

If there are any experienced users with either of these, I'd love for you to drop a comment. If not, I know PokerTracker has a forum, so no big deal.

Enjoy your Memorial Day.

2006-05-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

I just played 4 hours of $50 max buy-in on 4 tables and stopped with a win rate of $100/hour. God, I love the weekend. Best of luck to anyone not at my table!

2006-05-27T01:41:00.000-05:00

I mention the Hoyazo in the header of my blog, and soon after, he takes down the PartyPoker $40K Guaranteed. Coincidence? Probably, but he wrote a decent recap of it and seems like a knowledgable tournament player and good guy, so congratulations to him.

I'm not at his level as far as tournament stuff, but his win has me wondering if exlusively playing cash games is EV- for me.

Anyways, congrats to him. Back to the tables for me.

2006-05-25T09:57:00.000-05:00

Here's a funny hand from last night.

I was playing 1-2 NL on Noble around 1 AM and had been at the table for a couple hours. Got my stack up to around $310 by taking a couple medium sized pots down when chasers didn't hit their draws.

Anyways, there was one guy there who was obviously the table bitch. He didn't belong at these stakes and played in a pretty obvious way -- mini-raised when he had drawing hands and cold called raises when he had draws, etc. Somehow he managed to win one big hand against some other fool so he had like $370 in front of him.

I'm dealt QsQd UTG and raise it up to $10, which has been the standard raise for the last hour. Table bitch calls and so does the BB. Flop comes Ac Qc 3d and BB checks to me. I bet $20 into the $31 pot as a probe bet. TB mini-raises me and BB folds.

I'm figuring him for either a drawing hand, or a big Ace. Either way, I can cripple him here. I decide to just call, figuring a big re-raise would make him fold, but a call could let me punish him on the turn if a blank falls and he still chases.

The turn pairs the board and completes his flush if he's in fact drawing to it. It's the 3c. I decide to feign apprehension and give him a chance to either raise with a made flush, or at least bluff at it. With about $110 in the pot, I bet $35. He goes all in and I call instantly, figuring I'll pay off Aces over 3's in the rare case it happened. River brings the case queen, and as Jordan would say, dems quads beetches.

He mucks and types "nice suckout, you fish. I had AA." So I quickly go to the hand history and see that he had AJ.

Me: You had AJ. Thanks for the IPod, Eeyore.

Some random guy who had never said a word the entire two hours I was there types in "BURN!" and then like three others laugh and AJ leaves the table. I left after that, too. Half the table were decent players and there was no easy money left there.

I still don't like that you can see your opponents cards even if they muck at showdown, but it came in handy there.

Win Rate Yay -- Red Sox Nay

2006-05-24T08:20:00.000-05:00

I'll preface this post by saying I'm not big on catchy post titles, so chances are you'll never see one.

Last night I was feeling tired and the $100 max buy-in games on Noble were uber tight so I dropped back to some $50 max buy-in which is always guaranteed action. Sure enough, I spotted a good mark as I was waiting for the BB to come around to me.

First he made a crazy steal raise of $5 from the button and then showed Js6s when both blinds folded. Then he overbet two flops in a row and showed bottom or middle pair each time. He was directly to my left. It didn't take long.

Hero - $50
Villain - $67

Hero is BB and gets dealt KcKs -- damn it feels good to be a gangsta.

Villain raises to $6 UTG. Couldn't ask for a better opening. All fold to hero who goes all-in. Villain calls.

Flop Kd Ad 2s
Turn 7h
River Qd

Hero shows trip kings. Villain mucks and types that he had AK. So I checked the hand history and saw that he really had a pair of 8's. I didn't point out to him that even though you can muck at showdown the other person can still go to hand history and see what the hole cards were.

I think that's shitty. Why even give the option of mucking if your cards are still exposed? I really don't like it because that means someone can see how I play every hand. It probably doesn't matter so much at these stakes, but I plan on moving up very soon.

What's also ridiculous is that my win rate has been like $40/hr. at a $50 max buy-in game lately. From my limited experience of being on Noble for a month, the $100 and $200 max buy-in games kind of suck, so I will most likely take my bankroll to a bigger site like PartyPoker -- but probably not that specific site. Full Tilt seems like a viable option. If anyone can get me good rakback, let me know. First come, first serve. Raveen - I know you mentioned CD Poker so I'll give you first crack at Full Tilt.

Here's a blog none of you may have heard of -- sellthekids.com

I've always found this person to be an entertaining and informative writer, so check him out. Last time I read that site he was playing 2-4 NL. Now he's up to 5-10 NL a year later.

I don't have much else in the way of poker because I've been busy trying to maintain an active social life lately. The fiancee and I built a fire pit that could easily belong on the set of The OC (no, I don't watch, but it's an accessible pop culture reference) and invited some friends over to enjoy it. I also watched the Red Sox get smoked by the Yankees last night. Manny made the score respectable, but it was never close.

I pulled off a pretty sweet trade in my fantasy baseball keepers league, which is hyper competitive and offers cash prizes. We have 4 all purpose outfield postions instead of LF, CF, and RF. Fine. But, here was my outfield: Johnny Damon, Brad Hawpe, Nick Swisher, Carlos Beltran, and Manny Ramirez. Of course I tried to trade Hawpe first because he's on fire, but no one was biting. So I threw out a post saying I'd trade Manny or Beltran for a starting pitcher of equal value, because I my pitching was FUBAR -- I have Randy Johnson and Gagne, 'nuff said.

At first the offers sucked -- I was offered Felix Hernandez for Beltran, straight up. I was also offered Jose "I'm only 34, wink wink" Contreras and Jose Guillen for Beltran. Yeah, because I need another outfielder and old pitcher.

Long story short, I traded Beltran for Roy Halladay straight up. I love the trade. With our league's scoring system, Halladay's complete games will give him a decent edge on Beltran, and I have a legitimate ace to carry on my roster now. I'm now being offered Rich Harden for Manny, but I don't think I can do it. Even though my team is struggling, Harden is out for another couple weeks, and Manny is a stud outfielder. I'm going to see if I can get Peavy, but it's gonna be tough after that 16k performance.

Okay, I'm done. I'll be going back to poker now.

2006-05-23T08:15:00.000-05:00

I had another nice score last night. Between the last two days of highly profitable play and an additional deposit, I have a bankroll sufficient for 1-2 NL and 3-6 limit play.

The last time I played 1-2 NL for an extended period of time, I tilted and donked away my bankroll, but that was last year when I didn't study the game or the players. I feel exponentially more confident in my abilities now.

1-2 NL isn't a tough game to beat. Not at all. It's just a matter of being able to take losing a $200 buy-in to a bad beat and not playing scared money after that.

When I do make the jump, I will most likely play a lot tighter than I have been lately until I can get enough hands under my belt where PokerTracker will come in handy. And by me playing tight, I mean seeing around 25% of flops instead of between 35% and 40% -- not too tight by most standards. I won't be playing by Lee Jones and Sklansky pre-flop rules, either. Being predictable will drain your bankroll.

I've also been toying with the idea of putting about $1000 aside and having a Foxwoods bankroll, but I don't get down there that often, so it's probably better kept online. I love live play, though. A good friend of mine just emailed me this morning with the idea of a home game every Friday night. We'd either play cash games or tournaments depending on the number of people each night. He's throwing out $100 max buy-in cash games or $20-50 tournaments. Most of my friends are average at best card players, and the only really good player isn't invited. He probably wouldn't show, anyway. He goes to Foxwoods every weekend to play 5-10 NL and then gambooooools on roulette with 50% of anything he wins playing poker. Kid's one of the luckiest people I've ever met. Twice I've seen him plunk down $1000 on red and hit it each time. But, I've also heard of him trying it three times in a row and losing every time. He's weird, this kid. Went to Tufts and could have gone to med school, but chose to go a completely different route and became an electrician because he didn't want a real boss. Does okay with that, bouncing from job to job and doing some freelance, but according to him he made $22,000 in 2005 playing poker. He lives in a small apartment and drives the same shitbox he did at Tufts, so I dunno what to believe. He could be one of these guys who dies with thousands and thousands of dollars under a mattress.

But I digress. As long as I am killing the .50/1 NL game, I'm going to stay put unless I see a really juicy 1-2 table with big pots and lots of people seeing the flop.

2006-05-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

Credit goes to TripJax for putting together these questions.

1. What is the biggest mistake people make at a NL table?

Calling too many raises with cards that shouldn't be calling raises, especially if it's out of position.

2. What is the biggest mistake people make at a Limit table?

Not playing aggressively enough.

3. Why do you play poker?

Combination of the money and the fact that I love how the game works.

4. If you weren't playing poker, what would you be doing?

Maybe doing a Red Sox blog or writing some fiction. Probably reading more than I do now.

5. What is your favorite poker book and why?

Small Stakes Hold Em elevated my limit game a lot.

6. Who is your favorite poker player and why?

John Juanda, because he makes excellent reads and always keeps his poise.

7. Which poker player do you dislike the most and why?

Sheiky, for being an asshole and a bad player at the same time. Watch him on GSN High Stakes Poker to see how bad he is.

8. Do your coworkers know about your blog?

Yeah, but none of them are into poker so they don't read. They'll occasionally ask how I'm doing, though.

9. What is the most you have won in a cash game or MTT (both live and online)?

Live Cash Game: $420 playing 5-10 limit @ Foxwoods.
Live MTT: N/A. Never tried.

Online Cash Game: A little over $600 playing 1-2 NL
Online MTT: $320+ when I finished 3rd in a $10 MTT on Absolute Poker

10. What is the most you have lost in a cash game or in one day total (both live and online)?

Live: $100
Online: $200 (a full 1-2 buy-in). Only reason is because I play smallish stakes. I've dropped three buy-ins at $50 max before.

11. Who was your first poker blog read?

Pauly during the WSOP coverage because my work's firewall blocks sites like Cardplayer.com

12. What satisfies you more, your aces holding up for a big pot or a bluff working for a big pot?

Bluff. No question.

13. Why do you blog?

I like to read and comment on other sites, and wanted to start my own to share hands and advice. Plus, I'm helping myself by writing this stuff down and then seeing how I played a hand on paper, knowing what I was thinking as it was going on.

14. Do you read blogs from an RSS reader like bloglines or do you visit each blog?

Don't know what RSS or bloglines are. I visit each site.

15. Would you rather play poker for a living than do what you currently do for a living?

No. I have a fiancee and a kid. I need guaranteed income. Ask me again in a few years, and I might be at a skill level where that answer changes.

16. Do you wear a tin foil hat on occasion?

No, but I've been known to type 'rigged' when an action flop comes.

17. If you had to pin it down to one specific trait, what does a great poker player have (or do) that separates them from an average player?

Like Miami Don said, the willingness to push with the smallest of edges. Your casual player lacks the stones to do that.

18. Is Drizz the coolest person on the planet for naming his baby Vegas?

I have to draw the line somewhere, and so I gotta say no on this one.

19. What is your primary poker goal and are you close to accomplishing it?

To become as good as a possibly can. I'm not even close, and that's encouraging.

20. What is your primary online site and why?

Noble and the related skins. Jordan from High on Poker recommended it and I haven't been disappointed. I will be getting money back on PartyPoker soon, as well.

21. What site do you dislike and why?

Ultimate Bet. Just because.

2006-05-22T08:51:00.000-05:00

Even through all of these rough downswings and 2 outers causing me to lose full buy-ins, I feel like I've been playing my best poker to date, so it was nice to see that come to fruition with a profitable weekend.

Expanding on my little blurb from Saturday - I decided to play some $100 max buy-in instead of my usual $50 max because there was a juicy .50/1 table with an avg. pot size of $30 and 40% seeing the flop. I saw this as a golden opportunity, so I bought in for $100 and let an orbit go by before posting my BB. It was a good table. There were two very aggressive players, and one guy who I quickly pegged as my mark because I watched him call 4 pre-flop raises and fold to a contination bet every time. He was two seats to my right. The aggressive players were both to my left, which was perfect.

I played pretty tight for two orbits, only seeing 15% of the flops. Then I got a decent feel for the table and started making some looser calls from the CO and Button while maintaining my tightness from EP and MP to a slightly lesser extent.

My first big hand came when I was dealt 3d3c on the button. I still had around $100 since I'd been mostly folding or scooping a small pot.

UTG+1 raises to $4. MP2 calls. Button calls. BB calls.

Flop 3s Ad 9d

UTG checks. Hm. He's been semi-loose and aggressive, so I don't know what to think yet. MP2 bets $2? Okay ... I don't like this so far because it's playing differently than the hands I've been observing. I'm fearing a really big hand for UTG the more I think about it, and MP2 is reading like a flush draw, so I raise to $12. Thoughts here? Too little?

BB folds. UTG re-raised to $36, leaving him with about $30 in his stack. I decide to put him all in and pay off a set over set if he hit it. He instacalls. Since I said I had a good weekend, we can assume I won the hand, but what do you think he had to play the hand this way?

Hand 2 (an hour later)
------

Hero: $212.50
Villain $147

Hero is dealt QsQh UTG and raises to $5
Villain is SB and after all fold to him, he calls.

Flop 7c 8c 9s

Villain open pushes all in. Hero folds. Anyone make this call?

Hand 3 (very next hand)
------

Same two players.

All fold to villain who raises to $5.
Hero has 9c9h and raises to $15.
Villain folds.

Anyone just call? I can't see doing it, even with position. If paint came and villain made a good bet, we can't call and feel good about it. I hate middle pocket pairs. Or, rather, I hate how I play them.

Hand 4 (like 15 hands later)
-------

Hero is CO with AsKs - $220
Villain is MP and one of the two very aggressive players - $198

UTG calls $1.
MP raises $6.
Hero raises to $18.

All fold to MP who calls.

Flop: 4s Ah 2s

Villain bets pot.
Hero goes all-in.
Villain folds.

Too strong?

Hand 5
------

Hero is Button with 3s5s - $275
Villain is UTG+2 and is the other aggressive player - $162

Villain raises to $5
All fold to hero, who calls. Both blinds fold.

Flop Js 5h 5c - hoowa!

Villain bets $10
Hero raises to $25
Villain raises to $90? I don't think JJ does this.
Hero goes all-in. Villain calls immediately.

Guesses and thoughts, please?

There are a couple more hands I remember. Maybe I'll post them later, but I don't want a blog of all hand history. However, I love the comments I get when I get them. They always seem to help me think of things from a different angle.

My SnG strategy of letting donkeys bust each other early paid off before making strong moves around level 3 or 4 paid off when I won three $20 SnG's on Sunday. All in all a nice weekend. Too bad the weather still sucks, but so far so good today. Maybe I can finally build the fire pit that's been sitting in my basement for a few months. Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Quick and to the pointless

2006-05-20T15:37:00.000-05:00

I've made $145 today and I've won it with junk hands hitting the flop hard, allowing me to bust overpairs.

I'll write more about this on Monday - namely about when to call and raise with them.

Have a good weekend.

On Changing Gears and Making Questionable Pre Flop Decisions

2006-05-19T11:28:00.000-05:00

Seems like a hot topic on a few of the blogs I read daily, so I figured I'd add my $.02 using my own forum since I don't play against any of these guys, and I don't want to come off as some random asshole interjecting and telling anyone how to play or how to feel about someone else's play -- on a blog other than my own, that is.

It's the conversation taking place here that's leading to this post. So, thanks guys. I've been looking for something to post besides me getting ass raped by suckouts because no one likes a bad beat story and I was afraid this blog was headed down that path.

Anyways, Player A makes a standard raise pre-flop with a high pocket pair, and Player B calls with a low 1 gap holding because he has more chips and position, so if the flop hits him hard and Player A is holding an overpair, Player B stands to make a lot. And that ended up being the case. Player B flopped two pair and got Player A to commit all of his chips.

So now the issue is, and I will be ignoring this specific case from here on out, the player with the overpair feeling like the other player is a donk which leads to him usually making a snide comment, which then leads to an extended bickering match. Please, don't do this. Not only does it show that you're a sore loser, but it makes you look pretty supid.

I know it can be hard to get away from an over pair, and it sucks getting stacked like that, but Player B made a smart call before the flop. Player B can easily fold to a continuation bet if he whiffs on the flop and get away with minimal loss. You're more likely to see Aces or Kings get cracked by a hand like 7c8c or 9d10d than by a hand like JJ or QQ. Player A is the one with a tougher decision. How could this flop have helped Player B now that B has put in a sizable raise.

On top of all that, Player B now has a greater chance of having his monsters paid off because he's harder to read. If this happens, now he has the option of raising or even re-raising with almost anything and unless there is a very good player at the table, Player B will be nearly impossible to read.

All because he was willing to call a standard pre-flop raise and take a chance.

If you're player A, don't bitch. Don't berate. Realize why B called. Realize he got lucky. And move on.

The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living

2006-05-19T08:06:00.000-05:00

I took a $65 loss last night but I think I played both hands great, so I didn't take it too hard. I was playing two tables and, funny enough, the hands happened simultaneously.

Hand 1:

Hero - $50
Villain - $35

Hero is dealt 6d4d on the button.

Villain raises to $2 UTG
MP1 calls
MP2 calls
CO calls
Hero calls looking to hit the flop hard and bust someone, or fold if he whiffs

Flop: Ah 4s 4h

UTG bets $3.
MP1 folds
MP2 folds
CO folds
Hero raises $4 to $7
UTG goes all-in
Hero calls

Turn Ad
River 6h

UTG shows AJo. Hero mucks. Heehaw.

I'm not raising with a flush draw here on a paired board when it's possible that UTG has Aces. What does he think he's ahead of?

Hand 2:

Hero: $50
Villain 1: 8.50
Villain 2: $40

UTG open pushes all-in for $8.50
Villain 2 calls from UTG+1
Hero calls from MP2 with AdKd -- beauty.
All fold.

Flop: Ah 7d 9d

Villain 1 checks.
Hero bets $5
Villain calls.

Turn: 2c

Villain checks
Hero bets $12
Villain calls

River: Js

Villain checks.
Hero checks.

Villain shows AJo. Hero mucks.

String him along or put him all in on the turn? I read him for AQ and AJ and so elected to string him along. Was I wrong here?

Feh. May my luck improve this weekend. And yours, too.

Persistence Pays Off

2006-05-18T09:33:00.000-05:00

It took until 2:30 AM (ugh) but I managed to book a nice session with a winrate of $10.18/hr while earning another $20 in bonus. I also reached Silver status on Noble, so I ended up logging out with a warm feeling in the cockles of my heart. There was a pretty good mark that I took for about 30 bucks after he kept reloading for $10 and pushing with any draws or TPSK (top pair, shit kicker). He lost about $80 total because everyone at the table was owning him and the game broke up when he left.

As soon as I earn my last $20 in first deposit bonus, I'm depositing an additional $300 to get the May reload bonus. From there I plan the PSO tour. I have a new PC with only Noble installed, so I'm going to create a new email address and hit all of the sites.

Funny how even the littlest win after a week long downswing can make you feel rejuvinated. Just like a young man coming in for a qvickie.
****

Not sure what type of music any of you listen to, but Muse comes out with a new cd which will probably be leaked to the P2Ps in the coming weeks. I've heard two songs off the new cd, one of them being the already released to radio single "Supermassive Black Hole". Pretty good song. It has a dance beat like the kind Franz Ferdinand uses, but Bellamy sings in crazy falsetto most of the time. I was a little disappointed in the album Absolution because it was completely different from Origin of Symmetry, but they're getting back to the over the top songs which is what drew me in to them in the first place.

Also, Jack White's side project 'The Raconteurs' put out their cd, and it's a pretty solid effort. Nice to hear him playing with a real drummer and backing band behind him, even if the songs aren't a big departure from White Stripes material. The single, "Steady, as she goes" is definitely worth checking out. That's a fantastic song.

That's all I have. Good luck at the tables.

The Downward Spiral

2006-05-17T23:10:00.000-05:00

Blech.

I considered making that word this entire post. I'm on the verge of converting this into some shitty emo blog where all I do is post sad emoticons and quote Trent Reznor to express my utter contempt for poker. And the fucking world, man! Nah. Everything outside the table is copasetic.

Had my AA lose to KK when KK flopped a set. Had my AJ flop two pair only to watch someone open push all-in with KQ and spike a ten on the turn and a second one on the river for good measure. Man, what the hell are the odds of making an inside straight twice running?

I start feeling like nothing is going right, and then I remember watching High Stakes Poker on GSN and seeing Daniel Negreanu (my favorite poker player, but not human being) stuck half a million. That's the equivalent of losing an 1800 sq. ft. home w/ a two car garage in my area. Pro rated, I'm sure DN dropping $500,000 and my down swing aren't too far apart, but still...

I know these guys have a lot of money, especially the ones with business investments like Eli Elezra and he we do not speak of with the nine bracelets, but I've always wanted to find out what their reaction was the first time they sat in a huge game and got completely destroyed. How long did it take for them to sit at those stakes again? Has to be crushing, feeling like you can hang with anyone and then getting stacked for everything you have.

On a happier note, I enjoyed watching The Grinder completely own J-Dags when they got heads up at the Borgata. Sure, it helped that Grinder always had a better hand, but for some reason I've never liked D'Agostino. I like his buddy Joe Cassidy, though. He has serious skill.

That's about it. I will learn how to do a blogroll and correctly post it, eventually. For now, all I want to do is get 10-J suited on the button and have the flop smack me right in the face. Here's to wishing everyone better luck than I'm experiencing.

On Multi-Tabling

2006-05-17T08:28:00.000-05:00

I'm done with it for a little while. I realized that the last three times I've lost a decent amount of cash, it's been while I was playing 3 or 4 tables at once. Coincidence? Maybe, but I'm a little superstitious.

I'm a big advocate of multi-tabling limit cash games because that's a more straightforward game where you play your cards more than you play your opponent at lower levels, but I think it doesn't translate well to NL games. Not for me.

Sure, I was cramming in a ton of hands/hr. and clearing my bonus faster, but I was probably also booking a lower win rate/hr. because I wasn't able to stay fully focused and know how everyone at the table was playing, which led to missing value through bluffs and not knowing how to approach each player when I was in a pot.

It should have clicked sooner, because I usually seek out multi-tablers because I've always said they're easy to bluff since they're playing with a level 1 or level 2 way of thinking. Duh. Should have realized that was going to apply to me as well.

Luckily, I was able to break even (see previous post) when I misclicked and entered the wrong SnG, and then took it down. So, lesson learned. I'll be doing just one or two tables from now on anytime I play NL.

2006-05-16T07:49:00.000-05:00

Here's how you instantly recoup all of your bad beat losses. Ready?

1. Sign up for a $20 6 handed Turbo SnG

2. Get the chip lead early on when it seems like the other five people are playing hyper aggressive.

3. Get a massive chip lead after busting two of them while they still have 750 in chips.

4. Get down to HU with a 4:1 chip advantage and win.

5. Look at the payout and realize you didn't sign up for a $20 SnG. You signed up for a $50 SnG.

Heh. I'm not making that common practice from now on, but it's nice to know I can hang with that crowd.

That was a great win considering I'm still running semi-cold in the cash games. Realistically, though, we're only talking like 500 hands here. That's nothing. But, that's always been a weakness of mine. I can't shake getting hung up on short-term results.

2006-05-15T23:49:00.000-05:00

I'd like to hear some thoughts on this hand.

Button (Hero) - $50
BB - $80
MP - $70
CO - $114

Hero is dealt KsQs

MP calls.
MP2 calls.
CO calls.
Button raises $1.50 to $2.00
BB calls.
MP calls.
MP2 folds?
CO calls.

Flop: Js 4c 7s

BB bets $4
MP calls $4
CO calls $4
Hero goes all in.

BB folds.
MP folds.
CO calls.

Thoughts?

2006-05-15T07:22:00.000-05:00

Miami Don nailed it. So much of this game is a matter of timing and a little luck, with of course skill comprising the remainder. Being dealt big pocket pairs all day won't yield much profit if people fold to your raises or whiff on the flop, and you'll get crushed if your big pocket pairs have raises called by small pocket pairs who make sets, and you can't get away from your hand.

I had a hurting put on me this weekend but managed to come away okay by the end. Friday night, I lost two buy-ins in 10 minutes. The first one came when I flopped an OESD and 4 to the flush, got all my money in against a guy with an overpair, and ran into the half of the deck that didn't help me. I can deal.

Second one, though, came when I flopped bottom set on a board of Q J 6 and got it all in the middle against AQ. He hit an Ace on the turn and a Queen on the river. I'm not mentally tough enough to hang in there after two losses like that so I had to take the rest of the night off.

I tried again on Saturday without much luck. Got it all in the middle with a set vs. a guy's OESD and he filled up on the turn, so now I'm down 3 buy-ins. Make it 4 buy-ins when I go all-in preflop with QQ against someone I knew to be a maniac. He called with AQ and spiked his Ace on the flop and I had to take the rest of Saturday off.

I think a "Why the fuck do I keep playing this game?" was wondered aloud once or twice during this debacle.

Sunday was nice, though. I took my fiancee out for breakfast to start it off. Then I gave her the diamond earrings I bought her for Mother's Day, and those were a big hit. From there we basically relaxed the rest of the day. She crashed early and I decided to give it one more shot. I'm glad I did because I managed to recoup around $90 of my loss through some solid play that won me medium sized pots. Nothing to interesting to write about, except I made a nice bluff against a weak player.

I was dealt 5-3 of diamonds on the button and limped after UTG and an MP player limped. SB folded and BB checked. The flop came Q 5 2 with two spades and UTG bet 1/2 the pot. MP folded and I saw an opportunity to make a semi-bluff raise here, so I made it $3.50 to go. BB dropped out and UTG called. The turn brought the 10 of spades and UTG checked to me. I bet out $5 into a $7 pot and he called once again. The river was the deuce of spades. He bet $3 into a $17 pot and I pushed for about $55 more. He thought for a while and then typed "nice suckout" and folded.

me: made it on the turn, thx. what did you have?
him: QQ

Er ... yeah. I didn't expect that. Heh.

I basically play this game to make a little extra money on the side while I try to find a full-time job that pays well, and that I will enjoy. The problem is that I went to work in the finance industry before finishing college, so now a lot of the jobs I want to do require a BA, but I think my work experience and references might get me around that. A piece of paper usually takes a backseat to solid work experience once you've been in the same industry for 5+ years. I guess we'll find out once my resume is finished and sent around. Here's to hoping.

Hope you all had a nice weekend and success at the tables.

2006-05-12T07:42:00.000-05:00

Last night, against my better judgment, I agreed to go out to watch the Red Sox game. It started off so innocent, too. We met at McFadden's in Faneuil Hall, but quickly grew sick of the place because it was overcrowded and an annoying DJ was talking over the game the entire time. We moved to Durgin Park restaurant for a quick dinner. Fried shrimp dinner > cheeseburger platter. Three of my friends ordered he cheeseburger medium-well, and none of them came out right. Eleven bucks, to boot. I was given about 8 large shrimp and some decent fries for fourteen bucks, so I was content.

After that, my buddy told us he had a plan. We were going to Cigar Masters on Newbury Street because a kid he works with is dating the manager there and she could hook us up. I was blown away when I walked into the place. Deep leather couches and chairs were spread throughout the place in addition to the fifteen or so seats at the bar, and the walk-in humidor was right behind the barstools. The VIP room, which we were free to walk in and out of, had plasma TV's and more leather to sit on, but we chose to stay out in the main area because there was a better vibe.

When I was told we'd get hooked up, I figured maybe a free beer or two. Louise came over to us and said all we needed to do was order something on draft so she'd have a bill to give us at the end of the night. We were the Rat Pack last night. Free cigars, free $30 per glass Tawny, aged 30 years, which was delicious.

I also had the pleasure of being introduced to Chimay Beer. At 8.9% alcohol, it'll do the trick.

The one thing I did not try were the cigars. Aside from smoking pot a couple times and not enjoying it, I've never smoked anything and intend to keep it that way. Still... they looked pretty damn good and tempting, but I'd feel like a poser smoking a really expensive cigar just for the sake of people seeing me do that.

I ended up getting home at 2 a.m. and waking up at 5:45. I am going to be so useless today, but it was worth it.

Tawny Port Wine
Chimay Beer
Cigar Masters (website has sound)

2006-05-11T06:58:00.000-05:00

To anyone looking to listen to something a little different, I recommend Gnarls Barkley's 'St. Elsewhere'. Gnarls Barkley is made up of Cee-Lo Green and Danger Mouse. DM is the DJ who combined Jay-Z's Black Album and The Beatles White Album, which is also a great listen. Anyways, Cee-Lo Green has the perfect voice for belting out soul, and Danger Mouse puts together excellent beats and music to match the vocals. Plus, they cover the Violent Femmes song "Gone Daddy Gone". YouTube.com has a few videos of their single, "Crazy", including a live one from Top of the Pops. That's definitely worth checking out. So, on to poker.

Last night I went back to Noble and back to playing inside my bankroll which meant a $50 max buy-in NL game. The result? I was called a donkey for the first time in months and challenged to a $500 HU match. Here's the hand before it, and then the hand that led to it. I still can't figure out why he called me a donkey.

Hero - $50
Villain - $35. No reads on villain because this is the first orbit.

Hero is dealt red AA in the cutoff. 3 MP limpers including Villain of course, so I make it $2.50 to go. Only villain calls me. Flop comes down 9 4 4 with two spades. Villain checks and hero bets $4. Villain calls. Turn is the Jack of diamonds. With $14.75 in the pot, villain checks again and hero bets $8. Villain calls. River is a seeming harmless card, a deuce of clubs. Villain pushes all in for his last $21 or so and I insta-call. I win and he mucks. I'm thinking he might've had AJ or a mid-range pocket pair and he was putting me on Ace-King.

One orbit later, I'm dealt 7-8 diamonds on the button, and this is the hand that led to it all.

I absolutely love these speculation hands and I'll play them from any position once I get a good stack just for the chance to bust someone.

Hero - $82 approximately
Villain 1 - $55 - seems to be TAG
Villain 2 $ 36 - donkish

Two MP limpers including villain 1, so I limp from the button. Villain 2 is the SB and makes it $2 to go. BB folds and every limper calls, so there's no way I'm folding because I have position on everyone.

Flop comes K J 7 with two diamonds. V2 bets out $3. Villain 1 calls, the other MP player folds, and I call. The turn is the 3 of diamonds. V2 checks, V1 checks, and I decided to check. I'll risk the 4th diamond in exchange for some deception. The river is a black Ace, which is a great card for me. V2 bets $6. V1 calls the $6.

Okay, let me preface by saying that I hate the mini-raise for a lot of reasons. But, I decided to use it here because I felt like raising to 3X+ would potentially make both players drop out of this pot. So, I mini-raised and they both called. My flush took it down.

So here's how the donkey thing came about. V2 starts chatting.

V2: Ouch. That hurt.
Hero: I've been there before.
V1: That's obvious.
Hero: You're such a good little loser [insert name so V1 knows I am addressing him]. Gracias.
V1: All I hear is HEE HAW HEE HAW
Hero: Then you should stop talking. All I hear is cha-ching.
V1: I'll challenge you to a $500 HU match anytime.
Hero: Let's do this.

Now, I had no intention of putting most of my Noble bankroll on the line against anyone, but I didn't think he'd show so I sat at a 2/4 or 2/5 HU table, I forget which it is on Noble. A poker buddy of mine followed me over there and we waited for like 5 minutes and he never showed. Then someone else sat and I pussied out and went back to my previous table where V1 was still there. The two of us then proceeded to mock him until he left.

Yeah, I'm mature.
****
So, apparently a 300 pound grizzly bear found its way into a Jersey neighborhood and was roaming backyards and jumping fences for a couple days until police cornered and killed it. The bear had foolishly wandered into a bear exclusion zone. Stupid bear, didn't he see the clearly marked signs? What would a bear inclusion zone be? At least the police tried to do the humane thing. They shot it with a tranquilizer dart once, and when it didn't immediately fall, they blasted it with a shotgun 6 times in someone's backyard.

It's things like that that make me glad I ~~waste~~ efficiently spend many hours playing poker.

2006-05-10T11:37:00.000-05:00

So, after having doubled up on the second hand (see below) I then spent the next 90 minutes stagnant. My stack was whittled down from about $385 to $330 after I missed some draws, but then I got it up to $390 when I was dealt AK suited in the big blind, and all folded to the small blind who raised to $10. I re-raised to $30, committing him for the rest of his chips if he proceeded. He pushed and I called, and my AK spiked a King on the flop and an Ace on the turn for good measure to best his pocked 8's.

Fast forward another 45 minutes where I've been folding a lot and letting the CO and Button take my blinds because I haven't seen any paint, and they both have good stacks.

Hero - About $378 at this point

Villain - Has me covered -- had around $410-425 after doubling up a few hands earlier. Very aggressive player. He actually doubled up through some overly aggressive and donkish play where he pushed with middle pair on the flop and sucked out against someone with top pair.

Hero is UTG+2 and Villain is UTG.

Villain raises to $6 to open the pot, which is weird because his normal raise has been $8 or $10. UTG+1 folds. Hero wakes up to Cowboys and makes it $18 to go. All fold to Villain who insta-pushes. Hero goes into the tank, but then tells himself that he would never fold KK in a cash game and calls. Now here's where it gets really insane. Villain turns over QQ. Flop comes Q 10 10 and Hero's heart bottoms out ... until a K comes on the turn and a blank comes on the river.

I guess it's a 'had to be me' moment because when you really think about it, it's not an exciting cash game hand on paper. An overly aggressive player went all in with a good hand, and got called by one of the two hands that had him crushed 4:1.

My first instinct told me to take the money and run, but I in fact stayed another hour and lost about $98 of it when I called a smallish stack's push on the flop because it came 10 high and I held JJ, but he held 10-10 and I failed to suck out. All in all, and extremely profitable night. I think I'm going to do a full cash out on City Poker and transfer half of it to Noble to make my BR over $1000 on Noble. From there, I am going to accept this gift from the poker gods and play within my means for a while because I see this for what it is -- sheer luck and good timing.

Okay, back to work for me.

2006-05-10T08:54:00.000-05:00

Remembering that I still had $200 on CityPoker for the sole purpose of sitting at a 1/2 NL table for one session, I logged in last night and saw that there were three different full ring tables where the average pot was $80+ with several big stacks sitting. I decided this would be a good night to try, so I put myself on all three waiting lists and sat at the first opportunity.

The stacks ranged from $70 to $1025 (one of the biggest stacks I've personally seen at a 1/2 online game) with most people above the max buy-in.

I posted the BB from the cut off position because I don't like waiting, and on the first hand I was dealt 77. Yuck. I'll freely admit that unless it's a very favorable board for me, I am no good at playing medium pocket pairs. Luckily, they made it easy for me by folding around, and when I made it $8 to go both blinds folded. Off and running.

Key players in next hand:

Hero - $183
SB - $790 appx.
MP - $350 appx.

Next hand I'm dealt 7-8 of spades and I see 2 limpers ahead of me. Good enough! Both blinds came along for the ride, and the flop was 5 6 A with one spade. The SB made a pot sized bet. BB folded, one of the MP limpers called, and so did I. Nice little pot building, especially when the turn brought the 9 of spades, essentially the perfect card for me. Here's where it got pretty good. The SB again made a pot sized bet, and the MP player raised him and made it $12o to go. Since I only had $180 and change in front of me, I pushed. To my surprise, the SB also pushed. He had the MP player well covered. MP thought about it for the full amount of time and then folded. The river was another spade that did not pair the board, completing my flush.

Want to guess what the SB had?

2006-05-09T11:27:00.000-05:00

I managed to squeeze in about 100 hand and 100 crowns last night before crashing. There is still one hand that's bugging me this morning. I think I made the right fold at the end, but I'm thinking I didn't play the hand well at all.

$50 max buy in and I had worked my stack up to $82 over about 30 hands. Villain had been at the table the whole time and my read was that he was slightly donkish. He had $48.

I'm dealt KQ diamonds UTG+2 at a pretty loose table, and after UTG and UTG+1 limp, I decide to limp in case they're looking to reraise. Flop is 6 handed as both blinds come for the ride and it comes down 7 A 10 with two diamonds giving me the nut flush draw and a gutshot draw to the broadway straight. Not too bad. UTG leads out and bets $1.50. UTG+1 folds. I decide to raise here for value, and make it $4 to go, possibly allowing a free card if the others drop out. An MP player smooth calls, though. Both blinds drop out and so does the UTG player.

Turn is a brick. Now I have a decision to make. I can bet like I have the Ace, or check and hope he checks behind me because he's also on a draw. I'd also be opening myself up to him making a play for the pot with just a draw, and I hate the idea of that. With $12.50 in the pot, I bet $7 and he mini-raised me. Now I had some information to go off of. A lot of weak players will make a mini-raise here with a set or a strong 2 pair. If he had either of those, I'd need a diamond that didn't pair the board or I'd need one of the other three jacks. I decided to call, and the river was a diamond. That paired the board.

Here, I needed to be aggressive, or I needed to check/fold because he was going to come out with a strong bet. Still, I feel like he had made a set of 7's or a set of 10's on the flop. I checked and he instantly pushed. I did take half the allotted time to think, but I ended up folding. He showed.

What do you think he had? What do you think of my play and thought process?

2006-05-08T08:43:00.000-05:00

I woke up yesterday, and things just felt right. The weather was awesome, I got to have a nice breakfast with my fiancee, and I also won a little money on the De La Hoya fight when I bet him to beat Mayorga by KO or TKO. The guy is just too talented for most fighters in his weight class, even if his main focus isn't inside the ring anymore.

After breakfast, I received a pleasant surprise. By 'surprise' I mean that she probably told me a few times and I either wasn't listening or didn't retain the information for longer than five minutes. My fiancee had a baby shower to attend, so she'd be gone for a lot of the afternoon. Seeing a perfect opportunity to play a rare extended session, I took care of the tedious housework and such in the morning so I wouldn't have to rush around before she came home to make it look like I was busy the whole time.

Her friends showed up around 11:30 and they all left together around 12:15. At approximately 12:15:05 I was at the computer, watching the splash screen from Noble Poker.

I immediately went to three tabling .25/.50 NL full ring games, and everything was clicking immediately. I was being dealt large pocket pairs, great suited connectors, and almost all of my hands were getting paid off. I even had someone do an open push all in for $37 UTG when I had AA in the small blind. He had Queens and was on tilt, and my Aces held up.

I ended up making about $215 in 3 hours yesterday. My fiancee coming home early was the only thing stopping me from continued domination as I had over $100 at each table and had most players fearing my bets and raises.

I plan on playing some tonight, but now that my bankroll is over $500 from a meager $200 first deposit two weeks ago, I'd like to start getting into some MTT and STT's.

2006-05-06T16:18:00.000-05:00

There hasn't been much to write over the past couple days. I've bubbled out of a MTT and two STT's, and I'm down $20 in cash games. Pretty bland overall. Today hasn't brought anything new, either.

My monsters are not being paid off, and my draws are missing. Such is poker. I think I'm up $12. At least I have accumulated a bunch of Noble Crowns, taking me closer toward silver status and clearing my bonus.

I made quads on the turn today but it only resulted in a $13 pot. Um... the lady across the street from me is really annoying. She's been playing bad classic rock while gardening, so I've been countering by blaring Talib Kweli on my Klipsch speakers. I think she got the hint because when she lowered hers, I lowered mine. Heh.

I've been downloading a ton of music lately. Mostly hip hop to counteract all of the retro and indie I've been listening to lately. Some Wu-Tang, MF Doom, Talib, and Most Def. Good stuff.

Right now I am in a $10 STT and playing a cash game, so hopefully some interesting hands will take place and I can come back to talk strat.

2006-05-03T10:54:00.000-05:00

The following takes place between 11 a.m and 12 p.m on 3-May-2006

Noble Poker
-------------

Here I sit, waiting for Direct TV to show up, wondering who all these degenerates are who sit around me. Losers. Get a job! Or maybe we're all waiting for the cable guy. Metaphorically speaking, of course. What does that mean? Shhhh. Just don't.

Played a little .25/.50 NL HU against a push monkey to start off the day. He only bought in for $25 and it didn't last long.

Then I left because no one else was sitting. I started playing 2 full ring tables, same stakes. One table was tight, and dead. Still is. The other table is great. Here's a huge hand from it ...

Hero - Close to $100
Villain - 'Bout $76

He's two seats to my left. Little history on villain - he's basically a textbook wannabe TAG player but he has loose raising and calling tendencies. Case in point - he'll make large raises on the flop with weak draws or top pair crap kicker, but he also folds a lot if you're the aggressor, so he's not really LAG.

Now he's in the BB and I'm dealt 66. All fold around to me. Dunno about you, but medium pocket pairs like 55-99 are the hardest hands for me. But it's an easy raise here so I pop it up to $2. Only villain in the bb calls and the flop comes down AA6. Cue up 'Ode top Joy' on the stereo, please.

He leads out for $5 and I pause for about half the allotted time before raising up to $15. Here's something I've always thought - the amount of time you take before raising or re-raising is a tell. If I bet and I'm insta-raised before I even get my finger off the mouse button, he's got the goods. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I don't think so.

So he immediately raises up to $45 and at this point I am safe to put him all in without hesitation because I know he's got an Ace with a big kicker, and the odds of A6 or AA aren't even worth considering here.

The one thing I do not like about Noble is that the cards don't get flipped over on an All-in confrontation, so I had to wait until the J on the river to see that he pushed with AJ and just beat me out of a $170 pot.

Yeah, I was mad, but I got a lot of it back on the next hand after I reloaded to $50. UTG I am dealt QQ. I decide to feign steaming and open raise for $3 to see what happens. My normal raise had been $2, no exceptions. I get two callers, an MP player and the button, both of whom I had no reads on. Flop comes down 4 Q 8 with two cards of the same suit and I overbet the pot. One of them pushed and I call. He had bottom set and my top set obviously held up.

Since then not much has happened. I was dealt Aces twice but couldn't find anyone willing to see a flop. Just got dealt KK and only took down a tiny pot when my caller folded to a contination bet with an Ace on the flop.

The table has turned lame. The villain who beat me out of the big pot has been doing nothing but folding and ignoring my taunts ever since, and no one else has more than $30 except for me, and I'm sitting on $93. Villain finally start talking to me, but he's coming off like an uptight older guy who thinks grinding at these stakes is a noble cause.

Okay, here's a question for you and then I'll end this. Completely hypothetical. Say you raise from MP with a PP like 88 through JJ. The BB is the only caller and when the flop comes down, you've made middle set but the flop is all one suit and you don't hold it. He open pushes all-in. Do you call here? Stack sizes being equal and close to the buy-in at a .25/.50 game. Does your answer change if we're playing $100 max buy-in? $200?