I went to the East Side club this past week and played some solid poker. I was patient and waited for my opportunities and made them work.
In a stupid hand (by the other players), I was dealt pocket 8s and had 5 players in for a $10 raise. Flop was A-5-7, checked all around. Q on the turn and again checked all around, which I found odd that nobody had hit anything, but with that many players, I did not feel like leading out into it. The river was an 8 giving me the set. Player to my right leads out $20, I raise to $40, another player goes all-in for $54, the first raiser goes all-in for about $110 and I call. Initial raiser was slow playing an A, the other player was slow playing A-Q and because neither of them bet until the river, I ended up taking the pot when they probably could have gotten me out on either street with a good bet. Took in almost $350 on that pot.
One hand I did not like how I played. I am on the button with 3-2. It is me, SB and BB. Flop comes 3-4-J. SB checks, BB throws out $10. I fold, SB calls. What I don't like about my play is that if I am going to play more advanced hands, I need to think of a few things here. Another 3 gives me a set. A 2 gives me 2 pair, an A, 5 or 6 gives me at least a straight draw. And the initial raiser could have been playing nothing and stealing or maybe a weak J (which ended up to be what he had). With the SB calling, I was getting the odds, but more so, it was cheap and I was up. The turn came a 3 and the river was a 2. I would have had a boat and probably would have taken a $100 pot. I need to think more about those types of plays and not be as scared to mix it up.
I ended up leaving up $170 and I was happy.
But then there was the Internet. Ugh. My on-line play has been SO BAD. Not to mention the cards are simply not connecting at all. I am usually a pretty solid player, but I have been having a terrible run. I was up about 250% for awhile and now I am down to where I need to reload. It is really frustrating. It is as if every play I make fails, every good hand I get does not connect or gets bested. This evening I had AK probably 5 times and lost every one. 3 times I did not connect at all and when I pushed with the continuation, either I got caught or re-raised and had to much. 1 time I hit an A on the flop (A-Q-8) in a sit-n-go and my opponent had A-Q. The final time I hit the K on the flop (K-2-7) and the other player had a set of 2s. Other hands have been fairing just as bad. Looked at KK in a 90 person tournament in the SB. The button pushes a small raise, I figure he is trying to steal, I call. Flop comes Q-7-2. He bets 300, I push to 600, he goes all-in, I call figuring A-Q and he turns over AA. In a 1-2NL game I go from up 40% to busted in 30 minutes as virtually no flop hits me with good starting cards or the other players draw out. Lost $163 tonight alone. That is too much for casual wasting time on a Friday.
Not sure what to do with this. I think I am gonna lay off the on-line play for a while. Re-read some of the strategy books and get my head back in it. In the live games I can focus and enjoy it, but I do not think I am enjoying playing on-line and I am doing it out of habit, doing it while distracted and I am losing consistently right now. Time to break.
Going to Chicago next week, if I can I may take a night at a casino near there as I have had some luck at the casino tables in the last few outings.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
A bizarre win, a good read and a big suckout.
So I went back to the east side club last night and as usual some wild play. being a $1-2 table, there was a raise on almost every hand. To play you had to assume you were going in or $15-20 minimum. Every once in a while there would be a cheap flop but in general, a lot of action. I decided to play tight as this was a table that you could make some good money at and people were making plays all the time, strong hands had good potential. 3 stand out in particular for me.
I called a $10 raise with Ac-7c. 3 others in the pot. Flop comes Kc-9h-7c. First to act this quiet younger guy who has lost a few hundred already making plays and getting caught. He raises $25. Next to act is the short stack, who calls. I call with my draw. Next card out is the 4c making my nut flush. First player checks, short stack goes all in for $37, I call. The quiet kid goes all in for another $57 on top. I am happy with this and call. I then turn over my hand and show the flush, he looks crushed. As the river comes out the quiet kid throws his hand into the muck, the river is another K. The short stack folds but the quiet kid just looks sick. Someone says to him 'did you hit that'? He nods. His cards are still on top of the muck as the dealer asks if she can turn over. I say 'ok but the hand is dead'. She turns over his cards, a K-9 which would have given him the full house. She pushes the pot towards me. I feel bad for the kid so I take out $75 of the pot and throw it too him. As I have written before, I think it pays dividends to present a sportsmanlike, nice image. He is stunned that I would give it to him. I say to him that he had the best hand, he just made a mistake. He gives $25 back to me and says thanks. I get a lot of props from the table for being a gentleman about it. But it goes to prove, always turn up your hand in case you read it wrong! A little while later when the quite kid wins a big hand he throws me another $25 and says that as he wins big pots he will give it back. Dividends!
This next hand was interesting for me as I used some good deduction to make a solid read. I had pocket Js in mid position. There were already 3 callers and I felt that if I raised everyone may call anyway the way it was going, so I limped for $2. Someone on a short stack made it $10, 6 callers. Flop comes J-Q-K with 2 spades. First to act is the same quiet kid who I had the hand with before. He bets $25, next to him is a short stack who goes all-in for about $60. I call, it folds to the kid who calls. I figure I may be behind here with my set, but i start to get a feeling that perhaps I am not. Turn brings the 10c. This is the worst card for me. It makes any A into a straight and there now 2 clubs and 2 spades. The kid throws out $75 and I go into the tank. Almost anyone else at the table I would be in the muck, but I start to think back. This is someone who was frequently raising pre-flop. He only limped in on this one, very out of character if he was holding a hand. He also struck me as the exact kind of player who uses aggression to buy pots regardless of his cards. I look at him and for some reason I feel like he does not want a call. I am sitting on about $225 at this point. I come over the top and go all-in. He thinks for a second and throws his hand away. It didn't hurt that the river came out another Jack giving me quads, but I was proud and got more props from the table for a sick read of the kid. I felt really good about this one.
Final hand to talk about was a total suck-out on my part. As I said, this table was kind of nuts. There was this younger russian guy who was playing a alot of hands and was acting pretty loose. I had Ac-4c and he raised it to $20. 4 callers. Having seen him try and make plays with rags, I call. Flop comes out Jc-Ah-2d. He throws out $60 and it gets folded to me. I look at him and think he is making a move so I ask what he has behind him, he says another $60. I throw out $150, it folds to him and he calls all-in. He asks if I want to do business (run the turn and river 2 or 3 times), I say 'I don't know what you have.' He turns over A-J for top 2 pair, I say I don't think he wants to do business as I show only the A. He looks and says, no business. I am pissed that I made the incorrect read although figuring what he had played before I do not think it was such a bad move. The guy next to me, a loud, somewhat over the top player says "with this table, watch runner runner come out". And sure enough the next card is a three. I need the 5 for the straight and when the river hits with it, I cannot believe it. I collect the chips, the russian goes for a cooler and later comes back to say nice hand.
All in all, finished up about $365 (after tips and time) for the night and it was wild and fun getting there.
I called a $10 raise with Ac-7c. 3 others in the pot. Flop comes Kc-9h-7c. First to act this quiet younger guy who has lost a few hundred already making plays and getting caught. He raises $25. Next to act is the short stack, who calls. I call with my draw. Next card out is the 4c making my nut flush. First player checks, short stack goes all in for $37, I call. The quiet kid goes all in for another $57 on top. I am happy with this and call. I then turn over my hand and show the flush, he looks crushed. As the river comes out the quiet kid throws his hand into the muck, the river is another K. The short stack folds but the quiet kid just looks sick. Someone says to him 'did you hit that'? He nods. His cards are still on top of the muck as the dealer asks if she can turn over. I say 'ok but the hand is dead'. She turns over his cards, a K-9 which would have given him the full house. She pushes the pot towards me. I feel bad for the kid so I take out $75 of the pot and throw it too him. As I have written before, I think it pays dividends to present a sportsmanlike, nice image. He is stunned that I would give it to him. I say to him that he had the best hand, he just made a mistake. He gives $25 back to me and says thanks. I get a lot of props from the table for being a gentleman about it. But it goes to prove, always turn up your hand in case you read it wrong! A little while later when the quite kid wins a big hand he throws me another $25 and says that as he wins big pots he will give it back. Dividends!
This next hand was interesting for me as I used some good deduction to make a solid read. I had pocket Js in mid position. There were already 3 callers and I felt that if I raised everyone may call anyway the way it was going, so I limped for $2. Someone on a short stack made it $10, 6 callers. Flop comes J-Q-K with 2 spades. First to act is the same quiet kid who I had the hand with before. He bets $25, next to him is a short stack who goes all-in for about $60. I call, it folds to the kid who calls. I figure I may be behind here with my set, but i start to get a feeling that perhaps I am not. Turn brings the 10c. This is the worst card for me. It makes any A into a straight and there now 2 clubs and 2 spades. The kid throws out $75 and I go into the tank. Almost anyone else at the table I would be in the muck, but I start to think back. This is someone who was frequently raising pre-flop. He only limped in on this one, very out of character if he was holding a hand. He also struck me as the exact kind of player who uses aggression to buy pots regardless of his cards. I look at him and for some reason I feel like he does not want a call. I am sitting on about $225 at this point. I come over the top and go all-in. He thinks for a second and throws his hand away. It didn't hurt that the river came out another Jack giving me quads, but I was proud and got more props from the table for a sick read of the kid. I felt really good about this one.
Final hand to talk about was a total suck-out on my part. As I said, this table was kind of nuts. There was this younger russian guy who was playing a alot of hands and was acting pretty loose. I had Ac-4c and he raised it to $20. 4 callers. Having seen him try and make plays with rags, I call. Flop comes out Jc-Ah-2d. He throws out $60 and it gets folded to me. I look at him and think he is making a move so I ask what he has behind him, he says another $60. I throw out $150, it folds to him and he calls all-in. He asks if I want to do business (run the turn and river 2 or 3 times), I say 'I don't know what you have.' He turns over A-J for top 2 pair, I say I don't think he wants to do business as I show only the A. He looks and says, no business. I am pissed that I made the incorrect read although figuring what he had played before I do not think it was such a bad move. The guy next to me, a loud, somewhat over the top player says "with this table, watch runner runner come out". And sure enough the next card is a three. I need the 5 for the straight and when the river hits with it, I cannot believe it. I collect the chips, the russian goes for a cooler and later comes back to say nice hand.
All in all, finished up about $365 (after tips and time) for the night and it was wild and fun getting there.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Losing Patience
I have started to lose patience with the game and that means it is time to re-focus or take a break. I have mainly been playing on-line these days as I am taking a break from the club due to other obligations. It has mainly been sit-n-go's and here is the basic gist. I continually have been losing the high percentage plays.
After awhile it gets truly annoying and what I notice is that it makes me lose patience which in turn makes me play more hands I shouldn't or play more mediocre strength catches.
For example, night I was playing a $20 SNG as well as the Fifty-Fifty on FullTilt. In the $20, there were 7 of 9 left. Blinds were 50/100 and I had about 1800 (started with 1500). An aggressive player pops to bet to 250, I am in BB with A-7suited. I call the bet. Flop comes Ad-8h-5h. Aggro bets 400, I figure him on a draw or maybe pocket pair so I go all-in. He ends up calling with Kh-Jh. So at this time I am about 65% to win. But of course, the next card to come out is the Qh, giving him the flush and I am busted out of the SNG.
In the 50-50, we stared with about 940 players. We are down to 450 or so and I have AcKc on the BB. I have a mid-stack of about 3800 (about average) and the button minus one pushes all in for about 1900. Figuring he is short stacked I make the call. I am way ahead (about 4 to 1) at this point. The flop comes out rags, the turn is no help and the River hits a Q, giving him the hand. I do my best not to go on tilt, but I can tell it affects virtually every hand I play after as I just get sick of getting sucked out on constantly. I end up going broke at 276th with AJ against AK. The issue I have is that after a beat like that, where I should have been in the top 20% of chipstacks, I then get into the bottom 30% which changes my style of play and frankly, is a place I need to work on. I usually am very patient with this game, but the sheer amount of low percentage plays that are hitting against me is staggering.
I think about it like this. If you knew that all the things that have a low chance of happening, getting in a car accident, losing your job, having a child with defect, getting robbed, whatever they may be, if those started happening more frequently to you specifically, while still working within the odds of them happening in life, it would change how you lived every day. I feel that that is an extreme example, but if I am consistently making high percentage plays, and they end up getting busted, it makes me feel that there is little I can do to beat this game, despite getting my chips in the middle as the favorite. I know in the long run it should work to my advantage but almost 35% of my online bankroll has evaporated because of these beats and admittedly, how they make me play after.
Hopefully, I can re-focus and get back on track as I do not want to give up the game and yet want to enjoy it as well.
After awhile it gets truly annoying and what I notice is that it makes me lose patience which in turn makes me play more hands I shouldn't or play more mediocre strength catches.
For example, night I was playing a $20 SNG as well as the Fifty-Fifty on FullTilt. In the $20, there were 7 of 9 left. Blinds were 50/100 and I had about 1800 (started with 1500). An aggressive player pops to bet to 250, I am in BB with A-7suited. I call the bet. Flop comes Ad-8h-5h. Aggro bets 400, I figure him on a draw or maybe pocket pair so I go all-in. He ends up calling with Kh-Jh. So at this time I am about 65% to win. But of course, the next card to come out is the Qh, giving him the flush and I am busted out of the SNG.
In the 50-50, we stared with about 940 players. We are down to 450 or so and I have AcKc on the BB. I have a mid-stack of about 3800 (about average) and the button minus one pushes all in for about 1900. Figuring he is short stacked I make the call. I am way ahead (about 4 to 1) at this point. The flop comes out rags, the turn is no help and the River hits a Q, giving him the hand. I do my best not to go on tilt, but I can tell it affects virtually every hand I play after as I just get sick of getting sucked out on constantly. I end up going broke at 276th with AJ against AK. The issue I have is that after a beat like that, where I should have been in the top 20% of chipstacks, I then get into the bottom 30% which changes my style of play and frankly, is a place I need to work on. I usually am very patient with this game, but the sheer amount of low percentage plays that are hitting against me is staggering.
I think about it like this. If you knew that all the things that have a low chance of happening, getting in a car accident, losing your job, having a child with defect, getting robbed, whatever they may be, if those started happening more frequently to you specifically, while still working within the odds of them happening in life, it would change how you lived every day. I feel that that is an extreme example, but if I am consistently making high percentage plays, and they end up getting busted, it makes me feel that there is little I can do to beat this game, despite getting my chips in the middle as the favorite. I know in the long run it should work to my advantage but almost 35% of my online bankroll has evaporated because of these beats and admittedly, how they make me play after.
Hopefully, I can re-focus and get back on track as I do not want to give up the game and yet want to enjoy it as well.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Flip Flop On-line/Live
Well last week I wrote about how I had been shut down in live play, but was running well in on-line play. That seems to have switched for me of late.
Not to say that I have not been running pretty card dead in general but at least I left up. I bought in for $140, brought it up to about 275 on a flush and 2 pair against a particularly aggressive player and then the cards started to abandon me. I was getting some good cards, but nothing was hitting as usual, so I just tried to tighten up. I lost the rest of the stack when I had A-Ksuited and pushed a bluff on a few streets against someone with pocket 6s. I re-bought for 200 and that too went up and down for awhile and I ended up getting chopped away when I look down and and I have about $105 of the $340 left. I also am meeting some folks in about 40 minutes so I decide that if I am going to play, might as well get aggressive.
I straddle for $5 at one point and get 3 callers and look down on A-7off. I raise to $20, all go out except one player. a 7 comes on the flop and I pop it $50 and she goes out. A few hands later I look down on a pair of nines. I raise to $20, the same player calls. She is generally a somewhat tight player and when an A hits the board, I think I am done. I test the waters and throw another $20, she calls. a K comes on the turn, we both check, making me think that either I am good or she is trapping. A nine comes on the river to give me a set. I throw $50, get a call and win the pot. It is about time for me to leave. I am taking the last few hands and I see AA. There are a few players in and I raise to $20 to keep consistent. The same player calls again. Flop comes 7-6-3. I throw another $20 and she calls. Turn comes a Jack, I throw another $20 and she calls. The river comes a 2 and I bet $60, she folds, I show her the hand as I am leaving and as a courtesy, I pay her 'time' (the $5 per half hour that we pay to rent the seat) and leave with $370. So all in all, I only won $30 (not including the $40 in time i have payed over the course of the day) but it felt good to leave up rather than down.
On the on-line front it has been the opposite. After playing well last week, I have lost about 6 sit-n-go's and also gotten hit at the cash games. Now the stakes are not the same but still, I am down about $160 in the last few days. Additionally, my percentages usually run about %40 for cashing in the sit-n-go's so it is just off. In 2 of them I got run over by sets. In another, I took a big blow to my stack when my two-pair got beaten by a flush. I am not playing crazy, in fact, I have been playing tighter, but it just seems like everyone I play is hitting their cards. I guess it happens, but damn if it is not frustrating.
Live - $30
On-line - $160
Not to say that I have not been running pretty card dead in general but at least I left up. I bought in for $140, brought it up to about 275 on a flush and 2 pair against a particularly aggressive player and then the cards started to abandon me. I was getting some good cards, but nothing was hitting as usual, so I just tried to tighten up. I lost the rest of the stack when I had A-Ksuited and pushed a bluff on a few streets against someone with pocket 6s. I re-bought for 200 and that too went up and down for awhile and I ended up getting chopped away when I look down and and I have about $105 of the $340 left. I also am meeting some folks in about 40 minutes so I decide that if I am going to play, might as well get aggressive.
I straddle for $5 at one point and get 3 callers and look down on A-7off. I raise to $20, all go out except one player. a 7 comes on the flop and I pop it $50 and she goes out. A few hands later I look down on a pair of nines. I raise to $20, the same player calls. She is generally a somewhat tight player and when an A hits the board, I think I am done. I test the waters and throw another $20, she calls. a K comes on the turn, we both check, making me think that either I am good or she is trapping. A nine comes on the river to give me a set. I throw $50, get a call and win the pot. It is about time for me to leave. I am taking the last few hands and I see AA. There are a few players in and I raise to $20 to keep consistent. The same player calls again. Flop comes 7-6-3. I throw another $20 and she calls. Turn comes a Jack, I throw another $20 and she calls. The river comes a 2 and I bet $60, she folds, I show her the hand as I am leaving and as a courtesy, I pay her 'time' (the $5 per half hour that we pay to rent the seat) and leave with $370. So all in all, I only won $30 (not including the $40 in time i have payed over the course of the day) but it felt good to leave up rather than down.
On the on-line front it has been the opposite. After playing well last week, I have lost about 6 sit-n-go's and also gotten hit at the cash games. Now the stakes are not the same but still, I am down about $160 in the last few days. Additionally, my percentages usually run about %40 for cashing in the sit-n-go's so it is just off. In 2 of them I got run over by sets. In another, I took a big blow to my stack when my two-pair got beaten by a flush. I am not playing crazy, in fact, I have been playing tighter, but it just seems like everyone I play is hitting their cards. I guess it happens, but damn if it is not frustrating.
Live - $30
On-line - $160
Friday, September 14, 2007
Absolute Insanity and Recent Online MT
The last few times i have gone to the club (the other club, not the one shut down by the POlice) have been wild. Not sure why, but the tables I have been at have been totally wild. People playing really random hands and calling and catching miracle cards over and over. I am probably down about $500 from the trips as I have not been able to make the adjustment to this wild style of play. I will admit, it is a weakness in my game that I can get thrown off by what seem to be very low percentage calls that end up catching. But - I have a new theory after doing some thinking and reading on the 2+2. I am going to go with more money, be patient, tighten up a bit, but hit hard when my opponents either are on a draw or when I hit mine. Mainly make them pay for making low percentage plays and exploit when I hit mine.
The online has been treating me pretty well. New style, do 2-3 simultaneous Sit-N-Go's ($20 or $30) and play high percentage until I get in the money and then get more aggressive. Seems to be working in my favor. That and a good run at .50-1NL on FTP has my bankroll up about $400.
The online has been treating me pretty well. New style, do 2-3 simultaneous Sit-N-Go's ($20 or $30) and play high percentage until I get in the money and then get more aggressive. Seems to be working in my favor. That and a good run at .50-1NL on FTP has my bankroll up about $400.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
I Won the World Series of Poker, Lost Money and Almost Got Arrested
Well it has been a very interesting week. After last week's successful tournament run, I was excited about playing this week. On Labor Day, J and I decided to go to the club. It turned out to be closed even though they had said they would be open. Went to the cross town club and proceeded to have one of those tables that just seems off. Weird players. People playing strange, not strategic moves and more importantly, virtually every low odds play was paying off. It just did not feel right and after losing $350 in about an hour and a half, we decided to leave. When we were there, I heard them talking about how the club got raided the week before. I wondered how long before my regular club got taken.
Well it would not be long before I found out. Last night I went to play the $50+10 at the regular club. Got there about an hour early figuring that I could make a few $ before the tourney. Bought in small, $140 and about a half hour later I had doubled up and was sitting on about $275. The head of security walks into the club and and announces that we have 'visitors.' Some people bolt for the back exit, most of us just sit and wait. A minute or 2 later the police come in. Tell everyone to keep their hands on the tables and all chips out. They move the cameras to point away from the floor and go table by table telling people to get their stuff and leave. They padlock the door. We are all waiting outside and I ask a few people what the protocol is. They say that if the club opens again (they doubt it may), that they will look at the videotapes to judge approximate stacks and pay us back. If it does not open, oh well.
Oy, Atlantic City and Foxwoods are such a hike, where can one go for a decent game on the regular. These busts are getting annoying.
On another note, on MagMix Hold'Em King on my blackberry, I bested the field of 5000 to win 5 million dollars. So what if it is just a game, it is good just to be victorious!!!
Online has been going ok with being up a few hundred mainly from sit-n-go's in the last week as well. I hope that online is not the only way I will be able to play these days.
Well it would not be long before I found out. Last night I went to play the $50+10 at the regular club. Got there about an hour early figuring that I could make a few $ before the tourney. Bought in small, $140 and about a half hour later I had doubled up and was sitting on about $275. The head of security walks into the club and and announces that we have 'visitors.' Some people bolt for the back exit, most of us just sit and wait. A minute or 2 later the police come in. Tell everyone to keep their hands on the tables and all chips out. They move the cameras to point away from the floor and go table by table telling people to get their stuff and leave. They padlock the door. We are all waiting outside and I ask a few people what the protocol is. They say that if the club opens again (they doubt it may), that they will look at the videotapes to judge approximate stacks and pay us back. If it does not open, oh well.
Oy, Atlantic City and Foxwoods are such a hike, where can one go for a decent game on the regular. These busts are getting annoying.
On another note, on MagMix Hold'Em King on my blackberry, I bested the field of 5000 to win 5 million dollars. So what if it is just a game, it is good just to be victorious!!!
Online has been going ok with being up a few hundred mainly from sit-n-go's in the last week as well. I hope that online is not the only way I will be able to play these days.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
$50+10 Wednesday Tourney 8.30.07
I will preface this post by saying I left up today, but I want to focus this post on a few things I observed about my play, my decisions and my play.
1. I believe I am a better tournament player than cash game player. I believe this to be due to my patience and ability to represent hands, even when I may not have them.
2. I do not come off arrogant or cocky (despite people knowing I do pretty well in tournaments at the club), in fact, I do my best to be respectful and nice. I have a good rapport with the other players and I do believe, at least in the beginning rounds, this can work in your favor as people may not want to mix it up with you.
3. In tonight's $50 tournament I started out well. Tripling up in the first half hour and then hitting pocket As twice for another couple of wins and suddenly I am on about 2200 in chips (500 to start) and feeling comfortable.
4. I hit a few more good hands and when we go from 7 to 5 tables, I am sitting on about 3600.
5. I think at this point, I should play a little looser, but I do not raise on random hands, I like to have potential AND position and probably could be a little more aggressive.
6. 83 players to start. I take a big hit with 2 tables left in a hand I did not need to get involved with - pocket 7s in early position. 7 players, short stack pushes, I call. He shows AQ and AAQ hit on the flop. on a coin flip type hand, when near the bubble, I should just call, not push.
7. We get down to 10 players and start talking chop. I have 8k in chips. Chip leader as 19k. 2 people with 1000 and 1500 respectfully and the blinds are 500-1000. We start talking and top place wants 1200. Bottom 2 places will take 300 and the rest get somewhere between 400 and 900 depending on stack. I agree to the chopm but here is my thought later. There was a very good chance that 2 players would be down in a few hands. That would mean, assuming that happened that the min I would get was 200 (the original prize breakdown went from 2500 down to 100 for 10th). So by agreeing to the deal I was basically going from $200 at the worst to $500 with the deal. Yet, I am really 1-1.5 hands away from chip lead should the cards come and the $2500 that it brings. In retrospect I feel I should have asked for more or not chopped and played it out, playing for the payout. If I get busted, so what, the potential was there.
I then made my second mistake. I told myself that I would play a little 1-2 for an hour or so. The problems with this are such- I do often have a hard time transitioning from the speed and strategy in a tournament to the slower pace of the 1-2 game. And it is a different style of play and I notice that I do not play well when I jump in after a tourny. Second mistake, thinking I would sit down for an hour and then leave. If I have just played 2.5-3 hours, then either commit to stay for awhile or leave. To sit down non-committed is not good play. Finally, after all those tournament hands, I stopped reading the cards and players. I bought in for 200 and about 20 minutes in see pocket Qs. I throw out 15 (an underbet now that i think of it), get 2 callers. Flop comes out 3h-4c-5c. I throw a continuation bet of $30 out, other player calls, button makes it a hundred. Instead of analyzing, I go all in thinking maybe he is on a draw or top pair or an overpair, but not as big as mine. Player to the left goes all in over the top. Button calls. next card is an 8d and a js. I turn my hand, player to the left mucks his unfulfilled flush draw and the button shows 6s7s for the straight (which he flopped of course). With that flop and such an overbet, I should have just felt that I lost the $45 and given in on the straight draw on the board, but I was tired and ready to leave and it cost me another $155.
Hopefully I will learn to stay with my post tournament promise.
$50 +10 buy in, $500 chop, $50 in tips, $200 at the table
+190
1. I believe I am a better tournament player than cash game player. I believe this to be due to my patience and ability to represent hands, even when I may not have them.
2. I do not come off arrogant or cocky (despite people knowing I do pretty well in tournaments at the club), in fact, I do my best to be respectful and nice. I have a good rapport with the other players and I do believe, at least in the beginning rounds, this can work in your favor as people may not want to mix it up with you.
3. In tonight's $50 tournament I started out well. Tripling up in the first half hour and then hitting pocket As twice for another couple of wins and suddenly I am on about 2200 in chips (500 to start) and feeling comfortable.
4. I hit a few more good hands and when we go from 7 to 5 tables, I am sitting on about 3600.
5. I think at this point, I should play a little looser, but I do not raise on random hands, I like to have potential AND position and probably could be a little more aggressive.
6. 83 players to start. I take a big hit with 2 tables left in a hand I did not need to get involved with - pocket 7s in early position. 7 players, short stack pushes, I call. He shows AQ and AAQ hit on the flop. on a coin flip type hand, when near the bubble, I should just call, not push.
7. We get down to 10 players and start talking chop. I have 8k in chips. Chip leader as 19k. 2 people with 1000 and 1500 respectfully and the blinds are 500-1000. We start talking and top place wants 1200. Bottom 2 places will take 300 and the rest get somewhere between 400 and 900 depending on stack. I agree to the chopm but here is my thought later. There was a very good chance that 2 players would be down in a few hands. That would mean, assuming that happened that the min I would get was 200 (the original prize breakdown went from 2500 down to 100 for 10th). So by agreeing to the deal I was basically going from $200 at the worst to $500 with the deal. Yet, I am really 1-1.5 hands away from chip lead should the cards come and the $2500 that it brings. In retrospect I feel I should have asked for more or not chopped and played it out, playing for the payout. If I get busted, so what, the potential was there.
I then made my second mistake. I told myself that I would play a little 1-2 for an hour or so. The problems with this are such- I do often have a hard time transitioning from the speed and strategy in a tournament to the slower pace of the 1-2 game. And it is a different style of play and I notice that I do not play well when I jump in after a tourny. Second mistake, thinking I would sit down for an hour and then leave. If I have just played 2.5-3 hours, then either commit to stay for awhile or leave. To sit down non-committed is not good play. Finally, after all those tournament hands, I stopped reading the cards and players. I bought in for 200 and about 20 minutes in see pocket Qs. I throw out 15 (an underbet now that i think of it), get 2 callers. Flop comes out 3h-4c-5c. I throw a continuation bet of $30 out, other player calls, button makes it a hundred. Instead of analyzing, I go all in thinking maybe he is on a draw or top pair or an overpair, but not as big as mine. Player to the left goes all in over the top. Button calls. next card is an 8d and a js. I turn my hand, player to the left mucks his unfulfilled flush draw and the button shows 6s7s for the straight (which he flopped of course). With that flop and such an overbet, I should have just felt that I lost the $45 and given in on the straight draw on the board, but I was tired and ready to leave and it cost me another $155.
Hopefully I will learn to stay with my post tournament promise.
$50 +10 buy in, $500 chop, $50 in tips, $200 at the table
+190
Monday, August 27, 2007
Monday $300 +30
After the horrible play that I performed this past Saturday (and no, I am not talking about the musical version of Tuesday's With Morrie at community theater), I was hoping to re-focus and play solid poker at the clubs' Monday $300+30. Not sure if it is the summer or just because of a recent police visit, but there were only 17 players in tonight's game. It started out well.
It was 25-50 I was on the button with Qh7h and called the bet (started with 6k in chips). SB calls and BB makes it 225 to go. One of the regulars had whispered to me earlier that this guy was loose and not very good so I call. SB folds. Flop comes out Qd+10h+4h. BB throws out 400 chips. I take a minute, see top pair with the flush draw and throw out 1200. Loose guy throws out 3000 on what I think is a bluff and I go all-in. He calls for the last of his chips and shows A-10 offsuit. So he has a pair of 10s. He does not improve and I double up. With only 17 in, doubling up early is a good place to be.
I am chip leader at this point and end up donking off about 3k or my chips on some aggressive play and some big re-raises against me. A little while later, another good hand comes to me. A good player to my right (and on the button) raises to 500 (blinds 50-100), I look down and see A-A. I call. Flop comes 2-5-6 rainbow. I check, for some reason he goes all in. I figure if he had a strong hand, he would draw me in. I think he put me on A-K or A-Q. I call and he shows pocket 7s. He does not improve and now I have about 20k in chips. The two tables combine and we are down to final table. I am in the lead, with 1 or 2 players close to me and a bunch of short stacks. After awhile and not much action we are down to 5. Top 4 get paid. 2 players say they don't want to deal, i figure I can sit back and only play strong hands and wait until the bubble gets broken. It takes awhile, but steve, a solid player gets beaten on 2 bad hands and finally is knocked out when his pocket 8s get beaten by A-J when a J comes on the flop. There are now 4 of us, all in the money, and we briefly talk a deal, but the short stack does not want to deal. Soon after I raise to 3k (blinds 500-1000) with K-Joff and am raised to 6k by the button. I call and watch as the perfect flop comes out 9-10-Q rainbow. I check, button throws in 3k, next card 7 and I throw in 5k. Hoping that he thinks I am trying to steal. He calls. River comes a 3 so I have the nuts as there is no flush draw out. I follow up with 10k and he mucks. A few other strong hands later and a bluff or 2 and I have close to 40k in chips. The other three players all have around 22-28k. We decide to talk and we end up chopping with me winning in 1st and getting $1500 and they all splitting 2nd for $1200. Yes, I could have waited and played it out (first place was $2500) but figured at this point I am guaranteed second and one bad hand and I am short stack. So it was good to take it down and I felt good about my play. All for about 2.5 hours work.
Also, unlike the last few times I have cashed, I did not go right back to a 1-2 table and lose a few hundred. I collected my winnings, tipped the dealers and left.
It was 25-50 I was on the button with Qh7h and called the bet (started with 6k in chips). SB calls and BB makes it 225 to go. One of the regulars had whispered to me earlier that this guy was loose and not very good so I call. SB folds. Flop comes out Qd+10h+4h. BB throws out 400 chips. I take a minute, see top pair with the flush draw and throw out 1200. Loose guy throws out 3000 on what I think is a bluff and I go all-in. He calls for the last of his chips and shows A-10 offsuit. So he has a pair of 10s. He does not improve and I double up. With only 17 in, doubling up early is a good place to be.
I am chip leader at this point and end up donking off about 3k or my chips on some aggressive play and some big re-raises against me. A little while later, another good hand comes to me. A good player to my right (and on the button) raises to 500 (blinds 50-100), I look down and see A-A. I call. Flop comes 2-5-6 rainbow. I check, for some reason he goes all in. I figure if he had a strong hand, he would draw me in. I think he put me on A-K or A-Q. I call and he shows pocket 7s. He does not improve and now I have about 20k in chips. The two tables combine and we are down to final table. I am in the lead, with 1 or 2 players close to me and a bunch of short stacks. After awhile and not much action we are down to 5. Top 4 get paid. 2 players say they don't want to deal, i figure I can sit back and only play strong hands and wait until the bubble gets broken. It takes awhile, but steve, a solid player gets beaten on 2 bad hands and finally is knocked out when his pocket 8s get beaten by A-J when a J comes on the flop. There are now 4 of us, all in the money, and we briefly talk a deal, but the short stack does not want to deal. Soon after I raise to 3k (blinds 500-1000) with K-Joff and am raised to 6k by the button. I call and watch as the perfect flop comes out 9-10-Q rainbow. I check, button throws in 3k, next card 7 and I throw in 5k. Hoping that he thinks I am trying to steal. He calls. River comes a 3 so I have the nuts as there is no flush draw out. I follow up with 10k and he mucks. A few other strong hands later and a bluff or 2 and I have close to 40k in chips. The other three players all have around 22-28k. We decide to talk and we end up chopping with me winning in 1st and getting $1500 and they all splitting 2nd for $1200. Yes, I could have waited and played it out (first place was $2500) but figured at this point I am guaranteed second and one bad hand and I am short stack. So it was good to take it down and I felt good about my play. All for about 2.5 hours work.
Also, unlike the last few times I have cashed, I did not go right back to a 1-2 table and lose a few hundred. I collected my winnings, tipped the dealers and left.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Various games
It has been an up and down week with alternating wins and losses. Some games I have been completely in the zone and reading players and potential very well, other times I have been playing complete donky poker and literally handing other players my money.
In one session I had quads and 2 players went all in against me on the turn and it only got better. Finished that session up about $400. The next session I had some early successes and made some great strategic plays that paid off and I was up about 200 in less than an hour. Only to then have just about every draw I played not connect. I think I subtly went on tilt and did not have the forethought to either leave or take a time out. That session I ended up losing $500. I played 2 sit n go's and won both for about 225. I am going to focus on being more consistent and tightening up when I see myself playing too many draws or losing on bad plays.
Tomorrow is the Monday $300+30, so let's see how that works out and if I can work my plan. I want to cash high of course, but mainly I want to focus on simply playing solid game.
In one session I had quads and 2 players went all in against me on the turn and it only got better. Finished that session up about $400. The next session I had some early successes and made some great strategic plays that paid off and I was up about 200 in less than an hour. Only to then have just about every draw I played not connect. I think I subtly went on tilt and did not have the forethought to either leave or take a time out. That session I ended up losing $500. I played 2 sit n go's and won both for about 225. I am going to focus on being more consistent and tightening up when I see myself playing too many draws or losing on bad plays.
Tomorrow is the Monday $300+30, so let's see how that works out and if I can work my plan. I want to cash high of course, but mainly I want to focus on simply playing solid game.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
A chip and a chair
Inevitably, at some point in any live tournament, someone gets a bad beat and is down to a few chips and makes the point "All ya need is a chip and a chair!"
Most of the time, those people are out in one of the next few hands as they play anything they can to catch a lucky break. Well, occasionally, the adage comes true.
I was playing a $50+5 sit-n-go on Sunday on FTP, starting chipstack was 1500 and blinds were 15-30. I was in mid position and looked at pocket Js. I raised to 120. The person behind me called and the button raised to 400. I put the button on AK and the player behind me on a pocket pair. Figuring I would take a chance, I raised All-In (which I hate doing with Jacks pre-flop), but thought I might get them out this early in the tournament. Unfortunately, they both make the call and I feel like I am probably the underdog. Player behind me shows A-Q (I am surprised by this call) and the button shows A-K. At least I figure that they have one of each others outs, so I am barely ahead. Flop comes A-Q-8 and the rest of the board does not help me improve. I am left with 30 in chips after the hand. After an All-in on a 5 player family pot I get up to 150. About 4 hands later I catch pocket 10s and make it to 400. A few hands later I am at 890 and at least I feel I can get back on my game with some chips to use.
Cue the music, ignite the fireworks, and yes, I end up taking down the tournament for a $250 win when I bust out the last player with a medium straight. This is an interesting game. I love how position, luck and strategy can turn the tables one way so quickly and then back the other way in the blink of an eye.
+250 (less the $50-5)
Most of the time, those people are out in one of the next few hands as they play anything they can to catch a lucky break. Well, occasionally, the adage comes true.
I was playing a $50+5 sit-n-go on Sunday on FTP, starting chipstack was 1500 and blinds were 15-30. I was in mid position and looked at pocket Js. I raised to 120. The person behind me called and the button raised to 400. I put the button on AK and the player behind me on a pocket pair. Figuring I would take a chance, I raised All-In (which I hate doing with Jacks pre-flop), but thought I might get them out this early in the tournament. Unfortunately, they both make the call and I feel like I am probably the underdog. Player behind me shows A-Q (I am surprised by this call) and the button shows A-K. At least I figure that they have one of each others outs, so I am barely ahead. Flop comes A-Q-8 and the rest of the board does not help me improve. I am left with 30 in chips after the hand. After an All-in on a 5 player family pot I get up to 150. About 4 hands later I catch pocket 10s and make it to 400. A few hands later I am at 890 and at least I feel I can get back on my game with some chips to use.
Cue the music, ignite the fireworks, and yes, I end up taking down the tournament for a $250 win when I bust out the last player with a medium straight. This is an interesting game. I love how position, luck and strategy can turn the tables one way so quickly and then back the other way in the blink of an eye.
+250 (less the $50-5)
Friday, August 10, 2007
Online Poker Is The Worst!
It really is the worst. Mainly because you just get such poor play. Granted, I am playing low stake sit-n-go's to pass the time here and there and considering my live game stakes, I should raise it, but if I want to kill an hour, while waiting for a call or meeting, I do not want to commit any real money unless I have the time to dedicate. But oh god, there is such bad play out there.
And of course, I am here to complain about it.
I jumped into a quick 1 table $20 SNG with a bit of time to spare today. Figure, I will play tight, wait a bit and then jump on good hands. On the 4th or 5th hand I see QQ in the SB. Villain #1,who had just won a large pot doubles the BB to 60. Instead of pushing, I call, figuring if the flop comes low, I will push against him. Flop A-5-2, all hearts. My queens are D and S. Villain bets and I fold, figuring better to lose a small one if he is holding an A or hearts. Just a few hands later, after I realize that Villain #1 has been in every hand and being aggressive, I look down and AA on the button. He limps in, it is folded to me and I make it 135 to go. Folds to him and he calls. Flop comes 7d-3h-8c. V checks, I make it 280 to go. He calls. Next comes Jh. He checks, I go all-in for the rest of my chips, roughly 800 or so. He calls and shows 10-4 of hearts. So basically on the flop, he had nothing, a 10% max shot at winning if I have any real hand. On the turn he has a gutshot and a flush draw, but with one card to go, he still has only a 27% chance of hitting and yet he called both of these bets! Of course, as you may expect, the 9c comes on the river and he makes a straight.
I got to say, it is frustrating to play against people who just dont get the game. How could anyone who understands the game make those calls, even if was hoping to bluff me on the river, I went all-in on the turn, clearly indicating that I had something that I was willing to risk my whole stack for. I honestly do not see this type of totally reckless play when I go live, I feel like it resides more online. Either way, it sure is frustrating.
And of course, I am here to complain about it.
I jumped into a quick 1 table $20 SNG with a bit of time to spare today. Figure, I will play tight, wait a bit and then jump on good hands. On the 4th or 5th hand I see QQ in the SB. Villain #1,who had just won a large pot doubles the BB to 60. Instead of pushing, I call, figuring if the flop comes low, I will push against him. Flop A-5-2, all hearts. My queens are D and S. Villain bets and I fold, figuring better to lose a small one if he is holding an A or hearts. Just a few hands later, after I realize that Villain #1 has been in every hand and being aggressive, I look down and AA on the button. He limps in, it is folded to me and I make it 135 to go. Folds to him and he calls. Flop comes 7d-3h-8c. V checks, I make it 280 to go. He calls. Next comes Jh. He checks, I go all-in for the rest of my chips, roughly 800 or so. He calls and shows 10-4 of hearts. So basically on the flop, he had nothing, a 10% max shot at winning if I have any real hand. On the turn he has a gutshot and a flush draw, but with one card to go, he still has only a 27% chance of hitting and yet he called both of these bets! Of course, as you may expect, the 9c comes on the river and he makes a straight.
I got to say, it is frustrating to play against people who just dont get the game. How could anyone who understands the game make those calls, even if was hoping to bluff me on the river, I went all-in on the turn, clearly indicating that I had something that I was willing to risk my whole stack for. I honestly do not see this type of totally reckless play when I go live, I feel like it resides more online. Either way, it sure is frustrating.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Poker fiending
Hoping to hit the club tomorrow. If I don't it will be more than a week before I can play a live game and I still am not loving the online play right now. Been running good live, don't want to break it although a vacation is important.
What does one do when poker is also a means of relaxation and yet I am going away where there is no poker?
Wow I sound lame.
Sent wirelessly via the Interference Information Network
Monday, August 6, 2007
$30 +3 Sit N Go - FTP and $300+30
Been running pretty good recently which I am happy about. Mainly focusing on not making mistakes and taking opportunities when they come.
A few days ago, to kill time, I played a single table $30+3 sit-n-go on FTP. I think this is a good amount game for me to play. The lower $ tables have too much randomness with players making ridiculous moves (granted I have about a 40% in the money percentage) and while I play some higher tables, I feel like the $30 is a perfect time killer for me. I also play 1 or 2 a day when I have the free time, so if I run on a bad streak, it wont break me. Anyway, this was a good game. The think I liked best about it was my patience. I had one hand towards the beginning where I trapped with a set and got the player to my right to commit all his chips, but he ended up catching runner runner to make a straight. This left me with 560 chips from about 2000. The main thing I said to myself was to avoid tilt as the blinds were still low enough that I could see a lot of hands and take opportunities. I did get lucky when I went all in with K-10 suited on the button and was called by the SB with pocket Queens. 2 10s came on the flop giving me trips and they held up. Other than that hand, I just played solid and made moves when I could and started to get a workable stack and I used it. 30 minutes later I have over 9k in chips and put the final player to bed with my 8s-4s against his 10c-Jd when he pushed on the flop and I had hit the 4 and a flush draw. I am learning how much patience and position have helped me recently.
I played the $300+30 last night. I cashed for 2nd last week and was looking forward to a good game. I was card dead for a long time, only chopping one pot in the first hour and not winning any. I saw my starting stack start at 6k and finish at 5k after those first 2 rounds. Finally the cards started coming and with about 18 players left (30 to start), I started getting chips. Back to back pocket Js helped. Pocket Ks a little later on added to the stack and got me to about 17k in chips. 1 hand that annoyed me happened with about 14 players left. John, who is a solid player limped in (blinds 300-600) and something told me that he had as strong hand. I looked down with Ad-Jd and instead of limping in mid-position, I raised to 1800. Everyone folds to John, who calls (btw/he is shortstacked with about 7k). Flop Kh-9s-4d, he checks and I put in 2200 for a continuation bet. He goes all-in, over the top and I just could not call. I gave about 25% of my stack on that one, and I had the sense he had something and should have limped in or checked on the flop. I need to pay attention to my instincts more.
I was patient, picking up a pot here and there. 10 of us got to the final table, but I was down to about 9k in chips after a run of bad cards and I was not feeling too good about my chances. There were a few guys with about 40k in chips. Joe, who made about 70k playing in vegas during the WSOP was to my right with a big stack, Ray, with the chip lead to my left. But I told myself to wait and see if I could pick up some cards. Finally, I come all-in with Jacks on the button and Ray folds, but another player ends up calling with K-9. He does not improve and I have about 19k. 9 players left.
The next crucial moment is with 7 players left. One all-in already and Joe calls. It would have cost me the rest of my chips. I already have 2k in for the big blind and I am thinking on this one. I have Ad-Jd again. I put them both on pairs and think that if the A hits, I may be good. Joe looks at me and says, "you know how I play". I take the hint and go out. Player one turns Kings, Joe turns Queens. I joke with him if the A comes, I will be pissed and it does not, so I am still in it. I get caught in those dilemmas where if I were to hit I would triple up, and it is a decent hand, but i remind myself with an all-in and a call behind me, I have to be the underdog. We chip away here and there and it gets down to five. I am the small stack with 14k, Ray is the big stack with 60k. $9000 in the prize pool, top 4 places paid, I am fifth. We end up chopping and I take $700. I guess, I could have played to move up into bigger money, and I was 2 double up's from the lead, but with blinds about to be 2k-4k, it would not have allowed for much room and I have played with most of these guys before and would do the same with them. It ends up a winning session and I did place in the money 2 weeks in a row, so I am glad with that.
Sit-n-go
+130 (less buy-in)
Tournament
+700 (less buy-in/tips)
A few days ago, to kill time, I played a single table $30+3 sit-n-go on FTP. I think this is a good amount game for me to play. The lower $ tables have too much randomness with players making ridiculous moves (granted I have about a 40% in the money percentage) and while I play some higher tables, I feel like the $30 is a perfect time killer for me. I also play 1 or 2 a day when I have the free time, so if I run on a bad streak, it wont break me. Anyway, this was a good game. The think I liked best about it was my patience. I had one hand towards the beginning where I trapped with a set and got the player to my right to commit all his chips, but he ended up catching runner runner to make a straight. This left me with 560 chips from about 2000. The main thing I said to myself was to avoid tilt as the blinds were still low enough that I could see a lot of hands and take opportunities. I did get lucky when I went all in with K-10 suited on the button and was called by the SB with pocket Queens. 2 10s came on the flop giving me trips and they held up. Other than that hand, I just played solid and made moves when I could and started to get a workable stack and I used it. 30 minutes later I have over 9k in chips and put the final player to bed with my 8s-4s against his 10c-Jd when he pushed on the flop and I had hit the 4 and a flush draw. I am learning how much patience and position have helped me recently.
I played the $300+30 last night. I cashed for 2nd last week and was looking forward to a good game. I was card dead for a long time, only chopping one pot in the first hour and not winning any. I saw my starting stack start at 6k and finish at 5k after those first 2 rounds. Finally the cards started coming and with about 18 players left (30 to start), I started getting chips. Back to back pocket Js helped. Pocket Ks a little later on added to the stack and got me to about 17k in chips. 1 hand that annoyed me happened with about 14 players left. John, who is a solid player limped in (blinds 300-600) and something told me that he had as strong hand. I looked down with Ad-Jd and instead of limping in mid-position, I raised to 1800. Everyone folds to John, who calls (btw/he is shortstacked with about 7k). Flop Kh-9s-4d, he checks and I put in 2200 for a continuation bet. He goes all-in, over the top and I just could not call. I gave about 25% of my stack on that one, and I had the sense he had something and should have limped in or checked on the flop. I need to pay attention to my instincts more.
I was patient, picking up a pot here and there. 10 of us got to the final table, but I was down to about 9k in chips after a run of bad cards and I was not feeling too good about my chances. There were a few guys with about 40k in chips. Joe, who made about 70k playing in vegas during the WSOP was to my right with a big stack, Ray, with the chip lead to my left. But I told myself to wait and see if I could pick up some cards. Finally, I come all-in with Jacks on the button and Ray folds, but another player ends up calling with K-9. He does not improve and I have about 19k. 9 players left.
The next crucial moment is with 7 players left. One all-in already and Joe calls. It would have cost me the rest of my chips. I already have 2k in for the big blind and I am thinking on this one. I have Ad-Jd again. I put them both on pairs and think that if the A hits, I may be good. Joe looks at me and says, "you know how I play". I take the hint and go out. Player one turns Kings, Joe turns Queens. I joke with him if the A comes, I will be pissed and it does not, so I am still in it. I get caught in those dilemmas where if I were to hit I would triple up, and it is a decent hand, but i remind myself with an all-in and a call behind me, I have to be the underdog. We chip away here and there and it gets down to five. I am the small stack with 14k, Ray is the big stack with 60k. $9000 in the prize pool, top 4 places paid, I am fifth. We end up chopping and I take $700. I guess, I could have played to move up into bigger money, and I was 2 double up's from the lead, but with blinds about to be 2k-4k, it would not have allowed for much room and I have played with most of these guys before and would do the same with them. It ends up a winning session and I did place in the money 2 weeks in a row, so I am glad with that.
Sit-n-go
+130 (less buy-in)
Tournament
+700 (less buy-in/tips)
Friday, August 3, 2007
$50+10 Wednesday Tourney
Fresh off the 2nd place win on Monday, I venture back to the club for the small stakes Wednesday tourn. About 70 people, bring my friend C, I think this is her first multi-table tournament. About 7 tables. Here is the big difference with this one, while the monday has a starting stack of 6,000 and 25-50 blinds, this is starting with 500 and 5-10 blinds. So the stack to blind ratio is much lower. Each chip is worth more and you have less to play with. @ a $60 buy-in, with no rebuys, I think I need to get looser with this one. I waited, was down to about 400 and UTG puts out 60, I call with A-Qoff and the BB raises all-in for about 300. UTG calls. I wait and muck. A-Q has gotten me in trouble so many times and I have to put them on hands. BB turns over Jacks, UTG turns Kings. Next five cards come 7-A-10-8-4 rainbow. I would have taken it with the Ace. Normally, I would not care, but as I as thinking about it, for a tournament with so few chips and such a low buy-in, I feel maybe I should have gambled more. If I hit, I suddenly have a stack I can work with, if not, no big deal. Just something to think about for the next one. I went about about 15 minutes laters with pocket 6s vs pocket As, we both hit a set on the flop for extra pain.
In better news, C made the final table and while she went out 10th, she still doubled her money and got great experience. Way to go C!
In better news, C made the final table and while she went out 10th, she still doubled her money and got great experience. Way to go C!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
$300+30 Monday Tournament
Played the $300+30 last night with some success. I got to the club early trying to make enough for the buy-in. Ended up down on a suck-out and built myself back to about $80 up playing $1-2 before the tournament started.
28 players were in, and unlike last week, I reminded myself to keep very patient. I was not going to make moves unless I had the cards or the read on the players and just try to accumulate slowly. We started with 6000 in chips and things were going well. Pocket kings held up on an all-in and I had around 14k in chips when I looked down on the button with A-Jsuited. Nobody was in the pot and I pushed 900 (blinds were 100-200). SB calls. BB folds. Flop A-K-4. SB goes all-in for about 5500 and I call. He turns over J-J to my A-J. I have him dominated since I have one of his outs. Turn is a blank and then, of course, he hits his third J on the river for trips. A one-outer. ugh. I am down to about 8K and I am pissed. I had not made any mistakes until that point and this one was a freak catch. I took a minute, said nice hand and moved on. The main thing I did, and I think this was a turning point in the game for me, was to take remind myself that I still had a fair amount of chips and that I should not go on tilt. I put on the iPod (Bach's Cello Suites are great to keep you focused) and waited for hands and position.
Luckily, the patience worked out. I was sitting in the BB with K-9 offsuit and it luckily was checked to me with 2 callers. I checked and the flop came out K-9-4. SB checks, I check, other payer (the one who caught the luck might I add) pushes in the rest of his chips (7000), SB calls, and I go All-In with 7500. We turn them over and the aggressor has nothing A-7. SB has bottom 2 and my hand holds up. Now I am sitting with about 24K and am back in the game. 8 players left.
At this point the final table looks like this. Chip Leader -about 50k, me and 2 others about 25k, two with about 15k and 2 small stacks. One short stack falls and after a few hands I am mid-position and looking at A-A. Luckily, the player to my right bets out about 6K (he has about what I do), I think and want to isolate so I push All-In. Short stack to my right goes All-In for about 8K. It is folded to the first aggressor who folds. I show and the short stack shows K-K. Aces hold up and I know about about 45k in chips, second to the leader who has about 65 at this time.
The tournament pays 4 places, there are 6 left. The director comes over, asks if we want to make a deal. We end up agreeing and I take second with $2k to show for it.
What I liked about how I played was I did not make any moves that I regretted. I waited for the cards and when I saw weakness, I pushed on it, whether I had the cards or not. I also did not tilt, even though I got a very bad beat that could have sent me over the edge.
Final tally was this. +$80 for the initial round, +1500 tournament (after tips and buy-in), -$300 for stupidly returning to the tables after the tournament (it is hard to shift back to the $1-2 game after playing tournaments I have found).
+ $1280
28 players were in, and unlike last week, I reminded myself to keep very patient. I was not going to make moves unless I had the cards or the read on the players and just try to accumulate slowly. We started with 6000 in chips and things were going well. Pocket kings held up on an all-in and I had around 14k in chips when I looked down on the button with A-Jsuited. Nobody was in the pot and I pushed 900 (blinds were 100-200). SB calls. BB folds. Flop A-K-4. SB goes all-in for about 5500 and I call. He turns over J-J to my A-J. I have him dominated since I have one of his outs. Turn is a blank and then, of course, he hits his third J on the river for trips. A one-outer. ugh. I am down to about 8K and I am pissed. I had not made any mistakes until that point and this one was a freak catch. I took a minute, said nice hand and moved on. The main thing I did, and I think this was a turning point in the game for me, was to take remind myself that I still had a fair amount of chips and that I should not go on tilt. I put on the iPod (Bach's Cello Suites are great to keep you focused) and waited for hands and position.
Luckily, the patience worked out. I was sitting in the BB with K-9 offsuit and it luckily was checked to me with 2 callers. I checked and the flop came out K-9-4. SB checks, I check, other payer (the one who caught the luck might I add) pushes in the rest of his chips (7000), SB calls, and I go All-In with 7500. We turn them over and the aggressor has nothing A-7. SB has bottom 2 and my hand holds up. Now I am sitting with about 24K and am back in the game. 8 players left.
At this point the final table looks like this. Chip Leader -about 50k, me and 2 others about 25k, two with about 15k and 2 small stacks. One short stack falls and after a few hands I am mid-position and looking at A-A. Luckily, the player to my right bets out about 6K (he has about what I do), I think and want to isolate so I push All-In. Short stack to my right goes All-In for about 8K. It is folded to the first aggressor who folds. I show and the short stack shows K-K. Aces hold up and I know about about 45k in chips, second to the leader who has about 65 at this time.
The tournament pays 4 places, there are 6 left. The director comes over, asks if we want to make a deal. We end up agreeing and I take second with $2k to show for it.
What I liked about how I played was I did not make any moves that I regretted. I waited for the cards and when I saw weakness, I pushed on it, whether I had the cards or not. I also did not tilt, even though I got a very bad beat that could have sent me over the edge.
Final tally was this. +$80 for the initial round, +1500 tournament (after tips and buy-in), -$300 for stupidly returning to the tables after the tournament (it is hard to shift back to the $1-2 game after playing tournaments I have found).
+ $1280
Friday, July 27, 2007
What Would You Do?
I played the other day in the clubs new $50+10 tournament. It was frustrating as usual. I had had a great run for about a month, leaving with 2-3x what I bought in at consistently, but recently, the poker gods and my own misplays have been costing me.
But in this case, what would you do?
500 chips to start. Up and down for about 40 minutes and I am sitting on about 440 with the blinds 10-20.
I am in the BB with Qs+3d. 2 players in and I check. 10h was exposed on the deal.
Flop comes Ks+10d+10s. Check all around. turn is the 3s. SB bets 65, I call with my spade draw and small pair. 3rd player doubles the bet. I call, putting him on a K or maybe a 10 but figure if the spade comes, I am good. 6s comes on the river making my flush. I am first to act and push all in for about 300. Let me first say that the other player in the hand seems a little green. I have never seen him at the club before and he is not on top of all the etiquette. So, to continue,
he flips over his cards, without saying anything and then pushes his chips in. I initially thought it was a fold. Then I look down and he is holding K-10 for the boat. I am sitting there, waiting for the dealer and he pushes him the chips. Another guy at the table says that his hand is dead as he did not make the verbal call or push his chips in before turning over the cards.
I get up and tell him, 'I thought you were folding, but you had the better hand and I don't want to be a prick about it.'
I figured it was a tiny buy-in, he did not know the table/tourny rules and as well, I had been up for 35 hours straight and my heart was not in it. On the other hand, I technically won the hand when he showed before committing. For a bigger game/bigger stakes, I would have made a fuss, it just did not seem worth it on this one.
Would you have done the same?
-$60
But in this case, what would you do?
500 chips to start. Up and down for about 40 minutes and I am sitting on about 440 with the blinds 10-20.
I am in the BB with Qs+3d. 2 players in and I check. 10h was exposed on the deal.
Flop comes Ks+10d+10s. Check all around. turn is the 3s. SB bets 65, I call with my spade draw and small pair. 3rd player doubles the bet. I call, putting him on a K or maybe a 10 but figure if the spade comes, I am good. 6s comes on the river making my flush. I am first to act and push all in for about 300. Let me first say that the other player in the hand seems a little green. I have never seen him at the club before and he is not on top of all the etiquette. So, to continue,
he flips over his cards, without saying anything and then pushes his chips in. I initially thought it was a fold. Then I look down and he is holding K-10 for the boat. I am sitting there, waiting for the dealer and he pushes him the chips. Another guy at the table says that his hand is dead as he did not make the verbal call or push his chips in before turning over the cards.
I get up and tell him, 'I thought you were folding, but you had the better hand and I don't want to be a prick about it.'
I figured it was a tiny buy-in, he did not know the table/tourny rules and as well, I had been up for 35 hours straight and my heart was not in it. On the other hand, I technically won the hand when he showed before committing. For a bigger game/bigger stakes, I would have made a fuss, it just did not seem worth it on this one.
Would you have done the same?
-$60
Hooded Man Vs. Machine
I guess machine is not yet up to the task of beating man in poker, although it was close.
Here is an article about how Phil Laak took on an Artificial Intelligence computer at a poker game and almost lost. The thing that scares me is with all the on-line play, we are more susceptible then ever to bots coming and taking our money. We are not all Phil Laak.
LINK: Unibomber beats Polaris
Here is an article about how Phil Laak took on an Artificial Intelligence computer at a poker game and almost lost. The thing that scares me is with all the on-line play, we are more susceptible then ever to bots coming and taking our money. We are not all Phil Laak.
LINK: Unibomber beats Polaris
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Just giving it away
It just gets worse. Last night was one of those nights where everything was off. I would probably have saved some cash and just sat on the corner and gave out money for 4 hours. That was how badly I was playing.
The pinnacle of my first explosion was in the $300+30 tourney. I have played it before, and have cashed a bunch of times, so I know it pretty well. I generally do pretty good in tournaments and sit-n-go's because I have patience and wait for my opportunities. This one was going ok. It was into the second hour and I was up to about 9500 in chips (started at 6K). There was one player, who I have played before, who was playing alot of hands and winning, but mainly because he was getting cards, not because he was outplaying people. I had not seen a decent hand in awhile, and I got impatient. I looked down in MP with A-5 suited. I throw out 450 (3x the blinds), it folds to him and he raises to 1450. It comes back to me and on a hand that I should have laid down, or at worst just made the call and play it after the flow, I struggle for like a minute and then throw in all my chips, thinking that if he is on mid-pair or A-10 or something he will fold it. He calls and shows me K-K. I don't improve and am out.
It was such a stupid play that I really got frustrated. If I was going to come over the top, don't struggle (not that he would not have called with K-K). If I know I am an underdog, I can fold. If I think I am an underdog who can improve, then call. I make the complete BAD play. At least I can take away to stick to my guns and play tight in the beginning, loosen up with chipstack and later rounds. UGH.
I then proceeded to donk off $250 more at the tables through bad calls and suck-outs.
Not a good night at all.
-$580.00
The pinnacle of my first explosion was in the $300+30 tourney. I have played it before, and have cashed a bunch of times, so I know it pretty well. I generally do pretty good in tournaments and sit-n-go's because I have patience and wait for my opportunities. This one was going ok. It was into the second hour and I was up to about 9500 in chips (started at 6K). There was one player, who I have played before, who was playing alot of hands and winning, but mainly because he was getting cards, not because he was outplaying people. I had not seen a decent hand in awhile, and I got impatient. I looked down in MP with A-5 suited. I throw out 450 (3x the blinds), it folds to him and he raises to 1450. It comes back to me and on a hand that I should have laid down, or at worst just made the call and play it after the flow, I struggle for like a minute and then throw in all my chips, thinking that if he is on mid-pair or A-10 or something he will fold it. He calls and shows me K-K. I don't improve and am out.
It was such a stupid play that I really got frustrated. If I was going to come over the top, don't struggle (not that he would not have called with K-K). If I know I am an underdog, I can fold. If I think I am an underdog who can improve, then call. I make the complete BAD play. At least I can take away to stick to my guns and play tight in the beginning, loosen up with chipstack and later rounds. UGH.
I then proceeded to donk off $250 more at the tables through bad calls and suck-outs.
Not a good night at all.
-$580.00
Sunday, July 22, 2007
1-2NL, 2 Hours, NY Club
Went to the club this afternoon to kill a few hours. Only 1 table of 1-2NL going. I try a new strategy, buy in small ($150) and try and use some over top all-in moves to double it up.
About 15 hands in I look down with AQ off-suit UTG. I throw in $13. 2 Callers. Flop comes A-10-8 rainbow. I throw out $20, one fold, the guy to my right (who is an older, but often aggressive type player) makes it $45. I have another $97 left if I make the call and figure at this point I am probably good, but you never know with what this guy playes so I push all in. He thinks for a minute, makes the call. A Jack comes on the turn, King on the river, I make a straight. He murmurs to himself 'that was a lucky river for you', but he never shows his hand. I think i was good the whole time, but he threw his cards into the muck. Doubled to about $320.
I knocked off about $80 later when I pushed with 2 pair against trip 7's (I need to learn how to check with that pair hits the board that aint mine).
Another ridiculous play later on my part, and this one got me annoyed, but I still won the pot. Aggressive player to my left, I am UTG, pot is about $40. 3 players in the hand. I am holding Kh-5c. Flop K-4-8 rainbow. I check , aggressive guy puts out $17. Player to my right calls and I call. Next card is a 2h (2 hearts now on the board). Aggressive guy checks, guy to my right checks, and for some reason, I thought I was on the button (guy to my right was). So I say "All-In", even though I guess I had checked since I was first to act. The dealer says "All-In Blind" to me. I look down and say, "umm...sure". Push all my chips in (like $200 left) but am clearly off. Aggressive folds, but player to my right is thinking. He just looks really confused by my move. He did not realize that I had meant to push on the turn, but got caught up in a mistake. He thinks I went all-in blind before the river. The 10 on the river looks innocent enough. He takes awhile and then asks if I will show if he folds, I say sure. He mucks, I show the K-5 and he looks disgusted since he had me beat, but my off-putting mistake got him into a state where it knocked him off his game (I am assuming 2 pair or A-K). Just goes to show you, if you act out of character, players will not know how to react. Still took down $100 on that mistake.
All in all, for a 2.5 hour session, I hated the way I played but still came out ahead. There is a $300 +30 tourney tomorrow that I have cashed in a few times. Looking at it this way. I can buy in for $150 instead of $330.
+$190
About 15 hands in I look down with AQ off-suit UTG. I throw in $13. 2 Callers. Flop comes A-10-8 rainbow. I throw out $20, one fold, the guy to my right (who is an older, but often aggressive type player) makes it $45. I have another $97 left if I make the call and figure at this point I am probably good, but you never know with what this guy playes so I push all in. He thinks for a minute, makes the call. A Jack comes on the turn, King on the river, I make a straight. He murmurs to himself 'that was a lucky river for you', but he never shows his hand. I think i was good the whole time, but he threw his cards into the muck. Doubled to about $320.
I knocked off about $80 later when I pushed with 2 pair against trip 7's (I need to learn how to check with that pair hits the board that aint mine).
Another ridiculous play later on my part, and this one got me annoyed, but I still won the pot. Aggressive player to my left, I am UTG, pot is about $40. 3 players in the hand. I am holding Kh-5c. Flop K-4-8 rainbow. I check , aggressive guy puts out $17. Player to my right calls and I call. Next card is a 2h (2 hearts now on the board). Aggressive guy checks, guy to my right checks, and for some reason, I thought I was on the button (guy to my right was). So I say "All-In", even though I guess I had checked since I was first to act. The dealer says "All-In Blind" to me. I look down and say, "umm...sure". Push all my chips in (like $200 left) but am clearly off. Aggressive folds, but player to my right is thinking. He just looks really confused by my move. He did not realize that I had meant to push on the turn, but got caught up in a mistake. He thinks I went all-in blind before the river. The 10 on the river looks innocent enough. He takes awhile and then asks if I will show if he folds, I say sure. He mucks, I show the K-5 and he looks disgusted since he had me beat, but my off-putting mistake got him into a state where it knocked him off his game (I am assuming 2 pair or A-K). Just goes to show you, if you act out of character, players will not know how to react. Still took down $100 on that mistake.
All in all, for a 2.5 hour session, I hated the way I played but still came out ahead. There is a $300 +30 tourney tomorrow that I have cashed in a few times. Looking at it this way. I can buy in for $150 instead of $330.
+$190
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Inspiration
I just read this quote by Louis Pasteur.
I do not think you can sum up in better words how the constant learning and re-learning of strategies and situations in our game makes our game that much stronger and can seem to the outsider to influence luck in our favor. I think I am going to run with this for awhile.
CHANCE FAVORS THE PREPARED MIND
I do not think you can sum up in better words how the constant learning and re-learning of strategies and situations in our game makes our game that much stronger and can seem to the outsider to influence luck in our favor. I think I am going to run with this for awhile.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Why I like this game.
Poker is such a mind fuck. You try and manipulate skill and luck together into something that resembles consistency and success yet we all fall to the constant bad beats and misplayed hands. It is a metaphor for life, are we aggressive? Deceptive? Strategic? Obvious? and we can be up and down at any point and either it can be devastating or no big deal. I try and be very Zen about poker. What will be will be, when i make mistakes, I try and learn from it and never let it get me too riled up or down. This does not always work.
Regardless, we love it.
Here is a good story though.
My buddy who plays at my club is an 30 year old high school teacher. Asian kid. A little wild, but generally solid. Despite his tats and funky style, he is also seems to be just a good all around guy. One of those guys you like playing with.
So I saw him the other night at the club. He comes up and tells me about the bad beat jackpot at the other place we play. He was playing 2-5 and limps in with 4-5d. Basic betting goes on and at the end of the hand, he is looking at at a straight flush. The other guy in the hand bets into him and he comes over the top all-in. At this point there is 3K in the pot. Of course he calls and the other guy shows the top end of the straight flush to beat his low end.
In the end, he lost $1500 on the hand BUT made over $14,000 on the bad beat jackpot. The winner of the hand got an extra $6k and everyone at the table got close to $2k. Now that is the best way to lost a made hand that I have ever heard and it could not have happened to a better guy (except me of course :-).
Regardless, we love it.
Here is a good story though.
My buddy who plays at my club is an 30 year old high school teacher. Asian kid. A little wild, but generally solid. Despite his tats and funky style, he is also seems to be just a good all around guy. One of those guys you like playing with.
So I saw him the other night at the club. He comes up and tells me about the bad beat jackpot at the other place we play. He was playing 2-5 and limps in with 4-5d. Basic betting goes on and at the end of the hand, he is looking at at a straight flush. The other guy in the hand bets into him and he comes over the top all-in. At this point there is 3K in the pot. Of course he calls and the other guy shows the top end of the straight flush to beat his low end.
In the end, he lost $1500 on the hand BUT made over $14,000 on the bad beat jackpot. The winner of the hand got an extra $6k and everyone at the table got close to $2k. Now that is the best way to lost a made hand that I have ever heard and it could not have happened to a better guy (except me of course :-).
Yes, I still suck.
It is interesting to me how we as poker players so often don't learn from our mistakes. Take this example from me killing time last night.
$20, 6 player sit-n-go.
Everyone started with about 1500 chips. I am down to about 1100. I am UTG with Aces. I ALWAYS push something in with aces as I have had them cracked too many times with BS. But for some reason, i did not listen to history or my game plan and limped, hoping for a raise. Of course, with a 6 player table, that leaves only 5 behind me and it is easy for people to limp in. The SB and BB limp as well.
Flop 10-7-4 rainbow.
SB pushes in 200. I come over the top All-In. He shows 7-4 for 2 pair. I bust out.
Pretty much any bet I would have made before the flop would have gotten this guy out. It is the usual, winning a small pot is better than losing a big one.
Oy. After the last few weeks, where I have been running pretty strong and making 4 figures in 2 weeks, these small little losses, mainly because of my boneheaded playing, is really annoying to me.
-$20 (plus $2 buy in)
$20, 6 player sit-n-go.
Everyone started with about 1500 chips. I am down to about 1100. I am UTG with Aces. I ALWAYS push something in with aces as I have had them cracked too many times with BS. But for some reason, i did not listen to history or my game plan and limped, hoping for a raise. Of course, with a 6 player table, that leaves only 5 behind me and it is easy for people to limp in. The SB and BB limp as well.
Flop 10-7-4 rainbow.
SB pushes in 200. I come over the top All-In. He shows 7-4 for 2 pair. I bust out.
Pretty much any bet I would have made before the flop would have gotten this guy out. It is the usual, winning a small pot is better than losing a big one.
Oy. After the last few weeks, where I have been running pretty strong and making 4 figures in 2 weeks, these small little losses, mainly because of my boneheaded playing, is really annoying to me.
-$20 (plus $2 buy in)
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Here Is Why I Suck
I suck for the following 2 reasons: 1 Queen and 1 more Queen.
I told myself that I would not play tonight as I had played a almost 4 hours yesterday. Well, here i am sitting at home and decide to play a sit-n-go on FTP. I usually cash in 45-50% of the games that i play, but don't love playing on-line and my a.d.d. gets in the way, so i tend to play small stakes. I ended up playing two for a total of $120 in the span of 1 hour. In both, i raise with pocket queens, get a caller and then push when an overcard hits the board. In both instances the other player pushes back with the overcard, in BOTH situations (note:suck!), I re-raise all-in. Both times I am called and shown the bigger card. Lost both times. That is why I suck and should not mess with the ladies.
-$120 (plus $11 rake)
I told myself that I would not play tonight as I had played a almost 4 hours yesterday. Well, here i am sitting at home and decide to play a sit-n-go on FTP. I usually cash in 45-50% of the games that i play, but don't love playing on-line and my a.d.d. gets in the way, so i tend to play small stakes. I ended up playing two for a total of $120 in the span of 1 hour. In both, i raise with pocket queens, get a caller and then push when an overcard hits the board. In both instances the other player pushes back with the overcard, in BOTH situations (note:suck!), I re-raise all-in. Both times I am called and shown the bigger card. Lost both times. That is why I suck and should not mess with the ladies.
-$120 (plus $11 rake)
1-2NL, 3.5 Hours, NYC, Underground Club
Sat down at the table with 5 other players as they were still trying to build a game. the guy to my right was so nervous (or lit-up) that he could barely stand still. Another few basic grinder types just trying to pass the time are there. 2 younger 20something guys sit down, next to each other and are friends. I always hate when friends sit next to each other to play. 1. They always almost always will just check down pots to each other and more importantly, I always worry that they will change the pot odds by not staying in when they should because their 'boy' is in.
From the minute they sit down, i have already put them as on-line players with not too much table experience. This gets proven quickly with their constant aggressive play, but never in amounts that will change the play too much. From $2 to $7 or $11. Not any moves that are really meant to get people to lay hands down, just constant pot sweetners. I don't mind this as I see them as targets to get outplayed.
I sit down with $200, they have both bought in for max ($300). Both have won some early hands but both also have showed alot of weakness in their game just waiting to be exploited.
Many hands play and I am down about $50 when I look at K-9s on the button. I limp and on-line guy 1 makes it $12. 3 callers so i call to for odds. Flop comes 10c, Js and Qs. OL Guy1 makes it 15. 1 caller and then to me where I pop it to $45 with the straight and straight flush draw. Without thinking for a second OLG pushes all in. This is what I love about these type of players, they see a good hand and they think being aggressive is enough. I call for all my chips and turn over the the straight and he turns over the trip Jacks. He doesn't improve so i take down the pot for $400.
All was going well until nervous guy limps before me and I push $25 with pocket Qs. He is so nervous that when he pushes $50 out for a min raise, I come over the top all-in. He calls and shows pocket Ks. I don't improve and lost my first buy-in. I understand what he was doing in limping with kings, but i think it was a bad move. You can get very hurt that way.
I buy back in for another $200 and am up and down here and there. Funniest hand was this.
5 players in the pot. ON-line guy 2 made it $7 to go so there is a bit of action. I am holding 6-4d and am playing a bit cocky, for no reason as many of my plays have not been working. Flop comes 7d 10d Qd. I have the low straight, it is checked to me, being a bit of a dick, i say 'I will bet my flush' and throw out $35. Folds to another guy with about $70 total left. But here is the thing, he has his iPod on, so he did not hear my statement. He things for awhile and goes all-in with Ac-Qs for top pair. I call immediately and win on the river as everyone around the table starts laughing that if he had not been listening to his music, he may have laid it down as I told him what I had.
All in all, left with $210.
-$190 for the session.
From the minute they sit down, i have already put them as on-line players with not too much table experience. This gets proven quickly with their constant aggressive play, but never in amounts that will change the play too much. From $2 to $7 or $11. Not any moves that are really meant to get people to lay hands down, just constant pot sweetners. I don't mind this as I see them as targets to get outplayed.
I sit down with $200, they have both bought in for max ($300). Both have won some early hands but both also have showed alot of weakness in their game just waiting to be exploited.
Many hands play and I am down about $50 when I look at K-9s on the button. I limp and on-line guy 1 makes it $12. 3 callers so i call to for odds. Flop comes 10c, Js and Qs. OL Guy1 makes it 15. 1 caller and then to me where I pop it to $45 with the straight and straight flush draw. Without thinking for a second OLG pushes all in. This is what I love about these type of players, they see a good hand and they think being aggressive is enough. I call for all my chips and turn over the the straight and he turns over the trip Jacks. He doesn't improve so i take down the pot for $400.
All was going well until nervous guy limps before me and I push $25 with pocket Qs. He is so nervous that when he pushes $50 out for a min raise, I come over the top all-in. He calls and shows pocket Ks. I don't improve and lost my first buy-in. I understand what he was doing in limping with kings, but i think it was a bad move. You can get very hurt that way.
I buy back in for another $200 and am up and down here and there. Funniest hand was this.
5 players in the pot. ON-line guy 2 made it $7 to go so there is a bit of action. I am holding 6-4d and am playing a bit cocky, for no reason as many of my plays have not been working. Flop comes 7d 10d Qd. I have the low straight, it is checked to me, being a bit of a dick, i say 'I will bet my flush' and throw out $35. Folds to another guy with about $70 total left. But here is the thing, he has his iPod on, so he did not hear my statement. He things for awhile and goes all-in with Ac-Qs for top pair. I call immediately and win on the river as everyone around the table starts laughing that if he had not been listening to his music, he may have laid it down as I told him what I had.
All in all, left with $210.
-$190 for the session.
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