The Nuts

2011-05-30T13:34:00.000-04:00

LIVE TOURNEY IN TAMPA

Except for the occasional home game I have not played much poker over the last year. The last real poker marathon was for Kevin’s 40^th birthday back in 2009 when we spent a few days in Vegas and I even had a chance to play Commerce, the Hustler, and Hollywood Park. That was not a good trip for me, especially the Vegas portion where I went absolutely card dead. When I returned I played the cash game at Full Tilt from August to December late at night compiling double player points. I won enough to put the bankroll back in shape but other life responsibilities kept me from playing during most of 2010. My one casino trip during 2010 was a day at the Ocala fronton where I won $300 playing the cash game. It was pretty soft field which may or may not be common for a weekday over there. I wanted to get back and find out, but it’s nearly two hours away and I hardly have two hours to do anything.

A week or two before Black Friday I played a few cheap Rush Tourneys while I was watching baseball on TV. Sean had recently won a few thousand dollars on those tourneys buying in for $3 or so and convinced me to give it a go. I have never found a casino chair more comfortable than my couch. But the government doing everything it can to conserve energy on the one hand now insists that drive more than an hour to play poker. Why that has to be the case I don’t understand. Almost every para-mutual in the state has a poker room, yet the two in Orlando don’t. I’m told the dog track can’t because it is too close to a church. But what about the Orlando fronton located in the strip club zone? Do they not see the market they are missing out on? I am located almost directly in the middle the Daytona, Melbourne, and Tampa Hard Rock poker rooms. Google maps says that they are all 1 hour and 15 minutes give or take a minute from each. 6 different casinos are within 2 hours from my house and that was my thinking as my poker Jones needed a tourney this weekend. Ocala has a deep stack on Saturdays and the Tampa Greyhound park has one on Sundays. I opted for Tampa since I had never been there.

The buy-in was $115 for 15,000 units and an optional dealer ad-on for $10 giving you another 5,000 units. The poor dealers. Who wouldn’t have paid $20 for those extra 5,000 chips?

The track opened at 11:30 and I was there about 10 minutes after opening where I bought an entry and played the cash game for an hour before the 1pm start. The guy next to me hit a straight flush that was worth $500 in cash. He said he had only come that morning because a guy who owes him $100 promised to meet and pay him. Not a bad outcome for him. One thing I noticed in the cash game is that no one gives anyone credit for their raises although there was very little pre-flop raising. It was nothing to see a 6x raise to get 3 callers and a guy that gets a piece of the flop will likely call it all the way down heads up. Most guys just wanted to limp and see a flop with any two rags. Top pair with a mediocre kicker can take half a guy’s stack. My preflop raise with KK was able to get $80 from 66 when rags fell.

Saturday night I read the first half of Gus Hanson’s book “Every Hand Revealed.” While every poker book praises being aggressive, Gus does the best job of explaining how to do it. Gus also told me to take off the head phones and watch the players when I’m out of a hand. With 20,000 chips and 25 minute levels I spent the first two hours sizing up the competition. Within the first few hands I guessed the best player was in seat 3. He was a muscular hulk of a character full of confidence. Guys built like him usually have confidence away from the table, but I have seen more than a few become timid when at the table. This guy had a look of someone who expected to win the tournament. The older guy to his left seemed like he would play a solid poker and the guy in seat 5 in a Full Tilt cap looked like a guy that had seen some action. The rest of field looked to be people trying to strike gold. The two players to my right were both women playing the tight passive variety you might expect. The guy to my left in seat 10 was showing his frustration too much to be a threat.

The first real confrontation happened about 20 minutes into the tourney. The Hulk made a big raise into seat 10. I stared at the hulk to get a read and there was a twitch or something in his eyelids that told me he didn’t want a call. Seat 10 was totally oblivious to it. He sat and thought and did everything but look into the guy in the eyes. When seat 10 folded the hulk let out a sigh of relief. It probably seemed like nothing to him, but it gave me confidence that I had the proper read on a guy I felt was the biggest hurdle at the table.

About an hour in I landed KK in the SB. With the blinds 100/200, the old guy in seat 4 raises 700 and he gets one caller around to me. Without much thinking my internal calculator told me to bump it 2200 more. The original raiser called and we lost the guy in between. The flop brought an ace, but I couldn’t check UTG and give him a chance to steal it so I lead out for 2400 and he folded. The weak passive to my right said that my raise felt like KK. Here was woman who has obviously played enough poker to read hands and yet I don’t think she used that information once to make a play on anyone. She just sat back waiting for a set.

Later in that level I landed AA in late position, but it folded around to me and my raise won the blinds. While I was quiet seat 10 crippled himself on a draw and then pushed in with garbage in order to re-enter the tourney which was allowed through 5 levels. He left the table and since our seat was the only open seat on the floor he wound up back at our table about he purchased the re-entry. On his first hand back he landed AA and pushed all-in after a preflop raise from the other women to my right. She called with JJ, but doubled up when a J flopped. He walked away saying that he pushed hoping that the raiser would think he was tilting. That’s what happened but he got the wrong result.

We must be three hours in when the blinds arte 150/300 with a 25 ante. I have around 17,000 chips. The hulk and another guy limp and I’m on the button with J9. There is finally enough money in there that a raise is in order so I bump to 1200. The hulk calls. The flop is Kh Jh Jc. Although slowplaying is an option I decide that if hits any kind of K he will not give me credit for a J plus there are too many possible draws to slowplay. I bet 2000 into a pot of 3625. Surprisingly he check raises me to 5000 total. Okay, there is no way he has me on a J. He likely has a KQ or KT and wanted to pop my continuation bet. I can’t give him credit for AK because he didn’t raise preflop and this is a guy who doesn’t let a raise situation go by. I have 13,000 or so left and decide we might as well get it all in right now while he has the wrong read on me. I push and he calls. He turns over Ah 8h. Wow. What a funny way to play that hand. If you decide to play A8s out of position for a raise and flop a draw in first position why not just lead out? You might win the pot. The tricky check raise makes you commit too many chips without learning anything about your opponent’s hand. If he was trying to represent the K then better to lead with it. A lead could win the pot and a raise from me would have allowed him to get away from it. Instead he is put in the position of calling 8,000 into a pot of 18625. He needs to be a winner 42% of the time for positive EV and he barely gets there if I just have Kx. This is not the kind of game where a guy folds a nut flush draw even on a paired board. As it turns out I am a 74 to 26 favorite when he hits the 6h on the turn. He has me covered and the board does not pair and I’m knocked out.

If I had slowplayed the flop and let him get the flush for free I would have cursed myself for not betting and I cannot be upset about taking any positive EV situation especially when my M was around 10 with blinds and antes at 625 around. He celebrated like he hit the lottery which he did. I moved to the cash game, but didn’t feel on tilt. I was happy every time I went through it in my head. I could beat myself up for playing rags like J9o, but I wasn’t playing I was raising. The purpose was getting aggressive after being relatively subdued. In his defense he had around 30,000 in chips and could afford to gamble. I want those guys to take the gamble every time. I find that I like the $100 buy in format because it’s enough money that it’s worth the time to play. On a field of 55 the first prize was $1800+. It’s also not so much money that I play too timidly.

I played the cash game for an hour when they announced a $30 evening tournament. I had no intention of playing it, but the cash game was getting annoying. The guys I was sitting between were getting cell phone calls at 5 minute intervals. What is it with poor people and their cell phones? They always need to know what everyone else is doing. One guy had an Emminem ring tone and the other had a soap opera ring tone he blamed on his sister that gave him the phone. The game was soft, but the guys were buying in $20 at a time and then rolling the dice. Boring.

Including re-entries and the $30 tourney drew 53 players. It was a mix of older people waiting to get cards, good players taking chances to get a chip stack so they could bully, and gamblers that thought any Ace was a bull by the horns. I tried to read players again, but at $30 no one is emotionally attached to their tournament life. They could call and push with anything and not mind being called as an underdog. With only 6,000 chips and twenty minute intervals that jumped quickly I was sitting on an M of 8 about an hour and half in when one off the button raised. I was in the Big Blind with JJ. I decided to push and make him decide. He insta-called with A6o, hit his card, and I was down to 225 units. After 50 for the ante, I was short 25 units for the small blind. Somehow I quadrupled up. Pushed again on the next hand and tripled up. I kept the mojo going brining my chip stack to more than 30,000 moving into the final table. First prize was $463. Fifth paid $90. With 6 of us left we decided to pay the bubble $10 each. I wasn’t getting much in the way of cards and the guy to my left was pretty aggressive making limping a bad choice. I took down a round of blinds when I raised with ATs UTG. Nobody had a dominant stack. The chip leader had maybe an M of 10. The rest of us were between 5 and 8. This was mostly a result of the tourney jumping from 500/1000 to 1000/2000 when we were down to 14 players. With the blinds at 2500/5000 and an ante of 400, KT utg looked pretty good 6 handed. I pushed and the guy to my left called with QQ. He said, “Do you have Kings?” I said, “Not Yet.” The table laughed at my confidence. The board didn’t help in the least and I took the payout which turned out to be $15 per player for $75 total. Did the $90 5^th place give me $15? If so, 6^th paid the same as 5^th.

With food and drink on the day, neither comped, I wound up with a $2.50 profit between wins in the second tourney and the cash game. The hulk made it to the final table where I think they made a deal with around 8 people left. If that was the case he made around $700 and it all started with his overplaying A8s. The Sunday deep stack is the right price and structure to make it worth a weekly attempt. Alas, I cannot make Trish a poker widow on Sundays to try, but when I can make it over there I think I could have success in it.

2010-11-07T19:34:00.005-05:00

ALL-NIGHTER

My night was basically defined by three hands in which I flopped a straight. The first hand was a multiway raised pot in which I closed the action by calling with (T-9). The flop came (Q-J-8) with two spades. The preflop raiser bet out and the player to my right went all-in. I went all-in as well with the nuts. The raiser says aloud "can I possibly be behind here?" and calls with top set. The other player had the nut flush draw. It was over for me quick when the (8) turned and filled up the queens. I was down $200 and had to go to the pocket.

Several hours later, I was running about even for the night and I flopped another straight with (8-7) on a (9-6-5) board. I got check/raised, so I flat called in position to see how it played out. The turn brought a (6) and I called the $45 bet even though I had my suspicions. The river blanked and he bet out $125. The way it played out, I couldn't imagine he didn't have a full house, so I folded the straight face up, which earned me some street cred the rest of the night. My opponent later claimed to have flopped bottom two pair and filled up on the turn, as I suspected.

So I was 0-2 with flopped straights but I was able to use my cred to start bluffing since I was now the guy who always knew where he was at in the hand. The player to my right was a pleasant fellow who liked to gamble and had built up a big stack. Towards the end of the night, I limped in under the gun with (Kc-Qc). Everybody and their brother called and when it got to the player on my right, he casually tossed in a $100 raise, confident that everyone would fold and that would be that. I had spent many hours watching him raise light, but never more than around $45, so I liked my hand very much in this spot and liked that I had position as well. I made the call to see if I could manage to hit a friendly enough flop to relieve him of the hundo.

The flop came (J-T-9) rainbow, which was pretty much ideal, as you can imagine. He checked and I put in a $100 bet, which he called. He looked more worried than confident so I just wanted to see any card that wasn't a queen hit the turn. Fourth street brought a (9), which I didn't love, but didn't despise either. If he just filled up, then I'm just going to go ahead and stack off to him. With the board pairing, I feared he could be drawing live to a boat as well as the possible chop. I didn't want to see either scenario play out and the pot was plenty big enough already, so when he checked to me, I went ahead and shoved for $500 or whatever I had behind. He was drawing live with (Q-9) and made the call. For once, my straight held up and I raked a monster pot.

I dropped a couple of hundred a few hands later when I turned two pair against a set but I still managed to finish the night with $475 profit. There was one other notable hand from earlier. The dealer rakes a buck out of every pot for a bad beat jackpot which is paid out whenever somebody loses with aces full of tens or stronger and both players use both hole cards. I raised preflop with (Ac-Tc) and a tight player called along with another caller. The flop came (A-A-K) and I led out at it. The tight player raised in position and I was in an awful spot. I thought his most likely holdings were A-Q and A-J, which both had me beat. However, I had the lead in the hand and was still able to represent A-K or K-K with a reraise, so I went ahead and did so.

I had seen this player lay down a couple of hands I would never have dreamed of folding and he was also the guy who didn't snap call with top set of queens on that earlier hand. I was really hoping he could lay down A-J in this spot and maybe check down A-Q. It turned out he had (A-J) and he did indeed lay it down. The real kicker is that we rabbit hunted after he folded and the turn would have been a ten and the river would have been a jack. If I had not played it as I did, we would have seen the turn and if I had been thinking jackpot, I would have let him see the river on a freeroll, which would have filled him up and awarded us a split of the $4400 bad beat jackpot. Honestly, at the flop, the idea of the jackpot never entered my mind; I was solely interested in winning the pot.

So, I guess I could have brought home even more winnings, but at the end of the session, I was pleased to have beaten such a tough table - a couple hundred hands of running even, punctuated by one monster pot.

2010-09-01T14:37:00.004-04:00

FAVE EVER

So many of my big hands in the past have been decided on the flop. I've been making an effort to extend the hands and trust my multi-street skills. Here is a recap of what is now my all-time favorite hand.

PREFLOP

We are playing 6-handed $1/2 NLHE. I am first to act. My stack is $350. I raise to $6 with (8h-6h). Next player calls; next player raises to $24. Both have bigger stacks than me. I've seen this type of preflop squeeze play plenty and it is not always a big hand but often simply a player with position trying to pick up some dead money. I will generally fold in this spot if I have an easily dominated hand like A-J or K-Q or if there's not a ton of money to win, but here, I've got medium suited cards that could manage to hit a flop and if I call, there's a real good chance the third player comes along as well to make for a juicy pot. I call and he calls so we go to the flop with three players and a $72 pot.

FLOP (5h-Qh-9d)

It's a decent flop for my hand so long as I'm the only guy with hearts. I've got a draw to nine hearts and three sevens for 12 outs. That gives me roughly a 50/50 shot at beating any hand, even one as strong as kings. Even so, I'm not itching to make the first bet because then I might be looking at the old option of getting all in on the flop and hoping for the best. I check; next guy checks; preflop bettor puts in $48. The bet is a bit weak so I'm not convinced he has a queen or better. I make the call to see what develops. The next guy surprises everyone by putting in a huge check/raise to $175. The bettor folds. I am on the fence. It's a big bet. I can basically put him on three types of hands: a set of nines, A-Q, or a draw like J-T or two high hearts. If the non-heart on the board was the queen, I would have folded, but since it was the 9, I didn't think he had paired. Even if he did have a higher flush draw than me, I could still be drawing plenty live with the 6, 7, 8 and the opportunity to bluff the 5, 9, and Q, should the board pair. With roughly half the deck working in my favor, I decide to call the $127, leaving $151 behind. The pot is now $470.

TURN (2s)

The ultimate blank hits the turn and I decide to give up. I check. Surprisingly, he checks behind me. There's no way he doesn't shove with top pair or better in this spot. I'm now certain he is drawing. The pot remains at $470. I have $151 behind.

RIVER (6s)

I miss my draw but pair my six. I think there is a chance it is the best hand but I'm willing to check down to showdown to find out. I check; he makes a pot-sized bet of $473. His bet is effectively $151 since it puts me all-in but the fact that he bet the pot is a bit of a tell. It is the classic act-strong-to-disguise-weakness tell. It screamed to me one thing only - I CANNOT WIN A SHOWDOWN! I think if he had an ace-high flush draw, he would have checked through and hoped he had my missed draw beat. After checking the turn and making this bet on the river, it was almost like turning his cards over. I was sure he had J-T. I made the call, he showed (Jc-Tc) and I won a $772 pot with a pair of sixes.

2009-07-27T15:02:00.003-04:00

VEGAS RECAP

Here it is, my first post in five months. Methinks a trip to the Holy City, and a winning won at that, is worthy of a new post. It started with my wife asking me what I wanted for my 40th birthday. I don't know, nothing much. I was content to ask for something I thought I had the chance to receive: the best steak dinner in town. Wife decided to fly in my best bud, Tom, from Orlando and surprise me. My other best bud, Steve, tagged along to double the effect. All my local friends were there as well, and the steak was imported in the form of tri-tip, catered by Wood Ranch. All in all, a perfect birthday.

But it didn't end there. Tom and I were scheduled to fly out of LAX Sunday night and arrive in Vegas for 44 glorious hours of poker, sleep and buffet. There would be time for nothing else. The poker began at the Mirage around 930P Sunday. We played until after 2A and neither of us did well. Tom, I think, lost only $17 but I fared much worse. My original $200 buy-in disappeared when the loosest player at the table flopped a set against my top two pair.

I bought in for another $200 and over time I got back to even. I was ready to quit around 1A but Tom was down over $100 at that point, so I ordered another Anchor Steam and got back to work. Over the next hour, I endured punishment like never before from the vagaries of chance. It started with K-K, which I lost to my good pal Tom and his J-J. The next hand, I had Q-Q and lost to A-J. I then turned the nut flush with Ad-Td and lost to a rivered full house. I kept getting big hands which all went down in flames, losing with A-K, A-K suited, A-A, and trip sevens. When the carnage was over, I was down $530, all from that final hour.

I had only taken $1k with me for the trip, but I felt I was playing fine so I needed a boost to the bankroll in case I got into a juicy game. I visited the ATM and pulled out another $500, intent to transform those twenties into hundreds over the next two days.

We started Monday by fueling up at the Wynn buffet, then we entered the noon tournament at the Venetian for $150. The first hand I entered was with old reliable, K-K, which went on to lose half my stack to Q-9. I got back to even but never much further until I busted out in level five. I hung around the poker room emailing via BlackBerry until Tom busted. We went to put in more hours at Mirage so that we could earn our $15 comp after eight hours of play.

Tom and I played at different tables. There's really no details to report other than the cards fell as they're supposed to during this session and I won $530, exactly the amount I had lost the night before. I was now down only the cost of the earlier tournament. When we hit the eight-hour mark, we cashed out, got our comp, and headed back to the Venetian for the evening tourney.

This time the entry was $120. Tom busted out hours before me and I went on to make the final table and finish 7th for $366. Only nine places were paid but the final table assembled the final ten, so we all contributed $15 to ensure busting tenth was good for at least repayment of the buy-in. I had been card dead for ages and finally got desperate enough that I was going to play the next hand no matter what. It turned out to be 9-9 which was an automatic all-in. I ran into queens and it was curtains at 1230A. The walk back to Treasure Island was great as it was pouring yet warm, a nice Vegas treat - lots of drunk girls splashing through puddles and such. Tom had another miserable day and he was crashed by the time I got back to the room.

Tuesday began at Cravings, the Mirage buffet. Our comps were good for $15 so we only had to pay a few bucks each for enough fuel for the day. We played $1/2 NL at the Venetian until 5P when we had to catch a cab to the airport. Tom had another miserable session but I was able to bank $633 while having a great time socializing with our tablemates. I doubled up as the chips were still on order, with K-K vs Q-Q. Finally, the kings won a pot. I would see them four more times and would win them all.

I lost with A-A but not as much as I should have after the board four-flushed on the turn. He had kings and would gladly have gone all-in preflop if I had chosen to play it fast. One of my biggest losses was an excellent river bluff raise early on, feigning flush, against a player who couldn't lay down aces up. I figured he might not be able to get away from it, but it was such a perfect spot, I had to make the attempt. Hours later, I felted the guy with a set of nines over his set of deuces, so the chips were merely on loan.

The other biggest loss was when I held a disguised overpair to the board and doubled up a lady with the dreaded ten-deuce, who had flopped two pair. I had no idea what she had because I never expected she would play junk, so I paid her off on the river hoping she'd show jacks. I was on the winning end of a monster pot when I had Q-T and another lady had T-8. We both flopped two pair and the river was a ten, giving us both the full house. It's easy money when you're on the correct side of that situation.

So, I finished with about $700 in poker winnings, minus the $400 cost of the room and flight. The whirlwind trip only could have been better if Tom had won too. It was good to get my poker mojo out of mothballs and get away for awhile. I look forward to my next Vegas sojourn whenever I can drum up a pal to join me.

2009-02-27T20:37:00.003-05:00

SILLY ME

I joined an 8-Game Tournament to hone my all-around poker skills. There were 12 players and only 3 were paid. With 4 players remaining, I was the runaway chip leader. Then I played a hand of deuce-to-seven lowball as if it was razz. I stood pat with an ace in my hand as if it was low, not high. At the end, I merely checked and watched the pot go to the other guy who would have gladly folded his queen-high hand had I bet. Soon after, I invested a lot of money into a pot-limit Omaha hand as if we were playing hi-lo. I thought I had half the pot locked up but instead, I was scooped. Once I realized what a knucklehead I was being, I played another hand against that same player that I just doubled up. This time, I had the best hand when the money went in - I had an overpair to the board with a flush draw against his top pair with two overcards. He went on to hit one of each of his overcards without giving me the flush, so he doubled up again. I was crippled and I wound up busting in fourth place, out of the money.

2009-02-16T18:31:00.003-05:00

PLAY LESS WIN MORE

So, I can pretty much only play tourneys on the weekends now. Last weekend, I made two final tables, bubbled another, and profited $1k. This weekend I did my taxes, but being off on Presidents' Day, I entered three tourneys Monday morning. I busted early from two of them, then finished third in the other, profiting $2.5k. I had a hunch that going back to work would not only improve my psyche but also my poker game.

2009-02-01T11:15:00.002-05:00

HOME GAME

I have not been blogging because I have not been playing much in the past month. I finally broke down and got a real job, so I am no longer at home at all times, looking for action. I love the new job and plan to stay with it for many years, so poker goes back to being a leisure pursuit.

Last night, I got the call for a home game at my neighbor's house, where I played a tournament a few years ago, finishing second. I made for a game of six and we agreed on a $50 buy-in cash game with $.50/1.00 blinds. I established the limp early on, so as a result, most hands were four or five-way action with only the occasional preflop raise. I threw a lot of money at flops I had no business seeing, but I figured with my experience, my best chance at a big win would come by understanding where I'm at as the hand progresses, so I wanted to be involved in as many hands as possible.

My first buy-in was short-lived. The big blow came when I took a flop with T-5 and the flop came 9-7-5. There was some action, but I wasn't buying it. The turn was a 9 and there was a bet and a call. I made the call again, thinking neither guy had a nine. The river was a T and I figured I just beat whichever guy has a seven, so I called a $15 river bet and fell to Q-9.

I bought in for another $50 and immediately got A-A on the big blind. When the limpfest got around to me, I put in small raise, looking for a couple of callers, which is what I got. The flop was 7-5-4 and I led out with a bet. There was a call and then the small blind raised it up. I called. The turn was a J and he bet into me. Well, if he's not scared of the jack, then he's already got two pair or trips. I just had to hope it was two pair or a pair of sixes. I wasn't folding, so I went ahead and shoved and he showed trip fives. The river was another jack, so I would have beaten 5-4, but instead, I was rebuying again. I threw a $100 bill into the middle and was given a stack of green $5 chips. At this time, I was looking like the patsy at the table, but what nobody realized is that being $200 into a cash game for me is like being $50 in for them and I had no concerns that I wouldn't be able to get it back.

Almost imediately, my luck turned. I tried to shake things up by min-raising with Tc-4c in first position. I got one caller and the flop came Q-T-6. I bet out and he called. The turn was a 4, giving me two pair. I reached for chips which made him reach for chips so fast, that I decided to check to him. He bet $5 and I bumped it to $20, which he called instantly. The river was an 8 and I bet another $20. He folded and said he had nothing. I couldn't resist showing the T-4 and claiming I got lucky. I figured he had nothing so I was happy to have made the extra money on the turn.

I won another big pot when my third pair held up against a bettor and a caller. I called with my pair and straight and flush draw but checked the end when I didn't improve. My pair of eights were good enough. The hand of the night came when I limped utg with Kc-Qc, looking for a big multi-way pot with a superb multi-way pot type of hand. The flop came Q-9-6 and I led out, getting called, then raised. The turn was a K and I checked. The next guy bet out, which surprised me, then the third guy raised him. In a tougher game, I probably muck my hand at this point, but unless I'm getting burned by trips again, then I'm likely up against a lesser two pair. I had concerns about the J-T but I doubt if the raising guy would have been raising a draw on the flop. The other guy was more likely to have me beat but he had a smallish stack, so he was getting paid off regardless. The third guy, raising guy, with the big stack either has trip sixes or something he is overplaying, so I cold called the raise, as did the middle guy.

The river was a blank, so the strength of my hand now was the same as when I cold called on fourth street. I checked with the intention of calling a bet. The middle guy bet a measly $10 and the third guy proclaimed all-in. He didn't expect anybody to call him, so he thought I was just wasting time when I asked for a count. It turned out to be $108 to me. That's a lot in this game, but it's not enough to make me fold top two pair, so I called and the middle guy tossed in his remaining chips. The all-in guy had A-K and the middle guy had flopped two pair with Q-6. I took a huge pot, bringing me into the black.

I won some other more boring pots and redistributed some money back into the game with loose calls rather than locking up my win and ended the night up $220. There was one missed opportunity that went down like this: I raised to $3 with Ah-Kh and got called by two players. The flop came A-3-3. I checked, to allow somebody else to either get greedy or overplay their lesser ace, but it checked around. The turn was a 6 and one player bet $3. I just called, hoping the third guy would call as well, and instead he declared all-in. It was a crazy bet. These guys just like to say all-in, I guess. It was a $90 bet into a pot with less $20 in it. That guy had been a fan of the all-in move all night and had always shown the goods, so I was thinking of laying down my hand anyways, but when the other guy called him, I couldn't imagine that one of them didn't have a three, so I mucked my A-K. Turns out the all-in guy had A-Q and the caller had A-K like me. I guess my slowplay worked, but I didn't get to benefit from it.

There was one other notable hand. Three of the guys had come to the game contingent on Dave, the host, ordering the pay-per-view UFC match, which he had on in the other room. Two guys left the game to watch one of the undercard matches and the four of us who remained played some hands with a $1 ante. I got dealt an ace in every hand and so I saw every flop. On the last of these hands, I min-raised with A-4 and got some calls. The flop came 5-3-2 and I made the continuation bet. It folded to Dave, who pushed all-in with a pair of sixes. Again, it was a crazy $60 bet into a small pot. I relieved him of his stack, the same as if I would have had a pair of nines. It's easy to make money in home games like this where the opponents are so enamored with the all-in move that they think it's a device to ensure everybody else folds. The turn/river came 7/J so he would have saved money by seeing I was still interested on later streets if he had left himself the opportunity.

Well, the game broke for the UFC main event and I walked home to chat with Marci and the Jacksons, who were in my jacuzzi. When I got back, the match was soon decided and we got back to the game, but with the match over and me taking all their money, there was little reason for these guys to stick around, so the game busted at 10PM and that was that.

2008-12-14T23:24:00.002-05:00

TRANSFER OF WEALTH

I haven't posted anything in awhile. I've still been playing, but more sporadically than usual. I served on a jury in November, and then I whipped my resume into shape and got back into the job hunt. I had my first interview last Friday, so we'll see where it leads. I've been playing mostly cash games the past six weeks, and mostly PLO of late. It's a game that can see some chips fly across the table. I play at the $2/4 stakes, but I'm seeing some hearty swings in the sessions I play.

Today, I got into a full ring game as opposed to my usual six-handed preference. I bought in for $250, then $300, then $250, then another $250, then $200 more before the table broke while I sat with $381 remaining. That was a big swing in the wrong direction. I wasn't chasing anything outlandish either. It was one of those sessions where one particular player had my number and busted me over and over.

My first buy-in left me when I lost with queens full against kings full for a $686 pot. A third guy appeared to have flopped the straight, but he made a sweetener bet on the flop and got both of us who tripped to call. He made a pot-sized bet on the turn and now was the time to release the hand, but I stubbornly called since I also had the queen-high diamond draw. The river paired fives and I had only $93 behind, so in it went. I had the third best possible hand behind 5-5 and K-K. When the kings called behind me (rather than push), the straight guy knew to save his money and fold. I don't know if he had the nut diamond draw, which would have been disastrous for me. I'd like to think I had diamonds and the lone queen for wins at least. I thought the five was a good card, but I was not happy to see the kings.

Twice more, I played big pots with the kings guy and both times he sucked out on me after the money got in. Our next big pot was a $611 payday for him. I had (A-6-5-5) and he had (A-K-J-9) with a flop of J-5-3. He reraised me on the flop, so I cold called him with my 92% win rate and we saw the J turn. I now had the boat but my winning percentage fell to 78%. He was still happy to get it all in so I obliged. Of course, I didn't know my win rate at the time, but I've looked up the numbers since. I knew at the time that I had a full house and he had A-J. I wasn't too concerned that he had quads or a 3 in his hand, so I was happy to get all in. The river was a K to give him the pot and send me to the ATM.

Not long after, and this is at a full table, mind you, we got it all in again. Again, I had the advantage, and again he sucked out on me for a $445 pot. I began with (Qh-Jh-Td-5c) versus his (Kh-Ks-8h-7c). He had raised preflop and I called to see the flop, which came Jc-6h-2h, giving me top pair with a flush draw and a backdoor straight draw. He bet and I called in position. The turn was the Qc and at this point, with me as the 63% favorite, we got all in. I wasn't happy to see the higher flush draw when the cards were exposed, and it was the 7h that did me in.

When the table broke, I settled into a short-handed table, and stayed patient and grinded back to within $100 of even on the day. There was one player who always seemed eager to get it in on the turn. After awhile, he got cocky and showed me his hand twice in a row after I folded to him. One time he had the ace on a suited board, getting me to fold top two with an all-in lead-out on the turn. About ten minutes later, I had all his chips. The first time, I called his flop bet, turned two pair, and shoved to his turn bet. He had nothing more than an up-and-down straight draw, which he called with and lost. Soon after, I limped with A-A and he put in his usual button raise, which was followed by a call from the small blind. I reraised and he repopped it, committing himself to the hand with little more than a suited ace. The blind went away and my aces held up. That's the thing with PLO - you can win a lot of pots by being aggressive, but it doesn't take much to get you broke if you tangle with a better hand in the wrong spot. I was pleased as punch to be nearly even on the session and called it a day.

2008-10-23T23:59:00.002-04:00

BACK IN ACTION

I went through one of my periodic hemorrhage periods, during which I was simply throwing money away at the cash tables. After a series of stupid plays that cost me over $300 in public, a railbird called me out and told me that I was nothing but a stupid fish. I realized that he was right so I closed shop and took the next two days off to get my head straight. I came back today, refreshed and focused. I got into a $2/4 NLHE game and although I dropped $200 at first, I kept plugging and turned a $900 profit on the day.

This was the key hand of the session: I'm at a six-handed table and I'm dealt 7s-7h. I raise preflop to $12 and the button makes it $36. When I'm hemorrhaging, I call automatically because I'm merely gambling, but when I'm actually using my brain to make winning decisions, I use the size of my opponent's stack to determine whether the implied odds of winning his entire stack make it worth my while to chase the 7:1 odds against hitting my set. In this case, I need to call an additional $24, so I want to see at least $240 in his stack. I like to see a potential 10:1 return on investment to make up for all the times I hit my set but fail to win his entire stack. He's got well over $600 so I make the call.

The flop is 3d-9h-9d and I decide to take a stab at the $78 pot with a $55 bet. I'm in good shape against any unpaired hand and I don't fancy check/calling in this spot, so I want to announce that I've got a decent pair and attempt to win the pot right here. He makes the call, so my strategy immediately shifts to check-it-down mode. That is, until the gin card - 7d - arrives on the turn.

The pot is $188 and now I have a full house, which is the nuts in every instance except the one in which he flopped quad nines. It was such a deceptively good card for me that I quickly determined that the proper way to play it was to check/raise. If I bet out, then I'm representing a diamond flush, and he would likely just call with an overpair to the board, and he may even fold black tens or jacks. I figured my better play was to check and try to get him pot-committed, assuming my show of weakness would encourage him to bet to protect his hand. He indeed bet out $130, after which, I raised it up to $300 (with $245 behind). He had just the hand I needed him to have to shove all in - Ad-Kd. He's drawing dead for the $1299 pot.

I locked down that win and was content to play small pots for the next hour, before quitting. There was one hand in which the above scenario nearly played out again, but with an evil spin. I could have lost a lot more than the $84 I wound up losing on the hand. I called a small blind raise from the big blind, holding 3c-3h. The flop came Jc-Jh-5h and he made the continuation bet. It took him a long time to bet, leading me to believe it was more than a routine c-bet. I thought he might actually have the jack and had to talk himself into playing it fast, but still, I made the call with my small pair to see what would transpire on the turn. Fourth street brought my 3s, once again the gin card. He bet strongly into me and I was fairly certain he had the jack at this point, but I just flat called because I was looking ahead to the third bullet. The river was the 5s which completely counterfeited my full house. He made a strong value bet and I folded.

2008-10-10T01:14:00.003-04:00

THE PENDULUM SWINGS BACK

I took a drubbing yesterday, but kept my positive mental state. I played really well and just got super unlucky. I was ready today with three hours of free time to try to win it back. Well, I got $800 of it back and here are the two hands that mattered:

The first key hand was a continuation of yesterday's luck. I had As-Ac and called a raise preflop. It is important to note that in the previous hand, I had lead into an ace-high flop only to fold to a reraise. So the same situation came up here - the flop was Ad-6c-5d and I lead right out into it. I figured he had some sort of pair between sixes and aces and I needed to convince him that I didn't have an ace, because if I had an ace, why on earth would I be leading out rather than check/raising. He fell for it and tried to raise me off my hand. Out of position, I didn't wish to get tricky and see the action freeze when another diamond falls, so I just shoved right then. He gave it a think and called with 9h-9d. Running diamonds fell and I lost the $700 pot.

I was pissed, but I didn't let it tilt me. He apologized profusely and rationalized "I knew you had an ace but I had so much money in by then that I figured I could try to catch a third nine." He was still apologetic a few hands later and said, "I'm sorry man, that must have been a 2% shot." I told him, no worries, I'm used to it. And besides, I want that call every time. I plugged the situation into the online calculator and discovered he was 5.25%. It's not often I can get $350 in as a 95% favorite, so I felt a zen-like serenity about the outcome. After all, it wasn't 100% and there will be that one time in twenty that it goes the other way. I'm just glad it was only $350 and not my mortgage on the line because I would have bet all I had and all I could borrow on those three aces in that spot.

I bought back in and plugged away, getting even, and then was rewarded with this beauty:

What I love most about this hand is who it came against. I won't say his name, but I referenced him some weeks back as the guy who could not lose - he hit every river on me time and again and fleeced me for a large amount. Ever since that day, he's been popping into games as if he's got software designed to seek me out. He's a solid player, so I haven't been able to put the hurt on him like he did to me, until today.

I respect his raises, because he plays strong hands and he plays his hands strong. He puts out a continuation bet every time, but he will slow down on the turn if his opponent shows interest. If he has a hand, he is not afraid to play a big pot. I've been waiting forever to get into the situation against him when I could check into him twice, because I know that if he fires the turn, then he's basically committed to the hand. So, in this instance, he raised my big blind and I defended with Jc-9c.

POT: $39
FLOP: Qh-Tc-5d
ACTION: * / B $30 / C
ANALYSIS: I hit just the right kind of flop. I've got a draw to a big hand. His bet seems like more than a continuation bet. He's either trying to protect against a draw or he's trying to build a pot, hoping I've got a piece of it. I make the call and pray for an eight or king.

POT: $99
TURN: Qh-Tc-5d / Ks
ACTION: * / B $84 / C
ANALYSIS: I hit my gin card, giving me the second nuts. I have to check to see if he's going to fire the second bullet. He bets strong and for a moment, I begin to fear the A-J, but then I remember the big bet on the flop and completely discount that possibility. He's either got a set or K-Q. Whatever he's got, he loves it, and with no flushes possible, thus very few cooler cards, I decide that we're taking this to the river so I can try to get him pot-committed.

POT: $267
RIVER: Qh-Tc-5d / Ks / 6c
ACTION: * / B $174 / AI $568 / C
ANALYSIS: A perfect blank. I've got the nuts and he loves his hand. I could bet and he'd pay me off, but I have a grander plan. I check and let him stick out a value bet. It turns out he's got a set of queens and he instacalls my shove for a $1538 pot and the best result I've gotten in ages.

I haven't been able to play any tournaments in awhile as we just wrapped up two solid weeks of house guests. First, my wife's mother was in town for a week, and just as she left, we got an aunt and uncle for the week. All this while we're having our bathroom redone, as bad timing would have it. So, we were a family of six this week, all sharing the kids' bathroom. I had to stay at home all day with the workers and was able to squeeze in some poker while our guests were out exploring Hollywood and Malibu.

The past week was a blast with the random relatives around. Aunt Sally is my father-in-law's older sister and she's been married to Uncle Tom since 1964. He is quite a storyteller and I haven't laughed so much in a long time. I call him Uncle Jody (Joe D) because he's the spitting image of Joe DiMaggio. He grew up in Brooklyn and used to go to 50 games a year at Ebbets field before the Dodgers moved west. He told me about how his social circle revolved around the basketball court at the public playground. He was very athletic and good at ball so he had some social standing. The kids who couldn't play wound up buying heroin from the thugs and were ostracized from the courts. When he moved to Delaware, he went to see the all-state team play and was amused at what passed for all-state in Delaware. They couldn't even dribble with both hands.

Aunt Sally is pushing 70 but petite and spry. She went to the hospital ten years ago with some sort of minor ailment and wound up having one of those hospital-induced strokes. She's healthy now but still has enough aphasia that holding a conversation with her is an adventure in patience. Her mind works perfectly but she can't always get the correct words out which frustrates her, so a lot of times she just gives up. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to decipher what she was really trying to say and I was never sure whether or not I should try to finish her sentences for her. Tom is so laid-back, he doesn't get frustrated at all and waits her out, helping her when she looks to him for assistance. They've both had health debacles and it's obvious that they still dig one another.

Tom was always a runner, even way back before it was cool. In fact, his son, Tom, runs a cross-country training program up north of San Francisco. So all that running finally gave him a sore foot, which he took to a doctor several years ago, only to find that the real problem was with his heart. So he wound up with a pacemaker, but the model he had implanted was soon recalled, so they had to open him up to get it out. This of course lead to an infection in one of his heart valves which put him in the hospital for some time. During his stay, his kidneys failed so he's put on dialysis, which he describes as by far the worst thing ever. After months of rehab to get healthy enough to walk again and go home, that's when Sally had her episode. Talk about your rough patches.

I was at their house in Old Saybrook, CT one time when I was freshly married into the family and before we had kids. Their daughter, my wife's cousin, was getting married, and it must have been October '95 because I remember watching Tom Glavine throw a one-hitter in the World Series at their house. There was an old guy, whom everyone referred to simply as Ghecas, watching the game with us, and I was honored when Ghecas told me in front of everyone that I know more about baseball than anyone he's ever met, based on my in-game analysis.

Ghecas, it turns out, was a college football hero for Georgetown back in the late '30s. He played pro football with the Eagles for one game back in 1941, returning kicks. When football didn't work out, he switched to baseball, but never made it to the bigs because, as the story goes, he was a minor-league centerfielder for the Yankees behind Joe DiMaggio. So, Ghecas traded in his cleats for a sidearm and became a special agent for the FBI. My wife's grandfather - father of Aunt Sally - and Ghecas served together as g-men for decades.

So there you go, you're up to date.

2008-10-08T19:25:00.002-04:00

RIVER QUEEN OF DEATH

I played great, I really did, but still the ledger shows a $1120 loss on the day. I remember hearing a long time ago that most of the professional baseball players in the minor leagues are just being paid to provide competition for the prospects who have a real chance of making the majors. The poker equivalent that I was reminded of today is that most of the hands you play in any given session are just there to set up the occasional huge pot and it is how you perform in the big pots that defines the session.

I was chipping up steadily with my $600 buy-in until the first big pot brought an untimely river queen to kill me in a $450 pot. I was heads-up with A-K and position. The flop was Th-Ts-9h, and I checked behind him. The turn was the Kd and I put in a healthy bet after he checked. He pushed and I called. After checking twice, he wasn't about to convince me that he had trips or better. I figured he had either K-Q or K-J and either one beat me once the queen came. It was K-J.

I lost the remainder of my initial buy-in when I got comped into a three-way flop and caught top/bottom with two random cards. There was significant action and it all got in. I lost to top two from the random cards in the small blind.

I was down $600 but not discouraged. But the next beat was brutal. I was in the small blind with A-K and there was an early limper. I figured my best way to play it was to merely complete the bet and disguise the strength of my hand. The big blind took the bait and bumped it up to $30. I considered my trap a success and repopped it to $125, looking to take it down out of position. He comes back with his entire stack, which I called for my remaining $600. The board came 7-3-2-5-Q. There were no flushes but as the cards fell, I was still thinking I needed to connect or else I can only beat A-Q. When the queen fell, I knew I was dead, and indeed he had A-Q. So, there is some solace that I got over $600 in with way the best of it, but it still sucks when the result is so wrong.

2008-09-29T19:59:00.003-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY 09.29.08

I think I've established by now that I am destined to lose money at poker and the only excitement derived from the game lies with experiencing the variety of ways the abuse is metered out. Today, I chased a hand, caught it, then was reminded that nothing is a sure thing.

PREFLOP: $2/4 NLHE ring game.
HAND: Js-9s
ACTION: It folds around to me and I raise to $12. The button raises to $36. I call.
ANALYSIS: I had bought in for $400. I was up and down over a few hours and currently I was at $240 after taking a couple of tough beats. I make a standard late position raise and the button plays back at me. I make a lot of late position raises so I like to defend in this spot sometimes with suited connectors unlikely to be dominated and hope to catch big and hopefully make the next guy think twice about reraising me. I make the call and look for a friendly flop.

POT: $78
FLOP: Qs-Td-2c
ACTION: * / B $56 / C
ANALYSIS: He puts in a healthy bet so I don't doubt that he has something, but I flopped something too. It's not enough that I want to get into a raising war right here, but I could catch my card or a scary Q or T could enable me to move him off of an overpair. I call and hope to catch lucky on the turn.

POT: $190
TURN: Qs-Td-2c / Kh
ACTION: B $145 all-in / C
ANALYSIS: I caught lucky. If he has anything at all, he's bound to either really like the king or really dislike it, so I decide to just move in and hope for a call. He calls with As-Qh, which has been reduced to second pair with a gutshot. He would have certainly checked behind me so I was right to shove and have him go with what used to be top pair, top kicker, but now is a 7% longshot.

POT: $480
RIVER: Qs-Td-2c / Kh / Jd
ACTION: all-in on turn
ANALYSIS: Ouch, the three outer. Time to rebuy.

2008-09-25T13:27:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY 09.25.08

It's been rough waters since my two cashes a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday delivered a painful dose of suck when I sat down to play PLO8 and promptly went up $800 before a sick turnabout made for a huge downswing and a $400 loss on the day. I ran into the guy who could not lose and lost pot after pot to him when he consistently hit the river card after the money was in. I do think there is profit to be made at that game though, as the day before, I was the guy who could not lose, which means the other guy was missing the river card after the money went in.

Today, I waited until the 10AM $109 MTT before jumping into a game. I was ready for a long day of patient poker but was instead served the rich irony of being the first player to bust. Here it is in its entirety. It is the first deal of the $10/20 level. The table has not even filled up yet. There are two empty seats. It folds to me on the cutoff with Kd-Jh and I pop it to $60. The small blind calls and the big blind folds.

POT: $140
FLOP: Qs-Tc-9h
ACTION: * / B $100 / C
ANALYSIS: I've flopped the stone nuts. There is no flush draw. He's either got none of it, or some of it, but I've got to bet to build a pot, so I make the standard continuation bet after he checks to me. He calls, which leads me to think he's got some of it, or at least a jack for the straight draw.

POT: $340
TURN: Qs-Tc-9h / 2s
ACTION: * / B $200 / R $1280 / C
ANALYSIS: The deuce changes nothing. I've still got the nuts. Now there is a spade draw to go with the straightening flop, but he is still checking to me. I don't want to lose him, so I double my bet to $200, hoping he will call again and pad my stack in the early going. He surprises me by check/raising me half his stack. The obvious play here is to reraise all-in but since I'm holding the nuts and he will be forced to act first on the river, I opt for the delayed shove to allow better odds that he will commit all his chips. He probably would commit them on the turn if he thinks he's strong enough to check/raise but I just don't want to take the chance that he will fold to my shove. I decide it is a better play to show weakness and let him continue applying pressure on the river. Sure, I'm giving him the free card, but there's really no difference whether the card comes first or not since my prime directive is to get his chips in the pot. If he beats me on the river, then he was going to beat me anyways if we had gotten all in on the turn. I'm basically deciding to go with my hand regardless of what comes on the river, whether the board pairs or if another spade comes. If either of those cards helps him, then he was destined to suck out on me. If he's got J-8 or Q-T, then I'm figuring his money is going in on the river regardless of what comes.

POT: $2900
RIVER: Qs-Tc-9h / 2s / 9c
ACTION: B $620 / R $1560 all-in / C
ANALYSIS: I'm not loving the nine on the river, but I'm not going to chicken out now. I already decided on the turn that I was going with the hand on the river. I expected him to shove, but he instead only bets half his stack, so I complete the bet by raising all-in. He calls and shows a pair of deuces for the full house. Yuck. The old runner-runner boat over the nut straight routine.

2008-09-18T19:10:00.003-04:00

TREADMILL

I thought I had some sort of momentum after last week but I've been busy outside the house without much chance to test it. Yesterday, I got into a cash game, played well, but had terrible luck. I folded my first A-A on the turn when my opponent called quickly on the flop then led into me on the turn. The flop was something like T-9-8 or 9-8-7 which made it easy to see I was being suckered. I got aces again towards the end of my session but it folded around. The big blow came when I flopped a set of sixes versus top pair and got all the money in on the flop. I lost when two hearts came to give the guy a four-flush and the $650 pot. I did have a nice payback when I beat a set of sixes later by catching a straight on the river against a different player for $380.

Another big hand played out sort of strangely: I raised to $18 ($3/6 NL) from utg with As-Ks and was called in three spots for a $81 pot. The flop came 5s-3s-3d which I didn't mind at all. I bet $48 into the field and got two callers. At this point, I'm thinking of course they have overpairs, but I'm playing it strong from first position so how comfortable can they be. The turn is the Td which I figure is a scare card for most of the pairs they could be holding, so I shove my final $156 into the $225 pot. One of the players calls me, the guy to my left who was first to call preflop. I'm thinking he could be as strong as 5-5 for the flopped full house, but anything else and I can still catch a spade, ace, or king. The river is the Ts and I think I've bagged it until he turns up Kh-Th. Wow, I can say okay to the preflop call but what's he doing calling me on the flop with two players behind him? I can't say I understand that play at all unless he knew what was coming. I've got no problem with how aggressively I played the hand - I certainly got unlucky that he called me on the flop then went on to suck out on me. There's no way he thinks his hand is good at that point, and it wasn't, so he needs to first catch a pair and then have it be the best pair, all the while avoiding the spade draw that he must have put me on. It was a losing play but it sure got all my chips.

I made a note of a couple of other hands: I was playing Stud8 for cash and raised the button from the small blind when he open-called, looking to go heads up with Ad-Qd-Qh-8h. The big blind called and we played three-way. The flop was Jh-Th-9d giving me the second nut straight with the third nut flush draw and even a backdoor nut flush draw. I bet and the big blind called. The turn was the 5c which changed nothing. It was a pot-limit game so I hate to build a monster pot with less than the nuts but I'm beating trips and don't care to see another heart come off and put me to a tough decision, so I bet out. He raises me and I take another look at my hand. Hmm, he's saying he's got the K-Q. I'm holding two queens so I don't wholly buy that line. He may have some sort of 8-7 with the A-2 of hearts. If it is true he has the nut straight, I'm just going to have to catch that heart and win it with the flush. I don't have the stone nuts, but I do have the heart draw in case he does, so I put my last chips in. He not only turns out to have the K-Q for the nut straight, but he's also got the J-9 and fills up when the 9h comes on the river. Lucky for me, I've got a straight flush and a $496 pot.

That hand was definitely the high point. It was all downhill from there and I don't think I ever won another pot. The other hand is just kind of a cute hand in a NLHE tourney in which I later busted without getting paid. A player raises to $90 from two off the button and I call with 9s-8s from the big blind. The flop is Ks-Th-8h and I check. He checks behind me, so my pair figures to be good. The turn is the 5s giving me a spade draw with my third pair. I check again just so I can get crafty on the river if another spade comes. He checks behind. The river is the beautiful As and I check a third time. Finally, he bets $60 into me. I raise to $420 and he calls with a measly A-7. I was proud of that hand because I managed to win a big pot at an early level just by extending the hand against a weak player when I could have easily won a small pot on either the flop or turn with a bet. Early in a tournament, it pays to give the other guy more chances to make mistakes.

My final seminar of the day is on a hand that just busted me out of a $150 MTT near the bubble. I have A-K in first position with a below-average stack, yet plenty enough chips to coast to the money. I make a standard 3x raise from utg at my 7-handed table and the player in fourth position raises me from $1.5k to $7k. There is $15k in my stack and $25k in his, which is just a tick above average. I am put to a big decision when it folds back around to me. I consider all three options. I can fold, coast to the money, then try to get lucky. I don't like that option because I need chips to make a deep run and Big Slick is just the kind of hand I'm looking for. I'm most likely even money to win the hand, so why run away, even if it means busting on the bubble. I could instead play the coin flip and take the 50% chance of coming away with an above average stack in an event in which I can really make some decent cash.

I think about calling and taking a flop which would cost me half my stack and only allow me to see three of the five board cards. Obviously, if I pair up, I'm going with it, and if I miss, then I let it go. If I had more chips, I could have played it this way, but since folding to the flop would make me an underdog anyways to cash in the event, I decided to go ahead and shove it in and take the coin toss. Even though he had plenty of chips compared to me, I thought there was a slight chance that he may fold to my raise since I made it in the face of a certain call. It would not be unheard of for a player to consider folding jacks or tens in this spot since he is likely to be only a slight favorite or a massive underdog against a hand I'm willing to die with.

Well, he called, showed jacks, I caught an ace on the flop, and he caught a jack on the river. It was a heartbreaking exit for me since obviously, if I would have merely called his raise, I could have probably won the hand with a shove on the flop and avoided the river disaster. Of course, that's easy to say now, and I can't even be sure he would have folded had it played out that way. I guess it was just a tough situation. Since he reraised my utg raise, and thus is announcing a big pair, should I give more consideration to folding in this spot rather than calling or shoving?

2008-09-11T16:27:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 09.11.08

I busted out of a MTT this morning and moved over to a cash game. I won nearly $300 spending a couple hours at a couple of $3/6 NL tables. Here is the craziest hand of the session:

I open-raise in 5th position with Ad-3d; the bb calls.

POT: $39
FLOP: 7h-6d-6c
ACTION: * / *
ANALYSIS: He checks which tells me nothing. I'm going to get check/raised often enough in this spot that I prefer to take a free card, so I check behind.

POT: $39
TURN: 7h-6d-6c / Ac
ACTION: * / *
ANALYSIS: I catch my ace but still see no reason to bet. Maybe he calls me with a straight or flush draw, but if he has a playable hand at this point, it likely has me beat. I would rather wait to put in a small bet at the river if he checks it to me a third time. Then he might call me with an underpair to my aces.

POT: $39
RIVER: 7h-6d-6c / Ac / As
ACTION: B $30 / R $60 / R $180 / x
ANALYSIS: I waited long enough to see my ace-high transmuted into a full house. And better yet, he's betting into me. I had some suspicions that he may have flopped trips and now I think he is making a desperation bet after seeing the hand slip away. I suppose I could just call here and close the action since I don't exactly have the nuts, but I've made this min-raise on the river in this spot so often that my fingers executed the action before my brain even got involved. The other guy nearly always begrudgingly calls, shows a six, then curses his luck. One thing that has never happened to me before was having an opponent re-raise me instead. If he would have min-raised me instantly to $120, I'm sure my fingers would have obliged him with the call. But, he took a moment to think through the situation and then put out a meaty 3x raise. There's no way he puts that money in with less than quads, since I obviously have at least aces full. At the $3/6 NL level, I would expect a player to call me with an ace, probably call with a pair of sevens and maybe even call with a six, but never would I expect to get raised by any of those hands. He must have 6-6. I don't think I've ever put an opponent on quads before and folded, so I broke new ground by mucking my boat.

2008-09-09T20:07:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 09.08.08

This hand was not played by me, but rather something I witnessed while watching the final table of a $10k event at PokerStars. I had been railing Orel Hershiser for a few hours while I played in my own penny-ante games. Orel made it all the way to the final table but busted with A-A when Jonathan Little flopped a set of sixes. This hand came soon after, with seven players remaining.

Little is on the bb with Ac-5h; the antes are $2k and the blinds are $12k/22k. I'm not sure why not $24k but these are the numbers that were showing onscreen. There is a first-position raise to $50k and Little calls.

POT: $120k
FLOP: 5c-4s-2c
ACTION: B $72k / R $240k / C
ANALYSIS: Little flops top pair, top kicker, with a gutshot and bets out with it against an opponent likely playing two overcards. The raise may indicate that his opponent holds two high clubs or an overpair or maybe just doesn't believe. Little calls.

POT: $600k
TURN: 5c-4s-2c / Qd
ACTION: * / B $420k / C
ANALYSIS: Little check/calls the turn when a club doesn't materialize. It's a big bet from a guy who doesn't seem to mind the queen. It's possible the queen hit his opponent who may be playing two high clubs and now has caught top pair. In hindsight, this seems to be the time to get away from the hand, but Little thinks his fives are good and hopes to check the hand down to victory.

POT: $1.44m
RIVER: 5c-4s-2c / Qd / Ts
ACTION: * / B $2.5m all-in / C $1.2m
ANALYSIS: Little checks the river and tanks for a long time when his opponent shoves the river. I think Little expected to win this pot at showdown but now his opponent is not allowing him to go to showdown for free. He either has a monster or complete air. He has shown nothing but strength throughout the hand and can very well have a set of queens, but Little is convinced that it is a multi-street bluff and he makes the hero call for all his chips. His opponent shows 5d-4d for a flopped two pair. Little goes from second place to out 7th while the other guy becomes the massive chip leader and later wins the event and $618k. Little cashes $108k and lies awake that night.

As for me, I followed up my big win with another run in a $109 MTT in which I got a bunch of chips before misfortune struck. I got sly in a sb/bb confrontation with Kd-Jd v 8s-8d and checked third and fourth streets with a Q-J-x-x board before letting my opponent catch his set on the river and paying him off. Very soon after, I raised with K-K and got played back at from a guy shoving Q-8. I'm supposed to be able to say "ha! I've got kings." but he made the longshot straight and I was not for long, busting before the money.

Today, however, I made the final table in another $109 MTT, dying in fifth place for a $3k score. We were five-handed forever and I was the chip leader, with another playing gaining on me. He raised the button and I reraised the sb with Q-Q. When he didn't fold right away, I got worried as he was the only player at the table who could really hurt me. He went all-in and even gave a speech first: "time for bed" or something similar. I knew I was in trouble. I prayed I would see J-J, hoped I might see A-K, but feared I would see K-K. I called and saw kings. I busted the next hand.

I think it is possible to fold queens in that spot but I have never been one to do it. It is just my luck that I finally pick up the third best hand and run into a better one. I thought for a moment about letting it go after the speech. I could have folded and still been in third place. Even better, I wish I had merely called preflop to save such a monster decision. I could have gotten away once the king flopped. I think with time, I may be able to find a fold there facing a third raise, but today, I found the call and was eliminated.

2008-09-07T12:18:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 09.06.08

$109 MTT; I got some chips early, stalled for awhile, then when the antes kicked in, I tried to steal whenever the situation looked decent. Moments ago, I open-raised from the small blind then called a reraise with K-6. I got lucky enough to hit trip sixes on the flop and felted the big blind who had Q-Q for a $12k pot. Two hands later, with the player on the button sitting out, I open-raise with J-9 and get called by the small blind who has a $14k stack:

POT: $2325
FLOP: Td-8c-7c
ACTION: B ($1200) / R ($3600) / R ($12.2k all-in) / C
ANALYSIS: Okay, nothing terribly surprising here as the hand plays itself when you flop the joint. The surprising thing is that my opponent shows A-K. Rather than pop it up preflop, he decides to slowplay Big Slick. I suppose if I have A-J and an ace comes, then he looks like a genius when we get into a raising war. When he misses the flop, however, I think his hand plays better as a check-raise than a lead-out. Once I raise him, with that board, he should have cursed his luck and mucked. Thankfully for me, he decided to represent a monster while I was harboring the nuts. It goes to show you that a big part of winning poker is just avoiding the total collapse of reason. I am guilty of making bad bluffs often at this stage in tournaments. I usually wind up muttering to myself "bluff into weakness, not strength." This player had enough chips to coast for awhile. It is okay to sometimes slowplay big cards in a situation where you are not expected to have such a strong hand, but you must be prepared to get away cheaply if the other guy indicates that he's got ace-high beat. I benefitted by the combination fortuitous flop and opponent's catastophic blunder, vaulting me into the chip lead.

I went on to make the final table as the chip leader. I lost a few hands in a row and became the short stack but I never gave up and I waited for my rush. Two hands in particular helped me out tremendously: I min-raised from utg with A-A and got two callers. I flopped a set and waited until the turn to make my move. It wouldn't have mattered as one of my opponents had flopped an underset so it was just a matter of time until the chips went in. Later, with five players remaining, I called an all-in and was delighted to have him dominated A-9 > A-7. The flop came 7-5-2 and I figured my luck had run out until the 6/8 peeled off to bring justice. I had more than half the chips four-handed and the same scenario played out when I busted the fourth guy. I had the A-8 > A-6 and he flopped the pair before I rivered the straight. First you have to play perfectly, then you have to avoid getting unlucky. It was all working for me during this event. I went into heads-up play with a modest chip lead. I lost the lead then got it back, then at 2:30 AM PST, we decided to chop it up evenly: $8560.

2008-09-05T16:31:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 09.05.08

$22 MTT; already in the money; $200/400/50 level; big stack to my left. It folds to me two off the button. I raise to $1111 with Ad-Qs. The big stack calls and everyone else folds.

POT: $3272
FLOP: As-Jd-2d
ACTION: * / B ($2400) / C
ANALYSIS: I paired my ace but my instincts tell me to check to see what develops. He puts out a 3/4-pot-sized bet as if he's got an ace. The scary thing is that if he does have an ace, there's a real good chance that his kicker is a jack. He very likely would have raised me preflop with A-K as I was raising from late position and he has me easily covered. There would have been no reason for him to play Big Slick cautiously in that spot. I can't fold to what could be a steal attempt, but neither am I anxious to check-raise. I've got the ace of diamonds so I call, looking for a diamond to slow down the action and give me some outs against A-J.

POT: $8072
TURN: As-Jd-2d / 8c
ACTION: * / B ($31k all-in) / x
ANALYSIS: I check, content to give up some value if I'm ahead in order to keep from busting if I'm behind. If he checks behind me, then I can either make a value bet on the river or check-call depending on the card. If he makes a small bet, then I will be faced with a decision. He chooses option c by shoving his monster stack. If I fold, I've still got $6.4k. If I call, I'm almost certainly beat since he is not shoving here with a flush draw. I make the fold and he assures me that A-Q was no good. I can't imagine it was anything other than A-J. See, occasionally, I can fold a hand. I went on to run Q-Q into K-K to finish 133/1584 to nearly double my $22 investment.

2008-09-05T16:00:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 09.04.08

$2/4 NLHE cash game, six-handed. I am $600 invested and my stack is $780. The player I am up against has a stack of $470. I am dealt Qc-Qh in second position. The utg player raises to $14, I raise to $40. The player behind me calls the $40 and the original raiser folds, leaving us heads up.

POT: $100
FLOP: 7c-4d-2s
ACTION: B ($44) / R ($99) / R ($172) / R ($432 all-in) / C ($260)
ANALYSIS: Obviously, the player to my left has a hand good enough to call me preflop after I had raised the utg player. I am representing a big hand so I think if has aces or kings, he would have popped it up and tried to get it all in pre-flop. I'm left thinking he's most likely got J-J, T-T, or A-K. The flop is safe if I am in the lead because I don't think he invests $40 cold with a pair of sevens or smaller. So, the only hands I am losing to are aces and kings. With this flop, it is likely we both have overpairs, and even more likely I've got the better one, so I want to build a pot. I bet out a little less than half the pot to represent a scared A-K.

He makes a small raise, which is not entirely unexpected. We both know he has a pair and it looks as if he's trying to find out cheaply if it is any good. Well, I'm losing to aces or kings, I'm tied with queens, and I'm beating jacks and tens, and even nines and eights, though I consider those hands less likely. He only called me preflop when he was offered the opportunity to build a pot, so either he doesn't have a giant pair or he was determined even then to create a raising war post-flop on a baby board. I don't really see the point in calling here. I think I need to go to war and test my queens to see if they are good. I put in a healthy reraise to announce that his pair is no good.

I am not happy when he then pushes all-in. It is beginning to appear as if he has played a giant pair for maximum value. It will cost me $260 to win $962. I need to win this showdown around 27% of the time to break even on the call. I make the call for several reasons: first, the table is short-handed, which makes me want to believe there is a better chance that queens are going to be the best hand with only five opponents; second, I think he has either kings, queens, or jacks. I am beating one of those hands and tying another. I'm drawing thin against the kings but I want to believe that it all adds up to a call; third, at the $2/4 level, I would not be completely surprised if he shows A-K suited with his fingers crossed; and finally, I really suck at poker and seem to make it a habit of getting my money in with the second best hand.

I call and he shows Ks-Kc. I go on to run pair into higher pair, and trips into a full house and lose $1200 on the day.

2008-09-02T13:35:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 09.01.08

$3/6 NLHE cash game. I am $900 invested and my current stack is $535. I've been getting no cards at all and the table is pretty tight, yet I stay because I've been playing a few hours and know the table, plus I am due a flurry of high cards at any moment.

In this hand, I am under the gun and a new player has sat down two seats to my left with a $240 stack. He posts the $6 rather than waiting three hands for the big blind. That is usually the sign of a gambling-type player. The smallish stack also points towards him being a gambler since he's presumably more interested in risking a smaller stack in an attempt to double up quickly than he is in playing deep-stack poker, which takes patience.

I am dealt As-Qc and decide it is in my best interest to limp in and hope for a flurry of preflop action with that extra dead blind sitting out there. I will fly in under the radar and hope to isolate when it comes back around to me.

It doesn't take long for the action to ramp up as the dead blind guy raises to $27 to protect his investment. It folds all the way around to me. I am highly dubious that he's got a hand better than A-Q. I've seen this routine before where a player posts when he shouldn't and then compounds his error by overplaying his hand preflop. I imagine he's got some sort of playable hand like two big cards or two suited middle cards. I think I have the best hand but I'm not ready to announce that just yet. Since he will have position on me for the rest of the hand, I'm satisfied with taking a flop and seeing if he is willing to overplay his hand some more if I continue to show weakness. I call $21, bringing the pot to $63.

FLOP: 2s-6c-2d
ACTION: * / B ($63) / R ($144) / R ($213 all-in) / C $69
ANALYSIS: I love this flop. I haven't hit a flop all day but I couldn't have missed this one better. I'm willing to bet his $240 that my A-Q beats whatever he's holding, so I check with the intention of check-raising. He knows that flop missed me and he needs me to fold ace-high so he puts out an intimidating pot-sized bet to take it down. The bet could mean that he has a low pair but if so, then I'm just going to have to outdraw him because my chips are going in. I raise to $144.

I have effectively put him all in, because I'm not folding at this point. Folding does not seem to be an option for him. He sets his phaser to gamble and shoots it all into the middle. I call and he shows Kd-Jh. The ace on the turn ends it and I win a $486 pot.

This pot got me turned around and I went on to recoup my buy-in with an additional $108 profit before quitting.

2008-08-30T03:48:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 08.28.08

$100 MTT; $100/200 blind level. I have Ah-Jd in the big blind. Preflop, there is a raise to $600 from third position and a call from fourth position. I call the $400.

FLOP: Js-7s-7d
ACTION: B ($1200) / R ($5245 all-in) / x / C
ANALYSIS: I'm not a huge fan of A-J in a three-way pot but I can't just fold two big boys preflop when I'm already involved in the blind. So when I hit the flop, I've got to play the hand hard and see what happens. The pot is $1900 and I've got the initial raiser covered so rather than play guessing games, I make a strong bet that basically announces that I have a jack.

He raises me and the third player folds. He would certainly want to get all his chips involved with an overpair to jacks but on such a relatively short stack, and a third player still involved, I tend to think he would flat call in this spot and try to build a pot. Because of my strong bet, it is unlikely I have a flush draw so what's his hurry to push me off my hand and drive out the third guy? If he's got queens or kings, I'm still 1:4 to win which beats drawing dead, but his overbet has me thinking that maybe he's the one on a flush draw. All that plus the fact that I still have $4400 behind should I lose this pot leads me to call.

He shows As-Ts and my two pair holds up. This is how I get the chips but the way I spew them later on is much too horrendous to detail in this blog.

2008-08-28T17:06:00.003-04:00

BACK TO SCHOOL

I got schooled today on my first kid-free poker day since early June. The first reality check of the day was realizing that I've got a kid in middle school, which is sort of amazing considering I still have the emotional makeup of a twenty-year-old. The second reality check came when I realized that it doesn't matter how big your hand is, if some other player is designated by the poker gods to lord over you for a day, you can just expect him to wind up with all your chips.

I promised myself slow and steady gains during a long cash session while the kids were in school but my whole day came down to three big pots, all of which I lost. I bought in for $240 at a $2/4 NLHE table and within a couple of hours, I had nearly doubled my buy-in. I was playing ABC pretty much and when I finally got aces, I was able to raise in a spot where it looked like I could be making a squeeze play against a loose-aggressive raiser and a cold caller. I bumped it and the laggy called me, leading the other guy to believe his kings were good enough to go with. He shoved, I called, and the laggart folded, but the king came and I lost out on a $900 pot.

After buying back in and building back up a little, I got aces again and got all-in on the flop against the same player who had a flush draw on a jack-high board. He had the ace of clubs and probably thought he was in good shape, but I had him dead to clubs, so he caught one on the river to bust me. I got back in the game and lost my stack again when I raised the same guy with A-K preflop. He called with tens and spiked the A-T-3 board. I could have maybe avoided going broke with a deeper stack but I had witnessed this guy's affinity for getting his money in with the second best hand, so I just hoped he was on A-Q or A-J and in it went. Not an auspicious start to the new school year.

2008-08-22T22:05:00.003-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 08.22.08

I haven't been able to repeat my success with HORSE since the big day but today I was able to pull in another $1400 with a big NLHE session. It was an eight-handed table at the $3/6 level. I lost a chunk of my initial buy-in the moment I sat down with 8-8 against an all-in from a shorty with A-K. Then after another blow, I bought in for another $240 and built it past $2k before retiring. I actually won a $390 pot with a straight flush against a guy who flopped a set. I made the hand on the turn so it's a shame he didn't fill up on the river, or better yet, hit that final four. It would have been March Madness in late August but even so, he still paid off a $123 bet on the river with the straight and the flush heavy board.

Today's Hand of the Day was that early blow I referenced earlier. Again, I had 8-8, this time in third position with $3/6 blinds. I open-raised to $15 and the next three players all elected to call, as did the big blind for a $78 pot. I was pretty much done with the hand unless I fell in love with the flop.

FLOP: Kd-7s-3h
ACTION: * / * / * / * / *
ANALYSIS: There's a chance my eights are good but with three players left to act behind me, I am content to check/fold. When nobody bets, I become a believer in my hand.

TURN: Kd-7s-3h / 5h
ACTION: B ($60) / C / x / x / x
ANALYSIS: After a table full of checkers on the flop, the big blind decides he has A-K on the turn when a brick falls. I've seen this ruse before and I'm not buying it. He was getting the pot odds preflop to play anything so although he might have just made two pair or a straight, I'm leaning towards thinking he picked up a heart draw or he's sitting on a vulnerable pair of sevens. I really should raise here and try to end it. In my head, I'm thinking someone behind me may have me beat with a higher pair, so I just call, hoping to check it down. Thinking back on it now, if somebody did have a higher pair than mine, then a raise is even more indicated to ensure that I convince that guy to fold. I make the timid call instead, believing I have the best hand and hoping to take it down without further confrontation.

RIVER: Kd-7s-3h / 5h / 6c
ACTION: B ($132) / C
ANALYSIS: I was expecting him to give up on the river, especially when the scare card for the straight falls. He not only bets the scare card but puts in a healthy amount. I should fold my second pair but I'm curious. I just don't think he has a four so the only reason for such an aggressive bet out of position is because he needs me to fold. I don't think he bets two pair in this spot so either he's got some sort of 5-4 or he's got nothing. My curious nature gets the best of me and I call. He shows 9h-8h, aka The Nuts. Oh, it all makes perfect sense now. My instincts were good here but my luck was bad.

2008-08-22T17:23:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 08.21.08

$55 MTT turbo edition, first hand:

I am utg with 9-9 with a starting stack of $1500 and $15/30 blinds. I limp to see what develops. There are three others who take the flop. I did not record the particulars of the hand at the time but I'm recreating it now from memory. The suits are unimportant as there was no flush draw.

FLOP: 8-7-3
ACTION: * / B ($80) / x / R ($240) / x / C
ANALYSIS: It's a good flop, giving me an overpair with backdoor straight potential. I bet 3/4 of the pot to try to discourage anyone from getting fancy. When I am raised, a part of me wants to get out cheap as this is the first deal and the paltry starting stack coupled with the rapidly increasing blind structure dictates that I must win the first pot I contest or risk being severely crippled. I make the call since the true strength of my hand is pretty well concealed behind my open limp and I am beating him if he thinks A-8 is the nuts.

TURN: 8-7-3 / J
ACTION: * / B ($480) / C
ANALYSIS: The jack doesn't help me other than to bring me closer to that back door straight, but when he bets so aggressively, it makes me suspicious. I'm just not putting him on J-8 and I don't think he'd be so eager to price everybody out if he had flopped a set. I still think he has A-8 but I'm also beginning to think that 8-7 is more than a little likely based on his eagerness to end the hand. I decide to make the call but I will hope to check it down and will be forced to fold to a significant bet on the river, giving him credit for the 8-7.

RIVER: 8-7-3 / J / 3
ACTION: B ($750 all-in) / C
ANALYSIS: Well, I was hoping to see a jack, nine or three on the river and here is the trey. I can now beat 8-7 and half my starting stack is in the pot already so the shove is a no-brainer. If he has 8-7 he will likely call and if he has me beat, I was calling anyways. He calls and shows T-9 for the straight. Wow, I had never really considered that hand since I was holding two nines myself. I guess holding the blockers made me discount his big bet when the draw card came on the turn. I put him on a couple of hands that gave me a 50/50 chance of having him beat before the river and when the board paired the bottom card, then I was confident enough to risk my tournament life. Give me a $3k starting stack and I don't bust out here, but I tend to play my hands fast in a turbo event and this time, I was the first player eliminated.

2008-08-21T01:15:00.003-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 08.20.08

$163 MTT with 662 entrants, 16 remain:

The event paid 63 players. At the bubble, I was short enough that my aim was to linger until I made the money, which I accomplished. After the bubble burst, things went my way and I got a bunch of chips. I was trying to play smart so I could get to the final table where all the real money is. At this point, I had $177k in chips and a new player was moved into the seat to my left. He had $188k, the only other player at the table to have me outstacked. I got dealt Qd-Qh in second position and raised to $9,555. He reraised to $26,666 and I called, figuring it was prudent to take a flop before charging ahead.

FLOP: Ad-8d-3d
ACTION: * / *
ANALYSIS: I hate the ace but I do have the second nut flush draw. There's no reason for me to bet although I will call any bet that he makes. He checks behind me which is fine by me. The only hands that have me are the A-K or K-K with the king of diamonds. Anything else, and I've got at least a fighting chance.

TURN: Ad-8d-3d / 7d
ACTION: B ($32,500) / C
ANALYSIS: I catch my flush and bet for value. He calls, which could be good or not. He's in position, so if he's sitting on the king of diamonds, he doesn't need to let me know right away. If he's sitting on the jack of diamonds, then that's good news for me. He may even have three aces for all I know, and if so, then I've just taken the lead.

RIVER: Ad-8d-3d / 7d / 3s
ACTION: B ($75,800) / R ($128,000 all-in) / x
ANALYSIS: In hindsight, I hate my bet here. After I bet, I knew I put in too much. I only had $45,000 or so in reserve. I had chosen the amount of my value bet based on the size of the pot rather than the size of my stack. I rather wish that I had checked altogether and either called his pot-sized bet or folded to his all-in shove. I was making a value bet with the second nut flush but still, I am losing to Ax-Kd, A-A and Kx-Kd, three of his likely holdings, so I should have been content to play a smaller pot at this point. Once he raised me, I knew I was beat. Either he had the Kd or the full house. I gave it a good think, but the fact that I had put in such a hefty bet on the river and he raised me anyways told me that he wasn't concerned in the least that I had him beat. It was an easy laydown. I told him that I needed to know his hand for my blog and he did indeed own up to the Ax-Kd. Well, at least I didn't shove preflop which would have ensured my demise, and at least I didn't call his shove which would have ended my night. The major mistake came when I value bet the river with such a hefty bet. A smaller amount would have sufficed or even a check/call considering the situation. After 4.5 hours of play, I made a bad bet which cost me most of my stack and I was out soon after, running T-T into Q-Q to finish in 15th place.

In other news, I won over $1400 today playing HORSE at Full Tilt in the ring games. It is actually more fun to play the mixed game than to toil at NLHE all day and since it is a limit game, I can't lose my entire stack on one bad play. I made a number of small mistakes during the session, but small mistakes just reduce the profit, they don't turn a winning session into a losing session like the big mistakes in the no-limit games.

2008-08-13T20:02:00.002-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 08.13.08

Warning: this is a bad beat story in disguise:

Preflop, there are three limpers and I limp from the button with 5c-5s for $30.

FLOP: Kd-7c-5d
ACTION: * / B ($150) / x / C / C / C / x
ANALYSIS: I cold call with trips because I envision much more money going in on the turn if the bettor leads out again. I can slow down if a diamond comes but anything else and there will be fireworks.

TURN: Kd-7c-5d / 9c
ACTION: B ($550) / x / x / R ($1995) / C
ANALYSIS: He leads out big and the other guys muck. He's definitely not on a draw so I could just call here and hope no diamond hits so that we can get all in on the river, but the way he's betting, I'm convinced he's ready to get all-in now, so I shove. He calls and shows 7s-5h. He's got two outs at most, assuming none of those flop callers mucked a seven.

RIVER: Kd-7c-5d / 9c / 7h
ACTION: We are both all in with a $4770 pot.
ANALYSIS: Just because something is unlikely does not make it impossible. He caught the miracle card and my tournament was over.

As a side note, earlier in the day I managed to lose a pot in a cash game in which we were both all-in preflop with tens. He had only $39 so it was a no-brainer call when he shoved. He caught a flurry of clubs to take it down.

2008-08-10T00:57:00.002-04:00

BRUTALITY

Today was my worst day of poker ever. I dropped only $200 in the two tournaments I entered, but I was drained of $2100 at the cash tables. Nothing was going right, as you can imagine. It was cooler after cooler, bad beat after bad beat. Here's a sampling of the brutality:

As-4c-Qc is the flop. I have Ac-Tc and the other guys have A-4 and Q-4. All the money gets in on the flop and I finish third.

8d-2d-3c is the flop. Somehow I manage to lose a $645 pot with K-K versus Ac-Tc who hits the running flush. The turn was the Kc, ensuring a big payoff to my foe with the nuts.

6d-6s-3s is the flop. I hit a monster after calling a raise with 6c-4c. Sadly, the other guy had 5s-4s and beat me twice, first with the deuce on the turn, then with the spade on the river for a $778 pot.

7d-2c-5s is the flop. It is a short-handed table and I defended against a button raise with A-5. He bet then re-raised me all-in and I just didn't buy that he had a big pair so I called off with second pair and I was right. He had Q-9 making me a 3:1 favorite, but he took the $512 pot with a queen on the turn.

Ah-9d-2h is the flop. I've got A-2 but fall to A-7 when the short stack catches for a $197 pot.

My final hand was partial bad play as I pushed and prayed but found myself up against a hand that could call. On the turn, I had top pair (aces) with the nut flush draw but he had trip sevens and I didn't catch my diamond. The end of a sad sad day.

2008-08-08T20:09:00.006-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 08.08.08

Another heroic call from your hero. This is from a tournament in which I failed to cash, but I still like my play here. It was a battle of the blinds and I had the bigger stack. I made a minimum raise to $120 with Kh-7c.

FLOP: Ac-Td-Kd
ACTION: B ($120) / C
ANALYSIS: I want to continuation bet here to represent that I've paired and hopefully take down the pot. I believe I have the best hand so I don't mind his call.

TURN: Ac-Td-Kd / Ts
ACTION: B ($180) / C
ANALYSIS: I don't like the ten because his call on the flop could very well mean he just tripped up. I make a small bet to see how he responds. He merely calls which pretty well clues me in that he doesn't have trips since he wouldn't have been content to merely call with all those draws out there. I also don't believe that he flopped the nuts with Q-J because he would be trying to build a bigger pot by now. He's either got a diamond draw or a weak king for the chop, or possibly an ambitious queen-high.

RIVER: Ac-Td-Kd / Ts / 9h
ACTION: B ($180) / R ($600) / C
ANALYSIS: Again, I make a small value bet, believing I've got the best hand or at least the chop. It is also an evident blocking bet as if I fear that he will make a big play for the pot should I check. He does take the bait and raises my bet. I don't believe the nine helped him because I'm not buying 9-9. You don't see many river bluffs in tournaments because of the inordinate expense involved, but by all appearances, that is what I am facing. There is a chance he has an ace or a monster like K-T, but I think there is more likelihood that he has some sort of queen or failed diamond draw and knows he can't win without making a play. I make the call and he shows Qd-5d. I win $2040.

2008-08-08T15:35:00.006-04:00

HAND OF THE DAY: 08.07.08

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. I played losing poker in June/July and now I think I've got my act together heading into August. I've got a renewed interest in improving my game now that my wife has lost her job because I need to either start making bank or looking for an entry-level job of my own. Don't worry, I thrive on pressure.

I raise $18 preflop from late position in a $3/$6 cash game with Ah-Tc and find a caller on the button and also from the big blind.

FLOP: 5c-7h-4d
ACTION: * / * / * (my action is green and * indicates check; x = fold; Bet/Raise/Call)
ANALYSIS: It checked around. I don't like betting this flop into two players. I'm already raising light from late position and a flop like this could be right in the wheelhouse of a big blind caller. I likely give up the pot if the button bets but his check indicates that I may have the best hand pending the bb's upcoming action on the turn.

TURN: 5c-7h-4d / 9h
ACTION: * / * / B ($26) / C / C
ANALYSIS: If the bb is still checking, then there's a chance my ace-high is the best hand. I'm content to check it down. The button takes a stab and it is an obvious toothless stab unless he's paired his nine. The bb calls quickly but doesn't raise - it looks like a draw. He is not showing enough strength to worry about and there's still a chance my ace-high is the best hand. I'm looking to check down a blank on the river and hope for the best.

RIVER: 5c-7h-4d / 9h / 3s
ACTION: * / * / B ($52) / x / C
ANALYSIS: The river is definitely a blank and I tend to think that I have the button beat. I hope that the bb has missed as well as I am content to check it down. The bb checks, I check, and the button takes another stab. The bb folds, which is a great result for me. I think the button checks A-J or better in this spot, looking for a showdown. His bet indicates to me that he has king-high and wants me off of ace-high. He seems to be looking for me to fold so I make the call and he shows Kd-Jd. I win $239.

2008-06-10T13:18:00.003-04:00

BIKE POST MORTEM

There were a couple of hands that were important which I forgot to mention. Both came later in the session when I had well over $1k sitting in front of me. There was one player who was amassing chips by making all-in check-raises and huge river bets when you couldn't be sure if he had a made hand or not. I was able to take advantage of his bullying ways on a hand in which I limped in with 8-8. It was his button and he had been using it to repop the field whenever there were limpers. So after limping for $5, I called his raise to $25 and the flop came Jh-9h-4s. I check/called his continuation bet. I didn't figure him for top pair and it was going to cost me a lot of money if I was wrong because I was planning to check/call every street. By calling the flop, I'm representing some sort of Q-T or heart draw, so I was happy to see black bricks on both fourth and fifth street. I check/called a $60 bet on the turn, which was the 2c, and the river was the 7s. I checked again which removed T-8 from the list of hands he was concerned about. He basically had to put me on hearts or Q-T and maybe he couldn't even beat that. I knew that if he bet that card then I had the best hand for sure because he would have surely checked down anything with showdown value against my busted whatever, unless he really did have a big jack or better. There was nothing in his history to make me believe he had a big hand though, so I waited for him to methodically cut out the $140 and push it in. The moment we made eye contact, I said "call" so I could leave him with the impression that I had a read on him. He said "nice call" and mucked, then looked devastated when he saw the eights.

There was another hand less than an hour later against a different opponent who also was overcommitting preflop to thin the field then firing more shells postflop. I figured he was starting with good hands but they all couldn't be improving so I took my chances with 9s-9c and called to go heads-up after he put in a significant preflop raise from the button. The flop came Js-Jc-5s and I checked. He figured I missed the flop and put in a big bet. I called, once again holding a midpair and figuring the preflop raiser does not hold a jack in his hand. The turn was the Ts and I checked again. I was hoping he would play it slow enough to give me a look at the river for free but he peeked at his cards and decided another big bet was in order. The peek followed by a bet told me three things: he doesn't have a full house, he doesn't have a flush, and he likely has a big spade in his hand. It's also unlikely that he has a ten because there's no real value in betting it if he just caught. The worst thing I could be facing would be a jack with a big spade. Every other hand I was doing fine against. I thought his most likely holdings at this juncture were A-K and A-Q with a spade. I was horrified when the Qd hit the river because it just made both of the hands I had him on. I gave up and checked and lucky for me, the queen horrified him in the same manner and he gave up as well and showed 8s-8c.

I dragged a big pot and once again my opponent had question marks around his head, wondering how I played it the way I did. This guy had shown a touch of temper earlier when he began yelling at the dealer over a minor issue and now he was clearly tilting. Just for fun, on the very next hand, I flopped quad sevens and won another pot that he had raised preflop. I didn't make a ton of money with the 7-7-6-6-4 board but he called the river either with an overpair or an ace after checking behind me on the turn. He left the table after that hand and was gone for twenty minutes. Later in the night, I kept feeling the weight of his stare and when I would peek, I always found the same expression on his face as if he was capable of going postal at any moment.

So those two hands were the buildup to my comment that I should have been considered unbluffable but for whatever reason, it became sport for the other guys to try to take pots away from me on later streets and mostly they succeeded since I couldn't imagine why anybody would try to bluff me. I guess at these medium stakes, the players all feel they are good enough that they trust their move-making ability, then I mistake their hubris for confidence in their hand, not their ability. I would have made several hundred additional if I would not have given so much respect to my opponents over the course of the session. One final hand as the best example of this:

I raised preflop with Tc-9c and got a caller on the button. The flop came 7c-5c-4s and I fired at it. He called, the turn came Th, giving me top pair with the flush draw. I fired again and he raised me. Judging by the size of his raise, the size of the pot, and the size of his stack remaining to fire on the river, I just couldn't imagine that he didn't have a set since it was evident that he was milking me. I considered moving him in for his final $70 with my flush draw and I should have, but I merely called, figuring I would get the $70 if a club came and I would save it if he shoves after I check. The river was the 7s and I checked. He immediately shoved his final $70 into a pot with over $200 in it. After I called the turn, is there any way he stacks off with anything less than trips when offered the chance to check it down? I didn't fold instantly. First I said "I can beat the 5-4 now" and he said "so can I". I should have called instantly when he said that but I'm still playing the math more than the people and I just couldn't imagine that he would bet the 5-4 after the seven came. He offered to show me his hand if I folded, which again should have prompted me to move in instantly, but I folded like a donk and he proudly showed A-Q and dragged the pot.

2008-06-09T15:10:00.002-04:00

BACK TO THE BIKE

In homage to my aborted drive to the Bicycle Casino last month, I hoped I could turn this month around by dedicating a day of play with the real people. There was a $335 MTT going on at 4P and I was one of 123 to sign up for the fun. The player to my right was very active and got lots of chips during round one, putting me in a fairly conservative mode. I called his utg raise with 5-5 and caught trips for what would be my biggest win of the event. He fired the flop and I called; then he checked the turn and I shoved. He folded and confided that I played it either very good (if I had air) or very bad (if I had a set) because if I had checked the turn, he would have shoved the river. This is true, but he knew his cards and I did not; the flop had come Jh-Th-5d so there was a good enough chance that he had a big enough hand or draw that he was trap checking the turn to get all the chips in. I certainly did not want to blow him off the hand, but my remaining stack was just slightly bigger than the pot I was betting into, so any lesser bet would certainly have been suspicious, and knowing I was going with the hand, I didn't want to allow the possibility that I bust out by giving a free card, so I made a play for the pot.

I never did get enough chips to allow me to play my game. When I got aces, the flop came K-T-T and I chose to check it down and call a bluff on the river rather than firing at it. I was up against two players and I was either beat or so far ahead that checking couldn't hurt. Betting out would have committed me to the hand without knowing if I was facing a King or Ten if somebody raised, and if anybody was open-ended, then I was willing to let them go ahead and make broadway. By the river, I knew I had the best hand, so I figure I made the maximum the way I played it.

As my chips were draining away, I got dealt A-K twice. The first time I merely overcalled a raised pot and folded the flop. The second time, I raised, and got beat by the 9-8 on a board of 9-9-4-9-3. It's funny, when the flop was checked to me, I reached for chips and the player to my left picked up his cards as if he couldn't wait to muck. So, I checked, but I guess I forgot all about it when he made a baby bet on the turn. I called that and called another baby bet on the river, since I've never gotten the habit of assuming quads. I convinced myself he bluffed the turn when it became obvious I had two high cards, then he bluffed the river when the undercard came. That hand transformed me into a shovebot and it was a few hands later when I shoved 8-8 but fell to 9-9. Damn niners.

I moved to the cash game around 630P and played until 345A just like the good old days. My initial $200 busted about 45 minutes in after two confrontations where my opponents were much stronger than I had them pegged. My second buy-in built its way up to $1700 before I finally went home. For most of the night, I was the monster stack at the table and de facto table captain. My empire's foundation was built on two hands in which I flopped sets and got paid. The first one was a three-way in which two opponents had paired their kings and sneaky old dudeseeg had a set of fivers. In cash games, you don't show your hands early like in tournaments - the flop had come K-9-5 and when the money was in and the turn came Q, one of the players slammed his cards to the table in celebration. My first thought was egads, he's got J-T, but no, it was K-Q, so I showed him the bad news. That pot must have been around $600.

Not too long after, there was all kinds of preflop action and I just kept calling with J-J as the field thinned. I didn't expect I had another set up my sleeve so I didn't wish to go nuts preflop and risk denting the empire. We took the flop four-way and it came Q-J-x. I went ahead and bet into the field, trying to get maybe one caller before the player with the preflop betting lead did his thing. I didn't get a caller, but the preflop guy did push another $140 or so into me. I didn't see his cards but it was most likely A-Q.

I busted another guy when I had aces and got him heads up. I checked the queen-high flop and he bet half of his stack into me on the turn. I went ahead and put him all-in and it turned out he had four-flushed the turn so he went with it. Much later in the night, I hit a set of deuces on one of those magical flops where there is an A-8 rainbow to go with it. There was all kinds of action between the two players with aces and I just came along for the ride, content to take it to the river. The player to my right bet $60 on the turn and I smooth called but was disappointed to see the third guy fold. He bet $100 into me on the river with $300 behind. Of course, set over set was a possibility but considering all the early action, I was more than comfortable believing he had two pair at best. I made the minraise to $200 and he called with a measly A-T, mumbling "I knew it".

Towards the end of the night, I had four racks piled in front of me with extra stacks scattered about. I don't know how, but at some point I became a bluff target and I lost a few good-sized pots by laying down the best hand. The other players took great joy in showing the bluff as they raked the pot and they seemingly were trying to one-up each other. One time, a third party said "that's how you play poker" when I got check-raised all-in on a board with flush and straight possibilities after the winner showed junk. I corrected him, good-naturedly: "that must be how you play poker against me because I'm pretty sure that's not how you play poker usually." I guess I was more willing to give my opponents hands than they were willing to hold them.

One final humiliation closed out my session. The guy who loved to bluff big but seemed to have my number held Qd-Td when I held Ad-7d. The flop gave me a gutshot with the nut flush draw. He bet with his flush draw/overcards, and there was a caller, so I put in a raise to pump the pot. The turn wasn't a diamond, but it turned my gutshot into an open-ender, so I bet $70. The lucky guy called and bet $100 into me when he rivered a queen. I folded to the bet but realized that my best hands were behind me and it was time to go home.

2008-06-03T13:17:00.004-04:00

JUNE SWOON

The month has gotten off to a rocky start. I don't think I'm playing poorly but I spent the first couple of days on the wrong side of the luck divide and I have been losing all of the big pots, which have added up to put me a couple of grand in the hole to begin the month. Details:

Sunday, $216 MTT: I busted in level one, trying to get some chips on an uber-draw. I got involved with 9c-8c and the flop came Ac-7d-6c, giving me the up and down straight draw with the flush draw, plus bluff equity should nobody have a big ace. The preflop raiser bet the pot, announcing that he had the big ace. I was still the favorite in the hand and, though you always hate early coin flips in a major tourney, I was sitting closer to 60% than 50% with this draw, so I put in the raise and committed to the hand. He had Ah-Qd with no intention of folding so we got it all in and he busted me when the bricks fell. Judging by how fast his chips met the middle, I doubt if he ever realized he was the underdog in that spot.

I got into a cash game and the magic wasn't there. I went down several hundred before working my way close to even. I was all ready to quit with a $70 divot in my stake, just waiting for the big blind to approach so I could leave the table. Instead, I was dealt a pair of tens (at a short table) and I was compelled to play the hand. I actually slow-played it as I didn't want to get over-involved pre-flop on my way out the door. So we took a flop three-way which came K-T-4. I went for the check-raise and got raised on top of that, so okay, let's do it, I shoved my entire stack in, as did he. He showed K-Q against my three tens. Bingo, bango - K, K falls from the sky to bust me. How bad is that?

Monday, $109 MTT, level one - I join a multi-way raised pot with T-9 and flop Q-J-8, aka The Nuts. I check, he bets, I raise, he calls. I have no intention of folding the hand even when the third diamond comes. I bet small to represent that the King scared me, he raised, I shoved, he called with the nut flush. Game over. The box score shows that I got my money in bad, but starting stacks are not deep enough to allow me to flop the nuts and then get away from it. I'm concerned only with getting all my chips in the middle at some point during the hand. That said, I can't recall a time when I've flopped a straight and actually won the hand, but still. If the board pairs, then I will slow down, but I can't fold to a three-flush when my opponent might just as easily have a set or an overpair.

So, off to the cash games I go, where I drop three $400 buy-ins in rapid succession. Actually, my first buy-in lasted quite awhile, but it was up-and-down. I lost a big hand where I was heads-up and flopped trips, only to lose on the river to a straight. I guess that hand put me in gamble mode because shortly after, I called a re-re-raise with AQs only to be up against AA. That was the end of buy-in number one.

It was only minutes later when I got re-raised by the same opponent when I held TT. I was willing to bet my stack that he had AK so I promised myself that if he doesn't pair the flop, then I will check-raise him all-in. The flop came Qxx and I checked, as planned. He put in a scary pot-sized bet, but I stuck to the plan and shoved over the top. He called instantly with AK, which I don't quite understand unless he knew the King was coming, which it was. End of buy-in number two. Buy-in three was equally short-lived. I raised with AKs, got re-raised, and decided to play upon my tilty image by shoving pre-flop. He instantly called off his stack with AQs and caught the Queen to put me $1200 in the hole for the session. Oh, to be the other guy just once.

2008-05-31T22:28:00.002-04:00

MAY 2008 WRAP

Okay, this will be quick. I didn't play at all last weekend. Since then I've played a few cash sessions, totaling around $1200 profit and I've gone 0-10 in tournaments, though most of them were small satellites. Moments ago, I busted out of a $163 MTT in horrific fashion: Marci asked me at the break if I was out because I was standing around, but I assured her I was still in with an above-average stack. Moments later, I was out on the first hand coming out of the break. On the first hand with antes, I raised in third position with 7-7 and got a call from fourth position. The flop came 7-high with two spades. I bet a little more than half the pot and he tripled my bet. I figured the money may as well go in now while I have the nuts or I can push him off his hand and take down the healthy $7k+ pot. I shoved and he insta-called with J-J. I think he should fold there, especially without even holding a spade, because there were six pairs that had him beat and he's not even looking real strong against two high spades. But, he was willing to die with the jacks and went with it. I got the bad news right away on the turn when his two-outter hit, propelling him instead of me into second place overall.

I finished Gus Hansen's book, which I enjoyed very much and has given me some new insight on how to handle certain situations in tournaments. I have begun Dan Harrington's ode to cash games and it is just as great as I had hoped. I made over $1200 in a total of about three hours over the course of two days playing $2/4 NL and I think I will put in some big hours in June at the ring games for a bankroll boost while I am excited, motivated, and confident about my game.

I close out May on a mini losing streak, but I am playing well and looking forward to some big cashes this summer. For the month, I earned $7.3k even though it began and ended with zeros.
It is notable that I earned a profit in all three phases of the game this month - MTTs, STTs, and cash games. That puts me up around $11.3k for the year with 2/3 of the year left to get huge.

2008-05-24T13:41:00.002-04:00

May 23, 2008

With the wife in China and coming off a big win, I coasted a bit this past week, I must admit. I didn't play any big tourneys on Sunday. After hours, I got some practice in by playing a $26 Stud H/L MTT. I had a foot in the grave several times but was able to climb out and make the money before falling in 12th place of the original 91 for a small profit.

I didn't play at all Monday, then on Tuesday, I played the $109 10A tourney without cashing. On Wednesday, I played it again and finished 23/369 for a small payday. Here was the standout hand in that event:

In the opening level, $10/20, I raised to $80 from early position with Ad-Js and was called by the player two to my left. The flop came Ks-Qs-Qd. If he has any of that, I'm looking to find out on the flop, while encouraging him to lay down any underpair with my $100 continuation bet. He called, indicating that he not only had a piece, but most likely the Q which he could stand to slowplay against my possible A-K or A-A. The turn was a beautiful Ts, filling my straight and giving me the flush draw as well. Of course, I'm drawing mighty slim if he's already full, but I thought his most likely holding, given the action, is A-Q. I bet out $200, expecting him to make his move if he did have the A-Q. He raised to $600 and I took a moment to consider my options. I decided that if he has T-T or K-Q, I was willing to go broke, and if he has A-Q, I'd imagine he's willing to go broke, so I pushed for $2500 more. It must have looked to him like an A-K with a flush draw because he made the call. I was ahead but didn't want to see any Broadway cards. The river was the As which looked really bad for half a second until I realized that I had made a royal straight flush to beat his full house. This is the first royal I've made playing no-limit. I remember three from my limit days but in NL, we rarely see such a strong hand go all the way to the river. This hand played out just perfectly enough for both of us to get all in on the turn and watch the magic happen.

I got out to a big chip lead and continued to apply pressure to the smaller stacks until this crazy hand brought me down to size:

I got into a three-way pot holding 7s-5s and the flop came 6c-5d-4d. I checked from the big blind and the original raiser made a bet. The third player raised the bet and it was back to me. I took a long time thinking this one out and finally decided that even if they both have overpairs, I was in good shape, especially if nobody has the 8-8. There's a chance the third guy has a set but he had the smaller stack of the two opponents so I decided the best play was to shove. I got called, but not from the third guy, who quickly mucked after the pre-flop raiser made an instacall. I expected to see a monster like Ad-Kd, but he shows Ac-3c, putting him on a draw to the ignorant end of the straight with the overcard and a back door flush draw. Not a good call in my opinion. I was already in the lead and I even held one of his outs. Sadly for me, he caught the dreaded ace on the river to take the pot. I still had plenty of chips but winning that pot would have turned me into a Hoover, able to suck up all the chips on the table.

The cards dried up but my stack lasted all the way to bubble play. I was able to win a big pot when my Q-Q held up against two players both holding A-K. I then found some more chips when I checked behind the guy slowplaying top two pair on an A-J-x flop. I had Q-T and caught the K on the turn which helped me bust him. I kept marching when my 4-4 rivered a wheel against 8-8 all-in preflop. Soon after, I busted 9-9 with A-2 and I realized that I was using up all my luck for the week. When I was faced with a huge all-in reraise while holding A-K, part of me knew that there was no way I was going to win this race after winning all those other improbable hands. But still, the odds are the odds and I couldn't make the laydown. His Tens held up to cripple me. I busted when my Ah-9h went up against Kings.

On Thursday, I played a little HORSE but lost money. I then played a couple of tourneys and won a couple of hundred bucks. One was a Heads-Up Shootout. I won my first five matches but then it was past midnight before the next one began and I was running out of stamina. I didn't have the patience to play properly so I played it really fast and ran into some hands. I got to bed by 12:30P and was still able to turn my $22 into $192 while practicing my heads-up game.

Lastly, on Friday, I decided to play the cash game at Full Tilt in an attempt to rebuild my bankroll there while I'm playing well. It started out ugly and I was down a couple of hundred after two hours, but the magic happened in the third hour and I finished up nearly $500. I doubt I'll be able to play much this weekend but I might be able to work in some cash games here and there.

2008-05-18T13:41:00.002-04:00

MAY WEEK 3 WRAP

It was a fairly light week of poker. I don't have enough cash at Full Tilt to play any meaningful events so I've been trying a lot of small satellites there. I had just enough plans with the kids after school that I was unable to join the 10A tourney at Stars most days because I knew I couldn't be late to school which precludes me from placing well in the event. At night, I've been sleepy, with the wife in China, so I only played a couple of evening events.

I've been playing with more controlled aggression since reading Gus' book and I've got to admit, it's getting me some chips. Sometimes it's getting me eliminated but that is an acceptable downside to an increased penchant for chip accumulation in most tournaments. The style was on display Wednesday in a $109 event in which I called from the big blind holding Ts-6s. The flop came Js-8h-4s and I did the standard check/call to keep the pot manageable. The turn was the 9h, adding an up-and-down straight draw to my flush draw. When he put in another bet on the turn, I came back firing. I had enough of a draw that I figured I could test him to see how much he trusted his hand. Well, he had Td-7d and loved it plenty so we got it all in and I was eliminated, but I still like my play there. He needs a big hand in that spot and even with one, I still had a decent shot at outdrawing him should he go with it. A week ago, I would have simply called the turn bet then folded the river. That version of me would have still been alive in this particular tournament but I'm still intrigued by the updated version.

Thursday, I played a few low-stakes satellites to no avail. Friday, I played only one tourney and it paid off. I joined a $225 Turbo STT with ten players. I realized early that the only skill needed was realizing when it was a good time to go all in and when to call another player's all-in. Luckily, I have that skill. All my gambits paid off. It's mainly just getting it in with the best hand and hoping the good odds pay off. I knocked out a couple of players in the middle which gave me enough chips to coast to the top three, so rather than trying to run over the table, I thought it wiser to tighten up and let the cards and the odds do their thing.

Four-handed, there were two hangers-on and while I remained card dead, the other player took advantage by amassing a huge stack once he realized I was in coast mode. One of the shorties actually accused me of colluding with the other shorty. Unlike him, I had no preference of which of them was eliminated first, so I refused to vary my strategy to appease him. When the other short-stack had nearly half his chips in the big blind, I woke up with 9-3 in the small blind and folded. I could have gone either way with it based on the odds but considering he would likely play any two cards in that spot, why should I offer the courtesy double-up with one of the weakest hands in the deck? I figured I could keep him relatively weak and then attack him the next time around. My fold outraged the other short-stack who let me have it in the chat box.

The next time around, on my big blind, the shorty limped in for nearly half his chips and I was comped in with T-6. I thought the limp showed strength and again, I was not going to offer a courtesy double-up unless I connected in some way. The flop brought a Queen and two other random cards. I checked to Shorty, who checked behind. The turn was a Jack and since I figured his most likely holding was Ace-high if not a pair, I checked again. He pushed his chips in and I folded. Again, the other guy let me have it and was convinced we were in league against him.
He was knocked out on the next hand and stuck around to bark at me from the rail. Meanwhile, unlike him, I was in the money so I was able to loosen up my game again and make a push for the top spot. I knocked out Shorty and took a 2:3 disadvantage into heads-up play, which lasted all of two hands. I was dealt an ace both times while he was dealt a king both times. All the money met the middle in each instance and I paired my ace both times to win them both. First place paid $1050, leaving me no question that my super-tight strategy on the bubble had paid off.

Friday, I had friends over for drinks and afterwards, I played a $15 double shootout. I won my first table but went a little nuts at the final table and was the first one out. Saturday, I played a $23 HU Omaha H/L match against a guy who checked just about always, either intending to fold or to trap me. I found him agonizingly easy to beat and was irked since I thought I would be improving my skills and not merely wasting my time for a $21 profit.

Saturday night, I played a $109 MTT with 279 players and finished 19th for a $240 payout. I played really well all the way up until that final hand. I actually avoided busting out earlier when I folded 66 to an early position raise. I used to always flat call there, but taking the relative stacks into account, I decided to simply let it go. I doubt if I would have made it to the flop anyways as there was a K-K lurking on the button. The original raiser had J-J so it turned out to be a good pre-flop fold, especially since the Jack and the Six came on the flop, so I would have busted for sure. On the final hand, I called a late position raise with Kc-8c from the big blind. The flop came K-Q-x and I should have bet out strong as Gus prefers, but instead, I went for the more expensive check/raise, only to be up against K-Q for the knockout.

2008-05-14T13:42:00.002-04:00

UNCLE TILTY

Awhile back, I was bitching to the blog and to the wife about having tables break at Full Tilt just when the opportunity to collect a bounty is presenting itself. Marci suggested that I write the Full Tilt brass and lodge a formal complaint/suggestion. The next day, Full Tilt's official blogger, Michael Craig, of The Professor, Banker, and the Suicide King fame, announced a contest for which entrants offer suggestions for policy changes they would implement if they were in charge of the site for a day. I decided to send my suggestion to Craig. Here is my original email:

I would make the tables break in numerical order, playing down to table one. I love that we are randomly assigned a table at the onset of an event, but I dislike when the table breaks seemingly randomly, so that we never know how long we will be playing at a specific table. If you know you will be there awhile, you may wish to play a loose style early to advertise certain tendencies before changing gears and tightening up later. It doesn’t always pay to advertise knowing that the table may break at any minute. It also kills me when there is one or more bountied players at the table and once s/he gets short-stacked, the table is broken and somebody else gets to collect the bounty by collecting that last chip. Redrawing at predefined stages is fine with me if the players are notified in advance, but the random breaking of tables is a flaw at the site that I would like to see fixed.

Craig was offering as prizes, two entries to the $216 FTOPS NLHE Turbo event which took place last night. A few days ago, he sent me this email:

You were the bubble boy, the third best entry in the contest. I thought your idea was something Full Tilt should 100% do and I can't believe they haven't done it already. For reasons I'll describe in the blog, I picked two entries ahead of it.

I'm trying to get Full Tilt to offer a third prize so there's a reasonable chance you'll be able to get something. I should let you know within the next day or so - sorry if this interferes with the Turbo FTOPS if you had your heart set on that, though we may know before then. And let me know if you get entered in the event or get tournament money in your account from Full Tilt because I told them your player ID in my request for a third prize.

In any event, nice work and great suggestion.

So, yesterday morning, Michael emailed me along with the other two winners to assure us that we would be staked for the tournament and he would be following our progress. I was having a good day over at PokerStars so I got excited to play the event and maybe continue my good fortune. I also got mentioned in my favorite blog:

Full Tilt allowed me to give a third prize for the contest and I decided to award it to Major General. His entry did not have the detail or imagination of SchaefPerro’s Offbeat Poker Series or the mission-extension of morningjames’s Pro Lobby. But it was the smartest and most logical alteration of operations out of all the entries.

Major General proposed the simple idea of breaking tournament tables in numerical order, something I can’t for the life of me figure out why Full Tilt has never done. As much as I enjoyed SchaefPerro’s entry about developing new tournaments, the core of what online poker should do is provide a real poker experience, better than live poker when the technology allows. The order of breaking tables is something that can signfiicantly affect poker strategy and major live tournaments break tables in an order that’s either disclosed or physically obvious. There’s no reason online poker shouldn’t do the same.

As it turned out, the staking never arrived, but Michael offered to reimburse me personally if I wanted to buy in outright, so I bought in a few minutes before game time. Here is the post-mortem I sent to my sponsor:

Of all the crazy, card-catching, coin-flipping tournaments I've ever been in, this one takes the cake. I figured I needed to get some chips early before the gambling began so I was very active in the first level. I made a big score when I re-raised holding A-K and one fella came along. The flop came 4-4-7 and I shoved when he checked to me. He made a liberal call with 8-6, with his four outs to my possible overpair. If he correctly put me on A-K, then he was still taking a 40% shot and lucky for me, everybody missed.

My next decent hand was Kd-Jd and I raised from two off the button. The cutoff went all-in and I had him covered by $1200 with a decent enough hand so I called, only to see Q-Q which held up. On the short-stack, I pushed from first position with Jh-3h and lucked out against 7-7 when I made a wheel on the river. I somehow made it past the first break, but soon after, I pushed K-7 from the button and fell to A-2, finishing 638 of 2140 for a total of negative $216 to my friends at Full Tilt Poker.

2008-05-14T00:37:00.002-04:00

TUESDAY 05.13.08

A busy Tuesday and a productive one for a nice change of pace. I started out investing $109 out of my paltry Full Tilt bankroll to enter a 9A event rather than waiting for the 10A at Stars. There were 144 players and I felt like this was a good opportunity to build the roll. My final hand came early when I re-raised to isolate a bunch of wannabes who were looking for a cheap multi-way flop. I had A-K and got one caller. The flop came Q-5-5. I had a substantial investment in the pot and I figured I could take it down with a meaty continuation bet unless he has exactly the hand A-Q. To his credit, he put me all-in with his T-T. I called off all my chips since I still had a fighting chance but the ten on the turn soured my investment.

There was one funny hand before I busted out. It was one of those hands where the first guy raised, then I called with 7s-6s and then the next guy raised and everybody and their brother decided to call it. It got back around to me and of course I called as well for five-way action. The flop came 8d-5d-2s and the guy to my left made a continuation bet that chased out everyone but me with my open-ender. The turn was the Ad and I checked. When he checked behind me, I knew that he hated that card. The river was the 8h and I put out a value bet. He went into the tank, then started calling me names like "sooted donk" before finally folding. I figure he had some sort of Q-Q or K-K and I knew I could get away with a bluff on the river, since every hand I would have called the flop with (other than the 7-6) got there by the river. Put me on a set, an eight, a diamond draw, or a wheel draw and in each instance, I have his big pair beat by the end. While he was using up his time calling me names, I was scrambling in the preferences to figure out how to show my cards but I couldn't find it. After he folded, I told him I had 76s but he called me "sooted donk" again, assuming it was suited in diamonds, so I missed my chance at giving him his comeuppance.

I played the 10A as usual and with the assist from Earl Grey (caffeinated tea), I was able to stay focused and keep my A-game for hours. At a critical time, on the bubble, I faced the same situation as earlier, where I limped with A-K, then re-raised the field when it got back to me. I was called by the big stack in the small blind and the flop came T-8-4. He put out a bet that was basically half my stack as if to say he was going the distance no matter what. I saw through the ruse and figured he didn't have a pair bigger than tens, though I might, so I pulled the trigger and shoved. It certainly looked strong and he saved the balance of the bet by folding. That was a crucial hand for me.

I nearly got a bunch of additional chips when I min-raised to $2k in first position with Ks-Qs and the button min-raised to $3k which I called. The flop came Qc-3d-2c and I just lead out by putting him all-in. He called and showed Ah-Kc. He played it curiously but caught the ace on the river to win a monster. He was an unfriendly card away from being the bubble boy but wound up finishing 8th and making over a grand.

I got some chips by raising with Jc-9c and then calling an all-in. He had A-K but the board came 4-5-6-7-8 to score one for the good guys. Soon after, I got all-in with T-T versus 9-9. He hit the 9 on the turn only to see me catch the T on the river for a creative re-suck. I was now up to $90k. The mondo crucial hand was with 12 remaining - Pete "The Beat" Giordano pushed his A-4 with his short stack and I pushed over the top with J-J. We got a third player from the big blind with A-K and I was able to knock them both out when my hand held up, taking us down to ten players and taking me up to $215k and the runaway chip lead.

I stole a couple of blinds from middle position and was rewarded with A-A under the gun. I raised, the big blind shoved his 8-8 and with him eliminated, we moved on to the final table. Next came the hand of the day: I called a raise on the button with Th-9h. Little did I know that he was holding K-K. The flop came K-J-2 and he made a small bet. I read it as weak, and assuming he had some sort of A-x, I put in a substantial raise. If he had a weaker hand, he would have pushed, but with top set, he merely called, allowing me to catch the Q on the turn. He checked to me, I bet half his stack, and he eagerly put in the remainder. I had to sweat the 20% on the river but my straight held and I was over $500k.

I was so far ahead that I couldn't imagine not winning, though I've seen it happen, so I was on guard against any kind of avoidable implosion. Two hands later, my stack was cut in half - first I got all-in with A-K versus 9-9 and lost the race; next, I had the 3-3 versus A-K and we took a flop. It came queen-high all clubs, and we both checked. The turn was another club and even though I had a club, I checked behind him to keep the pot small. He bet out $30k on the river and I paid him off - he had the Kc. I lost but not a lot so I was pleased with the hand since I think I played it well. But I lost a ton in those hands combined and was no longer the top dog.

With four remaining, I got all-in with 7-7 against A-6 to get us down to three. My luckiest hand came at this stage when I pushed my A-8 into A-A and managed a chop when it came K-Q-J-T-x. I hadn't needed much luck up to that point but that lovely board wiped out what should have been a disaster and kept me in the driver's seat. Soon, it was heads-up. I got out to a 3:1 lead but then there were four pots in a row in which I got schooled and suddenly I was a 2:1 underdog. I clawed my way back and as soon as I got even, I proposed an even chop, which he accepted. We both walked with $8168.93 and at least for me, a much-needed boost of confidence.

There is more but I will save it for another post tomorrow morning.

2008-05-13T01:36:00.002-04:00

MONDAY 05.12.08

Distraught over my continuing weekend losses in the big events, I entered the week wondering if I even wanted to play poker or if I was better off doing some projects around the house. Poker won out, as always, but I decided I would only play the $100 tourney at Stars where I have a decent bankroll, and not even open my Full Tilt account until my confidence returns since my roll is teetering on insolvency there. Also, after getting inside Gus' head via his book, and recognizing myself from a few years ago in his thinking, I decided to stop trying to play a mathematically perfect game and to open it up a bit by doing a few unorthodox maneuvers. If I can play a smart post-flop game then that should prove to make me less predictable to my tablemates. I have become more weak-tight over time I fear, and I need to introduce a little more aggression into my game without being totally reckless. I have a lot more post-flop experience now which should serve me well if I marry it with the more open pre-flop game that I used to play when I used to win.

So, I entered the event and played well but busted 100 of 447 to miss the money. I got chips early, then was up and down for a couple of hours, and finally, I busted out on a gamble that didn't come through. I was on the big blind with Kh-Jh. The player in first position had around half the chips that I had and went all-in. I was certainly calling if it folded around to me. The big stack on the button called the bet and suddenly I was lost. The utg player may have me beat or maybe not. If so, then it is doubtful that he has me dominated. I put him on some sort of A-4 suited type hand, or a pair of sixes. I was ready to gamble with him but now the big stack was involved and I had no clue what kind of hand he had. He had both blinds well covered and may have simply been making a move to isolate the small stack and take a gamble. I had only K-high but the fact that it was suited, I was in the blind and I was on my way to becoming a short-stack myself all conspired to compel me to call. I knew I was gambling but I had a decent hand to gamble with. The hands I was up against, however, couldn't have been worse - the shorty had K-J, the same hand as I, and the bully had Ah-Qh, the same suit as I. Hearts were no good and two of my other outs were gone which left me a lot worse off than I had expected and there was no miracle to save me.

I played another $100 MTT at night and this time finished 169 of 414. Again, I opened up my game a bit, got some chips early, then rode the roller coaster for a couple of hours. This was the hand that basically killed me, although it didn't finish me off: I raised with Kd-9d and got one caller. The flop came Qs-Jd-4d giving me the flush draw and the gutshot with an overcard to boot. I had my opponent covered by about $1500 so I decided I could push the hand and put him to the test. I bet into him but he came back raising. Okay, I guess he's got a queen. Hopefully it is A-Q and not K-Q, which gives me three kings, nine diamonds, and three additional tens. Without the kings, it is still a coin toss but with them, I am a solid favorite, so in went my chips. He called and showed me something ugly: Ad-Td. He had the exact same hand as I did only one notch better. This unfortunate turn of events took away my diamonds and kings and left me only those three additional tens to root for. The blanks fell and he won the $12k pot with ace-high. I busted soon after with A-K falling to 7-6 suited.

2008-05-11T20:14:00.000-04:00

MAY, WEEKEND 2 WRAP

FRIDAY:
Didn't play - started reading Gus Hansen's book.

SATURDAY:
We had company over during the day so I didn't play at all until the evening when pal, Kevin wanted to watch me play some online poker. I got into a heads-up match for $57.50 and my opponent wanted to get it all in pre-flop on the very first hand. I obliged with A-Q but couldn't improve and fell to his jacks. We had a good laugh and I started another match. This time we actually played a bit, but I got owned from the outset. Any time I thought I had a little something, he seemed to have it with a better kicker. I was 0-2 and not impressing my pal, so I jumped up to the $115 game and this time was able to vanquish my foe to pull close to even. For a different look, I got into a single-table six-max match, but even though my chips kept going in good, they weren't coming back out in my direction so I was unable to prove to my buddy that I was able to beat these guys. I played two $109 MTTs after he left and did well, but made no money. I flopped the dreaded trips against the flush draw in one of them. He had double my chips so shoved it in without hesitation and was rewarded with a spade on the river to send me into my bedtime routine.

SUNDAY:
Another horrible day - I'm just losing my shirt lately even though I think I'm playing okay. I won satellites into a couple of FTOPS events - the $535 Heads-Up Shootout and the $322 NLHE Freezeout. My entry was returned to me for the HU event because they couldn't use all the players that had signed up and I missed the cutoff. In all, I played six events and got nothing out of them. In one, the first hand I played, I saw a 8s-7h-6h flop holding 9h-8h. That cost me a lot of chips even though I managed to keep from going broke. The next hand I played, I did go broke with 9h-6h on a flop of Ah-9c-4h. I nearly made the payout in the $216 event at Stars. I did that usual thing where I got a bunch of chips early and then saw them dissipate over the next couple hours without winning a pot. In both that tourney and the $322 Tilt event, I lost big pots in the same way: I raised with As-Ks and was re-raised and re-re-raised. I folded neither time and both times I was up against A-K and A-A. Twice in a day that happened. I guess that was today's lesson that it is okay to fold Big Slick under that exact scenario. After two weeks in May, I am $1800 in the red. But I'm due. I don't suck, I'm just overdue.

2008-05-11T19:50:00.001-04:00

MAY, WEEKDAY 2 WRAP

MONDAY:
I didn't play at all.

TUESDAY:
I played a $109 during the day and missed the money. I played a $163 in the evening and busted early. He had the one hand that I feared. It was a queen-high flop which turned into a four-flush. I had the queen of the suit and check/called the flop/turn. On the river, he tanked and then pushed. The board had paired on the turn so I worried that he had flopped middle set and now was full. He did good on the river to get me to call. Anything less and I may have figured out that he was betting for value. The way he bet, it looked more like he was merely making a bet that I can't call unless I have the full house or if I checked the ace-high flush to him. It made me suspicious and since half my chips were in play already, I looked him up.

WEDNESDAY:
I bought into two cash games but was cursed from the get-go. First jacks, then tens lost to overcards in similar fashion: I raised the button, got re-raised from a blind, then put in a third raise. Both times the other guy went all-in and I was committed to call. The first guy had A-Q to beat my jacks and the second guy had A-J to beat my tens. Beyond that, I even lost a hand in which I flopped top set. There were two opponents so the third guy always had the odds to call and when the flush hit the river, he pushed and I folded. None of my bluffs worked, none of my hands held up, none of my speculative hands connected with any flops, and I was just dead meat all day. I finished down $1356.

I got out of the cash games and entered a four-player heads-up shootout for $210. The winner collected $800 and I wanted to try to salvage my day. I got an early lead on my first opponent and kept grinding away. After awhile, he made a couple of plays that convinced me that he was not really all that good a player, so I kept playing small ball. I finally got him down far enough that I was willing to go with K-J against his all-in and I beat his A-4 to take it. The other half of round one ended very quickly so I supposed that the winner was watching our match. I actually made a couple of plays that were mostly advertising for his benefit so that he wouldn't be able to fully trust his scouting report on me.

Against him, I got off to a good 2:1 lead when I tripped my bottom pair against him and he kept betting. The flop was 9-8-3 and if he had 9-8, he made a good laydown on the river when I raised him all-in on the 9-8-3-3-T board. He kept calling me lucky and calling things "sick" so I imagined he was a young guy playing beyond his ability. I kept at him and as the blinds rose, he got increasingly desperate. He was beginning to push pre-flop to pick up the antes, so I limped with J-J. He knuckled and the river came A-x-x with two clubs. We both checked and the turn was a jack. He checked, so I bet. He didn't fold immediately, so I was hoping he would push an ace, but he just called. The river was a club and he checked to me. I didn't know what the heck he had now unless it was aces-up. I bet to put him nearly all-in and he folded and called the river "sick". Two hands later, I got Q-Q and limped. He pushed with A-J and my queens held up. It was a nice win but it served mostly to stem my losses from the cash games.

THURSDAY:
I busted out of the 10A tourney early so I turned my attention to the cash games. I bought in for $300 and won my first hand with KQ over 87. I had the most chips at the table so I bullied a bunch of limpers pre-flop. One guy made a stand with connectors and he pushed the flop with bottom pair. I had the two overcards plus a gutshot for an easy call based on the amount bet, and the straight came on the turn to give me the nuts. He left the table complaining which made me laugh since he wasn't actually playing a powerhouse. My connection was horrible and I finally got booted off for good a few hands later when I held J-J on a 9-high flop. My bet never went through and when my connection was re-established, I was sitting out, so I quit the game to watch a movie. It's too bad I didn't get to expound on my auspicious beginning, but it was a quick $135 profit all the same.

The profit was short-lived as I played and lost three tourneys at night which cost me $150. In the $55 event, I was unjustly eliminated holding A-A when the 8-8 played it like it was the nuts and caught trips on the turn; In the $75 event, I was eliminated with a monster draw that didn't come to fruition after my opponent mustered a call with ace-high.

The third event I played was a $22 heads-up shootout. I won the first match and faced Chip Jett in the second round. He was the only pro in the event so I lucked out at having a chance to collect a bounty. I was surprised at how passively he played in the early stages. He folded more than half of the hands pre-flop. I didn't expect him to fold his button so often. I will generally put in a min-raise on my button to sweeten the pot a little and more often than not take it down with a half-pot sized continuation bet. I got out to a strong lead using this strategy. He raised so rarely that it was easy to get away from hands when facing a raise.

He seemed to be playing an uber-patient style, content in waiting for me to make an inevitable mistake. I finally obliged when I called a raise holding Td-9d. I figured him for high cards and thought I could end the contest with a favorable flop. It came K-Q-x and he put out a continuation bet. Folding was the better option but I convinced myself that he held A-x and I cold called him, looking to take it away on the turn and leave him on a desperately small stack. The turn was a blank and he bet $360 of his $800 remaining stack. I took this as strength and went ahead and abandoned ship. He stole the next couple of pots pre-flop to get a slight chip lead and then came the death blow. I held Ts-8s and the flop came T-9-6. He check-raised me on the flop and although I knew this indicated strength, I wasn't prepared to abandon such a strong hand heads-up. I considered calling but thought it would be unlikely I would win any more money if my hand improved, plus I thought if I put enough pressure on him, he might be able to fold a hand like J-T, so I pushed all-in with my top pair, straight draw and he called with bottom two pair, which held up to bust me.

2008-05-05T00:53:00.002-04:00

MAY, WEEK 1 WRAP

I'm up a couple hundred bucks but I'm not happy about it. I've been playing well but running into the inopportune bad luck to keep me from a big payday. I finished 5/81 in my second event of the month. I got to the final table in good shape but ran into a couple of rough hands in a row and was out. I raised with 66 and the bb pushed. I should have folded, but the recent gameplay lead me to believe it was likely a race and I had double his chips so I made the call only to run into tens. I got coolered again soon after though I don't recall the hand. At least I got the month started with money in the profit column.

I have next to no cash at Full Tilt since all my losses have been occurring there. I had saved a few hundred bucks and a $216 ticket for Sunday. I plan to reload some cash next week, but don't tell the wife or she'll think I'm losing. I'm actually making steady gains at PokerStars to offset the Tilt losses. I kicked off Sunday by taking my entire Tilt bankroll into a cash game. I began with $356 and played smart so that I wouldn't go broke in a marginal situation. At least that was the plan. I was just over $400 when I couldn't get away from AJ on a jack high board. The guy was betting like he had an overpair, but I didn't buy it, I figured he had the club draw. I got it all in, only to see I was up against aces. I got super lucky and caught a jack on the river to steal the pot and over $800. I was not long for that game. After a few orbits, I took my ill-gotten gains and retired from the cash game.

I played five events on Sunday. I played well mostly and made the top half of the field in all of them. I got a bunch of chips early in the big Stars event, but then went card dead for the next two and a half hours, other than three times getting aces with no action. I wound up finishing short of the money in the first four events. In the fifth event, I finished 26/661 and made back half of the money I spent on the day. I played this event best of all. I was happy with every decision except for the time I meant to fold my bb and I mistakenly called, then I compounded the error by bluffing the flop when it was checked to me. That cost me $15k that would have been better left undisturbed in my stack. I hated how the tourney ended for me. First, I called an all-in with AK vs A9 and lost, then I got the remainder of my stack in with K5 on the small blind when it folded around. The big blind was a big stack but it was still 25% of his stack to call. He tanked for awhile and found a call with Q4 and beat me. I hate that nonsense. It's good that I'm getting my chips in good but it is better when I don't bust out because of it.

2008-05-01T22:52:00.001-04:00

POKER AT THE HOME OF MIKE

Last night I played in my first home tourney since late last year. It’s a good group of guys that can stretch from 7 to 16 depending on who is in town and ready to play. Last night it was just the core. It’s fun to play in the same group over and over to see if you can pick up other people’s style of play before you give your own away. I had a few hands last night worth talking about.

The first hand began with Mike the Host raising the big blind 3x. I had QQ and decided to play him heads up so I re-raised the minimum, enough to pot commit him or chase him. I figured he had AT or AJ, hands I wouldn’t mind playing against, but I didn’t want to limp and invite 54s. To my surprise, the other Mike on the button, Mike the Accountant, pushed all in. Mike the Host made a crying call. I had a decision to make. Knowing Mike the Accountant, I figured he had AK at best, but since I also had Mike the Host on an Ace, I reckoned I was in the lead. So I called. Mike the Host had AT and Mike the Accountant turned over JJ and winced at the Queens. They key was know thy player. I would have laid down QQ had certain other players made such a move. A push after a raise and a re-raise means power from some players, but Mike the Accountant frequently overplays such hands.

About 30 minutes later, I had one of those funny one-of-a-kind situations. I’m in the big blind with AK. Mike the Accountant makes a 3x raise two to my left. Everyone folds around to me. He has a pretty big stack after his re-buy and a double up. My gut says that I’m in the lead, but listening to TJ, don’t pull if they are going to push. I call and I immediately check the ace flop. It worked like some kind of Jedi mind trick. Mike the Accountant sensed some kind of weakness in my check and clearly said all-in and started to play with his chips. I immediately called and turned over my hand. Then Mike the Accountant said check. We all laughed. He says, “What?” Every player at the table heard him say all-in and he said that he said “wait a minute,” which doesn’t rhyme with “all-in.” He gets upset and says he clearly asked for time, but there isn’t a player at the table that didn’t hear him say all-in. I’ve known him for two years and I don’t doubt his veracity. He really had no clue that what he said. It’s like the way I said check resulted in a Pavlovian response so subliminal that he left the game upset thinking he was robbed.

I took a couple of chip hits afterwards losing an all-in with 99 v Q8 and losing AQ v QQ. With three players left, I worked to the chip lead with the tough Robert to my left, and the lucky Bruce to my right. The first important hand was me smooth calling AQs and Robert pushing all in with KQ and mine held up. It was fortunate for me, because I expected to heads up with Robert and chop like we did last time we played in December.

I feel kind of bad that I didn’t offer Bruce the same deal, because Bruce is the nicest guy in this game. I have never heard him say a harsh word to anyone about anything. Mike the host doesn’t help my guilt by saying that he doesn’t remember the last time a tourney didn’t end with a chop. The thing is, Bruce has knocked me out of more tourneys on bad beats than anyone in this game. It’s because he doesn’t ever know when he is behind in a hand. If he likes his cards he’s in without ever considering the situation so the bluff never works and when he calls from behind he catches, at least against me. I don’t ever recollect knocking him out of anything, but he’s done it to me 4 or 5 times. Bruce finishes in the money better than my analysis would suggest which speaks to the luck factor in 15 minute blind tourneys, but also to power of not being intimidated by what an opponent does. You learn something from every opponent. But I figured since Bruce has cost me more money, I must play to win. I gots to know. Can I finally harpoon the whale?

I beat him in about 5 hands. I don’t remember how it ended. He pushed and I think I called with the better hand. I’ve won the last two of these with this group of guys and it’s a good feeling, because it’s the toughest group pound for pound that I play with. I’ll freely admit I had my own share of luck with a little skill here or there.

The main thing is my online games and my home games are back in the same week and I don’t have to leave Dude over here posting by himself.

2008-05-01T13:06:00.002-04:00

APRIL WRAP

After tilting off most of my profits in the cash games, I didn't play much for the next few days. The weather was beautiful so I took the family camping over the weekend in Santa Barbara with another family. I got myself a suntan while tossing the football around and draining a bottle of bourbon on the beach with my homies. I also bought Mason and myself some golf gack and spent some time at the driving range. I've never been all that into golf, but Mason is showing interest and since he hasn't taken to any of my interests, I figured I'd meet him on one of his. He's got a heart condition which keeps him from competitive sports, but golf could be just his thing. I got an automatic ball return thingamajig from Target so now we can practice putting in the living room together.

The cool Pacific air was great but it didn't completely erase the cobwebs from my mind. After three days away from the tables, I got into a cash game, only to find that I was still on tilt. I began wondering if it would be in my best interest to take the entire month of May off, reread all my poker books with a highlighter at the ready, and try to reboot my poker knowledge. Then I thought, screw that, I already have all the knowledge, what I'm lacking is the discipline to always execute the mathematically proper play in every situation.

So, I just did a mental reboot, then won a tournament that night. I started out playing four events, but three of them went not so well, while the fourth found me at the final table. It was taking forever to eliminate players, so when it got down to three, I requested a deal but there was one holdout. We finally got to heads-up and the holdout was now ready to split it up. It was 3AM for me and it was already morning for him in Brazil. I got somewhere close to $3820 while he took $3500.

So, suddenly, I went from being in the red, to being back to halfway towards my goal for the month of $5k. On the final day of the month, I furiously played tourney after tourney to try to catapult me over the goal line, but it was not to be. I finished the month up $2376 and you saw it happen - I played well out of the gate, got up $4k, got bored and played Omaha for awhile, came back to Hold'em, hit a cold streak, went on tilt, lost it all, only to get it together at the very last minute to post a small profit. That's me in a nutshell. I play like I'm bi-polar. If I can get firmer control of my temperament, then I think I've got the skills to make some magic happen.

Well, now it's May, and I feel I've got my head on straight going into the month. I don't think I can keep up the pace of daily posts, but I'll keep notes and try for weekly updates this month. It was good to have an audience to my craziness because it made me accountable for it. Now, I'll see if I can keep the crazies away for the next four weeks and reach that $5k goal for May.

2008-04-28T00:50:00.003-04:00

TOM PLAYS SOME CARDS. . . FINALLY

I woke up Saturday morning thinking it wouldn’t be a bad time to drive to Tampa and play in their NL game. That game went live last summer and the fact I haven’t played in it is a testament to how much poker has fallen off my radar. I haven’t played the home tourney since December and the online game has been once every few months.

Around Noon I got in the car and drove out of the entrance of the neighborhood and then turned back. I just didn’t feel right. I’m rusty for sure, but that initial caution after a layoff is usually to my benefit. I’ve played so much poker over the years that the instincts are there and the nuances return as the game progresses. But with gas expensive and the Saturday crowds, I realized that I would be pressing to win back my gas money and I’d be up against guys with big stacks playing back at me at every turn.

According to the guys in the home game, Tampa is still wilder than Vegas. The maximum buy-in is $100 and it seems like nothing to these guys, especially since the casino had been making their dime on Sit N Go tourneys for $125, $250, $550, and $1050.

I can beat the game, but I can’t do it by showing up at 1:30 in the afternoon against the big stacks. I have to go and sit at a new table with equal chip distribution. That would give me hours to play my game rather than trying to catch up.

So I came home and fired up Full Tilt to see if anything was cooking and I found a PL Hold’em game. What luck. That’s what I played at Party Poker and then Poker Room before those places left the U.S. market. I played for a few hours and won enough to double my stake.

I logged on again this morning and it was brutal. Within 25 hands, I was busted out when my KK ran into AA, and AA was beat by KJ. Luckily I got away from AKs v AA. I played for 2 hours and won all the money back when I hit a set against a player who thought his middle pair was gold. It’s that same kind of weak play that had KJ beating me earlier.

Tonight I was playing three tables when Jim McManus sat down on one. Was this the real Jim McManus? I heard he played here, but why would he be playing a small time PL game. The first clue was that celebrity players hail from no country, unlike the rest of us peons. Second, on the table listing menu our table was now red, denoting McManus’ presence.

It’s nothing for Dude to run into guys like Andy Bloch online and he even put Barney Boatman to bed, but I never play with the big dogs and I loved the McManus book. So I tell McManus I liked the book. Crickets. No one else says anything to McManus. I don’t think they know who he is. An observer chimes in with something and McManus ignores him.

Mac lays lows for the first 10-20 hands. He then changes gears and starts raising and betting out when it’s checked to him. After about an hour I call his raise from the small blind with 88. The flop is babies and I check-raise his continuation bet and he lays it down. A braclet it isn’t, but an unexpected joy just the same. The poetic thing to do is to log on to Amazon and buy his book with his money. I’ll probably have to buy it used, so is the extent of my poker prowess these days.

2008-04-23T16:54:00.002-04:00

APRIL 23, 2008

The wheels have come off the train and my goal to make $5k this month is transitioning to a goal to keep out of the red. Everything has been going wrong and I can't seem to win a pot in the cash games. I am now down a few hundred bucks overall in cash games. I am still up around $800 on the month but it is a far cry from the $4k+ of two weeks ago. I will play some tourneys and look for a score. This month is not much different from most months. I always think I should be making a ton of money but in the long run, I am merely a shade over break even and I can't seem to will myself into the zone I think I should be in. I'll try to buckle down for the final week and see what I can come away with.

2008-04-21T11:58:00.002-04:00

APRIL 20, 2008

Today thoroughly sucked because I had designs on making it one kind of day but through my own error, it became another kind of day which was not nearly as fun and wound up coming at four times the cost. In the morning, I was just killing time, waiting for the afternoon so that I could drive to the Bike and play in the live tournament. I spent hours online reading up on the Brandi Hawbaker saga which began with a penis on her back and ended with her killing herself last weekend. Wow, what a show she put on.

So, I got all my accouterments together and visited the ATM then got on the road for the 4:15 event. At 3:10, while cruising the 101, I suddenly remember that although I decided not to play the $500 online event to which I had won entry, I never actually withdrew from the event which began at 3PM. I took the next exit and drove through Chinatown as if Jake Gittes was repeatedly slapping my face - casino, online, casino, online. I got home at 3:55 and logged into Full Tilt.

What sucked a little extra is that my family had invited most of the gang over to swim and chat by the pool, so I had to sit there nursing my short stack while friends were enjoying my hospitality without me. I was more than a little frustrated and showed it by playing fours like it was aces, and busting to kings for a quick demise of my $535 investment.

Since I was home and in no mood to be social, I joined another tourney, invested $209 and busted quickly with kings versus aces at a short-handed table. I played one more event for $163 and lasted awhile but busted at the bubble with ace high losing on the river to king high. After hours, I played four heads-up matches and lost them all, though I can't fault my play, I simply got beat by the cards every time. So, my fun day at the casino turned into a crappy day at home and cost me $1367.

2008-04-20T13:10:00.002-04:00

APRIL 19, 2008

I spent Friday morning getting my car tuned up. I had a delicious chicken omelette across the street from the mechanic, always a treat, and I finished reading Classic Feynman which I had begun while on vacation last month. Good stuff. I played a couple hours worth of cash NLHE and finished about $185 in the hole.

Saturday, I played a bunch of tourneys while the girls planted flowers in the yard. I had success only in the first one. It cost me $26 to vie for a $535 ticket to the monthly one-million guarantee. There was money paid out thru four but I managed to win the whole thing and get the ticket. I'm thinking of palming the ticket for next month because there's a $335 live event at the Bike which I may decide to play. I try to get out at least once a year for a live event.

I tried another $22 heads-up event but I busted in the second round. It was pretty ugly too - I called a raise with 7-6 and flopped T-9-8 against Q-T. The money got in on the turn but the river was a J and he had me covered. I shelled out $190 for a last-chance turbo sat to the final qualifier to an event in Latin America. One in three entrants would earn their way and I liked my chances. The starting stack was only $1500 so it was important to win early. I drained away a few hundred before flopping a set of sevens. I got it all in on the river even after the flush card came but I was eliminated by the A-J flush. The only other notable exit was in a $55 MTT which also saw me eliminated holding sevens, this time in an all-in pre-flop battle versus A-7 which hit the three outer to bust me. I also lost $93 on that silly, silly game, Omaha H/L, the lion I am determined to tame.

2008-04-18T16:58:00.002-04:00

APRIL 17, 2008

I demonstrated the perfect push-up several times but some kids just couldn't make their muscles do what was necessary. One kid told me straight up that he can't do push-ups. I explained and demonstrated in loving detail how to go about it, but when he tried, his arms never bent. Sometimes the bottom half of him would move toward the ground and other times nothing would move except the question marks around his head. I guess some people just can't do push-ups.

I had a couple of extra hours after the fitness tests so I went home and tried to squeeze in some work at the NLHE tables. I went down a couple of buy-ins before finishing strong and profiting $107 on the session. At night, I played two small tourneys - a $26 Stud H/L just for practice (I finished in the middle of the field) and a 12-person $75 HORSE satellite in which the winner gets a $525 ticket to an upcoming HORSE event. I got to heads-up with a slight chip lead but he ramped up his aggression during the O8 portion while I went card dead. I couldn't hit a flop and I couldn't fake my way out of it with bluffing so I went down by quite a bit. When it got to razz, we simply traded come-ins for awhile before I decided on a gambit. I figured the only way to get chips was to take a hand in which he was ahead and get all the chips in with several cards to come. So when he raised to take my come-in against my jack, I repopped him with two low cards in the hole. We both got good cards on the turn and all the money went in. He had the better hand when the money met the middle but I nearly got my double up as I was leading with one card to come. He caught a good one and won the ticket. I got $190 for runner-up.

2008-04-17T01:32:00.002-04:00

APRIL 16, 2008

I was busy Tuesday, volunteering at the school, timing the kids run the mile. It was fun until I realized I screwed up on a couple of groups by stopping them one lap too soon. Now those kids have to get yanked out of class to run again - oops. After school, I got into a couple of tourneys and got nowhere. In the $75, I never won a hand and lasted about half an hour. In the $109, I got coolered with Q-J v Q-Q on a Q-J-x flop. I gave up and watched TV the rest of the day. I've been watching reruns of the old game show called Blockbusters. I really like the format - that would be a good show to reprise. I don't think it ran for very long in its early '80s heyday. The kids watched Across the Universe with me. It sucked but was chock full of Beatles music, some of which the kids recognized.

My car needs serviced, but I'm counting kids' push-ups on Thursday, so I made sure I got a day's worth of gaming in on Wednesday. It turned out to be a good day. My intention was to play a bunch of NLHE tables at once and see what I could do, but instead, I discovered the EPT live internet broadcast which took up most of my attention and screen space, so I played a couple of MTTs. One was a $11 turbo in which I made the top 30% before getting coolered. The other was a $109 in which I went deep before imploding.

I played very well actually but ultimately found myself in a familiar situation that never seems to end well for me. I had an average stack on the button with a small stack in the small blind and a big stack in the big blind. It folded to me and I had A-7. I have no idea how to play this situation. I had been raising judiciously the past few orbits but almost always was re-raised off of my hand. I knew I should raise with the A-7 but I didn't want to get re-raised off of it again, so I pushed in, even though I had way too many chips for that particular play. I wasn't worried about the sb so I figured there was just one guy to beat and I didn't want to give him the opportunity to re-pop me since I'd become an easy target for that move of late. Well, it seems many of my tourneys end in similar fashion with me shoving a mediocre hand and getting called but not getting lucky. This time, the bb woke up with A-J and insta-called. I nearly sucked out when the flop came A-7-x, but I had no illusions it would hold up and it didn't - running tens counterfeited me and I was out 36 of 423 for $254. I guess I need to stay patient, raise with raising hands, but just keep folding to re-raises when I can't take the hand into battle.

I had half an hour left before I needed to pick up the kids so I got into a $2/4 PLO8 game and won $43 before quitting. But wait, I just remembered a hand in the tourney I was recapping. I spent the first hour making sure I moved forward, however slowly, and not doing the usual one step forward, two steps back thing. My starting stack of $3k became about $4.4k at the break. Then in the second hour, I still played conservatively, but was willing to gamble if a good spot came up. There was a crazy hand where I raised the button with Jd-Td and the big blind (big stack) responded by pushing all-in. It was such an instant overbet that he could just as well have turned his cards face up - I knew he had either A-K, A-Q, or a small pair. My first instinct was to fold because I am behind all of those hands. Then I thought, you know what, I'm not too far behind and I've got to get chips somehow and here's a chance to get several thousand all at once. If I lose, I'll open a cash game, but if I win, then I become the big stack and maybe can make some money here. So I called, hit a ten, doubled up, and took a verbal pounding in the text box from the guy who showed A-K. He thought I was the biggest kind of moron. I asked him if he would be happier if I had won with 3-3 but all he knew is that only a moron calls with jack high. He went on tilt and flamed out soon after while the moron made the money.

The final tourney of the day, I found a 4:30P at Tilt that I had never played before. It was a $109, one-and-one, my favorite. I got a bunch of chips early on and nearly went wire-to-wire. I was the chip leader at the first four breaks, and in second place at the final table at the fifth break. It was one of those magical runs where I was catching cards, playing well, and getting action on my big hands which all held up. I re-raised four times with A-A and three times, got re-raised all-in. All three times, my aces held up - I was a chip magnet. Here is a hand to illustrate how good I was running: I raised with A-Q and the bb called with Kh-7h. The flop came 9s-7s-7d. He check-raised me, but I seriously didn't think he had a seven so I assumed he's either making a move or he has a small pair or a draw so I called. The turn is a queen. He is good enough to check and I check behind him. I want to go ahead and see his draw miss before I bet the river. The river is another queen, filling me up. He bets into me, I go all-in, he assumes I must have a seven as well or perhaps aces, and he calls. I forgot to mention that this guy was in second place, behind me, when the hand began. That's how far ahead I was for most of this event.

It was a coast to the final table, but it all came crashing down with three devastating hands in a row once we were down to six players. The big shot to my right kept raising my bb so I re-raised him with Kd-Jd. He called. The flop was 8-8-4, helping nobody. He checked to me and I bet $43k, a bit less than half the pot, yet a healthy sum all the same. He made it $115k. I tanked for a long time, thinking I could get him off his pair of sixes with an all-in, but I realized I could simply fold and be in second place moving forward, so I mucked.

Two hands later, I was on the button with K-Q and I raised the blinds. The bb re-raised me, and I called to see a flop, figuring if I paired up, I was good for sure, and I could also use a few other scare cards plus my position to take down the hand post-flop. The flop was T-8-3 and it went check-check. The turn was a king and he bet into me. I was in that tough spot where if I thought I had the best hand, I needed to pull the trigger to get him off of Q-J or a club draw. There was a chance he was using the king as a scare card after I showed weakness on the flop. Plus, I had just re-raised in his spot with K-J suited, so maybe I've got him out-kicked. Or maybe he's got a set of tens, which is what I found out after I put him all-in. Boom, I was down to $40k all of a sudden. The same player knocked me out soon after with A-K against my Q-Q. As soon as I saw what I was up against, I was putting on my jacket because I hadn't lost a race yet in the event so I knew it was coming. It was a disappointing finish but it bumped my Full Tilt account up by $2656, which is nice because I was getting low on that site. All my winning lately has been at Stars and all my losing at Tilt, so it was good to get a nice score there.

2008-04-17T01:29:00.001-04:00

APRIL 14, 2008

Monday morning, I dove into a slew of O8 games. I know I should be playing NLHE and trying to win some money but my rogue nature usually wins out and I spend my day playing rather than working. I was $1400 invested and finished with $1514 for a small profit. I played a couple of limit tables along with a pot-limit and a no-limit table concurrently. I bled money at the limit games but I did fairly well at the higher stakes games. They were not as wild as I would have figured. With your entire stack at risk on every hand, it is easier to muck the marginal hands and pick your spots more carefully. Everyone at the table had similar criteria for getting their money in. That tended to slow the game down for me and I was able to use my poker smarts to recognize some good spots rather than simply paying to chase like in the limit games.

Later that night, I got into a $5/10 Limit O8 game as if I knew what I was doing and I bled $400 in short order. I switched to NLHE and recouped $120 of it. There would have been $260 additional if not for the Painful Elimination of the Day:

I had Qd-Qc and the big blind called my raise. It came 6d-5d-3s and he bet into me and I raised him. He called and the turn was the 8d. He checked, I went all in for a large amount. He studied and found a call with 6s-2c. The river was a 4 - he took the $260 and took off. After a fix like that, I'm willing to bet he has not played his last hand of poker. I'd like to think he cashed out and invested it in something safe.

2008-04-14T17:07:00.002-04:00

APRIL 13, 2008

I didn't get to play much this past weekend. My wife was in town plus the weather was beautiful so we took advantage by spending Saturday working in the yard, doing some projects that have been pending for over a year. I love my back yard because it reminds me that no matter how frustrating poker can be over the short term, I have still been profitable over the long term, and my back yard is testament to that as every improvement was born of poker profit. I told Carolyn Flack in my exit interview from the EPT Grand Finale, when she asked me what I was going to do with the money, that I was going to hire a landscaper, and that's what I did and now I've always got a nice respite on a hot day to remind me of the good times.

There are a couple of ducks that have been hanging out in and around my pool the past couple weeks and it is all very cute, but there can be no more vile substance than duck excrement. I swear they must eat a diet rich in red dye #5 because no matter how quickly I hose off the poop, there is a dark splotch that cannot be powerwashed away. They'd better show me some cute ducklings soon or I'm going to turn the hose on them the next time they're wooing in my pool.

I missed out on the big Sunday tourneys since Marci had bought tickets for the philharmonic. There was a time when it looked as if we might be moving away from LA and she turned up the heat to experience all the cultural things that the city has to offer. I would never care to pay to see such a thing but she's been wanting to check out the Walt Disney Concert Hall for some time so I capitulated to giving up a Sunday poker, which in all truth was probably a net gain. We were one of three families silly enough to bring the children. Mason quickly figured out that he could become that guy who has a cough during a lull so I guess he enjoyed himself a little despite the constant grumbling.

When we got home, we all found our happy places and I got into a trio of tourneys: a $33 rebuy that ultimately cost me $123; a $55 MTT that cost me just that; and since I have no regard for money, I contributed $216 to the weekly HORSE event. I don't have much of a chance in that tourney but since I couldn't blow any cash on the Hold'em events, I decided to blow some on the mixed game. I was seated to the right of Keith Sexton, world class stud player, and a few seats to my right was noted pro, Chip Jett, so it wasn't the easiest of tables.

I outlasted both of those guys but ultimately fell short of the payout, finishing 42 of 148. There was one notable hand against Jett that had me swelling with pride: he raised during limit hold'em and I defended my bb with 9-8. The flop came T-9-7 and I put in a check-raise on the flop, which he called. The turn was a J giving me the straight. I bet and he called. The river was an ace. I bet, he called. He rivered trip aces, otherwise, I've got to assume he was folding in that spot. Then again, I had a bit of a wild image so it makes me wonder if he would have called with just the overpair if he hadn't tripped.

Jett got moved soon after that hand, and once Sexton was on the ropes, our table broke, eliminating my chance of picking up either player's bounty. I hate that about online tourneys - I wish they would break the tables in order and not randomly. It always seems that I can assist in decimating a pro's stack only to have him move away for somebody else to feast on the bounty by knocking him out. Marci says I should write to Full Tilt with that complaint and I think I will take it up with Lederer.

2008-04-12T01:14:00.002-04:00

APRIL 11, 2008

More bad news for DudeSeeg fans. I was preoccupied today with building my fantasy baseball team databases for three teams. The poker was something in the background, keeping me entertained. I played a couple tourneys this morning but got nowhere. I played a couple more tonight and got nowhere again. One of them was a $216 satellite in which 6 of 66 players received $2000 in tournament cash. I played as well as I could and got deep but couldn't close. Needing to steal some blinds, it seemed I got reraised off every marginal hand while nobody gave me any business on my big pairs. Finally, I got A-K and my decision was whether to push it or merely call and invite action. I chose the latter to give A-J the chance to try to raise me off of it. It folded to the big blind who pushed with 3-3. I called but failed to connect. That really upset me because then I was left wondering if he would have folded had I shoved instead. So, it'a a minus six hundo today in tournaments. I also played a few hours of $3/6 O8 and won $60.

2008-04-11T12:11:00.002-04:00

APRIL 10, 2008

Another bad day for Mr DudeSeeg. I started off in a $2/4 NLHE game, just one table this time. I bought in for $300 and never got going. I played conservatively until my first big confrontation where I called a raiser and hit the odd card against his trips. It came 9-9-7 and I just didn't figure him for a 9 in his hand. By the turn there were a gazillion straight and flush draws and he just called my bet. I checked the blank on the river, intending to call any bet and he made a big one. I paid off $125 to see Q-9. He did well by flat calling the turn so that I would buy his line of a busted draw on the river.

Soon after, I lost the remainder of my buy-in with A-A when K-K caught a member of the Klan on the flop. I rebought, built it up to $550, vowed to quit once I got even, then wham, pow, sock, I was down to $200. It became apparent that I wasn't going to win any money at this table so I cashed out, $400 loser.

For fun and practice, I played another $22 heads-up tourney. I won my first three matches, then ran into a buzzsaw in round four. I cashed for $51. I played a $22 one-and-one rebuy and hovered around my starting stack for the first hour. If I'm going to invest in the add-on, I want to see some chips in front of me, so nearing the end of the hour, I got it all in with Td-9d against two real hands. I had no illusions that my hand was best, but was just looking to either triple up or bust. I flopped the open-ender but nothing came. I later busted from a $109 event without cashing.

Looking to change up my routine, at night, I took Jeff Aaron's advice and got into a $5/10 Omaha Hi/Lo limit game. I don't play the game optimally, but I can sometimes squeak out a profit by waiting for good starting hands. I bought in for $200; the first three hands I played all went disastrously awry, counterfeiting me on the river or failing to get there at all, and I was out the $200 in short order. I rebought and this time the $200 lasted me a couple of hours and even eeked out a small profit. I'll give this game another go tomorrow. It looks like about a $700 loss for today.

2008-04-10T10:01:00.002-04:00

APRIL 09, 2008

I bought into three tables at $300 per, resolved to wait for profitable situations before getting involved so that I wouldn't burn through any buy-ins before winning a pot. The strategy worked, as I built slow but steady gains at first, then hit a few monsters and never had to rebuy, turning a profit at all three tables.

The big score was in the $2/4 PL game in which I was rewarded with the magical A-A vs K-K on an all-baby flop. There was a third player involved pre-flop which is vital for PL pots to get monstrously huge. He folded to the inevitable re-raise and when the flop came eight-high, there was no doubt it was all getting in.

Another big hand was a blind vs blind confrontation in which my bb was raised and I defended with 5-5, taking a flop of K-K-3 with two clubs. He bet and I called. The turn was a red five. He checked and I bet. I didn't necessarily have a king, so he put me to the test by re-raising with his A-T of clubs. He had plenty of outs against a pair of sixes so it was a nice play unless I have trips or better. I did so I pushed over the top of him. He thought for awhile and figured it was worth the call since I probably had three kings and he was drawing to a bigger hand, but he was drawing dead and I scooped my second huge pot on my way to a $725 profit at that table.

At a different table, my biggest hand was a bit uglier. I called a raise from the bb with K-T and the flop came T-x-x. He lead out with a pot-sized bet, which suggested over-pair, but I got stubborn with my top pair and overcard. Rather than merely calling, I went ahead and stuck it in (about $240) since it was shove or fold time. He had the Q-Q but I still had my 20% longshot and it came through with a K on the river. I took some grief for that in the text box. I finished that table $360 ahead.

The final table was my roughest, though I still managed a meager $35 profit. Just before quitting, I lost a couple hundred with Q-Q vs K-K. I did manage to not stack off, which is a positive. He limp/called from early position and quickly checked the seven-high flop. I checked behind him to keep the pot small, figuring I was okay winning or losing a small one rather than a large pot so close to quitting for the day. When he checked again on the turn, I went ahead and put in a $30 bet. He raised it up and I no longer knew where I was in the hand. The high card on board was an eight, so he could still have 9-9, T-T, or J-J. I called the raise and called another $75 on the river. I was sad to lose, but happy I checked the flop since the hand tailor-made to bust me couldn't pull it off.

My most difficult hand of the day was Q-J in the bb against a raise and a call. I called and the flop came A-T-5. It checked around. The turn brought a K to fill my gutshot. It checked to me and I put in a strong bet which was called by both players. The river was another K, not my favorite card, but it was checked to me, so I put in another strong bet. The original raiser went into the tank for a long time and came out pushing his entire stack, which was my bet plus another $300+. I decided to fold. We could have had the same hand or he could have been vastly overplaying trip kings, but I went ahead and put him on K-T or A-K and let him have it rather than pay and pray.

I played four tourneys on the day without cashing. One was a $5.50 turbo that I played just for fun. I got it all in early with 3-3 vs A-J and lost the race. I also played three events at $109 each. The first saw me suffer a bad beat with A-A vs 8-8, all-in pre-flop, when he caught a straight to bust me. The second was another race gone awry with A-K falling to T-T. The third was the most painful, as I made it nearly to the payout. The big stack was raising every hand; once I pushed with A8 and he folded, then a few orbits later, I pushed with 66 but he played his A-T and caught a ten on the river to end my day, up around $800.

2008-04-09T13:21:00.002-04:00

APRIL 08, 2008

Looking to redeem myself from yesterday's big loss, I got into the cash games and did my usual thing where I drop a quick thousand then straighten up in my chair and promise to get it back. If I can turn that first hour into going in the opposite direction, I will have more big days. I bought in for a total of $2240 over the course of the morning, keeping track of the money going in and out as I reloaded or left tables. I had a good run in my final 90 minutes, but I was certain I was looking at a $400 loss on the day, yet when I tallied all the numbers, I realized I was $250 ahead. I was so surprised, I tallied again, then thought back to if I had possibly missed tracking a buy-in, but the numbers kept showing a profit so who was I to argue. I guess I finished well enough to offset the earlier ugliness. At my worst, I blew hundreds with JJ against AA when I knew he had rockets yet paid to see them anyways. It was after that hand that I bought in one last time and went on to turn the profit.

After watching American Idol and tucking in the kids, I should have just gone to bed early, but 930P seems too early to sleep so I got involved in a handful of tournaments, all of which I lost, before realizing that the place for me was in bed. So, I lost about $100 on the day in total.

2008-04-08T14:39:00.002-04:00

APRIL 07, 2008

The money train made a stop today - it was an unscheduled stop as the train actually derailed and smashed into a family of four. I boarded the train before lunch and quickly was in the hole over $1k. It was one of those sessions where I lost every coin toss and my big hands weren't holding up. When I was already down a little and needing a boost, I raised with A-J, was immediately re-raised, and for whatever reason, I just didn't believe the guy had me dominated. I figured he had a pair of fours or something and would lay down to a third raise. He knew I was serious, but made the call anyways, with just enough in reserve to save it or push it depending on the texture of the flop. Well, the hand he called me with was 8s-7s and the flop didn't let him down, giving him two medium spades. I called his push with the best hand but the river filled his inside straight flush draw to give me an indication of what the rest of my day was going to be like. There was another hand soon after in which I flopped the nut straight against top pair, top kicker. It came running aces to give him the nut full house.

I would have easily dropped two grand had my luck not even out a bit - I closed the session with a $640 loss. After lunch, I got back on the train and again fell victim to bad luck with straights and flushes getting counterfeited and my trips not holding up. I took a big loss on a hand I wound up folding. I raised with A-T and was called in two places. The flop came (5-T-8) and I made a $60 pot-sized bet to get it over with. The first guy folded but the button called, raising my suspicions. The turn was another ten but I was too deep-stacked to shove it in when the other guy may have just filled up. I check-called his bet of $180, hoping to either fill up on the river or see him check behind with a pair of kings or the case ten. The river was a nine and I told myself if he pushes his $360, then I'm outta there, which is what happened. It is far more likely that he had a full house than a ten with a weaker kicker. I would love to know for sure, but this hand won't be televised so I never will. I clocked out of my post-lunch session with a $480 loss.

I squeezed in one more session while the kids did homework and even though I went down right away, I managed to climb back and escape with a $135 profit. Later, I blew $300 on tourneys and called the end to a miserable day, $1200 loser.

2008-04-06T22:40:00.002-04:00

APRIL 06, 2008

I'm trying to blog every day this month because I hold the idea that I will play better and therefore post better results if I feel that somebody is watching.

Yesterday, I played only one tournament and missed the money. I called a button all-in with 5-5 and was up against T-T. Once I saw his hand, I realized what a stupid call that was but at the time I just crossed my fingers and hoped to win a coin toss.

Today was Sunday and I played four events, cashing in three. First came the $256 Sunday Brawl at Full Tilt. I missed the money but made $200 in bounties to cushion the blow. I played a $22 event at Stars that offered one rebuy and one add-on. I like that structure because I only pay the house on the initial buy-in so it is like playing a $60 event for only $2 (and likewise a $150 event for $5 which is the one I usually play). I consider it a $60 event, but in the instance where I bust out during the first hour, then it only costs $40 so you can see why that is a good structure for a fella. There were 716 runners and I made it to 27th before an unfriendly river card filled a straight for the other guy. It paid only $149 which doesn't seem like much considering I was in for the full $60.

My best ROI for the day was the $22 heads-up tourney I played. It began with 256 players and paid $1380 to the winner, which was me. I had to win eight individual heads-up matches to take the prize. The only match that was in question was the first one. I played it well, and even got my money in at the end with ace-high versus king-high, but my vanquished foe guaranteed from the rail that I would not make it through the second round. I like to think he stuck around to root against me even though I doubt he did. I didn't have much trouble the rest of the way and many of the matches were over fairly quickly. Due to the small stakes, there was no Lee Jones to congratulate me on my win but it did feel good to win one, since it's been awhile.

The final tourney I played was the $216 at Tilt which I had won a ticket to the other night for $75. I finished 311 of 3551 for a $375 cash. I was doing fine and had no problem making the money cutoff at 522, but then I had a horrid run where I lost three successive hands holding K-K, J-J, and J-J again. On the fourth hand, I was on the button and I pushed my A-8 into the small blind who woke up with A-Q to decimate me. I was practically dead after that even though I survived my first all-in. All told, I profited $1550 on the day to bring me up to $4k on the young month.

2008-04-05T01:09:00.003-04:00

APRIL 04, 2008

I was home today but didn't have much time to play since I was doing some last-minute scouting for my third and final fantasy baseball draft of the season. I managed to take half an hour to play a couple of turbo STTs. They both cost me $60 - one was Hold'em and the other Omaha H/L.

I bubbled the Hold'em table. With four remaining, I chose to call an all-in from the short stack with A-2 from the blind. I figured I was ahead, albeit marginally, and I could withstand a loss if need be. He had king-high so I was ahead, but he caught his kicker. I got all in with 8-8 and fell to a weak ace soon after. I won the Omaha table so overall I made a quick $125.

UPDATE: The draft ended up commencing at midnight PST since one of the EST boys had an early Little League practice he was unable to escape. In the hour leading up to the draft, I killed time by playing a few short tourneys - and won them all. Two of them were turbo STTs and the other was a three table regular structure in which the top five scored tickets worth $216 for a $75 entry. So I was able to bank nearly $900 before the bidding began. After four days, I'm half way to the $5k goal I set for myself this month.

2008-04-04T17:07:00.003-04:00

APRIL 03, 2008

I went in the hole for a buy-in but then did well with the rebuy. The big hand was three-way action with 44 v AK v 65 on a K74 flop. The 65 was short-stacked and scooped $250 on the hand when the 8 turned, but playing off of him on the flop enabled me to get all the money in before the big stack could realize I had him beat. I profited $280 on the day.

At night, I played a couple of $75 MTTs. I got unlucky in one and busted early to a rivered flush. The unlucky part was that we were all-in preflop - I had the AK and he had the weaker suited ace, but spades came and he had me covered. The other tourney was a satellite to the $216 weekly Sunday event on Full Tilt. I very nearly got unlucky there as well. I got my money in on the flop with top pair against two overcards, but he caught running aces to nearly bust me. I had only $200 or so remaining but I survived my all-in despite being dominated. Then I doubled up twice in short order with AQ both times. That got me back in the hunt and I made it to the top seven to claim my prize.

2008-04-02T21:16:00.002-04:00

A TALE OF TWO BEATS

I played the cash games today in two sessions. I did my usual damage before lunch, coming away with $525 in profit at the $2/4 NL game. After lunch, I tried to squeeze in an additional hour and it was not so kind, costing me $410. There were two standout beats:

OUCH #1:
I had K-Q; there was a raise before me - I have learned to simply muck this hand in a full-table tournament situation, but this was a short-handed cash game so I'm calling here. We took a flop three-way and the third guy lead out with a bet into the K-Q-9 board. The pre-flop raiser became a post-flop raiser and I pushed in the remainder of my stack. Third wheel folded but the raising guy showed 9-9 and it held up. This is not really a bad beat, just a classic cooler. I was actually happy that it only cost me around $115 since I had been losing already. I cursed my luck and bought back in for another $250, which I managed to build up past $500 when this ugliness occurred:

OUCH #2:
I had Kd-Jd in the blind against a raise from a player with whom I didn't mind tangling. The flop came J-8-5 rainbow and I check-raised his continuation bet. He called and we saw a 7 come on the turn. I didn't think he had T-9 but I didn't mind if he thought I did so I bet out a good amount. I figured there's a chance he could have an overpair, but I was fairly confident I had the best hand. If he raises here, I wouldn't like it, but if he calls, I've got to put him on J-T or J-9 or maybe even a weakly played Q-J. Sure, I know he could have a set, but there could also be a monster in my closet - I can't play every hand like the other guy's sitting on trips. My gut told me that I was ahead and I was willing to back it up with my entire stack if necessary. So he called and a 6 came on the river. Hmm, worst card in the deck. I still thought he was going to show me J-T so I was willing to get money in, but since this might also be a scare card for him to use against me, I decided to check with the intention of insta-calling any bet, which I knew he would be firing. He pushed all in and even though it was a much bigger bet than expected, I still called it with my top pair. If he had shown T-9, I would have cursed my luck but respected his play, but he shows 4-4 and immediately leaves the table with his ill-gotten gains.

That beat is tough to beat. A rational person folds to my check-raise on the flop. Okay, so he didn't believe me, maybe I was betting a draw - well the 7 came on the turn to make my draw. What does he beat at this point with me betting strongly into him? He must be awfully sure I've got air because he's got fifth pair. I guess he figures the best odds against me he can hope for is over-paying for a gutshot draw to the dumb end of a straight. Sometimes that horse comes in and this time it cost me $415.

2008-04-02T02:20:00.002-04:00

APRIL FOOLING

I've been satiating my poker needs increasingly with cash games lately. Tournaments are a couple hours of fun followed by a couple hours of bile taste followed by a short burst of bad luck leading to my ouster. I can't take it anymore. My MTT stats are actually not very good. I'm basically breaking even in tourneys while waiting for the big score. That big score has proven elusive. Meanwhile, my bathrooms are showing their age as they turn fifty this year and I need a cash infusion for the Botox party.

So I've been grinding for a few hours every day in the $2/4 and $3/6 NL games. I'm looking for steady gains with minimal risk while I build my confidence and improve my game and bankroll so that I can move up over the course of the year. My first foray to the ring games in March was disastrous - I lost over $900 which sent me back to the MTTs for awhile. Finding no luck there, I got back into the ring toward the end of the month, after a week-long vacation, and did the expected damage. I finished the month with a $2200 profit in cash games to partially offset my $3k loss in the tourneys.

So today began April and I got myself a spot at four different tables to ensure the action would be fast enough to keep me focused and not needing email or baseball updates to pull my attention. I love mornings like this one - the fridge is newly stocked as is Tivo. I brewed myself some breakfast tea and enjoyed a Thai noodle salad with the cat at my side while I watched Pensacola native Jonathan Little take down the premier WPT event of the new season. Afterwards, I went to work in the next room, investing a total of $1500 in those aforementioned tables and cashing out three hours later with a $488 profit.

Tonight, after putting the kids to bed, I got into a $3/6 NL cash game and uh, oh, nothing went right and I lost my $400 buy in. Easy come, easy go. I was playing well though - I actually stacked off with top two pair, holding AQ while my opponent had a set of queens. That's just bad luck and you've got to expect to lose a bundle on the occasional cooler. So I bought back in for another $400 at the same table and found a similar leitmotif. It was not long before that stack was gone as well.

Here's how it happened, which is our Painful Elimination of the Day: I had (Ah-7h) and Mr Big Stack called my preflop raise with (4d-3d). The flop came (7c-Ad-8d) giving me two pair and him a teeny tiny flush draw. I bet nearly the pot and he called. The turn came (2c) giving me two pair and him a wee little gutshot to go with his cute little flush draw. Again I bet the pot, putting him on some sort of AQ and looking to get it all in. He calls, even though it is clear I am married to the hand. I suppose he knows he's getting the rest of my stack if he gets lucky. The river comes (5d) and there is no way I am folding so I push all in, trying to look desperate because we both know I don't have a flush. He calls of course and pushes his stack over the $1k barrier. Again, I am out of funds, but know that I am playing good poker. He willingly took the worst of it three times before getting lucky on the river. That is how I want to lose every time.

I still felt like I had some good poker to play so I left the cursed table and set up shop across a neighboring felt. I bought in for $400 and this table was as blessed as the previous one was cursed. I was hitting top pair left and right, catching two pair on the river if needed, running bluffs through to pick up pots, heck, I even hit quads twice. The best hand was when I raised from the sb with KJ and got reraised. I called because I didn't believe him and the flop came AQT giving me a nuts and honey hand as he held pocket aces and was going nowhere. From there, it just kept coming and I finally cashed out for $1973.

Okay, so I spent $125 on tourneys in the meanwhile. I'm still holding out for that big score.

2008-03-12T17:20:00.002-04:00

IT'S 3 AM AND MY HEAD IS RINGING

Who do you trust to answer it? For some unknown reason, after drinking a fine scotch infused with Ameretto, I decided to join a MTT last night at midnight. I knew going in how it would end - I would make it deep enough to lose hours of sleep, yet not cash for any significant amount. The polls were accurate. I finished 15 of 261, finally busting out at 3AM. I was marching to the final table, making the sleep deprivation well worth it, until my AQ fell to AT, decimating my stack. As I said recently, you can get unlucky once, but twice in a row and it's over. I lasted several more rounds but the next contested pot I entered, my AQ was again vanquished by the lowly A9 and it was all over.

2008-03-09T00:49:00.002-05:00

PED 03/08/08

Early in a $100 MTT. I raise with 88 and get two callers.

Flop: (5h 7h 5d)

I bet, both call.

Turn: (5h 7h 5d) (4h)

It checks around.

River: (5h 7h 5d) (4h) (8h)

It is my gin card and I cannot envision a scenario in which I am beat. I bet and one of my opponents has the audacity to raise me. I figure he's got the Ah or is hoping I do with his smaller full house. I go all in. He calls. He has red sixes.

2008-03-02T23:24:00.004-05:00

THE SUNDAY BRAWL: 71 / 1723

I got off to a strong start and at one time was second overall in chips. I was very active early on, inducing opponents to play back at me on a couple of occasions when I had strong hands. One player put me all in on the turn when I held an overpair which was good; another pushed a double gutshot draw after I flopped a set. The rest of my chip stack was ill-gained: I had a pair of eights and the other guy had a pair of kings and was betting as if he had kings, but I still didn't believe him. There were two spades and two clubs on the board and also an inside straight draw for me. He made a pot-sized bet that committed him to the hand but I had a gut feeling that he had flopped a spade draw with two overs and was just going with it. I tanked for awhile and came out raising, figuring that if I was wrong, I could still get lucky with an eight or six on the river. As usual, my gut was wrong and he showed KK. I lucked out and caught the six to make my straight and bust him, moving me into the top three early in the event.

This is a knockout tournament so every scalp I collect is adorned with forty bucks. The event cost $256 and by the time my scalp joined the pile, I had vanquished eight foes to the tune of $320. When I had $14k, I was in rarified air at my table with a license to steal at will. When that table broke, I wound up at a table with three other guys over $10k and was forced to slow down a bit. I was still managing to chip up as all the big stacks were to my right, enabling me to pressure the tiny stacks to my left.

When I was around $17k, the poker gods pulled a fast one on me, letting me flop bottom set while a moderately big stack flopped top set. He played it real goofy too. He was out of position and merely check/called the J92 flop. The turn was a ten and when he checked, I checked behind him. I had an inkling that something was amiss and I thought maybe he had just filled a gutshot with KQ. I figured if he has JT or J9 then I will get paid off on the river anyways but if he has turned or is about to river a straight, then I can keep from doubling him up. The river was a blank and he checked to me a third time. This was a strange but effective decision. If he knows my cards, then it is the obvious play, but I'm not sure how he could be so sure I was betting after checking the turn. So I bet for value and after pausing for effect, he came back all-in. I never really considered folding. He only beats me with JJ, 99, or KQ and I couldn't imagine he would check any of those hands on the river. So I paid him off and shortened my stack quite a bit.

I built my stack back up to $17k and beyond but the pivotal hand came when I got JJ under the gun and misplayed it badly. I raised of course and was called in the two hole. The flop brought three babies and I bet my hand. He flat called and the turn was a queen. I checked and called his $4k bet, thinking he might be using the queen as a scare card with his 77-TT. The river paired a baby and I checked once more. He bet $10k which screamed value bet but I went with my gut again which had me believing it was a Jamie Gold style stab at a pot he's got no business raking. He showed QQ, which made perfect sense. He played the hand as if I might have aces or kings, as I might by raising from the one hole. Once he caught his queen, he was hoping I had aces or kings and bet accordingly. I wish I had figured that out on the turn. That queen was sent by the poker gods to save me money but I ignored the message.

Losing all those chips in that hand really colored the remainder of the event for me. Once we were approaching the payout, I was so short that I decided my best strategy was to simply fold my way into the money and then try to get lucky. So once the bubble burst, I did a good job picking my spots and staying alive. Then suddenly I got a couple hands in a row and chipped up all the way to $65k before disaster befell me. I had been fairly active with a nice run of cards when I woke up with AA. I raised, was re-raised by 99, who was re-re-raised by TT. I was high-fiving the wife in anticipation of my stack climbing past $100k but the niner hit the flop to quell my excitement. I escaped the hand with $36k remaining after busting the guy with tens. He was my eight and final victim.

I hate to lose that pot but at least I'm still alive. Not long after though, I am looking for a hand to go with and I find tens on the big blind. There is an early raise from a monster stack and an all-in from middle position. I still like my tens enough to go for it, which I do. The monster folds, leaving me up against 88 with a good shot at doubling up plus some. I escaped the flop but not the turn. The 8 came to end my day. Once you get unlucky twice in a row, it is usually death - I survived the aces getting cracked but once the tens were cracked, I was out of chips and out of my chair. My 71st place finish was good for $585.

2008-02-22T13:21:00.002-05:00

TUBTHUMPER

I get knocked down, but I get up again. I hadn't played a hand of poker for two days so I came into Thursday relaxed and ready to build a bankroll. I skipped the tourney circuit in favor of the ring games. I wanted to focus on making correct decisions while being rewarded in real time. Well, the decisions were fine but the river cards were ugly and before long, I was down $1500. Absolutely nothing was working yet since I was playing well, I kept rebuying and rebuying, but each new deposit wound up across the felt. I finally got fed up and looked for a sit-and-go. I bought into a $225 ten-handed table with my eyes towards the $1050 top prize to get me moving in the direction of getting my money back.

I was faced with a big decision on my first hand. It was a three-way pot in which I was playing from the button with AJ. I had called a late position raise and the big blind had called as well. The flop came jack high and the bb checked. The preflop raiser bet and I simply called since I didn't much wish to play a huge pot so early in the event. I figured I could slow him down if he doesn't have a pair and I can maybe get some value on later streets. Well, the bb comes back with guns a-blazin' and suddenly he is all in. The original raiser assumes he's up against a set and mucks. I consider mucking but I just don't think such an overbet is representative of a set. I consider it more likely that he has KJ and thinks it's good. Usually, when I put somebody on an exact hand that I can beat, it doesn't turn out well, but this time, I called and did see the KJ, giving me the early chip lead.

I parlayed the double up to a respectable march towards heads up play. I went in with a 3:1 chip lead and nearly took it down until my AT lost to A8 with all the money in preflop. This put us roughly even in chips, so after a few rounds of punch-counterpunch, we decided to call it a stalemate and split the purse. So I got $840 out of that table which took a nice chunk out of my earlier losses.

With renewed vigor, I went back into a ring game and found that my luck had turned around. The hands were not only holding up, but my draws were hitting and I made over $500 within about ninety minutes.

I was now only down a relatively modest amount and considered it a decent day all in all. With coffee in my system from dinner, I decided to play the Turbo Hundo at 11PM on Full Tilt while concurrently playing a 45-seat $69 sit-and-go. I've recently begun playing this particular tourney and I've had good success, with only one early exit, two bubbles in which I made the final table but missed the top six, and a couple of cashes for an overall profit. I fought connection problems throughout the night, but finished third in the SNG and 12th in the MTT to increase the day's take by over $600 and put me in the black for the day. It was a roller coaster ride, but I got off smiling.

2008-02-12T22:17:00.002-05:00

5/522

I paid $109 and began at 10AM. I collected $3132 after playing six hours. And yes, I'm disappointed with my finish. I was the runaway chip leader heading into the final table. I folded until I got a good hand which happened to be AA. I didn't bust anyone, but I made a good amount on that hand and coasted some more. When it got down to five players, we went into a holding pattern and it seemed impossible to eliminate the short stacks. After about half an hour of that, I began looking like a short stack. There was one player whom I had outchipped and when he shoved, I thought and thought, and finally called with AT. I was happy to see he had KT but was unhappy when the king flopped. I was now extremely short and pushed K7 on the next hand. The big blind called me, as he should, with T4. The flop brought a 4 but also a 7; the turn brought a ten and I was done. So sad.

2008-02-11T14:11:00.000-05:00

PAINFUL ELIMINATION 02/11/08

It is early still but this one will hold up: I have $1310 early in a single table tournament. With four players yet to act, I raise with QT and get called by the button and small blind.

Flop: (Td 2h 4c)
Pot: $200
Action: I bet $100 and the small blind calls.

Turn: (Td 2h 4c) (Qd)
Pot: $400
Action: He checks, I bet $250, he calls.

River: (Td 2h 4c) (Qd) (Jd)
Pot: $900
Action: He checks, I bet $450, he raises to $900, I call off my final $450.
Showdown: I have two pair, he shows (As Kc) for the straight.

Analysis: The guy got lucky on the river. By that point, most of my chips were in the middle and I wasn't folding my two pair. I thought his most likely hand to beat me was some sort of A4 flush, but who in their right mind would check the river with a flush?

He could have raised preflop with AK but it is not unusual to sneak into a hand early in a tournament and hope to have somebody outkicked when a big card comes. He has only an unpaired hand and he is out of position so generally, he should only continue with the hand if he pairs on the flop. He whiffed the flop but unless I have a ten, he is likely still in the lead. I made a standard continuation bet but it is at least a bit more likely that I have something since I am betting into two opponents and not just one. I'm not crazy about his call on the flop but after the button folds, I don't really mind his call either. In fact, I think he could have check-raised in that spot with AK. In this particularly scenario, he would have run into a hand, but more often than not, I think his AK is either good in that spot or the check-raise would get me off of a pair under tens.

I don't like his call on the turn at all. Even if I had missed the ten, now I am betting the queen. He's got to figure he's behind at this point. In a single-table event, I don't think you can really afford to be paying for inside straight draws even if you think hitting an overcard may be good. I had only $900 remaining in my stack and he called off $250 even though hitting his overcard may not be good in this spot, as it would not have been had he caught an ace or king. He was dead to the jack, putting him at four outs, but even if he had the full ten outs, I think he should cut his losses at this point.

Finally, when he does make his straight on the river, how is he so sure I'm going to bet after that third diamond comes? There's no way I'm betting one pair in this spot and I'm likely not even betting JT. I suppose I could even check my QT, fearing the QJ but how do you put a guy on QJ here? I certainly didn't have him on AK or a flush so when he raised me, I eagerly called off my chips, expecting to see JT.

So, I fell victim to good cards played poorly - he failed to raise preflop when he was ahead, he called on the flop when he was behind, he called on the turn when he was dead to a jack, and when he hit his hand, he checked and crossed his fingers that I would bet it for him. When I do, he raises, even though he could be beat by a flush. He's only getting paid off if I bet two pair; he's losing most of his stack if I have a flush. I'd say it worked out pretty well for him.

2008-02-08T13:30:00.000-05:00

MONSTER FLOP

I just busted but I'm unashamed and wish to share. It was a limpfest and I got in there with (9h 7h). The flop came (Th 8h 5s). It checked to me and I put in a near-pot-sized bet. With the open-ended straight flush, I am not in bad shape against any hand, including top set. I am looking to get the money in on the flop while my odds are good and my hand disguised. If I wait until the turn, my odds drop in half or the board pairs and I should no longer chase. Or even worse, I catch my flush and scare the other players away with a bet.

So, I bet and was called, and then came the big raise. I could push here but I don't wish to squeeze the third guy off his hand. In fact, I really want him in the pot to give me better odds should I still be chasing after the turn. So, I flat called, but the third guy decided to go with his hand and pushed all in. He had (8s 5d) - a limped pot remember. The other raising guy held (Tc 8d) and it was a slugfest. I went in as even money versus two opponents but the top two pair held up when black queens fell from the sky.

A funny footnote - on the hand immediate prior this one, I flopped quad aces. I guess it was too much to hope for to follow up with a straight flush.

2008-02-07T01:50:00.000-05:00

FTOPS EVENT #1

A very disappointing 338/5319 finish. I could not have played better. There was only one bet the entire tournament I regret and even that was only a minor mistake. I played as perfect a game as I am capable of but I got unlucky a few times in a row and it is over.

I got all my chips in early with AT on a ten-high flop. I was check-raised on the flop and I just didn't think he had a set so I figured I was up against a flush draw. His bet was substantial and I figured I could get him to either give it up or race with me. He wound up calling my shove and showing 55. It was a gift. I guess when there are over 5000 players in a tournament, there are bound to be some scrubs in the early levels so it pays to play some big pots.

The first hour was a fiesta of big cards. Mostly, I was getting paid by hitting flops. I got KK once and QQ twice only to find no takers, but every KQ turned into top pair against somebody I had outkicked. At the first break, my $3k had become nearly $10k.

I was determined to hold on to my chips so I played a solid game for the next two hours, content to chip up slowly and avoid big confrontations. The only hand I regret was in the second hour when I was the table chip leader and after an early limp and a short-stack call, I pushed on the big blind with 66. The pot was $1400 and the limper was around $6k, but he had aces and doubled through me. I could have just taken a flop there, or if I'm going to raise, then I could have raised the amount of the short stack to see how the bigger stack responds.

At the second break, I was just under $14k and after hour three, I was around $18k. When the antes kicked in, I was able to raise just often enough to keep pace. My $21k was an average stack when we made the money with 738 players remaining. The chips began flying after the bubble burst and I began to get cards again, but I couldn't get a hand to hold up. Case in point, I raised with AT and the bb shoved. I considered folding until I saw that the $4k additional which I needed to put in was worth betting even if he had a bigger ace, considering the size of the pot. He had QT as it turned out, which was fortunate, but they were spades and he caught the flush.

I got AK for the first time in the entire event while on the button, following a middle-late raise. He had me outchipped but not by a tremendous amount. I pushed all-in and the shorty on the bb pushed as well. The initial raiser insta-called with AQ. I was able to beat the AQ for a big pot but I couldn't fade the 42 and shorty stole $19k from me. Still, I was up to $42k.

On the very next hand, I raised with KK and the giant stack on the bb played with me. It came 743 and he bet into me. I toyed with going all-in to show I was serious, but considering his stack, I thought it more prudent to simply call and see another card. The turn was another 4 which I didn't love. He bet again. I think there's enough of a chance he's playing a seven that I flat call again, hoping to slow him down. The river is a Q and he makes a baby bet of $20k. It was just the right size that I had to call even though I knew I was going to see a four in his hand - he showed 54.

That pot knocked me down to size, but on the next hand, the AQ guy pushed and I went over the top with A9 and beat his JT. I was at $36k. The cards kept coming and I raised the button with AQ. The sb pushed and I called off most of my chips. He had 77; the flop brought a queen but then it rained down cards to create a straight around his 7 and I was near death. I busted on the next hand I played. It's frustrating to do everything right for over four hours and still come up short.

2008-01-31T02:04:00.001-05:00

PED 01/30

Today's Painful Elimination of the Day comes courtesy of the 9PM short-handed $77 tourney at PokerStars. There was a raise and a call and I called with 22 on the button. The dream flop came A82 with two diamonds. The original raiser checked so I guess he doesn't have an ace - too bad. The other player made a bet and I merely called, still hoping the first guy might have an ace. There were two diamonds and I had a diamond, so I figured he wasn't drawing to a flush, but even still I have the redraw to a full house, so I'm willing to get it all in on the turn even if a diamond falls. The turn was a diamond and my opponent pushed all-in. He had a pair of nines with a diamond draw. I called with trips although my flush draw was no good. So, I guess he had ten outs or so with the diamonds and the nines. I'm not unhappy with how I played it since I got it all in as a big favorite. It was a diamond on the river that did me in. It happens, and it's fine when it does since the alternative would be to bet so much on the flop that I scare him off his longshot draw. I want to take that match-up to the river every time. It's just too bad I can't win the showdown every time.

2008-01-29T14:44:00.000-05:00

RAINING SEVENS

Things were good for awhile and now they are not so good. That has been my pattern for years and I still can't find the consistent winning streaks that I am hoping to discover as I improve my game, temperament, and money management.

I had been doing well in cash games this month, but after a day when winning came easy, I opened up four tables to quadruple my income, only to find the magic was gone. I thought back to the day before: what was so different? Then I remembered two hands that came up within five minutes of sitting down the previous day. First, I called a raise from the bb with 75s and the flop came 864. It turned out that the raiser had AA, a bigger stack than mine, and to top it off, an ace fell on the turn. All of those things need to fall into place for a sure double-up. I massaged the pot and the money only went in on the river when we were both sure we had the nuts.

A few hands later, against a different opponent, I took 44 against AK and found the glorious AK4 flop, ensuring another double up, or almost, as I now had a bigger stack than he. So, I quit a couple hours later with $600 profit, but it was all made in the first five minutes. The rest of the way was pretty much break even. Actually, I was up even more but a hand towards the end cost me about $150. I had been raising a lot in position, so when an opponent check-raised me, I didn't know if he anything or was just making a move. I had top pair so I called. He made a pot-sized bet on the turn but I had picked up an open-ended straight draw to go with my top pair, so I called. I picked up two pair on the river but we both checked it as it was also the third diamond. It turned out that he was making a move on the flop, but he hit his straight on the turn before shutting down on the river, so that hand cost me some.

Sunday was a bloodbath. I contributed $1200 to tournaments and cashed zero. I kept getting close, but I couldn't get past the bubble. The most painful eliminations came in the two $100 satellites I played, trying to earn a $500 ticket. In my first attempt, I got it in with AK but lost to AQ, always painful. In my second attempt, it was an even uglier exit. It was three-way action. I raised on the sb with A9. I had raised the previous two times in this spot, both times legit, and both times he folded the bb. This time, I expected him to play back and I was ready to go with it. He merely called. It looked like a move because of the size of our stacks at the time. If he had a hand he loved, he would have shoved, no question. I think he was banking on the 2/3 chance that I miss the flop. So the flop came Q63 and I put in a weak continuation bet. He instantly shoved and I instantly called. I was dead if he had a queen but I thought there was a good chance he didn't. He showed 97. He was dead to a seven and proceeded to catch one both on the turn and again on the river.

2008-01-24T16:39:00.000-05:00

PAINFUL CHOP OF THE DAY

I finished on the bubble (the friggin' bubble) in a $163 event yesterday. There was some joker to my left who calls himself TheBrain and he was riding a sine wave the entire tourney, going way up in chips, then duffing them off on a loose call. I was coasting along, slowly upgrading my chip stack, but hadn't had that one big pot yet to get me in good shape.

It folded to my sb and I completed with KQ. I like the hand, but I don't like to raise into a bigger stack and risk getting reraised. I would rather take a flop with any hand that may dominate the bb's hand. So the flop comes king-high with two diamonds - my queen is a diamond. I bet out and he calls. The turn is another diamond. I bet out the same 2/3 size and he flat calls again. The river is a fourth diamond. I didn't figure him for a diamond because I've been watching him gamble time and again, and I think he would have made a move if he had a high diamond. Besides, if he had an ace, he likely would have repopped me preflop. So, now that the pot was relatively large, I lead out with a small defensive bet. I figured I would get called with any diamond regardless of bet size but the blocking bet might induce a big bluff. As if on command, he instantly went all in. An instant later, I called and he showed K4 with no diamond. I was happy with my play there. In theory, I can't call an all-in for my tourney life without the ace of diamonds. I know he knows I know he knows that and it paid off big for me.

So, a few orbits go by and we are now basically even in chips and again it folds to my sb. I have A9 and make a standard 3x raise. He instantly goes all-in. I've got no respect for the guy and my gut tells me that my hand is good so I make the call. I've got him covered by a little bit, so I'm looking to acquire the balance of his stack and march on. He shows 64d. The flop comes (As Qs Tc) and he is all but drawing dead. At this point I am 97% to win the hand, but whatever god he prays to was in the deck and he drew out perfect/perfect JK for the chop.

That was the most painful hand of the tournament for me because I missed out on $13k chips that he was giving away. Ten minutes later, somebody else got those chips and I could only make it to just outside the pay structure.

2008-01-12T12:56:00.000-05:00

DISNEY BASKET

Marci's coworker, Kim, sits on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of Burbank. She puts together fundraiser events and we always get invited. Last night was a poker tournament with a $100 buy-in. First place was a trip to Vegas, second place was a pair of fifth row Lakers tickets and third through nine were various gift baskets.

I was recruited since I'm well known to the Disney crowd as the poker guy. Marci and Kim's coworkers were looking forward to squaring off against me across the felt. I was expecting some rinky-dink affair and was surprised to find ten full tables for 100 combatants. The $100 donation bought me $1000 in tourney chips which was divvied into everything from $5 to $500. The blinds went up every 15 minutes and the jumps weren't subtle, so outside of the first round ($5/10), I didn't really have any room to play marginal cards.

I won once during the first round when I flopped a set of deuces. I didn't get paid as much as hoped, so at the one-hour break, I was dead even with $1025. They were offering an add-on (which they called a rebuy) at the break regardless of how many chips you had. During the first hour, rebuys were available only after a player busted out. The add-on was another $100 for only the same $1000 chips, with blinds at $200/$400 coming out of the break. There was no way I was going to do it, but then I learned that Marci generously gave the charity $150 for my $100 buy-in. She asked me if I wanted to rebuy and I said, "well, if I can get it for $50, then why not." I gave the lady $100. She tried to give me a double add-on, but I didn't want to go nuts, so I took the single add-on and the $50 change.

So, I sat down with $2025, knowing that I had to double up on the first hand I decided to play. It was only the second hand when the guy to my right inexplicably pushed all in under the gun with Q8s. I didn't know what he had but decided I had to go with my AQ in that spot. I was happy to see the queen in his hand. An eight would have meant an early drive home, but I survived and doubled up.

On the next orbit, the same guy went all-in under the gun again and I picked up 77. It was a big bet. I knew I had him beat, but I couldn't be sure it wasn't a coin toss. I asked the dealer how much was the bet. He said "if you call, we'll count it up." I didn't want to be a know-it-all, but I pointed out that the size of the bet determines whether I want to call. It was most of my chips but not all, so I shrugged and admitted that it was the best hand I've seen all day, and I tossed my chips in. "There was a call from a short stack with K3. The original raiser had A4. I was happy to see only two overcards. I faded the ace but not the king, so I lost a little pot to the shorty and won a big pot and busted the other guy.

So, I had enough chips to sit around and wait for the blinds to rise so I could steal them with moderate holdings. Every time I was in a good stealing spot, I got dealt horrendous hands, which I just folded rather than risk confrontations with players who were either too inexperienced or too short-stacked to fold. Our table broke and I got moved to a neighboring table with a few big stacks scattered around. There was a serious-looking lady to my left who had a stack like mine so I figured she knew what she was doing.

The lady limped utg on my big blind, and I just knocked with AT, looking to trap her in a big pot. The flop came AQ8 rainbow and I checked to her like the pro I am. She checked behind me and the turn was a ten, giving me aces up. I put in a bet of $800 and she fumbled around like she wanted to raise but then backed off when she realized how much that would cost, so it was treated as a call. The river was a harmless six. I really thought she was a player who might be sitting on QT or A8, so I took the lead and went all in for like $4200. She seemed lost. She wanted to call instantly, then she didn't want to put all her chips at risk, then she wanted to call again, then she finally asked the dealer "what do I need to do?" I said "it'll cost all your chips - call if you think you have me beat or fold if you're not sure." I was trying to be helpful, not goad her into anything. I knew I had her beat but figured she would call with two pair and lay down anything inferior. Finally, she just put her chips in as if I had commanded it and turned over T4. I was kind of embarrassed to turn over such a strong hand since the ace by itself was good. I apologized to the lady I had just busted and she assured me that she was ready to go home anyways.

The only big hand I lost on my march to the final table was when I limped utg with AQ and found two callers and then the small blind went all in. I reraised to get rid of the riff-raff and it was a coin toss against 55 which I lost. I had to chip back up so I put myself at risk a couple of times, going all-in with K8 and QT to steal the blinds. Once we were down to nine players, we were all assured at least a gift basket and the table was surrounded by the vanquished. It was kind of exciting. I thought about the concept of "playoff experience" and how that term is bandied about by sports pundits for why Favre will be unstoppable and such. I'm sure I had the most final table experience of this crowd and I knew what sort of situations I was waiting for.

There was one crazy hand where half the table limped with one lady all-in for the size of my big blind. I got 83d and checked my option. The flop came T62 all diamonds. I checked and there was no action. I can't bet there because I have to first make sure no diamond turns. The turn was another deuce and I pushed my stack in. Everybody folded and I lamented "nobody's got a deuce or the ace of diamonds?" as I proudly turned over my flush. I got my comeuppance when the all-in lady tabled tens full and raked in all those beautiful chips.

Soon, it was three-handed with $3k/$6k blinds. There was no time to fool around. I raised to $18k from the small blind with K8. The big blind responded all-in. I knew I was behind but seriously considered calling off my chips. I looked at Cadence in the crowd and she held up a finger to remind me I was playing for first place. I became a showman and asked Cadence what was third place. Kim shouted out that it was the Disney-themed gift basket. "Free admission, free parking and some cool hats" she said. Someone in the crowd said "come on, dad, Disney tickets!" I paused a moment for effect and said "I work for Disney" as I mucked. My opponent, also a Disney spouse invited by Kim, later told me he had AQ.

So, on my final hand, the lady on the button raised to $18k on my small blind. I had $45k total, holding A7 with $27k in the pot. Calling was an option but I would be lost on the flop unless an ace came, so I just shoved it in to give her an opportunity to fold KJ and the like. She called quickly with 44. The flop came 752. She got her 4 on the turn to bust me. Hmm, had I just called, maybe I could have won the pot on the flop. Most likely not though as she would assume the pair was good with that ragged flop. So, I got the Disney basket for my $200 donation. The lady won soon after by catching another four on the turn to propel her A4 past her opponent's A8. I hope she enjoys Vegas.

2008-01-11T15:18:00.001-05:00

2/404

I was emailing updates to Marci as I went deep in my first significant cash of the year. Here's the recap as she received it piecemeal:

$62k at third break - 7/32 [This refers to 7th place of 32 remaining players.]
$72k three tables - 6/27
AT < boo =" $57k" guy =" $37k" flush =" $52k" plus =" $147k."> J9 (K9x flop) = $208k runaway chip leader suddenly.
22 > ATs = $245k
4th break - $259k - 1/12
I'm getting raised off a lot of my raises. Now 3/10 on final table bubble.
33 > KQ
FINAL TABLE!!!!!!!
CHIP LEADER!!!!!
Tightening up. Just called w/AKs on big blind. All red babies and I folded. Capital preservation.
KK v 99 (not me) xxx9K what a tease.
First bustout - 1/8
2nd place nipping at my heels. I'm waiting to play a big pot rather than stab stab stab.
My 66 busted AT w/river 6 after flop ten. 1/7
AA takes out QQ - 1/6
My JJ folded to river bet KxxxQ board.
Sinking 3/6
All in over the top w/ATc vs under the gun raiser, he folded. Always scary. I had him barely covered.
AA v AJs busted him, moved into 2nd.
shorty doubled
bad beat bustout now 2/4
all fairly close
3/4/6/10 payouts from here
AQ > AT for me 2/3
ouch AA lost to K8s - still in
that was really brutal - should be heads up with a monster stack
We're on break again.
I still have $248k so I can recover.
Epic confrontation puts lucky guy down near my stack
KK no action
lucky guy's luck finally ran out, heads up
2nd place - it's over = $6262

2008-01-09T20:36:00.001-05:00

NEW YEAR

I had an idea that could help me to blog more often. I play poker online just about every day but rarely have anything to say about it. Since everyone loves a good bad beat story, I will chronicle the worst beat I took on the day, sort of like on MXC where they wrap up the program with the Most Painful Elimination of the Day. So the MPED is born and here is the January 9th winner:

Early in a $150 event, I am chipping up nicely by playing a lot of pots in position. I pick up JJ on the button and after a raise and a call, I put in a hefty reraise. It looks like a standard stealing situation so after the original raiser mucks, the other guy calls and we take a flop.

(9s 5d 4h) He checks to me and I put in a 2/3-pot-sized bet to get rid of him. He flat calls.

(9s 5d 4h / Td). There is just over $2k in the pot and he pushes all in for around $2200 or so. Okay, there's no chance he has the best hand. I fully expect to see (Ad 3d) when I call but instead he shows (Kd 6d). My fate was sealed with the 4d on the river. Now go back and look at what he called with on the flop. He must have been totally convinced I had nothing and he could take it from me on the turn. The diamonds were just bonus.

2007-12-19T14:48:00.000-05:00

MID-DECEMBER

The year is nearly over and it will be the first year since I began playing poker that I will lose money. Here's an example of my year in microcosm: I saw a flop with T9 from the big blind and the flop came QJ8 with two clubs. I made a strong bet and was raised. I had the nuts and didn't necessarily want to see a turn card so I pushed all-in. I was called instantly by KK. He had one club but was a 9:1 underdog. The clubs peeled off and I was out.

I actually took a lesson from that hand. I have been playing so tight that inevitably, my demise comes when all my eggs are in one basket and the basket is upturned. When I'm playing well, I am nearly always getting my money in with the best of it, but my tournament chances are wholly invested in winning that one pot and when the odds upset me, I am out.

I realized that I have to make some magic happen for myself and mix it up in more pots early on when the pots are smaller and more frequently go to the river. It's imperative to build up a chip stack during the early phase of an event because eventually it becomes a shoving contest. If you have some chips to work with, you can go after the blinds once the antes kick in and keep increasing your stack, while having enough margin for error to get away from marginal situations when the other guy wants to play a big pot. Meanwhile, you are active enough that ultimately you will have a big hand when the other guy tries to push you off of it. So long as the money goes in when I am a favorite, I should be able to accumulate chips despite the occasional setback. The problem I have been running into is that I cannot afford a single setback because when my money gets in, although I am generally favored, I don't always win the pot and when I lose I am either crippled or eliminated.

So, I'm willing to take more chances early in an event because getting chips is key. Once I have the chips, it is like holding the hammer, but I have to apply the hammer, not merely sit around waiting for more hammers to be passed out, which is what I have been doing by tightening up too much during the middle stages. I definitely want to wait for good spots and not try to run over the table, but by waiting and appearing tight, I should be able to mix it up on occasion and take some pots away from opponents who aren't sitting on the nuts. I know, this is remedial stuff, but I have to relearn certain strategies all the time. I play like I'm manic-depressive and I feel as if I'm coming out of a long depressive stage and I'm excited heading into the next year.

I railed Annette_15 for a couple hours the other night and saw her mixing it up pretty good. Sure, she got lucky lots of times, but the other players were constantly off-guard and would occasionally dump a huge stack to her when she had a monster. Other times they would sheepishly fold to her preflop raise, knowing she had a marginal hand, but unwilling to risk their entire stack on that hunch.

I played the $75 Knockout tourney on Monday night and finished 9/464. I really felt good the whole way and I was sure I was heading to the final table. The good news is that I got there, but the bad news is that I was the first player eliminated, despite going into FT play as the third overall chip stack. The first hand I played was disastrous - I raised with AJh from second position and got a caller in the big blind. The flop came J53 rainbow. I made the continuation bet and he raised me. I felt I was ahead but decided to just call to get more money in the pot on the turn. Fourth street paired the trey and now I was sure I was ahead unless he was sitting on a pair of fives. He made a good-sized bet which basically pot-committed him. For whatever odd reason, I called rather than pushed. I guess I had this fantasy that I could still get away from the hand if he pushed the river with a full house. The river was a ten and he made a very small bet, which I was forced to call. He turned JT and showed me the bad news. It was a half-a-million dollar pot which put him squarely in the chip lead while I busted on the next hand I played. Would he have folded to my push on the turn? I don't know, but I sure wish I could go back and make that play while I was a 19:1 favorite.

In the next event I played, I only finished 27/390 but at one point I was down to $150 after an all-in battle gone wrong. I built it up to $2k, then put most of it in from the big blind against an all-in and a caller, when I was hoping to strike gold. I folded on that flop and was down to $450. I managed to build that all the way up to $50k and made the money before meeting my match.

2007-12-11T16:49:00.000-05:00

RECENT HANDS

I don't have much in-depth commentary but I jotted down a few interesting hands this past week with the intent of posting them here.

First off, even though I wasn't able to parlay the giant pot into a money finish, I did manage to win a big pot with AA up against KK, QQ, and JJ. It gave me some chips but they didn't last.

Later in that same event, nearing my demise, I saw a three-way flop with 88. The flop came AK8 and we all checked around. I had position and a desperate need for chips so I hoped a check would induce a weak ace or a king to take a stab at the turn. Fourth street brought another king but there was still no action, so I checked again. The river brought another king making for a board of AK8KK. One of the players bet into me and I folded. That's a good example of how it's better to win a small pot than lose a big one. Or maybe I was destined to go broke and skillfully avoided it. Regardless, rather than gobbling up the chips on the flop, I waited for more and then lost them all like the dog chasing the reflection of the bigger bone in the pond. That was my last big hand and I was broke soon after.

There was another event in which I had played practically perfectly yet met a cruel fate. I had JJ in middle position and raised. I was reraised by a smaller stack from the button. It was an obvious showdown situation but I figured I would just call now and push the flop. The flop came QT9 and there was no getting away so in went my chips. He called and showed 99, argh. Well, I wasn't dead and the 8 peeled off to make my straight. Then came the nine to give the upstart quads. How cruel. It irks me when I get raised by an underpair and then get beat.

The final hand in my notebook is notable because I'm not normally capable of making big laydowns, yet here is proof that I can do it when pressed. I got a free look at a flop with K4 in the big blind. The flop came 544 with two hearts. I bet into it and got called in two spots. The turn was the 2h and I knew it was a killer. I checked; the UTG guy bet and the button pushed. It's not often I release three of a kind but this seemed like the blueprint for when you do it, so I mucked. UTG showed AA and button showed K3h. There was no miracle on the river that would have filled my boat so I got three cheers from my wife for making the big laydown.

2007-12-05T20:46:00.000-05:00

CHIP REESE - RIP

David “Chip” Reese, the three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, longtime cash-game star, and member of the Poker Hall of Fame, has died. He was 56.

Card Player has learned that Reese went to the hospital last night with symptoms of pneumonia but was then sent home later that night and passed away in his sleep. Card Player's original information reported that he had died at the hospital.

I remember Doyle saying he was the best player around, but he didn't play many tourneys so his reputation in the TV world was smaller.

UPDATE: Doyle weighs in

2007-11-27T17:18:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER WACKY HAND

I called a late raise from the button with (Qc 9c). The flop came (Jc Tc Ts) giving me the much-beloved open-ended straght flush draw. He fired a continuation bet and I decided to just call so I could take it on the turn if he gives up or possibly win a bigger pot if I hit a straight. Also, if I hit a club, I could get him to call a large amount if he had the Ac.

The turn brought the 9s, giving me a fairly meaningless pair with the overpair on board. He bet $1k into my $11k stack. His bet gave me pause. I really doubted that he flopped a full house, but now he could have made a straight or he could have the legit big pair. I don't see how he can be bluffing with this board so I decide that calling is my best option.

The river was the Qs and he bet $2k, which looked like a value bet into a pot of over $5k. I couldn't fold right away because everywhere I looked, there were pairs and straight flush draws, but sadly, there were no more cards to come. I could beat AJ and a bluff but I was beat by any flush, straight, ten, king, or AQ. I didn't think he was all that strong of a player, but is anybody capable of firing a small bet into this board with an underpair? My chips were too precious and as I mentioned, there were no more cards to come, so I laid it down. If there was another card coming, I was so pushing all-in.

2007-11-25T21:45:00.000-05:00

WHAT A HAND!

I have not won a thing in a very long time and it has been affecting my mental makeup. I went into today with a clear head and a commitment to think through every decision and make the proper play. So, I played three events and busted out of all three in grand fashion, but at least I feel I played my best so I don't have the anguish of kicking myself for costing me a chance to win.

In the $200 big one, I was around $2k of my original $3k when I raised with 99. I was reraised from the big blind and a case could be made for folding, but he's got AK often enough in that spot that I wanted to take a look at the flop to see how he reacted. It came K94 with two clubs. He checked, which I found suspicious, but it made QQ somewhat more likely, so I checked behind him. The turn was a small club and he made a stab. I had a club and of course the set - there was no point in slowplaying any further so I pushed my stack in. He had KK leaving me dead to clubs, but none arrived. No complaints here - I'm going to go broke every time in that spot.

I played the $200 Mulligan and met a grisly fate when a smallish stack pushed from early position while I held QQ on the big blind. A big stack flat called behind him which gave me an honest decision to make. I had too few chips to be choosy enough to fold in this spot so I went all in and hoped I would see jacks from the big stack. The small stack had 88 and the big guy showed AK. I wound up finishing third in the hand when both the ace and the eight flopped. It was a hand worth dying with and it was ahead when the money went in so I can't second guess that play.

In the interim, I joined a $75 event and played perfectly for two hours before this crazy hand came up: The average stack was around $14k and I had $21k. I got dealt KsKh in third position. There were a lot of chips at my table so I was looking to play smallish pots and nothing huge if I could help it. UTG ($17k stack) raised and I just called behind him to see what developed. There were two additional calls from the blinds making for a $5450 pot preflop.

I'm really not married to my hand at this point, knowing that UTG could have aces and the blinds could have who-knows-what. So then comes the action flop of all time: (As Qs Ts). I knew my hand was no good at this point but there is the draw to the royal staring at me. The big blind came out betting $4500 and UTG called. I made the call hoping for either a friendly or a cheap turn. The small blind folded and the pot was now $18,950.

How I wish the turn card would have been a spade - or even a jack. The 8c fell, making for a tough decision by the time the other two players were both all-in and staring at me. I had $15k behind, so I could have simply folded and still been a tick above average, but I was also getting decent odds to make the call. I knew I had the nuts with any spade excluding the eight and also would have the nuts with any jack. I was also good to catch either remaining king unless UTG had trip aces. So do I put in my final $15k to try to win $61k and give myself final table chips? Of course I do. I'm either going to be broke or the chip leader but at least I'm drawing live.

Sadly, this story does not end well. The dude pushing the action had AT and couldn't imagine being beaten. It didn't matter, because all the chips were going in anyways since UTG had trip aces. Kings were no good, but spades and jacks were golden, giving me a 26% chance to win. I ran the numbers and if the AA was actually AQ then my odds of winning jump to 33% since the two remaining kings would have been in play. In any case, the river was the ten of diamonds which helped everybody but me. Worth a shot.

2007-11-05T02:08:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER SHIRT

I've been playing a lot of HORSE lately, both cash games and tournaments. It's easy to play while multitasking since it is a limit game. I can pay bills online and set my fantasy football lineup all while earning steadily. I've found that if I just fold most hands and play the good ones then the game will prove profitable. I've played enough now that I have a good idea of what type of cards to play in each game.

Today was Sunday and I was watching football and playing the big NLHE events. I bought into a $75 satellite for the weekly $216 HORSE event and earned my way in. So the HORSE event kicked off with 141 players in attendance. I was seated at the same table as Karina Jett and another red ink pro. I've played plenty with Karina and have found her fairly beatable so I was thinking about the $200 bounty on her head. I had knocked Lynette Chan out of a NLHE event over the summer and Full Tilt sent me a tee shirt to mark the occasion. The nice thing about having two pros at a HORSE table is that they can get battered down by the table at large but the bounty goes to the guy who finishes the job.

Well, Karina was getting short stacked but I couldn't do anything about it and then the table broke. Somebody else had the pleasure of earning her bounty. I was reseated with her husband Chip, but he is not so easy to bust. Sixteen players made the money and when we were down to that, I was to the left of Paul Sexton, son of Keith, and Full Tilt red ink pro, complete with bounty. Last week, I played a few sit and gos with the Sextons and I put a nice beat on Paul which I'm sure made his notes.

So, we are playing seven card stud in the HORSE tourney, having already made the money, and Paul has a queen in his door and raises preflop into my seven. There were two players left to act but they both had baby cards and it is fairly standard to see the queen raise in this spot regardless of his hole cards. Well, I had jacks in the pocket and more chips than Paul so I slow-played it and let him bet into me a couple of times before I put him to the decision. He was getting trash card after trash card and even if he did have the hidden queen, I doubted he had two pair and thought he might fold to my raise. He made the call on fifth street and again the check-call on sixth street. On seventh street, I caught a seven for two pair and after he checked, I bet it. He made the crying call with his pair of queens and earned me $200 and another tee shirt.

As luck would have it, I played the next four hands to the river, losing all of them and busting out two spots after Sexton. Twice I had split aces that were trumped by eventual two pairs, once I had pocket eights and the short stack with sixes rivered a second pair. The only hand that didn't result in a malicious suckout was when I started with four high clubs and could only manage a pair of eights by the end. So, four hands after earning a shirt, I was out. At least the bounty paid for one of the NLHE events on the day.

I busted out early in the Stars event. I got involved in a multiway limp with AJ. The flop came KJJ and the big blind check-raised me. All I know is two things: early in this event there are bound to be many players who will commit all their chips in this spot with any jack, and this guy was comped into the pot from the big blind. I just couldn't put him on the KJ, but that's what he had and I was gone. I don't feel bad about that play. I lasted quite a bit longer in the Full Tilt, nearing the money but ultimately falling short.

2007-10-25T16:01:00.000-04:00

FRUSTRATING GAME

My dad called yesterday and got around to asking me how poker is going lately. My report was brief: my game is improving but my luck is getting worse. That sums up poker in a nutshell. I can't control what happens once all my chips are in the middle. I try to have the odds on my side when I do, and I'm probably winning at all the right percentages but bad luck has me winning small pots and losing the monsters. I'm sure if you normalize the numbers to account for luck, I would be down thousands all the same.

You signed up for a bitch thread, so here goes: last night, I played $2/4 pot limit Omaha 8, a game in which the pots were getting huge due to some mondo aggression from a few of the high-profile players at the table. I had the most aggressive player to my left and I just sat back and waited for a chance to get involved in a big pot as I sat on my $450 stack ($200 buy in). Finally, it folded around to my small blind as I held (As Ah Th 2s). It was golden. I limped, and as expected, he pot raised. I pot raised behind him and he called.

The flop came (Js 9h 6s) giving me the nut spade draw as well as the overpair and the back door nut low. I led out with a half-pot bet tos feign a weak continuation bet. He pushed over me with a pot-sized raise and I came back all in. He called and the pot was over $900. He held (Ac Ks 7s 5s). He had the second nut spade draw and some sort of inside straight and he was going for broke, drawing very thin against my aces and nut spade draw. He wound up backdooring two pair with a 5c turn and a Kh river. It was so sick. I was 76% to scoop when the money went in and still 65% to scoop after the turn. It was just brutal. I went from up $250 to down $200 through no fault of my own.

I bought back in for $300 and promptly played another big pot with the same player who again came in trailing only to scoop me. The same scenario played itself out preflop with me holding (Ac Ks Kd 8h) and him (As Qh 9s 5s). There aren't many scenarios in which I am going to get shut out of this pot but by the end he had Q9 two pair to make off with my chips.

Once more I bought in for $300 and yet again, the same guy got it. This time he at least had the courtesy to have the best hand while I had a cooler. With a flop of K43 with two clubs, I bet and he raised. I had the 43 two pair plus a ten high club draw. He had not raised preflop so the last hand I put him on was a set of kings. I still had the club draw and promptly filled my flush on the turn. I knew it was coming and it was almost in slow-motion as the four hit the river to fill us both up and push the chips his way. I was down $800 and couldn't find a fault with my play.

Okay, no more tales of woe. Here are two funny things that have happened lately:

First off, I raise with AA to get heads up and the flop comes A66. I check but there is no action. The turn is a 6 and I check but there is no action. The river is a 6 and we chop.

Second, in a low-stakes tournament, I push all-in with KQ on a T9x board. My opponent calls with QJ and loses to my king high. The funny thing was his parting comments: "LOL gutshot" then a moment later, "at least mine was open ended". Priceless.

2007-09-08T23:33:00.001-04:00

KJ

I've been playing really well lately but haven't had a corresponding payday due to some untimely hard luck. I've been working in some cash games as well to try to keep my bankroll where it should be between significant tournament cashes. Last night, my buddy John was watching over my shoulder as I duffed off a $200, $200, and $250 buy-in at the $2/4 NL tables. I bought in for another $150 and when he left, I had built it up to $700. After he left, I managed to build it to $1380 before I cashed out. The swings are nuts but in fairness, I was showing off with the early money and never did get it in good. Once I was facing an $800 loss, I bore down and got serious.

Concurrently last night, I was playing a $24 HORSE event and explaining the rules and strategies of each component game to John. I got off to a rough start but managed to make it to the money which is always nice when someone's watching. Today, feeling good about my game, I plunked down $320 for a NLHE tourney at Full Tilt. I got lucky on my first hand by turning a set of eights against a pair of queens after calling him on the flop. After that, I got hand after hand and got myself into second place where I remained for awhile. I had the chips to weather the dead card period and I made it into the money with an average stack.

The winner made $17k. I wound up making $1.7k by finishing eighth. This was the pivotal hand: we were four handed at the penultimate table and I was one of the smaller stacks left. I got KJ in the small blind and put out a $4k raise. The big blind raised all in and put me to the test. I figured him for Ax or an underpair, putting me at either 40% or 50%. There was also the chance I was ahead and he was getting crafty with lesser cards but I didn't really think so. So, I knew I was going in as an underdog but I made the call anyways. If I lose, I will be crippled with $11k (yet still alive) but if I win, then I will no longer be worried about the fast-approaching blinds at the short table. I called and he showed A4 as expected. The board bricked and ace high took it. Two hands later I was eliminated with A9 v AQ. I've been second-guessing my decision to go with the hand but I'm sticking by my decision as a calculated risk which gave me a good shot at getting to the final table with a stack.

So, then I signed up for a $150 follow-up and when my QQ succumbs to AK in the first hour, I am down to $150. I didn't give up, picking good spots to go all in and I got as high as $5300 before my AA fell to 33 all-in preflop. That pot would have put me around $8k but instead put me under $2k. I was back to struggling to survive and ultimately I got my money in with A9 from third position, which I'm not crazy about, but the guy who called me had KJ of all things. He was on the button and had nothing invested in the hand yet he called off 80% of his stack with KJ suited. Things looked good until the king on the river. I guess his calculated risk paid off.

2007-09-08T12:43:00.000-04:00

I THOUGHT GREED WAS GOOD

I held 63 in a cash game. I know it's garbage but I was comped in on the big blind. The flop was K63 and I checked into a multiway field, looking for the king to bet. No bet came and the turn was a 3 giving me the full house. The pot was still tiny and nobody had a king so I checked again to hopefully induce some action from a middle pair or ace high. Again it checked around so I was left with the river as my only source of funding. The river card was a 4 and finally the small blind bet into me a good amount. I figured the small blind could have a hand like 75 or 52 and is loving his straight. At long last, I made my move, putting out a big raise. He went all in and I giddily called only to see he got there with 44 and drained me of $200.

Last night I was on the better end of a greed gone wrong situation. There was an all-in for like $7 or so and then another player at a six-handed cash game bumped to $14 to isolate. I had K3s in the big blind and contributed the extra $10 figuring it would be a check fest and I could hit something. The flop came K32 giving me two pair. I went ahead and led out, hoping I could get some action from the raiser who could have a big king. He raised me and I called. The turn was an 8 and I checked. He bet out $100 and I began to believe he may have aces if not AK. I called and checked the river which was a Jack. There was no straight, flush or really even any two pair possibilities for me to fear but I checked nonetheless. He instantly pushed all in for around $400. I really didn't buy that he had KJ - I thought it much more likely he had AA, so I called and he showed A5. It was a pot worth $1138 by the end all because he ignored my action and got huge with an inside straight draw, figuring he could bully me off of top pair.

2007-08-16T11:55:00.000-04:00

93.23% NOT GOOD ENOUGH

I have not turned a profit in August. I have been making the money plenty but no significant cashes as of yet has me a few thousand dollars poorer on the month. Some of the buy-ins were hopeless attempts at chasing a payday while a house full of hungry kids annoyed me from behind. I'm usually good for about an hour then I become too distracted to play well and I come unhinged. Yesterday, I found myself alone in the middle of the day with my kids on a playdate. I fired up the $50 One-Rebuy One Add-on at Stars and went to work.

I got a slew of big hands during the rebuy period and worked my way into the top ten. I even made one big laydown on the hand after I pulled in $750 in dead money by making a squeeze play with AQ from the small blind. On the next hand I got dealt pocket kings on the button. There was a raise and three callers and I put in a big raise just like the previous hand, looking for someone to get out of line. The only caller was the initial raiser. Since he only called with three players left to act, I put the chances of him having aces at a tick over nil. I figured him for AK or QQ. The flop came 8QA and I knew I was dead. He checked to me and I didn't even bother with a continuation bet. The pot was already big and betting out half of it was just going to further dent my stack so I just gave up the ghost. He bet out $1k on the turn and I instafolded. It's always painful to release a big pair before showdown but I couldn't imagine him betting there with JJ or lower and even though I had him crushed preflop, I was happy that both the AQ came just so there would be no doubt in my mind that he connected as there would have been if only one or the other had come.

I still had over $7k in front of me and I added another $2k with the add-on. On the first hand of the second hour, I called a raise from BeLOWaBOVe from the button holding KJs. I've watched this guy play in the past including an event he won just a few nights ago. He is mondo aggressive and once he gets a stack, he uses it to blow the weak-willed off their hand with big raises. I knew if I connected in any way that I would be playing for all my chips if necessary. The flop came ten-high with two spades and I was ready to go for it. He made the continuation bet and I put in enough of a raise to make it appear as if I wanted to avoid a turn. He studied and finally called. The turn was a king, pairing me up. He checked and I put in a scared looking bet of less than half the pot. He studied awhile and, figuring the king was a scare card, came back with a 3x raise. That's what I was looking for. I went all in and he folded to preserve the $3k he had left. This hand put me up past $21k and in the lead.

Soon after, I got QQ in the small blind. There was a raise UTG and I merely called so I could either win a monster or keep the pot small in case I get unlucky which is often the case after building a huge stack. The flop came 6QK with two spades and I saw the making of a monster. There's a real good chance he has either AA or AK and in either case, we may get all the money in right here. I bet out a little more than 3/4 the size of the pot. As desired, he came back raising. I shoved and he called with AsKc. This was a HUGE pot. I was already chip leader with $21k and here was a $15k pot I had a 93% chance of winning. The turn paired the six, filling me up but giving my opponent a 4.5% chance of catching a king on the river for the scoop, which of course he did. I was out a few minutes later when I lost a race for all my chips. BeLOWaBOVe of course went on to finish fourth.

2007-07-18T03:10:00.000-04:00

1.5/409

The nightly $150 5PM event at Full Tilt. I got $15k in chips early and then the cards dried up for two hours. I stayed patient, figuring I would be content to hold onto my stack for when the antes arrive rather than contesting every $300 pot in the meanwhile. I stayed in the $13-15k zone for the entire remainder of the pre-ante period. When the antes arrived, I was still card dead and patiently waited until I got bled down to about $6k. There were a few desperation moves but then the cards came back and boom, boom, boom, I've got a ton of chips and I'm glad I waited.

The big hand for me was when I had about $50k and called a $6k raise with AJ. The big blind chip leader put the all-in squeeze on us but I decided to gamble. I was up against tens and I turned a jack to take a big pot heading into the fourth hour. I now had final table chips and I did nothing to endanger them. The first hand at the FT, I got KK on the BB and merely called a raise. I figured I didn't want the other guy to fold preflop so I would slowplay and get it in on the flop so long as no ace comes. The flop came all babies - 443 and I check-raised him. He figured his jacks were good and went with them, shipping about $130k my way for the dominating chip lead. Not long after, I picked up AA and busted a guy when I trapped him into making a squeeze play with A2.

It got down to three-way and I had over half the chips. One guy asked for a chop but I figured neither of my opponents wanted to finish second, so I was in a nice position with no reason to concede. The dude who wanted to chop finished 3rd and I went into heads-up with a 2:1 chip advantage. I was done getting cards at this point and he was playing well and managed to almost catch up. Once we were near even, I asked if he wanted a straight chop since the difference between first and second was $7k. He was amenable and we went all in on the next hand where his KJ beat my K8. He sent me $3k but I notified support that I felt the deal was an even chop and I'm missing nearly $500. Hopefully that will turn up. As it stands, my take is about $14,400, which oh-so-nearly gets me within shouting distance of even for the year. Yes, it was a horrible first five months. I wasn't even going to play at all this summer, but I'm glad I have as I've now won three events.

2007-07-04T22:23:00.000-04:00

OUT IN THREE

$150 buy-in. First hand is JJ in first position. I raise to $60 and get it done. Second hand is 66 on the big blind. I call a button raise and fold to the AKx flop. Third hand is KK on the small blind. There is an early caller, a middle caller and a late caller. I raise to $80 and all three call (hooray, it drove out the big blind). The flop is 232 and I can't imagine that anybody has a better hand than I do at this point. I come out firing and the early guy puts in a minraise. The middle guy flat calls and the late guy flat overcalls. It's the third hand of the tourney so I have no idea if these gus know how to play or not. I'm convinced they all have pairs but I don't believe anyone has kings or aces so I'm only screwed against treys or deuces. With so much money in there already and with two outs twice against a flopped full house, I decide I'm going with it. I make a raise and minraise early man pushes all in. That's the guy I'm most worried has treys. The middle guy makes the call and the late guy finally sees the writing and folds. I see writing as well but I've seen enough bad players push with any overpair in this spot early in a tourney that I make the call with my kings and hope I'm not drawing. Early guy shows the dreaded 33 while middle guy shows A2 suited. Wow, I am in third place. I hit my king on the river which feels great for a moment before I realize the treys had turned quads.

2007-07-02T20:25:00.000-04:00

FULL TILT SUNDAY

This was the first time in awhile that I signed up for a $200 event with the feeling that I could actually win it. I stayed patient and got deep but ultimately went bust when I was a 9:1 favorite. The chip leader was at my table and picking up most pots with aggressive preflop play. He raised in early position with J9 and I called from the small blind with KJh. The flop came J74 with two hearts and I simply fired all in so that it would have an aire of desperation about it as if I was planning that move with any flop. He called and with his 7% success rate, he managed to catch running T8, dodging hearts and taking it down. That was disappointing but after playing my A-game for hours, it was much easier to bust via bad beat than via my usually implosion, so I didn't agonize too much over it.

I entered a $24 HORSE satellite in which the top three won entry to that evening's $200 HORSE event. There were 29 contestants and I played well, got unlucky in my final few hands and finished 4th to claim the $48 booby prize. I bought into the tourney anyways and again I played well, got extremely unlucky towards the end and busted on the bubble - 18/109. It paid 16 and I may have squeaked in if I had enacted operation shutdown, but I chose to play a couple of hands when I was the favorite and the boom fell on the river again and again just to ensure I didn't make the money. Oh well, it was a confidence booster if nothing else to know that I can go deep in a mixed game event.

2007-06-27T05:00:00.000-04:00

DUDE'S MOJO

I was in a giddy mood today after winning that tournament. I took the kids out to celebrate and I jokingly swore that I would never change my shirt since it was the first time I'd ever worn it. Tonight after dinner, I got into the 8PM tourney and was out within half an hour. I played perfectly fine but kept getting rivered. I figured I still had my mojo so I signed up for the $50 Rebuy at 830PM. Five and a half hours later, I have my second victory on the day. This one was good for over $7k to make for a five-digit day. I got extremely lucky on a number of occasions at the final table but it all worked out. I was the chip leader going into final table play and went card dead for a long while until I was the baby stack with six remaining. Lots of patience and luck later and I was heads up with a 1:3 disadvantage. I played judo poker as Tom would say, using my opponent's aggressiveness against him. I took the chip lead and he began raising every pot preflop. I called with QT and the flop came T43. He put in a pot sized bet and I minraised. He figured me for a tiny pair I guess, so he jammed with Q8. I called and was happy to see the situation. Even the Q on the turn couldn't hurt me and it was all over one card later. I might need to go buy more shirts like this - it is the first XL I have ever bought after decades of L. And therein lies the mojo.

2007-06-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

THE LONG DROUGHT IS OVER

After six months in the desert, today is the day I can proudly say that I have won a tournament. It was a $69 Full Tilt event with 186 runners. First place was worth over $3200 which doesn't even begin to get me even on the year but it does take me in the proper direction.

I was running so bad and playing so badly that I was actually beginning to consider finding a new career and educating myself. Once I realized I am not qualified to do anything and education takes patience and discipline, I realized that if I could practice the art of patience and discipline, then I could become a better poker player and I won't need no stinking education.

So, I rededicated myself to making good decisions and playing the math game at the table rather than the speculation game and the last three events I have played, I have made the money with two final tables and one win. Today's battle was epic - I knew I was going to win from the first deal. I steadily chipped up and spent much of the event as the on again, off again chip leader. When we got to the final table, I was fourth in chips at a six-handed table. I still knew I was going to win if I just stuck to my A-game, which is lethal yet rarely sighted.

When it got three-handed, we must have rotated chip leads a dozen times. It lasted 70 minutes which is incredible - nobody could bust out no matter how bad their money got in. I kept gambling with lesser holdings, trying to knock out the short stack but I could never get the needed suckout. Finally, it got heads up which lasted all of two hands. I had a big chip lead. On the first hand, I raised with A7 and he folded. On the second hand, he pushed with the above average holding of K3 but I woke up with aces and took it down.

2007-06-18T17:54:00.000-04:00

CALVIN AYRE OWES ME MONEY

I put $5k into my Bodog account last fall because they were offering a $400 bonus on the deposit if I earned enough player points. I played some here and there but I never came to enjoy the interface and a couple of months ago, I decided to just cash out and move my action to another site. I really only play Full Tilt and PokerStars anymore. I closed out PokerRoom and Full Contact last year and I never did sign up anywhere else other than Bodog.

So, I requested a full cashout of all money in my account which was just over $6005. Bodog told me they would subtract the $400 since I never qualified to earn the bonus and they would get me the $5605 within ten business days. That was 36 business days ago. They did send out a check for the $605. When I called the company that issued the check, they told me they cut two other checks of $2500 apiece. Weekly email exchanges with Bodog assures me that I will receive full payment soon as they are no welchers, though they have no earthly idea when and have no way to track the money.

Here was the comforting response from May 27th when I politely requested full payment:

It is normal for multiple payout checks requested on the same day to arrive at different times, due to variances in areas like processor load, mailing times, check amount, and so on. As it has already been 20 business days and you have already received your check for $605, you should be recieving your two remaining checks for $2,500 very shortly, though I cannot give you a specific date.

Crusty old Dude responded curtly:

I would very much like if the $5k was either in my hands or in my Bodog account. Delays in mail delivery cannot account for the month that has passed since I was informed the "check is in the mail". Can you stop this process and overnight me a new set of checks?

Bodog:

Thank you for contacting Bodog Customer Service. The delays we have been experiencing are a result of the limitations our processors are facing, in regards to getting checks cut and mailed out. We are unable to cancel your check at this time. Not only that, but If we were able to cancel it and have it re-issued by FedEx, the courier service we deal with, your payout would be delayed even further. As we are sure you are aware, normally a check through FedEx would take approximately 1-2 business days. However, due to the delays we are experiencing, it would take much longer than usual.

We understand that you are anxious to receive your payout; however, we can not give any time frames as to when your withdrawal will arrive; we just do not have that information. However you are guaranteed to be paid. We have been in the business 11 years and have never missed a payout so while we cannot guarantee when you will get it, we can guarantee that you will get it.

Dude:

To recap - I have nearly $6k sitting in my Bodog account where you are free to use it as you wish so long as you make good whenever I request a cashout. I make the request on April 29th. You proffer "an average of 10 business days" as your delivery window. It is now nearly 30 business days later and not only have I not received full payment but you can offer no way for me to track the process. This is very poor customer service. I don't doubt that I will receive the payment but I highly doubt I will ever again find reason to put Bodog in care of my money. Upon conclusion of this transaction, you have my permission to close my account.

So every day I am anxious to see the mailman but so far nothing. I had planned to keep my account open in case I was ever lured back by a big tourney or just for a change of pace, but now I can't imagine I will ever send Calvin any more money. I'm sure Bodog will make good on the payment but there's no reason it needs to be this grueling.

2007-06-02T17:38:00.000-04:00

DANIEL WITH AN OFFER

I offered, and am still offering anyone a price on me winning a WSOP bracelet this year. I had several offers the first time I posted it, so here is a reminder to those interested: you can lay me 5-1 and I'll be willing to bet up to $100,000 that I'll win a bracelet in 2007. For those who don't know how that works exactly, you'd put up $500 if you lose, and win $100 if I'm unable to win a bracelet.

2007-05-03T13:18:00.000-04:00

HAND HISTORY

Ok, I haven't posted in forever because things have not been going well on the felt, but I don't need to wait for good news to report. Instead, I'll rejoin the discussion with a nutty hand that just played out in the opening minutes of a Full Tilt tourney. The table just closed as I was typing so I lost the bet amounts, but I will try to recreate them from memory:

Dude (Qs Jd) big blind at six-handed table
Villain 1 (Jc 5c) playing aggressively in very early stages
Villain 2 (Ad Th) solid game with free advice included

Blinds at $15/30
Villain 1 raises UTG to $90
Villain 2 calls $90
SB calls $90 from small blind

Dude calls $90 from big blind

Four-way to flop with $360 pot

Flop: Tc 9s 6c

SB checks
Dude checks
Villain 1 checks
Villain 2 bets $300
SB folds
Dude calls $300
Villain 1 calls $300
Three-way to turn with $1260 pot

Turn: (Tc 9s 6c) Jh

Dude checks
Villain 1 goes all-in for some absurd amount, ($3000 starting stack)
Villain 2 calls all-in
Dude calls all-in
Three-way all-in to river with massive pot to sole survivor

Villain 1 (Jc 5c) 28.5%
Villain 2 (Ad Th) 9.5%
Dude (Qs Jd) 62.0%

River: (Tc 9s 6c Jh) As

Villain 2 won the hand and after my avatar disappeared, his remark to the table was "Well, neither of them had any business calling my initial $300 bet. They were both on draws."

In hindsight, with the hole card camera, it looks like I played this hand optimally. In reality, when I overcalled all-in, I was certainly not expecting to be the massive favorite but I thought there was enough money in the middle that I was getting good gambling odds. I knew I didn't want to see a club on the river, but I did figure I needed help.

To analyze the hand, when the flop checked around to Villain 2 and he bets $300, he really could have anything in that spot. The only thing I am certain of is that he doesn't have a monster because he is trying to end the hand here. Even if I give him credit for top pair with top kicker (his actual hand), I still must call the bet because my hand is the statistical favorite at this point with 14 outs twice. Once I make the call, it is fairly automatic for the flush draw to come in as well. So, once the cards were exposed, for Villain 2 to remark that neither of us had any business calling his bet really is just an admission that he doesn't quite know how to play the game.

If I made a mistake in the hand, it was not firing a huge bet at the turn once the jack hit. I still wasn't sure I had the best hand, but I was convinced at that point that all my money would get in anyways if necessary, so I should have just led out with a pot-sized bet that commits me to the hand. Villain 1 would have certainly called but I think at that point Villain 2 would reluctantly muck.

As it played out, Villain 2 never even considered that the jack helped anybody and figured we were both still on a draw. Sure one of us has clubs and maybe the jack didn't help, but what about the other draw? Very real possibility it was a QJ straight draw which just made top pair - or even a made 87 straight or a set. The odds of AT being good after the turn were astronomically low. Yet, his horse came in, and it was soon followed by some retroactive advice for both of his opponents simply to fold the flop in the face of his $300 bet.

2007-04-26T10:55:00.000-04:00

VEGAS IN LATE MARCH

This was my 4th trip in four years, but the first without Dude. I didn’t expect to go this year what with online poker going defunct and fewer opportunities for free rooms at the WSOP. Lucky for me Tricia had a conference in Vegas and bought me a ticket to tag along for my birthday.

TUE

If you have a torn meniscus and don’t mind the 50 degree weather, I learned that you can walk from the Luxor to the Venetian in about 40 minutes. I’ll admit that I did some of it as a hobblling limp, but the exercise felt good.

I sat down around 8:30am at the only game going 1-2 NL. It was populated with guys who had been playing since 4am or even overnight. Some of them had big stacks. I was particularly watching the guy three to my left that had around a $1000. He was entering a lot of pots and making a lot of plays on scare cards. I found my opportunity against him early on. With AKh one off the button I made the standard $15 preflop raise and he called. I flopped an ace and 1 heart and bet $20. I decided that $20 was an amount that might make him play back at me, but he just called. The turn brought the Jack of hearts and I intuitively decided that he would fold to my bet, but would probably bet if I checked so I checked. He bet. I decided to raise and he decided I had a hand.

About 2 hours in I had more than doubled my money and I went on a long card draught that ended sometime around lunch when I got AA. The flop brought KJ4 and I bet it out and got one caller. The turn brought a 7 and I bet again and got the same caller. I figured the worst I could be up against was two pair and prayed that the river would bring another 7 so that I could counterfeit the only hand that worried me. Then what do you know, the river brings another 7 and I bet $50 which he calls and turns over Q7. This nut called $20 on the flop with nothing. He called $30 on the turn with 3rd pair. And when he did get his trip 7s he didn’t even raise me on the end, calling station extraordinaire. That would be my luck with AA the rest of the week, losing to K7 and J9 before the week was over.

Sometime in the afternoon a guy sits down to my right that is so free with his chips that I only have to wait my time. He played every two cards and raised with any pair or face cards. What was great is that he overvalued everything he had. I limped behind him with KT after watching this madness. The flop brought a King and big bet from him. I knew my kicker was good and made a big re-raise to take it down. Instead he pushed me all in and turned over K2. I laughed like mad inside at how easy it was and then the turn and river brought 22. Was he so bad to think that K2 was good or was he just trying to bully me? Anyway, my day’s work ended in a shambles.

I decided to head over to the Mirage where I met a 30ish guy who told me he moved to Vegas a year ago so that he could play poker. By day he sells advertising in the paper, but the rest of his time is spent in NL games mostly at the Mirage. He made a comment that very few people in the game make good calls and then 20 minutes later was impressed that I read his bluff on the river and the made the tough call. After he left, I got into trouble with AA again this time to the aforementioned J9. Guys will play to the river if they hit any part of the flop out there.

Not 30 seconds after that beat, the announcement came for a $120 SIT N GO so I gladly joined to change my luck. Two guys were knocked out even before I could play a hand, but that hand was KK so I was off to the races. I knocked a guy out soon after when he made a play at my blind with his Kx and I pushed all-in with my Ax, the pot odds demanded a call even though he was caught, I suppose. The tourneys just pay 1st and 2nd - $700 and $300. I got down to heads up at a 5-2 chip disadvantage with each round costing me about ¼ of my chips. I decided to push with 78s hoping to get lucky, but she had A8 counterfeiting one of my cards. I won my money back from the AA debacle anyway.

WED

The next morning I decided to check out the MGM, not wanting to test the torn Meniscus all the way down the strip again. The MGM was a short walk, I had never seen there card room, and they had a $65 tourney at 11am if I wanted to play a few hours on the cheap. I arrived around 9am and I sat next to Emily, the cute and mature 23 year old and her nice and immature 23 year old boyfriend. It’s amazing that girls like us at that age. I remember how obnoxious and childish I could be and it was all brought back with this experience. He was wearing the backwards cap and kept repeating the same rap song over and over. She showed great patience. I needed patience too landing trips on my very first hand, but playing it slowly when Emily turned over the same trips with a better kicker. I couldn’t get away from the hand on the big blind and spent $40 before I knew it.

You never use to see girls at a poker table, once in a while the retired woman in Biloxi playing for her comped meal tickets and hoping for a jackpot hand, but never college girls. Emily was full of surprises. She was a math/physics major in college and became an electrician when she graduated. It’s not what she wants to do her whole life, but she makes good money in the construction business. The tough part is that she is allergic to latex which means she has to wear a mask when she’s working around all the painters. She said that the fumes alone will make her throat block up. She also said that such an allergy makes dating tough because the only alternative is polyurethane and they don’t make that in an extra large. So she was glad to have the permanent boyfriend that maybe partly explains her patience with his behavior.

I played in that game a couple of hours and then moved onto the 11am freezeout tourney for $65. Blinds were 25/50 and a stack of 2000 to start. If I have any rule in a tourney it’s that I just don’t get involved early anymore. I’ll limp with some hands and re-raise with monsters, but I’d just as soon get trash for the first 2 or 3 levels. I have seen too many people get too involved early for $200 pots and it just doesn’t make sense in the long run. Since my online play is mostly single table tourneys and since the home game is almost all tourneys of 8-13 people, I have developed a knack of knowing when I’m ahead in these things unlike the cash game that use to be my mainstay.

Sometime after the first break Emily sat down two to my left. We exchange pleasantries like we’ve known each other for years. It turns out they are traveling with a third party, the dread locks guy who also plays in the tourney. She leaves for a moment to speak with him and the returns to explain that they’re all friends that traveled here together from Colorado, lest I think she is two-timing the boyfriend. I’ll admit that I didn’t immediately recognize her when she sat down. Earlier in morning she was wearing a Yankee cap borrowed from the boyfriend although she herself roots for the Bosox. Now she was wearing no cap and her hair down enough that it gave her face a different look. I saw her from a distance earlier in the tourney and didn’t put it together until she called me by name when she sat down and then deductive reasoning took it from there.

What I like about tourneys is when I listen to myself and pay attention to the externals, the hands seem to play automatically. It took about two hours this time to weed 63 people down to 2 tables and 11 people. I was sitting on the big blind with AKs, and so with 6 people at the table, the button raise was met with my automatic all-in which he reluctantly called with KTo. He has me by about 1000 chips and the moral of the story is sometimes the flop comes TT and you get knocked out. 11 of 63. The good news is that I never got into an all-in as the underdog and the early ones held up.

I moved onto a new NL game, this time a brand new table. I like the brand new table in that we all start with the same stack so I don’t feel that people can push me around and by the time someone does have a big stack I know how he got, aggressive play or lucky hands.

It was an interesting group of people and being a new table I was able to get to know a bunch of them. In seat one was the neo-hippy wearing his nazarine hair, zip up hooded sweatshirt logoed with Oregon, sandals and a friendly toke grin. He would later explain the positives of playing under the influence of smoke that makes you focus totally on one thing. He proved that reefer works with a big stack 4 hours later and a timely fold to my set during the middle of it.

In seat two sat the 30sish guy worked at CarMax. That story came out when he recognized a dealer as a former customer. He even remembered the make and color of the car although it had been nearly a year. You’d think the dealer that probably buys no more than a car every 4 or 5 years would recognize the salesman first, since the salesman probably sells 100 cars a year. The poker dealer never did remember him, but acknowledged the make and model of the car was right. I figured that good memory must have been good for his poker playing.

The car salesmen told us that he moved to Vegas a year and half ago to play poker and took the car job as something to pay this bills. That’s a very practical way to follow a dream and it’s no doubt true that a lot of people have that dream what with WPT, WSOP etc. showcasing underdog millionaires. The tough part about pursuing poker in a practical way is how tough it must be to maintain any kind realism about the value of money. How can you turn a $100 tourney into $2400 one afternoon and then spend three days trying to earn a $300 commission against your draw? Or how do you convince yourself to continue playing poker during a bad run when the commissions have been tough and the bad beats worse? You’d have to compartmentalize money which I was able to do by keeping my bankroll in Neteller where it seemed like play money anyway. But in Vegas it’s all just cash sitting in your jeans.

The car salesman made a really bad call against me that made my day a winner. I had AKs. The car man made a raise from early position. Seat 4, frustrated at no cards for an hour pushed all-in with about $35. I could have re-raised there and knocked the Car salesman out, but I decided to give him odds instead, because I figured that I was in a race with the all-in and would rather get paid a greater price by the car dealer hoping he had a weaker ace. He had already shown a willingness to raise with stuff like AJo. The flop brought AK3 and the Car man lead out with $25 which I smooth called. The turn brought another A and we both checked. I figured he’d call with a weaker ace, but a check might make him bet the river with anything. The river brought another K, Damn. Now I’m counterfeited. I had to take the chance he had a weak Ace and now that hand can’t be worth anything. His weak ace is now a full boat, and anything else isn’t worth playing. He checks. The correct play is to value bet and hope he makes a crying call with less than an Ace, but I decide I’m going to push all-in (around $130) just for the hell of it. He calls and I turn over the AK saying, well I would have been better betting the turn, huh? He turns over KT and says, oh you had an ace. Did he get a false read on me? It was my first push of the table. It was the only bad play I saw him make all day and he didn’t even shrug and then bought in for another $200. The frustrated guy who pushed preflop turned over 33, meaning he flopped a set and would have lost a ton if he had to ton to lose.

Another two curious characters were in seats 9 and 10. They were young Asians from UNLV that recently turned 21. They both bought in for $60 and played it tight. Seat 9 ran his stack to $300, while seat 10 had to re-buy twice and never got things going. Even though I didn’t follow the strategy, I think the low buy-in is a great idea when you’re trying to get your chops back. A $60 buy-in makes $100 profit seem more substantial and it makes it easier to push like a tourney anytime you think you have a positive EV. I saw seat 9 do it early twice and immediately recognized the strategy and value. Afterwards he played it more straight, but with other people’s money.

Earlier in the day, Emily with her math brain and cheerleader body was the representation of new poker, 2 hours into this game we were treated to Andrea, the roughly 22 year-old blonde from Finland, with little to no accent. She sat to my right. Her story was that she was a corporate pilot that was in Vegas because her charges were in town partying and when that happens she plays poker. How does one become a corporate pilot? Easy, just go to the same flight schools the terrorists go to. She said that the money was good but not great. The great thing is that she has all kinds of free time like this when she’s on the clock and can easily pursue her Masters Degree in the meantime. Now what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and that story kind of reeks of embellishment, especially from a young blonde girl. So I ask her what it was like living under the influence of the Soviet Union, because I had always understood Finland to be a quasi satellite. She said adamantly but nicely said that her country wasn’t a satellite to the point that they allied themselves with the Germans during World War II to escape the influence of the Soviets. Now this was for political purposes she said, and that they secretly funded organizations to help Jews escape from Germany. Now Finland has a female leader and has proved to be very progressive. I didn’t know enough about aviation to test that notion, but the way she anticipated criticism for Nazi collaboration and how she had a ready-made answer that defended her country’s actions made it highly unlikely she wasn’t Finish. When I got home I read about Finland and they were probably influenced by the Soviets more than she would admit, but she was right that they weren’t a true satellite. As far as funding anti-holocaust groups there was no mention of it in the regular histories, but it sounds like just the kind of thing you would teach kids in school to mitigate and soften the actions of your country in a tough time. I don’t know that anyone who didn’t actually get that explanation in Finland would think of adding it as a detail. So I’ll give her credit for both.

Now although she was the absolute little-sister type it mattered little to Trish who came to meet me at the game and saw this girl talking and smiling at me. Trish would say later that she was glad that I had time to eat dinner when I had been so occupied flirting with that blonde. I said that she would never guess where she was from and what she did. I told her and Tricia was unbelieving. Trish is up on all the things that demean women. When Imus calls those girls “Nappy headed hos” Trish is indignant that the media ignored the sexist part of that comment and centered on the racist part only. What I learned is that Trish is the defender of a demographic not individuals. What I thought would be interesting, a young girl with the drive to become a pilot in a man’s world, was negated by the fact that she smiled at me. Don’t be fooled, women are wives first and anything leftover and harmless can be spent on furthering the cause of women.

After poker, Tricia, Joanne and I went down the strip, ate fatburgers, and then hit casinos for cocktails and video blackjack. I learned that I can drink White Russians like Yoohoo if they keep coming and my throat is a little dry. I easily had 6 in a little under 2 hours playing at the Aladdin and then over at The Palms. When the boys and I first saw the Palms in 1994, I was impressed with how fresh and clean it looked, ditto to Treasure Island when Dude and I stayed there two years ago. This time, both casinos looked worn out enough to be 15 years old. Traffic means money, but it also ages these places prematurely. I kept telling Trish how much she’d like the wood floors at the Palms and then they looked scuffed up like a high school practice gym.

We retired around 10pm just as the night people started arriving in their skimpies. I had been dealing with allergies in Florida, spent 5 hours soaking up germs on the plane, and then I was met with cold weather in Vegas. By Wednesday night I was getting a bit ill. A fever came on during sleep and I had the all-night dream of traveling from casino to casino and being burdened with comps. No matter where we went they hand them to us as we entered, even if we were passing through. They were tangible papers and too valuable to throw away and yet to burdensome to carry. I winced when we neared a casino but couldn’t keep myself from coming in and then I would have no place to put the new comps.

THU

It was my last day to play and I wasn’t going to stay in the room ill or not. I decided I would find the closest game and then leave if playing became too much. For whatever reason, I decided Bailey’s and Coffee would be my medicine, and either I got better on my own or that combination is a miracle.

The Luxor game is horrible so the closest real game was at the Excalibur. While most casinos have begun card rooms or improved their rooms, Excalibur has taken a step backwards. The old card room is now the luxury sports book and poker is now played in the middle of an old slots area. Still present is the spinning wheel where you win money for quads, straight flushes or when guys play K7 against your AA and win as what happened to me. It was pretty early and the guy who beat me did play any two cards, but he also made some big gambles pushing all-in with less than top pair more than once. I was able to win the money back in an hour or so when I rivered a full boat during a multi-way pot.

The Bailey and Java was a miracle of sorts so about 10:30 I decided to venture over to MGM and play the $65 tourney again, mostly because it was 2 hours of action for $65. I was able to get in before the last 5 slots closed and since they took alternates, the entire tournament consisted of 72 people.

During the second level I received AA under the gun. There wasn’t any thought of raising. Why build a pot and give all these people odds to draw out on me? At this point a 4x raise would get at least two callers. I decided that I would hope for a raise and re-raise to get heads up. Instead, we get limpers to the flop which comes 822. I decide to lead out 200 to see if I can take it down. I get two callers and decide to give up the hand. On the turn, the first caller bets to my check and I let the other guy chase him to the river. He turns over 88, oh how I was destined to get knocked there with a preflop raise. Playing the “correct” way would have resulted in my ouster.

I get lucky in the next round when I have AA again in late position and face a raise from mid-position. I push back. He pushes all-in and turns over KQ. I was knocked out in the same position last year at the Venetian, but this time it holds up.

A short time later I play one of those hands that makes me feel great inside. Just watching the tournament play I notice something in a guy three to my right. I don’t know what it is. He makes a big raise after a series of folds into my big blind. I have A6o, I decide immediately that I’m ahead and follow the advice of Eric Lindgren who preaches positive EV. I push all-in and he groaned, but he was priced into the call. He turns over a weak King. Why did you play back at me with that, he asked. I figured I was ahead, I said. You hoped you were ahead, he said, frustrated that he was caught. I figured, I said.

The play didn’t take any thought. Something in my brain said I was ahead and told me to push back. It was the same way in all three tourneys I played. I always had a sense of where I was, unlike the cash game where I felt lost all week. Somewhere along the lines, probably with all the tourneys I play in the home games, coupled with Tampa and SitNGos, I have inadvertently become a tourney player.

This is good in that tourneys have a definite end and you play them like football pushing toward the goal line. My Cash Game play saw me up at least $100 5 of the 6 sessions and yet I just didn’t know when to skedaddle.

The bad thing about tourneys is that you can do everything right again and again and run into a cold streak where everyone draws out on you. I was lucky on this trip that the tourneys made up for all the ring games, but I won’t always be that lucky.

I was fortunate in this tourney, making the final table third in chips. I had around 25,000 with the two leaders at 32,000 and 27,000. The bad news was that they were both to my direct left and the tourney only paid 6 places. Even with that much money, the blinds were up to 1000-2000 with a 200 ante, or 3800 a round.

The tourney director came over to explain that we could chop 9 ways and each take 4th place money, $390. Or we could all play on for a chance at the $1500 first prize. You knew where the shortstack’s hearts were, but everyone else was kind of quiet. The chop represented a recoup of all my bad losses and a little more so I spoke up. I said that I had a good stack and I thought the chop was a good idea. Wouldn’t we all feel like fools to get knocked out 7th? And hey 6th and 5th don’t even pay as good as the chop. The only reluctant one was the chip leader who had position on the two biggest stacks, but the chip leader had played next to me at the penultimate table and we became chummy, and I saw him get pretty lucky with two all-ins that would have been his demise. He didn’t really expect to be as far as he was, so although he wanted to play for the win, I think he realized that his luck might have been over especially after a table change. He finally relented and all my mistakes at the cash game were redeemed.

I was up after the tourney about $50 total, but once you enter in the video poker and the video blackjack, I came home around $45 to the negative. It was a lot of fun though.

That night I went out to dinner with Trish at her favorite hotel, the Venetian, we bought some cold medicine, and saw LOVE at the Mirage. We flew home Friday and I spent the weekend like a sailor sleeping off a drunk.

For the most part my poker playing is going wind down except for the home game that has become almost extinct and a trip here or there. The online game was a great way to spend time and build a bankroll and its absence has left a void.

2007-03-20T14:33:00.000-04:00

HOME TOURNEYS LATELY

Last week we played at Mike’s house the first time since December. 7 of us played for $100 with no rebuys. We decided to pay $400 - $200 - $100. With three left, I was the nominal chip leader and called an all-in with the short stack as a 60-40 favorite and lost. He wound up knocking me out a little later when my button push ran into his AA. So I broke even there, but picked up over $100 in the cash game that followed.

On Saturday I played at the other Mike’s house in Clermont. He comes to the regular Mike game and he populated this one with a bunch of his accountant friends. We played with 8 and then 7 people with a $40 buy-in both times. I got heads up twice. I finished 2nd the first game when I pushed with TT and ran into KK.

I was the chip leader in the second game when my opponent pushed with a flush draw and I called with top pair and he sucked out. I had a 12,600 to 9,1000 lead going into the hand and he called off my preflop raise, 1/3 of his chips with 86h v. my ATo. I suppose he was going to push if he hit any portion of the flop, and I couldn’t get away from the hand when an Ace came. That left me with 3500 and I pushed on the very next hand with KQ and he woke up with AA.

The prize money in these tourneys was weighted towards the winner so my two second place finishes yielded but $100 total. I could have won either and just didn’t get lucky. The game was softer than Mike’s usual Monday night affair. I hope to be invited back.

This recent bankroll build is playing catch-up from a few weeks ago when I lost my a** in Tampa with Sir Saunders. Sir Saunders won $400 that fateful day.

A funny note from the Saturday game. I spoke with 3 of the guys through the night and they all said they have quit playing online poker because it's just too hard anymore. Two of them played primarily on Party Poker. The surprising thing was that not one of them had a Neteller account and they were unaware of the legal stuff going on with it. They were funding their accounts through bank transfers and credit cards that have since become defunct too. What's keeping me away from online play is the hassle of cashouts. Now even guys who didn't mind that hassle have reasons not to play.

The Neteller Customer Coalition has formed over at Yahoo. They're trying to put pressure on Neteller to relase the funds to U.S. players.

The UPC game in downtown Orlando is on Thursday night this week. I haven’t played since my initial 4th place visit. I might try it again in preparation for Vegas this coming Monday.

2007-02-23T08:58:00.000-05:00

I added Lou Krieger to the blog list a few days. Lou's book on Low Limit Holdem was the third book I read back in the mid to late 90s when I was converting to Holdem. He posts frequently and has a lot of good information on what's happening in the online world. Yesterday he reported that Barney Frank (D-Mass)is planning to introduce a bill to repeal the UIGEA and former Senator Al D'Amato (R-NY) is poised to lobby for its smooth passage. Krieger predicted the D'Amato involvement a few days ago, as Al is a big time poker player himself.

D'Amato was the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee in the mid 1990s so he understands something about Neteller and the way funds move in the new economy. The WSOP schedule has them prepared for 9,000 players in the Main Event this year and I can't see that many people playing unless the online situation is resovled.

2007-02-22T08:23:00.000-05:00

FINDING NEW ACTION

Last Night I traveled with Mike (Host of the regular Monday Night game) to downtown Orlando for a tourney of 11 players. Matt, the host, runs his game like a business raking about 20% of the buy-in while providing distilled beverages and dealing services. He has a great knack of shuffling deck 2 as players are folding their pocket cards from deck 1. He’s so fast at this task there is hardly a pause between hands.

Matt did something else all night that was quite impressive. If someone threw a big stack of chips out and the opponent asked how much, Matt would immediately say, “It looks like 12,700,” and he would be dead on every time. He pulled that trick on 4 different occasions with tough stack amounts and never missed. I’ve not seen professional dealers count that many chips merely looking at a stack. From clues during conversation I take him to be around 27, unmarried and building a new two-story house next door to the one we played in that will easily be worth $800,000 to $900,000 on completion. He’s into Real Estate from as much as I can gather and it seems more lucrative than college would have been.

The new house will have an entire area devoted to poker with two plasma screens and X Box games. He’s a businessman explaining that the new area with give players something to do if they’re knocked out early. He figures a lot of these guys are married with kids and this is their one night out of the house. He’s trying to provide an entertaining experience. Needless to say he’ll have 2 or 3 tables in the new place going a few nights a week. It’s not a bad business model if the gendarmes leave it be.

We bought in for $150 – First Place $800 Second Place $400 – Third Place $150, he didn’t take a rake from the third guy in order to pay a refund for 3rd. The first level blinds were 20 minutes and then 17 minutes thereafter. 16,000 in chips – 100/200 blinds that increase to 200/400, 300/600, 500/1000 and then gulp, 1000/2000. That last leap is a killer to the M and the only real downside to the way the game plays.

The game is a lot tighter than Mike’s Monday Night affair with only a few guys that try situational bluffs. Early in the tourney a guy in late position would attack my blinds religiously if it folded around to him. It was always transparent and I couldn’t see the benefit of it. Why risk 700-1000 to pick up 300 chips when you have a stack of over 15,000? There was a lot of straightforward textbook play which made it easy to determine where you stood. Guys also seemed to be in survival mode. More than one player mucked QQ after a re-raise and it gave added value to hands like AK.

When you’re new to a game and have very little information on the players you can make snap judgments. The first two guys were knocked out courtesy of the mid 40s guy who wore an army jacket that didn’t match his demeanor. I thought he played both hands well but when we were down to 6 players he made an inexplicable call for 80% of his chips when Mike pushed all-in. It was a failure on two fronts. He flopped top pair with a weak kicker versus two players. Instead of playing it hard he laid back hoping to scoop the growing pot on the river. By doing so, he let Mike’s set materialize on the turn and when Mike re-raised all-in he got this guy to call.

With four of us left, Mike had more than half the chips at the table. Army Jacket guy was crippled. The fourth guy was an experienced gambler and not bad at poker. He showed us a Pick 5 Horse Racing ticket that he cashed for over $70,000. Now he told the story as if it had just recently happened, although is looked so wallet worn he could have cashed it 6 years ago. I couldn’t figure out if he was re-living the past with people he just met, or sharing the recent experience with guys he already knew. Horse Player, Army Jacket and I were all between 15,000-20,000 chips. The blinds were 2000/4000 so there wasn’t a great deal of time to play poker, although these guys did not mind the Ms one bit. They would still make raised to 8,000 instead of pushing all-in for the additional fold equity.

With about 3 minutes left at this level, I got 66 UTG. This was a automatic push and Army Jacket guy said he had to call with A3s. That left him 2 chips. I wouldn’t have been upset with a coin-flip so a 2-1 advantage was gravy. He flopped 2 spades and hit the flush on the turn to knock me out. It’s these kinds of finishes that hurt the most. I made the right play, got heads up as the big favorite and lost as usual. With four players left, I don’t call with weak aces suited or not. So many times you’re dominated by a bigger ace or an underdog to a pair or at best a 60-40% favorite against 2 live cards. You don’t even get the fold equity that leading with that hand would bring.

That said, I was knocked out in the same situation at the Hard Rock when my dominating AT lost to A2 in multi two weeks ago. Of course, my A8 loss to A4 that cost me a WSOP seat will always be the prime example of weak aces ruining me. I’m glad guys play like that and I strive not to. I’ll play this game again and I’m now on the mailing list. I hope to bring Dude when he makes his next Orlando visit.

After I was knocked out, Horse player starting pushing at pots and building a stack. He was able to cripple Mike when his two pair bested Mike's top pair. Mike would eventually finish third and Horse Player would beat Army Jacket to win. On the drive home I told Mike that we probably would have finished 1-2 had the 66 only held up. He said he would have offered a me a chop in that situation which made the bad beat all the worse.

2007-02-22T07:14:00.000-05:00

LIFE AFTER NETELLER

Kick Ass Poker has a list of alternatives. The market never ceases to amaze although funding options are as stable as curreny in the early Weimar Republic. I went to Walgreens to find the $100 Visa gift card and they were sold out, although the TGI Friday's and Chili's Gift Cards were plentiful. I'm not the only local resident jonesing for poker it seems.

Doyle's Room is now history even for Doyle. I had been playing the majority of my poker there since the blockade of Poker Room.

2007-02-21T14:17:00.000-05:00

$16 PER MINUTE

I bought in to the $1060 event at the Commerce on Monday when Marci was off work. My promise to go it slow and wait for the premium hands served me well for the first two orbits, then I got involved in eight hands, all of which I lost, and I was on the rail 65 minutes into the event. Here's how it went down:

The blinds began at $25/25 with $2500 stacks. One player lost a couple of pots, neither of which got shown down, and he was down to around $700. He was raising preflop, committing chips on the flop and turn, then laying down to check/raises. The first time I voluntarily put a quarter in the pot, I was in early position with QJd and looking to start a family pot. It folded to the short stack guy, who bumped to $75. It folded back to me and I called the $50. The flop came Kxx with two diamonds. I checked and he bet nearly the size of the pot. I couldn't imagine he had a big king, so I check/raised him all-in hoping to take it down without a fight. He called and showed K9, not much of a raising hand, but the odds-on favorite in this spot. I failed to catch a diamond and suddenly I was under $2k, exactly how I didn't want to begin.

A few hands later, it folded to me in the cutoff with AQ. I raised, got called by the button, and missed the flop. We both checked, a jack peeled off and he bet when I checked. He looked earnest, so I imagine he had AJ or KJ.

I called a limped pot with 55 and folded when I missed.

My next big hand arrived when I was in the big blind with AK. There was a raise under the gun, which I had to respect, so I just called and looked to catch a pair. The flop came 764 all diamonds. I had the king of diamonds. I check/called a pot sized bet which slowed him down. The turn was another 7 and the river was a jack. Neither were diamonds and he was content to check down his pair of kings.

I limped in early position with JTh, but there was no action besides the guy who raised me, so I folded preflop.

I raised the cutoff with KJ and players stood in line to call me. All three players behind me called my raise. The flop came K63. I was second to act and I chose to check my top pair, because I was low on chips and I was afraid somebody was sitting on KQ after everyone was so eager to call. I decided to keep the pot small and take it down on the turn if there wasn't any action. The turn paired the king, which had me thinking I must have the best hand. This time the first player to act came out with a small bet of $150. Now, I wasn't sure where I was at anymore. He could have the KQ or he could have hit a set of threes. I didn't think he would bet in that spot with nothing, so I decided to call. I wasn't too keen on going broke so I was just going to play it passively and hope it stood up. There was no flush draw and I didn't mind giving a cheap card to anyone sticking around with a pair of eights.

One player behind me called. The river was a 7 and again the player first to act led out with a tiny $150 bet. I just called - either I'm beat and I'll lose less or I'm winning and the player behind me might call as well. He did call but we both mucked when we saw the bettor show 54 for the straight. I imagine the third guy had some sort of pair of eights or nines. If only I had shoved on the turn, I would have won the pot, but at the time, even with trips, I felt vulnerable in the hand.

Now, I was the ultra-short stack and the blinds increased to $25/50. I didn't have the room anymore to play small pots, but I had just enough to attempt a resteal. The blinds passed me, cutting $75 off my stack and then the end came when I was on the button. An aggressive player put in a standard raise from late position and I looked down at T7c and reraised all-in. My first goal was to get him to fold. My second goal was to have live cards against AK, AQ. He called with QQ and it was over for me before I even got to rake a pot.

2007-02-20T16:21:00.000-05:00

NEAR MISS

My prolonged losing streak is intact despite a strong showing in the Sunday Million at PokerStars. I was playing great with no missteps and a steadily increasing chip stack. I was picking up a lot of dead money by raising as the first bettor from the button. Only once did I have nonsense - 83. Every other time I had a midling ace, a small pair, two big cards, or some such hand that warrants a raise in that spot. I laid down A9 and 44 to reraises from the small blind, but then I called off all my chips with AT and he showed Th9h which doubled me up. The big blind finally called me out and said that I'm getting a bit too comfortable taking his big blind. His next blind, it again folded to me, and I made my standard 3x raise but this time I had QQ. He put an LOL into the text box but it was the new guy in the small blind who decided to play back at me. He showed KdTd and I took him out when my pair held up. The table immediately broke and I found myself starting anew with strangers.

I had a nice $50k stack and not too long after arriving, I got dealt KK in second position. The UTG player bumped to $6k and I just called since he had more chips than me. Why isolate a guy who could be on aces? I was rather hoping that my action would induce someone to try a squeeze play. The button called the $6k then the small blind pushed all in with a stack smaller than all of ours. It got back to UTG and if he called instantly, I would have had to consider folding. Instead he went into the tank for several seconds. Now I began wondered if he was hollywooding with aces. He went all in and the decision was mine. I figured one of these guys had aces and I was out of luck. Still, if all that thinking wasn't an act, then UTG almost certainly has AK and I have a chance at profiting on the hand even if the small blind has bullets. I made the crying call and saw exactly what I had hoped - the blind had AA and UTG had AdKd. Of course, I would have rather seen QQ or AK from the small blind, but as it stood, I won a side pot of $9k even though it would have been much, much nicer had the aces not shown up.

I had a nice $59k stack now with lots of poker to be played so I just sat back and waited for good spots. I found a good spot when a player raised from 3rd position as I had KK on the big blind. He had a stack size and table position that suggested he was willing to die with the hand, so I gave him that opportunity by putting him all in preflop. He showed the QQ and again my kings went down in flames when the queen hit the board.

I was now around $23k and not nearly as comfortable as I had been all tourney long. I got the long-awaited AA but in second position with UTG opening with a raise. That's a tough spot. If I raise, it totally kills the action. I really need to play aces for value at this point, so I'm willing to gamble a bit. I called as I did before with the kings. The button called and we took a flop three-way. My stack was going in no matter what came - I was just trusting the aces to hold up. UTG bet into us on the JcTc6d flop, suggesting the over pair. I was ready to go heads up so I pushed, which made the button fold. Of all unlikely UTG raising hands, this joker shows Qc9c - he flopped the open ended straight flush draw, putting my aces at a slight but acceptable disadvantage. The turn paired the ten, then the river came 3c to end my day.

Sure, I could have raised him off that hand preflop, but aces are so rare and are such a big favorite against any other hand, that I routinely look for ways to get more money involved while still retaining the best of it. Even with his miracle flop, I was still 50/50 to win $30k on the hand rather than the $7k I would have won by avoiding a flop. So, I would definitely say I played my A-game, great patient poker, and gave myself a real good chance of going deep. When kings and aces fail to win the big pots, eventually the chips are going to run out.