Building a new legend at PokerStars!

So the past couple of nights, I've been having issues with my FullTilt login. I can login sometimes but not other times and so while I wait for my response from their support team, I decided to go ahead and open a PokerStars account... this is when I discovered how much PS sucks when it comes to deposit options. I mean right now, FullTilt has it so that you can basically deposit money with your check card and since they use some type of a 3rd party processor of their own, your purchase I think shows up like a video game company or something... in other words, it's not on the blocked list and so you can deposit and play easily. As for PS, that's not the case. So, thanks to the stupid UIGEA, we can't use our bankcard. Apparently, Wells Fargo card still works but being that I'm not a Wells Fargo customer, that is neither here nor there. Anyways, to make a long story short, I deposited $100... well, $95 to be exact after the $5 fee that Epassporte charges. What a f*ckin ripoff. 5% rake right there. If I wanted to deposit more, it was $10 fee. So I said f*ck that. Especially since PS only gives you a 100% bonus up to $50. Man, so as I was opening this account, I thought Chad better be right about his post regarding PS and FTP and how PS was so much better in terms of comps, etc. (Chad aka cracknaces)

So, with $100, I decided to buy in to a $.25/.50 NL table. Since I only have $95, I didn't want to multitable either since I'm not that deep, I can't withstand too many bad beats. I also thought this could be an interesting experience since I've been preaching to others about how if you can't crush low level hold'em, you can't beat higher levels either. So, let's see if I can practice what I preach. I decided to take on 6 max at this time also, only because I thought my aggression would be better served at a shorthanded table at the lower levels. First thing I noticed is how weak tight everyone is. Another thing was that it took me a few orbits to adjust my game... how? Well, I was used to seeing reraises in 2-4NL 6 max at FTP and even some 1-2NL 6 max so I thought the same for $.25/.50... but at this level, if there's a reraise, it's JJ+ for sure. At least in my limited hands, that's what I've noticed. What does that mean? I loosened up even more. I wanted to induce action and I wanted to make sure that I set a loose image so that I could get paid when I get a big hand...

First big hand I got was KK. I've been raising and reraising quite a bit preflop so when a player in front of me raised, I reraised. To my delight, the initial raiser reraised me so I shoved. He thought about it and then called... again, to my delight with AQ. Until the A hits the flop... I got stacked and I was down to like $60... I can't lose all my money before I even clear the bonus!!! Well, I've seen beats like that numerous times and honestly, these tables are soft... so, I just shrugged it off, unfortunate that I couldn't give myself more of a cushion but moved on. Eventually, I was able to recoup my losses. At the end of Monday night which is when I opened the acct and played, I was up $40. My bankroll was a whoppin $135.

Naturally, with that much, I decided that I can two table these soft 6 max games. If I get stacked at both tables, I'll still have $35... :) So last night, I did exactly that. One thing that sucks is that even when you are two tabling, the earning power at these low stakes are sooooo low. I mean if I raise preflop and I get no callers (which happens A LOT), I win $.75... can't even buy one of those plastic bottles of coke for that much... Nonetheless, I'm bringing this type of hands to the table, naturally creating confusion and hatred from other players. Aaaaah, it's nice to be loved!!!

PokerStars Game #12139681654: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/09/18 - 23:15:25 (ET)
Table 'Periphas III' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: oneguy44 ($42.25 in chips)
Seat 2: Dirty Vizzer ($55.65 in chips)
Seat 3: th1234 ($75.25 in chips)
Seat 4: PointGuard_8 ($35.65 in chips)
Seat 5: RoyalFresh ($110.35 in chips)
Seat 6: KCnAtl ($51.20 in chips)
KCnAtl: posts small blind $0.25
oneguy44: posts big blind $0.50

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dirty Vizzer [8d 6h]
Dirty Vizzer: raises $1.50 to $2 <--- I know... UTG... so I'm an aggro donk, leave me a lone...
th1234: raises $1.50 to $3.50 <--- uh oh... must be a real hand
PointGuard_8: folds
RoyalFresh: folds
KCnAtl: folds
oneguy44: folds
Dirty Vizzer: calls $1.50

This is exactly the type of set up I would love. I've been fairly loose from late position but fairly tight from EP. At least tight per my standards (I believe my VP$IP at these 6 max table has been like 31%... so maybe tight is not even a word I should be allowed to use). Anyways, a guy who has me covered reraises very little. This would not work if the guy was a short stack but because he is deep, it's almost like set mining at this point. The minireraise is a tell. For those of you who do this, I have an advice. STOP DOING IT. We know what you have now. Expose your cards at that point. You're no longer playing poker. You're playing your cards. If you're gonna bump it up, bump it up the same amount you would with AK, KK, AA, QQ, JJ, 89s or whatever else is in your reraising range. So, anyways, I obviously call, knowing that if I hit my hand, I double up.

*** FLOP *** [6c 7d 8c] <--- BOOM!
Dirty Vizzer: bets $5 <--- I bet my flopped two pair cuz I'm a man
th1234: calls $5

So now that I KNOW the villain has aces, I bet out on this flop, pretending I have a hand like TT and wanting to protect. So, imagine my surprise when he just smooth calls. All of a sudden, I have doubts about the strength of his hand. If he has AA, he has to raise here. With so many draws out there (clubs, straight), how can you not??? If he's worried about a set, shouldn't he raise to figure that out too? Plus, if I hit it hard, why would I bet out??? (which is obviously why I did bet out to conceal my strength). So, I was starting to worry that he only had AK instead of the AA or KK that I was hoping for... But, then again, I've seen other donkeys call down with AA or KK cuz they're weak tight so I figured I'm gonna stick with my read at this point.

*** TURN *** [6c 7d 8c] [Qh]
Dirty Vizzer: bets $47.15 and is all-in
th1234: calls $47.15

When the Q comes, I decided to go with my typical overbet for value move. I mean donkeys at these levels fall for this crap all the time right??? Keep in mind, this guy INSTAcalled my gross overbet of $47 into a $16 pot. So, I thought, oh, I must be right. He has AA or KK... maybe QQ!? And PS cash games don't flip the cards over until the end so I didn't know until I the end what he had...

*** RIVER *** [6c 7d 8c Qh] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dirty Vizzer: shows [8d 6h] (two pair, Eights and Sixes)
th1234: mucks hand
Dirty Vizzer collected $109.05 from pot
Dirty Vizzer said, "AA right?"
th1234 leaves the table

Nice double up!!! And to add insult to injury, I decided to call out his hand, with no doubt in my mind that he must have AA to call my gross overbet (if he had QQ, he woulda won so by me winning, I knew it had to be AA). Again, PS doesn't show what the opponent has unless you go check out the hand history. And when I did, I realized how I'm STILL giving these donkeys waaaaay too much credit. I was actually SHOCKED to find out what he had...

Seriously... any guess? Reraise preflop. Then CALLS a $5 bet into a $7 pot on the flop and then CALLS a $47 bet into a $17 pot on the turn...

AA??? KK???? JJ???? 22??? AK???? maybe even AQ?????

Nope...

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $112.05 | Rake $3
Board [6c 7d 8c Qh 4c]
Seat 1: oneguy44 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Dirty Vizzer showed [8d 6h] and won ($109.05) with two pair, Eights and Sixes
Seat 3: th1234 mucked [Qd Jc]
Seat 4: PointGuard_8 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: RoyalFresh (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: KCnAtl (small blind) folded before Flop

QJ! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That's sooooo bad. My roll is now up to $175ish As soon as I get to $400, I'll be moving up to $.50/1NL. I can't wait. This challenge is actually kinda fun.

Oh, and for my screenname... I wanted to keep RecessRampage (since that's the title of my blog) but unfortunately, PS has a limit as to how long your screenname can be and so I would only be able to squeeze in RecessRampag... just not the same without that last E. So, I decided to go with Dirty Vizzer... which is what we call one of my cats... His name isn't actually Vizzer but for some reason, I started calling him Vizzer and that kinda stuck with Mrs Recess. And since he's kinda dirty (he's from the streets so he's all nicked up and stuff too - he's an indoor cat now but used to be a stray after his former owners just left him... I hope those owners are miserable right now... but then again, thanks), I sometimes jokingly call him "Dirty" for short. So, Dirty Vizzer just sounded good enough. Yeah, again, creativity with names is NOT one of my forte. So leave me alone. It is what it is.

Oh, and public service announcement. Sorta. I'm adding the following to my blogroll. I know I am waaaay late to the party but better late than never.

Raising Cayne's Random Ramblings

Jordan's High on Poker