Because I fear the wrath of LJ

LJ, I love you, but I'm lazy and as you clearly pointed out, I'm a taker. But since I did agree to give back a little, here's the plug.

Note: This is a plug for a free poker training deal. If you are not a poker player, you can stop here since this will just bore you to tears. Hell, it's boring me and all I did was ctrl+c and ctrl+v from cmitch's blog. Thanks cmitch.

Here's the plug:

If you aren't signed up for free poker training, you are missing out. If we play at the same tables, please ignore this post.

Get Cardrunners/Stoxpoker for Free

I continue to receive CRs and Stoxpoker for free thanks to their truly free poker training program just for playing on FTP.

The link: http://www.trulyfreepokertraining.com/

The details:
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You keep your points
Pretty simple (I guess it is FTP paying ppl additional RB to play)
Go sign up

To follow up on Bayne's recent post about the FTC requiring "Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service" I was not paid anything to make this post. I just can't imagine why people wouldn't sign up for it. If you hit the required number of points then you get free access to the training sites. If you fall under the required number of points then you can get discounted access (I think - may need to read the TFPT website info)

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

So last night was the premiere of Heroes Season 3. I was fairly disappointed with Season 2 and there's MNF on so I debated not watching it but since I don't watch much TV, I figured I should tune into what used to be one of my favorite shows. Don't worry, I am not gonna go into the show and how it was but just giving you a quick glimpse at my mindset going into poker last night.

So, there I am, about to watch Heroes and I decide that I'll need to play some poker to get my 200 points. I started by asking myself, what tables would be best for me to play at if I'm only gonna half ass it and not give it the full attention? Easy. 1-2NL full ring. I could play like a bot, hope to break even and get my 200 points while most of my attention goes to my TV. Sure enough though, suckouts were bound to happen and I drop like couple of buyins early... But, since I wasn't tilting and they were BAD BAD beats which I won't recap, I decided to chase my losses. Next thing I knew, I was up till like midnight chasing my losses. I was down like $400+ and I really wanted to make some of it back up. I got to a point where I was only down a buy-in so I almost quit when I got to this point, thinking I'll post about how bad I've been running.



Note, that the thick line is the actual and the thin line is my $EV. At least I'm getting my money in good. And not tilting. So I figured I'd play few more orbits and call it quits. Good call on my part...

DQB!!!!



That put me solidly from down a buy in to almost up a buy in. I did end up staying up close to 2am... at least I made back my losses for the session... But come on... look at the graph... I run so bad... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

A pair and a flush draw

Before I get started, for those of my friends who are nonpoker players who want to read some interesting, enjoyable nonpoker posts, read the trip reports of CK and F-Train as they make their way out to Vegas from NY. They are driving across the country and so far, I think it's been very interesting to follow. CK's first time experience at Walmart is priceless.

"But no Wal-Mart experience would be complete without standing in line behind a woman with an infant baby. In Wal-Mart. After midnight."

Truer words have never been spoken. I was rolling when I read that... and slightly embarrassed that I knew what she was talking about...

Ok, now on with the main part of my post (poker stuff begins here).

Poker players love draws. That is the only explanation that I can think of when I see players overshove preflop with AK. Yeah, I know. Some of you must think AK is a big pair or something... so it might shock you to know that it IS a drawing hand. But against me, get it in because it hits every time. EVERY FUCKIN TIME. Even last night, I have JJ in the CO (this is cash game, not MATH), I raise, button reraises me. I 4 bet, and of course, the button insta shoves which is larger than a normal pot sized raise. At this point, I give his range 90% AK and 10% KK-JJ. So I instacall. Of course, he has AK. Of course, A on the river. Standard. For those of you that say, hey, it's a coinflip, yeah I understand. If giving up 7-8% edge to your opponent is a coinflip (some may even argue +EV), then you all must LOVE casino games. I personally don't. Apparently, I hate to gamble (except craps). Which is also probably why you will never see me win a meaningful tournament. But that is neither here nor there. Apparently, I got up on the wrong side of the bed because this post is starting out as cranky as it can be... but I actually have a strategy topic today. What can I say. I guess I reverse jinxed myself when I said I don't feel like blogging. Cuz now, I am eager to type away.

Alright, so anyways, my main topic today is playing hands where you flop a pair and a flush draw. We love these types of hands don't we? Some of us might consider it a "monster flop." Again, I would like to remind everyone though that it might seem like a great flop with such a great draw but let's keep in mind one thing. It IS a draw. Having said that, I think there are tons of ways to play it which makes the hand so valuable. The question is this though. When should you play it fast and when should you play it cautiously? Now keep in mind, I am not encouraging players to get it in behind. I know most of you would love to do that to build a big pot in a potential "coin flip" situation when in fact, you are behind. I think there are times to play it fast and there are times to play it slow. So here are some HHs that I saved from the last few days where I flop a pair and a flush draw.

2-4NL 6 handed, relevant stacks:
Villain UTG $940
Hero CO $1200+

Dealt to RecessRampage [Qh Jh]
Villain raises to $14
1 fold
Hero calls $14
3 folds

This was an instance where the UTG raiser is a known LAG. UTG raises in 6 max these days really don't mean anything... And especially against this particular villain, I know it didn't mean much. With the stacks being deep, instead of reraising pre, I am working to see more flops in position.

*** FLOP *** [9h 6h Qs]
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain bets $20
Hero calls $20

I am obviously liking this flop. Of course, it's draw heavy and with my flush draw to boot, my initial thought was to raise. But then I didn't. Because the more I thought about it, the more I wasn't sure what that would accomplish. A worse hand would fold. Of course, a draw might chase but again, this guy is aggressive. I don't want to face a big reraise in instances where he might have flopped a set. I am not eager to drop 200BB+ by chasing. And in case you thought, well, you could have the best hand, there aren't too many combinations where I do have the best hand if the guy 3 bets me on the flop. He could obv have JhTh or 7h8h but he could also be bluffing with just a standard cbet so instead of finding out if he has a monster or just cbetting by raising, I opted to call. In actuality, I felt that my hand was too strong to raise here. I am ahead of a significant portion of his betting range so instead of trying to end the hand here, I figured I'd smooth call to see the next card.

*** TURN *** [9h 6h Qs] [Qc]
Villain bets $24
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero calls $24

The Q is obv a great card for me. It's a great card for multiple reasons. For one, if the villain was worried that I had a Q, the second Q on the turn is great because now, he thinks it's less likely that I have a Q and more likely that I'm on a draw. His thought will be "well, if he had a Q, on such a draw heavy board, why wouldn't he raise? oh look, there's another Q. He obv doesn't have a Q so he must be drawing." On my side, I have another reason to not bet. At this point, I am not drawing to anything. In other words, now, I beat all the hands out there that was ahead of me except for a set. Once again, I felt that this would be an instance where I would raise and the hand would end. It was a toss up though. I probably raise here x% of the time and smooth call here y% of the time... I just don't know what the x's and y's are. But I know one thing. On the river, I was hoping for a nonheart.

*** RIVER *** [9h 6h Qs Qc] [3s]
Villain checks
Hero bets $85
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain has requested TIME
Villain calls $85

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero shows [Qh Jh] three of a kind, Queens
Villain mucks [2s 2d]
Hero wins the pot ($289) with three of a kind, Queens

3s was a perfect card for me. Of course, one less and I pay off the villain big time. But on the river, notice that I bet $85 into a pot that has about $120. I wanted to bet a good chunk that would look like I'm looking to get a fold with my missed draw. Which was why I was hoping for a nonheart. The LAG makes a hero call because I smooth called on both streets before showing aggression all of a sudden on the river. The irony of this hand is that if my hand wasn't so strong, I would have played it a lot stronger... In other words, if I had 8h7h or JhTh, I would have played it a lot faster than I would by having top pair. Why? Because with top pair (and the top pair being a fairly high face card), more often than not, I get a worse hand to fold and only a better hand to come along. Not many better hands will fold here so I didn't feel that I should show too much aggression.

Let's look at a different instance.

This is from a 1-2NL, 6 handed

Villain 1 UTG ($167)
Villain 2 UTG+1 ($313)
Hero BB ($390)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Th 9h]
Villain 1 calls $2
Villain 2 raises to $11
3 folds
Hero calls $9
Villain 1 calls $9

This was a horrible preflop call. There's an UTG limp and UTG +1 makes a pot sized raise (the raise was $11 because there was another guy posting from LP). Th9h is a marginal drawing hand and I would be playing it from the worst position AND the UTG limper has yet to act. Fortunately for me, he calls but I just want to state that this preflop call is prob -EV over time. But tis how the hand goes...

*** FLOP *** [5h 6h 9d]
Hero checks
Villain 1 checks
Villain 2 bets $25
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act

Now here, my poor preflop call of a raise is rewarded/punished with a hand that is too good to fold but may not be good enough to win unless I hit. Nonetheless...

Hero raises to $111
Villain 1 folds
Villain 2 has 15 seconds left to act
Villain 2 raises to $301.80, and is all in
Hero calls $190.80
Villain 2 shows [Kd Kc]
Hero shows [Th 9h]

Ok, let's review what happened here. I checkraise an amount which basically commits my entire stack in that if the villain shoves, I'm getting too good of an odds to fold with what I would consider to be having at least 9 outs. But this is 1-2NL... not many people bet out their sets so I figured he is either just cbetting or he has an overpair. Now, why do I say that about this hand and not the previous one? The previous one, I had a Q. In other words, the only overpairs are AA or KK. Here, the flop is 9 high. That increases the overpair range to TT-AA. The reason why I checkraise here is that I really don't want to see any more cards. If he has two overs, I'm ok with him folding after the cbet. If he has a higher flushdraw, then I am ahead and he has less outs than he thinks (ie if he has AhKh, he has 2 less outs since I have 2 hearts). If he has TT or JJ, it could be really hard for him to continue on. If he just calls my checkraise, I'm obv jamming turn regardless of whether I hit or not. Turns out he has a much higher pair so he wasn't going anywhere.

*** TURN *** [5h 6h 9d] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [5h 6h 9d Ah] [3d]
Villain 2 shows a pair of Kings
Hero shows a flush, Ace high
Hero wins the pot ($636.60) with a flush, Ace high

I obv got lucky but I did have 15 outs twice. The reason why I wanted to include this hand was here, I actually wanted fold equity which I believe I had against some of the hands that might be ahead. Now granted, I don't know how often a hand like TT or JJ would fold here so maybe I didn't have as much fold equity as I thought initially. But even with no fold equity, I believe the odds are so close that even if only TT folds once in a while, it's probably a +EV move. Not sure though. Just sounds good to say it.

Any thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? Anyone think I overplayed the second hand? Anyone think rope-a-dope is NOT a good strategy in the first hand? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Actual HHs from 6 max

In following up from yesterday's post about my thoughts on 6 max, one thing I also noticed was that if you play aggressive poker to counter the aggression of others, it really lends itself to some huge variances. In other words, so far, one thing I've done is heavily commit myself on draws. I'm raising and reraising solid drawing hands (like two over cards and a flush draw or something). So, when I actually have a hand, I get paid off but I also noticed a few players are now starting to play back at me. But if you have the roll and the mental toughness to fight through these variances, I still think 6 max can be a very profitable place to be.

I think the following hands might best illustrate the points I made about being aggressive.

1. Defending your blinds

Full Tilt Poker Game #4776726713: Table Poppy (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:45:19 ET - 2008/01/07
Seat 1: mrhenriksen ($175.70)
Seat 2: UMD Tennis ($425)
Seat 3: alwaysfulltilt ($694) <--- button
Seat 4: graz77 ($593.30) <--- SB
Seat 5: RecessRampage ($304.60) <--- BB
Seat 6: AttackYouStack ($458.90)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [5s 4s]
AttackYouStack folds
mrhenriksen folds
UMD Tennis folds
alwaysfulltilt raises to $14
graz77 calls $12
RecessRampage raises to $56
alwaysfulltilt has 15 seconds left to act
alwaysfulltilt folds
graz77 folds
Uncalled bet of $42 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($42)

Fairly standard squeeze play. The player was fairly active from the button so that was probably why the SB called. That gave me the opportunity to pull a squeeze play. If the button is very active, you're just gonna have to make a stand with or without cards at some point, even if it's just to send the message that they can't steal your blinds all night.

However, this leads to the next hand where what if YOU were the button that's been raising fairly actively?

2. Responding to a resteal raise

Before the HH, I want to point out that the opponent involved in this pot was also a very active player. I don't use any software so I don't have numbers to illustrate but I could tell that he's been very active... as have I. I have folded to some of his reraises before when this hand came up...

Full Tilt Poker Game #4778747822: Table Vintners (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:36:45 ET - 2008/01/07
Seat 1: RecessRampage ($317.60) <--- button
Seat 2: SakiSaki ($471.60) <--- SB
Seat 3: tonrouj ($367) <--- BB
Seat 4: imawhale26 ($1,132.80)
Seat 5: Peter Pantz ($381)
Seat 6: Lvl18Wizard ($656.50)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jd Qd]
imawhale26 folds
Peter Pantz folds
Lvl18Wizard folds
RecessRampage raises to $14
SakiSaki raises to $50
tonrouj folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage calls $36

Before you start making judgments about whether calling with QJ is a good idea here or not, again, keep in mind that the player has been fairly active. Also, in this instance, I'm not really looking to hit a pair even though if I did, that's ok too. In actuality, I'm looking for an ace to hit. Why? Here's my thought process (no matter how flawed it may be). I don't raise from the button every time but more often than not, I do. Which means he knows that my range is wide but probably not ridiculously so. So, my raising requirements would be any PP, A-x, and maybe a few face cards. The fact that he reraised me and that I called generally should mean that I have a high pocket pair or A-x (can't be low to mid pp since I lose my set mining odds after the reraise). So, if an A hits, it makes my decision making easy.

Let me digress on this thought a little more. If he's reraising me with Ax, it can't be a bad x because that's actually a very dangerous spot to be in. Even if you hit, you won't know where you are. So, you either have a decent A, you have two face cards, a pocket pair, or air. If an ace comes on the flop, since I have position, I have a lot more options on what to do as opposed to him. If he bets out on the flop with an ace, I can float him to see what he does on the turn. If he is tough enough to throw out another bullet on the turn, I'd have to let it go but it would be very tough to do so (fire out a second bullet) without an ace. Floating the flop I think is a very common tool used in 6 max. Anyways, let me get back to the hand... So, we were looking for that ace... except this happens...

*** FLOP *** [2h 3d 9d] <--- Q high diamond draw
SakiSaki checks
RecessRampage bets $65
SakiSaki raises to $299
RecessRampage calls $202.60, and is all in
SakiSaki shows [7d 6d]
RecessRampage shows [Jd Qd]
Uncalled bet of $31.40 returned to SakiSaki
*** TURN *** [2h 3d 9d] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [2h 3d 9d Jh] [Th]
SakiSaki shows Jack Ten high
RecessRampage shows a pair of Jacks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($636.20) with a pair of Jacks

Funny thing is, I actually read his checkraise to be that of weakness. Now the way the flop came out, I was committed to this hand. If he had bet out, I woulda shoved. Instead, he checked to me so I bet out, maybe trying to convince him that I had a pocket pair and with all low cards, I was trying to take the pot away. When he came over the top, I thought like he was looking for me to fold because he didn't have anything. Of course, he could be ahead here with any ace but at this point, I had too many outs to fold. I mean if I fold on this type of board with this action, I should be folding preflop.

One other thing this hand did for me was the mental aspect of the other players. After this hand, I got reraised A LOT less when I raised from the button. Why? Because now, the whole table saw me as this maniac that will call with a WIDE range of hands so now, if they're gonna reraise, they wanted to make sure they had a hand. And this was probably the bigger gain than the actual money won. However, also keep in mind that if this player was not an active player, I probably woulda folded QJ to his reraise. The only reason this hand went down the way it did was because I knew I was active (I was playing close to 30% of my hands) and I knew he was very active (again, no idea on his numbers but he was in a lot of hands).

3. Flop bets mean nothing...

Now, in the above example, I also mentioned how depending on the flop and if you have position, floating the flop bet becomes a very common tool. I probably use that a little too much so far and so in most instances, that's probably one area where I need to plug my leak. However, to an extent, I think I'm making up for it by taking the pots away on the turn. But sometimes, it helps to get lucky...


Full Tilt Poker Game #4778912112: Table Cranwood (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:50:07 ET - 2008/01/07
Seat 1: philuva ($394)
Seat 2: sexycas ($120) <--- button
Seat 3: RecessRampage ($384.20) <--- SB
Seat 4: Slappz ($441) <--- BB
Seat 5: babayaro ($819.20)
Seat 6: Trugambla55 ($151.80)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [6d 6h]
babayaro has 15 seconds left to act
babayaro calls $4
Trugambla55 folds
philuva raises to $18
sexycas folds
RecessRampage calls $16
Slappz folds
babayaro folds

*** FLOP *** [2d Ks 5c]
RecessRampage checks
philuva bets $32
RecessRampage calls $32

I called here because I didn't believe that he had a K. If he did, I need him to prove it to me by firing out another bullet on the turn...

*** TURN *** [2d Ks 5c] [6c] <--- gin!
RecessRampage checks
philuva has 15 seconds left to act
philuva bets $75
RecessRampage raises to $150
philuva has 15 seconds left to act
philuva raises to $344, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $184.20, and is all in
philuva shows [5d 5s]
RecessRampage shows [6d 6h]
Uncalled bet of $9.80 returned to philuva
*** RIVER *** [2d Ks 5c 6c] [Th]
philuva shows three of a kind, Fives
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Sixes
RecessRampage wins the pot ($773.40) with three of a kind, Sixes

In reviewing this hand now, I actually hate how I played this hand. I called with a low pocket pair out of position. Even though I was pretty much floating the flop bet, I need to bet out the turn if I'm representing that I have the king. Now, admittedly, I may have done that if I didn't flop a set (since I didn't think he had a king, I now wanted him to fire out another bullet so I can checkraise him). I obviously got extremely lucky in this hand...

But don't worry, FullTilt has a way of reminding me that karma is a bitch.

4. 5th pair is gold...

Full Tilt Poker Game #4778987841: Table Harris (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:56:13 ET - 2008/01/07
Seat 1: Sakid23 ($154.50)
Seat 2: melonator_81 ($94)
Seat 3: RakebackSTAT ($545)
Seat 4: RecessRampage ($429) <--- button
Seat 5: Th3120ck ($402) <--- SB
Seat 6: imawhale26 ($1,016) <--- BB

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qd Qc] <--- getting good hand in button is very key!!!!
Sakid23 folds
melonator_81 folds
RakebackSTAT folds
RecessRampage raises to $14
Th3120ck raises to $51
imawhale26 folds
RecessRampage calls $37

Standard here. Button raise, blind reraises, I call. I can of course, put in another raise but I have a monster here so I just chose to call. I will sometimes repop it here but more often than not, I will just smooth call as long as it's heads up and I have position.

*** FLOP *** [Qs 7h 9c] <--- gin!
Th3120ck bets $72
RecessRampage calls $72

The SB follows through with his preflop reraise, trying to indicate he's got aces. Since reraises from the blinds against a button raise doesn't mean anything, I am not convinced that he has anything at this point. Being that I have top set, I am not eager to get him to lay his hand down so I just continue to let him get aggressive.

*** TURN *** [Qs 7h 9c] [Ts]
Th3120ck has 15 seconds left to act
Th3120ck has requested TIME
Th3120ck bets $279, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $279
Th3120ck shows [6h 6d]
RecessRampage shows [Qd Qc]

I obviously call here. If he has KJ for a straight, I would consider this a set up hand. In 6 max, on that board, with the action given, there's no way you lay down this hand here. When the cards were flipped over, I actually did a fist pump in the air... and that's probably why this happened...

*** RIVER *** [Qs 7h 9c Ts] [8d]
Th3120ck shows a straight, Ten high
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Queens
Th3120ck wins the pot ($805) with a straight, Ten high

Gross river... I actually couldn't even tell for a second why he had won... I thought he was drawing dead. But there are tons of players like this that pushes with mediocre to shit holdings. So, the inevitable variance aside, there are tons of profitable situations that can be generated. Sorry this became an uber post but I hope this illustrates some of the play.

For the experience 6 max gamers, I'd love to get some pointers on my play or my thought process. These hands are just used to describe my thoughts but I'm in now way trying to preach to anybody about how to play 6 max. I mean remember, I am a 6 max newbie. So any thoughts, criticisms, encouragements, whatever are all welcome.

Points Whore lives here...

Before I forget, Happy New Year to all. I had an unbelievable time in Japan for New Years and such and now, I'm back in the grind...

Like Bayne, I got this email from FullTilt.

Congratulations RecessRampage,

Your play on Full Tilt Poker throughout 2007 has earned you an Iron Man "Year End Bonus" of $1175. (Note - more than Bayne)

For every month that you reached an Iron Man level during 2007, we awarded you with a corresponding number of Bonus Dollars that you can play for starting on January 1st, 2008. Bonus Dollars were awarded on the following scale:

25 Bonus Dollars for every month you achieved Bronze
50 Bonus Dollars for every month you achieved Silver
75 Bonus Dollars for every month you achieved Gold
100 Bonus Dollars for every month you achieved Iron



To receive your bonus, play between January 1st and January 31st to earn the points required to unlock your Bonus Dollars. For every Full Tilt Point you earn in January, $0.05 will be converted into real money.

If you have not earned your entire bonus by the end of January, you will still receive the partial amount you earned on February 1st.

Thank you for your play during 2007 and have a profitable 2008.

Sincerely,

Full Tilt Poker


So this kinda sucked. I had no idea until this email that I would only have one month to clear this bonus... I mean this means I have to earn 23,500 points in a month. That's 783 points per day... That's 3 times what I normally get. To all my friends who live in Richmond... if you don't hear from me or see me in January, it's because I'm going from a points whore to a points slut... wait, which one's worse? Whatever. I'll basically be eating, drinking, and sleeping with Fulltilt on my lap... Don't be shocked if I quit poker for the rest of the year after this month... And even worse, January is one of the busiest times for me at work... god, bad beat all around...

I mean most likely, I won't even show up for the 2008 PAPT until February cuz quite frankly, the $1,175 bonus means more to me... I know, not only am I a points whore, apparently I'm a money whore too... wait... or does that just make me a whore? I've never used the word whore so much in one paragraph.

Even worse is that I did not play any poker on 1/1 or 1/2... I'm already behind here!!!! So, I apologize in advance if the number of posts are reduced or I don't analyze hand histories... I'll be 4 tabling at least (impossible to do more with my laptop screen) and I won't have time to really capture or even think about posting for a while... I think...

One thing I did mention to Bayne though is that this could also be a very profitable month... *knock on wood* I mean this will be the most poker I will play in a month ever so even if I average a much lower PTBB/100 than I'm used to, it could still mean dollar-wise, I can do very well. We shall see.

What I learned in Vegas...

Ok, finally back to some more poker related stuff. I was in Vegas for a week and before I went there, I had visions. I had visions of raking in some serious cash, pwning all the tourists and Eurodonks and relieving them of their cash. I mean why not? I do fairly well online and my past several trips to Vegas have always been profitable. I'm clearly better than I was before so if I can make money before, I can surely make a lot more money now, right? Well, how wrong I was. I shoulda known that karma was going against me on this trip when the very first hand that I got dealt was AA which got cracked by a flopped set of 5's. By the turn, my whole stack went in since I figured I had 11 outs (9 to the nut flush and 2 aces to give me a higher set) and missed.

I'm not going to go through bad beat stories because that's not my thing. But one thing that was consistent throughout this trip was that whenever I played for a big pot, I missed my draws or my hands didn't hold up. It's variance and it happens. I got aces dealt three times and I had to suck out to win one. I lost the other two. The suckout? 9 high flop, ten on the turn which is when all the money goes in. The guy has pocket tens... but I river an ace.

Really, this isn't a complaint or anything. It was just how the week was going to go. Another hand that illustrates the big pots not going my way was when Fuel and I played at a 1-2NL table and we got all our money in on a 6-9-10 flop with two spades. I had the set of sixes. Turn is a 7, river is a spade. Fuel shows Ts7s and his flush is good. Again, on the flop, I wasn't a significant favorite or anything so this is certainly not a gripe. Just a good illustration of when all the money went in, it seemed like the cards just didn't fall my way. I keep telling myself it's variance.

But, like any diligent poker player, I don't like to attribute my losses to bad luck. Surely, some of it had to do with my poor play. So, I went back and thought through my hands. At least the big pots that I lost. And there were a few adjustments that I failed to make. And in a little bit, I'll go into why in the past, I made money and not this time.

Over the course of the year, I've become a very aggressive player. I don't like to give up on pots and sometimes, I'm caught bluffing on every street and lose a big pot in a hand I had no business being in. Fine. That's a leak and I am trying to plug that but I also get paid on my big hands. Well, online, at least on Fulltilt, raises are generally respected. Typically, you see a flop heads up. Maybe three players if there was a raise. So, of course, that's the mentality I have. I quickly realized that live play is totally different. Let's say I'm on the button with a legit raising hand... for argument's sake, we'll say AK. You see 5 limpers before you and so you bump it up (at a 2-5NL table even though it's the same for 1-2NL) to like $45, 9xBB. What happens? Call, call, call, call, call. Limp call a raise was totally normal. So unless you bump it up to some ridiculous amount where you are almost committing a fifth or more of your stack preflop on one hand, you can't get rid of anyone.

Lesson #2 that I learned. It doesn't matter what you represent because most of them are such donkeys that they don't pay attention to what you do or your betting patterns. They don't care that you raised preflop. They don't care that you are betting big on every street. If they hit a piece of the flop, they're not going anywhere. I think I lost half my stack just to find that out. The live calling stations put online calling stations to shame. You can represent aces all you want. If you don't have it, you're not getting them off their hand... even if it's like top pair, no kicker.

Lesson #3 is something that I knew and yet I failed to adjust. Online, you can multitable. Dealers don't have to shuffle, players only have like 15 seconds to think about their hands, they aren't distracted by waitresses to try to order drinks, etc. In other words, you see a lot more hands online. A lot more hands. In live play, you probably see maybe 20-30 hands per hour... that's my guess. Live players, correct me if I'm wrong. Online, you probably see close to 60 hands per hour. At one table. So, if you are 4 tabling like I do, you see 240 hands per hour. That's an equivalent of 8 hrs in live play. What does that mean? Well, you are bound to see more playable hands online in a shorter amount of time than you do live. Also, even if you are on the bad side of variance, you are bound to get through it quicker.

What do all those lessons mean? Well, I failed to adjust and that was my biggest mistake. When I had a big hand, I didn't raise enough to get rid of most of the players. If you see a 5 way flop, your TPTK is probably no good. Even if it were good on the flop, by the river, it's very vulnerable. Betting big to represent big pairs will go unnoticed. Many a times, I had to muck my hand on the river to a guy who flips over middle pocket pair with two higher cards on the board because he called every bullet I fired. And yet, I didn't adjust quick enough to play patient and wait for good cards. I got involved in way too many pots with marginal holdings.

In the past, the reason why I always came back from Vegas with more money was because I played abc poker. Play tight but aggressive. Wait for big hands, good cards and bet when you have it, fold when you don't. Don't play marginal hands and if you do, don't try to represent something you don't have. Just limp in cheap and hope to hit the flop hard. If you do, you will get paid. In other words, I needed to go back to the basics and yet I failed to do so. When I think of it that way, I can attribute most of my losses to my poor play. Luck is only one part of poker. I gotta control everything else.

Ignorance is NOT an excuse!

So today, I'd like to discuss a topic that surely excites all of you. Taxes. Ok, so I guess I just lost most of my audience right there. Well, I want to talk about taxes as it relates to poker. Why now? Well... interestingly enough, maybe this should have been discussed earlier. But like they say, better late than never. Now what am I talking about? I am sure you are all aware but you know that you have to pay taxes on your poker winnings right? Well, you also do know that the government is out to screw you anyways, right? What do I mean by that? Well, let me clarify two main points in regards to reporting your poker winnings:

1) You must report your gross winnings, not your net winnings, as other income. You may then deduct all your losses UP TO the amount of the winnings but you can only report them under itemized deductions.

2) You must keep a detailed record of your "sessions" in order to report the correct amount of your gross income.

Ok, what did that just mean? Well, you're not gonna like what you are about to hear. But let's say for example that you are NOT a winning player. Sure. You scored a few wins here and there. Maybe took down a big MTT for a nice score. But let's also say that you played in enough tournaments that by the end of the year you broke even... or maybe even lost some money. Does that mean you don't have to report any gambling income? No. According to the rules, you are supposed to report your winnings. Let me reiterate that. Let's say you played in $100 tournament. Let's say you play in one every week and that's the only game you play. So, you spend $5200 in one year on tournaments. Let's say that during that time, you've won one for $3k and cashed a few times for another $2k, bringing your total winnings to $5k, for a net loss of $200 in one year. If you think you don't have to report anything, you are wrong. According to the rules, you are supposed to report $5000 in gambling winnings under other income. Then, you can put $5,000 under itemized deductions (not $5,200 - remember, you can deduct only UP TO your winnings) to at least ease the pain.

Now let's just say that you're single, living in an apartment, and so you don't itemize your taxes. In other words, you just do your standard deduction and that's it. What happens? Well, this is where you get screwed. Again, according to the letter of the law, you're supposed to report your winnings but now, all the losses can't even be used to offset the winnings. You think I'm making this up to make your already miserable Monday morning even worse? Check out this article.

And this one section I thought was very interesting:

"The government has no way of tracking how much I win, so I'm not going to report it, and they'll never find out." If you're not audited for some other reason, the government is not likely to find out. However, if for whatever reason you are audited, and you have unreported income that the government finds out about, you will, at a minimum, pay tax, penalties and interest. If the IRS determines that you willfully evaded taxes, you could even be subject to imprisonment.

So in other words, sure, most of you will probably not be audited. But IF you do, you can be in some serious shit. And "I didn't know" excuse doesn't get you out of taxes and penalty.

Well, how did all this come about? I was just curious so I asked a former coworker of mine who works in the tax department to do some research for me. And that's how I got the link to the above. Well, as a CPA, even though I did not do any taxes, I knew that part. (For those of you that immediately thought, oh, CPA = taxes, consider this... you won't go to a divorce attorney to defend you if you're a murder suspect right? I mean they're both lawyers. You'd rather see a cardiologist if you have heart problems instead of a podiatrist, right? They're both doctors. All this is to say that taxes aren't the only thing CPAs do and I, for one, clearly did not do any tax work).

Anyways, I digress. Well, the above example with tournaments were easy... the question I then had was what about for a guy like me who plays in cash games online? I play on multiple tables at the same time and I could potentially jump into a table, just to see that 15 minutes later, the table breaks and so I close that table down but reopen another one, etc. Do I have to keep a detailed record of EVERY SINGLE one???? Unless you use some sort of a software to keep track of those things, it would be nearly impossible to keep track of? Well, when I posed that question, my friend came back with another great article.

A simplified summary of that article would be this:

When you are playing 3 tables at the same time, and they are all Texas hold'em, then they are considered one session and you log the total win or loss. But if you are playing hold'em and blackjack at the same time then those are two separate sessions, and you must log a total for hold'em and a total for blackjack. Also, if you play for an hour and then logout, and later that day you play again, those are also two separate sessions as well.

You might not enjoy reading tax related articles and believe me, I don't either. But I found these two articles to be fairly entertaining, mainly because it pertains to what I do.

For those of you that are killing the game, you might want to consider declaring yourself a professional poker player and claiming self employment... At the very least, it's worth consulting a tax professional to see what saves you more in terms of taxes. Of course, these only pertain to US taxpayers. And it's probably very unlikely that you get audited by the IRS. But IF you do, you better be prepared. Because an "I didn't know" excuse won't get you out of it.

Physical tells

One thing we, as online poker players, don't rely on when we play poker on the virtual felt is physical tells. Sure, when we switch to live poker, we try and may occasionally pick off certain things... but it's certainly one area where we lack "practice." I think a lot of the way we deduce someone's holdings are based more on betting patterns and sequence rather than physical tells because obviously, online, that's pretty much all we can go by.

Well, having said that, when I was watching High Stakes Poker Season 4, this hand came up between Mike Matusow and Voulgaris.

7 minute mark of this video Voulgaris open raises to $2,300 with Q8 and with two callers, it comes back to Matusow who reraises to 12,300 with AK. Then Voulgaris reraises to 32,300, representing a big hand. Online, this is a move that should work more often than not. But this is where Mike Matusow, despite his reputation, is a hell of a player. He must see something cuz he immediately says "I raise" (even though it's somewhat masked by others talking) and pops it up to 62,300. Obviously, at this point, Voulgaris folds and indicates he had QQ. Matusow calls him out and even goes as far to say "who knows maybe you had 7-2 but I know you were making a move on me."

How you say... jacks??

Couple of interesting hands all involving me having pocket jacks...

Part 1 - Betting too much

FullTiltPoker Game #2702574091: Table Hollow Pine - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:42:14 ET - 2007/06/18

9 handed - villain only has $170 before this hand

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jd Jc]
RecessRampage raises to $14 from MP
Villain (from the big blind) calls $10

*** FLOP *** [Kc Kd 9d]
Villain checks
RecessRampage bets $25
Villain calls $25

*** TURN *** [Kc Kd 9d] [5h]
Villain checks
RecessRampage bets $70
Villain raises to $134.10, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $64.10
Villain shows [Qs Kh]
RecessRampage shows [Jd Jc]

*** RIVER *** [Kc Kd 9d 5h] [7d]
Villain shows three of a kind, Kings
RecessRampage shows two pair, Kings and Jacks
Villain wins the pot ($345.20) with three of a kind, Kings

In reviewing the hand, I'm not sure I misplayed it... well, maybe I did. This is where I might need to be more concious about bet sizing and pot control. The K-K-9 flop looked fairly innocent. It's checked to me so I bet. However, in hindsight, maybe his call should have been a red flag. So, I am fine with everything until the turn card comes. Now at that point, it's another safe card. The pot at that point has $78. I guess I bet $70 because I was thinking if he is drawing to a flush, I needed to make him pay. The only problem is that since he only had $64 behind him if he pushes, by betting $70, in effect, I was betting $135. And, if he's drawing to a flush, he only has 8 outs since I have a diamond. So, that means he's drawing to about 18%. So, in a $78 pot, technically, I can just bet $30 and it will still be a) incorrect for him to call and b) leave myself with outs in case he wakes up with a better hand. Now granted, I'm not sure that I could have gotten away from this hand but that is certainly something to keep in mind... that I don't always have to bet so big. Will I potentially be leaving some chips by not aggressively betting against a worse hand? Possibly. But on that board, what hands that I could beat would call my bet? TT and maaaaaybe 88 or 77. Aside from that, there aren't too many hands that would call my preflop bet and my c-bet on the flop.

Part 2 - Trusting your reads

Full Tilt Poker Game #2702813562: Table Marietta (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:09:33 ET - 2007/06/18

6 max - I have $400 and Villain here has $300

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jc Js]
Villain calls $4 from UTG
RecessRampage raises to $18 from the button
Both blinds fold
Villain calls $14

*** FLOP *** [7c 3c Ad]
Villain bets $36
RecessRampage calls $36

*** TURN *** [7c 3c Ad] [2d]
Villain bets $60
RecessRampage calls $60

*** RIVER *** [7c 3c Ad 2d] [9c]
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain bets $128
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage calls $128

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain shows [7d Kh] a pair of Sevens
RecessRampage shows [Jc Js] a pair of Jacks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($487) with a pair of Jacks

This was another interesting hand. After the hand, the villain showed his classy side by typing in the chat box "nice f***'n call." So, generally, I don't respond to things like that and I especially don't like giving free lessons but I couldn't resist... so I told him "Check out the hand history and then tell me what you think I think you had." That actually calmed him down, actually said "Damn, I didn't know I was playing against a pro. Just so you know, I didn't think you had the ace though." I told him I wasn't a pro... but that was nice. But anyways, that's neither here nor there. The river bet admittedly was a scary one. There was so many ways for me to lose... and yet, I made the call. Is this because I can't lay down a pocket pair? Come on. Hopefully, those of you who read this blog frequently know better. So, let's go back through the hand.

Preflop, he limps UTG and then calls a raise after everyone else folds. This could mean he has a monster and is good enough to slow play a big pocket pair since he knows it's heads up. Or, he's got some sort of a drawing hand or a mid to small pocket pair. So in other words, at this point, his range is pretty big. Flop comes A-7-3 with two clubs. He actually thinks about it and then bets $36 into a $42 pot. At this point, I immediately narrowed his hand down to either a draw or a pocket pair. Why? I just couldn't see a guy with A-x not raising preflop or reraising. In other words, if he had AK, I'm 90% sure he would have come over the top when I raised preflop. So, I was convinced my hand was good there. The only thing I was worried about was that he was doing this with a flopped set and I don't know anything about the guy so that was certainly a possibility. So, I didn't want to unnecessarily build the pot so I figured I'd call and if he doesn't have an ace or trips, he'll check the turn, I'll bet and take it down.

Well, he continued his aggression on the turn when a blank fell (sure if he had 45, he has a straight but I can't worry about that). This is probably where I made my first mistake. I just smooth called again. Why? Because I still felt I had the best hand but again, I didn't want to build the pot too much. But what if he had a draw? Yeah, exactly... I think that's where I made a mistake. And as such, the river comes another club. And the villain was courageous enough to be a fairly big amount. $128, leaving himself $56 into a pot that contained approx $240. This is where I made my second mistake... I think. Calling here should not have been an option. Considering he only left $56, it's either a fold or raise situation, I think. What do I mean by that? If I think that I'm ahead the whole time then that shouldn't change here. If I think the flush card beats me, I should fold here. But if it's enough for me to think that my jacks are still good, I need to push in case he was doing that with a hand that I initially thought which was a smaller pocket pair. That way, I could take all his chips. But calling wasn't the worst thing I've done. That was definitely a tough call and I made it tougher for myself by not raising on the turn. However, again, I knew he didn't have the ace so that made my decision slightly easier.

Oh and one other benefit to doing that? I noticed quite a few. I got bluffed at a lot less after that and at the same time, they started respecting my raise and c-bets which are key at a 6max table where you are generally more aggressive than usual.

Part 3 - Helps to get lucky

Full Tilt Poker Game #2703094206: Table Marietta (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:41:14 ET - 2007/06/18

6 max - another confrontation with a small stack
Villain has $190 here

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jd Jc]
Villain raises to $14 from the CO
RecessRampage calls $12

*** FLOP *** [6d 4d 9h]
RecessRampage checks
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain bets $25
RecessRampage raises to $85
Villain raises to $172.30, and is all in <--- woah...
RecessRampage calls $87.30
Villain shows [Ks Kc] <--- oh snap!
RecessRampage shows [Jd Jc]

*** TURN *** [6d 4d 9h] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [6d 4d 9h 8d] [9d]
Villain shows two pair, Kings and Nines
RecessRampage shows a flush, Jack high
RecessRampage wins the pot ($373.60) with a flush, Jack high <--- better lucky than good :)

Nothing much here... since it was only $85 more to call, I had to make the call. On a 6 max table, high PP vs high PP is pretty much disaster esp with all low cards. I mean I've seen clowns push preflop with a hand as bad with AJ...

What's worse than a donkey?

I know I said I wasn't gonna post or play much this weekend but last night, I saw my friend JT at the $.25/.$50 PL (whole time I didn't even know it was PL until now when I just looked at the HH's... thought it was NL) table so I decided to join him for a little while. It's actually pretty funny as to how soft these tables are. I'm not sure if you just call them soft or what. I mean what I consider an obvious bluff that I'm making, they fold to. You know how everyone tells you to make sure that the story you are putting together make sense? That if you are gonna bluff, if you're not consistent (ie, showing weakness the whole time and then all of a sudden a big bet on the river on a draw heavy board that never got there) you'll get picked off? Well, at this table, it didn't matter. I was betting on missed draws and taking it down all night. Well, so there's that and that's just a weak play that to me makes sense, esp at these lower cash tables and that's certainly not a criticism. You don't expect a 5th grade basketball team to dunk or nail 3's. Same thing. I didn't expect any greatness at these tables and I certainly did not find any.

But, the shocker here is this one character who I could not figure out what he/she was doing... Because I think there are donkeys... and then there was her... See HH below.

First, there was this...

FullTiltPoker Game #2564143079: Table Mantua (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 2:42:09 ET - 2007/06/02
Seat 1: slaydown ($24.85)
Seat 2: duneworm ($37.45)
Seat 3: isis jones ($119.20)
Seat 4: msfulltilt ($55.55)
Seat 5: RecessRampage ($89.15)
Seat 6: InigoMontoya76 ($15.25)
isis jones posts the small blind of $0.25
msfulltilt posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #2

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ts Ah]
RecessRampage calls $0.50
InigoMontoya76 calls $0.50
duneworm folds
isis jones folds
msfulltilt checks

*** FLOP *** [Qh Th 9s]
msfulltilt bets $0.85
RecessRampage calls $0.85

*** TURN *** [Qh Th 9s] [9c]
msfulltilt bets $1.70
RecessRampage calls $1.70 <--- loose call? Maybe. I thought about raising except I didn't like the turn card so much... so I thought I'll wait and see what happens on the river

*** RIVER *** [Qh Th 9s 9c] [5h] <--- nice! Maybe I'll represent a flush!
msfulltilt bets $3.40 <--- looks like a scared bet into a pot that has approx $6.
RecessRampage raises to $10.20 <--- representing flush/call me ish bet
msfulltilt calls $6.80 <--- dammit! Stupid low stakes donkey who can't fold their top pair?

*** SHOW DOWN ***
RecessRampage shows [Ts Ah] (two pair, Tens and Nines)
msfulltilt mucks <--- WHAT!?
RecessRampage wins the pot ($25.90) with two pair, Tens and Nines

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $27.25 | Rake $1.35
Board: [Qh Th 9s 9c 5h]
Seat 1: slaydown is sitting out
Seat 2: duneworm (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: isis jones (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: msfulltilt (big blind) mucked [Jh 7d] - a pair of Nines
Seat 5: RecessRampage showed [Ts Ah] and won ($25.90) with two pair, Tens and Nines
Seat 6: InigoMontoya76 folded on the Flop

J-7!? So she decided to call a river raise on a board where so many things coulda happened with J high??? what did she think she could beat? Was she trying to look me up to see if I'm the kind of player that would represent hands like that?

So, knowing what happened above, this insanity ensued... right when my friend left...

FullTiltPoker Game #2564182778: Table Mantua (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 2:49:19 ET - 2007/06/02
Seat 1: slaydown ($0), is sitting out
Seat 2: duneworm ($59.70)
Seat 3: isis jones ($123.95)
Seat 4: msfulltilt ($47.95)
Seat 5: RecessRampage ($103.55)
isis jones posts the small blind of $0.25
msfulltilt posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #2

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Td Qs]
RecessRampage calls $0.50 <--- soft table. limp UTG perfectly acceptable.
duneworm folds
isis jones calls $0.25
msfulltilt checks

*** FLOP *** [Jc Th Kd]
isis jones checks
msfulltilt bets $0.75 <--- I've already seen her bet with a draw above
RecessRampage calls $0.75 <--- easy call with a piece of the board and a OESD against a _________ (looking to put a word that describes a player worse than a donkey).
isis jones folds

*** TURN *** [Jc Th Kd] [Ac] <--- there's my straight
msfulltilt bets $1.50 <--- ??? straight also or two pair?
RecessRampage raises to $4.50 <--- no need to slow play here.
msfulltilt calls $3 <--- might be a split pot... maybe raising would be silly considering more money will just be taken away as rake...

*** RIVER *** [Jc Th Kd Ac] [9h]
msfulltilt checks
RecessRampage bets $12 <--- pot sized bet, just in case she's got two pair
msfulltilt calls $12 <--- wasn't a quick call but fairly quick... not quick enough though for a straight... so I thought, wow, what a donkey. Couldn't let go of two pair on this board???

*** SHOW DOWN ***
RecessRampage shows [Td Qs] (a straight, Ace high)
msfulltilt mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($34.20) with a straight, Ace high <--- SHIP IT!

Gotta find out what she had...

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $36 | Rake $1.80
Board: [Jc Th Kd Ac 9h]
Seat 1: slaydown is sitting out
Seat 2: duneworm (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: isis jones (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: msfulltilt (big blind) mucked [Tc 6h] - a pair of Tens <--- HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.... one pair.... ONE PAIR!?

Seat 5: RecessRampage showed [Td Qs] and won ($34.20) with a straight, Ace high
Seat 6: InigoMontoya76 is sitting out

I mean that is some craziness boys and girls... I mean I don't even know what to say... calling off that much with bottom pair??? shitty kicker? (like it matters)...

Riverchasers... and a funny story!

Thursdays are generally my basketball night but since I've tweaked my back, I haven't been playing for a while, just to let it heal up good instead of trying to play through it and aggravating it. Back pain is one thing I don't mess with. So, anyways, instead, I played in the Riverchasers tourney on FTP and even though I felt like I was solidly chipping up, I busted 19th out of 57 players when I jammed with AK preflop and got called by the chip leader (or at least top 5 chips) who had pocket 10s. 10 on the flop sealed the deal and I was out... bummer, considering I felt like I was playing well.

Well, the starting table was relatively quiet until a few people got moved around and Pushmonkey72 came to our table. While NewinNov was entertaining us with the live commentary on the Spelling Bee contest on ESPN last night, Pushmonkey72 had a funny story. I initially copied the chat log cuz I thought it was hilarious but it's not fair to take his story and make it mine so if you want to read it, go to his blog or click here. It's kinda sad that we find this story funny... I guess that's what happens to online poker playing degenerates...

A Recess Rampage??? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... too funny. I could see how it could be a hit or miss though... many people going to check out what this funny story is could be disappointed... if you are, again, you have to be a little sick I think...

I'll post a May recap later but last night, I played cash game for a little while before the tourney started and winning over a buy-in at the 2-4NL helped bring my May total over 4 digits. Considering this has been a rough month which at times looked like it might become my first month down in a long long time, I was pretty happy about that. Having said that, there was one sick suckout that I dropped on someone else last night in a hand that I thought was ahead... (granted, the guy had a short stack so I played it the way I did).


Full Tilt Poker Game #2553976693: Table Wetlands Park - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:57:17 ET - 2007/05/31

I'm up to $570 at this point and the villain had $213 before the hand started.
I'm dealt AK so I raise pot sized to $14 UTG.
Villain in UTG+1 calls and I kind of don't like that call. I mean what do you call a UTG+1 raise from a fairly tight player with? Pocket pair? AK, AQ, AJ?
Folds around to the BB who also calls the extra $10 and we go 3 handed into the flop.

*** FLOP *** [8s 2d As] (pot = $42)
BB checks
RecessRampage bets $34 <--- bet TPTK
Villain calls $34
BB folds

I had mixed feelings about the call. I had no info on the villain so I had to base my reads on my impression of him based on his stack size. At this point, based on the preflop actions, I figured the possible holdings would be 22, 88, or Ax. I felt like if he hit it hard with a hand like 88, he would raise because a) there's a flush draw and b) it's gotta be pretty obvious that I like my hand. So, I started thinking that maybe he has AQ or AJ or a moderately high pocket pair like 10s and above that maybe he couldn't let go. (I don't know if he bought in short but if he bought in full, he's already down $200).

*** TURN *** [8s 2d As] [5s] <--- I have the Ks so this is actually not a bad card
RecessRampage checks (I decided to stick with my read of him having AQ or AJ so I'm ahead AND I have a nut flush draw on the river... perfect time to trap, I thought)
Villain bets $68 (into a pot of $110)
RecessRampage raises to $316 (he had less than a $100 behind so no way I'm gonna fold)
Villain calls $97, and is all in (quick call... uh oh, did he slow play a set?)
RecessRampage shows [Ac Ks]
Villain shows [Ah Ad] <--- oh snap!

Well, thank you river!!!



*** RIVER *** [8s 2d As 5s] [3s]
RecessRampage shows a flush, Ace high
Villain shows three of a kind, Aces
RecessRampage wins the pot ($439) with a flush, Ace high

Hey, nothing wrong with things going your way. :)

Mookie, a$$holes, and link update

Ok, let me start off by saying that I finally added my blogroll to the side. I think there are approx 25+ blogs that I monitor and visit each time they are updated. It's been looooooong overdue so sorry for not updating that and paying respects where they are due. I'd list them here but I guess there's no point. It's on the right hand side...

As for the Mookie, unfortunately, I have nothing exciting to report. The blinds start escalating so fast on those so it really becomes a push fest towards the end. Not that I'm saying that's bad or anything. I mean I guess most tournaments are that way anyways but I guess that's why it's always hard to come up with interesting hand analysis because it's not quite as deep. Bayne raised from EP, I pushed all in with my QQ and considering he was getting approx 2-1 odds, he called and flopped an ace and that's how my night ended. Unfortunate, but nothing I can do there.

This is gonna be a quick post from me today. Well, after the Mookie, I donked around in low limit Omaha hi/lo which was almost a joke as to how bad the players were. I mean I know I am bad because beyond the basic principles, I don't really know any Omaha strategy. But surrounded by donks who don't even know that, it was easy money. Well, after a little while, I started getting bored playing one table of no thought omaha (no thought because like I said, surrounded by donks, what is there to strategize?), so I played 1-2NL 6max... and I ran into this a-hole after this hand...

FullTiltPoker Game #2548871259: Table Bardstown (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:48:03 ET - 2007/05/31
Seat 1: RecessRampage ($218.35)
Seat 2: timabland ($46.10)
Seat 3: Drac329 ($78.35)
Seat 4: Skater87 ($198)
Seat 5: Roundelay ($68.15)
Seat 6: Parcheman ($138.10)
Skater87 posts the small blind of $1
Roundelay posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [9s Ts]
Parcheman folds
Parcheman stands up
RecessRampage raises to $7
timabland folds
Drac329 folds
Skater87 folds
Roundelay calls $5
*** FLOP *** [9c 9h 8s]
Roundelay checks
RecessRampage bets $10
Roundelay calls $10
*** TURN *** [9c 9h 8s] [4s]
Roundelay checks
RecessRampage checks
*** RIVER *** [9c 9h 8s 4s] [3d]
Roundelay bets $20
RecessRampage raises to $201.35, and is all in
Roundelay calls $31.15, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $150.20 returned to RecessRampage
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RecessRampage shows [9s Ts] (three of a kind, Nines)
Roundelay mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($134.30) with three of a kind, Nines
Roundelay is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $137.30 | Rake $3
Board: [9c 9h 8s 4s 3d]
Seat 1: RecessRampage showed [9s Ts] and won ($134.30) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 2: timabland didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Drac329 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Skater87 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Roundelay (big blind) mucked [Jd Jh] - two pair, Jacks and Nines
Seat 6: Parcheman didn't bet (folded)

Talk about a badly played pocket jacks... well, it was all good until this guy started talking shit about how I could raise with 9Ts from UTG+1... and generally, I don't accomodate these idiots by responding but I was in a mood so I was like "hey, I'm not the one that misplayed my hand." And THAT set him off. lol... he went nuts about how stupid I was for raising 9Ts from EP (dude, it's 6 handed and it's not like I do it all the time). And maybe that was a dumb move on my part (I don't think so, it's just a part of my mixing it up) but his smooth call on JJ from the BB is dumber. I mean I know you thought you had a monster hand but how do you not define that by reraising, considering you are gonna be out of position the whole time. Even worse, what are you doing just smooth calling the flop??? Are you trying to be sneaky? Or stupid? My "standard c-bet" looking bet was designed to let you raise but you smooth call... Great move of being sneaky but way to not find out where you stand. He checks the turn and my check behind him is a clear rope-a-dope... Nice river bet but even nicer river call. Was that the first time you thought you were behind or did you think you were still ahead? What would I reraise you with at that point? I was only there for a short while, I haven't gotten out of line, what did you think I had? TT?

Personally, I don't have too much of a problem with the way he played this hand but playing JJ like that from out of position to me is a dicey proposition. But again, I didn't have a problem until he starts mouthing off about playing heads up 10-20NL, how he has a monster bankroll, etc... dude, I don't care. The funniest thing was, he actually came in 14th in the FTOPS ME. So, in other words, he must be a good player. So what's a player like that going crazy? It's not like I caught runner runner to beat his hand when we both put our money all in preflop. Sometimes, I just don't understand how people lash out because they don't play like robots... Even Phil Hellmuth thinks you complain too much, Roundelay.

Analyzing my leaks, crazy hand, and some nonpoker stuff

Ok, let me start with this warning... This post is going to be all over the place. So, just to quickly break it down, these are the things that you will see in this post: Mookie, my cash game leaks based on PT, crazy crazy hand I witnessed, and some nonpoker stuff, mainly sports related. I am probably better off breaking this up into multiple posts but you know what, I'm in the mood to ramble on so that's what's gonna happen. Since this is a poker blog, I'll put the nonpoker stuff at the very end.

Chapter 1: Mookie ad

So, first thing's first. Come out tonight for the Mookie! Hopefully, I'll do better than my most recent performance in MATH and our home game dubbed PAPT.



Ok, now that I've done my part for advertising the blogger tourney (which given the traffic I get, really almost unnecessary probably but still wouldn't hurt... I know some of you nonbloggers play so if you want to join in on the tournament, you know you're always welcome).

Chapter 2: Analyzing my leaks and using PT

Ok, now on to the main topic. I've always been a big advocate of analyzing my play, looking back at hand histories, and using Pokertracker for that purpose. However, recently, Hoy has been posting some solid commentary based on what he's seen on his PT stats so I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon. But just to show that this isn't something that I totally ripped off from Hoy, here are few of the links to my older (it's obv not that old since I did start this blog only 5 months ago) posts to show that I have been advocating this... so if you care to see those or just to rehash your memory, click here or here.

I think in one of my posts, I talked about how I love points. Actually, I probably mentioned that in quite a few of my posts. Keeping score, having points, etc is always something I like... and I'm a sucker for. Reward points on credit cards? Great, sign me up! Wait, better rewards on this card? I'm there. (I'm actually not as bad as I make it sound but I'm pretty bad). Which is why I am personally a big fan of the whole points thing on BBT. Again, I don't think having the most points on BBT will mean you're the best tournament player but that argument to me is pretty worthless. And that's for a different post (yes, even I have limits). Anyways, so points is a big deal. What does that mean? That means that those stupid iron man challenge thing that full tilt does? Yeah, I'm totally a sucker for it. I swear... those stupid FTP points and the iron man is probably the biggest -EV thing for me. For example... there are nights I'm not in the mood to play poker. Rare, but it's there. But I fire up my laptop, open up a few tables and start grinding... why? Because I need to get my damn 200pts each day (or 25 days out of the month) to qualify for the Iron Man freeroll (which btw, is the best deal tournament... I mean what other tournament do you know that you can freeroll into and 1 out of 3 entrants get paid a minimum of $80 all the way up to $5,000???). They now started this thing where depending on the the number of consecutive months you maintain your level, you earn different sets of points as well where you can use those points to purchase bonuses, tournament tokens, etc... aaaaaah, more points. Ok, so what does all this rambling mean? Well, I got my 25 days of 200+ points so I don't have to play for the rest of this month unless I want to. Thus, last night, instead of playing, I decided to fire up PT and take a look at which hands I was losing the most money out of... and this is what I got... which took me by surprise:




These are filtered to only show the hands I played in 2007 just because I've had PT since last year and I wanted more recent information. I then sorted by the "net amount" and the clear net gainers were AA, KK, QQ, AK, etc... pretty predictable. There were couple of surprising ones amongst the top 10 money makers such as KJ and KQ which I tend to fold in EP... actually, I'm shocked that KJ was in top ten since I almost always fold that garbage...

Well, even more shocking for me was what you just saw above. The losses and where they are coming from. And being how consistent the losers are, my biggest leak is apparently the most obvious one also. I mean think about it. 67s, 68s, JTo, 78o, 89s, 89o, J9o, 64o, 9-10o, 78s, 65s... oh, and pocket nines. See a familiar trend? Aside from J9o which is pretty garbage but for some reason my favorite hand (yes, yes... please, spare me the "dangerous to have a favorite hand" speech, I've heard it a million times before), the suited and unsuited connectors and one gappers are my biggest leaks. CONSISTENTLY. This was actually shocking to me. I mean, most of us who take poker seriously tend to love these suited connectors right? You can get paid off very nicely when you hit it big, right? They are generally well concealed, right? I mean who doesn't like 89 sooooooooted, right???

So, after seeing this shocking revelation, I decided to do a little more research. I started looking at the hand history to see what was causing these to be my biggest leaks... And there was one consistent theme which is probably obvious just by looking at the stats. I'm not getting paid off when I actually hit it big. In other words, I lose a small pot when I don't hit. But I win a small pot when I hit it big... what does that mean? Well, more often than not, I'm not gonna hit it hard and since the idea behind these connectors and one gappers is to get paid off nicely when they do hit, I'm basically going one step forward and taking two steps back. When looking at how I play them, I don't hate my play preflop. So it's not like I'm playing them out of position or limping with them every time. I mix it up nicely but again, it's the post flop play that I'm crippling myself with with these hands. I need to go back and further analyze where I'm betting too soon (without giving someone a chance to catch a piece... ie, why bet if I have 89 and the flop comes 5-6-7 and it's checked to me?). I thought I was a decent cash gamer, only based on the money I was making but these stats really opened my eyes and I'm really shocked at what I found. This is definitely an area I'm gonna study up on and have to improve for my long term success in the cash games, esp if I want to move up levels.

Chapter 3: CRAZY HAND

Well, I always joked that I'd love to be in a situation where we're all deep and all the money is in the middle when I have AA and the two other guys who are all in both have KK... essentially eliminating any chances of them winning (yes, I understand a possible 4 flush but again... let's be real... you'd sell everything you own and put it on the line in this situation). Well, I was observing this low stakes NL table cuz my friend JT was playing in it and I was just chatting it up (and actually was surprised to see some of the play at this level was probably better than 1-2NL... SOME). Well, I couldn't get screen shots as this developed but it was a crazy hand. So instead of posting the hand history, I'll lay it out for you:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2541570786: Table Tyndall - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:07:05 ET - 2007/05/30

This was 7 handed: UTG min raises to $1 and MP reraises to $3. CO calls the $3, both blinds fold, and UTG then reraises to $7. Watching this, I immediately thought, alright UTG clearly has aces but it's so obvious he might get stacked here if the other two knew what they were doing. Well, the MP reraiser calls and so does the CO. At this point, I figured all three of them had pocket pairs. But I did not know the extent of what I was about to witness... NO, they didn't all have aces! FTP is not THAT rigged. :)

Flop comes 10-6-6. Innocent looking flop, I figured the aces (ie UTG) should take it down... UTG bets $8 into a $22 pot (obv trying to string people along on this safe looking board), the MP reraiser goes all in for $22 (your kings are f*cked dude), and here was the shocker... CO cold calls! UTG pushes his stack all in which was $26 and naturally, the CO calls the extra $4... and this is what they flip up:



Turn and the river obv didn't matter since the two pocket aces had no outs. Now that's a good way to rake in a $100 pot...

Chapter 4: Nonpoker content

Phew... I have to admit, I'm losing steam. When I first started this post, I was pretty fired up but now I feel like I typed as much as I can... but I wanted to throw a few things out there. First off, any of you Hokies reading this, how proud are you of the Vick family... wow, what a quick fall from stardom to... well, dumb-dumb? I mean there's the little brother Vick with his dirty leg stomping, bird flipping, gun waving under golden arches antics... and everyone thinking, wow, how far could the apple fall from the tree??? Well, apparently, the tree wasn't where we thought it was huh? It wasn't that Marcus was a bad apple that rolled off the hill far far away from the tree... it appears the tree itself is f*cked up. I mean even the superstar older brother has some serious issues... I still remember his miraculous comeback scramble against WVU down the sidelines which surely just the thought of it sends shivers to most Hokie fans but I also vividly remember seeing him flick his fans off in his own stadium, caught (and in his defense, later dropped, I believe) in an allegation that he had marijuana in his water bottle, and now, he's a big player in the illegal (read: felony) dog fight ring. I mean really? I know this isn't breaking news or anything but I just thought it was interesting. Roger Goodell (NFL commish) has been making some serious statements by dropping very severe penalties on players who are constantly surrounding themselves with bad publicity (Adam "Frogger" Jones... errrr "Pacman" Jones out for 16 games - that's a Vick from noCal reference... yeah, his no show during Smack Off sucked but I'm still on his bandwagon) and Chris Henry (stupid Bungles... suspend all of them) for 8 games... I don't know what Goodell is going to do with Vick but I can't imagine him not doing anything.

And how p*ssed off is Kobe Bryant? Boy, he sounds like a guy who's been holding it in for so long and now he can't take it... he's unleashing his fury on his media tour by ripping the lakers front office. And not that I care much for Kobe but I hear what he's saying and I agree. Kobe, whether you like it or not, is one of the best players out there, playing in his prime, and Jerry Buss needs to stop playing poker and put his money towards reloading that team with talent that could do some damage. I mean come on...

Now as a token Japanese, I feel that I need to throw this out there. Hey, any Sox fans out there? How do you like Dice-K?? Kind of a weird thing, it seems to me. And personally, I'm a big big fan of Daisuke. I didn't get to see him in high school but when I went back to Japan, during my brief stay, I caught some of the games he pitched in his rookie year and I remembered thinking this kid was nasty. I thought when Boston ended up with him that he would be a tremendous asset... maybe not like a Curt Schilling or a Randy Johnson in their prime but definitely a solid solid #2... And he's putting up results. 7 wins through today ain't bad. Hell, that's actually pretty good... the only question is his relatively high ERA. I'm surprised that he's actually getting hit quite a bit.

Ok, I'm clearly starting to flame out, so I'm out.

Couple of interesting hands over the weekend...

I hope everyone had a nice memorial day weekend. This has been a very relaxing weekend for me since my theme was to "not do a damn thing." And I lived up to the theme too. All I did was play poker and video games. Since Mrs Recess was out of town for most of the weekend, that is literally all I did. Considering how much I played though, sadly, I have nothing to report unlike Fuel who's obviously killing the game. Well, here are couple of hands that I thought was interesting.

9 handed table, $2/$4NL, this guy just sat and I don't have any information about this guy.
Villain in MP raises to $12
Folded to me and I call with 89s on the button
Both blinds fold

*** FLOP *** [8h Jd 3d]
Villain bets $18
RecessRampage raises to $42 <--- I catch a piece of this flop and since his bet looks like a c-bet, I thought this will be enough to take it down
Villain calls $24
*** TURN *** [8h Jd 3d] [Js]
Villain checks
RecessRampage bets $80 <--- with the J pairing and him checking, I like my hand even more
Villain calls $80
*** RIVER *** [8h Jd 3d Js] [6s]
Villain bets $280.20, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act

What would you do here? I thought maybe he's betting his missed flush draw but if he's gonna do that, would he push all in? Did he catch a set on the river with the pocket sixes that he couldn't let go?

RecessRampage folds
Uncalled bet of $280.20 returned to Villain
Villain shows [5c 3c] (two pair, Jacks and Threes)
Villain wins the pot ($271)

I really would like some feedback. It was really borderline for me and it's a pity that this happened so early in the villain's session because apparently, that's how this guy rolls and about an hour later, everyone was picking him off and he left empty handed but unfortunately, I wasn't in any meaningful hands with him after this. But not knowing that, what would you do?

What about this hand?

9 handed, $2/$4NL:

I raise $14 from MP with pocket tens
CO calls $14
Heads up going into the flop

*** FLOP *** [6s 7h Th]
RecessRampage bets $25 <--- with so many draws out there, I figured I'll make what looks like a standard c-bet
CO calls $25
*** TURN *** [6s 7h Th] [3c]
RecessRampage bets $84 <--- I bet the size of the pot to price out his draws
CO thinks about it, then calls $84 <--- he either already has a straight or he's got a piece of the board
*** RIVER *** [6s 7h Th 3c] [8d]
RecessRampage checks <--- I hate that river card
CO bets $287.90, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act

What do you do here? The pot before his bet was approx $240 and I have him covered for the entire amount. I couldn't imagine what type of hands would hang around in terms of the betting. 99? 89? Or, did he have like A6 of hearts or just Ax of hearts and trying to bet on the scare card to take this pot away?

Think about it. And tell me what you would do here. And what your read is.






This is what I did...







RecessRampage calls $287.90
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CO shows [9s 5s] (a straight, Ten high)
RecessRampage mucks
CO wins the pot ($824.80) with a straight, Ten high

5-9 sooted... I have no way of putting him on that hand and I'm not even sure why he called the preflop bet or the flop bet. On the turn however, he was double-gutted so maybe he thought it was worth it. Now sure enough, I paid him off so I did make it worth it for him. But regardless of the results, what would you have done. According to propokertools, based on the range of hands that I could put him on, this is what it shows.



I'm not trying to justify my call or anything. Those were what I thought would be the realistic hand ranges. Am I missing something? Should I be including more possible holdings? Let me know what you all think.

Poker is such an easy game...

When you catch cards... My best outing ever on a 2-4NL table online. Started with a full buy-in of $400... ended with this!



It was pretty ridiculous. Starting off with set over set where I flop pocket 9's vs an opponent's pocket 6s, I quickly double up. Then, shortly there after, I flop quads with my pocket 3's. Slowplay it until the flush gets there and empties the guy who had more than a buy-in who also held AKh.



Then to top it off, I raise from the CO with pocket jacks and get called by a fairly loose player on the button who also had a little more than a full buy-in. At this point, I wasn't willing to play a big pot with marginal holdings until the flop comes A-J-9, rainbow. I bet $35 into a $46 pot to make it look like a standard continuation bet and he calls. Now, at this point, I put him on an ace. Now, I'm willing to play a big pot because there's only one holding that he can have that can beat mine (obviously, pocket aces). So, I bet $85 into the pot that is now $116 because I felt that he's loose enough to make that call. What happened next was even better. He raised it to $200, leaving $216 behind. I reraise him all in at which point he thinks about it for a while but eventually calls... with A-10... that's a donkish call. There weren't too many hands that he could be beating. The river is a harmless 10, giving him two pair against my trips. Another $951 pot.

So there is justice afterall... after the bad karma series early in the month, this was a ridiculous heater... Thank you poker gods.

2.5hrs - My take on MTT strategy

Survival vs accumulation - I think this topic has been discussed in many different forums regarding multitable tournaments (MTTs). Just to briefly rehash, the debate is on whether to play tight so that you can survive into the later parts of the tournament vs taking big risks early to accumulate chips so that you can enter the later stages of the tournament with a big chip advantage. In today's tournament structure where the top finishers get rewarded heavily, the chip accumulation strategy makes sense. However, the question here is how do you accumulate chips quicker? In other words, how do you make something out of nothing?

That is a question I've been struggling with for a long time which is why I always refer to myself as a tournament donk. I think I just don't get it. Whenever I tell Mrs Recess that I am in a tournament, she always asks what time it started because she knows that almost every time, I'm out of the tournament in 2.5 hrs... Sometimes, it stings. Other times, I just kinda laugh it off. But when I sit down and think about it, it's definitely more of a symptom than a coincidence. In other words, if Mrs Recess who pays no attention to my poker playing (or this blog) also realizes that I'm out of tourneys in 2.5hrs, then I must always be out of tourneys in 2.5hrs. So then the next question was why?

And the inevitable truth comes out. I play too tight and so I end up playing survival instead of chip accumulation. But if I don't get it, I just don't get it, right? In other words, I can't just say "oh, I'm playing survival poker. I need to switch to chip accumulation poker." And then switch it like that. If it were that easy, I'd like to think I'd have done that by now. So, first off, as I read the forums and other blogs, I noticed one trend which is pushing the marginal edge early on. In other words, a lot of people seem to go into the race situation early. Now, I'm not going to repeat Hoy's post regarding this but I'm personally not a big fan of getting into a coinflip situation early. And here's my take on why that is.

For aggressive chip accumulation, let's say that you push in order to double up, every time you sense there's a race situation. Well, if you do that, then let's say you have a 50/50 shot at winning that race. You win one and that's great, you just doubled your stackc. Of course, if you lose, you're out. But let's say in a tournament with 150 players, what good is doubling your chip stack at that point? Ok, let me rephrase the question. What good is doubling your chip stack at the risk of being out of the tournament so quickly? Now, I also understand the argument of if you have more chips, you can take bigger risks early on to add to your stack. But one thing about the race situation is that you are taking the skill factor out of poker and just letting it ride on luck. And in these tournaments, there are always donks out there who you should be able to outplay. But by pushing and making the donks have to make only one decision (call all-in or fold), you're in effect negating your own skills, no? Where as you may be able to outplay a donk on the flop or the turn, you're letting the cards do all the talking if you just push for a coin flip.

Having said all that, there must be something. Today, I qualified for Event #1 of FTOPS IV. As usual, I played tight early on, very slowly accumulating chips. After the second break, the antes kicked in and so I was going to open up my game a little more but the cards didn't cooperate. Until I picked up pocket jacks at the cutoff position... which I raised, got called by a big stack in the big blind, flop comes 9-9-10, he checks, I jam, he calls with pocket aces and I end up 851 out of 2,573 runners. Now, that's definitely just unlucky that that happened but when I saw that my bust out time was approx 2.5 hrs after the tournament started, I knew. I just knew something needs to be done with my game here. In other words, my game was so tight that my raises would have only been called with premieum hands. So it was inevitable that at some point, someone was going to have better cards because if they narrowed my raising range to any pocket pair and AQ+, though I'm not that tight, they won't be too far off. So in other words, if they tighten their calling range to that, then it won't be too often that I am ahead.

So, for those of you that play a lot of tournaments, what's your style/strategy? Where do you choose to open up? Do you try to double up early or do you wait till the pots are worth stealing, ie bigger blinds or blinds with antes? This is certainly an area I would like to improve in and so I'm gonna go do some homework myself.

The Mookie and the Daily Double

Last night, like I do every Wednesdays, I played in the Mookie and coming off a solid showing last week where I ended up in second place, I was hoping to do well again this week. I'm certainly not a great tournament player or anything but I feel that my feel for the tournaments is coming back. When I first started playing, tournaments (mainly sit n go's) are all I played. Now, it's mainly cash games but I'm enjoying playing in tournaments as well. Because I'm not a great tournament player, I still feel that tournaments take forever and you could play for hours and not win any money vs in a cash game, if you play solid for the same amount of time, more often than not, I would make money. Having said that, I really want to take one of these MTT's down so I am starting to play in more tournaments (my more tournaments equate to maybe like 4 MTTs each week, including the two blogger tourneys - MATH and Mookie).

So, at 9pm, I fired up Part B of the Daily Double (I meant to sign up for both Part A and Part B but apparently, I missed the registration for Part A) which was a $10+2 entry. Basically, my strategy here was to play tight the first hour and let the donks kill each other while accumulating chips where I can but not getting in a gamble situation (a better side of the coin flip is still considered a gamble situation, in my mind). With 893 runners, I just didn't see the value in doubling my stack that early in the tournament. I know chip accumulation is important but how much value is there in tripling your stack in the first hour vs risking going busto 3 times during that time? Maybe I'm too tight and maybe that's why I'm not a great tourney player but that was going to be my strategy.

At 10pm, the Mookie started and there, I wanted to make sure I played relatively tight but stay aggressive because in these blogger tourneys, aggression is almost the name of the game. I actually played fairly well in both. On the daily double, around the 3rd or the 4th hour, I finally busted, coming out 46th out of 893 runners for a total of a whopping $26.40... barely doubling my buy-in...

In the Mookie, I played fairly well, making decent lay downs (some would probably consider it too tight) and again, not looking to get into a total race situation unless circumstances called for such. Before I knew it, we entered final table play and then this interesting hand came up. I was in the big bling with a relatively short stack and another short stack (we had about the same) goes all in from UTG +1. Now at this point, I figured he'd be pushing with any ace so I was willing to call with my pocket 8's... until this happened...



Another player goes all in... now what do I do? Well, it was a pretty easy fold for me... turns out I had the best hand preflop... but then this happened...



Quads. Wow. I don't know if that was a situation (ignoring the results) where I should have called... scratch that. I don't know if that's a situation where others might think I should have called but in my mind, it was a clear fold. Two all ins? No way my 88 is ahead. And even if it was the best hand preflop, no way it would hold up against two players. So I opted to fold.

Well, eventually, I couldn't make anything of my stack and I was done in 7th place when I jammed my pocket deuces and got called by pocket 7s...



Well, I was relatively happy with my performance considering I made back to back final tables at the Mookie and considering that I'm a self proclaimed tournament donk, that's not too bad at all.