I'm in!!! Or so I thought...

As I mentioned in my previous post, FTOPS IV will be starting in May and I personally like this tournament series. Though I'm definitely donkish in tournaments, I still enjoy them and so FTOPS is always something that try to qualify for as many events. However, I tend to be picky about tournament selection. In other words, I don't just randomly choose satellite tournaments. Rather, I try to find one that may have an overlay or one that seems like the ratio of winner vs # of runners is relatively small (like if only 1 per 20 entrants get in, that's not so good... but 1 in 7 or 8, not so bad). So tonight, I was gonna take a break from cash games anyways and maybe try to satellite into a FTOPS event... and I found one that I thought was ok. $24+2 buy-in, winner gets an entry and when I registered, there were only 7 players... it ended up with 12, so winner gets an entry to the $200+16 tournament and the second place gets $74.

Now here's where I'm supposed to tell you how I awesomely took down this tournament with well timed aggression, smart lay downs, etc... but that's not my style, nor does that happen often. However, I am happy to say that I took this baby down! I was fortunate in that I was to the left of an uber aggressive player (could be a blogger and wouldn't surprise me) and though he was clearly getting out of line, I held my ground, played my style of poker and also got some decent cards at the right time. Eventually, I thought I was gonna go heads up with him when he busted out on a nasty beat. Fortunate for me since the only other guy remaining was not all that great. I'm certainly not a great heads up player but this guy was pretty easy to pick off. After I had him crippled, he doubled up through me on a lucky river but in the end, I flopped a straight, slowplayed it until he caught a third 7 on the river, raised me and I put him all in.



It's rare that I get this screen/message so I'm pumping my fist in the air, enjoying my proud moment (funny how I wouldn't think twice about losing or winning $200 in a cash game but when you win a tournament, it feels so good!).



So then I'm capturing the screen to make sure I can blog (read brag) about it.



Until I realize, what you may have noticed by now (if you actually clicked on the pic above and saw the tournament lobby pic)... It says super satellite... wtf... $200+16 is a perfectly normal buy-in for a FTOPS event so I didn't even think twice. But a super satellite generally means it's a satellite to another satellite... sure enough, this was a super satellite to the FTOPS IV event #4 which is a $1000+60 buy-in event (largest online buy-in I've ever heard of for a MTT)... so, what does this win get me? It gets me a chance to compete in the satellite for the $1000+60... now granted, that's certainly a format I like (since it's a $216 buy-in, 1 out of every 5 contestants will win a seat to the $1000+60 event) and so I'm glad that I got to satellite into that one for $24... but still... I shoulda paid attention to what I was getting... I have to play in another tourney, just to qualify for the event I want to play in... oh well, a little damper but still doesn't take away from the win!

Do you play cards or do you play poker?

The other day, Mrs Recess was telling me about a discussion she had with her coworkers. When I told her about how I lost $600 on Saturday (she's unbelievably understanding and unrattled with the amounts I lose), she mentioned that that's what she hates about poker... the fact that you can be a better player and yet lose. And she went on to tell me that there was just too much luck element and that one of her coworkers agreed by saying that a construction worker can't just strap on a helmet and pads and compete in football... I then proceeded to tell her about Kurt Warner but I guess that's an entirely different story (you know, the bagging groceries to arena league to Superbowl MVP). But anyways, I thought that was an interesting discussion. In other words, how much of poker is really a skill game and how much of it is just luck?

My favorite quote from the great movie, Rounders: "Why do you think the same five guys make it to the final table of the world series every year? What are they, the five luckiest guys in Vegas?" Well, back then, maybe only about 5 guys played in the WSOP... ok, I kid but that statement speaks volumes about poker. For a casual poker player/viewer, it may seem that it's the most random people that they see on tv winning tournaments. It seems that for every Gus Hansen or Daniel Negreanu on WPT, there's a math teacher, construction worker, former police officer, grad student, etc. And on the WSOP on ESPN, Robert Varkonyi, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joseph Hachem!? I mean who are these guys? Only in the geekiest of the poker circuits do people know about Raymer and even though Hachem is also hell of a player, nobody has ever heard of these guys. So, I think it appears that it's almost like a lottery. And yet, if you pay attention, I don't think it's any coincidence that guys like John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, etc are finding success at WPT and if you look at Cardplayer Player of the Year standings, towards the end, you end up seeing a bunch of familiar names (still sick is the fact that Men "the Master" Nguyen has won 5 times) on that list. So, what does this all mean?

I told her that a very popular idea in poker is that if we all played the exact same amount of time and were dealt the exact same number of hands, over the course, we will all get dealt the same cards. In other words, statistics already determine how many times we're supposed to see pocket aces or 2-7 off, if we were all dealt a million hands. So, does that mean that in the long run, we're all just trading money with each other? I think even the most naive poker player would agree that that's not true. So, then, in order to profit, you have to find yourself on the better side of chance more often than not and also, you have to profit even when you're not getting the cards that should be your "fair share" of the deal. If you just play your cards, then you will eventually just be trading money. That's why you can't always just play your cards and instead, you have to play the person. It's such a cliche, and yet so true...

FullTiltPoker Game #2226965070: Table Courage - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:18:37 ET - 2007/04/16
Seat 1: Iridium ($412)
Seat 2: Dallas20 ($587.90)
Seat 3: idgaf61 ($327.45)
Seat 4: hedodave ($140)
Seat 5: RecessRampage ($367)
Seat 6: NMDynasty ($378.50)
Seat 7: therivercatcher ($388.60)
Seat 8: nsewell4 ($400)
Seat 9: mektin ($404)
NMDynasty posts the small blind of $2
therivercatcher posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [9h Th]
EP calls $4
RecessRampage calls $4 <-- call from the button (I sometimes raise here and sometimes, I don't. I felt that my hand was interesting enough to see a flop cheaply.
SB calls $2 <-- the player on the SB usually has my number. Fairly aggressive.
BB checks
*** FLOP *** [Qs 8h 8c]
SB bets $12 <-- as predicted, on a flop that looks like it didn't hit anyone, he bets out
BB folds
EP folds
RecessRampage calls $12 <--- why call? No, I wasn't really going for the gut shot straight draw, even though if I hit, that's fine too. I just felt that he's getting out of line and he could make a play but I was also worried that if I raise, it would look funny and he might pop me back.
*** TURN *** [Qs 8h 8c] [4c]
SB bets $25 <-- smallish bet... from this particular player, based on past history, I knew this was a weak bet, not a "call me" bet
RecessRampage raises to $75 <-- I think I set it up perfectly. Now's a good time to end this hand.
SB folds
Uncalled bet of $50 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($87)

The call on the flop was actually a perfect set up. Poker is always about telling a story. I didn't raise from the button and I am fairly aggressive preflop when I have decent holdings. So, without me raising preflop, what would the villain in the SB put me on? On a flop of Q-8-8, if he bets and I raise, would he put me on an 8? It would seem unlikely considering that there's no flush draw out there. If I had a Q, what type of hands would I play with a Q that is limp worthy but not raise worthy? Q-10? QJ? There would be enough questions in the villain's mind and he's a decent enough player that I could see him popping me back if I raised on the flop to really see how good my hand is. At that point, I would have a hard time calling with my 10 high. However, by smooth calling, I just felt him uncomfortable. Maybe I limped with QJ, or worse, with a hand like 7-8 or 8-9 and hit the flop hard and trying to slow play. Because I had the position, he would have to guess and act before me and I could react to what he does. When a harmless 4 came, I knew it would be a good time to put in a raise and take down the pot that was clearly rightfully mine.

FullTiltPoker Game #2227013785: Table Courage - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:30:43 ET - 2007/04/16

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jd Js]
UTG folds
RecessRampage raises to $14 <-- from early position, normal pot sized bet
2 players fold
Villain raises to $48 from MP <-- pretty good player that will make this type of raise with AK, AA, KK and also not so obvious hands like suited connectors
CO and button fold
Both blinds fold
RecessRampage calls $34 <-- I felt that the raise was a little big if the villain actually held aces or kings... so I was sensing AK or one of his steal moves with suited connectors
*** FLOP *** [9d 9h 7c]
RecessRampage checks <-- I hate being out of position! If I bet, he would surely raise... so I wanted to give him the initiative and see what he does with it
Villain bets $76
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $180 <-- I didn't check to give up this hand. I wanted to know if he really had what he represented (aces or kings) or if he was trying to make a play on me
Villain folds <-- AK?
Uncalled bet of $104 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($251)

In both instances, the hands didn't get to showdown. And it's quite possible that in both instances, I could have had the best hand (2nd one, I clearly did). But there are opponents that will test you and you have to test them back. If you just play your cards, you're not gonna win enough to make it worth your while. Read the opponents, know your opponents, and play the players. Now play some poker!

Sad & Happy News(Quick nonpoker update)

Let's start with the happy news. A friend of mine, known in our little poker circle here in VA as JT, now has a son as of 8:13am this morning. Wife and baby are apparently doing well and I told him that his first fatherly advice to the child should be "AQ is a rag hand." Maybe I should have told him that this should be his first advice: "Don't slowplay a set." Oh well, either way, congrats bro!

On a sad note, here in VA, the school shooting at VA Tech is obviously the big news with over 30 people killed. Here's the link to the CNN's report on the news. I'm personally an anti-Hokie but regardless of who you like and who you hate in sports, this is a sad news all around.

Weekend recap, FTOPS IV, MATH, and PAPT (or the lack thereof)

I don't even really know why I wait till the weekday to blog. I think this is relatively common in that I usually visit other blog sites on the weekdays so it makes sense that I update mine on the weekdays as well. Having said that, it would seem like it would make a lot more sense if I actually did the weekend recap on a Sunday night or something when I feel like I have time. But then again, I use that time to play poker so I guess it's almost a catch 22. Anyways, this weekend was really not all that exciting on the poker front. On Saturday, I only played for like an hour and got killed. Well, my "getting killed" is about $600. This is the hand that especially sucked when Presto wasn't so gold this time...

FullTiltPoker Game #2210341074: Table Karina Jett - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:02:21 ET - 2007/04/14

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to RecessRampage [5d 5h]
UTG calls $4
RecessRampage calls $4 <--- from the button (yes, Fuel, I realize now that this is a raising hand)
SB calls $2
BB checks
*** FLOP *** [5c 7s Tc]<--- uh oh, Presto is gold!?
SB bets $8
BB calls $8
RecessRampage raises to $36 <--- slow playing trips is overrated
SB calls $28<-- must be on a draw
BB folds
*** TURN *** [5c 7s Tc] [8h]
SB bets $80<--- wtf!? did he make a straight? 4-6? or did he now catch a pair with his 8-9?
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $307, and is all in <-my hand is still good right!?
SB calls $227 <--- oh f***
RecessRampage shows [5d 5h]
SB shows [4d 6h]
*** RIVER *** [5c 7s Tc 8h] [9s]
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Fives SB shows a straight, Ten high
SB wins the pot ($707) with a straight, Ten high

That sucked. And admittedly, that was a situation where I should have just called on the turn. I'm not sure that pushing was the right move. However, I will say this. In terms of his likely holdings, I thought he would do that with 7-8, 8-9... 4-6 did cross my mind because he was also deep so I knew that he knew that he had enough odds to make that call on the flop... and admittedly, I wanted that call on the flop. Still, probably a poor play. Sometimes, it's such thin line between "Presto is Gold" series that Fuel does on his blog and this type of disaster (mainly found on my blogs).

Fortunately, like lucko mentioned before in his blog during his sick run last month on the cash tables, the weekends at FTP are softer than usual. There are sooooo many bad players who buy in short at these tables so, on Sunday, I made up everything I lost. It would be better if I can say I made up what I lost on Saturday and then some but then again, I'm not as sick as some of the other bloggers here. But, making up the $600 loss from Saturday still felt good. This hand came up on Sunday, when I got involved with a guy who took some of my money with a total donkish but lucky hand. But based on what I saw on Saturday, I had notes on him... a very simple one that said this "total calling station - will call down with any piece of the board regardless of the size of the bet."

So, when this hand came up, I decided to trust my note, even though my hand was definitely vulnerable.

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Ks]
EP calls $4
3 players fold
RecessRampage raises to $18 <-- from late MP
CO-1 folds
CO (cutoff) calls $18 <-the aforementioned donk
Button folds
Both blinds fold
EP calls $14
*** FLOP *** [Kh 4h 8s]
EP checks RecessRampage bets $50 <- pot was like $55-57
"the donk at CO" calls $50 <- here he comes.
At this point, I wasn't really worried about a set. He'd make this call with a hand as bad as 4-5.
EP folds
*** TURN *** [Kh 4h 8s] [5s]
RecessRampage bets $120 <-- now the board is starting to look dangerous with str8 possibilities and double flush possibilities so maybe I should've bet more here. The pot was like $150 so he was getting better than 2-1. However, I actually put him on a weak king so I felt like this was a good amount.
"the donk at CO" calls $120
*** RIVER *** [Kh 4h 8s 5s] [Jd]
RecessRampage checks <-- the river felt safe but now, I'm not too crazy about my hand. Plus, if he simply missed the flush, maybe he'll take a stab at it
"the donk at CO" bets $80.90, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $80.90 <--- my only thought here was "man, if he has KJ, that's so sick."
*** SHOW DOWN *** the donk shows [8h 7h] (a pair of Eights) <-- actually had more outs than I gave him credit for
RecessRampage shows [Qc Ks] (a pair of Kings)
RecessRampage wins the pot ($558.80) with a pair of Kings <-- thanks for holding on to my money but I'll take back what's mine!

The MATH hosted by Hoy last night had another good turn out with 49 bloggers. Yours truly, in true tournament donk fashion, busted out 21st as my stack steadily dwindled down. I'm such an uber weak tight tournament player, it's almost funny. I let my stack steadily dwindle down until the blinds increase or my stack dwindles (or the combination of both) to the point where my M is around 5 and then I just become a push monkey, pushing all in with half decent cards and sometimes not so half decent cards. I'm bound to get caught and eventually, I do... alas, my exit at 21st place when my 33 ran into a 99 in the small blind... I need to switch things up for the Mookie tomorrow night.

Speaking of tournaments, it must be that time of the year again. Already!? FTOPS IV Schedule is out so FullTilt is now running a bunch of satellites to qualify for the events. I need to start playing in these satellites as well as the WSOP satellites that I have been kinda neglecting...

And speaking of neglecting, I haven't talked about PAPT (Park Avenue Poker Tour) in a long time.... that's because I haven't been to it in a long time. I feel like the past several Tuesdays, something was always up whether it was work, family visiting, basketball league games, etc where I just wasn't able to make the 8pm starting time. As such, I still only have a meager 3 points on my quest to a PAPT POY which Tyke is furiously trying to get. And consider this. He was the second place finisher last year after Sia who decided to graciously move down to FL to give the rest of us a chance so Tyke is definitely picking up right where he left off. Hopefully, he'll be like the hare in that story and me the tortoise... funny how comparing myself to a turtle is never all that exciting...

Alright, time to start working! (read: check out other people's blogs!)

Tax options for your poker winnings

As we all know, April 15th is right around the corner... and you know what that means... yes, the dreaded tax day. Well, actually, I guess this year, we have an extra day since the 15th falls on a Sunday. Anyways, I've already done my taxes (I'm sure those of us that are expecting refunds will complete their returns early) but when I was preparing my own tax returns (using TurboTax), I did wonder how to report my poker winnings. So, for those of you that may not be quite as familiar about how to report gambling gains and loss, let me break it down really quickly (as a disclaimer: I am a CPA but I DO NOT do any taxes so even though I put in a good faith effort in researching what I disclose below, please verify with a tax professional... taking my word is like asking a divorce lawyer what to do if you are charged with homicide):

Basically, you have to report your gross gambling gains on Form 1040, line 21. That's GROSS gambling gains. So, let's say you pay $200 to enter a tournament (including fees for simplicity) and win $5,000. Then you have to report $5,000 on line 21. So where does the $200 go since your net gain in this transaction is only $4,800? Well, the $200 can only be deducted if you itemize your deductions. In other words, unless you own a house and have a mortgage to go along with it or something along those lines, and you just go by standard deduction, the government doesn't allow you to net your winnings.

Well, the above example is pretty simple if all you do is play tournaments and you actually track them. But then the whole "gross gambling winnings" gets tricky when you play cash games as well. Plus, if you don't keep track of your tournament winnings or how much you pay to enter, how can you realistically say this is how much I won?

This was a question I struggled with, a lot. And then I found an article that I believe on www.money.cnn.com that mentioned what the IRS looks for during an audit. And one of the most important things is to make sure that you can explain all your deposits into your bank account for the year. That makes sense because they want to make sure that all your income is accounted for. So, with no better alternative, I thought that maybe a good way to track my gross winnings was to actually see the amount that I withdrew from my poker account. I basically treated my poker account like an investment. If the money in my poker account grew, I considered that as "unrealized gain" much like your gain on portfolio until you actually sell your stock. So, once I withdraw money, that was how much I "realized" ie sale of a stock. So I took the total amount I withdrew as my "gross winnings" because I couldn't think of a better way to handle that. I am not sure that IRS agrees with my evaluation but I'm pretty sure that this would be considered a reasonable method. I'm not sure how else to track these things, short of being a ridiculously meticulous record keeper, tracking gains and losses separately especially when I jump in and out of cash game tables. I mean that's just unreasonable.

Well, this really sucks because based on this tax rate schedule, most of us will probably fall under the 25-33% rate and that's how much you will get taxed for your winnings. Assuming 28%, that's $1,400 that you have to pay in taxes on the $5,000 tournament win. Brutal. Well, another thing I considered was to claim the poker winnings as a self employment income. I don't know what the process of setting up a self employment is but I don't think it's actually that complicated. And even if you have a job and you get a W-2, you can still file self employment income as well.

So, what's the benefit of the self-employment income and how does that work? Well, first of all, if you consider your poker playing to be "self employment", then you can net all your expenses with the income. And in this instance, the expenses can be very liberal as long as they are legitimate. In other words, trips to Vegas or AC where you ended up playing poker are certainly includable as well as maybe a portion of the cost of your internet expense if you play online poker. However, there's a breakeven point where it's not necessarily beneficial to claim self employment income because you also have to pay taxes there so the expenses need to be enough to sufficiently bring down your net income. Ok, I know this sounds like mumbo jumbo so let me illustrate with an example...

Assume here that a) you are single and b) you can only claim one exemption and c) you normally would not itemize your deductions. This is for illustration only but the same concept applies even if you are married or if you itemize (granted, if you itemize, it might be a little more complex).

Let's also bump up the amount so that we actually have something substantial to talk about here. Let's say that this year, your gross poker winnings were $50,000. Let's say that you accumulated a portion of that by playing cash games and winning a few tournaments. And let's say you can quantify the $ amount for the tournaments... say $2,000.If you just file a regular 1040, you will claim the gross winnings ($50,000) on line 21 of your 1040. Then, with the standard deduction and exemption ($5,150 and $3,300, respectively), your taxable income is $41,550. Multiply that by the 28% as per the tax schedule and your tax due on your poker winnings alone is $11,634.

In the same example above, let's say you chose to go with the self employment route. As such, you decide to start quantifying all the expenses including tournament fees for the year, trips to Vegas or AC including meals, hotels and flights, approximate internet usage that is poker related, subscription to any poker related publications, etc. If you could find enough expenses to reach $16,000, then you will end up paying less than the $11,634 above... and this is why:

Your net income that you will report on Schedule C will be $34,000. Once you complete Schedule C, then you fill out Schedule SE which is the self employment tax form. On that form, you will follow the instructions so you bring the net income amount of $34,000 to this form and multiply by .9235 as instructed to come to $31,399 which is what's considered the "net earnings from self-employment tax." Then you multiply this amount by 15.3% (.153) which comes to $4,804 which is the self employment tax that you owe. Now, half of this is deductible from the AGI (adjusted gross income) as seen on line 27 of the form 1040 so then you will take the $34,000 that you report on line 12 of the form 1040, deduct the half of self employment tax ($2,402) and then deduct your standard deduction and exemption like above (totals $8,450) and you will now have a taxable income of $23,148. That amount will be multiplied by 28% to come up with $6,481 which is your tax personal income tax. (One assumption I'm also adding is that even though this new taxable income drops you to a 15% bracket, for this illustration, I won't change it because I don't want to further complicate what's already quite confusing and I'm also assuming that you might have another job so all in all, the tax bracket might not change). Add the self employment tax that we already computed which was $4,804 and the total taxes you owe is now $11,285. Not a significant difference from above but I think this illustrates the point. If you can find even more in expenses, this will clearly be beneficial. And if it does drop you into a lower tax bracket, I can't imagine how this would not be beneficial. However, if you don't have enough, then you will end up overpaying because you will pay self employment tax as well as your personal income tax.

As I mentioned in the disclaimer above, I'm pretty sure that this is a very very generalized view so you definitely want to get with a tax professional to discuss this as well as what type of items could be considered expenses. I think many of you would be surprised as to how liberal an interpretation the tax professionals can make. If this doesn't apply to you for 2006, well, start keeping records of any expenses that you may think is remotely related to poker for 2007 and you might be able to save some money come tax time next year.

Fighting off a slump...

Recently, I had an interesting discussion with another poker player. He mainly plays limit hold'em (which obviously is almost entirely a different game than the NL hold'em... nevermind the tournament vs cash game discussion) so it's hard for me to give him any suggestions because I only play NL. I don't hate limit poker... well, I hate limit poker. It could be fun once in a while but I just don't find it all that exciting. However, having said that, if there's a wait list at a casino for a NL table, I'll play limit to kill some time. At least it's still poker and since there's a limit as to how much I can bet or how much I'd have to call, I won't lose as much waiting for a table to open up.

Well, the discussion was not about the difference between limit and no-limit hold'em. In my mind, it's such a different game that it's like trying to explain the difference between 7 card stud and omaha. Ok, maybe not that different but close, I think. Anyways, the discussion had to do with being in a slump and how to get out of it. This guy claims that he's been in a slump for like a year or longer. My initial reaction (and I told him) was that if it lasts that long, it's not a slump. That's a lack of skill. But he claims that that's not the case. Well, we can choose to have an opinion on that but I decided that instead of pressing the issue of slump vs skill, I decided to think, what would you do if you were in that kind of a rut? He said that in any given week, if he plays like 3-4 nights, every night that he plays, there would be about 10 hands where he would flop a straight and lose or have trips to lose to a flush, etc. And again, keep in mind this is limit.

Well, let's just say that it's true and he sees a cooler every night he plays for over a year (that's a hell of a cooling streak and that might make me quit altogether). What would you do? Here are some things that I thought of:

1. First and foremost, take a break. Take a break from poker completely. No poker books, no magazines, etc. Maybe blogs but nothing related to strategy. Instead, focus on working out, playing video games, spending time with family, etc. Basically lay off of poker until you get that itch of wanting to play again.

2. Read nonstrategy poker books. There are tons of books that recap a certain tournament run or how they improved their games etc written by guys like Jay Greenspan, Chris Moneymaker, Matt Matros, and Jim McManus. Those are all great books that after you read, makes you think "hey, even I can do this!"

3. Once you start getting the itch, analyze your game. Purchase poker tracker if you play online. Also go to cardrunners.com and many other sites mentioned by other bloggers here to study other people's games. Analyze your game and I don't just mean looking at your position stats, VP$IP, aggression factor, etc. That's part of it but I think you also have to look at hand histories and take a look at the big pots that you've lost. Flopped straight loses to a flush? Did you play it right? Those are the things that you definitely want to take a look at and make sure where you may have been able to limit your loss. Because without hand histories, I don't know how you can analyze your game. All the stats are indicators but sometimes you just have to scrutinize your play and go deeper than what's on the surface.

4. Quit while you are up. I think this is very important and once I even remotely start to run bad, I tend to do this. Planned to play for 2 hrs tonight but you won a few monster pots and you're up at the end of the first hour? Call it quits. Leave the table and you get to shut the lid of your laptop knowing that tonight, you ended the session up. Sometimes (actually, a lot of times), poker is such a mental game that mental boosts like this are also very important. Instead of going to be after a bad beat that killed your stack that you spent all night building, just quit so that the next day, you can attack the table with a good feeling of trying to build where you left off the night before instead of trying to make up for the night before. The difference is night and day.

Can anyone think of other suggestions to get out of a slump? Regardless of what game you play, since these are cards, I think getting into a slump/funk is not only possible but quite probable. But just like in baseball, the better players are the ones who can maintain their hot streak the longest and the slumps the shortest. Has there been something that works for you? Any input on this matter is much appreciated.

Birthday weekend and MATH (not much poker content)

Quick note: I am experimenting with the title and such because as it stands now, there's no correlation between my screenname on FullTilt (RecessRampage), my blog address (pokertachi), and my profile (Alan). Basically, I'm all over the place so I'm trying to bring it together for less confusion...

This past Saturday was my birthday... I remember when I was a lot younger, I used to be very excited about my birthday. My parents would have parties, I'd invite all my friends (basically all my classmates because when there's a party, all of a sudden, everyone becomes your friend) and we'd have a fun time with presents and all... and then you get older and it's still kinda cool because you go out, maybe get drunk with your friends and most of the time, you don't have to pay for those drinks... and then you get older than that and basically it starts sucking... because it's another year that's gone by and that's about it. So, for my birthday, my wife took me out to dinner at this italian restaurant which was really good. But aside from that, we spent it like we do every other Saturdays... her napping while I play poker all day... I have to admit though, that's pretty much what I wanted to do so it worked out great.

Speaking of birthdays, in my previous job, I used to work in this office with about 50 people. And at one point, we had 4 people with the same birthday... I remember thinking that was so crazy... I mean what are the odds!? Well, few years later, I heard an interesting theory. William Chen was talking about this quantum theory "joke" about the odds of a person having the same birthday as yourself. The way it goes is this (and by the way, it's not a ha ha funny kinda joke... those quantum analysts, their crazy!!): If you grabbed 20 random people, the odds of them having a certain birthdate that you pick out is very low (20/365, right?). However, the chance that 2 people out of that 20 have the same birthday is actually not that unlikely. The reason? Because for each person that you ask in that group of 20, the odds increase. In other words, after you ask person A and person B what they're birthdays are, person C has to have a birthday that's either A or B. But by the 15th person, if there hasn't been a repeat at that point, there are 14 birthdays that are already "taken." When I heard that theory/joke, I remember thinking that that was very interesting (bringing out my inner nerd).

On Sunday, we had a family Easter dinner at a nearby upscale steak restaurant. They had a breakfast buffet that was fantastic. I love those things. Nothing like good food in unlimited quantities. So, even though there was no particular significance for me, Easter was enjoyable. Growing up, all I did was color eggs and go on egg hunts... I still want to know how that thing started. I watched Southpark the other day and they sorta addressed that... by saying that St Peter was actually a rabbit (ie Peter Rabbit)... hilarious.

Last night, I played in my first ever MATH (Mondays at the Hoy) on FTP (I did play the MATH on PokerStars once before). I generally played a straight up tight aggressive game which got me to the final table with my M around 7 or 8 which was the case with like 6 out of the 9 of us at the final table. Well, after my KK loses to AQ (all in preflop), I was crippled but a few all ins later, I was pretty much back up to where my stack was before that unfortunate beat... and then I'm in the big blind with AA. My stack was around T11,000 (again, M is probably 6 around this point). Our chipleader raises to T2500 and the button calls so with blinds and antes on top of that, it was a good amount in the pot so I pushed all in to get called by our chipleader who shows pocket 9's. Funny thing is, I felt a bad beat looming over my head.... and sure enough, a 9 flops and with no help on the turn or the river, I bust out in 8th place despite my valiant effort. Oh well, at least he put the chips to good use by winning the whole thing.... again.

All in all, a very fun time. I'm also glad that this tournament started at 10pm because it gives me time to do everything else I need to do before I could sit down and play.... the only downside is, I'm up till like 1am so I'm exhausted this morning....

Raising from the button (in cash games)

When you read a lot of books, strategy posts, and magazines, they all advocate raising from the button with a wide variety of hands. This obviously depends on the action of other players before it gets to you but since you are the last one to act each round, you have a tremendous advantage when you are on the button. So, if it's folded to you, a lot of these publications advocate raising with almost anything... I don't mean total rags but if there's any sort of coordination, it seems that you should raise. So, like everyone else, for a while, that's what I did. I'm on the button, it's folded to me, I look down and find A4, I raise. 5-7 suited, I raise. 4-6, why not? 2-7, ok. Ok, so I exaggerate. But I think the point is well made. If it's folded to you on the button, then you should raise because you can take the blinds or if you see the flop, you can possibly take it down with a continuation bet.

Well, personally, I'm not a big fan of raising from the button with weak hands. It also depends on the blinds but generally, here's where I have a problem:

a) if I raise and it's uncontested, I win the blinds. Unlike a tournament, I'm not convinced that taking down the blinds in a cash game is really all that important. Actually, I believe that it's not. Risking 3.5x the BB just to win 1.5x BB really isn't much in terms of risk vs reward when your stack is like 100x BB.

b) if I am one to raise with a wide variety of hands, then I'm also susceptible to a reraise from one of the blinds by a wide variety of hands. In other words, if I'm a tight player who's starting requirements from the button is not too different from my starting requirements in other positions, then I'd probably get a lot of respect for my raise. However, if they know that I raise a lot more from the button, then the blinds would tend to play back with a lot more holdings as well. I will not be able to narrow down their holdings. This is good if you're comfortable with the post flop play since you have position but I'm not too crazy about playing huge pots with super aggressive players.

In other words, raising with a wide variety of hands from the button has started to become a very widely accepted strategy and so now, there are players who are starting to react to that. Which is why recently, I've started to tighten up my raising requirements from the button. If it's folded to me, I will still raise with hands like KJ which is a hand that I would most likely fold UTG or even MP. Actually, with any two face cards, I will probably raise. But that's probably as loose as I get. And even then, it really depends on the blinds. If the blinds are also very aggressive, I don't want to start building big pots with hands like JT, QJ, QT, KT, etc. Instead, I don't mind just smooth calling, even with hands that you might normally raise with like AQ, AJ, etc, just for deception purposes.

So, last night, I was playing in my usual 2-4NL cash game and decided to raise a few times from the button with a wide variety of hands early and then tighten up later on. So, nothing eventful happened in the early going. Occasionally, when I raised from the button, I took down the blinds and maybe a limper or two. Other times, I've had to fold when I had callers and there was action after the flop that I missed completely. And then this hand came up...

One limper and I'm on the button so I raise to $18 with KQ. SB folds and BB reraises me to $38. Now, this was a warning sign for me. Usually, if the BB is raising because he knows that I could be raising with a bigger range than usual, they'd reraise a lot so that I can't make the call. However, this raise meant (or that's what I'm thinking) that he wanted action... Plus, he had to consider the MP limper... So, I was a little worried about what he had (ie, I'm starting to think that he has AA, KK, QQ or maybe AK even though I'd guess even AK would raise more because he wouldn't want a caller). But getting approx 3:1 to odds ($20 more for me to call with a pot of $62), I had to call (limper obviously folded). Flop comes K-x-x ($82 in pot). He bets out $38. Such a "call me" bet... or a "I didn't want to see that K" bet... but, in case it was the former and not the latter, I just called. Turn was a Q ($158 in pot), giving me top 2 pair. He now bets $120. Now, he could have either KK or QQ and have me killed but that means that the last K or the last Q in the deck hit... so very unlikely. Now, based on this sequence, I'm almost convinced he's got AA and this big turn bet was just a donkish bet on his part. So I push the rest of my stack which was like $200 more and he instacalls... and flips over his AA. A blank on the river gives me the $800+ pot...

In his chat box, he was like "are you serious???" I have to admit though that his play was pretty poor. Maybe my call on the flop was a little donkish but getting 2:1 odds and hitting top pair with a possibility (albeit, very small) that it was the best hand, was not that bad, I don't think. I think where he went wrong was to make such a big bet on the turn when a dangerous card hit. I mean if I didn't have any piece of it, a smaller bet would still have taken it down but instead, by him betting so big, he probably felt committed when I pushed and couldn't let go of his aces. Before calling so quickly, he should have thought about what I could be holding that he could beat... Only possible answer at that point would be AK and even that's unlikely...

I kinda got off topic with the example but I think the main thing to consider is to not become one dimensional in your play on the button. Sometimes, you can raise and sometimes you can just call. I think mixing up your play on the button is just as important since you will keep the opponents guessing and you'll have the benefit of acting after the opponents act.

My first ever Mookie and some nonpoker stuff

So last night was the first time I participated in the "Mookie" and it was very interesting. I honestly had no idea what to expect from a blogger tournament so this was pretty fun. I also wondered how much people would actually disclose their hands and stuff because to an extent, you don't want to disclose all your bluffs and real hands right? Honestly, I just wasn't sure. I registered early because I wanted to make sure I got to play but I wasn't able to sit at the table till about 9:30. In my first ever tourney, I didn't want to get too far out of line so I played relatively tight aggressive but straight forward poker. Fortunately, I was rewarded with decent cards until right before break #2 when my 77 ran into Iakaris's pocket rockets... It's not even fair to say that my 77 "ran into" pocket aces since I was the one that called off all my chips in a donkish play though I kinda justified it in my head at the time. Iakaris built up a nice stack and so he was starting to bully the table a little bit. So, knowing that these bloggers can get pretty aggressive with a decent stack and since we were down to like 20 players, I felt that he was really trying to take control of the table. I also had a very healthy stack at that point (I think I had top 10 stack) so I wanted to keep him in check. From EP, he raised it to a T$1000 so I reraised it to T$3000 with my pocket 7s. He then pushed the rest of his stack for another T$4000. At that point, I felt like I might be beat but I also thought he could be doing that with two overs. If I fold, I would have approx T$3800 left which was not desperate time but close. So, I decided to call and hope that it would be a race.... it was a race that I was badly losing since he had AA and that put an end to my first ever Mookie (not quite the first ever blogger tourney since I played MATH once on Stars. So, that sucked but it was fun.

Early in the tourney, when I sat, Miamidon asked if I had a blog so I told him about this awesome site. :) He then said that he also had notes on me from the cash games. Funny thing is, I thought his avatar (the Italian mobster) with his name seemed familiar so I wasn't too surprised. So, I fired up my PT to see if I had any info on him (I'm not an avid notetaker) and sadly, I couldn't find anything. So, at least I found comfort in the fact that his notes had to be from 2005 since I just got PT in January of 2006. I mean I had to be better now than I was back then right????

The tournament itself was a lot of fun but now that I read the "live blog" that the host did, it's even more entertaining. I kinda wished I paid attention to the fact that this live blog was going on... It would just be an added entertainment. What was also fun was the fact that I was playing a $1-2 NL hold'em game at the same time (didn't want to do 2-4NL since I wanted to focus on the tournament more) and this hand came up:

MP raises to $5 (2.5x BB) on the 9 handed table and gets one caller from CO-1 so I limp from the button with 89 of diamonds, blind calls another $3 and we see the flop 4 handed. Flop comes 6-7-10 with two clubs giving me the nut straight. The BB checks and the initial raiser bets $20. CO-1 calls and I thought about raising here since there were two clubs. But I didn't want to kill the action too much so I decided to call here and see what happens. BB folds and the turn is a non-club ace. Surprisingly, the initial raiser bets $40 at which point the CO-1 calls again. I'm obviously not going to fold my current nuts so I decide this pot has gotten enough action and that it was time for me to take it down. Also, I figured, one of them had to have a set so if I push, that should get the flush draw (if there was one) out and the guy with the set considering how big the pot is now will definitely call. So, I pushed the rest of my stack and sure enough, the initial raiser instafolded but CO-1 calls... with pocket 7's for trips. River comes a 9 of clubs so my straight took down a $571 pot!!! Huge pot for a $1-2NL game. That's always fun!

Anyways, I intend to play as many of these tournaments as possible. The late starting time definitely suits me well. I'd like to play in the Riverchasers tourney as well since they are all part of the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments but I have basketball from 8-10pm and if there's one thing I cannot miss, then it's playing basketball on Thursday nights... so unfortunately, no blogger tourney for me tonight.

***NONPOKER CONTENT STARTS HERE***

Last night, as I was playing the Mookie, I really wanted to go to bed. Not because I was tired (which I was) because I work hard during the day (which I kinda sorta do) but also because I had to get up early in the morning... how early? Try 3:45am.... that's almost not even morning... Well, the only reason I'd do something crazy is because I love my job.... of course, I kid. My mom has been visiting us this past week and the airport limo service was coming to pick her up from our house at 4am for her 6am flight. So, I wanted to see her out the door (I tried to do something similar when my dad was in the same situation but unfortunately, I came downstairs, just to see that he hopped in the car and left) so after I got busted from the Mookie around 11pm, I finished off my cash game which was closer to 12am ("finishing off" is a very ambiguous phrase for me) and went to sleep. Few hours later, I was up drinking green tea with my mom as we waited for her ride. For those of you that don't know me (ie other bloggers that may or may not care), my family lives in Japan... a mere 14 hr flight from here in VA. So, even though she was only here for a week, it was nice to get to spend time with her, especially because that wasn't possible in Christmas (when my dad came) because my grandpa passed away. It's always nice to be able to spend time with the family. I love playing poker and playing basketball but without family and friends, all this would be meaningless. So, in that sense, it was nice to be able to chat about the times I spent with grandpa (which was A LOT when I was growing up) and the random memories that I would have from growing up. And through all that, I still find time to play poker! Dedication? Maybe. Addiction? For sure...

Thin line between positive and negative...

I think these are the posts that make it obvious that I'm not crushing these games... instead, I play it fairly safe and consistent so I generally squeeze out profits and as the law of statistics suggest, in the end, I make money but not to the extent that guys do who are clearly playing at a different level. So, some nights, when I end up playing a very big pot, that could define whether I will be up for the night or down. Last night, relatively early in the session, this happened (this is not intended to be a bad beat story but rather an illustration):

I was dealt pocket 10's in middle position so I made a standard raise to $14. The guy right behind me paused for a little bit and then called. With online poker, you never know but for some reason, I got the feeling that he thought about raising so strangely enough, my initial reaction is that he might have a higher pair or AK. Everyone else folded so we went in to the flop heads up. Flop comes 10-5-6, all hearts. I bet $28 into a $34 pot because that's what I generally bet (approx 80% of the pot). He raises to $90 so it's $62 for me to call. I thought about just calling here but since I got the impression based on his bet size that he didn't want a call, I figured he couldn't have a made flush. The range of hands I put him on based on my preflop impression was AK, AA, KK, QQ, or JJ. There may be more but that was my initial thought. If he had trips too, that was just golden. So, unless he had AK of hearts, I am clearly ahead and if he's got a higher pocket pair with one heart, I wanted him to pay for his draws. Like I said, I considered the stop and go approach where I would call his raise and push on the turn as long as it wasn't a heart but here, I decided to come over the top. He insta-calls with AA, one heart. Turn was a black 9, and the river was a black.... A... brutal... I'd rather lose to a flush. No difference, I know, but still. That was a nice $800 pot for him... ($400) early in the session. I ended up battling back but I still ended the night down $200.

Like I said, I'm not complaining about the beat. Maybe if I called the flop and pushed the turn, he would have folded, though doubtful. Regardless, this is the type of hand where if I win, I clearly would have been up $600 for the night but instead, I was down $200. A big swing that I know is expected in the cash games but it affects me (not in a tilting kinda way but just my general profit) more than some of the other guys who are crushing this game because my game is more like chipping away at other people's money instead of dropping the hammer... Nonetheless, not a good start to for this month... after 3 days, I only have like $200 profit so far...

Thou shalt not doubt the power of presto...

After 42 "Presto is Gold" entries by Fuel55, you would think I would have learned...

$2-4NL 9 handed
One limper from EP and I make a pot sized bet to $18 from CO with AK. EP calls so we see the flop heads up. Flop comes 3-8-K with no flush draw. Checked to me so I bet $35 into a $42 pot. EP calls. Turn comes a 5. Checked to me again so I'm thinking he either has a weak K (like KQ, KJ) or he might have a set. Well, donkish me, I bet $70 into a $112 pot only to be reraised all in. Since EP was relatively shortstacked, it was only $50 more for me to call so I felt like at this point, I had to call. EP shows 55 (not sure why he called the flop bet considering he was out of position also) for a set...

Another $2-4NL 9 handed
Couple of middle position limpers and the CO raises to $22. I find 55 so I call from the button. Small blind, who is also relatively shortstacked reraises all in for $110 total. The two limpers fold and it's back to the CO who thinks about it for a long time and then finally decides to call. Now, I am in an interesting situation where I have to call another $90 but the pot is offering me close to 3-1. The problem is, after that call, the CO only has about $250. And since the SB is all in, I knew he had AK or a pocket pair that was better than mine. All told, I did not have enough equity in order to call for set mining since even if I hit a set, I'd have to get the rest of CO's money and even then, I don't have enough pot odds to call (7:1 to hit a set. Best case scenario with implied odds, I'm a little short of 6:1) so I naturally fold. I'm screaming as the flop comes A-Q-5 and with no help on the turn and the river, the CO wins the pot... with QJ suited!!!!! SB had pocket 10's. I'm not one to be result oriented so presented with the exact same scenario, I'd fold again but that always sucks to see a huge pot going to a guy who had no business being in the hand...

Quarter in review (and some nonpoker content)

First three months of the year has gone by and so I figured this would be a good time to look back and see how I have been doing so far this year. I also figured this would be a good time to look back at the goals I set for myself for this year and see if I've accomplished anything or come close to accomplishing any of them. A lot of my goals that I set were more in relation to tournaments. One of them was to qualify for a $10,000 tournament (whether it's WSOP, WPT, etc) and that, I guess I could argue that I came close to it but then again, I feel like this is one of those goals where you either did it or didn't. There's no "I came close to it", in my opinion, so that's still a goal for this year. Another one was to win an MTT tournament of any kind. I've come close in some of the satellites but I'm not sure that I can consider taking that down as winning the MTT. The irony is that I'm still not playing that many MTTs... I also had a goal in regards to successfully multitabling 2-4NL but in hindsight, that seems kinda silly to me now. Silly because it would seem like it would be hard to measure success. Obviously, making money would be one indicator but if I'm making x amount of money playing 2-4NL but I can make the exact same amount playing 1-2NL, is that playing it successfully? I think not. But since x is impossible to define, I'm not sure how to measure this... having said that, as long as I keep improving my results, I'd have to be happy about that.

So, in Q1 of 2007, one thing I have to say is that I made more money than I had expected. I didn't have any set number in mind but if at the beginning of the year, I said I should be able to make this much, I wouldn't have believed it. Possible, but unrealistic is what I would have thought. Funny thing is, now that I am looking at the amount, I am upset that I didn't make more. Expectation at the beginning of the year and what I expect of myself now has changed and that's obviously playing into my perception of how I've done so far. Also seeing what other bloggers have made at the same level tells me what I can potentially be making and comparing my results to that makes me realize that I'm way short of that. If someone can make 5 figures playing 2-4NL in a month, I should be able to hit that in a quarter... right?

I also learned that I am a total donk with AQ, both suited and unsuited. I really need to look at my plays with AQ and see how I am playing the hand because I am losing waaaaay too much money with that hand... to the point where I feel like I should just fold it preflop when the action is folded to me. Of course, I'm not gonna do that but I really need to reevaluate my play. I also think I tend to play a little too tight on the turn and the river. I'm not trying to overcall here but I need to realize that not every bet represents a made hand or a monster. I seem to fear the check raise a little too much and that leads me to be more passive and naturally, my opponents pick up on that and so they start aggressively betting... until I can't take the heat and fold. I intend to find some of these hands and maybe post them here or on the forum to get some thoughts.

On a more positive note, in the past three months, I've learned so much more from these blogs. When I first started this blog, I wasn't sure where it was going to go and what I was going to do with it. All I knew was that it seemed interesting so I figured why not. And as I started venturing into other people's blogs, I've learned so much more in terms of thought process, creativity, and moves that I never really thought about before. I've read a lot of poker books and that's obviously helped a lot but these blogs really illustrated those points I've read in the past.

***NOTE: NONPOKER CONTENT HERE***

On a totally different note, this weekend was Monument Ave 10k race in Richmond, VA. This has become a very large event and there were 24,000 participants this year. Well, I haven't really been training for the 6.2 mile run as much as I wanted to but I have been running a few times a week on top of playing basketball a few times a week so I was hoping to finish in about 51-52 minutes (a little over 8 minute mile pace) and I figured that was definitely within reach. My starting wave was supposed to start at 8:30 but because I couldn't find a place to park, I missed my starting group. I ended up starting with the group that was 5 waves behind me (but it really doesn't matter because the time is taken with the race chip that you attach to your shoe). The only concern there was that the pace might be slower but I got lucky and found a couple of guys who seemed to be running at a fairly decent pace. When I came through Mile 1, the clock read 30 minutes and I heard someone utter nearby that they were running 8:08 mile. So, I figured this was a pretty good pace and so I decided to keep it up. At mile 2, I was coming through around 37:40 so I knew that my 2nd mile was pretty fast in terms of my pace. However, I didn't feel like I was going faster than the first mile so I was fairly optimistic about my first mile. By the time I crossed the finish line, the clock read 1:10:xx so I knew that the last 5.2 miles, I ran it in approx 38-39 minutes so I was pretty excited about how I did. I don't know how fast or slow my first mile was at that point but I knew it was not a 10 minute mile so if that was the case, I was able to break 50 min which would be a very big accomplishment for me... that evening, I checked my time and my official time was 47:55!!! My 5k time was apparently 24:11 (didn't even know they tracked that) so my second half was stronger than my first half. I was very psyched about that and that was my personal best. Good stuff!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!! WSOP, I can almost taste it!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...

Wow, that actually made me feel better... and all I did was hold down shift+A... nice. In my WSOP Main Event attempt, I came so close... as I described in my post here. Well, tonight, I just decided to play in the Bracelet race, being inspired by Hoy's post. Well, I played relatively straight up poker, waiting for good hands but pressing when I felt that I had the better hand. I was also fortunate that I was at a table full of tight players for a while so I opened up my game a little (and only a little) but that helped me take down a lot of uncontested pots to help my stack. When we hit the final table, my stack was pretty much in line with everyone else.



I tried to open up my game and I succeeded here and there until I started getting a little out of line when it was down to 5 people and got another guy all in with my A6, just to see him turn over QQ. No bad beat crippled my stack so I went all in with my short stack with K8, and what do you know, I get one caller with QQ. However, this time, I flop two pair and so I have my stack back up to around 16000 which was still a little short but not too bad. However, we get our money all in when I have AJ sooooooooooted... and what do you know, I run into QQ again! No luck for me this time and I bust out 5th... I thought only 4 places paid so this message was strangely soothing...






But so close... top 2 places qualified for one of the prelim events at WSOP...



Soooooooo close.... and yet so far...

Never doubt the power of the bloggers!

For those of you that read Fuel55's blog I'm sure there are two schools of thought. One is probably the "wow, this guy is killing a high level NL game and his posts are interesting" vs the other which is probably the "this guy only brags about the monster pots he rakes in." Well, I think if you're in the second camp, there's probably a lot you're not picking up on. I think there are some good strategy tips in his posts (not all but quite a few) and along the way, I find the whole "Presto is gold" and "Flopped straights always lose" posts strangely amusing. Well this hand came up and so I have got to share it.

In honor of Fuel55, "Presto is Gold!" (First and only time I'll use it... hopefully Fuel won't mind if I "borrow" it) - and I'll even edit it like he does:

FullTiltPoker Game #2084889494: Table Bunch Grass - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:06:19 ET - 2007/03/27

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to RecessRampage [5s 5d] *First thing I thought of was Fuel... that's sad and shady at the same time...
I call $4 from MP
CO-1 calls
SB folds
BB raises to $28 (big raise!! AK or trying to protect his big pocket pair?)
I call *BB was deep so his reraise was still a perfect setup for set mining
CO-1 calls *this is just bonus
*** FLOP *** [Kd 5c 6c]
BB bets $48 *Smallish bet considering the pot had over $80. Worried about a set???
RecessRampage raises to $120 * Presto IS gold! If BB has KK what a cooler... oh wait, Presto is gold
CO-1 folds
BB calls $72 *Perfect. He clearly has AK or AA and if he's calling this bet, he's not gonna be able to let it go.
*** TURN *** [Kd 5c 6c] [Ts]
BB bets $220 *Interesting bet because this pretty much commits him. Either KK or this was just a bad bet.
RecessRampage raises to $440 *looks like his whole stack is about to be mine!
BB calls $98.60, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [5s 5d]
BB shows [Ac Ah] *Boooooom!
Uncalled bet of $121.40 returned to RecessRampage
*** RIVER *** [Kd 5c 6c Ts] [4s]
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, BB shows a pair of Aces
RecessRampage wins the pot ($960.20) with three of a kind

I left the table with 3.5x the buy-in. Nice!

Incorporating a lesson learned from other bloggers...

Few weeks ago, I read this post that I thought was very interesting. Previously, I pretty much considered reraising (in a cash game) with only premium hands for value or with good but vulnerable hands (maybe TT, JJ, QQ, AK) to protect them and to make them seem like better hands than they are. Basically, I was not creative and was playing standard tight/aggressive poker. I think Gnome's post made me look into the world of a little more loose/aggressive which is obviously needed in the higher levels. But, after reading his post, I've experimented here and there by reraising suited connectors and occasionally, they worked, other times, not so much. So, once I started getting a feel for when to use it, I hadn't done it in a while until this hand came up last night:

FullTiltPoker Game #2077576453: Table Hedge Top - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:31:02 ET - 2007/03/26
Seat 1: ROCKTJ ($205.60)
Seat 2: 100scoot ($186)
Seat 3: Cowboy 0389 ($256.60)
Seat 4: numbnuts ($419.20)
Seat 5: bg26892 ($366)
Seat 6: cfeuer ($435.90)
Seat 7: RecessRampage ($466.70)
Seat 8: LMB_LMB ($194.60)
Seat 9: card57 ($522.60)
LMB_LMB posts the small blind of $2
card57 is sitting out
ROCKTJ posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to RecessRampage [6s 5s]
100scoot folds
Cowboy 0389 folds
numbnuts folds
bg26892 raises to $14 (he's a relatively loose player who will certainly make plays)
cfeuer folds
RecessRampage raises to $40 (I thought this would be a good time with position)
LMB_LMB folds
ROCKTJ folds
bg26892 calls $26
*** FLOP *** [2s 3s 8d]
bg26892 checks
RecessRampage bets $70 (considering my cards, I figured this was a beautiful flop - gut shot straight draw and a flush draw)
bg26892 raises to $140 (uh oh... so maybe he had a pretty legit hand)
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $426.70, and is all in (he's gotta put me on aces or kings with this move)
bg26892 has 15 seconds left to act
bg26892 folds
Uncalled bet of $286.70 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($363)

This ended up being a decent sized pot that I took down with a hand that I may have folded preflop or misplayed and not be able to chase post flop. When the opponent raised me on the flop, I wasn't necessarily convinced that he had a hand. I thought he could make this play in case I was trying to take the pot down with AK. If he had a decent pocket pair like TT or JJ, this would definitely be a play that he would make. Fortunately for me, I had a fair amount of outs if he did have a pocket pair (13 outs) so I felt like I could really be aggressive with this hand. I also knew that the image I had on the table (or at least some of the regulars which the villain was) was that I would bet my strong hands (flopped set, I almost always come out firing out) and that I generally fold to a strong bet unless I have a monster holding. So, by coming over the top, I knew I was making a very strong statement. I also pretty much knew that he couldn't have a set because the cards were so low. It would be rare for him to raise with a pocket pair lower than 8's in that position so I was fairly comfortable with putting him on a range of hands like 99, TT, JJ, QQ, AQ, or AK. According to pokertools, if I put him on a range of 99, TT, JJ, QQ, or AK, I still have 50.78% equity. So, pushing this marginal edge that I had was definitely a good move I think.

Monday morning rants... and a couple of interesting situations

I hate Mondays. Well, let me back up. I hate Sunday evenings more. But Mondays are what make Sunday evenings bad so I guess I still hate Mondays. As I've gotten older, my mom has been sending me some random stuff that I've either made or written when I was a kid. And there was this one piece of wisdom that I wrote when I was like 7 yrs old...

"My favorite day is Saturday because I can play all day long but on Sundays, we have to get ready for Monday."

When I saw this piece of note that my mom sent me, I realized how much of a true genius I was... to recognize that Sunday night sucks because Monday mornings bring another wave of shittiness (whether it's work or school) at such young age... either that or I just haven't really grown up.

Funny thing is, I don't really hate my job all that much. Actually, I kinda like what I do. BUT, I only do it because I have to. I've heard some people say that "I love my job so much I'd work for free!" (say it in a high pitched voice for full effect). You know what I say to that? You're a loser. Personally, I wouldn't do anything for free. I'm obviously gonna need income so whatever I do for money, I better get paid... that's my take. Imagine taking money out of poker and just playing for fun? I'd quit in a heartbeat. Cuz it won't be fun. And I'm betting so would most of them. "Playing for fun" is a joke of a concept also. Maybe I'm too competitive. But I always thought people who said "oh, I'm just playing for fun" are losers. You play for fun because you know that you can't play to win. A donkey loses a few buy-ins at the table and at the end of the night, you almost always hear this... "Oh well, that was fun. Maybe next time." Yeah, thanks for your money. It was certainly more fun for us taking your money but you obviously wouldn't know anything about that, would you? But I'm a believer in keeping good customers happy so I always give them a smile and say "better luck next time." Naturally, I mean go run to the ATM and get some more money because your money is welcome here anytime.

Wow... I'm angry this morning. But I mean it. I never understood the, I'm just doing it for fun concept. Like when I play basketball... it's always for real. When I come home from our County League basketball games, I tell my wife what happened, what I did wrong, how it may have cost the team or who's not hustling enough, etc and she goes "it's like you're playing in the NBA. You're playing in the County! Let it go." But I can't. I'm a dork like that. I get into it. Anything less than 100% is unacceptable. I talk about cutting people from the team. She thinks I'm psycho... she's probably a little correct.

Ok, on to poker. This week, as I was reading the blogs of others, I noticed that a fellow blogger qualified for one of the preliminary WSOP events. Check out his post! Well, I was more or less inspired by that but my schedule didn't allow me to play in any of the WSOP qualifiers. Instead, I played in a daily double tournament that FTP has going and I was doing fairly well in both. I'm not gonna bore you with the details of a bad beat but on one of the tables, I had AA twice and got cracked both times, of course, preflop all-in... once against TT when he made a flush on the river and then against 33 when he turned a set. The first one hurt but I was able to climb back up. The second one hurt just as bad as the first except this time, the blinds were higher so I effectively had to go all in with A5 two hands later, only to be called by AQ... I played well at both tables but some things didn't quite go my way. Oh well.

On the cash game side, I ran into two very similar situations... they were both on FTP 2-4NL and it was very early. In other words, I had no read on either players. Both about 30-40 hands is all I had...

Situation 1: Villain from late position raises to $12. He had approx $300 behind him (and I obviously still had most of my $400 that I sat with). Button calls and I'm in the small blind with QQ. So I raise it to $40. BB folds and the villain pushes all in for the rest of his $300. Button folds and it's up to me... again, at this point, I had no read on the guy. Of the 30-40 hands he's played, his VP$IP was approx 25% so fairly active but haven't seen anything that would make me label him as overly aggressive. After much contemplation, I ended up folding my QQ.

Situation 2: Villain (different table, different guy, no information on this guy) from late position raises to $12. He had only about $135 behind him. Button calls and I'm in the big blind this time with JJ. I repop it to $40. Villain goes all in and the button folds. It's $90 more to me... so I call. He has KK. Except I catch another J on the turn to deliver a bad beat for him, a nice $300 pot for me.

I think the only difference in the two situations is the amount of money it would cost me. Another $90 when I just invested $40 already and the pot already had approx $200 seemed like it was a relatively easy call even though I had a feeling I was behind... though I have to admit, the fact that the guy had a short stack made me think that he was probably a worse player so he could be doing this with a smaller pair. In other words, his range of hands, to me, were greater than the range of hands I would have given credit to a player with a bigger stack. Right or wrong, that was my thinking based on very limited information.

What would you have done in the 2 situations?

Following up to the AA hand that I faced

Before I start, I need to do a disclaimer I think.... My recent posts have been very similar to the posts of other bloggers that I've been frequenting... however, I'm not just copying their ideas. I see some posts, think that's a good idea so that's why I post... I didn't want to be the blogger copy cat....

Well, I posted this hand on a forum as well and it actually generated a lot more discussion than I had expected. The fact that I did have the Ad made me feel better because I did have a potential redraw. However, I did not want to shove because I felt that I didn't necessarily wanna commit all my money especially in a situation where I still had position. I also don't necessarily believe that you should go broke if you have AA and someone hits trips. Happens, but not something that I don't think is avoidable from time to time. So, I called. The following is what ended up happening:
*** FLOP *** [3c 9d Jd]

bizaer checks

RecessRampage bets $26

bizaer raises to $62

RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act

RecessRampage calls $36

*** TURN *** [3c 9d Jd] [Td]

bizaer checks

RecessRampage bets $100

bizaer has 15 seconds left to act

bizaer folds

Uncalled bet of $100 returned to RecessRampage

RecessRampage mucks

RecessRampage wins the pot ($153)

In looking at it now, I probably should have pushed on the flop. Based on the fact that he didn't like the third diamond and he folded, he obviously wasn't on the flush draw, nor did he have trips. So, the only hand that makes sense is KK or QQ... maybe AJ if he were that loose but I don't see him as a guy that would check raise me on a dangerous board like that with an off suit AJ. Maybe, but that wasn't my impression of the guy. So, if I shoved on the flop, he may or may not fold his KK or QQ...

The bet on the turn is also questionable. If he were on a flush draw, that would have been a perfect check raise opportunity for him so I opened that door right up. Considering I had the nut flush draw, in case he had trips, this probably would have been a good checking opportunity. If he didn't already have trips, at most, he only had 2 outs. If he did have trips, I had 9 outs and would have gotten the card for free. The more I analyze myself, the turn bet was definitely a donk bet. The reason I bet at the time was because at that point, I was ready to commit. With 3 diamonds and me having AA (with a diamond), I felt like I was ready to take that chance. Well, if I'm willing to take that kind of a chance on the turn, I should have just pushed on the flop. Based on the hands that he could have had after the preflop/flop sequence, this is what my equity looks like:

I think this is a fairly reasonable range of hands to put my opponent on. J9 might be a little loose but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. So, based on that, I probably should have pushed and if the opponent did have KK or QQ (especially if one of them was a diamond), I may have gotten a call.

"Good players play tight but appear loose"

I've heard this a few times before. But before, it was a fleeting concept for me. In other words, I wasn't truly "getting it." I, in the past, have interpreted this to be maybe uber-aggressive in marginal situations or take down pots with an unexpected hand like a gap connector or something. But I think this concept is starting to come around for me. I clearly, as of now, still fall more towards a tight player than a LAG. And when I tried to incorporate "loose play" or my meager understanding of it, the results weren't so great. When I catch cards, I noticed I was winning monster pots. But when I'm not, I was bleeding money. But because of the potential of the monster pots, I knew that there were places where looser play needs to be part of my arsenal.

As I studied some of the other players at my table that I consider to be players who do fairly well, I noticed a few things that contributed to the phrase "good players play tight but appear loose." I noticed that in the earlier positions, these players are uber tight. I mean very very tight. But from later positions, they seem looser. Probably more along the lines of what a normal loose player would be except they only do that in later positions. So last night, I didn't get to play as much (played only about an hour online) but I kinda took that to the extreme, just to try out my "new strategy."

It was actually quite interesting. The results were nothing worth noting. +$60 combined in two tables of 2-4NL is really nothing... Having said that, controlling what types of hands to play from what position helps on the later streets. I folded AJ from mid position when there was an early position raiser from a fairly tight player but would raise with the same hand when it came to me with no raises and if I'm in relatively late position. I would stay out of hands like J-10 from out of position but if I had position (the button), I'd call with suited connectors and one gappers. I didn't really hit any of it but I know that unless someone was really paying attention to what I was doing, I looked like I was in almost every other flop. And yet, I was in position for most of them and if I weren't, I generally had a top 5% starting hand. I don't think I can totally keep this up but I think this is a good base to build upon. Varying plays is also important so I obviously can't stick to this or eventually, someone will figure it out.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm starting to hate hands like AJ, KQ, AQ... Actually, I think those are the only ones I hate cuz they are pseudo good starting hands. AT, KJ, KT are pretty much worthless to me... QJ, I kinda like but only because that's more like a connector to me. Hitting one of the cards as a pair doesn't really excite me... AJ, KQ, AQ are definitely raisable hands... but I think I need to be very careful when I call a raise with these type hands. I don't think I'll get to the point where this would be an auto-fold... that's too tight for me. But I also have to recognize the situation where if I am facing multiple bets when I hit one of my cards, I really need to reassess the situation to see if someone is making a play at me or if my hand is no good. And this is when having position helps. I can't wait till this weekend when I'll have some time to actually play poker for several hours and see if a) I can stick to this discipline and b) it brings positive or negative results.

A situation I faced with pocket aces...

This isn't a super tough situation or anything but I'd love to hear some ideas/comments about how you would proceed in this hand... The big stack hasn't done anything too crazy but he also has made some plays where the situation calls for it (either that or he's getting a sick run of cards).

Full Tilt Poker Game #2040414873: Table Wetlands Park - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:41:56 ET - 2007/03/21
Seat 1: bp2020 ($133.40)
Seat 2: seebee25 ($127)
Seat 3: rowenazolekker ($81)
Seat 4: offtotheraces ($158)
Seat 5: bizaer ($894.80)
Seat 6: dachamp242 ($534.90)
Seat 7: tj2006 ($414)
Seat 8: nsewell4 ($638)
Seat 9: RecessRampage ($362.70)
bizaer posts the small blind of $2
dachamp242 posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ac Ad]
tj2006 folds
nsewell4 folds
RecessRampage raises to $14
bp2020 folds
seebee25 folds
rowenazolekker folds
offtotheraces folds
bizaer calls $12
dachamp242 folds
*** FLOP *** [3c 9d Jd]
bizaer checks
RecessRampage bets $26
bizaer raises to $62


Ok, so what's your play? This obviously isn't a test question. I really would like some input on the thought process and get some ideas on what to do in this situation. Hopefully, I will get a few comments back and then I'll tell you what I did and what happened.

Learning to play pseudo good starting hands...

I may have mentioned this before... but when I looked at my PT stats, I was shocked to find out what hands I'm actually losing money on. The best hand that I'm losing money in? AQo. I'm not doing much better with suited AQ, but AQo has been a clear loser for me. So I had to think about how it is that I'm losing money with a hand like AQ. I mean after all, AQ is clearly a good starting hand, right? I mean aside from the pair hands, the only hand better than AQ is AK. So, it must be good. So, for me to be losing money with AQ means I'm severely misplaying this hand. Since I'm an idiot, I am still (after all the posts about how should be studying my play) not devoting enough time to analyze my game. Having said that, I noticed that with AQ, when I win, I win small pots... namely, uncontested raises preflop. When I lose however, I am losing significant chunks of my money. And these are the following situations where I noticed that I am losing an incredible amounts of money:
- lose to AK when A hits the board.
- lose to A-x, when they hit two pair vs my Q kicker.
- lose to a pocket pair when I unsuccessfully try to bluff
- lose to AA or KK when Q hits on the flop
- lose to Q-x (generally a hand like QJ) when they make two pair and I have my tptk

Based on this, depending on how my opponent plays, I am gonna say that for now, I can live with the fact that I lose the pots where my opponent gets two pair. But for some reason, with AQ, I don't know when to hit the breaks. And that seems to be a common theme amongst all 5 situations that I listed above. So, I'm gonna try to analyze this on each street:

Preflop: Let's say I'm in late position with AQ (suited or unsuited, does it really matter?). MP makes a standard raise so I call. Ok, let's pause for a second. Assuming the MP is a normal solid player who doesn't get too far out of line, what's his raising requirements? AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, 88+. Ok, maybe make him a little looser (but still not creative because that's just too much to compute at this time) and add hands like ATs, KJ, QJs. Yes, I know, these three are pushing it but let's just include those. So, now that I think about it, of the range of hands where a guy who is just your average tight player, my hand is only better than AJ and KQ. That's 2 out of the possible 11 hands in my initial range. 5 out of the looser 14 hand range. But I got position and not calling preflop with AQ to me, is unthinkable. I don't think this is where I am making my mistakes. But let's keep those starting hands in mind.

Flop (1): All rags. Like 9-5-2. Opponent bets out 80-85% of the pot. What do you do? For some reason, I feel compelled to call most flop bets. The continuation bet factor seems too great for me. In other words, he'd make the same bet regardless of whether he hit or not as long as it's not too dangerous right? Well, I think this is my first error. First of all, we've already determined that my starting hand was most likely behind to begin with. On a board like this, if I can't sell the fact that I have a pocket pair, I don't think I have any business playing. So maybe I should be raising in this situation. More often than not though, I end up calling or folding. Weak, tight play that I need to correct.

Flop (2): Q high rags, like Q-5-2. Opponent bets out 80-85% of the pot. What do you do? Call or raise? I think this is a pretty favorable situation. Now, compared to the preflop situation where I was behind in most instances, most likely I am ahead. The only hands beating me at this point are AA, KK, QQ, 55, and 22. And it's very unlikely that he has QQ. So, a raise is probably in order, unless you feel like slowplaying is key. By raising, you can either take the pot down there or find out in a hurry that you are behind if he reraises you. It might get tricky if he calls but if he does call, there are only two hands that would call a raise at this point, right? AQ or KQ. Other than that, he's calling with hands that beat you...

Moving on... We'll assume that I folded on Flop (1) instead of calling because now that I think about it, calling is just utterly ridiculous unless I consider myself to be a much better player than the opponent which at the stakes I currently play at, I don't. So, let's take Flop (2) and assume that I raised and got called:

Turn (1) - J (board now reads Q-5-2-J). My opponent checks. What should I do? I always feel compelled to bet here. I mean how can I not? And this is where I become stupid and forget everything else that I thought about preflop and on the flop. So, if I look at this simple picture, the only hand that can beat me is AA, KK, QJ, QQ, JJ, 55, 22. Except QJ was not really in my opponent's starting hand range (it is in the expanded version but not the normal version). So, betting seems like a sensible play. And I'm not going against betting here but this is where I need to pause and think about what could the opponent really have? So let's rewind for a second.

Let's say the opponent had the expanded version of the starting hands. 14 starting hands of which only 5 I am beating preflop. He bets a relatively safe looking board but gets raised. At this point, if he calls, what can he have? He doesn't have position, he bets out and gets raised and still calls? That means he's gotta have a piece of the board, right? At least naturally, let's assume so. Then, based on the expanded version of the starting hands, he could have AA, KK, QQ, KQ, QJ, 55, or 22. Let's also say that he can't let go of JJ or TT in this instance. That's 9 of the initial 14 hands that I'm losing to and I'm still only beating 4 of the 9 combinations that I find reasonable to keep playing.

So, when the turn comes a J, what's the sensible play here? Should I still bet? More than half the time, I'm losing with this hand if it reaches showdown unless I get more help. Or should I check in order to control the pot size and also disguise my hand? If I bet another 80-85% of the pot size, I can either get raised or get called, only if the opponent has a better hand. In other words, I'm not sure of the EV situation here but it doesn't look good. TT would surely fold here and so now, I'm only beating KQ. That's the only hand that I can beat. I am losing to all other hands. By writing this down, to me, it seems like an obvious checking situation. True, I'm giving another free card but at this point, what card am I afraid of falling on the river? Based on the sequence and my thought process, if I'm ahead on the turn, the only card I don't want to see is a K right? Because if my opponent has KQ (which again, is the ONLY hand I'm beating), he only has 3 outs. I don't think a free card is all that bad. Actually, I think that's better than betting here.

River: X. The card that actually falls on the river doesn't really matter I don't think. But just for argument's sake, let's say it's a 2, pairing the board. (Q-5-2-J-2). If the opponent bets out, what do you do? I feel like I need to call. Most likely I will. But if I reread my own post here and think about it, it seems that there aren't too many hands that I can beat here... esp if the guy is betting out on the river. If he had KQ, I'm pretty sure he won't bet out. Maybe he will but that's an awful lot of money to find out if this guy is as big a donkey. And if he had AA or KK, he's no longer afraid of me having QJ cuz that 2 on the river would have me counterfeited. But even then, he could be afraid of my set so he might not bet. But the only hand that he would bet here would be if he had a bigger hand than mine right?

I don't know if spelling this out makes me look like a very weak-tight player. But it actually helped me out in terms of putting my thought process down on paper. When I look at it this way, AQ is not that good of a hand in light of what has happened. I feel that the hand pretty much ended when I raised the flop and got called.

I'd love to hear some thoughts on how you may have played it differently or what you could do. I have similar issues with a hand like KQ (even though I am much tighter with KQ). Overcalling with hands like this I think is one of many leaks I have in this game.

Damn, I'm a donk sometimes...

Or should I say more often than not... fortunately, there are even bigger donks out there so that helps. Sometimes, I look at my play and I wonder how the hell I make money playing poker... And sometimes, when you're grinding, it could come down to a few key hands that determine whether you are going to be up for the night or down for the night. Last night, on a $1-2NL table, I was playing fairly well, growing my stack to about $280 when this happened... since I am at work right now, I don't have PT loaded here so I'll describe the situation.

Everyone folds to the button who has about $300 and he pops it to $8. I didn't really have a good read on him (that's the price I pay when I multitable) except he didn't seem to be awfully creative. So, my first impression was probably a solid player who plays tight aggressive. Well, I'm in the SB with KK. So, I considered slow playing but I thought this would be a good time to pop him back and send the message to not mess with my blinds (so much easier to do when you have the cards to back it up). So, I repopped him to $20. He then comes over the top to $34. Uh oh... AA? I mean what else would raise, re-raise, then re-raise? Well, there's like $70 in the pot so I call for $14 more. The flop comes all rags with two hearts so I check. He immediately pushes the whole stack... Ok, this hand is screaming aces. I mean what else would he do this with. AK of hearts if you just look at the flop but if you put the preflop action in your mind, it's clearly AA. Right? My clock is ticking, I get my usual 15 second warning (that's one thing I hate about online poker... just not enough time to think through some hands) and with like 5 seconds remaining, what do I do? I call. He flips over AA. Obviously. Ace on the turn seals the deal. Boom. Go from up $80 to down $200. I grinded out the rest of the night so at the end of the night, I was only down $30... but if I didn't donk away all my chips, I would have been up more than $200... I hate it when I make retard moves like that. The guy who took all my chips was at least nice about it. "Nothing much you can do there... unlucky." Errr, thanks but there's a lot I could do there. Like folding.

Note to self: When you know the opponent has AA, fold your KK. Brilliant.

Yours truly,
the retard donk

WSOP attempt...

Dammit!!!! Came so close... (click on pic to see it up close... yours truly in 8th place...)

I definitely had some VERY lucky hands so I probably didn't deserve to be at the final table... having said that, once I got here, things were going pretty well, (even after my AK didn't catch up to my opponent's 33 when he flopped quads) until this pivotal hand...





FullTiltPoker Game #2017985796: WSOP Two Seat Giveaway (14551210), Table 17 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:01:34 ET - 2007/03/18
Seat 1: RecessRampage (84,836)
Seat 3: kidzero (95,010)
Seat 4: PJsoules (69,901)
Seat 5: Crzzy2000 (25,893)
Seat 6: rustoopid (28,203)
Seat 7: olivsen (59,070)
Seat 8: SaxManMike (93,747)
Seat 9: HR Dub (56,340)
RecessRampage antes 300
kidzero antes 300
PJsoules antes 300
Crzzy2000 antes 300
rustoopid antes 300
olivsen antes 300
SaxManMike antes 300
HR Dub antes 300
PJsoules posts the small blind of 1,200
Crzzy2000 posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to RecessRampage [Qs Kh]
rustoopid folds
olivsen folds
SaxManMike folds
HR Dub folds
RecessRampage raises to 7,200
kidzero folds
PJsoules has 15 seconds left to act
PJsoules calls 6,000
Crzzy2000 folds
*** FLOP *** [6s Ks 7s]
PJsoules bets 12,000
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 36,000
PJsoules raises to 62,401, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 26,401
PJsoules shows [Qc As]
RecessRampage shows [Qs Kh]
*** TURN *** [6s Ks 7s] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [6s Ks 7s Ts] [9d]
PJsoules shows a flush, Ace high
RecessRampage shows a flush, King high
PJsoules wins the pot (144,002) with a flush, Ace high

I don't know if it would have made a difference but maybe I should have just pushed when he bet out 12,000... as you can see, he did end up winning the whole thing so I guess he put my chips to good use.... DAMN!!!!!