I think there are situations where folding aces may be easier than others. Having said that, it's never easy, especially if you're heads up. Also, I think there are few ways to play them based on the position but this interesting hand came up yesterday...
FullTiltPoker Game #2630757753: Table Canyon Run - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:15:06 ET - 2007/06/10
9 handed - I'm on the big blind - I've built my stack up to $623 and the villain here has the 3rd largest stack at the table with $451. Villain is in MP.
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ah As]
Villain raises to $12
Button calls $12
RecessRampage raises to $48
Villain calls $36
Button folds
I hate that move because I feel like it tips off my hand but I don't want to play aces 3 handed out of position so I bumped it up, hoping to either take it down or make it heads up. Mission partially accomplished (heads up).
*** FLOP *** [4s 8h 5s]
RecessRampage bets $85
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain raises to $403.35, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $318.35
What do you do here? Do you consider folding? I mean you just tipped off your hand preflop by more or less announcing that you have AA or KK, you bet a big amount on the flop, basically confirming that, and the guy thinks about it, then pushes. I obviously called. But what do you think? Would you have folded?
Initially, I thought, man, that's sick... did this guy hit a set? But then I thought it was kinda weird that he pushed all in. If he had a set, and he thought I have AA or KK, he shouldn't be afraid of another spade so wouldn't he raise maybe 2.5x my bet or something to try to reel me in? I mean why push for $320 more? That made me wonder if he wanted me to fold here. In all honesty, this whole thought process didn't hit me until now as I'm typing. But I sensed that something wasn't quite right. Something didn't seem right and so, I called. This is what I saw:
Villain shows [3s 2s] <--- OESD with a flush draw (14 outs)
RecessRampage shows [Ah As]
*** TURN *** [4s 8h 5s] [8c] <--- ok, that takes away 3 of his outs (the two aces and 8s)
*** RIVER *** [4s 8h 5s 8c] [Qc] <--- phew...
Villain shows a pair of Eights
RecessRampage shows two pair, Aces and Eights
RecessRampage wins the pot ($911.70) with two pair, Aces and Eights
Big pot and definitely made me sweat. I don't think it was a bad move by him but this could be dangerous in that next time, in a similar situation, he could do the same and push on the flop with a set. So, then the question is, on a board like that, would you have folded? What if he check called the flop and then check raised all in on the turn, would it be different?
I'd love to hear the thoughts of some people.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Now, THIS is impressive
This has nothing to do with my play or anything. I was just mulling around this morning and saw this on a $1-2NL 6max table.
That's 10 buy-ins! Holy cow. I know the games there are soft but that's a lot... I don't know how long the dude's been sitting at the table but I've never seen a stack that was 10x the max buy-in. I'm also impressed that the table hasn't broken...
That's 10 buy-ins! Holy cow. I know the games there are soft but that's a lot... I don't know how long the dude's been sitting at the table but I've never seen a stack that was 10x the max buy-in. I'm also impressed that the table hasn't broken...
Saturday, June 9, 2007
I broke the seal!
Finally... I started the year with approx $800 and my goal was to run it up to 5 digits... I was off to a quick start and then May came around and I stalled big time. I was able to lock in another 4 digit profit month but barely and I was pretty upset about my results in May. By April, I was definitely on pace to hit 5 digits so May was supposed to have been the month but I crossed over at one point but by the time I cashed out of the table, I was in the "close" territory. Well, I finally did it. Today, I went past the 5 digit mark and hopefully, will never look back.
I played ok on the cash tables but I had two tournaments that I played in today. One was the Ironman Freeroll and the other was a $69+6 buy-in, $12,500 guarantee tournament on FTP. I always said that Ironman is your typical "rich gets richer" scheme. For the bronze and the silver levels where they are easy to achieve, I think you get a fair number of entrants. But for the gold and the ironman level, there's a lot less. This month, there were only 205 runners in the Ironman level and top 90 gets paid. Yeah, Top 90. That's an insane ratio where almost half the players get paid. Seriously, you can fold to the money (one guy literally did. He never signed on but won because right before he had to go all in, the money bubble burst). I ended up in 53rd place and got $120... which was unfortunate because 45-90 all got paid $120. I could've been conservative and gone for the money bump but that's not why I play, right?
In the other tournament, I played fairly well. I was able to build up my chip stack rather early when I was able to exploit some of the weak tight players at the table (and you KNOW they are weak-tight if I can exploit them). So, I actually tripled my buy-in and was sitting pretty when this stupid hand came up...
I was raising from late position as I was frequently doing but this time I have pocket kings. All our money goes in on the flop when I see this...
Online poker is soooooo rigged. Fortunately, I chipped up early so even though this hurt, it brought my stack down to T2000 which was only slightly below average. Well, one thing I'm definitely good at is that I rarely tilt. I moved on like nothing happened and continued to play solid poker.
As the second break was coming up, I was doing fairly well.
As the bubble approached, I wanted to make sure that I didn't tighten up... except all of a sudden, I went card dead. And other big stacks were raising before me so I couldn't make a move. I slowly dwindled down until I decided to just attack the guys who were raising almost every time. Fortunately, that worked and one key hand where I was able to win the coinflip propelled me into top 8 with about 18 players remaining. I tried to remain aggressive but in the end, I got picked off when we saw the flop four handed, I pushed with an open ended straight draw and a guy who had me barely covered called with TPTK. Unfortunate end to a decent run. Having said that, it's always nice to see these messages pop up...
And believe me, I was pretty happy finishing 13th out of 258 runners even though, I can't help but think what could've been... And this one for the ironman challenge...
In all honesty, finding this blogging community has been the best thing that's happened to my poker life. By reading others' blogs and playing in the BBT, I know that my tournament skills have improved immensely over the past couple of months. Before, I felt like I could eventually win one of these things. Right now, I feel like it's a matter of time before I take one down. I know I have a few more things to learn for sure but I know I can get there. And hopefully, that will be sooner rather than later.
PS. Schaubs, thanks for the email. I'll have the password for future references! And don't worry about not getting back to me in time. At least I had a good excuse for not being in the 4 man tourney... :)
I played ok on the cash tables but I had two tournaments that I played in today. One was the Ironman Freeroll and the other was a $69+6 buy-in, $12,500 guarantee tournament on FTP. I always said that Ironman is your typical "rich gets richer" scheme. For the bronze and the silver levels where they are easy to achieve, I think you get a fair number of entrants. But for the gold and the ironman level, there's a lot less. This month, there were only 205 runners in the Ironman level and top 90 gets paid. Yeah, Top 90. That's an insane ratio where almost half the players get paid. Seriously, you can fold to the money (one guy literally did. He never signed on but won because right before he had to go all in, the money bubble burst). I ended up in 53rd place and got $120... which was unfortunate because 45-90 all got paid $120. I could've been conservative and gone for the money bump but that's not why I play, right?
In the other tournament, I played fairly well. I was able to build up my chip stack rather early when I was able to exploit some of the weak tight players at the table (and you KNOW they are weak-tight if I can exploit them). So, I actually tripled my buy-in and was sitting pretty when this stupid hand came up...
I was raising from late position as I was frequently doing but this time I have pocket kings. All our money goes in on the flop when I see this...
Online poker is soooooo rigged. Fortunately, I chipped up early so even though this hurt, it brought my stack down to T2000 which was only slightly below average. Well, one thing I'm definitely good at is that I rarely tilt. I moved on like nothing happened and continued to play solid poker.
As the second break was coming up, I was doing fairly well.
As the bubble approached, I wanted to make sure that I didn't tighten up... except all of a sudden, I went card dead. And other big stacks were raising before me so I couldn't make a move. I slowly dwindled down until I decided to just attack the guys who were raising almost every time. Fortunately, that worked and one key hand where I was able to win the coinflip propelled me into top 8 with about 18 players remaining. I tried to remain aggressive but in the end, I got picked off when we saw the flop four handed, I pushed with an open ended straight draw and a guy who had me barely covered called with TPTK. Unfortunate end to a decent run. Having said that, it's always nice to see these messages pop up...
And believe me, I was pretty happy finishing 13th out of 258 runners even though, I can't help but think what could've been... And this one for the ironman challenge...
In all honesty, finding this blogging community has been the best thing that's happened to my poker life. By reading others' blogs and playing in the BBT, I know that my tournament skills have improved immensely over the past couple of months. Before, I felt like I could eventually win one of these things. Right now, I feel like it's a matter of time before I take one down. I know I have a few more things to learn for sure but I know I can get there. And hopefully, that will be sooner rather than later.
PS. Schaubs, thanks for the email. I'll have the password for future references! And don't worry about not getting back to me in time. At least I had a good excuse for not being in the 4 man tourney... :)
Friday, June 8, 2007
Clear sign that I'm a degenerate...
Friday... We all look forward to this day. End of the work week, big plans for the weekend, and just Friday night madness involving maybe a nice dinner, going out for drinks, maybe movies or a date... so many endless possibilities. Few years ago, it was a definite happy hour followed by insane amount of alcohol consumption where every finger waved in the air meant another round of Soco or Jagerbombs. So tonight, what do I do???
After a quick dinner with Mrs Recess and some QT, I hit the poker tables. Which is nothing unusual these days. Well, I didn't get to hit the tables till about 10pm (which is my excuse for missing the Friday night donkament) but even better is the fact that around 11:30, I go check out the final table... and end up railing all the remaining bloggers while jamming to Buddy's live broadcast. Don't get me wrong, it was very fun and I'm guessing that's what the trip to Vegas would have been like (except of course A LOT MORE FUN). It was just funny that that's what us poker degenerates do on a Friday night. I can only see my conversation with my coworkers on Monday.
"Hey Alan, how was your weekend? Did you do anything special on Friday night?"
"Yeah, actually, I was railing a few bloggers and listening to the live broadcast."
"Railing? Bloggers? Oh ok... I'll talk to you later."
:) Ah, what do they know?
Btw, does anyone know the password to the WPBT? If so, please let me know. Thanks!
After a quick dinner with Mrs Recess and some QT, I hit the poker tables. Which is nothing unusual these days. Well, I didn't get to hit the tables till about 10pm (which is my excuse for missing the Friday night donkament) but even better is the fact that around 11:30, I go check out the final table... and end up railing all the remaining bloggers while jamming to Buddy's live broadcast. Don't get me wrong, it was very fun and I'm guessing that's what the trip to Vegas would have been like (except of course A LOT MORE FUN). It was just funny that that's what us poker degenerates do on a Friday night. I can only see my conversation with my coworkers on Monday.
"Hey Alan, how was your weekend? Did you do anything special on Friday night?"
"Yeah, actually, I was railing a few bloggers and listening to the live broadcast."
"Railing? Bloggers? Oh ok... I'll talk to you later."
:) Ah, what do they know?
Btw, does anyone know the password to the WPBT? If so, please let me know. Thanks!
Nice little run in the 26k
Before I go into my recap of a relatively deep run in last night's 26k on FTP, let me say that it looks like the bloggers are hitting Vegas hard! Last I checked, Hoy was doing well in WSOP #12 6max event and sounds like he's at least cashed in the event according to Iakaris. (Actually, unfortunately, Hoy is now out - but he cashed, so well done sir!) To see Iak's update on Vegas, click here.
I still I wish I was there... but anywho, last night, for a change, I decided to play in the 26k guarantee tournament on FTP. Since I consider myself to be a tournament donk and tourneys tend to seem to be more hit or miss than cash games (it's rare that you play solidly for 3 hrs in a cash game and come out empty handed vs tournament, that could easily happen with one missed coinflip at the end), it's rare that I play in tourneys outside the blogger gatherings (more commonly referred to as blonkaments... ie donkaments).
Well, since I've been playing with the bloggers, I've been putting some effort into becoming a better MTT player. And so I figured I might do alright which was part of what played into my change of heart to try out the 26k. For the first hour, I really couldn't get anything going. Aside from one donkish fold (I overestimated the skill level of some of these clowns), I didn't even get good enough cards to make a mistake with. So, towards the end of hour #1, I stole a few blinds just to stay around the starting stack... In hour #2, as the blinds started increasing, I knew I was gonna have to make some plays. So, I decided to use my tight image as a weapon and started going after the medium stacks. And it worked nicely. Couple that with getting decent cards at the right time, I was chipping up nicely. I had about 10k and that was slightly above average stack when break #2 rolled around. I was still playing relatively tight though and obviously, cashing in this event was not my goal (paying $26 to play in this damn thing, believe me when I say I don't care if I get $33 or whatever the minimum payout was - 1st place was $6k+). So, I knew I had to chip up even more aggressively in hour #3. Actually, in my mind, I decided that this will be the make or break hour where I would either end up top 15 in chips or bust out. So, midway into hour #3, I decided to tangle with another big stack at the table:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2608836914: $26,000 Guarantee (19443133), Table 56 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:36:28 ET - 2007/06/08
Seat 1: RecessRampage (13,989)
Seat 2: Brucesta76 (3,511)
Seat 3: ColoradoG (5,865)
Seat 4: BODINE_W (11,545), is sitting out
Seat 5: Massita (12,065)
Seat 6: pnkranger (14,290)
Seat 7: bats867 (5,740)
Seat 8: RosseyDog850 (9,905)
Seat 9: NastyBeet (9,949)
RecessRampage antes 75
Brucesta76 antes 75
ColoradoG antes 75
BODINE_W antes 75
Massita antes 75
pnkranger antes 75
bats867 antes 75
RosseyDog850 antes 75
NastyBeet antes 75
NastyBeet posts the small blind of 300
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ks Ts]
Brucesta76 folds
ColoradoG folds
BODINE_W folds
Massita folds
pnkranger raises to 1,600
bats867 folds
RosseyDog850 folds
NastyBeet folds
RecessRampage calls 1,000 <--- I was ready to go to war. I know KTs is a crappy hand. I was looking for a moderately coordinated board. He's been raising a fair amount so his range could be pretty big.
*** FLOP *** [7d 6c 8s] <--- perfect
RecessRampage checks
pnkranger bets 2,750
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 12,314, and is all in <--- two overs, gut shot straight draw, and a runner runner flush draw, coupled with fold equity? No brainer, IMO.
pnkranger has 15 seconds left to act
pnkranger folds
Uncalled bet of 9,564 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (9,675)
This was big because this put me close to 20k in chips and meanwhile the table chip leader before this hand was below the 10k mark after this hand.
So, I was feeling good about that but the blinds increase insanely quickly at this level and soon, I found myself stealing more often than I am comfortable with... But, considering some of the marginal hands I've been raising with, I was delighted to find AJ from CO-1... So, I just go for a steal push... and then get two callers...
The KQ was obviously a result of the fact that he's seen me do that a lot and also his low M... Unfortunately, I get no help and I'm down to like T$4000 with my M of like 3. I folded my BB of 2-4 (I don't believe in total ATC...) but I pushed the remainder of my chips with Q4 the very next hand from my SB against a button raiser who had J8. Two pair on the flop for me and so I got some breathing room. Very next hand, I find QT and I think to myself this is good enough to push with if it's folded to me. I see one limper from MP so I push... and this is what I see.
A race situation to put me back into contention is all I can ask for at this point...
No help on the turn or the river either and that ends my deep run into the 26k... 77th out of 1,077 runners sound good but it's no good... Still, it's better than nothing I guess.
Admittedly, I didn't get to sleep till close to 2am EST so I am exhausted this morning... where's my cup of coffee...
I still I wish I was there... but anywho, last night, for a change, I decided to play in the 26k guarantee tournament on FTP. Since I consider myself to be a tournament donk and tourneys tend to seem to be more hit or miss than cash games (it's rare that you play solidly for 3 hrs in a cash game and come out empty handed vs tournament, that could easily happen with one missed coinflip at the end), it's rare that I play in tourneys outside the blogger gatherings (more commonly referred to as blonkaments... ie donkaments).
Well, since I've been playing with the bloggers, I've been putting some effort into becoming a better MTT player. And so I figured I might do alright which was part of what played into my change of heart to try out the 26k. For the first hour, I really couldn't get anything going. Aside from one donkish fold (I overestimated the skill level of some of these clowns), I didn't even get good enough cards to make a mistake with. So, towards the end of hour #1, I stole a few blinds just to stay around the starting stack... In hour #2, as the blinds started increasing, I knew I was gonna have to make some plays. So, I decided to use my tight image as a weapon and started going after the medium stacks. And it worked nicely. Couple that with getting decent cards at the right time, I was chipping up nicely. I had about 10k and that was slightly above average stack when break #2 rolled around. I was still playing relatively tight though and obviously, cashing in this event was not my goal (paying $26 to play in this damn thing, believe me when I say I don't care if I get $33 or whatever the minimum payout was - 1st place was $6k+). So, I knew I had to chip up even more aggressively in hour #3. Actually, in my mind, I decided that this will be the make or break hour where I would either end up top 15 in chips or bust out. So, midway into hour #3, I decided to tangle with another big stack at the table:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2608836914: $26,000 Guarantee (19443133), Table 56 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:36:28 ET - 2007/06/08
Seat 1: RecessRampage (13,989)
Seat 2: Brucesta76 (3,511)
Seat 3: ColoradoG (5,865)
Seat 4: BODINE_W (11,545), is sitting out
Seat 5: Massita (12,065)
Seat 6: pnkranger (14,290)
Seat 7: bats867 (5,740)
Seat 8: RosseyDog850 (9,905)
Seat 9: NastyBeet (9,949)
RecessRampage antes 75
Brucesta76 antes 75
ColoradoG antes 75
BODINE_W antes 75
Massita antes 75
pnkranger antes 75
bats867 antes 75
RosseyDog850 antes 75
NastyBeet antes 75
NastyBeet posts the small blind of 300
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ks Ts]
Brucesta76 folds
ColoradoG folds
BODINE_W folds
Massita folds
pnkranger raises to 1,600
bats867 folds
RosseyDog850 folds
NastyBeet folds
RecessRampage calls 1,000 <--- I was ready to go to war. I know KTs is a crappy hand. I was looking for a moderately coordinated board. He's been raising a fair amount so his range could be pretty big.
*** FLOP *** [7d 6c 8s] <--- perfect
RecessRampage checks
pnkranger bets 2,750
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 12,314, and is all in <--- two overs, gut shot straight draw, and a runner runner flush draw, coupled with fold equity? No brainer, IMO.
pnkranger has 15 seconds left to act
pnkranger folds
Uncalled bet of 9,564 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (9,675)
This was big because this put me close to 20k in chips and meanwhile the table chip leader before this hand was below the 10k mark after this hand.
So, I was feeling good about that but the blinds increase insanely quickly at this level and soon, I found myself stealing more often than I am comfortable with... But, considering some of the marginal hands I've been raising with, I was delighted to find AJ from CO-1... So, I just go for a steal push... and then get two callers...
The KQ was obviously a result of the fact that he's seen me do that a lot and also his low M... Unfortunately, I get no help and I'm down to like T$4000 with my M of like 3. I folded my BB of 2-4 (I don't believe in total ATC...) but I pushed the remainder of my chips with Q4 the very next hand from my SB against a button raiser who had J8. Two pair on the flop for me and so I got some breathing room. Very next hand, I find QT and I think to myself this is good enough to push with if it's folded to me. I see one limper from MP so I push... and this is what I see.
A race situation to put me back into contention is all I can ask for at this point...
No help on the turn or the river either and that ends my deep run into the 26k... 77th out of 1,077 runners sound good but it's no good... Still, it's better than nothing I guess.
Admittedly, I didn't get to sleep till close to 2am EST so I am exhausted this morning... where's my cup of coffee...
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Mookie, Bloggers Gathering, and a little Poker in the Big Apple
Wow... so much to write... and so little time. Well in the interest of time (and the readers), I'll try to keep this short. After my missed bluff opportunity on Monday against jeciimd, I woke up still pissed with myself on Tuesday... Sadly, I had to wake up super early since I was flying up to NY for a business trip. Going into the Mookie, I was determined to play well and make up for my weak play on Monday... well, I guess I overdid it... I held pocket tens and raised to 140 from MP (blinds at 20-40). When Pushmonkey72 reraised me to 480, instead of calling (his reraising range is larger than an average person... maybe right on par for a blogger), I decided to push. He called with AK and everything was looking good... of course, until the river ace... so rigged. :) I'm out in 48th place out of 51. Maybe I should be folding to the points...
However, even better was BuddyDank's live radio feed of the Mookie. Nothing like having good music with an occasional commentary during the bloggers tourney. Apparently, InstantTragedy was supposed to be the special guest but unfortunately, he never made it (where were ya Sean???). Anyways, in case you haven't seen, InstantTragedy's got the full report of at least Day 1 (at this time) of his trip to Maui so go check it out. Very nice! Seriously though, that live feed was very cool. I really enjoyed it... too bad my tournament life was cut waaaaaaay too short.
So in addition to these two blogger tourneys that I really didn't do anything in, some of the bloggers are heading out to Vegas in the next couple of days. At first, I contemplated going but since I didn't really know anyone or really talk to anyone for that matter (at the time), I thought that maybe it wasn't worth going... (Ok, aside from the obvious question of "when is Vegas not worth going!?!?" I just wasn't sure about how this whole thing was going to go). But in the past few weeks as my blog has gotten more and more visitors and I've started to talk to more people, I started thinking that this could really be fun. And then I read up on a lot of other bloggers who are going and it appears that many of us don't know or have never met the others who are going (it's almost like a blind date for poker degenerates... and mostly men). So, in other words, it wouldn't have mattered, it would include a lot of drinking and playing cards... wtf was I thinking???? So, I'm kinda upset that I'm not going to Vegas this weekend. For those of you who are going out there, have fun!!! Maybe next time, I will join you guys. Scratch that. Next time, I will be there.
However, I did have a blogger encounter. So, I'm in NY and since I have heard of live poker clubs, I reached out to pvanharibo to see if she can hook me up. Well, she came through big time. She told me about some of the clubs and she told me that she will meet me at one of them. So, sure enough, I go out there and I'm at the door negotiating with the dude who says he's never heard my name and that he can't let me in. Until I find out that I'm at the wrong club... So, I had to go over to the other club and eventually, I met her and she let me in. Now, I'm an "official member." We didn't get to sit at the same table but it appears that she did real well. Me? Well, I did fairly well. I couldn't believe how soft the competition was. I don't know why but I always think that players who play live must be better. And every time, I'm shocked as to how bad the players are. Example? This one guy flopped two pair with J8 on a Q-J-8 board. There are two or three players and a round of betting. Turn is a blank. Another round of betting and one of them folds so two to the river. River is a Q. Check, the guy bets, call. The guy that check called had AJ. The other guy proudly flips over J8 and goes "I got two pair." And looks very confused when the dealer ships it to the guy with AJ. Dude, your two pair got counterfeited... how do you not see that? Nice "value bet".
So, I didn't really get any cards but the one big hand that I was involved in was relatively early in the night. Bunch of limpers and I find AQs on the button. I raise it to $15. (Sorry, this is 1-2NL) I get one caller and then a short stack reraises all in for another $21. I thought it was shady for her to limp call but I called without hesitation for two reasons. 1) She was shortstacked. 2) This is gonna sound super sexist but a middle aged female poker player is generally a donkey. Ok, ok. So it's wrong to stereotype... but if you just get to the table, you go by impressions and my impression is that they suck. So I call. Well, to my dismay, the other guy who also had a very big stack calls. So, three people are in and the pot already has $120+ (did I say this was 1-2NL) and we haven't even seen the flop. Well, flop sucks. It comes J-7-5 rainbow. Very raggy. I was willing to check it down... except the big stack decides to bet into the dry side pot. He bets $50. Now it was early in the night and I didn't know anything about him aside from the fact that he accumulated a big stack but one other thing I knew was how soft this table was (so you didn't have to be all that great to win a lot) and how it was common for EVERYONE to limp so he may have just gotten lucky. Couple that with the fact that I sensed weakness, I decided to call. That's $120 main pot, $100 in the side pot if you're keeping score. Turn is another blank and he checks. Now, at this point, there is enough in the side pot that I really wanted to take it down. I figured if the all in lady is going to win the main pot, I need to at least snag this side pot that's grown. So, I was trying to figure out a good bet but since we could only buy in for $300max, at this point, I had about $200 behind. So, at first I counted out a $100 but there's no point in leaving a $100 behind so I said "I'm all in." The guy thinks about it, looks over to the guy next to him, shakes his head and reluctantly folds. So, the side pot is mine. Now, I had to turn over my bluffy AQs and the guy is like "unbelievable!" Well, you know what was even more unbelievable? The all in lady who I stereotyped as a donkey? She had A3 of diamonds. Another blank on the river and the main pot was mine too! A3 of diamonds!? Nice limp reraise all in, ma'am. You're not helping the stereotype. You are a donkey. Thanks for your money. But aside from that, I take a few stabs here and there but nothing exciting. After an hour and a half, I'm up $160 and I call it a night. Again, pvanharibo, thanks so much for letting me into the club and have fun in Vegas!
However, even better was BuddyDank's live radio feed of the Mookie. Nothing like having good music with an occasional commentary during the bloggers tourney. Apparently, InstantTragedy was supposed to be the special guest but unfortunately, he never made it (where were ya Sean???). Anyways, in case you haven't seen, InstantTragedy's got the full report of at least Day 1 (at this time) of his trip to Maui so go check it out. Very nice! Seriously though, that live feed was very cool. I really enjoyed it... too bad my tournament life was cut waaaaaaay too short.
So in addition to these two blogger tourneys that I really didn't do anything in, some of the bloggers are heading out to Vegas in the next couple of days. At first, I contemplated going but since I didn't really know anyone or really talk to anyone for that matter (at the time), I thought that maybe it wasn't worth going... (Ok, aside from the obvious question of "when is Vegas not worth going!?!?" I just wasn't sure about how this whole thing was going to go). But in the past few weeks as my blog has gotten more and more visitors and I've started to talk to more people, I started thinking that this could really be fun. And then I read up on a lot of other bloggers who are going and it appears that many of us don't know or have never met the others who are going (it's almost like a blind date for poker degenerates... and mostly men). So, in other words, it wouldn't have mattered, it would include a lot of drinking and playing cards... wtf was I thinking???? So, I'm kinda upset that I'm not going to Vegas this weekend. For those of you who are going out there, have fun!!! Maybe next time, I will join you guys. Scratch that. Next time, I will be there.
However, I did have a blogger encounter. So, I'm in NY and since I have heard of live poker clubs, I reached out to pvanharibo to see if she can hook me up. Well, she came through big time. She told me about some of the clubs and she told me that she will meet me at one of them. So, sure enough, I go out there and I'm at the door negotiating with the dude who says he's never heard my name and that he can't let me in. Until I find out that I'm at the wrong club... So, I had to go over to the other club and eventually, I met her and she let me in. Now, I'm an "official member." We didn't get to sit at the same table but it appears that she did real well. Me? Well, I did fairly well. I couldn't believe how soft the competition was. I don't know why but I always think that players who play live must be better. And every time, I'm shocked as to how bad the players are. Example? This one guy flopped two pair with J8 on a Q-J-8 board. There are two or three players and a round of betting. Turn is a blank. Another round of betting and one of them folds so two to the river. River is a Q. Check, the guy bets, call. The guy that check called had AJ. The other guy proudly flips over J8 and goes "I got two pair." And looks very confused when the dealer ships it to the guy with AJ. Dude, your two pair got counterfeited... how do you not see that? Nice "value bet".
So, I didn't really get any cards but the one big hand that I was involved in was relatively early in the night. Bunch of limpers and I find AQs on the button. I raise it to $15. (Sorry, this is 1-2NL) I get one caller and then a short stack reraises all in for another $21. I thought it was shady for her to limp call but I called without hesitation for two reasons. 1) She was shortstacked. 2) This is gonna sound super sexist but a middle aged female poker player is generally a donkey. Ok, ok. So it's wrong to stereotype... but if you just get to the table, you go by impressions and my impression is that they suck. So I call. Well, to my dismay, the other guy who also had a very big stack calls. So, three people are in and the pot already has $120+ (did I say this was 1-2NL) and we haven't even seen the flop. Well, flop sucks. It comes J-7-5 rainbow. Very raggy. I was willing to check it down... except the big stack decides to bet into the dry side pot. He bets $50. Now it was early in the night and I didn't know anything about him aside from the fact that he accumulated a big stack but one other thing I knew was how soft this table was (so you didn't have to be all that great to win a lot) and how it was common for EVERYONE to limp so he may have just gotten lucky. Couple that with the fact that I sensed weakness, I decided to call. That's $120 main pot, $100 in the side pot if you're keeping score. Turn is another blank and he checks. Now, at this point, there is enough in the side pot that I really wanted to take it down. I figured if the all in lady is going to win the main pot, I need to at least snag this side pot that's grown. So, I was trying to figure out a good bet but since we could only buy in for $300max, at this point, I had about $200 behind. So, at first I counted out a $100 but there's no point in leaving a $100 behind so I said "I'm all in." The guy thinks about it, looks over to the guy next to him, shakes his head and reluctantly folds. So, the side pot is mine. Now, I had to turn over my bluffy AQs and the guy is like "unbelievable!" Well, you know what was even more unbelievable? The all in lady who I stereotyped as a donkey? She had A3 of diamonds. Another blank on the river and the main pot was mine too! A3 of diamonds!? Nice limp reraise all in, ma'am. You're not helping the stereotype. You are a donkey. Thanks for your money. But aside from that, I take a few stabs here and there but nothing exciting. After an hour and a half, I'm up $160 and I call it a night. Again, pvanharibo, thanks so much for letting me into the club and have fun in Vegas!
Monday, June 4, 2007
Dammit!
I'm really in no mood to update the blog tonight. Just been in a crappy mood all day but I was getting ready for the MATH and I actually felt ready when it started. But one bad play and then an unfortunate hand right afterwards ended my MATH in 16 minutes. And to summarize how my tournament went down? I play like a F*CKIN P*SSY. Sometimes, I really hate myself. See below:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2585583866: Mondays at the Hoy (19464432), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:12:06 ET - 2007/06/04
Seat 1: TripJax (2,625)
Seat 2: Blinders (2,875)
Seat 3: Misterd2U (3,140)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (2,805)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (3,415)
Seat 6: jeciimd (2,955)
Seat 7: columbo (2,930)
Seat 8: lucko21 (3,255)
columbo posts the small blind of 20
lucko21 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kh 3c]
TripJax folds
Blinders folds
Misterd2U folds
wwonka69 folds
RecessRampage raises to 140 <--- from CO... so I was going for a steal. what's your problem???
jeciimd calls 140 <--- uh oh
columbo folds
lucko21 folds
*** FLOP *** [4c 2h 5c] <--- nice flop!
RecessRampage bets 250 <--- cbet
jeciimd raises to 500
RecessRampage calls 250
*** TURN *** [4c 2h 5c] [Td]
lucko21: nah, havent played that in about a week
RecessRampage checks
jeciimd bets 500 <--- looks awfully weak doesn't it?
RecessRampage calls 500
*** RIVER *** [4c 2h 5c Td] [2c] <--- completes the flush! Perfect scare card!
RecessRampage checks <--- *chicken noise*
jeciimd checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jeciimd shows [Ks Ac] (a pair of Twos) <--- I could have easily bluffed him off
RecessRampage mucks
jeciimd wins the pot (2,340) with a pair of Twos
If I can't make a play against the tightest player in the blogger world, I really have no business trying to steal with garbage hands like that...
Yes, guys, I know! You don't have to tell me. No comments necessary. WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK! *sigh*
And the very next hand Blinders sent me packing with this beauty:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2585596069: Mondays at the Hoy (19464432), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:13:27 ET - 2007/06/04
Seat 1: TripJax (2,625)
Seat 2: Blinders (2,875)
Seat 3: Misterd2U (3,140)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (2,805)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (2,275)
Seat 6: jeciimd (4,155)
Seat 7: columbo (2,910)
Seat 8: lucko21 (3,215)
lucko21 posts the small blind of 20
TripJax posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ah Qs]
Blinders raises to 120
Misterd2U folds
wwonka69 folds
RecessRampage: don't say it
RecessRampage: you guys all think it and I know it
RecessRampage calls 120
jeciimd folds
columbo folds
lucko21 folds
RecessRampage: <--- p*ssy
TripJax calls 80
*** FLOP *** [6c Tc Qd]
TripJax checks
Blinders bets 240
RecessRampage raises to 620
lucko21: heh <--- thanks Lucko :)
TripJax folds
Blinders raises to 2,755, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 1,535, and is all in
Blinders shows [Qc Kc]
RecessRampage shows [Ah Qs]
Uncalled bet of 600 returned to Blinders
*** TURN *** [6c Tc Qd] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [6c Tc Qd 3c] [7h]
Blinders shows a flush, King high
RecessRampage: gg all
lucko21: gg
RecessRampage shows a pair of Queens
Blinders wins the pot (4,690) with a flush, King high
RecessRampage stands up
Blinders: gg
In case, anyone here thinks I shoulda folded my TPTK because Blinders could have had so many hands to beat me, I hope you are joking. But here's my justification. A) It happened right after I missed the bluff attempt because I was too scared to take a swing at it so it could seem like I was on semi-tilt and B) Blinders know that everyone think he's uber-tight so he might think he could try to semi-bluff me off with a draw and C) if I fold here when my stack is half of what it used to be, what am I even doing playing in a tournament?
Again, I will listen to many different theories. Aaaah, what a night.
Full Tilt Poker Game #2585583866: Mondays at the Hoy (19464432), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:12:06 ET - 2007/06/04
Seat 1: TripJax (2,625)
Seat 2: Blinders (2,875)
Seat 3: Misterd2U (3,140)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (2,805)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (3,415)
Seat 6: jeciimd (2,955)
Seat 7: columbo (2,930)
Seat 8: lucko21 (3,255)
columbo posts the small blind of 20
lucko21 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kh 3c]
TripJax folds
Blinders folds
Misterd2U folds
wwonka69 folds
RecessRampage raises to 140 <--- from CO... so I was going for a steal. what's your problem???
jeciimd calls 140 <--- uh oh
columbo folds
lucko21 folds
*** FLOP *** [4c 2h 5c] <--- nice flop!
RecessRampage bets 250 <--- cbet
jeciimd raises to 500
RecessRampage calls 250
*** TURN *** [4c 2h 5c] [Td]
lucko21: nah, havent played that in about a week
RecessRampage checks
jeciimd bets 500 <--- looks awfully weak doesn't it?
RecessRampage calls 500
*** RIVER *** [4c 2h 5c Td] [2c] <--- completes the flush! Perfect scare card!
RecessRampage checks <--- *chicken noise*
jeciimd checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jeciimd shows [Ks Ac] (a pair of Twos) <--- I could have easily bluffed him off
RecessRampage mucks
jeciimd wins the pot (2,340) with a pair of Twos
If I can't make a play against the tightest player in the blogger world, I really have no business trying to steal with garbage hands like that...
Yes, guys, I know! You don't have to tell me. No comments necessary. WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK! *sigh*
And the very next hand Blinders sent me packing with this beauty:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2585596069: Mondays at the Hoy (19464432), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:13:27 ET - 2007/06/04
Seat 1: TripJax (2,625)
Seat 2: Blinders (2,875)
Seat 3: Misterd2U (3,140)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (2,805)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (2,275)
Seat 6: jeciimd (4,155)
Seat 7: columbo (2,910)
Seat 8: lucko21 (3,215)
lucko21 posts the small blind of 20
TripJax posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ah Qs]
Blinders raises to 120
Misterd2U folds
wwonka69 folds
RecessRampage: don't say it
RecessRampage: you guys all think it and I know it
RecessRampage calls 120
jeciimd folds
columbo folds
lucko21 folds
RecessRampage: <--- p*ssy
TripJax calls 80
*** FLOP *** [6c Tc Qd]
TripJax checks
Blinders bets 240
RecessRampage raises to 620
lucko21: heh <--- thanks Lucko :)
TripJax folds
Blinders raises to 2,755, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 1,535, and is all in
Blinders shows [Qc Kc]
RecessRampage shows [Ah Qs]
Uncalled bet of 600 returned to Blinders
*** TURN *** [6c Tc Qd] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [6c Tc Qd 3c] [7h]
Blinders shows a flush, King high
RecessRampage: gg all
lucko21: gg
RecessRampage shows a pair of Queens
Blinders wins the pot (4,690) with a flush, King high
RecessRampage stands up
Blinders: gg
In case, anyone here thinks I shoulda folded my TPTK because Blinders could have had so many hands to beat me, I hope you are joking. But here's my justification. A) It happened right after I missed the bluff attempt because I was too scared to take a swing at it so it could seem like I was on semi-tilt and B) Blinders know that everyone think he's uber-tight so he might think he could try to semi-bluff me off with a draw and C) if I fold here when my stack is half of what it used to be, what am I even doing playing in a tournament?
Again, I will listen to many different theories. Aaaah, what a night.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
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)...
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)...
A little donk on donk violence...
Not much poker for me this weekend since a friend of mine from college is back in town and so a few of us are heading down to a cabin down in southwest VA for some quiet... ok, scratch that. For some boozing, grilling and donking around. So, considering that this will be a slow weekend in terms of actual, meaningful poker, I just wanted to leave you with a little donk on donk violence that took place before my friend got here...
Full Tilt Poker Game #2560292795: Table John D'Agostino - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:37:46 ET - 2007/06/01
8 handed - I limp UTG with QJs <--- donk move #1
UTG + 1 calls
Folds around to SB who calls
BB/Villain who is a big stack bumps it to $20
I call <--- donk move #2 (I thought he could be doing this with a wide range of hands, most of which have me beat)
UTG+1 calls
SB folds
*** FLOP *** [Js 8c 4s] <--- top pair!
Villain checks <--- no c-bet on a board like this? AK?
RecessRampage bets $64 <--- pot sized bet to show strength considering limp UTG could be a sign of AA
UTG+1 folds
Villain calls $64 <--- donk move warning
*** TURN *** [Js 8c 4s] [Qc]
Villain bets $110 <--- serious donk move warning!!! Bad timing sir.
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act <--- just running all the options that he could have...
RecessRampage raises to $325.30, and is all in <--- he's a big stack, let's see if he doubles me up... if I'm beat here, then I deserve it
Villain calls $215.30 <--- uh oh...
RecessRampage shows [Qd Jd]
Villain shows [Ks As] <--- DONK MOVE!!!! 12 outs doesn't justify this call...
*** RIVER *** [Js 8c 4s Qc] [4c]
RecessRampage shows two pair, Queens and Jacks
Villain shows a pair of Fours
RecessRampage wins the pot ($839.60) with two pair, Queens and Jacks <--- boom! hey, I told you it was gonna be a donk on donk violence...
HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!
Full Tilt Poker Game #2560292795: Table John D'Agostino - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:37:46 ET - 2007/06/01
8 handed - I limp UTG with QJs <--- donk move #1
UTG + 1 calls
Folds around to SB who calls
BB/Villain who is a big stack bumps it to $20
I call <--- donk move #2 (I thought he could be doing this with a wide range of hands, most of which have me beat)
UTG+1 calls
SB folds
*** FLOP *** [Js 8c 4s] <--- top pair!
Villain checks <--- no c-bet on a board like this? AK?
RecessRampage bets $64 <--- pot sized bet to show strength considering limp UTG could be a sign of AA
UTG+1 folds
Villain calls $64 <--- donk move warning
*** TURN *** [Js 8c 4s] [Qc]
Villain bets $110 <--- serious donk move warning!!! Bad timing sir.
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act <--- just running all the options that he could have...
RecessRampage raises to $325.30, and is all in <--- he's a big stack, let's see if he doubles me up... if I'm beat here, then I deserve it
Villain calls $215.30 <--- uh oh...
RecessRampage shows [Qd Jd]
Villain shows [Ks As] <--- DONK MOVE!!!! 12 outs doesn't justify this call...
*** RIVER *** [Js 8c 4s Qc] [4c]
RecessRampage shows two pair, Queens and Jacks
Villain shows a pair of Fours
RecessRampage wins the pot ($839.60) with two pair, Queens and Jacks <--- boom! hey, I told you it was gonna be a donk on donk violence...
HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!
Friday, June 1, 2007
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. :)
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. :)
Thursday, May 31, 2007
"Whatever it takes"
Small victory in my work life today as I received an email this morning saying that we will be going to "summer business casual" attire. What does that mean? Khaki shorts are allowed! Sweetness. It's about time. Working in regular business casual (or even worse, suits) is sooooooo overrated, esp in a corporate environment where you don't interact with customers/clients in person. So, I'll be in a much better mood starting tomorrow.
Now there was an interesting discussion regarding A-rod in last night's game. Here's an excerpt from an article on mlb.com.
With the Yankees grasping at desperation to end a month-long slump that had seen them lose 18 of 23 games leading into Wednesday's game, Rodriguez saw fit to refer to schoolyard tactics in the ninth inning. Rodriguez ripped a clean two-out single to center off reliever Scott Downs, scoring the Yankees' seventh run.
Jorge Posada followed with a sky-high popup to the left side of the infield, and as Rodriguez passed third baseman Howie Clark, Rodriguez made a verbal sound -- Rodriguez said he said, "Ha," while Clark insisted he heard, "Mine" -- in the ear of the infielder.
Thinking he'd been called off, Clark backed away from the ball, which dropped for a run-scoring single. Jason Giambi followed with a two-run single to center that put the game on ice for the Yankees, who open a three-game series at Fenway Park on Friday.
Um... wow, that's dirty. I personally think that's such a petty tactic and there are unwritten code of conducts in sports where you just don't do certain things... Like in pickup basketball, I always see one or two idiots try the call-out-for-the-ball-to-confuse-the-opponent move... now once in a while, there are also clowns that fall for it but regardless of which team I'm on, I always hated that. If you want to steal the ball, earn it. Block the shot, grab the rebound, steal the pass/dribble, but trying to capitalize on the confused opponent is just cheap. But, I see the argument. The other guy shouldn't fall for it.
A couple of years ago, I was playing live poker somewhere (can't remember if it was at some home game or at the casino - PAPT boys, don't sweat, it's not you guys) and this one guy goes, "I wish I could see what everyone else had and what the next card was." I asked him "why?" His response? "So then it would be so much easier to win!" I just let it go at the time but in my mind, I thought to myself, is this kid retarded? While you're at it, why don't you just try cheating. And hell, while you're at it, just try cheating your way through life you moron. Well, that was my thought process. I mean what fun would poker be if you could see everyone's hole cards AND you knew what cards were coming? Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you go join the 7yr olds shooting hoops in the neighborhoods, block their shots, score on them and then pat yourself on the back? Isn't that the same thing? Unfair advantage, that's what it is.
But I was also wondering, is that what some would consider "Hey, I'm doing whatever it takes to win and remember, winning isn't everything, it's the only thing!" Well, yeah... but I always thought there was a caveat to the statement... you know, I'll do whatever it takes to win, as long as it's fair and ethical. So, was A-rod doing whatever it took to win a game? Or did he violate this unwritten code of conduct? And to translate that onto the poker table, where do you draw the line? What if you saw someone's hole cards? Would you pretend not to see it? This is where the line, to me at least, gets iffy. As hypocritical as I may sound, I will pretend not to see it but also have it in the back of my head of what I saw. In other words, it's the player's job to keep their hole cards hidden. If someone was careless enough that I could see those cards, then that's his fault, in my opinion. Do I consider that dirty? Kind of... But I still don't feel that that's the same as being able to see everyone's cards and knowing what cards are coming... it's a tough call. So where would you draw that line?
Should you be able to do whatever it takes to win, even if that was unethical or considered breaking some unwritten code of conduct? Or would breaking rules be part of the "edge" that you seek to gain? If you have any thoughts, please weigh in. I'd love to hear it. And where would you draw the line?
Now there was an interesting discussion regarding A-rod in last night's game. Here's an excerpt from an article on mlb.com.
With the Yankees grasping at desperation to end a month-long slump that had seen them lose 18 of 23 games leading into Wednesday's game, Rodriguez saw fit to refer to schoolyard tactics in the ninth inning. Rodriguez ripped a clean two-out single to center off reliever Scott Downs, scoring the Yankees' seventh run.
Jorge Posada followed with a sky-high popup to the left side of the infield, and as Rodriguez passed third baseman Howie Clark, Rodriguez made a verbal sound -- Rodriguez said he said, "Ha," while Clark insisted he heard, "Mine" -- in the ear of the infielder.
Thinking he'd been called off, Clark backed away from the ball, which dropped for a run-scoring single. Jason Giambi followed with a two-run single to center that put the game on ice for the Yankees, who open a three-game series at Fenway Park on Friday.
Um... wow, that's dirty. I personally think that's such a petty tactic and there are unwritten code of conducts in sports where you just don't do certain things... Like in pickup basketball, I always see one or two idiots try the call-out-for-the-ball-to-confuse-the-opponent move... now once in a while, there are also clowns that fall for it but regardless of which team I'm on, I always hated that. If you want to steal the ball, earn it. Block the shot, grab the rebound, steal the pass/dribble, but trying to capitalize on the confused opponent is just cheap. But, I see the argument. The other guy shouldn't fall for it.
A couple of years ago, I was playing live poker somewhere (can't remember if it was at some home game or at the casino - PAPT boys, don't sweat, it's not you guys) and this one guy goes, "I wish I could see what everyone else had and what the next card was." I asked him "why?" His response? "So then it would be so much easier to win!" I just let it go at the time but in my mind, I thought to myself, is this kid retarded? While you're at it, why don't you just try cheating. And hell, while you're at it, just try cheating your way through life you moron. Well, that was my thought process. I mean what fun would poker be if you could see everyone's hole cards AND you knew what cards were coming? Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you go join the 7yr olds shooting hoops in the neighborhoods, block their shots, score on them and then pat yourself on the back? Isn't that the same thing? Unfair advantage, that's what it is.
But I was also wondering, is that what some would consider "Hey, I'm doing whatever it takes to win and remember, winning isn't everything, it's the only thing!" Well, yeah... but I always thought there was a caveat to the statement... you know, I'll do whatever it takes to win, as long as it's fair and ethical. So, was A-rod doing whatever it took to win a game? Or did he violate this unwritten code of conduct? And to translate that onto the poker table, where do you draw the line? What if you saw someone's hole cards? Would you pretend not to see it? This is where the line, to me at least, gets iffy. As hypocritical as I may sound, I will pretend not to see it but also have it in the back of my head of what I saw. In other words, it's the player's job to keep their hole cards hidden. If someone was careless enough that I could see those cards, then that's his fault, in my opinion. Do I consider that dirty? Kind of... But I still don't feel that that's the same as being able to see everyone's cards and knowing what cards are coming... it's a tough call. So where would you draw that line?
Should you be able to do whatever it takes to win, even if that was unethical or considered breaking some unwritten code of conduct? Or would breaking rules be part of the "edge" that you seek to gain? If you have any thoughts, please weigh in. I'd love to hear it. And where would you draw the line?
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
PAPT (home game)
So let's say you're in a 11 person sng... I know, that's a little much but let's just say it happens. The blinds are 1-2 with the starting stack of 170. There's a preflop raise to 6 but there are 4-5 players going into the flop. Flop comes Q-6-2, you hold KQs (with a runner runner flush draw), but the small blind goes all in. Yes, all in for 160+ chips to win a 30ish pot. What do you do?
That was the weird dilemma that our friend Sia had to face. Now, a quick background on the small blind. He's uber loose aggressive. Ok, he puts the uber loose aggressive to shame. He's bet and called ridiculous bets in the past with middle pair, he's called the river bet (which was the third barrell fired) with a busted straight draw... no, I didn't just mistype that. He called a river bet with a busted straight draw. He had like 5-6 on a board of K-4-7-x-x and he called the river bet... and obv lost. And it was like a $2 bet into a pot of $200. It was like a third or half of the pot.
So again, with this guy, what do you do?
Well, based on what I've seen in the past, I immediately put him on a hand like pocket tens. But, to answer my own question, I would have folded. KQ is not a hand that I would want to put my entire stack on the line with. However, Sia called... the villain shows Q6 for two pair and it holds and pretty much crippled Sia who busted shortly thereafter. It was definitely a weird start... and in talking to Sia later, his thought was similar to mine. He put him on a middle pair and since it was a raggeddy board and he's not one to think like with 5 people, someone's bound to have a Q (or maybe he doesn't care), Sia thought that there's a good chance he's ahead and so even though he didn't like it, he felt that this was a good chance to double up early.
Well, that pretty much set the tone. The villain was raising and calling with weird weird hands but there were also few guys that would not change their game and so would continue to try to bluff him off hands with their own meager holdings (one hand went to showdown with 3 consecutive bets after the flop and the villain's K-10 high beat the bluffer's K-9 high... the K-9 high had a busted flush draw that he bet on every street). So, he knocked off couple of guys and I was licking my chops to get into a hand with this guy that I felt I had a good read on (well, you don't even need to have a good read on this guy I guess). Except that's all I ended up doing in this game... was licking my chops... I never got anything to get started and I was literally getting blinded down. I mean nothing to work with. The best hand I saw was the last hand that I busted out with... pocket tens when I ran into pocket jacks when I pushed preflop... And this was already when my M was down to like 5, I pushed with (PAPT players, enjoy) 7-9 (everyone folded), 89s (everyone folded), A-10 (everyone folded) and once everyone figured out that I was starting to do this with a very wide range, I find pocket tens and push... only to get called by pocket jacks, he spikes a set on the flop and that's the end of the night for me.
Oh and the villain? He busted out in like 8th place I think. I didn't do much better by ending up 6th... again, no points and no cash... I clearly talk a big game but I might have to start backing it up soon... I hate to be all talk... and broke... :)
That was the weird dilemma that our friend Sia had to face. Now, a quick background on the small blind. He's uber loose aggressive. Ok, he puts the uber loose aggressive to shame. He's bet and called ridiculous bets in the past with middle pair, he's called the river bet (which was the third barrell fired) with a busted straight draw... no, I didn't just mistype that. He called a river bet with a busted straight draw. He had like 5-6 on a board of K-4-7-x-x and he called the river bet... and obv lost. And it was like a $2 bet into a pot of $200. It was like a third or half of the pot.
So again, with this guy, what do you do?
Well, based on what I've seen in the past, I immediately put him on a hand like pocket tens. But, to answer my own question, I would have folded. KQ is not a hand that I would want to put my entire stack on the line with. However, Sia called... the villain shows Q6 for two pair and it holds and pretty much crippled Sia who busted shortly thereafter. It was definitely a weird start... and in talking to Sia later, his thought was similar to mine. He put him on a middle pair and since it was a raggeddy board and he's not one to think like with 5 people, someone's bound to have a Q (or maybe he doesn't care), Sia thought that there's a good chance he's ahead and so even though he didn't like it, he felt that this was a good chance to double up early.
Well, that pretty much set the tone. The villain was raising and calling with weird weird hands but there were also few guys that would not change their game and so would continue to try to bluff him off hands with their own meager holdings (one hand went to showdown with 3 consecutive bets after the flop and the villain's K-10 high beat the bluffer's K-9 high... the K-9 high had a busted flush draw that he bet on every street). So, he knocked off couple of guys and I was licking my chops to get into a hand with this guy that I felt I had a good read on (well, you don't even need to have a good read on this guy I guess). Except that's all I ended up doing in this game... was licking my chops... I never got anything to get started and I was literally getting blinded down. I mean nothing to work with. The best hand I saw was the last hand that I busted out with... pocket tens when I ran into pocket jacks when I pushed preflop... And this was already when my M was down to like 5, I pushed with (PAPT players, enjoy) 7-9 (everyone folded), 89s (everyone folded), A-10 (everyone folded) and once everyone figured out that I was starting to do this with a very wide range, I find pocket tens and push... only to get called by pocket jacks, he spikes a set on the flop and that's the end of the night for me.
Oh and the villain? He busted out in like 8th place I think. I didn't do much better by ending up 6th... again, no points and no cash... I clearly talk a big game but I might have to start backing it up soon... I hate to be all talk... and broke... :)
Monday, May 28, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Furious Comeback Part 2!? Not quite...
So last night, I played in the Mookie as usual and it was like deja vu when I donked off a lot of chips early to InstantTragedy's pocket kings with presto. This will sound like an excuse, and it is, but I wasn't really paying attention to who I was playing and I unnecessarily let go of a lot of chips for no reason. So, I'm down to 250 in chips... well, it's no story without a good comeback right? Right. Since it was fairly early, I never panicked, got lucky a few times and next thing I knew, I was back and in good shape. So good actually, that at one point, I became chip leader with about 20 people remaining. However, this wasn't meant to be my night when eventually, I busted out in 12th place when my AK was crushed by Zeem's K-10... I even knew this was the hand when this flop came out... A-J-x... at this point, I typed in the chat box, uh oh, I'm in trouble. And I meant it. Turn is another A... and the river, as expected was the Q to give him a straight. This wasn't even a bad beatish story. I just knew. I KNEW. I think I'm on to something guys. :)
On a side note, IT convinced me that I am waaaaaaaaay behind my times when I told him that I don't have any of the IM (read "girly chat") services... however, being the accomodating character that I am, I went and got gtalk so we chatted it up and swapped a few articles... I gave him a few good ones that he could read on his long flight to Maui. Hopefully, they will help.
I also discovered, after talking to him that the points in these BBT were actually a big deal... If you are an active BBTer, then you must think I'm retarded... and I must be. It wasn't until last night that I actually found out that top 3 BBT pts leader actually gets half the rake. I thought the entire rake pool was going to the freeroll at the end of this whole thing. I didn't know there were anything beyond bragging rights for the leaderboard. Goes to show how clueless I am about these things. He also wanted to discuss because he felt that the points weren't the only indicator but that money earned shouldn't be either (because if there are guys who don't play in the big game because of bank roll issues, that shouldn't count against them) which I totally agree. So I told him that I think there's middle ground where a combination of made money plus points would probably be a better indicator and that in the long run, it will hash itself out. He was against a system where people could fold to points and that this couldn't be an indicator of who the best players are... But these things never are. I mean who are the best players in the world? That is an argument that you continuously see on the forums and there are never any answers. Cardplayer POY doesn't even mean he/she is the best player. It just means that that person had the best year amongst his peers. And in the end, that's what it is right? Who cares who the "best" player is? I know that I continously want to be better and if I can have the honor of being somewhere at the top of the leaderboard, that's enough to make me psyched but I'll never be so clueless to think that I'm the best because I'm high on the leaderboard.
On a side note, IT convinced me that I am waaaaaaaaay behind my times when I told him that I don't have any of the IM (read "girly chat") services... however, being the accomodating character that I am, I went and got gtalk so we chatted it up and swapped a few articles... I gave him a few good ones that he could read on his long flight to Maui. Hopefully, they will help.
I also discovered, after talking to him that the points in these BBT were actually a big deal... If you are an active BBTer, then you must think I'm retarded... and I must be. It wasn't until last night that I actually found out that top 3 BBT pts leader actually gets half the rake. I thought the entire rake pool was going to the freeroll at the end of this whole thing. I didn't know there were anything beyond bragging rights for the leaderboard. Goes to show how clueless I am about these things. He also wanted to discuss because he felt that the points weren't the only indicator but that money earned shouldn't be either (because if there are guys who don't play in the big game because of bank roll issues, that shouldn't count against them) which I totally agree. So I told him that I think there's middle ground where a combination of made money plus points would probably be a better indicator and that in the long run, it will hash itself out. He was against a system where people could fold to points and that this couldn't be an indicator of who the best players are... But these things never are. I mean who are the best players in the world? That is an argument that you continuously see on the forums and there are never any answers. Cardplayer POY doesn't even mean he/she is the best player. It just means that that person had the best year amongst his peers. And in the end, that's what it is right? Who cares who the "best" player is? I know that I continously want to be better and if I can have the honor of being somewhere at the top of the leaderboard, that's enough to make me psyched but I'll never be so clueless to think that I'm the best because I'm high on the leaderboard.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Earning points - good or bad?
There was an interesting discussion on Hoy's blog regarding BBT points and whether that was a good thing or not in terms of encouraging participation. Apparently, long before I ever joined this blogging community, there was a discussion about how having a point system (where you earn points based on how you finish) could eventually hurt these tournaments where initially, it was supposed to be set up just so bloggers could donk around and have some fun... ie play socializing, drink beer, chat it up, type of poker vs paying attention, playing tight, intense poker... So, I guess, the question becomes why do you play poker? Or what do you play poker for?
Do you just play for fun and entertainment? I mean is it the same to you as it is playing craps or roulette? Thrill of winning money but knowing that generally the odds are against you? Or do you play because you love the game itself? Or do you play just to make money? I think all those are very important questions to ask yourself as well as identifying the other players and why they play.
Anyways, back to points. I think the issue was partially brought up because in these blogger tournaments, you can almost fold to points. In other words, play uber tight, catch a few hands here and there and most likely, you'll be in the points. If you do that consistently, then even if you're not the type of player to win the tournament, you will find your name high on the leaderboard. That may give you a sense of accomplishment or it may not. Well, the argument against having points is that once the leaders are finalized, there's a chance that attendance for these tourneys will drop because if people start thinking they don't have a chance, why play in these tournaments if they could find others that may yield more money or are softer, etc. In other words, why choose to play in a tournament where the players actually take poker seriously?
Well, I personally like points. That's just how I am. In Hoy's post, I left a comment about how I may have eaten more vegetables growing up (like my mom would have liked me to) if they assigned points. Like in a given day, if I got to 150pts, I could use those points for a dessert or something. Here, let me illustrate. Let's say I have these choices for desserts... slice of cake, 100pts. Ice cream, 150pts. Kit kat, 50 pts. So, now if I wanted a slice of cake for dessert (because kit kat's too small), I have to earn a 100pts... by eating salad (50pts), side of carrots (15pts), broccoli (20pts) etc, until I get to 100pts. Let's say to encourage a balanced diet, I still get points for meat (10pts) or whatever, but doubling up doesn't count (so you can't just eat insane amount of meat and get it to a 100). I swear, that probably would have made me eat more veggies.
I'm just a scoreboard kinda guy. I remember some people saying "how bout we play poker with chips but no real money involved?" Um... how bout we watch a game of basketball where they don't keep score? I guess in my mind, what's the point? Our home game, PAPT, also has points. Last year, Sia ran away with it and towards the end, there was no point in keeping track of the points in terms of who won the side pot. However, there was still some friendly competition between JT and Tyke on who took second place. I guess it just depends on whether you are for it or not. But it would be very hard for me to continue to play in games where the competition dies out and we just do it for "fun". That's just not how I'm wired. I'm always very competitive and I want to win in everything I do. So, I'm all in favor of the BBT points, even if that may not necessarily indicate who the best players are, it's just a fun way of keeping track. Hoy did make an interesting point, saying that because of the way BBT points are allocated, he only uses amount of money won as an indicator of how well people are playing. And I would have to think that in the end, they will be extremely similar. I don't know how long the BBT thing goes on but I'd have to assume that if it goes on all year, at the end of the year, I'd say the top 5 of points will generally be up there in terms of the money earned as well.
Do you just play for fun and entertainment? I mean is it the same to you as it is playing craps or roulette? Thrill of winning money but knowing that generally the odds are against you? Or do you play because you love the game itself? Or do you play just to make money? I think all those are very important questions to ask yourself as well as identifying the other players and why they play.
Anyways, back to points. I think the issue was partially brought up because in these blogger tournaments, you can almost fold to points. In other words, play uber tight, catch a few hands here and there and most likely, you'll be in the points. If you do that consistently, then even if you're not the type of player to win the tournament, you will find your name high on the leaderboard. That may give you a sense of accomplishment or it may not. Well, the argument against having points is that once the leaders are finalized, there's a chance that attendance for these tourneys will drop because if people start thinking they don't have a chance, why play in these tournaments if they could find others that may yield more money or are softer, etc. In other words, why choose to play in a tournament where the players actually take poker seriously?
Well, I personally like points. That's just how I am. In Hoy's post, I left a comment about how I may have eaten more vegetables growing up (like my mom would have liked me to) if they assigned points. Like in a given day, if I got to 150pts, I could use those points for a dessert or something. Here, let me illustrate. Let's say I have these choices for desserts... slice of cake, 100pts. Ice cream, 150pts. Kit kat, 50 pts. So, now if I wanted a slice of cake for dessert (because kit kat's too small), I have to earn a 100pts... by eating salad (50pts), side of carrots (15pts), broccoli (20pts) etc, until I get to 100pts. Let's say to encourage a balanced diet, I still get points for meat (10pts) or whatever, but doubling up doesn't count (so you can't just eat insane amount of meat and get it to a 100). I swear, that probably would have made me eat more veggies.
I'm just a scoreboard kinda guy. I remember some people saying "how bout we play poker with chips but no real money involved?" Um... how bout we watch a game of basketball where they don't keep score? I guess in my mind, what's the point? Our home game, PAPT, also has points. Last year, Sia ran away with it and towards the end, there was no point in keeping track of the points in terms of who won the side pot. However, there was still some friendly competition between JT and Tyke on who took second place. I guess it just depends on whether you are for it or not. But it would be very hard for me to continue to play in games where the competition dies out and we just do it for "fun". That's just not how I'm wired. I'm always very competitive and I want to win in everything I do. So, I'm all in favor of the BBT points, even if that may not necessarily indicate who the best players are, it's just a fun way of keeping track. Hoy did make an interesting point, saying that because of the way BBT points are allocated, he only uses amount of money won as an indicator of how well people are playing. And I would have to think that in the end, they will be extremely similar. I don't know how long the BBT thing goes on but I'd have to assume that if it goes on all year, at the end of the year, I'd say the top 5 of points will generally be up there in terms of the money earned as well.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
MATH - Furious comeback!!!
It ain't over till it's over!
As I try to better myself in tournament play, I obviously read a lot of blogs and forums to try to educate myself. But naturally, you have to play in order to gain experience and get even better. I'm still working on the fine points of deep stack play but I feel that generally, when I'm a short stack or when the blinds are high, my timing is pretty good. Of course, it helps to get lucky but hey, we're playing cards right?
So, last night, there was another sick beat that took a chunk out of my bankroll but I grinded hard on the cash tables to pretty much erase that deficit after several hours of play. In the meantime, I donked around some sng's and a couple of MTTs. Cashed in some but nothing worth noting... and of course, after watching the final episode of Heroes, I hunkered down to play in the MATH (Mondays at the Hoy).
Well, things didn't start off so well. I tend to be fairly tight but I also knew that that's my downfall so I wanted to open my game up a little. So I took a few stabs here and there but nothing was really connecting and I didn't get involved in big pots until this came along... Still early (double stack so we all started with 3000 chips)
FullTiltPoker Game #2480348419: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 5 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:26:35 ET - 2007/05/21
Seat 1: jeciimd (2,545)
Seat 2: a104l9 (3,200)
Seat 3: MiamiDon (2,815)
Seat 4: LookyMyHooky (2,915)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (2,380) <--- already a little down with few bad bluff attempts
Seat 6: NewinNov (2,530)
Seat 7: BuddyDank (4,420)
Seat 8: summer_babe (3,725)
Seat 9: Kajagugu (1,555)
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 25
NewinNov posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jh Kd]
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe calls 50
Kajagugu folds
jeciimd folds
a104l9 folds
MiamiDon calls 50
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 25
NewinNov checks
*** FLOP *** [8d 2c Jc]
RecessRampage bets 200 <--- bet out top pair
NewinNov folds
summer_babe folds
MiamiDon calls 200 <--- don, as we all know is a player, so I wanted to be careful after this call
*** TURN *** [8d 2c Jc] [Ad]
RecessRampage checks <--- controlling pot size
MiamiDon bets 500
RecessRampage calls 500 <--- here, I thought he was trying to steal the pot from me since I showed weakness by checking. I thought I was still good.
*** RIVER *** [8d 2c Jc Ad] [As]
RecessRampage checks
MiamiDon bets 1,100 <--- clearly a steal attempt, right?
RecessRampage calls 1,100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MiamiDon shows [Js Ah] (a full house, Aces full of Jacks) <--- WRONG
RecessRampage mucks
MiamiDon wins the pot (3,800) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
RecessRampage: damn...
That took a huge chunk of my stack. Now I'm down to 530 in chip stack from the starting 3000... and we're like 15 minutes into the tournament with 47 runners. Not looking good at all... I'm sitting at 42nd out of 42 remaining runners...
10:51pm - I somehow keep surviving with my meager chip stack until about 10 minutes remaining till the first break, I get A9 of hearts in the small blind. Button raises to 300 (blinds are 50/100) and I go all in for 255 more... again, short stack and this is probably as good as it gets. As the button calls I type "time to get lucky" into the chat box... he flips over AQ but I catch my nut flush on the turn and double up.
10:54pm - That propelled me to 40 out of 42 remaining. And then I go on a mini rush... UTG raises to 350 (blinds still at 50/100) and I'm sitting at UTG+2 with pocket jacks. So I push my still small stack of 1,210. Goes back around to UTG who calls with AQ. JJ holds up. Another double up. Stack at 2,570.
10:55pm - Very next hand. I find AK from UTG+1 so I raise to 350. Jeciimd (our top points player who hasn't cashed in the BBT events) who has been called by many to be maybe a little too tight pushes his stack for 1,770. I personally didn't have any opinion on him in terms of tightness (believe me, if I peg you as a tight player, then you're folding everything but AA and KK) but based on his rep, I thought at best, it was a race. But I couldn't fold and I said as much in the chat box. Actually my quote was "I'm such a donk, but I can't fold this." He flips AQ and my AK holds. My stack is now at a healthy 3,640.
10:57pm - Folded one hand and then this came up. I'm in the big blind...
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Kh]
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe folds
Kajagugu folds
willwonka raises to 300
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 200
*** FLOP *** [7h Kd Ac]
RecessRampage checks
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka bets 500
RecessRampage raises to 2,150 <--- this is not a play I would have made a while ago but now, I wasn't sure if willwonka had the ace. I figured, if he did, then so be it. It was only half my stack at this point and I now wanted to pressure him.
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka folds <--- phew
Uncalled bet of 1,650 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (1,650)
That took my stack to 5,290 which made me the chip leader at the table, only for a hand or two until MiamiDon won a monster pot right before the break.
11:22pm - I don't know what happened... very donkalicious moment for me. I call this guy's all in with pocket 5's on a board where there were three higher cards (turns out he had top set) so I lose 1,845 of my chip stack. However, that kinda snapped me back into playing tight again.
11:31pm - 10 minutes later, Schaubs and I go at it in this crazy hand where it was 3 handed going into the flop (after a raise and a reraise).
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qs Qd]
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage raises to 600
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
Schaubs has 15 seconds left to act
Schaubs raises to 1,500
OtisDart folds
JoeSpeaker folds
smokkee calls 1,300 <--- ??? I would love to know what he had here
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 2,575, and is all in <--- what else can I do with QQ here?
Schaubs calls 1,075
smokkee calls 1,075
*** FLOP *** [8c 5d 5c]
smokkee checks
Schaubs bets 3,811, and is all in
RecessRampage: hmmm
smokkee: i knew u were gonna do that
smokkee has 15 seconds left to act
smokkee: damn
smokkee folds
Schaubs shows [Th Ts]
RecessRampage shows [Qs Qd]
Uncalled bet of 3,811 returned to Schaubs
*** TURN *** [8c 5d 5c] [Td] <--- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RecessRampage: damn
*** RIVER *** [8c 5d 5c Td] [Qh] <--- YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Schaubs shows a full house, Tens full of Fives
RecessRampage shows a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage wins the pot (7,825) with a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage: oh damn
NewinNov: lol
JoeSpeaker: gotdamn
The ol' suck, resuck. So much drama... lol
Well, not much happens after this but as antes kick in, it becomes imperative that I stay alive and relatively healthy. So this comes up...
11:56pm - Smokkee at this point has me covered by approx 1800 chips but we're both about average chip stack overall. Smokkee is in the small blind and I'm BB. (blinds 150/300)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Js Qd]
everyone folds
smokkee raises to 900
RecessRampage calls 600 <--- gotta protect my blinds
*** FLOP *** [3s Kh 2c]
smokkee bets 975 <--- half the pot? I sensed weakness here so...
RecessRampage calls 975 <--- I call, to see what he does on the turn
*** TURN *** [3s Kh 2c] [Qh]
smokkee checks
RecessRampage bets 4,275, and is all in <--- if he slowplayed a king, I at least have outs if he calls but I wanted to make a statement here... if I'm wrong, I'm gone
smokkee folds <--- phew... he later claims he folded KT here... not sure if he's telling the truth though... :)
Uncalled bet of 4,275 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (3,925)
That was a pretty rare bluffing moment for me and that definitely helped. When the blinds start escalating in a hurry, every little bit helps, obviously.
Fast forward to 1:15am and this hand happens which is probably one of the most critical hands for me... It's down to 5 of us so we're in the money...
ullTiltPoker Game #2481723019: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 4 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:15:59 ET - 2007/05/22
Seat 2: TripJax (44,525)
Seat 4: OtisDart (11,919)
Seat 5: MiamiDon (23,600)
Seat 6: Mike_Maloney (40,088)
Seat 8: RecessRampage (20,868)
TripJax antes 250
OtisDart antes 250
MiamiDon antes 250
Mike_Maloney antes 250
RecessRampage antes 250
TripJax posts the small blind of 1,000
OtisDart posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Jc]
MiamiDon raises to 5,500
Mike_Maloney folds
RecessRampage calls 5,500 <--- I call in position, with decent cards, and with the blinds so high and at a short handed table, I either reraise here or call but folding, in my opinion, was not an option
TripJax folds
OtisDart raises to 11,669, and is all in
MiamiDon has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney: big hand
MiamiDon folds
RecessRampage: damn
RecessRampage: don, I was hoping you'd call...
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
MiamiDon: sandwich play
RecessRampage: got to
RecessRampage: I'm a donk
RecessRampage calls 6,169
OtisDart shows [Kc Kh]
RecessRampage shows [Qc Jc]
*** FLOP *** [2c 5s 7h]
*** TURN *** [2c 5s 7h] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [2c 5s 7h Ts] [2s]
OtisDart shows two pair, Kings and Twos
RecessRampage shows a pair of Twos
OtisDart wins the pot (31,088) with two pair, Kings and Twos
MiamiDon: nh
Mike_Maloney: ouch, nh
It was 6,169 more for me to call in a pot that already had close to 25,000 in chips. As I keep replaying, I feel like it was inevitable for me to lose chips here... Would you have folded? Would you have folded to the initial raise? I would love to hear it, esp if there are ones out there who think this is a hand that I should have folded. Well, this made me a short stack so few hands later, I pushed with 6-2 of hearts (I was gonna push ATC) and got called by Otis with AJ and that ended my tournament life. However, being at 42 out of 42 at one point, it was nice to see this...
And 4th place finish in this tough company was definitely something that I am proud of...
And by the way, stop by and congratulate OtisDart for eventually taking down the whole thing.
I'm gonna be hurting tomorrow at work...
As I try to better myself in tournament play, I obviously read a lot of blogs and forums to try to educate myself. But naturally, you have to play in order to gain experience and get even better. I'm still working on the fine points of deep stack play but I feel that generally, when I'm a short stack or when the blinds are high, my timing is pretty good. Of course, it helps to get lucky but hey, we're playing cards right?
So, last night, there was another sick beat that took a chunk out of my bankroll but I grinded hard on the cash tables to pretty much erase that deficit after several hours of play. In the meantime, I donked around some sng's and a couple of MTTs. Cashed in some but nothing worth noting... and of course, after watching the final episode of Heroes, I hunkered down to play in the MATH (Mondays at the Hoy).
Well, things didn't start off so well. I tend to be fairly tight but I also knew that that's my downfall so I wanted to open my game up a little. So I took a few stabs here and there but nothing was really connecting and I didn't get involved in big pots until this came along... Still early (double stack so we all started with 3000 chips)
FullTiltPoker Game #2480348419: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 5 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:26:35 ET - 2007/05/21
Seat 1: jeciimd (2,545)
Seat 2: a104l9 (3,200)
Seat 3: MiamiDon (2,815)
Seat 4: LookyMyHooky (2,915)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (2,380) <--- already a little down with few bad bluff attempts
Seat 6: NewinNov (2,530)
Seat 7: BuddyDank (4,420)
Seat 8: summer_babe (3,725)
Seat 9: Kajagugu (1,555)
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 25
NewinNov posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jh Kd]
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe calls 50
Kajagugu folds
jeciimd folds
a104l9 folds
MiamiDon calls 50
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 25
NewinNov checks
*** FLOP *** [8d 2c Jc]
RecessRampage bets 200 <--- bet out top pair
NewinNov folds
summer_babe folds
MiamiDon calls 200 <--- don, as we all know is a player, so I wanted to be careful after this call
*** TURN *** [8d 2c Jc] [Ad]
RecessRampage checks <--- controlling pot size
MiamiDon bets 500
RecessRampage calls 500 <--- here, I thought he was trying to steal the pot from me since I showed weakness by checking. I thought I was still good.
*** RIVER *** [8d 2c Jc Ad] [As]
RecessRampage checks
MiamiDon bets 1,100 <--- clearly a steal attempt, right?
RecessRampage calls 1,100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MiamiDon shows [Js Ah] (a full house, Aces full of Jacks) <--- WRONG
RecessRampage mucks
MiamiDon wins the pot (3,800) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
RecessRampage: damn...
That took a huge chunk of my stack. Now I'm down to 530 in chip stack from the starting 3000... and we're like 15 minutes into the tournament with 47 runners. Not looking good at all... I'm sitting at 42nd out of 42 remaining runners...
10:51pm - I somehow keep surviving with my meager chip stack until about 10 minutes remaining till the first break, I get A9 of hearts in the small blind. Button raises to 300 (blinds are 50/100) and I go all in for 255 more... again, short stack and this is probably as good as it gets. As the button calls I type "time to get lucky" into the chat box... he flips over AQ but I catch my nut flush on the turn and double up.
10:54pm - That propelled me to 40 out of 42 remaining. And then I go on a mini rush... UTG raises to 350 (blinds still at 50/100) and I'm sitting at UTG+2 with pocket jacks. So I push my still small stack of 1,210. Goes back around to UTG who calls with AQ. JJ holds up. Another double up. Stack at 2,570.
10:55pm - Very next hand. I find AK from UTG+1 so I raise to 350. Jeciimd (our top points player who hasn't cashed in the BBT events) who has been called by many to be maybe a little too tight pushes his stack for 1,770. I personally didn't have any opinion on him in terms of tightness (believe me, if I peg you as a tight player, then you're folding everything but AA and KK) but based on his rep, I thought at best, it was a race. But I couldn't fold and I said as much in the chat box. Actually my quote was "I'm such a donk, but I can't fold this." He flips AQ and my AK holds. My stack is now at a healthy 3,640.
10:57pm - Folded one hand and then this came up. I'm in the big blind...
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Kh]
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe folds
Kajagugu folds
willwonka raises to 300
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 200
*** FLOP *** [7h Kd Ac]
RecessRampage checks
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka bets 500
RecessRampage raises to 2,150 <--- this is not a play I would have made a while ago but now, I wasn't sure if willwonka had the ace. I figured, if he did, then so be it. It was only half my stack at this point and I now wanted to pressure him.
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka folds <--- phew
Uncalled bet of 1,650 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (1,650)
That took my stack to 5,290 which made me the chip leader at the table, only for a hand or two until MiamiDon won a monster pot right before the break.
11:22pm - I don't know what happened... very donkalicious moment for me. I call this guy's all in with pocket 5's on a board where there were three higher cards (turns out he had top set) so I lose 1,845 of my chip stack. However, that kinda snapped me back into playing tight again.
11:31pm - 10 minutes later, Schaubs and I go at it in this crazy hand where it was 3 handed going into the flop (after a raise and a reraise).
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qs Qd]
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage raises to 600
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
Schaubs has 15 seconds left to act
Schaubs raises to 1,500
OtisDart folds
JoeSpeaker folds
smokkee calls 1,300 <--- ??? I would love to know what he had here
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 2,575, and is all in <--- what else can I do with QQ here?
Schaubs calls 1,075
smokkee calls 1,075
*** FLOP *** [8c 5d 5c]
smokkee checks
Schaubs bets 3,811, and is all in
RecessRampage: hmmm
smokkee: i knew u were gonna do that
smokkee has 15 seconds left to act
smokkee: damn
smokkee folds
Schaubs shows [Th Ts]
RecessRampage shows [Qs Qd]
Uncalled bet of 3,811 returned to Schaubs
*** TURN *** [8c 5d 5c] [Td] <--- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RecessRampage: damn
*** RIVER *** [8c 5d 5c Td] [Qh] <--- YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Schaubs shows a full house, Tens full of Fives
RecessRampage shows a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage wins the pot (7,825) with a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage: oh damn
NewinNov: lol
JoeSpeaker: gotdamn
The ol' suck, resuck. So much drama... lol
Well, not much happens after this but as antes kick in, it becomes imperative that I stay alive and relatively healthy. So this comes up...
11:56pm - Smokkee at this point has me covered by approx 1800 chips but we're both about average chip stack overall. Smokkee is in the small blind and I'm BB. (blinds 150/300)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Js Qd]
everyone folds
smokkee raises to 900
RecessRampage calls 600 <--- gotta protect my blinds
*** FLOP *** [3s Kh 2c]
smokkee bets 975 <--- half the pot? I sensed weakness here so...
RecessRampage calls 975 <--- I call, to see what he does on the turn
*** TURN *** [3s Kh 2c] [Qh]
smokkee checks
RecessRampage bets 4,275, and is all in <--- if he slowplayed a king, I at least have outs if he calls but I wanted to make a statement here... if I'm wrong, I'm gone
smokkee folds <--- phew... he later claims he folded KT here... not sure if he's telling the truth though... :)
Uncalled bet of 4,275 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (3,925)
That was a pretty rare bluffing moment for me and that definitely helped. When the blinds start escalating in a hurry, every little bit helps, obviously.
Fast forward to 1:15am and this hand happens which is probably one of the most critical hands for me... It's down to 5 of us so we're in the money...
ullTiltPoker Game #2481723019: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 4 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:15:59 ET - 2007/05/22
Seat 2: TripJax (44,525)
Seat 4: OtisDart (11,919)
Seat 5: MiamiDon (23,600)
Seat 6: Mike_Maloney (40,088)
Seat 8: RecessRampage (20,868)
TripJax antes 250
OtisDart antes 250
MiamiDon antes 250
Mike_Maloney antes 250
RecessRampage antes 250
TripJax posts the small blind of 1,000
OtisDart posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Jc]
MiamiDon raises to 5,500
Mike_Maloney folds
RecessRampage calls 5,500 <--- I call in position, with decent cards, and with the blinds so high and at a short handed table, I either reraise here or call but folding, in my opinion, was not an option
TripJax folds
OtisDart raises to 11,669, and is all in
MiamiDon has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney: big hand
MiamiDon folds
RecessRampage: damn
RecessRampage: don, I was hoping you'd call...
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
MiamiDon: sandwich play
RecessRampage: got to
RecessRampage: I'm a donk
RecessRampage calls 6,169
OtisDart shows [Kc Kh]
RecessRampage shows [Qc Jc]
*** FLOP *** [2c 5s 7h]
*** TURN *** [2c 5s 7h] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [2c 5s 7h Ts] [2s]
OtisDart shows two pair, Kings and Twos
RecessRampage shows a pair of Twos
OtisDart wins the pot (31,088) with two pair, Kings and Twos
MiamiDon: nh
Mike_Maloney: ouch, nh
It was 6,169 more for me to call in a pot that already had close to 25,000 in chips. As I keep replaying, I feel like it was inevitable for me to lose chips here... Would you have folded? Would you have folded to the initial raise? I would love to hear it, esp if there are ones out there who think this is a hand that I should have folded. Well, this made me a short stack so few hands later, I pushed with 6-2 of hearts (I was gonna push ATC) and got called by Otis with AJ and that ended my tournament life. However, being at 42 out of 42 at one point, it was nice to see this...
And 4th place finish in this tough company was definitely something that I am proud of...
And by the way, stop by and congratulate OtisDart for eventually taking down the whole thing.
I'm gonna be hurting tomorrow at work...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
