Work has been kicking my ass... well, sort of. I'm just in so many meetings for all sorts of projects and such that I haven't had any time to post something meaningful. So, in the meantime, since everyone else is doing it, I took this test...
If I don't get to post anything before Thanksgiving, then happy holidays to all who celebrate that and be safe on all your travels (or your loved ones if they are traveling to you).
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
This is why I suck in tournaments
Fuel, maybe you'll stop picking me as your horse when you see these HH.
I played in the Mookie and I was playing well. I was making good steals and in many instances, when I didn't c-bet, I was able to induce a bet on the turn at which point I would raise and get them to fold. I was mixing up my play fairly well when this hand happened. And congrats to Mike for taking down the Mook. I guess me donking off chips to him here helped (which obv did since he posted about it on his blog).
FullTiltPoker Game #4179668128: The Mookie - DDDNasty II (31525513), Table 4 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:36:30 ET - 2007/11/14
Seat 1: katiemother (7,290)
Seat 2: GCox25 (3,650)
Seat 3: katitude (3,150)
Seat 4: RaisingCayne (4,160)
Seat 5: jeciimd (7,240)
Seat 6: RumpleTILTZkin (4,320)
Seat 7: RecessRampage (8,255) <--- see, I was doing well
Seat 8: DonkeyPuncher74 (3,593)
Seat 9: Mike_Maloney (3,740)
RumpleTILTZkin posts the small blind of 100
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Ah]
DonkeyPuncher74 folds
katitude: holy moley
Mike_Maloney raises to 700
katiemother folds
GCox25 folds
katitude folds
RaisingCayne folds
jeciimd folds
RumpleTILTZkin folds
RecessRampage calls 500
So this is my side of the story which doesn't show in the HH. For a brief moment, I had to think about what to do here. I obv had three options. To fold, call, or reraise. And to be honest, when I first thought about this hand, my thought was "I should just fold here." But surely, that's too weak-tight. The only reason that crossed my mind was that I don't like playing AQ out of position against a solid tournament player. So, having built up a lot of chips, I figured I could wait for a better spot (esp since I was stealing with a lot worse hands when I was in position, I felt that AQ wasn't making up for me being out of position). Another thought was to reraise but I felt like that was kinda silly so in the end, I elected to call.
*** FLOP *** [4s 5c 2d]
RecessRampage checks
Mike_Maloney bets 850
RecessRampage raises to 4,050
Mike_Maloney calls 2,190, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [Qc Ah]
Mike_Maloney shows [7s 7c]
Uncalled bet of 1,010 returned to RecessRampage
Mike said it on his blog about his betsizing and he bet the perfect amount to reel me in like the fish that I am. I took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. The flop was all low and Mike bet out a c-bet looking bet... a very weak one at that... so I took the bait, thinking maybe he had two high cards like me and that he would have to fold on the check raise. Very well played by him but also a very dumb move by me to spew chips like this at this point in the tournament. Bash me all you want, I know what I did and how bad that was. Hence my opening on this blog...
*** TURN *** [4s 5c 2d] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [4s 5c 2d Jc] [7h]
RecessRampage shows Ace Queen high
Mike_Maloney shows three of a kind, Sevens
Mike_Maloney wins the pot (7,580) with three of a kind, Sevens
Then here's the next hand that really did me in. Not that anyone would have played it differently but I always hate calling an all-in with A high...
FullTiltPoker Game #4179785358: The Mookie - DDDNasty II (31525513), Table 4 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:47:32 ET - 2007/11/14
Seat 1: snakster (9,900)
Seat 2: GCox25 (3,195)
Seat 3: katitude (2,405)
Seat 4: RaisingCayne (7,520)
Seat 5: jeciimd (6,470)
Seat 7: RecessRampage (3,955)
Seat 8: DonkeyPuncher74 (3,728)
Seat 9: Mike_Maloney (10,380)
snakster antes 25
GCox25 antes 25
katitude antes 25
RaisingCayne antes 25
jeciimd antes 25
RecessRampage antes 25
DonkeyPuncher74 antes 25
Mike_Maloney antes 25
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 150
DonkeyPuncher74 posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ks Ah]
Mike_Maloney folds
snakster folds
GCox25 folds
katitude raises to 2,380, and is all in
RaisingCayne folds
jeciimd folds
RecessRampage raises to 3,930, and is all in
DonkeyPuncher74 folds
RecessRampage shows [Ks Ah]
katitude shows [5h 5c]
Uncalled bet of 1,550 returned to RecessRampage
*** FLOP *** [6h 2d Tc]
*** TURN *** [6h 2d Tc] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [6h 2d Tc 6c] [2h]
RecessRampage shows two pair, Sixes and Twos
katitude shows two pair, Sixes and Fives
katitude wins the pot (5,260) with two pair, Sixes and Fives
Again, I assume that everyone would go all in there with AK but I really hate CALLING an all in with it because if Kat's range is very wide, I'm only way ahead against hands that include an A or K. If she does QJ or below, I'm only like 60-40 or 65-35ish ahead, right? Or behind, like I was against any pair. Not that I'm complaining about AK but I'd rather be pushing with it than calling with it. Does anyone ever think that way or am I being way to passive? Maybe this has more to do with my cash game mentality...
Let's see if I can do better tonight at the Riverchasers. See you tonight.
I played in the Mookie and I was playing well. I was making good steals and in many instances, when I didn't c-bet, I was able to induce a bet on the turn at which point I would raise and get them to fold. I was mixing up my play fairly well when this hand happened. And congrats to Mike for taking down the Mook. I guess me donking off chips to him here helped (which obv did since he posted about it on his blog).
FullTiltPoker Game #4179668128: The Mookie - DDDNasty II (31525513), Table 4 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:36:30 ET - 2007/11/14
Seat 1: katiemother (7,290)
Seat 2: GCox25 (3,650)
Seat 3: katitude (3,150)
Seat 4: RaisingCayne (4,160)
Seat 5: jeciimd (7,240)
Seat 6: RumpleTILTZkin (4,320)
Seat 7: RecessRampage (8,255) <--- see, I was doing well
Seat 8: DonkeyPuncher74 (3,593)
Seat 9: Mike_Maloney (3,740)
RumpleTILTZkin posts the small blind of 100
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Ah]
DonkeyPuncher74 folds
katitude: holy moley
Mike_Maloney raises to 700
katiemother folds
GCox25 folds
katitude folds
RaisingCayne folds
jeciimd folds
RumpleTILTZkin folds
RecessRampage calls 500
So this is my side of the story which doesn't show in the HH. For a brief moment, I had to think about what to do here. I obv had three options. To fold, call, or reraise. And to be honest, when I first thought about this hand, my thought was "I should just fold here." But surely, that's too weak-tight. The only reason that crossed my mind was that I don't like playing AQ out of position against a solid tournament player. So, having built up a lot of chips, I figured I could wait for a better spot (esp since I was stealing with a lot worse hands when I was in position, I felt that AQ wasn't making up for me being out of position). Another thought was to reraise but I felt like that was kinda silly so in the end, I elected to call.
*** FLOP *** [4s 5c 2d]
RecessRampage checks
Mike_Maloney bets 850
RecessRampage raises to 4,050
Mike_Maloney calls 2,190, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [Qc Ah]
Mike_Maloney shows [7s 7c]
Uncalled bet of 1,010 returned to RecessRampage
Mike said it on his blog about his betsizing and he bet the perfect amount to reel me in like the fish that I am. I took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. The flop was all low and Mike bet out a c-bet looking bet... a very weak one at that... so I took the bait, thinking maybe he had two high cards like me and that he would have to fold on the check raise. Very well played by him but also a very dumb move by me to spew chips like this at this point in the tournament. Bash me all you want, I know what I did and how bad that was. Hence my opening on this blog...
*** TURN *** [4s 5c 2d] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [4s 5c 2d Jc] [7h]
RecessRampage shows Ace Queen high
Mike_Maloney shows three of a kind, Sevens
Mike_Maloney wins the pot (7,580) with three of a kind, Sevens
Then here's the next hand that really did me in. Not that anyone would have played it differently but I always hate calling an all-in with A high...
FullTiltPoker Game #4179785358: The Mookie - DDDNasty II (31525513), Table 4 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:47:32 ET - 2007/11/14
Seat 1: snakster (9,900)
Seat 2: GCox25 (3,195)
Seat 3: katitude (2,405)
Seat 4: RaisingCayne (7,520)
Seat 5: jeciimd (6,470)
Seat 7: RecessRampage (3,955)
Seat 8: DonkeyPuncher74 (3,728)
Seat 9: Mike_Maloney (10,380)
snakster antes 25
GCox25 antes 25
katitude antes 25
RaisingCayne antes 25
jeciimd antes 25
RecessRampage antes 25
DonkeyPuncher74 antes 25
Mike_Maloney antes 25
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 150
DonkeyPuncher74 posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ks Ah]
Mike_Maloney folds
snakster folds
GCox25 folds
katitude raises to 2,380, and is all in
RaisingCayne folds
jeciimd folds
RecessRampage raises to 3,930, and is all in
DonkeyPuncher74 folds
RecessRampage shows [Ks Ah]
katitude shows [5h 5c]
Uncalled bet of 1,550 returned to RecessRampage
*** FLOP *** [6h 2d Tc]
*** TURN *** [6h 2d Tc] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [6h 2d Tc 6c] [2h]
RecessRampage shows two pair, Sixes and Twos
katitude shows two pair, Sixes and Fives
katitude wins the pot (5,260) with two pair, Sixes and Fives
Again, I assume that everyone would go all in there with AK but I really hate CALLING an all in with it because if Kat's range is very wide, I'm only way ahead against hands that include an A or K. If she does QJ or below, I'm only like 60-40 or 65-35ish ahead, right? Or behind, like I was against any pair. Not that I'm complaining about AK but I'd rather be pushing with it than calling with it. Does anyone ever think that way or am I being way to passive? Maybe this has more to do with my cash game mentality...
Let's see if I can do better tonight at the Riverchasers. See you tonight.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
A few tourney hands...
From the ironman freeroll, there are a couple of hands that I would like comments on. Here's the first one.
FullTiltPoker Game #4133443622: Iron Man $30,000 Freeroll (30641962), Table 18 - 250/500 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:13:37 ET - 2007/11/10
Seat 1: DrOfDonkology (4,287)
Seat 2: Danter (19,766)
Seat 3: FreshSpade (9,952)
Seat 5: Reddot666 (3,270)
Seat 6: farsitegrind (3,920)
Seat 7: raylapsley (8,040)
Seat 8: LegalRobbery (5,086)
Seat 9: RecessRampage (8,485)
DrOfDonkology antes 50
Danter antes 50
FreshSpade antes 50
Reddot666 antes 50
farsitegrind antes 50
raylapsley antes 50
LegalRobbery antes 50
RecessRampage antes 50
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 250
DrOfDonkology posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [7s Kh]
Danter folds
FreshSpade folds
Reddot666 folds
farsitegrind folds
raylapsley folds
LegalRobbery folds
RecessRampage raises to 8,435, and is all in
DrOfDonkology has 15 seconds left to act
DrOfDonkology calls 3,737, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [7s Kh]
DrOfDonkology shows [Js Jh]
Uncalled bet of 4,198 returned to RecessRampage
*** FLOP *** [5c 7c 3h]
*** TURN *** [5c 7c 3h] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [5c 7c 3h 2d] [6h]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Sevens
DrOfDonkology shows a pair of Jacks
DrOfDonkology wins the pot (8,874) with a pair of Jacks
So preflop, the pot has T$1150. It's folded around to me so obviously, I have a few choices. I could fold, call, or raise. Well, at this point, I felt like folding or calling would just be bad. There's T$1150 in the pot so at this point, I felt like every pot is worth fighting for. The BB was fairly short but tight so I figured I could still steal this pot. The only problem was that if I raised to 3x the BB and he shoves, I'm pot committed. It would only be T$2237 more to call a pot that at that point would contain T$4500. So, I jammed and the rest is history. So, my first question is, is this a bad move? Should I have been more patient? Should I have raised less? Is calling an option here? I'd love your thoughts.
Then, later, this is the hand I busted out on. Personally, I am ok with my move and I think I would do this almost every time at this stage of the tournament. To give a quick background. We're down to 49 players and basically 4 more players to bust out before another $30 money bump. The blinds and antes are going up significantly and most people's M is below 5. Still, my stack was enough to put a good dent to most people so I was going to ramp up my aggression. And then this happens.
FullTiltPoker Game #4133651321: Iron Man $30,000 Freeroll (30641962), Table 10 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:34:54 ET - 2007/11/10
Seat 1: PocketJaKKd (12,030)
Seat 2: Dianes_Place (8,225)
Seat 3: attheLimit (5,910)
Seat 4: GypsyEX (24,020)
Seat 5: chislodc (18,860)
Seat 6: TyGraham11 (5,835)
Seat 7: RecessRampage (8,228)
Seat 8: rwestover (3,556)
Seat 9: PimpinDonks (15,481)
PocketJaKKd antes 100
Dianes_Place antes 100
attheLimit antes 100
GypsyEX antes 100
chislodc antes 100
TyGraham11 antes 100
RecessRampage antes 100
rwestover antes 100
PimpinDonks antes 100
TyGraham11 posts the small blind of 400
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [4c As]
rwestover folds
PimpinDonks folds
PocketJaKKd folds
Dianes_Place folds
attheLimit folds
GypsyEX calls 800
chislodc folds
TyGraham11 calls 400
RecessRampage raises to 8,128, and is all in
GypsyEX has 15 seconds left to act
GypsyEX calls 7,328
TyGraham11 folds
RecessRampage shows [4c As]
GypsyEX shows [2c 2s]
*** FLOP *** [7c Ts 3h]
*** TURN *** [7c Ts 3h] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [7c Ts 3h 9h] [9s]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Nines
GypsyEX shows two pair, Nines and Twos
GypsyEX wins the pot (17,956) with two pair, Nines and Twos
RecessRampage stands up
The big stack limps from late position and the SB completes. At this point, I figured A4 was good enough to shove. Actually, I probably would shove here with ATC but LJ didn't like my shove with A4. She said that she hates shoving with A-rag. Personally, I would agree with that statement if I'm shoving from EP or if I'm shoving over the top of a raise. But the LP limp made me think he either had AA or he was weak. If he had Ax, he would have to raise, right? If he had KK, that's quite a gamble to let potentially two other people see the flop. So, the only "good" hand that he could do that with, IMO, was AA and since I had one A, I thought it might be unlikely. And so based on those things, I shoved, hoping to get a fold and pick up 3 BBs plus the antes. Again, since the pot is so big, I felt that I would have to fight for every pot. So, the question is, do you think this was a bad move? Should I just check and basically give up on the pot after the flop? To be honest, I was surprised with the call. The only reason he makes that call is because he had a big enough stack that even if he loses, it's only a third of his stack. And maybe that's what should have made me not shove. In other words, shoving on a big stack may not be the best thing to do. Any thoughts would be appreciated here.
FullTiltPoker Game #4133443622: Iron Man $30,000 Freeroll (30641962), Table 18 - 250/500 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:13:37 ET - 2007/11/10
Seat 1: DrOfDonkology (4,287)
Seat 2: Danter (19,766)
Seat 3: FreshSpade (9,952)
Seat 5: Reddot666 (3,270)
Seat 6: farsitegrind (3,920)
Seat 7: raylapsley (8,040)
Seat 8: LegalRobbery (5,086)
Seat 9: RecessRampage (8,485)
DrOfDonkology antes 50
Danter antes 50
FreshSpade antes 50
Reddot666 antes 50
farsitegrind antes 50
raylapsley antes 50
LegalRobbery antes 50
RecessRampage antes 50
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 250
DrOfDonkology posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [7s Kh]
Danter folds
FreshSpade folds
Reddot666 folds
farsitegrind folds
raylapsley folds
LegalRobbery folds
RecessRampage raises to 8,435, and is all in
DrOfDonkology has 15 seconds left to act
DrOfDonkology calls 3,737, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [7s Kh]
DrOfDonkology shows [Js Jh]
Uncalled bet of 4,198 returned to RecessRampage
*** FLOP *** [5c 7c 3h]
*** TURN *** [5c 7c 3h] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [5c 7c 3h 2d] [6h]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Sevens
DrOfDonkology shows a pair of Jacks
DrOfDonkology wins the pot (8,874) with a pair of Jacks
So preflop, the pot has T$1150. It's folded around to me so obviously, I have a few choices. I could fold, call, or raise. Well, at this point, I felt like folding or calling would just be bad. There's T$1150 in the pot so at this point, I felt like every pot is worth fighting for. The BB was fairly short but tight so I figured I could still steal this pot. The only problem was that if I raised to 3x the BB and he shoves, I'm pot committed. It would only be T$2237 more to call a pot that at that point would contain T$4500. So, I jammed and the rest is history. So, my first question is, is this a bad move? Should I have been more patient? Should I have raised less? Is calling an option here? I'd love your thoughts.
Then, later, this is the hand I busted out on. Personally, I am ok with my move and I think I would do this almost every time at this stage of the tournament. To give a quick background. We're down to 49 players and basically 4 more players to bust out before another $30 money bump. The blinds and antes are going up significantly and most people's M is below 5. Still, my stack was enough to put a good dent to most people so I was going to ramp up my aggression. And then this happens.
FullTiltPoker Game #4133651321: Iron Man $30,000 Freeroll (30641962), Table 10 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:34:54 ET - 2007/11/10
Seat 1: PocketJaKKd (12,030)
Seat 2: Dianes_Place (8,225)
Seat 3: attheLimit (5,910)
Seat 4: GypsyEX (24,020)
Seat 5: chislodc (18,860)
Seat 6: TyGraham11 (5,835)
Seat 7: RecessRampage (8,228)
Seat 8: rwestover (3,556)
Seat 9: PimpinDonks (15,481)
PocketJaKKd antes 100
Dianes_Place antes 100
attheLimit antes 100
GypsyEX antes 100
chislodc antes 100
TyGraham11 antes 100
RecessRampage antes 100
rwestover antes 100
PimpinDonks antes 100
TyGraham11 posts the small blind of 400
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [4c As]
rwestover folds
PimpinDonks folds
PocketJaKKd folds
Dianes_Place folds
attheLimit folds
GypsyEX calls 800
chislodc folds
TyGraham11 calls 400
RecessRampage raises to 8,128, and is all in
GypsyEX has 15 seconds left to act
GypsyEX calls 7,328
TyGraham11 folds
RecessRampage shows [4c As]
GypsyEX shows [2c 2s]
*** FLOP *** [7c Ts 3h]
*** TURN *** [7c Ts 3h] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [7c Ts 3h 9h] [9s]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Nines
GypsyEX shows two pair, Nines and Twos
GypsyEX wins the pot (17,956) with two pair, Nines and Twos
RecessRampage stands up
The big stack limps from late position and the SB completes. At this point, I figured A4 was good enough to shove. Actually, I probably would shove here with ATC but LJ didn't like my shove with A4. She said that she hates shoving with A-rag. Personally, I would agree with that statement if I'm shoving from EP or if I'm shoving over the top of a raise. But the LP limp made me think he either had AA or he was weak. If he had Ax, he would have to raise, right? If he had KK, that's quite a gamble to let potentially two other people see the flop. So, the only "good" hand that he could do that with, IMO, was AA and since I had one A, I thought it might be unlikely. And so based on those things, I shoved, hoping to get a fold and pick up 3 BBs plus the antes. Again, since the pot is so big, I felt that I would have to fight for every pot. So, the question is, do you think this was a bad move? Should I just check and basically give up on the pot after the flop? To be honest, I was surprised with the call. The only reason he makes that call is because he had a big enough stack that even if he loses, it's only a third of his stack. And maybe that's what should have made me not shove. In other words, shoving on a big stack may not be the best thing to do. Any thoughts would be appreciated here.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
7 more stuff and some hand histories
Ok, before I get started, since JamyHawk tagged me, here's a quick 7 things about me. I just did these like few weeks back so these will be short and sweet:
1. I hate being told to calm down. Esp when I'm drunk. So I'm feisty and loud. But don't tell me to calm down. That really irks me. Actually, it pisses me off.
2. I am bad with movie/tv show cast names. When I have to describe a movie and someone asks "who was in it?" I generally can't answer. I'm actually pretty much retarded when it comes to that. I don't really have any infatuation over celebrities.
3. I love white girls. Like semi hot white girl trumps hot non-white girls. I'm not a racist. That just happens to be my preference. Like that secretary girl from "The Office" (I don't know her name - see my #2 above) > Lucy Liu or Beyonce or other non-Caucasian women. That's just my personal preference. It doesn't mean I don't like non-Caucasian women. It's just a matter of taste. Like I prefer beef over chicken. I prefer white girls over non-white girls.
4. I used to be anti strip clubs. I just didn't understand what was so great about watching naked girls dance around poles. That was, however, until I discovered the Rhino in Vegas. I won't go into details but that place changed everything for me.
5. I have major Asian complex. Not that I'm not proud of my heritage or my country because I am. But I still have this big complex about being Asian. Maybe it's cuz I live in the South...
6. It's not that I have a short temper but it requires very little to set me off. I stopped listening to the Jim Rome show and boycotted for like several years after he bashed soccer during one of the World Cups. Now, I've come to grips with his hatred for soccer and I am a devoted clone.
7. I really can't think of anything anymore. Well... I used to be a big eater. In one sitting, I've put down 3 footlong subs from subway. One time, I also had 48oz of steak (they had a 12 oz prime rib special and I had 4 of them). The chef came out to see who I was. This was pre-hot dog eating japanese dude. I can't remember his name... see #2.
Ok, now that I got that out of the way, here's some HH. I haven't done this in a while...
I'm guessing most people will hate this play. But I did have a read...
Full Tilt Poker Game #4071566497: Table Copper Mesa - $3/$6 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:26:30 ET - 2007/11/04
Seat 1: Maddux01 ($0), is sitting out
Seat 2: agate50 ($933.70)
Seat 3: 21SeanTaylor ($594)
Seat 4: hotwon ($760.05)
Seat 5: Mo Rivers ($1,105.40)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($588.45)
Seat 7: Zodiac76 ($181.25)
Seat 8: chislodc ($704.40)
Seat 9: Ace_upmy_Slv 73 ($543)
agate50 posts the big blind of $6
Maddux01 has returned
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [8s 8h]
21SeanTaylor folds
hotwon calls $6
Mo Rivers folds
RecessRampage raises to $24
Zodiac76 folds
chislodc raises to $75
Ace_upmy_Slv 73 folds
agate50 folds
hotwon folds
RecessRampage calls $51
A known aggro player reraises me from MP. If this was a different seating arrangement, things could be really different. In other words, if I were on the button and he was in the BB, I think his reraising range is a little wider. But, considering I raised from EP and he reraised in MP, I figured he must have a pretty strong hand so at this point, I called, hoping to hit a set.
*** FLOP *** [Kd Ah 5c]
RecessRampage checks
chislodc checks
This flop sucked. Or so I thought. I pretty much gave up but I hesitated before I checked. He then checked behind.
*** TURN *** [Kd Ah 5c] [9d]
RecessRampage bets $95
chislodc has 15 seconds left to act
chislodc calls $95
Based on the check above, I had the impression that he either has a monster like AA or KK, or he has QQ or JJ and hates the above flop, esp since I raised from EP initially. So, I decided to try to steal this pot.
Now as much as I didn't enjoy his call, I didn't mind it as much. I peg him as an aggressive player and at this point, if he had a hand, I felt that he would raise to build the pot. I also know that he knows I'm capable of betting out with a lesser hand because he checked the flop. So, my read here is that he didn't have either A or a K.
*** RIVER *** [Kd Ah 5c 9d] [Th]
RecessRampage bets $150
chislodc has 15 seconds left to act
chislodc folds
Uncalled bet of $150 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($349)
At this point, I figured the river was harmless. Sure, TT could be possibly but seemed very unlikely. I figured it had to be QQ. So I bet out $150. I wanted to bet out an amount that looked like I was unsure but I didn't mind getting called. In other words, a bet that I might throw out if I had a hand like AQ or AK. I also wanted to bet enough to make it tough to call. $150 felt like a good amount and after he thought about it for a little, he folded.
I can see some of you hating this play but this style works for me.
This was fairly poorly played by me but the other player played it worse and saved me some money.
Full Tilt Poker Game #4072078377: Table Calico Pines - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:11:45 ET - 2007/11/04
Seat 1: matter17 ($514.30), is sitting out
Seat 2: IPutInWork ($759.30)
Seat 3: URaACEhole ($484.75)
Seat 4: trublupoker ($775.35)
Seat 5: RecessRampage ($438.20)
Seat 6: TOAFK ($645.95)
Seat 7: El Patron 222 ($406)
Seat 8: waterlooman ($154)
Seat 9: fivetenatrad ($253.40)
IPutInWork posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ac Ks]
URaACEhole calls $4
trublupoker folds
RecessRampage raises to $16
TOAFK folds
El Patron 222 folds
waterlooman calls $16
fivetenatrad folds
IPutInWork folds
URaACEhole calls $12
*** FLOP *** [Jd 3c Th]
URaACEhole checks
RecessRampage checks
waterlooman checks
I'm not thrilled by two callers behind me and quite frankly, with this flop, I just couldn't see the point in cbetting because this flop is too likely to have hit someone or made a draw for someone. And I'm OOP. So, I'm pretty much giving up this pot... except, of course, the fact that everyone checked is firing up my aggro donkey tendencies...
*** TURN *** [Jd 3c Th] [Tc]
URaACEhole checks
RecessRampage bets $32
waterlooman calls $32
URaACEhole calls $32
So, like a true donkey, I bet out when the board pairs and when it's obvious to all that the 10 possibly could not have helped my hand. Bad, bad bet by me.
*** RIVER *** [Jd 3c Th Tc] [Kh]
URaACEhole has 15 seconds left to act
URaACEhole checks
RecessRampage checks
waterlooman bets $32
URaACEhole raises to $122
RecessRampage folds
waterlooman has 15 seconds left to act
waterlooman calls $74, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $16 returned to URaACEhole
I make my hand but it's pointless to bet here. If my K is good, I'll take the pot that I probably have no business getting at this point. But, apparently, waterlooman is a bigger donkey. So, he decideds to bet into this pot like an idiot. And as a result, he gets stacked. Basically, he gets what he deserves. Thank god URaACEhole played this poorly. To me, not betting on the river with his hand is pretty bad... more often than not, that will cost him some chips that he coulda won.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
URaACEhole shows [Js Jc] a full house, Jacks full of Tens
waterlooman mucks his AK
URaACEhole wins the pot ($357) with a full house, Jacks full of Tens
waterlooman is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Seat 8: waterlooman mucked [Ah Kd] - two pair, Kings and Tens
1. I hate being told to calm down. Esp when I'm drunk. So I'm feisty and loud. But don't tell me to calm down. That really irks me. Actually, it pisses me off.
2. I am bad with movie/tv show cast names. When I have to describe a movie and someone asks "who was in it?" I generally can't answer. I'm actually pretty much retarded when it comes to that. I don't really have any infatuation over celebrities.
3. I love white girls. Like semi hot white girl trumps hot non-white girls. I'm not a racist. That just happens to be my preference. Like that secretary girl from "The Office" (I don't know her name - see my #2 above) > Lucy Liu or Beyonce or other non-Caucasian women. That's just my personal preference. It doesn't mean I don't like non-Caucasian women. It's just a matter of taste. Like I prefer beef over chicken. I prefer white girls over non-white girls.
4. I used to be anti strip clubs. I just didn't understand what was so great about watching naked girls dance around poles. That was, however, until I discovered the Rhino in Vegas. I won't go into details but that place changed everything for me.
5. I have major Asian complex. Not that I'm not proud of my heritage or my country because I am. But I still have this big complex about being Asian. Maybe it's cuz I live in the South...
6. It's not that I have a short temper but it requires very little to set me off. I stopped listening to the Jim Rome show and boycotted for like several years after he bashed soccer during one of the World Cups. Now, I've come to grips with his hatred for soccer and I am a devoted clone.
7. I really can't think of anything anymore. Well... I used to be a big eater. In one sitting, I've put down 3 footlong subs from subway. One time, I also had 48oz of steak (they had a 12 oz prime rib special and I had 4 of them). The chef came out to see who I was. This was pre-hot dog eating japanese dude. I can't remember his name... see #2.
Ok, now that I got that out of the way, here's some HH. I haven't done this in a while...
I'm guessing most people will hate this play. But I did have a read...
Full Tilt Poker Game #4071566497: Table Copper Mesa - $3/$6 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:26:30 ET - 2007/11/04
Seat 1: Maddux01 ($0), is sitting out
Seat 2: agate50 ($933.70)
Seat 3: 21SeanTaylor ($594)
Seat 4: hotwon ($760.05)
Seat 5: Mo Rivers ($1,105.40)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($588.45)
Seat 7: Zodiac76 ($181.25)
Seat 8: chislodc ($704.40)
Seat 9: Ace_upmy_Slv 73 ($543)
agate50 posts the big blind of $6
Maddux01 has returned
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [8s 8h]
21SeanTaylor folds
hotwon calls $6
Mo Rivers folds
RecessRampage raises to $24
Zodiac76 folds
chislodc raises to $75
Ace_upmy_Slv 73 folds
agate50 folds
hotwon folds
RecessRampage calls $51
A known aggro player reraises me from MP. If this was a different seating arrangement, things could be really different. In other words, if I were on the button and he was in the BB, I think his reraising range is a little wider. But, considering I raised from EP and he reraised in MP, I figured he must have a pretty strong hand so at this point, I called, hoping to hit a set.
*** FLOP *** [Kd Ah 5c]
RecessRampage checks
chislodc checks
This flop sucked. Or so I thought. I pretty much gave up but I hesitated before I checked. He then checked behind.
*** TURN *** [Kd Ah 5c] [9d]
RecessRampage bets $95
chislodc has 15 seconds left to act
chislodc calls $95
Based on the check above, I had the impression that he either has a monster like AA or KK, or he has QQ or JJ and hates the above flop, esp since I raised from EP initially. So, I decided to try to steal this pot.
Now as much as I didn't enjoy his call, I didn't mind it as much. I peg him as an aggressive player and at this point, if he had a hand, I felt that he would raise to build the pot. I also know that he knows I'm capable of betting out with a lesser hand because he checked the flop. So, my read here is that he didn't have either A or a K.
*** RIVER *** [Kd Ah 5c 9d] [Th]
RecessRampage bets $150
chislodc has 15 seconds left to act
chislodc folds
Uncalled bet of $150 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($349)
At this point, I figured the river was harmless. Sure, TT could be possibly but seemed very unlikely. I figured it had to be QQ. So I bet out $150. I wanted to bet out an amount that looked like I was unsure but I didn't mind getting called. In other words, a bet that I might throw out if I had a hand like AQ or AK. I also wanted to bet enough to make it tough to call. $150 felt like a good amount and after he thought about it for a little, he folded.
I can see some of you hating this play but this style works for me.
This was fairly poorly played by me but the other player played it worse and saved me some money.
Full Tilt Poker Game #4072078377: Table Calico Pines - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:11:45 ET - 2007/11/04
Seat 1: matter17 ($514.30), is sitting out
Seat 2: IPutInWork ($759.30)
Seat 3: URaACEhole ($484.75)
Seat 4: trublupoker ($775.35)
Seat 5: RecessRampage ($438.20)
Seat 6: TOAFK ($645.95)
Seat 7: El Patron 222 ($406)
Seat 8: waterlooman ($154)
Seat 9: fivetenatrad ($253.40)
IPutInWork posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ac Ks]
URaACEhole calls $4
trublupoker folds
RecessRampage raises to $16
TOAFK folds
El Patron 222 folds
waterlooman calls $16
fivetenatrad folds
IPutInWork folds
URaACEhole calls $12
*** FLOP *** [Jd 3c Th]
URaACEhole checks
RecessRampage checks
waterlooman checks
I'm not thrilled by two callers behind me and quite frankly, with this flop, I just couldn't see the point in cbetting because this flop is too likely to have hit someone or made a draw for someone. And I'm OOP. So, I'm pretty much giving up this pot... except, of course, the fact that everyone checked is firing up my aggro donkey tendencies...
*** TURN *** [Jd 3c Th] [Tc]
URaACEhole checks
RecessRampage bets $32
waterlooman calls $32
URaACEhole calls $32
So, like a true donkey, I bet out when the board pairs and when it's obvious to all that the 10 possibly could not have helped my hand. Bad, bad bet by me.
*** RIVER *** [Jd 3c Th Tc] [Kh]
URaACEhole has 15 seconds left to act
URaACEhole checks
RecessRampage checks
waterlooman bets $32
URaACEhole raises to $122
RecessRampage folds
waterlooman has 15 seconds left to act
waterlooman calls $74, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $16 returned to URaACEhole
I make my hand but it's pointless to bet here. If my K is good, I'll take the pot that I probably have no business getting at this point. But, apparently, waterlooman is a bigger donkey. So, he decideds to bet into this pot like an idiot. And as a result, he gets stacked. Basically, he gets what he deserves. Thank god URaACEhole played this poorly. To me, not betting on the river with his hand is pretty bad... more often than not, that will cost him some chips that he coulda won.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
URaACEhole shows [Js Jc] a full house, Jacks full of Tens
waterlooman mucks his AK
URaACEhole wins the pot ($357) with a full house, Jacks full of Tens
waterlooman is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Seat 8: waterlooman mucked [Ah Kd] - two pair, Kings and Tens
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
PAPT Pwnage!!!
*Home game* related.
But, before I start, few more blogs I'm adding to my blog list.
Kajagugu (took down the MATH for a seat to the Aussie Millions - and yes, Kaja, I am fairly bluffable - no offense taken on your blog)
PirateLawyer (another lawyer, another Canadian - WTF!?)
CzechRazor (as you can guess from the blog address, kind of an angry blog... in a dark humor kinda way... which is pretty much right up my alley - I mean one of his entries start with "Not only do massive downswings make me want to throw a kitten into traffic ..." and he's got a picture of a kitten... LOL)
So, go check them out. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing.
So, I've talked about the PAPT before. The Park Avenue Poker Tour, a home game of 8 to 11 players, basically a weekly sng style format where the top 3 generally gets points and top 2 or 3 (depending on number of players) gets paid. One with most points at the end of the year gets the side pot which at the end of the year is approx $600 (weekly buy-in is $25).
Well, up until this point, I hadn't played as much. Well, I have started to but early in the year, I wasn't showing up to those as much. Well, ever since something in me clicked, I started showing up and quite frankly, I have started to dominate in that thing. In the past 15 weeks, I probably showed up in maybe like 12 of them? I've won em out right in 6 of those occasions and came in 2nd once. And tonight, once again, pwned! I am now in first place of the PAPT Player of the Year standings and I have no intention of letting go.
Some interesting hands -
Early on, I was mixing it up and building a decent sized stack when I stacked a guy with my AK of diamonds when the money went all in on a J high flop with two diamonds and I made my nut flush on the turn. The guy played his underpair like AA but with a minimum of 9 outs (possibly 15 outs since I thought maybe QQ) twice and him being all in and the pot offering me 2:1, it was a fairly no brainer call.
So, with a decent sized stack, I was seeing a lot of flops. One hand, I was on the button with 3-6 (sooted) when the blinds were... 3-6... a short stack limped... and so I called as well. The blinds are in and the flop comes A-10-7. It was checked around to me and since everyone limped, I thought it was quite possible that no one had the ace. So I bet 22 into a pot that had 24. The blinds fold and the short stack goes all in... literally, my hand caught in the cookie jar... we laughed about it, I told them how I really didn't want to call cuz I had absolutely had nothing... but it was only 14 more to me. Pot had 68. One guy goes "you probably have 9 high or something." So I tell him I don't have a card that's higher than what's on the board. And right on cue, Tyke says "you probably have 3-6 or some shit like that." Amen. I call, flip over my cards thinking I'm gonna need running 3s, 6s, or two more spades to complete my runner runner flush. Well, one thing I didn't think about was a runner runner straight which I got when the 5 on the turn and the 4 on the river comes. Gross. I told you this was the house of bad beats. Oh the victim? He had AK.
And as usual, PAPT delivered the bad beats like they were going out of style. One hand, there was a 3 way preflop all in. QQ vs TT vs 88. Before the flop comes, when they all flipped over the cards, I pointed at 88 and said "he's the favorite in this house." Sure enough, 8 on the flop sends the TT home and cripples Tyke who had the QQ.
Well, there was one noteworthy thing that happened. As an online player, I personally think I'm at a huge disadvantage when I play live poker. I mean I don't have as much training on picking up tells or concealing my tells. I do my best and to the undiscerning eye, they might not notice but I keep thinking that I could be read so easily if I played against very good players. But last night, I picked up on something interesting. There was a hand where my buddy JT (igniyomontoya76 on FTP) was in a hand with another guy. Flop comes Q-10-3. There's a bet and JT makes a call that looked like "ok I'll see another card". Turn is an ace. And then he did something. I won't disclose what but I noticed something and I just kept that in mind. Fortunately, the hand went to show down and he showed A-3. So, when the turn gave him second pair and undoubtedly the better hand, he gave off a tell. Rest of the night, I literally watched him in order to confirm my read. And I picked up on two things that he did differently when he had a strong hand vs when he wanted his opponent to fold. I'm not gonna disclose it here (and I already told JT about it afterwards) so you PAPTers that read this, you'll have to figure it out on your own.
Well, keeping the above information in mind, like I said, I spent the rest of the night watching him and confirming my reads. Then, once three handed, JT and I got into a decent hand. I had 6-8 of clubs so I raised from the small blind to 100 (blinds were 20-40, I think). Of course, pure steal. JT calls. Flop comes 2-3-5 with one club. I contemplated betting here. But if I did, he's certainly capable of raising at which point I have to fold. So I checked to him since I do have a gut shot draw and a runner runner flush draw, I thought maybe I can see a free card. Well, he did what any half decent poker player would do by betting 100 and trying to steal the pot. I wasn't convinced that this flop hit him. So, since I knew it was a steal attempt, I wanted to get more information. I started counting out my chips and that's when my whole night of observation came to fruition. JT did something that I noticed him doing earlier when he wanted his opponent to fold. Like I said, I spent all night confirming my reads so if I couldn't pull the trigger, I should just quit poker. So I shoved. "I'm all in." Yep, with 8-high with a gut shot straight draw. He did not seem to like that and he thought about it a long time before he folded adding "don't do that again." JT is good enough to know that I was capable of doing this with air. But he probably didn't have anything either and he wasn't going to be the bubble boy (only top 2 paid) by CALLING an all in with nothing.
That proved to be the turning point where I amassed a big chip lead and JT got eliminated when his 44 lost to a race against Brent's KQ, our HU match didn't last long and the final hand, I won with 99 against his J-8 when he was fairly shortstacked.
And THAT is how I pwn PAPT. Woooooooot! I'm in 1st place, biatches!
But, before I start, few more blogs I'm adding to my blog list.
Kajagugu (took down the MATH for a seat to the Aussie Millions - and yes, Kaja, I am fairly bluffable - no offense taken on your blog)
PirateLawyer (another lawyer, another Canadian - WTF!?)
CzechRazor (as you can guess from the blog address, kind of an angry blog... in a dark humor kinda way... which is pretty much right up my alley - I mean one of his entries start with "Not only do massive downswings make me want to throw a kitten into traffic ..." and he's got a picture of a kitten... LOL)
So, go check them out. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing.
So, I've talked about the PAPT before. The Park Avenue Poker Tour, a home game of 8 to 11 players, basically a weekly sng style format where the top 3 generally gets points and top 2 or 3 (depending on number of players) gets paid. One with most points at the end of the year gets the side pot which at the end of the year is approx $600 (weekly buy-in is $25).
Well, up until this point, I hadn't played as much. Well, I have started to but early in the year, I wasn't showing up to those as much. Well, ever since something in me clicked, I started showing up and quite frankly, I have started to dominate in that thing. In the past 15 weeks, I probably showed up in maybe like 12 of them? I've won em out right in 6 of those occasions and came in 2nd once. And tonight, once again, pwned! I am now in first place of the PAPT Player of the Year standings and I have no intention of letting go.
Some interesting hands -
Early on, I was mixing it up and building a decent sized stack when I stacked a guy with my AK of diamonds when the money went all in on a J high flop with two diamonds and I made my nut flush on the turn. The guy played his underpair like AA but with a minimum of 9 outs (possibly 15 outs since I thought maybe QQ) twice and him being all in and the pot offering me 2:1, it was a fairly no brainer call.
So, with a decent sized stack, I was seeing a lot of flops. One hand, I was on the button with 3-6 (sooted) when the blinds were... 3-6... a short stack limped... and so I called as well. The blinds are in and the flop comes A-10-7. It was checked around to me and since everyone limped, I thought it was quite possible that no one had the ace. So I bet 22 into a pot that had 24. The blinds fold and the short stack goes all in... literally, my hand caught in the cookie jar... we laughed about it, I told them how I really didn't want to call cuz I had absolutely had nothing... but it was only 14 more to me. Pot had 68. One guy goes "you probably have 9 high or something." So I tell him I don't have a card that's higher than what's on the board. And right on cue, Tyke says "you probably have 3-6 or some shit like that." Amen. I call, flip over my cards thinking I'm gonna need running 3s, 6s, or two more spades to complete my runner runner flush. Well, one thing I didn't think about was a runner runner straight which I got when the 5 on the turn and the 4 on the river comes. Gross. I told you this was the house of bad beats. Oh the victim? He had AK.
And as usual, PAPT delivered the bad beats like they were going out of style. One hand, there was a 3 way preflop all in. QQ vs TT vs 88. Before the flop comes, when they all flipped over the cards, I pointed at 88 and said "he's the favorite in this house." Sure enough, 8 on the flop sends the TT home and cripples Tyke who had the QQ.
Well, there was one noteworthy thing that happened. As an online player, I personally think I'm at a huge disadvantage when I play live poker. I mean I don't have as much training on picking up tells or concealing my tells. I do my best and to the undiscerning eye, they might not notice but I keep thinking that I could be read so easily if I played against very good players. But last night, I picked up on something interesting. There was a hand where my buddy JT (igniyomontoya76 on FTP) was in a hand with another guy. Flop comes Q-10-3. There's a bet and JT makes a call that looked like "ok I'll see another card". Turn is an ace. And then he did something. I won't disclose what but I noticed something and I just kept that in mind. Fortunately, the hand went to show down and he showed A-3. So, when the turn gave him second pair and undoubtedly the better hand, he gave off a tell. Rest of the night, I literally watched him in order to confirm my read. And I picked up on two things that he did differently when he had a strong hand vs when he wanted his opponent to fold. I'm not gonna disclose it here (and I already told JT about it afterwards) so you PAPTers that read this, you'll have to figure it out on your own.
Well, keeping the above information in mind, like I said, I spent the rest of the night watching him and confirming my reads. Then, once three handed, JT and I got into a decent hand. I had 6-8 of clubs so I raised from the small blind to 100 (blinds were 20-40, I think). Of course, pure steal. JT calls. Flop comes 2-3-5 with one club. I contemplated betting here. But if I did, he's certainly capable of raising at which point I have to fold. So I checked to him since I do have a gut shot draw and a runner runner flush draw, I thought maybe I can see a free card. Well, he did what any half decent poker player would do by betting 100 and trying to steal the pot. I wasn't convinced that this flop hit him. So, since I knew it was a steal attempt, I wanted to get more information. I started counting out my chips and that's when my whole night of observation came to fruition. JT did something that I noticed him doing earlier when he wanted his opponent to fold. Like I said, I spent all night confirming my reads so if I couldn't pull the trigger, I should just quit poker. So I shoved. "I'm all in." Yep, with 8-high with a gut shot straight draw. He did not seem to like that and he thought about it a long time before he folded adding "don't do that again." JT is good enough to know that I was capable of doing this with air. But he probably didn't have anything either and he wasn't going to be the bubble boy (only top 2 paid) by CALLING an all in with nothing.
That proved to be the turning point where I amassed a big chip lead and JT got eliminated when his 44 lost to a race against Brent's KQ, our HU match didn't last long and the final hand, I won with 99 against his J-8 when he was fairly shortstacked.
And THAT is how I pwn PAPT. Woooooooot! I'm in 1st place, biatches!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
So I should be playing more poker...
There's a common misconception going around here. I think a lot of people think that I play poker all the time. And I feel like I do. But then again, when I really think about it, I only play about an hour or two every day. I mean we only have but so many nonworking hours to do something right? See, here's how my daily schedule usually breaks down.
I work from 8ish till about 6 or 7ish. I put the -ish because there are days I don't go in till about 9. So anyways, let's just say I get off of work at 6:30. I obviously would eat dinner and then every other day, I try to hit the gym. Remember those YMCA points? Yeah, I'm working on it. I've accumulated over 3,500pts. If I get to the 15,000 pt range which is the first stage of the points pyramid, I get a YMCA key chain. Yeah, f*ckin fabulous. So anyways, by the time I am done with all that, it's generally 9-9:30. That's around the time my poker playing starts. So, I guess there are days I play 2+ hrs but again, it's not like I play bazillion hands in a month or anything.
Well, I saw this post by cmitch and I just about died. 50k hands in one month!? But anyways, I thought, that's kinda cool. So I thought maybe I'll see how my last 20k hands have been for me.
*Dear pokergods/FTP RNG, please don't interpret this as a brag post (which it kinda is). Please also don't switch on the "screw RecessRampage" switch either. I know what you did to cmitch. It's pretty gross, IMO, and I don't want to have to deal with that. Thank you for your understanding.*
Ok, now that I got out of the way, here's my last 20k hands which for me is like over the course of 3 months...
If I just filter it to only 2-4NL which is what I primarily play, it's pretty similar except I guess with a little less variance.
Not bad. Man, so if I just play more poker, I guess I'd even be more profitable. But since I had to talk about it on my blog, I guess now I've jinxed it... dammit...
Also... For those of you on bloglines or whatever else you use to monitor my blog. You can thank Kaja. The full feed should now be available. It will still be nice if you stop by once in a while and leave comments. You know, so I know I cool I am.
I work from 8ish till about 6 or 7ish. I put the -ish because there are days I don't go in till about 9. So anyways, let's just say I get off of work at 6:30. I obviously would eat dinner and then every other day, I try to hit the gym. Remember those YMCA points? Yeah, I'm working on it. I've accumulated over 3,500pts. If I get to the 15,000 pt range which is the first stage of the points pyramid, I get a YMCA key chain. Yeah, f*ckin fabulous. So anyways, by the time I am done with all that, it's generally 9-9:30. That's around the time my poker playing starts. So, I guess there are days I play 2+ hrs but again, it's not like I play bazillion hands in a month or anything.
Well, I saw this post by cmitch and I just about died. 50k hands in one month!? But anyways, I thought, that's kinda cool. So I thought maybe I'll see how my last 20k hands have been for me.
*Dear pokergods/FTP RNG, please don't interpret this as a brag post (which it kinda is). Please also don't switch on the "screw RecessRampage" switch either. I know what you did to cmitch. It's pretty gross, IMO, and I don't want to have to deal with that. Thank you for your understanding.*
Ok, now that I got out of the way, here's my last 20k hands which for me is like over the course of 3 months...
If I just filter it to only 2-4NL which is what I primarily play, it's pretty similar except I guess with a little less variance.
Not bad. Man, so if I just play more poker, I guess I'd even be more profitable. But since I had to talk about it on my blog, I guess now I've jinxed it... dammit...
Also... For those of you on bloglines or whatever else you use to monitor my blog. You can thank Kaja. The full feed should now be available. It will still be nice if you stop by once in a while and leave comments. You know, so I know I cool I am.
Monday, November 5, 2007
What time was it in Spain when you got pwned???
So here I am, mulling around on a Sunday after my weekly call to my parents in Japan (the phone bill adds up!!!), watching football and playing some poker when I get this pleasant comment from this MTT donk.
AnguilA said...
Sick to see you needed the best RB performance EVER to beat me...
GG
Well, I'm sure it was like 3am in Spain when he left that comment so maybe he wasn't aware of my other playa that is Tony Romo. I mean at the end, I only needed Adrian Peterson to get like 10 pts and that woulda been enough. I didn't need the "best RB performance EVER" to beat you!!!! Around these parts, there's a term for what my team did to yours.
PWNED!!!!
AnguilA said...
Sick to see you needed the best RB performance EVER to beat me...
GG
Well, I'm sure it was like 3am in Spain when he left that comment so maybe he wasn't aware of my other playa that is Tony Romo. I mean at the end, I only needed Adrian Peterson to get like 10 pts and that woulda been enough. I didn't need the "best RB performance EVER" to beat you!!!! Around these parts, there's a term for what my team did to yours.
PWNED!!!!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Spook!!!! Happy Halloween!
Tonight was a fun night. Work is starting to wind down a little (at least not as chaotic as it was until yesterday). I had two big bags of candies that I bought from Costco for the kids in the neighborhood. I didn't get home till like 7pm but that still didn't deter the a bunch of kids coming for the candies. I was giving out candies like they were going out of style and this one group of kids made my night when as they leave, they go "this was the best house ever!" Oh yeah!!!! SWEET!
So then, it's the usual Wednesday where I played the Mook, then the Dook, and then the Spook. After I donked around at the tables earlier in the night, I was set to take the Spook down... when the voice of temptation came... from none other than lucko himself.
It's such a pity that I missed the screenshot... it's classic. And I didn't even get to save the chat... Dammit!!!!!
This was the part of the chat I was able to salvage. Basically, lucko and I decided to do a last shorter bet on the Spook.
lucko21: $20
lucko21: ?
RecessRampage: sure
RecessRampage: in
lucko21: done
Then I see lucko do the only thing you can do in a last shorter... he pushed all in on the very first hand. And what do I see? A delightful 95o. So this ensues:
lucko21 raises to 1,000, and is all in
SirFWALGMan folds
pushmonkey72 folds
Joshuacarlsen folds
AlCantHang folds
RecessRampage: ship it lucko
RecessRampage calls 970, and is all in
lucko21 shows [4c Jd]
RecessRampage shows [5h 9s]
The J on the flop basically sealed it and the final board was like this.
*** RIVER *** [Jc 2d 7h 6s] [3s]
Best part about that? Click on the picture and check out the 2nd place prize money!
Yep, that's right. Less than 30 seconds in to the tourney, one hand in, and I win 2nd place money. Good times!
Happy Halloween, and good night now!
So then, it's the usual Wednesday where I played the Mook, then the Dook, and then the Spook. After I donked around at the tables earlier in the night, I was set to take the Spook down... when the voice of temptation came... from none other than lucko himself.
It's such a pity that I missed the screenshot... it's classic. And I didn't even get to save the chat... Dammit!!!!!
This was the part of the chat I was able to salvage. Basically, lucko and I decided to do a last shorter bet on the Spook.
lucko21: $20
lucko21: ?
RecessRampage: sure
RecessRampage: in
lucko21: done
Then I see lucko do the only thing you can do in a last shorter... he pushed all in on the very first hand. And what do I see? A delightful 95o. So this ensues:
lucko21 raises to 1,000, and is all in
SirFWALGMan folds
pushmonkey72 folds
Joshuacarlsen folds
AlCantHang folds
RecessRampage: ship it lucko
RecessRampage calls 970, and is all in
lucko21 shows [4c Jd]
RecessRampage shows [5h 9s]
The J on the flop basically sealed it and the final board was like this.
*** RIVER *** [Jc 2d 7h 6s] [3s]
Best part about that? Click on the picture and check out the 2nd place prize money!
Yep, that's right. Less than 30 seconds in to the tourney, one hand in, and I win 2nd place money. Good times!
Happy Halloween, and good night now!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Must pimp spook
Tomorrow night, at midnight, there's a shortstack turbo 6 max tournament... the SPOOK! I imagine this tournament will end before the Mookie ends. And it's only $2.50 to enter... so there's really no reason to not enter... unless of course, you just want to maintain your sanity.
Sorry for the lack of posts recently... for those that care. I am finally starting to see the end of this super hectic work life (try 9:30am - 10pm on SATURDAY even followed by another all day marathon on Sunday)... anyways, I know no one is interested in me bitching about my work hours so that's primarily why I haven't blogged much. My brain's a little fried right now but I'll be back to posting regularly again. See you all tomorrow!
Sorry for the lack of posts recently... for those that care. I am finally starting to see the end of this super hectic work life (try 9:30am - 10pm on SATURDAY even followed by another all day marathon on Sunday)... anyways, I know no one is interested in me bitching about my work hours so that's primarily why I haven't blogged much. My brain's a little fried right now but I'll be back to posting regularly again. See you all tomorrow!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Short stacks in cash games
As I sit here at work on a freakin Saturday, I'm getting ready to take a lunch break... it's weird to be getting ready to take a lunch break at work and not listening to Rome... No reference to Chad in Portland and Mike in Wichitard? Jeez, how am I gonna survive the afternoon???
Alright, before I really start, I'll give credit to where it's due. Gnome posted this the other day and it got me to thinking... He referenced this article which advocated that you could buy in for whatever you want to buy in for in a cash game because there's no inherent advantage in being a big stack vs a small stack. Personally, I think that's a very bad advice. Now, since I'm obviously taking excerpts of what the article said, please go read the full article to at least understand their point of view. Here's mine.
First and foremost, let me say that like everything in poker, the answer to the question of how much you should buy in for is "it depends." But generally, I would never buy in short. If you've followed my hand histories and other posts, it's no secret that I generally go for homeruns with my big hands. So, when I have a big hand, I have to maximize that value. In order to do this, the bigger the stack I have, the better off I am. This is obvious right? I mean doubling up when I have $400 is better than $80.
More importantly however, I think buying in short takes away your ability to play. Or at least limits what you can do. Let's say you have pocket 7s in MP. Do you raise? or do you just limp in? Well, let's say you like to limp in with mid to low pocket pairs. You limp, it's folded around to the cutoff who puts in a standard pot sized raise to $18. It's back to you and now, you have to call $14 more into a pot that contains $28 ($18 from CO + $6 in blinds + your $4 limp). That would only leave you with $62. So, preflop, you're calling off 22.5% of your stack for a 12.5% chance to hit a set. I could be wrong with my percentages but it really does take away your set mining odds.
I also feel like some other hands become less playable. Let's say that you tend to call a raise with suited connectors and one gappers from late position. Well, can you really do that if you buy in short? Or is that just not part of your strategy? Personally, I don't mind seeing a flop with hands like that if I'm only up against one raise and I have position on them. Why? Because now, the burden of proof is on them. I can act after them. So what if the flop doesn't hit me. The more important question is did the flop help him? If not, I can try to take the pot away with a bet or a raise. Or, I can flat call the flop and see what ensues on the turn. Again, I feel that there would be many different options in how to play a hand when you're deep. When you're short though, wouldn't you pretty much have to make the decision about the hand on the flop? You can't call and see what happens on the turn, can you?
Maybe I'm too narrowminded about this whole deal. But I feel like I can make a play more often than not with a bigger stack because also, keep in mind that if you're the opponent, you have to worry about subsequent bets. If both players are deep, you can't chase draws as much as you might want to because your pot odds are down since you know that if you call and the card doesn't come on the turn, you'll be facing another bet. If the opponent is short and can only put out one bet on the flop, a lot of the drawing hands could make a move because with two cards to come, the odds are much better.
Now, of course, I went with both extremes. One was buying in with the minimum and the other was with the max. Sure, I'm sure there are middle grounds but I think you need to buy in enough to at least give yourself some room to play. And I say all this to basically state that I hate short stacks at the table. In a cash game, I'm not looking for a 50-50 race. I know a lot of people easily call off their chips with AK or even AQ. In a cash game, I'm not eager to do that because quite frankly, if I just want to flip coins, there's no reason for me to play poker. Craps table with the pass line bets will give me similar odds. But short stacks will easily shove because usually, they are playing above their roll and are looking for a quick double up. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem adjusting my strategy with the presence of a short stack. But that still doesn't mean I like them either.
Damn, I'm starving. Enough poker talk, it's time to eat!
Alright, before I really start, I'll give credit to where it's due. Gnome posted this the other day and it got me to thinking... He referenced this article which advocated that you could buy in for whatever you want to buy in for in a cash game because there's no inherent advantage in being a big stack vs a small stack. Personally, I think that's a very bad advice. Now, since I'm obviously taking excerpts of what the article said, please go read the full article to at least understand their point of view. Here's mine.
First and foremost, let me say that like everything in poker, the answer to the question of how much you should buy in for is "it depends." But generally, I would never buy in short. If you've followed my hand histories and other posts, it's no secret that I generally go for homeruns with my big hands. So, when I have a big hand, I have to maximize that value. In order to do this, the bigger the stack I have, the better off I am. This is obvious right? I mean doubling up when I have $400 is better than $80.
More importantly however, I think buying in short takes away your ability to play. Or at least limits what you can do. Let's say you have pocket 7s in MP. Do you raise? or do you just limp in? Well, let's say you like to limp in with mid to low pocket pairs. You limp, it's folded around to the cutoff who puts in a standard pot sized raise to $18. It's back to you and now, you have to call $14 more into a pot that contains $28 ($18 from CO + $6 in blinds + your $4 limp). That would only leave you with $62. So, preflop, you're calling off 22.5% of your stack for a 12.5% chance to hit a set. I could be wrong with my percentages but it really does take away your set mining odds.
I also feel like some other hands become less playable. Let's say that you tend to call a raise with suited connectors and one gappers from late position. Well, can you really do that if you buy in short? Or is that just not part of your strategy? Personally, I don't mind seeing a flop with hands like that if I'm only up against one raise and I have position on them. Why? Because now, the burden of proof is on them. I can act after them. So what if the flop doesn't hit me. The more important question is did the flop help him? If not, I can try to take the pot away with a bet or a raise. Or, I can flat call the flop and see what ensues on the turn. Again, I feel that there would be many different options in how to play a hand when you're deep. When you're short though, wouldn't you pretty much have to make the decision about the hand on the flop? You can't call and see what happens on the turn, can you?
Maybe I'm too narrowminded about this whole deal. But I feel like I can make a play more often than not with a bigger stack because also, keep in mind that if you're the opponent, you have to worry about subsequent bets. If both players are deep, you can't chase draws as much as you might want to because your pot odds are down since you know that if you call and the card doesn't come on the turn, you'll be facing another bet. If the opponent is short and can only put out one bet on the flop, a lot of the drawing hands could make a move because with two cards to come, the odds are much better.
Now, of course, I went with both extremes. One was buying in with the minimum and the other was with the max. Sure, I'm sure there are middle grounds but I think you need to buy in enough to at least give yourself some room to play. And I say all this to basically state that I hate short stacks at the table. In a cash game, I'm not looking for a 50-50 race. I know a lot of people easily call off their chips with AK or even AQ. In a cash game, I'm not eager to do that because quite frankly, if I just want to flip coins, there's no reason for me to play poker. Craps table with the pass line bets will give me similar odds. But short stacks will easily shove because usually, they are playing above their roll and are looking for a quick double up. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem adjusting my strategy with the presence of a short stack. But that still doesn't mean I like them either.
Damn, I'm starving. Enough poker talk, it's time to eat!
Friday, October 26, 2007
I am not dead... I think...
For those of you that don't have me on bloglines or some other blog monitoring tool and just visit me every day to check if I've updated my site, I apologize for the lack of updates. Not to really bitch about it (because though I feel tired quite a bit, I'm surprisingly not too upset about it) but I've been working from like 7am to 9-10pm the past several days (yes, I do run out to grab a quick lunch and dinner) so I just haven't had time to post anything meaningful. I mean that's like 14+ hr days... That's gotta be up there with the New York lawyers, no? When Jordan mentioned that he was working last weekend (and I was at work also), I didn't feel so bad. At least someone else is suffering too...
There's so much I want to get to but I won't have time to post them all right now. One thing I do want to point out is that BBTwo has been a huge success so far. And I know that from FullTilt's point of view, it's been a great hit so far since it has practically doubled the number of players in these blogger tourneys during the BBTwo vs the nonBBT time. But to me, the best thing about the BBT/BBTwo is for some strange reason, during this time, more people update their blogs. I mean on my bloglines, I have like 40+ posts that I need to catch up on. During the nonBBT time, there aren't nearly as many blog entries so in that sense, it's kinda fun. Too bad I haven't had time to read or write much this month. At least I've been making my monetary contribution to these tournaments.
Alright, like I said, even though there are so many things I want to get to, I really don't have time. Again, thanks for stopping by and I'll be back to posting on an almost daily basis starting next week. Good luck at the tables, the sportsbook, or whatever else you do.
There's so much I want to get to but I won't have time to post them all right now. One thing I do want to point out is that BBTwo has been a huge success so far. And I know that from FullTilt's point of view, it's been a great hit so far since it has practically doubled the number of players in these blogger tourneys during the BBTwo vs the nonBBT time. But to me, the best thing about the BBT/BBTwo is for some strange reason, during this time, more people update their blogs. I mean on my bloglines, I have like 40+ posts that I need to catch up on. During the nonBBT time, there aren't nearly as many blog entries so in that sense, it's kinda fun. Too bad I haven't had time to read or write much this month. At least I've been making my monetary contribution to these tournaments.
Alright, like I said, even though there are so many things I want to get to, I really don't have time. Again, thanks for stopping by and I'll be back to posting on an almost daily basis starting next week. Good luck at the tables, the sportsbook, or whatever else you do.
Monday, October 22, 2007
I'm gonna rant...
So, if you don't want to read all the bitching I'm about to do, now would be a good time to stop reading.
Ok, you've been warned.
What a fuckin day this was. Mondays suck in general. When shit doesn't go your way, it's even worse. What a fuckin waste of a day. First of all, I was at work till like 9:30 (I did take a quick dinner break) tonight and I got home just in time for the MATH. And I don't even know why I bothered. Basically, I couldn't get anything going and I, unlike many of these participants couldn't draw out on a two outer so I go home when my 99 can't beat TT. Sorry, I don't even remember who busted me. Does it matter?
Actually... just as I typed it, I remembered. It was RaisingCayne. Apparently, I'm not pissed enough to not link him...
So then, in one of my fantasy football leagues (I'm 1-5 in that league), I got LJ, Reggie Bush, and Ronnie Brown... of course, Brown goes out when the idiot QB for Miami throws a pick and so Brown tackles the guy... and now he's out for the season. Fabulous. Anyways, so I'm up by like 17 pts going into Monday Night Football and my opponent has Peyton Manning and Dallas Clark going. That alone might seem like I'm in trouble except I have David Garrard going so I figured at least he could help me out... except he gets hurt before halftime and didn't play the entire second half. And as if the fantasy gods are spitting on my dead body, Peyton completes a pass to fuckin Clark for a TD. Fabulous. I'm 1-6 in that league so obviously, my season is over. One of my best RBs done and who knows if I'll even have a QB next week. Aw, fuck it. What do I care.
At least I was able to hold off Ryan who also had Peyton going tonight. That's what you get for starting a bunch of Steelers on your team, just to spite me (and it worked... I couldn't entirely cheer for the Steelers last night... I attribute their loss to my not giving 100% in cheering for them).
And speaking of the Steelers... what the fuck are they doing? I love how few weeks ago, all the idiots were talking about how Steelers are definitely playoff bound. And I was NOT on that boat. I kept saying that they hadn't played anyone. Even worse, they lost to Arizona... well now, they fuckin lost to Denver and so they're 4-2. Tied with the god damn Ravens and only one game ahead of the Browns. Mike Tomlin better step it up soon or else there will be some seriously unhappy people in Pittsburgh (and in Richmond).
What a fuckin start to the week. Fuckin Peyton Manning.
Ok, you've been warned.
What a fuckin day this was. Mondays suck in general. When shit doesn't go your way, it's even worse. What a fuckin waste of a day. First of all, I was at work till like 9:30 (I did take a quick dinner break) tonight and I got home just in time for the MATH. And I don't even know why I bothered. Basically, I couldn't get anything going and I, unlike many of these participants couldn't draw out on a two outer so I go home when my 99 can't beat TT. Sorry, I don't even remember who busted me. Does it matter?
Actually... just as I typed it, I remembered. It was RaisingCayne. Apparently, I'm not pissed enough to not link him...
So then, in one of my fantasy football leagues (I'm 1-5 in that league), I got LJ, Reggie Bush, and Ronnie Brown... of course, Brown goes out when the idiot QB for Miami throws a pick and so Brown tackles the guy... and now he's out for the season. Fabulous. Anyways, so I'm up by like 17 pts going into Monday Night Football and my opponent has Peyton Manning and Dallas Clark going. That alone might seem like I'm in trouble except I have David Garrard going so I figured at least he could help me out... except he gets hurt before halftime and didn't play the entire second half. And as if the fantasy gods are spitting on my dead body, Peyton completes a pass to fuckin Clark for a TD. Fabulous. I'm 1-6 in that league so obviously, my season is over. One of my best RBs done and who knows if I'll even have a QB next week. Aw, fuck it. What do I care.
At least I was able to hold off Ryan who also had Peyton going tonight. That's what you get for starting a bunch of Steelers on your team, just to spite me (and it worked... I couldn't entirely cheer for the Steelers last night... I attribute their loss to my not giving 100% in cheering for them).
And speaking of the Steelers... what the fuck are they doing? I love how few weeks ago, all the idiots were talking about how Steelers are definitely playoff bound. And I was NOT on that boat. I kept saying that they hadn't played anyone. Even worse, they lost to Arizona... well now, they fuckin lost to Denver and so they're 4-2. Tied with the god damn Ravens and only one game ahead of the Browns. Mike Tomlin better step it up soon or else there will be some seriously unhappy people in Pittsburgh (and in Richmond).
What a fuckin start to the week. Fuckin Peyton Manning.
One night later...
Ok, let me revisit my quick post from last night. Basically, I just wanted to know from a lot of the tournament players how to play a situation where you have a pretty big hand but all of a sudden face a lot of opposition. I just wanted to elaborate on some of my thoughts some more. I was in no mood to really type much last night since I was on tilt from being busted out of the tourney early and that I had to work all weekend... I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve so if I sounded bummed or pissed on my post last night, well, that was how I felt.
Just to recap, early in the tournament (4 minutes in), blinds at 15-30, I was fairly active at this starting table. I'm dealt JJ from UTG +2 so I make a standard pot sized raise to 105. Everyone folds to SnailTrax on the BB who calls and we see this:
*** FLOP *** [3s 9d 5s]
SnailTrax checks
RecessRampage bets 195
SnailTrax has 15 seconds left to act
SnailTrax raises to 600
This check raise could be anything I thought. Could be spade draw, a set, etc. So, I decided to define my hand here and see what he does.
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage raises to 1,800
SnailTrax raises to 2,895, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage folds
Uncalled bet of 1,095 returned to SnailTrax
SnailTrax mucks
SnailTrax wins the pot (3,825)
Anguila who is a much better tournament player than I am commented that he would let the hand go on a checkraise here. Again, his thought is that it's so early in the tournament and we are so deep that there's no reason to get into a monster pot situation where you're not sure where you stand. He also commented that after the reraise though, he might be inclined to call because the pot is now so big.
Well, I did not think of folding after the initial checkraise. I thought about calling but at that point, I guess my desire to define my hand was bigger so I reraised. When he immediately came over the top, I thought that I was probably crushed. However, there were a few more interesting thoughts that entered my mind.
I thought about calling because of the monster pot odds. Basically, I was getting 5:1 so I really thought about calling. The other bigger conflicting thought that made me lay this hand down was because of how early it was in the tournament. If I fold, I still have 1,000 in chips and with the blinds at 15-30, I figured I could still make a come back. So, based on that, I folded.
I think my play would be different if this were in later stages of the tournament. As a matter of fact, I know that my play would be different in the later stages in the tournament. Another thing I didn't take into account was that with 1,000 chips, I was still alive but I was starting to tilt... if I could have kept my composure, I think it would be a different story but being short stacked early and tilting was probably not a good combination.
Oh well, you live you learn. We'll be back at it tonight at the MATH. 10pm ET, $26 buy-in. You know the drill. See you tonight.
Just to recap, early in the tournament (4 minutes in), blinds at 15-30, I was fairly active at this starting table. I'm dealt JJ from UTG +2 so I make a standard pot sized raise to 105. Everyone folds to SnailTrax on the BB who calls and we see this:
*** FLOP *** [3s 9d 5s]
SnailTrax checks
RecessRampage bets 195
SnailTrax has 15 seconds left to act
SnailTrax raises to 600
This check raise could be anything I thought. Could be spade draw, a set, etc. So, I decided to define my hand here and see what he does.
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage raises to 1,800
SnailTrax raises to 2,895, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage folds
Uncalled bet of 1,095 returned to SnailTrax
SnailTrax mucks
SnailTrax wins the pot (3,825)
Anguila who is a much better tournament player than I am commented that he would let the hand go on a checkraise here. Again, his thought is that it's so early in the tournament and we are so deep that there's no reason to get into a monster pot situation where you're not sure where you stand. He also commented that after the reraise though, he might be inclined to call because the pot is now so big.
Well, I did not think of folding after the initial checkraise. I thought about calling but at that point, I guess my desire to define my hand was bigger so I reraised. When he immediately came over the top, I thought that I was probably crushed. However, there were a few more interesting thoughts that entered my mind.
I thought about calling because of the monster pot odds. Basically, I was getting 5:1 so I really thought about calling. The other bigger conflicting thought that made me lay this hand down was because of how early it was in the tournament. If I fold, I still have 1,000 in chips and with the blinds at 15-30, I figured I could still make a come back. So, based on that, I folded.
I think my play would be different if this were in later stages of the tournament. As a matter of fact, I know that my play would be different in the later stages in the tournament. Another thing I didn't take into account was that with 1,000 chips, I was still alive but I was starting to tilt... if I could have kept my composure, I think it would be a different story but being short stacked early and tilting was probably not a good combination.
Oh well, you live you learn. We'll be back at it tonight at the MATH. 10pm ET, $26 buy-in. You know the drill. See you tonight.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
26 more to go...
After spending most of the weekend at work, I can't say that I'm in much of a mood to blog... And god dammit... the steelers just fuckin lost. Fabulous...
Anyways... this hand crippled me in the big game and I actually want some thoughts on what you tournament players would do.
Full Tilt Poker Game #3927392757: Blogger Big Game (29406550), Table 6 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:34:02 ET - 2007/10/21
Seat 1: rpinner (3,300)
Seat 2: RecessRampage (3,135)
Seat 3: BuddyDank (2,790)
Seat 4: katitude (2,865)
Seat 5: a104l9 (3,000)
Seat 6: ck31 (2,910)
Seat 7: SnailTrax (3,000)
Seat 8: Blinders (3,000)
ck31 posts the small blind of 15
SnailTrax posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jd Jc]
Blinders folds
rpinner folds
RecessRampage raises to 105
BuddyDank folds
katitude folds
a104l9 folds
ck31 folds
SnailTrax calls 75
*** FLOP *** [3s 9d 5s]
SnailTrax checks
RecessRampage bets 195
SnailTrax has 15 seconds left to act
SnailTrax raises to 600
This check raise could be anything I thought. Could be spade draw, a set, etc. So, I decided to define my hand here and see what he does.
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage raises to 1,800
SnailTrax raises to 2,895, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage folds
Uncalled bet of 1,095 returned to SnailTrax
SnailTrax mucks
SnailTrax wins the pot (3,825)
So, that left me with about 1,100 in chips and I never quite recovered. But here, was this a must call? Was this an instance where I shoulda called? In other words, if he had a draw, there's no point in calling so he would shove there right? His instashove made me think he had a set... In a cash game, this wouldn't really be a question for me but in tournaments where you only have a certain amount of time to accumulate chips and such, was this a situation where I should've gambled? Do I need to loosen up my calling requirements? Any thoughts are appreciated.
Anyways... this hand crippled me in the big game and I actually want some thoughts on what you tournament players would do.
Full Tilt Poker Game #3927392757: Blogger Big Game (29406550), Table 6 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:34:02 ET - 2007/10/21
Seat 1: rpinner (3,300)
Seat 2: RecessRampage (3,135)
Seat 3: BuddyDank (2,790)
Seat 4: katitude (2,865)
Seat 5: a104l9 (3,000)
Seat 6: ck31 (2,910)
Seat 7: SnailTrax (3,000)
Seat 8: Blinders (3,000)
ck31 posts the small blind of 15
SnailTrax posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jd Jc]
Blinders folds
rpinner folds
RecessRampage raises to 105
BuddyDank folds
katitude folds
a104l9 folds
ck31 folds
SnailTrax calls 75
*** FLOP *** [3s 9d 5s]
SnailTrax checks
RecessRampage bets 195
SnailTrax has 15 seconds left to act
SnailTrax raises to 600
This check raise could be anything I thought. Could be spade draw, a set, etc. So, I decided to define my hand here and see what he does.
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage raises to 1,800
SnailTrax raises to 2,895, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage folds
Uncalled bet of 1,095 returned to SnailTrax
SnailTrax mucks
SnailTrax wins the pot (3,825)
So, that left me with about 1,100 in chips and I never quite recovered. But here, was this a must call? Was this an instance where I shoulda called? In other words, if he had a draw, there's no point in calling so he would shove there right? His instashove made me think he had a set... In a cash game, this wouldn't really be a question for me but in tournaments where you only have a certain amount of time to accumulate chips and such, was this a situation where I should've gambled? Do I need to loosen up my calling requirements? Any thoughts are appreciated.
Friday, October 19, 2007
I am not dead
Wow... It's Friday already and I haven't posted a thing since Monday. Did I not have access to a computer? Did I quit blogging? Have my poker results been miserable? No, no, and no. Work is kicking my ass though. And instead of using my lunch break to blog, this week, I chose to just chill out and read the other blogs instead. One interesting topic for the week is the Absolute Poker cheating scandal. Holy cow. I can't get to 2+2 forums or P5 from this donk work computer but check out this blog. Gnome and Cmitch has pretty good links too so you might want to go check their blogs out too. I'm not gonna summarize what you can read in the links but it's just crazy. I mean the whole "cheating in online poker" thing has always been swirling around as rumors (bots, etc) but I'm actually surprised that this shocking news hasn't gotten more press. I mean you would think all the online poker haters would be all over sh*t like this.
Alright, well, I'm feeling like crap this morning after I went out to drink with my friend last night so I leave you with one more article about this whole scandal. Very entertaining stuff.
Have a good weekend everyone. Oh and don't forget. Don's Big Tournament will kick off the BBTwo!
Alright, well, I'm feeling like crap this morning after I went out to drink with my friend last night so I leave you with one more article about this whole scandal. Very entertaining stuff.
Have a good weekend everyone. Oh and don't forget. Don's Big Tournament will kick off the BBTwo!
Monday, October 15, 2007
If it sounds too good to be true...
You know how the saying goes... "If it sounds too good to be true, then it's probably a scam." Well, not according to Al. I believe the comment I left on his blog was "I just shat myself." And no, this wasn't when I was reading blogs on my treo on the pooper. I mean holy cow. Not many things cheer me up on a Monday morning but this certainly did!
The Battle of Blogger Tournaments held earlier this year was a huge success. Though there were tons of discussions/arguments regarding the points system (mmmmmm, points), all in all, I think everyone would agree that it was a success considering the number of participants, consistency of the bloggers showing up for the events, and just in terms of getting to know bunch of people. I know that I just started blogging late December 2006 but this BBT was how I got to "know" bunch of other bloggers. So, suffice to say that I couldn't wait for BBT2 (or BBTwo) if there ever was going to be another one. Well, Al and FullTilt came through big time... again.
Go read his blog to get the details. But to summarize, there will be 27 events in the next 8 weeks and the winner of each would be entered into a tournament of champions where the 1st place prize of the 27 maximum runners would win a $18,000 Aussie Package. Yeah, that's right. That's EIGHTEEN THOUSAND. DOLLARS.... I'll give you a minute to wipe yourself too...
Craziness. So, all you bloggers and nonbloggers alike (remember, you don't have to be a blogger to play in these events), come and join the madness. That means you, PouringReign and InigoMontoya76. Even you donkeys might have a chance. If you read this blog and you're interested in playing but don't have a FullTilt account, click on the banner to the right and use the bonus code "pokertachi" (shameless marketing plug).
And what's even crazier is that there are many other prizes. Basically, they're giving away money. How can you not participate??? Again, go read Al's blog for more details. But you might want to keep a roll of toilet paper handy... (sorry for all the pooping reference. Just watched SouthPark last night where Bono was #2... you'd get it if you watched it. YEAH YEAH YEAH HELLO HELLO!).
And I'm sure that some of us will keep gunning for the win every time... I say that because there are 27 events... well, if you win, that's one less contestant in the Tournament of Champions. So, let's say you win 3 events. That's one seat for you and 2 less seats for everyone else, thus increasing your chance to win the Aussie package even more. This set up is just downright sick. SICK.
And it all starts this Sunday. Don will be hosting this so start getting your tier 2 tokens... or if you're a cash gamer, start earning your cash to play in these events. No matter what the case is, get in there!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Ode to JamyHawk aka How to Fold KK??
It wouldn't be fair if I used a title without directing readers to the originator's site so go check out JamyHawk's blog if you haven't yet.
Well, I'd love to get your thoughts here. It was a very tricky spot and I wasn't sure what to do.
Full Tilt Poker Game #3828157071: Table Copper Mesa - $3/$6 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:00:39 ET - 2007/10/11
Seat 1: blumpster ($710.10)
Seat 2: budco33 ($496.65)
Seat 3: angelsach ($609.75)
Seat 4: RecessRampage ($512.50)
Seat 5: Fold U Fool ($326.50)
Seat 6: DaBruns ($797.90)
Seat 7: bose2 ($120)
Seat 8: jurassicjesus ($538.15)
Seat 9: SecretSurface ($703.10)
angelsach posts the small blind of $3
RecessRampage posts the big blind of $6
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ks Kc]
Fold U Fool folds
DaBruns folds
jurassicjesus calls $6
SecretSurface folds
blumpster calls $6
budco33 folds
angelsach folds
RecessRampage raises to $27
jurassicjesus folds
blumpster calls $21
Pretty standard. I'm in the BB, everyone limps so I bump it up.
*** FLOP *** [8s 6s 7c]
RecessRampage bets $52
blumpster raises to $683.10, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
This is where it gets interesting. I hated this board. This board is almost worse than seeing an ace on the flop here considering he limp/called my raise. And then I bet out and all of a sudden, he shoves? I had approximately 70 seconds in my time bank and I used up almost all of it. I couldn't think of what he had. 99? AsKs? As7s? 88, 77, 66, 67, or 78? If he had AsKs, I am assuming he would raise preflop so unless this was his version of a variation play, I'm tossing that out as one of his holdings. As7s? That's very possible. A pair with top kicker and nut flush draw. Any of the pocket pair that becomes a set also makes sense. TT or above would surely raise preflop and the all in really doesn't make sense. After a while, I read this all in as not so much a way to get me to fold but rather an overbet for value. Only hand that I could see him do this with really was narrowed down to a set or two pair or As7s. Maybe I'm just too tight. But this is what I did...
RecessRampage folds
Uncalled bet of $631.10 returned to blumpster
blumpster mucks
blumpster wins the pot ($164)
The following chat ensued which was interesting. I wasn't sure if he continued to just play me or not but I don't care. That wasn't a spot I wanted to put my money in. A lot of people say you have to push marginal edges. But if I know that I could find better spots, that's what I would do. This was not an instance where I thought I have that "marginal edge." In fact, this was a situation where either I had a marginal edge or I was a significant dog.
blumpster: noooooooooooooo
blumpster: you fold qq?
RecessRampage: dude
RecessRampage: you have no idea
RecessRampage: it hurt...
blumpster: ill tell you what i had if u do
RecessRampage: you have AIM?
RecessRampage: or yahoo chat?
blumpster: whats wrong with here
RecessRampage: ok fine.
RecessRampage: I don't like to admit to the whole table
RecessRampage: I had KK
blumpster: you had outs
RecessRampage: lol
RecessRampage: yeah, I figured
He ended up not telling me what he had but I didn't press either. I really didn't care. I felt that I made a good fold regardless of the chat. And if he didn't have it, it illustrates the power of the overbet for value.
Well, I'd love to get your thoughts here. It was a very tricky spot and I wasn't sure what to do.
Full Tilt Poker Game #3828157071: Table Copper Mesa - $3/$6 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:00:39 ET - 2007/10/11
Seat 1: blumpster ($710.10)
Seat 2: budco33 ($496.65)
Seat 3: angelsach ($609.75)
Seat 4: RecessRampage ($512.50)
Seat 5: Fold U Fool ($326.50)
Seat 6: DaBruns ($797.90)
Seat 7: bose2 ($120)
Seat 8: jurassicjesus ($538.15)
Seat 9: SecretSurface ($703.10)
angelsach posts the small blind of $3
RecessRampage posts the big blind of $6
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ks Kc]
Fold U Fool folds
DaBruns folds
jurassicjesus calls $6
SecretSurface folds
blumpster calls $6
budco33 folds
angelsach folds
RecessRampage raises to $27
jurassicjesus folds
blumpster calls $21
Pretty standard. I'm in the BB, everyone limps so I bump it up.
*** FLOP *** [8s 6s 7c]
RecessRampage bets $52
blumpster raises to $683.10, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
This is where it gets interesting. I hated this board. This board is almost worse than seeing an ace on the flop here considering he limp/called my raise. And then I bet out and all of a sudden, he shoves? I had approximately 70 seconds in my time bank and I used up almost all of it. I couldn't think of what he had. 99? AsKs? As7s? 88, 77, 66, 67, or 78? If he had AsKs, I am assuming he would raise preflop so unless this was his version of a variation play, I'm tossing that out as one of his holdings. As7s? That's very possible. A pair with top kicker and nut flush draw. Any of the pocket pair that becomes a set also makes sense. TT or above would surely raise preflop and the all in really doesn't make sense. After a while, I read this all in as not so much a way to get me to fold but rather an overbet for value. Only hand that I could see him do this with really was narrowed down to a set or two pair or As7s. Maybe I'm just too tight. But this is what I did...
RecessRampage folds
Uncalled bet of $631.10 returned to blumpster
blumpster mucks
blumpster wins the pot ($164)
The following chat ensued which was interesting. I wasn't sure if he continued to just play me or not but I don't care. That wasn't a spot I wanted to put my money in. A lot of people say you have to push marginal edges. But if I know that I could find better spots, that's what I would do. This was not an instance where I thought I have that "marginal edge." In fact, this was a situation where either I had a marginal edge or I was a significant dog.
blumpster: noooooooooooooo
blumpster: you fold qq?
RecessRampage: dude
RecessRampage: you have no idea
RecessRampage: it hurt...
blumpster: ill tell you what i had if u do
RecessRampage: you have AIM?
RecessRampage: or yahoo chat?
blumpster: whats wrong with here
RecessRampage: ok fine.
RecessRampage: I don't like to admit to the whole table
RecessRampage: I had KK
blumpster: you had outs
RecessRampage: lol
RecessRampage: yeah, I figured
He ended up not telling me what he had but I didn't press either. I really didn't care. I felt that I made a good fold regardless of the chat. And if he didn't have it, it illustrates the power of the overbet for value.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
3 different themes
My writings are sometimes so unorganized... Oh well, so why attempt to organize it now, right? I'm gonna put the best one first.
Part 1 - This is why you bet flopped sets
Full Tilt Poker Game #3818558083: Table Centennial - $5/$10 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:25:50 ET - 2007/10/10
Seat 1: Big Eye Fish ($1,245)
Seat 2: sunfish2 ($1,097)
Seat 3: JPhil007 ($1,000)
Seat 4: cmglive ($1,441.50)
Seat 5: BLACKBART 36 ($2,182.60)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($1,471.50)
Seat 7: josh3336 ($400), is sitting out
Seat 8: childressd ($871.15)
Seat 9: agate50 ($992.50)
Big Eye Fish posts the small blind of $5
sunfish2 is sitting out
JPhil007 posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Qs]
cmglive calls $10
BLACKBART 36 calls $10
sunfish2 stands up
RecessRampage raises to $55
childressd calls $55
agate50 folds
Big Eye Fish has 15 seconds left to act
Big Eye Fish calls $50
JPhil007 folds
cmglive calls $45
KINGS777Kid adds $1,000
BLACKBART 36 folds
*** FLOP *** [5d Qh 4c]
Big Eye Fish checks
cmglive checks
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage bets $140 <--- cuz I'm a man
childressd has 15 seconds left to act
childressd calls $140
JPhil007 adds $10
Big Eye Fish folds
cmglive folds
I have to admit... When I bet out the $140 into what was like a $220 pot, I started regretting it. I mean top set, I thought maybe I can allow one more card and hope that an ace falls on the turn. I also hoped someone was slowplaying presto. Nonetheless, I do what I do best which is betting sets when I flop them. The only other concern was that I thought my bet amount might be a little too small for a c-bet and that it might be construed as a bet that was meant to look weak (which is exactly what it was). I thought because of that, I might not get much action. This is also potentially a tell if in other hands, I bet a bigger percentage of the pot when I'm actually defending hands (ie, bet sizing between monster and vulnerable hands would easily be a tell against an opponent who pays attention). But, all my concerns aside, I got one caller. I wasn't exactly sure what he had at this point to call. Maybe he flopped a set? Seems unlikely he has a Q since there are already 3 out there.
*** TURN *** [5d Qh 4c] [Jd]
RecessRampage checks
childressd has 15 seconds left to act
childressd bets $375
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $750
childressd INSTAcalls $301.15, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [Qc Qs]
childressd shows [Ac Kc]
Uncalled bet of $73.85 returned to RecessRampage
This is just a classic move. Throw out a c-bet looking bet on the flop, check as if I've given up, induce a bluff, and go in for the kill. The only shocker here was that he instacalls. With A high. I did think the moment I saw his card "10 would be sick."
*** RIVER *** [5d Qh 4c Jd] [As] <--- then I remembered I'm not Fuel
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Queens
childressd shows a pair of Aces
RecessRampage wins the pot ($1,869.30) with three of a kind, Queens
childressd is sitting out
No way I'm stacking this guy had I checked the flop. By the turn, he probably felt committed with the size of the pot. Who knows what he thought. Nonetheless, I still think the key was betting out on the flop.
Part 2 - Variation plays
This is one that turned out to be profitable. But in the long run, I'm not sure if this is +EV or not. Keep in mind that I don't raise with this hand every time UTG. Hence, it's called a variation play. And actually... on this hand, I'm gonna hide the names to protect the innocent (or rather, not give away too much info).
It happened at a 5-10NL table (9 handed) and I basically had a bet or two more than the initial buy in of $1,000. The villain who was sitting in the BB had over $2k behind him.
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [6h 7s]
RecessRampage raises to $35 <--- from UTG
Villain (BB) raises to $110
RecessRampage calls $75
The raise from UTG with 6-7 was just meant to steal the blinds. I rarely raise from UTG unless I have a big hand so I occasionally throw in a raise from UTG as a variation play. Again, I'm not sure how +EV it is in terms of the variation alone but it's got more to do with metagame factor... at least in my mind it does. Of course, I hated to see the reraise from the BB. I mean I raised from UTG so everyone should expect me to have a strong hand. He then reraises so he clearly has a big hand. The key factor of me calling here is that I assumed that he must have a hand like AA or KK. So, if I flop big, I could double through. I mean it's similar to the set mining concept. Plus, how can I raise preflop from UTG and then fold to a reraise? If the board doesn't cooperate, I'd play it off like I had TT or JJ or something but folding here against a deep stack was not an option. Now, note that if the reraiser was shorter (like if he only had $400-$500 behind him), this would be a different story.
*** FLOP *** [8h Qd Ah]
Villain checks
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage bets $180
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain: kk
Villain has requested TIME
Villain folds
Uncalled bet of $180 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($222)
This was obviously a pure steal. Any c-bet here would've gotten me off the pot. Well... unless it smells too much like a c-bet which then I may have made a move. But again, when it was checked to me, I had to bet. I mean what other choice do I have? Either I bet and if I get raised, I fold. But betting is the only way I have a chance so I obviously bet out here. Villain tells me he has KK, thinks for a very long time but eventually folds. He seems like a pretty good player so I have to believe him. Unless he was seriously making a move from BB against a UTG raiser who just recently joined the table. Doubtful. He didn't seem to like the fact that I didn't show though. Cuz during the next hand, he was like "come on, I folded KK, no show?" To which I had to respond "sorry, I never show. But I had you. Obv." I don't like to show my bluffs because I'm aware of my inability to capitalize on the information I give off like that. So, I'd rather maintain a "solid" image rather than a gambler's image.
Part 3 - Slow play to no pay
Yes, I sometimes donk play to no pay also.
Full Tilt Poker Game #3818527513: Table Rose Canyon - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:22:56 ET - 2007/10/10
Seat 1: RecessRampage ($364.20)
Seat 2: soulcaliber ($80)
Seat 3: uscjustallin ($430.60)
Seat 4: sourpuss1 ($245.70)
Seat 5: Skiperade ($273)
Seat 6: FoldTOcash ($400)
Seat 7: HEPennypacker ($224.40)
Seat 8: CastleRock4 ($324.20)
Seat 9: bmb013 ($400)
sourpuss1 posts the small blind of $2
Skiperade has 5 seconds left to act
Skiperade posts the big blind of $4
5 seconds left to act
soulcaliber posts $4
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ac Ad]
FoldTOcash folds
HEPennypacker folds
CastleRock4 folds
bmb013 raises to $18
RecessRampage calls $18
soulcaliber folds
uscjustallin folds
sourpuss1 folds
Skiperade folds
*** FLOP *** [3s 2h 9d]
bmb013 bets $32
RecessRampage calls $32
*** TURN *** [3s 2h 9d] [8c]
bmb013 bets $65
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $130
bmb013 raises to $350, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $184.20, and is all in
bmb013 shows [8h 8d]
RecessRampage shows [Ac Ad]
Uncalled bet of $35.80 returned to bmb013
*** RIVER *** [3s 2h 9d 8c] [4c]
bmb013 shows three of a kind, Eights
RecessRampage shows a pair of Aces
bmb013 wins the pot ($735.40) with three of a kind, Eights
RecessRampage: damn
RecessRampage is sitting out
No much to analyze here. Title says it all. More often than not, I reraise with my aces preflop and I might raise on the flop (if I didn't reraise preflop) so again, this was just me playing aces differently and then losing a stack based on that.
Easy come, easy go.
Part 1 - This is why you bet flopped sets
Full Tilt Poker Game #3818558083: Table Centennial - $5/$10 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:25:50 ET - 2007/10/10
Seat 1: Big Eye Fish ($1,245)
Seat 2: sunfish2 ($1,097)
Seat 3: JPhil007 ($1,000)
Seat 4: cmglive ($1,441.50)
Seat 5: BLACKBART 36 ($2,182.60)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($1,471.50)
Seat 7: josh3336 ($400), is sitting out
Seat 8: childressd ($871.15)
Seat 9: agate50 ($992.50)
Big Eye Fish posts the small blind of $5
sunfish2 is sitting out
JPhil007 posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Qs]
cmglive calls $10
BLACKBART 36 calls $10
sunfish2 stands up
RecessRampage raises to $55
childressd calls $55
agate50 folds
Big Eye Fish has 15 seconds left to act
Big Eye Fish calls $50
JPhil007 folds
cmglive calls $45
KINGS777Kid adds $1,000
BLACKBART 36 folds
*** FLOP *** [5d Qh 4c]
Big Eye Fish checks
cmglive checks
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage bets $140 <--- cuz I'm a man
childressd has 15 seconds left to act
childressd calls $140
JPhil007 adds $10
Big Eye Fish folds
cmglive folds
I have to admit... When I bet out the $140 into what was like a $220 pot, I started regretting it. I mean top set, I thought maybe I can allow one more card and hope that an ace falls on the turn. I also hoped someone was slowplaying presto. Nonetheless, I do what I do best which is betting sets when I flop them. The only other concern was that I thought my bet amount might be a little too small for a c-bet and that it might be construed as a bet that was meant to look weak (which is exactly what it was). I thought because of that, I might not get much action. This is also potentially a tell if in other hands, I bet a bigger percentage of the pot when I'm actually defending hands (ie, bet sizing between monster and vulnerable hands would easily be a tell against an opponent who pays attention). But, all my concerns aside, I got one caller. I wasn't exactly sure what he had at this point to call. Maybe he flopped a set? Seems unlikely he has a Q since there are already 3 out there.
*** TURN *** [5d Qh 4c] [Jd]
RecessRampage checks
childressd has 15 seconds left to act
childressd bets $375
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $750
childressd INSTAcalls $301.15, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [Qc Qs]
childressd shows [Ac Kc]
Uncalled bet of $73.85 returned to RecessRampage
This is just a classic move. Throw out a c-bet looking bet on the flop, check as if I've given up, induce a bluff, and go in for the kill. The only shocker here was that he instacalls. With A high. I did think the moment I saw his card "10 would be sick."
*** RIVER *** [5d Qh 4c Jd] [As] <--- then I remembered I'm not Fuel
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Queens
childressd shows a pair of Aces
RecessRampage wins the pot ($1,869.30) with three of a kind, Queens
childressd is sitting out
No way I'm stacking this guy had I checked the flop. By the turn, he probably felt committed with the size of the pot. Who knows what he thought. Nonetheless, I still think the key was betting out on the flop.
Part 2 - Variation plays
This is one that turned out to be profitable. But in the long run, I'm not sure if this is +EV or not. Keep in mind that I don't raise with this hand every time UTG. Hence, it's called a variation play. And actually... on this hand, I'm gonna hide the names to protect the innocent (or rather, not give away too much info).
It happened at a 5-10NL table (9 handed) and I basically had a bet or two more than the initial buy in of $1,000. The villain who was sitting in the BB had over $2k behind him.
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [6h 7s]
RecessRampage raises to $35 <--- from UTG
Villain (BB) raises to $110
RecessRampage calls $75
The raise from UTG with 6-7 was just meant to steal the blinds. I rarely raise from UTG unless I have a big hand so I occasionally throw in a raise from UTG as a variation play. Again, I'm not sure how +EV it is in terms of the variation alone but it's got more to do with metagame factor... at least in my mind it does. Of course, I hated to see the reraise from the BB. I mean I raised from UTG so everyone should expect me to have a strong hand. He then reraises so he clearly has a big hand. The key factor of me calling here is that I assumed that he must have a hand like AA or KK. So, if I flop big, I could double through. I mean it's similar to the set mining concept. Plus, how can I raise preflop from UTG and then fold to a reraise? If the board doesn't cooperate, I'd play it off like I had TT or JJ or something but folding here against a deep stack was not an option. Now, note that if the reraiser was shorter (like if he only had $400-$500 behind him), this would be a different story.
*** FLOP *** [8h Qd Ah]
Villain checks
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage bets $180
Villain has 15 seconds left to act
Villain: kk
Villain has requested TIME
Villain folds
Uncalled bet of $180 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($222)
This was obviously a pure steal. Any c-bet here would've gotten me off the pot. Well... unless it smells too much like a c-bet which then I may have made a move. But again, when it was checked to me, I had to bet. I mean what other choice do I have? Either I bet and if I get raised, I fold. But betting is the only way I have a chance so I obviously bet out here. Villain tells me he has KK, thinks for a very long time but eventually folds. He seems like a pretty good player so I have to believe him. Unless he was seriously making a move from BB against a UTG raiser who just recently joined the table. Doubtful. He didn't seem to like the fact that I didn't show though. Cuz during the next hand, he was like "come on, I folded KK, no show?" To which I had to respond "sorry, I never show. But I had you. Obv." I don't like to show my bluffs because I'm aware of my inability to capitalize on the information I give off like that. So, I'd rather maintain a "solid" image rather than a gambler's image.
Part 3 - Slow play to no pay
Yes, I sometimes donk play to no pay also.
Full Tilt Poker Game #3818527513: Table Rose Canyon - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:22:56 ET - 2007/10/10
Seat 1: RecessRampage ($364.20)
Seat 2: soulcaliber ($80)
Seat 3: uscjustallin ($430.60)
Seat 4: sourpuss1 ($245.70)
Seat 5: Skiperade ($273)
Seat 6: FoldTOcash ($400)
Seat 7: HEPennypacker ($224.40)
Seat 8: CastleRock4 ($324.20)
Seat 9: bmb013 ($400)
sourpuss1 posts the small blind of $2
Skiperade has 5 seconds left to act
Skiperade posts the big blind of $4
5 seconds left to act
soulcaliber posts $4
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ac Ad]
FoldTOcash folds
HEPennypacker folds
CastleRock4 folds
bmb013 raises to $18
RecessRampage calls $18
soulcaliber folds
uscjustallin folds
sourpuss1 folds
Skiperade folds
*** FLOP *** [3s 2h 9d]
bmb013 bets $32
RecessRampage calls $32
*** TURN *** [3s 2h 9d] [8c]
bmb013 bets $65
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $130
bmb013 raises to $350, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $184.20, and is all in
bmb013 shows [8h 8d]
RecessRampage shows [Ac Ad]
Uncalled bet of $35.80 returned to bmb013
*** RIVER *** [3s 2h 9d 8c] [4c]
bmb013 shows three of a kind, Eights
RecessRampage shows a pair of Aces
bmb013 wins the pot ($735.40) with three of a kind, Eights
RecessRampage: damn
RecessRampage is sitting out
No much to analyze here. Title says it all. More often than not, I reraise with my aces preflop and I might raise on the flop (if I didn't reraise preflop) so again, this was just me playing aces differently and then losing a stack based on that.
Easy come, easy go.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
PAPT and that list that everyone loves to hate
Quick update on our little home game we call the PAPT. As usual, Tuesday nights are reserved for the PAPT (which means no points on FullTilt). Based on all my recent comments about how I love points, you would think that's weird until you remember that there are points involved in the PAPT (as you can see on the side bar). Ramel still holds the lead for the PAPT Player of the Year award but guess who's closing in quickly? Yep, yours truly, the famous RecessRampage. Considering I haven't played in as many tournaments, I think I'm doing fairly well. You know at one point I'll recap that as a brag blog post. Anyways, last night, I took down the whole thing... a win in back to back weeks propelled me to 2nd place in the POY standings, passing Tyke. Again, 5pts go to 1st, 3 pts to 2nd, and 1 pt to 3rd. I really wanted Ramel to bust out early but his aggressive play, mixed in with good cards kept his chip stack healthy and in the end, there were just the two of us left. I'm not gonna go into too much detail here but if you want to know how aggression helps in a poker tournament, just watch Ramel. He is very very aggressive by nature. He plays his strong hands hard and bets his made hands very strong. And the thing is, his idea of "strong hands" is a lot looser than an average player. Which is clearly what makes him dangerous. When he raises preflop (esp when the blinds are like uber high), you don't know if he's got AA or 22... AK or K-10 (or Q-10 for that matter)... his range is very big. The only weakness he has is that his post flop game is not as strong as his preflop game. However, in the tournament structure of the PAPT, the blinds escalate at an almost ridiculous pace towards the end so uber aggro preflop takes down a lot of pots. Again, it's not just coincidence that he's got as many points as he does.
Alright... so on to my other main topic of this post. I'm not sure how it started. But I had a bad feeling when I first saw this post by RaisingCayne. Why? Because he then "tagged" Matt. I just had a feeling that this might eventually come my way. Well, I kinda let my guard down when I didn't see any "10 things about me" post from Matt in a while... until yesterday, on my bloglines, I noticed that it finally came up. Well, this is dated October 4th so at first, I was really confused as to how I missed this... until he mentioned that this was backdated since he started working on it almost a week ago. Shit.
Well, like Matt, I did this a few months back. And I love how we all allegedly "hate" doing this and yet we all follow... what are we, Lemmings? Well, apparently I am. So here goes my list of 10 things about me that not many people (ie mainly bloggers) know...
1. I was born and raised in Tokyo. Located in Japan for those globally challenged. I went to an international school called St Mary's (go Titans) where I spent 13 years there (K-12).
2. When I linked St Mary's above, that was the first time I visited my school's home page. Ever. And most likely the last.
3. Until I roomed with my friend after college, I was afraid of dogs. When I was a little kid, I was bitten by our neighbor's dog on my right arm. I still have a pretty nasty scar on my right forearm and have been deathly afraid of dogs until I had a roommate with a dog. That's also where I learned how dirty dogs are. At least Marlie was. My roommate would clean her and the first thing she would do is run out the backdoor into the lawn (ie, her personal bathroom) and roll around in the piss and shit covered lawn.
4. I really miss the atmosphere of St Mary's. The school was a true melting pot, at least in terms of race, nationality, and religion. When I was growing up, my "best friends" would include people from countries that today, might have negative connotation in some people's minds depending on your nationality. Pakistan, South Korea, Kuwait (I think no longer exists), Burma (used to be Myanmar, I think), etc. And tons of Europeans in our school as well as a fair share of Americans. Of course, there's the usual school stuff where people make fun of others but it was never (at least as far as I was aware) about race or nationality. It was about how geeky you were, how short you were, etc. Mean. But again, color blind. It was nice. And considering how things are here in the US today, I notice myself missing that atmosphere more and more.
5. I was arrested for speeding. I mean handcuffs and everything. For going 91mph on a 65mph zone. The cop was a dick. In a place called Norlina, NC. Apparently, I was speeding on "his" highway. I believe his exact quote was "You can't be speeding on MY highway, son." FUCK YOU. I had to pay $200 for bail.
6. I love NY accent. I don't know what it is. You know how a lot of people like British accent or Australian accent? Well, NY accent is my thing. "Wanna cup o' cawfee?" uh, yes please!
7. I've been arrested in 2 different countries. Once here in the U.S. as I described above. Once when I was growing up in Japan. Actually twice in Japan, now that I think about it. Actually, twice here in the U.S. now that I think about it... The other time, in the U.S. was when I was caught buying beer for underage kids. I was in college. That sucked. 100hrs of community service took care of that though. So, no record. Which is all that matters. In Japan, I was caught shop lifting once when I was a kid. I don't remember how old I was but I do remember everything else. I decided to steal these little weights that you strap on to your wrist so I took them to the bathroom, put them in my backpack and walked out the store. I was busted by a store clerk and taken to the police station. Another time, I was caught stealing someone's bicycle. I was riding this stolen bike to get home and I was busted by a cop. Taken to the station. My parents get the call at like 2am. I still remember the look in my dad's eyes. That memory will make me never steal again. EVER.
8. My favorite room in a house is the bathroom. Something about the privacy of bathrooms. I just love it. And just as important, I love pooping. And I take a long time to do so. Because I always bring something with me when I poo. Newspaper, magazine, lap top, book, etc. I typically spend about 20-30 minutes in the stall when I poo. And I'm obviously not pooping the whole time. I'm reading. At work, I take my treo with me and read blogs. Fun times.
9. My two favorite blogs to read in the pooper are Hoy and Dr Pauly. No offense guys. You guys write long posts so I don't have to "browse" as much on my treo which is obv not as fast as the network. So I always try to hold until the afternoon when their blogs are updated for the day. I just cry on the weekends.
10. I can't think of #10... so I'm gonna bail here.
And you know what. It's not fair that I do this without me tagging and unlike RaisingCayne or Matt, I'm gonna tag a bunch of people so maybe some of them will partake in this crazy ritual.
Bayne, LJ, Hoy, Fuel, Lucko, Cmitch, Gnome, JamyHawk, Mike_Maloney, Sean, and Schaubs. You're up!
Alright... so on to my other main topic of this post. I'm not sure how it started. But I had a bad feeling when I first saw this post by RaisingCayne. Why? Because he then "tagged" Matt. I just had a feeling that this might eventually come my way. Well, I kinda let my guard down when I didn't see any "10 things about me" post from Matt in a while... until yesterday, on my bloglines, I noticed that it finally came up. Well, this is dated October 4th so at first, I was really confused as to how I missed this... until he mentioned that this was backdated since he started working on it almost a week ago. Shit.
Well, like Matt, I did this a few months back. And I love how we all allegedly "hate" doing this and yet we all follow... what are we, Lemmings? Well, apparently I am. So here goes my list of 10 things about me that not many people (ie mainly bloggers) know...
1. I was born and raised in Tokyo. Located in Japan for those globally challenged. I went to an international school called St Mary's (go Titans) where I spent 13 years there (K-12).
2. When I linked St Mary's above, that was the first time I visited my school's home page. Ever. And most likely the last.
3. Until I roomed with my friend after college, I was afraid of dogs. When I was a little kid, I was bitten by our neighbor's dog on my right arm. I still have a pretty nasty scar on my right forearm and have been deathly afraid of dogs until I had a roommate with a dog. That's also where I learned how dirty dogs are. At least Marlie was. My roommate would clean her and the first thing she would do is run out the backdoor into the lawn (ie, her personal bathroom) and roll around in the piss and shit covered lawn.
4. I really miss the atmosphere of St Mary's. The school was a true melting pot, at least in terms of race, nationality, and religion. When I was growing up, my "best friends" would include people from countries that today, might have negative connotation in some people's minds depending on your nationality. Pakistan, South Korea, Kuwait (I think no longer exists), Burma (used to be Myanmar, I think), etc. And tons of Europeans in our school as well as a fair share of Americans. Of course, there's the usual school stuff where people make fun of others but it was never (at least as far as I was aware) about race or nationality. It was about how geeky you were, how short you were, etc. Mean. But again, color blind. It was nice. And considering how things are here in the US today, I notice myself missing that atmosphere more and more.
5. I was arrested for speeding. I mean handcuffs and everything. For going 91mph on a 65mph zone. The cop was a dick. In a place called Norlina, NC. Apparently, I was speeding on "his" highway. I believe his exact quote was "You can't be speeding on MY highway, son." FUCK YOU. I had to pay $200 for bail.
6. I love NY accent. I don't know what it is. You know how a lot of people like British accent or Australian accent? Well, NY accent is my thing. "Wanna cup o' cawfee?" uh, yes please!
7. I've been arrested in 2 different countries. Once here in the U.S. as I described above. Once when I was growing up in Japan. Actually twice in Japan, now that I think about it. Actually, twice here in the U.S. now that I think about it... The other time, in the U.S. was when I was caught buying beer for underage kids. I was in college. That sucked. 100hrs of community service took care of that though. So, no record. Which is all that matters. In Japan, I was caught shop lifting once when I was a kid. I don't remember how old I was but I do remember everything else. I decided to steal these little weights that you strap on to your wrist so I took them to the bathroom, put them in my backpack and walked out the store. I was busted by a store clerk and taken to the police station. Another time, I was caught stealing someone's bicycle. I was riding this stolen bike to get home and I was busted by a cop. Taken to the station. My parents get the call at like 2am. I still remember the look in my dad's eyes. That memory will make me never steal again. EVER.
8. My favorite room in a house is the bathroom. Something about the privacy of bathrooms. I just love it. And just as important, I love pooping. And I take a long time to do so. Because I always bring something with me when I poo. Newspaper, magazine, lap top, book, etc. I typically spend about 20-30 minutes in the stall when I poo. And I'm obviously not pooping the whole time. I'm reading. At work, I take my treo with me and read blogs. Fun times.
9. My two favorite blogs to read in the pooper are Hoy and Dr Pauly. No offense guys. You guys write long posts so I don't have to "browse" as much on my treo which is obv not as fast as the network. So I always try to hold until the afternoon when their blogs are updated for the day. I just cry on the weekends.
10. I can't think of #10... so I'm gonna bail here.
And you know what. It's not fair that I do this without me tagging and unlike RaisingCayne or Matt, I'm gonna tag a bunch of people so maybe some of them will partake in this crazy ritual.
Bayne, LJ, Hoy, Fuel, Lucko, Cmitch, Gnome, JamyHawk, Mike_Maloney, Sean, and Schaubs. You're up!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
I'm famous!?
Just like Anguila, I get hit by quarter end hard because of my role in financial reporting. I do have some good news on that end though... they are putting me in a "stretch" role where I basically take over my boss's job and after like a 6 month eval period, I would get promoted, if I don't f*ck it up. I guess if you're the glass half empty kinda guy, you could look at it as taking on a bigger role without the bigger pay for 6 months. But, I'm not that guy.
Well, anyways, where am I going with that? I was at work till about 8ish last night and then I got home, made myself a quick dinner, etc. Well, unfortunately, I didn't get to play poker till about 10:30 so no MATH for me. However, that doesn't mean I can't 3 table in order to earn my daily 200 point quota (which I have, in numerous occasions, admitted is very negative EV for me). So, there I am, opening up my cashier window, adding 200 to the current points total I have, writing it down, and going to work.
I wasn't totally in a poker mindset since I was hoping Romo would help me get the win over Chad, formerly known as KOD (or I guess still is?). Chad had T.O. and Nick Folk going as a "blocking bet" against Romo and was up by 7 pts going into last night's game... well, it didn't matter since Romo kinda did himself in. That's a pseudo bad beat in my book. Ok, not really but I really thought I had a chance.
So, anyways, this is my excuse that I'm setting up... because yesterday, I realized that maybe more people are actually watching me and reading my blog than I realized. I was sitting at this random 2-4NL table when out of the blue, DaSwam (nonblogger as far as I know) broke out with this gem:
So... that means that other people sitting at my 2-4NL tables might be reading this too? I know this was like normal for guys like Hoy who has a very nice blog, what with numerous screenshots and all, and great strategy topics but for me, this was the first random compliment I got so that was nice. Too bad I was playing pretty poorly... (replace "poorly" with "weak tight") Ended slightly up over 3 tables but most importantly, I got my 200pts and went to bed (AND missed the crazy finish of the Dallas - Buffalo game... I cut the tv off when the Cowboys missed the 2 pt conversion).
So anyways, DaSwam, if you read this, thanks for the shout out. If you do have a blog, leave it in my comment and I'll get you linked up.
Well, anyways, where am I going with that? I was at work till about 8ish last night and then I got home, made myself a quick dinner, etc. Well, unfortunately, I didn't get to play poker till about 10:30 so no MATH for me. However, that doesn't mean I can't 3 table in order to earn my daily 200 point quota (which I have, in numerous occasions, admitted is very negative EV for me). So, there I am, opening up my cashier window, adding 200 to the current points total I have, writing it down, and going to work.
I wasn't totally in a poker mindset since I was hoping Romo would help me get the win over Chad, formerly known as KOD (or I guess still is?). Chad had T.O. and Nick Folk going as a "blocking bet" against Romo and was up by 7 pts going into last night's game... well, it didn't matter since Romo kinda did himself in. That's a pseudo bad beat in my book. Ok, not really but I really thought I had a chance.
So, anyways, this is my excuse that I'm setting up... because yesterday, I realized that maybe more people are actually watching me and reading my blog than I realized. I was sitting at this random 2-4NL table when out of the blue, DaSwam (nonblogger as far as I know) broke out with this gem:
So... that means that other people sitting at my 2-4NL tables might be reading this too? I know this was like normal for guys like Hoy who has a very nice blog, what with numerous screenshots and all, and great strategy topics but for me, this was the first random compliment I got so that was nice. Too bad I was playing pretty poorly... (replace "poorly" with "weak tight") Ended slightly up over 3 tables but most importantly, I got my 200pts and went to bed (AND missed the crazy finish of the Dallas - Buffalo game... I cut the tv off when the Cowboys missed the 2 pt conversion).
So anyways, DaSwam, if you read this, thanks for the shout out. If you do have a blog, leave it in my comment and I'll get you linked up.
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