It is always cool to get together with some friends to watch UFC and engage in some poker fun. Just played it sort of tight and then raised huge when I got a hand and stole some blinds to get to the cash. Finished 2nd in the first event when I pushed into AA when they doubled blinds to get the game over with.... I never complain when they do this stuff because I know I will cash in the next event (or at least that is the plan!).
By the time of the 2nd event we have the UFC event running which allows a couple well timed steals while the big fights are on! Guys are busy drinking and almost don't want to play anything but premium hands if they can help it. No problem I will put in a nice large raise and sit back and watch the fight and chip up. So that led to me winning the big event of the evening with the larger buyin.
To keep my invite to the next UFC-fish homegame I stuck around and donated to the drunkfeast post game so it doesn't look like I was trying to run away with their cash. By now it is so loose the only move is an all in because most raises are being reraised by a push. Lose a race and my evening was over around 2:30 am.
So +$240 for the night was a good way for me to end the year.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
Over one year of rambling... so make this one long!
Hard to believe that I have made 140 posts over the last year about poker and other crap... mostly poker anyways.
Overall not a bad year but it could have been so much better.... going to take a good look at many aspects of my life over the next couple weeks to come up with some solid goals for next year.
That being said I decided yesterday to humble myself to the poker gods and not demand that I win every pot. With that small adjustment to my game and a couple coin flips going my way I am working to turn around an 8 buyin setback. Have to like some of the situations that have been thrown my way over the last week.
Here is the one where I knew I was due to turn things around.
First hand at the table and JsTx in the CO (post from late position a la Doubleas suggestion). Just called a 2.5x bb raise from MP and both blinds call as well. Flop is AxKsQs so nut straight but a flush draw is out there. SB checks, BB leads out with 1/2 pot bet, MP folds, I reraise to new pot amount but willing to let it go if board pairs or flush lands on turn. SB and BB both call. Question is what do they have? I put one on the flush draw and the other on two pair as that is the only reasonable thing they could hold that called the raise preflop. AA, KK and QQ all should have reraised preflop so discounting the fact that anyone has those hands.
Turn is a 3x so good no flush. SB checks, BB bets 1/4 pot, Hero reraises by more than pot and almost enough to put BB all in. SB folds and the river brings a 3x. SB pushes last $5 in the pot and I call.
What does the SB hold? Take a look at where all of us stood on the turn. The bugger had the A3s which is interesting that 3 handed it is even with the set due to the flush draw.
Board: Qs Ah Ks 3c
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 19.0589 % 19.06% 00.00% { As3s }
Hand 2: 61.8988 % 61.91% 00.00% { JsTh }
Hand 3: 19.0423 % 19.05% 00.00% { AcAd }
Once the BB folds I am a solid 3:1 favorite to win....
Board: Qs Ah Ks 3c
Dead: Ac Ad
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 23.8215 % 23.85% 00.00% { As3s }
Hand 2: 76.1785 % 76.26% 00.00% { JsTh }
At least one of the two villians could figure out that my big bets meant that I had the straight. I bet slb would have about 5 pictures of a donkey with this post... for me it is just the start of an evening of poker. Reload put in a note that buddy will chase a draw for his stack and overbet pots against him to get my cash back!
Amazing how another year of getting kicked in the junk is starting to make me somewhat immune to other players bad decisions. Sometimes I throw out a bit of a jab at them for the bad play to piss them off but I am able to keep playing well. None of this of course applys to those situations against a super LAG who is hitting every hand against me. A big part of my downswing was a 3x buyin at one table where AA < KK (all in preflop), KK < AA (all in preflop), KK < AA (all in on a 6 high flop)... all in a matter of minutes. The only thought that goes through a simple minded brain like mine at a moment like that is "Shit that guy has my number!"
Last night I was clearing a bunch of hands for a big bonus I am working on with the Poker Savvy guys when slb mentioned that bloggers were playing NL200. Wow the stakes are getting bigger over time... bigger buyin tournaments and now bigger cash tables. Tried to join the table but had to wait 30 mins to get a seat. ScottMc had one interesting hand against me where I think he put me on AK or AQ and thought I just cbet a whiffed flop. He of course called my preflop raise with position with a one gapper and the post flop situation was like this:
Board: Td 6h 4h
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 44.6763 % 44.72% 00.00% { 9c9d }
Hand 2: 55.3237 % 55.38% 00.00% { 7h5h }
Now some might say I was weak/tight by cbetting $15 at a $19 pot and then folding when raised to $45. Now I actually bet to get info and got enough of an answer that I was probably behind (good read this time). Now I could have called and then pushed if no flush hits on the turn but the $260 I had in front of me was a good chunk of my FT balance that I removed due to the shitshow with DuggleBogey. Now if we assume that it doesn't give him a hidden straight that is the only way I regain the lead in this hand. He just has too many outs and being a penguin I don't dodge well on land... something about the center of gravity being too low!
Board: Td 6h 4h 2c
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 65.9091 % 65.91% 00.00% { 9c9d }
Hand 2: 34.0909 % 34.09% 00.00% { 7h5h }
Made about $45 at the blogger table and another $50 at a non blogger NL100 to run my month's cash winnings at FT to approx. $750. Gotta love that but I really have to play another 2,500 raked hands (0.31+ euros) on the B2B network to get a $400 US bonus plus $200 Euros. The players are bad but I have to play mostly 6 max tables which I am not used to yet. If you want to see weak/tight you should play against europeans as they love to see flops and fold to cbets. I think if I did just that I could end up with a positive win rate of 2 bb / 100 over time.
Well if I don't get the chance to post again this year, I hope everyone has a happy new year, close to the people they care about the most. Some of you might find me online mashing buttons and trying to win some cash or at least clearing that bonus.
Overall not a bad year but it could have been so much better.... going to take a good look at many aspects of my life over the next couple weeks to come up with some solid goals for next year.
That being said I decided yesterday to humble myself to the poker gods and not demand that I win every pot. With that small adjustment to my game and a couple coin flips going my way I am working to turn around an 8 buyin setback. Have to like some of the situations that have been thrown my way over the last week.
Here is the one where I knew I was due to turn things around.
First hand at the table and JsTx in the CO (post from late position a la Doubleas suggestion). Just called a 2.5x bb raise from MP and both blinds call as well. Flop is AxKsQs so nut straight but a flush draw is out there. SB checks, BB leads out with 1/2 pot bet, MP folds, I reraise to new pot amount but willing to let it go if board pairs or flush lands on turn. SB and BB both call. Question is what do they have? I put one on the flush draw and the other on two pair as that is the only reasonable thing they could hold that called the raise preflop. AA, KK and QQ all should have reraised preflop so discounting the fact that anyone has those hands.
Turn is a 3x so good no flush. SB checks, BB bets 1/4 pot, Hero reraises by more than pot and almost enough to put BB all in. SB folds and the river brings a 3x. SB pushes last $5 in the pot and I call.
What does the SB hold? Take a look at where all of us stood on the turn. The bugger had the A3s which is interesting that 3 handed it is even with the set due to the flush draw.
Board: Qs Ah Ks 3c
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 19.0589 % 19.06% 00.00% { As3s }
Hand 2: 61.8988 % 61.91% 00.00% { JsTh }
Hand 3: 19.0423 % 19.05% 00.00% { AcAd }
Once the BB folds I am a solid 3:1 favorite to win....
Board: Qs Ah Ks 3c
Dead: Ac Ad
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 23.8215 % 23.85% 00.00% { As3s }
Hand 2: 76.1785 % 76.26% 00.00% { JsTh }
At least one of the two villians could figure out that my big bets meant that I had the straight. I bet slb would have about 5 pictures of a donkey with this post... for me it is just the start of an evening of poker. Reload put in a note that buddy will chase a draw for his stack and overbet pots against him to get my cash back!
Amazing how another year of getting kicked in the junk is starting to make me somewhat immune to other players bad decisions. Sometimes I throw out a bit of a jab at them for the bad play to piss them off but I am able to keep playing well. None of this of course applys to those situations against a super LAG who is hitting every hand against me. A big part of my downswing was a 3x buyin at one table where AA < KK (all in preflop), KK < AA (all in preflop), KK < AA (all in on a 6 high flop)... all in a matter of minutes. The only thought that goes through a simple minded brain like mine at a moment like that is "Shit that guy has my number!"
Last night I was clearing a bunch of hands for a big bonus I am working on with the Poker Savvy guys when slb mentioned that bloggers were playing NL200. Wow the stakes are getting bigger over time... bigger buyin tournaments and now bigger cash tables. Tried to join the table but had to wait 30 mins to get a seat. ScottMc had one interesting hand against me where I think he put me on AK or AQ and thought I just cbet a whiffed flop. He of course called my preflop raise with position with a one gapper and the post flop situation was like this:
Board: Td 6h 4h
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 44.6763 % 44.72% 00.00% { 9c9d }
Hand 2: 55.3237 % 55.38% 00.00% { 7h5h }
Now some might say I was weak/tight by cbetting $15 at a $19 pot and then folding when raised to $45. Now I actually bet to get info and got enough of an answer that I was probably behind (good read this time). Now I could have called and then pushed if no flush hits on the turn but the $260 I had in front of me was a good chunk of my FT balance that I removed due to the shitshow with DuggleBogey. Now if we assume that it doesn't give him a hidden straight that is the only way I regain the lead in this hand. He just has too many outs and being a penguin I don't dodge well on land... something about the center of gravity being too low!
Board: Td 6h 4h 2c
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 65.9091 % 65.91% 00.00% { 9c9d }
Hand 2: 34.0909 % 34.09% 00.00% { 7h5h }
Made about $45 at the blogger table and another $50 at a non blogger NL100 to run my month's cash winnings at FT to approx. $750. Gotta love that but I really have to play another 2,500 raked hands (0.31+ euros) on the B2B network to get a $400 US bonus plus $200 Euros. The players are bad but I have to play mostly 6 max tables which I am not used to yet. If you want to see weak/tight you should play against europeans as they love to see flops and fold to cbets. I think if I did just that I could end up with a positive win rate of 2 bb / 100 over time.
Well if I don't get the chance to post again this year, I hope everyone has a happy new year, close to the people they care about the most. Some of you might find me online mashing buttons and trying to win some cash or at least clearing that bonus.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Wild Night Playing Live
Headed to the live club for some poker goodness last night because Kat said she was going. Managed to move a meeting to a future date so I could be on time and sober for the $40 tournament.
In these tournaments you really need to catch some cards around the 30-45 min mark because there will be a few races to get to the final table. Instead my AQs < A10o and that crippled me. Very next hand QJs < 97o but at least I was short in that one.
The funny thing about playing a tournament and then going right into playing 1/2 NL is that some people don't adjust. Actually the play at the live table was the most action I had ever seen at a table (including online). To fully explain I will have to label a few players:
(Seat number, label, read)
1. Bay St. Buddy (BSB) - slightly loose, ABCish, a little tough to push off of a pot
2. Tough Guy (TG) - likes to raise with position and willing to go to felt to show his manhood
3. Scared Lady (SL)- tight / super weak (does she blog?) who says has been running bad
4. Scared Guy (SG) - tight / super weak (does he blog?) trying to play ABC at a wild table
5. Tournament champ (TC) - loose but had to play tight - won large live event
6. Super Maniac (SM) - Asian super loose, super aggressive ATM looking for action
7. & 8a. Maniac Tricky Guy (MTG) - very loose passive preflop , aggro push monkey post flop who likes to call with low cards
7a. Tight Asian (TA) - smart tight player with the worst seat in the house
8. Calling Station (CS) - dumb calling station who feels lucky sometimes
9. Fearless Guy (FG) - loose player who will float and catches cards
10. Hero (Hero) - all round excellent player who will play super-TAG this evening
11. TAG (TAG) - solid player who respects Hero's raises and is forced to make some tough calls
So we have a very full table with loose guys in the early and mid seats with tight/weak people in between and tight / aggro people at the end of the table. Super maniac decided he was going to give all of us as much action as we could handle!
For the first 3 orbits I don't even play a hand as I was watching raises and reraises all over the table. I finally get to see what SM was raising with and he was going to pay me off. MTG had just busted and bought in short for $50 and raises from MP to $10 and CS calls with his $65 stack. In the BB Hero raises to $50 with AKs to isolate the tilting MTG and get him into a race. He calls and so does CS so when he checks to me on the J high flop I bet $15 to put his ass all in as well. He says he is feeling lucky with his QJo and the turn and river are blanks so he wins a nice pot. That is the hand that proved to me that CS was indeed a calling station and he said he felt lucky. In the end I was lucky to be at a table full of so many losers.
So being a shorter stack I continued to play tight (didn't have cash on me to rebuy fully). SM had just lost a monster pot when his Q high hand got cracked by two pair that he tried to bluff on the turn! Everytime that happened he raised bigger on the next hand especially if he just rebought for more chips. On the BB when he raised to $22 (only a standard 11x bb raise) which was called by MTG as expected. Now with AQo I could just call but that would be weak and my starting hand selection is much tighter so I push while ahead. SM calls with 55 and I win the race with a Q high flop. Now the stack is starting to get back to normal.
Then the rush starts with a flush vs. TC that hit on the river where I flopped bottom pair and nut flush draw and he bet much less than pot and then check called my value bet.
Get pocket 10's UTG and just limp and call the raise to $6. Flop is 883r and the BB leads out for $15. I call along with one other to see the turn. Turn is a beautiful 10 and I try to not look all excited. BB leads out for $30 and I take a bit of time to see if he has an $8. FG is known to bet all streets when he thinks he is ahead and senses weakness. So I just call to see the river which is a blank and he bets out $65. Unlucky for me he folds to my push so I don't get his last 80 or so but still a nice hand.
Overall, just another wild night of playing live poker and winning $260. Darn shame that Kat missed it as Lee sat down at the other table and donked off a couple buy ins.
In these tournaments you really need to catch some cards around the 30-45 min mark because there will be a few races to get to the final table. Instead my AQs < A10o and that crippled me. Very next hand QJs < 97o but at least I was short in that one.
The funny thing about playing a tournament and then going right into playing 1/2 NL is that some people don't adjust. Actually the play at the live table was the most action I had ever seen at a table (including online). To fully explain I will have to label a few players:
(Seat number, label, read)
1. Bay St. Buddy (BSB) - slightly loose, ABCish, a little tough to push off of a pot
2. Tough Guy (TG) - likes to raise with position and willing to go to felt to show his manhood
3. Scared Lady (SL)- tight / super weak (does she blog?) who says has been running bad
4. Scared Guy (SG) - tight / super weak (does he blog?) trying to play ABC at a wild table
5. Tournament champ (TC) - loose but had to play tight - won large live event
6. Super Maniac (SM) - Asian super loose, super aggressive ATM looking for action
7. & 8a. Maniac Tricky Guy (MTG) - very loose passive preflop , aggro push monkey post flop who likes to call with low cards
7a. Tight Asian (TA) - smart tight player with the worst seat in the house
8. Calling Station (CS) - dumb calling station who feels lucky sometimes
9. Fearless Guy (FG) - loose player who will float and catches cards
10. Hero (Hero) - all round excellent player who will play super-TAG this evening
11. TAG (TAG) - solid player who respects Hero's raises and is forced to make some tough calls
So we have a very full table with loose guys in the early and mid seats with tight/weak people in between and tight / aggro people at the end of the table. Super maniac decided he was going to give all of us as much action as we could handle!
For the first 3 orbits I don't even play a hand as I was watching raises and reraises all over the table. I finally get to see what SM was raising with and he was going to pay me off. MTG had just busted and bought in short for $50 and raises from MP to $10 and CS calls with his $65 stack. In the BB Hero raises to $50 with AKs to isolate the tilting MTG and get him into a race. He calls and so does CS so when he checks to me on the J high flop I bet $15 to put his ass all in as well. He says he is feeling lucky with his QJo and the turn and river are blanks so he wins a nice pot. That is the hand that proved to me that CS was indeed a calling station and he said he felt lucky. In the end I was lucky to be at a table full of so many losers.
So being a shorter stack I continued to play tight (didn't have cash on me to rebuy fully). SM had just lost a monster pot when his Q high hand got cracked by two pair that he tried to bluff on the turn! Everytime that happened he raised bigger on the next hand especially if he just rebought for more chips. On the BB when he raised to $22 (only a standard 11x bb raise) which was called by MTG as expected. Now with AQo I could just call but that would be weak and my starting hand selection is much tighter so I push while ahead. SM calls with 55 and I win the race with a Q high flop. Now the stack is starting to get back to normal.
Then the rush starts with a flush vs. TC that hit on the river where I flopped bottom pair and nut flush draw and he bet much less than pot and then check called my value bet.
Get pocket 10's UTG and just limp and call the raise to $6. Flop is 883r and the BB leads out for $15. I call along with one other to see the turn. Turn is a beautiful 10 and I try to not look all excited. BB leads out for $30 and I take a bit of time to see if he has an $8. FG is known to bet all streets when he thinks he is ahead and senses weakness. So I just call to see the river which is a blank and he bets out $65. Unlucky for me he folds to my push so I don't get his last 80 or so but still a nice hand.
Overall, just another wild night of playing live poker and winning $260. Darn shame that Kat missed it as Lee sat down at the other table and donked off a couple buy ins.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Poker IQ?!
Did this poker IQ test which was interesting and here were the results:
Poker IQ Score
Your Poker IQ Score of 115 shows how able your mind is in general. Anyone with a Poker IQ Score this high is considered to be of above average intelligence. This score is better than 76.83% of all persons taking this test. Most occupations can be comprehended with a Poker IQ this high. You should be able to handle almost all academic challenges.
You scored higher than your average percentile score in 7 individual ability categories. 3 of these better scores could be called statistically significant and may indicate special abilities, or that you were distracted on those parts of the IQ Test that counted more heavily in the other ability categories.
I must have clicked on the wrong boxes a few times to be considered smart. Sort of like when I was in grade school and I started making a design and next thing I know they are calling me "enhanced".... Bobby would say "Hear that ladies?"
Poker IQ Score
Your Poker IQ Score of 115 shows how able your mind is in general. Anyone with a Poker IQ Score this high is considered to be of above average intelligence. This score is better than 76.83% of all persons taking this test. Most occupations can be comprehended with a Poker IQ this high. You should be able to handle almost all academic challenges.
You scored higher than your average percentile score in 7 individual ability categories. 3 of these better scores could be called statistically significant and may indicate special abilities, or that you were distracted on those parts of the IQ Test that counted more heavily in the other ability categories.
I must have clicked on the wrong boxes a few times to be considered smart. Sort of like when I was in grade school and I started making a design and next thing I know they are calling me "enhanced".... Bobby would say "Hear that ladies?"
Monday, December 18, 2006
Another Fuel Personality Test
Sweet
Prick- ENTP73% Extraversion, 80% Intuition, 73% Thinking, 40% Judging
People love to hate you, because you love to argue. The strange thing is you probably took that as a compliment. Why, I bet you've already got a witty comeback all lined up ready to throw right back at me.
What you don't realise is that your inane obsession with debating pisses everyone off. Whatever happened to us all trying to get alone? I mean, you're so annoying people disagree with you for the damn sake of it! NOBODY cares about your abundant opinions. Trust me.
Believe it or not, but there's more to life than your expansive knowledge and sharp repertoire. When was the last time you showered? Brushed your teeth?
While you're up in Nevernever land, getting excited over future possibilities and your crazy theories, WE have to put up with your awful stench. I can smell you from here.
Your personality is ideal for that of a future lawyer and because everyone already hates you, you have nothing to lose.
Prick- ENTP73% Extraversion, 80% Intuition, 73% Thinking, 40% Judging
People love to hate you, because you love to argue. The strange thing is you probably took that as a compliment. Why, I bet you've already got a witty comeback all lined up ready to throw right back at me.
What you don't realise is that your inane obsession with debating pisses everyone off. Whatever happened to us all trying to get alone? I mean, you're so annoying people disagree with you for the damn sake of it! NOBODY cares about your abundant opinions. Trust me.
Believe it or not, but there's more to life than your expansive knowledge and sharp repertoire. When was the last time you showered? Brushed your teeth?
While you're up in Nevernever land, getting excited over future possibilities and your crazy theories, WE have to put up with your awful stench. I can smell you from here.
Your personality is ideal for that of a future lawyer and because everyone already hates you, you have nothing to lose.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Booyah Swag!
Received a nice parcel in the mail today from Booyah Poker. They sent me a couple hats and a tshirt with their logo on it. Very cool and so far I have to say that they are awesome for building their brand with the players who join. So Canadian's looking for a place to play for some NHL tickets or entry to CPT events join by clicking my banner above.
Tried playing the FT Bad Beat on Cancer event... was kicking ass but couldn't win a race if my life depended on it. Hopefully Garth goes on to place well and cancer gets beat worse than I did this evening.
Tried playing the FT Bad Beat on Cancer event... was kicking ass but couldn't win a race if my life depended on it. Hopefully Garth goes on to place well and cancer gets beat worse than I did this evening.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Final table hammer drop
Got some sleep and wanted to post my final table hammer drop... wish a few bloggers were around to witness... only got a couple screenshots of it that don't do the hand justice. Wait I guess I could post the entire hand history here.
I thought he min bet the flop but it looks like he checked it and I bet out and he folded.
Well time to go cash out of the site since I don't have time to go earn anymore bonus before it expires for me tonight.
Your Player ID: Mungo36
Date and Time: 2006-12-16 20:09:32
Transfer Number: XXXXXXXX
Amount: $3000.00
DuggleBogey they responded to my email to them telling them that the screwed up in how to deal with players. There response was that I sent in my email but not from the email address registered with my account. What a bunch of BS and they should focus on the problem and not on the email address the complaints come from.
I thought he min bet the flop but it looks like he checked it and I bet out and he folded.
Well time to go cash out of the site since I don't have time to go earn anymore bonus before it expires for me tonight.
Your Player ID: Mungo36
Date and Time: 2006-12-16 20:09:32
Transfer Number: XXXXXXXX
Amount: $3000.00
DuggleBogey they responded to my email to them telling them that the screwed up in how to deal with players. There response was that I sent in my email but not from the email address registered with my account. What a bunch of BS and they should focus on the problem and not on the email address the complaints come from.
Pain into Pleasure?!! 2nd in 3k Guarantee
I am feeling quite good about myself with a solid placing in the 3k Guarantee event on Full Tilt that started last night at 3 am... so with almost no sleep I just wanted to post my results. I really played well at the final table where I started very short and managed to make every hand I play pay off until I took the chip lead.
Just so you get an idea of what the final table was like for me take a look at how the table looked.
The hand that should have ended it... of course a nice K on the turn and buddy is freerolling for 1st!
So I am tired and the baby Guin wants me to read her a book... going to do so feeling a bit better about my game. Funny thing was that this is a pot limit event and I really haven't played much pot limit in the past.
Just so you get an idea of what the final table was like for me take a look at how the table looked.
The hand that should have ended it... of course a nice K on the turn and buddy is freerolling for 1st!
So I am tired and the baby Guin wants me to read her a book... going to do so feeling a bit better about my game. Funny thing was that this is a pot limit event and I really haven't played much pot limit in the past.
Friday, December 15, 2006
MTT's = PAIN
I have been trying to use my tokens since we can't trust Full Tilt to protect our funds. So signed up for the 11k guaranteed.... convinced the table that I am so loose and crazy when I get called by a guy with an overpair and I had a sooted hammer.
That ends up leading me to another hand with a board of AKK36 and I am holding 67s from MP and bet the flop, checked the turn and 1/2 pot the river hoping it looked like a value bet. The guy to my left calls with Q high and I win the hand.
The crazy painful hand is with me holding AJo in CO-1 with only one limper thus far so I raise it up to 3x bb (didn't want to mind letting it go if reraised). BB and the limper both call. Flop is J34r and it is checked to me and I bet half the pot which is a good %age of their remaining chips. BB calls and I start to worry about an overpair but the limper folds. Turn is an A and since he doesn't have more than a pot sized bet I know we are going to get all in. If he has a set I will be paying it off. He pushes and I insta call to see he has KK and a solid 5% chance to win the hand.... river K and I go from being a top 30 out of 300 left to a short stack. That hand would have put me in the top 10 overall for a good run to the money. Instead I go out 240th after playing some of my best poker (stop laughing now!).
I don't know how you MTT guys handle situations like that day in and day out... at least at the cash tables I can just rebuy and stake out my idiot all day long if I want. Sites like Booyah poker (see banner above) actually allow me to track my players so I can find the fishys so much easier.
Time to call it a week and take the little one to see Santa tonight and get her pic taken. She is excited unlike prior years where the old dude scared her. Tonight you might see me at the cash tables and the 10 pm 25k or whatever just trying to find a big enough donk to out donk me.
That ends up leading me to another hand with a board of AKK36 and I am holding 67s from MP and bet the flop, checked the turn and 1/2 pot the river hoping it looked like a value bet. The guy to my left calls with Q high and I win the hand.
The crazy painful hand is with me holding AJo in CO-1 with only one limper thus far so I raise it up to 3x bb (didn't want to mind letting it go if reraised). BB and the limper both call. Flop is J34r and it is checked to me and I bet half the pot which is a good %age of their remaining chips. BB calls and I start to worry about an overpair but the limper folds. Turn is an A and since he doesn't have more than a pot sized bet I know we are going to get all in. If he has a set I will be paying it off. He pushes and I insta call to see he has KK and a solid 5% chance to win the hand.... river K and I go from being a top 30 out of 300 left to a short stack. That hand would have put me in the top 10 overall for a good run to the money. Instead I go out 240th after playing some of my best poker (stop laughing now!).
I don't know how you MTT guys handle situations like that day in and day out... at least at the cash tables I can just rebuy and stake out my idiot all day long if I want. Sites like Booyah poker (see banner above) actually allow me to track my players so I can find the fishys so much easier.
Time to call it a week and take the little one to see Santa tonight and get her pic taken. She is excited unlike prior years where the old dude scared her. Tonight you might see me at the cash tables and the 10 pm 25k or whatever just trying to find a big enough donk to out donk me.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Interesting hand...
Talk about someone being able to laydown a hand when they know they are beat. Not even a crying call with a set.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?671391
And I managed to get a double Lemieux (66)but they didn't under the DQB comment afterwards. I liked the hand because I was against a loose aggro player so felt that by betting out I could get him to raise. Then when I got reraised I knew I had him so pushing was the only option.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?671395
Super night at the tables where I ended up approx. $350 plus some bonus money. Probably playing against people that hacked the Full Tilt site and it is such a shame that the site hasn't done something to take care of DuggleBogey yet.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?671391
And I managed to get a double Lemieux (66)but they didn't under the DQB comment afterwards. I liked the hand because I was against a loose aggro player so felt that by betting out I could get him to raise. Then when I got reraised I knew I had him so pushing was the only option.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?671395
Super night at the tables where I ended up approx. $350 plus some bonus money. Probably playing against people that hacked the Full Tilt site and it is such a shame that the site hasn't done something to take care of DuggleBogey yet.
Your Money is NOT SAFE at Full Tilt Poker
Just read DuggleBogey's situation with Full Tilt and it is f'n horrible. Happy to say that I won $75 there last night donking around after my company year end bash. I also cleared another $20 of my bonus but leaving lots of it on the table.
One thing I can say is that I will be taking a good majority of my cash out of that site so if it does get hacked then I won't loose much. Note that I will be updating my Full Tilt holdings from approx. 1,400 to 200 to play the Mookie. For the non-US players looking for a place to park your cash you should try out Booyah Poker. I think I will also be leaning towards changing my password at all the sites I play at and have a new password for sites to post and chat about poker.
How can sites ignore players that actually will give them bad publicity when we are all going to band together to bash them.
Full Tilt is acting so shitty over a few hundred dollars that they could have spent and received nothing but praise from the blogging community. The growth from the US players is starting to go to their heads and next thing they are acting like they are Party Poker.
One thing I can say is that I will be taking a good majority of my cash out of that site so if it does get hacked then I won't loose much. Note that I will be updating my Full Tilt holdings from approx. 1,400 to 200 to play the Mookie. For the non-US players looking for a place to park your cash you should try out Booyah Poker. I think I will also be leaning towards changing my password at all the sites I play at and have a new password for sites to post and chat about poker.
How can sites ignore players that actually will give them bad publicity when we are all going to band together to bash them.
Full Tilt is acting so shitty over a few hundred dollars that they could have spent and received nothing but praise from the blogging community. The growth from the US players is starting to go to their heads and next thing they are acting like they are Party Poker.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
NL100 Dominance
I haven't focused enough this year on building the bankroll. Updating the figure to the left sure gets me thinking about why you want to play the "A" game when you are at the tables. All I know is that when I sit down with the right frame of mind and a bit of time that I rock the NL100 tables. The problem is I often sit down just to put in the time and not totally into winning some cash.
Last night I didn't have any problem with the game at all. First of all started off the evening by going and watching the Leafs beat Tampa. Then caught the train home right after the game and managed to win about $160 despite losing $90 when my AA < KK all in preflop. I also lost a big hand when a guy hit his 5 outer after pushing all in (shortstack) with 2nd pair after I potted the flop with TPTK. My ability to just roll with the bad beats and continue to play solid poker is one of the keys to my game. People expect you to tilt and are shocked when you just move on to the next hand.
Over the next while I will get a good computer in the house (using my laptop now) where I can 4 table and that should help out a lot. Getting good at using my info from PT to figure out hand ranges, along with being able to mix things up to create an image. I usually like to be considered a guy who is loose enough to float people with any two cards as I get more calls of my big bets on the river.
Thanks to Fuel for his informative posts on overbetting for value which have improved my win rate. Now all I would like is the time to get in a few thousand hands a month... running about 1k hands / month with a 10+ BB / 100 win rate.... not sustainable. Of course if you check my sharkscope numbers you will see were some of the winnings are going! Add to that the -EV blogger events and you have a bit of a leak but well worth the cash.
Last night I didn't have any problem with the game at all. First of all started off the evening by going and watching the Leafs beat Tampa. Then caught the train home right after the game and managed to win about $160 despite losing $90 when my AA < KK all in preflop. I also lost a big hand when a guy hit his 5 outer after pushing all in (shortstack) with 2nd pair after I potted the flop with TPTK. My ability to just roll with the bad beats and continue to play solid poker is one of the keys to my game. People expect you to tilt and are shocked when you just move on to the next hand.
Over the next while I will get a good computer in the house (using my laptop now) where I can 4 table and that should help out a lot. Getting good at using my info from PT to figure out hand ranges, along with being able to mix things up to create an image. I usually like to be considered a guy who is loose enough to float people with any two cards as I get more calls of my big bets on the river.
Thanks to Fuel for his informative posts on overbetting for value which have improved my win rate. Now all I would like is the time to get in a few thousand hands a month... running about 1k hands / month with a 10+ BB / 100 win rate.... not sustainable. Of course if you check my sharkscope numbers you will see were some of the winnings are going! Add to that the -EV blogger events and you have a bit of a leak but well worth the cash.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Backgammon @ Gammon Empire - ReviewMe
This is a sponsored post by ReviewMe.
Backgammon is a game that has been played by many poker greats including Erik Seidel, Gus Hansen, and Stu Ungar. So why don't more of us arm ourselves with similar skill sets to these players?
Probably because we haven't found a site yet that offers us all the tables, guaranteed tournaments that we have grown accustomed to from our poker sites. Now is the time to try out Gammon Empire. Setting up an account is simple and you get $2 for using a valid email address. For those people who don't want to install yet another program on your computer you can always use the lite Java version.
One of the nice features is that players are all ranked so you can really pick a suitable opponent to play against. As a new player I have a grey icon next to my name but watch out for those guys labelled red! I do like the idea that the poker concept of rake is reduced for the top quality players. This site really focuses on making the costs of the game reduce for the high stakes players and the top quality players. Sort of like a built in rakeback program to keep the frequent players playing. Try it now vs. the other 10,000+ players currently on the site.
I did see that the site is currently giving away backgammon boards and you might want to try to get one of those to play live against your friends.
Backgammon is a game that has been played by many poker greats including Erik Seidel, Gus Hansen, and Stu Ungar. So why don't more of us arm ourselves with similar skill sets to these players?
Probably because we haven't found a site yet that offers us all the tables, guaranteed tournaments that we have grown accustomed to from our poker sites. Now is the time to try out Gammon Empire. Setting up an account is simple and you get $2 for using a valid email address. For those people who don't want to install yet another program on your computer you can always use the lite Java version.
One of the nice features is that players are all ranked so you can really pick a suitable opponent to play against. As a new player I have a grey icon next to my name but watch out for those guys labelled red! I do like the idea that the poker concept of rake is reduced for the top quality players. This site really focuses on making the costs of the game reduce for the high stakes players and the top quality players. Sort of like a built in rakeback program to keep the frequent players playing. Try it now vs. the other 10,000+ players currently on the site.
I did see that the site is currently giving away backgammon boards and you might want to try to get one of those to play live against your friends.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Slump Breaker
Had a great time playing poker with the SNG superstar RikkiDee live at our local club. He of course played great and ended up finishing 2nd while his very sweet young lady managed to get to the final table. The club has a good mix of donks like myself all the way to some solid players so it was cool to see a blogger in the cash. My hopes are usually dashed by the time the third beer goes down too quickly!
Played the 1/2 200 max NL cash game and had a couple really tough laydowns. I did start off nice and strong when the SB rasies to 10 (call him wild Asian guy!) and since there was already 6 limpers (including me on the button) they all called! Flop is Ah Kh 9x and it checks around and my J10d isn't looking that good and since these guys call raises on flop bets I check as well. Turn is a lovely Q and it checks to me again so I bet a bit more than 1/2 pot. The SB beats me to the middle with the check raise push on the turn and I am expecting a set. Instead I see he had AK and a nice brick river gets me to $300 quickly.
Now to the tougher hands... 24o in the SB and I limp because 8 limpers already in the pot. Flop is 2x 2h 3h and I figure that from the SB one of these guys is going to bet to take down the uncontested pot. LP guy bets $15 and I raise it to $60 figuring he is on a flush draw or a better 2. Turn is the Ah and he now could have a flush, a better 2 (hard to not fold that 4 kicker), or a full house... ack! He pushes for another $74which really gets me down to a baby flush or a better 2.... I go in the tank wondering about how the Benicio Del Toro looking dude could call my reraise. Was my bet size to small? I think I should have put him all in on the flop because these guys don't mind to pay for a draw.
About an orbit later I see a tight EP player raise to $10. A slightly loose but thinking player calls the raise and I look down at JJ. I decide to call with the hooks and see how many to the flop... sort of play it like 88 and look for a set and a huge pot or an easy flop fold that is inexpensive. A guy to my right calls and then my wild Asian friend from the AK hand raises to $106! The two EP guys fold and it is back to me. I figure this could be a crazy steal or he has AA-QQ and all of them have me so dominated. That is where I think I made the mistake. I know he is wild and I should have been willing to race there against him. Instead I fold and the guy to my left pushes his $150 in the middle with QQ. Wild man calls with 44 and they race.... to make it worse a J hit on the turn in what could have been the biggest pot of the evening! I was a little perturbed by both of these hands and ended up down a bit on the night.
Fun time and glad to see RikkiDee show up and show us how to play poker.... no more downbeat posts from him.
Played the 1/2 200 max NL cash game and had a couple really tough laydowns. I did start off nice and strong when the SB rasies to 10 (call him wild Asian guy!) and since there was already 6 limpers (including me on the button) they all called! Flop is Ah Kh 9x and it checks around and my J10d isn't looking that good and since these guys call raises on flop bets I check as well. Turn is a lovely Q and it checks to me again so I bet a bit more than 1/2 pot. The SB beats me to the middle with the check raise push on the turn and I am expecting a set. Instead I see he had AK and a nice brick river gets me to $300 quickly.
Now to the tougher hands... 24o in the SB and I limp because 8 limpers already in the pot. Flop is 2x 2h 3h and I figure that from the SB one of these guys is going to bet to take down the uncontested pot. LP guy bets $15 and I raise it to $60 figuring he is on a flush draw or a better 2. Turn is the Ah and he now could have a flush, a better 2 (hard to not fold that 4 kicker), or a full house... ack! He pushes for another $74which really gets me down to a baby flush or a better 2.... I go in the tank wondering about how the Benicio Del Toro looking dude could call my reraise. Was my bet size to small? I think I should have put him all in on the flop because these guys don't mind to pay for a draw.
About an orbit later I see a tight EP player raise to $10. A slightly loose but thinking player calls the raise and I look down at JJ. I decide to call with the hooks and see how many to the flop... sort of play it like 88 and look for a set and a huge pot or an easy flop fold that is inexpensive. A guy to my right calls and then my wild Asian friend from the AK hand raises to $106! The two EP guys fold and it is back to me. I figure this could be a crazy steal or he has AA-QQ and all of them have me so dominated. That is where I think I made the mistake. I know he is wild and I should have been willing to race there against him. Instead I fold and the guy to my left pushes his $150 in the middle with QQ. Wild man calls with 44 and they race.... to make it worse a J hit on the turn in what could have been the biggest pot of the evening! I was a little perturbed by both of these hands and ended up down a bit on the night.
Fun time and glad to see RikkiDee show up and show us how to play poker.... no more downbeat posts from him.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Pacific + fun FT token
Most bloggers know that I love to raise almost any hand preflop. Sometimes with position and sometimes without it which goes against conventional poker thinking. It really pays off when you flop a monster and no one believes your cbets! Well I notice 4 hands into a turbo token event that one guy has been super aggressive. I like guys who like to LAG it up early... so I raise with QJo and he calls. Flop is A J 4 with flush draw. I bet out 1/2 pot and he raises to 500... I put him on the flush draw and push and he calls with K4s. He hits and the stack is crippled to 150. Came back from that and busted the guy and went on to get my token. Very satisfying to know that even with few chips I can come back. Thanks again for Smokkee reminding me that in a token event a few weeks back that got me thinking things through.
Been a while since I updated my numbers on the left so I did that this evening... pathetic that I haven't really improved the bankroll since about March but I think my play is much better. Confidence at the cash tables and just as important is my increased patience. Recently the goal has been to try to play post flop against bloggers and see if I can confuse them. Wil told me he hates me so I must be doing something right! Hopefully he doesn't call customer service when I steal his BB 36 times in a row again!
Pacific NL100 was the place where I was working on clearing a bonus and ended up $160 or so which made for a good weekend.
Been a while since I updated my numbers on the left so I did that this evening... pathetic that I haven't really improved the bankroll since about March but I think my play is much better. Confidence at the cash tables and just as important is my increased patience. Recently the goal has been to try to play post flop against bloggers and see if I can confuse them. Wil told me he hates me so I must be doing something right! Hopefully he doesn't call customer service when I steal his BB 36 times in a row again!
Pacific NL100 was the place where I was working on clearing a bonus and ended up $160 or so which made for a good weekend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
