Hey Another Update

I have really neglected my blog lately. I have been having some personal issues. I have not played much poker in the last month and a half. I checked my blog and saw Ricky’s comment and went over to X’s blog. I started to wonder if that was why I had been losing and playing even poker at the micros. Had I actually outgrown it? Had I learned advanced moves that most at those stakes just weren’t getting? You can’t trick someone if they don’t at least have the skills to be caught. I only have maybe $500 in my roll at the morning. Yes, pretty much right where I started the friggin’ year at. So I decided to take a hundred and give it a shot at the stakes where I was frequenting before my cashouts. I know variance has had a chance to slap me around yet but I made $130 last night. I have 2 hands here, one that made me money and one that lost me cash. Neither were real smart I think. If the first guy had a higher flush I’d be saying how bad I played it. The second one there is absolutely no mistaking my horrendous play. I kind of sucked myself into it. You’ll see.

I’m in small blind and decide to call with 64 of spades.

I don’t usually play that shit, as Greb could attest, if he is still around, but I’ve started playing those types of hands at local live games. They are pretty concealed when they hit, but also can get you into trouble. I usually only play hands that I usually know right where I’m at in the hand on the flop and can start the ram and jam technique or get out. I have to grow sometimes right?

Flop comes T86 with 2 spades; obviously you know the ones.

I min-raise and the guy to my left goes over the top. All fold back to me. I call, fishing for a black shovel. Oh yea, a 6 would be cool also.

Turn – 2 of spades.

I check to the aggressor. He bets slightly less than pot. I ram hard. He pushes the remainder of his $75 that he started the hand with. Huge pot now. I don’t totally remember what I needed to call this pot with. Likely around $40. I have no read on this guy. I have only been at the table for twenty and I had been playing the fold junk and back to web surfing thing that I do. I’m really hoping for trips on his part, or even better, what he actually had because he was drawing dead. I really doubt that he would have raised my bet with the flush draw. I know I would usually call and get a cheap look. But if he was that crafty, he most likely had the higher flush. Enough drama – at showdown he turned over a Big Blind Special or more like a BB Fuckin’ of 97o for the flopped straight. I take $75 in that hand. If I would have lost that hand I know I would have taken it as a bad omen and said the hell with poker for awhile longer. Thanks Lady Variance or sucking me back in. LOL.

Next I played like a total amateur. I am truly ashamed of losing $40 with the obvious losing hand.

It comes around to me and I raise it up 4 or 5xBB with my Hooks. I get min-reraised by a guy a few seats to my left. Everyone folds back to me and I decide to call.

I normally fold in this spot, knowing that I am near always dominated here, and at best a coin-flip with AK. But I decide to pay the little and hope to spike a J and likely stack him if I do.

Flop comes 9-high.

I know I’m beat here and had already decided to just see the flop. Yet wee, I have an over-pair and get enthralled by its allure. I check and he bets. I push because he only had $40 to start the hand. He calls and at showdown he shows his Cowboys. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb. This is a hole that I pledge to fill right now. I fold that now PF and even QQ in this situation. Another option would be to see that flop but have the will-power to fold if you miss no matter the flop.

All in all, I played well. I ended up playing 2 big hands and won them both. The rest of the time I really just stayed slightly ahead of the blinds.

Let’s see how tonight fairs the weary traveler.

Later, Ash out.

I Almost Forgot – I Have Played Live a Few Times Lately.

The night before I left on my trip C called me and said that there a local game that was short and was looking for players. I of course I couldn’t turn it down even though I was leaving the Fam for a week. They were playing tourney style with rebuys before the start of the fourth round and no add-ons. They only wanted to buy-in for $10. Cheap game. That is why I like playing cash games. The rounds were overly slowly raised. We all started with like 2500 to 3000 in chips and blinds went like 10/20, 20/40, 30/60, 40/80, 50/100, 60, 120 etc. At least at those humble stake changes I was able to sit&swoop, sit&swoop. By the 4th round I was up nicely. I had hit a few nice hands and got some loose calls to showdown. The chip leader was a dude I’d never seen. He didn’t look up often and wore a chook (nit cap) although it was hot as shit in the house. He had accumulated all those chips and I noticed that he had never even went to showdown. He was aggressive at the right times. I was impressed because he had double the next largest stack. Finally at like level 7 we lost a player or 2. Numb-nuts finally had to showdown a hand. He had raised with 65o and kept betting it to the end. The chick beside me had called his bets the whole time with a paired king. Both had hit there pr on the flop. K’s vs 5’s to the river and he hit his 6 for 2 pr. She called and we got our first glimpse of his play. Within the next 2 or 3 rounds he had lost most of his stake and was one of the shorties. He then made a hell of a comeback. The shortie at the table doubles-up like 3 times in quick secession. He then bets hard PF. I push figuring that he will call. He does and my KK hold up and I am one of the biggies. Chook dude works his way back to top stack. Only 3 places pay. $75, $25, $10. Chook guy and I make it to HU with me having 2/3rds his stack. I go hyper-agro. He folds a bit and then fights back nicely. WE play forever. Then one hand gets ugly. I have 2pr and raise his flop bet and take control on the turn. He keeps calling. There’s a straight draw on the board. The river puts 4 cards to a straight on the board. He checks. I bet. He raises me hard. God don’t tell me this fag hit this crap straight. I won’t have much left if I fold. I call. He didn’t even have a pr. He was totally playing the player there. Maybe not, but he was playing that hand with the sole purpose of bluffing me off of it if he missed his flop. I have a nice chip lead but slowly lose way do to him pushing non-stop. I finally get KT and check hoping for the push. He bets hard instead. I push. He sits there forever. We had started at 8:30pm and it was 12:30am. He finally says that he would normally fold here but it was little. He turns over KJ and has a stranglehold on the hand. I make $15 bucks for my effort. I played well and put some moves on a few people. I think I already have these guys’ respect. Hopefully I get a callback. $10 tourneys suck, but at least it’s a change-up from my normal mundane cash games. Now that’s a freakin’ paragraph.

I played two mini cash games. 1st one I made $18. There were 4 of us all with $20. $18 ain’t bad. 2nd time at the mini cash game we play with a total of $80 and I win $3. not too bad considering that I was down to $5.50 once midway. 3rd game I lost $12.

Trip Stress is Over Because I Passed

Trip is over. I passed my tests. Man am I glad to be home. Living out of a hotel really sucks.

I played a little on Sat and Sun. I did alright. I just sat and waited to hit hard and start jamming. There are so very loose callers on Px, which helps my bottom-line.

Very first time I sat and played I got the KK vs AA smackdown. Nothing like seeing 2 raises before you at a 6-max table when you’re in the BB. I raised big and the guy pushed. And bang there goes a buyin I really couldn’t afford.

After that hand I sat and pounced. I made a little money. Now that they paid my Mon rake and I now sit at $125. 2 months of playing and I am up $25. God I suck.