The Good, The Bad, And The Lucky

I played in a tournament at the local Indian Casino a few weeks back.

Registration filled up quick. I was on hold at 10am when registration opened up. I finally got signed at 10:20 and I was 28th on the list. 30 max. 1 guy from work didn’t make it. It started at 6pm. I got to there at 5:15 and blew $50 in the slots waiting to be seated. We started with 2000 in chips. Blinds went – 10/20, 20/40, 50/100, 100/200, 2/4, and so on. I decided to see a lot of flops due to the early stack/blind ratio.

I hit a few nice hands early on and chipped up. Then I get AA. A chick to my right opens PF. I reraise and she calls. She hits 2 pair on the flop with Q8o. We get all-in on the flop and I suckout on the river to stack her. IMO, she got what was coming to her for raising PF from EP with trash and then calling my large rerasie.

A little later I misread that 1 dude was in a hand because he had his arms on the table, which were covering his cards. I opened trying to blind steal from the button and he pushes for a small amount more. I was embarrassed to turn over my junk, which I never would have raised with if I was paying attention that the shorty limped in. He doubles through me. At 1st break, which was at the end of level 4, we were down to 2 tables, and I had about 9000 in chips. RC went before this break in mid or early 20’s. That’s one from the prop bet down. 10 pride dollars, cha-ching.

We consolidated to 2 tables and I was card dead forever it seemed. Yet I keep stealing the SB from a passive rock that always limped from the small and then would fold to my raises. He was to my immediate right at all three tables and kept giving me his blinds.

Close to the 2nd break, and down to the final table, with the blinds at 500/1000, I’m looking for a spot to push. If it wasn’t for the guy on my right winning hands and then folding to my BB pushes and raises I would have had to find a spot much sooner. A guy limps from MP. The SB calls and I check my Q7o. Flop comes Q7x. Checky-check and MP pushes. He has King-high. Rock folds and I call. He is way behind and I scoop a nice pot. 2nd break I have maybe 16000 in chips. HG goes home in 8th place. 20 pride dollars.

When we start back up players start locking horns as I sat back and waited for the bubble-buster. 5 places cashed. It gets down to 4 and I get KK in the SB. Folds to me and I check to a stack that’s bigger than me. He pushes. I obviously call and he shows KJo. I double-up and he doesn’t even have enough for the 1500/3000 blinds. He goes all-in next hand and 2 of us check him down and HGH (he goes home) in 4th. I steal a few blinds and the chip leader takes out the shortie.

Heads-up. I start stealing blinds with big raises and all-ins especially if he just called the Small Blind. We only played maybe 4 hands before we both got all-in. I think he set me up hoping I would push on his SB call. I had 29,700 in chips and he had 30,300. I pushed and he called with pocket 4’s. He had to think it would be a race, but it wasn’t. I had A2o. I hit an Ace on the flop, leaving him with 600 in chips. The blinds were 1500/3000. I now had him 100 to 1 in chips. LOL. I pushed every hand and after doubling 3 times I finally took him out. $600 for first place and my pic on the wall until next tourney. That was kind’a ghey, but the $600 was cool, and bragging rights with the boys was priceless.

I Won That Tourney Was Week

I will update with a full rundown of the tournament in a few days once I get back to work.

That is 3 live tourneys now with great results. 2 1st place finishes and a final table.

Later, Ash out...

Update and a Free $15

I haven’t played that much this month. I will end up with Sliver IM status most likely. I am up over $600 so far this year. I’m not playing the best, but with bonuses and Rakebreak I have made this profit. I have cashed out $700 or $800 so far this year. My online roll is slightly less than $600.

Live, I have been doing well this year so far. We have played 8 times. I just lost my first session. That puts me at 7 wins and 1 loss. I am up or $300. I am happy about this.

I will go the casino for the first time on Tuesday. 4 of us from the Home Game are going to play in a $50 NL tourney. We also have a $10 prop bet going on for who lasts the longest. We plan on staying after and playing some cash NL $1/$2. I’ll keep you posted.

Also, I added an affiliate link on the side bar. I’ll hook anyone that signs under me with a free $15 on Full Tilt. If anyone is interested just e-mail me and we can set it up. Any questions shoot me an e-mail – subject affiliate.

2007 earnings* and 2008 supposition**

DISCLAIMER: What you are about to read in regard to one’s yearly earnings is only gratuitous nonsensical fiction only stated to make one seem validated and vindicated in one’s time spent playing poker. No real money was earned. All amounts of play money are approximations and likely stated well above one’s actual earnings of play money. All play money is worthless as US legal tender and thus holds no real monetary value.

I had a bumpy year. And here is the run-down. I started the 2007 with $500 in my online accounts. Throughout the year I cashed out $1578.94 in earnings. At year’s end I had an $836.72 online bankroll. So that sums-up to $1915.66 for 2007. That is over $3000 less than 2006.

My goal at the start of 2007 was to double the previous year’s total net. So 10000.00 was the goal. I only achieved 1/5th of that goal. I’m not real happy with that result, but after where I was at earlier in the year, I am happy about the comeback. Early in the year I was down $300 thereabouts. A $2200 comeback in the second half of the year is acceptable to me. So my goal this year is to double 2007’s total. So I want to make $4000 this year.

I got away from my winning game at some point early on. I took a few months off to cool down. TILT was palpable in my psyche. I went from UB and moved my roll over to Tilt. There I worked my way up and back down the ranks many times. Not to losing always, but to cashouts and also to downswings soon after sometimes. I also found that I wasn’t and still ain’t crushing the levels that I used to. I have maintained Iron man status for 7 months straight and am still going. (Not top tear every month.)

I also did my share of Live action over 2007. Most were local home games with my friends from work. I also played a few times with the Family in low buyin tourneys. And I only played at the casino once all year. I made a grand total of $1094 at live action play last year. That is a $327 increase from the previous year’s total. I’m happy here. My 2008 goal is $1500.

Breakdown:
Casino – 2007 - earned $22 – 1 win.
Casino – 2006 - lost $139 – 3 wins/2 losses.
That is a $161 swing.

Local home games – 2007 - earned $1064 – 45 wins/10 losses.
Local home games – 2006 - earned $821.00 – 18 wins/3 losses.
Increase of $243.
That is 34 more games.
My average went from +$39 a game in 2006 to +$19 a game in 2007???
I don’t really have an explanation for this. I will think on it.


Fam Games – 2007 – lost $40 – 1 win/5 losses.
Fam Games – 2006 - earned $85 – 4 wins/0 losses.
This is a $125 swing???
I can’t really explain this either.

There is a couple other live games that don’t fall under these 3 categories that I did play in also. I won most of those that brought my year total up.

My game has transitioned big time during 2007. My TAG, TAG-weak style has evolved into a TAG-weak, yet quite a late position AGRO style. LOL. I would love to get rid of the weak part for sure. That is something that I plan on focusing on in 2008. Also along these same lines, have just noticed by watching my hand stats, that I am especially weak on the river. I am missing out on a lot of wins on this street by not value betting and inducing more profits or wins without going to showdown. I have a bad habit of seeing monsters and check/calling in these situations. I am irrationally near always afraid of the dreaded check-raise if I don’t have at least the near-nuts. I have a lot of leaks that I need to find and work on one by one.

*Earnings: Figurative monetary units.
**Supposition: Estimate of future earnings*.

Just My Luck: Three Straight Flushes in One Week

I played live 3 different times live last week and once each day I saw a straight flush. That has to be some staggeringly enormous odds. Plus, if you add in the fact that I was the one that got beat each time by the straight flush it has to be completely nuts. 2 were one-outers and the other was a 2-outer.

First one the flop came 7c5c4c. I had 75o. I bet and got raised. 3 go to the turn and it is a non-spade 7 giving me a flush. I figured one had the flush already and the other had the A or K of clubs. I check, as does the guy to my left. Flop aggressor bets and I reraise. All call. River comes an 8c. I bet pot. My left calls and aggressor pushes for my last $25. I figured that I was beat. My friends are super loose and reckless so I called. There was 90 in the pot at this point and I figured my friend to the left would also call making it a $140 pot. Guy to my left shows As. Aggressor shows Xc6c for the open-ender SF draw that spiked my ass. What a cooler. I still won $60 this session, but I still lament that hand and all that I could have pocketed.

Second time was at my Mom’s house, where we always play $5 buy-in tourneys when the Fam gets together. I trap 2 players on the turn with a Q-high flush. My Sis just had a pair, but my Bro had a lower flush and was drawing dead to 1 card 1 time. 6s3s was on the board and he has 7s4s. I call the card coming and the 5s rivers and IGH on the bubble.

Lastly, the next day we continue with our Christmas drinking and tournaments. I go all-in on the flop with Mom. I had 2pr. She had a gutshot straight-flush draw. She turns another 5s if I remember the card right. Of course I call this one also before it falls after my previous luck during the week.

That is some bad bad luck my friends. I hate the holidays.

Quick Update and a Casino Trip

Ok, I revised the post. God was it horrid. I was writing at work and got busy, so I just hurried up and posted. I’m sorry for anyone that read it.

I played at the casino for the first time in over a year. After the Christmas party I got put on the waiting list. There was only one table going at that time. It was $1/$2. I was told that 5 dudes were on the list ahead of me, but they had called in ahead of time so I was essentially next up. After 20 mins of throwing quarters in hungry unproductive slots I checked back. He said that I was now 6th on the list again because they were in. I was chatting with the pitboss when someone left the table. He said fuck-it go ahead and jump in there.

I sat down in the 5th seat with a full table of regulars that I had seen before in my multiple visits to a different casino last year. Luckily a guy left and a huge chip-spewing fish took his seat in the 2 spot. I started mixing it up with him right off the bat. I won a few smallish pots from him. I then hook horns again with him. I reaise him with AA. He pushes and I call, making it a $120 pot. He shows AKo. He hits a flush on the turn. I reload $60, putting me back at the max buy-in of $100.

I get in with him again soon after and push for $35 more on the river, because he checks after being the aggressor on every prior street. It was a river bluff with AQs. He folded and I showed.

I later called $10 more from the BB with 43s to isolate against him again. I hit an open-ender and called a flop bet without the odds but hoping to hit. Turn brings me a pr of 3’s to add to my SD. I call another bet. River is a beautiful 3. He bets me on the river and I shove like the time before trying to portray the bluff again. He throws away his hand and says that he was trying to buy it with overs.

I also got lucky once. A guy to my left was short-stacked after losing a few hands. He pushes for $25 from UTG. Folds back to me in the BB. I have KJs. I decide to call. He shows AQo. I hit trip-jacks.

I also lost some nice bets when I got reraised preflop and had to laydown. I also had to drop a few hands when the turn got ugly. I only got to play 2 hrs because we rode with the in-laws and they along with my wife were ready to jet. I ended the session up $22. Ghey, but at least I didn’t lose. I wish I would have driven a separate car because my table got real juicy just before I had to go. 2 drunk guys sat down and it was obvious to most at the table that they were dead money.

A Streak Ends and Hopefully a New One Begins

Well the streak is over. I had an awesome Home Game streak going 15 straight winning sessions! I finally lost $17 the game before last. I got my A’s and K’s cracked the same session and never fully recovered. The next game I made $65 so I feel pretty happy about that. I was down $27 at one point because I played HU with an agro player (Smitty) and I hit a nut straight on the turn. I just called his turn bet and then the board paired on the river. I didn’t put him on a hand and raised him. He pushed and I called his boat. That was a $20 hand.

I bought back in for another $20 and chipped down a bit and then made 2 nice floats on the flop and turn and then re-raise the river bluffs and a good/bad call. Same agro player bet the PF 3 handed so I put him on 2 unmatched high cards. Flop was all low cards. He bet bigger than his normal bet when he has a hand so I figured he missed and was trying hard to take it down. I paired my 3 and called. He fired another bullet on the low turn card and I called again. He bet the river J hard and bet strong again. There was already a lot in the pot and I stayed with my read and hoped he missed the J. I called and he turned over AQo. I showed 63o and he went Hellmuth on me. I calmly told him that I had a read on him and he says the fuck I did and said it was the worst call he has ever seen. This put me even or so for my $40 buy-in.

Back when it was 4-handed a little earlier 2 players that have some bad blood between then got in some hands together. One guy (PV) has recently changed his style and now bets a lot PF with stuff like Q8s or worse and the other guy (RMc) got tired of holding like I don’t have a problem doing. He called with mid pair to the showdown and lost to a flopped 2pr. He bought back in and chipped up nicely and they got into it again soon after. He min-raised PF with Rockets and new agro-boy re-raises, which wasn’t much - Calling the $1 and raising $1.50. Smitty and I drop. RMc says that he will put PV all-in which was another $19, which was way over-kill and normally an –EV move with an isolated opponent. PV goes into the think-tank and starts saying that he is most likely behind but he loves his hand. He says that he has straight and flush draw possibilities all the while RMc goads him for a call. PV who has already bought in for $80 calls and turns over his Q9s 4 to 1 dawg. He flops a nine; turns a gutshot; and rivers a Q. RMc tightlipped, cashes out and storms off. This gives goofball $46 in chips. He makes some horrible calls and shows-down 3rd pair in a nice pot and pisses off Smitty all over again, who openly and vehemently bemoans his busted every-street bluff and berates both of us for our terrible plays. I am card dead for a while but managed to chip-up $12, while PV kept taking the tilting Smitty’s chips. And then comes the last hand of the night.

3-hand we both call PV’s Pf raise. I had KJo. Flop comes QTx-low rainbow. Smitty folds and I call PV’s flop bet. An A comes on turn giving me Broadway. He bets 3 measly dollars bumping it up from his $2 flop bet. He stares at me, placing the stack of 3 chips down and then places each chip in a row with emphasis on each chip. I smooth-call with no flush draw and hope the board doesn’t pair or bring a K or J and pantomime his chip placement while smiling at him. The river brings an 8. He bets 3 bucks again and does the chip act. I say raise and put the first 3 chips in mimicking him again and then do it again with 5 more $1 chips. He says all-in putting me to the test for my remaining $40. I figure we are holding the same whole cards but obviously call. He can’t wait to turn his J9s over and say he has the straight. I was shocked that he risked close to $40 without the nuts. I throw down my KJ and state that I have the nut straight. His just stares at me wide-eyed as I count out my remaining chip. The game broke up then and there. I waited for that hand all night. They just donk-off there chips between themselves all night while I fold and wait for semi-decent to limp in with and scoop small pots and then they run into my nuts for big pots, game after game. It’s like clockwork with these boys.

Meh, Kind'a Happy

I’ve cashed-out $500 since my recent post on 8/15 for various reasons. I am doing well though. I currently have $1000 on Tilt and $50 on WPEX, $40 on stars, and $9 on Poker.com even though I haven’t played on those sites in awhile. I gave up my aggressive BR strategy and opted for a little more conservative one; the swings were just too volatile with a mere 8 buy-ins. I am currently playing at the $50 tables. When I hit $1200 I will move up to the hundred tables and give it a shot, but if I hit $1000 again I will drop down at that juncture. I am presently up $1300 for the year; that is a damn far cry from being down $400 a few months ago.

I have stopped playing the SnG’s for $26 tokens. I currently have 5 and that’s enough for the time being. I had 8 but used 3. I wish regular SnG’s for just money would fill up. I would rather have cash in-hand instead of unredeemable (is that a word) tokens. 1 token that I used I got into the same structured SnG but for a $75 token I won that tourney. (Well in the tokens anyways.) I got into $9000 guaranteed tourneys with the other 2. (Bitch time.) 1st tourney I couldn’t really get anywhere. When the blinds started getting too high I reraised all-in with Big Slick and got called by AQ and you I’ll give you one guess what came on the flop. The next tourney I chipped-up nicely early on with a stack of 6000. I have AA with a raise PF before me. I reraised only to be surprised when a guy with around 2000 2 seats to my left pushes. The original raiser also pushes with about 5000. I obviously call. Guy to the right has AKs and the OR shows-up KQs. Mister KQ runs a straight on my. I slowly work it back up to 2000, but can’t get over the hump. When the blinds get big I put my money in with the worst hand while trying to push the blinds and late position players out with JTs. It happens and I’ll get over it. I have 5 chances left and a teir 2 token to try making some nice coin. Rant over.

I am sticking with my pact with the wife and am only putting in around 2 hrs a day.

Live is going well. I still haven't seen the casino yet this year so all my cash is coming from the Home Game. I am up $705 year to date. that ain't bad seeing as how we play $.25/.50. My loses amount to a total of $90 while making that $700. I'm pretty happy about my stats with these guys; they usually just give me their money pretty much. Too bad my wife spends my live roll quicker than I win it. hopefully soon I can keep enough to get 2 buy-ins at the $1/$2 game at the local casino. I would love to give that a go again. My game has really changed and I'd like to see how I would fair. If I get my online roll rolling I might just cash-out enough to start that live roll. We will see.

Later, Ash out...

Online, Medical, and Live Updates

Poker has been a struggle lately. I was down to $350 at one time and made it back up to $550. I currently sit at $466. I still have $475 coming in rakeback. I think they are being dishonest with my accrual in rake from FT. I have noticed my rake going down a few times last month. I have just started keeping a daily running tally. If it continues I will ask for and explanation. I didn’t play one day this week and my rake went down $1 form one day to the next. I am just putting in the minimum time required to keep my IM status. After that I have been playing WoW.

On the live home game front I am still crushing the game. Latest 3 game go as follows: +$43, +$38, and +$28. Not a ton, but I am still winning and that is always positive. We have been a little strapped lately so every time I get some scratch built up I have to spend it. I do want to put a live roll together and start frequenting the casino and see where that takes me.

Update on the family work injury issue. On the medical front my wife is recuperating finally. At least she has diagnoses after a year of torment. She had some medical and psychological issues. I’m pretty sure that I have written about her work related injury in the past here, yet I am too lazy to go back and check. Quick background She had a 20lbs box fall on her head at work. She started having tremors some after the accident. She lately went in and got some pain shots in her neck. Once they took affect they took her off the meds that she was on for the prior year. The tremors soon after stopped. One of the size effects of one of her meds was tremors. She was also diagnosed with posttraumatic stress and clinical depression. After a year with no relief or closure, who would be depressed? And just the other day we got the results back from a test that they preformed. They put some kind of dye in her spine and X-rayed. They found a displaced disk in her neck where she had pointed to the whole time. Comp stopped paying over 6 months ago because two neurologists concluded that she had no physical injuries from the accident and it was purely psychological. We disputed at that time and have preformed tests for the last 6 months, with us taking on a lot of the medical bills. To see one Dr we had to pay him $1500 up front. Anyways, her Comp should definitely be reinstated, plus pay retroactive back to when we contested their decision. So hopefully things won’t be so tight soon.

Later, Ash out…

Live Update and Analysis of My Home Game Players

Live is still going well. Shit actually it is booming. I have the game totally under my control. I’m not running the table, but I am waiting in the wings ready to pounce as often as I can. I often fold, fold and watch the blinds and missed flops eat away my stack and then swoop in and accumulate a moderate to large pot. I then eat myself slowly away again and play the waiting game. But as this happens my stack grows larger each time well above what the blinds are doing to me. I do see a lot more hands than at a FR game due to the shorter game and because I can often out-play certain players. I out-play opponents and they call me dirty for the moves I use to get the maximum chips from the hands that I play. I get deep respect from some players and they are scared of my bets and I can often push them of their hands with a well-timed bet. Some are calling-stations and I do need the best hand because we are likely going to showdown. I know the players so well that I know exactly how to approach each hand by which one of the guys is in the hand with me. This has been a long process, but we have played together for so long that it’s hard not to learn their styles. Here are my results since my last live update: +$31, +$136, +$20, +$74, -$7, +$59, +$27, +$15, +$34. 10 to 1 win/loss ratio isn’t bad that is for sure. This in itself is a big factor why my bets get respect – they know I almost always go home with a win and they don’t want to risk being a help to lining my pockets. I’m not trying to brag up my game here I am just telling you how well I have the usual players figured out. Knowing everyone’s weaknesses, strengths, motivations, plays, and abilities does help enormously and lets you know which moves you can make on which players because you know where each one’s knowledge base is at. But that doesn’t always mean you will win. Earlier in the year I lost 4 out of 5 sessions and was totally bummed about my ability as a player. I was also sucking at online poker, which I have most of this year anyways, and that was adding to my negative outlook. I was second-guessing every decision that I made and really was furthering my plight, but the card dead nights and horrible multi-suck-out sessions left and I was back in business, with variance back in the black.

I also played the Fam Game twice since the last update. We always play small $5 tourneys. 1st time I dropped -$20 and the 2nd time I lost -$5. Some to bad play on my part and some to horrible and moderate beats. It is about playing with family and less about winning, but I am always very competitive. I can’t help that and of course you are supposed to play your best game every time out anyways, right? I don’t care that it is only $5 when I make my decisions; I play with my stack and I play as well as possible. It does frustrate me some when I go in with the best and am called with shit and the shit hits. Races don’t bother me ever, that just is poker in my mind. But a bad call from an opponent for all my or their chips when I am 70% or better cuts me deep when they spike their shit. I know that there are outs for a reason but damn. I guess it hurts because it doesn’t often go the other way because I hardly ever put my money in with the worst of it. Not to say that I’m this great player that never makes bad calls, I’m just stating that I more often than not go in with the best of it, so the suck-out ratio is skewed towards the other players. Basically I’m saying that when I play cards I am never in Freeroll mode. I always do have fun at the Fam Game, I just think I take it a little too seriously sometimes.

I will now tell you about each player’s styles and weaknesses and strengths and little tells and odds-and-ins I have noticed with their games. These are the Home Game guys not the Fam Game players. The rest of this post is on each player’s current style – just warning you so you don’t waste your time if you don’t like player analysis of people you don’t know. I’m am really doing it more for myself because as I write, it makes me really think about their game and my counter-methods to their styles. Long post ensues.

Smitty – He is a total LAG. He has never seen hole cards that he didn’t like. He always wants to see the flop no matter his holdings. He will either raise PF or call and will rarely fold to a raise or reraise PF. If he is the aggressor just let him keep betting for you and depending how innocuous the board is make your decision on which street to raise or CR him. If I have the hand and he is in position I just bet out and forget the slow-rolling because if he has any pr or any possibility of making a flush or a straight he will chase it as long as I don’t bet too much. If he has 4 cards to a straight (even gut-shot or the low end) or a flush he will find it hard to fold to any sized bet. If he has 2 hearts and 1 heart hits the flop that constitutes a flush-draw in his mind or if he has 2 cards and the flop brings 1 more card in succession that constitutes a flush-draw to him. So for example, if he has Ts, Jc and the flop brings Ks, 7s, 2h he will see the turn for a nice bet just to see if another spade or an A, Q, 9, 8, comes so he can chase again on the river. Sometimes he hits these long-shots and rivers a huge pot, which keeps him trying. He is very aggressive. If he raises PF, which does often, he will CB every street no matter the board or if he hit anything or if the board is all overs to a small PP. So if I have any suited-cons, PP’s, or nice paint is dealt to me I will call for the possibility of a nice score. You can usually CR the river and he will call with any pr just to see if you are bluffing. He hates to be out-played. If you bluff him he takes it as a personal slight towards his manhood and will call you down most of the night just to make sure you don’t hurt his pride further. So basically I will bluff with a busted draw often early on in the session just so I can turn up the bluff and induced the vendetta grudge mode. He amasses tons of chips early on every session with his aggression. This always happens because he is betting on just about every hand. He then gets pissed because in his mind he should win any hand where he showed aggression the whole way. If he loses a few busted aggressive hands, especially if someone calls him down with horrible holdings in a short period of time, bad beats, getting bluffed, river beats especially if they called to the river with total junk where he had them crushed the whole way, or any combination of these 4 common occurrences he hits ultra-full-tilt-mode. Guaranteed he will push all-in PF or on the flop very soon after he starts bitching about others horrid play or his unwarranted bad luck. He usually has shit and needs to prove to himself that he is in control of the table again. Depending on how much he has left when he shoves and what I holding I will call even with minor holdings that I normally wouldn’t call with because he see making this move PF with any Ace, any suited cards, small pr, paint, and on the flop if he hit any part of the board or with any flush or straight draw. If he doesn’t get smacked-down too often in a short period of time he doesn’t tilt and I can continue to take nice pots from his growing stack. He ends sessions usually up big or down big and both happen about half the time. It looks like a lot to remember, but really he is pretty predictable. Oh yea, one tell that he has makes and/or saves me large river bets. If he takes a long time on the river and keeps recounting his chips in a stack like he is trying to figure out exactly how much he wants to bet, he almost is always bluffing a busted draw. If he just bets river quickly he can have it or be on a bluff and put you to a decision, but if he does the long think-tank chip stacking routine he is usually full of shit and on a busted draw. He is still pretty new to the game and I try to teach him here and there, even though it took him a run of losing sessions before he would fight his ego and listen. He still has issues with reading the board at showdown. He has trouble with the best 5 card rule and how to figure out which cards play. I argued with him for 3 minutes just last game before he relinquished the pot. The board was 664QQ. He bet with T4 and was called by Van Horn with K7. He just kept saying that he had a pr and that it shouldn’t go to kickers. I told him that your trying play 3pr. He also has a hard time deciphering kicker fights and what cards exactly play on the board. I often have to actually push the cards up for both players and count out the 5 cards that play. He is smart so I really don’t get why he is having suck a hard time with this basic aspect of the game.

Van Horn – He is loose-passive to the extreme. He wants to see every flop, yet doesn’t raise often, but when he does, it is usually just a min-raise. The min-raise is usually nice paint. When he bets a little more he has a PP, you just have to figure out how high. He will always CB once if he raised PF. If you CR him he will usually just call. If he has an over-pr to the flop he will reraise your CR. That is when you know your holdings and drop out with weak holdings. If the flop brings a flush draw or a nicely coordinated straight draw he will just call your CR and check-call the rest of the way. So you can lose some change if you don’t be careful. He will usually call to the river with his small PP’s set-faming the turn and river for the anemic 2-outer because he doesn’t realize how bad his odds are of spiking – he will usually drop to the river bet with his small PP. If 4 cards to a flush hit he will call a moderate bet with a weak card of that suit and say that he had to see. He likes being the sheriff and if everyone folds he is more apt to stay in to “keep you honest.” Back to PF - he loves to see the flop and likes junk cards for odd superstitious reasons. Anytime he folds he always states that he hated to fold because he just knows it will hit. He makes a big deal when it does hit and that is a big reason why he such a call-station. He barely ever goes home with any money unless he gets some monster hands or sucks-out on some monster hands. Over the session he just calls it all away. He is the one that usually ends up putting Smitty over the edge, by hitting the river with junk that anyone else would have folded PF or to any bet. He is a checker, slow-playing most hands that he hits. But he doesn’t raise much on the river when his traps work. Often he just calls. He is a very weak player. You barely ever know when he has you beat or not because he just check-calls all the way to showdown even with nice hands. He is afraid of the board often thinking monsters are in the closet at every flush, gut-shot, or paired board, yet he almost always will call to the showdown to sheriff the table. He usually wins these pots, but since he calls bottom-pr and mid-pr and every possible draw imaginable to the river or showdown. Ultimately he usually ends up short-stacked early in every session with Smitty accumulating most of his chips because he calls all Smitty’s bets to the river and then usually folds. He is the ultimate weak calling-station. When he gets short-stacked he always says it’s almost time for an all-in hand and then subsequently he pushes within a few hands with marginal holdings at best – usually suited though. Since Smitty and Van Horn both love to see the flop they often call each other’s all-ins when the pusher is tilting with their shorty with holdings just as marginal and near races ensue. Van Horn always buys back in and plays the exact same style. Just hit the flop and keep betting and he will usually call you better hand to showdown and build your stack.

Smutek - He barely ever wins and thus doesn’t play often. When he does play and loses his first buy-in of $20 or $25 he calls it a night. He is so predictable that everyone knows his game and get out of the hands and he only takes the blinds or one bet. If he bets the flop he usually has TP or better. Everyone folds and he wins a baby pot. Also if he weakly hit the flop he will look down at his chips for a second, shit sometimes reaching for his stack, and then he will check. At that point most people check their draws opting for a free card or put in a nice bet and he usually folds his pr. He respects my game to the point at he folds even nice hands to my bets thinking I’m suckering him in for his money. He folds the winning hands quite often because he thinks that every time a flush or straight is on the board that a bet from someone means that that’s what they have. He plays scared which isn’t winning poker in the least. Everyone knows this and just slowly scares Smutek out of pots or folds to his bets so he wins minuscule pots and his stack keeps dwindling. Often he will double up once short-stacked because he finally has to make a stand and the other players are still in predator mode thus bullying with shit. Therefore he most often drops that last hand to bad beats which always sucks to exit with. He also will lose a big hand when 4 cards to a flush or a 4-flush is on the board. He will call the flush with marginal holdings and fight with the small side of the straight. I have been working on these leaks with him but he is slow to grasp what I’m trying to teach him. I have stopped a few of his bad habits, which is helping his game. First of all I told him to stop showing his cards when people fold. He is the only player that folds PF more than I do, so when he does get into a hands he is already under scrutiny by everyone at the table. So when he bets and everyone drops and then he shows them that he had it, they know that they made the right call and that predictable Smutek hasn’t changed his game. Now he never shows his hands unless they pay to see. The other leak that he had was telling everyone at the table when he was on a draw. He would call someone’s bet and say out loud that he wanted to see one more card. So if a coordinated card hit the board they could slow down in the hand or if the card whiffed, they would bet hard knowing he would fold. I am working with him on other aspects trying to help him compete. But as it stands right now, if he gets in a hand and he acts first and bets you drop or if he checks you bet. If you are first to act you make a nice bet and if he calls you know he has something. It’s sadly that simple.

Phil – He is a weird player, but also highly predictable at times. But he will put money in the pot with good cards and shit cards with equal frequency so you have to be careful. He likes to see the flop, but will fold total junk. If he is up he usually sees every flop. He will call PF raises with marginal hole cards. He will pay moderate calls to the river chasing his flushes, often even large bets. He then folds if he misses. He also opening but unwittingly visually and sometimes vocally lets all know he is on a draw. You know to raise if next card is innocuous. He finds it hard to get away with from small prs and will bet them just as hard as if he held TPTK. Sometimes I put him on 2pr or something nice and once everyone folds he will show pocket 6’s. At other times I will reraise him and he will keep calling my bets for the remainder of the hand, often leading the betting again on the next street and I will slow down. I then bet big on the river with a monster and he calls and shows down pocket 4’s that was lower than any card on the board, thus only beating a total bluff. He honestly doesn’t think your bluffing, he just has some weird idea that if you likely have the best hand PF you are supposed to win the hand. I don’t get it, but at least once a session he makes a horrible call for a lot of money with a total shit hand that has everyone scratching their heads. I always just hope it is when I’m in the big hand with him. He has brain farts – that is the nicest way I can put it. Like he will miss-read his cards and think he has a straight or last time he paid off a full-boat for a huge pot with “3 pair.” No lie, he thought he won the hand. He often goes up early on and accumulates chips because he doesn’t know how to fold and picks off Smitty’s BS bluffs, which in turn infuriates him. He also picks up pots where his big bets make players drop. Honestly he aggravates me often, to the point that I won’t sit beside him. Every time around the table you have to remind him that he is the big blind and then most of the time tell him that he is the small blind on the very next fucking hand. And I mean every time around the table. And then he has trouble putting in the right amount of chips for the blinds that he is in. I’m not joking. You can probably see how this can be irritating. And then if that isn’t bad enough when the action comes back around to him in the small blind he will say check or put in a whole big blind instead of the other half of his small blind so the guy next to him has to at that point, to speed up the game, just scoot him back has original small blind chip. And if he is in the big blind you have to yell out a preemptive strike by telling him that he can check because he will always throw in a chip because he remembers that he is BB. And if you don’t catch him before he throws in his chip, depending on how you phrase it, he will either pull it back out or bet it. If you say you can check, he will say oops and pull it back out or if someone says are you raising it, he say ahhh, yea I’ll raise it. He really slows down the game and aggravates the fuck out of me until I get 1 beer in me or I find a way to stop ruminating of his stupidity. When we first start playing I can’t help but focus on it when it is about his turn. It will say to myself, he it comes. Just to put this little rant into perspective – will never get better, we have been playing for 2 years now, so if he hasn’t figured it out by now he never will. I actually like it when he doesn’t show up to the games; it really takes down my stress level. The only reason I have never snapped and hurt him is because he can’t help it and he is the nicest person you will ever meet, who is willing to help out any friend with whatever shit task without even thinking twice about it. Nice but fucking aggravating.

To be continued…

Where I'm at

Live is still going well. Last 6 games: +$21, +$21, -$21, -$15, +$94, +$39. I can live with that. Now if I can just get the ole lady out of my BR I’ll be rolled for whatever I feel like doing.

I started playing at Full Tilt again. It has been a while. Back when I used to play there was no Iron Man stuff. I plan on being gold this month. I only need 1000 more regular points to get a cool hoodie: red and black. I brought over most of my bankroll from UB. $350 total. I’m going to give $50NL a go but if I drop a buy-in or 2, it is back to the $25NL tables. I am doing 4 at a time.

I’m still not playing solid poker. I just don’t get it. I play pretty well and get up on most tables and then blow it all on one big hand where either I get sucked-out on or I just have 2nd best hand.

At least I started playing again.

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.

Home Game

We had a home game again these days off. This was 1 of the 3 times that I left the house. Only 5 of us showed. It was a good time. We played from 6pm to 1:30am. Crazy play tonight. I lost 2 hands that would have made me a big winner if life was aligned with the planets. I played well. No big prs for me all night long. AK a few times.

2 big hands of the night. Sad play in both of these hands.

Hand 1 – I have A7s. AJ has Q7o. PS has 65o. All limp. 779. PS checks, AJ bets, I raise, and PS calls. Turn a 2. PS checks. AJ checks. I make a bet. PS raises me. AJ calls, as do I. River is the miracle 8. PS goes all-in for $16 more. AJ thinks awhile and also calls. I look at the board. There is a straight-draw on the board. There is also a flush-draw. The board is paired, so the boat could be lurking out in the water. With 2 already willing to put their money in, I decide to fold. I lose like $15 on the hand. But I saved the other $16 by not calling. AJ was devastated with PS’s play on the hand. He whined for a good 1/2 hr. I thought both of them played it poorly. PS playing crap. AJ calling the river with that board and me having showed aggression on the last street and still yet to act behind his call.

Hand 2 – AJ and CS. AJ raises PF with AA. CS calls with J8o. Flop comes something like T92 all hearts. AJ raises to $7 in a $4 pot because he doesn’t have a heart and wants to take it down right there. CS thinks about it and calls. His J was a heart, plus his straight-draw. Turn comes an unsuited Q. AJ bets $15. CS raises all-in for $5 or so more with his draw. AJ calls. River is a blank and CS goes home mad at his luck. I sat with him at work and explained to him how badly he played the hand and why. He still doesn’t quite understand. He has that Dealer’s Choice with wild cards mentality and likes to leave it up to luck too often. I try to help him, but he usually says that he knows what he did wrong, even though he only realizes about half of why he misplayed a hand. It is truly hard for a know-it-all to learn. I think that he is so competitive that learning is even competitive for him. It is up to him.

CS lost again - $25.

DS lost close to $40.

PS won $2.

I won $7.

AJ won close to $50.

Mini Home Game

I played a mini-home game with just 3 others for 2 hrs or so. We had stuff to do so we didn't play long. It went fairly well. good game. I didn't win a hand for 30 min or so. No cards. I played quite a few flops, with it being short-handed, but still didn't hit any. I then turned it all around and took over the big stack. we decide to give about 20 mor in when my big hand comes. It doesn't turn out good for me though. I hit the nut flush-draw on the flop. I call a bet and hit air on the turn. I call a bigger bet. River brings my straight, but it also pairs the board. D bets, I raise, and he reraises. It wasn't much more to call, plus D over-values often. Not this time; his 2 pr becomes a boat. I lose a lot of my stack. We quit soon aften so I run out of time to try to get it back. Not a lot of money was spent because of the short time frame. Rundown below.

DS - +$13

Me - +$7

CS - -$4

PV - -$15

Famous Last Words

…Things were looking good. The river brought my flush, but it also paired the board…

Donkass Donks Off Some Earnings

I played like a total nimrod. I was down $75 within 30 min of playing. I just couldn't get away from a few hands where I knew I was beat. Afterward, I played well even though I didn't win any back. One of those times when you win one then you lose one. The ol' yig-yag session. I think I will try not to mix it up until I get a little time under my belt and get into the flow of the game. Easier said than done, but I will try. I ended up dropping $80 or so.

I didn't start until late last night because we had an impromptu home game. Dougie called and we started up a small game at 6pm. That really worked out nice. I was home by 11pm.

It was just 4 of us. D, C, AJ, and me. AJ has become a regular and the only player that I have to watch out for. He tried all night long to slow-roll me, but luckily I dodged his tricks except for a few small pots. It is hard for me to win anything off of him. He respects my game too much for some reason and misses value bets, which is advantageous, but he also folds to my aggression often. He also often folds PF even if I limp into a hand. He once folded a flopped flush where he held T4s. I flopped 2 pr and when he bet the flop I raised hard to see if I was beat or not. He thinks long and hard, then he throws in his flush face-up. I show and he just shakes his head.

I played great. I ran the short table the whole session; 2 nice runs of cards helps too. I hit sets 4 times, twice with aces. D bought in twice and C bought thrice. I kept taking their money and talking them into reloading. I felt like a pusher-man. Get your fix here... I have got's da good shit baby... You can't win 'less you play baby... It takes money to make money... Bitch where's my money... etc., etc, and on I pimp my hoes.

Big hand of the night was the last hand of the night. I rasie PF with A9s. C calls. Flop comes A9x-small. C looks at his cards hard and long. So I know he has something. He is a huge calling station. He always goes for the Um-possibles. he then just checks, I bet, he calls. A on turn and daddy likely. I check after he does. X-small and he opens this round. I more than double. He announces a raise and never even looks up. I realize that he has the other Ace and was smooth-calling the whole hand and going for the kill. He thinks if he doesn't look at me I will think weakness. I'll have to remember that. I asked what he had left and told him that I'd put him all-in. He pouts and says that he had to call. He shows ATo and I rake in all his cash. We call it a night. I won $65. AJ won almost $25. This is the third time in a row that C has lost and the third time I've won. I am glad, honestly that he has been knocked down a notch. He was ridin' too cocky. The bragging has ceased. Reality his descended upon him and hopefully humbled him somewhat.

Edit: I just remembered that I didn't proof read this early this morning before I went to bed. Boy was it rough. So sorry to anyone that read it before I fixed it.

Home Game

We had a home game on Saturday night. I did well again. A few new people came, but we had less total people than the last 2 times out. AJ showed up again. He is the only person that I really even have to worry about. All the other guys are pretty predictable. AJ actually has one bad habit that I hope to exploit at some point. I haven’t had a hand yet to call his play. He pushes his whole stack in on the flop or turn with either a strong draw, to protect his hand from a draw, or a bluff with overs. He doesn’t do the overs often, yet I have seen it once. But I have never seen him just push with the nuts; he usually value-bets the monsters on an innocuous board. I lost one big hand. Pat opens PF to $4 at 8xBB. He does this move often with with any pockets. I pushed with Ladies knowing he would call. If it is good enough to raise with he will not fold to any aggression guaranteed. He Shows Cowboys and I lose close to $25. I end up making $48 for the night. Nothing big to discuss really. There was the usual horrid calling-station plays. Good game. We played till 3am when Pat kicked us all out. He had quit playing hrs before.

Home Game Losing Streak Has Ended

Home game again. This time I’m back with a vengeance. OK, maybe not that dramatic, but I did win a nice score. $77 to be exact; that ain’t bad for .25/.50. I played tight for the most part. I was actually card dead for the most part, but I did get a few opportunities. I won 3 big hands and the rest were the slow grind. I had 1 beer.

Same old story: bad plays all night long. Basically if you could just get a hand you could take down some loot. I think I need to loosen up a little more. We had 10 people playing. Only 4 of us were the usual crew; the rest were friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Anyways, these guys were playing every hand. 6 or more limping to the flop. I just kept folding and weighting for starting hands. I’m telling you there is no protecting your hands with these guys. You raise PF and get 3 callers. Raise big on the flop and still get 2 callers.

So many bad plays. Ex: Chris limps along with 5 or more people with 97o. 997 flop. Raise before him. He raises it up and gets 2 callers. Turn is a paint card. Early guy doesn’t check to the aggressor and bets out again. Chris raises bigger. Both call. I am thinking trip-fight and it will be down to the kicker. Maybe over pair for the other caller or maybe 77. Imagine my befuddlement as a 9 hits the river board. I say that someone is lying their asses off. Phil leads out again and Chris pushes his last bit. Phil and another new kid call. Phil turns over 88 and I fell nauseous. The new guy shows down J7o or something horrible like that. Chris pulls in the pot of the night with quads. Terrible play.

Also I’ve noticed that there is a lot of regressive betting at our game. Often someone will bet $3 on the flop. and then bet $2 on the turn and river even though the pot is getting larger. No one follows the ½ pot and up rule. That is mainly the reason that I can chase down a possible and win a big pot once or twice a session usually, if the cards cooperate. Also the other thing that I noticed was that the majority of players were callers, not raisers. They would just check or call with prs, but would call if someone bet. There was a lot of this going on. I saw people only call down hands where they sat with monsters because they didn’t have the nuts. Makes it cheaper for me if I lose the hand, yet also makes it harder to know where you stand in the hand. If you got something bet. Oh yea, another thing is all the limping with almost everyone seeing the flop. I think this is because of how much they like to say what they would have hit if they wouldn’t have folded. They don’t realize that in the long run they would lose money playing that junk hand that just happened to hit that hand. This also makes it hard to know where you’re at on the flop. Lots of 2prs connect with that much action.

My 3 big hands. I get in SC’s and hit the Um-possible on the flop. I bet out a few bucks to try and take down the pot or at least build it up if I hit. I am raised double by a new guy. I call. He is very green and probably only played a few time somewhere else if at all. Put it this way, when we started we had to teach him the blind structure and how to burn a card when dealing. I watched him call down with 2nd-pr a few time up this point. The turn is a small card to the board. I check. He raises less than the last and I am obliged to call. River brings my flush money; it is smaller than the high card. I don’t have the nut flush though. But I don’t put him on the flush-draw. I don’t see him betting and raising to the flush. I put him on top pair. I check, hoping for the raise. He decides to bet big here. I push. He thinks about it a long time and then calls with top 2pr and then buys back in.

Hand 2 and 3 go and in hand. Chris’ brother was there and at this juncture pretty sloshed. As he was getting drunk, he won some nice pots. He had only around $50 at this time – double what he had bought in for. He was up a lot more at one point. He is a very cocky kid – nice but cocky. He got into an ego habit of doubling his buddy’s PF or flop bets. We started making a big deal about it, so he started doubling everyone’s bets early in hands. He called down his fiend often and showed nothing – not even a pr. But he was getting a lot of folds and pretty much was running the table because everyone was afraid to bet early on. I am just waiting and praying for a hand. His ego really kicked in as he got drunk and he started raising PF $5 every few hands. If he had anything he was throwing in that $5 chip on top of is fifty-cent chip at our .50 game. I get dealt ATo and limp. He only bets $2 above the blind this time and I call. A-small-small flop. I check , and he throws in that $5 chip. I make it $15. He calls. Turn x and I make it $10 to go. He calls again. I start second-guessing my move and check the innocuous looking river with the intention to call if he bets. He checks and shows A8o.

While the cards are being shuffled he is obviously tilting. He starts stacking his chips out in $1 piles and has around $20 left. I get dealt KK. I raise to $3.50. folds to him and he says I’m all-in and pushes the counted out stacks into the middle. Folds back to me and I call. He turns over 95s. His buddy calls him a dumbass and I take down the pot. He buys back in for like $18 and tilts that off to someone else in the next 10 min. or so. He then asks to borrow some money from his brother, who tells him to take his ass-whippin’ and walk home. He downs his Miller Lite and leaves saying good game.

I was the 2nd place finisher with $77 behind Chris’ $105. You could just see his ego swell. For some reason his cockiness is bothering me. He isn’t humble and likes to brag up his luck. He thinks it is all skill as of right now. He has been hitting his draws on some big hands and winning overall. He has yet to deal with Lady Variance. I just want him to stop being cocky, because I find myself playing more hands against him trying to humble his ass. That isn't good, because that means he kinda has me on tilt against him.

Fish Game No More or This is Getting Old

This is the last time I will call The Fish Game by that name. I’m down $51 dollars as of yet this year. We played 5 times already. I walked away a winner the first two games and all seemed normal and just in the universe. But in the last 3 games I have walked away with my hands in my empty pockets. Good thing I have that fist sized hole in one pocket or I wouldn’t find any satisfaction. (Damn, fist sounded gay – finger then. That sounded slightly less gay, but gay nonetheless. Ok, enough with all the innuendo; my man-nuggets are near the hole in my jeans.) I lost $20 Friday at the “Home” game. That’s what I’ll call it for now on. I think I let my ego get the best of me recently by calling it the fish game. I should be a little more humble. Out of last year’s 17 games I was 14/3, so I just took for granted that I couldn’t lose against them. I have already lost as many games this year as all of last year. Don’t get me wrong here, I am still rational about the softness of the game; it’s just that I was getting a little cocky it think. I needed a reality check it seems. But truly I should be making consistent money at this game.

I played fairly well for the most part, but just wasn’t hitting the cards to beat the calling-stations. We played for 6 hrs and I got barely any premium hole cards and absolutely no big PP’s. The best I did was AK twice, 99 once, and AQ, KQ, AJ, and AT multiple times. I would have been slightly up for the night, though card dead, if I hadn’t made one mistake. An embarrassing mistake to say the least. Next game I will not drink. Twice now I have misread a hand and lost a big pot due to getting too tipsy; twice now it has cost me to go home on the losing end of butt-kickin’. I don’t drink at home so why do I when I go out? Social drinking I guess. Truly it shouldn’t be all about financial gain when playing with friends. It should be about camaraderie and hanging with friends in an easygoing setting. Shit, I can do all those things without getting drunk. Actually my big problem is that I’m competitive, maybe overly so; I honestly just hate to lose. It’s about being better and more knowledgeable at something and the money is just a by-product of that never-ending quest. And in the case of the “Home” game it’s more like being unsatisfied with not meeting my potential against inferior opponents. Not intellectually inferior or anything to do with cognitive reasoning, just overall substantially deeper knowledge of Holdem and poker in general. I’m done cleaning out the gray matter while typing, sorry. Rant over.

God, they still all over-value most hands most of the time. Kickers don’t even go into their decision-making processes. In the 6 hr session I watched nearly countless big fights with marginal holdings. The money at the table just moved from pile to pile. (Except mine that is. LOL.) They play with the Dealer’s-choice mentality, where they think luck is the key and you need to have your money in all the time because you never know when you will hit. “If it’s your night, it’s your night.” As we students of poker all know, skill and knowledge are ultimately how we win. Not trying to sound cheesy, but as Kenny once sang, “You have to ‘know’ when to holdem and ‘know’ when to foldem. Anyone can win on any given day but only skilled knowledgeable players will win in the long-run. OK, back to the lesson at hand, I watched 3 trip fights where no one even considered kickers. They just kept betting and raising each other on every street, making the pot huge, even though it was pretty obvious what both had and they showed down 3’s-7’s as kickers. Only once in those 3 hands did someone have over a T as a kicker. Don’t get me wrong, I would most definitely have to see the showdown with trips, but with a low board and a baby-kicker, and someone showing that they likely have the same trips also, I am going to slow down the betting to C/C mode. (Check/Call.) Also when the board 4-flushes like it did quite a few times in the 6 hr session, the betting gets crazier than the accumulated kickers condone. I watched 4 people go allin when the river brought the 4th suited card to the party. 1st guy shows down 2pr, 2nd player a straight, and the last 2 players show a 4 and a 7 on the low board. The 7 wins, but all including the winner said, “damn, had to see it,” none thinking that maybe their call or bet or reraise wasn’t the best play. This all just leaves me at the table lamenting Crom, the God of poker among other things, for not giving me a high card of that suit.

Hell sometimes it’s hard to lay down a marginal hand when they bet hard. I actually lost 3 hands to Phil last night because of him over-valuing his hand, thus causing me to fold early on in the hand due to his junky bets. Maybe I’m simply weak. But I think in the long-term against calling-stations the optimum strategy is to play foldem and when you hit hard bet, bet, bet. Trying to play at their drawing luck game isn’t that strong, you can’t really out-play them with moves, because they don’t know what you’re telling them. They just say hell I have a pair, lets call this bet and see what happens. I do play a little loose, trying to hit hard. The way they call bets you just never really know if you’re ahead or totally crushed. The one nice thing about their bad play is that they rarely value-bet. I watched Phil’s wife just call with the nuts when another player before her bet the river. He was willing to go allin with a semi-strong hand. See could have taken it all, but instead she left him with $15. You guys have to see why I am so pissed at my losing streak. I mean I’m not talking $50NL player’s skill against my skills. Where some players are close, parallel, over better than me. No I’m talking the equivalent of Freemoney players or worse at my game. I am just running bad. It is not really variance in the usual since, because I’m not really getting out-drawn, it’s more of just being card dead. When you have a minimum of 4 CS’s per hand you have to occasionally have the best hand to win.

Oh yea, let me not forget to humiliate myself before I leave you to ridicule my misfortune, err I mean, utter debacle. Let me start by saying that I was buzzing strongly. (Right to the excuses, I know. Hey I have some pride to uphold you know.) I have QJ. Lots of limpers to the flop. Phil doubles a BB and makes it $1 to go on a board of KT6. Maki and Gregg call. I normally F/C (fold/call) 75/25% here, but with 3 already in the hand, I get my price I want to call. Pat goes allin for his last $3.5 limpers Fold back to Phil and Mac, Gregg, and him all call. I squeeze my miserly sphincter tight and put in another $2.50 also. Turn comes the Ace. Phil bets $5 into the side-pot and all 3 of us call, me with my mighty gut-shot-possible. (We call all draws possibles. It is just a running joke that originated a Chris statement. Months ago at a game when asked what he had mucked, he said, “…a possible,” like it was a noun. Like someone would say I folded a flush-draw. So now we all just say that we had a possible.) The river comes a J. But being buzzed-up I remembered my hole cards as QT. And I didn’t check my cards again. Phil leads out for $5 again; Maki calls; and I say,“ Lets make it $10,” thinking wrongly that I had the nut straight after hitting my possible. Pat shows his straight; Qx that wasn’t even a possible when he went allin on the flop. I say that I also have the straight as I am turning over my cards on the table. I see my error and say oops and show down 2pr. Phil has K6 and takes down the pot and I am red in the face and look like a total jackass. Real nice feeling I tell ya. At least it was among friends; yea friends that will make sure that they remind me at work and every game from here on out. But I wouldn’t let them live it down either, so I deserve what I get. Did I mention that I’m not drinking at the next game. Later, Donkass out.

Rebuy Tourney Report

29 players entered. 3 places paid out. I started the tourney in seat 8 of table 2. First thing that I noticed was how high the blinds vs starting stacks were. You pretty much had to stay semi-active and accumulate chips pretty regularly. We never made it 2 cycles before a level went up. No super waiting game for me it seems. The levels that really hurt were 4 and 7. As you can see there were big jumps on those 2 levels. If I had known, I would have played differently in this tournament. Next time I will be ready for those big jumps in the blinds. I totally crippled myself late in the tourney for the simple fact that I wasn’t versed in the blind structure. I am happy with my overall play. Using a little hindsight bias I made a few mistakes simple that I can see now. At least I see what I need to work on and some areas where I can improve. I made the Final Table. I went out in 8th.

The guy in seat 9 was a regular and had actually won 3 times recently. You win a gold watch if you get first. He had one on. There were also a few more old dudes sporting those watches. He told me that all the winners get a seat in a special tourney. I think he said at that point the winners from that tourney play for a trip to a WSOP game. (I don’t know which one.) He said that the reason he was still playing was because every seat that he won was one seat that he took away from someone else for the tourney. The guy talked to me and gave me tips to get the most out of the structure. Like at the beginning of level 3 when the blinds went to 100/200 they took away the 25 chips. I had 3 and got a 100 chip for 75. (I have seen this done before at home games but never thought much about it before. Once he told me it seemed so simple that I actually felt a little simple.) He only had 1 chip and turned it into a 100. I said that the exchange worked out pretty good for him. He said that was why he had made that odd bet earlier in the round. I had remembered it. I told him that I had wondered why he had bet 175 PF and that I watched the hand close for any sign or tale. So I really liked the guy for teaching me at the table.

I planed that the first time the blinds came around I was going to rebuy and double my stack. But as fate would have it, when I was in the BB for the 1st time I had pocket 3’s. 2 limpers and the SB tried to complete. I made it 150 to go. 2 called. Scattered board. 1st to act, I threw in a 500 chip, scooped the pot, and mucked.

Blinds went up quick and so did my mentor’s stack. He was running the table. He was obviously full of crap on most bets, but they were winning pots. He was getting lucky though. I think it was due the rebuy structure that he was calling some of his luck hands. If he whiffed he could always rebuy and go for the big stack at the table with his agro style.

Key hand – my buddy Chris raises to 400 or 500 PF with Cowboys. Mentor adds 3 or 4 hundred for a call with 86s. Flop comes something like J62 rainbow. Chris bets 500 and he calls. X-small on the turn and Chris bets 500 again and again he calls. River 6 and mentor bets out 1000 or so. Chris calls and loses most of his stack. I explain to Chris on the ride home that he didn’t protect his hand with his small bets.

I win another hand early into level 2 with AK. I raise PF and get 2 limping-callers. I win the pot due to a ½ pot CB. I’m stacking up nicely.

I watch my mentor and an old dude with a watch duke it out. M raises PF and OD calls. Flop comes paired and a K, OD checks and M CB’s. OD calls. Turn comes a Q and OD checks again. M asks how much he has left and puts him all in. OD calls and turns over J8, which doesn’t pair anything. I’m wondering how he called both streets with absolutely nothing. M turns over JT and they both laugh and split the pot when their J’s play the board.

Then I try to play the player against mister mentor and take an ass-whippin’. I’m in SB and call after a couple early limpers with KT. Mentor raises it up to 600. Folds to me and I call the other 400. Flop comes K6x. I check knowing he was going to bet no matter what. He bets 600. It looks like a CB for sure to me. I said that I raise to 1500 fully expecting a nice fold. But no, he asks how much I have left. I had about 1200 left and put it in the middle. He shows a set of 6’s. I cash in my allin rebuy ticket.

Right before the end of the 3rd I have ducks. There are like 5 limpers including me. I’m 2nd to act and because there are 3 overs on the board I check. Everyone else checks. Turn X and we all check again. River brings my set. I make it 1000 to go and get 2 callers and the win.

I get the dealer rebuy and the add-on so at break I have 10500. The 4th and 5th levels are pretty tame and I hold my own, yet don’t gain. Mentor drops in level 4 I think. He bets with all the way to the river and was called down the whole way by a lady that was a true calling-station. Her stack was up and down all night long depending on if she hit or not. She was in most hands didn’t fold often. Anyway, she gets a runner-runner 4-flush for the win. He pushes with less than the blinds and heads for home on the next hand. Later teach, thanks for the tips.

We consolidate to the FT and I still haven’t moved all night. At the start of the 6th I have 9000 in chips. The blinds went up to 2000/5000 from 1000/2000 just a minute before. There are 8 left. I should definitely of found a spot in the previous level when my stack actually held some sway and made a few moves. But I didn’t even think about until they said that the blinds were now 2000/5000. I look down at JT and push with less than 2 BB’s. I get 3 callers and 1 hits a straight and I go to the rail in 8th.

Here’s a couple of mistakes that I made that I can see other than holding a relatively low chip stack compared to the blinds most of the time. Oh yea, having less than 2 BB’s. In the SB in level 2 or 3 I have Q8s and call. 2 Q’s hit the flop and I check as do the other 2 guys in the hand to the river and then I bet out. They didn’t hit their hands so they dropped and I won a smallish pot. I should have definitely bet the turn. Also it would seem unlikely that I had a Q if I had bet out the flop. No one probably would have called any bet, but I still didn’t like the check-check. Of course this is in retrospect. Another hand that hurt was when I had AQs in LP. 2 limpers and then a player from MP raises 4xBB. Folds to me and I think about it and fold due to the other 2 players to act. Both call and it is a Q-high flop. Checky-check-CB-foldy-fold. I don’t know really if it was bad or not but it hurt anyway. I probably made the right decision, but with the blind structure being so tight I’m not positive. I really need to chip-up when I get a hand.

I learned a lot and had fun. I will likely play again, but I totally hate the structure of this tourney. I would much rather buyin for a set amount and the best man wins. I also think if I’m to do better I need to loosen up early and try to chip-up or rebuy trying.

Side note: Chris actually got 2nd place. I am very happy for him, but I have mixed feelings about it. (Him dogging me about placing higher might have a little to do with it.) No truly to be honest about it, he was likely the guy out of the 29 entrants with the least amount of skill/experience. He just started playing our home games and still doesn’t know all the rules of what bets what. Actually once in the tourney the dealer had to explain to him why he lost a hand. Just the other day when we played I had to explain that his KQ didn’t beat the other guy’s A6. He said that his 2 cards were higher than the 6. Same game I had to explain that his 4-flush with his 4 was beaten by the other guy’s 8. He said that it should be a split pot because they both had flushes. Anyway, my point is that he got 2nd place and almost to down the watch. He had awesome cards all night long. He actually hit quads after going allin vs 2 players PF and knocked them both out. But even with great hands I still wouldn’t have thought someone that inexperienced could have a chance to win a 29-man tourney. When it got down to 4 left he was the big stack. Him and the other big stack whittled down the other 2 and took them out. When it got HU him and a Lady at had played well, just checked back and forth to showdown, occasionally beating only when they had something. No aggression at all. Hands started going here way and she took over the chip lead. They both finally had a hand at the same time and butted heads and Chris lost after going in with the worst hand. He did well and netted over $300 after his rebuys. We talked poker the whole hr home. I told him about aggression HU and after she showed that she was passive, that he should have really started bullying her.