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.

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.

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...

Rolling Again

I’m running well again. I’ve made around $500 in the last 5 days or so. My rakebreak came in and I started with close to a Grand again. I decided to give $100NL another try. I made around $250 both first 2 days. I then played even poker for a few. If you add in the $160 or so of a FT reload bonus that was e-mailed to me I made around $300 anyways. I currently sit at slightly above $1300 because I cashed out $100 and staked my Bro for $50 twice in the last few days. He has been Satelliting into some $200 tourneys on Tilt with $26 tokens. I staked him for 25% both nights. He went deep both times but was always a pretty short stack and had to finally make a move. He doubled thru a few times but never really chipped-up enough to ride the wave into the money.

I’ve been tinkering around with the $8, 18-man SnG’s for $26 tokens. These games are pretty fat. Top 5 get tokens and 6th gets a small payday. Hell, you can sometimes steal a few blinds and hit the tokens when it is an aggressive game. Usually a double-up and a few blind steals will guaranty the payout. I usually get 7, $100 tables going and one SnG going. They fit on my monitor pretty well. I have 3 $26 tokens at the moment. I have been getting bad beat a little around the bubble lately though. I know I am getting more tokens than I pay out in tourney costs, but not by much. I will start keeping track just to see where I stand. I don’t count $26 tokens in my roll though. So even though I am playing even the last few days I am really winning buy-ins from my cash game play. I haven’t really thought about how I will spend these tokens. I will likely play in some tourneys with my Bro. I am also throwing around the Idea of playing SnG’s from $75 tokens with the same 2 table SnG strategy. I don’t like satellites because the way I see it you have to win 2 tourneys to actually get paid and going deep twice has less odds and ultimate will likely detrimental to my roll. I just don’t want to waste the effort that I put into acquiring them. But sooner or later I will get into some deep field tourneys and hope for a big score. Tilt runs a lot of nice guaranteed tourneys.

I haven't put in as much time this month, with only 3 days with 500+ point days. But I am still only 2 days from Silver status.

Hopefully your rolls swell and mine also. Later.

Slip-sliding Away

These last 4 days of playing sucked also. After work every night I would play for a few hrs to get my 200 points. I actually got at least 300 every night. I started the week with $850 and as of the end of last night’s schedule I now sit at $715. I hovered around even all week, winning and losing pots at and even rate living just above the rake.

Last night was different. I started with $865. I lost $100 on a hand where I knew I was beat, but for some dumb reason I just had to push and hope for the best. These are exactly the plays that I have been working on and were costing me so much hardship. These are the hands that I was folding and thus my roll was building. I can see that I need to revisit my strategy and buckle down again. I have been loosening up on big pots again, along with chasing.

Anyways here it is. I hold pocket Q’s. I raise to $4 PF and a guy in LP reraises it to $10. At this point I usually would have all the information I needed to get away from the hand. I normally would fold this right here the majority of the time or occasionally call and hope to spike a Q. But no not this time. I call and flop comes 9-high. I check and he bet $20. It comes to me and I push for close to $90. He insta-calls and shows his cowboys. $100 down the drain.

I started the session by opening 8 tables and registering for an $8 18-man SNG. I wanted to see if I could get a $24 token. These are turbos. I hate turbos, but decided to give it a shot anyways. First hand I have cowboys. Guy to my right raises. I quadruple his raise. Folds around and he calls. Flop is and uncoordinated T-high board. He pushes. I call and he shows AQo. No A and I double through on first hand. I blind down for a few blind increases. I win a few blind stills. I then see cowboys again. I win the blinds. The very next hand I get dealt QQ and raise it up again. The guy must have thought I was switching gears and bullying because he pushes with junk with 2500 in chips. I have him covered and call. I have him crushed because he had low QTo. The board saves him with a 76543. I would have been able to go get something to eat and still still have gotten my token if I would have scooped that pot. Later the blinds over 200 and I’m in the Big when a guy pushes with 700. I folds to me and I call the over 500 with AQ. He has 99 and doubles through me. It hurt and I blinded to the final table. Next thing I know we are down to 7 and I find myself with the shorty just over 1000. I push with AJs and double plus the blinds putting me back to around 3000. We get to 6 left and I have a high pocket pair. A guy with a bigger stack than mine pushes with 93 of clubs. I call and he hits runner-runner clubs to knock me out on the token bubble. I make about $5 for my efforts. Boo I say. It is so unfulfilling to bubble like that. At least it was a slightly profitable bubble.

I will get home tonight with just enough time to get my 200 points, eat, and shower before a local cash game starts. Looks like we will have a good turnout. It is at a different dude’s house so I won’t know a lot of the players that show-up. I will start slow and get a feel for them. Hopefully it is a very lucrative evening. I here that the CO’s are pretty fast and loose. Just the way I like them.

HORSE Freeroll

My Bro played that Horse tourney freeroll on Sun. He started at 3:10pm and when I got off of work he was still playing. I think it was about 8pm when he finally busted out. He made it to 4th place and cashed for $335, which we split for a nice payday of $167 apiece.

As luck would have it we both lost around $130-$140 that day and won a buy-in, LOL. He didn’t have his account at Tilt open yet so I let him use my roll while he was on my account playing the tourney. He didn’t use my preferred bankroll management strategy, for which I was only rolled for $50NL, and instead opted to play $100. He got the old PF all-in battle of KK VS AA and dropped $100. He also lost $40 more just playing, so He ended up winning $26 for the day. Me, well I just sucked that night and made some iffy calls, to which I lost $130 at the $50 tables. 2 ½ buy-ins ain’t that bad really; it is going to happen at times, hopefully due to bad beats so you can at least have the solace of feeling justified in your good plays. But no, I really did suck and played like total shit.

But on the bright-side we both ended up for that day’s session.

QQ: The Lemur Hand

I played last night for around 2 hrs. I decided to get 200 points. I was up $60 right as I neared 200 points. I then get dealt QQ. It was raised before me. I reraised his $2 raise up to $5.50 and he called. Flop came TT8. He bet out about $8. I raised it to $15 and he called. Flop came an A. He checked and I pushed. He called and showed AK. OK, so he bluffed the flop. I raised him. I think he made a bad call here, because he took his stab and I raised. You think someone would let AKo go. Shit he didn’t even have a pr. But I admit played the turn like a total donkey. I really couldn’t put him on a hand so I just pushed like a lemur. He raised PF before I reraised and then he just called. Possible hands that would do that. A slow-rolled AA or KK after the initial raise. Most likely they would just reraise again and try to get it all-in PF; so not too likely IMO. QQ, JJ, AK, TT. QQ – very unlikely because I have 2. JJ and TT – both quite likely PF holdings. JJ might try to throw in a flop bet and see where he was at due to the Ten-high board, but you’d think he would have to fold to the raise. But some people can’t fold an over-pr with their tiny little brains; shit some people will even call with just over-cards, obviously. TT – likely PF holding, but why not check to the PF raiser if you spiked quads? I didn’t believe that for a sec. AK – really don’t see how you don’t fold to the flop raise of your ¾ pot bet. I really just couldn’t put him on any hand really. Hmm, ATs or A8s or 88? I don’t know too many people raising with any of these from EP PF and then calling a PF reraise. I don’t know? All I know is that I played it bad. Maybe check the turn and then Check/Call or Check/Fold river? So anyways I got my points about 15 min after that and got off $20 ahead. Hell, at least I won something.

I am now in 8th place in the Full Tilt Fantasy Poker League. Now with only the Main Event earnings standing in my way, I have 2 weeks to wait and see if I get knock out of the Top100, lose my entry to the final freeroll.

I have to work tomorrow so I can’t play in the HORSE freeroll, because it starts at 3:10 PM. I have my Bro playing for me. I told him we’ll split anything he wins for me. SUCKER…no wait…shit I had to give him my ID and password so he could play. I was just kidding Bro, I wasn’t going to renig on our agreement. Jokes, it was all just jokes.

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.

Rebuy Tourney Structure

Rebuy Tourney Structure - $30 buyin 1500 chips; 1 – allin rebuy = $10 for 1500 chips or $20 for 2500 chips; endless rebuys = $10 for 1500; 1 – dealer rebuy = $5 for 1000 chips; 1 add-on = $20 3000 chips.

1st 3 rounds 20 min each; remaining rounds 15 min each.

All rebuys only occur during the 1st 3 rounds; add-on at end of 3rd round.

Allin rebuy: you can only go allin and lose once in the tourney. At that point you can buy back in for 1500 or 2500 chips for $10 or $20 respectively.

Rebuys: you can buy 1500 chips for $10 any time that you drop below 1500 in chips as long as you don’t go allin and lose.

Dealer rebuy: you can buy 1000 chips 1 time during the 1st 3 rounds at any time you choose.

Add-on: at the break at the end of the 3rd round you can buy chips no matter how many you have - $20 buys 3000 chips.

Blind Structure

Level 1- 50/100

Level 2 – 100/200

Level 3 – 200/500

Level 4 – 500/1000

Level 5 – 1000/2000

Level 5 – 2000/5000

Level 6 – 5000/10000

Level 7 – 10000/20000

Level 8 – 20000/50000