Friday, June 30, 2006

AC Trip Report 2

We all had comps at harrah's at 1 of the cafe's so we went there for lunch. After lunch considering the poker room is right next to the cafe, barry and i sat down at a $1/$2 NL table.

The rest of the table didn't know barry and i knew each other. This will be signifant later for reasons ill state. No we dont collude, but nor do we play pots against each other usually. At harrah's max buy-in for 1/2 is $200 so i bought in for that amount. I took a look around the table and see about all average stacks ranging from 150-300 stacks, but this 1 guy had a stack of about 11 black $100 chips. So i thought to myself, either this guy is pretty good or hes a super donk who is getting lucky. I guess ill find out in a little bit.

First couple of hands i folded to get a read at the table a little bit. The 2nd hand i was there the guy next to me open raised to $30! Right then and there i thought this was going to be bad. I should have picked up my chips and left. Now i know opening raises live are a little on the high side, but thats 15x the blind. Thats getting ridiculous. I asked what he had that he could be raising so much just to see if he would budge, and he flipped over AK.

After that hand i was kind of giggling to myself. Approximately 15-20 hands later i pick up 6c 7c on the button. The guy with a huge stack made a small raise to $10. I flat called and both the blinds fold. The flop comes 2c 5h 8c. He makes a standard continuation bet of $18. Now against an overpair of any kind im almost a 60-40 favorite here. With this guy having a huge stack, i can double up through him. I haven't played with him enough yet to know if hes paying off hands or really what hes been doing. So i raise it up to $50. Which keep in mind is 1/4 of my stack. He calls my raise.

The turn brings the 10s. He just checks here to me. If he thought i was on a draw he definitely wouldn't have checked. So the nice guy that i am, i give myself a free card and check behind. The river brought the Kh. Then the guy asks how much i have left, and i told him about $150 or so. He bets out $90 and after doing some hollywood i fold. What he had really doesnt matter, but i played the hand pretty normal and ill usually win that most of the time.

This next hand is the one that really set me off. Again the guy with the huge stack makes a raise of $12 UTG. I get dealt KK on the button and smooth call not wanting to give away my big hand. Again everyone folds and we go to the flop. It comes Qd Jh 6s. I dont really like this flop too much because i dont have enough to push him off his hand if hes on a straight draw with KT or AK, etc etc. He makes yet another cont bet of $25 and i re pop to $75. If he comes over the top im not sure what i would have done but he smooth calls here. The next card brings an Ac. He checks and i bet out $25. He mini raises to $50. Now if you saw one of my last posts, where i flopped a set of kings against a set of aces the guy mini raised pre flop to signify his monster. I wasn't so sure this guy had one. The river brings a blank and he checks. Why would he check? What hand could he have that he can re raise me on the turn and not bet the river? With an Ace Queen and Jack out there im not betting anyway and i check. And here comes the shocker, he flips over A4.

I almost fell off my chair. I made a casual comment of "nice flop" and flipped my kings. He said well i had the Ace of diamonds with the diamond draw. I was like "um, it was a rainbow flop pal and you only had 1 diamond." This conversation was going on after the hand was cleared from the board and he wanted to argue with me that i was wrong. I had about $25 bucks left and instead of pick up my chips and leave i went all in blind. And of course a $25 dollar raise warrants a call from the guy next to me with T7. I got up and was walking from the table and i said "barry watch for the A4 its the new nuts".

I'm guessing they didn't know who i was talking to because after i had left, everyone at the table (not including barry obv) said that i had no business at the table and i was afraid of losing money. Even the dealer said this. My first reaction was to go back in the poker room and give them a piece of my mind but i wanted to be a bigger person and just let it go.

Sometimes you get these idiots and you can't do anything about it except to just walk away. I know i was a better poker player than any of those people at the table and if i know that, that's all that matters.

This post is getting long and its 5:30 in the morning AND ON TOP OF THAT, sigh my TT just lost to J8 all in pre flop, when the guy caught a flush. What is stars coming to!?!? Anyway, next post ill talk about the 11 am tourney the next day at the showboat.

And if you dont have a stars account already, check on the right of the page and sign-up!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

AC Trip Report

The night before i went down to AC, we had home game action. To make a long story short after a 1 hour 35 minute heads up battle with nick i took it down for $200. It's always nice to get a little bit extra spending money on the way down to AC.

So we got down to AC around 12 and couldnt check into our rooms until about 1-ish. So we decided to go down to the hilton and register for the $40+10 tourney they had starting at 2pm. I haven't seen the new poker room there yet. I must say they put it together pretty nicely. We got our registration complete and went to check in. Luckily we did that pretty quickly because we just made our tables to start the tournament. I didn't know the structure for this tournament. I found out we're only starting with 3k in chips, so if i dont build a stack in the early going this is going to be a short tourney. About 20 minutes in i looked for Barry and Tom at their tables and they were no where to be found. They busted out apparently.

I started out pretty aggressively taking stabs at mid sized pots that no one wanted to take. On one instance i picked up TT in the UTG+2 and raised it up to 300 with blinds at 50/100. A guy in mid position calls and we see a flop of 8 6 2. I bet out 450 on the flop and the guy raised to 900. I just jam the pot and go all in for 2500 more. He says "i probably have ya but ill let it go". I'm guessing A8 or so. I continue my aggression and have about 5200 in chips.

I then get moved to a new table. Blinds are at 200/400 at this point and on the button i get AK. There really wasnt any significant big stacks at my table other than 1 other guy who had slightly more than myself. So now i see UTG+1 limp for 400, UTG+2 limp for 400, MP limp for 400, Cutoff limp for 400. Combined with the blinds thats 2400 in the pot without my chips in there. I raised to 2000 hoping to take down the pot right there and then and increase my stack size about 40%.

Everyone folds around to the MP player who goes all in for 4k total. Then it folds around back to me. So this guy limps in, then thinks his hand is good enough to go all in with. You see this being done online all the time and people showing garbage. If he had a had like JJ-AA he would have re-popped the pot when the UTG players limped in. He could have 22-99 and think i was just trying to steal the pot. He leaned back in his chair like he had a good hand. So i called and he flipped over 88. The guy to his left said, that guys not gonna be happy i folded an 8. The flop comes A K 3, and im in very good shape. That is until the turn brought the last 8 in the deck and i didnt catch an Ace/King and i was crippled down to 1200.

A few hands later i get JJ. The guy next to me raises and i just jam the pot. He calls and flips over QQ and i dont improve and go out.

Altogether i didn't like the amount of starting chips that we had, but being a newer poker room they dont have as many dealers to commit to the tourney when they're only getting $10 out of everyone.

I'll write about everything else later

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

PokerXFactor

Before i get into my post, you'll notice a little change to the site. If you look just to your right you'll notice a banner to pokerstars. I joined their affiliate program, so if you dont have a pokerstars account as of yet, get moving and signup.

Now about the post. I joined a site entitled pokerxfactor.com. It's a poker training site with people such as cliff"johnnybax"josephy and eric"sheets"haber doing most of the teaching. I've watched a few of the videos so far and implemented sheets' strategy for SNG's. I dropped down a level to see how it would work. Take a look at these stats.

Buy-in: $10
Fee: $1
Times: 30
$Won: $603
Net $Won: $273
ROI%: 82.73
ITM%: 60
1st Place: 8
2nd Place: 7
3rd Place: 3


All in all i couldn't say enough great things about this site. It's definitely worth the price of subscription

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Weekend action

Nothing big to report over the weekend as far as wins. I've mainly been playing a gazillion SNG's. Im tryin to find a level that is going to be profitable and that i can consistently beat. The $10 level ive been absolutely crushing. Out of 25 sng's my ROI is 67% and im ITM 58% of the time. You really cant base anything on 25 sng's but that is pretty damn good. The $20 level i can beat easily as well, but i've found i can only play 2 or 3 of those at a time. I have to concentrate a little more. Even though i have the BR for it, i haven't dabbled in the $30 sng's which i hope to do.

Saturday night i played in my home game. Everything was goin good, got paid off with 2 full houses and made a couple nice calls. Blinds were getting a little high and a kid who i havent played with before raised it up. Blinds were 200/400 and he made it 1000 to go. We started with 10k in chips and at the time i had about 14k. I looked down and i had two red aces. I reached for my chips and shawn, who was next to me, said stop. I'm like uh why. He goes "because i have 3 cards". As soon as i saw that i almost puked. He was in mid position so it screwed with everyone elses cards. The hand was declared dead and we were going to re-deal. I just shook my head and threw over my aces. The guy who raised next to me had Queens. Little things like that can turn the night around like that. A few bad calls later and i was done.

Sunday i played in the 2nd annual WBCOOP(World Bloggers Championship of Online Poker). For the first hour, it was me and another guy and that was it. Everyone else was sitting out. So we took turns raising and at the end of the first hour i had about 9k in chips. When we actually had to play poker it was horrible. In one instance i tried to push someone off a hand and they called all the way down. Lucko21 found out the same thing a little later in the tourney. I busted out 230th of 2247. Top 54 i believe got prizes.

Later that night, i dabbled into a $5 MTT. This was an interesting hand and explanation from my opponent that utterly lead to my demise. Stacks looked like this.

Seat 1: dinosaur7 (2270 in chips)
Seat 2: trixter23 (1760 in chips)
Seat 3: sosumome (5420 in chips)
Seat 4: wdprsns (4575 in chips)
Seat 5: nuuuuubie (5375 in chips)
Seat 6: elk_metal (4775 in chips)
Seat 7: frenzykid (1265 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 8: quiltyf (3615 in chips)
Seat 9: indyo (1515 in chips) is sitting out
indyo: posts small blind 50
dinosaur7: posts big blind 100

UTG i pick up [Ac Kd] and raise it up 300 to 400 total. Normally i wouldnt raise UTG with AK i usually fold since im oop, but im getting short stacked and up to this point i havent had anything to play with. Everyone folds to the BB who flat calls my raise. The flop comes

*** FLOP *** [3c 5d 6c]

I totally missed the flop, but i make a continuation bet. I want to take this pot down right now.

dinosaur7: checks
trixter23: bets 600
dinosaur7: calls 600

Now, there was 850 in the pot and i bet 600. I don't him drawing to anything and if he re raises i know im beat. The smooth call kind of confused me. It was a quick call also which means he could have had something like pocket 4's, and he was drawin to a straight, or he could have had a flush draw. The turn comes.

*** TURN *** [3c 5d 6c] [9h]

This is where i probably made my mistake on this hand. He checks and i check behind. If i bet here and he was on a draw, or possibly go all in he is folding. Then again we are playing in a $5 dollar tournament and if he has anything hes calling.

dinosaur7: checks
trixter23: checks

*** RIVER *** [3c 5d 6c 9h] [Jh]

The river comes Jh. He kind of thinks about it a couple seconds, then throws out 100 chips. So im guessin he had AJ or KJ or somethin and hit his jack. It was 100 chips to win 2050, so i make the call. I was shocked when i saw his cards.

dinosaur7: shows [3s Qc] (a pair of Threes)
trixter23: mucks hand
trixter23 said, "oh my"

So lets see. He's calling my raise OOP with Q3?!? Then on the flop calling 600 with bottom pair? He wasnt drawing anything, why didnt he just raise or go all in like the rest of the donks. So me being the good guy that i am start the conversation.

trixter23 said, "hey lets call raises with q3 woooooo"
dinosaur7 said, "lol"
dinosaur7 said, "ok"
dinosaur7 said, "take it it was AK......played terribly"
trixter23 said, "AK isnt aces"
dinosaur7 said, "or AQ...."
dinosaur7 said, "er......good point........well noticed"
dinosaur7 said, "if u had gone all in u woulda won........do it with A7 but not AK......." ( 2 hands later i pushed with A7 because no one opened and i was in the cutoff with 5 bb's so i moved all in)
dinosaur7 said, "interesting"
trixter23 said, "are u dumb?"
trixter23 said, "why would i go all in with AK and nothing on the board?
trixter23 said, "im short stacked i have 5 bb's"
trixter23 said, "why wouldnt i with an ace"
trixter23 said, "just like im doing now"
trixter23: raises 435 to 535 and is all-in
dinosaur7 said, "no i read u like a book....and not a very good book"

That last hand i had AJ and lost to A3. But it just goes to show how people think AK is like AA or KK, it STILL NEEDS HELP PEOPLE!

I thought that hand was funny.

Anyway, next weekend im heading down to AC to play a little bit. Pick on the bad players in 1/2 and maybe dabble in 2/5 a little bit depending on how im doing. I love playing cash games 10x better than online. For multiple reasons.

1) I actually get to see what my players look like. Girls/guys..young/old...etc etc. It all makes a difference

2) They are 10x easier to read then trying to pick up betting patterns.

3) I absolutely love the opening raises live. Online its the usual 2x or 3x raise. Live its 15x the blind. It's great.

Plus they're many other reasons but those are the main ones. I'll definitely have some news about that when i get back. Other then that, i have nothing.

Good luck to everyone at the tables

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Cash Game Hand

Im going to skip part 3 of the series entitled "rebuy madness". I may get back to it at some point but who knows. This hand come up when i was 8 tabling .25/.50 NL. The way i played it was very different then i would normally play. I trusted my instincts and my read and in the long run, saved me half my stack to play on with.

Seat 5: trixter23 ($52.45 in chips)
Seat 6: Nazareen ($52.35 in chips)

RAISE trixter23 , $2 to $2.50

I pick up KK UTG and make a 5x the blind raise. At the .25/.50 level you see many robots. Who only raise with monsters or AK and AQ. I switch up my play and raise and re raise with suited connectors or i flat call with kings or aces. You have to switch up your play or you become predictable to your opponent.

RAISE Nazareen, $2.50 to $5

The guy immediately to my left MINI raises to $5. Right now bells are going off in my head. To warrant a re raise on this level he has to have a monster. AA, AK or KK come to mind. Yes he can have KK. I think about and figure im 90% sure he has aces and 5% for AK/KK. Only $2.50 more to call i decide to put the money in to see if i can get lucky and catch a king if he doesnt have KK that is.

Flop: (Pot: $10.75) As Kh Td

Well now this is going to be very interesting. He doesnt have KK since i just flopped one. I HIGHLY doubt and hope hes not re raising me with QJ. So that leaves AK and AA. Im going to go with my read here. Instead of check calling, i bet into him. Yes, you heard me right. If he does have aces if i bet into him hes more than likely to smooth call till the river. I want to control how much i'm going to lose on this hand. So i make small "value" bets toward the pot. Would you be able to lay down Kings at this point?

BET trixter23 , $3
CALL Nazareen, $3

Turn: (Pot: $16.75) As Kh Td 4d

The turn puts a diamond draw on the board. But if my read is right he cant be on it. So i fire a bet 1/4 the size of the pot.

BET trixter23 , $4
CALL Nazareen, $4

River: (Pot: $24.75) As Kh Td 4d 9h

There is $25 dollars in the pot. I don't want to check and have him bet, to put me in decision making mode and have to call $25 more for an all in. So i bet $5 into a $25 dollar pot. He doesn't hesitate and re raises to $15. Thus making the pot around $40. To call $10 more dollars to win the size of that pot is nothing. The problem is i know im beat. Do you guys call $10 more dollars to take this pot down? Before i get to that part this chat ensued on the table.

BET trixter23 , $5
RAISE Nazareen, $10 to $15

trixter23 said, "did u really flop 3 aces"
trixter23 said, "i think u did"
trixter23 said, "devil this is sick"
EVDevil03 said, "yeah i know"
trixter23 said, "i have to pay him off"
AArbrad3 said, "jq"

I dont know what the guy saying QJ was thinking. Did he watch the whole hand? I make the call and our read was dead on.

trixter23 : shows (three of a kind Kings)
Nazareen: shows (three of a kind Aces)

The way i played the hand was very uncommon. I stuck with my read and controlled the betting throughout the hand. If i played it like i had the nuts, i would have been out of my whole stack. Well i cant say that because i had him covered by 10 cents. Im happy this was a cash game hand rather than a tournament hand. If it was a tournament hand i probably would have gone bust. Im interested to hear from you guys how i played this hand, and how you might have played it differently. Here is the link to the hand from pokerhand.org.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?372235

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Part 2

I pick up today with the 2nd part of a 3 part series. When i left off yesterday, i had T70 in chips very early on in a sit and go and had no shot of winning, let alone cashing. I was on a mission, and acesofclubs was a marked man. I'm going to update my stack and acesofclubs stack at the same time. He says hes not a "bad player", but i was out to prove otherwise and eliminate him.

The first hand after the loss to AQ, it should have just ended right here. In MP i get A8c and raise 40 to 70 and go all in. This is when blinds are 15/30 mind you. No one calls and i take down the pot. My stack T115: aoc(acesofclubs) T2815. A few hands later i get Kh Td. UTG makes it 90 to go and i re-raise all in for a massive 25 chips more. He flips over AK and i am dominated. This was the only time i came back to win a pot as an underdog when the board comes [3h 5c Th 4c] [6h]. Trix T245: aoc T2635.

Blinds are at 25/50 now and im still very much in danger with only 5 bb's. A little bit of retribution comes on the next hand. I pick up As Ad in MP. Our buddy aces is UTG and smooth calls. With my stack as short as it is, there's no fancy way you play aces. It's all in why? because all in is fun baby! So i raise 170 more and go all in for my remaining 220 chips. He calls and flips over pocket 8s. I believe it was stu ungar who said, "aces are only good to win a small pot, or lose a big one". Luckily this didnt happen and i flopped an ace giving me my set. If i didnt, he hit an 8 on the river to give him a set and knock me out. I double through aces and he adds "atta boy". Trix T515: aoc T2415. I go all in with As Ts and get 0 callers. Trix T640:aoc T2340. I get Ks 3s and i feel good about it, raise it up 100 to 150 and get no callers. Trix T615:aoc2340. The next hand there is a stack smaller than me with 480 chips in the bb. I make a standard 3x raise to 150 with As 7d and get 0 callers again. Trix T690:aoc T2340.

Blinds have gone up to 50/100 now. Of course it goes up on me, it's only natural. I get the juggernaut of 2c 4s in my BB. Everyone folds around to the small blind who smooth calls. I check and the flop comes Qc 7h 7c. He checks and i check behind. Turn brings a 4 and he bets 100 and I call with my 2 pair. The river brings the Ts. He bets 100 again and I raise 390 more to 490 and go all in. He folds and im back in the game, well sort of! Trix T990:aoc T2265. I pick up Jc Js in the big blind and have the intent to push if anyone raises. The short stack, yes i said short stack im still not the lowest one, raises 230 to 330 and goes all in. zeebaron to my right flat calls 280 more. I dont want to let him see a flop, so i re raise 610 more to 940 and go all in. Baron folds and short stack flips over 4s and doesnt improve, i did i turned a Jack for a boat and i took down the pot. Trix T1600:aoc T2265. The gap is closing!

I get 8h 8c in late position and raise and everyone folds. Trix T1700:aoc T2315. We lose another player and now have 7 left. aoc raised and someone came over the top and he folded. What a little girl. Blinds have increased to 75/150 now. Trix T1475:aoc T1490. Wow are we joking? The guy had a 25-1 chip lead on me and now im only 15 chips away from this idiot! I dont think i played a hand at the level and got blinded down. Blinds escalate to 100/200 and im sitting with T900 in chips and in desperation mode once again. Our buddy aces has T1115 and isnt doing that hot either. In the sb i make a push with nothing and take the bb. Trix T1100:aoc T1115. 5 chips away! We lose another player and go to 6 handed.

Blinds are getting ridiculous, im tryin to double up incredibly bad at this point. I get A8 and push all in and everyone folds. I've done it! I achieved 1 of my goals and i have more chips than aoc. Trix T1300:aoc T915. And no lie The 2nd time aces has stepped into a pot since we bucked heads he goes all in for his last 915 and gets a call. He flips over QT and baron flips over A4. Both the and the queen come and aces is gone! I achieve my 2nd goal of lasting longer than him. Then the magic phrase comes, trixter23 said, "gg aces". He left gracefully and didnt say a word.

To make a long story short, I got heads up with baron the guy who was calling all ins with Ax no matter how much. I picked up AK and we 3 bet and get it all in pre flop. I flipped over AK and he flipped over 82. I had 4k in chips so it wasnt like he HAD to call, but he flipped over 82. Of course the 2 hits and i go out in 2nd place. But after what i went through to even get to that point i felt like i was on a free roll. If anyone has been watching the new US Poker championship you have seen brian haveson come back from 475 chips to over 44k. That is an amazing feat. In part 3 ill discuss the madness of people in the $3 rebuy, but for right now i guess i can really believe in the phrase "a chip and a chair"



Saturday, June 10, 2006

Unbelievable comeback and madness

This will be a 3 part post since it will be pretty long. While i was in the $3 rebuy i hopped in a $20 sng. The hand that happens is only what drove me to success.

It was the 9th hand of the tournament and i picked up QQ on the cutoff. With blinds at 15/30, UTG+1 makes it 90 to go. I re-raise to 360 showing strength. Everyone else folds to the original raiser who calls. The flop comes 4c 7s As. I didnt have any particular read on this guy considering its fairly early in the tournament. He checks to me and i throw a bet of 300 into a pot of 745. He thinks for a minute, literally, then raises 710 more and is all in. We both turn over and he shows Ah Qd. Before i made the call i thought he had AK, which i would have been able to live with considering its basically a coin flip. When he flipped over AQ, it just sent me over the edge seeing he hit his 3 outer and called a pre flop raise OOP with that hand. So now im pretty much done considering i have $70 in chips left. This is the chat that we had over probably 25 hands or so.

trixter23 said, "of course"
trixter23 said, "re raise and the donk calls with aq"
AcesOfClubs said, "donk? lol"
AcesOfClubs said, "feel free to check my stats"
trixter23 said, "i dont care about stats"
trixter23 said, "that was a horrible plya"
AcesOfClubs said, "i think you are the donk for calling"
AcesOfClubs said, "learn to fold"
trixter23 said, "u should learn to fold when ur beat"
trixter23 said, "aq"
trixter23 said, "woooooo"
AcesOfClubs said, "you gotta be kidding"
trixter23 said, "catch that 3 outer stars"
AcesOfClubs said, "if it bothers you this much to lose with QQ, you need to find another game"
AcesOfClubs said, "perhaps checkers"
AcesOfClubs said, "you didnt lose to a bad player, just take it in stride"
AcesOfClubs said, "but you made a really bad call, so you have no room to argue"
trixter23 said, "i dont care about losing with queens its the fact people with ace anything calls no matter what"
trixter23 said, "u had that magic ace so u had to call"
AcesOfClubs said, "that makes no sense"
Wilsen said, "he is saying aq not the nuts lol"
trixter23 said, "so ur saying with blinds 15/30 and u raise to 90 and i re raise u to 360, u think u had the best hand?"
AcesOfClubs said, "but if you bet 300 and i put you all in with an ace showing...."
AcesOfClubs said, "its ok to call?"
trixter23 said, "the only logical thing u could have called my re raise with would have been AK"
trixter23 said, "and if u hit ur 3 outer im fine with that"
AcesOfClubs said, "logical?"
trixter23 said, "but AQ i just dont agree with"
AcesOfClubs said, "maybe i just think you are a bad player"
trixter23 said, "hey im not the one whose calling re raises with aq"
AcesOfClubs said, "and thought I could outplay you"
AcesOfClubs said, "and I did"
trixter23 said, "u didnt outplay ****"
trixter23 said, "no one outplayed anyone"
trixter23 said, "u got lucky and hit ur ace"
AcesOfClubs said, "ok 115"

After he said that i didnt talk to him again. Pre-flop i was absolutely positive i had the best hand. When he check-raised all in then it was pretty obvious he had an ace. With only 480 chips left i decided there was too many chips in the pot to just fold. He could have been on a flush draw also. It was a bad play by him pre flop, and most likely a bad play by me afterwards. But its a sit and go, you need chips, and you need them quick. In my next post i'll tell you about how i made a triumphant comeback and i was the one who said "gg acesofclubs"

Friday, June 09, 2006

Pot-Limit Omaha

For some reason i havent played an omaha tournament in a long time. I'm not sure why this was, but in the coming weeks im going to try and play more. I've had much more success with this type of game in such a short period of time. I think Josh Arieh was correct in stating that with WSOP fields being so large, you have to focus on more than just hold'em if you're really in the hunt for a bracelet. Playing online especially, people dont really know what they're doing. In the early going you get a lot of people who go all in with AA49, etc etc and either suck out on ya or lose. You want to take advantage of those people with the hands like AKQT, double suited connectors, hands like those. Here are some of my stats on PL-Omaha from thepokerdb.com

12/7/2005 - $10 Omaha Pot-Limit - Rank 2(chopped 1st and 2nd) - $390
1/11/2006 - $20 Omaha Hi/Lo-Limit - Rank 1 - $743
2/6/2006 - $10 Omaha Pot Limit - Rank 3 - $281

I have tons more in the top 18 range but those are my bigger finishes. This leads me into the tournament i played last night. We started with 166 people and top 18 getting money. At one point i was chip leader but played a hand and a guy hit his set on the river. I should have played the hand way different. Then another hand came up, which i will illustrate now.

I was dealt Kc Qh Jd Jh in the cutoff and with blinds at 100/200 i made it 600 to go. This is a decent hand, but it needs help to win, if someone calls with an ace and one comes on the board and i dont get a flush or straight draw, i have to dump if re raised. The flop comes Js 5h As. Giving me 2nd set and a straight draw. I know this guy doesnt have Aces in the hole so my set is looking ok. Unlike hold em when you get a hand here you really cant slow play because there is always a drawing hand around the corner usually. Before the hand started i had 7785 in chips and my opponent had 5542 in chips. I bet the pot, which was $1300, the guy thinks and uses his time bank for a little bit then re raises and goes all in. The only thing i can comprehend him having is a spade draw and i make the call. He flips over Ad 9s 8d Qc. At this point im actually laughing to myself wondering how this guy makes the call pre flop and how he thinks his Ace is good. Even if he thinks im on a flush draw, his hand is to susceptible.

Now remember in Omaha you have to play 2 and only 2 cards in your pocket. He has a pair of aces and no re-draw at all. I'm feelin great about havin 14k and gettin to the FT. I forgot i was playing on pokerstars though. The turn comes a 10d. This is the 2nd worst card i would have saw in the deck. I cant lose the hand at this point. But i can tie it. And of course the river brings the Kh, giving us each broadway and we split the pot.

This was just me being unlucky at that point. This hand happened on the bubble and it would have put me in the top 10 in chips with about 15k. I ran the numbers on cardplayer and pre flop i was a 60-40 fav. On the flop i was 95-5. On the turn it went to me being a 92 percent fav and him drawing dead and only being able to tie at 7 percent. I eventually went out 13th when i failed to improve on a hand.

Hopefully i have some better luck in my next tournament.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Sigh...

Took down another $20 sng on FT, those things are pie. Didnt cash in either the rebuys and i was killin the $10 MTT on stars till i took these 2 beats. The 2nd one isnt really a bad beat but its just a HORRIBLE way to lose.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?359450
http://www.pokerhand.org/?359460

I did get a visitor at my $5 rebuy though. I did have fun stacking him twice. Seat 5 is none other than Scott Fishman

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Thursday, June 01, 2006

Slow day..

It's been pretty slow the last 2 days. The rebuy tournaments I have been getting my nice starting stack in the 10-20k range, but after the break it seems like I just can't do anything. Cards go completely dead, and when I play in position, short stacks(around 8k) just push. This is at the point where I'm plan tight as can be and only playing premium hands. I realize people dont pay attention as much as they do playing in a live tournament but still. You dont need to be pushing 12k all in when blinds are still 75/150 or 100/200. Anyway I've had KK cracked by JJ twice all in pre flop when a J hit and then I had this catastrophe to sum up my day.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?358396

So after cashing out some of my winnings, I deposited $500 on full tilt and $500 on bodog. I put money on full tilt because its my 2nd fav site and they are running sats to the pre lim events at the wsop. I'm definitely going to play atleast 1 event but IM not sure which one. I would love to play more, but it all hinges on what I do the next month or so. I played a quick $10 sng and it was the easiest tourney I have ever played. I took it down in, get this, 80 hands. I started at 7:24 and was done at 7:57. This wasn't a turbo it was a normal sng.

It was my first time putting money into bodog so I didn't really know what to expect. I signed up and when I tried to login it gave me an error stating that I didn't have access to the poker room. Traditionally I'm not a superstitious(sp) person but when it comes to money I am. I called up customer service and got through. They had to delete my account and I had to delete all aspects of bodog and re install it again. I got everything up and running and played a $10 sng. If you have never played on bodog its truly a changeup. You start with 1k in chips and blinds start at 5/10. I didn't like the structure at all! Overall it just didn't have the same feel as a pokerstars or FT. When I'm playing, I want to be comfortable, so after a couple more tournaments I cashed out(with a $50 dollar profit).

Hopefully the rest of the weekend ill catch a nice run and make some money. On a sidenote lucko is deep in the $5 rebuy and would like to say gl and hopefully ya take it down. Peace