Thursday, February 15, 2007

Ugh

I caught the flug bug on Monday and I've been layin around the last 4 days. I feel absolutely miserable. Its clearing up though so I'm happy about that. I haven't been able to play since my eyes burn if I look at the screen too long. Hopefully I'll be ready to go for the weekend push.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Sunday Million and 6 Max

So I decided to use some fpp's to play in the sunday million yesterday on pokerstars. I accumulate so many since I'm platinum. Well atleast until the end of this month because there is no way I can make 10k vpp's this month. I haven't been really playing too much. I played well, I had some good reads on people, but really couldn't get anything going. I believe blinds were 400/800 and the antes were about to kick in and i pushed in EP with AQ with 7800 chips. I ran into Jacks and didn't improve.



Overall, I was happy with my play. I maintained an active image but still didn't get any big pots brewing when i had anything. There's always next time though. I think I went out 3100th out of like 6800 or so. Going through half the field still doesn't garner me anything.

Also I'm still in the transission phase of getting into 6 max ring games. I've found that I need to play 2 to start off and add a max of 2 more to be profitable. Any more than that and it just boggles your mind. It's definitely easier playing less tables because you can pick apart the weaker opponents. Here is a graph showing a nice 2 table 40 min session I had to get things going for the day.



As you can see, I won 2 nice pots and pretty much just chipped up everywhere else. I never had to get out of line so I was happy about that. I'm pretty sure 6 max is going to be more profitable as long as I pay attention and stick to my game. The moment I start to try and get cute is the moment I'm going to start losing money. I'll update about 6 max when I get a bigger sample size in for sure.
On the home game front now. I grabbed a new table from gebhardts. They have some very nice tables, but ours need to be portable. I got one for $200 that was sitting in the back and was perfect. We had a nice turnout again of about 18. We really have to do something with the structure though. It's a pretty fast paced one that doesn't benefit the post flop players very well.
I'm thinkin about running a cash game with .25/.50 blinds and sng's on the side. We'll see how everyone likes that, otherwise we'll just have to figure out a new structure.
Other than that, I have nothing else new. If anyone has a structure btw that they like post it in the comments.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Friday, February 02, 2007

Burnt out

Over the last 3 days in January, I played a little under 10k hands. 8-10 tabling .50/1 for a long period of time certainly took its toll. What's surprising is that I actually made money. Reads weren't an issue, I was just playing abc robotic poker. Yesterday I played about 1k hands, but only while 4 tabling. I really don't understand how people can make money playing that many tables. I wasn't able to concentrate on position or weak players in the game.

The other big topic that's getting a lot of coverage besides the super bowl is the retired NFL players pension and disability fund or lack thereof. I read an article today in The Star Ledger written by Jerry Izenberg about this. Some of the stories that you hear about the old time greats are truely a shame. You think of some of the players today and say to yourself..where is he going to be in 25 years? I'm pretty sure the likes of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and other All-Pro players will be fine. But what about John Lynch, safety for the Broncos or any linebacker in the league. These guys aren't getting 75 million dollar contracts. Plus they subject themselves to probably the most physical abuse among the players.

This article just makes me respect Tiki Barber's decision to retire a TON more. He is a very bright man and values his health more than fame and fortune. Don't get me wrong he loves the game, but he sees the longterm issues of playing a lot more clearly then most players. He has 2 kids, both under the age of 5, and wants to go outside and be able to run around with them. Take a look at Jerome Bettis. He was quoted in espn the magagzine for saying that it takes him literally 5 minutes to go up stairs sometimes. His knees are completely shot.

What's this have to do with poker you ask? Money management. You see a lot of these people getting paid 8 figure deals and they live in their HUGE houses with 67 cars and live a lavish lifestyle. Well what are you going to do when you retire? What if your're like Terrell Davis and sustain a career ending injury? Ok sure, you're getting paid 8 million dollars a year. That doesn't mean you have to have bills totalling 500k, plus a 2 million dollar house, with a 275k car, with a house in california also. How about actually only paying yourself 4 million a year, and putting the other 4 million in savings and not touching it.

We as poker players have some of the absolute best and worst money managers in the world. What kind are you?

Here is the link to the article I was referring to

http://www2.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=24685860

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Playing Well

The last 2 days I've been able to really focus on my play. Which in return has given me back to back $500+ days in the cash games. I've been making great decisisons and getting paid off on my big hands. Reluctantly, I only had 1 suckout yesterday. It was a bad one, but what can ya do.

My ankle is feeling much better, it's still a little bruised and swollen but I can walk on it without a brace in my house now. When i go out i have to wear the boot or aircast for pre-caution.

I need 3600 vpp's for Platinum this month. With 5 days to go, that's 720 a day. It might be possible. I'm just going to play solid poker and see what happens.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Yikes

Well, even more bad news for the month of January. While I was playin basketball on tuesday morning, I crossed feet with one of the other players when we were both going for the ball. My right ankle decided to roll outward, then twist forward. I pretty much instantly knew I did something really bad to it. Here's some background on my ankles. To put it bluntly, I probably have some of the weakest ankles known to man. I've played Basketball all my life from elementary school all the way through community college. I wear braces on both my ankles. When I played in school, the trainer would tape both of them, Then I would have 2 socks on, plus the braces. I've rolled both ankles twice before atleast. I've never broken a bone, but I'm getting closer and closer to doing some real damage.

As soon as I hit the ground I knew it wasnt going to be fun. Usually, I can walk it off and just not be able to walk for the next 2 days or so. This time though, I wasn't able to put any weight on it what so ever. Now remember, I have no insurance so I'm kind of worried now. I'm really hoping its just the absolute worst sprain you could have without having to need surgery. I was in writhing pain for a good 3 hours before I was able to go to a specialist. I took some x-rays and he came back in and the first thing he said was that i didn't need surgery. Everything after that was pure bliss haha. My diagnosis was a 3rd degree sprained ankle. What he did say though was that I was extremely lucky. My ligaments and tendons have been stretched so far the last few times I've rolled that ankle, he hadnt a clue why I didn't tear both of those off the bone this time. He said another 2-3 inches and I was done. So now I'm in a boot and an aircast for the next month or so. I had to pay for the x-ray and boot but that didn't bother me.

Now onto da pokah. I haven't played any cash for the last 4-5 days or so and have just been playin some small tourneys. I have 2 deep finishes in the rebuy in the last 2 days. 1 of them was when i was stone dead with 482 chips with blinds at 200/400. I actually came back and got 98th or something. I went out in the most idiotic way. I dont even want to put it up here. Hopefully I can make a ft in the next few days as I'm playing really well tournament poker right now. That's all for now, if Lee lets me make a final table this week, I'll let ya know. Good Luck everyone!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Sooo

Everyone is freaking out about the payment processors such as Neteller, click2pay, epassporte, etc, etc shutting down. Most of the people are taking their money off the sites. Personally I believe my pokerstars account is the best place for money at this time. I don't want to jump the gun and cash out because this is going to be resolved. It affects me considering i used to cash out through neteller. As far as getting money on the sites, I haven't deposited since back in August when I came back from Vegas.

I played 7 of the 5400 fpp 10 man sng's that pay 4 spots to the sunday million. Dissapointingly, I only won 2 seats. I bubbled 3 others, and got like 6th or 7th in the other ones. The play is pretty bad, but everyone plays SOOO tight, it's hard to accumulate any chips other than re-stealing against late position raisers. I cashed in my entries at a site and got $203.18 for each T$215.

Other than that, I've been playin my usual cash game sessions. I started playing .25/.50 6 max. 6 max is much more profitable than full ring. I'm running real hot right now, but in a VERY small sample size of 1200 hands. I'll update further when i get more hands in.

That's it for now, halftime hit in the bears vs saints game. I'll post if anything intresting happens.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

FU Neteller

They have now closed its doors, i really cant believe this is happening in the united states of america.

Monday, January 15, 2007

It's Over.

I have to stop the 5k goal in 31 days. I don't want to use the word "quit", because I really don't feel I am. Tonight i dropped another $300 or so in some of the sickest ways ever. I don't know how many 75-25's I'm gonna lose in this stretch. Losing isn't really the reason why im stopping. I can cope with losses fine. Even though this is the second most I've lost in this short period of time. I'm afraid I will try to play out of my bankroll to get money quickly for the 5k. Plus I think i need to take a few days off if thats at all possible. I made so many tilted calls tonight because everything was running bad.

Those are 2 things that i pride myself in with poker and life in general. Bankroll Management is hugely important considering i have no job right now(other than the poker income). Also, I never really tilt, but on the rare occasion that i do, it gets bad. Heres some of the hands from tonight's debacle which i will try and explain in detail. Plus I will try to go chronologically. I started playing 1-2 because I was playing really well in the afternoon time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?740413 - So we have an UTG mini raiser. I never like raising people who raise utg unless I have a really strong read on them, in this case i didnt. So I flat call and the blinds come along for the ride. Hit the straight on the turn and I don't raise because there are still a lot of draws out there and dont want to get too pot committed. The river bricks out and he still bets. So we know he has a Ten, but don't know his other card. Well actually i did call it out then called his bet to reveal the queen. Bad Call? Probably.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?740416 - I think this might have been the hand right after the first one i posted. It was against the same guy and I didn't know if he thought he could outplay me or really had a hand. Another hand played horribly.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?740418 - Around the same time at a different table. Apparently I can't even get people off hands. I knew he had a weak king as soon as he insta called me on the turn. Maybe if C/R then led out he would have folded...nah who am i kidding.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?740422 - This hand made me super angry. Like I said up top, I'm not going to re raise an utg raiser. I flop a set, but the dreaded diamonds are up there. I bet the pot, and immediately got mini raised. I didn't think he flopped a flush at all because the donks dont play the nuts that aggressively on the flop. I put him on AA or KK with a diamond. So i flat call to see what the turn is. The 8 shouldn't have helped him at all and he bets a little under half the pot. I thought this was a very weak bet and shoved on him. He calls off his remaining 65 and im praying for the board to pair. He then tables 9d 9h.

At this point I'm kind of shocked. I really can't think of a scenario in my head where if the roles were reversed I would be getting all my money in there. Let's think about this for a minute. For theoretical purposes, suppose I have Ad Jc, hes drawing to a flush with a 9, hes beat there. Or even i flopped a flush, hes completely drawing dead. The play was just horrible and from here i completely went on tilt.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?740432 - Different table, different guy who wasnt on the table and obv lee told him i was completely on tilt. But, I mean I am 50/50 to win with a pair, and my FAV # is Ten following the last hand so I had to call. a slkfjas;lkdfja;lsdjf

http://www.pokerhand.org/?740435 - This pretty much says it all...damn my luck
trixter23 said, "im gonna call cuz im completely on tilt right now"
trixter23 said, "nh"

http://www.pokerhand.org/?740437 - I could see where this was going..

http://www.pokerhand.org/?740440 - No respect for position.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?740441 - Dropped to .25/.50(which i cant take seriously), why would i hit my draw? who are we kidding.



I dont think I'm playing THAT bad, but I would have to maintain a high level of play throughout the next 24 days or so, and i just CAN NOT go busto. I also hope I'm not dissapointing anyone by making this decision. Maybe in the future I will try this again.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Day 7 - Jack Bauer is Back!

Took a break today, most likely will play tonight after the season premiere of 24.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Day 6

I really don't know what goes through the minds of some of these people. Yesterday was one of the most swingy days I've ever had. I couldn't be consistent, but that had nothing to do with me. As you see by the graph below, it was another huge roller coaster. It's just getting sick the way I'm losing some of these pots.

Although I did get bluffed out of a huge pot with MadMike69. He's a very solid player, and I didnt think he was capable of such a nice move. I'll post the hand at the end like usual. It actually gave me kind of a boost in confidence. His line was consistent through the whole hand.

I played the Nightly Hundred Grand($162) on Pokerstars last night for the first time. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to play it during my run for 5k during the month, but I felt good going in. I dont have any regrets in the way I played. The play was still pretty bad. My main quarrel with wanting to play was that I didn't want to go in as scared money. I didn't and I actually played more aggressive than usual. I went out when blinds were 25/50. It was folded to the button who had about T1900 or so. He raised to T300. An opening raise from the button for that much told me that he really didn't want to see a flop. I figured he had something like 77 or 88. I held AQs in the sb and I jammed for T2700 total. He was a very solid player and I didn't think he would want to gamble this early in the tournament. The bb woke up with AK and called and I was out. It was an over shove, but I went with my read. The button raiser said he had 9s. My AQ would have beaten him considering the 4 Q K flop.

So I finally had reeled someone in with Aces pre flop. And he called off his stack with 9s. Obviously he hit his 9. It wasn't like he had no chips either, he had 63 dollars behind. I couldn't win a race yesterday, but his explanation just takes the cake. http://www.pokerhand.org/?736585

trixter23 said, "un ****ing believable"
trixter23 said, "now tell me, did u really...REALLY think u were ahead there?"
trixter23 said, "k thought so."
MrNebbish said, "no - 1 pair is always 5050"
trixter23 said, "lol"
trixter23 said, "hahaha"
trixter23 said, "weeeeeeeeeeeee"
trixter23 said, "LVOE IT"
trixter23 said, "wcg please shoot me directly in the face."

Cash Games: -$35.85
I played over 2k+ hands. I'm pretty sure I only played 1 hand extremely bad all night. I was just waitin for someone to pay me off on hands and I was just getting outdrawn eeeeeevery time. One of these days I'll break out ...hopefully.

Tournaments: -$162

Overall: -$197.85
I need: $4418.90
Total Earnings: $581.10

http://www.pokerhand.org/?736533 - Play AA worse sir.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736540 - I'm a complete sicko
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736543 - I play with WCG alot. He's a funny guy.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736554 - Are we serious?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736560 - Had to be beat.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736564 - You're kidding, my hand held?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736567 - I give min raises no respect when I'm in position. And yes he called that pot sized bet with a gutshot weeeeeeee.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736571 - He had the monster AT
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736574 - So absolutely ridiculous
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736589 - Excellent play by mike, I dont know how he 4 bets the flop with air, but he did it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736593 - cgl is a good player, I REALLY wanted that call.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736595 - He insta-mini raised.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736597 - Excellent scare card.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736603 - weeeeee
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736605
http://www.pokerhand.org/?736608 - lol told him i had 2 pair.

My day in a nutshell...


HH's and description to follow later on today, its 6:32 am

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Day 5 - God Damn Earthlink!

I woke up early again today for some pwnage at the tables. While browinsg i got disconnected 3 times. Considering I dont get up early for many people, I wasnt quite happy with this. The problem seemed to stop, so I started to play. Well, Earthlink decided to wait till i flopped top set in a pot that was 3 bet pre flop to disconnect and stay down. Oh, I was happy about that one. I'm guessing he had won the pot because when i came back the money wasn't in my stack. Good Game Earthlink!

With that, I didn't play any during the day. I think i got in roughly 40 hands. Practice started at 7:30, when i came home at 9 the internet was still screwed up. I was just sitting and watching tv watchin the internet go in and out. Then at midnight i decided to 12 table. Yep, I've never done it before, but it seemed like a GREAT time to try it. 10 minutes or roughly 267 hands later...sigh ridiculous...I was up around 20 dollars. 12 tabling went bye-bye after that, because that shit is completely insane. I can't imagine how people do sng's considering they get down to 2 and 3 people. I'm playing full ring and i got flustered.

Cash Games: +$33.65
For the 2nd time in 2 days i flopped the nuts and still was re-drawing to a flush and got it all in, only to lose to a boat. It happened again today on a very OBVIOUS board. I want those calls, but the cards just havent been letting me win. That pot and a few others, and I would have had a $200+ night. That's the way it goes though...

Tournaments: $0

Overall: +$33.65
I need: $4221.05
Total Earnings: $778.95


http://www.pokerhand.org/?732857 - Sigh - cancer.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?732861 - Joy!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?732864 - Later he did say he had set of 7s
http://www.pokerhand.org/?732871 - weeee
http://www.pokerhand.org/?732873 - Was gonna take it away with a scary turn card, but i hit.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?732874 - J9 no g00t on my table
http://www.pokerhand.org/?732879 - He was insta-calling my bets, should have gotten away

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Day 4

And I thought yesterday was a rollercoaster. I got up early around 12 (hahahhaha, early for me) and got right to it. I was up about 150 within the hour and stopped to take a break. After that, the shit hit the fan. I was making laydowns left and right to some crazy boards. There are like 40 hands i can go over here, i'll post them at the bottom like usual. I played 216 1-2 hands and approximately 1k .50/1 hands. It's kind of hard to keep track of how many hands i play considering i don't stop at midnight. PokerTracker does though haha.

Considering how bad I was running during my 2nd session, I'm really surprised I booked a profit today. I probably would have made double, but it happens sometimes.

Cash Games: +$208

Tournaments: +$5
Played a heads up tournament at the end of the night to even things out hahah.

Overall: +$213
I need: $4254.70
Total Earnings: $745.30

http://www.pokerhand.org/?730432 - RNG said he had 6's, i've never seen set over set over set. That would have been interesting.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730438 - Something just didn't make sense. vawired was reported for his chat.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730439 - Standard.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730441 - Yawn.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730442 - Love letting them hang themselves, weeeee.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730444 - I'm a sicko.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730450 - Easy fold I think..
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730451 - I know what he has, yet i still call to show the table my EXCELLENT reading ability...lol
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730455 - Un raised pot...stay away
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730459 - Happened twice today, once pre flop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730463 - I let him know about how i feel haha.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730470 - Holy sicko, and that jack was g00t to baby weeeeee
http://www.pokerhand.org/?730477 - Why do you do this to me lee..

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Day 3

Didn't play much again today. I need to start waking up early and playing during the day time. With my current sleeping schedule i don't get to play nearly as much as i want/need to. I'll get right to it tonight. Also, I started playing a little 25.50 6 max game. I played 387 hands there and made 5.87 PTBB/100 which only equivalates to $22.70, but I have to start somewhere.

Cash Games: +$168.20
Nothing too spectacular. I basically played in position and took all the orphan pots.

Tournaments: $0

Overall: +$168.20
I need: $4467.70
Total Earnings: +$532.30

http://www.pokerhand.org/?727876

Day 2

It was a rollercoaster day. I didn't play that much. I woke up late and didn't really feel like playing. Then Florida vs Ohio State came on and i watched that game. OSU's Ted Ginn Jr took back the opening kickoff for a TD. The game appeared to be a blow out. It was...just for the other team. Florida dominated the entire game. I agree with Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss on his statement..

"Honestly, we've played a lot better teams than them," Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss said. "I could name four or five teams in the SEC that could probably compete with them and play the same type of game we did against them."

Now, I'm a Florida State fan. As you know they are bitter rivals and I give all the credit to Urban Meyer and the job hes done in the short time since hes been at Florida. I just don't believe Ohio State was a GREAT team. We know they are good, but their key victories were against a mediocre Texas team, and a Michigan team that got destroyed in the Rose Bowl.

The final AP and Coaches Polls were out right after the game. In a bit of a surprise, 65 of the 66 coaches voted for OSU as the #1 team in the nation. Can you guess who got the other vote? Yep, everyone's cinderella Boise State. Here's Urban Meyer commenting on them..

"I love Boise State. We don't want to go play them. We're done, we're done, we're finished," Meyer said.

"There are probably five, six, seven great football teams in this country and there is one way to figure out who the better team is and that's to go play the game," he said.

Everyone is dieing for it, just give us a Playoff! And last but not least, can we give the Big East some props now? I mean everyone gives the conference crap about their teams, but yet they posted the best bowl record going an impressive 6-0.


Conference W-L
Big East 5-0
Mountain West 3-1
Western Athletic 3-1
Southeastern 6-3
Atlantic Coast 4-4
Pac-10 3-3
Sun Belt 1-1
Big 12 3-5
Big Ten 2-5
Mid-American 1-3
Conference USA 1-4
Independents 0-2

Now onto our post for the day on the race for 5k. I had a maniac at my table that claimed to play 10/20 live. I dont fathom how you can play 10/20 live but yet play .50/1 online. And to make it even better he played only 1 table. If I had to give myself a grade tonight, i would probably give a C+. I played some hands bad and i took 1 or 2 beats, but that happens.

Cash Games: -$46.30
Only 717 hands today. I made some nice calls and some horrible ones. The hand where i had Aces i had no clue what the dude had. He was the one who claimed to play 10/20 live. He put some wicked beats on people. I probably make that call about 50% of the time.

Tournaments: +$38.80
Played 4 $6 Turbo SNG's this afternoon. Got 2 1sts and a 3rd.

Overall: -$7.50
I need: $4635.90
Total Earnings: $364.10

Here are some hands from tonight..

http://www.pokerhand.org/?725402 - The Maniac, one example of his hands.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?725405 - Bad Call, but you just saw that last hand..
http://www.pokerhand.org/?725407 - Sigh.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?725408 - Thought he turned a set...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?725410
http://www.pokerhand.org/?725411 - His line didn't make sense. Then i got the lecture.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?725414 - Bad play, but it worked out

Saturday, January 06, 2007

The Official Start to 5k in 31 days

Before i get to the mission I want to show some more comedy that happened today. The hand that sparked the hate is here http://www.pokerhand.org/?720336 .

DEESGOTCHA said, "moron"
trixter23 said, "im sorry i wasnt the one who bet 10 dollars into a 40 dollar pot lol"
DEESGOTCHA said, "terrable call u lucky ***"
trixter23 said, "reload"
trixter23 said, "I guess you aren't supposed to call with the best hand anymore.."

He really didn't say anything after that. His play wasn't all that bad. I mean i wouldnt be open shoving 62 dollars into the pot on the turn there. I would either be making a small probing bet or checking for a free card.

Now onto the real reason we're posting today. I'm kicking off the race for 5k in 31 days. I feel like I'm playing really well right now and this would be the best time to do it. I will be posting every day with tallies on how much i won/lost, key hands, and other happenings. And please if i have any readers out there, if i miss a day get on my back about it in the comment section. Hopefully I can reach my goal and I plan on increasing it every rolling 31 days. I'm going to set a daily goal of $250. For a 31 day period that's $7750. I want to make sure I try and over achieve. Just like if someone is training to run a mile. You don't just run the mile and be done with training. You run 3 miles, so you can virtually sprint that entire mile, which would increase your time. And we go to the results for the day.

Day 1

Again like I said, I'm playing pretty well right now. I only played about 2 hours today and got in almost 1k hands. My goal is to play about 2k hands a day. All i played was cash games again. I 6-8 tabled .50/1. I didn't play any tournaments today. They could be a real boost to my goal.

Cash Games: +$371.60
I really didn't have to make any moves today at all to accumulate chips. They kind of just fell in my lap.

Tournaments: $0
Didn't want to get in anything huge today. The playoffs are on and the football season is winding down, so I want to watch all the football i can.

Overall: $371.60
I need: $4628.40
Total Earnings: $371.60

Here are some of the hands that made my day.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?720374
http://www.pokerhand.org/?720376

*This post is for Sunday, Day 2 is on Monday.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Insight from a .50/1 player

I played the 2pm 3r and a $11 double shootout to the sunday million so far today on stars. I was really doing well in the 3r and had about 54k with 1-2k blinds. The DS was going on while this was happening. I had it 3 handed on the 2nd table and got sucked out on 3 times and i eventually bubbled in 3rd. I just got so mad at the last one, i had TT and raised on the button to 600 with 1-200 blinds. The short stack came over hte top for like 400 more and he flips up A5. Of course the ace flops. I just was so angry. For the first time in a long time i went on complete tilt. I shoved with k4 and ran into AK like 3 hands later. Then in the 3r, it was folded to the blinds and the sb raised it up to 6k and i shoved 47k with 83 and he insta called with AJ. Yep AJ. Then it was gg me in that to.

Later on tonight I'm gonna play some cash again. I really haven't played too much in the last 2-3 days.

This came up last night and it really gave me a perspective from the "average" cash game players point of view. Here is the hand in question. http://www.pokerhand.org/?717399

I don't like raising OOP with 3 limpers because in 50/1 they are calling you, no matter what they have. So i just check and see a flop. It comes ace high with 2 spades. I could have check raised the flop, but it's a drawy board and i wasnt in the mood to play a big hand when i hadn't put any money into it. I never found out where i was in the hand, so i threw out a block bet of $7 into a $37 pot. He makes the call and flips over his k3...lol. That's not the real point of this post though. He begins to berate me for "slowplaying" And off we go.

rrob406 said, "don't slow play"
rrob406 said, "dumb as s"
trixter23 said, "LOL"
trixter23 said, "i wasnt"
trixter23 said, "its called a block bet"
trixter23 said, "and way to be limping utg with k3"
trixter23 said, "ur a great player"
rrob406 said, "lol"
rrob406 said, "dude there was 3 people in the hand"
trixter23 said, "u"
trixter23 said, "were"
trixter23 said, "utg"
rrob406 said, "i was last to call"
trixter23 said, "no u werent"
trixter23 said, "look at the hh"
rrob406 said, "i had a pair of 3s and a runner runner flush draw"
trixter23 said, "LOL"
trixter23 said, "ur still not getting it"
rrob406 said, "i'll play when i'm getting 4 to one on my money"
trixter23 said, "LOL"
trixter23 said, "im talking preflop genius"
rrob406 said, "i know i was first to call out of the blinds"
rrob406 said, "i'll play a k3 suited for a buck"
rrob406 said, "you should've raised preflop"
rrob406 said, "or at least raised after the flop"
SethNKim said, "well some ppl call $4 raise w/ q2 off"
rrob406 said, "exactly"
SethNKim said, "so i wouldnt be to mad w. the k3 siuted"
SethNKim said, "mr cash"
SethNKim said, "like q2 off"
rrob406 said, "i'll play for a buck"
trixter23 said, "lol"
rrob406 said, "it's just a buck"
trixter23 said, "ppl are so bad and have no clue"
rrob406 said, "who cares"
SethNKim said, "lol"
trixter23 said, "gl"
rrob406 said, "lol"
rrob406 said, "you just don't know how to protect a hand"
rrob406 said, "and you call me bad"
rrob406 said, "lol"
trixter23 said, "ok"
trixter23 said, "so ur telling me"
trixter23 said, "with 6 limpers"(exaggeration, i do it all the time)
trixter23 said, "and AQ in the bb"
trixter23 said, "ur gonna raise"
rrob406 said, "about 50% of the time"
rrob406 said, "i'll give you that"
SethNKim said, "theyll call anyways"
trixter23 said, "where are u gonna get urself"
trixter23 said, "ok the ace flops"
trixter23 said, "everyone calls"
SethNKim said, "yup"
rrob406 said, "but there's no excuse for not reraising after the flop"
trixter23 said, "ur oop"
trixter23 said, "why"
SethNKim said, "w/ q2 off"
rrob406 said, "lol"
trixter23 said, "u obv dont take position into account considering ur limping utg with k3"
rrob406 said, "yeah"
trixter23 said, "now say u raise the flop like u said"
rrob406 said, "protect your hand"
trixter23 said, "and u get 4 callers"
trixter23 said, "what u do on turn"
rrob406 said, "you bring it up to $10 after the flop"
trixter23 said, "cmon who are u kidding"
trixter23 said, "ur saying ull play k3"
trixter23 said, "theres 2 spades on the board"
rrob406 said, "then you can check on the turn if you're scared"
rrob406 said, "lol"
trixter23 said, "3 people arent goin anywhere for 10 bucks"
rrob406 said, "lol"
rrob406 said, "you make them pay to see a flush"
rrob406 said, "you know that's what they're on"
rrob406 said, "it's easy to fold if the flush comes out"
rrob406 said, "you have to make them pay to see it"
rrob406 said, "bottom line"
trixter23 said, "u just dont get it lol"
rrob406 said, "no sonny boy"
rrob406 said, "i'm trying to teach you"
trixter23 said, "that explaiuns it"(Now i'm starting to get disgruntled, no offense to older folks)
trixter23 said, "calling people sonny boy"
trixter23 said, "ur prob 50+"
rrob406 said, "and you have no clue"
trixter23 said, "go play 2-4 limit."
rrob406 said, "i give up"
rrob406 said, "if you don't want to learn how to play smart that's ok"
rrob406 said, "keep giving your money away"
trixter23 said, "from u, ill pass"
trixter23 said, "cuz u have no clue"
trixter23 said, "gl"

SIGH

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Value Betting into the New Year

I played enough the last 3 days to make Platinum Star this month. I'm pretty confident i can get Supernova by summer time next year. I'm going to save up my FPP's so i can direct buy-in to the main event the following year. That would be pretty cool if I could actually persuade myself not to spend any of those FPP's.



The goal for next month might be a little bit modified. Looking at my schedule i don't know if I'm going to have the time to play as much as I would like. Either I'll postpone it till Feb or March, or make it a little smaller.

And to wisk everyone off into the New Year, I leave you with a nice hand I just played.

Dealt to trixter23 [Ac Ah]
tnhan: calls $1
JJJ's: raises $4 to $5
patmac611: folds
RBSurfer: folds
trixter23: raises $95 to $100 and is all-in
ccsboyz: folds
LS38: folds
gibbyholdem: folds
tnhan: calls $41.90 and is all-in
JJJ's: calls $95
*** FLOP *** [3s 8d 7d]
trixter23 said, "ROFL?"
*** TURN *** [3s 8d 7d] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [3s 8d 7d Td] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JJJ's: shows [Qs Qc] (two pair, Queens and Threes)
trixter23: shows [Ac Ah] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
trixter23 collected $114.20 from side pot
tnhan: mucks hand
trixter23 collected $127.20 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $244.40
Main pot $127.20.
Side pot $114.20. Rake $3
Board [3s 8d 7d Td 3h]
FlopSeat 2: tnhan mucked [Kd Kc]

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Final Table in AC and a Ridiculous Call

I went down to AC tuesday to play in the daily tournaments over at the Showboat. I was very excited about the new structure that they have. That changed quickly when I saw how the structure changed very quickly. You do get 10k in chips like i said before, but the blinds increase entirely too rapidly. Each level lasts 20 minutes and the structure goes like this.

50-100
100-200
200-400
400-800
600-1200
800-1600
1200-2400
1500-3000
3000-6000
5000-10000
10000-20000

I played in the 11am tourney and busted like 34th or so. The structure was completely oblivious to me at the time and i had no chips on the jump from 400-800 to 600-1200 level. I hopped in the 2pm tourney and was just going to be super aggro. I was able to chip up fairly easily. I bludgeoned the final table bubble and went to the final table with the chip lead. There was this absolute psycho lady who was pulling shit out of her ass the whole tournament. I had the luxury of sitting next to her up until this time. I didn't get any hands the entire final table, and if i didnt get walks because of my stack i would have had to push with a shitty hand. We wound up in the money and went to break before the final 5 started play. At this time blinds were 10k-20k and i had only 37k. 2nd place had only 50k, and the crazy lady had about 80 percent of the chips in play. They wanted to chop, and when i think of chop im used to stars and their chip count chops. Well I was like theres no point for me to do one because im so short stacked i would want a premium. The one guy said no we could give her 700 and we do an even chop with us for 300. That was more than 3rd place money so i was happy about that.

Overall the play/structure sucks. I'll still play it when i go down, but I could venture from that in the future. One of the guys I was playing with was Brian O'Halloran. He was in Clerks. I thought that was pretty cool.

So i had come home from dinner at my aunts house and really didn't feel like playing entirely too much. So i hopped in a $15 MTT. I had a nice stack going, with a little under 7k going into the 200/400 level. Not in comfortable position, but not in dire need either.

The following hand came up and i had As Qd on the button. The important stacks are as follows. Antes are there i just didnt feel like pasting.

Seat 1: Telecommuter (8540 in chips)
Seat 6: StickyStaX (14980 in chips)
Seat 8: trixter23 (6829 in chips)
Seat 9: cakes75 (17728 in chips)
cakes75: posts small blind 200
Telecommuter: posts big blind 400

StickyStaX: raises 550 to 950 - I see this as an extremely weak raise about 80 percent of the time, and a strong raise about 20. It was this players first hand at this table and i thought he wanted to feel it out and see what he could get away with.

trixter23: raises 1849 to 2799 - So i bump it up 3x and make it 3k to go. I really don't want a call, just hoping to take the pot down now.

Telecommuter: calls 2399 - ???????? Ok, so the big blind cold calls my 3bet. I'm thinking/hoping if he had AA/KK he repops here all in. QQ maybe he calls for pot control??? I really don't know at this point. And i forgot to add, this guy insta called my re raise.

StickyStaX: folds - Original raiser folds, now we have position.

*** FLOP *** [Kc 6h Tc] - Ok this is a decent flop for me, i can represent AK here.

Telecommuter: checks
trixter23: bets 4005 and is all-in
Telecommuter: calls 4005 - I really don't have too much room to maneuver here so i just shove. There is a little over 10k in the pot and i WANT IT. He check/calls(EXCELLENT PLAY) here. I really thought he had Queens.

*** TURN *** [Kc 6h Tc] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 6h Tc 2s] [7h]
trixter23 said, "sigh"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Telecommuter: shows [8s 8c] (a pair of Eights)
trixter23: shows [Qd As] (high card Ace)
trixter23 said, "8s"
Telecommuter collected 14983 from pot

So as you see he had 88. I know i didn't play the hand optimily, but he played it just downright awful.

I need about 1400 points for Platinum Star, for the VIP Club on stars this month. I will get it to set myself up for a nice starting run in January. I want to get supernova this year, which is very achievable.