I Told You...

I made a small deposit on FTP tonight, and I started playing again. I'd been jonesin' to start playing again, more than just the league.

I'm not a fan of online poker but it's where you can play anytime for small stakes.

I started playing some $6.50 turbo 6 handed SnGs and booted up a .25/.50 short handed NLHE table.

The turbo's showed me no love. I played two and didn't cash. Minus $13.

At the cash game, I had better luck. I started with $20, which was about average stack, though one person have over $100. Over 45 minutes, I played about 50+ hands.

Five hands in, I'm dealt KhKc in the SB. UTG limps, button limps, and I make it $2.50. Both Limpers call. The flop is 8d-3s-Qh. I decide to check, hoping for a check raise. The pot is $8, and UTG bets $5. Button calls. I make is $16.50 , which puts SB all-in, but the BUtton has $45 behind him. UTG calls, button folds, and UTG Shows Qc,Js. I take down a $40 pot.

The next hand I have KJo and raise it on the Button to 1.75. SB Ships for $11 more so I fold.

Ten hands later I'm given another big pair. The ladies. QcQd. I'm UTG and make it the standard pot bet (1.75). The BB calls (BB was the Button on the KK hand). Flop comes 664 rainbow. BB Checks, and bet 3.00 (Just under a pot bet). BB calls. The turn is not the prettiest of cards, 5c, putting a flush draw out there. BB Checks and I fire a more than 1/2 pot bet (6.50 into 9.75). BB Calls. The river is a 3s, no flush, but putting a 4 card straight out there. Is he calling with a 7? Unlikely, but could have trips already. The BB Checks, and I decide to check and let my QQ do the talking. They talk loud enough and I scoop a $20 pot. The BB had Js4s.

At about the 20 hand mark, I win 4 small pots in a row. Including, completing the trifecta of top pair hands when I get AA and take down the blinds.

So, in case I thought I was playing awesome, in 25 hands, I had QQ, KK, AA.

At hand 35, I'm dealt 2 Black Aces on the button. Sweet!

UTG+1 raises to $2.00. I make it 6.75 from the button. The BB pushes all-in ($17) and the initial raiser tanks for a few seconds before he pushes in. I insta-call. I'm up against the BB's KK and UTG+1's AJ. I sweat the river, as there's a chance at a split pot with AJ, but it bricks and I take another $40+ pot.

The last big hand of the night comes against the other big stack. I have $80 and he had $140. UTG I'm dealt 4c,4h. I limp. Big Stack makes it $2.50. The BB calls (He's been in a few of my big hands). The Big Stack has been playing really tight, letting people hang themselves. I've been avoiding him, but with the BB calling, I'm not ready to throw the pair away yet.

I hit near perfect. 3h-4d-3s. Now I have to decide how to string him along. I could lead out. That would be tricky. But if he has nothing, he will probably fold. I'm hoping he'll C-Bet with anything. He's played pretty tight, which is why I've avoided him so far.

Big Stack bets 5.50 into a 7.75 bet. He really hasn't played many hands yet, and I'm not sure if this is standard for him. BB gets out of the way. I just call.

Wait, did I say near perfect? I'm mistaken. The 4s on the turn gives me Quads. DEMS QUADS BITCHES! I decide to check again. See if he'll bet. He does. $12.50 into a $18.75 pot. Now, I'm REALLY at a quandry about what to do. Do I check raise here and hope he has something. I doubt he'll call or push with anything but a huge pair. I opt to let him catch up and just call. I'll bet out on the river. I don't think I can check it and let him check behind. The last card is about as good as I can hope for. 3c. A Boat on the board. I think for a few seconds, before I bet about 1/2 pot. He insta-mucks. I shoulda bet bigger, make it look like I was trying to push him off playing the board. Another $40+ pot my way.

I won a few small pots. The only one worth mentioning was a SB vs BB hand. I had 6c8c in the SB and it folds to me. I just limp. The BB makes it $2.00 and I call. The flop is 8d-Kd-7c. I check, planning to check-raise a C-bet. He bets 1/2 the pot. I raise him enough to pretty much put him all in. He folds and I win $8.

So I ran well, to say the least, in the cash game, turning $20 into $100.

Now, despite getting beaten over the head with the deck, I have to remember, the key to these low stakes games is patience. Wait for the big hands. People will play poorly and give you their money. Trust me, I know... I'm usually giving away my money when I re-raise with my KJ.

I haven't had the patience in my league, maybe I can turn over a new leaf. Patience pays off. So does getting KK, QQ, AK, and AA in 25 hands.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

Layout

Yuck. I don't know what happened to my blog, but that format exploded in a barrage of bad links, so I'm in the process of editing and deciding on new format.

For now, I'm off to read some poker blogs. I have a bunch in my old bloglines account. But I haven't read a poker blog in a long time. I'm off to find some good ones.

Anyone know any good ones on strategy?

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
http://www.twitter.com/unimpressed

Back... for a little while anyway.

I rejoined the league again. We're almost half way through and I have yet to win. I managed a second once. Unfortunately, there are only 6 people in the league this run; me, host, drunky, muscles, tiltbox, and a New Kid.

We just finished Week 7. Host has finished 2nd almost every week. New Kid has managed a couple of wins. Drunky has busted 1st every time but once. I'm in third (out of 6, it isn't great). Host isn't likely to make too many mistakes so I need to play better the second half and manage a few wins if I want to compete.

The problem is that I have been playing bad. In the first 2 weeks I think I played ok. Managing to lose only a little in cold deck situations but wasn't getting hands when I needed it.

After those weeks, I just started playing bad. Too many bluffs, loose calls, too few continuation bets. Bad timing on hands doesn't help either.

Two weeks ago I busted to the big stack when I raised 2x in position w JJ. Muscles called. The flop came Q 8 4. My stack had about 2-3 times the pot. I figured I couldn't bet then fold to a re-raise, so I pushed and ran into AQ.

Not. Much could have been done about that had. Last week, 3 handed on the button and pretty short (about 8x in my stack), I have K9. I figure I can pick up the blinds, so I shove. Drunky (SB) thinks a moment then calls (I have him covered). Tiltbox tanks. He doesn't want to call 2 all-ins but has a mountain of chips. He finally calls, and I'm somewhat relieved to see 77. Unfortunately, Drunky has A9. I sheepishly flip over my cards and tell them, "I was just funnin'". The flop has a K but also an Ace. Drunky triples up and I'm crippled (2x BB) and bust out the next hand when I'm BB.

So another 9 weeks of the league and I'll probably take a break after that. Maybe stick to the occasional monthly home game and hit the casino when I can save some scratch.

A Run for the Sun

I'm annoyed. I had typed notes into my iPod all night, and deleted it when reviewing. So my notes won't be as complete.

Friday night I decided to hit Mohegan Sun again.

I really prefer Mohegan Sun. The poker room is smaller, but it is also less crowded. I got there at 6:30 and was seated right away. The entire night they filled empty seats quick, and there was not much of a wait and the list was never long.

The night felt weird. It felt like I as up and down, but in reality I was never down.

I bought in for 200 instead of the usual 100. I liked this much better. I felt like I could do things and not just wait. I was able to limp into a few pots early on. One paid off. Only a few hands in, and it limps around to me. I have AJ and decide to call. I don't want to go nuts with a mediocre holding and I'm really only 4 or 5 hands in. It limps all the way around. It ended up being 9 people into the pot. This became a regular thing. Not THAT many, but there were a lot of limpers. The flop comes A99. It limps all the way around. I really wanted to see what kind of action it generated. I doubted anyone had a better ace (even that early I figured AQ, AK would raise). THe turn was a blank, but put a flush draw on the board. It checks to me and I put out $15. It folds all the way around to the "guy" on my immediate right and "he" goes all-in.

I say "guy" because I thought it was a guy, until that moment, I thought it was a guy. Tall, quiet. Turns out... no. Oops. So much for observations! She has a small stack (lots of people buying in short). Only about 35 more. I look at my stack and think about folding. Smells a little like a 9. But because of the flush draw, I felt there was also a big chance that she had the flush draw. I make the call and she flips over AT. I think the flop check worked in my favor there, but probaly not a good idea.

I continue to build a stack. My favorite hand of the night was my call with Q high. Unfortuantely, this is where my lack of notes hurts a bit. Raised pot (raised to 6), I call with QJ. The board on the flop reads AT8. I check and the raiser checks, the turn is another A. I check and the raisor bets about 10. I just think he's trying to take the pot and think I might be good. I call. The turn is an 8. I definitely feel I'm good here. I check hoping for a small bet that I can call. He knuckles and I show my Q high. He says I'm good and I drag a small pot. It was nice to trust my read and willing to go with it. Though a big bet on the river and I would have folded, not trusting myself that much.

At one point, I get my stack to a postive $175. I'm feeling good, having fun and I start to throw the tips around generously. Redbirds, even if I'm just picking up the blinds and a couple of limpers. Redbird for the waitress. It was fun and I was trying to buy Karma. Unfortunately, with my profit, comes looseness. And next thing I know, I'm down to just above my original $200. It's 9pm and I figure it's time for dinner.

I take a 30 minute break, get a mediocre buffalo chicken wrap, some nasty pasta side dish. The break pumped my mood up a bit, I changed the music in my iPod to something more upbeat and sat backdown to play.

Four hands in, still at $200, I look down at AA. I raise it to 12, and 2 limpers. A guy pops it to $50 and I do a little flip. Folds to me and I raise it to $125. The limpers fold (one guy, an asian dude, really struggles with his fold, but he's been like that all night). The last guy tanks. You can tell he wants to fold. He doesn't have the discipline (I don't know if I would have), and pushes his stack in. He has me slightly covered. I'm glad he pushed and not just called. Even though it would have been more than 1/2 his stack. He might have gotetn away from the hand on the flop. He flips the obvious KK. The door card is paint, but turns out to be a Jack. Which is promptly followed by an A. I have a sick feeling he's going to go runner runner for a straight, but I dodge that get my stack to over double the buy-in.

The rest of the hands are escaping me. I know I lost about $100 on speculative hands, but built it back up on a lucky hand.

The asian dude who reluctantly folds, raises it up. I call with AsJh. The flop comes KsJs3s. 2nd pair and the nut flush draw. I look at the ADWRF's stack. It's small (around 80), another short buyer, who's taken a few beats. I bet out 20. He thinks for a few seconds and pushes all-in. I've seen him bluff before, and feel he can definitely be bluffing here. I don't think he has the flush because he pushed. I thought he would just call if he had the flush, and push on the turn if no spade came. He could definitely have a K or even a J here. If it wasn't for my Ace of spades, I definitely fold there. Most of this thought process happened before I bet out. I decided if he re-raised me I was going to push on him or even call. So the as soon as I said "All-In,"I insta-called. As I put all the thought into it already, I liked my insta-call even more, after the hand, for the simple fact it tilted the guy big time. Neither of us showed our hands. Which was a common at this table. No spade came, but an Ace on the river gave me 2 pair. He confidentally flip my 2 pair. He just stared as his cards and shook his head over and over. Mumbled to himself. After about a minute, he finally mucks.

For the next few hands, I hear him muttering about the insta-call. What made me even happier about his tilt, is that he is one of those guys that, after the hand, just stares at his cards. As if something is going to change. He did it to me, and he did it a plenty of times before and after that. Someone can show the nuts, and he'll just stare at his hand like he can somehow make it better. We have someone like that in one of our home games. It is annoying. Felting the guy, made it less so. He reached in for another $60 and would later lose that too.

In the end, I called it a night shortly after midnight and with a nice little profit. I was thinking about making another run Friday, but turns out a home game is coming around on Saturday, and I haven't been to one in a while. So I think I'll do that one instead.

Until next time.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.

The End of a Long Road

A quick recap. The league has been over for a month or so. Nothing is really fresh in my mind.

Week 13
Not much to remember, except I finished 3rd. That would be nice except Tighty & Tilty finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Also, Walken lost his job and quit the league.

Week 14
An interesting weeka. I card dead for most of the night, but managed to squeak into heads up against the Host. I got all the money in 4 or 5 times with the worst of it... Amd won them all. I was never dominated, but he was always ahead and all were better than a coin flip. It helps to be lucky. The last hand Host pushes. I look at an Ace and call. He has A2 and I have AK. I take first place.

Week 15
I don't remember anything specific about this week. I finished 1st again, heads up against the Host again. I remember he started with a big chiplead but I was patient. I hit some hands and bluffed a few hands to gain the chiplead and took it down.

The Final Week was coming up. Double Buy-in, Double Points. It didn't matter. Witb Week 15's win, and 2 people who quit the league, I was guaranteed 6 points which meant I was untouchable for overall 1st place.

Week 16 still pays almost 300 to first place. Unfortunately, l finished 4th. Tilty won and took 2nd overall.

I ran amazingly this series. I finished 1st or 2nd 10 out of 16 weeks.

Tighty is gettiing married soon so hey are taking some time off. I'm still undecided about doing another series. It is such a long committment. I also benefited from the Hosts personal problems, Walken's constant no-shows and Slappy's tilt. As the only other good players, it made me the odds on favorite. Also, it's a lot of money, $450. The final point is that other than the Host, I wouldn't classify any as "friends." I don't hang out with any of them outside the game. I might invite Tighty to other games, but that's about it (again, except for the Host). With this being a 16+ week committment, I find it hard to make it to either of the other monthly home games or the casino.

On the Positive side, I do get along with them, and enjoy myself most of the time (only one of them is an asshole). I am also playing poker EVERY week, which is a good thing. Plus playing with the same people will helps me with my observation skills at the table, which I often lack. Finally, while I definitely ran good for the season (6 first place finishes and a split), I am definitely one of the top players in the game. The game is definitely beatable.

Maybe I'll take a season off again. I have a few weeks go decide.

I'll keep anyone still reading this blog informed.

A Trip To The Sun

The Legendary Dawn Summers from IHadOuts.blogspot.com was heading up to Mohegan Sun with Aceste and 3some Mary and wanted to know if I would join them. I did.

I played my usual bad short-stacked cash game poker, limping into too many pots. I really should buy in for more. I bleed chips until they show up. When they finally do, they want to go to dinner (Hey Dawn! The ocean called. They're running out of shrimp!) but I want to finish the round. I'm already down a buy-in and a half. UTG and I'm dealt Kh5h, the Le Dawn. Must be a sign, right? I limp (1/2 NLHE). There are 2 more limpers and an aggro asian with a big stack bumps it to 12. It folds around and I obviously call. Fold, fold.

I'm not too concerned with asian since he has a habit of raising limpers. My main concern is that I'm calling a raise out of position with Le Dawn of Hearts. Is that -EV? I think, me playing pomer is -EV.

The flop is j98 one heart. I check, he checks.
Turn is a 2nd heart. I decide to bet out 10. Aggro Asian raises to 30. I have 40 behind, so obviously I call.
The river brings the dirty little heart. I sheepishly toss in my last 20 and even more sheepishly tell the dude "I got there." he really has no option but to call. He flips over the T7 for the flopped straight. I stack my ill-gotten chips and head to Dawn's shrimp fest.

I'm more of a Enjoy The Meal type person, as opposed to Dawn's Beat The Casino Anywhere You Can method of dining. She might have gotten a better deal for the buffet (plus it was comped for her hotel shuttle ride), but I tried a lot of food and didn't feel the need to sprinkle my ice cream with shrimp. Did I mention she ate a lot of shrimp?

Before dinnef ended I went back and picked up my chips since dinner was taking longer than the 45 minutes before they pick up your chips. However, I ended up back at the same table. I didn't like my seat so I ended up moving 2 seats to the left of aggro asian.

I don't remember much of the night except for hitting the K-high straight flush. My call on the turn with 12 outs. But was able to value bet my hand.

In the end, I was just above even.

The last hand of the night tilted me, though it shouldn't have.

Middle position and I'm dealt KK. A couple of limpers and I raise to 15. Button calls and old guy limper calls.

Flop is Q89. Old Guy checks. I was going to bet but the button looks like he wants to bet. I check and the button bets 20. Old Guy calls and with about 80 in the pot, I push for all-in. Button folds and Old Guy stares at me. It's an additional 115 for him to call. I know I'm ahead. I decide to try to induce the call. I smile and wink at him. He sees that and instantly calls. He shows QT for top pai and the gut shot. I show my KK.

The tilt isn't the suckout, its the slow roll by the fucking dealer. Before he flips the turn, I know I'm beat. The dealer starts to flip the river but then stops and just looks at it. Fucker. Q. The river is a blank and I angrily push my stack in the middle. Didn't even count his chips to see if I got any back, which was stupid.

On the way home, I was steaming. Why would the dealer do that? One asshole in he league does that. But that's a home game. For some reason it popped into my head that he may not have burned a card on the turn. No way to prove it after the fact, but would explain his pause. Nothing I could do about it on the way home. I was still tilty when I got home so I left my daughter in our bed where she fell asleep and felt better.

Next Post: the final league recap.

-- Post From My iPod Touch

Weeks 10, 11, 12

Slappy is off to Vegas, but has decided not to continue with the league. Too bad, but I'm not going to sweat it. Despite the money going involved (over 16 weeks, you're putting in $450 if you show up every week), it really is a bunch of drunk degenerates hanging out, many of them have been drinking and hanging out all day before the game, and just continue to drink during. It's less than professional, and a lot of their shit would get them kicked out of the casino, but ultimately it's just fun for them, and they don't take it seriously.

I don't mind it, but that's probably because I win constantly with them. Not to spoil anything, but in this "season," I've finished 1st or 2nd 8 out of 12 weeks. I'm freerolling for the season and currently have a 9 point lead over 2nd place with 4 weeks to go. It's far from locked up, since the last week can make or break you, but I'm still running well, and could, quite possibly, lock up the season before the final game.

OK, recaps.
Week 10- nothing memorable. I finished 2nd. Tilty took first. He was in 2nd overall, so my lead dropped 1 point. 2 people couldn't make it, so 2nd place only takes 10 bucks, so -15 on the night.

Week 11- I'm sick. I feel like I'm going to puke. I don't want to go, but need to keep the pressure on with my lead. I'm the 2nd player to arrive. While waiting around, I jump up and run to the bathroom and puke my guts out. Ah, I feel better. But I don't play better. I'm the first one to bust. I busted on a bluff. I have pocket 5s. Flop comes K7x. Host bets out. I don't think he has a K (just a feeling), so I call, planning on taking it away on the turn. The perfect card (other than a 5 comes), an 8. I check, Host bets again, and I push all-in. I'm thinking he may have a7 and would have to fold, and/or can put me on 78 and even if he has a weak King could fold it. He tanks for some time. And this is where I get a little pissed and can understand Slappy's frustration. People start hootin' and hollerin' saying he should call, just acting all macho, and stir up action. I'm a big proponent of the one player to a hand rule, but that doesn't apply here, really. Again, just picture a bunch of drunken frat guys. Host finally calls with a K and I don't hit my set. I'm out. 3 people didn't show, so I still get 4 points for being the first one out. Tilty goes out next, so I only lose one point to him. However, Tighty makes a big come back, heads up against Host and takes it down. This is the first time I've ever seen him win, I think. But his tight play, has him jumping Tilty and taking 2nd place.

Week 12- Another week where I go in saying, "Play Tight, Play Tight." I do and it pays off. Nothing big happens here. Tilty goes out in the middle, so I put some distance there. Tighty goes out 4th, so I gain a point there.
I make one bluff 3 handed and one awefukit call and it pays off. Host is on the button and folds. I'm in the SB (blinds are 5/10) and have Q8. I have about 90 chips. I raise to 30. Walken thinks for a few minutes then says, "Screw it, All-in." I'm about to fold, I count my stack behind me, 57. I have 30 out there. I'm thinking he has a big hand. Ultimately, I decide that since the two people who are chasing my points lead are out, I can afford to call here, since I need chips if I want to win the thing. I probably should have shipped it with less than 10 BBs, but oh well. I call, Walken flips over the 97 soooted. Sweet. We miss the flop, I hit an 8, which at first glance, I'm happy, since it kills the 3 7's he could hit, but then realize it gives him 4 tens for a gutshot. A blank on the river and he's crippled.

After that it's smoothing sailing. I get heads up with Host and about even in chips. I get a slight advantage. The final hand, he limps on the button, I have QJ and raise it to 30. He calls. Flop comes QJx with 2 clubs. I bet out, he pushes, I call. He has the flush draw and misses. I take down another week.

As I stated earlier, that puts me 9points ahead of 2nd place. 3 Regular weeks and one double week left. I have to keep my eye on the prize here and stay focused next week.

Wish me luck.

The Big Double Week.

The Double Week took place one week later. As per usual, I say I'm going to pay tight, but the double chips make me play too many hands. But I sat tight.

Slappy took a few beats and went on some serious tilt.
1) Slappy raises from middle position. One caller (Tighty), maybe two. The flop comes K-K-X, two clubs. Checks to Slappy who C-bets. Tighty calls. The Turn brings an X. Check-Check. The river brings the Tc completing the flush. Checks to Slappy who bets... Now here's where it gets weird. First, assuming Slappy didn't have the flush, which I was pretty sure he didn't, I knew he just threw that bet away. There was no way he was getting called by a hand that he beat. Anyone else, maybe, but not against Tighty. Tighty is about points. He can fold with the best of them. No one folds like Tighty. I figured maybe trip Kings, maybe the flush. So, as I said, Slappy bets, and Tighty calls. As soon as he calls I figured he had the flush. Tighty would just call the nut flush because the two Kings on the board. Slappy shows his AA. Definitely, no way he was going to be called by a worse hand. Slappy says he put the guy on QQ or JJ. Which I pointed out, Tighty would NEVER call there. Not with the flush and the two Kings. The weird part of this hand was that Tighty showed a boat. I think it was KT. A boat and just called? Most of us where flabbergasted. We had no idea what happened. Even now, I'm not sure Tighty even saw his boat. Slappy is visibily upset.

I believe there was another beat before that, where it was Slappy with AK and Host with K8. Host flopped an 8. Called Slappys C-bet on the flop (after much deliberation). Then they both checked it down. While a beat, I saw nothing wrong with anyone's play there really.

2) The Big One. Slappy is low on chips at this point. He's in early position and limps. Limps around. Flop comes Tc8c3c. Walken, in a blind, puts in a small bet. Slappy puts in a raise. Walken, re-raises rather quickly. Slappy calls and shows QcTc for the flush. Walken shows T3 for 2 pair. No sweat when the 3 comes on the Turn giving Walken the boat. He improved to Quads with another 3 on the river. That pushed Slappy over the edge. He grabs his things and basically storms out.

Other than that, nothing exciting happens. My only really interesting hand was a fold. I was in middle position with the short stack. Host in early position raises. He will occasional get out of line, but it's rare. Str8>Flush re-raises all-in (he has me covered). I'm not worried about his hand. He will push with anything. I look down at JJ. Normally, insta-call in this spot. I'm a little worried about Host. I figure his range has hands that have me beat and some that I have beat and crushed, plus the 2 races. Ultimately I figure I'm about 50-50 with his range. I think, because I was short, and this is a league about points, I was looking for a reason to fold. I finally, reluctantly fold. Drunky comes over the top. Host says he was just kiddin' with his A9 and folds. Str8>Flush shows A9, Drunky shows AQ. Shoulda called. I had to avoid 3 Qs and an Ace. Even worse, the final board was 25522 for a chopped pot. Dang, would have tripled up. In the end I busted in the middle to add some points. Maintaining my position in first.

To Be Continued...