1) Veered off from my usual Pokerroom.com site and deposited some cash into FullTiltPoker.com gotta say I'm liking it. I'm sticking with SnGs ($5.50 buyins) and micro limit cash game ($.05/$0.10 NL) until I can beat those on a consistent basis. After a few days I turned $100 into $120, majority of that from a 2nd and 1st in SNGs.
2) To assist, I downloaded PokerTracker.com and while I'm not quite ready to give it a review, I will say that just messing with the basics, it is AWESOME. Great stats. And if you download that, you MUST get the Gametime+ add-on.
3) And finally, went to see my in-laws this weekend, and as per usual, my brother-in-law set up a home game.
As usual, my brother-in-law (BIL here on out) calls me to tell me he has a game going saturday night after work (11pm). So I ask the buy-in, he says $30. I know, it won't be $30 so I hit the ATM and pull out $50. Sure enough, it's $50 (In my BILs defense, he always offers to put in the extra if it goes more than he says, but as usual, I decline). So...
9 players, $50 eachPayout: $250/$150/$50
Starting: $10,000 in chips
Blinds start at $50-$100 and raise every 30 minutes. (At first I was thinking that they need to change it as the typical 9 player game will last 3+ hours, but it allows for play)
Of course my daughter slept poorly the night before so I was awake @ 5:30am that morning. But hey, it's poker. I fell asleep before he called, and was going to decline but knew i had to go out anyway and get some milk, so figured I might as well play.
I've played with a couple of them before. No one is particularly great, including myself. There were a few new people I didn't recognize, including a 16 yo who was HYPER-aggressive (and that coming from me), but he was very lucky. I put the first guy out (forgot what I had) and had a significant chip leader, unfortunately a few hands later I was dealt AK. I raised $1k, and was surprised to find a number of callers then was hit with a re-raise all-in (which was about 5K, while I had close to 15K). I figured, if I called everyone would fold, so I called. Had one other guy call, but then the rest folded, and we checked down to the end. Unfortunately the all-in showed JJs that held up and he tripled up. So I was back down to the average chip stack. Few more folks got knocked out (when 4 folks were knocked out they started a second game @ $50).
I'll admit, I tightened up a bit when we got to 4 handed. I didn't fold good hands, but I didn't press if someone showed strength. The 4th person went out and it was left to 3 of us: myself, the super aggressive 16yo, and the guy who went all-in with JJs (Kyle) earlier and tripled up. Now that I was guaranteed not to lose any money, the gloves came off and I was playing to win. We all had relatively the same chip stack. Kyle hit the 16yo pretty hard on a hand, taking about half his stack. A few hands later, I had A8, and flopped A8x. A well placed bet, followed by a check at the right time and I got him all-in. And took him down. I don't know what he said, but he mucked as soon as I said Aces, didn't even get to say my Eights.
Heads up with Kyle, this is where I normally shine. (Side note: Last time I was in my BIL's home game, I went heads up against Kyle. At heads up he had about $90,000 in chips to my $7000- we started with $9700 each... and I won) This time we were about even in chips. I played an aggressive game and slowly started to wear him down. I looked down at Q8o, raise, he called. Flop came 3-6-8. He bet, I just called. Turn came a J. he checked, I bet, he made a raise of about 1/3 of his chips. I thought for a second and re-raised all-in. He called and flipped over 10-6. A blank of the river and I was $250 dollars richer.
Meanwhile they were just about ot start ANOTHER game. Damn, people putting in $150 in the night. I need to get into the restuarant business. By that time it was 2am and I was done for the night.
Three Items of Personal Poker News
A Few Hours @ Foxwoods
Another unsuccessful month of poker. I'm starting to get a complex, the only plus side is that I know I played well, just got unlucky and bad cards.
Before I get to the recap, just a heads up. I plan on hitting Foxwoods the first week of March with my brother-in-law and hitting one of their daily tournaments. I'll also give the ACT I a whack to try to win my way into the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic.
Foxwoods:
My father-in-law and I headed down to Foxwoods for an afternoon. I sat down at $2-$4 limit table (buy-in for $60) and decided to play tight. Not to just jump in on anything. A few hands in I get pocket 10s and they hold up to bring me up to $95. From there, the cards went cold. I didn't get jump and play anything I shouldn't, I played smart... for the most part. Only other hand I won, was AQ that nailed a Q on the river. I was there for 3 hours and only won those two hands. Towards the end, I did get impatient and play poorly. Twice played mediocre hands, and hit middle pair. But after the turn there were 4 to a straight and both times my opponent had the straight and I knew it. That was the worse part. But I take solice in the fact that for 2 1/2 hours I played smart patient poker, just didn't have the cards.
Monthly Home Game:
January: Honestly, I don't remember much except I was there, played 7 games. Won one, placed 2nd in another won and was only down $5 for the night. Would have been even, but I forgot my Xbox controller, went back inside and got suckered into a $5.00 buy-in.
February: This took place the week after my Foxwoods Trip. Now, for various reasons, I won't get into, I was only playing one game instead of the usual 6 or 7 so I wanted to make this one count. These folks know me as an aggressive player. So I decided to tighten things up. A few hands in I pick up A6 suited. I'm left with someone who doesn't know my style that well as we've only played together once before. However, he is hyper aggressive. So the flop comes, junk, misses me completely. I figure I'll take on shot at a bluff and if he comes back over the top, I'll fold. I lay out a 1/2 pot sized bet. He hesitates, but then calls. At that point I knew I had him. The Turn: nothing that helps me. I put in pot sized bet and he folds. I flip over my bluff to make sure everyone thinks I'm playing my normal aggressive self, and tighten up. For the next hour I'm winning plenty and watch as a few more people get knocked out. There's four left. I look down at Pocket AAs. The guy before me calls, I raise it everyone folds to him and he goes All-In. He's barely finished saying all-in when I call. He groans knowing I have him. He flips over pocket 8s. I have him covered and will have a significant chip lead if I win. The river was 5-6-7 giving him more outs. Turn doesnt help (6). As it turns out he didn't need the extra outs as he hit the 8 on the river. I was crippled and went out a little while later.
Now I've gotten over my need to tell bad beat stories, but I tell this one because it hurt a little more than normal. I played so much better than I normally do and felt like I had this game in the bag. Maybe it's a sign of me turning my game around. It's been on a downward spiral for the last few months.
So that's my story, thank you for sticking around.
