I came into the game, ready to play. I was over the miscounting of chips issue, and made a few jokes about it. I was also a bit more comfortable with these folks, so I was able joke a bit with them. They are definitely a bunch of ex-frat boys. Many of them show up a bit drunk and continue to get drunker... works nicely for the few of us that are sober.
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The game started, and we had an elimination pretty quickly. I can't remember the hand, but it was maybe 10 minutes in. Blinds went up and the timer started. The next few people were out. I was beginning to get the feel of a table, even though i still don't know a few of their names (I need to work on that). I finally got hands early and was able to get some chips. I hit some big hands. I tried to a lot of slow playing, but people weren't falling for it. I think next week I'll play faster with my big hands, just to change things up.
There was an incident with the 2nd bust out (which was maybe 8 hands in), where the chip leader went all in, one player folded, and another called. The chip leader won the hand and knocked out another player. The guy you folded, got up to use the bathroom, and his chips got swept into the pot. We realized that before the next hand luckily and when he came back down we were able to figure out how much he had and fixed the stats. If it would have been later, we would have had a problem. Luckily we resolved it.
I was starting to get low in chips when I limped with JT, the guy who won last week (who REALLY doesn't know how to play, except for his aggressive nature) raised me all in. He had me covered, I thought about it and figuring there was a slight chance I was ahead (but also figured I needed to gamble at some point), I decided to call. He flipped over K7 or something similar. I caught a ten on the flop and took a big double up. Now a little more about him... he thinks soooooted is the nuts. At one point, he has a lot of chips, and raises from middle position. One of the blinds, pushes all in. He's short but it's still a significant raise. Sooootedboy thinks and think and think... and calls... Flips of J4 of clubs. His opponent had AK and doubled up. Soooootedboy would later cripple the same guy when he called another all-in. His opponent shows AJ but Sooootedboy shows QQ.
We get to three handed, with Me, Soooootedboy (just like last week) and a bald dude (bald dude jumped out to an early massive stack, busting the 1st 3 people). I have a slight lead. I went card dead and kept giving Sooooted boy my small blind. I just didn't want to play a hand with 75 or 97 or j5. So I willingly gave up my SB to his BB. I managed to steal some blinds, usually if I was on the button when I put in big raises, but I usually had a hand there. Finally, I'm given Ac2c in the small blind. I'm hoping the button folds, which he does, and I push. Now, any decent player would realize, I folded my SB to this guy about 6 or 7 times. Suddenly I'm pushing. I might have something. He does think about it for a while, finally he calls, figuring he has to "be in it to win it." He flips over Jc5c. He is horrified to see that I have his club flush blocked. Like that's his only problem. I know a J or a 5 is coming. that's just how he rolls. I figured my eyes were broken when for some strange reason they start seeing an Ace on the board. I manage to bust him and get to heads up with a massive chip lead.
The money is put on the table and they pull aside 2nd places $20.00. I comment about how 2nd place money is an insult. That it would be much better if it was even $40 to second place and $140 to first. $40 would give 2nd place a freeroll into the following week (more or less). But that's the way they do it, I was just making commentary. I joke about watching me lose this chip lead and only get that 2nd place money.
First hand of heads up, I'm the button... AA. Nice. I limp, hoping my opponent would push all in. He's got a really short stack. He just checks and I see a flop I'm not all that happy about. 78J rainbow. He things for a few seconds, then pushes, and I think about it for a second, but figure this is still a good shot to try to win this outright. A double up would still leave me with a pretty big chip lead. I call and flip up my Aces. He flips over a respectable T7. He's got 2 7's 3 Ts and 4 8s. None of those come on the turn or the river, and I take first place. I'm glad 2nd place only gets $20.
Week 3: 9 points, $160.00 Cash Total points: 17.
That total points puts me in 4th place. Soootedboy has 19 points for 2nd place. I'm going to try to hold on to the cash as it will serve me for another 8 buy-ins. 1 more win and I'll be "freerolling" the actual tournament buy-ins. I'll still have my end of the season prize pools though.
Total Tournament Buy-ins: $360 (Mine will be $340 since I missed week one). Total Prize Pool extra: $90.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
The League: Week 3
Horse Prop Bet
There are 67 runners left out of 148.
Bet 1 with Slappy:
SLAPPY
Greenstein - 2nd in chips
Bloch - 25th in chipsDeeb
ME
Ivey - 41st in chipsAntioniusSinger
It's not looking good for me.
Against Jordan of HighOnPoker:
HoP
Bloch - 25th in chips
Lindgren - 16th in chips
ME
Greenstein - 2nd in chips
Ivey - 41st in chips
I'm in better position this one. Let's just hope Ivey can pull this out. I think they'll get to final table tonight, so it may be settled tonight. I'll be a little happier if Andy Bloch would just bust out.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
The League Weeks 1 & 2
Here's a recap of week 1.
I took a horrendous beat and I wasn't able to make it.
A 6 hour car trip from Virginia turned into a 12 hour trip, with a 2 1/2 hour stop on the GW Bridge.
Week 1: 0 points, $0 Cash
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Week 2.
I begin the week in last place overall with 0 points. I have some ground to make up.
My first game. I played super tight. Not getting much to work with. I don't know any of the players, and they don't know me. The guy on my left is pretty aggressive, but will lay down if he has nothing. There was a hand where the pot was about 50+ chips and a re-raised him all-in on the river, but it was only 9 more chips. He folded. Must have had like 34 or something that there was no chance of winning. After a while I got the hang of him. I'd limp with a decent hand, knowing he's going to raise, and then when it got back to him, I'd re-pop it. I did that a few times.
There are a few people who know very little about poker (including one who had to be reminded that a flush beats a straight). There are a few people who know how to play and then the rest somewhere in between. That's my first impression.
This night pots got big pretty quick, and the one person I kind of know, the one who invited me (our kids are in daycare together), said it was rare that they get that big so early. Also, the tournament last about 3 1/2 hours, and he said that was a little on the long side.
At one point I'm getting short and I'm dealt AK. It comes around to me, I raise to 3x. The BB (flush vs straight guy) re-pops me, and I push. It's decent size raise and he thinks for a moment then calls. Now I haven't played many hands. Again, I'm playing very tight. BB flips over KT and I double up. The aggressive guy on my left (I'm going to have to come up with names for these folks) starts to give the BB crap, "What did you put him on? I mean really. What?" He asked him that a few times. The BB knows little about poker and I'm sure he didn't put that much thought into it. A few of us convinced the aggressive guy to cut it out.
Shortly after that hand, I realize I have the tight image so I make sure I get caught in a bluff. I had a decent enough stack that losing the pot didn't hurt. I saw a free flop with 7d3d. Missed me completely with T high. we both checked the flop. I bet the flop he called. we both checked when a Q came on the turn. A blank river and I bet out small. The guy thought a while about calling me with top pair (tens) and a medium kicker. But the chatter involved paying me off to get info. So when he called, I told him he got me and showed my 73.
The game continues. I bust the aggressive guy when there's a limper, I limp with TT, knowing he'll raise, which he does, it folds around to me, and I re-pop him. He thinks and then calls with AQ. I flop a T and bust him. 3 handed lasted a while. Me, the one guy I know and the Flush vs Straight guy. It was a very tight 3 handed group. When i was in the BB, the SB was the guy I know and the button was Flush vs Straight. We pretty much stayed about teh same in chips, each of us getting our share of the blinds. At one point, when I was in the BB, the button folded and the SB pushed, he had been shortstacked for most of three handed, but when ever he pushed I had very little call with and I doubled him up at one point, but now he was back down. He pushed and I look down at K7. A crappy hand, but I figured, he may just push with any Q or J at this point (since he only had one hand before he had to play the BB and would be committed with anything). I called. I was hoping even for a very weak Ace. But no, of course he has to have KQ. Grrr.
Flop comes 5-6-x, a 9 on the turn gives me 7 outs, and a beautiful 8 hit on the river. Giving me the straight and busting him. I make it to heads up. I'm on the Button and have junk so I fold. The next hand I get A2. the BB pushes, and I call. He has 84 suited and turns an 8. We look about even, so we count our chips. He tells me he has 143 chips. I'm counting mine out and see that he has me covered (yes the guy who can't remember that a flush beats a straight won). I push in my chips, tell him good game, exchange pleasantries with the people that stuck around and headed home.
Week 2: 8 points, $20.00 Cash
As I'm driving I start thinking about my chip stack. I had them in stacks of twenty and I was thinking about the # of stacks I had. I think I may have miscounted. I then start to do the math:
9 players @ 40 chips = 360 chips.
360 minus 143= 217
217-143= 74.
Yikes, I had 74 chips (blinds were 10/20). Heck, I would have been the button and only had to put in 10 chips. I could have folded any really crappy hand. I could have come back. I'M HERPES!!!! YOU CAN'T GET RID OF ME!!!
Now I'm on tilt all week thinking about my lost chance. One counting error and I go from possiblying winning 160 to only getting 20. BLAH!!!! TILT!!!!
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic (and math is hard!).
Major League
I've joined a live poker league. It's a bit long, but surprisingly, a sunday night weekly event works out nicely for my schedule. It's 16 weeks of poker (a few more for scheduling changes) with a point system. Each week, a portion of the buy-in (20+5 and 40+10) goes into a large pool. At the end of the season, the person with the most points gets 75% of the pool. 2nd place gets 25%.
...more...
You get points for how you finish. Get knocked out first, you get one point. Win and you get 9 (there are 9 people in the league). Week 8 and week 16 are double weeks (buy ins double, stacks double, I think points double). If you miss a week, you get 0 points (but you can't miss weeks 8 or 16, the schedule will be adjusted to accommodate everyone).
Normally, each player gets 40 chips (week 8 & 16 you get 40 chips) and the blinds are 1/2, until the first person busts, then it doubles every 30 minutes (expect it goes from 4/8 to 5/10). I'm usually not a fan of constant doubling of the blinds, but the 30 minute levels makes it feel like there is some play.
The pay out for each individual tournament is a bit unruly. 2nd place gets their buy-in back (not including the money that goes into the pool) and first gets the rest.
They have a things I think are weird. I think, I'm not sure, I have to double check, if 2 people get busted, they both get the same amount of points, doesn't matter who had the bigger stack (this happened in week 2, I'll have to check the points next week). Also, they kind of ignore where the button after bustouts. Meaning, you won't have to pay the big blind twice, but you might get lucky and miss a round of blinds. I think that's kind of crazy, but apparently they've been doing this for a few years. As I'm new and don't really know anyone, I'm not gonna rock the boat.
So I think that's about it. I'm kind of excited, since this will be the most live poker I've played, consistently. After the 16 weeks, I'll probably have played more poker there, than at all my casino trips in the past combined.
Unfortunately, it means I'll probably be skipping any up coming "monthly" home games. I think going twice in one weekend to play poker might lead my wife to leave me. I may be able to hit an August home game @ Slappy's since it will be his first in his new house.
Anyway, that's it for the info. We finished up week 2 this past sunday, and I'll have an update soon.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
2008 WSOP Prop Bet
Well the WSOP is here and I've been following it... somewhat closely. Mostly that involves checking Dr. Pauly's Blog and reviewing winners on Wikipedia's 2008 WSOP Results site.
With that, I totally forgot the 50K H.O.R.S.E. Event was starting today. I've quickly put together a couple of prop bets.
First, one with Slappy. Last Longer. Three pros each. We flipped a coin and he won. Here are the results
1) Barry Greenstein (Slappy)- this was going to be my first pick.
2) Phil Ivey (Unimpressed)- almost a no brainer
3) Patrik Antonius (Unimpressed
4) Andy Bloch (Slappy)- He was also on my shortlist.
5) Freddy Deeb (Slappy)- Last year's champion, I just don't think he'll repeat.
6) David Singer (Unimpressed)- Final tabled this event every time it's been held (twice), and won his first bracelet this year. I think he might potentially win it all.
Second bet is the same basic format. But there are alternates, in case any of our picks don't make it (unlikely since our main picks are almost definitely playing in it). This one is with Jordan from HighOnPoker. Jordan and I had two WSOP prop bet last year. Pick'em Horserace (bracelet and final tables), which I won. Thank you Phil Helmuth. And the # of entrants into the Main Event, which he won (I picked way too high). I netted a big $1.00 total, which, since we don't live near each other, and FTP has a $5.00 minimum transfer, wasn't worth taking the time to transfer and called it a wash. Here's the picks so far:
1) Patrik Antonius (HoP)
2) Greenstein (Unimpressed)
3) Ivey (Unimpressed)
4) Bloch (HoP)
5) Lindgren (HoP)
6) David Benyamine (Unimpressed)
7) David Singer (Unimpressed- alternate).
*edit*
8) Gus Hansen (HoP- alternate)
9) Allen Cunningham (HoP- alternate)
10) Doyle Brunson (Unimpressed- alternate).
Obviously I hope Ivey wins the entire thing. Or Benyamine. I probably should have put more thought into my picks to even them out. Can't really root for Greenstein because then Slappy wins won. OR Antonius, then Jordan wins won. Oh well. We'll see how this goes.
If I had to choose either Greenstein or Antonius winning, I'm not sure who I'd pick. The bet with Jordan is a little more than the bet with Slappy, but Slappy money is the best kind of money!
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
The Hunger
Well I'm back.
I got about $50.00 from rakeback. Thank you Slappy. So I decided to play again. I mostly stick around the .25/.50 game, buying in for $25. I also play in SnGs, $6.00+.50 (turbo's, heads up, 6 handed and 9 handed), with the occasional $11+1(turbo) if I'm winning. I started off not being able to cash in any SnGs, but then went on a mini rushed and cashed in a bunch in a row including a win or two.
I tried one big jump... I took the profit from a successful cash game session and bought into a 4 person HU shootout for 20+1.50. I was WAY out matched. I used to be a decent heads up player. Not so much.
First match I'm playing weak tight. Folding a ton, no continuation bets. My opponent suddenly got really aggressive. I get tired of his raises and called one with 62 off. The flop comes Q65. He bets, and I decide to take a stand. I push (he has small chip lead). He happily calls and shows AQ. I river a 2 and cripple him. Next hand I have AA and I'm on to my 2nd match. I have a while to wait, as these two play for a while. Finally it ends. Apparently there was some jawing back and forth. The less angry person won. Isn't that usually they way?
My opponent once again, outplayed me. I just didn't have the aggression. Even though this was all profit for me, I was still playing scared. In the end, I can't fault my play too bad. Maybe I can. I have T8 on a board of 9TJ. I bet, she raises, and I push. I figured middle pair and an OESD is pretty good. Again, I was pushing back because of her previous aggression. She has, other than QK, she has pretty much the worst hand I could face. J8. I'm basically hoping for 10 cards. And 8 of them give me a chop. Nothing comes, and I'm out.
I'm once again enjoying poker and want to see if this can last. I currently have my account at around 100. It's been up to 125 and down to around 50 recently, but I manage to pull it back up when I suffer losses.
I'm also showing more aggression and getting an idea of when some folks are weak and when they're not. I've noticed myself making a few more re-pops when I think people are weak and being right.
I will probably have more posts soon (not that I think I have any readers anymore). I've playing more online and I've just joined a 16 week poker league. More on that later.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
