Well, no LEAGUE poker. Instead one of my “regular” home games got together on Saturday evening. $20 buy-in, unlimited re-buys for the first hour (15 minute levels). There’s usually a cash game after.
Nine players started the tournament. Early on the flop came with paired 6’s a # of times. We started joking that a 6 was the nuts. But you had to have ONE 6, not a pair of sixes. I won a few hands with a 6 or even bluffed some hand with a 6. The host even raised under the gun with 56, and hit trips on the flop, he won a big pot.
The game settled down after a while. I built up a decent stack, but it was starting to dwindle. 3 handed some donkey had a MASSIVE chip stack and the host and I were down to barely anything. Less than 10 BB probably. We both managed a double up or two.
I’m in the BB and have a little less than the host. Slappy is still the big stack. Host pushes all in, Slappy tanks, and I call with 66. Host shows A7. Slappy shows an A. I dodge the flop and the turn, but the river brings an Ace and I busted on the bubble.
The cash games started while those two battled heads up. It went back and forth for probably another 30 minutes.
Early in the cash game (4 handed- .25/.50), I raised UTG with AQ. I got one caller. The flop was all low. I C-bet and got called. The turn was an 8. I checked and gave up control. The caller bet out and I called. I just didn’t think he had much. The river was a J. He bet out again and I just didn’t think he had anything. He’s been known to push hard when he has busted draws. I called and showed A high. He had Q high and I was good. At that point I only built my stack. At one point, I was up to about 70 bucks (from a 20 buy in). As it got late I found myself bleeding chips. Slappy and the host got into the game (Slappy took it down). I still hovered around the 50 mark. In the end there were only 4 of us again: me, host, host’s brother-in-law, some other guy.
We decide it’s the last hand of the night, I’m UTG so I straddle. The host double straddles and cards are dealt. The SB folds, the BB calls the $2, and I look down at AQ. I raise to 5, thinking no one will believe me since I was a straddler. The host repops it to $15. The BB tanks for 5 minutes. He says he doesn’t want to fold the cards, but doesn’t want to go home with nothing. Finally, he reluctantly folds. I can’t really put the host on too much just because of the re-raise. We were all a little punchy and having fun. I push in my remaining stack, and he insta-calls. RUT ROH. He flips AK. BB folded AK. The cards are dealt and I spike a beautiful Queen on the river and end up cashing out of for $100. So minus the 20 buy in and my original 20 for the tournament, I end the night up $60.
Next Sunday is the league game again. The Double Week. I would LOVE to take that down. 1st place is like 300.
Good luck all!
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
No Poker!
Week 7 is in the Books.
Nothing too memorable about this week. Though I took 2nd place. 1st place went to Tiltbox. I had a good chiplead a few hands into heads up. Though I noticed if I limped on the button he would push. So when I look down at AQ on the button, I limp. He pushes, and I call. He shows K8 and hits both his K and 8. The turn is a Q to give SOME sweat, but the river is another 8 and I lose about half my stack. A few hands later it's all over when I get 66 on the button and push. He calls with JJ. He flops a J, I turn a 6 and river does not give me Quads. 2nd place was good for points, but because two people missed this week, I lost $15 for the night.
The second place puts me solidly in 1st place by 9 points. Week 8 will be in two weeks and it's a double week. I hope to keep playing good and getting lucky.
Online, I tilted any funds away. I guess online poker is just a guilty pleasure. I suck at it, but like to play it.
No league this weekend, but one of my regular home games has a tournament on Saturday. I may go to that. Not sure.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
Just A Little Bit More- Part II
Actually, got it up to $7.34 when I continued to play and almost bluffed it off. I guess you can say it worked.
I continued to play because there was a major fish. I stayed after he left because one guy was tilting because he played a bad hand against the fish and the fish caught with 73o.
Tilter followed Fish to another table (I was going to do that, but only because he was a fish, I wasn't tilting). I was watching the table and saw Tilter getting into a big hand with Fish. I decided to try to play off his distraction.
There is one limper and I'm on the button. I limp with 6d8d. Tilter (in the SB) makes it .15. Limper calls, I call. Flop comes JcTd4s. .45 in the pot and Tilter bets .15. I think, BS Continuation bet. Limper folds, I re-pop him to .50, he calls. Uh-oh. The turn is a 9h. I now have the idiot-end of a OESD with a possible straight already out there. He checks.
I figure he might have called the flop raise to save face. And checked to slow down or try to get to showdown cheap (maybe he has a T, or even AK). I bet the pot which is 1.50. He calls. I've now basically bluffed off 1/2 my stack with almost nothing. I'm trying to debate if I think he'll fold (this is .02/.05) or just cut my losses (Me pushing would be about 1/2 pot). I feel tilt taking over and I'm going to push, figuring he has the best hand and probably won't fold.
Suddenly, the beautiful 7h hits the turn. I make my ass-end straight. But at this point, I'm definitely pushing this hand and if he has the better straight, so be it (but I don't think he has it). I push my stack and he folds.
So, I was bluffing the entire time. I hit on the river, but was that considered a successful bluff since I was probably going to push the river either way?
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
Just A Little Bit More
I was busto, my rakeback (rakefreeze.com- tell them Unimpressed sent you) kicked in this week. First time I've gotten any rakeback that I can actually play. A whopping $2.40. I put all of it at one .02/.05 6handed NLHE table. And built it up to a monsterous $5 bankroll. Watch out Durrrr!
Hope I can make it to the league game on time. Though, Drunky was running a little late to the game once and we held it a few minutes. He got there just in time for the first hand. He was dealt AQ. Hit an ace on the board of A6x. Stacked off all his chips to some donk playing A6. Busted out on the first hand.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
I Hate To Say I Told You So But...
I suck at online. I tilt. I don't believe people. I'm sure I'll load a few bucks in the future, but I really should learn to control the tilt. I deposited 20 and play .02/.05 NL short handed, plus 2.25 SnGs. I occasionally played the $6.50 turbo short handed.
I hovered between 15 and 30 most of the time. I was at 32 this morning. I'm down to 0.00. Wait, that's a lie. I saved .01 so that I can chat if I'm railing someone.
I tilted about 10 of it off this afternoon. I took a break and started playing again this evening.
I only won one coinflip. And that was shortstacked in a $6 turbo short stacked tourney. I was on the bubble and my 33 held against AQ. I folded and folded. Against the big stack I have AQ. He pushes from the button and I call with AQ. He has KQ. I hit my Ace on the river, but that gave him a straight and I go out in third.
I tilted my remaining $6.00 in a cash game, when I ran my AK into an obvious AA situation. No way I was good. And the stacks were deep enough that I should have been able to fold it. But I was steaming.
The reason I still had 6 bucks was because of an earlier hand. I had QJ. It's raised to 17 (standard pot preflop raise @ .02/.05). I call. Small blind repops to .29. 1st raiser calls and I call the additional .12. The flop comes KT6 rainbow. It goes check, check, and I bet out pot just under $1.00. It's half my stack and I'm planning on pushing the turn if I get a caller. The SB makes is 3.50 (putting me all in). Original Raiser pushes all in. I call (figuring I was planning on pushing and had to hit anyway, but probably some tilt involved there). The SB calls. They show... KK and 66 for set over set. I hit my beautiful Ace on the river and take in a big stack.
But alas, my online account is tapped. What can one do?
Sunday is week 7 of my poker league. I may have to show up late. Going to be in NY and plan on having an early dinner with the in-laws. If we can finish up in just over an hour, I might be able to make it.
Tomorrow Disney with my daughter. My poor parents are going to be watching the little one all day. May be too much for old people to handle.
For anyone interested, I've been updating my twitter account someone frequently. Poker and non-poker items. Feel free to follow me. http://twitter.com/Unimpressed.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
Live Poker in Ocala, FL
"It's illegal to play poker for money in Florida."
"No, it is. It's been legal at the indian casinos and about 2 years ago they started allowing it at the paramutuals."
"Uh-huh. What do you play with... matchsticks? Because it's illegal to play for money."
I know my parents live here, but seriously, do they think I'm just making this up. Since we weren't going to Disney on Tuesday because of the chance of rain (good decision as it's pouring now), I decided to hit up the Ocala Poker Room. It's was just a Jai-Alai club, but with the expansion of poker in Florida, many of the paramutuals have added poker rooms. For more on Florida poker, check out Florida's premier poker magazine, Ante Up Magazine.
Since we're on vacation with no rental car, I was forced to borrow my folks tricky Lincoln. First rule... don't open the driver side window. 2nd Rule, after unlocking the door, wait a few seconds before opening, so the alarm doesn't go off. Properly given the rules, I start to backout the driveway. My mom suddenly comes running out. "Oh and one more thing. No matter what, DO NOT TURN ON THE RADIO." Um... OK. Granted this car is 11 years old, but still. Should I worry about the hour drive? I decide to risk it. I want to play some live poker.
Turns out it was only a 40 minute drive. Mostly because it was 8:45 and everyone in Florida was sleeping. If anyone plans on going, you should know that Google gives you wrong directions. It says that getting off 75 you turn left (coming from the south), or head west. It's actually east. The directions from the website are accurate.
The place was mostly paramutual with lots of screens showing various races. The poker room was off to the right when you first walk in. I was planning on doing a proper review, but really, I got there at 9:30 and it's only open until 12. So I sat down with $60 at a 2/2 NLHE table.
I don't have a lot of experiences with live poker rooms. In fact, other than Foxwoods, this is only the 2nd poker room I've seen. Mohegan Sun just opened up their room. And I haven't been to a AC or Las Vegas since I started playing poker. Foxwoods is HUGE. The 2nd largest poker room in the US, I think. Definitely in the top 5. So this was small, about 40 tables. But on a Monday night, it was about 1/2 full.
I don't get many hands early on. The first real hand, I have Tx in the big blind. Flop is KJQ, 2 spades. I check, middle position bets about 1/2 pot. the button calls and I call. The turn is a low 3rd spade and it checks around. The river brings a 9. Giving me a straight. I check, the middle postion guy makes a small bet. The button thinks for a while and puts in his entire stack of about 40+. That almost covers me at this point. I really put him on a flush there. I decide that at best it's a chop. The bettor calls and they both show down a 10. I don't mind my lay down there since I knew I wasn't winning the hand outright. At best it was a 3way chop.
Later on, the same guy that pushed in that last hand, is short stacked ($23). He already made it clear he was pushing in blind. I'm 2 spots from him and decide that I didn't have many more chips, and figured I'd re-buy here. I just call with 8s6s. The button repops it and I have no choice but to call my last 15 prepared to re-buy. I'm up against AJ (raiser) and 2-4 (blind pusher). I hit a 6 and end the hand with a boat. I sheepishly rake in the chips.
A few hands later, I raise with KJ and get two callers. I flop 2 pair and bet out. The guy to my immediate right calls. Turn is a 9. He bets and I raise. He pushes all in. I don't know why, but I called. He of course shows QT. I don't boat and lose 1/2 my stack.
After that I get a string of good hands and start raising 10 ($6 raises didn't do anything). I was accused of being on tilt, but could not get any callers. The toughest was when I raised to 1o the 3rd time in a row with KK got one caller, hit a K and bet out (which I did that last two times). The guy folded.
I ended up winning a big hand with Jx in the BB at the end of the night. I hit a jack, but there was an ace as well. I bet it and get one caller from this old guy who calls everything. This old guy called everything. The dealers all knew him, but didn't think much of his play. I did worry my jack was no good until another jack hit. I really hoped he hit an ace. The river was the case J. I didn't have many chips left. Just under 1/2 the pot. I was going to bet less, but figured that would be obvious. I threw in the last of my stack and waited. The guy tanked for a while (which wasn't uncommon). In the end he folded. I showed my quads.
The final hand I played for the night left me with a small profit. All night I didn't play my draws very strong. With one hand, I raised on the button with Adxd I got two callers (one was old guy). The flop was 356, two diamonds. First limper bets, old guy calls and I push. Bettor tanks and calls, old guy calls. I hit the flush and show. The bettor folds his smaller flush. Old guy stares and stares at his cards, shows his neighbor and mucks. Had 22. Called 2 all-ins with 22.
I don't get any more hands and go home a $17 winner. WOO HOO! I enjoyed the time and liked the poker room. I recommend it if you're close by. I can't comment on any of the other Tampa Bay poker rooms though.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
On Vacation
I'm on vacation this week, visiting my folks in Florida. We're going to hit Disney one day. I'm also going to try to hit the Ocala Poker room one evening. Maybe I'll have a review.
Luckily, the guys at my poker league decided to cancel this weeks game because of the holiday. They normally don't cancel the regular weeks, you just have to miss it.
Week 6
I was going to write a post about the lack of people playing small stakes SnGs on Full Tilt. I waited about 5-10 minutes for 1 short handed tournament to start. First hand I'm dealt AhTh in the small blind. I go to raise it up. DAMN IT! It's limit!
So on to week 6 of my poker league.
This week we finally had some play to the first level. Took over an hour before someone busted. Courtesy of yours truly, in an awfuckit call. I managed to accumulate some chips early and Drunky was short stacked. He pushed all-in. When I counted out my stack, I still had more than my starting stack. I had 8-9 sooooted. It came down to wanting to play the hand. No idea why. Just wanted to gamble. He had two overs, and I hit. I busted him. I felt bad for Drunky. Six weeks and he's first out 4 of those 6 times. And he won the last season.
Game progresses and I continue to get hands. Not "hit in the face" with the deck, but it definitely grazed me a few times. I only had one complete bluff all night with 72. I raised preflop. Got the BB (Host) to call. I continuation bet into a T6x (can't remember that card). He thought hard and ended up folding. I didn't show.
About 1/2 way through, I have a HUGE stack. UTG (Tiltbox) pushes all in. I'm in the SB but have a crappy hand, so I let it go. He takes it down. On the button I look down on KT. Folds to me and I limp. I feel like he's going to push with anything there. SB Folds and I'm right he pushes. I hesitate, but end up calling. I had planned that, right? Gotta stick with the plan. I call and Tiltbox has AQ. I flop a T and even river a K. We collect the chips quickly before he starts throwing them. As he's known to do.
I have a monstrous stack and go heads up with the biggest donkey of them all. He can't even spell POKER.
As expected, he starts gaining on me. I hit a few hands by hitting top or middle pair and push my stack around, but he seems to win any pot that I don't hit. I can't bring myself to pick off a bluff.
We're close to even, but I have the lead. I make a small raise with JJ on the button He pushes and I call. He flips over KdQd. The river doesn't help and puts one diamond out there. The turn brings a 2nd diamond and I'm sweating 15 outs. It doesn't come and I take 1st for the second week in a row. I also take over the overall lead by a few 3 points. Even better for me. That win gave me the enough cash to cover the buy-ins for the rest of the season. Anything else will be all profit. If I could pull off an overall win I can head to down to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun and play with more than one bullet.
We're off next week, which is good, since I'll be out of town. If we were going to be in Florida a little longer, I might have been able to hit up the Ocala Jai Lai and Poker. But since we're not there for long and will be doing one day in Disney with our daughter, I won't get the time to play.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
The Players
Here's a breakdown of the players in this poker league:
Me- I would definitely classify myself as passive right now. I'm working on upping the aggression. I feel like I've been both playing bad and not getting cards, so I've been a bit reserved.
Brian- Obviously a good player. We'll leave it at that.
Host- Another decent player. I think he's pretty straightforward, tight-aggressive, with the occasional bluff here and there. He's won the league a few times. He's a bit distracted with personal problems so I don't know if he'll go far.
Walken- He's the new guy to the league. Likes to do impressions while he plays. He's aggressive and puts pressure if you show weakness. Probably going to be the guy to beat.
Drunky- Plays drunk and gets drunker as the night goes. Very aggressive and likes to bluff. I've seen him so drunk that he could barely stand, but come back from practically 1 chip and win. Apparently won the league last season.
Tighty- Too tight to really win unless he gets hit by the deck, but will almost NEVER be the first one out. He'll often be one of the last 3-4 players in the game and probably be in the race for points.
St8>Flush- The opposite of Tighty. He finally has learned that a flush beats a straight, and he's toned down his aggression a little, and even tightened up his starting hands a little. But he will still play any two suited cards for raises. Likes to make "aw Fuck it!" calls. Him and I had a lot of run-ins last time. This time he seems to be the bane of Brian's existence. He'll win a week or two, but won't be in contention for the overall points.
Muscles- Just a bad player. I busted him last week when I rivered a K high flush (4flush on the board) and he called with A4 (with nothing but a pair of Aces). I've seen him get lucky once and win.
Tiltbox- Similar to Muscles, but probably a little better of a player.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
A New Day
I feel like blogging again, but not sure how much I have to say.
I haven't been playing online. It's a waste of money for me. I just don't play well online. With that said, I just gave some cash to a buddy who is now currently FLUSH with online cash and he transferred me some Full Tilt money (and I'm a playing a couple of cheap SnG's while I'm typing).
...more...
Congratulations Brian. That is some awesome work. Nice consistency! Lets hope you keep playing great in the blogger event... and donking it up in our League.
So the League started up. Oh wait. A LOT has changed in my life. My last post was back in October. I finished up this same league back than. I tied for 2nd place over all so squeaked by with only a little cash overall. I was up over that 16 week period which was nice. They started up the next season, but I took a break. Why you may ask?
Well, on December 8th, my son was born (We already have a 5 year old daughter). He was a big fella too. 9lbs 9oz. So that's taken up my life. He was 2+ years in the making and a lot of trouble to bring into this world. But worth every bit of pain and money it cost.
So the league finished up and a new season started up. I was invited again, and this time I brought along Brian. Not sure why, the league only has a few good players and I definitely think Brian is better than me, however, he's a friend and I can seem to hold my own around him.
I decided to join. I almost didn't. I've had a string of big losses (big for me mind you) at various home games and I was ready to put poker down for a little bit. Plus it's every Sunday night for 16+ weeks, it's a big commitment. But I decided to try it. Put all other poker on hold and see what I do.
If your interested, here's the breakdown of the rule. Major League. The only change is the payout, and it's only slightly different. 2nd place gets their money back plus a little more. The amount is still in question (buyin is 25 and 2nd place gets either 30 or 40).
Just a quick recap of the blind structure. You start with 20 BBs. Blinds don't go up until the first person busts, than they double right then, and double every half hour (1/2, 2/4, 4/8). After 4/8 it goes to 5/10. There isn't much play, especially if someone busts on the first hand. You go from 20 BBs to 10BBs in one hand.
We've finished week 5. I started off slow.
Going out in the middle of the pack in week 1, and a little earlier in the 2nd week. Week 3 saw me finish either 3rd or 2nd (I can't seem to remember).
Week 4 things got interesting.
About 20-30 minutes (no one busted yet) into the game, it limps around to me, and I look down at AJ in position. I raise it to 6 and get a call from one of the blinds (the perpetual drunk guy) and one of the limpers (Christopher Walken). The flop hits me pretty good. J-5-2, two spades. It checks around to me and I decide to bet out 10. Now I've put 16 chips into this pot. That's about 1/2 my stack at this point. Drunky goes all in (has me covered). Walken calls. HUH? If it was just one of them, I'd have to call, since a flush draw is definitely a possibility. I still thought about calling thinking both could be on a flush draw and thus they have less outs. I think for a while and finally muck AJ face up. Now out of the 9 guys, I'd say 1/2 are OK-good players. The rest were all flabbergasted that I could fold top pair top kicker. In the end, Drunky slowplayed pocket Aces, but Walken hit his set of deuces and even quaded up along the way.
I ended up with about 11 chips. Which was an estimate, because some how, all my chips got pushed into the middle and had to figure out what was mine. We estimated at 11 and I got that back. I managed to hold tight and get a lucky double up at some point. Made it heads up with Walken, got to even and he proposed a chop of the money. We weren't sure if 1/2 points were allowed so we decided to deal out a hand in order to figure out who got the extra point for 1st place. Walken got it and I took 2nd. I normally wouldn't have taken the deal, but with just a disparity in prize money between 1st and 2nd, I needed the split in order to fund a few more weeks of the league.
Week 5 went pretty well for me. I got some hands (something I haven't felt I've gotten much in the first few weeks or previous home games). I managed to go heads up against Tighty McTighty (we tied for 2nd place overall last time I played), but I had a HUGE chip lead. I just kept pushing until I won a hand.
So with the 5 weeks, I started off slow, but now I'm in 2nd and behind 1st place (Walken) by 3-4 points.
I'm still not feeling great about my game, but the last two weeks have boosted my confidence a little bit.
With that said, I did finished in 2nd and 1st in the two SnGs I just played. Maybe things are looking up.
-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.
