Suck Out Saves The Day

Playing in a NL game on FTP, this morning. I bought in for the max. And a few hands in I'm dealt KcQc in the SB. EP guy raises to 3x the BB. MP, Button, Me, BB all call. Five to the flop.

FLOP: 5d - Kh - 6d.

I bet the Pot, it folds around to BB, who min raises me pretty quickly. I think about just calling, but the moron in me says RAISE, RAISE!!!! So I push all-in. Stupid! He insta-calls and has me covered by a little bit.

He shows AdKd, for top pair, top kicker WITH the nut flush draw. Kickin' myself.

TURN: Qs - JACK POT!

Now I have to dodge an ace and any diamond.

RIVER: 5c. WOO HOO!!

My first suck out... EVER!!!!







No, not really, but probably my biggest win from a suckout.

... And Sometimes You're Just a Big F'in Donkey!

The Ante Up AIPS Touranment's 9th Event took place Thursday night. It was a Limit Hold 'em Event, which I've been doing quite well in LHE cash games. Yes, tournaments are different (with blinds increasing) but that still didn't explain my total sucking and playing soooo loose, and betting down to the river with absolutely nothing. It was ugly. Horribly ugly. I did play some limit cash games after I busted out (I think I was 4th out or something) and make some of that back. Still, overall, it was a disappointing evening.

----
I'm clumsy, but it's never cost me $139 million.

Sometimes You're Just Not Meant to Win.

That's not to say you won't cash, but you're not going to win.

I entered a 45-person SnG. While I waited for it to start I "sat" down at a .50/1.00 limit and proceeded to win my buy-in to the SnG, plus the money I lost earlier. YEAH! Free SnG.

So it starts, and I wait, and I wait, and I wait. I'm not playing supertight, but I'm not going broke with top pair either. Most of the time I'm below average in chips. At around 3 tables, I being to accumulate decent chips. I make the final table with about average (top 6 pay). I make the money and sometime after # 6 busts out, I'm chip leader. To a point where I have almost 30k, and 2nd has about 17k, and the last three have between 5k-7k. I lose some chips, but not too many. Still have a healthy lead.

I'm dealt AKs in UTG. I make a raise of about 3.5x the BB. Folds around to the BB. My raise is for nearly all his chips so he pretty much has to push. It's nothing to me. I call. He shows a beautiful AQ. I'm doin' the Cabbage Patch at my desk. Oh wait... I need to see a flop. How bad can it be.

Q-x-Q. Ouch. Ok, I have about 19K in chips. I'm still good.

Next hand, I have ATs in the big blind. There's two limpers, including the small blind (AQ guy). I push to take the pot. One folds, but SB calls, he's all in again. I have him beat (but not too bad this time) as he flips over KQ. Of course he rivers a K. I'm suddenly in a 3 way race for last. I feel a little tilt coming on but manage to shake it off and play smart. I still have enough chips to make people fold (my stack is about 1/3 of the chip leader). I steal some blinds with K3s and the like. I actually get up to 2nd place. In the end, I get crippled (by the same guy who sucked out on me twice), but I forgot the hand. I'm left with barely any chips left. Wasn't even enough for the BB (which I was). They both call and check it down. I'm outta there, but I finished in third and had a decent payday (about 7x the buy-in).

It feels good to play good poker... especially after donking off so much on Sunday morning.

Picture Moths Flying Out of My Pockets.

Well for the last week or two, I've been messing around with about $100 on FTP, I've been up, I've been down, nothing unusual. I'm at the in-laws this weekend and wake up at 4am. I couldn't fall back asleep. If you get up to use the bathroom you get bombarded by all the dogs (my dog and their two dogs). "Pet me! Pet me! I haven't seen you in years! Love me! Oooh, Let me out! Let me out!"

So I hopped online (ACK MODEM!) and played a mix of cash games (1/2 limit - .25/.50 NL) and some SnGs. Next thing I know, I have just over $20.00 in my account. No that's not a typo, I'm not missing a zero. Donked off about $80 bucks. Grrrr. And I can't even say it's the swing of poker it was lots of donking. Why do I sit there and say, OK, tight, tight, tight... no bluffing. Oops, missed the flop. Only way to win this hand is to bluff. Donk, Donk, Donk.

Monday, I booked a small winning session.... VERY SMALL. So last night I played again. Had enough for a couple of cash game buy-ins, plus a couple of $5.50 SnGs. Played a bunch made it last, but in the end, donked some and got bad beat (see therapy 10/23) a few times.

To quote I Had Outs, "tap, tap, tap." Time to deposit.

$0.25/$0.50 NL

First, as many of you know (yeah, like I'm talking to a huge crowd; Hi Josh and Statikkling!), I play on Full Tilt (I have to redo my FTP adds) and I hear a lot of talk about all the amazing beats that happen. I really don't see it. I get sucked out on and I put beats others. It happens, but nothing out of the ordinary. I was in a SnG last night, and had a guy dominated. He hit his card, and took half my stack. No biggie, didn't get upset. I continued to play good and managed to finish 2nd. I had Ace high on a boards of 2-3-7-7-J. I just didn't think he hit. Figured A high was good. He had KJ. Shoulda known, I was 98% to lose preflopd.

Anyway, I play a lot of 1/2 limit on FTP and am doing well. I've currently giving .25/.50 a try(middle buy-in is $20, just like the 1/2 limit). I have to work on my discipline a little. Which is also the occasional problem at a limit table.

I had started with $20 and worked my way up to $75. I just doubled through one guy. I played J8s and the flop gave me a flush draw (4-5-Q). The turn brought my flush when a 5c popped up. I was heads up against the same guy I doubled through. I bet and he called. The river brought a blank. He put out a about half pot bet. I should have called. He could easily have a better flush PLUS it's a paired board. I should've called, but pushed all in. I had him covered. He called. Flipped over pocket 4s. Flopped his set, turned his boat. Had me the entire way.

I ended up with $22. If I would have called, I would have had just under $40. I still ended up ahead leaving with $45.

Moral: Beware of a paired board.

New Format

I'm really diggin on the new beta format. Hope you guys don't mind the green. Reminds me of money!

Trying to slow down my online poker playing. Haven't been spending that much quality time with the Mrs. recently. Basically we put our daughter to bed, maybe watch TV show or two together, then I'm in the other room playing poker and Xbox. Want to re-establish some intimacy. I don't want it to start to feel like we're room mates.

With that said, Lost and the Nine are on tonight. Awesome shows. I'll get back from school during the middle of Lost, so with the marvel of TiVo, we'll just start watching when I get home.

How did people survive without TiVo?

I'm also falling behind on all my poker podcasts because my Ipod is in the shop! How did we function without Ipods???

Horn High Yo!

Saturday afternoon my buddy swung by the house and off we went to Foxwoods. I've been jonesin' for Foxwoods. We meet up with Buddy 3 (we'll call him Jerk- fyi he's not a jerk, but it's a nickname), and we all get on the list for 2/4 limit. They quickly call all of us and we get put at separate tables. But only one table away from each other. I am the youngest person at my table, by about 30 years. A few times I waited extra long to make a call or bet, hoping the person would die. I figure that means they fold. But alas, they all lived... and they took my $60.00. That didn't bother me. As live $2/$4 can be, it was a chasing game, and a lot of those chases caught. Which whittled down my funds until I had only a few bucks left and got AK. 3 bet preflop, missed the flop, only had about 6 bucks left so made sure I got it all in.

I walked away without any ill feelings. Still rarin' to go. After a 2 hours, my buddies were hungry (This was Jerks first time at a casino and he was feeling self-conscious, like people were talking about him at the table). We decided to hit Fuddruckers.

Jerk didn't feel like going back to the poker tables so we walked around a bit. He played some slots then decided to head out. Left me and my other buddy. We saddled up to a Craps table and threw down some cash. Now I know a little about craps, but my buddy knows a lot. I started off somewhat conservative and slowly built up my chips. I took my initial buy-in off the table and was playing with pure profits. I loosened up a bit, throwing some money on doubles, and occasionally betting High Hand Yo.

This one guy (Yankee Cap Guy)managed to hold on to the dice for 20 minutes. He could almost roll 6's and 8's at will. After a while I pressed some bets on 6 and actually had $56 on it. Luckily I hit the 6 once with that kind of money on it, before he crapped out. I was up about $175 at that point. My buddy and I stuck around another orbit, until Yankee Cap Guy had the dice again. His first roll... a 6. Bunch of money hit the table. Next roll 7. Adios. We left the table, I was up about $125. My buddy was up about $250.

Back in April, Foxwoods upgraded their poker room, making it a World Poker Tour poker room. They added more tables, more tournaments, and even Sit n Go's. We decided to check out the $100.00 SnG ($80+20, yes their rake is high, but their the only game in town). About halfway full. We wait around 10 minutes and they call us. WOO HOO.

I get involved in a couple of pots early, but never really hit anything. I actually folded JJ preflop, when I called an UTG raise, but then a guy after me RE-RAISED, I figured I might be beat. I was disheartened when a J came on the flop. Hand never made it to show down so I don't know if I was beat preflop or not. I think I was. After all that I was down to 1000 chips (starting with 1500). I managed to stick around 1500 for a while. My buddy got bad beat early. There were 8 players left (started 10 handed) my buddy was pushed out of a couple of pots by this one guy. My buddy raise, the guy re-raised all-in (he had my buddy covered). My buddy almost threw his hand away a few times. He said if it was anyone else he would have folded. He finally calls and flips over AJ. His opponent shows AT. My buddy is ECSTATIC! Until the flop comes A-X-T. Rivered another T just for good measure. My buddy stomps off to find a crap game on mega tilt.

I was hit with a smiliar fate when I had JJ later on. Got all my money in preflop (with a slight chip lead) against one opponent. He shows sometimes like QT, I don't even remember. I just know that by the river, I'm screaming for no JACK! As a set for me gives him a straight. Obviously there would be a more cheery tone if the Jack didn't spit in my eye on the river. I can't remember for the LIFE of me what he had. I remember worrying about the jack, but not any other card. And I think I remember someone saying it was a two outer, so maybe he was 10-9 or something, but how could he have called an all-in with 10-9. I know there was an A and a K on the board, the Jack came on the river, but I don't remember the two other cards on the board. I'm pretty sure one was a rag. That frustrates me more than the beat.

Anyway, I picked up A8 in the next hand in the cutoff. There are a couple of limpers so I push my remaining stack in. I get one caller. He flips over A5. My hand holds up. And I'm still alive. On life support but still alive. I get a bunch of junk and a few orbits later. I'm in the big blind with Ac5c. I have a 3rd of my stack in there, no real choice but to push. I'm called by an Qd7d. No drama, the flop comes Q-x-7. The to kill ANY chance, a Q on the turn gives him the boat, and I'm sent to the rail. I finished in 5th. Next one out is the bubble. I stick around for a bit and watch suckout after suckout keeping people alive. I finally head off to the craps table to find my buddy. Again, I left feeling OK about my play. I never got in with the worst of it (or even an actual coin flip for that matter). And sometimes that's the best you can hope for.

I find him at a different craps table with only a couple of chips left. He's betting against the dice and losing bad. At one point he has money on 10 and 4, and the guy rolling this 4 twice than a 10. My buddy goes on mega Craps Tilt. He's down about $110, and that's after winning $250 (plus he was up from original poker foray about $40). I'm down only $40 for the night. We decided to see how the list is for 1/2 no limit. Me? I'm fine, I'm on an even keel. Having a great time. But the entire walk to the poker room you can tell my buddy is not focused. I suggest we just head out (we've been there 7 hours). He says no, we'll just check out the list. But as we got closer to the top of the escalator, he must have felt his impending doom, he turned off and looked at me sheepishly, "You mind if we just head home?"

And that ended a great time at the casino. I was sad that the Jerk didn't have as much fun. But with some more experience I think he'll enjoy it, and he's gotta be willing to bring some more cash. As much fun as poker was (even when not winning), and me and my buddy (my buddy, my buddy... my buddy and me!) doing well at the craps table, the best time was just sitting at fuddruckers shootin' the shit. I've been in Connecticut for almost two years now and everyday I miss my solid group of friends back in St. Louis, I have yet to make any real close friends like that here. These two are the closest friends I have here and outside of work I only see them at the monthly home game (and those have been on hiatus for awhile). It was just nice to sit around a table, chowing on some good food and just talking about whatever. Good times... Good times.

I'm still playing.

A lot has happened in the poker world in the last few weeks. Many sites are freaking out about the "ban" that will be going into effect soon. Companies are bailing on their US customers faster than... well faster than Bill Frist can sneak an internet gambling amendment onto a Port Security bill that no politician in their right might (though I think there were two) could vote against.

Sites like Party Poker and Titan and even Firepay (a non gambling, no US site) are abandoning their US customers, HUGE portions of their base (I, for one, will not do business with them again- except when Party gives me free money). For what? For questionable legislation, that isn't completely clear on what's being banned. Poker insiders think that the poker isn't included because of the skill factor, and that the only thing that the bill is restricting is what people do with their own money.

For now, life goes on as normal. My favorite site, Full Tilt Poker is continuing business as usual. I have money in there. I'll admit I withdrew about 2/3 of the money I had in there as a precaution, however, I continue to play.

BACKDATE: I ended up winning one of those $20 SnGs that I tried. It was a one time thing and haven't done one again. Nice feeling pullin' in $90.

After I cashed out, I had about $80 left. I ran that up to $125, but then with some of the worst play I've ever done, dropped it down to $50. Last night (3am) I jumped into a $10.00 4 player heads up shootout. Win 2 heads up matches and win all the money. I beat my first opponent relatively easily and watched the other two play. As I watched, I knew the money was mine. There'd be 100 chips in the pot, and one guy would push all his chips in (1500+). It was crazy. Twice I watched his opponent called him having him dominated. Maniac just says, "You caught me." Maniac ended up losing, but his opponent wasn't much better. I'd hit a hand and just have to let him bet off all his chips. In the end, I made up for the horrible cash games I've played recently (I still love 1/2 limit!).

Anyway, Saturday, my monthly home game was supposed to start up again (we haven't had one in a couple of months), but a few people couldn't make it, so four of us decided, instead, we're hitting Foxwoods! WOO HOO! I've been jonesin' to go for a while now. I need something more than just internet poker. I keep donking off $50 and then winning it back, so I'm not really moving very far in my bankroll.

Anyway, so saturday will be a day spent at Foxwoods. I'll try to get some good posts out of that one.

And I try not to beg, but if there are ANY readers, please leave a comment. I'm curious as to how many I have, if any.

Side Panel?

Anyone know why the side panel is pushed down to the bottom?

Lack of posts

My lack of posts has been for two reasons.

One: lack of comments. Less urgent feelings of posting. Of course, the lack of readers, could be because of lacking posts. It's a vicious cycle. Chicken or the Egg and all that.

Two: A lack of poker playing. I'm broke on the home front so I can't go to a casino. I tilted and donked off my money on Titan Poker. So I stopped playing for a little bit.

However, I had a tournament on Full Tilt that I wanted to play. The AIPS tournament by Ante Up podcast. I deposited $50, made a $30 profit (from cash games), cashed out $60, and kept some cash to play. I did well in the first AIPS tournament.

113 entrants, top 18 paid. I finished 16 when my AK improved on the river with a K. Unfortunately, my opponents pocket 7's improved on the Flop... ... and on the turn. :(.

I was still happy with the way I played. I don't normally do well in MTT, but I played smart poker. Willing to fold and wait for better spots when I could. It also helped that in the beginning people were giving me chips, and I was chip leader for pretty much the first hour. And I was in the top 7 for almost the entire tournament.

Now, I started this weekend with about $35 bucks on FTP and playing 1/2 Limit, ended it with $115. Lets hope this is the start of a good run. I know this is poor bankroll management, but I just don't get as excited playing the lower limits. I can play lower limits, but it's too boring to sit there and play tight for an hour or two and show a $5 profit. I'd rather be able to finish a session up 30 or 40 bucks. That's "real" money to me. Don't get me wrong, it's not a compulsion that I'll always need to move up in stakes, if I build this up to an appropriate bankroll, I'll stay at my 1/2 limits. At least until I have a large enough bankroll to swing a higher limit. I just have to play smart.

The other day I decided to multi-table two 1/2 limits. Bought into $30 on one table (table A), and $20 on the other (table b) (yes half my "current" bankroll... and I probably won't do that again). At first, table A was doing well. I nearly doubled up. However, table B was way down. I was up overall, but just barely. I had about $6 left on table B and decided to rebuy, so I bought in another $20 (that makes my buyins were $70... w/ a $100 bankroll). Finally table B finally started to do well. Table A... not so much. Had about $15 on that table now. In the end I stopped after about 2-3 hours of 1/2 limit with a $10 profit.

I might try to turn a quick profit this evening (Thursday night) with a $20 SnG. Not sure yet. There's another AIPS tournament tonight. But it's 7-card Stud. Nothing something I'm particularly good at. Might need to spend some quality time with the Mrs and I'll miss that tournament.

Broke and Barely Playing

Well on both the poker front and home front I'm pretty broke, so I haven't been playing much poker. Some freerolls on Pokerroom.com and messing around with my remaining few bucks on Titan.

I've been loving the WSOP Main Event coverage, and of course High Stakes Poker on GSN (hands down the best poker on TV).

I was watching the Main Event coverage last night and nearly busted a gut during the edition of, The Nuts, with Doyle and Barry vs Daniel and Eric playing golf.

Lingren just mentioned that he was up late drinking the night before.
Barry: That's the problem with the younger players. Doyle was probably in bed by 11 with milk and cookies.
Doyle (pointing to two attractive women standing next to him): Yeah, this is Milk and this is Cookies.

I know it was set up, but man did I laugh out loud.

And whether Daniel Negreanu's getting unlucky and making poor calls, or just getting cold decked, the man can read his opponenets. How do you put your Main Event life on the line with 10 high because you think the guys weak. He could be weak with a better hand?!

The Race.

You have JJ vs AK. You're a slight favorite, but for agruments sake we'll say it's 50-50. You raise, and AK just flat calls. The flop comes 5-3-9 rainbow (you're about 75% favorite). You bet the pot. AK calls.. TURN is a 9 (you're about an 85% favorite). You bet, AK again calls (OK so he's a donkey). The RIVER is a K. You check, he bets, you make a crying call.

Now the conventional wisdom is it's a suck out. Is this truly a suck out?

Yes, after the Turn you were a 85% favorite. But TECHNICALLY he had a 50/50 chance to HIT an A or K by the river, not just on the flop.

Luck plays a HUGE factor in poker. You have no control of how the cards come out. That's all predetermined by the shuffle. SKILL comes into play to determine how much money you'll win or lose DEPENDING on luck. The TRUE skill comes in reading and being able to get the most out of winning hands and losing the least when you're beat.

So... SKILL is not about negating the effects of LUCK over time, but using LUCK to your benefit.

I'll Only Play A Quick One!

I burned through my FullTilt bankroll a month or so ago, and the majority of my Titan Poker bankroll, being a donkey. I've been reluctant to put money back in FTP. So I've been using Titan to slowly build that up. I've also switched to limit (again, these are micro limits).

This morning, I had some time before work and figured I'd play some .25/.50 limit. I hop to a table and wait until I'm in the BB. First hand, Ah-Qh. Very nice. It limps around to me (seriously about 6 limpers). I raise, everyone calls.

FLOP: 4h-5h-Ac. SWEET! Top pair and nut flush draw. The SB checks, I bet, EVERYONE calls. Nice lookin' pot.

TURN: 7h- let's hope no one was crazy enough to call me with a 3h-6h or 6h-8h. I bet, and am raised and re-raised, by two people, until it's capped.

River: Jh. I bet out, still think it's good, and it ends up being capped again.

One guy shows 3h-6c (whew!), the second guy showed Khx. Ended up tripling my $5.00 buy-in. Went one round and finished with about $17 and padded my Titan roll a bit.

I Missed It By *That* Much!

I was listening to Phil Gordon's Poker Edge Podcast (from ESPN) and he commented that this week he was actually in Bristol, CT. That's the location of ESPN's headquarters. It's also about 20 minutes west of Hartford, CT... which is where I live. Of course, I was listening to it this morning, but it was posted yesterday. At the end he informs his listeners that he would be going to Foxwoods to play some 1-2 No Limit! AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!! I sooooo would have dropped everything and headed down last night if I knew he was going to be there! Sonofabitch!

Limit vs NL... online.

I think when it comes to online poker, Limit is more my game. I keep a small bankroll on Titan Poker and it has gotten low. I started to build it up slowly playing their micro limits, NL game. WELL, that wasn't going well. I'd get impatient and make a mistake (which I do a lot) and all the money I've made up was gone. (I'm definitely better at NL live than online).

Last night I switched over to Limit and jumped in with my entire miniscule balance. I was playing the "higher" micro limits (.25/.50). And managed to get get some of the bankroll back. It was a full table and it slowly broke down to only two people left. So I played HU cash game for a bit. At first, I had a hard time because my opponent had a HUGE stack compared to mine, and he could call me down to the river with A high. I had to make sure I had a hand (I had never played heads up CASH game before and it was a bit different feel than a heads up SnG). Overall we were about even for the HU, he was probalby ahead a couple of bucks. Occasionally a 3rd person would jump in, but wouldn't last too long. Finally monster stack left, leaving me with someone who had about half of the chips that I had. A few hands in, he was about to go broke, when a 3rd person jumped in. I finished off the first guy, and figured I'd play a hand or two with the next guy before calling it a night. About 30 minutes later I had his entire stack too. Ahh... heads up, how I love thee.

For the night, limit got me back all the money I lost playing NL. I really should leave the NL to live play.... I need to get to Foxwoods.

Titan Freeroll (Weekly Depositors)

Had the opportunity to play in this freeroll Saturday evening. As it's a freeroll, I don't have a lot at stake in it. It goes off with 803 people. Top 30 pay.

So VERY early on in the tournament, a guy at our table gets a large chip lead. I'm guessing he had to leave or something because he started going all-in on every hand. He was showing such crap and getting lucky. Then he starts to lose a few of them and is no longer the chip leader. I finally decide to look him up. I'm in the SB, he was in middle position and pushes all-in. I have K9o. I call (I have about 80 more chips than he does), figuring it's a freeroll, so if I'm out, no biggie, but if I win, I have a nice chip stack. I am a little worried because if any of the other folks wake up with a hand, they might call. But hopefully my call scares them away. All for naught, it folds around to him. Sure enough, he actually had a hand AT that time and cripples me. Oh well. Blinds are 10/20, but I have a few hands before I'm in the blinds again.

Long story short, about I managed to work that stack up to about 17,000, and finished in 49th place. On a stupid play too. Pushed All-in on a missed (something like 228) flop with AK. He had an overpair and I was gone. But was still proud of my strong battle back.

HERPES LIVES!

Heads Up: Over Betting

I love heads up play. Full Tilt has 4 person heads up tournaments. I LOVE THOSE! Booked a win in one last night. Which I made the bad beat I took right before that easier to take
--- 18 person $8 token tournament. First hand I"m dealt JJ in the SB- Button raises 3 times BB. I re-raise 3 times that. He pushes All-in. Too me that says, no AA or KK since he'd want to put in a smaller raise to keep me on the hook. Maybe QQs, but could easily be a coin flip, and I'd risk a coin flip early to double up and have a nice healthy stack. Wasn't a coin flip... he pops, Kd-3d. Hits his K on the river. I'm out. I took it OK. Stayed around the table to talk some sh-t. Was not suprised to see that guy knocked out 3 people later. So I hoped into that 4 person HU tournament.

Anyway on to the Subject matter. I had some time this morning while my daughter was waking up and jumped into a $5 heads up match. Blinds are low, and I'm widdling the guy down. Every once in a while, I'll check the flop, he'll push 300-400 into an 60 pot?!?! Unless I have a hand, I'm folding. Even if he is bluffing. I'm not going to lose 2/3rd of my stack for 30 chips. So I wait until I get a hand, have him do it, and pop him back. He folds. Sure, he'll get some back, but still. At least he didn't do it every hand. Probably when he hit low or middle pair, or had a small pair. We checked a lot of hands down when he had nothing. But I just couldn't see the benefit of doing that, he would win VERY little, unless I had a strong hand.

He liked to slowplay Kings (which he got twice). Once he won a little bit off me: I hit middle pair, and he bet min amount on flop and turn and made a 1/2 pot bet (still small I think half pot was 80) on the river. 2nd time he slowplayed them, I flopped (or turned, forget which) a straight. Got him down to 400. Few hands later, he went all-in with J4 and I had AT, which held up.

The Lesson: In Heads Up, don't overbet the pot early on. You'll only get called by a strong hand. If you're bluffing you're going to lose chips, and if you have a monster, you won't action that often.

At the Same Time

I was also playing in the $8 token (value: $26) 18 player SnG. Top 5 get tokens, 6 gets money. That one took some patience. I got no good hands and saw my stack dwindling. Before the merge, I was able to double up which put me at just over the original starting chips of $1500. I finally got some cards and chips, stole some pots, and was manage to make my way to the token cash.

Now I need to decide if I want to use it to win a $75 token or enter a Guarnteed $26 tournament. Hmm...
---------------
In one of the SnGs I was playing, I found this hand to be interesting. Basically, I played a hand a certain way, NOT to win money, but to NOT provide info.

In the BB (30/60), I'm dealt pocket 6s. It folds around to the Button who calls, the SB completes, and I check. I was kind of worried about the button limp. Button was known to raise if it folded to him or had minimal limpers.
(180 in the pot)
The Flop wasn't too bad, 2c-Kh-3c.
SB bets, 120, I call, Button folds... guess I didn't need to worry. My call was poor play. I thought I might have the best hand, but still wanted the set before I got aggressive.
(420 in the pot)
TURN: 4d Gives me a gutshot, and still only one over card. But I'm still scared.
SB Bets 360, I call. I only call because if I bet and he re-raises a significant amount, I'll fold.
(1140 in the pot)
RIVER: 6s, no flush possiblities. My fears are gone, but now I'm embarrassed about how I played this hand.
SB bets 600, I re-raise to 1800, he folds. Now I may have done the same type of re-raise should I have played this hand better from the beginning. But I knowingly raised that hoping he'd fold and I wouldn't have to show my catch, no value bet there.

The worst part of this hand is that I'm the chip leader (started hand as chip leader w/ 3660 vs SB's 2355) and I still had this fear. Felt like a complete donkey on this hand.

The funny thing is that it worked for me. I was more than likely ahead the entire time and won more money than if I would have been aggressive early one.

Interesting observation: I could have played this correctly, two ways:

1. Aggressive after the flop- wouldn't have made so much money.
2. Confident my hand was best... same way I played it, got the same amount (maybe a min raise on the river to try to get a call).

I played it wrong, but could have played it right, playing it the same way, if I did it for the right reasons.

Last Minute Decision to Play

Last night, instead of playing poker, I watched a bunch of it that I had TiVo'd. WSOP 2006, Poker Superstars III and GSN High Stakes. First, ESPN can put together a good show, but can't TOUCH High Stakes Poker with a 10' pole! The best poker on TV, and there's A LOT out there. Poker Superstars III is pretty good, but it's not about the poker, but about the tournament format.

Anyway, afterwards, the Mrs and I watch some shows we had TiVo'd (Treasure Hunters and My Name Is Earl), then she goes to bed. It's getting late, so I figure I'll head to bed shortly too. Hop on the computer, um.. just to check my poker sites (can't get on to Titan to verify I'm registered for the Weekly Depositors Freeroll on Saturday). While I'm on Full Tilt, I decide to see if there are any heads up matches waiting to take off. None at the moment. OK. Well, let's just browse through the SnGs. Hmmm... Well, there's a $8+ token 18 person SnG about to take off. Yeah, why not. CLICK. Oh look a $5 18 person SnG is also about to take off. I could use a little extra cash in my account... CLICK.

Can you say junkie?

Anyway, those turned out to be good choices.

$5 SnG. This one I started off strong, getting some good hands and building an early chip stack.
One key hand - Blinds 25/50 (no SB).

Dealt (K-Jo) on the button. Two limpers, I limp (not a great play, but didn't want to be re-raised with this hand), BB checks.

Flop was decent for me... K - J - K. Gotta play carefully in order to get any money.
BB check, check, bet 150, I call, checkers fold. I'm praying for a K or a J in their hand!
Turn is a blank. Bettor checks. I want to bet, but figure I'll lose him, so I check.
River is a 9, Bettor Checks. Pot is about 500, I bet 350, which... is enough to get a call as he 8-9. He was surprised to see my KJ. If only he knew he was 98% to lose preflop!

We hit the "final table" (basically the 2 tables merged). I had 8000 in chips, 2nd place had 3500. Unfortunately, my stack would fluctuate highly as we got closer to the bubble (top 4 paid).

I was almost crippled with 7 people left, I stepped on a landmind. I was 2nd in chips (5220) and tangled with 4th in chips (but we were close in chips).

I picked up AQo on the button (blinds were 200/400).
PREFLOP: Folds to me I raise to 1400, SB just calls, BB folds.
FLOP: 9-2-2 rainbow. WHIFF, but with just a smooth call, he probably missed this too. He could have 99 (but might have raised preflop), and could have A9. He could have a smaller pair too. I thought and pushed all-in for 3820. He thinks, and thinks. It looks like he's going to time-out fold. So I'm feeling better. He finally calls, and flips over AK. ARRRRGGHH!
TURN is a 3. I'm pretty much done. Gonna be left with less than 1000 in chips.

I check my other SnG to see how I'm fairing in that one. I play my hand there.

I come back to this table, have a marginal hand and want to double check my chip stack before pushing all-in. HUH??? I have my original stack plus 200. Click on Hand history...
AH, the river was a 2nd 3. Giving us BOTH 2s and 3s with an A kicker... SWEET SUCKOUT!

It rejuvenated me. I played hard, and managed to get heads up with a slight chip DISadvantage. Worked it up to a BIG chip advantage... dropped it down to about 5000 to 22,000. Built it back up to even money, then proceed to drop it and finish in 2nd.

I felt good about the play and was glad I finished with some good cash.

New Section

I put in a new section on the sidebar today.

I don't often tell bad beats, and I can usually let them run off of me without too much tilting, but sometimes I just need to vent. So go ahead and skip it unless you like to read bad beats (these aren't crushing beats, just ones that pop up day-to-day that all poker players come across.