This weekend was my monthly home game with some friends and co-workers. Basically they start @ 3pm and we tend to play 5-6 $10 tournaments. You start with $20 in chips, and the blinds are .25/.50. Unfortunately, the blinds double every 15 minutes. It guarantees getting a bunch of tournaments in during that time, but the downside is that there's little room for play torward the end.
I did pretty well, managing 2 first place finishes. But after a long night of playing a bunch of tournaments, plus ordering food, and picking up flowers on the way home for the wife for Mother's Day, I broke about even. But this is a friendly game, and not really there to make money. It's about playing poker.
And I played pretty well in the two games I won. It's been a few days so details are a little fuzzy. The first game was really, just waiting for the right moments and outlasting a few folks. Then a strong heads up performance.
The 2nd game I won, was more getting hit with the cards, and knowing the right time to check and let them bet into me. Two key hands I did this:
(5 people left) I was dealt K9o in the SB. I called a raise of 3x BB from th button. no other callers. Flop comes K-x-x. All low. I quickly check. The button thinks for a moment. For a moment and goes all-in. I quickly call. "FUCK! You have the King." I flip over my hand. He shows pocket 10s. Turn and River doesn't help him and I bust him out.
(4 people left), I'm dealt Ac5c in the BB. Everyone limps and I make a small raise to reduce the field. Cutoff calls. Flop comes with 2 clubs. I check, he checks. Turn brings my beautiful nut flush. I check. He checks. DAMN. The river brings a 4th boarded club. Now I figure I really got no chance at money. I check. CO things, and pushes all-in. I quickly call. I flip over my nut flush and he mucks and is eliminated.
(side note: I had something very similar happen online a few days later. Unfortunately the 4th club on the river brought my opponent a straight flush! DOH! Can't complain about losing to a straight flush).
Three handed, I had a HUGE chip lead (only top two get paid). I'm dealt Q8, I raise, one caller. Flop comes 3-8-J. I don't hesitate and push all-in. The guy goes into the tank, trying to figure out what I had. Asking if I had pocket jacks. I'm worried. not worried about the 8. Finally he folds, just not liking it. I muck 'em. He starts asking me what I had. I didn't want to tell him at first. He asked, "Did you have 2 pair?"- "No".- He tells me he had a pair.- "Me too." - "Jacks?" "No." He's starting to think. I can tell he's about to tilt. "I had an 8." He's pissed (not at me). Didn't say he what he had but it was either pocket 10s or pocket 9s. He couldn't stop talking about that misread and ended up busting out the the other guy a few hands later. AH, I love the power of the big stack.
Home Game Tournaments.
MSR HEADS UP CHAMPION
That's right kids, I won the heads up tournament I was in, with my fellow boardbangers, at MySportsRadio.com. I ended up going heads up vs Cornishjames in the best 2 out of 3.
The sad thing is that I had only enough to play two heads up matches on Titan in my bankroll. I made sure I had enough that if I lost the first match, I could play the 2nd one. I think his lack of sleep had something to do with it. But in fairness, I offered to play the matches another time. He insisted. He just finished his semi-finals and I think he was feeling good, despite the fact that it was like 4am his time.
The first match, I got off to an early lead about 5 hands in when my top pair beat out his 2nd pair. After that he had trouble battling back. This was another scenario where I took the lead and never looked back. He got unlucky in that when he did push a big raise at me, I often had something, and would push back harder, and he'd have to fold. There were a few times where the fact that I won the first game made me a bit more aggressive. He'd push, and if I thought he was weak or just felt like gambling, I'd push back and he'd have to fold. In the end he didn't play his short stack aggressive enough. I had about 1800 to his 200 and he'd fold or call and then fold to any bet I made. At one point he had just over $100 and chips. And this is how it went down.
Blinds were $10/$20.
CJ (SB)
ME (BB): KJo (which everyone knows this is a 98% favorite).
CJ limps in.
I check.
FLOP: 7c - 2c - As
I bet $40
CJ calls
TURN: 3c
I go All-in (which will basically put him all in as he only has $110 left.)
He folds
Afterwards he says he had KK, but the ace and the 3 clubs scared him away. In headsup, especially if you're that short stacked, that's an auto-all-in. Oh, well. I put him away the next hand when I have Q-6o and he had 6-2o. And that time he did push all-in preflop.
I played pretty good in those matchups, minimizing my losses. I think my biggest mistake was limping in with an ace. Which I did numerous times, trying to hide the strength of my hand. Doing it once or twice is OK, but I did it pretty much every time. Oh well, it worked in the end.
So here's what the bracket looked liked:
I'm glad to say that they're putting together a 2nd Heads Up Tournament, and I'll be defending my title.
I'll go into my monthly home game in another post.
I Know When I'm TOO Tired To Play
So yesterday morning, I was trying to schedule my second match up in the MSR Heads Up Tournament. The plan is to play tonight, but I told my opponent I would hop on LAST night and see if we can get it out of the way. Well, my opponent wasn't on, and I was thankful. I was too tired to really focus on playing. So what did I do? I played heads up against other people on Titan Poker. And proceed to drop about $50. Then in an effort to make money back, I did what I say I'd never do. I played online Craps on their site. And proceed to lose almost all of my bankroll (lucky it was all free money). In the end, my $100+ account, ended with $5.50. Nice. I was RIGHT! I was TOO tired to play poker. JERK!
Poker Playlist?
I love my Ipod. I mean... truly love it. It's an unnatural love. But I'm trying to put together some poker related playlist, and only have a few so far. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
The Gambler- Kenny Rogers
That Was a Game of Poker- O.A.R
A Little Less Conversation- Elvis vs JXL (not really poker, but has some links)
Mike Matusow's "He Was a Donk" (can't stand the guy so I might delete it).
Money- Beatles.
A Valuable Lesson Learned
I was playing in a satellite into the FTP's 200k Guaranteed. It's early and I'm at average stack. Meanwhile, I'm also playing in a cash game (I will often multi-table a tournament and a low, no-limit cash game. Keeps me playing tighter so I don't donk of my chips by being bored. In the cash game I'm dealt a pretty bad hand, and I'm about to fold it. Suddenly, the tournament window pops open and I accidentally re-raise someone with 45o. I was pretty much all in and had a gutshot straight after the flop so I put in my remaining chips and said good bye.
When playing more than one table, make sure the windows are staggered so you don't accidentally act on the wrong table because it pops up.
That is my public service announcement.
FTP Affiliate
I've recently joined the Full Tilt Poker Affiliates. Basically, I get bonuses for signing up people. SOOOO.... this is where I pimp myself... If anyone was planning on signing up for Full Tilt Poker you can click on one of the links on the right and in the bonus code section put in: unimpressed
Thank you for your time.
Heads Up!
This week I’ve played a bit of heads-up poker. The podcast I listen to Mysportsradio.com - All-In Poker Podcast, is holding a heads up tournament. I was a last minute entrant into the tournament but had insane luck in the first match. I dispatched my opponent in 4 hands; hitting top pair or 2nd pair when he would hit a good draw and/or lower pair.
After that I played in a few others and was able to clean up on all those. The funniest was when I was trying to get into a heads up SnG w/ a friend, someone else jumped in so I had to play him. I didn’t care all that much but started off with a good hand. Ended up going on all-in on the first hand and busted the guy.
My biggest weakness heads up is assuming the other player has nothing even when he shows strength. I’m working on that. And I DEFINITELY consider my heads up ability, the best part of my game.
Round two of the tournament starts this weekend so I’ll keep you posted (we’re just waiting on one more match). My bracket-mates and I have one advantage over the other brackets, we have to play one less game. We only have 24 interested folks so we lucked out and got the bracket that only has to win 3 matches to get to the final. The other brackets have to win 4 (winner of the other two brackets have to play each other).
Also, tonight I'll be a guest on MSR's new Poker Roundtable podcast. Which will be up tomorrow sometime. That was my prize (along with $25) for winning their freeroll tournament on Saturday on Titan Poker.
Finally Found a Decent Limit to Play.
Playing FTP I've started playing .50/1.00 table. Its' tough to do when you have half the max buy-in. But you can actually play. You can push some people off hands. They still overvalue Ace low kicker, but not all the time. There are still suck outs and donkeys, I've just noticed less.
Two Key Hands from today as I sat at home waiting for a fridge to be delivered.
Bought in for $30 (only had $50 in my account). Had ups and downs, but was up to $34 when I was dealt QQ (I'm UTG+2)
UTG raises to 4
I reraise to 8
It folds to UTG who calls.
*** FLOP *** [2h 7d 4d]
UTG bets $17.50
Now I think for a moment. OK. He probably has a hand as he's been playing pretty solid. I doubht he has Aces, as I don't think he would have just called my re-raise. KK? Similiar feeling, but possible. Work my way down to other hands that could beat me... set? maybe a set of 7s. Hard to seem him raising UTG w/ 44, or 22. Those you want to see a cheap flop would limp. I'm about 60% sure I have the best hand. So I reraise all in ($25.85).
UTG calls and shows JJ. Man, was I in heaven. $66.20.
------------------------------
A few hands later, I'm in the SB. (I have $64.20). Two limpers; Mid Postion and Cutoff.
I look down at AQo
I re-raise to 3.
BB folds, but two limpers call.
*** FLOP *** [4d 4h Qd]
I bet $9 and Mid Position folds.
Cutoff raises to $24. So now I'm in a quandry. My first thought is that if he had a 4, I'm dead (obviously). But instead of panicing I start thinking about how he's been playing. Average tightness, hasn't seen TOO many hands. And they've been decent hands, nothing outrageous.
But then I think, what hands could he have that could beat me. MAYBE A4, but even that seems a bit loose for him. I worry about 44 for a second, but think if he hit Quads, he's gonna slow play. Not likely going to reraise a flush draw.
AA and KK are options too, but unlikely with no preflop raise. He's gotta have a Q. Which means I have him out kicked.I reraises all-in ($61.20). He calls and shows KQ. I take down a monster pot of $129.40.
SIDE NOTE: While I was playing that, I was playing in a 2 table SnG ($6.60), where top 4 gets a $26 tournament token (5th gets a measley $4). And I got my token. My first time ever. I've played a few of these recently and OFTEN finish either money bubble or token bubble. I was chip leader as we got to the bubble, but I had the 2nd and 3rd chip leaders (we were all close) to my immediate left. I tried not to tangle with them unless I had to. Managed to wait it out and got my token....Now what do I do with it???
I think there's a 17K Guaranteed tonight to use it on.
I am a Donkey (part 2)
Well I polished off my last $20 bucks on FTP. A poor performance @ a .05/.10 table. I forgot, you can't play poker at those limits. Just wait for solid hands. I played in a SnG and was doing well. There was a jackass who in the first few minutes went All-in on every hand. I never even had a mediocre hand to call him with. He managed to suck out and bust 3 people. Then blinded himself off until 4 people left (I was in 4th) and still manage to have 2nd biggest stack. I ended up busting out to him. I was just glad to see him only finish 3rd instead of 2nd or 1st.
Re-bought this morning for $50. Grabbed $39 (leaves $11 for either 1 $11 or 2 $5.50 SnG if I lost it all) and jumped into a $.50/1.00 table. I really like those limits a bit better. It's just dangerous since it's most of my bankroll right now. I made a quick $10 and then had to go to work. Big Hands included:
AK suited: Flopped the flush draw with 3 opponents. No one called my bet.
AA: Had 1 opponent call my preflop Raise, but he folded when I raised after the flop came Q high with no connectors.
89h: Limped in with three others. Flopped a K-high flush. No callers to my bet.
I might get some play in tonight but I doubt it. TV shows to watch!
I am a Donkey.
Horrible night of poker last Saturday. I had my 2500 FTP satellite into the 200K Guaranteed. And I played poorly. I've mentally blocked hands, so I can't review.
During and after, I entered a couple of SnGs ($10+$1), and failed in those. At the start of the night I had about $120 with FTP. I decided to give the .50/1.00 NL cash game a try and bought in with $40.
Lost it all on pocket Tens. I raised preflop (about $5.00), one caller. The a beautiful 10 came on the flop for my set. I bet $17.00. Guy called. Turn is a Q. I bet $17.00, he re-raised, putting me all-in. I should have seen this as a flag I guess, but didn't. I called and he showed QQ for a better set.
After that, I continued to play in some SnGs. I'm not doing so hot, so I decide to call it a night. Let me just check my account. $3.10! ACK! DONK! I quickly jumped into a $1.00 9 handed SnG and finished 3rd (I think I did this to bring some confidence bank) for $1.80, bringing my account to $4.90. I ended the night, feeling pretty crappy.
Over the next couple of days, I played very little, but did take my ENTIRE BANKROLL (sounds much riskier than the mere $4.90 it really is) and played some .05/.10 NL, Quickly managed that to about $15. dropped to about $8 after I failed SnG attempt, and then got it back up to just under $20. I might try a 45-person $5.00 SnG tonight. We'll have to see.
Fish Quote
I finished first in a $11+1 SnG. This would be a good night, if winning didn't make me EVEN for the night. I played in a few at the same time that I lost.
Daniel Negreanu had an interesting quote on ESPN's Poker Edge radio show.
Definition of a Fish:
"If you're the 7th best player in the world, but you're playing in a seven-handed game with the other 6, you're now a fish."
Mediocre night at the poker tables.
I played a couple of SnG tournaments last night on Full Tilt Poker. A 45 player SnG which I place a disappointing 9th. My heart wasn't in it for some reason.
I also entered a satellite-satellite for their 200K Guaranteed Tournament on Sunday. Basically the buy-in is 300 Full Tilt Points, 9 players. Only the winner gets entry into a 2500pt satellite where 9 players win entry into the 200k Tournament.
Couple of key hands.
3 hands in, I get AA, and was all-in preflop against, the powerhouse of QJo. HUH? Oh well, more money for me. That hand held me for quite some time. We go into three handed and I'm just a few chips behind the chip leader.
This hand pretty much clinched it for me.
Seat 2: Unimpressed (5,925) BUTTON
Seat 4: PLAYER A (1,540) SB
Seat 9: PLAYER B (6,035) BB
I’m dealt 9c, 7c. Manage to flop a straight and cripple Player B (he flopped top pair and turned top two pair) to go into heads up with a HUGE chip lead.
Unimpressed (12,000) - Player A (1,500)
I got him as low as: Unimpressed (13,010) - Player A (490). However, my aggression starts hurting me as he starts hitting cards. At one point the chip counts was: Unimpressed (9,480) - Player A (4,020)
I’ll admit, that I was starting to get a little nervous. Cards haven’t been going my way, and I didn’t like the trend it took. It ends when I’m dealt QTo and flop top 2 pair. We get all our money in after the flop and Player A has KQo. No king comes and I walk away with the seat to the satellite on Saturday.
-----------
I'm definitely OK with how I've been playing. I stay focused and wait for cards. I don't think I'm really getting hit by the deck. If you're going to win any kind of poker tournament you DO have to get some cards, and I'm just able show patiences until the cards come.
I still have a lot of work to do, but I can see my game improving.
I've Finally Slain the Beast!
Last night, I finally get a chance to enter a MTT cash tournament ($11 buy-in) and not a satellite. Now, to keep interested, I usually play a 1 table SNG at the same time. I see a 45 player SnG, just opening up. I sign up for it, but then decide against it and join a regular 9person SnG. I lose at that while I'm in the MTT so I enter a new one. I'm in the middle of both when all of a sudden a new table pops up. I FORGOT to unregister for the 45 person SnG. CRAP!
I decide to check my balance on FTP while play. I started the night with $60, but now have only $20 (basically because of the first SNG I lost and the three I'm in at the time).
So I busted out of the single table SnG around 7th or so. Nothing spectacular. I failed to finish in the money in the MTT. I was doing OK in the 45 player SnG and was just focusing on that (and playing Xbox to keep me from getting bored and playing marginal hands). I managed to get to the final table. I was severly short stacked, but didn't get desperate. Even at one point when I had about 450 in chips and the blinds were 60-120 (in the BB everyone folded to me, and in the SB, I went all-in when it folded around to me and the BB folded). I hit some good hands then, and tripled up. Waited patiently for a few more hands, doubled up a few times again. Found myself heads up, down about 2-1 in chips.
Heads up play didn't last very long. First hand. I'm dealt a very poor hand, but still called a 3x BB rise. Had to fold on the flop.
The 2nd hand I'm down: 51,680 to 15,820.
I'm dealt a marginal hand of 98o and raise. my opponent calls. Flop comes 3-3-A. I have a 3rd of my chips in the pot already, so decide to push All-in to end the hand here. Unfortunately my opponent had an Ace and i was done.
But I did manage to make about $115 in that SnG , and get my first Multi-Table cash (not counting one freeroll I won over a year ago, and not counting the $3 I won when I played in a satellite on Sunday).
Now reviewing my hand history for that tournament I have come up with some pros and cons to my play.
PRO: Good hand selection. For the most part, I'm not often picking just junk hands and willing to see flops cheaply if my cards dictate it. Throwing away the marginal hands I do hit to shows of strength (example, A3s- I played that for the flush. Ace hit the board. I bet. Was re-raised and folded. Opponent showed a set of 4s).
CON: The one of many that was easy to see. Not capitalizing when opponent shows weakness. There were a bunch of hands where I missed the flop and just checked down to the river. Only to show the opponent either missed to but had a higher high card, or hit some tiny pair on the river to win. Need to be willing to bet out and take the pot. Though a lot of the time it has to do with having low chips at the time. If I had more chips, I'd more than likely fire in a bet and let it go if it's re-raised.
Overall, I'm happy with how I've been performing in tournaments recently. If those satellites had been cash tournaments I would have cashed in both of those too.
My 2nd MTT Final Table!
That's right. I made my first final table Thursday night, in a Satellite Tourney. Finished 6th place. Unfortunately as it was a Satellite, only the top 4 paid entry into the bigger tournament and no cash was given out. Well, tonight I made my 2nd final table. Another Satellite MTT tournament. Top 5 positions paid entry into the bigger tournament. 6th place got $3.00 (buy in was $11).
I went into the final table and 3 hands in had QT, flop game x-Q-T. Someone with more chips than me went all-in with A6o. And I became tied for chip leader. I dominated and began to push people around else around. Lost some chips, built it back up.
Finally, we were down to 6 players. I'm about middle stacked. There are 2 or 3 people who are pretty much dead. I look down at JJ. I raise, another guy raises all-in, putting my tournament life on the line. I think, I think... I already laid down pocket 7s earlier after a flop came and 2 overcards... I finally decide, I want some cushion between me and the lower stacks. I call. My opponent flips over AA, nothing comes and I'm out in 6th place.
That's right... I was the bubble boy. Sure I won $3. But I was right there! GRRRR! Shoulda let those jacks go in that spot and just played to get 5th since there was no difference between 1st and 5th. I would have had it too. Stupid call. Any other CASH tournament, where there's more money to be won the higher up you go, I would have made that call almost every time. But in that spot... I just didn't need to... grrrr...
I need to stay away from Satellites!
My First MTT Final Table!
I finally did it. Made a final table. I haven't played too many MTT in the past, as I never had the patience to wait, so I would bust out early. Until recently, I've finally been able to get past that and wait for good cards and not try to force the action. The downside is that I've often finished just before the final table. I even have 3 recent 10th place finishes.
Last night I finally broke the curse. Not only did I make it to the final table, but I did so with the chip lead.
The tournament was a $6.00 +$.60 Satellite to the $200k Guaranteed Event on Sunday Evening. I was able to keep patient by Multi-tabling a cash game on FTP and a cash game on Titan Poker. I was able to play stupid hands there, and not feel the urge to force action in the tournament.
I hit a strong hand early and tripled up to about 4500 chips and just waited for cards. I was in the BB with QJ. A coule of limpers and I check to see the flop. T-8-K. SB bets 150 (pot size), me and everyone else calls.
The Turn is the 9 giving me a the straight.
One guy bets 750, I reraise all-in for 1290, and two people call.
SB had K9, and the other guy had 67 for the idiots straight. I knocked out two players, and never looked back. I continued to build my chip stack, and pick my spots well. The only times I got chips in with the worst of it was if I was up against someone who couldn't hurt me.
As I said, in the end I made the final table, but that's it. The amount of players were the perfect amount to allow 4 positions to win entry into the 200k ($216.00) and no cash prize.
With 6 people left and I'm the short stack, I get dealt A8 of hearts, end up heads up with one player (2nd shortest stack).
The flop, 8-2-5, no hearts (2 spades)
I bet, he re-raises, I re-raise.... and this is where I just didn't think. he re-raised again, I finally push all-in. He hesitates a second. Then calls. Now If I thought his first re-raise was maybe a steal, or he hit part of that flop (2 or a 5), that would be one thing. But with his 2nd re-raise, I should have known something was up. Here clearly wasn't worried about a single card out there. Sure enough, he flips over Pocket 8s. And I"m drawing dead to anything but runner-runner Aces.
Was I flabbergasted when they came!!! No.. just kidding. a 2 came and I was now drawing dead. Out in 6th place.
A bitter sweet ending to a good performance by me.
“Big Gamble” Pays Off…. TWICE.
As many of you know, I play micro limits (so for you big cash players out there, these values are gonna seem super small). Other day, I decided to just play some heads up SnGs. I have confidence in my heads up game. It’s where my aggressive side can come out and play. So I stuck with the $5 SnGs on Full Tilt and on Titan Poker, doing well on both sites. I also threw in some SnGs and MTT (which I haven’t done as well on). My latest deposit was $50. And unfortunately through bad Cash Game play and not finishing 1st in qualifiers I tried, I was down to just over $20. Once again, I head over to the heads up. Win one, then lose one. Finally, I decide to go All-in as it were on one heads up. I put my remaining $20 in it. And, well manage a win. So I’m up to $40+. Again, I’m back to the qualifier MTT and not succeeding so my cash was back to just over $20. Again, I decide to go all in, but this time sit down to a $22 SnG, short handed (6 players) on FT. Now, as I’ve stated before, I haven’t played well in SnGs recently. I’m not sure why, I just haven’t had the patience.
One big surprise… no shortage of donkey’s even at the $22 SnG. All-in on A-9 on the first hand. Crazy. I would say 3 out of 6. Luckily two of them went out right away…
Long story short (too late), I managed to win in a “grueling” heads up battle. Grueling because he almost never raised (I think once) preflop, just called or checked, willing to slow play. The chip lead went back and forth a few times. Finally, I was able to counter his style of play, see flops cheaply and bluff him off a few pots when he just called preflop and I raised. Then if flop came and I missed, I could check to the river, and he’s check right behind. If he didn’t have a hand, he’d check, if he did, he’d usually bet the river and I’d let it go. He might have gotten a few bluffs, by betting the river, but only because I had nothing either. In the end, I was able to get a big chip lead and just push him around, until he barely had the blinds covered, and I took it home.
I turned my $20 into $76. not aThe key now is not to get greedy; though I might make an attempt at a $17,000 Guaranteed Tournament that has a $26 buy-in. We’ll have to see if I’m feeling frisky or not.
-----EDIT-----
I was just reviewing my hand history for that SNG, man I played poorly. Luckily he played worse. My opponent had a 5 to 1 chip lead on me 3 times. Each time I was able to battle back. He didn't want to gamble so he folded to most raises by me. When I finally got a strong chip lead, I never really let it go. The final hand I had a 6 to 1 chip lead. He ended up going all-in after a flop I missed, but figured I could gamble to win it right there, and still have a huge chip lead. Luckily I didn't have to wait long to jump ahead.
Full Tilt Poker Game #561224665: $20 + $2 Sit & Go (3672677), Table 1 -
120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:34:56 ET - 2006/04/11
Seat 4: VILLIAN (1,200)
Seat 5: HERO (7,800)
HERO posts the small blind of 120
VILLIAN posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Td Ad]
HERO raises to 480
VILLIAN calls 240
*** FLOP *** [Kc 6h 7d]
VILLIAN bets 720, and is all in
HERO calls 720
VILLIAN shows [Js 6c]
HERO shows [Td Ad]
*** TURN *** [Kc 6h 7d] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 6h 7d Tc] [3c]
VILLIAN shows a pair of Sixes
HERO shows a pair of Tens
HERO wins the pot (2,400) with a pair of Tens
HERO: gg
VILLIAN: gg
VILLIAN stands up
HERO stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,400 Rake 0
Board: [Kc 6h 7d Tc 3c]
Seat 4: VILLIAN (big blind) showed [Js 6c] and lost with a pair of
Sixes
Seat 5: HERO (small blind) showed [Td Ad] and won (2,400) with a
pair of Tens
A Good Time At Foxwoods
Another trip to Foxwoods last week and it worked out nicely.
My brother-in-law had buy-in into an ACT II for the Foxwoods Poker Classic, but busted out first when his pocket aces were cracked.
I sat in on an ACT I earlier, and played for the first half. Basically, I was dealt pocket 2s in the SB. Middle position limped in. Button raised to 200 (2x the BB). I called, limper called and the flop came A-2-5. I bet out $400, middle position folds, button reraises all-in. I worry about a better set, figure the straight is unlikely because of the raise. So I call. Buttom flips over pocket Ks. She ends up with a $25 chip left. I double up. Afterwards, I can't really believe she went all in with the A out there. I bet it saying I'm not really afraid of it or I have it. Which basically kills her KK. Oh well. I would later bust out when I made a questionable call for 1/3 of my chips with AJ and a board of all low cards. Guy raised all-in, I thought, and called. He had KK and an A never appeared. It did appear later. Unfortunately I was all-in preflop with pocket 7s (it was the first hand I had in a while and my stack was dwindling). And the caller had an A5. The Ace wasted no time and showed up on the flop. I excited the ACT I and proceeded over to the sign in.
I had a decision to make... 2-4 limit, or 1-2 no limit. I like the limit at Foxwoods as the rake is only taken from the pot. So if you put no money in, you lose no money. At 1-2 NL, the rake is $5.00 every half hour from everyone. Which means you can sit there and lose money if you get no playable hands.
Last time I was at Foxwoods, I sat down at a 2-4 limit table at 11:30pm and finally stopped at 5:00am turning my $100 into $300. Not too shabby.
So this time I decided to give the 1/2 table a try. I sit down at a full table, and there are about 3 or 4 people at the table that know each other (mother, son, friend, friend), but they seemed to be on the up and up. After awhile the two friends left and it was just mother and son. Anyway, I sit there for a while and my $100 buy-in dwindles down to about $40. I finally hit a couple of hands, A5 and AQ that stayed the best hands and finally had a stack higher than my starting.
I'm waiting for a hand, and get dealt 66 in early position, so I limp in. Middle position person (player A) with a large stack raises to $15 (this is not a HUGE bet, this is standard at this table). A late position player calls, I call.
FLOP: A - 6 - 3 (rainbow)
I'm first to act, so I bet $40. Player A calls, 2nd player folds.
TURN: 9.
Now at this time, there is some NCAA stuff on the TV (George Mason just beat UCONN), player A is not focused on the table... which works out. I want to win this right now. So I push All-in. It's about $140. Player A is looking at the TV, finally turns around to the table and seems my stack in the middle of the table and does a little jump, asks me how much (he has me covered). Then calls. Without much thought. He flips over AQ. And he's drawing dead. I scoop up a HUGE pot.
A little while later, my brother in law comes by and I cash out. $400 and change. We were going to dinner and I didn't want to worry about carrying a bunch of chips to the cashier, so I colored up. Felt nice to carry around 4 black chips.
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I've been playing a little more online. Primarily at Full Tilt and at Titan (I got $50 "free" dollars at Titan, I just can't cash it out for quite sometime). And basically breaking even on both. I play micro limits so there's not much POKER being played. Just hand selection. It's hard to be patient sometimes.
Though I finally got to a point where I can play my aggressive style and it pays off. I have to play MTTs and stay tight until the antes kick in and get a little higher. Most "bad" players are out, and people will fold to strong bets. I was in a MTT on FTP that started with 177. At about the 50 player mark I found myself the chip leader. That lasted awhile, until I made some stupid plays. Played a little fast and loose with my stack and had it dwindled. I was almost busted when I thought I was on the button and trying to steal the blinds, when it turned out I was in the SB and ended up reraising an UTG raiser. I had A5 and almost half my chips committed, so I called (dumb move as well). Raiser had A9. Flop comes Q-A-2. Luckily for me, the Turn came a 2, which killed his kicker and we split the pot. I would later finish in 12th when someone turned an Ace. Oh well. Unfortunately it was a satellite and the top 2 got seats into a WSOP qualifier, and only positions 3-7 paid any cash. But it was still a good performance by me.
Unfortunately, I was up until 2am in the tournament. Had to get up early the next day to drive 2 hours to see relatives. Man that was a tough day.
Three Items of Personal Poker News
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.
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.
A delayed report
This will be a short and sweet post concerning my poker experiences over the Month of December. I'll update a january one shortly.
Monthly Home Game (december)
It's your basic home game. Texas Hold 'em only Tournament- usually we play 4 or 5 games. Buy-in is usually $10, sometimes we'll do a $20 buy-in towards the end of the night. We tend to have anywhere between 6-10 people show up. This past month, I didn't do so hot. I did manage to squeak out a 2nd place victory in one of the five games which basically won me my buy-in back for that tournament.
Online
Pretty much all of my online is at Pokerroom.com. I just like it. I especially enjoy their short-handed SitnGoes. Good for quick play, and I tend to do pretty well in short-handed. My aggressive style works nicely. Except this past month. I won a few, but also tried some full tables and Multitable tournaments and didn't fair all that well. I basically burned through my last deposit and am just taking some time to cool off from some tilting. I still have some money to play a private tournament I put together for some people I know from the MSR, All-In Poker Podcast. But that will be about it for a little while.
They just introducded "Teams" on PR which is pretty cool. A team of players challenge other teams to a league. Basically one person from each team plays at a one table tournament (usually about five tournaments at once). Rankings are done and at the end of the league money is awarded. Teams also split the buy-ins which is nice. Unfortunately a team of 10 turned out to be really a team of 4 where most people didn't deposit any money or want to play, so I dropped out of that one after one league game. I was the only person on the team who managed to win their table one night. And another night which I couldn't play (the night of my homegame) there was no one to replace me so I just blinded out. I finished 2nd best on my team (5th place). So I took a break from that. Interesting concept really.
Foxwoods
I haven't hit Foxwoods in 6 months, but there are plans in the works for a trip in January or February. Might try to qualify for a WPT event. Foxwoods Classic (was New England Poker Classic) was recently added as a WPT event.
Other
Got some poker chips and cards for Christmas, nothing fancy. Got my father-in-law and brother-in-law to play a $10 buy-in game. BIL put FIL out and I was pretty short stacked. I did manage to win a couple of hands, but was swatted back down. Finally, I managed to win a few hands, putting my all my chips in with the best hand. Usually Top pair vs 2nd or 3rd pair with draws and the draws never materialized. I finally finished him off.
