Seriously? Not that I play often. I'm busted on FTP and funds are tight at home so no money to deposit. The only playing I get is the occasional stake from by buddy Slappy, or from the rakeback and/or affiliate cash I get. Which amounts to about $3.00 a month.
This month, I was actually starting to build on it. Got it up close to $10. To the point where I was able to sit down at a table and not have the ENTIRE bankroll on the line, but at least half.
The first session I donked off my stack on a flush draw. I figured it could help later as I was playing rather tight. I got reloaded with the rest of my bankroll and continued to play at the table. I limp with A8 suited. Antoher limper and the button makes a standard raise (he's aggressive). I call. Flop is 8 high with only one of my suits. I bet, he raises, I push, he calls with his Aces. I'm out again, destined to either play a freeroll (no way am I playing another Razz freeroll) or wait until next month (though the people I've signed up don't play much anymore), or I think Slappy will stake me in the Mookie tomorrow night. Maybe I'll take that down. I'll probably use some Xmas money for a deposit though.
Why Do I Even Play?
Will Work For 67 Cents an Hour
Last night, while playing my new game, Mass Effect (fun game by the way), I decided to play the Railbirds.com Stud freeroll as well as the nightly Razz freeroll on FTP. After about 30 minutes in the Stud tournament I wanted to focus on Mass Effect so I pushed with VERY marginal hands. The Razz freeroll started up and I barely paid attention only playing 3 to an 8. At about the 2nd break I started to focus on the tournament and turned off the Xbox.
The Razz tournament runs with 2400 people, but only 27 people cash. (27-10 gets $2), 1st gets $15. When there was 33 people left, I was chip leader (6k/12k/1k ante) with 231k. I held the chip lead for a while until around the bubble and from that point on I was pretty much in the top half of the field.
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When we made the final table I was 3rd in chips with 575k. Blinds: 20k/40k, 3k ante. The 8th player goes out. And I don’t know what comes over me. Despite it being an almost full table, I treat it like we’re short handed and don’t believe anyone. In the span of two hands, I donk off all of my chips thinking: 1) Oh that complete with a 2, I’m sure he’s got high cards in the hole. 2) Hey that Ace on 4th street MUST have paired him. 3) As did his 4 on fifth street. I’m sure my T7 is good. The guys shows a 65. I’m still in OK shape (since this is Razz, and you don’t have to get involved except ante’s and bring in) with about 250k. But the very next hand, against the same guy, I do it again, but this time against 2 different big stacks. I just didn’t believe them. And I’m out in 7th place. Part of it, I’m sure was the fact that the tournament started as 9:40p est. It was 3:30am. AND I had to get up in 2 ½ hours for work.
So there you have it folks. 6 hours of play for $4.00. Not too shabby, eh?
Now I can play 3 $1+.25 SnGs... I'm RICH!
Maverick
I’m a movie junkie. Or at least I used to be. My wife and I used to go to the movies all the time. Now, with a daughter, not so much. Though, we do get to see plenty of Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks movies. Which is really fine with us, as we would have seen them even if we didn’t have a daughter.
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The point is, if there’s a movie I’ve seen a bunch of times I can just LISTEN to it. So at work, sometimes, instead of listening to my Ipod, I’ll pop a DVD into my laptop and minimize the screen and just listen.
Now, I can’t do this with ANY movie, it’s got to be something I liked and have seen numerous times. Shawshank Redemption, any Star Wars (primarily the original trilogy), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (which I actually have the full audio track in MP3 format on my Ipod), Let It Ride, Rounders… Yesterday, it was Maverick. Another rarely talked about, Poker movie. Granted it was Draw but still a decent flick. Had some funny moments. And even the crazy last hand, Quads vs. Straight Flush vs. Royal Flush was “believable” since the game was rigged. But apparently rigged poorly, since Maverick was able to make his Royal, but as he put it, it was “magic.” Though, I’m not sure why he called off the rest of his stack after drawing to at best a flush, when he knew the hand was rigged. He should have just folded and then played the next hand and watched more closely. Oh well. It’s only a movie.
Pimpage - NINTENDO WII ON EBAY! (until 11/27 @ 19:12, pst
The Northeast Chapter of the Ante Up Nation
Last week I joined for my second appearance at the New Home game. It was a special occasion. Chris, one of the hosts of our favorite podcast, Ante Up, was in town (not the funny one) and the home game was put together for that purpose. Three of the normal home game members are Ante Up listeners, and 2 more came into to town from Boston and from Manhattan. There are pictures on their website: Ante Up.
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This was the first live poker I’ve played in months (probably since the first time I attended this home game). The last time I played it was a $10.00 tourney with $10.00 rebuys for the first 3 levels. I go there willing to put up 2 buy-ins the tournament and 2 buy-ins to the home game. Though when I get there, I find out the tourney is doubled. Not a big deal, but I am short on cash at the moment. The last time, I went through 4 buy-ins, but it wasn’t my fault, well one of them was.
Not much happened in the tournament. I got short stacked early, but lived up my “Herpes” moniker and managed to finished 4th out of 8. No cash. The last hand was probably the only thing of significance. There are four people left. I’m on the cutoff (1st to act) with KhTh. I limp. Button folds (I think). SB limps and BB checks.
The Flop comes A-K-Q, one heart. It checks around. The Turn is a blank. The SB bets, the BB folds, and it gets to me. I try to think what he could have checked around with, possibly a straight. I figured a weak ace might have bet the flop to see where he was. Basically, I’m short stacked and if I put any real thought into it, I’m sure I’m beat. But I’m hoping for a Q or something. The guy tends to play tight. Basically as soon as it checked around, I convinced myself that I was going to put all my chimps and I didn’t want logic to get in the way. I push which is very barely more than a call. He calls and flips AJ. I’m dead to a K or a J. The river is nothing and I get in on the cash game before it starts. The Chris the podcast host (CTPH) ends up taking the tournament down. I was just glad I didn’t have to re-buy.
The cash game was a bit more fun. We played .25/.50 NLHE (this time a max buy-in of 50, though I think everyone bought in for $20) for about an hour and a half. Then it switched to dealers choice. Now the mixed games was just recently introduced to this home game, and the skill level of the normal attendees is wide ranging. So to keep things simple, they got rid of pot limit option (so Omaha and what not were played no limit). And despite what was discussed, Stud and Razz were played LIMIT not no limit. Also, split games were taken out of the equation, so only Stud and Omaha hi. However, after a few rounds, since the people here had at least played most of these games, we did bring in the split games.
I ended up down two buy-ins. My third buy-in faired better. Thanks to a lot of luck. Basically I won 3 or 4 hands that allowed me to break even in the cash game.
I wanted to play a hand of Razz but wasn’t getting anything good. So finally I had (34)K (but wasn’t the bring-in). A 2 completed and I decided screw it lets call. There were a few other players in the hand. I hit perfect on the next two streets, A and then a 2. Everyone thought that if I’m playing a K, one if not BOTH of those had to have given me a pair. When I made my hand on 6th street, I was still getting plenty of action. I ended up taking down a decent pot there.
Another Razz hand I made an 86 (or was it a 76) to beat someone with a 96. Either way it was a bad play by me, but with that hand I was playing the player more. I figured he had a low door card, but would play it even if he had bad cards in the hole. I was right.
Then two hands in stud helped me out. Now I’m VERY inexperienced in stud. I’ve played, sure, but the nuances escape me. I’m dealt three diamonds (Ax)Q. I called a bet. 4th street brought me a 4th diamond. Now, CTPH, is still in the hand and showing 8d3d. So two of my diamonds are out, but I was aware enough to realize that no one else showed a diamond or folded. Once my fourth diamond comes out, I do get aggressive and start raising. I continue aggression on 5th street even though I bricked. On 6th street, I slow down and start check calling (CTPH hit another 8). Mostly I figured the pot was big enough that I could check call to try to hit. I hit my diamond on 7th street, and take down a big pot. CTPH had Aces up. That was a rather big pot.
The final hand I won, again I hit perfect. This would have been a great hand if it was Stud 8, but it was just Stud. I get dealt (A2)3. I call a raise. Hit a 5, then hit a 4, for my wheel. Push the aggression and take down another big pot and that pretty much got me back to even in the cash game.
So not a bad night, down the Tourney buy-in, and more importantly I had fun, even if I played poor poker.
I just purchased a second Nintendo Wii, and I just put it up on Ebay, hoping to make a bit of a profit that can fund a trip to Foxwoods. Lets hope for a bidding war breaks out
Another Prop Bet
I don't know the guy, but mutual acquaintences and what not. Not sure how payments will be made. But so what.
http://www.rickblaine.com/index/weblog/place_your_bets/
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Poker Road
Stupid Pokerroad.com. Had a typo in their link for their 11/8 show. I have to fix it.
http://www.pokerroad.com/_/pokerroad_radio/11-8-07/PRR_11-8-07.mp3
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Antonio Esfandiari
I couldn't think of an approriate Star Wars quote, but really, I didn't try that hard.
Wow. Poker After Dark the other night. It folds to Boston in the SB with KJ. He limps. Antonio pops in the BB with AQ. Alan “Boston” Dvorkis calls.
Flop comes QT9. Boston quickly checks. Antonio thinks for a long moment then just checks. He seems to suspect something. Turn is a J. Both check again. River is a 9. Boston has to bet and Antonio folds quickly. Now that fold is not anything special. Most people could fold that. A paired board, 4 to a straight, not a difficult fold for “top top”. But he just seemed to suspect something on the flop and gave up there. The more I see him play the better and better I think he is. That is probably why he’s able to play in the 500K buy-in on High Stakes Poker; people willing to buy pieces of him.
Also on PAD, anyone else think that Matusow seems more strung out than normal?
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Heroes: Sucking
Since I started a non-poker Blog and I do actually have a reader or two here. I figured I'd pimp out my posts over here.
Heroes: Sucking
“This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct.”
I just started a new blog. You know, because this blog couldn’t handle the influx of readers. It’s is located at http://daddy-nopoker.blogspot.com/. As the title states, it’s going to contain non poker content.
I played in the Mookie last week. It was the first Mookie of BBT2. Apparently, Full Tilt forgot to turn on the random card generator. I was dealt QQ about 5 times within 25 hands, and I got paid on 4 out of 5 of them. I also got dealt KK.
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I raised and one of the blinds just called.
Flop came A-6-x. Figures. The Blind bets out, but it’s a small amount. I’m thinking a weak ace, maybe a lower pair. I call.
Turn is an X. Blind checks. This is where I made a mistake. This check is a big sign that he’s weak. He probably has a weak ace. I should be able to push him off of this hand. I check.
The river is another blank. All lower cards. The Blind then puts out another small bet. This is another chance to take the pot away with a raise. Again I fail to trust my instincts and I just call. I expect him to flip over Ax. Instead I’m VERY lucky and get to split a pot when he shows KK.
I really need to work on my end game. I spent a large part of the first two hours on the top 10, but fell apart in 24th place (18 spots paid).
The big hand that finished me off was another example of not trusting my instincts. I’m in middle position. Kashei (Karol, from I Had Outs). She is one of the few bloggers I’ve actually played live poker with. I’ve also read the blog daily (or when they feel like posting). So I have an idea of how she plays.
Kashei raises from early position. I have her covered… barely. I look down at 88. My first reaction is muck. But apparently FTP finally turned on the RNG and I’m finally getting normal cards. I haven’t had any decent hands in a while. I have about 10x the BB (plus there are antes). I can’t just call off half my stack and fold, so I need fold now or push. I start to think. Well she COULD have AK/AQ/AJ. Maybe even a lower pair. I convince myself, it’s a race, and I’ll take it. I push. The Button has a little bit less than I do, and calls. Uh-oh. Kashei calls time and goes into the tank. Finally she folds. I flip my 88, and Button flips his TT. Flop is J high. Kashei is livid, saying she threw away JJ.
I’m crippled and push my remaining chips (80 more than the BB of 800 or something). I couldn’t convince the BB to fold his 99 for 80 more into a 3000 pot. I GUESS he had pot odds to call. Donkey.
Now my play was bad. I knew Kashei would NOT raise ½ her stack from early position with AJ or AQ; maybe AK and any pair higher than mine.
I have to say though, in that position, with half her stack in the pot, she had to call with the Jacks. Only 3 hands have you beat. With two short stacks pushing/calling, they could have each other’s outs. Her fold didn’t help much as she was the next to bust out.
It was nice to see her and Dawn in the Blogger events. I hope to be able to play with them some more. But first I need to build a bankroll.
*Insert Witty Closing Phrase Here*
I GOT 3 HOURS OF SLEEP...
For BEJEWELED????
Well as I'm not playing much poker right now. Some video game info. Last night I hung around MTG to finally give the guy the cards he bought. While doing that, I was playing some Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. Which is a glorified Bejeweled. At least if I had bought Halo 3, I could KINDA of understand it. Next thing I know, I look at the clock and it's 3am! And I have to get up for work in 3 hours! CRAZY!!! FOR BEJEWELED??? What is WRONG with me?
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Pokerstars Blogger Event
I missed it, but then I didn't really expect to make it. My daughter had her birthday party at the in-laws on Sunday. Even if I HAD managed to register, the normal 2 hour drive from the in-laws turned into 5 hours, as the highway was closed due to a bad accident.
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MTG to Poker
Many moons ago I was into Magic: The Gathering. Not like David Williams, into it, but I enjoyed playing it. Then the online version was developed and I started playing that. Truth be told, I was never very good. But it was fun. And I wasn’t playing poker at the time. And in all honesty, for me, there was no transition between MTG and Poker. A few years back, when I discovered online poker, I wasn’t playing MTG much and decided to sell my cards. Sold ‘em on EBay, and used the cash to fund my Party Poker account. That money was quickly gone.
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Well a few months ago, I tried to get back into Magic. I enjoyed it, but only to a limited degree. Plus, the software takes up a ton of hard drive space. So I’ve decided to sell again. I recently sold any rare cards in my collection to Slappy, and he transferred me some cash on FTP. Unlike this weekend, when my good play was slapped down like a wet fish, MY donkey plays were rewarded with suckouts to win. In the cash games I played, I managed to get my money in, multiple times way behind.
Two key examples; I’m at a 6-handed cash game (.05/.10 nl). I have three tight players on my left and two loose players on my right. I know… horrible seating position. I don’t know why I didn’t move across the table when one seat opened up and would have put me in the perfect position. Anyway, I was down to my last $4.00. I had been playing bad, so I wasn’t even going to play, but said, “What the hell.” I threw in the last of my cash. I fold a couple of hands.
Then, in the BB, I get AcJc. You know… the nuts! Tighties fold. The button raises it to .35. SB raises to .70. I push All-in, figuring the button for a steal and the SB for a re-steal. The button calls. Uh-oh. The small blind calls… rut-roh. They still have some cash. Flop comes x-K-T (rainbow). I know I’m dead at this point. That had to hit one of them. They both check. The Turn brings a Q. My first thought is, I’m dead. Then it dawns on me. Huzzah! Broadway, the nuts. The Button and SB get the rest of their cash in here. Button has JJ and now has the straight draw. SB has TT for a set. No ace hits and the board does pair on the river and I almost triple my buy-in (stinkin’ $2.00 rake).
A couple of rounds later, I still have around ten bucks. After I fold UTG, I figure I’ll just log off. At the last minute I decide to play one more round and pay the BB. I get dealt QQ. Sweet. Tightie McTightie to my right, raises it up. We have about the same amount. I raise from the big blind. I re-pops it to about $3. I push. He insta-calls with… AA. “DOH! All that bad play, down the tubes in another bad play.” Naturally, I’m rewarded with a flop of QJJ. No ace hits and I have about $20. I don’t disappear right away, in deference to my opponent. But after about two rounds and no hands, I log off.
The next night I play a little better. I stick mostly with SnGs and can’t seem to win a danm thing. Probably playing too many (had around 4 going at once… I’m no Hevad Khan). I’ve pretty much depleted my bankroll. All I have left is… again $4.00 and I’m still in a $6.50 turbo SNG. I throw the last of the cash into a short handed table and procede to lose that to a bad beat. Oh well time to wait until I have something else to sell or cash to give Slappy to reload me.
What’s this? I’m still in the SNG with 4 people to go? Well, there’s still some hope (yes I more or less forgot I was in there. I won a big hand or two early, but had been folding almost anything that came my way. I didn’t realize we were this close to the money). I get dealt a few hands and build up my stack a little. Bubble bursts. We’re all pretty close in chips, but the blinds are getting high. I don’t remember too many hands, but suddenly I’m heads up with a small chip deficit. I turn that around quickly and manage to take that down to reload my balance with $27, Woo hoo!
Edit: Last night (Wednesday) I blew about $15 of that in SnGs without a cash. Hurrumph!
A Satellite to the Sunday's 750k.
As I stated in my last one, I earned entry in to the 2500ftp satellite into the 750K Guarantee on Sunday. There were about 1500 punters and the top 108 players win entry in this $200+ buy in tournament.
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I played decent poker, got extremely lucky hitting a BUNCH of sets. On one hand I was UNLUCKY to hit a set. Early on, I limp then call a small raise, from one of the blinds, with pocket 3s. Flop comes A high with just one diamond. We both check. The turn gives me the 3 of diamonds. Nice little set, and I’m probably best. The blind bets about 200 (I think blinds are 40/80). I think about raising, but just call. The river is a 3rd diamond. The Blind bets 400 (it was less than half the pot). I’m trying to decide between calling or raising. I’m thinking he could have been on a flush draw since he checked the flop, and got the draw on the turn. He bet a small amount to try to see a cheap river. The guy has me cover and a call would leave me with about 1200 in chips. Blinds are still low enough that I’m far from in trouble. I finally decide to just call. Figuring I may miss winning more on the hand if a high ace., but I won’t be broke if I make a mis-step. He didn’t have a flush, but he did have an ace… two of them actually. So I managed to lose the minimum on a set over set situation.
I would then go ahead and build up my stack. I got to about 5k when I made a mis-step in the SB. It folded to me and I limp with JT (blinds are about 50/100, might be one level higher). BB pushes all in with about 1200. I for no idea why, call. He shows AK, and I don’t improve.
I managed to build up my stack and get it to 6500 (about average stack) and there are about 300 players left (again 108 get the seat). I’m dealt AA in UTG+1. UTG limps, I raise to 1200 (blinds 200/400, ante 25). Folds around to the button and he pushes all in for about 6200. Folds to me and I call. He shows JJ. He rivers the J, and I’m crippled. (I actually win the next hand with TT and get to about 1400, but go out shortly).
The surprising thing I felt was the lack of tilting. I wasn’t angry, I didn’t curse the poker gods, I just felt, “hey, I got my money in an 80% favorite, it happens.” So maybe I’m growing as a poker player.
Or not…
A Good Night At the.. FREE Tables.
Long post with some pictures.
I played some of FTP's 50ftp Sat to $750k satellite. Only the top first place (54 entrants) advances into next week's 2500ftp satellite into the 750K event on Sunday.
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I went pretty deep. As in all the way. Here is the final hand.
Basically, I have 62k to his 18k. Blinds are 1k/2k.
I limped, he checked and we saw that flop.
We both checked the flop.
He bets the pot (4k). I figure him trying to just take it and call planning on taking it on the river. I hit my gin card on the river. He pretty much pushes all in and I take it down.
Then, I tried another one and lost. I only had 5oftp points left so I decided to try again. Figure if I get two, I'd get 2500 in points. I was decently stacked around 4000 w/ blinds @ 40/80, when these 3 hands came up in a row.
I had the guy covered, so I only lost about 1k.
Next Hand:
Again, had the guy covered, so I wasn't out (at least this was a race).
Then, the very next hand I'm dealt AA. How to play it... Let's make it look like I'm tilting. I have 2500 left. I push it all in the middle. Did my ruse work?
I'd say so. Got my stack up to 7500.
Then three hands later, I get AJ in the small blind. It folds around to me and I raise it to 300. One3ballin re-raises to 755. I think he's on a resteal in the blind vs blind. He started with only 6k. So I make a STUPID play. I push all-in. I want this now. He insta-calls with TT. Yikes. I stepped in it.
I hit my river (granted it was a 50-50 the entire time, but I could have been in huge trouble. AJ is not the nuts). The guy goes NUTS. Hates me, hates my play, hopes I finish 2nd... (since only first place gets anything). I tell him I don't care since I'm already in the satellite. He leaves.
I take the chip lead and never look back. Here's the final table.
Nice chip lead... eh?
A few hands later, 2 people are gone. Check this out now!
60k with 2nd place having 7k. WOO HOO!
Then... I'm committed to a lot of pots and I get a lot of dominated hands. A8 vs AT, AT vs AJ. Things like that. I give a bunch of courtesy double ups. I miss a lot of races. Blinds are HIGH.
I do make it to heads up with a chiplead of 47k to 33k.
Blinds are 1500/3000.
He raises to 6000
I have A6, I call.
Flop is T9T.
We get it all in, he has J8, but turns a Q.
From there it all goes down hill and ... as one3ballin predicted, I finished in 2nd for nothing. OH well. It was a fun ride! And I'm hoping to finish, next Saturday night, in the top 108 out of a max 5000. That will get me into next Sunday's 750k and it will be my first big Sunday event.
Wish me luck!
My Weak Play
My Weak Play:
Here is a perfect example of my weak passive play. It’s a demonstration of how bad I play sometimes… a lot of the time.
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Full Tilt Poker Game #3691133076: AIPS II Event #9 (25837404), Table 6 - 50/100 - Limit Hold'em - 21:21:02 ET - 2007/09/27
Seat 1: TiltGolf (785)
Seat 2: OhCaptain (2,375)
Seat 3: wendywendy (1,350), is sitting out
Seat 4: sixama (2,260)
Seat 5: AussieHoldem (1,340)
Seat 6: Unimpressed (1,465)
Seat 7: ElSnarfGrande (1,740)
Seat 8: gybbie (675)
Seat 9: Shannohakkinen (1,510)
TiltGolf posts the small blind of 25
OhCaptain posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Unimpressed [Ad Ah]
wendywendy folds
sixama folds
AussieHoldem folds
Unimpressed raises to 100
ElSnarfGrande folds
PokerBrian322 (Observer): heh i guess
gybbie calls 100
Shannohakkinen calls 100
TiltGolf folds
OhCaptain calls 50
*** FLOP *** [Kc 9h 2s]
OhCaptain checks
Unimpressed bets 50
gybbie has 15 seconds left to act
gybbie folds
Shannohakkinen raises to 100
OhCaptain folds
Unimpressed calls 50
*** TURN *** [Kc 9h 2s] [4c]
Unimpressed checks
Shannohakkinen bets 100
Unimpressed calls 100
*** RIVER *** [Kc 9h 2s 4c] [7s]
Unimpressed bets 100
Shannohakkinen calls 100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Unimpressed shows [Ad Ah] a pair of Aces
Shannohakkinen mucks
Unimpressed wins the pot (1,025) with a pair of Aces
I think I could have gotten only one or two more bets, since I don’t think he’d get into a raising war with Kings w/ a Jack kicker, but I didn’t even give him a chance to. I, for whatever reason, automatically thought K9. I didn’t want to lose too much money with just an overpair.
This is the same guy I would later mis-click and fold top pair w/ top kicker.
