Poker in My Life

Back Again

2008-07-08T12:47:00.002-05:00

So it's taken a while for me to write again. I blame the layoff on a very rough trip to Vegas. I actually vowed that I won't be going back to Vegas for a long time. I've since softened that stance but I definitely need to build up a bankroll again before I will go.

Speaking of my bankroll, I recently did a little bit of analysis around my daily poker results. I had always believed that I was winning player on most nights but I would have the occasional terrible losing night that would wipe out my winnings over the past week or month or whatever. I hadn't ever actually looked close enough at my results to prove this. It was just something I believed.

So with my bankroll devastated by my Vegas trip (and another terrible night last week), I did the analysis and found my belief to be true. Out of almost 800 nights that I have recorded my results over the past 4 years, I had profits on over 66% of the nights.

My problem definitely is with the big nights of losing. When I look at my "large" losses compared to my "large" wins, it was almost double. I had 19 large losses and only 10 large wins. This alone is enough to skew my results.

Therefore, I am going to begin focusing on bankroll management more than ever. I am trying to figure out some sort of stop loss method to use so that I can eliminate these big losing nights. If I make sure not to rebuy into a table more than once I think that is probably the best start I can make.

Sometimes it just seems that a certain table is not going well and I should just get away from it. I've usually just brought more chips to the table if I thought I had an advantage at that table but I now think I just need to get up.

This happened the other night when I was getting great cards but constantly getting sucked out on the river. I lost with trip kings and the nut flush draw to a 2 outer (pocket sixes) and then with pocket aces against QT when a third ten came on the river and various other bad beats like this. I think I just need to accept the fact that it's just not my night at that table and get up.

Hopefully this will help build that bankroll back up for a return trip to Vegas or Atlantic City or New Orleans or ...

Holy Crap Step 6

2008-06-10T00:50:00.002-05:00

I finally did it. I decided to play in my WSOP Step 5 tourney tonight. After playing a couple of Step 2 and 3 tourneys tonight, I felt like I was playing quite well so I decided to give it a shot. And wow did I get lucky.

I was the short stack with 7 players to go. The blinds were at 100/200 and I had only 800 chips. Luckily for me, the 2 players just above me in chips went to battle in the blinds with A8 against Q2. The player with Q2 had fewer chips so I was hoping for A8 to win so that we'd be down to 6 players.

The structure of the tourney is 1st & 2nd place win a step 6 ticket, 3rd & 4th win a step 5 ticket and 5th & 6th win a step 4 ticket (7th, 8th & 9th place get nothing). If it were down to 6 players I would at least be guaranteed a step 4 ticket.

Of course the Q2 player hit a 2 on the river to win but the other player became the short stack below me. On the next hand he was in the small blind and I was in the big blind. Everyone folded until he went all-in for his last 360. The blinds had moved up to 150/300 so it was only another 60 for me to call.

I called and my Q6 dominated his 56. I won and eliminated him in 7th place. Whew - I made it to 6th place at least. I was still the short stack though. That is, until about 3 hands later I got my first decent hand with QQ.

The under-the-gun player limped (stupid play) and I shoved all-in. He called and turned over 66. I won and quickly moved up to 2nd place. I was stunned to say the least. Now I actually had a chance to win a step 6 ticket.

Since the blinds were so high, other player were pushing all-in and getting called rather quickly and we were down to 3 players. One player had about 6500 in chips and the other 2 of us had about 3000. On the first hand of 3 handed play I got AK and raised but got no callers. I was hopeful this was going to go well.

Unfortunately I didn't get anything remotely close to a playable hand after that. The big stack still had about 6500 and the other player had moved up to about 4000 while I had dropped to about 2000. It was not looking good for me.

Until...I was on the button and folded and the chip leader in the small blind raised to 900. The big blind (2nd in chips) moved all-in and the big stack called. It was QQ (the big stack) against TT and I suddenly had all my fingers and toes crossed.

The big stack's QQ held up and I backed into 2nd place and earned a step 6 ticket. I don't feel at all bad about backing into the win. I played as best as I could so I still feel I earned it.

My one observation on the last hand is that the big blind (2nd in chips) should've played a little slower and not shove all-in pre-flop. Just call the small blind raise and see what happens on the flop. If an Ace or King or maybe even a Queen came on the flop, he could at least fold to a decent size bet. Thankfully he didn't do that and the flop came down Kc 6d 4d and then the wonderful Qh came on the turn to seal it for me.

Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight. I'm a little pumped up right now.

Bad Luck and Bad Flops

2008-06-06T14:05:00.002-05:00

I have not played in a WSOP Step 5 tourney yet. Mostly because I haven't earned another ticket but I'm getting close. I have another Step 4 ticket so I'm getting close. I think I'm running out of time for this as well.

A week from today I leave for Vegas so I have 6 more days to play in these tourneys before I leave and I think PokerStars may be ending these tourneys soon. So I probably only have about 2 more weeks to try to win Step 6.

I watched a Step 5 tourney and it didn't seem that much different than any of the tourneys I have played so far. There usually seems to be 1 or 2 donkeys who try to make a move early in the tourney and lose against a made hand. Otherwise there seems to be a lot of tight play and it comes down to a lot of races where 1 players goes all-in with a pocket pair and the other calls with a big Ace (AK, AQ or even AJ).

I have still been playing in a bunch of these Steps tourneys but mostly at level 2 or 3. I have been having terrible luck in all of my races and haven't been able to get more than the 1 additional ticket to Step 4.

This brings me to some examples of the terrible flops I've seen lately. A couple of nights ago I was playing in a Step 3 tourney and we were down to 4 players. The blinds were pretty high and I was the short stack. The other short stack who just barely had me covered pushed all-in from UTG (first after the blinds). I called from the button with AJo.

Since he was short stacked also and next to hit the blinds I was hoping to be against a worse Ace than mine or a small pocket pair at best. After the 2 blinds folded, he turned over AcJc so we were basically even. He was probably slightly ahead since his cards were suited.

At least that was the case until the flop came down KcQcTc. Yes, he flopped a royal flush. I think that's the first time I've ever seen that and I know it's never happened against me before.

On the same night, I was in about the same situation except I think there were 5 players remaining. I was on the button with TT and the UTG player pushed all-in pre-flop. The player after him also pushed all-in. I was 4th in chips and thought this was a decent opportunity to triple up. My only fear was that one of the 2 all-in players would have a bigger pocket pair than me.

I decided to call and to my surprise, the big stack in the Big Blind also called all-in for over half his stack. If he loses he's still alive but without very many chips. Then to my incredibly pleasant surprise, all 3 of my opponents turn over AK!

Unless the board comes with QJT, they have 2 outs between the 3 of them to beat me. Then to my horror the flop comes out AKx. I don't even remember what the 3rd card was because I was so shocked. So the 3 of them end up splitting the pot and I go out in 5th place :(

Those hands seem to be the turning point for my bad race results lately. It seems I'm on some sort of streak where I can't win a race and therefore can't win any of these tourneys. Of course this comes after I won a bunch of races to earn my Step 5 ticket so I can't complain too much.

And I definitely can't complain since I'm leaving for Vegas in a week!!!!!!

Step 5 Finally

2008-06-01T23:47:00.002-05:00

It took about 9 tries but I finally won a WSOP Step 4 tourney tonight and now have a ticket to a Step 5 tourney. It definitely wasn't easy though. I was lucky enough to win each "race" that I was involved in tonight and that's what propelled me to victory.

I doubled up rather early when I got all-in with AA against my opponent's KK. I was under-the-gun (right after the blinds) and made my standard pre-flop raise. My opponent was in late position and made a standard re-raise. I assumed he had at least a pocket pair or maybe AK.

The flop came down Qh4h3c and I checked to him. He made a standard continuation bet and I raised him. He pushed all-in and I called of course. My aces held up and I was now the chip leader with 8 players left.

At this point I became rather aggressive. Everyone seemed to be very timid any time I raised so I won most pots uncontested. When we were down to 7 players, I called an all-in raise when I had 55 in the big blind. The raiser turned over AJ and my pocket 5's held up to win my first race.

I continued the aggression and won a race with my 33 against AQ. On the previous hand, another player had won a race (not against me) and doubled up to take over the chip lead from me. We were down to 3 players at this point.

I have finished in 3rd place 6 times so far (including 1 other time today) and I was determined to win tonight. I had about 4500 in chips as did one of the other players and the 3rd player had about 3000.

I finally won when I had 77 in the big blind and the short stack pushed all-in from the small blind. I called and he turned over 33. He had only 2 outs until the flop came down 456. That took away his original 2 outs as another 3 now gave me a straight. But now he could catch a 2 (4 outs) or a 7 (2 outs) to win. Lucky for me the turn and river didn't help him.

I am so relieved to have finally won a Step 4 tourney but I doubt I'll be using my Step 5 ticket very soon. I would really like to get at least 1 more Step 5 ticket before I play in one of the tourneys. This seems to help me psyche since I don't feel the pressure to win or be done.

I also think I'm going to watch a Step 5 tourney before I try one so that I get a feel for the caliber of play. I was initially very surprised by the ability of some of the Step 4 players and I don't want to be surprised during a Step 5 tourney.

Vegas Baby

2008-05-23T15:32:00.004-05:00

As stated in my last post, I am seriously excited about my upcoming Vegas trip exactly 3 weeks from today. The weather is even turning nice here finally but I can't stop thinking about Vegas. I love my new job but I can barely focus.

I haven't had this feeling about a Vegas trip in a while. I think it's a combination of a few things: the WSOP, the fun I had on my last trip and the length of the trip.

I was in Vegas 2 years ago while the WSOP was going on and I was able to watch Daniel Negreanu play in the Main Event for a while but I didn't have the guts to play in any of the side games. I won't be there during the Main Event this time but other events will be going on and I will definitely play in the side games this time.

That leads to my second reason for the excitement - the fun I had on my last trip. I was with 2 of my brothers-in-law and we had a great time. I finally got up the guts and played tons of poker. I earned some comps (free meals) because I played so much poker. We got silly drunk but not overboard to the point where we were puking or doing stupid stuff. The only problem with the trip is that it was too short. I was having such a good time that I wasn't ready to come home after only 2 nights.

That leads to my third reason - the length of the trip. This time I will be there for 4 nights and almost 5 full days. I haven't been in Vegas on that long of a trip since just before my daughter was born (over 8 years ago). This time I will have more time to do new things. I always have set things I do on almost every trip like go to the Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay, Cheesecake Factory at Caesar's, Hofbrau House, Bellagio Fountains, Downtown and shopping for a toy for the kids of course. But this time I'll be able to find new things like this "burger tour" my brother suggested. And I'm sure I'll be ready to come home this time and I won't be so crabby when I get home.

No News is Not Really Good News

2008-05-20T23:15:00.003-05:00

I haven't written in a while but that's not because I haven't been playing. I'm actually enjoying my new job so I haven't taken the time to write while I'm at work. Plus they don't block any internet sites so I've been going to Pokersavvyplus.com to download and watch some poker training videos while I'm on lunch break (instead of blogging).

I have played in about 6 WSOP Step 4 tourneys so far. I was able to accumulate 5 tickets to Step 4 before I started playing. On my first try I finished 5th which gave me a ticket back to Step 3 (which I promptly lost). On the second try I finished 3rd which gave me a ticket to Step 4 again. I have gone on to finish 5th 3 times and 3rd 3 times. Not exactly the results I want but not horrible either.

So far I've been surprised at the quality of play. I was expecting much better players since this is the half way point of the Steps but it's basically the same stuff.

I had a donkey at my table tonight who raised preflop and then called my reraise preflop. On a flop of 674 rainbow I bet enough to put him all-in and he called. To my shock he turned over KTo. Since I had AK he was drawing to 3 tens or runner runner straight. Of course the turn brought a ten and he doubled up. I was in 2nd place before this hand and I dropped to 3rd after it.

I couldn't believe such a donkey would be playing at this level but it quickly changed my mind. Of course he ended up winning this step when his Q9 beat my K5 and I ended up going out in 3rd. Earlier he had doubled up the 3rd place player (who moved ahead of me to 2nd) when the donkey called an all-in bet on the river on a board of 87643. The third place player turned over 55 for the obvious straight and the donkey had J3.

Yes he called with bottom pair and no kicker. He could only beat a complete bluff or a 3 with a worse kicker than a jack. Donkey.

Oh well, hopefully I can report that I have a ticket or two to step 5 soon since I have come very close so far.

On another note, I'm about 3 weeks away from my Vegas trip and I'm not going to make my goal of winning enough money online to buy my way into the $1500 WSOP tourney. That's why I'm focusing so much on these Steps tourneys so that I can win my way into the main event.

I am seriously excited for the trip though. Some of my brother's friends are going to be there also and they seem like fun people. We've decided to do a "burger" tour while we're there this time so hopefully we'll hit some new restaurants. We're still doing Cheesecake Factory and Hofbrau even though we won't be getting burgers there though.

I'm hoping to play in a satellite tourney or 2 to win my way into the $1500 tourney and if I can't do that I'll be playing a lot in the side games. I'm really looking forward to that. I'm also just looking forward to the freedom that Vegas provides. It really is like a fantasy world for me and I think that's why I like it so much. I can drink as much as I want. I can stay out as late as I want. And I can basically spend money on whatever I want as long as I don't lose the house.

I usually end up losing money gambling or win just a little. I'm still waiting for that trip that I win enough to cover the cost of food, drink and airfare/hotel. Either way I have a great time without a care in the world. I think I have a lot of stress here at home that I usually don't express or let out so my Vegas trips provide an opportunity for that release. Hopefully I can do well enough in poker to cover my expenses this trip.

Amazing Night

2008-05-05T23:00:00.003-05:00

I guess I shouldn't title this "Amazing Night" because I didn't really win very much money tonight but I had some amazing hands. I'm still playing in the WSOP steps tourneys on PokerStars and I played in a Step 3 tourney tonight. I ended up winning it but that is an understatement.

I completely blew away the rest of the table. I wish I could claim it was all skill but I was really getting great cards and getting lucky. My luck started in level 2 (15/30 blinds) when everyone folded to me on the button. I had A9o and made the standard raise to 90. The small blind reraised me to 240 and I folded.

That doesn't really show any luck but I think it led to what happened on the very next hand. I was in the cutoff with 77 and it was folded to me again. Once again I made the standard raise to 90 and the button and big blind both called. The flop came down 6s 9h 7d and I bet 180 into a 285 pot. The button folded and the big blind called. The turn brought the 3s and I bet 360 into the 645 pot. The big blind check-raised me all-in for another 925.

I suspected he had an 8 and a flush draw and was trying to push me off the hand but I guess he could've had the straight already or a set also. I had to call and he turned over Kh Jh. He was drawing dead. He put his whole stack in on a complete bluff. Why? I'm only guessing it's because he saw the previous hand and thought I could be pushed off my hand.

That gave me the chip lead. Then in level 4 (50/100 blinds) I was dealt QQ in the small blind. An early position player made the standard raise to 300 and the player next to him called. Everyone else folded to me. I thought about just calling but then I'd be pretty scared if an Ace or King came on the flop. Since I was the chip leader I decided to reraise all-in. Both players had decent stacks and could fold and still have a chance at winning.

The original raiser thought for a long time and I was happy that I had made the all-in reraise. I'm guessing he had AK or maybe a medium pocket pair but I won't know since he folded. The other caller thought for a while too and eventually called with Ad Tc. I'm guessing he hoped I had a middle pair or he was just in the mood to gamble. No matter since the board brought no help to him and I jumped to a huge lead.

After that I started getting really lucky. I knocked out a player with QQ against my AJ when an Ace came on the river. Later I flopped 2 pair when I had T8 in the big blind and 2 players limped pre-flop. The flop also had an Ace and one of the original limpers called my bets on the flop and turn but then folded on the river.

In level 7 (150/300 blinds plus 25 ante) we were down to 3 players - the top 2 move on to Step 4. I was in the big blind with AJ and the small blind raised to 900 leaving him about 700 in his stack. I reraised him all-in and he surprisingly folded. I don't get that at all since he was left with basically nothing and he was getting the right odds to call with any 2 cards.

The luck lasted on the last hand when I was on the button with J7. The big blind was the super short stack who folded on the previously described hand and I made a minimum raise which was enough to put him all-in. I made the min raise because I was hoping the other player would call also and then the 2 of us would have a better chance of knocking the short stack out.

Unfortunately the other player folded and the short stack turned over KJ. I was in bad shape until the flop brought a 7 and the river brought another 7. Obviously I wasn't going to be in bad shape for the tourney but at least for that hand. I now have 3 tickets to Step 4 so hopefully I will be reporting some good results from those tourneys soon.

The luck didn't end there though. I started playing some cash games on FullTilt and ended up getting dealt quads twice. Both times I flopped a set and turned the four-of-a-kind and won some decent sized pots. I also caught a lucky turn card to give me a set of sevens over another player's flopped set of deuces. That player was seriously bad though so I was going to get his money on other hands even if I hadn't turned that set of sevens.

With all of this luck, I should probably still be playing instead of writing this but I wanted to stop for the night and watch some training videos on PokerSavvyPlus.com. I started a trial subscription on there and hopefully it'll open up some ideas to me.

Internet Poker is Full of Donkeys

2008-04-22T23:43:00.004-05:00

I just experienced some of the biggest donkey plays I've ever seen. Most of the plays were bat beats on me but one of them actually helped me. The first one was having my pocket Aces beat by K6 suited on the button. I love when these guys call my preflop raises except when they're lucky enough to flop K6 and then turn another 6.

The second was having my pocket Aces beat by 75 offsuit when I raised from the small blind and the big blind decided to be cool and reraise me. Of course he flopped 55J to crack my Aces.

My best pocket Aces being cracked happened again when I had AA in the small blind. It was a shorthanded game with 6 players and 3 players limped ahead of me. I raised the size of the pot and got 2 callers as the big blind and one of the limpers folded. The flop came A52 rainbow. Obviously this is a good flop for me but usually I bet and everyone folds and I win a medium pot.

But not on this donkey filled night. I bet about 2/3 of the pot and both players called! WTF? Unless one of them was stupid enough to play 43 or they also flopped a set I could put them on anything worth calling my preflop raise and flop bet. The turn brought a 9 and I pushed all-in which wasn't much more because I was playing in a capped game.

Both donkeys called! The first donkey turns over JT suited and had turned a flush draw. No clue why he called the flop bet. The second donkey turns over 93 suited. He flopped a gutshot straight draw and turned a pair of nines. Of course the river brought a 4 so he hit his gutshot straight draw.

And now for the donkey plays that worked in my favor. I was at the very end of a WSOP Step tourney on PokerStars. I was one of three players left. I had about 1300 in chips. One player had about 10,000 and the third player had about 425. The blinds were at 150/300 with a 25 ante. Mr. Shortstack was on the button and Mr. Bigstack was in the small blind.

Mr. Shortstack moves all-in. Since he had anted 25, his raise was only 100 more that I was going to have to call from the big blind. I only had J8 offsuit but I have to make the call. Until...Mr. Bigstack decides to reraise! What an idiot! The last 2 players move on to the next step so he actually wants me in the pot so there is a better chance of knocking out the shortstack.

Obviously I can't call his reraise and Mr. Shortstack's KQ offsuit goes on to beat Mr. Idiot Bigstack's AJ suited. My hand wouldn't have been any better so Mr. Shortstack would've still won but it was still an idiot move.

About 3 hands later, I'm on the button and fold my crappy 62 offsuit. Mr. Shortstack is in the small blind and only calls. The blinds are up to 200/400 so this call is for almost half his stack. Stupid move of him to only call and not push in until Mr. Bigstack decides to raise him all-in. Mr. Shortstack insta-calls and turns over QQ - I guess that's why he decided just to call (still stupid). Mr. Idiot Bigstack turns over Q7 offsuit. Of course Mr. Shortstack wins and now I've turned into the shortstack.

And then the final idiot play of the table happens when I'm in the small blind with QJ offsuit and Mr. Bigstack raises all-in from the button. I'm tempted to call because I'm seriously low on chips but I fold hoping that the other idiot will do something stupid. I am rewarded when he calls the all-in raise. Mr. Bigstack turns over A7 suited and Mr. Idiot (the former Mr. Shortstack) turns over KJ offsuit. Mr. Bigstack's Ace holds up and Mr. Idiot is eliminated. Mr. Bigstack and I move on to the next step.

Mr. Idiot had no reason to make this call because I was so shortstacked that he could've waited me out until I was forced to move in which would've happened about 3 hands later. Maybe these donkeys didn't know that the top 2 move on to the next step. That's the only explanation I have. But for once, I'm thankful for donkeys.

Sigh

2008-04-17T12:48:00.002-05:00

Another crappy night of poker last night. Sometimes I think I really should give up the dream but then I have a good run and I'm right back at it. And sometimes I really feel lost when I'm playing. Last night it felt like I couldn't win no matter what cards I held.

I think I need to stop playing the capped games because I've been getting killed by the gamblers lately. Last night I lost well over half of my money at just one table and I played at about 6 different tables (but no more than 4 at once). I lost to the same player last night 3 times in a row when I had an overpair to the board or top pair and my opponent had flopped a set. This guy was so unbelievably lucky it was sick.

I'm also experiencing a lot of check-raises lately and I'm feeling lost as to how to combat this problem. It generally goes something like this: I have AK and raise the size of the pot before the flop. I get one caller usually from one of the blinds. The flop comes 972 rainbow and the caller checks to me. I make a continuation bet of about 2/3 pot since my hand is probably still good here and I get check raised to 3 times my bet.

Unless I have some sort of draw or I know my opponent is tricky, I almost always fold here. I just don't have a clue what else to do but I feel like I'm giving up a lot. It also concerns me that other players see this action and decide to bluff at me with this play. I don't know if that is actually happening but sometimes it feels like it.

Thankfully I made a decent comeback at the end of the night to cut my losses in half. And it took a major suckout just to do that. I had pocket tens and raised pre-flop. The player to my right was the only caller. The flop came off J93 with 2 hearts. I bet about the size of the pot and he raised the minimum. Generally this means he's on a draw (probably a flush draw in this case). I called and the turn brought a 6 (not a heart). I checked and he bet the size of the pot.

This is another instance where I feel a little lost. He could be on a draw. He could have called my pre-flop raise with AJ and flopped top pair or he could just be bluffing because he's seen it work against me. At this point I was pretty pissed from losing so much on the night that I pushed all-in. He called immediately and turned over pocket queens. I was crushed until the river brought a beautiful ten. So for once I sucked out and delivered the bad beat.

After nights like this I really think I need to buy some training videos from CardRunners.com or CardPlayer Pro. The cost is probably less than I would lose anyway.

No Country for Old Men and Poker

2008-04-08T10:42:00.003-05:00

Last night I had a chance to watch the end of "No Country for Old Men". I started it the night before but it was too long to finish since I started watching it late. I really had no idea what the movie was about but I wanted to see it because I had heard it was so good.

Overall the movie kept me interested (unlike the movie "No Reservations" which my wife picked out) but I wouldn't call it a great movie. I think I'm mostly disappointed by the ending because I didn't really understand it. It ended so strangely that I feel like I'm supposed to make up my own ending. It's kind of hard to describe but I'm making assumptions based on events toward the end of the movie to come up with my ideas of what happened to each of the main characters in the movie.

Other than the movie, I played some cards last night. I won a whopping $5 but I'd still consider it a success since I was down much more at one point. I've been playing a lot on these tables that are No-Limit Hold'em but there is a cap as to how much a player may put into the pot each hand. Most of the tables I play at are capped at $60. So even if a player has $1,000 in front of them, they can only put in $60 into any given pot.

This works nicely to limit the amount each player can lose on each hand but it also limits the most you can win to $60 times the number of players in the hand. I've had good success at these tables this year which is why I continue playing but the tide has been turning somewhat lately. It seems that many of the players lately are there to gamble with almost any 2 cards since they know they can't lose more than the cap on each hand. It kind of turns the tables into more of a true gambling game than a game of skill.

Last night was particularly funny on one of my tables because there were 2 players who were always going against each other. It was amazingly predictable that player 1 would always limp into every pot and player 2 (sitting right after player 1) would always raise to the amount of the pot. Then usually everyone else would fold and player 1 would call the raise. After that the hand would vary depending on if either of them hit anything on the board but frequently both players would get their $60 into the pot with some sort of pair and they'd both end up flipping over crappy starting hands like J4 and K3.

I continued to play at this table because if I ever had a good quality starting hand, I knew I would probably triple up as these 2 donkeys would get it all-in with me. I basically just had to hope to avoid one of the donkeys hitting a lucky 2 pair against my pocket Aces or Kings, etc. Overall it made for an interesting table and it was kind of fun to have something different.

I did have one fun hand last night although it wasn't at the table I talked about above. I was in the big blind with 64 offsuit. 2 players right after me limped into the pot and the 3rd player made a minimum raise. In my opinion, this is the weakest play possible if the raiser actually has a good starting hand because they won't eliminate anyone. This kind of raise only builds the pot a little bigger.

Frequently I'll see this kind of raise from a player who has suited connectors like T9 or JT and then it's not a horrible play because those hands play better against many players because if you hit the flop hard, you will usually win a ton. But I also see this play from people with premium hands like AA or KK and these hands do not play well against many players. As Doyle Brunson says, with premium hands you will usually win a small pot or lose a big pot. And when you make a minimum raise with premium hands you are just asking to lose a big pot.

So in this hand, I called the tiny raise with my mediocre 64 but I was getting such good pot odds and implied odds that I was almost forced to do it. Then the flop comes down T64. I'm very happy when I check along with the first 2 limpers and the minimum raiser makes a real bet this time equal to the amount of the pot. I make one of his donkey raises by making the minimum raise of double his bet. The 2 limpers fold and the raiser calls. After a blank on the turn, I push all-in for the remainder of my capped $60 and he calls. He flips over AA and the river doesn't help so I take his money by cracking his Aces.

He didn't make any comments in the chat box but I'm sure he was steaming after this bad beat. I'm sure he doesn't realize that he brought this beat on himself by making a donkey minimum raise after 2 limpers were already in the pot. At least I hope he doesn't realize it because I want him to continue doing it the next time I play with him.

This just supports Doyle's belief. The guy ended up losing a big pot but he could have ended up winning a small to medium pot if he would've raised enough to get me out pre-flop. Then the other 2 limpers would've probably still folded after they apparently missed the flop.

3 Strikes & You're Out

2008-04-04T23:34:00.003-05:00

Sigh. I just can't seem to get beyond Step 3 again. I have had 2 tickets burning a hole in my account for the past 2 nights. Each night I have tried 3 times to get 1st or 2nd place in a Step 3 tourney and all 6 times I've finished 3rd, 4th or 5th which just gets me another ticket to Step 3 again. I guess that's better than losing completely but it's getting frustrating.

On a better note, I experienced "3 strikes & I'm in". Not in poker but in my job search. As I've said, my current job is extremely boring and a long distance from my house, so I've been job hunting. I've had 2 other interviews recently that I thought went very well but I didn't get either job. Then finally today I received an offer from the 3rd place I interviewed at. This company is only about 20 minutes from my house and it seems like a very cool place to work. Lots of new technology and many geeky things for me to do.

The strange thing about this job is that I was already rejected by them back in December. I only had a phone interview and I didn't think it went very well (and I was right). But recently I found out that a former co-worker of mine was working there and he recommended me for a job there. So this time I was brought in for a face-to-face interview. I thought the interview went better this time. So I guess that interview plus the recommendation of my friend got me the job.

At the other long time job I had prior to this one (my first job after college), I was originally rejected by them as well. Although that rejection occurred because they didn't have any openings at the time. I did get the job when they finally had openings and I stayed there for 15 years! Hopefully this new job keeps my interest that long as well.

Step 4

2008-03-31T22:34:00.002-05:00

It took a while tonight but I finally made it to Step 4 by winning a Step 3 tourney. I played 3 Step 3 tourneys tonight before finally winning on the 3rd try. Of course bad beats sent me to the rail in the first 2.

My first try at Step 3 ended when I called an all-in raise pre-flop. The pre-flop raiser was in the small blind and turned over 88. I was in the big blind and had JJ. The flop came 88Q. Yes, I was crushed by quad 8's after getting my chips in as an 80% favorite.

My second try at Step 3 ended when I moved re-raised all-in pre-flop with AK and the caller had AQ. This time it took until the river for the Q to show up and beat my unimproved hand. And this time we were down to 4 players so at least I won another try at Step 3 which I used to play immediately and finally win it.

One of the final hands of the last Step 3 that I won occurred with me getting lucky. We were down to 3 players and 2 of us would move on to Step 4. We all had right around 4000 chips with blinds at 300/600 and a 50 ante. We had been alternating winning pots by moving all-in on the button for about the last 2 rounds so we remained about even in chips.

Then I picked up KK in the big blind. I was praying for the button to move all-in because I was barely ahead of him and the tourney would probably end then. Instead he folded for the first time in 2 rounds and the small blind hesitated before moving all-in. I couldn't click the call button any faster.

He turned over AQ so again I was about a 70% favorite. He had me slightly outchipped so the tourney would've ended if he spiked an Ace. Lucky for me the board didn't hit him and he was crippled. The tourney ended a couple of hands later when I had AJ against his Q6.

So it took a while but finally paid off with a ticket to Step 4. I have a feeling the competition is going to be getting tougher but it seems like most of these tourneys come down to an all-in competition at the end anyway. So it seems to be a test of who has the most patience and the best luck.

21

2008-03-31T14:34:00.003-05:00

Last night was the first night in a long time that I didn't play any poker. Instead I decided to see the movie 21 after the kids went to bed. I had read the book on which the movie is based over a year ago so I knew the general story behind the movie. I am very glad I chose to see the movie over playing poker.

I thought the movie was very good overall. It probably helps that I'm such a Vegas junkie and that's one of the reasons I was excited to see it. Unfortunately I was also able to pick out some of the flaws (such as you can't see the Bellagio fountains right outside your hotel room window if you're staying at the Hard Rock) in the movie easily because of my Vegas addiction also. Also, I probably should see the movie again to verify this but I think they screwed up on the card counting in the very first scene at the tables in Vegas. This should be something that is perfectly done since that is the basis of the entire movie. Oh well, maybe that's just the gambling addict/math geek in me.

Beyond the movie I've still been playing the WSOP Step tourneys on Pokerstars to try to win my WSOP Main Event ticket. I now have 4 tickets to Step 3 so I feel I'm doing pretty good. I haven't played in a Step 3 tourney yet but it seems to be one of the easier ones to get through since the top 2 move on to Step 4 (as in all the other steps) but also the next 3 get to retry Step 3. So over half of the table will remain in Step 3 or move on to Step 4. Hopefully I'll be reporting that I have Step 4 tickets soon.

Starting Up Again?

2008-03-27T13:40:00.002-05:00

I've decided to try this blog thing again and hopefully I can keep this going this time. My current job is unbelievably boring and uninspiring so maybe I'll take some time to write this at work (like I'm doing now). I'm also thinking about expanding some of my posts beyond poker.

As for this post it'll still be about poker mostly as I'm preparing for the World Series of Poker (WSOP). I've dreamt of playing in the WSOP for a few years now but I've never seriously dedicated myself to it. I can't exactly afford the $10,000 buy in to the Main Event so I'm attempting to win a seat through satellite tourneys. I'm playing in a series of "Steps" tourneys to try to win my seat. There are 6 steps total and they're just a series of "Sit and Go" tourneys against 8 other players. For the most part the 1st and 2nd place players move on to the next step until step 6 when only the winner gets a seat to the Main Event.

I tried this type of Step Tournament a couple of years ago and was unsuccessful. I actually made it to the final Step back then but went out in 5th place. Needless to say I was very disappointed so hopefully this year will be different. So far I have a couple of "tickets" to step 2 and another couple to step 3. I'm trying to accumulate a few tickets to each step as I move up to give myself a better chance. That way if I go out in step 6, I will have another ticket to step 6 at my disposal.

I'm already going to be in Vegas during the WSOP but not during the Main Event. I will be there during one of the preliminary events that costs $1,500 to enter. I don't exactly have that kind of cash to blow on a poker tourney either so I've set a goal for myself.

If I don't win a seat to the Main Event as described above, I've decided that if I can win $3,000 (twice the buy-in) that I will use half of it to buy my entry. When I set this goal a little over a week ago, I had already done quite well this year so I thought it was an achievable goal. Unfortunately I have only had a winning session one time since and now I need to make a comeback to have a chance at that goal.

The original reason for my Vegas trip in June was for the Olympic Judo trials with my brother. I'm not big into judo although I find it interesting so I was basically using it as an excuse to go to Vegas (I seem to find lots of excuses for that). So even if I don't get to play in either tourney in the WSOP at least I'll still be in Vegas having lots o' fun.

Done Already

2007-10-16T22:22:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's not even 10:30 and I'm home already from the tournament. I actually played quite well and didn't get blinded off as usual. I got my money in with the best hand and was the victim of a donkey.

Here's the final hand. We were in level 5 with the blinds at 300/600 and I had the 2nd highest chip stack at my table with about 8000. I had AdKd on the button and a MP player raised to 1500. He had me slightly out-chipped with about 8800. I just called.

I looked at his stack and decided not to push all-in which is what basically everyone else at the table had been doing during that round. Since we were the 2 chip leaders at the table I thought I'd see a flop and go with it if it hit me.

The flop was KQ2 all hearts. He bet 2500 into me and I could only fold or move all-in. There's no point in calling here because if another heart came on the turn or river I would have to fold if he bet into me. So I moved all-in for my last 6500.

The dude took a while to decide which made me think he must've had a piece of the flop or at least a big heart. I was thinking I didn't really want him to call me. Finally he did call and turned over KcJs. He had top pair with a mediocre kicker and I was in great shape.

That didn't last long as the Jd came on the turn and the meaningless 5h came on the river. I was out after being beaten by a 3 outer. As usual, I just don't understand this play.

Why would he put his tournament life at risk with that hand? He had to assume that I was drawing with a big heart or maybe a straight draw or both. It still doesn't make much sense since he would've still had over 5000 chips and would be in good shape at our table still.

As it turns out, I was a 75% favorite before the flop and an 82% favorite after the flop. This is why so many people play poker. Anyone can win even when they make a bad decision.

I really only had 3 other significant hands. The first I had AcKc under the gun and was raised all-in on a flop of AK4 all spades. I made the call and my opponent turned over AdQs for top pair and the nut flush draw. My 2 pair held up and I doubled up.

The 2nd hand I had AK again (off-suit this time) and was re-raised all-in before the flop. It wasn't much of a raise so I made the call. My opponent turned over AQo and I was again in great shape. The flop came AJ2 so I was still looking good. But then the turn and river both brought Jacks so we split the pot.

The 3rd hand came just after the first break. I was in MP with 99. The UTG player raised all-in to 1500 with blinds at 200/400. I had about 5200 in chips and made the call. I only called because the BB had been playing almost every hand - even to a raise - and I wanted him to play this one.

The BB surprised me by re-raising all-in for about another 1500. Since the pot was almost 5000 I had to call the extra 1500 and hope I was in the lead. The BB actually had a better hand than I expected as he turned over AKo. The initial raiser had AJo so I was basically racing both of them. The final board was 77662 so I scooped the pot and eliminated 2 players. That was the highlight of my tournament.

Overall, I'm pissed that I went out so early and that I was the victim of a bad beat but I'm also happy because it was a great experience. I'm still trying to decide if I'd prefer to be the victim of a bad beat or if I'd rather go out by being blinded out of chips. The bad beat victim knows he got his chips in with the best of it but the other way I get to play a lot longer. I guess either way I don't make any money.

Recovering

2007-10-11T23:12:00.000-05:00

I guess it's been a while since I posted on here. I've basically been recovering since the beating I took at both FullTilt and PokerStars. Since that beating I've dropped down to lower blind levels and I've started playing 6 handed tables.

So far the results for me have been great. I've been playing much more aggressively and I attribute that to being more willing to take some risks on draws. The bet amounts don't seem quite so huge and so I'm willing to put my money in to chase a draw more often now and it seems to be paying off.

In addition, I'm much more willing to attempt a bluff at someone who shows weakness. I've had this happen against me and now I'm willing to try it myself.

The scenario usually occurs when I'm in one of the blinds and I call a preflop raise and then call a bet on the flop. I usually do this with medium pocket pairs or AK and I can comfortably call a pot-size flop bet even when I don't hit the flop. Then if the preflop raiser checks on the turn I will usually bet into him on the river unless a scare card appears. I rarely get called when this I do this and it's easy to get away when I get raised.

I've had people do this to me especially at the higher blind levels I was playing at before and I've always suspected I'm being bluffed but the bet amounts were so large that I just couldn't call. Now I feel much more comfortable with the bet amounts that I'm willing to make this play myself.

I think this has really improved my game and my bankroll. I've read lots of articles about bankroll management and how sometimes you need to drop down in levels until you've recovered from a bad stretch. I've had bad stretches before but I've usually been able to struggle through them and remain at the same blind levels. This time I decided to drop down and see what happened. So far I'm happy with the results.

On another note, tonight I did something I haven't done in a long time but something I've wanted to do for a while. I went to Canterbury Park (my local card room) and registered for a tournament that's part of their "Fall Poker Classic". They've been running this series of tournaments each year for a while now and I've always thought of playing but just never made the effort to do it.

So tonight I plunked down my cash and registered for a tourney on next Tuesday the 16th. Hopefully I'll have some good results to post. I really don't play very many tournaments because they take so long to play and usually I only have a couple of hours each night to play.

I played in a tourney at Canterbury a couple of years ago. The top 11 places were given a trip to Vegas and entry in a satellite to play in one of the World Poker Tour events. Out of about 225 players I came in 23rd. For my first live tourney I thought that was pretty good but I was still disappointed that I didn't win a trip to Vegas.

On my last trip to Vegas I played in a small tourney and came in 6th place but of course only the top 4 were paid. It seems kind of common for me to just miss the money and I think that's because I keep playing tight as the tourney progresses. I've read lots of books about making moves as the tourney goes on and how you can't let yourself get blinded off but I just can't seem to pull the trigger when I'm actually playing. I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen next Tuesday.

FullTilt Crap

2007-09-17T20:54:00.000-05:00

When I first started playing online at FullTilt Poker I was somewhat surprised by my results. After all, I had already been playing online for over a year at many sites and done quite well at each of those sites. But when I played on FullTilt I would win a little bit for about 4 to 5 days and then I would lose it all and then some. I couldn't decide if the players were better than me or my luck was just bad at FullTilt for some reason.

At one point I actually vowed never to play there again because I just couldn't win. After reviewing my play I decided the players were not better than me. They were just much looser than the other sites at which I played. And that led to much worse luck because that loose play invited bad beats.

I can't tell you the number of times I would see someone raise pre-flop and get called from someone in late position. Both players would get their money in after the flop. The cards would be turned over and the pre-flop raiser would have pockets Aces and the caller would have Q9o or other similar garbage. The flop would have a Queen on it and so the pre-flop caller would think they were good. And the bad beat 9 (or Queen) would always come on the river. I've seen this occasionally at other sites but not with the frequency that it occurs on FullTilt.

I'm writing this because even after I vowed not to play at FullTilt, I still went back to play. I am a "bonus whore" and FullTilt offered me some pretty good bonuses if I played on their site again. Plus I found a way to earn rakeback of 27% so that was enough incentive for me. Plus many of the other online poker sites no longer allowed U.S. players because of some idiotic legislation that the U.S. government passed so I was limited as to my choices.

After about 3 months of play on FullTilt, my results had changed and I was actually doing quite well. Until 3 nights ago that is. I cannot believe the plays I saw and the results that occurred.

Here's a replay of some hands at one particular table - a $3/6 no-limit hold'em table. After about an hour at this table I was about even and nothing terribly interesting had happened. Then a new person joined the table and he sat down 1 seat away from where the blinds currently were. And he immediately posted. This is one of the dumbest things I see people doing. They're going to have to post the BB on the next hand anyway so all they have to do is sit out one hand and then they'll be able to play.

But this donkey posts and checks when it's his turn to check or raise. Everyone folds and the button raises to the size of the pot. The donk calls. After the flop brings an Ace and rags he checks and calls the button's bet. The turn is another rag and he bets into the button and the bet calls. The river is another rag so this board has a bunch of junk and both players check. The button turns over AQo so he has a pair of Aces and the donk turns over K3o for absolutely nothing.

To summarize this hand the donk called a big pf raise with K3o when he was out of position and then proceeded to call a pot-size flop bet with nothing and bet on the turn with nothing. This was all I needed to confirm that a donk was at my table.

He solidified my belief when he proceeded to play almost every hand after that by limping into the pot and then calling down all bets when he had nothing better than bottom pair. He did this on many hands and actually won quite a few of them. I guess that's why he kept doing it.

The next hand I'll summarize is when I was in the SB with Td9d. The above donk limped as usual and by now half the table was limping too because we all knew that we could easily take his money if we hit the flop hard. On this hand the flop came down KdTsTh. Obviously I hit the flop hard and was quite happy when the BB bet the pot after I checked. The donk made his usual call while everyone else folded to me in the SB. I raised to the size of the pot and the BB re-raised all-in. The donk finally folded but there was no way I was going to fold since it wasn't that much more money and I easily had the BB covered.

The BB turned over Ks3s. According to CardPlayer.com I was an 88% favorite to win the hand. Of course the turn and river were both spades so he caught runner runner for a winning flush. I'm stunned when I see this crap. I can understand if he had QJ or a King with a big kicker but did he actually think he had a decent chance with a 3 kicker? And this wasn't even the same donk I was referring to earlier!

The next hand I'll replay occurred against the first donk I mentioned above. I was in early position and limped with 22 because like I said before, everyone was limping to get the donk's money and it seemed to be working (except for me). A player in middle position raised to the size of the pot and the donk called. Everyone else folded but I called since I was getting good enough pot odds and great implied pot odds.

Bingo! The flop comes Q62 rainbow and I have flopped trips. I check and the pre-flop raiser bets about 2/3 pot. The donk raises all-in and I call. The donk has me covered so I cannot raise anymore. The donk flips over QJo and I see that I'm a 98% favorite to win. Of course the turn comes another Queen which knocks me down to an 84% favorite and the river is a Jack to complete his runner runner full house that beats my full house.

These are the kind of donk plays I see at FullTilt all of the time. I have a hard time understanding why I can't win at this site when I'm usually getting my money in with the best of it. I know it's not rigged but this kind of crap sure makes you wonder. And really makes you doubt your ability.

Up Late Again

2007-09-12T12:49:00.000-05:00

So once again, I stayed up until 1:00 AM last night playing hold'em on FullTilt and PokerStars. It was the usual 4 table setup - 2 tables on each site. At first I was holding steady at FullTilt but up pretty good on PokerStars. Then my FullTilt tables turned bad.

I was card dead - completely missing every flop when I raised pre-flop or getting no cards even worth seeing a flop. I usually follow up a pre-flop raise with a continuation bet on the flop and now I was getting check-raised pretty big on ugly boards so I had no choice but to fold.

After about an hour of doing well on PokerStars, my best table disintegrated. It usually starts when a couple of people decide to leave at the same time and within one round most everyone else leaves when it's time for the to post the BB.

So I was down to playing 3 tables and not doing well on any of them. The only consolation was that I did well at the other table that I just left so I wasn't down that much.

At this time I was also getting pretty pissed about the action I was getting. I was getting some pretty good hole cards - pocket Aces, Kings and Queens - but no one would call my pre-flop raises so I wasn't winning anything but the blinds. My strategy for entering a pot is to raise almost every time if I'm the first person in the pot and I will always raise the same amount. That way I do not give away the strength of my hand - I may have AA or I could have A4.

But it seemed like everyone knew when I had a big hand and they were folding or maybe I was just getting unlucky that no one else had a good enough hand when I did. Regardless of the reason, I decided to mix up my strategy.

The first time came when a guy in early position made a standard pre-flop raise. I had AA and just smooth called in middle position. I don't usually do this because it gives everyone else better pot odds to come in with things like suited connectors and AA doesn't play well in multi-way pots. After the flop, I made a minimum raise of his flop bet and he called. There were possible straight and flush draws on the flop so he probably believed I was drawing - which is what I wanted him to believe. He checked to me on the turn and I bet 1/2 pot. He check-raised me all-in and I was glad to call. He turned over TT and I won a nice pot. My pre-flop slow play seemed to work.

About 1 round later I had KK and just limped - very abnormal for me as I hate seeing an Ace come on the flop. Everyone else folded to the SB who made a decent size raise. I re-raised him to 3x his raise and he folded. This wasn't a huge pot but it was nice to get some action on my good starting hand for once even though it didn't even get to the flop.

Overall, I won a few bucks on the night but it was another frustrating night of few cards and little action. I'm starting to think about playing some smaller tourneys or at least some Sit-n-Gos just to get a change of pace.

Playing but Not Posting (and Donkeys)

2007-09-10T12:23:00.000-05:00

So I haven't posted for a while but I have been playing. I have 2 reasons for not posting. First, I had an amazing night 3 nights ago at the tables. I was playing fine but just getting very unlucky - not necessarily bad beat unlucky but more like AA vs KK and I had the KK so I lost my stack. This was happening on 3 of the 4 tables I was playing. But then suddenly I had a good run and was almost even for the night. I was satisfied with only losing a little bit after being down a ton so I turned off all of the "auto-post blinds" checkboxes because I was on my last round at each table. Then the bottom dropped out. In about 20 combined hands at the 4 tables I went right back down to where I was and then kept falling. It was my worst night of poker ever.

After that I had to think long and hard about my game and what I should do to build my bankroll back up. I decided to keep playing the next night because I believe most of my losses were due to plain old bad luck and not bad play on my part (although I did tilt off some of it after I started falling so fast). So for the last 3 nights I've been winning again but it hasn't been easy. I've gotten down most nights and had to stay up late just to get back ahead.

I think that's one of my biggest downfalls - I always believe I can win back the money I've lost if I just keep playing. So sometimes I stay up quite late just to get back even and it rarely works out. I don't think this is a bad attitude to have because it shows I have confidence in my game. But I also need to realize that sometimes I can be playing great but the cards just aren't falling for me so I need to cut my losses and wait for the next night.

My second reason for not posting lately is that I've been staying up so late trying to get a win that I haven't wanted to stay up even later to post an entry here. And then the next day I don't have time to post due to plans for the day.

I guess I have a third reason for not posting lately and that's because I realized I'm mostly posting about significant hands I've played and that probably gets a little boring to read. But it's kind of nice to write about because it helps me think through the hand and how I played it. So I guess I haven't decided exactly what I want to include in this blog and that's what has kept me from posting also.

I do have one thing that I want to mention in this post though. That's the number of complete donkeys I encounter every night at the $2/4 and $3/6 blind levels. My neighbor (who I discuss my play with quite a bit) always comments that these blind levels are pretty high stakes. When I tell him about some of the plays I've seen he's always shocked by the play because he assumed that the caliber of player at this level is so much higher than the level he plays at. In general I would agree with him that most of the players at my tables are better than those at his tables. And that's why I'm surprised by some of these plays also.

For example, at my table last night, a guy in late position does the minimum raise thing (which I hate) and the button calls but the SB folds. I'm in the BB with the all-powerful 53o. I call since I'm getting such incredible pot odds. The flop comes 467 with 2 hearts. I've flopped the bottom end of the straight and decide to slow play since neither of these players have much money so I figure I'll be putting at least one of them all-in on a check-raise. The pre-flop raiser doesn't disappoint and bets 2/3 of the pot. The button calls yet again and I raise enough to put the original better all-in. He calls and the button calls too even though it leaves him with very little left. The turn is a blank so I bet enough to put the button all-in and he calls as expected. The river is a 5 which really pisses me off since I've seen so many people with pocket 8's in this situation who just got really lucky.

Well that wasn't the case this time. The original raiser turned over Qd7d and the button turned over A3o. I ended up splitting the pot with the button. So here's what I'm talking about donkeys. The original minimum pre-flop raiser had a lousy Q7s. If you're going to raise with that hand, why raise so little just to invite action? And then why do you call off all of your chips when you flop top pair with a mediocre kicker? Especially when your top pair is so low. Two donkey moves right there.

And then there's the button's play. I don't mind the pre-flop call since the raise was so little to begin with but it may have been better to re-raise to see if his Ace was any good. But then after the flop, he cold calls a bet of 2/3 pot and all he has is an over card and gutshot straight draw. This is a pretty stupid play but then he makes it worse by calling my big check-raise. Did he actually think he could hit something to win the pot? What could I be check-raising with where he still had a chance and his odds were good enough to take that chance? The only thing I can think of is if I had a flush draw but then I probably would've had the Ace of hearts and my kicker was probably better than his 3. So his only chance of winning the pot outright would be to hit the 5 and hope I didn't have an 8. In addition, he only calls my check-raise instead of re-raising to put his last few chips in. I guess he knew I was going to bet on the turn so he decided to just wait for that. I can't decide which of these 2 is the bigger donkey.

This is the kind of play I see frequently at my tables. And of course there's always the donkey who calls off all of his chips with pocket 3's on a flop of AK6. I can't believe these people play at these blind levels. Are they completely new to the game and they don't realize 2/4 and 3/6 are quite high to start out at? Or do they just have so much money that they don't care? I wish I had that problem.

Up and Down and All Around

2007-09-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

Wow, what an up and down couple of days. I didn't get a chance to post my results from last night because I was up until 2AM and really didn't want to be up any later especially since I would've only been complaining about idiots. So after dropping a huge load last night, I play for an hour tonight and make it all back and then some.

Last night was one of the most boring poker sessions I've had. Again I played 4 tables - 2 on FullTilt and 2 on PokerStars - and all of them at the $3/6 blind level. I must've been more comfortable because I wasn't cold at all:) On the FullTilt tables, I actually did quite well but it was all on one table and all against one other player. My first hand in the BB I had AKo and there were 3 limpers then the SB and so I just decided to check. The flop came out with a K and a bunch of other junk but the SB led into me with about a pot size bet. I raised him and he reraised me. I couldn't believe he had me beat unless he got really lucky so I moved all-in for my whole stack of $240. He called and turned over Q9o - there was a 9 on the flop also but no Q. I don't know why he was willing to put in so much money with 2nd pair but I'm glad he did. I basically labelled him as a maniac and he proved me correct the rest of the night. I think I made about $400 off him alone.

Unfortunately PokerStars was just the opposite. I was so card dead that I basically played Texas Fold'em. I really had about 2 quality hands all night where someone gave me action and unfortunately I was on the wrong end of the action both times. The first time I had 99 on the button and it was folded to me. I made the standard raise and the BB reraised me. I just called and flopped a set. He bet into me but the board was T98 rainbow and if you've read my previous posts, you know I hate draws so I moved all-in. He called somewhat quickly and turned over AJo. He only had an open-end straight draw but of course he hit the 7 on the river and took my $425 that I had in my stack. The only other hand I had came with pocket K's. I was in late position and the guy under the gun made the standard pre-flop raise to 21. I reraised him to 54 and the BB cold called but the original raiser folded. Of course an Ace came on the flop but I had to bet so I put in 82 which was enough to cover what the BB had left. He insta-called and flipped over AK. So he hit a 3 outer and was basically an idiot to call pre-flop since it was probably obvious he was in bad shape - that's probably how he got such a short stack to begin with.

So now tonight is a complete turnaround. I couldn't miss. I played the same setup as last night - 4 tables with 2 at each site. I think I had pocket K's about 4 times in an hour and no Aces came on the boards and I actually got action. I also had AA against QQ for a pot of about $400. But my best hand of the night came on something I don't usually do. I was in the BB with 6h3h. There was a pre-flop raiser in early position for only the minimum raise. Usually this means the guy has a big hand and wants action and is an idiot because you don't want a lot of callers with big pocket pairs. But he got what he asked for - 4 callers total including the SB and me. Obviously I wouldn't usually play 63 suited or not but the pot odds were too good to pass up. The flop came 9h5d4h so I had a flush draw and open ended straight draw. The SB led out for a pot size bet of 40 and I just called. I didn't think there would be any other callers except for maybe the pre-flop raiser since I put him on a big pocket pair. He actually raised to 120 so I had to think a bit but I eventually called. I usually am not this gutsy but I had been running so good tonight and had a pretty decent stack so I decided it was worth it. The turn was the Jh so it was definitely worth it. My flush was pretty small but I figured it to be good. I checked and he bet 160. I raised all-in for 340 and he thought for a while before folding :( Oh well, it was still a nice pot.

So basically last night was really bad and tonight was really good so I'm a happy boy overall.

So Far So Good

2007-09-02T23:03:00.000-05:00

For my second report I have better news to report than the first. I did quite well tonight playing at PokerStars. I was playing 4 tables - 2 at the $2/4 blind level and 2 at the $3/6 level. This is No-Limit Texas Hold'em which is almost all that I play. Every once in a while I venture into the Omaha arena but I'm not very good at it so it's usually for small stakes and mostly for fun for me. I really like Omaha but have never read any books about it (unlike the countless books I've read on Hold'em).

The $3/6 blind level is a little bit out of my comfort zone but if I'm running good then I usually go for it. I notice that I get cold when I'm nervous about the level I'm playing at. Tonight I had to cover up in a blanket since I was at 2 tables that I was nervous about. At one of those tables I lost about $160 - mostly because I never caught any cards when I raised pre-flop. But at the other table I was up about $240 - mostly due to my pocket Kings getting all-in against pockets Jacks and my Kings actually holding up.

At one of the $2/4 tables I was down quite a bit until I raised pre-flop from late position and got a caller in the BB. I flopped a set of Tens (I had pocket Tens) and he check-raised me after I bet a little less than the pot on the flop. I re-raised him all-in and he ended up folding after thinking for almost his entire time allotment. I was pushing him because the board had a flush and straight draw possibility and I didn't feel like getting sucked out on.

At my other $2/4 table I did quite well from the first hand. About 2 rounds in, I got 55 in the BB when the pot was raised pre-flop and got 2 callers before me. I called also and the flop came 457 with 2 clubs. Again, I wasn't going to slow play because of the draws so I bet into the pre-flop raiser. He called me on all streets and I won a pot of about $260 when he showed pockets Jacks. That started off that table well and I didn't have much resistance after that.

Overall, tonight was a good night as I only lost at 1 of the 4 tables and I had a really good run of cards at one point. Hopefully I can keep this going through September to pay for all of the food and drink I had while with my brother these last couple of weeks.

First Report

2007-09-01T00:31:00.000-05:00

I decided to give FullTilt one last try tonight since it's still August and the points on PokerStars reset at the beginning of every month. Tonight started out just as the last 2 nights had gone. Within an hour I found myself down about $300. I was playing 4 tables and was doing fine at 3 of them but I just couldn't beat this donk at my other table. He always had position on me and every time I raised preflop, he always called and sometimes re-raised me. Then he'd continue his aggression on the flop and turn. I never caught anything with the first 4 cards so I ended up folding each time. And then each time he'd show me a bluff and my hand was actually ahead.

Then came my worst hand against him. I raised 3.5xBB in early position with AQ and he smooth called as he had frequently done before. The flop came KQJ rainbow and I bet about 3/4 pot into him. He made the minimum raise and I called since I'd seen him do this on a bluff many times before and there was the chance he had a K to put him ahead. The turn was an Ace to give me 2 pair but I was scared by the straight possibility so I checked. He checked also so I was really clueless at this point. The river was a blank but I still checked. He bet enough to put me all in for my last $140 and I had to call since the pot was plenty big and he was a serial bluffer. Of course he turned over T9 offsuit for a flopped straight and the best hand. He played it well I guess but I'm still always shocked when someone turns over that kind of crap after a pre-flop raise - especially since he was in middle position to call my raise.

That put me down to my low point of about $300 but a few rounds later I got it back. I was in the small blind with 2 red K's. He was under the gun and made a minimum raise which he had frequently been doing. It was folded to me and I popped it to about $40 since I didn't want the BB to get a cheap flop and possibly have an Ace. The flop came a glorious K97 but had 2 hearts. I made a continuation bet of about 2/3 pot which he called. The turn was a black T and I bet the pot because he could have just about anything that would at least give him a good draw (he played almost any 2 cards). He raised me all-in at this point which kind of surprised me but I had to call. I figured if he really had J8 then I was just getting seriously unlucky against this guy. He turned over T9 offsuit again (he must love that hand) for 2 pair and I had him drawing dead. The river was another T giving us both full boats but I scooped the pot for about $500. So I was close to even at this point since a little less than half of that $500 was my money before that hand.

I started to creep back down again until my best hand of the night. This was at a different table and the donk had left the other table anyway. I had been raising a lot preflop and not winning much or getting re-raised big so I was kind of frustrated. I was in middle position with 99. After 1 limper, the guy to my right made a raise to 3xBB. Since I wanted some action, I smooth called. For the first time of the night (after about 2 hours) I finally flopped a set. I smooth called his flop bet and then raised him on the turn when the board became scary. He re-raised me all-in on the turn and I called. He turned over KK and he had only 2 outs. This time I scooped a pot of about $600 which put me up for the night to stay.

I played a couple more rounds at each table and then called it quits since I was finally ahead for the first time in 3 days. Overall this was a pretty frustrating night again. I actually had pocket Aces more times than normal but I never got any decent action on them. I guess that's better than getting them cracked like I did the previous 2 nights. I also flopped a couple of low straights but the board was always scary so I always bet out and never got any callers. Oh well, at least I won tonight. Hopefully I'll continue to have these kind of reports.

Getting Started

2007-08-31T13:00:00.000-05:00

I've been playing poker somewhat seriously for about 4 years now and my brother (http://judoinmylife.blogspot.com/) encouraged me to write a blog about my experience so I thought I'd give it a try.

In this blog I'll most likely be talking about some specific hands that I played or about my general feelings about poker. Hopefully I'll be posting lots of good experiences and not complaining too much about bad beats.

For the last 2 nights I've been attempting to earn the remainder of a bonus that was given to me at FullTiltPoker. Although I did earn the bonus I basically took a beating at the tables so earning the bonus only served to soften the blow somewhat. I'm not really a big fan of FullTiltPoker as I seem to experience many more bad beats there than at other sites. I think I'll start playing at PokerStars again for September and hopefully I can earn enough points so that I earn Gold VIP status at least. That way I can "purchase" some cool stuff with my points. The higher your VIP status, the better stuff you can buy. I already have a ton of points so I just need to get to a good VIP level to get the good stuff.

If I play tonight, I'll attempt to post my hands and thoughts from the tables. Until then I hope a few people can find this site and will be willing to comment on my play and add some insite to my game.