O-Poker

Haven't forgotten LV trip report

2011-07-10T20:11:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post a LV trip report but have been crazy busy between work and fun. I'm currently in Hawaii and family is here now too. Trip report might have to wait for one night when everyone is asleep or when I get back to Orlando.

WSOP #48 ($1,500) - finished 125th of 2,700+

2011-07-03T21:05:00.000-05:00

I just got back from Las Vegas - pretty fun trip overall.

Played one WSOP event (#48 - $1,500 NL) and finished 125th for $4,100.

Trip report to follow some time over the next few days...........

Las Vegas Plans Booked

2011-05-19T15:50:00.000-05:00

I'll be in Las Vegas from 6/25-7/2. I booked the flight with my airline miles (at least I'm getting something out of all the traveling I've been doing.)

I'll be staying at the Rio. I haven't played enough to maintain my previous Harrah's Rewards status but I get got a decent rate on the room.

As far as plans go while I'm there, I'm pretty much going to play it by ear. I'll be playing mostly cash games and may throw in a Venetian, WSOP, Binion's ME, or Casear's tourney in there to break things up.

Is anyone keeping a list of blogger dates in WSOP.? Let me know if you are in LV during that time and want to me up?

Good Game. It was fun

2011-04-20T16:08:00.000-05:00

Unless you've been living under a rock buried deep in an underwater cave, then you are well aware that Online Poker is history in the US. I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I wanted to post about my feelings on the future of online poker.

This post isn't meant to give you an in depth analysis of the indictments or keep you up to date for the latest news. For that visit some of the following:

@Kevmath on Twitter

Ck's Blog

Bill Rini's Blog

Plus many others on twitter, in the blog-o-sphere, on the forums, etc, etc.

Future of Online Poker (IMO)

I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer, but I think that there is a very low likelihood of online poker getting regulated in the US in the near future. It is easy for online poker players to say that the DOJ's move to shut down the FTP, PS, and UB/AP is the first step of the government's larger plan to regulate and tax online poker. The reality of the situation is quite different in my (probably unpopular) opinion. This is not a calculated move by the government to get their piece of the pie. It is, simply, the government shutting down what they believe to be illegal activity that has been consistently and increasingly flaunted in their face with the ever increasing .NET advertising in print, online, and on TV. Simple as that.

Do I think online poker will be regulated in the near future? I hope I'm wrong, but No. (maybe 5% chance by the end of the year) I don't think it will even be discussed in legislative committees on the federal level until these cases are resolved. The members of Congress that were on the fence on regulated online poker will most likely shy away from the issue because the average American doesn't know any of the details of the case. All they see is "Online Poker sites shut down by the government because they are illegal." We know that is not the true picture, but the average American doesn't. These middle of the road members of Congress are going to realize that some of their constituents are going to see them as backing illegal gambling because so many voters are idiots.

Do I think online poker will ever be regulated? Yes. I would put the chance around 35% by the end of 2012 and increasing each year. It may take some state's passing online poker bills and the federal government challenging the states' rights to offer online poker plus all the red tape that follows. I'm not sure when or how this will happen, but I think that is the most likely way we get online poker - states allowing it and the fed govt eventually deciding it should be implemented and taxed.

It makes me sad to think of online poker going away. I started playing well before most and have enjoyed it immensely over the years. More in my next post......

Venetian Summer Deep Stacks Tourney Schedule

2011-03-15T10:55:00.000-05:00

The Venetian is running their Deep Stacks Tourney Series from May 27 through July 15. I'm not sure which week I'll be in LV this summer, but I'll probably play at least one of these.

Link to Schedule of Events.

WBCOOP

2011-01-17T22:47:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.
Registration code: XXXXXX 780350

2011 Goals

2011-01-04T09:35:00.000-05:00

I'm keeping the goals short and sweet this year.

1. Play 600,000 cash game hands. I've been playing only full ring rush NLHE, so this shouldn't be that difficult even if I'm traveling a lot.

2. Cash in a WSOP tourney (assuming I play one this year). I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to the WSOP this year because of work/family events in June. If I do, I plan to play at least 1 tourney (maybe 2) and the first goal will be to cash. The second goal will be, of course to make a deep run.

3. Lose 35 lbs by WSOP. The first 20 lbs should be pretty easy. The last 15 will be the difficult part. I don't plan to do anything drastic at first. The only real changes I'll make is exercise more and eat healthier.

I'll try to update the status of my goals once a month.

Happy New Year!!! Good Luck in life and poker in 2011!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-22T11:20:00.004-05:00

I know it's been a while, but I thought I would drop in to wish everyone HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! My traveling is starting to slow a little so I may find time to start posting again.

Tampa Hard Rock/Live Poker

The Tampa Hard Rock just opened a new poker room, so I will definitely being checking it out one day next week. It will be a rare treat to play some live poker. I haven't played near as much live as I had hoped. Once they changed the limits from $100 cap buy-in to real uncapped games, I assumed that I would be playing a minimum of twice/month. That hasn't happened because of all my traveling for work. I don't want to spend any of my little time while I'm home away from the family, so poker takes a back seat. The kids will be at my Mom's house for a couple of days next week, so it will be the perfect opportunity to check out the new digs at Hard Rock.

I may be bored to death playing live cash games after not playing anything other than four tables of NL FR Rush Poker. There might be a little difference in playable hands when you are seeing 25 hands/hr vs. 1,100+ hands/hr. I guess I'll find out next week.

---------------------------------
Twitter vs. Blogs

Yin and Yang. As Twitter has taken off with poker bloggers, the quantity of blog posts seems to have dropped significantly. It only seems logical. If you can follow someone's journey through a tourney in real time on twitter, why would you need/want to read their recap of it on their blog 3 days later. If you feel like reliving their tourney then you can just follow their twitter stream (or whatever the term is).

You can follow me on twitter at @seemitch.

Million Dollar idea for free* - Twitter---->Blog. Invent a tool that allows people to utilize a stream of tweets for a blog post or blog post template without having to cut/paste each one. Imagine how easy it would be to recap a tourney or a trip to a casino to play cash games if you could just take your twitter stream and add a few details that you couldn't fit into 140 characters. It would definitely cause me to start posting more.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

(Hanukkah is over already I think)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

*Million Dollar idea may be an overstatement unless you could somehow figure out how to get people to buy it as an app. (That Steve Jobs guy is pretty smart or whoever works for him that came up with the pay per app concept.)

I'm still alive

2010-11-06T19:38:00.000-05:00

...just checking in, in case anyone was worried. :)

Too much work, not enough poker. When I have played I've been far from focused. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with my body never really knowing which time zone it's in.

I was so excited about FL getting real poker, but I'm disappointed that I haven't been able to play live in a while. Maybe that will change once the travel starts to slow down.

/End boring post about nothing.

Until next time (hopefully sooner than later) - Enjoy life. Party Hard!! Don't take even the small things for granted.

Pot Limit Omaha Cash Games

2010-09-15T14:37:00.000-05:00

Yes, I haven't posted in a while, but I'm not going to make any excuses. I've been busy with work and family life and just haven't found the time or felt like posting much.

I am going to be out of town for most of the next month or so and figured that I can probably use what little down time that I have in the hotel room to learn how to play PLO cash games. I'm not talking about just watching a video or two and them jumping in and playing. I'm talking about trying to really learn in depth how to play PLO cash - watching several videos, reading as much as I can and running some simulations as I gradually start playing.

Who knows, I may not even like the game at the end of the day, but I at least want to give it a shot. The variance may drive me insane, but I won't know unless I give it a try.

So far my plan is to start with the following:

- Watch the DeucesCracked Solid State PLO series (all 8 videos) by DJSensei and delcrossb
- Read the Jeff Hwang's first two books (Pot-Limit Omaha Poker and Advanced PLO Vol. 1)

I'm not sure which video series I will watch after that. I'll probably scan through KasinoKrime's (coach over at DC) extensive notes that he took while watching the different PLO video series and see which one seems the best.

I'll post my results (both good and bad), questions on hands, and other random PLO thoughts that pop into my head over the next month or two.

Any advice on resources (videos, books, blog posts, forum posts, etc, etc) would be appreciated. I'm probably not going to hire a coach for a little while, but let me know if you have any experiences or know of any good PLO coaches.

Not sure what to do

2010-08-12T16:36:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a while and when I do there isn't much content.

The content and number of posts both turn a big downturn almost 2 years ago, when I started my own business. I have trouble finding the motivation to post after spending all day on the computer, phone, in meetings, etc, etc.

I am weighing my options (see below) and haven't made a clear decision yet.

1. Start some sort of challenge and post weekly or twice a week updates. - This seems like the best idea because I don't want to totally abandon this blog. Any suggestions? (I'm leaning towards some sort of cash challenge on FTP and SNG/MTT challenge on PS)

2. Commit to posting at least once a week.

3. Commit to posting either once or twice a month.

4. Stop posting and end the run of O-Poker. Not much chance of this.

I'll figure it out in the next week or so. Stay tuned..........

Diamond Head Hike Pictures

2010-07-20T02:28:00.000-05:00

I hiked up Diamond Head solo on Sunday. I think my legs and brain thought my body was in better shape than it is. Still hurting a little today.

Here are a few pictures from the trip up and back down. (some better than others - all from my phone)

Drive to Diamond Head

The Walk into Diamond Head Crater

WSOP Trip Report Part 1 of ? - Ramblings

2010-07-08T23:36:00.000-05:00

No detail for now, just random thoughts....

I met a lot of great people that I hadn't met before and ran into some awesome people that I had met before. There are a lot of people that I wanted to run into but didn't get a chance to for one reason or another. Sleep, tourneys, alcohol, laziness got in the way - take your pick.

In a $1.5k WSOP event folding to cash is OK, ~~not OK, OK~~, not OK, OK (I have no idea), especially when you know you are flipping right b4 the cash.

EST is not Eastern Standard Time. It is "American time" - via RealDawnSummers

If you agree to flip for $200/hand for x (5 I think) hands while really drunk and finish up $800, it is OK to stop flipping no matter how much the other guy keeps asking you too. That is what I did, until he starting offering me his $350 to my $300 in omaha flips. (more later on this)

It probably isn't a good idea to stay up all night and watch the USA soccer game if you started drinking at 5 pm. I think I fell asleep for a few at the bar somewhere between 2-0 and 2-1. Credit Vinnay for waking me up a couple of times in the 2nd half.

It gets light outside really, really early in LV.

I play much better in tourneys while drinking and much worse in cash games while drinking. Hmmm......

It is probably a good idea to set an alarm to remind yourself to eat dinner. I think there were a couple of days that I only ate one meal unless 15 beers counts as a meal.

Don't order a burger if the waitress tells you, "Are you sure that you want to order that. It is extremely spicy and there are no refunds." Also, always read the read print under the burger that mentions the beef is mixed with the hottest peppers in the world.

It is OK to call someone a "jack ass" if they call the clock on you in a cash game when they aren't in the hand. (more on this later)

OBFV and over shoving for value on the flop works really live if you just shoved on a short stack with AK on an all rag flop after the short stack called 2/3rds of this stack pf. They must always think you have AK instead of top set.

Almost forgot - if you are having dinner at the bar, it is prob a good idea to put a few dollars in the vid p0ker machine.

Much more to come.........

Daytona Poker Room Trip Report

2010-07-06T12:48:00.001-05:00

(I'm really going to post some WSOP stories soon, but here is my first weekend of real FL trip report while it's fresh.)

Real poker in Florida began last week - July 1, 2010 at 12:01 am. The maximum buy-in for cash games had been $100. It all changed last Thursday. The buy-in restriction was removed and each room was able to set it's own limits.

I wasn't able to play until Friday and was leaning towards heading to the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa which is a little over 1 hour away. A few friends talked me into the Daytona Beach Kennel Club and Poker Room - mainly because of the big Nascar race being in town.

I left earlier than my friends in an attempt to beat the holiday/race weekend traffic. When I arrived at the poker room, I noticed that they had 2 buy-in ranges for each limit (multiple tables). It was pretty ridiculous. (2/5 with 100-300 and 200-500 and 5/10 with 300-500 and 500-1000). I was debating which game to play and I put my name on the list for both bigger buyin range 2/5 and 5/10. I got called for the 5/10 about 10 minutes later.

About 1 hour later, they decided to make their life easier and collapsed the buyin ranges to one per limit, but kept the small mins. I liked not having multiple games with different buy-ins at each limit, but didn't like that the new buy-ins allowed for more short stackers (30 bbs vs. 50 bbs)

After 5 hands in at 5/10, I was dealt AA and got aipf against JJ and held. I 3-bet and 5-bet the guy, before he finally shoved. He had like $725-$750. As I was raking the pot an older guy (regular - not in the pot) at the table said, "Oooohhh!! Wow!!! Huge Pot!! That's a hundra dolla tip right there!!" I tipped $5 and the guy went on to call me cheap and tell me "Come on, at least give the dealer another $10." I just ignored him. WTF? $5 is cheap?

About 45 minutes later, I won about $550 ($1100 pot) of a guy that couldn't fold his weak Ace against my AQ on a AxxxQ board. The same older guy (not in the pot) again commented on my $5 tip. "You just won two $2,000 pots (not correct) and you are only tipping $5. That is crazy. I'm going to bust your ass for being so cheap. Dealer, if I win a big pot (I didn't see him win any pots) then I'm going show you how people are supposed to tip."

LOL. The guy left the table about 2 minutes later.

Random thing I noticed - occasionally one guy (not the guy ripping on me) would tip like $40-$50 when he won a big pot (like $700 - $1k). I didn't believe it the first time I saw it.

A little later I lost a big pot with QQ to a guy that couldn't get away from A6o when he flopped bottom pair. Ace on the river killed me.

On another hand, I lost about $400 when I live straddled and was dealt 84 in a 8 way limped pot. The flop came 88T and there was action from a shorter stack (guy with about $350ish) that made me think he clearly had an 8. A horrible player in between us was forcing the action (with what I was guessin was something like AT). He had about $1,200. On a blank turn the short stack put his last $125 in. Mid pos called. I decided to shove since there was a flush draw (might have been bad in hind sight). Mid pos folded. River was an Ace. I told the short stack that I had an 8. He didn't say anything and I flipped up my hand. About 15 seconds later he dramatically flipped over his flopped full house (T8). Slow roll FTW!! Another WTF moment.

Several hours later with some up and down hands I was down about $550 and the table had gotten pretty tight without any spewey players, so I moved over to a 2/5 game that 2 of my friends were playing in. I think only 1 guy had $500 in front of him. I lost another $250 there without any hands of note other than losing a big pot against an extremely loose guy with QT vs. 22 on a QT2xx board.

I would rate the action as much much worse than I expected, but there are still good spots. It just seemed like there were way too many nits around. I guess that is probably because a lot of them are used to playing with the $100 max, where the only profitable way would have been nitty.

------------

Other random things:

This was the first night that they were open all night. Prior regulations only allowed them to be open until 1 am on weekends and midnight during the week. Because of this, they were clueless. I went to grab something at the concession stand at 10:50. The stand closes at 11 PM, but apparently the lady running the stands watch was 15 minutes fast. She said that they were closed. I just wanted a candy bar.

They had no food service at all after midnight, because no on thought about it in advance. Paul asked about getting anything to eat around 1 am and one of the waitresses brought him their "brand new" late night menu. She said, "I don't even know what's on it. They just decided to offer it - just came off the printer and I haven't looked at it yet."

The menu had 5 items that were all pretty much microwave items. Paul and Matt both ordered a Ham,egg, and cheese croissant. It was some microwave Costco type thing. Neither of them finished it and both of theirs were frozen in the middle.

-----

I guess they didn't expect the crowd overnight because around 11:30 they made an announcement that dealers weren't allowed to leave when their shifts end unless they got specific permission. There were several floor people dealing also.

------

I ran into a ton of people that I hadn't seen in years from Orland home games - which was very cool. I haven't played in any home games around town in the last 2-3 years, since the game where I felt most comfortable stopped.

-------

The dealers did a great job, especially considering all the pressure that they were under with it being the first weekend.

Anyway, I won't get a chance to play again for 3 weeks, but will probably try out the Hard Rock Tampa next.

WSOP and Florida Poker (Not Forgotten)

2010-06-30T19:53:00.001-05:00

I haven't forgotten about this blog. I have a ton to post from WSOP trip, but I have been ridiculously busy between work and life since I got back from LV.

I'll be posting probably a series of posts about my WSOP trip in the very near future.

In the meantime, Uncapped Poker in FL starts in 3 hours!!! (July 1, 2010). I won't be able to play until Friday night. I'll be heading over to Daytona to take advantage on the new limits in the NL games (normal NL poker) and hopefully take advantage of all the ~~donks~~ race fans in town. (Daytona Poker Room is less than 1 mile from the Daytona Speedway)

More to come on WSOP and NL Poker in FL.....

Day 2 of WSOP $1,500NL

2010-06-17T12:46:00.000-05:00

I made Day 2 of the $1,500NL, but am very short - 11,400 with blinds at 600/1200/200. We are somewhere between 20 and 30 from the money. Hopefully, I get a quick double up and have some chips to play more than push/fold with.

I've got a few busy hours before the tourney, so I'll post more about Day 1 and Day 2 tomorrow..

Leaving for LV in the morning

2010-06-13T13:53:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a very short post because I've got to start packing soon.

Hawaii - Worked a ton, but was able to still have a little fun.

This week - Crazy week at work, so I hopefully won't have to work to much while in LV!!

Tomorrow - Off to LV!!

I'll try to put up a few posts while I'm out there and will be updating fairly regularly on Twitter at http://twitter.com/seemitch

Busy Month Ahead

2010-05-29T17:17:00.000-05:00

I'm going to be very busy during the month of June. Here is what it looks like as of now:

May 31 - Fly to Hawaii

May 31-June 6 - in Hawaii - Work 12-14 hr days/try to have fun in Hawaii (prob will able to on Sat and Sun)

June 6 - Fly back to Orlando from Hawaii

June 11-13 - Birthday Weekend!

June 14 - Viva Las Vegas!!!

June 14-21 - Las Vegas - Cash games, cash games, cash games (maybe 1 or 2 mtts)

June 21-June 30 - Countdown to the first day of real cash game poker in FL!!!!

July 1st - Cash games in FL - REAL CASH GAMES IN FL!!!! I don't expect it to be like 2004-2006, but if it is somewhere between 2004-2006 live cash games and today's live games, then I will be a very happy man.

It's looking like I'll probably only play 1 tourney while out there. The $1.5k WSOP NL donkament on Wed. I was thinking about playing the Venetian $2.1k on Thurs, but can't justify playing in a 2k tourney right now, since I don't seem to know how to play tourneys anymore and my last live tourney experience really sucked the excitement of live tourneys out of me.

I'm thinking of playing a bunch of tourneys on FTP tonight - taking a break from rush poker. If I can figure out how to play them again, I may play more than one live mtt while in LV.

By the way, if anyone figures out how to do a live rush tourney I'll be the first in line to register.

2 days until Mai Tais on the beach. 16 days until beer at the Hooker Bar.

Life is hectic, but life is good!!

Game 5 Magic/Celtics tonight

2010-05-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

I'm heading to Game 5 of the Orlando Magic/Boston Celtics Eastern Conference Finals tonight. The Magic actually have a very good shot at getting back into this series after being down 3-0. If they win tonight (they are favored), the series will be 3-2 and you can start to throw out the "No team has ever come back to win a series after being down 3-0."

Hopefully, they go out and not only win tonight, but win big.

GO MAGIC!!!!

Good luck to everyone playing in the final MookieDank BBT5 tourney tonight!!!

I'll get back to posting about poker next time.

Last shot at BBT5?

2010-05-24T16:53:00.000-05:00

The Poker from the Rail Tourney tonight on Full Tilt Poker may be my last shot at making it into the BBT5. I don't think I'll be able to make it to the Mookie on Wed night, unless the Orland Magic somehow lose Game 4 of the Boston Series. I don't see that see that happening because they have been playing so great this series. ;)

Good Luck to me tonight!!!

NBA Ref a little quick to make calls

2010-05-19T10:35:00.001-05:00

Last night during the Orlando/Boston ECF Game 2, a fan starting giving one of the refs a hard time during a time out. The ref threw the ball at him. The fan threw it back. The ref immediately had him ejected from what was probably at least a $1k seat (prob a lot higher) since he had access to floor level.

It makes you wonder if a referee with such a short fuse should be one of the few refs selected to officiate a conference finals game. Do you think we should be suspended from reffing for the rest of the playoffs? Is this really the guy that you make to be making calls in Game 7 of a series? Does he have more potential to call a foul in a close situation against a player that has complained to him when a "good no call" is in order?

Tick, Tick, Tick. Time......

2010-05-18T09:40:00.007-05:00

Time....is running out on the BBT5

Time keeps on ticking away. The BBT5 is getting close to completion. It looks like there are four tourneys left - 2 Mookies, 1 Invitational, and 1 PFTR. I'll only be able to play three of them since I'll be at Game 5 of the Orlando/Boston series on the final day of BBT5 tourneys.

I'm going to make my best effort to bring my "A" game to each of my three remaining tourneys. I need to pick my spots better and focus only on the BBT tourney instead of firing up a couple of Rush cash games at the same time. Rush cash and the BBT tourneys are completely different animals and the most profitable plays in each are at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

I predict at least a FT at the minimum in one of the tourneys and hopefully a win or top 2 in the Invitational. I'm not going so far as calling my shot, but leaving myself the opening for saying that I called my shot. :)

------------------------
Time...for the Magic to step it up a notch

The title says it all. They didn't look like they showed up for Game 1 until the fourth quarter. Stan Van Gundy is a good motivator and he has plenty of ammunition to get everyone to step it up tonight. I guess the positive they can take from Game 1 is that when they finally started playing, they turned a 20 point deficit into a game they could have won.

Go Magic!!!!

------------------------
Time....is almost here for uncapped poker in FL!!!

I may have to put a countdown clock for July 1, 2010. FL will finally enter the real poker world. The current $100 max buy-in will change to real poker - no more caps on buy-ins!!!

Weeeeeeeee!!!!!!

------------------------
Time....is getting closer for the WSOP

My Sunday tourney experience has me re-thinking how many tourneys I will play in LV. I was planning to play a $1.5k WSOP mtt and a $2.1k Venetian DS mtt. I may just play one or the other and stick to cash for the rest of the time. I guess I'll play it by ear on how I'm feeling that week.

I'll be taking enough to LV for to play 2/5 comfortably and both tourneys. Maybe I'll stick to the cash games and take some shots at 5/10 if I'm running well.

Time....to kick some blogger ass.

Time....for me to get back to work.

Live Tourneys can be frustrating

2010-05-17T13:13:00.002-05:00

"Why would I ever play a live tourney again?" - I started to type this on twitter last night and then erased it.

I had just spent an entire day playing my "A" game in a tourney only to have it turn into a ~~turbo~~ super turbo at the tail end with nothing to show for my efforts. I don't see how the tourney regulars do it every day. I know the payoff is huge when you hit, but there is mostly frustration.

A more appropriate tweet might have been, "Why would I ever play a live tourney with a horrible structure when my time would be better spent at the cash tables?" I left my house around 10:30 am and got home around 11 pm. I had nothing to show for it other than a belly full of "free" Outback food and a few "not-free" beers.

The tourney info:
Daytona Beach Kennel Club Poker Room Venetian Deep Stack Charity Classic
Total number of players including alternates - 536
$150 buyin + $40 initial add-on + $40 add-on after 3 levels.
$80 rebuy if you bust in 1st 3 level
Starting chips - 10k (including the initial addon)
Add-on after 3 levels - 4k
Blinds - 25 minute levels
1st place - $5k Venetian tourney buy-in + $1k meal credit at Venetian + Hotel + Biz Class air
2nd-5th - $2,100 Venetian tourney + above
Cash payouts through 40th place

I was playing great most of the tourney. I didn't even feel bad about a mistimed bluff that I made against a 70 year old guy during the rebuy period. After all, it took him a very very long time to call me with KJ on a KKAxx board. I got a guy to put all his chips in with 77 when I had KK. I made a big laydown when I couldn't put the other player on anything other than the nuts based on how he played the hand. After I folded, he proceeded to show me the nuts. Thanks!! And on and on....

Everything was going great, until all of the sudden it turned into a super turbo. We were down to 55 players and I looked around my table and all the other tables. Everyone's stack, other than maybe 2-4 ppl, was less than 10 BBs. The blinds were 8k/16k with a 2k ante and going up to 10k/20k in 25 mins. Assuming that the average chips/player that bought in was 15k based on 536 players, when we were down to 55 players the average stack was $140k. I had 150k chips and was 2nd at our table. The chip leader at our table had around 240k.

Nearly everyone was at push/fold level, but not everyone realized that they only had one move.

It didn't take long for me to bust once the 8k/16k 2k ante level hit.

This post isn't meant to complain about bad beats with hands. I legitimately lost two 50/50s. The first one was my AK<44 aipf against a guy with around 85k chips. It knocked me down to around 50k. Two hands later, my 55 lost to AQ aipf.

I was pissed after I busted. The 50 minute drive home helped with my sanity. I knew my state of mind, so I decided not to play any online poker when I got home. I'll take that as a positive, since in the past I might have fired up the laptop and tilted off a few buy-ins.

A day later, I can definitely say that I had a great time playing and enjoyed playing live again for the 1st time in a while. In the future, I'll check and analyze the tourney structure of any live tourney that I play and try to stay away from the super turbos.

Venetian Deep Stack LIVE satellite tourney

2010-05-14T14:07:00.000-05:00

I'll be heading to the Daytona Beach Kennel Club on Sunday to play a charity satellite to the Venetian Deep Stack tourneys. 1st is entry into the $5k DS ME + airfare for 2 + Hotel + $1k in Venetian restaurant credit. 2nd - 5th is the same package but entry into the $2,100 tourney that I plan to play while out there. They are also paying cash.

The bad news....I tried to buy my entry today and they are SOLD OUT. I was told to come early Sunday to get on the DREADED alternate list.

I guess I'll go. Surely the bustouts will be fast and furious and I can get seated before the blinds start getting out of control.

Hopefully, I get seated before all the dead money is gone.

A few fun hands

2010-05-13T14:02:00.003-05:00

No reason to bet a Royal Flush - Talk about nitty.

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - Rush
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+2: $162.00
MP1: $140.25
MP2: $308.95
CO: $301.35
BTN: $639.80
SB: $145.00
Hero (BB): $273.00
UTG: $167.60
UTG+1: $339.95

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with 2h 2c
3 folds, MP1 raises to $6, 4 folds, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($13.00) Jd Qd Td (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks

Turn: ($13.00) 7s (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks

River: ($13.00) Ad (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks with the nuts of all nuts

Final Pot: $13.00
MP1 shows Ah Kd (a Royal Flush)
Hero mucks 2h 2c
MP1 wins $12.35
(Rake: $0.65)

Way to maximize value!!! Maybe he thought there was a Royal Flush jackpot, but only if you went to showdown!!!

------------------------------------
It feels good to actually dodge all the cards for once. Straight over set over set over set

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players - Rush
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $109.70
UTG+2: $122.70
MP1: $331.85
MP2: $135.95
CO: $287.60
BTN: $89.20
Hero (SB): $385.85
BB: $209.65
UTG: $283.75

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is SB with Kh As
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $4, UTG+2 raises to $12, 3 folds, BTN calls $12, Hero calls $11, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $8

Flop: ($50.00) Jh Qh Tc (4 players) - Jackpot
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, UTG+2 bets $50, BTN raises to $77.20 all in, Hero calls $77.20, UTG+1 raises to $97.70 all in, UTG+2 calls $47.70, Hero calls $20.50

Turn: ($420.30) 6s (4 players - 2 are all in)
Hero bets $276.15 all in, UTG+2 calls $13 all in

River: ($446.30) 9c (4 players - 4 are all in)

Final Pot: $446.30
UTG+1 shows 9h 9d (three of a kind, Nines)
UTG+2 shows Js Jd (three of a kind, Jacks)
BTN shows Qc Qs (three of a kind, Queens)
Hero shows Kh As (a straight, Ace high)
Hero wins $26.00
Hero wins $61.50
Hero wins $355.80
(Rake: $3.00)

------------------------------------
I don't think this guy will ever fold an overpair. Just a feeling. :)

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+2: $286.80
MP1: $435.10
Hero (MP2): $232.90
CO: $94.85
BTN: $136.45
SB: $388.80
BB: $200.00
UTG: $276.80
UTG+1: $208.95

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is MP2 with 5s 5h
4 folds, Hero raises to $6, 2 folds, SB raises to $20, 1 fold, Hero calls $14

Flop: ($42.00) Js 5d 7c (2 players)
SB bets $368.80 all in - Well, the pot is $42. I might as well just shove. I mean, he might call me with something weaker than the 2nd nuts. Oh wait....Was there just a flop?
Hero calls $212.90 all in

Turn: ($467.80) Tc (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($467.80) 3c (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $467.80
Hero shows 5s 5h (three of a kind, Fives)
SB shows Ks Kh (a pair of Kings)
Hero wins $464.80
(Rake: $3.00)

Thoughts on the Dealer's action

2010-05-11T10:28:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I was playing so 2/5NL $100 max buy-in poker at the Hard Rock in Tampa when a strange situation came up. (I know, LOL. July 1st will be here soon enough and we will have real uncapped poker.)

After a few hours I was involved in a pot that was heads up between me and another guy on the river. He went all in. I missed my flush but hit top pair on the river and called. He instantly flipped up a set. I went to muck and the dealer said, "Turn up your cards." as I was mucking them. He then grabbed my cards out of the muck and turned them over.

I didn't get mad but I did ask him, "Why? I've never had to do that before."

The dealer said matter of factly, "It is to prevent collusion. Any time someone is all in you have to show your cards." I didn't press the issue, but it just seems horribly wrong to me.

This was a cash game. No one asked to see my cards. The guy that won the pot was getting all in at least 2-3 times/orbit.

Has anyone ever run across this in a live cash game before? Am I missing something?

Yes, yes they are (and most of us are too)

2010-05-10T12:30:00.001-05:00

High Stakes Poker Season 6, Episode 12

"Wow!! Wow!! What a call?" - Mike Matusow

"Nice call, man." - Eli

"Where you thinking of raising?" - Tom "durrrr" Dwan with a very confused look on his face.

"No." - Elky

"How can you fold? How can you fold? You people must be playing a different game than I am!"

This conversation happened after durrrr bet 58k on the river into a $147k pot on a 3sAsAh/9h/Ac board after raising pf, betting the flop and checking the turn. Elky took a while to finally call him with TT for a chopped pot with durrrr's TT.

Elky must have taken an incredible amount of time (edited down for TV) to make the call. Durrrr seemed to think that it was a no brainer call with 9x, TT-KK, and a hero fold with 77 or 88. In his mind (I think) he was value betting his TT and hoping to get paid off by 9sXs hands or a mid pair.

Yes, most of the rest of the table are probably playing a different game than you, Tom. Isn't that how you are so successful? Isn't that why you have an edge? Whether it is someone clearly playing with scared money (Matusow), someone with playing on one bullet, someone that views the money as actual real world money, or someone that can't fold trips when they are obviously beat.

I think most of us nobodies that like to play poker would at least have to think about the possibility of durrrr having JJ-KK. It might also cross our minds that durrrr has something like A3 or A9 - although we could probably discount those hands because he would be betting the turn almost 100% of the time on a board with two spades and two hearts. For the same reason, we could probably discount the rest of the AX hands.

So, I know that I would have to at least think about the call before making it. Maybe some of our brains don't process information as fast as durrrr's. I blame the keg parties during my college years.

The video below starts right before durrrr's river bet. Search for clip 3 if you want to see the entire hand.

Cinco de BBT

2010-05-05T19:20:00.002-05:00

We are a little less than 2 hours from the start of another BBT5 tourney on Full Tilt Poker. I think tonight is a must play, after all it's the BBT5 and it's Cinco de Mayo!!!! 5/5/10.

Fuel55 is probably a 2 to 1 favorite to win the BBT5 MookieDank. (I like the hybrid instead of going all the way to calling it the Dank or the Buddy - sorry Waffles)

If you hold pocket fives preflop, they are at least a 5x favorite against aces tonight.

Good Luck to everyone tonight. I'll be rooting for you to come in 2nd.

CINCO de BBT!!!!

EDIT: Out quickly thanks to some horrible play on my part!!

Las Vegas Plans

2010-05-03T09:38:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to get excited about the 2010 WSOP!!!

I finally bought my plane tickets and booked my room at the Rio. I'll be arriving in LV June 14th and leaving June 21st (Monday-Monday). I was going to leave on Sunday, but overall it was about $60 cheaper to stay because the airfare was ridiculous on Sunday.

I plan to play a lot of cash games and the following tourneys:
6/16 - WSOP Event #30 $1,500 NLHE
6/17 - Venetian Deep Stack $2,100 NLHE (unless I'm still in the WSOP tourney)

If I make it to Day 2 of WSOP #30, then I will probably play the $550 Venetian tourney on Friday.

The only way that I will change the plans is if I somehow luckbox my way into winning a WSOP ME seat in the BBT5.

It's here

2010-04-15T23:07:00.003-05:00

FL Poker, BBT5, WSOP, FBTR

2010-04-13T16:11:00.001-05:00

Florida Poker

1. The Seminoles, governor, and key members of the FL legislature are in agreement on the compact.
2. The compact should be approved by the FL house and senate this week.
3. The governor will sign it.
4. July 1st we should have uncapped NL poker!!!!

I may have to start a countdown clock soon.

Battle of the Bloggers #5

There have been some twitter rumblings about the BBT5. It looks like it should be starting sometime in the near future. These might be the only satellites to the WSOP main event that I play this year. Hopefully, I can luckbox my way into a WSOP seat! Weeee to FTP for the free stuff!!!

WSOP plans

I plan to head to LV this summer for the WSOP, but am still debating on dates. I can't decide between the middle of June and the beginning of July. The middle of June would allow me to play some of the low buy-in WSOP events. The beginning of July would leave satelliting into the ME as a possibility. I'm really 50/50 right now on when to head out there. July would be in the lead if it wasn't for 95% chance that FL will have uncapped poker on July 1st.

If you're heading to LV this summer, you should drop a comment on CK's blog. She is compiling a list of when everyone is going to be in LV.

From Busto to Robusto

The 2nd video in the FBTR series is out. It features Andrew "good2cu" Robl. There are definitely mixed opinions on the video over in the 2+2 thread.

It seems like people either liked it a lot or hated - mainly because of their opinions of Andrew. I fall in the middle. I think they do a good job (with of showing Andrew for what he is - a young guy that has made an incredible amount of money but is still insecure about his place in the world/worries about how others view him. Sure, he is a little immature at times, but he has definitely come a long way for the Ship It Holla Balla days. I would love to see this video with a follow up vid in 10 years.

The first video of Captain Zeebo was some much more interesting, but that is mainly because Zeebo is so quirky. Zeebo would have made a great interview even if he had nothing to do with poker.

Even though you can view both videos online, I recommend purchasing the DVD to help the filmmakers move forward with the project and release more episodes.

Aloha!

2010-03-23T09:15:00.001-05:00

I'm back from Hawaii (after spending way too long in paradise - 2 weeks). My plane landed Saturday morning at 6 AM EST. I think I am finally getting close to adjusting to EST (+6 hours from Hawaii). Now time to start playing some online poker again.

Randomness

2010-03-01T18:31:00.001-05:00

I've started to write a post about 10 times in the last few weeks, but every time I start to write one other things seem to get in the way. I'm crazy busy at work which is definitely a good thing, especially in this economy. This post is just to catch up a little.

I'm heading to Hawaii (for 2 weeks) on business next week, so I'm not sure how much playing or posting I will be doing between now and late March.

Rush Poker
I had been playing a ton of Rush Poker until about 1 1/2 weeks ago (when the craziness at work really started).

Some thoughts:
- Rush Poker seems to be getting extremely nitty. It seems like everyone is set mining.
- Taking notes is a must. It's always good to know if a player is a set mining nit or a will go broke with TT on an all undercard board.
- A HUD is a must. HEM's HUD seems to work pretty well when I load the tables a 30 secs to 1 min apart instead of joining four at once.
- The weekends are the time to play Rush. I may start playing Rush on weekends and regular tables during the week.

Countdown to July 1, 2010

- I'm not going to get my hopes up, but 7/1/10 is looking like the date that uncapped cash game poker will become a reality in Florida. We currently have a $100 max buy-in on cash games. I'll update more as things progress or you can follow the 2+2 thread on the bill. Needless to say, I'm counting down the days until I get to play deep stacked against a bunch of players that are used to playing 20 BBs deep ($100 buy-in at 2/5 NL)

Phil Ivey....

- ...is still sick. If you haven't watched the first couple of episodes of High Stakes Poker Season 6, watch them. He seems to step to a higher and higher level each year even as those around him continue to get better and the fish die off.

Phil Hellmuth.....

- is still LOL. Just watch any time that he has opened his mouth over the last few weeks (HSP, WSOP Europe) and all you will be able to say is LOL. You might even start feeling bad for him. Well, maybe not. He is like the rich kid in school that was a douche and everyone picked on relentlessly, but still had plenty of people that wanted to be friends with him because he was rich and had lots of cool toys.

Blogging....

- ...sometimes seems like work. I'm working way too much to put the time and effort into working a second job.
- ...may get more attention from me once I get back from Hawaii. I may even have a little bit of free time here and there for a post while in HI.

FTP >>> Pokerstars

2010-02-04T23:10:00.001-05:00

Full Tilt Poker is doing so many things right this year. I predict it won't be long before they overtake Pokerstars as the premiere site on the internet.

Let's see:

1. Rush Poker - Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

2. People asked for Rush Poker with antes - they added it

3. Elimination of short stacks from cash games - Doulbe Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!! - although due to Rush Poker I haven't played any of the regular tables lately.

4. Added Player Search Widget (and widgets in general)

5. Revised HH replayer to reduce the amount of memory the software uses.

I'm really excited about 2010 in poker and can't wait to see what FTP will bring us next!!!

A Matter of Perspective

2010-02-02T17:57:00.003-05:00

I decided to try to complain less this year. It isn't really a New Year's resolution. I just want to be more positive about things poker and non-poker related.

This post isn't meant to be a whiny "whoa is me" post. In the past I might have posted the graph below with something about how bad I am running. You'll get none of that today. This post is really to highlight how much my perspective on things has changed.

The first couple of days of February haven't treated me well. I have played 5 or 6 sessions of 50NL full ring Rush Poker on FTP (although HEM has them grouped as 4 because I had too short of intervals between some sessions.) I am barely break even (up $58) over 4,092 hands, but I am running $306 below expected value. This might have been a reason to get frustrated in the past, but not this time. I haven't let losing 80/20s, 70/30s, or 60/40s effect my play. No tilt for me!! Let me say that again - No tilt for me!! My mind is in a much better place poker wise. As I mentioned in my previous post, if you tilt easily then Rush Poker is not for you. Bad beats will lead to tilting and spewing your bankroll.

I don't know if I have had that "Ah ha" moment recently, but it sure feels like it. My biggest leak in the past has been tilt. It might not be the full on definition of tilt, but it is/was tilt. I didn't spew stacks, but I would get very stubborn when running bad and make a call or raise when a fold was the obvious choice. My tilt would make me less likely to think someone really had a hand, when all I had to do was step back and look at the information to know that it was -EV to continue. I haven't completely fixed this problem, but I have reduced it dramatically. I sit back and really exam if I just got unlucky or if I played a hand poorly after I lose a big pot. If I think it was due to poor play, I might sit out for a few minutes and review my biggest winners and losers of the current session as a gut check to see if I feel like I am playing good or bad. If I feel I am playing bad I will usually quit for at least an hour or so.

Bottom line for me - Complaining less = Tilting Less. I'm not in a "Rush" to post my latest bad beat on the forums now. No one cares. Bad beats happen. Everyone has a story of running bad or how horrible their beat was. Again, no one cares. The real question is will the beat lead to you eventually being a stronger or weaker player - both short and long term?

Next time you get your set in on the flop and your opponent hits perfect, perfect for the suckout, maybe sit back and say, "I got unlucky, but if I keep playing against guys like this I am going to be a huge winner in the long term."

Good luck at the tables!! Stay Tilt-Free!!

Rush Poker

2010-01-28T10:41:00.002-05:00

I was going to write a long detailed post about Rush Poker, but I think every blogger/poker website has already written almost everything that you could say on the subject (click one of the links on the side if you wan to read a more about Rush). I still want to mention a few things about it though.

1. As others have posted it is the crack of online poker! - I four tabled for 4 straight hours yesterday and averaged 1,140 hands/hour. I don't remember playing for four straight hours with no breaks anytime recently.

2. If you tilt easily don't play - Since you see so many hands/hour, you will see more bad beats in a day than you might usually see in a week or two. If bad beats cause you to tilt then Rush Poker is definitely not for you. Spewing after a couple of bad beats could cripple a bankroll when you are playing 1k hands/hour.

3. Breakeven stretches and Downswings don't last long - I had a 15k breakeven stretch that might have been frustrating in the past, but isn't a big deal now because it was over the course of 4 days.

4. Rakeback - At 50NL full ring, my rakeback is averaging $9.21/1k hands after close to 40k hands.

5. HUDs are coming - HEM has a crude limited HUD work around that writes to your notes file. It is helpful in some spots but a little frustrating when you are used to the extended HUD stats. I'm guessing that within the next week or so, both HEM and PT3 will have fully functional HUDs.

6. Nits are everywhere - As the rush games get tighter and tighter a HUD will almost become a necessity in order to maximize profits against the nits. The good players will be able to bet the nitty guys off their overpairs and know which players to fold their over pairs to when they see that big turn check/raise.

7. Adjusting your play based on your stack - This might not make sense, but when I have a huge stack (400bb+ or more) I get played back at a ton more. I have also noticed some players are more willing to call an over shove with mediocre holdings against someone with a lot of chips. I'm not sure the exact mentality of some of these guys, but I'm guessing that they think you bluffed your way to a lot of chips.

Must. Go Play. Rush. NOW!!!

Updated Template and Links

2010-01-27T12:26:00.000-05:00

I just finished updating the blog template and the bloglines list.

Please let me know if the template looks messed up. I put it up pretty quick and have only viewed it in Firefox.

I think my blogroll still needs a little work. I might have a missed a few blogs - let me know if you want to be added.

Stay Tuned

2010-01-21T20:56:00.002-05:00

I have a lot of poker thoughts on my mind that are itching to ooze out. Look for new regular posting in the near future.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2009-12-31T10:32:00.007-05:00

Happy New Year!!!

Here's to an awesome 2010 (pretty crazy)!!!!

When I was a kid, I used to wonder what I would be doing when 2000 rolled around. I never wondered what I would be doing in 2010. That was way too far out there (Sci-Fi stuff). Surely, we would have flying cars, robot maids, recreational space travel, colonies on the moon, etc, etc.

Hmm.... I wonder what I'll be doing when 2050 rolls around.

Happy New Year George and Judy Jetson!!!

I'm Still Alive/Lame New Orleans Recap

2009-12-17T11:14:00.003-05:00

Wow. Has it really been over 3 weeks since my last post?

I was going to do a New Orleans recap, but never really got around to it. Everything is pretty fuzzy now, so I'll give you the quick version.

We stayed in NO for four days. I only played 2 sessions of poker - one session Saturday late morning/afternoon and one session from about 1 AM - 5 AM Sat night/Sun morning.

Saturday Morning Session

I put my name on the list for 1/2NL and 2/5NL. There were a few 1/2 games running and they had a list to start a 2/5. I got called for the 1/2 first. When I sat down, I asked the chip runner how much was the maximum buy-in. She turned to the dealer and he said it looks like about $800. (Apparently, the max buy-in is up to the biggest stack on the table.) She laughed and said how much do you want to buy-in for. The second biggest stack was around $500, so I bought in for $500.

Nothing real exciting happened during this session. My biggest hand was an open ended straight flush draw with QhTh.

Seat 2 raises to $6 from EP. 4 calls. I call otb.
Flop comes Jh9h4x.

Seat 2 (stack around $250) bets around $15.
MP (stack around $150) calls.
I raise to $60-$70 (don't remember exactly)

Seat 2 agonizes and eventually folds.
MP insta-shoves.
I call.

MP has A9 and I miss.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I finished up the afternoon down approx. $100.

Sat Night/Sun Morning Session

I wound up deciding to play 1/2NL again after my wife went to sleep. I got down to the poker room around 1 AM after drinking from about 2 PM. It seemed like a pretty good idea at the time. I even decided to stop drinking after my first beer in the poker room and switched to Diet Coke.

I think if I ever go back to NOLA, I will only play poker late at night on the weekends.

I was getting hit by the deck and running over the table for about 2 hours. The best part about the game was that the players had a clue, but they did not know how to fold.

I stacked one guy for $300 with my 67 against his AK on a 668JA flop. He had put almost all of his money in before the river after only betting $6 preflop.

At one point I had built my $500 starting stack up to $1,300. Another table broke and they moved the players to our table. There was a guy sitting two to my left that had me covered with his $1,600 stack. LOL.

I would give more details of the late night session, but it is definitely a little cloudy. After losing a big pot with KK vs. AA I decided it was time to cash out with a tidy little $650 profit. Not too shabby for someone that had been drinking for 11 hours straight.

----------------

I'm bummed out that I didn't go to the WBPT. There are a lot of great recaps of the trips out there.

Go congratulate Hoyazo - He had a huge score in one of the Mini-FTOPS events last night!!!

I'll try to start posting more.

I run good at freerolls....when I'm not playing

2009-11-24T09:35:00.003-05:00

I was in New Orleans this weekend (trip report to follow later today or tomorrow) and forgot to unregister from the FTOPS Satellite Challenge Freerolls. They had 4 separate freerolls that you qualified for by winning 2, 3, 4, and 5 satellites to different FTOPS tourneys. (I think I won sats to 6 different FTOPS, but didn't play any of them).

I checked my email when I got home last night and I guess I finished in the bottom money spot (90th out of 291 players) in one of them.

"You finished the tournament in 90th place.
There has been $40.00 added to your account."

Forgetting to unregister cost me $13.40 in rakeback. So, thanks to sliding into a money spot in a freeroll that I didn't play, I netted $26.60 in online poker over the weekend even though I didn't log into my poker account once.

Joe Cada - Letterman Recap

2009-11-18T09:25:00.005-05:00

I was going to post a Recap of Joe Cada's Letterman interview, but Short Stack Shamus has already done an awesome job of recapping his appearance. Go check out his post.

I only had a few additional thoughts:

1. Cada seemed stiff at times, but more relaxed than most of us would be on Letterman at 22 years old. (or ever)

2. Letterman was prepared for the interview, but at times seemed to be at a loss for questions, or maybe at a loss for funny commentary.

3. Kudos to Cada for mentioning that he started playing on "Pokerstars" at 18 instead of 17. Also, Kudos for not wearing PS logos for the interview.

4. Cada did a decent job explaining that poker was different than gambling, but missed the opportunity to explain how the skill aspects of the game outweigh the luck factors.

Overall, he did a great job and should be a great spokesman for poker.

-----------------------

EDIT: Link to his CNN interview

Link to his CNBC interview

Joe Cada on Letterman Tonight

2009-11-17T10:54:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to remind everyone to set their DVRs to record Letterman tonight. Joe Cada is going to be on his show. The guy is young, but from some of his initial interviews it sounds like he is going to be a good spokesman for the next year. He has a true internet background and is very likely to speak in support of internet poker. He told Time magazine, "I support the right to play poker online. Poker isn't gambling. It's a hobby, an activity, a game. It's not about luck.""

Also, if you missed Saturday Night Live this weekend they mentioned him during the weekend update. They showed a picture of him with the $$$ and mentioned that he dropped out of college to play poker and won $8.5 Million. Then said something along the lines of, "This should be a lesson to other kids thinking about dropping out of school. You aren't him and you aren't going to win the WSOP ME."

Should be interesting to see how well he does on Dave tonight.

Random WSOP ME Thoughts

2009-11-11T09:58:00.002-05:00

One of the better players at the Final Table won (even if he did have to suckout a ton to win)

Bax/Sheets run good.

The people that take the Luck side of the Luck vs. Skill argument where given some ammunition.

ESPN did a great job of editing the FT in such a short time.
- I'm glad they added an additional 30 mins to the coverage for the heads up portion.

- My biggest complaint of their coverage is how quick they rushed things after Ivey busted out. At 10:50, there were 4 players remaining. By 11:00, they showed two bust outs and two commercial breaks.

- I really wish ESPN would sell a DVD set of the entire Final Table with whole cards. They could dub the Bluff Radio coverage over the top of the footage that doesn't have Norm/Lon commentary.

Next time you see one of those posts where someone is complaining about online poker being rigged because their opponent flopped a set against them or hit a 3-5 outer on the river, remember some of these hands. Live poker is so rigged.

Saout must have been playing really tight and staying out of Ivey's way for Ivey to let go of those Jacks preflop when he was so short.

How long is Kevin Schaffel going to be having nightmares of his AA losing to KK?

How do you get all in preflop as the biggest stack against the 2nd biggest stack with AQ?

How do you get all in preflop with 22 against a very solid player for 40BBs?

Every time I started feeling like Darvin Moon was a decent player trying (a little too hard) to portray the "I'm the worst player here image," he would do something really stupid.

- I can understand his logic for trying to bluff people out of pots, but I don't understand his thinking with KQ. I also don't understand why he lied to his family about what he had (QQ instead of KQ). Maybe he was too embarrassed? I did enjoy his reasoning for why he would have folded QQ there getting 1,000,000,000 to 1 pot odds to call.

- The not calling with KQ will probably be talked about for a while, but I think his QJ hand was a bigger mistake. How does he call off his entire stack heads up with QJo? He still would have had plenty of chips if he folded. I know that once the hands were turned up it was the correct call, but he couldn't have known that he was against an underpair.

I think non-poker players probably enjoyed the coverage. I played in golf tourney on Monday. A couple of non-poker players started talking about the WSOP ME. One guy immediately said, "Don't tell me who won. I'm going to watch tomorrow night and I don't want to know who won." He doesn't gamble or play poker, so I was a little surprised how into the WSOP he was.

Goodbye, 2009 WSOP. Time to start planning for the 2010 WSOP. I have the itch to play in the 2010 Main Event now.

New Orleans Questions

2009-11-04T09:25:00.003-05:00

I am getting one small benefit of the poor economy - severely discounted vacations. As recent as a year ago, the only offers that I ever received from Harrahs were for free nights in Las Vegas during the week and reduced/free nights during the WSOP. I guess Harrahs started getting desperate to fill up their hotels around the country, because I started receiving weekly (sometimes 6-8 per month) free/reduced air/hotel offers to various Harrahs properties around the country. A couple of months ago, my wife and I decided to book one of their offers to New Orleans. Airfare for me and my wife, transfers to/from Harrahs New Orleans, and four nights (Thurs-Sun) all for $198 total.

We don't head out until later in the month, but I am starting to try to figure out the best places to eat, drink, play poker, etc, etc. We haven't been to NO in 9-10 years.

Hopefully, some of you have been there more recently.

Where is the best place to play poker? Harrahs? Are there even any other places?

Do they run any daily/weekly mtts?

What limits usually run?

Any suggestions on bars/restaurants/things to do?

October Results

2009-11-02T09:54:00.003-05:00

My plan for October was to try to get back on track. I decided to really focus on my game and try plugging as many leaks as possible from major leaks all the way down to the minor leaks. I played mostly 50NLHE/PLHE during October with a sprinkling of 100NL mixed in (usually on the weekends). I also wound up playing more live poker than usual this month.

Online Cash Games = $+1,018.95 (avg of 3.30 ptbb/100)
Online Tourneys/SNGs = -$3.20
Rakeback = +$439 (including 2 a day bonus from Sept)
Live Poker = +$560
Staking = -$26

Total Online = $1,428.75
Total Live = $560
Overall Total = $1988.75

Biggest Winning Day of the Month = $562 (all at 50NL)
Biggest Losing Day of the Month = -$229 (all at 50PL)

Overall, I feel pretty good about my play this month. I actually lost 3 buy-ins at 100NL, and still finished up decent for the stakes that I played. I had a little trouble adjusting to 50NL at the beginning of the month, but think that I eventually made the correct adjustments. I still have some leaks, but at least I have identified them and am doing my best to avoid them.

My biggest leak by far is playing after being out drinking. Almost all of my biggest losing sessions this month were after a night out. I remember one night specifically this month. I went to a professional organization meeting after work that included several beers. I made it home around 10 PM. It was a Tuesday night, so I fired up the WSOP on the DVR. I had decided that I wasn't going to play since I had been drinking. About 30 minutes later I decided to fire up the laptop, convincing myself that I was just going to play long enough to get 200 FTPs for the day. I wound up turning the computer off 3 hours later down 4 buy-ins.

My second biggest leak is playing when I shouldn't be playing. I am doing much better with this one. A good example is this past Saturday night (Halloween and FL/GA football game day). I drank a few beers while watching the Gators stomp the Bulldogs. I switched to water towards the end of the game. Once it started getting dark we took the kids trick-or-treating. Several hours later we got the kids to bed. I was sober, but exhausted. I was still tempted to play some online poker, but forced myself to not to. Yeah me!!!

I am going to continue to play mainly 50NL/PL for at least the next week or two before hopefully switching to mainly 100NL.

Good luck to everyone in November.

Biloxi Trip Report - Thoughts on a couple of hands

2009-10-27T13:52:00.007-05:00

FRIDAY

My wife and I made a quick trip to Biloxi this weekend for our anniversary (9th one - just like another blogger) thanks to a cheap air/hotel offer from Harrahs. (I guess those Rio table game hours are paying me back a little.) The offer gave us the option of leaving from Tampa or Jacksonville. My Mom lives in Jax and agreed to watch the kids, so Jax it was.

I felt a little sketchy heading to the airport Friday morning. We had no tickets, emails, or letters showing that we had reservations. I had expressed my concern about this a week prior to one of the Total Rewards reps and she said, "No worries. Just go up to the Continental counter with your IDs. They will give you the tickets." Amazingly, we arrived at the airport and the lady behind the counter gave us our Continental Express tickets. She also charged us $20 for a checked bag - guess we should have taken two carry-ons instead of one big suitcase.

The flight was pretty quick. We landed, picked up our suitcase, boarded the shuttle to the hotel, and were in our room at the Grand Biloxi in few short hours later.

After showering and changing, we headed down to check out the casino. No poker room. I knew that going in, but it obviously wouldn't have been my first choice of places to stay since there was no poker room and the casinos with poker rooms were about 2 miles away. I did LOL at the people playing the table games. The Grand Biloxi was running a promotion - play 30 minutes and get a free buffet. Of course we sat (at a roulette table) to grind out our free buffet. During our 30 minutes at the table, I heard two people ask the pit boss if they had been there for 30 mins yet. We left the table when my $100 buy-in was gone (about 35 mins). My wife had doubled her $100, so we broke even plus two free buffets. Wooohoooo!!! :)

The Grand Biloxi had one good thing going for them that helped make up for the lack of a poker room - free limo service even if you were heading to their competitor's casino. Not too shabby. It was the same cost as a cab after tipping the driver. After grinding out our free buffet, we took the limo to the Beau Rivage.

The Beau Rivage was much shorter than I imaged from pictures that you see online. I called it the Mini-Bellagio because the casino was like a miniature version of the Bellagio - same fonts on the signs, similar chips, similar finishes, etc - only with less stuff. We basically checked out the mini-B to get our bearings, grabbed a drink at the bar and then headed next door to the Hard Rock.

I was pretty impressed by the Hard Rock casino. My wife was going to head to the Rick Springfield concert while I played some poker in their very very small poker room. The room had probably 6-8 tables, but there was only one running when I arrived. We managed to get a second 1/2 NL uncapped game going about 30 minutes later. The table was full of nits, especially for a live low limit no limit game. No joke. I saw several hands that wound up with chopped blinds when the table was full and a ton more that consisted of raise to $5, fold around. I managed to stack someone for $100 with AQ against their KK on a Q high flop, Ace turn.

About 45 minutes later the poker room manager thankfully moved me to a seat at the other game running. It was so much juicier. There were at least two really soft spots with a lot of money on the table. I saw a donk chase a flush with horrible odds all the way to the river. He overbet the pot on the river when he obviously hit and was called by top two. (Top two later proved to be one of the better players at the table, so there must have been some history for him to make the call.)

I won a few big pots. One against the donk when I had about $375-$400 in front of me. He had about $1k. (I was really kicking myself for not buying in deeper.)

Two limpers.
I raise to $7 from mid position with AQo.
Donk otb calls. BB calls. Two limpers call.

Flop is TJKr. Bingo!! Now, how do I extract as much as possible from the donk.

Checks to me. I bet $20. Donk and BB call. Two limpers fold.

Turn is a blank.
BB checks. I bet $75. Donk makes it $275. BB folds. I shove. donk calls with KT. River blank. Just like that I'm up to $850ish from my starting stack of $200.

I run it up to as high as $1,050 before leaving with $800 (+$600) in about 3 hours of play.

The Rick Springfield concert was over pretty quick. It started at 8 PM (doors opened at 6:30) and the women (and a few poor men that were dragged to the concert) started filing out of the concert hall around 9:30.

The guys at the poker table started talking about the concert. I sat there and just listened for a little while until one of them said, "There are a lot of 40 year old guys that are going to get laid tonight."

I jokingly replied, "Hey! My wife went to that concert.....but I'm not 40 yet."

Less than 30 seconds later my wife walked up to the table. :)

We had some drinks at the bar with a few people that she met at the concert before heading back to our hotel.

SATURDAY

Saturday was a great sleep in day. It has been a while since I've slept in that late. We had a late lunch at the crappy Grand Biloxi Buffet. If I had know how bad the buffet was, I don't think that I would have grinded out the free buffet.

The rest of the day consisted of playing poker at the mini-Bellagio (Beau Rivage) while my wife relaxed, followed by watching the Gator Game and some more late night poker.

I had some ups and downs at the poker table playing 2/5 NL and wound up down $800 for the day thanks in part to a couple of hands. One I played poorly and one I don't think I should have played differently.

Poorly played hand

I was on the button with 8h2h (around $400 stack - hadn't topped off after bleeding down a little). The entire table limped to me, so I called also - mistake #1.

BB raised to $20. He only loses 3 players, so I decide to call again - mistake #2.
SB calls.

Flop (Pot - $155) - Flop 88T

BB checks. Mid position bets $60. I decided to just call. SB thinks for a minute and calls. I really didn't like the SB calling since he was playing 100% of his hands preflop and giving up after a lot of flops.

Turn (Pot - $335) - Ax

SB checks. MP bets $80. I just called - didn't really like this, but I had gotten too deep into the hand and the pot was too large relative to my remaining stack. SB shoved. MP folded. I really knew that I was behind but the pot was now $575 + $250ish ($825). I had to call $250 to win $825. I can't fold here even though I'm fairly certain that I'm beat. Can anyone make the case for folding? I don't think so because there are too many river cards that could result in chops against his range of random 8x hands. There is even a possibility of the pot currently being a chop of the outside shot of him having something like AT.

I reluctantly called. He had K8. I didn't improve on river.

Top pair and Flush draw - no reads on player

The next big hand that I lost was literally my very first hand after being moved to a new table late Saturday night. (Our table had just broke after a couple of players decided to call it a night.)

I was in Seat 10 in the cutoff. Two limpers. I limped along with 9h7h.

The button (Seat 1 with around $550) raises to $20. Both limpers call. I call.

Flop - 9x6h4h.

Checks around to button. He bets $75. Fold back to me.

I raise to $275. - Thoughts on the size of this bet?

Button thinks for quite a while and finally shoves for a little less than $300 more. I call and don't improve. He turns over TT for the win.

I don't mind getting all the money in on the flop in that spot. Any thoughts on playing this differently?

A little while later, I left the Mini-B down $800 at poker for the day.

---------------------------
All and all, I had a great time despite being up $900 overall at one point and leaving down $100. I don't think that I would recommend Biloxi for a vacation unless it was to someone within driving distance that was looking for a weekend get-a-way just to gamble. There wasn't much else to do there. The casinos where relatively small, but had that small local feel to them plus the southern hospitality.

50NL Adjustments

2009-10-19T08:42:00.004-05:00

I have been playing a lot of 50nl and 50pl full ring since the beginning of the month. There was definitely a learning curve when I first started playing these limits, but I am doing well now that I have made some adjustments based on the players. There are quite a few differences from 50nl and 200nl. Below are some of the major differences I have run across:

1. Nit runs rampant - Table selection can be difficult at times. I usually wind up only wait listing for deep stack tables since a lot of the regular tables are full of short stackers. There are times where all the tables are full of 8/6s to 14/10s. It would be easy to laydown KK pf to some of these guys. I have found myself leaving tables a lot more often than I used to.

2. Loose passive calling stations - On the flip side of nits running rampant, I was surprised how many 50/8 type players you find. They come in different varieties but generally call any pf raise or 3 bet with any two cards. The majority of these players either fold to c-bets on the flop, call when they are chasing a draw, or re-raise on the flop when they flop a monster. They are very predictable and very easy to play against.

The minority of these type players take more adjustments. They are the loose passive players that call any raise with atc pf, but have a fold to c-bet of 0.0 or close to it. Position becomes paramount against these guys. With position, you can milk a ton of $ out of them. Without position, you can wind up building big pots without knowing exactly where you stand. If I have one of these guys to my direct left, I usually wind up tightening up to extreme because most of them don't adjust to your play and will still pay off your monsters.

3. Bluffing of missed draws - I was surprised how often you will see someone over shove all in when their draw misses on the river regardless of their stack size. It is usually the random player that sits down at the table, not the regulars. I was buying in for 100bbs at the deep stack tables but recently increased that to 200bbs mainly because of this over shoving seemed to be happening way too often.

4. Some players get more frustrated when you 3 bet them too much. - A few nights ago, I had been pretty aggressive on the button on one table. A nitty guy (10/8) to my immediate right was obviously getting frustrated when an ideal situation arose. It folded to him in the cutoff and he raised 3x. I had AA on the button and raised like 2.5x his pf raise. SB and BB fold. CO insta-shoves for 100bbs. I call and he turns over AQ. (This was actually at 100nl)

5. Most players don't get all-in with draws that are favorites. - This is mainly the nitty guys. I can't tell you how often I have seen players just call each street hoping to hit their monster draws (straight draw+flush draw, etc) that have to be favorites instead of raising with it. Once they hit their hands become very transparent.

There are quite a few other differences, but these are the ones that come to mind first.

Tampa Hard Rock Trip Report

2009-10-13T12:05:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I've updated, but here goes........

First and foremost, GO GATORS!!! The FL/LSU game was a little boring, but effective. The Wins are what count and the Gators went into a tough stadium (especially at night) with a quarterback that wasn't 100% and came away with a win. GO GATORS!!!!!

Hard Rock Tampa Trip Report (Cash Game - $2/$5NL)

I decided to head over to the Tampa Hard Rock last Tuesday afternoon since I was slow at work - one of the benefits of being my own boss. I arrived at the Casino around 5 PM and sat down at the first available $2/$5 NL game with $100 max buy-in. (Yes, you read that right. Florida max poker buy-ins are $100.)

The table was comprised of several nitty players and one really awful guy that I don't think had a clue.

Typical example of a hand with the clueless guy:

Clueless limps utg ($100 stack). 2 more limps. I fold. Guy to my left ($200 stack - hasn't played a hand in 3 orbits) raises it to $60. Clueless guy UTG calls.

Flop 925r.

Clueless guy checks. Guy to my left goes all-in for the UTG's last $40.

UTG calls with J2o and doesn't improve. Guy to my left of course has AA.

I managed to get my stack all the way up to $400 before losing $200 to clueless guy when we got all in preflop with my JJ vs. his Q6o.

Later in the session I ran QQ into AA for $100 or so.

I finished the cash session down $60 and decided to register for the $100 MTT that was starting at 7:30 PM

Hard Rock Tampa Trip Report ($100 MTT)

I was hoping for a bigger turnout in the $100 7:30PM MTT than the 48 runners that showed up, but I wasn't expecting much since it was a Tuesday night. 48 entrants meant that the top 5 places would be paid.

Nothing really eventful happened for the first few hours of the tourney. Fast forward to 2 tables remaining......

The average stack was getting relatively small compared to the blinds when I went on a rush. I was winning races like never before (most against a lot shorter stacks):

My TT>AK and 66
My AK>JJ
My AK>99
My AQ>AJ (not really a race)

I chipped up huge and was bullying the table when we were down to around 12-14 players remaining. Then my luck ran out:

Me: AK
medium stack: 99
All-in PF

Flop - KJT
Turn - 7
River - 8

My opponent got up from the table pissed and whined about how he can't win a race until the dealer started pushing the pot in his direction. He had no clue how he won until his neighbor explained that he made his straight.

Not much exciting happened until we hit the final table. I was probably a little above the average stack of 25k with blinds at 1k/2k no antes.

The final table was pretty comical from a mtt strategy stand point. Maybe 3 total people at the FT has a clue. A typical hand would see 3-4 limpers pf (most of the limpers in the 6-8 bb range). Flop comes down. One person bets minimum and everyone folds.

I chipped up twice with air in the BB after several players limped to my BB, I shoved, and everyone folded.

My favorite hand was one I wasn't involved in.

8 players; avg stack 33,000; blinds 2k/4k

I fold UTG. The entire table limps.

I don't remember the flop. Checks around to a guy with 3k remaining. He puts his last 3k in. Everyone folds. LOL.

When we got 6 handed everyone agreed to an even chop for a little better than 3rd place money ($680). I wouldn't normally agree to a chop in this spot because of how horrible several of the remaining players were, but I had 28k and was going to be in the BB with 3k/6k blinds. The chop seemed like a good idea since after the blinds I would probably be the shortest stack.

I forgot how horrid the play can be over at the Tampa Hard Rock. I may have to try to make it over there more than twice a year.

Free Poker Training

2009-10-06T11:37:00.002-05:00

If you aren't signed up for free poker training, you are missing out. If we play at the same tables, please ignore this post.

Get Cardrunners/Stoxpoker for Free

I continue to receive CRs and Stoxpoker for free thanks to their truly free poker training program just for playing on FTP.

The link: http://www.trulyfreepokertraining.com/

The details:
Earn 5.5k FTP points in a month and get 1 month of CRs free
Earn 3k FTP points in a month and get 1 month of StoxPoker free
No hit to rakeback
You keep your points
Pretty simple (I guess it is FTP paying ppl additional RB to play)
Go sign up

To follow up on Bayne's recent post about the FTC requiring "Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service" I was not paid anything to make this post. I just can't imagine why people wouldn't sign up for it. If you hit the required number of points then you get free access to the training sites. If you fall under the required number of points then you can get discounted access (I think - may need to read the TFPT website info)

TV, NLHE, Football, and Blogger Tourneys

2009-09-28T08:25:00.004-05:00

POKER ON TV

Poker on TV isn't dead, but they definitely need more cash games. I watched two weeks worth of episodes of Poker After Dark this month. That is probably as many as I have watched the rest of 2009 even though my DVR still records every episode. The reason that I watched every episode of PAD for two weeks this month - cash games. The show is just so much more interesting when they have cash games. There is always action when you get the right players at the table. The 6 max SNG format is very boring when you drag it out over five days. The early levels (first part of the week) are usually tight and the later levels (mid-end of week) become all-in or fold as the average stack dwindles relative to the BB. IMO, PAD should switch to 100% cash games.

WSOP ME - The jury is still out on the extended Main Event coverage, but I am starting to think it is going to be overkill. I feel like 2 more weeks of coverage before the final table would be more than enough, but there are still 6 more weeks of new ME episodes before the Final Table. Yes, we will get to see more interesting spots, but do we really need six more full weeks of coverage? How many more human interest (fluff) player profiles do they plan to squeeze in? Is the casual fan (occasional poker player or non-player) going to stick around for six more weeks? Surely there will be a pretty significant drop in ratings when people start realizing how long they have to wait until there is a conclusion.

--------------------------

BACK TO NLHE

After an extended stint at the LHE cash games, I am starting to dip my toes back into the NLHE waters. I am going to keep very stringent bankroll guidelines and start at NL50 full ring. I have reviewed some old NLHE hand histories and discovered some big leaks and a couple of small ones. There are two in particular that are costing me a lot of money in the long run, but on the surface seemed very small. I will post more on those leaks and how I am doing with plugging them in a future post.

--------------------------

RANDOM FOOTBALL THOUGHTS

College Football is so much more interesting than NFL imo.

How many NFL games would you really be interested in if you didn't have a Fantasy Football team? Would you even care to know the score of a Browns/Rams games if one the players wasn't starting on your FF team that week? I find it funny to watch friends rooting for teams that they would normally hate, because they have X, Y, or Z player.

Don't get wrong, I still enjoy watching NFL games, but the excitement and energy level of college football seems to be a few steps above the NFL. For the top 25 teams, each week is like a playoff game - a must win.

Maybe I'm just having a harder time getting excited about the NFL this year because my three favorite teams in order are Miami, Jacksonville, and Tampa.

-------------------------

Blogger Tourneys

Hoy had a post last week about "The Death of the Private Blogger Tournament." I don't agree with some of his points, but it is worth a read. People used to play the Blogger tourneys for fun, but somewhere along the way things changed for various reasons.

I always tried to avoid the drama surrounding the blogger tourneys. I found it funny when grown adults would get into pissing matches about how someone played AJo or how someone "should have known that their gutshot draw was way behind." Some people were joking or purposely fanning the flames and others were seriously hurt or upset. No reason to want to beat someone up because they made a donkey call and sucked out on you. It doesn't matter that they think that their call wasn't bad. You don't need to convince them. LOL, it is just a tourney that you are supposed to be playing for fun.

My reason for playing less of the blogger tourneys may be different than some. I got burnt out on them during the last BBT. It seemed like we were having to play almost every night and by the end, I just didn't feel like playing them for a while. There were too many different tourneys even when the BBT wasn't going on.

I really think/hope that the right connected person could get a more casual blogger tourney series running again. It would just need to be something simple - maybe once a week. I'm sure that FTP or Pokerstars would donate all of the rake during the tourneys into an overall leaderboard prize pool or final tourney.

MTT - Flop Decision Results

2009-09-21T09:20:00.003-05:00

I meant to get around to posting this last week.

Follow up of my last post. Thanks for all the great comments.

What do you do when he donk bets the flop?

Full Tilt Poker MiniFTOPS Event #12 $109 (antes from the start) No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t30/t60 Blinds + t7ante - 9 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: t5586
UTG+1: t6265
UTG+2: t7350
Hero (MP1): t5965
MP2: t3921
CO: t5477
BTN: t7879
SB: t3224
BB: t5149

Pre Flop: (t153) Hero is MP1 with J J

3 folds
Hero raises to t180
3 folds, SB calls t150
1 fold

Flop: (t483) 5 3 8 (2 players)

SB bets t540
cmitch ?????

What is your action?

a. Call. Why? Plan for rest of hand?
b. Fold. Why?
c. Raise. Why? How much? Plan for rest of hand?

I got a lot of good responses.

I really felt like the guy was on a draw or a pair and a draw. I was with the majority and decided to go ahead and raise around 3x his bet with the intention of calling a shove. He shoved and showed..........

QQ

I think Pokerfool must have been watching the hand since he put the guy on exactly QQ. :) - Maybe he should start playing a lot more mtts.

Heffmike had some pretty good arguments for flat calling, but in the end I think the result is the same. I like his thoughts on maximizing value.

"Devil's advocate here:

Maybe it's too weak/too smallball, but what's wrong with using position, flatting, and reevaluating on the turn?

I guess it's all about reads. Would he be smart enough to donk lead and bomb the pot with a big draw/hand here? If so, then he's jamming to your reraise and you're going to get it in for 50 BB flipping at best.

If he's a aggro muppet just trying to blow you off AK, because EVERYONE has AK when they raise preflop, why cut him off now by raising the flop? Let him hang himself on the turn when he whiffs and donks again with his club draw or 8x. Sure, you take the chance of letting him catch up, but maybe with this player that's not such a bad thing.

I just get the feeling that if you raise/shove this flop, he's never going to come correct with something you crush like TT/99, or spew with 98/77, but he'll have some donk two pair/trappy AA/KK/QQ/or Ac3c type of hand.

If we prefer to play JJ fast here, be prepared for a ton of variance."

I thought that this was an interesting hand because of my reads on the player. He seemed loose and frustrated, so I was willing to get all the money in the flop. I'm guessing that I might have played it a little different with no history on the player or if the player seemed really tight. I think that it could have gotten really interesting if he was twice as deep - would make it a tough decision between a flop call, raise/fold.

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments.

MTT - Flop Decision?

2009-09-15T08:05:00.003-05:00

The SB had been playing a ton of hands. He hadn't won any significant pots in a while and seemed frustrated often making big bets into pots. Most of the time his big bets were met by folds, but I had seen him lead with a big bet and fold to a re-raise.

What do you do when he donk bets the flop?

Full Tilt Poker MiniFTOPS Event #12 $109 (antes from the start) No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t30/t60 Blinds + t7ante - 9 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: t5586
UTG+1: t6265
UTG+2: t7350
Hero (MP1): t5965
MP2: t3921
CO: t5477
BTN: t7879
SB: t3224
BB: t5149

Pre Flop: (t153) Hero is MP1 with J J

3 folds
Hero raises to t180
3 folds, SB calls t150
1 fold

Flop: (t483) 5 3 8 (2 players)

SB bets t540
cmitch ?????

What is your action?

a. Call. Why? Plan for rest of hand?
b. Fold. Why?
c. Raise. Why? How much? Plan for rest of hand?

Home Game Fun

2009-09-11T14:32:00.003-05:00

The home low limit cash game the other night turned out to be a lot of fun. I got to see a few people that I haven't seen in ages, drink some beer and splash around some chips. I played a ton of hands and ran pretty good. We played $0.25/$0.50 NL with a $50 buy-in. I walked away +$80 (after buying beer.)

We were using multi-color poker chips without denominations, so Steve printed a list of how much each chip was worth and posted it on the wall. The denominations were so confusing that it took about 2 hour before I finally stopped referencing his list.

CrackinAA
I won a big pot pretty early. I was the big blind. It folded to Steve in the sb and he raised to $3. Since I was playing almost every hand, I decided to call with 3c4c. The flop came 256. Steve bet $7. I called. The turn was a 9. Steve bet $12. I shoved. He called with AA.

2 outer ftw
About 10 mins later Dave raised to $3 in mp. One person called. I made it $9 otb with AA. Dave called. Everyone else folded. The flop was Q99. Dave checked. I bet $14. He shoved. I called. Dave had QQ. I was drawing pretty slim until the Ace hit the turn. Yikes!!

We started out 9 handed and lost a couple of people after about 2 ½ hours. We lost 2 more people about 1 ½ later and wound up playing 5 handed for a while which made things a lot more interesting.

Overall I had a great time getting together for some poker and beer. I think (and hope) it is going to become a once a month thing.

Home Game Tonight - Old School Style

2009-09-09T08:34:00.006-05:00

I am going to a home cash game tonight. Usually, I get excited about a home game when there are fish with money, but tonight there are different reasons. We are playing a very low limit cash game ($50 max buy-in I think), but it should be a little like a time warp to 2003-2005. One of the regulars from our old Wednesday night game is trying to put together a semi-regular game (once a month or so) in his new game room above his garage. A few (maybe 4-5) of the regulars from the Wed game should be there tonight - maybe even a couple that I haven't seen in years.

My original connection with the old regular Wed night game was due to random luck. My wife and I were in the UB Aruba check-in line in 2003. We started talking to the two guys in line directly behind us. They were both from Orlando also. One of them had won the Aruba package online and his friend was lucky enough to come along for the ride. I don't remember how, but we wound up meeting a couple more people that were also from Orlando later in the trip. I doubt there were more than a handful of people there from Orlando and we randomly had met 4 of them. We all exchanged numbers and email addresses when it was time to head back to the real world.

Fast forward to a month or so later - I got a call from one of the guys that we met asking if I was interested in coming to a home game. It started much like most home games - we shoved the dining room table and the kitchen table together and played $20-$40 sngs. There was even a ramp (part of a pizza box) between the tables since they were different heights. The game gradually grew with real tables, dealers, tourney clocks, and of course rake. It was no longer our "home game." It was now called Orlando-UPC. The sngs turned into 2 table sngs and ranged from $80 - $250 on Wed and Sunday. I tried to make it every Wed night and always had a great time.

My visits to the game became few and far between after our son was born in Sept 2005. Loopy (the originator of this blog that has stopped posting) even wrote a trip report in 2005 after our first time back months.

I rarely made it to the game over the next several years and it gradually morphed into something different. It was moved from it's original location to a guy's house near downtown. The games got bigger and there was even a bouncer from one of the downtown night clubs there for security. The original regulars gradually stopped coming to the game as often (for a variety of reasons) and were replaced with new regulars. I remember heading to the game a year or so ago and knew only 3-5 people of the 20 or so that were there.

Orlando-UPC closed it's doors sometime last year shortly after the guy that ran the game got married. They had a pretty good 5 year run.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of the old faces tonight. There should be plenty of beer flowing and chips flying.

Ever Google your screen name?

2009-09-04T13:27:00.004-05:00

I googled my screen name the other day and came across the usual stuff - blogger game hands, hands people post that didn't involve me but I was at the table, a random suckout, other blogs that link to mine, etc, etc.

A few pages in I stumbled across the following post I made on a poker forum way back on 7/16/03:

"I have been playing on Poker Stars for a while now. I just signed up for Ultimate Bet. I've only played a few hours so far, but it seems like UB is not as user friendly as PS. Maybe I'm missing something or haven't found all the features yet. Maybe you guys can help.

UB - Is there any way to view other tables in a tourney? Is there a way to make notes on players (other than my own pad and paper)? Is there a place where you can see the chips that each player has during a tourney?

Thanks for your help. I guess I might be spoiled by the features (or familiarity with) at Pokerstars."

I laughed on some many levels:

- It was over six freaking years ago. I had been playing since probably the end of football season - Jan 2003 (a few months prior to Moneymaker). I can't believe that I have been playing online almost 7 years.

- UB's early tourney lobby really sucked.

- Shortly after that post, UB became my favorite site and I rarely played anywhere else until FTP came on the scene. It could have something to do with me winning an Aruba package about 1 or 2 weeks after I made that post (It may have even been a couple of weeks before that post). I remember having no real clue about how to play tourneys when I won my Aruba package. I played my cards, my draws, and remember constantly asking myself "Will/can he call if I raise all in here." (Myabe that was my first clueless exposure to hand reading)

- Wow, how the mighty have fallen. UB lost their original market share and failed miserably to capitalize on their early entry into the online poker world long before anyone even knew the term "superuser" The main reason was piss poor management and customer service. They started having weekly and sometimes daily crashes and were horrible at sorting things out.

- I miss the early UB/online poker days. I don't miss UB, but I miss the "friendly" feel the site had back then. You were playing against the same people all the time and most of the regulars knew each other and chatted during tourneys. I enjoyed watching final tables because at least 2 or 3 of my online "friends" were at most final tables. Jack asses and abusive chat were few and far between.

- I miss the small field medium buy-in tourneys that ran regularly. My decision to play a tourney or not back then was sometimes based on whether or not it was going to be over 100 players. Between 50-99 players they paid 10 spots and 100-200, they paid 20 spots. I regularly played the $50 - $100 75-150 player tourneys during week day peak hours (8PM EST - 10 PM EST)

- I think a MBA class could use the online poker early years through the initial launch of FTP as a great study in online business launches in the early years. It would and interesting study of what was done right and wrong and how that translated into the poker site's current revenues.

Wow, this turned into a rambling post that could have probably been summed up as, "I'm old and I miss the early years of online poker even before I found Party Poker.:

Mini-FTOPS and WCOOP

2009-09-02T10:15:00.003-05:00

WCOOP starts tomorrow and the Mini-FTOPS is right around the corner. I haven't played many tourneys lately, but will probably play a couple WCOOP events and several Mini-FTOPS events.

The WCOOP schedule sucks during the week for anyone with a job (me) and sucks on the weekend for those with families (me again - I rarely play when the kids are awake on the weekends). They do have a few 8 PM EST events that I may try to play.

On the other hand, it seems like the Mini-FTOPS is geared towards the working man with a ton of 9 PM EST tourneys. I will probably several of these not only because of the time, but because you can buy into any of the the events with FTP points. I currently have around 100k ftp points and will probably use most of them during the Mini-FTOPS.

Right now I am considering playing the following events:

WCOOP

Event #5 - $109 8 Game $50k Guarantee (Fri 8 PM) - I feel comfortable playing all these games and am probably weakest in the stud and stud h/l. I should have an edge in the LHE rounds because there are a ton of NLHE players that don't have a clue about all the nuances of LHE. I haven't played triple draw in a while, but played it occasionally way back in the day when UB first starting spreading it (5 yrs ago?).

Event #8 $215 LHE $400k (Sat 4:30 PM) - I would really like to play this but it is during the day on the weekend and it is also on the first day of college football, so it is probably a no go.

Event #23 $320 NLHE (10 min lvls) (Next Fri 9/11 8 PM) - I will probably play this one if I satellite in.

Mini-FTOPS

Event #1 - $22 NLHE $200k guarantee (4,400 ftp points)
Event #3 - $22 O8 $30k guarantee (4,400 ftp points)
Event #12 - $109 NLHE antes from start $250k guarantee (21,800 ftp points)
Event #14 - $55 HORSE $50k guarantee (11,000 ftp points)
Event #15 - $22 NLHE turbo 6 max $100k guarantee (4,400 ftp points)
Event #17 - $33 NLHE 6 max rebuy $200k guarantee (6,600 ftp points)
Event #19 - $22 LHE 6 max $50k guarantee (4,400 ftp points)
Event #21 - $33 RAZZ $25k guarantee (6,600 ftp points)

I'll try to post some interesting hands/tough decisions.

Got a chance to use FTP's new MTT Chop Feature

2009-08-31T00:22:00.002-05:00

I stumbled across FTP's $75 LHE mtt last night. I'm not sure if this is a regular tourney or just on Sunday nights, but it was fun (and a little frustrating since it was LHE after all.) When we got 3 handed I had 60k and the other two had around 85k. The limits were 3k/6k and about to go up to 4k/8k. I figured it was a crap shoot and I might as well lock in 2nd place cash.

I think that I made a decent deal, considering anything could have happened. What do you think?

Original payouts
1st - $1,678
2nd - $1,022
3rd - $734

Chop adjusted payouts
1st - $1,176
2nd - $1,170
3rd - $1088

Gambling Boat Trip Report

2009-08-25T12:42:00.007-05:00

I was excited to head out on the gambling boat when I woke up at the beach condo on Thursday morning. The boat was supposed to leave at 11 AM and return at 4 PM. Our plan was to get the kids dressed, head over to the my Mom and stepfather's hotel, eat some breakfast, and then my stepfather and I were going to head out on the boat. My phone rang right before we left the condo. It was my Mom asking when we were coming over for breakfast. She also informed me that my stepfather no longer felt like going on the boat. Huh? WTF? He is the first to try to plan any trip that involves slot machines, so I wasn't sure what was going on. I guess the main problem was that they brought their dog with them and the dog and the hotel were not getting along. Oh well, I decided to open a few beers after lunch and forget about the gambling cruise.

Fast forward to later that night.....We decided to head to the Port for an early dinner (a few miles from our condo). The gambling boat was docked literally right next to our choice of restaurants. The gambling bug then started to take full effect on my stepfather - having to deal with the stressed out dog all day may have played a part also. After not wanting to head out on the cruise 10 hrs earlier, he decided it was a great idea. I agreed.

I wasn't sure what to expect in the poker room since the last time I was on the Suncruz was probably before my 7 year old daughter was born. I had seen their poker room advertised and talked to a few people that had gone out years ago. They used to have some limit games (5/10 and 10/20) and several NL games (1/2, 2/5).

After boarding the boat, I immediately went to the poker room on the top floor. If they had a list I was going to get on it. I didn't want to be left waiting for a seat when we only had a few hours to play. All (6 or 8 maybe) of the poker tables were covered and no one was at the poker cage. No big deal. We hadn't left port yet and gambling wasn't allowed until you get 3 miles offshore. Time for more beer while waiting for the boat to leave and make it's way to international waters.

Disney Boat coming back to Port next to us

I went back to the poker room a little after we left port. No one was at the cage, but there was one table with people playing poker. I walked over and asked if they started early and was informed that this was a $20 sng with 1 rebuy ($20). Money would be collected after we reached the 3 mile point - until then the dealer would hold onto your ID. The dealer urged me to grab the last seat. The bar sounded like a better idea than a $20 live sng. The dealer said that I might want to reconsider since he was the only dealer on the boat and that the cash games wouldn't start until the sng was finished. I expected a small turn out on a week night (Thurs), but this seemed a little ridiculous - one dealer and one cash game. WTF?

I decided to head to the roulette table with the money my wife and Mom gave me to bet for them. Five dollars from my wife to bet on black and $5 from my Mom to bet on red. :) I was playing the outside and was up and down from my initial $100. I decided it was time to leave and check out the poker room. I had $120 left, took my initial $100, set it aside, and bet $5 on four numbers. One of them hit for $175. I bet a few more numbers on the next spin and left with $240 (+$140).

The sng finally ended about 20 mins later and we were ready for the cash games to start. It was a $1/$3 NL cash game with $200 max and $30 min. Several people bought in for $30. Dealing with short stackers online is bad enough, but live is even more frustrating. I decide to the keep the beers coming and play almost every hand.

Some fun hands

Trapped by a short stacker
I was in the CO with 7s8s.
There were a couple of limpers, so I raised it up to $15.
The SB shoved all in for $27 total ($12 more).
The BB thought for about 20 seconds and called the $27 (leaving about $20 behind).
The limpers folded.
I called.
I wiffed on the flop, turn and river. We checked the flop, checked the turn.
I folded my 2 unders (I think) to his massive overshove of his remaining $20 on the river.

The SB had KK. The BB had AA - he didn't bet his last $20 with his Aces on any street until the river. He told me that he was trying to trap me. I told him that I was lucky there wasn't an Ace on board.

Toothless Old Timer (well only missing one tooth, but it was in the front)
Shortly after one of the short stacks lost his $30, a seat opened up. A toothless old timer named Charlie sat down with $60. I wound up doubling him up($50ish) a few hands later with 77 against his TT. He was grinning ear to ear (minus one tooth). I started chatting with him quite a bit (thanks to the beer) - nothing disrespectful, just something along the lines of him being a shark that comes out on the boat to take all of our money. For some reason it made him decide to come after me.

I'm a little fuzzy on the details (against thanks to the beer), but we were in a hand. I had been the aggressor and an 8 hit the turn gave me the nut straight with JTs. He immediately shoved all in for around $100 into a $60 pot. I immediately called. He had hit 4th pair on the turn. Yikes, I guess he picked the wrong time to "make a move." I was sad to see Charlie leave right after that hand.

Ummm, you have pot odds or something like that
I was dealt J8s in late position and decided to limp along with every other player before me that had already limped in.

Flop was T99. (Pot - $27) - 2 hearts
Seat 9 bets $10
Seat 2 calls $10
Seat 4 calls $10
I call (in seat 6) $10

Turn Q (Pot - $67) - hit the str8; hope it's good
Seat 9 bets $15
Seat 2 folds
Seat 4 moves all in for $35
I raise to $75
Seat 9 calls leaving $50 behind.

River - low card heart(Pot - $252)
I put Seat 9 all in.
He thought for a while, so I knew I was good.
He looked at his $50 in front on him and said, "I was about to leave, if I fold now I am even."
I went on to explain how much money was in the pot and how much he would win if he called his last $50 into a $352 pot. He finally called with A9. I scooped the side pot and shorty all-in on the turn was pushed the main pot with his rivered flush.

I wound up leaving the poker table losing -$145 including drink tips (bluffed $100 off to a calling station and lost $120 on the last hand of the night with KT vs KJ on a King high flop). Total for the night was a waffle like -$5 after drinks.

I forgot how much fun live low limit NLHE can be, especially when you are enjoying a few cocktails. Waking up and heading back down to the beach again the next day was pretty nice too.

Gambiling in Hurricane Waters?

2009-08-19T20:45:00.002-05:00

I'm planning to head out tomorrow morning on a last minute trip aboard the Suncruz casino out of Port Canveral. Since there is very limited gambling in the state of FL (only $100 max buy-in poker), there are several gambling boats along the shores of FL that head 3 miles offshore to international waters and offer full gambling. I think Suncruz is the only one left in Port Canaveral.

There might be one big problem tomorrow - Bill, Hurricane Bill. Bill isn't supposed to hit FL but is going to be close enough to make the seas extremely rough. I'll cross my fingers that the boat goes out tomorrow.

I'm not sure what games they will have running on a daytime cruise during the week, but I'll report back on all the action.

Blogging is fun

2009-08-17T00:29:00.004-05:00

....for ev.......ver....eeee......one. (I think it was Phralad that said that - no need to practice avoidance though.)

Man, am I a slacker or what? I have been horrible when it comes to posting updates. There are times when I sit down to write a post and decide that I don't really have any poker content worth sharing. I could put up the random mindless posts (and have done that) but I prefer to put up something worth reading.

I'll blame it on work, which is a good thing.

I hope to start posting regularly again, but won't post just to post. (*warning - you might be subjected to limit holdem content)

Misclick TURNS good

2009-08-07T10:26:00.004-05:00

I was playing a few tables of $5/$10 LHE the other night when this hand came up. I was checking how a player on another table played a previous hand in HEM. The CALL button popped up in the same area where my mouse was scrolling and I misclick called. It turned out to be a good misclick.

....and yes it is boring LHE FR :)

Full Tilt Poker $5/$10 Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.5 SB) Hero is SB with 9 7

UTG calls
4 folds
BTN raises
Hero calls - oops, misclick out of the SB. Was checking something in HEM and action popped up in the same area that I was scrolling.
BB 3-bets - loose bad player that tilts hard and always comments everyone's bad play
1 fold - not sure what he limps utg and then folds.
BTN calls
Hero calls - guess my misclick prices me in to call.

Flop: (10 SB - $50) 4 5 6 (3 players)

Hero checks, BB bets, BTN calls, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, BTN folds,
Hero caps!, BB calls - I'm definitely getting in much money as I can in on this flop

Turn: (9.5 BB - $95) 8 (2 players) - Weeeeeeeee!!!!

Hero bets, BB calls

River: (11.5 BB - $115) 7 (2 players)

Hero bets, BB calls

Final Pot: 13.5 BB ($135)

Hero shows 9 7 (a straight flush, Nine high)
BB mucks Q Q

Hero wins 13.2 BB
(Rake: $3.00)

Most misclicks suck, but I didn't mind this one.

Random Thoughts

2009-08-03T16:01:00.002-05:00

I like the new FTP Lobby. The lag seems to be gone!!! yeah!!!!

The FTP "Biggest Bonus Ever" is a little ridiculous since the bonuses are smaller than the initial deposit bonus and the most people's mid year iron man bonus. Poor marketing imo. I'm not knocking FTP for giving us free money, but if you are going to market something as the "Biggest Ever!!" shouldn't it be at least bigger than the current initial deposit bonus?

------------

Face the Ace - I think it is definitely geared more to the non-poker player or casual poker player. I hope it somehow catches on and improves. IMO, they need to get rid of the guy from the Sopranos. I saw a lot of negative reviews on the forums, but I think it was better than mediocre from an entertainment only pov. If by some fluke it takes off, it can only be good for the game.

-------------

Full Ring LHE - Last month when FTP's 5x Happy Hour started running, I fired up a couple of $5/$10 Full Ring Limit Holdem tables because you can earn points, clear bonuses, and rack up the RB really fast. After playing for a couple of weeks, it has become my new favorite game again. I know, I know. Some of you are saying WTF? Why would you play LHE? and if you are playing LHE, why would you play full ring? All I can say is that you would be surprised how poor some of the play is on the FTP FR LHE tables is. Just ask DrPauly. I've run into him at the tables a lot lately.

More LHE adventures in a future post........

--------------

How many more days until college football season starts??? Go Gators!!

WSOP Trip Report (Cash Games)

2009-07-24T08:55:00.004-05:00

Wow. Where has the time gone? I have been back from the WSOP for a month and am just now getting around to writing my final WSOP trip report (not sure if anyone cares at this point). I’m going to blame the lack of posts on my computer (even though it has been back up and running for 2 weeks.) I had some minor but very annoying battery issues, so Dell shipped a motherboard. The replacement of the motherboard caused my hard drive to crash. Fast forward a week and I had a new (2nd) motherboard and new hard drive. I didn’t lose any work stuff but lost my HEM database and player notes on FTP because I was so worried I was going to lose work stuff. Oh well.

Losing my HEM db and FTP notes has probably been more of a blessing than a curse. I find myself thinking more about each player and how they are playing instead of relying too heavily on old notes and stats.

Anyway, on to my final WSOP recap (a few cash hands)....

Favorite Hand of the Trip
My last day in LV was far and away my best day at the cash tables – mentally and monetarily. I was playing great and was feeling “in the zone” more than I had the entire trip.

There was one particular hand on the last day that I probably would have played differently if I wasn’t so focused and had a great feel for the table. I had a fairly tight image and had gradually built up my stack from $500 to around $1k or so.

$2/$5 NL
Me – BB
EP (very active aggro but solid player) raises to $15.
3 calls including SB
I look down at JdJx and make it $50.
3 calls, 1 fold.

Flop Kd9d4x (Pot $215)

I bet $100 hoping to take it down right there. The table had been really loose pf but other than 1 or 2 guys most were fairly tight post flop.
EP (orig raiser) folds
MP (fairly weak player) thinks for about 3 or 4 minutes and finally calls – obviously with something like a weakish King.
SB takes a long time and tells MP “I would have called if you hadn’t.”

I ask MP, “How much do you have left? About $200?” He looked very uncomfortable when he said “Yeah.” I was putting him on a hand like KQ, KJ, KT and planned to put him in on any turn other than a K, Q, or T.

Turn Ad (Pot $415)

I think for a couple of seconds and then slide $200 out.
MP looks disgusted. He thinks for probably 5 minutes and finally folds.

I don’t normally show, but I had such a tight image and planned to keep playing tight that I thought this was a good time to show. I turned up my JJ and everyone went nuts. MP said he folded KT. EP tilted a little because he said that he almost called the flop bet and would have turned two pair with his A9.

Showing the JJ turned out to be one of the best decisions that I made. Over the course of the next several hours at that table I ran my initial $500 up to around $3k before cashing out and taking a break.

Bad Beat Hand of the Trip
(skip this hand if you hate bad beat stories)

$2/$5 NL
Me on the button - $900
MP = very tight passive player - $700
LP = bad shortish stack - around $250

Folds to MP whose raises to $20
LP calls
Me (with AA) raise to $60

MP thinks for a second and calls (I'm 90% sure that he re-raises with AA, KK, QQ, calls with AK, TT, JJ, possibly AQ and folds the rest of his range.)
LP calls - could have any two literally

Flop comes K83r ($187)

MP bets $70.
LP calls.
I raise to $250
MP insta-shoves.
LP insta-calls.
I call

MP has AK
LP has KQ

Turn (Pot $1,650) - K (last one in the deck)

Live poker is so rigged!!

I “Slow Rolled” someone? – You Make the Call?

I had been sitting at a 2/5 table since it started (about 2 1/2 hours.) The guy to my immediate left had been there since it started also. He was playing very tight and making comments under his breath about how horrible some of the play was at the table. I hadn't seen him put a lot of money in withouta monster during the 2 hours. I once saw him flat call a c/r with QQ on a T high board and call the turn and river. Basically, it didn't seem like he was putting all of his money in without the nuts or close to it.

I'm a little fuzzy on the preflop action, but something along the lines of....

Me - dealt 44 in LP.
Guy to my left (Left) was CO.

3 limps.
I call.
Left raises to $20.
2 calls.
I call.

Flop J84r

2 EP check
I check
Left bets $40
1 fold
1 call
I raise to $120
Left thinks for a second and shoves for $350-$400 more (had him covered)

Folds back to me.

I was taken aback by the raise. The only other time that I saw him do something like that he had flopped a set. I asked him if he had flopped a set of Jacks. He didn't say anything but seemed uncomfortable. I called about 2 secs after I asked the question (less than 30 secs from when action folded to me.)

I was actually shocked when he turned up J9o. I had either read his play wrong up to this point or he decided that this was the time to make a move.

The turn and river were no help for him. He stood up and says, "Nice Fucking Slowroll!!" as he leaves the table.

Does it sound like I slowrolled him because I took 20-30 secs to think through whether or not my bottom set was good against someone that I had pegged as extremely tight when it came to putting his stack in the middle?

I'm still here

2009-07-10T00:06:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Between getting back from LV, my laptop dying and being swamped at work this week, I haven't had time to post my final WSOP trip recap. I'll try to put it up tomorrow or at the very latest Monday.

In all the craziness, I think there are a few emails from the last week or two that I haven't responded to. I will get back to you this weekend.

After following the ME coverage online, I'm wishing that I would have gone out for the Main Event and at least attempted to win a ME seat. (I didn't play one ME sat this yr - live or online after spending way too much trying to win a seat in '07)

It feels good to get my laptop back up and running again!!!

My Laptop joined MJ

2009-06-29T11:55:00.002-05:00

I still plan to finish my WSOP trip report (at least two - cash games and the 2k recap).

I was having laptop issues before I left for LV. It wasn't a huge deal - my battery (and replacement battery) wouldn't charge. I had a few other glitches related to an attached monitor and incredibly long load time at startup. Dell decided the fix was to replace the motherboard.

The replacment motherboard and tech arrived Friday morning. After he finished installating the new mb, he turned it on and everything seemed to work fine.

I got home early Friday night to watch the kids because my wife, sister-in-law and nephews were heading to the Dane Cook show. I decided to pass on the show after falling asleep at his last Orlando show (combination of lack of sleep, too many beers, him coming on 1 1/2 hr late, and him just not being that funny). After I got the kids to bed, I fired up the laptop with plans to play a long cash game session. My laptop had other plans. Windows XP wouldn't load all the way and I could only start it in safe mode. After 4 hours on the phone with Dell and several diagnostic tests later, they informed me that it had to be a software issue because nothing came back on the tests. I suggested, "Umm, I dunno much about these here computer thingies but it seems like the new mb might have a loose connection or be bad since I didn't have this problem until it was replaced earlier today." The Dell rep from India named "Bob" informed me that because the tests came up negative for hardware problems that it HAD to be a software problem.

Sunday, I got around to calling Dell back and they walked me through the reinstallation process. The Windows XP re-installation was complete about 45 minutes later. The machine went to start and wound up in the exact same loop as before. Yeah, definitely a software problem. aklfjafkdlafjslkl.

They are now sending another new mb and hard drive (with some preloaded software) tomorrow. Hopefully, this fixes the problem. As of now I am working on a new desktop that I bought today that will double as our new server once my laptop gets fixed.

I'm jonesing a little for online poker since I wasn't able to play over the weekend.

Careful what you tweet at the poker table

2009-06-25T08:50:00.002-05:00

A few hours into the $2k NLHE WSOP event that I played, I was moved to a new table. My new seat had been previously occupied by Vanessa Rousso. She was the talk of the table when I sat down. They were not only talking about how poorly she played her bustout hand, but also how she had dogged the entire table on twitter. Apparently, a friend of one of the players at the table follows @VanessaRousso on twitter. This is what she tweeted about her table:

"Just sat down...danny wong at my otherwise weak table"

LOL. It doesn't seem to say much, but this could be useful information and probably was useful information to the solid player two to her left. His friend had texted him the tweet.

Below is the description of her bustout hand:

"Vanessa Rousso moved all in for 5,300 after a flop of KdJd3s and got a call. She didn't like what she saw when she tabled AhKc while her opponent showed AsAc.

Rousso failed to catch her two-outer when the board ran out 6 6, sending her to the rail."

From the description it sounds like she got unlucky, but from what the table was saying it sounds like she played her AK very poorly against the "otherwise weak table." (FWIW, I always seem to play AK poorly.) Also, for some reason, I could have sworn they said she had KQ. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt though.

What I was told is that she had around 5k to start the hand (call it 5,300) - blinds 75/150. It folded to her otb. she made it around 600. The SB raised to 1,800. The BB smooth called the 1,800. She thought for a while and finally flat called the additional 1,200. King high flop - SB/BB check. She shoves. SB folds. BB insta-calls with his AA.

Maybe if she didn't think the table was so weak, she would have either folded or shoved the AK preflop. The BB was a very solid internet player living in a house with a bunch of other internet players. After a short time at the table, I knew that he wasn't smooth calling in a situation like that without an absolute monster.

Maybe the tweet didn't influence the way he played the hand, but it might have. Careful how much information you tweet at the poker table. You never know who is reading, especially if you are a known player.

WSOP Trip Report - Part 2

2009-06-24T13:02:00.004-05:00

I guess I can call this part 2 since I posted a quick random update while I was in LV.

The Results (of 7 days in LV)

Tourneys = -$1,760 ($2k NLHE WSOP-report to follow; $340 DS Venetian - $580 cash)
Satellites (incl. tequila shots) = -$150 ($125 sat, $20 last longer, $5 towards tip for shots)
Magic Game Bet = -$55 (I didn't have much faith with them down 3-1)
Cash Games = +$1,400 (report to follow - last day saved me here)

Net Loss = -$565

-----------------------------------------

Live Bloggers

Thanks to everyone that I met/hung out with in LV!! I had a great time!!!

It was great to meet up with some of the bloggers that were out in Las Vegas while I was there - some new faces and some that I have met before. I'll try to remember everyone that I ran into (although a couple of nights were a little fuzzy):

CK - Was able to sucker me into playing HORSE+Triple Draw where I didn't win one pot. She is going to be worn out by the end of the WSOP after being the unofficial blogger LV host. Good Luck today in Day 2 of the $2.5k O/8. She is kicking ass and taking names so far. Hopefully, she will break through to a final table.

LJ - Got to see her tear through the field in the $1.5k HORSE. A win would have been great, but 10th is pretty freaking awesome for her first time playing HORSE live. She is out there to, ummm, work. It seems like she has reasonable bosses and can set her own schedule, which is definitely a good thing in a 24 hour city. Kick ass in your next events!!!

Bayne - Only saw him briefly since he was in town with his wife and daughter and he had to spend a lot of time with them. (with them = at the craps tables methinks)

F-Train - No rest for the weary. He is doing a kick ass (trying to see how many times I can say kick ass in one post) job covering the WSOP including the $1.5k HORSE that LJ was in. We had dinner a few nights while his IPhone timer was counting down the minutes until the usually 60 minute dinner break ended for the tourney that he was covering.

AlCantHang - Was looking forward to meeting him after all the kick ass stuff he has done for bloggers (BBTs, free stuff, etc). For some reason I thought it was a good idea to have a couple of double SoCo shots with him after I busted out of the 2k NLHE. It seemed like a very good idea at the time. The next morning, not so much. If you don't follow his twitter account, you are missing out.

MeanGene - Ran into him at the bar with Al. I don't think he wanted SoCo shots but somehow we coerced him. That consisted of: "Do a shot with us." "Naah." "Ah, come on." "OK."

ShabazzJenkins - Seems like a great guy. I only got to hang out with him for a short time at dinner and the HORSE+TD. I'm looking forward to reading his trip report. I'm guessing that he probably went deep in at least one Venetian DS.

Lightning36 - When I ran into him, I was expecting to see a seventy year old man with a cane since he said that he was going to be playing the Senior's event - just kidding. I knew that he had just barely qualified for the senior's min age of 50. We had lunch while I was nursing my hangover. I really thought he was going to tear through the senior's event field, but I guess the short starting stacks had other plans.

Blogger sprstoner - I wasn't going to put him on the list because he hates being called a blogger. Blogger, Blogger, Blogger, Blogger. I seem to randomly run into him every year, usually at the Hooker Bar - hmm. He is kicking ass at the WSOP and everywhere else this year. So freaking huge. If he really was a blogger, he would probably just be bubbling the money instead of making deep runs. Still a few more events for him to win his bracelet which would be a great accomplishment for a BLOGGER.

Lucko21 - I ran into Lucko briefly during the drunken hours after the $2k NLHE. I had met him once before (again briefly 2 years ago at the pocketfives party.) It is very fuzzy, but he did hang for a few mins while I degened it up at the Roulette table at the end of the night. I'll be rooting for him at the ME - time for the run goot!!

I'm sure alcohol is making me forget a couple of others

More to follow...................

FT of FTP 50/50 - out in 4th :(

2009-06-22T03:44:00.003-05:00

I played the FTP 50/50 tonight mainly due to jetlag after coming back from LV. I'm glad I did because I wound up final tabling and busting in 4th for $3.5k. I was really hoping for a win, but I'll take it since it is a nice way to end my LV week before heading back tot he real world in about 3 hours.

I couldn't win the race at the end for 800k chips with 55 vs. AQ.

I had a blast in LV and will update tomorrow or the next day.

WSOP Quick Update

2009-06-16T14:09:00.002-05:00

Random Thoughts...

Magic choked bad, but I'm still happy that they made it to the Finals. Oh well, there is always next year.

Sunday - Two short cash sessions +50 and -250, watched Magic lose :(

Monday - Woke up way way too early and couldn't go back to sleep (6:30 am)

Went over the Venetian around 8:30, registered for $340 mtt, played cash for a while, was down almost two buy-ins after losing set to flush draw, and KK to a medium stack flush draw. My hands held up after that and I finished up barely to then negative side (-70), which I consider a big win after being down 800-900 at one point.

Played the Venetian $340 (819 players - 72 paid) to get back into the live tourney swing of things. Never got anything going and after a couple of breaks I was sentenced to perpetual short stack hell. I was in shove/fold mode and wasn't getting a lot of opporutunities to shove because a lot of the big stacks were raising and 3-betting before I could even act. When I did get a chance shove, I rarely got called. I doubled up a few times here and there. I eventually cashed in 53rd for a $570. It was brutal to play that long, finally get some chips to work with after the bubble burst and then lose a big pot where I was way ahead to become a short stack again. I can't complain though. I feel like I played great despite riding the short stack.

After the tourney I headed back to the Rio to see how LJ was doing in the 1.5k HORSE. I got there right before they ended for the night at 24 players. Day 3 starts at 1 today. Goooooo LJ!!!! TID!!!!

Was going to play the $1.5k NLHE donkament today, but made the decision last night while still in the Venetian tourney at 1 am that I wouldn't be worth a crap today. I am leaning towards playing the $2k donkament on Thurs.

Cash games and maybe some satellites today.

Funniest comment that I heard yesterday after two guys in their late 40s/early 50s got into it and then were apologizing to each other:

"Come on man, let's just calm down. It's just a game. I'm sure both of us are successful and worth a ton. I mean, I have $100 Million in the bank. I am just playing this for fun." LOL $100 Millionaments.

WSOP Tweet Tweet

2009-06-14T00:51:00.003-05:00

I'm heading out to LV in the morning. If you are interested in following my play out there, I have signed up for a twitter account.

You can follow me at @seemitch

Poker Prop Bets

2009-06-12T22:44:00.004-05:00

It seems like all the poker pros at the WSOP are making prop bets to keep their interest in the grueling daily grind of playing long hours often with nothing to show for it. I listen to a lot of the poker podcasts and still have trouble keeping up with all the prop bets players have with each other. The one that everyone knows about is Phil Ivey's bracelet bet that he won earlier in the week, but the it seems like I hear a different number every time the story is told.

So, instead of trying to keep track of what all the prop bets out there, I have decided to make a few of my own on Bodog. Looking through the list on their site, a couple jumped out. My bets are as follows (I am sure some will disagree):

Which player will last longer in the 2009 ME
Phil Hellmuth -110
Tom Dwan - 130

My Pick - Hellmuth -110 (I know durrrr is a cash game monster, but Hellmuth somehow seems to always tear up donk filled large tourneys)

Which player will last longer in the 2009 Ante Up for Africa tourney
There are 14 Celebrities on the list and I'm guessing a few of them probably won't play or will register/donate the money and not show up, so it is probably more like a last longer out of 10 players.

My Picks - Hank Azaria 8-1 (He seems like he a more of a clue than most)
Charles Barkley 10-1 (I had to pick him since he was the only one that gave the Magic a chance against the Cavs. Prob a bad bet since he will be itching to hit the table games)

---------------------
2 days til I leave for Vegas!!!!!!!!!

The Flea Market has it all

2009-06-09T15:30:00.005-05:00

I had to post this picture that I took the other day. Strange what you can get at the flea market.

EDIT: Not sure how I could have posted this without putting up the Oldie but a goodie:

Live Poker - It's OK to talk

2009-06-02T22:08:00.006-05:00

I know that Tommy Angelo advocates "Mum Poker." It definitely has it's place, but I think talking at the table, especially, to those that like to talk also has it's place as long as you are mindful about what you are saying. People like to talk about themselves and generally, the more they talk the more information they are giving you. When I sit down at a cash game I always try to strike up a conversation with the guy on my left and right. If you know their thinking/how they play then you have a huge advantage. They won't tell you flat out how they play, but they are usually more than willing to tell you if it is the first time at the WSOP/playing live poker/etc or how great of an internet/live player they are. If you ask where they are from, they may volunteer more information like where they play poker on a daily, weekly, every few month basis. You may even be able to give them just enough information about yourself for them to think you don't know as much as you do. You don't have to lie - just don't tell them everything.

Even though I rarely play live I can think of a couple quick examples off the top of my head:

Example 1
Last year, I was over in Tampa at a deposition of the opposing expert witness in a hurricane damage case. I'm a consultant that sometimes works on legal cases. I'm definitely not a lawyer and don't dress like one, but I dressed like one that day. After we butchered the opposing expert, I headed over to the Tampa Hard Rock. I was minus the coat and tie, but I still looked like a business guy that wandered into the HR to gamble after work.

After a couple of hours, I wound up in a SNG (equivalent of an online turbo SNG). A few orbits in, it folded to me in the SB. I completed with I think 2 face cards. The BB, who through conversations thought that I could send some work his way, over shoved all-in. I folded. Not a big deal - nothing too unusual about the hand for a live SNG, until he started to give me lessons on how to play poker. He told me to never just limp from the SB because the BB can just shove and you will have to fold. He went on to further explain some of the "finer nuances" of poker to me. I politely thanked him for all his advice.

There was no reason to let him know that I had ever played poker before. He created a better image for me at that table than I ever could have created on my own. The entire table now viewed me as a businessman without much knowledge of poker.

Example 2
Last year, I sat down at a 2/5NL game in the Rio after one of the donkaments thinned out enough for them to open cash tables. The guy to my immediate right and I were talking a lot about poker. We talked about FTP and PS. I let him ramble on and on and I was soaking it all in. He went on to tell me how easy and juicy live cash games are. "All you have to do is raise and then c-bet and everyone folds." I noticed that he was getting way too liberal with this plan and was always firing 2nd and 3rd barrels whether he connected or not. His pattern became predictable, even more so because of our hand discussions.

About and hour or so into the game, I called him down very light on every street including his river bluff. His line made no sense. He wasn't playing his made hands the way that he played this one. He went ballistic and couldn't believe how horrible my call was for calling him down so light. He wasn't talking to me anymore. He was no longer my "friend."

It is OK to fold AA

2009-05-29T21:24:00.005-05:00

I was reading some of the coverage of the 1st level of the $40k NLHE WSOP event yesterday. The starting chip count was T120,000 and the blinds were 200/400/w 50 ante. There were several players that got all-in with AA in the 1st level. I will put in the caveat that I wasn't there so I may not know all the cirucmstances surrounding the hands/player's histories with each other, etc, etc, but on the surface and from the pokernews descriptions it just seems like horrible play.

First Example:

Jim Bechtel Eliminated by David Chiu

We already have a man down only thirty minutes into this event and unfortunately, it was 1993 Main Event Champion Jim Bechtel.

Bechtel, David Chiu, and Per Ummer saw a flop of {9-Diamonds} {2-Spades} {2-Hearts}. Bechtel checked, Chiu bet 6,000, Ummer folded and Bechtel called. The {6-Diamonds} cameon the turn and Bechtel checked again. Chiu fired out 9,200 only to be met with a shove from Bechtel for his entire 119,000 stack.

Chiu made the call and flipped over {9-Hearts} {9-Clubs} for a flopped full house, cracking Bechtel's {A-Clubs} {A-Spades} . The river was the {3-Spades} and Bechtel's tournament was over while Chiu doubled up to 245,000.

No real explanation needed on why this was horrible. What was he thinking? Is worse hand ever calling?

--------------------------------------
Phil Laak (mr uber-tight on High Stakes Poker) was involved in the 2nd one:

After a flop of {J-Clubs} {8-Diamonds} {2-Clubs} Phil Laak announces to the entire tournament floor that he is all in. Camera crews rush over to see Laak turn over {8-Clubs} {8-Hearts} for middle set against the pocket aces of his James Calderaro. The turn and river are blanks and Laak doubles up to 245,000. Calderaro drops all the way down to 7,900.

The Laak showmanship plus his ultra-tight early tourney play makes this seem very bad by his opponent. Maybe there was more to the hand since the description doesn't have how the action went down, but it just seems bad, bad, bad.

------------------------------
Not too sure about Tony G's getting all in with Aces either - even though we won:

With the board showing {5-Diamonds}{3-Clubs}{7-Diamonds}, Tony G just got it all in with {A-Clubs}{A-Spades} versus Erik Cajelais' {8-Diamonds}{6-Diamonds}. The turn was the {A-Hearts}, further improving Tony G's hand. And the river was the {8-Hearts}, giving Tony G the large pot.

Tony G is quickly up to 248,000, while Cajelais falls to 3,800.

I think we need to know more information on how this hand went down.

-----------------------------
As LJ pointed out to me - Brian Townsend also posted on his blog that he couldn't believe how horrid the play was, especially considering players had to shell out $40,000 to play the event.

*****EDIT*******

Short Stack Shamus at Hard Boiled Poker (which happens to be one of the many places I am following the WSOP) pointed out Tony G's interview about the hand. It makes it seem a little more reasonable. The other two still seem horrible, especially the first one.

PokerNews Video

Last two BBT4 Events this weekend

2009-05-29T12:59:00.001-05:00

Both are on Sunday. I can't play the Brit Blogger Game because I will be watching the kids, but I'm definitely in for my last shot at a BBT4 TOC seat on Sunday in MiamiDon's Blogger Big game.

Tournament: Brit Blogger Game
When: Sunday's at 16:00ET
Game: NLHE
Buyin: $5+.50
Password: donkament

Tournament: Blogger Big Game
When: Sunday, May 31st at 21:30ET
Game: Superstack NLHE
Buyin: $69+6 (or token)
Password: donkey

Go Magic!!!

2009-05-27T09:04:00.003-05:00

Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Orlando is now up 3-1 despite the refs trying to give the game to Lebron...err Cleveland. (Just ask Charles Barkley) The town is going nuts!!!

BTW, Charles Barkley is a genius. He predicted that Orlando would beat Cleveland. Hopefully, the Magic will make him look like Kreskin.

ESPN article on the game - breaking down the fouls/controversial travel call.

My question is why wouldn't this be a foul on Lebron instead of a good "no-call" for not calling a foul on Dwight Howard.

"n the closing seconds of overtime, I think everyone was sure Dwight Howard would be called after he bit on a LeBron James fake, and made contact while James released the shot. It looked like a play we have all seen called a foul a zillion times. But replays revealed that at the time of contact, Howard was upright on the ground, and James jumped into him."

WSOP will be streaming FTs

2009-05-23T14:40:00.002-05:00

It looks like they will be streaming 24 WSOP Final Tables on ESPN360 and Bluff. Hopefully, ESPN will allow access to people that subscribe to ISPs other than those they are affiliated with. I remember it being a huge clusterf%ck last year.

This may effect my decision on which event(s) to play - not because I think I am going to be at a TV table, but because the field sizes may be slightly bigger for the events that are going to be streamed.

Hard Boiled Poker has a pretty good post about it

Link to Pokernews story with streamed event list

Plugging Leaks

2009-05-21T23:22:00.002-05:00

I am going to work hard this weekend plugging leaks. It seems that I have a major one. I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to plug the leak, but I'm sure I'll find other leaks while I'm trying to correct the major one.

The first step in plugging leaks is discovering them. This one wasn't hard to discover thanks to five straight days of rain, water dripping through the window, pelting the back of my recliner and creating an extremely large puddle on our (luckily) brick floor.

Oh yeah, I guess I should have said "non-poker related post" in the title.

Florida Poker Uncapped NLHE

2009-05-20T23:46:00.004-05:00

Unfortunately, the government moves slow so it is still 6+ months before uncapped NLHE games start getting spread in FL. I can't wait.

Ante Up (as always) summed it up best on their blog (see quote below).

STEPS

1. Gov. Charlie Crist signs SB 788.

2. Gov. Crist and the Seminole Tribe draft a new compact

3. Florida Legislature and Seminole Tribe Council approve the new compact

4. Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs approves the new compact, and it’s printed in the Federal Register.
(Complete timeline) - Best guess: Dec. 1, assuming the Legislature approves the compact

They also have a pretty good Florida poker magazine that they started a few months ago. If you are interested in FL poker/FL poker players or are a fan of their podcast then go support their startup and buy the magazine. Sure you can read it for free online, but what would you read in the bathroom.

WSOP

2009-05-20T08:59:00.005-05:00

I'm still not sure which event(s) I will play while in LV, but at least my plans are finalized. I fly out Sunday, June 14th (which isn't Father's Day) and fly back Saturday, June 20th (the day before Father's Day). My current plan is to play one WSOP tourney from the following:

Monday June 15th - 2k NLHE
Tuesday June 16th - 1.5K NLHE
Thursday June 18th - 2k NLHE (leaning towards this one)

I will probably also play a one or two Venetian Deep Stack tourneys. The rest of my time in LV will be spent at the cash games and unfortunately keeping up on work in my hotel room (or maybe by the pool.)

I can't wait. Only 25 more days until I'm in LV eating Beef Jerky and drinking Milwaukee's Best Light

CK has started to compile a list of the bloggers that are heading out to the WSOP this year.

BBT4 - Only 6 more shots for me

2009-05-19T10:18:00.004-05:00

EDIT: Al updated his blog it ends May 31st instead of May 24th. (I actually have 6 more shots.) The ones listed below plus another Riverchasers, Skillz, Mookie and the Blogger Big Game if it gets moved to May 31st.

To say that I am disappointed in my BBT4 performance would be an understatement. I think I had one 2nd, two 3rds, one or two more final tables, and two-three final table bubbles. These things are all about winning entry into the TOC for a shot at 2 WSOPME packages and 2 WSOP $2k packages. 2nd place might as well be last place, but it still stings to get close and come up short.

There are four events left, but I will only be able to play two. I don't play during the day on Sundays and Sunday night I will be at Game 3 of the Orlando/Lebron Series. So the LHE skillz game tonight and the Mookie tomorrow night are my last two shots.

I'm going to go into both tourneys like I have gone into every BBT4 event - play for first because the other spots are meaningless. Maybe I will at least get to have some fun abusing the guys that are in the running for the overall points crown. Good Luck to the rest of you that haven't won seats yet!!!!

Tilting Less

2009-05-18T08:20:00.005-05:00

"I don't tilt."

"I never tilt."

It has been a long time, but I remember saying the above quotes. There are varying degrees of tilt, some more extreme than others but everyone tilts. Tommy Angelo's book, podcast interviews and new video series on Deuces Cracked have helped me realize a big leak and begin to plug the dam. You can have many goals in poker, but one of your main goals should be to "tilt less" than your opponents. If you deal with the bad beats, coolers, running bad over a session, etc, etc better than other regulars in the game do then you will profit in the long run.

I tilt a lot less than I used to. I now find myself taking a little more time to make decisions right after a bad beat, cooler, or bad call/play. For the next orbit or two, I am consciously asking myself, "Would I normally make this bet/raise/call/double barrel/triple barrel/etc if xyz hadn't just happened a few hands ago?" The 2 additional seconds that this usually takes has probably meant more to my game lately than anything else. I occasionally find myself folding instead of calling/raising or raising instead of calling/folding thanks to taking that extra 2 seconds.

If you think you don't tilt or never tilt, make sure you aren't kidding yourself. Review your sessions. Don't just review the big losses and wins, but also review the next 50 or so hands after a big loss or win. Did you do something differently than you normally would during that stretch that you would consider spewing, playing too nitty, or just a plain bad that caused you to lose more or win less than normal?

Why Full Ring vs. 6 Max?

2009-05-13T14:41:00.003-05:00

I have been playing exclusively full ring cash games for a couple of months now instead of 6 max for numerous reasons. I'll probably go into some of the secondary reasons in future posts, but I can sum up one of the main reasons in one question:

Why would you play 6 max NLHE online when almost every online training site focuses predominately on 6 max NLHE? They are training hoards and hoards or people how to play and how to play against the ideas/concepts/etc that they are teaching. I know that there are still fish to be found in 6 max NLHE, but it seems like more casual players or players that predominately play tourneys would sit down at the full ring tables because that is what they are used to playing (whether in live games, tourneys, or sngs).

Just something to think about......oh yeah, and if you are a good 6 max player, please stay at the 6 max tables.

Finished the 15K experiment

2009-05-08T19:50:00.008-05:00

I finally finished the 15k hand experiment (5k hands of 2 tables, 5k hands of 3 tables, and 5k hands of 4 tables - all 200 nl full ring).

As a few people pointed out, 15k hands isn't really going to tell me anything. The main reason for the experiment was to work on staying disciplined and focused and work on my game. I spent more time than every taking notes, really thinking out hands both during and after sessions, focusing my energy on trying to always play my "A" game, and deciding not to play when I shouldn't. I still have a little trouble playing when I shouldn't (I think most people do)

It took longer than I thought mainly due to a very busy April (work, sister's wedding, family stuff, etc, etc)

I'll post a follow up with more in depth thoughts on the things I worked on next week, but here are the results.

1st 5k hands 200 nl fr - 2 tables only
Hands - 5,001
Amount Won - $47.15
ptbb/100 - 0.24

2nd 5k hands 200 nl fr - 3 tables only
Hands - 5,001
Amount Won - $1,413.35
ptbb/100 - 7.07

3rd 5k hands 200 nl fr - 4 tables only
Hands - 4,976
Amount Won - $812.15
ptbb/100 - 4.08

Overall result of all 15k hands 200 nl fr
Hands - 14,978
Amount Won - $2,272.25
ptbb/100 - 3.79

And the Graphs:

1st 5k hands 200 nl fr - 2 tables only

2nd 5k hands 200 nl fr - 3 tables only

3rd 5k hands 200 nl fr - 4 tables only

Overall result of all 15k hands 200 nl fr

AQs follow up

2009-05-07T08:59:00.002-05:00

Wow!! Thanks for all the great comments on the "How would you play it? AQs" post.

I posted the hand because I felt like I really butchered it. I let some outside factors influence my play. I had been disconnecting a lot while still connecting to other sites with no problem. I actually disconnected pf after he 3b and before I had a chance to decide on my pf action. When I reconnected I didn't have much time to decide what to do, so I called. I was also about to quit for the night, had already unchecked the post blinds button, and had already closed a few of the other tables I was playing. I was up two buy-ins on the session. In the back of my mind I was thinking if I got stacked here I would be at even for the night after being up 2 buy-ins and that was probably a factor in my horrible play of the hand. I know that this shouldn't be a factor and is definitely a leak that I am working on.

Now, that I tried to justify :) why I played that hand so poorly, here is what I actually did.

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $100.00
Hero (UTG+2): $455.10
MP1: $308.35
MP2: $196.00
CO: $203.00
BTN: $365.00
SB: $96.00
BB: $608.60
UTG: $366.65

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG+2 with Q A

2 folds
Hero raises to $7
5 foldsBB raises to $24
Hero calls $17

Flop: ($49.00) 4 8 9 (2 players)

BB bets $30
Hero calls $30

Turn: ($109.00) J (2 players)

BB bets $106
Hero calls $106

River: ($321.00) K (2 players)

BB checks
Hero checks

Final Pot: $321.00
Hero mucks Q A
BB shows T T (a pair of Tens)
BB wins $318.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Thoughts on what I should have done.

Preflop
When I first posted this I felt like flat calling the 3 bet preflop with AQs might have been a little spewey. After a couple of days and as a few peopel pointed out, flat calling the 3b in position this deep is OK. I actually this it is probably the best option between calling, folding, and 4 betting.

Flop
This is where I totally butchered the hand. I could have raised the flop to around $90 and he probably would have folded. Even if he just called, I might have been able to get him to fold the turn.

Turn
Since, I butchered the flop I'm not sure how believable a shove is going to be here. It would look like a set or a draw. I felt like this player is folding such a small portion of his range here that calling was the best option. My plan for the river was to try to get all the money in on a T or heart and decide what to do if an Ace hit based on his action. This may seem a little weak, but I think that I reduced my options after my weak flop call.

River
I could have bluffed at the river K, and maybe represnted something like AhKh but hindishgt is 20/20. I gave up. Anyone make a big river bet or just wave the white flag?

I am going to keep trying to make a more concerted effort of not letting the outside factors (disconnections, end of an up session, etc) effect my play. This is definitely an example of me playing a hand differently than I normally would/should.

Thanks again for all the comments.

How would you play it? AQs

2009-05-05T10:12:00.004-05:00

I think I butchered how I played this hand the other night. How would you play it?

Button had a 3 bet % of 6.1% and a c-bet of 89% over 2,700 hands
Villain Stats - 19/13/3.6 (winning player)

Several questions.

1. Is flat calling the 3b here a huge leak this deep giving the 3b% of 6.1%?
2. Thoughts on flop flat call?
3. What would you do on the turn?
4. What is your plan for the river if you wiff?
5. What is your plan for the river if you just hit an ace?
6. What is your plan for the river if you make nut flush or the straight?

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $100.00
Hero (UTG+2): $455.10
MP1: $308.35
MP2: $196.00
CO: $203.00
BTN: $365.00
SB: $96.00
BB: $608.60
UTG: $366.65

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG+2 with Q A - AhQh

2 folds
Hero raises to $7
5 folds
BB raises to $24
Hero calls $17

Flop: ($49.00) 4 8 9 (2 players) - 4h8h9d

BB bets $30
Hero calls $30

Turn: ($109.00) J (2 players) - Js

BB bets $106
Hero ?????

Looking forward to how others would have played this

FTP/WSOP/Free Training

2009-05-04T07:55:00.003-05:00

FTP Update/Fixes to Cash Games

I guess when you make changes, some things get messed up. When you fix the problems sometimes it creates additional different problems. It looks like this is the case with the FTP update and fix. There was a big outcry from the cash game players after the initial update last week when the deep stack tables were moved away from the 100BB tables. I was among them. The main reason is that the min buy-in for the DS tables is 50BB vs. 20BB for the 100BB tables. There are times when almost every 100BB table has at least 2-4 short stackers which makes the game completely different.

FTP came out with a fix late last week that moved the DS tables back with the regular tables. The fix also mixed the PL and Capped NL games in with the the DS and regular tables. Oooops. My guess is that they are working on a fix for this. I played 13 PL hands this weekend when I thought I was playing NL. It wasn't a big deal, but the thing that bothered me was that you have to pay very close attention when getting on wait lists and when you take your seat because it isn't obvious when you are sitting at NL table vs. PL table. The much bigger issue (not so much at full ring) is that they mixed the capped games in with the other tables. Capped games are completely different and require very different strategy - they are basically tables where everyone is a short stack.

Hopefully, this all gets fixed quickly.

---------------------------
WSOP Plans

I still haven't booked my flight yet, but I'm guessing I'll get in sometime around 2-3PM on Monday June 15th and leave the morning of Sunday, June 21st. I am probably going to play at least one WSOP tourney and 1-2 Venetian or Caesar's tourneys. I'll figure out which ones as a it get closer.

I ran across a schedule of all summer LV tourneys that someone put together. I'm not sure if there are errors, but it doesn't look like it

Google Calendar Summer Tourney Schedule

---------------------------
Cardrunners/Stoxpoker for Free

I continue to receive CRs and Stoxpoker for free thanks to their new (4-6 month old) program of free membership just for playing on FTP.

The link: http://www.trulyfreepokertraining.com/

The details:
Earn 5.5k FTP points in a month and get 1 month of CRs free
Earn 3k FTP points in a month and get 1 month of StoxPoker free
No hit to rakeback
You keep your points
Pretty simple (I guess it is FTP paying ppl additional RB to play)
Go sign up

FTP responds quickly!!

2009-05-01T08:10:00.002-05:00

It looks like FTP listened to all the cash game players that were unhappy about the deep stack tables being moved below and away from the 100BB tables. There was an update today and the deep tables are now mixed back in with the 100BB tables. They are still sortable, so if you don't like the deep tables or like only the deep tables you can sort by your preference. FTP gets a lot of flack for slow responses, but this one was pretty quick considering it took a software update. Kudos to FTP!!

------------------
WSOP

I changed my dates slightly. I forgot that June 14th is Father's Day, so I won't being leaving until the next day - Monday, June 15th.

FTP Update - Mostly Good/Some Bad

2009-04-29T14:46:00.003-05:00

First the bad:

FTP added ring game filters as a step in the process of adding filters for cash games. This sounded good until I opened the FTP software and went to the cash game lobby. The update moved all deep stack cash game tables to the bottom of the 100BB max buy-in. They were previously mixed in with the 100BB tables and the group of table was sorted by number of available seats/number of people on waiting list. The best thing about the deep tables is the min buy-in is 50BB vs. 20BB for the 100BB tables. You don't have to worry about playing against a table full of short stackers.

I encourage everyone to email FTP and let them know that you don't like this change and to please inter-mix the 100bb and 200bb tables.

Below is a lit of updates from the 2+2 FTP Answers 4/28 thread:

A. Blinds + Antes games - No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha with antes! Limited to higher stakes only for now, but it should work down to the lower limits in the coming weeks. - This could be awesome. I'll post more about this once they add them to the lower limits.

B. Ring Game Lobby Icons - No, it's not ring game filters. It is, however, a step closer to that goal (some of the plumbing that is needed for filters is now done because of this feature). For now, you can sort by ring game type better than you could before. For example, Deep tables used to be mixed in with normal tables, and now if you sort by "Type" they are separated. - Good idea. Bad implementation. (see above)

C. Synchronized Breaks - Basically, every multi table tournament in the game will now start going on break at :55 past every hour. The tournament clock will stop, the current hand will finish, and then the 5 minute break will start. This means that the actual restart of all tournaments will be slightly staggered (since the tournament with more players take longer to finish that final hand before the break than the tournaments with fewer players) but most people will have a good 5 minute break now no matter how many multi-table tournaments they're playing. - AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!!

You can find more details here: http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/synchronized-breaks

As a side note (since I know it will come up), when I asked the developers what it would take to implement this feature after seeing all the requests and threads about it, I was surprised to learn that it was a pretty easy thing for our system. It took one server programmer to fully implement, and he is in no way associated with either ring game filters or security features.

D. Improved Network Communication - Even though this isn't a "feature" that you can see when you log in, this is probably the thing that will make the biggest difference in everyone's day to day playing experience. Basically, the way the game client communicates with the server has been completely re-written. It's easiest to notice the difference when you flip back and forth between, say, the Hold'em and Omaha lobbies or when you open a very large tournament like the Double Deuce. What used to take an annoyingly long time is now much faster. The worse your internet connection is, the more of a difference you'll notice. - Jury out....but anything to reduce the lag is great!!!

This was a very large project and has been a long time coming (I could do the way-back-machine thing again and show you where I was talking about it, but that'd just be embarrassing). I hope anyone who has experienced any kind of "network lag" when it didn't seem like it was their connection gives it another go to see how it behaves now.

E. Anti-Ratholing in Limit Games - The same check we've always had for NL games is now being applied to limit games. If you leave a game with more than the minimum buyin, you can't re-join the game with less than that amount within 30 minutes (or 30 hands, whichever comes sooner). - Very good news

WSOP Dates Booked!!

2009-04-26T19:15:00.002-05:00

I haven't booked a flight yet, but I just booked my room at the Rio for the WSOP

Check-in Date: June 14
Check-Out Date: June 21

Leave me a comment or send me an email at cmitchpoker(at)gmail.com if you are going to be in LV during that time and want to meet up.

Update

2009-04-20T15:14:00.003-05:00

So, the plan starting at the beginning of the month was:

1. 5k hands of 200nl full ring - 2 tables max
2. 5k hands of 200nl full ring - 3 tables max
3. 5k-10k hands of 200nl full - 4 tables max

I haven't gotten nearly as many hours in so far as I would have liked - mainly due to being out of town Easter weekend for my sister's wedding and playing most of the BBT4 events this month. There have also been a lot of nights that I either called it quits early or didn't play cash games because I knew that I wouldn't being playing my "A" game. I have been working a lot (which is a good thing) and by the time I get home I'm often too tired/worn out to put in the kind of focus that I need.

Currently, I have only played 3,686 hands and am up $602 (4 ptbb/100).

I got off to a great start and was sitting at +$990 around the 2k hand mark, then variance caught up. I had a session where I lost a little less than 4 buy-ins - mostly coolers and bad beats with prob 1 buy-in worth of spewing thrown in. The spew wouldn't have been a spew under most circumstances but in hindsight it was a spew because of my table image and the player. I had some really aggro stats and had lost 2 buy-ins at that table. I bluffed after river card that made four to a straight and was called by what I knew was an overpair. If I had analyzed the situation a little better, I wouldn't have been bluffing that player in that situation. I guess that is why you review your sessions so it doesn't happen again.

I have found myself getting bored and losing focus while playing two tables. Hopefully, I finish the first 5k hands before the weekend and can move on to 3 tables.

UFC Bad Beat

2009-04-19T23:57:00.003-05:00

I watched the UFC PPV fight last night and I think it sucks that the UFC dropped and banned fighters from wearing FTP logos. When I first heard about it, it made sense. They were dropping FTP as a sponser because UFC is getting bigger and bigger and they don't need the heat of being associated with a site that some govt officials may consider illegal. Surely that was the case, right? WRONG!!! They dropped FTP to pick up a much more reputable sponser UltimateBet. Just leaves me shaking my head.

FL one step closer to good NL Games

2009-04-09T09:44:00.003-05:00

I ran across this on the Ante Up Blog today (pay particular attention to the bold items):

Josh Hafenbrack of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is reporting that the Florida House has unveiled its gambling plan … and its great news for Florida poker players.

A bill working its way through the Florida Senate essentially lifts most restrictions on gambling in Florida, including limits on poker bets, buy-ins and tournament entries. But few people expected the conservative House to allow anything more than the bare minimum in order to reach a compact with the Seminole Tribe.

However, the plan Hafenrack says was unveiled Wednesday does much more than for the state’s rounders. It raises bet limits to $50, raises the buy-in for no-limit Texas Hold’em to $1,000, allows poker rooms to remain open 24 hours a day and allows quarterhorse tracks to offer thoroughbred racing and open poker rooms. The House plan also lowers taxes on slot machines and licensing fees.

The House plan is actually more generous than the Senate’s on hours of operation. The Senate allows for 18 hours a day, and 24 hours on weekends and holidays. But most poker room managers Ante Up have talked with say they’d be unlikely to deal for 24 hours except on weekends, so essentially the difference is minimal.

Nothing is guaranteed in the Legislature, of course, but it appears the House has set the bottom of its bar high enough to appease most Florida poker players, and any negotiation should be likely to raise that bar.

Huge!! Huge!! Huge!! NL games with $1k max buy-ins instead of the current $100 max and $25/$50 limit games. I hope this happens and happens soon. The games will be so incredibly juicy.

Being Self Aware while playing

2009-04-08T08:24:00.004-05:00

After a horrible 2008 and a 25k hand break even stretch in cash games over the first couple of months of 2009, I have taken a step back and really tried to analyze my game and make some changes.

I started thinking more about the areas of my game that don't involve call, bet, raise, or fold. The catalyst to me making some changes came about a month ago when I first heard Tommy Angelo on the Deuces Cracked podcast. I was driving back from the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa. I left after taking a few bad beats in a row in the 2/5 $100 max buy-in game. Quitting the game and leaving wasn't as hard as it usually is when I'm down. I had accepted that I was playing a low max buy-in, high variance game. I played well and got my money in good, but wound up losing. I realized that sometimes that is just how things go and I have a huge edge in the long run against those players.

On the ride home, I fired up the Deuces Cracked podcast and listened intently on my 1 hour drive home without any distractions. I think that I happened to be in the exact right frame of mind to listen to Tommy Angelo for the first time. Over the next week or so, I listened to part 2 of the podcast and the 2+2 podcast interview with him from several months ago. I couldn't get enough of what he was saying and it has helped me to start to make some changes.

I decided to set some strict guidelines for myself starting at the beginning of April and have developed an initial plan without any specific time frame or monetary goals. While doing this I'm also hoping to find the right balance between number of tables and hourly rate for me.

So here is plan:

Cash Games
1. Play no more than 2 tables of full ring $200 NL cash games at the same time for 5,000 hands.
2. After completing 2 tables of 5k hands, play no more than 3 tables of full ring $200 NL cash games at the same time for 5,000 hands.
3. After completing 3 tables of 5k hands, play no more than 4 tables of full ring $200 NL cash games at the same time for 5,000 hands. (may increase the number of hands here to get a comparable hourly rate.)
4. I'm not sure, but I may also try this for 6 tables, but probably not. I think that I have already made up my mind that six tables only works for me in short sessions.

I realize 15k-20k hands isn't going to really tell me much, but one of the reasons that I am doing this is to keep myself disciplined. I am not going to let myself play any additional tables or any higher stakes during this period.

Tourneys
1. No more than two tables at the same time.
2. No tourney over $100 unless using T$ that I won specifically for the tourney that I am going to play.

What I'm doing differently that has seemed to help so far:

1. Forcing myself to quit or sit out for a few minutes whenever I feel like I made a mistake and after taking a bad beat.
2. Hitting the time bank button and waiting at least until my time starts counting down before making a big decision.
3. Asking myself what my plan is every time before I make a call OOP, especially asking myself if a flat call OOP is +EV or -EV in the particular situation against the particular player.
4. Taking notes more often and more detailed notes. (a lot easier right now while playing only 2 tables)
5. Paying more attention to how others are playing when not involved in a hand (and take notes on their play - see above)
6. Leaving tables that don't have any fish.
7. Leaving tables when some tough aggressive players are sitting to my left.
8. Sometimes deciding to quit when ahead to book a win if I would be quitting relatively soon anyway.
9. Making the decision not play by asking myself before starting a session if I really think I can play my "A game" right now.
10. Not sitting at tables with more than 2 short stacks unless there is a huge fish at the table.

Hopefully, being more self aware while playing will revitalize my game. It can't hurt.

This can make you tilt

2009-04-03T23:58:00.002-05:00

literally on the bubble in the 50/50 just after I took a beat

When to head to WSOP?

2009-03-17T21:51:00.003-05:00

I'm still trying to figure out when I'll head out to the WSOP this year. The Venetian just came out with their Deep Stack Extraganza that is running during the WSOP. I'll cross reference it with the WSOP Schedule some time this week to try to get a better idea of the best time to be out there.

Right now the plan is to head out sometime around my birthday (June 11th). That is usually a good excuse.

From the pokernews story:

The 2009 Deep Stack Extravaganza III schedule:

Day (Date) Buy-In Event

Th (5/28) $250 Super Satellites

F (5/29) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
Sa (5/30) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
Su (5/31) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
M (6/1) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
T (6/2) $330 No-Limit Hold'em

W (6/3) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
Th (6/4) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
F (6/5) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Sa (6/6) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Su (6/7) $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em

Su (6/7) $550 H.O.R.S.E (4 P.M.)
M (6/8) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
T (6/9) $225 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout
W (6/10) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Th (6/11) $330 No-Limit Hold'em

F (6/12) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Sa (6/13) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Su (6/14) $1,590 No-Limit Hold'em
Su (6/14) $550 Omaha 8/B (4 P.M.)
M (6/15) $330 No-Limit Hold'em

T (6/16) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
W (6/17) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Th (6/18) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Th (6/18) $550 P.L.O. (4 P.M.)
F (6/19) $550 No-Limit Hold'em

Sa (6/20) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Su (6/21) $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em
M (6/22) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
T (6/23) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
W (6/24) $330 No-Limit Hold'em

Th (6/25) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
F (6/26) $2,100 No-Limit Hold'em
Sa (6/27) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Su (6/28) $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em
M (6/29) $330 No-Limit Hold'em

T (6/30) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
W (7/1) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
Th (7/2) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
F (7/3) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Sa (7/4) $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em

Su (7/5) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
M (7/6) $330 No-Limit Hold'em
T (7/7) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
W (7/8) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Thu (7/9) $550 No-Limit Hold'em

F (7/10) $550 No-Limit Hold'em
Sa (7/11) $1,070 No-Limit Hold'em
Su (7/12) $550 Super Satellites
M (7/13) $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em (Championship Event)

-- all starting times noon unless otherwise noted

Tommy Angelo

2009-03-13T05:00:00.001-05:00

I have read posts about Tommy Angelo in the past, but never really thought twice about him. Most of the posts were about his book and the unconventional aspects of his thinking. I never made it much past that when reading blog posts about him. I always such assumed his book would be something along the line of don't tilt, play your "A" game, know when to stop playing, be aware of your surroundings, don't play while drinking, play within your bankroll, don't do other things while playing, etc, etc. Basically, I thought his book was just going to reiterate the things that most of us know to do (or don't do) but don't always do (or don't do). I didn't have an open mind and just felt like it was another poker player trying to take an angle to sell his book. It sounded like it was going to be similar to Barry Greenstein's book - Ace on a River.

My thinking changed about 2 weeks ago when I listened to Bart Hanson interviewing him on the Deuce Plays podcast (Part 1). Some of the things that he was saying seemed to really apply to my game and leaks associated with my game. I couldn't get enough of what he had to say and immediately downloaded and listened to Part 2 of the interview followed by the 2+2 podcast interview with him a few months ago. All excellent stuff!!

I ordered his book off Amazon and it should be here today or Monday. I'm guessing I will get more out of his book than I have out of any other poker book.

Definitely more posts to follow on the topic.................

Live Poker (Part 2) - Cash Games

2009-03-10T09:09:00.001-05:00

After I busted out of the turbo tourney, I grabbed some pizza, checked out the new areas of the casino, and finally made my way to the cash tables.

Florida law (even at the Indian Casinos) is $100 max buy-in for NL cash games. The Hard Rock runs $1/$2 NL and $2/$5 NL with $100 max buy-ins. The $1/$2 games are usually nit fests and the $2/$5 games are incredibly loose.

I sat down as they were starting a new table. The game started off pretty interesting including one older wanna-be cowboy getting KK 5 times in the first 8 hands - no joke (I'm not sure what the odds of that are). He was down $200 plus because he ran one of them in AA and one into AK (flop an Ace). Needless to say the tilting pseudo-cowboy help make the game good.

Some random happenings of the day:

Slow Rolled

I guess a lot of live players are clueless and I'll write this off as him being clueless instead of an asshole.

I had a decent stack and wound up calling a guy's small bets down with 99 on a KK3K5 board. After I called his 1/12th of the pot size river bet almost certain that he had the King, I waited for him to turn up his hand. He says what I thought was "You got it." So I turn up my 99. He leans over and looks at my cards and then finally turns up his freaking KQ. I never screw around in a cash game (espec low stakes), if I think I have the best hand whether it is my turn to act or not I show it.

I said something along the lines of WTF?

He replied, I had the right to see what you called with and wanted to see it and that he didn't say "you got it" but instead said, "what you got?"

I proceeded to inform him that he was 1st to show and explain to him how much of a ass he was for slow rolling me. The dealer apologized to me for not asking him to show first.

I think the worst part of the situation is that the guy actually thought I had to show first since I called his bet.

Monster Draw

I had a monster hand when I had a decent stack (relative to the start).

My hand - 4c6c in multi-way limped pot and I was on the button

Flop - 3c7c9x
Turn - 3c7c9x4x

I obviously wound up getting all-in on the turn against QQ and wound up missing my 17 outs.

Tiliting Blackjack Players

I had been up and down, but managed to build a decent stack again when a new player sat down at the table. He was clearly in a horrible mood and looked really pissed. After a few minutes he went on and on about how he just "lost fucking $5k playing blackjack in 30 minutes" and he was waiting for a $200 SNG to start. (Oh, by the way, the Hard Rock can run $1k sngs and mtts, but the max buy-in for cash games is $100)

I open raised to $20 pf with AJo and some guy comments about how much I have been raising. Drunk Tilting BJ players (DTBJ) makes the call from the BB. The flop comes all raggy and he leads out for $40. I fold.

The very next hand I look down at AA. The situation couldn't have been any more perfect. DTBJ seems to want to get all his money in the middle and he thinks I am way too loose thanks to another's players comments about my pf raises. I make it $20 to go again. The button calls and DTBJ calls out of the SB. Flop is all rags with 2 clubs. He leads out for $30. I shove. He calls and says, "I AM going to suck out on you." He flipped over 4c8c and hit his flush on the river.

Somehow, this guy had my number. About 10 hands later, my stack was around $180 and he had me covered. I get dealt KK and raise 3 limpers to $35. DTBJ shoves all-in. Everyone else folds. I insta-call. He shows KhTc. The pot gets pushed to him thanks to 3 hearts on the flop and another on the river.

This seemed like a good time to leave the table and grab some dinner. :)

Funny Comments

I heard a few funny things at the table that show why live cash games are so good.

Early in the game. I had been playing pretty tight waiting for a good spot to double up. A girl in middle position open shoved for $45ish. I looked down at TT and I shoved my $120 all-in and a player behind me with more chips said, "Do you want a call?" I replied, "Surrrrrre! The more the merrier!" He thought for a few minutes and called with A9o. After the board ran out and I won the pot, he turned to me and said, "Hey, sometimes that works and you wind up winning a big pot." I think he honestly thought that way, too.

A lady at our table looked extremely tired and proceeded to tell the entire table, "I played all day yesterday until 4:30 AM. I probably should have gotten a couple more hours of sleep but I was so excited to come back and win more money. I won $342 yesterday!!! and couldn't wait to get back!!!!" The best part was she said that she won $342 like you might expect someone to talk about how they won $5k playing cash or came in 1st in a tourney. A few hours later she left after blowing through that $342 plus another $258 (6 buy-ins by my count). Some of her plays included folding the remaining $10 in her stack on the flop when the pot was around $150, shoving all-in over the tightest player at the table with 56 suited, and getting all in with on a flop that contained two spades because she had the Ace of spades and "might make a flush."

I need to play more live poker