More Bandwidth!!!

This is how I'm running

2009-10-19T21:57:00.001-05:00

I get it in good. it turns out bad.

Begging Forgiveness to the Poker Gods

2009-10-05T09:48:00.001-05:00

I write this post feeling very humble and wishing to express my reverance and admiration to the poker Gods. Apparently, since I claimed "victory" a week ago and earned profit while clearing Take 2, I have angered the Gods in some fashion. Their vengeance has been swift and certain. I have experienced great difficulty catching a hand, and when I do, I cannot get action. I have experienced great difficulty trying to exploit situations and often find myself on the receiving end of a string of c-bets or apparent "dog walking" by people with monsters. And I have experienced great difficulty trying to win a race.

I have also encountered my fair share of idiots in the past few days and their play has been, well, idiotic. And yet I cannot successfully exploit it.

Suffice it to say that anything I won during Take 2 (and much much more) has disappeared since.

So with all this in mind, I drop to a knee and express my sincere apologies to the poker Gods. I have wronged you, but I want you to know that I have never disrespected your authority over the game. I beg you for your forgiveness and ask you to show me a sign by letting me win my next race. I'll take things from there.

Bubble hand

2009-09-29T09:34:00.001-05:00

4 players left in a SNG. 3 paid.

I'm in the BB with ~2500 chips.

UTG (cutoff) shoves 1500 chips in.

Button calls. he has about 6000 chips to start the hand. He's been rather aggro, shoving his big stack in on numerous occasions. The call here makes me think there's some weakness.

SB overshoves for about 3500.

I look down at KK.

Call or Fold?

There are two hands I'd ever consider calling with here and I have one of them.

Monday Ramblings

2009-09-28T08:56:00.001-05:00

Last night I polished off the complete Take2 bonus on FullTilt. Having started a couple of days late, I grinded my way to the finish line, not missing a day since I started. This was a very clearable bonus, with minimum play required, though I would often go well past the limit when the time and or opportunity arose. A nice move if you can pull it off is to play late at night/just past midnight - clearing both bonuses in a short amount of time. More notably, it's the first time I've gone through a bonus-whoring process *and* made money beyond just the bonus itself. No definitive stats available (yeah, I'm that guy who still doesn't have Poker Tracker or Hold'em Manager), but the bankroll is about where it was a month ago yet I've been in the shitter for certain with the few tourneys/SNGs I dove into during September. Also, I feel like I'm at the point where I can now strike a balance between managing two 6-max cash tables, juggling various fantasy lineups, filtering through far too many podcasts, performing general web surfing duties, and attending to various wife/dog needs and wants. Christ, you know it ain't easy. You know how hard it can be.

Special hats off to the idiot girl ('lthgirl' somethingorother) at my .10/.25 PLHE table on Friday night who ensured that I stayed in the black for Take2. She was felted at least half a dozen times in a ~2 hr session, rebought for the max most of the time and probably dropped $200-$300 easily at this low stakes table. I was the recipient of about $50 of it. The guy to my immediate left made about $235 on the session. She was the dream tablemate. She'd continually bet pot, regardless of the holdings. The strategy was just to sit, wait, find a hand and bet it big. She did wake up with AQ on me once when I had JT and got excited about a QQJ flop. Fortunately, she was short-stacked for that one and it only cost me $15 or so. How crazy was she? The average .10/.25 PLHE table has pot sizes averaging around $3. We were north of $15. An audible groan came up when she left the table.

I've tweeted enough about PSU already. How can a "powerhouse" football program have such horrible OL play so often? Sure there are down years, but when it's constantly the same achilles heel, can't you address it through strong recruiting? One would think.

A perfect fantasy day yesterday. I won my primary league big - everyone got me 13+ points except for my stupid kicker, and yet not one of my guys had one of those MJD-type banner days. Just consistent performance throughout. It's a PPR league and we've been doing it that way for about 5 years now. You would think people would latch on to the concept that receptions count, but they don't. I just nabbed all the Ray Rice, Steve Slaton, Derrick Mason types to complement the studs and even when those guys don't score or rack up much yardage, they do get you 3-6 receptions and 10-12 points.

Lost late last night in my other league, in which my draft thoroughly sucked and old man Tomlinson's ankle is just killing me. The best news of all is that with the Take2 and fantasy out of the way, tonight is a night for pure R&R.

Finally, when you slog through the rain and are -1 thru 6 holes, it's best not to finish with three straight bogeys. Furthermore, when you make the turn and are then -1 on the back through 5 holes, it's best not to finish with three bogeys in the final four holes. I can't figure out why this keeps happening, but it needs to stop. I'd like to get in one more solid round before the snow flies to overcome this. On the positive side, it was good to make four birdies yesterday.

PLO Ring Hand

2009-09-18T08:25:00.000-05:00

This happened last night and I'd be interested in any feedback. I'll get this on a forum or two once I get out from behind the great Internet prison that is my office.

PLO 0.10/0.25 I selected this table because it had a very high % flop and very high average pot size. Turns out the three people to my right clearly know each other and are making no attempt to hide this in the table chat. One of them was discussing how he was winning $1k pots at some other table simultaneously - I didn't go to verify this at all, but thought it was a bit telling that they may just be joking around here - the action would back that view up. I don't believe they're colluding, but they are playing pretty big pots with one another with sub-premium holdings. So the strategy is simple - wait for a big one and play it big.

I've lost a big pot played three-way against two of these clowns earlier. I flop a pair and a draw, turn the nut straight and get it all in. One guy calls with a set, the other guy calls with the flush draw and the flush gets there on the river. They bantered back and forth about the hand in the chat, about how each of them had to do what they did, basically ignoring that I got it all in with the current nuts. I was silent.

OK, in the key hand, I'm in the BB with 458J. Bleh. It's a free flop for me though. The flop is 445 with two spades. I bet out and the villain on the button raises me. I call it in the event he has the flush draw - I don't want to scare him away. Plus given his play it's hard for me to necessarily put him on 55, though it's certainly a possibility.

Turn is a J and we get it all in here. Sure enough he has the 55.

Well the river is a J and I make Jacks full...I take the $45 pot down. And then the expected chat box banter starts in. "Fckn donk" "f a g", etc.

And my contention was this...neither one of us had the nuts. 44 is the nuts. I knew he didn't have 44 because I had one of the fours. Only one hand could beat me: 55. BUT he couldn't contend that he had the nuts post-flop either because I could have had 44 there. Each of us, essentially, got it all in with the second nuts - based on what each of us were holding. I happened to be the one who was behind and I happened to be the one who sucked out.

I told him that I couldn't put him on exactly 55 and 55 alone there, but of course this band of idiots didn't want to hear anything about it.

Questions:

* Am I looking at this right? "Each of us got it in with the second nuts" is the correct view?

* Could you fold the under-full here?

* Should you fold the under-full here?

Another JoePa Presser Epic Moment

2009-09-16T08:13:00.001-05:00

A gem from Tuesday's JoePa presser, courtesy of Black Shoe Diaries:

Another rookie reporter asked Joe how his team compared to the other teams ranked in the top five. Which prompted this hilarious monologue.

I imagine you don't pay attention to rankings too much, national rankings, but being No. 5 in the country do you ever compare your team's development to other teams?

Paterno: No, don't get me into that. I don't know what we are, for crying out loud. Geez, that's the same thing -- hey, I honest to God, are we No. 5 is that what you're telling me?

Yes.

Paterno: I don't know that we're No. 5. You guys don't seem to understand, I don't pay -- I don't read anything about us. I get the paper. I go to the bathroom. I take the paper in there and I scan it. I look at it. The first thing I do is look at who died. All right. Second thing I look at are headliners, something that says Paterno is the greatest, I read it. (Laughter) If it says I'm a bum, I don't even look at it.

Political Spectrum Quiz

2009-08-18T20:47:00.001-05:00

This is a completely and totally non-surprising result for me. Nonetheless, a cool quiz to take.

My Political Views
I am a centrist moderate social libertarian
Left: 0.58, Libertarian: 1.52

Political Spectrum Quiz

How Not to Play a Rebuy Tourney

2009-08-13T10:24:00.000-05:00

Step 1: Don't be in a pissy mood because you got soaked at the track earlier in the day. Side note: The story goes that Razz was invented for people who bitched they never got cards in stud. Someone should invent a wager that pays you off if you constantly narrowly miss exactas.

Step 2: Don't overlook the rules. Know that if you're at or below 1500 chips, you can rebuy. I figured this out after winning a small pot and getting to like 1580 chips early on. There was more than enough opportunity to get to 3000 in the first few hands - I never took advantage of it.

Step 3: Don't stack the same guy multiple times and get up to 8000 chips w/o a rebuy. Sure, this sounds like a good thing, but it leads directly to Step 4.

Step 4: Don't give it all back to the same guy. Short story, I stacked him once with the nut flush draw when I simply hit one of my overcards to his middle pair. Then I gave it all back missing two subsequent nut draws. This was particularly troublesome because...

Step 5: Don't go broke and need to rebuy with <10 minutes left in the rebuy period. You'll never get that big stack back.

Step 6: Don't build a UI like PokerStars that makes you hunt for the Add-on Feature. Shouldn't a button pop up for this - just like it does for the rebuy? I finally found it, but it was 3 minutes of aggravation.

Step 7: Don't be card dead after the rebuy period. That always helps.

Step 8: Don't get too happy when you get moved to a table full of average or below-average stacks like yourself. Because sooner or later, the chip leader is going to be moved there. And as sure as the sun will come up tomorrow, he'll be seated two to my left. Happens. Every. Time.

Step 9: Don't run KK into AK because we know how that ends. I did it to myself - the donk led out after the A flopped, and I had to choose between short-stack ninja mode or the slight chance that he was bluffing or the slighter chance I could draw out. I chose the latter, which was probably a wise choice given that I was falling asleep in my chair, but wasn't a wise choice at all in the strictest sense of playing the game.

Graduation (So to speak)

2009-05-22T10:40:00.000-05:00

For the last few months, I've focused almost exclusively on NLHE Sit n Gos. I've been strictly following the rule that I will not play a SNG for more than 5% of my online bankroll. So when the roll got to $400, I started playing $20 events. In the early part of this year, the roll kept dancing around $400-$600 and I occasionally dabbled in $30 SNGs. About a week ago, a boost sent me somewhat comfortably over $600 and I've graduated to the $30 level since then. So it's time for some observations.

1) Stronger Opponents. There's a noticeable difference in the quality of play for *most* players from $20 to $30 SNGs. Much more TAGgy play. Few (if any) abandoned pots. If nobody wants to go after a pot, these guys will. It's absolutely in your best interest to figure out who these people are up front - with hand history, betting patterns and just a little bit of observation, this is not hard to do. Last Hand playbacks and note taking are your friends.

2) Plenty of clueless donks. What's surprised me most is that there is still an abundance of clueless idiots - LAGs who will raise every hand; calling stations who can't get rid of J3c to a 5x raise; players who tilt after a lost pot. Probably one or two of these at a full table. There are also people who have no clue how to play short-handed or heads-up. I simply ran over someone a few nights back, starting heads-up with a slight chip disadvantage. I raised every hand on the button, took down tons of pots uncontested, and won it with very little risk.

3) The trend in my chipstack throughout the event is still typically the same. Rarely am I out early. Usually I chip down slightly, remain at or below average for most of the proceedings, and find myself under pressure as the bubble rolls around. That said, I can usually make hey around bubble time as most people still are trying to ensure the cash first and foremost. I do, however, need to figure out a way to accumulate a few more chips early on without taking on too much risk. Really need to read up and focus on this.

4) I still can't control myself against wicked LAGs and calling stations. They're oh so easy to spot and oh so tempting to try and double through. The problem is that I'm too eager to achieve this and I'll put myself in a bad situation against them. The other night, I have AQo in the BB. Folds around to the LAG on the button who just limps this time. I raise it 5x and he calls. The flop completely misses me, but he calls my c-bet. Turn is another blank and I get it all in against the guy. He calls...he has nothing but a gutter and two live cards and, well, enough said there. I need to pay special attention to this next point:

5) The correct approach is still to "out patience" the field. In SNGs, I've had my best runs of positive results when I take the approach of just trying to be more patient than the rest of the field. Yeah, you have to get aggressive in certain situations, but you get nowhere when you are playing speculative and often dominated hands like QJs, AT, etc. And you have to be willing to lay some hands down - especially those where you are trying to preflop raise just to take it down. As it gets closer to the bubble, I'll raise with any pair and most big to moderate aces, but if I'm played back at in these spots, it's often worth laying it down. You simply don't have the utility to call here with your stack in most situations.

6) Aggression on the bubble. Probably the best piece of advice I got out of Fischman's book a couple years back was that you can be aggressive on the bubble and build or repair a stack because so many people are overly cautious. Yes, if your stack is short and you get too frisky, you can get looked up, and you can always run into a monster. But simple 2.5x raises can often be good enough here - enabling you to steal the blinds without risking much of what you've got left. And if you're short, you often still have enough utility to shove - your 1200 chip stack can still be scary enough to someone with 3000 chips to deter them from coming along.

Rambling. Probably incoherent in spots. But this is what I'm experiencing. It's a noticeable shift from $10 and $20 events, in terms of the level of the opposition. The strategy and approach is still the same, though.

Bubble Dilemma

2009-04-30T11:34:00.001-05:00

$30 Sit-n-Go. After flopping a set early, running into a flush and getting away as cheaply as possible (villain checked the river, holding the nuts, and I checked behind), I'm shortstacked and card dead for most of this event. Player to my immediate right has built a stack and is playing aggressively, raising whenever he's first to the pot and in mid-to-late position. The times he's been looked up, his holdings have been, well, fair at best.

Down to ~350 chips at 50/100, I double up three times and get back into things. When we get to the bubble and the hand in question, here are the stack sizes.

UTG: 95 (yes, ninety-five)

Button: ~3000

SB: ~ 6900

BB (me): ~3500

UTG and Button fold. SB shoves. I look down at QQ.

In a normal situation, this is a super-easy call. He's overshoved several times already, and I feel it's quite likely I'm ahead here.

Shove or Fold?

Isn't this just a question of your goals - i.e. are you trying to cash first, then trying to win, or are you trying to win and willing to take this opportunity to double up and take the chip lead?

CitiField and Yankee Stadium highlights

2009-04-20T09:11:00.001-05:00

I came across a neat comparison of these two new stadiums the other day.

CitiField harkens back to Ebbets Field and the old days of New York National League baseball

Yankee Stadium harkens back to the history of the Yankees.

CitiField has the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, a tribute to a breakthrough player in the history of the game.

Yankee Stadium has the great hall, with tributes to the greats in Yankees history.

CitiField has the modern ballpark traits with lots of quirks (short backstop, overhang in RF, outfield wall dimensions)

Yankee Stadium resembles its historic predecessor

CitiField has tons of dining options including Shake Shack, BBQ, Taqueria, Catch o' the Day along with all the traditional ballpark fare

Yankee Stadium has plenty of options including a Martini Bar, sushi, sit-down restaurants and all the traditional ballpark fare.

CitiField has a wiffle ball field for the kids, plus a couple of batting practice cages where everyone can take a cut.

Yankee Stadium has batting practice too...right on the field...for the opposing team!!!

Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!!!!!!!

AIPS Stud Recap

2009-04-08T21:31:00.003-05:00

Here's a quick summary of the interesting hands from AIPS tonight.

...

That's it. There were none. I overplayed buried QQ early like a mook, ran into 2 pair. Got back above average and never won a pot again. Had no hands, no flush draws, no reasonable straight hands, and a table full of aggros that are primed for the picking - if you can get something to pick them with.

Utter waste of time and effort. Stud is a thinking man's game and I never had the cards or the situations to think.

Turning Stone Highlights and Lowlights

2009-04-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

Look at me, banging out three blog posts today. Huzzah!

Five of us from our homegame piled in for the ride out to Turning Stone on Saturday AM for the 11AM $70 + $15 + $5 +$2 donkament. That's $70 for the prize pool, $15 for the house, $5 for the dealers and $2 for the Indian tribe and/or New York State. I <3 NY Indeed. :-/ We threw in a simple $5 last longer bet just for shits n giggles.

My seat assignment: Table 7, Seat 2. Seven-Deuce. Not off to a good start here.

5k chips to start. Blinds up every 20 minutes. 25/50 to start...400/800/100 to start hour 3 so get going quickly.

It's apparent right off the bat that Seat 3 is going to splash around quite a bit early on. He tables a Q6o bluff early in the festivities. This sets the stage for the first hand of note. At 50/100 with just about all my starting stack left, in the SB I have JJ. There are four limpers. I'd raise this 100% of the time from late position, but with a bunch of limpers plus this crazy guy to my left in the BB, I could get stuck here. Plus, it's early. So I just limp in. Sure enough, the crazy guy pops it up to 800. It folds around to me. My decision is reraise or fold. I'm trying to figure out if he was setting the table up with his Q6 play earlier, or if he's just trying to steal from the limpers here. Well I hate JJ and I hate being first to act and it's only 2% of my stack gone here (1% given the SB that I'm in for) so I toss it. He tables T5o. Nice bet, sir. Well at least I know that he's willing to run bluffs more than once.

From there I built the stack up to appx 8000 chips. Stole a couple of times. Flopped pretty good a couple of times. Just generally chose my spots well. I crafted a TAG image (emphasis on the "T") and it helped. One interesting hand against the aforementioned villain-to-the-left. It's 100/200 and it folds to me in the SB where I find KQh. Villain says he's going to raise (he kept talking all. day. long. ) and so I bump it to 450. He makes it 1000 and I call. Flop is Q-high and I check, hoping to induce a bet. He checks behind. Hmmm. Turn completes a straight draw. Check-check. River is a K and completes more straights plus a flush. Check-check again and he insta-tables KT. I flip over the KQ, much to his chagrin.

I kept getting A-x hands in EP where "x" was tempting but not awe-inspiring. Threw away AQ, AT, AJ from EP. I did make a play - based primarily off my image - with A8s from UTG+3 as I recall. C-bet the flop that missed me and took one down. The biggest problem was that the villain above and the guy to his left amassed megastacks. Both were splashing around and both were card racks (88>KK>AQ, rivered flushes, etc.).

The hand that hurt follows. Perhaps that A8s hand above clouded my judgment. At the 300/600/75 level, I raised to 2000 from UTG+1 w/ AQs. I'm hoping to win this without any conflict. Alas, MP calls and cutoff shoves for 3200 total. I call as does MP. Flop is J-high. Turn is a rag and River is a J. It checks to the river. MP flips over 88 and CO strikes gold with AJ. Standard. Now I'm down near 4k chips as we head to the break*.

* One of the guys from the homegame, let's call him Loose Passive, somehow has 1300 chips still in front of him at the start of the 15 minute break. So he heads out for the restroom. And from there, he's interested in finding where the gift shop is. So he heads off to find it. And he begins to realize what time it is. So he heads back for the poker room. Only he cannot find it. Yes, kids, he got lost inside Turning Stone**. While he was away, he got blinded off. Now it's not like he was going to do anything with that stack anyways, but you've got to at least be there to breathe your last breath.

** I've been to a couple Atlantic City casinos. I've been to Pala near San Diego. I've been to Cherokee in Tulsa. I've been to Mandalay and Venetian in Vegas. I've been to a couple overseas as well. Save for Pala - which didn't have a poker room - none of them are as small as Turning Stone. The poker room is right in the middle of the entire gaming area. Suffice it to say I will never fully understand how or why he got lost for 10+ minutes of action.

Back from break, I'm in MP and I toss two straight A-rag hands in the muck. Now the blinds are 400/800/100 so I can't wait forever here. Then, in UTG+1, I find Ac3c and ship it in. Player two to my left calls, asks if I have a pair, and now I know he has AK. It folds around. And doesn't the donk in me flop a 3 to take it down.

I'm alive. By this point, I've won the last longer bet, but it's the farthest thing from my mind. I need to get chips and get deep into this beyotch.

Two hands later, the guy w/ AK from above shoves from UTG. It folds around to me in the SB and I have KJo. I've got him well-covered and make the call. Once again, I'm up against AJ. Christ. Can't escape that fucking hand. Knocks me down to around 3500 again.

Table change. I slide over to my new seat, throw away a couple hands, then look down at 22. I think about it but fold it. When that flop comes down 4d 2h 6h, I'm livid at myself. Question for the loyal readers (reader?) - shove there with ducks and only 5BB left?

Well next hand with only 2800 chips, UTG limps in and I shove with JJ. UTG is not very pleased with me, but WTF am I supposed to do with 3BBs? I get one caller and am hoping it's Ax. Instead it's QQ. To make matters worse, two players feel the need to inform me they folded a jack. The miracle doesn't happen and I'm out 56th.

I feel that I played too tight at times, but my decent hands were mostly in EP. I feel that I played too loose with that AQ hand from EP, but with the blinds rocketing upward, I had to get some action at some point. Overall I thought I played patient but aggressive poker - limping a little but not way too much. With the two aggro-guys with mega-stacks to my left, I was hoping to stumble into a monster and milk some of those chips over my way. Never happened.

The self-proclaimed best player in our game was first out. He saw a free flop w/ Qd9d, called a bet on the turn, then on the river the flush got there, as did a straight or two. He checks. Two villains remaining. First one bets 1000 chips, second one calls that. Neighbor comes over-the-top all in. First player folds, other insta-calls with the nut flush. Two questions:

a) I'm more than happy to check-call this down or lead out and see if someone raises back. If you're raised, you have to believe you're beaten and you can throw it away - he would've had 3500 chips left.

b) WTF is the guy with the nut flush doing calling the first bet there and not trying to value bet it? Maybe the neighbor had an uber-tell. Hmmmmm. I asked the neighbor what he would've done if the nut flush raised in front of him there, and he said he still would've gone broke. Wow. File that one away for the next time I have the nuts.

Misclick

2009-04-06T09:42:00.001-05:00

Haven't we all done this...clicked call when we wanted to fold or clicked check when we wanted to bet?

Well I've never done this in a 500k pot, for obvious reasons. But Negreanu has!

His directs are an interesting thread. Long weekend of partying in Toronto. A flight to Vegas followed up with a whole day of online poker. Geez, you think he might get a little delirious as the day and night went on?

Questionable decision making. Yeah, he can afford to piss away a buy-in like this in a snap of a finger, but if you're going to commit this kind of time to a tourney, shouldn't you at least be reasonably prepared - physically and mentally?

Spitzer

2009-04-06T09:28:00.001-05:00

It's too bad he had to go poon-hunting, because Spitzer was one of the few tough enough and smart enough to identify and disrupt all the financial system bullshit that was going on for years. Those greedy fuckers hated him for it, but he was right.

How Politics and the Stock Market Interact

2009-03-16T13:00:00.001-05:00

Simple primer: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_03/017299.php

Just so we're clear, here's a helpful guide to the rules of market watching, as they relate to partisan politics:

When the market went down on Bush's watch before the 2008 elections, this was Bill Clinton's fault.

When the market went down on Bush's watch between November 2008 and January 2009, this was Barack Obama's fault.

When the market went down during Obama's first seven weeks in office, this was definitely Barack Obama's fault.

And when the market rallies on Obama's watch during the second week in March, George W. Bush deserves at least some of the credit.

And when the Dow is back at 14,000 in a few years, Obama will have generated none of that.

Sometimes I wish I were conservative-minded so I could just check all logic at the door and carry on inside a fantasy land.

Will the real Peter Eastgate...

2009-03-15T20:14:00.002-05:00

Lookie here, the World Champion seated three to my right. ;)

AIPS PLO

2009-03-11T22:58:00.001-05:00

Man what a complete waste of time. And I cashed.

One hand of note in the first hour - with KQJT, the flop came QTT, I led out for like 2/3 pot and got two callers. Wonderful. Turn is a K giving me a slightly better boat. This was only limped preflop so I'm not the least bit afraid of a bigger boat than mine. I pot it, a guy thinks and then flips over...the flush draw...on a paired board. ye Gods. This got me going.

Had it over 7k chips and up to, I think, 5th overall. Then I slowly died off. I had no intentions of limping past the bubble - I really wanted to build a stack and get deep in this event - but I could not find a playable situation to save my life. Either someone raised in front of me or I was dealt shit. Usually both. A couple of idiots were SOOO obviously raising light and I was just waiting, dying to trap them. Never happened.

Went out when I potted it UTG w/ QQ45 double-suited. I was about to get crippled by the blinds anyway. I ran into KKxx and a flopped set of 9s. Good night.

Part of it is the game itself. PLO is freaking nuts. Part of it is the field. It's a hard enough game to play against people who know what they're doing, but when you're playing against people who chase with allsortsashit, watch out. Waaayyy too much variance for my liking.

I go to bed now.

Home Game: Brunson FTW!!

2009-03-08T18:51:00.002-05:00

Eight entrants in Friday's homegame. I'm in it for the POY race - I can make more $ in an hour or two at a weak PLO table (glad I rediscovered that thought) - so I'm here to try and get the W.

I draw a pretty good seat. To my right is a loose/passive player who literally is in pajama pants and said that he was going to turn in for the night but at the last minute decided to come. I know exactly what he's going to do and I'm going to stay out of his way. To my left is a loose/passive calling-station. Nos 2, 3, and 4 to my left are probably the three best players here (present company excluded?) and I like being in front of them and getting to dictate the action with some strong raises.

One problem - I didn't get all that much to play. In the first rotation, I pick up AA in the big blind. Five limpers and it comes to me.

Now, I had three thoughts headed into this night.
a) Wait for a safe turn. Too many times last month I flopped a strong hand, bet out, and scared everyone away. I'd like to try to lure others in with the second best hand against a monster. Also, too many times I build a pot on the flop with a good hand and get called or raised by a better hand. Tonight - I want to feel things out a little longer.
b) Play a big hand "loudly". This is to capitalize on my image. I want to pick up a monster - a set, for example - and talk about it like a monster. I'm quiet in this game, and that's known, and I think I'll set up future opportunities to steal some things.
c) Play a big hand "tricky". I want to slow-play a big hand in an awkward situation, trying to elicit some oohs and aahs when it gets showed down.

Back to the hand, the AA is my opportunity to play it tricky. A big raise with 5 limpers screams AA, KK or AK and I'll probably take down just the blinds. So I check my option. Flop is K-high, rainbow and probably as good as I can hope for. I lead out to see where things stand, and the one caller is a player who would call w/ a K in his hand or a decent draw...raise with anything better than a pair...and fold with squat. I know how he plays, so when he calls and all others fold, I know exactly where I stand. He calls on the turn as well and when the spade draw gets there, it goes check-check and I take down a pot.

And that's about it for the first three hours. Seriously, I might have gotten over 10k chips (we have 7k per player) and never got far below 7k if at all. I tried running one bluff and got it picked off - probably got away as cheaply as I could. Luckboxed one hand where I held 85(BB) on an 8-high flop, then turned and rivered 5s to get a boat which was well ahead of Q8 (or something like it).

Basically, I treaded water as we got down to four remaining.

It was time to kick it up a notch, but as it got to four-handed, the opportunity never arose. When the LAG who had 1/2 the chips in play crashed and burned in 4th, it was now time. The guy four to my left was still around, with a stack like mine, and another good player who started two to my right - now one to my right - was the chip leader with probably 2/3 of the chips in play.

No calling stations left here, so I go on a shoving spree, albeit with a pretty good series of starting hands, and get back into it. Soon, with JQo in my hand, I check my option and see a J34 flop. I bet out, the other short-stack shoves and I call. He has nothing but a paired 3 and now it's heads up. With the steals and with this elimination, I probably have 1/3 to 2/5 of the chips in play. Still need some help.

Heads up, there's more stealing from me, little if any back at me, and after a dozen or so hands, we're about even. Then the deciding hand. I see a freebie with the Brunson (T2) and the flop is T82 with two diamonds. I bet it and my opponent shoves. I instacall and he's got the flush draw. Just need to fade a diamond...'til a 10 shows up on the turn. This gives me about 52k of the 56k chips in play, and I win w/ 10-high on the next hand.

I was patient, I was aggressive when I had to be, and I was lucky to not get unlucky in all that shoving or in the fewer times where I was up against a drawing hand.

Never really got to test the "wait for a safe turn" premise - perhaps next time.
Never really got to test the "play a big hand loudly" premise. I'm still intrigued by that one in this particular environment.

Running Good...Playing Good

2009-03-05T22:10:00.003-05:00

OK, grammar junkies, I'm playing well.

Tis been a decent online week. I tripled up my buy-in at a low level 6 handed PLHE table the other night. My oh my I'd forgotten how good these games can get.
* Button-raised w/ A6o, flopped the A, turned the 6 and took a sizeable pot off the guy who couldn't release A4.
* Cutoff raised w/ KK. Button and both blinds called. Hmmm. Made 1/2 pot bet on Qc 2s 8s flop and just the button stuck around. I put him all-in on the 9h turn and he flips over JJ. wp, sir.
* My AA outlasted the same guy's KK soon thereafter.
* The next nice pot came from the SB w/ 77. Button limped, as did I. Flop 3s 3h Kh. I bet out 2/3 pot just to see if anyone has the K, with every intention to insta-fold if it's played back at me. I get a fold and a call. Turn is a 7 and I have the boat. Suh-weet. I check it and he checks behind. Seemingly harmless 8s on the river. I lead out and get raised. oohhh. I re-raise and he goes in the tank, finally calling with Kd Td.
* Won a couple smallish pots to get over 3x the original buy-in. The best part about the session was that I lost no sizeable pots. I released in situations where there was the scent of trouble, and just waited for the right situations to chip up through others and pick off foolish c-bets and the like.

I took 3rd in a SNG that night, doing nothing of note for the first 45 minutes, then doubling up through a guy who got sporty with 76s when I had KJo in the BB and <10BBs to go. Finally when it's four-handed and I have 6BBs, I open shove with the motherlode...6c 9h. I get called by Qd Kc and I donkishly flop a 9 to double up. From there I fold into the money and fade away in 3rd.

Put up a noble fight in a SNG last night, falling victim when it was 5-handed and I had 9BBs left. I called a min-raise from a character who had been playing all sortsashit all night. Me - I had 6c 7d and I'm hoping to pick this guy off. Flop is a dangerous Qh Qs Jc and it goes check-check. Turn is 6s and I'm a shovin, only to find AQ behind Door #2. Boof.

Picked off a $10 SNG thereafter, with a mook on each side of me. Kept waiting to trap them, then when they both vanished and it was heads-up, I pulled some shit out of my ass against a good player. He didn't deserve it...the mooks did.

Tonight, I got in an interesting chatwar with some mook. I called his preflop minraise and then check-shoved on the flop when he led out very weakly (something like 35% of the pot). This was screaming of a missed Ax or a middling pocket pair. The board was 3d Kc 5d and all I had was bottom pair/top kicker, but it was enough. After he mucked, I just said that "i had AJ beat." Well...I DID. But it set him off. He then did something no fool has ever done before...he tried to turn into an analyst. Even rewarded a guy for making a call of a shortstack's all-in when the caller had 22. Told him it was a "good call" because it was a "coin flip". Now that's the kind of insight you just don't get anywhere.

Anyway, made it to heads up after the mouth got bounced by a runner-runner flush. The villain here has been pretty LAGgy so I'm just waiting for the right spot. Second heads-up hand I have AdQd in the BB and he open shoves. Fuckyes. Instacall and he tables Qs 7s. Well doesn't the bastard flop the spade draw, turn a gutter...and then hit the 7 on the river to take me out.

Whatever. I'm playing well, making better decisions on when to be aggressive and when to wait. Plus I'm getting some more opportunities with good-but-not-stellar hands to do some stealing when it gets short. I'm waiting for hands where I can fall back on something and not just recklessly shoving.

I'll change gears for the second home game in a week tomorrow night and just pray I draw a better seat than last time.

Ammunition for the Crash

2009-03-02T12:39:00.001-05:00

So all the bankers and hedge fund managers are sitting around trying to figure out how to measure risk. Then this guy comes along and IDs the Credit Default Swap market as a proxy for real correlation of risk. BOOM, the CDS market takes off because now everything can be aggregated into these pools of risk, and everyone is making money off of it, so everyone else has to do it to keep up, despite the fact that there's really no underlying behind CDSs. And everything is great...everyone is making money.

One problem. Everyone ignored that it's all inherent upon housing values going up.

I have two rules in life:

1) Things will always get done if you set a firm deadline. They may not get done perfectly, but they will get done.

2) Greedy fuckers will always look for routes, loopholes, and methods around the SOPs insomuch as that they are driven by and rewarded by making money.

This happened with Enron, WorldCom, Savings & Loans back in the 80s, and it's happening now with Lehman Bros., AIG, Citi, B of A and the like. Thus, not only is regulation of financial markets advisable, it's necessary, and I'm not sure there can be too much of it. Because as sure as the sun will come up tomorrow, greedy fuckers will sacrifice long-term stability for shorter-term windfalls.

This came up with neighbors the other night and I'm bringing it up again here. Can you imagine going having a medical condition and, instead of seeking out the advice of a doctor, you sought out the advice of a lawyer? Hey, there are smart lawyers, but if I'm fucked up, I want someone with knowledge of the human body to fix me.

Well imagine a place that, when confronted with major challenges such as global climate change or a collapsing banking and financial industry, didn't seek the advice of scientists or economists, but rather sought the advice of politicians -- and repeated it like parrots. Well that place is the United States.

People keep spouting off the "irresponsibility" of the stimulus package, failing to realize that building $300billion in equipment, driving it to a dock and then pushing it in the ocean is far more beneficial to the economy than just another round of plain old tax cuts, or the laissez faire approach of just letting banks and businesses die off. Yes, there will be deficit spending, yes the bill on the future will go up. Here's the problem - it's going up NO MATTER WHAT!! The sooner we get the economy back on track, the better off we all are - our generation and the future generations.

Why we continue to let ideology trump science in these debates escapes me. It astounds me and it frightens the piss out of me too.

Home Game

2009-03-02T10:15:00.001-05:00

For anyone patiently waiting for the ups and downs from my PLO8 tourney run last week, well there's really not much to look at. It's basically a story of me getting real short, real quick (down to 150 chips after 3 hands), then doubling/tripling up a bunch of times thereafter with some blind leakage mixed in. Most of the play was jam or fold, as I was most often (as usual) one of the shorties. If there was any strategy, it was simply in trying to see cheap flops with drawing potential hands. In other words, standard.

There were a couple of massive suckouts late, including a two-outer which was nice to be on the winning side thereof. For a change.

I read through the hand history and was compiling a massive history of the event, but it was so damned boring, my head hurt. So it'll sit in the Blogger "draft post" file for eternity. So be it.

Had the home game down the street Saturday night. Expecting 11 so we set up two tables...the n00b no-showed so we had 10. Instead of collapsing to one table, we somehow settled on playing two. Well that's OK, save for the table draw, which placed three of the four quality players in the bunch at *my* table, along with one of the loose ones...who seemed to tighten up considerably Saturday night. So while the chips are flying around the other table, there's a lot of fold-fold-raise-fold-fold going on here.

Not that I couldn't take advantage of that. I did - and I even ran a couple of *sick* bluffs on the player to my right, winning a couple sizeable pots that I had no business being in. That's just exploiting tendencies and position...nothing more.

No, the problem that this multi-table format generated was this: I hit four sets in the first 2.5-3 hours of play. Four. But all of them were at this table before we merged (with 8 left) and all of them came on draw-heavy boards. In all of them, I bet something like 2/3 or 3/4 pot to try and define things, and in all of them, I got no action. All-in-all, this table played very very tight at a time where I could've amassed lots-o-chips at the typically looser table.

I got it up to 10-11k chips right around the table merge. Here's a question for those with more MTT/Home Game experiences. When we merged, I had just been the button. The play came over to *our* table. What we did was have all 8 players redraw for seats, the Ace got the button and the blinds fell from there. My argument was that the order of players on *our* table shouldn't shift - but rather we should shuffle in the people from the second table so that nobody got double-whacked with the blinds, etc. What's the right approach here?

Well I got effed on the draw. First off, I drew the big blind when things were starting to get tight - it was 300/600 and I had about 9-10k in chips left. Not AIOF yet, but we're getting there. Second and more importantly, I got the worst possible seat. The big stack - loose and crazy - was to my immediate left. The TAG who was short-ish stacked but not crippled was to my immediate right. The fish were across the table. Cripes.

Same story as always from here. I fold A6 from MP, watch the big stack play A2s aggressively and take a big pot. I fold a couple hands that would've rivered the nuts. Correct decisions...poor outcomes. Standard. And I basically go card dead.

Here's one interesting hand - seven handed, I believe. I'm UTG with 44. Limp in and see a flop of Q53 rainbow. It checks around. The turn is a deuce and I bet out after one limper. Fish at the other end of the table goes all-in for about 3x my bet. It gets called by the TAG to my right. There's no way I can be good here, though I may have the best and only draw, but I throw it away. Fish flips over QT for top pair, TAG tables 52 for the BB special. The river would've spiked the straight for me, but alas I watch the chips go to my right and now I'm surrounded by big stacks. Story of my life.

Soon thereafter I'm in the cutoff w/ A3. Blinds are 400/800 at this point and I have appx 7k chips left. I insta-shove - hoping to scare people away with nothing more than the speed of my action, and preparing to rely on my Ace to get me out of trouble. Well it's called by big stack LAG to my left and then called by player to his left too. This is just SOOOOO typical - I pick a spot and get steamrolled. LAG has A9o and other guy has TT so I've managed to shove with the third best hand. WP. Flop an A but the turn is a 9 and IGH in 5th for a completely mediocre finish.

After that I watched the LAG chip dump to the TAG when the TAG rivered a flush, shoved, and got called by the LAG with, um well, I'm still waiting for him to show up with a hand. It just blows my mind.

Really, though...whatever. It's $11 for these events. I can burn through that in 1.5 hours online, with a higher success rate. These are fun, laugh-filled events foremost. I need to keep this in perspective.

At least we got the Turning Stone wheels in motion ... finally.

Finally the weekend was capped off with a $10 SNG last night. Chipped up a bit early, bled a little off to a guy who was playing very curiously at best - trying to reraise me every chance he had. I had something like 99 on a 10-high board, but he check-raised me all-in and I had to release it. The very next hand, I have 1200 chips w/ 80/160 blinds (5 or 6 handed), so I'm open shoving w/ AQo 100% of the time here. He calls with AJo. The river is a fishhook. Nice to know I can still get sucked out on with the best of them after a fairly decent online week last week.

PLO Freeroll

2009-02-26T09:24:00.001-05:00

The best thing about winning a seat into AIPS in two weeks is that I have no need to participate in next week's freeroll.

My God what a horrendous display of donkitude, highlighted by the player to my right, Eskimosomethingorother (hereafter: Sir Donk), who barely saw a pot he didn't splash around in. And I'll be damned if he didn't get slugged in the face by the virtual deck. He jacked his stack up to around $23k by the break - and that was also the key to my success.

I just sat back and folded. Got below 1000 chips, doubled up through Sir Donk. I believe that every pot I won came largely at this guy's expense - surely most of them came that way.

Here's the highlight hand. I believe this is at the 150/300 level and I have about 3000 chips, but that's purely from memory Anyway, in the SB I have KKxx, suited in spades. About five limpers come along and I jump in for the half-price ride too. The flop is A42, all spades. Bingo. This is screaming check-raise and that's exactly what I do. It checks around to Sir Donk and he fires a smallish bet at it. I go 3/4 pot on top of him...and it folds back around, where the Sir promptly calls.

The turn is a 4, pairing the board, and all of a sudden I just might be effed. Here, with the stack size I have left, I have to shove. Check-folding is not a viable option at this level.

He calls...he doesn't have a pocket pair, he doesn't have a 4, and he doesn't have the spade flush. I forget what he had, but it was, for all intents and purposes, *air*.

This gave me ~6500 chips and I folded my way into the seat from there. This guy whittled his stack from $23k down to about $13k in a *snap* before finally realizing what he was doing and then sitting out the rest.

One more observation - the number of people who kept driving action toward the bubble was surprising. I don't play a lot of freerolls, and I expect tons of amateurish play, but the difference between finishing 1st and 28th in these is exactly zero. No need to be a hero and put your stack at risk.

At least the format is fast. Started at 9PM...done by 10:45ish.

Where were the Brazilians?

The Bad Run Comes to a Screeching Halt

2009-02-25T02:03:00.002-05:00

All those bad beats, all those card-dead runs, all this bullshit I've been fighting off for the last few months...well it turned around tonight.

I'll try to compile key hands in the next day or two, but suffice it to say that I caught well, played well, dodged many bullets, and went out fourth out of 300 in a $5 PLO8 tourney. Really wanted to take it down and almost got the chip lead at the FT, but things dried up.

I sucked out 2-3 times late, then finally got ran down when I was all-in w/ the attached hand. Happens.

Finally restores the bankroll...a bit.

More later...I'm effing *tired*.

Classic WSJ Drivel

2009-02-23T15:42:00.001-05:00

This is just classic, uber-right wing drivel in oh so many ways.

1) The title. It's not "Obama's Dow" just like it wasnt "Bush's" or "Clinton's". And let's hold off 'til this thing is within sniffing distance of 5000 before we pin a 30+% drop in it (since appx. 1/20/09) on anybody.

2) Not that you can blame jack shit about the current economic situation on a guy who has been in office just over 30 days. Yeah, I don't think anyone can argue that the stimulus packages are optimal, but they're better than nothing and they're most assuredly better than the age-old, time-tested, and continually debunked magical "tax cuts".

3) I just LUV the channeling of Reagan. Yeah, what we need is unabridged optimism, despite staring potential deflation, rising unemployment and a 5% year-on-year GDP drop. Yeah, optimism. That and that alone will do the trick. Jeez.

Well optimism is fine when it's coupled with practicality. I believe I'm getting both from the sitting president.

4) I'd like to see Santelli give that same pitch in a less "protected" environment. And just like Wall Street may be tired of populist rhetoric, the far and away bigger slice of Americans are sick of the Wall Street-types running the show. They've proven they can effectively run it smack into the ground, bleeding Main Street dry in the process.

5) "Get the Bipartisanship thing going". Pot. Kettle. Black.

The comments are just too scary to elaborate on. My God there are some fucking idiots in my country.

Deep into the $5 KO

2009-02-22T21:50:00.001-05:00

There were 993 runners in the 8PM $5 KO event on Full Tilt last night. I was one of them and was also one of the last ones standing - finishing 40th for $11 or so plus a couple of bounties. Man that is one skewed payout structure. For the first time in a long time, some cards came my way, although that did dry up late. That leads me to this one hand.

At the 800/1600/200 level, I'm UTG with 13,508 chips and I look down at 9h 9c. I thought about it - really there are only two options...fold or shove. The table was full and had been playing fairly standard, although the player to my immediate right (BB here, with 2x my chip stack) had been quite aggressive, particularly in limped pots. Two other stacks had me thoroughly covered (42k and 60k in chips).

It's decision time. What would you do?

One other noteworthy hand from early on in the event. This is at the 50/100 level. In the BB I have J6o. It limps to the SB who limps in and I check. Flop is Q-high, rainbow and uncoordinated. We both check. The turn is a J. He checks and I throw a 1/2 pot bet (100) out there. He then check-raises, making it 280 to go. Huh?

Well, for whatever reason, I do not believe him. So I call. And the river brings a 6, giving me two pair. Well this guy makes a pot-size bet at it and I have to believe he's either got a big ace and missed everything, or he caught some piece of this and is concerned by my call. Well with my stack size, calling here is NOT an option so I decide to shove. He calls fairly quickly w/ Q8 for top pair, P.O.S. kicker.

I double-up on a hand I was ready to snap fold to any pressure pre-flop or on the flop, and he goes of the deep end. I'm a donk, I'm a tard, etc. Whatever.

Was the call of the check-raise on the turn weak? Perhaps. For whatever reason, I didn't buy his line, and I sure don't understand his call on the river with a naked Queen. If I'm going to raise a check-raiser on a later street, don't I have to have a single pair beat?

Well I'll be...

2009-02-20T22:24:00.003-05:00

God damned...

I actually found some cards...picked up a bit of a stack when I made a move five-handed w/ KQd, got raised all-in and had to call it. Funny...the guy (who had me outchipped) had 44 and I outflopped him (BREAKING!!). Then lo-and-behold I was the big stack and dadgumit I played it like the big stack. This was a pretty passive table - once the looney short stack to my left went away, I kept raising my SB when limped to and the BB would fold like clockwork. I kept taking the amount of the raise down and he kept folding.

Caught some cards once we got through the bubble too.

I don't want to say this was easy - but it was a hell of a lot easier than it's been the past few weeks/months.

Am I playing again tonight? Hell no - I'm gonna sleep on this one :)

86 year-old's bill

2009-02-20T21:43:00.001-05:00

Identity theft? Shit, I suspect the old biddy is just a certifiable horn dog.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29308856/

Getting short-stacked

2009-02-20T10:57:00.001-05:00

More of the same last night. 3 or 4 SNGs...cashed in none. Missed out in the $5 KO tourney as well. No particularly horrible beats that I can recall...last night was more of an issue about getting short-stacked and being unable to overcome it.

The recurring theme seems to be as follows:

* I'm getting NO starting hands of merit. Again, I do not have tracking software (what am I going to buy it with at this bankroll??), so I cannot prove this, but *man* it's tough to win pots when you're bringing a knife to a gunfight.

* Related: when I do pick up something, I seem to be missing tons of flops. Last night I flopped exactly zero sets, and missed alot when I was able to see cheap flops with AJ, AQ, KQs, etc.

* I seem to be getting check-raised and pushed around much more frequently as of late. This is where I wonder how much people are looking at Sharkscope or some other tracking tool when they play me. My sharkscope graph has to look like the Dow for the last few months. How many people are referencing these while I'm sitting at the table with them? The amount of "playing back" and check raising, etc. that I'm encountering is noticeably higher.

* I'm bluffing less. In the past, I've not needed to bluff much...particularly at the early levels...to do damage in SNGs. I've saved that for near the bubble when people's sphincters tighten up. I do know that bluffing more and showing down weak trash is NOT the way to get out of this cycle.

I'm getting eliminated 4th/5th quite a lot in SNGs...and making it to the top 20-30% of a lot of these MTTs (AIPS event I excluded), but never feel like I'm in a position to get real deep. I have to do something here...but what?

A Sign from Above? (updated)

2009-02-18T21:43:00.002-05:00

Maybe things are changing?

$5 KO Tourney on Tilt. I'm short stacked (surprise) and find QQ UTG+2. <10BBs, but I only go 4x hoping to get action from a particular LAG. Sure enough he shoves and I snap call. He flips over QTo (!).

That's the kind of action I'm lookin for!

Still gonna need some help in this event. 16BBs left at 80/160. 231 runners and 90 get paid.

UPDATE: Never mind. This is what happens when you tangle with the big stack.
I knew he'd call when it folded to him. I knew I'd lose when he started to catch up on the flop.

The best part was in the chat afterward where he said that I "overplayed the fishhooks". And exactly how did he play his bottom pair?

Daily Update

2009-02-18T08:53:00.001-05:00

I'm going to keep doing these until this run to end all bad runs finally hits the finish line.

Last night I played the Cheap Stakes $0.50 tourney on Stars. I lasted appx. 30 minutes and had only one hand of note. In the BB I look down at QQ. There's a 3x raise from MP, and the SB shoves for 1200 chips. I have slightly more than him.

Keep in mind this is a $0.50 tourney here, so I'm not exactly surrounded by Kid Poker or Hachem. Well I either want chips or I want to get away from this, so I shove - fully expecting the MP raiser to come along. He does.

We flip over the following:

MP: AKo

SB: A9s

Me: QQ

Flop Q J T w/ two diamonds...holy crap, I flopped top set!!...and I'm way behind the flopped broadway. But stop the presses...I actually improved my hand. That in and of itself is noteworthy.

Of course I didn't improve from there.

Then on to a $10 SNG on Tilt. The usual, I never really got much above a starting stack until we got to five-handed, where AT outlasted A5. Then I slowly bled down into the money, crashing and burning in 3rd as the short stack.

I can sum this recent experience up as follows:

* I'm having trouble finding good situations to play. When I have a stealable hand from late pos., there's almost always a strong raise in front of me. I'm not interested in calling with 78s in this format - I'd much rather raise here, but the stack sizes mean I'll be committing waaayyy too much of my stack on a drawing hand. Back to the main point - I'm finding it hard to encounter appropriate spots to come into hands aggressively. And if you can't do that in the first 3-4 levels of a SNG, all of a sudden you have about 10-12 BBs left and your options are just SO limited.

* I'm not getting enough quality starting hands, and when I do, I'm rarely getting action.

* I've become a bit gunshy on bluffing. I did run a couple as we got to five-handed in the SNG last night, but I've been looked up SO much more often lately that I'm becoming more hesitant to pull the trigger...not that I ever bluff that much to begin with.

This has definitely affected my mental approach and I need to just go full bore into some games with no reservations to get beyond this.

Tonight's Specialty...

2009-02-16T23:25:00.002-05:00

...runner-runner flush.

Worst. Run. Ever.
- I cannot catch a reasonable starting hand
- When I do, I'm getting NO action...or too much action. One hand earlier in this SNG at the 30/60 level, I have AKo on the button. There are two limpers in front of me. I pop it to 325 to go. Both blinds and both limpers call. Yes, five to the flop when I'm holding AK. Needless to say, the flop is coordinated junk and I have to throw it away to the instashove from the blinds.
- I'm making very few bluff attempts - and when I do bluff, I get picked off (like in AIPS ... one bluff and I run smack into a monster).
- I'm repeatedly getting short-stacked in my quest to find a playable situation. I'm more than happy to be aggressive and am looking for opportunities to do so, but I'll be damned if I reraise in a SNG w/ K2 suited and assorted trash like that.
- When I finally get the cards in, I'm either super short and just trying to find anything to shove with...or I'm getting it in ahead and getting out drawn.

This will end. It has to end. I just can't figure out how or when.

But wait, there's more...

2009-02-15T22:24:00.002-05:00

Well, I was short-stacked and I can't kill him for making the call. But still...

This is How I Run

2009-02-15T21:36:00.002-05:00

Continued from, oh, the last 3-4 months...

Buffalo Plane Crash and the possible science behind it

2009-02-13T16:43:00.001-05:00

Miles O'Brien, formerly of CNN, knows his shit. A very good read for anyone with a shred of interest in the science of flight.

Onion Radio News

2009-02-11T22:15:00.001-05:00

I get this every day. This one was a classic.

"...military-grade Kleenex" Epic.

AIPS

2009-02-11T22:02:00.001-05:00

It simply was not going to happen tonight. I got lots of hands early - and no action. I stole some blinds midway through the first hour with no resistance, but I picked the wrong hand to bluff with, lost a decent chunk of my stack, and just bled chips from there. Finally reraised all-in w/ AQ and the villain has AK.

Play was remarkably passive and predictable too. I just could not capitalize. Bah.

Westminster

2009-02-09T20:15:00.001-05:00

I'm all excited for Westminster. I love dogs, have two of them, and loved going to the DKC show when I lived in Detroit. Plus this is Westminster, which is the shit and all that.

So I set the DVR, turn it on tonight, and hear this vaguely familiar female voice doing the intro while the truck shows a variety of canned shots from prior shows. Well it's not Joe Garagiola, which is good, but it's also not Lester Holt who did a fine job the past couple of years.

Just who is this new host?

Mary Carillo.

AAArrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!

Tonight's Bullshit

2009-02-08T22:37:00.001-05:00

Tonight was cooler night.

I get nothing in the 180 runner $8 tourney. Crawl through the first break, then finally pick up AKo on the button. UTG+1 limps, Cutoff raises to 400, and I insta-shove. Both entrants call. They check it down all the way (there are about 90 left at this point). Limper showed up w/ AJo, and Cutoff woke up w/ KK. Good night to me.

Then I dive into a $10 SNG and this happens.
http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/279645

Brrrrrr.

Sometime I have to hit one of these, right?

2009-02-07T22:13:00.001-05:00

This is on the bubble of a SNG. Other than folding, which seems pretty weak, not sure what I can do differently.

Full Tilt Poker Game #10497989017: $20 + $2 Sit & Go (79297166), Table 1 - 120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:06:36 ET - 2009/02/07
Seat 1: sos41 (6,315)
Seat 2: djm182 (2,700)
Seat 5: assron (2,355)
Seat 9: Theologian78 (2,130)
sos41 posts the small blind of 120
djm182 posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [Ah 2h]
assron folds
Theologian78 raises to 480
sos41 folds
djm182 calls 240 (I cannot fold this to a minraise)
*** FLOP *** [Th 3s 4h]
djm182 bets 2,220, and is all in (First to act, maybe he'll fold. I've got 12 outs, and just maybe my Ace is good)
Theologian78 calls 1,650, and is all in
djm182 shows [Ah 2h]
Theologian78 shows [Ad Ts] (OK, 12 outs twice)
Uncalled bet of 570 returned to djm182
*** TURN *** [Th 3s 4h] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [Th 3s 4h Td] [8c] (I. Never. Improve.)
djm182 shows a pair of Tens
Theologian78 shows three of a kind, Tens
Theologian78 wins the pot (4,380) with three of a kind, Tens

The Never-Ending Cooler

2009-02-03T21:47:00.001-05:00

Had my heart set on playing some tourneys and SNGs tonight. Let's go to the recap:

* $2.20 NLHE Donkfest on Stars. 99<57o on a 3 4 6 flop. I preflop raise it from UTG+2 and get called by said hand. Later on, with a short stack, I get it in w/ AKo vs JJ and TT, never improving

* $11 SNG on Tilt. Lose 2/5ths of my stack when 88<KQ on a rivered straight. Then I lose the rest with AA UTG, standard raise, and a call. I shove on a 5KQ rainbow flop and stack off to KQh. I was dealt AA 3x in 28 hands here. Doubled up on the first, won a small pot with the second, got stacked on the third. WP, djm182. WP you piece of shit.

* $8.80 169 player tourney on Tilt. Get the Cosenza in the cutoff on first hand. UTG and hijack limp in and call my raise. Flop 4QA w/ 2 diamonds. Checks around, I bet 1/2 pot and hijack calls. Turn Td. He check calls me again. River is 4th diamond, he shoves and I fold, 1/4 of my stack gone.

I fold a dozen hands in a row, then find AKo on the button. Short stack shoves (305 chips), idiot hijack from earlier hand flat calls that. I shove. Hijack comes along (of course he does). Shorty has 57c, Idiot has 99 (ok, fine). What happens? Wait for it. I. Never. Improve.

* OK, one last $11 SNG on Tilt. I chip up a bit early. About 13 hands in I have AJd in MP and raise. Folds around to the UTG limper who calls. Flop TAK rainbow. I bet and get min-raised. I tilt off and shove. He calls w/ ATo.

My mistakes? There are (at least) three.
1) I'm too eager to get chips in against a bigger stack early on in events.
2) I'm not sniffing out player characteristics like I should.
3) I keep playing despite being on a three-month run of bad luck and suspect play.

For about two months this fall, I *pwned* the $10-$20 SNGs. Now I'm getting destroyed. It's not all my fault, but I bear a good chunk of the blame. This endless cooler sure isn't helping, though.

Enough of this bullshit, I'm off to the Wii.

XLIII Recap

2009-02-01T23:29:00.001-05:00

The game that was well on it's way to being another mediocre Super Bowl became a classic with about 10:00 left. Arizona's drive straight through the defense, capped by Fitzgerald's first TD, turned the game around. The Cardinals owned the game from there all the way through Fitzgerald's second TD, which was a fantastic bit of playcalling by the Cards.

And then the "prevent" defense kicks in. And the Steelers pick away at it, Holmes busts one down to the 5, then snags one in the corner of the end zone. Ballgame. It was a great one, but I would've preferred to see the Cardinals win - especially after that bullshit cheap shot by one of the Steelers late in the fourth quarter. I'm pleased that pissant Clark didn't really get to put a hurting on anyone with his cheap hit style of play.

Some random thoughts:
* The result at least keeps my "Streak for the Cash" streak alive at a (ahem) personal best of 4.
* "Ben" is big and slow...and runs around in the pocket all the time, yet nobody can catch him. This astounds me. I'm equally as slow, and if it were me in the pocket, I'd get clobbered.
* Here's to Brenda Warner for, quite possibly, one of the greatest non-reality show makeovers of all time.
* This game hinged on that 100-yard INT TD return, in which about six Cardinals could've stopped it, not the least of which was Kurt Warner who not only threw the poor INT but could've at least tried to direct Woodson out of bounds.
* Too much officiating, although there weren't any calls that I saw which appeared to be wrong.
* She talks like she's on quaaludes, and her pregame bit on Kurt Warner was far too poetic, but I've got a mute button on my screen, and I'll gladly press it if I need to just to get more Alex Flanagan in my life.

And, of course, the Springsteen recap. My expectations were tampered somewhat only due to the environment he was playing in. These halftime boondoggles have historically been played with smallish crowds around the stage of people who looked like they were paid to be there. Tonight, with a bigger stage and a fuller field, this actually felt like a concert. Points are deducted for the trimming of verses from the songs - I'd rather have seen a "10th Avenue"..."Working on a Dream"..."Born to Run" set with the full songs delivered, but I understand why they did what they did.

But despite any nits I can pick, I have to say that this was very well done. Far and away the best halftime show ever - even outpacing U2 back in '02. The Boss' schtick at the open was outstanding. The band sounded great - the choir for "Dream" was a very nice touch and added something to the song. I could do without the fireworks and the referee schtick at the end, but I get it too.

Give the Cadillac and the trip to Disney to the Boss

Steven Van Zandt: It'ssssss BOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSS Tiiiiiiimmmmmmmmeeeee!!!

Catching Up

2009-01-28T16:36:00.001-05:00

Yeah, it's been a while. Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging. But I still have thoughts. Oh yes I do...

* Will someone please explain to me what the hell the big deal is with this conversion to digital TV? Who actually still has an analog-signal rabbit ears TV? Those are the only people impacted, and I don't know any of them. Actually I did see one such TV in a doctors office waiting room the other day. Should've just told the doctor to drop $15.99/mo. on cable and be done with his problem.

Every time I turn around, there's a proposal to delay the February date. There are *government coupons* (!) to help people get whatever upgrade kit they need to get. And the government has apparently been unable to keep the stock of said coupons up where it needs to be.

I'm completely sick of reading about this.

* I'm also sick and tired of reading the weekly article (it comes out on Sunday's and you can't miss it) on what gas prices have done in the past week. I'll say this much for gas prices - you cannot drive by a gas station without seeing exactly what gas prices are doing. If it's $1.89 in the morning and $1.93 on the way home, odds are pretty fucking good that gas prices went up that day. Yet every media outlet passes along the weekly summary of gas prices on Sunday (and into Monday) as if it's BREAKING NEWS.

This is marginally even news back when gas was $4+ in the summer. At prices <$2, this is trivia at best.

* I need a new pair of running shorts. First question: why is it called a pair? It's just one "short" which - conveniently and appropriately - has two holes for my legs. Here's the real problem. All I want is a pair of running shorts. Yet I cannot find them. Not at Dick's, not at Target, not at Kohl's, not anywhere. What I can find are these:

- Things that sure look like running shorts, but have built-in underwear. I don't want these...I want shorts, not an ensemble

- Things that look like you'd be playing a pickup game in Rucker Park. I don't need shorts that cover my knees, and generate a small breeze every time I take a stride.

- Things that are 100% cotton. I wouldn't wear these to bed. Surely not to run in, so I can get them soaked in sweat and add 5 lbs. to the excess weight I'm already carrying.

- Things that look like bikini bottoms. These may work for some, but they sure as hell don't work for me.

Just a simple pair of running shorts, please. This should not be hard.

* I'll be a bit vague here. Some readers may get this. Some may not. People who bitch about something, but don't expend one ounce of effort to fix it are worthless to me. Interestingly, these same people tend to be know-it-alls, and often are unnecesarily abrasive to others. Moreover, I've had experiences with these people where you go to them looking for reasoned discussion in private, only to have them turn around and dump the dirty laundry in public. I've got no use for them.

Yet, incredibly, people are drawn to these idiots like flies to shit. Does this mean that I sometimes associate with a group of flies?

* The great Joe Posnanski has a fantastic post (as usual) on his blog about the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, and how the original concept has run its course. I can't do it justice, go read it.

* Finally I've been playing a lot less online poker lately. Mostly because I've been busy and/or traveling and/or sick. The former and the latter still apply, though to a slightly lesser degree. Anyway, this has been about a three-month long cooler, where I'm typically getting it in good, or getting it in on a coin flip, and getting out raced or out-sucked. I'm not playing great - there are a handful of things I'm doing that I wasn't doing when I played well back late summer/early fall. And thanks to one solid night of AIPS and a $5 NLHE donkfest, the bankroll hasn't suffered much. But I'm just not nearly as interested as I've been in a while. Perhaps Season IV of AIPS will change this. Maybe I'm just sick of the grind. Maybe I just need a break. Maybe I like sleeping more than I remembered. Or maybe I'd rather lose bogus points to idiots on Mario Kart Wii than lose real money to idiots on Full Tilt.

A Star is Born

2008-11-05T22:14:00.001-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the shining light of the GOP...Governor Sarah Palin.

http://wonkette.com/404207/sarah-palin-thought-africa-was-a-country-not-a-continent

Bwaaa hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

The 2008 Phillies in a single quote

2008-10-14T21:40:00.001-05:00

I give you Matt Stairs:

"You've been here for a month and you want to get that one big hit where you really feel like you're part of the team," Stairs said.
"Not that I don't feel like I'm part of the team, but when you get that nice celebration coming in the dugout and you're getting your ass hammered by guys, there's no better feeling than to have that done."

FOX News doing what it does best

2008-10-01T21:00:00.001-05:00

Highest of high comedy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTkqosRiyYo

AIPS 6-Max

2008-09-18T21:55:00.001-05:00

Christ am I pissed off right now. I played well in the first hour, got the chip lead at one point, and was in the Top 10 for most of the hour after that. But I was completely card dead in hour #2, and as my stack started to dwindle, the big stack was on the button when I had the BB - he kept betting into me, most assuredly with air, and I had NOTHING to play back with. NOTHING. Christ, QTo would have been ahead of his range. Immensely frustrating. And when it was my button...Q3o, 94s, 38o...rinse...repeat. The table was playing a bit loose with quite a few calls and I'll be damned if I'm going to commit with absolute trash.

Then I'm down to about 3k with 150/300 blinds and I wake up with JJ. I shove. Get called. He has QQ. Of course he does. But wait, I flop a J. Beeyooteeful. Turn Q. Good night. $2 profit for my efforts. Full Tilt returns to thoroughly fucking me after a good night last night.

Sunday Thoughts

2008-09-14T21:52:00.001-05:00

* A fine job by the Mets bullpen. And lookie here...the Phils are back knocking on the door. Hey, at least there's the possibility of the wildcard now as well.

* Well Jim Nantz is back on NFL coverage again, and he's still calling a first down "the first". Never one at a loss for words, Jim has somehow lost the second word in the very simple-to-say phrase "first down." I suggest you find it again, Jim. Soon. You're driving me nuts.

* The Chargers got thoroughly fucked by referee incompetence and equipment incompetence. And yes, I am pissed enough to say it to Hochuli's face if I ever had the chance.

* Stepped up to a $20 SNG tonight. Had the joy of running top pairs and overpairs into THREE flopped sets. Thanks for coming.

Super Donk

2008-09-03T10:25:00.001-05:00

Sat down at a $.10/$.25 pot-limit table last night. Lost a buy-in when I ran a set of 6s into some guy's two-pair, and saw him turn a boat. So this table breaks up and I buy back in at another table.

Oh my God. There's a guy at this table that, if he didn't play EVERY hand, he played well over 90% of them. And he would call just about anything down to the river - sometimes just overcards, sometimes bottom pair, he'd even call with a busted draw.

I turned my $20 buy-in into $85 at one point, mostly thanks to him, then went completely card dead and ended up at about $65. And it could've been better. I was just waiting for any hand to sting this guy with. I see a free flop from the big blind with A5 and the flop is A52. Bingo. I bet it, the clown raises me, and we get it all in (I have him covered). He flips over A9. The turn is a 4, the river is a 3 and we chop the damn pot. Grrrrrr.

I won tons of moderate pots off of him with hands like 33 that completely missed a flop - but would outpace his crap like 9 4 offsuit when he never hit a 9 or a 4. If you had *anything*, it was worth just calling him down. If you had the goods, you just shove your chips in and he'll call you. Incredible.

Usually at these tables, the average pot is about $3-4 per hand. The average pot at this table was over $11.

Usually at these tables, if they're not full, there's maybe one person waiting to get in. At this table, there were as many as six people waiting to get in.

So finally this guy leaves. Immediately, the entire table collapses. Everyone stuck around just to take his money.

He's a welcome addition to my "friends" list.

Doocy on Palin

2008-08-31T22:19:00.001-05:00

She (Palin) does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska, right next door to Russia.

-- Steve Doocy, Fox News.

No. Really. He actually said this.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I have no problems whatsoever with Fox News. Two reasons:
a) If the far right wants to have a media outlet, so be it.
b) Stooges like Doocy are the gift that keeps on giving

WPA

2008-08-30T13:37:00.001-05:00

I love me the WPA graphs. Especially when they look like this:

http://www.fangraphs.com/wins.aspx?date=2008-08-29&team=Marlins&dh=0&season=2008

Tee hee.

Ayala damn near gave me a heart attack in Bot9.

Posnanski on Beijing and Bruce

2008-08-28T11:54:00.001-05:00

...and it all fits together so wonderfully.

If Joe's Blog isn't in your Google Reader, then my God, get it in there. He stands alone as the best sportswriter out there - quite possibly the best ever. .

The Big One

2008-08-15T10:45:00.001-05:00

Probably a small one to many people who might stumble upon this, but a big hand for me. And it reverses the recent trend of losing quite often with AA, KK and AK.

Some background on this.
a) I'd taken a couple of sizeable pots off the player to my right earlier in the session. For one, on a 2TT flop, I was holding AT while he had T9. All the money got in on the river, and the board never brought a 9 or a pair outside of the 10s.

b) I had lost fairly big pots in this orbit, with AKo on an A-high rainbow board vs. a flopped set, and then on the very next hand with AKs where I folded on the turn when the guy to my right led out aggressively on the flop and turn.

There's no interesting decisions to this hand, really, other than deciding on the correct amount to raise. But I think the background facts here helped this hand play out the way it did.

Oh, BTW, I have absolutely no fucking clue what the SB thought he was doing.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7652066068: Table Laveta (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 23:25:17 ET - 2008/08/14
Seat 1: jake2332 ($19.75)
Seat 2: djm182 ($20.95)
Seat 3: hanssens ($15.35)
Seat 4: donjuan1028 ($17.15)
Seat 5: Michael2010 ($24.95)
Seat 6: yugffut ($9.75)
hanssens posts the small blind of $0.10
donjuan1028 posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [Ad As]
Michael2010 folds
yugffut has 15 seconds left to act
yugffut folds
jake2332 raises to $0.50
djm182 raises to $1
hanssens calls $0.90
donjuan1028 has 15 seconds left to act
donjuan1028 folds
jake2332 raises to $2
djm182 has 15 seconds left to act
djm182 raises to $5
hanssens has 15 seconds left to act
hanssens calls $4
jake2332 raises to $19.75, and is all in
djm182 raises to $20.95, and is all in
hanssens calls $10.35, and is all in
djm182 shows [Ad As]
hanssens shows [3c 4c]
jake2332 shows [Ks Kh]
Uncalled bet of $1.20 returned to djm182
*** FLOP *** [9h Jh 3d] <This two-heart flop including a 3 made me cringe.
*** TURN *** [9h Jh 3d] [Jd] <Sigh of relief
*** RIVER *** [9h Jh 3d Jd] [Ac] <BIG sigh of relief.
djm182 shows a full house, Aces full of Jacks
jake2332 shows two pair, Kings and Jacks
djm182 wins the side pot ($8.35) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
hanssens shows two pair, Jacks and Threes
djm182 wins the main pot ($44) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
jake2332 is sitting out
hanssens adds $5
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $55.10 Main pot $46.30. Side pot $8.80. | Rake $2.75
Board: [9h Jh 3d Jd Ac]
Seat 1: jake2332 showed [Ks Kh] and lost with two pair, Kings and Jacks
Seat 2: djm182 (button) showed [Ad As] and won ($52.35) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
Seat 3: hanssens (small blind) showed [3c 4c] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Threes
Seat 4: donjuan1028 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Michael2010 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: yugffut didn't bet (folded)

Borgnine on the Secret

2008-08-14T14:54:00.001-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen...Ernest Borgnine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I_PeLNzxNQ

Postings

2008-08-13T13:08:00.001-05:00

Yep. Uh huh. Dead nuts on.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/local_idiot_to_post_comment_on

Ch - Ch - Ch - Changes

2008-07-26T15:44:00.001-05:00

While the new job means more scratch and more title, it's also quickly come to mean:
a) less free time
b) less blogging
c) less poker
oh, and d) much more evening/weekend work.

Net/Net, it's all for the good. I'm very much digging being back in the financial saddle. The old job had a lot of near and mid-term stagnation, with a glimmer of massive upside. I think the role I'm in now has a much more stable, predictable future associated with it.

But I do miss the freedom. I missed AIPS today, although it was for family reasons and not work. And I wish I could play lots more because I've been cleaning up in the past couple weeks.

* 6th in an 18 person token race, which misses the token but gets me some cash
* Got the token next time around
* A few good SNG performances
* A CHIMPScyber-bracelet in Stud (of all games) on Tuesday.

The hilarious thing is that while Stud is a game that demands memory and concentration, I somehow won this while working AND going on tilt because the Metsbullpen blew a huge lead right in the middle of the final table. Chalk it up to being a lucktard, I guess. I don't have the hand history near me, but some key hands included making a crying call of someone's short-stacked naked bluff, getting dealt rolled up aces against the aggressive guy to my right, and then being a card rack late.

* Also I've done well in the few cash games I dabbled in. Last night was a great example. I played about 30 hands, never saw an Ace better than AQo, never saw a pair higher than 99. And I walked away with slightly more than 2x my initial buy-in. Flopping a set of 4s in a semi-dangerous board against a loose passive guy (mid 80s VP$IP !!) and a calling station helped. While there were straights out there by the river, and four board cards higher than the 4, neither of them had anything more than a pair. I had a VP$IP in this session <20% which is small for 6-max, but I won most of the pots I dabbled in, never was down more than like $5 and thought I was playing sharp. When you're playing against a table that plays tons and tons of hands, just wait for a hand and you'll get paid off.

Tonight is the home game. It's been a while. The thought process is to mix it up for the first three levels, then pick my spots thereafter. I'm expecting some LAG play early on as we haven't played in about 6 weeks.

I will bluff, at least early, but I will walk away if someone plays back, and I will value bet the hell out of made hands, because this group WILL pay you off. Fingers crossed.

CHIMPS Multi-Table

2008-07-15T21:50:00.001-05:00

I rarely if ever multi-table - my ADD mind can't really handle it. But multi-tabling three SNGs against a good field, well why the fuck not.

Table 1: 9PM. I chip up early, make a MP standard raise with KK. One of the blinds shoves and I call. He has AQ, flops an A and I'm crippled. Soon thereafter, I have 84o in a free multiway pot from the BB. It checks around on the flop. The turn gives me an 8 for top pair, POS kicker, but I shove. I get called by K6 and he rivers a K. 0-fer-1.

Table 2: 9:15PM. I make a raise from the CO w/ A9o and get two callers. The flop is 669. Unless the blind who came along had a 6, I figure I'm golden w/ TTP TK. The turn blanks, we get it all in and the blind had AA. Oy vey. I'm uber crippled here and disappear even before the third event starts. Nice night.

Table 3: I chipped up. Got tired, made a donk call of a reraise while holding 55 (vs. 88) and that was that.

Tough Times...and we're NOT going to pull through

2008-07-14T08:35:00.001-05:00

I will ALWAYS remember the speech given by one of the finance higher-ups at Ford Motor back when I worked there in the early part of the decade. 9/11 had just happened, the economy was in a pretty strong downturn (though not a fullblown recession). But more importantly, the "foreign" automakers now had a full lineup of trucks and SUVs to compete with the "Detroit" offering. This wasn't just a rough patch in the economy, it was a fundamental tipping of the see-saw.

The finance big shot is speaking to a room of finance grunts like myself when he says "Tough times are ahead, but we'll pull through it and be stronger than ever" or something to that extent.

Here we are, seven years later, and look at this - the Blue Oval is in debt up to its eyeballs.

Selling Jaguar, Land Rover, and potentially Volvo will only keep the ship afloat just a little bit longer.

I wonder if the following speech is being given somewhere in Dearborn today. Given the ownership structure of the shares, it's probably not:
"Tough times are ahead. And we're not prepared to deal with what will happen. We need to do something now that's in the best interests of our shareholders."

Lucksack

2008-07-05T22:24:00.001-05:00

The villain here had been playing a little tricky - and I honestly thought he may have had a set or two pair. Anything is possible in the BB. But to aggrodonk his way through the hand like this AND hit the four-outer on the river...my God.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7102994113: Table Quimby (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 23:18:34 ET - 2008/07/05
Seat 1: SaltyDog2952 ($2.75)
Seat 2: Clos8828 ($24.10)
Seat 3: djm182 ($12.20)
Seat 4: crymeariver13 ($4.35)
Seat 5: MoBrasil ($12.80)
Seat 6: derkui ($11)
SaltyDog2952 posts the small blind of $0.05
Clos8828 posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [As Qc]
djm182 raises to $0.35
crymeariver13 folds
MoBrasil folds
derkui folds
SaltyDog2952 folds
Clos8828 calls $0.25
*** FLOP *** [7h Qs 4s]
Clos8828 checks
djm182 bets $0.50
Clos8828 raises to $1
djm182 calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [7h Qs 4s] [5d]
Clos8828 bets $2.75
djm182 calls $2.75
*** RIVER *** [7h Qs 4s 5d] [6h]
Clos8828 checks
djm182 bets $8.10, and is all in
Clos8828 calls $8.10
*** SHOW DOWN ***
djm182 shows [As Qc] a pair of Queens
Clos8828 shows [Ad 8s] a straight, Eight high
Clos8828 wins the pot ($22.45) with a straight, Eight high
djm182 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $24.45 | Rake $2
Board: [7h Qs 4s 5d 6h]
Seat 1: SaltyDog2952 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Clos8828 (big blind) showed [Ad 8s] and won ($22.45) with a straight, Eight high
Seat 3: djm182 showed [As Qc] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 4: crymeariver13 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: MoBrasil didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: derkui (button) didn't bet (folded)

AIPS: Razz

2008-06-27T10:04:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: I know full well that the play in these events is going to be, um, less than stellar. I expect wacky things to happen. That's why I specifically laid out a strategy to help me avoid as much wackiness as possible and hopefully capitalize on the poor choices of others. The strategy is as follows.

a) Play nothing with a 9 or higher in it to start
b) Play nothing with an 8-6 or 8-7 in an early spot
c) Run from any and all bricks on 4th street unless the opponent(s) bricked worse
d) Play good hands hard. Punish people for trying to come at me with crap
e) Always remember that it's better to get the eff out of a Razz MTT early than stick around and be the bubble boy. My priorities are 1) win, 2) get KOed very early, 3) anything else.

Got all that? Good. Then here we go.

15 minutes into the festivities I'm down to 1410 in chips and am dealt [3 6]5. There are two 4s, two 5s, and a 7, 8, and 9 showing, not a great board, but I'll see another card. A 4 completes in front, I call and it's heads up.
4th st: The 4 gets a J. I get a K. He bets and I call...surely not the wisest call, but I still have three babies, and I've seen some pretty aggressive play from this guy so far. He lands a T on 5th while I get a J. Buh bye.

Five minutes later, I have 1295 chips and see [5 A]6 to start. I complete it, and the bring in (J) calls me. Lovely. On 5th street, he has J 8 6 showing vs. my 6 9 7. I'm still ahead, I'm still betting every street, and he's still calling. Uh oh. I pair my 7 on 6th street while he picks up an Ace. He leads out and may have just made an 8-6. At this point, I know where three of the deuces and all of the threes and fours are - hidden (either in the deck or buried cards). I've got lots of outs here. Well I get a 8 on 7th street for a measely 8-7. He checks, I check behind and he made the 8-6. The hand history shows he had [3 3]J. I'll assume that FT reshuffled it for display, but my God, even with [2 3]J, that's some sketchy play.

Now I'm down to 1000 chips. A few hands later, I get [A 4]5, complete it, get called by the same guy. Then I get a Q on 4th and release. 950 chips.

This one really irked me. I'm now anted down to 900 chips and start with [4 8]5. There's a dead 2, 3, and 6 so this isn't ideal, but I need to get some chips - even via stealing. It folds to me, I complete, and yet again the bring-in (T) calls. Long story short:
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to Seitz333 [Tc 3h 7s] [2c]
Dealt to djm182 [4d 8c 5h 7c Kh] [9c]
Seitz333 bets 100
djm182 folds

684 chips left.

Then for 25 straight hands, I release on 3rd street. Thank you very much for coming. 384 chips left. At long last, with [6 7]A, I complete early, and get called by two other ace door cards behind. They get a T and J respectively on 4th street. Good news, huh? Not when I get a K. The T properly leads out and I release. Down to 289 chips.

And I release the next dozen hands on 3rd street. Only 84 chips left behind now and we're 45 minutes into this. THIS IS NOT HOW I PICTURED IT!!!

Now here is the hand that sets me over the edge. With 84 chips left I'm dealt [6 4]2. I'm second after the bring-in and I complete it for all I've got. It folds around (damn) to the bring-in who calls with

...wait for it...

[6 Q]Q.

What an unabashed prick. Fittingly, he makes quad Queens on 5th street and I triple up to 258 chips.

Two hands later, I see [8 2]4. A 6 in front of me completes, I raise and we get it all-in on 3rd. He has [A 2]6. I peel off trip 8s by 5th street, followed by a T and a J and that's that.

Just a completely fucking brutal session, highlighted by a bad run of cards and some horrific play into me that was inappropriately rewarded.

The good news? I made the whole buy-in back and more in about 45 minutes of Micro PLHE. I never thought cash games would subsidize my SNG/MTT play, but that's the case lately.

Ramblings...and a tangent

2008-06-26T09:02:00.001-05:00

If Simmons can do it, why can't I?

* Besides the NBA, there is no more overhyped, overpublicized, and underwhelming event than the College World Series. I can't believe anyone watches this crap. Aluminum bats...bad pitching...scores like football games. I can't imagine what it was like before the television coverage took a dramatic turn for the better.

* Why would the Weather Channel build a big HD studio and only use it for some shows? Are the Mets only planning on playing divisional games in CitiField next year, relegating other games back to Shea? This makes no sense.

* Dr. James Dobson goes off about Obama "distoring the bible." I don't even have a joke here. People like Dobson are the reason I have less and less interest in religion with every passing day.

* Here's Matthew Berry with some great anecdotes about the late and great George Carlin. If you ever want to know what kind of person a celebrity really is, you see what they do off camera. I'll never forget the Senior Players Championship that I volunteered at in Dearborn. Tom Kite led going into Sunday, played poorly and got passed by Raymond Floyd. After the round is over, they do the trophy presentation on #18. When that wraps up I began to head for the car. As I'm walking toward the clubhouse, there's Kite *still* signing autographs between 18 and the locker room. Mere minutes after blowing a major championship, Kite signed every autograph. That's the kind of stuff great people are made of.

* "I'm just so, so thrilled." Those the words of Ana Ivanovic after barely winning her second round Wimbledon matchup. In response to this, the entire male population of the world was heard saying "whew, I'm glad we get to see her play another match this week."

* Here's a gem. Glenn Beck on conservative values.

So what are my core values, the things that I refuse to compromise on? To figure that out, I decided to try to define what I think a conservative really believes.
A conservative believes that our inalienable rights do not include housing, healthcare or Hummers.

I agree...with the last one. But why on Earth is some level of healthcare for our citizens - even the most basic care level - not an inalienable right? Nobody has ever sufficiently explained this to me, but it's clear that the rich don't want to pay for it.

A conservative believes that our inalienable rights DO include the pursuit of happiness. That means it is guaranteed to no one.

Blah blah blah...

A conservative believes that those who pursue happiness and find it have a right to not be penalized for that success.

Correct. Instead, penalize the less successful - fuck them all. They don't need homes or healthcare either. Fact is, dickwad, that the existence of government is critical because there are certain things only governments can pull off. And with our infrastructure crumbling, the government needs more revenue (i.e. taxes) to pull off said things.

The root cause of all these problems is wasteful government spending. It's not the sources of the tax dollars - it's the USAGE of the tax dollars.

A simple analogy for your simple mind, Glenn. Say you have a kid in college. The kid loves him the booze. Spends a TON of money on it. What do you do to correct the problem?
a) If you're a conservative, you give him less and tell him to get by with it.
b) If you have a brain, you educate him/impose restrictions on him/discipline him so that the money he has is not spent as wastefully.

Attack the problem, don't put a band aid on it.

A conservative believes that there are no protections against the hardship and heartache of failure. We believe that the right to fail is just as important as the chance to succeed and that those who do fail learn essential lessons that will help them the next time around.
A conservative believes in personal responsibility and accepts the consequences for his or her words and actions.

These two are both very true.

A conservative believes that real compassion can't be found in any government program.

A conservative doesn't believe in real compassion. That's my observation.

A conservative believes that each of us has a duty to take care of our neighbors. It was private individuals, companies and congregations that sent water, blankets and supplies to New Orleans far before the government ever set foot there.

True, but only the government was *capable* of properly dealing with the Katrina disaster. Now they royally fucked it up and that is well known. But no disorganized group of volunteers, private individuals, congregations, etc. could adequately pull off the recovery effort that was needed to rescue New Orleans. Government could pull this off. It didn't, but it's the only kind of entity capable. To fix this, we don't abandon government, we fix it, monitor it, and kick the asses of those within it who continue to screw up.

A conservative believes that family is the cornerstone of our society and that people have a right to manage their family any way they see fit, so long as it's not criminal. We are far more attuned to our family's needs than some faceless, soulless government program.

What faceless, soulless government program would this be? Seriously, I haven't a clue. When did government try to interject itself into how people manage their own families?

A conservative believes that people have a right to worship the God of their understanding. We also believe that people do not have the right to jam their version of God (or no God) down anybody else's throat.

Fine. Everyone has the right to worship or not worship. I wholeheartedly support the second point. And I'll add a third - I reserve the right to question the entire concept of religion (not the concept of God - but the bureaucracy and bullshit that accompanies religion) without being branded as an evil person.

A conservative believes that people go to the movies to be entertained and to church to be preached to, not the other way around.

Conservatives also believe that people go to restaurants to eat and to laundromats to wash their clothes, not the other way around. Seriously, WTF is the point of this?

A conservative believes that debt creates unhealthy relationships. Everyone, from the government on down, should live within their means and strive for financial independence.

Smartest thing he's written - perhaps ever.

A conservative believes that a child's education is the responsibility of the parents, not the government.

True, though EVERY child is entitled to the right to go to school.

A conservative believes that every human being has a right to life, from conception to death.

There are just SO many grey areas in here. I'll just say this - I believe that everyone who isn't 100% ready to parent a child ought to exercise birth control. It ain't that expensive.

A conservative believes in the smallest government you can get without anarchy. We know our history: The larger a government gets, the harder it will fall.

Moderately true. But as I mentioned above - if you starve a government, you get nonsense like the Katrina response. You get deteriorating infrastructure. You lose the ability to have a military presence that we need. You lose the kinds of things that only government can provide. There's a balance in here, and the way to best achieve the balance is to continue to fund the government AND hold the government accountable for what it does. The latter surely hasn't happened in our last 7.5 years - perhaps it hasn't happened in decades. Government has come to mean entitlement for those in it - not responsibility to those who fund it. Therein lies the problem.

Those are the things a conservative believes in, and they're the things that I believe in. Now, if only I could find a candidate to match.

Keep searching, ol boy. I've found mine.

* When you have 57 suited in the BB, see a free flop of 3 5 5, what could possibly go wrong? Well when you try to trap an aggressive player and said player flopped a boat with 35...'nuff said.

* "Kobe, how my ass taste." Brilliant.

* Woo hoo, Jerry Manuel yelled at an umpire. Who the hell cares? Win some damn ball games and get back into the NL East race first, then I'll start to worry about the little things like team fielding exercises and argued balls and strikes. That's not an indictment of Manuel - it's a prioritization of what needs to happen.

The Joe Morgan Backstory

2008-06-26T08:00:00.001-05:00

...as only Posnanski can.

Just Observed

2008-06-19T12:27:00.001-05:00

An actual overheard quote from the driving range, mere minutes ago.

"Yo, are those m*****f****** signs in yards?"

Epic.

Oh and thanks to the kind folks who decided to put the ropes on the *downslope* of the grass tee. Nice job, fellas.

Oh the calls that we make

2008-06-19T08:04:00.002-05:00

In total, it was a good night of online play for me. Something triggered me to sign up for a $5 45-player SNG. While it was coming together, I sat at a micro PLHE table. I quickly doubled up my stack with good-but-not-great hands against a table full of fair-but-not-good players that didn't know how to fold. I would've done better here except for an AA<QQ hand later on. I shut this down at the first break in the SNG up a buy-in - so I'm freerolling in the SNG.

The SNG played amazingly passive. I kept stealing early on with all sorts of stuff. I lost one big pot with something like AQ losing to A9, but quickly recouped that stack and more. I held the chip lead for a while and made it to the final table in good position - either 1st or 2nd in chips.

At this point, there were a couple of short stacks but mostly 6-7 equally sized stacks and we were rapidly approaching the 10BB level. I folded lots, watched a fair amount of people get their chips in questionably, and finally made the bubble (after I called a short stack shove where my AQ actually beat A9).

Here's where it sucked. With three players left, I had about 38k of the remaining chips. One player had about 8k, and the third player had the balance. I'm dealt A6 in position, and see a 534 flop. The aforementioned third player shoves his ~20k stack in. I have two overcards, a OESD, but nothing else. Yet for some reason I felt compelled to call here. He turns over 52 which hurts - he has a hand, he too has an OESD, and his 2 takes away one of my outs. Plus any 6 or A now kills me.

Needless to say, this was a terrible spot:

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=4824402
pokenum  -h 5h 2s  - ac 6d  -- 5c 3d 4s 
Holdem Hi: 990 enumerated boards containing 4s 5c 3d
 cards  win   %win  lose  %lose  tie  %tie     EV
2s 5h  712  71.92   257  25.96   21  2.12  0.730
Ac 6d  257  25.96   712  71.92   21  2.12  0.270

He rivered the straight, not that he needed to, but that made me a distant second. In the very next hand, I'm the BB and see 44. The button folds, the short stacked SB shoves and I call. He tables Jc6c - as if he had an ounce of fold equity. The bastard rivers a J and now I'm down to one BB. I move in with K5 the very next hand and so ends my night.

Why on earth did I call with that OESD? Really the only time I got chips in bad all night but I had to do it at the end.

Patience. Slow down. When will I learn?

CHIMPS H/U

2008-06-17T22:01:00.003-05:00

And to think I was *thisclose* to blowing this one off.

Of course, a first round bye helps things.

In the second round, after being down to 1220 in chips, I flopped bottom two on a 7s Qs 8d board. I check-called the flop, led out on the turn when an A landed, got called and shoved the rest of my stack in on the river. He had a naked A, and now I had the lead. Six hands later, my 88 held up against his A8 and on we go to the semis.

I took a small chip lead in the first hand and never trailed here. Made a questionable call in the last hand. I button raised 3x with 77. He shoved his 4300 chip stack in, and I made the call with my 7600+ stack. He flipped over A9o and I dodged all the bullets.

After a long wait and what looked like one heck of a back and forth battle in the other semi, we started the finals vs. ReedMoney. He came out firing with both barrels and I was quickly in the hole. Whiffed a flop with A9o but tried to represent something and quickly I was down 15.4 to 8.6k chips. Yeeowch. Four hands later, I have AKs. Reed made a 3x button raise which he did often. I min-raised that and he made a big reraise over that. Well I'm not folding this so I ship the rest of my stack in and he has 10s. I flop an A and now I take the 16.5 to 7.5k lead.

Trying my best to nurse this lead, I piss my stack down to 14.4k when I get frisky from the BB w/ J8s, and c-betting on an A-high flop. Whoops. But PS came to my rescue two hands later and this is how it ended:

PokerStars Game #18210159583: Tournament #92414506, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round IV, Level II (120/240) - 2008/06/17 - 22:57:13 (ET)
Table '92414506 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: ReedMoney (9720 in chips)
Seat 2: djm182 (14280 in chips)
ReedMoney: posts small blind 120
djm182: posts big blind 240
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [As Ac]
ReedMoney: calls 120
djm182: raises 480 to 720
ReedMoney: calls 480
*** FLOP *** [Kd 6d 7d]
djm182: bets 720
ReedMoney: raises 1200 to 1920
djm182: raises 11640 to 13560 and is all-in (God bless him if he has the flush already.)
ReedMoney: calls 7080 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (4560) returned to djm182
*** TURN *** [Kd 6d 7d] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 6d 7d Ah] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
djm182: shows [As Ac] (a full house, Aces full of Sixes)
ReedMoney: shows [4s Qd] (a pair of Sixes)
ReedMoney said, "gg"
djm182 collected 19440 from pot

About damn time I got me one of them CHIMPS virtual bracelets.

Recap

2008-06-16T15:59:00.001-05:00

Thoughts since I've last blogged...

* We shot 62 in a scramble at Hiland last Thursday. Went -10 over the last 13 holes. I hit the driver pretty well, but never struck a solid iron or a good chip shot all day. Heck of a finish though and I can't wait to return the 15 yellow pro staffs I won in a raffle. Sigh.

* Had the home game on Saturday night. This one should be called the barn game - it was actually played in a barn. The Cliffs' Notes version is that I wasn't dealt much - 44 was my biggest pocket pair in 3+ hours, and I had AKs once, AQs once and AQo once. Did the best I could - until I got down to heads up and even-stacked with an aggressive player. When dealing, I dealt K6 to myself and threw in a K6 raise. He went all-in. Earlier on he had run me off of hands that I had come in on with marginal holdings. Thought that just maybe he was trying to do it again so I called. He had ATs and flopped a T to close me out. Bad move on my part - not just that particular hand but not figuring out a strategy for the situation. The right way to play would be to see every reasonable flop and trap him. I firmly believe I could outplay him heads up but I took myself out of that chance right out of the gate.

* Tiger. Wow. People still don't realize how great he truly is. He did this with just a week or two of practice after a long layoff and a surgery, and he did it with quite a bit of pain. Hats off to Rocco, who I was pulling for for sentimental reasons - not the least of which is that he's 45 and likely will never have this shot again. All that said, I'd sure like to see Tiger with his A-game again. I don't think we've seen the A in some time now, but his B or C game is still better than everyone else's A.

The playoff was amazing, only to end in very anticlimactic and depressing fashion.

The Hybrid Myth

2008-06-11T09:30:00.001-05:00

Here's a great article debunking the myth of Hybrid vehicles. In short, your payback period to recover the higher purchase cost of a hybrid is at least six years - meaning that if you buy a hybrid, be prepared to look at it in the garage for a LONG time.

Mediocrity

2008-06-11T09:25:00.001-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, the New York Mets, as described by ESPN.com's Rob Neyer:

Speaking of consistency, over their last 162 games the Mets are 82-80. Yes, it's cherry-picking. While 162 is not an arbitrary numbers, it's little more indicative than 142 (72-70) or 182 (90-92). But you know, 182 games is a fair number of games. The Mets are two games under .500 in their last 182 games. That means something, doesn't it?

Bad luck? Maybe. But over those same 182 games the Mets have scored 868 runs and they've allowed 869 runs. Exactly the profile of a .500 team. Over 182 games. That means something doesn't it.

And yet the organization just rolls merrily along with the same manager and the same general manager. If I were a Mets fan I would be leading a revolt in the streets. (Actually, I would be hoping that someone else would lead a revolt that I could follow, at a safe distance.)

As described by yours truly, this is a team that's good at jumping out to early leads, then watching its offense go dormant while a decent to even slightly above average bullpen tries to hold on for dear life. Sometimes they do, other times they don't.

I have no hopes of this team winning the East or anything else this year. The Phillies are too good and you can't call yourself a credible threat when Tatis, Chavez, and Easley are getting as many ABs as they are getting. It's a punchless offense when Reyes, Wright or Beltran don't have big games.

Katrina on the blocks

2008-06-10T09:38:00.001-05:00

Here we go again. Don't you DARE ever say anything bad about Detroit - even if it might be true.

While I didn't watch enough of the Cup to say whose fans are better than whose, I do know that there were good seats available for at least some early round playoff games at the Joe. Heck, when I lived there, you couldn't get seats for any game. And Pittsburgh fans have always been good vocal fans - despite having to root for a moribund Pirates franchise and the perpetually threatening-to-leave Penguins.

A local sports reporter who stands behind her opinion - good for her.

PLHE Struggles

2008-06-05T09:53:00.001-05:00

I multi-tabled (i.e. 2-tabled, which is a lot for my ADD mind to handle) micro PLHE 6-max tables last night. The results were, um, positive, I guess. In hindsight, I felt like I was limping a lot more than would be optimal. On the other hand, I was largely dealt crap and when you're battling with a lot of limpers and calling stations, it's best to wait for something to hammer them with.

I kept hitting bottom or middle pair on weak flops and having to lay down hands to strong turn/river bets. I called a few of these and did pick up a bluff or two, but probably bled more chips than I gained from that strategy. Once with a decent pocket pair (99) on a board with all undercards, I kept getting called on each street by a guy with a ridiculous VPIP. The river peels off an ace and he leads out into me. I type "Ace-rag wins again" and fold. Of course, I'm then called a whiner, an idiot, and clever and all that. That's fine. Say what you want, just stay at my table please. I'm also thoroughly convinced that I was right.

I never hit a straight or a flush all night. Flopped one set that turned into quads but only got marginal action. Had KK later on and saw a K44 flop, and I led out from EP with a probing bet that I thought someone might play back on. Nope.

There was a lot of "hit and run" at these tables. Guys would show up, try to chip up quickly, and if they won a big pot they'd bail. Some idiot shows up, flops sets twice in four total hands played, then takes the money to a table with 5x the stakes. Jerk.

Long story short, after being stuck for around a buy-in, I finally clawed back to a marginal profit.

Me thinks this is almost as bad as it can get at these tables.

Bet she regrets all those personal loans now

2008-06-04T09:08:00.001-05:00

Hillary: in it for the cash.

Posnanski: Why I Cannot Stand Aquaman

2008-06-03T10:47:00.000-05:00

This one kills me.

Why I Cannot Stand Aquaman

via Joe Posnanski by Joe Posnanski on 6/2/08

And then, there was Segment 3. This could feature any number of guest star Superheroes … it could be the Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Flash (my favorite … I loved the concept that a guy could be a Superhero just by being really fast — Miguel Dilone, if he had applied himself, could have been a super hero), the Atom, etc. I can remember sitting there in front of the television during those aluminum siding commercials (Garfield 1, 23-23, Garfield 1, 23-23), and I would be nervous because I could not wait to see which superhero it would be. Would it be Hawkman? The Flash? Maybe Flash Kid …

Uh, no. The commercial would end and nine out of 10 times, the "special guest hero" would be: Aquaman.
Man, I hated Aquaman. Still do. That guy was no superhero. Please. Oh, he could swim fast. Great. So could Mark Spitz. He could also talk to fish. Great. So can my father in law. I mean, seriously, you could not have a weaker collection of powers than that.

Plus there was this simple issue: THE GUY WAS UNDERWATER. I mean, seriously, is underwater crime that big a problem in society today? Is there a lot of deep sea bank robbery going on? Saltwater extortion? Marine money laundering? It used to drive me absolutely crazy watching the Superfriends because they always felt like they had to give Aquaman equal time, even though he wasn't contributing a thing. Superman, you go fly up to the moon and see if you can destroy the anti gravity machine. Wonder Woman you hop into your invisible plane, slip past the hypnotized and undead Mongolian Army and capture the Evil Hypnotist. Aquaman, um, you go gather a school of hammer fish and, uh, go hammer something.

And that's another thing … as I understand it, Aquaman could only TALK to fish. He had no POWER over the fish. So apparently we are supposed to believe that whenever Aquaman needs help, these fish will drop whatever they're doing and rush over just because they like him. Sure. My kids like me. I can't get them to put on their shoes when we're leaving the house for something THEY WANT TO DO, but this guy can send out a few soundwaves and get swordfish, sharks, blowfish and octopi to swim over from the other side of the ocean and risk their fishy lives. Oh yeah.

So, no, I don't like Aquaman. That's why he's not in the poll.

SNG Struggles

2008-06-02T08:06:00.001-05:00

I played two of 'em last night. The first was Turbo PLO8, and I'll be damned if I didn't pick up a viable starting hand. I charged after one hand with AK3x ss and took it down on a ragged flop. In the second, I started w/ A45J all clubs, raised from the cutoff and got called from the button. I picked up a gutshot (36x was the flop) w/ a backdoor and a shot at the nut low if I could get a deuce to fall. I shoved my short stack in, bricked out and that was that. Why do I keep subjecting my tight style of play to a format where you MUST land a quality hand in a short period of time?

So on to a regular old NLHE SNG. At one stretch, I was dealt AQo, QQ and AKs in back-to-back-to-back hands. I won the first two, lost the second when AKs < A5s. Later on after I had tripled up to get back to a playable level of chips, I got it all in against a short stack w/ AJo vs AJs. He rivers the flush. Finally I get in push-or-fold mode again, lose with KJs to 77 when he flops a 7, then with 2/3 of my stack in as the BB, I call a SB raise with J5o. He has 66...flops a set and rivers quads.

I'm curious to see what it's like to have a horseshoe jammed up my ass. Lately it's only been someone else's foot.

Rachael's kiffiyeh

2008-05-28T15:40:00.000-05:00

Because, as we all know, it would clearly be in Rachael Ray's AND Dunkin Donuts' best interests to deliberately introduce a subtle yet poignant display of their support of terrorism into their advertising campaign. Thank God we've got the Michelle Malkin's of the world to root out such heinous attempts at influencing the American Idiots. After all, that's Malkin's job (among others).

I won't link to it because it doesn't deserve to be cross-referenced anywhere - even in a blog as trivial as this one - but the thing that's even scarier than Malkin and her anal-cranial clouded viewpoints is the mindless sheep that flock to her and buy into her line of crap. Same goes for O'Reilly, Hannity, Fat Deaf and Drugged up Rush, and the always and forever #1 on the list of bitches I'd love to hate f*ck - Laura Ingraham.

More Rebuy Madness

2008-05-28T09:21:00.001-05:00

14 Entrants in CHIMPS so we start seven-handed. These people must view me as a complete and total rock, as most of my raises/shoves were met with nothing more than quick folds.

Other than one limp from the button, I don't play a hand for the first seven minutes. Meanwhile, people are picking up hands and getting callers. The player three to my left has 10k chips before I've even made a move.

The painful summary of a lot of key hands is below. I walked away from this with a few thoughts:
1) There seemed to be a LOT of UTG raising - especially from warrendc and rascony. Food for thought.
2) It shocked me the number of times I went into a pot and had the entire table stick their tail between their legs - particularly in the rebuy period. I took advantage of this a few times, but not nearly enough.
3) I continued playing a bit too tight as I started to get short. Granted, you'd love to wake up w/ a monster and get action, but theres' times where TP will do. I need to think through these better as they come.
4) The ideal strategy here is to chip up big early and just secure a big stack for the post-rebuy period. Short of that, you have to get action.

-----

Here's a summary of my action in the rebuy period.
* Shove from button w/ 88, UTG raiser folds (WTF are you raising with UTG and then folding when you have a 5:1 chip advantage?)
* 4x raise very next hand from cutoff w/ 99. Everyone folds.
* Shove from UTG+1 w/ JJ a couple hands later. UTG limper and everyone else folds.
* An interesting hand w/ Snuffy where I read the situation right, made a tough but correct call, got sucked out on...and then resucked on the river.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6590995840: CHIMPS 3 - Event #3 (48190880), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:14:16 ET - 2008/05/27
Seat 1: djm182 (2,055)
Seat 2: warrendc73 (1,865)
Seat 3: gadzooks64 (1,895)
Seat 4: khanwoman (10,725)
Seat 5: rascony (2,000)
Seat 6: SmBoatDrinks (730)
Seat 7: scottc25 (2,730)
scottc25 posts the small blind of 20
djm182 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [Ts 9d]
warrendc73 folds
gadzooks64 folds
khanwoman folds
rascony folds
SmBoatDrinks folds
scottc25 calls 20
djm182 checks
*** FLOP *** [Th Ac 4d]
scottc25 checks
djm182 bets 80
scottc25 raises to 250 <<He's raising from SB if he has an Ace
djm182 has 15 seconds left to act
djm182 raises to 2,015, and is all in
scottc25 calls 1,765
djm182 shows [Ts 9d] <<Nice
scottc25 shows [Tc 7h]
*** TURN *** [Th Ac 4d] [7c] <<Three-outer
*** RIVER *** [Th Ac 4d 7c] [As] <<Counterfeited!!
djm182 shows two pair, Aces and Tens
scottc25 shows two pair, Aces and Tens
djm182 wins the pot (4,110) with two pair, Aces and Tens

* Seventeen minutes later, I make a pot size raise UTG+2 w/ AQo and get no action.
* A non-descript hand where I check the BB, river a gutshot, and try but fail to extract a value bet.
* 38 minutes in, I raise UTG+2 w/ JJ and get re-popped by the BB. I come over the top of that and he has QQ. Oooof. From 3900 down to 1900.
* 43 minutes in, I wake up w/ AK in the SB. With a pot-size raise in front of me, I shove and get two callers, including the original raiser. AK up against AQ and TT, and I flop an A to triple up. Sweet.
* The very next hand I get frisky and button shove w/ A4s. No takers. Again.
* Right after that I cutoff shove with AQo. Seriously, isn't someone at least starting to think I'm playing like a maniac here? Guess not. All folds.
* At 46 minutes in, this one hurt. I limped UTG w/ AJ - probably a mistake. On an AT8 rainbow flop, the SB leads out, after having limped preflop. I put him all-in and he calls w/ AK. Dammit, that's my play - limping from the blinds w/ AK. Grrrrr. Back down to 3500 chips. More importantly, the rebuy window is closing fast and the big stacks are now playing like complete rocks. I really need to double up before the window closes.
* The very next hand w/ JTo in the BB, the SB limps, I repop it and take it down there.
* 48 minutes in, I have KK UTG+1. I tease a 4x raise out there hoping and praying to get action. Again - nothing.
* Three hands after that, I have 88 in the BB. UTG goes all-in for about 2500. It folds to me. I sit and think and finally muck, respecting the position of this move. Mistake? Probably.
* Then I get AQo in the button. Hopefully a 4x raise might look like a steal. Nah. All folds.
* Now it's 50 minutes in and I have JJ UTG. I shove and gawdammit it folds around.
* Ah, wait, 53 minutes in it's AA UTG. Once again a 4x raise hoping to induce action. All folds.
* 55 minutes in, I screw up. I have Ad8d OTB. UTG+1 makes a 3.5x raise and I just call. The flop is Ks 8s 5h and he leads for 400 - a smallish bet. I think and call. The turn is a blank but he makes a pot-size bet. I'm either shoving or folding and I can too easily see him having a K or a pair > 8s so I fold and am down to 3k. Not the short stack at the table, but much shorter than I'd like with the window closing fast.
* Two hands later I shove w/ 88 in MP. Again, no action.
* 57 minutes in I have AK in the SB. The button calls, I raise it from 100 to 1000 - hoping it looks like an odd bet. Fold.
* 58 minutes in it's KK UTG+1. I shove. Everyone. Just. Folds.

And that's it. After the rebuy period, I have a pittance of 3452 chips. The good news is that I never rebought - just did the original max buy-in plus the add-on. The bad news is that I'm short stacked into the deep stack portion of the event.

At 18 minutes into the 2nd hour, with AK UTG+1, I got no action. Five minutes later, same story with AQ from the cutoff. After that I raised w/ J9o from the button. Again. Nothing.

It took until 10:35 to finally get something going:
Full Tilt Poker Game #6592077896: CHIMPS 3 - Event #3 (48190880), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:34:56 ET - 2008/05/27
Seat 1: djm182 (2,582)
Seat 2: warrendc73 (8,028)
Seat 4: khanwoman (10,006)
Seat 5: rascony (10,380)
Seat 6: SmBoatDrinks (8,880)
Seat 7: scottc25 (3,624)
rascony posts the small blind of 100
SmBoatDrinks posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [Kc Ks]
scottc25 folds
djm182 raises to 700
warrendc73 calls 700
khanwoman folds
rascony folds
SmBoatDrinks folds
*** FLOP *** [8c 2h 9h]
djm182 bets 1,882, and is all in
warrendc73 calls 1,882
djm182 shows [Kc Ks]
warrendc73 shows [9s As]
*** TURN *** [8c 2h 9h] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [8c 2h 9h 3s] [2s]
djm182 shows two pair, Kings and Twos
warrendc73 shows two pair, Nines and Twos
djm182 wins the pot (5,464) with two pair, Kings and Twos

For the life of me, I don't understand why I did what I did in this next hand. I'm in the BB w/ QTo and see a free flop of T86 rainbow. I check to see what the UTG preflop caller will do. He makes a pot sized bet at it...and I fold? WTF?? Top pair w/ a decent kicker when I need the chips. I can't kill myself if I go out on this hand if he's got a monster. Bad play.

And now the antes kick in and they're quickly killing me. We're playing five handed for most of this time and the ever increasing blinds are racing around the track quite fast.

At 10:47 I pick up 44 in the BB. It folds to the SB (now SmBoatDrinks) who makes a 3x raise. This wasn't the first time. I shove, he thinks and thinks and folds. He probably had two overs at worse - maybe a better pair.

Then I pick up a couple of smallish pots and am back to 6500 chips at the 150/300/25 level. I turn a free flush draw from the BB w/ 72s, connect on the turn and take a decent pot thereafter to get up to 7200 chips. I'm *thisclose* to being back in business.

Then with 78 in the BB, I see a free 3c 5s 7c flop. I check-call a standard bet. Turn is a K and I get called this time. We check down the river and he hit the K. Grrrrr. Back to 5k chips.

Finally I get it in w/ a flopped 2nd nut flush draw, but it never connects.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6592445409: CHIMPS 3 - Event #3 (48190880), Table 1 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:02:37 ET - 2008/05/27

Seat 1: djm182 (4,209)

Seat 2: warrendc73 (14,255)

Seat 4: khanwoman (4,861)

Seat 5: rascony (10,450)

Seat 6: SmBoatDrinks (9,725)

djm182 antes 50

warrendc73 antes 50

khanwoman antes 50

rascony antes 50

SmBoatDrinks antes 50

SmBoatDrinks posts the small blind of 200

djm182 posts the big blind of 400

The button is in seat #5

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to djm182 [Kd 5d]

warrendc73 folds

khanwoman folds

rascony folds

SmBoatDrinks calls 200

djm182 checks

*** FLOP *** [4d Jd 9h]

SmBoatDrinks bets 1,050

djm182 raises to 3,759, and is all in

SmBoatDrinks calls 2,709

djm182 shows [Kd 5d]

SmBoatDrinks shows [8h 9d]

*** TURN *** [4d Jd 9h] [8c]

*** RIVER *** [4d Jd 9h 8c] [Kc]

djm182 shows a pair of Kings

SmBoatDrinks shows two pair, Nines and Eights

SmBoatDrinks wins the pot (8,568) with two pair, Nines and Eights

djm182 stands up

PLHE Strikes Back

2008-05-25T21:57:00.001-05:00

More appropriately, the idiots playing PLHE.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6565286715: Table Tomsik (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 22:50:25 ET - 2008/05/25
Seat 1: WJP84 ($3.75)
Seat 2: dubie318 ($1.90)
Seat 3: double5 ($3.85), is sitting out
Seat 4: djm182 ($6.50)
Seat 5: esmal ($15.75)
Seat 6: B-flat Major ($5.80)
B-flat Major posts the small blind of $0.05
WJP84 posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [Ks Ac]
dubie318 folds
djm182 raises to $0.35
esmal folds
B-flat Major folds
WJP84 has 15 seconds left to act
WJP84 raises to $0.70
djm182 raises to $2.15 (Yeah it's just AK, but I see this guy as being pretty weak)
WJP84 has 15 seconds left to act
WJP84 raises to $3.60
djm182 raises to $6.50, and is all in
WJP84 calls $0.15, and is all in
djm182 shows [Ks Ac]
WJP84 shows [Qs Jd]
Uncalled bet of $2.75 returned to djm182
*** FLOP *** [7s Qd 8c]
*** TURN *** [7s Qd 8c] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [7s Qd 8c Qh] [8h]
djm182 shows two pair, Queens and Eights
WJP84 shows a full house, Queens full of Eights
WJP84 wins the pot ($6.80) with a full house, Queens full of Eights
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $7.55 | Rake $0.75
Board: [7s Qd 8c Qh 8h]
Seat 1: WJP84 (big blind) showed [Qs Jd] and won ($6.80) with a full house, Queens full of Eights
Seat 2: dubie318 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: double5 is sitting out
Seat 4: djm182 showed [Ks Ac] and lost with two pair, Queens and Eights
Seat 5: esmal (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: B-flat Major (small blind) folded before the Flop

AIPS Rebuy

2008-05-23T08:32:00.001-05:00

I don't have much to say about this because the sooner I strike it from my memory, the better.

I chipped up quite nicely early on when I saw a flop w/ JsQs, and what a flop it was: AKT. EP bet, I raised and we got it all in. He had AK. Ouch. I slowly built that stack until about the :40 minute mark when I made a horrific play. With a standard raise in front, I called w/ 77. Late position shoved. The EP leader folded. Now the LP guy had openly expressed amazement at some of the play so far - clearly not familiar with a low $ rebuy format. I should've put him on something good, but instead I prayed he had AK or something. He had QQ and I was down to <2000 chips.

I went broke soon thereafter, rebought, got it back up over 3k chips. Then the hand of the night that ruined things. I can't recall if this was late in the rebuy period or early in the post-rebuy period, but I had AKo in EP. I don't remember the action, but two short stacks behind me got it AIPF and I came along as well.

Me: AKo
SS1: 4c5c
SS2: AcTc

And the flop puts an A AND a K out there. Wooot!! Only one problem. Two of the cards are clubs. Are you effing kidding me? The turn is a third club, and I go from a good double-up+ opportunity back to a short stack.

Then I go on a ridonkulous run of starting hands. Actually, the first hand back from break, I just barely made it to the seat in time to see the ticker counting down, and AA staring me in the face. I made a 3x raise from the cutoff, prayed to God that I'd get action, but only got a call and then a check/fold from one of the blinds. Thanks, Sharkey. :)

After that, I never saw a big ace. I only saw three pocket pairs - 44 which I folded to a big reraise, 99 which I shoved with and had it fold around, and 77 which I shoved with from EP when I was real short, got called by the big stack loose bully with Ax suited, and he rivered the Ace to finish me off.

Every other hand in this period was 94, K2, J3, T7, etc. The only marginally playable hands all fell to me in EP. I probably missed a resteal opportunity or two, but I was so short so quickly that I felt I had to at least have something. Only that something never came.

Out, I believe, in 30th of 101. Eh. The last 90 minutes or so were just immensely frustrating. I kept waiting and waiting for my double-up and it never came.

More PLHE Goodness

2008-05-22T12:16:00.001-05:00

I sat at a 6-handed PLHE micro table again last night, and after one ugly beat early on, left up with a slight profit in about 90 minutes worth of play. Two to my left was a very interesting player - his VP$IP was perfectly in line at around 20%, but if this guy saw a flop and connected with it in the slightest, he was NOT folding.

Case in point: I had him targeted, and when he min-raised from UTG+1, I called from the BB w/ K5s. The flop was K-high (KTx, I believe) with only one suited card for me, still I felt I was ahead of him. I checked and he bet pot. I re-popped it for pot again which put me all-in - surely an aggressive (at best) move, but I'd seen this guy constantly C-bet and he can't have it all the time. Well his timer starts ticking down and now I know I'm ahead. All of a sudden he calls and turns over AJo - for a gutshot with an overcard. The turn blanks but he rivers an Ace and I have to dip back into the piggy bank. I asked him what he was thinking and he responded "I just said #(@% it." Indeed.

No worries, as now this guy has some more chips and he's probably not going anywhere.

I ended up taking two pretty sizeable pots off of him - the latter that felted him with a play that I wouldn't make versus anyone who I hadn't IDed as a Grade A mook. I had 99 UTG and made a pot size bet. He re-pots it as next to act. It folds around to me and I call. The flop is 7 3 2 rainbow. God bless him if he has TT+, but I think he's more likely to have some naked ace. I bet pot and he comes over the top for a bit more, going all-in. I instacall and he turns over....wait for it....KQo. Brick, brick, and now I gots all the bastard's chips. Yum. Sadly, he got up and left right then and there, and since it was late and since the blinds were about to pass through me, I did the same.

I turned on RealTime for the first time in, well, a long time. It's a pretty rudimentary but useful tool. Give me simple stats on pre-flop raises, VP$IP, aggression, etc. and it makes it so much easier to focus in on your targets. Late in the session, a player with VP$IP >70 sat to my right. I was never able to take a big pot off this fish, but given enough time to sit there, it could've been a payday.

Tonight is AIPS NLHE Rebuy. This should be verrryyyy interesting. Hopefully the turnout is strong, hopefully nobody bails within the first hour, hopefully I make it deep, and hopefully it doesn't take half the night. With 100+ participants, an hour worth of cheap rebuys, plus a one-hour add-on, there should be a bajillion chips in play. I don't think it's a turbo either. Yikes.

-----
Sounds like heads may soon be rolling in Flushing. I have no idea who a possible replacement could be, but right now I think just about any change is warranted. This team is lifeless, the pressure clearly got to Willie with his racism comments, and ownership cannot justify this kind of performance with a roster with that kind of talent. Yeah, they're probably a 90-win roster at best, but dropping 6 of the last 7 divisional games is sad, sad, sad.

The post Memorial Day 2007 - 2008 Mets

2008-05-21T09:04:00.001-05:00

Faith and Fear sums it up *perfectly*

"you have to give the 2008 Mets credit: No team does a better job confounding any attempt to figure out what they're really made of. The team's obviously terrible -- can't do a damn thing against a horrible Nationals team that might actually recruit pitchers by taking the guys turned down by the Dallas police after responding to the ads above the urinals in the upper deck. Well, no -- they beat the Yankees in convincing fashion, working counts, having smart at-bats and running up the score. So they're actually pretty darn good, right? No -- after an off-day they come out and play 18 innings of prairie-flat baseball, marked by giveaway at-bats, dimwitted baserunning, indifferent fielding and lousy pitching.

It's easy to be average -- just plod along and win some and lose some. But that's too simple for the Mets of late -- they have to be average by yo-yoing from bad to good and bad again at a truly fearsome velocity. It's no easy thing to be at once fundamentally mediocre and completely exhausting, but they're managing it."

Commitment

2008-05-21T08:10:00.001-05:00

Here's something that pisses me off. Let's say a bunch of people make some noise and want something. Someone then picks up the ball, runs with it, and delivers more than anyone could have ever expected - a completely awesome solution. In addition to the work the guy puts forth - voluntarily - to set this up, he routinely maintains what he's created, sends out reminders to make sure people are up to date with the latest, and keeps more than enough variety in it so that it will never get stale.

And then people decide they really don't want what he's offering. So they just stop coming.

People clamored for the return of the Ante Up poker night. It used to be nothing more than a bunch of people meeting in flash chat and finding some tables/SNGs to sit at. It never had any organization and kind of died off. Then the masses spoke up and wondered what happened to it. Snuffy comes along and sets up a 2-3 month long series of events - all affordable - crossing the breadth of available games. People show up. It's fun. It's challenging.

And now the crowds have thinned. Yeah, maybe it's summer or maybe there are other valid reasons, but the change in the turnout the last few weeks is quite disappointing. What a shame, because it's the best routine, affordable option to play tournament poker against quality opponents.

For me, last night's PLO was just more of the same. I chipped up a bit early, then played tight - perhaps too tight as I NEVER got action with a preflop raise, and just held on for dear life as I got a horrendous string of cards once we filled out the full table. I cashed - finishing third - and went out in the worst of ways, shoving into the nuts. I had some middling connected cards, made a small raise and got called by Snuffy. The flop was three middling diamonds giving me a flopped straight. I shoved my short stack into the nut flush. Happens.

But, as always, it was fun. The play was, by and large, very very good. There was a fair share of rivered suckouts, but that's PLO.

After bouncing out, I sat at a micro PLHE table and pulled down about 1.5x my buy-in in profit in under an hour and said good night. Me thinks it's time to bump up a level in the table stakes.

Tuesday Thoughts

2008-05-20T09:44:00.001-05:00

This is a very funny, yet spot on take about the lapel flag pin controversy that just inexplicably keeps popping up.

-----
A couple weeks back, we took the boys to see the circus in the TU Center. Same ol' circus - validated by the fact that the lower bowl of the arena was maybe 3/4 full and that the upper level was blocked off. What was most shocking was the concessions. We've all seen $7 beer, $3 water etc. But a single slice of plain generic pizza was $6. SIX dollars. Makes me miss the day of New York Pizza for a buck a slice even more.

-----
I hate the chat functionality in Full Tilt and Stars for so many reasons. But when my top pair gets outkicked, and someone types "no cigar :)", it just makes me want to reach through the modem and strangle the bastard on the other end.

-----
Not many things piss me off more than having some aggrodonk take my chips in a cash game - and then immediately leave the table. Get back here you fucker.

-----
The Mets, fresh off a bitch-smacking of the Evil Empire, now head to the house of horrors for four games. Let's hope they can at least get a split out of this.

Bizarre Weekend

2008-05-19T09:18:00.001-05:00

* Two rounds of golf, both ended up with decent scores, both saw me play better on the back than on the front, and neither had me hit the ball particularly well. I did come alive the last 5 holes on Sunday and hit some good shots. My misses are at least straight. I just need to trust the changes. Finding a repeatable putting stroke wouldn't hurt either.

* Played some PLHE cash Saturday night while generally screwing around on the net at the same time and while overtired. Why I keep playing in situations like this escapes me. Anyway, I just ran very cold for the longest time - getting no premium pairs, and having every big ace miss a flop. I bought in for $5 and added on enough to be committed in total for $10. Then I'm dealt AA, raise it big and actually get a caller. The flop is 4 5 T rainbow. I bet pot and he calls. Turn appears to be a blank. I pot it again and get another caller. Now I only have pennies behind so I shove on the river and he calls. He had 36s for an OESD that never got there. Wham-o, now there's $12 in front of me and I'm up. This is when I should've left, but I saw too much soft play at the table. And it came back to bite me.

Minutes later I'm dealt 77 and get to see a garbage flop with an overcard and two unders. A LAG guy bets out at it weakly, and I call. He makes a bigger move on the turn and I raise him up pot. I've got him on a big ace that missed. He raises that, and I'm committed. He had 99 and neither of us ended up pairing. This took about $6 out of my stack.

Then I get dealt Ah2h in EP and decide I'm going to play this like a donk, so I limp in, it gets popped by a guy behind me and the first thing that came into my head was that he had KK. One guy calls and I finish the action. We see a flop of A2x - all clubs. I pot-it. The initial raiser comes along and the other guy does as well. I am now all-in with top and bottom pair against KK (knew it) and some trash. Alas, one of the kings was Kc and he rivered the flush. Thank you and good night.

* On Sunday night I sit for a $10 HORSE SNG. Second hand in I have AQo in EP and raise it. It's reraised by MP to 90, I believe the button calls and I call as well. The flop is 8 T J giving me a double gutshot. It checks around. Turn is another T. I check and the MP reraiser bets out. I call. The river is the 9 completing my straight. I bet, he stews and calls and flips over AKs. He then berates me in the chat, which I find hilarious - dude clearly missed the flop, so the T on the turn didn't help his cause, and I've got a two way straight draw and possibly the best hand anyway.

Things went along just nicely from there - I made a great hand in Stud Hi first go-around when I started with (QxQd)5d, then turned two more diamonds and represented the flush. Kept getting called. 6th street gave me a third Q and 7th street paired a 4 that I already had for the well-hidden boat. When it got to the second trip through razz, my stack was still strong, though not far above average. The BI is two to my left with a K showing. It folds to me with [J 4]A and I'm completing this 100% of the time. The guy in the middle is squeezed out but the K calls. He gets an 8 on 4th st, and a T on 5th st and keeps calling me. I check 7th street after making a J7 and he ended up with an 86. He started with K8 + some other low card. My God where do these people come from?

This got me short, and when it got to Stud, I had < 2000 chips. Down to 1600 or so I call a bet with Qd showing and two more diamonds underneath. 4th street gives me my 4th diamond. There are three people left in the hand, and it's bet and raised in front of me. I can either fold and be down to ~1200 chips or repop it and pray. And I ain't folding, so I reraise it. Both come along. One guy had [KK]xx. The other had [QQ]88. I'm in decent enough shape, with only one diamond burnt. These two jamokes each bag a diamond on 5th and one of them steals another on 6th. Interestingly, the KK guy went runner runner runner 5 on the last three streets to take it down. I never improved and have to go to the rail watching the aforementioned loudmouth, the razz moron, and these two jamokes play on while I wrap it up in 5th.

But I'll be back. The play is just too bad to stay away.

I'm onto something

2008-05-16T10:13:00.001-05:00

Picked up 1/2 of a buyin through maybe 30 minutes of PLHE last night. It always helps to have a maniac to your right. Just fold...fold...fold...fold and watch him raise/reraise from any position with any marginal hand. Just be patient. Then when he pops it, you repop it with JJ, flop top set, and watch the chips fall into your lap. Sadly, the table broke too early for my liking.

Then I took down a $10 HORSE SNG. I've only played a couple of these, but they're strikingly similar to the $5 events. There are at least a couple of people who have no clue. There are a couple of strong players. Last night was made extra special by the presence of an aggrodonk who got tilted in Stud8 when his low draw never connected, and the guy who scooped the pot simply typed "wow" into the chatbox. Aggrodonk went on a rant and predictably busted out when...wait for it...he played a Stud Hi hand as if it were razz. Focus a little more on the board and a little less on the chatbox, slapnuts.

I notice that I'm *Far* more patient in these events than most other participants, and that I'm a bit better of a O8, Razz, and Stud8 player than most others. The real key, though, is patience. So many people see so many flops/4th & 5th streets and have to chuck their hands. If you sit back and wait for the right spots - against the right opponents - you can easily turn profits on these.

Of course, when you get to heads up as a 5:7 dog in chips, it helps to flop quad 3s in O8 and have your opponent bet into you every street. It helps to nail some good razz hands too. We started to slowplay the razz hands as we both were frustrated as hell with the bring-in - complete - fold nature of EVERY razz hand we played. Until the last one, where I ended with a pair on 5th street, but with all five cards 8 or lower. I had to call him and he turned over a made 97 which never improved for him. Mine did, and now the bankroll is back at a healthy level. More importantly, I think I've finally found a couple of niches that I can exploit for more consistent results.

On Second Thought...

2008-05-14T07:46:00.001-05:00

...this actually kept me up a bit last night. I played the hand that crippled me (AQ vs. KK) poorly.

UTG raises 3x in this hand. It folds around to me on the button. At the time, my thought process was that said player is a bit loose and aggressive at times. I thought about it, didn't like the fold, sure didn't want to just call off 1/5th of my chips. So I shoved.

In hindsight, I definitely didn't pay enough attention to the position of his raise. Also, his aggressiveness is post-flop. He will often bluff and/or check-raise on draws.

I think this should have been a fold. It's hard to just release AQ like that, but against an UTG raiser, I had to assume a pair of paint cards or maybe AK. I'm likely behind to a good chunk of his range.

Poor play by me.

CHIMPS III Kickoff

2008-05-13T21:50:00.001-05:00

Quickly because I'm tired and bitter after this one.

My KK < Villain's AQ
Villain's KK > My AQ
I'm short-stacked...my A7 < 79. Rivered straight.

Not much more I can do other than smile and say that I played VERY well. Seriously. I made the most out of the situations I was in. Only one hand that I regret where it folded around to Turley on the button. He limped. I limped from the SB and Gambit put on the squeeze play from the BB. Should've seen that coming. Otherwise I got aggressive in spots where I normally may not have, stole in a lot of spots, and just never hit a big hand.

Uneventful Homegame

2008-05-12T09:21:00.000-05:00

The highlight, arguably, was that I was able to muster up the energy to stay up for this. Not a heck of a lot of lowlights either. I played looser and chased a few more hands with drawing potential. Only hit one of them and, net-net, I had to lose out on that experiment. I still firmly believe that there's only one or two people in the game whom you can bluff. Your options are pretty much to pick up hands - and at the right times and against the right people.

I think a realistic goal is to make it past the 3.5 hour mark, given our structure. My thought all year is to not take myself out of an event yet. I haven't done that, but I also haven't really put myself in a spot to go real deep either.

I hit a few good hands early, and won a fair amount of small pots in the second hour to get up to an average or slightly above average stack.

I hit top pair/good kicker too many times - even folded a bunch of hands that would've flopped hard. Seemingly every time I put a probe bet out w/ the best hand, it would induce folds. And when I put it out speculatively, it would trigger calls or raises. I must have a tell either in my betting patterns (though I try real hard not to do this) or in my behavior.

I made one weak call from the BB to a minraise when holding K2s. The flop brought an ace and I bluffed at it, got minraised, and chucked those cards as fast as I could.

In one hand, I flopped a gutshot, called a fairly sizeable bet from a good player, then landed the gutshot on the turn, checkraised myself all-in and it held up. Horrendous play on my part. Then again, when in Rome...

As the blinds shot up, I went on a streak of wretched cards. Many steal opportunities were snuffed out by raises/calls by big stacks in front of me. Finally at the 1k/2k level, I'm the SB w/ 5300 chips behind. It folds to me and I take a meaningless look at my cards - I'm shoving with anything here. It was hard to conceal my disdain when I looked down at 92o, but I shoved. The BB thought and (properly) called with pocket 3s and I was through just like that - on the bubble. Hey, that's two events in a row where I didn't go out on a brutal suckout.

The highlight hand of the night - an UTG raise from the host, a pretty loose player. It folds around to the SB who calls. Flop is AKx. SB bets at it, UTG raises (all-in, I believe) and gets called. SB had AT while BB had a set of Kings. SB is now 97% to lose the hand. I think he had a runner runner flush possibility, a runner runner straight possibility, or the two case Aces. Well he hit the straight. Phenomenal.

Once again, the short-handed play in the game was very passive. I believe that I just need to get there and that I can make some hay.

I'm still trying to catch up on sleep and get my strength back from last week's ordeal, which is now topped off by this week's sinus infection. Hopefully I can get some more good shut eye tonight. CHIMPS III begins tomorrow. In the summertime, I'm no more than moderately interested in this. Plus I'm more and more interested in pursuing my PLHE cash game experiments.

2008-05-08T09:56:00.001-05:00

So I had this glorious recap of a HORSE SNG from last Thursday planned to go. Twas a recap where I got short, hit a runner runner suckout to survive, then played some real good poker and freaking won it. I was as happy with this win as I'd been with any SNG triumph (except for the suckout).

Then it hit me.

Six days, several bags of IV fluids, a couple injections of morphine, and a whole lotta rest later ... I'm back.

I dabbled a bit in some micro NLHE cash games while away. Mostly neutral results. It's clear, though, that there's money to be made here, albeit surely not at these limits. I had some favorable HORSE cash game results as well. I capped off my hiatus with a HORSE SNG last night where, at one point, the chip counts looked pretty much like this.

Player A: 3800
Player B: 3800
Player C: 3800
Me: the leftover scraps
Total chips in play: 12000

Somehow, I made the money in this one, only to go out in Razz when my (A 2)3 turned into trash.

Homegame on Friday. The insights I got from my student/teacher hand reviews should be valuable here and in other areas.

Tina Fey Effect

2008-05-01T09:08:00.001-05:00

This was four minutes of my life that I'll never get back, but it's worth viewing only to hear the co-host describe the Tina Fey effect.

I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of the Tina Fey Effect, and only wish I had discovered and trademarked it.

Rough afternoon, good night

2008-05-01T08:43:00.001-05:00

How to recover from this? Play three events online, that's how!!

* I've toyed around a bit with Stars, but hadn't played any MTTs there in a long LONG time. So last night I settle in and see a Stud8 MTT. Why not? Well here's why not - it's a $1 buy-in. And I couldn't catch a cold, let alone any decent starting hands. Let's just move on.

*...to a $5 NLHE SNG. In the very first hand, I notice some mook making a big turn or river bet, inducing a fold and showing a pure bluff. Valuable information right out of the gate. Well I chipped up early in this one to around 3000 chips. Next thing you know, I wake up with KK in late position. Said mook makes a 2x raise (to 160) from UTG or UTG+1. It folds around to me and I pop it to 760. He calls. Therefore, any and all logic says he has either a pair of paint cards, or maybe AKs, perhaps AKo. The flop comes 6 9 5 rainbow and he shoves all-in. Well God bless him if he has AA, but I'm calling this 99.9% of the time against a proven knucklehead.

He had 66 for the flopped set. Ugh. I was short, I prayed, and I lost.

* Never fear, we march right into a $6 Turbo NLHE. I was on the winning end of a fairly nasty suckout, chipped up, and found myself heads up against another player who played only the two cards in his hand. It's such a great feeling when you can clearly determine your opponent's tendencies. Wrapped it up when I saw a cheap flop w/ 58o, flopped two pair and got him to call my pot size bet w/ two overs. He paired his Q on the turn and got it all-in, but I held up.

Small profit = good night.

Joe Pos on the Boss

2008-04-30T13:14:00.001-05:00

Here's a phenomenal column that only Posnanski could write, drawing parallels between Pete Rose and Bruce Springsteen. In particular, Pos focuses on a recent show in Charlotte and how Bruce can just keep going at Born to Run for what must be the 10,000th time.

March of the Omatards

2008-04-30T10:33:00.001-05:00

They're everywhere. And I ran into two of them in a HORSE SNG last night. After taking an early chip lead by rivering broadway in the very first hand, I had a few chips to play with and decided to see a flop in O8 with AKKQ single suited from mid position. The player to my right raised it to 80. I called but if someone three-bets this, I'm perfectly happy getting out of the way if I miss the flop.

The flop is K67 so I've nailed top set. It's bet in front of me, raised by me, then reraised behind and ultimately capped by me. The turn brings a 9 and puts a second heart on the board. I called a two-bet here. The river put a third heart out - I forget the rank - and it checked all around.

Here's the holdings:
* The preflop raiser flips over AT85 (single suited, not in the Ace) for a turned straight with no flush. He raised from MP with this pre and post-flop. Post-flop I can kind of understand, with a double gutter, though I'd rather keep that pot small. He turned the straight.
* The SB called off 60 more chips preflop with AKT8 (also single suited, not in the Ace). He too turned the straight.
* There was another caller who had squat.

Those two monkeys chopped the pot with their T-high straights, and I'm down from 2500 chips to 1700 - still above average, but I was in a real nice spot before this.

And for whatever reason, I decided to type "wp omatards" into the chat box. This is a real bad habit that I've gotten into - calling out bad play. But this one got me on edge.

Now the fun begins as one of the omatards berates me for capping it on the turn when there were two possible straights on board. Certainly that's a berateable offense - had I actually capped it on the turn. But I didn't. There's NO WAY I'm folding there and NO WAY I'm raising either. Bottom line - I got away from this hand as cheaply as possible.

Well the dialogue continues and he defends his play in sticking around past the flop because he "had top pair and a gutshot." In Omaha H/L. wp, indeed, sir. He failed to mention his draw to an 876xA low as well. Ugh.

I folded just about everything through the stud games, then chased a hand to the turn w/ AJo in LHE and had to surrender. Now I'm down to ~1100 chips. From there I played very tight, held on through an interminable bubble, watched the aforementioned omatards go belly up, and made the money. I got it back up to ~2500 chips but couldn't hold on and went out 3rd.

It's frustrating because I WANT people playing O8 that badly at my table, but yet I don't want them to hit middling straights with their unplayable hands.

The Home Game strikes again

2008-04-28T12:00:00.001-05:00

Nine participants this time around, and the fireworks started right out of the gate. On the very first hand (25/50) I'm in the cutoff w/ Jh9h. I limp along with about 2/3 of the table, and we see a 6 4 3 rainbow flop. It checks all around. The turn is a 9 giving me TP. It's min-bet in front of me and I call. River is a J and I have top 2. BB leads out for 50, I make it 250, and he comes over the top for 500. Could he have JJ? J9 even? Nope, he had 25 for the flopped straight that he slow played. Yikes.

I win a couple of hands thereafter including one where I turned broadway on a board with a flush draw, and then the board paired on the river. Didn't bet out here though I probably should have, but honestly with as many people involved in the hand as there were, I was somewhat fortunate this held up. I also had KK in one of the blinds, made a healthy raise after the usual go-around of half the table limping in, then dodged a bullet when I fired out on an all-heart flop (I didn't have Kh) and got everyone to fold.

So as I plodded along here, trying to pick my spots, I picked up a couple of interesting hands. First, I get AKo late, raise it up and get a couple of callers. Flop is 9-high and it's checked to me. I believe I checked it or made a 1/2 pot bet, not sure, but I got called by a guy w/ T9 and it held up for him as we checked it to the river. I also folded to a massive check-raise from the same player when I flopped top pair on a 8x 9s Qs board. I figured him for a set. Turns out he had Ts Js and turned the 8s for the straight flush.

Once we got to six-handed, I raised EP with A9 and got a caller. The flop was AQJ and I fired about 2/3 pot to see where I was at. I'm reraised by a loose guy from my 800 bet to his 2200 bet. I correctly put him on QJ (as he told me Sunday AM) and folded. As we always do, we flip over the turn and river cards, and I'd have rivered the A to take this one. I also folded a flopped OESD to his big raise and would've turned that one. These two hands, plus the loss w/ AK above, have whittled my stack down as the blinds are hitting 300/600.

Now I'm dealt 99 but see a raise from LAG to my right. I go into the tank and fold, which turned out to be fortuitous because two to my left had AA and shoved on an all rag flop, getting the initial raiser with TT to fold.

Finally, when the blinds hit 500/1000 (i.e. the lottery portion of our game), I shoved with 33, got instacalled by TT and that was that.

Here's one interesting hand from the night where I was not involved. One guy got it all-in on the turn with an OESD and a flush draw (5-high as I recall). Still he had 15 outs going to the river against two pair. He rivered the straight and won a big pot. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE in the room said this was a good play. HUH?

I have two fundamental strategies to this game. One - play the opposite of the table. It's well known that it's a game of loose calling stations. I try to play tight aggressive. And it's not working. Two - I do not try to bluff said calling stations because we all know what happens there. So what's left for me? Hit hands. Hard. Or get my chips in behind and try to suckout. Immensely frustrating.

As was my return to the golf course yesterday. I've lost the feeling I had at the lesson and it's going to take some work to get it back, me thinks. I didn't find it at the range today.

AIPS PLO

2008-04-26T11:13:00.003-05:00

Well I toyed with backing out of this as I have the sick 3yo home alone with me today, but figured I'd be folding all sorts of stuff anyway and could afford to even miss a hand or two.

Twelve hands in, this happens.
Full Tilt Poker Game #6183973368: AIPS III Event #4 (44257276), Table 7 - 15/30 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 12:10:10 ET - 2008/04/26
Seat 2: ante_up_fan (1,665)
Seat 3: wagnes (1,410), is sitting out
Seat 4: djm182 (1,545)
Seat 5: isis jones (1,005)
Seat 6: sportsfntc (1,635)
Seat 7: imtoomuch4u (2,250)
Seat 8: HDawg99 (2,655)
Seat 9: koirapoika (1,335)
djm182 posts the small blind of 15
isis jones posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [Jd Jc 4c 4d]
sportsfntc folds
imtoomuch4u calls 30
HDawg99 folds
koirapoika folds
ante_up_fan folds
wagnes folds
djm182 calls 15
isis jones checks
*** FLOP *** [6s Js Kh]
djm182 bets 90
isis jones folds
imtoomuch4u raises to 360
djm182 raises to 1,170
imtoomuch4u raises to 2,220, and is all in
djm182 calls 345, and is all in
imtoomuch4u shows [8h Kd Kc As]
djm182 shows [Jd Jc 4c 4d]
Uncalled bet of 705 returned to imtoomuch4u
*** TURN *** [6s Js Kh] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [6s Js Kh Tc] [Ah]
imtoomuch4u shows three of a kind, Kings
djm182 shows three of a kind, Jacks
imtoomuch4u wins the pot (3,120) with three of a kind, Kings
djm182 stands up

I flop middle set (the second nuts) but with a flush draw out there that I can't touch. As first to act, I pot it. It gets repotted by a player I've tagged as very aggressive. She could make this move with the flush draw, a set, or two pair. I re-pot it, committing myself to the hand and she comes over the top to put me all in. Yep, she has top set. Good night.

The good news is that I have plenty to do today and now I can do it. The bad news is...oh well it's PLO, I'm not gonna miss this at all. :)

As I predicted

2008-04-25T10:02:00.001-05:00

It was a downer last night.

* I played a $2 PLO SNG just to try and brace myself for the joke that will chew up my Saturday afternoon. The very first hand the guy to my left quadruples up when four folks move in on the flop. One guy had top set. One guy had an OESD. One guy had top pair (ha). Guy to my left flopped 2nd nut straight and that held up. I played cautiously, missed flops, and went out in completely unspectacular fashion.

* Next it was on to a HORSE SNG. Limit Hold'em is starting to move up amongst my favorite games. I love trying to hit straight/flush draws and here's the game for just that. Of course, you can sit back and watch the first go-around of these games, picking your spots. I chipped up with a big Stud hand, made it to the money, got blinded/anted down short and shoved into a monster.

* Finally I took a stab at a stupid Turbo NLHE SNG. I chipped up early, got short, and shoved A3s into AA, going out in 5th. This event played out very bi-polar. It was a shove and pray fest early on. Once it got to 5-handed, it became uber tight. I waited for something with a little gusto to move with and just waited too long and picked the wrong spot.

Down about $6 for the night. Blah. Saturday is the AIPS PLO event which I'm better than 50/50 to play in. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if that one is a quick one. Saturday night is the home game. And for some unknown reason I've agreed to tee it up w/ the neighbors on Sunday at 8AM.

Stud 8 Goodness

2008-04-24T16:27:00.000-05:00

In a sudden and dramatic turn of events, I had a very good session at the microlimit Stud 8 table last night. Before I get into the play, first some comments.

1) For whatever reason, I'm far more comfortable in limit cash games than in no limit. Maybe it's the microscopic nature of my bankroll, maybe it's that the fucktards who sit down with $2000 at a .25/.50 limit game are harmless, or maybe it's just that I prefer games where you can draw out to your straights/flushes without big plays at the pots by idiots who have A7 and see a A42 flop.

2) I couldn't get an immediate seat at a HORSE cash game, and after my Stud 8 session, I decided this was a very good thing. First, I'm quickly coming into the camp of several Ante Uppers that Omaha is the game of Omatards. And yes, while I should be able to beat that, it also comes with a higher-than-normal likelihood of inducing tilt.

3) Missing out on another 10, 20, or 30 hands of Razz isn't a bad thing.

Onto the Stud 8 play.
* The second hand in, I have [5d 8h] [6c]. I complete as it's only 5-handed and the only other low card out is 7c. He calls, the others fold. I make an 876 on 5th street, never complete the straight, and am perfectly happy to check it down to his sfobv 2-pair, but he insists on betting out on 7th street despite having no shot at the low. I love these people and I hate them too.

* I get dealt A46 the very next hand, complete it, but get repopped by 9s and see that called by 6s. I call, pair my 6 on 4th st, draw a Q on 5th and walk away from this. I figure "here we go again." I was wrong.

* A few hands later I'm dealt [Ad 2s] [8c]. It's completed in front by Ts and called by 8s. I come along for the ride, along with Qh. God I love Stud8 sometimes. I check-call 4th when I get 7h and nobody drops out. On 5th street I get 3c to make a low, albeit a weak one. TQT in front of me bets out and I repop it. The guy with 8s now has 3d and a brick and I want to see where he's at. Of course he's coming along for the ride. On 6th street I get 4c to make a 74 low. I bet out and the only viable low draw now folds. We check 7th street and chop it. I'm now up $0.50.

* Later I'm dealt [3c 8h] [2s] and get the bring-in. Two limpers behind. I pick up 4h. It's checked to me, I bet it and both call. On 5th street I land 6c for a made low. The guy to act before me has 7 4 3 showing, though. Again it checks to me. I bet and both guys call. 6th street lands me a beautiful ace for a made 64. Better yet, the 743 lands a 9. Even better, he calls me. 7th street blanks and he takes the high pot with a measely pair of 7s. Still I'm up a buck at this point.

* Now the first big one. I'm about 15 minutes in and I'm dealt [6h 5c] [7h] but there are a A, 3, 4 and 8 showing on other boards. The 4 completes, I call along with three others and we go five-way. I pick up 9h giving me a backdoor flush draw and a gutshot. 4s Js bets and everyone calls. Next I get 3d, but nobody else can realistically be chasing a low here so I call a $1 bet with my low draw and double gutshot. Two players get out of the way here. 6th street is to die for - 4d. I have a made straight and now a 76 low. This time it's checked in front of me and when I bet out, both remaining players call. 7th street pairs my 7. The guy holding [Ad Qc Qh] [Th] bets out, I repop him and he makes a crying call with what was two pair - Aces and Queens. It's a $9.05 pot and I now have $14.75 in front.

* About 10 minutes later, I play my next hand with [7s 6s] [8h]. I hate playing 87 or 86 draws in this game, and there's a 2, 4, and 5 out along with two other hearts, but I decide to come along. Long story short, some mook playing [Ah As 4d] checked on 4th and 5th street with nothing particularly scary out there on anyone's board, and I made three pair (ha) to scoop a high-only pot. $5.05 more and now I have $17.

* Now with [Ac 3s] [2d], I complete and get this aforementioned mook to come along with his 6h. Everyone else folded, meaning that an A, two other 2s, two 4s and a 7 are all dead, so lots of low cards are gone. Despite Jh vs. his Kc on 4th, I bet out. He check/called it. 5th street gave me 7s and gave him 9c. He checked and for whatever reason, I checked behind. I picked up 3h on 6th street, and he got 4s. This time, he check/folded. He must've had 64x (all low) to start.

* Finally I limp in with [Th 3h] [6h], only because no other hearts are out. Four others come to the flop and I get Ks. I'm folding to any bet here, but none come. Well 5th street brings Jh and now I'm locked in. Two other hearts came on 4th - both Qh and Kh, but no obvious flush draws remain so may be any old flush will do. Interestingly, the player showing [Ts Kc] [Kh] just checks. [8c 5s] [As]bets out, and I call along with the kings. 6th street...the lovely and talented Ah lands in my lap. The low draw and I four bet it, finally forcing the Kings to fold. We check 7th street and chop the pot.

* Now I have $19.20 in front, 35 minutes after I sat down with $8. Unfortunately I had other things to do and thought this would be a good time to get out. Fortunately, I stood up with a smile because this was hands down my best session ever on Full Tilt.

Yeah, I caught some very good cards in there, but it's reassuring to have a good session once in a while - regardless of how it happens.

This represents two very good nights in a row - a sure sign that tonight will suck ass.

CHIMPS NLHE DS

2008-04-22T22:11:00.002-05:00

There's really not much to say. I played tight and feel that I played really well, given the level of competition and quality of cards I looked down at. I was mostly dealt complete shit - I mean the kind of stuff you can't even think about trying to steal with. I made a couple of good laydowns to check-raises from Gambit and Snuffy. And despite all my suckass hands, I made the money.

My night is summed up in two hands, both of which I lost to the same guy:

QQ < A5 AIPF (flopped trip 5s)
QQ < JJ AIPF (flopped the set)

The last one crippled me. I got it all-in on the very next hand w/ T6 v. T7 and I was done, finished, goodnight Irene in 3rd.

Not once did I get all my chips in bad. Not once. I'll sleep with that cozy little thought in my head.

A Night of FTP Bloodletting

2008-04-22T14:01:00.001-05:00

Last night was just a brutal session on FTP.

In a PLO8 Turbo, I chip up nicely, and then late into the event (on the bubble) get dealt AAxx - one of the Xs was low. The flop came AQx with one spade. I bet out and get called by the bigger stack to my left with AQ25. The 2 and 5 are spades. The fact that I lost to a 5-high flush is irrelevant, I thought I played the hand well, and I surely got the chips in ahead.

So it's on to a NLHE Turbo. Again, I chip up, and as we're approaching the bubble, I make a 3x raise from EP with 88. I'd driven a lot of people out of pots with action from EP and hoped to do it again, rather than limp and hope to dodge a raise. Well a LAG moron who was down to <1000 chips but recovered by constantly shoving and either inducing folds or sucking out comes over the top. His range is broad, and I'm probably in a coin flip. Folding leaves me short and so I call. He has AQ and I'm put out of my misery quickly by an Ace. I spewed at this fool in the chat box. Not quite sure he understood the source of my anger - it wasn't over the AQ vs 88 hand, it was over his complete recklessness and lucksackery to finally land a hand of value in this spot. Of course I got the usual "It's only $6" in return. What he doesn't understand is that I'm every bit as pissed if it's $1 or $100 - it's the caliber of play that I'm interested in, not the size of the prize pool. This burns my toast at the home game as well.

And lastly, instead of calling it a night like I should have, I try one more NLHE Turbo. It's still pretty early when it folds to me in the SB with Ad3d. I should've raised here, make no mistake, but with a pretty loose guy in the BB, I decided to just limp and try to flop something. Well I did. The flop was 234 rainbow. I bet out just less than the pot and he calls. The turn is a 5 and I bet now about 5/7ths of the pot and he comes over the top all-in. Did he call me with a gutshot? I have to find out. Sure enough - he had 62 for bottom pair, and a gutshot. WP, asshat.

Tonight is the CHIMPS finale. NLHE Deep Stack. Yummy. My strategy - go deep or go home early.

Clinton's Iran Comment

2008-04-22T13:23:00.001-05:00

One thing I hate about newsfeeds is the continual feeding of stuff that I don't want to read. No filter in the world can stop it all, but most of my issues don't lie on the receive side - they lie on the send side.

In fact, the last TWENTY-FIVE feeds sent my way from my MSNBC.com News feed ALL link to this ONE article

Mistake? Nah, I don't think so. After all the comments were made on MSNBC's air. But does it piss me off and make me less likely to click through on any of them or visit MSNBC's website for any other reason? Sure does.

ESPN.com's feed are similarly screwed up. Now and then I'll have 35 Neyer articles or 42 Stark articles just show up, clogging up my beloved Google Reader with schlock that's way out of date or with stuff that I've already read.

This can't be that hard, right?

Token

2008-04-17T22:04:00.003-05:00

Well lookie here. Someone finally became the suckouter instead of being the suckoutee. And this one got me (and four of my closest friends) $26 tokens.

Everyone got it in on the flop.

It's too bad I stopped tracking the suck-o-meter a while back. The odometer on that thing would've rolled over this month. It's nice to come out ahead.
Full Tilt Poker Game #6076950080: Tier One $8+$0.80 (46253971), Table 1 - 200/400 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:00:50 ET - 2008/04/17
Seat 1: NoMonkey (3,200)
Seat 2: djm182 (3,760)
Seat 3: Faralone (2,450)
Seat 4: Snowypuck (3,420)
Seat 5: gmgmoney (4,700)
Seat 7: Ricky Skull (6,110)
Seat 8: thebigm0529 (3,360)
NoMonkey posts the small blind of 200
djm182 posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [4d 3d]
Faralone folds
Snowypuck folds
gmgmoney folds
Ricky Skull folds
thebigm0529 calls 400
NoMonkey calls 200
djm182 checks
*** FLOP *** [2c 4s 3h]
NoMonkey checks
djm182 bets 3,360, and is all in
thebigm0529 calls 2,960, and is all in
NoMonkey calls 2,800, and is all in (this scared me the instant I saw it).
djm182 shows [4d 3d]
thebigm0529 shows [7d 7c]
NoMonkey shows [5s Ad]
Uncalled bet of 400 returned to djm182
*** TURN *** [2c 4s 3h] [3c] (aahhhh yes, the four-outer).
*** RIVER *** [2c 4s 3h 3c] [Qc]
djm182 shows a full house, Threes full of Fours
thebigm0529 shows two pair, Sevens and Threes
djm182 wins the side pot (320) with a full house, Threes full of Fours
NoMonkey shows a straight, Five high
djm182 wins the main pot (9,600) with a full house, Threes full of Fours

An interesting Wednesday

2008-04-17T09:39:00.001-05:00

One month ago, I hacked it up (again) in Georgia on the annual golf trip. The last three years have been the same...chop in the spring, bandaid up a solution by mid-summer, play well in late summer and fall, and put the clubs on the rack for five months. But consistent throughout the last three years, probably the last 25 years to be honest, is weak/thin striking of the ball. This year I set out to change it.

And after a one hour lesson yesterday, I'm as encouraged as I've been in a long time. My teacher, who I worked with for the very first time yesterday, made no changes to my setup and made no changes to any of my action away from the ball - in fact, he said it was very good. The problem was that I was breaking down at impact, hitting quick little scoop hooks and the like. The *only* thing we worked on was extension through the ball. It was a very easy change to understand and implement. Within minutes, I was making crisp contact with penetrating ball flight - with a 7-iron at first, then with wedges and ultimately with the driver. My 7-iron target was a 200 yard marker. We were probably some 30-40 yards up on the tees from where the measurements were made, but I was consistently flying the ball to that marker - probably finding the 10 yards I've been missing, if not even a bit more. Better yet, the pull hook was completely eliminated from my swing. The only thing that held me back were a few swings where I never got fully behind the ball on the way back. Overall:Wow. I can't wait for Sunday, weather be damned, to try this out on the home course.

Last night was a hastily scheduled mini-home game. Three other folks attended, and I talked them into NLHE Double Flop! There was a lot of limping going on early, and I joined right in despite rarely holding anything better than trash. The blinds went up quickly as nobody wanted to stay late. But the values of my hands stayed right in the dumpster. The biggest ace I had all night was A6o. The biggest pocket pair I had - in fact the only one - was 66. More on these hands later. I never had two paint cards, and had suited connectors twice: 78 and 89. Neither flopped anything at all. What's more amazing is that rarely did my trash hands connect with either flop - whether I was in the hand or out of it.

The 66 hand hurt me. I'd been very quiet and tight from the 3rd level on. With 66 and the blinds at 300/600, I made it 1200 to go. Despite all the oooohhs and aaaahs from the assembled masses, there were three callers. One board flopped 789 while the other board had two overs and offered me nothing. I check/called from EP. Both turn cards were garbage and I check/folded to a pretty big bet. The river brought the 10 on the straight draw, no jacks were out there and I'd have chopped it if I stuck around. Alternatively, if I didn't catch, I'd have essentially been broke. Thought I'd save it for another hand.

I went all-in blind with 47d, and a paired 7 held up for 1/2 the pot. Soon thereafter I had A6o - my biggest A of the night. Woo Hoo!! I shoved. Everyone called because I only had 25 chips more than the BB at this point. Ha! One board came out K7xK7. The other board had a 6 on it but a bunch of overs. Well it checked around on every street, and I'm thinking maybe I'll get half of this or possibly even scoop with that 6. Two guys flip over their cards and show...nothing! Finally the third guy turns over a card for an overpair on the '6' board, plus a 7 for a boat on the other board. Goodnight, Irene. Absolutely dismal.

Then I dealt and proceeded to give this guy two fabulous runner runner suckouts to keep him alive and give him the lead which he eventually took home.

It was astounding how many flops were missed in this game - not just by me but by everyone. There were very few "big hands" - mostly chopped pots along the lines of someone having two pair on one board and air on another vs. top pair on that second board...stuff like that. And it still amazes me how poor I run in this game. In a game chock full o' calling stations like this one, all you need is one or two big hands to make some hay. I just can't seem to find it. Maybe in the full edition of the home game next week. (Fingers crossed)