This is how I'm running

I get it in good.  it turns out bad.

Begging Forgiveness to the Poker Gods

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

$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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

AIPS PLO

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!!

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

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.