Had a terrible night last night in short term talking. Playing 10NL about 15 min. into my session I raise on the button first in with KJs -- BB calls:
Flop: A 9c T - one club -- Both Check.
Turn - Ac -- nice Drawing card -- Both Check.
River - 7c -- Made the nut flush --
Of course my Oppt had pocket 99 and I was drawing to the Qc on the turn. So 20 min. in I am already down a buy in. I know these things happen, that doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that I was stacked.
River better -- he made a smallish pot sized bet, I re-raised to 2 dollars -- he hollywooded -- and went all in. I called instantly. Stupid. I should have thought about it, and I prolly could have gotten off the hand. I didn't have enough hands to see how he would have played this. its nut flush vs. full house, at this level he could have easily made this raise with a lower flush. its easy to say now, and even if I would have called. I would have liked to STOP, pause. and think about everything. its something I must work on. Just dumb dumb dumb.
Played a 5.50 sit n go (27 man) as it was the only thing going. Best hand I got in 120 hands was AQ twice. I was fortunate enough to win with both of them including a double up against pocket 77. I ended up finishing in 9th. I thought I played really well considering I was not dealt a single pair and only 3 Broadway hands.
I ended up down 13.50 for the night, its hard number to get used too as just last week my bankroll was 130. It is not over 700, so less then 2% for an off night. This "downswing" has hit me pretty hard, but I'm still a winning cash game player and winning tourney player...just barely...
One last note, I'll be playing in the WBCOOP on stars on Saturday and Sunday. Sat is the prelim, and Sunday the main event. Should be a nice little free-roll.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Beats are part of the game.
Took a brutal beat in the Pokerstars deep stack tourney. About 4 hours in, we are down to just over 400. I am playing fairly tight as this slow pace really fits my style of play. To that point in the tourney I had made one big mistake, but was able to recover from it. I linked the said hand, where at one point I was a 95.5% favorite.. I don't want this blog to become a story of my bad beat, I want it to be about discussion. But I thought I would post this one. At least I was playing really well.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
PokerStars.com – 201008 WBCOOP Registration FormReceived
PokerStars.com – 201008 WBCOOP Registration FormReceived: " 
"
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! Bloggers can register for to play for free in the WBCOOP, if you don’t have a PokerStars account you can get your Poker Download here.
Registration code: 315349
Monday, January 18, 2010
Cash Games: Tourney Struggles
Sorry for the long delay, I have been slammed at work and haven't had time to write. That doesn't mean I haven't had time to play though. My tournament drought has hit a bit of a spell, which is not too surprising as I normally play big multitable tourney's and I have already had some good finishes. Law of averages and such.
Cash games have been a good focus of mine as I believe to be a pro you cannot just play tournaments. (you can, its just much more difficult) I think there is too much variation, too different, and much harder to grind. I moved up limits to .2/.5 no limit. So far so good with 500 hands I have a 14BB/100 hands and have made a couple of buy-ins. Especially considering my first session I fell down 3.00.
I did have a dream hand I played. I am in first position with 99- I limp in. The reason I limp in is that the table has been playing pretty tight and I had been raising a lot of pots. Limping stops me from committing a good bit of money, out of position, especially if I am re-raised.
And that is just what happens as a very tight player puts in a big raise one off. All folds around to me, and first thing I check...Can I win a big pot if I hit.
Check. He has almost equal number of chips to me. So my implied odds are worth a call, even if 7 out of 8 times I am going to muck-fold. I put this player on AA or KK-- nothing less.
Flop: 993 --
Flop Quads against a huge over pair. I check.
Player puts in a big bet -- I call, Turn: 4 - I check
Player puts in another nice size bet -- I call: River: 8
Now... I could risk checking one last time as this player might put me on JJ, QQ and try to get another bet out of me. I think either way I get his money, but that is a big gamble. I ask myself, if I bet the rest of my stack, can he fold. I start doing all the calculations, there is more money in the pot, then left in his stack, but its close. about 60/40. I just don't think he can lay down the aces.
I bet the last of his chips. He calls instantly and flips over AA -- Nice pot.
Its not often these things happen, flopping quads against pocket aces, but the good thing was how I played the hand from start to finish. Yes, the majority of the time all the money is going in the pot regardless post flop. The key to the whole hand is the limp in first position.
Lets say I raise 4x bb from first position. (.20 cents) I have been picking up blinds a lot, and the raise would have been a least that big. now, when I limped, the raiser raised 5xbb (.25 cents) so I think he at least doubles that. So now its 50 cents back to me... Which means I will have to commit .70 cents, (12% of my stack) out of position against a hand that I am sure I am beat with... Instead of committing .30 cents (5% of my stack) which makes it an easy call. Also, .50 cents is the Minimum he would re-raise me... It could very well have been .60 to a dollar. pricing me well out of a call.
Cash games have been a good focus of mine as I believe to be a pro you cannot just play tournaments. (you can, its just much more difficult) I think there is too much variation, too different, and much harder to grind. I moved up limits to .2/.5 no limit. So far so good with 500 hands I have a 14BB/100 hands and have made a couple of buy-ins. Especially considering my first session I fell down 3.00.
I did have a dream hand I played. I am in first position with 99- I limp in. The reason I limp in is that the table has been playing pretty tight and I had been raising a lot of pots. Limping stops me from committing a good bit of money, out of position, especially if I am re-raised.
And that is just what happens as a very tight player puts in a big raise one off. All folds around to me, and first thing I check...Can I win a big pot if I hit.
Check. He has almost equal number of chips to me. So my implied odds are worth a call, even if 7 out of 8 times I am going to muck-fold. I put this player on AA or KK-- nothing less.
Flop: 993 --
Flop Quads against a huge over pair. I check.
Player puts in a big bet -- I call, Turn: 4 - I check
Player puts in another nice size bet -- I call: River: 8
Now... I could risk checking one last time as this player might put me on JJ, QQ and try to get another bet out of me. I think either way I get his money, but that is a big gamble. I ask myself, if I bet the rest of my stack, can he fold. I start doing all the calculations, there is more money in the pot, then left in his stack, but its close. about 60/40. I just don't think he can lay down the aces.
I bet the last of his chips. He calls instantly and flips over AA -- Nice pot.
Its not often these things happen, flopping quads against pocket aces, but the good thing was how I played the hand from start to finish. Yes, the majority of the time all the money is going in the pot regardless post flop. The key to the whole hand is the limp in first position.
Lets say I raise 4x bb from first position. (.20 cents) I have been picking up blinds a lot, and the raise would have been a least that big. now, when I limped, the raiser raised 5xbb (.25 cents) so I think he at least doubles that. So now its 50 cents back to me... Which means I will have to commit .70 cents, (12% of my stack) out of position against a hand that I am sure I am beat with... Instead of committing .30 cents (5% of my stack) which makes it an easy call. Also, .50 cents is the Minimum he would re-raise me... It could very well have been .60 to a dollar. pricing me well out of a call.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Quality Time:
Didn't get to play as much as I have wanted this week. Work has been rather tough, though I have played about seven hours, so I can still hit 20 hours in the next 3 days. Though it is NFL Wildcard weekend, I plan play a really good amount. Though it is not that I haven't been playing, I have had a couple of really good cash game sessions the other day. I am up 3 buy in's currently and I hope to hit the 1000 hand mark this weekend and I will post a review once I hit that. (thats 1000 cash game hands)
I did have an interesting experiminet last night, I was getting in an hour of poker before the national championship game. I left my laptop on and my girlfriend starting playing some .25 cent 90 man sit n go on my account. She busts out in the 40's somewhere and she starts another one. By this time, the game as become a blowout and I go over and just start watching her play.
It was very facinating to just watch someone else play. Now, my Girlfriend knows the rules, but an aspiring pro she's not. She makes some mistakes and lays down a lot of hands. So I thought it would be a nice experiment to guide her through from a hands off sort of approach. When she had tough decisions, she could ask me and i'd give her my read on the hand. We ended up doing really well, and she finished in second and won my account 4.50! She laid down some hands that I would have kept going. She even wanted to lay down a set of 9's against an all in raise at the final table. I pleaded with her to call, TRUST ME, I said. She did, and the guy had AQ for top pair top kicker and was drawing virtually dead. She was at the final table of a tournament, and now the chip leader.
It was a really cool experience to not just watch over someone's shoulders, but to see what kind of things she picked up on. To view her reads and what she was thinking. very cool.
I did have an interesting experiminet last night, I was getting in an hour of poker before the national championship game. I left my laptop on and my girlfriend starting playing some .25 cent 90 man sit n go on my account. She busts out in the 40's somewhere and she starts another one. By this time, the game as become a blowout and I go over and just start watching her play.
It was very facinating to just watch someone else play. Now, my Girlfriend knows the rules, but an aspiring pro she's not. She makes some mistakes and lays down a lot of hands. So I thought it would be a nice experiment to guide her through from a hands off sort of approach. When she had tough decisions, she could ask me and i'd give her my read on the hand. We ended up doing really well, and she finished in second and won my account 4.50! She laid down some hands that I would have kept going. She even wanted to lay down a set of 9's against an all in raise at the final table. I pleaded with her to call, TRUST ME, I said. She did, and the guy had AQ for top pair top kicker and was drawing virtually dead. She was at the final table of a tournament, and now the chip leader.
It was a really cool experience to not just watch over someone's shoulders, but to see what kind of things she picked up on. To view her reads and what she was thinking. very cool.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Cash Game:
I am no longer losing at micro limit cash games. It took a few hours to make up for my bad beat, and donkey bluff I made. Finally I am back in the black and up to a 10bb/100 rate. I had a really nice 90 min. session last night. I end up joining a table where a few of my tight passive players are hanging out. From the start the action is fast between a few of the "maniacs" I saw one player bluff with nothing (9 high) into a board of T, J, A, 4, Q -- only to be called with A2! wow. thats either a good read, or someone really likes top pair. Either way, im ready.
I fold away the majority of the hands, as both maniacs are playing 80% of the hands and show a willingness to call pre-flop raises and post flop raises. Eventually I pick up Kings in middle position as both Maniacs have limped in. I make it 5x the BB expecting the both to call, but wanting them to pay for it.
only one makes the call, which is fine with me. Flop comes 6, 7, 8 rainbow. not the best flop for playing against a guy who could have any card. if he has a draw, he shall pay for another card. he checks: I bet about 60% of the pot. He calls.
Turn: 7 - I am not sure if this is a bad card or not. My guess is its safe - but A7 is surely a hand he'd be playing now. Maniac has more chips then I do, so if he does out draw me, it could be costly. Math says its the right play.
Maniac checks: I again bet about 65% of the pot -- Maniac calls:
River: 7 - Love the card. The only cards that beat me are the lone 7, (what are you going to do) AA (again, what are you going to do) and 88 -- meh.
Player now makes a bet of about half the pot. Player makes a lot of moves, he was bluffing with nothing and I am huge at this point but i'm not nuts. Lets look at some options:
Fold: no chance
Call: against a tighter oppt. probably. This was played like a trap, call, call, bet. -- 88's would be a def. possibility.
Raise: There is a lot of money in the pot, but the abnormal thing is that both of our stacks have even more money. Normally at this point one of us would be pot committed. -- So now its not just raise, but how much?
Lets keep it simple. I am pretty sure I have the best hand so we raise. I raise it up a little over 200% of his raise -- a nice stiff bet, but if he has a boat he has to call.
He calls and flips over 55 -- and I win a really nice pot. Though the Maniac didn't really play this hand like a maniac.
My other big pot came against the same oppt. who hasn't reloaded and is low on cash. This came about 10 hands after our KK v 55 encouter. Player has been playing wildly going all-in on a few occasions (he still has over 200x the bb) Other maniac limps in and I pick up 99 -- I put in a nice raise of 4x BB only to have Maniac raise me 6x times the BB:
This is all about perception and if any other player had made this raise my 99's would have hit the muck before his chips hit the table. one thing immediatly go thru my head right now. one, he didn't go all-in, which makes me think he actually does have a hand. So I want to slow it down on a dangerous flop.
Flop: 7 5 2 Rainbow:
Can't ask for much more with 99: Player immeditatly goes all-in: he only has about 150% of the pot. and could be pushing in with anything. I call: Player flips of AQo -- and I avoid the six outer and pick up another nice pot. Maniac immed. leaves the table and I feel lucky I was the one able to get his chips and avoid the suckouts.
I left the table shortly after to do a 90 man sit n go (finished 26th OTM) just could never get into the right groove. Though I went to bed at about 2:00am knowing i've been playing some of my best cash game sessions. It all matters, even at the penny table.
I fold away the majority of the hands, as both maniacs are playing 80% of the hands and show a willingness to call pre-flop raises and post flop raises. Eventually I pick up Kings in middle position as both Maniacs have limped in. I make it 5x the BB expecting the both to call, but wanting them to pay for it.
only one makes the call, which is fine with me. Flop comes 6, 7, 8 rainbow. not the best flop for playing against a guy who could have any card. if he has a draw, he shall pay for another card. he checks: I bet about 60% of the pot. He calls.
Turn: 7 - I am not sure if this is a bad card or not. My guess is its safe - but A7 is surely a hand he'd be playing now. Maniac has more chips then I do, so if he does out draw me, it could be costly. Math says its the right play.
Maniac checks: I again bet about 65% of the pot -- Maniac calls:
River: 7 - Love the card. The only cards that beat me are the lone 7, (what are you going to do) AA (again, what are you going to do) and 88 -- meh.
Player now makes a bet of about half the pot. Player makes a lot of moves, he was bluffing with nothing and I am huge at this point but i'm not nuts. Lets look at some options:
Fold: no chance
Call: against a tighter oppt. probably. This was played like a trap, call, call, bet. -- 88's would be a def. possibility.
Raise: There is a lot of money in the pot, but the abnormal thing is that both of our stacks have even more money. Normally at this point one of us would be pot committed. -- So now its not just raise, but how much?
Lets keep it simple. I am pretty sure I have the best hand so we raise. I raise it up a little over 200% of his raise -- a nice stiff bet, but if he has a boat he has to call.
He calls and flips over 55 -- and I win a really nice pot. Though the Maniac didn't really play this hand like a maniac.
My other big pot came against the same oppt. who hasn't reloaded and is low on cash. This came about 10 hands after our KK v 55 encouter. Player has been playing wildly going all-in on a few occasions (he still has over 200x the bb) Other maniac limps in and I pick up 99 -- I put in a nice raise of 4x BB only to have Maniac raise me 6x times the BB:
This is all about perception and if any other player had made this raise my 99's would have hit the muck before his chips hit the table. one thing immediatly go thru my head right now. one, he didn't go all-in, which makes me think he actually does have a hand. So I want to slow it down on a dangerous flop.
Flop: 7 5 2 Rainbow:
Can't ask for much more with 99: Player immeditatly goes all-in: he only has about 150% of the pot. and could be pushing in with anything. I call: Player flips of AQo -- and I avoid the six outer and pick up another nice pot. Maniac immed. leaves the table and I feel lucky I was the one able to get his chips and avoid the suckouts.
I left the table shortly after to do a 90 man sit n go (finished 26th OTM) just could never get into the right groove. Though I went to bed at about 2:00am knowing i've been playing some of my best cash game sessions. It all matters, even at the penny table.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Bankroll Update:
A little bankroll update: I started with 50 bucks on 12/15 -- though I was only playing a few hours that week. I really started playing around Christmas eve. I put in less then 10 hours from 12/15-12/27 -- Though from 12/27-1/3 I have put in 25 hours. That is more in line of what I am trying to do, between 20-30 hours a week.
So I've turned that 50 dollar into 93.40 -- not bad considering I'm playing .1/.2 cash games and max buy-in tourney's for 2.20. Especially considering my cash game is in the negative. down a whopping .39 cents. Tourney's as usual have been much better, up over 43.00 in 16 tournaments. Increase of 90% in a little over 2 weeks.
Tonight the game plan is 3 hours of cash games -- followed by a late night tourney till bed time. The only way to succeed is to put in the work.
So I've turned that 50 dollar into 93.40 -- not bad considering I'm playing .1/.2 cash games and max buy-in tourney's for 2.20. Especially considering my cash game is in the negative. down a whopping .39 cents. Tourney's as usual have been much better, up over 43.00 in 16 tournaments. Increase of 90% in a little over 2 weeks.
Tonight the game plan is 3 hours of cash games -- followed by a late night tourney till bed time. The only way to succeed is to put in the work.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Cash Game Struggles:
I know my cash game needs a lot of work. but. that's what I'm doing, I'm working on it. I lost over the weekend on 2 different guys drawing and hitting a inside straight draw on me. which hurt, as I lost a bunch of chips. I know in the long run, this are high quality plays, I was however able to make a bunch of those loses back this morning when I picked up KK in early pos. Made a nice raise with 2 callers.
Flop:
K 8 2 - rainbow:
What a flop: but normally don't get a lot of action from these. BB checks, so i make a half the pot continuation size bet. Other calls, BB folds. Woo, some action!
turn:
9d
Turn brings two diamonds, but not really concerned. I bet about half the size of the pot again. -- He min. re-raises: Joy! two things: one, he is buying my continuation bets and thinks he can take the pot from me. I haven't seen this player making a lot of moves, but its possible. Second: he hit 2 pair, or a set of 9's. Either way, I should be getting paid here. I move in the rest of my chips and he instantly calls.
He flips over 99 -- and I avoid the one outer on the river: bit of luck on my side there, as set vs set is going to cost someone chips. Fortunately I had the higher the set this time :) player didn't have too many more chips, so I wasn't able to double up, but I was able to get back about 80% of what I lost over the holiday weekend on that one hand. Grind, Grind, Grind.
In tourney play, last night I joined the 2.20 1000 promised: 1000 capped: 3000 chips to start. Played pretty well, trying to keep the pots small, and not risk too much unless I have the nuts early. In these types of tourney's there is usually enough chips flying that if I make a hand I can get paid. I was able to build my 3000 into about 9800 when I get moved to another table. As I'm watching (not even dealt a hand yet) I see a player named shark, go all- in with about 11,000 chips into a pot of about 800. hmmm.
about 10 hand later I pick up two red bullets. I make a good raise and "shark" calls from the blind.
Flop:
8d Qd 4d - over pair and the nut flush draw. and immediately "shark" goes all-in -- now, would I have folded if I didn't see him go all-in earlier? probably not, but it made the decision to call virtually instantaneous -- He flips over J8 -- He hits a jack on the river. Fortunately for me its the J of diamonds and I am now 4th in chips with about 600 left with almost 20,000.
unfortunately it wasn't roses from there, I ended up going card dead, i was able to build my stack to about 27,000 at one point. I lost a chance to head back into the top 5 when my QQ lost to AKs and a donkey who called with KQ -- I lost, was able to double up again when the same donkey called my 99 with 77 -- Eventually I went out with my AQ vs. AK -- this was my mistake -- blinds were high and I made up my mind to go all in before I really watched what was going on. I ended up finishing 58th out of a 1000 -- money was 126th. could have been a lot better though.
Flop:
K 8 2 - rainbow:
What a flop: but normally don't get a lot of action from these. BB checks, so i make a half the pot continuation size bet. Other calls, BB folds. Woo, some action!
turn:
9d
Turn brings two diamonds, but not really concerned. I bet about half the size of the pot again. -- He min. re-raises: Joy! two things: one, he is buying my continuation bets and thinks he can take the pot from me. I haven't seen this player making a lot of moves, but its possible. Second: he hit 2 pair, or a set of 9's. Either way, I should be getting paid here. I move in the rest of my chips and he instantly calls.
He flips over 99 -- and I avoid the one outer on the river: bit of luck on my side there, as set vs set is going to cost someone chips. Fortunately I had the higher the set this time :) player didn't have too many more chips, so I wasn't able to double up, but I was able to get back about 80% of what I lost over the holiday weekend on that one hand. Grind, Grind, Grind.
In tourney play, last night I joined the 2.20 1000 promised: 1000 capped: 3000 chips to start. Played pretty well, trying to keep the pots small, and not risk too much unless I have the nuts early. In these types of tourney's there is usually enough chips flying that if I make a hand I can get paid. I was able to build my 3000 into about 9800 when I get moved to another table. As I'm watching (not even dealt a hand yet) I see a player named shark, go all- in with about 11,000 chips into a pot of about 800. hmmm.
about 10 hand later I pick up two red bullets. I make a good raise and "shark" calls from the blind.
Flop:
8d Qd 4d - over pair and the nut flush draw. and immediately "shark" goes all-in -- now, would I have folded if I didn't see him go all-in earlier? probably not, but it made the decision to call virtually instantaneous -- He flips over J8 -- He hits a jack on the river. Fortunately for me its the J of diamonds and I am now 4th in chips with about 600 left with almost 20,000.
unfortunately it wasn't roses from there, I ended up going card dead, i was able to build my stack to about 27,000 at one point. I lost a chance to head back into the top 5 when my QQ lost to AKs and a donkey who called with KQ -- I lost, was able to double up again when the same donkey called my 99 with 77 -- Eventually I went out with my AQ vs. AK -- this was my mistake -- blinds were high and I made up my mind to go all in before I really watched what was going on. I ended up finishing 58th out of a 1000 -- money was 126th. could have been a lot better though.
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