World Blogger Championship and Satellite update

I played in the freeroll on Poker Stars yesterday. I still can't believe there were over 2,200 players signed up. They must not all be poker blogs, but who cares, it's still free.

I was not having any luck at all and mostly folding my way through the first few levels. Here is the final hand.

I have 2085 in chips which is not much more than the 2000 I started with. I am dealt As Kd in late position. The blinds are 50-100. It's folded to me and I raise to 300. Born2DogBaby (2190 in chips)on my left calls and everyone else folds.

750 in the pot to the flop of 4c Qc 4s. I bet 350 in a continuation bet figuring the board should look scary and it's paired so I doubt he called my raise with a 4. I only have to sweat AQ or KQ or maybe QJ. Or if he has the Ace of clubs he may call. Born2DogBaby then raises me all in for 1890.

So it's 1435 to call into a 4320 pot. Almost 3 to 1. This raise seems like he doesn't want a call. For some reason I put him on a flush draw. I figure I am ahead of his draw and if he has a Queen, I still have 6 outs. He turns over Td Jh for an outright bluff. So I am a 3-1 favorite. The jack hits the turn and I am out.

Looking back on it now, this was a stupid call on my part. If Born2DogBaby has a Queen, I am a 3-1 dog. If it's Ace-Queen I am almost an 8-1 dog. A decent player that raises all in on a flush draw, usually has the nut flush draw, so one of my Aces would be dead.

So even though I was ahead in the hand, from a theoretical standpoint it was a horrible move.

I was playing in the $27 rebuy tournament at the same time as the Blogger tournament on Poker Stars and not having any luck there either. Everyone was gambling it up in the first few levels trying to double and triple up. I was more than willing to spend a few rebuys but I never had any decent cards to play. When I finally did get a decent hand in the rebuy period and moved all in, everyone folded because I was the only one on the table that had not played a hand in 2 levels.

Finally I got impatient after the break and with 10 BB left and A7 offsuit in early position, I raised all in. I was called by AQ and it was over after blowing a stupid $52 on a tournament I was not really paying attention to.

Overall in my quest for World Series of Poker glory I am still up $905 after 18 tournaments. My one near miss has paid for a lot of entries. Plus my success rate in the $55 sats on Party Poker has made things relatively cheap. Only 40 days left.

Guys Night Out

I did not make it to Vegas last weekend because I couldn't get anyone else to go with me. So instead I got Rob, Carlo, and Jon to go out to dinner Saturday night and then to Casino Arizona for a long night of poker.

We finally arrived around 8:00 PM and I was immediately seated in a 4-8 game. My very first hand I was dealt 2 black Kings. I raise and get two callers. The flop has an Ace. The player on my right leads out. I glance at the other opponent on my left. He looks ready to call. I muck it. Good read on my part, since when the hand was over, the both had an Ace.

The rest of the night followed the same script in that I just could not get a hand to hold up. I had lots of good starting hands this time, but never flopped anything good.

I stayed until 2:30 AM and left down $244. What a crappy run I have had at Casino AZ.

I thought I would sleep in on Sunday and be sick of poker. Unfortunately, the dogs decided to wake me up at 6:00 AM and I couldn't get back to sleep. Surprisingly I actually felt like playing poker again.

I played a satellite on Full Tilt and lost. I also lost some money in the ring no limit games again. After an afternoon nap, I logged on to Party for the 3:00 PM $55 satellite. Once again I qualified for the 6:00 PM satellite to the Main Event. I am continually surprised how easy it is to qualify in these small satellites. I am currently 4 for 8 in qualifying for the $215 tournament. This doesn't include the one tournament where my internet service went out in the middle of it and I had to call Rob and have him log on for me and coach him over the phone. On that one, I finished two spots away from qualifying but I did win $36 back.

Amazingly I am currently ahead by $1,067 in my attempts to qualify. My original plans were to spend about $3,000 trying to qualify. I may luck out and not have to spend all of my account.

After qualifying for the 6:00 PM tournament, I spent some time psyching myself up and telling myself that this was the tournament to win. When I logged on, I was surprised to learn that there would be 12 whole seats awarded in this tournament! That means there were over 600 players in this shin dig. This looks like a really good chance.

10 hands into the tournament, I busted out. Yay me!

Here's the hand:
Blinds are 20-40.
I have 2940 chips on the button with Qs Ts. One limper and I limp. The Small Blind raises to 180. The limper calls and I call. There is 580 in the pot.

Flop: 7h, Qc, Tc

Now I am trying to figure out how to double up. The Small Blind raiser bets 533 and the first limper folds. Because of the amount of the preflop raise and the position of the raisier I am putting him on a good hand. Probably AA, KK, AQ, maybe QQ. I think the size of the flop bet tells me it's probably AQ, AA, or KK. If he hit trips, he would probably bet less or even check. Maybe he has Ac Kc and is pushing a flush and straight draw.

Here's where I stand depending on my opponent's holdings:
Opponent's hand Odds
AA 73% favorite
KK 71% favorite
QQ practically drawing dead
AQ 84% favorite
AcKc 55% favorite
AcKs 77% favorite

So I decide to just raise 2x his bet to 1066. So my opponent has to call 533 into a pot of of 2179.

Now that I know the odds, I obviously should have raised more. Probably just all in. There's a good chance that he calls with some of these hands.

He calls the 533.

The turn is an Ace of hearts. So no flush yet, but it does put a straight on the board. My opponent puts me all in for 1694, leaving him with just 1100 in chips. Uh oh.

Now my chances do not look so good since if he has AQ, QQ, or AA I am beat. The only realistic hand I am ahead of is pocket Kings and the Ace probably would have scared him. Unfortunately I did not have the time to figure all this out and I call.

Luckily he only had Ac Ks so I was still a 73% favorite. But the Ace came on the river and I lost to trip Aces.

So for future reference, if I have two pair and I think my opponent might have an over pair, it's better to raise all in or at least 3-4 times my opponent's initial bet. I am a favorite, but I can lose if the board pairs or something comes runner, runner. I am not enough of a favorite to slow play.

God Damn this game can be cruel.

My Achilles Heel

The Casino Arizona has just been raping me lately. It is the only location that I do not have a winning record at. I can't figure it out.

Over my last few visits, I have felt that the level of my opponents has been especially bad. The problem is that I have not been able to find a way to take advantage of it.

Last night I must have been dealt Ace Queen at least 8 times. The only time I won with it, was when I did not raise it under the guy and by some miracle, my pair of Queens held up. On one hand in middle position I raised it after the guy on my right called preflop. It's folded around to him and he calls. I pair my Ace on the board but the board also has two 4's. He leads out and I raise. He just calls. The turn is a blank and he leads out again. Now I'm worried. I just call. River is another blank and he leads again. I make the crying call, figuring he has 3 fours. Instead he turns over Ace-King. I asked him nicely why he doesn't raise with that hand. "I guess I am just too conservative". Ya think??? These guys are playing a game that I am not familiar with.

At 3-6 on a kill pot, I am dealt QQ in the small blind. There is one raise by a player who seems to be decent, and a reraise all in by a donkey. Another donkey on the button calls. I ask how much it is to reraise (because I lose track of the bet amount after posting $2 and they take $1 for the jackpot drop). I bet $24. They all call.

The flop is 8 high. I bet and the decent player raises me and the donkey calls. Alright maybe I am up against KK or AA. The table had seemed pretty passive until that point. I just call.

The turn is another low card but it puts 3 cards to a straight out there now. The flop had 2 of the same suit. I figure everyone is still drawing because the decent player had to have a pocket pair with all the raising right?? I check and decent player checks??? and donkey checks. What the fuck? So now my initial read is a bit off and it's obvious that the other players are drawing. Now I just need to dodge the flush and straight and I might win. The river brings a 4 card straight on board of 2-7-8-9-10. I'm finished now. I check again and decent player bets. Donkey calls and I muck. Decent player had 66 and had the straight. Donkey had 2-4 suited??!!

I don't know what Donkey was doing, but the decent player was more interesting. I can understand the raise with 66 in a kill pot. I can understand the loose call of two more raises after it goes by him. What I don't understand is the raise of my flop bet? He was two cards away from a straight and there were two over cards on the flop.

I was totally confused and took a walk. I remembered that I would tell myself that if I started out losing at a table that I would switch games. Even though the players are bad, my table image is shot because no one is afraid of me.

I went to the desk and asked to be put in a 4-8 game. After folding a few hands I am dealt AA under the gun. I raise. The guy on my left calls and the button calls. The flop is 8-9-10 with 2 clubs. I have the Ace of clubs.

I bet, it's raised, it's reraised by the button. Fuck!!! I just call hoping the guy on my left will slow down. No such luck as he caps it. So 4 bets for the three of us on the flop. Now I am praying for another Ace or a club so at least I can draw at a flush. The turn is a red 3.

I check and then all hell breaks loose. Raise, reraise, I fold. Now it's heads up and unlimited raises. Each player puts in 6 raises. Let's reflect......one of these players has Queen Jack. Odds are both players have it, but I've seen crazier things. My guess was that someone had Queen Jack of clubs and was freerolling the flush. Otherwise why put in all the raises?

The river pairs the 10. Now the straight is no longer the nuts. The guy on my left leads out and the button just calls. Now it's apparent that the guy on my left just got a full house. Sure enough it's 8's full of Tens. He just won a huuuge pot playing like an idiot.

When it was all said and done I only lost $202. I made some decent laydowns that saved me a few bets. Things will eventually turn around for me there but I doubt that I will ever make the big score that it would take to even things out.

Biggest Payday Ever! Almost a WSOP seat.

When I last left this humble blog I had mentioned that I was having a lucky day on Monday. I really did not have any comprehension of how lucky I was about to get.

After qualifying in the $55 satellite, I played in the $215 WSOP satellite on Party Poker.

In the early rounds I played a little loose and aggressive when in position. I wasn't doing much until I managed to double up when I flopped a set of 8's over my opponent's set of 5's.

For the next 3 or 4 levels, I really did not play very many hands but I managed to keep my chip stack between 8 and 12 BB by restealing a few times from the tight passive guy on my right. I was really happy with my play, because this was something I wanted to concentrate on after reading numerous posts on 2+2 about restealing and how vital it is to last in tournaments when you go card dead.

Finally, I had a big hand to give me some breathing room. After folding for what seemed like 3 rounds of blinds, I found myself with Ah Ks in the small blind. The blinds were 300-600 and I started with 4,310 in chips. Our starting stacks were 3,000 so as you can see, I really had not done much yet.

Rosieace, one of 3 stacks over 12,000 at the table open raised in middle position to 1925. My best friend, TlewA, who I had survived 3 blind levels by stealing liberally from, raised all in on the button. I of course moved my 4,310 into the middle. The big blind folded and Rosieace called.

Rosieace turns over Kc Qs and TLewA turns over Ac 3s. Huh??? I can understand the call by Rosie, since she's getting good odds and can afford to gamble. I guess TLewA had somewhere else to be.

The flop was Tc 9c 4s. The turn is 4c. So now TLewA has the nut flush draw. I need to dodge 4 jacks, 8 clubs, 3 threes, and 3 Queens. 18 bad cards and 26 good cards. The river was a harmless 8s and I triple up!

I am at 12,931 in chips and only 2700 chips behind the chip leader at my table.

Soon after, the blinds moved up to 400-800 with 25 antes. So once again, my stack is not all that large. I steal the blinds once. I miss stealing the blinds and lose it right back. Then I steal again, but now I need to move all in for around 10,000 each time.

Time for another rush. I am dealt Tc 9h on the button. It's folded to me and with a starting stack of 12,306, I raise to 2400. The small blind pushes all in for 3037. Luckily the big blind folds so I don't have to make a real decision. I call the other 600 and the flop comes down
Ac 9s Kd. My opponent has Ks Jc so he is ahead. My good fortune strikes again and I turn a 3rd nine. The very next hand on the button I receive Jd Jc. Rosieace with 6200 in chips raises to 2600 under the gun. It's folded to me and I raise all in to protect my hand. Rosie calls. My Jacks hold up against her KQ. Now I am up to 23,905 and almost leading my table again.

I bled off a few chips after calling a short stack's all in with pocket 5's and losing the race. Then I got caught in fancy play syndrome. With the blinds at 600-1200 and 50 antes we are playing 7 handed. I am one off the button with As 9h. Utg folds and eagerearl limps in. Eagerearl has been tagged as a fish by me. It will be very easy to get some chips off of him if I hit a hand. I raise to 3600 to isolate him, which works. He calls as expected so now there is 9,350 in the pot and I have 17,266 left. Eagerearl has 17,522 left.

The flop is Js Qd Qh. This is a decent board to bluff at, except that Eagerearl loves to call and I bet he has flopped at least a drawing hand. He checks and I check behind. The turn is a 3h. It's checked through again. The river is the Jc. We check it down. Luckily Eagerearl has Ace 6 and we chop the pot. Wow he's even worse than I thought.

I float through a few more rounds staying around 25k. We are at the final 2 tables. Finally on the big blind I am dealt Qh Qc. Bajawa with 51,115 raises to 4050 in middle position. It's folded to me and I push all in. For some strange reason, he calls and flips over Ah 9h. "It was sooooted!" I can hear him saying as he prays for an Ace he doesn't get. Now I am pumped up to 52,982 and I officially have a big stack.

I go card dead for a little while, but I do get a chuckle from one hand. Mr. Uni Q has been raising all in for 2 or 3 levels now. It's his only move even though he has 30,000 chips and the blinds are 1000-2000 with 75 antes. So it's folded to him on the button and of course he raises all in. I am in the small blind with Ah 9h. Luckily if he had just put in a small raise, I may have tried to resteal. Instead I fold, but the big blind ishosta with 57,172 in chips calls with his pocket 9's. Mr Uni Q turns over QQ and it looks like he will double up and cause me trouble for a while. Instead, ishosta hits the last and only 9 in the deck to eliminate Mr Uni Q and make the table 6 handed.

Eventually I make the final table with 48,807 in chips. I am in 4th place. The chip leader has 96,247 and it's eagerearl so I figure those chips are in play. The top 2 places receive the WSOP tickets and 3rd, 4th, and 5th split up the rest of the money in a 50-30-20 split.

With 9 left and I am on the big blind, I am dealt TT. Eagerearl min raises at UTG+1. So now I am licking my chops. It's folded to nikzad who min raises again to 3x the blind or 6000. I don't want to play a pot with nikzad out of position because he seems like a decent player. I decide to fold. Eagerearl then pushes all in. Did I avoid pocket Aces? Nikzad folds so I'll never know.

I am UTG + 1 with Kh Jc and 50,257. The blinds are 1000-2000 with 75 antes and we are 9 handed. I raise to 5000 hoping to steal. It's folded to Nikzad who pushes in his last 8481. It's 4500 more to call into a 16,000 pot, so I have to call. He turns over Ks Qc and turns a straight. Now I am down to 40,776.

The blinds go up to 1500-3000 with 75 antes now. I lose some chips trying to defend my blind against a min raise. I call preflop and lead out on the ragged flop. Nikzad raises all in and I fold like a little girl.

Later I have raised three different times all in preflop to steal and have yet to be called. My chips are back up to 42,000.

On the button with Kd Js and the blinds are now 2000-4000 with 100 antes. 8 players left. The short stack with 12,619 goes all in. It's folded to me and I figure he could have a pretty wide range of hands. I don't think Kd Js is a good enough hand to protect so I just call. Maybe the others will join in to try and eliminate a player? Sure enough, Eagerearl in the big blind with 57,847 behind him joins in the fun. The pot is 40,657 and comes down Kh 9s 2s. Eagerearl checks and I push. I did not want to get out drawn, but maybe I should have bet less to see if Eagerearl would call with a worse hand? Eventually my hand holds up and now I have 69,239 in chips.

I hold steady and finally with 6 players left, Eagerearl makes a really dumb move and busts himself and now we've all made money. 5th place pays $1,360. I HAVE NOW WON MORE MONEY IN THIS TOURNAMENT THEN I EVER HAVE BEFORE!!!! I have 74,639 in chips and the blinds are 3000-6000. I am in 3rd place.

It all goes bad in a hurry. I have 76off in the small blind. It's folded to me and I raise to 18k. Ishosta who has me covered moves all in to defend and I have to lay down. Now I am down to 50,400. The next hand on the button I am dealt pocket 5's. Olijenab with 90,000 in chips limps in under the gun. I don't want to see a flop, but I don't want to go broke either. I raise to 25,000 figuring that should be good enough to get a fold if he's fooling around.

Instead of the hoped for fold, he raises me all in. FUCK!!!! I lay it down and he's nice enough to show me the pocket Aces. I fold until it gets to me in the small blind. I am dealt Q5 suited and I raise all in after it's folded to me. Ishosta makes a good call with 89 of diamonds. I am ahead, but not by much. He turns the 9 and rivers an 8 to eliminate me 5th.

I was really happy with the way I played. I was very patient and picked my spots at the right times. I hope this is a springboard to bigger and better things.

It's a Lucky Holiday

I played golf this morning with the normal gang down at the Country Club. I shot my usual 82 with a terrible front 9 and a pretty good back 9. I had two really lucky shots on the back nine that should have gone in the water, but somehow stayed up on the embankment instead of rolling into the lake. This was an omen.

After coming home and resting for a bit, I decided to fire up the computer for some poker. Somehow I won both of the $55 sit n go's I played by getting lucky a few times in each game to suck out.

Now I am about to qualify for another WSOP satellite. I ran up a huge stack when my JJ rivered a straight to beat two Kings. Then I had KK and won and then AA and won in 3 successive hands. I went from out of the tournament to chip leader in 3 hands!

I'll be back to post more on the bigger tournament.

Another WSOP attempt

On Sunday I tried to qualify again for the WSOP main event. I won my way in with a $55 satellite. The first satellite was pretty boring except for one hand.

There were 23 spots available and there were 24 players left. Blinds were 400-800 with 25 ante. I had 8500 in chips. There was one player at another table with 300 in chips and about 4 hands to go until he hits the blinds.

I was dealt pocket Aces in the big blind. It was folded to the small blind, who raised me. He had about 16k in chips. He could fold his way in easily, but he was fucking around.

I hemmed and hawed for a while and then called. Mathematically this is an easy fold. I knew that, but for some reason I still felt uncomfortable with my chip stack because the next closest to elimination after the mini stack was around 4000 in chips. I felt like if I called, he probably would not bet again. If he did, I would base my decision on the texture of the flop.

The flop was 3-4-5 with 2 suits. The small blind pushed in and I called. The small blind had 8-7 and my hand was good. I have no idea why he would push in there? That's almost as bad as my decision preflop. I guess he had chips and could afford it.

After that little scare, I coasted in and sat down for dinner. The next tournament started at 6:00 PM. I will run through the hands I played and see if I could have played them any better.

1. 3260 in chips. I am dealt 6s 5s in middle position. One limper in front. I limp for 60. 2 other callers.
The flop is 3d, 2h, 6d. It's checked to me and I bet 150. Everyone folds.

2. 3380 in chips. I am dealt Ac, Ah in the cutoff. It's folded to me and I raise 3x the blind to 180. Button folds and both blinds call.
The flop is a beautiful Ks Kc Ad. The blinds both check and I check it through setting the trap. The turn is a 9s. This time the Big Blind bets 450 into the 540 pot. I smooth call and the small blind folds. The river is a 2c. Now the Big Blind bets 2595 which basically puts me all in. I raise my last 155. He calls and flips over Kh 2h for Kings full of 2's. My Aces full is a winner and I double up.

3. 6730 in chips. Blinds are 50-100. I am dealt 6s, Js. 5 folds to me and I decide to try and steal the blinds by raising to 300. Button folds, but both blinds call. Ugh.
Flop is 4d, 7d, 8d. The small blind bets 375 and BB calls. I fold.

4. 6430 in chips. Blinds are 50-100. I am in the big blind with Ac, 5s. It's folded to the button who min raises to 200. I call. The flop is 5c, 8c, 5h. I check and the button bets 360 into the 450 pot. I try to do some math to figure out how much I should raise to charge him a high price on a flush draw. I raise to 1400. The button reraises all in. It's 1847 more to call so I do. Button turns over Qs, Ah and my hand is good. My stack is up to 9927.

5. 10,827 in chips. Blinds are 100-200. I am in late middle position with Ad, Js. It's 4 folds to me and I open for 600. Everyone folds except the big blind who calls. The flop is 2h, Ks, 3s. I continuation bet for 700. He folds.

6. 11,027 in chips. Blinds 100-200. I am dealt Ac, Kc in the big blind. Middle position (emigo) calls. Cutoff (H2Oman23) raises to 625. I just call. Emigo had 3179 chips at start and H20man23 had 5833. Should I have raised? This looks like a decent push. I am not in good position and it would be nice to take it down here. The other side of the coin is that I have a big chip lead at the table and why risk it on a possible coin flip?
The flop is 4h, 6h, 8c. I check, emigo bets 200. H20 man raises to 825. I fold. Emigo called the raise. The turn was Ah. That puts up a possible flush. Emigo min bets 200 again. This time H20 folds. I'd love to know what Emigo had there. The min bet on the flop looks like a flush draw blocking bet, but who knows?

7. 10,202 in chips. Blinds 150-300. I have Kh, 7h on the button. It's folded to me and I try to steal and raise to 900. The small blind raises all in to 4622. The big blind folds and I fold. The small blind(titlegambler) has been a bit crazy.

8. 9302 in chips. Dealt 7h, 7c in middle. I raise and win the blinds.

9. 9752 in chips. Blinds are 200-400. I have As, Kh in the small blind. UTG raises all in to 716. It's folded to me. I reraise all in. Titlegambler in big blind folds.

Is this right? Should I just call or put in a smaller raise? If I raise smaller, maybe it entices the crazy big blind to play a weaker hand.

My hand does not improve and the UTG pair of 7's wins the race.

10. 9036 in chips. I have Kd, Js in the cut off. The blinds are 200-400. The big blind is all in for 320. It's folded to me and I raise to 800. Everyone folds and it's another race. I pair my Jack on the turn and win a small pot.

11. 9556 in chips. I have 9s, 9h utg. The blinds are 200-400. I raise to 1000. One fold, then a call. Wedgewood who has me covered 2-1, raises to 5200. I fold and the other caller folds.
The big blind was all in so I get to see Wedgewood's pocket Kings. Nice escape I must say.

12. Down to 7756 in chips. Blinds are still 200-400. I have 6d, 6c in the small blind. Folded to the button who raises to 1300. I reraise all in. The BB folds and the button folds. This is a nice steal reraise. I may need to learn how to do this more often with a wider range of hands.

13. 8556 in chips. Blinds are 300-600. I am dealt Jh, Ks two off the button. There is an UTG (Bestdeal2222) min raise to 1200. Bestdeal has 22383 in chips. I just call. This is probably a mistake. I have some protection in that there are probably not a lot of people looking to play a pot with the 2nd biggest chip stack at the table. But I still have 4 players left to act behind me. I think now that this is a raise or fold situation. Sure enough, the big blind calls.

The flop is 7d, 9h, 2d. The pot is 4200. The BB checks and bestdeal min bets 600. I just call hoping to take it away on the turn. This is screaming for a big raise here.

The turn is 6s. Bestdeal bets the minimum again and I fold. Very vaginal.

14. 6756 in chips and blinds are 300-600. I am dealt pocket 9's in middle position. There are 3 folds in front of me and I raise to 2000. There are two folds and then Braves77 raises all in for 6343. I call praying for Braves to turn over big unpaired cards. No such luck as I see pocket Aces. I was left with less than the big blind after that and played a few more hands before getting knocked out by 4 Kings.

I finished 42nd out of 187.

Overall, I started out very fast and was getting some great hands. When things slow down and I go card dead for awhile, I need to learn how to maintain or continue to build up my stack. I was looking for open steal attempts, but one thing I have never really done is resteal.

I definitely think that I need to resteal every once in a while to build up my chips. Look at the math. If I open steal, then I only win 1.5 bets. If I resteal, then I win the initial raise of 3-4 bets plus the blinds. That's 4.5 to 5.5 bets. If I am at 15-20 BB in my stack, then that is a great increase. I would only have to do this move once every 3 rounds to be the same effectiveness as open stealing.

I also did some more digging at 2+2 in the MTT Anthology section. I looked at the hand histories of some of the winning tournaments. One move I noticed a lot was check raising a paired board on the flop. I think this is a pretty successful bluff, especially if it's heads up or 3 handed. There are not a lot of hands that decent players are willing to call with on these boards if someone shows aggression and represents the three of a kind. I'll just keep working to get better.

Quick Hit at Casino AZ

So I had a couple of hours to kill before a 5:30 PM business event in North Scottsdale. I did not feel like working and I couldn't go home, so I went to the casino.

I was seated in a very loose passive 4-8 game and sat in the 3 seat. After folding the first 9 or 10 hands I had reads on at least half the table. There were 4 players that were willing to play any two and call all draws to the river. There was an old lady in seat 8 who would only raise if her hand was unbeatable. I saw her call down with 3 of a kind, twice without raising. I also overheard her saying something about never raising with QQ or KK because an Ace always hits the flop. Ha ha ha ha ha.

Now I only have about 90 minutes so I am looking to make a decent score. Under the gun, I limp with Ace-8 of hearts. Normally I muck this, but I am not afraid of a raise here. After putting my $4 in, the dealer reminds me it's a kill pot. Oh! I put in the other $4. Every other player at the table calls!. I guess we all have odds to chase now.

The flop is As - 8s - Th. A great but vulnerable hand with this many players. The small blind was a younger guy who I had not seen get out of line yet, led out for 8. The BB called. I raise trying to force some guys out. I get a loose call from one guy who is now all in and another call. The blinds also call. The turn is a Jh. Ok that made an inside straight or the weaker straight. However it gives me a nut flush draw.

The small blind leads out again. Now I am thinking he may have a set. The table has been really passive. He has bet into me twice. I don't think he is bluffing, but he may not realize how strong my hand is. The big blind folds, I just call. The all in guy is still paying attention and the last loose guy calls.

The river is a black 2. Now the small blind checks. Ok there's no full house and I don't think he would give up on his set now. He must have top pair. I value bet and get a call from the guy behind me and the small blind. My hand is good as they turn over AK and AQ. The all in guy mucked.

I think my profit was over $120 in the hand. That was an awful lot of chips to stack for the next 3 or 4 hands.

Now that I think about it, I probably should have raised the turn when the flush draw came. I'm pretty sure I had enough equity in the pot to do it. Plus it might have convinced the last guy to fold, although I doubt it.

I should have just got up right there. But of course I had an hour left to kill.

I think I actually played very well for the remaining hour, but I lost most of my gains until I left with a $47 profit. I made some good decisions on the river and saved some bets. Here are some of the interesting hands.

The younger guy in the 1 seat raised under the gun. 2 seat folds and I look at TT. I think about reraising here, but I dread having a bunch of players call 3 bets behind me. I folded. The big blind was the only other caller. The flop came out Ace-Queen-Queen. The BB checked and UTG followed through with a bet and won the pot. He actually showed his cards and had 99.

So the question in hindsight is, should I have reraised? I am definitely sure that I could not call a bet or a raise on that flop. Was my position bad enough, that a fold was the right play?

Later I play Jack 10 off on the big blind for one bet. I think there are 5 people in the pot. The flop is Jack-2-2. I lead out hoping everyone folds. Instead I get 3 other callers. There is no flush draw out there and no possible straight draw. So there's a good chance someone has the 2. The turn is another 2. Maybe there isn't another two in someones hand?? I bet this time and only get one more caller. This guy is very loose and could be calling with a smaller pocket pair.
For some reason, my gut tells me to check the river which was an 8. So he announces, "I think you're bluffing so I'm gonna bet".

I think about it for a little bit. Then I ask him, "How much do you think I'm bluffing? Would you call a raise?" He doesn't give a straight answer but he looks like he is trying to goad me into raising. I just call and he turns over the 4th 2 for 4 of a kind. At least I lost the minimum.

Overall it was nice to book a win in a live game. Now I'm jonesing for another trip to Vegas. Maybe in June.

1st chance at the WSOP

I just finished a $55 satellite on Party Poker to qualify for their nightly $215 satellite into the World Series Main Event. In the 55 they give away one seat for every 5 players. I started slow, but got lucky a couple of times when my pocket pairs had another stack about the same size or larger, dominated. I basically cruised into the entry for the last 30 minutes.

I will try to post hands from the $215 later tonight.

The $215 satellite offers one seat for every 55 players. There were 196 players registered so there are only 3 seats up for grabs. I never did see the payout for the remainder of the cash.

Level 1 20-40 blinds

Ok, we're off. I win my first hand when I raise on the button with KQ suited. The blinds fold. I rock!

2 off the button, I am dealt 3s 3c. Folded to me and I call 40. Everyone folds to small blind who completes and button checks. Flop is 6d, Jd, Td. Small blind checks and Big Blind bets 100. I fold.

Very next hand I have Js Td. Folded to me in middle position. I call 40. One caller behind me and Big Blind checks. Flop is 8s, 7s, 6c. BB checks, I check, and late player checks.
Turn is Kc. BB bets 200 and I fold.

I fold 2 hands then I am dealt Qd, Qh in UTG +1. I raise to 120. Everyone folds except the BB. He calls. Flop is Jc, 7s, 5c. BB checks and I bet 200 into a 260 chip pot. BB folds. I have 3100 in chips.

I have 3h 8c in BB and I check fold on flop.

I have 8s 9s in small blind and fold to a preflop raise. He was the only one in the pot. Maybe I should have played it but the flop was 7h, 4s, 2h so I would not have hit anything anyway.

I fold my button and then I am moved to a different table.

First hand at new table and I am dealt 7d 7s in middle position. There is a raise to 80 by the player in front of me (this is the min raise). I call. One more caller behind me and both the blinds call. 5 players in the pot for 400. Flop is 8c, 4h, Jd. Three players check to me. There is only one player behind me. The player in front of me who raised preflop has checked this ragged flop. I decide to see if I can take it down or at least winnow the field. I bet 300.

The BB calls the 300. The turn is Kd. Now there are 3 overcards on the board and I don't think my opponent is on a draw of any kind, so he probably has a Jack or an 8. He checks and I check. The river is the Ks. The big blind goes all in for 830. There is 1830 in the pot and 830 to call. It' s not worth getting crippled on this long shot yet. I fold. I am down to 2660 in chips.

We are now at level 2 with 30-60 blinds.

I fold 3 hands, and then I am in the big blind with 7h 6c. Two limpers and the small blind completes. I check. The flop is Qc, Kd, Ad. No chance for me here.

I have 3h 3c in the small blind. Two limpers, I complete and BB checks. The flop is 4c, 2d, Js. Missed again. I check fold.

I am on the button and am dealt Qd 9h. The table seems pretty tight. It's folded to me on the button so I raise to 120. Both blinds fold. My stack is now at 2630.

I fold 4 hands in a row and then I am dealt 4h 4c in UTG + 3. One caller in front of me, and I call. The cutoff calls and both blinds complete. Flop is Jd, 8d, Td. Another check fold.

I fold another hand and I am moved to another table. I am at 2570 in chips.

I fold 6 hands in a row.

It's now level 3 with blinds at 50-100.

I am dealt Ad Qd in the big blind. UTG min raises to 200. It's folded to small blind who calls and I call. Flop is 7c, 5c, 6c. Small blind leads out for 100. I fold. Eventually the other two players get it all in. UTG had raised with Jd Kc. Small Blind had called with Ac, Ts. They both played the hell out of their flush draws and the last club hit on the river. Should I have reraised preflop? In hindsight, I would have had to win it preflop, because they would have called a reasonable bet on the flop and I would not have led out again on the turn.

I fold 11 hands in a row! Mostly horrible cards. A couple playable hands but there was a raise in front of me, so I mucked them.

On the button I am dealt Jh Ts. One limper and I call. Both Blinds come along for a flop of 2s, 5c, Qh. Missed again. The limper in front of me bets 100 into a 400 pot. He has 1800 behind. The blinds both have me covered by 2-1. I play tight and fold. Should I raise here with nothing into 4 players?

Next hand I get Ks Jh. There is an early position raise so I fold.

Now we're at Level 4. 100-200 blinds. I have 2070 in chips. I am the short stack at the table. The biggest stack is 17,148. There are 3 others in the 2000's and 4 players in the 4000's.

I fold 11 hands in a row again.

I am dealt Ad Qc at UTG + 2. I am all in for 1770. Everyone folds so I pick up 300.

We are now at Level 5 with 150-300 blinds. I have 1620 in chips so it's getting desperate.

I fold 4 hands. I am dealt Ac Kd on the button. I am starting with 1620 in chips. It's folded to me. I raise all in and the blinds fold. Back up to 2070 chips again.

I fold one hand. The next hand is Ah 9c. I am 2 from the button. It's folded to me again. I raise all in to 2070 and pick up the blinds. I am now at 2520.

I get Ac 7c the next hand. It's folded to me again. I decide not to push in this time since it would be the 3rd time in 4 hands. I fold. The button raises to 750 and the BB called. The flop was 8s, 8c, 7h. The BB led out for 525 and the button folded. Maybe my hand was good, I don't know.

I fold 11 hands in a row again. 3 off the button I am dealt 7s 7h. It's folded to me and I raise all in for 2070. Everyone folds again and I pick up 450 in blinds. I am really starting to wish I could get called just I can have a chance to double up.

I fold one hand.

The level changes to Level 6 and blinds are now 200-400. I have 2520 in chips.

The next hand is Kh Th in UTG + 1. Ok I am two hands from eating 600 in blinds. It's time to get lucky. I push. I get an all in behind me for 3900 and another all in for 2799. This is not good.

One player has KK and the other has AK. Neither of them has a heart and the flop of Qh, 4h, 6s gives me a brief glimmer of hope. But the turn and river are non hearts and I am out in 99th place.

Another lost month

So my poker bankroll is now down to 2992. It hasn't been this low since June of 05. It was only a $400 loss for the month versus the $1000 and $900 loss the previous two months, but it still sucks.

I made a $300 deposit into Absolute poker to do some bonus whoring. The more I play, the more I realize that it might take a million years to work off this $300. I think I get around $10 for every 1000 raked hands I play. Luckily I signed up with a rake back affiliate, so I get to play at a little discount.

The software at Absolute is not the greatest. I found a color scheme that I can deal with. There is not a great selection of games. They seem to max out around 15,000 players, so I don't think there is a chance for me to 3 and 4 table the low limit games. Plus I have not run into a lot of fish at those levels either.

I lost what was left in my Full Tilt account by playing ill advised No Limit ring games again. I feel like my game is getting better, however I get bored very easily. I want to keep my play to one or two tables to try and get a read on the players. The problem is you never see a showdown in No Limit, so it's hard to get comfortable with what hands my opponents are playing and how they are playing them.

My goal this month is to do my research and pick two sites where I will try to win my World Series seat. My bankroll is not where it needs to be, but let's face it, I am having a new baby in November and my poker play will probably be curtailed considerably in 2007. This may be my last shot for a few years.

I am looking for a site that will let me satellite into their bigger tournaments and use those satellite tokens on any tournament I want. It does me no good to play a tournament to win an entry to another tournament right after, when I can't be there for 10 hours at a time. I think the winners are going to be Full Tilt and Poker Stars, but I need to be sure.

Poker blahs

I am still struggling with motivation. Losing sucks and lately it has been sucking my inspiration from the game. I used to get more motivated to come back from a loss, but now the loss has been so big, that I dread the long hours it will take to build back up.

I have been good about not trying to move up and make it all back in one session, but it's hard to resist.

It's been a while since I have been in the running in a multi table tournament. This is the pattern that has been consistent: 180 man $22 tourney on Stars last night.

1. Wait for good hands that don't come early. Watch as idiots lose chips in big pots that you are not in.

2. Start to lose patience and lose 1/3 of my stack by raising with medium hand and laying down to reraise, or missing flop and continuation betting but getting called.

3. Blinds are up and I steal blinds a couple of times.

4. Somebody calls my all in raise and sucks out. I am out in 80th place.

Here was the end last night:

I have 1185 in chips. Blinds are 50-100. I am dealt Ad 5s on the button.

It's folded to me. The small blind has 1265 in chips and the big blind has 5460 in chips.

This is an obvious raise, the question is whether it should be all in or just 300. I decide 300 since there are still 7 minutes left in this level, and I'll still have 7 big bets if I have to fold to a reraise or miss the flop.

The small blind moves all in and the big blind folds. I fold as well.

Next hand in the cut off, I am dealt Kh 8d. It is folded to me again. Now I decide I need the chips. Note: this may not be the best move in retrospect, but there are only a few minutes left now in the level. This is the exact opposite of my thinking in the previous hand. I raise all in.

I am called by the big blind who has 1140 chips with 33. I guess he was looking to gamble.
Flop is Ad Ks 6c. Yeah I have a King! He is down to 2 outs. Turn is an 8c. I have two pair, but it doesn't matter since it still doesn't beat 3 of a kind, which is my opponent's only chance. River is the 3. Fuck!

I play a $22 Sit and Go on Stars the night before last. I have been playing more Sits one table at a time, to work on my game. I play solid and make it to heads up. My heads up play is relatively weak, but I am getting better. Pokerstars Sits tend to give you a lot of play heads up. Even on the final hand, we both had about 13-15 big blinds left.

My opponent should have been out when we were 3 handed. I had over 8000 in chips and my 2 opponents had less than 2000. He rivered a 6 for 3 of a kind and stayed alive. Eventually we made it to heads up and he was still alive.

My opponent, Spkrothhouse had reraised me a couple of times all in and watched me fold. He had also over bet all in preflop once as well. I was starting to believe that when he overbet the pot, that he had nothing and that when he bet small, he had the goods. Here is the last hand.

Larryvq 6460
Srkrothhouse 7040.
Blinds are 200-400 with 25 ante.

Larry posts the small blind and has the button.

I am dealt Ac 6s. I raise to 1225 and he calls.

Flop is 4s 4h Ks. He bets all in for 5815 into a 2450 pot. This smells like another bluff. I have about the worst hand I would call with. I call.

Skrot turns over Jh 8s. I caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.

Of course he spikes an 8 on the turn and I don't get my Ace on the river.

I need a Big Score!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Miracle SNG Comeback

So I took a couple of days off and fired up a $22 sit and go on Party last night. I was just playing one, because I was watching the concert DVD of Journey from 1981. Things were going my way, as I hit trips on the first hand and won a big pot. I made it to three handed and then knocked out the short stack to get heads up. Starting heads up I had 13465 chips and Burke21 had 6535. Blinds were 300-600.

A couple of hands later, I call a reraise on the button with KQ of clubs. The flop is 6s, 4s, 6d and Burke21 pushes in 2471 chips. I can't call and now it's tied.

A little later, I catch a diamond flush with Jc 2d. I win 2400 chips and my lead is up to 12701 to 7299. I run my lead up to 15000 to 5000 and stall for a little time, so the blinds will go up to 400-800 with a 25 ante. I figure I can just start pushing all in, since he has played passive for the most part.

For the next three hands I push all in, but it's easy because I am dealt AQ, AK, AJ. On the AJ hand, he calls his last 5000 with Kh 2d. Of course he hits his King on the flop and now we're tied again.

The next hand, I start with 10102 and he has 9898. I post the big blind and I am dealt 10d 7d. Burke just calls from the button. The flop is 8d 6d, Qh. So assuming that Phil Gordon's rule of 2 and 4 is correct, I have 12 outs times 4, so a 48% chance to win the hand, assuming that 10 high is no good. Heck if I throw in the 3 tens, it's a 60% chance. I check and Burke21 leads out for 1600. I push all in and he calls with 9s 8c. I get no help on the turn or river so now I am practically dead. I have 204 left and Burke21 has 19,796.

Remember the blinds are 400-800 with 25 antes. I will have to double up at least 3 times just to have more than the blinds. So here's what happens:

1. 4h, 2h win with pair of 2's
2. 6d, 6s win with 6's and 4's
3. 8d, 3s win with pair of 8's
4. 10s, 5d win with pair of 5's I now have 3264 in chips
5. I fold 6d, jh on button
6. Jh, 9d I push from big blind and hit straight 7-J now I have 5678 in chips and I am back in this thing.

Eventually I came all the way back and won the final hand when my Ace Queen held up against his Queen Eight.

Possibly the greatest comeback ever!

What Have I Learned From Losing Last Month?

I have officially seen the worst downswing in my brief poker playing history. I hate reading other player's posts about their losing streaks so I will not detail the individual hands.

The culmination of this streak was my trip to Las Vegas last weekend with my friend Tom and his two friends Brad and Ken. I believe the total wreckage of the weekend was down $1,500.

Here is what I believe I have learned during the last 6 weeks of losing:

1. If you start out bad at a table, it's best to just change tables or change games.

I have never been a big proponent of the loss limit camp to betting strategy. If the game is good, you should be patient and wait for the cards to turn. It's all one big session. That is all true, however there are other things that override that strategy.

When you start out losing, you are building a bad table image. I sat at the 6-12 table at Caesers with some of the worst players in Vegas. For the first two hours, I did not win a single hand. These players are not afraid to play a hand with me, because they haven't felt the sting of losing against me. They are happy to chase their long shot draws because it never enters their mind that they are hopelessly behind in the hand. Why should it, every time they play against me, they win? The only way to change this image is to go on a mad rush of cards and punish the table for an hour. This seems to very seldom happen, so I think the best strategy is to get up and find a fresh table.

2. You have to be even more patient at No Limit then Limit in cash games

The only way to make money in a No Limit cash game on the internet is to hope that your great hands, match up with somebody's pretty good hand. There are very few opportunities to outplay your opponents in low limit online NL hold'em. The key is to keep throwing bait in the water by playing solid hands along with a few speculative ones. Once you land the nuts, you need to get lucky and hope someone else really likes their hand. Hopefully your stack has not been eroded by bad beats or impatient play, so that when you double up with your monster, it makes a profit for the session instead of just getting you back to even.

I say patient, because I have often lost it, after receiving a number of good hands in a game and not getting paid off. Eventually you start to get fancy and try checking or slow playing. Then it comes back to bite you in the ass.

Overall, I am going to take a few days off from playing and figure out a new plan. I am probably going to have to drop down to 2-4 online and grind it out in the cash games again. With live poker, I guess I am going to have to back to the 3-6 games to regain my confidence and bankroll. Or I may just concentrate on the Steps and see if I can make a big score to rebuild the bankroll in a hurry. I still feel that I have not been outplayed, however I did notice one difference in my play at 3-6 versus 6-12.

At 3-6, the game feels easy to me. I can concentrate more on the players, and less on how much money I have in front of me. I know I am not describing this well, but I feel like I know what the players are going to do, before they do it at 3-6. It's near impossible to read their hands sometimes, but at least I can get a read on whether they are weak or strong.

Down the Steps and Back Up again

In my last post, I bragged about making it to step 4 in the Party Poker Mini Steps. I played in one and was busted down all the way to a free roll in step 1. Since then I have clawed my way back and I am at step 4 again.

I have only played one since then. I had a chance to do some damage with 5 players left. I raised from the small blind with AK suited. The BB came over the top all in for quite a bit more. There are some occasions where I might have folded this, but I saw a chance to double up and put myself in great position. Plus, because it looked like such a blatant steal on my part, that he could be pushing with a wide variety of hands. Sure enough he had Ace Jack. 2-1 favorite preflop turns into drawing dead on the flop as he flops two more Jacks and I am out. Luckily just back to step 4 again.

What's really going to suck is getting to step 5 and getting unlucky. I think there is no money for the bottom 5 spots. I would have to think that maybe a proper strategy would be to steal like crazy in the beginning. Everyone will probably be playing incredibly tight. Then when they are sick and tired of you, pray for good hands in the middle rounds and set traps. Between waiting 30 minutes for the tables to fill up, and how tight the players are in the early rounds, this may be the winning strategy.

As for ring games.....I think I am going to start concentrating on 2-4 6 man limit games. Possibly moving up to 3-6 if I am running good. The only site that has a decent selection of 10 player games at 3-6 is Party Poker, and they seem to be infested with tight aggressive players. The 6 player games are much more loose.

According to some of the reading I've done on 2+2, the average vpip in a 6 handed game should be around 25%. Most of the games I've seen poker tracker stats for, have players in the high 40's.

In the mean time, I am trying to clear some bonuses for Party Poker, so this is a way I can play more raked hands per hour.

Moved up to Mini Step 4, 1 away from big money

I managed to dominate a step 2 and move up to step 3. Early in the Step 3 I was dealt AA. I raised and my opponent called. The flop came out 10 high. I bet 1/2 the pot. He raised all in, which was a big overbet. I figured if someone had a real strong hand, they would have bet less or just called. So I called and sure enough, he had pocket Kings. The turn and river did not help him, and I had a quick double up.

From there I played carefully. The blinds started to increase and I managed to steal a few. A couple of times, players played back at me and I had to lay down. Overall, I was slowly chipping up.

Then at level 5 with blinds at 200-400 I was dealt pocket Queens on the button. I started the hand with 4868 in chips. 6 players are left. One fold then Jeff710 goes all in for 1110. Dabeers34 who has 3024 in chips, just calls. I decide to push all in thinking I can pick up the dead money from the blinds and Dabeers. It helps that I cover Dabeers just in case he is slow playing a monster. The blinds fold and Dabeers folds, so it's heads up. Jeff710 shows a pair of 3's and my hand is good. That pumps me up to 7688 in chips with 5 players left.

The final four get a free entry back to level 3 so that is a major bubble point. Nobody likes to go backwards. I am now looking to steal a little more when the situation is right. 2nd place in chips is kbooya with 4283 so I have a cushion.

I wait a few hands. They fold to me in the BB. (They must be trembling in terror). On the button I am dealt As 3s. I raise to 1800 which is now 3x the big blind. I win 900 in blinds. Next hand I am dealt Ac 9c. I open raise to 1800 and win 900 in blinds again. Third hand I am dealt Ac 9c again. Again I open raise, this time from UTG to 1800. kbooya raises me all in for 3183. So it's 1383 to call into a pot of 5883. I am getting over 3 to 1 to call, so I have to. I am hoping he has a small pair. He turns over pocket 9's. However, I get lucky and spike an Ace on the turn and now I am pumped up to 13,871 with 4 left.

Here's where we stand:
larryvq 13871
dutchkid52 4675
Oman7 340
Dabeers 1114

So the strategy is to implicitly collude with dutchkid and play every hand with Oman and Dabeers in the blind. Also to put pressure on dutchkid since he will be in no mood to call any raises with the others so short.

However, the next hand Dabeers wakes up with Ace-Jack and moves all in. Dutch calls with T9o in the big blind and loses. So now Dabeers has 2528 with the blinds at 300-600, so he has a little wiggle room.

Oman is eliminated by Dutchkid the next hand so here's the latest chip count:
Larryvq 13,571
dutchkid 3901
Dabeers 2528

with 300-600 blinds, I feel like I could almost just hang around and do nothing. Both of these players have been weak-passive so I should probably steal occasionally just to maintain my chips.

It took at whopping 58 hands before we finally eliminated another player!!!!

There was a point where I lost the chip lead and even was down to 4x the Big Blind, but I scratched and clawed my way back to the lead, because these guys just would not steal the blinds.

When it was all over we were up to 400-800 blinds with a 25 ante. I didn't even know they had antes in the sit and gos.

Somehow Dutchkid managed to finish in the top two with me and we are on to Level 4. If I manage to get a top 2 placing there, it's on to the final level where first prize is $2000.

More 8-16 knowledge

I am really beginning to believe that 8-16 at Casino Arizona is the best level of poker. I played for 4 hours last night and lost $4. The play was very loose and mostly passive the entire night.

Here is why I lost. My pocket Aces had 4 callers and the big blind made it to the end with 6-2 offsuit and spiked his 3rd 6 on the river. I lost another pot when the turn made 3 of the same suit on the board. My opponent rechecked her hole cards. Then the 4th suited card came on the river. She lead into me and I had to muck my trip 4's.

Both of those were semi bad beats that are going to happen from time to time when you play with bad players. My mistake was trying to play J-10 offsuit from late middle position 3 different times. Twice it was raised behind me and I had to call another bet. That's $32 wasted dollars right there because I was impatient.

However, I did manage to play well in other situations where I have spewed chips in the past. I threw away my hand on the button 4 or 5 times after it was folded to me. Usually I would auto raise, but my competitors were probably going to call at least 60% of the time. I had crappy cards and I think all I would have done was dig myself a hole if I had bluffed at the blinds.

Also I won two pots by pushing a draw on the flop and turn. My opponents check folded on the turn. One time I even got paid off, when my nut flush draw hit on the river.

Another small mistake was that I was UTG +1. UTG posted a straddle. UTG was a loose aggressive player. He was far too loose, but every once in awhile he would play a little sneaky. I had Ace-Queen of diamonds and reraised to isolate. The big blind called and UTG called. The flop was rags, nothing over a 9. Checked to me, and I continuation bet. I get the big blind to fold, but the UTG calls. The turn was a deuce. Check and I bet again. Again he calls. I now think he must have some piece of the flop and will call it down. The river is a 10. He checks and I check hoping my Ace high is still good. He turns over 5-7 for a pair of 5's. He said he would have folded on the river, because he didn't believe I had anything, but I could have changed his mind with one more bet.

As for online poker.....Full Tilt kicked me in the nuts the other night. My very first hand of .50-1 No Limit, I bought in for the maximum of $100. I was dealt two Kings. The player to my immediate right, raised to $5. I raised to $20. He called. The flop came out 10 high and he bet $20. I raised to $60. He reraised all in. I am praying he doesn't have Aces. I call and he turns over the Aces. Down a quick $100 after one hand. I proceeded to lose another $60 or so on two different tables over the next 2 hours.

I am still at a loss for how to make money at these no limit games. My problem is that I seem to win the small pots and lose the big ones. It's not that I am getting sucked out on, it's that by the time I figure out I am hopelessly behind in a hand, I have lost $10-$30 while, I only seem to win pots of $5-$10 at a time. I keep trying to remember Phil Gordon's mantra of big cards, big pots and small cards, small pots, but it doesn't seem to be working.

I have been very careful about position and rarely find myself in bad position in these spots. It just seems that players hit trips against me when I have top pair and a good kicker, while the opposite does not seem to be holding true.

Bad Month?

I have not calculated the damage yet. I will try and do that tonight when I get home. I am guessing I am down about $1,000 for the month.

Edit: Update. Bankroll on 2/1/2006 $5254
Bankroll on 3/1/2006 $4310

For some reason, I still cannot beat the $55 sng's at Party. They seem even more fishy since the software conversion. I swear in the last 10 I have played there have been at least 3 players gone by the 3rd level from vastly overbetting the pot and someone making a loose call.

Then, as it gets down to the nitty gritty, I seem to have the uncanny knack of making the correct mathematical shove, only to find one of the blinds waking up with a high pocket pair.

Last night was supposed to be a home game at my house, but I could not round up enough players. So off I went to Casino Arizona. My plan was to play 6-12 or 8-16 and try to win at least $130 to free roll the tournament at 7:00.

I was seated right away at a 6-12 table and the first thing I noticed was that a couple of players had at least $500 in front of them. I think the usual buy in is $200 which is one rack of blue $2 chips. I was in the 2 seat and I noticed that the 8 seat, in addition to having a mountain of chips, was drinking vodka straight.

Now I have read many times that if the table is loose, that you should tighten up a little bit. My problem all night was that I had crappy cards and whenever I started with good cards, it was in bad position.

Vodka man proceeded to play every hand for the next 4 hours, raising about 1/2 of them. I think at one time he pumped himself up to over $1,200. I had targeted him as someone I would like to play pots with, since he is likely to have crappy cards and is too drunk to fold.

I probably played 6 or 7 hands with him and I think I lost all but one. Every time I had a hand, he woke up with a better one. The one time I tried to run a bluff, he caught enough of the flop to call it down. The good news is, except for the bluff, I probably lost the minimum.

In fact one time, I had pocket Kings in the small blind. There were 2 limpers before it got to vodka man, who put in the obligatory raise. I thought of reraising, but I knew that I was not going to push out the limpers and it looked like the big blind was already getting ready to fold. I thought, "the pot is going to be multi way. KK does not play well in those pots. Let's keep it small and see the flop". In hind sight, this is a bad play, since I should be "value" betting a hand this good. The chances of me winning are far above average and I need to take advantage of it, no matter how bad I am running. So the flop contains an Ace. I check, first limper bets, and gets two calls before it gets to me. I am sure someone has an Ace, probably a weak one, so I fold. When it's all said and done, there were two aces out there and the winner of the pot spiked a set. So I got lucky to only lose 2 small bets, but it was a bad play.

The rest of the table seemed to know what they were doing, but played a little looser than my taste. They played suited connectors under the gun and often called with two gappers in late position. I won some money off of the other players, but I just was not getting the cards.

There seems to be a pattern at Casino Arizona that every time that I try a new level, I need to lose my first few times playing. I have never felt like I was outplayed, but that the cards seem to have a vendetta. Once I break through with a win, I seem to be fine.

So the strategy question from last night is: What is the proper preflop raising strategy if one player is raising all the time? It is tough to isolate because people were calling preflop, expecting a raise from him later and perfectly willing to call one or two bets more. So basically raising pocket pairs, was not narrowing the field.

After posting this question on 2+2 and reading the responses, here's what I came up with.
1. You need to value raise the AA and KK hands, no matter how many people are in the pot. They are just too powerful to call with.
2. Try to move into the 9 or 1 seat to get directly to the right of the maniac. Then when he raises, you can reraise right away and not have a couple of callers caught in the middle. This will help to isolate raiser.
3. Feel free to play high suited connectors on the button and cutoff for a raise. These pots will have the odds to call and can be huge if you hit.
4. Avoid playing anything but the very best cards in early position. You will leak too many chips, if someone wakes up with a hand, or you end up dominated.

Who's Cheating?

There has been a ton of talk on the message boards about some high profile online players who were caught using multiple accounts in the same tournaments. Their names on the boards were JJ Prodigy and ZeeJustin. I had not really heard of JJ but I was a reader of Justin's blog and was usually impressed with his writing and his knowledge of the game. I am disappointed because his response to the allegations is just silly. Here are a few of his quotes:

"I have been at the same table as myself. For what it’s worth, my standard protocol has been to increase my number of tables when this happens. As most of you know, I will very rarely be playing fewer than six tables at a time. If I had 6 tables open and two of my accounts were brought to the same table, I would simply open up 4-6 more SNGs. I felt that this would negate my unethical advantage. With 10 tables open, I just play tight and solid. I can’t even remember the hole cards one account folded after the flop, and I’m certainly unable to pay special attention to that table. "

This was just totally stupid. Lets open up more tables to distract myself and therefore negate my advantage. I seriously doubt that's what happened. Especially as he made it towards the last 25% of the field. Doubling up is a huge advantage at these stages and would have been very easy to do.

"All of the money that was seized from me was from sit’n’go play where nothing unethical was done. I never entered multiple accounts into the same sit’n’go, never colluded with anyone, never soft played anyone and never chip dumped with anyone.The other accounts I used never had any big MTT scores. Combined, I am pretty sure they were all long-term losers in the few MTT’s they played. Despite this, almost $100,000 was seized from my accounts."

Just because you were smart enough to cash out the Multi Table Tournament Winnings doesn't mean you are justified in keeping it. I think he's lucky that Party Poker doesn't go after more of his money.

"I have one account. That account is named ZeeJustin. My brother also has an account named Bernard61 (formerly jwilson55), and I have used that account quite often. No where in Party’s rules does it say you cannot use someone else’s account. I’m sure many of you have used friends’ accounts before, and there is nothing wrong with this. People will often take over MTT’s for friends that have unforeseen obligations.

I do think what I’ve done is unethical, and I certainly regret doing it, however, I need to point out that no where in Party’s rules is it stated that you cannot enter multiple accounts into the same tournament. Not only do they not forbid it, but to open multiple clients on the same PC, all you have to do is click the icon a bit more rapidly than normal. Great work PartyPoker."

His reading comprehension must be at a 3rd grade level. It says in the agreement that the name on your account must match your true and legal name. You are prohibited from holding more than one account.

Just because it doesn't say you are not allowed to enter multiple accounts in a tournament does not make it legal. The line of not allowing multiple accounts to begin with, makes using them for any purpose illegal.

I am extremely happy that Party Poker is cracking down on the cheaters and making them pay. I would hope they are able to return money to some of the other players who were hurt by the cheating, but that is probably too much to ask.

I am amazed that these players were able to open multiple accounts at the same time from the same IP address. I have tried to log into the same table from different skins before and been blocked, so I figured it was impossible. Apparently not, but hopefully they have fixed it now.

If I lucky, the tournaments will now be softer and I can make a big score.

Working On The Party Poker Steps

Results since last post:
Ring Games: -35
Tourneys: -217

I was pretty busy last week so I did not get to play as much as I would have liked. A couple of nights ago, I was bored and decided to look at the Party Poker Steps again.

I decided to pursue the Mini Steps which is a 5 round process. The first round is $5+1. You need to win to advance. 2nd through 5th place get to play again for free.

I fired up two level one steps. I won one and finished second in the other. I played the second round. In round 2, you need to finish in the top two to advance. I managed to win again and so it's on to round 3.

Last night I played my round 3 match. I was running well, catching good cards, and picking off a couple of bluffs. It was down to 3 handed. The top 2 advance. The third place player was down to 2.5 BB while me and the other guy had around 10 BB each. He went all in. Me and the other big stack called and tried to check it down. The small stack woke up with a big hand and he tripled up. Uh oh.

It went back and forth a few more times and eventually it was folded to me on the small blind and I pushed in. The Big Blind called and I was dominated. Out in third, so I am still at level 3.
I feel like I made the correct mathematical plays, but it just did not work out. My luck ran out.

If I get to level 5, 1st place is $4,000. That is a reeeeaaaaal nice pay day. And that is just the mini steps. I am going to investigate the big steps and see if this might be an easy way to run up a cash balance for the World Series of Poker.

Of course the problem with the steps is that while you are playing these games, you are not earning any money until the final step.

4 of a Kind and I Get Paid

Here's the hand history from a great 4 of a kind hand on Full Contact Poker:

Texas Hold'em $3-$6 (Real Money), #85,400,113 Table Colon, 4 Feb 2006 7:31 PM ET

Seat 1: Claudin5. ($138 in chips)
Seat 2: rockyroad11 ($358.60 in chips)
Seat 3: curtis1120x ($61.70 in chips)
Seat 4: ScoobD ($570.80 in chips)
Seat 5: JaBBaTheNuTT ($59.50 in chips)
Seat 6: larryvq0 ($106.65 in chips)
Seat 7: Volscam ($81.45 in chips)
Seat 8: mrvkp8 ($79.50 in chips)
Seat 9: Miss_Kandy ($313.05 in chips)
Seat 10: Jonnylove8 ($106.90 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS Miss_Kandy posts blind ($1.50), Jonnylove8 posts blind ($3).

PRE-FLOP Claudin5. folds, rockyroad11 calls $3, curtis1120x bets $6, ScoobD folds, JaBBaTheNuTT folds, larryvq0 calls $6, Volscam bets $9, mrvkp8 bets $12, Miss_Kandy folds, Jonnylove8 folds, rockyroad11 calls $9, curtis1120x calls $6, larryvq0 calls $6, Volscam calls $3.

FLOP [board cards 2C,6S,9S ]

rockyroad11 checks, curtis1120x checks, larryvq0 bets $3, Volscam calls $3, mrvkp8 bets $6, rockyroad11 folds, curtis1120x bets $9, larryvq0 bets $9, Volscam calls $9, mrvkp8 calls $6, curtis1120x calls $3.

TURN [board cards 2C,6S,9S,8D ]

curtis1120x checks, larryvq0 bets $6, Volscam calls $6, mrvkp8 bets $12, curtis1120x folds, larryvq0 bets $12, Volscam calls $12, mrvkp8 calls $6.

RIVER [board cards 2C,6S,9S,8D,6C ]

larryvq0 bets $6, Volscam bets $12, mrvkp8 folds, larryvq0 bets $12, Volscam calls $6.

SHOWDOWN larryvq0 shows [ 6H,6D ] Volscam mucks cards [ 8H,7H ] larryvq0 wins $199.50.

SUMMARY
Dealer: mrvkp8 Pot: $202.50, (including rake: $3)
Claudin5., loses $0
rockyroad11, loses $12
curtis1120x, loses $24
ScoobD, loses $0
JaBBaTheNuTT, loses $0
larryvq0, bets $60, collects $199.50, net $139.50
Volscam, loses $60
mrvkp8, loses $42
Miss_Kandy, loses $1.50
Jonnylove8, loses $3

So Volscam goes crazy and reraises with a medium suited connector preflop. He continues to pump the pot for his draw, even though he could lose to a flush and after the turn it is no longer the nuts. Then he tries to raise the river. There is something to be said for doing everything you can to win the big pots, but does he really expect me to fold for one more after all the aggression I have shown the entire hand????

Another Small Cash In Tournament

Results since last post:
Ring games: +487
Tourneys: +354

I played in a $11 buy in multi table at Full Tilt this morning. Out of 280 players I finished 10th. I made a handful of mistakes during the tournament, but none of them were fatal. My total profit was only $25.

Basically the key to going far in these tournaments seems to be to double or triple up early. Then win the races when small stacks go all in against you. Then if you still have 10-15 x the big blind within 10 of the money, just steal the blinds every time it's folded to you.

I had players seriously irritated with me at the table for stealing so much. They almost never played back at me. When they finally did, I either had enough sense to lay it down, or they were so short stacked that it would not make a dent, if I lost.

In a further answer to the previous post about moving up......I think from now on, I am going to keep playing in the 8-16 levels at the brick and mortar casinos. I had another session, this time at Casino Arizona. Again the players were not that good. I lost $100, but most of it was due to a brief 5 minute period of tilt. I really get the urge for fancy play syndrome at the higher levels, thinking that I need to play "better" against the so called stronger players. This seems to get me in a lot of trouble. Especially when I try to get creative defending my blinds.

For the most part, everyone chops if it is folded to the big blind. It's not my first choice, but why irritate the other players. I will raise with damn near any 2 if it's folded to me on the button. If I defend in the small blind, I will usually raise to try and isolate the button. If I am in the Big Blind, then I will usually just call. From there I think I need to only move forward if I flop top or second pair, or if I have a decent draw, or a strong Ace. I have pissed away too much money trying to bluff with absolutely nothing.