This is My Score

Bill Parcells once said your record is what it is. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re better than you really are, your record defines you. It’s absolute. There’s no way around it. I can lament about bad luck and bad beats but ultimately, I played those hands and whether they worked out or not is inconsequential. For that moment in time, I lost. Add up those little losses and you get big losses.

On the other hand, taking down small pots is a way of life for serious poker players. It’s those small pots that add to your bankroll on a consistent basis. Sure you get swings but if you play good consistent poker then you’ll get results. Add up those little wins and you get big wins.

You are what your record says you are. It’s that simple.

Which leads me to my July results. And I’ll admit that I’m doing pretty darn good for July (and for me) that is.

After wiping out all of my profits in a horrible stretch that ran from the middle of May until late June, I’m back with a vengence.

25NL:

Hands Played: 978

Plus/Minus: +$84.25

Earn Rate: $8.41 per 100 hands played.

BB/100 Hands: 17.23

I’m crushing the 25NL tables so far in July. I can probably multi table the 25NL games but I’m comfortable playing one table at a time. I think I can concentrate more when I’m playing one table. I get the feel for the players and I’ll act accordingly to the type of player I peg him/her as. I won’t win as much but I think my game is better when I’m concentrating on a small group of players rather than 20 players. 25NL is my comfort zone. I am confident I can win consistently at these levels. Most of my profits were won at this level. It took a long time but I won steadily so that gives me confidence boost.

50NL is another story. I wanted to test my game at a higher level and at first it was a disaster. I lost most of my winnings playing 50NL in June. It took me awhile to adjust to the higher stakes. The players at 50NL are better than the players at 25NL but not by much. It is a step up however.

My results for 50NL in July were:

Hands Played: 527

Plus/Minus: +$38.15

Earn Rate: $7.24 per 100 hands played

BB/100 Hands: 7.24

Pretty good numbers for July. It was a 360 degree turn around from the month before where I lost money playing 50NL, but it’s a start in the right direction. Last month I lost 2 buy-ins early on but made a nice comeback once I was used to the new level. I’m not 100% confident at this level but the recent results are encouraging and I’m going to continue to play 50NL more. It’s an mental adjustment for me at least. Most of those losses came because of poor play. At first I was playing a little too timidly afraid to lose my stack. Which caused me to lose my stack. Then I’d try and fix this leak and play aggressive. Too aggressive as a matter of fact….which caused me to lose my stack. So I’m stuck $100 in a couple of 50NL sessions right from the start. I then made an adjustment. It was a simple adjustment, I just tightened up my play and bet aggressively when I had good cards. Basically, I went back to solid ABC poker. I realized that I wasn’t going to win back my losses all at once. I had to win the small battles in order to win the war. So in late June I began to book small wins at 50NL. Add up those small wins and I’m down only about $10 overall at 50NL.

I also took a shot at the 100NL tables. After winning two short sessions at this level. I quickly lost it all back and wound up losing $50 at this level. It took me 222 hands to lose $50. It’s ok though as I only bought in for $50 so I guess that’s the price of my education at 100NL. I’m not ready to play at this level, I’m sure of it. My bankroll isn’t at the point where I should play at 100NL which probably has a subconscious effect on me. I should probably play more 50NL and win consistently there before I move up.

I’m also up $252 in my league games. This is both winnings from cash and tournaments I’ve played in.

So all in all, a very productive July after a horrible June. I wonder what August will bring?

Speed Bump in July…

There’s a saying out there about poker that I thought was fitting for this weekend’s session. I’m not sure what it was word for word but in a nutshell it says something about how poker reveals your true nature. Poker is never personal. Playing poker is.

I found out about this quickly this weekend. On Saturday, I was invited to a BBQ/Poker game. The food was great. That was about the only thing that was great. It certainly wasn’t my poker game.

We play a 12 noon tournament. I finish 3rd in this tournament. I lose when my A/9 clubs loses to 55.

The weird thing is that this same player folded 88 against the 2nd place finisher. I asked him why he did this and he said that he didn’t believe that I had such a strong hand. When I mentioned him folding 88 to John, he said that he’s conservative and he wouldn’t bluff at the pot.

This was an interesting conversation. I find out that a lot of players seem to think that I am very loose and agressive. Which is only half the truth. I do take my chances and I can raise with a wide range of hands at times but I’m not as loose as I seem. They also think that I bluff a lot. I don’t bluff as much as they think, I’m just value betting my hands more than they are.

So I have a reputation that I play a lot of rags, aggressively in the poker league. This is both good and bad. The good thing is that I’ll get called more often and when I have a great hand I can take advantage of it. The bad thing is that I’ll get sucked out more because when I bet people may not believe that I have a strong hand to begin with.

rep” is that I play a lot of garbage hands aggressively. This is both good and bad. The good thing is that I can steal more pots and win bigger pots when I can crack a big pocket pair. The bad thing is that when I do have a monster hand I’m more likely to get called with marginal hands that can crack my big hand.

So my raises aren’t getting the proper respect anymore. The adjustment that I must make then is to play my good hands more aggressively. I have to be more selective and when I have a good hand then I have to raise aggressively. I pull this off when I have AA in the BB. The blinds are 400-800 and 3 players limp. The SB completes. I have about 11k in chips and I push. One shortie calls me and I take him down.

Then I have QQ and I shove again. This time a person calls me with K/Q diamonds. He thought I was bluffing. And spikes his K on the flop. 

I guess the lesson I’ve learned is that I should take advantage of my “rep” and make the proper adjustment in my game to counter this belief of me being loose and aggressive, even though I’m not really that loose. I just value bet my hands more.

So I’m getting called more often than average and It’s getting frustrating. So I tighten up and I still can’t get the proper respect. I get my KK cracked by J/3 suited. He hit trips treys on the flop. He says he didn’t believe me preflop based on my “rep”.

I don’t deserve this ”rep”. I don’t feel that I’m playing any looser or more aggressively than the other players.  The only thing that I see myself doing differently than the other players is that I bet with spec hands like 5/6 suited instead of calling (which most players will do).

So I wind up cashing in one tournament and out first in the second tournament.

The cash game was juicy but I was a little unlucky.

We’re playing Omaha and I go all-in on the turn with my made nut straight and my nut flush draw. The other player calls with two pair!. He says he didn’t see the straight on the board.  He spikes his fullhouse on the river. I lose a $40 pot right there.

That’s how my night goes and I’m stuck $100 on the night.

Again, I’m happy with my game. I went in with the best hand and got called by two pair in Omaha because he didn’t see the straight on board. These are the players I’m playing with.

And they think I play badly?

Still running good

I’m running good. Not sure if this is because I’ve been playing real well or I’ve been getting cards. I suspect it’s a little of both.

I played a league game Wednesday night. Another deepstack tournament. I like these tournaments because I can be aggressive on speculative hands and not worry about being short stacked. It also gives me ample opportunities to outplay my opponents on the flop, turn and river. But most of all, I have a good handle on the players in my league. I know how each player plays like for the most part and I employ different strategies depending on the player.

I’ve improved my play also. I usually play cash most of the time and it’s a different approach. I’ve learned to separate the two disciplines. I’ve been been getting my value bets called more often now. My bet sizing is really starting to get good also. I seem to know the exact amount I need to get guys to fold. I’ve also been making some good calls also. Perhaps this is a result of knowing the players better and knowing their tendencies. My ego won’t allow me to say that I’m a better player than most of the league players because overconfidence is a recipe for disaster but I do feel that I’m playing at a different level than the other players….lately at least.

My philosophy lately is to see a lot of flops and outplay my opponents on the flop, turn and river. I feel that they’ll make more mistakes than I do on these streets. I’ve been known to be an aggressive player and it’s still true but now I’m mixing it up more. I’ll limp in with monsters and raise with marginal hands. Then once I’ve established an image, I’ll switch it up.

The blinds are 300-600 when this strategy does me well when I limp in with KK and get a button raiser, who raises to 2k. I re-raise him 2k and he flat calls. The flop is Q high. I bet out 2k and he calls. The turn is a blank. There’s a baby straight out there but I doubt this guy will play something like 4/5 to a re-raise so I’m confident I’m ahead. But I feel like he’s got something. He’s not going to call a 2k bet on the flop unless he has something. I’m hoping it’s A/Q or JJ. He might have QQ so I need to be careful. The turn is a blank. I again bet out 2k and he calls again. The river is a blank. This time I check. Not because I’m worried that he has something decent (although he could have a set in this situation but I’ll take that chance) but because I really feel that he’s going to take a shot at the pot. So I check like I’m giving up on the pot. He bets out 5k. A nice bet. If he’s got a set then so be it but I have to call. He shows A/Q. I’m pretty sure this is an odd way to play KK but I did win a lot of chips playing this way.  

3 players are knocked out by the time the blinds are 400-800 and I have A/Q spades in the cut off. I raise standard 3x the BB. Bobby a super tight player flat calls. The flop is Q high. Bobby checks. I bet out 2k and he calls. Again, Bobby is a super tight player. I know he has something. He’s not going to call a bet unless he has something. The good thing about Bobby is that If I’m ever in a hand with him, I don’t have to make strong plays at the pot because he’ll fold to a small raise. He’s bluffable, but he’s also sneaky. He prefers to have other players do the betting for him. The turn is a blank. He checks again. Now I have top pair and top kicker yet I’m not feeling real good about this hand. I reach for chips to make it seem like I’m going to bet and I peek over to Bobby to see his reaction. He’s reaching for his chips. So I pull back my chips before I announce a bet and check instead. The river is a blank. I check again. He bets out the minimum 800. Typical Bobby. He has something he wants to get paid off on. The pot is about 5k. So I’m getting better than 5-1 in this pot but I know I’m beat. There is no way Bobby is bluffing. He could have A/Q also but he’s definitely not bluffing. I decide to fold top pair and top kicker. I tell him that I have nothing and muck my cards. Bad fold? maybe but I really think I was way behind.

I hit a set of 3s to take down a player with top pair king kicker. I push on the turn, faking a bluff and get a call.

With the blinds at 500-1,000 there’s only 5 players left. I have over 28k in chips and I’m sitting pretty. I have close to a third of all the chips in play when I slowplay QQ in the BB.  Everybody folds and the SB calls. I check. The flop is 10 high. He bets 2,500 and I flat call. The turn is blank. I check and the SB makes another 2,500 bet. I shove all in. He calls off his last 10k and shows Q/10. River is blank and I take down another nice pot.

By the time the blinds are 800-1,600 we’re in the money and I’m the chip leader with close to 48k in chips. I take down the 3rd place player with K/J vs. K/9.

This is where things fall apart. I have over 50k in chips and the other player has about 36k in chips. We go back and forth for a level when I lose a crucial race. The blinds are 1k-2k, he raises to 5k. I have 88. I raise to 15k. He shoves all in and I call. He shows A/Q. He hits trip Queens on the flop and I ship a whole lot of chips his way.

Maybe I played this hand poorly. I probably should’ve called instead of raising just to see a flop and proceed from there. I don’t know. I was slightly ahead so I guess I’ll have to live with this call. Maybe next time I’ll just flat call and proceed from there. But then again 88 heads up is a pretty strong hand so perhaps I played it right and just got outdrawn.

I’m awarded $135 for my second place finish. I’m content though. I have 4 cashes out of 6 tournaments this quarter so I’m playing well.

By the time I get home I’m still pumped from the tournament. So I play a little 50NL. I played about 200 hands and cleared $14.95 before I get tired and finally go to bed.

So far I’ve had a strong July and I hope and pray to the poker Gods that this keeps up.

Taking the Bubble Bath plus some Atlantic City action

I played in a league game yesterday.

12 players. $50 dollar buy-in. 10K in chips to start.

I’m feeling good about my game so far this 2nd half of the year. I’ve been playing aggressive but playing smart also. I feel that I’m starting to find my groove after struggling the first 6 months of the year. But some bad luck always seems to lurk around the corner.

This tournament I was on my A game. I’m taking down pots when I have the worst hand and inducing players to call me when I have a monster.

I have a huge stack going into the last 5 players. The problem is that my opponents are super rocks. I mean super tight. They don’t bet their monster hands and they fold a lot. I’m stealing blinds left and right.

Then the poker gods start to mess with me.

I get A/K and I’m all-in vs. 10/10.  I hit a K on the flop and a 10 on the turn doubles up a short stack.

I have A/J suited and have another short stack all-in. He has A/10. Two pair on the flop does me in this time.

I get 99 vs. A/8. The flop is 8 high. I go all-in and get a caller. Ace on the river gives him 2 pair.

Now I’m steaming. I’m the short stack now with 4 players left. Top 3 get paid. I double up when I win a race with 88 vs. A/J.

Then this happens. The blinds are 1,500-3,000. The button raises to 7k. I have 18k in chips. I’m in the BB and I have KK. I push all-in. Button calls. He just has me covered. He shows AA. Game over.

What a bummer. Bubble boy again. That’s twice I’ve bubbled the last two tournaments. There was nothing I could do about this hand. You get KK you have to push. I just happened to run into AA. It happens.

I’m disappointed with the bubble finish but I’m happy with my game so far. I’ve cashed in 3 times out of 5 tournaments and the two tournaments that I didn’t cash, I was the bubble boy.

Things didn’t go all that bad though as I managed to clear $41 in the cash game.

 

Thursday I decide to take a day trip to Atlantic City. I go to the Showboat because they’ve just renovated their poker room and I wanted to check it out. Their poker room used to be on the 2nd floor next to the House of Blues. They decided to move it to the lower level next to the boardwalk which is a heck of a lot better. The room is pretty full and I manage to get seated pretty quickly. 

The players are a mixed bunch.  It seems that a lot of dealers like to play at the Showboat. I get this information by chatting up a guy named Randy, who’s a dealer at the Borgata. He says that the games here are pretty soft and it’s fairly easy to make some money here. Well we’ll see about that.

Below are some highlights and lowlights of the AC session.

The highlight of the Atlantic City trip was when I hit a straight flush to take down a $200+ pot. I flopped a straight vs. a made set. I also had a open ended straight flush draw on the flop. I hit my straight flush on the river and I get a $20 meal comp for the effort. That’s what you get for playing 7/8 clubs aggressively. Sometimes you hit and you take down a big pot.

I actually was up over $350 at one point and I was running good. Then I get coolered when my 10 high flush runs into the nut flush. We both flopped the flush and we both slowplayed it on the flop. I bet $25 on the turn. He calls. I bet $25 on the river and he raises me another $25, the minimum amount.

Usually this means trouble. Minimum raises almost always says “I have a big hand please call me”, and although I have a flush, I decided to just call.

Halfway through my session, a new player gets seated at the table. He’s wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt and he’s pretty aggressive right from the get go. He’s raising a lot of pots. I don’t have a real good read on him because he’s new and nobody has bothered to look him up just yet. I stay out of his way for an orbit or two just to get used his style and see if I can get a read on him. Once I think I have a handle on him I tangle with him in a few pots:

I make a pretty good call against him on the river when he bets out $50 into a $70 pot. I have pocket 7s. He has air.

I give it back when the same player hits trips on the river and I pay him off with top pair.

I make a bad fold to the same player when I hit two pair with A/4 but he goes all-in on me on the turn after I bet out $30 into a $35 pot.  I think he could be making a move on me but he’s just pushed about $250 towards the pot. I reluctantly fold. He shows 3/9 suited.  

I get even with him when my K/9 hits a flush on the turn. He had top pair. He had raised to $11 pre-flop and since I was on the button wth K/9 hearts I elect to call. Everybody else folds.  The flop is Q/4/9 two hearts. He bets out $20 I call. The turn is a 10 of hearts. He checks and I check. The river is a blank. He bets out $35. I raise him to $75 and he calls with Q/J.

This hand puts me back to over $250 in profit.  I play one more orbit and I leave with $202 on the right side of the ledger.  10 straight hours of poker is exhausting and I use the $20 meal voucher they gave me on a steak dinner and I leave Atlantic City with a full stomach and a little extra pocket change.

So far in July I’m running good. How long will this last? Who knows but I’ll ride it for as long as I can.

Back to the $1k Challenge

I’ve finally won back all my losses from the June swoon. I had lost all my profits from playing $25NL when I moved up to $50NL.

Now I’m just about even at +$168. It took a little adjustment in $50NL but I’m comfortable playing at this level now. I just hope I can keep it up.

That being said, I’ve neglected my original $1k challenge on Pokerstars. I started this last year and I haven’t played much on Pokerstars ever since I joined FullTilt.  So I decided that I was going to go back and re-start my challenge (which was the original idea for this blog).

I played in a .50 cent MTT on Pokerstars. I haven’t played a MTT in a long time (over 3 months according to my records). In order to “re-acquaint” myself to MTTs, I decided to play the micros. This is how I started to build my bankroll on Pokerstars by playing the FFP freerolls and winning enough money to play the micro MTTs and I slowly built my bankroll to over $130 doing this. It took a long time but it was a challenge that I put myself up to until I got sidetracked by joining Fulltilt.

I finished 31st out of 1,881 in this tournament and earned a robust $1.76 for my efforts. I know it isn’t much and could win way more playing cash but I just wanted to play MTTs again. I feel that if I can score a big cash in one of the MTTs I play in, I’ll be set.

This was the hand that did me in:

PokerStars Game #18877690110: Tournament #95822237, $0.50+$0.00 Hold’em No Limit – Level XVI (1500/3000) – 2008/07/17 – 00:17:31 (ET)
Table ‘95822237 48′ 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: MIG-Hardtekk (189875 in chips)
Seat 2: lerv3000 (89484 in chips)
Seat 3: ntrlpkr (41740 in chips)
Seat 5: brascoebawlz (50584 in chips)
Seat 6: CARLITO13005 (51851 in chips)
Seat 7: TzyKy23 (43166 in chips)
Seat 8: kawriverken (56414 in chips)
Seat 9: Big Master Q (37213 in chips)
MIG-Hardtekk: posts the ante 300
lerv3000: posts the ante 300
ntrlpkr: posts the ante 300
brascoebawlz: posts the ante 300
CARLITO13005: posts the ante 300
TzyKy23: posts the ante 300
kawriverken: posts the ante 300
Big Master Q: posts the ante 300
Big Master Q: posts small blind 1500
MIG-Hardtekk: posts big blind 3000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Big Master Q [Ts 3s]
lerv3000: folds
ntrlpkr: folds
brascoebawlz: calls 3000
MIG-Hardtekk said, “its 6:17 am over here ^^”
CARLITO13005: folds
TzyKy23: folds
kawriverken: calls 3000
Big Master Q: calls 1500
MIG-Hardtekk: checks
*** FLOP *** [As 5s 6h]
Big Master Q: checks
MIG-Hardtekk: checks
brascoebawlz: checks
kawriverken: bets 9000
Big Master Q: calls 9000
MIG-Hardtekk: folds
brascoebawlz: folds
*** TURN *** [As 5s 6h] [2s]
Big Master Q: bets 24913 and is all-in
kawriverken: calls 24913
*** RIVER *** [As 5s 6h 2s] [2h]
brascoebawlz said, “only midnight here”
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Big Master Q: shows [Ts 3s] (a flush, Ace high)
kawriverken: shows [5c 5d] (a full house, Fives full of Deuces)
Big Master Q said, “nh”
MIG-Hardtekk said, “gg”
kawriverken collected 82226 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 82226 | Rake 0
Board [As 5s 6h 2s 2h]
Seat 1: MIG-Hardtekk (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: lerv3000 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: ntrlpkr folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: brascoebawlz folded on the Flop
Seat 6: CARLITO13005 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: TzyKy23 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 8: kawriverken (button) showed [5c 5d] and won (82226) with a full house, Fives full of Deuces
Seat 9: Big Master Q (small blind) showed [Ts 3s] and lost with a flush, Ace high

Too bad. I could’ve been real healthy if I had won that pot. Oh well there’s always next time. I think I’m going to stick with playing MTTs for the next few weeks to see how it goes. I’m hoping to score a big cash and then move onto the bigger buy-ins. For now I’m going to stick with the micros and then work my way up to the higher buy-ins. This was my original goal for my $1k challenge and I’m going to give it another try.

I’ll still play cash but I’ll mix it in with some MTTs on Pokerstars.

Bubbling the satellite

I played in my poker league’s satillite to the quarterly final table freeroll.

The freeroll is worth over $600 and the top two players get a ticket.

I managed to finish 12th in the standings so I had earn my way into the freeroll tournament. The players make it interesting by adding $20 into the pot and award the 3rd place finisher $50 (the bubble boy) and the top two will split the remaining $150 and get a ticket to the quarterly freeroll. As an extra side action, a few players pony up $5 for bounties (only 8 players participated in the bounty).

We started with 10 players, 10k in chips and 20 minute blinds. This is the type of tournament that I feel I can take advantage of because I like to play a few spec hands aggressively early on and the deepstack keeps me in chips until I can hit a huge hand, which is exactly what happened during the 3rd level.

My chipstack goes up and down during the first few levels. I was as low as 6,500 chips but I built my stack up to around 9k when the 3rd level hits. The blinds are now 75-150.

I’m UTG with 8/5 spades and I raise it to 450. Byron, the cutoff flat calls, the BB calls also.

The flop is a wonderful 5, 5, 9 with two diamonds. Byron is a very loose player and he’ll call with almost anything. So the 2 fives on boards looks great but I’m vulnerable because byron can easily call with a/5 or k/5 suited (highly unlikely but possible).

I check my trips to Byron, he bets out 500. I check raise him to 1,500. He flat calls. Byron might be on a draw here, with the two diamonds on board or he could have a monster hand and slow playing me with 99. Byron can be a calling station when he’s chasing but he also plays the same way when he has a has a huge hand. I doubt he has a huge hand as he would’ve protected against the flush draw himself.

The turn is a K. No diamond. This helps me as a King is definitely within Byron’s playing range. I’m hoping he has something like K/9 and he’ll fall into my trap.

I check again. I know this is dangerous because if he’s on a draw he’ll check behind me but I’m willing to take that chance for a chance at a huge pot. I know Byron, he’s a fairly predictable player and he’s one of those players that can’t lay down a hand like top pair and will pay a person off in those situations.

Byron quickly bets out 1,500. I think for a few seconds. I get the feeling that Byron has a good hand and liked that K, so I go all-in to fake a steal and hope he pays me off. Byron quickly calls and shows AA!

The river is a blank and I win the pot. 1 person down.

Nice, I busted a player with AA. In the end Bryon decided to slow play his AA and he paid for it. If he had raised me PF i’d have laid down my 8/5 suited. Or we can look at it another way, he tried to trap me with his AA and it would’ve worked in normal circumstances since he knows my style is to play ATC aggressively early in tournaments. Hey even donks like me get lucky once in awhile.

The next big hand I was involved in was when the blinds were 200-400. Jimmy, my on and off again nemesis, raises to 1k in EP. John calls, I peek down and see A/Q hearts. I decide to call and see what the flop offers me. I usually will raise with this but a 1k raise by Jimmy could mean anything and I don’t want to re-pop him and have him shove against me holding A/Q even if they were suited. Sarah, another tough player comes along for the ride in the BB.

The flop is: 8, 9, 10 with two hearts. Jimmy is first to act and he leads out 5k. John folds and I have a big decision to make here. I push all-in, effectively putting Jimmy all-in. This is a 10k bet. I have outs so I think this is a good move on my part. Even if he has a set I’m still drawing to a winning hand. Jimmy goes into the tank. He finally makes the call. He has J/10. Top pair and an open ended straight draw. Jimmy’s the slight favorite (51% vs. 49%).

The turn is a 3 of hearts and I take down this huge pot. I’m the chip leader with over 30k in chips.

This is where the game goes south for me. I’ve been playing pretty aggressive and I have chips and I stay aggressive throughout the game trying to bully the short stacks. I build my stack to over 37k in chips when the the poker gods decide to go against me. I get KK when the blinds are 400-800 and I get a short stack to go all in. I quickly call. He shows A/5 hearts. An Ace falls on the turn and I double up a small stack. A few hands later, I get all-in with another short stack with q/10 clubs vs. 77. I nail a Q on the flop and I’m ahead but a 7 hits on the river and I’m doubling up another player.

There are 5 players left at this point and I’m around 30k, so I’m still in a good spot here.

I get a chance to knock out a player but again lady luck goes against me. The blinds are now at 600-1,200 and I get A/Q offsuit. I raise to 5k. I get a caller in the BB. He’s got about 17k so I have him covered.

The flop is:

Q, J, 5. Rainbow. I have top pair and I raise to 10k. BB calls.

The turn is a 7. He checks and I put him all-in. He calls and he shows A/10.

A King on the river fills his straight and I double up another short stack.

I’m beside myself. I can’t catch a break late in the game. That’s 3 hands that I’ve been drawn out against but then I got here by outdrawing a few players so I guess I should’nt complain.

When the blinds hit 1,500-3,000 the 4th player gets knocked out and we’re in the money. But I’m playing for the top two spots and I’m 3rd in chips. I have about 11k at this point and I double up against the chip leader when my K/Q offsuit catches a backdoor flush against A/J.

The other two players are really tight, so tight that they don’t bet their hands effectively and I pay for this later on when I have K/Q suited and I’m in the BB. The button flat calls. the SB calls. I raise all-in 22k or so. The button goes into the tank. He’s taking his time and I know that he’s conservative and I’m hoping he folds. He calls with A/J clubs. I had to laugh at this. Not only did he not raise preflop, he almost folded. If this were me I’d either have raised PF or at the very least insta-call with A/J suited in a 3 way game.

The board doesn’t help me and I’m the bubble boy. I did win some money though and I finished in 3rd although I didn’t finish in the top 2 and I didn’t move onto the $600 freeroll, I’m happy with the way I played.

Oh well, There’s always next quarter.

Fight or Flight? A little home game action

Last night I played some live poker with some poker league players. This was a last minute cash game so only 5 players came to play (including myself).

I have a handle on the the styles of the players. There were two rocks, one steady ABC player and Jay who’s the most aggressive of the bunch.

Jay will bet aggressively and play a lot of hands aggressively. He’s sitting to my left which puts me in a bad spot. The only way to fight fire is with fire. It’s the classic fight or flight response mechanism that is ingrained in all living things. Stand up and take on the bully or stand down and live to see another day.

The blinds are .25/.50 and we all buy-in for $50 bucks.

Right off the bat Jay is aggressive. He’s taken down a round of blinds early on.

I’m probably the other aggressive player at the table but I’m not as aggressive as Jay is. I’m probably the only player that will play back at Jay, I’ll make some tough calls and I’m not afraid of throwing in a big bluff here and there. And he knows I will make it costly to draw out against me if I have a decent hand.

I understand that to fight aggression one must be aggressive. Jay understands this as well. I’m not going to let Jay dictate my play whether he’s in position or not (although I must be careful as we will soon find out).

Between the two of us we pretty much had our way with the game. We didn’t tangle in too many big pots except for these three:

I get J/9 diamonds on the button. I raise to $2. Jay in the SB re-pops me for $5. I don’t allow him to bully me and I test his mettle and raise to $12. He calls. Gulp, not what I was looking for.

The mother of all flops hits me:

10, 8, 7 rainbow. Ka-ching. I hope Jay will stay aggressive. He bets out $8. I flat call.

The turn is harmless. He checks and I check.

The river is another 8.

He bets out $10, I raise him $12 and he folds and shows me A/10. I don’t show a damn thing.

Jay gets his revenge when I get QQ UTG and he calls my raise.

The flop is 3,6,9. two hearts.

I bet out $4. He calls.

The turn is a J.

I bet out $10 and he calls.

The river is another heart. This kills the action. I check and he checks behind me. I show QQ and he shows 3/6 spades for two pair. Round two to Jay.

Round 3:

I get 10/9 clubs in the cutoff. I raise the standard – $2.

Jay re-pops me to $5 and I call.

The flop is 4, K, 6 two clubs.

I check and Jay raises $5. I call.

The turn is a Q clubs. I hit my flush, sweet! I bet $12 and Jay smooth calls.

The river is a blank.

I’m first to act again and I’m thinking I’m good here. So I bet out $12, a seemingly decent value bet with $40 or so in the pot already. But something interesting happens. Jay raises me to $30. This changes things a bit. The only hand that beats me is A/x or J/x clubs. I think for a moment, and I call. He shows 8/7 clubs. Round 3 to me.

Jay wins back $20 from me in the form of a well timed bluff in my opinion.

So we’re going at it back and forth. Fight or Flight. We’re not giving an inch. It’s not personal it’s poker. I know his style and he knows mine. I’m not going to allow him to bully me and vice versa.

After a two hours, we come to an unconscious agreement, just about the time I decide that tangling in a pot with Jay can cost me dearly, he is thinking the same thing. We didn’t do this consciously, it was more of a silent nod to each other that we should take it easy on each other and concentrate on the other players as their money is just as good as ours.

The game settled down for the last hour and 1/2 or so. In the end I wound up +$37 on the evening. I would’ve won more except I lost a $30+ pot to Tony when he hit a set against my top two pair (he hit his set on the flop and I hit my two pair on the turn). Otherwise I’m happy with the way the night went.

The satellite tournament is on Saturday and the top two finishers go onto the quarterly freeroll for a prize pool of just over $600. I’m looking forward to continuing my solid play and maybe get seat in the quarterly freeroll.

Updates to come.

Building the Bankroll

It’s been a month now that I’ve been switched up to 50NL. When I first started 50NL, I was up over $150 playing 25NL. I went through a rough stretch and lost all of my winnings. 

I really feel that there’s not much difference between $25NL and $50NL. The players are slightly tighter, then again some are more loose. It really depends. For the most part though the players are tighter and more aggressive. This creates some opportunities for steals and slowplays.  I’m floating more as I feel that the players are savvy enough to consistently toss in a continuation bet on the flop. So I’ll call with the intent of taking the pot down on the turn especially if I have a big hand and my opponent is aggressive. Other times, I’ve been been super aggressive especially when I’m in position.  Players are more apt to 3 or 4 bet if they have a decent hand than at the $25NL tables where you might rarely see a 3 or 4 bet sequence. The big thing of course is that when you get suckedout on, it costs you significantly more than the lower limits. Trying to avoid situations where I can lose all my money has been a tough thing to learn and I’ve starting to learn that folding TPTK at times is the right move, other times folding AA to a scary board is something that I have to force myself to do at times also (it’s hard to do but it’s a necessity if i am to become a more successful player at the higher limits).

Perhaps, the biggest adjustment in my opinion is that I’ve been concentrating more closely than I did at the lower levels. I’m taking more notes on players and searching through hand histories to see any betting patterns that I can use to my advantage. I’m trying to play the players instead of the cards. Sometimes it works, other times I’m way off but the more I learn about another player the more I can take advantage of their weaknesses.

Whatever it is I’m doing, it’s been working lately as I’ve rebuilt my bankroll to over $125 profit the last few days. Combine this with my recent success at my poker league games, it really feels like I’m on a good run that hopefully will last. Of course all good things must come to an end so I’m prepared for that but in the meantime I’ll just enjoy my run until the inevitable suckout that is waiting around the corner rears it’s ugly head and takes me down a notch.

Keeping momentum

Yesterday I played in another 2 league tourneys.

One was a hold em tourney.  The other was a modified HORSE tourney with triple draw low ball replacing regular stud.

I managed to finish 2nd in the Hold em tournament and 1st in the HORSE tournament.

One thing I noticed is that I have an advantage when we play Omaha since most of the players don’t play Omaha too much and they severely misplay their hands a lot. Once they start to learn that two pair or a set doesn’t always win the pot, I can then get them off these hands when I have nothing. The triple draw low ball session was fun and we even played a round of Badugi for kicks. This was a fun tournament because I finally got to play other games besides Hold em all the time.

As for the Hold em game. I played pretty good that tournament also in my estimation. I sniffed out some bluffs and made some timely bluffs myself. It’s interesting to note that once I called a few bluffs, the other players stopped bluffing as much and allowed me to bluff back at them. Weird how poker works.

I could’ve finished with two first place finishes except I lost a crucial hand heads up when the other player hit his flush on the river against my made straight. That’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes but I was happy with the way I played.

Ending June on a upswing

 

We’ve reached midyear 2008 and I’m doing ok.

The good news is that I’m up $75 on Fulltilt. The bad news is that if you count my bonus money earned and my rakeback I’m actually down about $90.

I’m still up about $220 on Pokerstars so that’s not too bad.

As for my live play, it’s been up and down. I’m about break even. My cash winnings have been funding my tournament games so that’s about the only positive I can take from the league.

I played 12 hours of poker on Saturday. It’s the end of the quarter for my poker league so players are trying to get in as many games they can before the quarter ends. The players who are on the bubble for the quarterly finals are playing for the chance to qualify into the quarterly final table (total prize pool is over $600).

I was one of those on the bubble. I managed to finish strong and qualify for the satillite. Players who finish in places 9-18 play in the satillite. The top 2 players from this qualify for the quarterly final table.

Three tourneys were played on Saturday. It was sort of a poker/BBQ party. Each tourney was $25. $20 went into the prize pool. $4 was for knock outs bounties and $1 went to the quarterly prize pool. Each player started out with 6k in chips. The structure was a little fast but it wasn’t a super turbo either.

1st tourney we had 16 players and I wind up being the first person busting out. I get crippled when my A/K runs into KK in the BB. Later on, I bust out when I get A/3 hearts on the BB. 3 limpers are in already. The flop is AA9. I bet, UTG + 1 calls. The turn is a 6. I bet again and UTG + 1 calls. The river is a harmless 4. I check (as I’m suspicious that I could be behind here), UTG + 1 checks also. He shows A/7 to win the pot. At this point I’m short stacked and I bust out soon after.

I manage to take down the 2nd tourney (20 players) for my first tournament win of 2008. I knew I was struggling for most of the year. The only finishes I managed this year were a few 3rd place and 4th place finishes so taking down a tourney after 6 months is a relief. Compared to last year I’ve been really on a bad run. I joined this league in August of 2007 and I managed to win 6 tourneys in 5 months last year. This year I didn’t win my first until June. Go figure. Maybe the players have a tell on me or something. Or maybe they’ve figure my game out. Or maybe I’ve just been plain unlucky. Whatever the reason I’m hoping I can build on this victory.

The 3rd game I managed to finish 5th. This time 5th place gets their money back. I’ll take it…it sure beats losing.

In the end I had a pretty good day of poker. I manage to win $35 in the side cash games. I win $140 for taking down the 2nd tourney. I added 5 bounties for another $20. The 3rd tourney, I won $20 and scored two bounties for another $8. 

After 12 + hours of poker, I wind up winning $148 for my efforts. Not too shabby.

I’m hoping that the 2nd half of 2008 will prove to better than the 1st half. So far I’m off to a good start.