Final 2008 No Limit Holdem Tournament Stats

courtesy of Offical Poker Rankings


All in all, a pretty good year!

- Played 1114 tournaments (17% ITM)
- Won $21,659 in prizes (wow)
- Paid $16,129 in entry fees (wow!)
- Earned $5530 profit (34% ROI)

Still, I only made three big-money final tables in 2008 and if you subtract those I would actually show a fairly sizable loss of about $5K for the other 1111 tournaments. From that perspective you could almost make the argument that I didn't really have a good year at all.

But that's the life on an MTT player. The greatest chunk of our profit IS derived from making final tables - not from grinding and squeezing into the bottom money - thus, my goal is to make many more FT's in 2009!

What A Saturday!

My Saturday poker session started real early. I had fallen asleep on the couch Friday night after playing poker all day. In fact, I'd been playing almost non-stop since I got home from work Wed. By Fri. nite I was tired, both physically and mentally. In fact, the big highlight of Thurs and Friday's play for me had nothing to do with Texas Holdem... it was finishing 4th in my first-ever Badugi tourney (out of 96 entries) for a whopping $18 on my $2 entry... hahaha Badugi is fun!

So I awoke on the couch at 5am and instead of going to the bedroom I felt nice and refreshed and ready to play poker! With it still dark outside, I jumped right into three Full Tilt tourneys - a $20 turbo, a $2 rebuy and an $8-180 man. I got knocked out of the $20 turbo before the sun came up, but I ended up final tabling the other two tourneys - two FT's at once! It kinda sucked, because I wanted to concentrate on just one table but I had to play on two! hahaha Nice problem to have, eh? So I end up with second place in the $8-180 for $245 and I get fifth in the 2R out of 196 entries for another $70. Not a bad way to start the day!

Even after playing five hours of poker it was still only mid-morning. I took a break from the games, showered and went out to get a haircut and some food. Came back and got ready for the Full Tilt Holiday 100K at 1:15 pm with 10,000 donkeys slugging it out. Early on, I picked up AA twice and basically got nowhere with em - instead of a donkfest, it turns out to be a nitfest. Boooo! Talk about frustrating, getting no action on AA early in a tourney ranks right up there. Anyhow, after about 20 mins of minbet-call-check-fold poker some dude gets bad beat and goes on super monkey turbo tilt, shoving his stack every hand preflop. I watch people fold to him with bemusement, until I get dealt QQ. I shove over the top of his shove and he flips A4o. Ace on the flop and I'm down to 375 chips. Lovely. So he continues to shove, building his stack then losing em all back like an idiot. Finally after waiting 7 or 8 hands I get dealt KQ and call his shove with my measly few chips. He can't have me beat here... except he flips AK suited. Christ. Ace on the flop and I'm gone, just like than, prob with 8800 people still in the damn thing. Nuts, there go my big dreams...

So while I'm regretting not blowing off the stupid freeroll and going to Casino Arizona for the end of the month Saturday tourney, I decide to enter a Poker Stars $3 Rebuy, basically for lack of anything better to do. Ho-hum, I don't even rebuy right off the bat, I just sit on my 1500 chips and flounder around for a while. About 45 mins in, I ask myself out loud "what the hell are you doing?" I suddenly realized how I'm donking in this tourney, making no effort and just waiting for KK or AA... "Get with the program you fool, the prize pool is ridiculous in this thing!"

So with my pissy mindset I rebought for the stupid 3 bucks which got me up to 2850 chips or so. In the next 45 mins I lost my stack, bought it back, then caught a few big hands as we neared the break and ended the hour-and-a-half rebuy period as the chip leader at my table. Nice! I made the add-on to get to like 14K chips, and then we just kinda nitted it up for the next three or four hours. I forget all the hands and the drama, but I remember struggling to survive, not thinking of a win certainly... but I hit a few hands and made it in. Only 900 to go! LOL Top 18 is the real money, $200 plus - how do I get there?

I'm honestly not sure how I did. Thru battle after battle I somehow navigated the money minefield and after about 7 hours of play we entered the final table, my third of the day!! This was the biggest tho, by far - no comparison with 6111 entries and a $74K prize pool. Blinds were huge of course now and we quickly got down to 5 left, then 4, then 3. I was in control for the last part and became and overwhelming chip leader for heads up when my AJ hit trips against 3rd place's A4 shove mistake. :)

So heads-up started with me holding a 35 million to 5 million chip lead. Yeah, and I lost the tourney. It's gonna hurt for a while, trust me - hell, I left three grand on the table, but I damn sure don't feel like I blew it by donking off my chips. I just got the usual raw holdem deal, that's all.

So after some early jousting we were at 29m-11m and I'm holding K8s. Flop comes AKQ but I'm not scared - chances are they don't have an A. But I check the flop and get a check back. Turn is my 8 to give me a very sweet looking 2p. I lead out and get reraised all-in... this is it, the big moment... my first big win!!

Wrong. They flip over AQ for the flopped slowplayed higher 2p. Now I'm no longer chip leader. I slowly grind down and it's now 30m-10m for them. I worked my way back tho, grinding it back up to 20m-20m. Dead even match, and we're in a real dogfight, going on a half hour now.

Then the real dagger hand happened. With me holding a small chip lead, I get dealt A7 spades. I raise, get re-popped all-in, and quickly call. They have A6 diamonds. Flop is 23x which is huge because this is MY POT and MY TOURNEY!!! It won't be a split pot now, my kicker rules... Except that a 6 hits the turn.

ARGH.

I'm now down under 1BB so the rest is automatic. I win one hand, then two. I steal a few hands and before I know it I'm one blind steal from squaring up the stacks! Except this time I get raised. Call, miss flop, and fold. Now I'm back to 32m-8m deficit, and I never had a chance to recover with the blinds at a ridiculous 1.5million/750,000.

Hurts, but holdem sucks, whaddya gonna do? I also lost with AK < AQ and AA < 99 as we were nearing the final table. That decimated my stack too, those two huge hits, but somehow I survived it all, only to get sucked out on at the end to lose.

Still... 3 final tables in one day, and over $6500 profit, I guess I have nothing to really complain about. :D I thought back to the first 45 minutes of the tourney and chiding myself for not making any effort... sometimes it pays to self-evaluate and give yourself a good swift kick in the read end!

So I always wondered what it would be like to play with 20-something million chips in front of me... Now I know... and let me tell you, it feels gooooooooood!

Nothing Pleases Me More...

...than SH*T LIKE THIS HAPPENING!


Oh man, can you imagine that guy after the hand? "U MF'ING POS SOFTWARE!" lol

Nothing Pisses Me Off More...

...than SH*T LIKE THIS HAPPENING


WTF? Just hitting the A wasn't enough of an kick to the nuts, right?

Yesterday I get it all in on an AJ4 flop holding AJ, opponent has AQ. Turn is a K, river is a K and I lose to the Q kicker.

AAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH

The Fifty-Fifty

Got 12th place (out of 1180 entries) in the Full Tilt Fifty-Fifty last night after a fun 6 hours of play.

It was def a great deep run, but also kinda disappointing in a way. Hovered around the top ten all tournament long and just played Grade-A solid poker, nothing fancy but I did make sure to blind steal my fair share. :) I caught big hands early to build a nice stack, and if my pocket kings didn't run into the inevitable pocket aces cooler, costing me about 40% of my chips at one point, I prob would've been the chip leader for quite a while.

I pretty much coasted thru the bubble and most of the money spots, sorta card dead but I was still able to advance my stack with blind steals, making good calls in tough spots (like AK>AQ on a T3JTT board for a sizeable pot) and a couple of well-timed successful bluffs of my own. When we got down to 18 left, the pace of eliminations slowed way down and the last hour became a real grind. From this point forward I was always in the bottom three on the leaderboard, and with the payouts jumping $150 each at spots 15 and then 12 it was truly a necessity to struggle to survive... and somehow, someway I did. With 16 left and me in 16th, paying the 10K BB forced me to put 1/3 of my stack into the middle. It folded around to the SB who shoved, and I ended up calling with 69o. Not much choice really. He flipped over 7's, but a 9 hit the flop to keep me alive and kicking. Same with 15, 14 and 13 left, I somehow hung in and suddenly we down to the final 12! I was still in last, but I had 70K chips now and I felt like I was right in this with every opportunity to take down the $11K+ first prize!

A few hands later in the CO I pick up two tens and raise it up the standard 2.5x to 30K (I prefer doing this to shoving in this situation - I want to double up here, not just steal blinds so I'm hoping someone makes a play back at me so I'm assured of getting it all in the middle). The big stacked button predictably shoves and its a no-brainer instacall for me. Tens versus eights! Nice!! I'm sittin' pretty for the final table now, will be fifth in chips if it holds up... 3 blanks on the flop, gotta survive 2 more cards... nope. Eight on the turn and I'm out. FUUUUUUCK!!!!

What hurt even more is while I'm sitting there recovering, just blankly staring at the table, I see the tournament instantly goes from 11 left to 8 left at the final table, boom, just like that! If I had won with my tens, I'd have probably been a LOT higher than 12th and looking at a nice $2K+ payday. Yeah, the $700+ score for 12th sure is nice, but damn... it always ends the same way - get it in good, and lose. Sigh.

Onward!

Poker Stars Going For A Guinness World Record

Talk about a sick, sick weekend... ya gotta love it!!

First of all, Full Tilt is running two $100,000 Holiday Freerolls, one on Saturday Dec. 27 and the other on Sunday the 28th. Both will be 10,000 max. entries and will be completely full. :) I qualified for each thru the ridiculously easy 400 Full Tilt Points satellites to earn each 2000 FTP entry fee. I'm gonna keep playing the sats in fact, they're a great way to build up the FTP's fast. :)

But the real kicker is that on the same Sunday, Poker Stars is attempting to break their own world record for the largest online poker tournament. The normal Sunday Two Hundred Grand will become (for a day) the Guinness World Record $500,000 Guaranteed! It will be capped at 35,000 entries, apparently due to server overload concerns. It most assuredly will be filled, so that means it becomes a $150,000 Added tourney, all for the very economic entry fee of $10+1. Yours truly will obviously be planted firmly in front of my PC toiling away all weekend in THREE ultra-mega-absurd MTT's on both Tilt and Stars, two at once on Sunday. :D

Like I said... ya gotta love it!!

Poker Stars $10+1 Deep Stack

Tried my hand at a deep stack event today on Stars. Early in the fourth hour, I was doing ok sitting on double my starting stack with 10K. Playing pretty conservatively as each level is a full half hour long, but I haven't seen any top-5 hands (AQ+ QQ+) in the first 155 hands and my plan is to play the first big PP I see all the way. I finally catch the bottom of my all-in range with QQ in middle-late position and raise up a few early limpers. One shoves to put me all in, and I pretty much instacall it without a second thought because it was my plan to get it all in on the hand somehow someway.

Naturally he flips AA and catches another A on the turn.

GG. Real fun to wait patiently for 3+ hours and then go out on the first real hand I get dealt. This game SUCKS!!

I later finished 497th in the Stars $10+1 Two Hundred Grand out of 23,825 entries (its a min cash finishing between 3581 and 361 so I basically broke even on the day). I tracked my preflop cards thru both tourneys. In 351 hands, I got AA once, AKo once, QQ once. Never got KK, never got AKs. Had JJ three times and did hit top set with it once. Another set with 66. Other than that, I played for OVER SEVEN HOURS without any real cards. Not bad I guess, in a way. Moral victory, meh. :)


Edit: It eventually became something like 1245 hands between being dealt KK. Thru David Sklansky's help on the 2p2 probability forum, it's something like 128-1 of having a streak this long without a particular PP. I joked about it, saying "I dunno why I want to see a KK, I'll probably just lose to an A9 resteal that gets lucky". haha Well sure enough, when I got the hand I ended up all-in preflop against JJ for a HUGE pot in a HUGE spot near the money in a large MTT... four blanks and, oh yeah it's comin'... the river J that nearly made me pound the table in frustration until my fist was bloody. Sigh. Isn't it ALWAYS the way?

Better To Be Lucky Than Good!

Three tables left in a 62-runner $6+0.60 6-max satellite to a 30K Guar. $100+9 MTT. I'm mid-pack with 4400 but have been pretty active up and down between 2K and 7K. Big stacks to my left and right who've also been active so I have to be careful.

In this hand, holding 55 I see a very dry 379 rainbow flop and lead right out, only to get min raised and called by the 3rd player, back to me... long wait, then I call - mainly for pot odds of hitting my miracle set. When the board pairs the 3 on the turn, my brain goes into hyperwarp overdrive - careful? me? ha! - and I instashove over the top of the SB leadout to obv rep the 3, figuring it has to be an Oscar-winning performance with my delay on the flop like I was debating with 2nd or 3rd pair - no way they can call me here!! Problem is, in my zeal to pull off a classic heist... I forget about the stack sizes I'm up against. LOL

A classic blunder as they both instacall me... until the miracle river 5 hits the board. :D

I took the overall chip lead after this hand and went on to win one of the three entries handed out. I won't play in the tourney, I need the T-dollars cause my bankroll's been dwindling... probably because of making rash plays like this one. :-)

----------

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 150/300 Blinds, 25 Ante, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

BTN: 2,230
SB: 11,790
Hero (BB): 4,410
UTG: 16,840
CO: 2,055

Pre-Flop: (575) 5c 5h dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls 300, 2 folds, SB calls 150, Hero checks

Flop: (1,025) 7c 3h 9d (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 625, UTG raises to 1,250, SB calls 1,250, Hero calls 625

Turn: (4,775) 3s (3 Players)
SB bets 900, Hero raises to 2,835 and is All-In, UTG calls 2,835, SB calls 1,935

River: (13,280) 5s (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
SB checks, UTG checks

Results: 13,280 Pot
SB mucked Td 9c (two pair, Nines and Threes) and LOST (-4,410 NET)
Hero showed 5c 5h (a full house, Fives full of Threes) and WON 13,280 (+8,870 NET)
UTG mucked Kd Ks (two pair, Kings and Threes) and LOST (-4,410 NET)

Raise Raise Raise!

Tried a little experiment tonight in a $2 MTT on Stars because I was sick of playing rock solid poker and then having every freakin' hand I play get sucked out on over and over the past 4-5 days. Just sick shit, you know how it is. Near the money in a large MTT, my KQs plays (unknowingly of course) against AA, I flop KQx and lose after getting it all in to a river A. F*ck me.

So I go into this meaningless 2000-player $2 MTT and start raising. I raise, raise and raise some more. Every unopened hand preflop I raise 3x. If there's a raise ahead of me (and there weren't many lol), I repop em 3x times more. The only reason I didn't walk away with a big stack after the first table broke 1/2 hr in was because they kept laying down to me. I did hit a nice bottom set on the river when "tight Al" would've been long gone from the hand. Of course he shoved because he's thinking "He's a maniac and his river raise was just trying to bump me off me hand". Wrong. :)

After the first few levels, I had to slow down on the preflop stuff, but I stuck with the aggression, making continuation bets and the like, stealing blinds when the pot was unopened and in later positions. I also stuck with hands longer - classic example, calling a preflop raise with 2d3d, calling the one-diamond flop bet and the two-diamond turn bet and then getting a pot bet call on the river diamond after they slowed down and checked. LOL In short, I was playing poker like your supposed to play, not like a pussy who's afraid to play any "junk" hands and gets beat anyway with the premiums by the smallballers. Bah, I'm going back to this style, the standard style is just a loser for me at this point.

Of course, right at the end of the first hour I fell into my own trap, calling the expected flop bet from the big stack on a ragged board, then turning my A. He led out again, I raised and got a call. River blanked and I had to call for all my chips. I figured he was trying to outpower me after my turn raise, but no, the call meant just what it said - he had the A too and had me outkicked J>6. Oh well, at least I'm having fun again at this game! :D

How does this guy feel?

Maybe like Scott Montgomery? LOL

Nah, I had quite a few more outs. :D

Ugh WSOP9

I feel sick.

Early, lost on river to flush. He checked river to me, I was smart enough not to bet. Gave him incorrect odds the entire way not to draw to it, he still did. Saved chips but down some.

Lost with AQ call of AJ all-in shove. J on flop. Half my stack gone early in second hour.

Lost with AQ < AK final hand late in second hour, made a move on the BB and he flips AK spades.

Out 3539th or some sh*t. Never got a real hand - TT once with a K flop and a big bet, turbo-muck.

Puke.

I'm in FTOPS #9!

Won an entry into FTOPS #9, $300+22 NLHE which runs tomorrow afternoon and evening. Satellite was an 81 player double shootout, I won the first table, moved on and won the second one too. :D The top two got in so I never had to battle heads-up for it.

Heads-up in the first match was a classic, I was up, then down real bad to a beat, then I caught a set to even it up again and caught another set to close it out.

Final table started with 13.5K chips each. Right away, I lost 25% on the first hand at the FT when my flopped open-end straight draw never came thru. Down in chips I had to change gears and be tight-patient. Waited a long while before playing a hand, doubled up to 16K, then took control of the FT with a classic hand...

I had AQo mid-position with 6 left (5 pays so this is a maniac move!) and made my standard 3x preflop raise to 3600 with the 600/1200 blinds. The raise is 1/4 my stack, so I'm committed (to my way of thinking LOL). The huge stack at the table with about 32K goes all in out of the big blind. ALL-IN! Instead of fear, my eyes prob lit up, because I really did want to get all in here, I was just afraid if I shoved no one would call me. Instead, here's this mountain of chips out on the table now... Insta-fist-pump-call. He flips over 77... and flop comes AA5. LOL Runs out clean for me and I jump way way up to like 40K in chips. From there I pressed my stack advantage with every two-broadway and suited-ace hands, and just kept accumulating the huge blinds. These sat tables can be funny like that, it's all about watching who is short and who can be pressured. Easy easy blind stealing. grin

I'm def playing in FTOPS9, see what I can do against the big boys and girls. :D

I Won A MILLION!!!!!

A million play chips on Full Tilt, that is. hehehe

Hey, I'm proud of it - one day my friends were talking about play chips, and I took up a personal challenge to get back over the million chip mark. Starting from 1000 chips - over and over and over and over again (lol) - I finally won enough huge pots at Omaha and did it tonight. Took me about a week from the very last time I hope I ever have to beg plead and grovel for another 1000-chip handout from the FT Cashier. LOL

There's no guarantee I'll actually hold on to these, of course - there are 1,000,000 chip play tourneys occasionally along with a whole slew of SNG's. I'll try to exercise reasonable bankroll management so I don't donk em all off in one foolish tournament entry. :)

That's Better :)

Took down a 45-player $24+2 SNG on FT tonight for a cool $410 and change. :D

Luckboxed my way to the victory. I'm gonna have to find time to post the key hands, I really doubt I've ever sucked out so many times in my life. hahahaha I took every chance, no matter how slim the margin, no matter how stupid the call, and hit my cards every time. Early on, as I built my mountain of chips, I had pot odds on the calls... but sometimes with a big stack you just say "what the f*ck" and instaclick the call button! What a rollercoaster ride, a first to worst to first deal. LOL

I FREAKIN' NEEDED IT!
THE POKER GODS OWED ME THIS ONE!!
I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!! :)

Stars WCOOP Event #5 $10K buy-in

No, I didn't play in this. hahaha But I did rail it from about 38 left until there were only four... it was about 1:30 am and I couldn't stay awake any longer!

Stars WCOOP Event #5 $10K buy-in

Orel Hershiser made the FT, very cool. Chris Moneymaker also got there, but neither could get up into the stratospheric money. Had to be extremely frustrating to go out just short of the really huge money after playing for 12 straight hours. 321 entries (54 paid) took prob 13 hours to finish (not sure how long it went after I went to bed). Ah the insanity of deep stack tourneys. I bet the bubble didn't break until the 9-hour mark - can you imagine playing that long, getting that close, and ending up out the full $10,000? I played in a Stars deep stack once - I think I blogged about it below... never again!

But it was enjoyable just watching the best go at it. I think I learned a lot about how big money deep stack poker end games are played out. Someday I hope to be able to utilize the experience. LOL

When the video highlights are posted, I'll put up a link. [Here it is] Check out PokerStars.tv, it's pretty cool! Live broadcast didn't work for me last night, not sure why [I didn't have the latest Flash player installed - doh!]. :(

Sunday Million - 5075th Out Of 7212

Lasted just into second hour. Nothing to blah-g about. Standard hour of crap poker - nothing worked, cards sucked, plays failed and backfired bigtime, couldn't catch my card with double-digit outs, other people caught theirs against me, etc. Totally standard. Def a fun tournament, LOVE the structure. Will have to try to satellite in every week. But for this week... blah. That is all.

The Sunday Million

Woohoo! I won a $10.70+1 Double Shootout on Stars to get an entry into the Sunday Million (which is actually a 1.5 Million guaranteed now).

The tourney was severely short, and the first table was only four-handed. I took that with a good heads-up battle and moved on to the full 10-player final table. First hand I saw AT in UTG and just called for 20 chips along with like 6 others. Flop came KQJ. LOL I actually didn't make a lot off the hand even tho I played it real casual, checking the flop, etc. They were all calling with crap rags, obv. I made 600 off the hand and was off and running (they reset the chip stacks to 1500 for the final table). Caught a lot of PP's like TT twice, and I think I took a player out with the hand each time, avoiding overcards. With the rest - 88, 55 and 44 - I took down blinds or got even more chips when they'd call my preflop raise and I'd put a big continuation bet out on the flop. I played the final table very aggressively because every time I showed a hand down it was strong and my play was bordering on loose-maniacal (the first TT hand for instance, guy with AQ spades shoved and I INSTA-called with an almost equal stack to his). They seemed to be afraid of busting, and thus afraid of my raises, and that's when poker is really really fun to play. :) It allowed me to keep raising with hands like KJ, QT, A-baby, etc. and take down blinds. The real key hands were KK which I saw twice (the deck pretty much hit me in the face LOL). The first time I got it, the best player at the table (I always check OPR before we start) called my 3x preflop raise. The turn was J-high and he led out with a pot bet. I decided just to call there with the overpair. I didn't want to blow him off the hand. When a K hit the turn, he checked it to me and I thought me checking back there after raising pre- and calling his flop lead out would look funny... so I led out pretty large, trying to make him think I was trying to bluff him off the pot. He didn't fall for it and folded. I still felt good knocking him down a peg, but man did I ever want to felt him bad in that spot and I silently criticized my turn play. Taking out the best player is always a huge step in these things. Luckily it didn't matter in the end. The second time my cowboys caught an all-in (before I could even act) and the guy flipped 77. That got us down to three, and when the third person took the good player out on the very next hand, flopping a 63 2p hand on him, we were done since two entries were awarded!

Now I just have to decide if I should "pussy out" and take the T-dollars instead. Probably makes more sense, since I've been struggling on Stars the past few weeks. I could use the addition to my bankroll, even if there is about a 200K incentive to give the Million a shot. :) We'll see how I feel on Sunday I guess... the thing is, making a final table in something like this is pretty much life-changing money. That's the real reason I'm playing poker, to hit a big score. It sure isn't to grind out a few hundred bucks here or there...

Hell, maybe I'll give a few more of these shootouts a shot and try to win another entry - then I can have my cake and eat it too. :)

The funny thing is, I almost didn't play at all tonight. I played golf after work so I got home later than usual, and it was thundering and lightning like mad outside - even some hail on the roof and windows and metal carports making a huge racket. Yeah - I live in a desert. LOL I think this is probably where the saying "when it rains, it pours" originated. I was worried the power would go out, so I didn't start anything up. But as usual, before bed, I said "I have to play SOMETHING!" and I spotted the Double Shootout into the Million, realizing it would play really short and reduce the time immensely (it took 70 minutes). Perfect! :)

King King For A Day

KK crushed me today, continuing this awful bad beat - suckout - bad river luck - ridiculous runner-runner shit that's been happening to me the past week or two.

It began when I played in the live Casino AZ end of month tourney. Caught KK once, and it ran into a 2 diamond flop, with a third diamond on the turn. He checked it to me, and to my credit I checked back (kings were overpair). But when he led out on the river Q, I had to call and see the nut flush. Thankfully it only cost me about 20% of my stack.

An hour later, after my usual suck-ass shitty hand after hand fold-fest, I see KK again. I'm borderline shoving my 2800 chips, but I need action so I just bump it up 3xBB to 900, and see the inevitable ace flop. I made a play on the pot hoping the caller didn't have one, but it only took another 500 for her to put me all in and I made the crying call. She had flopped A4 two pair. Sweet. Fuckin' bitch playing ace-rag junk.

So I came home and played in tourney after tourney, the most memorable being my great call of an all-in flop bet on a Jxx board holding TT. Turn was a blank, but the river was an 8 which filled his 88 hand and sent me to the rail.

That's the awful kinda shit that keeps happening to me. Another classic hand from two days ago... I get a guy all in with my set, he calls me with his PP that's higher than mine. He doesn't catch for set-over-set tho. The flop is Jxx and then the turn and river both come jack-jack giving him a higher boat and I'm gone.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

I get so pissed I'm surprised I haven't puched my monitor. Fucking sick stupid game.

Anyhow, kings... I proceeded to lose EVERY hand I played today online with KK. Three times I got it during the hours of play, and three times I lost with it - making it a total of five FUCKING times I lost today with KK.

Actually, I'm wrong - I checked my database, and I had one hand with KK where the table folded to me and I took down 180 in blinds. Woo fucking hoo.

I never had AA once all day either. This game sucks.

Owwwwwwwwwwwww :(

PS $30+3, 747 entries, 108 pays, $4201 first place

Made the money without really ever getting a decent stack of chips, just taking down enough hands to squeeze in semi-comfortably. When the bubble broke, I gambled a bit and lost a fairly big hand, getting trapped into playing my third-hi pair of nines - he had tens in the hole. :) Lucky he didn't shove and send me to the rail if I make the terrible call. But that knocked me down to 3000 and I immediately had to commit 1000 of em to the see a flop with AT on the button... I don't like to shove here, because quite honestly I WANT both the blinds to call me here so I can somehow triple up instead of just take down the blinds - I need chips, and I'll take the risk of too many players in the hand. Flop comes Txx all spades. Ugh. I only bet out half of my stack, another 1000, trying to get as much money in the middle as I can. Both call it. Turn is a fourth spade, checks all around. River is the ace of spades giving me 2p, but it's also the fifth spade on the board. hahaha There's a small bet, then a fold over to me. I have 849 left in front, and the low spade on the board is a 4... so if he has 5s+, I'm dead with no spade. Does he have one? Probably not, but... I lay the hand down. Yep, I folded it.

I think just about anybody would shove the rest of em in there hoping for a split. I decided instead in that millisecond to gamble that I could hit a hand real quick - call me a moron, I don't care! The blinds/antes were 500/1000 + 100 and obv that is a pretty brutal situation for 849 chips. LOL What am I, nuts??!! Nope. I'm not. I don't think so, anyway. :) I was on the button here, and thus I had just a smidgeon of time... who knows what I'll be dealt?

Two hand later, with JT, it's my shoving spot with an unopened pot. Caller has QQ! LOL Flop comes 8QK, and you know where this is going... (evil grin) Ace on the turn is accompanied by this enormous sucking sound... and I'm off and running. I DID make the next level at 72 players left, and was on the rise with a bullet. My stack was below average of course, but comparable to my tablemates, and I was able to keep playing and working. I won five hands in a row over the next 35 without a loss. I now had 13K in front of me, in the big blind, with 76o. UTG raises 3x, folds around to me, and of course I call the 3600 - I've now got 1/3 my stack in the middle, but I'm on a roll!!

Flop comes T66. :D

Are you kidding me? This is unreal. I could soon be at 26K if I can just play this right... from 849 making a crazy fold. Gotta love this game!

He leads out for 3600 into the 8800 pot, and it's not a very hard shove for me. :)

He flips over AQo. Turn is a K, river is a J, and I'm gone... accompanied by that awful sucking sound. LOL

Ouch. I was soooooo on my way to cashing another decent score... Guess luck caught up with me, huh? You really do need a bunch of the good, coming back from the dead, so I guess some of the bad shouldn't be all that surprising. Hey, I'd make the same laydown again, survival at all costs - don't EVER give up!!!!

Out in 68th place for $58.26 and a $25.26 profit... and another entry in the old blog. :)

Another Good Effort

PS $30+3 MTT 855 entries, $4700+ first place

Out in 15th place for $205.21 and a $172.21 profit. Such a frustrating finish... Throughout the tournament, I observed dominated hand after dominated hand win again and again, so I guess it's only fitting that's how I met my end too. LOL Granted AK is only 3-1 to Ax, but man... dominated hands sure seem to hold up far more than their 25% fair share.

He does have the flush draw working here, so I'm only a 2-1 preflop favorite... and after the two diamonds hit the flop I'm a very slight dog. Turn vaults me back to 2-1... but of course I end up getting rivered for a pot that would've probably landed me at the final table. I think it was a good call on my part, but it sure wasn't rewarded which is all too often the case in this damn game.

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Poker Stars $30+$3 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t3000/t6000 Blinds - 8 players
The Official [url=http://www.twoplustwo.com/]2+2[/url] Hand Converter [url=http://www.deucescracked.com/?referrer=converter_2p2]Powered By DeucesCracked.com[/url]

spectrefax (BB): t151682
HHoratius (UTG): t282900
tuco2271 (UTG+1): t170994
PIRAHNA37 (MP1): t190780
CZuke39 (MP2): t223968
asb3pe (CO): t101085
samiam54 (BTN): t34651
DOC_ADDISON (SB): t87762

Pre Flop: asb3pe is CO with Jc As
3 folds, CZuke39 raises to t16525, asb3pe calls t16525, 1 fold, DOC_ADDISON raises to t87162 all in, 2 folds, asb3pe calls t70637

Flop: (t201649) 7h Qd 6d (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: (t201649) Ah (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t201649) 4d (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t201649
asb3pe shows Jc As (a pair of Aces)
DOC_ADDISON shows 5d Ad (a flush, Ace high)
DOC_ADDISON wins t201649

-------

Very last hand I held KQ, flop came JTx. Normally I'd have 14 outs with a 51% chance of catching one - any 9, Q, K or A. Problem was, four of em were gone since I was up against Q9 and A9. Talk about rotten luck - obv I couldn't catch any of my ten outs to keep my run going. A fine run it was, however! :)

Full Tilt 500-Chip Poker Set

Got my "Poker After Dark" reward from Full Tilt and love it!


Obv much better than spending untold hours in a winner-takes-all donkfest and earning zilch. :) No idea why they included the dice - is 'T.J. Croupier' a Full Tilt Pro? LOL

At least now I can pass the time playing online by learning some chip tricks - they come in real handy when playing live, to help conceal my semi-amateur professional poker donk status. :D Yeah, I know I didn't need 500 chips to learn how to shuffle 'em. But if I ever get a chance to run a home game... Honestly though, I think I need two of these sets to have enough chips - gotta go find a way to earn another 10K in Full Tilt Points!


11.5g, with embossed Full Tilt logo - not a cheap glued-on sticker.

PS $11+1 Turbo-180

Just took down a turbo-180 on Stars for a cool $594 - really needed it because my account was starting to dwindle! LOL Just like on FT, when I had to come thru big, I did - and it sure feels good. :) I now have a positive ROI on Stars MTT's, small tho it may be...

With 5 players left and me very short stacked, I almost typed in the chat window, "Looks like 5th is my destiny" or something. Wrong! I had 10K chips and the other 4 all had 35K+, one had 60K. Didn't give up - caught a few hands and came roaring right back to where all five of us were dead even in chips. From there it was an absolute rollercoaster ride. I'd grab the chip lead, then lose it, twice falling back to last in chips and recovering. Raised a whole lot three-way and heads-up and basically just played it like a TAG master! Victory is swwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!! :D

I'm Out Of FTOPS #1

LOL Doubled up on the second hand after flopping a nut flush, and was on the first page of the leaderboard. :) That was about all the success I would have, gone within the first half-hour, dreams be dashed... hahaha I played it cool for about 20 minutes until I was dealt a pair of 3's and hit my set on a three-club board. I just called the flop intending to lay down to any all-ins on the turn or river with this board, or if the 4th club came just turbo-muck. Sure enough, after the first guy leads out fairly big, the second shoved all-in. I knew I was facing at least one, or maybe two of the following hands:

a. set-over-set, crushing me and leaving me one out
b. flopped flush, leaving me 10 outs on the river (21.7%)
c. overpair to the ten-high board, which my 3's were crushing

What to do?!!! A lot of chips up for grabs now... so much for folding. LOL I put one guy on the Ac nut flush draw and the other on JJ+... basically I decided to throw out the possibility of set-over-set since the odds were soooo low of that. If someone did have the flush already, then I still had 10 outs. Losing the hand wasn't gonna felt me, but winning this pot was ESSENTIAL if I was gonna be able to play a good aggressive pot-stealing play-every-hand type of game. This was my chance, and I was taking it! The third guy folded after my call (meaning my implied odds calc was incorrect since I had figured his chips in) and I saw I was indeed up against the flush (KQ). Needless to say, the river didn't pair the board. It was ok tho, I had 2500 chips and was still confident that I could take advantage of someone else and jump right back up there. I quickly flopped ANOTHER flush, king-high this time, and would've loved to double-up again with it but couldn't get more than 500 out of the guy. Shortly after that, my QQ ran into JJ and he checked the J44 flop - utter doom for me. If he had AA or KK I was willingly stacking off to him... but JJ? Sheesh. Now I was down to 850 chips. A few hands later with A8, play for the minimum and see a flop of A23, figure I've gotta make a play for the pot and I end up all in... against A3. Dumb rotten bad luck. Good luck too tho - it all evens out. I just wish it had evened out after about ten hours, not half of the first. LOL

I know I could've played a really tight game, lay everything down for the first hour and then start to play real poker after a lot of the donks like myself are gone. Certainly I coulda/woulda/shoulda folded my bottom set into that scary board and the all-in. I took a chance that I'd either hit the river or that his shove was just a bully move and I was wrong - so be it, that's poker. I'm sick of being a tight nit, playing mamby pamby poker and trying to fold my way into the money, or gain one more rung on the pay ladder if we're already ITM... screw that! I'm in it to win it - gotta gamble and take chances and make mistakes too sometimes. I honestly have no regrets whatsoever about my performance tonight (well, the A8 play at the end was awful, I basically gave up after preaching over and over again never to do so). I'm sure I'll donk out of quite a few more big events before I finally do succeed in one - but I will. :)

I'm In FTOPS #1

Woohoo! Won a 36-person $8+0.80 turbo satellite into FTOPS #1 tomorrow night, which has a million dollar guarantee... this will be the biggest event I've played yet at $200+16 and $173K for first. Pays 648 spots starting at $290 but there will also be 5000+ entries and about 30 or so pros to fight thru. My kinda fun! :)



If I have delusions of grandeur, it's only because I daydream about winning enough to bankroll myself into a bunch of the FTOPS IX events, like:

FTOPS #10, Sun Aug 10, $300+22 NL Hold 'em, 1.5 mill
FTOPS #12, Mon Aug 11, $1,000+60 NL Hold 'em 6-Max, 1.5 mill
FTOPS #15, Tue Aug 12, $200+16 NL Hold 'em Turbo, 500K
FTOPS #22, Sat Aug 16, $2,500+120 NL Hold 'em 2-Day Event, 2 mill
FTOPS Main Event, Sun Aug 17, $500+35 NL Hold 'em, 2.5 mill

Talk about a parlay... 9 to 216 to 5000 to ????... Hey, we all must have a dream and we must be confident about realizing it. This, at the moment, is mine. :)

Oh, and getting my own special FT avatar somewhere along the way would be ok too. :D

Derailed

We were down to two tables (PS $20+2, 324 entries, 45 pays) and I was comfortably on my way to the final table when I picked up a very nice looking AsKs. I had been pushing my AK's the few times I got the hand, with success - I read Sklansky's book where he shows that PFAI is generally the best play with em given some position and opponent (stack size) considerations... Even though I had no first-in vigorish in this spot, when the guy to my right shoved all in I still played em hard and fast, quickly re-raising and getting the rest of the table to fold. I'm up against AQ clubs and sitting pretty... until a Q hit the turn. That hand crushed me even tho I still had chips, because it forced me to make two moves soon after - chasing a nut 4-flush to the river, and then an EP shove with 99 called down by KT - neither of which I make if I had a bigger stack and could've been more patient. Out in 17th place for a rather disappointing $43 profit. I played another patiently aggressive game and it worked quite well. I'm very encouraged with my performance lately - here again, I got it in as much the best and lost to a suckout. C'est la vie, try again tomorrow.

Finally - A Final Table!

FT $24+2 $17K Guaranteed
938 entries, 90 pays, $5177.76 first place

Finally made another final table in a big event (well, big to me anyway). Started at 10PM and was still going at 3:30AM starting in on our sixth hour of play. Ended up going out in 6th place, blinding down at the end and just never finding a real hand or a good spot to play an imaginary one. :) Blinds were 30K/15K with a 4K ante, so even having 150K in chips wasn't going far anymore. Lost half my stack on one hand and then K4 suited was all I could muster at the very end and TT held up against me.

Obv I ran good with my showdowns, no soul-crushing bad beats... and I did get a few more than average of the big PP's (AA and KK) but I think the real reason I advanced past my usual mid-cash stage was because of my steady blind steals. I picked my spots but made sure I DID keep picking on the table with regular frequency (say once every two orbits if I hadn't won a hand in that time). Nothing really special to note in terms of memorable hands, I just played solid and laid down all my questionable ones - or better yet, I didn't even play em and get involved. I remember folding a crap 87o hand that I thought about giving a whirl for some reason (prob because I hadn't played a hand in a long while and wanted to regain some table image) and it would've flopped me 2p... I was upset about it, until showdown revealed someone else had flopped a set and I would've been doomed. Just say no!!

Cashed for $1013.04 and a $987.04 profit. Not bad for a (full) night's work... but it's time for sleep!

Are Tournament Worth It?

Another good blog entry I came across... don't know the kid at all, but he's a friend of Paul Wasicka's, that's how I surfed to it...

Are Tournaments Worth It?

And here's another one on the Stop-n-Go, which mirrors my thoughts exactly on the play - it has its spots, but they are fairly limited. My very small river bet in to a huge stack (see one of my recent blog entries) was me using a thought process very similar to the stop-n-go even thought I really didn't have the stack to make it happen. As I noted, even tho it was a very small amount, it DID apparently make HIM stop - to think a little. Of course, my small stack did me in as it really was a no brainer mouse click for him - so you do need a certain amount of chips for the play to work effectively. I love the descriptive analysis of his thought processes during the hand he is describing in the blog.

Here's yet another good one - A Tough Hand. He sounds a lot like me when he says, "It should also be noted that I am a gigantic wuss when it comes to reraising. I'm scared to do it, and it's definitely a huge weakness (probably the biggest) in my tournament game." Tell me about it!! I am working on that hole in my game tho - so far I've been pretty happy with my decision-making process, when a re-raise is the correct play and when a smooth call is better instead. I have always been WAY over-biased towards just floating to see another card but that's not a good aggressive - winning - poker style at all.

Poker Stars Is #1!

They're apparently about to eliminate one of my complaints about their software, the lack of an integrated graphical last-hand history (which Full Tilt has had forever). Stars now has a "beta" version in place, and it's BETTER than FT's!! PS's version not only shows a graphical recap of the last hand, it actually has the capability of replaying the entire hand out from start to finish, which obviously offers a LOT more information since you can recap betting patterns from other players - he just floated preflop with his big PP? Noted. He re-raised with air? Noted. He called that big raise from early position with THAT? Etc. :)

Sure, ideally we're capturing all this in our heads as the tournament progresses... but in reality I'm probably watching the ballgame on television and not following every last little detail at the table.

So in a way, a really good player who IS constantly taking notes on paper or in a poker tracker application, they're not gonna be all that happy with this development because it's going to help the lazier players (like myself) a lot more than it will help them...

Barry Greenstein's Player Analysis

Barry's website has a page on each of the big name pros that he plays with (against?) at Bellagio in the Big Game or in the big tournaments. He gives his opinion on each player, along with an interesting tidbit or two.

Here's Sammy Farha's page. Love the anecdote - NEVER GIVE UP!!

Best game : Pot-limit Omaha
Weakness : Any game except Omaha

Sammy may be the most feared short-handed pot-limit Omaha player in the world. He is so good that we only play Omaha with him in mixed-games with one or two other games added. Even though his fame came from his second place finish to Moneymaker in the 2003 WSOP finale, hold’em is not his forte. His fearlessness carried him through that event.

Amusing anecdote

Eight hands before the end of Day 2 in 2003, I drew out on Sammy and he got up from the table. He thought he was busted, but he had 5,000 more than I had. (80,000 was average at that point.) He said, “I’m leaving. I can’t do anything with 5,000.” I said, “Sammy, sit down and take a shot.” Sammy went all-in in the dark on the next two hands and doubled up each time. Of the last eight hands played at our table that night, Sammy was all-in before the flop on seven of them. He ended the second day with 58,000. Of course, Sammy went on to become famous as he cashed out $1.3 million for his second place finish in the event.

And we all need a laugh now and again, don't we? Well then let's go check out Barry's take on one of the best Big Game players (LOL)... Phil Hellmuth:

...Phil has assured me that he is a much better player than I give him credit for. He feels he has enough technical skill to win at higher limits, but when he has tried in the past, he often gotten derailed by his lack of self-control.

Amusing anecdote

I first played with Phil in a no-limit side game in Los Angeles in 1992. I didn’t pay attention to tournament poker back then, but I had heard that he was a cocky kid who had won a big tournament. He was playing fast and loose and showing his hands and needling people whenever he outplayed them. Well, I was pretty cocky too. Phil opened for a raise, I reraised and Phil called. After the flop, I bet, Phil raised and I reraised him all-in. He thought for a while, showed me top pair and then folded. I showed him Deuce-Three offsuit which bore no relation to the flop.

Phil stood up and said, "Nice play buddy, but that’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. Do you realize that giving me that kind of information is going to cost you all of your money? It’s because of players like you that I make millions of dollars a year playing poker."

Thank you Barry... you're the best! :)

Every Tournament Ends This Way

Darn it all, I was in great position in the FT $10+1 6-handed tonight. 143 entries, 15 pays, 9 are left and we have 3 spots to go to the big money final table. I'm sitting pretty in fifth chip position and have been playing very confident, loose, aggressive but cautious when needed...

And suddenly... I'm out to a bad beat. Just. Like. That. DAMN IT!

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 300/600 Blinds, 75 Ante, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 9,836
BTN: 21,501
Hero (SB): 12,974
BB: 8,982
UTG: 57,983

Pre-Flop: (1,275) Th Qc dealt to Hero (SB)

UTG raises to 2,475, 2 folds, Hero calls 2,175, BB folds

Flop: (5,925) 7c Qd Tc (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets 4,000, Hero calls 4,000

Turn: (13,925) Jh (2 Players)
Hero bets 3,000, UTG raises to 7,000, Hero calls 3,424 and is All-In

River: (26,773) Kd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 26,773 Pot
Hero showed Th Qc (two pair, Queens and Tens) and LOST (-12,974 NET)
UTG showed Ac Qs (a straight, Ace high) and WON 26,773 (+13,799 NET)

Yes, my preflop call of the UTG raise here was very tough, and in a vacuum seems kinda odd and even donk-ish. But due to his constant pressure I know I have to make a stand somewhere. I love QT because he could be playing Ax or Kx and I've hopefully got two live cards that can work with a second-tier board, cards that won't help him. Obviously I don't want to raise back with it, it's not that strong. All I wanna do is see a flop if the BB will cooperate (the squeeze play is common here and I'd have to lay down). But I get to see those first three cards, and oh what a flop it is for me! My lower 2p has sucked out on his TPTK. I don't know that of course. His range is humongous here - any PP, Ax, Kx, Q9+, J8+, a ton of suited connectors, etc. I'm obv a huge favorite on this flop. But I want HIM to do the betting here. He's aggressive... let him hang himself, right?

Wrong. The turn is a scare card, and damn right I'm scared! Fuuuuuck. I just blew this hand. He's got AK, and I let him draw to it... AGAIN! I. AM. SUCH. AN. IDIOT!! Alright, calm down, maybe he doesn't have the nuts - I'm playing this hand in the way that will maximize my value, by letting the aggressive bully take the lead... with the risk being that I might get sucked out on. I'm now in serious trouble of that happening, if it hasn't already.

The worst part is I only have 6K chips left - against his stack? I might as well have one chip. So I figure my best option here (I already know I'm getting em all in of course no matter what) is to try and get a miracle laydown from him. I don't want to see a river card!!! The only way to do that with my stack is NOT to shove, but to bet out really small amount, half my remaining stack. That's the only thing that will make him think, "Huh"? LOL I wonder if he was indeed scratching his head - he did take a while before calling. He obviously put ME on the straight, so I guess it almost worked. Darn it! He took his time... but of course he put me all-in. But now, since he took so long to make the call, I'm 90% sure I'm ahead!!!! I make a pretty easy, confident call and we flip em over.

Well whaddya know... I AM ahead after all! I really really expected him to flip AK despite me having just convinced myself he can't possibly have it. LOL Of course, I did immediately see he still had outs - an A or a K or even a J on the river will crush me - ten outs with one card to come - about 22%. But no, neither card is coming. Keep it low... Sure enough (or this wouldn't be a blog entry), the friggin luckbox catches a K for the straight to felt me. I'm a 4:1 fave on the flop, and about the same on the turn because even tho he's down to one card, he picked up 3 more outs with the jack on the turn. It's 78-22 in my favor... but the river hits him big time and I am OUT.

So once again, instead of a great shot at the $400 first prize, I get a measley $22 for my efforts. Should I have just mucked the QT to the UTG PFR? Oh sure, break out the poker book and tell me I'm such a donk. No guts no glory! I'm trying to learn how to take more chances in the end game instead of being a rock and blinding down til I have no chance to win it. How about after the flop? Did I play that ok? I have no regrets, other than the fact that this runner runner friggin' SHITE hit the board. DAMN IT!!! I WILL NOT TURN INTO A SHOVE-A-HOLIC WHEN I FLOP 2P!!! That is not how you maximize value there. If I get fucked, I get fucked. I'd play this hand the exact same way every time.

The fact is, after that flop, we were both getting it all in here - it was only a matter of how/when/where/who first. I often wonder - when will one of my tournaments NOT end this way? Well ya know, I guess they all should end like this actually. :) I got it in with the best here, and luck did not smile on me. It usually doesn't on the last hand of any tournament (think about it). This is NORMAL - you have to look at the tournament as a whole to see where luck works FOR us rather than AGAINST. Somewhere, I got lucky over someone else to survive and carry on - and those hands are promptly forgotten about. It all evens out in the long run, but we only remember the last, bad, hand. I suppose that's why I always go looking for "just one more quick tourney" before I retire for the night - to get the bad taste out of my mouth. hahaha

On Life Support, Finish ITM

PS $10+1 Sunday Hundred Grand, 23,960 entries

Another short stack miracle in the Stars Sunday Hundred Grand mega-donkfest. After a first-hour bad call left me with a whole 80 chips in front of me with 17K+ players remaining, I proceeded to work the short stack, hitting crazy hand after crazy hand (like the very first one, I didn't even have enough for the BB with 76o, and the flop comes 77x LOL). It was touch and go making the money, but every time I needed a hand I caught one, got callers, and it held up. Sure, someone could say after watching me, "How lucky was that donk?" but I would certainly counter that with... hand selection, hand selection, hand selection! That includes, of course, not only playing only the best hands but playing the table and the players, picking on more optimal targets when in position even with not-so-optimal cards. :) I done good today, and it feels good even if I did only make a lousy $12.50 or so...

Once we made the money at 3581 left, of course it becomes a shove-fest at least for a little bit. The tournament pays the same no matter whether you finish 3581st or 361st... so right after the bubble breaks, I'm in go-for-it mode, pedal to the metal and kick it into high gear. :) Almost shoved with 55 first hand in, but resisted (thankfully). Second hand I see AKo - no brainer call of the all-in just to my right. He had 55, and while my K did hit the flop so did one of his 2 outs. Oh well, still a memorable success... from 80 chips to ITM, passing 14K people in the process. LOL

Here's the Hand of the Tourney for me. With about 7K players left, I pick up TT UTG. Been running good with the premium hands like this, but don't wanna get all in pre- and lose to an Ax or Kx gambler - trust me when I say this is a DONKfest - so I'm real cautious in early position and just call to start the action... I want to see a flop before I committ too many chips to my mid-pair from early position. Well, in quick fashion it's back around to me with three all-ins! YIKES. What do I do now? Well, I certainly know one thing - there are at least a few overcards in play... and a pretty good likelihood of an overPAIR. That would not be good at all. I really don't think I'm in a good spot here after pondering a bit... but the fact that I stand to gain almost exactly 4x my stack if I can take the hand down is so tempting - I'd be at 20K+ chips, and you wanna talk a miracle comeback? I win this hand and I'll really have a chance at achieving something legendary... :)

I finally fold it after using most of my time.

------

Poker Stars, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Tournament, 200/400 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 6,600
Hero (UTG): 5,470
UTG+1: 12,500
UTG+2: 6,745
MP1: 13,180
MP2: 8,180
CO: 7,995
BTN: 3,805
SB: 11,355

Pre-Flop: (1,050) Ts Tc dealt to Hero (UTG)

Hero calls 400, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 raises to 6,695 and is All-In, 3 folds, BTN calls 3,755 and is All-In, SB folds, BB calls 6,150 and is All-In, Hero folds

Flop: (17,905) 7s 8d Td (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (17,905) Qh (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (17,905) 5h (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 17,905 Pot
BB showed Kd Ah (high card Ace) and WON 5,590 (-1,010 NET)

UTG+2 showed Ac Jc (high card Ace) and LOST (-6,600 NET)

BTN showed 8s Qs (two pair, Queens and Eights) and WON 12,315 (+8,510 NET)

-------

Seeing that 10 hit the flop was like a dagger to my heart. LOL I mean, I did only have 2 outs, essentially. BUT I WAS RUNNING SO HOT!! How could I know I wasn't up against an overpair, that I was ahead pre-, and that my ten would hit? Why didn't I just open-shove with em from UTG? I know that will be the criticism here but I am generally very cautious with the mid-pairs because of the suckout effect in donkaments. I KNOW Ax, Kx (and maybe even Q8 LOL) hands are calling me here. I dunno if all three would've played if I shoved from early position - quite honestly a shove earns me less chips most times. So a shove doesn't equal 20K, but certainly AK plays and I double-up.

Mid-pair play is something I need work on. I still don't think a preflop shove is correct from UTG (not if you'd rather "play" than "gamble"). But I do still wonder if I should have called the all-ins here just based on the pot size. With me being on such a huge luckbox roll, and in such a measley tournament (but with a huge payout at the top), I think I probably should have ignored my intelligence here and gone with my heart. :) No guts, no glory, right? Sure, I had a huge chance of busting, and losing 23 bucks in the process... but is the chance to jump to 20K chips and be in prime spot to REALLY make the money in the event worth the gamble?

I guess we'll never know... until next time. :)

Playing A-K In No-Limit Hold'em

Another good article I ran across in Card Player...

Fold Equity - Why Aggressiveness Makes Mathematical Sense - A Mathematical Look At Playing A-K In No-Limit Hold'em
BY: MATT MATROS
PUBLISHED: Tuesday Jun 28, 2005

People misuse aggressiveness. They hear the advice, "Play aggressive poker," and translate it to, "Bluff a lot." Aggressiveness is a lot more than bluffing. Too many players are aggressive by putting in a lot of money with their weak or mediocre hands, but slow-playing their other hands. They even get passive with big hands like A-K, wanting to "look at a flop." This approach is often a recipe for disaster. In this column, I'm going to explain why I think A-K is usually a reraising hand in no-limit hold'em.

Sunday Is "Poker After Dark" Day

Well my big shot at glory, fame, fortune and an overwhelming chance to show the world exactly how big of a sucka$$ donk I am on Poker After Dark comes this Sunday. Lemme check how many entries... so far, there's only 741 with three pros (that's ridiculous, would suck if they win this). So I'm a 740:1 dog to get on television... not bad!

I just hope I don't go out on the very first damn hand. LOL

OMG, I just realized I can UNregister for the event, which I guess would instantly give me 10,000 Full Tilt Points... hmmm, gonna have to think about that! Probably makes a lot of sense to do that, since this event's prize pool has 740:1 odds. LOL I try never to play a tournament that is 10:1 ITM, never mind these 'winner take all' things.

Plus I just looked, for 14.7K pts (I'd have 19K+), I could get a 500-chip poker set. :) I was gonna buy one just so I could learn how to shuffle the chips like everyone else can do, but they want like 40 bucks for a 300 chip set, that's as low as I could find for the good 10.5g clay chips. The FT chips have their logo of course, that kinda sucks, but they're also 11.5 grams! I think I might have to unregister after all... There goes my big shot at glory!

PokerStove

If equity hand analysis interests you, be sure to grab the free PokerStove calculator - it sits right on your desktop and in a key hand late in a tourney with a full 60 second time extension you just might be able to save yourself from making a wrong move by using it. The key to analyzing a big hand is to put your opponent on a valid, logical range of hands and then work to narrow it down as the hand plays out via the betting action... The calculator is great to just play with and check out certain scenarios and situations - sometimes the results are rather surprising (see the link in the post immediately after this one).

Here's one good example. Early in MTT, small blinds, I hold AA and make a standard PF UTG raise of 4xBB. One caller in the SB. Flop comes K42 rainbow. He checks, and I want to extract some value without losing my fish, so I lead out smallish, hoping he'll play along with something like a Kx hand. Sure enough, he calls the bet and we go to the turn...

So where do we stand now? Kinda confusing. No flush draw, no realistic straight draw, but he's a calling station - tells me he's hit something on this board. But what? Are my bullets in bigtime trouble? Am I really "extracting value" or am I walking across a minefield? Did I blow the hand with such a small flop bet? Let's put him on some hands and see, then fire up PokerStove and check our equity against the range.

Being conservative, I put him on any of the following hands he's likely to call with preflop and then call on the flop:
AA, A4, A2
KQ+, K4, K2
44, 22

Some are admittedly a reach - he'd prob re-raise AA and KK. But we still need to include them as possible trapping hands. He could be playing very coy here but they're obviously in his range. All other hands I figure he'll fold including QQ, KJ, etc. Many opponents will call their QQ to the river here, and plenty will also be playing hands like KJ, KT or lower to the river as well but we cannot count on that without some kind of read on the player (usually not very likely in an MTT with extremely small sample sizes). To be conservative, we'll throw them out. Obviously, adding those kind of hands to our opponent's range will increase our perceived equity significantly, but I'm looking for absolute worst case here, because that's how I typically fail in these spots - not putting enough emphasis on the hands that can crush me while also putting too much emphasis on the hands that I have crushed - hands a decent player probably would've folded by now.

So after entering everything in PokerStove and clicking "Evaluate", we get:

54,450 games 0.001 secs 54,450,000 games/sec

Board: Ks 2h 4d
Dead:

Hand 0:
{AcAd}
equity: 55.430%
win: 54.32%
tie: 01.11%

Hand 1:
{KK+, 44, 22, AKs, A4s, A2s, KQs, K4s, K2s, AKo, A4o, A2o, KQo, K4o, K2o}
equity: 44.570%
win: 43.46%
tie: 01.11%

So against this range, which is probably quite likely given his call out of the SB of an UTG PF 4x raise and his call of a flop lead-out bet, I'm merely a 55-45 fave... in essence, I've got a coin flip here.

Given that you do not want to flip for stacks early in a large-field MTT, this is a hand where I absolutely need to apply the brakes, slow down and be ready to MUCK EM!!

This is a very valuable exercise here - prob can't do this live, while the hand is playing out, but I certainly need to do it afterwards. Against a rainbow board which appears to be PERFECT for my bullets, I'm nothing more than a slight fave here if the range I've assigned to my opponent is accurate.

This was a real hand. I shoved the turn when a Q fell to put str8 and flush draws out... too late. He actually held KQ and crushed me (which is why I didn't throw KQ out of his hand range, sneaky me. LOL)

I was later able to laugh at the hand, mainly at my propensity for shoving hands like this only AFTER they've hit their suckout card. LOL Lesson learned, that's the important part - the suckout beat hurts for a while, but if you learn something from the experience, you're gonna be better off in the long run - which is what really matters. Aces are very vulnerable if even one opponent gets to see a flop against em. One poster on 2+2 Forums had this to say about this hand: "fold pre stacks are too deep to play aa profitably". Huh? Are you kidding me? FOLD BULLETS PREFLOP IN A DONKAMENT? I really truly thought his response was a joke... but after a lot of PokerStove time with the hand, I totally see where he's coming from. Even if I add all Kx and PP hands to his range here, I'm still just a 70-30 fave or so, and this is exactly where some of my blog posts come from... shoving AA into a KQ42 board thinking I'm a prohibitive fave against one opponent. Wrongo, bucko. Early in MTT's play all big pairs cautiously, and lay them down readily. As I've often seen, it's much better to be playing the 68 hearts type of hands early on, because THOSE are the stacking hands for us when they hit big. AA early on? Those are the hands that people stack off of us!

Something To Read And Ponder

As someone who relentlessly whines about all the suckouts and horrible beats in this game, I think I owe it to anyone reading this to pass along the following:

Being ahead when you are actually behind

The point here isn't that I was a huge dog and managed a massive suck-out. Although I do LOVE it when that happens. The point is that I WASN'T a huge dog, and just happened to pull a massive suck-out.

This is a distinction that a lot, and I mean A LOT, of players of all levels can't make. In this hand I was never in big trouble. I was actually leading, or had plenty of odds to continue on in the hand. From a results oriented perspective, I did happen to be royally screwed, but you can't do proper analysis from a results oriented stand point.

You have to take the information that you currently have and make the best decision possible based on that information. That's what poker is all about.

Excellent stuff IMO. I have been very much in a "results oriented perspective", and I see the point of the article. Yeah, the stupid suckouts when someone flips over a total bluff with rags that hit a double gutshot board, that will always hurt. But these hands, where your mind is spinning because he DID have the KK there for set-over-set... that's the kind of hand where I need to stop whining because it's just poker - GOOD poker - and BAD luck for someone in the hand of course. :) C'est la vie, move on...

I Was Wrong

Full Tilt doesn't suck... poker sucks. LOL

Went over to PS for a quick "before bed" $12 turbo-180.

First hand, fold.

Second hand, bullets on the button. One preflop raise to 300, folds to me, I shove all 1500 and he calls with tens. Ten on the turn, see ya.

That's what I get for playing a stupid-ass turbo.

Full Tilt Madness

Played a few tourneys on FT tonight. Took three suckouts in one event and went from leaderboard to middle of pack to felted in quick sequence. The last two were on the river, the worst kind. Nice. Then in the Midnight Madness, one dude gave me three beats in quick succession to knock me out. Granted, I was steamin' a bit and was def gunnin' for him after the first one, which caused a big loss on the second. But I still was ahead preflop in both. The third was pure PS, he played KQ after I shoved with a third player in the pot. I hit 2p with my A9 on the turn, and all was well until he caught a 10 on the river for Broadway. Three suckout beats by this a$$wipe to soulcrush me.

I hate Full Tilt. I used to like it, but Poker Stars is way better despite the lack of a graphical hand history and full tourney leaderboards. The play is better over there, and the fields are waaaaaaaay larger. My bankroll's almost kaput at FT and I don't think I'll reload - will just play my thousands of Full Tilt Points in freerolls and shit... 'F' FT!

Mega-Tournament

Played in a PS tourney yesterday that had 23,826 entries. Paid something like 3500 spots... LOL That is so mind-boggling. I got sucked out on somewhere in the middle, but wasn't really going anywhere fast, just pedaling my starting stack and grinding away. It was only a $10+1 but that still meant it had a $238K prize pool!

Argh... But... 4-For-5

PS 50K, 1368 entries

Went out 129th for $95.76 and a $40.26 profit. The way I went out was horrible, as usual... but it was the fact that I was in the money at all that was the blessing. And the fact that I'm 4-for-5 in recent cashes in the event is pretty pleasing too. I played the short stack game for quite some time near the bubble once again, I seem to be pretty nimble and able to survive this predicament quite a bit...

The predicament was set up by a woeful hand with about 100 spots to go before the bubble. I had a healthy 20K+ stack, had been in the top 100 the whole tourney, and picked up AT in the BB. Flop came A44 and I ended up calling an all-in river bet which really wasn't that large because of the way the hand played out. He flipped a mighty AA top boat. Ugh. Horribly played by me, ugly. He was on the button so I read him for making a blind steal play or something. Doh. I re-raised his flop bet. Double Doh! I thought I was trapping HIM with my ace, and I was also trying to represent the BB having a random 4, but I don't think it had much chance of working, eh? LOL He flatted my raise, checked the turn, and sucked me right into the trap. Well played sir.:) Crap, now I gotta survive this.

So the bubble was 199th and we were at 200 left and I've been grinding with an M of around 2-3 for many minutes and orbits ever since the misplay there... refusing to shove with junk hands despite conventional wisdom. We're one off the bubble, and a problem appears - I pick up 99 on the button and the UTG seat makes a standard PF raise which the whole table folds around to me. OF COURSE I'M SUPPOSED TO SHOVE THIS HERE IF I WANNA WIN! But we're on the bubble, and I just don't want to chance it and turn a 30 buck profit into a 55 loss so I lay it down after a bit of thought. The bubble breaks next hand. Now I just have to survive somehow! The blinds are 500/1000 with a 100 ante and my 5000 chips just ain't gonna make it much longer but I still refuse to shove even with K3-type hands. The BB comes around to me, and I pick up a miraculous (thank you!!!) AK suited in hearts. Before I can even play it there are two players with more in the pot than I have... instacall, with extreme glee! Two hearts on the flop and a heart on the turn and I'm back in business, going from 4400 chips to 17K+ (I still can't quite figure that out, guess the blinds+antes were huge).

I must interject here and point out once again - I DID NOT SHOVE with junk hands just because my M was microscopic! I wait, and I wait, and I wait. I'll take a shot with AJ or AToff and generally my ultra tight image ensures the whole table lays down to my infrequent shoves. In this event, anyway, this process seems to work. Players seem to be following along and understand that doubling me up recklessly is unwise. And do you see what my ultra patience keeps doing? Keeps me alive just long enough to catch a real hand. Don't ever give up and just donk with Q9off until it's absolutely the last possible move! Tonight, I really began to see the value of setting a good table image, tight but aggressive. Before I ran into the bullets, I was able to steal a lot of pots and get folds to my leadout bets in what I'm thinking is a questionable spot. Aggression is definitely good, but it must also be accompanied by a tight table image - when I showed, I showed big hands, and that leads to much easier steals. If I get a small-pot laydown with a huge hand, I'll show it to the table to reinforce my "only plays big hands" image. :)

So anyway, from that point on after the miracle flush, the usual rollercoaster ride ensued and I was actually back in the top fifty at 26K in short order. I was suddenly equally stacked with my table, and was able to switch gears right back into my tight-to-neutral aggressive game. Play hands, make raises. On the move, with a bullet! I'm back in this now, and more. Will this be my night, the miracle comeback? Not so fast there, knucklehead, this is holdem, remember? LOL I pick up KK, made a standard raise from early position and the table folds. Damn. Two hands later I'm the BB and I see two red aces! Again only one plays, and just for the min. - don't want to lose him here, keep him on the hook, so I just pop it a bit and he calls. The flop sure does scare me, high connected type cards with 2 spades, so instead of a shove I reduce it quite a bit to a little less than pot hoping he won't play on in the hand and if he does I can just throw em away. The problem here is, he's hit top pair, second kicker, and has the gutshot and backdoor flush suckout draws. Donkeys are notoriously stubborn in these spots... so naturally he shoves all-in. My brilliant strategy to reduce my flop bet and fold to an all-in? Out the window. I'm a stubborn donk too, I remind you. LOL Do or die baby, if he's got KT, T8 or a set that's the way it goes... just please don't let him be behind and catch up! Sure enough, he is behind. And sure enough, he catches up big time with one of the two remaining Q's in the deck on the turn to make his set. The boat on the river is meaningless. F^*%in' douche!



He actually had nine outs here, and I'd give him one more for the backdoor flush - ten total. Pretty standard end-game tournament reaming, whaddya gonna do. Did I play the hand horribly? Probably. But like I say, to even be ITM at this point was gravy after my near-donk earlier. Tomorrow's another try!

Hand Of The Month

What a classic. I thought for sure I was gonna see a set here, and decided to shove it in anyway on top of the two all-ins. LOL

This game does boggle the mind at times...

Poker Stars, $11 + $1 NL Hold'em Tournament, 500/1,000 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 18,150
BB: 13,888
UTG: 19,644
UTG+1: 9,165
MP: 7,530
Hero (CO): 15,808
BTN: 20,350

Pre-Flop: (2,200) Ac 9d dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG calls 1,000, 2 folds, Hero calls 1,000, BTN calls 1,000, SB calls 500, BB checks

Flop: (5,700) Ad 8d 9c (5 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets 3,000, Hero raises to 8,500, BTN raises to 19,250 and is All-In, 2 folds, UTG calls 15,544 and is All-In, Hero calls 6,208 and is All-In

Turn: (57,496) Qd (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (57,496) Ts (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 57,496 Pot
UTG showed Ah 9h (two pair, Aces and Nines) and WON 20,444 (+800 NET)
Hero showed Ac 9d (two pair, Aces and Nines) and WON 16,608 (+800 NET)
BTN showed As 9s (two pair, Aces and Nines) and WON 20,444 (+800 NET)

No 4-For-4

Went out in 830th (out of 1440) tonight in the PS50K.

Last hand I was way down, under 1000 and shoved from mid/late with QQ. Caller had AK and an A on the turn did me in. I knew my lack of being sucked out on couldn't last forever! But this was a pretty standard hand, he sure wasn't laying it down into my weak pop.

Three For Three

PS Nightly $50K Guaranteed, $13,280 first place

1530 entries, finished 62nd for $130.05 and a $75.05 profit. Close again, but still can't seem to get over that hump at the end. Caught a few more hands late this time, the best one being my all-in shove with 22, getting two callers who both have strong aces, and then seeing a 2 hit the flop, vaulting me to 27th spot at the time. :) I probably played way too tight during the end game (a product of how my game developed over the 3+ hours of play). I may have mistakenly laid down into some post-flop raises a time or two which can make all the difference - but I also would've been gone if wrong, which as I wrote about is now my overriding thought during critical hands. All in all I'm very happy to have hit the top 100 in three consecutive 50K's! One of these nights I'm gonna break thru and hit the big time.

I did have one very special hand during the tourney - read on. :)

pwning Shaun Deeb :P

No guts, no glory. :)

[To my critics: Yes, of course I realize winning a flip without felting the dude isn't really "pwning" him in the least... cut me some slack already and go find a sense of humor! LOL]

Very late in the second hour, still well short of the money. I haven't been above my 3000 chip starting stack since the opening hand [edit: not true, I did make a big score off a flopped str8 but two hands later I gave it all right back on a value bet gone awry], but I grind away for 2 hours and float at the 2000 chip level for the entire time - at this point my M has been below 5 for like 45 mins, but I continue to resist the urge to shove. The few times I do - with huge hands like bullets (no suckout, I'm just shoving!) - the table lays down to my ultra tight image and I manage to survive it. Finally... with 5 mins to go I catch QQ in the BB and shove my measly 1900 chips into a big stacked PF raiser and his weak suited ace miraculously doesn't suck out.

So at 4440 chips, I'm content to wait out the 5 mins til the break and take my chances in the third hour. This is the most chips I've had all night! Don't wanna lose em right back like I'm sometimes prone to do. But then... LOL With one minute to go, I pick up a nice-looking 99 sitting UTG+1, not really a great spot to play this... but my table's been tight, my image is ultra tight, and I'm pretty sure if I raise here after the big QQ showdown, the table will either fold or I'll get one caller at most. If I die here, so be it - sure wouldn't be the first time I've screwed up shoving with a middling PP. Nope, I've definitely got to make my move - can't sit on my hands any longer!! Time for that gear change... Instead of shoving tho - a huge mistake from UTG+1 with just 9's - I realize I've got the stack to just make a healthy 3xBB raise so I can still lay down if necessary (if, say, three people come over the top). But sure enough, Shaun Deeb pops it to 9x total, which drives everyone else out. I'm pretty much pot committed if I call, but there's no way I can chicken out here. Shaun Deeb is one of those internet whiz kids who plays a ton of MTT's - in his blog which I read while playing him (LOL), he talked about winning some online poker player of the year title or something in 2007 (I think it's actually a pretty big deal in the poker world). He's been two seats to my left for most of the 2 hours, which quite honestly has been part of my problem. :) I've laid down to his re-raises after raising PF a couple of times already... and sure enough, here he comes at me again. I'm patient here, and think for about 30 seconds, making sure of everything. Does he have TT+? Doubt it, but there's really only one way to find out for sure. I shove, he calls, and I was right, he didn't have a PP... but I do have to sweat the coin flip...

pwned. Ship it here hotshot. :P

[P.S. He was gone well before the money while I ended up making it rather easily with a nice rush of cards, vaulting up to 28K in chips by the time the bubble broke. While I'm grinding for two hours, I am definitely thinking that I'm gonna catch a rush to even things out... which explains my reasoning for not shoving with questionable hands during my lengthy stay in the red zone... a lesson for all of us for sure.]

------

Poker Stars, $50 + $5 NL Hold'em Tournament, 150/300 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

moneyinbag (CO): 4,472
andy914 (BTN): 11,649
CityBoy383 (SB): 5,965
rick the reb (BB): 19,844
shawnb85 (UTG): 14,613
asb3pe (UTG+1): 4,440
koko1909 (MP1): 21,271
shaundeeb (MP2): 12,320

Pre-Flop: (650) 9s 9h dealt to asb3pe (UTG+1)
shawnb85 folds, asb3pe raises to 950, koko1909 folds, shaundeeb raises to 2,700, 4 folds, asb3pe raises to 4,415 and is All-In, shaundeeb calls 1,715

Flop: (9,480) 8c 6d Qd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (9,480) 6s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (9,480) 7d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 9,480 Pot
asb3pe showed 9s 9h (two pair, Nines and Sixes) and WON 9,480 (+5,040 NET)

shaundeeb showed As Kc (a pair of Sixes) and LOST (-4,440 NET)

How A Pro Thinks

...a little Main Event tidbit from Eric "Rizen" Lynch's blog...

I picked up a few pots between all this and was sitting about 17.5k when a new player to the table opens in middle position to 1500. I have A-Q directly to his left. I'm presented with somewhat of the same problem before, but there's 15 mins left in the level now. He came to the table with lots of ante chips so I figured he was fairly active and I smooth called because I wanted to gamble a little to build my stack before the blinds went up. Flop was A-J-8 with two clubs. he checks to me so I bet 2500 and he thinks for a while then calls. turn is an off suit 5 and he checks to me again so I make it 4k with 10k behind and he thinks for about 2 minutes then calls. River is a 5 and he leads into me for 5k. I really don't think a 5 is in his range unless it's A-5s and my best guess is he has A-T or A-9 and just got counterfeited and is making a blocking bet into me to not have to call an all in on the river to a probable chop. He could also have a busted spade draw or T-9. I have 9725 left so I just stick it in because I think he's got a worse hand most of the time, but he had A-J and I'm out.

I think both the thoughts I've highlighted are good to note, especially the first one - a pro is very observant of everything going on around him. The second is a concept I've rarely thought of... the blocking bet. Unfortunately for Rizen, this time it wasn't. :) Perhaps he over-thought the hand? Still, that's pretty advanced thinking in the heat of battle if you ask me - but a very logical reasoning process.

Getting The Hang Of Poker Stars

Finished in the top 100 in both the Daily Fifty Grand and the Nightly Fifty Grand on PS yesterday. Minor cashes, but cashes nonetheless making me quite happy despite once again getting close without lighting up the cigar...

In the daily, I finished 39th out of 894 entries for $134 and a $79 profit... and in the nightly, I came in 63rd out of 1368 entries for $116 and a $61 profit. Nothing I can make a living off of, but still nice to make two cashes in one day - definitely the first time I've ever done that. I don't usually get the chance to play in two huge MTT's - was out of work sick, but not so sick that I couldn't play!

I think I played good solid disciplined-but-aggressive poker in each and was successful at it. I only took one really bad beat the whole seven hours of play! I think I might be learning where and when these awful beats might occur - and who they might come from - and have good instincts to get away in those spots even if it might mean losing a chance at a big pot by laying down. I'm also becoming a bit more adept at playing "schizophrenic poker" - flip a switch and change gears into a different playing style instantly. Sometimes it depends on the opponent, but generally it depends on the stage of the tournament. There are really five phases in a MTT... early play with low blinds and equal stacks, middle play with stack size starting to diverge and play becoming chaotic, bubble play with its unique combo of tight tight play and LAG big stacks stealing the sizeable blinds/antes, early ITM play with short stacks loosening up again, and late ITM play with huge stacks, huge pots and huge decisions every hand. Each phase has its own way to be played, and I'm pretty comfortable with my approaches to the first four now... hopefully I can continue to gain experience at late-game play and figure that final phase out.

Still, I suppose I'm not factoring luck/variance as the largest reason for my difficulty getting to final tables (assuming that I play well enough to give myself a reasonable shot of course). After following the WSOP Main Event the last week, and seeing how many people over the last 2 or 3 days went out on either a bad beat or a slight advantage that didn't work out, it's pretty clear to me that the nine guys left are not the most skilled but were simply the most lucky over the short run. One of these nights I will go back thru the Poker News archives and select some of the most amazing hands that played out in the ME... some of them were just gut-wrenching. If you followed it like I did, you'd see that the crazy stuff we all experience is NOT "online poker" - it happens just as often live even in large buy-in events. Either that, or the ME is playing out just like a "donkament" on FT or PS... which probably isn't all that far from the truth given how many qualify online for it nowadays.

Another Brutal Ending

As usual, I open myself up to severe criticism for limping.

To me, it's a no win situation - if I PF raise, the suited junk folds and I make squat off a hand I should be making major chippage from... and if I limp, I always run the risk of this happening.

I'll continue to take the risk, because this was just more bullshit.

I had him right where I wanted him, the m'f'er! Two goddamn outs.

Out in 759th place out of 1827 entries. Ended the first hour down 1/3 of my stack after basically drawing a blank the whole time. Second hour, jumped right out, won a big pot and immediately changed gears to LAG, quickly climbing to 10K and 100th place in the tourney. Overplayed a few hands however, and just as quickly I had lost more than half my stack... until:

Poker Stars, $50 + $5 NL Hold'em Tournament, 125/250 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+1: 5,145
UTG+2: 6,680
MP1: 3,195
MP2: 5,813
CO: 19,265
BTN: 2,175
Alizona (SB): 4,336
BB: 7,415
UTG: 8,720

Pre-Flop: (600) Ah Ad dealt to Alizona (SB)
UTG calls 250, 6 folds, Alizona calls 125, BB checks

Flop: (975) 6h 6c 9d (3 Players)
Alizona bets 750, BB folds, UTG raises to 7,000, Alizona calls 3,311 and is All-In

Turn: (9,097) 6h 6c 9d [ 9s ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (9,097) 6h 6c 9d 9s [ 2s ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 9,097 Pot
Alizona showed Ah Ad (two pair, Aces and Nines) and LOST (-4,336 NET)
UTG showed 9c 8c (a full house, Nines full of Sixes) and WON 9,097 (+4,761 NET)

PS $50+5 $100K Guaranteed

1854 entries, 288 pays, $16K first place

Finally made a decent cash on Poker Stars, 203rd place for $110 and a $55 profit. Tourny was pretty weak, early on, I played very tight and only played my biggest hands. All my big wins were on LOL hands where I'd call a big river bet and they'd show down crap hands or air on outright stupid bluffs. My last hand was a bit of a mistake, but... With an M of 4.5 I called a PF raise which is generally not a good idea losing any first-in vigorish but I had seen nothing but rags for quite some time and had fallen from 20K to around 9K so my AQ spades just looked too good. It eventually became a 3-handed flop meaning I could triple up here to 30K and be right in the thick of it... Unfortunately, the two other guys showed cowboys & bullets. Ugh. The flop brought a K so the bullets were in big trouble... and then turn brought a second spade giving me a glimmer of life if I could just squeeze out a spade and suck out on the two biggest hands in holdem at once... LOL It was not to be tho as a blank hit the river and I was out.

FT $5+0.50 HORSE Limit

105 entries, 12 pays, $165.38 first place

Came in 9th for $11.55 and a $6.05 profit. LOL Hey, it's my first cash ever at a mixed event - finally some good news!!

I have no idea what I'm doing at the two stud games, and I always go out during razz... but I like HORSE - enjoy the variety.

Groundhog Day Part XXVII

Poker - the gift that just keeps on giving...



[Does Groundhog Day ever end? Just wondering...]

FTP $10+1 45 Player SNG Final Table

Another night. Another Groundhog Day. The fun never stops!

Out on the bubble in 7th without making a single mistake all tournament. Skill matters little in NLHE donkaments. Am I really supposed to play smallball and laydown my set of ladies here into any kind of post-flop action? Read the post right after this one. SSDD. I'm only worried about two hands here - KK or AT. Why do they always have it? Frickin' stupid-ass game!!

The douche took his big chip lead and went out 4th. Serves him right!

Eeyore

Eeyore, the old grey Donkey, stood by the side of the stream, and looked at himself in the water.

"Pathetic," he said. "That's what it is. Pathetic."

He turned and walked slowly down the stream for twenty yards, splashed across it, and walked slowly back on the other side. Then he looked at himself in the water again.

"As I thought," he said. "No better from this side. But nobody minds. Nobody cares. Pathetic, that's what it is."

Yes - of course my instantaneous thought after seeing the flop was KJ.

No - I do NOT have the self control to be successful at NL holdem. If a player cannot lay down a "big" hand that doesn't fit in at all with the texture of the flop, that is as sure a sign as any they are NOT ready for higher-level poker and are just another Eeyore, slogging thru the donkey dung every night...

But - if I fold every hand like this one, just because... he might have the exact two cards I fear he has... then what kind of poker player would I be? Am I even a poker player at all in that case? Folding every time I don't have the lock nuts in fear they might have me beat?

The reason I shove the turn is because I know I'm gonna get played back at. He's called my preflop 2.67xBB raise, he's called my 1/2 pot flop bet, and based on our history at this table I know he's going to make a play back on the turn if I don't indicate complete and utter strength.

We'd already played a few big heads-up hands at this table. The first round went to me as I trapped him good for a big pot. Then he makes an all-in bluff with AQ on a board of KT4 when I had AT. I thought a long time and made the call, figuring it was 50/50 between a total bluff and AK (he had called my 3xBB preflop). I LOL'ed when the cards flip over... and then... the turn is a goddamn Q. My jaw hit the floor and I kicked myself for LOL'ing two seconds ago. I make a great call, and THAT'S what happens? That's my reward? Well, the river is a J to gave us both a split with Broadway. What a stupid fucking game!!

I have no idea what place I went out in. It was near the money, but I really don't give a shit at this point. I am Eeyore, my vacation is the stream, and it all basically looks the same shade of drab grey to me no matter which side of it I'm on... sigh.

I'm BACK! :)

Got home, unpacked, and jumped into one of those $6.50 FT tourneys where one-quarter of the field wins a $26 tournament token, played about 3 hands during the hour and got a token. Early on I hit a nice inside str8 with on the turn, shoved, and got called by a flopped 2p for a nice double up... then basically caught nothing and folded every single hand until I was down to my last 800 chips and caught QQ in the BB to double up and get to 2000 or so... and a few hands later I shoved all-in over a preflop raise with my AJoff, got called by a larger stack holding a small PP and caught an A right in the door to take down the pot. Since we were down to the last 2 or 3 bubble spots at that point, I cruised home. My shove was probably debatable there, but I'm not afraid to play near the end when everyone else is just trying to fold their way to a token. When I try to do that, I inevitably underestimate how many hands it takes to get rid of those last few short stacks and end up folding my way to an agonizing bubble.

Later, I played a $2+0.25 PS tourney with about 700 entrants. Didn't play hardly a hand for the first half hour, lost 1/3 of my stack on the one hand I did play, and finally picked up KK and got it all in preflop against 2 players. One has 99, the other has KQoff. Pretty good deal for me, right? Wrong. Flop is Jx10 and the river is an A, and I'm gone. I had made the initial raise preflop to 3.5x BB, then the 9's popped it all-in to 375 and the KQ dude called. I made the obvious re-pop all-in so the KQ calling station would lay down. The stupid donkey didn't even blink before he clicked the call button. I guess he had the stack, but... Jesus Christ. Glad to see nothing has changed during my time away. LOL

P.S. Speaking of sick river coolers, how about this one from Day 1D of the WSOP Main Event... Such a sick game - guy holds AA and the flop comes AxQ(dia) so he hits top set right off. He bets big and gets a call. Turn is 10(dia), another big bet, another call. River is the A(dia) and the dude with quad aces gets all his chips in the middle *AND* gets another call! Flip em over, and the other guy's KJ dia royal flush crushes the quad aces. Now THAT is SICK! They say the table was just flabbergasted and it was all caught on ESPN's cameras because there was a big pro at the table. A quad/royal cooler river is just insane. Can't wait to hear Norman Chad's comments on this one!!!!!!!

That's It, I'm DONE!

I've had enough of this friggin' game. Luckily for me, I leave on an 11-day vacation Friday. I won't play poker until I get back. I am DONE!

Figured I'd start slow tonight, an easy little $2+0.25 9-player SNG.

Hand 3, KK and double up off some doofus when the flop is 229 and he calls me all the way to the all-in river with 9-10.

Hand 14 I run into AA after flopping a pair of K's.

Hand 19 with AQoff on a board of 982 rainbow I make a play for the pot and get one all-in shove for 325 more chips, pot committed so I call... turn and river BOTH go AA for my set... except he had 9's so I lose to the boat.

Hand 20, KK again! Flop comes A9K with 4 in the hand so I know I've got a jackpot. But with 2 clubs on the board once someone bets (for the min no less) I stick it all-in for my last 990. Instacall from him with A8, no clubs, and my cowboys hold for the double-up.

Hand 30, now I pick up bullets on the button. Folds around to me so I just call the BB of 60 chips. SB folds. Flop comes 222 so I'm afraid the blind might have a 2. He checks, I lead out for 150 and he calls. Turn is a 3, he checks and I check right behind, hoping he'll hit one of his two. I later find out he DID hit it, right here with the 3. LOL Turn's a blank, he bets pot and I re-raise half his stack figuring he'll pop it the rest. He just calls with the lower boat and I'm now chip leader.

Hand 39, bullets AGAIN! My god, if I don't win this tourney with all these cards flying my way... I'm in the SB and it folds around so once again I do not raise. Flop comes 10K9 which is kinda scary looking with 2 diamonds, so I overbet the pot and he folds.

Hand 42, AQ spades in the BB. See the flop for the min versus just the SB, and it comes 3Q10 rainbow. He checks, I bet 160 pot and he calls. Turn is the A so I've hit 2p but now there's a diamond draw on the board. He checks, and instead of betting I go for the trap. Critical mistake, donkey mistake, loser mistake! Turn is the 3rd diamond, he bets 2/3 pot and I bump it up to 1200. Of course he's got the flush and of course he repops all-in which I now have to call. I am such a freakin' idiot.

Hand 44, my final straw. A5off on the button. One min raise from the cutoff, and all four of us see the flop. 247 rainbow, checks all around. I'm looking for my 3, and BOOM - there it is on the turn! Cutoff bets 3/4 pot and I take a little time and then shove. He call, flips over 44 for the flopped set. I've got him, trapped him he's in bad shape but still has outs if the board pairs...

The river not only pairs the board, it's the case 4 for his quads.

Do I need to type anything more?

See you in 2 weeks. Maybe by then I'll have calmed down.

A Faulty Analysis

Monday night's Fifty-Fifty on FTP, been grinding my way to nowhere. With 200 players left, 50 spots from the bubble, I'm down to 2135 chips and pick up AQ after having to lay out 300 as the BB. Whew! Last three board cards are Q-A-Q. Bingo. Four hands later and I get to see a flop with AJ clubs for 700 chips with 3500 in the middle. Two clubs on the flop and an all-in just to my right, instacall - I'm going for broke, pot odds be damned! He's got QQ but I have outs... turn is a jack, doesn't really help me since I have the club jack... and the river is an A, which also doesn't hit my flush because I have the A clubs... darn it. Wait a minute - all I needed was an A to beat him! My 2p easily beats his ladies, but I was so intent on the flush suckout I never even saw it until the chips - 10,000+ - were coming my way. What a knucklehead. hahaha

Three hands later, I see A4 clubs. I just call the 300 chip BB, SB folds and two go to the flop - 574, two clubs! I caught a piece of a rotten flop, plus I have the 9 outs. He's first to act and leads out for 600 into the 1125 pot. Hmmm. What to do here... I had also looked the dude up earlier in OPR and saw he was no novice. All of this quickly led to my decision to raise to 5000, enough to put him all-in. I figured this was a person who would lay down in the spot, not throw all his chips away unless he had hit a monster like 2p or a set or str8. Certainly he can't put his tournament on the line with anything less...

I was wrong. He called me incredibly quick, showing 78 off. 78 OFF! Wow. That was NOT what I expected to see... My first reaction was, he's basically donking off here with top pair and a weak kicker/gutshot! Needless to say, I didn't catch any of my 14 outs and just as quick as I had climbed the mountain, I had fallen off it, likely needing help to make the money... and I fell just short.

I made a faulty analysis of the player, and played the hand terribly, costing me half my stack. I didn't raise preflop, first of all, so he knows I don't have a PP/set post-flop. Thus, he easily figures his top pair is good and makes a great call. A smaller raise in that spot at least allows me to get away a lot cheaper on the hand when the flush doesn't hit. I was mesmerized by this silly stupid flush thing, same with the KQ-suited knockouts for me lately. Hopefully I can plug this gaping hole in my game so I can move on to the next one... :)

How Fitting

I went out the same exact way tonight in the Fifty-Fifty as I did last night in Midnight Madness, KQ suited versus AJ off. LOL Only difference this time was I went out in 173rd, 20 spots out of the money instead of well into it. :( Got blinded down and just couldn't find any spots to play late. Once again I hit a dry spell of over 100 hands in a row without a PP and couldn't overcome it. I never saw one after the first half-hour, and near the end of hour two I figured the suited KQ was my best shot to advance even if I might have been able to fold and squeak past the bubble. I don't play that way, and it just wasn't to be tonight.

Poker sure is a weird game, going out on the same exact hand (same suit even, clubs!) two nights in a row. Sigh.

Oh, and about three hands before this one, the guy that called me got into a huge all-in battle with his KK against a similar sized chip stack's AA. Flop was blanks, then the turn and river BOTH go KK for quads!! Un-fucking-believable game this is...

Midnight Madness

Close but no cigar, finished 17th out of 1472 entries in Sunday Night's $10+1 Midnight Madness on FT for a big $93 payout ($82 profit).

While it was definitely nice to have a tournament where I didn't get sucked out on with my big hands, it's also frustrating to get so close to the big-money final table. 9th place paid $219 while first place was for a whopping $2820.

On my final hand the blinds were pretty huge at 2500/5000 and a 600 ante, and I came over the top of a raise from the chip leader for my last 33K with KQ clubs but he called me with AJ offsuit and it held up as four low cards hit the board and then a final J on the river. I knew he'd call it, I just was hoping he wasn't blind-stealing with an A. Sigh. [Still not sure if I made a good move here or not. Sklansky's Holdem Poker For Advanced Players says yes, I did - KQs is a Group 2 hand, one of the top 10 hands in holdem. AJo is a low Group 4 hand, not even in the top 20. But twodimes says I was behind as you'd expect, a 55-45 dog.]

I played well tho, and the cards held up for me when they were supposed to. That's really all I can ask. I only wish it happened more often! I felt like I played a really good brand of poker in this one, but nothing out of the ordinary either. I think I play a decent game every time out, and I truly believe I could repeat this performance time and again if the cards would just cooperate! As Phil Hellmuth said, "If luck wasn't a factor, I'd win every time!" hahaha

One of these days I WILL hit the big score and walk away with first place money.

...And My Fun Sunday

This is really getting absurd. I cannot believe this shit keeps happening to me.

Luckily, I have an 10-day break from poker coming up with my July 4 vacation to New England. I need it. I'm burned out again from the utter ridiculousness of this game...

PS $11+1 turbo 180 player:



I had TWO PEOPLE DOUBLY DOMINATED and they're double-crossing themselves with the jacks, and I STILL lose. This hand really takes the cake if you ask me. Absurd, but oh-so-typical of what happens to me day-in and day-out...

FT $24+2 MTT $16K Guarantee ($27K actual prize pool):



For some reason the villain's cards never show, but he had AQ hearts. I didn't believe him and paid the big price. Yes, a seemingly reckless shove with the cowboys since the flush, a set or 2p beats me here - but I was at the point in the tournament where it was "double-up or go home". I'm in it to win it, not pussy out! I cannot believe how many 3-flushes I saw flop in this tourney and then at showdown someone flips over the flopped flush. I even hit one myself at one point and doubled thru... I thought "Now way he flopped it - how many times can it happen? He's drawing to it and I can push him off." I was wrong, but the odds were most definitely in my favor: The odds of flopping a flush are one time every 118 times you hold two suited cards. Yeah, great. Glad the numbers were so far in my favor. Once you know the math this game is easy!

FT $24+2 MTT $16K Guarantee ($27K actual prize pool):



Here's a change-of-pace... a wonderfully delicious beat I put on some doofus in the 16K. Dude goes off on me after, ends up calling me a DONK and telling me SHUT UP! hahahaha What a moron. It said he was from France... Figures.

Let's look:
(a) I'm in the blinds, not playing "any 2" goofball poker. I like suited one-gappers in this spot, just for this reason!
(b) I flop the open-ended flush draw, classic 15-out'er. Just about the best draw you can ever have in holdem.
(c) He's calling ME a donk for not laying down into his massive 2nd pair? hahaha OMG I couldn't stop laughing!

Poker IS funny sometimes. :) I had a lot of fun with the idiot riling him up a bit, but finally he quieted down without further incident. In retrospect, of course, I wish I had shoved all in on that river, because the REAL donkey in the hand probably would've called it. Who knew? But lesson learned, sometimes with the hidden nuts it's better to shove and get a fold than value bet and actually lose some MAJOR value. He had such a chip stack that my all-in would've still looked like a puny steal attempt to this fool. I win the hand with carefully thought out play, and then I throw away a huge chunk of change with a mistaken judgement call. Poker is so freakin' difficult...

My Fun Saturday Night...

How I went out midway thru the Fifty-Fifty:



How I went out third in the $10+1 45 player SNG:



That just CANNOT happen at the FINAL TABLE! God damn it...

The Fifty Fifty

"To live, you have to be willing to die" -Amir Vahidi

"To live, I just have to wait for that PP" -Alizona

Another overlay in the 50-50 tonight with only 892 entries, so I gave it a shot with my ring game profit. :) Went out in 226th spot, 73 places out of the money. Here's the real kicker - I played a total of 144 hands without ever being dealt a PP. I did catch a suited Big Slick one time and won a pot with it. Woohoo. Other than that I fell into a tight, conservative game based on my poor starting cards and stack size. The few plays I tried to make with A10s-type hands or suited one-gapper connectors never panned out and I was always below the chip average. As the hour wore down, so did my stack with the increasing blinds.

Late in the hour, I did decide to lay down - regretfully, now - both KcJc and QdJd hands into 3xBB raises. And early on, when I COULD and SHOULD have built my stack, I laid down A8clubs from early position with a UTG raise already in the hand only to see the flop come three clubs. Sigh. Obviously the humongous hole in my game right now is not being able to play back against people who preflop raise. I cannot, will not, do it with rags, never mind with halfway decent holdings like those. I don't know how to do it, and the few times I do try I probably do it wrong because I end up losing my shirt, which then makes me even more fearful to try next time... Fear is the killer.

As the hands wore on... 80, then 90, then 120... I just KNEW I would get get a PP (once every seventeen hands!) and that would be my optimal spot to make the move. If I lost with it, oh well... but there weren't any antes yet, the blinds weren't THAT bad and I wasn't gonna play until I got it.

I never got it.

I'll never get it.

At hand #144, 5 mins into the second hour, I finally got AQo at UTG+1 with 1000 chips left. Best hand I'd seen in 45 mins. Antes had just started, my M was microscopic, and with the big raiser to my right already having folded, it was an easy shove even from such early position. What - do you really think I was gonna get a PP in the next hand or two? LOL

Well of course the whole table knows the deal. I've folded the last 27 hands in a row! They ain't dumb - table folds around to the BB with a big stack, and even he thinks about it for a while. Finally calls, showing 5-10 suited in clubs. I cringed, as I'll explain shortly. Flush possible, straight possible ('Huh?', you say? Read on!).

Flop is 79J rainbow, so now you know where we're going... I once read a little tidbit in the sidebar of some poker book, something that I've never forgotten - it said, "You can't make a straight without a 5 or a 10 in the hand somewhere". To this day, every time I get a 5-10 suited hand, I'm tempted to play it (but never do unless it's a freebie) just because of this voice in my mind repeating that mantra over and over. Weird, I know. But I had to throw that in here because, for me anyway, it adds this really bizarre element to the hand. Now you know why I cringed at showdown. If only I could see my great hands before they happen as easily as I can see the bad ones...

We didn't have to wait long for the kick-to-the-head 8 as it popped right up on the turn as every vein in my skull exploded. Just kidding. Sorta. hehe Still had a shot to trump him on the river, but the pace of play is so quick online that I couldn't really identify which card I needed. When I saw a Q hit the board, my heart leaped because I guess I thought I might have made the higher straight or something - sounds dumb in retrospect, but it was just my mind's ridiculously valiant but absolutely delusional attempt to win the hand. It's as if as soon as I saw 5-10 I willed the bad beat into reality. Without any time for the shock to recede, the table immediately broke and I was left staring at the empty seats and feeling pretty empty myself. I had nothing. And I did nothing - all game. Except wait. And fold. Wait. Fold.

I brought up the tournament in Popopop's Universal Replayer to recheck every hand. I'm sure 144 hands without a PP is not really all that anomalous, to be honest. I'm sure it happens here and there. What the fuck can ya do, poker sucks sometimes. The good news is, I did somehow have 15 hands "in the green" (meaning I won chips) without every having a real hand. And I only had 7 "in the red". For the hand selections I had to play, I have to give myself a pat on the back because you know I had to be making a few moves on the pot to have a 2-1 win ratio. :)

What is BAD, however, about these stats is that I was basically in only 22 hands out of 144, or 15%. Talk about a weak tight player. Just abysmal. But hey... 85o, 39o, J2o, Q7o, 23s... how can you hope to get momentum and a stack rolling with that kinda crap? Yeah, it's an excuse, I know... I just checked and I had 19 hands with Ax (the odds of having at least one A is about 15% so 144*0.15 is 21 hands normally, well within reason). I laid down almost every one of em because I didn't want to weak-call or pop it and then face a (re-)raise and have to meekly fold my "weak" ace. But hell - aren't weak players supposed to be playing weak aces? Doh!

I'm reading a book right now, Killer Poker by John Vorhaus, and right off the bat it says to go sit at a table and raise five hands in a row preflop, and study the table's reaction to the constant raising. Interesting proposition, something I certainly need to go do. I hope the rest of the book is just as good for my game!

A Change Of Pace

Got a bit bored and frustrated with tournament play, so I hopped on the 2/4 cash tables tonight at FT and made 15 BB's in under and hour! My history in ring games is abysmal, it's where I've taken the brunt of my online losses. But tonight it felt different. I felt in charge at the table, where nobody could push me around or push me off hands. The reason is quite simple - limit poker is all about the math, the hand odds versus the pot odds. Take full advantage when you've got the best of it and back down when you don't. Don't get fancy and make all sorts of plays - a bluff on the river here or there, sure - that contributed to my profit, firing the third bullet. :) I think I've learned now how to put people on a valid range of hands, which helps me decide when I've got the best and when I don't, and when I can make a play on a scare card. I also have a good feel now for the proper selection of starting hands by position and by table style of play. No more playing KJ from any situation like I used to do just because "it's my favorite hand." hahaha When you can look back and laugh at yourself, you know you're improving - I hope anyway! Having an excel spreadsheet by my side does really help - in a casino, I'm a worse player because I haven't memorized the outs-versus-odds table. Once you've got the reads and the math down tho, limit holdem should be a reasonably profitable game. You've simply gotta select the correct (loose) games, and then play TAG poker (tight-aggressive). I can often draw to str8s and flushes in limit with positive expectations in the long run because they are "+EV" plays at loose tables with 4-5 players active in the hand - if you play enough big 8-1 pots on 4-1 draws, you're gonna be a winner IF you play correctly and make correct decisions. Big if, by the way. hehe But that's the goal - make correct decisions at the table consistantly, variance be damned - by definition in the long run, variance goes away with your suckouts equalling your bad beats. By the way... I've read that in a statistical sense, the "long run" is a REALLY long time - something on the order of 100 million hands. I'm certainly not going to win 15 BB's every hour I play - far from it. Heck, if I can just clear break-even (don't forget the rake factor at ring games) and increase my bankroll enough to take some $25 or $50 shots at MTT's for free, that's more than enough success. That's still my goal, to hit a big score in a big tourny. I sure don't want to turn into a cash game grinder.

I've been thinking about this for a while now, realizing I do need to spend more time in ring games to improve my tournament play. We'll see how long this phase lasts... probably until it stops being fun and profitable, not necessarily in that order. :)

$130+10 Live NLHE Tourny @ Casino AZ

*sigh*

45 mins in, I'm down 1500 chips from my starting 3500, and oddly enough I've only got two yellow 1000 chips in front of me. I throw one out to cover the 100-chip SB thinking "That looks strong". :) Two limpers and it comes to me. I look at AKoff, think for a few secs, and throw the second yellow chip out with an emphatic "All In". The BB folds, first limper also lays down and the second (with about 7-8K in front of him) throws two yellows out like it's nothing and flips... KQoff!

The first thing I said out loud was "Oh great, I'm done". LOL I was just hoping to grab the 700 on the table... Big Slick might be a good hand, yeah, but it's still just high card and anything can (and usually does) happen. So here I am in what looks like a dominating position, but I'm not feeling good about it. At all.

What I didn't know at the time - but obviously sensed - is that I was only a 3-1 fave. I still can't calculate hand odds in my head, so I guess my "feeling" was my experience telling me I've lost many a hand in this spot. The fact of the matter is, with FIVE cards to come NO hand is safe, whether you've got em dominated like I did, or crushed with pair-over-pair. It's a total crapshoot. Here's a perfect example - wouldn't you say he basically has 3 outs? Ok, sure, he's also got a possible low-end str8 (but not the high end) and two backdoor 4-flushes, but how many extra outs does that give him? Adding a full extra out may be overly generous but let's give him 4 outs total. Don't forget - I've got the very same 4 "outs" as well, because an A hits the board and he's cooked, plus my own high-end str8 possible and two backdoor 4-flushes of my own. And yet, despite it all, the hand calculator tells us he's going to win this hand once out of every FOUR tries!!

So anyway... the gory details. No, he doesn't take the "easy" way out and catch a Q. He takes the "I'm gonna take this deck and shove it right up your..." way out. Flop is 3 low cards, 2 diamonds. Turn is another low card. Another diamond. River is a low card again... and a diamond again. His K is a diamond, my A isn't. "Bad luck man", somebody says. "Ah, I shouldn't have shoved with em" is all I can muster in my shock, as I try to remain casual and even flippant about it. "Good luck" and a wave, and I'm gone. Damn it!! After the 2-diamond flop, he dropped to 17% (5-1 dog), and even after the turn diamond he's still a 3-1 dog.

The world is filled with poker idiots, and I can't seem to find a way to take advantage of 'em - that's the true source of my frustration. Yeah, shoving in my spot could be questioned - maybe if I play it 3xBB normal and make a continuation bet on the flop he lays down. But a stop-and-go was not really feasible here with a total of four people in the hand including the BB still to act... and besides, with all of them having me outchipped that kinda "finesse" stuff carries a lot less weight than just shoving strongly preflop in my opinion. Any way you cut it, adding 700 to my 2000 stack was absolutely essential... doubling up even more so... and I'm definitely going all the way with the hand no matter what flops (the stop-and-go), so throwing the two yellow out there was a no-brainer... as was his call - in the donkey sense anyway. :)

My M was 2000/(200+100)=6.7, not quite below 5 and in the red zone yet but it was headed there within minutes at the next level change. Despite my table position, I was in a favorable blind-steal spot - not really worried about the BB, and the two limpers had both played a bunch of hands without showing anything out of the ordinary. Table talk told me they were frequent players, solid. I absolutely think I did everything right on the hand - my M6.7 said "shove", reasonably aggressive limpers said "weakness", and the fact I was shoving from the SB should have said I have a big hand! - except to the hillbilly ZZ Top-bearded idiot in the white tee shirt over there. "Oh its only two whole chips? I call!" LOL

Yeah, yeah, okay... if this guy's "doing the math" too, he knows I can shove and look strong with any two cards out of the small blind. He could very well be a coin flip, and if he's really lucky he might even be in the lead if I'm idiot-shoving with KJ. A loss sure wouldn't cripple him, which didn't help me - my fold equity was a big fat zero... so much for that. LOL I'm trying hard not to fault the dude because Lord knows I might have done the same thing in his spot... All I know is, I can't catch a fucking break in this turbo donkament! When I try to "play poker" and make plays on people, they're just too dense or too stubborn to get it. Even tho I'm playing like a total rock, I suddenly come into a hand strong and it doesn't mean a thing to them?

I'm sure there must be something here for me to learn from. The all-in shove, certainly, is where most will say I went wrong, even tho I justified it here to my satisfaction anyway. But the fact is, even *I* have begun to realize the all-in play is akin to dropping a worm in front of a hungry bass and wiggling it just a little bit... SNAP! The fish cannot resist the lure no matter how hard it tries! I've actually been consciously trying to get away from the "obvious" all-in shove because of this "fish bait" factor, and I think this will just add more fuel to that fire. If I'm short stacked, the all-in is always called by someone! But if I lead out with 480 of my remaining 640 chips, sometimes I'll get that laydown - because they interpret it as true strength, where the all-in signifies "I'm gonna steal this" and so they react to it accordingly.

Still... I made the right play. I got it all in with much the best. Can't ask for anything more than that, right?! But nights like this - all too frequent - make me wonder... is poker truly a game of "skill", or is it a game of "avoid the suckout"? Very frustrating, as I'm sure we all know... too well.

Poker Stars

Giving it a shot over at Poker Stars, adding them to my "repertoire". Still don't like their interface - no "last hand" popups, the annoyingly loud timer alert and bad sounds in general, the lack of a good tournament leaderboard and lobby - but can't argue with the field sizes... for instance there's a $10 MTT tomorrow with a 100 grand guarantee! For the math-challenged, that's a minimum of 10,000 entries in the event. :) I'm pretty astonished about the number of players, and will definitely be dabbling on PS as well now. But I think it's gonna be tough. So far, so bad.. gotta tighten up my game apparently - my FT smallball game isn't really working. I'm hitting hands, but losing to stronger ones almost every time I push with em. Like just now - I have KJ hearts, flop comes Jxx and after I call a small bet the guy to my left shoves, folds to me - I call it only to see AJ... of course. Doh!

I did finally win an event... 360 entries, $0.10+0 MTT, paid a whopping $8.40 for first. LOL Hey, nice ROI anyway, 8400%!

I do like a couple of things at PS - first, their prize structures are much less heavily weighted towards the top three spots. The money is spread more evenly over the final table. I also like that you can upload your own table background image. I'm using the Grand Canyon, with a golf ball for my avatar (of course)!



You get to see the Tournament Indicator in action if you click on the image.

BTW, since PS won't let me change my username nor open a second account, I'm stuck with what I used when I opened it a few years back - my initials 'asb3pe'. I'd rather have all my stats under one name, but... so be it.

Another Brutal Beat

This happened at my table tonight. Not to me, thank goodness!

I know I don't have to point this out to you sharp poker minds, but the 8's are still ahead after the turn, it's not set-over-set... but the river makes it boat-over-boat for the brutal, vicious beat - definitely deserving of a spot in my bad beat blaaaah-g Hall Of Shame!

Runnin' Bad

Ok, so I leave Bodog and after a bit of recovery period to calm down (see my previous blog entry below LOL), I head on over to Full Tilt. Immediately see a .COM WSOP Main Event Round 1 225-player qualifier and click in before it fills (which is, like, instantly)...

First hand of the tournament I see A8 spades, and I'm prepared to shove with it no problem! It's a freeroll - build a stack right off the bat and then you get to rock and roll. But the table's reasonable, comes to me after 3 calls of the BB, so I figure the way to build the pot here is not raise and take down a little tiny pot, but wait for the inevitable all-in or two or three (first hand syndrome) and call it. But the rest of the table folds - at least I have position on everyone now. Flop comes A23 with 2 hearts, and it checks around thru 4 players to me and I lay out a pot bet of 195 - one caller. Turn is a second A! giving me a set, but with a weak kicker... so I decide to lay out only 300 into the 585 pot, and get a smooth call. It's a combination of trying to portray the bluff and get a call and also a scared bet with the low board kicker problems, so when the river comes a 5, even tho the flush possible didn't hit, I check right behind their check. I figure I'm good here, right? Wrong. I got away from a HUGE beat when they flip over 44 for the straight suckout on the river. BIG WHEW! "How the heck am I still in this?" is all I can think...

Ok... very next hand. I pick up BULLETS! Since it's a freeroll, and since I'm trying to build a huge stack, I want all the callers I can get in the hand and thus just call the min. big blind. I know many will quibble with me, but this is how I play big pairs in tournaments like this - in a big money event? No question, I'd NEVER EVER slow play aces. But here, it's the right play for my style. Four go to the flop, and once again I have position on the table.

Flop comes a 9 10 J rainbow. NOT what I wanted to see... sigh. I actually type to the table during this hand, "two hands and done". hahahaha I KNEW I was beat already... Anyhow, checks around to me, and I only lead out with another pot bet of 120. Don't want to lose any fish playing second pair, ya know? Two callers. The turn is a 6 putting 2 hearts out, so now when it's checked to me I just go all-in for my last 825. I ain't losin' again!

Well... just as I had planned, sure enough, I get one called who holds... second-high pair! "Perfect", I think as the cards flip. But you know by now how this ends... K on the river hits his 2p and I'm gone in just two losing hands after turning a set of aces on the first hand and getting dealt bullets on the second.

That tattoo is looking better and better all the time. :)

Not Quite A "Sully Erna", But...

I'm thinking about a big tattoo for my back... "No Justice". :)

This just happened to me on Bodog in the 5K Guarantee. Ouch. I'm only out 11 bucks, life goes on, but fer chrissakes...

Don't look at the end. See if you can figure out what I'm up against after the flop, knowing that I get raped. Shouldn't be difficult... in hindsight. LOL

Tournament level 4. Blinds 30.00/60.00
11 minutes left to the next level

------------------------------
Starting hand #1260941598

------------------------------
NEW HAND
veracious posts the small blind 30.00
DA BEARS 420 posts the big blind 60.00

DEALING POCKETS
seizethecarpe folds
Alizona [Js,Jc] raises 190.00 to 250.00
urza621, it's your turn. You have 10 seconds to act
urza621 folds
riese1313 folds
Idider folds
MIS9898 calls 250.00
idahobill folds
veracious folds
DA BEARS 420 folds

DEALING FLOP (Td,Jh,Tc)
Alizona checks
MIS9898 checks

DEALING TURN (Kh)
Alizona bets 120.00
MIS9898 calls 120.00

DEALING RIVER (6s)
Alizona goes all in 950.00
MIS9898 calls 950.00
MIS9898 shows Four of a Kind, Tens
Alizona shows a Full House, Jacks full of Tens

Hand 1260941598:
MIS9898 wins main pot(2,730.00)
with Four of a Kind, Tens

The Ultimate Bad Beat

[Warning: Not for the faint of heart!]

Rock Star, Tattoo, and Bad Beat

The Fifty-Fifty

902 entries, 153 pays, $9,555 first place

Saw a nice overlay in the Fifty-Fifty tonight so I decided to give it a whirl for the $55 entry (by an overlay I mean 902 x $50 is only $45K so the tournament becomes a $5K-added in order to make the $50K guarantee - it pays to look for this since it means less people to beat than usual for the same payoff). Played extremely tight the whole way, seeing only 17% of flops - not sure why I didn't play my usual loosey-goosey early game, but I suppose it just developed that way with hand after hand of awful unsuited, unconnected low cards. Decided after a while that I should just go with the flow and play a real "by the book" game, laying down just about anything into a preflop raise and folding the Ax, KJ and QJ suiteds without even a call of the blinds. Big hole, plugged. :) It worked to perfection, because I made the money pretty easily and really only caught 3 hands in the first three hours. Sucked some people all-in to my traps with both AA (flop came 99A and he had a 9 grin) and KK which I slow played on the flop after a perfect non-threatening low card rainbow board. He led out big on the turn getting pot-committed - once that fish bites the hook, just gotta reel 'em in. :) Also turned an A10 nut flush, checked it and induced the all-in on the river with an A on the flop (he had A6 and even without the flush I had him lol). Once we got into the money, I changed gears, opened up my range and started to pick up some pots as the small stacks died their pitiful deaths. At my high point, I had 40K chips and was in second overall... All was going quite well until I shoved 15K out there on a pot steal with 88 and the doofus dumbass donkey big blind calls for all his 14,700 chips with K10off and catches a K. Oh well, *MY* mistake for offering him my chips on a platter. If play smallball preflop, I can easily fold the 8's on the flop with the K hitting the board. Doh! Lesson learned (I hope - this has been a key mistake of mine, mid-pair play). Then I got caught chasing a flush for another 8K chips, and I was sliding downhill. Never really got any hands I could afford to play with the constant preflop raising going on. Was real difficult to pick spots to steal blinds, and I just felt I couldn't afford to take many chances (like re-raising to try to steal from the stealer). Finally got to the point where it was win my next hand or I'm out - deep into the red zone - but instead of shoving I waited and waited (watching all the hands I would have shoved with lose pot after pot) until I just couldn't bide my time anymore (1200/2400 with 300 antes) and put out my last 8K with 66. Caught AA in the cutoff and despite my pleadings no 6 came...

Out in 31st place for $210 and a $155 profit. I'll take it, but still disappointing in a way. One of these nights I'm gonna break thru... Good to be back "home" at Full Tilt!

Statistics for 303 Hands

Street.......Saw.....Saw/Total
Flop............50........17%
Turn...........22.........7%
River...........19.........6%
Showdown.....13.........4%

Street.....Won...Won/Saw....Won/Total
Pre-flop.....9.........3%..........3%
Flop........11........22%..........4%
Turn.........1.........5%..........0%
River........2........11%..........1%
Showdown...8........62%..........3%

The Perfect Coin Flip

Faced with this situation in the Fifty-Fifty Saturday night...

I have KQ

Flop comes J 10 3

Suits are irrelevant. I check the flop, he bets pot which is about 1/10th of my stack. We're 60 spots out of the money, so I put him on some kinda junk like J2, and lay my draw down.

Correct play? Let's have a look:

twodimes.net Hand Calculator

Absolute 50-50 dead square even draw. The perfect coin flip hand!

Even if he's got AJ, it's still only 53-47 in his favor... best of all, if the A comes on the turn, he hits 2p and I have all his chips. In this regard, one could claim my laydown was hasty - because these are EXACTLY the kind of spots you are looking for in a tournament... turn or river the nut at the same time they improve their hand. Jackpot!

P.S. It turns out - after playing around with the hand calculator a bit - that the two-overcard straight draw is 50-50 to either Jx or 10x hands... and against 3x I'm actually a 51-49 favorite. The special 'jackpot' hands AJ, A10 and A3 are all 53-47 dogs. Glad I studied this, because next time I'll probably try to make a play in this spot!

Tournament Indicator

After playing for a mere six days on Bodog, I finally unlocked the Tournament Indicator tonight, reaching 900 tournament hands... so its back to Full Tilt!

Shoving With Any 2

Tried to steal the blinds in a SNG I was playing, was getting short stacked and while I still could apply the pressure I had to take a shot. When I saw 89 spades, I decided this was as good a spot as any... one caller, who flipped over AJoff. To the flop:

------------------------------
Starting hand #1254326654

------------------------------
NEW HAND
dingo504 posts the small blind 50.00
Sargnt Stadanko posts the big blind 100.00

DEALING POCKETS
HdKncknRon folds
Moppies33 calls 100.00
Alizona goes all in 995.00
kikay436 folds
Gordie W calls 995.00
jacck2 folds
RobNcasinos folds
dingo504 folds
Sargnt Stadanko folds
Moppies33 folds
Gordie W shows High Card, Ace

DEALING FLOP (6s,7s,2d)

DEALING TURN (5s)

DEALING RIVER (2s)
Alizona shows a Straight Flush, Nine high
Gordie W shows a Pair, Deuces

Hand 1254326654:
Alizona wins main pot(2,240.00)
with a Straight Flush, Nine high
6 minutes left to the next level

----------------

No, their ace was not a spade. That would've made a good punchline for the hand tho!

Play More Pots

Play More Pots
Erick Lindgren

October 9th, 2006

In tournaments, I play lots of hands. I'll put my money in with all kinds of connected cards, especially when in position. I might limp, I might min-raise or raise a little more than the minimum, depending on the circumstances. I'm looking to keep my table off balance so they don't know where I'm coming from.

My overall goal is to pick up a lot of small pots without a lot of resistance. I might raise in position and hope for a call from one of the blinds. If I raise pre-flop with something like 6-7, I might miss the flop entirely, but the raise puts me in control of the hand. On the flop, I'll likely bet if checked to, even if I miss. That small bet on the flop will usually win me a small, but helpful pot.

Of course, sometimes it won't work out. I'll bet and get check-raised on occasions. But that's okay, because I actually don't lose much in the hands that I have to surrender. Overall, I get to gradually add to my chip stack by chopping at small pot after small pot.

The other major advantage to my style is that, occasionally, I will hit a flop hard. If I do happen to flop a straight, it's difficult for other players to put me on something like 5-7 or 6-8. If one of my opponents also gets a piece of the flop, I'll get paid off in a big way.

By adding to my stack early, I have a real advantage over players who play a cautious, tight game. The extra chips that I accumulate allow me to survive some tough spots. So, if I happen to get involved in a race with A-K or a pair of Tens, I can withstand a loss. An opponent who's playing tight will likely be on the rail after losing a single race.

New players often ask me how they can learn to play more pots. I always suggest that they drop down significantly in stakes and practice. If you're playing $2-$4 no-limit, drop down to $.50-$1 - a level where some losses won't hurt you.

Once you're at that table, try to play eight hands out of 10. Play everything but 2-8 or 3-9 - hands that are entirely unconnected. When you get yourself involved with this kind of frequency, you'll have to concentrate more on your opponents than on your own cards. You'll have to be on the lookout for opportunities to take down pots with well-timed stabs. You'll also learn how to proceed in situations where you flop a good, but dangerous hand.

By dropping down and playing a lot of hands, you're going to learn a lot about poker. You're also going to have a lot of fun. Lord knows, playing 50% of the hands is a whole lot more entertaining than sitting around waiting for Aces.

If you look at the success that Gavin Smith, Daniel Negreanu and myself have had over the last couple of years, you'll see that being active can be an excellent way to score big in tournaments. It takes practice to play this style, but it can lead to great results and be a lot of fun.

Betting Out Of Position

Betting out of Position
Gus Hansen

November 20th, 2006

Every Hold 'em strategy guide talks about the importance of positional advantage. The standard thinking is that the player who acts last has more information than his opponents, so he'll have a better sense of where he stands in a hand and can, therefore, make better decisions. There's no doubt that this is true, but it's important to understand that the power that comes with position is often granted to the late-position player by the early-position player.

To see what I mean, consider a pretty typical No-Limit hold 'em hand. Say that I'm in the big blind with 7s-8s - a nice, flop-worthy hand. The player on the button raises to three times the big blind and I decide to call. Many players would check the flop under almost any circumstances. But, by checking, you give control to the late-position player. He can bet whether or not he has a hand, putting you in a tough spot if you don't get a piece of the flop.

In a hand like this, I believe it's best to look at the flop and ask, "Is it likely that these cards helped my opponent?" Once I have an answer to that question, I can decide how to proceed.

If the flop is Ah-Kd-9c, I'd probably just check and fold to a bet, as my opponent was likely raising with big cards and caught a piece of the flop. However, if the flop is 9c-5h-2d, I'd probably be more skeptical. I know that in Hold 'em, two unpaired hole cards will fail to make a pair on the flop about 66 percent of the time, and this seems to be a flop that the pre-flop raiser might have missed.

If I suspect my opponent didn't connect, I'm going to take the initiative and bet out about half the size of the pot. Betting here with my gutshot draw offers several advantages. First, I might take the pot down right here, and I'm always happy when a semi-bluff forces a fold. But even if I get a call from my opponent, I've forced him to react. That gives me a chance to pick up a read. If my opponent seems uneasy, I might continue with my semi-bluff on the turn and try again to pick up the pot. Or, if I feel my opponent is strong, I can check and fold to any bet on the turn if I fail to make my hand.

Stabbing at pots when out of position can be very lucrative. In tournaments, I'll open-raise out of position fairly frequently because I think there's a lot of power in being the first one to fire at the pot on the flop. I pick up a lot of small pots that way.

As you work on your Hold 'em game, remember that you don't have to give the advantage in the hand to the player in late position. Look for opportunities to bet out and seize the initiative.

Bodog $20+2 MTT

280 entries, 36 pays, $1500 first place

Grabbed fifth in the $6000 Guaranteed on Bodog tonight, for $324.80, but just couldn't get over the hump and get any higher. Caught a runner-runner flush to stay alive as things were winding down but a few hands later my 9's met up with cowboys and lost the battle. Entered the money as the chip leader, rode the usual rollercoaster up and down, got the chip lead again close to the final table and lost half right before we got there. :) Was really playing, gambling, pushing, bluffing, sucking people in and laying down in the right spots when necessary. Bodog is fun! No hand histories though, that sucks. :( Would really love to be able to go back and study my play. The one thing I do remember, I got bullets four times and didn't make anything more than the blinds each time. Two of em came on consecutive hands (!) about halfway thru and the other two came very late in the tourny, once at the final table. Nada, zip, zilch. I guess it could always be a lot worse with that hand but it was kinda frustrating - just one win against an all-in might have allowed me to keep playing and get into the big-money top three. Total time was just under 4 hrs and 303 hands total. The $324 is my second-highest winnings ever in a tournament, behind the $3350 I won on Full Tilt for third in the $28K guarantee.

Here are my stats for two days on Bodog:

Hands Played: 1006
Hands Won: 20% (I think that's a lot higher than I am at FT, wish I knew what my overall pct. is over there)
Showdowns Won: 65% (Could be better, but I'm generally making good decisions - and sometimes I take it to showdown on a draw even if I think I'm behind because I have pot odds and a much bigger stack)
Flops seen: 34% (I want to see plenty of flops to unlock the Tournament Indicator for use on Full Tilt)
Win % if flop seen: 45% (I think this is unbelievably high given how many flops I try to see - wondering about this stat, maybe I'm misunderstanding it)

Your Actions:
Flop: 45%
Check: 16%
Call: 23%
Bet: 8%
Raise: 6%
Re-raise: 1% (I rarely raise or re-raise preflop because I want to see flops for the Tournament Indicator. If I raise and everybody folds preflop, it doesn't count as a "Tournament Hand" so I let em play along. Seems to work out, because being good at post-flop play is much more important than preflop IMO, that's where all my big pots are coming from - suck em in and then fleece em! But this is definitely an area I need to work on, re-raising, especially late in tourneys when people are stealing blinds - gotta three bet 'em there, come over the top and steal their steal PLUS the blinds! Some call that advanced poker, but it's simply a necessary weapon in the arsenal for final table play. It's been a big hole in my game, and why I feel so lost at final tables, but I'm working on it!)

When You Fold:
Preflop: 62%
Flop: 9%
Turn: 3%
River: 2%
No fold: 24% (This seems high to me too, a full quarter of all my hands, but it does include the 20% winning hands of course)

One of the nice things about Bodog is they have 15 min levels in their tournaments. The pace is a lot slower, and hence, I have a lot more time to play my post-flop smallball game where I try to occasionally hit a home run and double-up a few times. I try to see as many cheap flops as possible in the first hour, then tighten up some in the second. If I start to drop down into the orange zone I get active again and loosen up trying to hit hands.

My Tournament Hands are up to 319 now, already one-third of the way to 900 so I can go back to FT. At the rate I'm going tho, I might have to stick around Bodog for a while! I tripled my bankroll in the first two days with a 5th, a 20th, and 3 SNG wins. I think the Tournament Indicator is helping my play immensely, assisting my decision-making and eliminating some of the dumb decisions I was making previously. It's got a lot of things to work with while evaluating how to play a hand. I really like it. What a deal - go play on Bodog to earn the license and make money while doing so. :)

Bodog!

Came in 20th out of 260 in my first Bodog tournament - the Mini Series of Poker Event #2 NL Holdem $15+1.50. 27 pays, $1072.50 for first. I got $27.30 minus my entry for a profit of $10.80. hahaha But I'll take it. Played well, caught cards, make good bluffs and pot steals. Actually got down to 410 chips within the first 20 hands from my 1500 starting, and had to work my way back. I did, to finish in the money!

If you're wondering, the reason I moved over to Bodog is because of the Tournament Indicator, an add-on calculator solely for tournament play. It's free, but with a catch. :) You have to sign up thru the TI website, and it has to be a site you've never registered with before, even for play money. Not a lot of choices for US players, so... Bodog was it. There's another catch too (it's a pain, yeah, but I consider it worth it) - I have to play 900 "tournament hands" on Bodog before it will unlock for use on other sites. A "tournament hand" is defined as any hand you don't fold preflop. So they don't come all that quickly. In 190 hands of play in MSOP #2, I only got 24 tournament hands. :( I think part of that was an error when I started, had to set up the preferences on Bodog for it to work and for a long time it was just blank. Finally figured it out. It's a big help, I used to run my own Excel spreadsheet alongside the table to manually calculate the M value for each seat at my table. Every so often I'd have to update the stacks, change the level, etc. A real pain, but I did it because I believe in the Harrington/Magriel 'M' concept, and find it very useful to know how to act. Tournament Indicator runs right underneath each tournament window, and it automatically follows the action. Plenty of stats, which I love. Really a great tool, highly recommend checking it out.

Oh, and Bodog was a fun place to play. :) The tables were very tight, and I was able to push them around a lot. grin Definitely not used to that on Full Tilt - just the opposite, really.

Gotta see if I can dig up a hand history somewhere. The interface is ok, better than PS (which isn't hard, I hate that place!) but it's no FTP either...

P.S. Bodog is pretty soft. LOL I later entered a 2-table MTT for $4.40 and won it for a $13.60 profit. Not bad for one night, $24.40, two-for-two. :) I cheated a bit tho... first of all I have the Tournament Indicator running and it's really helping my decision-making. Second of all, this was labeled a "Beginner" tournament. hahaha What the heck,I'm still a novice, or at least I play like one all the time! The play was surprisingly good, first player didn't go out for about 4 levels and it took 12 levels to finsh it off, well into the second hour. But it was tight play, again a lot of laydowns. In two short tournaments, I've seen quite a bit of timid, scared play. It's perfect for me right now, as someone trying to become more aggressive in selected spots, identify those prime opportunities and pouncing on em - neutral aggressive play. I like to loosen up the starting hand requirements quite a bit, but not go over the top and become truly "loose". I'll lay down into any preflop raise playing the rags, I sure wanna see cheap flops. So far on Bodog that's exactly what I've gotten, and I love it. Best of all, with final-three play where I'm basically seeing every flop, my Tournament Hands are already up to 74. That means about 10 nights of this and I'll be able to unlock it to work with FTP, which was my goal all along. Probably won't continue with Bodog after that, but we'll see - so far, so good!

$5+0.50 MTT

90 players, double stack, 18 pays, $112.50 first place

Playing solid poker for over an hour, but going nowhere. Still at my starting stack of 3000 while others have zoomed off into the stratosphere, but I always view this as a success - I've still got a green M. All it takes is a little mini-rush, a couple of doubleups and I'm on the first page of the leaderboard.

Hand 54, I pick up 88 in early middle position and call the 100 BB, except the cutoff raises to 400 and the UTG calls it. I'm last to act, think about it for a short bit, and lay it down. I'm thinking I've got 2 outs basically, and even tho the pot's offering 3:1 odds I'm figuring it's still not enough.

Flop comes... 862 rainbow. I close my eyes and keep 'em closed for the next 15 seconds, trying to stop the negative, self-flagellating thoughts running thru my head. I'm beating myself up pretty good - somebody call the cops! Bad thoughts... go away! I MADE THE PROPER LAYDOWN HERE, DAMN IT!! Probably would've made good money off it, because the guy to my left lays out 900 chips on the nothing flop. Even if he hit a set, I've got the nut. Fuck.

Next hand... KK. Woohoo! Ride 'em cowboys!! All's well with the world again. Preflop 3xBB raise, one caller. Board's a blank, throw out 6xBB and he folds. Some big hand that was. WHY DIDN'T I CALL WITH THOSE EIGHTS? hahahaha

Fast forward 12 hands. Still at 3200 chips, still going nowhere. I see 77, and immediately think of my 88 laydown. "Not again..." This time, I'm in the SB with em, and when it comes around I've got a 420 raise and a call, with the BB still to act. SAME FRIGGIN' SITUATION. There is not a chance in the world I can lay this down tho after what happened 13 hands ago. "Grow some balls, you wuss" I tell myself. Call. BB calls, and the pot is now larger than half my own chip stack.

Flop comes... Q76, two clubs. OMG, can this really be happening? I DID hit my set again! Thank GOD I didn't fold em this time!!!

I'm first to act and put out a half-pot bet, and 2 of the 3 call it. This makes me really happy. I'm looking at a triple-up with the size of that pot out there - no way either gets away from it now!

Turn is a 10, good card but now there's two clubs and two spades out there. This leaves me no choice but to shove all-in with my remaining 2000 chips into the 4000 pot. next to act comes over the top of my all-in for all his chips. "Uh oh", I think, "what's up with this?" The third player in the hand also calls for all his chips. Monster pot, and I've hit my set! The problem is... the re-raiser also hit his set... tens, on the turn. FUCK ME. Why the hell didn't I just shove on the flop??? (Third player had the nut flush club draw and missed it)

Well, I soon calm down and realize the size of my bet on the flop wasn't gonna matter here. The flush draw sees correct odds with 3 players in the hand no matter what the bet size is, and the 10's likely calls any bet even with the overcard out there since his stack size was about 2.5:1 over both his opponents. If he's the least bit sharp, it's an automatic call in the second hour of the tourney, costing him 3200 of his 8500 chips for a chance to earn about 7000.

My real mistake was not laying down the mid-pair down again in disciplined fashion into a preflop raise and a call... I'd still be alive and kicking if I had.

Someday I'll learn how to play good solid poker for real, and not throw away entire tournaments on one poorly played hand. Someday I'll stop beating myself up over my mistakes. Someday I'll stop making 'em. Someday...

Problem Solving

My first use of the Poker Hand Replays tool!

Click "Play" in the lower left corner and watch the action. It will stop at the river card, and then we'll have a fun little poker quiz. :)

Our Hero is in a 90-player SNG with 30 people left. He's got two of the three biggest chip stacks in the tourney immediately to his left.

Superhero! Flop the second nuts, well-concealed in the small blind... First, to act, he lays out a trapping-sized bet to build the pot while trimming the field in half. You could certainly argue for an all-in shove right here but I'm not sure that's the value play in this spot... and likewise, this is an obvious spot for a nice little check-raise since we're first to act with a non-threatening board and large-stacked aggressive players in the hand... but for the purposes of this quiz, ignore those thoughts and we'll continue on.

The turn is a pretty bad card for our Hero. If they're playing Ax, an A here would've been gold... Even a K, same deal as an A - probably can get all the chips in with at least one of em if not both if either big card comes. Instead, with the Q, he's suddenly on the idiot end of TWO straight-possible combos, J8 and now KJ as well... which probably is why the lead out is kind of weak at 1/3 pot - still thinking pot-build & trap but trying to be somewhat cautious of what the big-stacked big blind could be playing (i.e. anything at all, including the normally discounted J8 hand). Again, our Hero reduces the field but the big stack calling station must have him fearing the loss of all those valuable chips he's thrown into the middle if an 8, J, K or A shows up on the river and he has to lay down his not-so-nuts-anymore-is-it hand...

The river is an ok card, big sigh of relief that it wasn't one of the "fearsome foursome". Still, he's now playing the idiot end with just ONE of his cards, and worse yet, he's out of position to a huge stack that can apply all-in type pressure to any bet and with any two cards.

The quiz:

1. What's your river play?
(a) push all-in
(b) lead out with a bet - how much?
(c) check

If you choose not to go all-in here, then you must also answer the following:

2. Assume the BB puts our Hero to the ultimate test, all-in... should he call it or fold?

I Feel Your Pain, Mikey

The Mouth has the guy dominated, and what does he say? "C'mon, ONE TIME let me get lucky. Let me hold up (with) the best hand, one time." hahaha See? He knows that when you're in the lead in this game, you STILL need to be lucky to win the hand...

Yeah, all the poker strategists would surely condemn him for coming over the top of a raise and a re-raise with just Ace high - it's hard to argue that fact. He could've ended up in a coin flip with Raymer for all his chips! But notice what he says afterwards - "Did you see the call I made on the guy earlier?" I think he must've had what he felt was a solid tell on the unknown dude or had seen enough of his hands to have a great read on his betting patterns. When he sees AK he knows he's either tied or ahead and shoves to isolate by getting Raymer to lay down. The cards screwed him - like they seem to do to all of us so-called donkeys (good players like G-man excepted LOL).

I feel your pain, Mikey. I've cried the same tears.

Epilogue: If Raymer calls (and he was certainly correct to lay his 8's down), notice that he would've hit his set with the 8 right in the door! That's why he says, "Mike was goin' broke no matter what." Also, be sure to notice Greg did not give away info (like I often do) and tell the table "I folded a set", indicating to the sharper players a whole slew of things - what he does from the BB with a medium pp, what it takes to get him to lay down a mid-pair, etc. He DOES tell the table, but in a way that only the television viewers will later understand. There's a reason Raymer goes on to win the event! He's a sharp, observant guy with a calculating mind and an understanding of the small intagibles that make good poker players great - emotional control, body language control and the ability to mix up his play to eliminate giving away any easy reads... he was most definitely at the top of his game in July 2004.

BTW, the 'interesting' prelude to all this - and the point at which Raymer is introduced to the entire poker world on ESPN - can be seen here... "I got big cajones, you got leeeetle cajones" LOL The Mouth at his absolute worst, and props to Raymer for pulling his hand away. :) Do you think it's possible this little "negative karma" incident just might have been what brought that lady on the river later in the day to felt him? I feel his pain, but that doesn't mean I feel sorry for the guy!

$10+1 SNG

9 players, 3 pays, $45 first place

Sigh. Here we go again. Bad enough I donked out (basically) of the live tourny at Casino AZ tonight... but I have to come home, bust out of the Midnight Madness catching a ton of hands early with everyone basically laying down to me and then blinding/shoving out close to the money.

Well, gotta salvage something, right? And I did... third place in the SNG for a whopping 7 buck profit. It's how I finish third tho that's the story. As usual.

First the good news. Triple up on Hand 7 with QQ against the flush draw which doesn't hit, and AJ TPTK which also doesn't improve. Miracle, and I've got a huge chip lead early. I'd hold it thru the entire tournament, and continue to build on it, until... we'll save the best for last.

Hand 26, my first setback. Got J9 in the BB and play for the min with two others. Flop comes Q79, lead out with min bet on middle pair and get called. Turn is another 7, another min bet, another call. River is another Q so I check but he goes all in for another 500 more. 3:1 pot odds, I call with my 2p and he was playing QJ for the river boat. I was behind the whole way betting right into him. I played this hand just like the donk that I am. 3:1 pot odds really help ya when you're drawing dead. LOL

Hand 43 pick up AK, raise it to 3xBB and someone shoves for 6xBB. Instacall, he flips A10 and I've got the 3 outer... 10 on the flop, and the A on the river comes just to piss me the fuck off.

Hand 44, next hand, now it's KQ. Again, raise to 3xBB from middle-late position, one caller. A hits the flop, I check, he bets, I fold. He prob guessed I was steamin, but he might have had the A. Wasn't gonna compound my steam just yet. Saving it up for a REAL blowoff.

Played small ball poker til Hand 92 with a couple of weak "never raise preflop" players. That's MY game!! We're in the money now, and I continue to pick up pots with bluff after bluff. Got a 2:1 chip lead on both of em at this point, and find a couple of cowboys staring up at me... and the guy acting just before me shoves all in which was way out of line with what had been going on. Aces? Screw it, call. He's got (guffaw) 9J spades. Doofus dumbass. J on the flop, 9 on the river and he's apologizing. "Poker, nh" is all I say. "You didn't deserve that." "Oh, I'm used to it by now", I respond. He's got the chip lead now by a small amount. That's two bad beats but I'm still right at the chip lead. Hang tough Al!

Hand 129, I've clawed my way back to the chip lead by 1500 chips but all three of us are still going strong and nobody's really short stacked. I pick up 8's, and the same doofus shoves all-in again. Hoo boy, here's the classic poker situation... do I call it and regret it? Or do I call it and take an overwhelming lead?

I call it just before time runs out. He flips... ducks! OMG, 2 outs. Please don't... 2 on the flop. 10K chip pot and he catches a 247 flop. I can't believe this FUCKING game.

I'm now under 1000 chips, and 3 hands later I shove with AJ. The same goofball calls (which I want him to of course) with DUCKS AGAIN. And they hold up for him.

Texas Hold'em is one fucked up game, I'll tell ya. Three HORRID beats in 132 hands? Yeah, I probably goofed by playing small ball with these nits instead of hammering em hard each hand. You think I'd know by now that you CANNOT just sit and wait for the cards to win the game for ya. They don't. The cards will FUCK YOU if you let 'em. I've got to either start playing 27off as if it's kings, or I'm never gonna go anywhere in this game. I've got to start playing the other people instead of playing the cards. The cards are utterly useless. I wait for good situations, usually get it all in with the best, and still lose consistantly. That is just screaming for a sea change in my approach. I just don't know how I'm gonna get there, or what I need to do... quit, perhaps? [the very next night: Nah, NEVER!!]

------------------HAND #7------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 15/30 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+1: 1,575
UTG+2: 1,605
MP1: 1,305
Alizona (MP2): 1,455
CO: 1,425
BTN: 1,320
SB: 1,470
BB: 1,875
UTG: 1,470

Pre-Flop: (45) Qh Qd dealt to Alizona (MP2)
2 folds, UTG+2 raises to 60, MP1 calls 60, Alizona calls 60, 3 folds, BB calls 30

Flop: (255) Js 3c 2s (4 Players)
BB checks, UTG+2 bets 255, MP1 folds, Alizona raises to 650, BB calls 650, UTG+2 raises to 1,545 and is All-In, Alizona calls 745 and is All-In, BB calls 895

Turn: (4,740) Js 3c 2s [ 2h ] (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (4,740) Js 3c 2s 2h [ 8h ] (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 4,740 Pot
UTG+2 showed Jd Ad (two pair, Jacks and Twos) and WON 300 (-1,305 NET)
Alizona showed Qh Qd (two pair, Queens and Twos) and WON 4,440 (+2,985 NET)
BB showed As Ts (a pair of Twos) and LOST (-1,605 NET)

------------------HAND #26------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 30/60 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 1,480
SB: 785
Alizona (BB): 4,060
UTG: 975
UTG+1: 2,530
MP: 2,580
CO: 1,090

Pre-Flop: (90) Jc 9h dealt to Alizona (BB)
UTG calls 60, 5 folds, Alizona checks

Flop: (150) Qh 7h 9c (2 Players)
Alizona bets 150, UTG calls 150

Turn: (450) Qh 7h 9c [ 7d ] (2 Players)
Alizona bets 300, UTG calls 300

River: (1,050) Qh 7h 9c 7d [ Qc ] (2 Players)
Alizona checks, UTG bets 465 and is All-In, Alizona calls 465

Results: 1,980 Pot
Alizona mucked Jc 9h (two pair, Queens and Nines) and LOST (-975 NET)

UTG showed Jd Qd (a full house, Queens full of Sevens) and WON 1,980 (+1,005 NET)

------------------HAND #43------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 50/100 Blinds, 6 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 1,750
Alizona (MP): 4,120
CO: 1,800
BTN: 2,700
SB: 2,340
BB: 790

Pre-Flop: (150) Ad Ks dealt to Alizona (MP)
UTG folds, Alizona raises to 300, 3 folds, BB raises to 790 and is All-In, Alizona calls 490

Flop: (1,630) 5s Th 5h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (1,630) 5s Th 5h [ 3h ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (1,630) 5s Th 5h 3h [ Ac ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 1,630 Pot
Alizona showed Ad Ks (two pair, Aces and Fives) and LOST (-790 NET)
BB showed Ts As (two pair, Aces and Tens) and WON 1,630 (+840 NET)

------------------HAND #44------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 50/100 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 1,750
Alizona (UTG): 3,330
MP: 1,800
CO: 2,700
BTN: 2,290
SB: 1,630

Pre-Flop: (150) Qd Ks dealt to Alizona (UTG)
Alizona raises to 300, MP folds, CO calls 300, 3 folds

Flop: (750) Ts Ac 5c (2 Players)
Alizona checks, CO bets 500, Alizona folds

Results: 750 Pot
CO mucked and WON 750 (+450 NET)

------------------HAND #92------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 100/200 Blinds, 3 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 2,620
Alizona (SB): 7,430
BB: 3,450

Pre-Flop: (300) Kc Kh dealt to Alizona (SB)

BTN raises to 2,620 and is All-In, Alizona raises to 5,040, BB folds

Flop: (5,440) 4c 2c Jh (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (5,440) 4c 2c Jh [ Qd ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (5,440) 4c 2c Jh Qd [ 9h ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 5,440 Pot
BTN showed 9s Js (two pair, Jacks and Nines) and WON 5,440 (+2,820 NET)
Alizona showed Kc Kh (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-2,620 NET)

------------------HAND #129------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 150/300 Blinds, 3 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 4,810
Alizona (BTN): 5,990
SB: 2,700

Pre-Flop: (450) 8c 8s dealt to Alizona (BTN)
Alizona calls 300, SB folds, BB raises to 4,810 and is All-In, Alizona calls 4,510

Flop: (9,770) 2c 7d 4s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (9,770) 2c 7d 4s [ Kh ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (9,770) 2c 7d 4s Kh [ Jd ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 9,770 Pot
BB showed 2s 2d (three of a kind, Twos) and WON 9,770 (+4,960 NET)
Alizona showed 8c 8s (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-4,810 NET)

------------------HAND #132------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 150/300 Blinds, 3 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 10,070
Alizona (BTN): 730
SB: 2,700

Pre-Flop: (450) Jd Ah dealt to Alizona (BTN)
Alizona calls 300, BB raises to 10,070 and is All-In, Alizona calls 430 and is All-In

Flop: (1,610) 4c Qh 6h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (1,610) 4c Qh 6h [ 8s ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (1,610) 4c Qh 6h 8s [ 4s ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 1,610 Pot
BB showed 2d 2h (two pair, Fours and Twos) and WON 1,610 (+880 NET)
Alizona showed Jd Ah (a pair of Fours) and LOST (-730 NET)

An All-Time Classic

2004 United States Poker Championship Final Table

I never get tired of watching this... I'm a sick man. :)

And it's a SICK game.

The honesty of online play

Pauly over at Tao of Poker is asking people to spread the word...

Superusers and Silence: How UltimateBet let players get cheated for millions

"I believe that it is important for online poker players to know about the unethical business practices of UltimateBet and Absolute Poker. It is also imperative to understand that these unscrupulous activities are not an indictment on the entire online poker industry."

Myself, I do have an implicit trust in the character and integrity of Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson who are (so I've heard) the brains behind the FTP software. That doesn't mean cheating can't happen on FTP... because they are indeed "licensed and regulated" by the same "Kahnawake Gaming Commission" as Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker. Some "Commission" they are. Some body of "regulators". They haven't done shit - the Mohawk Indian dudes surely make their biggest profits by looking the other way...

Sigh. Be sure to visit Tao of Poker during the WSOP which starts this Friday because Pauly will once again be blogging the entire World Series start to finish.

And while I'm at it, Daniel Negreanu's new thing is also just up and running - Poker VT.com - looks pretty cool and I want to watch more than just the sample lessons, but $200 seems kinda steep.

Classic Suckouts

A perfect example of why this is such a sick, sick game played by sick, sick people! (click 'Play' at the bottom)



Pretty cool, huh? I'm gonna start using these flash animations...
Go to Poker Hand Replays and make your own!

Razz Mastery

I bet there aren't too many people who can say they've won a hand at Razz with KKK... :)

The Fifty-Fifty

984 entries, 153 pays, $9,555 first place

Hand 68. Last hand of the first hour. I've seen nothing, and I mean NOTHING. Best hand I saw the entire time was AJ. Oh yeah, I checked it with Universal Replayer. Not even a measly pair of ducks. Nice. Well, this hand I get 10-10 sitting in the cutoff, and nobody raises til it comes around to me. I lead out with a rather small-looking 3.5xBB bet of 200 into the 90-chip pot. The button, next to act, with just a few less chips than me goes all-in.

Hmmm. What to do now... "I haven't seen a freakin' hand the entire hour and I'm going into a break. Gonna either bust out, or win this and be in good shape for hour two despite it all!"

He flips over AQ unsuited. Ok, it's a coin flip, but I was prepared for it. "I'm due, I'm gonna win one this time!"

Ace on the flop. Done. If this idiot had just called my preflop raise in position, or re-popped a reasonable amount for a 290 chip pot, I woulda folded seeing the A hit the board. Goddamn aggressive players tho, they gotta put you all in every time with nothing better than HIGH CARD - a coin flip at best. Win em, lose em, what do they care? Asswipes. Great way to play poker. Fuck, I get so pissed playing this game. It's the same story almost every time - coulda folded into a raise or re-raise, don't, find out it was the right call and I'm ahead, and lose.

Out in 559th place. Yeah, I had to sit thru the break with 104 chips. Tell me that wasn't an entertaining five minutes for a fly on the wall of my apartment. :)

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, The Fifty-Fifty, 30/60 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+2: 2,415
MP1: 2,900
MP2: 3,490
Alizona (CO): 1,495
BTN: 1,391
SB: 4,810
BB: 1,995
UTG: 3,395
UTG+1: 1,945

Pre-Flop: (90) Th Td dealt to Alizona (CO)

5 folds, Alizona raises to 200, BTN raises to 1,391 and is All-In, 2 folds, Alizona calls 1,191

Flop: (2,872) 4c Ad Js (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (2,872) 4c Ad Js [ 6d ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (2,872) 4c Ad Js 6d [ 2h ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 2,872 Pot
Alizona showed Th Td (a pair of Tens) and LOST (-1,391 NET)
BTN showed Qd Ah (a pair of Aces) and WON 2,872 (+1,481 NET)

$6+0.60 Satellite to the Fifty-Fifty

108 entries, 14 pays, $50 entry first place

Some good news for a change... won an entry into the Fifty-Fifty on FTP ($50 entry, $50K guaranteed) thru a satellite. Finished first in chips thanks to some boneheaded play that (for once) wasn't my own. Won 9 of 10 showdowns in 103 hands, for some huge pots.

Best of all... only one bad beat of any consequence this time, and I weathered it (altho I did feel a bit of heartburn at the time... that Alien thing coming on LOL).

Hand 15, was down to 940 chips from my starting 1500, pick up AK and shove all-in from the cutoff hoping to grab the 175 chips already on the table. Doofus to my right calls the all-in with KJ and (gasp!) doesn't suckout on me. Double up to 2000 chips.

Hand 36, pick up 10-10 in the BB and call a small 1 add'l BB raise. Flop has a 10, and before I can do anything, the two in front of me push all their chips in! LOL Again... my set holds up, cracking aces. Up to 6000 chips.

Hand 40, the bad beat. Call from late middle position with A10 and the cutoff pushes all in for about 1000 chips with KQ. Beauty. Except... board comes three rags and two kings. LOL Oh well... minor nuisance, press ahead.

Hand 45, the lovely dimes again from the BB! This time tho, the table folds around, SB calls, I raise and he folds. Oh well.

Hand 77. First of two incredible hands. We're getting down very near the money, and my stack has dwindled thru about 30 straight hands of mucking to under 5000... and I pick up A7 in the BB. The 19K chip stack just calls preflop, the SB folds and we're heads up.

Flop comes A72, 2 clubs. I've got top two, but no A clubs. He leads out first, betting 900 into 1600 chip pot. There's 2500 out there and I've got 4830 left. With the 2 clubs on the board, I decide to try to take it down now, pushing all-in. He calls me, but not with Ax, not with a set, not with ANYTHING! He's got KcJd. LOL Talk about a gift, I bet he sure felt kinda sheepish. Up to 11K now, and I'm well up into safe territory with only about 5 people left to go before the money.

Hand 78. The very next hand I pick up 88 in the SB and call the bet of 1130 from someone's all-in. Four play, we're close to the money, and the correct way to play is CHECK IT DOWN.

Well, flop comes 832 rainbow, I hit my set, and after a brief pause to think, I CHECK. We're trying to get the all-in out, community effort, right?

Wrong. The idiot in the BB shoves all his 6000 chips into the middle. LOL I'm ROARING! What the hell can this donkey have? A lower set? Aces? Sure enough, he flips over bullets. The all-in dude was shoving with an ace, meaning he's got one out on me. Miracle of miracles, it does NOT hit the board!

I'm now at 21K chips, well in the lead, and I coast to the finish to earn my entry. I did pick up aces and knock out a small stack along the way who pushed with his AK, which always feels good. :)

Now can I please have this same kinda donkey luck in the 50-50? haha

$2+0.25 MTT

273 entries, 27 pays, $141.96 first place

Double butt-fukking this tourny. Double my fun!

First, hand 37, pick up Q's and make a 4.5xBB bet. I'm hoping for no calls, fearing the A-rag suckout. Guy next to me shoves all-in, got him covered so I take a deep breath... and call. He's got 9's, the standard two-outer situation which I should win four out of every five tries. I seem to LOSE it four out of five, and take another brutal beat when a 9 hits the flop.

Ok, no problem, gotta be tough to play this game, I only lost half my stack there.

Grind my way to hand 67, I'm now in the red zone and have to push with any two. One preflop raiser but the whole table folds to me in the BB, with chips already in the pot I decide this is my spot with AJ unsuited. Probably won't see much better cards, so I shove all-in and get called.

Cards flip and I'm up against QJ! Yeah, it's suited, which worries me, but... I gotta be a big favorite here! [twodimes says I was only a 2-1 fave, worse than I thought. Guess all those straight and flush draws do add up.]

When the flop comes 9x10 I know I'm dead. I KNOW it. The suckout straight is so plainly obvious, when the K hits the turn, I barely flinch.

Out in 112th place.

I hate this friggin' game.

------------------HAND #37------------------

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, $2 + $0.25 Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 14,310
UTG: 8,705
UTG+1: 3,500
UTG+2: 7,030
MP1: 1,795
Alizona (MP2): 4,185
CO: 2,015
BTN: 12,137
SB: 3,200

Pre-Flop: (120) Qc Qh dealt to Alizona (MP2)
4 folds, Alizona raises to 350, CO raises to 2,015 and is All-In, 3 folds, Alizona calls 1,665

Flop: (4,150) 8c 6h 9d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (4,150) 8c 6h 9d [ 5c ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (4,150) 8c 6h 9d 5c [ 3h ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 4,150 Pot
Alizona showed Qc Qh (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-2,015 NET)
CO showed 9c 9s (three of a kind, Nines) and WON 4,150 (+2,135 NET)

------------------HAND #67------------------

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, $2 + $0.25 Tournament, 80/160 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP1: 20,740
MP2: 5,050
CO: 7,010
BTN: 8,050
SB: 3,040
Alizona (BB): 1,380
UTG: 4,900
UTG+1: 21,637
UTG+2: 6,635

Pre-Flop: (240) Ah Jc dealt to Alizona (BB)
5 folds, CO raises to 560, 2 folds, Alizona raises to 1,380 and is All-In, CO calls 820

Flop: (2,840) Tc 9d 2h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (2,840) Tc 9d 2h [ Kh ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (2,840) Tc 9d 2h Kh [ 7h ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 2,840 Pot
CO showed Jd Qd (a straight, King high) and WON 2,840 (+1,460 NET)
Alizona showed Ah Jc (Ace King high) and LOST (-1,380 NET)

$1 MTT

595 entries, 63 pays, $145.78 first place

Hand 2. DONK!

Out in 499th place. I held on with my 10 chips for 2 orbits, catching a set of kings in the BB first time around. Second time, had to play 44 from the SB and didn't catch. Would've made an incredible comeback story, darn it!

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, $1 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Alizona (BTN): 1,490
SB: 1,480
BB: 1,500
UTG: 1,500
UTG+1: 1,500
MP: 4,530
CO: 1,500

Pre-Flop: (30) Ad Ks dealt to Alizona (BTN)
4 folds, Alizona calls 20, SB calls 10, BB checks

Flop: (60) 5h Kh Ah (3 Players)
SB bets 20, BB calls 20, Alizona raises to 120, SB raises to 1,460 and is All-In, BB folds, Alizona calls 1,340

Turn: (3,000) 5h Kh Ah [ 6h ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (3,000) 5h Kh Ah 6h [ 8c ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 3,000 Pot
Alizona showed Ad Ks (two pair, Aces and Kings) and LOST (-1,480 NET)
SB showed Jh Qh (a flush, Ace high) and WON 3,000 (+1,520 NET)

$11+1 SNG

9 players, 3 pays, $49.50 first place

I knew I could get one more in tonight if I tried hard. Hardly had to lift a mouse finger!

Hand 29, caught KK twice early to take a small chip lead but didn't earn much off em. Sat tight until I picked up a medium ace in the cutoff seat, making a standard 3xBB raise. BB calls, flop comes AJx so I lead out and get re-raised all-in. Could've laid down here, fearing a set, but I sure didn't fear the BB would have a higher A, nevermind have the J as a kicker. I guess what I'm learning is that I DO have to assume they ALWAYS have the hand that beats me, and fold to everything. That's my new game - lay down, roll over and die. Might be less painful anyway.

Out in 6th place. Done for the night. Donkey. Need. Sleep. :)

Full Tilt Poker, $11 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 60/120 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Alizona (CO): 1,635
BTN: 1,225
SB: 560
BB: 2,240
UTG: 2,620
MP: 5,220

Pre-Flop: (180) 9c As dealt to Alizona (CO)
2 folds, Alizona raises to 360, 2 folds, BB calls 240

Flop: (780) Js 3c Ah (2 Players)
BB checks, Alizona bets 450, BB raises to 1,880 and is All-In, Alizona calls 825 and is All-In

Turn: (3,330) Js 3c Ah [ 8c ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (3,330) Js 3c Ah 8c [ Kh ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 3,330 Pot
Alizona showed 9c As (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-1,635 NET)
BB showed Jd Ad (two pair, Aces and Jacks) and WON 3,330 (+1,695 NET)

$1 Ferguson MTT

1007 entries, 153 pays, $192.44 first place

Hand 105, almost 2 hrs in and starting to fall off the chip pace so I'm thrilled when my "nothing" 10-2 turns into 2p on the flop. Lead out with a 2/3 pot bet and get the expected raise from the aggressive player. Easy re-raise for me, all-in. He ponders, then calls with just what I figured - TPTK (top pair top kicker). All is well until... the stupid A hits on the turn giving him the higher 2p.

Out in 192nd place, 39 spots out of the money.

It just doesn't pay to be right, make the correct reads and plays. This game still fux ya over time and again, rewards bad play and penalizes good. How anyone can win consistantly at no limit hold 'em, I'll probably never know. If I shove all in on the flop there, he still calls with TPTK. If I play em slow and cautious, there's no way I can put him on 2p after the A hits the turn. I'd think "he hit his ace, I got him hooked now!" and end up all in... it's not my play that's at fault, unless you can convince me I'm supposed to fold bottom two into any sort of playback. What hands should I play then, wait for bullets? GODDAMN STUPID CARDS!

Okay, okay... so I lied in my previous post about having "enough gruesome beats for one day". Actually... no I didn't - it's already Monday. :) And I'm already off and running! Joy joy joy! Oh what joy another day of poker can bring!

I bet I can get one more beat in tonight if I try real hard. :)

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, The Ferguson, 120/240 Blinds, 25 Ante, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Alizona (SB): 4,605
BB: 4,675
UTG: 9,035
UTG+1: 11,070
MP1: 17,400
MP2: 8,970
CO: 5,305
BTN: 10,440

Pre-Flop: (440) 2h Ts dealt to Alizona (SB)
3 folds, MP1 calls 240, MP2 calls 240, 2 folds, Alizona checks

Flop: (920) 2d Js Tc (3 Players)
Alizona bets 600, MP1 raises to 1,680, MP2 folds, Alizona raises to 4,340 and is All-In, MP1 calls 2,660

Turn: (9,600) 2d Js Tc [ As ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (9,600) 2d Js Tc As [ 4c ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 9,600 Pot
Alizona showed 2h Ts (two pair, Tens and Twos) and LOST (-4,605 NET)
MP1 showed Jh Ah (two pair, Aces and Jacks) and WON 9,600 (+4,995 NET)

$1 Rebuy MTT

431 entries, 45 pays, $345.50 first place

Here's an instant classic. :)

Hand 43, have been playing loose and already taken two double-rebuys, but I finally get over the hump and suckout (hey, they're not always against me) to get to the 6000 chip range. Grind the rest of the hour until I finally pick up KK 45 minutes in... I manage to get two others to match my all-in for the big triple-up.

They flip over Q's and 10's. How much better can this be for me? Two underpairs, two outs each, two cards to come - Twodimes.net has it at 67% for my cowboys versus 17% for the ladies and 15% for the dimes. Not a lock by any means, but I'll take my chances here. Wouldn't you?

The flop is ideal, complete with an ace. "How come nobody has A-rag to suck out on me?", I wonder, laughing...

The 10 hits first, on the turn. My laughing stops.

The Q hits next, on the river. That gnawing fear inside me - the fear of being sucked out on - once again bursts thru my chest like Alien, leaving a gaping, bloody hole in its wake...

In my shock, I manage to type in the chat window, "Hey, how come I got left out? lol"... A few consolations from the table and I'm gone. Again.

Out in 312th place. No rebuy, I've had enough gruesome beats for one day, thanks.

Hey, if they had a rabbit-cam, you think the next card woulda been my K? :)

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, $1 Rebuy, 40/80 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 2,750
UTG+1: 4,479
UTG+2: 7,250
MP1: 8,462
MP2: 4,645
CO: 7,140
BTN: 3,650
SB: 2,874
Alizona (BB): 4,775

Pre-Flop: (120) Ks Kd dealt to Alizona (BB)
UTG calls 80, UTG+1 calls 80, UTG+2 calls 80, MP1 raises to 500, 4 folds, Alizona raises to 4,775 and is All-In, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 4,399 and is All-In, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls 4,275

Flop: (14,229) 3c Ah 4c (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (14,229) 3c Ah 4c [ Td ] (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (14,229) 3c Ah 4c Td [ Qh ] (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 14,229 Pot
UTG+1 showed Qd Qc (three of a kind, Queens) and WON 13,637 (+9,158 NET)
MP1 showed Tc Ts (three of a kind, Tens) and WON 592 (-4,183 NET)
Alizona showed Ks Kd (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-4,775 NET)

$2+0.25 MTT (1r+1a)

137 entries, 15 pays, $129.96 first place

Double-barrel a$$-whoopin' this time around.

First, Hand 26, I play it cool preflop with my KK hand, get a great flop for em and then get TWO callers to put all their chips in with their QQ top pairs. All is wonderful, until... the inevitable river 2p suckout for the BB idiot who never quite figured out thru all the raises and re-raises that his top-pair-with-6-kicker was probably way behind...

Next, Hand 41, I've recovered from that stupidity and my head is back on straight again... flop 2p, and figure, "Ah, what are the chances he flopped the Q10 straight?" His reraise told me so, but being the doofus I am, I think "I'll shove and push him off this pot so he can't draw to an open ender". Apparently the odds were pretty good he flopped it. How could I be so stupid? LOL Well, at least I do have 4 outs twice to fill up. Uh... no.

Out in 85th place. Naturally, in hindsight, my lack of a stiff preflop raise with my cowboys in Hand 26 ended up crushing me, no way BB calls it with Q6. That's the price I pay for playing my big PP's the way I like to play em. Right or wrong, I'm not looking to win little pots with big hands, I'm trying to rake in big ones. Usually, I step on the rake tho and it smacks me square in the face...

------------------HAND #26------------------

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, $2 + $0.25 Rebuy (1r+1a), 25/50 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 1,060
UTG+1: 1,935
UTG+2: 1,450
MP1: 1,620
MP2: 3,230
CO: 3,100
Alizona (BTN): 2,740
SB: 4,080
BB: 1,785

Pre-Flop: (75) Kd Kh dealt to Alizona (BTN)
5 folds, CO raises to 150, Alizona calls 150, SB folds, BB calls 100

Flop: (475) 7c Qd Td (3 Players)
BB checks, CO bets 300, Alizona raises to 900, BB calls 900, CO raises to 2,950 and is All-In, Alizona calls 1,690 and is All-In, BB calls 735 and is All-In

Turn: (7,290) 7c Qd Td [ 8d ] (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (7,290) 7c Qd Td 8d [ 6s ] (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 7,290 Pot
CO showed As Qs (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-2,740 NET)
Alizona showed Kd Kh (a pair of Kings) and WON 1,910 (-830 NET)
BB showed 6c Qc (two pair, Queens and Sixes) and WON 5,380 (+3,595 NET)

------------------HAND #41------------------

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, $2 + $0.25 Rebuy (1r+1a), 30/60 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+1: 1,575
MP1: 2,045
MP2: 2,260
CO: 2,675
BTN: 4,240
Alizona (SB): 1,470
BB: 6,430
UTG: 5,485

Pre-Flop: (90) 8s 9d dealt to Alizona (SB)
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 60, 4 folds, Alizona calls 30, BB checks

Flop: (180) 8d Jd 9c (3 Players)
Alizona bets 150, BB raises to 300, UTG+1 folds, Alizona raises to 1,410 and is All-In, BB calls 1,110

Turn: (3,000) 8d Jd 9c [ 7c ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (3,000) 8d Jd 9c 7c [ Kh ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 3,000 Pot
Alizona showed 8s 9d (two pair, Nines and Eights) and LOST (-1,470 NET)
BB showed Tc Qs (a straight, King high) and WON 3,000 (+1,530 NET)

$1 MTT

576 entries, 66 pays, 6-handed, $126.72 first place

76th hand, down to 430 chips early, had worked my way back thru careful, cautious play. Got on a good run of winning hands taking down 6 out of the last 13, but just play for the minimum when I pick up AQ suited (clubs) in position... When a Q hits the flop with two spades and a 3/4 pot bet is made, I pop it for half my stack. Folds around to the bettor, who shoves, putting me all in.

I think for the entire time allowed, fearing he's got aces or kings or a set... I make a good read on his earlier play and call at the last second... he flips over KQ, no spades - I've got him dominated with three outs making me an 88% fave! Until... of course... a K on the turn felts me.

Out in 202nd place.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, $1 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: 2,525
Alizona (CO): 2,505
BTN: 4,800
SB: 1,640
BB: 2,000
UTG: 4,430

Pre-Flop: (150) Qc Ac dealt to Alizona (CO)
UTG folds, MP calls 100, Alizona calls 100, BTN folds, SB calls 50, BB checks

Flop: (400) Qs 8h 7s (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP bets 300, Alizona raises to 1,200, 2 folds, MP raises to 2,425 and is All-In, Alizona calls 1,205 and is All-In

Turn: (5,210) Qs 8h 7s [ Ks ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (5,210) Qs 8h 7s Ks [ Tc ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 5,210 Pot
MP showed Kd Qh (two pair, Kings and Queens) and WON 5,210 (+2,705 NET)
Alizona showed Qc Ac (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-2,505 NET)

$10+1 MTT

159 entries, 18 pays, $429.30 first place

60th hand, getting grinded down and have to shove all-in from the SB with an unsuited Big Slick after seeing a 3xBB late position raiser and a caller. I know at least one of 'em has a PP, so I know I'm a coin flip at best (43% actual)... but when one of my six outs hits on the flop I'm now a 91% fave! He's got 2 outs... and hits one on the very next card. You could say it was fitting that we each hit an out, but I just call it another brutal beat. :)

Out in 68th place.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, $10 + $1 Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Alizona (SB): 705
BB: 2,625
UTG: 2,468
UTG+1: 3,575
UTG+2: 682
MP1: 3,153
MP2: 2,775
CO: 5,720
BTN: 770

Pre-Flop: (120) Ad Kh dealt to Alizona (SB)
4 folds, MP2 raises to 240, CO calls 240, BTN folds, Alizona raises to 705 and is All-In, BB folds, MP2 calls 465, CO raises to 5,720 and is All-In, MP2 folds

Flop: (2,195) 7s Qc Ah (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (2,195) 7s Qc Ah [ Th ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (2,195) 7s Qc Ah Th [ 5c ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 2,195 Pot
Alizona showed Ad Kh (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-705 NET)
CO showed Td Tc (three of a kind, Tens) and WON 2,195 (+1,490 NET)

$5+0.50 MTT

322 entries, 36 pays, $402.50 first place

112th hand, I'm a little on the plus side of the 3000-chip double-stack, grinding it out. Seen nothing but 88, 77, 55 twice and 22. Hit two sets with em, but everyone laid down to my small bets earning me zilch.

Finally catch bullets and get a huge stack raising under the gun with one of those stupid "I'll give you a dollar discount yuck yuck" bets, so I shove all-in to isolate and hope he'll call with a lower pair or AK. Sure enough, he flips over 8's and I get the 2-out situation I'm looking for to double-up... until one of his outs his the flop.

Out in 101st place. He goes on to win the tourny, must've been his day. :)

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, $5 + $0.50 Tournament, 150/300 Blinds, 25 Ante, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 5,576
UTG: 23,618
UTG+1: 8,830
Alizona (UTG+2): 4,600
MP1: 17,821
MP2: 14,520
CO: 18,939
BTN: 3,535
SB: 9,075

Pre-Flop: (675) Ah Ad dealt to Alizona (UTG+2)
UTG raises to 799, UTG+1 folds, Alizona raises to 4,575 and is All-In, 6 folds, UTG calls 3,776

Flop: (9,825) Jd 8c 7s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (9,825) Jd 8c 7s [ 7d ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (9,825) Jd 8c 7s 7d [ 4d ] (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 9,825 Pot
UTG showed 8d 8h (a full house, Eights full of Sevens) and WON 9,825 (+5,225 NET)
Alizona showed Ah Ad (two pair, Aces and Sevens) and LOST (-4,600 NET)