Poker Wannabe

SOPA is an act of Terrorism

2012-01-18T14:05:00.001-05:00

Terrorism - "the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. "

SOPA (in a nutshell) - allow holders of copyright to enact and enforce injunctions against ALL PARTIES involved in a alleged violation. ED: In old school terms, this would have consisted of: The Newspaper, Radio (and TV), Drivers of trucks who distribute the newspapers, Stores than sells the newspaper, Manufacturers of radios, Newspaper editors and publishers, Journalists, Disenchanted youth, and the bloody ROADS that the trucks drive on to distribute the newspapers.

Why?: Because incumbent and long established companies wish to stave off the tide of inevitable change.

Copyright - Created on or after January 1, 1978, life of the author plus 70 years. Except for Disney.

Why would we pass a law that allows record companies to engage in terrorism?

Better Finish

2012-01-15T14:21:00.000-05:00

Set myself up great in this weekends MTT by going for the throat when I was ahead instead of playing it safe. Accumulated more chips with the same hands in this way and and was in the top 3 in chip going to the final table. With 8 left though, lost a huge race. Stack of $20k moves in pre-flpo again (3rd time in last 10 hands). Folded to me in the BB with $45k and I look at QQ. Easy call. Villain shows AK and a King takes nearly half my stack. I never really got it going again after that, having to resort to stealing with marginal (and awful) hands to keep ahead of the $1k/$2k/400 blinds. At $5k a round, I was eventually picked off in 6th place, when a QT steal ran into AQ... held by the same villain. But happy with my play, so what can I say?

League night goes awry

2012-01-09T16:37:00.000-05:00

Playing in my regular 3 table MTT and starting on time creates a short handed table. I play better short handed and ground my chips up about 50% by the first break. But by now, we are 9 handed and its back to looking for opportunities. I really had a dry spell and with 15 or so players left, was at like $13k. As we fell to 8 and 7 handed and the blinds continue to creep up (putting my M around 15), I started getting more aggressive preflop for antes and blinds. I had a couple of stellar opportunities with People limping when their M is around 10, which makes it great on the button (or in the blind) to put someone to the test. Its especially lucrative when the limper induces a late position call. Now suddenly, they have to put in 10k more to cover a 800-1k limp and when they fold, you pick up $2500 in chips! And of course, you do this with ANY TWO. In my case K5o. But alas, its interesting how the fates play you. I find myself in the exact same position a few rounds later, but this time I have QQ. I take the same time to think as I did with K5o, trying to duplicate my actions. But when I put the chips in, I get the insta-call from the trickster KK. He had suspected larceny, so he limped with KK hoping to induce me to do it again. May I would, maybe not, but with an M of 15 and their being antes+blinds+KK limper+LP Caller = $4200 in chips and me with like $15k, its way too much to pass up with QQ here with 13 players left. Even if he has AK, I am happy moving in with QQ here. But 7 handed, I am not expecting to run QQ into limping KK. Who would really? So, disappointing finish, but happy with the play.

Next week I may have to MISS due to a daughter's birthday, which would set back my efforts to finish in-the-money in both leagues. I am clearly on a slide in league 2 and need a strong finish.

The Ugly State of Affairs

2011-12-14T09:42:00.002-05:00

I have already admitted that losing online poker briefly helped my game. But now its killing it. Only play 2-3 times a month is no way to pursue a skill set. You can listen to guitar playing to know that! And MTT play is so feast or famine. I finished 5th and 25th in a couple of 3 table tournaments. Played both pretty well, but in the second one a short stack flopped a set on my KINGS, and then I am the short-stack. 8 hands later, I run a stop-n-go with AJ on a garbage board, just to get called by the big blind's improbable AQ. Cant say I would play either hand differently based on the situations and circumstances. So, there you go. But if I have online games, I can whenever I want to work on something. And now that Full Tilt has been found "short" covering deposits, it creates a longer road for all of us.

Omaha post!

2011-11-04T11:41:00.002-04:00

It looks more and more credible that there will be some sort of regulated on-line poker in the US in the next couple of years. When it does return, I will not be playing much hold'em. The more I play any other game, the more I see the common mistakes I used to see in Hold'em years ago. Mostly, players overvaluing hands.

I play Omaha relatively snug pre-flop, and I understand the "Deeb Rule" that most Omaha decisions are made on the FLOP (not the turn or river). So, when I sit down at an Omaha table, I commonly note two things:

1. Early in the session, players are wacky, stupid gamblers. Somehow sitting at a PLO table with just a buy-in, seems to make people feel inadequate and they will play volatile poker on purpose chasing the most unreasonable draws.

2. If they call a bet pre-flop, they will call ANY RAISE preflop.

I am at a 1-2 PLO table with a straddle. I am in early position with a marginal (very marginal) hand and I decide because of my middling connecting cards to limp and hope that we see a flop. Guy on my left raises to $25, 4 people call and I fold. Guys looks at me and asks, "How can you fold?'

Turns out he has a worse hand than me and had to fold to a bet on the flop. Two guys flopped pretty solid hands, but when someone now bets POT, its an all in this early.

After the hand, I explain to the guy. Look, when you guys "juice" the pot because you want to play big pot poker for some reason with marginal hands, all you do is create a situation where the first to bet the flop is all-in and the callers are chasing draws and gambling. If you want to gamble, play roulette. If you want to play poker, you dont make it $25 from early position with 23QJ two suited. WTF?

Needless to say, I never limped again from EP. Never should have. But I am not going to compound a marginal play with an awful one.

I did create a what I thought was an interesting situation when I was later dealt AA9x double suited and limped from EP. But when someone made it $25 again and everyone started calling, I got pissed and POT pre-flop all-in. EVERYONE called. Stupid. Two of the hands should never have called $25 and the third hand should never have called the $225. But one of the stupid hands flopped a straight with Q9 and STILL I was live to ANY HEART on the river. In the end, I did not improve and lost a Buy-in. Wow. What a game.

I pushed chips around for another hour after that, but it was clear that over the long haul, this was a game I was going to profit at. And each player played every hand consistently for his play, no guessing necessary. Like watching a movie after reading the book.

(I had taken $1400 out of this game a month ago, so despite the minor setback, feel even more confident now.)

On a side note, just to comment on Hoyazo's comments on the craptacular WSOP play. I never got the see the bubble bustout as my DVR cutoff. In watching that now, how does KQ call there? Ever? Just how did you get that far? Just wow.

WSOP and ESPN

2011-10-25T13:44:00.001-04:00

What many expected to be inevitable was finally announced today.. That's right, the NBC heads-up tournament is cancelled. Ha! I fool you. Ok ,really, did ANYONE watch two people playing "battleship" on TV? It just is not good TV. But, in a final coup for poker on TV, ESPN pulls the trigger on ending bad, edited poker and will open up the screens to their new, "See a flop, see the hole cards" philosophy. This worked so well in the early week of the WSOP, that I taped and watched all of it, sparing me the onslaught of pointless cutting to celebrities getting it all in, numerous interviews with Jason Alexander or 2 stupid dogs alumni Brad Garrett, and Norman Chad's "jokes". I actually just deleted the edited footage because why watch the highlight of a game that you already watched?

Bring on the future!

As for the future of the Full Tilt brand (today was employee cut-down day), it was widely publicized that there was a sale pending "Groupe Bernard Tapie", which broke in late Sept-early Oct. It was supposedly contingent on the settling of the DoJ suit. There are 3 notes here, which are speculation (but good speculation) on my part:

1. Subject to settlement of the issue means that they want the DoJ to unfreeze the funds and let the company keep them as assets. This would be used to attempt to pay back players of essentially (25%) of its liabilities/deposits. Why 25%? That's all the cash there is! This would end the new companies liabilities to depositors*.

2. That the DoJ will in effect, attempt to go after the Pocket Kings owners* and release the new owner from those liabilities and thus also potential lawsuits.

These are significant to both the DoJ and to the purchasers. Taipe could NEVER get item 2 if everyone washes their hands of the current liabilities to current depositors.
But the brand value is not there after paying 100% back, as the price is now to high. So, they offer to refund all the monies that the government unfreezes. Smart. and limits liability to what is already on hand. "everybody" wins. After all, do you want 25cents/dollar back or zed?

As for what Taipe PAYS for Full Tilt... Tapie has Pocket Kings over a barrel here and can pressure that "board" (if you can call it that) to "take what it can get before the value goes to zero". But it can't possibly be enough for the officers-owners to avoid bankruptcy and potentially a permanent ban from returning to the business. Not to mention the players who might literally "Beat the money out of them in a dark alley". If I were those guys, I would consider living LITERALLY outside the US.

And as I continue to maintain, do not compare this to poker-spot. It's like comparing a bank-failure tin 1930 to 2008. They are different animals.

3. And this is a big one... its in the best interest of Taipe to stall until they can see where H.R.1174 is headed. If it passes, they can recoup their investment relatively well. If it does not pass again and dies, they can pay rock bottom dollar for Full Tilt and take their sweet time drafting paperwork.

Repeat Offender

2011-10-03T12:43:00.000-04:00

Was there ever a lesson that no matter how hard someone beat it into you, just did not take? Mine is middle pairs on a single overcard board.

I worked my starting stack early and often Saturday, but kept running into "great places to peel a card to no avail" situations which kept giving back my marginal profits. Still, they were all good spots and I had options because of my accumulation of chips through a combination of some good reads and good situations. But with 12k in chips, the MP makes it $1100 (blinds were 200/400) with $5500 behind. I have 88 on the button. Such a bad spot. Folding is too weak, raising is too reckless (and really gets called 99% of the time). I can out her on any decent hand AK-AJ, pairs, even KQ/KJ. I call.

The flop is Q66 and she leads out for $3k.

And I just ship the $5500 thinking, "what are the odds? " In the moment, I felt I was unlucky there. But I really wasn't. I felt that way because I saw the hands.

Thinking about it NOW, what does she have here? She put in a standard raise, despite a short stack. If she raises all in and does not get called, she adds $600 to her stack of $7600. Not bad... But not necessary if M is between 10-11. Its very gray.

But what hand leads out there? I think a Q checks there. I really do. So I expect that a PAIR or AK leads out only. BUT if you are willing to BET on a missed flop with AK, you should have shipped it pre-flop with that stack size.... So, I am looking at a pair between say 55-AA. and I have 88. Sure, sometimes I can see 77 there. So, the entire time I am probably behind a hand like 99 or JJ.

Yet, I let two things cloud my judgement. "It's hard to make a pair in this game" and "she has a short stack". Neither of which really apply to a LEAD BET on this flop.

In my defense, I think it was a misread of her playing the hand poorly with a small pair. I was WAY off and she tabled AQ. I was floored and in retrospect she played the hand in such a way that she should not have gotten paid off. Yet there I was, counting out 1/2 my stack.

I never really recovered at the blinds quickly jumped to 400/800 and then at 500/1000 with my $7k stack I had to resort to stealing. When your 6 handed, 9dTd is a great steal hand because it hard to run into monsters and rare to run into A9 or AT so you are always live if called. But this time I run into KK and I finish 13/28... which SUCKS.

Still, I know I am not awful. Early in the night, I flopped middle pair and peeled another card vs. some running an aggro line. When he let me get to the river and a 3rd diamond fell, I think I am beat so I turn middle pair into a bluff and bet out. Top pair folds. Good spot to do that, and just a decent play. The comment that "I must beat top pair because I wasn't good enough to turn my hand into a bluff" was both amusing and mildly insulting. But it did speak to my image in some ways. When I do pick a spot to run a bluff, its because it makes sense.

So it finally happened

2011-09-30T12:01:00.001-04:00

Full Tilt Poker and Groupe Bernard Tapie Sign Acquisition Agreement

To whom it may concern: If you don't payout the monies, we'll all know this was a sham. If you DO pay back the monies, then we can go fore bore towards US online regulation and launching of online poker. After all, in not America then where? Oh, wait. Better backpetal...

In other news, is it just me or is the level of play in local poker rooms just horrendous? Didn't anyone learn anything? I sat down at a 1-2 table, first hand, FOLDED AJ. Why, because pre-flop betting was like 10x. Instead, I waited. Took a flop with 44 for $2, or so I thought until the BB raise to $25 and told me to fold. so I did. He flashes AA. That's right, I ran 44 into AA and lost 2 bucks. One rotation later, total loose cannon bets $20 and THREE people call. So, ok, I will call with KJ suited from the cutoff. The flop is JACK HIGH and RAINBOW. 3 checks and I simply ship it ($160). I get no callers. ONE HAND, $100 bucks. Cost to be patient, $19. Total profit: $81 Time Elapsed: not exactly sure, but it was the remainder of the 4th quarter of the Bucs-Falcons game so about 45 minutes. Had I been able to stay, the cannon (or should i say FOUNTAIN) on my left would have spewed the entire $500. That's right: The WORST player at the table talked the poker room manager into raising the buy-in level. WOW. Just WOW.

Spring Forward, Fall Back

2011-09-13T11:50:00.001-04:00

I am mostly optimistic, but I also cant claim ultimate victory. I played 2 MTT's this weekend and the entire "count 10" method of thinking has worked really well for me. And just to drive the point home, I went out on a donk play where I did not think the hand through. I made one bad decision all weekend, ending up 15th and 4th. The Lions came on strong to start the season, racking-up such dominance in the first half, that despite a second half full of player and coaching mental errors, practically coasted to victory over a team that is supposedly their equal. This may be the last time you see the Lions 3 point underdogs to a non-playoff team for a LONG time to come.Playing KC at home next week: EIGHT point favorites. How long has it been?

Testing out the new interface

2011-09-06T13:32:00.000-04:00

So I am composing this on the new blogpsot template. Even if its better, I dont think it deserves the exclamation point. Anyway, due to the holiday, this weekend is Double-Bonus Poker Weekend ! (deserving of exclamation point). In month 1, I finished a pedestrian 14th, after my AQ got called by A6 and LOST. Argh. I battled on from the short stack, but had to win 2 races and lost the second one. I am looking forward to improving on that finish this weekend.In league #2, I finished 2nd playing good solid blinds-are-high poker, where many cash game players get lost. When I played online, I spent more time on this than reading hands (for both the good and the bad) and now that online poker is lost to us, I am concentrating on hand reading. I am getting better, so its a mixed blessing (which apparently I paid $6k for).

Easy does it...

2011-08-19T12:36:00.000-04:00

Last night, the wife was working late so I stopped by the local charity card room on my way home. This time, I was the one felting players. I played pretty well, but went down to $40 on this call. I raise pre-flop and two guys call. I have 77 and the flop is AA6. Check, check, so I bet $15 and I get one caller, OOP. The turn is a second club and this time I bet $25 (into $50). He call, OOP with a naked 6. Really? The river is a 6c and he bets out $40. I sit there thinking, there is no way he would club draw from OOP with a pair on the board and one card to come. so I call to see his rivered sixes.

So armed with $150 I again take a flop via a limp call with 77. Flop is 722 and I check, two checks behind. Turn is an Ace, but to be honest, I already decided to bet $20 into the $30 pot regardless of the turn card. Bully for me, since the turn hit Mr. AK on my left and he ships in $100. Call.

So I am at about $250 when a regular players with whom I am familiar (cough* John *cough) raises to $10 and I min -raise from position with AQ. He calls and the flop ia AQJ. top two on a somewhat action board, but turns out he was cold-decked for the third time of the night when he calls my big turn bet with AJ.

so then the wife shows up from work and we have a nice dinner.

Interestingly (somewhat), was the nice little video I saw today on the power of simply thinking you are going to do well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfRVCaA5o18&feature=player_embedded

Apparently, thinking your better than everyone does improve your play. So uncheck that ego!

Catching up

2011-08-15T14:59:00.000-04:00

Two leagues have started this month, and its time to start thinking about poker again.

My first night was a bit frustrating. I watched a guy who seemed pretty readable, take an EP limp. I figure him for a small pp like 55. In the cutoff, I have 44 and limp to. The blinds come along and the flop misses everyone. On the river, I feel like I can turn my 44 into a bluff, but under bet (?) and he calls with 66. Perhaps he calls there no matter what. But I have about 8k in chips through the first 8 eliminations. Just before the table break, I button raise with A8 and short big blind shoves. I call and he shows A6. A 6 on the river and I am crippled. the table breaks.

I double up at the new table with TT getting me to $8k, but then I 3bet all-in with AK (because the blinds are 500/1000) and TT takes me out.

In the second league, a better result. I am frustrated and had to let go of a couple of hands after being out drawn (but good lay-downs!) And again, find myself with a starting stack size after 4 -5 levels. I end up getting my AQ all-in vs. Kings (in the blind?) and hitting the Ace. From that point on, when I was the smaller stack, I won the race. When I was the shorter stack, I would lose horribly like AJ vs. J8. But I cant complain as I woke up with JJ both times I needed a big hand, and both times JJ held. I finished second, despite not having a huge amount of strategic hands. I did bluff far more than usual after we were down to 4 handed, but in the end finally got caught heads up with 74s vs 88.

Interesting part of self awareness. My heads-up game is terrible. Which is funny, because my short handed game (6-3 players) is pretty darn good. I would practice this online, but alas I still dont have my freaking FT monies, nor do we have an online poker bill yet.

What I learned in the absence of online porker

2011-08-01T12:49:00.000-04:00

This might surprise you, but my game has improved since online poker has gone away. A strange thing was happening to my game based on the quantity of hands I could play in an hour. I did not value each hand.

It's a big hard to describe, but it became clear while watching the live WSOP coverage (which, by the way is boring as hell due to the Jamie Gold rule). Hands are won and lost through pattern recognition. If I can identify what your action means, then I should know the correct counteraction. This can be as simple or complex as you like, but there are so many more hands online that you can err on the side of caution, make mistakes, and still have opportunities. Live though, I cant afford to throw away an OPPORTUNITY to win a hand and wait for the next window. When an opponent check-calls the flop, and he check calls the turn, and a 4th spade falls on the river, Ben Lamb is betting out that river with air. More often than not, those check-calls are WEAK and a signal to pressure. But in online action, often we'll not fire that barrel because there is another better spot coming up based on quantity of hands. This is not CORRECT thinking, but a trap I was falling into. I would even justify things by "keeping the pot small" or some other line of reasoning. But in the end, NLHE is a game of position and manipulating opponents into making bad decisions. And if you make those decisions easy, then your opponents errors mean less.

Online poker coming to the UK!

2011-07-15T12:09:00.002-04:00

http://www.egrmagazine.com/news/1679057/government-announces-uk-gambling-reform-plans.thtml

Is the US close behind?

STOOPID

2011-07-15T12:08:00.000-04:00

More NLHE, more of the same. After running my $200 up to $400, I purposely changed tables to the harder competition. Then, over the course of two hours, made not one but THREE huge mistakes that robbed me of the entire stack.

Mistake 1: Allowed a player to bet flop and turn and when he "gave up" on the river, I did not bet when I had no chance to win the showdown with my broken draw. He won with Ace high.

Mistake 2: More of the same, but I FAILED to fire a third bullet from position and her missed draw beat my missed draw. SO BAD.

Mistake 3: See previous post. Flopped Top against flopped 6-8 straight. Standard for 1-2 poker and the fault is clearly on the RUST from NOT PLAYING.

In other OLD news:
Despite conversations that Full Tilt was selling off (7/7/2011) in about a week, a week has passed and I have not heard anything.

Omaha explosion

2011-07-14T12:06:00.000-04:00

One day after posting that I found a leak in my low-limit NLHE game, I went to the charity poker room to play some 1-2. I ran my $200 up to $300 and the floor person came over and said, "did you want the omaha seat that just opened up?"

DO I!!!

I dont know WHY I practically leaped at it. Perhaps it was the novelty of playing live omaha? Perhaps I figured on a bigger edge. Perhaps both.

I played for 2 hours... My win rate? $700/hr. at 1-2 PLO. really.

I am at the table for a few hands, when I take a flop with QQJx (dangler). Flop is QT3 rainbow. Since the pre-flop action was $10*4 players, I bet $40 with TOP SET against what can only be straight draws. Fold, Fold... but then the player in the 9 seat makes it $100. If he has straight draw, which is almost a given, my odds depend on if its a WRAP or not. But, even if it IS a wrap, I cant be worse than 50/50. If he has anything else but that nice KJ9 I am probably closer to 4-1.

I commit my stack of $165 over the top of his $100 and his calls. I always table my hand right away in Omaha (unlike hold 'em) and he says he needs and Ace. The turn is an Ace. "Really?" I say. "No, just screwing with you he says" and mucks his cards on the river blank card. (Set of tens?)

so now I have $600 and play for another hour or so laughing it up and having a good time when I get dealt an AAxx hand. I am almost always going to see a flop at least with this hand and this time I raise from early position to $10 and get 3 callers. (Remember I open raised this hand...)

I am somewhat excited to see a flop AsKs5c (2 spades). Top set against a ton of plausible draws. If someone holds the Ks here with another broad-way card (especially a spade), I could be in big trouble here. I am first to act and decide to put out a blocking bet of like $15 bucks. I get TWO callers. Ok, what card do I want on the turn?

BAM! 5s.

So its the 3rd spade, a possible quads for bottom set and I have the second nuts locked up. I have this great blank look on my face (another player says this after the hand, so that is not my comment) and I check.

the next player, thinking I hated the 5s, bets out $125! The player to his left goes all-in!

Now, you could argue that I should think this through, but I dont. I shove my chips in there like Hellmuth playing a cash game on TV. And the original raiser now calls.

Someone (same guy who will comment on my face after the hand) says "who has quds?". I confidently reply, "No One". and I am right.

I table my second nuts and both players fold. The second player had third nuts (Kings) and we are left to speculate what the original raiser had, but I suspect he made an uncharacteristic mistake and made his flush and missed the paired board somehow in his excitement. Its all I can think of.

I rake a pot of like $1k (in a $1-2 PLO game).

How am I so sure there was not 55 hand? I raise it pre-flop to $10. What hand with 55 calls? Some, but not all probably. And these guys seem to understand Omaha. But when you flop bottom set, its the worst feeling on all of Omaha. It FEELS like a strong hand, but more often than not, its a NOOSE. I bet the blocking bet now. On this board with AK and 2 spades, how could a set of fives just call? What, he is hoping to improve on his 1 out? There are just ZERO good card coming for the set of fives. If he has that hand and does not raise, then he in effect "gives up" and should not call the $15. He could raise pot and then fold to a re-raise, which may also be negative EV. (As I write this, I could have bet more on the flop but I dont think it changes much if I do.) But you NEVER try to call down an Omaha pot with TWO streets to come, with bottom set and no redraws. Its just a losing play.

When the turn pairs the five, if I DO have the immortal nuts and the pot is getting large, why do I risk betting a huge $125 pot bet or even RAISING that bet as the second player did, in a 3 way pot?! The other 2 players would BOTH be dead money and you want BOTH their stacks, not just one. As the holder of nuts-central, you are NOT doing anything to lose either of those players yet. I CHECK that turn. When the first guy bets $125, if he has quads he is hoping my action as the third plays is just stupid. He has to expect me to fold and that would be insane here. The second player re-pots to $300, and again if he had quads, he would NOT want to lose me yet when he can simply call and watch me put in another $100 and hope one of us remains stubborn on the river. Heck, he might lose BOTH of us here.

Perhaps I am over analyzing an action based game, but I am not hesitating with second nuts the way this played out. My money is going in. and it did.

-Fun with Omaha

Double Trouble

2011-07-13T10:53:00.001-04:00

I mentally inventoried my low-stakes play and found a HUGE cash-game leak. I am always paying off a flopped straight if I flop a strong hand. Terrible! In a tournament or higher stakes game the issue is more complex, but in a 1-2 or 2-5 game, its just not solid.

WSOP

2011-07-08T10:33:00.005-04:00

Day 1a had under 1000 players! The impact on poker by the DOJ is brutal. Now, what comes next? Is this the poster child for NO online poker
or is it a call to arms?

I hope ESPN joins the lobby to get a poker bill passed. I am ON the regulation bandwagon (always was), and UB proved there is a benefit.

It would also be nice to avoid another FT like meltdown in the future.

I saw the final table of the $50k on espn.com and I really enjoyed that. More raw footage please!

Full Tilt SOLD Rumor

2011-07-08T10:31:00.002-04:00

Interesting. If its true, they would be paying out the balances and we would get our money. I hope its true. Saw that over the holiday weekend out of the LA area.

Full Tilt is DEAD?!

2011-06-29T10:52:00.000-04:00

Full tilt is being shut down for being insolvent! So, there goes my bankroll. http://www.gamblingcontrol.org/userfiles/file/Media%20Statement%20-%20FTP%20suspension%20290611.pdf

Look, if I EVER hear one more bad word about Dutch Boyd, I am going to punch someone in the face. Talk about being vindicated. Here was a guy at a young age who took a shot and got arguably screwed by his bankers, and took over a decade of abuse for it. Now, the "experts" show everyone how it's done, right? Lessons learned and all that? Bull. Just lip service. These guys actually KNEW they were not covering bank. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW DO YOU NOT MAKE MONEY AS A SOFTWARE SERVICE? ALL YOU DO IS COLLECT RAKE AND PASS ON FEES? HOW THE HELL DO YOU LOSE MONEY DOING THAT? I mean, what are you costs? Servers? You dont even use up that much bandwidth.

This is a TRAVESTY on so many levels. You know what this is reminiscent of? Adelphia. And Enron to some extent.

Now, what comes next? Is this the poster child for NO online poker or is it a call to arms for regulation of online sites operating as a bank?

Want me to venture a guess as to what happened? Full Tilt "executives" decided they did not have to act like Poker tars did (professionally and ethically)and told the US that they would pay back the money when they were "darn good and ready". So the US called UK and said, "Hey, these guys are making a mockery of International Banking, shut it down". The arrogance that they were above US law eventually did them in. Poker Stars was very smart. We got away with it for a while. When the hammer comes down, we take the profits, refund the money and live to rake another day. THAT, readers, is the way its done.

Shameful. And what of Ivey and his suit? Well now, what better way to DISTANCE yourself from the others who may FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES? And poor Clonie Gowen, who was seemingly on to something, will never get a dime AND will have to get dragged into courts as a witness for the prosecution. I would not be feeling very good if I were say, Howard Lederer. I would be selling off assets and HIDING MY MONEY. Which is what I presume is happening and thus the elongated posturing and delays and avoidance of the press.

So dont talk to ME about Poker Spot and Dutch Boyd. Absolved fully as far as I am concerned (and probably long overdue).

Playing poker outside the US

2011-06-21T17:00:00.003-04:00

So as FullTilt continues to hold bankrolls hostage, has anyone taken them up on playing (i.e. moving) to outside the US? Could I get a Mexican drivers license, using a friends flat, and open a local bank acct to play out of?

On the other side of the coin, can I play Canadian and pull something similar? I mean, Ontario is less than an hour from me. This seems like an idea whose time has come: an international address instead of just a local address.

Perhaps 50 of us can rent an apartment in Ontario? Only 1 person has to physically sleep there and pick up the mail...

Rise Poker

2011-06-19T14:19:00.000-04:00

If you ever want to witness the greatest weakness of the internet, google up Rise Poker looking for reviews. Every single one is a post ASKING for feedback and then 2 or 3 posts with wide ranging opinions on everything BUT Rise poker.

What drives people to post responses that are based on ready 1 sentence of a post and then addressing whatever is the free-range thought that pops up? Stoopid.

Let me step up here. I loaded up Rise poker last night. I played a "free" SnG.
Here is my initial feedback

1. I KNOW its real poker software because I got sucked out on AND lost a race in a single SnG.

2. The FREE version with the Ads is so painful, that either you pay or you don't bother. Really, the fee play is there for the people who will never join. The ads themselves were crippling my laptop.

3. The engine is sub par, in that I cant change seats, re-size, etc. All the things we loved in the mature engines.

Ok. That being said, I cant really tell you how the subscription play is or how the tournaments are... YET. I intend to SOAP UP for the $240/yr (which I put down in a single tournament online, so how can I complain?!). I will report back shortly.

It helped immensely that heard of the site through Dr. Pauly and F-Train, otherwise I would still never even had Rise poker on my radar.

Oh, yeah. WHERE THE HELL IS MY FULL TILT MONIES?

League it up

2011-06-07T12:01:00.001-04:00

I missed online poker this spring. I had stored a bankroll to make a WSOP run and now that $$$ is caught in limbo. So I added a second league to my games next year and hope its enough poker to keep me going. I need my bankroll back Full Tilt!

Woe is poker, but more to the point...

2011-05-19T16:54:00.000-04:00

It's all gearing up for phase III in the evolution of poker (the next NASCAR). ESPN is going to go with "live" hole card play in the WSOP, the government plays hardball with the rouges to set up the sanctioned. And all of us in the meanwhile, await mystical Full Tilt payouts, complicated by rumors, impatience, and speculation.

That being said, it cant be good for Full Tilt... I wonder if Dutch Boyd is smirking?

Full Tilt impending doom?

2011-05-16T12:43:00.000-04:00

I don't know how else to take the fact that PokerStars returned my US money and Full Tilt continues to "work on it". I fear that working on it is actually a euphemism for 'trying to decide what if anything they are going to return'.

I am sure the situation is complex and multifaceted that it seems on the surface, but there is no downside to timely return of funds. Expect for the fact that you would no longer have them! And so what happens with Full Tilt reneges?

Flush over Flush

2011-05-11T16:02:00.000-04:00

I went into league night with a strong aggro desire. This worked well early and I pushed action pretty well and put chips to work. But when you take a flop with 74s and flop a flush, your going to get cracked by a bigger flopped flush (much like set over set). So be it. Was not deep enough to warrant different play, and believe me I took the time to work that out.

In then end I went from FIRST overall last year to unqualified this year. UGH.

Changing Landsacpe

2011-05-10T14:18:00.002-04:00

The beginning of the next era is coming soon. This year, the WSOP will be telecast tape delay 2 hours with hole cards on ESPN2. (the more events the better.) Expect regulation and a play by Harrah's to roll out the first domestic online sites.

What's to write about?

2011-04-26T15:03:00.000-04:00

I would like... (I would like? I would like a trip to Europe.) I would like to play in WSOP satellites online. I even stored up a bankroll to do it. Now that bankroll ($>1K, <$10k) is in limbo until the US Department of Justice can determine how to order that money returned (or so we assume at this point).

What's the use of debating or pointing out the issues here? Like with so many other political events of the decade, we are a nation divided. And no one speaks of what we have lost as a result. By being polarized by politics (right vs. left, religion vs. religion, etc) we have lost our sense of nationalism. You can ask any nut-job about what he loves and get the stoic reply of "God and country", but is it really the truth? If we love our country so much, then why do we fight so hard to defend what is WAS instead of what it IS?

The 1940s are not coming back (thank goodness). And everyone remembers the good parts of the 1950s but not the fact that it lead to the turmoil of the 60s (don't get me started on this dissertation on repressive society). And those golden financials of the 1980s? That came from the dawn of the Age of Information, not from superior monetary policy. But I digress...

The US is an amalgamation of conflicting agendas, conflicting religions, conflicting politics and conflicting people (see incarceration rates). Bad? who is to say? Chaos brings change, change avoids stagnation. But our common ground has eroded through "philosophical wars", widening income gaps, and the dawn of "opinionated news" (Edward R. Murrow is now John Stewart?). Instead of the UNITED states of America, we have been somewhat reduced to the Bickering States of America.

Let me detour to Wisconsin for a second and please put aside your polarized thoughts for a minute if you have them. There we some very important issues in Wisconsin, but to me there was a good set of ideas on both sides. Yet what we SAW was slanted public relations and rhetoric. Absolutely no attempts were ever made to sell the plan outside of the "inner circles". And you could even claim that it was purposefully avoided as to not be seen as "collaborating with the enemy".

The NFL labor dispute went the opposite way, with both sides quickly trying to sell their agenda to each other and to the general public. In listening to the radio, many people have listened to the arguments and formed opinions. But to me it is clear that without being able to operate as a league instead of 32 competing businesses, the NFL is doomed to be 6 teams. In their case, they already had a working model and tore it down.

Whatever happened to debating a decision until it was made, but once it was made, getting on board and making it work? Don't we all do that everyday of our professional lives? Then why is it so damn hard to support a president (any elected president) for a lousy 4 years? (NOTE: I am a REPUBLICAN and I am saying this!) So you cant get $5 Gagillion (sic) cut from the budget. Take the compromise and move forward. (We live in an age where they brought back the Tea Party. Really? Are you kidding me? Is there a monarchy I don't know about?) Instead we reach some middle ground and fight tooth and nail to NOT be there. WTF?

Here is where I choose to wrap this up. It's not that we cant find any middle ground on anything but rather that we are choosing to fight against being there. Against inevitability itself. Because if you crush down 48% of the people, you crush down 48% of America. And where is the "victory" in that?

-Joe Consumer

p.s. why do I get the feeling that after 40 years of verbal mocking, Canada is laughing at us instead of with us?

Time to recycle my last header

2011-04-18T11:27:00.002-04:00

Ummm, WTF? No more online poker for 2011? Really? is that what its come to?

WTF? What is going on?

2011-04-14T12:43:00.000-04:00

I have really let this go, eh? I have not been playing enough to develop new thoughts on strategy... but I have been thinking quite a bit about it as of late.

I am playing in an invitational this weekend, and lets see what I'll be concentrating on.

1. AGGRESSION.
2. See #1

I have been readying quite a few war strategy books lately, and there is a common theme. There is no substitute for making you opponent have to adjust. To anything.

Feel interest returning...

2011-03-26T15:47:00.001-04:00

... the urge to 3 bet coming on...

Frustrating Bubble

2011-03-14T20:28:00.000-04:00

Played great poker this evening. I mean, really close to perfect. But in the end went out on the bubble when I lost 3 hands in a row, all getting my money in ahead. No coin flips the entire route. So, frustrating as it was, played well.

But its trying to convince me to skip WSOP this year.

MTT and a somwhat spoiled attitude

2011-03-14T12:01:00.000-04:00

I do have to admit that I am a tad frustrated that playing ABC good poker is so incredibly ineffective lately. I mean, I had a lucky break when my AK flopped an Ace on KK, but then it all went downhill as I lost 4 straight all-ins with dominating hands (AQ vs. A8 for example), pushing me from the top 25 to out in an hour.

But, I will say this. I LOVE CAP ENTRY TOURNAMENTS. I was so sick of playing with 800 people, then after an over an hour there are 900 people, because 600 late registered.

I played a 500 cap. under 300 started, and sure enough players keep coming. But in a cap, it STOPS. If I could, I would play ONLY CAP entry MTT online from now on.

Embracing the Future

2011-02-22T13:22:00.000-05:00

Would you in today's day and age build the DIY table, or go for the all electronic table?

http://www.videopokertable.net

I, for one, am impressed not by the electronics, but the effort put into the software. Looks better than the electronic casino tables.

Fool!

2011-02-14T09:25:00.000-05:00

If there is one thing that always frustrates me about cash games, its watching a player spew chips and when I finally get a crack at the fountain, he draws out. But this is not a bad-beat complaint. No, rather my inability to spew small amounts of pre-flop chips in order to trap people with boats made with Q2o. Yet, across the table is a guy who saw 3 turns all night. Each time he had a boar. And each time the other player with a pair would keep betting into him and paying him off.

I remember now what I love about tournaments. You cant just sit there and spew chips hoping for the perfect flop one day.

Talk about Cliche

2011-02-07T16:21:00.000-05:00

If you want to win a tournament, you have to win your share of races. Once again, I played well but went 0 for 1 in the results column. Avoiding getting my money in behind and not calling off with 44, got me to 13th (of 30), but was surprised when KT called my eventual all-in. He had 1600 in the BB and I moved in for only 8.5k, so its not awful. But he is very lucky there I have 99. King on the river and its over for me.

So much comes down to a big race. And I made two huge moves on pots with air just to get that far, so I cant hide behind being passive. I doubled up early (to 20k), but ended up having to release 3 hands in big pots over the next 90 minutes, that put me back to 12k, which forced the inevitable cliche.

You got to win a race. Especially the FIRST.

Multi-entry tournaments

2011-01-27T15:04:00.001-05:00

The beginning of the end. And to think that today a majority of the MTTs $24-$150 seem to be ME, I have to ask myself, "Am I no longer the target customer for FT?"

AD-DUH-DUM:
OOPS! This is ME week at FT!!! April fool? ok, I did not know that. Although I still hate MEs.

WSOP

2011-01-25T11:16:00.000-05:00

The schedule of events has been released and I am meeting it with new trepidation. I have to admit, I had a lousy time last year. I not only ran bad, I scheduled poorly and spent undo hours not having fun. Not this time.

Get it, play an event (two if I flame out of the first), visit the new "retroarcade bar" and get the hell out of dodge.

#32 is NL $1500 Sat the 18th at noon with a consolation $1k Sun at noon. Quick and dirty. $2500 max exposure.

A more ambitious route would be the following weekend.
#41 is the SHOOTOUT, Friday the 24th at noon, followed by the Saturday $1500 NL at noon and again the consolation $1k on Sunday. Now that would be $4k and that is alot of dough, so I am not prone to take this lightly.

Perhaps some qualifying efforts are in order. If I DONT cash in my league, and boy have I run bad, I won't spend $4k. No way.

Let the satellites begin!

Signs of the times?

2011-01-18T11:17:00.000-05:00

The two things I noticed in that last couple of days are changes to the FT withdrawal options due to "temporary complications" and the Home Games offering on Stars. I dont know how either are going to work, but I am testing both so that I DO know how both are going to work.

Its interesting that stars is offering this option, but I have ALWAYS felt it was ridiculous that I had to work through support to schedule reoccurring online games. Let's hope this is a permanent trend.

CASH?

2011-01-17T11:47:00.000-05:00

Yup, longtime MTT only player is sitting at the $3/$6 ring and $50 or $100 SnG tables as of late. Mostly due to time constraints. But I am also seeing some pretty darn bad play out there also. I did get stacked once when my overpair ran into a set, but other than that, its been going pretty well.

Thank goodness I dont bet on football. Gez, what a couple of weekends.

2011-01-13T21:22:00.002-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: XXXXXX 717130

Harsh Reminders

2011-01-10T10:59:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I forget that there will be days where you sit down at a table to play cards and get dealt dreck for 4 hours. And worse, trying to represent non-dreck results in running into real hands. I made some great folds, escaping 99 when he had KK and things like this, but all-in-all, just never really won any pots Saturday.

As I play the hands back through my mind, MAYBE I dont fold 76 (BB) on a K73 flop when he c-bets, but I would be pot committed with even a call.

Middle pair was my best flop of the night. I did not even flop a single DRAW. So, it was home to watch football and SNL.

Getting my feet wet

2011-01-06T14:07:00.000-05:00

I sat down and fired up the virtual tables, encouraged through bonus clearing reinforcement. (It's just like MMORPG gold mining?). I played some $2/$4 and some 10 mix. Wild variance in the 10 mix left me even, and a moron at $2/$4 had my down $60 on a any-two-card-shove pre-flop until I took it all back from him and took a big hand off another eastern block player overplaying aggro poker. So I was up about $130.

Yesterday, I gave it all back in SnGs. A $24 SnG killed me when I was happy to have A6o call my KK pre-shove. Only to see it go down in flames. Meh. Starting with only $1500 in chips, I'll take that situation every time. In the larger $100 SnG I finihsed 4th, bubbling when I lost two significant hands on a dominated call. Not expecting that 4 handed.

But I did get some play in for a couple of days, and played relatively well, so there is that. I am looking forward to some live poker this Saturday!

Mentally Vexed

2010-12-15T15:00:00.000-05:00

There's an expression for you. I made a half hearted attempt to login to an online site yesterday, only to forget my password and get distracted by something shiny. Part of it is the new job, part of it is the mental distraction of the holidays, and some of it is even the Reid bill saga. Am I supposed to flee with my funds the moment it passes or simply ignore it as "much ado about nothing"?

And even this medium. This blog type medium. Where is it going? or perhaps more correctly, where is it fading away to? Perhaps as a content provider who is ONLY chronicling a stupendous rise to mediocrity, this blog has run its course (sort of like leaving on a drive to LA and ending up in San Diego).

I could say "time will tell", but lately time=stress. Perhaps this is why young players dominate long tournaments. Time is a simple commodity of which they are overloaded. I seem to be treating idle time as paramount to say smoking, an event that shortens your life.

I watched the first couple of episodes of Mad Men last night to see what all the commotion was about. I dont think the show is for me, and I dont feel like watching it just because everyone else likes it. Talk about digressing...

I missed the WPBT last weekend, and that also took its mental toll as I cursed the poker gods. And yet, I have too much to be thankful for to really be anything more than "sorry I missed it. Next year for sure."

2 months ago, I was close to last in my league (as was its host). I bet someone that we would both make the top 11 out of 27) by the end of the league getting 6-1 odds I think. I came in second that month, and in December my accomplice won. Neither was particularly pretty, but we continue to climb the ladder. It has to go better than my "Lions will win 5 games this year" bets. (Note: I will make that same bet next year!)

Another Tale of Two Kings

2010-12-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

After early level success, I had a combination of bad table position and bad cards. With about 1/2 the field gone, my double-avg size stack was tiny. I have maybe $12k (avg is $35k) and I finally get a hand: KK.

An action player who had made many marginal plans and got rewarded this evening is on my left and he raised (I am in the blind) to like $1800. Now I can re-raise all-in, and expect him to fold and rake a pot of like $4k. OR, I can bet half my stack (say $5k) and expect him to CALL, and expect him to call the post-flop push, as probably a 3-1 favorite (as he probably has a weak Ace... yet again).

I dont know how you play, but I am NOT letter a weak ace get away pre-flop here. I bet 1/2 my stack, he calls with Ah3h. Flop is Th9h3c and when I shove, he now calls again as a dog, because he hit the flop. But in the end, he draws out and I go out.

But, that is the way I play.

Totally NOTHING to report

2010-11-29T13:38:00.000-05:00

Really. In a strange way, I found myself AVOIDING opportunities to play poker this weekend and instead work on minor house remodeling/decorating projects. And hacking my Wii. And playing XBOX. and staring. Which brings me to the thought that I am rebelling against poker since I am to miss the WPBT extravaganza in Vegas for the first time in 5 years. So much booze. So many straddles.

Felted!

2010-11-17T14:50:00.000-05:00

Why do I like tournament poker better than cash games? It's just really hard with 40-50 BB to get away from a set regardless of the board. And if you have top-set second nuts, you are not going to escape from the unlikely change that someone called a 4x raise with 2d4d.

Still, no one to blame but yourself. Move in with top-set and lose... It happens, move on. At least it wasn't Kings into Aces pre-flop!

Putting it all together

2010-11-05T09:40:00.000-04:00

A short while back, I made the affirmation that I was going to play more hands. I did this because of what I know of game theory and war strategy. The more dangerous you are, the more confrontations you can avoid. Its a simple postulate, but a psychological truth.

But it dawns on me this morning that me implementation strategy is flawed. Playing more hands may increase opportunity (and volatility), but the real way to strike fear into your opponents is to be dangerous. This is OFTEN misquoted and misinterpreted by players and people to mean aggression. And there is a great deal of truth to that. But that is more of a tactical view. What you really want to do is constantly create uncomfortable situations for your opponents.

You see this often on TV poker and you can read a great book length article on it in doubleas book "pressure poker". You find situations where you can apply pressure to your opponent. But what was missing from this (and also missing from the book) is the psychology behind it. Which is tied very closely to timing and its success or failure. The WSOP main event illustrates this very well. "When your opponent seems to want to play a small pot, pressure hit with a big bet. When your opponent wants to play a big pot, frustrate him with a fold." Obviously we see the first part of that statement in aggression at the table, but not enough credit (on TV certainly) is given to the second half. Denying your opponent the opportunity to set the pot size is in my opinion the single biggest asset next to your cards themselves.

How does Annette play an entire SnG or MTT without looking at her cards? This is how. Creating uncomfortable situation and obviously not disclosing the fact that she is playing blind.

Finally, an update

2010-10-15T09:07:00.000-04:00

Well, life is in chaos. But change brings growth and that is what learning is all about. Maybe its the change of scenery, or perhaps its my internal growth, but my way of viewing hands has changed.

I have a new job, and at the executive level times are tough, so I embrace it rather than grouse. I have a 40 min commute. Average to some, but the longest of my career. In addition, I walked into a 120m company with the tech infrastructure of the 1980s. Really, you think I am joking, but alas I am not. The CEO uses AOL email still. You cant make this stuff up.

As for reading, I picked up a book called The 33 Strategies of War, by the author of my favorite book of all time, the 48 Laws of Power. If you have ever read Sun Tzu, you immediately take away that most battles are won before they begin. The equivalent in poker is playing hands and knowing your stuff. But so many players are decent and well prepared now, it just is not enough of an edge. If you read the 33 Strategies of War, the biggest thing you take away is that the best generals could improvise against the grain. i.e. come up with strategies on the fly that were based on exploiting tenancies. If you are a big NFL fan (and I mean an X's and O's guy, not that fantasy crap) you know that tenancies and weaknesses are exploitable.

All this comes to a point. I am changing my style a bit moving forward. I am going to play a bit more aggressive and play about 5% more hands. And I am going to use those hands to attempt to exploit my opponents and keep them on the defense. This, is paramount to today's game. Watching the WSOP on ESPN (too many all-in preflop hands on TV) simply confirms this. You need to be able to "run more plays" to get ahead.

I played the ante-up 5 card single draw tournament Wednesday night and made the final table. I like this game, but there are no "simple bluffs". If you are going to bluff in single draw, you really have to set it up pre-draw. For Example, if you have a strong image, you can draw two after a raise from position and know you are probably going to take down the pot better when the player who drew 3 checks. Even though you have nada. On the other hand, if you have a lame image, they will assume you have held onto your Ace kicker (very lame). I saw at least TWO players doing that. Wow. In the end, its hard to fold a dealt 2 pair pre-flop when the blinds are high. I had to once, and was crippled and then not a few hands later could not (no chips) and again was shown trips (pre-flop).

This Saturday, I have a deep stack $200 live game with a field of about 100. Should be a good one. Last time I went out early when a guy boated on the river, and I didn't fold. Lame. But I'll play better this time.

Terrible MTT session

2010-10-09T17:05:00.002-04:00

3 tournaments, zero success. Why? I think its lack of concentration more than anything. If I am going to play, it has to be with the eye of the tiger, not the apathy of a koala.

Poker Anecdote

2010-10-03T11:22:00.000-04:00

Last night I am playing at league night. I have bled off 20% of my stack missing flops. I hit zero of them. So, folds around to the button and "villain" makes a raise. I also noted he played his last 4 buttons or so (but I am not sure). I look down at Ac7c, so I call. I have already decided on a course of action for my hand if I hit an Ace.

Flop is 8cAdJh. I decide that I will check raise the c-bet. The c-bet comes for maybe 1500 and I come over the top for 7k all in. Now, that is a big bet, but he calls with TPTK. I figure that a bigger Ace here (but not AK) may fold. Tough call, but certainly reasonable. The turn is a 7 and I win the hand from behind. Not that I am proud of my play here, but now I feel like I have to defend it because this guy is pissed.

Even after a short discussion, he says something under his breath. With strangers I would let that go, but not in a league. I bring it back up. His logic is that he "never plays marginal hands, and thus cant have just a Jack there." He solicits confirming opinions from another player at the table. No way this guy would make a button raise with a hand like KJ or QJ. Fine. Ok.

As usual with this kind of story, fast forward maybe an hour at the most. Folded around to him on the button and he raises. I decide to CALL in the SB with KQo. I have this hand in the blinds because of the trouble it can cause. You could argue for a raise since the antes kicked in, but perhaps this guy has AK again. Ok, so the BB calls and we end up going to the river since no one can beat the pocket pair of 77 from the BB. He shows JsQs!! The EXACT hand he states he NEVER plays.

Moral of the story: Phil Hellmuth is a genius. Really. By going on a tirade, people give you credit for tighter play. Try it!

More Thoughts

2010-09-15T14:20:00.000-04:00

Got my ass out of the office this week and rode my new bike to the grocery store. I had watched the WSOP coverage the night before, and as I recalled the information I was amazed at how few interesting hands there were. I mean, most played themselves. Very boring. Even the occasion bluff seemed well timed and a good spot for it. I even followed Jean-Robert Bellande's bluff logic as he bet 3 streets into trips I think. Happens.

I am disappointed that the Lions are already on their back-up QB. I guess the NFL is not like poker. No injury substitutions.

Playing the 6-max $22k today. I like the format. You see more "stab bluffs" that have to be countered, and players show more patterns in 6-max.

Job? yeah, yeah, let me finish Mass Effect 2 first. ok, seriously, two jobs with 3rd interviews this week. People afraid of making a mistake I presume.

I still like MSFT for a buy and hold. The revenue stream from xbox live is so good, that PS3 and Wii were forced to add those services. That and they print money like IBM does as of late. Equities = gambol

Thoughts and Notes

2010-09-10T14:05:00.001-04:00

Job hunting has been "fun", but I am glad its coming to a close. I have 3 or so viable ones in the final stages, plus a couple of backups in the pipeline. Overall, I expect to be working and saying goodbye to the daily $42k sometime in the next 30 days.

I'll miss that daily practice, albeit at the $24 level. I decided that my future play will be at the next level or higher ($69+) from now on. This is a big change (moving up levels), but in forays into the higher levels, things have gone relatively well.

In other thoughts...

I wanted to play at an online casino so I looked up online casinos and found http://www.casino.org/us/ as a site that lists a few. Should be an interesting site to watch going forward.

Its interesting that Harrah's has not surfaced in DC as of yet, but I am expecting it soon after the election.
I expect some sort of online poker in the US, but you must be a US owned and operated Brick and Mortar casino to get a license. This will all but crush the offshore entities for about a year as they scramble to find a way to land a beachhead.

Really? THRID (sic) best hand here???

2010-09-08T17:36:00.001-04:00

Full Tilt Poker Game #23732823713: $8K Super Stack (Early Antes)
Seat 1: columbo (5,370)
Seat 2: digit67 (2,808)
Seat 3: kampi 08 (8,858)
Seat 4: chrispy2005 (2,466)
Seat 5: xiiviix (6,569)
Seat 6: COUNT TRON (3,988)
Seat 7: Reebak (9,213)
Seat 8: DomeMish (8,670)
Seat 9: EvalEvan66 (4,475)

everyone antes 10
columbo posts the small blind of 40
digit67 posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #9

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [7s 5s]
chrispy2005: wp?
kampi 08 folds
chrispy2005 raises to 200
xiiviix calls 200
COUNT TRON folds
Reebak folds
DomeMish calls 200
EvalEvan66 folds
columbo calls 160 (why not?)
digit67 calls 120

*** FLOP *** [3s 8s 4s]
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo checks - decide to check-raise all-in here with the super draw...
digit67 bets 1,090
chrispy2005 folds
xiiviix raises to 6,359, and is all in
DomeMish folds
columbo calls 5,160, and is all in
digit67 calls 1,508, and is all in
xiiviix shows [Ks Qs]
columbo shows [7s 5s]
digit67 shows [As 8c]
Uncalled bet of 1,199 returned to xiiviix

*** TURN *** [3s 8s 4s] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [3s 8s 4s 9s] [Kd]
xiiviix shows a flush, King high
columbo shows a flush, Nine high
xiiviix wins the side pot (5,124) with a flush, King high
digit67 shows a flush, Ace high
digit67 wins the main pot (8,884) with a flush, Ace high

*** SUMMARY ***
Seat 1: columbo (small blind) showed [7s 5s] and lost with a flush, Nine high
Seat 2: digit67 (big blind) showed [As 8c] and won (8,884) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 5: xiiviix showed [Ks Qs] and won (5,124) with a flush, King high

How I LOATHE the Button Straddle

2010-08-24T09:37:00.000-04:00

Why? Let me spell it out. It takes any game and forces it to play 1 level higher, without the stacks. For example, in a 1-2 game the button straddle is $5. So, you are playing a $2-$5 game, but the buy-in is only $200 max. So, you are forced to play a bigger game against stacks that have accumulated at the table with only 40 BB.

Yes, that REALLY bothers me. It changes the game in that the table play is looser, but most of the time the loose play is unjustified. Worse, if you are not getting cards, you bleed chips relatively quickly.

Here is a scenario. You see some flop (at $5-$10 each) and miss EVERYONE and have to refill even though you have NOT LOST A HAND. The stack to your left is $800 and ALWAYS button straddles and often raises it. So, a new girl on his left limps. I look down at 88 and its a perfect place to see a 4-5 handed flop. I limp too. The button makes it $20 to go and then the UTG girl, who is being tricky with QQ, re-pops to $45.

She only has $120 behind and this button guy is probably going to call pre-flop, but who can be sure. Do I want to play for $45 with 88 in a $1-$2 game??? No, of course not. I am WAY behind and I would need to win a pot of $400 to have justified the call. She only has $120. And if I miss the flop, which I will 7 out of 8 times, I just called off 9 BB in a losing effort.

The flop was A8X. Figures.

But my point is that the people building big stacks (and another guy was stuck $400 before he won a pot and started to build a stack) are doing it getting their money in with total disregard for EV.

Conclusion: Its a donk-fest only you dont have the usual edge you would at said fest. Your best bet is to build a stack fast, but if you keep getting "see a flop hands", you had better hit a few of them.

Poker and Football (NFL that is)

2010-08-21T13:28:00.000-04:00

Why do I love football so much? Because I am constantly amazed at the Xs and Os of it. The coaches and their game plans and the scheming are riveting to me.

I approach poker tournaments like an NFL coach. I have a game plan based on the structure and then call plays based on the situation. This is probably why I am a tournament player vs. a cash player. I put the situations first and try "reads" on a player second. (I do the reverse if playing cash).

So, I was sort of bemused last night when a comment was made about my play style. We have 12 players, so it becomes an extended SnG. Short-handed, then full table, then returning to short handed. I for one love short-handed play in this situation. But apparently someone had been stat-hunting and made a comment that I am not aggro enough to be good short-handed. I found that intriguing. (I still think being aggressive at 6-max is over-rated.)

In a 6-max tournament, you really have to open up your starting hands and fight a bit harder for pots. But I am not a believer that you simple change out your game-plan styles for 6-max. That's debatable I know. But in a 12 person home-game, there is no comparison to a full field 6-max tournament.

My game plan for this more SnG situation is simple. (Nods to Jen Harman here). No Limit is a game of trapping. With big stacks and big fields, you are trapping post-flop. In a smaller field with smaller stacks, I am more likely to utilize the Phil Hellmuth method of trapping. Pre-flop raises, laydowns to re-raises, until you cultivate situation where you think you have gotten an edge pre-flop.

Sure, at one point with 5 or 6 left (this hand will be OMM e107) I had to lay down what turned out to be the best hand (although I still outlasted that player to get to the chop at the end). But more often, I was trying to play big pots with my big hands pre-flop.

To me, in a big field AK is a drawing hand. In a shorter stack or smaller field short-handed, AK is a TRAPPING hand (and sometimes AQ for that matter).

Sure, even in 6-max I treat UTG as UTG (nods to Lee Childs), but usually I am playing hands I might discard at a full table (AJ, the Cosenza, etc.). And I will "float" more, but I am still not going to be stupid and bluff off large amounts of chips under the guise of aggression.

Lions News: status of the 3 year plan

2010-08-19T13:55:00.000-04:00

Why did the Lions trade for a DE last night?

Take a look at this diagram. The Lions are on a 3 years plan, and a competent one. I was critical at first, because I always felt you built from the defense up. But in the pass-happy NFL, you have to build from the QB first. So year 1 they assess their offense and grab their QB. The use "talent fill-ins" on defense, determining their targets.

Year 2: they finalize their offensive based on year 1 weaknesses (Calvin being triple teamed was a big indicator) and fix the TRENCHES. That is right, the priority was the TRENCHES. Solidified LG. Two BIG MASSIVE impact DT. And SITUATIONAL DEs. Speed rushers AND edge containment guys.

2011: The "back 7" will be finalized. Everyone there this year, with the exception of Delmas, is competing for a 2011 job. This includes the CB trades, Peterson, and the new crop of discarded safeties from other teams.

It seems worth stating that the Lions aspire to 8-8 this year. 7-9 will be disappointing, based on their plan. 9-7 would be something to be ecstatic about as it confirms that the moves to date have had a huge impact. But rest assured, the Lions will be interesting instead of the doormat of the NFC North.

Poker's Prisoners Dilemma

2010-08-08T11:17:00.000-04:00

You have 8500 in chips and are dealt KK in the BB. The level is 100/200 (antes start next level). With 3 limpers at 200 each, deciding what size raise took me a second thought. In the end, I voted for 1000 (not 1200). First limper folds, second (BUTTON) calls, third folds.

Ok, so the pot is $2500 and you have $7500 behind. Assuming that an Ace does not flop, you are going to lead out a good percentage of the time. The lead would be anywhere from $1000 to $2500 depending on the flop. Standard would be about $1500-$1800.

The flop comes 78Q with 2 spades (My kings are red). My opponent can have a wide range, but based on the limp call on the button, I am going to have trouble putting him on a hand. After thinking that only a Q will call, I decide to bet only $1000. This is light, but in a home game, c-bets and turn bets often fall into bad habits of "same size as last bet" traps, and I figured it would look like that.

After betting the $1k, my opponent raises to $3k. Here now is the dilemma:

You have a strong holding vs. a wide range at an early level. BUT, you have $2k in

Here is my criteria for a fold:
1. Did my opponent take control of a hand? If so, why
2. Did my opponent reach the tipping point first?

In this case, he took control of the hand and yet I cant see him trying to "take it away" on this flop. Especially for that much of his stack. He also reached the tipping point first. Based on criteria, I should have seriously considered a fold. Yet because of stack size, I did not.

I really am thinking about this hard...

It's time to post again

2010-08-05T11:20:00.000-04:00

I took a surprise break from the grind for a week or two as my day job evaporated. Sure, I hired on knowing the goal was to sell the company, so I should chalk it up as another victory. But financials were disappointing in this market, and thus this IT executive is looking again. Hopefully, another growth company that needs scalability, technology, operation expertise, and above all needs a guy like me.

Job hunting can be mentally taxing (certainly isn't physically) and so I am very cognizant of my brain and moods at a given moment.

When I finally did sit down yesterday and play the $42k, I notice things again that I take for granted. Specifically, the period of a tournament where 50% of the field is gone until the 15% mark. This is where the M starts to grind away and the deep stacks portion of the tournament is coming to a close. You may have more than average when this begins, but if you play passive, you will be a short stack or flame-out at the 15% - 10% mark. It's the tipping point of an MTT and is only relevant in large fields, but online its a must have skill.

I am trying to work on skills that really work in this range. You cant force too much action, but you cant just "wait for hands" either.

VERY apprehensive about playing right now... (job bad beat)

2010-07-20T15:03:00.001-04:00

I am apprehensive about playing right now due to the fact that I am looking for a new job. And let's face it, 90% of poker (past the amateur levels) is concentration and deep thought. In the face of such uncertainty, I think it would be severely -EV to sit down and try to concentrate. I can just picture the recent chain of events (all out of my control) leaking into the silence and mood-tilting me.

I have been in IT and technology a long time. I got so good at it, that my last 3 companies were all purchased! I made considerable contributions to the bottom line and in customer satisfaction ratings, so I am in some ways a victim of my own success.

I am hoping that all that success translates to opportunity, but its a tough market. I would also like to say a public thanks for the people that have taken some time to refer me to others in their network. I am amazed at the generosity and kindness that can come from people you only get to see occasionally.

more to come...

What to do?

2010-07-09T19:16:00.000-04:00

4 tables left in the $42k and the level is 4k/8k/1k and you are dealt 99 in the BB.
EP raises it to $18k. You have about $185k as does the EP raiser.

DEFEND?

$42k play as of late

2010-07-01T10:21:00.001-04:00

I am playing well until the antes reach 50, then instead of ramping up the aggro, I bleed chips. This is probably the hardest part of any tournament, playing at a full table when you cant wait for good situations. Perhaps I should practice by playing 6-max cash?

In other news, I really, really want to change from donkaments to shootouts moving forward, but suddenly there are fewer choices for shootouts on the online sites. Why is that?

Lost Vegas!

2010-06-29T12:12:00.002-04:00

Transperancy and suck-age Part V (4th hour)

2010-06-23T17:13:00.000-04:00

(12) Easy shove, bad luck

Full Tilt Poker Game #21829287690: $42,000 Guarantee (168285862), Table 143 - 500/1000 Ante 125 Seat 2: Toni_Jensen (8,461)
Seat 3: poil76 (61,025)
Seat 4: columbo (5,757)
Seat 5: Just4fun_Kara (26,870)
Seat 6: bigcon-cret (74,508)
Seat 7: buldos (12,269)
Seat 8: Jazzinitup (68,081)
Seat 9: Gosha1966 (26,824)
antes 125
poil76 posts the small blind of 500
columbo posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #2

Just4fun_Kara folds
bigcon-cret folds
buldos folds
Jazzinitup raises to 2,345
Gosha1966 folds
Toni_Jensen folds
poil76 folds

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [Th Ts]
columbo raises to 5,632, and is all in

Jazzinitup calls 3,287
which still tells me nothing in that he is going to call any shove here.

columbo shows [Th Ts]
Jazzinitup shows [Ad Ah]
*** FLOP *** [5h 2d 8c]
*** TURN *** [5h 2d 8c] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [5h 2d 8c 8h] [6h]
columbo shows two pair, Tens and Eights
Jazzinitup shows two pair, Aces and Eights
Jazzinitup wins the pot (12,764) with two pair, Aces and Eights

Out 193rd, pays 189. A true bubble-boy!

So, played well or played poorly?

Transperancy and suck-age Part IV (4th hour)

2010-06-23T17:04:00.000-04:00

(#11) UTG makes it 1800 and there is an all-in caller. I have 67o in BB and tank, but eventually fold. AQ vs. KT and the flop comes 6 high. turn and river blanks. Was that really the spot?

It was 1000 to call 4000 but the money would be lost without hitting the flop vs. 2 players.

Man, I am going to be thinking about this for a while.

Comments?

Transperancy and suck-age Part III (3rd hour)

2010-06-23T16:56:00.000-04:00

Fold AJo in the SB vs.UtG 3x raise. He had Ac7c?! Makes Flush (vs. shorty all-in caller)?? WTF Bulgaria??

(8) A tough hand with middling pairs. Unless you hit the flop!
Full Tilt Poker Game #21828063281: $42,000 Guarantee (168285862), Table 40 - 150/300 Ante 25
Seat 1: columbo (10,182)
Seat 2: W24W73 (16,350)
Seat 3: rubin-bg (10,393)
Seat 4: p4tricio (2,858)
Seat 5: Thorodor (4,720)
Seat 6: SirRui (9,841)
Seat 7: nicklas87 (7,610)
Seat 8: SKRUB-ALF (6,165)
Seat 9: Sgtlion (4,685)
everyone antes 25
The button is in seat #8
W24W73 folds
rubin-bg folds
p4tricio folds
Thorodor folds
SirRui raises to 700
nicklas87 folds
SKRUB-ALF folds
Sgtlion folds

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [8c 8h]
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo calls 400
*** FLOP *** [8d 2s Qc]
columbo checks
SirRui bets 1,200
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo calls 1,200
*** TURN *** [8d 2s Qc] [6d]
columbo checks (not sure this was a good idea, he will check behind many, many hands. But if he has zed, then its ok)
SirRui checks
*** RIVER *** [8d 2s Qc 6d] [Qh]
columbo bets 1,900
SirRui has 15 seconds left to act
SirRui has requested TIME
SirRui calls 1,900
*** SHOW DOWN ***
columbo shows [8c 8h] a full house, Eights full of Queens
Seat 6: SirRui mucked [Td Ah] - a pair of Queens

OMG! Handed me $1900 in chips on a HERO CALL! Thanks!

Raise to 1k with AhQh in cutoff, no callers. (200/400/50)

(9) Sat stunned with 55 (folded to me) in MP and decided to just call. Cutoff with only 1800 shoves. SB re-shoves for 5k and I fold it.   AT vs. AK re-shove. K on river. I would have called the 1800 I think.   So, all's w4ll that ends w4ll.

I have $12.7k and avg is 12.8k. There are 370 left 1/2 way through the 3rd hour. We have had 9 or our hands of excitement so far... We are at the 20% left marker and here is where mistakes become fatal...
also of note that M is just 10 here, and thus there is not any room for small-ball. We are coming at pots with guns blazing and with control only.

Folded to me in Hijack and I raise to 1250 with AQo. No Callers.

FOLD KQo in MP when player on right open shoves with $4200. My position is too early. He gets called by the button with TT but turns a set. Lucky him. (I would have flopped TP).
Meanwhile average has crept up to $16k as players flame out. Level moves up to 300/600/75.

Fold BB of 75o to shove. Hardly worth noting except that I am bleeding chips and not seeing many hands.

(10) I get to see a discount flop (4 players) from SB with Jh9h and flop heart draw (KcTh3h). I check-call a min bet of 600 and then the turn is an Ad. I check and LP OBV SHOVES 15K!? He hit the Ace. Crap. I fold. $10k left. (Would you have shoved the flop?)

Table move. Q=0.5

Open-Fold KJo in Hijack as its a weak hand to shove with, and I have no play with my short stack.   Its a new table, so I dont know who would call my shove (player on Button has $71k). Same goes for A9s UtG+1. (4th hand at new table). Two players get it all in pre-flop with marginal hands. A9 would not have won though.

UGH. Fold 54o in BB vs. UTG raiser. Fold 24o in SB to UTG+1 raiser. M=M-1. 241 left.

Blinds move to 400/800/100 and I am looking for ATC to shove in a good spot. Still fold A9o when UTG makes it 3x. UTG+1 3 bets and SB 4bets!   (Ak, AK, QQ) A9o no good at all. 225 left. Cards suck. Spots suck. Cant find a crack anywhere.

End of hour 3. I have 8k, Avg is just under 22k with 219 left.
We are just going to have to get some chips.

Transperancy and suck-age Part 2 (2nd hour)

2010-06-23T15:56:00.000-04:00

First hand back, AK in BB. Cutoff makes it 240 (3x). I re-raise to 600. He folds.

Hmmm, I fold 4h5h from UtG+2 when UtG+1 makes it 3x. Awfully conservative, but with 5 more players with position, it would be wishful thinking that I could call here. And I am not raising. So I fold. So does everyone else. Oh dear.

Hmmm, rotation later UtG limps, so I limp behind (UtG+1) with with 88. Flop is 24T so I bet 200 into 350 after UTG and BB checks. Re-raised all-in for 540 by BB and UTG limper folds. Must call. He has Q4 for middle pair and I win a pot but I can hardly call this an interesting hand.

Flop bottom pair in the BB vs. single limper. He c-bets 100 into 350, so I check-call.   But when he bets 300 on turn, I check-fold. Again, very conservative. (the next hand, 2 players go broke at the table AK,AQ,JJ pile their money in pre-flop with the AQ CALLING the other 2 all-ins!)

Folded to me in cutoff and I fold A9o. Meh. No good can come of it at 50/100.
I also fold AJo UtG+1, without apologies.
But...
(Interesting Hand #6) When I get AJo in the BB and that guy from the last hand (when I flop bottom pair with 23) makes it 3x, I reraise him this time. Oops, he calls. Flop is Q38 with 2 hearts and I check, he also checks. Turn is a 7 (non-heart). I lead out for 900 (into 1700) and he folds! Phew. (AJ also? AK? middling pair? Who can say?) I had to bet to win, vs. getting a better hand to fold rule.

Hmmm, fold 33 to a raise of 480 (I have 5700) in Hijack because I think its a bad spot and too many chips. Cutoff makes it 1200. Nice fold me.

Make it 3x with AQs UtG, no callers.

Same guy on my right raises AGAIN and I fold 66, Cutoff AGAIN re-raises (all-in) and this time he calls. He had ATs and the cutoff KK. Lame.

Easy Fold KJ UtG.

(#7) Cutoff raises to 565, I re-raise from SB to 1700, Cutoff thinks and shoves with QhJh??? Hope-a-tron! Snap-call with AA holds up.

Get frisky with my image and raise from MP (First in) to 500 with 7c8c and all folds. 300 chips for me.

Call Button min-raise from BB with KdTd. Flop is Ah6h9d. I check, he bets 400 and I sit and think. But fold. -400 chips for me.

Folds around to me on button and yet I still fold 5To. Gimme a T... Gimme an I... Gimme a G...

Battle of the blinds and I have Ac7c.   I flop TP AND 2 clubs. He leads out for min but he only has $1800 behind? What do I even do here?   He is WAY behind, but every card will be an over. I just shove hoping to look like the naked flush draw. He tanks, but eventually folds. (Note: avg is 7.7k, so what does he lead out with here? Napkins I assume?)

At second break, I have $10.8k, Avg is 8.3k (Q=1.2ish)   575 of our now 1588 runners left (pays 189).

Transperancy and suck-age Part 1 (the first hour)

2010-06-23T14:56:00.002-04:00

Ok, I have said before that the $42k is basically being right on 20 hands and not getting unlucky. Let's put that to the test. I will post my non-trivial hands from today and you can judge...

Level I has little action. Made a straight and already had no action, a bet results in folds. Not even worth discussing for 60 chips.
Ditto for TT on a flop of 9h5c4c and I bet 2/3 pot and get 3 folds.
Ditto for AQ folded to me on button, blinds fold.
Ditto for QQ from EP (all folds) and
AQ UtG (all folds).
AQ again only in BB this hand. I call and the flop is 828 so I fold to his c-bet. (No 3bet with AQ OOP in L1.)
AJ now in SB and folds around, I raise, BB folds.
(4 decent hands in a row, no fireworks.)

Folded to me in SB with A9, call. Flop Ace. Bet and BB folds.

First interesting hand (easy fold)
Full Tilt Poker Game #21826194566: $42,000 Guarantee 20/40
Seat 1: columbo (3,370)
Seat 2: ghnopin92110 (2,775), is sitting out
Seat 3: ThunderFX (1,580)
Seat 4: laksjdfh (4,935)
Seat 5: Majesticflo11 (3,000)
Seat 6: cece0123 (3,060)
Seat 7: pigcrab (2,175)
Seat 8: Fabio_Bitt (3,410)
Seat 9: liflo (3,090)
The button is in seat #2
cece0123 folds
pigcrab folds
Fabio_Bitt folds
liflo has 15 seconds left to act
liflo raises to 320
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo has requested TIME
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [Kc Ac]
columbo calls 320 [Big raise to 8x here is probably QQ-AA. With me having AK, I figure QQ]
ghnopin92110 folds
ThunderFX folds
laksjdfh folds
*** FLOP *** [8s Jd 4c]
liflo bets 2,770, and is all in
columbo folds

I am now sitting with a starting stack size after all that.

NEXT (2nd interesting hand):
Full Tilt Poker Game #21826239415: $42,000 25/50
Seat 1: columbo (3,050)
Seat 2: ghnopin92110 (2,775), is sitting out
Seat 3: ThunderFX (1,560)
Seat 4: laksjdfh (5,095)
Seat 5: Majesticflo11 (2,875)
Seat 6: cece0123 (3,085)
Seat 8: Fabio_Bitt (3,410)
Seat 9: liflo (3,370)
cece0123 posts the small blind of 25
Fabio_Bitt posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #5

fold,
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [Ac Ks]
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo raises to 150
ghnopin92110 folds
ThunderFX folds
laksjdfh calls 150
Majesticflo11 folds
cece0123 has 15 seconds left to act
cece0123 calls 125
Fabio_Bitt folds

*** FLOP *** [9d 2c As]
cece0123 checks
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo bets 300 (3/5 pot)
laksjdfh calls 300 CALL?
cece0123 folds
*** TURN *** [9d 2c As] [Kd]
columbo checks (I am hoping he tries to "take it away')
laksjdfh checks (nope, probably a marginal ace)
*** RIVER *** [9d 2c As Kd] [Ts]
columbo bets 500 (how much will he call with an Ace? About 1/2 port)
laksjdfh calls 500
*** SHOW DOWN ***
columbo shows [Ac Ks] two pair, Aces and Kings
laksjdfh mucks

(3) Way ahead or Way behind? I play this real careful then OBV.
Full Tilt Poker Game #21826330653: $42,000 Guarantee (168285862), Table 40 - 25/50
Seat 1: columbo (4,125)
Seat 2: ghnopin92110 (2,700), is sitting out
Seat 3: rollon234 (2,675)
Seat 4: laksjdfh (4,095)
Seat 5: Majesticflo11 (2,875), is sitting out
Seat 6: cece0123 (3,160)
Seat 7: medijun (866)
Seat 8: Fabio_Bitt (5,045)
Seat 9: liflo (3,545)
laksjdfh posts the small blind of 25
Majesticflo11 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [Ad As]
cece0123 folds
medijun folds
Fabio_Bitt folds
liflo calls 50
columbo raises to 200
ghnopin92110 folds
rollon234 folds
laksjdfh folds
Majesticflo11 folds
liflo calls 150
*** FLOP *** [Th Kh 4h]
liflo checks
columbo checks (I should normally bet here, but did not)
*** TURN *** [Th Kh 4h] [Ks]
liflo bets 100
columbo calls 100 (Should raise here if I think he has just a heart, but continue to play passive because its the first hour)
*** RIVER *** [Th Kh 4h Ks] [Ah]
liflo checks
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo bets 675 (or pot size bet, trying to look like a bluff, hoping he makes a crying call with a heart)
liflo folds

(4) Getting a tad more aggressive pre-lfop
Full Tilt Poker Game #21826430743: $42,000 Guarantee (168285862), Table 40 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:42:49 ET - 2010/06/23
Seat 1: columbo (4,425)
Seat 2: ghnopin92110 (2,625), is sitting out
Seat 3: rollon234 (2,600)
Seat 4: laksjdfh (3,990)
Seat 5: Majesticflo11 (2,740), is sitting out
Seat 6: frnckrt (3,380)
Seat 8: Fabio_Bitt (5,220)
Seat 9: liflo (4,426)
Majesticflo11 posts the small blind of 30
frnckrt posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [As Ks]
Fabio_Bitt raises to 180
liflo folds
columbo raises to 480
ghnopin92110 folds
rollon234 folds
laksjdfh folds
Majesticflo11 folds
frnckrt folds
Fabio_Bitt calls 300
*** FLOP *** [9d Jc 6h]
Fabio_Bitt checks
columbo checks (marginally ahead or way behind)
*** TURN *** [9d Jc 6h] [Ah]
Fabio_Bitt checks
columbo bets 750 (3/4 pot)
Fabio_Bitt has 15 seconds left to act
Fabio_Bitt folds

KK UtG+1 raise to 200, no action.

(5) TT after a raise and caller
Full Tilt Poker Game #21826533333: $42,000 Guarantee (168285862), Table 40 - 30/60
Seat 1: columbo (4,995)
Seat 2: ghnopin92110 (2,565), is sitting out
Seat 3: rollon234 (2,600)
Seat 4: laksjdfh (3,930)
Seat 5: Majesticflo11 (3,040)
Seat 6: frnckrt (3,860)
Seat 7: PurpleH (2,965)
Seat 8: Fabio_Bitt (3,600)
Seat 9: liflo (4,906)
ghnopin92110 posts the small blind of 30
rollon234 posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [Td Th]
laksjdfh folds
Majesticflo11 folds
frnckrt raises to 120
PurpleH calls 120
Fabio_Bitt folds
liflo folds
columbo raises to 360
ghnopin92110 folds
rollon234 folds
frnckrt calls 240
PurpleH folds
*** FLOP *** [Kc 3d 3c]
frnckrt checks
columbo bets 550 (c-bet, hoping he does not have K)
frnckrt calls 550
*** TURN *** [Kc 3d 3c] [Jc]
frnckrt checks
columbo checks
*** RIVER *** [Kc 3d 3c Jc] [4s]
frnckrt checks

He is trying to get to showdown but he is only going to fold JJ or QQ to a big bluff.
columbo checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
columbo shows [Td Th] two pair, Tens and Threes
frnckrt shows [Qd Kd] two pair, Kings and Threes

At the first break, I have $4085, avg. is $4095 (Q=1). There are 1078 or the original 1473 left.
5 interesting hands so far, but also got dealt more than the usual share of playable hands.

It's about the gaze...

2010-06-15T13:30:00.000-04:00

Peer deeply into my eyes...

Apparently, when someone goes all slack jaw and blank while staring and thinking at the flop, this is an indication that they are an expert. Not because of what it accomplishes, but because why it happens. "Change Blindness" and other psychological indicators are physically apparent. This also give credence to tells "when there are no tells".

It also seems to that by emulating that behavior, you are more likely to pick up the "affect of the effect". i.e. Some of the reason this is done should rub off. Although the more you know, the smaller the gap.

Today's Psychoanalysis is now complete. Put down your wet rags and go back to your lives.

And remember to get the Durrrr look on your face.

Maybe I dont suck?

2010-06-11T14:00:00.001-04:00

Played ONE MTT since my return. (Did I mention my car died coming home from the airport?)

115th of 2545. Why no run like that last week?!

Where to Begin/End?

2010-06-08T15:05:00.000-04:00

Worst. Trip. Ever.

I know no one truly believes that one "runs bad". HA! I challenge anyone (take that FUEL) to a RUN BAD contest.

At one point, I was so brutally beat down, when a person hit a four out on me on the turn, I tossed my cards down in such a way that the dealer just mucked them, and my re-suck 2 outer on the river was null and void. My big chance to beat someone down and I accidentally (but to be clear, firmly my fault) throw it away. This was small stakes cash at the very end of the trip. I got up from the table (still up no less) and was done for the trip.

I cant talk about beats because who cares? So, no stories from the Venetian DS. That is right, not one hand that was not a "beat story".

I am going to take a page from the NFL. When a head coach witnesses his club get clobbered, they sometimes just burn the tape and forget about it. Figuratively, of course. But they dont study it. They caulk it up to getting hammered and just prepare for the next opponent.

DONE.

Oh, the 11 hour flight ordeal back was fun too.

Another $1.5k under my belt

2010-06-03T00:40:00.000-04:00

My first table was brutal, featuring a guy who was hot off chopping the Sunday million last week and pwnd me twice. This took my 4500 down to 3000 and I had to work uphill from there on in. I kept finding good spot to chip up though and despite some ups and downs was relieved when my table broke. My new table was much tighter and less chaotic, allowing me to play more within my style. I doubled my JJ thought A7, but the other chips were hard to come by. We had FIVE stacks of 7-9k at our table at the dinner break, with $14 being avg.

I hatched a post dinner plan. I knew we had only 1 more hour before the ante ratio changed to 6:1 and I already had little to no chip utility. I decided I was going to double up in the next hour. My opportunity came when a player who often raises light, makes it 800. (we are at 200/400/50). I have 88 in MP and I THINK about shoving and picking up the 1500 in chips. But that was not the plan. The plan is to call, allow one of the two guys at the far end of the table to try a squeeze play with an Ace and then 3 bet all in. Sure enough the large stack does and I insta-shove. He made it $1650 and I make it $9k. I figure I have lots of fold equity here, based on how I played it. Despite my raise being like $7k he says "Unless you have KK I have to call". Huh? really? Well, he only has AQ, a light call and one that surprised me based on my image and 88 was far lower than any of my showdowns at the table. But, I was still a small favorite to chip up from $9k to $20k (with now $15k being average and $20k being stellar). I liked the $1800 in dead money here and well as the expected range of the squeeze play being Ax. I expect to see at least AK here though, and truth be told expected a fold.

The flop had a Q and its over again. Eerily similar to last year. (which was JJ vs. AK in almost the exact same situation and levels).

Amazingly, I went back over the hands I played and never got my money in bad. Perhaps that is a bad thing. I did let internet-guy bluff me off my 22 hand and then turn around and make a gut shot straight on another hand where he called my c-bet with air. That may have been early on, but it set that stage for my need to win a race. My only race of the event. And I lose it.

I am the Charlie Brown of poker.

Probably going to play Venetian $340 DS tomorrow now.

Last Minute Practice

2010-05-31T13:11:00.002-04:00

In the 19k today just for some practice. Playing well, but had to release many hands and I am behind avg.

If you are going to be in Vegas this week, say hello. I will be the ONLY person in Vegas with a Lions hat on.

MGM Tuesday night, WSOP #8 Wed. WSOP #11 Friday (unless I play one of the DS casino MTTs).

and twitter updates after each level (I'll try to remember to tag with #wsop #bbt #anteup)

I dont know nothin about nothin if its not about me.

2010-05-25T13:13:00.000-04:00

Quote courtesy of Santonio Holmes (NFL WR). I was out 4th in the BBT Rail event last night. I lost a big race with AQs vs. 55 at the end and was crippled. I can't complain though, since my earlier AQ cracked KK.

There were times I played too tight, but no times where I played too loose. I again 3-bet all-in my aces with 6 or less left. So be it. It's easy to be a Monday morning QB.

But there were some very interesting situations. With 5 left, Mike Mahoney had like 90k in chips and to his left Buddy dank (SB) had like 1200 and Sell the Kids had like 7300 in the BB. It folded around to MM in the button and he folded. I thought about that for a while. I am betting 8k in the dark there.

Buddy raised my BB next hand with 2300 in chips and its the 500/1000 level. So its 1300 more for me to call with my 74o. I wanted to fold, but figured I had two live and the math said call. Impossibly, he has K4 and I am dead to a 7. I double him up.

Eventually, Dank will go broke and the 4 of us will play for close to 30 minutes before I go out on the AQs vs. 55 hand. With 3 stacks around 30k, that is alot of stealing going on at the 500/1000 level.

I really, really wanted that top 2 spot, but in the end its down to a clash of two hands where I came out on the short end.

Good Luck to everyone in the ToC, there is but 1 qualifying MTT left on Wed. (the tournament formerly known as da Mookie)

Got my act together?

2010-05-24T15:20:00.000-04:00

Although I did not fare well in the $100k (did not win a single showdown), I felt like I did not play poorly. So I guessed I was not shocked when I finally made a deep BBT run last night. But with 18 left through 10 left, I rode a rollercoaster of chips up and down.

With 12 left, I had AA and somehow, FTrain managed to lay down AK pre-flop to my 3bet. Based on the stack sizes and being short handed (and his perpetual 5ht place finishes) I did not think he could lay it down. I win, but miss value.

I also opted to 3 bet all-in my KK which I knew would result in the hand ending, but did not know what I would do when a Ace flopped. The hand that force me to take on racing was with FUEL. Now we are SIX handed and he makes a cutoff raise. I think, but decide to CALL on the button with KsQ. The flop comes King high and when he makes his c-bet (and I have him covered), I shove. In retrospect, this is not a great play as he folds all but AA, KK, AK (or a set) which beat me. But its still awful luck that he has AA, I get KQ AND flop a King high TP.

The rest of the game was races, and I eventually lost one (AJ vs. TT?) and thus I was final table bubble boy.

BUT. I am playing smart again.

Probably the WORST time to ask

2010-05-22T15:36:00.000-04:00

...based on how I ran the last two weeks... But does anyone want to buy/swap 5% of my second $1500 event (event 11)?? If I don't play for any reason, then your money is 100% refunded. I'll be twittering at the end of every level for both tournaments (including #anteup).

I wish I had a better excuse

2010-05-20T09:51:00.000-04:00

Last night, chipped up with a SET vs. 2 pair, and then gave it back an hour later when I ran TPTK into a set.

There is just no more to say... Poker is not about hitting sets and dodging sets, its about concentration and performance and I had neither last night. End of story.

Interesting results

2010-05-18T10:42:00.000-04:00

I played the 62 player RAIL MTT last night and I was committed to ONLY getting my money in ahead. And I succeeded. The results?

With 16 left, I was 16th. QJs out-flopped my Ax and I was done.

As you all know (especially Otis), if you only get your money in ahead, then you are playing too tight.

But it was therapeutic to not run a pair into AA for once.

In shock

2010-05-17T09:14:00.001-04:00

Wow, another crash-and-burn in the BBT5 last night. Check out this run.

Hand 1: Flopped a flush draw. On the turn, pick up a gutshot and still have one over. I decide to bet. My thinking is that I am out of position and the board looks scary. If I bet and my opponent folds, fine. If he calls, I may be able to bluff the river. It was a calculated backwards play, trying to disguise a draw. It failed and I had to fold to a check raise.

Hand 2: I Raise with JJ. The Flop is Qxx. I call three small but increasing bets (the turn was a blank also). villain reveals QT. I dont know if a big bet would have worked when the K fell on the river. But since the villain fired the 3rd bullet, I just called.

Hand 3: JJ again. 1 opponent. Flop is T73 rainbow. I bet pot and get check raised. I have 1000 chips left now of the starting 3000 and this player saw me fold to the previous check -raise.

Can you fold? Before you answer, think about this: The MTT only pays top 2% (top 2 places only).

Dunning-Kruger Effect and Poker

2010-05-13T11:51:00.000-04:00

Have you ever noticed how incompetent people are often incredibly confident while the highly-skilled underestimate their ability to perform. That's called the Dunning-Kruger Effect named for Justin Kruger and David Dunning of Cornell University who published their study of said cognitive bias in 1999.

You see this on reality TV all the time. And you see it at the poker table often enough. I dont have some brilliant tie-in, just happy to see someone went out of their way to prove it exists.

Lost at Sea

2010-05-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

I have no coherent thoughts on yesterday. Somehow, someway, I seem to find the most ingenious ways to get my money in behind. Last night, I folded AQ 4 times pre-flop and even folded 88 to a 3 bet, but in the end still ran 1/2 my stack into AA and then again ran the rest in vs. AA. Wow. I feel as LOST as, well, serial TV writers...

I'll continue to look for answers, after all. I am somehow compelled not to give up. But man, this is a dark time for my game.

I am looking forward to the Old West immersion of Red Dead Redemption next week on the XBOX to give me a distraction.

Bubble play

2010-05-10T17:17:00.000-04:00

Did I misplay this hand?
Avg. is $25k, pays 189.
Should I be putting MUTANT on bigger hand here?

Full Tilt Poker Game #20735063092: $42,000 Guarantee (159284141), Table 3 - 500/1000 Ante 125 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:14:15 ET - 2010/05/10
Seat 1: coinsaregold (24,215)
Seat 2: PJShark (50,662)
Seat 3: FatStax7 (51,720)
Seat 5: columbo (13,528)
Seat 6: GeeRaff1 (9,271)
Seat 7: SNNikk (6,872)
Seat 8: kudi66 (11,433)
Seat 9: MutantVirus (38,425)
antes 125
columbo posts the small blind of 500
GeeRaff1 posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [Th Tc]
SNNikk raises to 6,747, and is all in
kudi66 folds
MutantVirus calls 6,747
coinsaregold folds
PJShark folds
FatStax7 folds
Jblaich sits down
columbo raises to 13,403, and is all in
GeeRaff1 folds
MutantVirus calls 6,656
columbo shows [Th Tc]
SNNikk shows [Ad 6s]
MutantVirus shows [Qc Qh]
*** FLOP *** [8s 2c 5h]
*** TURN *** [8s 2c 5h] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [8s 2c 5h 4c] [8h]
columbo shows two pair, Tens and Eights
MutantVirus shows two pair, Queens and Eights
SNNikk shows a pair of Eights
MutantVirus wins the main pot (22,241) with two pair, Queens and Eights

Is it a Discipline issue or do I just have the wrong goal?

2010-05-10T11:38:00.000-04:00

I went out in the BBT5 the worst way possible last night, stacking off with TP. So bad. But out of it again comes a realization: I have note been making decisions well.

I am terribly confused by this, as one of my greatest attributes until recently was the great escape. But recently, I seem happy to drive my hands into oncoming walls and complain that its bad luck that the wall is there. Ok, sometimes the wall does fall from the sky. But not always. Not every time.

Am I missing the discipline of folding, or is is a misguided goal? I wonder. Today, my goal is simply to be "right". I am not going to "try to win the tournament", but rather attempt to simply make the correct decisions, or by putting my opponent on the correct hand, I can take a risk. But in either case, I need to concentrate on being right, not the tournament. Lee has tried to convey this to me at times also. As was the case with the "biggest hand of all time" post and podcast.

Let's see what happens, shall we?

Wow, sometimes I am cool!

2010-05-07T14:40:00.004-04:00

The POST

The MEME

Ironic or Iconic?

2010-05-07T11:45:00.000-04:00

Not so much as an accurate title for the post, but it flows off the tongue well...

Right after having a discussion with another player who told me (correctly) that I have been very results oriented as of late, I AGAIN run KK in LP into AA in a turbo, and then in the $42k tighten way up and have to win two races just to get to $10k in chips (avg is now 12.5k) and I see a min-raise from my right and I am in the cutoff with JJ. Great spot to shove and take down $2k in chips. Despite only having to get through the button and blinds, someone wakes up with KK (not the min-raiser who bailed as predicted) and knocks me out.

If I play small-ball, I am not winning big pots. When I play long-ball, I continue to run into monsters as critical times.

I am always afraid of "fooling myself" into thinking I am playing well when I am tanking, but seriously... I look over the situations and the hands, and I am looking like the ass-end of variance here. I continue to monitor the situation, but gez. It's time to be extra cognizant.

Rush Poker Tournaments

2010-05-06T14:12:00.001-04:00

Just a race to run KK into AA?

BBT5

2010-05-05T16:23:00.002-04:00

someone lets me hang myself

2010-05-03T16:28:00.001-04:00

Moments after listening to David Williams talk about how he is less likely now to 3-bet AA, this happens to me...

Full Tilt Poker Game #20555219453: $42,000 Guarantee (157799791), Table 30 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:22:49 ET - 2010/05/03
Seat 1: columbo (12,560)
Seat 2: grenat_mtp (20,189)
Seat 3: VACATIONBABE (7,104)
Seat 4: ruthless1988 (10,680)
Seat 5: Gazaramataz (10,570)
Seat 7: Zolee21 (8,541)
Seat 8: timur valiev (27,338)
Seat 9: Mojomoj1 (9,527)
antes 50
ruthless1988 posts the small blind of 200
Gazaramataz posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [Qc Qh]
Zolee21 raises to 800
macblack0 sits down
timur valiev folds
Mojomoj1 folds
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo raises to 2,000
grenat_mtp folds
VACATIONBABE folds
ruthless1988 folds
Gazaramataz folds
Zolee21 has 15 seconds left to act
Zolee21 calls 1,200
*** FLOP *** [9c 7s 8h]
Zolee21 checks
columbo bets 10,510, and is all in
Zolee21 calls 6,491, and is all in
columbo shows [Qc Qh]
Zolee21 shows [Ac Ad]
Uncalled bet of 4,019 returned to columbo
*** TURN *** [9c 7s 8h] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [9c 7s 8h Ks] [6c]
columbo shows a pair of Queens
Zolee21 shows a pair of Aces
Zolee21 wins the pot (17,982) with a pair of Aces

Notice how the villain CALLS the $1200 and gets the perfect storm flop. No one giving free cards here, and I am stuck holding a big overpair, which looks good, but is beat.

I don't see how with $4500 in their pre-flop, I am not going to get here after he checks. So I bet what $3500 and then fold to another $3k getting 4:1? Not likely. I think I am stuck here. Do you?

Weekend of decent finishes

2010-04-26T09:12:00.000-04:00

In what I like to call small-field events, I had some good but no cigar finishes this weekend. In the AIPS on Saturday, I had a chance to win it after coming from behind early, only to get sucked out on with 3 left by the very person I came from behind on (sucked out on) in the middle levels. I finished second.

Sunday, I punched a Main Event Shootout ticket (satellite) and then in the BBT5, won a ridiculous 3 out of 3 races to be right in it after the bubble, only to run into a must call situation. There are 16 left and its raised up and I have 66 in position. There can be lots of stealing at this point, and lots of raising with Ax, so I call and the flop is 678. He shoves instantly. This is an EASY call. Why? He does not have 9T raising this late from EP. If he has 77 or 88, he is looking to get my stack, not get me to fold. No. He has 99-AA. I HOPE he has AA here, but I expect 99 or TT, which clearly would explain the shove.

I call to see the TT, meaning I have to sweat 6 outs instead of 10 (if he had 99), but BOTH hit as a Ten comes on the turn and send me home from a great run. Bummer. But, played well. In these 100 player events (just like with a shootout) you are often forced to fold to most re-raises or large river bets, something I had been working on for the last two weeks. I did make 1 hero call, and I was correct. Much better than making all the calls and bleeding chips away. Progress.

Poker Tracker to the rescue

2010-04-23T15:32:00.000-04:00

I lost 90% of my losing hands in cash games online this year from the blinds. OMG. I have a new strategy.

First week of BBT5 in the books

2010-04-22T09:59:00.000-04:00

And I have little to show for it but stories. Ran into Quads, Ran into Quads, AK could not outlast AQ. If the laws of variance hold up, I have already cashed in next week's events.

We shall see...

In other news, I continue my "training" for the WSOP, trying to get in at least 1 SnG and 1 MTT a day. Not easy, but I hope its time well invested. Again, we shall see...

Raging Bull

2010-04-19T11:58:00.000-04:00

"I want you to hit me in the face Joey". I need to learn to take a punch. Really. I have developed a very fatal habit and not wanting to take a punch and give up a hand where I could realistically have run into the nuts.

Thanks again to high stakes poker for their 2 most recent episodes, where a pro demonstrated this in action. Even after all this time, I needed to watch and soak it up.

I feel like I am so very close to a breakout, that I am amazed at how bad of a decision I can make at times.

There is a word for this. Discipline.

I need me some.

Kill Me Now

2010-04-17T14:33:00.000-04:00

I continue, even after all these posts, to have difficulty getting away from big hands when my opponent make a large (significant) turn or later bet. And the bigger the bet, the longer I tank. WTF? What do I need to do here to learn a simple lesson?

I donked off a DEEP STACK here when I made my second losing straight in level 1. But this time, even though the bets were large, I make a terrible hope-a-tron amateur call. Woe (and self flagellation) is me.

IT... IS... COMING...

2010-04-16T11:52:00.002-04:00

Friday's hand revisited

2010-04-11T13:37:00.003-04:00

I cant stop thinking about this hand... You are chip leader with 36 / 1800 left and have JJ in MP. You raise to 15k (2.5x) with 500k behind. The cutoff makes it 40k. With $300k, the cutoff has an above avg stack and is the second largest stack at the table.
OPTIONS:

1. Chip value (DV) is very high now. The avg stack at the final table should be about $500k, which you already have. There are plenty of shorter stacks at the table. You can fold here with little loss. But what does that say to yourself? To your opponent?

2. You can call, avoiding running JJ in QQ, KK, AA. But will have to play post-flop OOP. You could also check-fold the $40k and still be the chip leader.

3. You could raise to $120k, but this creates a pot odds issue. Unless he is on a re-steal, he calls here and now you are playing a $250k pot OOP. In the case he is on a re-steal, he may (probably) fold.

As I weighed my options, I did not give enough credit to #3. AFTER the bubble, especially "down the stretch" (as they say in horse racing) with 5 tables or lss remaining, players start using the re-steal more often. But I did not think of this for a couple of reasons:

A. I had not been re-raised like this yet at the table, nor had I observed any re-steals.

B. We did not have similar stack sizes. Its rare for the second largest stack to re-steal from the big stack.

As reported, I opted for Option 2. I wanted option 1, but did not want to be weak, be perceived as week, or fold a premium pair because I didn't have a pair. Not the best of thinking, but honest. But I picked #2 OVER #3 because I did not want to get re-re-re-raised all-in by AK and be forced to race.

The flop was, as reported, 443 (two toned).

Now, I have an over pair and the pot is $90k or so. Again, I have options:

1. I can bet out my overpair and expect hands like AK to shrivel up and fold.
2. I can check and wait for the aggressor in position to make his play.

I opted for #1. I feel this was the real, fatal mistake.

A. I bet $50k, and made the pot $140k. The pot is becoming epic. All I have is a pair that may or may not be bigger than my opponents hand.

B. I did not respect position enough in this hand. I really believed he had Ax and I was ahead. My hand read was good, but my luck was bad.

He moves all in now. Options:

A. I can fold and keep my chips, avoiding throwing valuable money away. I have lost $90k and still have $400k and be 2nd or 3rd in chips.

B. I can call because I beat so many hands here and I feel he is resigned to his fate.

Before the late stages of +EV. But LATE in the tournament, down the stretch, one must look for these potholes. The EPIC bloody hand that may be a turned set, or top-two played tricky, where players are trying to trap and extract max value.

I think I need to continue thinking about this...

Harder to escape your hand if opponent plays bad?

2010-04-09T18:59:00.000-04:00

Full Tilt Poker Game #19952806168: $42,000 Guarantee (152632857), Table 24 - 2500/5000 Ante 600 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:48:07 ET - 2010/04/09
Seat 1: a463993 (176,127)
Seat 2: columbo (434,208) <2nd overall in chips
Seat 3: Zipp125 (183,813)
Seat 4: Gouranga (246,699)
Seat 5: teac1 (93,860)
Seat 6: HansBy (98,568)
Seat 7: Terpfan21 (168,500)
Seat 8: yashka (206,118)
Seat 9: Hoobody (171,352)

antes 600

HansBy posts the small blind of 2,500
Terpfan21 posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [Jd Jh]
yashka folds
Hoobody folds
a463993 folds
columbo raises to 12,500
Zipp125 folds
Gouranga raises to 40,000
teac1 folds
HansBy folds
Terpfan21 folds
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo has requested TIME (I contemplated options here)
columbo calls 27,500
*** FLOP *** [4s 4d 3d]
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo bets 50,000
Gouranga raises to 206,099, and is all in

Put him on a hand here! You are beating ALOT of hands here and 2:1 on the call.

Still, he did shove on your lead bet. But I have to think that in the LONG RUN, this is better being called than folded?

The flop eliminates the Ax hands. TT doubles you up. QQ, KK, AA? can you really fold to just that?

My brain is melting... Do I really want to re-raise preflop here? (If I was willing to call off my stack, I fear the answer was YES. Lesson to be learned there.)

An important lesson. Understand that your leverage with JJ comes pre-flop, not post-flop. I think I ahead the whole way in this hand...

I know, you wanna know...

As Maxwell Smart would say, "Would you believe A4 sooooted" (with 36 left no less)!

Lions News: Matt Millen confused by Lions moves, team improvement.

2010-04-06T13:45:00.000-04:00

"I don't understand what they are doing. It's almost as if there is a concerted effort to improve the roster through logical moves. Do they really expect to be successful by drawing up and executing a plan?" -Millen starting at Lions press releases and thinking to himself.

The Lions are arguably the most improved team this off season (they also had the most room to improve) as they have already cemented 4 new starters before the draft even begins.

Trading day THREE picks for a STARTING LEFT Guard and a STARTING CORNER, Trading for Corey Williams to play DT, and the big signing of Nate Burelson at WR. Assuming the Lions draft "insert future DT that can actually block out the sun here", they are going actually look respectable. And Yes, there is Kyle VandenBosch who was the first free agency signing. And this is huge, as last year, the Lions played a cardboard cutout of a right DE (and not surprisingly had zero sacks). So, ANY signing was a starter, but to get a guy who can anchor that position was more than we could have hoped for.

Brutal exit from the $22k 6-max

2010-04-05T13:53:00.000-04:00

$22,500 Guarantee
Seat 1: a463993 (8,140)
Seat 2: arrondubai0108 (5,230)
Seat 3: priviet85 (4,242)
Seat 4: KronicKiller (2,675)
Seat 5: vanner56 (1,820), is sitting out
Seat 6: columbo (2,765)
a463993 posts the small blind of 25
arrondubai0108 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to columbo [2d 2c]
priviet85 calls 50
KronicKiller folds
vanner56 folds
columbo calls 50
a463993 folds
arrondubai0108 checks

ok, call with a pair. How hard is that?

*** FLOP *** [4s Tc Td]
arrondubai0108 checks
priviet85 checks
columbo checks

no flop, no hand

*** TURN *** [4s Tc Td] [6s]
arrondubai0108 checks
priviet85 checks
columbo bets 175 (maybe I actually have the best hand?)
arrondubai0108 calls 175

ha, nope. Someone has a T (perhaps a 4 or 6)

priviet85 folds
*** RIVER *** [4s Tc Td 6s] [2h]
arrondubai0108 bets 525

Pot sized bet and I made my hand on the river. He will never see it coming.

columbo raises to 2,540, and is all in
arrondubai0108 calls 2,015

*** SHOW DOWN ***
columbo shows [2d 2c] a full house, Twos full of Tens
arrondubai0108 shows [Th 4c] a full house, Tens full of Fours

oops, it was me who never saw it coming.

arrondubai0108 wins the pot (5,605) with a full house, Tens full of Fours
columbo stands up

Seriously? I hit the 2 outs the will break me here? I dont even call the river bet without that 2 here. ARGH.

Even more seriously. Could ANYONE have escaped this? Could you REALLY make an argument that I should have CALLED here????

League night recap and important notes

2010-04-04T15:07:00.001-04:00

Despite never winning a league night, I am in second place, making the final table 8 months in a row. I play much tighter in a league, as this is rewarded by the long term prize. Last night, despite being a lock for a top 6 spot, I played my usual game, not a reckless loose game and some others did who wanted to finish high or mentally checked out.

As is often the case playing tight, I went to the final table with a paltry 15k in chips (1/2 of average). I bluffed only once on the way, because it was an optimal spot.

Now at the final table, we are down to 6 and I have just won a big hand from the opponent 2 to my right. He frequently plays the same way from late position, and I took to coming over the top pre-flop with decent hands and raking his raise in.

In this critical hand, I come into a pot with a big pair for $10k, and I had maybe $44k to start the hand. SOLID Player from the blinds calls. Now we are at the bubble, so this is doubly interesting. The flop comes and we are staring at each other and not the flop. He checks, I bet, he check-raises me all in and I freeze. I look at the jack high flop and look back at my QQ and stare in disbelieve. ANY other player at this table I snap call here. But I know this guy. He plays a very solid, mistake free game by and large. And I remember how he plays Kings. He will always raise, but may call a big raise and move in with a flop with no Ace. And with him knowing I will make a c-bet with my big hand, he check raises. It was the perfect play and I would give few players this much credit. I toss away the QQ. He mucks and I survive. After the hand, the player to his right comments that either one of us could have AJ. NOTHING could have been farther from the truth and I was amazed that someone could read that hand so poorly. But then again, this was a clash of players who play big hands strong, and he did not have our familiarity.

Later on, he said he actually had AA. If so, and based on the facts that we are 6 handed and he is in the blind, I can not argue with the pre-flop call (vs. raise). He is going for my stack and its a really good play with a 7 in 8 chance of success. NOTE: IF he did bluff here, it was perfectly timed and I will just admit to being outplayed. so be it.

I was also amazed that the remaining players doubted I had QQ because I did not show. THERE IS A LESSON TO BE LEARNED HERE. NEVER SHOW. You can be honest, but never show. If you want your opponent to know what you had, tell him. There is no reason not to be honest! But let the rest of the table double guess you to death.

Perhaps this is why I got called more than I expected? Someone called my UTG raise with 88 earlier and commented that "I had noting" when I showed KQ. I won the race, but was surprised he SNAP called my all-in raise with 88 for 25% of his stack. (And since when is KQ, 7 or 8 handed, garbage? Especially when its maybe the first hand I played at the final table.)

Later on, when we are past the bubble and FOUR HANDED, I ran AKs into AA and my 88 was called by AQ and I lost a race I needed to win. So I exit 4th, even though I did not make a stupid mistake. All in all, I an thrilled with my play as I enter the final month of training for the WSOP. The 88 hand was interesting in that it was my coming over the top of another one of those pre-flop raises from that same guy, and I expected to just take it down. But the BB surprises us both by CALLING. So now, the original raiser is calling based on odds and I am against 2 players with a middle pair. UGH. But I still think I played it correctly. How many pocket pairs do I wish to laydown 4 handed to a raise from a guy who loves to raise pre-flop. In the end, I lost a race as a tiny favorite, so I have to think "that's poker".

Burning a Line

2010-03-30T16:52:00.002-04:00

It's a term I coined when you decide your post-flop line pre-flop based on the opponent. Today, this guy kept raising my blind and putting in big C-bets. I decided I was going to check-raise him on the next flop no matter what fell.

Well, the first time an interloper came in and raised pre-flop and he fled. Much later, when I was no longer a short stack, I decided that 6d7d would defend and planned on a check-raise with any decent flop.

9d9h5d was closer than I even hoped for. Pot is $1300 and I check, he bets $1k and I move all in for $6k. He calls with AsQs???

Qd is the turn and I take a big pot. But how does he call the check raise with just two overs?

(He went back to raising my blinds too, and with hands like JTo. Is there a target on my head that reads "donk"?)