What a week! I had my biggest winning day and two biggest losing days ever... I have not done my books yet but I suspect I was down about $250 or so. Not too bad considering the circumstances, I guess. I am still searching for some consistency and I think I have identified some things to help me in that fight:
1. I am daydreaming a lot while I play.
2. I am still calling off some chips on the river.
3. My "experiment" with re-raising min-check raises is over!
Allow me to expound:
1. I am daydreaming a lot while I play: This has always been one of my toughest issues to overcome. I have always had a creative, mind wandering, day dreaming sort of thought process. This made it tough to concentrate in school (it was worse in college since I had nobody to answer to) and makes it tough while at work. My brain is always working on something, too bad it isn't always what my body is working on... I am not sure how I can remedy this. In the past I have tried playing more tables so I am forced to concentrate at all times. I think I am at my best when I play 2-3 tables though. So when I have a slower pace with fewer tables I really have to work on concentrating. It is a never ending battle.
2. I am still calling off some chips on the river: I am paying people off too often when I have TPTK type hands and get value raised. I am a lot better with this but I need to be more disciplined. I am def working very hard on this and have shown improvement.
3. My "experiment" with re-raising min-check raises (in a raised pot): I think I mentioned it here at some point (or maybe not) but I have long been baffled by the min-check raise on the flop. So I decided to take one for the team and start playing back at players who do this.
I have found that if a blind is taking this line it is very often a steal attempt. This is especially true with flops that are uncoordinated and contain an ace or a king. This is not always the case but very often is. If a min-check raise comes from EP, a solid player, or a tight/passive player, beware. They use this to try and get action on monster hands. They will also use it with TT-KK on an ace high flop to see where they stand.
After you re-raise in this situation you are obv hoping for a fold. Of course, if they come back over the top you must fold. If they call, it can be a bit sticky. Usually following a call on the flop they will check the turn. If this is the case I narrow down their holding to a draw, a low-middle pp, or a weak ace (if an ace flopped). From here you can decide to either bet or check behind, depending on your reads. I will say this: a LOT of players use the min check raise to see where they stand with the three hand types I just listed. I cannot tell you how many times we checked down and they showed 55 or A4 or 67s. That def seems to be their range when they make this play (min check raise flop, call re-raise, check turn).
As with any other play I think playing back at the min-check raiser can be +EV if done at the right time. I spent 2 weeks doing it almost every time... I knew I would take some losses in doing so but it allowed me to get a better feel for when it will work in the future. I hope I explained this well enough that you all get the gist of it. If anything needs more in depth discussion, let me know and I will talk more about it in my next post.
This is also a great example of why you should have "check raise %" on your PAHUD at all times. You can get a great feel for who is doing it and how often. If a villain has a 10% figure for check raising, I am playing back at him a ton more. As I stated in my last post (scroll down lazy ass) I am willing to email my PAHUD layouts for UB, AP, or FTP at your request. Just drop me a line in the comments here or at CR (jeff218).
Thanks for reading kids. Until next time, good luck at the tables.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
I love Full Tilt...
FTP and I have a love/hate relationship. For all the days it pisses me off to no end there are days where I want to give it my man love as though it were Tina Fey (ppl on the off topic board should appreciate that one!). Of course we all know that the actual site has nothing to do with it...I just like blaming my losses on something other than me. It is WAY better for my self image.
I played about 1150 hands yesterday and started off by dropping a buy in at $100nl without losing more than $15 in a hand. I just could not hit a flop. After going to lunch I decided to fire up, for the first time, a single $200nl table. I have been told that for the most part $200nl does not have better players than $100nl and that it is just a bit more aggro. With this in mind I thought I would play for a bit.
About 30 minutes into the session I was playing quite well and had a nice run of cards. I was running well enough that my VPIP and PFR% were both pretty high (24/21) for my TAG style. I was up to about $290 when I got involved with the player sitting directly across from me. He was running 35/30 for the session with an AF of 12! He had been very aggro regardless of position and was all-in 2-3 times in the twenty hands we had played. He was also sitting with more than a buy-in (about $245).
The villain raised to $7 UTG and I called on the button with 9dTd. Of course I rarely limp but was looking to hit big and get paid. Plus if I 3 bet there is a VERY good chance I get 4 bet or shoved on preflop at which time I have to fold.
The flop came 8c9sTs. The poker gods are a cruel sort. I flop top two pair but there is 2 to a flush and 3 to a straight. Ugh.
He led for $12 into the $17 pot and I popped him up to $38. He 3 bet me to $112. At this point I have NO DOUBT I am ahead. In my mind his likely holding was AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AT, AJ, KJ, JT, or more or less any two spades. I had seen him get tricky with a hand earlier (checked a set with 5c6c9d on the flop, then bet 1/2 pot when an ace hit the turn) and at least one of his all-in hands was a flush draw. All this info made me think he did not have a set or QJ. I just could not see him firing with those hands. This also shows the value of concentrating on just 1- 3 tables and getting good reads. Most of us are not good enough to be playing 6 tables at once.
Here is where I goofed though. I was resigned to getting all-in and was ok with it, but I just called his flop 3 bet. Why? I have no clue. It was def the wrong play. I needed to shove. The turn came 5d to make the board 8c9sTs5d. He insta shoved for $128 more and I called.
I love being right.
He turned over AJ! Thankfully the river was a blank and I raked my biggest pot ever ($494.10). The best part is that I was not at all nervous and had no problem throwing the money in. This has been a problem in the past as that kind of cash means a lot to me. As a result I have been tentative to get my money in which can be a bad thing.
The good continued into the evening with me winning 4 more buys at $100nl thanks in most part to getting AA 8 times and winning every one. When you win $300 of off AA it makes being profitable a lot easier. All told I won $665 and felt very good about my play. I hope I can make it continue!
Over thinking At Low Limits:
One of the things I struggle with most in poker is practicing what I preach...and I preach a LOT! In fact I kind of think of myself as a Joe Torre type. He was a pretty good baseball player but is a great coach. While I am in no way suggesting I am a pretty good poker player or that I am a great poker coach, the parallel is there. I think, hope actually, that I give very good advice and analysis to other CR members on the low limit board. Of course when I play I will often ignore my own advice and take some pretty ugly lines.
In the past I have been particularly guilty of over thinking hands. I really believe this is a major problem with many of my peers as well. At $100nl, 98% of players are not paying attention to betting patterns, VPIP's, or PFR%. Unless a particular player really stands out they don't know who's aggro or nitty. They are too busing watching TV, thinking about which party to go to or who's mom is the hottest, surfing the net, downloading music, etc. to play anything more than the 2 cards directly in front of them.
When you are in a hand with 88 and think to yourself, "He cannot call here because my check raise on the flop and lead on the turn represented blah blah blah" there is a good chance the villain is thinking, "is my pizza done yet?" as he calls your shove with TT on an AK62J board. This is not to say that you should not try to analyze every move you and your opponent make. It is not to say that many villains are not capable of making solid decisions based on the board texture, pot size, and their opponents image. What I am trying to get across is that solid, no frills, ABC poker is the hands down best way to glean a profit at the lower limits. Do not get fancy. Do not bluff. Do not play shit cards and say, "I will outplay them on the flop." YOU CANNOT OUTPLAY SOMEBODY THAT ONLY PLAYS THEIR HOLE CARDS AND NOTHING MORE!!!!
Now, if only I could take my own advice...
Before I go, one last thing: I have PAHUD layouts for Absolute, FTP (racetrack. no avatars), and UB. They include most everything from my previous blog post (scroll down) on PAHUD with some tweaks (The UB layout is not as complete but since I play there so little I have not fixed that yet. It is still quite good though.). I can email these layouts to anybody that wants them. Be forwarned that once you import the layout and save it your old layout is gone forever unless you export it and save it to your hard drive. If you want any of the layouts email me at: midas_poop@yahoo.com or PM me on CR (jeff218) with your email addy. I wll send the layout plus instructions on how to get it up and running.
I played about 1150 hands yesterday and started off by dropping a buy in at $100nl without losing more than $15 in a hand. I just could not hit a flop. After going to lunch I decided to fire up, for the first time, a single $200nl table. I have been told that for the most part $200nl does not have better players than $100nl and that it is just a bit more aggro. With this in mind I thought I would play for a bit.
About 30 minutes into the session I was playing quite well and had a nice run of cards. I was running well enough that my VPIP and PFR% were both pretty high (24/21) for my TAG style. I was up to about $290 when I got involved with the player sitting directly across from me. He was running 35/30 for the session with an AF of 12! He had been very aggro regardless of position and was all-in 2-3 times in the twenty hands we had played. He was also sitting with more than a buy-in (about $245).
The villain raised to $7 UTG and I called on the button with 9dTd. Of course I rarely limp but was looking to hit big and get paid. Plus if I 3 bet there is a VERY good chance I get 4 bet or shoved on preflop at which time I have to fold.
The flop came 8c9sTs. The poker gods are a cruel sort. I flop top two pair but there is 2 to a flush and 3 to a straight. Ugh.
He led for $12 into the $17 pot and I popped him up to $38. He 3 bet me to $112. At this point I have NO DOUBT I am ahead. In my mind his likely holding was AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AT, AJ, KJ, JT, or more or less any two spades. I had seen him get tricky with a hand earlier (checked a set with 5c6c9d on the flop, then bet 1/2 pot when an ace hit the turn) and at least one of his all-in hands was a flush draw. All this info made me think he did not have a set or QJ. I just could not see him firing with those hands. This also shows the value of concentrating on just 1- 3 tables and getting good reads. Most of us are not good enough to be playing 6 tables at once.
Here is where I goofed though. I was resigned to getting all-in and was ok with it, but I just called his flop 3 bet. Why? I have no clue. It was def the wrong play. I needed to shove. The turn came 5d to make the board 8c9sTs5d. He insta shoved for $128 more and I called.
I love being right.
He turned over AJ! Thankfully the river was a blank and I raked my biggest pot ever ($494.10). The best part is that I was not at all nervous and had no problem throwing the money in. This has been a problem in the past as that kind of cash means a lot to me. As a result I have been tentative to get my money in which can be a bad thing.
The good continued into the evening with me winning 4 more buys at $100nl thanks in most part to getting AA 8 times and winning every one. When you win $300 of off AA it makes being profitable a lot easier. All told I won $665 and felt very good about my play. I hope I can make it continue!
Over thinking At Low Limits:
One of the things I struggle with most in poker is practicing what I preach...and I preach a LOT! In fact I kind of think of myself as a Joe Torre type. He was a pretty good baseball player but is a great coach. While I am in no way suggesting I am a pretty good poker player or that I am a great poker coach, the parallel is there. I think, hope actually, that I give very good advice and analysis to other CR members on the low limit board. Of course when I play I will often ignore my own advice and take some pretty ugly lines.
In the past I have been particularly guilty of over thinking hands. I really believe this is a major problem with many of my peers as well. At $100nl, 98% of players are not paying attention to betting patterns, VPIP's, or PFR%. Unless a particular player really stands out they don't know who's aggro or nitty. They are too busing watching TV, thinking about which party to go to or who's mom is the hottest, surfing the net, downloading music, etc. to play anything more than the 2 cards directly in front of them.
When you are in a hand with 88 and think to yourself, "He cannot call here because my check raise on the flop and lead on the turn represented blah blah blah" there is a good chance the villain is thinking, "is my pizza done yet?" as he calls your shove with TT on an AK62J board. This is not to say that you should not try to analyze every move you and your opponent make. It is not to say that many villains are not capable of making solid decisions based on the board texture, pot size, and their opponents image. What I am trying to get across is that solid, no frills, ABC poker is the hands down best way to glean a profit at the lower limits. Do not get fancy. Do not bluff. Do not play shit cards and say, "I will outplay them on the flop." YOU CANNOT OUTPLAY SOMEBODY THAT ONLY PLAYS THEIR HOLE CARDS AND NOTHING MORE!!!!
Now, if only I could take my own advice...
Before I go, one last thing: I have PAHUD layouts for Absolute, FTP (racetrack. no avatars), and UB. They include most everything from my previous blog post (scroll down) on PAHUD with some tweaks (The UB layout is not as complete but since I play there so little I have not fixed that yet. It is still quite good though.). I can email these layouts to anybody that wants them. Be forwarned that once you import the layout and save it your old layout is gone forever unless you export it and save it to your hard drive. If you want any of the layouts email me at: midas_poop@yahoo.com or PM me on CR (jeff218) with your email addy. I wll send the layout plus instructions on how to get it up and running.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
I hate Full Tilt...
Once again, I need to lead off by apologizing for the lack of updates. I have not been playing much lately for several reasons:
1. Fantasy baseball
2. NCAA tourney
3. Speaker box building
4. Gran Turismo 4
5. Spring cleaning
6. I hate FTP
I am not sure what it is about Full Tilt but I cannot seem to run well there, EVER. As many of you have read from a few posts ago I left UB for Full Tilt and Absolute. I still have money in UB but don't play there much because it is so damn nitty and tough (FU Bill Frist).
Absolute has been very good to me and is filled with fishies. The problem is that I am not 100% sure my rake back is up and running there. Bill, of Rake Aid, and I are working on that. So I have been playing a lot of the dreaded FT. In my FT career I have cashed big (for me) in a tourney to the tune of about $1500 then donked it ALL off. This was pre-Card Runners.
Post Card Runners has not been much better. Several months ago I put a few bucks in FT to get enough points to "buy" a chip set since I did not have one. I only needed like 2,000 points. Unfortunately those 2,000 points cost me over $300. Thus, the infamous $300 poker chip set. I hate even breaking it out because of all the bad memories. Memories that my "friends" won't quit teasing me about.
Once that disaster was over I pulled my cash back out and put it back into UB. Of course then UB turned into 90% 18/13 players... So here we go again. I dropped $1k into FT a few weeks back and promptly lost half of it. How many times do I have to get all-in against a draw before they don't hit? Last Saturday I got all-in 13 times and lost 12 of them. Of the 13 I got my money in good 11 of them (the other two were set over set and AA vs a set of 4's).
Mid week was better as I reeled of a few winning days and actually posted a winning week on the cash tables for the first time in forever (over a month). The weeks have all been small losers but that shit adds up quick. So after winning about $700 in a 3 day stretch I had Saturday happen and dropped half of that. I took Sunday off to watch (and gamble on) NCAA's and build the box for my new sub.
Side note: the box turned out pretty sweet. I'll post pics of it and my whole system soon as I finish installing my stuff in my Tahoe.
Where was I? Oh yeah.... I didn't play much on Monday but did manage to lose half a buy in. Then yesterday happened. I got slaughtered. I had KK 13 times and won only 6 of those hands. Is that possible? IS THAT POSSIBLE??? Sorry. It was the ugliest 3 buy-in downswing I have had in a long ass time. I ran up against a set with a big over pair 4 times (KK twice, AA once, QQ once). I got all in 7 times and lost 5. My money was in right only twice... It was ugly.
So the promised, on the boards, fantasy baseball player rankings are on hold until I get my shit straightened out. Again. Incidentally, if you are interested, I am running a CR member only fantasy league on Yahoo. Check the off topic or sporting topic board for more info. We still need a few guys so don't be shy!
I promise further updates tomorrow and Friday. Till then, good luck!
1. Fantasy baseball
2. NCAA tourney
3. Speaker box building
4. Gran Turismo 4
5. Spring cleaning
6. I hate FTP
I am not sure what it is about Full Tilt but I cannot seem to run well there, EVER. As many of you have read from a few posts ago I left UB for Full Tilt and Absolute. I still have money in UB but don't play there much because it is so damn nitty and tough (FU Bill Frist).
Absolute has been very good to me and is filled with fishies. The problem is that I am not 100% sure my rake back is up and running there. Bill, of Rake Aid, and I are working on that. So I have been playing a lot of the dreaded FT. In my FT career I have cashed big (for me) in a tourney to the tune of about $1500 then donked it ALL off. This was pre-Card Runners.
Post Card Runners has not been much better. Several months ago I put a few bucks in FT to get enough points to "buy" a chip set since I did not have one. I only needed like 2,000 points. Unfortunately those 2,000 points cost me over $300. Thus, the infamous $300 poker chip set. I hate even breaking it out because of all the bad memories. Memories that my "friends" won't quit teasing me about.
Once that disaster was over I pulled my cash back out and put it back into UB. Of course then UB turned into 90% 18/13 players... So here we go again. I dropped $1k into FT a few weeks back and promptly lost half of it. How many times do I have to get all-in against a draw before they don't hit? Last Saturday I got all-in 13 times and lost 12 of them. Of the 13 I got my money in good 11 of them (the other two were set over set and AA vs a set of 4's).
Mid week was better as I reeled of a few winning days and actually posted a winning week on the cash tables for the first time in forever (over a month). The weeks have all been small losers but that shit adds up quick. So after winning about $700 in a 3 day stretch I had Saturday happen and dropped half of that. I took Sunday off to watch (and gamble on) NCAA's and build the box for my new sub.
Side note: the box turned out pretty sweet. I'll post pics of it and my whole system soon as I finish installing my stuff in my Tahoe.
Where was I? Oh yeah.... I didn't play much on Monday but did manage to lose half a buy in. Then yesterday happened. I got slaughtered. I had KK 13 times and won only 6 of those hands. Is that possible? IS THAT POSSIBLE??? Sorry. It was the ugliest 3 buy-in downswing I have had in a long ass time. I ran up against a set with a big over pair 4 times (KK twice, AA once, QQ once). I got all in 7 times and lost 5. My money was in right only twice... It was ugly.
So the promised, on the boards, fantasy baseball player rankings are on hold until I get my shit straightened out. Again. Incidentally, if you are interested, I am running a CR member only fantasy league on Yahoo. Check the off topic or sporting topic board for more info. We still need a few guys so don't be shy!
I promise further updates tomorrow and Friday. Till then, good luck!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Yeah, I'm still alive...
Sorry for the lack of an update...I have been a bit busy. Apparently I'm re-addicted to Gran Turismo 4! We have also been busy at work. Nice weather make for lots of car sales. This is a good thing (I like money).
Last week was my 5th straight loser at the cash tables (if you omit my tourney win). While the last two weeks I've only lost a total of about $250, I am still frustrated. On a good note, I think I have found a few leaks. The biggest is definitely my drop in aggression and increasing nittyness. I am really working on opening up and the results have been promising.
At this point I have pretty much given up on UB. I cannot get paid there and just can't deal with the tight, tough play. I tried FTP out but after I was 3-bet 4,562 times in two days I decided to give Absolute a try (seriously, how aggro is $100nl at FT?). Absolute may have the WORST PLAYERS EVER! There are tons of guys with 40%+ VPIP's and <10% class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">PFR%. Perfect.
In fact, I sat at a table with three guys that were: 85/24, 83/19, and 60/11 over 75 hands. Triple perfect.
I will try and put a bigger update up later this week as well as some discussion about fantasy baseball and the over thinking that occurs at lower limits.
Till then, good luck at the tables.
Last week was my 5th straight loser at the cash tables (if you omit my tourney win). While the last two weeks I've only lost a total of about $250, I am still frustrated. On a good note, I think I have found a few leaks. The biggest is definitely my drop in aggression and increasing nittyness. I am really working on opening up and the results have been promising.
At this point I have pretty much given up on UB. I cannot get paid there and just can't deal with the tight, tough play. I tried FTP out but after I was 3-bet 4,562 times in two days I decided to give Absolute a try (seriously, how aggro is $100nl at FT?). Absolute may have the WORST PLAYERS EVER! There are tons of guys with 40%+ VPIP's and <10% class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">PFR%. Perfect.
In fact, I sat at a table with three guys that were: 85/24, 83/19, and 60/11 over 75 hands. Triple perfect.
I will try and put a bigger update up later this week as well as some discussion about fantasy baseball and the over thinking that occurs at lower limits.
Till then, good luck at the tables.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Snow, snow, go away...
Holy shit did it snow here this week! 40 mile per hour winds, 18 inches of snow....what a mess. I took some pics. It is nothing groundbreaking but it shows just how much snow we got. Keep in mind that on Wednesday morning we had NO snow on the ground whatsoever...
This is my back yard. the main drift is about 4 feet deep. You should see my dogs trudge through it. Pure comedy.
This is my itty bitty 2 bedroome abode. It is hard to see but the snow is over 4 feet deep in my front yard. No stalking me now!
This is a 2005 Mustang that belongs to a guy several blocks over. His shitty house brings down an otherwise nice 'hood.
This Chevy aint going anywhere soon.
This van is on an emergency snow route, it probably got towed shortly after I took this.
This is on the outside edge of town. Keep in mind I live in a town of 25k in the plains of South Dakota. Snow blows in from everywhere.
This is a city street. The pic refuses to do the scene justice. Most streets had well over a foot of snow making it literally impossible for non 4 wheel drives to pass.
There is a car under there somewhere, really...
Pretty crazy stuff for sure.
On to poker related news.
I played a bit last night and won about $250. I played very well and took pretty good advantage of the Saturday night drunks.
Now lemme tell you about my Friday night.
I wanna preface this by saying that I am not a big tourney player. I love playing in them but I don't very often. As a result I understand tourney strategy but am not always the best or most patient at executing it. The best I have ever done in a tourney was second in a $10+1 on FTP with 1200 entrants. It paid $1600.
I entered the $30+3 $8k guarantee on UB at 9:00pm. Things started slow as I was playing tight. Right before the first break I caught this hand:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?875986
Right after the break I caught another gem:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?875995
At this point I was top third or so. I planned to continue to play tight into the second break but then this happened:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876000
After that I def played tight as I was top 5 in chips. Antes soon kicked in and nothing eventful happened for a bit. I did take down a few pots with some pp's and over cards (KQ on a K high flop most notably) but mostly lost several smaller pots and won a few bigger ones here and there. I did get a bit lucky in a hand that my opponent played a bit weakly on the flop. I called the min raise from the bb hoping to hit big as he was deep stacked (at this point I was still top 5 in chips):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876016 Nothing spectacular, I just found it to be an interesting hand!
At this point my cards left me, big time. I went from top 5 to bottom half mostly by way of blinds, antes, and others just plain passing me by. By the time this hand happened I was def in need of some chips if I wanted to go super deep:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876145
The VERY NEXT HAND:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876148
So now I am top 3...WOOO HOOOOO!!!! We were down to the final 3 tables and I was playing well when this happened. It coulda been sweet...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876155
Once again I ran dead for a bit and lost about half my stack in the process.
Up until this point I had not sucked out or gotten my money in bad once. So it was about time!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876417
My intention was to take it down on the flop. I figured that even if he called I would have the redraw to the flush...oops! Thank god for 2 outers!
What was that about two outers?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876423
So now I am chip leader and we are down to the final two tables!
After awhile I made the final table despite another run of bad cards. Even with the bad run I managed to build up a very nice stack by taking advantage of the guys that did not wanna go out in 11-20th. The pay jump was large and guys were playing tight.
The final tables stack sizes looked like this:
RR28 22770
BubBanks 60715
Shadymdub 52230
jupitert 23565
Poker_Man3 87665
script12 81935
CapAnson 94955
Giant Frog 40150
TheSpartan 41585
GoodKharma 20930
Payouts were about (I forget what they all were for sure):
10th: $130
9th: $220
8th: $335
7th: $440
6th: $550
5th: $670
4th: $800
3rd: $950
2nd: $1580
1st: $2630
I had AK and QQ early on and three bet with both. Both times I took down 55K+ pots preflop. I also won a nice pot with 66 on the flop when it came 522. 35 hands into the final table we had lost 4 players and the stacks were as follows:
BubBanks 33790
Shadymdub 45960
jupitert 86015
Poker_Man3 78435
script12 130545
CapAnson 151755
I was essentially running over everybody as the play was VERY tight. I bought a lot of pots and took down a bunch of hands preflop. One player even bitched about my button raises.
When this next hand happened I had a very aggro image at the table. The guy I got involved with was also somewhat aggro. It bears noting that I 3 bet him twice preflop (the afore mentioned AK and QQ hands) and raised him up on a flop once (the aforementioned 66 hand) at the table already. In hindsight I played the hand weakly and got lucky. I guess you can't play perfect the WHOLE tourney...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876485
That win gave me 190k with second place having just over 105k.
I ran dead for a few hands....and then lost my first big pot. Luckily I could afford it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876506
I think I made a solid play and just did not hit.
Gimmie my chips back!!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876513
Oh shit...I just found out I do not have the rest of the HH's. Not sure where the went, dammit... I will have to request them from UB.
Ok, here is the cliff notes version:
I took out the 3rd and 4th place guys back to back hands with AK and 88 I think. I got to heads up with a tight ass player and had him dominated in chips (415k to 110k).
I proceeded to run his ass over for a bit. He was down to 70k and we got all in preflop. I had AQ he had K9...the flop came 99x. A bit later I had AT and the flop came TT2. We got all in on the turn. He had QT but the river came 2.
Once again I had him down to 70kish. I raised, he shoved and I called with KTo...he had AT!
Flop:QJx
Turn:x
River:9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$2632.58 richer baby!!! It was 2:15 in the morning and I was jumping up and down like a prepubescent girl!!! Fucking SHIP IT!!!!!!!!!
I played very well for the whole tourney, especially the last 3 hours. I was super happy with myself and for the first time in weeks felt super confident in my play. It is such a good feeling to win. It is better than the best drug. The money is only half of it...the winning and the confidence are soooooo important to me right now.
If anybody cares I can post the rest of the hands later if I can get my hands on them. I will rely on feedback to decide if I do that or not.
Well, I should get back to my Gran Turismo 4 endurance race I am running with a friend of mine...but first check these sweet pics of the driving seat setup I made with my force feedback steering wheel (who said you have to be all grown up at 27?):
Modeling the seat is my friend Jamie. He's a redneck. The seat is from a 1984 Ford Tempo that I used to drive in high school. I used the seat track so it is fully adjustable fore and aft. Here is an over the shoulder pic that also shows my pitiful 27" TV that rests on a plastic container so it is high enough to be seen. At least the surround sound is nice...
Wow that was a long as post! All right, I am off to my turn at the wheel. Good luck all, I hope this week treats you as well as the weekend did me.
This is my back yard. the main drift is about 4 feet deep. You should see my dogs trudge through it. Pure comedy.
This is my itty bitty 2 bedroome abode. It is hard to see but the snow is over 4 feet deep in my front yard. No stalking me now!
This is a 2005 Mustang that belongs to a guy several blocks over. His shitty house brings down an otherwise nice 'hood.
This Chevy aint going anywhere soon.
This van is on an emergency snow route, it probably got towed shortly after I took this.
This is on the outside edge of town. Keep in mind I live in a town of 25k in the plains of South Dakota. Snow blows in from everywhere.
This is a city street. The pic refuses to do the scene justice. Most streets had well over a foot of snow making it literally impossible for non 4 wheel drives to pass.
There is a car under there somewhere, really...
Pretty crazy stuff for sure.
On to poker related news.
I played a bit last night and won about $250. I played very well and took pretty good advantage of the Saturday night drunks.
Now lemme tell you about my Friday night.
I wanna preface this by saying that I am not a big tourney player. I love playing in them but I don't very often. As a result I understand tourney strategy but am not always the best or most patient at executing it. The best I have ever done in a tourney was second in a $10+1 on FTP with 1200 entrants. It paid $1600.
I entered the $30+3 $8k guarantee on UB at 9:00pm. Things started slow as I was playing tight. Right before the first break I caught this hand:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?875986
Right after the break I caught another gem:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?875995
At this point I was top third or so. I planned to continue to play tight into the second break but then this happened:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876000
After that I def played tight as I was top 5 in chips. Antes soon kicked in and nothing eventful happened for a bit. I did take down a few pots with some pp's and over cards (KQ on a K high flop most notably) but mostly lost several smaller pots and won a few bigger ones here and there. I did get a bit lucky in a hand that my opponent played a bit weakly on the flop. I called the min raise from the bb hoping to hit big as he was deep stacked (at this point I was still top 5 in chips):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876016 Nothing spectacular, I just found it to be an interesting hand!
At this point my cards left me, big time. I went from top 5 to bottom half mostly by way of blinds, antes, and others just plain passing me by. By the time this hand happened I was def in need of some chips if I wanted to go super deep:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876145
The VERY NEXT HAND:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876148
So now I am top 3...WOOO HOOOOO!!!! We were down to the final 3 tables and I was playing well when this happened. It coulda been sweet...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876155
Once again I ran dead for a bit and lost about half my stack in the process.
Up until this point I had not sucked out or gotten my money in bad once. So it was about time!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876417
My intention was to take it down on the flop. I figured that even if he called I would have the redraw to the flush...oops! Thank god for 2 outers!
What was that about two outers?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876423
So now I am chip leader and we are down to the final two tables!
After awhile I made the final table despite another run of bad cards. Even with the bad run I managed to build up a very nice stack by taking advantage of the guys that did not wanna go out in 11-20th. The pay jump was large and guys were playing tight.
The final tables stack sizes looked like this:
RR28 22770
BubBanks 60715
Shadymdub 52230
jupitert 23565
Poker_Man3 87665
script12 81935
CapAnson 94955
Giant Frog 40150
TheSpartan 41585
GoodKharma 20930
Payouts were about (I forget what they all were for sure):
10th: $130
9th: $220
8th: $335
7th: $440
6th: $550
5th: $670
4th: $800
3rd: $950
2nd: $1580
1st: $2630
I had AK and QQ early on and three bet with both. Both times I took down 55K+ pots preflop. I also won a nice pot with 66 on the flop when it came 522. 35 hands into the final table we had lost 4 players and the stacks were as follows:
BubBanks 33790
Shadymdub 45960
jupitert 86015
Poker_Man3 78435
script12 130545
CapAnson 151755
I was essentially running over everybody as the play was VERY tight. I bought a lot of pots and took down a bunch of hands preflop. One player even bitched about my button raises.
When this next hand happened I had a very aggro image at the table. The guy I got involved with was also somewhat aggro. It bears noting that I 3 bet him twice preflop (the afore mentioned AK and QQ hands) and raised him up on a flop once (the aforementioned 66 hand) at the table already. In hindsight I played the hand weakly and got lucky. I guess you can't play perfect the WHOLE tourney...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876485
That win gave me 190k with second place having just over 105k.
I ran dead for a few hands....and then lost my first big pot. Luckily I could afford it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876506
I think I made a solid play and just did not hit.
Gimmie my chips back!!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?876513
Oh shit...I just found out I do not have the rest of the HH's. Not sure where the went, dammit... I will have to request them from UB.
Ok, here is the cliff notes version:
I took out the 3rd and 4th place guys back to back hands with AK and 88 I think. I got to heads up with a tight ass player and had him dominated in chips (415k to 110k).
I proceeded to run his ass over for a bit. He was down to 70k and we got all in preflop. I had AQ he had K9...the flop came 99x. A bit later I had AT and the flop came TT2. We got all in on the turn. He had QT but the river came 2.
Once again I had him down to 70kish. I raised, he shoved and I called with KTo...he had AT!
Flop:QJx
Turn:x
River:9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$2632.58 richer baby!!! It was 2:15 in the morning and I was jumping up and down like a prepubescent girl!!! Fucking SHIP IT!!!!!!!!!
I played very well for the whole tourney, especially the last 3 hours. I was super happy with myself and for the first time in weeks felt super confident in my play. It is such a good feeling to win. It is better than the best drug. The money is only half of it...the winning and the confidence are soooooo important to me right now.
If anybody cares I can post the rest of the hands later if I can get my hands on them. I will rely on feedback to decide if I do that or not.
Well, I should get back to my Gran Turismo 4 endurance race I am running with a friend of mine...but first check these sweet pics of the driving seat setup I made with my force feedback steering wheel (who said you have to be all grown up at 27?):
Modeling the seat is my friend Jamie. He's a redneck. The seat is from a 1984 Ford Tempo that I used to drive in high school. I used the seat track so it is fully adjustable fore and aft. Here is an over the shoulder pic that also shows my pitiful 27" TV that rests on a plastic container so it is high enough to be seen. At least the surround sound is nice...
Wow that was a long as post! All right, I am off to my turn at the wheel. Good luck all, I hope this week treats you as well as the weekend did me.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Thinking About a Switch to FTP
The last few days have been mostly uneventful. I did not play at all on Monday or Tuesday and played very little yesterday. I did win a few bucks at the cash tables but gave it back in the two tournies I played. One of them I bubbled after shoving on a player that had raised like 10 of the last 12 hands and was running over the table. I had about 2400 left and blinds were 150/300 and about to escalate into antes. I had 44. He had 77. In the other tourney I got booted from UB about 45 minutes after it started. I could not log back on for almost 2 hours. Boy was I pissed. Needless to say I am trying to recoup the entry fee as the problem was UB's and not my ISP's.
The major news of the day, as it were, concerns my potential move to FTP. I currently play UB but have noticed an alarming trend as of late. It seems that every table is popluated with 2-3 guys that play a LAG or TAG style. They refuse to pay me off and in general play a tough style of poker. FTP has about twice the user base and just inherited all of the players from Doyle's Room (or at least a large portion of them.). If you have not heard about Doyle's Room, read the article at this link: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_law/article/1907
I played Doyle's for a bit and all I can say is this: The site was populated with the worst players I have EVER seen. The level of play at $100nl was about the same as the level at $10nl on UB. Really. So if these fish are going to Full Tilt....I may follow.
I am currently in the process of getting signed up for rake back there. I emailed FT last night and asked them to close my old, mostly unused, account and remove me from the system. As of 10am this morning that had been done. Quick! When I sign up for the new account I plan on using my same user name but using my work address and a different name on my account. I hope it works as I know FT is strict about their one "account per person" policy.
I plan on playing a bit tonight but my daughter is sick so that may not happen. I will, of course, keep you all informed as I try to get out of my recent slump.
Until next time, good luck at the tables.
The major news of the day, as it were, concerns my potential move to FTP. I currently play UB but have noticed an alarming trend as of late. It seems that every table is popluated with 2-3 guys that play a LAG or TAG style. They refuse to pay me off and in general play a tough style of poker. FTP has about twice the user base and just inherited all of the players from Doyle's Room (or at least a large portion of them.). If you have not heard about Doyle's Room, read the article at this link: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_law/article/1907
I played Doyle's for a bit and all I can say is this: The site was populated with the worst players I have EVER seen. The level of play at $100nl was about the same as the level at $10nl on UB. Really. So if these fish are going to Full Tilt....I may follow.
I am currently in the process of getting signed up for rake back there. I emailed FT last night and asked them to close my old, mostly unused, account and remove me from the system. As of 10am this morning that had been done. Quick! When I sign up for the new account I plan on using my same user name but using my work address and a different name on my account. I hope it works as I know FT is strict about their one "account per person" policy.
I plan on playing a bit tonight but my daughter is sick so that may not happen. I will, of course, keep you all informed as I try to get out of my recent slump.
Until next time, good luck at the tables.
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