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...I'm playing really badly right now. Last night was the spite call, tonight was this...
2 limpers to me in the big blind. I have KT and don't feel like getting frisky. I check.
Flop comes TQK. Two pair for me. I'm going to play this fast early, but slow down and play for a small pot if I get resistance. I bet the pot and get a caller. AJ? Ouch. Better two pair? Maybe. Set? Maybe.
Turn comes another Queen. I could be behind trips now, but I still have two pair. I bet, smaller this time. He calls again.
River comes a 7h. I bet defensively, 200 into 800. I get a call. He shows AK and I think "sweet, I win with my two pair", but the chips go the villain's way. Why? I had two pair, he had one pair. No, idiot - we both had two pair - Kings and Queens, and he outkicked me. The second queen counterfeited my two pair, and I didn't see it.
I'm not sure I would have played any differently, I certainly wouldn't have won the hand, but I didn't read the board properly. I missed the counterfeit completely as it happened. Not good at all.
The tourney ended, strangely enough, much like my live tourney did last weekend. A player with stats of 10/2 limped in early position. I had 7 BB in the small blind with 8T - I felt like he was weak and I had enough fold equity, and has his dead money in the pot. I shoved and he called - he had QQ and I was crushed.
Taking a second look at his stats - I saw that he was limping and almost never raising, but again I didn't read the stats properly. He's playing only 10% of the hands total. Either his cards suck (like mine lately) or he's waiting for really good hands. Do I have any fold equity vs. that kind of player? Nope. Another bad mistake.
Second tourney of the night, I take a pass on the first 17 hands since they all suck - in hand 18 I get TT and raise it up 3x. Negative ROI player calls me. Flop comes A 6 2 and I bet it out and get raised, BIG. Ok, sparky, wanna spite call again and see this donk who called me with A2 or 22, or is he shoving with 99 and I've got him crushed? No way to know. I give it up and am down below 1000 after playing one hand.
That tourney ends in an equally unwinnable situation - I'm on the bubble with 800 chips, everyone else has over 3100. I need two doubleups just to get in the game (unless one player knocks another out). Of course, my cards aren't very good, and I have zero fold equity. I win a couple blinds but my final push with K3 gets called by the small blind, who of course has K9, killing my top card and any chance I have without a miracle suckout. ICM says it's a good push, so I got that going for me, but the suckout doesn't come and I bubble.
My "final" report of November last night was premature since I squeezed in two tourneys tonight. I should have taken a pass and let myself stay in the black for the month. The two losses drag my ROI on the month back below the water line - negative 7.44%. 23 tourneys represents the least I've played in a month since starting, and sample sizes still apply, as always, but the last two online months have not been good to me. And now I'm making mistakes along with the bad runs of cards.
Am I going backwards? I sure would hate to end up sucking at this game, because I really love playing it...
Playing ok, but getting tilted at some of the bad players at the table - seeing all kinds of crap like shoving with top pair/no kicker, shoving with ten high, openshoving 25 BB into the pot, limping with crap and hitting 2 pair.
Wasn't in the mood tonight, I guess. Trying to play solid TAG game and make less mistakes than opponents, but have been rewarded with no cards and no big flops. Fought my ass off for a third place finish earlier this afternoon, no cards the whole tourney, stats of 9/3 for chrissakes - then finally get proper ICM-shovable hands but opponents have better hands twice in a row, and I'm gone.
This evening's tourney I get an AQ in early position, raise it up, and get a caller from the blind. I've seen this person call raises twice already. I'm almost 100% sure I'm ahead. Flop comes 5 5 J and she pushes all into me. Really? C'mon, what are the chances this flop hit you. If I fold, though, she's going to show me A3 and I'm gonna puke. Nope, I gotta call... She shows JT and knocks me out of the tourney.
Bad play by me, but I was stuck either way. She made a shove with TPMK against a preflop raise - I could have easily had her beaten with JJ/QQ/KK/AA. She could have easily been shoving with ace high, but this time she had a little something. Her bad play rewarded again, my bad play knocks me out.
Third tourney, worst player at the table calls my raise. I have AQo. Flop comes 355. I hit my queen on the turn, and he gets it all in. He's a horrible player, I have TPTK. Fold? Really? No way, there are 100 hands he could have that I beat. Nope, he called my raise with 33 and flopped a boat. (Do you know the last time I flopped a boat? I checked, it was Nov 1, seems like 1000 years ago)
Nothin's working right now.
-- I just realized that I won't be playing tomorrow, so the month is over. Quick check of my online stats - only 21 tourneys played this month, for an ROI of 1.82%. Positive, yes, but barely. I'm negative 21% ROI since October 1, 57 tourneys played. Awful. How can you tell if it's luck or bad play? Sure, I made a spite call tonight, but having a bad player call a raise with 33 without odds and flop a boat on you - is that bad play? Going broke on a pair is supposedly bad play, but against poor players, can you really let them push you off top pair top kicker? Really? Cause if I've got to play for sets or better, then I might as well not play - cause I'm not hitting any of these.
Next week is more vacation - playing negative ROI poker for a full week doesn't sound like a good time. I better figure something out.
Got my chance to defend my 2 second-place-in-a-row finishes in the neighborhood monthly tourney last night. Another large turnout - 59 players crammed onto 6 tables to start the $50 buy-in tourney, which would make for a nice payout for those who could make the money.
The poker gods did not see fit to send decent cards my way. Early rounds in this tourney feature a fair amount of limpfests, and the stack sizes allow for taking some early shots with connectors and gappers, but I didn't even get the cards to attempt these shots. I stayed tight and, for the most part, avoided frustration.
In the third orbit around the bloated 10 man table, I decided to play a hand regardless of my cards, on the button. If it folded to my I would raise, if there were limpers I would limp behind. My hand? K5o. Oof. Oh well, the plan was to ignore the cards and see if I could use my position to win a hand. The flop came with 2 broadway and plenty of action from players who didn't seem like they were messing around, so I bailed by the time flop action got to me.
My first playable hand came with 25-50 blinds - AKo, under the gun. I made it 150, and got a caller from a decent player on the button. He liked to play broadway in position - he also liked to represent every draw on the board. If there were 2 diamonds, he would call a flop bet and then wake up and bet big when the third diamond came. If there wes a straight on the board, he was in betting. I'm sure he actually has the draw once in awhile, but not as often as he represents. I also got a caller from one of the blinds.
Flop with my AK was a clean whiff - QQ6. The blind checked and so did I. Broadway Joe checked as well. The turn was a T. Blind checked again, and I decided to take a shot and bet 150, but Broadway Joe called the bet. He might have the Queen, or he might be representing it, but I was out of position and therefore in no position to figure it out. The river blanked out and I checked again. Broadway Joe bet 250 - I thought about calling but still felt like I had enough chips to manuever, so I folded.
The other bigger hand I got tangled up in was a study in two guys trying to outsmart each other. Everyone folded to the small blind, a good player who sat to my right. He limped into my big blind. I held JQ and thought about raising but decided to see a free flop instead. The flop came 669. The small blind lead out. I felt like he was just trying to steal on the paired flop, so I reraised with my overs, and he quickly announced "all in". Ok, then, guess he's got a 6. I folded. He flipped over AA, and was grateful that I didn't have the 6!
My cards stayed bad and I bled down to 800 chips with 50-100 blinds. Time to ship it out, and soon. My wish for one playable hand was granted with a 77 and a single limper in front of me. I shipped it in. The limper, who had an above average stack, asked if I wanted a call or not. He said "we're obviously racing, do you want a call?". I said "I'll leave it up to you", and he finally called, showing AK. AK? no preflop raise? Well, it didn't matter, I would be racing any 2 broadway just the same. I got out of the blocks nicely in my race with a zero paint flop, and kept him at bay with a Jack on the turn and another low
card on the river. I was alive with 1600 chips.
Another orbit around the table, another blind raise, and another dozen or so mostly unplayable hands. I did find AA once in early position, but chased everyone away with a 2.5x bet. Hidden luck strikes again. It's not only what cards you get - it's what cards everyone else gets, too. AA is dogmeat if all it wins you are blinds.
I soon got back to the same place I was before - 8 blinds, with blind levels going up soon. A limper came in and I peeked at AQo - plenty good enough to ship. I shipped. The limper, again with a stack I couldn't really cripple with a loss, called and I expected to be racing again (or maybe dominating, please please), counted up the chips right away and threw them in, and turned over -- QQ. Huh? What's with the limping with great hands?
Well, I needed an Ace and didn't get it. I had mostly folded my way, with one double up, to 25th place out of 59.
I also got into a $10 side game tourney with 8 players, but that's almost not worth mentioning. My card streak continued, and I ended up pushing my last 8 big blinds into a made straight. I had middle pair and a draw to the same straight. Lovely.
I had invited everyone from the Thursday game to the tourney, and had one taker - Mr. Matt Pietzak, an excellent player whom I've mentioned before. He's not afraid to play low cards and crush your AQ, or simply play you regardless of his cards. Mr. Pietzak finished 5th - in the money - and probably should have finished in the top two, except that he decided to butt heads with the only guy at the table who could break him, and got broken by a strong drawing hand he couldn't get away from. Unfortunately, the big stack had a nearly unbeatable boat by the turn, and bumped everyone's equity up by knocking Pietzak out. I watched until that big stack and the formerly mentioned Broadway Joe were the last 2 in the tourney, then called it a night.
My Thursday night cash game moved to Tuesday to avoid the holidays, and they also decided to play a $25 buy-in tourney, with an optional $5 knock-out chip. The host has 2 poker tables in his finished basement and managed to fill them up with 18 players.
Cards were good early so I was able to mix it up. I button raised QTo and got a caller - Mr. Pietzak, who defends his blinds often and is not afraid to play low cards for implied odds. One cannot overplay top pair against him. Fortunately for me, the flop came TT5 flop. He checks. I thought if I lead out he might float me, not believing my bet. He did actually smile like he knew I was full of crap, but mucked anyway. Damn!
I completed with KJ from the SB in a limped pot, then took it down on the turn after a round of checks, and nothing but overs.
Got KK in late position, raised it up 5x - higher than normal, since blind defending seemed to be in vogue at my table. True to form, the small blind defended my 5x. I was prepared to let it go if an Ace flopped, and my heart sank a bit when I saw the Ace in the window, but my mood immediately changed once all three cards were revealed to all be aces - the old AAA flop. My blind defender lead out which told me for sure he didn't have the fourth ace. I suppose I could have milked this one with a call, but I decided that the pot was already nicely sized and I wanted it now. I raised it up big and he got out of the way.
This hand put me just over 2500 after starting at 2000, and I felt comfortable for awhile. At this point, my cards went dead for a couple of blind levels and I tightened up. I did take one shot with a lead-out 3x raise under the gun with JTs, and I was able to win a small pot with J6 from big blind on a flop with a J.
Here's one marginal situation - raised KT from the button. Blinds were 75/150, I raised to 400. The small blind shoved all in, making it 1100 for me to call into a 2125 pot - giving me 1.9-1 odds to call. I need 34% to win, which is probably worth a call, but I just let it go.
I was able to get some of those lost chips back in the next orbit - I got a free play from the big with K8s, and the flop came 8 9 2. I checked, then watched my opponent carefully. He was an aggressive player with a big chip stack, having knocked 2 or 3 people out of tourament already. I expected him to lead out and he did. My decision, now - does he have a 9? This is a limped pot, so he could have easily played some connectors or A9, but then again he could just be taking a shot at my check.
Maybe it's because I'm in the middle of reading Gus Hansen's "Every Hand Revealed", but I decided for the maximum aggresive play - I pushed all in with middle pair! My thinking was that he couldn't call with two unconnected overs - there was no flush draw for him to chase, his hand would have to be pretty specific like JT to even consider a call, and I might even get him to lay down a better hand like A8. He looked truly shocked when I announced all in, and folded right away, so my little game worked.
When the tables combined to the last nine I had only 11 BB and desperation mode was coming soon. My cards went cold again (93s, T6o, oof), and I couldn't really make a play at anything. The big stack at the table was to my right, but he was playing very tight so he wasn't really trying to grind the table down. At one point he came into a button raise - I found A7o in my small blind. I considered pushing over him but I felt like he had a legitimate hand that he wouldn't fold. I much preferred going all-in as an opening bet.
After a few more bad hands, and the blinds about to go up, I couldn't wait any longer. I decided I would shove any two - and what a lovely 2 I got - 96o. Eeeeesh. I shoved, got a caller with two broadway cards, then doubled up on a 9 in the window of the flop. I was still in the game, but still desperate, as the blinds went up again almost right away.
I was able to terrorize the table for an orbit or two with some all-ins or the threat of them. The killer hand was my open-shove from under the gun with 22. I had 8 BB and had to make a move. A stack even lower than mine called with KQ, and hit a queen on the river. This crippled me further. The final blow was the tight chip leader raising it up. Again, I put him on a legitmate hand, but I held KJs and that was more than enough to shoot for a double up. I reraised all in, knowing he had a trivial call with any 2 cards. I was hoping for A5 but got AQ instead, and was knocked out the tourney in 7th place when neither of our cards paired the board.
I was very comfortable with the way I played. I probably could have made the KT call with correct odds, and I probably tightened up too much before the final table - I let myself get too short. A few blind steals would have helped me here. However, I also checkraised all in with middle pair based solely on a player read, and played backwards against Mr. Pietzak a couple times, whom I consider one of the best players in the room. Overall, I had no regrets as I drove home.
Can you get away from the river card that gives you the straight, but gives your opponent a boat? In a 9 man tourney, do you even worry about it? Sigh.
I raise with AT from the button and get a caller.
Flop comes 3KK. She checks, I c-bet, she calls. My radar is officially up for a K now.
J comes on the turn, check/check.
Queen on the river, gives me the straight. She bets 100 into a 1200 pot. She's a beginning player according to sharkscope. Do I just call here, worrying about KJ and KQ (KK I guess, too, gads), or are there enough king/x in her range that gave her trips and didn't boat her up?
The Buckeyes made us a little uncomfortable against the almost-hapless Wolverines today, but they kicked it into gear in the second half and prevailed. Their impressive victory gave me some extra courage tonight.
Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 200/400 Blinds, 2 Players
Hero (BB): 8,585
SB: 4,915
Pre-Flop: (600) 6
7
dealt to Hero (BB)
SB raises to 800, Hero calls 400
villain has been aggressive headsup, but he offers me 3-1 pot odds. 6-7 is an easy call
Flop: (1,600) K
7
4 (2 Players)
My first inclination is to bet out, hitting my middle pair. Then I come up with a different strategy...
Hero checks, SB bets 1,100, Hero raises to 7,785 and is All-In, SB folds
A checkraise with middle pair! Pretty dangerous, I would admit - if he's got any king, he's calling, most likely - but this opponent was betting often enough that I felt like the combination of calling his preflop raise and my checkraise showed great strength. I got the fold I was looking for.
Results: 3,800 Pot
Hero mucked 6 7 and WON 3,800 (+1,900 NET)
This play won me a huge pot and put me into a commanding lead that I turned into a tourney victory 4 hands later with an AQ vs. A8.
No home game tonight - decided to take a break since drinking will commence early on Saturday with Buckeyes/Wolverines kicking off at noon.
Played 2 $10 FullTilt 9 mans instead. Won the first - a crazy fishfest where we got to heads up so fast it was still 40/80 blinds. I folded my way to top 6, won two hands to get me to second place, then folded again into the money.
Heads up took forever, blinds were so low. Villain was weak but getting all the cards, I was missing every flop. Started off with typical aggression, but he started calling me light both preflop and on c-bets. Decided to change gears and get into flops cheaply with my crap cards and hope for big hands I could trap him with. Finally got in with Ace rag, paired the ace and bet some money, got a call. Turn put a third spade on the board, I had the ace of spades, bet my top pair again, got a call. River came the lovely fourth spade, and I took the win vs. the Jack high flush.
Second tourney I played at the same table as Tony - not much going on. Got to 9 BB and started ICM shoving, which worked fine. Then I hit JJ and shoved again - into AA. Oopsie. Out in 5th, not much I could do there. Tony ended up big stack and crushing the bubble with unending aggression - opponents were obviously not experienced in SNG endgame stuff and just let him drain their chips until they had nothing left to fight with.
More vacation coming after Thanksgiving - the plan is to multitable low buy-in tournies (or matrix tournies), and work my way up to multitable $10 tourneys by the end of the week. No funerals looming for this vacation (Lord willing), so I should have to whole week to stare at the Kings and Queens instead.
On the music front, I am still addicted to Opeth. I told my high school buddy that it feels good to find a band at my age that interested me enough to want to buy their CDs, read their lyrics, watch interviews and videos, etc. I haven't invested that level of dedication to a band in a long time. (probably 20 years or so, truth be told). After a quick lookup on the checking account this morning, to see that the family cash flow is adequate for the month, I logged into Amazon and one-click-purchased my way to 2 more of Opeth's CDs, due to arrive next week. Merry early Christmas to me!
Thursday night live game - hasn't started off great. I'm down one buy in, and my chip stack is back to my starting $40 after a rebuy. Mood is good, a bit too tired, probably - I've managed to win a few small pots and lose a couple medium ones. Cards have been mediocre. My good hands (KK twice, AK twice) have won me nothing but blinds so far).
A2o in the cutoff. Two limpers. I've had good discipline tonight - have folded some nice juicy connectors in early position, but this is late position, and the guys behind me will probably let me see a cheap one, so I toss in the two chips. Can't play by the book every time...
I get the kind of flop you want to get when you get in cheaply with Ace-rag - Ace , 4 , 2 . Not bad. Top and bottom pair, with position. Let's see how this plays out.
Check, Check, then the player to my right bets $5. He's an average player - I've seen him go too far with top pair, even if it's a Ten. I've got him on Ace-x, and all I've got to do is hope it's and 8 and not a 4. I raise to $15. Everyone else folds, he thinks for a few seconds, then pushes all in. Uh-oh.
So let's see, a set? Maybe. He's not the "limp with Aces" type, so it would have to be twos or fours. Ace-4 is out there, as I mentioned. Would he try and push me off an Ace with something like 88? Don't think so, not this particular guy. Would he shove on a flush draw? Nah, maybe a pair and flush draw, but the Ace of the flush draw is on the board, what could he have there? 23 of clubs? Seems unlikely.
I finally decide it's between a set or an overplayed ace. Since I've seen him overplay top pair before, I call.
He turns over 89. Interesting. Someone says "aha, 2 pair vs. a flush". Don't you mean a flush draw, buddy?
Turn comes red, I still look ok.
My buddy Ed, to my left, deals the last card. He says "you're welcome" before I can see it. It's a deuce and I boat up. Odd. Why is he saying "you're welcome", I've been ahead the whole time. Just because he didn't deal me the killer club?
We've still got the task of figuring out chip stacks - our chips we're almost dead even, so we begin stacking. Something is not right - I've got that hazy feeling of not quite understanding what's going on around me. I take one more look at the board before the cards are scooped up....
Ace , 4 , 2 ..... (!)
wait, 2 of clubs?!!? As in, there was a $%^%&* flush on the board? Sweet Zombie Jesus, I misread the board! Holy cow. I got all my money in with 2 pair on a flush board, and sucked out on the poor dude. As we're stacking up the chips, he says "nice hand" and I immediately reply, "thanks, but no it was not a nice hand. You played it much better than I".
I felt terrible for a complete round of the table. All-in-all, this horrible feeling after a suckout is a good sign for my poker career. "Don't focus on results" works both ways - you can't tilt off when someone sucks out on you, but shrug off horrible play when you luck out after getting your money in behind. In this case, way behind.
My badly botched double-up gives me enough chips to post a win for the night. For awhile, my cards stay chilly, so I fold my way through the evening. Towards the end, I play a few hands, including a pair of 5s that set up (I win a small pot on a scary 4 5 7 flop), and a nice 67 suited that I open for a raise in early position, whiff on the board, but C-Bet my way to another small pot. Final tally on the night is $63 won, over half of that on the misread board boat suckout, but solid play otherwise.
Well, any confidence I had built up in my recent few and far between tourneys went out the door tonight.
First tourney, got a free play in the BB with the lovely 2To, but flopped 2 pair on a 2 T Q flop. Played it hard, villain had limped with QT and called me all the way down. I was dead the whole time (he actually hit a runner runner backdoor flush, but didn't need it). Is there any way to slow down here? You flop a hidden 2 pair on a drawless board, you go to the wall, right? I actually didn't lose all my chips on that hand, but overshoved someone with AQs and lost a race a few hands later.
Second tourney was a 6-man, got down to 3, someone raised my blind 2X, I had KQs and called, hit top pair and shoved it all in. She shows AA. Dumb, dumb, dumb. She hadn't raised 2x all night - I figured it was a weak steal attempt with middling cards. Nope. She got me good.
Only 12 tourneys played this month due to work commitments, I'm just above zero again. Sample sizes are probably ridiculously small to make any real assessments - most experts would say that even my 287 tourneys played in total this year on FullTilt are no indication of my true ability. My lifetime FullTilt tourney ROI is 16.53% - sounds good on paper, but there's always that spectre of variance looming over you? Am I really any good, or have I just been lucky in my early poker career?
one tourney tonight, made a nice call with Ace high based on reads and the board....
Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 30/60 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
CO: 1,595
BTN: 625
SB: 1,690
BB: 1,490
UTG: 1,165
UTG+1: 4,085
Hero (MP1): 1,495
MP2: 1,355
Pre-Flop: (90) J A dealt to Hero (MP1)
2 folds, Hero raises to 150, 3 folds, SB calls 120, BB calls 90
made a 2.5x raise with AJ, got two callers from the blinds. I have position.
Flop: (450) T 9 5 (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks
missed, check it down for now. Don't like to c-bet 2 opponents. Try to play a small pot.
Turn: (450) 2 (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks
That card helped nobody. I'm pretty much done w/ this hand unless I hit my Ace or Jack...
River: (450) 6 (3 Players)
SB bets 180, BB folds, Hero calls 180
less than half pot bet, hmmm. The only draw that came in is 78, I don't think this player called a raise with this. She probably just hit A6 or something, but there's a small chance she's bluffing. Let's look her up .
Results: 810 Pot
SB showed Q K (King Queen high) and LOST (-330 NET)
Hero showed J A (Ace Jack high) and WON 810 (+480 NET)
---
The end of the tourney irritated me to no end - got all my money in the middle with AA vs. 66, flop came 45789. Oof. I guess second is good enough.
Trying to work on watching other players instead of my cards, the TV, etc. For me right now, this is easiest to do when I'm not in the hand.
In Friday's live game, I folded late in the evening with junk cards to a raise by CS. CS likes to put money into the pot, and once he decides he's going to play a hand, he plays until the end. He rarely checks - if it gets to him, he wants to build the pot up, hoping for a fold or a big pot at showdown time. I often joke that I'm CS's personal ATM, because he always seems to come up with some junk two pair against my TPTK.
In this hand, he opened in our $1-$2 dealer's choice game for .50. He had 2 callers. The flop came marginally connected, jack high and he lead out for a buck. Again, two callers. The turn filled a gutshot straight but he bet so soon that I'm not sure he even saw what the card was. One player called, the other folded. The river was an 8 that put three spades on the board. Again, though, CS had his buck in the pot before the card had even finished settling on the felt. He got a call and showed a pair of 7s in the hole and won a decent pot with it.
Fast forward to the last hand of the night. I'm the dealer and deal myself the lovely 64 offsuit. CS comes in with a .50 bet, there's one caller, and I'm not going to fold the last hand of the night, so I call with my junk as well. The flop comes A 6 2 and CS fires a bet instantly. I call with middle pair and not much else, but as the prior hand shows, CS's bet doesn't necessarily mean he's got an Ace.
The turn comes an 8, which I don't like of course because it's can give CS a pair over my six, but this time CS does something unusual - he pauses, picks up his cards, and then looks at the board. I don't think anyone notices this except me (I'm the only one in the hand), but this pause seems like a full minute to me compared to the way he usually bets. He then fires out his buck bet again, and I call again, this time with much more conviction. My read is that he's got two low cards and he's trying to count up a straight in his head with the 6 and 8 on the board.
To be honest, I can't remember the river, but I know it wasn't in the neighborhood of the 6 and 8, and there was no flush on the board. Again CS picked up his cards and paused for a minute, probably double checking his busted straight one more time. Then he did something really uncharacteristic for him - he checked. At this point, I was about 100% certain my 6 was good, and bet $1 for value. He tossed his cards aside, and I flipped over my 6 (but not the 4).
--
I also picked up a tell on Tony. When he is in a hand, in position, he reaches for chips and starts shuffling them. The first time I saw him do this, the player in front of him checked and he checked behind. I decided that his chip shuffling was a show of strength - he's trying to give off the message that he's ready to bet or call a bet. The second time he did this, my theory was somewhat confirmed when the player in front of him bet and he folded.
I actually mentioned this tell to Tony, as my primary poker discussion partner (I wouldn't give anyone else at the table information on their own tells), and Tony told me that he does this on purpose, for the exact reason I guessed at. I told him that I hope he is doing the same thing with good hands as well, or he's giving away the strength of his hand. I fully expect him to "reverse tell" me the next time we're at the table together, and now it's up to me to figure out what he's doing and why. Are we getting into 3rd level thinking here?
no fun tonight. Got into a $30 9 man, wore down to 1190 chips, called an early position minraise from the BB with AJ, flop comes J 5 8 rainbow. Any way I don't get it all in here? Nope, I get it all in..against a set of 8s.
(Should I have just folded preflop? I guess the minraise could have been taken for a monster hand, but the player didn't have many tourneys played according to sharkscope, and I didn't think it was a move. My read turned out to be right, but he hit his set vs. my TPTK, what can I do?).
Then I try a $10 matrix tourney and get completely run over. I know it's going to be a fun night when I raise with KK, get called, flop a set on a K78 board, get shoved over, and have to dodge an open ended straight draw as the villain turns over 9T. I do not dodge the draw and my set of kings is dogmeat. Out in 8th.
Other 3 tourneys end 5th, 8th, and 3rd (details are too boring to relay). A grand total of 16 points in the matrix, good for seventh place overall. Not good - $40 lost on the night.
Work brought me to Manhattan this week - Sunday thorugh Thursday, and no poker except for some books on the plane and watching the final WSOP table last night. Got to stroll around Manhattan last evening, looking for souveneirs for the wife/kids.
As a Clevelander, I'm sure I totally look the part of tourist walking around the big Apple, looking up at all the architecture and marveling at the scope of the city.
Got home this evening, caught up on a zillion emails and blog entries, then squeezed in a $10 9 man. Even won the thing. My heads opponent was not a good player, and much too aggressive - I was going to confidently checkraise him with KQ on a Q56 rainbow flop, but he checked behind. I then got a bit worried b/c this guy seemed to bet everything in sight, and the few checks I saw were followed by large bets later in the hand, like he was slowplaying. When a 9 came on the turn, and a second club, I decided to lead out. He raised me. I had seen him raise people and then fold, so I still wasn't convinced I was behind. In the end, I chose the "he's a bad player" logic and shoved it in. He called all-in with no pair but 2 clubs, and I avoided the river flush to knock him to 2000 chips. The final blow was a 78 for me, AK for him, and me hitting trip 7s on the flop.
First heads up hand of the tourney.
Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 60/120 Blinds, 2 Players
Hero (BB): 7,835
SB: 5,665
Pre-Flop: (180) 5 K dealt to Hero (BB)
SB raises to 240, Hero calls 120
villain's standard raise all night has been minraise. I have odds to call against almost everything
Flop: (480) 5 5 5 (2 Players)
now that's a flop!
Hero checks, SB bets 120, Hero calls 120
have to check here, at least once. Villain's small bet tells me he has nothing, or is "slowplaying" his boat. I call, and check the turn, too.
Turn: (720) 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets 720, Hero calls 720
pot size bet, now he has something. Most obvious answer is that the 7 helped him. I hope so. I run down the timer and then call
River: (2,160) Q (2 Players)
Now the river. I have seen this player shove the river twice in this tourney - once when he thought he had the best hand, once as a total bluff with Ace high. My hope is that he either has a 7, a Q, or decides to pretend he's got one of them. If he's got nothing I know he'll fold to my bet. I could bet out and build the pot, but I decide the odds are good enough that he'll bet for me
Hero checks, SB bets 4,585 and is All-In, Hero calls 4,585
My read is rewarded - he shoves into my quads, and I take the tourney.
Results: 11,330 Pot
Hero showed 5 K (four of a kind, Fives) and WON 11,330 (+5,665 NET)
SB showed A 7 (a full house, Fives full of Sevens) and LOST (-5,665 NET)
Had the election results on the TV-in as I played a $10 9-man. I did ok until I ran into KT with my 9T on a Ten high flop and donked off my whole stack betting out of position. I didn't have enough chips to value bet top pair no kicker, but I'm not sure what to do there. I hit top pair in BvB battle! Is this just a cooler? Maybe, doesn't feel like I played it well.
Since I didn't have my full attention on poker, I switched over to Poker Academy and played a .05/.10 cash game, something with which I need much more experience. Played for about an hour - got no playable hands for 30 hands, then hit AA and tripled up to $24 (my all-in callers had A7 and KQo, oofa), then called it a night.
Congrats to America for voting Barack Obama the next President. Will he fix half the stuff he claims he will? Hell, probably not. But I hope he keeps his word to try...
My heart wasn't really in Poker tonight. I played in one $10, but my cards were awful early and my recent online slide had me thinking negative thoughts. Then the poker gods taunted me some more by showing me would-be sets on the flops that I wasn't not in.
In the midgame, the poker gods decided to throw me a bone, I guess. I sucked out twice - once I got all my money in with middle pair, and open-ended straight draw, and a flush draw, but it turned out my opponent had flopped the bottom end of the straight and was slowplaying. I needed my flush to come on the river and it did.
Then, when heads up, my opponent slowplayed aces, and when I hit my top pair with 67 on a straightening board, I overplayed it and got myself stuck. I was still 34% to win, though - a 4, 6, or 7 would save me, and a lovely 7 came on the turn to flip the stacks over. I was then able to out-aggress my opponent to the victory. Of course, at $10 stakes, victory means a small $34 net in your stack, but it still beats losin'.
I've decided that reading this blog must be dreadful stuff - nothing but whining about bad runs and losing 70-30 battles and pissin' and moanin'. To that end, I'm going to try very hard to get rid of all that junk and focus on interesting hands that made me think, win or lose, and also throw in some real life stuff (though my real life is pretty dull).
The accompanying picture is of the kids on Halloween. The tall one to the left is my neighbor - a wonderful girl whose life has been very tough so far. Her mom is in jail as a habitual drug user - her dad, my next door neighbor Fred, has full custody. Now Fred, who I've mentioned briefly in this blog, has been officially diagnosed with Type B Lymphoma - there's a beer-can sized tumor growing in his neck, and he has a neck bulge like Frankenstein right now (complete with scar). Chemo starts this week, and doctors are hopeful so far that the cancer is localized and they'll be able to knock it out. Fred is a good man - he works hard supervising a small concrete crew that do driveways and parking lots, along with some residential waterproofing. He works 70+ hour weeks in the summer and gets 4-5 months off in the Cleveland winters. He exerts more sweat in 1 day than I do in a month as a programmer-geek who barely requires deoderant. Fred's attitude has been strong through this whole sickness, and I admire his toughness now even more than before.
I'll probably be cutting down on online poker for the next week or so. I have some night stuff I need to spend some hours on here this week. Then, next week, I'll be in New York for work, and I probably won't make a big effort to get online while there. I think I could use the break, actually. Plus, I still have plenty of time the rest of the year including 5 more vacation days and the official break between Christmas/New Year's. There will be lots of poker in the offing.
Played in 3 $10 tourneys tonight- 2 at a time.
Got no cards in the first and bombed out early - shoved with KQs, got called by AJo, no help
In the second, I played extremely well. Got heads up with a bad player and had his number the whole time. His bets were so easy to read. If he bet pot, he had some piece. If he bet over pot, he had nothing (at least nothing he was willing to go to the wall with). The last two times he bet over pot, I shoved over him with nothing and he folded. If he checked, he had nothing, so I would be and he would fold.
We went back and forth forever, probably 100 hands. We both got to 2-1 chip lead at one point, me with no cards and reading his bets, him with better hands. Finally got JT on a 7 8 T flop, we got it all in. He had JQ. Turn K, River A for the runner-runner straight. I will now drink gasoline and stick a match down my throat - yet another 70+% favorite with 2 to come that doesn't hold up.
Turn over to the next tourney, where I won a decent pot early but it's dwindled back down to 1500. Bad player (-14%, 700 tourneys) limps from the small. I have QQ and raise it up. He calls. Flop comes 6 7 J - he shoves all his money in. Any way I fold with an overpair there? No way, he could have AJ/KJ.... or J7o, which he called my preflop raise with and hit 2 pair.
3 tourneys in November, net -6.
Where's that gasoline?
