my strange problem rears its head again.

Thursday night game - tourney style. 14 players (2 tables of 7), $30 buy in. Early in the game.

I get a cheap play from the blind with JTo. Flop comes 9-Q-x, giving me an open ender. I check and the villain bets. I don't have explicit odds to call but decide to take one off since we're so early. I call the bet.

Turn doesn't help. I check, villain bets again, the same amount as before. 4-1 odds now, easy call. C'mon King or nine, King or nine, King or nine, King or nine, King or nine....

River - A King, baby! Woohoo! Villain bets - small yet again. I raise with my straight. He reraises. (??!?). Half my stack ends up in this pot if I call. Hmmm, what's he got? Two pair, set? Maybe. Better Straight? Nope, one isn't out there. Ok, I call.

He calls "flush" and flips over Ac9c. The word is foreign to me, like I don't know what it is. A flush? How?

I check the board again. There were 2 clubs on the board from the flop. My opponent had paired his nine and was drawing to the nut flush. He made a solid flop bet with second pair. The turn didn't help, so he bet weaker, not sure if he was ahead. The river gave him the nuts and he bet small again - I would have probably upped the bet a bit more myself - but it worked out for him anyway as his flush card also gave me the straight, and I raised off over half my starting stack.

After this disaster, I tightened up waiting for a hand. I won some money from the blinds and shove/stole enough to stay at around 5-8 BB, and held on to take fifth place - a decent ending point considering my disastrous start. My ending hand was a shove from under the gun with complete crap - 3-5 offsuit, but I had 4 big blinds and was about to enter the big blind again. I got called by a pair of jacks. The flop came all low and actually gave me a shot at a straight, but it didn't come.

If you have the inclination, go re-read my account of the big early hand. Notice how nowhere in the description do I check the suits. This account mirrors (to the best of my ability) my thought process as the hand played out live. This is a problem I have at the table - an ongoing problem that might cost me a ton of money unless I figure out how to fix it. When I flop a strong hand or a real draw (8+ outs, I guess), a part of my brain shuts off and I revert to playing "level 1" poker. I stop thinking about what can beat me - it completely leaves my brain.

In this hand, I saw the open-ender on the flop and never checked the suits. Never checked them. Now, I'm not sure in this hand that I would have been able to put my opponent on a flush draw anyway - he is a pretty straightforward player, and his bets were completely consistent with his second pair. Combo hands are pretty tough to sniff out. However, seeing the possibility of the flush coming in on the river would have (or should have) slowed me down. The correct play would have been to pay off the small river bet with my straight, knowing the flush was on the board. But my decent draw clouded my ability to even consider what my opponent was holding. A real rookie mistake.

Truth be told - I did the same thing again later in the same tourney, but it didn't cost me this time. I got to play 7T offsuit for free from the big blind and flopped the nuts - and 89J flop. I never checked the suits - again! I checked, hoping to checkraise, but my lone opponent didn't bet.

I was hoping for an Ace on the turn, or something that would hit my opponent, but an undercard blank came, and I didn't think he could bet now if he hadn't bet the flop. I checked again, and my opponent checked behind.

Then the river came - I don't recall the rank, but I did notice the suit this time - it was a club, and I then realized that there were three clubs on the board. I had just let my opponent draw to the flush for free, never thinking about it. (At least I noticed the suits during the hand, this time, albeit a bit late). Friggin Genius, I am. Well, there was no guarantee that he had two clubs in his hand - and I needed to make some money if I could with my straight - so I lead out, not knowing what I would do if I got raised. My opponent folded, probably afraid of the flush I almost didn't see.

If any of my few (but loyal) readers have any advice for helping me overcome my problem, I would love to hear it. Perhaps you have an inner dialog after the flop, a script you go through that helps you keep track of both your hand as well as reads on your opponent. Perhaps I just need to play for another 1/2/3 years before I stop acting like a kid in a candy store when I hit a good, but non-nut, hand. Perhaps there's a book or article that teaches me how to play draws but to stop assuming that I'll win the hand if/when that draw hits.

I know the real answer is "dummy, read the board better", but I need some help in doing this.

frustration...

Frustration is being seated to the left of a maniacal nut- her stats, 53/30. Raising constantly. Sometimes 2x, sometimes 3x, sometimes 3.5x. You can't get a bead on her. Then once she raises, a low stack shoves over her, and she calls... with 53s. Oy. (and she wins the hand, of course).

She raises your blind every time. Your cards are crap so you fold. And fold. And fold. She's running over the table.

Finally, she tries her minraise again, with you in the big blind, and you've got a callable hand - QJ suited. You call. The flop comes Ace Queen rag, and she leads out. Of course she leads out, she leads out every time. There's no way she's got an ace, right? No way. You shove over her. She takes her time calling - you've got her. She's just slow folding for effect. Then, when the timer is almost zero, she calls. Ace 7 off. Out you go in sixth place.

Frustration.

Frustration is watching a bad player alternately win and lose big - stack up and down like a yo-yo. You "steal his blind" with JJ (a bit larger than normal raise, 4x) and he defends, just like you hoped. Flop is all unders - 8 6 x. He checks. You lead out and he checkraises all in. You know you're ahead and call. K8 he reveals - a monster. He's got 5 outs to beat you. The turn is safe but the third 8 comes on the river and you're gone.

Frustration is isolating a limper with A9, then having the shorty shove behind you. He's a good player - you know you're behind, but he's giving you 3-1 odds. You call and he shows exactly what you thought - JJ. Your ace doesn't come and you give away your chip lead.

Frustration is completing in the small blind with J9, hitting your J as top pair on a J24 board, then having one of the limpers (with 41/12 stats) commit his whole stack. You can't call with top pair, no kicker right? Nope, you fold, wondering if the donk had 77.

Frustration is watching a player call 2 nearly pot-size bets with 2 hearts on the board, then put all his chips in the middle when the third heart comes - a heart that also gives you top 2 pair. You are wrong no matter what decision you make.

Frustration is finally getting your big pocket pair after an hour of crap cards, but you're in the big blind and the entire table folds around to you.

Frustration is a correct low-stack shove into 3 players with AQ, and watching the big blind call with AK.

Frustration is getting bluffed and having the idiot taunt you - then getting it all-in later dominating him (AJ vs. A4), as you watch him hit the 3 outer on the 234 board.

Frustration is giving back all of the winnings of a fine yesterday with the bad luck and bad play of today. 8 tourneys, only 2 moneys. Lots of good decisions, not much to show for it.

2 wins

2 tourneys - 2 first place tonight. Looked bleak for awhile in both of them - then went from worst to first in 2 consecutive hands in the first, crawled my way back into contention in the second.

In the first, I got a 10-1 chip lead while headsup and shoved (97o), other player woke up with TT and won - then he tried to taunt me. "you got greedy and got your a## handed to you, ha-ha".

I wrote. "uh, I was up 10-1, I was shoving any 2". He stopped chatting after that. A bit afterwards, I limped in with AQ and induced a shove with QJ. I dominated him and avoided the suckout to knock him out.

In the second, headsup player was inexperienced and every bet meant just what you thought it did. Blinds were astronomically high and I was shoving everything - he was calling nothing. He finally called AJ vs. my K8 and I hit my K to win it.

I'm playing very well at the moment, I think - not getting unlucky, and get just lucky enough. All that is making for a very nice January - a 48% online ROI, and of course a big score last Friday.

This weekend is the motorcycle show in Cleveland - I am going to take some of my Friday night tourney winnings and splurge on something fun. I need a new helmet, and I'm going to find some T-Shirts as well. I miss riding very much around this time of year as my Victory 8-ball sits in the front of my garage with a sheet over it. [boo hoo]

tricked!

got tricked in 2 tourneys tonight.

the first was a bad play by me. I was in the big blind with 77, and had like 7 BB left. There were 2 limpers, and I shoved over them, needing a doubleup. One of them had Kings and was laying a trap. I shouldn't have shoved into two people - they easily had odds to call, with a lot worse hands than KK.

In the second, I was on a little rush and raised under the run with 99. An inexperienced player called me (for like half his stack). The flop came KQx and he checked. and I bet into him and got checkraised all in, for only 1030 more chips. I made the mandatory call (with like 21-1 odds) and he had AK. Not too big a deal, I probably would have put him all-in anyway

That cut me back down to an average stack. I fought my way to the bubble (needed an ICM doubleup - my T4 vs. AJ, hah). The bubble lasted forever, until stacks were 250-500. The same inexperienced player (to my right) kept throwing a wrench into things by limping, but the stacks were so I high I thought he might WTF call my shove-overs, so I was folding more than I wanted. He finally bowed out in 4th place. I had 4 BB left and shoved into the big stack with my first hand - Jack high, got called by Ace Rag and was out in 3rd.

Net on the night - -$4. Not too bad, I guess, seeing as I was tricked twice in 2 tourneys.

Friday Review

I was thinking about the Friday tourney one more time - I could only think of 8 instances where I saw a showdown.

1. Early rounds, folded around to me in the small blind. We checked down to showdown, my Qx won vs. Terry's J2.

2. I called someone's all-in with 88 and won a race vs. JTo.

3. Final table- I called someone's all-in with QQ and won vs. 66.

4. free play from the big with 78s. Had middle pair and a gutshot that didn't come. Villain also had pair/draw. Made a small bet on the turn that was called, won the pot with my pair at showdown. Tiny pot.

5. I had KT at the final table and tried a blind steal on the button. I had just doubled up and had about 12 BB. The big blind called. The flop missed me and we both checked, and we checked the turn and river as well. I lost the showdown to a medium Ace. Jason said to me "why no continuation bet?", and I told him my reason - with my stack, if I raise 3 big blinds and then C-Bet 3 or 4 more, I've just put half my stack into the middle with no hand. I would rather just shove (if my opponent checked and I feel he's weak), or check it down with a hand that has some showdown value (king high), and still have 9 BB if I lose.

6. My T7 all in vs. Nate's 96 - hit the ten and doubled up

7. My Q9 headsup shove vs. Jason's A9 - hit the 3 outer Queen to almost take the tourney

8. Next hand, my connectors vs. Jason's AJ - he won the pot to gain some ground. We chopped the next hand.

I think this is amazing - 5 hours of poker, probably 125 hands dealt to me - I saw 8 showdowns. In 5 of them, either myself or my opponent was all-in (and a loss would have crippled me). In the 3 others, (2 wins and a loss), the pot was small and it didn't matter much if I won or lost.

patience is a virtue, and is sometimes even rewarded

Monthly live tourney last night - with a double-the-normal-amount $100 buy-in. I get there 15 minutes before start time and there's only 12 people so far. Looks to be a low turnout. We wait an extra fifteen minutes and end up with 34 players on 4 tables.

I recognize several players at my table. To my immediate left is Terry - a rough looking and sounding biker dude, but always joking and polite. Terry took me out of this tourney in November by limping with Queens and then calling my AQ shortstack shove. Gotta remember that move.

On the opposite end is Rob, who won the tourney in November. Rob will play lots of hands early looking for a big score. I also think I have a read on him from last time - he calls lots of flop and turn bets only to wake up with a big bet on the river when an apparent draw comes in. I witnessed this three times - once against me, I folded an unimproved AK but thought I still might be ahead.

Other players I knew by face and not by name. The table was overall solid, to be sure.

I soon learned my early patience would be put to the test. The player to my right limped into many hands, and Terry to my left did the same. If they were raised, they often called the raise, too. My cards were bad and I folded every one of them the first three orbits of the table. I got an interesting insight into Terry, who would hold his cards way out to the center of the table to take one last look at them before folding. He was making no attempt to conceal his cards, and all I had to do was shift my eyes left to see what he was holding. And boy what junk he was playing! Arnold Snyder would call him a "flush master" - playing any two suited cards, then calling a flop bet if he hit any pair or flush draw, otherwise folding. His stack petered out soon and was out in the bottom 25% of players.

Rob built up some chips with aggression - once raising limpers (and showing) with KQ, and another time trying his patented "call-call-raise the draw" trick. I was almost sure the draw that came in wasn't in his hand (it would have represented a garbage holding like 58 or something similar). He also won a nice pot with a crappy two pair from the big blind.

His stack didn't last though - he decided to call an all-in with a pair and a gutshot draw. The other player also had a pair and a (flush) draw, but his pair was higher and neither draw came in. Rob was down to 1100 in a heartbeat, and the limper to my right doubled up (making him even looser, by the way). Rob lost another hand or two and then put his last 500 chips in on the river of another scary board, but the villain had top pair and called. Rob calmly said "you win" and didn't even show his cards. He was first out this month (after winning the thing in November), and my read on him was confirmed - a valuable read on a future opponent.

Just before the first break, with blinds of 50-100, I got my first playable hand of the night - a pair of tens, on the button. A decent player in early position minraised to 200 before me. My radar went up. I had only 1100 chips - calling for set/overpair hopes didn't seem right, but shoving into a minraise from a decent player wasn't right either - this is a common move for someone wanting action with a monster. Folding was out of the question.

Then I checked his stack - he was low, like I was - maybe 1100-1200. Maybe his minraise was really just a standard raise from someone trying to conserve chips, not trying to commit too much with a good-but-not-premium hand.

This last read made me decide on a different course of action - I reraised to 500. This was about half my stack, so I was hoping this looked even stronger than an overshove. Plus, if he shoved over me immediately, I could then decide to fold or call based on a read - and if I folded I would still have 6 BB and kick it into immediate shove-or-die mode. I didn't have to die on the hill with TT if I didn't want to.

The player thought for a long time, making me think he had a AQ/AJ/AT type of hand, or maybe an 88/99. He also looked at my stack, which told me he knew half my stack was in and I was ready to go to the wall with whatever I had. He finally folded, exclaiming "nice bet". Yes it was, if I do say so myself.

Right after this I won the blinds with a raise from AKs, and I was back to dead even, and we went to break.

The middle rounds of the tourney were nondescript. I had a few big starting hands (QQ is one I remember) and won the blinds without seeing the flop. I stayed tight and patient - folding Ace-rag in early position, folding my small blind no matter how many limpers, conserving chips as best I could. People fell around me and our table was broken up - I moved over to a table with Tony's nephew Nathaniel and kept plugging away. No great cards, just enough to stay out of desperation mode.

At 100-200, the tables were broken again down to 2, and I was moved to one of the 2 felt tables. I had about 1800 chips. The cards continued to not come, and continued my vigil over the table - watching the action. A woman named Evelyn was seated to my right now. Evelyn was the opposite of a by-the-book player - she played strange hands in strange ways. I couldn't go as far as calling her a bad player, though - because she was often found at the end of this monthly tourney. I had never personally gotten into a hand with her, but I've heard stories of bizarre Jack-five two pairs and rivered flushes. Maybe she was a bad but lucky player, I didn't know.

Evelyn was still limping into pots even though her chips didn't allow for limping. At one point, she limped from the small blind with me in the big. I looked down and found JJ. I considered calling for deception, but then wondered what I would do when the flop came AQ4. I raised her all-in instead. I was thinking she might call with God-knows-what but she folded - knowing her tourney life was at stake.

I made it through to the final table - 10 players. We were paying 5 tonight so there was still work to do, and not much time to do it. I was at about 6 big blinds when someone shoved on my big - I had 88. Was it time to race? At 6 big blinds, and the blinds going up in about 7 minutes, I decided it was indeed. I called. The other shorty had JTs and we raced to the river, with me coming out on top.

I was able to shove over an Evelyn limp two more times. Once I had K9 suited - not a great hand but my stack wasn't big enough to care, and one more time as well (don't even remember the cards). Evelyn apparently didn't like her hand enough either time and folded - giving me the blinds plus hers as well. The table apparently thought my stack was a bit large to be in push-or-fold mode (I didn't agree at all), and were giving my blinds respect. My bullying won me a free pass or two from the big as well.

The next orbit, someone shoved into my small blind, and this time I found a better hand - QQ. I shoved over him myself to make sure the big blind didn't come in. His first words to me were "do you have a pair?". When I confirmed that I did, he didnt' look too happy - so I was pretty sure I knew what I was going to see - and was right when he flipped over 66. I dodged the 2-outer and got back to around 12 BB again.

The most dramatic hand of the night came on the bubble - 6 players left. The player to my left, under the gun, put his last 3200 chips in, with blinds of 400-800. Someone called, and I looked down to find 55 in the big blind. I called as well, hoping to help break the bubble. The flop missed my five and I exclaimed "check, check, a thousand times check" - loudly and obviously - hoping to send the message that I wasn't betting no matter what. The other caller checked as well. Thank you.

The river came an Ace - a card I wasn't happy to see. I checked - again with a bit of extra emphasis - but the other caller exclaimed "I'm all in". Uh-oh. I folded and Mr. All-in flipped over Ace-Ten. I had mixed emotions about seeing his not-stellar kicker, until I saw Mr. Shortie's hand - Ace-Queen offsuit. It looks like the bubble would probably go on a bit longer - unless the river brought a miracle....

The river did bring a miracle, but too late. It came a 5. I would have broken the bubble with my three-of-a-kind and put myself and everyone else into the money. I fished my fives out of the muck and showed the table. "I would have knocked him out" I said. I could see in his eyes that he knew he had made a mistake. He replied "you should have called", jokingly, knowing there's no way I'm calling an all-in with a pair of fives. I replied, loudly (probably a bit too loud) - "no, you should have checked". We then took a 5 minute break as the blind level ended. I cooled down from a mini-tilt in the bathroom, then came out and talked it over with him and some others. Someone said that I would have probably done the same thing on the river after hitting my set. That's a fair point, but I'm honestly not sure I would have bet my set. We are on the bubble, here, after all - and baby sets aren't invulnerable. I can't say for sure that I would have checked there, but I can't say I would have bet either. In the end, I let him know it wasn't a bad play and patted him on the back. I didn't fully agree with this sentiment, though.

I came back the table in a horrible state - 4 big blinds left and on the bubble - 6 players left. What a predicament. The one thing I had going for me was my image - I was the all-in maniac and people weren't coming after me without a big hand. I also had the benefit that there wasn't a giant stack at the table trying to gobble up the shorties. I felt I still had some fold equity.

First hand after the break, I peeked at my cards and saw an Ace. I knew I was open-shoving (if I could) before I even saw the kicker (which happened to be a six). It folded around to me and I stuck it all in. Everyone folded except the big blind - a terrific player named Jason who eyed me intently, wondering if he should call. He smiled, looking for information. I was calm, with no nervousness - I knew I had made the right play. If he had a better hand or called and sucked out, I was fine with my decision (though I would have been supremely irritated later about bubbling). He then flashed an Ace of diamonds, looking for more information. I smiled, I didn't care. I felt that a big ace would have called without all these theatrics - there was a chance I was even dominating this hand if he called. In the end, he folded, saying "I didn't like my kicker". He then mentioned it was a six, and I replied "we would have chopped" which I immediately regretted. I just gave the best player a the table an insight into my shoving range. Nice.

The bubble broke on the other side of the table - I wasn't involved in the hand at all. The one cadgey codger (another Arnold Synder nickname) had held on long enough and shoved his last 2 BB in - with a powerhouse J7. Sadly, he had no fold equity and Jason was able to call him (with some connectors, I believe) and knock him out. I was in the money!

On we went. Number 5 went down - AT raiser who should have checked - serves him right!. He won back his $100 buy-in, nothing more. I was guaranteed a profit on the night at this point. At four players, Jason offered a 4 way chop. I had no problem with this, but Nathaniel - still cranking away and second in chips - was not ready to chop yet. We played on. It was a pushfest at this point - blinds were 1000-2000, I had between 8K-11K. I pushed with AQ and won the blinds. I folded to everyone else's push, even with a broadway JQ. Then number 4 went out (the AQ who got the gift when I folded my fives). We were three handed, and I was down to 4 BB again. I shoved into Nathaniel's BB with the powerhouse T7o - he called to try and knock me out - with 96o! I flopped a ten and doubled up again.

At this point Nathaniel and I had identical stacks of 15000, and Jason had 22000. Jason offered a chop again - this time a 3 way chop of $700, and we finish the tourney with the winner taking the remaining $700. Since the 3rd place prize was $400, this was a guaranteed $300 profit for the person who got knocked out third. I looked over at Nathaniel and urged him to take the deal - he's a young kid and that $300 extra is no small change. I felt extra strong about this since the blinds were so high and it was down to luck at this point - every hand was all-in, there wasn't any more skillful poker to be played.

He agreed. We took a break and split up the money envelopes, each taking $700.

About 2 hands later, Nathaniel shoved into Jason's big blind. Jason called and flipped over Aces. Nathaniel was out in third, making himself the $300 extra bucks by agreeing to chop. I was glad for him. I was even more glad for myself - I was in second with a shot at the title.

In the first heads up hand - I'm in the small with Q9o. Good enough to shove. Jason calls and turns over Ace-9. Not good. I tell him "I really hate your kicker" as it knocks me down to one live card. But the poker gods smile and grant me a queen on the board. I now have a dominant chip lead over Jason and a great shot at the title.

Jason shoves the next hand. I call with T9 - he shows AJ and hits 2 jacks on the board to stay in contention. I'm still well ahead, though.

Jason makes one more offer. "Last $700, we split 500-200".

I look at the chip stacks. My first impression is that the fair split would be more like 550-150, but two things prevented me from making a counteroffer:

1) Jason originally offered a fair 3-way chop when he was chipleader, something he didn't have to do.
2) I had just sucked out a 3-outer on him.

He had had given away some equity while chipleader by chopping, and was now asking for some of it back. I agreed to the chop, giving me a $1200 night, and more importantly, first place in the tourney.

it only takes one.

Last 20 minutes - Thursday night "shallow stack" game. (my new name for Thurday since the starting buy-in is only 40BB).

I'm down $5 and wondering how I got there. I've felt like I played well - very well, in fact. I've won several small pots with nothing but position or the guts to throw some money out there.

Like this hand - I limp behind one limper with JTo on the button. Not a great starting hand, but I'm making an effort to play more hands in position, regardless of what I'm holding. The flop comes KK4, and the earlier limper leads out. He's aggressive, and the best he can have at this point is Ace high or a small pair. Well, I've got something better - I've got position. I raise. He looks me over and gives up the pot, telling me he thinks I've got a pair better than his.

Or this hand - Tony raises my big blind for the 1000th time. It looks like our regular seats at the Thursday shortstack game are such that I'll be the big for Tony's deal a fair amount of the time. I need to start defending a bit or he'll chip away at my stack week after week. I look down and have a decent hand, too - AJ0. I could 3 bet here - actually, this is probably the better play - but I elect to call. The flop is 9 high, and not drawy. I check my overs, expecting Tony to bet, and he does not disappoint me. Well, folding is certainly an option, but doesn't help my long-term goal of defending my blind any. I could checkraise him if I'm feeling frisky, or I could simply float his C-Bet. I choose the latter - there's no guarantee that Tony has any piece of this garbage flop, and I could have the best hand right now. Honestly, though, I don't have a great plan going forward.

The turn comes a Queen - no help for my AJ. However, a new thought comes to mind - the Johnny Chan play! Check/call the flop - bet the turn. If he did have a small piece of that garbage flop, then that Queen hits many hands in my range and puts me ahead. Sure, the Queen hits many hands in his raising range, too - but my bet will tell me right away if he's afraid of that Queen or not. I lead out. Tony shakes his head and says he had top pair on the flop (89/9T, I'm guessing), but deduces out loud that I called the flop bet with overs and hit that Queen. (he was half right!). He folds.

Or, an interesting hand with AK suited. The action before me went limp, then a minraise to $2. The minraise is not a regular move at our table, so I looked over to the raiser to get confirmation. He confirmed - "yup, minraise". Not sure why I did this, but I laughed a hearty "HA" and made it $7. In truth, I was scared of the obvious - a hidden monster.

No help on the flop - a paired board of jacks and a smaller card. The minraiser checked and so did I. The one thing I managed to pick up from Negraneau's "small ball" book (need to reread that, really) was that paired boards represent "way-ahead/way-behind" situations, and there's often no point for a bet.

I did like the turn card, though - a king. It was still way ahead/way behind, but now my chances of being ahead were much better. The minraiser checked again. I thought it over for a second - if he had aces, he would bet here - the king puts some draws on the board, and he needs to get money into the pot. I also figured he would bet his trip jacks now for the same reasons. Furthermore, I couldn't think of a hand with a jack that he would minraise in middle position. (JJ?, AJ? QJs?). I decided his most likely hands were AK (which he would have lead out with), AQ, or a small pair. I was ahead of most of this and lead out. He folded right away, saying "AK, huh?", and later told me he had eights.

I've also won some small pots with big starting hands that never saw a flop. Raised up limpers twice with QQ and got folds. Both times we rabbit-hunted the board and I would have hit trip queens. Fun, but probably nobody to pay me off, as there were no overs for anyone else to hit. Managed to get AA once, but chased everyone out with my preflop bet. Oh well.

Then there were two hands against Fred (Tony's brother) where my aggression got me into a bit of trouble. One time, after folding for 30+ minutes, I decided I was going to play one hand strong no matter what the cards were. I peeked at the edges of my cards after the deal and saw a stellar 24 suited. Ugh. Ok, why was I doing this again? I raised it to $3.50. Fred called my raise, with position, and I figured I was pretty well dead meat, unless I could hit the unlikely hidden straight or two pair and win a ton based on his inability to put me on deuce-four-frikkin-suited.

That joy didn't come, but the next best thing did - an unconnected Ace-high flop. I had showed strength preflop, so I could bet that ace now. I did so - putting $5 more into the pot. Fred replied "you bastard" which briefly lifted my spirits, but then he started talking through his thought process and "speechifying" - an indicator for this player of a big hand. He then concluded "I don't believe you" and called my bet. I quickly lost interest in the hand. The turn came and I check/folded, out around $9.

In my second encounter with Fred, I limped into a multiway pot from the small blind with a medium Ace (8 kicker). The flop came Ace-3-5 and I checked my top pair. I almost never bet a hand from the small blind - especially in a multiway pot - I would rather see what everyone else is going to do instead. Everyone else checked, except Fred, who lead out. Fred wouldn't necessarily be afraid of that Ace, so I decided it was time to see if he had one. I checkraised to $12. He mulled it over for a few seconds and then called.

I put him on an ace, now, or better - I don't think he would have called a checkraise with a pocket pair. He's got to think there's a shot he's ahead - and the only way he thinks this is if he has an Ace. So now it's a kicker war - I've got Ace 8, and with all the 3-5 on the board, I'm only ahead of A2, A4, A6, and A7. My kicker is making me feel queasy.

The turn came a 2 - a really bad card for my hand, because it knocked out not only A2 as a hand I could beat, but A4 just turned a straight as well. Now the only aces I'm beating are A6 and A7. I checked and Fred confidently lead out $10 into me, and I was about 80% sure I was beat. The niggling 20% wasn't worth calling another value bet or hoping for a miracle 8, it was time to bail. He later told me the 2 turn gave him the straight - meaning he had A4. I was ahead when I raised, but would have had a tough time getting to the river out of position without donking off a lot of money, and not knowing where I was at.

So that's basically how we got here to the end - some fine play to make some money when I didn't hit, and some aggressive play that backfired to bring me back to near-even. We were in the last round of the table before calling it quits, and I was happy with my play despite nothing to show for it.

From the big blind, I got KQo. There were 2 limpers and I considered raising (Nate suggested that I even flinched to appear like I was going to raise), but in the end decided to call and hope for a big hand. I didn't want to donk off another $12 on more bluffed aggression.

The flop brought possibilities for both glory and peril - Jack Ten Ten. I had a nice top-end open-ended straight draw on a paired board. I liked the idea of an Ace coming so someone might pay me off with Ace rag (though Ace ten wouldn't be so pleasant). As is my norm, I checked out of position to see what everyone else would do.

Fred, still gabbing away, threw a bet in. He was hitting hands all night, this bet could easily be a jack, or a ten, or a pair. I didn't quite have pot odds to call for the straight, but it was the end of the night, and Fred's stack was big enough that he might pay me off in the right situation. I called the nearly pot sized bet.

The turn card gave me my first big hand of the night - a nine, giving me the big-end straight. Fred, still happily going through running commentary, said "oooo, look at that, you might like that card, no?".

I liked it indeed. However, the board was paired, meaning I could already be dead to a JT/JJ boat (I considered the latter unlikely), or I might have to dodge a boat draw if Fred had an unpaired ten. The nine also brought two clubs on the board, giving someone the likelyhood of an "aw, what the fuck" call hoping for the flush (although I had the K of clubs). I thought Fred had something, though I wasn't sure what, so I checked hoping to checkraise. My wish was granted when he lead out again, for $10. Now was not the time to slowplay myself out of a club flush or free draw at a boat - I checkraised all in, $17.50 more.

Fred's chatter stopped. He wasn't smiling, which was a relief - his boat wasn't in. He was thinking hard about calling, though, which made me think he had a Ten. If that was true, I would have to dodge his other card to avoid the boat. Or, maybe he had the flush draw now and I had to avoid the 8 remaining clubs. Either way, I was pretty sure I was ahead, and I had gotten my money in as a favorite. While he was pondering and counting chips, I decided that even if he called and drew out on me, I could live with the play.

He finally decided "ok - let's see 'em" and threw in his pre-counted $17.50. I flipped my straight and he didn't like what he saw. He had the Ten, along with a Queen. I had to dodge that queen and another king (which would have given him the straight hand as I). As the river flipped, I saw a lot of white background and knew I was ok. It was a deuce and I doubled up.

I was ready to go home down $8, but instead took home $20 - a fine reward for a night of well-played cards.

more nada - and some new software

2 tourneys tonight - a bubble and a 3rd for a glorious net of minus $4. One of those nights with endless runs of unplayable cards and bad situations, as you feel your forehead gets hotter with each passing hand. Then, after 50 hands, you see 2 broadway cards - AQ, and raise it up, only to have a tight player shove over you. Call an all-in with AQ? I think not. Ok, fold and start the treadmill again.... Very frustrating. Biggest pot won on the night was $400.

Anyway, that's not the news of the night - the news is a little software program I wrote to aid my SNG play. This program links up sharkscope.com and Poker Tracker 3. What it allows me to do is copy the sharkscope stats of everyone at my table into the clipboard, paste them into my program, and then my program stuffs them into a "note" in poker tracker, which is accessible from the HUD. Here's a screenshot of the end result


You can see the little tooltip note that pops up - that becomes active when you click on the little yellow rectangle at the end of the second line in the HUD. This gives me instant access to their sharkscope stats at the table. Brilliant, no? I then go in and assign colors in Full Tilt to the player based on how good or bad I think they are. Mr Pirate in the upper right has a green color based on his excellent stats. Green means "very good" in my nomenclature. I use light green for 0-5% ROI, orange for negative 1 to negative 5 ROI, red for below negatvie 5 ROI, and purple for "small sample size, not sure yet".

I used to set the ROIs and colors by hand, which only takes a hand or two, but as I start adding tables played at one time, I might not have time for all this manual lookup and keying.

between a donk and a loose passive place.

4 tourneys -

2nd place in my first tourney. Yay. Best news of the night by far.

Lost a race in the second - low on chips, needed a doubleup, shoved 88 into AK and lost the standard race. I'm up $5 on the night.

Tourney 3 - I play 9J for free in the big, flop comes J44 - I bet out, horrible player shoves his last chips. I call his all in - I'm pretty short myself. He's got 55 and is down to 2 outs... which is hits on the river to stack me. Down $6.

Tourney 4 - (a sharkscope four-fishy extravaganza, I might add) - got into a 3 way all-in with 2 REAL BAD players, I had AKs. One had QQ, the other had...AT. He called a 2 way all in with AT. Fantastic. And his ace is one of my outs...

Flop doesn't help, but the miracle Ace hits the turn, and I'm ahead of both of them... but the AT fishy rivers a ten and 3 outs me. I would have tripled up but instead get cut in half after building up a decent stack.

I then endure a horrible run of cards, misplay 99 badly to almost end it, but double up on JJ when Mr AT-58/3 calls my all in with...8To. He owed me one after the 3 outer.

We get to the bubble. There are 2 calling stations at my table - Mr AT, and another guy whose running 56/11. I can't raise anyone off a hand, and my cards suck. It's an awful spot to be in. All I can do is hope one of the donks makes a mistake and knocks me into the money....

JT on the button and 6 BB... all in? Nope, idiot will call with anything. Fold it.

J6s - Fold.

T5s in the big - missed flop against the calling stations. Fold.

Now 5.2 big blinds. J2o in the small. Fold vs. both calling stations and the big.

Now 4.7 BB. I finally make a stand with QT. Of course one of the donks has already limped in front of me. I shove, but he has odds to call now.. with K7o. Nobody hits and I bubble. In the 4 fishy extravaganza, I bubble.

Down $17 on the night.

One of my fellow Poker Academy players, Sandman, made a a defeated post tonight, claiming he's giving up the game. Can't take the ridculousness of it anymore. I know where that comes from. I busted hump all night, played almost every hand well, avoided going broke on my mistakes, and walked away from the trainwreck down $17. Anything else more productive I could have done with those 2.5 hours? I'm pretty sure I could have thought of something...

multitabling the 9-mans..

Got into two 9 mans tonight, at the same time.

First tourney, someone limped in early position. One other caller, then to me in the big blind. I have AK. I raise it 5x to win the pot now, but the early limper calls. Ok, I've got him on a pair.

I hit my ace on the flop and bet for value. There's also a Jack and and 8. He calls. uh oh. I discount trip jacks and trip aces, but trips 8s are on my radar. He could also have AJ, but I think he raises preflop there (maybe not, maybe he's weak tight - I don't have enough stats to know).

Turn comes a Ten. I'm behind another medium ace now, and KQ. Crap. Check his stats again - he's an inexperienced player. I might still be ahead. I bet again, for value out of position. He calls again.

River is a 6. There's no flush. I'm now ahead of AQ/A9/A7/A5/A4/A3/A2, and pairs that didn't set up. Not much else. Did he limp with ace-rag? Maybe. But I'm out of position and if I check, he'll bet for sure, and I'll have to call. Nope, might as well get it in myself. I'm all in with top pair/top kicker. He calls and I'm sure I'm dead, the blood already starting to rise up my head... My AK flashes, and his hand hits the muck. Whew.

I check the hand history. A5o. Ouch. Bad history lesson, sir - don't call large preflop raises with ace-rag.

My play wasn't much better, though. Ended up 2nd in that tourney.

In the other, I ended up third. I value bet a guy to death with two pair, but he stayed around for the idiot end of a gutshot straight draw and then hit it. Ooooooof. I was down to 2 big blinds, but went all in the next two hands and won them both to get back to even with the 2nd stack. Nice work there. My final hand was a borderline ICM push with A5o (borderline because the big stack was an idiot who was feeling the rush of calling all ins with hands like T5o and knocking people out), but the OTHER player made a weak ICM call with A8o and kicked me to the curb. It's funny how my play is profitable and his play is not, even though his play is easily correct if the cards are face up.

almost nothing to report...

I played in a $20 9 man last night, but I was watching the AFC Conference Championship at the same time, so I don't have much in the way of strategy to report. I finished 3rd. The table was not aggressive and it seemed that a preflop raise would win the blinds very often - but the two times I tried it, one of the blinds defended. Both times, I had to give up the hand.

My large work project reached a milestone over the weekend (after I worked until Midnight on Saturday), so hopefully that phase of my life will cool down for awhile, and I can get back into the online thing more heavily. I would like to multitable more consistently (like each time that I play), but I don't feel like I can do this when I don't fire up a game until 10pm, and need to get to bed by 11:30. When this happens, I usually just play one tourney and call it a night.

There are 2 live game milestones coming up - I believe that our Thursday game will be tourney format this week (last time we did this, we had 18 players) - and the big development tourney is next Friday, with a $100 buy-in.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

3 suckouts? no tilt. One bad call by me? Tilt.

four tourneys.

Tourney #1 - I get it all in very early with KK. Villain has JJ and hits a J on the flop. Out in 8th place. I take it in stride. That's poker.

Tourney #2 - the bubble has broken. We get it all in - (I was low to begin with) I've got a flush draw - he's got trips. My flush comes on the turn. He boats up on the river. Oh well, I played well and had a bad result.

Tourney #3 (happens within 10 seconds of tourney #2 hand, as I was 2-tabling). I get it all in JJ vs. 99. A nine comes on the turn. I'm out in 4th. Eh, it happens, not a great night.

Tourney #4. Cards have been awesome early. I get a set of 9s, Aces that flop the nut boat, and Kings. I win all three but never show down. I must look like a maniac. I'm on a rush. I've got about 2200.

Loose player limps in (stats 35/12). I've got QT in the big blind and take a flop, which comes Q34, 2 spades. I check-call him then donk into him on a 9 turn. He shoves.

I could call my top pair/crap kicker, or I could fold and stay safe. I decide he could have limped in with JJ/TT and is making a play. Or that 9 gave him a funky straight draw that he's semibluffing. I call. He's got QK and I lose half my stack, after building it up nicely with my early good cards. Nice read, dumbass. I fight for a bit longer but end up out in 5th.

Now that sucks ass.

bluff the river, dummy!

Thursday night live cash game, my house this week. 9 at the table - 3 from the original crew (who started this game), 6 from my North Ridgeville crew (we call ourselves something decidedly non-PC, that I won't use in this blog - it refers to the less serious (one might say "stupid") way that we play our Friday night limit game.

No huge hands so far, by anyone, really. There's only been one rebuy at the table tonight. I'm down $5, but I was down $25 and crawled back up to near even with some aggressive play. My big loss of the night was paying off with a King high flush to a boat that got there on the turn. Actually, this hand looked not unlike like my "fortunate turn" hand from a previous post). I played with a suited King in the small blind in a multiway pot, and the flop came with 2 diamonds. I check-called a strong bet by Tony on the flop. A 4 came on the turn, and Tony bet again, this time the same size as the flop bet. It looked like he was afraid of my flop call, and he was giving me odds to chase the flush for another card. The flush came on the river - I lead out for $10. Tony looked a little worried but flipped over a pair of 4s - he had the underboat and was worried about the overboat. My $10 bet was about half pot - I think it served as a blocking bet in a way - Tony probably would have bet more, so perhaps between the river and the smallish turn bet (which was meant to keep me in), I lost less than I could have.

I wasn't really angry about that hand even though I lost - the hand that bothered me the most on the night was with Tony's brother, Fred. I got in cheap with Jd9d in the dealer spot. The flop came Queen high with two diamonds and Fred bet into the board. I employed my aggressive flop strategy and raised, hoping for a fold, but Fred called. I put him on a medium Queen - KQ/QJ/QT (maybe too weak).

The turn blanked, and Fred checked to the raiser, just what I wanted him to do. I had bought my cheap river and checked behind.

The river blanked again - my flush draw was busted. Fred checked. Decision time. I could simply check behind, with pretty much zero chance of winning, or I could fire a big river bullet into the board, continuing my show of strength on the flop. I went back over the hand and decided there was a decent chance Fred would call a solid river bet with top pair, so in the end I checked behind. Fred looked conciliatory as he flipped over Ad4d, with a pair of 4s giving him the winner! My read was wrong - Fred was drawing to a better diamond flush than I was. (good thing it didn't come). However, his hand was very weak on the river and I probably could have won a decent size pot with a river bluff.

Here's where better handreading would have helped me - had I put Fred on something weaker than top pair - I could have somehow pushed him off of the hand.

Lastly, if I could have bluffed the river and taken the pot, I would not have revealed my semi-bluff on a medium flush draw. Observant opponents now have more information to use against me.

In total, not much luck on the night - lost around $37. I was perhaps wrong to chase the earlier mentioned King high flush against Tony (out of position), but I felt like I was getting the right price, and I didn't go broke after I hit the second best hand, so that's something to be proud of.

I was proud of how I played a short stack in the last hour- I made a couple all-in moves to win some small pots and stay alive with one buy-in. I hit trip Jacks to double up for a bit when Nate made a "what the fuck" call and chased a flush, knowing full-well I had a jack in my hand with 2 on the board. But that one missed river bluff - I need to think about that hand more...

2 black queens

Played in 3 tourneys last night. The first was a 6-man for play money only - I was trying out a new keyboard shortcut in my Full Tilt Shortcuts keyboard mapper tool. The default shortcut key for folding is f - but I wanted to try using the space bar (at Tony's suggestion) - this would be helpful in multitabling situations.

The first hand was a typical donkfest freeroll - 3 of the 6 players were all in. I had 88 and considered calling just for fun, but then I wouldn't have been able to test out my fold key. I hit the spacebar and my pair of eights folded right away. Hooray. The three all-in hands were AJo, A7o, and KJs. A jack came on the board, but an 8 came on the river which would have quadrupled me up. Ha.

Since there were only 3 players left, I stuck around and played until the end. I seem to be unusual in that I can attempt to play "correct" poker even when there's no money at stake - I think this is because I have gotten involved in the game more for intellectual purposes, as opposed to strictly playing for money. Other players tell me all the time that they make weak calls and similar bad plays if the stakes aren't high enough.

Sometime soon after a bit of three-handed battling, my internet connection started to go flaky and I lost my connection to Full Tilt two or three times. Each time it came back within ten seconds and I was able to continue. It was frustrating to lose my connection for a few hands but at least it was play money. The connection stabilized long enough for me to dispatch the other two opponents and take first place, for 950 play money chips.

After savoring my victory over the fishies, I fired up a normal $10 9-man. I chose the lower buy in because of the flaky internet - in case it crapped out on me again, I didn't want more invested. For tourney #1 - I didn't have to worry - I was out in 3 hands.

Hand #2 - I got dealt the two black queens, under the gun. I made my normal raise and got 2 callers. The board came with an Ace and I bet 195 into a 270 pot. One player folded but the other called. He wasn't afraid of that ace, so now I was. We got to see the turn and river for free, and he flipped over Ace-7. Ugh. Boy I hope I get Ace-King soon when this guy has Ace-rag...

Very next hand, now in the big blind, I get dealt the two black queens again. What are the odds of that? Anyway, the guy to my left, who is now under the gun, raises it up. He's a player without much experience - I could simply get it all in preflop, but decide instead that I'll call and shove it in on a safe board. The board comes safe - 2 6 7 and I get it in there. Doesn't matter, he's got KK and down I go. Cold-decked.

Tony is just logging on and suggests we hop on the same table, so I try one more $10. He ends up knocking the first three people out of the tourney and builds up over 5000 chips. Then my internet connection starts flaking out again and I lose a couple hands, which is unmentionably irritating when you're playing for real money. I lose focus in the game and the details of the action.

Soon I get back on and Tony has raised it up, only 2x the blind. He's got a hand he likes, I would guess, based on this small raise. I've got 66 in the big blind and decide to take a cheap flop and setmine his butt. My third 6 doesn't come but the next best flop does - 5 7 8. I've got a pair and an open-ended straight draw for 10 clean outs, making me a 40% chance to win vs. a high pair, and even better if he's got unpaired cards right now. Since Tony will always continuation bet on a board like this, I check. He makes a solid bet, enough for my checkraise to be all-in. Do I want to go the wall with 10 outs? Eh, why not? My internet connection is preventing me from playing that well anyway. Tony calls my all-in and flips over two aces. Can one of my 10 outs come in? It does - a 4 on the turn gives me a straight and knocks Tony out of the tourney (he somehow went from 5000 chips to less than I had - I have no idea how because I was fighting my internet connection).

Later in this tourney - I get 2 black queens - again. This hand's outcome is inconsequential - I raise it up and everyone folds.

I make it past the bubble. I'm second in chips and the shortstack is keeping pressure on. He shoves into my blind for the fourth time and I call him with ... 2 queens (not both black this time, but nice enough). He's got ace rag and my 70% favorite holds up.

During heads up, my still-sputtering internet connection gives out again - this time for over 5 minutes. I know my opponent is (correctly) raising every hand and knocking me out in second place. This awful end, along with the back-to-back-black queen disaster of the tourney before, are enough to put me to bed steaming, even though I end up +$5 on the night.

luck runs out.

2 losses in 2 tries tonight.

The first one, I got my money in with 8T on a JJQ9 board. I was a bit behind - villain had JQ and flopped el-nuts-o. (that spanish for the nuts in case you didn't know ). Whoops. I can't think of too many cases where you're supposed to fold a straight (using both your cards) in a 9 man SNG, so I can't really fault my play there.

In the second tourney, I was plagued early by AJ. I raised up AJo from UTG+1 and got a caller in better position. The flop came K33. We both checked the flop but he took the pot away from me on the turn when no help came.

Very next hand, I get AJ again. This time I'm under the gun and just fold it - why repeat the same mistake in worse position?

Later, someone 2x raises, and there's a caller. I've got AJ again, but a quick look at the stats of the caller tells me he's a tight - tricky player, and I don't want to get mixed up here. My read was good - it turns out he had AQ, but the board came 4QJJ and I would have ended up with the best hand.

A bit later I lost another big chunk with TT. I raised, someone called from a blind, then shoved into me with a Jack on the board. He could have easily had 88 or a similar underpair but I didn't feel like I needed to risk it. I was under 1000 chips.

I survived a bit longer by winning a race - QQ vs. AK, which brought us to 6 players. Then my cards went dead for 30-odd hands and I ended up shoving over a 2x raise with a pair of nines and 8BB left. I figured I was racing again, and I was right - he had KQo (an odd hand to call an all-in with), but the turn gave him 10 outs (his overcards + a straight) and he hit one of them on the river. Win a race, lose a race - usually equals an exit.

running ok...

Cards and luck continue to be in my favor. Got into a $20 9-man tonight - started off by folding the first 20 hands. The guy to my left, who had accumulated about 2200 chips, got into an all-in hand with better cards but lost and knocked his stack in half to 1100. Next hand, I'm the small blind, with him in the big. I've got AKo and it folds around to me.

Should I limp for some deception or make the normal play - a raise with the probable best hand?

Arguments for limping include the fact that I haven't played a hand yet, so a raise (to an observant opponent) might look pretty strong, and chances are I would just win the blinds.

Arguments for raising, however, include the fact that this guy just lost half his stack, and he might tilt off the rest like a broken ATM machine with a much worse hand than AKo.

I go for the raise, and decide to make it a bit larger than normal - 4 times the blind. He shoves over me instantly.

Well, my read was that would do this with a weaker range than normal because of the last hand. I can't chicken out now. I call. He flips over AJo, and I dominate him out of the tourney. From 2200 to 0 in 2 hands for this villain. Fun times.

Went on to win the tourney, as well.

a nice little heater

My prediction came true about playing less lately - so the poker gods, with their unending sense of humor - decided it would be fun to have me money in every tourney I did manage to play in. I've playing in 6 tourneys since Jan 1 and moneyed in all three - 2 first places, 2 second, 2 third. I have avoided the dreaded suckout when ahead, and even sucked out myself a few times when behind.

Last night, I ICM shoved with 66, got called by JJ, and my 6 became the gutshot in a runner-runner straight. Evil stuff.

the puppy experiment ended yesterday

We took the puppy back to her original owner yesterday. Lots of reasons - all of them good ones and the best thing for our family. The original owner was honestly thrilled to get her back - I think she even regretted selling her to us in the first place, and the puppy is obviously in great care, so all will work out in the end.

I was still sad, though, to see the little guy (gal) go.

a fortunate turn

Thursday night live game, .50/$1 blinds, second hour. No cards yet, but mood is fine. National Championship football is on, conversation is good. I'm thankful to be playing because I didn't think I would be able to fit it into my schedule this week, but my schedule shifted at the last minute and here I am.

A pair of eights on the button. KD limps in before me. KD can be a tricky player, especially preflop. He's not afraid to play lots of different cards, and uses position well. I could use my own position well here and raise with eights, but instead I decide to take a flop. The small blind folds and the big blinds checks - we're three handed.

The flop comes Ten, Ten, Ace. KD opens the betting for $3. Paired flops are much more likely to miss people, and therefore a pocket pair is much more likely to be good. Also, KD will easily stab at any pot that he thinks has missed his opponent. Following my "more flop aggression in position" strategy that I've mentioned here many times, I make it $8. KD looks at the board for a few seconds and calls the raise.

Ok, that sucks. Let's work through what he might have.

A ten. I'm in big trouble if he's got a ten, obviously.
A decent Ace. I think this is much more likely. Also, if he's calling an $8 bet here, I'm pretty sure he likes his kicker as well. - he's probably folding Ace-rag here to a big bet. Limping with AK/AQ/AJ is a possibility.
Ace Ten - like any other Ten, I'm dead meat.
Pocket Pair. - Maybe, if he simply doesn't believe my raise, he might call with a pocket pair. I would slightly (but not completely) discount AA down to JJ, figuring those are more preflop-raise-worth. That only leaves tens (for quads, egads) and nines that beat me - I'm ahead of all the rest.
A draw. Only one draw on the board - a gutshot straight draw (cards were all different suits), and KD wouldn't chase a gutshot to a flop raise.

I was working through some subset of these hands in my head, when someone reminded me that it was my deal. Ooops. Ok, let's see what the turn brings us....

And what a fortunate turn it was - a red eight. I had the underboat.

KD checked. I'm not big on slowplaying the turn - I think you need to get money into the pot when you can, before your opponent knows he's beat, or before a scare cards comes and shuts him down. Not only that, but an underboat is not an invulnerable hand - let's see how his range of hands I listed above fare against it...

A ten. I'm ahead of everything right now except 8T and AT, to which I'm drawing dead. Any other ten has six outs to beat me - they can pair their other hole card, or the Ace can pair and overboat-me.
An Ace. I'm killing his two pair, until an ace comes on the river...
Ace Ten. Uh-oh.
Pocket Pair - No probs here, unless it's AA or TT. I have already been on the wrong end of quads against boat at this table. If he's limped with Aces and flopped the overboat, well, that sucks. If he's got 99, he's got 2 outs to beat me. Any other pocket pair and he's drawing dead.
A draw. The red 8 put a flush draw on the board, but I'm still discounting that. I hope he's drawing to a straight or flush against my boat, but I don't think it's likely.

So, I bet $12, and KD pretty quickly goes all in, for $29 more. (It's actually less than that, because he has me covered - I only have about $17 left). I get that sinking stomach feeling that I'm about to lose again with a monster, second best hand, but I need to take one more look at his range, and at the pot. I'm calling $17 to win about $60 - better than 3-1 odds. The odds are great, but I still feel like I'm probably beat. But can I actually lay it down? With this new information (his checkraise all-in), let's look one more time at his range.

Ace Ten/Ten-8/AA - I'm dead. See-ya.
Another ten. Likely, probably the most likely. holding, besides the above.
A big ace. I don't see KD going all-in on this board with two pair.
Pocket pair. No way he's all in with a PP, especially with an ace on the board.

One final thought - what does KD think that I have? In truth, my hand is extremely-well disguised. I reraised his flop bet on a TTA board - he's got to think I've got a ten, or an ace. A pocket pair must be well out of his mind for me, and therefore there's almost no way he can think that the 8 helped me.

This thought is the final evidence that leads me to call. I can see what he has, but I'm pretty sure he can't put me on the hand I have. This makes me think there's a better chance I'm ahead of him. Take this, along with better than 3-1 odds, and I've got to make the call. If I've underboatted to the overboat, well ok-then.

I announce "Nope, I can't lay it down, I call" and look up at his face as I flip over 88. His face scrunches up as he sees my eights - I've made the right decision. He's got QT suited (a surprisingly loose holding for KD to play, but I'm glad he did now!). I've got to fade a queen, an Ace, and the case Ten - seven cards in all, which puts me about 85% to win the hand (although, in the heat of battle, I didn't see the Aces, so I thought it was just 4 outs to beat me).

I deal the river - a wimpy 5, and I drag a nice big pot.

some simple handreading

Squeezed in one tourney tonight and played well. Early on, one opponent, with a +2% Sharkscope ROI (a decent player), raised the blind 10x (300 on 15/30 blinds). Everyone folded, and he showed KK. Then he typed into the chat "I hate when an ace calls", trying to justify his big raise. Well, he got what he wanted, but also got no value for the second best hand in Hold'em.

Later, he 2x raised, also from early position, and I wondered what this could mean. I didn't exactly get to find out, as someone 3 bet him and he folded. But, so far, big raise = big hand, small raise = small hand.

My cards were ca-ca so I was folding. I hadn't played one hand for the first 20 or so, and decided to try a blind steal with an awful hand (93o, I think), but the big blind called me, then donked into my bet on a high broadway board. I folded with no resistance.

A couple hands later I received my first real hand of the night - two Jacks. The player before me raised it up to 150. I had about 1200 chips, a reraise would put around half my stack in, a call was too weak, a fold was out of the question. As is often the case, there was no right way to play these two Jacks.

Let's look at my image - I had played only one hand so far. If my opponent was paying attention, he would have to put me on a big hand if I reraised or shoved. I wouldn't mind a fold here - Jacks are not easy to play post flop.

One last look at the opponent - Sharkscope said he was bad, over negative 30% ROI. This raised the chances that he might call with a weak ace, small pocket pair, or some other hand that I was well ahead of.

I shoved it all in, and my opponent called right away. I expected to see AK/AQ and be racing, but instead I saw... Q8s. Ok, forget all that stuff about my image, and if my opponent was paying attention - he just put all his chips in the middle with Q8s. I was 70% to win and did so, launching me from the bottom of the pack to second in chips.

A couple hands later, Mr. 10x bet with kings limped in. To review, I had seen him bet big with big hands and small with small hands. Continuing logically, this small bet was probably a small hand. He had seen me fold 20 times in a row and then shove it in with JJ. I had KT in the big blind and raised it up 4x. He folded immediately.

I was later able to cripple this same player with another free play in the big blind. This time I had King-Three and got to see a flop, which paired my King. I checked, not sure if I wanted to value bet here with no kicker, and he checked behind. The turn was another King and I had trips. I was now ahead of every non-King hand. In a SNG, this is enough to go to the wall with. I checkraised all in. When he clicked call, I thought for sure I was dead with KQ/KJ, but he flipped over a pair of tens. The fact that I hadn't bet the flop with top pair had tricked him into discounting a king in my hand. This was a decent player, he soon typed "what a donkey call by me". I typed "happens to everyone".

I made the money without too much incident. The bubble guy was 14-tabling and started ICM shoving at the proper moment - the big stack called him with a mediocre hand (QT, I think) and it paired up to knock out the 14-tabler. The big stack graciously typed "gg", and the 14-tabler took time out of his busy poker schedule to reply with "f### you donkey". Glad to see manners are still alive and well in the virtual rooms.

I got another read when the big stack told me "funny thing, I was on another table with this same guy, and he bubbled in that one too".

Hmmm, this big stack is playing two three-man tourneys at the same time (at least, maybe more). That can be distracting, no? I wonder if some blind steals would work. I started raising this guy's button regarless of my cards. He let me take the blinds once but then reraised over me. Ooops, maybe the other tourney ended and he was paying attention now. Or, maybe he actually got a hand, not sure. He eventually knocked out the #3 player and we were heads up.

Heads up was a long affair, made longer by the fact that the puppy started whining in her cage downstairs. Everyone else was asleep and I needed to hurry it along. I overshoved with AK and 99 but got folds each time. I also got all my chips in behind once - AJ vs. A5, but I caught a runner-runner wheel draw to stay alive.

I started down 10.5 - 2.5 K, then flipped it around, but couldn't put the guy out. His move was to overshove on any sign of weakness, so all I needed was a good hand to limp in with as a trap. This finally came at the 90 minute mark - AQo. Good enough. I limped, he shoved into me, and I called. He had a worse ace and I avoided a suckout to take first.

break probably coming.. life getting in the way - phooey!

I've got a number of things on the near horizon here in the next couple weeks - a big system conversion at work, a new puppy that needs training, and a small nighttime project I need to get done. All of these things will probably push poker out of the way for awhile - at least the regular, online nightly poker. Maybe I'll squeeze in a few games here or there, we'll see.

The end of the month will bring two large poker events - the monthly neighborhood tourney, which in January doubles to a $100 buy-in, and I've been invited to a Vegas trip on the weekend of the 23rd. Not sure I can make that one yet (the aforementioned system conversion needs to get done first), so I'll keep everyone posted.

Oh, and go Buckeyes. I'm not confident they can take down the Longhorns in the Fiesta Bowl tomorrow night, but go get 'em anyway...

2009 begins with a plus night

2 tourneys tonight - the first was a $10 in which I took second. My bankroll allows for $20 tourneys - I use Sharkscope tourney locator to look for "fishy" tourneys in both the $10 and $20 levels, and this $10 came up first.

My headsup opponent was very inexperienced but also very aggressive. My favorite play against him - he raised me, I reraised with TT, and he called. Flop came J 3 4, rainbow suits. I checked knowing he would bet any two cards, then checkraised him with my tens and got a fold. I won a few more pots raising his leadout bets, sometimes with air, but his aggression eventually wore me down to shove/fold mode. I shoved with QT and got a call from Ax (5 or 6) and his hand held up.

The second tourney was a $10 matrix-dealie. I got Kings cracked by eights early when the 8s filled a gutshot straight, then bubbled in the second when I took a stand against a way-too-often-all-in donk. I figured he was shoving hands that were hard to play preflop, like small pairs. I had TT and decided I might be way ahead and called his shove. He had AJ (another hard hand to play preflop) and beat me in a race. Probably could have waited for a better spot.

In the last 2, I took third and first, and placed third overall in the matrix (actually I tied for third), netting me $14.40 on my $11 investment. 2009 is off to a positive start.

Rosa

Here's our new GoldenDoodle puppy, Rosa - we picked her up for good yesterday. She's doing all the things a normal 7 week old puppy does right now - playing, sleeping (looks a little sleepy in this picture, no?).

She is 3/4 Golden Retriever, and 1/4 Standard Poodle.

2008 - first year in review

2008 marks my first "serious" year as a student of Texas Hold'em. Let's review my numbers a bit and see where I am at this year-end milestone...

Online
All play done at Full Tilt, starting March 3. My results by month are shown in the screenshot - 8 positive months, 2 negative. Total winnings - $1120. Total ROI - 15.78%. In the money (ITM)% - 45.3, just under half the time, I'm in the money. According to OfficialPokerRankings.com, my online winnings rate my in the 97.97 percentile - the top 2.03% of all players! Not shown in the graphic is my dollas per hour - a whopping $3.96. Yes, I could have made more money in the same amount of time handing out shopping carts at Wal-Mart, but I wouldn't have had the pleasure of getting my Aces cracked by K5 sooooted, then, would I? (on second thought, I wonder if Wal-Mart is hiring...)

I also have a small 2200 cash game hands on Full Tilt - the net result here is a negative $70 - my schedule lends itself better to the sit-n-go, since I know the game will end in a finite amount of time, and I can get some sleep and go earn a real living the next day.

Live

I started keeping a spreadsheet of live Poker results in early August. Since that time, I have net a positive $148.50 in winnings. This includes the $458 Mountaineer disaster, as well as a plus $810 for two second place finishes in the local Waterbury tourney. It does not include the cool $1000 first place finish in the same tourney in February (before I started recordkeeping) , so it is safe to say my net live play was also a positive number.

Overall, more green numbers than red, and many more positive pointing signs than negative. I must say I'm pleased overall. I feel like my live play is getting better as I play more often, and I'm right on the cusp of starting to multitable at Full Tilt, which should bump up my hourly rate. As recent posts have shown, I still have plenty of leaks to fix - so I need to stay humble and ready to learn. But it's a nice start.