monthly tourney report - a donkey call gets rewarded.

A great start to the monthly $50 buy-in holdem tourney tonight. I followed some limpers with 7Ts on my own button and rivered a straight for a decent pot. Then a big big hand - a free play with 46o in the big blind.

Flop comes 2 pair - but 456 with two diamonds, for draws-aplenty. I check, thinking I'll raise the aggressive players in the pot. A solid, straightforward player (but capable at stabbing at unclaimed pots) leads out. I call, as does a bad player behind me.

The turn is a welcome site - a six for the floating boat. I check again, praying someone hits a big hand (or already has one). The river hits a 7, with a nice 4 card straight on the board. I lead out for 100 into the 200 pot. The bad player makes it 200. The solid player makes it 500. Uh-oh. Well, the bad player has the straight, I'm pretty sure. Could the solid player have overboated me? Good god, that would blow.

Well, I could raise here, which would commit me for all my chips. But then one more thought occurs to me. If I raise, the good player might be able to get away from his straight if he has one, or trip sixes on the 4 straight board. The bad player might duck and run as well unless she has a great hand. But what if I just call the 500 and let her in behind me? Maybe she calls as well. This sounds like 300 more than I would make if I just shoved all my chips in the middle and they both ran away.

Plus, I provide a little protection in case the good player has overboated me. I call the 400 more, and the bad player calls too.

She shows two pair (ow) - the solid player shows the straight, and I drag a huge pot.

I win some more chips before the first break with some good cards. A very good player is sitting on my right raises it up to 105 (blinds are only 15/30). I look down on QQ and repop it to 350- there's very little three-betting at this point of the tourney. He calls, and the flop scares the piss out of me - AAT. I have position and he checks. He's easily capable of checkraising here, and I can certainly check behind. Or, I can play aggressively and find out where I'm at right now. I bet 400 and he folds.

(not sure if this is a great play - better hands never fold to this bet, and very few worse hands can call. I could easily check here and be just as safe, and might even set up a bluff opportunity later. But I still wouldn't know if it was a bluff or a value bet with an ace, seeing as he called a 3 bet and could easily be holding an ace).

A round later I get AA and he raises into me again. I repop it once more to 300, and he gives me a snarky remark like I'm picking on him. Then a player behind me goes all in for 310, only 10 more. Good player says "I have to call". Here I make a mistake and announce that I'm all in myself, which I can't do of course since I was the last raiser. Oopsie. I apologize and call the ten more chips. The board comes KQx and we check to the river - I don't want to risk building a pot with lots of paint on the board and getting my aces cracked by 2 pair - I also don't want to chase out a player that might beat the shortstack. In the end, I take the pot with my aces.

At this point I have 3600 and am looking pretty good. I tighten up and wait for good cards - folding KJ in early position and Ace-9o vs some limpers. I do steal a few blinds to keep busy.

Then for the killer hand of the night - I raise up AJo and get a call from Rob, whom I've mentioned several times in the past. Rob likes to call bets and then bluff the river when the draw comes in. He has made the big river bet at least 3 times tonight, and even shown the bluff one of the times - a busted straight draw. Rob is at plenty of final tables - he has also been the first out of the tourney on a few occasions when he bluffs into someone with a set or two pair who can't get away.

I hit top pair on the board with a jack and two spades. I lead out for value and he calls. The turn is a queen, higher than my jack. Rob checks, as do I, for pot control.

The river, of course, brings the third spade, a ten, and Rob leads out for 800. Ugh.

He loves to bluff the draws on the river. Did he actually have a spade draw this time? Crap. Ace King also beats me (would be a straight), as does any queen. He's capable of making this bet with eights or nines, or nothing. I finally decide he doesn't have the spade draw, and he would have bet most queens to protect against the spade draw. I make the call.

Rob announces "two pair", which of course beats my second pair. I expect him to flip over Queen-Jack, but instead he flips over queen-five. He called my 3x preflop raise with Q5? Then he called 400 with bottom pair?
Someone calls him on it, and he gives some obviously pre-thought-out logic about "well, I can easily get away and blah-blah-blah, if he would have bet more preflop, I wouldn't have called, etc. etc."

Whatever, dude - you just called a preflop raise from a tight player with Queen-five offsuit. I'll remember that.

This knocked me down into average stack territory. From there I went down to about 9 BB waiting for a hand. A short stack shoved all-in, over a limper, and I re-shoved over with AQ, hoping to dominate a smaller ace. I was up against the powerhouse 44 and of course didn't pair up, which put me at 3 BB. I went out a few hands later, taking a stand with KQ, in a 2 way all in vs. AJs and 99. Rob won this hand, too - his AJ flushed out on the river, and he knocked out 2 players.

A solid start to my night, derailed by Q5. My read was right, too - he didn't have the flush or the straight on the dangerous board, but he still had enough to knock my second pair for a loop.

Once back home - I took back my $50 investment with a win in a $20 online tourney. The big hand of the night was a thing of beauty - I raised up 77 and got a caller from a decent, overly aggressive player. Then a bad player in the blind thought and thought and then called as well.

I hit my set of 7s on a Q97 board and checked. The good player checked as well, and then the bad player made a pot size bet. I shoved over him, pretty much thinking he would call with top pair/overpair and I would have to dodge a couple outs. But then the good player called my all in also! Uh-oh. Flush draw? Better set? The bad player also calls, and we're off. The bad player has AA - he decided to just call preflop and trap, he trapped himself right into drawing to 2 outs. The good player shows JTo - an open ended straight draw, but on a 2 flush board - a strange play (maybe he's not so good).

Mr. draw is briefly rewarded with a king on the turn - hitting his straight. My core temperature starts to go up, but the river brings a second king and my boat sinks his straight and the aces. I win a 8,640 chip pot and coast into the money, bullying the other players as the big stack should, then hitting aces myself while heads up for a little more luck.

more activity, not much different results

I was very active in the cash game last night. I played many hands more aggressively - preflop raising with 9Ts, raising a limper with TJs, a fair amount of continuation betting and the occasional checkraise (once with air).

But I also made some poor river calls - twice on double paired boards. In the first, I had nothing but ace high and the board had both Kings and Twos. The king was top pair from the start and I didn't believe my opponent Pietzak had one, and I couldn't assume a deuce because it was a raised pot. When he bet out I figured he was making the play you're supposed to make - putting me into a decision to make a call hoping for a split - and he succeeded. I called hoping for a split, but he somehow found a deuce in his hand.

A similar thing happened with Tony - the final board ended up JJ99x, with three flush cards. I hit the flush on the river. Any jack or 9 beats me, but an aggressive player who easily likes to represent the dangers of the board is betting at me - I felt like I could pick off a counterfeited pocket pair or ace high with my flush. Nope, he had a jack.

All of this activity put me about even on the night. I ended up down $18, mainly due to getting $25 bucks in good with AK vs. A8 (someone making a move), and him hitting his 8. I played this hand very well - a middle position player raised it up to $4. I thought about 3 betting with my big slick, but I glanced behind me and there were two short stacks, both capable of of trying a squeeze play shove to take the growing pot if I just called. I called and got just what I hoped for when Johnny J shoved behind me. Johnny J is a very tight player and I thought I would most likely be racing a pair of jacks or queens, but just maybe I had caught him with AQ. I was really shocked to see him flip over A8 - that's a very light 3 bet all in for him - and it amounted to a move on his part. I had caught him in my trap perfectly and all I had to do was dodge an 8, but it didn't happen.

Don't play mad

Played 2 last night - in the first, I was dealt AA vs. KK in the very first hand and doubled up, then rode that momentum to a 2nd place finish. I ended with a semi-bluff all in that would have worked except that the villain had 2 pair and had to call, and my flush didn't come. A nice try, though.

In the second, I was watching the Cleveland Cavaliers drop another game to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals, and the irritation of that game carried over into the poker. I ended up limp/shoving 77 and wound up against TT. Ooo-fa, I've made so many bad plays this month. It's no wonder I'm in the red.

In other news, my cards were uncharacteristically good in these two tourneys. Aces, Kings, Big Slick, Jacks twice, some smaller pairs. I also (correctly) folded some junk that would have turned into trips or flopped straights.

All this one day after my first ever (small) cash withdrawl from Full Tilt. Suspicious? Nah, it's all 100% random, I'm 100% positive...

down....

Tonight was a real beatdown poker-wise. Got sucked out on in tourney #1 for a bubble (QQ vs. AT, flop TT5), then in tourney #2 I took a stand vs. a player who played seventy percent of the hands. That's seven-zero. Of course, he had AQ when I took my stand with JK, so I bubbled again.

1 cash in my last 10 tourneys. Lots of bad luck, and lots of bad play, too. Hard to unentangle the two sometimes. I mean, I got my money in bad on the last one, but is that playing poorly when you've watched the guy play T5o and call 5x raises with J6o and checkraise with bottom pair? (I'm not making any of those plays up - I witnessed all of the above). That's just someone having a horseshoe up their ass, right?

Now this is probably a bad play, or maybe not. My hand is pretty weak, but the big overbet looks weak too. What do you do?

Full Tilt Poker, $50 + $5 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 200/400 Blinds, 3 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
Hero (BB): 4,380
BTN: 4,315
SB: 4,805

Pre-Flop: (600) 6 5 dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN folds, SB calls 200, Hero checks

Flop: (800) 6 3 2 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 600, SB raises to 4,405 and is All-In,

This is a huge overbet, would you do that with a made flush? I thought maybe he had one club and was trying to push me off the hand. If so, then he's got 8 outs to beat me, and my weak top pair is a 2-1 favorite right now.

Of course, I guess he could have an overpair like 99 with the nine of clubs - if that's true then I'm drawing to one out, the 4c for an inside straight flush.

Hero calls 3,380 and is All-In

Turn: (8,760) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (8,760) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 8,760 Pot

Hero showed 6 5 (a flush, Queen high) and LOST (-4,380 NET)
SB showed 8 J (a flush, Queen high) and WON 8,760 (+4,380 NET)

As it turned out, he did have the flush. Live and learn.

new and different

On my day off today, I decided to do a bunch of poker stuff that I've never done before. It didn't go all that well...

I played in my first $50 buy in tourney - a nine man SNG. I took third, then made a donkey call to end it there.

I played in an 884 player $16,000 guarantee - a $24 buy-in tourney. I doubled up with Aces on the second hand, and then won a nice pot with a flush against a set of tens. For a short time, I was in 14th place with those two big hands. Sadly, that was about all I could muster, and my chip stack dwindled and dwindled until I took a stand with AJ but got caught against AK (that's actually a lie - I shoved over a raise with AJ and the initial raiser had AK - another pure donkey move by me). I went out in 270 place.

I fired up a 45 man tourney and got my aces cracked by 8T sooted on the first orbit. Out in 43rd.

I signed up on UltimateBet for a rakeback account. I played in a play money tourney there just to get the hang of the interface and such. I won that tourney (lovely).

??!? - flabbergasted

There's no way LeBron made that shot tonight. This stuff happens AGAINST Cleveland sports teams.

Major League shot right there.

Deuce Four rears its head and almost starts a fight.

Thursday night game - not much in the cards, as it were. Lots of pocket pairs that don't set up. I win some small/medium pots with Queens, Jacks, and Aces, but no big pots on the night. I hit a big-blind special two pair with 9-5 and earn a flop bet with a checkraise. I end up $1.50 in the black for 4 hours work - ha ha.

An interesting hand ensues when I get TT in the small blind. There are 3 limpers and I consider raising them all up, but then one more idea gets into my head. Tony is on my immediate left in the big, and is not against "punishing the limpers" with a wide range of hands. I think it's time to try a little move of my own - I complete the small blind, and decide that if Tony goes for the punish, I will put him all-in. If he checks, then I'm just setmining.

I pat myself on the back when Tony raises to $6. That bet is too big for Aces or Kings, and I'm willing to get coolered with JJ or QQ, I'm thinking he's more like Ace-x (at best), and I think he'll lay down everythng except Ace-King. Before it's my turn to act, though, Kevin announces "I'm all in".

Kevin counts it out, he's got $9.50 more. This makes the pot around $30. 3-1 odds on tens? Sounds pretty good on the surface, but let's try and put some ranges together. Kevin might have been trapping with a big pair - I have never seen him limp/reraise all in, but I have seen him limp with aces and then play them slow to the river. Maybe he just never got reraised preflop and couldn't try this move. I think he might do this with any pair (even twos), and say Ace/ King. This isn't an exact guess - I'm not comfortable with his range here.

Now for Tony. Tony punishes limpers from the blind seemingly once per session. Once he did it and showed Ace-Jack - not a fantastic hand for this move. I put him on two connected broadway cards, and pairs down to say 88.

I can't Pokerstove in my head, of course, but I felt like I was getting the right price. In the end, though, I just decided to bail on the hand. There was a chance I was dominated by a bigger pair, and I thought that even if they both had a big Ace and were interfering with each other, one could have AK and the other AQ, and I would have to dodge all kinds of broadway cards for my tens to hold up.

It was up to Tony. He was now getting the 3-1 odds. He said to Kevin, laughing - "if I call and win, you are not going to be happy with me". In the end, the price was too good - he called the extra $9.50 and shows - the mighty deuce/four (offsuit, no less).

Kevin is increduous - how could Tony call with 2-4? You can see his face turn red. He flips over two red sevens and is a big favorite. The board starts to help Tony with the wheel straight early, but he fails to connect as a seven hits the river and Kevin doubles up.

Kevin is still hot. He has already lost an AQ vs. KJ hand tonight, and he can't understand why Tony would call any bet with 2-4. He's not a big math guy and isn't buying the pot odds concept. Tony tells Kevin that as long as Kevin doesn't hold a pair (which he was), then Tony was getting the proper odds to call. I open my mouth and try to help explain it, but this just irritates him more. It also brings out some chiding from the other "non-math" guys at the table, both right after the hand concludes and long afterwards. No more trying to prove how smart I am for me.

Now, back to my hand. If I knew what each player had, obviously, I would have snap-call-fistpump-my-hand-in-the-air called with my Tens and been happy about it. I was 69% to win vs. both players as the cards lied (although Tony might have folded his crap once I called, making me 81% to win vs. the sevens).

Looking at some realistic ranges, though, with Kevin on any pair and AK (a weak read but turned out to be true), and Tony on a reasonable range of 88+,ATs+,KJs+,QJs,ATo+,KQo (any medium/high pair, any Broadway Ace, and some KQ/KJ combos), I am still 36% to win vs. both of those - easily the right price to call with 3-1 odds.

So, in the final analysis, I made a poor decision. However, my poor decision saved me money this time around, because I would have been 2-out-sucked-out-on if I had called, so I suppose all is right with the world.

We also know that Tony is capable of trying the punishing the limpers move with any two cards. Of course, the next time he tries that, he'll have the goods. Or will he?

right and wrong read

So I'm playing last night and a beginning player (according to sharkscope) has raised my blind for the 4th consecutive time. His stats are like 24/13 - too much raising to have good cards every time.

I am the big stack at the table and can break him. I decide that enough is enough and reraise him all in. My cards are garbage - 67o, but it doesn't matter - he's not calling without a premium hand, and he can't have this many premium hands.

I was half right - he indeed did not have a premium hand - but he decided to call me anyway, with A7s. I fail to improve my dominated situation and get chopped back down into the average stacks.

Tony was playing the same tourney. He chats to me "misclick?". I reply, "nope, bad read". I have underestimated what this player considers a good hand.

My wild reraise does have some metagame benefits, as I end up getting a walk in the big blind in several of the next few orbits. My nutjob image serves me well.

I end up third in this tourney, knocked out by the same player in the same dominated situation with only one live card. Blah.

a pair of twos

... as in two second place finishes.

I watched a good player make an isolation raise over a limper in the middle levels, and I figured the chance was good that his range was wider than normal. I shoved over the top of him with AQs, figuring he would fold all but his best hands, which I suppose was true - he called with AKo. Oops. The poker gods gave me one back, though, and brought me a queen on the flop to knock out a good player and double me up.

I had one of those "clarity" moments where I thought I could see about 5 levels deep into the "what does he think that I think that he thinks that I have" type of deals. It was a blind vs. blind battle - I had K3 in the small and open limped in. (My opponent was passive and I thought the chances low that he would raise, plus my stack was in the awkward 12-15 blind stages where stealing can cause problems if you're called, so a limp felt better than a raise this time around).

I hit a king on the flop but checked with my awful kicker. He checked behind. The turn went Bet/Call, so I figured he had a piece or a little draw he was willing to take a shot on. The river completed a goofy straight draw but nothing else. Bet or check? I decided (in that split second decision time) that I couldn't put him on a king because we both checked the flop, and he furthermore couldn't put me on a king either for the same reasons. He probably thought that he was ahead, or maybe he could bluff a busted draw. I checked to induce a bet from him, and he obliged. The bet was a bit bigger than I wanted to comfortably call with a 3 kicker, and of course I could be behind all kings of odd two pairs in this unraised pot, so I typed "ugh" into the chat box and went with my read. I called and won a decent pot against his second pair.

still even for the month

Played three tonight - 2 third place and a bustout. 2 hours of work for $2 profit.

Luck continued to be poor. I caught an aggro guy into a pot with top pair to my AA - he had 5 outs after the flop and he hit one. Then, in an interesting hand, an early player minraised to 80, and I 3 bet to 300 with JJ, which was a decent chunk of my stack and committed me. A player behind me, in the small blind, called. I figured he would have reraised with QQ/KK/AA, so I put him on maybe AK or AQ/AJ if he was a bad player. I figured my bet was too big to setmine.

The board came 348 rainbow - the caller in the blind checked, I bet 600 with the intention of calling an all-in checkraise, and he did in fact checkraise me, showing 44 for the set and my demise.

I don't like calling a 7.5x raise with 44 for setmining purposes, do you?

Third tourney, with three left - I shoved KJo from the bubble and got called by A9. Neither of us improved and I was out. My shove looks fine (unexploitable, even), according to SngWizard - his call with A9 looks a little iffy (unless he thinks I'm pushing very wide - over 20%). It worked out this time, of course - lots of bad plays are working out against me this month.

That's the definition of bad luck - when you play well (or opponents play poorly) and you lose anyway.

the math is staggering.

I was exhausted tonight after 2 nights in a row without sleep, plus I had some alcohol in me. I shouldn't have been playing at all, but I logged into a $20 6-man just to get to bed time. I took a bad beat to knock my stack down and ended up out in 4th, but the nature of the beat that I took did not register in my hazy mind until I checked it out post-game.

Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 15/30 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
SB: 3,045
Hero (BB): 1,680
UTG: 1,485
CO: 1,455
BTN: 1,335

Pre-Flop: (45) 9 9 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to 60, CO folds, BTN calls 60, SB calls 45, Hero calls 30
Call the minraise in a multiway pot with 99. Reraising might also be fine here, but we're in the first blind level, no need to build a big pot yet.

Flop: (240) 9 7 2 (4 Players)
Top set, yay. I decide to bet into the multiway pot - lots of poor players at the table, plus several draws. One player comes along.

SB checks, Hero bets 120, UTG folds, BTN calls 120, SB folds

Turn: (480) 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets 315, BTN calls 315
Bet again, get called again.


River: (1,110) 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets 555, BTN calls 555
Bet half pot, get called. I want to get called. Only a 6 beats me.


Results: 2,220 Pot
Hero showed 9 9 (three of a kind, Nines) and LOST (-1,050 NET)
BTN showed 6 6 (a straight, Nine high) and WON 2,220 (+1,170 NET)

Holy crap.

Player's call on the turn is not terrible - he has an open ended draw by then. But his call in the flop is brutal - what does he think he's ahead of here? Ace high, maybe, I suppose.

For the record, I was a 97% favorite after the flop with my set of nines over a pair of sixes. He needed runner-runner for the straight or two running sixes, and that's what he got.

Once again, Holy crap.

The worst part of playing SNGs is that I'll never see this player again. At least in my weekly cash game, I have identified the players who will routinely give me money and can target them. This guy gets to whack me in the head and then disappear into the ether, never to be seen again.

on no.. they say he's got to go... go go CALLZILLA.

Thursday night cash game - at site #3 again. Most player's I've played with at least once or twice before, and two new faces.

New face #1 looks like he's going to play half of his hands and chase all of his draws. In the first half hour - he hits 2 top-end straights (against bottom-end straights both times, too), so he wins some money. I hope I can get some of it later..

I limp into a multiway pot with 79s (I know better - this is not a profitable hand in this 40 BB game, but I play it anyway). I hit my open-ender on a 684 flop. Johnny leads out for $3 from a blind- my weak-tight friend, and one of the only players I can read successfully. He has some piece of this flop, maybe Ace-x and he caught his x. He's the perfect player to try the old "raise in position with a draw" move - there a good chance he even folds that type of hand here. I make it $10. Johnny looks at his chips for a second and floors me with "fuck it, I'm all in". Really? Ok, let's reasses - Johnny's got 2 pair, a set, or the 57 nuts. There are no other options. I check the suits one more time - I've got 2 spades, there's only one on the board. Johnny has successfully foiled my "raise the draw in position" play. I congratulate him as he reveals his set of 8s and scoops the $15 pot.

I make some of it back a round later. New face #1 limps in for the 20th time tonight, and the host of the game, Rick, raises it up to $3.50. Rick seems to be a solid TAG who knows what he's doing. I wonder to myself if he's trying to isolate the Limpy Limperson with his raise? If so, his range might be expanded to a medium Ace (say Ace-8+), KQ/KJ/QJ, maybe even pocket pairs down to 7s or so. After his raise, I check my cards and find a pair of tens. If his range has increased, then maybe I can make a play here. If he calls, then I'm either racing 2 broadway cards or dead to the big pair. But I think I have fold equity on top of my card strength. I push all in for about $17, and get two folds. Nice!

(note: Last night I experimented with not looking at my cards until it was my turn to act, with good results. I wasn't able to do it 100% of the time - you just really want to look and see what you're cards are! - but I believe that waiting both forces you to watch the action of other players, and prevents people from reading you. I am going to continue to play this way).

Soon after the tens, a late arrival sits down to my right - none other than CallZilla - the (very large) man who plays lots of pots, usually to the end. His nickname isn't 100% accurate - he can also bluff and attack in the right spots as well as calling all the way to the river - but he seems to go too far with his made hands and gets stuck often as second best.

I pick up a 78 suited in late position and limp along behind Callzilla. We see an Ace-5-6 rainbow flop and it checks around. A deuce comes on the turn, and it checks around to me again. I decide to make a stab at the $4 pot with a $3 bet. The blinds fold but Callzilla bumps it up to $3 more. I'm confused. What's he playing over there? Did he play 56 and check two pair? Ace-two? Does he actually have a 3-4 straight? Or is he just taking a shot with a minraise bluff?

I check the board one more time - any nine or 4 will make me the nuts on this 4-suited board. His minraise has me calling $3 to win $13 - giving me 4.3-1 odds. I need about 19% to win, and there's a 16% chance of hitting my straight. Pretty close. Add in the fact that I have position, and that he might have a KQ type hand so that pairing my 7 or 8 might also give me the best hand, and I decide to shoot for the borderline call.

I'm expecting a tough river decision but it doesn't come - instead a fantastic 9 of clubs comes, giving me the nut straight. Even more fantastic, Callzilla continues his show of strength and puts $10 into the pot. I add up my smallish chip stack, count out his $10 bet, and then slide the rest in as well - only $10.50 more. He has to call! He has to!

Nope, he folds. He says "I think you hit that 9", meaning he had nada. Damn! Well, I won a nice $26 pot anyway.

That was really the only large hand of the night for me. The broadway cards weren't coming. The biggest starting hand I got was JJ and it won me the blinds. I raised up 2 limpers with AQ from the big blind and won their limps. No Aces or Kings to play a big pot for me this evening.

I tried stealing blinds one time from middle position with 58 suited. The button defended - my initial reaction of course was "oh crap" based on my silly holding, but when I noticed that he only had $8 on the table, and then hit two pair on the flop - I checkraised him all in and won a small pot when he folded his continuation bet.

We ended the night around 12:30 - I was up half a buy-in. Another solid, but unspectcular night. I feel like I need to win a few more smaller pots (I usually win the big ones unless someone gets lucky on me) - this might entail playing even more hands in position (to the point of not worrying so much about my cards, even) - and looking for spots to raise up limpers from the blinds (Tony seems to do this at least once per session). If I can scoop up unclaimed money put in by weak players - and/or outplay some good players with position - I should be able to increase my profits week to week.

cooler night

got coolered three times tonight (I think, 2 for sure).

In the first, I played 89s against a bad player early and by the turn had the baby end of the straight. His stats said he would go to the wall with top pair/two pair/set and I'd be golden - I was afraid of only one hand - AK. He had it.

Tourney 2, I raise up AK, get reraised (small), call, flop comes KQx. He's got KQ. I survive this one with an ace suck out on the river.

Third hand, I raise up TT, get reraised small again, flop comes 983, but opponent is betting like a madman and I just feel like he's got a pair over my tens. I fold this one.

Not much else to report - I play fine the rest of the way with no cards and bubble. My last 5 hands of the tourney are 73o, 54o, T5o, 95o, K7s, 45s. And the K7s was in the small blind and there was a loose limper who didn't like to fold, even to shoves. after he limped in, I folded that one. Not much to work with. I'm hovering around even for the month.

I'm taking Friday off to visit a friend in Columbus - will squeeze in some extra poker in the am, hopefully.

a rare surprise...

Maybe I don't steal enough blinds, but this almost never happens to me. I attempt to steal the blinds with garbage cards, then hit the flop hard...

Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 30/60 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 4,500
Hero (BTN): 1,385
SB: 690
BB: 3,105
UTG: 2,460
MP: 1,360

Pre-Flop: (90) 5 4 dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to 180, SB folds, BB calls 120

Damn, what are you calling for! Can't you see I have complete garbage...

Flop: (390) 4 J 4 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks
Hello, trips fours! Well, no way villain could put me on a 4. Also, dryest board possible, nothing to protect against here...

Turn: (390) 8 (2 Players)
BB bets 130, Hero calls 130
Ok, this 8 either helped or he's just taking a stab. I should probably raise to protect against 9T and 2 hearts, but I call one more time...

River: (650) 9 (2 Players)
Well, the backdoor heart draw came in. This is a good opponent and may have bet the turn as a defensive bet.

BB bets 250, Hero calls 250
I'm too chickenshit to raise this bet now, but I have to call...

Results: 1,150 Pot
Hero showed 5 4 (three of a kind, Fours) and WON 1,150 (+590 NET)
BB showed 8 9 (two pair, Nines and Eights) and LOST (-560 NET)
Big blind hit 2 pair on the river, wonder if he would have called a big raise in the face of the backdoor flush?

Ended up taking second in this one...

Unlucky May

It helps to see visual evidence when you're running bad. No bad beats tonight - just lost a standard race (AJ vs. 77) - but I still decided to fire up the little luck program I have and filtered it for May only, where I'm just about dead even in money. You can see the results below. The expected (green) line is the expected amount of tournaments dollars I should have won, based on my all-ins. If that line is always heading up, then you're doing ok (that means you're getting your money in good. The Actual line represents the results of the hand, and the red line is the difference between those two lines, or your luck.

The downward leaning red line confirms some bad luck this month. Keep pounding that pavement....

untitled

2 suckouts in a row against me tonight were enough for me to call it a night. My KK vs. his AK and my AK vs. his AJ. Both magic 3-outers hit on the river to rail me.

I played pretty bad in the first one - got in trouble with KJ and A7 - the second was particularly bad and I lost a good chunk of chips to a good player who outplayed me. After that I played pretty well, though.

Don't be results-oriented, Don't be results-oriented, Don't be results-oriented.

no biggies

I ended up +$28 on the night - not too shabby. No big hands either lost or won, and pretty much ABC poker. Some highlights...

Early in the night with a free play in the big blind with K8. My kings hits but my kicker blows and I'm out of position. I lead out and Tony calls. We check a blank turn, and another blank river comes. I weigh my options. A bet may elicit a fold from second pair type hands, but a check will probably elicit a bet. All I have to do then is figure out if I want to play my top pair/meh kicker. I check and Tony makes a larger-size bet - which I read as weakness, so I make the call . My read is true and I win a nice pot from second pair.

In the small blind with 7dTd. Tony raises an early limper, but only raises to $3.50 - I smell a bigger hand. Unfortunately for him, nobody else seems to smell it, as he gets two callers before it comes to me. I'm right on the edge of calling and folding - when I look over at the original limper - he already has the chips in his hand to call. knowing I won't be raised behind me, I make the borderline call.

I hit the flop hard - TT5. I check and Tony bets close to the pot $15. Smells like Aces to me, and he's going to find out real fast if anyone has a Ten. It folds back to me. I've got around $43 bucks at this point - calling this raise would be over a third of my stack - and pretty much telegraphs that I have a ten. I'm not folding 40 BB in case he has a higher kicker, either - if he's got AT (or TT for quads), good for him. I choose the straightforward play and put all my chips in the middle, hoping it looks weak, and hoping Tony can't fold his overpair. This would have worked better with a higher off-card on the board, like a jack, then I could have held a much wider range of cards, including semibluff draws, or Ace-Jack, and he might have thought about calling. Shoving all my chips in the middle on a TT5 board pretty much telegraphs my hand, though, and Tony shakes his head and folds. Later he tells me he had Jacks (an easy fold even as an overpair, IMO).

Late in the evening, Mr Pietzak is running over the table with big starting hands and hard-hit flops, and raising with impunity. I decide to call a raise with 6s7s in the cutoff position even though my stack is just under $40 and I can't win much if I hit hard. It's more of a playing sherriff move. I had also made the conscious decision before the game to play more pots in position, and not worrying so much about my cards (still throwing away total crap, but taking shots with playable hands).

I hit a nice, but dangerous, two pair flop - 678. No flush possibilities. The table checks around to me, but as I'm considering betting, the dealer, named KC - who is also still in the hand, raps the table and flips over the turn card. I look up and tell him that I'm still in the hand, but it's too late - the card is exposed - a 9 of clubs - putting a four straight on the board.

It is explained to KC that he has to put the 9 back into the deck and reshuffle. He looks irritated by this, but complies. I bet $7 into a $12 pot - trying to protect. Now KC leans back - he is obviously irritated, and sneers "I call. I'm not going anywhere".

Why is he mad? I stop to think for a minute. I have to conclude that the 9 turn would have helped him - most likely he has a ten or a 5 and the 9 would have given him a straight.

He flips over a new turn card - a queen this time. No straight for a ten or a 5, so I make the same $7, this time trying to keep him in the hand. (perhaps a mistake here - a 5 gives him a nice open-ended draw, and his apparent tilted nature would have most likely made him call bigger). He disdainfully splashes the pot with his call again.

We see a king on the river. There are no flushes. Before I can even reach for chips - KC tells me the King helped him. He might be lying, but I don't think so. He's mad at something. Still, I have been burned on a 2-pair hand earlier tonight where I was out-two paired, and I'm out of position, so I bet $5 as a "please-just-call-don't raise-I need-value-from-my-two-pair-but-can't-afford-to-be-blown-off-this-hand" blocker bet.

He calls right away and shows King Ten. He hit his pair on the river, and the nine would have indeed given him the straight.

KC is really hot now. He exclaims "that was bullshit" - talking about the 9 that had to be taken off the board. Someone tells him - "you did it to yourself", but it doesn't help much. Before the next hand starts, he announces "I'm done - get me $44". I fufill his request and pull his winnings out of the kitty, and he storms off without another word.

Not much else to report. Tony ended up down quite a bit of cash. Mr. Pietzak ran away with 5 buy-ins - Tony's brother Fred made some cash as well. My modest gain was ok but I feel like I need to win a bit more often, especially when I don't have the cards coming.

exhale

3 tourneys last night - got my money all-in as a favorite in the first two and lost them both (one as a big favorite) . That makes 5 in a row where that happened.

In the 3rd, I played ok - made one mistake but was able to recover through good cards and good flops, and ended up in first place. A reprieve from the madness.

Live game tonight- maybe - looks like lots of no-shows for this week.

time for another mental test, I guess....

Well, I guess it's time to test my will again.

Two losses tonight. One was just bad - a bad nut was at the table, 3 betting anybody with 2 paint cards. I 4 bet him with AK and he called. The flop came Q-rag-rag and he lead into me - I just snapped and shoved. He had KQ of course and had hit the 3 outer, but no reason for me to donk away my chips against a bad player with A-high.

The second tourney, though, was a killer. I get a short stack, good player to overshove my smallish raise. I have KK, he has A5. I hit a king on the flop and think I'm safe. Nope, runner-runner 8-9 gives him a one card straight.

I crawl back up to even with the lower stacks until I have fold equity again. I shove my button with A7. The big stack calls... with T3. ???? He immediately types "I misclicked, I meant to fold, I swear". I hit a 7 on the turn to pair up and take away half of his outs, but when the ten comes on the river, I barely blink. I knew it was coming.

Player replies "I guess it was just meant to be". I'm not proud of my parting, tilted reply as I signed off.

Guess I haven't had a bad run in awhile, so it's time.

played great, kicked in the junk

tourney #1 - no cards early, down to nothing. Someone always raises on my button, I have nothing to call with and not enough to raise with. Fold, Fold, Fold.

From my small blind, I'm pushing J2, T7, Q5, barely staying alive. The player to my left is a good player, he's gonna start calling me light pretty soon.

Then, a goldmine - AQo in the small blind. I only have 6 BB left, so I'll be shoving over any raise or limp before me (they'll have correct odds to call), but I should be ahead.

Even better, the table folds to me again. Like I've done the past 4 times, I shove it all in. My read is perfect - the big blind does call me light - with A7 offsuit. Well played, sir - I'm a 2.7-1 favorite. The seven on the turn sends me to the rail.

Getting late - no time for a full tourney, so I jump into a 6 man. There are 3 bad-bad players in here. I get KK and flop a set but no postflop action.

The guy to my left this time is break-even and super aggressive. I'm down to around 1000 again. I raise from the small with A3. He calls, either trying to trap, or probably thinking he can outplay me.

I hit my Ace on the flop, along with a 6 8. No flush. I check, knowing he'll bet that ace. (if he actually has an ace, he would have likely reraised preflop). He bets it - all in. I call, knowing he doesn't have an ace.

I'm right - he's got 79o, and an open-ended straight draw. I got it in as a 2-1 favorite.

Jack on the turn. Buh-Bye.

Got all-in twice as a big favorite tonight, didn't work out either time. Shake your head and move on.

I dream at night of hands like this one.

Saturday night donkey-fest. 3 of my 4 opponents are losing players.

Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 25/50 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 1,225
UTG: 1,120
UTG+1: 1,910
Hero (MP1): 1,390
MP2: 2,025
CO: 2,195
BTN: 2,835
SB: 800

Pre-Flop: (75) J J dealt to Hero (MP1)

2 folds, Hero raises to 150, MP2 folds, CO calls 150, BTN calls 150, SB calls 125, BB calls 100

I have played tight so far. I raise 3x with my jacks and get 4 callers. Ugh. I'll be giving up unless I flop a set or an overpair.

Flop: (750) 5 J 9 (5 Players)

And the happy dance commences! I have flopped the nuts on a dry board. Can I make any money?

SB bets 100,
To improve matters here, the small blind leads out. Should I raise now or call? I decide to call and let some other players overcall behind me.

BB folds, Hero calls 100, CO calls 100,

BTN raises to 450, SB raises to 650 and is All-In,
This hand is like special dream. I call, get an overcaller, and then a reraise and an all-in behind me. Time to shove it in, this pot is big enough...

Hero raises to 1,240 and is All-In, 2 folds

Turn: (2,600) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (2,600) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 2,600 Pot

Hero showed J J (a full house, Jacks full of Fives) and WON 2,600 (+1,800 NET)
SB showed 9 K (two pair, Nines and Fives) and LOST (-800 NET)

Small blind decided to call a 3x raise and then go to the wall with second pair, second kicker. I'd love to know what the BTN was raising with. Doesn't matter, I guess - I triple my stack and go on to a second place finish.

I also played an 18 man tonight and took second, along with one other early 9 man bombout.

April Heaters

My online results for April were very good, though I only got to play about half of the tourneys I usually get in, due to real life getting in the way.

in 25 tourneys, I posted a 45% ROI, and was in the money in 15 of them, 60% of the time. The only downside was that of these 15 cashes, only 2 of them were first place finishes, with eight seconds and five thirds. Converting just a few of those seconds into firsts would have really helped the old bankroll.

I have also officially allowed myself to moved up in stakes - I will play either a $22 or a $33 sit-n-go, based on which ones look to be "fishiest".

I also kicked off May with a win (and a bubble), so let's hope this month gives results like last...

Thursday night Blood Bank

The Thursday night game was held in a new spot this week. The owner of this house actually holds a regular Wednesday night game, but had a conflict and pushed to Thursday. This worked out because the host of our own game was out of town this week anyway.

Tony, Fred, and I headed over to this new game. Matt Pietzak was there as well, but all of the other players were new. We ended up with 12 players - playing a pair of 6-max games on two poker tables that barely fit into a snug basement.

The early going did not go too well. I lost my first buy-in on a board that ended up with two Queens and two Aces (last ace on the river). I had a Queen, Pietzak had the ace. I thought a great deal about whether he had the ace or not before calling - his play to that point had been very aggressive at the short handed table, and I figured he would have raised any ace preflop, but he had just limped this time. I also knew he was capable at firing with air or a counterfeited two-pair at a scary river. When he turned over Ace-Ten, all I could say was "nice hand, sir". He had outdrawn me with a two outer, and outwitted me with his play.

There were 3 new players at my table, and I got my bearings on them rather quickly. One was a gentleman named Barry who seemed to know what he was doing. His bets were the right size, he knew how to fold, he showed down decent hands. I don't think I got tangled up one time with Barry.

New guy #2 was a rather large man who went by the nickname "CallZilla" at this home game, which wasn't really an accurate nickname. Yes, he played way too many hands, but often played them aggressively. I saw him make a $15 bluff on the river with a whiffed draw on one hand, and bet all three streets on another with nothing (only to back into a straight).

I gave Callzilla most of my second buy-in on two hands. In the first, we were blind vs. blind. I had Ace-two and hit my ace. I bet it out of position and he called. The turn put a second spade on the board. I bet again and Callzilla called, this time after thinking a few seconds. The river paired a 5. I made a small $5 blocking bet and he raised me 10 more. On this particular hand, I very clearly pictured that he had a 5 and a spade flush draw and announced this as I folded. I impressed both the table and myself as Callzilla flipped over the 5 of spades.

On the second hand vs. Callzilla, I raised up queens and he called my raise. The board came an uncoordinated A85 and I bet, which Callzilla called. Knowing that he was aggressive enough to bet anything if I checked, I decided to check-call both the turn and the river to regular size bets, hoping he would show me a middle pair 8-9, but instead he flipped over A8 for a flopped two pair. Ugh.

I toppped up my stack with my last $20. I was down $65 and having no luck. My mistakes were due to bad reads rather than poor poker play, so I could live with those outcomes. I also had two huge hands earlier - both well-disguised full houses - but didn't get paid much on either one.

Fortunately, the third new player at my table helped me out soon after my top-up. I got dealt AA and raised up 3 limpers to $5. Only new guy #3 called. New guy was studying his hands hard, calling bets to the river then folding. Or he was calling bets to the river and showing down second pair. I was going to get all my short stack in by the river in unless the scariest board imaginable came up.

The board didn't scare me or anyone else - something like king-eight-4 rainbow. I was out of position in the blinds, and figured the chances were small that he had anything worth chasing. The best I could hope for was that he had a pair (and no set, God Forbid) and would pay to see showdown. No sense checkraising this player - I bet out and hoped he could find a call. He did.

The turn helped nothing, I needed to bet out again - I bet $15 this time, a somewhat hilarious number considering that I only had $7 back after this. I didn't want him to hear "I'm all in", though. He wasn't the type to look over at my stack, so he called the $15 bet.

The river blanked everything but a weird gutshot draw. I sighed, sounding as sad as I could, and said "ok, I'm all in - $7 more." I almost laughed out loud when he folded this last $7 bet into a $54 pot, but was relieved that he didn't flip over an undetectable, unplayable two pair, or the hit gutshot. Finally, a decent pot!

I got into one more hand with Callzilla - I limped in early position with KQo (not a usual play for me - my plan was to get in cheap against the bad players if possible and fold to a raise from Tony or Pietzak), and got both bad players in the hand with me. I hit my king and bet it, getting Callzilla to call. On the blank turn, it seemed to me that Callzilla would fold if he didn't have a king and I bet, but bet anything if I checked, so I checked-called my top pair. I attempted the same move on the river but he checked behind, and he showed down KTo. I had him outkicked, and probably won as much money as I could (looking back, he would have called with his king anyway, so my check/call move didn't yield anything more than a bet would have, but I like the play anyway).

I won a few more small pots and was back to around $70 (still behind) when the two tables combined into one 10 man table. This table featured two drunk players who had plowed through a bottle of bourbon during the night, and I was itching to take some of their money, but they both busted out in the first hour of full table play.

I did back into a nice pot against one of the other players from the new table. I raised his limp from the blind with AQ offsuit. I whiffed the king high flop and checked, and he bet $2 into an $8 pot. I had a vague rememberance of this player from one of Crane's Thursday tourneys - and I was pretty sure he was bad. I called the tiny bet with the intention of leading out big on the turn. The forth street card even helped me out by coming the Ten of Clubs, putting three clubs on the board. I bet $8 into the $12 pot. He looked at the board for a long time and I thought I had him, but he called the bet anyway. Damn! Well, there was just about no way I was winning this pot....

And then, an unexpected river - the Jack of spades, giving me the unlikely straight. It was on a flushy board, but this guy didn't have a flush - I was 100% sure. It also didn't matter much if he did - he had about $12 left in his stack. Could I get that last $12? My best hope was that the Jack gave him a broadway two pair - I could bet anything and he would put the $12 into the pot then. I settled on a $10 bet - not enough to put him all in, but of course enough to have him raise his last $2. Sadly, he didn't take the bait and folded (folded what? 88/99?), but I had built up a decent pot with a bluffed turn and backed into a win.

People dropped off quickly in that final 10 man table. Callzilla got busted, and the two bourbon brothers dropped out (one on a badly botched K2 offsuit that pushed all in with a gutshot straight draw against a made flush, whoopsie), the dude who saved his last $12 on my straight gave it to someone else. We got back down to a 5 man table quickly. Pietzak was deepstacked and causing his usual trouble, but I was able to win 2 decent sized pots from him with medium pocket pairs.

The first was Jacks - I raised under the gun and he called. My Jacks stayed an overpair, but I wasn't going to push them to the wall against "I'll play any two cards and bust you" Matt. I did bet for value and got a call, however. I also bet a fourth undercard on the turn that looked safe, and got a second call. The river brought an ace, and I made a safe check. Pietzak said "of course you check, you finally hit your pair", putting me on AK or AQ, I assume. He checked behind and exclaimed "even better" upon seeing my Jacks, and mucked his hand.

My last played hand of the night could have brought major fireworks (I always seem to get into those kinds of hands late), but once again Pietzak escaped major danger. I raised up a pocket pair of nines and he called as usual. I was out of position. I bet a queen-two-three flop and he called. I figured he would raise any queen, so I was more on the lookout for a baby pair or a tiny straight draw. The turn paired the three and he flat called again, and I figured he was going to come out swinging on any river and put me to a tough decision, which of course I wasn't looking forward to...

...until the river hit my nine, giving me nines full, the third nuts (to queens full or quad threes).

Now what to do? I have to bet here, but what number? He doesn't have a queen, and he might have a busted draw, so there's really not much he can pay off here. I elect on a straight half pot bet - $11, and I'm delighted to hear Pietzak say - "I should raise you, I have trips" - meaning he somehow has a three in his hand. Now that is music to my ears - he won't be able to put me on nines full in a month of guessing my cards. I nod my head in approval to his trips, not really knowing how to react, so I react naturally, with surprise that he could come up with a three here.

I'm not sure if he can read me like a book, but he starts off on a speech about how I might have pocket queens for queens full of threes, and in the end decides to just call my $11 value bet. His shocked face as I turn over my nines is a welcome one (I was right in that there was no way he could put me with those cards), but I'm ultimately disappointed as his ability to escape more damage with trip threes.

(An alternate ending - what if I had done this? When Pietzak was wondering if I had pocket queens, what if I made the offer "I'll tell you right now I don't have pocket queens. And, if we continue the hand, and I DO show down pocket queens, I'll let you take back any money you've put into the pot after this point". Then, if he raises me, I push all in. Of course, I look like a complete moron if he turns over pocket queens, or quad threes, but I've never seen Pietzak outright lie about what he was holding. I believed he had trip threes. Could I get him to think he was freerolling, when in fact he was freerolling against just one hand?. Could I get him to focus so much on me not having queens, that he might miss me back-dooring into nines-full? I actually briefly considered making an offer like this, but Pietzak made his decision to call before I could fully formulate it).

After folding the last hand of the night, I counted up my stacked chips - $102.50. I turned a $2.50 profit! Woohooo! Sounds like nothing, but after giving blood to the turn of $65, I'll take pride in my comeback and ability to climb just over the profit line.