Week 14
Well my last full week before vacation, so I’m hoping for a big one. Got
off to a very good start on Sunday night. We were still at my Aunt’s
cottage and I played for 4 hours and posted a nice $677 win. It was a very
enjoyable evening as I played with a number of 2+2’ers as well and the
conversation was lively too. We drove home Monday afternoon so I didn’t
play until Monday night. Had a difficult night, played 4 hours again won
$120. Tuesday I managed to get in some afternoon play and only broke even.
Quite card dead, only played 21% of the hands which is real low for me. In
the evening I played a long 6 hour session and again struggled. Ended the
day up $104.
Tuesday night was the first playoff game for my boys soccer team and we
had a great game. The playoff schedule is pre-determined before the season
starts and in an unfortunate draw we had to play the 2nd place team in the
first round (We finished 3rd). The 4th place team had to play the 1st
place team as well (there are 10 teams in the league), so the 2nd round is
going to have some mismatches. We had a very good game against this team
in the regular season in the final minute on a penalty kick after we had a
goal disallowed moments earlier, so I knew it would be a good game. We
scored first but they got 2 before half time. They had a boy on their team
who could run like the wind and scored on 2 long runs. I made some changes
and put a faster player back on defence for the 2nd half. In the 2nd half
my son scored the tying goal and we went into overtime. Neither team
scored and we went to penalty kicks. You’ve never seen so many nervous
Mom’s in one place. They scored on their first 3 shots and one of our boys
missed. Their 4th kicker shot right at our goalie and he saved it. My son
scored to tie it up. Their last kicker was the kid who scored their 2
goals, but our goalie made a great save, and my last player (who has our
strongest leg) scored to win it. It was so much fun. Unfortunately I will
be away for the semi final (which we should win against the 8th or 10th
place team, and the final (which we don’t have a prayer in). If money were
no problem I’d probably fly back from Boston for the final, but that’s not
happening now. Anyone want to loan me the use of their private jet?
Wednesday had a little of everything. I played in the afternoon for 3
hours and won around $100. In the evening I was playing at Party and was
up a very small amount when the servers crashed. I waited a short period
of time and decided to go and play at Paradise. I got into a 5/10 game and
a 8/16 game, but quickly left the 8/16 game as it was very tight. I played
2 5/10 games for about an hour and made $80. I took a snack break and saw
that Party was back up so I switched back. Played at 3 tables with no-one
I knew for a short while anyway and made money right away. These games are
so much softer without 2+2’ers in them. As the eve on more familiar
players joined the table but I managed a very nice $693 win for the day.
That puts me at just under $1600 for the week at Party plus the $80 at
paradise. Hope it keeps up. I have my sons Birthday next Tuesday, so I
won’t be able to play then. I have to demolish my back deck we leave on
vacation (we’re having a mudroom put on the back while we’re on vacation)
so that will cut into my playing time too. We leave on Friday for Montreal
and drive to Maine on Saturday. I still haven’t got a laptop so I don’t
know if I will play on vacation or not.
The biggest 3/6 pot I’ve ever been a part of happened last night. Try to
put them on hands, and tell me if I should have backed off at some point.
6 limpers to me in the BB and I check 99. Flop comes 9d 8c 4s. 7 players
and I don’t feel the need to slowplay. I bet out and get called by the
first 3, then raised by the 4th player. Two folds back to me. This was the
first tough decision. I’d love to keep people drawing dead, but it’s a
pretty big pot already so I 3 bet. UTG called 2, one fold and MP cold
call. LP caps it. We all call. I’m putting LP on 2 pair or a smaller set,
the other 2 would seem to be drawing to straights. Turn is the 4c.
Perfect. I bet out, both call and the LP raises. For about half a second I
worry about 44, but I 3 bet. UTG calls 2 again (he must have 67 or T7
maybe even in clubs) and the MP finally folds. LP caps it again. (It has
to be 88 right?). We both call. River is the 5h. Beautiful, the 76
straight came in. I bet, UTG calls, and LP raises again. At what point are
you convinced he has quads? I made the 3 bet anyway and UTG called 2 cold
again. LP caps it and I called. So did UTG. The pot is $220. Review this
and see if you can put them on hands. Anyone back off if you were me?
Results in 2 paragraphs.
I am playing much tighter lately. It’s not by any design, but there are 2
factors. I seem to have dropped a few of the marginal hands that were
probably break even at best and reduced my variance again. The games have
been tighter and tougher also. SO with more pre-flop raising, I’m folding
more, and with fewer limpers, I can’t play medium suited connectors in LP.
All combined I seem to be seeing 24% or less of the flops lately instead
of the 27-30 I was seeing just a few weeks ago. Without and noticeable
change in my results either.
Back to the $220 pot. I won. UTG had the shocking 88. I never would have
guessed that. He flopped the 2nd nuts, turned into the 3rd nuts on the
turn and river and never once raised. SO that leaves the big question,
what the fu** did the LP have. JJ. Yep. I owe him a big fat check I think.
Have I mentioned I love these games?
I am very pleased with my play lately. I think I’m advancing to another
level of understanding this game. I won’t pretend to be a great player,
but I still have hope of getting there. The concept of position is
becoming clearer and clearer to me. I know I always paid lip service to it
before, but truly I didn’t understand it’s importance as I’m starting to.
I have never folded AT from the BB to a raise before. I would always play
it for the one extra bet. But it really started to sink in that even if I
flop the best hand, I’ll rarely get full value for it from a good player.
I won’t make that last bet. But if I’m beat I will have to pay the extra
bet. That really skews the odds away from playing that hand and I’ve
dropped it. I’m sure this is obvious to most of you, but it’s really just
sinking in to me now.
Another concept coming clearer to me is reverse domination. I raise
pre-flop with AK and get called by some dominated fish with A7. Flop comes
J73 and he bets. Typically I raise back and try to see 2 more cards, but
who’s the dominated fish now? I’m drawing to 3 K’s. And this is so common
in these 3/6 games that I’m folding those AK’s on the flop a lot now. Of
course when the fish isn’t a fish (like a 2+2’er) I’m not so quick to
drop.
A few people have told me I need to change my user name, and I’ve been
giving it a lot of thought. I still can’t come up with a good reason to do
it. I actually tried when I started playing at Party, but wasn’t able to
because the account already existed. I just can’t think of a really good
reason why it hurts me. All the readers of these posts know a lot about
how I play, but does it give them a big edge over me? I don’t see how. I
limp in EP with small pairs and suited connectors too much. The correct
counter measure would be to raise me a lot. But I also limp with AA and KK
so that will get tricky. I’m not stupid so if the same player keeps
raising me frequently I will make counter measures. I recognize good
players without know they are 2+2’ers. Several guys have PM’d me their
Party Names and I had already pegged them as good players. If I start
playing under a new name I will be recognized as a good player fairly
quickly even if it’s not as Davidross. I really don’t think It will affect
my results to play under a different name.
Well I’m officially running good. I just completed my biggest single week
of the 14 I’ve played. During a lot of the last 4 weeks at Party, I’ve
felt like I’m winning with average cards. There is no doubt the deck hit
me in the face for 2 straight days. I seemed to hit every flop and my big
pairs all held up. I won $597 on Thursday, and followed it up with an $820
win on Friday in only 4 hours of play. I only played 2 hours on Saturday
and won another $103. So for the week I’m up $3,114. Just what the doctor
ordered before going on vacation.
I have noticed a side effect of playing 3 tables. I sleep a lot more now.
I have always been someone who didn’t require a lot of sleep. 6 hours a
night is plenty for me. When I was working full time I would go to bed at
1:00 and get up at 7:00. Lately I can’t get up in the mornings. I think
the extra concentration required for 3 tables is knocking me out.
Girls soccer went well again on Thursday. It looked like my daughter would
go without a goal for the first time this year. But with just a couple of
minutes left in the game she scored twice and we won 3-0.
Why these games are so good:
I raise in LP with ATo. Button and both blinds call. To illustrate my
point I’ll tell you BB has 32o. Flop comes Ac 9c 5h. I bet and two fold
but the BB stays on his gutshot. $27 in the pot and it costs him $3.
Nothing wrong with this call, he’ll get paid if he hits. Turn is the Jd. I
bet and he calls again. This is bad. Really bad and I see these guys
making these plays all the time. River is the 6c, and now he bets to
represent the flush. I can’t imagine laying down anything except KQo here
so I think this is a little weak too, but maybe not bad if he thinks I
could lay down something like TT thinking he had an A> So I called and won
$12 extra.
Why my opponents think the games are good. I have to be fair. I played
this terribly and got very lucky. I have QTo in the cut off. 2 limpers and
I limp too. Button and both blinds play. Flop comes Q 8 8. Good news bad
news. I’m glad to see the Q, and you can nearly always tell if there is an
8 out there by the betting on the turn. At this limit the 8 will check or
smooth call the flop and raise the turn around 90% of the time. It’s why I
bet my trips hard on the flop especially against good players. Checked to
me and I bet. SB calls and LP calls. Bingo, someone has an 8, I’m almost
certain. Other one might have a Q or a pocket pair. That’s my read. Turn
is a T. Yuck. I was ready to check the turn behind the slowplayer, but now
I have a better 2 pair. Maybe I was wrong about the 8 I try to convince
myself. SB bets out on the turn. “DANGER Will Robinson”!! LP raises.
YIKES!! Head for the hills right. Wrong. I called. I’m only getting around
4 to 1 here on a 4 outer unless I think I’m ahead. So I convinced myself
against my actual reads that I was ahead. Can you spell Fish? I called and
it got 3 bet and capped behind me and I called a gain. This call is
slightly less bad, because the odds got better, but it’s still bad. Of
course in typical fish fashion the Q rivered and I got to cap it against Q
8 who thought he was chopping. He never said but I think the other guy
made a straight on the turn.
I won’t be posting anything for at least 3 weeks now, but I will post
something when I get back at the end of August. I’ll let you know if I
managed to play via cell-phone.
Enjoy your August.
Vacation
Well I’m back from my vacation, if you can really have a vacation when
you’re not working in the first place. My family has been going to Ocean
Park Maine every year in August since I was born. I missed a few years
when I moved to Toronto and was first married, but since my daughter was
born in 1987 we’ve gone every year again. We rent a cottage on the beach,
and my brother and sister share another one. My mother came for a few days
too. This is the first time there without my dad, who died in January. It
was a little strange to think he was body surfing with us last year at
this time.
The cottage was rented last December and for the first time we rented for
two weeks. Of course at that time I had no idea I would be out of work and
we’d always wanted to stay 2 weeks. It’s 11 hours of driving for us, and 1
week passes so quickly. Money is a little tight these days so I thought I
would try and see if I could play poker in the evenings to defray some of
the costs. Unfortunately, when I called the rental agent I was told there
was no telephone in the cottage so it was going to be difficult to get an
internet connection. When I mentioned it to one of my more technical
friends he suggested using my cell phone as a modem. I did some
investigating and it seemed to be feasible as long as there was 1X service
where I was going. According to the web site Portland Maine has 1X
service, and that’s only 10 miles from where we were going so I decided to
take a chance. I still had some concerns about the signal. Quite often in
these cottages, cell phones wouldn’t work due to interference. Although it
has been much better in recent years. I spent $100 cdn, to buy the kit
that included the cable and the software necessary to use my cell phone as
a modem, and another $100 for unlimited data transfer for the month and no
roaming charges from the US. I tried to borrow a laptop, but ended up
renting one for $150. So I was $350 in the hole before leaving.
We break up the trip by staying at my Sister in laws house in Montreal on
the way there and on the way home, so on Friday we drove to Montreal and
spent the night. They have a beautiful home with a pool, and I quickly set
up my lap top to try it out. It worked perfectly. It was heaven. I was
outside by the pool with a cold beer playing poker. And I won a little bit
too. I discovered the only shortcoming of my plan. The phone is poorly
designed. The connection is on the bottom of the phone, and while it is
being used it won’t fit in the charger, so my connection time is limited
to the life of the battery, around 2 hours and 20 minutes I discovered.
On Saturday we continued on to Maine and I kept checking my phone to see
if the 1X symbol would appear. As we exited the highway it did. I unpacked
the car in record time and hooked everything up to give it a test run and
it worked great. I played every night for as long as the battery would
last and had a lot of success the first week, winning around $800. The
second week was a different story however as I lost for 5 consecutive
nights. Small losses, but losses nonetheless. Finally I put 2 nice wins
together on the last 2 nights and ended up $1,100 up for the 2 week
vacation. Certainly covered the $350 investment.
Each year we are there I rush over to Borders to check out the poker
books. Much better selection than I get here at home. Last year I bought,
Theory of Poker, Tournament Poker, the Psychology of Poker and Feeney’s
book which I have mentioned before as my favorite. This summer I bought 3
more. I got The Amarillo slim bio, which I just loved. I also bought
“Telling Lies and getting Paid” a collection of 14 gambling stories. It
was entertaining, and the last story is the authors experience at 3
consecutive WSOP finals, and that was worth the price of the book. Finally
I bought Phil Hellmuth’s book. The Jury is still out on this one, since
I’m reading the hold’em sections again, but my losing streak coincided
with reading this one. He recommends play so much more aggressive than I
usually am it took me right out of my comfort zone. I think it might be a
little like the great ball players who make lousy coaches. They can’t
figure out why everyone can’t play like them.
Yesterday was my first full day back and I had a horrible afternoon at
Party. I lost over $250 which is my biggest loss ever there. I hope it was
just bad cards but I’m not entirely sure. I sense a couple of problems
with my game lately. I don’t know if the 2 hour limitation had something
to do with it, but I think I’m playing more hands in the wrong places, and
I think I’m playing over-aggressive. I seem to be getting out kicked a
lot, and not winning many big pots. Maybe just a short term variation but
I need to watch it.
I returned to Paradise last night. After my tough afternoon I decided to
try something new. I played 2 5/10 games at paradise, and 2 3/6 games at
Party. I did this for about 2 hours, then took a break to put kids to bed.
When I came back I played 1 5/10 game at paradise and 3 3/6 games at
Party. I ended up winning $650 at paradise, but losing another $100 at
Party. I played much tighter at Paradise (The game dictated that more than
any preference of mine) and I’m sure that had something to do with it. I
think I will try that again tonight. The 4 games is quite a challenge, no
watching TV while that’s going on.
It’s good to be home. Still no job prospects, so I’ll be grinding it out
for a little while longer. Cya at the tables.
Week 18
Back to the grind after 2 weeks of part time playing. I’ve had two
requests for my resume this week, so maybe something will develop on the
job front, but I’m running so well right now I hope not.
I’ve been on a roll almost since I started at Party, and it seems to be
continuing. In 3 days I’m up $2,000 again. Clearly I’m getting good cards,
but even more than that I feel like I’m in “the zone” every time I play.
My hand reading has been excellent, making good laydowns and putting in
raises at the right time. I’ve played at Paradise the last 3 nights in
addition to Party. The first night I played 2 5/10 tables (Paradise) and 2
3/6 tables (Party). The 2nd night I only played 1 5/10 and 3 3/6 tables
because the other 5/10 games looked dreadful. Last night Paradise crashed
and I only played there for about ½ an hour. I’m not sure how much 5/10 I
want to play. I’ve gotten real comfortable with 3 games, and 4 is pushing
me a little. We’ll see how it goes. I also want to avoid short term
fluctuations as much as possible. We’ll see how the paradise bankroll
goes.
I want to start a list of my favorite user names online. I’ve always loved
my 2+2 buddy Stu Pidasso as a name, and there’s a guy who goes by just
Stupid. I like seeing “Stupid shows…”. But so far I think my favorite is
Chipwrecked. Very clever.
I see guys checking monsters on the flop all the time at 3/6. It seems so
obvious to me, but it does seem to work against the average 3/6 player.
Maybe I need to try it. When I see a gut raise 3 limpers from the SB, then
check a flop of Qs 6c 3d, my internal voice screams QQ. Then someone bets,
gets raised and calls him down all the way. Maybe I need to try some of
these “obvious” moves myself.
Flopping a monster part 1. Playing 5/10 the other night against my buddy
Looba. Looba limped in EP along with one other (I think, I don’t have the
hand history). I raised with KK from MP and I think I got 1 or 2 callers.
Flop came K6x two of one suit. Looba bet and I raised. We lost everyone
else and he 3 bet me and I 4 bet. Turn was another 6. Looba bet into me
again and no longer worried about a flush I raised him again. He 3 bet and
I capped it again. I even typed ‘you lose’ to him to taunt him a little.
River completed the flush and he bet again. Ha ha, I raised him again and
he 3 bet. I can’t remember if I just called or capped one more time, but
66 finally entered my consciousness, and of course that’s what he had. I
never did dig out of that hole.
Flopping a monster part 2. Playing 3/6 this time I limped UTG with 33. One
poster checks, MP calls, co and button call, and the BB calls. Flop comes
4s 4d 3s. I decide slowplaying this is safe and I check. Poster bets, MP
calls and everyone else folds. I smooth call hoping someone catches up.
Turn is a Ts completing the flush. I check, Poster bets and MP raises.
Yes. I just call the 2, reasoning it will keep the poster in for 1 more
bet and I can still get the raise in on the river. River is the Jc. Poster
bets again, MP raises again and I 3 bet. They both call. Poster had 99
(Don’t ask me?), and MP had the nut flush. Very nice pot.
A good read. Played this hand against an aggressive regular in the 3/6
games. I limped 2 off the button with Qc Jh. Aggressive Lady raises from
the button. I’m the only caller. Flop is 9d 9s Tc. Decision time. I can
bet out or check raise or check/call. I think a lot of people play this
wrong. Betting or raising here is only there is some chance your opponent
will laydown. I see people semi-bluffing heads up all the time and I know
when I’m the guy on the button with AK, I’m not folding anything, making
the bluff a bad play. I don’t think she’s folding here either so I go the
check/call route. She does bet. Turn is the 8s. I check, she bets and I
raise. She calls. River is an As. I am pretty sure she has an A in her
hand and I know she can’t let this go so I check again and sure enough she
bets. I raise again and she calls. She had A8. I actually put her on a
bigger Ace. Somehow this never works when you’re running bad, she would
have mede the flush then.
Now I’m going to jump on my soapbox. I’m so sick of seeing people type
“nice catch” after a suck out and then continuing to berate the player
until they leave the table, taking money with them that would have been
re-distributed eventually. I’ve seen it so often in the last week. I’ve
even caught myself getting on the offender myself afterwards which
probably isn’t right either.
The week has finished well. I ended up ahead $980 at Paradise and $1,830
at Party for a win of $2,810. The games have been good at both sites and
I’m making some big hands. I’ve had a high number of KK vs AA hands this
week. 5 times and I lost every one of them. Just one of those things I
guess.
I had another guy tell me off today for my poor play chasing him down with
a runner runner flush. Instead of just playing dumb I gave it right back
at him. I need to follow my own advice and just shut up. I had to laugh
when I checked the hand history though. He had called the flop (872
rainbow), on a gutshot with 54, and I had too with A9s. The 6h turned
making his straight but giving me the 4 flush. He also check-raised the
turn trapping me for the 2nd bet. I made my flush on the river and got
another raise in and he went off his nut.
One of the things I love about this game is how the more you learn, the
more you discover how much more there is to learn. I’m constantly
improving my understanding of this game and why playing hands out of
position is such a bad idea. I had two KQ hands back to back that
illustrated it to me.
Hand 1. I open raise KQo from 3 off the button. Only the BB calls. Flop
comes 822, two spades. He checks, I bet and he calls. Turn is a 5s. Check,
bet and call. River is a Jh. He checks again. I check too and he wins with
A4o no spade. A bet might have won it for me here but that’s not the point
of this. I lost 2 ½ BB’s on this hand.
The very next hand I get KQ again. I open raise again and both blinds
call. Flop this time is KT5 rainbow. Checked to me and I bet and I get 1
caller. Turn is a J, Check bet call. River another Jack, Check Bet Call.
He has AT and I win 4 BB’s.
The ability to get or save that last bet has to be worth a lot. So much so
that I think I would rather have KQ in LP than AT in EP.
My final word of the week. I wish I could get Paradise’s software and
Customer support together with all the bad players at Party. I never had a
bit of trouble with a cashout from Paradise and they courier the checks to
you for free. Party charges me $25 for a courier and as I discovered just
before my vacation, they still don’t get the cashout processed in a week.
I requested a cashout for 2500 the Sunday before my vacation. Courier is
to take 2-4 business days. When I hadn’t received it by Thursday I called
them and was told they had no idea where it was but I could get the Fed-Ex
tracking number the next day. I was planning on leaving early Friday
morning for Montreal so I didn’t really want to wait around, but I was
counting on that money. When Friday arrived I called again and was told
they didn’t knoe where the check was, but it hadn’t gone to Fed-ex yet. I
went off my nut a little after she told me 5 times “Mr. David, I will get
accounting to check and call you back”. I told her to cancel the courier
and just mail it. When I checked my account from Maine, I saw that instead
of canceling it they had cashed out another 2,500. Only one check was
waiting for me when I got home and I started to go nuts again, but the 2nd
one arrived on Thursday, but they had still deducted the $25 for courier
even though they mailed the check. I’m still fighting over that one.
I should get a full week of play in this week for the first time in 4
weeks.
Week 19
Kids are back at school and life is returning to normal. I had to get up
to make breakfast though so the sleep patterns need adjusting. The week
has started really well at Paradise, and so so at Party. I’ve won $750 in
2 nights at Paradise, giving me 6 straight winning session ssince I
returned to the 5/10 games. I had a small win on Sunday night at Party,
but had my worst day ever at Party on Monday. I was a victim of 2nd best-itis.
I dropped $473, $350 in the afternoon. It was like the horrible run I had
many weeks back where I would hit the flop with AK, get called and raised
on the turn. Again and again. I flopped 4 sets in 20 minutes and lost all
of them to rivered flushes or straights. Most of the time it wasn’t even
bad players chasing, just one of those things. I tilted for a short while,
but overall I think I handled it better than I did last time. Then Tuesday
afternoon I ran well and made back $385 of it. So Tuesday at dinner time
I’m up $750 for the week.
I’ve got the tournament bug all of a sudden. I discovered Monday I was
eligible for a free-roll tournament, but I signed up too late and missed
it. SO this morning I entered a $25 satellite for the Party Poker Million
tournament. The winner gets a seat in the semi-finals this weekend and the
2nd and 3rd finishers get another satellite for free. The tournament was
No Limit and I made a flush on the 1st hand, and a set on the 3rd and took
a commanding lead. I played pretty conservatively for the next 45 minutes,
just picking my spots. I had 2 3/6 games going, but when we got down to 4
players I sat out on the ring games. I had almost ½ the chips when we got
down to 3, but the short stack made 3 huge hands in a row to put me out.
He beat my JJ with AA to double up, then beat my KJ with KQ when K
flopped, and finally I had J7 on a board of J7xxx and he had JJ. So I gat
a free play and entered a Limit tournament. I was a low stack early, then
hardly played a hand for 4 rounds. Then I won a huge pot with a set of Q’s
and cruised to the last 2 again. We played heads up for about 20-25 hands
before the rising blinds made it a crapshoot. I had Ac 9c and he had 88 on
a board of Kc Qc 8c 5c 5s and his boat beat my flush. Ugh. I entered
another no-limit tourney and again got down early. I just sat out and
watched them knock each other out and I limped into 3rd by default in only
the 3rd round. I then doubled up twice and actually took the lead for a
short while, but went card dead again. I took a chance with J9 and ran
into QJ leaving me drawing thin. SO I have yet another free play I’ll try
tomorrow. I’m having so much fun with it that I entered a $10 satellite
for a $100,000 guaranteed tournament they are having Sept. 19. That’ll be
tonight. 1 seat for every 32 entries.
I don’t think I really have the game for tournament play. I think I’m too
cautious and am well suited to surviving until the last 3 in single table
tournies, but I’ve never done very well in a multi-table tourney. I’ll
need to work on that.
I made a royal flush yesterday, my 3rd ever. No one called my river bet
unfortunately. I couldn’t resist showing it though. I had Jc Tc and the
final board was Ac Kc Qc 9c x. Not too many hands would call that bet I
guess.
I think there was a full moon on Tuesday night. Weirdest night I can
remember. I got 3 bet with 74o, and had the guy pound every street with
nothing. I chopped 4 pots with identical hands. And for about 2 hours I
lost at a horrible rate. I was down 300 at Paradise, and 200 at Party.
Then in keeping with the trend of the night this hand came up.
I limped in EP with 22 (I know but I just like doing it). CO poster
checks, button calls and both blinds play.
Flop 8d 2s 9h.
SB checks, BB bets and I just call. CO and button call too.
Turn [8d 2s 9h] 5s.
BB bets again, and I just call once more hoping to keep the other 2 in for
1 more bet. CO calls and now the button raises. BB calls and I jump in
with a raise. CO calls 2 cold and button just calls. BB calls as well.
Still 4 to the river.
River [8d 2s 9h 5s] 2c
Well isn’t that special!! BB checks, I bet, CO raises!!. He hasn’t done
anything but call until now, and he jumps in now. You’ll never guess his
hand. Button 3 bets (remember it’s a full moon, but I think you can guess
his hand). BB folded and I capped it. They both called, and I won a 28 BB
pot.
Button had 55 and had turned his set. CO had KK. Remember he posted and
didn’t raise pre-flop. He didn’t raise the flop or the turn, but jumped
into it on the river?????
Anyhow, that hand seemed to turn around my night. I got back to even
eventually on paradise and I posted a $400 + win putting me up over $800
for the day.
Wednesday was a great day. I won $320 at paradise, and $150 at Party,
almost all of it due to AA. I got rockets 8 times in the evening, winning
7 of them. But more importantly I won my seat in the PPM semi final, and I
also won a satellite for a seat in the $100 K Tournament on Sept 19th. I
thought the Tournaments would be a nice distraction to help keep poker
fresh, and I’ve really gotten the bug. It’s such an adrenaline rush.
The single table tournament I got the PPM seat in was very strange. It was
No Limit and at the end of the 3rd round we were down to 3 players.
Usually that takes 6 rounds, but there were all-ins all over the place. I
was the short stack at 3 left (I hadn’t played many hands, just watched as
everyone went out) but got AA 3 handed and tripled up. It was over pretty
quickly. I knocked out 1 guy and on the 1st heads up hand the other guy
went all-in with T4s and I had KT to dominate him.
I entered the satellite late last night on a bit of a whim. It started at
12:30 AM, cost $30 +2 and provided 1 seat for every 10 people entered. It
was no limit also. I had a decent 1st hour keeping ahead of the average st
the 1st break, playing very few hands and (I hope) developing a tight
image. I then built my stack nicely with a QQ hand that I raised and had a
loose player on the button go all-in. I had about 4,000 at the time and he
had 2400. him and he had A7. No ace came and I was in a good position. At
the2nd break we were down to 60 players, (35 would win seats), and I had
7,600 in chips. There were 19 people ahead of me and 40 behind me. I was
trying to decide if I needed to play any more hands. I got pretty lucky
actually. I didn’t get anything I wanted to play on the next orbit, and
everyone folded to my BB so I stayed even. The next time around I folded
everything including my blinds, but got KQs on the button and raised and
won the blinds to keep me even again. We were now down to around 40, and
it was clear I could get in without playing a hand. The pace of play was
terrible. Everyone took the maximum time on each decision and then folded,
waiting for another table to put someone out. They need to go to hand to
hand play when you’re that close to the bubble. We took 45 minutes to
eliminate the next 3 players. And the guy who went out on the bubble needs
his head examined. He started the hand with 20,000 and got into it with
someone with 30,000. There were 3 people under 1,000 at this point. He
pushed all-in on the river with an unimproved QQ and lost, and we all had
our seats.
I folded AJ, AQs and KTs on the button during this stretch, and I got KK
in the BB and was prepared to fold it too, but no one bet that hand. I’m
looking for ward to the tournaments now, but I really need more practice.
I think I’ll try to qualify for one more semifinal of the PPM today.
Well, it was a great week for ring play, and a disappointing one for
tournaments, although I think I played better and show some promise in
them.
First, my bread and butter. I’m still hot at Paradise, up $1,450 for the
week without a single losing session since I started there again last
week. And at Party I won $1600 for a $3,000 + week. So far the 4 table
nights are working really well. It’s amazing to me to look at the stats
after a session though. I don’t change my opening requirements at all, but
a lot of hands I play I will only play if I have limpers in front of me,
or if there is no raise. At paradise I’m seeing 23% of the flops, and at
Party I’m seeing 28%. Clearly there is less raising and more limping going
on at Party, as we all know is true.
I played the 3rd King Of The Zoo tournament on Thursday night. I started
45 minutes late because my PokerStars password was wiped out when the
latest upgrade loaded and I couldn’t remember the password. I use the same
password for everything except Stars, they insist on a number and 8
characters. So I had to email for a reset and of course that got sent to
my hotmail account which I no longer use (Can you tell I haven’t played at
Stars for a while?). Anyway, I wasn’t in last place when I started and I
went on a heater right after starting. The calibre of play was excellent
as always, and although I hung in for a while (It was limit hold’em, the
only game I have any chance at against these guys), and my old nemesis, MS
Sunshine did me in again. Everytime I go up against him I seem to be
dominated. It was KK vs AA last tourney, and he got me 3 times on Thursday
again. I find it interesting that he considers me a very “tight” player
when my ring game reputation is a little too loose. Anyway I survived 5
all-ins, before going out around 17th I think.
Then the highlight of my week had to be the PPM semi-final I just
finished. 1020 players started, and it was uneventful for the first hour.
I built my stack up to 3500 (3000 to start) at the first break without
anything eventful happening. Shortly after starting though I got the AA
hand I posted in the tournament section. I 3 bet an UTG raiser and we were
heads up. The flop came 888 and he check called my bet. When a K turned he
bet and I raised. Another K rivered and he bet again and I folded. In a
ring game I would never fold this hand for a pot that big, but I was down
to my last 1290 and faced with calling 300 more and I was 99.9% sure I was
beat. If he bluffed the turn then he picked the absolute best time to do
it, but he sure seemed like an ABC player to me. Anyway I got lucky and
tripled up shortly afterward and limped to the 2nd break with 2955 left.
In the 3rd hour I got hot. I hit almost every flop I saw and ran my chips
up to 19,155 at the 3rd break. In the 4th hour I think I played very well.
Stealing enough blinds and winning pots without showing down. Then I took
on 2 all-in players and won both of those pots and after 4 hours I had a
very healthy stack of 28,931. Right after we started I flopped an up and
down straight draw against top pair and a set. I rivered my straight and
the set took it to 4 bets against my nuts. Suddenly I had 36,604 and I was
in 11th place with 180 players left. Unfortunately I never won another
pot. Not a blind, not 1 more chip. In 45 minutes I was out in 83rd place.
I was very disappointed. I don’t think I could have played any better. I
was the raiser on 4 of my last 6 hands with AK, JJ, 99 and 99 from the
button or cutoff first in, and lost them all, and in the BB I had AQs and
AJs and lost to AK and another AJs who made his flush.
Oh well back to the drawing board. No news on the Job front, but the Party
games are as good as ever, and I’m running well on Paradise. Lets hope it
lasts another week.
Week 20
Well another week has gone with no job offers. It certainly looks like I
might be doing this for a while and it has occurred to me that I’m
spending a lot of time in my basement. Outdoor soccer is over and I’m not
doing anything physical at all so I decided this week to start biking, A
little history here, 6 years ago I started running to get into shape. I
lost some weight and ran the Toronto marathon in 1998 (3hours 41 minutes).
I was training for the Chicago marathon 1m 1999 hoping to qualify for
Boston 2000 when (and I’m not kidding) I woke up on my 40th birthday and
couldn’t get out of bed. It seems my warranty had expired. After many
doctors appointments, Chiro visits and massage stc. I still haven’t run
since. Two years ago I bought a bike because it was much easier on my
joints and rode every morning. But last year I didn’t ride at all. I
started on Monday again and after 2 days of riding my ass is so sore I can
hardly sit in this chair. And my body aches again. Why does being fit have
to hurt?
My week started poorly, after the excitement of the PPM tournament I sat
down to play my usual evening routine and played the worst poker of my
professional career. I was mentally drained and should have taken the
night off. I picked the wrong people to try and push, and I even timed out
twice with winning hands costing me over $100 when even a check would have
won me the pot. I hope it’s a lesson learned. I dropped over $400 at
paradise and won $150 at Party for a $250 loss.
Monday was a crazy day. I won over $500 on one Paradise table, and lost
$350 on another. I won $600 at Party in the afternoon, and lost $300 in
the evening. Roller coaster all the way. Ended the day up $450 and up $200
for the week.
Tuesday was another see-saw. I played all afternoon for a net loss of $5.
Again I was up a ton on one table and down a ton on another. I guess I’m
so spoiled by the good run I’ve been on that breaking even seems like a
really bad day. Like I did at paradise, I find the afternoons tougher than
the evenings at Party. There are as many good players as there are in the
evenings, and fewer tables going so we seem to end up on the same tables
more often. The games are still beatable, but it’s not as easy. I had a
great run of cards at paradise. Unbelievable really. I won $461 and I lost
2 $200 pots on the river when my set got run down by a straight. But back
at Party my misery was continuing. After the $300 loss the night before
and the break even afternoon I lost another $290 in the evening. I was
down on all 3 tables. Another night of good cards getting beat. If I took
AK against AQ the A would flop and the Q would river. It’s been a struggle
this week, but the good news is that I’m still ahead $370 for the 3 days.
My wife has started her unpaid slavery this week. She’ll work 3 12 hour
shifts a week at a local hospital until Christmas, when she may finally
seek gainful employment. What this means for me is that some mornings I
have to get up with the kids to make breakfast and lunch. On the plus
side, I can watch what I want on TV at night.
A few of my neighbors know what I’m doing for a living right now, and boy
are people ever interested. In my entire adult life no one has ever asked
me a question about my job before this. Now everyone wants to know how it
works, how do you get paid, do you pay taxes etc. The most popular
question is can you show me how to do it? One of my neighbors even asked
if I’d play for him if he gave me the money. My wife turns 40 in October
and I went door to door last night handing out invitations to a party I’m
going to throw for her, and of course I had to answer the same questions
over and over again.
Someone asked the very simple question “Could I do it?”. It got me
thinking about what skills you need to be a good poker player. Could
anyone do it? I don’t think just anyone could. I think you have to be a
good problem solver, and able to think in a logical manner. Especially
online. I think there is more of an art to being a great live player, and
online is more of a science. And in my case I think the skill that has
helped me the most is being able to keep track of several games at once. I
think I could teach almost anyone to beat a low limit poker game, but to
make money playing low limits you have to be able to play multiple tables,
and I don’t think that is teachable. Find the guy that can watch 6 NFL
games on Sunday without missing a beat and he has potential.
Wednesday was payback day at Party. After struggling for 3 straight
sessions I broke out big time and won $532 over the 2 sessions and at
Paradise I had a big win at one table combined with a small loss at the
other to post a $195 win giving me a $727 day.
In the afternoon at Party, I had a truly horrible player on my left.
Almost every huge win has someone like him at the table. I saw him buy in
3 times losing over $400 in a few hours until some idiot started riding
him “You can’t bluff every hand moron” was one of the nicer things he said
to him. “Doh”, who’s the moron. Anyway here is an example of where his
money went. He played a lot of hands like this.
I open raised with ATo UTG (we were 5 handed). Really Bad Player cold
calls (as he always did). Button and SB folded and BB 3 bets. I called and
RBP calls. Flop comes KQJ rainbow. BB bets out and I raise. There is no
need to slowwplay with RBP around. He will not fold until the river. Sure
enough he calls 2. BB raises and I cap. RBP calls 2 more cold. Turn is a 6
completing the rainbow. BB bets out again. I’m pretty sure I don’t want
the board to pair now, or else we’re chopping, but even chopping up RBP is
going to be worth something. I raise, RBP calls 2, BB 3 bets, I cap and
RBP calls 2 more. I love this guy. River is an 8 and BB bets again. I
guess we’re chopping but I still can’t believe he 3 bet with AT. I raise
again and finally RBP folds. BB finally seems to realize whats happening
and calls. He had JJ. 26 BB’s in the pot.
Here’s what happens when you forget about the 3rd guy in the hand.
Paradise 5/10 and the 2 worst players at the table have limped in. I raise
with AKo and get cold called on the button by a Loose Aggressive Player.
Blinds both fold. Flop comes out A87 rainbow and I bet after 2 checks. LAP
raises me. BP1 folds and BP2 calls 2 cold. I 3 bet and LAP caps it. We
both call. I’m trying to figure out what LAP has. Honestly this guy could
have as little as AJ here, so I really can’t fold. Even if he has A7 or A8
I’m not dead. Turn is a 9 completing the rainbow. We both check to LAP who
bets and we both call. River is another 8 and I have a strong feeling I
just counterfeited LAP. BP2 bets into me though catching me by surprise.
Did he really stay this long with an 8? I was just so surprised I called.
LAP raised. BP2 called and so did I. LAP did have A7 and came 3rd. BP2
showed 98o. I wasted 2 bets on the end because I had been so focused on
one opponent I forgot about the other guy.
Thursday was an interesting day. If I had started ½ hour later, and quit ½
hour earlier it would have been a great day. I lost $280 in the
abbreviated afternoon session because ½ an hour after I started we had a
power outage that lasted 2 hours and I was down $240 in that 30 minutes.
When the power came back I lost a little more before breaking. In the
evening I had a great night at both Paradise and Party, Up over $900 at
one ppoint, but somewhere around 2:00 AM I had the strangest run of cards
I can remember. I was playing 1 5/10 Paradise game and 3 Party 3/6’s at
the time and I went on a major card rush. KK twice, QQ5 times, AKs once
AKo 4 times and AQs 4 times in 15 minutes. I was trying to keep track of
all these tables because I was hitting everywhere. I lost every one of
those hands. My head was spinning. When the dust settled I had a $328
Paradise win, but down $200 from where I had been, and a win at Party of
$220. I lost around $350 in that last half hour. It was wild. SO I’m up
$1,370 for the week.
Friday was a reversal from most of the week. I had a decent afternoon at
Party, winning $280, but in the evening I struggled mightily. I did manage
a small $133 win at Paradise, but lost $110 at Party, making it a $20
night, but still a $300 day. This put me at $1,650 for the week.
Saturday night started out horribly. The higher stakes at Paradise make
the swings much bigger in those games and I had to rebuy on both tables
almost immediately. I was on a table with Rigoletto and a few other
regulars, and the flop % on the table quickly went down to about 15%. I
changed tables 2 or 3 times and was down over $400 at one point. Finally
well after midnight (after Rigoletto went to bed) the table loosened up
and I got some cards. I got AdKd 2 hands in a row in the BB and the SB. On
the first hand the final board was KKQxA and I was against AQ, and on the
second I turned the flush. Each of those pots was over $150 and in around
30 minutes I got even. I was so intent on grinding out the 5/10 games I
really hadn’t noticed that I was steadily winning at 3/6. When I got even
on the 5/10 games I realized I was up $470 at Party and suddenly I had a
great night.
After a really bad start to the week and what felt like a real struggle
all week, I’ve ended up $2,100 to the good. I certainly played more hours
this week than I have in the past, 55 I think, making it just under
$40/hr. There is no doubt adding the extra tables is helping my win rate.
My level of play can’t have dropped off too badly. Ignoring my vacation
weeks, I now have 6 weeks of full play at Party playing 3 or 4 tables. I
am up $14,750 for those 6 weeks. I’m really not in a hurry to find work
right now.
A lot of people have suggested I try to turn these journals into a book of
some kind. My wife has been telling me to do it since before I started.
This week a 2+2’er offered to help me out by proofreading, editing etc.
and I think I’m going to try and write a chapter or 2 and see how it goes.
I have absolutely no idea how to go about this and I’m not even sure who
to ask. My wife has suggested “Poker? I hardly knew her!!” as a title.
Anyway, baby steps. I’ll try to get something written and see if there is
a future for that project.
Playing like a fish, or it’s better to be lucky than good. I was in the BB
with Jc 7c when an EP player raised. I will call a raise with this hand so
I was getting ready to call, when action on another table took me away.
When I returned and clicked on the call box I noticed it had been 3 and 4
bet before getting to me. Ooops. 4 of us saw the flop of 6, 7, 7. I waited
until the turn to raise and AA and KK both paid me off. Big pot and some
kind of image alteration.
I hardly ever run naked bluffs. I will occasionally bet the river on an
unimproved AK hoping to get a small pair to fold, but that’s as far as it
goes. As a result I think the people I play with regularly respect my
raises and bets. Maybe too much. I do semi-bluff a lot, but I think it
couldn’t hurt my game to have people wonder about my late position bets a
little more. So I did what you’re not supposed to do, I showed a bluff. I
was playing at a fun table, and really struggling. 2 players in particular
had run down my good hands all afternoon. I limped behind another limper
in LP with Jc Tc. Both blinds played too. Flop came down KQ3 rainbow and
none of my suit. SB bets out and both players call. I raise for value on
my open ender. All 3 call, no re-raise. Turn is a K. When I raised I was
thinking free card, now I decided to play like I had the K. Checked to me
and I bet. Only 1 call. River was an 8. Check, bet and a long pause. As I
held my breath he folded. I don’t know why I showed but I did. 2 of them
complained they had folded a Q. I don’t think it was a bad move since I
rarely do it and can expect more calls from these guys in the future, but
probably not something I should do again.
I never raised the nuts!! Don’t know about this play. 5/10. 3 limpers and
a poster to me in the cutoff. I limp too with Ah 9h. Both blinds play and
7 see the flop. Flop is 4h 3h 2c. 4 checks, then a bet and a call to me. I
have 4 to act after me so rather than raise them out I just call hoping
for lots of overcalls. We lose 1 (Rigoletto the spoilsport) and get an
all-in raise for $1 more. 6 see the turn (1 all-in). Turn is the Kh giving
me the nuts. There is a bet and a fold in front of me, with 2 to act
behind me so I decide to smooth call again rather than raise them out.
Both call. River is Ts. Same guy bets again and after thinking about it I
just call again. One call and one fold. The guy who bet the whole way had
A5 for a flopped straight.. He surely would have paid me off. The other
guy had K3 for 2 pair. I think maybe I should have raised the flop, but
probably would have ended up heads up and 3 bet. I like the smooth call on
the turn, and probably broke even on the river call, although maybe
raising the river might have led to a raising war. I was really hoping the
EP player had a smaller flush and was waiting for the river to check-raise
us both.
Cya next week.
Week 21
Despite a very decent result last week I can’t get over the feeling that I
took more than my share of bad beats, and that I’m struggling somewhat.
That continued on Sunday as I started out in a hole again right off the
bat. Way down on Paradise , and just breaking even at Party. It’s a
disturbing trend but when I review the hands I don’t see any flaws in my
play, just good hands getting beat. Once again I made a nice comeback at
Paradise after midnight , and ended up down $41, and with a small win at
Party of $104 I started the week much better than last week anyway.
Do you ever get the feeling the cards are about to change for you? As I’ve
mentioned I feel like I’m getting cold decked a lot lately and I told my
wife I was due to break out big time. Sure enough on Monday afternoon I
had a nice session and posted a $300 win. Ooops. Monday night was possible
the worst session I’ve ever played. If I thought the cards were running
bad before, I was in for a rude awakening. I had 4 tables going and I was
down over $200 on every one of them. And I think I played pretty well. I
made a lot of top pair top kicker laydowns on the turn. I saw set after
set against me, and got rivered by flushes and straights again and again.
Of course the higher stakes at Paradise skew my results towards my play
there, I was still getting clobbered at Party. The good thing about Party
though is that you know the bad players will pay you off when you finally
hit, at Paradise that’s not always the case. Fortunately, once again
around 1:30 AM the cards turned and I went on a mini-rush. Not enough to
get out of the hole mind you but I ended up the day down $350 at Paradise
and up $200 at Party (Down 100 for the evening). This does leave me down
$90 for the week though, and it will be a real tough task to keep my
string of 2,000 weeks going.
Tuesday afternoon and the misery continues. When I won the first 3 hands I
played I thought it was going to be a breakout session, but that was it
for a long time. I’m winning pots only when everyone folds on the flop. It
seems every hand that makes it to the turn I lose. I dropped another $177
putting me down $260 for the week. I have to remind myself to be patient,
but it’s starting to get to me. I won two huge hands this afternoon, $176,
and $144 on dubious runner runner suckouts. Without them my results would
have been even worse.
At Party I take one off a lot on draws because you get paid off well and
these were both examples of that. 1st hand I have Tc 8c in the BB and
after an EP raise there are 3 cold callers and I call too. Flop is Qc Td
9h. EP raiser bets and 2 call him. I called two with my middle pair,
backdoor flush, gutshot combination. Too loose? Turn brings an 8s giving
me a probably useless 2 pair. EP bets again and 1 caller and I call again.
River 8h. I check, EP bets, caller, I raise and EP 3 bets. Cold call and I
cap after thinking for a bit. KJ and Q9 were the other hands.
2nd hand I limp behind 2 others in MP with 5s 4s, and after 2 more limpers
the BB raises. 6 of us see the flop for 2 bets. Flop is Ks 6d 2h. BB bets
out, I call as do 2 others. Again I think I have odds on the gutshot
alone, and the backdoor flush is still there. Turn brings the Js giving me
8 more outs. BB bets, I call and so does 1 other. River is the perfect 3d.
Talk about a well disguised hand. He bets, I raise and the LP player calls
2 cold. BB 3 bets, I cap and LP folds. BB had KK but to his credit never
muttered a complaint.
Thank god for those 2 hands, both on the same table by the way. I ended up
ahead only $70 on that table and down on the other 2. Although dollar wise
it doesn’t compare with the losing streak I had back in weeks 8 and 9, it
is the most frustrating stretch I’ve had since then. Now I have to keep my
cool and play good poker until it turns around. To my credit I think I
could have lost a lot more if I had gone completely on tilt.
This week just keeps getting worse and worse. Tuesday night my losing
streak at Paradise continued with a small loss of $34, and I actually won
$100 at Party leaving me down $100 for the day there and down $200 overall
for the week.
Wednesday I took the afternoon off and played golf at one of my favorite
courses, National Pines in Barrie. It’s a 90 minute drive from home but
worth it. And in keeping with the trend of my week I was dreadful. Once
upon a time I was a decent golfer playing to an 8 handicap, and even 2
years ago I think I was around a 12. I shot 98 yesterday which is the
highest score I can remember posting since I was a junior. It’s funny how
when I’m winning the rest of my life seems to go well too, and the
opposite when I’m running bad. I don’t know if this qualifies as running
bad, since I’m not actually down very much, but compared to my averages it
sure seems like it. Wednesday night was another awful Paradise session,
combined with a decent Party session. Same old song and dance at Paradise,
winning until the river, or drawing dead with good cards. I lost $280 for
my 4th straight losing session at Paradise. Last time that happened was
the 2 losing weeks I had in June/July. I’m down $700 at Paradise for the
week and up $430 at Party. It makes me wonder about continuing to play
both 5/10 and 3/6 games, because of the higher variance involved with the
5/10 games.
I know no one wants to hear bad beat stories…but….these 4 hands occurred
on my 2 5/10 tables within 10 minutes of each other. It’s a good example
of how I’ve been running for around a week now. I don’t think there is
much I can do about it, just remember how well I’ve been running long
term, and weather the storm.
1) 2 limpers to me 2 off the button and I limp with 99. 5 of us see the
flop of QQ9. Checked to me and I check too hoping someone will catch up.
There are 2 spades on board. Button bets behind me, MP and I both call.
Turn brings an offsuit 3 and MP bets out. I probably should raise here,
but I smooth call. River is a 5 making a flush possible. MP bets, I raise,
he 3 bets and I cap. He has Q9 and had me the whole way.
2) 2 limpers to me in the small blind and I call with JTo. BB plays too.
Flop is AT8 rainbow. I check and it gets checked to the button who bets.
He will bet any hand here and I raise to isolate him. I make this play
against certain players. Sure enough the 2 people between us fold and he
calls. Turn is a 3. I bet he calls. River is another 8, I check he bets
and I call. He had Q8s and picked up a flush draw on the turn so he
stayed. Good read, good play, bad river.
3) AN LP raise from a habitual bluffer, and I have QJs in the SB. I call.
BB calls. Flop is KJ5 2 diamonds and none of my suit. Checked to the
raiser who bets, I just call this time and so does the BB. Turn is a Q
making 2 flush draws. This time I check raise the LP, BB calls 2 cold and
LP calls. River is an 8, no flush. I bet, BB folds and LP raises. I call
(he’s the bluffer remember) and he shows K8. Another river. Blech.
4) Free play in the BB with 43o heads up. Flop is 432, 2 clubs. I check
raise the flop. Turn is an 8. I bet and he calls. River is another 8. I
bet, he raises I call, he has A8.
None of these hands is remarkable by itself, but all together in that
short period of time. And it keeps on happening. I have to follow my own
advice and hang in there. I have the big $100,000 guaranteed tournament on
Friday night, so the hours I have left to pull off a win this week are
limited, but I guess I shouldn’t be so focused on weekly results, just
keep playing solid poker.
I’ve had so many nice comments from people who like these posts that I was
quite taken aback on Tuesday night when for the first time I had someone
act quite hostile towards me. Kept telling me How F***ing lucky I was, if
what I was writing was true, which he doubted, and how I was due for a
major fall. Now maybe there are a lot of people who feel that way, and he
may even be right, but why would you come out and say that to someone? The
new 3/6 sensation Akshawnd was at the table stirring things up in his
inimitable style. I think we’ve determined it’s JA Sucker and he plays
very well, and he puts entire tables on tilt so maybe this guy was already
in a bad mood from that. And maybe he was just trying to put me on tilt.
Combine that with my lousy results and it made for a crappy evening.
Except I love watching Akshawnd in action.
I am so glad this week is over. I think I can just take what I wrote
earlier in the week and put it in again. This has been a frustrating grind
this week. I guess I was overdue for a week like this and I should be
pleased that I didn’t lose anything. Thursday I actually broke the losing
streak at Paradise with a $134 win and added another $100 from Party.
Friday, I combined a $240 Paradise win with a $107 loss at Party, and a
484th place finish in the big tournament. The tournament was disappointing
but not unexpected. I think I played well, and was quite healthy through 5
rounds, but as the stakes went up I stopped getting cards and got my last
1200 in with JJ on a board filled with undercards, but a turned flush put
me out. Saturday was brutal at Paradise. I lost $465 playing premium
cards. 3 times I held a set on $200 + pots and had someone spike their 2
out set on the river. I kept getting hands like AJ and AQ on the button in
unraised pots, only to have the BB 3 bet me with QQ, KK or AA. Twice I
held AA against KK and the K flopped. Etcetera etcetera. Fortunately my
night at Party was terrific. I won $578 to caver the paradise loss. For
the week I’m down $805 at Paradise and up $1010 at Party for a $205 win.
This now presents me with a decision point. Introducing the 5/10 games
back into my schedule has added the variance back. It allowed me some
terrific weeks, but has now introduced the possibility of a losing week
too. I like playing the 4 tables in the evening, but I’m contemplating
opening an Empire account to play 4 3/6’s. I’ll give Paradise another
week, but it’s a lot of work playing the good players at 5/10.
Both Friday and Saturday night I stayed up much later than normal trying
to turn around a bad run. I usually quit between 2:30 and 3:00 AM, but
played until 4 on Friday and 4:30 on Saturday, with disastrous results
both times. I think I lost $500 at paradise in those 2.5 extra hours. I
know I’ve written before about quitting on a bad night and pushing when
your hot, but I can’t seem to take my own advice. What’s worse is that it
throws off my body clock for the next day too. Discipline, it’s all about
discipline.
Got another call about employment this week. Just a possible in Ottawa
which is around 4 hours away. The money would have to be real good to take
that one.
My wife has commented that my mood has been affected by the bad results
this week. I guess she’s right. Another hazard of an uncertain revenue
stream, but I’ll need to be careful of that. No fair taking it out on the
wife and kids. The dog however is fair game.
Don’t you love when this happens?
I have T9o in the BB. One limper to Tricky Guy in the cut off who raises.
I call the raise and so does the limper. Flop is J 7 3 rainbow. I check,
limper checks and so does TG. Turn is the gutshot 8. I bet, Limper calls
and TG raises. Sweet. I 3 bet, limper calls all-in and TG begins to fear
he’s made a mistake and just calls. River is a K, I bet, he calls and my
nuts are of course good. TG had AA, and in fact was destined to lose
anyway because the limper had J 8 and wasn’t going to fold to the flop
bet.
I find my luck runs in waves. Usually there is a turning point that
changes it. Last night after running bad all night, I finally had an AA
hold up although a 2nd Q on the river made my heart skip. I could almost
feel the black cloud lift from over my head and 2 hands later I got JJ and
open raised. I got 2 callers and I said out loud “I’m going to hit this
flop, give me JKK”. It went even better than that. The flop came JJK. I
bet and got called until the river when they both folded. I then proceeded
to make a straight flush against a set and it looked like my night had
turned around. That was at 3:00 AM when I decided to stay up later, and
one of my rivered sets set me to losing again.
Cya at the tables.
Week 22
Wow. I’m really pushing the variance envelope here. After a poor week
brought on by bad results at Paradise, Sunday went the exact same way.
Playing 2 tables of 5/10 at Paradise I lost another $626, making the
weekend loss almost $1,100. I’m going crazy. Fortunately, at the same time
on 2 3/6 tables I won an incredible $706 in 6 hours of play, putting me up
almost $1300 for the weekend at Party. Then after a break even Monday
afternoon at Party, Monday night started out looking like a disaster, I
had to rebuy at both sites in the first half hour, and at paradise I was
down another $300, putting me down $1400 for 3 nights and over $1600 for
the previous week. Then the dark clouds parted and the sun shone through.
Just as I had decided to cash out the rest of my account and switch to
Empire my hands started holding up, and I started hitting my draws and I
went on an $800 rush that left me up $546 at paradise. I even made a
comeback at Party to finish down only $140 there for a win of $400. So for
the 2 days I’m up $480. And the sun is shining again.
Clearly the variance of the 5/10 game is making me uncomfortable. And
there are not many weak players in the paradise games. I love the paradise
software and support, and I’m nostalgic because it’s where I learned the
game, but this is a business for me now and clearly the smart thing for me
to do is stop playing there. I can play 4 games using another site and
Empire seems to make sense. I can still play 5/10 if I want at party and
Empire. Can anyone comment on the games there? Are the Empire games the
same quality wise as the Party games?
I’ve had 7 people offer to have me sign up under their affiliate programs
at Empire. Obviously I can only choose 1 and I hope the rest of you
understand that I can only use 1 of you.
I received an e-mail from Party investigations regarding my bonehead move
from last week that I posted about in the internet forum. Posting it was
even stupider I guess because they tell me that several people brought it
to Party’s attention. If you missed it I was playing with the same 2
players on 2 tables. On table 1 a woman who’s play was suspect was running
over the table hitting everything. The 3 of us were chatting about it on
table 2 saying things like omg she did it again. Then I flopped a set of
6’s against her on table 1. The board however was all hearts. I told the
guys on table 2 that I might get her this time, I’ve got a set. When I
went back to table 1 I realized to my horror that 1 of the 2 players was
still in the hand, and I’d just told him my hand. To make it worse he had
flopped a flush, and the turn paired the board filling me up. He check
folded to my turn bet and the woman stayed to the river losing to my full
house. Clearly there was no intent to cheat, but I gave information to one
player that not everyone had and it’s inexcusable. Thankfully Party chose
to reprimand me only. I hope I’ve learned my lesson.
Hopefully we are always learning in this game and I want to focus on my
blind play in the short term. Usually if I flop top pair I don’t worry
very much about my kicker. I play premium cards so I usually have the best
kicker. If I lose the occasional KJ to KQ so be it. But from the blinds I
quite often find myself with top pair and a lousy kicker. I tend to play
it as if it’s a normal hand and bet out, but then go into check/call if
I’m raised, and usually lose to a better hand. I think I need to be
willing to fold to those flop raises more often, especially if there are
no draws on the board. Or even check/raise those top pair hands depending
on where the bet comes from.
I got wiped out by one horrible 5/10 player on Sunday night. I’m sure this
one guy was responsible for $400 of my 600 dollar loss. He was 2 seats to
my left and kept either drawing out on me, or dominating me with AA vs KK
and the like. This was one of the hands.
Bad player limps UTG and aggressive guy raises. 1 cold caller, and the SB
calls. I have AQo in the BB and just call. Flop is Ad Qd 4c. I am running
just horrible at this point and I bet right out. Nothing fancy. BP calls
and so does AG. Turn is 8h. I bet and both call again. River is 8s. I bet,
BP raises and AG calls. BP makes all kinds of weird plays, so AG will call
this with KK or AK. I call too. BP had 86o. This is paradise 5/10. Sigh.
He did this to me only it seemed for hours. I hope I see him again, but I
don’t think his bankroll will last.
10 minutes later I have QQ in MP. UTG raises and I 3 bet. BP calls 3 cold
with KTo (it’s more fun if you know what he has). 3 of us see the flop of
A 5 4 rainbow. UTG checks, I bet and BP raises. UTG folds and I sigh and
call. I can raise for value, but he wont fold so I thinkit’s better to
just call down these guys. I don’t think a free card can hurt me at this
point. Turn is a T. I check he bets and I call. River is another T. Check
– Bet – call – another sigh.
Tuesday night was the kiss of death for Paradise. Another terrible start
with no recovery and a $360 loss. I won $400 at Party to give me a small
win for the day, but immediately after quitting for the day I withdrew
enough from my paradise account to start up an Empire account.
Everyone who plays poker has a competitive instinct. In some people this
competitive instinct can be their downfall by pushing them to keep
competing long after logic should have told them they were beat. We
applaud the athlete who keeps getting up to try again, but in poker it can
be a destructive trait. I am convinced I can beat the paradise 5/10 game.
I beat it for months, and even in the 4 weeks I started playing it again I
was up $1,000 despite the horrible last 10 days. But it’s time to be
realistic. 1) it’s not the same game. The old fish have gone broke, and
the new fish are going to Party. It’s the same faces night after night and
most of them are good, and a few of them are very very good. 2) I can beat
the party 3/6 for more money despite the smaller stakes, or at least have
less chance of losing. Paradise has better support, and their cashouts are
almost immediate. I cashed out from both Paradise and Party on Saturday
night at around 3:00 AM (Sunday morning actually). Paradise had the money
in my Neteller account at 7:00 AM Sunday. After I contacted my “Executive
Hostess” at Party on Tuesday, they made my depost in 15 minutes late
Tuesday night. Party has never made a transfer for me without my having to
call them. They say they have an internal review to do for all cashouts
that takes 24-48 hours. I will miss Paradise, but until they get some
fresh blood in there I’m gone.
So Wednesday morning I opened my Empire account under a disguised name,
which I will keep secret for now. I have decided to play 4 3/6 games both
afternoon and evening for now. Maybe everyone else knew this but I did
not, Party and Empire actually share the tables. I thought they were two
different sites using the same software, but it’s just 1 big site as I
found out when I tried to sit at the same table with davidross. The
software is sophisticated enough to recognize that we are the same person
and wouldn’t let me. So it’s the same games I love so much, only in blue.
I played for 3 ½ hours in the afternoon, breaking even on my Empire tables
and winning $100 on the Party tables. It was interesting to play
completely anonymously, but I didn’t play any of the 2+2’ers anyway. The
evening got off to a disastrous start. I rebought on 3 of 4 tables within
30 minutes of starting, and rebought again on one of the tables an hour
later. But I got real hot on the remaining tables and won $550 an the
empire tables, plus my $100 sign up bonus kicked in after 500 hands. I
lost $230 on the Party tables but had a very comfortable $520 day putting
me up $1,050 for the week despite being down $450 at paradise.
I had an interesting exchange under my alias on the following hand. I
limped behind a couple of other guys with As 2s in LP. Another limper
behind me then the BB raised. 5 of us saw the flop for 2 bets each. Flop
was 8 6 2, no spades. BB checked and EP bet, got a call and I decided to
call too. I’m getting 12 to 1 at least on the call and have 5 outs
probably. I don’t think that’s overly loose. The guy on my left raises, BB
folds and we all call. Turn is an A. I bet into the raiser who raises me
again and fearing A8 I just call. I check call the river and beat his 86.
He and another player start moaning about my calling his raise when I was
a 20-1 underdog etc etc. He claimed his raise should have told me he had 2
pair or a set, and when I asked how I was supposed to know what he had, he
told me it was just math. I’m not kidding. It was kind of fun.
I complained yesterday to Party support about a possible all-in abuse. It
was a very small pot, where I flopped top pair from the blind with
something like T2 on a T 5 3 board, and everyone folded to the button who
timed out. River brought a K which made his hand good and he won a $15
pot. He was out for the next hand and right back in after that. I asked if
he was having connection problems and he said yes, sorry. I sent it off to
support and got an e-mail back this morning saying they reviewed all of
his all-ins and suspect a pattern of abuse. They have warned him and
restricted his reset ability. Of course I’m not getting any money back.
Betting into a scary board. I’m not sure what the lesson is here. I limp
under the gun with 88, and the limping frenzy begins. 7 of us see the
flop. Flop is 9 9 5 rainbow. Not the worst flop for me. After the blinds
check I bet. Everyone folds to the button who just calls. In these games
that scares me as usually everyone slow plays. Only 2 of us see the turn.
Turn is a 3, completing rainbow. I bet again and he raises. I hate folding
heads up, but it sure seems I’m beat here. Knee-jerk reaction though is to
click call and my 8 comes on the river. I check raise him and he had K9.
It’s easy to say he should have raised the flop and the slow play cost
him, but when he raises me on the turn I’m getting 7 ½ to 1 on my call,
not nearly enough to spike my 8 so I think his waiting for the turn is the
correct play. And I’m not sure I would fold to the flop raise anyway,
suspecting a play. So probably just an example of a suck-out.
A tough fold. My first Empire hand history. I open raise in EP with Ad Qc.
Button cold calls and SB completes. BB folds. Flop is the lovely Ac As 6h.
No slow play for me I bet out. Button raises and SB cold calls. Hmm. Even
my simple math tells me there aren’t enough aces to go around, and there
are no draws on the board. Maybe a pocket pair that doesn’t believe the A
is out there. I 3 bet, button caps and SB calls again. If we were heads up
I’d believe the button had an A and take my chances, but what could the SB
have? It’s certainly starting to look like Ax in the blind, and 66 on the
button. But I’m still not certain. Turn is a 2. I bet into him one more
time, he raises and SB calls 2 more cold. I call again. River is a J. We
check to the button who bets, and now the SB raises. Ding. Finally I fold
and the button doesn’t believe it so he raises again and the SB caps it.
He of course had AJ. Button did indeed have 66. I would have been prouder
of my hand reading if I could have laid down to the turn raise, but I did
save a couple of bets. And if I laid down on the turn and the Q had
rivered…..
I have always been a huge sports fan. Hockey was my first love and I grew
up in Montreal during the Canadiens hey day. I was 8 when the Expos joined
the National league and my dad had season tickets for many years. I used
to know all the players in all the leagues. Something happened over the
last few years, it’s probably called life, and I no longer follow
professional sports as closely. I still watch games now and then, but I
don’t know half the players on any teams anymore. Maybe it’s players
strikes or over inflated salaries or free agency. More likely I’ve just
become more interested in my kids sports, because love watching amateur
sports. I watch the local high school football team, and I took my kids to
watch the city soccer teams this summer. The Olympics are the ultimate to
me, especially the track and field, and the world cup of soccer is another
favorite. Something about people competing for the sake of competing I
guess. So my favorite team in the world right now is the Canadian women’s
soccer team. I fell in love with them last summer when the under 19 world
cup was held in Canada and the team went on an amazing tear only losing in
the finals to a powerhouse American team on penalty kicks. Most of that
team now plays for our national team and a lot of people thought that 2007
would be the year for this young team. One girl, Christine Sinclair is
already the 6th ranked player in the world at age 19 and is clearly the
future for our program along with a 16 year old from the town next to me.
I have been so looking forward to the Women’s World cup which started last
Saturday. We lost to Germany in the first game which was expected, but can
still advance to the quarter finals with wins over Argentina and Japan.
What was disappointing was how easily the Germans controlled the game, but
I was hoping it was just jitters. We played Argentina last night and won
3-0, but again played terribly. We now have to beat Japan on Saturday to
advance, a tie puts them through because they beat Argentina 6-0. I
postponed my poker for 2 hours last night to watch the game, that’s how
important it was.
Just when I thought I had turned a corner I got smacked down again.
Thursday and Friday were the worst 2 days I’ve ever had, losing the
proverbial 200 BB’s that we’re supposed to keep for such emergencies. I
dropped over 700 on Thursday, all on my empire tables, and another 360 on
Friday. I’m so frustrated it’s ridiculous. The only thing that helps is I
went back and re-read my posts form my last 2 weeks of hell in June, and
it made me realize that there isn’t much I can do about it except keep
playing well. Saturday was a struggle for most of the evening until I
finally went on a rush around 1:00 AM and managed to win $500. I finished
the week up $464 for the 2nd straight disappointing week. But if I compare
it to the 2 bad weeks in June when I lost $2,300 in 2 weeks this is miles
better than that. My party tables had a good week, but Paradise and Empire
killed me. The empire is just chance, since it’s the same tables as Party,
but I’ll be curious to see if my results are affected at all by people not
knowing me as davidross.
My Canadian girls played great last night in beating Japan, so we move on
to the quarter finals against the winner of the Russia China match today.
What can you do. This is a perfect example of what happens to you when
you’re running bad. I open raise in MP with AQo and only the BB plays.
Flop is A T 5, 2 hearts. I bet and get check-raised by the BB. I 3 bet and
he caps. Uh oh here we go again. Turn is the 9s. He bets and I just call.
River is the Qh giving me my 2 pair, but putting what I suspect is his
flush on board, so I just call his bet. He shows J8o for the straight. He
4 bet the flop with nothing, then went runner runner heads up. Sigh.
I lost to rivered sets 5 times on Thursday/Friday. Those are 2 outers.
Then this hand came along. This is pretty wild.
I have AA in the SB and UTG raises. It is 3 bet from the button and I cap
it. BB calls as do the other 2. Flop comes Ah Kh Tc. That’s probably hit
someone. I bet, get called in 2 places and the button raises. I 3 bet, get
called twice and the button caps it. We all call. Turn is the 3h. I bet
into the flush board, one call and one fold and the button raises again. I
finally slow down and just call. River is the ugly 9h putting 4 hearts on
board. UTG now bets out and button raises. I swear, look for the dog who
is way ahead of me and left the room, and finally come to my senses and
fold saving 2 bb’s. UTG calls. Button wins it with a set of Kings. OMFG!!!
I laid down the winner for $12 on a $153 pot. I’m an idiot. UTG had Qd 7d
for A high and called the river bet, and I folded my set of A’s. When will
I learn?
From the what is going on here department. I limped utg with 8c7c. Table
was loose/passive enough I thought I could get away with it. 7 of us see
the flop for 1 bet each. Flop is the lovely Ac Qc 9c. BB bets out and I
raise. No pussy footing around with 2 cards to come. 3 folds and a 3 bet
in LP. BB calls and I cap it. Both call. Turn is an offsuit 7. I bet, LP
calls and now the BB raises. Uh oh. I decide to raise once more, I still
can’t believe 2 of us flopped the flush. LP calls 2 more and BB caps it.
We both call. River is 3h. BB bets. I just call and LP raises!! BB 3 bets
and I make another crying call remembering my AA hand and the LP just
calls. All 3 of us flopped the flush. BB had KJ, and LP had 54. Sigh!
This happened countless times this week and I still don’t know if I can
fold it. I open raise AQ in LP. Button 3 bets. He has 3 bet with any A and
any Pair I have discovered. BB calls 2 and we see the flop 3 handed. Flop
is AT3 two diamonds. I bet, button raises and we both call again. Turn is
a J. We check to the button who bets and we both call. River is another 3,
no flush and again the button bets and we both call. He has AK and takes
it down. So can you fold AQ when you are 3 bet pre-flop, and raised when
the A flops? I think you have to pay the guy off here.
Well, I hope I have seen the worst of this run. The texture of the games
seems different to me, but I wrote the same thing when I was losing last
time. There seems to be more raising pre-flop making some of my pet hands
a bad play. But essentially I think I just need a few river cards not to
fall against me to turn these break even weeks into winners. I’m just not
winning big pots right now, and I think most of my winnigs come from 1 or
2 big pots per day.
Week 23
Every time I think I’m out of my slump I get kicked in the teeth again. I
came within $48 of losing my entire Empire buy in on Sunday night. My
original play had been to build up the bankroll and play 3 Empire games
and 1 Party game to maximize the rake-rebate. The $900 I lost at Empire on
Thursday and Friday left me without enough of a buy in for 3 games so I’m
playing 2 of each. Sunday night I got wiped out on one table and rebought
on the other and was down to my last $48. I cannot transfer funds between
Party and Empire so I had to do a withdrawal from Party to Neteller to
make another deposit, and that will take some time. I was losing at Party
as well and it looked like a horrible start to the week, but I made a bit
of a comeback at Empire to finish down only $200 and with enough for 2 buy
in’s at Empire still. Then on Monday I caught fire. A $200 afternoon and a
$540 evening gave me a $740 day and put me up $540 for the week. It was my
first day over $500 in 3 weeks, and it felt very good. I even lost two
flopped full houses that would have made the win even bigger. On one I had
TT on a flop of AAT and got run down by JJ when a J turned. And I had A5
on a flop of AA5 and got beat by AJ when a J rivered. And I have to be
fair since I’ve been critical of Party’s cashout delays, my 1,000 was in
my Neteller account in less than a day. I transferred it to Empire
although after last night I probably won’t need it.
It seems like a lot of the truly horrible players are gone from Party, but
all of the table “experts” are still there. Every night I have some guy
telling everybody what they did right and wrong. How come they never seem
to go bust?
Baseball playoffs start today. It’ll give me something to watch during my
afternoon sessions. I haven’t watched one game yet this year, but I’ll
keep a close eye on Pedro Martinez, one of the many former Expos we let go
for next to nothing in order to save money. I’ll have to root for the Cubs
too, wouldn’t that be a great World Series. Someone’s jinx would be
broken.
I’m not going to tell anyone what my alias is on Empire for 3 weeks. I
won’t confirm or deny any guesses during that time. I need to be more
careful though, I made a familiar comment to a 2+2’er thinking I was on as
davidross. He must have wondered who the hell I was. I’m pretty sure some
of the guys that play 3/6 regularly will figure out who I am just by the
number of times we play against each other.
This game seems so simple when your hands hold up. I missed a couple of
river bets last night though due to my fear that I had been rivered. A
hang over from last week no doubt. On Monday when I ran so bad at Empire I
had won 5% of 600 hands. Last night I won 8% of 800 and had a huge win.
But some of my big losses last week had me winning 10%. The numbers don’t
tell the whole story I guess. I actually won some big pots yesterday.
You know the tide has turned when….
I limped behind 3 others in the CO with KJo. Button called too and the BB
raised. We all called. Flop is Ac Jc 8s. BB bets out, and there are 2
calls before me. I’m getting 15-1 and decided to take one off without
really thinking it through. This is another example of the problem you
face playing multiple tables. I’m used to reading the board quickly,
deciding that 15-1 is fine for middle pair to take one off so I call. If I
think about it, there is a very good chance my K is not an out if the BB
raiser has AK, a very real possibility, and I’m drawing nearly dead if he
has AA. Probably a very bad call. Turn was the Jd. BB bet, 1 caller and I
raised. BB raises me back, and we’re heads up. I just call starting to
realize that I might be up against AA or at the least AJ (unlikely given
the BB raise). River brings the case J. He bets, I raise and he just
calls. He never uttered a word either.
Not 5 minutes later I have QQ in EP and raise an UTG limper. I get 3 bet
on my left and 3 people call the 3 bet. I cap it and 5 of us see the flop.
Flop is 7c 5s 2d. UTG bets, I raise and I’m 3 bet again on my left. This
is a very bad sign. I know lot’s of players who will 3 bet AK pre-flop,
but not on the flop. I think I am behind. One guy folds, but 2 others call
the 3 bet as do I. Turn is the 6d. Now utg bets out. I just call, but the
guy on my left raises again. LP calls cold again and utg caps it. Uh oh
this is not good. I still call, and I can’t really explain why at this
point. UTG might be making a play, but I know I’m beat on my left. I think
this is a bad decision. 4 of us see the river. River is the Qs. UTg bets 1
chip all-in and I bump it up to 6, hoping to win the side pot at least. I
get called by both guys. Guy on my left did have AA, so I cracked another
AA hand. Unbelievable the guy who cold called the whole way had 77 for a
flopped set. He never raised once. UTG who really chose the wrong time to
try this, had 4c 2c, and was semi-bluffing in a horrible spot. $188 pot.
A good river bet.
I open raised 9s 9c in LP and both blinds called. Flop is Ah Ac Jc. I bet
and 1 guy called. Turn is the 5c and I bet again. I know an A wouldn’t
fold but a J might. No probably not. River is the Kc. Again I bet. He
calls and had 66 with the 6c. Last week I probably would have checked the
turn and river losing 2 bets.
When you’re in the middle of a slump you keep telling yourself that
sometime soon all these river beats are going to stop and your big hands
will all hold up. On Tuesday that happened. A $300 afternoon followed by a
$650 evening and I had my biggest day since June, winning $950. Of course
the bad side of winning big is you have to listen to all the whining about
your hands holding up and theirs losing, but I guess I can live with that.
Just to keep me off balance though on Wednesday I struggled again losing
$300, but coming back nicely from a $600 deficit at one point. I’d love to
know what my winning rate is between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM. I’m sure I make
more money then than at any other time. So I’m up $1,200 for the week.
Zoo tournament tonight and it’s no limit, which I love, but have no chance
at against some of these sharks. I just need to stay away from MS Sunshine
who has been my nemesis in these tourneys. Women’s soccer against China is
tonight too so I will get a late start at Poker tonight.
Winter is coming. Oct 2nd and I had to turn on the heat today for the
first time. Ice on the windshield this morning. Maybe I should go work for
one of the online sites in the Caribbean.
JTrout is the first person to identify me under my Empire alias. I have no
idea how he figured it out but he kept making subtle hints while we were
seated together yesterday, and finally made a comment that only I would
understand. I didn’t think it would take too long, but I didn’t expect it
that quickly.
River bluff raise. I get bluffed at on the river a lot. I’m sure it
happens 3 or 4 times a night where someone suddenly comes to life on the
river with a raise, and I swear and call only to find out they have
nothing. I just don’t fold on the river like that and I’m always surprised
at the move. But maybe I need to re-think it. Yesterday I played the
following hand. I have 77 in the BB and call an EP raiser, a poster who
called and the SB. The flop is Q 8 2, two spades and it gets checked
around. Turn is an offsuit J and I bet. Only the pre-flop raiser calls.
River is a 3, no flush, and I check. One of my other screens pops up and I
go to click on this window to make it active again and I click right where
the raise button has appeared. The pre-flop raiser had bet, and I
accidentally raised him. He types AJ in the window and folds. More than
likely he had AK and I was good anyway, but it got me wondering if I
shouldn’t try a river bluff more often.
A hand I’m very proud of. I have to set this one up. Another table expert
has been spouting off. He claims to be a 15/30 online player who is only
playing 3/6 to show his friend how to play, but we’re all so terrible he
can’t teach him anything. Then he proceeds to top up his stack to $1,700
in chips to impress us. I resist the urge to bring 5 or 6 thousand to the
table, or to ask how he plays 15/30 with such a small stack, but the whole
table has turned on this guy. Expert open raises in EP and gets two cold
calls. I’m in the SB with Ah Jh and I call too. BB plays and 5 of us see
the flop. Flop is Qh Td 9s. I check, BB checks and the Expert checks too.
MP bets out and LP folds. I decide to raise. I think the expert either has
AK or a monster like QQ. If he has AK I want to put pressure on him to
fold, and make my A good if it should fall. I f he calls or raises I will
know he has a big hand, but I’m still drawing to the nuts with my open
ender. I actually thought of all this before raising. 3 months ago those
thoughts wouldn’t have entered my mind, I would play my draw as cheaply as
possible. BB folds and so does the expert. MP calls. Turn is Qd, and I bet
out carrying through on my semi-bluff. He calls. Damn. River is the Ts and
I check. He checks behind me and my A is good. He had 87 for the other end
of the straight draw. I’m almost positive my raise saved me half the pot.
I guess I haven’t turned the corner yet. Miserable days on Thursday and
Friday saw me drop another $530 between the two days. Same old same old.
For the first time in 6 months I’m not looking forward to playing. I seem
to sit down and start losing right away. Most of my loss on Friday was on
my single Party table. I checked my stats around 2:00 AM and I had played
300 hands, won 4%, 34% of my showdowns, seen 24% of the flops and won 17%
of the flops I saw. On all me tables combined I flopped 11 sets, and lost
9 of them. I guess I’ve said it before, but I don’t remember ever being
this frustrated. Every time I bet I cringe waiting for the raise. Thank
god I had those two huge days or I’d be in big trouble. I’m still seeing a
lot of bad play, so I don’t think the bad players are gone, but I do think
there are more good players in these games. There is a lot more pre-flop
raising going on and I’m getting caught with some of my favorite limping
hands, having my implied odds killed. I need to make some adjustments. I
also am getting pushed off hands. I folded 3 more winning hands yesterday,
that would have been $150 in pots, two of them on the river. On one I was
just completely outplayed by a guy who won a $80 pot with A8o unimproved
in the BB. I had AK and folded to his river bet. He 3 bet pre-flop and 3
bet my flop raise. He then bet the turn and river in a 4 handed pot and
amazingly he was called on the river by a K high.
I also misread a board for the first time that I can remember. I had the
Kd on a board that had 4 diamonds including the A. I raised a river bet
and he 3-bet me, I checked…saw that there was no straight flush and capped
it. Unfortunately the A was a heart, not a diamond, and although I did
have a flush, his A was better than my K. Doh!!
Made a good read on one of the few on-line tells we get. I raised pre-flop
with JJ and got 3 bet by a straight forward player. 5 of us saw the flop
which were under cards to my J’s. I bet and one of the guys took a long
time to act. After he called the 3-bettor’s action raised immediately
indicating he had clicked the raise check-box ahead of time. That was
enough for me and I folded. He did have AA.
There is no doubt that the more people seeing the river, the stronger your
hand has to be to win. The chances of 6 people seeing the river and one
pair winning are pretty slim. SO on a night where I lost with 9 sets, this
hand was remarkable.
UTG open raises and gets cold called. I call too with Qc Tc, and the
calling frenzy is off. 7 of us see the flop. Flop is Th 8d 4d. 3 checks to
me including the pre-flop raiser and I bet my top pair. All 6 call me.
Turn is 5s. Again checked to me and I bet and I get 5 callers. I’m going
crazy now. All night I can’t seem to dhake people when I’m ahead, and
unless I improve it’s pretty unlikely my 1 pair is going to be good. River
is 3s. Again I bet, and all 5 fold. $103 pot. Unbelievable.
This hand sent me to bed. MP raises and a cold call. I’m on the button
with TT and I call too. Flop comes Ad Td 9c. Another set. Bet and a call
to me, and I get cute and just call. I’m almost positive there will be a
bet to me on the turn and I will be able to raise the expensive street.
Turn is Ac. Again a bet and a call and I raise. MP folds, but LP raises
me. I’m sure he doesn’t have AA, he would have 3 bet pre-flop, so A9 would
seem to be the only hand I need to fear (AT is unlikely) so I cap it. He
calls. River is Jd. He checks and I bet. He raises, and I just new the J
killed me. I just called and sure enough AJ. Every big pot I’ve played for
3 weeks seems to end up like this. I get all the money in while I’m ahead,
but KABOOM on the river. Sigh. Tomorrow’s another day.
I crashed out of the Zoo tourney early. Some pretty bad play on my part
led to my downfall. I started with MS Sunshine on my left and the empty
seat on my right was soon filled by Lorinda, giving me truly horrible
position. Lorinda is a truly gifted tournament player who has been
dominating the Zoo tourneys. She is also a great supporter of all the 2+2
regulars. She will stay up all night to watch a tournament if one of our
own is participating. She is very outspoken and doesn’t suffer fools
gladly though as I discovered a long time ago. I’m sure she doesn’t
remember this but In early 2002, when I had been playing for only a couple
of months, Paradise had a promotion on for someone to win a seat in the
WSOP main event. In order to qualify you had to play a crazy number of
single table tournaments and do well. I was only vaguely aware a promotion
was on and vertainly wasn’t trying to qualify. But I did play a $10
tournament and Lorinda was in the same tournament. In the 1st two rounds
she went all in 4 times. I understand now the strategy was to double up
early and have a great chance of winning, or get knocked out and start
again. 4th place was the worst thing that could happen to you if you
wanted to qualify for the WSOP seat. Of course to me it just looked like a
maniac was risking their whole stack for $25 in blinds. 3 times she won
the blinds and the 4th time she was called and her AK lost to a pocket
pair. I typed in the chat box “That was just a matter of time” or words to
that effect and she went off her nut on me. Calling me names I didn’t
think genteel English women even knew. She was steamed enough at me that
she stayed to watch the rest of the tournament and give me another barrel
when I busted out (4th or 2nd I can’t remember which). Shortly after that
I noticed her name on posts at 2+2 and over time I have completely changed
my opinion of her. I admire her in every way now.
Back to the tourney, it was very tight at first. I won a few hands without
showdowns with AK and KK, no callers, and I lost a few limps when I folded
to big raises behind me. I had some tough decisions in my BB with AT and
A9 against a button raise, hands I would play in a ring game, I folded
here. My first mistake was a free play in the BB where I had Ks 8s heads
up against an EP limp. Flop came 874 rainbow and I checked. I think the
pot had $75 in it. He bet $90 and I raised him 90. He raised me 90 more
and I called. I have to fold to his re-raise. I showed strength and he
came right back at me. DO I really want to go to war with a pair of 8’s?
This same problem plagues me in ring games too. I seem to feel everyone is
making plays at me when it doesn’t make any sense for them to do so. A J
turned and I checked. He bet 200 and I called again. A T rivered making a
straight possible, lucky for me he checked and showed a set of 4’s. About
500 came out of my stack instead of the 200 I probably should have lost.
Very soon after that I limped with Qh Jh, completely forgetting what
trouble hands they are in No Limit. I’m sure a great player can play them
properly, but for someone like me who is better off just pushing all-in,
it’s a tough hand. Sure enough Sunshine made a big raise behind me and I
called it (Mistake number 2). Flop came T high with 2 hearts. Sunshine
pushed all-in. I had him covered by 70, and I had odds to draw for the
flush so I called. He had 88 soI had more outs than I thought, actually a
favorite to win I believe with 14 outs twice (He had 8h), but none of my
outs hit and I was down to the felt. Then my comeback began. In my BB for
50 Lorinda raised me from the SB with T7. I had 86 and a rivered 8 doubled
me up to 140. I went all in with AK and was called by 99. QJT on board
gave me a straight and I doubled up again to 280. A few hands later I went
all-in again with 88 and they held up for me and I had 560. A few orbits
went by where I was able to win the blinds and stay even. I ran a blind
steal with AJ and got called by a small pair. An A flopped and I had chips
again. I immediately resolved to play a little more conservatively and of
course I got KK on the very next hand. One raiser in front of me and I
raised him. He pushed all-in and I called. He had AQs and I looked pretty
good until an A flopped and just like that I was out. That’s no-limit.
Saturdays are going to kill me. After being up until 3:30 AM Friday night,
I had to get up at 7:00 to drive my eldest to her job at the barn. My
youngest had a soccer practice at 9:00, and my younger son had soccer at
3:00. My older boy had hockey at 4:00 so I dropped son #2 off, drove # 1
to his game and then went back to pick up #2 and then go back to watch the
game. Finally my youngest was invited to a friends to watch a movie Sat.
Night so she had to be driven again. I feel like a bus driver. This is my
reality for the winter. Anyone thinking about having 4 kids keep that in
mind.
Saturday night poker started out like the last 3 weeks. Winning small pots
and losing all the big ones. I was ahead on 1 table but well behind on the
other 3. Finally I got some cards and go t a little ahead, then lost 3
huge pots in 5 minutes to be down again. My frustration was ready to spill
over. Then I started winning again. I made the same hands, but now they
held up. I am happy to report I manaded a $325 win to put me just over
$1,000 for the week. That’s the 3rd week in a row I’ve finished below my
target and I need to get back on track.
Soccer semi-finals tonight. Canada upset China and plays Sweden tonight.
The 2 best teams USA and Germany play in the other semi. I can’t wait.
I am concerned about the long term viability of making a living at this. I
don’t know if a) I’m just running bad, b) I was just running good before
and this is normal, or c) the games are getting tougher. I think it’s a
combination of A and C. There don’t seem to be as many bad players cold
calling and chasing lately, and there is certainly more pre-flop raising
going on. But I seem to be getting unlucky as well. All my big hands seem
to be when I’m first in, allowing everyone to fold. I guess we’ll have to
wait and see
Week 24
What a great weekend for sports watching. Exciting finishes to the
baseball 1st round and both the Cubs and Red Sox advance. The 2 NFL games
I saw, the Bills won in overtime and the unbelievable comeback by
Indianapolis last night against Tampa. And the disappointment of the
Women’s world cup where my Canadian girls led with only 11 minutes left
before giving up 2 late goals to lose 2-1. They’ll play the US for 3rd
place. And this week the participatory sports start in our family. Hockey
for my oldest boy, and indoor soccer for my younger 2 kids. And Curling
season begins for me tonight.
Because I watched the women’s soccer on Sunday night I got a late start at
Poker. I played for around 3 hours and had a break even night, with a big
win on my lone Party table, but losses at Empire. I’m surprised how often
I’m losing big at a table lately, but I think it indicates that it’s not
bad play that’s killing me. You don’t lose 200 or 300 dollars at one 3/6
table because of a few bad starting hands. You’re losing some big pots and
that’s what seems to keep happening to me. Monday afternoon started out
slowly and I was down $200 very quickly, but then I ran real hot and
posted a $350 win. Unfortunately I slumped again in the evening and lost
$100 of it back. So up $250 for the 2 days.
Curling will cut into my playing time on Tuesday nights. I’ll have to see
if I will try to make up the missed hours somewhere else. I do think it’s
important for me to keep some semblance of my real life though and keep
participating in these activities. For those of you not familiar with
curling, it’s played on ice, but not on skates, and 40 lb stones are
thrown from one end of the ice to the other, trying to get them closest to
a target. Two teams of 4 players each take turns throwing and one team
scores in each “end”. We play 8 ends (competitive competitions play 10
ends) and it takes 2 hours to play. We then retire to the lounge for a
beverage or three and generally have a good time. It’s not a physically
demanding sport, but I will be sore in the legs (hopefully not the knee)
tomorrow. I play with 3 guys who have been friends since we were teenagers
and it’s something I look forward to. Once upon a time we were pretty
good, playing at a provincial level, but that was a long time ago. We are
however one of the best teams in our club, winning 3 club championships in
a row, but losing in the semi-finals last year.
I keep reviewing my results looking for some indication as to why I’m
struggling so much lately. When I started this experiment in April I was
winning usually 5 or 6 days each week. That was back in April/May when
Paradise had promotions running for the WSOP and the games were very soft.
In June I started losing more and not coincidentally the games were
tougher as the promotions ended. So I switched to Party where I won for 21
days straight in very soft games. Then I introduced Paradise back into the
mix and started struggling again, but almost exclusively at Paradise. I
was still winning 5 or 6 days of the week at Party. So I dropped Paradise
for Empire, but I have continued to struggle. I’m still winning but at a
much reduced rate. In the 14 days since I started playing 4 tables full
time I have 7 wins and 7 losses at Party, and 6 wins and 8 losses at
Empire. Fortunately the wins are usually bigger than the losses but I’m
not sure I can ignore the implications. Is the 4th table killing me, or is
this a normal fluctuation that I should have expected? I can’t ignore the
possibility for much longer.
I’m glad curling started again. When I went out Tuesday night I realized
that since soccer ended in August I really haven’t been doing anything
except play poker. It was good to get out into civilization again. We won
our game and I played pretty well. My legs are a little sore but not too
bad.
I had a good day on Tuesday winning $420 in the afternoon, but losing a
little Tuesday night to end the day up $385. I had a horrible run on my
single Party table in the evening, losing $350 on the one table. I won
only 3% of my 350 hands played. It was unbelievable. Good hand after good
hand cracked. Fortunately I ran well enough on the other tables to almost
break even for the session. Wednesday was more of the same, all day. I won
nicely on the Empire tables but lost big at Party. Playing 1 party table I
have rebought 8 times in 3 sessions. I ended Wednesday down $40 because of
the $460 loss at Party. It was a very disappointing finish to the evening
as I had been up over $750 on the Empire tables at one point before
running really bad in the last 2 hours. I’m up $580 for the week.
The mood is not too good in the davidross household right now. My wife has
been working a lot of nights and is sleep deprived. She is stressed about
her performance review that will be given at the end of this work term
next week. And for the first time since I started this experiment I had
trouble sleeping last night. I’m very worried about the lack of results
lately. I still have some hope for a rebound, but I’m really not all that
confident right now. I can’t keep blaming bad cards, although with simply
break even results on my single Party table the last 2 days I’d be having
a very good week. My $40/hr times have certainly gone, and even $25/hr
looks good right now. It is probably time to make some phone calls about
full time employment again. I won’t be able to last too long making $600 /
week.
I got my first rake rebate payment. I have 7 days played in September and
I received $178. That will mean close to $800 / month if I keep playing at
the same rate. I also signed myself up as an affiliate at both Party and
Empire. A few people had asked if I was an affiliate so I decided to go
ahead in case anyone else asks in the future. If you haven’t tried Party
or Empire yet, I’ll be pleased to enroll you and give you back 75% of your
rake rebates.
I downloaded the demo of poker tracker and loaded the 1000 hands it lets
you load without buying it. I just can’t decide if I will really use the
results when I play or not. I’m an information junkie so you would think I
would. Does anyone know whether you can auto download from 2 sites at the
same time? I liked that feature, I will never remember to ask for hand
histories every 100 hands, and I set it up to down load from Empire, but I
missed the Party hands.
The perils of multiple tables. I don’t believe I’ve ever done this before.
I arrange my tables so all 4 are on the screen at once. On the 2 tables on
the left of my screen I was dealt K9s and KK at the same time. I was
folding a hand on the right side of the screen and came back to raise my
KK. Whoops, I raised the K9s, and got called in 3 places. Check fold on
the flop and $6 wasted.
KK was my hand last night, and it seemed I needed to make a set to win.
One hand I had KK against 2 players, and they both had AA. I made a lot of
sets last night though and most of them held up, which makes it even more
difficult to accept a losing night.
In this hand I had K5s in the BB. There was an EP raise and 2 cold calls
so I called too. Flop was Kc 6c 3d. I checked to see what was out there
and the raiser bet out. He was raised by MP and a fold on the button. I
should fold here but I decided to see the turn with the diamond on board
plus the chance of hitting my kicker. I think I’m doing too much chasing
lately trying to hit big hands. This is a pretty lame play. Turn was the
Th, and I check folded to the MP bet. After the river 9d, the MP won with
K2!!!! I would have chopped, but still think I played it poorly.
Capped on every street…until I was winning. I have KK again, utg this time
and I raise. I get 3 bet in EP and capped by the BB. I call and so does
EP. Flop is Ks Qs Td. Sure looks good to me, and I’ll probably get lots of
action, but I sure don’t want to see a 9 or A. BB bets, and I raise. EP 3
bets again, and BB caps it. We both call. Okay, I have some concern about
AJ, but there’s a very good chance QQ or TT are out there, plus AK or even
just a spade draw with a J. Turn is the 3d. Same action. BB bets, I raise,
EP 3 bets and BB caps. Someone is out of line here. AJ must be out there
as the possibility of KK has to have entered their minds, but what does
the other guy have? River is the beautiful Qc. Although QQ is one of the
hands I thought was out there, I bet following the BB check. I get called
by both. Phew. AJ was in EP and Ts 9s in the BB. Can’t say I like the way
he played that.
Maybe all I have to do is complain. After worrying so much on Wednesday
night, I finally had a few days of good results. Thursday I managed to win
$380, most of it in the afternoon, and Friday was another $320 win. Last
night I posted another $270 win despite losing over $100 on each of 2
tables, I had big wins on the other 2. In fact I have now had 6 straight
winning days on the Empire account which should be the best indicator of
my results since it’s ¾ of my play. I’ve ended the week ahead $1,550.
Amazingly it’s the first time in 13 weeks I have made between 1,000 and
2,000 dollars. Every other week has been over $2,000, or under $1,000.
I have tightened up considerably lately in reaction to the games being
tougher. I’m using my 5/10 strategy now in the 3/6 games. The adjustments
include;
1) Not playing ATo or KQo from the 1st 2 positions.
2) Limping with AJo in EP.
3) Dropping pairs 66 and under and suited connectors below T9 unless I
have 2 limpers ahead of me.
Every once in a while I find myself in a game more like the old 3/6 games
and then I will revert to the looser style of play. It feels so good to
actually win for a few days in a row. My concentration has been better and
so has my patience. Of course it’s easier when all your good hands aren’t
getting cracked.
The Canadian girls were beat by a very strong US team for 3rd place
yesterday, but they achieved beyond all expectations. Watch out for them
in 2007 and at the Olympics next year. My daughter’s indoor team lost
their first game and they don’t look very strong. This will be a new
experience for her as she has lost less than 10 times in 3 years of soccer
combined.
Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend, we are having good friends over for
turkey tonight. That usually involves some alcohol being consumed..ok a
lot of alcohol. I am seriously considering taking a day off from poker.
We’ll see how it goes. Maybe I’ll just watch basebrawl. I’ll never forget
Pedro throwing Zimmer to the ground.
I don’t usually do this. I open raised in LMP with AJo. I get cold called
by a suspected bad player in LP and everyone else folded. Flop comes T 7 4
with 2 diamonds. I bet and he calls. Turn is an offsuit 7. I bet and he
calls again. River is a Kd putting the possible flush on the board.
Normally I won’t bet this river against a bad player for 2 reasons.
1) he won’t fold anything better than me
2) He won’t remember my bluff later and pay me off on a good hand.
But I bet this river anyway. He called and I assumed I was beat. I was
shocked to see the chips sliding my way. He had A8o. I liked him in my
game.
Playing a semi-bluff very aggressively.
I am in the SB with T9o. 3 people limp and I call too. BB gets the free
play. First a little history. BB is one of about 5 players I have flagged
who seem to try and push me around. I admittedly play a little weak tight
and can be quick to laydown a hand against normal players who show a lot
of strength. Pretty good hands too. So these players quite often raise me
no matter what. They 3 bet my raises, and raise my bets post-flop. They
are also quick to fold if I fire back. I think I use this to my advantage.
In this hand the flop came 8 7 7 giving me the open ended draw plus 2
overcards. I bet out and the BB raised me. For anyone who watches me, I
also bet out with trips from the blinds almost all the time. We get one
cold caller and I 3 bet. I will 3 bet this one against 2 players all the
time, and against this particular player I would do it no matter what with
my hand, but against a normal player, heads up I would just call and draw
here. BB folds, as I thought he might, but LP calls. Turn was a Q. I bet
and he called again. The board was rainbow so he’s not on a flush draw.
River is a 3h. I bet again and he folded. Phew. Pretty nice pot.
Here’s what I mean by Weak tight. I open raised in MP with ATo and
everyone behind me calls. Yikes. 5 of us see the scary flop of Ks Qh Ts. I
have no spades. The blinds check to me and I check too. There is no way
this flop missed everyone. It gets checked behind me too. Turn is 6c.
Again it gets checked around. River is the 8s. Checked again to the button
who bets. The BB calls him and I fold. I would have called the button but
with 2 of them in I’m sure someone has a Q or weak K. Oops. Button had 44
and BB had T9. $40 went the wrong way.
Let’s hope for another strong week.
Week 25
Where has the time gone? I am 2 weeks shy of 6 months of playing full
time. I‘ve already made over $30,000, but I can’t get over the feeling
that it’s been really tough lately. Maybe I’m just spoiled by some of the
great weeks I had. It’s going to be hard to get my usual number of hours
in for the next 2 weeks. Monday was a holiday for us here in Canada, so I
skipped my usual afternoon hours, and I got late starts on both Sunday and
Tuesday because of a dinner party on Sunday, and a 9:00 PM curling game on
Tuesday. It’s tough when real life gets in the way of Poker.
I started the week off in fine fashion with a $330 win Sunday night in
just 4 hours of play. My good run from the previous week continued and my
big hands held up nicely. Then Monday, nothing went right. Again it was
just an evening session, around 5 hours, and I gave back Sundays winnings
with a $328 loss. It could have been much worse. I was down as much as
$450 at one point. Tuesday was like the two previous days packed into one.
In the afternoon I played less than 3 hours and won $250, and in the
evening I played 3 more and gave back $60.
I guess no matter how much you play you continue to see things you’ve
never seen before. On Sunday night I made sets on 3 consecutive hands at
the same table. I lost the first two to rivered straights that weren’t
obvious, paying off a river raise. Quite expensive. Then on the 3rd hand I
mad a set of 5’s but had to check the river when the board ended up Q 9 5
9 Q. By far the scariest board of the 3, but my hand was good.
Unfortunately I checked the river and certainly didn’t make enough to
cover the other 2 losses. Then last night I joined a table, posted in the
cut off and was dealt KK. I lost to 94s when a 4 came on the river to give
him 2 pair. Very next hand I get KK again. I raised first in and won only
the blinds. Next hand brings KK again. I think it’s over 8 million to 1
against this happening. This time I did get called and my hand held up
giving me a $7 profit from my triple crown!!!
On the plus side I have noticed more bad play in the last week than I had
seen for a while. This hand is pretty strange. I open raise in EP with As
Kd. I get 3 bet in MP and the CO caps it. BB calls and so do I. Flop is Qc
Td 8s. We check to the CO who bets. Everyone calls. Turn is the 6c. Again
checked to the CO, who bets, and again we all call. River is 5s and this
time it’s checked around. I am shocked to see the chips coming my way, and
hear the fireworks going off (I love that sound). BB had KJo. MP 3 bettor
had A4s, and CO 4 bettor had A9o. I made a fair bit of money off those 2
over the next hour. This next hand is an example.
Same guys, I get AQo in EP and I open raise. Both the guys from the
previous hand cold call me. (They’re play might be getting worse
actually). BB plays too. Flop is A 7 2 rainbow. I bet and they both call.
Turn is a Q, and only the MP calls this time. River is a 5 and I bet and
get raised this time. Knowing how he likes his Aces, I’m thinking this is
A5 and not a slowplayed set, so I 3 bet and he just calls. He had A9!!! I
love this guy.
I’m taking my 2 boys to see David Copperfield tonight. My younger son is
crazy about magic. I bought him a few tricks from a magic store in Vegas
on my only trip there a few years ago, and he’s been hooked. I hear this
show is very good. It’s a 6:00 PM show so my hours playing shouldn’t be
affected. And in case anyone is interested we lost our curling game last
night ending the undefeated season very early. It doesn’t look too good
for the Cubbies / Red Sox Series everyone outside of New York and Florida
is hoping for. I can’t believe Boston isn’t going to pitch Pedro today,
but maybe they’re going to spring him at the last minute.
Well I’ve just finished the worst poker day of my career. The only spot of
hope is that I finished strongly. I played a long (for me) afternoon
session of about 4 ½ hours and lost $480. I then took my boys to the magic
show, which they loved, but I was a bit disappointed in, and came home to
just keep on losing. I was down well over $1,000 at one point, before
winning a bit after 2:00 AM to finish down only $788 for the day. I even
played a 5/10 Party game to try and change my luck, but dropped $300
there. The really frustrating thing was I got great cards. I won 10% of my
hands played which is high for me, and I saw less than 25% of the flops.
But I won only small pots, and got rivered time and time again. It’s just
so expensive to build the pots when you’re ahead just to see the river
that you know beats you, but facing a $100 pot for 1 more bet you call
anyway. I’m now down over $500 for the week. Yuck.
I don’t know what to do during these bad spells. Everyone has suggestions,
like change tables or limits, but as long as I’m not playing badly, and I
don’t think I was, I believe you just have to put in the hours. They say
adversity builds character, well today I’m quite a character. I hope it
translates into a winning streak as good as yesterday was bad. I’m due to
have a whole lot of hands hold up. I had KK vs AA 3 times, and against AK
twice, and lost all 5. I wouldn’t mind being on the other side of that one
today. I also flopped a set with Presto (55) against AA and QQ, only to
have the Q spike on the end. That one got expensive. Twice I got AA in the
BB and had the entire field fold to me. Sigh!
Sometimes you get a feeling. You know the flush card is going to come, or
that the board is going to pair. Probably when you’re wrong, you just
forget that you had the feeling and move on, but when you’re right, you
think, “Wow, I knew that was going to happen”. After the horrible day
Wednesday, I was eager to start again on Thursday. I knew, I mean I really
knew I was going to have a big day. Here is the very first hand I played.
I post in the cut off with T6o. One limper to me and I check. Button and
SB both call and 5 of us see the flop. Flop is A T 6. EP bets out. No
fooling around, this is the start of my big day and I raise. Everyone
folds back to EP who calls. Turn is another T filling me. He checks, I bet
and he calls. River is ………….an A. Doh! He bets, and I probably was pretty
safe folding but I guess I had to see it. I called and he showed A9 and
took my pot. I thought “here we go again”.
However in this case I was right. I got ahead almost right away and stayed
there. I was up around $350 for the afternoon, and another $500 + in the
evening to finish ahead $866 for the day. That leaves me ahead $281 for
the week. It looks like another bad week, but considering I have $1,100 in
losses over 2 days, a nice comeback. In one hand I made the nut full house
against a smaller full house, and a flush. We got it capped 3 ways on the
turn and the river.
I guess there must be something to those Major League Baseball Jinxes. The
Cubs and Red Sox lost in such improbable manners and totally spoiled the
playoffs for me. I have zero interest in watching the Yankees and the
Marlins play. I don’t think the Marlins have a chance now. They have 1
great arm that might just be all used up.
I found this hand interesting. I wonder how everyone else plays this. A
good player (Acesdad) open raises in MP. Everyone folds to me and I have
As 8s. In any position except the button I fold this. ATs or higher I
would play, but on the button there are some hands I play just for the
reason that I can expect to get the last bet if I make my hand. Curious if
others call raises with suited Aces? Two other things to consider. I know
how well he plays, because he plays very similar to me, and by that I mean
I don’t expect him to make many plays against me. So if I get 3 bet I can
safely lay it down. On the other hand, I’m playing under my Empire alias.
He knows me well as davidross, but may not know much about this ID. I
don’t know if that will affect his play. Both blinds fold and we’re heads
up. Flop comes 8c 6c 3h. He bets and I just call. Turn is 6d. He bets and
I call again. River is the Th and he checks. I bet and he pays me off with
his AQs. I didn’t raise because I’m almost positive he will fold if he has
the reverse dominated hand I think he has. I’m assuming AK. For the risk
of giving him his 3 outer I get an extra bet. If he has the big pair I get
3 bet, probably call and see the turn then fold saving a bet. I think
there are more unpaired hands he would play than paired, so I chose to
just call down, and bet if he checks. Comments?
So another disappointing week comes to a close. Friday was a mediocre win
of $208, after a small afternoon loss, but Saturday night was the same
old, getting down over 250 in the first hour, fighting back slowly all
night only to lose a horrible hand to a river gutshot and then never
recovering to finish down $144 for the night. That gave me a very small
win of $335 for the week. Better than losing I guess but not much of a
salary. I haven’t had a losing week in 16 weeks now, but I’m only
averaging $700 / week for the last 5 weeks. I’m also disturbed that I had
3 losing days out of 7, but I really don’t see how I could have avoided
any of them. Just more evidence that although I still have an edge in
these games, it’s not as big as it used to be. I could sure use a big week
but this week will be a short one too. I’m throwing a big party fro my
wife’s 40th birthday next Saturday and my house will be full of visitors
from Thursday on. Play will be limited as the kids will all be sleeping
down here by the computer.
I had 6 or seven tables break on me last night. If two people leave or sit
out at the same time, the table will break within 4 or 5 hands it seems.
It’s crazy. I know most people don’t like to play shorthanded, but not
even waiting an orbit or two seems crazy. A lot of times they sit out to
wait and see, and I’ve been at tables with 3 of us playing and 4 or 5
sitting out. Twice I took a bathroom break and came back to find a full
table gone.
I played in a freeroll on Friday night at Party. It was No Limit and there
were 1200 players. First prize was $5,000. I lasted 16 hands. In those 16
hands I got AA, KK and QQ and lost about a 3rd of my stack on each. Two of
them to sets, and one to a full house. Kind of put an exclamation point on
my week. Big hand after big hand cracked.
I keep running into players I would describe as too loose pre-flop, but
very good post flop. I believe this is the way I used to play, and it’s
very difficult to play against, because you get caught when one of their
unusual opening hands hits. I wonder a bit if I’ve gotten too predictable
in my play now.
This whole affiliate thing is becoming a problem. I signed up as an
affiliate at Empire and Party and have had a lot of interest in the Empire
program. I know of 1 guy who has signed up and 5 or 6 others who expressed
interest. I cannot log in to see who has registered though and Empire
support has not responded to me 3 days later. I have been told (and I
believe there are entire threads in the Internet section on this) that if
I register multiple players on one tracker, I will not be able to
determine how much each has contributed, I will just be given a grand
total for that tracker. And they will not give multiple trackers any more.
Clearly they don’t want people using the bonus system the way we are using
it, but there is no logic to this. They want me(or any affiliate) to
promote the site, and will pay us by the volume, but then won’t give us
the tools to determine who is playing and who isn’t. At least at Party I
can see how many hands I have played in a given month, but Empire doesn’t
even provide this. Hopefully someone at Empire will get back to me soon (I
guess they don’t work weekends) and I can get some answers. My affiliate
informed me that my rebate is at $500 already for October.
Playing a hunch. I open raised with TT and got cold called in MP. Everyone
else folds. Flop comes J 6 4 rainbow and I bet. He raises me and I call.
Turn is an Ace and I bet. He thinks and folds. Wonder if he had a J.
Playing a draw aggressively. Maybe too aggressive. Iget a free play from
the BB with Jh Tc. 6 of us see the flop. Flop is 9d 8c 6h. I bet my open
ender / overcard hand. One caller, then a raise. One cold caller then two
folds back to me. I raise again and get one more fold and 2 more callers,
but one of them is all-in. Turn is the Qc giving me the nuts. I bet and
get called by the one person still left in the hand. River is the 2s and I
bet and get called. I’m thinking that the 2nd raise on the flop wasn’t a
good idea. I think I’m very unlikely to win this hand without making my
hand, so I should evaluate this raise as a value bet rather than including
any bluffing possibilities. I drove out one player, and lost my chance for
a turn raise. The raise probably only put $3 more in the pot, because the
player that folded probably would have called one more bet. Then I could
have chosen to raise either the turn or the river when I hit.
Good and bad with 99. The first hand started my comeback last night, while
the 2nd one signaled the end of the comeback and the start of the 2nd
slide.
Hand 1. I have 99 in MP. UTG raises and I cold call. One more cold acall
and the BB 3 bets. 4 of us see the flop for 3 bets each. Flop is K 9 9.
Wow!!! How do you milk this? BB bets out, UTG calls and I just call. Not
yet. 4th player folds. Turn is Tc. BB checks, yuck. UTG bets and I think.
I decide to wait again. I call and so does BB. River is the Jh. This could
be good. BB checks, UTG bets and I raise. BB calls 2 cold and UTG raises.
I cap it and BB folds. UTG calls. He had TT. I wonder how hard he would
have pushed if I started raising the turn and whether the BB would have
stayed.
Hand 2. I again have 99 this time on the button. We are 5 handed. UTG
raises, co folds and I 3 bet my 99. I hoped to play him heads up but the
BB calls too. Flop is the perfect As 9d 5s. Checked to me and I bet. BB
calls, and UTG raises. I smooth call(the play that costs me the pot) and
BB calls too. Turn is the Kd. Please let him have AK I’m thinking. UTG
bets and I raise. BB thinks a long time and calls. I’m thinking spades,
but why would he pause so long? UTG calls. River is the 2s. Crap. BB bets,
utg calls and I make a crying call. BB had 4d 3d for the rivered straight.
Honestly I didn’t even see the straight. A very loose cold call pre-flop,
but played properly after that I guess.
This week will mark the end of a half year. I’m trying to decide if I will
keep posting weekly after that. 6 months seems like a good time to cut it
off. I guess we’ll see.
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