Week 26
New week, same results. Started Sunday night in a big hole….again. I keep
reviewing my play to see if I’m on tilt to start as Homer once described
it, but I don’t think that’s the case. But I seem to sit down and get 3 or
4 big hands cracked right off the bat, usually on the river. Then I miss
on 3 AK’s in a row, and suddenly I’m down $150. Sunday I got down $250
before getting on a good roll. I ended up winning $160 for a decent 5 hour
session. In fact it was a great session except for 1 table where I lost
almost $400. I can never decide whether or not to leave a table where I’m
running bad even though the game is good. Even though my gut tells me I’m
snakebit, my head says “there are 3 guys here playing terribly, stick
around”, so I stay, but I never got even with the suckouts. Monday
afternoon was a disaster. I lost on all 4 tables and was down $450 heading
into the evening. I had a good evening session winning $300 of it back but
still down almost all of Sunday’s win. I’m up $12 for the week.
When I lose big like I seem to be doing every 3 or 4 days now I can’t help
but think that there is no way my bad play cost me $450. The only way you
lose that much in 3 hours is to get really bad cards, but how come I’m
getting really bad cards every 3 days? I hope this is just the opposite
end of the luck spectrum that saw me go 22 days without a loss when I
started at Party. Clearly that was a bit of a positive deviation for me,
but I wonder where the “norm” is? Back in my paradise 5/10 days I seemed
to have one bad day a week, some weeks two, and some weeks none, but never
3 until that 3 week period where I lost big time. I haven’t had 4 winning
days in a row since switching to Empire / Party full time. Although the
games are tougher, I still think they are beatable. I feel that with a
normal distribution of cards I will win at a decent rate, so I can’t help
but think I’m getting worse cards than normal right now. Maybe I’m kidding
myself, but I only have one win over $400 in October. I had 10 of them in
September (granted there were some 5/10 days in there). I can’t help but
fell I have a good run coming to me. We’ll see I guess.
I lost a best 2 out of 3 showdown with a maniac last night, that would
have put me close to even last night with just a little better luck. It
was very late and I was ready for bed, but the game was very juicy, and I
was loathe to leave it. I open raised in LP with ATo and got 3 bet by the
crazy man from the button. We saw a flop of A x x and I bet and got
raised. Turn was a K, and I check/called. River a Q and again I
check/called. He had KQ. Aaargh, A couple of hands later He raised and I
called him from the blinds with 88. I flopped my set on a A 8 7 board and
bet the flop and got raised (I expected him to raise), and then smooth
called. Turn was a 2, he bet and I raised him. River a 5 and I bet, he
raised, I 3 bet and he capped it. He had 75 and I won considerably more
than I lost to him on the previous hand. Felling pretty smug we got to our
3rd and final showdown. I have QQ and I raise 2 limpers. A cold caller
between us and he 3 bets from the blinds. I cap it and 5 of us see the
flop of J 6 2 two clubs. He bet and I raised and he 3 bet and I capped and
we were heads up going to the turn. Turn was the 7c putting a possible
flush on the board. He bet and I raised and he 3 bet and I just called. I
have the Qc. River is the Kd. He bet and I called. He had Ad Kh. Unreal. 4
outs and he played it like he had AA. I lost the tiebreaker and my will to
play any longer. I finished the orbit and went to bed. I made notes and
hope to see him again soon.
I wish I knew what he had. I have QJo in the SB. 4 limpers to me and I
complete. BB checks. Flop is J 9 5 rainbow and I bet. BB raises me and
there is one cold caller. I just call. Turn is a 4. I check and so does
the BB. Clearly the cold call worried him too. CC bets and we both call.
River is another 5. I bet by mistake. I can’t explain why, I was getting
ready to check/call but I bet. They both folded. I guess I was probably
good anyway, but I wish I knew.
An incorrect read that worked. I am UTG +1 with Jc Js when UTG raises. I 3
bet and we are heads up. Flop is As Jd 7s. He checks, I bet and he calls.
Turn is Ts. He checks, I bet and he raises. I think the T helped him, I
don’t think this is AK waiting for the turn to riase, and although he
might have a flush, Ks Qs seems to be the only likely hand for that, and I
still have outs if he does. I’m guessing AT or TT here so I 3 bet. He just
calls. River is the awful Qd. He checks. What to do. I go with my read and
I bet. I don’t think he has a K. He just calls. He has the very surprising
QTo with no spades. Phew.
Tuesday I had a great afternoon session. I was up $340 for only 2 ½ hours
of play. It looked good for one of those $400 days I’ve been missing, but
after curling Tuesday night I came home and took another beating. Dropped
$200 again to finish up only $136 to the good. Wednesday was another
fantastic afternoon session. I won $575 in another 3 hour session.
Wednesday night was a struggle, but I managed to win another $125 for a
$602 day. Man I needed that. So up $750 for the week, but it’s going to be
a short week. My wife’s birthday party is Saturday night so I won’t be
playing at all on Saturday, and we have family coming to stay starting
today, so my evening sessions will probably be limited too. Sure hope I
can have another big day today.
The Canadian dollar is at a 10 year high against the US dollar. Yuck. It
has gone up 20% since January, which means I have taken home 20% less than
I would have if it had stayed where it was. Timing is everything.
I played a hand against another 2+2’er the other day where I completely
misread the board and raised the river thinking I had made a straight. He
just called and won with his pair of Aces. I had T8s and was on the flush
draw. There was a Q and a 9 on board and when a 7 rivered for some reason
I thought my 4 card straight meant something. I’m sure he’s wondering what
the hell I was doing.
Changing tactics. I have As 6s in the SB and 4 people limp. I call and the
BB makes it 6 to the flop. Flop is Ks 8s 4d. I check, pretty sure I’ll get
a bet with the K on board. UTG bets and 1 LP call. I decide just to call
here, and try to keep the BB in. I will often raise here too. BB does
call. Turn is the 3s. Again I check, BB checks and UTG bets. Phew. I took
a chance here because I don’t think the free card will hurt me. If the 4th
spade comes on the river I won’t get any action, but I took the chance.
Right now my plan is to smooth call once more and then bet the river. LP
folds and I call. Now the BB raises!!! Change of plans. UTG calls. I think
BB must have a smaller flush. I can raise here and he’ll call down the
whole way, but what will UTG do? I decide to just call here and check
raise the river unless another spade comes, then I’ll have to bet. River
is 3d. Hmm. I hope BB isn’t on a set. I check, BB bets, UTG calls and
finally I raise. They both call. BB did have a T high flush and UTG had
the unbelievable 99.
It’s amazing too me how many times I have written something only to have
it come true right away. After complaining about the lack of $400 days I
had my 2nd in a row on Thursday, winning $464. Then after saying my
longest winning streak at Empire was 3 days, I go and win for the 4th day
in a row on Friday with a $240 win. That put me up $1,457 for the week and
left me ahead $31,882 for the 6 months now complete. I took a day off on
Saturday for the Party, my first day off since the end of June. The party
was great, but I’m paying the price today. I’m exhausted and need to have
a nap if I hope to play tonight.
I got into a stupid argument with another 2+2’er (Who didn’t know I was a
2+2’er) over one of the “Nice Chase” comments I hate so much. I don’t know
why those set me off so much, I guess it’s just the arrogance of the
person who seems to feel they deserve to win every hand they are ahead on
going into the river. I had AKs UTG and raised. He 3 bet me from the Blind
with 99. The flop was rags and he bet out. I called. Turn didn’t help he
bet and I called. River brought my card (I can’t remember if it was the A
or K) and he checked and called my bet. He hit me with the “nice chase”
comment, and I answered with “I never know how to respond to idiots who
say that”. I know I should just smile, but I knew this guy was a good
player and should know better. Well now the war of words just escalated
and the table tightened up almost immediately. Stupid on both our parts.
Of course I’m sure he folds AK every time someone in the blinds bets into
him.
Knowing your opponent. 1 MP limper to me with 99 also in MP. I limp along
too. Button raises and BB calls. Now the limper 3 bets. Uh oh. I have a
note on him and I read it. It has him limp-reraising with 53s. Hmmm. I 4
bet my 99. I’m not sure why, it was just an instinctive reaction. Both the
button and BB call. Flop is 8s 4c 2c. MP bets out, and I raise. Both the
button and BB fold. MP just calls. Turn is the Th. MP checks and calls my
bet. River is the 5c. He checks and I checked behind him. He had 8h 6h.
Oops, missed a river bet.
I think this was the right play, but ouch. I post in the cutoff and call
an MP raise with As 9s. Button calls too, and the BB calls. Flop is Ac Qd
3c. MP bets out and I raise. 2 cold calls. Uh oh. Turn is the 9c. I check
and the button bets. BB raises and MP folds. I think a long while trying
to do the math. I have 4 outs, but have to pay $12 for a pot that’s
currently got $60 in it. I folded thinking I would need a $120 pot to make
it worth while, and of course a 9 rivered. Ouch.
I will post something next Sunday, but I think the format will be a little
different. Cya at the tables.
Oh yeah, I played two people I had never seen before this week. One was
nemed the Pokerbabe, and the other Babemeister. I threw out a look god
play good comment to see if it was our babe but got no reply. I think she
plays a lot higher than that so it's probably identity theft. THe
babemeister seemd to ba a combination of Babe and Clarkmeister.
Week 27
To celebrate 6 months of playing for a living I mixed things up this week.
First of all, I didn’t make any diary updates during the week at all. I’m
writing this on Sunday morning at the end of the week. I had planned to
use the time to try and get started on putting all these updates together
into a book, but I didn’t do that either. The second change this week was
that I played most of the week at the 5/10 shorthanded tables.
Posting these weekly updates has helped me in so many ways. First of all
it has forced me to review hands and analyze my results in a much more
detailed manner than I would have otherwise. This helps my game improve.
Secondly it has raised my profile within the 2+2 community and given me
access to some truly brilliant poker minds, and some really nice people.
Fellow posters have been offering me advice on my play and many other
things during the whole 6 months. One of the most important bits of advice
was to check out Party/Empire which led me to juicier games and the
possibility of playing more than 2 tables at once. Another was to get
involved in the affiliate programs which has led to extra income. And very
recently several people have suggested I check out the 6 max games as a
better way to make money. The first person to suggest it to me as a hidden
goldmine was my buddy Soda, who urged me to keep it a secret, then he went
public anyway with his $100K in 100 days quest, so I don’t feel obligated
to keep the secret anymore. Soda’s story is truly amazing by the way, and
I’m in awe of his results. Another poster also suggested it to me and made
some very helpful suggestions on how to play these games and also asked me
to keep it quiet. There was some suggestion that my public record of
results in the 3/6 games led to those games getting tougher this summer
and there may be some truth to that, but I don’t really think so. And I
really don’t think that will happen to the shorthanded games because I can
honestly say after 1 full week of playing them that these games are not
for everyone.
In hindsight it was probably a very stupid time to try something like
this, but 6 months seemed like a perfect time to try something different
just for a change. In Soda’s defense, he told me in no uncertain terms to
start out at 1 / 2 and get my feet wet. His results were so amazing I
thought I’d check it out. On Sunday afternoon I played 2 shorthanded 1 / 2
tables for an hour and won a couple of bucks. The games were quite passive
and loose, perfect for me. I played my normal 4 3/6 games on Monday night
and won $133, making it 5 winning days in a row. There are no shorthanded
games at the 3/6 level, I had to choose from 1 / 2 and 5/10, and I
naturally decided that 1 / 2 was too low for me so I jumped right into the
5/10 game on Monday. I decided to play for an hour only and see how it
went. I should probably point out that my bankroll is at it’s lowest point
since I started 6 months ago due mostly to the cost overruns on our home
renovation, and somewhat to the slump I was in the last 6 weeks or so. So
playing higher limits at a different game was not a great idea to say the
least. Game selection, game selection.
Monday I played my normal afternoon session for 2 hours, then took a shot
at playing 3 shorthanded tables for an hour. I dropped around $100, which
is nothing at these limits. The games however were nothing like the 1 / 2
games I had sat in. They were extremely aggressive. Monday night I played
my normal games until 1:00 AM then switched again to the shorthanded
tables. I was up around $300 at 3/6 when I switched. At 3:00 AM after 2
hours I was down $1,000 at the 5/10 tables. Oh my god, what have I done?
My biggest fear about moving limits was what if you hit a bad run right
away? And here it was. I had a horrible run of cards, but I have to be
honest, I was a fish out of water in these games. The aggression on every
street had me back on my heels and I was run over a lot. But I still got
rtivered with 2 and 3 outers a lot, it was a horrible combination. Ended
the day down $767 (thank god I won at 3/6) and had a tough decision to
make. DO I just eat the loss or try to get it back? I decide to give it
the rest of the week to see if I could play this game. I discussed
strategy with soda and my other shorthanded friend, and made some
adjustments to my game. My beloved baby pairs and suited connectors went
into the waste basket. There is very little room to limp in these games.
Every time I limp someone raises. Mind you every time I raise someone 3
bets it seems. I was clearly marked right away as fresh meat and I had to
fight back. Tuesday was a little better, I only lost $230, but I could
honestly see an improvement in my play. I stood my ground better and
didn’t get pushed around too much. I found that sometimes I was getting 3
bet and raised on the flop with hands like 75s. I can only imagine what
they thought of my play…”Just raise him, he’s gonna fold unless he makes
trips or better”. Wednesday, I lost only $86. I’m playing 2,500 hands a
day because of the increased speed of these games, so I now had a
significant number of hands played. I can’t blame bad cards anymore, I’m
improving, but still losing steadily. Another set of questions to soda and
some good answers. I’m now playng very tight, and very aggressive. If
nothing else comes out of this I am going to be much better in the blinds
when I go back to full ring games. That has to be the worst part of my
game, and you use it all the time shorthanded. Thursday was wonderful. I
got good cards and played them well. I won $758. Friday was more of the
same. The bullies have started to back off, and it’s just the maniacs
taking shots at me now. I can handle them. I won another $746. Saturday I
didn’t play a whole lot but won a tiny $74 on a night where I took some
horrific beats, and made 3 bad plays. Ended the week up $628, but on a
high.
So what do I do now? I’m not sure. First off, I’m not recommending
shorthanded to anyone. The people who have a natural gift to play them
probably already know about them. My natural “weak-tight” game that serves
me so well in the loose/passive ring games just gets killed shorthanded. I
suspect a lot of other posters will be in the same boat. Playing that many
more hands though makes it possible to win more if you play well. I seem
to have made good adjustments to my game, so maybe I should give it
another week to try it out. I’ll decide tonight I guess. If nothing else,
the improvement in my blind play will have made this week worthwhile. Of
course in the regular 3/6 game I don’t get that many opportunities to use
it. The wisest course of action for me will be to wait for January when my
wife is working and try it out then, or at least try 5/10 ring games
again. I’m not sure I’m that wise though.
In other news, I received 2 inquiries about full time employment this
week, but at ridiculous low salaries. Makes the decision easy I guess.
Nowhere near what I’m making online.
I went back and reviewed some of my early posts from this adventure. Boy a
lot has changed in 6 months. This has been a real adventure. I am so glad
I did it. I had a great summer and it made it easy for my wife to abandon
her babies (that’s how she feels) since I was at home. Playing poker has
never felt like a job even though I’m playing every day. I just love the
lifestyle. Having said that, I don’t think I’d recommend it to anyone.
Unless you are absolutely sure you’d like to do it, and are capable of
doing it, you probably aren’t. I’m certainly under more stress than I’ve
ever been before, and that’s sure not for everyone. The emotional lows
when you’re running bad take a toll in your personal life too. You need to
have the discipline to play the hours you need to play, even if you don’t
feel like it, although I rarely didn’t feel like it.
I had two hf the worst beats I’ve ever had within 2 hours last night. I
had AA on a flop of Q66. I had raised pre-flop and 3 of us saw the flop.
They both called my flop bet. When my A turned I bet, and only one of them
called. Another Q rivered, and he bet out. I raised, he 3-bet and I
capped. He had 66. Later I had KK on a board of A44. My K turned and I
thought I was saved. We capped the turn, and another A rivered. His A7
took me down.
This hand was wild. 4 people, each slowplaying at one time or another. I
am utg and limp with KK, hoping to 3 bet(Slow play1). LP poster checks
with J3o. Button calls with A8s and BB just checks with AA (Don’t ask me
why)(SP 2). Flop comes down J88. BB checks his rockets(SP3) and I bet my
cowboys. Poster calls with his pair of J’s, and button just calls his trip
8’s. (SP4). Turn is another J. Rockets check. I check. Jacks full check
(SP5), and now 8’s full bet. BB calls, I call and J’s full just calls
(SP6). River is a 4, and it gets checked around (SP7). This may be the
worst played hand I’ve ever been a part of.
I mentioned earlier I made 3 bad plays last night. They cost me around
$300. Twice I folded on the river when I thought my draw had missed. The
first was an AQ hand I raised pre-flop and got 3 callers. Flop was AT8. I
bet and got called twice. Turn was a 9, and I was bet into. I raised and
got 3 bet by a very good player. The other player called and I thought for
a minute and folded. The 2 of them went to showdown and the 3 bettor won
with AJ. Argh. I had only seen him make turn raises with trips or better.
Later on I did it again when flopped an open ended flush draw with QTs on
a KJx board, two of my suit. I got caught in a raising war with 2 other
guys. They capped the flop which I didn’t mind, but when a brick turned
They 3 bet it again. A Q rivered, and when there was a bet and a call
ahead of me I folded, only to see AJ beat J9. My Q would have been good.
Aaargh. Finally I broke a cardinal rule by slowplaying in a big pot. I
raised AQ and got 3 bet from the blinds. 4 of us saw the flop so the pot
is already big. Flop came down AQ8. 3 bettor bets out and I decide to wait
for the turn and smooth call my top 2. One other player called. Turn was a
T. Again he bet and again I just called hoping to keep the 3rd player in.
He folded. Oh well, I’ll raise the presumed AK on the river. River is a J.
Oh crap. Now a lot of hands beat me. He bets and I just call. He has 99.If
I raise the flop that pot is mine. Probably raising the turn wins it.
Aaaaaaaaaargh.
Week 28
Well it was a very interesting week around here, both poker and non-poker
related. Even semi-poker related. I received a call from a guy I
contracted for before. He has a client looking for someone with my skill
set for a contract of indeterminate length. It would be contract dollars
and American dollars because the contract is in Seattle. It’s the Sound
Transit authority who need help and they have the software I specialize
in. I have a telephone interview with them for next week. With my wife now
working out of the home though, traveling will be a big issue for us. I’ll
have to hear how good the offer is and see fi it’s worth the disruption.
When I traveled before I had a stay at home wife and I never had to worry
about these things. I guess I’ll know more next week.
The semi-poker related happening was a request for an interview I received
from a free-lance journalist doing a piece on the popularity of on-line
poker and asked if he could talk to me. He’s read the postings I’ve made
here. I figure anything that might make the games more popular has to help
all of us so why not. Just wondering if I should allow my real name to be
used or not.
The poker this week was very good. Wild, but good. I decided to give the
shorthanded games one more week and I’m glad I did. I ended the week up
$1,913 playing 4 5/10 6-max tables each day. I also got my affiliate
payment for October and it was almost the same amount. That’s a nice
monthly bonus. I think it’s ear-marked for Christmas presents.
I started with a wild night on Sunday where I was up $600 in the first
hour, down as much as $700 after midnight, and up $211 again when I quit
at 4:00 AM. I was running so well at quitting time that I stayed up
another hour. Monday was a huge day, where I won $830 for my 5th straight
winning day shorthanded after I lost the first 4 days I tried it. Tuesday,
my bubble burst and I lost $974, in very little playing time. I think I
only played 5 hours, and I got crushed every time I made a hand. Wednesday
was easily the wildest day I’ve ever had. On my single Party table I lost
$974. It was rebuy after rebuy. But on the 3 Empire tales I won $1,940
giving me my first 1K day since early July. The Party losses caused a
potential problem. Because I’ve been withdrawing from my Party account in
order to build up the Empire account, I almost tapped out on Party. I
guess It wouldn’t be a disaster, but the thought of buying chips on my
credit card is awful. It seems to take 2 or 3 days to get from Empire to
Neteller so I would have to use the card or only play 3 tables if I tapped
out. I was down to under $400 at Party. Fortunately it didn’t come to that
as I won steadily at Party for the rest of the week. Thursday was
amazingly quiet compared to the early part of the week. I was never up
more than $300, and never down at all. I won $247. Friday was another
losing day, getting down a lot early, and finishing well to only lose
$357. That left me $950 ahead for the week, hardly amazing, and very
similar to my 3/6 results of late. It had me wondering a lot whether or
not to stick with the shorthanded play or not. Then Saturday I had a rush.
I won $948, winning on every table I played. It feels very nice to have a
big week again. I will give it another try this week.
I would still hesitate to recommend the short handed game to everyone.
Same reasons as last week. While I always suggested the 3/6 full games
were beatable by any 2+2 reader, I don’t think that’s true about the 5/10
games. The concentration required for multiple games is intense. Even
playing 4 full ring games, I could keep track of what was on TV. The
baseball playoffs, or Monday night football for example. With the
shorthanded games I just don’t notice anything. I have to take frequent
breaks too. Every hour at least I get up and sit out an orbit or two and
just walk around. The swings in fortune can be very tilt-inducing, and
although I have seen more horrible players than normal, heads up it can be
terrifying to play someone who plays anything and raises with it. I also
find myself playing 2 hands at once more often then I did before, and it
means I’m slow on one of the tables. That usually annoys the other
players, which is never good. But, if I disregard the first 4 days I
played, when I was still trying to figure out how to play, I’ve won $3,500
in 10 days.
How great is this? I’m in the SB with 77 and there are 2 limpers to me. I
limp and the BB plays. Flop is Kd 7d 7h. Wow! Now what. I check and cross
my fingers. The button bets and I just call. BB folds, but utg plays too.
Turn is 9d. Flush is there. I check again and again the button bets. I
decide to try and keep the utg in and just call. Utg calls too. River is
the 8d. I hope the A is out there and I finally bet my quads. UTG raises
me. Yes! Button 3 bets. Woo Hoo!! I cap and they both call. Utg had Ad Jx
and my just calling kept him in. Button had 88 and rivered the full house.
Again an early raise probably knocks him out too. Nice $183 pot.
When do you believe your KK is beat? I have red Kings in the BB and there
is an EP raise. I 3 bet and he caps. Flop is Qh 6h 2c. I check, he bets
and I raise. He 3 bets and I just call. Turn is 8h and I fire out again. I
get raised again. I just call. River is 4h, I bet again and now he just
calls. He did have AA, no heart and I stole one. I guess I just check/call
the river if the heart doesn’t come, I’m just wondering how many times I
have to be told I’m beat before I believe it. I was never folding though.
Same situation. I limp with Kh Jd after 1 limper, and the button raises.
Both blinds call and 5 of us see the flop. Flop is Ks 8s 4d. Checked to me
and I bet. Button raises. SB calls 2 and BB and EP fold. I was very
tempted to fold here. I’m probably drawing to 3 J’s, maybe 2 if one of
them is on spades. But these games are so aggressive it’s hard to fold top
pair anytime. So I called. Turn is the 5c. Button bets and we both call.
River is the 7c and again the button bets. SB raises making my decision
easy for me. I fold and button calls. Button had AK, but SB had 64o
hitting his straight. These are the situations I didn’t find myself in
very often in full ring games, but I seem to find them a lot shorthanded.
And I’m calling down too often I think for fear of being run over.
Using my table image. I am doing a lot more of this than ever before. I
think you have to in these games. I have Tc Jc utg and I just limp. Only
the 2 blinds call. Flop is 7c 4d 2s. BB bets out. He is red hot and has
been running the table. He has also made comments on everyone else’s play,
and I know he thinks I’m a rock. I call with my overcard-backdoor flush
combo. He would play just about anything here and I think my call will ake
him nervous. SB folds. Turn is another 7. He bets again and I raise. He
bullet folds. Sweet. I think doing this occasionally is important to
maximize my image.
I have decided that the turn check-raise may be the most powerful play in
poker. Almost always, the player will call down afterwards. I don’t know
if it’s anger at getting raised or what, but I do it too. Usually player 1
bets the flop and player 2 calls. Then player 1 checks the turn and player
2 bets. Player 1 now raises and you know he’’s got a big hand. But player
2 will call the turn bet and also the river bet. I’ve rarely seen this as
a bluff, but it works almost every time. I’ve used it several times this
week when flopping monsters. Raising with position never seems to work as
well, quite often there is a fold, but I’ve seen some horribly week hands
call down the check-raise.
This phenomenon killed me in this hand. I have 5c 4c in the SB and the
button limps. I call and the BB checks. Flop is 7 6 3 rainbow, giving me
the nuts. I bet out, BB folds, and the button calls with Td 8d. Turn is an
Ace and I check. He bluff bets and I check-raise him. If you’re in you’re
right mind you fold here, and he’s a good player. But he called. River is
a 9. I bet and he raises me. I figure he’s made 2 pair and 3-bet and he
caps. It worked out almost exactly as I wanted it to. He stayed for no
logical reason other than we hate folding to check-raises. Sigh.
Another example of the odd play (to me anyway, I never played like this
full table) in shorthanded games. I open raise with Ks Js. BB calls. Flop
is As 8d 3h. BB bets out. Some of these guys will bet any flop, especially
if it has an A or a pair. Normally this is an easy fold but I called. Turn
is 7s giving me the flush draw and he bet again. I raised and he folded.
Wow.
Have a good week.
Week 29
Another week spent playing 4 5/10 shorthanded games with pretty good
results. I still haven’t decided if the results are good because of the
higher stakes or the fewer players. I spent fewer hours playing this week
than any other week except my vacation for various reasons. The week
started extremely well. I won $475 on Sunday night, and had a so-so day on
Monday when I won another $267. Then on Tuesday night I had the most
amazing session. I curled late, and only got home after midnight with a
couple of beers in me. I was feeling quite tired but decided to play a
short while anyway. By 1:00 AM I was up $1,170, and I went to bed. It was
just incredible. I got big pairs and they held up, I flopped draw after
draw and they all came in. My AK hands all hit on the river making the
pots bigger and just like that I was up over $1,900 for the week.
Wednesday was yet another winning day, 5 in a row now and a soled $552
went into the bank. It had me dreaming of a $3,000 week, and of course
that was the kiss of death. Thursday was my first loss in a while, $212 in
another short seeion. I took the afternoon off to take my daughter to the
Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, an annual event for the 2 of us. The big
highlight is the horse show in the evening, but we saw a 1,200 lb pumpkin
and a 12 foot long zucchini too. On Friday the bottom fell out. After a
slight win in the afternoon, I got a late start to my evening session
because my daughter needed to work on the computer. In just 4 hours I lost
$931. The exact opposite of the great session on Tuesday. Big pairs
cracked on the river, draws missing, and my opponents getting their cards
on the river. A small win on Saturday of $263 put me up $1,583 for the
week.
I played fewer hours for a number of reasons. My afternoon sessions are
getting chopped up because of family commitments. My daughter needs a ride
at 12:45 each day, and my son needs one at 3:00. So it seems I don’t start
until after 1:00 most days and I lose a half hour driving, so instead of
3-4 hours I was playing before, I’m only playing 2-3. Then I lost some
evening time to curling and late starts and I think I probably only played
30 hours this week.
I now have 3 weeks of shorthanded 5/10 in, with a total win of $4,100. The
last 3 weeks I had playing full 3/6 tables I won $3,300. I can’t really
make any conclusions yet. Would I get the same results out of 4 full 5/10
games just because of the increase in stakes? Or are the shorthanded games
the reason I’m doing better? I’m tempted to play some full 5/10 games and
see how that goes, but I think I’ll play at least one more week of
shorthanded games.
Sleep is an elusive state lately. The usual day for me has me going to bed
after 3:00 AM, and it has been more like 4:00 AM lately. I get up at 7:30
and make breakfast and lunch for the kids, then I drive them to school for
8:30. My oldest son broke his foot on the day of my wife’s birthday party.
He was fooling around on a swing we have in our Maple tree with his
cousins, and he jumped form a height, and landed on a rake. He rolled over
on the ankle and came limping in. We had a house full of people and a
party starting in a couple of hours, so we basically ignored him, told him
to put some ice on it and be tough. When he still couldn’t put any weight
on it 2 days later we finally went for an x-ray and of course it was
broken. There goes our parent of the year award for this year. He’s on
crutches for 8 weeks now and I have to drive him to and from school each
day. I come home, check my e-mails and write for a little bit then try and
sleep until noon. For some reason lately I’ve been having some trouble
getting to sleep though. Early in the morning my head is still whirling
from the games, and the shorthanded games seem to take me longer to come
down from then the full table games did. The end result is I need another
nap in the afternoon or early evening, and almost every night I fall
asleep with my 8 year old, after we read a story and turn out the light.
Saturday and Sunday I have to get up early to drive my daughter to her job
and I think it’s been 2 months since I last slept for 7 straight hours.
I’m not sure if that’s healthy.
I have a telephone interview set up for Monday night with the people in
Seattle about the contract. I’m not sure what I’m hoping for there. IF the
money is good I’ll take it, but if it’s just average it’ll be a tough
decision. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.
I was explaining something to my wife about poker the other day and I
surprised myself. Playing 5/10 the number of hours I play, I was telling
her how important it is to make one extra bet that your opponent wouldn’t
make in the same position. That 1 extra bet, either made or saved works
out to 1 extra bet per 300 hands (around 75 hands per hour on 4 tables),
and makes a $20,000 difference per year. 20 GRAND!!! From 1 extra bet per
hour. That’s huge. That’s worth grinding for and reminds me not to piss
away bets on silly chases. Surely I can find 1 extra bet per 300 hands.
Something to strive for.
I’m playing so many hands I guess the unusual is just a mathematical
certainty at some point. I flopped a straight flush this week. I held Td
9d and the flop came Kd Qd Jd. I got 3 way action too since the Ad was
out. When a diamond rivered I raised and amazingly the Ad didn’t cap it.
No pair on the board, he actually thought I might have the straight flush.
Oh well. I flopped a full house on two consecutive hands with 44 in the
hole both times. Same guy paid me off both times too. Pretty rare.
Skip this paragraph if you’re looking for poker content. I just want to
write something about my eldest daughter. We’re having a difficult time
right now academically. She and I have always been very close. We are so
alike, yet very different. She is extremely intelligent, yet struggles in
school. I always found school easy, and was able to get by doing a minimum
of work. My report cards were always good, but suffixed with the comments,
“not working up to potential”. She is following in my footsteps, but her
marks are far worse than mine. I’m very concerned that she won’t be able
to get into University (She would start in the fall of 2005) if she
doesn’t get her act together. Her latest report card came home this week
and that’s what has raised the issue again. I’m not just being one of
those parents who think their kid is better or smarter than they really
are. We’ve had 4 of them and I can recognize the differences. She knew all
her letters and numbers, and was speaking in sentences at 16 months. At 4,
she could read and calculate that if we went 150 km on a quarter tank of
gas, that we could go 600 on a full tank. When they did the testing in
grade 4 she scored in the 99th percentile and was identified as gifted.
That made certain programs available to her, but we opted to send our kids
to a private school because of my older son, who struggles academically.
He has ADD and we wanted to keep all the kids together. Interestingly
enough the 2 younger kids are great students, getting almost all A’s, yet
neither has the raw intelligence of my older daughter. Year after year we
have had teachers tell us what a great kid she is, but her work is sloppy
and she’s very lazy. She doesn’t turn in assignments, and loses up to 20%
of her final mark because of indifference. She does very well on verbal
tests and assignments, but struggles when having to put things on paper.
We have tried punishments, and rewards, and a lot of yelling on my part,
but nothing seems to work. The only thing that will work is a change in
attitude on her part, but I am powerless to make that happen. It’s very
frustrating. Obviously we all want the best for our children. In my own
case I fell I was a real later bloomer because of my indifferent academic
performance. I graduated University doing the bare minimum required, and
it came back to haunt me 10 years later when I applied to an MBA program.
Despite a very good score on the GMAT exam, my university marks had me
declined admittance. I worked at a number of low paying boring jobs after
graduation, and again I had no motivation or drive. Finally I went back to
school and took a computer course, and found my niche. After the kids were
born I started my own business and worked quite hard, but I always had the
university degree to open doors for me. I truly believe my daughter will
also be a late bloomer, but I’m afraid that if she misses out on
University, some doors will be permanently closed to her.
I saved this hand because I was curious to see what he had. I raised UTG
with 88. Cold called to my immediate left, and everyone else folded. Flop
was Ad 7h 5h. I bet hoping to represent the A, and he called. Turn was the
7c. I bet again and he called again. Yuck. I will usually fire again on
the turn because a lot of guys will call the flop bet but fold. Now I’m in
a tough spot. There aren’t too many hands except flush draws I can be
ahead of here. River is the 4c. Usually I will check here and hope to
induce a bluff from a busted draw. For some reason I decided to fire away
here again, and he just called. I won when he had J5o. Wow.
A pretty bad river call. I have 55 in the BB. UTG limps, and the button
raises. SB calls and I call too. 4 to the flop. Flop is Ks 5s 3h. Checked
to the button who bets. SB calls and I raise. UTG 3-bets, button folds, SB
calls and I cap it. Turn is Kd. This is gonna be good. I bet, UTG raises,
and AB calls 2 cold. I 3 bet and they both call. Huge pot. River is the
3d. I feel like I got kicked in the nuts. SB checks, I check and UTG bets.
SB calls and I make the crying call. I could have saved the $10. They both
had K’s.
My favorite play, but what was he thinking? I have Ac 3d in the SB. 2
limpers in and I complete the blind. BB checks. Flop is 8c 3s 2s. Checked
to the button who bets. I raise from the SB. I really like this play and I
use it a lot with any piece of the flop or sometimes a draw. It makes the
rest of the hand easy to play. Everyone folds to the button who calls.
Turn is the 7h. I bet and he calls again. Hmm. A lot of the time you win
with that turn bet. Probably a check – call on the river now. River is the
wonderful 3h. I quickly switch from praying he has nothing, to praying he
has top pair. I bet and he calls. Hand history shows he has K9o. Wow. I
guess he thinks I bluff a lot.
Have a good week everyone.
Week 30
I think I could use a valium after this week. I’m sure I’ve said the same
thing before but this was the wildest week I can remember. It began with a
real good Sunday night where I won $611 in only 4 hours of play. It
continued to go very well when I won another $400 Monday afternoon in less
than 2 hours of play. Then the bottom fell out. Over the next 30 hours or
so I lost over 200 BB’s for only the 2nd time. It started with a $300 loss
in the hour between picking up my son from school and my daughter from her
work. It continued Monday night when I lost another $1,300 in a long
frustrating session. Actually frustrating doesn’t begin to describe it. I
hit flop after flop only to run into bigger hands, or draws that got there
on the river. It’s the most helpless felling and even after experiencing
these runs every week I still can’t get used to it. Tuesday afternoon saw
me lose another $500 and putting me in a big hole for the week. We curled
Tuesday night and had our best game of the year, and my fortunes seemed to
change. I came home and won $575 before quitting for the night giving me a
small win for the day, and starting me on a great run. Wednesday I won
$824, Thursday I won $355, and Friday another $685. Saturday I went to a
party and only played for 3 hours but I managed another $269 win to finish
the week on a roll up $1,647.
It’s another solid week, and I feel slightly better than the 3/6 games
were running. I’m still tempted to try 4 full 5/10 games and see what
happens but for now I’ll stick with the shorthanded games for 1 more week
at least. I still can’t figure out how soda and the other shorthanded
specialists are putting up such incredible numbers. I don’t know how they
avoid the huge losing streaks I keep going on or do they just maximize
their wins better than I do?
The system at Party/Empire has been really unstable again lately. When I
first started playing there this summer it would crash all the time but
they seemed to have solved the problem Now it’s happening again. I don’t
know if it’s a capacity thing or not, but it’s really frustrating to have
all your tables freeze or slow to a crawl, then wait for 3 reboots and
then try to get on a waiting list again. It’s happening at least twice a
week, and sometimes more. I even played a couple of hours at Pokerstars
one night because I don’t have any money at Paradise anymore. I only have
$350 at pokerstars for the zoo tourneys, so I played some 2/4 for 2 hu9rs
and won $15. Woo hoo.
I heard a radio ad for Party Poker on the all sports station in Toronto
this week. If they are advertising in all the big markets it should be
good for the games again.
I was overwhelmed this past week at all the responses I got about my
daughter. I was very touched that so many of you took the time to write
about your experiences. It really helped me to put things in perspective.
In the end of course I only want her to be happy, and we had a really good
talk at lunch on Thursday. Of course it’s not going to change her study
habits any, but maybe I can deal with it better.
I had a very satisfying session earlier this week at one table. There were
2 players at the table hitting everything. One guy had over $1,000, and
said he started with $150, and a woman with around $800. They both saw the
river if they saw the flop and although they were both killing me on the
river I felt like I was getting a really good read on their play. I had
rebought once already and was down to about $150 when the cards stopped
hitting for them on the river. It took several hours, but both of them
went bust before I quit and I got a lot of it. Good raising preflop, and
on the early streets when I was ahead was all it took. They would cold
call with anything and stay to the river. I ended up with $1,000 and they
both tapped out. I’m trying hard to focus on table selection. There are
some very solid shorthanded regulars, and I’m just not going to make money
off them. I am much more willing to leave a table now and look for greener
pastures.
Part of the losing streak. I have 99 and limp from the cutoff behind
another limper. SB plays too and 4 of us see the flop. Flop is KK8.
Checked to me and I bet. Both blinds fold and EP limper calls. I know this
guy pretty well, and I can’t imagine him playing anything except a K this
way. He wouldn’t risk a free card with a pocket pair or an 8, and he
rarely just calls. There is no way I’m betting the turn. Turn is a 9.
Except for now of course. He checks I bet and sure enough he raises. I 3
bet and he caps. River is a 2. He bets. I consider. KK, K9, K8, K2 beat
me. KK I don’t believe. I think I know him well enough. K2 he wouldn’t
play in EP. K9 seems very unlikely so K8 is the only one I really fear. I
think he’s just overplaying his K and I raise again. He 3 bets and I cap.
He has K9. I think I should have just called the last bet, but I’m
comfortable with everything up to that point.
Same session. I have 55 on the button. 2 limpers to me and I limp. SB
raises and 4 of us see the flop. Flop is Q95. SB bets and we all call.
Turn is a 2, SB bets 2 calls and I raise. Only the SB calls. River is an
A. SB bets, and I raise. He 3 bets and I cap it. He had AA.
Same session. I have KJ in the SB and limp behind 1 limper. Flop is QJ7,
all diamonds. I don’t have a diamond. I bet the flop and only the limper
calls. Turn is another J. I bet again and now he raises me. I just call,
not sure if I want to raise him on the river. River is another 7. I check,
he bets, I raise and he 3 bets. I cap resigned to my chop, and he shows 77
for quads.
After 4 weeks of shorthanded play here are the major differences I’ve
noticed.
1) I haven’t changed my starting standards because I have always used
positions from the button as my guide. For example I play KJo from 3 off
the button, so it’s always playable in a 6 max table.
2) You will find yourself heads up far more often than in a full ring
game. This makes for some interesting adjustments. There are a lot of
players you can’t fold to heads up. I’ve seen guys 3-bet 97o pre-flop to
get you heads up, and then pound every street. Reading your opponents is
incredibly important.
3) There is a lot more aggression with hands that are generally less
strong than what I’m used to. People will 3 bet the flop with top pair
weak kicker. Again you have to be willing to stick with hands that are
nowhere near the nuts. This also creates some embarrassing situations.
Twice I have called down quads with A high. Doh!
4) I am slowplaying marginal hands more than usual, but playing big hands
harder. No one believes your raises on the flop anyway, so you can push
monsters harder. But if I play Axs from the button and an A flops, I will
wait for the turn to raise
I had a telephone interview with the people in Seattle this week. I think
I can help them, but I’ve asked for my full rate. I think if I discounted
it I’d have a better chance to get the work, but I decided I want the full
rate if I’m going to commute across the continent for any extended period
of time. This way I don’t really have to make the decision. If they offer
it I’ll take it with no regrets because the money is good. IF not, I’ll
keep doing what I’m doing.
Have a good week.
Week 31
Maybe I just need to stop being surprised by the day to day swings of
shorthanded poker. Last week I reported that I thought it was the craziest
week I have ever had. Now this week comes along and I have not only the
biggest one day loss I’ve ever had, but I also had the 2 biggest one day
wins I’ve ever had. The week started off very well with a $330 win on
Sunday night, and a $460 win on Monday afternoon. And just like last week,
Monday night was a disaster. Do you remember the Boom Town Rats song “I
don’t like Mondays”? I think it will become my anthem. I lost $1,650 in 5
hours on Monday night. I ran into quads 6 times during that stretch, of
course always when I had a hand myself. Then before I had a chance to
contemplate suicide, Tuesday came along and turned my world right side up.
I’ve been wondering if I’d ever have a day like this shorthanded, where
everything went right all day. I won $2,417 in a single day. It was
unbelievable. I won 45% of the hands where I saw the flop for the entire
day. Wednesday was a bit of a comedown, I gave back $374, but then got red
hot again on Thursday for a $1,352 win that was the 2nd biggest win I’ve
ever had. I won another $261 on Friday and in a very short session on
Saturday night I won another $217 for a fantastic weekly total of $3,015.
So after 5 weeks of shorthanded play I’ve made $8,600, around 1,700 per
week. Clearly this is an improvement over the full table games and I will
continue to play them. If I throw out the first week where I made only
$600 the average is even more significant. I feel like my game improved
even more this week, especially in the area of getting away from hands
where it seemed clear I was beat. I am also getting in more check-raises
against the hyper-aggressive’s who will auto-bet anytime it is checked to
them. I am learning not to play sheriff every time someone tries to steal
every pot. Once a day I play with someone who will 3 bet every time I
raise from the button or SB. I really struggled with these guys a few
weeks ago, and I’m still not comfortable with them now. Clearly I folded
too much at the beginning, then went too far the other way calling down
with everything. What helped me most in these situations was the
observation that no matter what my results against the guy were, they
always seemed to go broke before leaving the table. Whether I caught them
or not, you can’t keep raising and capping with 96o and make money. So if
my original raise contains an Ace, I will call these guys down unimproved
and if I raised with a K high or Q high hand I will only stick around if I
make a pair or better. That seems to be the dividing line I’ve come up
with.
Because of the number of players who will 3 bet any SB raise, I have
tightened up considerably from that position. I will still steal liberally
from the button, because of the positional advantage, but It is very
uncomfortable to be in the SB with K7 on a flop of AKx against someone who
3 bet you pre-flop. If nothing else, this 5 weeks of shorthanded play has
really driven home just how important position really is.
Another adjustment I have made is checking an unimproved hand more often
from the button. Lets say I raise a limper with AQ from the button and the
BB plays too. The flop comes K x x. It is checked to me and I check too. 3
handed I have always bet a flop like this trying to win it right there.
What I have discovered though is that shorthanded people are very
deceptive, and assume you are too. Right away they assume you are
slowplaying when you check a hand with an A or K on the flop, so unless
they have a big hand themselves, and I mean top pair or better, they won’t
bet the turn either. Now a turn bet will win the pot unless I am beat, and
if I am called, I just check behind on the river. Betting the flop doesn’t
achieve the same purpose because a lot of guys will take one off for the
small bet price, and a check by me on the turn will induce some river
bluffs.
No news from Seattle regarding the contract. Since some of the work they
wanted done was year-end related I can safely assume I set my price too
high for them. Oh well, I still think it was the correct thing to do. If I
had low-balled the price I would have had a tough decision to make if they
offered it to me. This way it was an easy decision. If it’s offered I take
it because it’s too good to pass up, if not, we continue to play every
day.
I only played for a hour on Saturday night, maybe not even that long. I
wanted the 3K week badly, and I needed $200 to make it. My daughter was in
a school production of the Wiz, and we attended the final performance on
Saturday night. I was dog-tired all day Saturday. I never got my usual nap
in because the Florida-Florida State game was too good (I’m not sure I’ve
ever seen a better game to be honest). So it was after 11:00 before I got
everyone to bed and finally sat down to play. I won around $150 in a half
hour before my daughter called from the school to say she needed a ride
home and when I came back I won another $60 in 2 hands. I decided right
then to post my 3K week and get some sleep. I slept for 7 ½ consecutive
hours for the first time in 2 or 3 months. It felt great. I really need to
think about doing this more often on Saturday nights. I just can’t find
the time to go back to bed on the weekends the way I can during the week.
The play was fun, but to be honest was the poorest of the 5 or 6
productions we have seen this group perform. There are some very talented
kids in the group, and the band and the dancing were superb. But there is
just something wrong with a group of suburban semi-privileged white kids
calling each other jive-turkeys and trying to sound like Diana Ross and
Michael Jackson. The other problem is that while the school has 5 or 6
very talented female singers, there really aren’t very many boys who can
match them, and 3 of the 4 main characters are male. However, as
disappointed as I am with my daughters school performance, I admire the
effort she puts into these productions. As well as appearing onstage, she
was part for the costume crew and the advertising team. Hopefully that’s a
sign that she will put forth the effort in things she deems important. On
top of that the elementary school report cards came home this week and my
two younger children got superlative reports. Those two have practically
raised themselves since we were too busy to lavish the attention on them
that the older 2 kids got. Shows how important the parental attention at
an early age is. Maybe I should write a book called “Ignoring your kids to
better grades”.
We are going to Montreal for Christmas, something we do most years. I
picked a good week to earn some extra money as my wife has begun Christmas
shopping already. November’s affiliate money is also earmarked for
Christmas. We will probably stay for a week and I’m a little concerned
about getting some play in. My sister in-laws computer is not well suited
to heavy volumes of play. Her monitor will not handle multiple screens
very well so I will probably only play 2 tables, and I certainly won’t be
able to play the volume of hours either. I need to bank some wins before
that so let’s hope for a good month leading up to that.
I hate these hands. I get a free play in the BB with Kc 7c. 4 of us see
the flop of Ks 9c 9h. I bet out and I get 1 call from the button. Already
I don’t like it. There aren’t many hands other than small pocket pairs I
can beat, and there are no draws on the board. But I don’t know this guy
at all. The turn is a 6d and I bet again. He calls again. Yuck. River is a
3d, and now I check and he bets. If I was prepared to check-fold, I think
I should have done it on the turn, so I called. He had a 9. I really think
checking the turn is the way to go. I can even call the turn bet, and fold
to a river bet, because a small pocket pair would probably check the river
behind me.
You gotta love this. I have AKo UTG and I raise. EP cold call and the SB
calls too. 3 of us see the flop. Flop is J J A. I bet and only EP calls
me. Turn is another J. I bet again and now he raises me. I just call, I’m
still gun shy from all those quads. River brings the case J and I bet. I
wasn’t really trying to be cute, when I saw the 4th J I knew I couldn’t be
beat, but I realized right away that we were both playing the board. The
other guy hesitates and types in “What was the point of that bet?”, “Like
I’ll fold now”. Then he folded!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my. I don’t know what
happened, if he disconnected or hit the wrong button, but the entire table
got a lot of laughs out of it. Except of course for my buddy, who left
without saying another word.
Have a good week everyone.
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