Guess it depends who you ask. Ask me? Poker has never been played better. Had this table been televised though, I think observing it would be considered either a) a criminal offense or b) an attempt at suicide. Brains would explode. Mine nearly did, the only thing that saved me was raking in pots.
Anyway, day starts with me waking up to go to the pancake house to meet up with the guys from jackseven, and ending up being way too lazy on 3 hours of sleep to do that, so I go downstairs to Timmy's. After a while, I get a call from Sparks saying they'll be at Fallsview in an hour, so I head over and sit down. I play some 1/2 and go bust on a bad beat, and as I stand up, Jules walks over to introduce herself and I walk out to meet Bill, Skippy and Kevin.
I decide I'm too tired still, and I'm going to go up to my room and grab a quick nap. I go up there and get a call from two local friends, Griff and another friend named Kevin, they're there, and they'll meet me when I come down. So I grab a quality 4 hour nap, and head down to the poker room. When I get there I meet up with local Kevin, and he tells me Griffin has gone bust and is heading home. Griff went bust at Skippy's table, and Kev asks if I know "the kid in the white hat"(Skippy), because he's absolutely clobbering the 5/5 table.
I head on over and see Skippy at the 5/5 table(500 max buyin), with at least 4000 dollars infront of him. Apparantly he won a 3100 dollar pot with QQ when he rivered the nut flush. As soon as I get on a 1/2 table, we head for dinner downstairs. After a quick bite, I head back up determined to win back some of the money I dropped last night.
At 1/2 I only really played one pot, when I flopped 2 pair and doubled up, then my name got called for 2/5 NL, since I had put my name on both lists, so I decide since I'm at 200 now, I'll freeroll it over to the 2/5 table. This is where things get wild.
The 2/5 table is new, just starting, there are 2 players sitting at it that I recognize from earlier sessions here, both are fairly solid. The rest of the players I would soon learn, not so much.
Let me just say this, I've played poker for nearly 3 years. I am by no means a long-time player, but however, I've seen alot of poker and alot of play. I have never, in my life, witnessed a table that played this badly. I'm serious, this level of play should be against the law. I kept looking around to ensure the FBI weren't going to raid the game and arrest me, because I felt somewhat dirty playing here. It was like stealing candy from babies. Oh, who am I kidding...I loved every minute of this session.
So, 200 dollars is my starting point, and I promptly take a bad beat. UTG limps, I raise with 9/9 to 25, get a caller(one of the two solid players), and UTG calls again. The flop is 8/9/Q rainbow. UTG checks, I bet out 40, solid player folds, UTG calls. Turn is a Jack. He checks I check. River is a K, he checks, I check. I'll give you a minute, make sure you read that hand properly. The preflop raise, the flop, the bet and call. And then checking it down. Please read that carefully. I roll 9/9, he shows me? 10d/2d. Not only is this terrible because of his calls preflop and on the flop with a gutshot. But he doesn't bet when he hits his gutshot! He checks it down. Confused, I muck. As usual, I have a fun little exchange with him :
Kevin : "10-2, nice hand. Calling that raise out of position and then calling that bet when you flop a gutshot, that's high equity poker."
Player : "10-2, if it's under 30 dollars I call no matter what."
Kevin : "Ya, that makes sense. 10-2, that's a premium starting hand."
Player : "What? You haven't read a book?"
Kevin : "What book? What book tells you to call raises from tight players while out of position holding 10-2"
Player : "Super System! You know, Doyle Brunson's book? They call 10-2 the Brunson!"
At this point, I didn't even know what to say.
Eventually my 200 becomes around 80. I double back up. And from there I steady earn. No really big pots, just a steady, solid earn rate without risking alot, and suddenly I'm at 600 dollars infront of me.
During this time I want to describe two breathtaking hands.
First, UTG(solid player) raises it up to 35, and gets 3 callers. The flop comes 8/7/3 two clubs. UTG bets 30, one fold, two calls. Turn is a 9, UTG checks, check, check behind. River is a 3 of clubs. UTG checks, check, bet 25 bucks. UTG folds, flashing me QQ. Really tight fold given the size of the pot, but there's nothing he beats. Other player calls. Brace yourself. The caller shows Ah/5h. He has no hand, on a rediculously complex board, he's called with ace high. He's a moron. Funny story though. Ship the pot over to him, the other kid mucks. Ace high is good. Other kid was, and I quote, "bluffing". Of course you were. 250 dollars or so in the pot, you bet 25 dollars at it. Great bluff.
Better than that, same solid tight player raises UTG to 25, gets one caller. Flop comes 8/7/2, check, check. Turn is a Q, solid player bets 40 dollars, gets called. River is a 3. Solid player bets 60 bucks and gets INSTA-called. Solid players holds his cards face down and says "You're good you caught me", the other player responds with "What you got?", so the solid player frustratedly shows 4/4 for a bluff. That'll be the best hand. Player beside me asks to see the cards of the caller, and it's 3/5 of hearts. Not only does he call the turn with no pair no draw. But he INSTA-calls the river with the 3. Nice.
I finally play a fairly big pot. I raise from the cut-off with 4c/5c to 25 and get 2 callers from both blinds. Flop is alright I guess. Ad/2c/3c. Pot is 75 dollars, SB shoves in 120, BB raises over the top all in for 300. I insta-call. A/10 from the SB and A/K from the BB. Good, no club draws that trump me. Brick Brick and that 420 comes over to me. I'm now at around 1100. I give a little bit back at one point on an Ace high flop with AK against a set, and end up walking away at around 1000 dollars.
Pretty good day. The whole going to work tomorrow morning thing sucks, because if I could have, I'd have stayed on that table all night. There were so many countless horrendous, laugh out loud bad plays on the table that I couldn't beleive it. Honestly...one of the worst moments of my life was standing up from that table before those players did. Oh well, a thousand bucks is alright. Time to go back to trivial normal life. :(
Friday, August 24, 2007
Day 1 of Niagara trip, 200 dollars up, what the hell?
As I write this I'm sitting in my hotel room at the Hilton across the street from Fallsview, and I can't help but wonder...how the hell does my wallet only contain 2 100 dollar bills right now? Let's explore :
I wake up early, I want a full 2 days since I've learned I have to go to work early Saturday morning, so I'll probably have to go to bed at a somewhat reasonable time Friday night. So, I get to the Falls for noon, check in at the hotel, and where else am I going? Fallsview time.
So, I decide to start slow today, and sit down at a 1/2 table, the list is fairly long so I also decide I'm going to sit at a 3-card poker table while the list widdles away until I get to sit. The dealer likes me, not as much as she likes the guy to my right whom she gives a straight flush while he's playing 75 dollars on the pair-plus line, which cashes him for 3000 dollars. Me? I make some straights and flushes, and wind up turning 100 into 300. Good enough, the buzzer's going wild so time to go play some hold'em.
I sit down at a 1/2 table and take 2 rotations off because the table is very loose without being agressive. Usually 6-7 callers to a flop, rarely raised pots, lots of limps, so it takes me a while longer to get some kind of idea to where players are and what they're doing. Eventually I enter a pot with As/4s from the cut-off after about 5 limps infront of me. Blinds top up and we're off to the flop of 6/4/3 rainbow. UTG fires out 20 bucks. Folds around to me, and I decide to call, thinking I have the best hand and he has a draw. Turn is a 9, and he fires 50 bucks at the pot. This seems weird, so I take some time to think about it, to me a 6 freezes or maybe makes another small bet to try and manage the pot and keep it small-ish. The type of hands I can see betting again a pot-building bet would be some kind of combo-pair draw. 3/5, 4/5, 5/5, 5/6. Having decided I beleive he's in that range I shove the rest of it in, and he calls instantly(not all that scary shove is tiny compared to the pot. He actually didn't even have the draw I assumed he did, 8/4. Okay, bonus. After this I'm up to 200 but I'm getting hungry so I pick up and decide I'll come back to a 2/5 table after some food.
Enjoy a quality meal at Shoeless Joe's downstairs at Fallsview and after that head up to the 2/5 table.
I sit down at a 2/5 table and I'm playing way above the curve, absolutely ontop of my game, and I quickly take 200 up to over 800 without even really making a big hand, but merely springing some elaborate traps and milking chips.
An example of what I mean is raising in EP with 10/10 up to 25, and getting 4 callers. The flop is Q/9/3 rainbow, and I fire a continuation bet of 60 dollars. 2 folds and one call. I figure he likely doesn't have a queen, he's a reasonably smart player and I know he's got to assume my bet here is a continuation bet, and I figured he'd raise a good queen here, even a QJ or Q/10 he'd probably raise to test my bet. So he might have a straight draw, or he might have that 9. Turn is a 7. That's a good card, but I check now, hoping to conceal this hand, and he checks behind confirming to me he's deffinitely not holding a queen. The river is good as well, a 5. Now I check again, allowing him to either bet a 9 which he'd most likely assume is good, or I'll let him bet with a busted straight draw. Either way, there is no amount of money he can put in this pot that I'm folding to. The pot is a shade over 200, and he fires 125 at it which I insta-call and table my 10's. He flashes a 9 and mucks. Ship it over here please, you never had a chance in this pot.
Another trap of sorts was the only big hand I made all day today. A fairly solid player in late position raises it up to 25, and I call out of the SB with 4/4. Flop's alright, 10/4/4. I can't get a bet into the pot fast enough here, and fire 40 bucks at the pot almost instantly. I can hear your minds racing, "Why the hell would he bet quads out straight off?". It's not even a pot build or about masking my hand(although that's a nice side effect). When you bluff you tell a story for the hand, I want to bluff here. Just, you know, with the nuts. So my bet, to a decent player, which this guy is, could easily appear like a "pro-bet", or "donk-bet"(depending on who you're talking to, they're both ironically nicknames for the same play, the play being calling a raise preflop and betting at the raiser on the flop regardless of what you have). He raises over the top, as I would with a wide range here since I'd treat my bet like a pro-bet, and come over the top announcing that I'm still holding a real hand. He makes it 100 to go. I call now, hoping to sell him that I'm holding some high cards. Turn is a 6. I check and all his chips, 260 more, enter the pot. I insta-call and table the 4's, and he sighs and turns over JJ.
After the session I cash out over 1000, a profit of over 800 dollars. I go grab some dinner, and come back and sign up for a 1/2 game again while I wait for the sit-and-go WPT Stage 1 Satallite to open. I won't go into details on the hand, because the story here isn't all that interesting hand wise, it's more what happens after. So, I end up all in with a guy on the flop of 7c/5h/4s while I'm holding 7h/8d, he was running a bluff, and tables 4h/9h. Perfect. Turn is where the story gets fun, it's the 8 of hearts. Everyone looks at me approvingly as if saying "yay! you have 2 pair now", while I smack the table, real upset at the turn card, finally informing the table that's a terrible card for me. One guy, takes objection :
Guy : "How is that a terrible card? You have 2 pair now!"
Me : "Ya, and it gives him an extra 9 outs."
Guy : "Could have been worse, could have been a different heart. At least you took away some of his outs"
Me : "What?"
Guy(borderline condescending as if he thinks I'm stupid) : "You have 2 pair now man! You took away some of his outs"
*At this point in the pot I'm 100 dollars deep in the hand, the pot is 220. So I decide to try and take out some insurance on this river card, and prop-bet the guy 50 dollars that he still has all the outs he had on the flop, with 9 more now. He agrees to it. I appreciate no one at the table speaking up to ruin this for me, I could see some of them watching intently.*
Me(now that we have made the bet) : "On the flop his outs were a 4, or a 9. On the turn? His outs are any 4, any 9, or any heart since I'm holding the 7 of hearts and the 8 of hearts is on the board. He still has every out he had before. Trips beats me. A 9 for his 2 pair will beat me. And a flush beats me."
Guy : "Shit, I forgot that his 2 pair would beat yours!"
Me : "Yes you did, ship that 50 over here please"
Anyway, the heart hit on the river, and I took the 2 green chips from the prop bet and strolled over to the sit-n-go table which was opening anyway.
I only really play 2 interesting hands. The first one I got raised from the cut-off when I was BB, and I decided to send a message quickly that I wouldn't stand for that, while the blinds were still cheap(25/50), so I called with 10/2 intending to steal the flop. Not sure how, but I'm planning on stealing this pot. Flop comes K/K/7. Perfect. I check, he bets. Perfect, now I know I can take it by representing a King. So I call. Turn is a 3. I check again, he checks behind. River is an Ace. I fire a bet now. He calls and rolls over A/3. Shit, it would have worked if he didn't get there. He still thought I had the King but "paid to see it". Got to hate getting unlucky running a bluff when your target gets lucky to make a hand to be able to call you.
The last hand, I was short stacked, button raised when I was SB and I re-shoved with A/7 suited. He tanked for a while and called and exposed AQ, which I just flat out don't understand why he tanked, but ses la vi.
After that I decide to sit at a 5/5 table, and take a few real bad beats or bad setups in a row, having to hold top pair a few times to over-pairs. I played really well to not go broke for a long time, finally taking a real bad beat with Q/8 on a flop of 8/3/2 against 8/6 for a 250 dollar pot when he turned a 6. Bust for 500 here, and suddenly I'm back to only a couple hundred for the day.
Oh well, tomorrow, pancake house and poker with the Jackseven crew!
I wake up early, I want a full 2 days since I've learned I have to go to work early Saturday morning, so I'll probably have to go to bed at a somewhat reasonable time Friday night. So, I get to the Falls for noon, check in at the hotel, and where else am I going? Fallsview time.
So, I decide to start slow today, and sit down at a 1/2 table, the list is fairly long so I also decide I'm going to sit at a 3-card poker table while the list widdles away until I get to sit. The dealer likes me, not as much as she likes the guy to my right whom she gives a straight flush while he's playing 75 dollars on the pair-plus line, which cashes him for 3000 dollars. Me? I make some straights and flushes, and wind up turning 100 into 300. Good enough, the buzzer's going wild so time to go play some hold'em.
I sit down at a 1/2 table and take 2 rotations off because the table is very loose without being agressive. Usually 6-7 callers to a flop, rarely raised pots, lots of limps, so it takes me a while longer to get some kind of idea to where players are and what they're doing. Eventually I enter a pot with As/4s from the cut-off after about 5 limps infront of me. Blinds top up and we're off to the flop of 6/4/3 rainbow. UTG fires out 20 bucks. Folds around to me, and I decide to call, thinking I have the best hand and he has a draw. Turn is a 9, and he fires 50 bucks at the pot. This seems weird, so I take some time to think about it, to me a 6 freezes or maybe makes another small bet to try and manage the pot and keep it small-ish. The type of hands I can see betting again a pot-building bet would be some kind of combo-pair draw. 3/5, 4/5, 5/5, 5/6. Having decided I beleive he's in that range I shove the rest of it in, and he calls instantly(not all that scary shove is tiny compared to the pot. He actually didn't even have the draw I assumed he did, 8/4. Okay, bonus. After this I'm up to 200 but I'm getting hungry so I pick up and decide I'll come back to a 2/5 table after some food.
Enjoy a quality meal at Shoeless Joe's downstairs at Fallsview and after that head up to the 2/5 table.
I sit down at a 2/5 table and I'm playing way above the curve, absolutely ontop of my game, and I quickly take 200 up to over 800 without even really making a big hand, but merely springing some elaborate traps and milking chips.
An example of what I mean is raising in EP with 10/10 up to 25, and getting 4 callers. The flop is Q/9/3 rainbow, and I fire a continuation bet of 60 dollars. 2 folds and one call. I figure he likely doesn't have a queen, he's a reasonably smart player and I know he's got to assume my bet here is a continuation bet, and I figured he'd raise a good queen here, even a QJ or Q/10 he'd probably raise to test my bet. So he might have a straight draw, or he might have that 9. Turn is a 7. That's a good card, but I check now, hoping to conceal this hand, and he checks behind confirming to me he's deffinitely not holding a queen. The river is good as well, a 5. Now I check again, allowing him to either bet a 9 which he'd most likely assume is good, or I'll let him bet with a busted straight draw. Either way, there is no amount of money he can put in this pot that I'm folding to. The pot is a shade over 200, and he fires 125 at it which I insta-call and table my 10's. He flashes a 9 and mucks. Ship it over here please, you never had a chance in this pot.
Another trap of sorts was the only big hand I made all day today. A fairly solid player in late position raises it up to 25, and I call out of the SB with 4/4. Flop's alright, 10/4/4. I can't get a bet into the pot fast enough here, and fire 40 bucks at the pot almost instantly. I can hear your minds racing, "Why the hell would he bet quads out straight off?". It's not even a pot build or about masking my hand(although that's a nice side effect). When you bluff you tell a story for the hand, I want to bluff here. Just, you know, with the nuts. So my bet, to a decent player, which this guy is, could easily appear like a "pro-bet", or "donk-bet"(depending on who you're talking to, they're both ironically nicknames for the same play, the play being calling a raise preflop and betting at the raiser on the flop regardless of what you have). He raises over the top, as I would with a wide range here since I'd treat my bet like a pro-bet, and come over the top announcing that I'm still holding a real hand. He makes it 100 to go. I call now, hoping to sell him that I'm holding some high cards. Turn is a 6. I check and all his chips, 260 more, enter the pot. I insta-call and table the 4's, and he sighs and turns over JJ.
After the session I cash out over 1000, a profit of over 800 dollars. I go grab some dinner, and come back and sign up for a 1/2 game again while I wait for the sit-and-go WPT Stage 1 Satallite to open. I won't go into details on the hand, because the story here isn't all that interesting hand wise, it's more what happens after. So, I end up all in with a guy on the flop of 7c/5h/4s while I'm holding 7h/8d, he was running a bluff, and tables 4h/9h. Perfect. Turn is where the story gets fun, it's the 8 of hearts. Everyone looks at me approvingly as if saying "yay! you have 2 pair now", while I smack the table, real upset at the turn card, finally informing the table that's a terrible card for me. One guy, takes objection :
Guy : "How is that a terrible card? You have 2 pair now!"
Me : "Ya, and it gives him an extra 9 outs."
Guy : "Could have been worse, could have been a different heart. At least you took away some of his outs"
Me : "What?"
Guy(borderline condescending as if he thinks I'm stupid) : "You have 2 pair now man! You took away some of his outs"
*At this point in the pot I'm 100 dollars deep in the hand, the pot is 220. So I decide to try and take out some insurance on this river card, and prop-bet the guy 50 dollars that he still has all the outs he had on the flop, with 9 more now. He agrees to it. I appreciate no one at the table speaking up to ruin this for me, I could see some of them watching intently.*
Me(now that we have made the bet) : "On the flop his outs were a 4, or a 9. On the turn? His outs are any 4, any 9, or any heart since I'm holding the 7 of hearts and the 8 of hearts is on the board. He still has every out he had before. Trips beats me. A 9 for his 2 pair will beat me. And a flush beats me."
Guy : "Shit, I forgot that his 2 pair would beat yours!"
Me : "Yes you did, ship that 50 over here please"
Anyway, the heart hit on the river, and I took the 2 green chips from the prop bet and strolled over to the sit-n-go table which was opening anyway.
I only really play 2 interesting hands. The first one I got raised from the cut-off when I was BB, and I decided to send a message quickly that I wouldn't stand for that, while the blinds were still cheap(25/50), so I called with 10/2 intending to steal the flop. Not sure how, but I'm planning on stealing this pot. Flop comes K/K/7. Perfect. I check, he bets. Perfect, now I know I can take it by representing a King. So I call. Turn is a 3. I check again, he checks behind. River is an Ace. I fire a bet now. He calls and rolls over A/3. Shit, it would have worked if he didn't get there. He still thought I had the King but "paid to see it". Got to hate getting unlucky running a bluff when your target gets lucky to make a hand to be able to call you.
The last hand, I was short stacked, button raised when I was SB and I re-shoved with A/7 suited. He tanked for a while and called and exposed AQ, which I just flat out don't understand why he tanked, but ses la vi.
After that I decide to sit at a 5/5 table, and take a few real bad beats or bad setups in a row, having to hold top pair a few times to over-pairs. I played really well to not go broke for a long time, finally taking a real bad beat with Q/8 on a flop of 8/3/2 against 8/6 for a 250 dollar pot when he turned a 6. Bust for 500 here, and suddenly I'm back to only a couple hundred for the day.
Oh well, tomorrow, pancake house and poker with the Jackseven crew!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Fallsview = Pain, a humerous andecdote, and a big day...
Man, that's easily the stupidest title for a blog ever. I originally was going to rip off a classic poker book's title for an entry where I included this andecdote, but I decided to just absorb it into a bigger blog. The rip off was going to be of Michael Craig's "The Professor, The Banker, And The Suicide King", I was going to title it "The Professor, The ATM and the Suicide Kid".
Clever huh?
Anyway, we'll start with the andecdote since it's one of my favourite stories from my entire poker career, and has absolutely nothing to do with me except the fact that I just so happened to be at the table during the hand.
Sonny Rattan, aka my boss and aka the voice of Pokerstars broadcasts now, and basically the single person I'd say I owe the most to as a poker player considering he's the one that tought me how to play poker, and myself went to go play a game at Casino Niagara, a simple 1/2 NL game. I went bust when my AA got cracked by 44 when the guy re-raised my UTG raise all-in and spiked a 4 on the turn. I got up and was actually ready to leave when Sonny offered to buy me back into the game. So I put my name back on a list and ended up on a table with him, to his right. He loves to tell this story so he can throw in his little dig at how I was totally card-dead and the only three times I raise in the span of like 4 hours, he came back over the top and had me fold(AQ, AQ and 99 to his AK, AK and JJ). What a jerk.
Anyway, the story isn't about me so let's delve aside, Sonny was doing very well, up to around 900 deep or so at this point(max buyins 100 so that's pretty steep), when this hand occurs with a kid about 400 deep, give or take.
The player raises it up from EP, and Sonny calls from the Cut-Off. The flop comes 9/10/Q rainbow. The kid fires out a continuation bet, and Sonny calls. The turn is a 7, but puts a flush draw on the board. The kid fires out another bet, and Sonny raises him all-in, at this point I'd say the kid's 100 deep into the hand and will have to call off 300 more.
Remember the flop, 9/10/Q, turn 7. He calls off 300 deep. Sonny tables K/J for the stone nuts, and this num-nuts turns over pocket 8's, in what I can only assume was an effort to make a heroic call for the ages. Honestly, if you make that call against a fairly tight, solid player, and are ever right, please write a book about that call and name your book "I'm better than you : How I made the best call ever in the history of ever."
I digress. The kid then really makes a comment that shows I suppose he's blind, "That's fine, I only need the Jack to chop." This is where I love Sonny's response, because me? I'd have played it differently, I'd have let him cling to that hope, praying the river was a Jack so he'd feel stupid when the pot was still shipped my way. Sonny? He's what can only loosely be described as a soul-crusher. His response? "No, no you don't need a Jack...King high? See?" The kid didn't even stick around to see the river card, he left for the ATM and came on back to the table. This is where the story becomes interesting...upon sitting at the table the kid looks at Sonny and declares "I'm coming to get my money back!"
For the next hour or so, he's raising every single time Sonny is BB, which is actually kind of silly considering he's UTG+1 when Sonny was BB, but he's that tilted. Every once in a while I re-pop him and steal dead money. Finally, he does it once, and Sonny calls(the first time he's fought back at all). The flop is 10/9/7 rainbow. The kid fires a continuation bet, and Sonny calls. The turn comes an 8. The kid fires another bet(he's pretty deep again now, over half of his stack is in the pot at this point). Sonny asks him for a count, the kid declares he has 45 dollars behind, and Sonny calmly responds "I'll raise you 40, leave you some money for the bus." The kid goes into the tank, looks at his buddy standing on the rail behind him "God...you did this to me last time too!", Sonny responds with "Ya, and did you learn your lesson last time". The kid then tells us he's going to make "a GREAT laydown", and folds A/10 face up, and asks Sonny if he made the right fold.
Sonny : "Ya, you made a great fold."
Suicide Kid(to a friend behind him) : "I knew it, I knew I made a great fold!"
Sonny(still with cards in hand, finally tables it...5/3 offsuit) : "You made a great fold because if you call I can't possibly win"
The kid makes this sick face, and from then on it's absolute game on. Everyone at the table realizes this kid's borderline suicidal at the table, and he's an easy target, and the kid eventually gets stuck at least another 4 buyins to the table before he finally leaves.
I always liked that story...so, onto my day at Fallsview...
I went down to Fallsview with 2 friends of mine, Alex and Curtis, both friends I have incredible respect for as players, Alex and I talk about poker all the time, and although Curtis and I aren't as close, he's a good friend and an amazing player. Anyway, we go down, and Curtis buys in to the 2/5 NL game, Alex and I sit at 5/5.
My table draw, if you read my last blog, was the polar opposite of my last table. This was the most agressive table I've ever sat at for 5/5. If there was a flop dealt with less than 150 bucks in the pot it was a borderline miracle. Either 2 players would get real deep preflop, or it'd be a "cheap" 40 bucks preflop with 5 callers. I had just sat down and got the feel for how insane the table was when I limped Ah/4h in EP hoping to see a cheap flop, and it was raised behind me to 40 dollars, then 6 callers called by the time it came back to me, so I laughingly called the 40. The flop was Q/5/5 rainbow, I checked and the initial raiser bet 150, got called, and got called. Pot's now at nearly 700 dollars. Turn was a J. Initial raiser bet 250, got called all-in for about 200, and re-raised to 500. Initial raiser called the extra 250. So now the pot is 1300 main, 600 side. The river comes a brick, like a 6, and the initial better checks to a very solid player who puts in 300 more which represents the last of the initial raisers chips. The raiser says "What the hell do you think I'm bluffing you here?" and calls, and tables...KQ. He played a 2500 dollar pot on a Q/J/5/5/6 board with KQ. I didn't even need to see the other kid's cards, I couldn't help it I just started laughing. The solid player tabled QQ for the win. Ship it all over there for one of the most rediculous pots I've sat and watched at a table.
Anyway, I was immensely card dead, and slowly widdled away to around 400 left, then I tried to run what I think is still a solid bluff, since only one hand can call me and he just so happened to have it. This fairly tight player raises preflop to 20. Now I'm really looking to play because that's dirt cheap for my table, and I have that gorgeous little white chip infront of me with the word "DEALER" on it. I call with K/8. The flop is J/9/8 with two diamonds. He bets out 75 at a pot of just 45 bucks. I now go into the tank, that's either a big hand on the flop, that's scared of the obvious large draw capabilities of this board, or it's an outside chance of a real big draw, but since he's a tight player I decide it's a big hand(a set or AA or KK), so I call off hoping for a scare turn. The turn is a 10. He fires out a really weak 40 bucks at nearly 200, and I decide that's him just making an exploratory bet with a scared hand, so I slam over the top to 200. He goes into the tank for a few minutes and then shoves all in. Damn, he had the draw. I fold and he shows Ad/Qd. Unlucky but I still feel that's a good play, he just played really well, his turn bet was great, he left the door wide open for me to slam over the top, if he was thinking that deep about the hand which I doubt. But if he was kudos, well played.
Anyway, I rebought but went down to 2/5 with Curtis, who at this point was up 700 bucks or so(buyin's 200, he had 900 infront). I buy-in for 200, and one of the first hands I play is maybe the one debatble hand I played, although I still don't see a way out of the hand for me. I had AQ in the SB after a few limps, I raised to 25. Got 2 callers, the BB and a MP player. The flop comes Ac/9h/7h, I fire out 50 bucks and BB calls, MP player folds. The turn is a Js, a bad card because it is in his wheelhouse for a convuluted straight with 10/8, or more likely 2 pair with AJ, but I had decided I put him on a flush draw on the flop when he called quickly, so I had already decided the turn was a push as long as it wasn't a heart(besides, I don't have another bet in me, the pot is now over 200 I have 100 behind), so I shove the turn and he calls, with AK. Without a r-raise preflop or on the flop, I don't see a way I can avoid going broke when I'm OOP.
I rebuy one more time, and one of the first hands I play under this buyin, is calling a 6 way pot at 20 bucks with 5d/6d. The flop is nice, 10c/6s/5h. I check, deciding I wanted the player to my left, the initial raiser, to get himelf in trouble here. He fires out 40, and the player behind calls, and I slam over the top all in for 160. Not alot I can do here, I give myself the highest fold equity here, and I hopefully freeze out that player hanging along barring him having a monster, I'm positive I have the initial raiser beat. He calls, and the other player folds. The raiser tables JJ. 10d on the turn for a higher 2 pair, ship my money over there. Nice. About 6 hours, and I'm stuck close to 1000 dollars. I guess the one good peice of news is I asked a pit boss where he recommends me staying for the Jackseven Birthday Bash next-week, and he says that if I call Fallsview and have them patch me through to the Hilton across the street, they offer a great discount for poker players. So I'm probably doing that. Good advice.
Curtis ended his session up 1100 dollars, Alex was stuck 1 or 2 hundred I think.
Tomorrow's shaping up to be a big day for me, I'm playing both the real big online tournaments tomorrow, the Pokerstars Sunday Million at 4:30, and the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS Main Event 2 million-guaranteed at 6:00. Hopefully I'll just calmly win them both and make half a million or more.
Clever huh?
Anyway, we'll start with the andecdote since it's one of my favourite stories from my entire poker career, and has absolutely nothing to do with me except the fact that I just so happened to be at the table during the hand.
Sonny Rattan, aka my boss and aka the voice of Pokerstars broadcasts now, and basically the single person I'd say I owe the most to as a poker player considering he's the one that tought me how to play poker, and myself went to go play a game at Casino Niagara, a simple 1/2 NL game. I went bust when my AA got cracked by 44 when the guy re-raised my UTG raise all-in and spiked a 4 on the turn. I got up and was actually ready to leave when Sonny offered to buy me back into the game. So I put my name back on a list and ended up on a table with him, to his right. He loves to tell this story so he can throw in his little dig at how I was totally card-dead and the only three times I raise in the span of like 4 hours, he came back over the top and had me fold(AQ, AQ and 99 to his AK, AK and JJ). What a jerk.
Anyway, the story isn't about me so let's delve aside, Sonny was doing very well, up to around 900 deep or so at this point(max buyins 100 so that's pretty steep), when this hand occurs with a kid about 400 deep, give or take.
The player raises it up from EP, and Sonny calls from the Cut-Off. The flop comes 9/10/Q rainbow. The kid fires out a continuation bet, and Sonny calls. The turn is a 7, but puts a flush draw on the board. The kid fires out another bet, and Sonny raises him all-in, at this point I'd say the kid's 100 deep into the hand and will have to call off 300 more.
Remember the flop, 9/10/Q, turn 7. He calls off 300 deep. Sonny tables K/J for the stone nuts, and this num-nuts turns over pocket 8's, in what I can only assume was an effort to make a heroic call for the ages. Honestly, if you make that call against a fairly tight, solid player, and are ever right, please write a book about that call and name your book "I'm better than you : How I made the best call ever in the history of ever."
I digress. The kid then really makes a comment that shows I suppose he's blind, "That's fine, I only need the Jack to chop." This is where I love Sonny's response, because me? I'd have played it differently, I'd have let him cling to that hope, praying the river was a Jack so he'd feel stupid when the pot was still shipped my way. Sonny? He's what can only loosely be described as a soul-crusher. His response? "No, no you don't need a Jack...King high? See?" The kid didn't even stick around to see the river card, he left for the ATM and came on back to the table. This is where the story becomes interesting...upon sitting at the table the kid looks at Sonny and declares "I'm coming to get my money back!"
For the next hour or so, he's raising every single time Sonny is BB, which is actually kind of silly considering he's UTG+1 when Sonny was BB, but he's that tilted. Every once in a while I re-pop him and steal dead money. Finally, he does it once, and Sonny calls(the first time he's fought back at all). The flop is 10/9/7 rainbow. The kid fires a continuation bet, and Sonny calls. The turn comes an 8. The kid fires another bet(he's pretty deep again now, over half of his stack is in the pot at this point). Sonny asks him for a count, the kid declares he has 45 dollars behind, and Sonny calmly responds "I'll raise you 40, leave you some money for the bus." The kid goes into the tank, looks at his buddy standing on the rail behind him "God...you did this to me last time too!", Sonny responds with "Ya, and did you learn your lesson last time". The kid then tells us he's going to make "a GREAT laydown", and folds A/10 face up, and asks Sonny if he made the right fold.
Sonny : "Ya, you made a great fold."
Suicide Kid(to a friend behind him) : "I knew it, I knew I made a great fold!"
Sonny(still with cards in hand, finally tables it...5/3 offsuit) : "You made a great fold because if you call I can't possibly win"
The kid makes this sick face, and from then on it's absolute game on. Everyone at the table realizes this kid's borderline suicidal at the table, and he's an easy target, and the kid eventually gets stuck at least another 4 buyins to the table before he finally leaves.
I always liked that story...so, onto my day at Fallsview...
I went down to Fallsview with 2 friends of mine, Alex and Curtis, both friends I have incredible respect for as players, Alex and I talk about poker all the time, and although Curtis and I aren't as close, he's a good friend and an amazing player. Anyway, we go down, and Curtis buys in to the 2/5 NL game, Alex and I sit at 5/5.
My table draw, if you read my last blog, was the polar opposite of my last table. This was the most agressive table I've ever sat at for 5/5. If there was a flop dealt with less than 150 bucks in the pot it was a borderline miracle. Either 2 players would get real deep preflop, or it'd be a "cheap" 40 bucks preflop with 5 callers. I had just sat down and got the feel for how insane the table was when I limped Ah/4h in EP hoping to see a cheap flop, and it was raised behind me to 40 dollars, then 6 callers called by the time it came back to me, so I laughingly called the 40. The flop was Q/5/5 rainbow, I checked and the initial raiser bet 150, got called, and got called. Pot's now at nearly 700 dollars. Turn was a J. Initial raiser bet 250, got called all-in for about 200, and re-raised to 500. Initial raiser called the extra 250. So now the pot is 1300 main, 600 side. The river comes a brick, like a 6, and the initial better checks to a very solid player who puts in 300 more which represents the last of the initial raisers chips. The raiser says "What the hell do you think I'm bluffing you here?" and calls, and tables...KQ. He played a 2500 dollar pot on a Q/J/5/5/6 board with KQ. I didn't even need to see the other kid's cards, I couldn't help it I just started laughing. The solid player tabled QQ for the win. Ship it all over there for one of the most rediculous pots I've sat and watched at a table.
Anyway, I was immensely card dead, and slowly widdled away to around 400 left, then I tried to run what I think is still a solid bluff, since only one hand can call me and he just so happened to have it. This fairly tight player raises preflop to 20. Now I'm really looking to play because that's dirt cheap for my table, and I have that gorgeous little white chip infront of me with the word "DEALER" on it. I call with K/8. The flop is J/9/8 with two diamonds. He bets out 75 at a pot of just 45 bucks. I now go into the tank, that's either a big hand on the flop, that's scared of the obvious large draw capabilities of this board, or it's an outside chance of a real big draw, but since he's a tight player I decide it's a big hand(a set or AA or KK), so I call off hoping for a scare turn. The turn is a 10. He fires out a really weak 40 bucks at nearly 200, and I decide that's him just making an exploratory bet with a scared hand, so I slam over the top to 200. He goes into the tank for a few minutes and then shoves all in. Damn, he had the draw. I fold and he shows Ad/Qd. Unlucky but I still feel that's a good play, he just played really well, his turn bet was great, he left the door wide open for me to slam over the top, if he was thinking that deep about the hand which I doubt. But if he was kudos, well played.
Anyway, I rebought but went down to 2/5 with Curtis, who at this point was up 700 bucks or so(buyin's 200, he had 900 infront). I buy-in for 200, and one of the first hands I play is maybe the one debatble hand I played, although I still don't see a way out of the hand for me. I had AQ in the SB after a few limps, I raised to 25. Got 2 callers, the BB and a MP player. The flop comes Ac/9h/7h, I fire out 50 bucks and BB calls, MP player folds. The turn is a Js, a bad card because it is in his wheelhouse for a convuluted straight with 10/8, or more likely 2 pair with AJ, but I had decided I put him on a flush draw on the flop when he called quickly, so I had already decided the turn was a push as long as it wasn't a heart(besides, I don't have another bet in me, the pot is now over 200 I have 100 behind), so I shove the turn and he calls, with AK. Without a r-raise preflop or on the flop, I don't see a way I can avoid going broke when I'm OOP.
I rebuy one more time, and one of the first hands I play under this buyin, is calling a 6 way pot at 20 bucks with 5d/6d. The flop is nice, 10c/6s/5h. I check, deciding I wanted the player to my left, the initial raiser, to get himelf in trouble here. He fires out 40, and the player behind calls, and I slam over the top all in for 160. Not alot I can do here, I give myself the highest fold equity here, and I hopefully freeze out that player hanging along barring him having a monster, I'm positive I have the initial raiser beat. He calls, and the other player folds. The raiser tables JJ. 10d on the turn for a higher 2 pair, ship my money over there. Nice. About 6 hours, and I'm stuck close to 1000 dollars. I guess the one good peice of news is I asked a pit boss where he recommends me staying for the Jackseven Birthday Bash next-week, and he says that if I call Fallsview and have them patch me through to the Hilton across the street, they offer a great discount for poker players. So I'm probably doing that. Good advice.
Curtis ended his session up 1100 dollars, Alex was stuck 1 or 2 hundred I think.
Tomorrow's shaping up to be a big day for me, I'm playing both the real big online tournaments tomorrow, the Pokerstars Sunday Million at 4:30, and the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS Main Event 2 million-guaranteed at 6:00. Hopefully I'll just calmly win them both and make half a million or more.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Thanks Fallsview, for the worst session of my life.
Before I start, I want to make one thing crystal clear, since there will be little in the way of poker hand analysis or discussion, when I say this was the worst session of my life, I walked out with 150 dollars profit in about 4 hours. The big pot I won was when I flopped the nuts holding 9h/10h, the flop was 6s/7s/8c, and I got a girl all in for her 280 dollars(I had her well covered) when she was holding 9/5. After that there wasn't alot interesting that happened, which is the crux of the problem. So let's go back to the start...
I played the FTOPS Event #3, PL Hold'Em tonight. It went terribly. I made a brutal mistake and really overplayed top pair and I still can't possibly explain or understand why I did it. A limped pot, I limped with A/J, flop was J/10/4. EP checked, I bet pot, it folded around and he hammered back pot(which was a significant raise). For whatever unkown reason, I re-raised all-in, which is asenine since there are so few hands I get check raised by that I have beat on that board. Infact, I can't even think of one. He was an UTG+1 limp so AA, KK and QQ are all possible here, as is 44, J/10. The one hand I still don't see being in his range limping UTG+1 was the hand he wound up having, 10/10. Anyway, that put me on the short stack, and I went out a short time later. Terrible.
A little while later, I get a message from Griff, he's deep in the 18k guarantee on FTP, and I rail and watch him finish 3rd, for a 3,600 payday. He then informs me he's "going back down to the tables", because he's in Niagara right now, and he had crushed the 5/5 game at Fallsview before going back to his room to play the FTOPS and that tourney. It's midnight, but I'm pretty awake still, so I decide I'll make the trip out there. It's about an hour long drive given the back-road way from my house to Niagara, so I arrive at Fallsview expecting great fun, and get something else entirely.
First of all, and this is a rather small gripe, when I get ID'd at the door, the guy puts the damn stamp on my hand. I don't drink, I don't want the stamp. I'd have told him, but he was some kind of hand-stamping ninja. This was the Jet Li of hand-stamping, before I even knew what was occuring my hand has a bright green stamp on it that'll take me 5 minutes to scrape off in the shower tomorrow, and does nothing for me. I calmly thank Jet Li and walk into the casino.
Once I get to the card room Griff had put my name on the list, so I get basically right onto a 5/5 table, and buyin 500 deep. That hand I won most of my money off of was about 10 minutes into the session.
After that, I notice a few things. First of all, there's not really any money on my table. My 800 is now the biggest stack at our table. Second of all, there are a few good players actually. Third of all, and most importantly, every single type of player I hate sitting at a table with is at this table :
Guy who thinks he's a pro but loses all his money by playing terribly : Check. Obviously I have no problem with him being there, but there was one really stupid spot where the board was 7s/8c/9c/Jc/Qh, and I had A/10, and went into the tank before calling with the 10. It was good, and the kid says to the guy beside him, "fuckin guys who think they're pro Hollywooding". I calmly pointed out that's why he sucks at poker, and we moved on.
Girl who refuses to top up : This is probably the worst kind of person, especially at a game like 5/5. This girl bought in for 100, and was down to about 55 or so, maybe not even. Every single time she does anything you're facing a 55 dollar decision because she's so short, and won't buy back in. She hovered there for hours before she finally got a big hand and won about 300.
Guy who sleeps at the table : It's 2am, so this douche wants to take a nap at the table, holding up the game whenever we have to wake him up to inform him it's on him. That same guy also was another big pet peeve player :
Guy who calls a clock completely un-necessarily : When he wasn't napping, he was insulting players and getting them to put the clock on players basically for nothing. I have a story about a run-in with him, but it'll wait until later in this blog.
Anyway, all that, and as I said, barely any money, meant the table moved very slowly, there was almost no action. This was, infact, an absolutely horrible 5/5 table. So, after Griff got moved to my table we both decided we'd get moved to another table behind us which had some big action and lots of bad players. So we asked for the table change. About 10 minutes later maybe, not even, Griff gets moved over to that table.
Now comes the real anger. I sit at that table for another 20 minutes or so, before I see a seat open up beside this guy that's over 4000 deep at that table, so I calmly wait to be moved. However, I don't get moved. I give them some time figuring they're getting around to it, and about 20 minutes after that, I finally call a pit-boss over and tell him I asked to be moved, and there's a seat open. He says he'll go check it out and let me know.
Another 20 minutes pass, the table I'm at is getting tighter, and even slower. I'm basically sick I don't want to be playing at this table any more it's so slow moving and pots aren't going anywhere. In the meantime, no one sits in that seat. So, I call the pit-boss back over, and ask him what's going on. He informs me the call has to come from up front on table changes, and he's waiting to hear from them.
Another 20 minutes pass. I'm getting very upset now as that seat remains unclaimed. Now players are starting to file out slowly from the casino, and our table is short 2 players. I call a pit-boss yet again about the move, and now he informs me that "Since we're short we don't move people". I ask what happened for the last hour I've been waiting and he has no response.
20 minutes pass. The 4th table of 5/5 breaks, and fills the third table, our table, but still leaves that spot open. So, naturally I call the pit-boss back over, and ask him about a move now, he tells me to hold on, and walks back upfront. Another player gets dumped from that table so now there's 2 open over there. They then move another player from my table that asked for a table change after me, over to the table I want to go to. I call the pit-boss back over and ask to be moved also, and get the "we're short I can't move you" excuse again. I nearly lose it, especially considering the other guy just getting moved, and they tell me they'll try and figure something out.
In the meantime, I'm slowly losing some chips back to my shitty table, one hand that I actually laughed out loud at. I had Q/J in the cut-off, raised, got a call from SB and BB. The flop came Jh/9c/4c, I bet, got a caller. On the turn, which was a brick, a 5d, I looked at his stack, about 73 dollars infront of him. This is why I hate playing with all these short clowns at my table with 100-200 infront of them, because the pot's over 50 bucks now, any bet I make is all his chips. Oh well, I bet pot, 50 bucks. He CALLS, and holds onto 23 dollars. River? 3c. He goes all-in. I literally laugh, I couldn't help it, and dump it. He shows Ac/2c for the nut flush, as if I somehow didn't know that.
In the meantime, I call a pit-boss over and ask about a move one last time, and they tell me they can't do it, so I calmly tell them that's fine, I'm leaving then.
The last hand I play is Kc/10s from the cut-off and raise, the button, SB and BB all call. The flop comes 10h/4c/5c, check from the blinds I bet out 2/3 pot which is 40 bucks, pot is 60. Button raises it up to 140. I go into the tank, not for overly long either, maybe 30 seconds, before Mr.Nappy McClockcaller decides he's going to call the clock on me. But first, he's going to insult the fact that I want to make a good decision here, he does it wrong however. Here's our little exchange.
Nappy : "There's only 60 dollars in the pot."
Me(directed at the dealer) : "Can I take back my 40 dollar bet?"
Dealer : "No. It's in the pot."
Me(directed at the dealer) : "So would you say that the 180 dollars infront of us is also in the pot?"
Dealer : "Yes."
Me : "So the pot's like what...240?"
Dealer : "Approximately"
Me(directed at Nappy) : "Sorry, I just wanted to verify the pot's actual size."
Nappy : "Still, it's not a hard decision"
Me : "Sorry I'm not as good as you I take maybe like 30 seconds to decide to fold top pair."
*At this point I fold the 10 faceup*
Nappy : "Why would you fold that?"
Me : "That's why I took 30 seconds you idiot. Especially since he only has about 200 more behind I can't call that bet I have to shove and play a huge pot against him."
That's about it for my session, I got up and walked out, cashed out for a 654. Came back to the card-room to tell the pit-boss' not to worry about my table change since I was off the table now. I then bitch them out for a few minutes, and they apologize. Charming, but I'm severely un-impressed with all that's occured.
That's about it, a 5 hour late night session, at the worst table ever that apparantly I was never going to be allowed to move from, of immensely boring poker, made some money so it's not horrifying but still, this is one of the very rare times where I will sit at a poker table and not enjoy myself. I love the game of poker, but tonight was torture.
I played the FTOPS Event #3, PL Hold'Em tonight. It went terribly. I made a brutal mistake and really overplayed top pair and I still can't possibly explain or understand why I did it. A limped pot, I limped with A/J, flop was J/10/4. EP checked, I bet pot, it folded around and he hammered back pot(which was a significant raise). For whatever unkown reason, I re-raised all-in, which is asenine since there are so few hands I get check raised by that I have beat on that board. Infact, I can't even think of one. He was an UTG+1 limp so AA, KK and QQ are all possible here, as is 44, J/10. The one hand I still don't see being in his range limping UTG+1 was the hand he wound up having, 10/10. Anyway, that put me on the short stack, and I went out a short time later. Terrible.
A little while later, I get a message from Griff, he's deep in the 18k guarantee on FTP, and I rail and watch him finish 3rd, for a 3,600 payday. He then informs me he's "going back down to the tables", because he's in Niagara right now, and he had crushed the 5/5 game at Fallsview before going back to his room to play the FTOPS and that tourney. It's midnight, but I'm pretty awake still, so I decide I'll make the trip out there. It's about an hour long drive given the back-road way from my house to Niagara, so I arrive at Fallsview expecting great fun, and get something else entirely.
First of all, and this is a rather small gripe, when I get ID'd at the door, the guy puts the damn stamp on my hand. I don't drink, I don't want the stamp. I'd have told him, but he was some kind of hand-stamping ninja. This was the Jet Li of hand-stamping, before I even knew what was occuring my hand has a bright green stamp on it that'll take me 5 minutes to scrape off in the shower tomorrow, and does nothing for me. I calmly thank Jet Li and walk into the casino.
Once I get to the card room Griff had put my name on the list, so I get basically right onto a 5/5 table, and buyin 500 deep. That hand I won most of my money off of was about 10 minutes into the session.
After that, I notice a few things. First of all, there's not really any money on my table. My 800 is now the biggest stack at our table. Second of all, there are a few good players actually. Third of all, and most importantly, every single type of player I hate sitting at a table with is at this table :
Guy who thinks he's a pro but loses all his money by playing terribly : Check. Obviously I have no problem with him being there, but there was one really stupid spot where the board was 7s/8c/9c/Jc/Qh, and I had A/10, and went into the tank before calling with the 10. It was good, and the kid says to the guy beside him, "fuckin guys who think they're pro Hollywooding". I calmly pointed out that's why he sucks at poker, and we moved on.
Girl who refuses to top up : This is probably the worst kind of person, especially at a game like 5/5. This girl bought in for 100, and was down to about 55 or so, maybe not even. Every single time she does anything you're facing a 55 dollar decision because she's so short, and won't buy back in. She hovered there for hours before she finally got a big hand and won about 300.
Guy who sleeps at the table : It's 2am, so this douche wants to take a nap at the table, holding up the game whenever we have to wake him up to inform him it's on him. That same guy also was another big pet peeve player :
Guy who calls a clock completely un-necessarily : When he wasn't napping, he was insulting players and getting them to put the clock on players basically for nothing. I have a story about a run-in with him, but it'll wait until later in this blog.
Anyway, all that, and as I said, barely any money, meant the table moved very slowly, there was almost no action. This was, infact, an absolutely horrible 5/5 table. So, after Griff got moved to my table we both decided we'd get moved to another table behind us which had some big action and lots of bad players. So we asked for the table change. About 10 minutes later maybe, not even, Griff gets moved over to that table.
Now comes the real anger. I sit at that table for another 20 minutes or so, before I see a seat open up beside this guy that's over 4000 deep at that table, so I calmly wait to be moved. However, I don't get moved. I give them some time figuring they're getting around to it, and about 20 minutes after that, I finally call a pit-boss over and tell him I asked to be moved, and there's a seat open. He says he'll go check it out and let me know.
Another 20 minutes pass, the table I'm at is getting tighter, and even slower. I'm basically sick I don't want to be playing at this table any more it's so slow moving and pots aren't going anywhere. In the meantime, no one sits in that seat. So, I call the pit-boss back over, and ask him what's going on. He informs me the call has to come from up front on table changes, and he's waiting to hear from them.
Another 20 minutes pass. I'm getting very upset now as that seat remains unclaimed. Now players are starting to file out slowly from the casino, and our table is short 2 players. I call a pit-boss yet again about the move, and now he informs me that "Since we're short we don't move people". I ask what happened for the last hour I've been waiting and he has no response.
20 minutes pass. The 4th table of 5/5 breaks, and fills the third table, our table, but still leaves that spot open. So, naturally I call the pit-boss back over, and ask him about a move now, he tells me to hold on, and walks back upfront. Another player gets dumped from that table so now there's 2 open over there. They then move another player from my table that asked for a table change after me, over to the table I want to go to. I call the pit-boss back over and ask to be moved also, and get the "we're short I can't move you" excuse again. I nearly lose it, especially considering the other guy just getting moved, and they tell me they'll try and figure something out.
In the meantime, I'm slowly losing some chips back to my shitty table, one hand that I actually laughed out loud at. I had Q/J in the cut-off, raised, got a call from SB and BB. The flop came Jh/9c/4c, I bet, got a caller. On the turn, which was a brick, a 5d, I looked at his stack, about 73 dollars infront of him. This is why I hate playing with all these short clowns at my table with 100-200 infront of them, because the pot's over 50 bucks now, any bet I make is all his chips. Oh well, I bet pot, 50 bucks. He CALLS, and holds onto 23 dollars. River? 3c. He goes all-in. I literally laugh, I couldn't help it, and dump it. He shows Ac/2c for the nut flush, as if I somehow didn't know that.
In the meantime, I call a pit-boss over and ask about a move one last time, and they tell me they can't do it, so I calmly tell them that's fine, I'm leaving then.
The last hand I play is Kc/10s from the cut-off and raise, the button, SB and BB all call. The flop comes 10h/4c/5c, check from the blinds I bet out 2/3 pot which is 40 bucks, pot is 60. Button raises it up to 140. I go into the tank, not for overly long either, maybe 30 seconds, before Mr.Nappy McClockcaller decides he's going to call the clock on me. But first, he's going to insult the fact that I want to make a good decision here, he does it wrong however. Here's our little exchange.
Nappy : "There's only 60 dollars in the pot."
Me(directed at the dealer) : "Can I take back my 40 dollar bet?"
Dealer : "No. It's in the pot."
Me(directed at the dealer) : "So would you say that the 180 dollars infront of us is also in the pot?"
Dealer : "Yes."
Me : "So the pot's like what...240?"
Dealer : "Approximately"
Me(directed at Nappy) : "Sorry, I just wanted to verify the pot's actual size."
Nappy : "Still, it's not a hard decision"
Me : "Sorry I'm not as good as you I take maybe like 30 seconds to decide to fold top pair."
*At this point I fold the 10 faceup*
Nappy : "Why would you fold that?"
Me : "That's why I took 30 seconds you idiot. Especially since he only has about 200 more behind I can't call that bet I have to shove and play a huge pot against him."
That's about it for my session, I got up and walked out, cashed out for a 654. Came back to the card-room to tell the pit-boss' not to worry about my table change since I was off the table now. I then bitch them out for a few minutes, and they apologize. Charming, but I'm severely un-impressed with all that's occured.
That's about it, a 5 hour late night session, at the worst table ever that apparantly I was never going to be allowed to move from, of immensely boring poker, made some money so it's not horrifying but still, this is one of the very rare times where I will sit at a poker table and not enjoy myself. I love the game of poker, but tonight was torture.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
The other side of poker...
Some of you may or may not have read a blog I did a little while ago, about the downswings you face during poker, and the feelings that emerge from it. This, is a few different things at once : It's a blog about recovery from that, and some advice, and it's a blog about the flip side of poker.
First of all, the recovery. As you know, there was a point where I could literally do nothing right, most of last month, playing poker. I couldn't figure out how I was doing so badly so consistently, and at some point it just started to ware on me, and make me feel sick even when entering a tournament. It got so bad I would start swearing to friends during a tournament because I lost one pot on a bad beat.
The number one peice of advice I can give is this : By now, you hopefully understand where your place in poker is. You hopefully understand whether you're a winning, or losing player, over the long term. That is really the only solace you have during that time is to tell yourself that you're a winning player, and you'll win again.
During that downswing what I started doing was making notes to myself every time I played a cash game or tournament, I'd track how I lost the big pots I played. I noticed something fairly alarming, either they were setups that I was helpless against(set under set or something along that lines), or I put my money in ahead and lost. Rarely, actually only a very few times, did my notepad have me putting my money in when I was behind when it was a significant spot.
That is all I did, was kept track and noticed I'd lost an alarming number of 60/40's, and I had to start winning. Then came the Hendon Mob FTOPS event, the night I broke the funk so to speak. Out of 1221 players, I finished 41st(I think, truthfully I can't remember now). It wasn't a significant cash value(only 380 bucks or something), but it was alot more valuable than that. Three days later, I won a tournament down in Toronto for 1400 dollars. Then I started playing online poker.
For anyone who doesn't know, my online poker life consists of limit poker, and tournaments. I rarely dive into NL cash games, because I hate the way people play in them(1/2 blinds, raise to 16...there's no logic there, you'd never raise 8x in a tournament or any other forum of poker). I like limit poker, it controls my losses and limits the damage a bad beat does, and it's, at least in my opinion, alot more focussed on your ability to put your money in good. The only number I pay any attention to in limit poker, is my percentage of showdowns won. That simply means the percentage of the times where I either call, or get called, on the river, and have to show my cards to win a pot. If that's high, then you're having a great limit session. Typically, I run at over 70%.
Lately, that number's been alot higher. Actually, it's been over 90%. I've had 6 sessions over 5 hours lately where it's been over 95%, and one where it was 100%.
If you've ever seen the movie Rounders, one of the earliest quotes is actually targeted to limit poker. "Your goal is to make one big bet an hour." It's the theory limit poker players live by, because it's the easiest way to determine you're winning. One big bet represents the bet on the turn and river. Say you're in a 5/10 limit game, you're goal is 10 dollars an hour. One big bet. Now, for a professional? That's not enough, 2-3 should be your range.
The past week I've been playing 5-10 heavily, I'm earning almost 8 big bets an hour, which is an obscene number to anyone who considers it. Basically, if I buy in for 200 playing 5/10 limit, and sit for a 8 hour session, I'll be at 840. For a week now, whenever I play online poker, I'm earning 80 dollars an hour. Life is good.
That can't possibly continue, but I feel like playing limit poker as successfully as I typically do, I should be able to clear 2-3 big bets an hour, which is roughly 30 dollars an hour, without putting alot at risk.
On the subject of running well lately, a good friend of mine, Sonny Rattan, just got back from doing commentary and analyst work for the Pokerstars NHLPA tournament this year. After he got back, we finally got a chance to do something special.
Tonight was the first event of our new Southern Ontario Poker League, Elite Poker. This is something Sonny and I used to talk about at great lengths, merely in a passing sense, "If you ran your own poker tour, would you do this?", was a question we posed alot. It was borderline obsession to the both of us to discuss ways of bettering what we were technically already doing with another company.
After a falling out with the owner of that company, we, specifically Sonny moreso than me, were presented with an opportunity to do this our way. We got some of the best staff available in the area, alot of whom previously worked with us so we were familiar with them, and we as a group set to work developing the tour.
Tonight, was probably one of the most rewarding nights of my life, so I can't even imagine how Sonny feels given the fact that this is his baby finally. To anyone who doesn't know Sonny that's reading this, Sonny is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, he's also made a real reputation for himself in Southern Ontario as he worked for a couple companies running tournaments, and always with the greatest of success. It meant alot to me for him to come to me as his right hand man so to speak, because I have such an admiration for the way he does business and runs the events.
Together, we(and again when I say we, he deserves most of the credit), fomulated a plan for a way to run the tour, but with a, at least I felt, better structure not just poker-wise, but altogether better structure.
Tonight we finally got a chance to run our first event, given it was the first event we set up 4 tables at first, expecting around 32 players to show up hopefully. In the end, and as an alarming show of what I said earlier, just the impact and respect Sonny has earned and commanded down here, we ended up with over double that. 67 players in all showed up to play, 8 tables, the maximum we even allow at one of our events(since they're all hosted in bars), showed up to play. It was a truly overwhelming experience that a first night for a new tour could be anywhere near that successful.
Since I know at least some players who play the tour read this, I'd like to take time to thank each and every one of you. As we say alot, this is as much you as it is us. Tonight was just an amazing show of dedication from you, and a truly fantastic experience. This event was a little more work than it was where we used to work, but I did it all gladly given the pride I had in the event, the turnout, and what I beleive to be the best free poker you'll find.
So, to everyone who was there tonight, thanks for making it a memorable experience. To Sonny, thanks for letting me be a part of this.
Lastly, to anyone going through a downswing, here's the only thing I can recommend outside of the simple notepad file. Play more hands. Get agressive, start trying to make things happen for yourself. What I found in the Hendon Mob Event was that breaking the streak was fairly easy because I played agressively and quickly developed a huge stack, and never really took a swing back to the pack, there was actually no point from about 20 minutes in on, where I wasn't going to cash. I always had a large chip stack, won countless small pots, and really took any fortune out of it. Finally got the few breaks I needed, and worked deep into the event.
Tomorrow the FTOPS starts off again, and next month Pokerstars will be running the World Cup of Online Poker. Both those tournament series' are of interest to me, so I'll see what ones I can play. I beleive the first one will be FTOPS event #3 on Friday, a $200+16 buy-in Pot Limit Hold'Em Event.
And for real lastly this time, congrats to Tomas for winning the first event of Elite Poker. See you all tomorrow.
First of all, the recovery. As you know, there was a point where I could literally do nothing right, most of last month, playing poker. I couldn't figure out how I was doing so badly so consistently, and at some point it just started to ware on me, and make me feel sick even when entering a tournament. It got so bad I would start swearing to friends during a tournament because I lost one pot on a bad beat.
The number one peice of advice I can give is this : By now, you hopefully understand where your place in poker is. You hopefully understand whether you're a winning, or losing player, over the long term. That is really the only solace you have during that time is to tell yourself that you're a winning player, and you'll win again.
During that downswing what I started doing was making notes to myself every time I played a cash game or tournament, I'd track how I lost the big pots I played. I noticed something fairly alarming, either they were setups that I was helpless against(set under set or something along that lines), or I put my money in ahead and lost. Rarely, actually only a very few times, did my notepad have me putting my money in when I was behind when it was a significant spot.
That is all I did, was kept track and noticed I'd lost an alarming number of 60/40's, and I had to start winning. Then came the Hendon Mob FTOPS event, the night I broke the funk so to speak. Out of 1221 players, I finished 41st(I think, truthfully I can't remember now). It wasn't a significant cash value(only 380 bucks or something), but it was alot more valuable than that. Three days later, I won a tournament down in Toronto for 1400 dollars. Then I started playing online poker.
For anyone who doesn't know, my online poker life consists of limit poker, and tournaments. I rarely dive into NL cash games, because I hate the way people play in them(1/2 blinds, raise to 16...there's no logic there, you'd never raise 8x in a tournament or any other forum of poker). I like limit poker, it controls my losses and limits the damage a bad beat does, and it's, at least in my opinion, alot more focussed on your ability to put your money in good. The only number I pay any attention to in limit poker, is my percentage of showdowns won. That simply means the percentage of the times where I either call, or get called, on the river, and have to show my cards to win a pot. If that's high, then you're having a great limit session. Typically, I run at over 70%.
Lately, that number's been alot higher. Actually, it's been over 90%. I've had 6 sessions over 5 hours lately where it's been over 95%, and one where it was 100%.
If you've ever seen the movie Rounders, one of the earliest quotes is actually targeted to limit poker. "Your goal is to make one big bet an hour." It's the theory limit poker players live by, because it's the easiest way to determine you're winning. One big bet represents the bet on the turn and river. Say you're in a 5/10 limit game, you're goal is 10 dollars an hour. One big bet. Now, for a professional? That's not enough, 2-3 should be your range.
The past week I've been playing 5-10 heavily, I'm earning almost 8 big bets an hour, which is an obscene number to anyone who considers it. Basically, if I buy in for 200 playing 5/10 limit, and sit for a 8 hour session, I'll be at 840. For a week now, whenever I play online poker, I'm earning 80 dollars an hour. Life is good.
That can't possibly continue, but I feel like playing limit poker as successfully as I typically do, I should be able to clear 2-3 big bets an hour, which is roughly 30 dollars an hour, without putting alot at risk.
On the subject of running well lately, a good friend of mine, Sonny Rattan, just got back from doing commentary and analyst work for the Pokerstars NHLPA tournament this year. After he got back, we finally got a chance to do something special.
Tonight was the first event of our new Southern Ontario Poker League, Elite Poker. This is something Sonny and I used to talk about at great lengths, merely in a passing sense, "If you ran your own poker tour, would you do this?", was a question we posed alot. It was borderline obsession to the both of us to discuss ways of bettering what we were technically already doing with another company.
After a falling out with the owner of that company, we, specifically Sonny moreso than me, were presented with an opportunity to do this our way. We got some of the best staff available in the area, alot of whom previously worked with us so we were familiar with them, and we as a group set to work developing the tour.
Tonight, was probably one of the most rewarding nights of my life, so I can't even imagine how Sonny feels given the fact that this is his baby finally. To anyone who doesn't know Sonny that's reading this, Sonny is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, he's also made a real reputation for himself in Southern Ontario as he worked for a couple companies running tournaments, and always with the greatest of success. It meant alot to me for him to come to me as his right hand man so to speak, because I have such an admiration for the way he does business and runs the events.
Together, we(and again when I say we, he deserves most of the credit), fomulated a plan for a way to run the tour, but with a, at least I felt, better structure not just poker-wise, but altogether better structure.
Tonight we finally got a chance to run our first event, given it was the first event we set up 4 tables at first, expecting around 32 players to show up hopefully. In the end, and as an alarming show of what I said earlier, just the impact and respect Sonny has earned and commanded down here, we ended up with over double that. 67 players in all showed up to play, 8 tables, the maximum we even allow at one of our events(since they're all hosted in bars), showed up to play. It was a truly overwhelming experience that a first night for a new tour could be anywhere near that successful.
Since I know at least some players who play the tour read this, I'd like to take time to thank each and every one of you. As we say alot, this is as much you as it is us. Tonight was just an amazing show of dedication from you, and a truly fantastic experience. This event was a little more work than it was where we used to work, but I did it all gladly given the pride I had in the event, the turnout, and what I beleive to be the best free poker you'll find.
So, to everyone who was there tonight, thanks for making it a memorable experience. To Sonny, thanks for letting me be a part of this.
Lastly, to anyone going through a downswing, here's the only thing I can recommend outside of the simple notepad file. Play more hands. Get agressive, start trying to make things happen for yourself. What I found in the Hendon Mob Event was that breaking the streak was fairly easy because I played agressively and quickly developed a huge stack, and never really took a swing back to the pack, there was actually no point from about 20 minutes in on, where I wasn't going to cash. I always had a large chip stack, won countless small pots, and really took any fortune out of it. Finally got the few breaks I needed, and worked deep into the event.
Tomorrow the FTOPS starts off again, and next month Pokerstars will be running the World Cup of Online Poker. Both those tournament series' are of interest to me, so I'll see what ones I can play. I beleive the first one will be FTOPS event #3 on Friday, a $200+16 buy-in Pot Limit Hold'Em Event.
And for real lastly this time, congrats to Tomas for winning the first event of Elite Poker. See you all tomorrow.
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