So...after the tournament result, we headed on down to the Borgata poker room and set out for world domination once more.
The cap on 1/2 NL there is 300, so I brought the max to the table, and as always immediately sent a message after sitting down, raising and re-raising several pots. This chipped me up a bit, to around 350.
Then the first legitimate hand of interest came up, a player, fairly short stacked(somewhere around 50-75 can't honestly remember) raised from mid position to 10, and I repopped to 40 with AK, basically comitting him. He shoved and I topped up to call the all in. He rolled over 44. Flop was 9/9/9, turn was a 9. Ship it?
After that I played a few more pots here and there, maintaining a now incredibly typical LAG image for me in a cash game, I throw chips around frequently, to generate action to get it back from the table when I get hands. I had JJ 4 times in the span of about an hour, and lost every pot with them(nothing overly substantial)...and won a fair pot with AA.
A few hands later I played the first real hand I would spend time debating with people for the entire trip so I'm curious to hear thoughts on it : after a few limps, I raised to 12 with KK, got one caller whom I had position on. The flop was about as disasterous as could be without containing an ace, Jd/10s/9d. He checked, I c-bet 20, and he check raised me to 80. This is one of the spots where I just flat out don't want to play a big pot on that board with KK, so I opted against getting stubborn and just folded. In retrospect I think it's the right play.
After that I just kind of treaded water for a little while, and ended the session up 200. We grabbed a meal over at Wolfgang Puck's restaraunt right next door to the poker room, amazing food and reasonable prices for a "celeb-chef" like that. After that, Alex said he wanted to go to Taj for the midnight tourney again, so I came along for the ride.
Taj tourneys are an odd bunch, alot of incredibly bad players. One side note : the Taj is a very unpleasent poker room to be in. It's hot as HELL in that poker room, and frankly, the supervisor that I saw around was so incompetent it was startling...
As for the tourney, we start with 20k in chips, blinds 25/50, every 20 minutes the level goes up.
The first pot I played ended up being fairly gigantic.
There were 3 limps to me, and I looked down at JJ. I raised to 400 total, and got one caller. The flop was 2/4/5 with 2 diamonds. He checked to me, and I bet out 700 at the pot. He suddenly check raised me to 3k total. I tanked for a minute, really unsure of what to do at this point, and decided to call, putting him on a flush draw. Which made the turn card real depressing. As. Granted, not a diamond, but still, if you figure someone for a flush draw, aces aren't fun to see. He slammed the turn for 6k, which again I tanked for a minute. I still didn't buy the ace for him, a few reasons, he bet the turn really quickly, which I thought he'd have given it a moments thought if he had the ace. 2 pair was certainly in his range, and so was a set. But I still felt like he had a diamond draw that didn't catch the ace with how quickly he bet the turn. So I called the turn. The river came a 10h, and he insta-shoved all in. I took a minute again here, telling him I didn't beleive he had me at all, again he acted very quickly on the river and again I felt like if he had a hand here he'd have been considering a value bet rather than shoving his stack in(basically pot so not an overbet, but still...). So after a minute I finally called, and he simply tapped the table and said nice call and threw his cards in the muck. I tabled Jacks, fairly excited at the table image that would give me. I then promptly steamrolled the tournament for a while, and then ran incredibly card dead around the middle of the tournament.
Eventually I found myself on an average chip stack, around 45k, blinds were 1500/3000. We were down near the bubble, and I raised to 8k with Ad/Js, a fairly agressive player who was really visibly pissed when he took a bad beat a few hands ago, and had just returned to the table after a walk after that hand, shoved all in for 35k total. Again here I tanked for a fair while, and finally called figuring I'm probably ahead of his range here, or at least flipping which I'd take to try and get a real competitive stack. He rolled over As/Jc for the same hand. And then we started pulling our chips back to chop the pot. Oh, I forgot, we did all that before we saw the board : 10c/9c/3c. Oh for gods sakes don't freeroll me on the bubble please. Turn, 6c. Thank you. River? 5c. Just fucking because okay? So ya, that was fun.
After that, Alex and Jason went back to their room for some sleep, and I headed over to The Borgata again. I decided that rather than sleep like people do, poker was more important. Largely because I had been in absolute control of any table I sat at the entire trip and felt like I was playing immaculate poker. So, since I was up a fair chunk already, and since I am technically bankrolled to play it live, I decided to jump into 5/10 NL. So I bought in for 1000 and sat down.
Overall there wasn't a ton of excitement at the table, I didn't sit for too-too long, about 4 hours or so. The three interesting hands I guess were :
MP a fairly LAGgy player raised to 35 in an unopened pot. I repopped to 140 from the SB with Ad/Kd. He smoothe called the extra 105. Flop came Ah/9c/3s. He held about 350 behind, so I decided to play a trap and check the flop to him and see if I could induce a shove from AQ. Sure enough, he shoved all in. I snap called and he showed AJ. Turn and river bricked out.
A few hands later I raised UTG to 35 with Ah/Qh, got smoothe called. Flop was Qs/8d/6h. I decided to try the check raise again, and he led out for 55. I raised to 180 straight, and then he 3 bet to 450. I tanked for a while and eventually folded, and he showed me 66.
And my last hand was fairly fun. There were 4 limps(rare) to me on the button and I had already decided I was raising any two cards there to try and steal the dead 55 dollars in the pot. So I raised to 50 straight with 6h/2h. I picked up one caller to the flop. The flop was Kh/2c/8h. I figured that was a good and bad flop, because the range of hands I put him on was deffinitely heavily weighted to Kx to limp and then call a raise that sized. And since he had called I was fairly certain he wasn't going to give this up easily. So instead of doing anything drastic, he led out for 125, and I smoothe called it. The turn was a 6d. That was a card I enjoyed immensely. He led out again for 250, and I slammed all-in, prompting a fold.
Overall for the trip? We got to chill by the ocean, we ate at some killer restaraunts, I stayed at The Borgata which is absolutely gorgeous, we had a ton of fun, and I played in my eyes anyway, although maybe the blogs don't sound like it, amazing poker. Every table I sat at I dominated entirely.
I ended up the weekend trip to Atlantic City up nearly 2k for the weekend.
As for Atlantic City, mixed reviews. It's a dump, especially down by the Boardwalk. On the flip side, as you drift away from it, and over towards Borgata, The Water Club and Harrah's, the city starts to get nicer and nicer. And as for the level of play, as I said before on the first entry, it's astonishing. I really, truly mean that. I've seen alot of bad players alot of places, but nothing compares to some of the pure nonsense I saw here. An all in on a Qc/Qs/9c/5h board by a guy holding 88 after crazy action preflop and on the flop. Which is disgusting. But what's worse? He got called. By Ad/10h....
Ya, it's that bad. I may actually go back for a week just to try and play more cash and less tourneys against these clowns.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Atlantic City Trip Day 1
Okay, so wow. Someone forgot to send me the memo that said the average player down in Atlantic City is slightly worse than the worst poker player ever. Someone really should have told me.
I won't give overwhelming details, but here ya go, the trip thus far :
So, we take off Friday night to head down to Atlantic City, me, Alex and Jason. We get down here at around 6:00 am Saturday morning. We grab a cheap hotel and crash, and wake up Saturday ready for world domination. No one told us it'd be this easy :
We start where anyone would logically start when they hit Atlantic City, The Borgata. Which has quite possibly, and almost deffinitely, the most breathtaking poker room I've stepped into. Massive room, tons of tables, beautiful set up, very spacious to have that many tables...it's a wonderful place to play poker.
So I sit at 1/2 NL with Alex, 300 max buyin. We both bring the max, and I immediately get to work establishing a LAG image, raising lots of pots...showing down goofy hands when I hit, and I have a big target on my back. I lose one big coin flip As/Ks against QQ for 200 bucks, rebuy back to the max and get on with it. When all is said and done, I'm up $900 for the session. One huge pot I play against the big stack at our table where I call a raise with 99, flop is 2/4/6 rainbow, he bets I call, turn is a 9 and we play a huge pot with his KK. The "funny" thing is I told him before the hand started I was going to flop a set, because he had flopped 3 sets in 10 minutes before that.
After that session we head over to the Taj Mahal, partially because all the success and money I make playing poker(which while not extreme, is pretty good, enough to live on) is owed to that place and the movie Rounders. So we play a tourney with absolutely abysmal play, a nice structured deep stack tourney, and I go broke fairly early, Alex runs much deeper. We head in for the night.
Woke up this morning and shot over to Caesers for their deepstack tournaments. And that went much better. I grabbed a chip lead fairly early on and was relentless against the entire tournament, taking pot after pot. Eventually, we were down to two tables, the average stack was probably 50k-60k in that range, and I was floating at 175k. Final table started, I took one massive hit with QQ vs A/10 vs K/J in a threeway all in pot that would have given me over 1/2 the chips in play when we were 5 handed, instead the A/10 made a straight. I ended up still playing fairly strong and making a 2nd place finish good for 1500 bucks. The old guy I played heads up quite literally ran like god when we got heads up, I'd flop a fairly big peice of the board and he'd flop the stone cold nuts. Eventually I shoved 180k with blinds 15/30k with A/9 suited, he called with K/Q suited and spiked a Q.
I've checked into the Borgata for tonight, hence the internet access finally, and me and Alex are just getting ready to head down to crush some insane donkeys that exist here. Infact, they're not even donkeys, donkey's play to good to be associated with the average player here. So I'm going to coin a new phrase exclusive to players in Atlantic City to describe how atrocious they are :
Kinkajou
Enjoy ladies and gentleman. The players in Atlantic City are kinkajou's.
I won't give overwhelming details, but here ya go, the trip thus far :
So, we take off Friday night to head down to Atlantic City, me, Alex and Jason. We get down here at around 6:00 am Saturday morning. We grab a cheap hotel and crash, and wake up Saturday ready for world domination. No one told us it'd be this easy :
We start where anyone would logically start when they hit Atlantic City, The Borgata. Which has quite possibly, and almost deffinitely, the most breathtaking poker room I've stepped into. Massive room, tons of tables, beautiful set up, very spacious to have that many tables...it's a wonderful place to play poker.
So I sit at 1/2 NL with Alex, 300 max buyin. We both bring the max, and I immediately get to work establishing a LAG image, raising lots of pots...showing down goofy hands when I hit, and I have a big target on my back. I lose one big coin flip As/Ks against QQ for 200 bucks, rebuy back to the max and get on with it. When all is said and done, I'm up $900 for the session. One huge pot I play against the big stack at our table where I call a raise with 99, flop is 2/4/6 rainbow, he bets I call, turn is a 9 and we play a huge pot with his KK. The "funny" thing is I told him before the hand started I was going to flop a set, because he had flopped 3 sets in 10 minutes before that.
After that session we head over to the Taj Mahal, partially because all the success and money I make playing poker(which while not extreme, is pretty good, enough to live on) is owed to that place and the movie Rounders. So we play a tourney with absolutely abysmal play, a nice structured deep stack tourney, and I go broke fairly early, Alex runs much deeper. We head in for the night.
Woke up this morning and shot over to Caesers for their deepstack tournaments. And that went much better. I grabbed a chip lead fairly early on and was relentless against the entire tournament, taking pot after pot. Eventually, we were down to two tables, the average stack was probably 50k-60k in that range, and I was floating at 175k. Final table started, I took one massive hit with QQ vs A/10 vs K/J in a threeway all in pot that would have given me over 1/2 the chips in play when we were 5 handed, instead the A/10 made a straight. I ended up still playing fairly strong and making a 2nd place finish good for 1500 bucks. The old guy I played heads up quite literally ran like god when we got heads up, I'd flop a fairly big peice of the board and he'd flop the stone cold nuts. Eventually I shoved 180k with blinds 15/30k with A/9 suited, he called with K/Q suited and spiked a Q.
I've checked into the Borgata for tonight, hence the internet access finally, and me and Alex are just getting ready to head down to crush some insane donkeys that exist here. Infact, they're not even donkeys, donkey's play to good to be associated with the average player here. So I'm going to coin a new phrase exclusive to players in Atlantic City to describe how atrocious they are :
Kinkajou
Enjoy ladies and gentleman. The players in Atlantic City are kinkajou's.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The revival of the blog!
Yes, yes. Hold your applause for after.
I decided to bring this back because hey, I'm playing a ton of online poker, so I figured I'd start blogging. This means this'll be update really frequently with thoughts and opinions and results and what not.
Before I get to that, I wanna give a shoutout to a few people. First of all, to all the guys I know that went down and crushed Vegas over this summer...kudos on a job well done and I wish I was there with you. Yves, you're an animal, Marc, that hand was disgusting, all the Elite Poker people you guys rock, congrats. I wish I had gone down again, unfortunately as those who know me know, family problems have become more serious, dad's been in and out(90% in) of the hospital for the past month and a half with blood clots and internal bleeding, so it was far from a good time to pack up and go try and kill Vegas again. Hopefully I'll get there in August, but we'll see.
Anywhoo, back to me, because hey, it's my blog so why the fuck am I giving Yves all the kudos? :P
Actually this leads me to one more shout out...to the lovely people at the CAW for having me on strike for well over a month and letting me really focus on playing poker. It's almost like a written invitation for me to try my hand at online poker full time.
So, I've been kind of exploring. I learned I hate SNG's, too hectic, and too swingy...I learned MTT's are gross as all hell, go deep and run into one setup and end up having 6 hours of perfect play erased in an instant.
So, I settled on the ring game life. I can't lie, partly, or largely, this is results based, I consistently, infact, it'd shock any regular player exactly how consistently I crush NL Cash Games. It frequently amazes me...I've rarely booked losing sessions in a long, long time now.
With that said, I started this run at limit hold'em, because I still consider myself a limit specialist(by specialist I mean that "Bet" button always seems easier to push than the "Fold" button, so consistently people end up folding to me).
So with all that out of the way, I had an illuminating discussion with a friend of mine. We discussed basically my poker career and the fact I was playing limit. Basically he told me he thinks it's a stupid idea for me because in his words : "I've never played anyone as good as extracting chips with made hands as you are."
So, on the heed of that advice, I decided to give NL games a chance. I've been 4 tabling 1/2 NL for a week now, and really cleaning the game up so easily it's scary.
So...tonight's session. Key hands and analysis :
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159601672: Table Sphinx (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:43:50 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: nm_21 ($369.60)
Seat 2: crystal_donkey ($168.40)
Seat 3: browerkid ($197)
Seat 4: DuckandHide ($260.95)
Seat 5: jloscottdale ($225.45)
Seat 6: bucfanjay ($251.10)
browerkid posts the small blind of $1
DuckandHide posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [9h 9s]
jloscottdale folds
bucfanjay raises to $8
nm_21 folds
crystal_donkey calls $8
browerkid folds
DuckandHide folds
*** FLOP *** [8s Qh 9c]
bucfanjay bets $11
jloscottdale is sitting out
crystal_donkey has 15 seconds left to act
crystal_donkey raises to $33
bucfanjay has 15 seconds left to act
bucfanjay raises to $75
crystal_donkey raises to $160.40, and is all in
bucfanjay calls $85.40
crystal_donkey shows [9h 9s]
bucfanjay shows [Ts Td]
*** TURN *** [8s Qh 9c] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [8s Qh 9c 2s] [Ks]
crystal_donkey shows three of a kind, Nines
bucfanjay shows a pair of Tens
crystal_donkey wins the pot ($336.80) with three of a kind, Nines
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $339.80 Rake $3
Board: [8s Qh 9c 2s Ks]
Seat 1: nm_21 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: crystal_donkey (button) showed [9h 9s] and won ($336.80) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 3: browerkid (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: DuckandHide (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: jloscottdale didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: bucfanjay showed [Ts Td] and lost with a pair of Tens
Not really alot to say here, there's no way I'm not stacking off on that flop if by chance he has J/10, so all my chips are going in here all day long. It was nice he decided to play along with a really mediocre hand to be playing that much action on that flop with.
This is from from one of the 4 tables, and was also the table that caused me to end the session, once I had this happen to me I wanted to step away from the game to avoid any possibility of "tilt" money leaving, because I was a little steamed at the setup I was a part of. There is never a time I'm going to play this hand any differently than this...
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159663499: Table Sphinx (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:50:15 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: nm_21 ($365.40)
Seat 2: crystal_donkey ($335.50)
Seat 3: browerkid ($200.25)
Seat 4: DuckandHide ($254.95)
Seat 5: jloscottdale ($225.45)
Seat 6: bucfanjay ($86.45)
crystal_donkey posts the small blind of $1
browerkid posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #1
***HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Qc Qs]
DuckandHide folds
bucfanjay folds
nm_21 raises to $7
crystal_donkey raises to $29
browerkid folds
nm_21 has 15 seconds left to act
nm_21 has requested TIME
nm_21 raises to $90
crystal_donkey raises to $335.50, and is all in
nm_21 calls $245.50
crystal_donkey shows [Qc Qs]
nm_21 shows [Ac As]
*** FLOP *** [4h Kd 9h]
*** TURN *** [4h Kd 9h] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [4h Kd 9h 8s] [6d]
crystal_donkey shows a pair of Queens
nm_21 shows a pair of Aces
nm_21 wins the pot ($670) with a pair of Aces
crystal_donkey is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $673 Rake $3
Board: [4h Kd 9h 8s 6d]
Seat 1: nm_21 (button) showed [Ac As] and won ($670) with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: crystal_donkey (small blind) showed [Qc Qs] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 3: browerkid (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: DuckandHide didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: jloscottdale is sitting out
Seat 6: bucfanjay didn't bet (folded)
Ya, not the best hand I've ever played. There's never a time I'm smoothing the 3rd raise, the money goes in here all day, I don't care if it's 1/2 or 50/100...I don't see a way anyone's going to disagree with that being that he's on the button and his 3 bet range is as loose as A/10 and up probably...especially considering we're a 6-max and I have a fairly LAG image.
Anyway, while all that fun was going on, I had 3 other tables open. Here's some hands from over on another one of those tables... This one will require a little explanation...
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159544923: Table Saguaro (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:38:04 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: crystal_donkey ($185)
Seat 2: I HRT DVDA ($203)
Seat 3: She_IS_all_that ($63)
Seat 4: infi-nitty ($207)
Seat 5: StructureK ($200)
Seat 6: Tex_Perkins ($457.70)
infi-nitty posts the small blind of $1
StructureK posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Ac 5c]
Tex_Perkins folds
crystal_donkey has 15 seconds left to act
crystal_donkey raises to $6
I HRT DVDA folds
She_IS_all_that has 15 seconds left to act
She_IS_all_that folds
infi-nitty folds
StructureK raises to $21
crystal_donkey calls $15
*** FLOP *** [5s Ad 2c]
StructureK has 15 seconds left to act
StructureK bets $30
crystal_donkey raises to $80
StructureK has 15 seconds left to act
StructureK raises to $179, and is all in
crystal_donkey calls $84, and is all in
StructureK shows [Ah Kd]
crystal_donkey shows [Ac 5c]
Uncalled bet of $15 returned to StructureK
*** TURN *** [5s Ad 2c] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [5s Ad 2c Td] [Js]
StructureK shows a pair of Aces
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Aces and Fives
crystal_donkey wins the pot ($368) with two pair, Aces and Fives
StructureK adds $185
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $371 Rake $3
Board: [5s Ad 2c Td Js]
Seat 1: crystal_donkey showed [Ac 5c] and won ($368) with two pair, Aces and Fives
Seat 2: I HRT DVDA didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: She_IS_all_that (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: infi-nitty (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: StructureK (big blind) showed [Ah Kd] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 6: Tex_Perkins didn't bet (folded)
I want to make clear, no typically I do not make habits of calling re-raises with A/5 even if its SOOOTED. The thing was, as I said I typically like to control my tables by taking a LAG approach and then developing action. Unfortunately every time I was doing anything on this table I was getting played back at, so eventually I decided instead of continuing to fold to re-raises preflop, I had to find a spot to play back, so I decided to call and see a flop and try and steal it afterwards, since I'm typically VERY confident in my post flop play and ability to steal pots where we both have no part. As it turns out, I did one better and flopped gin and got the money in. This is NOT a habit...worked though :P
The next one kind of baffled me still, I'm not sure if the guy's a prick and he's trying to slow roll me or if he's actually considering folding here which I can't even fathom. I'm also not sure if he's stupid and that's why he smoothe calls the flop, or if he's really smart and that's why he smoothe called and then checked the turn. Either way...I don't know if I'm going to play this differently any other time, feel free to comment, this was the one hand I was a little unsure of...
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159506269: Table Padbury (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:34:12 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: BuenazDiaz ($580.85)
Seat 2: Septs ($314)
Seat 3: Gle Rigon ($21.10)
Seat 4: mnguyen14 ($105.70)
Seat 5: bustedmonkey ($228.15)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey ($197)
Septs posts the small blind of $1
Gle Rigon posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Ah 9h]
mnguyen14 has 15 seconds left to act
mnguyen14 raises to $6
bustedmonkey folds
crystal_donkey calls $6
BuenazDiaz foldsSepts folds
Gle Rigon folds
*** FLOP *** [7d 9c 2c]
mnguyen14 has 15 seconds left to act
mnguyen14 bets $12
crystal_donkey raises to $40
mnguyen14 has 15 seconds left to act
mnguyen14 calls $28
*** TURN *** [7d 9c 2c] [2h]
mnguyen14 checks
crystal_donkey bets $151, and is all in
mnguyen14 has 15 seconds left to act
mnguyen14 calls $59.70, and is all in
crystal_donkey shows [Ah 9h]
mnguyen14 shows [Ac Ad]
Uncalled bet of $91.30 returned to crystal_donkey
*** RIVER *** [7d 9c 2c 2h] [8s]
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Nines and Twos
mnguyen14 shows two pair, Aces and Twos
mnguyen14 wins the pot ($211.40) with two pair, Aces and Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $214.40 Rake $3
Board: [7d 9c 2c 2h 8s]
Seat 1: BuenazDiaz (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Septs (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Gle Rigon (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: mnguyen14 showed [Ac Ad] and won ($211.40) with two pair, Aces and Twos
Seat 5: bustedmonkey didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey showed [Ah 9h] and lost with two pair, Nines and Twos
Ya I know the hand itself was really kind of thin on that flop, but after he smoothed my raise on the flop I felt like I for sure had the best hand there, and he was either drawing to clubs, or had a hand like 88 or 66 and didn't buy me for calling a 9 in that spot. I never even considered an overpair, probably a bad oversight on my part.
This hand made up for it a while after on the same table though....
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159622325: Table Padbury (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:45:57 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: BuenazDiaz ($570.75)
Seat 2: Septs ($302)
Seat 3: Gle Rigon ($41.70)
Seat 4: mnguyen14 ($201.65)
Seat 5: bustedmonkey ($250.80), is sitting out
Seat 6: crystal_donkey ($179.05)
crystal_donkey posts the small blind of $1
BuenazDiaz posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Jd Td]
Septs folds
Gle Rigon folds
mnguyen14 folds
crystal_donkey calls $1
BuenazDiaz raises to $7
crystal_donkey calls $5
*** FLOP *** [6c Jc Jh]
crystal_donkey checks
BuenazDiaz bets $10
crystal_donkey raises to $35
BuenazDiaz raises to $70
crystal_donkey raises to $172.05, and is all in
BuenazDiaz calls $102.05
bustedmonkey has returned
crystal_donkey shows [Jd Td]
BuenazDiaz shows [Kc 9c]
*** TURN *** [6c Jc Jh] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [6c Jc Jh Js] [8d]
crystal_donkey shows four of a kind, Jacks
BuenazDiaz shows three of a kind, Jacks
crystal_donkey wins the pot ($355.10) with four of a kind, Jacks
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $358.10 Rake $3
Board: [6c Jc Jh Js 8d]
Seat 1: BuenazDiaz (big blind) showed [Kc 9c] and lost with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 2: Septs didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Gle Rigon didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: mnguyen14 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: bustedmonkey is sitting out
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (small blind) showed [Jd Td] and won ($355.10) with four of a kind, Jacks
For anyone wondering, yes, I realize my line in that hand preflop sucks ass...so sue me. I realized it as I was doing it, that I should have raised, I think he calls and we see the same flop anyway, but yes, I realize calling and re-calling there is a really weak line especially OOP for the rest of the hand, but oh well...
Anyway, I realize there's not alot of hands with fantastic deep thought, hopefully some will come in future days, I just really wanted to get back to writing this, and decided to do it tonight, it was a relatively short session because of my stopping after the QQ vs AA thing(more me being tired than me being super pissed at the setup, although it did kind of suck).
This'll be much more frequent...I know some people really used to like this blog when I had it up, god help me I can't fathom why since my writing is about as terrible as Akiva Goldsman's(see what I mean? No one will even get that reference, but I went for it anyway because I'm a stubborn dickhead, he's a Hollywood script writer who penned such abominations as "Batman Forever", "Batman and Robin", "I, Robot" and "The Da Vinci Code").
Anyway, like it or not, the blog is back. Enjoy reading it at your own discretion.
Oh, and I just realized I should probably put a tally for the end of the night. That session despite that 350 dollar cooler, I ended up basically even, I ended up down like $35 bucks or something. And after an $1100 dollar session yesterday...I'm alright with it.
I decided to bring this back because hey, I'm playing a ton of online poker, so I figured I'd start blogging. This means this'll be update really frequently with thoughts and opinions and results and what not.
Before I get to that, I wanna give a shoutout to a few people. First of all, to all the guys I know that went down and crushed Vegas over this summer...kudos on a job well done and I wish I was there with you. Yves, you're an animal, Marc, that hand was disgusting, all the Elite Poker people you guys rock, congrats. I wish I had gone down again, unfortunately as those who know me know, family problems have become more serious, dad's been in and out(90% in) of the hospital for the past month and a half with blood clots and internal bleeding, so it was far from a good time to pack up and go try and kill Vegas again. Hopefully I'll get there in August, but we'll see.
Anywhoo, back to me, because hey, it's my blog so why the fuck am I giving Yves all the kudos? :P
Actually this leads me to one more shout out...to the lovely people at the CAW for having me on strike for well over a month and letting me really focus on playing poker. It's almost like a written invitation for me to try my hand at online poker full time.
So, I've been kind of exploring. I learned I hate SNG's, too hectic, and too swingy...I learned MTT's are gross as all hell, go deep and run into one setup and end up having 6 hours of perfect play erased in an instant.
So, I settled on the ring game life. I can't lie, partly, or largely, this is results based, I consistently, infact, it'd shock any regular player exactly how consistently I crush NL Cash Games. It frequently amazes me...I've rarely booked losing sessions in a long, long time now.
With that said, I started this run at limit hold'em, because I still consider myself a limit specialist(by specialist I mean that "Bet" button always seems easier to push than the "Fold" button, so consistently people end up folding to me).
So with all that out of the way, I had an illuminating discussion with a friend of mine. We discussed basically my poker career and the fact I was playing limit. Basically he told me he thinks it's a stupid idea for me because in his words : "I've never played anyone as good as extracting chips with made hands as you are."
So, on the heed of that advice, I decided to give NL games a chance. I've been 4 tabling 1/2 NL for a week now, and really cleaning the game up so easily it's scary.
So...tonight's session. Key hands and analysis :
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159601672: Table Sphinx (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:43:50 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: nm_21 ($369.60)
Seat 2: crystal_donkey ($168.40)
Seat 3: browerkid ($197)
Seat 4: DuckandHide ($260.95)
Seat 5: jloscottdale ($225.45)
Seat 6: bucfanjay ($251.10)
browerkid posts the small blind of $1
DuckandHide posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [9h 9s]
jloscottdale folds
bucfanjay raises to $8
nm_21 folds
crystal_donkey calls $8
browerkid folds
DuckandHide folds
*** FLOP *** [8s Qh 9c]
bucfanjay bets $11
jloscottdale is sitting out
crystal_donkey has 15 seconds left to act
crystal_donkey raises to $33
bucfanjay has 15 seconds left to act
bucfanjay raises to $75
crystal_donkey raises to $160.40, and is all in
bucfanjay calls $85.40
crystal_donkey shows [9h 9s]
bucfanjay shows [Ts Td]
*** TURN *** [8s Qh 9c] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [8s Qh 9c 2s] [Ks]
crystal_donkey shows three of a kind, Nines
bucfanjay shows a pair of Tens
crystal_donkey wins the pot ($336.80) with three of a kind, Nines
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $339.80 Rake $3
Board: [8s Qh 9c 2s Ks]
Seat 1: nm_21 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: crystal_donkey (button) showed [9h 9s] and won ($336.80) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 3: browerkid (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: DuckandHide (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: jloscottdale didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: bucfanjay showed [Ts Td] and lost with a pair of Tens
Not really alot to say here, there's no way I'm not stacking off on that flop if by chance he has J/10, so all my chips are going in here all day long. It was nice he decided to play along with a really mediocre hand to be playing that much action on that flop with.
This is from from one of the 4 tables, and was also the table that caused me to end the session, once I had this happen to me I wanted to step away from the game to avoid any possibility of "tilt" money leaving, because I was a little steamed at the setup I was a part of. There is never a time I'm going to play this hand any differently than this...
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159663499: Table Sphinx (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:50:15 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: nm_21 ($365.40)
Seat 2: crystal_donkey ($335.50)
Seat 3: browerkid ($200.25)
Seat 4: DuckandHide ($254.95)
Seat 5: jloscottdale ($225.45)
Seat 6: bucfanjay ($86.45)
crystal_donkey posts the small blind of $1
browerkid posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #1
***HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Qc Qs]
DuckandHide folds
bucfanjay folds
nm_21 raises to $7
crystal_donkey raises to $29
browerkid folds
nm_21 has 15 seconds left to act
nm_21 has requested TIME
nm_21 raises to $90
crystal_donkey raises to $335.50, and is all in
nm_21 calls $245.50
crystal_donkey shows [Qc Qs]
nm_21 shows [Ac As]
*** FLOP *** [4h Kd 9h]
*** TURN *** [4h Kd 9h] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [4h Kd 9h 8s] [6d]
crystal_donkey shows a pair of Queens
nm_21 shows a pair of Aces
nm_21 wins the pot ($670) with a pair of Aces
crystal_donkey is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $673 Rake $3
Board: [4h Kd 9h 8s 6d]
Seat 1: nm_21 (button) showed [Ac As] and won ($670) with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: crystal_donkey (small blind) showed [Qc Qs] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 3: browerkid (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: DuckandHide didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: jloscottdale is sitting out
Seat 6: bucfanjay didn't bet (folded)
Ya, not the best hand I've ever played. There's never a time I'm smoothing the 3rd raise, the money goes in here all day, I don't care if it's 1/2 or 50/100...I don't see a way anyone's going to disagree with that being that he's on the button and his 3 bet range is as loose as A/10 and up probably...especially considering we're a 6-max and I have a fairly LAG image.
Anyway, while all that fun was going on, I had 3 other tables open. Here's some hands from over on another one of those tables... This one will require a little explanation...
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159544923: Table Saguaro (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:38:04 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: crystal_donkey ($185)
Seat 2: I HRT DVDA ($203)
Seat 3: She_IS_all_that ($63)
Seat 4: infi-nitty ($207)
Seat 5: StructureK ($200)
Seat 6: Tex_Perkins ($457.70)
infi-nitty posts the small blind of $1
StructureK posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Ac 5c]
Tex_Perkins folds
crystal_donkey has 15 seconds left to act
crystal_donkey raises to $6
I HRT DVDA folds
She_IS_all_that has 15 seconds left to act
She_IS_all_that folds
infi-nitty folds
StructureK raises to $21
crystal_donkey calls $15
*** FLOP *** [5s Ad 2c]
StructureK has 15 seconds left to act
StructureK bets $30
crystal_donkey raises to $80
StructureK has 15 seconds left to act
StructureK raises to $179, and is all in
crystal_donkey calls $84, and is all in
StructureK shows [Ah Kd]
crystal_donkey shows [Ac 5c]
Uncalled bet of $15 returned to StructureK
*** TURN *** [5s Ad 2c] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [5s Ad 2c Td] [Js]
StructureK shows a pair of Aces
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Aces and Fives
crystal_donkey wins the pot ($368) with two pair, Aces and Fives
StructureK adds $185
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $371 Rake $3
Board: [5s Ad 2c Td Js]
Seat 1: crystal_donkey showed [Ac 5c] and won ($368) with two pair, Aces and Fives
Seat 2: I HRT DVDA didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: She_IS_all_that (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: infi-nitty (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: StructureK (big blind) showed [Ah Kd] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 6: Tex_Perkins didn't bet (folded)
I want to make clear, no typically I do not make habits of calling re-raises with A/5 even if its SOOOTED. The thing was, as I said I typically like to control my tables by taking a LAG approach and then developing action. Unfortunately every time I was doing anything on this table I was getting played back at, so eventually I decided instead of continuing to fold to re-raises preflop, I had to find a spot to play back, so I decided to call and see a flop and try and steal it afterwards, since I'm typically VERY confident in my post flop play and ability to steal pots where we both have no part. As it turns out, I did one better and flopped gin and got the money in. This is NOT a habit...worked though :P
The next one kind of baffled me still, I'm not sure if the guy's a prick and he's trying to slow roll me or if he's actually considering folding here which I can't even fathom. I'm also not sure if he's stupid and that's why he smoothe calls the flop, or if he's really smart and that's why he smoothe called and then checked the turn. Either way...I don't know if I'm going to play this differently any other time, feel free to comment, this was the one hand I was a little unsure of...
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159506269: Table Padbury (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:34:12 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: BuenazDiaz ($580.85)
Seat 2: Septs ($314)
Seat 3: Gle Rigon ($21.10)
Seat 4: mnguyen14 ($105.70)
Seat 5: bustedmonkey ($228.15)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey ($197)
Septs posts the small blind of $1
Gle Rigon posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Ah 9h]
mnguyen14 has 15 seconds left to act
mnguyen14 raises to $6
bustedmonkey folds
crystal_donkey calls $6
BuenazDiaz foldsSepts folds
Gle Rigon folds
*** FLOP *** [7d 9c 2c]
mnguyen14 has 15 seconds left to act
mnguyen14 bets $12
crystal_donkey raises to $40
mnguyen14 has 15 seconds left to act
mnguyen14 calls $28
*** TURN *** [7d 9c 2c] [2h]
mnguyen14 checks
crystal_donkey bets $151, and is all in
mnguyen14 has 15 seconds left to act
mnguyen14 calls $59.70, and is all in
crystal_donkey shows [Ah 9h]
mnguyen14 shows [Ac Ad]
Uncalled bet of $91.30 returned to crystal_donkey
*** RIVER *** [7d 9c 2c 2h] [8s]
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Nines and Twos
mnguyen14 shows two pair, Aces and Twos
mnguyen14 wins the pot ($211.40) with two pair, Aces and Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $214.40 Rake $3
Board: [7d 9c 2c 2h 8s]
Seat 1: BuenazDiaz (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Septs (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Gle Rigon (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: mnguyen14 showed [Ac Ad] and won ($211.40) with two pair, Aces and Twos
Seat 5: bustedmonkey didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey showed [Ah 9h] and lost with two pair, Nines and Twos
Ya I know the hand itself was really kind of thin on that flop, but after he smoothed my raise on the flop I felt like I for sure had the best hand there, and he was either drawing to clubs, or had a hand like 88 or 66 and didn't buy me for calling a 9 in that spot. I never even considered an overpair, probably a bad oversight on my part.
This hand made up for it a while after on the same table though....
Full Tilt Poker Game #7159622325: Table Padbury (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:45:57 ET - 2008/07/10
Seat 1: BuenazDiaz ($570.75)
Seat 2: Septs ($302)
Seat 3: Gle Rigon ($41.70)
Seat 4: mnguyen14 ($201.65)
Seat 5: bustedmonkey ($250.80), is sitting out
Seat 6: crystal_donkey ($179.05)
crystal_donkey posts the small blind of $1
BuenazDiaz posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Jd Td]
Septs folds
Gle Rigon folds
mnguyen14 folds
crystal_donkey calls $1
BuenazDiaz raises to $7
crystal_donkey calls $5
*** FLOP *** [6c Jc Jh]
crystal_donkey checks
BuenazDiaz bets $10
crystal_donkey raises to $35
BuenazDiaz raises to $70
crystal_donkey raises to $172.05, and is all in
BuenazDiaz calls $102.05
bustedmonkey has returned
crystal_donkey shows [Jd Td]
BuenazDiaz shows [Kc 9c]
*** TURN *** [6c Jc Jh] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [6c Jc Jh Js] [8d]
crystal_donkey shows four of a kind, Jacks
BuenazDiaz shows three of a kind, Jacks
crystal_donkey wins the pot ($355.10) with four of a kind, Jacks
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $358.10 Rake $3
Board: [6c Jc Jh Js 8d]
Seat 1: BuenazDiaz (big blind) showed [Kc 9c] and lost with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 2: Septs didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Gle Rigon didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: mnguyen14 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: bustedmonkey is sitting out
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (small blind) showed [Jd Td] and won ($355.10) with four of a kind, Jacks
For anyone wondering, yes, I realize my line in that hand preflop sucks ass...so sue me. I realized it as I was doing it, that I should have raised, I think he calls and we see the same flop anyway, but yes, I realize calling and re-calling there is a really weak line especially OOP for the rest of the hand, but oh well...
Anyway, I realize there's not alot of hands with fantastic deep thought, hopefully some will come in future days, I just really wanted to get back to writing this, and decided to do it tonight, it was a relatively short session because of my stopping after the QQ vs AA thing(more me being tired than me being super pissed at the setup, although it did kind of suck).
This'll be much more frequent...I know some people really used to like this blog when I had it up, god help me I can't fathom why since my writing is about as terrible as Akiva Goldsman's(see what I mean? No one will even get that reference, but I went for it anyway because I'm a stubborn dickhead, he's a Hollywood script writer who penned such abominations as "Batman Forever", "Batman and Robin", "I, Robot" and "The Da Vinci Code").
Anyway, like it or not, the blog is back. Enjoy reading it at your own discretion.
Oh, and I just realized I should probably put a tally for the end of the night. That session despite that 350 dollar cooler, I ended up basically even, I ended up down like $35 bucks or something. And after an $1100 dollar session yesterday...I'm alright with it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)