So, me and a close friend of mine Griffin decided to head down to Seneca last night and play some poker.
So we get down to the poker room and we get onto a 2/5 NL table, 500 max buyin.
Basically, these are the kinds of nights that make you hate live poker after playing lots of online poker. No bad beats really, just basically nothing. We played for over 12 hours, and neither of us really saw any hands or any real spots to put money in good here. I'll skip to my side of the story...but the both of us were similar nights. Really marginal situations that either play makes sense, or just victims of circumstance.
The first big hand I played was about 3 hours into the session probably, I'm still sitting at roughly 500, winning small pots here and there and missing tons of flops.
So, I decide to vary it up a bit, and raise with Js/10s from UTG to 20. I end up with 2 callers. Pot is 70. The flop is alright for me, 10d/6s/3s. So, I lead out 35, and I get 2 callers again. Pot is 175. The turn is a 6h. I led out 80, and got raised to 200, and re-raised all in for 217. So now there's 670 in the pot, and I have to call 137 into it, still drawing very live with spades(I'm fairly certain). So I call knowing the guy behind me is blocked into just calling, he calls. River bricks a 4c, I check and the other guy shoves into the dry side, and I fold. They both roll over 6's. That's the kind of night it was, over 300 deep on the hand and purely because of a victim of circumstance. Interestingly enough, Griff and I discussed this hand ALOT. So I open it up to the J7 floor. Griff suggested that I could have checked that turn and then folded to the action had it of gone that deep. I kind of agree with him to a point the more I thought about it, so to the J7 crew? Check fold that turn?
Anyway, after that hand Garrett showed up so we ran out to grab some food. After we got back to the room, kindly enough, the same 2 seats were open at the same table for me and Griff, so we sat back down and got back to action.
I want to say, this table had some pretty rediculous hands. Here's a couple true highlights.
UTG raise to 30, call, call, call, call, re-raise all in for 255 total. Fold's around to one of those callers who says "It's either KK or QQ....I call". Not only is he way wrong, this other guy's shoved in 250 preflop with 44. But he called that with A/6 offsuit thinking he was against KK or QQ. Magical.
Later, we saw a 2/4/5 flop with 2 diamonds. Fair amount of action. Turn was a 6c. Putting 2 clubs and 2 diamonds on a 2/4/5/6 board. One guy leads out 200 bucks, the other guy raises to 600 bucks, and the first guy finally calls all in for about 550. The hands? Pocket 7's and pocket 8's. Wow.
Anyway. There was one guy at our table who was kind of hard to figure out. He would always make rediculously sick overbets. But he had rarely not shown down a bad hand. Pots 30, he'll fire 100 with a flopped set. No problem.
So, this hand caught me alot of flack at the table and I'm not really sure why. I raised early position with KK to 25. He re-raised me to 80 total. I re-raised him back to 180 total. And he shoved me all in. At this point, I took a minute to think. I don't think it was overly long, probably 30-35 seconds, I just took a minute to think because of the classic phrase "the 4th bet is always AA", I understand that's at a higher game, but he was playing awkward yet always showing down good hands(at this point). So I took 30 seconds before calling and someone got smart with me, "What the hell are you afraid of?", to which I just simply answered him, no need for sarcasm here, the true answer is basically all the sarcasm I need : "Oh, I don't know? AA maybe?". Anyway, he had AK suited and I held.
After that I moved over to a 1/2 table because 2/5 broke. There I played one real interesting hand. I opened with 77 at a tight table from EP to 10, and got 2 callers. Flop was 2/3/5 rainbow. I led out 25. He called after a minute, and right then I thought he had a mid-pair also and didn't buy my bet on the flop here. So on the turn of a 9 I decided to lead weak, I led out 30. He raised me all in. I went into the tank for a moment now trying to decide where I was. I was sure he had a midpair also, I was just trying to decide if he had 66, 44 or 88. I had him down to that as his range, and eventually called. He showed 44. River bricked a Q and I took down that pot.
That's literally almost all the interesting hands I played, basically broke even for the day when all was said and done. Nothing fancy...just a really long boring day of being card dead and then facing really awkward situations. I didn't write out alot of weird spots where I'd be folding AK preflop in marginal spots where I could honestly have shoved in if I felt like it...but I try and keep poker simple and avoid marginal spots and coin flips against players I know I'm better than. It was just one of those days where the game wouldn't let me win.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Mic check...mic check...is this thing on?
Been a while.
So, as you can probably guess, working at the casino has been eating into my time for poker to a point. Couple that with the fact I've been running fairly badly, and it's nice to have a stable job I enjoy to counter-act the fact that I've been losing money online lately.
Thus, when some co-workers asked if I wanted to come along on a Fallsview poker run, I could hardly pass them up, it'd be my first live poker in a fair while.
So, I went on down to Fallsview Saturday night, and sat at a 5/5 game. The game was absolutely extra-ordinary to be sitting in. Here's a quick run down of the table.
Seat 1 : Me.
Seat 2 : Co-worker, also a very strong player.
Seat 3 : French guy who played fairly well also.
Seat 4 : Player who literally kept reloading 100 bucks at a time damn near every 3rd hand and would go bust rail thin.
Seat 5 : Incredibly tight player who was modestly decent if WAY too tight.
Seat 6 : Just a generally weak player, older guy, fairly standard player.
Seat 7 : Talkitive guy, real lippy with Seat 5 most of the night, an average player at best, was willing to go broke real thin also.
Seat 8 : Good young player.
Seat 9 : Another just typical bad player.
Seat 10 : I can't even describe him, he was a fairly agressive player, and it was moderately successful, but he always took the goofiest line, and it never altered. He'd play every pot he could OOP, and then take the same betting line(30 bucks on the flop since he's first to act, 50 bucks on the turn, 100 bucks on the river). The problem was, he never, ever showed down a bad hand...I think he was just a bad player who never, ever missed making top pair.
Anyway, the table's the kind I like, it wasn't wild, flops could be seen for relatively cheap, and I felt I could outplay anyone at the table. I was incredibly comfortable...this helped :
First rotation, which I typically like to take off, UTG open raises to 30 bucks, and promptly gets 4 callers to me, when I look down at AA. I re-bump to 150, maybe I could go more, but I don't want to lose everyone with a chance at a big hand the first hand I'm putting in play. Blinds fold around and UTG re-shoves, he has me covered. Everyone else folds and I call. He rolls over AQ. Okay...ship the early double up.
After this hand I go back into a shell. Typically I like playing more agressively, but I was a little concerned with a couple solid players at the table to get too wild, so I decided to just sit back and pick small spots to bully the tight players at the table, which basically kept me afloat for a really long card dead spell, until I got into a hand with the ultra-tight player. He raised from fairly EP to 30, and got 2 callers to me, and I looked at QQ. I decided to define it right here, and re-raised to 120. I figured if he even called or re-shoved, I was done with the hand flop regardless. He did call. Other folded. Flop was K/7/4, and he lead out. I didn't even put him on AK, he had folded it several times already to re-raises, so I figured he surely had AA or KK(which is what he had). I had a discussion afterwards with my buddy from the casino about if I double him through on a rag board, and I said no, because I felt as soon as he called I was behind, and wasn't putting another chip in the pot barring a Q on the flop. The only flop I go broke with was KQx.
Anyway, that took a little chunk out of me, and some time elapsed, again, and then the one hand I really wanted to share because I was very happy with my play.
The talkitive guy raised to 25 preflop, and got a couple of callers to me in the SB with 6c/4c, so I called also. At this point the pot was 80. The flop was 4/5/6 rainbow. I led out quick, 60 into the 80, my gameplan at this point was that I wanted to see if I could define where I was in this hand for that price, rather than check and face action to me. I got a big problem when the super-tight player called, and it was made worse by the talkitive guy raising to 180 and declaring he had a high pair. I beleived that, absolutely positive he was telling the truth, so I wanted to get chips in against him, but the tight player calling scared the hell out of me. So I had 2 options now. I could easily fold here and just let the tight guy take him on, or I could shove. Calling isn't an option on this board for sure. So I decided that I'd only get a call from the tight guy if he was holding 7/8, and he had shown a penchant for betting his hands so I felt he'd raise if he had the nuts. And so I shoved in for 850. Tight guy proceeded to go into the tank for honestly forever, really making me sweat that he might not want to let what I assumed was a flopped set go. He finally folded, and the talkitive guy called off with a high pair I never saw since we kept our cards face down as they dealt the turn and river and he mucked to my two pair. Turn river went Q/10 so it wasn't either of those pairs, or maybe he didn't have a high pair. The real story was when the tight player said he folded the low straight, 2/3. I, and the other players who knew what they were doing all beleived him because he had shown a willingness to gamble every once in a while preflop, but avoided any action on any flop without a massive hand, so seeing him in the hand with 2/3 isn't immensely out of question, but I'm really not sure I beleive that all the same. The way the hand played out I felt like it looked like I was just gunning for the talkitive guy, which kind of was the case in that I knew I had him beat and wanted to isolate him. Anyway, the hand was fairly interested, I'm moderately proud of the shove regardless of what the other guy folded, and I was up to around 1300.
I didn't do much for the next long period of time, until the big hand that defined my night more or less. I had run card dead for about 2 hours, barely playing a hand except a goofy hand where I decided to raise from EP with 6d/3d and gotten called by the other good player that wasn't my co-worker, and wound up with a 10/3/3 flop and won a small pot off him.
I was telling my buddy I was ready to leave, because I can't stand sitting in a game and being tight for this long(it had been an 8 hour session by this point and I had played a handful of hands at best that were any conceivable action, saw alot of flops, kept missing).
So, I finally got a decent hand after looking at J/3 and K/2 for 2 hours, Kc/Qc. By no means a world beater, but at this point I was willing to play. So I tossed in a raise to 25 from late position after one EP limp(the guy that seemingly ran so good it scared me and always took the same betting line). The BB called. The flop ran out Jh/10d/3h. Complicated. The BB checked, the other player checked, so I decided to make a C-Bet with a fairly weak draw, and bet out 50 bucks. Both players called. Pot was 225. Turn was a brick, a 4s. They both checked again, and I decided to just check and give it up at this point unless I made something, free card. Gin card for free. River was the 9c. Stone nuts. UTG checks now, and the other player checks. I fire out, 125. UTG smoothe calls the 125, and the other player raises to 350 total. The only concern I have now is that I might be chopping with one of them but I can't figure this out yet, I have 1100 infront of me, so I merely shove all in to see if I can get action from a lower end straight. The BB now goes into the tank/goes into a tirade about how I just rivered him, which confuses me a bit, because I have no earthly idea what he has that I just rivered him except a real piss-poorly played big hand on the flop. He finally folds after a while and the other guy snap calls. I sigh because we're chopping, then see him roll over Q/8. Yay! The pot was just a hare under 2500. The other guy says he folded top two pair, which if that's the case, I've never seen anyone play top 2 on a board like that, that poorly in my life.
That's pretty much the end of my day, from there the table started to deteriorate, and people filed out, me and my buddy ended up having 10 minutes of heads up play since we were leaving at the end of the session they let us stay for the end of the session to play heads up(this is at 6am), so we upped the game to 5/10(because 5/5 heads up is goofy) and he took about 100 off me. That ends my night, cashed out and left.
The thing I've realized during that game is, Fallsview's 5/5 game is one of the ultimate cash cows around. Typically I like playing fairly agressive and mixing it up, but because of how card-dead I was, I realized that even if you don't play a hand in 2 hours, you can still get action. No one cares or pays any attention. They'll always pay you off. You could sit back, play a tight ABC poker game, and be a huge winning player in that game long term. It's my intention to go back there often and sit in that game, it's hard to lose.
So, as you can probably guess, working at the casino has been eating into my time for poker to a point. Couple that with the fact I've been running fairly badly, and it's nice to have a stable job I enjoy to counter-act the fact that I've been losing money online lately.
Thus, when some co-workers asked if I wanted to come along on a Fallsview poker run, I could hardly pass them up, it'd be my first live poker in a fair while.
So, I went on down to Fallsview Saturday night, and sat at a 5/5 game. The game was absolutely extra-ordinary to be sitting in. Here's a quick run down of the table.
Seat 1 : Me.
Seat 2 : Co-worker, also a very strong player.
Seat 3 : French guy who played fairly well also.
Seat 4 : Player who literally kept reloading 100 bucks at a time damn near every 3rd hand and would go bust rail thin.
Seat 5 : Incredibly tight player who was modestly decent if WAY too tight.
Seat 6 : Just a generally weak player, older guy, fairly standard player.
Seat 7 : Talkitive guy, real lippy with Seat 5 most of the night, an average player at best, was willing to go broke real thin also.
Seat 8 : Good young player.
Seat 9 : Another just typical bad player.
Seat 10 : I can't even describe him, he was a fairly agressive player, and it was moderately successful, but he always took the goofiest line, and it never altered. He'd play every pot he could OOP, and then take the same betting line(30 bucks on the flop since he's first to act, 50 bucks on the turn, 100 bucks on the river). The problem was, he never, ever showed down a bad hand...I think he was just a bad player who never, ever missed making top pair.
Anyway, the table's the kind I like, it wasn't wild, flops could be seen for relatively cheap, and I felt I could outplay anyone at the table. I was incredibly comfortable...this helped :
First rotation, which I typically like to take off, UTG open raises to 30 bucks, and promptly gets 4 callers to me, when I look down at AA. I re-bump to 150, maybe I could go more, but I don't want to lose everyone with a chance at a big hand the first hand I'm putting in play. Blinds fold around and UTG re-shoves, he has me covered. Everyone else folds and I call. He rolls over AQ. Okay...ship the early double up.
After this hand I go back into a shell. Typically I like playing more agressively, but I was a little concerned with a couple solid players at the table to get too wild, so I decided to just sit back and pick small spots to bully the tight players at the table, which basically kept me afloat for a really long card dead spell, until I got into a hand with the ultra-tight player. He raised from fairly EP to 30, and got 2 callers to me, and I looked at QQ. I decided to define it right here, and re-raised to 120. I figured if he even called or re-shoved, I was done with the hand flop regardless. He did call. Other folded. Flop was K/7/4, and he lead out. I didn't even put him on AK, he had folded it several times already to re-raises, so I figured he surely had AA or KK(which is what he had). I had a discussion afterwards with my buddy from the casino about if I double him through on a rag board, and I said no, because I felt as soon as he called I was behind, and wasn't putting another chip in the pot barring a Q on the flop. The only flop I go broke with was KQx.
Anyway, that took a little chunk out of me, and some time elapsed, again, and then the one hand I really wanted to share because I was very happy with my play.
The talkitive guy raised to 25 preflop, and got a couple of callers to me in the SB with 6c/4c, so I called also. At this point the pot was 80. The flop was 4/5/6 rainbow. I led out quick, 60 into the 80, my gameplan at this point was that I wanted to see if I could define where I was in this hand for that price, rather than check and face action to me. I got a big problem when the super-tight player called, and it was made worse by the talkitive guy raising to 180 and declaring he had a high pair. I beleived that, absolutely positive he was telling the truth, so I wanted to get chips in against him, but the tight player calling scared the hell out of me. So I had 2 options now. I could easily fold here and just let the tight guy take him on, or I could shove. Calling isn't an option on this board for sure. So I decided that I'd only get a call from the tight guy if he was holding 7/8, and he had shown a penchant for betting his hands so I felt he'd raise if he had the nuts. And so I shoved in for 850. Tight guy proceeded to go into the tank for honestly forever, really making me sweat that he might not want to let what I assumed was a flopped set go. He finally folded, and the talkitive guy called off with a high pair I never saw since we kept our cards face down as they dealt the turn and river and he mucked to my two pair. Turn river went Q/10 so it wasn't either of those pairs, or maybe he didn't have a high pair. The real story was when the tight player said he folded the low straight, 2/3. I, and the other players who knew what they were doing all beleived him because he had shown a willingness to gamble every once in a while preflop, but avoided any action on any flop without a massive hand, so seeing him in the hand with 2/3 isn't immensely out of question, but I'm really not sure I beleive that all the same. The way the hand played out I felt like it looked like I was just gunning for the talkitive guy, which kind of was the case in that I knew I had him beat and wanted to isolate him. Anyway, the hand was fairly interested, I'm moderately proud of the shove regardless of what the other guy folded, and I was up to around 1300.
I didn't do much for the next long period of time, until the big hand that defined my night more or less. I had run card dead for about 2 hours, barely playing a hand except a goofy hand where I decided to raise from EP with 6d/3d and gotten called by the other good player that wasn't my co-worker, and wound up with a 10/3/3 flop and won a small pot off him.
I was telling my buddy I was ready to leave, because I can't stand sitting in a game and being tight for this long(it had been an 8 hour session by this point and I had played a handful of hands at best that were any conceivable action, saw alot of flops, kept missing).
So, I finally got a decent hand after looking at J/3 and K/2 for 2 hours, Kc/Qc. By no means a world beater, but at this point I was willing to play. So I tossed in a raise to 25 from late position after one EP limp(the guy that seemingly ran so good it scared me and always took the same betting line). The BB called. The flop ran out Jh/10d/3h. Complicated. The BB checked, the other player checked, so I decided to make a C-Bet with a fairly weak draw, and bet out 50 bucks. Both players called. Pot was 225. Turn was a brick, a 4s. They both checked again, and I decided to just check and give it up at this point unless I made something, free card. Gin card for free. River was the 9c. Stone nuts. UTG checks now, and the other player checks. I fire out, 125. UTG smoothe calls the 125, and the other player raises to 350 total. The only concern I have now is that I might be chopping with one of them but I can't figure this out yet, I have 1100 infront of me, so I merely shove all in to see if I can get action from a lower end straight. The BB now goes into the tank/goes into a tirade about how I just rivered him, which confuses me a bit, because I have no earthly idea what he has that I just rivered him except a real piss-poorly played big hand on the flop. He finally folds after a while and the other guy snap calls. I sigh because we're chopping, then see him roll over Q/8. Yay! The pot was just a hare under 2500. The other guy says he folded top two pair, which if that's the case, I've never seen anyone play top 2 on a board like that, that poorly in my life.
That's pretty much the end of my day, from there the table started to deteriorate, and people filed out, me and my buddy ended up having 10 minutes of heads up play since we were leaving at the end of the session they let us stay for the end of the session to play heads up(this is at 6am), so we upped the game to 5/10(because 5/5 heads up is goofy) and he took about 100 off me. That ends my night, cashed out and left.
The thing I've realized during that game is, Fallsview's 5/5 game is one of the ultimate cash cows around. Typically I like playing fairly agressive and mixing it up, but because of how card-dead I was, I realized that even if you don't play a hand in 2 hours, you can still get action. No one cares or pays any attention. They'll always pay you off. You could sit back, play a tight ABC poker game, and be a huge winning player in that game long term. It's my intention to go back there often and sit in that game, it's hard to lose.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Wow...over a month and no update...
So, it's been a little while apparantly. Maybe I should update this thing...
So let's see what's happened in the month since I wrote an update for the blog. Well, I got the job at Brantford Casino as a dealer, actually just passed my table test today as I'm writing this. Fairly excited about getting to deal for the casino, even if it isn't Hold'Em right away, it's still a very fun job and financially very sound.
The training for that has been eating my time, and I've barely touched a deck of cards(as it relates to poker I mean)... save for one weekend out at the Elite Poker Tour(my old employ), where I managed to eek out 3 final tables in 3 tournaments and one win, a very rewarding weekend from a poker standpoint.
The only other time I've played poker is making a fairly rediculous idea on Sunday night in some freezing rain that I was so bored I wanted to go to Fallsview and play, so off I went. Normally I'd have gone to Seneca since it's better, but given the timeframe(I was leaving my house at 10:30pm), most of Seneca's big games are dead at that point(I called and 2/4 NL was the biggest they still had running). So I went to Fallsview and hopped on what is actually, outside of the city of Las Vegas, the biggest cash game I've ever played in, the 5/10 NL game at Fallsview.
Right away I felt an overwhelming since of calm at the table, considering I was bringing $1000 to the table, I was fairly calm about it, and in control. Nothing much happened, I didn't want to mix it up early, and I was fairly card dead off the hop, so I got alot of time to get a real solid read on the table, and basically they worked as : Seat 1 had never played a hand for an hour. Seat 2 was a tight but solid player. Seat 3 was a pure POW(Pay-Off Wizard), and a large calling station. Seat 4 was a drunk guy who was begging to give his money away, and knew nearly nothing about Hold'Em, or if he did, the drinks had long since washed that knowledge away. Seat 5 was another big calling station. Seat 6 was a big time regular that knew everyone that worked there, was a large tilt monkey(I came to the table to the sounds of him whining about a bad beat that had happened over 3 hours ago), and wasn't overly impressive. And Seat 7 and 8 were two more fairly tight, reasonably solid players. Seat 9 was me, and Seat 10 was an immensely tight but very solid player I had played with a few times at 5/5 before.
So, there's the layout, down to business. I finally started to really feel comfortable and started looking to mix it up, taking down a few small pots and losing a few pots here and there, when I finally got into my first real big pot of the day.
The drunk asian guy in Seat 4 opened for a raise to 15 dollars UTG. Obviously this is infact, not a raise, so since he had said raise, they comitted him to 20 dollars. 3 players called to me, and I called in fairly late position with 9h/7h. The flop was 7/5/3 rainbow. The UTG player bet out now, 160 into 80. I had been looking to mix it up, and figured there was a strong chance I had the best hand still, so I re-shoved over the top all in for my $950 or so infront of me(to be fair, he only had another $250 infront of him), he snap called and I actually thought I might be in trouble, until he turned over his brilliantly played Q/4 offsuit. The turn was a 9 giving me top 2 and eliminating a Q as an out for him, leaving him just the 6 for the straight, which naturally was the river card. Ship half my stack over there please. He was polite enough, he laughed, he was having a good time, and I didn't really mind, he offered to buy me a drink, but since I don't drink, I declined, so he bought the entire table a round, and bought me a couple red-bull's to stash away for the session. Nice guy. But I wanted that money back.
So, it didn't take overly long for us to tango again, this time, he raised to 30, and I called with Ad/10d, we were the only 2 in the pot. The flop came Ac/7s/8c, and he bet out 100, another one of his rediculous continuation bets that I really had no idea what to do with. I decided to just smoothe call it, and the turn came a 9h, giving me an open ended straight draw to go with the top pair, reasonable kicker. I had seen him get way carried away a few times with ace rag, so 2 pair, or me flat out out-kicking him were all options, but I decided to just smoothe call his $150 turn bet. The river was a Jh. Perfect. He bet out $200, and only having another $150 ontop I shoved it into the middle, he snap called again, with A/J for top 2, and I showed the fact that it was my turn to suck out on him. That got me back to $1100 or so for the session.
Then it was Round 3 with the same guy, this time he raised to 30, and I looked at Ac/9c, and called again. The flop was ugly enough, K/J/9 rainbow, and he again bet out big, 100 again into 60. This is the part where I should explain, when I play, largely inspired by my summer trip to Vegas with Bruno, I almost always wear a hoodie now when I'm playing. This guy was incredibly bothered by the hoodie, and in each of these hands, he had complained about it because he wanted to be face to face with me. At one point he got up and threatened to leave the game(in the middle of this hand...) if he couldn't see my eyes. He asked me to take off the hoodie, obviously I didn't. He then asked the dealer to make me take of the hoodie. The dealer informed him he couldn't, and he looked back to me and said : "If you don't take it off I'm leaving the game". Part of me wanted to take it off just to ensure the dead money stayed, the other part of me was more vocal though, and quickly I snapped back at him, "What the fuck do I care if you stay?". That didn't impress him. Meanwhile, during all this, I'm still considering what to do, and I decide over time that I again think he's just drawing, so I call. The turn pairs that 9. That's wonderful. He bets out again, I call again. The river is a 6, and he goes all in. I snap call and he shows A/6 for bottom pair, and I show the trip 9's for the win. $1600 now.
I lose a bunch of it back over a couple sick hands, various draws and setup hands that lose me money, one in particular where it folds around to me on the button with AQ, I raise to 35, BB re-raises to 100, and I re-raise over to 250, and he shoves in. I fold and he shows he woke up with KK in the BB.
So eventually I'm at around $1200 when one of my favourite hands I've ever played comes up, I'm still so proud of this hand it scares me.
A bunch of players limp to me, and it's my button, I look down at Ad/Kd, and I raise to 60 straight(there were 5 limps so it was basically a pot raise), I get 2 callers behind. The flop is terrible, 8s/5h/3c. They both check and I bet out $100, a weakish bet, but I wanted to define my hand for fairly cheap. Right away Seat 6, the regular everyone on the staff knew, called, and the other guy folded. The way he called, I figured he either had 6/7, or a hand like 7/7, 6/6 and thought they were still good under my AK. The turn paired the 3. He checked again, and I decided he didn't have one of those pairs, because I felt like if he did, he'd have bet it there to chase me away and not let me see a river. Instead he let me fire again, which I did, another $250 with A high. He smoothe called again, and I felt absolutely positive he had 6/7 and was chasing a straight. The river really, really complicated the hand. It was a 7. I knew cold dead that he hit that card, and I had just lost the hand. I also knew there was $900 in the pot, and I didn't want to give it up that easily. He checked the river one last time, and trusting my read entirely I thought he figured I had an overpair this entire way, and was chasing the straight to steal it. I figured any fair bet on the river was going to take it, as long as I didn't wuss out. This entire thought process happened while he was checking, and before I even realized what I was doing, I had announced I was all-in. $800 on an Ace high bluff. If I thought the game was too big for me, this was proof positive it wasn't. He tanked for what seemed like an eternity, and eventually asked me a real dumb question, "Can you beat the board?", the board, once again, was 8/7/5/3/3, so I responded with a simple "Yes.", and he chuckled and said, "I beleive you too.". Well good, because I do beat that board. Infact, both my A and my K are going to play, thank you very much. He then flashed me what I already knew, and exposed the 7d. That wasn't getting him anywhere, I already knew he had that, so my reaction was nothing at all. He finally mucked and I showed him the AK, which nearly had him suicidal, slamming his chips around and swearing like crazy that he knew he had me. About 5 hands later we had a nice discussion about the hand :
"How do you make that third bet with fucking AK? What are you an idiot?"
This is the point where I'd normally let it be, but he was obnoxious, and I decided to come back at him a bit...
"I knew you weren't calling."
"Ya right, I knew you had that, I ALMOST called you fucking donk"
"Well, congratulations, you're almost a good player, and I almost didn't read you like a book, and you almost won all my chips. As it turns out...I do have all your chips, I did read you like a book, and you're not a good player. Bad beat huh?"
That'd be the point he went on insanity tilt and dumped off a wad of money before leaving in a fit of rage.
Anyway, after that pot, I had around $1900. I played one more huge pot before I left...
I call a preflop raise out of the BB with 8c/6c, because I love to put chips in play, and I felt comfortable at the table now. The flop was gin, 5/7/9 rainbow. The only time I flopped the nuts in the session. Naturally I lead right at the flop hard, betting 90 into 110. The original raiser takes two huge stacks of red chips and very slowly and carefully slides them into the pot, before I even have any idea what the dollar value is(I know both of them are over $300 from the size), I toss my stack of black chips into the middle(10 of them). The dealer eventually breaks down the guy's total bet of $740, and I take back 3 blacks and toss out the extra 40 dollars. He rolls over QQ, and I hold, and end my session at $2680, a profit of almost $1700.
And since these things are never exactly linear, or well thought out, crafted or written, who doesn't expect me to randomly switch topics again...back to today.
I went over to a friend's house from the training course at the casino, and we sat down to a game of Chinese Poker(we had both been studying up and practicing for the better part of 2 weeks now of training). We set up and played, and I crushed him for 56 points in about 4 hours of play. The game is maddeningly addicting, and a true gambler's game, moreso than anything I've ever played, the swings can be intense. 2 hours into it he had me by 14 points, and I took 70 points off him in the next 2 hours. Naturally we had money on it, so that's another nice winning poker session recently.
So let's see what's happened in the month since I wrote an update for the blog. Well, I got the job at Brantford Casino as a dealer, actually just passed my table test today as I'm writing this. Fairly excited about getting to deal for the casino, even if it isn't Hold'Em right away, it's still a very fun job and financially very sound.
The training for that has been eating my time, and I've barely touched a deck of cards(as it relates to poker I mean)... save for one weekend out at the Elite Poker Tour(my old employ), where I managed to eek out 3 final tables in 3 tournaments and one win, a very rewarding weekend from a poker standpoint.
The only other time I've played poker is making a fairly rediculous idea on Sunday night in some freezing rain that I was so bored I wanted to go to Fallsview and play, so off I went. Normally I'd have gone to Seneca since it's better, but given the timeframe(I was leaving my house at 10:30pm), most of Seneca's big games are dead at that point(I called and 2/4 NL was the biggest they still had running). So I went to Fallsview and hopped on what is actually, outside of the city of Las Vegas, the biggest cash game I've ever played in, the 5/10 NL game at Fallsview.
Right away I felt an overwhelming since of calm at the table, considering I was bringing $1000 to the table, I was fairly calm about it, and in control. Nothing much happened, I didn't want to mix it up early, and I was fairly card dead off the hop, so I got alot of time to get a real solid read on the table, and basically they worked as : Seat 1 had never played a hand for an hour. Seat 2 was a tight but solid player. Seat 3 was a pure POW(Pay-Off Wizard), and a large calling station. Seat 4 was a drunk guy who was begging to give his money away, and knew nearly nothing about Hold'Em, or if he did, the drinks had long since washed that knowledge away. Seat 5 was another big calling station. Seat 6 was a big time regular that knew everyone that worked there, was a large tilt monkey(I came to the table to the sounds of him whining about a bad beat that had happened over 3 hours ago), and wasn't overly impressive. And Seat 7 and 8 were two more fairly tight, reasonably solid players. Seat 9 was me, and Seat 10 was an immensely tight but very solid player I had played with a few times at 5/5 before.
So, there's the layout, down to business. I finally started to really feel comfortable and started looking to mix it up, taking down a few small pots and losing a few pots here and there, when I finally got into my first real big pot of the day.
The drunk asian guy in Seat 4 opened for a raise to 15 dollars UTG. Obviously this is infact, not a raise, so since he had said raise, they comitted him to 20 dollars. 3 players called to me, and I called in fairly late position with 9h/7h. The flop was 7/5/3 rainbow. The UTG player bet out now, 160 into 80. I had been looking to mix it up, and figured there was a strong chance I had the best hand still, so I re-shoved over the top all in for my $950 or so infront of me(to be fair, he only had another $250 infront of him), he snap called and I actually thought I might be in trouble, until he turned over his brilliantly played Q/4 offsuit. The turn was a 9 giving me top 2 and eliminating a Q as an out for him, leaving him just the 6 for the straight, which naturally was the river card. Ship half my stack over there please. He was polite enough, he laughed, he was having a good time, and I didn't really mind, he offered to buy me a drink, but since I don't drink, I declined, so he bought the entire table a round, and bought me a couple red-bull's to stash away for the session. Nice guy. But I wanted that money back.
So, it didn't take overly long for us to tango again, this time, he raised to 30, and I called with Ad/10d, we were the only 2 in the pot. The flop came Ac/7s/8c, and he bet out 100, another one of his rediculous continuation bets that I really had no idea what to do with. I decided to just smoothe call it, and the turn came a 9h, giving me an open ended straight draw to go with the top pair, reasonable kicker. I had seen him get way carried away a few times with ace rag, so 2 pair, or me flat out out-kicking him were all options, but I decided to just smoothe call his $150 turn bet. The river was a Jh. Perfect. He bet out $200, and only having another $150 ontop I shoved it into the middle, he snap called again, with A/J for top 2, and I showed the fact that it was my turn to suck out on him. That got me back to $1100 or so for the session.
Then it was Round 3 with the same guy, this time he raised to 30, and I looked at Ac/9c, and called again. The flop was ugly enough, K/J/9 rainbow, and he again bet out big, 100 again into 60. This is the part where I should explain, when I play, largely inspired by my summer trip to Vegas with Bruno, I almost always wear a hoodie now when I'm playing. This guy was incredibly bothered by the hoodie, and in each of these hands, he had complained about it because he wanted to be face to face with me. At one point he got up and threatened to leave the game(in the middle of this hand...) if he couldn't see my eyes. He asked me to take off the hoodie, obviously I didn't. He then asked the dealer to make me take of the hoodie. The dealer informed him he couldn't, and he looked back to me and said : "If you don't take it off I'm leaving the game". Part of me wanted to take it off just to ensure the dead money stayed, the other part of me was more vocal though, and quickly I snapped back at him, "What the fuck do I care if you stay?". That didn't impress him. Meanwhile, during all this, I'm still considering what to do, and I decide over time that I again think he's just drawing, so I call. The turn pairs that 9. That's wonderful. He bets out again, I call again. The river is a 6, and he goes all in. I snap call and he shows A/6 for bottom pair, and I show the trip 9's for the win. $1600 now.
I lose a bunch of it back over a couple sick hands, various draws and setup hands that lose me money, one in particular where it folds around to me on the button with AQ, I raise to 35, BB re-raises to 100, and I re-raise over to 250, and he shoves in. I fold and he shows he woke up with KK in the BB.
So eventually I'm at around $1200 when one of my favourite hands I've ever played comes up, I'm still so proud of this hand it scares me.
A bunch of players limp to me, and it's my button, I look down at Ad/Kd, and I raise to 60 straight(there were 5 limps so it was basically a pot raise), I get 2 callers behind. The flop is terrible, 8s/5h/3c. They both check and I bet out $100, a weakish bet, but I wanted to define my hand for fairly cheap. Right away Seat 6, the regular everyone on the staff knew, called, and the other guy folded. The way he called, I figured he either had 6/7, or a hand like 7/7, 6/6 and thought they were still good under my AK. The turn paired the 3. He checked again, and I decided he didn't have one of those pairs, because I felt like if he did, he'd have bet it there to chase me away and not let me see a river. Instead he let me fire again, which I did, another $250 with A high. He smoothe called again, and I felt absolutely positive he had 6/7 and was chasing a straight. The river really, really complicated the hand. It was a 7. I knew cold dead that he hit that card, and I had just lost the hand. I also knew there was $900 in the pot, and I didn't want to give it up that easily. He checked the river one last time, and trusting my read entirely I thought he figured I had an overpair this entire way, and was chasing the straight to steal it. I figured any fair bet on the river was going to take it, as long as I didn't wuss out. This entire thought process happened while he was checking, and before I even realized what I was doing, I had announced I was all-in. $800 on an Ace high bluff. If I thought the game was too big for me, this was proof positive it wasn't. He tanked for what seemed like an eternity, and eventually asked me a real dumb question, "Can you beat the board?", the board, once again, was 8/7/5/3/3, so I responded with a simple "Yes.", and he chuckled and said, "I beleive you too.". Well good, because I do beat that board. Infact, both my A and my K are going to play, thank you very much. He then flashed me what I already knew, and exposed the 7d. That wasn't getting him anywhere, I already knew he had that, so my reaction was nothing at all. He finally mucked and I showed him the AK, which nearly had him suicidal, slamming his chips around and swearing like crazy that he knew he had me. About 5 hands later we had a nice discussion about the hand :
"How do you make that third bet with fucking AK? What are you an idiot?"
This is the point where I'd normally let it be, but he was obnoxious, and I decided to come back at him a bit...
"I knew you weren't calling."
"Ya right, I knew you had that, I ALMOST called you fucking donk"
"Well, congratulations, you're almost a good player, and I almost didn't read you like a book, and you almost won all my chips. As it turns out...I do have all your chips, I did read you like a book, and you're not a good player. Bad beat huh?"
That'd be the point he went on insanity tilt and dumped off a wad of money before leaving in a fit of rage.
Anyway, after that pot, I had around $1900. I played one more huge pot before I left...
I call a preflop raise out of the BB with 8c/6c, because I love to put chips in play, and I felt comfortable at the table now. The flop was gin, 5/7/9 rainbow. The only time I flopped the nuts in the session. Naturally I lead right at the flop hard, betting 90 into 110. The original raiser takes two huge stacks of red chips and very slowly and carefully slides them into the pot, before I even have any idea what the dollar value is(I know both of them are over $300 from the size), I toss my stack of black chips into the middle(10 of them). The dealer eventually breaks down the guy's total bet of $740, and I take back 3 blacks and toss out the extra 40 dollars. He rolls over QQ, and I hold, and end my session at $2680, a profit of almost $1700.
And since these things are never exactly linear, or well thought out, crafted or written, who doesn't expect me to randomly switch topics again...back to today.
I went over to a friend's house from the training course at the casino, and we sat down to a game of Chinese Poker(we had both been studying up and practicing for the better part of 2 weeks now of training). We set up and played, and I crushed him for 56 points in about 4 hours of play. The game is maddeningly addicting, and a true gambler's game, moreso than anything I've ever played, the swings can be intense. 2 hours into it he had me by 14 points, and I took 70 points off him in the next 2 hours. Naturally we had money on it, so that's another nice winning poker session recently.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
How to lose over $1200 in 6 hours...
Because I know you all want lessons, please observe a master at work :
Let's start online. FTOPS started last night with Event #1, a $200+16 buyin NL Hold'Em short handed event. Normally I'm fantastic at these events, I've run deep in every short handed high buyin event I've played online. This time, not so much at all. I was crushed in this event. It started early getting involved in a few pots where I had made hands and got drawn out on and my 3000 starting stack turned into 1600 within 25 minutes or so. Then came the hand that killed me :
I raised the cut-off with 9h/4h, a fairly standard play, especially 6 handed I really tend to opt for alot of preflop raising and general agression before the flop, switching to very conservative post flop because you'll find opponents ranges wider than at a 9 or 10 handed table also. Anyway, both blinds call. The flop was decent enough, Jh/2h/2c. Paired board I never like chasing a flush but the quick 100 bet into 300 and a call behind made me fairly certain my flush was going to be the best hand, so I called behind also. The turn was a 5h. The initial better led 600, and got called, I shoved behind 1150, and got called by both. The river was absolutely devestating. 2s. Three 2's on board and now I know I'm toast. It goes check, bet, fold and the guy holding QJ wins the pot with his full house. The other player had a lower flush than me so the 2 killed my shot at the 4000 chip pot.
After this, since I didn't play poker most of the day in an effort to be ready for a long night in that tournament, I decided I was ready for a game. No tilt anywhere to be seen, I even told a friend how weird it felt, I was dissapointed because I wanted to play more poker than the half hour I lasted. Tilt never factored into it.
So, I decided to make a trip out to Fallsview. Ironically the casino has been debated alot on Jackseven lately, some think it sucks, some think it's great. I agree with column a. I think as a poker room, it's an absolute nightmare. The layout is horrendous(who puts the poker room that far away from any cage?), the service is awful(I still remember the session where I sat at a table for 6 hours asking to be moved to a new table because there was absolutely no action at my table and other people who asked after me getting moved). However, there's alot of action, so it's kind of a necessity for me to go there.
Anyway, I sit down at a 5/5 NL game with $500, and quickly run it up a little bit until this hand happens, that also gave me a big realization.
The cut-off(fairly solid) raises to 35, and I'm on the button with AQo, I call here(a play I'll discuss more later), and the blinds fold. The flop is A/K/7 rainbow. The cut-off leads 65. Here's a difficult spot for me because this is the kind of continuation bet he'd make holding almost ATC still, so I'm almost forced into a call, which I make(more on this later too). The turn is a complete brick, a 3. He checks now, which really confused me because I wasn't sure if that meant he had a hand like QQ or JJ and was giving up, or he had a big hand like AK, KK and was trying to trap another bet out of me. The river was another Ace. Now he leads 150, and again I'm faced with another fairly tough decision, it's possible we have the same hand, it's slightly possible I have him outkicked although I doubt it, so I have to decide if he has QQ or JJ and is trying one last steal effort, or if he has AK or KK and is value betting. I decide wrong and call, and he shows AK.
Now, let me take a moment to dissect this hand a little more. I discussed this with Griffin when I got home, and I discovered something with him during the conversation. Calling ranges should be even wider than I normally make them. I hate the idea of calling any raise with AQ. I already don't call raises with A/10, A/J, KQ, typically, obviously all this is circumstantial, but for the most part. Now I'm fitting AQ into that range. I'd rather have been calling his raise with 6d/4d than with AQ. 6d/4d, J/10 suited, any hands like that are easy post flop. I either hit big, I outplay, or I fold. There's no difficult decisions to leave yourself after the flop like there is playing a hand like AQ, AJ, KQ. All those hands leave you is alot of post flop work. And I feel like I'm too good at this game to put myself in a marginal spot like that where I have very difficult decisions.
A few hands later I go broke with 5s/2s on a As/10s/5d flop, and that leads to me reloading.
During this time, there was one player just steamrolling the table, he was hitting insanely well, a very agressive kid, although he seemed to know more or less what he was doing, he was just very agressive, and at the time was a card rack. All the same, I wanted to tangle because he was very agressive. That lead to this hand after I had worked my stack up again :
There were a few players that left the table and came back and posted(3 in all), they all check everyone else folds to the maniac holding the button, he goes to 50 straight. I'm in the BB and look at AA. Perfect, now I decide that although I don't like limping with players behind, I think I can be fairly safe they can't call after I have, so I just smoothe call the extra 45. The posters all fold.
The flop is 2d/5s/6s. Not a bad flop but not great. I lead at the flop almost as it's being dealt, trying to sell him on a pro-bet here. I bet 120. He instantly comes over the top to 300. I'm holding about 600 total at this point. I decide to just call the extra 180 and see the turn, already deciding I'm letting him set me all-in on the turn(barring a spade then I'll give it some thought). Turn is a blank, 9d. I check and he says all-in and I've called before he even puts a chip in the pot and flipped up my aces. I'm fairly certain I know what he's rolling over and I know I'm a 4 to 1 favourite. Sure enough, he shows me As/Qs. Almost a 2k pot now and I've got it in a 4 to 1 favourite. But, just to give me the final kick in the crotch for the day, the river peels off the 8s. Ship it over there please.
After that I take 1 more bad beat as I drive home, taking the back way from my house I get stuck at the Welland Canal bridge for about 20 minutes. Nice way to top off the night. Overall things kind of sucked.
Let's start online. FTOPS started last night with Event #1, a $200+16 buyin NL Hold'Em short handed event. Normally I'm fantastic at these events, I've run deep in every short handed high buyin event I've played online. This time, not so much at all. I was crushed in this event. It started early getting involved in a few pots where I had made hands and got drawn out on and my 3000 starting stack turned into 1600 within 25 minutes or so. Then came the hand that killed me :
I raised the cut-off with 9h/4h, a fairly standard play, especially 6 handed I really tend to opt for alot of preflop raising and general agression before the flop, switching to very conservative post flop because you'll find opponents ranges wider than at a 9 or 10 handed table also. Anyway, both blinds call. The flop was decent enough, Jh/2h/2c. Paired board I never like chasing a flush but the quick 100 bet into 300 and a call behind made me fairly certain my flush was going to be the best hand, so I called behind also. The turn was a 5h. The initial better led 600, and got called, I shoved behind 1150, and got called by both. The river was absolutely devestating. 2s. Three 2's on board and now I know I'm toast. It goes check, bet, fold and the guy holding QJ wins the pot with his full house. The other player had a lower flush than me so the 2 killed my shot at the 4000 chip pot.
After this, since I didn't play poker most of the day in an effort to be ready for a long night in that tournament, I decided I was ready for a game. No tilt anywhere to be seen, I even told a friend how weird it felt, I was dissapointed because I wanted to play more poker than the half hour I lasted. Tilt never factored into it.
So, I decided to make a trip out to Fallsview. Ironically the casino has been debated alot on Jackseven lately, some think it sucks, some think it's great. I agree with column a. I think as a poker room, it's an absolute nightmare. The layout is horrendous(who puts the poker room that far away from any cage?), the service is awful(I still remember the session where I sat at a table for 6 hours asking to be moved to a new table because there was absolutely no action at my table and other people who asked after me getting moved). However, there's alot of action, so it's kind of a necessity for me to go there.
Anyway, I sit down at a 5/5 NL game with $500, and quickly run it up a little bit until this hand happens, that also gave me a big realization.
The cut-off(fairly solid) raises to 35, and I'm on the button with AQo, I call here(a play I'll discuss more later), and the blinds fold. The flop is A/K/7 rainbow. The cut-off leads 65. Here's a difficult spot for me because this is the kind of continuation bet he'd make holding almost ATC still, so I'm almost forced into a call, which I make(more on this later too). The turn is a complete brick, a 3. He checks now, which really confused me because I wasn't sure if that meant he had a hand like QQ or JJ and was giving up, or he had a big hand like AK, KK and was trying to trap another bet out of me. The river was another Ace. Now he leads 150, and again I'm faced with another fairly tough decision, it's possible we have the same hand, it's slightly possible I have him outkicked although I doubt it, so I have to decide if he has QQ or JJ and is trying one last steal effort, or if he has AK or KK and is value betting. I decide wrong and call, and he shows AK.
Now, let me take a moment to dissect this hand a little more. I discussed this with Griffin when I got home, and I discovered something with him during the conversation. Calling ranges should be even wider than I normally make them. I hate the idea of calling any raise with AQ. I already don't call raises with A/10, A/J, KQ, typically, obviously all this is circumstantial, but for the most part. Now I'm fitting AQ into that range. I'd rather have been calling his raise with 6d/4d than with AQ. 6d/4d, J/10 suited, any hands like that are easy post flop. I either hit big, I outplay, or I fold. There's no difficult decisions to leave yourself after the flop like there is playing a hand like AQ, AJ, KQ. All those hands leave you is alot of post flop work. And I feel like I'm too good at this game to put myself in a marginal spot like that where I have very difficult decisions.
A few hands later I go broke with 5s/2s on a As/10s/5d flop, and that leads to me reloading.
During this time, there was one player just steamrolling the table, he was hitting insanely well, a very agressive kid, although he seemed to know more or less what he was doing, he was just very agressive, and at the time was a card rack. All the same, I wanted to tangle because he was very agressive. That lead to this hand after I had worked my stack up again :
There were a few players that left the table and came back and posted(3 in all), they all check everyone else folds to the maniac holding the button, he goes to 50 straight. I'm in the BB and look at AA. Perfect, now I decide that although I don't like limping with players behind, I think I can be fairly safe they can't call after I have, so I just smoothe call the extra 45. The posters all fold.
The flop is 2d/5s/6s. Not a bad flop but not great. I lead at the flop almost as it's being dealt, trying to sell him on a pro-bet here. I bet 120. He instantly comes over the top to 300. I'm holding about 600 total at this point. I decide to just call the extra 180 and see the turn, already deciding I'm letting him set me all-in on the turn(barring a spade then I'll give it some thought). Turn is a blank, 9d. I check and he says all-in and I've called before he even puts a chip in the pot and flipped up my aces. I'm fairly certain I know what he's rolling over and I know I'm a 4 to 1 favourite. Sure enough, he shows me As/Qs. Almost a 2k pot now and I've got it in a 4 to 1 favourite. But, just to give me the final kick in the crotch for the day, the river peels off the 8s. Ship it over there please.
After that I take 1 more bad beat as I drive home, taking the back way from my house I get stuck at the Welland Canal bridge for about 20 minutes. Nice way to top off the night. Overall things kind of sucked.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Guilt update
Weird, it's been quite a while since I did one of these updates, maybe I should write one up.
So, where am I at?
Well, I've just moved most of my money off Pokerstars. It's nothing against Pokerstars at all, I do think it's the best site on the internet, but unfortunately I don't qualify for any rakeback bonus', whereas I will be able to get it on Full Tilt. That's 5k or more a month I'm earning just to switch sites, so I'm in the process of making that switch. Therefore, there hasn't been much for me in the way of online poker lately, I play a little every night, but not as intensely as I had been for the last few months.
I'm really eager for the FTOPS events kicking off this coming week, I think I'm in a good frame of mind poker-wise, and I feel like my tournament game is coming around a bit. I've been doing alot of reading and watching on card runners the MTT videos and entries to see if I can learn anything, and I'm more comfortable than I was a month ago playing an MTT. Some progress was shown at the live tournaments I run. I had played in(without an actual count), 15 or so events, and made 1 final table(finished 3rd), up until this week. This week I've played 2 events, and won them both.
The first event on Wednesday I felt like I got fortunate in some spots where I normally don't get lucky. One big spot was a 10/10 vs AA showdown where I caught a 10 on the flop. I felt like I played well though, grinding my way through some card-dead spells, and maximized opportunties.
Tonight however I think was a big turning point. Almost from the onset I felt like I dominated the tournament, there was hardly a moment I wasn't either chip lead or 2nd in chips. Granted, I ran fairly well(made 2 sets of quads, only got paid once for them), but I think the big thing tonight was I had a remarkable efficiency in pots I was in. Typically I'm very good at big pot poker, because I rarely put my money into a big pot when I'm behind. However, I find that I bleed chips back trying to play smaller pots and slowly widdling back to the pack before I double up again. Today was the opposite, today I won every big pot I played, but found a better rythmn in the pots around those big pots where I was just further extending myself from the field. I felt basically from 15 minutes into the tournament that I was going to win, and it worked out.
My tenative FTOPS schedule is now finalized, the only ones I know 100% for sure are I'll be playing Event #1(6 handed NL Hold'Em) and Event #3(PL Hold'Em) on Wednesday and Friday respectively. After that there are a bunch of question marks, although I deffinitely want to be in the 2 million dollar guarantee main event. Most of these will be straight buyins.
As for other poker, I went down to Fallsview on Tuesday and saw Marc and Bill there, hung out for a while, saw Marc roll a little bit, unfortunately I had to leave for work mid-way through the day and later found out he had been eliminated, although I'm fairly certain this was still a pretty good month for him, what with the marriage and all. His track record is one of the "new wave" of players who continue to amaze with their consistency. Guys like Scott Clements, Marc, Jared Hamby and other internet pros that have taken poker by storm not just by the magnitude of their accomplishments but by the consistency they accomplish these feats showcase how far poker has come and how well some people can play the game these days.
On a personal note, I got some fantastic news(hopefully, assuming from here on out things go well), that I got a job at Brantford Casino as a dealer. I'm making fair money playing poker, but the ability to have a well paying job and keep my poker bankroll seperate from that will be key, because were it not for constantly taking checks out for living expenses from my bankroll, it would be over $40,000, instead of the over $20,000 I cashed out a while ago from Pokerstars. This should make the run I'm on a little bit easier, both because I don't have to worry about finances at home, and because I don't have to take money from my bankroll. At least that's the hope. I'm very excited about that, obviously under the assumption I pass a credit and criminal background check.
So, where am I at?
Well, I've just moved most of my money off Pokerstars. It's nothing against Pokerstars at all, I do think it's the best site on the internet, but unfortunately I don't qualify for any rakeback bonus', whereas I will be able to get it on Full Tilt. That's 5k or more a month I'm earning just to switch sites, so I'm in the process of making that switch. Therefore, there hasn't been much for me in the way of online poker lately, I play a little every night, but not as intensely as I had been for the last few months.
I'm really eager for the FTOPS events kicking off this coming week, I think I'm in a good frame of mind poker-wise, and I feel like my tournament game is coming around a bit. I've been doing alot of reading and watching on card runners the MTT videos and entries to see if I can learn anything, and I'm more comfortable than I was a month ago playing an MTT. Some progress was shown at the live tournaments I run. I had played in(without an actual count), 15 or so events, and made 1 final table(finished 3rd), up until this week. This week I've played 2 events, and won them both.
The first event on Wednesday I felt like I got fortunate in some spots where I normally don't get lucky. One big spot was a 10/10 vs AA showdown where I caught a 10 on the flop. I felt like I played well though, grinding my way through some card-dead spells, and maximized opportunties.
Tonight however I think was a big turning point. Almost from the onset I felt like I dominated the tournament, there was hardly a moment I wasn't either chip lead or 2nd in chips. Granted, I ran fairly well(made 2 sets of quads, only got paid once for them), but I think the big thing tonight was I had a remarkable efficiency in pots I was in. Typically I'm very good at big pot poker, because I rarely put my money into a big pot when I'm behind. However, I find that I bleed chips back trying to play smaller pots and slowly widdling back to the pack before I double up again. Today was the opposite, today I won every big pot I played, but found a better rythmn in the pots around those big pots where I was just further extending myself from the field. I felt basically from 15 minutes into the tournament that I was going to win, and it worked out.
My tenative FTOPS schedule is now finalized, the only ones I know 100% for sure are I'll be playing Event #1(6 handed NL Hold'Em) and Event #3(PL Hold'Em) on Wednesday and Friday respectively. After that there are a bunch of question marks, although I deffinitely want to be in the 2 million dollar guarantee main event. Most of these will be straight buyins.
As for other poker, I went down to Fallsview on Tuesday and saw Marc and Bill there, hung out for a while, saw Marc roll a little bit, unfortunately I had to leave for work mid-way through the day and later found out he had been eliminated, although I'm fairly certain this was still a pretty good month for him, what with the marriage and all. His track record is one of the "new wave" of players who continue to amaze with their consistency. Guys like Scott Clements, Marc, Jared Hamby and other internet pros that have taken poker by storm not just by the magnitude of their accomplishments but by the consistency they accomplish these feats showcase how far poker has come and how well some people can play the game these days.
On a personal note, I got some fantastic news(hopefully, assuming from here on out things go well), that I got a job at Brantford Casino as a dealer. I'm making fair money playing poker, but the ability to have a well paying job and keep my poker bankroll seperate from that will be key, because were it not for constantly taking checks out for living expenses from my bankroll, it would be over $40,000, instead of the over $20,000 I cashed out a while ago from Pokerstars. This should make the run I'm on a little bit easier, both because I don't have to worry about finances at home, and because I don't have to take money from my bankroll. At least that's the hope. I'm very excited about that, obviously under the assumption I pass a credit and criminal background check.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Turning Stone...Part 1.
Well, that was fun. I say this multiple times, and every single one has a fun meaning. Here, watch.
Well, that was fun. The trip here was basically hell. Griffin had been stopped at a border before trying to get to the USA for a month or two under a work visa, so this created problems for us this time coming down here also, as we again got held for over an hour at the border.
During this time, just as a helpful aside, Amanda nearly got me shot. She text messaged me good luck, which I appreciated, but it just so happened that it was during our wait in the border office, which has signs that say "No Cell Phone Use Permitted", you're basically not allowed to move while they go over your papers. So, the text came through during that time, and not noticing the signs for no phone use, I pulled out my phone to read it, and promptly was told to put the phone away by a guard there that literally had his hand on his gun holster. Fun fun fun.
So, we got to Turning Stone around 5:00am, give or take, and checked in. We got up to the room and went back down to check and see what time the tournament started, then Griff decided that since the tournament started at 10:00am it'd be fun for him to play a cash game. I went up and crashed, he walked in after about an hour having lost a 5/5 buyin($500). Not a good start.
Well, that was fun. I woke up and headed down to register, actually fairly early, so I sat at a 1/2 table to just fling some cards around while I waited for the tournament, and played basically one hand of interest. I still don't know how this guy played this weak.
There's an early position raise to 10 and 6 calls to me in the SB with Ad/5d, so I call also. Flop is Kd/6d/3c. I flop the flush draw. I check intending to check raise someone in since I have 80 behind and I'm willing to gamble at this point with the pot already at 62. Checks all around amazingly to the button who bets 20. I raise all-in. It folds around to him and he goes into the tank, muttering to himself about how he thinks I flopped trip 6's. Eventually he flashes KQ face up and folds it, asking me if I had trip 6's. I literally laugh at him and tell him no, and flash the 5d, and muck the other card. Time to go register for the tournament.
Well, that was fun. 300+40, gone in 3 hands. Fold, fold, and then this. We start with 5000 in chips, blinds start at 25/50 and are a comfortable 40 minute levels. Really nice structure. So, I'm in the SB in a limped pot, and I call up with 6c/7c. BB checks. Flop is Ac/5d/2c. I pick up a flush draw. I check, BB leads out 200 at the pot of around 250. Folds all around to me, I call. Turn is a 9c, completing my flush. I check again, intending to check raise here, and he complies by really overbetting the pot here, 1000 at the pot of 650. Now, we started with just under 5k each so there's not alot of room left for me since there are still scare cards, I figure I'll shove and kill the hand here, unless it's flush under flush which I'm willing to bust on early, although there's no indication that's the case since he's really betting hard now and I doubt he'd do that with a made flush. I shove in. He borderline insta-calls which scares me, and rolls over A/2 for 2 pair. River is an Ah. Ship that man his pot. That's my 340 dollar tournament stay. 3 hands.
So, upset, I go back to what I know best, cash games, and buy in to the 5/5 game for 500 bucks. I really only played 2 hands of vast importance.
Early middle position, I look at AQ, so I raise to 20. I get 3 callers. Flop is Q/J/3 rainbow. I fire out 50. One player calls(SB, so he's out of position for the rest of the hand). Turn is a 10. He checks again and I fire $100. He calls again. Pot is now $380. River is an ace. He checks again, which to me says, "I can't possibly have a king because how can I rely on you to bet on a 4 card straight board". Which means, it's Kenny Tran value bet time. This is the biggest part of my NL Cash game play I'm working on. I fire out $200. He folds, but at the same time, I'm happy that I still bet that card when alot of people would just check behind.
The other big hand I played, I limped from middle position with Qd/Jd. It was raised to 20 dollars behind me, and I called along with one other player. Flop was Kd/10d/4c. Open ended straight flush draw, I'm getting a big pot here. I check. The initial raiser flat shoves 250 bucks at the pot of 70. Other player folds and it's back to me, I actually deliberate for a moment because I'm 100% sure he has AA right now and just hates that flop, so a few of my outs are gone. But it's not more than 5 seconds before I call, I'm not ever laying that hand down on that flop. Turn is a brick, river is a 9c, making my straight. For those of you wondering, the way I calculated it, and this is obviously optimum, I know he has aces so I have 2 Aces, 4 9's and 9 diamonds that make me good. 15 outs. There are 8 players meaning there are 20 dead cards(hands and the flop and burn), so 32 cards remaining. 15 of which are gold for me, he's got to fade half the deck twice to hold, and I need to hit one of my half of the deck in two cards. We're actually after I did the math more specifically back home, dead even to win. He's 50.61%, I'm 49.93%. So if I play this hand 100 times, I profit $3500(50 wins x the profit of the 70 dollars dead money in preflop). Easy call.
After that hand I middled around for a while, won a few more chips, cashed out $1590, profit of a thousand. So that's a good middle of my day, time to grab a nap since I'm running on 3 hours of sleep.
Well, that was fun. The trip here was basically hell. Griffin had been stopped at a border before trying to get to the USA for a month or two under a work visa, so this created problems for us this time coming down here also, as we again got held for over an hour at the border.
During this time, just as a helpful aside, Amanda nearly got me shot. She text messaged me good luck, which I appreciated, but it just so happened that it was during our wait in the border office, which has signs that say "No Cell Phone Use Permitted", you're basically not allowed to move while they go over your papers. So, the text came through during that time, and not noticing the signs for no phone use, I pulled out my phone to read it, and promptly was told to put the phone away by a guard there that literally had his hand on his gun holster. Fun fun fun.
So, we got to Turning Stone around 5:00am, give or take, and checked in. We got up to the room and went back down to check and see what time the tournament started, then Griff decided that since the tournament started at 10:00am it'd be fun for him to play a cash game. I went up and crashed, he walked in after about an hour having lost a 5/5 buyin($500). Not a good start.
Well, that was fun. I woke up and headed down to register, actually fairly early, so I sat at a 1/2 table to just fling some cards around while I waited for the tournament, and played basically one hand of interest. I still don't know how this guy played this weak.
There's an early position raise to 10 and 6 calls to me in the SB with Ad/5d, so I call also. Flop is Kd/6d/3c. I flop the flush draw. I check intending to check raise someone in since I have 80 behind and I'm willing to gamble at this point with the pot already at 62. Checks all around amazingly to the button who bets 20. I raise all-in. It folds around to him and he goes into the tank, muttering to himself about how he thinks I flopped trip 6's. Eventually he flashes KQ face up and folds it, asking me if I had trip 6's. I literally laugh at him and tell him no, and flash the 5d, and muck the other card. Time to go register for the tournament.
Well, that was fun. 300+40, gone in 3 hands. Fold, fold, and then this. We start with 5000 in chips, blinds start at 25/50 and are a comfortable 40 minute levels. Really nice structure. So, I'm in the SB in a limped pot, and I call up with 6c/7c. BB checks. Flop is Ac/5d/2c. I pick up a flush draw. I check, BB leads out 200 at the pot of around 250. Folds all around to me, I call. Turn is a 9c, completing my flush. I check again, intending to check raise here, and he complies by really overbetting the pot here, 1000 at the pot of 650. Now, we started with just under 5k each so there's not alot of room left for me since there are still scare cards, I figure I'll shove and kill the hand here, unless it's flush under flush which I'm willing to bust on early, although there's no indication that's the case since he's really betting hard now and I doubt he'd do that with a made flush. I shove in. He borderline insta-calls which scares me, and rolls over A/2 for 2 pair. River is an Ah. Ship that man his pot. That's my 340 dollar tournament stay. 3 hands.
So, upset, I go back to what I know best, cash games, and buy in to the 5/5 game for 500 bucks. I really only played 2 hands of vast importance.
Early middle position, I look at AQ, so I raise to 20. I get 3 callers. Flop is Q/J/3 rainbow. I fire out 50. One player calls(SB, so he's out of position for the rest of the hand). Turn is a 10. He checks again and I fire $100. He calls again. Pot is now $380. River is an ace. He checks again, which to me says, "I can't possibly have a king because how can I rely on you to bet on a 4 card straight board". Which means, it's Kenny Tran value bet time. This is the biggest part of my NL Cash game play I'm working on. I fire out $200. He folds, but at the same time, I'm happy that I still bet that card when alot of people would just check behind.
The other big hand I played, I limped from middle position with Qd/Jd. It was raised to 20 dollars behind me, and I called along with one other player. Flop was Kd/10d/4c. Open ended straight flush draw, I'm getting a big pot here. I check. The initial raiser flat shoves 250 bucks at the pot of 70. Other player folds and it's back to me, I actually deliberate for a moment because I'm 100% sure he has AA right now and just hates that flop, so a few of my outs are gone. But it's not more than 5 seconds before I call, I'm not ever laying that hand down on that flop. Turn is a brick, river is a 9c, making my straight. For those of you wondering, the way I calculated it, and this is obviously optimum, I know he has aces so I have 2 Aces, 4 9's and 9 diamonds that make me good. 15 outs. There are 8 players meaning there are 20 dead cards(hands and the flop and burn), so 32 cards remaining. 15 of which are gold for me, he's got to fade half the deck twice to hold, and I need to hit one of my half of the deck in two cards. We're actually after I did the math more specifically back home, dead even to win. He's 50.61%, I'm 49.93%. So if I play this hand 100 times, I profit $3500(50 wins x the profit of the 70 dollars dead money in preflop). Easy call.
After that hand I middled around for a while, won a few more chips, cashed out $1590, profit of a thousand. So that's a good middle of my day, time to grab a nap since I'm running on 3 hours of sleep.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Another good day...
I set a new personal best today, more on that and a few hand histories, but first thing's first, I figured this would be a good time to talk a little about limit poker stratagies...
I must be the worst person alive for even thinking myself qualified to write this. First let's start with a little background on myself.
I've played alot of limit poker at Brantford Charity Casino a few years ago I used to go almost every day down there to play the 5/10 game. I did well, but this is before I became the player I am today, I just always had a real nack for limit poker from the start I found.
Skip ahead, I start working for a Poker tour, running poker tournaments, playing them nightly, and so on. I became a solid NL player and a solid MTT player, but still always said I considered myself a better limit player than NL.
Skip ahead again, and finally I clear a bankroll after a very enjoyable, successful(cashed in my first WSOP event ever, although it wasn't an overly big number, those few days with Bruno at the WSOP will be long lasting memories, we had alot of fun, and both cashing was icing on the cake), and lucrative(over 5000 dollars earned for the trip) trip to Las Vegas, my first trip down there, I decided to toss some money down into online poker and see what became of it.
I bought in for 500 to Pokerstars after returning from Las Vegas, and have run that up to over 17,000 dollars currently on the site, and that's after I withdrew 5000 of it to pay the bill for my new TV(61" JVC HD-ILA HDTV, and all the new upgrades that had to be bought along with it), I plan on withdrawing a 2nd poker paycheque in a day or two, another $5,000 give or take.
How did that happen? Limit poker. I'm back at it, so I figured I'd take some time to explain my theories on limit poker. You may read this and decide I'm an imbecile, if so, sobeit. This is just how I've been so far pretty damn successful at a game alot of today's poker players find very difficult.
First, I want to make it clear that all these tips are strictly 6 handed mid-level limit games(5-10, 10-20).
Limit poker is a cruel game for a couple reasons, so let's establish the large problem people have with transitioning NL-limit poker.
Protecting your hands.
Okay, you've flopped top pair after raising preflop with AK in a 10-20 game and getting 4 callers. Flop comes Kh/6h/4c. Now would be a time to slam it in NL and try and protect against a potential draw. So go ahead and bet your 10 dollars into the 40 dollar pot, and lay him 5 to 1 to draw. Kind of hard for any flush draw not to see equity in that call now huh?
My solution isn't anything overly sophisticated, first of all you want to ensure yourself you're using position very well, and for me, with that flop, I won't even bet that flop. I'll check it, hope to see a turn card that's a blank. Now 2 things have happened. First of all, his odds have cut themselves down drastically after seeing that brick on the turn, and 2nd of all, you're now in the big bet stage. So now you can bet 20 at the 40 pot, and lay him 3 to 1, with 1 card to come to chase that flush draw, with him having already seen the blank turn card peel off. You'll find first of all you'll be able to protect your hands more here, and 2nd of all, you won't spill money to the table as they call your flop bets on the draw and spike the turn.
So, with that out of the way, the specific games I play are 5/10 and 10/20(mostly 10/20 now) limit, 6 handed games. That being key for the next part of the story.
I play completely maniacal at the table, raising any two suited cards, connected cards, or face cards or pairs, as long as I'm not UTG. I find this works for alot of ways, even if I run into a hand that 3 bets me, I'm being layed a strong price to call, and see a relatively cheap flop(rather than facing an all-in re-shove) and I can win some huge pots. Alot of my biggest pots are with hands that would turn a stomach, 10h/4h cracking KK, with a K on the flop and I make a flush on the turn, things like that. While it sounds like that's just me running exorberantly well, it's really not, I think I put myself in alot of positions to win pots, either stealing some money by stealing blinds(keep in mind stealing blinds at 10/20 limit is the same as stealing blinds at 5/10 NL, so it can be very equitable to steal blinds frequently), or by flopping large. It's kind of similar to Marc Karam's NL strategy for low-level NL cash game tables, but only slightly altered to a limit table. The other key to adopting a stratagy this intense is the last part of the lessons :
The absolute most important part to limit poker, SAVE, YOUR, BETS
This can absolutely not be stressed enough. You have KK at a 10/20 table, raise to 20 preflop, get re-raised to 30, cap it to 40 and the player calls. Pot is 80 dollars. Flop is Kh/6h/2s. He bets out 10, you raise 20, he calls. 120 in the pot. Turn is a 10c. He checks, you bet out 20, he calls. 160 in the pot. River is a 9h. He bets out 20. You're actually being layed 9 to 1 to call here. Unfortunately, 98% of the time he's just made his flush(yes there are the odd players that are crazy enough to bet there with the pot odds they leave behind, but you let them have it). The truth is the biggest key to limit poker is not saying "Fuck, I think I just got rivered...I call.". You know you're beat, wonderful, fold. The biggest thing about limit poker is one key statistic, which I track along with my other statistics on limit play for myself, and that's "Showdown's won". Mine over the course of this entire run I'm on, is 89%. I'd say that's fairly strong. That's why I win at limit poker. I don't waste money to see how bad the river card was to me. Limit will allow chasing, accept it and don't pay to see it, and you'll do fine.
So with that said, back to my day today, I won't list alot of examples of hands, mainly because I was multi-tabling so I can't really remember all that many quite frankly, but what I do remember is booking a $3600 dollar day today total. I bought into 4 tables of 10/20 at 500 a peice, and eventually had 5600 in play over the 4 tables, including one table over 2k. What I do remember is I fell in love with suited connectors again today, I made countless large pots with 5/6, 6/7, 4/5 suited, and one of the sickest pots I've ever played which I will take the time to write out.
I'm UTG with QQ, so I raise it up to 20, it's called by 2 players. 60 in the pot to the flop. The flop is Q/8/5 rainbow. I bet out 10(ya, I bet that, no use check raising here), it gets raised, and 3 bet, so I cap it to 4 bets, it's called and called. 180 in the pot and we see the turn. A. I bet out 20 praying that's a good card for me, it's raised to 40, 3 bet to 60. I cap it to 80, call, call. 420 in the pot now. River is a 2. I bet out again, raise, 3 bet, I 4 bet, call, call. 660 dollar pot. My QQ goes up as the winning hand, and I rake the pot, neither of the other players show(surprising as you'll see in a second). I go through hand history to see what they had. 88 and 55. All 3 of us flopped a set.
So, after the quality poker session and a stop in at the mechanic's for an oil change, I drive out to Oakville and meet up with a few friends to go see Toronto FC play the New York Red Bulls.
This was my first MLS game, and since I seem to now almost always include little life lessons, here's todays. Even you Ottawa kids on jackseven. Make a trip to see Toronto FC play. It's a blast. Amazing atmosphere, the crowds are so heavily into it, singing, dancing, it's one gigantic party, like Mardi Gras in a stadium. It was the most fun I've had at a sporting event, ever. And I regularily go to Habs games in Montreal, I've been to Leafs games, been to Sens games, been to an NFL football game(Cincinatti), been to countless MLB games, been to a Raptors game, and I saw the Blue Jays win the World Series(granted I was 10 at the time, but still). Nothing compared to the sheer enjoyment of the Toronto FC game. I highly recommend you go down and check it out. The stadium is gorgeous and it's one hell of a party.
Griffin and I are planning to go down to Turning Stone next weekend for the tournament series down there, if you're planning on being there, we'll see you there. Griffin'll probably be the one sitting at a final table, and I'll probably be the one that busts in 14 minutes and goes and wins it all back playing a ring game.
I must be the worst person alive for even thinking myself qualified to write this. First let's start with a little background on myself.
I've played alot of limit poker at Brantford Charity Casino a few years ago I used to go almost every day down there to play the 5/10 game. I did well, but this is before I became the player I am today, I just always had a real nack for limit poker from the start I found.
Skip ahead, I start working for a Poker tour, running poker tournaments, playing them nightly, and so on. I became a solid NL player and a solid MTT player, but still always said I considered myself a better limit player than NL.
Skip ahead again, and finally I clear a bankroll after a very enjoyable, successful(cashed in my first WSOP event ever, although it wasn't an overly big number, those few days with Bruno at the WSOP will be long lasting memories, we had alot of fun, and both cashing was icing on the cake), and lucrative(over 5000 dollars earned for the trip) trip to Las Vegas, my first trip down there, I decided to toss some money down into online poker and see what became of it.
I bought in for 500 to Pokerstars after returning from Las Vegas, and have run that up to over 17,000 dollars currently on the site, and that's after I withdrew 5000 of it to pay the bill for my new TV(61" JVC HD-ILA HDTV, and all the new upgrades that had to be bought along with it), I plan on withdrawing a 2nd poker paycheque in a day or two, another $5,000 give or take.
How did that happen? Limit poker. I'm back at it, so I figured I'd take some time to explain my theories on limit poker. You may read this and decide I'm an imbecile, if so, sobeit. This is just how I've been so far pretty damn successful at a game alot of today's poker players find very difficult.
First, I want to make it clear that all these tips are strictly 6 handed mid-level limit games(5-10, 10-20).
Limit poker is a cruel game for a couple reasons, so let's establish the large problem people have with transitioning NL-limit poker.
Protecting your hands.
Okay, you've flopped top pair after raising preflop with AK in a 10-20 game and getting 4 callers. Flop comes Kh/6h/4c. Now would be a time to slam it in NL and try and protect against a potential draw. So go ahead and bet your 10 dollars into the 40 dollar pot, and lay him 5 to 1 to draw. Kind of hard for any flush draw not to see equity in that call now huh?
My solution isn't anything overly sophisticated, first of all you want to ensure yourself you're using position very well, and for me, with that flop, I won't even bet that flop. I'll check it, hope to see a turn card that's a blank. Now 2 things have happened. First of all, his odds have cut themselves down drastically after seeing that brick on the turn, and 2nd of all, you're now in the big bet stage. So now you can bet 20 at the 40 pot, and lay him 3 to 1, with 1 card to come to chase that flush draw, with him having already seen the blank turn card peel off. You'll find first of all you'll be able to protect your hands more here, and 2nd of all, you won't spill money to the table as they call your flop bets on the draw and spike the turn.
So, with that out of the way, the specific games I play are 5/10 and 10/20(mostly 10/20 now) limit, 6 handed games. That being key for the next part of the story.
I play completely maniacal at the table, raising any two suited cards, connected cards, or face cards or pairs, as long as I'm not UTG. I find this works for alot of ways, even if I run into a hand that 3 bets me, I'm being layed a strong price to call, and see a relatively cheap flop(rather than facing an all-in re-shove) and I can win some huge pots. Alot of my biggest pots are with hands that would turn a stomach, 10h/4h cracking KK, with a K on the flop and I make a flush on the turn, things like that. While it sounds like that's just me running exorberantly well, it's really not, I think I put myself in alot of positions to win pots, either stealing some money by stealing blinds(keep in mind stealing blinds at 10/20 limit is the same as stealing blinds at 5/10 NL, so it can be very equitable to steal blinds frequently), or by flopping large. It's kind of similar to Marc Karam's NL strategy for low-level NL cash game tables, but only slightly altered to a limit table. The other key to adopting a stratagy this intense is the last part of the lessons :
The absolute most important part to limit poker, SAVE, YOUR, BETS
This can absolutely not be stressed enough. You have KK at a 10/20 table, raise to 20 preflop, get re-raised to 30, cap it to 40 and the player calls. Pot is 80 dollars. Flop is Kh/6h/2s. He bets out 10, you raise 20, he calls. 120 in the pot. Turn is a 10c. He checks, you bet out 20, he calls. 160 in the pot. River is a 9h. He bets out 20. You're actually being layed 9 to 1 to call here. Unfortunately, 98% of the time he's just made his flush(yes there are the odd players that are crazy enough to bet there with the pot odds they leave behind, but you let them have it). The truth is the biggest key to limit poker is not saying "Fuck, I think I just got rivered...I call.". You know you're beat, wonderful, fold. The biggest thing about limit poker is one key statistic, which I track along with my other statistics on limit play for myself, and that's "Showdown's won". Mine over the course of this entire run I'm on, is 89%. I'd say that's fairly strong. That's why I win at limit poker. I don't waste money to see how bad the river card was to me. Limit will allow chasing, accept it and don't pay to see it, and you'll do fine.
So with that said, back to my day today, I won't list alot of examples of hands, mainly because I was multi-tabling so I can't really remember all that many quite frankly, but what I do remember is booking a $3600 dollar day today total. I bought into 4 tables of 10/20 at 500 a peice, and eventually had 5600 in play over the 4 tables, including one table over 2k. What I do remember is I fell in love with suited connectors again today, I made countless large pots with 5/6, 6/7, 4/5 suited, and one of the sickest pots I've ever played which I will take the time to write out.
I'm UTG with QQ, so I raise it up to 20, it's called by 2 players. 60 in the pot to the flop. The flop is Q/8/5 rainbow. I bet out 10(ya, I bet that, no use check raising here), it gets raised, and 3 bet, so I cap it to 4 bets, it's called and called. 180 in the pot and we see the turn. A. I bet out 20 praying that's a good card for me, it's raised to 40, 3 bet to 60. I cap it to 80, call, call. 420 in the pot now. River is a 2. I bet out again, raise, 3 bet, I 4 bet, call, call. 660 dollar pot. My QQ goes up as the winning hand, and I rake the pot, neither of the other players show(surprising as you'll see in a second). I go through hand history to see what they had. 88 and 55. All 3 of us flopped a set.
So, after the quality poker session and a stop in at the mechanic's for an oil change, I drive out to Oakville and meet up with a few friends to go see Toronto FC play the New York Red Bulls.
This was my first MLS game, and since I seem to now almost always include little life lessons, here's todays. Even you Ottawa kids on jackseven. Make a trip to see Toronto FC play. It's a blast. Amazing atmosphere, the crowds are so heavily into it, singing, dancing, it's one gigantic party, like Mardi Gras in a stadium. It was the most fun I've had at a sporting event, ever. And I regularily go to Habs games in Montreal, I've been to Leafs games, been to Sens games, been to an NFL football game(Cincinatti), been to countless MLB games, been to a Raptors game, and I saw the Blue Jays win the World Series(granted I was 10 at the time, but still). Nothing compared to the sheer enjoyment of the Toronto FC game. I highly recommend you go down and check it out. The stadium is gorgeous and it's one hell of a party.
Griffin and I are planning to go down to Turning Stone next weekend for the tournament series down there, if you're planning on being there, we'll see you there. Griffin'll probably be the one sitting at a final table, and I'll probably be the one that busts in 14 minutes and goes and wins it all back playing a ring game.
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