New Best Day of Poker Ever!

And I did it in about 30 minutes. I'm not kidding. I had a major case of the run-hots.

I took this picture after 30-some minutes of this session


Here is the month so far. I think it's safe to say I'm doing well. Too bad I haven't played much this month. I still haven't cleared my $200 "Biggest Bonus Ever" thing that Full Tilt handed out recently.


Here are the big hands from those first 30 minutes. Hand 1-4 are standard/coolers for my opponent, but 5-8 are seriously "WTF?" hands. LOL.

Hand 1

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 4 players -

SB: $214.15
Hero (BB): $283.40
CO: $201.25
BTN: $136.25

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with 5d Ad
2 folds, SB raises to $6, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($12.00) 8d 7d 3s (2 players)
SB bets $6, Hero raises to $20, SB calls $14

Turn: ($52.00) Qd (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $43, SB calls $43

River: ($138.00) 4s (2 players)
SB bets $145.15 all in, Hero calls $145.15

Final Pot: $428.30
SB shows 3d 4d (a flush, Queen high)
Hero shows 5d Ad (a flush, Ace high)
Hero wins $426.30
(Rake: $2.00)

*****************
Hand 2

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players -

BB: $92.60
UTG: $201.70
Hero (MP): $429.85
CO: $250.00
BTN: $139.00
SB: $205.25

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is MP with 8c 8s
UTG raises to $6, Hero calls $6, CO calls $6, 2 folds, BB calls $4

Flop: ($25.00) 8h 4c 6h (4 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $18, Hero calls $18, CO folds, BB folds

Turn: ($61.00) 2h (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $40, UTG calls $40

River: ($141.00) 4h (2 players)
UTG bets $137.70 all in, Hero calls $137.70

Final Pot: $416.40
UTG shows 6d 6s (a full house, Sixes full of Fours)
Hero shows 8c 8s (a full house, Eights full of Fours)
Hero wins $413.40
(Rake: $3.00)

*****************
Hand 3

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players -

BTN: $199.50
SB: $89.75
Hero (BB): $584.65
UTG: $200.00
MP: $229.50
CO: $212.75

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with Qh Qd
2 folds, CO raises to $7, 2 folds, Hero raises to $24, CO raises to $54, Hero raises to $584.65 all in, CO calls $158.75 all in

Flop: ($426.50) 8s 4c Tc

Turn: ($426.50) 7h

River: ($426.50) 4d

Final Pot: $426.50
Hero shows Qh Qd (two pair, Queens and Fours)
CO shows Ah Kc (a pair of Fours)
Hero wins $423.50
(Rake: $3.00)

*****************
Hand 4

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players -

UTG: $200.00
CO: $422.20
BTN: $398.30
SB: $400.00
Hero (BB): $208.25

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with Jh Th
2 folds, BTN raises to $6, 1 fold, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($13.00) 7h 8h Ah (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $9, Hero raises to $27, BTN requests TIME, BTN calls $18

Turn: ($67.00) Qd (2 players)
Hero bets $51, BTN requests TIME, BTN calls $51

River: ($169.00) 2s (2 players)
Hero bets $124.25 all in, BTN requests TIME, BTN calls $124.25

Final Pot: $417.50
BTN mucks 7d Ac
Hero shows Jh Th (a flush, Ace high)
Hero wins $414.50
(Rake: $3.00)

*****************
Hand 5

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players -

UTG: $59.60
CO: $200.00
Hero (BTN): $600.15
SB: $200.00
BB: $515.25

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BTN with Jh 8h
UTG calls $2, 1 fold, Hero calls $2, 1 fold, BB checks

Flop: ($7.00) Tc 7h 9s (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $4, Hero raises to $12, BB calls $12, UTG calls $8

Turn: ($43.00) 2h (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $40, BB calls $40, UTG folds

River: ($123.00) Ks (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $90, BB calls $90

Final Pot: $303.00
Hero shows Jh 8h (a straight, Jack high)
BB mucks Qc Ts
Hero wins $300.00
(Rake: $3.00)

*****************
Hand 6

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players -

BB: $120.50
UTG: $203.00
Hero (CO): $203.00
BTN: $248.70
SB: $199.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is CO with Td Th
1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15.00) Ts Qh 7d (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB calls $12

Turn: ($39.00) 4s (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $29, BB calls $29

River: ($97.00) 2c (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $75, BB calls $72.50 all in

Final Pot: $242.00
BB mucks 7c Ad
Hero shows Td Th (three of a kind, Tens)
Hero wins $239.00
(Rake: $3.00)

*****************
Hand 7

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players -

SB: $273.00
BB: $328.15
UTG: $397.00
CO: $432.35
Hero (BTN): $397.50

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BTN with Ah Jh
2 folds, Hero raises to $6, 1 fold, BB calls $4

Flop: ($13.00) 9d Th Qh (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $10, BB calls $10

Turn: ($33.00) 7h (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $28, BB calls $28

River: ($89.00) Qs (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $59, BB calls $59

Final Pot: $207.00
BB mucks Js Td
Hero shows Ah Jh (a flush, Ace high)
Hero wins $204.00
(Rake: $3.00)

*****************
Hand 8

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 3 players -

SB: $203.00
Hero (BB): $321.50
BTN: $198.00

Pre Flop: ($2.00) Hero is BB with Th 7h
Hero raises to $6, 1 fold, SB calls $4

Flop: ($12.00) Ah Ts Jh (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $8, SB calls $8

Turn: ($28.00) Td (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $20, SB calls $20

River: ($68.00) 4s (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $45, SB calls $45

Final Pot: $158.00
SB mucks Ac 6c
Hero shows Th 7h (three of a kind, Tens)
Hero wins $157.00
(Rake: $1.00)

*****************

And one more hand from earlier in the week. I hadn't played in about 5 days prior to this hand, it was hand #4 on the table. Thanks for your 200BB stack sir!

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players -

MP: $100.00
Hero (CO): $207.00
BTN: $223.35
SB: $75.85
BB: $385.10
UTG: $195.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with 7s 7d
2 folds, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, SB calls $2.50, BB raises to $14, Hero calls $11, SB calls $11

Flop: ($42.00) 7c 3s 8s (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $33.60, Hero raises to $70, SB folds, BB raises to $371.10 all in, Hero calls $123 all in

Turn: ($428.00) Qc (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($428.00) Ad (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $428.00
Hero shows 7s 7d (three of a kind, Sevens)
BB shows 2c Kd (Ace King high)
Hero wins $425.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Cheers!

Finally Some Live Poker!

Finally got some live poker action this weekend. OhCaptain and I headed down to a casino in Iowa to hit up the no limit tables. If you didn't know, Minnesota poker rooms can't spread no limit. Just limit, and I hate limit. We got down there about 5 PM and played for a good 5+ hours. There were no 2/5 tables going at all, just four 1/2 tables going. And unfortunately, both OhCaptain and I came back losers. He dropped about 20 or 30 bucks, and I ended at minus 60. At one point, I was probably down 150 or so, and actually climbed my way back toward even before dropping the last 60.

There weren't too many interesting hands that went down. The only interesting one is probably the one where I bluffed the best player at the table. I'll describe that one below. And to tell you the truth, I can't think of any non-limped hands where I even got to showdown. I played pretty loose, probably in the 40 VPIP/20 PFR range. I took down a lot of uncontested pots with cheap stabs. I think my biggest hands were both with KJ. One where I raised pre-flop after a bunch of limpers to $12 or so, got about 3 callers, and took down the pot with a continuation bet on a King high board. The 2nd was where I again raised PF and flopped top pair and got one caller of my flop bet, but he folded on the turn.

I flopped a lot of good draws ( about three or so flush draws + gutshots) but none of them came in. I hit an open ended straight draw once on the river, but the old guy folded to my bet. My biggest Pre-flop hands were QQ twice. The first was when I was in the SB. There were about 4 limpers, and I bumped it to $15 and got 2 or 3 callers. Flop was AKx, and one of the limpers led out so I quickly mucked the ladies.

The 2nd time was against the really good player(I think his name was Eric). UTG raised to $6, he flat calls from MP, and I look down at QQ and 3-bet it to $26. Original guy folds, and Eric goes all in (He had me covered, and I probably had $270 or so in front of me). I showed my QQ to OhCaptain and mucked em. Since OhCaptain and I had been having a good time and being very friendly/talkative and telling lots of poker stories with him, he showed us his AA. Expert laydown by the pokerfool.

On to the hand where I bluffed the good player. So prior to that hand, and actually just a few hands after I sat down at OhCaptain's table (we started off at separate tables), I raised to $10 with AK offsuit. Only caller was Eric from the button. Flop was terrible: JT4 all spades. I didn't have a spade. Since I had recognized him from the other times I've been to Iowa, I knew he was a good aggressive player. I knew that a c-bet here would get a fold about 0% of the time. So I checked with the intention to flat call with my gutshot and two overs and go with the plan of stealing the pot away on a lot of turn cards. he bet $17 into the $23 pot and I called. The turn was another ten, making the board read JsTs4sTc. I checked, and he bet only $20 into the $57 pot. I decided that the ten was a good card for me, so I raised to $60. He thought for a long time and folded. I actually don't think he had much of a hand. Maybe a Jack at best.

I would never make this play against someone who isn't a good player. My read was that he was good enough to lay down in this spot. I mean, you don't see many bluffs in live poker, especially on the turn. If you listen to Bart Hansen's podcast at DeucesCrakced, you know that he constantly says that "check-raises on the turn always are a monster".

So that was the highlight of my poker trip. Not too many soft spots at the 1/2 game in northern Iowa. I have a friend who goes down there more frequently that I, and he said that lately it is just a bunch of the same people playing there. And I believe him. Other than the old nits that are always there, there was only one really really bad player that I saw all night, and he was only there for an hour.

It was tons of fun though. OhCaptain and I had a good time, and the table was very talkative and easy going. Too bad I never win when I go play live poker, ha!

******************************

Online has been going so-so. I was down about $900 or so for the month, but the last 2 days (and 700 hands) I'm up over $1200, so I am back in the black for the month. I'll post some interesting hands maybe tomorrow (That's right folks! Maybe two posts in one week!)

Here is a graph of the month so far.



*****************************

Other than that, things are going well. i picked up a couple games for the Wii, so I've playing that more. I got the new Tiger Woods golf game and Guitar hero World Tour. The kids are enjoying banging on the drums, that is for sure. The wife and I have also been watching seasons 1 and 2 of Mad Men. We both are really enjoying it. I highly recommend it to you folks out there.

And this week is county fair week. I entered in about 10 or so vegatable categories this year. Way down from last year, but that is because the fair is little early this year, so I don't have tomatoes and peppers ready yet. But I do have to say, my onions and potatoes are doing awesome this year. We'll go to the fair tonight to see how many ribbons I won.

Cheers!

Finally!

It's been a while since I last posted. You can probably guess why. Yep, I was still stuck in a downswing. Welp, I finally broke out of it. Weeks and weeks of constant coolers and suckouts and moving down to 100NL are finally over (I hope).

And when I'm in a downswing, I have no desire to blog about poker. But a couple things have happened that make me feel a lot better about my poker play. The first thing may seem like another bad beat, but it turned out good in the end. Last weekend, we had a bunch of people at our house for my daughter's baptism. When people come over, I lock the screen on my computer so that no kids can mess with my PC. But this time I turned off my monitor. When the party was over, the monitor never turned back on. Apparently the backlight went kaput.

Thankfully it is a Samsung monitor, and they have awesome customer service and a nice warranty. I called them up, and they said they would be sending me a new monitor in 7 to 14 business days. Cool! Well, I couldn't go that long without playing poker, so I went to the store and got a new monitor to "try out" while I waited for the new one to arrive in the mail. I ended up getting another Samsung, this time a 24" that can do 1920x1200 resolution. It's really nice.

Just a few days later, the new monitor came in the mail, so I decided to hook up this one too, and try out dual monitors for a while. Well, let me tell you, I can't believe I went this long without 2 monitors before. I usually play 6 tables at a time, and I would have to shrink down the table size and have some overlap. Now with the 2 monitors (one at 1920x1200, and the other at 1600x1200), I can have 8 full size tables with zero overlap. Plus, the action is so much easier to follow. I think I'm gonna keep the new monitor, heh.

As you can see from the June graph below, the results show that 2 monitors is what I need ( at around hand 4500).

The 2nd thing that I think I've done the last week or so, is that I've got a little bit better handle on my tilt. But maybe that has to do with me winning right now, and not seeing constant suckouts the last couple days. Who knows, lol.

*******************************

A big congrats to jjok for taking down the BBT4 Tournament of Champions. That's pretty awesome, and I can't think of a better person that I could have passed on the BBT crown to. Good job dude!

Cheers!

Swing Set!

Here's a quick picture of the swing set that built while out for paternity leave (Paid for by poker! Thanks Poker!)

The kids love it, especially the tire swing down below.

*************************

More running bad in poker. I played a 45 minute session this morning while up with Claranna. I think I played really well, and I could only spot where I made a mistake (which cost me about $30).

But I still lost for the session. Got it in with QQ vs KK all-in PF against a LAG (why do the lags always have it against me?). Then I lost another stack in the following hand:

I'm in the SB with JdTd. It folds to the LAG on the button who bets. I 3-bet (I usually never fold in this spot with JTs. I vary between calling and 3-betting). He calls. Flop is all 9d, 8d, 3d. Bingo Bango Bongo! Flop a flush with a Straight flush draw in a 3-bet pot! Woot!

I bet, he raises, we get it in........ He flips up Ad4d. Yep, he called a 3-bet with A4s, which happened to be the same suit as me, and we both flopped flushes in a 3-bet pot.

You can't run much worse than this folks.

I'm Back with a new addition!

It's been a while since I last posted. But I have an excuse. Eleven days ago we celebrated the birth of Child #3, Claranna Rose on April 26th. Things have been going very well. Here are a couple pics.

Here is a picture of Claranna sucking on her fingers. Isabella did this too (And my mother-in-law says my wife did it too as a newborn). Pretty amazing, huh?

My paternity leave lasted only five days, so I got back to work this Tuesday. I really wish it was longer, because we've been super busy. I even found time while on leave to build a swing set for the kids. I spent all day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday building this thing. I'll have to put up a picture of it, because I'm pretty proud of the fact that I got it done in that amount of time (It was a Rainbow Play systems Kit).

***************************

As far as poker goes, I obviously haven't been playing much lately. I'm actually sick of poker right now. I've been running so unbelievably bad the last month plus, that I find myself getting pissed off and shutting down the poker client a lot faster. My Won money at showdown percentage for the last month plus is only at 40%. 40% is absolutely pathetic. Normal is about 50%. I'm running into the top of everyones range constantly.

I haven't played in any BBT4 events since a mookie a few weeks ago when I had a huge chip stack and gave most of it away when my flush was no match for Dr Pauly's flopped quads. I run goot. Not sure how many more BBT4 events I'll be able to play. I was hoping to defend my BBT title, but it looks like neither I or Loretta8 will be in the tournament of champions.

Cheers!

It's Mookie Night!

Greetings faithful blog followers. How are things? Things are great in the land of the PokerFool. Spring has sprung, and it has been beautiful here in Minnesota lately. 65 degrees, no wind, and not a cloud in the sky today. Tomorrow will be just the same, and I plan on taking the afternoon off and take the kids to the park. It is my daughter 6th birthday, and it looks like we will be rewarded again with another nice day.

We're also getting ready for child #3 to make it's arrival. It should happen any day now. The wife is ready, so I am planning on playing a bunch of poker tournaments tonight. I figured that it is certain to happen tonight if I make it deep in a couple tournaments. So if you see me with the chip lead in the Mookie, and then all of sudden I'm afk and I get blinded out, you'll know where I will be.

Not too much else is happening on the poker front. I'm still stuck in break even mode in the cash games. The games have been really good lately too. Especially in the mornings. I had a couple tables each of the past two morning where everyone at my table was a donk (not including myself, smartass!)

I did import all of my hands from the last 8.5 months (the amount of time I've had Hold 'em Manager), and I am running at 4.2 ptBB/100 at 200NL and 7 ptBB/100 at 100NL. Not too shaby, if you ask me.

See you at the tables! Cheers!

March Results

Whoa! Two posts in one week! What's going on?

First I want to give a big congrats to jjok for taking down the Mookie on Wednesday night. If you read my last post, I told JJ I would win Riverchasers Monday night and dedicate the win to him. I ended up going out in 3rd, so he had to go show me how it's done in the Mookie. Now that is how you do it! Impressive!

So the last couple of days of March couldn't have gone any better. I was wallowing away in break even land, and then BOOM, I go on a heater. Tuesday night I sat down and played for a little over an hour and won $900 to bring my total for the month to just over $1,500. Check out this awesome graph:


I even ran above EV for once. My biggest suckout was the following hand. This guy was a LAG who's 3-bet percentage was around 9-10%. That is really high, so I decided to 4-bet. My call is definitely marginal, but I'm not gonna 4-bet/fold AQ.

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players

stormjr23 (MP): $246.70
sabxxx (CO): $200.00
kwantum (BTN): $400.00
mayor_bee (SB): $205.75
Kamdini (BB): $406.35
Hero (UTG): $230.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with Ad Qs

Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, kwantum raises to $24, 2 folds, Hero raises to $52, kwantum requests TIME, kwantum raises to $400 all in, Hero calls $178 all in

Flop: ($463.00) 9d Tc Jc

Turn: ($463.00) 6h

River: ($463.00) Ks

Final Pot: $463.00

kwantum shows Qc Qh (a straight, King high)
Hero shows Ad Qs (a straight, Ace high)
Hero wins $460.00

The other big pots were standard spots. AA beats AK all-in PF. I flop a set of twos and win a stack versus someone who turned two pair. And then this hand, where I take an unconventional line. Villain is pretty aggressive, but had a high fold to 3-bet percentage. So I didn't want to blow him off of a worst hand. I usually don't donk bet, but this time it worked out perfectly.

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players

tuckandroll2 (CO): $96.65
union164 (BTN): $89.95
PBlad (SB): $51.80
Hero (BB): $200.00
hugo69003 (UTG): $266.60
TsirhCitna (MP): $249.35

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with Qh Qd
1 fold, TsirhCitna raises to $7, 3 folds, Hero calls $5

Flop: ($15.00) 6h 3s Qs (2 players)
Hero bets $12, TsirhCitna calls $12

Turn: ($39.00) 9d (2 players)
Hero bets $32, TsirhCitna requests TIME, TsirhCitna raises to $230.35 all in, Hero calls $149 all in

River: ($401.00) 5c (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $401.00

Hero shows Qh Qd (three of a kind, Queens)
TsirhCitna shows Ks Js (King Queen high)

Hero wins $398.00

************************************

Here's a random observation for you. I only have to drive 5 minutes to get to and from work. On my way, I pass by a small, little, fenced in dog park. It's basically just a triangular field with a fence around it, 1 or 2 trees, and a garbage can. There are always tons of people there. And it is safe to say that there are more people here playing with their dogs, than there are with their children at all of the parks around here combined. How sad is that?

During my lunch break today, we brought the kids to a park to play. No one else was there. On my way back to work, the dog park had 10+ people there.

WTF?

Close, But No Cigar

Again, sorry for the lack of posts here. I say that every post now, don't I?

Well I think I finally broke out of that damn break even stretch. I was finally able to get the month of March into the black on Sunday night by winning a couple buy-ins. About freaking time, if you ask me. I was starting to get a little sick of running into the top of everyone's range. During a quick 400 hand session on Sunday, I ran KK in AA, QQ into AA, KK into AK (Ace on flop), and AK into KK (No Ace on flop for me). WTF?

I played in the Riverchasers MTT last night and it was fun. I was the chip leader (or 2nd place) pretty much from start to finish, but busted in 3rd. I really wanted to win because earlier in the night, I told jjok that I would win and that I'd dedicate my win to him, lol. I think I played pretty good, if not a little aggressive. I played just this one table on my wife's laptop as I taught her some Geometry (she is tutoring a High School Student), and then we watched House. So I didn't have any other cash games or MTTs going to distract me.

If you are bored enough, I listed all of my hands that I got dealt at the final table and my action. Since we end up playing these BBT tournaments against a lot of the same people, I thought I would give my reads on some of the players here at the Final Table. Buddy was playing unusually tight tonight. I consider him one of the more aggressive PF players with a fair amount of 3-betting PF. ChampSampson is the crazy LAG at the table. It definitely helps to have position on him. He 3-bets and pushes a ton. He also min-raises a lot, but I didn't see too much of that tonight. Astin is the one that resembles my game the most out of these players. Fairly TAGish, but steals a lot in position. He folded to a lot of 3-bets though. (Champ had position on him). heffmike is a very solid MTT opponent, and probably one of the better blogger poker players (probably cause he never folds). I kind of consider him a calling station, and he defends his blinds like they are his children or something. Ha! The last person I can formulate a read on is 1Queens Up1. Or as I call him, Tighty McTighterson. He very very rarely attempted to steal blinds, even when it folded to him on the button.

Anyways, here are the chip stacks at the beginning of the FT. Follow is a listing of all of my 100 hands from the Final table. "ST" means I successfully stole the blinds. Enjoy!

Seat 1: BuddyDank (20,362)
Seat 2: OMGitsPokerFool (31,277)
Seat 3: Joanne1111 (28,775)
Seat 4: heffmike (24,294)
Seat 5: Schaubs (7,229)
Seat 6: scottc25 (16,605)
Seat 7: Astin (24,308)
Seat 8: 1Queens Up1 (12,548)
Seat 9: ChampSampson (17,602)

[9h 5h]
[2d 8s]
[9h Th] ST
[Qh 3d]
[9h 8c]
[Jh Jd] ST
[6c 3s]
[Kd Ts]
[4c 9s]
8 Left - 2nd in chips
[2s 7h]
[Kh 2d]
[Ts 9s] Schaubs pushes SS with K6s. I win on [9d 6s Jd 9h As] board
7 left - T-1st in chips
[6d Ks]
[5d 6s]
6 left - T-2nd in chips
[9h 4s]
[Qh 3s]
[Ac 3h]
[6s 8h]
[Th Qd] raise from CO. Astin in BB calls. Flop is [4h Qh Qc]. I c-bet 1/2 pot and he folds. I show.
[2s Kd]
[Js 3s]
[Kc 3s] SB calls, I check in BB. Flop of [7c Kh 4s], it goes chk-chk. Turn Ace, I bet, Champ chk/folds.
[8c 7c]
[4s Qh] ST from BTN
[6s Kd] ST from CO - Now Chip Leader
[5s 2s]
[3h 8c]
[5d 3d]
[Jd 4s]
[7c 9s] ST from BTN
[Kc 5c]
[4s 7d]
[Ad 4s]
[9h 4s] in BB. SB completes. Flop [Ac 7c Qc] and I fold to a bet from SB
[Kd 3c]
[2d Kd]
[Ts Ah] ChampSampson opens for 4444 (800/1600 blinds). I 3-bet to 13000 from the CO and he folds.
[Ks Qs] I open to 4000 from MP. HeffMike pops it to 15000 from BTN. I fold. I Still have Chip Lead
[2s Ks]
[7s Js] SB completes I check. It checks to river and I fold to bet. Board is [6c 6h 3c Kc Qh]
[9d Td]
[5c 9h] raise from BTN. HeffMike calls. Flop is [7s 2s Td] and heffmike donk bets and I fold.
[Ts 7c] ST from CO
[3h 7d]
[Kd 2d]
[5h 4s]
[Qh Qs] in SB. Astin opens for 4800 (800/1600 blinds) with 23.5k in his stack. I push and he folds.
[Jd 4c]
[4c Ac] ST from CO
[8d Qs]
[2c Qc]
[3c 5c] folded to SB AGAIN and he completes. I check. Flop is [5h 2c 7c]. Champ chk/folds to my bet.
[Ts Kc] ST from SB
[9d 9s] Raise from BTN to 5000 (1000/2000 blinds). heffmike defends. Flop = [Ac 8s Th] it goes chk-chk. Turn [Tc]. chk-chk River is [7s]. heffmike leads out 2/3 pot and I call. He shows [2c 5d]!
[Qh Tc]
[Kc 7d]
[Kc 3d]
5 left - I'm Chip Leader with 75k. Mike has 66k. Next closest is 15k.
[5s 2d]
[6c Ac] in SB, and I fold to Queens Up push. Probably good against Tighty McTighterson.
[Ks 8c] ST from BTN
[2h Qs]
4 left - OMGitsPokerFool (75,575) Joanne1111 (11,150) heffmike (77,929) 1Queens Up1 (18,346)
[6h Qh]
3 left - OMGitsPokerFool (75,325) Joanne1111 (10,900) heffmike (96,775)
[3s 4d]
[2h 5s]
[9s 5d] ST from BTN. heffmike calls. Flop = [3s Ts 8d] I c-bet, mike calls. We check down the rest of way Turn = [2h], River [8c]. I shoulda bet river, as he shows [9d Jh] and wins with Jack high
[3h Ad] in BB. Fold to Joanne's push. Meh.
[Ah As] in SB. heffmike raises from BTN. I call. Flop = [Tc 3d 8d]. I chk, he bets 8775 (3/5 pot) and I raise small to 19000. he calls. Turn is [2s]. Pot has 52k in it. I push for 33k and he folds. Arg. I should of done the ole Root Beer Float play.
[3c 2c]
[Qs 5c]
[Jc 3s]
[Kh 4s] ST from BTN. mike calls. i check flop and turn, and fold to his river bet. Board was [8s 9s Qc Ac 7s]
[2h 9d]
[2s 4s]
[2d Qh] ST from BTN. Joanne pushes and I fold.
[Kd Jh] in BB. mike compeltes SB, and I raise. Flop is [2d 4h 9d], it goes chk-chk. Turn is [7s], he chks, I bet and he folds. Whoa.
[Kc Kd] ST from SB
[Qd 4d]
[8c 2s]
[5h 2s]
[8h Td] ST from BTN. mike calls (duh). Flop is [6h Qc 8d] it goes chk-chk. Turn is [Tc]. Mike leads, I raise 2.5 his bet and he folds.
[Ac 9c] in BB. mike completes in SB. I raise and he folds.
[Ad Td] ST from SB
[Tc Js]
[Tc Ts] in BB. mike opens from SB, I push, and he folds.
[Qd Tc] ST from SB
[2c 3d]
[5c Qc] folds to me in BB
[9d Kh] ST from SB, Joanne calls. Flop = [5c Jh 5s]. I c-bet, she calls. Turn is [4d] and I chk-fold to her pot size push.
[3h 5c]
[Ks 5c]
[4d 3s]
[3s 9s]
[2c 4d]
[Qs Ts] ST from SB
[Kc 2s] ST from BTN
[9h Ad] mike and I get it in PF. he has [Ac Ts] and I dbl him up. 3-way tie now.
[8c 5s]
[4d Kc] ST from BTN, Joanne pushes and I fold
[7h Ah] in BB. mike completes, I raise and he folds.
[8c 6s]
[6c Ad] ST from BTN. Joanne pushes, and I call. I lose to her [8d 8c]. Doh!

There you go. I thought I played pretty good poker. That call on the end was probably bad. I got dealt way too many deuces (21 of 100 hands at the FT) Yuck! But I did get each of the Premium Pocket Pairs once each. No AK-AJ though. Bleh.

Cheers!

Bah!

It's funny how easy it is to get burnt out on poker and blogging about poker. The last couple months, poker and blogging can best be described like this: I get excited to play or look forward to writing about an interesting hand, thus I plan out when and what I am going to do. I'll surf at twoplustwo, or copy some hand histories down that I know would be interesting to talk about. But then when it actually comes time to play, or in the case of blogging time to write, and then my interest is gone. That pretty much sums it up. Right now, I am looking forward to maybe playing some cash games for a little while tonight. But I know that once I have time, I'm not going to want to anymore. Bah!

My ADD is getting the best of me. On Tuesday night, I decided to play before bed, and I found some really good tables and made a decent amount of money. Since I was only playing cash games, I knew I could quit at any time. But last night, I played some tournaments, and about two hours in, I was bored. I wanted to quit. But I was still in the middle of two tournaments (The Mookie and the 50/50). So what did I do? I sat out and played some Call of Duty for a little while. Then I came back and donked out of both relatively quickly. I didn't want to play anymore, so I basically played like an idiot (4-bet showing with 96s in the Mookie).

Maybe it has to do with me running like crap again. January was breakeven. February was good, but ended like crap and I didn't play much. And March is back to breakeven. Right now, there is no way that 2009 comes even close to my 2008 in terms of $ won. I don't know, maybe things will turn around, but the games have gotten a lot harder in the last couple months, IMO.

*************************

It's pretty rare for me to discover some new music from someone I have never heard of before and totally love it. Most recently it was Kings of Leon, and prior to that, maybe the band Red. But the wife and I were watching Saturday Night Live this past weekend, and we were both really digging the musical guest that night, Ray Lamontagne. Obviously he isn't an unknown, since he is on SNL. But neither of us had heard of him. Check out his performance from SNL this past weekend.




I went out and got his album the next day, and it is pretty good. Nice jazzy, bluesy, relaxing music.

Cheers!

Downswing!

February had been going pretty good so far. I haven't played too much, but I am up a decent amount, which is really nice. But I sat down on Tuesday morning and played about 100 hands, and had 3 flopped sets against me in those 100 hands. And then I said to myself, "Uh oh, here comes the downswing". I sure enough, it's here. Last night I was over $400 below EV in my all-in pots. It's bound to happen. I think I'll play more Call of Duty 5 instead of poker this month.

Here are my biggest pots since the last time I posted, with the winners listed first.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3912972
This guy was playing like a maniac. He had normal stats, but was 3-betting, and calling 3-bets like crazy. Maybe he was on tilt? I'm still not sure how I feel about my turn and river check. I was basically thinking, "TPTK in a 3-bet pot. I'm not folding". The two on the river is such a total blank, I decided to check call again.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3912986
Haha, this hand was great. This guy is one of the worst regs on Full Tilt. He was super agro, and tilted easily. And what do you do to someone who tilts easily? You min-raise. Hook, Line, Sinker.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913005
Ok, so I was little bit on tilt from a different hand, and I decided that I was going to raise the flop if the board wasn't too scary, and I was going to push turn if he called. And then he decided to call my bluff, but I'm ahead anyways! Put me on AK I guess.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913017
Standard AA vs AK hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913019
Flop a set, and dude overbets all-in. Standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913032
Idiot pretty much min-3-bets PF. I flop top pair and a gutshot and make a loose call of his flop bet. Turn card fills my straight.

******************************

And here are my biggest losing hands. And the themes for these hands are "playing out of position sucks", and "when you get raised on the river, you're usually beat". Oops.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913042
Bah. Damn river. I was drawing dead after the turn, but the river gave me top two. I thought that a smaller two pair hand was in his range (like AJ, A9, etc...). This guy was a 35/15 idiot, but he pretty much played this hand perfectly against me. Playing out of position sucks!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913059
This was against a 80/10 drooler. I didn't really think the backdoor flush was in his range, but who knows what goes on in the mind of the fish.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913098
Hmm, I'm not sure how I feel about this hand. This was against a pretty good regular who I thought might fire off three barrels with a worse hand. As I was clicking call, I said to myself, "He probably has AQ".

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913104
Donk calls my squeeze and sucks out on river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913124
Another high variance play. I call with AJs in position when I get 3-bet. I flop TPTK. I decide to play it passive, because I feel I am either way ahead or way behind. Too bad the river make a couple hands I am ahead of, now beat me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913136
I almost folded on the turn, because the guy was a nit (like 17/14). but when the second 5 came on the turn, I figured he has 22 or I am way ahead. He had 22.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913146
This was against a regular and his play is beyond terrible, lol. But he gets rewarded, so whatever. This capped off my night last night. I purposely busted out of the 50/50 short of the money last night after this hand cause I was sick of playing poker.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3913160
Flopped straights never win.

I also played a few tournament last night, and I only cashed in one, which was a $36 180 person turbo SNG at Stars where I made the final table and made $100 or so. I got knocked out of the mookie with QQ against a flopped flush. He had JTs, flop was Axx all clubs. I had the Q of clubs. They turn was a Queen, and we got it all-in. I missed my 17 outs, and was out. I plan on winning the Mookie next week though with the start of BBT4.

Cheers!