Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Up! Down! Up! Down!

Ug, check out the graph from this weekend (Friday through Tuesday Morning).



Up! Down! Up! Down! I can actually hear Mr. Miyagi yelling that in my head when I look at that graph.

I don't think I actually played all that well. I went too far with a few hands and lost my whole stack on hands where I shouldn't have been playing in the first place. I was running at 21/16 for VP$IP and PFR%, and I think that is a little too loose. I need to tighten up and get back to 17/14 or so.

Aces were a really good hand for me this weekend. I won a quite a few stacks with them, and they held up for the most part. I even had a hand with Aces vs Kings vs Jacks all-in PF and my Aces were good! Amazing! Another fun one was me getting re-raised with Aces, and the flop coming AKQ. We eventually get it all in and he has AK.

Kings and Queens on the other hand haven't been treating me as nice. I've been up against either Aces or Kings (when I've had Queens) more times than I would like.

I did play in a couple tournaments last night, but didn't make anything in that. I made the final table at Hoyazo's weekly tournament, but I was the short stack when the Final Table started and I went out in 9th (Top 6 paid out).

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I was finally able to locate a Nintendo Wii over the weekend. It is a lot of fun. My wife even said that some of the Wii Sports games are pretty cool. I particularly like the Bowling and the Boxing. I plan on getting a couple more games with some Amazon Gift Certificates I've gotten from PokerSavvy and PSO (Links to the right), so I'll have to let you know how those go.

Cheers!

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

Back On The Good Side Of Varience

Since my last post, I've been running really good. I've put it just over 1700 hands, and have made $636! That is 18 PTBB/100. Not bad! The highlight was this mornings sessions, where I won almost $400.



I haven't been getting all that great of starting hands during this run, but the cards are falling my way. I've only had four sets, and one of them was a loss (I'll post that hand down below). I haven't been getting too many big pairs, and I haven't won any big pots from AA or KK in this run. I did run Pocket Kings into a very aggressive players Aces though. And I have won a few suckouts during this stretch too. Finally, right?!?!

Here are some of the big hands:

This was later on in the day on Monday after I made my whining post. I finally got paid off on a set! Though I am really surprised he paid me off. I think I could have easily gotten away from AK on that board. I probably should have flat called somewhere in there.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015006

What does this guy think I have? AK? What is he doing with 3's? Thanks for the donation

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015011

Not sure what to say about this hand. He was playing really tight, like 14/11. Nice flop for his crappy hand, and he hits on the turn. Oh well

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015024

Here is the KK vs AA hand. Villain was running really loose and aggressive. Like 35/24 or something like that.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015036

One of my sets. I think I got the most I could have out of this hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015039

One of my suckouts. I played this one pretty bad, but I thought I had some good fold equity. My re-re-raise is probably ok, but my call of his push is bad.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015042

A fun little blind on blind hand with a very scary flop. When the Turn came another King, I went for the check-raise. I figured he either had nothing and could induce a bluff, or I could push him off a hand like AQ or AJ. I knew that the only way someone calls that bet is if they themselves have a king.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015050

Normally I fold a weak hand like 86o to a re-raise. But he raised so small, I had to call. And then when he checked the flop, I knew I could take a free card and hopefully improve my hand. Just an overall terrible hand for my opponent.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015067

Bluff some more dude! This hand was great. TP 3rd kicker and a flush draw. I purposely checked the turn because I thought the Jack didn't help their hand. And aggressive players will always bet if they are checked to on the turn if you are the PF raiser and throw out a continuation bet. I checked the river when my card hit because I was fairly certain villain would bet and was planning to check-raise. I didn't expect the shove, so I happily called with my flush. This hand played out perfectly.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015069

And finally, another suckout for me. I had tangled with this guy before, and thought he was making a play on me. I figured I was ahead of his range. Unfortunately, K7 wasn't what I thought he had. But I hit my Ace on the River and took home the nice pot. Thanks for calling my PF raise with K7!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1015091

There you have it. I'm having my best month in a long long time *knocks on wood*

Cheers!

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Monday, April 16, 2007

Still In A Rut

Warning: Whining ahead!

Played about 1500 hands from Friday through this morning. Up only one buy in though.



I just can't catch a break. Here are some numbers for you.

  • 1500 hands
  • Ran at 21% VP$IP and 16% Pre-Flop Raise percentage
  • Only won 44% of my hands that went to showdown
  • Only won one hand that was a full buy-in (Lost two)
  • Only won one hand that was between 3/4 a stack and a full stack (Lost two)
  • Had 91 Pocket Pairs, 59 saw a flop, and only flopped two sets
  • Surprisingly, I was dealt pocket Aces 15 times!
  • Not Surprisingly, I only won about $15 off those hands, Just $1 per hand. WTF?
It was quite amazing. People were flopping sets and flopping flushes against me left and right. And the river has been brutal still too. One particular hand I raise PF with Queens. Donk min re-raises. I 4 bet it and he calls. Flop is JT4 rainbow. I lead full pot, and he pushes the rest of his small stack in. He has...... Pocket 9's. Wow, what did he think I had? He must have put me squarely on AK. Of course he gets rewarded on the river with a 9. Nice Hand Sir!

My two sets only netted me $11.35. Called a raise from the blinds with Pocket 5's and the flop was K52 rainbow. I check, and he doesn't cont bet. I lead the blank turn and he folds. 2nd one I re-raise with KK Pre-Flop and get called. Flop is KQJ. I lead 2/3 pot and he folds. Yipee.

After complaining in my last post about not getting Aces often, I finally was dealt them at better than twice the normal rate. How did those 15 hands go?

2 times I got walks in the BB, so I won a whopping $0.50 each time.

There was a raise in front of me 4 of those times. I re-raised 3 times, and they folded each time. The 4th, I flat called from the BB. Flop was 866 rainbow. I check intending to check-raise, and he checks behind. Turn is a 5, and I lead and he calls. I call a small river bet, and he has 55.

9 times I was the first to raise PF. 5 of those times everyone folded. The other 4:
  1. Short Stack Donk calls raise. We get it all-in on the J84 flop. He has J5 and I win
  2. Get one caller and he folds to my flop bet
  3. Get one caller, he leads flop, I raise and he folds
  4. Brand new player posts blinds in the CO. I raise from the blinds and he calls. He flops a flush with his JTs. He min-raised on Flop, I call small turn bet after blank turn, and then he checks behind on the river after a blank river. huh?
So out of 15 times being dealt Aces, I only win one where I make $25 or more. I get to showdown in only three of those, and win only one. That is just pathetic.

Hopefully things will turn around soon.

Cheers!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Uggg, I'm Being Rivered To Death

I've been able to get in a good amount of hands the last 2 days (for me anyhow). I stepped up to 5 and 6 tabling the 100NL 6 max games. Since I last posted, I've put in almost 1300 hands (running at 7.31 PTBB/100). Not bad, when for the last couple months, I've only been getting 8000 or so hands a month.



This graph should be a lot prettier, but I'm getting rivered to death. This morning I lost 3 big pots, and all of them gave my opponent their 2-5 outer on the river:
  • TPTK up against bottom pair 3rd kicker. He hits his 5 outer on the river.
  • Top pair 2nd kicker (KQ) vs a donk who has K3. 3 on the river.
  • And the worst one, AA vs QQ. We get it all-in on the turn with all unders on the board. Queen on the River.
Instead of being up only $22 up from this morning, I should be up $322. I guess I shouldn't complain too much. It's just the ass end of variance getting me now. I'm still booking a small profit, and if you're still making money while variance is kicking your butt, you gotta be happy.

I've also flopped my fair share of sets, but I haven't been paid off on one yet. Not one of those hands has made it past the turn. WTF?

Not too many interesting hands to talk about. Just those bad beats. I guess I can talk about a couple of my sets from the last few days. I'm not sure if I played them correctly or not.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?992182

Just call his flop bet? I suppose the only way I am getting any more money from him is if he has an Ace, regardless of if I call or raise here. No ace from him, means no more money for me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?992184

Obviously this guy was a fish, but do you check behind on the river, or fire another bet when the flush card hits? Does betting here get a worse hand (a hand with no flush) to call?

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I watched Lost last night. Finally a great episode!! Questions were finally answered. If you watch Lost, and haven't seen this episode yet, go and watch soon. It was very good. Finally!

Cheers!

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Winning at 100NL

Had a really good session this morning. 310 hands and almost +$250. It could have been a lot higher, but there were two hands that I thought I was ahead on, but didn't turn out the right way. I'll get to those in a second. Here are my PT numbers from this morning. I had between 4 and 5 tables going between Full Tilt and Prima.



Notice how tight I played. 14/11 is really tight, and I still get action. That there is proof that most players at 100NL just play their own cards, and don't even try to get reads on people. Heck, when I play, I try and avoid the tight 14/11 folks who are winners. I got Aces three times this morning, and got action every single time winning 25+ BBs each time.

Here are the interesting hands:

This one I kind of made a marginal call, but I went with my read, and I was right. This guy was really loose aggressive. He was running at 34/10, and his Turn and River aggression factor were over 8.0. I get dealt pocket Aces [Ad] [Ac] in the SB. Villain is UTG and limps, and I raise it to pot. Only villain calls. Flop is [Td] [8s] [7s], a very draw heavy flop. I put out a continuation bet and he calls. Turn is [3s] completing flush draw. I check and he puts out a half pot size bet. This bet seems fishy to me, so I decide to call. The river is a blank and I check. He then bets a pot-sized bet. I don't think he has the flush, so I call. He has [Qs] [Jc]. Not sure what he was doing calling the Flop bet *shrug*

Same table, a couple hands later. I'm in the CO with [Ad] [Jh] and it folds to me, so I put out a standard $3.5 bet. The button and the BB call. Flop is [9d] [Ts] [Qd]. BB checks, and I put out a $7 cont bet. The button thinks for a while, and raises it to $26. My call here is pretty marginal I think. I have an open ended straight draw, with 4 of those outs to the nuts, plus a backdoor flush draw, and one over. I could easily be up against a made hand, a draw or a bluff here I think. Villain was running at 25/17 and pretty aggressive. The turn is my gin card, the [Ks], giving me the nut straight. I check, villain bets $40 and I push all-in and he calls. The river is a blank, and I win against his KJo and his flopped straight. Looks like I was more behind than I thought with only a win percent of 16% after the flop. Sure it was a suckout by me, and everyone in the chat made sure to let me know that. But I just thanked him for calling my PF with KJo.

I also experimented with the delayed continuation bet this morning. This is where you check on the flop with a made hand, and let the other person either catch up, or think he can take the pot from me, and then bet the turn (or flop if they have position). I've read a few posts over at bet-the-pot.com and twoplustwo where people have made the comment "You're betting too often on the flop and letting weak or dominated hands easily get away". I think this play needs the right circumstances to work. You need to have a good hand (at least TPTK) on a non-draw heavy board, and up against someone you think will try and steal pots from you. There are people like this all over at Prima. If you check after you have bet PF, there is an 80% chance that person will bet on the turn.

First one was with me having AJ in the BB. Its folded to the SB, who completes, and I raise it up. Flop is AJ7 rainbow. A great flop for me. He checks, and I check behind. What am I afraid of? Pocket 7's is the only logical hand that he can have that beats me. And if he has that, so be it. I'll check behind, and let him think his hand is good. Turn is Kd, putting two diamonds. I think that is a good turn card for me. I think he would have raised AK Pre-flop, so I don't worry about that. This time, he leads out for half pot bet. I raise, and he calls. The river is a blank, the 4s. He leads out again, but this time for really small (only 1/4 pot). I raise here and he calls and I win a nice $91 pot. Prima doesn't show mucked hands, so I don't know what he had.

I also got to do this over at Full Tilt against a fish. This guy was running at 63/8. He would call almost all Pre-flop bets. He had against me a few times, and always folded after the flop. So when he called my PF hand again, I decided to not bet the flop if I hit something. I get AK UTG, and raise it up. Mr. fish obviously calls on the button and we are heads up. Flop is AJ4 rainbow. I check, and he checks behind. I think my check here makes him think I do not have an Ace. The turn is a blank, and this time I lead out for a continuation size bet, and he calls. River is another blank, and I fire out another value bet, and he calls with QJ and I win a nice $50 bet.

Here are the two big losers. This first one is over at Prima. I'm in Middle position, and get pocket Jacks. I raise it up standard to 4x BB, and only the BB calls. He is running at about 22/14 or so and has $105 and I cover. Flop is A, 8, 7 rainbow. He checks, and I throw out a continuation bet of $6. He calls. I'm pretty sure he has an Ace now. Turn is another Ace. He checks, and I check behind. The River is a Jack, giving me Jacks full of Aces. AA, AJ, A8, and A7 beat me. He leads out a full pot bet. I decide to push all-in because I think he will call with any Ace, and I can win a big pot. Maybe I should have just called there, but he calls and shows AJ. What I though was me hitting my two outer ended up being a one outer to the worst possible outcome. If anything else falls, I don't put in another dime. Ugg, what a cooler.

The last one I think I'll just post the Hand History, because both of my opponents played it terrible. They both were fishy half stacks. Downtown was running 55/1, and shadowstalker was at 60/7. I had TPTK and the nut flush draw on the turn, so I think I played this hand ok.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?984474

Fun, huh?

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Monday, April 09, 2007

Confidence

I have a renewed confidence in my game lately. And I think a lot of it is coming from the CardRunners videos I've watched. I can't stress enough how much these videos have improved my game. Listening to an expert play poker and knowing what is going on inside their head has taught me a lot.

I didn't play very much this weekend due to the holiday, but the short amount of time I did put in, I thought I was on top of my game. I'm playing more tight and aggressive, and following the points I made in my last post. I didn't win much money, but I was making sound decisions. I think I made only one big mistake.

I had Aces on the button, and raised it up to my standard amount. The SB and the UTG both called. Both of them have only around a 50% stack, and both were playing pretty loose, running around 35/10 or so. The flop came KQ4 rainbow. They both checked the flop, and I threw out a standard continuation size bet. Both called. Yuck. The turn was a Ten, and the SB led out for the rest of his stack, which was right around full pot. Then UTG called! I made the mistake of calling too. That should have been an easy fold. There is no way my over pair is good here anymore. One of them has to have at least KQ, and even possibly a set of 4's. For me to win, they would have both had to have hands like KJ or AQ, and the likely hood that my overpair was better than both of their hands was low. River was another Queen, and my hand was no good versus KQ and KJ (buddy list time for the KJ guy. WTF?)

I had one other tough hand this morning. I had pocket Tens in mid-position, and raised it up a standard amount. The BB, who had me covered, quickly called. Flop was [2d] [3d] [5s]. He quickly leads for full pot! I decide to raise here, so I triple his bet. He immediately smashes the Bet pot button, and I decided to fold. I'm not really sure if I made the correct decision or not. He could easily have a bigger pocket pair than me. His quick actions really threw me off. I almost called, because don't they always say that "Strong means Weak, and Weak means Strong"?

One other thing of note from this weekend: I did a lot of data mining at Full Tilt this weekend. On Saturday night, I was looking at the data I collected from Friday night to Saturday night, and there was this one guy who's stats were unbelievable. So I looked into it a little more. This guy was 12-tabling the 6-max 100NL games. In that 24 hour or so period, I had over 2000 hands on him, and he had profited over $1000! In One Day! Playing 100NL!!!! He was running at over 25PTBB/100. Granted, I can't have all of his tables open at once, so maybe he was losing on those, but give me a break! That is insane.

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Watched the Sopranos last night. I thought it was kind of Blah. Tony's sister is so annoying. I know that the writers are probably just building up a storyline, but we get it. The Soprano family is dysfunctional and screwed up. Move on to something entertaining please. It's the last season for crying out loud.

Cheers!

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Friday, April 06, 2007

Back into the cash games

Had a decent short session this morning. I think I am playing a lot better at the 6 max tables the last week or so. Here is a list of things that I've done that have really improved my game:

  • I very rarely just limp in now from the SB. Especially if it is folded to me in the SB. I used to just complete the blind a lot with not so great cards, and I would get into trouble. I'm now either raising or folding (Mostly folding). The only time I will complete the SB is if there are other limpers, and I have a good drawing hand (i.e. suited connectors or 1-gappers.
  • No more open limping, especially from Early Position. Sometimes, I got in the habit of open-limping, especially from UTG, with small pocket pairs and Ax suited hands. I am now dumping those Ax suited hands, and raising with the pairs more.
  • Defending your BB in cash games is over rated. Either raise or fold. Calling is bad because you are out of position the rest of the hand. The only hands I'll flat call from the BB are low-mid pocket pairs when I think I have the odds to set mine.
Hopefully none of my opponents read this :)

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I had two big hands this morning. The first was pretty straight forward. I got Aces on the button, and there was a raise and a call in front of me. I went ahead and re-raised, and got the BB and the original raiser to call. Flop was Q76 with two clubs. I had the Ace of clubs. Checked to me, and I bet 3/4 pot. Original raiser min-raises and I push the rest of his stack in. He has QJ, and I take it down.

The 2nd was kind of a suckout for me, but the dude never raised me! I have KQ on the button and raise it up after one limper. BB and limper call. Flop comes Queen high with 2 spades. Checked to me, and I bet and the BB calls. Turn is the King of spades, completing the flush draw and giving me top two pair. He checks, and I make a half pot bet. He just calls. River is a beautiful King giving me the nuts. He check/calls the rest of his stack and shows AJ of spades. Nice hand there. Thanks for not raising.

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I got around to watching the season premiere of The Shield last night. Best show on television right there. I just wish I could watch it in HD. I haven't gotten around to watching Lost or 24 yet. Maybe tonight.

Cheers!

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Thursday, April 05, 2007

3rd out of 78 in the Mookie last night

I had planned on playing some poker last night, with the intention of mainly playing cash games with one or two MTTs thrown in. I was for sure going to play the Full Tilt nightly 26k guarenteed, and maybe one more. That plan went out the window when I joined 4 MTTs. I played in the above MTT, plus a $15+1 over at Stars, a 180 person $20 at Stars, and also the Mookie, which is the wednesday night poker blogger $10+1 MTT.

I busted out of the two Stars MTTs about halfway through in both, but cashed in the two Full Tilt tournies. Nothing too exciting in the 26k, where I just made it past the bubble and profited a whopping $10 or so. But I did pretty well in the Mookie, placing 3rd place. My highest finish in an MTT prior to this was a 4th place quite a while ago in a 180 person MTT.

I think I played the mook pretty well. I made a few mistake, along with some questionable plays. I sucked out once, and got sucked out on a few times also. Too bad that it was at the final table where those suckouts to me happened. Oh well.

I like to go through the hand history of the MTTs that I go deep in, so I'll recap the MTT here for you

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Nothing happened for the first 40 hands or so. I stole the blinds once with T9s in the first round. Then I sat out from hands 16-26 to help bring the groceries in the house when my wife got home.

Hand 39, 30/60 blinds: I was getting low, with a stack around 1350. Papi raises it 3x from EP, and I push with AKo from MP. He folds.
Hand 50, 30/60: I get 88 in the blinds. lucko raises, and I call. Flop is QJ3 with two clubs. I check/fold. I still stuggle with mid pairs in MTTs.
Hand 61, 40/80: I'm down to 1215 and find 33 on the button. Lucko raises it 3x, and I push. I figured this was a good time to make a re-steal attempt, kind of like what is in this post back in September. I figure that I can get most low-mid pocket pairs, and some AJ type hands to fold. He called with 22! Yay, I'm ahead, and I win the 80/20. Up to 2500.
Hand 62, 40/80: I steal the blinds in the Cut Off position with A3s.

Hand 68, 40/80: Again, lucko raises it up 3x BB on my BB. This time I have AKo, and I decide to just call, intending to bet the flop. Flop is J66 rainbow. I lead out for 4/5 size of the pot and lucko pushes. Its 1200 for me to call in a pot that has 2500 in it. I don't put him on a 6, and I don't think he has AA-KK. And lucko had been playing quite a few pots the last few orbits, so I figured he had a pretty big range here. I was getting 2.1:1 on my money, so I called. He flipped up K7s and I won the pot. This was a very questionable call on my part, but if I go to pokerstove, and punch in a range of QQ-77, AK, AQ, and all the high hands with a Jack in it (AJ-J9), my equity is still 31%. I don't know what is more crazy. My call getting 2:1 on my money, or his push with K7s?

Hand 71, 40/80: Steal with AJ
Hand 80, 50/100: QQ in MP. I have twice as much as the next person on this table (ringo), who raises it up from EP. I decide to flat call, mainly to see if any of the short stacks behind me will push. Every folds, and the flop is 996. Ringo throws out a cont bet, and I re-raise enough to put him all in. Its 1500 for him to call in a pot with 3000 in it, but he folds.

Nothing too much the next few orbits. I steal a few blinds with 88 and 89. Try and steal blinds with 77 UTG. SB calls and flop is AA6. Check/Check. Turn is a Queen, and I fold to his bet. I steal with KJ, KQ, K5, 55 during the next few orbits. Checked to me in the BB with QT at the 100/200 level. Flop is A85 and I take it down with a bet.

I'm still in the top 5 or so (6000 chips) and get KQ on the button and raise it up. SB calls, and the flop is 235 all clubs. I have the Qc. It goes check/check. Turn is a K, and SB check/folds to my bet.

100/200 blinds. Ringo (3155 in cips) raises 3x BB. I push with Jacks, and he folds. Two hands later, I get KK UTG. I had been pretty active, and the table was getting more aggressive, so I just check, hoping someone will raise. Ha! Folded to BB who checks. Flop is A43 with two clubs (Yuck!). Zeem bets just over half pot, and I raise it up. Thankfully he folded.

Now we are in the antes (120/240 a25). I'm the chip leader at the table with almost 8000 in chips. Zeem (3800 in chips) raises it to 1000. I push with AKo, and he folds.

Next hand I try and steal with A8o. Troublecat (2nd in chips at this table) re-raises. I quickly fold. Steal with K9 a few hands later, and win a small pot when it is checked to me in the BB, and we check it down. Steal with 85s from the SB. Up to 9600 in chips.

150/300 a25: Cmitch (6100 in chips) raises 2.5x BB in EP. I re-raise 3.5 times that amount with AKo. He re-raises all-in and I call. He flips over KK. Woops. Ace on flop though, and I now have a huge stack and the chip lead.

150/300 a25: I fold AJo to Astin's 4x BB raise. A few hands later, I eliminate BuddyDank who is a super short stack with 22 vs 86s. An orbit later, I call a 2.5x BB raise from Blinders in the SB with 99. Flop is AQ3 rainbow. I lead out 2/3 pot and he folds.

200/400 a50: I see a free flop with Q6o against Astin in the SB. Flop is 986 with two clubs. He bets half pot and I call. Turn is the Qc giving me two pair, with three clubs out there. He checks, I bet, and he folds.

200/400 a50: I try and steal with 86s. Blinders call in the BB. Flop is 877. He checks, and I bet just over pot, which would put him all-in, and he folds.

Down to two tables, and I've got a massive stack now (19500). The next highest stack at the table is Nightranger, who has 8100. He raises 3.5x BB (1450) from EP, and I flat call behind him with Aces. Flop is 732 with two spades. He bets half pot, and I re-raise him all-in. I probably should have just called here, but I figured any higher pocket pair, and mayeb even AK-AQ would call, especially with half his stack in there already. He folded though.

250/500 a50: I steal with Q2, and try and steal with A5 and fold to Troublecat's re-raise all in. An orbit later, I find Aces on the button and raise it up. Trouble cal pushes all-in (He has 9000 to my 20000 in chips), and I obviously call. He has Jacks. We both flop sets, and I win a massive pot.

300/600 a75: Steal some blinds with T5, and AJ. Try and steal with QT, and get called. Flop is Ten high, and I take it down on the flop. Steal with A5. Try ans steal with 82o, and fold to MiamiDon's all-in. Raise with 44, and call Nightranger's all-in with A7s. I lose this one. First all-in pot I've lost.

300/600 a75: Astin raises PF, and I push with AJ. He folds. A few hands later, I try and steal with T6 and Astin calls. Flop is T98. He checks, I bet, and he folds. A few hands later I eliminate Astin when I call his raise in the BB with 77 and he has JT.

We're at the final table! I have 38,400 in chips. The next closest people have 16000, 13000, 12000 respectively.

I steal with 86s, and 87o. Then came a hand were I think I played it bad. I have 88 on the button, and Miami Don raises it up to 4x BB, which is just over a third of his stack. I hate these mid pocket pairs. I should either raise or fold, and instead I just call. Ugggg. Flop is 972. That seems like a decent flop for me and my eights. MiamiDon pushes all-in, which is about 2/3 pot. Not sure what I shoulda done here, but I folded. Yuck. That brought me down out of the chip lead for the first time at the Final Table. There are 6 left, and MiamiDon, Maudie, and I all have around 30000. The other three are under 9000.

Short stack Mookie raises my BB, and I call with JTs getting 2:1 on my money. too bad he has KJ, and I double Mookie up. A few hands later, I get the blinds with JJ. Then a couple more hands, I am in SB with A9s and it is folded to me. oossuuu754 is in the BB with a short stack of 6100 in chips (I have 35000, and blinds are 600/1200 a150). I push, and he calls with A2, but I lose the 70/30.

Down to four people now. I'm third in chips (chip counts: 42k, 33k, 31k, 9k). Maudie (33k) limps UTG. This seemed strange to me, and I was really worried about her haveing a huge hand here. I have AQ of hearts on the button, and decide to raise almost 5x BB, to see what she does. If she re-raises, I can easily get away from this. Instead though, she just calls. Flop is Q97, all clubs. Yuck! I have TPTK on a monotone flop against someone who Limp/called pre-flop with 4 people left and blinds massive. She checks, and I decide to check behind. Probably a mistake? Anyways, the turn is the 4th club. Double Yuck! This time she throws out a small, less than hlaf pot bet, which seems like it is begging for a call, so I decide to fold.

Still four people left, and now I am the short stack (41k, 39k, 19k, 17k). Maudie raises it 4x BB, and I push with KQ. She takes a while, and finally calls with 66. I hit a Queen on the flop, and double up! Back into the chip lead!

I win a few small pots here and there. With blinds at 1000/2000 a250, MiamiDon raises it up to 7200. I push with AQo, and he folds. Now I have twice as much as the next person.

And then the hand that sealed my fate. I find 88 on the button and raise it up to just under 3x BB. MiamiDon calls in the BB. Flop is 986 with two spades. I flopped a set at the final table! Sweet! Don checks, I bet, and he re-raises all-in, and I quickly call. He has 76o for a pair and an OESD. Ten on Turn, and the river doesn't pair, so I get sent back down to 4th in chips. Yuck! I was 73% to win that one.

With three left, and MiamiDon holding a huge chip stack, I go out in 3rd. I won a A7 vs KQ hand, but finally lose Q9 to KJ.

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I got Aces a few times, Kings zero times, and Queens once. I was only 3-2 on all-in hands where I was ahead, I won 4 out of 5 of my coinflips, and sucked out once in the hands I was a 30/70 dog. Not too shaby.

The mookie is a pretty fun tournament. I don't play in these blogger tournies much though. Almost everyone is really nice and most are really good poker players. There are some though that come across a little harsh though. Not sure if they are just trying to be funny or what. It's hard to distinguish sarcasm in chat I guess.

I look forward to playing in the Mook more in the future. Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

I'm still alive

Sorry to the few that come here and read for not posting much lately. I haven't played all that much the last few weeks. Plus, I'm on a downswing. I was up a good $500 for a while there in March, but ended the month and pretty much even. Blah.

I've been so card dead these last few weeks its unbelievable. I am hardly flopping any sets, and when I do, most of them lose. I've had two set over set losses, and it seems in the others, I'm getting out drawn left and right. The worst was a blind on blind battle with me in the BB and pocket Queens. He had Aces in the SB and we both flopped sets. Yikes.

I had a decent session this morning booking a $100 win in about 250 hands. No Aces, no Kings, and no sets though.

Here were the two big hands from this morning:

I raise up ATo from the button and get the SB to call. Flop is T, 6, 6. He checks and I throw out a continuation bet and he quickly calls. I figure him for a big pocket pair and he is trying to trap me. The turn is another Ten, giving me Tens full of sixes, which is the nuts. He checks and instead of slowplaying, I bet again, and he quickly calls. The river is the last Ten giving me Quads. He checks and I push all-in, which was about 1.5-2x pot. He quickly calls again. Ha! Prima doesn't show mucked hands, so I have no idea what he had. Had to have been JJ-AA.

The last one was with a half stack when the table got down to 3-handed. I was in the BB with Queens, and the button raised it up 4x BB. I re-raise to $12 and he calls. Flop is J, J, 2. I continuation bet, and he goes all-in and I quickly call. He flips over Pocket 7's. Turn was a 7, hitting one of his two outs, but the river a Queen giving me a bigger boat. Ship it!

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I finally got around to watching last weeks episode of Lost. And let me tell you, "WTF"? That was the worst episode ever. I think that may have been the "jumping the shark" episode. What a complete waste of time.

I'm so glad The Shield and The Sopranos start this week!

Cheers!

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