Up a couple buy-ins over at Stars

I've played the last couple days over at PokerStars, and I think I am up a couple buy-ins. My first impressions of the cash game players at 100NL 6max are that they are a little bit worse than Full Tilt. I had people limp/calling with K5o, people calling cont bets with no pair/no draw, etc...

Here are the more interesting hands:

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This guy was a 40/35 donk. Probably should have bet more on the flop. What do you think I should have done on the turn when that 3rd club comes? Is this push ok?

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

MP: $240
CO: $136.90
BTN: $43.25
Hero (SB): $203.80
BB: $41.95
UTG: $51

Pre-Flop: 8 8 dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO raises to $3, BTN calls $3, Hero raises to $15, BB folds, CO calls $12, BTN folds

Flop: ($34) 8 5 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets $22, CO calls $22

Turn: ($78) K (2 Players)
Hero bets $166.80 and is All-In, CO folds

Results: $78 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked 8 8 and WON $75 (+$38 NET)

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This guy was running at 50/11 and liked to lead out of position a lot. He seemed to fold if faced with resistance, so I pegged him as a "bluffer". He has $58 left, so I think a push is the only play here. Though, a case can be made for a flat call and let him bluff the river again (Though I wanted to charge him if he had a Ten in his hand)

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

SB: $94.90
Hero (BB): $123.05
UTG: $113.15
MP: $96
CO: $102.95
BTN: $52.60

Pre-Flop: J Q dealt to Hero (BB)
4 folds, SB calls $0.50, Hero raises to $4, SB calls $3

Flop: ($8) J Q 9 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $7, SB calls $7

Turn: ($22) 2 (2 Players)
SB bets $25, Hero raises to $112.05 and is All-In, SB folds

Results: $72 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked J Q and WON $69 (+$33 NET)

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I didn't know what to do here on the turn when the 3rd heart fell with KK out of position. I'm thinking Bet/Fold?

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

SB: $113.15
BB: $100.50
UTG: $86.30
Hero (MP): $140.30
CO: $76.50
BTN: $101.45

Pre-Flop: K K dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG calls $1, Hero raises to $5, CO calls $5, 3 folds, UTG calls $4

Flop: ($16.50) 3 8 Q (3 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $13, CO calls $13, UTG folds

Turn: ($42.50) 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $18, Hero raises to $122.30 and is All-In, CO calls $40.50 and is All-In

River: ($159.50) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $159.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed K K (three of a kind, Kings) and LOST (-$76.50 NET)
CO showed 2 A (a flush, Ace high) and WON $156.50 (+$80 NET)

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Cooler

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BB: $115.20
UTG: $58.70
MP: $135.30
CO: $127.95
BTN: $154.75
Hero (SB): $99

Pre-Flop: K A dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP calls $1, CO folds, BTN calls $1, Hero raises to $6, BB folds, MP calls $5, BTN folds

Flop: ($14) A 7 K (2 Players)
Hero bets $9, MP calls $9

Turn: ($32) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets $25, MP calls $25

River: ($82) 3 (2 Players)
Hero bets $59 and is All-In, MP calls $59

Results: $200 Pot ($3 Rake)
MP showed Q T (a flush, Ace high) and WON $197 (+$98 NET)
Hero showed K A (two pair, Aces and Kings) and LOST (-$99 NET)

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Another Cooler. Top Pair, Top kicker with nut flush draw. No way I'm getting away from this.

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

UTG: $111.55
Hero (MP): $118.15
CO: $143.35
BTN: $42.95
SB: $94.40
BB: $50.15

Pre-Flop: A K dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $4, 3 folds, BB calls $3

Flop: ($8.50) 8 A 9 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6, BB raises to $14, Hero calls $8

Turn: ($36.50) A (2 Players)
BB bets $7, Hero raises to $100.15 and is All-In, BB calls $25.15 and is All-In

River: ($100.80) J (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $100.80 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked A K and LOST (-$50.15 NET)
BB showed 8 A (a full house, Aces full of Eights) and WON $97.80 (+$47.65 NET)


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I am planning on playing in the Mookie tonight after trick-or-treating. I haven't quite decided how much longer I want to be playing cash games at PokerStars. It is definitely more difficult since I don't have stats on anyone over there. But it is a nice to do something different, especially when I'm in a rut.

Cheers!

I played one hand of poker this weekend

Damn You MLB Power Pros for the Nintendo Wii! Damn You!!

I didn't get much free time this weekend, except for a little time on Sunday afternoon. I was planning on playing a little bit of poker then, as there was a $35,000 raketherake freeroll going on. I figured I would play in this, and then get in some cash game hands. That plan went to hell right away. So I sit down as the freeroll starts, and I am dealt AK in the SB. There is a raise, and I re-pop it up. Original raiser goes all-in, and I make the call. He has AQ.

I hadn't even gotten any cash game tables opened up, so I went back to watching the Vikings get pounded, and then played my new favorite Wii game. Man, that game is fun. It reminds me of Baseball Stars for the original Nintendo. You create players, make money, upgrade players, etc.. Lots of fun.

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I do plan on getting back into poker this week. I am actually thinking of playing over at PokerStars for a while. You can't datamine the hand histories there like at Full Tilt, so I won't have stats on a lot of players, but maybe this will get me back to playing good, solid poker.

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I'll end this post with a couple hands from the past week

$200NL against a short stack
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1641108

This is in the rebuy period of Full Tilt's $10 Rebuy. I play almost all my hands in the first hour, and happened to flop a straight with a flush re-draw.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1641111

The hand that lost me most of my stack in the $10 rebuy.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1641116

And we'll end it on a good note. Of course it is against someone who doesn't have a full stack.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1641118

Canterbury Tournament Trip Report

Yesterday was my annual trip up to Canterbury Downs to play in the $300 Fall Classic event. There were about 380 people, and I ended up finishing around 130th place or so. I never built up a huge stack, and was around average until the first break. Then the blinds really started going up, and I quickly became one of the short stacks. Here are a few of the interesting hands:

UTG bets. I 3-bet with QQ. The button 4-bets! Uggg. For some reason, I called (Which was about a quarter of my stack). Dumb Dumb. It was an old dude, and old dudes don't 4-bet PF without a monster. The flop was all unders, and I couldn't bring myself to get it all-in when he more than likely had Rockets.

Folds to me on the button and I raise K4o. The SB calls. Flop is KQ7 rainbow. He checks calls my bet. Turn is another 7. He checks, and I check behind. River is a blank, and he fires out a half pot bet. I called, expecting to split with another King, but he had ATo and I caught his float/bluff.

I called a raise from the button with 75s. Flopped two pair and called his flop bet. I raised his turn bet, but he folded.

I open raise from MP with 99. Button calls, and then the BB 3-bets. I fold my nines, and the button and BB get it all in PF. Button has QQ vs the blinds AA. QQ sucks out on the turn.

I raise 74 of spades from LP and get two callers (The button and blind). Flop is all diamonds. It checks through. Turn is 4th diamond, BB checks and I bet and take it down.

I knock out a short stack with KQ vs A7.

And then my knockout hand. Thoughts on it?

Last hand of the 100/200 ante: 25 level. It goes up to 200/400 50 next hand. I have about 4200 in chips or so, so my M goes from 8 to 4 the next hand.

A big stack with about 15,000 in chips (Who just got moved here about an orbit ago) in Early position raises to 800 and I push from LP with KQs. Pretty bad? I thought I had decent fold equity there and figured he would fold anything but AA-TT, AK. Once those blinds go up next hand, I have no fold equity.

Look for a better spot to get my money in?

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All-in-all, I had fun. My table had tons of suckouts. Very rarely did the hand that was leading when all the money got in end up winning. QQ beats AA. AQ beats JJ on a Jack high flop (Runner-runner straight). AA beats QJ on a QJx flop. A9 beats KK (And also A6). It was unbelievable. Too bad I didn't suckout on that last hand.

Playing live is still strange for me. Add to the situation a very cold room (Air vent right above our table), a lot of coffee in the morning, along with a Mountain Dew, and I was shivering/shaking. Pretty pathetic, huh? At the first break I was finally able to take a pee break and I went and got a sweatshirt from my car. Plus, I won a few hands, so that calmed me down.

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I also playing a little bit of limit (3/6) and won a few bucks. Flopped a straight from the BB with Q9 and won a nice pot. Then won another pot with AK. It was a straddled pot, and I 3-bet from EP. the button 4-bets and it was heads up. Flop contained an Ace, and he called all my bets with QQ.

I'm due for a post

I've had the content for this post stored up for a while, but poker is kicking my ass so bad now, that I just haven't felt like taking the time to write it up. Usually by now I have a Monthly report up, but I'm not even going to bother with it for the September review. I lost over a grand in the cash games. Thankfully I made a few decent cashes in some MTTs, so I only lost a couple hundred overall. Factor in rakeback, and I still made money!



This graph shows it all. It is my PokerEV graph from September 1 until a few days ago. The Blue line is my actual showdown winnings. The red line is what my showdown winning should be. I'll use an example to describe it. Say you have a full $100 stack against someone who also has a full $100 stack. You get it all Pre-flop with AA vs KK. You are an 80% favorite. 80% of the time you win $100. 20% of the time you lose $100. (100 * 0.80) + (-100 * 0.20) = $60. That is your EV (Expected Value), or Skalansky bucks.

If I lose that AA vs KK hand, my red line would be at +$60, but my blue showdown winnings line would be at -$100.

So what does this mean? It means I am running really bad. Really really really bad. The difference between those two lines is $1350. Over 10,000 hands that is brutal. It comes to about 12 BB/100.

October is going a little bit better than September. I'm only down about $100 or so after about 3,000 hands. I'm still getting pretty unlucky though, so it is amazing that I am only down that much. Here are a few hands from the last couple days.

Hand 1: I open-raise 53s from the button (kind of marginal, but ok in position). Flop is 9h 5h 5c. The decent TAG Big Blind leads out, and I raise. He re-raises, and I push. He has Ah Jh, and of course hits a heart on the river.

Hand 2: I have AK and just call a PF bet from a LAG (Loose Aggressive). Flop is AQx. He has AQ. Hard to get away from these types of hands against a LAG

Hand 3: Again I call a raise from another LAG with AQ. Flop is AJx. He has AJ. Same story as above

Hand 4: AA against a 23/1 guy and he flops a set on a KJ3 board. (I have a hard time folding Aces against bad players).

Hand 5: Half stack calls my PF raise with J5s and chases his flush, which hits on the river.

Hand 6: Idiot min-bets UTG, and a bunch call, so I call in the BB with T7o. Flop is 689 rainbow. Ding! I lead out and idiot raises and we get it all in. He has J9o. Turn is a Ten, River a Queen.


Sorry to turn this into a bad beat post. Just venting a little bit. We all go through downswings. I'm just wondering when mine is going to end.

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On a lighter note, I am planning on playing in one of the events at the Canterbury Park next week. October 18th, the $300 NL event. If any of you Minnesotaites are planning on playing, let me know.

Cheers!