A Fool and his $100 - A Poker Blog

That's right folks.....

2011-02-23T16:11:00.003-06:00

I'm going to play the Mookie/Dank later today.

Wednesday night = Tournament night. I have a good feeling I'm gonna win one tonight.

Cheers!

Happy New Year

2011-01-14T15:43:00.002-06:00

Damn, only 4 posts in all of 2010. What a slacker. Hopefully I'll do better in 2011, though I doubt many people will see this. I'll have to check out the stats to see how many people come visit here, ha!

Poker been going pretty good the last month and a half. Since my last post, I've had break even October and November, and a good December and first half of January. December saw me play a lot of hands over at PokerStars, and I actually made Gold Star there. This month, I've mostly played at Full Tilt and Rush poker and doing pretty good so far.

Last night I even sat down and played some tournaments. I didn't cash in any but it was fun, even though I only went deep in one of them (The FT $24+2 26 guaranteed). Out of the 6 MTTs I played, I flopped two sets and lost them both. WTF?

While playing in the MTTs, I was able to get in 1500 hands of 100NL rush poker (Full Ring and 6 max) and made a nice $500 there. I think I finally figured out Rush poker. Play lots of tables so it forces me to play nice and tight. Then Profit.

I'll try and post a couple times next week with some interesting hands.

Cheers!

Do I dare say it?

2010-10-15T14:04:00.002-05:00

Do I dare say that maybe my luck has finally turned around? I better not, cause I don't want to jinx it.

I played a bit of poker last night, and actually had a good night. After what my poker results have looked like the last 2 months, I'd say it is about time. October had been going a little better than September. Up until last night, I was slightly above even in October, after having a terrible month in the cash games in September (My decent MTT score in Sept at UB turning what could have been a really bad month into just a slightly losing one)

Last night I had some free time, and instead of firing up 5-8 MTTs, I decided to just play a few multi-table Sit-n-Go's while mainly playing the cash games. I played a 180 person $11 Rush tournament, a 45 person $26 KO SNG, and a 18 person $26 SNG. I finished the Rush tournament in 2nd place for a nice $250 profit, and the KO SNG in 6th for a $82 profit.

And then in the cash games, I finally had some nice results. Here are a few of the hands:

--------------------------------

Sometimes I 3-bet PF here. I've been trying to get away from the really loose, massive 3-betting style that you see at the 6 max games and play tighter.

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

UTG: $99.00
MP: $254.50
CO: $111.70
BTN: $120.20
Hero (SB): $117.95
BB: $100.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with As Qs
1 fold, MP raises to $3, 2 folds, Hero calls $2.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($7.00) Qd 4h Ah (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $4, Hero raises to $12, MP calls $8

Turn: ($31.00) 6d (2 players)
Hero bets $25, MP calls $25

River: ($81.00) 3d (2 players)
Hero bets $77.95 all in, MP calls $77.95

Final Pot: $236.90
MP mucks Ad Kh
Hero shows As Qs (two pair, Aces and Queens)
Hero wins $233.90
(Rake: $3.00)

-----------------------------------

Here is a nice hand where I flop the nizzles. I ended up taking a lot off this guy during the night (Took one stack off of him with AA vs QQ. AA actually held up!). He was really agro, and it was nice having position on him.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 4 players

SB: $100.50
BB: $206.45
CO: $101.70
Hero (BTN): $265.85

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with 9h 8c
CO raises to $3, Hero calls $3, SB requests TIME, 2 folds

Flop: ($7.50) 6s 7h Td (2 players)
CO bets $4, Hero raises to $12, CO requests TIME, CO calls $8

Turn: ($31.50) 5d (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $24, CO calls $24

River: ($79.50) Ks (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $70, CO calls $62.70 all in

Final Pot: $204.90
CO mucks Th Qh
Hero shows 9h 8c (a straight, Ten high)
Hero wins $202.90
(Rake: $2.00)

---------------------------------------------------

It's nice when you 3-bet with a mid pocket pair and then flop a set. It's even better when your opponent tries to bluff when you flop a set.

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

BTN: $146.90
SB: $57.85
Hero (BB): $101.50
UTG: $110.00
MP: $100.00
CO: $231.30

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with 7d 7h
3 folds, BTN raises to $3.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $11, BTN calls $7.50

Flop: ($22.50) 7s Jc Qc (2 players)
Hero bets $14, BTN raises to $64.50, Hero raises to $90.50 all in, BTN calls $26

Turn: ($203.50) As (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($203.50) 4d (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $203.50
BTN shows 4c 4h (three of a kind, Fours)
Hero shows 7d 7h (three of a kind, Sevens)
Hero wins $200.50
(Rake: $3.00)

---------------------------------------

This guy is a huge agro donk (and one I've been seeing a lot of. Gonna have to search him out more). This is a pretty interesting hand. He had been opening a ton, and I didn't want to 3-bet him with this kind of hand, because I think his 4-betting range is huge. So I just decided to go into check/call mode when I flopped Top Pair. I'm pretty sure he was bluffing the whole way, especially seeing the size of his river bet. I'm pretty sure he calls the extra $33 with AK, AQ, etc... When you play against some of these agro donks who like to bluff, you just gotta let them keep on betting sometimes.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em $0.20 Ante - 6 players

BTN: $136.60
SB: $214.10
Hero (BB): $100.00
UTG: $200.00
MP: $242.90
CO: $198.10

Pre Flop: ($2.70) Hero is BB with Th Ah
1 fold, MP raises to $4.70, 3 folds, Hero calls $3.70

Flop: ($11.10) Ac 3c 5d (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $7, Hero calls $7

Turn: ($25.10) 6d (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $14, Hero calls $14

River: ($53.10) Ts (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $41, Hero raises to $74.10 all in, MP requests TIME, MP folds

Final Pot: $135.10
Hero wins $132.10
(Rake: $3.00)

-----------------------------------

And finally, here is a hand where I actually suck out on. hey, I'm due one of these! Even with this hand, I ended up about even in terms of $EV for the night, so there!

So I'm sure some of you might be able to find a fold there on the turn, but I didn't really think AK/AQ was in his range because he was pretty agro. BTW, the check raise when I am out of position, even though I was the pre-flop raiser, is a pretty common play from me lately, especially against agro players. More and more, I am finding people just can't help themselves but to bet when checked to with 100% of their range.

Anyways, I thought that AJ-Ax was all in his range there, so I called the turn raise. Lo-and-behold, he has AQ, but I spike my jack (another 4 or 7 would have given us a split).

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players

BTN: $97.00
SB: $112.60
BB: $117.20
Hero (UTG): $238.40
CO: $100.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG with Ac Js
Hero raises to $3.50, CO calls $3.50, BTN calls $3.50, 2 folds

Flop: ($12.00) Ah Ad 4h (3 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $7, BTN folds, Hero raises to $21, CO calls $14

Turn: ($54.00) 7c (2 players)
Hero bets $30, CO raises to $75.50 all in, Hero calls $45.50

River: ($205.00) Jc (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $205.00
Hero shows Ac Js (a full house, Aces full of Jacks)
CO shows Qh As (three of a kind, Aces)
Hero wins $202.00
(Rake: $3.00)

---------------------------------

There you have it.

The Canterbury Fall Classic is going on right now, and I'm heading up for my annual live MTT on Tuesday. Should be fun. I'm looking forward to checking out Canterbury's new poker room. I hear it is really nice.

Cheers!

Woe is me

2010-09-20T16:06:00.005-05:00

I just wanted to put up a woe is me sympathy post and show you all how I have been running this month.

The first one is my total stats for the month. Obviously I should probably stay at 50NL. Ain't nothing like running 10+ buy-ins below EV at 100NL in 5300 hands, huh?

This next one is all of my hands where I've gotten all-in PF with any pocket pair. Awesome!

This one are all of my sets at 100NL. Ooooo, wow! A whole 5 BB per hand with sets. Only 4 of these 21 hands saw a showdown. And 3 of them were set over sets!! Ahhhh HAHAHAHA!

And finally, here are my all-in PF hands (all hands) for 100NL. Sweet!

Someone tell me why I started playing poker again?

The PokerFool is back playing poker!

2010-09-17T15:35:00.002-05:00

Yes Yes, it is true. After about a whole year (!!!!) of not playing much poker, I've gotten back into it. I'm having fun, I'm more relaxed, and most importantly I am playing good poker. The first couple weeks back I was playing a little wild, but I've tightened up some, and that has led me to play a lot better.

Granted, I am playing at lower limits that what I was playing last year. I started off playing mainly $0.25/0.50 6 max rush poker. Moved up to $0.50/1.00 rush poker for a while (and got smacked by the run bad running way way under EV), then moved back to $0.25/0.50.

I'm also playing the $0.50/1.00 NL 6 max games at PokerStars, and have made silver star already. I would have to say right now that the play at PokerStars is a lot worse than at Full Tilt. Probably due to a lot more Euro donks at Stars.

I also started playing tournaments again, and having fun with them. In the past year or so, I would have rather jabbed a pencil through my eye than play MTTs, but I've played them two nights now, and have had fun. Capped off with a nice 4th place finish in a Ultimate Bet $25 tournament that won me $775. I should have gone on to win the whole thing, but had a massive suckout to knock me out.

(What? no bad beat stories you say? Hey, I've posted twice in the past year. I'm due)

So there are 4 left, I'm the short stack, but I still have about 20BBs (stacks ranged from 20BBs to about 35BBs). I'm in the Big Blind with AKs. UTG raises it to about 2.2 BBs, and everyone calls. So I shove. It folds back to the button, and after timing down, he finally calls with A9s. (huh?) Flop comes King high and rainbow. Sweet! Bzzzt! wrong! Runner Runner flush gives him the win, and instead of the chip lead, and the inside track to the $2500 for first place, I'm knocked out in 4th.

I can't wait until the run bad stops.

I'll try and post some more for my one or two readers. If you read this, post a comment and say "hi" so I know if anyone is out there. Oh, and link me up! Tell em the PokerFool is back!

Cheers!

The PokerFool is still alive!

2010-03-19T13:37:00.002-05:00

But my poker playing is pretty much dead, as of right now. Some day I may get back into the swing of things, but I guess you could say I got a little burnt out on poker.

My last post was way back on August 20th. At the time, I was in the middle of one of my best months ever. Well, I actually ended August with a profit of over twice my previous best month ever. Wow! I still played regularly in September, but half way through the month I hit a wall. Since then, I've only played about once a month. I haven't even tried out Rush Poker yet!

Not too much else going on. My youngest daughter has started walking. My son has quite the arm on him, and we've been playing catch and playing baseball outside now that the weather is getting nice. And I'm coaching my oldest daughter's soccer team that starts in a few weeks.

I envision me getting back into poker some time soon. Probably when I get sick of playing Modern Warfare 2, ha!

Cheers!

New Best Day of Poker Ever!

2009-08-20T15:10:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-07-28T16:08:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-06-15T15:37:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-05-08T15:41:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-05-07T11:43:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-04-15T15:13:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-03T14:30:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-31T15:05:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-03-12T15:03:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-02-26T14:31:00.002-06:00

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!

Holy Cow!

2009-02-13T11:49:00.006-06:00

Another two weeks since my last post. Yikes!

Let's see. What is new? Well, January sucked. I think with rakeback and the year end bonus, I might have broken even. I went into the last night of January down about $500 in NL Hold 'em cash games. But I grinded out a really nice $700 session to end positive on the cash games for the month. I lost in Tournaments and Omaha, so that's where I get the breakeven month from.

February has been going awesome though. Take a look at this graph!

Here is my biggest hand of the month. This table was pretty aggressive and thought the chances that someone would squeeze was high. Nice to get it in all-in PF with KK against AK and AK. I dodged the two aces left in the deck, and won a nice pot.

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

cx17863 (UTG): $224.90
Hero (MP): $306.85
NPND (CO): $200.00
Feeeeshh (BTN): $189.00
cashflowz75 (SB): $145.00
Hans Vogl (BB): $640.70

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is MP with Kh Kc
cx17863 raises to $7, Hero calls $7, NPND raises to $31, 3 folds, cx17863 raises to $224.90 all in, Hero raises to $306.85 all in, NPND calls $169 all in

Flop: ($652.80) 3d 4c 9s

Turn: ($652.80) 5d

River: ($652.80) 4s

Final Pot: $652.80
cx17863 shows Kd Ac (a pair of Fours)
Hero shows Kh Kc (two pair, Kings and Fours)
NPND shows Ks Ad (a pair of Fours)
Hero wins $49.80
Hero wins $600.00
(Rake: $3.00)

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

In other poker news, I'm heading down to Iowa tonight for some live NL action. It should be fun. I'm really looking forward to taking a bunch of money from some farmers tonight :) If I start out doing well, I'll probably move over to the 2/5 NL game that sometimes goes on. I've never seen a higher game go on down there, so the players are quite a bit better than the 1/2 players.

Still, I'm sure I am one of the best that play down there, even in the 2/5 game. And this is Iowa. I don't have to say much more than that.

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

The band Red came out with a new album this week, and it is really good. I first saw them when they opened for Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace almost two years ago. If you like that kind of music, definitely check them out. Here is a youtube video of one of the songs from the new album.

Cheers!

Wow, Two+ Weeks Since I've Posted

2009-01-30T15:50:00.002-06:00

Not sure why though. I've been a lot busier at work, so that probably has something to do with it. Or else I'm just being lazy. Hmm, I wonder which one it is?

Not too much to report poker related since my last post. My month has been super swingy. I was up, then I was way down, and now I'm back to even. I played quite a few hands of PLO last week, but I started to run bad. Then I moved back to 100NL, and tried to play 8-9 tables and ran like crap there too. I told myself that I was going to stay at 100NL until I won 10 buy-ins, but the first day of doing that sucked, so I said "screw it" and went back to 200NL. Since then I have done pretty good.

I played in the Mookie and other tournaments on Wednesday, and only cashed in one. I went out in 47th place in the $26 $28,000 guaranteed when my QQ couldn't beat AQ all-in PF for a top 10 chip stack.

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

My son, who is 3 years old, has three favorites things. The Cars movie and his Cars toys, Wall-E, and Kings of Leon.

I've been listening to the latest Kings of Leon album (which is really good), and my son is really getting into them too. His favorite song is track #1 titled "Closer". He calls it the "Rrrr Rrrr Rrrr" song. He is constantly asking me to play him the "Rrrr Rrrr Rrrr" song. At first, I didn't understand what he was asking for, but if you have heard the song, you know what I am talking about.

I also learned that song #2 is also one of his favorites when he started to sing it the other day. During the chorus, he'll sing right along with the words, "You better learn to crawl, you better learn to crawl, before I walk away, before I walk away".

I'll have to get a video of him listening and singing to King of Leon and put up here. It is really funny.

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

I've also been looking into upgrading my desktop. It is over 2.5 years old, and is starting to get a little slow. I've always had good luck with Dell, so I am leaning towards a XPS 630. I can get a refurbished one for around $800. I figure it will be a good investment and will improve my poker game (plus I can get the new Call of Duty game!)

I can't quite decide as to what video card I should get. The ATI Radeon 4850 or the Nvidia 9800 GT.

Cheers!

Mook Win And Some Home Game Fun

2009-01-15T14:19:00.006-06:00

Wednesday night was last night, so that meant Tournament Poker! Sadly, I only cahsed in one of the seven MTTs I played, but that one was The Mookie, and I won! That's like my 2nd or 3rd Mookie win. Woot!
Here is a short recap.

I won my first big pot during the first hour when I 3-bet TripJax with A9o. He called and the flop came Ace high. I decided to check figuring that not many hands continue that I beat. TripJax checked behind, and then the turn came a 9. Now I knew for sure that I was ahead, and I led out for half pot. He raised and we got it in and I doubled up against his AK.

I won another nice pot against MiamiDon when I limped with A5s and the flop was Q55. Earlier in the day, I read Ed Miller's latest article about playing pots on really dry, paired boards. Go check it out, it's really good.

Nothing much happened for the next hour or so until I doubled up through lucko. My JTo pwned his AK all-in PF. EZ game. I even got to knock out Hoy a few hands later with AT vs KJ.

Down to two tables, it wasn't long before getting into another all-in pot. This time it was 3 way action with AK vs AK vs AA all-in PF. Flop was King high, the turn gave me a flush draw, but alas, I did not suck out. Curse Ye Poker Gods!! Nothing too exciting after that. At the final table I just stole like crazy and then I won with JJ vs AT, knocked out Numbette with KQ vs QT on a Q high flop, etc... While 4 handed, I had a huge lead and never gave it up. Breeze81 played well during heads up play, but I finally won with Q8 vs J8 on an 8 high flop.

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Last Saturday night, my wife and I headed over to OhCaptain's house for some home game fun in his Coed Invitational. I even unpacked my brand new Full Tilt Retro Bowling Shirt for the occasion. It was very fun and interesting, as I was seated right next to my wife. She had position on me and was looking forward to knocking me out. She thinks she can read me perfectly (she can) and be able to pick off all of my bluffs (I never bluff). She actually did pretty well for it being her 2nd time ever playing poker (with the first being about a year ago). She made a really good play with pocket Aces about an hour in. She was UTG and limped with pocket aces. A shorter stack in middle position went all-in, and I pushed myself from the BB with AQ. Obviously my wife called (I had her covered) with the aces, and they held up.

As we got to the final table (20 started, with 4 making the money), and my wife had a lot of chips. There were two other women, and the three of them were knocking us guys out left and right. Finally the bubble burst and the three ladies were the last ones standing (I went out in 4th, thank you very much). She eventually busted in 3rd place outlasting me and proving that she is the best poker player in our house. Hmmm, I think I am going to have to con her into playing a heads up freeze out to regain the title. How about a little Omaha Hi/Lo? Heh heh.

Here is a picture stolen from OhCaptain of the final six people. I'm on the far left and my wife right across from me.

Good times. I even got to meet Gentleman Jim as he drove up to OhCaptain's from Iowa!

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As far as other poker goes, I'm doing ok. Nothing to great. I'm up a couple buy-ins while I clear the Full Tilt end of the year bonus. I actually moved down to 100NL for a little while and tried my hand at 8 tabling, but I'm back playing 200NL now.

Oh, and BTW, it was -24 degrees this morning when I woke up. That is NEGATIVE 24. Yikes, that's cold.

Cheers!

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T15:23:00.003-06:00

Happy Holidays everyone. I hope everyone got what they wanted. As for me, I got a brand new bowling ball and shoes. I'm pretty excited to try them out. I've been an alternate in a bowling league for the last couple years, bowling once every 3 or 4 weeks. I was the only person in all of league still using a lane ball. I would use just my two fingers and no thumb hole and get a nice hook going. Now that I have my own ball, it should be pretty interesting. I even ordered the Full Tilt Retro Bowling shirt from the FPP store. It's pretty sweet. I'll have to get a picture up here some time of me with my new shirt and bowling ball, lol.

The kids had a good time and got way too many presents. They still haven't played some of them. Among my favorite to play with them is Hungry Hungry Hippos, my son's marble tower plaything, and his Geotrax stuff. I even grabbed all of my old transformer toys from my parents house when we were there. ~~I will~~ My son will have a ton of fun playing with those.

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As far as poker goes, I sure am glad December is almost done. The last week or so has been brutal. I think it boils down to me not hitting any of my draws lately, and quite a few set over set hands.

I played tournaments last night and I thought I played really well. I ended up cashing in 3 of the 6 MTTs I played. The FT 50/50 and 28k guaranteed and the PS $10 rebuy (again). I ran so ridiculously bad, it was funny. Every single time I got all-in in these three MTTs that I cashed in, I was no worse than a coinflip. Every.Single.Time. (all of these are all-in PF) here are the results of these hands

Full Tilt 50/50: I went out in 101th place.
- 50/100 blinds: My AK wins vs TT +50 BBs
- 60/120 blinds: My AJ loses vs TT (JT6 flop) -15 BBs
- 80/160 blinds: My AJs wins vs JTs (Blind vs Blind) +32BBs
- 200/400 blinds: My QQ loses vs JJ (J54 flop) -10 BBs
- 400/800 blinds: My AQ loses vs 44 (AK4 flop) -8 BBs

Full Tilt 28k guaranteed: I went out in 123rd.
- 150/300 blinds: My KK loses vs 99 (Q96 flop) -13 BBs
- 250/500 blinds: My 99 wins vs K4 +9 BBs
- 250/500 blinds: My JJ wins vs 77 +7 BBs
I ended going out of the MTT cause some guy thought A4o was a good hand to call PF and flop bets (flop was all rags). I pushed the A river representing AK or something like that and he called with A4.

PokerStars $10 rebuy: I went out in 154th place.
- during rebuy: My AK loses vs 66 (J96 flop) -22 BBs
- 100/200: My AQss loses to 55 on a 9s4s5x flop. -33 BBs (got this one in on the flop)
- 150/300: My A4 wins vs KJ +9 BBs
- 500/1000: My AA wins vs K9o +30 BBs
- 1500/3000: My AJs loses to A8s (Hits flush on river) - 10BBs
- 2000/4000: My AJ wins vs 88 +9 BBs
- 2500/5000: My AKs loses vs A9o (9 on turn) - 12 BBs

As you can see, everyone was hitting sets against me. Out of the nine pocket pairs that showed up when we got all-in, six of them flopped sets. Guess how many sets I had all night?

And I finish this bad beat post with this gem in the $24 KO. I had the worst poker player ever sitting to my left. In the 7 or 8 hands he had been at the table, he had raised every single flop bet from other players. I wasn't going to put up with it, so I pushed over his raise:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 5 Players

Hero (CO): 2,020
BTN: 4,910
SB: 1,940
BB: 1,480
UTG: 1,750

Pre-Flop: (45) Tc As dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 105, BTN calls 105, 2 folds

Flop: (255) 3s 7d 2c (2 Players)
Hero bets 240, BTN raises to 975, Hero raises to 1,915 and is All-In, BTN calls 940

Turn: (4,085) Th (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (4,085) 8d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 4,085 Pot
Hero showed Tc As (a pair of Tens) and LOST (-2,020 NET)
BTN showed Jd 9s (a straight, Jack high) and WON 4,085 (+2,065 NET)

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Have a safe and fun New Years Eve. I went out and bought a bunch of ingredients to make martini's. Mmmmmmm. I can't wait to get home.

Cheers!

My Weekly Post

2008-12-19T14:37:00.005-06:00

Man, I suck at posting regularly. I usually come across a few interesting hands every day, but I'm too lazy to type up a post. I'm not really sure if anyone reads my posts anyways. Anyone out there that plays cash games near my limits?

Anyways, I'm still running pretty good. I haven't played as much this month as in November, but I'm making some good money. I'm playing a little bit more at 400NL, especially when there are fish out there. I also transferred some money over to the Cake network, so I am occasionally playing 200NL there too. My 3rd hand ever at Cake, and I made a Royal Flush. And some dude called my river bet! Board had the As, Ks, Js and Ts, with me holding the Qs, and he called my river bet. Ha!

Here is my monthly graph so far. What is nice about this graph, is that I am running slightly below EV for the month!

I played tournaments on Wednesday night, including the Mookie and the PS Blogger Omaha HiLo tournament. I ran my AK into AA to go out about 22nd in the Mook. But I did good in the Omaha game, and finished in 12th. Just 3 places away from a gold prize package worth about $450.

I also did pretty good in both the FT and PS 50/50 MTTs, but unfortunately busted out just before the money in both. I had a really nice stack in the PokerStars MTT, but I lost two coinflips within 10 hands, and went out short of the money bubble. The first was my AK losing to JJ, and then my QQ lost to AK. You gotta be able to win with AK and beat AK in order to make it deep in MTTs I guess. No complaints though, since I crushed the cash games while playing tournaments that night.

I'll try and find some interesting hands.

I've been experimenting with flat calling with AK in position, and have had some positive results. Villain was an aggressive regular.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BTN: $478.40
SB: $372.80
BB: $198
UTG: $312.15
Hero (MP): $424.95
CO: $156.50

Pre-Flop: Ad Kh dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG raises to $7, Hero calls $7, 4 folds

Flop: ($17) Ac 7h 5h (2 Players)
UTG bets $12, Hero calls $12

Turn: ($41) Ks (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $28, UTG calls $28

River: ($97) Kc (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $90, UTG calls $90

Results: $277 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG mucked Qs Ah (two pair, Aces and Kings) and LOST (-$137 NET)
Hero showed Ad Kh (a full house, Kings full of Aces) and WON $274 (+$137 NET)

Here is a nice standard pot against an aggressive player, but it sure is nice to get paid off when you hit your set. I'm not exactly sure if I made the right play on the flop and turn, but the button is super aggressive, and pretty spewy, so I wanted to drag him along for the ride. What do you think?

Since I don't have too many hands at 400NL, this is one of my biggest pots ever.

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

Hero (SB): $400
BB: $612
UTG: $666.50
MP: $140.70
CO: $447.60
BTN: $400.70

Pre-Flop: 7s 7d dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to $14, 2 folds, BTN calls $14, Hero calls $12, BB folds

Flop: ($46) Qh 6d 7c (3 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $32, BTN calls $32, Hero calls $32

Turn: ($142) Jc (3 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $90, BTN folds, Hero raises to $196, UTG raises to $620.50 and is All-In, Hero calls $158 and is All-In

River: ($850) Th (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $850 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 7s 7d (three of a kind, Sevens) and WON $847 (+$447 NET)
UTG showed Ks Kh (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$400 NET)

Cheers!!

I Do Good In These Blogger Freerolls

2008-12-15T13:34:00.000-06:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 096431

Theory of a Deadman

2008-12-11T14:40:00.006-06:00

Another Rock concert comes to town tonight, thanks to the new rock radio station. A few months ago, it was Seether and Finger Eleven, last month Disturbed was here, and tonight is Theory of a Deadman. I'm really looking forward to this concert, because Theory's latest CD has been at the top of my playlist most of the year.

Prior to when this new Rock station was here, our town never got any good concerts. We had to go up to the Twin Cities to see anything good. Unless Air Supply and Lord of the Dance is your cup of tea.

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Poker has been going fairly well this month. I'm up a decent amout, and I'm running below expectation, so that is good.

I was finally able to get a seat at a table with a goldmine. When this guy plays, the waitlist goes 30 people deep waiting to get a seat with him. Check out his tableratings page. He mostly plays 2/4 NL, with a litle 1/2 thrown in. He is down 160 THOUSAND dollars since tableratings started keeping track. Wow!

I took about $300 off of him, with most of it coming from this hand:

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BTN: $1,469
Hero (SB): $484
BB: $749.50
UTG: $212.40
MP: $3,191.05
CO: $1,127.40

Pre-Flop: 9s 9h dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to $12, 3 folds, Hero raises to $52, BB folds, UTG calls $40

Flop: ($108) 6h 3s Kc (2 Players)
Hero bets $80, UTG calls $80

Turn: ($268) Ks (2 Players)
Hero bets $81, UTG calls $80.40 and is All-In

River: ($428.80) Qs (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $428.80 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 9s 9h (two pair, Kings and Nines) and WON $425.80 (+$213.40 NET)
UTG showed 3d Jd (two pair, Kings and Threes) and LOST (-$212.40 NET)

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Here is another interesting hand:

This guy was a donk, and I went with my read that he didn't have anything. Too bad he gets rewarded on the river. Booo.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

CO: $201.75
BTN: $205.25
Hero (SB): $207.20
BB: $167.80
UTG: $270.10

Pre-Flop: Qc Jh dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, BTN calls $2, Hero raises to $10, BB calls $8, BTN calls $8

Flop: ($30) 4h Qd 7d (3 Players)
Hero bets $22, BB folds, BTN calls $22

Turn: ($74) Tc (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $76, Hero raises to $175.20 and is All-In, BTN calls $97.25 and is All-In

River: ($420.50) Ac (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $420.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN showed Ad 4s (two pair, Aces and Fours) and WON $417.50 (+$212.25 NET)
Hero showed Qc Jh (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$205.25 NET)

Cheers!

November Results

2008-12-05T13:52:00.004-06:00

I know I'm a little late, but I've been feeling a little lazy lately.

As I mentioned in my last post, I tried out something new. I didn't do full ring (yuck) or Omaha. I moved down to 100NL and played super lag. I played just over 1000 hands playing about 35/28 or so and I did pretty good, winning about 7 buy-ins or so. And it was actually quite fun to play crazy like that. It is amazing how quickly people start to not give you credit for a hand. I won two 200BB stacks from people with AA when they couldn't believe that I had hand due to my crazy image. I haven't tried playing like that at 200NL yet, but I may give it a try.

November was a pretty decent month. I cleared just over a grand with rakeback included. It would have been a lot better if I wouldn't have played so poorly in tournaments for the month. Just in MTTs (and I don't play them all that often) I lost about a thousand. Yuck. I played two FTOPS events, so that was the big hit.

I played tournaments again on Wednesday night, but I only played four. I cashed in one, the $24+2 28k guaranteed on Full Tilt. I had a good stack throughout, and then with about 100 left, I lost most of my stack with AA vs KQo all-in pre-flop. Flop was King High all hearts, and I even had the Ace of Hearts. Turn was another King, and river was a Queen, just to rub it in.

Anyways, here are my November cash games results. I put in almost 16,000 hands, which is right around the most I've put in during a month.

Anyone else watch The Shield Series finale? Wow, what a great show. If you've never watch The Shield, go start at Season 1 and watch the whole series. Best. Show.On.TV.

Now that The Shield is done, my favorite show that is still on TV is Chuck, on at 7 PM CST on Monday's. This show is freaking hilarious, and if you were a kid in the 80's, you gotta love all the pop culture/video game stuff this show throws in there. Plus, he works at the "Nerd Herd" counter at a "Buy More" store, which is exactly like Best Buy except with the color green.

Cheers!

Tonight! The Shield Series Finale!!!

2008-11-25T16:18:00.004-06:00

Best show on Television, bar none. Well, tied for first with The Wire (I'm only through the first two seasons of The Wire).

I'm really looking forward to how the end of The Shield will play out. Will Vic die in a rain of bullets? Does he escape? The creator of The Shield has said that he hated how The Sopranos ended, so I expect a great ending tonight. Last week's episode was awesome. Him sitting in the room at ICE and confessing to everything was well done. Bravo!

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Poker has been brutal the last week. I guess it was expected though, with how well I had been running the last couple months. Now I am catching up on all the coolers and bad beats. I can't flop a set for the life of me, and Aces just haven't been coming my way much. KK and QQ have been running into AA way too often.

I'm thinking of moving down to 100NL for a little while and try out a new style. That or try Full Ring for a while. Or maybe play some HORSE?

I played tournaments last night, and only cashed in one. Guess which one? Yep, the PokerStars $10 Rebuy. I had a top 10 stack near the money bubble in this thing. I went out around 150th place with KQs versus ATo. I called a push by a guy who had pushed the 6 of 8 hands he had been at our table. WTF? I've never seen that strategy before.

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I did something last week that I haven't done in quite a while: read a book. I picked up the 3rd Option by Vince Flynn and whipped through it in less than a week. I picked up the next book in the Mitch Rapp series today, and plan on reading it over the holiday weekend. if you've ever read anything by Tom Clancy, I highly recommend the Minnesota native Vince Flynn. Highly entertaining books.

Cheers!

Happy Friday

2008-11-14T10:07:00.003-06:00

Ahhh Friday's. I like Friday's.

We're all headed to the Dr office today to get our flu shots. Except they now have a flu spray instead of a shot. I hate shots, so I think I'll try out this spray thing. I've been known to pass out when needles are involved. And it doesn't even have to be a shot for me. If I'm in the room when someone else gets a shot, I still get really queasy. So I'm going to lobby for all four of us to get the spray. What a wuss, huh?

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So I was going to make a post the other day about how much of a pathetic day of poker I had on Tuesday. I played a couple tournaments, including the FTOPS NL Turbo event. I cahsed in two of the five MTTs I played, but they were just baby cashes.

I cashed in the Pokerstars $10 rebuy (again) and the Pokerstars 50/50 MTT. I had a top 50 chip stack throughout the rebuy, but went card dead at the wrong time and ended up going out with TT vs QQ. I was doing good in the 50/50 until I got busted out with AK vs Q9s. Some big stack raised PF and I pushed from the BB with about 13 BBs and he snapped called.

The FTOPS was a total joke. I lost half my chip stack in the beginning when I held 99. Flop was 875 all diamonds. I didn't have a diamond. but some idiot called my flop c-bet with 44 and hit a 4 on the river. How he calls a c-bet on the flop with 44 is beyond me. A few orbits later I doubled up with AA vs KK. There was a king on the flop obviously, but the turn was an ace. Then I called a raise from a short stack and lost to his K5o. I eventually went out with J9s when I flopped a flush draw and an OESD and didn't hit.

Cash games that night were an equal joke. I won't bore you the details, but I only hit one set (against a short stack), didn't get AA, QQ, or JJ dealt at all, and got KK 4 times, but only won the blinds all four times.

BUT, I prevailed, and the last couple days have been really good. Actually, I think yesterday might have been my new "Best Day Ever"™!

The big uptick there is when I went from $200 to over $900 in the span of 10 minutes on one table. Here are the hands:

This one was against a solid regular.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BTN: $439.40
SB: $423.80
BB: $218.45
Hero (UTG): $200
CO: $226.15

Pre-Flop: Kc Kd dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, SB calls $6, BB calls $5

Flop: ($21) Ah 9d Kh (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $16, SB folds, BB raises to $48, Hero raises to $110, BB raises to $172, Hero raises to $193 and is All-In, BB calls $21

Turn: ($407) Qs (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($407) 9h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $407 Pot ($3 Rake) BB showed Qh Jh (a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-$200 NET)
Hero showed Kc Kd (a full house, Kings full of Nines) and WON $404 (+$204 NET)

The next three are all against the same guy. Thankfully in the middle of the hands he doubled up against someone else, so I was able to take +500 off of him.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

UTG: $439.40
MP: $408.70
CO: $223.45
BTN: $408.95
Hero (SB): $399
BB: $217.15

Pre-Flop: Qd Jd dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP calls $2, 2 folds, Hero raises to $10, BB calls $8, MP calls $8

Flop: ($30) 9d 2s Qs (3 Players)
Hero bets $20, BB folds, MP calls $20

Turn: ($70) Qc (2 Players)
Hero bets $42, MP calls $42

River: ($154) 9s (2 Players)
Hero bets $119, MP calls $119

Results: $392 Pot ($3 Rake)
MP mucked Ac 2d (two pair, Queens and Nines) and LOST (-$191 NET)
Hero showed Qd Jd (a full house, Queens full of Nines) and WON $389 (+$198 NET)

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BB: $439.40
UTG: $217.70
MP: $223.45
CO: $408.95
Hero (BTN): $597
SB: $207.15

Pre-Flop: Ks Ac dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG calls $2, 2 folds, Hero raises to $10, 2 folds, UTG calls $8

Flop: ($23) Qd 3s 2h (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $15, UTG calls $15

Turn: ($53) Kd (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $38, UTG calls $38

River: ($129) 8d (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $85, UTG calls $85

Results: $299 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG mucked Kh 7s (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$148 NET)
Hero showed Ks Ac (a pair of Kings) and WON $296 (+$148 NET)

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

BB: $167.15
UTG: $200
BTN: $408.95
Hero (SB): $743

Pre-Flop: Kh Qc dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, Hero raises to $8, BB calls $6

Flop: ($16) Ts Ad Js (2 Players)
Hero bets $14, BB calls $14

Turn: ($44) 8h (2 Players)
Hero bets $36, BB raises to $72, Hero raises to $721 and is All-In, BB calls $73.15 and is All-In

River: ($334.30) Qs (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $334.30 Pot ($2 Rake)
BB showed Jd 8c (two pair, Jacks and Eights) and LOST (-$167.15 NET)
Hero showed Kh Qc (a straight, Ace high) and WON $332.30 (+$165.15 NET)

Not too shaby, huh?

Cheers!

A Full House And A Royal Flush

2008-11-11T10:37:00.003-06:00

A Full House is three of a kind and a pair, right? Well, in April of next year, my own home will be a Full House: Three Kids and Two Parents. My wife and I will officially be outnumbered, as Child #3 will be making an appearance some time around the end of April. Yikes!

We told the kids a couple weekends back and they both are really excited to have a new baby brother or sister. Of course, they are always arguing over what it will be. It's kind of cute actually. I wonder what they will really think when the baby arrives, since one of them is going to have to share a room, haha.

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I'm not sure if this is my first Royal Flush, but I think it is the first where I actually made some money off of it. Villain was an agro donk, and I pushed on the flop with my nut flush draw, and gutshot Royal draw. River was the beautiful ten of hearts. Woot

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

Hero (UTG): $213.35
CO: $147
BTN: $159.30
BB: $56

Pre-Flop: Jh Ah dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $6, CO folds, BTN calls $6, BB calls $4

Flop: ($18) Kh 2s Qh (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $14, BTN raises to $28, BB folds, Hero raises to $207.35 and is All-In, BTN calls $125.30 and is All-In

Turn: ($324.60) Qs (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($324.60) Th (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $324.60 Pot ($2 Rake) Hero showed Jh Ah (a Royal Flush) and WON $322.60 (+$163.30 NET)
BTN showed Ad Kc (two pair, Kings and Queens) and LOST (-$159.30 NET)

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So far this month, it has been really up and down. I don't think I am playing my best poker right now. I need to get back to being patient. I've ramped up the aggression a lot this month. The games are getting really agro lately, and I have been 4-betting a lot more (and it has actually worked most of the time). When you get more aggressive, variance also becomes a lot higher, as you can see from my monthly graph.

I plan on playing in tonight's FTOPS event, which is a turbo NL event. It should be fun!

Cheers!

October Results

2008-11-06T15:58:00.004-06:00

What's happening folks? Not much here. I'm getting over another cold, even though it's been in the 70's up here in Minnesota. What's up with that?

I've played a decent amount of poker lately, but just haven't felt like writing about it. October ended up being my best month ever in terms of cash game play. Actually, it was twice as good as my previous best month.

And, I finally got in more than 10,000 hands! I haven't done that since May or June!

I played in FTOPS Event #1 last night. I couldn't really get anything going. I had an average chip stack during hour 2, then ran into AA with QQ to knock me down. Then I built my way back up to average, but couldn't hit anything during hour 3. My best hand was QQ (Twice, the other time I was against another QQ and we chopped). I got AK once and 3-bet with it, and my c-bet got raised on a T high flop, so I had to let that go. I eventually got knocked out when I pushed my 10BB stack with pocket 4's and got called by JT. Huh? Oh well.

Nothing else to report from the MTT side of things. I haven't played too many of them. I went deep in the $10 PokerStars Rebuy a couple weeks back, but only made $150 from that when I busted around 40th place or so.

Cheers!

Nice Quick Session

2008-10-24T12:06:00.006-05:00

I meant to make a post yesterday describing how I didn't feel I was playing my best lately. I played a few tournaments on Wednesday night and played pretty awful, and I knew it. I was making some terrible calls and I don't think I got my money in ahead once. I just wasn't playing very patient, and I think I might have been a little bit on tilt.

But last night I sat down for a quick session and I crushed.

If it wasn't for the following hand, I would have won over $1,300 in 30 minutes.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

UTG: $311.55
CO: $280.20
BTN: $400
Hero (SB): $418.80
BB: $233.15

Pre-Flop: 2c 2s dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, CO calls $2, BTN folds, Hero calls $1, BB raises to $12, CO calls $10, Hero calls $10

Flop: ($36) 2h 4d Qh (3 Players)
Hero checks, BB checks, CO checks

Turn: ($36) Qs (3 Players)
Hero bets $32, BB calls $32, CO calls $32

River: ($132) 7h 3 Players)
Hero bets $96, BB folds, CO raises to $192, Hero raises to $288, CO calls $44.20 and is All-In

Results: $604.40 Pot ($3 Rake)
CO showed 7d 7c (a full house, Sevens full of Queens) and WON $601.40 (+$321.20 NET)
Hero showed 2c 2s (a full house, Twos full of Queens) and LOST (-$280.20 NET)

So I go for the check-raise on the flop, but no one bets. Then I lead out almost full pot on the turn, and this idiot thinks that his 7's are probably good. Bah!!

Still, not bad for a half an hour. here is one of the big hands. Bet bet bet :)

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BB: $279.45
Hero (UTG): $248.40
CO: $226.25
BTN: $182.50
SB: $828.95

Pre-Flop: 9s 7s dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $7, CO calls $7, 3 folds

Flop: ($17) 9h 7d 5d (2 Players)
Hero bets $16, CO calls $16

Turn: ($49) 3h (2 Players)
Hero bets $46, CO calls $46

River: ($141) 7h (2 Players)
Hero bets $179.40 and is All-In, CO calls $157.25 and is All-In

Results: $455.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 9s 7s (a full house, Sevens full of Nines) and WON $452.50 (+$226.25 NET)
CO mucked Th Kh (a flush, King high) and LOST (-$226.25 NET)

I love that flop call. Thank you!

Cheers!

Canterbury Trip Report

2008-10-20T13:25:00.003-05:00

Friday I took the day off and headed up to Canterbury Park to play in their $300 Fall Classic Event. I've gone up there for one event the last three years now, and I was looking forward to my one live MTT of the year. I'm not sure why I look forward to it, because the structure in these are terrible. You start out with 4000 chips, blind levels are only 40 minutes long, and the first few blinds levels are 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 100/200 a25, 200/400 a50, 400/800 a100. Heck, by the time the 4th level starts, it's pretty much a pre-flop gambling game.

My starting table was pretty decent for a Canterbury event, but still bad none-the-less. I'd say the level of play in these things matches a $10 online tournament. There were a couple people at my starting table who were friends with Mike Schnieder (Schnieds) of Card Runners (Schnieds is considered one of the best limit players in the world). One of his friends at my table actually won the $200 tournament the day before for 21 grand. But all of them busted out by level 4.

I played pretty much flawless poker, but unfortunately, the cards didn't fall my way. I was pretty much spot on with all of my reads. The funny thing was that I was able to validate my reads, because everyone at my table loved to show their cards. Be it a bluff (Not many) or a strong made hand, these idiots would always show, lol.

Anyways, I hovered around the starting stack for the first 2 levels. In level 3 (100/200), I was down to about 3500 in chips, and 3-bet a looser player with JJ. I had him covered just barely, and he called with AKdd. The flop was all diamonds, and he flopped the nuts on me. So I'm down to 600 chips, and the next hand it folds to me in the SB. I look down and see the hammer and push em in. BB calls with AQ, but I river a 7 to win the 40/60. A few hands later I call an all-in from another shortie and double up with KQs vs JT and I get back up to the 3500 range.

After the first break, and into level 4 (100/200 a25), I find pocket Tens and 3-bet all-in for 3000 chips the same guy as my JJ hand. This time though, the guy directly behind me calls. And then the old dude in seat 10 calls too and the original raiser folds. The flop comes a perfect T84, and the other two guys get it in. Player directly behind me has AA, and old dude has 88. LOL. So I survive and triple up and now have a stack to play with.

Nothing too exciting happened the rest of level 4 (200/400 a50) and dwindled down to around 6500 in chips. Near the beginning of level 5, it folds to me in the SB and I find TT again. I raise it up, and the BB pushes his 5000 stack in. I call and he shows A9. Flop is 67x. Turn is an 8 and river is a 5 for the runner runner straight, and I'm down to 1500 in chips. Hooray. A few hands later It folds to me in late position and I push with K7s and get called by TT. Flop is a beautiful KJ7 and I flop two pair. Turn is a Ace. And yep, you guessed it, river is a Queen giving him runner-runner straight.

I didn't win one hand when I had the other guy covered. How pathetic is that.

And one more bad beat to share. When I got to Canterbury, I noticed some sweet smelling white smoke coming from under my hood. I was leaking anti-freeze, so instead of hanging around and playing cash games after I busted, I had to go spend 3+ hours waiting at a Ford dealership so they could fix my car so I could make the 90 mile trek back home.

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Online results sucked this weekend. I still won a few bucks, but I was way off in all-in EV. Every damn draw was hitting against me. Oh well, I suppose that if I am going to run like crap, it's still nice to come out with a small profit.

Cheers!

New York City Fun!

2008-10-16T15:25:00.007-05:00

Lots of "firsts" for me this past weekend. First time in New York City. First time seeing the Statue of Liberty. First time riding in a subway (2nd time if you consider the El in Chicago). First time on National TV. First time eating caviar.

I lived a pretty sheltered life growing up. My parents and I never took trips anywhere. We went to Disney World when I was 12 years old, but that was it. All of our other family vacations consisted of going up to a lake in the summer and fishing. Going to Disney World was my first plane ride. I wouldn't ride in a plane again until my senior year of college when a prospective employer flew me down from Fargo to Minneapolis. I have never been out of the USA. Actually, I take that back. I think we may have driven across the Canadian border up in the north shore of Lake Superior for 10 minutes once when we were kids, just so we could say we've been to Canada. Sad, huh?

Things have gotten better over the years, but I still haven't traveled much. If you don't count Wisconsin (and who does?), the only places I've been to East of the Mississippi are Florida and Chicago. So it's safe to say I was really excited about going to NYC this past weekend.

We flew in late Friday afternoon, and the excitement started right away. We hoped in a car at the airport and made it into Manhattan in what seemed like record time. If there was any open space anywhere on the road in front of us, our driver would take it. No one on the shoulder? No problem, it's wide enough to drive on. My wife didn't think too much of the drive in, but I thought it was fun.

Once we got into NYC, we met up with my wife's friend who we were staying with at a hotel near Madison Square Garden. We headed on down to Korea town, and we had an excellent meal at a place called Schoo Roo Mi. We ordered up some Korean BBQ, and it was delicious. We then got onto the subway and headed down to Times Square and wandered around, went into a few shops, and picked up dessert. I have to say, I thought there were a lot of people walking around in Vegas, but it's nothing compared to the amount of people out-and-about in NYC.

On Saturday we heading on down to Battery Park to wait in line for the Statue of Liberty tours. On our way there, we got off on the Wall Street subway station. It was like a ghost town down there. No cars, no people. It was strange. Every where else in Manhattan had tons and tons of people. You'd think that with all the mess going on with the market, people would maybe be working on the weekends, haha.

So we did tours of the Statue and Ellis Island. It was a beautiful day and perfect for touring these two areas. After this, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for Broadway Musical #1: Spamalot. For dinner, we ate a the Firebird Restaurant on 46th street. Firebird is fancy Russian place, and it was excellent. Their drink speciality is a martini called The Tsartini. It is made from Honey-infused Vodka, with a splash of lime juice and some cinnamon. Oh man, it was the best drink I've ever had. I had to have two! Along with that, I had the Firebird Blini for an appetizer. Blini is the Russian crepe, and you fill it with caviar and sour cream. This was the first time I've ever eaten caviar. I'm not sure that I am a big fan of caviar. It had a little bit too much of a fishy taste for my liking. For the main course, I had their Kulebiaka Iz Lososini, which is Salmon baked in a puff pastry on a bed of wilted spinach. It was most excellent. This place was awesome, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the area.

After dinner was Spamalot starring Clay Aiken! Other than the 6'10" guy sitting right in front of us, it was a great show. Even my wife, who had not seen the movie before, thought it was really good.

Sunday started off with brunch with my cousin at Pastis, a french bistro in the meat packing district. Apparently this area is the new trendy area of Manhattan, and my cousin told me that she wouldn't be surprised if we saw celebrities in there eating. Sure enough, we saw Philip Seymour Hoffman and then there was some famous designer guy, Isaac Mizrahi or something like that. After brunch, we walked through the shops of the Chelsea Market, which is located in an old Nabisco plant. Very cool.

The rest of the day, we just wondered around Manhattan, going through SoHo, Chinatown, and Little Italy. We ate lunch at a little corner Mexican place called La Esquina. Apparently Jennifer Anniston was there just a few hours after we were there. Later on in the afternoon, we had dessert at a nice Italian place in Little Italy.

We didn't have any plans for Sunday night, so we just took it easy and went and had Japanese food at a place called Shima in the East Village. I had a combo meal which included Sashimi and teriyaki among other things. This was just the 3rd time for me eating Sushi, and it excellent. I think salmon sushi is my favorite. Mmmmm, melts in your mouth.

Monday started out really early as we decided to get up and go see the Today show over at Rockefeller Plaza. We got there about 15 minutes before the start of the show, and was still able to get a good spot in the plaza. They didn't do too many segments outside, but it was still fun to experience it. I was on TV in the background about three separate times. I'll have to figure out how to get the show off of DVR and onto youtube or something like that. I also got to meet Lenny, the Today show super fan!

The rest of Monday morning/afternoon was spent around the Rockefeller plaza area. We went up to the top of the rock and did a tour of the NBC studios. They showed us the SNL stage, and wow, is it small. I didn't expect that. After that, we walked up to central park and did a quick carriage ride through the park (what a rip off. Those guys are a bunch of scammers).

Monday night was Broadway Musical #2: Phantom of the Opera. But first, we had dinner at John's Pizzeria, which was right across the street from the theater. The Pizzeria is located in an old church and very cool. The pizza was of course excellent, along with some Brooklyn Lager. Mmmmmm. the musical was pretty good. The seats were really comfortable at the Majestic, so that was nice. Act 1 of Phantom is better than Act 2 though. Maybe it had to do with me not recognizing many of the songs in Act 2. Oh well, it was still very good.

Tuesday was our last day, but we still had time before out 6 PM flight. We spent the morning at the Museum of Natural History and Central Park. here's a picture from Strawberry Fields.

For lunch, we went down to the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park off of 24th st. Apparently this place is really popular, and the food did not disappoint. One of the best burgers I've ever had.

So New York was really fun. I'm looking forward to going back some day soon. We had awesome weather every single day. We didn't see a cloud in the sky until Monday. You couldn't really ask for better. The food was excellent, the entertainment was excellent. Now if I could only figure out how to make my own Honey-infused vodka........

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As far as poker goes, I've played two quick sessions since I've been back, and have done pretty well, winning a couple buy-ins. Tomorrow, I am taking the day off to go play in a Canterbury Fall Classic Event up in Shakopee. Last year I busted out a couple tables short of the money. I plan on playing really aggressive early hoping to get a nice stack early on. Blinds start to go up really fast in these things, so getting a stack early in these things is important.

Cheers!

Vacation Tomorrow! And Some Poker Strategy (What?!!?)

2008-10-09T10:51:00.007-05:00

Wooooo, Vacation! I love vacations. I'm really looking forward to my first ever NYC trip tomorrow. We have tickets to see Spamalot on Saturday night, and Phantom of the Opera on Monday night. I'm a big fan of Musicals, so it should be fun.

Monday morning, we plan on going to Rockefeller Plaza and watch the Today show. We don't have any other real concrete plans right now, but I'm sure we'll take a boat tour of the Statue of Liberty and go to the WTC site, among other tourist attractions. I think we might go to the Museum of Natural History one day too.

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Poker started out real good at the beginning of the month, but it's been pretty much break even since.

Apparently A5 is the nuts these days.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BTN: $202
SB: $268
BB: $211.85
UTG: $194.70
Hero (MP): $218.55
CO: $279

Pre-Flop: Ad As dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, SB raises to $12, BB folds, Hero raises to $40, SB raises to $268 and is All-In, Hero calls $178.55 and is All-In

Flop: ($439.10) 3h 2c Js (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($439.10) 4h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($439.10) Ks (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $439.10 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed 5c Ah (a straight, Five high) and WON $436.10 (+$217.55 NET)
Hero showed Ad As a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$218.55 NET)

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

BTN: $98.20
SB: $119.20
BB: $100.00
UTG: $94.85
MP: $199.05
Hero (CO): $192.10

Pre-Flop: Kd Ks dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, MP folds, Hero raises to $4, BTN folds, SB raises to $20, BB folds, Hero raises to $50, SB raises to $119.20 and is All-In, Hero calls $69.20.

Flop: ($239.40) 2h 2d 4d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($239.40) 7h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($239.40) 3h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $239.40 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed 5h Ah (a flush, Ace high) and WON $236.40 (+$116.90 NET)
Hero showed Kd Ks a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$119.20 NET)

I tried 8 tabling the other day. Holy crap, I don't know how some of those Multitablers do it. I became a much worse poker player trying to play that many tables. And there are people who do 16 tables at a time!! I'm pretty sure that 6 tables is my max. And I just added two more tables to get to 8, and it was infinitely more difficult.

Time for some strategy! There are two pretty important skills that I've learned recently that I think have really improved my play. They may seem obvious to the advanced players out there, but I didn't really think about it much.

The first is betting on the river when you are out of position. I've learned that it is much much better to Bet/fold than it is to check/call with a marginal, yet good hand. There are a few reasons for this. One is that you get to control the size of the river bet. Another is you get to be the aggressor and make your opponent make the tough decision.

Here is an example. You raise from MP with AQo and get called by the button. Let's say that the button is a typical passive fish. The type of player that are all over the tables at 200NL and under. The flop comes Qh 9s 3h. You have TPTK. You bet 2/3 pot and he calls. Villain could have many different hands. A Queen with worse kicker, a 9, a flush draw, straight draw, gutshots, combos, whatever. They call your flop bet. Lets say that the turn is another 3. You lead out again and they call. Now lets say the river is an offsuit 8. That means JT got there. But villain could easily have a flush draw, a Queen, Pocket Tens, or something like that. If you check to them, you are giving them the initiative and letting them play correctly against you. They'll check behind some marginal hands that may have some showdown value that you beat and could have gotten some money from. They'll obviously bet out their big hands like full houses and straights. But they also could bet out with a busted flush draw. What do you do when the villain pots it on the river? Do you want to call a pot size bet there with just Top Pair? How many times have you seen it checked to the donk, and the donk pots it. Ya, a lot.

The better play is for you to bet out about half pot and fold to a raise. They will call with many hands that you beat, but if they have a monster, they will let you know and raise. A raise here from this type of player is super strong, and you can easily fold your Top Pair Top Kicker.

The second is betting the turn in position with a marginal hand that may have show down value. I've started to do this a little bit more too. Let's face it, people don't like to fold. Especially donks. Heck, even the really good LAG regulars don't like to fold. Tons and tons of floating going on in the 6 max world. But you have position, and position is king.

Let's say you raise T9s from the Cutoff. The Big Blind calls and it is heads up. The flop is Qh Ts 2h. You have middle pair. There are tons of draws out there. The BB checks and you fire out a standard continuation bet. They call.

Now the turn comes a blank and the BB checks again. What should you do? If you check behind, most players will fire out on that river with whatever they have. It could be anything. Top pair, a busted draw, a smaller pocket pair. What do you do with your middle pair?

The better play is to fire out that turn again with about a 1/2 to 2/3 pot bet. That's a nice size to charge draws if they are drawing. Heck, they may even fold a hand that has you beat like top pair crappy kicker. But the best thing about this bet, is that if they do call, what will they most likely do on the river? They will check, and you just got yourself to a cheap showdown with a hand that has some showdown value. Sure, you might be beat by top pair, but you kept the initiative and kept the pot small.

Have a good weekend!

September Results

2008-10-01T17:06:00.004-05:00

Ahhh, September comes to a close. That makes me sad, because September was my Best Month Ever™!! Even better than June, when I won the WSOP main event seat (Losing in the cash games that month brought me down a little)

I did pretty good in cash game, especially since I only played 6200 hands in 21 hours.

MTTs obviously rocked, with my two big cashes. Add that with some rakeback and a little bit playing Omaha, and I almost had a 5 figure month. I figure that I played maybe a total of 30 hours this month, so I like that hourly rate.

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I think that it is safe to say that I was a little burnt out on poker the last couple months. I haven't played much, and I haven't done much in the way of studying. But the last week or so, I've really gotten back into it. I've watched a ton of videos(and I've signed up over at DeucesCracked), and I have played every day so far this week. I really feel that I am on top of my game right now.

I had a nice little 25 minute session this morning, and I won two buy-ins. The big hand was against a mega-calling station. This guy would call two and three barrels with 3rd pair. So I go for the value shove on the river and get paid off. I don't know about you, but I usually fold Q4s to a pre-flop raise.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

Hero (SB): $214.50
BB: $316
UTG: $205.85
CO: $354.20
BTN: $99.90

Pre-Flop: Kc Qs dealt to Hero (SB)
3 folds, Hero raises to $7, BB calls $5

Flop: ($14) Qd 2h Ks (2 Players)
Hero bets $12, BB calls $12

Turn: ($38) Qh (2 Players)
Hero bets $29.50, BB calls $29.50

River: ($97) Ts (2 Players)
Hero bets $166 and is All-In, BB calls $166

Results: $429 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed Kc Qs (a full house, Queens full of Kings) and WON $426 (+$211.50 NET)
BB mucked Qc 4c (three of a kind, Queens) and LOST (-$214.50 NET)

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Tonight is the Wednesday, so that means The Mookie and lots of MTTs. I think I'll try some of those PokerStars Caribbean Adventure satellites. I don't think my wife would mind a vacation down there during the brutal cold we are going to have in January.

Cheers!

Fantasy Football Blahs

2008-09-29T14:12:00.003-05:00

Usually I'm really into Fantasy Football. I think that has a lot to do with me always having a good team and at the top of the leader board at the end of the year. This year, it's different. And I can blame Tom Brady for that.

I'm in two leagues this year. In the 8 person league (a league that also gives points per reception), I had the 8th pick in the draft. I went with Tom Brady. We all know how that one is working out. And because of that injury, it also screwed up my other league. This one is a 10 person league, and I had the 9th overall pick, and I grabbed Randy Moss. Moss is turning into the bust of the year.

When both of your first round players on your fantasy team are busts, it's hard to win the league.

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I played a decent amount of poker this weekend, getting in around 1500 hands. I pulled in a nice $600 profit. Not too many interesting hands to report.

I did change my Full Tilt layout though. I downloaded some custom cards and backgrounds, and I it makes it a lot easier to follow the action, especially when you multi-table. And it's pretty! Check it out.

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I don't say much about politics here, but damn, McCain picking Palin as his running mate sure is turning into a train wreck. I think I may actually watch the VP debate on Thursday just to see what she says. Just think how much different the presidential race would be right now if McCain had chosen Minnesota's own Tim Pawlenty.

And just for the record, I'm still undecided. But I can say, that if Jesse Ventura was running, I'd vote for him.

Cheers!

Mook Day!

2008-09-25T13:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was Wednesday, so that means Mook Day! I had a fairly decent, break even night playing MTTs. I played in 8, and I cashed in 3 of them. I made the final table in the Mookie, but went out in 9th when my 99 couldn't win the flip over AK.

I also cashed in the PokerStars $10 rebuy (duh!) and finished around 100th place. I got crippled when someone thought that J6s was a good hand to 3-bet push with ZERO fold equity. I had A6s, and of course a Jack comes on the flop. I seriously don't understand moves like that. When I get odds to call with any two cards, I'M GOING TO CALL WITH ANY TWO CARDS! J6s is going to behind 100% of my range there.

I also finished deep in the Full Tilt 50/50. I ended up bowing out in 19th place. I was crippled a few hands right before I busted when I finally saw a big pocket pair (TT) and was up against JJ.

Cash games were nice, but I basically won back what I lost on Tuesday night, lol.

One thing I noticed about my play between last night and Tuesday night, was that I didn't tilt at all Wednesday. Tuesday I did, and I think I figured out why. I was listening to music while playing last night. It had a really good effect on my play. I was in a zone, humming along to the tunes and everything was good. I will definitely have to fire up the itunes when playing from now on.

Since I've been a little lazy with the poker playing lately, I checked to see the status of my iron man promotion, and found out that I cannot qualify for any of the iron mans this month. Oops. I had been iron man for a good 18 months in a row until now. Oh well, not that big of a deal really. I'll maybe lose out on about $50 worth of FPP points.

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Speaking of music, I've been listening to a new band called Paramore a lot lately. For some reason, I've been really digging the rock bands with chick lead singers. They have a lot of really good, catchy tunes on their "Riot!" album.

If you like modern rock like Linkin Park, Seether, etc... you should check them out.

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Tonight is the premiere of Grey's Anatomy, and my wife is huge fan of the show so she invited a whole bunch of her girlfriends over to watch.

*sigh* I'm sure I'll be getting requests from the girls to bring out the Wii Fit and demonstrate Wii Fit Hula Hooping for them afterwards. I'll let you know how much I make in tips.

Cheers!

+EV Hours

2008-09-23T15:20:00.003-05:00

I was listening to a Cash Plays podcast the other day and Bart was talking about goals. He says that he doesn't set monetary goals, but sets goals of playing a certain amount of "+EV Hours". He says that if you set a monetary goal, it could possibly force you to play when the conditions are not ideal. If you are tired or tilting, or if the games are tough, it just doesn't make sense to play. More than likely, you'll end up losing money then.

I was reminded of that podcast this weekend when Sunday night came along. I hadn't played poker all weekend, and thought that I should sit down and play a little poker. But I was tired, and really didn't feel like playing. So why play? I shouldn't play just to "get in the hands". I should play when I'm feeling good and at the top of my game. I think that is why I like playing in the morning before going to work. I'll get up a little early, take a shower, make some coffee, and play a little poker before going to work. I'm rested and relaxed, with whole day ahead of me.

Usually Monday mornings are not the best conditions on the poker tables. It's early in the week, and most of the casual poker players don't play on Mondays. But this Monday morning, I was fortunate enough to find a table with a Mega-donk. A Mega-Donk from Italy even. That is one reason I like to play in the mornings, especially Friday and Saturday mornings. The Euro Fish come out in full force. Mornings for me, is late afternoon for them. No offense to you folks out there across the pond, but my ideal table would have players from Ireland, Norway, Italy, Germany, and any of the other European countries. They like to gamble, that is for sure.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any of this donks money because I had to leave for work. But, in one hand, he limps PF. Some other guy with about $400 in his stack raises to $10 and the donk calls. Flop is Ace high and donk leads out for $250 in the $20 pot. Other guy pushes, and it is only $100 more to call, but he folds. huh?

This morning was a little bit different in that I didn't find too many good Hold 'em tables. So I fired up a few 0.50/1.00 Pot Limit Omaha tables. I might have to start playing PLO a little more, because in about 20 minutes, I won two buy-ins.

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The family and I headed up to the Minnesota Renaissance Fair on Sunday. I hadn't been there in a while, but it was a lot of fun. The kids got to do a lot activities there. We did Rock Climbing, The bungee jumping trampoline, Self propelled giant swings, Jacob's Ladder, face painting, and mask making. Tons-o-fun. And of course, the good food.

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Add me to the camp that is really liking the new Metallica album. This album brings us back to the good 'ole days of some rifftastic Metallica music. If you've ever purchased a Metallica Album before, you should definitely check it out.

Cheers!

Ummmm, What's Happening?

2008-09-19T15:13:00.002-05:00

Thinking up titles to these blog posts is getting harder and harder every time.

Not too much happening in the world of the PokerFool. I've played a little bit lately, and have been doing pretty good. I played tournaments and cash games Wednesday night and did well in the cash games winning around $700 in 800 hands. Tournaments were another matter, and I only cashed in one out of the seven I played. I finished around 60th place in the Full Tilt 50/50. The beats in those tournaments were crazy. It didn't matter if I was ahead 80/20 or if it was close to a flip, I lost. I had people calling raises with Q3s and hitting runner runner flush. I'd flop two pair or better, and my opponent would go runner runner straight. It was unbelievable. But I can't complain much, as I think I am playing some good poker.

Here is a nice cash game hand from Wednesday night.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8120292069: Table godorichamp (6) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:20:58 ET - 2008/09/18
Seat 1: OMGitsPokerFool ($200)
Seat 2: Moose88a ($36.65)
Seat 4: canyoufeelit ($236.60)
Seat 5: crehate ($211.60)
Seat 6: Sleekest ($200)
Sleekest posts the small blind of $1
OMGitsPokerFool posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [5d] [5c]
Moose88a folds
canyoufeelit calls $2
crehate folds
Sleekest adds $1
Sleekest folds
OMGitsPokerFool checks
*** FLOP *** [9h] [3d] [2d]
OMGitsPokerFool checks
canyoufeelit checks
*** TURN *** [9h] [3d] [2d] [5h]
OMGitsPokerFool bets $4
canyoufeelit calls $4
*** RIVER *** [9h] [3d] [2d] [5h] [3s]
OMGitsPokerFool bets $194, and is all in
canyoufeelit has 15 seconds left to act
canyoufeelit has requested TIME
canyoufeelit calls $194
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OMGitsPokerFool shows [5d] [5c] a full house, Fives full of Threes
canyoufeelit mucks
OMGitsPokerFool wins the pot ($398) with a full house, Fives full of Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $401 | Rake $3
Board: [9h 3d 2d 5h 3s]
Seat 1: OMGitsPokerFool (big blind) showed [5d 5c] and won ($398) with a full house, Fives full of Threes
Seat 2: Moose88a didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: canyoufeelit mucked [2c] [2s] - a full house, Twos full of Threes
Seat 5: crehate (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Sleekest (small blind) folded before the Flop

This guy was a calling station donk, and I knew he'd call with for sure a 3, and even a 9. I didn't put him on 22, that is for sure. I figure, that if there is a 10% chance he'll call a $200 bet, I make $20. If he calls a pot size bet ($13) 25% of the time, I make only $4.25. Makes sense to try the 'ole overbet for value play.

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

In other news, the wife and I are planning a trip out to New York City October 10th - 14th. I'm looking forward to it, since I have never been to NYC. My wife has a friend who is there for work, so we are going to stay with her in a hotel right near Madison Square Garden (And on the dime of a former employer of mine, woot!)

I also have a cousin who lives very near there. My cousin and her husband do some really interesting work, so I'm interested to see how they live out there. My cousin is a "Food Designer". Basically, she sets up food displays so that pictures can be taken of it to put in Women magazines Like Oprah and Good Housekeeping. And then she and her husband also have there own wallpaper business and supply wallpaper to a couple of the nice hotels in NYC. He also used to be the guy who designed all the window displays at FAO Schwartz. Cool!

Anyone out there in poker land live in Manhattan?

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

Around this time three years ago, I started this here blog. So Happy 3rd Blogiversary to me. If you look down at the bottom of this page, you'll see that I have 15,367 Unique Daily visitors. LOL, that's only about 14 hits a day. I think some of you out there get 15,000 hits in one day! Of course, I have no idea how all that stuff works, and if it takes into account google reader visitors or not.

But anyways, thanks to my 14 readers out there. Hopefully I'm still writing three years from now.

Cheers!

When It Rains, It Pours

2008-09-08T14:36:00.006-05:00

I think it is safe to say that I am running at the extreme opposite of bad right now in Tournaments.

My wife had plans with the girls on Saturday night, so I got the kids in bed around 8:30 and decided to enter into my favorite tournaments, the $50 MTTs on PokerStars and Full Tilt. I wasn't in that much of mood to play poker, so I decided to keep it light, and I only played in those two , plus two satellites (When I play MTTs, I usually play in the $26 and $10 rebuys too).
Well, I ended up doing great in both $50's, and I finished in 4th place at the Stars one, and 24th in the Full Tilt one!

Here's a recap:

I hung around the starting chip stack of 3000 for the first hour plus. Then on hand #84 with blinds at 75/150 I doubled up with Kings. I just called a PF raise, and then check raised the J98 with two diamonds flop and guy called with AQo. Suckout #1 at hand 122. AJ vs AK, Jack on the river. That gave me an above average chip stack.

A few hands later, I called a min-raise from the Big Blind with 6d 5d versus another big stack. Effective stacks were 50 big blinds, and I don't fold to min-raises PF when that deep and I'm in the Big Blind. Flop was Kd 3d Jh giving me a flush draw. He through out a pot size bet on the flop, but I called anyways. Turn was the 8d giving me a flush. This time I led out, betting just enough to leave me with about a 3/4 pot push on the river if he called. He did call, and the river was a blank. I pushed, but he folded after some time. He said he folded Aces. When do people min-raise PF with aces when you have greater than 50 BBs? I don't get it. That gave me the biggest stack at the table, and I was near the top of the leader board.

An orbit or so later, I got it all-in against the same guy PF with Aces versus Queens. My Aces held up, and I now had a huge stack. That pot was for 80 BBs at the 150/300 level. I raised from Early position, and he 3-bet huge pretty much committing himself. I pushed and he called with those Queens. He could have easily 3-bet half the amount and maybe saved himself some chips.

I then turned on aggressive big stack mode, and bullied everyone at the table. I stole and stole and stole. It was great. I knocked out a short stack with TT vs AK. I won another huge pot when I called a PF raise with KQ with three people seeing the flop. I flopped top pair with the 2nd Nut flush draw. I just called on the flop. I check-raised the turn all-in, and was actually behind when villain also had top pair, but hit his kicker on the turn. But I had a ton of outs, and I hit on the river. That gave me 66k chips with the next closest at my table with 34k.

I knocked out another short stack with AJ vs QQ. I was now up to 100k and in the top 5 or so (But 4 of the top 10 were at my table now). At hand #251 I got Aces again, and this time got it all-in PF versus Kings. I flopped a set, and I was now up to 150k in chips at the 1000/2000 level. Knocked out another short stack at hand #293 with QJs vs TT.

So we get down to three tables, and I am still near the top. But two hands happen back to back that knock me down to average. First one, I attempt to steal with A5o from the Cut-off. The aggressive BB pretty much min-raises, and I call. Flop was AJ9 with two clubs. He led out for 2/3 pot, and I ended up folding. I'm not sure if this was correct or not. I still had a good stack, so I didn't want to waste it all with Top pair/no kicker. Then the very next hand, I attempt to steal with K8. Player behind me quickly called. I mean, it was a "snap" call. Flop was 8 high, and I c-bet a good amount, and he snap called again. uggg. Turn was a 9. I'm not sure what I should have done here, but I checked. He bet a really really small amount (20,000 into a pot that had 92,000 in it). After his bet, he had 100k left in his stack (I had him covered, but only by 40,000 in chips). This smelled like a monster had (QQ+), so just folded. I was really contemplating calling, because I think I may have had enough implied odds to hit my 5 outer (another 8 or a King). But I wussed out and folded which left me with an average stack.

On hand #390, I made a move that I do occasionally against people who like to call too much with position. I raised PF with AK and the button, a pretty aggressive player, called. Flop came J92 rainbow and I checked with the intention of check-raising his bet. Sure enough , he bet, and I pushed and he quickly folded. I actually made this move a few times in this tournament, and it worked every time.

A few orbits later I knocked out a player with JJ vs 99, I flopped a set, and JJ was more than ok! Now I had 256k in chips at the 6000/1200 level. It folds to me in the SB and I raised 97o. The BB obviously called, and flop came 456 with two suits. I decided to employ the check-raise strategy again, and sure enough when I checked, BB bet and I pushed with my semi-bluff and he folded.

So we are down to seven people at this table (14 total), and I have 354k in chips. There was one really really good aggressive player who was stealing blinds left and right, and I decided to take a stand finally. I called her steal attempt with K9o, and when the flop came AT6 monotone ( I had the 9 of that suit), I decided to lead out for 2/3 pot. I felt that I could push her off a weak ace, but she raised and I folded. Uggg. weak.

I then had suckout #2 when I raised PF with Ah Kd from the CO and the button, who had me covered, pushed. I called and was up against Ks Kc. Flop came 5s 3s 2s. So now my As isn't an out, but I pick up three 4's for the wheel. Turn was a Ten, but the river was the beautiful 4h. JJok was railing me and he said that he woke the dog when he yelled for the 4 on the river and it came, lol. Thanks JJ!

I won a nice pot a little later when I called a PF raise from the aggressive annachung with KQ. Flop was K high and I got 2 streets of value versus her KJ. That gave me the chip lead for the tournament and few hand later, we were at the final table.

I relinquished the chip lead when I lost a hand to a short stack (A5o vs TT) and had to give up a few blind steals to pushes. The table was playing really aggressive. And people were seeing a lot of flops. Very rarely did blind steals work at this table. I had some trouble adjusting to that and played a lot more weak tight than I would have liked. I saw that big payday for 1st, and I was playing not to lose instead of to win. I should have put the pressure on the other bog stacks when I had the lead to do so. Of course, it didn't help that I went pretty much card dead at the final table. I picked up AA right near the beginning of the Final table, and KK a few orbits later(Which just won the blinds both times), but other than than, my best hands were ATo, A7 a few times, and 88. That's it. No other pocket pairs. I was dealt some shit hand with a two or three in it 26 of 71 hands at the final table. WTF?

Once we got down to five left, I was 3rd in chips with the stacks looking like this:
Seat 1: annachung (437578 in chips)
Seat 3: O0Brian0O (1226697 in chips)
Seat 4: S D Mikee B (157305 in chips)
Seat 5: LuparFiend (576682 in chips)
Seat 7: xXxRuGGeDxXx (1408738 in chips)

A few hands later, anna had knocked out Mikee in 5th, but I was now the short stack. I doubled up once with K5s vs QT. I stole a few more blinds, and at one point the stacks were looking like this:
Seat 1: annachung (767201 in chips)
Seat 3: O0Brian0O (822697 in chips)
Seat 5: LuparFiend (657364 in chips)
Seat 7: xXxRuGGeDxXx (1559738 in chips)

But with the blinds at 20k/40k, it didn't give much room to do anything. I finally went out in 4th place with this bustout hand. It folded to the SB, and he just completed. I look down and find A7 and push. He snap called with AJ, and I don't suckout. I still had an M of 7 when I busted, so I'm not sure that I had to push there with Ace rag. But, 4th place got me $5200! More than my win on Monday night! Wow!!

One hell of a run I'm on in tournaments lately. Finishing the Full Tilt 50/50 in 24th place made me $210, and then I won one of the satellites for another $100 that night. In my last 10 MTTs, I've cashed in 7 of them. Whoa!

And a big thanks to JJ for staying up till 4 AM and railing me Saturday night. I'm not sure what time he had to get up in the morning, but my kids woke me up at 7:30 on Sunday. Damn I'm tired.

Cheers!

Tournament Win!

2008-09-02T11:48:00.009-05:00

I played a bunch of tournaments last night, and did really really well. I entered into a total of six MTTs, and I cashed in four of them. The highlight was me taking down the $24+2, 11.5k guaranteed 6 max Knock Out tournament last night on Full Tilt.

This is the first MTT that I have won that had more than 200 people in it. It feels damn good. I'll try and recap it.

During the first couple levels, nothing too exciting happened. I built the starting 2000 chip stack up to 3000 over the first half hour by winning a bunch of small pots. I obviously like these 6 max tournaments since 6 max is my regular game over at the cash tables. Staying aggressive, stealing the blinds, and winning the small pots is really the way to go here. Most of the people who play these type of tournaments don't adjust properly to the smaller tables, so you can steal a lot more.

The first real interesting hand happened at the 30/60 level. There was one really bad player who had accumulated a really nice chip stack (10,000 after 20 minutes) when I got moved to this table. Over the next 15 minutes, he showed down some really weird hands and was playing almost every hand. He was also folding a lot on the river, so he must be drawing a lot. Anyways, he min-raises PF from MP. I 3-bet from the SB with AQs and he calls. Flop is 882 with two spades. I c-bet and he calls. Turn is another 8. I bet out again and he calls. The pot is now 6500, and I only have 1200 left. I thought for sure he would fold most hands here, as I am representing a big pocket pair. I figured the only think he could call with is TT or JJ. I figured a bigger pocket pair would have 4-bet PF. So the river comes an offsuit 9. I decide to fire in my last 1200 into the big pot, and he folds!!! He tells us during the next hand that he had KJ. ummmmmmmmm.......

So that hand gave me a nice 7700 stack at the 30/60 level. By the time the first break rolled around I was up to 8500. A few hands later I raised pocket 9's from UTG (50/100 level). The BB with a stack of 4500 calls. Flop is a perfect 966. I bet, he raises and I call. Turn is a 7. He bets, and I call. River is the last 9, giving me quads. he checks, I put him in for his last chips and he calls with 65s. About a half an hour later, I flop another set with 77. The dude limp/calls my PF raise, and then immediately pushes on the KJ7 flop. My hand holds, and I am now in the top 10 of chips.

Next came my one big suckout of the night. We're in the money I believe, with blinds at 120/240 a25. Everyone at the table has between 12,000 and 20,000. It folds to me on the button, and I raise up Q7s. Flop comes Ah Qc 7c giving me bottom two pair. I bet flop and he calls. Turn is a 6h and I bet again. This time he pushes. uh oh. His range is wide enough to where I'm pretty sure a call is the correct play. Unfortunately, he flips over AQ. But the river is another 7 giving me a boat. I had him covered, so if I would have lost, I still would have had some chips.

For the next hour, I didn't get involved in any other big hands. I stole enough to always keep me around the 25k-30k chip level, which was still a really good stack. I ended up folding pocket Jacks during the 500/1000 level. I had the biggest stack at this table with 32k. UTG with 21k raises it up. I 3-bet with my jacks, but the SB with 25k pushed. I lost 8000 chips, but I think I made the right play. You don't see people show up with anything other than QQ+ or AK here. No worries though, as I stole my way back up to 20k within a few orbits. The other aggressive player at my table had started to 3-bet a little bit more, and I was able to win a nice size pot by 4-betting AK during the 600/1200 level. I knocked out a short stack with J9s vs A4 to get up to 50k in chips.

I stole and stole, and stole some more. Pretty soon I had 70k in chips with the next closest at my table with 26k. I got it all in against someone with 21k with KK vs 77, but they turned a 7. Boooo. A few hands later though, my KK held up and I knocked out a short stack to put me back at 60k. Down to 3 tables, and a few hands in I win with AQ versus KK. My AJ held up against A9 to knock out the 13th place person and get down to 2 tables.

A few hands in, this huge hand happens. I'm in the SB with 163k at the 1500/3000 level. It folds to the Button with 130k, and he raises. I 3-bet, and he takes a while and decides to push. I decide to make the call, and it is a race. JJ vs AK. My JJ holds up, and I now have the chip lead with 10 to go.

I lost a pretty big pot a few hands later when I had pushed hard a flush draw and one over. I figured that my 12 outs twice plus fold equity would be a good play, but it turned out villain had a pair plus the nut flush draw. So I only had 3 outs and I missed. No worries, as I still had an above average chip stack. The final table bubble finally burst with this hand (That I wasn't involved in). All-in PF AA versus AQ. Flop was QQ4. River was the case Ace. Yikes!

For the first 25 minutes of the final table, no one was knocked out. A lot of stealing and re-stealing going on. There were 3 bigger stacks with above 250k in chips, and 3 stacks with less than 110k. But within the next 9 minutes (32 hands), I had knocked out every single one of them.

I knocked out the first guy when I raised with A8s and the short stack called from the BB. Flop was 932 with two of my suit. Short Stack pushed and I called and he turns over A7 and my hand holds.

Two hands later I knock out one of the bigger stacks with KK vs 88 all-in Pre-flop. This gave me the chip lead with 650k and the others with 520k, 99k, and 92k. I knocked out one of the shorties an orbit later with JTs vs 22, and then knocked out the other shortie with KJs vs 97s.

When heads up started, it was me with 901k and villain with 460k. She won the first big pot of heads up play, but a few hands later I sealed the deal. Villain raises and I call with pocket 4's. Flop comes a perfect 9c 4c 3h. I check, she bets, I check-raise, and we get it all-in. She has 66, and doesn't hit her two outer.

Woot!

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

As far as the other tournaments, I cashed in the Full Tilt 50/50, the Full Tilt $24+2 28k guaranteed, and the PokerStars $10 rebuy (again). I also came really close to cashing in the Full Tilt $10 Rebuy.

- In the 50/50, I lost a race with AK vs JJ
- In the 28k, I lost with AK vs KQ
- And in the $10 Rebuy, I finished in 71st place. I got my money in with AA vs 99 and KK. 9 on the flop, King on the river. Such a joke. I win that, and I am way above average.

Oh well, the poker gods made up for it in the Knock Out tournament.

I do have to say, I've been playing really well in Tournaments for the last couple months. Maybe I should start playing them more.

Cheers!

The Opposite Of Bad

2008-08-22T14:54:00.004-05:00

I don't want to say that I am running good and/or hot right now and jinx myself, so I will say that I am doing the opposite of bad right now. The past four days have seen me win at least a buy-in, and it feels pretty good to finally have some hands hold up. I'm actually running a little bit above expectations right now!! Say what?!?! Here is the monthly graph so far:

Though, it isn't too hard to make money when you have players making these type of plays on you:

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

SB: $200
BB: $191.60
UTG: $141.45
Hero (MP): $547.75
CO: $205
BTN: $279.15

Pre-Flop: Qd Qs dealt to Hero (MP) UTG raises to $4, Hero raises to $15, 4 folds, UTG calls $11

Flop: ($33) 6c 4s 6h (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $22, UTG raises to $126.45 and is All-In, Hero calls $104.45

Turn: ($285.90) Ac (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($285.90) Qc (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $285.90 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG showed 2s 2h (two pair, Sixes and Twos) and LOST (-$141.45 NET)
Hero showed Qd Qs (a full house, Queens full of Sixes) and WON $282.90 (+$141.45 NET)

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

Here is an interesting hand where I flop a set on a monotone and coordinated flop. Villain is a agro donk/spew monkey. What should I do on the turn here? Just keep on firing and be happy to get it all-in? Or would checking behind here ever be good?

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BB: $200
UTG: $160.95
MP: $237.50
Hero (CO): $461.60
BTN: $200
SB: $305.35

Pre-Flop: Jc Jh dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, MP calls $2, Hero raises to $9, BTN folds, SB calls $8, BB folds, MP calls $7

Flop: ($29) Qd Jd Ad (3 Players)
SB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $18, SB folds, MP calls $18

Turn: ($65) 7h (2 Players)
MP checks, Hero ??????

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

Here are two hands where I wondering if I should value bet the river here? Or am I only ever getting called by better hands?

Hand1: UTG was a donk running at 56/6/1.7 (VPIP/PFR/Agg). A raise on the flop or turn doesn't really make sense, because it is one of the situations where I am way ahead or way behind. I beat KJ, K8-K2 (doubtful he has one of these, but he is 56/6) and air. He doesn't call with Air. He fore sure calls with the other hands, but KJ is the only likely hand he can call with that I beat.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

SB: $200
BB: $124
UTG: $201.20
Hero (CO): $221.40
BTN: $44.70

Pre-Flop: Kh Qd dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG calls $2, Hero raises to $9, 3 folds, UTG calls $7

Flop: ($21) Kc 9h Kd (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $14, UTG raises to $28, Hero calls $14

Turn: ($77) Ad (2 Players) UTG bets $34, Hero calls $34

River: ($145) Tc (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero ???

Hand2: Villain is not a regular and he is running at 21/11/1.9 after 255 hands. I just call with AJo with position. If this was a regular LAG, I would 3-bet here, but not with someone like this.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

Hero (BTN): $223.95
SB: $207
BB: $215.10
UTG: $86
MP: $727.65
CO: $160.80

Pre-Flop: Ad Js dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, CO raises to $7, Hero calls $7, 2 folds

Flop: ($17) 8h Jh 4d (2 Players) CO bets $14, Hero calls $14

Turn: ($45) 2s (2 Players) CO bets $33, Hero calls $33

River: ($111) 7h (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero ?????

So the flush draw and straight draw hits, and it could definitely look like I have one of those draws. Would you bet here and maybe get value from KJ or QJ? Or just check behind?

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

And the Funny hand of the Day! I don't really have to say much about this hand. 4 handed, and this dude flops the nizzles, but never once bets. gj, nh, gg, wp.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players
BTN: $206.15
SB: $214.60
BB: $203
Hero (UTG): $203

Pre-Flop: 5h Ah dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $7, BTN calls $7, SB calls $6, BB calls $5

Flop: ($28) 8d Qc Qs (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($28) Jc (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($28) 3d (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Results: $28 Pot ($1.40 Rake)
BTN showed 7s 7c (two pair, Queens and Sevens) and LOST (-$7 NET)
SB showed Qh 8h (a full house, Queens full of Eights) and WON $26.60 (+$19.60 NET)
BB mucked 6c 8c (two pair, Queens and Eights) and LOST (-$7 NET)
Hero showed 5h Ah (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$7 NET)

Cheers!

Final Table

2008-08-20T18:42:00.002-05:00

Believe it or not, I've actually played some poker in the last week. And guess what? I've won some money. The majority of that was from making the final table of last Wednesday's $24+2 26k Guaranteed at Full Tilt. After 5 hours of play, I went out in 7th place and made a nice $950. I played my usual super tight ways, but I think I made a few mistakes at the end. With 7 left, I folded AJo from UTG. I'm not sure if this was a huge mistake, but it was the best hand I had seen in 4 orbits. I probably should have just run with, but the table was playing really aggressive. In the end, the Short stack got it all in against the BB, and his KJ won (Board showed AJxxx, so I would have won).

And then a few hands later, it folded to the super aggressive SB and he pushed. I looked down and saw A8s. The SB had a big stack and was playing extremely loose. just in the last few orbits, he had gone to showdown with power house hands such as Q2o and 62s. I decided to call my with my short stack (About an M of 5), and he had AK this time. Oh well, another one of those close calls. First place got over seven grand.

Cash game play has been ok. I'm up about $250 through 2200 hands for the month split between 100NL and 200NL. I'm really close to missing out on Iron Man at Full Tilt for the first time in 18 months, so I'm going to have to play every day this month to get that.

I might try and play the Mookie tonight. I played last week, and I was the Final Table bubble boy. I don't remember how I went out, but it was a suckout, hehe.

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

No, this isn't turning into a food blog, but I have to show you this:

I love this time of the year, because I start getting lots of vegetables from my garden. Everything that you see in this picture, except for the hamburger bun and ketchup and cheese, is home grown. The hamburger is from a cow on my in-laws farm. Then we have fried onions, tomatoes (red and yellow), Cucumbers, Sweet Corn, and even the beer (home brewed by yours truly). Looks good, doesn't it. MMMMMmmmmmmmm

Cheers!

Back from Texas

2008-08-12T14:11:00.007-05:00

I'm back from Texas after being there for 4 days to attend NI week. The conference was really good and I learned a lot. The weather was pretty hot on Monday and Wednesday, with it reaching into the hundreds. Tuesday was nice because it sprinkled a little bit and was cloudy.

The food in Austin was excellent. On Monday I ate at Roux, which used to be Jazz. I ate at Jazz when I was in Austin 8 years ago and had the best catfish that I've ever had. I was looking forward to going back there and getting it again, but ownership had changed. I had Red Fish on Asparagus and it was delicious.

Tuesday I ate at Moonshiners and had a steak. Again, it was very good. I forgot to take a picture until I was almost done with my steak. Mmmmmm.

And on Wednesday, I ate at Stubbs and had their BBQ Brisket with Fried Okra and Mashed Potatoes. I was expecting a pretty spicy BBQ sauce, but it was nice and mild.

I think I found a new favorite beer while I was down in Texas: Shiner Boch. Hopefully they sell it up here in Minnesota.

It's nice to be back though. Travel was pretty crappy. We got delayed in Rochester when our plane didn't arrive on time. Then, we finally got on the plane and we sat on the runaway for 25 minutes. I'm not sure what the heck happened, but in Rochester, they only have a total of about 10-15 commercial flights leave per day. It's not like we were in a long line to get on the runaway. All of that led to us missing our connecting flight in Chicago by 5 minutes. When we got to our drop off gate, the new plane was still there. We got off and hoofed it to the other wing, but it was gone when we got there. So we all got stand by tickets for the 9:55 flight (5 hours later). If we missed this one, it wouldn't be until noon the next day before we could get out of there. Luckily, we were able to get on the 9:55 flight. Thank God, because the Chicago Airport sucks.

On our way back home, we almost missed our connecting flight from Chicago back to Rochester because they changed the gate on us without saying anything over the loud speaker. I was in the bathroom when I heard the Final boarding call. WTF?

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

Because of my trip, and my lack of interest in poker lately, it had been 9 days with no poker. That is by far the longest time without playing poker in 3 years. I've played a little at 100NL since I've been back, but only about 800 hands. I'm up a huge $10! Of course, I'm already down a buy-in in EV, so my luck hasn't turned around yet. My three biggest losing hands are: Another KK loses to AA all-in PF; Over pair getting beat by donk who hits gutshot. 3-bet pot with TPTK and he having TP 3rd kicker. I'm going to stick it out at 100NL for a while.

Cheers!

Still Alive

2008-07-30T09:36:00.002-05:00

I should probably just go back and delete that post I made at the beginning of the month with my July goals. I'm not even close to achieving any of them. I haven't played much poker lately. I've played only 3 days in the last two weeks, with about 700 hands only.

Since my last post, I had crawled my way back to even, and then went on another downswing. I'm still running like crap, not getting any sets, and this month will be my worst month ever by a long shot. Combine that with being super busy this summer, and I just haven't felt like playing poker.

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

If any of you folks are down in Austin Tx, I'll be down there for work next week for NI Week. I'm flying in on Sunday and leaving Thursday morning. I have no idea how busy I'll be, but shoot me an e-mail/comment if you're in that area. I was hoping that there would be a ton of card rooms/Casinos in Austin, but apparently you can't play live Texas Hold 'em in Texas. WTF?

Cheers!

See, A Whiney Post Is All It Takes

2008-07-11T12:53:00.003-05:00

I hit the poker tables last night, and things ended up pretty good. Maybe I need to make more whining/bitching posts?

I played in 5 MTTs and cashed in 3 of them, and won about $700 at the cash game tables.

- Had a baby cash in the Full Tilt 50/50. I had right around an average stack and went out with 99 vs 22 when he flopped a set. WTF is someone calling PF with 22 and no where close to the correct odds to set mine. +$20. Yipee
- Busted out of the $26 26k guaranteed on FT when KK can't beat A5s and my KQs push gets called by the JackAce. -$26
Busted just before the money bubble in the Stars 50/50 when some donk open pushed from the SB with 97o. I called with KQ, hit a queen on the flop, but he hit his OESD on the river. -$55
- Won a satellite into the Sunday Warm-up ($215) in a $10 rebuy. Only $31 invested, so +$184
- Cashed again in the PokerStars $10 Rebuy. I seem to always cash this. It has to be above 50% lifetime ITM for me in this thing. This time, I played super tight, but in the end I started getting short and pushed with A8o from the CO, but the chip leader in the blinds woke up with AA. 89th out of 3024 and a $110 profit.

Add in the Cash game play, and I made just over $900. Woot

Here are a few interesting hands from the cash game play. I'd like to get your opinion on them. I think I could have gotten more value out of them

Hand 1: We're Deep and the PF raiser is a passive fish. His stats are about 50/5 after 700 or so hands, but he has been raising more the last couple orbits. He has been pretty passive post-flop.

Seat 1: UTG ( $128.10 )
Seat 2: MP( $496.90 )
Seat 3: CO ( $200.00 )
Seat 4: Button ( $366.90 )
Seat 5: HERO ( $457.35 ) <----- SB Seat 6: BB ( $200.00 ) <---- BB Dealt to Hero: [Qh] [Jh] UTG calls $2, MP raises to $8, 2 folds, HERO calls $7, UTG Calls $6

Flop ($26): [Th] [Ah] [Ks]
HERO checks, UTG checks, MP bets $22, HERO raises to $65, UTG folds, MP calls $43

Turn ($156): [2h]
HERO bets $110, MP calls $110

River ($376): [7h]
HERO ?????

How is my play so far? I have $274 left and he covers. Do I want to bet here? Or does the only hand that calls a river bet have the Kh in it for the nut flush? Should I check/call anything and let him try and bluff at it with a set or two pair, or a lower flush?

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

Hand 2: I raise from MP and get called by 3 people. Yuck. Flop is a good one for me though. CO is a LAG running at about 26/21 or so. I haven't seen him around much, so he must be new to this site/level.

Seat 1: Button ( $65.55 USD )
Seat 2: SB ( $478.25 USD ) <------ SB Seat 3: BB ( $203.00 USD ) <------ BB Seat 4: UTG ( $333.85 USD ) Seat 5: HERO ( $292.60 USD ) Seat 6: CO ( $275.00 USD ) Dealt to Hero: [Ah] [4h] 1 fold, HERO raises to $7, CO calls $7, 1 fold, SB calls $6, BB calls $5

Flop ($28): [2h] [Jc] [3h]
SB checks, BB checks, HERO bets $21, CO raises to $55, 2 folds, HERO calls $34

Turn ($138): [Th]
HERO checks, CO bets $80, HERO raises $230.60 and is all-in

I didn't 3-bet the flop, because I didn't think I had much fold equity (Or do I?) If I 3-bet and we get it all-in, I have at a minimum of 11 outs, and as many as 15, which is pretty much a coin flip. Do I have enough fold equity to make 3-betting the flop more +EV?

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

At What Point Do You Just Give Up?

2008-07-07T17:54:00.003-05:00

July 1 was good. July 2 - 7 was bad. Really bad

For the month, I am $1500 below Expected Value. That is in only 3200 hands. That equates to almost 12 ptBB/100. And that doesn't even count the AA vs smaller pocket pair that flopped a set hands that I have seen this month. I looked back, and from the beginning of May until now, I am $4,000 below expectation in 14,000 hands (7.2 ptBB/100).

Here are some of the big hands that I've lost recently:

KK loses AK All-in PF for 250BB pot
I Flop a straight with T8 and get it all-in on flop vs a set and lose a 250BB pot.
I make a thin river value bet with TPTK on a K4228 board, and donk has A2 in another 200BB pot.
In a Re-raised pot, I get AA all-in on a KQx flop vs JT. I have two of his outs, but he hits anyways. 200BB pot
AA vs QQ all-in PF and he hits a set and rivers quads. 200 BB pot
400BB Re-raised pot with AA and I lose to 66.

I've been dealt AA and KK 37 times and have lost $1,146 from them. The most I have won in one pot with them is 60 BBs when I got AA all-in PF with AQ. The next most I have won is 14BBs.

It's frustrating as hell. The only positive that I can think of through all of this, is that I haven't tilted. I kind of just shake my head and move on because I am expecting it right now.

Oh well. In the past, everytime I've made a whiney post like this, I've turned it around, so hopefully that will happen again. Eventually I'll start running around normal, right?

July 1: Success!

2008-07-02T13:54:00.003-05:00

July 1st is in the books, and I am starting off on the right track

1.5 hours, 734 hands, +$664.00

I had either 4 or 5 tables going, and I ran at 21.5/16.5. Pretty much where I want to be. I hit a couple sets, and ran pretty good. There was one big 400 BB hand that I lost, but there was nothing I can do about that. Details below.

I made a couple moves, but other than that, I played pretty straight forward poker.

Here is a hand against an UTG raiser where I have JJ in the blinds. I mix up my play between calling and 3-betting, but it was early, so I decided to take the passive route and just call.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

CO: $248
BTN: $208
Hero (SB): $198
BB: $73
UTG: $474.20
MP: $199.55

Pre-Flop: Jc Js dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to $7, 3 folds, Hero calls $6, BB folds

Flop: ($16) Ad Ac 8c (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $10, Hero calls $10

Turn: ($36) Tc (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $26, Hero raises to $60, UTG folds

Results: $88 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked Jc Js and WON $85 (+$42 NET)

I wanted to represent an Ace, so I just called on the flop with the intention of check-raising the turn. Turn brings the third club, and I think the only way he can call my raise is if he has AK, AQ, AT or KK with the Kc. Anyone have any comments about this hand? I didn't have much of a read on this guy, since I just started a new database, but he isn't labeled as a regular in my notes. If I remember correctly, he had TAGish type stats.

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

Here is an example of me firing the 2nd barrel and betting the scare card. Against most people, they will fold anything but two pair plus.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

SB: $47.85
BB: $79.55
UTG: $133
CO: $91
Hero (BTN): $204.40

Pre-Flop: Qd 7s dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, Hero raises to $7, SB folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15) 3d 5h 8c (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $10.50, BB calls $10.50

Turn: ($36) Ac (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $24, BB folds

Results: $36 Pot ($1.80 Rake)
Hero mucked Qd 7s and WON $34.20 (+$16.70 NET)

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

This guy was had pretty nitty stats (about 15/12), but he was 3 betting like crazy. This was the 4th time he 3-bet me, and every other time I had to fold. I finally decided to take a stand and call. I ended up hitting my set, but it was a monotone flop, uggg.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BB: $395.75
UTG: $204.25
CO: $86.60
BTN: $76
Hero (SB): $200

Pre-Flop: 3d 3c dealt to Hero (SB)
3 folds, Hero raises to $6, BB raises to $18, Hero calls $12

Flop: ($36) Qh 3h Jh (2 Players)
Hero bets $22, BB raises to $76, Hero raises to $182 and is All-In, BB calls $106

Turn: ($400) 7d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($400) Js (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $400 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB showed Kd Ah (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-$200 NET)
Hero showed 3d 3c (a full house, Threes full of Jacks) and WON $397 (+$197 NET)

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

And here is the big pot I lost. This was right after I had just won another stack with nut flush vs 2nd nut flush. Nothing I can do about this one. I had top set on the flop, and he had nut flush draw plus a gutshot. I'm actually surprised he had AQs here. I put him on AA, AK or maybe QQ because he was a super nit with stats of 9/6 and 3-bet stat of 1%. That is the definition of NIT.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BTN: $266
SB: $368
BB: $200
UTG: $400
Hero (MP): $408
CO: $307.90

Pre-Flop: Kd Kh dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, SB raises to $23, Hero calls $16

Flop: ($48) Tc Kc 9h (2 Players)
SB bets $30, Hero raises to $90, SB raises to $345 and is All-In, Hero calls $255

Turn: ($738) 6c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($738) 5c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $738 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed Qc Ac (a flush, Ace high) and WON $735 (+$367 NET)
Hero showed Kd Kh (three of a kind, Kings) and LOST (-$368 NET)

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

I should be able to get a good amount of hands again tonight, and I might play the mookie. But I'm so pumped to play cash games right now, I think I'll skip playing my Wednesday night MTTs.

One other thing: Hold 'em Manager is awesome. TONS better than PokerTracker 3. Not even close if you ask me. If you play anything other than 200NL 6 max at Full Tilt, you should pick it up.

Cheers!

July Goals

2008-07-01T11:58:00.002-05:00

I'm ready and rejuvenated to get back into the swing of things at the poker table in July. June saw me have my Best Month Ever™ due to the Blogger Tournament of Champions win. I think it will be a long time until I break that record. Unless I get another big tournament score, or move up to 1000NL (lol).

As far as everything else, it was probably a break even month. I didn't play many cash game NL Hold 'em hands at all. Maybe 3000 hands. I put in a decent amount of Omaha hands towards the end of the month, and did pretty good winning a few hundred bucks.

But now that we are in July, I decided to hit those 6 max tables in full force. I'm taking a page out of EurekaKid's blog and writing down my July Goals. I doubt I'll hit them, but it is worth a shot:

- Install, purchase, and set-up Hold 'em Manager (almost complete. This will be done today)
- Play 15,000 hands
- Make $2,500 for the month (4.2 ptbb/100 at 200NL)
- Watch 10 CardRunner videos
- Three blog posts per week
- Make two videos of my play and post them on Internet for people to watch and critique my play
- Get two coaching sessions in with Twelver
- If I have the time, make sure each of my sessions are at least an hour long (Meaning: No logging off after 15 minutes and one bad beat. I need to work on Tilt Control)
- Don't berate the donks (I've grown a habit of typing in "lol" after I lose to a bad beat. I have to stop doing that cause it can put me on tilt)
- If games aren't good at Full Tilt, play 100NL over at PokerStars
- Get down to Iowa and play in some live NL at least once.

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

I forgot to blog about my trip to Treasure Island last weekend. The wife and I stayed the night and met some friends, so I was able to get in a good 5 hours of live poker. Unfortunately, Minnesota does not allow NL to be played, so I had to play either limit or spread limit. I ended up playing 2-10 spread most of the night and ended up about $30 or so. I think I played pretty good. I probably lost some value on a few hands, but the boards were pretty scary, so I played them a little passively.

My biggest pot was with KK in one of the blinds. There was a raise to I think $6 and a couple callers. I bumped it up to $16 (max) and got 4 callers!! Then the flop came 976 with two spades. Yuck. I led out $10 and got called by all of them but one. Turn was an offsuit 4. So far so good. I bet out again and all three of them called. Yikes, how many of them are on flush draws? The river brought the Q of spades putting three spades out there. Great. Flush draw just hit. I checked, intending just to check/call to whomever hit their draw. But it checked around and my Kings were good. One of the guys showed 88 for the OESD. But I have no idea what the other two people had. Did they each have an 8 too? Maybe someone had a pair of 9's? Anyways, I was really surprised my KK was good there, and I dragged the $160 pot.

Towards the end of the night, I moved over to the 2-60 spread game. This game is the closest thing to NL that we have in Minnesota. But the game had died down and there were only 5 or 6 people playing by the time I got moved there (Apparently there were two groups of drunk buddies that left about the same time). I didn't play here long as 3 of the 4 other players there were pretty good. One bad old player busted 15 minutes after I got there, and then another young bad player sat down, but busted 15 minutes after that. I ended up losing about $50.

So all-in-all, I lost about $20 or so for the trip. It was fun though. During the previous times I've played live, I would get bored after a couple hours. Probably due to the slowness of the game. But I didn't get bored at all that night. That's a good sign. Maybe I'm getting better at live play.

Cheers!

MTT crash and burn

2008-06-27T13:24:00.002-05:00

For the first time in a couple weeks, I decided to put in a good night of playing MTTs. I played a total of 7 tournaments, and I cashed in 3 of them and came real close in two others.

For the first time, I played in the Big Daily Double tournaments, which are $75 tournaments that start at 9 PM CST. In the first one, I went out in the first orbit with AA vs TT all-in pre-flop. Someone at the table said they had folded a Ten, so the turn was a 1 outer. Nice way to start off the night, huh? I thought the $75 tournaments would attract better players, but that is obviously not the case when you have people willing to get it all-in PF in the first orbit with TT. Daily Double B went a lot better, but I busted just short of the money in 24th place. This one I lost with your standard coin flip when my AK couldn’t outrace 88. Is it common to call an all-in with 88 getting only 1.5:1 odds?

I also played the donkfest which is known as the $26 26k guaranteed. I never really got anything going in this one. I flopped trips with KQ on a QQ7 rainbow board. I bet out on the flop and some donk called with [Kh] [Jh]. Turn brought a 2nd heart and he called my turn bet. River was 3rd heart and he led out, I could really put him on a hand that beats me, but I just called anyway and saw his runner-runner flush. Not sure calling a flop bet with no pair, no draw, one overcard on a paired board is a good play. I’ll have to think about that one a bit.

I played the PokerStars $15+1.5 9 PM tournament and cashed in that one taking 46th place. I was running really well in this one, and had a decent chip stack through most of it. But the short stacks started to chip up against me and I ended up going out with T8s vs AJo. It folded to me on the button and I had to push with pretty much any two cards with an M of 2.5.

I also played both of the $10 rebuys. I cashed in the PokerStars one again (I think I cash in this thing 80% of the time). I ended the rebuy period with a really nice stack. Once I took the add-on, I think I was in the top 20 of chips. For a while I was cruising really nicely, and was at a really passive table. Then I got switched to a much more aggressive table. Add in being card dead, and I just couldn’t accumulate any more chips into my stack. I ended up going out in 76th place out of 1400+. I finally had to take a stand with QJs and got called again by AJo.

I also made it really deep in the FullTilt $10 rebuy and busted out just short of the cash. This one hurt, because I was 2nd in chips at my table and ran into a total cooler versus the table chip leader (who then went on to win the whole thing). I was sitting pretty with an M of 17.5 and an above average stack. Some short stack with 1/3 of my stack pushes all-in in middle position. I have AKo. I’m not sure if just calling, or pushing myself is a better play with people left to act behind me. But of course, the big stack who was left to act had AA and knocked us both out and went on to a massive chip lead. What did the short stack have and push with an M of 6? He had K5s.

And finally the 10PM $24+2 6 max Knock Out tournament. This one hurt even more because I had a commanding chip lead throughout THE WHOLE TOURNAMENT. When the money bubble burst, I had TWICE as many chips as 2nd place. I was hitting hands, picking off bluffs, and being really aggressive. I had my A game going. Down to 14 left, and I am still the chip leader. Then this hand happens:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6987914870: $11,500 KO Guarantee (52997896), Table 80 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:29:12 ET - 2008/06/27
Seat 1: Gazornick (34,043)
Seat 2: Darryn83 (36,005)
Seat 4: Caulaincourt (86,202)
Seat 5: KayOughtiK (3,366)
Seat 6: OMGitsPokerFool (151,636)
Gazornick antes 250
Darryn83 antes 250
Caulaincourt antes 250
KayOughtiK antes 250
OMGitsPokerFool antes 250
KayOughtiK posts the small blind of 1,000
OMGitsPokerFool posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [Ac Qs]
Gazornick folds
Darryn83 folds
Caulaincourt: wow no suck out
Caulaincourt folds
KayOughtiK raises to 3,116, and is all in
OMGitsPokerFool calls 1,116
KayOughtiK shows [Kd 4h]
OMGitsPokerFool shows [Ac Qs]
*** FLOP *** [6c Td 4c]
*** TURN *** [6c Td 4c] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [6c Td 4c 4s] [3s]
KayOughtiK shows three of a kind, Fours
OMGitsPokerFool shows a pair of Fours
KayOughtiK wins the pot (7,482) with three of a kind, Fours
dflo43 sits down
dflo43 adds 32,474
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7,482 Rake 0
Board: [6c Td 4c 4s 3s]
Seat 1: Gazornick folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Darryn83 folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Caulaincourt (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: KayOughtiK (small blind) showed [Kd 4h] and won (7,482) with three of a kind, Fours
Seat 6: OMGitsPokerFool (big blind) showed [Ac Qs] and lost with a pair of Fours

I’m sure you are wondering, “WTF? Big deal, some donk won a 40/60 when he barely had 1 BB left”. But this was the beginning of the end for me. At first glance, it looks like I only lost 3366 chips, but all of my luck must have been included in the pot, because this guy went on a tear. I couldn’t hit anything from here on out and this guy rode those 3366 chips all the way to 2nd place. A chip and a chair I guess.

A few orbits later, I got it all-in with another short stack and my AQ couldn’t beat his A3. Then I tried to steal with K5s and got called by an average stack. Flop was AK8. I c-bet and he pushed. Easy fold. A few hands later I raised with A7o and had to fold to resistance after the flop. Later, it folds to me in the SB, and I push and BB calls with A9 and I lose that 40/60. Now all of a sudden I have a below average stack.

I couldn’t steal anymore. I was getting called/3-bet/check-raised constantly. I couldn’t play back because I wasn’t hitting any flops. I finally went out when I pushed with 33 from the CO and an M of 5 and got snap called by A6 for half of his stack. Out in 12th place.

It’s kind of frustrating to make it so deep and to have nice ship stacks in so many tournaments in one night, but not even making a final table. How do people like lucko do it?

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

I think I have figured out the reason why my cash game results have been so terrible in the last two months. It’s because I’m not really studying the game much lately. I’m not watching any Cardrunner videos. I haven’t posted any hands online for discussion. I haven’t read any more poker books. I haven’t downloaded Hold ‘em Manager yet. Not sure why I haven’t done these things lately. Laziness? Probably. Maybe because it is summer time and there are so many other things to do. It’s extremely rare for us to get the kids in bed before 9 PM. Heck, we’re lucky if we get them in bed by 9:30. That doesn’t leave too much time for poker.

I’m also convinced the games have gotten a lot tougher the last couple months. Full Tilt 200NL is chock full of regular TAGs/LAGs now. There are a ton of players playing 200NL now that were at 400NL a few months ago. I think some of that has to do with the summer time and a lot of the recreational players aren’t playing right now. I also think another reason why the games are tougher has to do with the release of PokerTracker 3 and Hold ‘em Manager. With so many stats available to people (especially the PF 3-bet stats), everyone is getting better reads on people. And that is easily compounded by the fact you can datamine at Full Tilt. I think I may start playing more at PokerStars. Maybe I should try and get some money on BoDog?

Cheers!

Burned Out

2008-06-20T09:24:00.004-05:00

I hate to say it, but I think I'm getting a little burned out on 6 max NL Hold 'em. I didn't put in many hands in May, and I've put in even less this month. I looked at my PokerTracker numbers for the month, and I've only put in 2000 hands. I think it has to do with the weather being so nice and me being a little bit more tilty lately. For example, I played the other night, and I was up a quick $350, mainly due to a flopped straight versus top two pair for a 250 BB pot. But 20 minutes later it was all gone and I logged off. Total hands played that session: 250.

So I'm trying to figure out what to do between now and when 6 max gets back to being fun. I played full ring for the first time in a long time last night. I ended up even after about 30 minutes, but the play at 200NL full ring was absolutely terrible. I think I may play around with full ring for a while.

I also am thinking of playing more Omaha. I've always had fun donking it up at Omaha, so maybe I'll give that a few more shots. I'm even considering Sit-n-gos. Not sure what stakes I should play though. What stakes would you recommend to a 200NL player? $30 SNGs? $50?

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

Unfortunately, it looks like WSOP is out for me this year. Trying to plan a trip on short notice without kids is really difficult. I'm thinking of setting aside some of the $10,000 I won to go to the WSOP next year during blogger weekend and entering in one of the $2000 events. Plus, we are still planning on going to Vegas this fall. Also, I've been meaning to get some of these set up. It's about time, to tell you the truth.

3 Years

2008-06-12T13:28:00.006-05:00

3 years ago this week was when I first deposited money onto an online poker site. That site was PokerStars, and I deposited $50. A month or so earlier, I had gotten into poker from seeing it on TV and reading about the World Series of Poker. I started playing some play money games soon after that at PokerStars.

After a while, as I was learning the game, I got sick of playing with fake money. The players there wouldn't take it seriously, so it became harder to learn anything from playing. So I convinced myself to deposit $50 and play some of the microstakes. I told myself and my wife that that would be the only money I would deposit online. When it was gone, I'd move onto something else. I've stayed true to that, and other than another $50 deposit when I opened up my Neteller account, I haven't had to deposit another dime from my pocket.

I've come a long way. I started out playing nickel/dime limit Hold 'em and $5-6 Sit-n-gos. I came close to going busto a few times, but for the first couple months, my roll fluctuated between $25 and $125. Then I stated to take this game a little more seriously, studied, and improved my game.

It's funny looking back at my very first post made in August of 2005 when I started a journal over at Bet-the-pot.com. Here is the link.

I've come a long ways, and I would have to say that my poker playing has been pretty successful up to this point.

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

No concrete plans have been made yet as far as WSOP and Vegas. I've pretty much ruled out playing in the Main Event due to one big obstacle: vacation. I just started this new job at the beginning of the year, so I get crap for vacation. I burned up every hour on our trip to Florida, and as of right now, I have only 2 days of vacation built up. That won't cut it in order to play in the Main Event.

So right now we are looking into going one of the next two weekends and play in a Friday event. Our local airport has direct flights to Vegas on Thursdays and Sundays, but the Thursday flights don't get into Vegas until 2:30, which is too late to play in any Thursday events. I'm bummed about that, because the Thursday events would be perfect for me to play in. We'll see though.

Cheers!

ToC Recap

2008-06-08T16:04:00.007-05:00

EDIT: I removed the pokerxfactor replays, as it was screwing up the format of the blog

I just got done reading loretta8's recap, and I really like the hand history viewer he has on there, so I decided to copy it. (Edit, looks like pokerhandreplays isn't working right now, so I'm going to use pokerxfactors replayer)

Here we are in the first level and the 5th hand of the tournament. My stack was down 300 chips when I called a raise, then called a small re-raise PF with a small pocket pair. This small pocket pair hit the flop nicely :)

Level 2 had two interesting back-to-back hands. The first I just called a pre-flop raise with a good suited ace and I flopped the nut flush. Original raiser checked and I bet, but they folded. Next hand, and I call out of the BB with a suited connector. I flop the straight and get it in vs ChippyMcStacks who flopped a set. Total cooler for him.

This hand obivouly brought me up into the top 3 chipstacks, and I stayed up there until the final table. I stayed fairly active the next few levels, but I wasn't involved in any interesting hands. Then during the 8th level, I limp in with a small PP in EP.

This hand easily kept me near the top of the leader board. Once the antes came into play, my table got very aggressive, and I really tightened up. I still had a really big stack, but two of the three people with higher stacks were at my table. But this hand put me back on top.

I really really contemplated pushing here, but I decided to play it weak and flat call the min-3-bet, lol. If you read this blog regularly, you know that I despise min-bets, especially PF. Obviously that flop is the perfect flop, and I was freerolling against him.

Now with my bigger stack, I decided to start playing a little more aggressive. Well, with osu754 at your table, you will never be the most aggressive. The following hand I decided to make a move on him, which obviously didn't work, lol.

I call osu's raise out of the blinds with 44. OSU had been running about 40/30 since the antes kicked in. Flop came KQ8 and I checked raised him on the flop. He called, so I folded to his pot size bet on the turn. Oh well

Not soon after this, the final table bubble burst with me being in the middle of the pack. I was involved in another hand we he who does not fold. This time with me 3-betting PF with AK in position and him flatting the 3-bet. Flop was 9h 6h 5c. I checked behind with my whiffed AK. Turn was a 7 and I folded to his pot size bet.

I don't know, maybe I should have c-bet this flop. I didn't because osu had shown he doesn't like to fold. Oh well.

Then I folded the next 20 hands. Stole with T9o and 8000 chips at the 300/600 level. Then folded the next 8 hands and then stole with A8o.

Then came my big suckout of the night. osu raises from UTG, which means his range is slightly less than any two cards. I'd say about top 90% of hands. So I push my 12.5 BBs in. Much to my surprise, scottc25 also pushes. Oops. Then osu calls Scott's push!

I think I'm supposed to say "Boom". That brought me back to life and an average chip stack with 6 left. I then went back to folding ways. The next 21 hands, I attempted to steal with just two hands. I folded to a 3-bet by cmitch with A5o, and won the blinds with A9o. The only other good hand I had in that stretch was KQ, but I folded that to a bet and 3-bet in front of me.

The next hand that I was involved in was when I busted cmitch in 6th place. It was folded to me on the button (First time in about 30 orbits since that happened) and I opened pushed my 14 BB with QTs. cmitch called out of the BB with K9o, and I won the 45/55. After that hand, the stack sizes were:

oossuuu754 (33,366)
wwonka69 (12,822)
Loretta8 (57,579)
OMGitsPokerFool (24,072)
katiemother (10,161)

I dwindled down to 18,000 in chips in the 600/1200/150 level. Then I found AKo on the button and raised it up. osu came over the top and pushed and I made the easy call. He had AJo and I doubled up. This brought me up to even with loretta for the chip lead.

Two hands later I knocked out wwonka69 to burst the bubble when I held AK again, and him holding AQ. At that point, the chips stacks were:

oossuuu754 (16,233)
Loretta8 (35,810)
OMGitsPokerFool (54,013)
katiemother (31,944)

With the prize bubble burst, and me having the chip lead, I started playing my game and became a lot more aggressive. I stole as often as I could. For the most part, I got away with it. I did fold 77 to a 3-bet by kateimother though. Eventually, osu was knocked out in 4th place, and the three of us left were pretty much even in chips. I lost just over 1/5 of my stack when I attempted to steal with Q3o. katiemother call from the BB and the flop was JT3. I c-bet, but she called. We checked it down after that and she won the pot with AT.

A few minutes later I called a raise from the BB with QTo against loretta. Flop was T97 and I raised his c-bet and took down the pot.

The only other interesting hand from then on out was the one "move" I made during the whole final 3. I called a raise from katiemother with KJs and the flop came A98. I led out for 2/3 pot and she folded.

I didn't have to do anything else as loretta and katiemother got involved in two all-ins with loretta coming out on top both times and knocking out katiemother.

I'm pretty happy with how I played. I did play unusually tight, but that was more because of how my table was playing. For most of the tournament, at least three of the top 4 chip leaders were at my table, and playing very aggressive. I didn't get AA or KK at all during the whole thing, and got QQ once (Which lost to a short stacks Ax). The only other big pocket pair I got was TT, and I folded that PF to a bet and a push before the action got to me (One had JJ, and the other had TT, so I would have been drawing virtually dead). I was fortunate enough to hit some big hands early to build up a nice stack, and I went on a good run of cards for a brief stretch at the final table.

Congrats to loretta8, katiemother, and oossuuu754 for a great match. And a huge thanks to Alcanthang for setting all of this up. Oh, and if you're not playing poker over at Full Tilt, what the hell are you doing? Stop playing at Absolute and Ultimate Bet and get on over to Full Tilt. If you don't have an account there yet, go on over to raketherake, get a rakeback account, and profit. Look at the prizes they just gave away! They just gave away $40,000 during the BBT3!! Thanks Full Tilt!

Cheers!

Ummmmmm, Wow!

2008-06-07T21:23:00.002-05:00

I'm still kind of in shock.

Thanks to OhCaptain for railing me and everyone else who was there rooting me on.

I'll put up a nice recap post tomorrow.

Cheers!

Tournament of Champions Tomorrow

2008-06-06T10:22:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is the big Tournament of Champions Freeroll where four huge WSOP prizes will be given away. Two $12,000 WSOP Main Event Packages, and two $2,000 WSOP packages. I won Riverchasers* and the Mookie this month, so I will have a chance to win one of these packages. The field is really tough, so I'm going to have to be on my A game and hope that luck is on my side.

Other than that, I haven't played much poker at all the last week. I played the Big Game on Sunday night, getting knocked out in 19th place, while playing one cash game table. I lost three buy-ins at the 200NL tables. And then I played about 100 hands of 100NL on Wednesday night for a brief half an hour. That's it. I'm actually a little burnt out on poker right now. I have no desire to play. Of course, the coolers and bad beats I've had the past two weeks adds to my lack of motivation to play.

I'm half tempted to take the whole month of June off. But I've been in the Full Tilt Iron Man promotion for so long, that if I don't make at least the lowest Iron man level, I lose out on a lot of extra FPP points.

I considered making a move down to 100NL, but my brief time playing 100NL on Wednesday convinced me that it might not be a good idea. I actually think there are more donks at 200NL. Plus, I have good reads on all the regulars at 200NL. The 100NL tables were so nitty, it was unbelievable. I think there are more donks at 200NL than 100NL because when some recreational player who has played 1/2 live goes and deposits money online, he wants to play the same limit.

Anyways, I plan on playing some cash game tables tomorrow while the ToC is going on, so hopefully things will turn around.

Cheers!!

Mookie Win!

2008-05-22T00:39:00.004-05:00

With the cash games going so crappy the last two days (see graph below), it sure is nice to have a some tournament success. Wednesday's are my usual MTT night, so I fired my regular games. The 50/50, the 24k, FT & Stars $10 rebuys, and of course the Mookie. I cashed in the PokerStars $10 rebuy, and I won the Mookie.

I think I played some pretty good, solid poker. I had my fair share of starting hands (Though no Aces). Most of them held up. I doubled up off of BigSlickNut with QQ vs 77. I again had Queens a little while later hold up vs AQ and knocked out PokerPeaker. I knocked out a shortstacked Smokkee with AJ vs KQ.

When down to 2 tables, I got it all-in with Queens again against Pureprophet's 77, but he flopped a 7. I was 2nd in chips, so I still had a good stack. About 2 orbits later, I got Kings and got it all-in vs Loretta8's AJ. Ace on the flop,a nd that put me down to an average stack. But two hands later I doubled up with AK vs Anguila's AQ.

From there until it got down to 4 handed, I just stole stole stole. Once down to four, pvanharibo raised it up from the button. I found JJ, and with about 18 BBs, I decided to push. She called with AQs, and I won the race. That gave me the chip lead with over half of the chips. The very next hand, I knocked out the two short stacks (pvanharibo and anguila) with my T9s vs A8s vs J6. The flop had two Tens, and it was down to heads up between myself and pureprophet. He already had a TOC seat, so we played it out and about 6 hands later, I raised it up with KTs and he called. Flop was Ten high and I bet, and he pushed. I made the easy call, and he had K8 and pretty much drawing dead.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM

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Ugg, cash games have sucked the last two nights. I'm down 6 buy-ins in EV in just 700 hands. That's terrible. I can't win a pot at a cash game to save my life. My Won When Saw Flop and Won at Showdown numbers are under 30%.

But no more complaining. I won the Mook!

Cheers!

Ahhhhh, Poker

2008-05-21T09:56:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I'm going through one of those stretches where I don't feel like playing too much poker. And with that comes me not having much to say in this here poker blog.

BUT..... I think I am out of my funk. I wouldn't really call it a downswing though. I'm actually up a few bucks this month. Most of that has come from winning a bunch of FTOPS satellites. I have almost $700 in T Dollars right now. I won a $24 FTOPS Main event satellite and one other $300 satellite. Those things were really soft. And quite fun. I'm going to have start playing in more of them.

The cash games have been up and down. I started the month off with a nice little streak. But the next week and a half kind of sucked. I even played some 400NL when the games were really good. I would have had another $1,000 day if it wasn't for my Aces getting cracked by Kings in a $900 pot. We got it all-in on the Ten high flop and he turned a King. I'm pretty sure that was my biggest losing pot ever. It didn't hurt too bad though since 30 minutes earlier some donk gave me their $400 stack with K4 against my AA in a 3-bet pot, lol.

I played short session this morning and won $350 and I felt really really good. So I think I'll be putting Call of Duty back on the shelf and play some more poker instead for the rest of the month.

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

I installed PokerTracker 3 last night and played around with it for the first time. I have mixed feelings about it right now. The only positive I have seen so far is having Pre-flop 3-bet stats. Other than that, this thing is a HUGE resource hog. And there are some really annoying things I have noticed. For example, I can't figure out how to get a table to show up on my screen when it has been minimized. In PT2 and PAHud, you would have to double click the table in PAHud. I don't know how to do it in PT3. SUPER ANNOYING! I don't know, maybe there is an option in there somewhere about minimizing tables?

Another is filtering stats. I was updating my excel spreadsheet today, and it is a lot more button clicks to have one day show up in the stats window. In PT2 there was a Preferences tab, but not in PT3.

Table averages seem to be screwed up. In PT2/PAHud, I had VP$IP, PFR%, and Average pot showing up. But I can't find a stat for average pot in PT3.

I also like having a list up of all the tables I have open and their respective Table Averages. Then I can sort by VP$IP and get on the juicy tables. But I don't see this anywhere in PT3 (Though I haven't tried out the table selector in PT3, so maybe it is in there).

So is all that crap worth it to have 3-bet stats? Ehhh, I don't know yet.

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

I played in the Mookie last week, but busted out fairly early. I had 7 other MTTs going on at the time, and I think that is just a little too many (Ya think?) Anyways, there was a hand that I was involved in and another blogger felt that that play was so bad that he had to both berate me in the chat and on his blog.

I was dealt 99 in mid position with about 1500 in my stack (25/50 blinds). The blogger raises it from EP to 150. He had been really active so far, so I decided to 3-bet to 500 with my nines. But then the unknown and tight SB comes alive and basically min-4-bets to 1100. Hmm, I wonder what he has. Sure, I put in 1/3 of my stack PF, and would be getting 2:1 on my money, but I decided to fold and play on with my 20 BBs I had left instead of hoping it was a coinflip. Blogger thought that was really bad and berated me. I posted a question to the poker forum I frequent and everyone said that going with my read and folding was fine. Though they did say that I should have raised less (like to 400) Pre-Flop instead of 500. I agree with that.

(Edit: I found out that SB had KK)

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

American Idol Final is tonight. I think I am going to puke if David Archuleta wins. Everyone in my house does not like him. I'm a David Cook Fan, my wife really just notices Archie's annoyingly loud breathing, and my daughter was a huge Jason Castro fan, so she isn't interested anymore.

I think it is a given that Cook will be the star in the future from this season. I see him being as popular as Chris Daughtry. The only way Archuleta becomes popular is if he gets on the Disney channel and sells records to the Hannah Montana/High School Musical crowd. There is no way that someone over the age of 21 buys a David Archuleta album.

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

Oh Crap, I almost forgot. I turned in all of my Full Tilt Frequent Player points for a 32GB iPod touch. This thing is totally awesome. It's a laptop that fits in your pocket. Now if only I could play poker on this thing.......

Cheers!

Disney World!

2008-05-13T11:35:00.015-05:00

Our Florida Trip was something that we planned on really short notice. I had mentioned to my wife earlier in the year, that if I continue to make some decent money playing poker, I should withdraw a bunch of it and we should all go to Florida and Disney World. April rolled around, and we knew that if we were going to go, it would have to be soon. But I was in the midst of a pretty crappy downswing, so I was procrastinating on making the decision. As you have read, I made a huge turnaround and went on a super heater, so the weekend of April 19th, we decided to pull the trigger and leave for Florida the next weekend.

Other than extended time off during Christmas, this was my longest "vacation" I have taken since I graduated college. Every other vacation has only been long weekends, so it was really nice to get away from work for a whole week. This would also be the first big trip with the four of us, and my son's first plane ride. The kids did awesome on the plane ride and both had a really good time at the airport and on the plane. My son even took a good nap, so that was a plus.

The first two nights of our trip we decided to spend at Cocoa Beach. We had a tough time deciding between Cocoa Bach and Clearwater Beach, but ended up going the eastern route, mainly because it was only an hour from the airport, and half as expensive as the gulf coast. The weather both days were perfect and in the low 80's. We spent most of Sunday sitting on the beach and swimming in the pool. My daughter loved the ocean and finding sea shells. We also built a huge sand castle.

Unfortunately, we all got sunburned pretty bad. And that was even with two coating of sun screen. Everyone but James got some sunburn. He spent the prime sun time under the umbrellas taking a nap on the beach. Being of Scandinavian heritage and living in Minnesota, we weren't used to the sun. Especially since this past winter was brutal. Our skin hadn't seen sun in six months! We only went to one sit down restaurant there, Fishlips. I wasn't too impressed by the food. We ordered crab cakes for an appetizer, and one of them had shells in it! I'd give it a D+.

Monday was our travelling day and we heading off to Disney World where we would spend the next four nights. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside at Disney World. This resort was awesome, and I am really glad we chose this one instead of one of the All-Star resorts. A lot of the reviews we read before our trip complained about the torpedo toilets and the noise they make and the busing issues at this resort. But we didn't experience anything negative during our stay. It was nice and quiet and relaxing. Another plus was that the food was awesome. At the cafeteria in Riverside, they had a pasta station that made some really good food. Actually, the food everywhere at Disney World was awesome. I definitely give it an A.

Tuesday we spent at the Magic Kingdom. For lunch, we had our first character meal. This one was with the Pooh gang, and the kids had a blast. And of course, the food was great. They had some of the best salmon I've ever had. After lunch, it was back to the rides, but this time to some of the bigger rides. My daughter had no fear, and we went on Thunder Railroad and Splash Mountain. She didn't really like Splash Mountain (because we got wet right away), but she loved thunder railroad. She would have been happy going on just this ride the rest of the day. My son's favorite rides were the race cars and the dumbo ride.

Wednesday we started out at Animal Kingdom. There aren't a lot rides here for the young kids, so we only spent a half day here. During that time, we saw the Lion King and Pocahontas performances and went on the safari ride. That was pretty cool. We got to see some animals you don't get to see up at the Minnesota Zoo.

Here is video of me on the Expedition Everest Roller Coaster at the Animal Kingdom. What an awesome ride. It is definitely the best roller coaster I have ever been on. One great thing about Disney World at their really big rides, is that they have single rider lanes. I was able to go on this ride three times in 20 minutes. I was lucky enuogh to get the front row on the last ride and for this video. I was sitting next to a nice lady from Ireland. Behind us were her Mother and Aunt. They hadn't ridden on this yet, so I was telling them that I heard that there might be some broken tracks up ahead. They had great time.

Wednesday night we spent at Epcot. We really didn't do too much here since we didn't get there until around dinner time. We went on Soarin' (Isabella got to go twice) which was really cool and went to the Monsters Inc laugh factory.

Thursday started off early, as we had a character breakfast at Hollywood Studios. Of course, the food was excellent. Again, Hollywood studios doesn't have too many rides, so most of our time was spent at the performances (Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast). We did get to go on the Star Wars ride, so that was nice. I also was able to go on the Aerosmith Rock-n-Roll roller coaster. This one was pretty neat, but doesn't last very long. Maybe 1.5 minutes?

And we finished off our Disney World trip by spending the rest of Thursday back at the Magic Kingdom. It was open later, so we were there until after 10 PM. If your kids can handle one really late night, this is the way to go. The lines are really short and the crowds weren't everywhere. We got see a lot of characters and get a lot of pictures taken. We discovered the Barn Stormer roller coaster, and James was just tall enough to go on it. He loved it. We went on it at least 5 times.

I'm really looking forward to going back in the next couple years. I think we are going to have to make Disney World a bi-yearly trip. Especially if I keep making money playing poker. That's why I play poker. To make some extra money for some fun things that we wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

One last thing to add about Disney World: The people who decided to really market the Disney Princesses are frickin geniuses. It is unbelievable how many little girls are into them. I'm sure Disney is making a ton of money off of all of that. And being a Dad of a five year old, I sure am glad my daughter enjoys Disney Princess stuff over the other crap that is out there, like Hannah Montana, etc...

Can you tell we are all tired in the picture?

Cheers!

Riverchasers Win*

2008-05-09T08:43:00.008-05:00

At the last minute, I decided to sign up for the Riverchasers tournament last night. I figured I'd sit down with the wife on the couch and play while we watched Grey's Anatomy. I usually don't play the Thursday night Blogger tournament because of the earlier start time. The kids are never in bed by then, and last night was no different, as I didn't sit down and play much until 45 minutes had already passed.

I think I played pretty well and was pretty aggressive with steals and re-steals. The tables I was at was playing really really tight, so I got away with a lot of steals. The only person that stood up to me more than once was RasingCayne. Around the middle of the 2nd hour, I won a nice pot with AA vs KK. From there I hovered Between the top 3 and top 10 right up to the final table.

At the final table, I had a couple massive suckouts. I don't feel too bad, because I don't think I made any huge mistakes. When you raise with A5s and someone pushes all-in, and you are being offered 3:1 on your call, you have to call with pretty much any two cards.

The two big ones were my AJ vs AK all-in PF. Flop was KQx giving me just a gutshot. But the turn and river were both Jacks, giving me the pot. I also got it all-in vs CK31 with my A5s vs JJ. Flop was Jack high, but it gave me a gutshot, and I hit it on the river.

I put the * asterisk up in the title because when it got down to heads up, it was between Loretta8 and myself and we made a deal giving me the TOC seat, and Loretta8 the money. I'm ok with that because Loretta had a 3:2 chip lead (I know, not much), but I suck at heads up play. Plus, I won about the same amount on the cash tables last night as I shipped over to Loretta. So I think I came out ahead.

That's right folks, another cash game specialist is in the TOC. Woot!

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

April Results

After the brutal start to the month, I turned things around, and ended on a super duper hot streak. When the month was over for me, I had a new Best Month Ever . It feels pretty good to fight back from being down so much. Here is the cash game graph.

I think my MTTs were pretty much even, and then I'll make $500 or so in rakeback. Not too shaby!

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Disney World was awesome last week. I'm going to put together a bigger post with more pictures and a trip report maybe later tonight or this weekend. But in the meantime, here is a cute picture of the kids with Piglet at one of the character meals we went too.

Cheers!

We're Going to...

2008-04-22T14:01:00.006-05:00

Disney World!

We've been talking about planning a nice family vacation for this spring for quite a while. This past weekend, we finally decided to pull the trigger on a Walt Disney World vacation! For next week! Nothing like planning a week long vacation on short notice, huh?

And we're paying for it with poker profits. So Thank You poker!

We're all pretty excited. My Daughter is 5, and my Son is 2 and a half, so I think they both will have a lot of fun. We're planning on spending a few days at Cocoa Beach, and then spending 4 days at Disney World. It should be a lot of fun. I was at Disney World when I was a kid 20 years ago. And then 3 years ago, we went for one day while I was sent down to Florida for work. If anyone has any hints or tips for Disney World, please let me know.

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

I'm still running pretty good at the tables. I won another couple buy-ins this weekend.

After starting the month on a 12 buy-in downswing, I am now on a 18 buy-in upswing. Plus, I am still down in expected value! My stats have been really weird the last couple weeks during this upswing. I've been 3-betting less and flat calling more pre-flop. But I'm not really sure if I can pinpoint that as being key to my turn around. I think playing only 4 tables at once has something to do with it. I've gotten some pretty good reads on some of the regulars, and I've actually made some pretty good bluffs with those reads. Another strange thing with this upswing, is that I am way below average for flopping sets. I'd expect a big winning streak to co-incide with lots of sets, but that just isn't the case. Very very odd.

I can also safely say now that I am totally comfortable with the stakes I am playing at. I don't think I can ever move back down to 100NL now (Unless of course I go on a massive massive downswing). 100NL seems like pocket change to me now. Is that bad?

Cheers!

Getting Back on Track

2008-04-18T15:27:00.007-05:00

Ella's Birthday stuff went really well on Wednesday. Here is a picture that I just had to post because it is just too dang cute.

The big family party is tomorrow, so there is still lots of birthday fun to be had!

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

I finally pulled my cash games winning back into the positive the last two days. I've played just over 1100 hands and pull in just over $1,000. Woot!

I have to post the following hand, because I won a big pot against two donks with only Top Pair, 3rd Kicker.

This table was full of donks. The perfect table. Both of the guys who game me their stacks were terrible. When MP led out I knew that I was more than likely ahead. I figured he had a flush draw. I raised because I didn't want any of the other donks to come along. When the SB raised all-in, I didn't feel to great about it, but I knew draws, other one pair hands were in his range too. I was hoping they both had flush draws, thus discounting a bunch of outs. But I was happy to see one had a gutshot but the other guy had a pair plus a flush draw. I dodged a billion outs and won.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BTN: $197.00
SB: $220.70
BB: $212.85
UTG: $200.00
MP: $89.30
Hero (CO): $200.00

Pre-Flop: As Jd dealt to Hero (CO)
1 fold, MP calls $2, Hero raises to $9, Button Calls $9, SB calls $8, 1 fold, MP calls $7

Flop: ($38) Ac Ts 2c (4 Players)
SB checks, MP bets $38, Hero raises to $100, 1 fold, SB raises to $211.70 and is all-in, MP calls $42.30 and is all-in, Hero calls $91 ans is all-in

Turn: ($500.30) 7s (2 Players)

River: ($500.30) 7h (2 Players)

Results: $500.30 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed As Jd (Two Pair Aces and Sevens) and WON $497.30 (+$297.30 NET)
MP showed 5d 3d (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-$89.30 NET)
SB showed Tc 6c (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-$200.00 NET)

Have a good weekend! Cheers!

Happy Birthday Ella!

2008-04-16T14:23:00.004-05:00

My Daughter turns 5 today. Wow! Time has really flown by. It's hard to believe that she will be starting kindergarten in the fall.

Happy Birthday Ella!

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

I've made somewhat of a comeback the last couple days. I had a new "Best Day Ever" on Friday night where I won $1300 in just 650 hands. I didn't play much the rest of the weekend, and since Friday, I'm probably running just above average. My monthly graph is pretty gross looking. I was down over $2500 at one point, but now I am right back around even. With rakeback and some positive gains in tournaments, I'm probably right at $0 for the month. Ugg.

Last night's session (not on this graph) was brutal. I only played about 300 hands, but my won when saw flop percentage was 19%. It's usually around 42-43 %. I wasn't hitting nothing, and I was getting raised after the flop constantly.

I did play a few tournaments on Monday night. I played in the Hoy and was the first out when I 4-bet with AK and got it in versus KK and lost (That is my 5th AK vs KK hand this month, losing all 5). I busted in the PokerStars 50/50 when my KK ran into AA. I lost in FullTilt's 26k guarenteed when I raised with T9s, got min-raised by the donk behind me (duh, Aces). I called and flopped two pair. We got it all-in on the flop and his Aces went runner runner straight to beat me (board was 9TKQJ). And then I was doing really well in the FullTilt 50/50 with a top 10-20 stack most of the tournament. Then about 100 from the money I lost it all versus the donkey chip leader when I flopped top two pair and he called me down with a gutshot and hit on the river. I looked up this guys stats at officalpokerrankings.com, and the past two years, he is down over $70,000 playing tournaments at FullTilt. Standard for me in the realm of tournaments. Either a massive cooler or a massive suckout.

Here is Today's Sweet Hand of the Day

The only real hand I was worried about was 22. I contemplated 3-betting the flop and getting it in there, but there were only straight draws out there, so I just called. I'm really surprised that he had 98s.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BTN: $184.60
SB: $195.00
BB: $280.40
UTG: $228.00
Hero (MP): $203.00
CO: $129.05

Pre-Flop: 6h 8h dealt to Hero (MP)
1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, SB calls $6, BB Calls $5

Flop: ($21) 2s 8c 6d (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $14, SB raises to $41, Hero calls $27

Turn: ($103) 3d (2 Players)
SB bets $65 , Hero raises to $155 and is all-in , SB calls $82 and is all-in

River: ($168) Qc (2 Players)

Results: $397.00 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 6h 8h (Two Pair Eights and Sixes) and WON $394 (+$199.00 NET)
SB showed 9s 8s (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-$195.00 NET)

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Here is the Sour Hand of the Day.

This guy was a total donk. Nothing to say other than that.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BTN: $289.80
SB: $191.40
BB: $187.30
UTG: $321.40
Hero (CO): $200.00

Pre-Flop: Qd Jd dealt to Hero (CO)
1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 1 fold, SB calls $6, BB Calls $5

Flop: ($21) 5s 3h Js (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $15, SB folds, BB calls $15

Turn: ($51) Jc (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $36, BB calls $36

River: ($123) 2h (2 Players)
BB bets $129.30 and is all-in, Hero calls $129.30

Results: $381.60 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB showed Ah 4h (Straight five high) and WON $378.60 (+$191.30NET)
Hero showed Qd Jd (Three of a kind, Jacks) and LOST (-$187.30NET)

Have a good day!

Cheers!

No, I'm Not Dead

2008-04-08T13:44:00.004-05:00

I'll give you one guess as to why I haven't posted in a while. Yep, I'm running bad. Extremely bad. I'm in the midst of my worst downswing ever. Just this month alone, I am down $1500 in expectation. $1500!!! That is just in 4000 hands, so approximately 10 ptbb/100. That is huge.

It is beyond bad. I can handle being card dead, coolers, and bad beats. But when they all happen at once, it is brutal. I've already had two KK vs AA hands and AK vs KK hands. Plus one QQ vs AA hand.

I haven't played too many tournaments, but it's the same story there. Last week's Mookie was pretty brutal. I was in the top 10 and lost back to back hands with QQ (vs 99) and KK (vs AK). I then built my way back up, and with ten people left, I lost with TT vs 66 all-in PF for a top 3 stack. I did make the final table in a $75 KO tournament, but went out in 8th when someone called my all-in with pocket ducks (22).

I will post a Sweet Hand of the Day though.

Villain was an agro donk. I checked the turn, because I was pretty sure he would try and win the pot on the river. He must have thought I was bluffing, cause he called with Ace High.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BB: $425.95
UTG: $337
Hero (CO): $200
BTN: $149.60
SB: $202

Pre-Flop: Kd Kh dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG raises to $6, Hero raises to $21, 3 folds, UTG calls $15

Flop: ($45) Ks 8s Td (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $35, UTG calls $35

Turn: ($115) Kc (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: ($115) 6s (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $144 and is All-In, UTG calls $144

Results: $403 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG mucked Qd Ah (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$200 NET)
Hero showed Kd Kh (four of a kind, Kings) and WON $400 (+$200 NET)

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

You all may have asked yourself at one time, "Who is this PokerFool guy?" Here you go, a picture of the PokerFool.

Cheers!

Battle of the Bloggers at Full Tilt!

2008-03-27T21:09:00.001-05:00

Brought to you by the
Online Poker Room Full
Tilt Poker and the
Dead Money Poker Blog by
AlCantHang

Are you playing?

Cheers!

Ramble On

2008-03-26T13:34:00.004-05:00

Howdy there internets. How's it going?

Nothing too exciting going on in the land of the PokerFool. I haven't played many tournaments lately, and I am pretty much break even in the cash games since my last post. Actually, I am still right around even for the whole month.

I guess the most exciting poker news is that I am part of a coaching tree over at bet-the-pot. I'm coaching someone who just moved up to the 100NL games, and a very good regular at the 400NL Full Tilt games is coaching me. I've had one session of each, and I have to say, it has gone really well. We use a combination of Skype and Mikogo to chat over the internet and view each others desktop while one plays.

My coach has given me some really good advice so far in the one session we have had together, and I have started to really open up my game. The first two sessions since, I am running around 24/20 or so, and am up a couple buy-ins. I think I am still running bad, but I am playing some pretty good poker.

I do plan on puting in a decent amount of hands tonight to go along with the Mookie.

Here is a Sweet Hand of the Day for you.

This isn't how you want to play Aces.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

CO: $230.85
BTN: $200
SB: $201
BB: $346.45
Hero (UTG): $254.45

Pre-Flop: 9s Js dealt to Hero (UTG) Hero raises to $7, CO calls $7, 3 folds

Flop: ($17) Ts 8d 9d (2 Players) Hero bets $14, CO calls $14

Turn: ($45) 4s (2 Players) Hero bets $32, CO calls $32

River: ($109) 3s (2 Players) Hero bets $105, CO raises to $177.85 and is All-In, Hero calls $72.85

Results: $464.70 Pot ($3 Rake) CO showed As Ad (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$230.85 NET)
Hero showed 9s Js (a flush, Jack high) and WON $461.70 (+$230.85 NET)

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

And the Sour Hand of the Day

Nothing like being 3 handed and getting it all-in PF with KK against both player, one having AA, and the other AK. Seriously, could there be a bigger set-up hand?

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 3 Players

BTN: $200
SB: $379.05
Hero (BB): $227

Pre-Flop: Ks Kh dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN calls $2, SB raises to $8, Hero raises to $28, BTN raises to $88, SB raises to $379.05 and is All-In, Hero calls $199 and is All-In, BTN calls $112 and is All-In

Flop: ($654) Jc 3c Tc (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($654) 2s (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($654) Jd (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $654 Pot ($1 Rake) BTN showed As Ad (two pair, Aces and Jacks) and WON $599 (+$399 NET)
SB showed Kd Ac (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-$227 NET)
Hero showed Ks Kh (two pair, Kings and Jacks) and WON $54 (-$173 NET)

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

I leave you with the best youtube video ever. MISHEARD LYRICS - Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter

See you at the Mook!

Cheers

Best Day Ever!!

2008-03-17T10:22:00.005-05:00

Well, I obviously didn't win any tournaments on Wednesday night since I didn't post on Thursday. I played a total of 8 tournaments, and cashed in 3 of them (Including the Mookie). They were all baby cashes, with the best one only doubling my buy-in (The Stars $25+2.50). I was either knocked out by Aces (QQ vs AA, AK vs AA, etc...) or my dominating hand got rivered.

I had a decent stack in the Full Tilt 50/50. Then I lost half my stack with AK vs KJ all-in PF to a river jack, and then a half an hour later I lost AT vs KT all-in PF. I cashed in Pokerstars $3 rebuy. We were just in the money and some guy limps from EP. I push my 9 Big Blinds in with ATs and the limper insta-calls with KJo and wins. KJo is an insta-call for 8 big blinds deep in a tournament? That's news to me. I had a real nice stack in that PokerStars $25 tournament. I had about an average stack with about 150 left and lost half of it when I lost 99 vs J8 all-in PF (Dude pushed his J8s all-in with no fold equity after I had already raised PF). Then I busted with K8s vs J9o in a blind vs bond confrontation. Yippee for tournaments, ha!

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

Cash game play had been pretty brutal up until yesterday. After about 8000 hands, I was actually down for the month. Saturday I dropped $500, with the biggest hand being 190 BBs deep. I saw a free flop with 73o in the BB and flopped the full house on a 733 two diamond flop. I bet and got called by the donk who was UTG. Turn was an Ace. I bet and got called again. River was the Jack of diamonds. I bet, he raised, and I pushed (thinking he probably hit his flush), and he turned over JJ. Against a player with half a brain, I just call his river raise, but against this idiot, he'd play a flush the same way so I pushed. Uggg

But yesterday was the complete opposite. I had my best day ever, winning just over $1,200!

Here is Today's Sweet Hand of the Day

Button is a Slightly LAG guy running about 23/20 or so. I think he is getting really pissed off at me because I am getting hit in the face with the deck. I've 3-bet a few times the last couple orbits. One or two hands earlier I called his raise with 56s. Flop was 422 with two of my suit. He check/called my bet. Turn was 3 of clubs giving me the straight flush. He called my big turn bet. River was an Ace, and he took up all of his time bank before folding to my river bet. I showed my straight flush.

The BB is a short stack donk, and I'm not worried about what he has. I'm really surprised that the button called my 4-bet shove with 99. Oh well.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

BB: $58
UTG: $292.75
BTN: $240.80
Hero (SB): $361.15

Pre-Flop: Ks Ah dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, BTN raises to $7, Hero raises to $25, BB calls $23, BTN raises to $76, Hero raises to $361.15 and is All-In, BB calls $33 and is All-In, BTN calls $164.80 and is All-In

Flop: ($539.60) Kc 8s 2h (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($539.60) 3h (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($539.60) Tc (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $539.60 Pot ($2 Rake)
BB showed Qc Ac (Ace King high) and LOST (-$58 NET)
BTN showed 9c 9h (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-$240.80 NET)
Hero showed Ks Ah (a pair of Kings) and WON $537.60 (+$296.80 NET)

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

And here is the Sour Hand of the Day.

I'm not really sure what I should have done Pre-flop here with a bet, then a 3-bet before it even gets to me when I have QQ. 4-bet? I decided to just call. Flop is all unders and villain checks behind. Then turn is another low card and I lead out and he calls. I suppose I can be pretty certain that he has JJ, KK or AA here. What do you think?

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BTN: $275.30
Hero (SB): $209.25
BB: $280.40
UTG: $96.40
CO: $43.85

Pre-Flop: Qc Qd dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to $7, CO calls $7, BTN raises to $31, Hero calls $30, 3 folds

Flop: ($78) 6d 5h Th (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($78) 2c (2 Players)
Hero bets $45, BTN calls $45

River: ($168) 3h (2 Players)
Hero bets $133.25 and is All-In, BTN calls $133.25

Results: $434.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN showed Ks Kc (a pair of Kings) and WON $431.50 (+$222.25 NET)
Hero showed Qc Qd (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$209.25 NET)

Cheers!

I Rox 100NL, but Sux 200NL

2008-03-12T14:24:00.003-05:00

I went back through my last couple databases and took a look at my results for 100NL and 200NL for the last 11 months (The amount of time I've exclusively played at Full Tilt). For some reason I am crushing 100NL, but just barely making money at 200NL.

100NL: 90,000 hands running at 10.05 BB/100 (5.02 ptbb/100)
200NL: 48,000 hands running at 1.8 BB/100 (0.90 ptbb/100)

Whenever I see something like this, I think to myself, "Why am I wasting time playing 200NL when I can make more money playing 100NL?"

Add in the fact that I think I can play more tables comfortably at 100NL, and it skews it even more in favor of playing 100NL.

Anyways, I played like a total donkey the last couple days. Add in a few nasty beats and a massive cooler, and I'm down again at 200NL. But I've played a few sessions at 100NL and crushed, lol.

The massive cooler was my middle set vs top set vs flopped straight. Nice one. I lost KK vs AJ all-in PF. JJ vs TT all-in PF, etc... Bah

I'm planning on playing in the Mookie tonight, along with a bunch of other tournaments. And tonight will be the night I finally win one. You heard it here first. Expect to see a nice screen shot with PokerFool's name up top.

Also, if any of you 3 or 4 readers want to add me to IM, my contact name is: pokerfool (at) live (dot) com.

Cheers!

Feruary 2008 Results and Lifetime Graph

2008-03-07T10:32:00.009-06:00

February was another decent month. Not my best month ever, but close again. I was up $2500 at one point, but only finished at +$1800 or so. I only put in 12,000 cash game hands in the month, and when you figure that I put in half of that the first week, that is pretty pathetic :)

Grand Total: +$1,847.83

Cash Games: +1,247.40

100NL 6 max: +$398.60 (4001 hands @ 9.96 BB/100)
200NL 6 max: +$512.95 (7523 hands @ 3.41 BB/100)
400NL 6 max: +$410.40 (234 hands @ 43.85 BB/100)

MTTs/SNGs: +$168.83

Rakeback: +$387.00

Bonus: +$75.00

Here are the cash game graph and stats

Damn, I sure played Nitty at 200NL. I need to loosen up.

*************************************
I'm posting my lifetime graph because I recently passed another milestone: 30 G's. Not too shabby for a donkey, huh? I deposited my first money online back in June of 2005, so almost three years of playing online.

I described my play a few months back as being, "Break even with an occasional hot streak". Ain't that the truth? If you look at the last seven months , there are three distinct break even stretches, and two huge up swings. WTF? I'll take it I guess. I sure am glad there aren't any huge down swings.

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

And on a personal note, I am officially sick of the winter. Woke up this morning and it was -5 degrees outside. For cripes sake it's the middle of March!!!! Then I heard on the radio that we have had 100 straight days of having snow on the ground. I hate winters. Hate hate hate.

Let's hope it warms up soon.

Cheers!

Another Deep Run In The 50/50

2008-03-06T11:21:00.002-06:00

I made another deep run in the Full Tilt 50/50 tournament last night, this time finishing in 18th place and a profit of $305. So that is two top 18 finishes in this thing the last three times playing. Not too shabby. And just like the last time I went deep in this thing, I got absolutely zero for cards. Number of dealt hands = 355. Number of times dealt AA, KK or QQ? ZERO. I was only dealt JJ once! AK four times, and AQ once. How pathetic is that? But I still got 18th place. WTF? So in my two latest deep runs in the 50/50 and 725 hands, I have been dealt AA zero times, KK zero times, and QQ once. Hmmm, maybe that is the key to me doing good in these things?

This tournament was a little bit different than the last one though in that there were quite a few suckouts. Very rarely, when I was all-in PF, did the best hand win. I was even on the suckout dealing side a few times.

I doubled up a half hour in when I raised Q9s and got called by the Button. Flop was 644 with two of my suit and I c-bet. The Button called and the turn brought my flush. I checked, and like a good donk, he bet full pot. I pushed and it wasn't much left for him to call, so he called and showed 22. Nice.

During the 25/50 level, I had an interesting hand go down. I raise TT from MP and the agro donk button, plus both blinds call. Flop is Q83 rainbow, and both blinds check to me. I decide to check also and the agro donk checks behind. The turn brought another Queen. My read now, is that if either of the blinds have a queen (and they were looking to check-raise the flop), they will come to life right now, as they want to try and get something out of their trips. But they both check, so I decided that my TT is good and bet out. The Agro donk on the button now raises me 3x my bet amount. There is no way he has a queen, because if he did, he would have certainly bet the flop. So I pushed and my read was right and he folded. That hand brought my stack up to a healthy 5700 in chips at the 25/50 level.

I had built my stack up to 8300 at the 10/240 level when I pick up TT again and raise. The player immediately behind pushes for a total of 3700. This player had shown down some really bad hands lately (including J2o when he called a short stacks all-in for 10 BBs). So I made the call and he showed 99. Unfortunately the turn brought a 9, and instead of having a top 50 stack, I am now down below average.

From this point on until the end of the tournament, I was always a short stack and never getting back up to an average chip stack. But I stayed alive! I pushed pocket 6's with an M just below 4. I get called by the bigstack who has A2s. Board goes 43756 and he rivers the two outer to split. Suckout #1 for me as I beat AQ with my AJ when the board goes 2Q6KT and I go runner runner to stay alive. Suckout #2 for me comes when I push KQs with an M of 2.3 and get called by QQ. I flop an open-ended straight draw and hit on the turn to double up again. Then I double up again when I actually have the best hand AJ vs AT. My M actually got up to 5 at this point. Wow! I suckout again with A7 vs. AQ. Double up again with A9 vs. A8.

Then another interesting spot happened at the 1500/3000/400 level. My stack is at an ok level of 49k, which gives me an M of 6.7. I raise AJ from EP to 10,000. The big stack in the SB 3-bets to AJ. This guy had been really active and using his big stack well. The last 40 hands or so, he was running around 28/21, which is super lag for a full table late in a tournament. I ended up folding, but I wouldn't mind some opinions on this one. (Oh, and looking at the HH, I just noticed Hoyazo was railing me! Thanks Hoy!!)

I finally went out an orbit or so later. I had a stack of 34k at the 2000/4000/500 level. A MP player, who had 74k in his stack open pushed. I'm in the SB and look down and see AJ. I couldn't put him on a big hand like AA or KK as I think he'd just raise a normal amount there. Of course I am worried about AK or AQ, but I thought his play seemed strange, so I called. I fist-pumped when he flipped his QJ over. Dominated!! But the flop had a Queen, and I go home in 18th place. Looking back at this hand, I think I probably should have folded PF. I think I am well behind his range there. I probably can find a better spot to get my chips in and be the one pushing. I think the MTT pros out there would agree.

Oh well, live by the suckout, die by the suckout. Thanks to all who railed me!

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

I also played in a bunch of other tournaments last night. I almost made the money in the 28k, but went out when a guy limp/called my push of 11BBs with pocket 7's. I didn't fair well in the Mookie and went out when I raised AQ and got called in one spot. Flop is ace high and we get it in and player was playing tricky and had AK.

I also played in the $24+2 32k guaranteed and went out toward the end of hour two when a guy called me with K7s and flopped a flush. I played in both Daily Double tournaments and did fairly well in both. I lost in DD A when I raised with AQs and got called by the loose donk (My note said he played any suited A or K). Flop was Ten high with two of my suit, and I pushed. He called with AKo, no pair, no draw and I didn't hit. DD B ended with my TPTK going down to KTs when he rivered his flush.

Cash games were super swingy, but I managed to pull off $500 or so. I had some massive beats and one massively misplayed hand. I had my JJ cracked by pocket 4's when the dude called my big flop bet with his underpair and hit his 2-outer on the turn. Had another guy go runner-runner flush on me with K4s to my AK and TPTK. I raised PF and flopped two pair, and a monkey min-raises me, so I push. He had TP crap kicker and goes runner-runner Full house on me. Standard stuff. I was pretty happy with my play, though I played super nitty again ( I tend to do that when also playing MTTs). I think I made only a few mistakes, the biggest being me not getting away from AA against a nit who flopped an obvious set with 33.

Also, have any of you signed up for the BoDog blogger tournaments in the last week or so? I tried signing up before the Tuesday night game, but I got a page not found error when trying to sign up. I tried on both my desktop (Win XP) and laptop (Vista), and no luck. MaybeI'll try Firefox next.

Cheers!

Lots-O-Poker

2008-03-03T14:17:00.004-06:00

Lots of poker this weekend. Played in a home game, got in 2400 hands on the cash tables, and played in tournaments on Sunday night.

The weekend started off with a home game over at OhCaptain's house on Friday night. He had a whopping 26 people throwing in $10 each all cramming in his basement. One exciting thing about this home game, was that my wife played, which was her first ever poker tournament. I was a little worried that she wouldn't have fun, but I actually think she enjoyed herself. It was nice that I was seated at her starting table, along with another person we both know. She even limp/re-raised all-in with pocket Aces! And got called! And flopped a set! Nice hand! But in the end, she busted out around 23rd place or so. her next poker lesson will be that it is ok to raise post flop too.

I didn't fair much better, going out in 21st place or so. No exciting hands for me to report. I got AK once and pushed when I only had 5 BBs. I lost most of my chips pushing with Q9s with 7 BBs and getting called by KQ.

Go on over to OhCaptain's blog for a bigger recap. Good times!

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Cash games were down, then up for the weekend. Saturday was terrible, but I made most of it back on Sunday. Here is the graph.

Saturday saw two more of my sets go down in flames. i went back and looked at my February database, and from Feb 1st until Saturday, I flopped a total of 52 sets. 11 of those went down in flames. Can you believe that? Flopping sets is where you make the most of your money, and over 20% of mine went down in flames. I'd guess that the average is only 5%. ridiculous.

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I played in a few tournaments on Sunday night, including the Blogger Big game. I built up my stack by hitting some monster hands. I flopped a set of Kings and doubled up against some unknown crappy player. Won another nice pot with pocket aces and another flopped set versus lucko in a 3-bet pot (He didn't continue after the flop though). I got it all in against Jordan with my KK vs his AA and I flopped another set. I was in the top 10 for a while. Then I got moved to the super donkey agro table. I started at this table with about 19,000 in chips at the 200/400/50 level. Went complete card dead for about 4 orbits, but kept my stack when it was folded to my BB a few times. I was still in the top 10 I think. Then within 12 hands I was out.

- Blinds 300/600/75: I have 17k and raise K9o to 1800. Bone_Daddy pushes for 9.5K and I fold. I almost called because it smelled like a resteal. I would have been right cause he had 98o.
- 2 hands later I have 15k and raise 44 from LP. garthmeister pushed from the SB for 8.5k total. I fold.
- 3 hands later I have 13k and raise TT from EP. garthmeister again pushed from LP for 11k total. I folded (Mistake?)
- 5 hands later with blinds at 400/800/100, and I have 9k. Folds to me in the CO and I raise with K9o. chitwood on the button pushes ( I barely have him covered). I fold. I probably had odds to call this one. meh.
- Next hand I am down to 6k, which is good for an M of 3. I push from MP with T9o. Shabazz Jenkins (who has 8k in his stack), who've I've never heard of before, calls with.......... the powerful 33, and I can't win the coinflip.

That's right folks. I got knocked out of the big game because someone called an all-in with pocket 3's. That's a winning play right there folks!!! <---- sarcasm)

I palyed few more tournaments, including the 50/50's at Full Tilt and Stars. I couldn't get anything going in the full tilt one and lost to a rivered Ace high flush (him holding AKo) to my turned King high flush ( I had KQs). Then the stars one, I limp-reraised all-in from UTG (which is usually a strong play) with TT. I got called by A9o and obviously lost.

I barely cashed for $10 profit in the $24 26k guaranteed. I had about an average stack and 16 total BBs left in my stack. Some idot raise from MP and I push for 16 BBs with AQ. He calls with 88. Flop has two Queens, but he 4-flushes me by the river. Yipee!

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

Here is Today's Sweet Hand of the Day.

Here is a nice min-raise bluff by me against a LAG. I had a note on this guy that he has been caught floating before. So I represented that I had AA and min-4-bet the turn. Pretty nice, huh? I was proud of this one.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

SB: $197
BB: $260.80
Hero (UTG): $203
CO: $183.70
BTN: $250.60

Pre-Flop: 3h 3c dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, SB calls $6, BB folds

Flop: ($16) 9c 6d As (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $11, SB calls $11

Turn: ($38) 7s (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $21, SB raises to $45, Hero raises to $69, SB folds

Results: $128 Pot ($3 Rake) Hero mucked 3h 3c and WON $125 (+$62 NET)

And Today's Sour Hand of the Day.

This table was crazy with three mega donks. Two of the agro kind, and one calling station kind. At least 4 people saw every flop, so I decide to limp with my suited connector. I flop a pair plus a gutshot plus a flush draw. The donkey pushes and I call and miss my 17 outs twice. I'm 60/40 there versus an overpair, and he probably does this with any two cards the way he had been playing. I probably could of folded since I didn’t have anything invested in the pot. But I like monster draws.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BB: $170.05
Hero (UTG): $234.75
MP: $123.65
CO: $35.80
BTN: $197
SB: $208

Pre-Flop: 8d 9d dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero calls $2, MP raises to $4, 3 folds, BB calls $2, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($13) Td 9c 6d (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks, MP bets $119.65 and is All-In, BB folds, Hero calls $119.65

Turn: ($252.30) 3c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($252.30) 5s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $252.30 Pot ($3 Rake) Hero showed 8d 9d (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-$123.65 NET)
MP showed Ac Ah (a pair of Aces) and WON $249.30 (+$125.65 NET)

Have a good week! Cheers!

PAHud

2008-02-28T17:28:00.006-06:00

I've read a few posts the last couple weeks talking about PokerTracker and PAHud, so I wanted to show my set up and explain it to those interested.

Here is my current set-up for the 6 max tables at Full Tilt.

Link to a bigger version of this pic (Not sure why you cant click on it and see bigger version)

I based a lot this off of FruityPro's setup from CardRunners (sadly, it seems he doesn't play much poker any more these days). As you can see, I have a lot of information out there. One thing that I really like, and that I think is really important, is to color code the numbers. PAHud gives you the option to assign a color to ranges in each stats. For example, anyone who has a VP$IP less than 15% gets purple. Red is between 15% and 22%, Orange between 22% and 30%, Yellow between 30% and 40%, and Green above 40%.

The first row are the two most important, VP$IP (Voluntarily put Money in Pot) and PFR% (Pre-Flop Raise Percentage) I classify a NIT as being 16/13 and lower. A Standard good LAG at the stakes I play is 27/23 - 24/21. These are typically the players I like to stay away from. There are hardly any good LAGs at 100NL, and a few at 200NL. You will find some some so-called "LAGs" even looser than that, but I think once you start getting above 27/23, you turn into a LAGtard. I seek out the players that have VP$IP of greater than 40%. A table with at least two people with VP$IP above 40 is an awesome table.

Second row is Total Aggression Factor and Total Hands. A Total Aggression of less than 1.0 is a calling station. Greater than 4.0, and they are super aggressive. As far as total hands, I think once you have more than 1000 hands on someone, you can feel comfortable that the stats you are seeing are accurate.

Third row is Attempt to Steal Blinds and Fold BB to Steal. Someone who steals greater than 40%, I am going to 3-bet light from the Blinds. People with a number greater than 90% for the Fold BB to Steal are people I am stealing blinds from any time it is folded to me in the CO or button.

Fourth Row is Fold to Continuation Bet, and Fold to Flop Bet. These are pretty much the same thing, and the numbers are usually similar. I don't use these too much (instead, I look at the 6th row numbers in regards to the flop). Obviously, you don't want to be betting the flop with air when someone has one of these numbers less than about 30%

Fifth Row is Continuation Bet % and Bet River Percentage. I don't rely on these stats too much. If someone continuation bets greater than 85% of the time, I may be more apt to check-raise them. If a TAG has this stats at below 50%, you can be pretty certain that they have something when they continuation bet. And if someone has a high Bet river percentage (like above 40%), then I may call down (Or raise) lighter on the river, or go for a check-raise if I am out of position.

Sixth Row is Call Continuation Bet and Raise Continuation Bet. These two stats are pretty important, and I am always looking at these. Since I play a TAG game at 6 max, I am usually the Pre-flop raiser if I am involved in the pot. So it is really important to see what players are more than likely to call and/or raise my continuation bets. If either of these numbers are above 20%, I proceed with caution. If someone has a really high Call C-bet %, I like to look at the "Fold to Turn Bet" stat in the pop up window when hovering over their name. This can tell me how often they call a c-bet, and then fold to a 2nd barrel. I run into a lot of players like this. I guess you can call this "floating". I'm not a big fan of floating, but one way of combating constant floaters is to stay aggressive on the turn.

One other hint I have learned about these numbers, is that every once in a while, I will see a player who sixth row stats are zero, or very close to zero. What I have found, is that a lot of these players are the ones that will lead into you (or donk bet as some call it) quite a bit. If someone has a zero for these stats, but a pretty high aggression factor and they call your Pre-Flop Bet from the blinds, get ready to see a lead out donk bet. If they don't lead out, C-bet 100% of the time, and you will take it down.

Seventh Row is Won When Saw Flop Percentage, and BB/100. A good TAG/LAG regular will have this stat around 40%. If you see someone with above 50%, they are super duper aggressive. Almost maniacal. And with BB/100, it is always nice to see who the winners and losers are.

In the bottom left corner there are two numbers which you see (15.8 and 15.8 respectively). Those are my VP$IP and PFR% numbers at that particular table. I think it is really important to know what your stats are on that table to get a feel for what the other players may think about you. If you have only played one hand in the 20 hands you've been at the table, everyone there is going to think you are a NIT. When you are playing multiple tables, you may not realize how tight or loose you are playing at one table, so having this out there is important.

Upper left is the table stats. Average VP$IP, Average PFR%, and Average Pot. When searching for a table, I very rarely sit at a table with less than 30% for VP$IP. If I'm playing during slow times, I'll play at tables as low as 27%. But once that average gets down to 24 %, I'm leaving.

There you have it. If anyone would like a copy of my set-up file and import into their PAHud, just let me know. I'm really interested to hear what other people think about this set-up. Feel free to link me up so that I can get tons of feedback on this, since something like this can really improve everyones (and my) poker game.

I need to do some more research on Hold 'em Manager and the new Poker Tracker 3. One stat that I think is really relevant in these games is 3-bet percentage. Right now, I can't see that stat. But I know in Hold 'em Manager you can. I may give it a try once all the bugs are ironed out.

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

So last night, I sat down to play a little bit. I wasn't quite in the mood to play, but I wanted to get a nice picture of my set-up with me sitting at the table and some of my stats in the lower left hand corner. I played about 150 hands and lost three frickin buy-ins at 200NL. Awesome. I lost a huge pot where I had a huge draw and a lot of fold equity. He had the one and only hand (bottom set) that he can call with. And then I miss my draw. Then I lost AA vs AQ all-in on a KQx flop. Then lost QQ vs AA all-in PF against an agro LAG. Why do these LAGs always have a hand when I get one too and play back at them? I didn't play any more that night, even when I had a free hour. M-E-G-A T-I-L-T.

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I'm heading over to OhCaptain's house tonight for some home game fun. I haven't met OhCaptain yet, and it turns out he lives just a mile away. So that's pretty cool that another poker blogger lives so close to me. It will be fun to see the look on his face when the 7' 1", 320 lb PokerFool shows up at his door. I take up two spots at a poker table, just to let you know :)

Cheers!

Close, But No Cigar

2008-02-26T10:23:00.004-06:00

I took 16th place Saturday night in Full Tilt's $50+5, 50k guaranteed tournament this past weekend for a decent profit of $300. I was pretty pleased with how I played, but just couldn't catch any cards towards the end. In fact, in the 360 hands I played in this tournament, I was dealt AA zero times, KK zero times, QQ once, JJ twice, and TT zero times. I was dealt AK twice in the first hour, and then only saw it once after that. Pretty amazing if you ask me.

When I make it deep in a big tournament, I like to write up a pretty detailed recap, so here ya go.

I hovered around the starting chip stack of 2000 for the first hour and a half. About half way through the 2nd hour, during the 50/100 level, I busted a shorter stack with JJ vs 66 to get up to 5000 chips.

About 15 minutes later, during the 60/120 level, I saw a free flop with 87s. Flop was 69T and I flopped the nuts. The SB bet pot, and I called. Turn was a Q, and the SB bet pot again, and I called. the river was a blank 3, and this time he pushed, which was three times what was in the pot, and I made the easy call with the 3rd nuts. He had J9, and I was now the new table chip leader.

Then the most absurd hand that I have ever been in happened. Blinds were still 60/120 and I had 8000 in chips. There was one player at the table who had me covered. So I raise with Q8s in MP, and that idiot calls from the CO. Flop is K42 with two clubs. I continuation bet 3/4 pot and he calls. Turn is the 3 of diamonds. I fire a 2nd barrel, something that I very rarely do in Tournaments (but have been doing more of in the cash games), and he calls again. River is a 9. I was really close to firing a 3rd barrel, but I checked, and he checked behind. We flip over our cards and he has AJ of hearts. He called two bullets with no pair, no draw, and one over. These type of players make me confident that I am going to make a big score in a tournament sometime.

Anyways, I still had an average chip stack, so there was no need to panic. I remained aggressive, and continued to steal blinds with all sorts of hands like J5s, AJ, etc... I tried to steal with QT and called twoblackaces short stack all-in and beat his AJ during the 100/200 level.

Nothing happened for the next few levels, and I was now a short stack with a 4800 stack during the 200/400/50 level. I pushed in late position with A6 and was called by A2 and won that one to bring me back to an M of 7.

A few hands later, an interesting hand happened. A really tight player limps in MP. I find 99 in the CO and raise, and the tighty is the only caller. Flop is J52 with two hearts. He checks, I bet 3/4 pot and he pushes. Pot has 12,200 in it, and I have 4000 left. I decided to fold there, mainly because he was so tight. (My HUD had him at 5/3 for the last 40 hands. That means he had voluntarily put money in the pot just twice in 40 hands).
So that left me with only 4000 chips and an M of 4. It was during this time I found my best pocket pair of the night, QQ. But obviously everyone folded to my push.

A few orbits later, and I was still alive with 4300 chips at the 250/500 level. I found 99 on the button and it folded to me, so I pushed. The BB called with KT, and I won the coinflip!! Up to 9300 and an M of 8!

I won a pot a few orbits later in a Blind vs Blind battle where I just completed the SB with K9s. Flop was King high and I knocked out the BB who had K8. Blinds were up to 400/800/100 and I still had a comfortable M of 9.

My one suckout of the night came during the 600/1200/150 level. I had been obviously card dead, and had dwindled down to 12,000 in chips at a very aggressive table. The table chip leader (and 2nd in chips in the whole tournament) raised again from MP. My HUD stats had him running at 36/28 during the last 60 hands. WOW! I had seen him fold some of his open raises before, so I pushed my stack in from the BB with J8s. He took a while but finally called with A8 (huh?). I out flopped him and won a nice size pot.

I now had a decent sized stack where I could get back to being aggressive. I stole blinds with JT, A9, 66, 33, J3s, etc... and didn't get played back at once, which was really nice. I think this is one aspect of my game that has improved that last couple months, and that is staying alive and aggressive once the money bubble bursts.

During the 1200/2400/300 level, I had a stack of 30,000 and tried to steal with T9s from late position. I pushed my stack in and got called by the Big Blind who showed 88. I won the coinflip and got my stack back up to average for the first time in a while.

We got down to two tables, and I was sitting on a decent sized stack of 72k, which was a little above average, and good for 3rd in chips at my table. First hand at this table, and I stole the blinds with Q6o. Oh ya! Final table, here I come. A few hands later, I call a Min-raise from the BB with ATs. Flop is KK6, and it goes check/check. Turn is a Ten, and again it goes check/check. River is an 8, and I check/call a small half pot size bet. Dude has KK, lol.

I then make a button raise with A6 and fold to a raise by the BB. I then pick up JJ, and get the blinds again. Two hands later I find 99 UTG, and raise it up again. The same guy who 3-bet me in the A6 hand 3-bets again. I contemplate pushing, but decide that the best I can hope for is to be a coinflip. I have a decent sized stack still, so I fold. I posted this question over at 2=2, and they all agreed this was an easy fold.

Very next hand, and I am in the BB with 87 offsuit. Blinds are 2000/4000/500, and the short stack with only 11000 pushes. I have pot odds, so I call and I lose to A6. An orbit later, it folds to me on the button and I raise with Q9s. The short stack in the SB pushes for 3000 more, and I call. He has KT, and I can't win that 40/60 either. So I'm down to 44k in chips with an M of 4.4. Yuck. Now it is push or fold time.

I push with A3o and win the blinds. 10 hands later I do the same with AJ. Then an orbit later and my stack at 30000 (Blinds at 3000/6000/750) and an M of 2, I'm in the BB. The chip leader in MP min-raises and I decide KJ is a good enough hand to play with and he has A6. I can't win that 40/60 either, and I got home in 16th place. What do you think? I have to play with KJ there, right?

It's amazing I got this far with the way I ran. The last 3 hours of this thing I saw QQ, JJ, and AK only once each. It just doesn't seem possible to make it this deep without getting more premium hands. Oh well. One of these days I'll take one of these down like Hoy did on Sunday night. Damn, Good job Hoy! That is a 1st, 3rd, and 4th in 50/50 tournaments in just over a week. Ship the $20,000 month his way.

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

I haven't played in the PokerStars $10 rebuy for a while, but I decided I would check it out on a Saturday night. Nothing too exciting happened during the rebuy period. I had to double rebuy just once and I ended the rebuy period with just above average chip stack. Here is a funny hand that happened 10 minutes after the rebuy period. I raise the 150/300 blinds to 900 with 77 from MP. The button, who has me barely covered calls. Flop is AK5r and c-bet. He calls. Turn is an 8 and I check, pretty much giving up. He checks behind. River is a 6. I check, and he bets really small (900 into the 6000 pot). I make crying call for some reason, and he has QJ and I win. I type in "lol" and he says, "dont talk s h it cuz u won a hand, i had plenty of outs". Ya, you had "plenty" of outs after my hand is flipped. You have 4 outs to a hand that has a A or K in it, which is totally in my range. These type of players make me confident that I am going to make a big score in a tournament sometime.

I ended up going out about 10 hands later when I flopped the nut straight and got it all-in vs top set when the river pairs the board. Standard.

I also played in PokerStars $50+5, 55k guaranteed. I hovered around the starting chip stack for the first hour and a half. I had been playing pretty tight and tried to re-steal with AT and got CALLED by 44. I had about 20 Big Blinds (Having around 15 to 20 BBs is the perfect size for re-steal pushes), and the dude who had raised PF from the CO, and who just barely had me covered (He had 22.5 BBs) Called an all-in with 44 for his tournament life. I flopped a Ten, but obviously a four came on the turn. Poker Gods laughed at me again when the river was another Ten. These type of players make me confident that I am going to make a big score in a tournament sometime.

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

As far as cash games, I'm up about $400 or so the last couple days. I put in a lot of hands Saturday night while I was deep in the 50/50. I think I put in a total of 2000 hands, which I think is the most cash game hands I have put in during one day in a long time. Nothing too interesting to report there. I played super nitty, mainly because I was concentrating more on the 50/50. I think I ran like 15/13 or something like that. Yikes!!!!!

Cheers!

Tournaments Are Fun

2008-02-21T15:37:00.004-06:00

You know what? I really enjoy playing in poker tournaments. I'm not really sure why though. I've never had a big score in them. And I know for a fact that I down a lot of money from playing tournaments. But damn, they are fun.

This past Monday turned out to be my big tournament night for the week. And I fired up a lot of them. Probably too many, but that is ok. I played in:

- Full Tilt's $10+2 Daily Double A
- Full Tilt's $10+2 Daily Double B
- PokerStars $50+5, 55k guaranteed
- Full Tilt's $50+5, 50k guaranteed
- Full Tilt's $24+2, 28k guaranteed
- PokerStars $15+1.50
- Monday's at the Hoy ($24+2)
- BoDog $20+2

I cashed in one of them, the Daily Double B for a whopping profit of $10.42. Pretty nice, huh? I got pretty far in a few of them, but just wasn't quite lucky enough. I had a nice stack in the 28k, but KK can't beat AK, and then AK can't beat A6 in back to back hands.

I had the chip lead in the Daily Double B for a while. I was crushing the competition. The money bubble finally burst, and I was still in the top 10. Then this hand happened. I win this, and I have the chip lead again with about 150 people left.

The I got moved to another table 10 minutes later where the very bad chip leader was at. He had twice as much as 2nd place at this point, and he was playing every hand. EVERY single hand. I saw him call all-in's with K6, QJ, etc... My bust out hand went like this. A short stack who had 1/3 of what I had open pushes. I find QQ and push my average chip stack in. Chip Leader donk calls. Short Stack had AA. Chip Leader donk has KJ. Quess who won.

Oh well, one of these days I'll get a tournament win.

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

Cash games have been pretty good this past week. I haven't played much, but my quick sessions have been pretty good. I attribute that to being able to actually win a few coin flips. I'm running at about 3 ptBB/100 at the 200NL level, and 7 ptBB/100 at the 100NL, which is pretty respectible.

Here is today's Sweet Hand of the Day.

Villain was running about 33/11 after about 50 hands or so.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

SB: $162
BB: $151.95
Hero (UTG): $198.35
Button: $63.60

Pre-Flop: 6h 6s dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15) Kd 6d 5c (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB raises to $30, Hero raises to $80, BB raises to $144.95 and is All-In, Hero calls $64.95

Turn: ($304.90) Qd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($304.90) 7d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $304.90 Pot ($2 Rake)
BB showed As Ah (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$151.95 NET)
Hero showed 6h 6s (three of a kind, Sixes) and WON $302.90 (+$150.95 NET)

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

Here is the Sour Hand of the Day.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this hand. The SB was a donk, running at 51/16. So I have an overpair on the flop, the SB checks, and the donk BB leads out. I raise, which is pretty standard to do on a donk lead. Then the SB cold calls my 3-bet, and the BB obviously folds. The only draw on the flop is either 76 or JT. The turn is a blank 3, which can't possibly help his hand. Now that I think about it, I probably should just check behind there and keep the pot small. I'm either ahead (with him having anywhere from 5-8 outs), or I am way behind. What do you think? The river bet was so small, I had to call and see what he had.

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

CO: $108.15
BTN: $79.20
SB: $123.50
BB: $35
UTG: $30.05
Hero (MP): $120

Pre-Flop: Js Jc dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, SB calls $3, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($10.50) 4c 8h 9s (3 Players)
SB checks, BB bets $4, Hero raises to $18, SB calls $18, BB folds

Turn: ($50.50) 3c (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $36, SB calls $36

River: ($122.50) Tc (2 Players)
SB bets $15, Hero calls $15

Results: $152.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed 9d 8d (two pair, Nines and Eights) and WON $149.50 (+$77 NET)
Hero mucked Js Jc (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-$72.50 NET)

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Yippe! Lost is on again tonight! I can't wait.

Cheers!

You Can Call Me The Gutshot Fool

2008-02-18T15:34:00.002-06:00

Because if you have a gutshot, your hand is good!!

Not too much poker this last week. From last Monday until today, I have only played 850 hands, which is only 2-3 hours worth. In that time, I am down a good $500, so that sucks monkey balls. I've had so many of my flopped sets go down in flames this month, it's not even funny. It has to be at least 25% of them. Unbelievable.

Here are today's Sweet and Sour hands of the Day!

Sweet Hand of the Day

.......... ummmm, I got nothing. Biggest pot I've won this past week is probably a typical raise PF, and win with a continuation bet.

Sour Hands of the Day.

So ya, raising with T4s is probably not smart. But I had been at the table for 2 orbits and hadn;t played a hand yet. You gotta start stealing the blinds in these position or you are never gonna get any action. So the donk in the SB basically min-3-bets. He was running at about 45/10. When a donk min-3-bets PF, it is almost always a huge hand like AA or KK. So I obviously call cause if I hit the flop, they never can fold AA. The flop is a monster flop for me with a pair and a flush draw. Of course he doesn't have AA or KK, but A8s. Awesome set up full tilt. Thanks

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BB: $204.75
UTG: $219.55
MP: $200
CO: $286.85
Hero (BTN): $199
SB: $236.05

Pre-Flop: 4c Tc dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $7, SB raises to $15, BB folds, Hero calls $8

Flop: ($32) 4s Kc 9c (2 Players)
SB bets $15, Hero calls $15

Turn: ($62) 5c (2 Players)
SB bets $15, Hero raises to $58, SB raises to $101, Hero raises to $169 and is All-In, SB calls $68

River: ($400) Qc (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $400 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 4c Tc (a flush, King high) and LOST (-$199 NET)
SB showed Ac 8c (a flush, Ace high) and WON $397 (+$198 NET)

----------

I probably could have folded to his turn push. But folding overpairs to 40/20 donks is not my strong point

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

SB: $229.25
BB: $176.95
Hero (UTG): $203.35
MP: $64.40
CO: $110.60
BTN: $288.90

Pre-Flop: Qh Qd dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $7, 4 folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15) Jd 8c 5s (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB calls $12

Turn: ($39) 9s (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $32, BB raises to $157.95 and is All-In, Hero calls $125.95

River: ($354.90) 5h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $354.90 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB showed Td 7d (a straight, Jack high) and WON $351.90 (+$174.95 NET)
Hero showed Qh Qd (two pair, Queens and Fives) and LOST (-$176.95 NET)

----------

This is to a short stack, but sucks none the less. He CALLS knowing that at best he could have 4 outs.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

Hero (SB): $198
BB: $200
UTG: $69.70
BTN: $200

Pre-Flop: Ac As dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG calls $2, BTN folds, Hero raises to $10, BB folds, UTG calls $8

Flop: ($22) Jd Ah 8s (2 Players)
Hero bets $16, UTG calls $16

Turn: ($54) 9s (2 Players)
Hero bets $54, UTG calls $43.70 and is All-In

River: ($141.40) Qc (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $141.40 Pot ($2 Rake)
Hero showed Ac As (three of a kind, Aces) and LOST (-$69.70 NET)
UTG showed Ts Kc (a straight, Ace high) and WON $139.40 (+$69.70 NET)

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

We went on a mini-vacation this weekend, and when we got back, my internet connection has been really really slow. Not sure what happened, but this morning it was fine. But then during lunch today, it was back to being really really slow. I want to play some poker tonight and play in Monday's at the Hoy, so hopefully my connection is better when I get home.

What is even more strange, is that I can still find some Call of Duty 4 servers that are just fine and in the 80 ms ping range. Where as my usual COD 4 servers are in the 400-500 ms ping range. Plus, Full Tilt is acting really really slow. WTF? That is leading me to think there are some major internet issues out there in the country/world, and not on my end. Why would some COD4 servers be just fine, and other be total crap?

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

And finally, Activision announced that they are releasing a new Guitar Hero game this summer: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith!!! Being a huge fan of Aerosmith, I am really pumped for this. Woot!!

Cheers!!

BOOM then DOOM

2008-02-13T10:30:00.005-06:00

Man, what a wild and wacky poker weekend. I was fortunate enough to find a couple mega donks on Saturday morning. One guy was running 90/54 and the other was at 60/8. And they were on the same table. And what was even better, was that the 92/55 guy played two tables and would move around a lot. So I was able to follow him around and take a lot of his money.

Too bad the rest of the weekend was crap. I couldn't win a coin flip to save my life. Throw in a couple coolers, and I only ended the weekend up $200. Yikes. I'll take that kind of downswing any time though.

Yep, that's right. I ended my saturday morning session up $1350. I should have listened to my wife and not play anymore for the weekend, lol.

The sweet hand of the day is the huge spike at hand 650. This was at 200NL, and it is my biggest pot ever. A $1000 pot where I profitted $700! WOW! I'm just gonna post the exact hand history. Seat 2 (Aske6pot) was donk #1 running at 60/8. Seat 5 in the SB was JBPresident, who was MegaDonk #2 running at 90/54. The button was just a regular TAG.

FullTiltPoker Game #5183700962: Table Bardstown (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 10:22:16 ET - 2008/02/09
Seat 1: OMGitsPokerFool ($302)
Seat 2: Aske6pot ($803.50)
Seat 3: Peadar110 ($247.15)
Seat 4: Doppelgaenger ($200)
Seat 5: JBPresident ($580.10)
Seat 6: softbatch66 ($80)
JBPresident posts the small blind of $1
softbatch66 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [Jd Js]
OMGitsPokerFool raises to $7
Aske6pot has 15 seconds left to act
Aske6pot calls $7
Peadar110 folds
Doppelgaenger has 15 seconds left to act
Doppelgaenger raises to $35
JBPresident calls $34
softbatch66 folds
OMGitsPokerFool calls $28
Aske6pot calls $28
*** FLOP *** [3s Jh 8h]
JBPresident has 15 seconds left to act
JBPresident bets $142
OMGitsPokerFool calls $142
Aske6pot has 15 seconds left to act
Aske6pot calls $142
Doppelgaenger raises to $165, and is all in
JBPresident calls $23
OMGitsPokerFool calls $23
Aske6pot calls $23
*** TURN *** [3s Jh 8h] [6h]
JBPresident checks
OMGitsPokerFool bets $102, and is all in
Aske6pot raises to $603.50, and is all in
JBPresident folds
Aske6pot shows [Ah 5h]
Doppelgaenger shows [As Ac]
OMGitsPokerFool shows [Jd Js]
Uncalled bet of $501.50 returned to Aske6pot
*** RIVER *** [3s Jh 8h 6h] [3d]
Aske6pot shows a flush, Ace high
OMGitsPokerFool shows a full house, Jacks full of Threes
OMGitsPokerFool wins the side pot ($204) with a full house, Jacks full of Threes
Doppelgaenger shows two pair, Aces and Threes
OMGitsPokerFool wins the main pot ($799) with a full house, Jacks full of Threes
Doppelgaenger adds $200
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,006 Main pot $802. Side pot $204. Rake $3
Board: [3s Jh 8h 6h 3d]
Seat 1: OMGitsPokerFool showed [Jd Js] and won ($1,003) with a full house, Jacks full of Threes
Seat 2: Aske6pot showed [Ah 5h] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 3: Peadar110 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Doppelgaenger (button) showed [As Ac] and lost with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 5: JBPresident (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 6: softbatch66 (big blind) folded before the Flop

Not too shaby, huh?

I could post a whole lot of Sour Hands of the Day, but I'm gonna skip it for now. The worst one was me flopping top two vs a regular and him having the only hand that I'm worried about, bottom set. Oh well, I'm still doing awesome for the month of February.

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

No Mookie for me tonight as I am heading up to the Cities to see Linkin Park play. This is the one concert me and my buddy Josh have been looking forward to for a long time. We have awesome seats, so it should be a blast.

Cheers!

Results of Interesting 200BB Deep Hand

2008-02-08T15:26:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Fuel and Alan a.k.a. RecessRampage for their comments about the AK 200BB Deep hand.

I did in fact push the river, and villain folded. I did get another good comment about this hand over at Bet-the-pot.com, and they said, "Villan made this pretty easy for you to play. I would grow some balls if I was villain and shove the turn and then let you poop your panties."

I knew that I shouldn't have posted a brag post, as I knew the DoomSwitch would be activated, Ha! I lost 3 stacks in a quick session this morning.

AK loses to AQ all-in pre-flop for full stacks
AJ loses to QJ on J73 rainbow flop
KK loses to 32s to a half stack donk. He called big PF raise. Called a Full pot c-bet. I pushed the 3rd spade river for less than pot size (I had the K of spades)
Lost to a flopped straight where I had trips.

I didn't tilt though, and still feel really confident about my game.

Now go over and read RecessRampages last post. It will make you a better poker player.

Cheers!

I Cashed in FTOPS #1!!

2008-02-07T11:11:00.000-06:00

Wednesday's are easily my favorite poker day of the week. You got the Mookie, Buddy Dank Radio, and lots of good tournaments going on. Add into that the start of Full Tilt's Online Poker Series Tournaments last night, and you got a great night of poker. I very rarely play in any of the big online tournaments. Mainly because I'm a cash game donk and that most of the big tournies start at dinner time on Sunday's. But with the $200 stating at 8 PM on a Wednesday night, I decided to give it a shot. I tried a few satellites last week, but never won my way in. So I decided to buy right into this thing. I've been running really well in the cash games, so I just figured that I satellited in through the 1/2 NL tables.

Things started out slow for the first hour, as I hovered around the starting stack. Then not too long after the first break, I went on a short card rush and won a few hands. Within six hands, I was dealt QQ three times, doubling up on two of those. That sent my stack into the top 30. First QQ hand I doubled up against 77. In the second QQ hand, there were two limpers, and I raised the 40/80 blinds up to 500 (about 10% of my stack). I got four callers! The flop was a beautiful AQ4. I got it all-in with the donk on the button who had AJ.

Short time after this, I busted one of the Full Tilt Pros, Ali Nejad. I don't know much about Ali, but apparently he is a High Stakes player and also a commentator for NBC on some of their poker shows. He was a short stack and I raised up ATs in late position. He pushed with A8, and I flopped the nuts. As a reward for busting a Full Tilt Pro, I won my buy-in back and a free T-Shirt!

And then for the next couple hours, I went completely card dead. I picked KK once, but only won the blinds. I stole every now and then, but my stack always hovered around the 10k - 17k area. To make a long story short, I made it into the money, and busted out in 533rd place when I pushed with 76s in late position with an M of 2.5 and got called by AQ. I flopped a flush draw, but none of my outs came. 533rd place payed out $308, so I won a whopping $93 for my efforts ($293 if you count the pro bounty)

I probably should have been more aggressive towards the end, but I just wasn't getting any cards to get aggressive with. In well over 250 hands, I did not see AA once. I got KK the one time where I won the blinds, and I got QQ only those three times (All within six hands of each other in hour 2). No JJ or TT, and 99 and 88 once. I only got AK and AQ twice each also.

In addition to FTOPS #1, I also cashed in the $24+2 28k guaranteed, busting out in 84th out of 1347. I didn't see AA in that tournament too. Yikes!

Cash games were also nice to me. +$500 for the night there, and that is even with two massive suckouts and one KK vs AA Blind vs Blind war. One of the massive suck outs saw another of my sets go down in flames to a rivered gutshot. The other was me flopping the nut straight with AK, and a donk going runner runner Royal Flush on me, LOL.

Before I get to the Sweet and Sour hands, here is a very interesting hand where we are 200 BBs deep. There were two major donks at the table, The CO and the BB. The CO was playing pretty much every hand, and he limps. The Button is a very good regular LAG, who I see at 2/4 NL a lot. He has been raising a lot to isolate the donks. Well, I pick up AKs and squeeze from the SB. But the Donk in the BB cold calls (his stats were 33/10 with low aggression factor). Flop comes a pretty coordinated KJ9 rainbow. He calls my flop bet. The turn is an 8, but I'm not too worried about that, as it doesn't help any draws. I bet again and he calls. Uh oh. A cold call of a 3-bet PF can definitely mean monster. Now I am really worried about AA here.

What do you do on the blank river?

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

BTN: $197
Hero (SB): $404.65
BB: $478.05
UTG: $383.35
MP: $200
CO: $428.90

Pre-Flop: Ah Kc dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO calls $2, BTN raises to $9, Hero raises to $33, BB calls $31, 2 folds

Flop: ($77) Jd 9c Ks (2 Players)
Hero bets $50, BB calls $50

Turn: ($177) 8h (2 Players)
Hero bets $120, BB calls $120

River: ($417) 2c (2 Players)
Hero ?????

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

Here is today's Sweet Hand of the Day.

This guy was really loose and playing a lot of hands. I was little worried about the second Ten falling on the turn, but when the third one fell on the river, I knew i was good.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

SB: $292
BB: $446.15
UTG: $347.40
Hero (BTN): $191

Pre-Flop: Ac As dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $7, SB folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15) Td 4s Qh (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB calls $12

Turn: ($39) Th (2 Players)
BB bets $14, Hero calls $14

River: ($67) Ts (2 Players)
BB bets $54, Hero raises to $158 and is All-In, BB calls $104

Results: $383 Pot ($2 Rake)
BB mucked Js Qd (a full house, Tens full of Queens) and LOST (-$191 NET)
Hero showed Ac As (a full house, Tens full of Aces) and WON $381 (+$190 NET)

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

And today's Sour Hand of the Day.

Here is the previously mentioned runner runner Royal Flush hand with ATo. Villain was a donk with stats of 59/33. Thankfully I didn't pay him off (tried to get by cheap by throwing out a blocking bet).

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

UTG: $216.15
Hero (MP): $328.85
CO: $200
BTN: $345.50
SB: $365.30
BB: $214.95

Pre-Flop: As Kc dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $7, CO folds, BTN calls $7, SB calls $6, BB folds

Flop: ($23) Td Qh Jh (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $16, BTN calls $16, SB folds

Turn: ($55) Th (2 Players)
Hero bets $36, BTN calls $36

River: ($127) Kh (2 Players)
Hero bets $42, BTN raises to $100, Hero folds

Results: $211 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN showed Tc Ah (a Royal Flush) and WON (+$101 NET)

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

February kicks butt. Please don't activate DoomSwitch!

Cheers!

Pocket 6's is the nuts

2008-02-04T15:33:00.000-06:00

That was a pretty exciting Superbowl yesterday. At the beginning of the game, I really didn't care who won. I was just hoping for a good, close game. I wouldn't have minded New England winning because I've always been a Randy Moss fan, and it would have been nice to see him with a ring. And I also wouldn't have minded New York winning because then us Vikings fans could say that our team destoyed the Super Bowl champs. But as I was watching the game, I started rooting more for the Giants. I guess I just like rooting for the underdog. I've got a pretty short attention span, and I very rarely can watch a whole football game from beginning to end without either doing something else, or flipping constantly between shows. But the game yesterday was good from beginning to end, so it was an easy one to get into.

Poker was pretty good this weekend. I'm up a decent amount so far this month. I made just over $800 on Sunday, so that was really nice. I've even ran into quite a few coolers too, but I'm still up, so I can't complain. Three of my sets this month have gone down in flames. One to set-over-set, and the other two to straights. WTF?

Like I said a few posts ago, I was going to try and play some more cash game hands over at PokerStars. I did that, but I don't think I'll be putting in too many more hands there. It is just more difficult to find the fish and stay away from the regulars without being able to datamine. Add into that the 27% rakeback, and I think it makes the decision easier to make.

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

Here is Today's Sweet Hand of the Day

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

CO: $318.95
BTN: $218.60
SB: $97.85
BB: $80
Hero (UTG): $275.20
MP: $89.95

Pre-Flop: Qc Qh dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, BTN calls $7, SB folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($22) Qs 7c 5c (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $16, BTN calls $16, BB folds

Turn: ($54) 8d (2 Players)
Hero bets $41, BTN raises to $82, Hero raises to $252.20 and is All-In, BTN calls $113.60 and is All-In

River: ($445.20) 6d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $445.20 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN showed Ks Kd (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$218.60 NET)
Hero showed Qc Qh (three of a kind, Queens) and WON $442.20 (+$223.60 NET)

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

And the Sour Hand of the Day

This happened last wednesday night. SB was the fish at the table. The BB is a regular 2+2 LAG (Loose Aggressive) player with stats around 26/22 or so. I knew that he could be squeezing really light, especially with the fish between us. Not sure what the heck he is doing with AJ there. Does he think I am going to fold after 4-betting? His play is so terrible, but of course he gets rewarded by winning the 72/28. I'm pretty sure this is my biggest losing pot ever. If I win this hand, I have my first ever $1000 day. Boooooo

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

CO: $160.25
Hero (BTN): $618.60
SB: $198.20
BB: $281.45
UTG: $29.75
MP: $324

Pre-Flop: Qd Qh dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $7, SB calls $6, BB raises to $28, Hero raises to $90, SB folds, BB raises to $281.45 and is All-In, Hero calls $191.45

Flop: ($569.90) Td 4c 2h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($569.90) 5d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($569.90) 3c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $569.90 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed Qd Qh (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$281.45 NET)
BB showed Ah Js (a straight, Five high) and WON $566.90 (+$285.45 NET)

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

I also have to mention one other hand played last Wednesday. In this hand, I witnessed one of the worst poker plays I have ever seen (and of course they got rewarded). It was at the final table of a FTOPS #1 sattelite. Top 4 got $215 seats, and there were 9 left. I had just below average chip stack, with about 12 Big Blinds or so (but only about an M of 5.5). I find AK in early poistion, and I push. I don't like to mess around with AK with an M that low. I like to see zero cards or all five cards. I get called by a bigger stack in late position. The SB also calls. I had the SB just barely covered. The Late Position guy had KJ. The SB had 66. So that means that the SB calls off his whole stack (about 10 BBs worth) after two people have already gone all-in with 66. Obvisouly a 6 came on the flop and he tripled up. And then to rub it in even more, he knocked me out on the next hand with my QQ <>

So that's the kind of poeple that will be playing in FTOPS #1? I am seriously considering buying directly into FTOPS #1 on wednesday night. I'm due for a nice tournament score, so mayeb it can happen on Wednesday.

Coming up tomorrow, I'll review January.

Cheers!

WTF is up with the weather?

2008-01-30T10:59:00.000-06:00

Monday was beautiful here in southern MN. 40+ degrees outside, and the snow was nice and sticky and we were able to make snowmen. Then, not 24 hours later, the temperature dropped well over 50 degrees and we were in the middle of a full fledged blizzard.

I'm one of those Minnesotans who don't like the snow and winters. I don't snowmobile, ski, or play hockey. The only thing that I enjoy in regards to winter is sledding with my kids. Pretty strange huh? In fact, I have never been downhill skiing. Not even once. I think I have had ice skates on my feet twice in my life.

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

I had a pretty good poker weekend. It started off bad, but the donks were out in full force at night time. I even had a successful session at 400NL! Here is a quick graph of Saturday through Sunday.

Here are today's Sweet Hands of the Day.

I have two, both of which the other player slowplayed their hand, and got burned by it.

The button has TT and he just limps. lol. And then hits his set and doesn't raise. Then doesn't raise on the turn. Then my gin card hits the river, and that is when he decides to start raising. Sweet

Full Tilt Poker, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

CO: $111.10
BTN: $109.45
SB: $109.05
Hero (BB): $138.70
UTG: $36.65

Pre-Flop: Ks Js dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls $1, CO calls $1, BTN calls $1, SB folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($4.50) 5c Qs Td (4 Players)
Hero bets $3, UTG folds, CO calls $3, BTN calls $3

Turn: ($13.50) 8c (3 Players)
Hero bets $8, CO folds, BTN calls $8

River: ($29.50) Ad (2 Players)
Hero bets $22, BTN raises to $97.45 and is All-In, Hero calls $75.45

Results: $224.40 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN showed Tc Th (three of a kind, Tens) and LOST (-$109.45 NET)
Hero showed Ks Js (a straight, Ace high) and WON $221.40 (+$111.95 NET)

Hand 2

Dude slowplays AK on the flop, and I hit my set on the turn. Not sure why he wouldn't raise that flop.

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

Hero (SB): $92.50
BB: $101.50
UTG: $101.85
MP: $166.10
CO: $136.30
BTN: $111

Pre-Flop: 9c 9h dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO calls $1, BTN calls $1, Hero raises to $6, BB folds, CO calls $5, BTN folds

Flop: ($14) Ks Th 5c (2 Players)
Hero bets $9, CO calls $9

Turn: ($32) 9d (2 Players)
Hero bets $20, CO raises to $121.30 and is All-In, Hero calls $57.50 and is All-In

River: ($187) 8h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $187 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 9c 9h (three of a kind, Nines) and WON $184 (+$91.50 NET)
CO showed As Kh (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$92.50 NET)

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

Here is the Sour Hand of the Day

I probably could have folded here, since someone for sure had a set, if not KQ for the nut straight. But damn, I had a pair plus the Open Ended Straight Flush draw! Gambool!!!

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

UTG: $123.55
Hero (MP): $117.65
CO: $188.80
BTN: $161.55
SB: $97.50
BB: $26

Pre-Flop: Tc 8c dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $3.50, CO calls $3.50, BTN folds, SB calls $3, BB folds

Flop: ($11.50) 9c Jc Ts (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $7.50, CO raises to $15, SB raises to $48, Hero raises to $114.15 and is All-In, CO folds, SB calls $46 and is All-In

Turn: ($214.50) Kh (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($214.50) 5h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $214.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed Tc 8c (a pair of Tens) and LOST (-$97.50 NET)
SB showed 9d 9h (three of a kind, Nines) and WON $211.50 (+$114 NET)

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

I plan on playing in the mookie and a whole lot of poker tonight. I have a good $200 in bonus money that still needs to be cleared. I won't clear it all, but I only have two more days to get in as much as possible.

And I leave you with the picture of the day. This is the coolest thing I have ever seen.

Cheers!

I pwn Last Donk Standing

2008-01-24T14:12:00.000-06:00

Last night was probably the most entertaining poker night I've ever had. Of course it doesn't hurt that last night was one of my most profitable poker days ever.

BuddyDank/MiamiDon Radio

+$300 in the 100NL 6 max tables (Up to $550 at one point)

3rd place in the Mookie for +$105

1st place in a $50 SNG for +$170

Two wins in "Last Donk Standing" 50 FPP all-in prop bets for +$280 or so

That adds up to $855.

The Mookie: 13th hand in I got involved in a hand with Iakaris with my AA. I 3-bet pre-flop and he called. Flop was 7 high and he called my c-bet. Turn was a blank and he folded to my 2/3 pot bet. That got me up to about 4000 in chips or so. I played tight and didn't get involved in too many hands until the 40/80 level. I get dealt KK in the Big Blind, and there is a raise and 3 callers! So I squeeze and get it all-in with a shorter stack who has QJs. Lost that one to a flush on the turn. Then i was a short stack for the next couple levels and it went fold fold fold for me. Finally at the 100/200 level and got a hand I felt I could push with, as my M was only 5. A7o. Too bad jmathewson_III had AQ. But the 7 on the turn kept me alive!

Then I went on a stealing rampage. I stole stole stole, and got called a few times, but they always folded to my c-bets. At the 250/500 level, I had built my stack up to 10,000 in chips. I knocked off a short stack while I was in the blinds with T8s vs his KJo. That got me up to 14,000, which was a top 5 stack at the time. Continued to steal and was up to 20,000 when it got down to 2 tables. Then my stack started to dwindle all the way back down to 12,000 during the final table (and money) bubble. I was able to double up against Rakefeeder with AA vs 99 and then the bubble burst and I was at the final table sitting in 4th place. Things went pretty fast, and people were getting knocked quickly. I ended up busting ElSnarfGrande in 6th place with AQ vs his A9.

I was finally knocked out in 3rd place when my A7s ran into bdidde's KK. I was in the SB, and DonkeyPuncher74 raised from the button for about the billionth time, and I decided to take a stand with my A7s. Unfortunately bdidde woke up with KK in the BB. I flopped a flush draw, turned my bottom pair, but missed one of my 13 outs on the river.

That topped off a very fun Mookie tournament. And for the first time, I listened to the BuddyDank Radio crew. They had MiamiDon, Chad, ScottyMc, Hoyazo and BuddyDank on air commentating about the tournament. They were very entertaining. When the tournie started to wind down, and all of them had busted out, they decided to do some last longer all-in contests in the 50 FPP satellite tournaments. Everyone would pitch in $11, and we would all push in on every single hand. The person who lasted the longest won the pot. We did this 4 times. I won the first two, pocketing an easy $300 or so. the 3rd one we all busted out on the first hand, and the last one, fuel55 won.

That's not even all of the e-mails!!

Here are the hand histories for the two that I won.

HAND 1

Full Tilt Poker Game #4973996093: 50 FTP Sat to $750K satellite (37759216), Table 3 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:59:18 ET - 2008/01/24
Seat 1: fergus94 (1,500)
Seat 2: bdidde (1,500)
Seat 3: ItalianSconi (1,500)
Seat 4: BeeeBack (1,500)
Seat 5: bobsspinner (1,500)
Seat 6: cracknaces (1,500)
Seat 7: OMGitsPokerFool (1,500)
Seat 8: castorlber (1,500)
Seat 9: E_Z MONEY FITZ (1,500)
fergus94 posts the small blind of 15
bdidde posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [2d Ad]
ItalianSconi folds
BeeeBack folds
bobsspinner calls 30
cracknaces raises to 1,500, and is all in
OMGitsPokerFool calls 1,500, and is all in
castorlber folds
E_Z MONEY FITZ calls 1,500, and is all in
fergus94 folds
bdidde calls 1,470, and is all in
bobsspinner calls 1,470, and is all in
cracknaces shows [Th 7c]
OMGitsPokerFool shows [2d Ad]
E_Z MONEY FITZ shows [4s 4c]
bdidde shows [Jh 6c]
bobsspinner shows [8d 7d]
*** FLOP *** [Ts Jc Ah]
*** TURN *** [Ts Jc Ah] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [Ts Jc Ah 3c] [Ks]
cracknaces shows a pair of Tens
OMGitsPokerFool shows a pair of Aces
E_Z MONEY FITZ shows a pair of Fours
bdidde shows a pair of Jacks
bobsspinner shows Ace King high
OMGitsPokerFool wins the pot (7,515) with a pair of Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7,515 Rake 0
Board: [Ts Jc Ah 3c Ks]
Seat 1: fergus94 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: bdidde (big blind) showed [Jh 6c] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 3: ItalianSconi didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: BeeeBack didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: bobsspinner showed [8d 7d] and lost with Ace King high
Seat 6: cracknaces showed [Th 7c] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 7: OMGitsPokerFool showed [2d Ad] and won (7,515) with a pair of Aces
Seat 8: castorlber didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: E_Z MONEY FITZ (button) showed [4s 4c] and lost with a pair of Fours

HAND 2

Full Tilt Poker Game #4974115647: 50 FTP Sat to $750K satellite (37759960), Table 3 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:12:08 ET - 2008/01/24
Seat 1: cracknaces (1,500)
Seat 2: ck31 (1,500)
Seat 3: 0007Bmw745LI (1,500)
Seat 4: Maruchy (1,500)
Seat 5: streetrider (1,500)
Seat 6: streitan (1,500)
Seat 7: Scratched (1,500)
Seat 8: jwk0423 (1,500)
Seat 9: OMGitsPokerFool (1,500)
cracknaces posts the small blind of 15
ck31 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [Td 8c]
0007Bmw745LI folds
Maruchy folds
streetrider raises to 60
streitan folds
Scratched: need chippies
Scratched raises to 1,500, and is all in
jwk0423 folds
OMGitsPokerFool calls 1,500, and is all in
cracknaces calls 1,485, and is all in
ck31 calls 1,470, and is all in
streetrider calls 1,440, and is all in
Scratched shows [Qs 5c]
OMGitsPokerFool shows [Td 8c]
cracknaces shows [9h 2h]
ck31 shows [Jd 3c]
streetrider shows [Tc Kc]
Scratched: yee
*** FLOP *** [Ks 7c 4h]
*** TURN *** [Ks 7c 4h] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 7c 4h 9d] [Js]
Scratched shows King Queen high
OMGitsPokerFool shows a straight, Jack high
cracknaces shows a pair of Nines
ck31 shows a pair of Jacks
streetrider shows a pair of Kings
OMGitsPokerFool wins the pot (7,500) with a straight, Jack high
OMGitsPokerFool: woot
Scratched stands up
streetrider stands up
ck31 stands up
cracknaces stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7,500 Rake 0
Board: [Ks 7c 4h 9d Js]
Seat 1: cracknaces (small blind) showed [9h 2h] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 2: ck31 (big blind) showed [Jd 3c] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 3: 0007Bmw745LI didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Maruchy didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: streetrider showed [Tc Kc] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 6: streitan didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Scratched showed [Qs 5c] and lost with King Queen high
Seat 8: jwk0423 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: OMGitsPokerFool (button) showed [Td 8c] and won (7,500) with a straight, Jack high

-----------------------------------------------------------

I have to post the last one, because I damn near won that hand too. I hit top pair with my Ace, and Fuel flops bottom pair and a gutshot. The gutshot hit the turn, and he hit one of his 9 outs. So close!!!

Full Tilt Poker Game #4974340159: 50 FTP Sat to $750K satellite (37761637), Table 5 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:37:10 ET - 2008/01/24
Seat 1: Tarheels on Top (1,500)
Seat 2: teha908 (1,500)
Seat 3: DubsPoke (1,500)
Seat 4: mookie99 (1,500)
Seat 5: kazmer (1,500)
Seat 6: Fuel55 (1,500)
Seat 7: Gagg12 (1,500)
Seat 8: OMGitsPokerFool (1,500)
Seat 9: GuyFromVA (1,500)
Tarheels on Top posts the small blind of 15
teha908 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [Ah 3d]
Fuel55: this is the most fun i have had for a week
mookie99: lol
DubsPoke raises to 1,500, and is all in
mookie99 calls 1,500, and is all in
kazmer folds
Fuel55 calls 1,500, and is all in
Gagg12 folds
OMGitsPokerFool calls 1,500, and is all in
GuyFromVA folds
Tarheels on Top folds
teha908 folds
DubsPoke shows [8d 2d]
mookie99 shows [5h 7h]
Fuel55 shows [Ts Jd]
OMGitsPokerFool shows [Ah 3d]
*** FLOP *** [Td As Kh]
*** TURN *** [Td As Kh] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [Td As Kh Qc] [Kc]
DubsPoke shows a pair of Kings
mookie99 shows a pair of Kings
Fuel55 shows a straight, Ace high
OMGitsPokerFool shows two pair, Aces and Kings
Fuel55 wins the pot (6,045) with a straight, Ace high
Fuel55: boooooooooooom
mookie99: gasp
OMGitsPokerFool stands up
mookie99 stands up
DubsPoke stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6,045 Rake 0
Board: [Td As Kh Qc Kc]
Seat 1: Tarheels on Top (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: teha908 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: DubsPoke showed [8d 2d] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 4: mookie99 showed [5h 7h] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 5: kazmer didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Fuel55 showed [Ts Jd] and won (6,045) with a straight, Ace high
Seat 7: Gagg12 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: OMGitsPokerFool showed [Ah 3d] and lost with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 9: GuyFromVA (button) didn't bet (folded)

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I also played a $50+5 SNG and the $24+2 28k guaranteed while I played in the Mookie. I'm not much of a SNG player, but every once in a while I like to play them. And since I had been running really good at the cash games, I decided to play a $50 one. I ended up taking that thing down, so that was a nice $170 profit.

I played really tight in the 28k, but hit a few hands to stay above the starting 3000 stack. Then a mega-donk came to our table. He played at least half of his hands. I won a nice sized pot off of him right away with pocket QQ on a AQ8 flop. Then later on, he doubled up off of me with A3 vs another QQ for me. Then he accumulated a huge stack some how. He doubled me up when I 3-bet him PF with AA after his min-raise. He pushed with QTo and I won a nice pot. That got me back up to an average stack. A couple orbits later, he raised again, and I pushed with AK and an M of 10. I knew he would call with any high cards, and he did just that with AJ. Too bad the river was a J, and I bust out. If I win that hand, I am in the top 40 with about 400 people left. Oh well.

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The cash games went really well yesterday too. At one point, I was up $550 at the 100NL tables. But towards the end of the night, that dwindled down to $300. I probably shouldn't have been playing so many tables with the Mookie and FPP last longer bets going on.

A couple of those hands:

I 3-bet a 45/16 donk with TT. Flop is 89J rainbow. I check-raise all-in and he has QQ. Not the hand I wanted him to have.

I raise a limper with J9s. Flop us QJ9 with two clubs. He leads into me, and I get passive and just call. I call his small turn bet. River is a Q and I call his his small bet. He has KQ. I really thought he was on some kind of draw ( I should have raised that flop anyways if that was my read.)

I raise with 54s and flop a flush. Other dude has a set and we get it all in, but the board pairs and I lose.

AA vs K9 all-in on a 9 high flop. King on the river. Doh!

Since this post is so long already, I'll skip the Sweet-n-Sour hands.

Cheers!