I said I was playing yesterday no matter what and I did. One match. I won it though, which was nice. I played a guy who just couldn't hang. I came out of the gate super-aggro as usual, raising every hand on the button regardless. I was also continuing on every flop, so he was having a hard time adjusting. After a couple of rounds of this, he started calling my flop bets. I'd check it down as would he no matter what he had and he brought it back to even. When we were near even, I took a dumb stab at the first pot that he had bet at and was down to around 1100 in chips. Then he decided to get aggressive, except he was terrible at it. He was raising preflop every single hand and leading out at the flop, but he was oblivious to traps. I was tired so I was a little looser preflop than normal and shoved over top of his raises with any hand that I would've raised with myself. He pitched several of these and I had one big trap and was back to even. He didn't let off the gas though and after a few folds I peeled another big pot to put him down to just above 1k. I got dealt AQhh and knew how to play it. I raised pot on the button, he shoved and I beat him in the pot. He showed a spooky 97dd. The flop brought an A and one diamond, the turn gave me sweat with another diamond, but the river blanked and I went to sleep because I was exhausted.
It sucks that I'm already getting off of my bankroll schedule after one week. I know that I have a valid excuse, but I really want to crack down and play. I think after I get the shower curtain/wall fixed and the pink room painted in our new house, I'll have a lot more time as the other projects are not necessities. At least I hope. I'll sneak in matches and short sessions here and there though, so keep checking daily all one of you who read and I'll have more for you. Happy hunting.
Bugsy's: $551.44
FTP: $52.15
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Itch
I still haven't gotten any matches in. I really want to play one right now but I'm absolutely smoked. A weekend of too little sleep and too much moving has my batteries drained right now, and all I'd do is piss away a couple of HU matches if I attempted any right now, so I'll show some self control and keep the poker programs closed until tomorrow. I'm playing tomorrow no matter what. Jesus himself could appear in front of my computer and say that he'll kill every firstborn child in the world if I play and I'll respond "Well, we COULD use some extra space around here..." Okay, so maybe not, but I'm playing no matter what. Until tomorrow...
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Update
Thanks for those of you who have checked out my site so far. Please tell friends.
I'm still on hiatus for a couple of more days as we just finished moving everything into our new house but we still have a ton of unpacking to do. Virginia's on call tomorrow, so I may squeeze a little poker in, but any decent playing time will be reserved for Wednesday as I have that day off. Just wanted to let everybody know that I wasn't dead and to keep checking for new posts. In the meantime, good luck on the felt.
I'm still on hiatus for a couple of more days as we just finished moving everything into our new house but we still have a ton of unpacking to do. Virginia's on call tomorrow, so I may squeeze a little poker in, but any decent playing time will be reserved for Wednesday as I have that day off. Just wanted to let everybody know that I wasn't dead and to keep checking for new posts. In the meantime, good luck on the felt.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Quick Update
It's super late here and I have a ton of stuff to do tomorrow for the move, so this will be quick. I'll elaborate later.
I logged on for what I thought would be a quick session before Virginia got home and ended up getting wrecked at both sites. I quit for a bit when she got home, but then she got paged back to the hospital so I logged back on. It's a good thing because I went on some nice runs to get back into the black for the day. I may not play for the rest of the weekend, so it was nice to end the night ahead.
Also, hello to my new Belgian friend almaspero who I see from my StatCounter has already stopped by and hopefully stops by again. We played quite a few HU matches tonight and he's a really nice guy.
The numbers are:
Bugsy's: $551.44
FTP: $50.30
I logged on for what I thought would be a quick session before Virginia got home and ended up getting wrecked at both sites. I quit for a bit when she got home, but then she got paged back to the hospital so I logged back on. It's a good thing because I went on some nice runs to get back into the black for the day. I may not play for the rest of the weekend, so it was nice to end the night ahead.
Also, hello to my new Belgian friend almaspero who I see from my StatCounter has already stopped by and hopefully stops by again. We played quite a few HU matches tonight and he's a really nice guy.
The numbers are:
Bugsy's: $551.44
FTP: $50.30
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Big Day, 5%, Kevin's Blog
I came home from work and Virginia was stuck at the hospital for the long haul so I got in what will be my last quality time at the tables for this week. It started out pretty rough. I kicked it off with a $5 HU at Bugsy's which I won pretty easily in under 5 minutes. I like Bugsy's HU format, but sometimes it takes ages to beat people because of the 10k starting stacks. I'll take it over FTP and the paltry 1500 any day though. Then I decided to grind a little short-handed $.10/$.25 NLHE at Bugsy's. I got cold-decked on my very first hand. I came in as BB and was dealt 53dd. There were several limpers and we took a beautiful 532 rainbow flop. The SB checked, I bet out the pot for about $1 and it folded to the SB who min raised me. I was afraid of maybe a suited A4 or, from the SB especially, a hand like 64 suited so I decided to pop it again to see where I was at. I threw in a pot raise to make it $7 to go and he insta-shoved over top of me. I thought for about 10 seconds, typed "top 2" into the chat window and pitched it. He showed 22 for bottom set. Thank you poker gods for trying to bust me on my first hand. 1 hand and I was stuck $7, neat start. At least I got away from it and didn't go bust. After a few more orbits and a few limps and raises that didn't pan out, I was down to $9 from my $20 buy-in. I took an open seat at the 10 handed $.10/$.25 table and signed up for a $20 HU match. The full table treated me well for a change. Usually I'm better against fewer opponents because I like to be involved in lots of pots and you just have to show down too many hands at a full table. To boot, you have to have a lot better than bottom or middle pair when you do show down, something I don't find myself with often. Anyway, on my 2nd orbit I found AKss in the SB and watched the table fold to the button. He hesitate and popped it the pot and I liked it. I figured he had an A and possibly even a decent hand like AT or AJ for him to pause before raising, so I repopped it hoping for a shove. He just called my raise leaving himself about $8 behind. The flop was a decent 679 with 2 clubs and I thought for a moment before betting pot. I was a little worried that maybe he had the A and a card 6-9, all of which had me in bad shape, but I decided it was something closer to AT or AJ and bet the pot, leaving him only $3 and change over my bet. He shoved over me instantly and I had to call. The turn peeled a 4 and the river another 9 and I scooped the pot when he showed me the AQo. Go me. The win put me around $33, bringing me back up when I combined my rolls from the 2 tables, but I played a few more rounds and scooped a few more pots to cash out of the full table right around $42. I battled back on the short-handed table and ended up leaving there for about $13 for a decent little profit on the day. Just as I was about to take a break to get some dinner up popped the $20 HU that I had forgotten about signing up for. I sat back down and quickly got myself slapped around down to just over 5k from the 10k starting stack. My problem was a severe post flop aversion to betting. I don't know if I thought the guy was trying to trap me or not, but I just wouldn't bet after the flop, he kept betting after the flop, and I kept losing decent sized pots without a fight. At 5k I decided to start going to war when I was sure I was ahead and things turned around. I started reraising more and following up my preflop raises and quickly ran it back to almost 8k. Then I took down a big pot with JT on a final board of Q9787 to shift the chip lead my way with a stack of 12k. 2 hands later I was dealt K8dd on the button and raised it. I got reraised and called. The flop was a nifty KT8, he bet, I raised and he called. The turn was a J, he checked, I bet, he moved in and I called. He showed QQ and blanked his 10 outs on the river to give me another $20 to my day's tally.
I then shifted my focus to FTP. I took down my first $2 HU in 4 hands when we got AIPF with my KK vs his 44. The board came up empty for him and I was up a quick $2. My next match sucked as I was playing a guy who was erratically aggressive. The type of player who just chunks in the sporadic 5x pot overbet and you don't quite know what it means because you can't pay it off for information. I took a decent lead with about 1900 chips to his 1100 when I was dealt AcQs. I raised it on the button, he min raised me and I pushed back with a pot raise. He insta-shoved and I beat him in the pot to see a nice looking A6. Nice until the flop came down 6T4ccc. I blanked my 12 outs twice and was in a bad spot. I battled all the way back up to 1100 from as low as 450 when he did me in with 66 vs AQ AIPF. He flopped a 6 on an 8 high board and I was donesky. The river was a sweet little Q just to rub it in. Of course he refused a rematch and I was off to find another chump. Fortunately, it's FTP so I only had to wait about 15 seconds for another guy who dumped 2 matches to me in about 4 minutes and I was back up for the day.
At work today I was quite bored and started messing with an Excel spreadsheet. I wondered what would happen if I could average a modest 5% increase in my bankrolls each week through the rest of the year. I was very surprised by the results. If I can manage a 5% increase every week, I'll finish out the year at Bugsy's just shy of $1300 and I'll be somewhere in the neighborhood of $112 at FTP. I make a quick calendar with the weekly goals on it and spaces for my actual totals to see how I'm doing. Hopefully I increase my roll much quicker than 5%, especially at FTP, otherwise it will take between 2 and 3 years to hit the $10k that Ferguson hit in 18 months. I still wouldn't complain, but I think I can get up there just as fast as he did despite my decreased poker playing schedule. After all I'm right around a month in and I'm already at $46, where it took him 9 months to hit $100. I'll probably end up eating those words. I hope they taste good.
If you've read to the end of this novel, I'd appreciate you checking out KevinPoker's blog either through this link or from the one on the side. It's a pretty good blog that I discovered a few days ago with a unique perspective on poker. Check it out.
Bugsy's: $530.19
FTP: $45.60
I then shifted my focus to FTP. I took down my first $2 HU in 4 hands when we got AIPF with my KK vs his 44. The board came up empty for him and I was up a quick $2. My next match sucked as I was playing a guy who was erratically aggressive. The type of player who just chunks in the sporadic 5x pot overbet and you don't quite know what it means because you can't pay it off for information. I took a decent lead with about 1900 chips to his 1100 when I was dealt AcQs. I raised it on the button, he min raised me and I pushed back with a pot raise. He insta-shoved and I beat him in the pot to see a nice looking A6. Nice until the flop came down 6T4ccc. I blanked my 12 outs twice and was in a bad spot. I battled all the way back up to 1100 from as low as 450 when he did me in with 66 vs AQ AIPF. He flopped a 6 on an 8 high board and I was donesky. The river was a sweet little Q just to rub it in. Of course he refused a rematch and I was off to find another chump. Fortunately, it's FTP so I only had to wait about 15 seconds for another guy who dumped 2 matches to me in about 4 minutes and I was back up for the day.
At work today I was quite bored and started messing with an Excel spreadsheet. I wondered what would happen if I could average a modest 5% increase in my bankrolls each week through the rest of the year. I was very surprised by the results. If I can manage a 5% increase every week, I'll finish out the year at Bugsy's just shy of $1300 and I'll be somewhere in the neighborhood of $112 at FTP. I make a quick calendar with the weekly goals on it and spaces for my actual totals to see how I'm doing. Hopefully I increase my roll much quicker than 5%, especially at FTP, otherwise it will take between 2 and 3 years to hit the $10k that Ferguson hit in 18 months. I still wouldn't complain, but I think I can get up there just as fast as he did despite my decreased poker playing schedule. After all I'm right around a month in and I'm already at $46, where it took him 9 months to hit $100. I'll probably end up eating those words. I hope they taste good.
If you've read to the end of this novel, I'd appreciate you checking out KevinPoker's blog either through this link or from the one on the side. It's a pretty good blog that I discovered a few days ago with a unique perspective on poker. Check it out.
Bugsy's: $530.19
FTP: $45.60
Monday, August 18, 2008
Tunnel Vision
I played 1 $2 HU last night and won it pretty quickly. Virginia is on call tonight so I am logging some more hours. It's not going well. I lost 1 $2 HU match at FTP when a dude went 4 for 4 in all-ins against me during the match. I had him down to 180 chips pretty quickly and we shoved in. He took down the first hand with the 60/40 edge that held. The next hand was the same story, he got in with 60/40 and won it. Now he's at 620. We shove again and he has AJ vs my J2cc. No 3 outer for me and now he's at 1240. He shoves over my button raises several times and forces me to fold the garbage I kept getting. He shoved until I was down to about 1200 and woke up with KQo. I raised, he reraised, and I shoved big. He called me down with A6o and I never caught up. It was pretty gross to lose 3 coin flips, but it happens.
Things turned around when I sat down at a 6 handed $.10/$.25 NLHE table at Bugsy's. I was quickly up to $40 from my original buy-in and was looking for another $6-$10 so I could call it a night. That's when things began to unravel. I built up to $40 with some good hands. I called a small bet in a 4 handed pot with 65 on a board of 48T rainbow. The turn was the miracle 7 and I scooped about a $13 pot. A few hands later I limped with T9o up front and saw a nice J99 flop. The turn peeled a T which I checked again as there were 5 players and it checked around a second time. The river peeled a glorious Q making the 4 card straight and a spade flush. I checked knowing SOMEBODY had to bet and got a fish. He bet pot, I raised pot, he shoved, I insta-called. I'm guessing he had a K and not the flush. Then I raised AK and TT and took down some blinds and there I sat at $40. On the next orbit I got 2 red Q's and licked my chops. In hindsight, I was greedy. I wanted to hit $50 so I could quit. $50 also put me well over $500 at Bugsy's, so I was blinded by all sorts of things that I shouldn't have been thinking about. I had raised in early middle position and gotten called by the steal position. The flop came KT5 with 2 diamonds, I bet pot and the other guy shoved for about $8 more. I thought to myself "He probably has something like AK or KQ" and then called like a tard. The turn was a 2, and the river a T and he showed K2hh to scoop. It dropped me to about $30, I played a few more hands and the table fell apart leaving me with around $32. I took a short break and started playing full ring at the same limit and got trapped like a mink by KK. I limped under the gun with KJss and it folded to the button who raised pot. I figured something like AQ or AK and called. The flop was good, 864 with one spade. The BB led out for a pot bet and I called, thinking that I'd take it away on the next 2 streets. The turn was a T, he checked and I fired about 4/5ths of the pot. He min raised me, which I found confusing. If he had 75, I wouldn't have seen the flop bet. If he had 97, I wouldn't have seen it either so I thought. I read this bet to be AK or AQ trying to push me off any draw I might be on, so I called it, expecting to take it away on the river. Locked in on a hand now, I either wanted a J on the river or a blank. The river was the glorious J. He shoved and I beat him in the pot. He showed KK and I showed my humble face. In hindsight, the min check raise on the turn should've been a big tell of strength, but again, I had it in my mind that I couldn't lose a hand tonight. I did a pretty good job of battling back from being stuck $20 on that session and finished an acceptable -$6 despite some pretty frozen cards.
I haven't set any goals for my bankrolls this week as I will be very busy with the move and my crazy work schedule. I might slip a few $2 HU matches in tomorrow night because I'll have some free time, but Wednesday I'm booked, Thursday I'll be packing everything that isn't already packed, and on Friday I move. So these numbers may stay this way for the rest of the week, but I will post updates on my not-playing if I can't find any time to grind. Happy hunting.
Bugsy's: $491.99
FTP: $42.20
Things turned around when I sat down at a 6 handed $.10/$.25 NLHE table at Bugsy's. I was quickly up to $40 from my original buy-in and was looking for another $6-$10 so I could call it a night. That's when things began to unravel. I built up to $40 with some good hands. I called a small bet in a 4 handed pot with 65 on a board of 48T rainbow. The turn was the miracle 7 and I scooped about a $13 pot. A few hands later I limped with T9o up front and saw a nice J99 flop. The turn peeled a T which I checked again as there were 5 players and it checked around a second time. The river peeled a glorious Q making the 4 card straight and a spade flush. I checked knowing SOMEBODY had to bet and got a fish. He bet pot, I raised pot, he shoved, I insta-called. I'm guessing he had a K and not the flush. Then I raised AK and TT and took down some blinds and there I sat at $40. On the next orbit I got 2 red Q's and licked my chops. In hindsight, I was greedy. I wanted to hit $50 so I could quit. $50 also put me well over $500 at Bugsy's, so I was blinded by all sorts of things that I shouldn't have been thinking about. I had raised in early middle position and gotten called by the steal position. The flop came KT5 with 2 diamonds, I bet pot and the other guy shoved for about $8 more. I thought to myself "He probably has something like AK or KQ" and then called like a tard. The turn was a 2, and the river a T and he showed K2hh to scoop. It dropped me to about $30, I played a few more hands and the table fell apart leaving me with around $32. I took a short break and started playing full ring at the same limit and got trapped like a mink by KK. I limped under the gun with KJss and it folded to the button who raised pot. I figured something like AQ or AK and called. The flop was good, 864 with one spade. The BB led out for a pot bet and I called, thinking that I'd take it away on the next 2 streets. The turn was a T, he checked and I fired about 4/5ths of the pot. He min raised me, which I found confusing. If he had 75, I wouldn't have seen the flop bet. If he had 97, I wouldn't have seen it either so I thought. I read this bet to be AK or AQ trying to push me off any draw I might be on, so I called it, expecting to take it away on the river. Locked in on a hand now, I either wanted a J on the river or a blank. The river was the glorious J. He shoved and I beat him in the pot. He showed KK and I showed my humble face. In hindsight, the min check raise on the turn should've been a big tell of strength, but again, I had it in my mind that I couldn't lose a hand tonight. I did a pretty good job of battling back from being stuck $20 on that session and finished an acceptable -$6 despite some pretty frozen cards.
I haven't set any goals for my bankrolls this week as I will be very busy with the move and my crazy work schedule. I might slip a few $2 HU matches in tomorrow night because I'll have some free time, but Wednesday I'm booked, Thursday I'll be packing everything that isn't already packed, and on Friday I move. So these numbers may stay this way for the rest of the week, but I will post updates on my not-playing if I can't find any time to grind. Happy hunting.
Bugsy's: $491.99
FTP: $42.20
Friday, August 15, 2008
Yuck
If you frequent my other blog, you'll know that today wasn't the best day for me to start with, but things just sort of fell apart at the poker table. Virginia wasn't going to be home until late, so I logged on to a $.10/$.25 NLHE table at Bugsy's and opened up a $2 HU at FTP. For the first little bit, I wasn't even going to blog about the play because it was pretty vanilla. I won probably $3 at Bugsy's and won 2 of 2 HU matches at FTP in pretty boring fashion, so I was just going to update my bankroll totals. Then I decided to play a 3rd HU match. And a 4th. You get the point. I ran so cold I thought I was an Eskimo marathoner. In the 3rd match I won 2 hands. That was out of the 23 we played. I don't know how I lasted that long. The guy had top pair or better every hand. Except twice. I sat in my chair saying "Second pair has to be good eventually, right?" Wrong. Second pair can lose every time. I know this now. Nobody would rematch me today win or lose, so I kept rolling through players. Same story. I'd miss flops, bet, they'd call. I'd miss flops, they'd bet and I'd have to fold. I think I went on a mini-heater and won 2 in a row at the end to get back up above $40, but I have a hard time calling it a heater since the poker gods owe me a fatty. One example why: I have Tc 4d and flop a nice 6c 7c 8c. I like it because I figure I've got the better club and I've got my gutterball straight possibility as well. The turn peels a 5c which is great except that it makes my opponents 4c 4s the ubernuts. Go skill. I love losing to straight flushes in HU. Granted, I lost a tiny pot there, this was exemplary of my night on FTP.
Bugsy's really wasn't noteworthy. I didn't get wrapped up in any big hand. The biggest was a $20 pot vs a tiny stack. He limped from middle position and I popped it late with AKo. It folded back to him and he reraised a little over minimum. It smelled like a weak pair to me so I decided to push him in for his $10. He used nearly all of his time and called. I didn't get to see what he had but the final board was QTxxJ to give me the nuts. Other than that, I won some tiny little pots by raising preflop and betting the flop, and I also lost a couple.
New Bankroll Totals:
Bugsy's: $484.14
FTP: $42.50
Bugsy's really wasn't noteworthy. I didn't get wrapped up in any big hand. The biggest was a $20 pot vs a tiny stack. He limped from middle position and I popped it late with AKo. It folded back to him and he reraised a little over minimum. It smelled like a weak pair to me so I decided to push him in for his $10. He used nearly all of his time and called. I didn't get to see what he had but the final board was QTxxJ to give me the nuts. Other than that, I won some tiny little pots by raising preflop and betting the flop, and I also lost a couple.
New Bankroll Totals:
Bugsy's: $484.14
FTP: $42.50
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Smooth Sailing
I played a guy named anasazi63 in a $2 HU and rolled. I raised every hand on the button, and at first he toyed around, but then he started folding. And he kept folding. And kept folding. It was almost unbelievable. He would overraise when he had a hand, so I just pitched. We only got mixed up in 2 actual pots, both of which I won as I flopped bottom pair and turned 2 pair. We didn't show either of them down. I drove him down to 500ish when he shoved A8 into my AK. Of course he flopped an 8 and I never improved so he was back to 1100. He got as high as 1300 and he shoved a couple of times over the next few hands, but then it was back to fold city. I finally pushed him down to around 800 when he shoved AK into my 77. It was a beautiful 97x flop, all spades, so I just had to fade the runner spades for the chop. The turn peeled a club so we were doneskey.
I am currently sitting at a 6 handed $.10/$.25 NLHE table at Bugsy's, but I'm probably going to quit after a short ten or so minute session. When I first sat, there were two monster stacks and a nice juicy seat to their left that I filled with my $20. There was $47 2 to my right and $53 on my right hip, and the $53 was raising every pot. I started very loose, called a raise with 34hh on my 3rd hand and one other caller in the pot. The flop was a neat 56J with one diamond and I called his half pot bet. The turn was a nifty 2d and I just called the small bet in hopes of trapping the other guy in the hand as well. The river peeled a not-so-great 4d showing the 4 straight and a flush, but I still got a baby bet out of the ATM and my straight was good. The very next hand I got KJo and called the ATMs raise and took a flop of QJ6. He bet pot and I called. The turn brought a 4 and 2 checks and the river brought a 9 and 2 checks and my J was good. I would've liked to get some value out of it because I was positive I was good, but I didn't know the extent of his tardness and didn't want to get busted being greedy. Another guy ran into that fate. He had an A on an AA2 flop and got blinded to the possibility that the ATM had him beat. All the money went in and the ATM scooped it with 22. I hate to say it but he deserved it. Had the other guy not gone on ubertilt he probably wouldn't have gone broke, but he got what he deserved. The ATM chunked off $10 in 2 of 3 of the next hands and then hightailed it. I think he knew he was playing bad and he knew when to quit, so I think that actually makes him pretty decent. Anyway, I just called it quits as I was typing this and cashed out for $30.65. Not bad to sneak in a little $10 profit over maybe half an hour with no real risk.
This may be the last poker that I play for the week as Virginia has the weekend off and I'll be spending time with her since I don't get to see her much during her current rotation. I imagine I'll sneak in a HU or 2 at some point though, and I'll post those results when they come. On a related note, I'm pissed that OPR hasn't update my rankings to show my 1st place in that 90 person tourney. It may just not have been included in that update, but if it's not on there tomorrow I'm going to be one unhappy person. I know it's only $20 and it was only a $1 tourney, but I play more for the gratification of accomplishment than the money. I like knowing that I win nearly 60% of the HU matches that I play, and I like that I'm 1 for 3 in winning MTTs this month no matter how small they are. If that win doesn't go on there, I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but I really hope it does.
Bugsy's roll: $473.59
FTP roll: $43.70
I am currently sitting at a 6 handed $.10/$.25 NLHE table at Bugsy's, but I'm probably going to quit after a short ten or so minute session. When I first sat, there were two monster stacks and a nice juicy seat to their left that I filled with my $20. There was $47 2 to my right and $53 on my right hip, and the $53 was raising every pot. I started very loose, called a raise with 34hh on my 3rd hand and one other caller in the pot. The flop was a neat 56J with one diamond and I called his half pot bet. The turn was a nifty 2d and I just called the small bet in hopes of trapping the other guy in the hand as well. The river peeled a not-so-great 4d showing the 4 straight and a flush, but I still got a baby bet out of the ATM and my straight was good. The very next hand I got KJo and called the ATMs raise and took a flop of QJ6. He bet pot and I called. The turn brought a 4 and 2 checks and the river brought a 9 and 2 checks and my J was good. I would've liked to get some value out of it because I was positive I was good, but I didn't know the extent of his tardness and didn't want to get busted being greedy. Another guy ran into that fate. He had an A on an AA2 flop and got blinded to the possibility that the ATM had him beat. All the money went in and the ATM scooped it with 22. I hate to say it but he deserved it. Had the other guy not gone on ubertilt he probably wouldn't have gone broke, but he got what he deserved. The ATM chunked off $10 in 2 of 3 of the next hands and then hightailed it. I think he knew he was playing bad and he knew when to quit, so I think that actually makes him pretty decent. Anyway, I just called it quits as I was typing this and cashed out for $30.65. Not bad to sneak in a little $10 profit over maybe half an hour with no real risk.
This may be the last poker that I play for the week as Virginia has the weekend off and I'll be spending time with her since I don't get to see her much during her current rotation. I imagine I'll sneak in a HU or 2 at some point though, and I'll post those results when they come. On a related note, I'm pissed that OPR hasn't update my rankings to show my 1st place in that 90 person tourney. It may just not have been included in that update, but if it's not on there tomorrow I'm going to be one unhappy person. I know it's only $20 and it was only a $1 tourney, but I play more for the gratification of accomplishment than the money. I like knowing that I win nearly 60% of the HU matches that I play, and I like that I'm 1 for 3 in winning MTTs this month no matter how small they are. If that win doesn't go on there, I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but I really hope it does.
Bugsy's roll: $473.59
FTP roll: $43.70
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Good Day
So today has gone pretty well so far. I hit up some $.10/$.25 NLHE full ring at Bugsy's because I still can't find any HU matches higher than $10 and wiped out my loss from last night. I also chunked an extra $9ish onto the old roll to bring it to $462.94. No real noteworthy hands other than a flopped top two which doubled me up to just under $40 from my original $20. I took down a few more small pots and cashed out at somewhere near $42.
The big news came at FTP. I decided to try my luck at some of the $1 SnGs. It was sort of a bad idea because the rake is so steep ($.25, which means 25%) that I would have to run crazy good to come out ahead, but they have neat little 45 and 90 person MTTs that I thought I would take a crack at. I busted out of my first 45 person in 35th when I got aggressive with a flush draw and missed. I then ousted myself from another 45 person in heartbreaking fashion. I was 4th in chips, and the 3rd place guy was at my table. I was in the BB with K5dd and he was in the steal position and raised it the pot. I called and we took a KJ5 flop. I checked, he led out with the pot, I reraised pot and he pushed the rest of them in. I called and he showed me the gross KJ and I missed my 2 outer to go to the rail in 15th position. Go me. I also dumped a $1 HORSE SnG before my 90 person double stack tourney started. After my previous 2 thumpings I played it tight from the onset and stayed out of trouble. I managed to double in the 2nd level with 2 pair vs 2 overs on the flop. I stole here and there and just waited for big hands. I limped with 56dd and saw a flop of TK4 all diamonds and got all in against the Ad, they blanked, and I continued to cruise. When it got to around 40 players, I was double the average stack and started blasting away. By 21 players I had a 3x chiplead over 2nd place. I was running ridiculously hot and winning lots of races. My good hands were also fading 3 outers and such to hold up, so I liked my chances. I continued to punish until we got to the money bubble at 19 and then everybody and their dog started trapping me. I maintained the chip lead, but was only up about 21k chips compared to my previous 90kish lead. I nitted it up for the rest of the bubble and then came out swinging again. The first hand in the money I busted 2 people with JTss vs AKhh and AKo AIPF. The call cost me about a third of my stack but I was hoping for AK and AQ but got a better deal. The river T shipped me the pot and a big lead back. I thumped for a few more orbits before everybody got trappy again and then just put it in cruise. I took a small lead into the final table because I would sink to 3rd, bust somebody, sink to 3rd, bust, etc. I really got bruised up with 8 left and sunk to 3rd again and tightened it up. I regained the lead when I won a monsterpotten with 43dd on an T-high diamond flop against QT black. I got chunked off the very next hand when the person that I just beat got stupid and it paid off. I had J6o and raised in the steal and the tiltster pushed on the button for 19k more to make the pot 34k. I called because of the odds and saw a hilarious 32o. Hilarious until it flopped a 3 and turned another one. Go tilt. I busted the same chick a few hands later with AK vs her A7 despite her flopping open ended. FTP loves the sweat. 5 handed now I started hammering again. I finally busted the shortstack after 3 consecutive failed attempts and we were 4. I had a 1.5x chip lead, the 2nd place guy was playing nit, the 3rd stack was slowplaying everything, and 4th was shove or fold. I snapped off the 3rd stack to send her to the bottom when I plunked in a big reraise on the turn with a flush draw and she had to pitch what was presumably AQ. Then the 2nd stack busted the other player to take the chip lead with around 120k. I had 113k and the remaining 27k sat with Traps McGee (not her actual name). I took a slight lead from stealing blinds, then I bustoed the 2nd place stack. I had TT preflop and popped it from the SB. Tocoblue shoved in for just over $100k and I called. He showed A6ss and I faded him on a final board of 67835. I entered HU with a 4:1 lead against Claire59. We chopped the first pot with J-high, I took the blinds the next hand, she made me fold the 3rd, and on the 4th hand of HU play we got AIPF with her AK vs my A7 and I drew out on her to take home the $22.50 first place prize. It felt really good. I wouldn't even say I ran hot, because my periods of drawouts were offset by periods of ice coldness where I couldn't win with any cards.
To recap, my Bugsy's roll is at $462.94 and my FTP roll is at $41.85. I wanted to be at $500 and $30 by Friday, so it looks like I'm on my way.
The big news came at FTP. I decided to try my luck at some of the $1 SnGs. It was sort of a bad idea because the rake is so steep ($.25, which means 25%) that I would have to run crazy good to come out ahead, but they have neat little 45 and 90 person MTTs that I thought I would take a crack at. I busted out of my first 45 person in 35th when I got aggressive with a flush draw and missed. I then ousted myself from another 45 person in heartbreaking fashion. I was 4th in chips, and the 3rd place guy was at my table. I was in the BB with K5dd and he was in the steal position and raised it the pot. I called and we took a KJ5 flop. I checked, he led out with the pot, I reraised pot and he pushed the rest of them in. I called and he showed me the gross KJ and I missed my 2 outer to go to the rail in 15th position. Go me. I also dumped a $1 HORSE SnG before my 90 person double stack tourney started. After my previous 2 thumpings I played it tight from the onset and stayed out of trouble. I managed to double in the 2nd level with 2 pair vs 2 overs on the flop. I stole here and there and just waited for big hands. I limped with 56dd and saw a flop of TK4 all diamonds and got all in against the Ad, they blanked, and I continued to cruise. When it got to around 40 players, I was double the average stack and started blasting away. By 21 players I had a 3x chiplead over 2nd place. I was running ridiculously hot and winning lots of races. My good hands were also fading 3 outers and such to hold up, so I liked my chances. I continued to punish until we got to the money bubble at 19 and then everybody and their dog started trapping me. I maintained the chip lead, but was only up about 21k chips compared to my previous 90kish lead. I nitted it up for the rest of the bubble and then came out swinging again. The first hand in the money I busted 2 people with JTss vs AKhh and AKo AIPF. The call cost me about a third of my stack but I was hoping for AK and AQ but got a better deal. The river T shipped me the pot and a big lead back. I thumped for a few more orbits before everybody got trappy again and then just put it in cruise. I took a small lead into the final table because I would sink to 3rd, bust somebody, sink to 3rd, bust, etc. I really got bruised up with 8 left and sunk to 3rd again and tightened it up. I regained the lead when I won a monsterpotten with 43dd on an T-high diamond flop against QT black. I got chunked off the very next hand when the person that I just beat got stupid and it paid off. I had J6o and raised in the steal and the tiltster pushed on the button for 19k more to make the pot 34k. I called because of the odds and saw a hilarious 32o. Hilarious until it flopped a 3 and turned another one. Go tilt. I busted the same chick a few hands later with AK vs her A7 despite her flopping open ended. FTP loves the sweat. 5 handed now I started hammering again. I finally busted the shortstack after 3 consecutive failed attempts and we were 4. I had a 1.5x chip lead, the 2nd place guy was playing nit, the 3rd stack was slowplaying everything, and 4th was shove or fold. I snapped off the 3rd stack to send her to the bottom when I plunked in a big reraise on the turn with a flush draw and she had to pitch what was presumably AQ. Then the 2nd stack busted the other player to take the chip lead with around 120k. I had 113k and the remaining 27k sat with Traps McGee (not her actual name). I took a slight lead from stealing blinds, then I bustoed the 2nd place stack. I had TT preflop and popped it from the SB. Tocoblue shoved in for just over $100k and I called. He showed A6ss and I faded him on a final board of 67835. I entered HU with a 4:1 lead against Claire59. We chopped the first pot with J-high, I took the blinds the next hand, she made me fold the 3rd, and on the 4th hand of HU play we got AIPF with her AK vs my A7 and I drew out on her to take home the $22.50 first place prize. It felt really good. I wouldn't even say I ran hot, because my periods of drawouts were offset by periods of ice coldness where I couldn't win with any cards.
To recap, my Bugsy's roll is at $462.94 and my FTP roll is at $41.85. I wanted to be at $500 and $30 by Friday, so it looks like I'm on my way.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Oh What a Fun Game
So my session was mixed tonight. Virginia (my girlfriend) had a late surgery, so I decided that I could get some quality playing in before she got home. I pulled up a $.10/.$25 NLHE game at Bugsy's and several $2 HU matches at FTP. The HU matches went well, the NLHE did not. First, the gory details from the ring game. I bought in for the table max of $20 and promptly dumped half of it in my first 2 orbits by being overly aggressive. I hadn't watched the table and I didn't give myself enough time to get a feel for it before I started plugging in bets and raises so it was no surprise that I kept getting slapped back and forced to fold hands. When I was around $9ish I doubled through with a straight vs top pair to get back to even. I flopped double gutted with T9 on a Q68 rainbow and pushed with it. I hit a J on the river to lift me over AQ and put me back around $18ish. I promptly caught one to my man bits 3 hands later. I raised UTG with AKo and got the BB to call. The guy in the BB had been check-raising with only moderately strong hands (top pair medium kicker, etc), so I was waiting to trap him for all of his chips. He had taken a chunk out of me earlier when I tried to bet him off AK on a final board of 68333 and wasn't successful. Anyway, flop comes Kc Qc 4d, he checks, I bet pot, he moves in over top of me for all but $.80 and I beat him in the pot. The turn is a T, the river a 3 and he shows the disgusting KT to take it down. Thanks poker. I rebuy for $19 and proceeded to ride the ride from $10 to $25. I called a raise with J9dd in the SB with 3 other callers and took a 9 high flop. I didn't like it and checked, the original raiser bet again and I was the only one to take another card with him. The turn was a second 7, I checked again and he fired again and I mucked. He showed QQ. I got away but not before losing a couple of bucks. I won two small pots to get back to $19ish before I took an AA in the crotch with my QQ on a J high flop to drop me to $10. I doubled with 97o on an A97 flop and scooped a few more small pots to get to $25 when I took another loss to QQ with AJ on a J high flop. QQ owned me tonight. That shot me back down to $13, but I doubled again when AQ held vs ?? on an A98 flop. I think the guy had A rag, but I'm not certain. The one bad thing about Bugsy's (or good, depending) is that their muck feature is accurate. If you wouldn't have to show in real life, you don't have to show at Bugsy's, and the hand histories don't fill you in either.
At FTP I started off hot. I took my first 3 $2 HU matches before promptly dumping 2 in a row to a different person. I got one back before he quit playing me and then I ran into a guy who I'm pretty sure had never played before. It was tougher than hell to beat him. I never knew what he was doing because HE never knew what he was doing. He insta-called a monster bet down on one pot with T high on a final board of AKJ88 with a flush possible. It happened to be good, but he didn't know this. All he used were minimum bets and he only reraised a bet of mine on his bust hand. I had 56dd and raised pot. He called and we took a 789 flop. He min bet, I min raised, he called. The turn peeled a 7 to give me a little scare, but he min bet, I min raised, and he called. The river was an ugly 9 and I had to think forever. He min bet, I pot raised to put him mostly in, he thought and pulled the trigger and I reluctantly called, fully expecting to see a hand like 94o. I saw AQ and took it down. It would be awesome if the guy actually did know what he was doing, because he was tougher than hell to play against, but it was quite obvious that he was lost. I then played another long series of matches against a dude who was trying to coach me as I missed 3 open-enders with overcards to dump the first 3 matches to him. I bit my tongue and luck decided to come back from his vacation and allow me to win when I was favored and I quickly tied it up. I think I ended +2 on him but I can't be sure because FTP doesn't have the user-friendly account history that Bugsy's does.
Overall, my roll stayed around even. I dumped $13ish at Bugsy's and gained $9ish at FTP. Current counts are $445.34 at Bugsy's and $18.80 at FTP. By the end of the week I'd like to be at $500 on Bugsy's and $30 on FTP. We'll see how I do.
At FTP I started off hot. I took my first 3 $2 HU matches before promptly dumping 2 in a row to a different person. I got one back before he quit playing me and then I ran into a guy who I'm pretty sure had never played before. It was tougher than hell to beat him. I never knew what he was doing because HE never knew what he was doing. He insta-called a monster bet down on one pot with T high on a final board of AKJ88 with a flush possible. It happened to be good, but he didn't know this. All he used were minimum bets and he only reraised a bet of mine on his bust hand. I had 56dd and raised pot. He called and we took a 789 flop. He min bet, I min raised, he called. The turn peeled a 7 to give me a little scare, but he min bet, I min raised, and he called. The river was an ugly 9 and I had to think forever. He min bet, I pot raised to put him mostly in, he thought and pulled the trigger and I reluctantly called, fully expecting to see a hand like 94o. I saw AQ and took it down. It would be awesome if the guy actually did know what he was doing, because he was tougher than hell to play against, but it was quite obvious that he was lost. I then played another long series of matches against a dude who was trying to coach me as I missed 3 open-enders with overcards to dump the first 3 matches to him. I bit my tongue and luck decided to come back from his vacation and allow me to win when I was favored and I quickly tied it up. I think I ended +2 on him but I can't be sure because FTP doesn't have the user-friendly account history that Bugsy's does.
Overall, my roll stayed around even. I dumped $13ish at Bugsy's and gained $9ish at FTP. Current counts are $445.34 at Bugsy's and $18.80 at FTP. By the end of the week I'd like to be at $500 on Bugsy's and $30 on FTP. We'll see how I do.
Introduction
The Plecostomus. Bottom feeder. A fish that survives on the nasty bits that sink to the bottom of the tank. Or the ones that form on the sides. That pretty well summarizes my poker game. I've been sucking up the goo from the bottom for a couple of years now. Every time I get too big for the bottom of the tank I break for the surface, but I always get sent back down. I'm hoping to change that this time around, but who knows. If you've followed me over here from my regular blog you'll know a bit more about my trials and tribulations in the world of poker, but if you're new, you'll figure it out soon enough. Like most people I'm my own worst enemy but I'm working on it. I hope you'll enjoy following my poker roller coaster as much as I do. The one consistent thing about my game is that at the end of every session, I've still got the itch to play more whether I just piled the chips or sniffed the felt. I'm hooked. Go me.
There are no new items to update as I've spent the last couple of days getting things ready for my new house, as well as setting up the new blog. Stay tuned though because I have the day off tomorrow and should get in some quality time at the tables. Thanks for stopping by the new blog and leave me a comment every now and then so I know that it's just not Brandon padding my StatCounter.
There are no new items to update as I've spent the last couple of days getting things ready for my new house, as well as setting up the new blog. Stay tuned though because I have the day off tomorrow and should get in some quality time at the tables. Thanks for stopping by the new blog and leave me a comment every now and then so I know that it's just not Brandon padding my StatCounter.
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