April and May Stats

Not bad huh? Started off pretty slow, but as you can see it just kept getting better and better. I actually only had one losing session, and it was my very first session! Aside the losing 3/6 sessions (that occurred the same day as the winning 4/8 sessions and thus get cancelled out) I haven't had a losing session of poker in almost 6 weeks! Ridiculous. I am seriously mentally ready to run horrible, because I don't see how a bad run is not coming...

Wish me luck!

Memorial Day Weekend Re-Cap (Monday)

So Sunday night I was supposed to go to bed early in order to get myself up before noon the next day. The plan was to get up early on Monday and play an all day poker session at Cache with Tommy. Of course, I'm a degenerate and ended up donking around on a 1c/2c NL table with some of my forum friends until 4am or so...yeah, I know, I have a problem haha. It was awesome though, as Fulton, me and Jmill got into a min-raise war until we were all three all-in. My Aces held and they called me an "angleshooter" for the rest of the night...actually they've called me that for the last few days too haha. I ended up leaving the table up $15 though after about an hour of play (that would be 750BB/Hr) LOL...

Anyway, Tommy and I got to Cache around 1pm or so, grabbed some lunch, and finally sat down at the tables at around 2pm or so. As has been the case of late, my session started off pretty slow the first few orbits, but I finally raked my first pot after flopping a set of 2s. The very next hand I picked up AQ suited and killed the pot. I went from down ~$40 to up ~$50 in two pots. Ahhh I love running gooooooooooot....

My chip stack only grew from that point and I found myself up $160 or so after three hours of play (my first orbit break). After that I remember teetering back and forth between 160-200 and getting somewhat frustrated that I couldn't get over that hump. I actually took a couple beats during this time and actually felt "mortal" again.

Unfortunately for my opponents, the feeling of vulnerability can only last so long when it comes to The Santi. After hour number six (2nd break), my toughest decisions were comprised of how I should arrange my $500+ chip stack. For the record, Tommy favors the "neat castle" look whereas I prefer awkward heights...

Anyway, after Tommy came over to my table (hour seven-ish) I was up $300 or so and didn't expect to go any higher...but I did. I hit the table up for another $260 or so in my last couple of hours and left away from Cache up over $1K for the weekend. Not bad for 16 hours worth of work.

Tomorrow I'll post some HHs from Monday's session, including one I played pretty loose for my liking, but hey, I need to take some criticism once in awhile. I'll leave you with some pictures and I'll ask you to vote for which chipstack you like the best.

Stack 1

This would be an example of "Awkward Heights." The first pic contains about $500 in chips. The bottom level has 15 rows of 20 chips and are lined up like bowling pins. The second level is 6 rows of 20 stacked neatly in the middle of the first level. The third level contains three rows of 20 stacked staggering the six rows beneath them (in order to keep them balanced) and finally the top level is ~20 (sometimes more, sometimes less) and it is staggering the three rows beneath it.



Here's a blurry shot of about 760 yellow chips.
1st Level = 21 rows of 20 (420)...bowling pin style 654321
2nd Level = 10 rows of 20 (200)...bowling pin style 4321
3rd Level = 6 rows of 20 (120)....bowling pin style 321
4th Level = 2 stacks of whatever :) (In this case it was stacks of 10)




Stack 2

The "Neat Castle." I think it reeks of lame-ness...but whatever ;)

The upper rows are rows of 40 and the majority of the back rows are 50, the middle back rows are 60...




Okay...that's all, tomorrow will be more about poker hands and less about chipstacks haha...but VOTE!

Memorial Day Weekend Re-Cap (Saturday)

First off, I just wanted to say "I told you so" :)

I made a "Reflection Day" post that summed up my frustrations about not running as well as I thought I could have a few weeks ago. Well now I can't believe how much of an upswing I am on and am now kinda sorta waiting for the inevitable free fall that comes with playing a game with so much variance...I guess I'll just try and not think about that for now though.

Alright well onto the weekend. We (whenever I say "we," you should pretty much assume I mean "Tommy and I") planned on going Friday night, but I backed out because of early morning work obligations Saturday morning, so we headed on up to play when we got off work around Midnight Saturday night. I ran decent the first couple hours or so, but then a couple big hands really propelled my chip stack upwards:

Hand 1

Hero has A3 of clubs in the SB with four limpers, Hero completes, BB checks

Flop: 6:c:4:c:2:d:

I led out with my flush draw and got a couple of callers

Turn: Q:c:

Hit my flush so I led and got called in a couple more spots

River: Q:h:

Not the prettiest river card, but I still led, Villain in BB raised, everyone else folds, I re-raise because I've seen this guy slowplay small flushes and I don't think he has a boat. He calls and says "if you have fullhouse it's good" and I show the nut-flush to best his 8-High flush


Hand 2:

My first time that night I killed a pot so I had to post $8 UTG. It gets folded to the Button who calls, SB folds, BB completes, and I raise with KK.

Flop: K:h:8:h:5:d:

Both players check and I bet; this is pretty standard for me and most new players should take this line more often than they do. Both players call and I start worrying about the heart draw and maybe even 67 for an OESD.

Turn: 4:c:

Yikes...67 got there, but they both check and I fire again. Both players call and now I am praying for a non-heart river.

River: 10:c:

Well I still think I'm good now, both players check, and I fire one last time and pray I don't get CR'd by 67. One villain folds and the BB looks at me and says "Oh well I guess I have to pay you off" and then hurriedly mucks his cards when I show a set of Kings. My floorman friend Ed was watching the hand and he later told me he couldn't figure out what I had on that hand, and he really didn't think I had KK. Ahhhh the power of consistent pounding...

The rest of the session was characterized by running the table over with AK and AQ, mostly by hitting and holding, but I made the occasional C-Bet work too. I ran a couple bluffs, but for the most part I played pretty straightforward and aggressive as normal and things worked out.

Session No. 11 Monday Day/Night (5/28)

4/8 Kill: TP = +$560 TSP = 9 Hours BB/Hr: 7.78BB/Hr
Overall 4/8K (since 4/14): TP = +$2235 TSP = 53 Hrs 30 Min BB/Hr: 5.22BB/Hr
Overall (since 4/14): +$2156 TSP = 55 Hrs 30 Min $/Hr: $38.85/Hr

Yup...still running well. My longest session of the year so far and it was damn fun. This weekend was straight crazy...$675 Saturday night and $560 tonight as well as $510 from last weekend...

We'll see if I have time to post hands from this session but...here's a quick (and very incomplete rundown)

- AA holds a couple times
- KTs in a Kill Pot flopped straight
- AQ wins big Kill pot
- AK and AQ are my friends
- JJ played very aggro on scary board and held
- Raised a lot of Big Suited connectors (KQ-JT) and built some nice pots

Basically tonight consisted of raising pre-flop and making most of my hands hold. I wish I could say there was some magic to how I played, but I am just constantly playing good cards and playing them fast/aggro. I don't think I laid any bad beats on anyone this time around, and I only took one really terrible beat all night, so I guess that would mean that I'm running well...

I'll come back tomorrow and post some HHs.

Til then

Session No. 10 Saturday Night (5/26)

4/8 Kill: TP = +$675 TSP = 6 Hrs 30 Min BB/Hr: 12.98BB/Hr
Overall 4/8K (since 4/14): TP = +$1675 TSP = 44 Hrs 30 Min BB/Hr: 4.65BB/Hr
Overall (since 4/14): TP = +$1596 TSP = 46 Hrs 30 Min $/Hr: $34.32/Hr


Wow...running really well right now...wow.

A3 flush
KQ aggro flush draw
KK wins Kill pot
AK destroys the table countless times
Laid one harsh beat all night (running boat vs. flopped straight)
Ran over the table at some points

Everything clicked. I'll post more later...now I just need to try and get some sleep before work.

Session No. 9 Tuesday Night (5/22)

4/8 Kill: TP = +$35 TSP = 3 Hrs BB/Hr: 1.46BB/Hr
Overall 4/8K (since 4/14): TP = +$982 TSP = 38 Hrs BB/Hr: 3.23BB/Hr
Overall (since 4/14): TP = +$921 TSP = 40 Hrs $/Hr: $23.03/Hr

Before heading out, I had planned on playing throughout the night, going to class at 8am, and then taking my car to the shop before crashing throughout the entire Wednesday. Unfortunately, there was a waiting list and the game ended up breaking after 130am...bummer.

I ran okay. I started off slowly, won a nice sized pot with AK, but after that I went into a freefall and only recovered after I changed seats in order to sit next to Tommy. I was down about $60 or so, but then I picked up AA and AQ in back to back hands and came out up $40 or so.

I teeter-tottered after that and found myself up as much as $100 or close to even before play ended and I cashed out for $35. I went real card dead when the game got down to 5 and 6-handed, and a couple of my big hands got cracked, so that kind of sucked. I usually hope for a session of about 2BB/Hr, so tonight was a little low, but I think it could have been worse. For awhile there early on I didn't think I was ever going to win a hand again.

Tommy had an awesome night tonight and came up $400+ in about 3 hours. He hit some hands and got paid. He had a good session Saturday night too, and I'm glad he's running well, especially since the biggest winner of the two of us picks up the dinner check :)

I know I won't be going out tomorrow night, so I'll probably blog about a few of these hands:

AK free turn makes straight
AA capped PF no callers on the turn
AQ raised PF rivered flush
QQ good on 4-flush board (Thanks T :-P)
KK < Q2
33 in SB folded PF because Tommy 3-Bet...would have flopped set. Made the right play though

HHs from the 5/18-19 Weekend Part II

These hands will be from the Saturday night session. Tommy and I decided I ran way too well Friday to not go again Saturday. I had slept in until 5pm (went to bed 11am-ish) so I was feeling decent when I got off work at midnight Saturday night. The plan was to play a short session and leave around 6am...I think we took off around 7am.

Hand 1:

The first hand I want to talk about is after a couple hours of play. This was the 2nd table I had been at and I was floating probably up ~$20 or so. I had just won two hands in a row, so I had to post the Kill-blind.

I was dealt 6:c:2:c: in the CO and the stakes were 8/16, seven-handed

Pre-flop action is limped in a couple spots, BB called $4, and I looked down at my dismal 62s and check.

The flop comes out 6:h:5:c:2:d:

Looks like 62s is a monster after all. The SB (seat 1) led out, he was an old-timer and major donator in the game. The BB folded and then seat 5, an older black man, called. He had been playing very loose and passive, and called down a ton. I decided to play this fast and see what was going on. I raised and then seat one immediately announced a re-raise. He looked very strong, and by the time seat 4 called $16 more, I opted to call and re-evaulate once a turn card hit.

The turn was a 6:d:

I was really hoping for a deuce to come off, mainly because seat one had me crushed if he had either 34 for the flopped straight or 65 for top-two. He led out but then mumbled something about "not liking that card." Do people really try to give information out that much? He had been talking alot on the flop about how strong he was, and now he was saying the board pairing scared him. Seat 5 called and I pushed two yellow stacks into the middle, taking $4 off the top of each one to raise it up to $32. Seat one only called and then seat 5 called as well.

I felt great because I knew at this point that I had to have them both crushed. Seat one probably has 34 at this point and is making crying calls to the end here. Seat 5 had me somewhat concerned that he might have a PP of some sort and might spike a miracle boat or something, but for the most part I knew I was way out in front.

The river was the 5:d:

Nasty. This card pretty much killed my action and would give seat 5 a split pot with me if he had been calling all the way down with a 6. Both villains ended up check/folding however, with seat one showing 34 for a flopped straight. I didn't want to come off as a complete dick after raking in this monster pot, so I decided to show...the 2:c: haha :)

Well...that was the first card I showed. After some prodding from Tommy and seat 7, and the idea that these guys might actually attempt to play better if provoked, I decided to show the 6:c: I usually have the "no call no show" policy, but these guys knew I had the 6...so why be a dick about it?


Hand 2

The second hand involves both me and Tommy. This hand occurred toward the end of my night. I think before this hand I was up roughly $130 or so and Tommy was sitting on a healthy $200+ profit.

I believe we were 8-Handed at this point and the table had been the most solid one I had seen all night.

Hero (seat 5) is in the Hijack with A:d:K:s:
Tommy is in the CO with Q:s:Q;c:

Pre-flop: one limper, other main villain in the hand (seat 2) calls, 2 folds, Hero raises, Tommy 3-Bets, Button, SB and BB all fold, limpers call, Hero caps, Tommy and two limpers call

Flop: 6:d:3:d:2:s:

Both the limpers check to me, and I decide to fire a C-bet to see how much Tommy likes his hand. Tommy raised and now I know he at least has a pocket pair, probably TT+. One limper folds and then seat 2 cold-calls. That sent warning bells off in my head, but I opted to call the bet anyway to complete the action.

The turn was a 2:d:

Seat 2 made an awkward motion towards his chips and then decided to check. Tommy and I had a talk about that later on and we both laughed at how obvious it was the kid had just made his flush. I checked and prayed Tommy would check behind. Tommy checked and the river came:

Q:d:

What an awesome money card for Mr. Fong. Not only did I make my nut-flush, but he also made his Queens full. Seat 2 led out, I raised, and then Tommy starts laughing and saying "haha this is gonna be sick...so sick" in an obvious attempt to annoy me, as we both absolutely hate people who say "sick" over and over again. He takes forever but finally 3-Bets me and seat 2 thought for a good while before folding. In retrospect, it was probably way too easy for seat 2 to fold his flush in that spot, but who cares, we were having fun. Besides, Tommy missed out on the extra BBs, not me :)

I'll probably post some more hands from the weekend if I end up not playing tomorrow/today (Tuesday), so check back again later tonight!

HHs from the 5/18-19 Weekend Part I

Well as promised, here are a few of the more interesting hands from the weekend. These first three are from Friday night where I could basically do no wrong.

Hand 1:

Hero is in EP/MP with KK in seat 5. The main villain in this hand is the "check this" guy from session three...I can't stand him. At the time of the hand he seemed pretty grumpy and was complaining about some bad beats he took at the NL table. Villain2 is a bit of a donk and is sitting to my direct right in seat 4.

Pre-flop action went something like: Villain2 limps, Hero raises, one caller behind that, Villain1 calls, Villain2 calls.

The flop came out: T:s:7:s:6:h:

Villain checks, Villain2 bets, Hero raises, one fold, Villain re-raises, Villain2 calls, Hero calls

I know that "Check this" is steaming a bit, but he's not Check-re-raising here with AT; two pair is his most likely hand here. I had the King of spades in my hand, so I figured I could call one more bet on the flop completing the action and then hope for a spade or King.

The turn obliges and puts out a 2:s:

Villain bets, Villain2 folds, and Hero calls

At this point a whole slew of possible hands went through my head in a brief instant. 89 for a straight? Flush already? I quickly called and then an interesting card appeared.

K:c:

Hmmm...I hit my set, but it might just be good for 2nd place. Any spades and 89 has me beat. The villain bets and I reluctantly raise. The villain simply calls and starts complaining about how he gut run down again. I showed my Kings and he showed his 77 and let's the dealer have it. I would have felt bad for the guy if he had any kind of composure...

Anyway, yeah, I'm a luckbox, and perhaps the raise on the river was a bit risky, but I think I see two pair or a set there often enough in that spot to make it an "okay" river raise...


Hand 2:

Hero is UTG in a Kill pot with AA (seat 5). The SB is the Kill-Button (seat 3) and has to post $8. She was a decent LAG player. Seat 4 was the donk from the previous hand and is in the BB.

Pre-flop Action: Hero raises, all fold to SB who calls, BB 3-Bets, Hero caps, SB takes about 40 seconds to call, BB calls

Flop came Ten-High

SB checks, BB bets $4 and is all-in, Hero raises to $12, SB folds after investing $32 pre-flop *cheeze*

I immediately flipped my Aces so I didn't slow roll the guy. He failed to return the favor though and never showed his cards at all. He busted and took off, noticeably angry...

Tommy gave me shit later on about how I play so tight and yet people still give me so much action. Thanks for the pre-flop cap in the kill-pot when I have Aces :)


Hand 3:

This hand was probably my favorite hand all night. I was up around $230 or so and was already very pleased with my session thus far. Hero is in MP with Q:c:Q:s:

Pre-flop:
Two limpers, one fold, Hero raises, Button calls, SB 3-Bets, BB calls, Two limpers call, Hero caps, All call

Flop: T:c:8:s:7:c:

All check to me, Hero bets, Button folds, SB calls, 2 more callers, the rest fold

Ugly flop for this many players, but the fact that I didn't get CR'd here made me feel really good. I was pretty sure that after SB checked here that he whiffed with his AK.

Turn: T:s:
3 checks, Hero bets, SB calls, 2 folds

I feel like I'm in a great spot now. No one has a ten (I don't think so anyway) because I feel like I would have probably gotten raised on the turn. I'm also now heads-up with the guy who 3-Bet and has shown zero interest in the hand since the flop came out. I still have him on AK.

River: 2:s:

SB checks, Hero bets, SB raises, Hero calls.

Wtf?! Check-Raise on the river?! I asked him if he slow-played quad tens, but at the time I remember thinking he's probably going to show AA or KK to win this pot. Villain flipped over A:c:K:s: and I calmly nodded and flipped over my Queens. He scared the shit out of me, that's for sure. Anyway, Tommy once again gave me shit for getting so much action even though I can "sit on coal and grind out diamonds." The CR on the river was interesting, perhaps villain thought he could bluff me off AK or AQ? I dunno, but with the pot that huge, I'd probably call with Q-High there haha...

Tomorrow I'll talk about my Saturday night session and even include some hands Tommy played.

Session No. 8 Saturday Night (5/19)

4/8 Kill: TP = +$102 TSP = 4 Hrs 30 Min BB/Hr: 2.83BB/Hr
Overall 4/8K (since 4/14): TP = +$947 TSP = 35 Hrs BB/Hr: 3.35BB/Hr
Overall (since 4/14): TP = +$886 TSP = 37 Hours $/Hr: $23.95/Hr

Ran alright tonight. I had one huge luckbox hand (62s in the Kill-Blind) that pretty much accounted for all of my profit, and the rest of the time was spent playing the part of a rollercoaster. Great weekend overall ($512 over 10 hours of play).

I'll come back and post some hands later on in the week, and with 10 hours of total play this weekend, it shouldn't be too tough to blog about a couple hands a day for the next few days. Stay tuned.

Session No. 7 Friday Night (5/18)

4/8 Kill: TP = +$410 TSP = 5 Hrs 30 min BB/Hr: 9.3 BB/Hr
Overall 4/8K (since 4/14): +$835 TSP = 30 Hrs 30 Min BB/Hr: 3.4BB/Hr
Overall (since 4/14): TP = +$784 TSP = 32 Hours 30 Min $/Hr: $24.12/Hr

Wow. I ran gooooooooooooooooooot tonight/last night. I'm exhausted and have work at 6pm now (went in and begged them to push me back a few hours). Re-cap:

I sucked out a few times. KK, TT, QJ
I held most of the time. QQ, AAx2. AQx2
I won out of my blinds.
I picked up some pots SH by being aggressive. 76s, JT OESD

That's all for now. I won't lie, I ran ridiculously well. I wrote it down a few weeks ago that I would really like to see what happened if I hit a hot streak and actually ran well for an entire session...well this was the result. My profit was around 400 for the month of April, and I made 410 tonight.

I'll definitely write about some hands tomorrow, but now, it's time to crash!

Itching to Play

Wow...it's been almost 10 days since I last played a live hand. I guess school is largely to blame in that I have had a few midterms and papers due the last week and a half, which has basically kept me from playing. I'm soooo itching to play and I think I'll finally go back to Cache tomorrow night.

In other news, I have money online again, this time on Pokerstars. I've had a nice little rollercoaster where I've gone up and down...up and down...and now I'm about where I started. I've made enough money on the ring games to pay for my horrendous tournament and sng stats.

I have been playing really well in the limit sngs, but the later stages have just been killing me. I tend to play well early on and build a nice stack, but once the blinds go up and players get desperate, I keep finding myself on the receiving end of some horrendous suckouts. Nothing I can do really, except run better. The only sng I've really felt I played badly was a couple hours ago. I was HU at the end of a 9-Man SNG with a 2 to 1 chip lead and then let this guy run me the fuck over. He went into raise every single bet mode and he came out the winner. Oh well...live and learn.

I got pretty deep in a $5 HORSE tournament (128 Players) last week. This has been my first and only HORSE experience and it was pretty fun. The players were pretty horrendous, especially at Razz. I tripled my stack in the 2nd round or Razz which propelled me to the top four of the field, and that's where I stayed for the majority of the night. Shit fell apart late in the tourney though (16-ish players left). Twice I flopped huge draws in the Omaha8 portion and neither one came through. One was a nut-flush, nut-low draw that would have won me a HUGE pot. I ended up getting KO'd in the Limit HE round...

The button was attempting to steal and I had AT in the BB. Flop came 3 hearts, and I had the Ace of hearts, so I led, Button raised, and I re-raised AI. He shows 95os for bottom pair of 5s and I failed to improve. I pretty much knew that the rest of my chips were going AI regardless, and I guess the guy hit a pair so he couldn't go anywhere either. I finished 12th for a whopping $5 or $6 profit lol...

Other non-poker related things in the news today: I'm finally getting a car. It's an older Acura Integra (4-Door) with low miles for the year of the car. I'm happy with it, and I was awesome enough to knock the guy down $1K from what he was originally asking. It should do for now. I plan on getting a nicer car after I have a solid 40Hr a week job and am close to finishing up grad school.

Ummm so yeah, that's all for now, hopefully I'll have some live poker updates tomorrow!

Session No. 6 Tuesday Night (5/8) Part III

This third installment of session six will deal with Tony's hand where he flopped a set of 8s and played a little too passively all the way through. I'm not trying to pick on him at all, and he knows this, so I hope you guys don't think I'm a jerk or anything like that for singling him out. I'll criticize my friend's play the exact same way I would criticize my own, and in my opinion, the only way people can really better themselves is through a lot of constructive criticism and some brutal honesty.

So, I don't remember exactly how many players (probably 6 saw the flop) were in the hand, but it gets limped around to me. I was in the small-blind and looked down at QT of diamonds. I completed and hoped that Brian would only check his option. I remember him saying he didn't want to "suicide raise into these many players," so he checked.

At the time, Brian was not yet in his "raise ATC from anywhere" mode, but he had definitely turned up the aggressiveness a couple notches. Feliz open-limped from UTG and like I said before, he was also playing very aggressively after the flop, attempting to isolate Brian. Tony was in the Hijack (seat 4) with pocket eights. I don't mind the limp pre-flop, especially after a couple limpers. Anyway, the flop was about ready to set off some fireworks...

Flop: A:d:J:c:8:d:

Hero bets, Brian raises, Feliz 3-Bets, anyone else in the hand folds, Tony calls (wtf?! *wink*) Hero caps, all players call

Yikes! I have a double gutty with a diamond draw, Brian has top two (AJos) and Feliz claimed to be on a lower flush draw (but he lies alot, so who knows). Looking back at the hand, I remember trying to figure out what the hell Tony would cold-call three-bets there with. I have about a bajillion outs so I'm capping that and calling all the raises regardless (Brian and Feliz are getting zero respect from me at this point). Anyway, quick lesson one: If you have a set in limit and it's three-bets to you on the flop, just cap the bitch. If you're losing set over set, oh well, as is life. But when you have arguably the three most aggressive players at the table in the hand with you Tony, lower set is sooooo money (yes...a "Swingers' reference) in this spot, especially with no raise pre-flop. You think the three of us aren't raising AA or JJ here pre-flop?!

Turn: 6:h: (maybe?) I honestly don't remember...I just remember it not helping any of us.

Hero checks, Brian bets, Feliz calls, Tony calls (wtf?!!!), Hero calls

Omg Tony, if there was ever a time to raise, that was the time. I honestly don't know wtf I do when you raise that spot. I either call off $16 or I fold and pray I miss one of my bajillion outs. Brian is probably (okay...he is absolutely) three-betting that turn, Feliz is coming along for the ride, and then you cap that bad boy and get ready to rake in a sea of yellow chips...

River: 8:h: I dunno what suit it was, all I know is that the 8:d: was on the board because I didn't have a Royal flush draw and you had the other two eights.

Hero checks, Brian bets, Feliz folds, Tony raises, Hero laughs and folds, Brian goes into a long rant about "dude you stayed all the way with an 8 wtf omfg" and then shits himself when he sees the flopped set/rivered quads. I admit I shit myself too...and then almost immediately said "You probably should have raised that turn dude...I coulda snapped a diamond off on ya waaay too cheap."

Don't worry about it bro...live and learn. Everyone screws up at least once in every session they play in, and I've turned into a turtle on some big hands of my own. In the future, just remember that you can't let huge pots and tons of action make you scared of "monsters under the bed." Think about it in retrospect and try and see what there is to be scared of on that turn. Set of Aces? Hell no...not against us. Set of Jacks? Nope...those are getting raised pre-flop too. A straight? Nope, there isn't one out there...straight draws and flush draws are extremely probable, but that is why you have to charge us the the full price to draw out on you. When you just call there with pretty much the best possible hand, you're costing yourself tons and tons of money. Think about it, with all the bets you missed on the turn, it's like you open-limped from UTG with 72os seven or eight times...

Okay...you're blog lashing is over. The only thing you can do now is learn from it. Reading poker books and re-playing hands over and over again in your head is worthless if you don't learn from it. It's too bad I didn't snap off a nine or a King on you on that river though, then I'd be almost positive you'd raise the turn in that spot from now on LOL...

Sooo...special thanks T for letting me publicly chastize you (don't worry, only you and like three other people read my blog). And by the way, at least you raised the river! *cheeze*

http://forums.cardplayer.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48149

Session No. 6 Tuesday Night (5/8) Part II

Alright well like I said before I wanted to run through a couple more hands about last night's session before I'm done. Today I'm going to talk about the hand where I ran a bluff with 9-High on the river with 97s. This was in my 2nd or 3rd orbit at the table and my reads weren't too stellar. This might have been the first hand I played out of the blinds...

Hero is in the CO with 9:h:7:h:

1 limper, seat 5 (old woman) calls, Hero calls, Brian (seat 7; LAG at the time) calls, Sb folds, BB checks

Flop comes out T:c:8:d:3:s:

3 check to me, I bet, Brian raises, 2 folds, Old woman calls, I call

Turn: 5:c:
Old woman checks, I check, Brian checks

Hmm...so was he drawing too? As I would find out later, Brian liked to raise a lot on the flop in hopes of seeing free river cards. I hadn't played with him enough to know that's what he was doing on this hand. If I had the flush draw on the flop, I probably three-bet, but I don't like going crazy with an OESD (open-ended straight draw)OOP. I planned on check/calling this turn if I missed or check-raising this spot if I hit my straight.

River: Q:d:

Old woman checks, Hero bets, Brian and the older woman fold

Brian was talking alot throughout this entire hand, and when the river hit he made a comment about "oh, looks like J9 got there..." which sorta gave me the green light to bluff. I had seen the older woman cold-call bets when drawing before, and then immediately betting out on the turn or river if she hit anything. When she checked the river, I was fairly certain she missed a draw. She might have had middle pair on the flop or a weak-ten she could call me down with, but I was thinking she missed. Brian reaked of a missed draw and I figured my bet was either going to get raised by him or folded. He patted the felt before saying "nice hand" as a sort of way of him saying he read my soul and "knew" I had the straight. The older woman folded very quickly and simply said "there's no way I can call you there." To their credit, this was the first hand I played out of the blinds since I got to the table (and after a couple orbits), so they probably thought I was tight/solid and wouldn't bet out there without a hand.

I debated on whether or not to show the hand for a few seconds there, but I knew in the end that would just be arrogant and be a lame attempt to show "how awesome I was" *wink*. I would rather them not know I am capable of bluffing with 9-High on the river if I sense weakness. This would turn out to be the first of two pure bluffs I ran last night, and I think I timed them both fairly well. I liked my play with the 97 because I'm only risking one BB on the river there to win about 6BB. It's a small enough pot that no one has to make any hero-calls on the end with 3rd pair, but big enough for me to bet my 9-High (because there's no way I'm winning the hand if it gets checked through).

Session No. 6 Tuesday Night (5/8) Part I

3/6: TP = -$25 TSP: 30 Min
4/8 Kill: TP = $110 TSP = 5 Hrs 30 Min BB/Hr: 2.5BB/Hr
Overall 5/8: TP = $85 TSP = 6 Hours $/Hr: $14.17/Hr
Overall 4/8K (Since 4/14): TP = +$425 TSP = 25 Hrs BB/Hr: 2.13BB/Hr
Overall (Since 4/14): TP = $374 TSP = 27 Hrs $/Hr: 13.85/Hr

At first glance and after running through my stats...maybe I need to just go for a walk or watch the 4/8 game instead of playing the 3/6 game beforehand. I know I've only played three quick 3/6 sessions waiting for 4/8, but I've lost $50 in less that two hours of play. I either need to run better or stop playing that game...

Anyway, tonight was another fun night, especially for a Thursday. Tommy and I arrived at Cache around 5pm or so and were quickly ushered into a 3/6 game. I donked off another $25 there with AQ going down to a random hand and I think I missed with a couple PPs...

Anyway, I had noticed a HUGE stack at the only running 4/8 table, so I got up once in awhile from my 3/6 table to try and catch a glimpse of the 4/8 action. Seat 7 had a towering $1100-1200 chip stack and was rocking a long goatee and shaved head (I'd find out later he was a lead guitarist for a local-ish hard rock band). Anyway, wouldn't you know it, seat 6 from the 4/8 game ended up taking off and I was on my way to sit next to the monster stack.

I sat down and tried to immediately get a feel for the table. I won't lie, a few players changed in and out once I sat down, so I'll give you a picture of the table as it was for most of the night. Seat 1 would be filled by Tommy a majority of the night, but he started out the first couple of hours in seat 3. Seat 2 was largely occupied by a Korean donk calling station. Seat 3 was my other friend Tony for a majority of the night. He hadn't played live in six months or so and decided he wanted to join in the live action. He's pretty close to a TAP (no offense T). Seat 4 was the interchangeable seat where a few guys combined to donk off a few buy-ins. Seat 5 was an older woman who was lucky enough to get her aces cracked three times (during the Aces cracked promotion), she was an LPP for the most part. I sat in seat 6 for my entire session.

Seat 7 (Brian) was a bit of a special case. When I started out he was playing very well. He open-raised almost every time and had the LAG image working for him. He was picking up a lot of pots no one wanted and was getting paid off with his big hands. However, after an hour or so he started turning more and more aggro and eventually he went into full blown "raise ATC (any two cards) maniac mode." He dropped from 1200 in chips to about 450 or so when I left. Insane to watch. He was a seriously cool guy who talked to me and seat 8 ALOT. He said he was having a lot of fun with us in our own little corner and I'm going to make sure his band gets a plug in here somewhere. If you ever see this Brian...dude...stay off tilt. :) "EchoPheen" http://www.myspace.com/echopheen

Seat 8 was my old buddy Feliz (skinny kid) who played really TAG-ish during session three, but this session was a completely different story. He was definitely in the gambling mood today and he showed down some junk, tried to isolate raise against Brian during his tilt mode, and I'm not too sure if he had a successful night or not. Finally, seat 9 was a few different people, the most noteable a bio-chem major, whom I thought was a talented player, but he turned out to have a few leaks.

Anyway, wow...huge picture of the table...sorry if that bored you guys. My table talk was at an all-time high tonight, and it was in great part to both Feliz (seat 8) being at my table and seat 7 (Brian). My cards didn't look too great for most of the night, and being seated next to a maniac and then a solid (good) LAG on his left only made things harder. I had a good spot where I won two really big pots, and that is basically the only reason as to why I came up tonight. I gambled a little early (flopped straight 57s, ran a good bluff with 97s) and it paid off, I lulled for a long long time (raised big cards that didn't come, same with some pairs, and then tons of folding), I made some hands (TT and 99 flopped sets), played some hands over-aggro (AKs and AJs), missed with a couple AKs, and then finally got paid off on a couple big hands which led to some profit for the night. That was five and a half hours in a nutshell btw...

Here's the big hand of the night and I played it somewhat donk-ish/non-textbook-ish, but it worked out. Hero is in the Hijack with KJ of clubs.

Pre-flop: Limped in by a lot of players (three-four), Hero limps, Brian (seat 8) is in raise ATC mode so he pops it. Called in like 5 spots so I complete the action and call.

The flop is the King of diamonds with two clubs (Let's say T8 of clubs). I really really wish I could remember what the other two cards were...I think they were middle-ish cards? Whatever. It gets checked around to me and I really debate on betting this. I could see Brian in the corner of my eye just getting ready to fire at this pot, so I check and pray he fires it. I wanted to check-raise this trapping all of the players in between me and Brian and pray that either my TPGK would be good at the end of the hand or pray that a club hits so I can rake a huge pot. Brian fires like normal and everyone calls. I raise, Brian 3-Bets, and everyone calls again. I cap...everyone calls. Good play? If it gets checked through there I feel like an idiot...but now it's capped with like five or six players and I have TPGK with my flush draw...sick.

The turn is a 7 :h: Everyone checks, I bet, Brian just calls, two or three others call. Brian called so I know I'm in really good shape against him. The other callers have me a bit worried. There's no way I'll be comfortable with a river card that isn't another King, a Jack, or a club.

The river is the 5 :c: Boom. Checked to me, I fire, everyone folds except older woman in seat 5. She shows A :h: A:c: and I show KJ of clubs to rake-in a monster pot. She got a free rack for getting her Aces cracked, but she lost about $40 in the hand. She also limped PF in the hopes of getting her aces cracked. For the record, I would have folded PF had she raised. I also would have been sick to my stomach if I lost this pot considering I thought I was ahead the entire way...Bit lucky...but I'll take it.

I'll leave with a couple "funny" quotes and commentaries.

Brian: So wait, how old was this chick?
Feliz: I was thinking 27.
Me: Nah man, Tommy thought she was around 35. He'd know, he is Asian...
Tommy: What? I thought I heard someone say "asian"
Me: Yeah I did. I'm suprised half the casino didn't turn around when I said that... :) (it was funnier in person....shock funny I guess)

Brian (speaking to Tony): "Dude I dunno what you're doing, your Ace is waaaay behind to my straight draw" (on an A23 board). Everyone laughs, but the river turns out to be a 4 and Feliz rakes in a pot with 56suited vs. Tony's Ace...

That's all. Super long blog, but believe it or not...I have a ton more to write about this session. I'll probably run you through the hand where I bluffed on the river with 9-High, pick apart one player (won't say any names *wink*) for the way he played his set of eights, and run you through the hand where I flopped a straight vs bottom two pair and top set...and I actually held! If you read this far...wow, seriously thanks for reading. Hope it was enjoyable.

Reflection Day

Alright well it's been a fun few weeks so far and I've really enjoyed
using this blog to reflect this deeply on my poker sessions. I thought
this would get old and boring...but so far it hasn't.

Anyway, I'm a little disappointed after Friday night's session because I talked to a couple of my floorman buddies at Cache in depth about the suspected 10/20 game. Supposedly they've only had it up and running four times since they opened the new room, and it once lasted 8 whole hours. Bummer. I was really looking forward to playing the typical Cache Creek player at 10/20 stakes. 1BB/Hr ($20) would be cool with me, and it would definitely be possible even if only half thedonks that usually play the 4/8 Kill game came over to 10/20.

For now I'm happy with how I'm running at the 4/8 game and will simply use that game to try and get better. I talked to Edward (floorman at Cache) about some possible better places to play and he said Manteca has a 6/12 game probably worth checking out. He also talked about the Bay Area as being the only real spot for regular fishy games 10/20 and up. Road trip?

I'm really looking forward to this summer and the possibilities of getting a better paying job and having some more free time on my hands. Working all day and then playing poker on the weekends sounds really really fun right now.

I know I've only played five sessions since starting this blog, but I really feel like this is only the beginning of what I'm capable of. I've had one session where I really felt like a ran good...and that was during the first half of it. The rest have been marred with being card dead for multiple orbits at a time, running into set over set, being completely card dead in the juicy kill pots, etc. I'm not complaining (well kinda not haha...), but I'm really just trying to say that I think I've been playing better than 2BBs/Hr against these guys and that I'm somewhat due for a breakout run. If it happens...awesome. If it doesn't, well...I've been making it work so far.

Session No. 5 Friday Night (5/4)

4/8 Kill: TP = +$75 TSP = 3 Hours BB/Hr: 3.1BB/Hr
Overall (4/8K since 4/14): TP = +$315 TSP = 19 Hrs 30 Min BB/Hr = 2.02BB/Hr
Overall (Since 4/14): TP = +$289 TSP = 21 Hrs $/Hr = $13.76

Won like 5 pots...

AJ > J4 + ??
K9s in SB > ??
Ran two good turn semi-bluffs...
C-Bet took down a pot with AQ

I'll start off by saying that this was one of my slowest sessions ever. I swear every hand I saw tonight was the equivalent to 93os. I had great position on the biggest fish at the table (seat 1, I was in seat 4), and yet I never could get a nice enough hand to capitalize on the guy. Luckily enough I ran really well after the flop and turned this into a nice positive session, but I seriously played maybe one hand out of the blinds every couple of orbits.

Aside from coming up for the night, the most fun I had tonight was watching seat 1 donate literally $400 or so to the table cause in a little under three hours. As soon as I sat down in my seat, I could tell that seat one was going to annoy the absolute shit out of me. He was a young (24 years old or so) cocky Asian kid and would not shut the hell up. The very first hand I witnessed he gave this dude crap for limping in the SB with J7suited and flopping two pair. I later realized they weren't friends and the guy was actually questioning the guy's play as if limping in with J7 suited in this 4/8 game was such a huge flaw.

As time passed, I noticed that seat 1 raised a ton, and if he didn't raise, then he was limping in. He had about $600 worth of yellow chips in front of him, and he was hot for the first hour or so I was at the table. He was arrogant as hell as he sucked out or caught lucky flops, and often times would yell "send it" when someone called him down. I pretty much wanted to reach across the table and strangle him...

As time passed however, each player around the table eventually had a shot at the guy and his stack dwindled further and further. As I was leaving, I counted his stack and noticed he had a little under $200 left. Awesome.

Anyway, here was the biggest hand of the night and I was not involved whatsoever. The Hero of this hand is being played by Tommy.

Tommy is in the CO in seat 6 with 66. Seat one raised from UTG, 3 callers, Hero calls, the blinds both call.

Flop comes: AT6 Rainbow

bLinds check, Seat one bets, Seat 2 raises, Seat 3 calls, Hero 3-Bets, Blinds fold, Seat one caps, Seats 2 and 3 call, Hero calls

Turn: Blank. Don't remember

All check to the Hero who fires out a bet, 3 calls

River: 6

Seat 1 and 2 check, Seat 3 bets $3 and is all-in, Hero completes to 8, Seat one calls, Seat 2 folds

Hero shows quads and takes down a nice pot. Hero then looks at me and quietly says, "send it." LOL! For the record, Tommy hated the guy too...

Session No. 4 Tuesday Night (5/1) Part II

Well like I said before, a hand-history is in order so I'll post one where I had a lot of information going through my mind, I played it particularly well, and I got a little lucky on it too. The villain in seat 3 (Robert) had just sat down and seemed somewhat solid so far. I only watched him play two hands in a couple orbits however, so my read wasn't stellar. The villain in seat 4 (Jim) had been on an absolute tear all night and could have built me a little yellow house with all of the $1 chips he had in front of him (650 or so). Jim was a border-line-maniac and played most of his hands aggressively. The third villain is in seat 6 and was your basic calling station donkey. He had been paying me off a lot all night. Oh and for the record, I'm in seat one.

So we're 9-Handed and I'm in the CO with KQ of spades. Seat 6 open-limps from UTG+1, it gets folded to me (seat 1) where I raise it up. The Button (seat 2) folds, Robert in the SB flat calls (seat 3), Jim the Maniac (seat 4) three-bets it and seat 6 ends up capping it. Wow. What did I start here? I had seen seat 6 get frustrated before and cap with air. That is, he would want to limp in, but once it gets 3-Bet he figures he'll just cap. Anyway, even though Jim was a maniac, he hadn't played back at my LP raises at all so far. He'd call with just about anything, but he'd only re-raise me with a good hand, so I was a bit worried.

The flop was Q:d:7:h:4:c:

This was one of the few flops I could get a little excited about. After the pre-flop action, I thought that I might have to flop a couple of spades or a straight draw just to give myself a chance, but the Queen-High flop looked good to me.

Robert ends up leading out on the flop, which admittedly made me whince a little bit. What hand was strong enough that Robert could flat-call pre-flop with, but then lead out into three players after it was capped pre-flop? I was thinking AQ at the time, maybe a set (77,44) and then maybe he could have KQ or QJ. Not to mention the other two villains have yet to act....

Well to my pleasant suprise Jim only called the bet (absolutely reaked of AK or AJ-AT because he would have raised JJ or even TT here, not to mention AA-QQ) and then seat 6 also called. I figured now was the time to see where I was at, so I raised. All three villains just called.

The turn was a 2:c:

Beautiful card. All three villains check so I fire another bet out there. Robert made a somewhat painful looking call and Jim called fairly quickly, seat 6 ended up folding. At first I had Robert on AQ or a set, but after he just called the flop bet and then hesitated a little to call the turn here, I felt like I was either in a good spot or Robert was playing AQ like a nit. I wasn't sure what exactly Jim was doing, but I knew I had to be ahead of him...

The river was a 9:h:

Both players checked, I fired a final bet, and Robert takes another painfully long time to just call. I really was scared of AQ here, thinking that perhaps he could have put me on Aces or Kings. Jim folds face-up showing his AKos...thank goodness a King didn't flop :)

Anyway, I showdown my KQ and Robert kinda nods and says "nice hand" before showing his QT of hearts. Glad I was wrong about AQ or a set haha...

A long time ago I might have just called that flop either because I thought I was beat or because I figured I wouldn't raise anyone out of the pot. Such horrible thinking on both parts. I needed to raise this flop to see where I was at in the hand, not to mention getting more money in there in case I'm ahead. If the players simply call, well then I'm probably in good shape. If it gets 3-Bet or capped before it gets back to me, well then I can re-evaluate what I think everyone has and then play accordingly. Basically what I'm trying to say is: If you're not sure where you are, raise the flop. Because by the turn it might be too late...

Session No. 4 Tuesday Night (5/1) Part I

4/8 Kill: TP = +$45 TSP = 6 Hours 40 Min
Overall (4/8K since 4/14): TP = +$240 TSP = 16Hrs 30Min BB/Hr = 1.82BB/Hr
Overall (since 4/14): TP = +$214 TSP = 18 Hours $/Hr = $11.89/Hr

Longest session I've played in long time, and while I think it's good for me to get in the habit of playing long hours, I think I struggled mid-way through. For the first time in a long time, I felt lost on what to do in certain situations (namely low-mid PPs in early position). I was either too passive or too aggressive, and I feel like I would have had a much better session if I played these a little better. Besides that, I think I played really well, maybe a tad too aggressive at times; but for the most part, I am happy with how I played.

Coming up more would have been nice, as of now my BB/Hr is fairly low for what I want it to be at. I started out strong, lulled in the middle, and then finished the session strong to come up a little bit. For awhile there it looked like I was going to have a negative session. I'm lucky seat 4 donked off a ton of chips in the last hour though.

Quick re-cap and questions that I'll come back to tomorrow:
AA > T8 I played this way too passively
KQ > AK & QT
KQ > K-rag (good river bet)
AQ flopped one straight and turned another...might be my new favorite hand
55 multiple times and was basically lost on what was optimal
88 multiple times and was basically lost on what was optimal
Ak-AJ, KQ-KJ on whiffed flops. Spew or standard C-Bets?
Should I be opening with KJos?

By the way, my table was a good mix of Lps and Lags and I really should of made a killing tonight. I blame part of it on being somewhat card dead in every single Kill pot and the other on how badly I misplayed 55/88 from multiple spots as well as a being a tad over-aggressive in certain spots. Like I've stated before though, I think it's better to be a little too over-aggressive than a little too passive.

So, like I said before, I had a lot of trouble with pocket pairs throughout the session, so I posted a question about them over on CP. Here's the link with my original questions and it has some good replies in there that I'll really think about.

http://forums.cardplayer.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47798

You don't have to read the thread if you don't want to, but it's been pretty helpful for me and it definitely will have some effect on how I will play my pairs from now on. Tomorrow I think I'll actually throw in some HHs from the session...might be a little more exciting of a read.