Alright well I feel awful...fuck waking up at 1pm in the heat...damn AC going off for some reason lol. It's all better now though, just a little headache...slightly hungry...standard.
Okay so where I left off I was running pretty well, up close to a rack at 15/30 and up another $160 from 4/8, I was feeling good, but realized I had only been there for an hour and a half or so, and the blind structure makes the game like a rollercoaster. Being up a rack and then being even ten minutes later is not inconceivable.
So yeah, AJ of hearts, capped pre. I ended up calling for a gutty/over on the flop for one bet, having the turn get checked through, then fold after the girl in seat one made her straight and I blanked out.
About an orbit later I picked up QJ of spades UTG+1. We're seven handed at this point, I raised, called by the taggy guy (he only seemed to play pots with me for some reason) and then called by the laggy east-Indian woman in seat one defending her BB. The flop came T83 rainbow...a couple overs and a gutterball. Checks to me, I bet, tag calls, BB raises, I call, tag calls. The turn is a nine of hearts, giving me the nut straight and putting a heart flush draw out.
The BB bet into me, I raised, the tag folded, and she called. The river was a harmless ace of spades, she checks, I bet, she called. Sick suckout for a good pot...I guess she flopped two pair? Not sure, because she defended her BB with a very wide range.
Anyway, off to grab some food, I think I'll come back and update this later tonight or tomorrow morning after work.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Friday Night 15/30 (7/25)
Well I guess I should title this entry "Capital Friday Night Session" since I played a couple hours of 4/8-Kill before jumping onto the 15/30 game, but whatever. I ran pretty well at 4/8, made a couple big hands hold and then hit some draws out of the blinds to leave that game +$160 before going over to the yellow chip game.
Once I got to 15/30 my cards slowed down considerably. I folded my first four hands, got raised off both my blinds, folded some more, finally saw a flop out of my 2nd BB, missed a flush draw/gutty combo that lost me a stack ($100), then folded some more. That brutal three orbit run all but killed my 4/8 profit. Oh well, that's how it goes I guess.
Finally I picked up a big hand UTG+1 (KK) sometime in my fourth orbit. I raise from the four seat, get called by a taggy player in seat six and an older white lady in seat seven...both the blinds fold. The flop was K98 rainbow. Bingo, about damn time. I bet, taggy guy raises, older white lady (who was very much lpp) 3-bets, and I cap. Wow...wtf do they have?
At this point I'm fearing basically any/every straight draw combo out there. The turn is a good card, something like a four of clubs. It puts the club flush draw out there, but I still have the nuts. I bet, call, and call. Okay...please please hold.
The river is a three of clubs...a bit "meh," but unless the taggy guy has something like JT of clubs, I'm pretty sure my hand is good. I bet, taggy guy calls, and then the old lady goes in the tank and starts talking about how her two pair can't be good. I see her flash a King and then she tossed her cards in the muck. I guess since the taggy guy was calling me down (she knew how he played I guess?) that she knew she must be beat. I showed a set of kings, seat five showed a set of nines (wtf? I lose at least three bets on the turn) and the lady says she had both of our cards (K9)...what a sick sick hand. I dunno if I believe her, but she didn't seem like the player to be three-betting anything less that two pair on that flop...??? Whatever.
So yeah, I was almost even for the day before that hand was dealt, but after the hand, let's just say I was comfortable again. Very next hand seat three gets up for a smoke break so I posted the BB. Two limpers, small blind completed, and I looked down at JJ. Raise. Flop: AJ4 with two spades. Sick. I bet, older white lady calls, everyone else folded. Turn is a small card. Bet/call. River is a four and I boat up...I bet, and seat seven folds a couple spades face up. Good dodge...up close to $400 now. Heat check.
About an orbit later I win a couple more hands back to back...A9os from the cutoff I raise pre and fire a raggedy flop and turn and finally get the older white lady to fold to one of my turn bets. Very next hand it's folded to me in the hijack and this time I have AT of spades. I raise and the BB (cute Asian girl, married, in her 30s, short hair, laggish) defends her blind. Flop comes Q44 with a couple spades. She checks, I bet, she calls. The turn is a jack of spades, giving me the nut flush and a Royal Flush draw. She checks, and I debate checking behind to go for the $200 Royal flush bonus just in case she folds, but then I decide to just bet and hope she raises me with a naked four. Instead she folds...whaa whaa...oh well. I'd rather not check behind, let the board become a disaster and force me to lose the hand.
After that I lost a few smallish pots, then lost a hand where I had AJ of hearts capped pre-flop three ways and missed my over/gutty combo...I just felt like I played that hand badly...I might come back and blog about that tomorrow. I'll save that hand and my QJ of spades where I suckout huge on the turn to win a good pot for tomorrow's blog. Right now I gotta go crash.
Final tally on the day:
4/8-Kill: +$160
15/30: +$390
4/8: -$120 (lol whoops)
Anyway, I should post the second part soon, so be on the lookout, thanks for reading.
Once I got to 15/30 my cards slowed down considerably. I folded my first four hands, got raised off both my blinds, folded some more, finally saw a flop out of my 2nd BB, missed a flush draw/gutty combo that lost me a stack ($100), then folded some more. That brutal three orbit run all but killed my 4/8 profit. Oh well, that's how it goes I guess.
Finally I picked up a big hand UTG+1 (KK) sometime in my fourth orbit. I raise from the four seat, get called by a taggy player in seat six and an older white lady in seat seven...both the blinds fold. The flop was K98 rainbow. Bingo, about damn time. I bet, taggy guy raises, older white lady (who was very much lpp) 3-bets, and I cap. Wow...wtf do they have?
At this point I'm fearing basically any/every straight draw combo out there. The turn is a good card, something like a four of clubs. It puts the club flush draw out there, but I still have the nuts. I bet, call, and call. Okay...please please hold.
The river is a three of clubs...a bit "meh," but unless the taggy guy has something like JT of clubs, I'm pretty sure my hand is good. I bet, taggy guy calls, and then the old lady goes in the tank and starts talking about how her two pair can't be good. I see her flash a King and then she tossed her cards in the muck. I guess since the taggy guy was calling me down (she knew how he played I guess?) that she knew she must be beat. I showed a set of kings, seat five showed a set of nines (wtf? I lose at least three bets on the turn) and the lady says she had both of our cards (K9)...what a sick sick hand. I dunno if I believe her, but she didn't seem like the player to be three-betting anything less that two pair on that flop...??? Whatever.
So yeah, I was almost even for the day before that hand was dealt, but after the hand, let's just say I was comfortable again. Very next hand seat three gets up for a smoke break so I posted the BB. Two limpers, small blind completed, and I looked down at JJ. Raise. Flop: AJ4 with two spades. Sick. I bet, older white lady calls, everyone else folded. Turn is a small card. Bet/call. River is a four and I boat up...I bet, and seat seven folds a couple spades face up. Good dodge...up close to $400 now. Heat check.
About an orbit later I win a couple more hands back to back...A9os from the cutoff I raise pre and fire a raggedy flop and turn and finally get the older white lady to fold to one of my turn bets. Very next hand it's folded to me in the hijack and this time I have AT of spades. I raise and the BB (cute Asian girl, married, in her 30s, short hair, laggish) defends her blind. Flop comes Q44 with a couple spades. She checks, I bet, she calls. The turn is a jack of spades, giving me the nut flush and a Royal Flush draw. She checks, and I debate checking behind to go for the $200 Royal flush bonus just in case she folds, but then I decide to just bet and hope she raises me with a naked four. Instead she folds...whaa whaa...oh well. I'd rather not check behind, let the board become a disaster and force me to lose the hand.
After that I lost a few smallish pots, then lost a hand where I had AJ of hearts capped pre-flop three ways and missed my over/gutty combo...I just felt like I played that hand badly...I might come back and blog about that tomorrow. I'll save that hand and my QJ of spades where I suckout huge on the turn to win a good pot for tomorrow's blog. Right now I gotta go crash.
Final tally on the day:
4/8-Kill: +$160
15/30: +$390
4/8: -$120 (lol whoops)
Anyway, I should post the second part soon, so be on the lookout, thanks for reading.
A couple Extra from Wednesday Night (7/24)
Alright well like I said, I wanted to come back to this game and post some stuff I noticed. First off, a hand I remembered involving the maniac on my right (seat six) was just sick.
I can't remember the pre-flop action...probably raised pre-flop, but the flop was 345 with two clubs. Small blind was this older white guy in seat nine, he led out, raised by the pre-flop raiser who was seat five I believe (annoying Korean guy), seat six 3-bets, and the small blind capped.
Wow...right? The turn is a six (lol). So the board is 3456, small blind checks, OR bets, Maniac raises, Small-blind calls, OR just calls. Wow, looks like the maniac flopped a straight?
River pairs the board (five I believe). Small blind bets out, maniac starts talking about "ugh what a suckout", Korean dude calls, maniac calls.
Showdown:
Small blind has 33 for three full - nice hand
Korean guy has K2 of clubs (wtf? Nice raise pre)
Maniac has 78 for the turned nut straight (double wtf? Nice flop action?)
The maniac talks about the hand for awhile, and says "I knew if I hit that card I'd get paid off huge, I mean, look at that pot" and another gem "Man you sucked out on my hand, nice catch on the river...well, I got lucky on the turn I guess..."
lol...ya think? The maniac 3-bets a flop where he "knows" he's behind but he'll "get paid off huge" when he hits his gutterball that puts a four card straight out there? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. This is why I love live poker.
I can't remember the pre-flop action...probably raised pre-flop, but the flop was 345 with two clubs. Small blind was this older white guy in seat nine, he led out, raised by the pre-flop raiser who was seat five I believe (annoying Korean guy), seat six 3-bets, and the small blind capped.
Wow...right? The turn is a six (lol). So the board is 3456, small blind checks, OR bets, Maniac raises, Small-blind calls, OR just calls. Wow, looks like the maniac flopped a straight?
River pairs the board (five I believe). Small blind bets out, maniac starts talking about "ugh what a suckout", Korean dude calls, maniac calls.
Showdown:
Small blind has 33 for three full - nice hand
Korean guy has K2 of clubs (wtf? Nice raise pre)
Maniac has 78 for the turned nut straight (double wtf? Nice flop action?)
The maniac talks about the hand for awhile, and says "I knew if I hit that card I'd get paid off huge, I mean, look at that pot" and another gem "Man you sucked out on my hand, nice catch on the river...well, I got lucky on the turn I guess..."
lol...ya think? The maniac 3-bets a flop where he "knows" he's behind but he'll "get paid off huge" when he hits his gutterball that puts a four card straight out there? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. This is why I love live poker.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday Night 15/30 (7/23)
Ahh today was pretty good. Slept in, got some stuff done around the house, washed my car, and planned on going to play by 7pm or so. Well I rolled into Cap around 9:30pm (standard) and was first on the waiting list for all of seven seconds before being called over to the game.
A couple quick thoughts:
- The table was ridiculously passive for the majority of the night
- The regulars were running awful when I sat down and moved away to the 1/3 NL table before I got through a couple orbits
The table was pretty good, just different from what I was used to seeing at 15/30. At 15/30 I'm more familiar with aggressive monsters spewing chips, instead this table was full of passive Cache Creek-like players check/calling everyone to death. Quick rundown of key players at the table: Seat 1 - Taggy Asian guy getting sucked out on most of the night; Seat 2 - Older Black man, really LPP, just awful most of the night; Seat 3 - Middle aged reg named Bill...pretty LPP, he always seems tight at first to me, but turns out to be really passive/loose; Seat 4 - Old white man, really LPP, saw him hit three backdoor flushes tonight, and two of them I had flopped a four flush (wtf right); Seat 5 - Really annoying Korean guy, somewhat laggy; Seat 6 - Maniac white guy, late 20's, said he played a lot in the Los Angeles area cardrooms (and it showed). Really nice guy aside from all of that, sounds like he plays a lot; Seat 7 - Taggish chubby but brutally sexy Mexiwegian, smelled a lot like Dr. Pepper and In 'n Out; Seat 8 - Reg named Sing...stayed in his seat the majority of the night this time, easily my best opponent at the table.
I'm not going to lie...if I had the option of playing against Spewtards or Passive Stations all night, I'd definitely take the stations. They're much easier to guide through a hand and make the game much less stressful. Then again, spewtards make the game much more exciting/fun...oh well, both are win/win as long as the players play bad...
Okay so I know you guys are bored by now, so onto the hands. The first hand I won was 99 on a KT3 board with two diamonds. I was in position and HU with Bill (seat three). He check/called me on the flop, the turn was a lower card than my nines, a five I think. He check/called again, and on the river an eight of diamonds hit. He checked, I checked behind and he showed AQ for a missed gutterball and two overs. I really like my bet/fold lines I took on the flop/turn...I really don't want to check behind a turn and let my opponent get a free ride to hit his draw, bluff me off my hand or value bet my ass with middle pair on the river. I keep the pressure on, and if I get called on the turn, I check behind and showdown if I don't improve on the river. If I have AQ on the other hand, I like a check behind on the turn because bet/calling or bet/folding the turn with this board and AQ would make me cry. Of course, if your opponent has been floating a lot of flops and shutting down against turn bets, by all means continue firing.
Okay so after that hand I get dealt a couple hands I like to call "roadmaps." That is, even Stevie Wonder could play these hands.
Hero is dealt AK of hearts in the hijack. Limped in a couple spots, Hero raises, called by the button, the blinds and the limpers. Six to the flop (weeeeee). Flop: K73 with two spades. Checks to hero, hero bets, called in two spots, folded in two Maniac white guy raises (aww crap), Hero 3-bets, two folds after my 3-bet (sweet), maniac just calls (double sweet). Turn: Ace of clubs (this isn't even fair), check/bet/call; River: Nine of diamonds, check/bet and villain folds 75 of spades face up. Thanks for not letting him get there. Sweet pot.
Very next hand I get dealt AJos, two limpers, I raise. Flop comes jack high, turn is an ace, and I get called down by seat four (old man; lpp) who pays me off with A9. It's fun to remember those times where I have KK on the J-high flop and the old man turns me with A9 there, so this time I need to be thankful I turned Aces up lol ;-) Back to back Aces-up hands, and my chipstack is somewhere close to +$500.
Well, it's that time of the night where I'm incoherent and can barely keep my eyes open, so I guess I'll have to blog about how I shipped $350+ back to the table over the course of the next couple of hours either tomorrow or sometime later this week, because I'm falling asleep.
Basically all I have to say is I thought about leaving as soon as I was up a rack, but realized that the potential (i.e. the game was really good) to be up another rack was there. Part of playing this "high" is understanding that in reality, I'm only up a rack of chips, and I shouldn't leave just because my "luck might run out." Of course, the situation where three and a half stacks later I'm cashing out +$150 and feeling like an ass might get me to at least think about leaving when I'm plus five, but I'll still know I'd be wrong to leave.
No big deal, in a way, it felt good to ship back the money. To feel human again. To be reminded that I'm not always going to flop TPTK and have it hold against five people on a super drawy board. Also, it felt good to be reminded that sometimes I play bad and have things I need to work on such as missing a few raises in LP with some strong cards (yes I know, I missed a raise...wtf?) and I even missed my fold button a couple times and showed down a bit light (whoops). Live and learn I guess. Sorry for rambling more than normal tonight, thanks for reading.
A couple quick thoughts:
- The table was ridiculously passive for the majority of the night
- The regulars were running awful when I sat down and moved away to the 1/3 NL table before I got through a couple orbits
The table was pretty good, just different from what I was used to seeing at 15/30. At 15/30 I'm more familiar with aggressive monsters spewing chips, instead this table was full of passive Cache Creek-like players check/calling everyone to death. Quick rundown of key players at the table: Seat 1 - Taggy Asian guy getting sucked out on most of the night; Seat 2 - Older Black man, really LPP, just awful most of the night; Seat 3 - Middle aged reg named Bill...pretty LPP, he always seems tight at first to me, but turns out to be really passive/loose; Seat 4 - Old white man, really LPP, saw him hit three backdoor flushes tonight, and two of them I had flopped a four flush (wtf right); Seat 5 - Really annoying Korean guy, somewhat laggy; Seat 6 - Maniac white guy, late 20's, said he played a lot in the Los Angeles area cardrooms (and it showed). Really nice guy aside from all of that, sounds like he plays a lot; Seat 7 - Taggish chubby but brutally sexy Mexiwegian, smelled a lot like Dr. Pepper and In 'n Out; Seat 8 - Reg named Sing...stayed in his seat the majority of the night this time, easily my best opponent at the table.
I'm not going to lie...if I had the option of playing against Spewtards or Passive Stations all night, I'd definitely take the stations. They're much easier to guide through a hand and make the game much less stressful. Then again, spewtards make the game much more exciting/fun...oh well, both are win/win as long as the players play bad...
Okay so I know you guys are bored by now, so onto the hands. The first hand I won was 99 on a KT3 board with two diamonds. I was in position and HU with Bill (seat three). He check/called me on the flop, the turn was a lower card than my nines, a five I think. He check/called again, and on the river an eight of diamonds hit. He checked, I checked behind and he showed AQ for a missed gutterball and two overs. I really like my bet/fold lines I took on the flop/turn...I really don't want to check behind a turn and let my opponent get a free ride to hit his draw, bluff me off my hand or value bet my ass with middle pair on the river. I keep the pressure on, and if I get called on the turn, I check behind and showdown if I don't improve on the river. If I have AQ on the other hand, I like a check behind on the turn because bet/calling or bet/folding the turn with this board and AQ would make me cry. Of course, if your opponent has been floating a lot of flops and shutting down against turn bets, by all means continue firing.
Okay so after that hand I get dealt a couple hands I like to call "roadmaps." That is, even Stevie Wonder could play these hands.
Hero is dealt AK of hearts in the hijack. Limped in a couple spots, Hero raises, called by the button, the blinds and the limpers. Six to the flop (weeeeee). Flop: K73 with two spades. Checks to hero, hero bets, called in two spots, folded in two Maniac white guy raises (aww crap), Hero 3-bets, two folds after my 3-bet (sweet), maniac just calls (double sweet). Turn: Ace of clubs (this isn't even fair), check/bet/call; River: Nine of diamonds, check/bet and villain folds 75 of spades face up. Thanks for not letting him get there. Sweet pot.
Very next hand I get dealt AJos, two limpers, I raise. Flop comes jack high, turn is an ace, and I get called down by seat four (old man; lpp) who pays me off with A9. It's fun to remember those times where I have KK on the J-high flop and the old man turns me with A9 there, so this time I need to be thankful I turned Aces up lol ;-) Back to back Aces-up hands, and my chipstack is somewhere close to +$500.
Well, it's that time of the night where I'm incoherent and can barely keep my eyes open, so I guess I'll have to blog about how I shipped $350+ back to the table over the course of the next couple of hours either tomorrow or sometime later this week, because I'm falling asleep.
Basically all I have to say is I thought about leaving as soon as I was up a rack, but realized that the potential (i.e. the game was really good) to be up another rack was there. Part of playing this "high" is understanding that in reality, I'm only up a rack of chips, and I shouldn't leave just because my "luck might run out." Of course, the situation where three and a half stacks later I'm cashing out +$150 and feeling like an ass might get me to at least think about leaving when I'm plus five, but I'll still know I'd be wrong to leave.
No big deal, in a way, it felt good to ship back the money. To feel human again. To be reminded that I'm not always going to flop TPTK and have it hold against five people on a super drawy board. Also, it felt good to be reminded that sometimes I play bad and have things I need to work on such as missing a few raises in LP with some strong cards (yes I know, I missed a raise...wtf?) and I even missed my fold button a couple times and showed down a bit light (whoops). Live and learn I guess. Sorry for rambling more than normal tonight, thanks for reading.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday Night 15/30 (7/18)
Well like I mentioned in the last entry, I played 4/8 for a two to three hours and ran pretty awful. I outflopped QQ in a big multiway pot (88 in the BB, UTG raised, called everywhere) Flop was 863, CR'd QQ with everyone sandwiched in between. Turn: Q obv...:-(
Finally I got called away from that game and sat down at 15/30 in the four seat. A quick breakdown of the table was: seat 1 - older white dude sitting on a good amount of chips ($2k); seat 2 - Asian girl in her 30s, playing a bit Laggish pre/LPPish post; seat 3 - old Asian man, went on a sick heater while I was there, even made a diamond royal flush good for $500, Laggy; seat 5 - was Wilson for most of the night. He joined the table soon after I got there and seriously just ran bad. I said last time he didn't play too well, but today he just couldn't hold. His game looked pretty good today. seat 6 - Older Asian guy named Sing. Guy never stays in his seat, always smoking or playing Pai Gow; seat 7 - Can't remember seat 8 - older white guy...Italian-ish? Must've been card dead because I didn't see him play much; seat 9 - lpp-ish asian guy
Alright well I fold my first four hands or so and pick up QQ in the BB. Of course it's limped in five spots, sb complets, and then I raise. Wheeeeee. Flop was fantastic: 844...except seat two OTB had a 34os...lame. Great start.
About an orbit later seat two raises my BB from the button. She had been getting a bit ancy the last couple of orbits (opening with junk), seat three called, and I defended with KJ of clubs. The flop came down Q-high with a couple clubs; sb checks, I check, She bets, SB folds, I raise, she calls. Turn pairs the bottom card (a six I believe), I fire again and she tanks for a good while, stares me down a little bit, then folded. Phew. Had to earn that one.
After that I swung up and down a little bit, but mostly staying break even for three orbits or so. Won some small pots, lost some small pots out of the blinds, etc. A hand that finally propels me upwards was AKos holding in a pretty good pot. Seat two limped UTG, seat three called, I raised, folds around to the blinds in nine and one who call. Damn. Flop: A24 with a couple spades
Not bad. Checks to me, I bet, called in three spots. The turn is a three. Oh wtf right? Checks to me, I still fire, this time called by seats one and three. Both of these calls worried me a bit, considering they both had been somewhat ~solid on their turn calls up until this point. The river was a ten (non-spade) and it got checked to me. Not sure if I missed value here, but I wasn't sure what I was beating that could call me at this point. I'm almost positive no one had a straight (I would have been raised or donked into by now), but maybe a goofy two pair was out there? Whatever, I checked behind and took the pot. Seat two showed me his raggy spades as I took it down.
Orbit or so later I picked up Kings and won a good sized pot against seat two. There was a limper (seat one), seat two raised, I 3-bet, folded around, limper folds, and then seat two called and asked how I wanted to play it. I was kinda like "huh?" at first, since he spoke broken English, it took me a couple times to figure out he wanted to know if I liked checking pots down HU or if I liked the action. I told him as politely as I could that I appreciated the offer, but I always play my hands and encourage him to do the same. He had been checking down with the girl in seat two a bit (this has come to bug me less and less the more I watch people do it, because they do not force the action HU, but only check down if it happens to become HU). Anyway, he ended up having AK and he whiffed flop and check/folded the turn.
After that hand I took a breather and went outside to talk to the Superdonk and see what time he was coming by. I told him I had finally started to run good (he got my "4/8 IS MURDERING ME" texts earlier in the evening lol). I came back to the table after missing a full orbit and picked up a couple red Queens. Wilson raised UTG, folded around to seat three (who was up a rack and half since I left) seat three called, I 3-bet, Wilson capped (he's trying to go all-in at this point) and we're three-handed to a flop of KQ4 with a couple diamonds.
Sweet. Check, I bet, call, call. Turn is a J (uh oh). Check, I bet, Wilson calls all-in, seat three calls. I was a bit worried of the board getting coordinated, but the river was a four and I boated up, pretty much relieving me of any real anxiety. Check, bet, call. Wilson showed TT and said "nh, I just can't do anything right" as he re-bought (He did end up coming back before the night was over, when the game broke he was only down $300...pretty good compared to down $600).
After that big hand I was sitting on ~+$400-$500, and didn't move much from there. I traded some money back and forth around the table for awhile, the game got shorter and shorter, and JJ three times and at least eight or so walks in my BB later, the game broke and I cashed out up a rack for the second 15/30 session in a row. I think a big part of my win last night was the number of walks I got in the BB. Me and seat three were on a tear most of the night, so maybe that kept people from raising our blinds? Who knows, all I know is that chopping your BB every other orbit instead of choosing to defend or (most likely) muck makes things really easy.
If I get time, I'll blog about the quick psycho 4/8-Kill session I played with the Superdonk after my 15/30 game broke. Until then, thanks for reading.
Finally I got called away from that game and sat down at 15/30 in the four seat. A quick breakdown of the table was: seat 1 - older white dude sitting on a good amount of chips ($2k); seat 2 - Asian girl in her 30s, playing a bit Laggish pre/LPPish post; seat 3 - old Asian man, went on a sick heater while I was there, even made a diamond royal flush good for $500, Laggy; seat 5 - was Wilson for most of the night. He joined the table soon after I got there and seriously just ran bad. I said last time he didn't play too well, but today he just couldn't hold. His game looked pretty good today. seat 6 - Older Asian guy named Sing. Guy never stays in his seat, always smoking or playing Pai Gow; seat 7 - Can't remember seat 8 - older white guy...Italian-ish? Must've been card dead because I didn't see him play much; seat 9 - lpp-ish asian guy
Alright well I fold my first four hands or so and pick up QQ in the BB. Of course it's limped in five spots, sb complets, and then I raise. Wheeeeee. Flop was fantastic: 844...except seat two OTB had a 34os...lame. Great start.
About an orbit later seat two raises my BB from the button. She had been getting a bit ancy the last couple of orbits (opening with junk), seat three called, and I defended with KJ of clubs. The flop came down Q-high with a couple clubs; sb checks, I check, She bets, SB folds, I raise, she calls. Turn pairs the bottom card (a six I believe), I fire again and she tanks for a good while, stares me down a little bit, then folded. Phew. Had to earn that one.
After that I swung up and down a little bit, but mostly staying break even for three orbits or so. Won some small pots, lost some small pots out of the blinds, etc. A hand that finally propels me upwards was AKos holding in a pretty good pot. Seat two limped UTG, seat three called, I raised, folds around to the blinds in nine and one who call. Damn. Flop: A24 with a couple spades
Not bad. Checks to me, I bet, called in three spots. The turn is a three. Oh wtf right? Checks to me, I still fire, this time called by seats one and three. Both of these calls worried me a bit, considering they both had been somewhat ~solid on their turn calls up until this point. The river was a ten (non-spade) and it got checked to me. Not sure if I missed value here, but I wasn't sure what I was beating that could call me at this point. I'm almost positive no one had a straight (I would have been raised or donked into by now), but maybe a goofy two pair was out there? Whatever, I checked behind and took the pot. Seat two showed me his raggy spades as I took it down.
Orbit or so later I picked up Kings and won a good sized pot against seat two. There was a limper (seat one), seat two raised, I 3-bet, folded around, limper folds, and then seat two called and asked how I wanted to play it. I was kinda like "huh?" at first, since he spoke broken English, it took me a couple times to figure out he wanted to know if I liked checking pots down HU or if I liked the action. I told him as politely as I could that I appreciated the offer, but I always play my hands and encourage him to do the same. He had been checking down with the girl in seat two a bit (this has come to bug me less and less the more I watch people do it, because they do not force the action HU, but only check down if it happens to become HU). Anyway, he ended up having AK and he whiffed flop and check/folded the turn.
After that hand I took a breather and went outside to talk to the Superdonk and see what time he was coming by. I told him I had finally started to run good (he got my "4/8 IS MURDERING ME" texts earlier in the evening lol). I came back to the table after missing a full orbit and picked up a couple red Queens. Wilson raised UTG, folded around to seat three (who was up a rack and half since I left) seat three called, I 3-bet, Wilson capped (he's trying to go all-in at this point) and we're three-handed to a flop of KQ4 with a couple diamonds.
Sweet. Check, I bet, call, call. Turn is a J (uh oh). Check, I bet, Wilson calls all-in, seat three calls. I was a bit worried of the board getting coordinated, but the river was a four and I boated up, pretty much relieving me of any real anxiety. Check, bet, call. Wilson showed TT and said "nh, I just can't do anything right" as he re-bought (He did end up coming back before the night was over, when the game broke he was only down $300...pretty good compared to down $600).
After that big hand I was sitting on ~+$400-$500, and didn't move much from there. I traded some money back and forth around the table for awhile, the game got shorter and shorter, and JJ three times and at least eight or so walks in my BB later, the game broke and I cashed out up a rack for the second 15/30 session in a row. I think a big part of my win last night was the number of walks I got in the BB. Me and seat three were on a tear most of the night, so maybe that kept people from raising our blinds? Who knows, all I know is that chopping your BB every other orbit instead of choosing to defend or (most likely) muck makes things really easy.
If I get time, I'll blog about the quick psycho 4/8-Kill session I played with the Superdonk after my 15/30 game broke. Until then, thanks for reading.
Friday, July 18, 2008
More 15/30 Fun
This was the first time the waitlist sucked...I played 4/8 for a good two hours (probably more) and lost with a couple sets...down $150ish
Then I sat 15/30, first hand I played was QQ out of the BB, seven-way action (wtf) and lost to a girl who flopped trip fours (34os OTB was her hand). Yay...
Enabled God-mode after that though. Had AK-high hold a couple times, AK then held on an A234T board, and then QQ > AJ > TT in a capped pre-flop, called down on the other two streets hand...
15/30 broke kind of early, so then I made back a rack I lost at 4/8 earlier that night, special thanks to a drunk Chi (dealer at Cap playing drunk) moving to my table and livening it up.
I'll report in more detail tomorrow, right now I gotta get some sleep, I'm exhausted (and after proof-reading this, incredibly incoherent).
Final Tally:
4/8: -150
15/30: +575
4/8-Kill: +100
Then I sat 15/30, first hand I played was QQ out of the BB, seven-way action (wtf) and lost to a girl who flopped trip fours (34os OTB was her hand). Yay...
Enabled God-mode after that though. Had AK-high hold a couple times, AK then held on an A234T board, and then QQ > AJ > TT in a capped pre-flop, called down on the other two streets hand...
15/30 broke kind of early, so then I made back a rack I lost at 4/8 earlier that night, special thanks to a drunk Chi (dealer at Cap playing drunk) moving to my table and livening it up.
I'll report in more detail tomorrow, right now I gotta get some sleep, I'm exhausted (and after proof-reading this, incredibly incoherent).
Final Tally:
4/8: -150
15/30: +575
4/8-Kill: +100
Saturday, July 12, 2008
About That Shitty Week... (15/30 Win)
Yeah well it just got a whole lot better. So I woke up today/yesterday/Friday (whatever) to a couple text messages, one from my friend Tony and another from the Superdonk letting me know they were playing at Capitol already. It was around 4pm...I just woke up, and my allergies were killing me. Seriously, I felt like shit all day, in fact, I still feel like shit, but I told them I'd come by later once I had a car to drive (mine's in the shop obv). I found out later Tony had been playing all day and was leaving around 8pm and the SD was leaving around 6pm, but going back later. I told the SD I'd roll with him after he was done running errands to get food and maybe play.
So we came in around 11pm or so, grabbed a bite, and since the SD was first on the list for 9/18 and 15/30 had a seat open, I decided to jump in and play. I was still feeling a bit foggy, but I figured it wouldn't affect me too much (I was wrong, the one thing it did affect was my memory for the session, I can barely recall any hands). So a quick rundown of the table would be Seat #1 - The Santi obv #2 - Slick Asian guy with shades and a $1500 chip stack (LAG) #3 - For some of the night (hour or so) would be filled by a white dude (Taggy)in a cap who I'd clash with alot and then later on filled by Davin Anderson (Laggy; he was on the '04 ME telecast where Raymer won it...I think Raymer may have ko'd him) #4 - Older Asian guy that never stayed in his seat (LPP) #5 - Older white guy who was pretty LPP #6 - Wilson (regular I talked about, played kinda shitty today) #7 - Oaffie (sp?) white floor man tall guy, hickish, Tony says he plays good but I thought he was pretty bad (LPP) #8 - Older Asian guy who couldn't stay in his seat and #9 - Asian tatted up guy named Vince who actually played a bit tight-passive...15/30, maybe he was playing higher than normal, because I barely saw him raise and he almost never defended his BB or completed the SB (one more $5 chip)
Alright so that's the table run down, I guess I'll get into some hands. The first hand I won was AJos after a limper and I'm OTB. I raise, get called by the small blind (seat two), the BB (seat three) and seat five (limper) calls my raise. The flop looks good with an Ace in the window: AQ4 two spades. SB checks, BB bets, limper calls, I raise, SB folds, BB and limper call. The turn is a pretty good looking card, a six I believe. Check, check, bet, call, fold. The river is an Ace of hearts, BB checks, I bet, he calls. I show AJ and am good...I figured he must have had a weaker ace...I was pretty confident throughout the hand I was good.
After that I folded a lot and watched the table play, observed everyone, etc. No one was showing me much of anything, and I was pretty confident I could make some money if I ran good. I think I won a couple small pots and found myself close to $250, but then I took a tumble as I lost with Jacks to an ugly flop and then I lost a hand with KJ after seat seven flopped two pair with Q2os (defended his BB against my raise and then played it really passively). KQ2 flop, he donk bet into me and the field, I raised, he called. Turn was an ace, he check/called and then the river went check/check after a blank hit. *yawn* nh
So after those hands and a couple more bad flops I found myself down $150...that's a helluva swing lol. I wasn't too worried though...soon enough a BB special hand helped me out. It gets limped around in three spots, sb completes, and I check my 63 soooooted in diamonds to see a flop.
Flop: J52 with two spades and one diamond. Meh, I'm ready to check/fold my hand when it gets checked around...interesting. "Diamond" I said to myself...turn: four of diamonds. Nice. SB led out and I raised, called in two spots behind me (oh shit) and small blind only called. The river was a good blank card (ten of clubs) so it went check, bet, call, fold, fold (seat two liked to look me up alot) and I showed the nuts for a sweet BB special pot.
Some more time passed, and we got shorter and shorter-handed, eventually playing five and six handed throughout my final hour at the table. This last hour is where I made most of my money, I'd say $300-$350 of it. One of the first big hands was pocket threes. Seat two raised UTG, called by the button, and then I defended in the BB. Flop was QT3. Check, bet, fold, I raised, seat two called. Turn was a king...I bet out and prayed it was an action card. Call. Damn..oh well. River: Q. Fuck me, that probably killed my action. I bet...villain tanked and then called.
A few hands later I was dealt a couple red aces. One limper, I raise, seat two three-bets, folds around to hero who caps, villain called. If I was in position I'd probably just call a three-bet, but OOP I just keep firing. Flop was kinda raggy: 864...bet, call. Turn was a Queen, bet/call. River paired the six (thanks), bet/call. "Nice hand."
Couple orbits later I get back from the bathroom/vending machine and was greeted by the Laker fan now sitting in seat six at my table (Wilson had slid over to the five seat). Wow, the night somehow just got better. My first hand back I was dealt A8 of diamonds and defended against Wilson's MP raise. It's a bit of an odd pre-flop call by me, usually I'd fold or three-bet, but I kind of had a feel for how Wilson was playing, and I know he's not necessarily stronger than me, but I didn't want to bloat a pot HU against him by 3-betting either. I figured I'd call, see a flop, and then make a balanced amount of folds/moves for the times I was going to miss the flop completely. Luckily I caught a good piece of the board with a K73 flop with two diamonds. I check/raised the flop and then led the turn when I paired my eight. Wilson folded the turn rather quickly...very next hand I was dealt KQ of diamonds in the SB...
Now, I believe we were six or seven handed at this point...anyway, seat four raised, which kinda threw me off a bit. I had yet to see him play a hand...Laker fan called, I opted to just defend, and the BB came along for the ride as well. The flop came J-high with a diamond, checked around. Odd...I was likely peeling or raising the flop, based on who bet out I guess. Turn was a Queen, time to start betting I guess. I bet out and only seat four called. River was a blank, Bet, fold.
"What the heck, he just got back, he can't win two hands in a row...lucky smoke break?" asked the Laker fan. "Heh...lucky water break" I said as I pointed to the bottle of water and diet coke I had just got from the vending machine.
A couple more orbits passed, some blind steals, a couple c-bets, and then we got down to only five players. Meh...time to call it a night I decided. The SD had told me a few orbits before this that he was ready to bounce whenever, so I racked up and cashed out up a rack and some change (520).
After such a shitty week, it was nice to finally run good at something. Thanks for reading.
So we came in around 11pm or so, grabbed a bite, and since the SD was first on the list for 9/18 and 15/30 had a seat open, I decided to jump in and play. I was still feeling a bit foggy, but I figured it wouldn't affect me too much (I was wrong, the one thing it did affect was my memory for the session, I can barely recall any hands). So a quick rundown of the table would be Seat #1 - The Santi obv #2 - Slick Asian guy with shades and a $1500 chip stack (LAG) #3 - For some of the night (hour or so) would be filled by a white dude (Taggy)in a cap who I'd clash with alot and then later on filled by Davin Anderson (Laggy; he was on the '04 ME telecast where Raymer won it...I think Raymer may have ko'd him) #4 - Older Asian guy that never stayed in his seat (LPP) #5 - Older white guy who was pretty LPP #6 - Wilson (regular I talked about, played kinda shitty today) #7 - Oaffie (sp?) white floor man tall guy, hickish, Tony says he plays good but I thought he was pretty bad (LPP) #8 - Older Asian guy who couldn't stay in his seat and #9 - Asian tatted up guy named Vince who actually played a bit tight-passive...15/30, maybe he was playing higher than normal, because I barely saw him raise and he almost never defended his BB or completed the SB (one more $5 chip)
Alright so that's the table run down, I guess I'll get into some hands. The first hand I won was AJos after a limper and I'm OTB. I raise, get called by the small blind (seat two), the BB (seat three) and seat five (limper) calls my raise. The flop looks good with an Ace in the window: AQ4 two spades. SB checks, BB bets, limper calls, I raise, SB folds, BB and limper call. The turn is a pretty good looking card, a six I believe. Check, check, bet, call, fold. The river is an Ace of hearts, BB checks, I bet, he calls. I show AJ and am good...I figured he must have had a weaker ace...I was pretty confident throughout the hand I was good.
After that I folded a lot and watched the table play, observed everyone, etc. No one was showing me much of anything, and I was pretty confident I could make some money if I ran good. I think I won a couple small pots and found myself close to $250, but then I took a tumble as I lost with Jacks to an ugly flop and then I lost a hand with KJ after seat seven flopped two pair with Q2os (defended his BB against my raise and then played it really passively). KQ2 flop, he donk bet into me and the field, I raised, he called. Turn was an ace, he check/called and then the river went check/check after a blank hit. *yawn* nh
So after those hands and a couple more bad flops I found myself down $150...that's a helluva swing lol. I wasn't too worried though...soon enough a BB special hand helped me out. It gets limped around in three spots, sb completes, and I check my 63 soooooted in diamonds to see a flop.
Flop: J52 with two spades and one diamond. Meh, I'm ready to check/fold my hand when it gets checked around...interesting. "Diamond" I said to myself...turn: four of diamonds. Nice. SB led out and I raised, called in two spots behind me (oh shit) and small blind only called. The river was a good blank card (ten of clubs) so it went check, bet, call, fold, fold (seat two liked to look me up alot) and I showed the nuts for a sweet BB special pot.
Some more time passed, and we got shorter and shorter-handed, eventually playing five and six handed throughout my final hour at the table. This last hour is where I made most of my money, I'd say $300-$350 of it. One of the first big hands was pocket threes. Seat two raised UTG, called by the button, and then I defended in the BB. Flop was QT3. Check, bet, fold, I raised, seat two called. Turn was a king...I bet out and prayed it was an action card. Call. Damn..oh well. River: Q. Fuck me, that probably killed my action. I bet...villain tanked and then called.
A few hands later I was dealt a couple red aces. One limper, I raise, seat two three-bets, folds around to hero who caps, villain called. If I was in position I'd probably just call a three-bet, but OOP I just keep firing. Flop was kinda raggy: 864...bet, call. Turn was a Queen, bet/call. River paired the six (thanks), bet/call. "Nice hand."
Couple orbits later I get back from the bathroom/vending machine and was greeted by the Laker fan now sitting in seat six at my table (Wilson had slid over to the five seat). Wow, the night somehow just got better. My first hand back I was dealt A8 of diamonds and defended against Wilson's MP raise. It's a bit of an odd pre-flop call by me, usually I'd fold or three-bet, but I kind of had a feel for how Wilson was playing, and I know he's not necessarily stronger than me, but I didn't want to bloat a pot HU against him by 3-betting either. I figured I'd call, see a flop, and then make a balanced amount of folds/moves for the times I was going to miss the flop completely. Luckily I caught a good piece of the board with a K73 flop with two diamonds. I check/raised the flop and then led the turn when I paired my eight. Wilson folded the turn rather quickly...very next hand I was dealt KQ of diamonds in the SB...
Now, I believe we were six or seven handed at this point...anyway, seat four raised, which kinda threw me off a bit. I had yet to see him play a hand...Laker fan called, I opted to just defend, and the BB came along for the ride as well. The flop came J-high with a diamond, checked around. Odd...I was likely peeling or raising the flop, based on who bet out I guess. Turn was a Queen, time to start betting I guess. I bet out and only seat four called. River was a blank, Bet, fold.
"What the heck, he just got back, he can't win two hands in a row...lucky smoke break?" asked the Laker fan. "Heh...lucky water break" I said as I pointed to the bottle of water and diet coke I had just got from the vending machine.
A couple more orbits passed, some blind steals, a couple c-bets, and then we got down to only five players. Meh...time to call it a night I decided. The SD had told me a few orbits before this that he was ready to bounce whenever, so I racked up and cashed out up a rack and some change (520).
After such a shitty week, it was nice to finally run good at something. Thanks for reading.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Shitty Week
Alright well after a fun last couple of weeks of playing 15/30, I hit a bit of a roadblock that had nothing to do with poker. Fourth of July I was driving home from work and stopped by the store for a bag of hot wings (picking them up for a 4th of July BBQ my mom always does). As I get out to my car I put it in reverse, then go to put my car and drive and...nothing. Neutral. Fuck...tranny finally took a shit on me. It was over a year in the making, as when I bought the car I could tell the transmission wasn't all there. It's a good car, and hopefully replacing the tranny is the last thing this car needs for a long time. So yeah, that's going to be about 2.5-3k out the door.
Around the same time I noticed my phone charger must have started taking a shit on me, since my phone wasn't charging all the way for a couple days and lately it hadn't been charging at all. Sunday morning I got off work and the phone was completely gone...Oh well I thought, I'd just borrow one of my parent's cars sometime in the week and get a charger. I got a pretty cool deal on a charger through my friend's wife on Tuesday (cost me $5 instead of $30 lol) and was too stupid to check and make sure it was in fact the charger that was broken and not my POS phone before I left her work Tuesday. Well it turns out I get home and the phone's broken...boooooo, replacement phone yesterday ftw. So I went most of this week without a car and without a phone...pretty lame.
Hopefully next week the car will be good as new, the new phone will still work, and maybe I'll get a few good sessions in. I'll catch up with you guys then.
Around the same time I noticed my phone charger must have started taking a shit on me, since my phone wasn't charging all the way for a couple days and lately it hadn't been charging at all. Sunday morning I got off work and the phone was completely gone...Oh well I thought, I'd just borrow one of my parent's cars sometime in the week and get a charger. I got a pretty cool deal on a charger through my friend's wife on Tuesday (cost me $5 instead of $30 lol) and was too stupid to check and make sure it was in fact the charger that was broken and not my POS phone before I left her work Tuesday. Well it turns out I get home and the phone's broken...boooooo, replacement phone yesterday ftw. So I went most of this week without a car and without a phone...pretty lame.
Hopefully next week the car will be good as new, the new phone will still work, and maybe I'll get a few good sessions in. I'll catch up with you guys then.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
A forgotten 15/30 Hand (AK gets there)
So it's a beautiful Saturday morning, the sun is out already; it's definitely going to get hot later, and I'm pretty close to crashing. God I hate working graves sometimes lol...
Anyway, I have a couple coworkers who I would classify more as "gamblers" than actual cardplayers, but one of them used to play a lot of live lowball back in the day, so he loves hearing my poker stories from the nights before. So we were talking about Daniel Negranau (I always misspell his name, deal with it) and Rick loves the way that DN reads players, etc etc. First off, I have a ton of respect for DN, in fact, I try to exhibit the same table mannerisms (happy, fun, playful) that he exhibits, minus the metro lol. However, I do not think he "is the best reader in the game" or anything like that, I simply believe he is the most vocal about it. Guys like Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey make the exact same reads, they just aren't on ESPN trying to show off that they can make those reads. Alright anyway, that being said, I was telling Rick this hand where everyone had me pinned on one hand, then incorrectly assumed I had sucked out on this other guy's hand. That sounds pretty confusing, so onto the hand.
I was dealt A:s:K:d: in the BB...15/30, full table, probably an hour or so into the session (I forgot to include this hand in my original write up, but this would be a hand that helped me get to about +$250 early on in the session). It gets limped in two spots, Russ (taggy Asian guy) raises, folds to me and I 3-bet, called by the limpers and Russ. The flop is something like J73 with two spades. I bet, and it gets called in every spot. Now throughout the hand people have been very talkative, and throughout most of the session people were trying to size everyone up and be like Daniel Negranau (call out other player's hands). Thankfully this went on only when it got headsup or when the person calling out the hand was in the hand (any other time is extremely rude obv). So everyone thinks I have a monster because I 3-bet out of the BB...let's examine why. I'm young, playing pretty tight, and it is 15/30. I've seen some older players simply call with AK or QQ in position against a raise, so I'm thinking very few of these players are aggressive and very few will put me on a whiffed AK after I fire the flop and now I'm about to double barrel this turn...
The turn is a four of spades. Really reaggedy flop, and now there's three spades on the board (and I have the Ace of spades). Unless someone out there has a Jack with a decent kicker, I don't see how they can really call my $30 turn bet. I fire out of the small-blind (I have no choice but to bet imo) and I get called yet again in three spots. "Son of a bitch" I thought to myself, "these players have seen me play...wtf are they calling me with? Guess it doesn't matter, give me a spade please." Queen of spades on the river of course, because Santi runs goooooooot (supposedly).
I fire out yet again, and this time it folds to Russ...last player to act, and obviously in the tank. "God man...you have Aces with the ace of spades don't you? Ugh what did I do this to myself?" He tanks some more and I just remember staring down at the board..."the pots way too big, I have to call you" he said as he flipped up the King of spades and put six yellow chips in the pot. I quickly showed him the ace of spades (so as to not even put it into anyone's head that I would slowroll) and then showed my King of diamonds along with it. I remember glancing at people to see what kind of reaction I'd get for playing AK so fast, and a couple players did have some puzzled looks on their faces. Turns out I think the way I played the hand may have helped me get paid off on those two flopped boats (Aces full of eights and Queens full of Jacks) later on in that session because everyone put me on a whiffed AK after that hand...
So yeah, after the hand, people were like "oh wow, I swore you had aces" and "man, I think you sucked out on Russ, I'm pretty sure he had Kings." "No---...yeah, I was pretty lucky to get there" was my response...
Now, first rule of live poker should be, do not talk about poker with your table mates. Talking about ranges of hands, what you put people on, how long you've been playing, etc. should be completely out of your table talk vocabulary. Talk about the Giants, talk about women, talk about goofy poker shit like your favorite hand or what your biggest pot won was, but leave the strat discussion for blogs and forums. I almost violated that rule and told everyone at the table that Russ did not have a pair of Kings with the King of spades because Russ is much too good of a player not to cap pre-flop and then not put a raise anywhere after the flop with Kings. It was pretty obvious to me that he had something like A:x:K:s: or KQ...something like that. I don't like the way he played AK to be honest, but I've seen players like him at Cap, and he must've figured he was either a flip (AK vs my QQ-JJ) or a complete dog (AK vs my AA-KK) and decided to see a flop before putting in anymore bets. After the flop he had a couple backdoor draws and couple overs to the board, plus he was last to act, so peeling a flop isn't bad at all. The turn gave him a couple overs and a K-high flush draw, so of course he's coming along, and he simply got unlucky by rivering the 2nd nuts vs. the nuts. So yeah...that's my read of the hand...whaddya think? He definitely didn't have KK, and thankfully, I didn't let any of my opponents know that they were wrong nor did I let them in on the fact that my deductive reasoning skills at poker are pretty good.
You're there to win money, not to show everyone how good you can "read people." DN gets paid to be that guy on tv, you don't. That's enough lecturing from me, be on the lookout for more big hands where I luckbox my way to win ;-)
Anyway, I have a couple coworkers who I would classify more as "gamblers" than actual cardplayers, but one of them used to play a lot of live lowball back in the day, so he loves hearing my poker stories from the nights before. So we were talking about Daniel Negranau (I always misspell his name, deal with it) and Rick loves the way that DN reads players, etc etc. First off, I have a ton of respect for DN, in fact, I try to exhibit the same table mannerisms (happy, fun, playful) that he exhibits, minus the metro lol. However, I do not think he "is the best reader in the game" or anything like that, I simply believe he is the most vocal about it. Guys like Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey make the exact same reads, they just aren't on ESPN trying to show off that they can make those reads. Alright anyway, that being said, I was telling Rick this hand where everyone had me pinned on one hand, then incorrectly assumed I had sucked out on this other guy's hand. That sounds pretty confusing, so onto the hand.
I was dealt A:s:K:d: in the BB...15/30, full table, probably an hour or so into the session (I forgot to include this hand in my original write up, but this would be a hand that helped me get to about +$250 early on in the session). It gets limped in two spots, Russ (taggy Asian guy) raises, folds to me and I 3-bet, called by the limpers and Russ. The flop is something like J73 with two spades. I bet, and it gets called in every spot. Now throughout the hand people have been very talkative, and throughout most of the session people were trying to size everyone up and be like Daniel Negranau (call out other player's hands). Thankfully this went on only when it got headsup or when the person calling out the hand was in the hand (any other time is extremely rude obv). So everyone thinks I have a monster because I 3-bet out of the BB...let's examine why. I'm young, playing pretty tight, and it is 15/30. I've seen some older players simply call with AK or QQ in position against a raise, so I'm thinking very few of these players are aggressive and very few will put me on a whiffed AK after I fire the flop and now I'm about to double barrel this turn...
The turn is a four of spades. Really reaggedy flop, and now there's three spades on the board (and I have the Ace of spades). Unless someone out there has a Jack with a decent kicker, I don't see how they can really call my $30 turn bet. I fire out of the small-blind (I have no choice but to bet imo) and I get called yet again in three spots. "Son of a bitch" I thought to myself, "these players have seen me play...wtf are they calling me with? Guess it doesn't matter, give me a spade please." Queen of spades on the river of course, because Santi runs goooooooot (supposedly).
I fire out yet again, and this time it folds to Russ...last player to act, and obviously in the tank. "God man...you have Aces with the ace of spades don't you? Ugh what did I do this to myself?" He tanks some more and I just remember staring down at the board..."the pots way too big, I have to call you" he said as he flipped up the King of spades and put six yellow chips in the pot. I quickly showed him the ace of spades (so as to not even put it into anyone's head that I would slowroll) and then showed my King of diamonds along with it. I remember glancing at people to see what kind of reaction I'd get for playing AK so fast, and a couple players did have some puzzled looks on their faces. Turns out I think the way I played the hand may have helped me get paid off on those two flopped boats (Aces full of eights and Queens full of Jacks) later on in that session because everyone put me on a whiffed AK after that hand...
So yeah, after the hand, people were like "oh wow, I swore you had aces" and "man, I think you sucked out on Russ, I'm pretty sure he had Kings." "No---...yeah, I was pretty lucky to get there" was my response...
Now, first rule of live poker should be, do not talk about poker with your table mates. Talking about ranges of hands, what you put people on, how long you've been playing, etc. should be completely out of your table talk vocabulary. Talk about the Giants, talk about women, talk about goofy poker shit like your favorite hand or what your biggest pot won was, but leave the strat discussion for blogs and forums. I almost violated that rule and told everyone at the table that Russ did not have a pair of Kings with the King of spades because Russ is much too good of a player not to cap pre-flop and then not put a raise anywhere after the flop with Kings. It was pretty obvious to me that he had something like A:x:K:s: or KQ...something like that. I don't like the way he played AK to be honest, but I've seen players like him at Cap, and he must've figured he was either a flip (AK vs my QQ-JJ) or a complete dog (AK vs my AA-KK) and decided to see a flop before putting in anymore bets. After the flop he had a couple backdoor draws and couple overs to the board, plus he was last to act, so peeling a flop isn't bad at all. The turn gave him a couple overs and a K-high flush draw, so of course he's coming along, and he simply got unlucky by rivering the 2nd nuts vs. the nuts. So yeah...that's my read of the hand...whaddya think? He definitely didn't have KK, and thankfully, I didn't let any of my opponents know that they were wrong nor did I let them in on the fact that my deductive reasoning skills at poker are pretty good.
You're there to win money, not to show everyone how good you can "read people." DN gets paid to be that guy on tv, you don't. That's enough lecturing from me, be on the lookout for more big hands where I luckbox my way to win ;-)
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
15/30 at Cap...Round Two Part II
So yeah, God-mode. I picked up Aces twice, one hand I bet the river and didn't get called, the second one I flopped a boat vs an UTG limper and the small-blind (I was in the BB) and got looked up by A6 of clubs on a A88 flop blank blank board. Good times...comeback! *clap clap* comeback! *clap clap*
The next hand pretty much sealed the deal as I was dealt a couple black Queens UTG+2. I raise, get a couple callers behind me and one out of the blinds. We see a flop of QJJ rainbow. Ummmm...thanks? Checks to me, I bet, then prayed that someone would raise me. Instead the older Asian guy I told you about earlier (somewhat taggy) calls me. The turn is a great card...a nine of spades. Now there's a flush draw and a spade draw out. I bet, he raises, and I think for a second before three-betting. "please have QJ, please have QJ." He only calls the 3-bet and asks me "overpair?" I pretend not to hear him while also pretending to be interested in the river. The river is a two of spades.
I bet, Villain raises again (thank you Jesus), and I 3-bet. "Shit, pocket queens?! Dammit" as he folds his Ace-Ten of spades face up..."no point in calling you, I know you don't raise there without fullhouse"...damn, good read, but way too late. I already planned on not showing, but the guy, obv pissed at himself says, "you don't even have to show it, don't show" so I just left my cards face down and let the dealer scoop them into the muck after I raked in a sick pot. "Yeah I'm even now" I remember thinking to myself.
A couple more hands after that happened that I can't remember too well, both were some short-handed plays I made that got me up another stack, then yet another pair of aces I didn't have to show won me a smallish pot that put me at about +$200. Soon after a couple players left/busted, and the tags were left chopping the blinds up with one another. Jason said "man this game's no good now, time to go home" and I agreed with him. Turns out we got a couple new players, but they were unknowns at this point and I knew of at least four other good players at the table, so I just called it quits for the night. No point in grinding it out in a Tagfest, I told myself going into tonight that if the game wasn't good, I wasn't staying more than a few orbits to wait for it to get good again.
Some notes about the game:
- I really need to have good game selection and know when I should/should not sit down. There's a handful of guys on my list now (Wilson, Russ, Jason, Chris) that I feel like I can play against and not have it be a problem, but if there's a table of nothing but those guys, then obviously the game will not be profitable. Games like that end up as two to three handed flops and whoever gets luckiest (best cards, best cards hold, etc) will win...and everyone else will donate to the rake.
- I need to be more available during the weekend. The weekend seems to be the time where this game is the most profitable. Going on a Tuesday night was probably a bad idea in retrospect, but not really. I just need to know the crazier players will be out on Thursday - Saturday nights...
- NL players looking for some quick action before their seat opens up definitely need to be taken advantage of. They're calling raises and re-raises OOP with a WIDE range of shit hands, thinking they can outplay us lowly LHE players after the flop lol. Little do they know, the real players are in this 15/30 game, not the 50BBs shovefest they're used to.
- And one last note, playing a stake this high has really elevated my attention span. I know I should be concentrating all the time, but after a couple people came over and said hi to me that I normally would have probably seen first...I realized that maybe I need to pay attention more in my other games lol.
Anyway, that's all for now. I think I work the next five days, so updates may be scarce. Thanks for reading guys.
The next hand pretty much sealed the deal as I was dealt a couple black Queens UTG+2. I raise, get a couple callers behind me and one out of the blinds. We see a flop of QJJ rainbow. Ummmm...thanks? Checks to me, I bet, then prayed that someone would raise me. Instead the older Asian guy I told you about earlier (somewhat taggy) calls me. The turn is a great card...a nine of spades. Now there's a flush draw and a spade draw out. I bet, he raises, and I think for a second before three-betting. "please have QJ, please have QJ." He only calls the 3-bet and asks me "overpair?" I pretend not to hear him while also pretending to be interested in the river. The river is a two of spades.
I bet, Villain raises again (thank you Jesus), and I 3-bet. "Shit, pocket queens?! Dammit" as he folds his Ace-Ten of spades face up..."no point in calling you, I know you don't raise there without fullhouse"...damn, good read, but way too late. I already planned on not showing, but the guy, obv pissed at himself says, "you don't even have to show it, don't show" so I just left my cards face down and let the dealer scoop them into the muck after I raked in a sick pot. "Yeah I'm even now" I remember thinking to myself.
A couple more hands after that happened that I can't remember too well, both were some short-handed plays I made that got me up another stack, then yet another pair of aces I didn't have to show won me a smallish pot that put me at about +$200. Soon after a couple players left/busted, and the tags were left chopping the blinds up with one another. Jason said "man this game's no good now, time to go home" and I agreed with him. Turns out we got a couple new players, but they were unknowns at this point and I knew of at least four other good players at the table, so I just called it quits for the night. No point in grinding it out in a Tagfest, I told myself going into tonight that if the game wasn't good, I wasn't staying more than a few orbits to wait for it to get good again.
Some notes about the game:
- I really need to have good game selection and know when I should/should not sit down. There's a handful of guys on my list now (Wilson, Russ, Jason, Chris) that I feel like I can play against and not have it be a problem, but if there's a table of nothing but those guys, then obviously the game will not be profitable. Games like that end up as two to three handed flops and whoever gets luckiest (best cards, best cards hold, etc) will win...and everyone else will donate to the rake.
- I need to be more available during the weekend. The weekend seems to be the time where this game is the most profitable. Going on a Tuesday night was probably a bad idea in retrospect, but not really. I just need to know the crazier players will be out on Thursday - Saturday nights...
- NL players looking for some quick action before their seat opens up definitely need to be taken advantage of. They're calling raises and re-raises OOP with a WIDE range of shit hands, thinking they can outplay us lowly LHE players after the flop lol. Little do they know, the real players are in this 15/30 game, not the 50BBs shovefest they're used to.
- And one last note, playing a stake this high has really elevated my attention span. I know I should be concentrating all the time, but after a couple people came over and said hi to me that I normally would have probably seen first...I realized that maybe I need to pay attention more in my other games lol.
Anyway, that's all for now. I think I work the next five days, so updates may be scarce. Thanks for reading guys.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
15/30 at Cap...Round Two (7/1)
After a couple nights off, I decided to go back to Cap and expected to jump into a 9/18 game. Like I wrote about in my last entry, I tried their new 15/30 game, but really expected that game to just be a weekend game. The place was way busy, especially for a Tuesday it seemed...anyway, I walk up to the podium and Sam immediately said "hey nick, you're first up for 15/30"...alright then haha. I talked to Sam for a bit about the Laker fan that killed us last session...guess he was getting stacked left and right at the NL game...oh well, "convince him to sit 15/30" I joked...
I was first on the list, so it only took me 10 minutes to get on the table. I recognized one guy I played with from the last session...he was the NL-donk (indian guy from seat eight...he left soon after for the NL table). I knew a few of the other players from previous sessions, one guy reminded me a bit of Wilson from last session (solid 9/18 player, asian guy, mid 30s), an older asian guy who played alright, and a dealer named Jason from Cache ended up sitting to my direct right in seat six an orbit after I sat down (taggy player as well). Needless to say, the table wasn't as crazy as Saturday, but the rest of the players were bad enough to keep the game good.
My session couldn't have started out any better. Very first hand I raise with AKos and get called by the solid Asian (I'll just name him Russ) and a looser player wearing a hat. The flop comes Ace-high, and I bet every street and get called down every street by the guy in the hat. One hand...up a stack. Nice. A few hands later I get 99, open-raise, take down the pot with a c-bet...wow...too good to be true? Of course. Orbit later I pick up a couple Aces and get a few callers, end up getting run down by a straight on the river. Luckily the guy donked the river once the board looked ugly enough, so it cost me $30 on the river to win $35...lame...
One thing I noticed about the 15/30 game is that your stack is constantly swinging...even if you don't play any hands. The blinds are 15/10 (vs. 9/3 in the 9/18 game), so that's five chips every orbit vs. just four in 9/18 and just three in a 10/20 game (10/5 blinds)...it's good for the game/action I guess, but it drove me nuts for a while as I constantly had to ask myself the question (where the f are my chips going? :-P) It really encourages you to not defend the BB with junk (not that you should be doing it anyway), because if you are, your chips will straight disappear before you know it. I found myself being a tad more aggro if it folded to me in LP as well, so I picked on the blinds with some connectors and such before people started catching on. A 3/2 blind structure makes stealing the blinds in position a lot more worthwhile/fun. Very few players know how to play well out of the blinds imo, so make them pay.
Anyway, I had an absolute dismal middle part of my session where I couldn't seem to do anything right. I went from up close to $240 at one point to down $350ish. AQs, JTs, JJ, 99...nothing could hold or hit. I took an orbit off, grabbed some water, ordered food, and came back to the table feeling okay about it all after missing a couple orbits of play. God-mode soon followed...
I'll post part II when I wake up tomorrow, see ya then.
I was first on the list, so it only took me 10 minutes to get on the table. I recognized one guy I played with from the last session...he was the NL-donk (indian guy from seat eight...he left soon after for the NL table). I knew a few of the other players from previous sessions, one guy reminded me a bit of Wilson from last session (solid 9/18 player, asian guy, mid 30s), an older asian guy who played alright, and a dealer named Jason from Cache ended up sitting to my direct right in seat six an orbit after I sat down (taggy player as well). Needless to say, the table wasn't as crazy as Saturday, but the rest of the players were bad enough to keep the game good.
My session couldn't have started out any better. Very first hand I raise with AKos and get called by the solid Asian (I'll just name him Russ) and a looser player wearing a hat. The flop comes Ace-high, and I bet every street and get called down every street by the guy in the hat. One hand...up a stack. Nice. A few hands later I get 99, open-raise, take down the pot with a c-bet...wow...too good to be true? Of course. Orbit later I pick up a couple Aces and get a few callers, end up getting run down by a straight on the river. Luckily the guy donked the river once the board looked ugly enough, so it cost me $30 on the river to win $35...lame...
One thing I noticed about the 15/30 game is that your stack is constantly swinging...even if you don't play any hands. The blinds are 15/10 (vs. 9/3 in the 9/18 game), so that's five chips every orbit vs. just four in 9/18 and just three in a 10/20 game (10/5 blinds)...it's good for the game/action I guess, but it drove me nuts for a while as I constantly had to ask myself the question (where the f are my chips going? :-P) It really encourages you to not defend the BB with junk (not that you should be doing it anyway), because if you are, your chips will straight disappear before you know it. I found myself being a tad more aggro if it folded to me in LP as well, so I picked on the blinds with some connectors and such before people started catching on. A 3/2 blind structure makes stealing the blinds in position a lot more worthwhile/fun. Very few players know how to play well out of the blinds imo, so make them pay.
Anyway, I had an absolute dismal middle part of my session where I couldn't seem to do anything right. I went from up close to $240 at one point to down $350ish. AQs, JTs, JJ, 99...nothing could hold or hit. I took an orbit off, grabbed some water, ordered food, and came back to the table feeling okay about it all after missing a couple orbits of play. God-mode soon followed...
I'll post part II when I wake up tomorrow, see ya then.
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