4/8-Kill: TP = +15 TT: 5 Hrs
Ahh, after a couple weeks off, I took part in some low-stakes fun at Cache with my usual partner the Superdonk. We were immediately seated and I noticed a couple familiar faces at the table. Seat five was occupied by the infamous Romeo and seat seven by always angry Steve (Su's husband...he's not always angry btw, he's pretty cool, he just looks angry haha).
Unfortunately I started off by running awful, losing my first few pots after hitting a good flop and then getting pwned by the turn/river. No biggie, I just re-loaded and plugged away. Eventually I hit a set of threes and didn't stray too far away from even for the rest of the night after that. I'm pretty exhausted and am actually playing in about 10 hours from now (Tony's coming by around noon), so I'll just write about my one big hand of the night. If I didn't hit this, I woulda been stuck something rotten as I didn't run so hot the rest of the night.
So it was a killpot and I was UTG+1 with A:c:K:s:. UTG (seat nine) limped, I raised from seat one, and was called by seats two, three, the kill-button in seat six, seat 8 and seat nine...wow? $90+ in the pot already...
Flop: Q:d:9:c:5:c:
Checks to me, I c-bet, and get called by everyone. Wow.
Turn: 3:c:
Hmmm...maybe the clubs scared some people? Checks to me, I bet, and everyone calls yet again...I think seat eight may have called all-in at this point. Wow.
River: 4:c: obv
Checks to me, I bet, seat two calls, everyone else folds.
I show A:c:K:s:...she shows A:s:K:c: and I rake in a monster pot. Wonder what everyone else had...
That's all for now, updates unlikely tomorrow as I'll probably wake up around 1130am, go play til who knows when, go to work at 11pm, and then crash after work sometime around 8am. Should be fun. Thanks for reading.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
3am Ramblings
What's up guys? I know the updates have been lacking lately, but I've gotta good excuse...k not really. After a week of NL last week (ugh...live NL), I'm pretty anxious to get back into some chaotic 4/8-Kill games. Bring on six spewtards to the flop when I have Kings or Queens, I'm ready! I'm working Wednesday night into Thursday morning and am off Thursday and Friday night...so that means a couple nights of low limit fun.
So anyway, working graves gives me a lot of time to reflect back on my sessions and let's me think about things I want to try in the future. I guess I'm just going to ramble about them in no particular order...
First off, I want to become a better NL player, but I'm kind of lost on where to start. The NL games in Reno, while a bit bland at times, did give me a lot of room to play (150bbs deep) and the players weren't exactly great. The players who looked to be the "regulars" i.e "winners" didn't seem to do anything overly special...they were just a bit tighter and didn't spew in comparison to the donkeys. In my experience, live players on average tend to be much worse than your average online player, so starting out in LHE I was always a winning player. A lot of that was likely attributed to pre-flop hand selection and not much else. Eventually I learned how to play after the flop and my profit skyrocketed, basically what I'm getting at is...
I feel like there are just too many instances in NL where I don't know "exactly" what to do. Very rarely do I find a spot on a LHE table where I'm completely lost on what the standard/most profitable play is (not trying to sound cocky, I just feel like I know the game pretty well). In NL, I'm completely the opposite. There's usually a couple spots per session where I think to myself "wow, I hope that's how you play that hand" or "wow wtf did I just get away with there?"...
Anyway, I feel like I'm behind the times already. Here I am focusing on getting better at NL when pretty much everyone has had a couple years head start on me. Every donkey in America thinks NL is the "Cadillac of Poker," so wtf have I been wasting my time playing LHE for?! (lol) I'm kidding, there's a ton of donkeys playing live LHE too, but I think it'll be good for me if I change the scenery a bit more often than I have been. Another interesting note, playing in Reno last week was the first time in a long time that I experienced a moment of sheer terror/excitement/adrenaline pumping through my body in a long time at a card table. It was a hand where I was basically calling off my stack all-in with a gutty/nut-flush draw combo and there was a ton of money in the pot. The last time I experienced that same rush at a LHE table might have been 15/30 at the Bellagio last summer after I got hit in the face with the deck for a couple orbits. Anyway, it's a cool feeling to have, and I want to experience it a bit more.
Funny story and then I'll be done rambling: this one NL player sat down at my 4/8-Kill table about a month ago (V-Day I believe) and said he had never played "this game" before. After a couple orbits of helping him with the blinds/betting increments and talking to him, I realized he was talking about limit poker. He usually played NL, and this "limit texas hold em" game was "pretty intense." I laughed politely and said "oh? how so?" He mainly addressed the speed of the game and the amount of money in the pot every hand was "actually a lot of chips." "You'd be suprised how quickly pots can get built in this game" I remember telling him. "A raised kill-pot five ways is already ~$90, and that's just pre-flop." "Wow man...this game is kinda sick...I might have to play this again." Eventually his seat for NL was called and he took off, but yeah, changes in scenery affect people in different ways. His sense of awe with LHE is kinda like my new found awe with NL. Protecting my stack, raising to $75 on a turn vs only raising to $16, little differences like that kinda fascinate me at the moment.
Alright well that's all for now, look for some limit updates for Thurs/Fri, and maybe a couple NL updates for next week. See ya then.
So anyway, working graves gives me a lot of time to reflect back on my sessions and let's me think about things I want to try in the future. I guess I'm just going to ramble about them in no particular order...
First off, I want to become a better NL player, but I'm kind of lost on where to start. The NL games in Reno, while a bit bland at times, did give me a lot of room to play (150bbs deep) and the players weren't exactly great. The players who looked to be the "regulars" i.e "winners" didn't seem to do anything overly special...they were just a bit tighter and didn't spew in comparison to the donkeys. In my experience, live players on average tend to be much worse than your average online player, so starting out in LHE I was always a winning player. A lot of that was likely attributed to pre-flop hand selection and not much else. Eventually I learned how to play after the flop and my profit skyrocketed, basically what I'm getting at is...
I feel like there are just too many instances in NL where I don't know "exactly" what to do. Very rarely do I find a spot on a LHE table where I'm completely lost on what the standard/most profitable play is (not trying to sound cocky, I just feel like I know the game pretty well). In NL, I'm completely the opposite. There's usually a couple spots per session where I think to myself "wow, I hope that's how you play that hand" or "wow wtf did I just get away with there?"...
Anyway, I feel like I'm behind the times already. Here I am focusing on getting better at NL when pretty much everyone has had a couple years head start on me. Every donkey in America thinks NL is the "Cadillac of Poker," so wtf have I been wasting my time playing LHE for?! (lol) I'm kidding, there's a ton of donkeys playing live LHE too, but I think it'll be good for me if I change the scenery a bit more often than I have been. Another interesting note, playing in Reno last week was the first time in a long time that I experienced a moment of sheer terror/excitement/adrenaline pumping through my body in a long time at a card table. It was a hand where I was basically calling off my stack all-in with a gutty/nut-flush draw combo and there was a ton of money in the pot. The last time I experienced that same rush at a LHE table might have been 15/30 at the Bellagio last summer after I got hit in the face with the deck for a couple orbits. Anyway, it's a cool feeling to have, and I want to experience it a bit more.
Funny story and then I'll be done rambling: this one NL player sat down at my 4/8-Kill table about a month ago (V-Day I believe) and said he had never played "this game" before. After a couple orbits of helping him with the blinds/betting increments and talking to him, I realized he was talking about limit poker. He usually played NL, and this "limit texas hold em" game was "pretty intense." I laughed politely and said "oh? how so?" He mainly addressed the speed of the game and the amount of money in the pot every hand was "actually a lot of chips." "You'd be suprised how quickly pots can get built in this game" I remember telling him. "A raised kill-pot five ways is already ~$90, and that's just pre-flop." "Wow man...this game is kinda sick...I might have to play this again." Eventually his seat for NL was called and he took off, but yeah, changes in scenery affect people in different ways. His sense of awe with LHE is kinda like my new found awe with NL. Protecting my stack, raising to $75 on a turn vs only raising to $16, little differences like that kinda fascinate me at the moment.
Alright well that's all for now, look for some limit updates for Thurs/Fri, and maybe a couple NL updates for next week. See ya then.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Reno: Weds Session 96 (3/19)
TP = +$15 (weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!) TT: 5 Hrs
Played El Dorado with Todd again and these words from Todd basically summed up my first couple of hours. "Wow man, you're running like dog shit..." Pretty good summary to say the least. Todd was running like a Kenyan on crack whilst I couldn't dodge a cooler or hit a flop to save my life.
As is normally the case though, I found a way to double up and basically get myself back to even. Pre-flop I opened with Tens from UTG+1, get called in three spots behind me. Flop came T66 with two spades. Thank you God? I bet $25 into the field...fold, fold, pretty passive player raises to $75. I shove for like $85 more and am expecting a snap-call after I Hollywood for a few seconds until I notice the guy tanking. Shit. I guess I should have flat-called then CRAI on the turn? "I put you on three hands, but I can only beat one of them (i.e. he has horribly played pair of Queens)" He finally calls and I table the boat and he pukes in his mouth...board blanks out and I double up.
Only other hand of interest is where I make it $8 to go with my pair of eights UTG+1 when I meant to say "raise to $10." Now I feel like a complete idiot after getting called in like 5 spots...that is until the flop comes 8-high. Unfortunately it's 876 with two hearts...mother of God. The same guy I stacked with the tens donk bets $15 into me, one fold, I raise to $50 total, and everyone folds (including the donk-bettor). Probably for the best, though hitting running twos and winning a $600+ pot would have been really nice...
That's all for now.
Played El Dorado with Todd again and these words from Todd basically summed up my first couple of hours. "Wow man, you're running like dog shit..." Pretty good summary to say the least. Todd was running like a Kenyan on crack whilst I couldn't dodge a cooler or hit a flop to save my life.
As is normally the case though, I found a way to double up and basically get myself back to even. Pre-flop I opened with Tens from UTG+1, get called in three spots behind me. Flop came T66 with two spades. Thank you God? I bet $25 into the field...fold, fold, pretty passive player raises to $75. I shove for like $85 more and am expecting a snap-call after I Hollywood for a few seconds until I notice the guy tanking. Shit. I guess I should have flat-called then CRAI on the turn? "I put you on three hands, but I can only beat one of them (i.e. he has horribly played pair of Queens)" He finally calls and I table the boat and he pukes in his mouth...board blanks out and I double up.
Only other hand of interest is where I make it $8 to go with my pair of eights UTG+1 when I meant to say "raise to $10." Now I feel like a complete idiot after getting called in like 5 spots...that is until the flop comes 8-high. Unfortunately it's 876 with two hearts...mother of God. The same guy I stacked with the tens donk bets $15 into me, one fold, I raise to $50 total, and everyone folds (including the donk-bettor). Probably for the best, though hitting running twos and winning a $600+ pot would have been really nice...
That's all for now.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Reno: Mon/Tues Sessions 94/95 (3/17-18)
Mon: TP = +$40 TT: 5 Hrs
Tues: TP = +$5 TT: 3 Hrs
Monday was a pretty interesting night...will get into it later. Basically I got stacked with a nut flush draw/gutty combo vs a set and a couple short stack all-inners on a flop...crazy action. I'm looking for spades or a five...the turn is Jack of diamonds, river is the Ace of diamonds, and the flopped set of threes is goooooooot. Oh a $650+ pot that could have been...
Tuesday was pretty lame aside from this KK hand where the flop was AA2. Flop I bet and get called by this guy in position. After talking the hand through with Todd, I guess I could double-barrel and maybe get a good player to fold Ace-rag there on the turn. As played, the turn card was a five of clubs and the action went check-check. River was a King and I bet $50 into a $70 pot and got called. I'll likely type more about these two sessions sometime tomorrow (Friday 3/21)
Tues: TP = +$5 TT: 3 Hrs
Monday was a pretty interesting night...will get into it later. Basically I got stacked with a nut flush draw/gutty combo vs a set and a couple short stack all-inners on a flop...crazy action. I'm looking for spades or a five...the turn is Jack of diamonds, river is the Ace of diamonds, and the flopped set of threes is goooooooot. Oh a $650+ pot that could have been...
Tuesday was pretty lame aside from this KK hand where the flop was AA2. Flop I bet and get called by this guy in position. After talking the hand through with Todd, I guess I could double-barrel and maybe get a good player to fold Ace-rag there on the turn. As played, the turn card was a five of clubs and the action went check-check. River was a King and I bet $50 into a $70 pot and got called. I'll likely type more about these two sessions sometime tomorrow (Friday 3/21)
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Reno: Sunday Session No. 93 (3/16)
TP = +$120 TT: 6 Hrs
So yeah like I was saying, me and Todd roll into El Dorado and get a seat in a 1/2 NL game. Max buy is $300, but I start off with $200 and try to see how things will go. I run a bit slow to start off, and to be honest, I was trying to get a sort of gameplan ready with how I was going to play. I'm oh I dunno...99.8% LHE player, so I was mentally going through a checklist and trying to remember how to play NL (something I probably should have been talking to Todd about on the way up).
I don't remember how or in what order things really happened, but I think I ended up dropping to ~$150 in chips (bled a little set-mining, raising pf and whiffing, etc) and re-buying. After that, I got involved in my first real big hand.
Pre-flop is limped in a few spots and I look down at AK of diamonds. I bump it up $15 more and get called by two players. The flop is absolutely beautiful as it comes K-High with two diamonds. I C-bet $30 and get called by one guy who has been donking his chips off around the table for the hour or so I've been there. The turn is a blank and I shove (the guy only had $60 left behind), he calls and tables T8 suited in diamonds and is drawing dead. Nice.
After this hand entered the drunk Texan named Joe Johnson. Joe made a rather loud entrance as he walked up to the table and sat in the no. 10 seat exclaming in his first 30 seconds at the table: "whoooo boy I'm nervous, but I'm ready to play some cards...wow this sure ain't like tv..." Grrrreat, either this guy is pretending to be a complete noob, or he actually is a complete noob. I should state that at this point he's not drunk, but he has the douchebag meter turned up to 120%. Picture the lead singer from Blues Traveler (pre-gastric bypass) minus maybe 50 lbs, a white visor, a terrible looking shirt, and a pair of glasses. Basically this guy is a 27 year old virgin who likely just finished up playing WOW in his hotel room/jerking it to anime porn.
Anyway, very first hand this guy open-limps from EP, Todd raises from a couple spots behind him, they get it all-in on the turn, and it turns out they both have Kings. Todd said this was basically his biggest beat of the whole trip (having to chop a hand with this moron lol). I already suspected something might be up with this guy (i.e. he was "pretending" to be new), but no, he really was a moron. Luckily for him he had a password cheat saved for live play and went on a sick heater to get up to about $700 in chips seemingly without effort. Suckout here, suckout there, cooler here...you know, that kinda thing.
During this time I was basically biding my time, looking for a few good spots to take some chips off this guy. I didn't have to wait long, as I got paid off on two big pots with him and found myself up $200 ($500 in chips). One hand was TPTK vs his mid-pair and the other hand I think I got a big call from him on a turn when I had two-pair then he folded the river when he missed w/e draw he had. A nitty guy sitting in seat three (I was in seat four) commented after a smoke break: "Hey where'd all his chips go?" Then proceeded to look at my stack and say "oh..."
So yeah, a few hours pass, Joe Johnson has consumed at the minimum 12 rum and cokes throughout this time, alot of players are really annoyed by his antics, and me and Todd are laughing about the whole situation. He's been repeatedly telling people "I'm going to take all your dough" and going on and on about how "Joe Johnson plays great poker." He didn't talk shit to me once, maybe it's because I was one of the few players running good against him, or maybe it's because I was across the table from him and he couldn't really focus that far. Either way, the only time he would talk in my direction is when he said he wanted to double through the "big stacks over there." I had maybe $500 and seat 3 had about $700. Eventually his goofy ass says something retarded to a floorman and he gets himself kicked out, let back in, then probably realized gambling with a $700 stack when he was completely trashed wasn't the best idea, and left soon after. To his credit, he won money...
Realizing the table had dried up, me and Todd broke out to check-in to our room, grab a bite to eat at Mel's Diner, and then call it a night.
So yeah like I was saying, me and Todd roll into El Dorado and get a seat in a 1/2 NL game. Max buy is $300, but I start off with $200 and try to see how things will go. I run a bit slow to start off, and to be honest, I was trying to get a sort of gameplan ready with how I was going to play. I'm oh I dunno...99.8% LHE player, so I was mentally going through a checklist and trying to remember how to play NL (something I probably should have been talking to Todd about on the way up).
I don't remember how or in what order things really happened, but I think I ended up dropping to ~$150 in chips (bled a little set-mining, raising pf and whiffing, etc) and re-buying. After that, I got involved in my first real big hand.
Pre-flop is limped in a few spots and I look down at AK of diamonds. I bump it up $15 more and get called by two players. The flop is absolutely beautiful as it comes K-High with two diamonds. I C-bet $30 and get called by one guy who has been donking his chips off around the table for the hour or so I've been there. The turn is a blank and I shove (the guy only had $60 left behind), he calls and tables T8 suited in diamonds and is drawing dead. Nice.
After this hand entered the drunk Texan named Joe Johnson. Joe made a rather loud entrance as he walked up to the table and sat in the no. 10 seat exclaming in his first 30 seconds at the table: "whoooo boy I'm nervous, but I'm ready to play some cards...wow this sure ain't like tv..." Grrrreat, either this guy is pretending to be a complete noob, or he actually is a complete noob. I should state that at this point he's not drunk, but he has the douchebag meter turned up to 120%. Picture the lead singer from Blues Traveler (pre-gastric bypass) minus maybe 50 lbs, a white visor, a terrible looking shirt, and a pair of glasses. Basically this guy is a 27 year old virgin who likely just finished up playing WOW in his hotel room/jerking it to anime porn.
Anyway, very first hand this guy open-limps from EP, Todd raises from a couple spots behind him, they get it all-in on the turn, and it turns out they both have Kings. Todd said this was basically his biggest beat of the whole trip (having to chop a hand with this moron lol). I already suspected something might be up with this guy (i.e. he was "pretending" to be new), but no, he really was a moron. Luckily for him he had a password cheat saved for live play and went on a sick heater to get up to about $700 in chips seemingly without effort. Suckout here, suckout there, cooler here...you know, that kinda thing.
During this time I was basically biding my time, looking for a few good spots to take some chips off this guy. I didn't have to wait long, as I got paid off on two big pots with him and found myself up $200 ($500 in chips). One hand was TPTK vs his mid-pair and the other hand I think I got a big call from him on a turn when I had two-pair then he folded the river when he missed w/e draw he had. A nitty guy sitting in seat three (I was in seat four) commented after a smoke break: "Hey where'd all his chips go?" Then proceeded to look at my stack and say "oh..."
So yeah, a few hours pass, Joe Johnson has consumed at the minimum 12 rum and cokes throughout this time, alot of players are really annoyed by his antics, and me and Todd are laughing about the whole situation. He's been repeatedly telling people "I'm going to take all your dough" and going on and on about how "Joe Johnson plays great poker." He didn't talk shit to me once, maybe it's because I was one of the few players running good against him, or maybe it's because I was across the table from him and he couldn't really focus that far. Either way, the only time he would talk in my direction is when he said he wanted to double through the "big stacks over there." I had maybe $500 and seat 3 had about $700. Eventually his goofy ass says something retarded to a floorman and he gets himself kicked out, let back in, then probably realized gambling with a $700 stack when he was completely trashed wasn't the best idea, and left soon after. To his credit, he won money...
Realizing the table had dried up, me and Todd broke out to check-in to our room, grab a bite to eat at Mel's Diner, and then call it a night.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Reno Trip: Pre-Face
Sunday through Wednesday
Total Playing Time: 20 Hrs
Total Profit: $180
This past Sunday I went up to Reno with my friend Todd. He was playing in a couple WPT smaller buy-in ($500) tournaments, and asked me if I wanted to go and up and play some live poker with him for the week. I usually pass at the opportunity to go to Reno, but saw it as a chance to get out of town for half a week for $30/night (split two ways...room was great btw) and decided what the hell. I figured the WPT events would attract some players and the action would be pretty good (I was pretty much wrong).
We got into town around 2pm Sunday and after getting turned down for early check-in, headed over to the Grand Sierra to get an idea of what the place had to offer. It was okay I guess, and had a 10/20 LHE games going. Things looked promising. Instead of jumping on the long waitlist, we decided to go back into town (the main strip) and check out the rest of the casinos. Unfortunately this would be the last time I'd see a LHE table spread higher than 3/6-Kill :(
The next stop in our journey takes us to a 1/2 NL table spread at the El Dorado. This is where I would spend the majority of my time playing cards throughout the trip. Not too shabby of a place, maybe 8-10 tables, a couple 3/6, a few 1/2NL, and the occasional 3/5 NL game.
Total Playing Time: 20 Hrs
Total Profit: $180
This past Sunday I went up to Reno with my friend Todd. He was playing in a couple WPT smaller buy-in ($500) tournaments, and asked me if I wanted to go and up and play some live poker with him for the week. I usually pass at the opportunity to go to Reno, but saw it as a chance to get out of town for half a week for $30/night (split two ways...room was great btw) and decided what the hell. I figured the WPT events would attract some players and the action would be pretty good (I was pretty much wrong).
We got into town around 2pm Sunday and after getting turned down for early check-in, headed over to the Grand Sierra to get an idea of what the place had to offer. It was okay I guess, and had a 10/20 LHE games going. Things looked promising. Instead of jumping on the long waitlist, we decided to go back into town (the main strip) and check out the rest of the casinos. Unfortunately this would be the last time I'd see a LHE table spread higher than 3/6-Kill :(
The next stop in our journey takes us to a 1/2 NL table spread at the El Dorado. This is where I would spend the majority of my time playing cards throughout the trip. Not too shabby of a place, maybe 8-10 tables, a couple 3/6, a few 1/2NL, and the occasional 3/5 NL game.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Session No. 92 Cache Weds Night (3/12)
4/8-Kill: TP = $0 TT: 4 Hrs
Met up with Chilidog (Jake) from the Cardplayer forum. Cool guy, even though he got his nickname from a John Mellencamp song ("Jack and Diane" FTW!)
Had a good run of cards on my first table, followed by a nasty run of cards on my second table. Here's a fun hand.
I raise with AK of clubs UTG, called by a donktard directly behind me, a couple other players, new player in the SB, and Tony in the BB.
Flop: AAT
Thank you God? I bet and only the donktard and the newbie call me.
Turn: 5
I'm paying attention to the new kid as he kind of "pump-faked" the flop (reached for his chips, then checked). Since he's a new player, I don't think he necessarily is thinking about my hand, he probably just assumes (if he has trip-Aces) that his three aces are good. He checks, I bet obv (no way I'm checking behind because of some "read," donktard calls and the new kid calls. Odd...I was expecting a check-raise for sure.
River: 4
New kid checks again, I bet, donktard calls, and finally the new kid raises. Wow, I tank for a second and think about three-betting, but opt to just call because I know the donktard is calling behind me. The new kid turns over pocket tens for a flopped fullhouse and I just flash my cards at Tony and say "wow thats a bit nasty" and muck my cards. Donktard showed pocket eights btw haha...
<3 Live Poker
Met up with Chilidog (Jake) from the Cardplayer forum. Cool guy, even though he got his nickname from a John Mellencamp song ("Jack and Diane" FTW!)
Had a good run of cards on my first table, followed by a nasty run of cards on my second table. Here's a fun hand.
I raise with AK of clubs UTG, called by a donktard directly behind me, a couple other players, new player in the SB, and Tony in the BB.
Flop: AAT
Thank you God? I bet and only the donktard and the newbie call me.
Turn: 5
I'm paying attention to the new kid as he kind of "pump-faked" the flop (reached for his chips, then checked). Since he's a new player, I don't think he necessarily is thinking about my hand, he probably just assumes (if he has trip-Aces) that his three aces are good. He checks, I bet obv (no way I'm checking behind because of some "read," donktard calls and the new kid calls. Odd...I was expecting a check-raise for sure.
River: 4
New kid checks again, I bet, donktard calls, and finally the new kid raises. Wow, I tank for a second and think about three-betting, but opt to just call because I know the donktard is calling behind me. The new kid turns over pocket tens for a flopped fullhouse and I just flash my cards at Tony and say "wow thats a bit nasty" and muck my cards. Donktard showed pocket eights btw haha...
<3 Live Poker
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