Studly Again

Well, I switched my game for a bit to 7-Card Stud. The .50/1 guys will call down with any two pair even when I am showing 4 spades. Excellent. Makes for some suckouts, but when you win a pot, usually 3-4 people are there at the river with you making your pot odds incredible. I only doubled up tonight. I expect to do better tomorrow. Hell, if I actually knew how to play this game I could do really well.

I played my mini-step again. I folded a hand when I was pot committed which was sort of bad. Sorry. I thought I was beat for sure. I was actually ahead. Then I had to push with 44, turned my set, but got rivered by a flooooosh. Baataaaaaaaad! Oh well. Easy come easy go. I will probably do a mini tomorrow night too. Not sure.

Plus One

Well I FINALLY had a winning session. Once I got up to +1buyin+$10 I decided I would cap my loses at +1buyin+$5 and call it a night. I really needed a winning session. So I bet you would love to know how I won all this money. Basically two hands. Flopped trip 6's and they held up. Got someone to bet into my AQ full house with A3o! WTF! How the hell can you think that is any good? Also a pair of Kings stood up and won me a few bucks. The KK hand was a pseudo bluff on my part. The pot was raised and I called pre-flop. The flop was A23. Now that is a bad flop for KK. The guy who raised bet weak on the flop, and then checked the turn. To me this said lower pockets. So I bet three bucks into his check and he ends up folding. I probably had the best hand, especially HU, but who knows.


It is so funny how losing effects you. It just sucks and you start to question everything. I would hope it ends up being like a forest fire. The flames go through and destroy everything.. except some seeds survive, and the ground becomes incredible fertile.. and life springs anew.

The bankroll is still at critical levels. However I would hope to have some nice winning sessions. I am passing alot of time playing the mini's. It is somewhat fun, but it is a total bitch to get off level one. If I had a bankroll I would certainly buyin at level two. I currently have two level one entries.

I have a new job for Monday. I am kind of excited about it. I met the guys there and they are total nerds.. my kind of people! The environment is jeans, T-shirts, and all the free coke you can drink! YEEEHAWWW! I am not sure of the duration. I forgot to ask. I know.. I know.. I have heard it all from the wife already. Jeeeezzzz, I get a job and all you want to know are details. The pay is the same as my current job, structured a little differently. I will not bore you with the differences between W2 contract employee's, 1099 Contract employee's and whatever other variations exist. At least this job is much more development work. I am happy about that.

Still not goot

AJ in the blind. Flop gives me a Q high straight. Of course someone else had the KJ for the better straight. I mean we are talking about me. Would be nice to play an orbit or two before getting knocked out sometime.

More than you ever wanted to know...

I could whine some more. I am getting good at it. However I think your ears deserve a break, so maybe I will just ramble a little. I am FINALLY going to break the live play cherry. I will be AT Foxwoods May 21st, with a few of my pals. If anyone wants to see the infamous Sir send me an email or something. Believe me it is not a pretty site. So bring on any suggestions. This is my FIRST time EVER. I hope it is not like the first time I had sex. I barely remember that (THANK GOD!). I think she weighed more than my car, I drove a huge white caddy at the time, was on her period, and we both were REALLY drunk. It took me like ten seconds and I left right after that. Something about her asking me if I wanted to go again and me taking too long to decide.. hmm.. pleasurable groin feeling or leaving with a little self respect. Very little. Ahhh well.. by the time I decided, "What the hell, it's out already anyways.", it was too late. Hell, she should be happy I did not puke in her face. THANK GOD I WORE A CONDOM!

Is that a floosh I see?

lol. I stepped down a level. Since my roll is at sucky levels now. Same ole crap though. Trip 3's. Turn gives AQ TP. Flush draw. With the A clubs. Of course the river is another club. At least I only lost ten on that hand.

Still Mad Mad Mad!!!

OMG! What the hell do I have to do to win a hand! FUCK ME! Here is a sample of my night for your enjoyment:

K High Floosh killed by A high again. We both rivered it. Figured the way he was betting he had SOMETHING besides a floosh draw. Nope. A high crap nothing higher floosh on the river.

So then next hand on second table my 888 set makes a boat with J turn, J river, and there is a 4 and 6 on the board. So of course my boat is killed by J4!!!! ARRRRGGGGGG!

So I decide to lose money slower. I enter the dumb (mini) steps. By some miracle I make it through level 1 on my first try. Then on level two I make a good read. I call all in with AK s000000000000000000ted vs 66. Now if I had lost because I hit nothing I could take that. However. The flop is an A! Hoorah for Sir! The turn is a K! HUUUUURRRAHHH for SIR! King of the (mini) Steps! The turn is a blank. Come to papa. Oh wait. There are 4 spades on the board. Oh and look, his six is a spade. Goooooolllllyyyyy Surprise surprise gomer loses again!

So I go back to take my Step 1 punishment. Make a great read. I have 99 vs 88. The flop is all low cards. He turns his 8. So I am down to 200. JJ very next hand! All in! Fuck yeah! Holy crap! I Have a rivered STRAIGHT to the J!!! WOOO HOO! Umm.. Where are my chips going? Errr.. oh.. he has QJ.. Ummm. thats .. peachy. Out in 10th.

I have no idea if this much beating is usual but I am getting fucking sick of it.

Bah

Played 1 hand tonight. AA vs KK. I had the KK. Oh well.

Set over set REDUEX!

Isn't there a limit to these per day? Week? Two in the last 24hrs just does not seem right:

***** Hand History for Game 1945059401 *****
$100 NL Hold'em - Sunday, April 24, 14:41:25 EDT 2005
Table Table 36868 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: lilalilalu ( $116.55 )
Seat 3: Rhodie1 ( $134.37 )
Seat 4: Crocodile_1 ( $98.1 )
Seat 5: jmdst92 ( $100.85 )
Seat 7: AAAAHawk ( $74.15 )
Seat 10: bluebucks ( $112.95 )
Seat 8: FWALGMan ( $120.5 )
Seat 1: ipotducks ( $91.71 )
Seat 6: mmen0221 ( $98 )
Seat 9: raztux ( $100 )
Rhodie1 posts small blind [$0.5].
Rhodie1: wohoo a buck
Crocodile_1 posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FWALGMan [ 7d 7c ]
jmdst92 calls [$1].
mmen0221 calls [$1].
AAAAHawk calls [$1].
FWALGMan calls [$1].
bluebucks folds.
ipotducks folds.
lilalilalu folds.
FWALGMan: lol
Rhodie1 raises [$1.5].
Crocodile_1 calls [$1].
jmdst92 calls [$1].
mmen0221 calls [$1].
FWALGMan: large buildings are made one brick at a time
AAAAHawk calls [$1].
FWALGMan calls [$1].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7s, 6h, Ah ]
Rhodie1: thank you confucious
Rhodie1 bets [$4].
Crocodile_1 calls [$4].
jmdst92 folds.
mmen0221 folds.
AAAAHawk calls [$4].
FWALGMan raises [$11].
Rhodie1 calls [$7].
Crocodile_1 calls [$7].
AAAAHawk folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Td ]
Rhodie1 bets [$10].
Crocodile_1 folds.
FWALGMan raises [$50].
Rhodie1 calls [$40].
** Dealing River ** [ Kc ]
Rhodie1 checks.
>You have options at Table 37413 Table!.
FWALGMan is all-In.
Rhodie1 calls [$57.5].
Rhodie1 shows [ Tc, Th ] three of a kind, tens.
FWALGMan doesn't show [ 7d, 7c ] three of a kind, sevens.
Rhodie1 wins $261 from the main pot with three of a kind, tens.

All around town..

Well tonight was an overall down night. I lost a buyin. Got smoked by a set of A's when I had a set of 5's. Not much you can do there. Lucky it does not happen to often. I played a freeroll. Placed 144th place in it. No money. However I keep getting closer to winning something. I think.

So I got a little tired of NL tonight and played some 7-Stud. Of all the games I have played outside of Holdem I think I enjoy stud the most. I ended up winning 75-85 at the 1/2 tables. It was pretty easy. I mean people betting into me when I have a boat. Generally playing crap hands and holding on to any pair. One thing I noticed that is really funny is how many people fold 7th street. It is one bet people! You have already invested 4 bets minimum. Why not see if you might have it? I did this several times tonight fully expecting to lose, but I even won one with like a pair of sixes! I gotta hit the stud tables more often.

Just before bed I wanted to play some Holdem. However I did not want to play a real game, so I jumped on a play money table for the hell of it. Wellllll.. It was FUNNY as HELL! I ended up about 10 buyins up in 10 minutes. Now why does that not happen to me in a real game? Haha! It was really funny though. Ten people to a flop, calling my nut hand, or playing with crappy hands and trying to catch. It did show me that you can make alot of money if you do not care about your chips. I had no problem going all in on any hand, and it paid off when the chasers missed. Anyway, it was just for a little fun. Mission accomplished.

Finished in 264th Place in the 25K. Best finish yet for me! Went all in with 44 on my last possible orbit before being blinded out. AJ calls me. AJ flop. No 4 to help me on the river. The irony of the whole thing is this hand:

***** Hand History for Game 1935483171 *****
$100 NL Hold'em - Friday, April 22, 21:11:15 EDT 2005
Table Table 36993 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: piza4u2 ( $185.58 )
Seat 8: wargnut ( $197.95 )
Seat 6: FWALGMan ( $97.05 )
Seat 10: soccergranny ( $202.5 )
Seat 4: evanfrank ( $93 )
Seat 9: gamann ( $85.93 )
Seat 3: aluke11 ( $101.05 )
Seat 5: oRoswell ( $137.8 )
Seat 2: doubleas ( $98.5 )
Seat 7: sinkinriver ( $48.22 )
sinkinriver posts small blind [$0.5].
wargnut posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FWALGMan [ 4d 4s ]
gamann calls [$1].
>You have options at Table 36849 Table!.
soccergranny calls [$1].
piza4u2 calls [$1].
doubleas calls [$1].
aluke11 folds.
oRoswell folds.
FWALGMan calls [$1].
sinkinriver calls [$0.5].
wargnut checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2s, Jh, 4h ]
sinkinriver checks.
>You have options at Table 36849 Table!.
wargnut bets [$10].
gamann folds.
soccergranny calls [$10].
piza4u2 calls [$10].
doubleas folds.
FWALGMan calls [$10].
sinkinriver folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qc ]
wargnut bets [$35].
soccergranny raises [$80].
piza4u2 calls [$80].
>You have options at Table 36849 Table!.
FWALGMan is all-In.
wargnut folds.
>You have options at Table 36849 Table!.
soccergranny calls [$6.05].
piza4u2 calls [$6.05].
** Dealing River ** [ 8s ]
soccergranny checks.
piza4u2 checks.
soccergranny shows [ As, Ah ] a pair of aces.
piza4u2 doesn't show [ Kh, Th ] high card king.
FWALGMan shows [ 4d, 4s ] three of a kind, fours.
FWALGMan wins $337.15 from the main pot with three of a kind, fours.

The 4's giveth and the 4's taketh away. Such is the power of pocket pairs!

I think it suits me...

I think I like the new Blog name. I may not keep it, but for now Poker is driving me insane and I like it.

I am in the 25K tourney. There are 1800 left. I get pocket rockets. I do the called for 3xBB raise. I get 5 callers. The flop is T65. I say to Darice, I KNOW someone has T6. I am so fucking disgusted I am going all in even though I KNOW his exact cards. It comes to him. He bets all in. I call. I am going home in 1800th place. I have decided I need a better outlook.

Well.. hitting a set of 7's vs AK with an A7x flop, and the enemy betting into me is fun! I ended up 122 for the night on that one hand! Scary as hell thinking she must have a higher set because she is not THAT bad of a player, but she did not even have two pair. She had to have thought I was on a draw.

The other funny thing tonight was seeing someone else feel my pain. Some person at my table has QT, and her QQTTT was crushed by AT, having AATTT. She then was killed by a set I made, and got nailed by a set over set. Her's was not the most brutal suckout of the night though. Some guy has a set of 4's, and river-river Aces kill his hand! AT wins! Wow, the power of AT!

I guess it is only fair for me to answer my own questions of the last post too. I like learning what different people like about Poker.

1. Do you make >3K a year.

Yeah, but I lose it too. So does that count?

2. If not how do you know you can be successful over time?

HA! I doubt it alot. Sometimes. I mean I play a tight decent style of NL and weeks like this week make me doubt everything. Flush chasing must be good! Right!!!!! Anyway, I am not likely to change my style to full time chaser. I like to chase every once in a while. (Geek! I said SORRRY!). Hopefully someday I can win some kind of money that counts.

3. If not how come you think you are successful?

Again, I do not think I am yet. I am probably better than most people at my table but that does not make me a winner or a success. Not yet at least.

4. If winning is not your definition of success then what is?

I think winning is my definition of success. I mean in part playing well is what we all strive for. However, how do you know you play well if you always lose? Also, it is a fun hobby sometimes, but it is NO FUN AT ALL, getting rivered up the wazoo!

5. If you do not care about winning, are you just in this to be a part of the great Poker Blog cult community and feel like one of the popular kids?

BUT OF COURSE! DUH!

Anyway. A nice night does a little to clear the doom and gloom. Hopefully the cosmos will right itself and I will start winning again.

One other thought to leave you with. I was in a hand about an hour before the big winner. I had AA and the flop came J77. I think I am good. Guy #1 raises Ten bucks! Now I am psychic tonight for some reason and I put him on a J. Now the second guy RAISES 35! Wow! Now I do not need to be psychic to know when 7 people call my pre-flop raise with AA and two seven's appear I am beat. Especially with that bet. It was a sorta tough laydown but I did the right thing. Anyway.. the turn was a 7, and the river was an A!!! I would have lost my whole stack in that hand if I had continued. I would never have had the good result an hour later. Play tight. Wait for good opportunities. They will come if you let them.

Furniture makes me angrier!

I went to the furniture store. To look at furniture I don’t want. With two screaming kids who would not let me look at the furniture I do not want. Even if I wanted this furniture that I don’t want, and can’t see because of two screaming kids, I could not afford it anyways AAAAAAND somehow this was for me. Thanks Honey! I am so glad I am married sometimes.

- NEXT -

Texas: you're supposed to play b/c you love the game
BWFWALGMan: ahhhhh
Texas: the psychology of it
BWFWALGMan: I hate the game. I quit.
BWFWALGMan: lol
Texas: lol

Sorry Texas but there is not much Psychology in someone calling huge bets with 2nd pair and spiking his runner-runner straight against your trips. None .. At.. All.. I am in such a pissy mood lately. Too many floosh hunters and morons sucking out on me.


- NEXT -

So anyway the above conversation came about from me being a little fed up with this week. I basically lose a buyin a day to flush draws and other crazy assorted stuff. I am always ahead when I go all in, and I always lose. It is frustrating. I have brought my roll back down from its lofty heights of 1360 to the pits of 560. Ok, So I can make it back. Big deal. It’s annoying. So I was thinking. Is anyone out there even mildly successful at Poker? Let’s define mildly as 3K a year. I personally do not think this is a big number but for the sake of argument let’s pick it. I mean I can name 2-3 Bloggers I know are making good money but I would bet the majority of them do not make even close to that. So how do you know you can beat the game long term? How do you know you are successful or good or even not pathetic? I am doing an informal poll. If you want to send me an email at mfhowland@comcast.net I will show the numbers. I guess the poll questions are:

1. Do you make >3K a year.
2. If not how do you know you can be successful over time?
3. If not how come you think you are successful?
4. If winning is not your definition of success then what is?
5. If you do not care about winning, are you just in this to be a part of the great Poker Blog cult community and feel like one of the popular kids?

Anyway I am in a pissy mood so your going to have to deal. Feel free to respond either in email or via the comments section. I am very interested in hearing what people think.

Crazy Man

I wrote a post a while back about how people have different winning styles. Now I am not sure this guy is a winner but his style was unique. He comes into my table and every hand he is in, every flop he bets 10 bucks for the most part. People are folding to him. He does it so many times that people get pissed. However, if someone shows massive aggression he backs off. He even had me pissed enough to go for a flush draw.. oh wait.. Anyways.. he does this for a little and finally someone decides to teach him a lesson. They bet a huge amount and he goes all in taking the pot. He then leaves. Interesting strategy. He netted 250 bucks in fifteen minutes. I had about 2 in an hour and ended the night down a buyin to a Q high flush suckout on the river. Obviously this could be a high variance strategy but it does have a few things going for it. People get put off there games. He does it when he first sits, before anyone knows his plan. It must be high variance, but interesting anyway.

25K Tourney

452nd Place. Not bad for me. A8 clubs vs KQo. Umm.. guess who spiked his K? IDIOTS! heh. Anyway I won a buyin in the cash game so I am not too sad. Although I would like to make the money in one of these. A full 220 places paid out.

Fish and more Fish

Well.. had a slow but ok night. Ended up 1/2 buyin up. Any night up is a good night!
I went fishing with the boy today too. That was fun. He caught a pickeral. We were in a trout catching contest and he was dissapointed he did not win a trophy. The fish was 14 inches! That has to be worth something! He is, pardon the pun, hooked. I was looking for fishing advice last night. I figured BadBlood was from the south, so he must know how to fish! He was not around. It turns out Aeq is the resident fishing expert. Of course I asked him about bass when we were going tuna fishing. Oh well. I am now sun burned, tired, and ready for my next last week of work. Have fun guys!

Poker.. Bah!

Well it has been a hell of a night. Some of the highlights:

AQ hits 2 pair and is beaten to hell by trip K's
TT makes a TTT77 boat, which is promptly kicked in the balls by
quad sevens.
AJs beaten to death by 75 s0000ted. BUT IT WAS S000000TED! Yes, I did raise.
KK beaten by 56 S000000000ted! BUT IT WAS S000000000000000000000000000TED!
AA beaten by 75 S000000000ted! BUT IT WAS S000000000000000000000000000TED!
JJ beaten by 34 S00000000000TED! BUT IT WAS S000000000000000000000000000TED!
King high Flush beaten by A high flush. That was surely s000ted!
AQs beaten by AJ - trip J's. So much for domination.

I am not even going to go into some of the smaller stupid plays I made. I think Poker should have a limit to the number of crappy suckouts you can have in one night. I guess I should be glad the bankroll only lost $300 tonight from all of these beatings. I am sure it effected my play too. Started wanting to win it back. It has been a crappy few days. Now I am going to sleep and tomorrow I need to figure out how to catch fish. Not the Poker kind.

Karmic Revenge?

Well this could be revenge for sucking out on the Geek. Who know's. However I made good and Geek actually ended up netting more from this than he would have.

***** Hand History for Game 1901130197 *****
$100 NL Hold'em - Friday, April 15, 22:56:37 EDT 2005
Table Table 37316 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: Nifokas ( $161.56 )
Seat 4: FWALGMan ( $84.65 )
Seat 5: mattcando_u ( $80.5 )
Seat 6: SevenWise ( $153.09 )
Seat 9: mecha0117 ( $100 )
Seat 10: r3vbr1 ( $92 )
Seat 3: cscg_214 ( $89.15 )
Seat 7: Wyrmbait ( $88.7 )
Seat 1: One2becalled ( $101.85 )
Seat 8: wsucoug ( $100 )
Wyrmbait posts small blind [$0.5].
wsucoug posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FWALGMan [ Ac 2c ]
mecha0117 folds.
r3vbr1 folds.
One2becalled calls [$1].
Nifokas calls [$1].
cscg_214 folds.
FWALGMan calls [$1].
mattcando_u folds.
SevenWise calls [$1].
Wyrmbait calls [$0.5].
wsucoug checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, 7c, 4c ]
Wyrmbait checks.
wsucoug bets [$5].
One2becalled folds.
Nifokas raises [$10].
FWALGMan calls [$10].
SevenWise calls [$10].
Wyrmbait folds.
wsucoug calls [$5].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jh ]
wsucoug checks.
Nifokas checks.
FWALGMan is all-In.
SevenWise folds.
wsucoug folds.
Nifokas calls [$73.65].
** Dealing River ** [ 4h ]
Nifokas shows [ 6d, 6h ] a full house, Sixes full of fours.
FWALGMan doesn't show [ Ac, 2c ] a flush, ace high.
Nifokas wins $190.3 from the main pot with a full house, Sixes full of fours.

FWALGMan: FUck
FWALGMan: nice catch
Nifokas: Did I just suckout on you?
FWALGMan: Yup
Nifokas: I knew you had the flush
FWALGMan: Well, Nice hand anyway.
Nifokas: You think I suck dont't you?
FWALGMan: Not at all. It is Poker. It happens.
Nifokas: But that was a really bad call wasn't it..
FWALGMan: A little loose but it happens.

I am pretty amazed I took it so well. I truely accepted the loss as part of the game. His fishing for a comment made me think he might read this Blog. Did you sick Otis on me or something Geek?!?!?!

Oops, I did it again

Well I had a great night tonight. So I decide to get some MTT experience. I play the el cheapo freeroll. I have a ton of chips and my KK is bet all in by QJ on a Qxx flop, he has me covered, and spikes a Q on the river. That sucks. I am happy that I got to 120th place this time. I am getting better.

So while all this is going on I decide to sit down with the Film Geek. In addition the man from Poker Medicine was sandwiched between us. Geek was sweating me in the MTT and helped a lot. So I decide to go play some 25/NL with him. We end up head to head with this hand:

***** Hand History for Game 1897084495 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Friday, April 15, 01:29:24 EDT 2005
Table Table 37600 (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 3: MikeD006 ( $47.7 )
Seat 6: Poker Medicine ( $31.25 )
Seat 7: Geek ( $36.9 )
Seat 4: FWALGMan ( $55.05 )
bosco posts small blind [$0.1].
tjesser posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FWALGMan [ Kc Ad ]
Pablo_Shiraz calls [$0.25].
MikeD006 folds.
FWALGMan raises [$1].
JJTaylor3 folds.
Poker Medicine folds.
Geek raises [$3].
ReboAndZooti folds.
katoandbosco folds.
tjesser folds.
Pablo_Shiraz calls [$2.75].
ajrand has joined the table.
Tell a friend about PartyPoker.com and earn $50 & 1000 Party Points. Your friend receives $25!
FWALGMan calls [$2].

So far so good. He raised a bit. I guess I am so used to 100/NL that this did not seem like a big raise to me. Ha! Hey, when your down in the 25/NL pit playing with people it gets really hard to take some thing seriously.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, Qc, Jd ]
Pablo_Shiraz checks.
FWALGMan checks.
Geek bets [$9].
Pablo_Shiraz folds.
FWALGMan calls [$9].

Now here is where I paused for a second. I had Geek on one AIM and Poker Medicine on the other.

[01:30] FWA LGman: watch me suckout on jedi
[01:30] PokerMedicine: lol
[01:31] PokerMedicine: oh god

Little did I know how true these words would ring..

** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]
FWALGMan checks.
Geek is all-In.
FWALGMan: i gotta call ya
FWALGMan calls [$24.9].

So my hand has improved from a straight draw to a straight and flush draw. I know. I have no odds. I suck. I just did not feel like laying down this hand to a measly $24.90 bet. It is so hard to adjust to playing lower limits. I think some of you who used to come down to the 25/NL game (Otis, Iggy?) might get a little loose sometimes? Ok, maybe it is just me. So basically I have 12 outs. I got 8 flush outs and 4 tens. The flush is not the nut flush. So I call.. and I bet Sean can tell ya what happened next!

** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]
FWALGMan shows [ Kc, Ad ] a flush, king high.
JediMyndTrik shows [ Jh, Js ] three of a kind, jacks.
FWALGMan wins $74.15 from the main pot with a flush, king high.
ouch

Jedi was wicked mad at me! I have never seen him so mad:

[01:31] FWA LGman: sorry man
[01:31] Geek: you MOTHER FUCKER
[01:31] FWA LGman: I had a straight and flush draw
[01:31] Geek: GOD FUCKING DAMMIT
[01:31] FWA LGman: I couldnt fold it
[01:32] Geek: you so did *not* have odds there
[01:32] FWA LGman: I know

So I felt kinda bad about coming into the Geeks house and taking his money. So I worked out a deal. I gave him back 25, and since Party only lets you transfer 50 at a time I sponsored him in a freeroll. Now I have seen him play and I think I have a great shot at making some money that means something. He is an EXCELLENT tourney player.

Now I am going to do one last thing to justify my call there. Besides that fact that I did not think he had trips. The table chat afterwards: Priceless!

MikeD006: Ouch
Pablo_Shiraz: vnh
MikeD006: What a fucking suckout
Tjesser: How the frig is that a nice hand!
Tjesser: I mean how the frig is that a nice hand!

To myself: Well it won didn’t it?

Ajrand: That’s what I want to know
Ajrand: That was a horrible hand
Ajrand: Jedi Man shoulda kicked his ass

To myself: Thank GOD we are not playing live!

Pablo_Shiraz: sorry, I saw the flush

To myself: No, you’re a chaser to you loser! That’s why you think it is a good hand!

FWALGMan: I had the straight and flush draw I felt I needed to call it.
Pablo_Shiraz: absolutely!

To myself: See, I told you about Pablo!

FWALGMan: It was loose but not that bad.

To myself: Ok, I am trying to justify sucking out on the Geek. Ha! Let’s see if we can stoke the table some more!

Ajrand: You are kidding, right?
Tjesser: That’s not even f*ing close to pot odds.

To myself: Well its only off by 1 or 2, maybe 3.

FWALGMan: Yeah, I know.
Tjesser: At least don’t claim it was a good hand.

Geek: *goes to FWALG’s house*
Geek: *sets it on fire*

To myself: That’s a little extreme. It would cost you more than $34 in plane fare!

Tjesser (After a suckout): Mine was loose, yours was damn near retarded.
FWALGMan: Mine was retarded?
FWALGMan: Boy I must be dumb
Tjesser: Definitly. I will check the history and get the odds.
Geek: Tjesser, trust me
Tjesser: They were really bad.
Geek: He didn’t have odds.

To myself: Maybe not pot odds, but I had some kinda odds, I won didn’t I?

MikeD006: you guys are way right

To myself: Ok, so now all the fucking genus’s (geek not included) playing the high stakes world of 25/NL are ganging up on me. Ha! Why don’t you stroke each other off while you are at it.

MikeD006: Jedi played it right, and had him dominated, he made the bad call and made the runner-runner.
MikeD006: All Luck
MikeD006: No Odds
FWALGMan: I did not get a runner-runner when all the money was in.

To myself: Pay attention idiot. I did have the straight draw. No odds. No right to call, but at least I had a shot when all the money went in. If I called 34 bucks on the flop I would have been really drawing dead.

At this point Poker Medicine has to stoke the table up again!

Poker Medicine: That’s true!
Geek: But you called a pot sized bet with only a gut shot

To myself: Stop confounding me with facts.

FWALGMan: Yeah, that was fun!
Poker Medicine: I think he played it perfectly.
Tjesser: You had roughly 11 outs. So on the turn you needed to have 4:1 on your bet. So you did not even have close to pot odds.
FWALGMan: OMG!
FWALGMan: I feel so foolish now.

Anyway, this went on for a while. It was quite amusing. Ask anyone, I like to be the center of attention. The final insult to geek came when he raised pre-flop with the hammer. We had made up by now.:

FWALGMan: Your complaining about my play calling that crap!
Geek: I would not have called it to the river!
FWALGMan: I think you would have with your puny hammer!

Heh. That was for the benefit of the table coaches. The hammer rocks. Anyway it has been a fun filled night. Excellent play on 100/NL and 200/NL tables netted me over $160 and I even broke even at the 25/NL after sending geek the fifty. So if he can score in the tourney then it will have been a night well worth it!

*** UPDATE: The geek placed in the first tourney. I am going to let it ride since I am a gambler. I will keep you posted as to how my 33 bucks is doing now. Italics courtesy of the letter T and the Blogger April!

Swimming some more..

I continued my fishy ways tonight. Losing another buyin. I did dip my toe into the 200/NL arena to see what it was about. I made ½ a buyin which is cool. The main two hands I had were AA vs KK and a bigger flush. I find that for the most part people are less willing to risk large amounts of chips without the nuts. They are willing to draw on you more. I also see alot more fancy play, like checking with TPTK, and then betting the turn if someone suddenly hits there second pair. I got caught calling a few small (5-10) bets with second pair because of this. I need more experience at 200/NL to see if this is going to be an ongoing theme.

Some of the loses tonight were not my fault. I called all in with KK vs QQ on the turn, and he spiked his two outer. I think it might have been better to lay this down but he had under 1/2 a stack and I felt like I was ahead. I think that really set me off and caused me to play a little crazy. I mean I work hard for an hour building my stack up to almost make up for my loses at the second table and WHAM! All gone in one hand.

I am compiling a post of things that set us off and make us play worse for my next post. If you have any idea’s you want to contribute then let me know. I will absolutely be including hitting there two outer on the river and everyone catching there draws every freaking single time. Anyway I hope to get back to my winning ways tonight. If not then so be it but it would be nice.

Sir Fishy

Well it was bound to happen. No! I did not bust my bankroll! Jeez, you guys are tough! I did lose a buyin+. I just was not on my game. I could have ended the night down about half a buyin. However I was on this one table that was driving me nuts. Every chaser caught there cards and I just kept getting sucked out on. I mean TP gets sucked out on the river by A high AFTER “she” called 12 bucks in bets! I know! I know! These are the people I want to play. I just could not get a handle on it last night. I ended up losing seventy bucks with a tool of a move. A guy raises pre-flop to $10. I have pocket sevens. The flop is T83. So I have a chance at a runner-runner straight or I could be good. I figure either I am dominated by 88-AA or I am ahead to AK. So one of the guys who were bothering me all night goes all in and I call. It turns out he bet ten bucks on ATo. Hit his T to beat me. AAAAAAAND spiked an Ace on the river. Just to rub it in. I knew it was a bad call. I was just having one of THOSE nights. Oh well. I did a little damage to the bankroll but nothing I can not fix tonight.

SirStats

I just thought I would share some of my NL Stats with you. So far they are pretty good over a statistically small period of time.

Three Levels of NL:
.25 BB/100: 34.65 BB/HR: 19.73 4438 Hands
.50 BB/100: 13.96 BB/HR: 8.36 5302 Hands
1 BB/100: 14.58 BB/HR: 8.46 2993 Hands

Ok. So we can gather for this I am beating these levels over a small sample period. I also am making McDonalds money once again! Woo hoo!

Here are my winnings in my last 15 sessions. I included 15 because that includes a slow patch I went through last week. These are by table not by day, so if I two tabled (which I usually do) then you will see two numbers:

+62, +128, -27, +138, -9,
-9, -2, -12, -68, +1.70,
+56, +46, -44, +148, -100, +106

So in general I win about a buyin per session and with 2-3 exceptions I have not lost alot of money during a session. Hopefully we can keep logging the +100 sessions and have fewer -70 ones.

My rating in PT has changed and this is where I might want some advice or at least comments. My VP$IP is 23% which is probably a little high for full NL. However I do beleive seeing a few more flops can pay off if you know how to fold.

My PF raise percentage has dipped to 3.11. I have thrown out raising all pockets under JJ and sometimes I limp with JJ. I never raise AJ/AQ EP, sometimes MP or LP. So basically if you get a raise from me you know I am serious. Well, not these players, but you get the idea. Here is my thinking. With all pocket pairs I really want to see a flop cheap and get away from it if I do not make my set. If I do make my set I am going to ream you so hard you will not sit down for a week. I will look so weak and passive right up until I take your entire stack! BWAHAHAHAHA! The stats prove this is probably working since my trips make me more money than any other hand.

So my PT rating has gone from T-AA to a sLP-A question mark. I really need to get some NL hand rating charts though. So as always I welcome any comments or questions. Until then here is to hoping I continue to beat the game.

Not alot of time...

Well back at home. Hugged the kids. Sweet! The kids so missed me. They change so much at age 2, even in two weeks. *sigh*. I am glad to be home. I am sleeping in the office though so things are not totally cool yet.

Poker continues to be fun. I won $60 at 100/NL tonight. I started playing kinda late because I had stuff going on. Work. Side Projects. Oh yeah, I got extended for another week. Anyway I need to get to bed by midnight because part of my parole is waking up on time so the kids get into a good schedule. So in like 45 mins I won the $60. You have got to LOVE 100/NL!

While the NL game was going on I decided to see if I could beet 20/Limit SNG's anymore. They used to be one of my best games when I had 3K. So I played one. The strategy I use in these things is very simple. Fold everything that is not really really good until the blinds get crazy and then wait for a good hand and make alot of cash while the blinds are high. So basically the blinds are hitting 50/100 and I have my original 800 in chips left, maybe a few more. I get blinded down alot waiting for a good hand. I actually had to fold QT to a 3-Bet, which made a straight, the NUT straight. I also had to fold A5 which rivered a straight. So the cards wanted to make me a winner.

So anyway I get blinded to about 700 with like 6 people left. Everyone has bigger stacks than me. I then raise with AKh and the flop is AK2 with two clubs. So me and another medium stack end up going at it until I am all in. He has K5 of clubs and does not improve. This gets me to 1560 and in good shape to finish.

I then make a mistake and semi-bluff against 77. Now the guy has a pair of sevens and he is calling with two overs, a flush, and my straight draw on the board. I have no idea what he was thinking. However I screwed up and left myself with 560.

I get blinded down to 260 when I hit AQo. I decide this is as good as any and raise. Someone with 8's calls me and I spike a Q and an A. Sweeeeet! Back to 520. Woot! Of course the blinds are 100/200 but only five are left.

So with 320 left I decide to push again with AQ. I raise and get two callers. So if I hit I tripple up and I am in real good shape to finish. I end up spiking an A on the river for the victory! Woo hoo! So now I am one to the money with 960 left. I wait until the guy with 300 left is blinded out and ITM! I end up making a run and getting even with people. I however overplay a pair of 8's and 3rd is all I am going to do. Oh well. I was getting tired anyways. So fourty bucks! Sweet!

The bankroll is at a nice healthy proportion right now. I hear the 200/NL tables calling me.. Sir.. Sir.. Sir.. I would have tried one out by now but they are ALWAYS packed full! Dammit! Oh well.. here is to hoping the good times keep rolling.

Average Joe

I have been thinking about what kind of player I am and I am happy with my progress so far. I mean look at my day today. I was getting a little tired of doubling up in NLHE so here is what I played:

NLHE: +250
Limit 2/4 Holdem (BB): +15
7-Card Stud ½: +5
Omaha-8: +5
NLHE MTT (410th)
Stud MTT: Yeeesshhhh. Three suckouts and no love.

Hell, I am very average in a lot of games and there is something to be said for that. I think.

Return of the Botz

The guy at Poker Profits with Calculatem and Poker Office had me thinking about my bot again. You remember it. I was going to write a bot. It is obviously possible as Poker Tracker and GT+ do as much as the bot would ever have to do with the exception of pressing a button.

Anyway when I first started thinking about my bot I was a limit player. I had the mentality of a limit guy and it was interesting to think about how the bot would play in a limit game. Now that I have become an NL (cough) expert. WOW! I mean for all of you out there who ascribe to the Wait, Rinse, Repeat method of Poker play would a bot not be AEWSOME! Felicia’s friend A View From Barad-dur had once mentioned that he would be scared playing against a being with infinite ability to remember every play you have ever made. Ok. I am not THAT good of a programmer. I would not attempt this. However how about a being with infinite patients. He does not care if he has to wait one hour or five hours. He will recognize when he probably has the best hand. He would only really play premium hands. He would play all pocket pairs using the 5/10 rule. Seldom would he bluff. He will be willing to go all in with sets on non-scary boards and AA/KK pre-flop. Other than that he is going to sit back and wait for great hands. He can play 8 tables without any problem either. I think in the 100/NL or less arena he could clean up. I bet the bot would take a huge pot every hour or two and double up, and otherwise just sit there and conserve money until he gets good hands. I would imagine it would not be too far off that in one night he could double up on all 8 tables. Not a bad night! I think I might just need to revisit my bot.

On the personal front..

I do not see life getting any easier. It seems like every day brings something new. Yesterday I found out that a guy at my work was threatening to kill everyone here except for the people on his safe list. I passed him in the halls when I pissed, but I do not think that qualifies for the list. The police released him on bail until his trial. He might get 20 years. On the good side I could be him. On the bad side I might wind up dead. I am waiting for tomorrow when a plane falls from the sky on my bank and erases all records of my savings account. Oh well.. maybe things will start looking up when I go home. The ETA is Monday. We shall see. Hopefully alot of good things will come from this experience.

Wait, Rinse, Repeat

Felicia is my new favorite person. I was very fond of her before. However her advice in NLHE: Wait, Rinse, Repeat. Is most excellent! Just that small tweak of never chasing and waiting for good strong hands to go all in on has saved me a lot of money. I have been on a nice run. Over $700+ in the past five days. Bringing my bankroll up over $1200. Not too bad. It is really simple to win at low limit HE. There are enough people in the 100/NL and under games to ensure that only the worst of luck will bring you down. So I am going to say it again: Be Patient. Decide who you want to be. Are you the fish, darting quickly into every dangerous situation, being devoured by the predators? Are you the lion who knows he will only get a few shots at taking down his prey. He conserves his energy(chips). Waiting quietly in the bushes until the wind is right, and the antelope gets just close enough. When it is time he LEAPS into action and takes down the big prey! Remember also that your choice has to be made over and over, in each and every hand you are in. Sometimes you will falter and fall. You will have to re-dedicate yourself to the role of the predator. So what are you going to do? Decide now because there is a lot of opportunity if you chose right.

Just Play

The cards do not matter. The more I play poker the more I come to realize this. No, really, the cards do not matter at all in HE. Really what matters is patiently waiting for the right situation. Now playing good starting cards allows you to survive long enough to find the right match up. However you can play less optimal cards out of position and still win. So thus 72o is greater than AA in a given situation.

Proof of my theory comes from all of the different styles of play. You see the Josh Ariahs and the wilder players doing all sorts of different things with cards. You have the more statistical players who follow the percentages and cash in that way. The crazy ass maniacs that play well but are not afraid to scare you off a pot. All kinds of styles. Different starting hands. All successful players. The real key that bonds these players together is not how they play the cards, it is how the play the table. The reads they get. The head games they work on each other. The patience to wait for the right time to strike.

I can derive from my own personal experiences, and what others have told me, a couple of things about my game. First off I do pretty well. Be it Limit or No-Limit. I tend to have meteoric rises. Unfortunately due to tilt and the like I tend to fall just as fast. Secondly, there is no reason at all I should ever be successful. I know tons of players that count the outs and play the pot odds much better than I ever will. I just nod and agree when they tell me why my play was sub-optimal. The jury is still out on me being successful long term, but I think I have some strange connection to this game. I think my way of playing works for me and hopefully it will become wildly successful for a long period of time. We shall see.

Wow

Well.. After a week of getting crushed in NL, I finally had a night to remember. A 5 buyin day! Woo hoo! I got the best matchups. I even folded a boat! Damn I was on my game!!! The Boat fold. I had 73. In the blind. The flop is 87x. I check. It checks around. The turn is a 7. Aight! I am goooooood! Small bet. I call. The river is a K. I bet and expect to take it. My opponent raises to five. Oh yeah, I raise to ten! He re-raises me to 15!!! Bastard! I reach for the all in button. Then my brain kicks in. Why does he keep raising me? He must think he has a good hand.. and my boat is the lowest one. So I back off the all in button and just call. Yup! 87 Boat! Dammit! Hey though.. I did goot!

So then someone goes all in against me with KQ on a Kxx flop. Jesus! What was he thinking! I did raise pre-flop. So what if I bet 3/4 on the flop. jeeeez. Ok. That was nice. But it was just an appetiser. I have K9 spades. I limp in. The flop is Qxx two spadez, so I do "The Move". You know the one.. bet a four floosh with nothing, and hide the floosh. So I get a caller. The turn is a spade. So I check. The caller bets twenty five! Ha Ha! I raise to fifty! He calls. The river is an x. Not a spade. I bet out fifty and he calls with his overplayed AA! HA! Doofus.

So things are pretty cool. The MTTs are weak. I went all in except 97 bucks in a Stud Tourney. I was down to 80 left. Fifty paid. Then I hit fold by accident. Doh! I think I might have won.. *sigh*.

I got creamed with KK vs 99, and JJ vs 9T. Hit s a 9 on the flop. Goes all in, and then catches a runner runner floosh! Dammit! I also went out in 100th or so in an NL MTT. I had J8 diamonds. Two diamond flop. I bet 2K. I hit an 8 on the turn. Bet the remaining 5K I had left. I know, kinda weak. I spike a diamond on the river. However A2 diamonds was willing to put 8K of chips in on his draw to beat my diamond draw. The pair of 8's would have been good. DAMN!

Tomorrow is the DSS thing. I am moving out of the hotel tomorrow morning. I will then either be going home or hanging with my co-worker in Upton. Really far away. However I get a ride, food, and a place to stay. Hope I get to go home.

With friends like that who needs enemies

Wow. What a fun night. My friend, apparently finds it easier to try and get me locked up than let me spend a few nights with him. Yes my friends this is how I spent my night.

I start out staring down pocket tens. Ok. Nice hand. Not great but it will do. The flop gives a couple of spades and an A and it is checked around. I check. The turn is the ever loving T! Woo hoo! I got a set. So I bet out. I get one caller. The river is the case A of spades even making a boat for me! Woo hoo! I am going to take down a nice pot. So the guy to my right bets out twenty. Well fuck that, I raise him all in. And he calls. Ha Ha! Slide dem chips my.. way.. umm, where are they going? Ohhh.. the 25 straight flush. Mmmm. Down a buyin. It really did not get better for poker. So luckily I get a banging on my door. It turns out to be the cops. Apparently my good buddy decided to call them and get me taken in to the hospital for evaluation. I can not tell you how much fun it was getting led out of my hotel by four police men and taken to the hospital. I think I only swore at them a few time. Now I could have refused to go but some talk about pink slips and handcuffs seemed annoying so I decided to cooperate. So anyway I get to share my story with a cunt of a social worker and and nice psychiatrist. I think the cunt wanted to commit me on principal, but the shrink listened and let me go. I decided to walk home. Felt good. Of course it was 2AM in the morning. Oh well.

So anyway.. I reserve the right to not talk to my friend for the next 3-5 days. Lunch tomorrow? Ahh.. I do not think so. Even though you might have had the best intentions all your “help” seems to do is make things worse, so go help someone else please. I am depressed enough already. If one more person tries to help me!!!!! Can anything else exciting happen this month?

Limit

I tried some limit 2/4 today. Bad Beat table of course. It was ok. The feeling of bile is gone, and since I am getting more in tune with NL I really see the differences in the games more clearly. One of the major differences is in limit every bet counts. You are basically eaking together every small BB you can to make a successful session. You do this two ways. You save bets by not playing or calling questionable hands and you make sure you get the most value into the pot when you are likely ahead.

In NL it is a little different. You do not want to waste bets, but a more speculative style of play can payoff. You really are looking for a couple of things. Hands that can payoff quickly, like AK with an Ace on the flop. You raise pre-flop, and take the pot on the flop. The other type of hands you want are ones with hidden potential. The one gappers and other types of hands that can connect on the flop are great. The more hidden your hand the more likely you get paid off. Your whole night can be made with one matchup. It is really a game that favors calling a raise with small pockets, where in limit you want to be more careful with stuff like that. In addition you have to be very careful not to play dominated hands, or at least be able to lay them down. The best example of this is KJ. What are you going to do when a K hits? Not sure. Exactly not the way you want to feel in an NL game.

So anyway that is my take. I am not going to make limit my normal game. I will probably play a little bit when the Bad Beat jackpots get high. I have been having success playing 100/NL and 50/NL. I think I should probably stick with two tables of 50/NL for now with a little 100/NL thrown in. I think once I hit 1200 I will play 100/NL exclusively. I actually find the style at these tables suits me more. People are willing to laydown hands and normally do not seem to go all in on draws or TPTK. I find it easier to read people and win hands this way. It does take alot of patients, and your less likely to be paid off by doubling up with your trips, but you can grind out solid 1/2-1 Buyin a night which is not bad. Some nights when things go right you can get that huge win also.