I am done

I am done with poker until Vegas. Have fun you 2 out chasing motherfuckers. I should be in a better frame of mind when I get back.

Fourth Are Ok Too

I was stoked going into the DADI VII last night. I had a great team going. Duggles and Hoy bitched out on me but I got great replacement players in Katitude and CJ. Little did I know they would leave me as high and dry as Hoyazo. The "meeting" Duggles had was apparently cancelled and if I had kept him I actually would have won the last longer. I figured with CJ I was either going to luckbox into first or get an early out. His style of tourney play is very aggressive chipping up and then pretending to be a luckbox with cards that have decent odds when he is not in any danger of being knocked out. At least thats my read. He actually got majorly screwed when his KJ lost to a better KJ. Ouch. Apparently the LuckBox has unknown payback effects which CJ is just now experiencing. Karma's a bitch my man.Out in third place. This made it tough on me from the beginning. I have no idea how Kat went out. I would guess TPTK vs a two pair of crap cards? I dunno. She is hot in the biker leather though so I will forgive. However she was just 5-10 places behind CJ. I thought I was doomed in the last longer. I thought. However TripJax and Gary decided that they too would have bad nights. So if I could tilt Jordon out before 24th place I would be all set. Unfortionatly he woosed himself into the money in our last longer. The only salve for my wounds was the fact that I lasted wayyyy longer than he did. I made 4th place which was good for over a hundred bucks in cash and prizes. Beating Jordon: Priceless. Yeah, you can win the group events my man, but your just not as good as me. Keep trying. Possibly if you say your prayers, eat your wheaties, and keep practicing you might just might get close to as good as me. Hey you need hope right? Congrats to Mr. Dreamy on a first place finish and Jopker on third. The guy in second. I forget his name. Is he a blogger? Congrats to you too buddy.

I got into an interesting conversation with Smokkee too. It was funny. I love that guy. I think he is a good player. However he basically told me that he would rather be in a hand where he loses a little over 2 out of 3 times instead of one where he wins that often. He would rather have six outs to TPTK than around 19 outs twice over. I think I am officially retiring from mentioning the play of anybody on this blog anymore. I can not beat logic like that. You win man. Not in the long run though. Ahhh fuck it I can not retire. I love calling you all donkeys. It is what keeps me going in the morning. Heck, I even started calling my co-workers donkeys. If they make a mistake in code or say something wrong its "You donkey!". They hee haww with excitement at being called a farm animal. I think I hear Smokkee brahhing in the background.

I can not wait to meet Don and Carmen. Those two are what is right in the Blogger community. Open. Friendly. Nice. Always there with a helpful hand or a kick in your kidneys when you are down. I love those guys! Especially Carmen. I am also very glad to hear that an old tradition is back in action: The 25/NL Blogger games. We had such a good time in the old days. Texas, Pauly, Iggy, so many others.. donkey it up. I actually had a bankroll back then. I would spend my night grinding the 3/6 or 5/10 LHE games then come and play 25/NL for fun. It was relaxing. Trash talking. Donkey. Fun. Sometimes you won. Sometimes you lost. You always had fun. Texas was weak-weak in those days and I regularly picked on her. She has learned alot since then. It seems like were getting something good going again. Damn man! I can not wait for the Blogger games in Vegas. I am excited as hell about losing a couple grand over the weekend. Go figure. I will have to come up with a top ten things I want to do in Vegas posting.

Tonight I am donating on the 25/NL tables. I have no tourney plans. Nothing. Just pure cash game grinding.

New Team

Ok.. because the wise cracking New Yaaaawwwwker with more mouth than poker skill called me a chicken.. I have assembled a replacement team. Just for the record: Duggle and Hoyazo chickened out not me.

So now I present: Team Waffles Reduex.

Containing -

The LuckBox, the Suckout King, man of a thousand ways to win CCCCCJJJJAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

The Bike from the North, The Martini swilling Dominatrix of the Free Lands of Canada, Kaaaaaattttiiitudeeeee.

And the Breakfast of Champions.. Sir Wafffflllleeesss.

Kat definatly agreed and CJ said he would be an alternate in the comments so I think we have a game. Bring it boys.

Buzzzzzzed

I am getting my haircut this weekend. I came home last week and my son had a nice clipper job done on his head. He was so excited about it he was like,"DADDY!DADDY!LOOK AT MY HAIR!YOU GET ONE TOO! WE CAN BE TWINS!". So I will be shaving my head down this Saturday with the lad. He is going to be a big boy and go in and tell the "Hair Stylelist" to "Make him look like me".

On to poker. First off I will say that I have a new rule. No drinking in Vegas. I am too much of a light weight and all of my bad habits come out when I drink. Besides being totally obnoxious I tend to become a push-monkey, even more so than usual. I hooked up with the Bloggers on a cash table and three beers later I was down four buyins. It was a combination of bad plays and worse suckouts. I got my money in ahead with two buyins and behind with the other two. Donations were made to Joe "Ten High" Speaker, Iggy, Veneno, Mookie, Jopker, and even a non-blogger. I do not think I gave Carmen anything.. sorry baby, next time. God I play bad when I drink. Even worse than usual.

I never used to be a lightweight in the drinking department. I mean I was never an AlCantHang or Iggy. Those boys are in a league of their own. However I could handle my drink. A few years back I went to get myself checked out for health insurance. Now these bastards are just looking for excuses to charge you more. So I took all the stinking tests they had and sure enough they come back and say my liver enzymes are out of wack. It could be cancer. I guess that explained why for a while even a sip of beer would turn me bright red and any more made it hard to breath. The insurance company decided to charge me double for my policy. I went through all of the test and admittedly was a little worried that I might be in for a world of pain. My bad luck held up though and instead of dieing I was diagnosed with - get this people - FATTY LIVER. Yup. This little poker porker has eaten his way to a fatty liver. Now you can not make your liver do situps to cure this.. I suppose if I change my diet it might help, but man Bacon and Waffles go together so well. So today I woke up almost puking after only three beers and am only now feeling better.

One last thing. Unless I can get a substitute for the DADI tonight I will have to withdraw from the last longer. Sorry Jordon. Some little rodent named Hoyazo has some bar mitzvah to go to or something. Bastaaad! Your just going to have to enjoy knocking me out yourself brotha. Speaking of Jordon why is he the last blogger to review Superman? Does he not have that gay [s] on his avatar? What kind of stuperman are you? Jeeeezzzzz. Moron.

Anyway as you can tell my hangover has me in a great mood. So catch you all tonight.

Smokee Sucks Out

I suppose people might say Smokee made a good play pushing in on the flop after I raised 400 but I have a different take on it. Statistics never lie. Nuff said. Good luck playing that way man. Ahh well.. I hate losing early in the Mook it is one of my favorite games. It is funny how one hand can look so good and be so bad. I mean on face value you would say "Hey, Smokee is wayyyy ahead", but eat your wheaties and learn your odds kids. No hard feelings anyways Smokee, I know your style of play is aggressive and you actually probably somehow though you were ahead. Hope you use my chips for something good in the Mook at least.

A little tired..

Sorry the 9 posts a day are down to one every other day. Been a little tired. Not sleeping well. Which is not very new. Oh well.. should do me good in Vegas baby! I can not wait.. I added a section to the right for Otis's WSOP posts.. if Pauly or Spacecadet or anyone else has WSOP covereage they would like to pimp I would be more than happy to add it -- the extra 1.5 readers you get will more than make it worth it.

Icks best buddy just started a blog. So go over and say hi to him. I wanted to have a naming contest but he just goes and does it on his own. Oh well.

No new declarations of love from Melinda. *sigh*. I will say though censoring comments is a real turn off baby. Take it like a real women and let the comments stand. I guess from reading your blog though that standing up and facing any type of negativity is not something you are able to do. Oh well I still love you.

At least Carmen and her white T-Shirt still love me! I am pretty sure those are real.
I cant wait to find out! I mean I can wait to go to Vegas!! I love white T-Shirts. I described myself to Carmen the other night. "I look like MiamiDon but shorter and fatter".. she seemed interested..

Playing the Mookie tonight. It is one of my favorite games even if it has been infested by the Who's who of Poker Blogging. I know, I know, that last one is a stretch, but what can I do.

Lets get this party started

As many of you know from reading my blog it has been a difficult week. Finally Razz set me off and I went on uber tilt winning a few hundred dollars playing 1/2NL. After my near miss with disaster I was feeling good and I felt like playing some low stakes poker for fun. Little did I know that the table would soon be infested by some of the better bloggers in the pokerverse including one special donator.

So the call goes out on the girlie chat for any and all bloggers who think they can roll with the Lone Gunman A.K.A. Sir Waffles to come and donate. I open up a girlie chat conference and wait for them to come flocking to me. Suckers.

So who will answer the call first? None other then our favorite blogger, host with the most, king of ten-eight offsuit: MOOOOOOKIE!

SirFWALGMan said, "lol"
SirFWALGMan said, "look what the rats dragged in"
mookie99 said, "ha"
SirFWALGMan said, "hey mook"

Soon after the Pill popping Texan, deadbeat chasing, ten bucks to two thousand in a week, I had a lot of foreign pootang, Mrrrrrrrrr. Dreeeeeaaaaaamy appears.

If the table is not hard enough we then get visits from Miami Don, Ick (Dead Money) Sissy, JJOK, Surflexus.

Then the air got deathly quiet.. and a hummm filled the room as a small figure staggered up to the table and climbed into a seat. It was the infamous shortie himself: Ignatious T. Blogfather!!! Everyone was silent in reverence to this great poker blogging legend. I of course welcomed him in one of the very first hands by stacking him. “REBUYY”!!! I shouted out like in the old days of the Party Poker Bloggers cash tables and rebuy he did.. putting a few more pennies on the table.

The table soon degenerated into aggressive, hard nosed, poker. The kind that is fun as hell especially when your making the right moves at the right times. Nobody needed any cards. Everyone was either pushing monsters or stone cold bluffs.

As Ick found out it could be hard to tell the difference. I got so far inside his head that he did not know if he was coming or going. All of his chips started coming to me of course as I stacked our hapless victim. My mouth was going a hundred miles per hour as I warned him again not to fly too close to the Waffles or he might get burnt. Every time he had me beat I made him fold and each time he thought he finally had me I showed the nuts. It was hard for anyone to tell if I was playing 53o or AA on any given hand. Many guessed wrong as my stack grew.

We had some non-blogger visitors and I had to chase a few away. Like the mongloid elephant that sat down in seat 7. Her name was HairyChanky or something like that which soon earned her the nickname Chunky. She did not appreciate that. I told her it wasn’t bad enough that she was fat, and that she was stupid enough to put her picture up as an avatar, but she also looked like she had brain damage. Finally after yelling at me in her slow, one word every ten minute typing style she went off crying. I know.. sometimes I go too far oh well. I earned the name Evil Sir that night! The other bloggers were going to beat me.

So the game continued on until the wee hours of the night. Everyone having a great time. Trash talking abounding. Ick looking at my 3x buyin with envy and lust. Mookie getting stacked over and over again on some of the sickest hands ever. Including one where the great and wise Ick could not lay his Aces down against Mookies set.. of course an Ace hit on the river after all the money was in. Poor Mook. He got stacked by an awful AJo that made quads on the river too. Prophetically Scott cried out: HE HAS AJ MORON! As Mookie clicked the button. We all gasped in surprise when he did indeed flip over AJ for the best hand. Great read Scott! How did he make it? By watching the guy like a hawk and recognizing his betting patterns. I would not want to play against this guy when he had more information like body language.

So as the night wore on the drunken dwarf exclaimed what we were all thinking “This is the most fun playing poker I have had in ages”. Amen brother. Amen.

MATH

Taking on all comers..

WHAT: Mondays at the Hoy
WHEN: Every Monday, 10pm ET.
WHERE: Pokerstars, "Private" Tab
BUYIN: $20 + $2
PASSWORD: hammer

Great Post..

.. in the works.. and man is it going to be good, until then your just going to have to put up with Wes. He made one of those great comments that makes me scratch my head as well as respect the hell out of him. Actually as much as I argue with CJ, Wes, and anyone else I have yelled at lately I respect the hell out of all of you. Except Ick.

How do you couple thinking you probably have the best hand with losing as little as possible if you do not.

Here I'll give you some pointers. When value betting, first assign your opponent(s) to a range of hands. Then you look at your hand. Then assess if your hand is ahead of this person's range of hands. If so, shovel money into the pot. If not, proceed cautiously.
-- Wes

I think this could be great advice and I need to think about it. It is obviously something we talk about alot.. playing the other player. However it is not as easy to do as one might think. I asked this question to some of the blogger breatheren gathered last night: What range of hands do you put me on? The response from my soul brother Ick was: 53o-AA. You know what? He was right. So does that mean I have made my game psychotic and chaotic enough to foil good strategy like Wes suggests? As you play better opponents does it get harder to put them on hands for this very reason. I am not sure. Perhaps I rule.

I will say I could not put ANYONE on K8o all black cards on the hand I posted. It is just mind boggleing.. perhaps when I get to the level where the plays people make have some amount of logic to them I will be able to apply these advanced concepts until then I read alot more out of betting patterns. Not as good as Mr. Dreamy but working on it. Wait until you see the read he made last night. It was psychic. Until then enjoy.

Razz Tilt is Good

Soooo back to the old Waffle ways. I was so pissed at my bad luck for the past few days, and the horrible luck that tossed me from the Razz game that I fucking went ballistic and this is what happened.

PokerStars Game #5367218358: Hold'em No Limit ($1/$2) - 2006/06/25 - 22:52:38 (ET)
Table 'Astraea IV' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: bkjax ($140.25 in chips)
Seat 2: Boogn9d9 ($171.10 in chips)
Seat 3: El Sadico ($95.20 in chips)
Seat 4: tripCCC ($215.55 in chips)
Seat 5: ryphi ($137.15 in chips)
Seat 6: Lotsa Leaks ($198 in chips)
Seat 7: BigSlickNYC ($225.40 in chips)
Seat 8: SirFWALGMan ($266.20 in chips)
Seat 9: MLSpartans ($194 in chips)
bkjax: posts small blind $1
Boogn9d9: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [7d 7s]
El Sadico: calls $2
tripCCC: folds
ryphi: folds
Lotsa Leaks: folds
BigSlickNYC: calls $2
SirFWALGMan: calls $2
MLSpartans: folds
bkjax: calls $1
Boogn9d9: checks
*** FLOP *** [7h 8d 5d]
bkjax: checks
Boogn9d9: checks
El Sadico: bets $10
BigSlickNYC: folds
SirFWALGMan: calls $10
bkjax: folds
bkjax leaves the table
Boogn9d9: folds
*** TURN *** [7h 8d 5d] [Qh]
kitaen joins the table at seat #1
El Sadico: bets $10
SirFWALGMan: raises $26 to $36
El Sadico: calls $26
*** RIVER *** [7h 8d 5d Qh] [5s]
El Sadico: checks
SirFWALGMan: bets $58
El Sadico: calls $47.20 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SirFWALGMan: shows [7d 7s] (a full house, Sevens full of Fives)
El Sadico: mucks hand
SirFWALGMan collected $193.40 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $196.40 | Rake $3
Board [7h 8d 5d Qh 5s]
Seat 1: bkjax (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: Boogn9d9 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: El Sadico mucked [8s Ks]
Seat 4: tripCCC folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: ryphi folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Lotsa Leaks folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: BigSlickNYC folded on the Flop
Seat 8: SirFWALGMan showed [7d 7s] and won ($193.40) with a full house, Sevens full of Fives
Seat 9: MLSpartans (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Razz tilt is good. Please punch me if I do this again. Ick and MiamiDon were watching. Pervs.

I am in LOVE

I am in love with Melinda. I am not sure if it was her sexy poolside pictures or her whitty use of the works gross, eww, and Like If. This went a long way though! I like a woman who knows what she wants:

Melinda: If I take the over, does that mean I get to be on top?

You can have anything you want. Anytime baby. Your purrrrdy.

I am very concerned for her though. Her boyfriend had her say the following statement:

Melinda: All you poker geeks stop cyber-stalking me. My boyfriend says poker is for faggots anyway.

Baby.. I told you he was gonna sell you! Look at the facts:

1. He knows what faggots like
2. He Does Laundry
3. His house is neat

HE IS GAY! He just wants to sell you into prostitution! RUN FORREST RUN!

Eww

So I was playing some poker last night. I thought I could get on a good roll. Get things going. Like if!! It was soo creepy! I started out when I got Pocket Aces. Now sometimes the rockets can be such jerks, but they are almost too good to be true, so maybe they are. Like if! I get a nice flop of Jxx and let my opponent bet into me. I try to trap him. Of course that worked out well, Like if! It was so creepy! The guy catches his 2-outer on the turn. He kept looking at me. I was lucky that it only cost me a fourth of my stack. He said that he would have bet more on the river but then I would have to move into his apartment and be his maid/slave, so he only bet a few bucks. Eww! How Creepy! The next hand I played was 85o in the small blind. The flop comes 55x. I figure I am in pretty good shape and get ready to trap my opponent again. Like if! The turn comes a pretty looking eight. I think that the poker gods want to get close to me, but they didnt even touch me, so I don't know. So I put all my money in the middle and get called. I am waiting to collect my winnings. Like if! He turns over his 88 for the one outer boat-over-boat beating. It Was Gross. I think I like playing poker sometimes but othertimes I'd rather go back to Winnetka.

This post brought to you by the letter M and hot Bi-Sexual Korean love.

Dumb the New Sexy

Poker has been interesting. Up and down as usual. I had a nice session where I was dealt KK twice and both times someone else had AA. Um. Great. The hand I lost money on was actually interesting. The other hand I sucked out on the flop and won. However my opponent was smart enough to lay down his AA on a KQx flop. BASTARD! The interesting hand was when the flop came 222. Now do you fold your Aces or Kings to aggressive betting? It ended up three ways all in. I had both guys covered and ended up down $25 instead of up $25 on the 50/NL table due to that. I am not sure what the +EV move is. Probably folding and waiting for a better place to get my money in?

Ick sent me a link to some cute chick who is teaching people English or something. I could not resist making friends.



I hope she comes by so we can get closer. Nothing as sexy as a hot chick yelling at you and slapping your face. I do beleive what I said though. I am currently taking the over/under for when Melinda gets sold into sex slavery. Any takers? No guy does your laundry for free baby!!

Bite My Weiner CC

I admit I was in a whiney mood in the WWDN:Not. One outers on the river in your cash game do that to you. I still do not know how he called me with pockets 9's and a Queen on the board. I happened to have two pair. Oh well. So in a foul mood I start dominating the WWDN:Not. Taking my anger out on the poor innocent fools. I finally get to the final table and get involved in this hand with Ick.

PokerStars Game #5336615084: Tournament #26730122, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/06/22 - 23:36:50 (ET)
Table '26730122 2' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Iakaris (3810 in chips)
Seat 2: SirFWALGMan (8170 in chips)
Seat 4: jjok (2805 in chips)
Seat 5: surflexus (4655 in chips)
Seat 7: Katitude (4540 in chips)
Seat 8: djhomeschool (1600 in chips)
Seat 9: MiamiDon (2920 in chips)
djhomeschool: posts small blind 75
MiamiDon: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [Jh Jc]
Iakaris: raises 300 to 450
SirFWALGMan: calls 450
jjok: folds
surflexus: folds
Katitude: folds
djhomeschool: calls 375
MiamiDon said, "push time"
MiamiDon: folds
*** FLOP *** [8s 4h 2s]
djhomeschool: checks
MiamiDon said, "cash game i re-raise hard there"
Iakaris: bets 750
SirFWALGMan: raises 6970 to 7720 and is all-in
djhomeschool: folds
Iakaris: calls 2610 and is all-in
djhomeschool said, "Typing 3360 is too tough"
*** TURN *** [8s 4h 2s] [Qs]
Iakaris said, "yes"
*** RIVER *** [8s 4h 2s Qs] [Js]
SirFWALGMan said, "dang"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Iakaris: shows [As Ts] (a flush, Ace high)
SirFWALGMan: shows [Jh Jc] (three of a kind, Jacks)
Katitude said, "well"
SirFWALGMan said, "nh"
jjok said, "oof"
Iakaris collected 8220 from pot
jjok said, "nh iak"
SirFWALGMan said, "and um, good call"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8220 | Rake 0
Board [8s 4h 2s Qs Js]
Seat 1: Iakaris showed [As Ts] and won (8220) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: SirFWALGMan showed [Jh Jc] and lost with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 4: jjok folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: surflexus folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Katitude (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: djhomeschool (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 9: MiamiDon (big blind) folded before Flop

So anyway I am a little steamed and tell Ick I think he played this hand horribly when he asked. I may have started telling him before he asked. Now while I agree this was not the worst hand ever played in a blogger tourney I stand by my statement that this was the wrong play.

Here is my reasoning.

1. He is at the final table. Four to the money. He has a time investment here.
2. The blinds are 75/150. If he folds here he has over 3K in chips. That is PLENTY.
3. If he does not catch a card in this race he is out. Cya. Bye Bye.
4. If he had pushed instead of making a wimpy bet I would have respected this play alot more.

Anyone agree or disagree it was not the right play?

I totally beleive this is where a skilled MTT player wins. Making good laydowns so that he can survive and make the big money. Albeit this is a small MTT but that is how I feel. I will say on Ick's behalf that he is a good player and I enjoyed playing against him. I also enjoyed my 3-outer to knock him out of the tourney. However that is only because I am vindictive.

I actually will defend my 3-outer play, saying it was better than this play. The only reason I say that is because he was short stacked and pre-flop I put his range at any Ace or small pockets to a monster. In this case he had a monster JJ vs my AJ, and we were basically all in pre-flop. I turned the Ace. Anyways -- Sorry for being angry at the beat. It has been a tough few days in the suckout department. Congrats to MiamiDon for coming in second. He was out chipped like 4:1 at the final table and I used it to my advantage. The outcome was never really in doubt. He tried though. Some Surf guy took third. I have a rule. People who are winning too much must be crushed everytime I get a chance. He eeked into the money so I failed. Next time! Congrats to everyone. Kitty made another final table too. She has been running very well.

Oh yeah.. it appears as if the challenge team is set. I just need Hoy to agree but it should end up being Duggle, Hoy and I vs Jordon, Gary and Tripjax. Should be fun. We need to set the terms. I think it should be 5-10$ per person AND IF your team wins the last longer AND anyone on your team outlasts EVERYONE on the other team then your team has to pay double. What say?

DADI XXXXVII

An open challenge shall be made by myself, TripJax and GCox , founders and proveyers of the DADI tournaments. Any of ye with a team of three such bloggers, readers, or poker players, may challenge the triumverate of DADI Superstars in a team last longer bet.
- Jordon of High on Poker

Anyone want to show these posers how to play poker? I am taking applications for my team. If you have been hot lately, or if you are a supahstah come join my team so we can put Jordon on tilt and send him to showers early. Please do not apply if you are a donkey.

Some Nights it is just.. easy..

This guy deserves what he got after he calls a raise pre-flop and then a decent size bet on the flop. He 2-pairs up and I make a flush. I have no idea why he called my river bet when there were four spades on the board. I had not played a single "special" hand yet. Not shown a 23o. Nothing. I have no idea what he though I had.

SirFWALGMan: shows [Ks As] (a flush, Ace high)
Tatzan2: mucks hand
SirFWALGMan collected $53.55 from pot
Tatzan2 leaves the table
Seat 3: Tatzan2 mucked [Kh 6h]

Shortly afterwards this happens.. Sweet. It almost makes you feel like you know what you are doing.. of course that is so not true..

*** SHOW DOWN ***
SirFWALGMan: shows [6c 6d] (a full house, Sixes full of Deuces)
122446: mucks hand
SirFWALGMan collected $57.30 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $60.25 | Rake $2.95
Board [6s Kc 2d 2s 5h]

Seat 1: 122446 mucked [Qc Kd]

My biggest loss in this session was six bucks when I made a fold on the river to an all in. He may have been bluffing me but that is ok. I just waited until I had a monster and looked weak again so I would induce players to bet into me. It worked good.

Played the mookie tonight. Not just once was I hit by a flopped straight but twice! TWO FREAKING TIME! What the hell are the odds against that? I had a decent hand and when the board flushed at the river I made a play for the rest of my chips.. and the ass end of the straight made a nice call and busted me. Yeah a Flush and a higher straight beat him. Yes it was raised $150 pre-flop, yes, he did called with 89o, and yes, he made the right call because he could not imagine being behind. Oh well. I am getting sick of the Mookies lately.

And some nights the pain just keeps coming. Donked off my winnings. Every hand was frustrating. When I hit a nut straight I had to split it. Hit a set? Lose to a higher one. Oh well. Basically a break even night for me. Tomorrow is another day.

Tonight at the Mook

I will be playing the Mook tonight. Should be fun. I will then hit the cash tables again. Remind me not to invite bloggers. They just get in the way.

Cash Game Goot

Started my cash game career out on the right foot. Well if you count yesterday as the start then really on the right foot. I was playing a pretty solid game. Mixing it up. However the big money maker for me tonight was when my KQ made a higher straight then someone who had AQ.
It was one of those hands that just happen when someone has a great second best hand that costs them money. There is some good thinking on my opponents part but not good action.

Dealt to SirFWALGMan [Kc Qd]
onegoodplaya: folds
i like nuts: folds
SirFWALGMan: calls $0.50
davidson9966: folds
JamesM06: folds
jakep86: raises $1 to $1.50
MAYNARD46N2: folds
mikes10gs: folds
deweypost: folds
SirFWALGMan: calls $1

First off I think his raise is too small here.

*** FLOP *** [Td 3c Jh]
SirFWALGMan: bets $3
jakep86: calls $3

Now the flop misses him and he cold calls me. He is afraid he is behind. However the cards that could make him a hand might make someone a better hand.. hmm..

*** TURN *** [Td 3c Jh] [8d]
SirFWALGMan: bets $3
jakep86: calls $3

He calls again.. Calling in NLHE is death.

*** RIVER *** [Td 3c Jh 8d] [9s]
SirFWALGMan: bets $3

Now I made my straight. I should have bet bigger. I have the nuts. It feels good. Here is a major mistake my opponent makes.

jakep86: raises $6 to $9
SirFWALGMan: raises $47.65 to $56.65 and is all-in
jakep86 said, "nuts?"
davidson9966 said, "call and find out"
jakep86 said, "i got the Q"
davidson9966 said, "call"
jakep86 said, "i'm scared fo the QK"
jakep86: calls $47.65


He admits to be scared of the KQ, so why raise? Call my three dollar bet and call it a hand. Say nice hand Sir and do not pay me off. His first mistake is re-raising me. Now he has to make a tough decision. Instead he waits until the timer hits 1 second left and calls me. His thinking

*** SHOW DOWN ***
SirFWALGMan: shows [Kc Qd] (a straight, Nine to King)
jakep86: shows [As Qh] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
davidson9966 said, "ahh"
SirFWALGMan collected $126.05 from pot
davidson9966 said, "soory dude"
SirFWALGMan said, "you should have been scared"

So I think I controlled the pot size here and had someone call me down. I was allowed to hit my straight and then paid off bigtime. Do not play this way. I know it is hard to make the fold but do it.

The other thing I did was not lose money. The only hand I lost significantly over the blinds was the following hand. I do not know why the Poker Gods have taken such interest in me.. but they clearly like to teach me lessons over and over and over..

POKERSTARS GAME #5314213292: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2006/06/20 - 20:18:47 (ET)
Table 'Rana' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: SirFWALGMan ($78.45 in chips)
Seat 2: davidson9966 ($20.75 in chips)
Seat 3: JamesM06 ($22.60 in chips)
Seat 4: jakep86 ($75.15 in chips)
Seat 5: MAYNARD46N2 ($18.25 in chips)
Seat 6: mikes10gs ($32.95 in chips)
Seat 7: fitts4u ($14.50 in chips)
Seat 8: onegoodplaya ($129.70 in chips)
mikes10gs: posts small blind $0.25
fitts4u: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [Kd Jh]
onegoodplaya: folds
SirFWALGMan: calls $0.50
davidson9966: folds
JamesM06: calls $0.50
jakep86: calls $0.50
MAYNARD46N2: folds
mikes10gs: calls $0.25
fitts4u: checks
*** FLOP *** [As Jc Kh]
mikes10gs: checks
fitts4u: checks
SirFWALGMan: bets $2
JamesM06: folds
jakep86: folds
mikes10gs: calls $2
fitts4u: raises $5 to $7
SirFWALGMan: calls $5
mikes10gs: calls $5
*** TURN *** [As Jc Kh] [9c]
mikes10gs: checks
fitts4u: bets $7 and is all-in
SirFWALGMan: calls $7
mikes10gs: calls $7
*** RIVER *** [As Jc Kh 9c] [9s]
mikes10gs: checks
SirFWALGMan: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mikes10gs: shows [Qc Th] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
fitts4u: mucks hand
hallz26 joins the table at seat #9
SirFWALGMan: mucks hand
mikes10gs collected $42.35 from pot
fitts4u leaves the table
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $44.50 | Rake $2.15
Board [As Jc Kh 9c 9s]
Seat 1: SirFWALGMan mucked [Kd Jh]
Seat 2: davidson9966 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: JamesM06 folded on the Flop
Seat 4: jakep86 folded on the Flop
Seat 5: MAYNARD46N2 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: mikes10gs (small blind) showed [Qc Th] and won ($42.35) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 7: fitts4u (big blind) mucked [3h Ac]
Seat 8: onegoodplaya folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I think I lost as little as possible here. I could have folded the flop but is that too weak? It turns out I was ahead of the guy doing the betting and behind the one doing the calling. I ended up behind both of them as the A3o tard paired on the river.. So the straight guy took home a nice pot. How would anyone play this differently?

My second table was the opposite of my first. Possibly because it was infested with Blogger scum. However this made it very juicy after a while. I unfortionatly was unable to partake and ended up down ten bucks. Mostly due to ill advised bluffing against Drewspop. I think my river bet was the worst part of the hand.. because I had straight and flush draws all throughout. Drewspop also gave me plenty of chances to suckout on him for a tie or a win. Do not get greedy!

POKERSTARS GAME #5315766546: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2006/06/20 - 22:29:56 (ET)
Table 'Mizar II' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: BlueAvMan ($42.55 in chips)
Seat 2: SirFWALGMan ($52.85 in chips)
Seat 4: k8f3b62t ($52.60 in chips)
Seat 5: jjok ($44.30 in chips)
Seat 6: fishbones11 ($50 in chips)
Seat 7: DooMeRFD ($93.50 in chips)
Seat 8: onegoodplaya ($48.75 in chips)
Seat 9: drewspop ($44.10 in chips)
BlueAvMan: posts small blind $0.25
SirFWALGMan: posts big blind $0.50
choial: sits out
fishbones11: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [Kh 6h]
k8f3b62t: folds
jjok: folds
fishbones11: checks
DooMeRFD: folds
onegoodplaya: folds
drewspop: calls $0.50
BlueAvMan: calls $0.25
SirFWALGMan: checks
*** FLOP *** [Qh 9d Jh]
BlueAvMan: bets $2
SirFWALGMan: calls $2
fishbones11: folds
drewspop: raises $4 to $6
BlueAvMan: calls $4
SirFWALGMan: calls $4
*** TURN *** [Qh 9d Jh] [Jd]
BlueAvMan: checks
SirFWALGMan: bets $5
drewspop: calls $5
BlueAvMan: calls $5
*** RIVER *** [Qh 9d Jh Jd] [5c]
BlueAvMan: checks
SirFWALGMan: bets $10
drewspop: raises $22.60 to $32.60 and is all-in
BlueAvMan: folds
SirFWALGMan: folds
drewspop collected $52.35 from pot
drewspop: shows [Td Kc] (a straight, Nine to King)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $55 | Rake $2.65
Board [Qh 9d Jh Jd 5c]
Seat 1: BlueAvMan (small blind) folded on the River
Seat 2: SirFWALGMan (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 4: k8f3b62t folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: jjok folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: fishbones11 folded on the Flop
Seat 7: DooMeRFD folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: onegoodplaya folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: drewspop (button) collected ($52.35)

So anyway.. it was a fun night. After the WWDN and an SNG Jordon begged me to enter I ended the night up one buyin for the second night in a row. I will take that.

Good Comments Lately

For every idiot who bets out $1 because he has an underpair and is afraid of the ace, there is another idiot who bets out with $1 because he hit a set of aces or kings and doesn't want anyone to fold. Wes' hand was different than yours in that he made a play with rags when they actually hit.
-- Floppy

Is not the essence of poker using some aggression to either see where you are or to take down small pots from the weak, I.E. Your Prey? If I take a shot at a pot by raising a very small amount of what I have and set in my head that this is what I am willing to invest in this hand based on my read and the player then why would I just passively fold? I think classic Doyle is to risk a little bit to take alot of small pots and ramp up your stack so you are ready for that one big shot. I may be interpreting things incorrectly but if my table is willing to passively give me 5-10 bucks every few pots just because I ask nicely then I am going to take them up on that offer.

In that situation it was very different from flopping two pair and alot different from the last 23o I posted. It was a specific situation where I had position and felt like a bet would take down the pot so I took a few bucks, said "This is what I am willing to lose in this hand" and took my shot. It worked out great. The other thing I like about my hand is that it has outs. If he calls my raise chances are he is going to check with a monster hand in order to induce another bluff bet or check with his Kx (Which I put him on) with the intention of calling my bet. So I get two shots at my five for the straight and do not have to invest anything else. I have a very easy fold at the river. It is a win-win situation in my opinion.

Polls, Goals, Trolls, and .. umm.. Polls?

Nice exciting night. I want to post a few hands and get some feedback. Lets start with the Poll first. I want to know:

==> What do you make money at playing Poker
A. Cash Games
B. SNG
C. MTT
D. Other

I figure this impromptu poll would be interesting to see where people really make money at this game.

Ok. So I have made a decision. I have never given the cash games a fair shot. I am all over the place. Like tonight. I played Hoyazo, a 180-SNG, and a cash game. I ended up 17 bucks because I made $57 playing cash. So by playing all the tourneys and SNGs I am limiting my time and profit margin in cash games.

So I am going to give the cash game it's fair shake. I will play 1-MTT/SNG a night at the most. It will not exceed $20. I will not play more than one. All my other time for the next three weeks will be playing cash games.

I will be trying out my own style of play. A mix of ultra-tight, and Fluxer, and all of the great comments and helpful things people have mentioned these past few weeks. I will also try to destroy my one fatal flaw: Wanting to see. I have always been willing to pay someone off just to see. It is dumb. I will stop doing that forever more. If they bluff me then fine it is part of the game.

Ok. On to the Troll. With that said I started the night playing some $25/NL. I think I get too bored playing that. So I had to amuse myself the following way. All of this happened after I bet into him with a flush draw and he could not let top pair six kicker go. I rivered my flush. I controlled the pot odds all the way and he never made a raise or a bet. Just called.

BRADYBAXTER: suck out sh.it
SirFWALGMan: wah wah wah baby talk its a wonder you can walk
BRADYBAXTER: not crying just stating a fact
BRADYBAXTER: betting on the if come
SirFWALGMan: why dont you state the fact that you got sucked out on because you played a crap hand and didnt know if you were ahead or not
BRADYBAXTER: not calling
Lucky's7: nh
BRADYBAXTER: who played the bad hand there
BRADYBAXTER: give me a break
SirFWALGMan: you
SirFWALGMan: you played a horrible hand
BRADYBAXTER: lol
SirFWALGMan: and you played it poorly
chad cox: kk
BRADYBAXTER: atleast l was calling not betting on nothing
BRADYBAXTER: fish
SirFWALGMan: ya that is the worse thing you can do in poker
SirFWALGMan: calling
SirFWALGMan: thats like spreading ur butt cheeks and asking for it
SirFWALGMan: so dont cry like a girl when you get it
BRADYBAXTER: your a joke
SirFWALGMan: your a moron
Dealer: Game #5305745285: BRADYBAXTER wins pot ($1.45)
SirFWALGMan: Did you write a book? Everything I learned about proker I learned by watching Celebrity Poker with Phil Gordon?
BRADYBAXTER: is that better (After he wins that small pot by actually betting)
SirFWALGMan: absolutly
SirFWALGMan: just remember next time you have a King with a six kicker bet into me
chad cox: whydont you both shut up
BRADYBAXTER: l didnt bet into u
SirFWALGMan: I know you didnt
SirFWALGMan: man you will never learn
chad cox: no its all i need to take all of youres
SirFWALGMan: you need a brain to do that
chad cox: why bring an elephant gun to shoot a weasel
SirFWALGMan: is that some trailer park saying?
chad cox: yea
SirFWALGMan: and why do people put there ugly babies as avatars
chad cox: i bet you get youre *** whooped all the time dont you
SirFWALGMan: if he is half as ugly as you I dont know how you got laid without an elephant gun
chad cox: and you just come on line to get back
chad cox: mr walmart
chad cox: thats a hell of a name
SirFWALGMan: did it take you all this time to think that up?
chad cox: no im playing poker too you should try that
SirFWALGMan: your not playing poker
SirFWALGMan: you dont know how to

So after that fun exchange I figure I will play the Hoy and dedicate myself to 50/NL games. At least the donkey factor is somewhat less and I may be able to stomache it. I will be playing 50/NL until I get the bankroll up to 1500. The I will scoot up to 100/NL.

So the 50/NL table went well. I had a few nice hands. Made some money. I had visits from Jordon, Slb, JJOK and 23Skidoo.

So here is another hand that Wes hates.

PokerStars Game #5307056462: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2006/06/20 - 00:17:26 (ET)
Table 'Osiris' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Baalim ($189.35 in chips)
Seat 2: Pale Rider 6 ($78.10 in chips)
Seat 3: esroM ($50 in chips)
Seat 5: slb159 ($22.05 in chips)
Seat 6: nfd46 ($28.65 in chips)
Seat 7: SirFWALGMan ($89.40 in chips)
Seat 8: doofus ($99.45 in chips)
Seat 9: Scuff ($42.45 in chips)
doofus: posts small blind $0.25
Scuff: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [2d 3d]
Baalim: folds
Pale Rider 6: raises $1.50 to $2
esroM: folds
slb159: folds
nfd46: folds
SirFWALGMan: calls $2
doofus: calls $1.75
Scuff: folds

I want to see a flop.. have not called a bet with a s00ted connector tonight so what the heck.

*** FLOP *** [Ad Ks 4s]

Horrible flop. I am out of this for sure.

doofus: bets $1
Pale Rider 6: folds

Except.. wait, the guy who raised pre-flop is out to a $1 bet, and
a $1 bet is weak. I have watched this guy play and this is how he plays second or third pair. Also possibly a draw. I also have outs if I am wrong. However after the next move I am willing to cut my loses and call it a night.

SirFWALGMan: raises $4 to $5
doofus: folds
SirFWALGMan collected $8.10 from pot
SirFWALGMan: doesn't show hand

I like this play. I know you hate it Wes. Too bad.

Now I would like to give props to my boy JJOK:

PokerStars Game #5307016199: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2006/06/20 - 00:13:50 (ET)
Table 'Osiris' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Baalim ($104.60 in chips)
Seat 2: Pale Rider 6 ($78.10 in chips)
Seat 3: esroM ($50 in chips)
Seat 4: jjok ($81.75 in chips)
Seat 5: slb159 ($19.55 in chips)
Seat 6: nfd46 ($29.35 in chips)
Seat 7: SirFWALGMan ($90.40 in chips)
Seat 8: doofus ($100.35 in chips)
Seat 9: Scuff ($46.95 in chips)
jjok: posts small blind $0.25
slb159: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [Ad 8h]
nfd46: calls $0.50
SirFWALGMan: folds
doofus: calls $0.50
Scuff: calls $0.50
Baalim: calls $0.50
Pale Rider 6: folds
esroM: folds
jjok: raises $4 to $4.50
slb159: folds
nfd46: folds
doofus: folds
Scuff: calls $4
Baalim: calls $4
*** FLOP *** [4c 7h 8c]
jjok: bets $14.50
Scuff: folds
Baalim: raises $20.50 to $35
jjok: raises $42.25 to $77.25 and is all-in
Baalim: calls $42.25
*** TURN *** [4c 7h 8c] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [4c 7h 8c Qs] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jjok: shows [2s 7d] (a pair of Sevens)
Baalim: shows [7s 7c] (three of a kind, Sevens)
Baalim collected $166.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $169.50 | Rake $3
Board [4c 7h 8c Qs 9d]

This hand speaks for itself! WELL PLAYED SIR! I BOW TO YOU! Oh, and Slb, get a freaking Blog or else this will happen to you more often:

PokerStars Game #5307082647: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2006/06/20 - 00:19:48 (ET)
Table 'Osiris' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: Baalim ($188.85 in chips)
Seat 2: Pale Rider 6 ($75.60 in chips)
Seat 3: esroM ($50 in chips)
Seat 4: 23skidoo ($50 in chips)
Seat 5: slb159 ($22.05 in chips)
Seat 6: nfd46 ($28.15 in chips)
Seat 7: SirFWALGMan ($94.50 in chips)
Seat 8: doofus ($98.35 in chips)
Seat 9: Scuff ($41.45 in chips)
Baalim: posts small blind $0.25
Pale Rider 6: posts big blind $0.50
23skidoo: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [3h 9h]
esroM: folds
23skidoo: checks
slb159: raises $0.50 to $1
nfd46: calls $1
SirFWALGMan: folds
doofus: folds
Scuff: calls $1
Baalim: folds
SirFWALGMan said, "last orbit for me guys"
Pale Rider 6: calls $0.50
23skidoo: raises $1.50 to $2.50
slb159: calls $1.50
SirFWALGMan said, "thanks for the entertainment"
nfd46: calls $1.50
Scuff: calls $1.50
Pale Rider 6: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qh 5d Tc]
23skidoo: bets $5
slb159: raises $14.55 to $19.55 and is all-in
nfd46: raises $6.10 to $25.65 and is all-in
Scuff: folds
23skidoo: calls $20.65
*** TURN *** [Qh 5d Tc] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 5d Tc Jh] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
23skidoo: shows [As Qd] (a pair of Queens)
nfd46: mucks hand
23skidoo collected $12.20 from side pot
nfd46 leaves the table
slb159: mucks hand
23skidoo collected $66.90 from main pot
slb159 leaves the table
Pale Rider 6 said, "lol"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $82.10 Main pot $66.90. Side pot $12.20. | Rake $3
Board [Qh 5d Tc Jh 4h]
Seat 1: Baalim (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Pale Rider 6 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: esroM folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: 23skidoo showed [As Qd] and won ($79.10) with a pair of Queens
Seat 5: slb159 mucked [Kh Jd]
Seat 6: nfd46 mucked [Qs 9c]
Seat 7: SirFWALGMan folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: doofus folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Scuff (button) folded on the Flop

Congrats to 23Skidoo! He sits down. He plays one hand. he makes a bundle. Well that is all for tonight. Good luck.

o anyway.. I was in the hole for a few bucks and getting frustrated when I saw 23o. Woo hoo! I call a raise in MP

Since my Bankroll is declining instead of ascending

Hmm, couldn't be a coincidence could it?
- Sweet little Wes

I could make a snide remark but until I make 12K I can not back it up. I have actually not played alot of cash games lately so your comment is totally wrong.. and if getting your money in with QQ vs A9 on a 9xx flop is playing poorly then so be it, I suck. Also if bluffing when you sense weakness is not part of the game so be it.

To explain my recent hands. I have posted some interesting hands lately and always argued the odd or different side. I have not really lost my mind people. The problem I have with Poker, especially with people who pay attention, is that I NEVER get any action unless I am 6-feet under beat. I play tighter than anyone who reads this blog, I guarentee it. I routinely fold AQ. Really. Even if it is only a small raise. So being such a tightass I wanted to ask myself two questions:

1. What kinds of hands do I get nailed on and
2. How do I generate more action since everytime I raise (all 3 times in 4 hours at a table) my AA everyone folds.

The first question is interesting and is why small connectors tend to pay off if they hit. Nobody expects you to call with these hands. At least at the level I play. If you play them all the time you obviously lose money but throwing them in once in a while can make your night. Really cash game poker is all about getting paid off maybe once a night. Nothing I have seen so far makes me beleive that playing these cards on occassion is a bad thing.

The second question is harder to answer and needs more exploration. Part of the answer could be playing more hands that are strong and raising more often. I have for sure put more pre-flop aggression into my game. Figuring out how to generate action on a slow table is hard though. So I experiment. I bluff and show sometimes. I hit weird hands with weird cards and make people angry. Sometimes I raise more often then prudent. It is really tough to figure out what works, but at least I feel like I am experimenting with my game and trying to find something that works better for me. If it causes people to doubt my sanity, well, I never really had much ground to stand on there anyways. I appreciate the insightful comments, especially from people like CJ, even though I argue with him I listen and absorb everything a successful player says and try and figure out where it works in my game. I really do feel like this is going to be a great year for me. Only time tells anything in Poker though so we will see.

Booking Completed

I have no idea why but I hate buying nice things for myself. I feel guilty like I am taking money away from my family or something. So finally I broke down and did it.

Friday July 7th, 2006: Depart Providence Airport 4:25, Flight 3004.
Arrive in Vegas 10:05PM, Flight 1458

Stay at MGM GrandHotel and Casino, the place with the best workers ever.
King Size or Two Queen Beds
25$ Dining Certificate

Sunday July 9th: Depart Vegas (sigh) 1154:PM, Flight 1562. Stop off in Chicago.
Two hour stop over? Enough to hit the casino?
Arrive in Providence10:49AM, Flight 650.

Total Cost:
Flight + Hotel: 681.47
Taxes and Fees: 87.92.

Additional Costs and Fees:
All the money I lose to CJ

So not sure if I got an aewsome deal, but seems reasonable to me for flying half way across the country. If anyone wants to hook up.. oh wait, that means something different these days.. if anyone wishes to gather together at some point in time.. my only plans for now are some jammy party and the Blogger event if April ever adds me to the list. We should all go play in the Casino in Jammies.. lol. April may not add me to the list because she PHE@RS me!!!! Anyway.. If you want to swap cellphone numbers or make plans let me know. I also would not be adverse to a roomate if someone has any interest in cutting down on costs. I actually do not sleep much usually anyways so I do not expect to be in the hotel too much.

Actually on the subject of live poker. I should be a fish. I have no idea why but I have many tells. My hands shake when I get monstah hands. I am not sure why. I can not tell you how many times I have seen AA, a boat or an RSF.. never bothers me. Live though check out my hands. Also notice how I go for my chips and even sometimes throw them in the pot before my turn. I guess I want to keep the game moving at internet speeds. Not sure what other tells I have.. if you smell urine that may be one of them too.. Should be fun! See you there!!!

Frustrated Lately

I have been very frustrated with Poker lately if you have not guessed. It is one of those things where anything that can go wrong usually does. I did cap the night off with a fun hand though.. before Pokerstars decided to drop my connection for the second time.. I was having serious problems with them last night.. Other sites too.. I wonder if George was setting up traces and screwed up or something..

So anyway.. I was in the hole for a few bucks and getting frustrated when I saw 23o. Woo hoo! I call a raise in MP and the flop comes all low cards. The initial raiser continuation bets and I cold call. He then leads out a weak $8 into a $16 pot. I instantly raise him $20. Why? I have no hand. My read is that he has AK. He cold calls my raise which further confirms I am either getting trapped or he has overs. The river is a nice Jack. Making the board all kinds of straight possabilities. SO how can I win this hand? My 3 high sucks right? I stay with my read that he is weak and push my remaining $54 into the pot. He folds like a girl getting gut punched by the PokerChamp. I instantly show.

Now that hand proves nothing except one thing that I would have exploited if the game continued on. After that I could not get anyone to fold anything. I got paid off on all my value bets. I tightened WAYYY up and decided to only play when I had monster hands.. and it worked. Nobody wanted to be shown the 23o and feel like a pussy. Everyone was out to get me. Unfortionatly I could only exploit this for a little while because Pokerstars connection died. However it does show the power of 72o (or in this case 23o) and the ability to manipulate the emotions of a table to your advantage. Fluxer playing small cards and busting big Aces is another example. Manipulation is very important. Use it to your advantage and get paid.

One other interesting thing I heard this weekend was while watching "Live at the Bike". Our own Weak Player was on the show and I will refrain from commenting on his play until I myself try a 10/20 NL game. However.. One of the commentators said "None of these guys is going broke with TP". It is a theme you hear alot if you have been playing poker for a long time. Top Pair is a suck hand. I know it seems so good when your playing the WWDN or the MOOK and people are going all in with K4o, TP four kicker. I am not sure exactly where that strategy plays in a 50$ NL cash game because your opponents are willing to push with crap. It is something to think about before hitting that insta-call to your opponents all-in though.

Tonight I beleive Hoyazo will be running his Mondays With Hoyathon again. That is a sweet game. Decent payout too with the 20$ buyin. I will play that tonight and probably some more cash game. Since my Bankroll is declining instead of ascending I am going to focus more on cash games and SNGs, and play the usual fun Hoyazo, WWDN, Mook, and WWDN:Not.

Blogger Tourney Recap

First hand. JJ. Flop 89x two spades. All in. Insta-Called by Q7s. Queen on the river.

Poker is mean

Screw you Poker. Screw your cousin. Your Sister twice. Your brother in the backdoor. Your dogs mouth. Screw your mother with six guys. I am not sure of the logistics of that but you can figure it out. Screw your daddy with your second uncles pig.

Poker has been picking on me lately. In case you can not guess. Tonights fun time was 11th out in the WSOP qualifier when I make a move with AJh against 99. I flop my jack and before I can finish counting my chips a 9 on the river. Actually the hand that officially took me out was K4 vs J4 with a KJ flop. Jack on the turn.

I also got nailed in the 10$/MTT but that was when I pushed AJh against AK. bad move. Maybe I was pissed off at the other game. I am not sure. I think about 50 left in that one.

So Screw you Poker. I am going to have breakfast tomorrow with my family and you can kiss my ass.

Been tired..

Sorry for the lack of posts. Been pretty tired. Case of the blahs maybe. I dunno. Poker has been ok. I have been losing alot of MTTs towards the end (before the final table) because of horrific beats of various degrees. My favorite this week was JJ vs A6 all in with 16 or so left in a 180. On the good side I am regularly making it to the money but not crashing through. Actually maybe my favorite was when I flopped two pair and someone called over half his stack off with a draw and runner-runner hit a better two pair. Ouch. Oh well.

At least the number 9 has not been picking on me. You know how it is. When statistically a certain card or combination of cards ends up kicking your ass alot for a short period of time. Last week it was the number nine. I got my money in several times with QQ/JJ type overs on a XX9 flop, to be called by someone with a 9, and to be either turned or rivered by that evil third nine. Ouch. I wont mention the 99 sets on the flop because I was actually behind in those hands.

Just for fun I am going to try and get some peeps together on a brogger cash table tonight.. 25/NL I guess.. I will ping people around 8EST.

And for you quiz geeks I got this one from Ron's site.

You scored as Wolverine. Wolverine is a loner, and a skilled fighter. He's got the hots for Jean Grey but a better fit for him would be Storm. He doesn't like to follow orders which pisses Cyclops off. He has terrible memories from the experimentation done on him at Weapon X. Even though he doesn't show it, he loves the X-Men. Powers: Fast healing and adamantium skeleton and claws. Wolverine 100% Jean Grey 75% Gambit 65% Beast 65% Iceman 60% Cyclops 55% Nightcrawler 50% Emma Frost 50% Rogue 45% Storm 40% Colossus 35% Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

S00ted My Man!

I just wanted to put up a second post saying that in no way did I mean to insult s00ted.. I think the fact that he is asking these questions is good. I do feel strongly that you should have a full buyin, however, to clarify, even though his post is the reason for my paragraph of text I in no way think he is a an idiot.. it is just my way to be extreme! In some ways I think G3 confirms that he probably is playing a little above his bankroll, or just as bad, playing above where he feels comfortable losing. So anyways keep it up and keep learning man. It is a long path. Everyone go over and give the man a hug. heh.

Hoyazo!

I will be playing in the Hoyazo Home Game tonight. Why? I love busting Hoyazo. It makes me feel like someday I can make 10K by playing like a donkey.

I am finalizing my flight and hotel plans for the Vegas trip. Sorry Pauly I will stop existing only in your mind. Should I go for the "Celebrity Spa" upgrade? I figure I am not going to be spending all that much time in my room.. so I probably should just skimp. I am thinking of doing the plane+hotel thing at Travelocity or something like that. It ends up costing like $700+ for the weekend including flight and taxes. I will probably stay at the MGM. Anyone have any better idea's?

On the note of better idea's, Where do I find information about the Blogger event and all of that crap? Texas are you responsible? How to sign up? What time its at? Where it is? How much scratch it is going to cost? Is there a webpage for this? I bet the popular people know. Oh well, I guess I will just have to spend the weekend harrassing Veneno, Kat, Jewels and Carmen. Not a bad backup plan.

Has anyone see Phil Helmouth on Celebrity Poker? I mean I know the guy has a personality but it is like he is a drone on that show. Fucking yell at someone already moron.

Did anyone read the NY Times post about the bank robbing son of a preacherman who lost thousands? Damn, Preachers are evil! We should shut them all down!!! I hate the NY Times anyways.. ever since the "Kevin Mitnick" incident. Fucking rag.

If anyone asks you if it is a good idea to buyin for half at a NL cash game to "Reduce the amount they can lose".. call them an idiot and smack them a few time. Poker is all about maximizing WINNING on all of the good hands you get. If you do not have a full buyin you can not do this. If you are worried about the amount you can lose drop down a level. Poker is not for pussies.

I recently read DP's laydown of his Kings against someone having Aces.. while I do agree that most of the time people are going to turn over a lower pair, if you have a good read, and beleive the guy has Aces you have to trust yourself and be willing to let it go. The times I most regret my poker play is when I do not beleive in myself. So good laydown. Trust your instincts.

Meh

Interesting night last night.. very sucky. I started out with a little 2-table action on the SNG front and the very first hand I have QQ vs 99. The flop comes Jxx, and all the money goes in. He flips his 9's in the air waving proudly that he knew I did not have a Jack.. Your right fucktard, I do not have a Jack.. Which turned out to be a bad thing because the turn was a 9. Ooops. I guess I made a mistake, because, I lost.

Not all was stupidity by my opponents my friends, no, no, I have been noticing a real ability to totally fuck up in the late stages of large MTTs. I am not sure why. I have gotten through 3/4ths the field of fucktards in alot of MTTs lately. I usually have a big stack too. However I overplay hands when I get there. I am not sure why. Last night was the classic. I raise my AJo to 4xBB pre-flop. Get called. The flop comes down J9x. We end up putting all our money in the middle and he has a set of 9's. Something I should be able to get away from. hmm. Oh well. I think maybe I am playing too many Mookie events.

Back to my stupid opponents though. Those ones make me laugh the best. I entered a 55/MTT to cap off the night. I end up getting rivered by runner-runner straights four times in a row. It was crazy. I for sure went on tilt in that game. I could not beleive it though. It was insane. One guy had JJ. The flop is all unders. I bet out with my AK. He cold calls. His first mistake. I then turn my king. Woo hoo! I bet pot, which is substantial by now.. and he calls.. and rivers his straight. ug. Two pair no good. The funniest part is I end up betting into him anyways.. and he cold calls. Umm. Lets review. You have the nuts. You can not be beat. There is no rake. Um. Whyyyyy?!?!?!?! Why do you mouth breathers even play? At least do your fancy 200 buck min raise to "get value" out of your hand. Mo-Ron's. I can not understand why someone would not raise there except that they are so embarressed by the way they played the hand and yet they can not fold because they would lose money. Go Figure.

I did have ONE fun hand last night. I am in a little 5.50/MTT and sort of steaming about not getting any good flops. So when a guy I am begining to dislike raises me pre-flop I call with 63o. Now the flop comes all small cards with a six. This is not the flop you want to see with this hand. You want a monster. However since I was already pissed off I pushed my stack in. He called off a HUGE amount with a decent draw (he was technically ahead statistically) and lost. He flips over his KQh and starts yelling at me. I enjoyed taunting him until he busted out. Wayyyy before me. I checked out his stats on SharkScope and he was at -57%. That is VERY hard to do and I made sure to compliment him.

So after that I decided I had enough for the night and would have to wait another day to exact my revenge.

Happy Birthday

My baby girl turned four last night. I am in trouble with that one. She is sitting at the table and picks up a flyer. She then turns to me and says "Daddy, I need a cellphone". yeah.

WWDN:Not - My Real Prize

Ode to SirFWALGMan (Ron wanted to have a little sidebet last night and this is the end result, MAN that guy has talent!!!)

SirFWALGMan is the greatest poker player in the world. He makes my head spin and my heart swoon when he raises my blinds. Lesser players beg him to take their chips and and he welcomes them with his mighty arms. SirFWALGMan can walk on water and, if it came down to it, he could probably kick Chuck Norris' ass. Certainly he could do so at poker. SirFWALGMan is my hero and we should all worship him with adulation.

If I had to choose between a year's supply of Ginger Chews or playing head's up with SirFWALGMan, I would pick SirFWALGMan.

When you are sleeping in bed and you awake to a strange creaking noise, SirFWALGMan will be there to protect you.

SirFWALGMan for South Carolina Governor!

WWDN:Not - Check

I finally won one of these. I almost did not play. It was already started when I noticed it and the "Late Reg" sign was on, so I was like what the hell. It was a great battle though. I give a lot of props to R-Gee and Robin. R-Gee should have his post about how wonderful and much better then him I am pretty soon. I actually had a HUGE chip advantage going in against him because I was getting very lucky all night so even though I AM better than he is he really had a slim chance. I will say he played excellent poker and made it very hard for me to knock him out quickly. Aggressive. Tough. Smart. Good Job Sir.

I read some good stuff from a 2+2 poster today. Who knew? I thought they all talked about how good they were and how they should push all in with weak ass hands so they could be cracked. However this hit me as particularly true:

Everybody will eventually run worse than they thought was possible.
The difference between a winner and a loser is that the latter thinks
they do not deserve it.

- Red Square Poker

I think one of the things that has changed the most for me this year is that feeling of entitlement. If I get my aces cracked by ducks, I will admit, sometimes it hurts.. more often than not nowadays though I just shrug it off as another hand of poker. I am not exactly sure why my attitude changed. I think maybe I finally gave up the notion that if you play right your win. It is not true. If you play right you have a good chance of winning over time. There is a big difference. I still have not really made any money playing this game. To me a few thousand is not much. I think I am getting better at the intangibles and I hope to see something come of it this year. If not, well, I enjoy the game for what it is. A challenging intellectual battle between opponents.

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK!

I love the Mookie tourney. It is fast becoming one of my favorite. Not just because I have placed 2nd, 1st, 2nd in the past three week. No. Actually that does help.. but priceless moments like taking out Mookie or watching Hoyazo fall, then JJJOK or removing HRC for the second week. Ahh.. Those are the things that make me sleep well at night.

It was a really fun game. I even got to talk trash with Dr. Pauly, the only one who makes me exist, and fantasize about the lovely Ms. Change in a Catholic Girl Skirt with Knee Highs, I think Black would look good against her alabaster skin.. mmm... WAKE UP WAFFLES. If only Mrs. Mook would call me an asshole again it would have been a perfect night.. oh well.. These are the reasons I play the Mookie. I think CJ plays for a shot against me so he can hone his skills.

Luckbox Prevails

I got crippled in the WWDN on an interesting hand. I think I played it terribly. It brings up a good point though. So here is the situation. You have a short stack luckbox at your table and he is pushing every third hand, taking blinds, because, well, he has to. You have 4K in chips and are in decent shape. He has about 2K and with the blinds is hurting. So you are dealt a weak hand but not bad HU. It is A7s. Do you call said Luckbox on his 19th push?

I did last night but I am beginning to think it was a mistake. It is not really my job to make CJ stop stealing. My job is to get my money in with a likely winning hand. If I had a hand like AK/AQ it might be different. If I am behind in the hand I am likely closer to a coinflip with a hand like that. I think sometimes we take it on ourselves to call people when they raise every other hand. It can end up putting us in bad situations. So next time I will wait to try and take the Luck out of the Luckbox and it might be me at the final table.

Now for something different

Now that I have cooled down a little bit. It was fun to get everything out of my system. No real reason for the ranting although I do think I get WAYY too little respect around here. DuggleBogeys comment was actualy sweet in a way that is so unlike him. Thanks! Oh and Wes, I accept your challenge.

First off Fluxer has a post about Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Justice, or something like that.

I took Hoyazo's advice and played a 11$ MTT tonight. Came in 90th place. That was fun. Out of 800 or so. I made someone make a HUGE mistake and then I made one myself. I had AJ in the EP and limped in to see what other people would do. It is folded all around since the blinds are somewhat high. I have 22K in chips and my opponent has 27K. So the flop comes 23J. My opponent bets out 1600, which is a min bet and I come over the top of him and raise another 8K leaving me 14K to play with. The turn is a 4 and he fires out a bet that puts me all in. I KNOW I AM BEAT AND YET I DO NOT FOLD. I hate when my instincts scream your beat but I get too attached to a pot. Ug. I could have worked my 14K back up or at the very least made a few more spots. Anyway the hand that beat me was.. 24o! Yay! He flopped bottom pair and called off half his stack with it.. great play there, followed by just as bad of a play from me. Oh well. That was good for $16. NEXT!

I got some serious bad luck and bad beats to get killed in my 50/NL cash game tonight. Including turning two pair to be rivered by Q3 when he caught his 3rd Queen.. lol. I can not remember any of the other ones but they were sick. HUGELY dominated hands winning. Ahh well.. such is life. To my credit I take these things pretty well these days.

So Mr. Dreamy comes by and tell me to play Poker with JJOK. Dreamy quickly leaves as he knows I will dominate him. It was the best time ever though. I had the most fun playing with JJOK. I really outplayed everyone at the table. I ended up winning a buyin. However having fun was the best.

Some memorable hands were when I raised pre-flop with 24o, and the flop comes Kxx, A guy bets out and I raise big. All four people fold. I show my hand.

I made JJOK fold QQ when I had QQ, the flop had a King on it and I think I made someone lay down a better hand than me.

Some tool flops AQQ with aces AFTER he min raises and he does not bet the turn or the river. The river brings the 4th Queen and he is too chicken shit to bet. I had to laugh at his passivity, especially when he decided he had enough of my ribbing and pushed into my made hand.



The chat on the table was funny as hell. I even sucked out on a few hands. Nobody knew if they should call, fold, or quit poker. It is enjoyable when you are so sure of your hands and your opponents hands that you can play nasty poker. Thanks for the laught JJOK!!

So tomorrow is another day.. I ended tonight being down a few bucks. No biggie. Tomorrow maybe I will get past 90th who knows.. or donk out in last place..

I will be the Hokage

Not saying Stb played post flop poorly as I mentioned in my previous post. He got the best possible flop he could ever hope for. I also said I was pot committed by the time we made the flop so I had no choice but to continue on. Just lamenting a dominating hand losing and the dissapointment of playing poker for hours for nothing.

Pre-Flop-
ME
Scoop: 57%
Hi: 67%
Lo: 39%
EE: 0.681

STB:
Scoop: 21%
Hi: 33%
Lo: 15%
EE: 0.319

Even after the flop, although I have lost the edge on the high I am close to a coinflop to win the high and have a great shot at the low which demonstrates the importance of playing scooping hands in O8. I am also technically winning at this point.

Post-Flop-
Me:
Scoop: 35%
Hi: 46%
Lo: 52%
EE: 0.568

Him:
Scoop: 22%
Hi: 54%
Lo: 20%
EE: 0.43

As the numbers show he only has a 22% chance to make any money on this hand even though he has alot of draws. So he risked 10-15% of his stack, got the best possible flop he could imagine, and still only has a 22% chance of making any money off this hand.

The turn murders me. Finally after all the money has already gone in the odds switch fully to Stb. ALTHOUGH I still have a 35% chance to still take half the pot.

Turn -
Me:
Scoop: 0%
Hi: 5%
Lo: 35%
EE: 0.200

Stb:
Scoop: 60%
Hi: 95%
Lo: 13%
EE: 0.800

And I do not improve on the river. Thats poker. So be it. I want to say this again too I do not fault Stb's play. It was not bad. It was a bad situation for him and he got lucky. Of course I welcome the comments as always. They show your depth of knowlege about the game. As you are suggesting I should fold with 2xBB left and still at the very least a coinflip to win or tie. Winning poker there.

In addition I love how when I make a move and someone else is ahead "Oh yeah, they made a great call, you suck", of course when I am ahead "Yeah Waffles, you suck, never should have called there". At least be somewhat consistant.. oh wait, you are consistant in not ever giving me any credit for anything. My mistake again. I humbly bow to your incredible skills.

Fuck it I am on full off rant mode so I might as well finish. I find posting and getting advice in comments stupid. You get such a wide variety of players and people that it means nothing. Half the people are just not at a place where they can give any kind of meaningful advice. The other half are so inconsistant and just want to disagree with everything you say and only make points that prove their own way to play.

The real problem is you can not get a feel for a table or a game or anything from a hand history. It is one little tiny grain of salt in the great tapastry that is the game. The only good thing I see about the comments is it shows that almost everyone playing poker today can not lay down a weak hand. Probably since they have been playing online so much that their opponents often have weaker hands. It gives me great confidence that playing a slightly-more loose style will pay off in spades against narrow minded thinkers. I know I am not there yet but I feel some great things coming my way once I fully understand what I want to accomplish. So I am probably being WAYY too sensitive and WAYYY too pissy but I am in a ranting kind of mood so anyway fuck you all.

Frustrating Brogger Night

Just got to get it out of my system. Lost on the final table of the HORSE tourney when STB took his KK45 s00ted up against my AA37 s00ted. I think we 3-bet pre-flop and all the money basically was in on the pre-flop/flop. He flopped a flush draw but the blinds were so high then I was in until the end. I also had the best hand at the time with a redraw to the low.

He turned a 2-outer set of kings and I did not improve for the split. Ug. Oh well. I played my best. His hand was not terrible.. and when the flop hit it improved alot. O8 is silly that way. No hand is a HUGE favorite pre-flop. Not even one with nut HI/LO written all over it. I guess I am most frustrated at doing so well and spending hours in this thing for nothing. It was nice to do well against some really good players however meh.

The last few weeks have been a little frustrating. I know something good is coming but all my buddies like Hoy, Kat, Veneno, etc, etc.. keep making nice scores and I am kinda hanging out. The cash games have been fun though. I really feel as if I am learning some things.. it is VERY hard to relay those things in the hands I post, some of which could be considered mistakes. I know for sure that I am growing in alot of ways as a player in ring games and I will continue to experiment and grow in new ways.

The Queen: Dethroned

It is one of my proudest poker moments ever. After winning 6 of the last 7 matches against Veneno I have regained the lead in our competition by a full two games! I even played with her in a 4 person HU game and while she was defeated by the angry frog in 300 hands, it took me a mere 5 hands to dispatch him. Veneno even got poisoned once by me. She has fallen far.

Nice comments

I think I could agree with many of the comments and also disagree with alot of them. The one thing I have liked about Fluxers style of play is it's inherent aggression and ability to make people make HUGE mistakes. We got the money in the hand with a 36% chance of making an eighty dollar profit on the hand. Not the best odds but not as horrible as first appears either. Although I do agree with Don and most of the comments that there probably is a better place to get all your money in.

The things that stand out in the comments to me, and make me beleive even more in this style of play, is the fact that none of the good players would even consider they were beat here. If you noticed the guy with the ACES was totally cracked until he hit his 30% chance on the turn or something like that. I respect everyone who commented that they would call overbets because it screams weakness. I think that is one of the things I like about how Fluxer plays, he gets called alot by people who think that way.

I also got a comment about having a total disgregard for my money. It is one buyin to a cash game. Nothing more. Nothing less. While that does not mean you should play poorly I think if you look at your chips on the table as anything other than a buyin you are a fool. If you are properly bankrolled you have to be willing to go the distance and play your game. If you are afraid to lose a buyin you have no place at the poker table. Go home and knit me a scarf or something.

So anyways thanks for your comments. These are the best hands to discuss since they have alot of interesting aspects to them. As I try and develop a different style as always I appreciate your feedback and respect each and every one of you who make serious comments.

How was this?

I will let the hand speak for itself but should anyone have folded to a huge $180 bet on that flop?

POKERSTARS GAME #5146435900: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.50/$1.00) - 2006/06/04 - 01:23:07 (ET)
Table 'Sapientia II' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: SirFWALGMan ($183.85 in chips)
Seat 2: govi514 ($103.30 in chips)
Seat 3: sigmanuelder ($123.45 in chips)
Seat 4: PrimeGator ($45.15 in chips)
Seat 5: faye ($98.50 in chips)
Seat 6: CENTER62 ($45.70 in chips)
Seat 7: ThaEZLife ($46.05 in chips)
Seat 9: nuts69 ($164.60 in chips)
CENTER62: posts small blind $0.50
ThaEZLife: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SirFWALGMan [2d 3d]
nuts69: calls $1
SirFWALGMan: calls $1
govi514: folds
CENTER62 said, "bring the hands this way <------"
sigmanuelder: raises $4 to $5
PrimeGator: calls $5
faye: calls $5
CENTER62: folds
ThaEZLife: folds
nuts69: calls $4
SirFWALGMan: calls $4
*** FLOP *** [Kd 5d 3c]
nuts69: checks
SirFWALGMan: bets $178.85 and is all-in
sigmanuelder: calls $118.45 and is all-in
PrimeGator: calls $40.15 and is all-in
CENTER62 said, "GL ALL"
faye said, "what?"
CENTER62 said, "this is gonna be intense"
faye: calls $93.50 and is all-in
nuts69: folds
nuts69 leaves the table
*** TURN *** [Kd 5d 3c] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 5d 3c Kh] [6s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SirFWALGMan: shows [2d 3d] (two pair, Kings and Threes)
sigmanuelder: shows [As Ah] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
sigmanuelder collected $49.90 from side pot-2
CENTER62 said, "WOW VN!"
faye: mucks hand
sigmanuelder collected $160.05 from side pot-1
PrimeGator: mucks hand
sigmanuelder collected $184.10 from main pot
CENTER62 said, "hey sig"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $397.05 Main pot $184.10. Side pot-1 $160.05. Side pot-2 $49.90. | Rake $3
Board [Kd 5d 3c Kh 6s]
Seat 1: SirFWALGMan showed [2d 3d] and lost with two pair, Kings and Threes
Seat 2: govi514 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: sigmanuelder showed [As Ah] and won ($394.05) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 4: PrimeGator mucked [Ad 8d]
Seat 5: faye (button) mucked [3h 5h]
Seat 6: CENTER62 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: ThaEZLife (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: nuts69 folded on the Flop

Garthmeister

I was all set to meet Garthmeister today. He was flying up to the Boston area to play Australian Rules Footsie with some guys. Sounds like a party! He sent directions. He sent a picture. Kind of cute. I brushed my teeth. I plucked my nose hair. I scrubbed my ass!!! I found the place. No Garth. I am devistated. Oh well maybe next time.

T Dollars for ME Dollars

Alot of action in the Waffle house last night. We told my son about ten million times to not play ball in the house. He plays the whole field. Off the wall, diving catches into the kitchen. So last night he finally took after his dear old accident prone dad and as he was going back for a long ball he slammed into the fence, I.E. The Fridge. Unfortionatly for him he hit the corner and cracked his little head open. He starts bleeding and freaking out. It is these times you realize as smart as your kids are they are still KIDS. He was never good with blood but he also thought that if you cracked your head open you automajically died. I guess he must have seen some ER show on the learning channel or the news or something. So finally we get him calm and wait for his head to stop bleeding. Eventually it lets up but every little while a drop oozes out. So we take him to the ER and they put a few staples in his head. That was actually an ordeal too because they made us wait for hours. He was getting more and more nervous about the stitches or staples or whatever they were going to do to him. Finally they did the little click-click and he freaked out for the last time and everything was done.

We get home and settle the kiddies in bed around 11:30 EST and I am wayyy too tired to play poker so I watch a little TV and relax. Finally I am like screw it and go downstairs for a quick game. A few of my favorite people are on, ok, one of my favorite people. Jewels is playing the 180/SNG with hubby Graham, and I decide to sweat her a little while playing my third 1 Million qualifier of the week. I have won my other two attempts. The first one was a 39$/LHE event, the next was a 3$ Rebuy Turbo and the latest I decided should be a double shootout. I am normally not a fan of these because you have to take first place on your first table and first or second on the final table to win anything worthwhile. However it is low risk and nothing else caught my fancy tonight.

I destroyed my first table. I played very selectively and pushed a lot of good pocket pairs. Not huge one. I won alot of races that way. At the end I had 7K in chips vs 1600 for the next closest. I picked off almost everyone at that table. I then had to wait for the final table to begin. Not being patient I entered a 3$ rebuy to the WSOP tourney. I did not do well as my TT was cracked by a big stack with K6o or some crap like that. Oh well. At this time Fluxer logs in and wants to play 100/NL, and Jewels and Graham are deep in the 180. It is a little crazy. I tell Fluxer to wait until the Double Shootout is over and then proceed to do alot of folding. I finally chip up alot when my 77 and 99 hold up in all in attempts. I actually flopped a boat with the 99. Sweet! It gets down to three left. One huge stack, a smaller stack than I am and me. The blinds are 100/200 no Ante and us small stacks have around 2K in chips and the leader has about 6K. Lucky for me the leader was an aggro moron. Now I agree with being aggresive in these things. Especially with a chip lead. However you need to avoid calling all in with weak holdings and be aggressive with blind steals and string cards. He would be very aggressive every hand trying to steal blinds, but when you came back over the top of him, he would never fold. So I waited. He doubled both of us small stacks up. I waited some more. He donked off some more chips. Finally the chip leader got taken out and us two small stacks had won 215 T$. I am going to try and win AGAIN today. If I do I am for sure playing because it will be like a sign from the Poker Gods or something. I will say boosting my bankroll from $400 to $1000 playing Satelites is a nice feeling though.

Around the time I was celebrating my victory Graham was getting knocked out in 18th place or so when his TT got killed by AKd. I am not sure I would have folded my tens here against the HUGE stack. I probably would not have. However this donkey was playing so many hands you knew you were going to get called. In addition most of the time your in a race situation. I may have seen a flop then pushed. He still would have been called however since the flop gave the villan a 4 flush. The villan is not known for folding. Ever. Those situations are really hard though. You are so close to the money.. and you are a MUCH better player than the big stack. Do you go for the coin flip or find a better spot and outplay the guy? Graham had enough chips where he could have played it either way. I can not say letting the tens go was the right move and I can not say pushing was. It is just one of those tough decisions that either works out or does not. Better luck next time Graham.

I played a little 100/NL and won a few bucks. I have been winning slowly lately. No huge scores. Sixy here, thirty there. Just waiting for the nice hand where I crack aces and make them go home and cry to mommy. Oh well. I guess I will have to just accept winning at the cash game and wait for the fun later.

Marxst1 Enable Your Comments you FTARD!

I know Ick, that is not very inviting to new bloggers. Screw you too! Seriously though Marxst you have posted two things in the past week that I would have liked to comment on but I can not figure out if Bloglines even has comments.

The Luck vs Skill thing has been going around for a while and Marxst wants to know why all of the sudden, doing the same things, he is winning. His game did not change. He attributes it to luck. I think it is statistically inevitable that you eventually hit a nice run or a bad run. Some of these runs are LONG AS HELL and some are short. For instance I spent a YEAR playing limit poker. I had the most phenomenal luck of anyone ever. I just kept winning. Brought an initial fifty buck buyin to over 3K in a short period of time. However the odds finally caught up to me and I started losing for no good reason. It took a while to deal with the fact that no matter who you are or how good you are these statistical anomalies will happen.

I am so glad it did happen too because it caused me to look at my game and grow as a player. Ok. It caused me to cry like a baby for a year. At the end of that I think I came out finally getting poker a little more. It does not matter what the outcome of a hand or a single game is. Sure you can get lucky and win thousands or millions which takes the edge off the long term but in general poker is a game where you will lose with the best hand a lot.

If you keep working on the skill side of your game and shrug off those tough patches where chaos comes in and messes up all your nice structured math you will be a winner. Keep learning. Keep growing. In time you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

You also said "I certainly would never argue that I think if I had my "luckiest" day I could beat any of the professional players out there", which I totally disagree with. You could get so lucky that you destroyed players much better than you. In that one game. It happens. We see it a lot in these large field WSOP games. Luck is an interesting thing. It twists and turns like the wind and can both lift you higher than you could possibly go by yourself or dash you on the rock below. The best players ride out these winds of change and keep soaring along.

Interview with an MTT Specialist

This week I interview super star Hoyazo player as he soars to some great success in MTTs lately. He is fresh off a huge win as the winner of the Party Poker 40K. Lets find out how all of the success has effected our man.

1. I will start off with the easy question everyone must be wondering, how the hell does it feel to win 9K?

First off, I have to correct you, it was $9737 and change, so it is really closer to 10k than 9k. And as far as how does it feel to win 10k, let me say that it feels Amazing. I mean, the money is great, and frankly at the limits I am used to, that amount of money could fund probably 5 or 6 years of steadily losing poker without requiring any further contributions from me, so that is all good. But to be honest, even better than the money (ok, well, maybe almost as good as the money) is the feeling of validation that the 40k win has brought me. I feel like I now know beyond dispute that my game is working, and no one can tell me I don't really know what I'm doing in this game or in MTTs in general. Clearly a ton of luck is involved in winning any tournament with 2,323 entrants, but I also don't think that bad players just donk their way into winning something like this as a rule.

2. What changes do you think you have made to your game in order to be able to accomplish the many wins you have had lately?

Well, actually the changes I've made to my game recently have been less to my play in the large MTTs, and more to my play in tournaments other than the large MTTs. Basically, a few weeks ago after donking out of the WWdN early for the umpteenth time in a row, it occurred to me that I have been playing every tournament, from the 1-table sng to the 180 sng to the Mookie and the WWdN, etc. all exactly the same way as I play in the large MTTs. And it occurred to me that there is simply not a single one-size-fits-all strategy for all MTTs. Rather, in the larger MTTs, I can, for example, allin reraise a guy on the flop with just an open end straight draw, and have a lot more confidence that my opponent might lay down a hand even as good as TPTK or maybe even bottom two pairs. My opponent was planning on playing this tournament for a while, he just coughed up $22 to enter, and he really has his eyes on that $10,000 prize at the end of the rainbow, so TPTK becomes not so attractive to a lot of people in that situation early on in the party 40k. Meanwhile, in the smaller, $10 buyin blogger tournaments, this is not the case nearly as often. People will call you down with much less in their hands than they are apt to do in the larger MTTs. So, I've adjusted my game in the smaller tournaments, basically to moderate my natural aggression somewhat. I have been waiting for my spots a little better lately, still pushing hard when I feel strongly that I'm ahead, but doing a bit less bluffing and semibluffing, and it has worked out to great results of late.

3. What is your strategy for the beginning of large field MTTs?
In the early rounds of the large MTTs, the #1 name of the game is survival. I've had plenty of MTTs where I donked around the bottom of the standings for 30, 60, 90 minutes and longer even, but then doubled up, doubled again, and before I knew it, I was right in the thick of things for the first time in the event, more than 2 hours after the start. So, goal #1 for the early rounds always has to be survival. At the same time, however, I also use the early rounds to be very observant, take a whole lot of notes on the players at my tables, and in particular to focus on how these players react to the blinds and the situations created by the blinds system. If I can figure out now, when it's cheap to do so, who is likely to try to steal my blind with nothing, and, more importantly, whose blinds I am likely to be able to steal without a fight, then later in the tournament, as the blinds escalate in size and significance, I will be in a much better position to take advantage of those expensive blinds if I know whose blinds to go after and who I can bluff-reraise if I think they are stealing from me with a particular late-position bet. Lastly, it is always vitally important to bet at a lot of pots, and give a lot of action, at all levels of the large MTTs. This is because, when you play an MTT and see, say, 500 hands over a 5 or 6 hour span, you are going to get your share of good cards and monster hands. And it's imperative that people be willing to play with you when you bet up your good cards preflop, and the only way to ensure that is to call, bet and raise with a lot of different hands preflop. Anyone who has played with me will note that I am never one to be accused of not giving action. You need to get the sense out there, in particular if your table is not likely to be broken up any time soon, that you are willing to gamble -- limp, bet and/or raise -- with almost any two cards in a given situation.

4. Have you figured out what you are going to do with you winnings?

Basically. I went ahead this weekend and withdrew 8 grand of the 10 grand of winnings from partypoker. That money is in my bank account now, which I am thrilled about since it means I am significantly up for my career thus far of playing online (about a year now). I don't ever plan to reinvest any of that money in online poker and don't think I will need to, as my other MTT winnings have been keeping me afloat and I expect that to continue. With the other $2000 of my winnings, I will be dispersing that more or less equally among the three sites I play at regularly -- party, pokerstars and full tilt -- to give me a nice bankroll on each site, and possibly to enable me to maybe take a crack at a few of the larger-buyin MTTs as they come about, if I am so inclined. And, in general, I have insisted that the Hammer Wife pick out whatever on the earth she wants, and we will use some portion of the 8 grand I withdrew to buy her that. Not only is she a wonderful wife and mother, but you would not believe the sacrifices that the Hammer Wife willingly and automatically puts up with because of my little online poker habit. I can't count how many times she has given up the computer against her will at 8:30pm for the WWdN, been forced to watch the Sopranos without me because of the wpbt, etc. And, the Hammer Wife has gotten up countless times in the middle of the night to pick up the screaming baby, while I am already awake but sitting at the computer trying to play my way into a final table of an event I had started three or four hours earlier. The Hammer Wife is not into gambling and is in general not into the whole online poker thing at all. But she understands that it's important to me and a hobby that I really enjoy, and she is supportive of that to an almost unbelievable degree when I'm playing. I would say she has worked almost as hard as I have to get that win, including the night of the actual party 40k when the youngest Hammer Girl awoke just before final table time, when the Hammer Wife once again rose to the challenge, no questions asked. So, she can have whatever she wants with our winnings from the party 40k. We're still negotiating the details of that.

5. Do you have plans to play in bigger entry fee MTTs on a regular basis or are you going to keep to the $20 buyin MTTs?

That's a very good question that a lot of people are asking me, but as for now I am intending to play (and have been playing, since last week) more or less the same events that I've been playing in the recent past. In other words, I'm still into the party 40k, and I'm starting to focus a little more on the full tilt 17k nightly guaranteed tournament as well, something I have played many times in the past and that has almost the same buyin as the 40k. I've toyed with the idea of entering some $100 buyin MTTs and things like that, but the funny thing is, as I've posted on my blog several times before, since I'm really not playing poker for the money so much as for the practice and experience of large MTTs, I really don't feel a tremendous incentive to run into any larger buyin MTT events. If anything, one thing I might try a bit more of now that I have such a large roll on a place like pokerstars is some more of the large rebuy tournaments. In general I'm not into rebuys because they reward donkeys for their general donkery, but you simply cannot argue with the huge prize pools that these rebuy tournaments can generate. So, for example, where I have previously only ever really played the $3 rebuy madness tournament on pokerstars, I may branch out into the $11 rebuy at 10:15pm ET nightly, and take a couple of shots at that and see if it seems cost-effective as something for me to play in the future. In general though, right now I'm more than content at the limits I've been playing, and just to keep trying to excel in these MTTs going forward.

6. How did you invent "The Hoy"™?
It's funny. I don't remember a specific time when I "invented" the move. I just know that I started playing online on pokerstars, because that's where my friend V was playing when he kinda got me involved in the whole online poker thing to begin with. And I was very frustrated very early on with this silly rule on pokerstars about no chatting whenever anyone at the table is allin. So after not too long, maybe late in 2005 after I'd been playing for a few months, I thought of leaving one chip behind, just to make sure I could keep chatting in case I wanted to either encourage a call or encourage a fold from my opponents, and just for general trash talking purposes which is also always a good goal to have at the virtual tables in my view. So I actually conceived of the notion of the Hoy before I got to know most of the bloggers in the poker blogging community, etc. But it wasn't until the regular blogger tournaments started happening -- the WWdN, DADI, the Mookie, the WWdN Not, etc. -- that I really started using the Hoy religiously, and actually assigned the name "the Hoy" to the practice of keeping one chip from your allins to preserve your ability to chat to your victim while they contemplate a call. The regular blogger tournaments are a place where trash talk and the like is king, and I want to be sure that everyone sees me belittling my fellow bloggers before I relieve them of all their chips. So, several weeks ago now, this is how The Hoy came into existence as the pillar of pop culture that it is today. The Reverse Hoy -- when you bet enough to put your opponent all-in but for one of his or her chips -- has also worked well for me lately and can in some cases have an even more tilt-inducing effect than the original hoy, so it's something else to keep in mind as well, and the reverse hoy is something that has only really come to prominence in the last four or five weeks or so.

7. What is your strategy for the middle portion of a tourney? How does it change related to your stack?

In the middle of the large MTTs, the focus really changes more from survival and information-gathering, to chipping up and to using the information that I've gathered in the early stages. This means that you can start stealing blinds from people now that they are up to a level where they begin to be worth stealing, and maybe start putting on some moves, bluff-raising for example, that are less important in the early stages of these tournaments. And yes stack size has to come into play of course, in that as a short stack, my options will be severely limited as far as what kinds of moves I can and can't do, and how likely I am to push in preflop or on the flop with a hand that is likely to be the best at that point in time. Similarly, if I am on a large stack in the middle of an MTT, I will try to bully the table a little bit, but I think I actually use more restraint than many people would with a huge stack in the middle of an MTT. I have seen countless examples of people donking off tons of chips from their huge stacks by trying to be the table bully. If the cards just aren't there, or if the Table Bully is not a style that you're comfortable and experienced playing, I would advise against pushing too hard there. There is a real advantage to just keeping your large stack, and slowly building it with your actual good hands instead of on bully moves all the time, in the middle rounds of the large MTTs, so that is a good strategy to follow as well if you're not so much the bullying type. Bullying the table has never been a problem for me, so I tend to get a little aggressive on a big stack, but not too much that it impacts my image or my stack in a noticeably negative way.

8. What book(s) would you suggest a new MTT player read in order to get a better understanding of tournament play?

If you haven't read Super System (Volume 1 is all you really need to read, as far as holdem in concerned), and both volumes of Dan Harrington's books, then I am going to eat you up at the MTT tables and spit you out. Period. All three of those books are absolute musts for any serious holdem tournament player. Super System more for holdem principles in general, and Harrington for his incredible, example-based instruction on innumerable holdem tournament situations and problems. In all seriousness, I have probably read each of those three books maybe ten or fifteen times each, and I have them stored in various places all over my apartment, so there is always one within reach. I recently read Phil Gordon's Little Green Book which is also an excellent source for poker philosophy and analysis, much better than most other poker books out there.

9. Do you have any pre-game rituals in order to pump yourself up for the big games?

None whatsoever. No superstitions, no particular games I like to start with, nothing. In fact I think this is part of what makes me an effective MTT guy. I don't get all "juiced" for every MTT I enter online. I view them all as the same thing more or less, and I treat them all as if it could be my next final table or my next big score. I typically just sit down at the computer, open up my three online poker sites of choice, and check out the upcoming MTTs to see which one or ones interest me the most. All except for the Mookie tournament, in which case I will typically strap on my three or four kevlar cups immediately before the event begins, to prepare for the inevitable junk-kicking that is about to be administered to me.

10. What is your end game strategy? How does it change related to your stack?
I've been down to the end of enough large MTTs at this point in my online poker career to know that, in order to succeed and progress at the end game, you have to be able to be completely and utterly full of crap, just like everyone else. As the blinds grow large, almost every large event eventually deteriorates in the last couple of hours to one big pushfest. I don't mean to make it sound totally random, because there is definitely an art to this as well, but in general, you will see from, say, 100 people left all the way down to the final table, that most pots involve someone allin, often times allin preflop even, and most cases there are either zero or one callers of these big bets. It's a much different game than the early and middle stages of the MTTs. As you get down to the final table, I make two significant adjustments to my game to this end. First, I steal with reckless abandon, even moreso than I might be tempted to during the early and middle rounds. More or less every single time it is checked around to me, almost in every position, it is worth attempting a steal, since the blinds have grown so large by this point in the event. And people will generally fold to you unless they have a strong hand, in which case you will know it from their call or reraise, and you can react accordingly. The second big change I make late in MTTs is actually to tighten up my starting hand requirements, where I'm not in a blind stealing situation. In other words, in the first 30 minutes of a large MTT, for example, if I was dealt QQ or JJ, and saw an allin ahead of me, I would almost certainly call unless I had a strong read that this person might have KK or AA. However, at the final table of the party 40k last week, I folded JJ to an allin move once, folded TT as well, and also folded an AQs, which is another hand that might normally call allin with in the right circumstances. But, when staying alive becomes the most crucial factor, and when every spot you survive to earns you an extra few hundred bucks, and eventually near the end of the big tournaments, an extra few thousand bucks, you learn pretty quick that calling allins with Jacks, Tens, Nines, etc. can be a losing proposition. So, steal a lot without regard to your cards late in the big MTTs, but also, in those situations where you are actually playing your cards instead of just your position, tighten up a bit preflop in situations where someone else has shown a lot of aggression already moving at the pot ahead of you.

11. If you every play in a WSOP will you Hoy people in real life? If so do you expect to get punched? Does it lose something in the translation to live?

I suppose I would hoy in real life, though its genesis really is from online play, and from pokerstars in particular where you just can't chat if you are allin in a hand. But after seeing how easily the hoy tends to confuse, annoy and tilt my opponents, I'll have to give it a try again in a live setting. I don't expect to get punched for doing so, although I do think it will lose something in the translation, since live games basically eliminate the entire need that spawned the creation of this move to begin with.

12. What is the biggest bluff with the hammer you have pulled off?
I have bluffed so many times with the Hammer I can't even count them. My non-blogger friends all think I'm nuts that I play this hand, but I have to say, without a doubt my game has improved from the image boost that a few raised and shown Hammers can give me. I encourage everyone to play the Hammer smartly whenever possible. As far as the biggest Hammer bluffs (if betting the Hammer can ever be a bluff), I remember at a final table in either late April or early May of this year -- it's definitely on my blog somewhere if you're crazy enough to read it all -- I pulled not one but two final table Hammers at the final table of a large MTT. There is very little more invigorating as an online poker player than a Final Table Hammer, and almost nothing infuriates your opponents more than being bluff-reraised by the Hammer. Just the other day on my way to winning the DADI VI event, I bluff-reraised a large preflop raise from Jhartness, got him to fold, and then showed my Hammer, only to find that he, too had folded the Hammer because of my bluff-reraise. You gotta love that.

13. How do you keep yourself excited for MTTs when it can be a while between wins?
I really don't feel that way about it. In truth, I have made two or three final tables in every single month of 2006, with my party 40k victory last week cementing May as another two-final table month for me. So, if you think about that, we're talking about an average of one final table every two weeks, for now five consecutive months. Really, that is not very few and far between. And, frankly, even though the average has been two final tables a month, in reality they can come in bunches sometimes. So, I honestly believe that every time I sit down to a new MTT, tonight may be the night where I hit my stride, get some cards and play everything right, and in 4 or 5 hours I may find myself at yet another final table, in line for another big money score. I never think a tournament won't be exciting because I haven't won for a while, or I just cashed significantly in one of these the other day, etc. If I am ever at that point, I just won't play in the particular tournament in question. But in general, I'm always excited to sit down to a new MTT, any time, any night.

14. Can I borrow .50 cents for an SNG?
I think I'll take Iakaris's line from the WWdN Not a few weeks ago and say No you can't, since I need to keep my last dollar so that I can hoy someone when I have the nuts.