Ugly - Off to go see little bro get hitched

Wow. I was so sure I was going to end the brutality tonight. So I popped into a double shootout to the Sunday mill, which I'm positive I can beat on a good day as historically the play has less than impressed me. I was chipping up nicely, very confident in how I was playing and then ...


The server crashed. PokerStars never crashes! What the hell! So after 15 minutes of failed login attempts, I finally get back in and shortly thereafter they announce all tournaments are canceled and I get my buyin + a small 6$ bonus for having a few extra chips. That kinda takes the wind outta the ol' sails.

So okay, I'll go try another 10$ 9-man SNG. I'm going to keep trying these until I drop my bankroll below a pre-decided number which I won't share because it's embarassing that my roll has gotten low enough that I need to be thinking like this.

So I start nicely, don't really get any big hands until I find 44. The chip leader (luckbox) gives off information for free and only 20 hands in I have 7 or 8 lines of info on him. He makes an offsized raise from EP, which until now had indicated weakness. I was in MP and jammed for 1200, thinking I'd steal, and willing to race if he called. OTB called AND EP raiser called, and it was AK vs A4 (OTB..lol) vs my 44. The board bricked out (despite putting a 4-flush for A4 out on the flop) and I doubled and some. After that it was just taking lots of pots till we got down to the bubble... Yes, the dreaded bubble. It's nailed me the last 4 times I've been here...

So I have ~4000, our EP player from earlier has ~4000 also, and the short stacks have ~2000 each. The play is very tight, and after a lot of stealing, I work my stack up to 5300, chip leader has 5800, and both shorties are down to ~1200.

I had to pick THIS time to get my hands...

Here's the first one.

Hero is dealt QQ in the CO. Raises to 450 (Blinds are 75/150). This is my standard raise at this point. BB (big stack) calls. Flop comes out 89T and I give a little fist pump. BB checks, hero bets 600, BB calls. Turn is a 6. I don't hate that card, but I don't love it either. BB checks, hero leads 1400. BB takes a second, and jams for ~3000 more, and has me barely covered. Now despite the piles of notes I had on him, he'd never made a check-raise. I'd seen a lot of his bluffy plays, and this didn't line up. After running my time bank almost all the way down, I decided to let it go... Not sure how I feel about that.

The VERY NEXT HAND, I get the BB, and hold Ts7s. The villain from last hand, now the SB completes and I (out of character) check. (I'd been stealing a lot earlier from SB in situations like this.) The flop comes off T87. Fist pump. SB checks, I lead 400 (400 pot), SB min-raises. His min-raises could mean either weak or strong, so I decided he was on a OESD, or a KT-JT kind of hand. I throw my chips into the middle with a smile on my face, I've got a good feeling about this one.

Villain turns over ...




J9.

Another bubble, I feel like a bloody moron, and I would love nothing better than to dismantle this shitty Sony laptop into tiny little pieces. Unfortunately for me, I have to go to bed.

Another well timed vacation. Hopefully the blood vessels in my eyes will calm down soon so I can see colors other than red.

Situation Downgraded to Life Tilt

So add 10 (or so) to the list. Twice I managed to get to the bubble, every other one wasn't even close.

My KQ bets, calls all in on a Q-high flop against Q9. Turn is a 9.

QQ makes a big prf raise and A6 flops an A, and of course, any top pair will do... Seriously, the play has been so bad today, adding to the life tilt factor.

Starting cards weren't gold either. AA once (dragged a nice pot as I miraculously held off QQ *eye roll*) KK once, ran it into AA preflop, of course. AK ran into KK.

So I've donked off over 200$ in the last couple days now. Almost 1/3th of my roll.

Wow.

Time for a break.

I run gooooot cont'd

Enjoying a few nice Sunday morning games, and here's the 3 pivotal hands in the 3 I've played thus far.


Table 59392740 1 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: crushmastac (1555 in chips)
Seat 2: I Donk U (3495 in chips)
Seat 4: jayr209 (1620 in chips)
Seat 5: Slick Kid G (3925 in chips)
Seat 6: lordvader19 (1693 in chips)
Seat 9: deadly1 (1212 in chips)
lordvader19: posts small blind 25
deadly1: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [Ks Qc]
I Donk U said, "Just A"
crushmastac: raises 150 to 200
I Donk U: calls 200
jayr209: folds
Slick Kid G: calls 200
Both callers are flop monkeys. They both have VPIPs around 70%.
I Donk U said, "not two"
lordvader19: folds
deadly1: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kh 4c 3d]
crushmastac: bets 400
I Donk U: calls 400
Slick Kid G: raises 1450 to 1850
This guy's shown aggression, so I don't think he's got AK or he would have reraised me pre. He's made this move with top pair shit kicker before, so it's an easy call.
crushmastac: calls 955 and is all-in
I Donk U: calls 1450
*** TURN *** [Kh 4c 3d] [6d]
I Donk U: bets 1445 and is all-in
Slick Kid G: calls 1445
*** RIVER *** [Kh 4c 3d 6d] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Wait for it...
I Donk U: shows [2s 5s] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
That is both beautiful and hilarious. NH sir.
Slick Kid G: shows [Kd 4d] (two pair, Kings and Fours)
I was right about his hand. Unfortunately K4 > KQ


This one is just a cooler...

Table 59390621 1 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: bdubuk85 (6720 in chips)
Seat 3: pokerchopmd (1430 in chips)
Seat 6: akron big (920 in chips)
Seat 7: crushmastac (2450 in chips)
Seat 9: Grubasek88 (1980 in chips)
bdubuk85: posts small blind 50
pokerchopmd: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [Ad Qh]
akron big: folds
crushmastac: raises 300 to 400
Standard raise from the CO
Grubasek88: folds
bdubuk85: folds
pokerchopmd: raises 500 to 900
Is that supposed to be a defending bet? I've seen him show less than stellar hands, so I'm gonna play for stacks...
crushmastac: raises 530 to 1430
pokerchopmd: calls 530 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [2d 9c 7s]
*** TURN *** [2d 9c 7s] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [2d 9c 7s 5s] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pokerchopmd: shows [As Ac] (a pair of Aces)
Oops...
crushmastac: shows [Ad Qh] (high card Ace)

I busted on the next hand with AT


And now my personal favorite

Table 59390697 1 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: hok_DK (2040 in chips)
Seat 2: hawk kan (1122 in chips)
Seat 3: Grubasek88 (2115 in chips)
Seat 4: Jake290 (2055 in chips)
Seat 5: SuitedHooks1 (945 in chips)
Seat 6: flAKQJTush (1245 in chips)
Seat 7: BiNxBiN (945 in chips)
Seat 8: crushmastac (1555 in chips)
Seat 9: Wadestr (1478 in chips)
hawk kan: posts small blind 15
Grubasek88: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [8s 8d]
Jake290: folds
SuitedHooks1: calls 30
flAKQJTush: folds
BiNxBiN: raises 90 to 120
crushmastac: raises 280 to 400
I've taken a Hoyazo approach to pocket pairs lately.
Wadestr: folds
hok_DK: folds
hawk kan: folds
Grubasek88: folds
SuitedHooks1: folds
BiNxBiN: calls 280
He was short enough I sort of expected him to 4bet all in, which I would have snap called ofc. He's less than stellar, and not afraid to show it.
*** FLOP *** [Jc 9h Jh]
Me likey.
BiNxBiN: bets 545 and is all-in
crushmastac: calls 545
*** TURN *** [Jc 9h Jh] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 9h Jh 6c] [9s]
Uh oh ... Ugh, at least I'm not QUITE playing the board :(
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BiNxBiN: shows [As Qd] (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
crushmastac: shows [8s 8d] (two pair, Jacks and Nines - lower kicker)
BiNxBiN collected 1965 from pot


So far I've lost with AQ, AK, KQ, and my pocket pairs. I've been winning with 89, 34 (lol), and 53. So I'm now going to play my 5-high and fold my "big" hands.

Probably more to come.

The 700$ Jynx : UGH!

Ending Bankroll: $570 [ Down 101$ ]

Man. Throughout my poker "career", whenever I hit a rough patch, it's always of epic proportions. I didn't write after yesterday's implosion (lost ~40$) because of how spitting mad I was (Got 3-outted on the river twice, once on what would have been the last hand of a tournament for 1st place, and went on to lose all 3 of the next hands as favorites, and lost the 4th as a dog and couldn't repay the suckouts.

So today I didn't get sucked out on. I got cold decked or generally outflopped. Players were flopping sets on me when I flopped top pair or top two. When I got QQ and 3bet to 4$ (behind a 1$ raise) and ended up 3 handed, Aces and Kings were falling.

The only hand I'm proud of in todays session (were I decided it'd be fun to very quickly drop 2 buyins) was this hand...


PokerStars Game #11688387793: Holdem No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/08/25 - 17:31:41 (ET)
Table Lomia II 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: nicolasb ($7.10 in chips)
Seat 2: jpb1478 ($11.65 in chips)
Seat 3: crushmastac ($24.90 in chips)
Seat 4: mariole75 ($23.45 in chips)
Seat 5: iskanderm ($34.10 in chips)
Seat 6: T.Daniel.J ($6.20 in chips)
T.Daniel.J: posts small blind $0.10
nicolasb: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [8d 8c]
jpb1478: folds
crushmastac: raises $0.75 to $1
mariole75: folds
iskanderm: raises $2.25 to $3.25
Looks like a big pair or a big ace. I'll take a shot.
T.Daniel.J: folds
nicolasb: folds
crushmastac: calls $2.25
*** FLOP *** [As Tc 6c]
This is either a great flop for me or a brutal one.
crushmastac: checks
iskanderm: bets $3
Wow, that's a weak bet into a 7.5$ pot. He's scared. Must be JJ-KK.
crushmastac: raises $7 to $10
iskanderm: folds
He went on life tilt after this hand and started open jamming with AJ and KQ etc. I never found a hand to take advantage of it unfortunately before he busted.
crushmastac collected $12.25 from pot


I'm too annoyed to go over the hands I got decked on right now. Maybe later.

2nd time I've gotten up to 670$ only to see myself suffer a massive relapse. It's muy frustrating.

A big night: Bankroll peaks

Ending Bankroll: $671 [ Up 99$ ]

Yeeehaw. Today was fun. Started playing some cash, have now played almost 3000 hands of 25NL, over which I'm up 6 buy-ins and have a +11BB/100h. No doubt I'm on the high side of variance right now, but hey, I'll enjoy it while I can. The NL today got me about 60$ of the profit. There were two big hands, the remaining 10$ was small pots here and there.


Table Gabriella II 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: crushmastac ($36.80 in chips)
Seat 2: Max_2100 ($25 in chips)
Seat 3: FullTiltDJ ($14.70 in chips)
Seat 4: minet@minet ($11.45 in chips)
Seat 5: ICUTEX ($13.15 in chips)
Seat 6: chrisT18 ($25 in chips)
chrisT18: posts small blind $0.10
crushmastac: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [8d Ad]
chrisT18: calls $0.15
crushmastac: checks
*** FLOP *** [Th Jh 7d]
Meh
chrisT18: bets $0.50
This guy had been betting a lot with air, so I was curious to see a turn with my gutshot + over.
crushmastac: calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [Th Jh 7d] [3d]
chrisT18: bets $1
crushmastac: calls $1
I know this is a bad call. But with the NFD + gutty, I couldn't help myself.
*** RIVER *** [Th Jh 7d 3d] [9d]
Ohhh... Now hope he's got something big
chrisT18: bets $2.25
crushmastac: raises $10.25 to $12.50
He's probably going to put me on bluffing a missed heart draw
chrisT18: raises $10.25 to $22.75
He should have called, but I'll take it ...
crushmastac: raises $10.25 to $33
chrisT18: calls $0.50 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
crushmastac: shows [8d Ad] (a flush, Ace high)
chrisT18: shows [Td Jd] (a flush, Jack high)
Turns out he was trying to bet low to get chips with his huge flopped top two, and I caught two rediculous runners to smash flush over flush.
crushmastac collected $47.55 from pot


And then there's this one, which was a surprisingly difficult decision because of how I played it. Of course, if you read the CP forums, you already know how this goes...


Table Florentina II 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: jerry23847 ($5.45 in chips)
Seat 2: jaguar1230_9 ($25 in chips)
Seat 3: DaNevadaKid ($38.65 in chips)
Seat 4: crushmastac ($24.75 in chips)
Seat 5: heyitsgeoff ($24.95 in chips)
Seat 6: kdm0505 ($31.15 in chips)
crushmastac: posts small blind $0.10
heyitsgeoff: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [7h 7d]
jerry23847: raises $0.25 to $0.50
crushmastac: calls $0.40
Shoulda repopped it...
heyitsgeoff: calls $0.25
*** FLOP *** [9h 6s 7s]
Bit of a scarey flop... But the 7 is always nice to see
crushmastac: checks
heyitsgeoff: checks
jerry23847: bets $4.95 and is all-in
crushmastac: calls $4.95
Didnt think that geoff would be interested in this pot
heyitsgeoff: raises $19.50 to $24.45 and is all-in
But he certainly is...
crushmastac said, ":("
crushmastac: calls $19.30 and is all-in
I figure I've got redraws if he's got 8T or a huge FD, and pray he doesnt have 99.
*** TURN *** [9h 6s 7s] [6d]
Nice...My hand must be good now...?
*** RIVER *** [9h 6s 7s 6d] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
crushmastac: shows [7h 7d] (a full house, Sevens full of Sixes)
heyitsgeoff: mucks hand
crushmastac collected $36.70 from side pot
jerry23847: mucks hand
crushmastac collected $15.55 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Seat 1: jerry23847 mucked [9s Ac]
Seat 4: crushmastac (small blind) showed [7h 7d] and won ($52.25) with a full house, Sevens full of Sixes
Seat 5: heyitsgeoff (big blind) mucked [8h Th]
So he did have the nuts .. waddaya do. Oh, and jerry just didn't like money.


The rest was a lot of up and down, but worked out nice.

Then later in the day I played some 5$ STT Sng's. Signed up for a quick 3. The first one was the slowest, the 3rd was the fastest. It only took 80 hands to win the 3rd one. I got heads up with the chiplead fairly quickly and my opponent (who had to suck out numerous times to get there) was out quickly. The 2nd SNG finished 2nd, after 97 hands. I was out in 3rd after I lost a race with a tilting player 88 < A9, the very next hand he raised OTB with QT and I repopped all in from the BB with KQ. I was suited in clubs, he in spades. The board ran off 3 spades and I was done. Boo.

The 1st took 142 hands to finish, and I'm the happiest about taking down. I won this one by steamrolling the table when we hit the bubble. When the bubble hit, I was 3rd stack with ~2300. Stacks were 4000,3000,2300,2000...roughly. I saw people tightening up so I opened up like a monster. 20 hands later I was sitting on 6500, the next closest stack was 2800. It got a little closer when one player played back at me at a couple good times to get almost even. Then he took out the #3 stack to take the chip lead and I took out the #4 stack to get to a HU battle, him with ~7500, me with ~6300. He had demonstrated across the two tables I'd watched him at (he was in the 3rd one that I placed 1st) that he was a very solid player. He was too tight and I took advantage of it when I could. When I got him down to 7500 - 6000 or so, he started getting pushy. I made one big re-steal that got it to 9500 - 3500, and then he open shoved OTB with K3 and I hummed and hawed and finally called with A2 and held to take it down.

So up 60$ in cash, two first places and one third for 3 / 3 cashes in 5$ STT's.

All in a day's work .. haha

Blehhh .. so much time for so little (MTT brief rant)

Ending Bankroll: 572$ [ Down 27$ ]

I tell ya, nothing sucks more than playing a low buyin MTT with 1600 people, running solid to the final 100, then running into a lot of tough spots and minor beats and finally going out in 53rd for a whopping 4$ profit. (It was a 2$ buy-in, yes, I know .. I'm poor okay).

The play was so bad for the most part until the final bits, then the play was horrible until I wanted a piece of the hand. The only reason I survived as long as I did was because AA kept showing up every time I tried to go on tilt and I'd win a huge pot. I had the tourny chip lead for a good 20 minutes around the start of the 3rd hour. And I tried to play it aggressively, and sometimes it worked, but a lot of the time I found people were playing back at me, and making really good plays / reads at me. It's frustrating when that happens when you know 95% of the field is donktastic.

I finally met the end when I raised with KQ from the SB and the BB flat called. Flop came KJx and I lead, the BB jammed, and I called (doy?). He, of course, had made the masterful slowplay of AK. GG me.

Right now I need to go to bed and stop thinking about how frustrating this was ... Might come back with some HH's on my next post. There were a few that warrant some debate.

Later days...

Back from Vacation, and back in Black

Ending Bankroll: 599$ [ Up 55$ ]

Well just finished playing about 2 hours of 25NL 6-max. Only had two tables that didnt break. One of them I didn't play a single big pot, but just kept winning small pot after small pot and worked up 35$ profit. The other table was mostly uneventful except for this hand, which is also a good example of why it's a good idea to constantly be reloading your stack.


PokerStars Game #11576860525: Holdem No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/08/19 - 16:14:34 (ET)
Table Galatea III 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Kadrin ($11.15 in chips)
Seat 2: crushmastac ($25 in chips)
Seat 3: Jenson1981 ($26.80 in chips)
Seat 4: DD Ranch ($15.75 in chips)
Seat 5: LOVINDUKE ($12.95 in chips)
Seat 6: TTtheC ($26.05 in chips)
crushmastac: posts small blind $0.10
Jenson1981: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [Qh Ad]
First hand in a while, I hate that I'm out of position
DD Ranch: folds
LOVINDUKE: calls $0.25
TTtheC: folds
Kadrin: calls $0.25
crushmastac: raises $1.25 to $1.50
Ok, I want to take this right here.
Jenson1981: raises $1.50 to $3
Hmm, he doesn't want to let me. I have no read on this player unfortunately. He just moved to the table and this is his 2nd hand. I decide to make a loose-ish call.
LOVINDUKE: folds
Kadrin: folds
crushmastac: calls $1.50
*** FLOP *** [Jd 8d Td]
Sweet. 4 shots at broadway, two overs, AND the NFD. HUGE flop for me.
crushmastac: checks
With the intention of check-raising
Jenson1981: bets $2.75
crushmastac: raises $9.25 to $12
Put him to the test .. please jam please jam please jam
Jenson1981: raises $11.80 to $23.80 and is all-in
Woohoo! Snap call. I figure his range is TT+, AJs+, maybe KdQd? Against that range, I don't have an exact number, but I figure I must be a favorite, or in the very least close to even money.
crushmastac: calls $10 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Jd 8d Td] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 8d Td 7h] [Kd]
Haha, both my sets of outs collide and I get my joker.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
crushmastac: shows [Qh Ad] (a flush, Ace high)
Jenson1981: mucks hand
crushmastac collected $48 from pot
First big drag in a while. Felt good.
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $50.50 Rake $2.50
Board [Jd 8d Td 7h Kd]
Seat 1: Kadrin (button) folded before Flop
Seat 2: crushmastac (small blind) showed [Qh Ad] and won ($48) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 3: Jenson1981 (big blind) mucked [Js Jh]
Dang! Turns out he was actually ahead almost 6 to 4, so I got a bit lucky.

I'll take it.

Nothing else interesting to report. Wanted to crack 600, but my big table broke and I'm starving... So, lunch time.

I run goooooot

Ending Bankroll: 544$ [ Down 83$ ]

Easy come, easy go right?

Wow.

6-handed 25NL just welcomed me with a dull thud.

And it wasn't (mostly) for a lack of bad play... I lost 10$ being an idiot and getting aggressive with a half-stack that had AA, then I played a set of Q's into a set of A's (AQx flop), then I tried to stack-a-donk with QQ, but he outran me with KT. Then I ran TT into AcQc with a flop of 3 rags, 2 clubs. QQ lost 3 times. AQs lost twice. KK folded around. It wasn't for a lack of cards, or a lack of playing. Ever card I touched just turned to ice and stabbed me right in the eye.

So I very, very quickly dropped almost a hunny, which is ghastly for a lowly college student such as myself. I kept thinking "Am I on tilt? ...No. I'm playing fine...I'm just getting set up over and over..." and that if I kept playing solid I'd be able to take my stacks back from a lot of the loose donks that were at my tables.

My reads were good, everything was swell. I just ran good into better, and huge into monster.

Whaddaya do, right??

Guess I picked a good time to go on holiday. A seven day break from cards will be nice.

Back to earth

Ending Bankroll: 627$ [ Down 43$ ]

So the hot streak came to an end pretty quick. Tried another 25 NL session late last night and went totally dry 3-tabling for an hour. Got hurt overplaying AT again twice (thought I learned my lesson with that hand...ugh). Other than that, no hands to speak of. No sets, no big pairs, and the pairs that I did find were brutally outflopped.

Tried short MTT's tonight for a change without any success. Busted quickly in the first when the 4 handed table (triple shootout, thin attendance) dealt me a whole lot of nothing over the first 5 orbits, and the blinds climbed fast enough that by the 4th orbit I was getting caught making moves and busted out when my A4 push woke up AT. Oops.

Next!

2nd go was a double shootout. I'm pretty sure I can beat these if I get more familiar with them. I just seem to try to move too fast for the first table... In a brief intermission, today is one of those days where I can't seem to flop to a bloody thing. The only time I won hands was when I was in the BB and flopped something and caught my opponents trying to steal. When I got hands like AQ/KK, I got them OOP, with limited action. KK folded around. AQ got a brutal Jragrag flop all soooooted (neither of my cards matched) and I had to check/fold...(fucker overbet all in

Hands like this describe my evening pretty well.


Table 57348630 6 10-max Seat #10 is the button
Seat 4: FL0P TIME (665 in chips)
Seat 7: crushmastac (2005 in chips)
Seat 9: Huasmack (2360 in chips)
Seat 10: fong9999 (3970 in chips)
FL0P TIME: posts small blind 15
crushmastac: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [Ac Js]
By far in a way my biggest hand of the tourney. As soon as I get them I eyeball the SB. He's been making a lot of moves due to his short-stackedness and I think he might try something on me here with nothing
Huasmack: folds
fong9999: folds
FL0P TIME: calls 15
crushmastac: raises 120 to 150
Make the raise a little larger than I normally would
FL0P TIME: raises 515 to 665 and is all-in
Bingo. The trap is sprung. Snap call.
crushmastac: calls 515
*** FLOP *** [2c 8c As]
*** TURN *** [2c 8c As] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [2c 8c As 4s] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FL0P TIME: shows [5c 4c] (a flush, Eight high)
crushmastac: shows [Ac Js] (a pair of Aces)
FL0P TIME collected 1330 from pot
crushmastac said, "nh.."


Isn't it true that of suited hands, you'll only find a flush 15% of the time or something like that? It amazes me how often people find a 4-flush on me when we get in preflop, and then make it on the turn or river. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I truly hate the flush. It is not my friend.

I didnt get any cards after that and busted 4 orbits of card deadness later.

Last try, STT 9 handed. Playing solid. Chipping up very, very slowly by making simple plays with rags when my opponents limped and got pushy postflop with their missed AJ/KQ/etc and my middle pair was good, etc. At around ~1600 in chips and with the blinds only 25/50 I raised to 200 from the button with KT. We're 6-handed at this point and my image is pretty tight so far so I think I might either just take the blinds or play my position postflop. Instead, the BB jams for 1400 and I tank for a bit. He's shown a lot of prf aggression and hasn't played many pots. It looks like a classic re-steal. I figure I'm doing pretty good against his range and make the call and he finds JJ. No miracle and I'm shortstacked. Busto 3 hands later when the blinds jumped to 50/100 and I was in ATC mode and AT > Ax.

So I've taken enough punishment for a day and a half. I'll regroup and try again some time...

I'm on vacation as of Saturday, and won't be back till the following Saturday. Unlikely any poker will be played that weak *sheds a tear*

Do no wrong

Ending Bankroll: 670$ [ Up 72$ ]

I work on trust hours and both my 'bosses' are away this week, and it was rainy outside, so I decided that I'd get a few hands of 25 NL to wait out the rain (I walk to work).

So I sat down and prompty began getting dealt QQ, KK, AA, and then TT that set on QQ, 88 that set on KK, and so on and so forth. I know it will only be a matter of time before I have to start grinding out a lot harder to win this much this fast, but it's nice to spike up 3 buy-in's in just under an hour.

3 times I flopped top set and dragged a nice pot.

PokerStars Game #11375734911: Holdem No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/08/08 - 10:59:16 (ET)
Table Eriphyla II 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: FiddyCent187 ($22.30 in chips)
Seat 2: crushmastac ($29.30 in chips)
Seat 3: Jupek ($9.15 in chips)
Seat 4: Mansch111 ($16.40 in chips)
Seat 5: JTdollar$ ($14 in chips)
Seat 6: geico79 ($5.30 in chips)
Seat 7: lmcjaho ($61.60 in chips)
Seat 8: yoboro ($11.90 in chips)
Seat 9: gillb06 ($24.50 in chips)
JTdollar$: posts small blind $0.10
geico79: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [Ts Tc]
lmcjaho: folds
yoboro: calls $0.25
gillb06: folds
FiddyCent187: calls $0.25
crushmastac: raises $1.25 to $1.50
Jupek: folds
Mansch111: folds
Jupek leaves the table
JTdollar$: calls $1.40
geico79: folds
yoboro: folds
FiddyCent187: folds
*** FLOP *** [4s Td 3c]
Boooooom!
Lexboe joins the table at seat #3
JTdollar$: bets $2.50
crushmastac: calls $2.50
*** TURN *** [4s Td 3c] [6s]
JTdollar$: bets $6
crushmastac: raises $6 to $12
Lets get one thing clear here. I hate min-raisers. I despise it, loathe it, etc. But it was the quickest way to get him all in and I was lazy.
JTdollar$: calls $4 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [4s Td 3c 6s] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JTdollar$: shows [Qc Qh] (a pair of Queens)
crushmastac: shows [Ts Tc] (three of a kind, Tens)
crushmastac collected $27.35 from pot
Sorry chummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm-P. I dont understand how these people weren't raising preflop. Although it woulda had to have been a hella raise to get me off the pot.


PokerStars Game #11376068818: Holdem No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/08/08 - 11:29:21 (ET)
Table Eriphyla II 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: FiddyCent187 ($25 in chips)
Seat 2: crushmastac ($57.05 in chips)
Seat 3: Lexboe ($15.30 in chips)
Seat 4: eqyinoon ($53.30 in chips)
Seat 5: bmarley2005 ($30.10 in chips)
Seat 6: geico79 ($6.35 in chips)
Seat 7: lmcjaho ($35.15 in chips)
Seat 8: JustinBlue9 ($13.65 in chips)
Seat 9: gillb06 ($28.35 in chips)
Lexboe: posts small blind $0.10
eqyinoon: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [Qh Qs]
bmarley2005: calls $0.25
geico79: folds
lmcjaho: calls $0.25
JustinBlue9 has timed out
JustinBlue9: folds
JustinBlue9 is sitting out
gillb06: folds
FiddyCent187: folds
JustinBlue9 said, ".75"
crushmastac: raises $1.25 to $1.50
JustinBlue9 has returned
Lexboe: folds
eqyinoon: folds
bmarley2005: calls $1.25
lmcjaho: calls $1.25
*** FLOP *** [5c 2c Qd]
Booooooooooooooooooom
bmarley2005: checks
lmcjaho: checks
crushmastac: bets $1.50
I'm trying to induce a raise by making my bet look weak...
bmarley2005: folds
lmcjaho: calls $1.50
*** TURN *** [5c 2c Qd] [Jd]
lmcjaho: checks
crushmastac: bets $3
Two FD's...better up the ante.
lmcjaho: calls $3
*** RIVER *** [5c 2c Qd Jd] [Kd]
lmcjaho: checks
crushmastac: bets $8
lmcjaho: folds
Awww, I wanted you to have AK...
crushmastac collected $13.20 from pot



PokerStars Game #11376001702: Holdem No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/08/08 - 11:23:20 (ET)
Table Eriphyla II 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: FiddyCent187 ($18.45 in chips)
Seat 2: crushmastac ($45.15 in chips)
Seat 3: Lexboe ($19.30 in chips)
Seat 4: eqyinoon ($48.85 in chips)
Seat 5: bmarley2005 ($29.50 in chips)
Seat 6: geico79 ($13.85 in chips)
Seat 7: lmcjaho ($35.05 in chips)
Seat 8: JustinBlue9 ($12.60 in chips)
bmarley2005: posts small blind $0.10
geico79: posts big blind $0.25
gillb06: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [8h 8d]
lmcjaho said, "nice catch"
lmcjaho: calls $0.25
JustinBlue9: raises $1 to $1.25
FiddyCent187: folds
crushmastac: calls $1.25
Juuuust enough in his stack for me to go set mining...IMO. Some people might disagree with that...
Lexboe: folds
eqyinoon: folds
bmarley2005: folds
geico79: folds
lmcjaho: calls $1
*** FLOP *** [3h 6d 8s]
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM... lol
lmcjaho: checks
JustinBlue9: bets $1.50
crushmastac: raises $3 to $4.50
lmcjaho: folds
JustinBlue9: raises $6.85 to $11.35 and is all-in
*drool*
crushmastac: calls $6.85
*** TURN *** [3h 6d 8s] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [3h 6d 8s 4h] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JustinBlue9: shows [Kd Kc] (a pair of Kings)
crushmastac: shows [8h 8d] (three of a kind, Eights)
crushmastac collected $25.50 from pot


It's also nice to be getting my chips in ahead, and staying ahead. My first few weeks of cash NL were riddled with rediculous suckouts, so this feels good. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

I love being able to go through old sessions and review them. Especially in tournaments, but looking at statistics in NL cash has helped too. Some friendly statistics...

In 1200 hand sample...

Top profiting hands
Dealt JJ eleven times, Wins 90.91%, Profit +$48.25
Dealt 77 one time, Wins 100%, Profit +$31.45
Dealt TT seven times, Wins 71.43%, Profit +$27.05
Dealt 99 three times, Wins 100%, Profit +$21.8
88 four times, 50%,+$21.1
55 six times, 33.33%, +$18.45
And waaay down in 7th spot,
AA six times, 83.33%, +$16.45

So flopping sets with middle/small pairs has been tremendously profitable.

On the other side of the spectrum,

Top losing hands
Dealt Q8s six times, Wins 0%, Profit -$10.35
AT ten times, 30%, -$9.6
Q6 twelve times, 0%, -$8.0

Further down the list...

AK fourteen times, 57.14%, -$3.65 (That surprises me a little)
QQ nine times, 77.78%, -$3.65 (This number was much worse before it won for me twice today)

The last two are a bit odd, but the top 3-10 on the list have helped me plug a few holes in my game, although I don't know how the hell I've managed to play Q8s enough to lose 10$ to it. Haha... Hands like that and JTs, 9Ts, etc, all of them have left my playing portfolio unless I have position and reads, and even then I play them softer than I did.

That's all for now..

Right now, the rain has let up, so hi-ho, hi-ho...

BOOOOOOOM. Finally take one down.

Ending bankroll: 598$ [ Up $217 ]

Well I accomplished one of my August goals today. After the longest dead streak of MTT's in recent memory, I woke up with monsters all over the place in the middle stages, went card dead to the final 30, and then picked great spots and found perfect cards to take down the 215$ first place prize for the 2nd time. First time in several months.

The final table was rediculous. I've never seen so many LAGs. As the FT wore on (it dragged on for almost an hour and a half), everyone was getting very tired of the pushy chip leader who was actually starting to pick up a string of hands. This guy was calling everything and anything. He jammed with 42 on a A52 board, raised with hands like T4, 56, etc, and would call bets even if he was drawing to bottom pair. It totally baffled me that he got to the final table playing this way.

Here's a few FT highlights.


PokerStars Game #11354982896: Tournament #57602716, $4.00+$0.40 Holdem No Limit - Level XIV (1000/2000) - 2007/08/07 - 04:56:40 (ET)
Table 57602716 6 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 4: crushmastac (75848 in chips)
Seat 6: sheavens (99903 in chips)
Seat 9: cincykid420 (94249 in chips)
crushmastac: posts the ante 200
sheavens: posts the ante 200
cincykid420: posts the ante 200
cincykid420: posts small blind 1000
crushmastac: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [Jh Ad]
cincykid420 said, "gl all"
sheavens: calls 2000
cincykid420: calls 1000
crushmastac: raises 8000 to 10000
Since he'll call anything, might as well make it a big one.
sheavens: calls 8000
cincykid420: calls 8000
*** FLOP *** [Td Jd 7h]
cincykid420: bets 2000
crushmastac: raises 16000 to 18000
A lot of the time he would have folded to a play like this, but I guess he wasn't buying
sheavens: folds
cincykid420: calls 16000
*** TURN *** [Td Jd 7h] [3d]
cincykid420: checks
crushmastac: bets 25000
cincykid420: calls 25000
Wow. He must have SOMETHING??
*** RIVER *** [Td Jd 7h 3d] [3s]
cincykid420: checks
crushmastac: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
cincykid420: shows [9d Tc] (two pair, Tens and Threes)
crushmastac: shows [Jh Ad] (two pair, Jacks and Threes)
crushmastac collected 116600 from pot
crushmastac said, "ty sir"
cincykid420 said, "nh"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 116600 Rake 0
Maybe not... This was pretty standard play from him, but for a 100K+ pot? Even I was a little taken aback after watching him do this for 100 hands.


Only a couple hands later....

PokerStars Game #11354990527: Tournament #57602716, $4.00+$0.40 Holdem No Limit - Level XIV (1000/2000) - 2007/08/07 - 04:57:59 (ET)
Table 57602716 6 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 4: crushmastac (137848 in chips)
Seat 6: sheavens (89903 in chips)
Seat 9: cincykid420 (42249 in chips)
crushmastac: posts the ante 200
sheavens: posts the ante 200
cincykid420: posts the ante 200
cincykid420: posts small blind 1000
crushmastac: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [2s Ac]
sheavens: folds
cincykid420: raises 2000 to 4000
crushmastac: raises 8000 to 12000
cincykid420: calls 8000
*** FLOP *** [2d 6d Td]
cincykid420: bets 10000
crushmastac: calls 10000
Against him, bottom pair is almost certainly good.
*** TURN *** [2d 6d Td] [Ah]
cincykid420: bets 10000
crushmastac: raises 105648 to 115648 and is all-in
There's no way he's folding his last 10K and if he's got the flush, good for him.
cincykid420: calls 10049 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [2d 6d Td Ah] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
cincykid420: shows [Jc Th] (two pair, Tens and Sixes)
crushmastac: shows [2s Ac] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
crushmastac said, "gg"
crushmastac collected 84698 from pot


I told him when we were 7 handed I couldn't believe he made it to the final table. He proceded to start trashing me etc... This was a particularly satisfying K.O.

And the hand that won it is broken in PokerOffice, but I was dealt Q8 and made my standard raise (First time I've been heads up with the chip lead in a while, so it was fun to push him around.) He calls, and the flop is a beautiful QQ2. I check/call his bet of 4000. Turn is a 2. I check raise this time, from 4000 to 16000. He quickly calls and I raise my eyebrow. The river is a blank 5, and I do a little hollywood and then put him all in, hoping it looks like a bluff. Sure enough, he calls off 62,000 chips with ace high, and I take the title.

Hells. Ya.

I still suck at MTT's

The jynx hasn't let up. Thank god I'm finally profitable in cash. Playing a few PStars MTT's and so far AK had missed 3 times and calling stations have bet at me, so duh, fold. All my AJ's, AQ's, KQ's are getting 3 or 4 bet by the next best hand. Pocket pairs can't hold against 1 overcard.

Also, props to me for being the honorary bubble boy at the CardPlayer weekly. Managed to build up the chiplead twice, only to squander it by overplaying my dreadful lack of cards.

My play is slipping a little in MTT's... I can feel it. Every time I think I've gotten over being steamed by bad beats, I go on a streak a little longer than the last one I got over all those weeks ago and everything's hitting the fan.

So I'm conciously going to try to keep my body temperature down, grind out a few solid games, stop playing position early. Save positional play for later in the blind levels and stop trying to fool donks who call with K3 to a 5x BB raise. Etc...

Wow, as I write this is happened again. JQs, late position. I bring it in for 120 (4 BB's) .. first hand I've played in 2 orbits. Anyone paying ANY attention knows I'm a tightwad. Flop comes 8 high with none of my suite and the calling station in the BB leads for the pot... *deep breath*

Trying to keep it together.

Not doing very well at this particular moment in time.

I suck at keeping promises

Ending Bankroll: 381$ [ Up 54$ ]

So I broke my word. I went back on cash games because I was feeling really good and only had a couple hours. Got some really nice flops and won some huge pots. Also helped that some players were making brutal plays against me. I had a pretty loose image and I think that helped my big hands get action.



PokerStars Game #11248728078: Holdem No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/08/01 - 03:05:08 (ET)
Table Cybele II 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: Harm23 ($11.15 in chips)
Seat 2: crushmastac ($44.60 in chips)
Seat 3: judda33 ($20.85 in chips)
Seat 5: 1Lecter11 ($4.35 in chips)
Seat 6: nightdraw45 ($13.20 in chips)
Seat 7: Slipp1 ($23.90 in chips)
Seat 8: roland1952 ($25.55 in chips)
Seat 9: boozeorlose ($19.25 in chips)
Harm23: posts small blind $0.10
crushmastac: posts big blind $0.25
Im Road Dog: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crushmastac [7h 7c]
judda33: calls $0.25
1Lecter11: folds
nightdraw45: raises $0.25 to $0.50
Slipp1: folds
roland1952: folds
boozeorlose: folds
Harm23: folds
crushmastac: calls $0.25
I still don't like playing mid-small pairs hard preflop, unless I know it will isolate me against a wreckless player.
judda33: calls $0.25
*** FLOP *** [Jd 7s 6h]
2nd flopped set.
crushmastac: checks
Pretty harmless flop, so sloooooooooooowplay
judda33: checks
nightdraw45: bets $1
crushmastac: calls $1
Originally I planned to make my move on the turn
judda33: raises $19.35 to $20.35 and is all-in
But this made life easy. He's seen 60% of the flops, there's no way I'm giving him JJ
nightdraw45: calls $11.70 and is all-in
Oh baby. *drool*
crushmastac: calls $19.35
*** TURN *** [Jd 7s 6h] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 7s 6h Jc] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
crushmastac: shows [7h 7c] (a full house, Sevens full of Jacks)
judda33: shows [Jh Ac] (three of a kind, Jacks)
crushmastac collected $14.55 from side pot
nightdraw45: mucks hand
crushmastac collected $37.75 from main pot

Ship it!!


I've actually lost a bunch of MTT's lately again, so I was down around 308$ before this session. Picked up 3 buyins in a hurry. It helped that I was running really well, and I was able to lay down some big hands that got had mediocre hands catch up.

Maybe some more cash to come. I still think I prefer MTT's...