Checkin' My AA

Steaks?

2010-11-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I'm posting this in hopes that someone out there still follows this blog, and that that someone has some spare dinero they'd be willing to put up as a stake. I would prefer the stake come from one person as opposed to having it pooled between 6 people as was the case the last time I was staked, but will make the concession if necessary.

Here's what I'm looking for:

2000$ stake for 100NL on FullTilt. I would consider playing on PokerStars, but the staker would have to convince me the incentive programs PokerStars provides would be equivalent (or better??) than the rakeback I receive on FullTilt.

The terms (general outline):

Stake is for 100NL (mostly) and appropriately bankrolled tournaments (occassionally)
I will drop down at 15BI if necessary
I won't move up or buy into a tournament with entry constituting more than 1% of the funds available without consulting the staker beforehand
I will not play any turbo games or rebuy tournaments
I will keep full record of my progress and make it available to my staker at any time
If the stake is terminated early and I have made a loss, the remaining funds will be returned to the staker
If the stake is terminated early and I have made a profit, 100% of the original stake will be repaid, plus 50% of the profits made
Stake is repaid once my roll has reached 6000$, the staker receives 4000$ and I keep 2000$ UNLESS myself and the staker are both confident with me taking a shot at the next level. If this is the case, then I would continue playing to a maximum of 10,000$ at which point the staker would receive 6000$ and I would retain 4000$.

Any additional terms can be discussed.

If this interests you, or may interest someone you know, please let me know. You can post a comment here or send me an email at: k dot e dot crouser at gmail dot com.

Cheers,
Ken

October done, and it's time for another break

2009-11-01T10:02:00.001-08:00

So I skipped my first class last week. My grinding over the weekend was strictly and solely responsible. So I've (reluctantly) made the smart choice and pulled everything. Not sure what I'm going to do with the money yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something!

October saw me play 13,400 hands at 8.35ptbb/100 overall, but the real BOOM is:

7,260 hands of 100NL at 12.10 ptbb. Which means lifetime at 100NL over 51,952 hands I'm running at 7.97 ptbb.

Here's the month:

And here's the lifetime 100NL garph for extra +bragEV.

Might (probably) busto-robusto my next rakeback transfer of ~126$, so stay tuned for that.

Otherwise, see you next year!

I like October

2009-10-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's nice that I've had more time to play this month than I thought I would. And by that, I mean I really haven't had time to play, I've just been playing anyways and sacrificing sleep mostly.

Some of the highlights of the month: (Games are still soooo good)

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 341771
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $37.00
CO: $223.50
BTN: $356.05
Hero (SB): $135.50
BB: $127.40

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with Q K
2 folds, BTN calls $1, Hero raises to $6, 1 fold, BTN calls $5

Flop: ($13.00) K 5 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $11, BTN calls $11

Turn: ($35.00) T (2 players)
Hero bets $28, BTN calls $28

River: ($91.00) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $90.50 all in, BTN calls $90.50

Final Pot: $272.00
BTN mucks 7 K
Hero shows Q K (two pair, Kings and Queens)
Hero wins $269.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 340319
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: $101.00
CO: $103.95
Hero (BTN): $131.60
SB: $129.25
BB: $35.30
UTG: $33.25

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with A 6
3 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, SB calls $3, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($10.50) 5 5 K (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $8, SB calls $8, BB folds

Turn: ($26.50) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $22, Hero raises to $120.10 all in, SB calls $95.75 all in

River: ($262.00) A (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $262.00
Hero shows A 6 (a flush, Ace high)
SB shows J T (a flush, King high)
Hero wins $259.00
(Rake: $3.00)

I actually snapped the river in this one. His line makes no sense and he almost never has a 3 here.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 344112
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $118.80
BTN: $478.30
Hero (SB): $100.00
BB: $101.50
UTG: $263.35

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with 5 5
3 folds, Hero raises to $4, BB calls $3

Flop: ($8.00) A 2 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $5, BB calls $5

Turn: ($18.00) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $12, BB calls $12

River: ($42.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $21, BB raises to $80.50 all in, Hero calls $58 all in

Final Pot: $200.00
Hero shows 5 5 (three of a kind, Fives)
BB shows K Q (a pair of Queens)
Hero wins $197.00
(Rake: $3.00)

I love this game.

I'm alive

2009-10-26T01:46:00.000-07:00

School and my ladyfriend are dominating most of my time, but I've had the odd time to play a session here and there.

- 50NL HU starts off, goes great at first, then I break even / lose a bit
- Try a brief 50NL 6-max session, go on a +4 buyin heater
- Rolled for a shot at 100NL, so I tried it. Was meh at first, but finished on a heater tonight. It's good to be home

A part of me wants to pull my roll and enjoy the 2k, but another part of me wants to keep grinding in my very, very sparse spare time. We'll see...

Here's the month

50NL HU? Fun hand

2009-10-07T23:37:00.001-07:00

So the two sessions or so I seem to get each month now are devoted to trying to get a handle on NL HU, starting with 50NL. So far it's been mostly good (up ~8 buyins).

There's (obviously) a story with this hand, but I thought it was pretty fun. Snap 250bb preflop with A4s? I think so.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players - View hand 317742
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $133.25
BTN/SB: $127.25

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with 4 A
BTN/SB raises to $127.25 all in, Hero calls $126.75

Flop: ($254.50) 9 3 T

Turn: ($254.50) 6

River: ($254.50) K

Final Pot: $254.50
Hero shows 4 A (Ace King high)
BTN/SB shows 8 Q (King Queen high)
Hero wins $254.00
(Rake: $0.50)

Stake Repaid - Time for school

2009-09-01T00:58:00.000-07:00

So I settled the stake tonight. With school coming up, a new (amazing) girlfriend, lots of work, going to Vegas... It all adds up to me not playing much poker. Rather, no poker. So I contacted my stakers, and everything is repaid.

After a 50/50 split of the profits I'm left with just under 950$ to play with. I'm tempted to withdraw it right away, but I might keep it there until school has kicked into high gear, at which point I won't be playing poker again until after I graduate.

Thanks a ton to all my stakers, I'm glad I could provide a decent (42% or so) interest on your investment. See you on the felt! ...Eventually.

Long day...

2009-08-13T20:33:00.001-07:00

Did a lot of grinding today. First time in a while. One of the reasons for my extended absence (and there were many) was the repeated celebrations revolving around me turning 26.

I didn't play great. Probably cuz I was playing too many tables trying to clear my 200$ bonus as fast as possible.

Here's the graph. Hands possibly to follow.

60$ of bonus cleared, roll sits at $3,850 and change.

Quick lil session

2009-07-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

400 hands, +220$

Month now looks like this (for cash):

Might break 10k hands this month.. We'll see. Today's hands were pretty standard. No fantastic HH to show. Most "interesting" hand was me 3betting an OTB open with JJ in the small blind, the BB cold-4bet shipped for his whole stack .. I took a few seconds to think about it - his 3bet% was high, he'd been very active, I'd already caught him squeezing once, so he couldn't be THAT strong. I called and out-raced his AKo.

Roll at $3,672.06. Almost half way!

Final tabled a 75$ tourny

2009-07-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

I'm tired. Cranky. But marginally happy with this.

Roll is $3461.41

Perhaps recap later. It was pretty boring. Yay short stacking.

Fuck Queens

2009-07-21T12:39:00.001-07:00

Everyone in the family is busy today so I just played 3 tournaments and a tiny bit of cash.

34K guarentee: Very first hand blind vs blind I raise QQ, he calls, flop J25 rainbow. I bet, he calls. 5d on turn (puts two diamonds on board), I bet, he calls. Rag river and I bet again, he minraises and I ship into his 22.

10$ KO: After first break UTG (new to table) raises, a fish in UTG+1 ships 24bb, I ship 30bb over the top with QQ, both players snap (UTG has KK, UTG+1 has AK) and I don't spike a Q.

Cash: New player to the table OTB 3bets an CO raise, I cold 4bet QQ, OTB ships AA and I snap. Sigh.

Basically nothing went my way.

Down about 270$ today. Not sure if I'm going to play more. Probably going to play a couple more tournaments before the day is out.

Going to B.C. for 9 days

2009-07-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

I probably won't play a lot over that span - if at all. So don't expect updates until I get back on the 28th. See ya soon!

Fast and Furious!

2009-07-16T04:11:00.000-07:00

It was looking like it was going to be a so-so session as I was starting to leave my tables, but then the poker gods smiled upon me.

My favorite hand of the day requires a prelude. I had one reg on 3 of my tables and we build up history faster than most. He was very aggressive preflop, and very positionally aware, but I was getting the better of him almost every time we got involved. Early on he 3bet me a lot, and I folded a few times. Then I started 4betting light. Then he tries to 4bet me.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 3 players - View hand 186477
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $100.00
Hero (SB): $100.00
BB: $38.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with 9 9
BTN raises to $3.50, Hero raises to $13, 1 fold, BTN raises to $28, Hero raises to $100 all in, 1 fold

Final Pot: $57.00
Hero wins $57.00

And I can smell the tilt building up, and not 3 hands later...

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 186478
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $126.00
MP: $101.50
Hero (CO): $123.30
BTN: $58.50
SB: $100.50
BB: $104.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with A A
2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, BB raises to $12, Hero raises to $31, BB raises to $104.50 all in, Hero calls $73.50

Flop: ($209.50) 3 5 8

Turn: ($209.50) J

River: ($209.50) 7

Final Pot: $209.50
Hero shows A A (a pair of Aces)
BB shows T T (a pair of Tens)
Hero wins $206.50
(Rake: $3.00)

And just because of the history leading up to it, that is my favorite hand of the night.

I also flopped quads and got paid by a 40bb stack, a close runner up.

There were so many fun hands tonight, I don't think I'll talk about any others. I'm mad at myself for one hand where I 4bet TT against an opponent who 3bet me OTB before I realized that over a decent sample his 3bet was very, very low. I had to call his shove and lost to his QQ. And took notes.

I'm also pretty sure I missed a value bet spot. Maybe two. I've posted some hands on CardPlayer for critique.

Generally I'm very happy with how I played tonight. I was constantly aggressive, and it shows by my non-showdown winnings. I haven't been running many bluffs yet this summer and I tried a couple, mostly successful.

Now I have to try and go to sleep despite the loads of adrenaline pumping through me right now.

Cash: +1,155.90
Tournaments: -26.00
Total: +1129.90

Rough session with a happy ending

2009-07-15T03:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a fun one... Rollercoaster all the way. Early on I was racking the cards, flopping sets, getting paid here and there. Then the wheels came off a bit.

Ran AJ into 55 on A54J two sooted 150bb deep
Ran KQ into 99 on KQ9xx 250bb deep (somehow managed to only lose 100bb)
Shipped AK into AA vs a guy running 36/29 over a decent sample

Fun stuff.

This one was by far the most sick though...

View hand 185123
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $198.90
CO: $103.50
BTN: $100.00
SB: $397.05
Hero (BB): $146.60

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with Q K
2 folds, BTN raises to $3.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $13, BTN calls $9.50

Flop: ($26.50) J T 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $17, BTN calls $17

Turn: ($60.50) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $34, BTN calls $34

River: ($128.50) K (2 players)
Hero bets $45, BTN calls $36 all in

Final Pot: $200.50
BTN shows 8 6 (a flush, King high)
Hero shows Q K (a straight, King high)
BTN wins $197.50
(Rake: $3.00)

It's not so much that he back-door flushed my flopped nuts, its the fact that he had ~normal stats and somehow he shows up with this hand after preflop/flop where there's no way he should be calling in either - in my opinion. Whatever.

My saving grace that somehow made me profitable today:

- 66 > AK value owning a fish on J6AQ5
- A3cc floats and hits a backdoor flush and I get a reg to spaz on the river (he check/raised 80% of his stack and folded when I shoved)
- 88 flops a set (84K) and gets a limp/caller with K8 to stack off on the turn
- AQ vs QT on QJ3Q vs a reg that called my squeeze in position preflop. A river for good measure.
- 99 flops a set vs a bad player's AA and he stacks off easily

Those are most of the big pots. This one was fun too. Sick turn for this guy.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 185152
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $311.20
MP: $268.45
CO: $100.00
BTN: $100.00
SB: $100.00
Hero (BB): $289.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with T J
UTG calls $1, 1 fold, CO raises to $4.50, 2 folds, Hero calls $3.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($10.50) K 5 A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($10.50) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $8, CO requests TIME, CO raises to $28, Hero raises to $285 all in, CO calls $67.50 all in

River: ($201.50) 8 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $201.50
CO shows Q Q (three of a kind, Queens)
Hero shows T J (a straight, Ace high)
Hero wins $198.50
(Rake: $3.00)

And here is your graph for the evening.

Cash: +796.65
Tournaments: -26.00
Total: +770.65

First rakeback deposit soon :)

Thanks for reading. That's all for tonight.

Yesterday Afternoon

2009-07-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

I played again, and it went well:

It was a pretty standard session, not a lot of interesting spots. Here's a shameless brag for how I value-raped a couple of calling stations.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 184689
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $80.40
SB: $127.50
BB: $100.00
Hero (UTG): $246.75
MP: $251.90
CO: $100.40

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG with T A
Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, BTN calls $3.50, 1 fold, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($11.00) 4 T 8 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $9, BTN calls $9, BB folds

Turn: ($29.00) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $22, BTN calls $22

River: ($73.00) T (2 players)
Hero bets $55, BTN calls $45.90 all in

Final Pot: $164.80
BTN mucks J T
Hero shows T A (three of a kind, Tens)
Hero wins $161.80
(Rake: $3.00)

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 184690
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: $80.60
CO: $140.00
BTN: $100.00
Hero (SB): $185.25
BB: $246.10
UTG: $110.10

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with 5 3
4 folds, Hero raises to $4, BB calls $3

Flop: ($8.00) 2 A 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $7, BB calls $7

Turn: ($22.00) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $18, BB calls $18

River: ($58.00) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $49, BB calls $49

Final Pot: $156.00
Hero shows 5 3 (a straight, Five high)
BB mucks A T
Hero wins $153.00
(Rake: $3.00)

About to settle in for a session this afternoon.

And if you want to see the fun hands from the previous session I mentioned 2 posts ago, you can see them here.

So far:
Cash: +$585.55
Tournaments: -$26.00
Total: +$559.55

I lied

2009-07-13T03:48:00.000-07:00

Played a bit moar. Today's garph updated:

Couple sick/fun hands that I'll post about later. Right now, bed.

Lame night

2009-07-13T01:37:00.000-07:00

Rough go tonight. Almost 1300 hands and I used all my run-good not even 100 hands in with this.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 182814
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $111.20
BB: $100.00
UTG: $101.50
Hero (CO): $103.50
BTN: $198.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with K K
UTG raises to $3.50, Hero raises to $12, 3 folds, UTG raises to $30, Hero raises to $103.50 all in, UTG calls $71.50 all in

Flop: ($204.50) 7 8 J
Turn: ($204.50) 7
River: ($204.50) 6

Final Pot: $204.50
UTG shows A A (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
Hero shows K K (a flush, King high)
Hero wins $201.50
(Rake: $3.00)

After that, this became the tune.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 182813
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $100.00
BTN: $97.10
Hero (SB): $105.45
BB: $123.40
UTG: $123.10
MP: $173.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with 5 5
1 fold, MP calls $1, CO raises to $4.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $4, BB calls $3.50, MP calls $3.50

Flop: ($18.00) 5 6 7 (4 players)
Hero bets $13, BB calls $13, MP raises to $169 all in, CO calls $95.50 all in, Hero calls $87.95 all in, BB calls $105.90 all in

Turn: ($452.25) 3 (4 players - 4 are all in)

River: ($452.25) T (4 players - 4 are all in)

Final Pot: $452.25
CO shows 4 3 (a flush, Ten high)
Hero shows 5 5 (three of a kind, Fives)
BB shows 6 7 (two pair, Sevens and Sixes)
MP shows 8 9 (a straight, Ten high)
CO wins $397.00
(Rake: $55.25)

(Obviously converter messed up side pot - lol @ 55$ rake)

Then this

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 182908
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: $47.05
CO: $201.20
BTN: $132.65
SB: $17.50
Hero (BB): $104.60
UTG: $129.10

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with Q Q
1 fold, MP raises to $3, 3 folds, Hero raises to $12, MP calls $9

Flop: ($24.50) 4 8 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $18, MP raises to $35.05 all in, Hero calls $17.05

Turn: ($94.60) J (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($94.60) 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $94.60
MP shows T T (a straight, Jack high)
Hero shows Q Q (a pair of Queens)
MP wins $91.60
(Rake: $3.00)

And this

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players - View hand 182909
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $100.00
BTN/SB: $104.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with 8 T
BTN/SB calls $0.50, Hero checks

Flop: ($2.00) J 4 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, BTN/SB calls $2

Turn: ($6.00) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $5, BTN/SB calls $5

River: ($16.00) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $14, BTN/SB raises to $28, Hero calls $14

Final Pot: $72.00
Hero mucks 8 T
BTN/SB shows A K (a flush, Ace high)
BTN/SB wins $71.50
(Rake: $0.50)

Thank god he was an idiot. Shoulda stacked me.

A lot of running good into better, a LOT of missed flops and I'm pretty sure I got outplayed a couple times. I also know I missed a couple value bet spots that I'm still a little miffed at myself for. I think I'm done for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow.

I'm back!

2009-07-08T12:11:00.001-07:00

A huge thanks goes out to the people that were willing to stake me for 100NL. KidLover, sets, Tony, Justaguy, Shiel - you guys all rock. Stakes are still in the process of making it into my account, but I couldn't help but play a little session last night.

There were 3 notable hands. One is posted on CP so I'll wait for discussion there before I mention it here. Here is the one hand I thoroughly enjoyed. Just wish he was a little deeper.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 176737
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $113.25
BB: $137.20
UTG: $100.00
MP: $104.50
CO: $49.50
Hero (BTN): $208.30

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with T J
2 folds, CO calls $1, Hero raises to $4.50, 2 folds, CO calls $3.50

Flop: ($10.50) 8 7 9 (2 players)
CO bets $45 all in, Hero calls $45

Turn: ($100.50) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($100.50) 4 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $100.50
CO shows 9 K (a pair of Nines)
Hero shows T J (a straight, Jack high)
Hero wins $97.50
(Rake: $3.00)

And then there was this one against a 60/6 fish. I lol'd when I saw his cards in the replayer after he mucked them.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 177116
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $117.90
UTG: $103.65
MP: $128.55
CO: $121.65
Hero (BTN): $101.35
SB: $100.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with 8 T
3 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 1 fold, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50) 9 J 8 (2 players)
BB bets $4, Hero calls $4

Turn: ($15.50) 6 (2 players)
BB bets $5, Hero calls $5

River: ($25.50) 7 (2 players)
BB bets $25, Hero raises to $88.85 all in, BB calls $63.85

Final Pot: $203.20
BB mucks A J
Hero shows 8 T (a straight, Jack high)
Hero wins $200.20
(Rake: $3.00)

The ironic thing about this session is I had KK 7 times and AA twice. They combined for -$150 thanks to QQ flopping a queen vs my KK when we got it in pre 4-handed, and a 70bb stack flopping a set and obviously I pay him with my AA.

Can't wait to play after work tonight! Hopefully some more staking monies have arrived by then.

So long and thanks for all the fish

2009-01-28T23:09:00.001-08:00

Turns out Poker and School aren't co-existing so well. So I pulled my roll. There will be 3 busto-robusto attempts corresponding with rakeback deposits (and the 30$ that's left in my account after forfeiting prop bets). If any of them go particularly well, I'll post some stories here.

Thanks to my loyal readers. I'll be back in the summer.

Good luck on the tables.

- Crush

Edit: First busto-robusto over after 2 hands. Shove ATo in the SB for 30bb over an OTB raise, he calls w 88 eventually and flops an 8. Moral of the story: Don't busto-robusto when you're running like ass.

Breaking even is gay

2009-01-26T12:57:00.000-08:00

That's the story of my last two months.

And this happening for the 3rd time in a row isn't helping.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 19423
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $24.10
MP: $50.70
CO: $57.10
BTN: $92.60
Hero (SB): $53.85
BB: $50.80

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with A A
1 fold, MP raises to $1.75, 2 folds, Hero raises to $6.75, 1 fold, MP raises to $18, Hero raises to $53.85 all in, MP calls $32.70 all in

Flop: ($101.90) K 9 Q

Turn: ($101.90) 5

River: ($101.90) J

Final Pot: $101.90
MP shows K K (three of a kind, Kings)
Hero shows A A (a pair of Aces)
MP wins $98.90
(Rake: $3.00)

Thank God for rakeback. (+948$)

Meh

2009-01-20T12:42:00.001-08:00

Fun hand against a guy who I caught bluffing the river several times. So few 8's in his range here...

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 12509
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $55.30
Hero (SB): $147.90
BB: $50.00
UTG: $66.70
MP: $35.55
CO: $53.95

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with A 3
3 folds, BTN raises to $1, Hero calls $0.75, 1 fold

Flop: ($2.50) A 9 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2.50, Hero raises to $8, BTN calls $5.50

Turn: ($18.50) T (2 players)
Hero bets $14, BTN calls $14

River: ($46.50) J (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $32.30 all in, Hero calls $32.30

Final Pot: $111.10
BTN shows Q 8 (a straight, Queen high)
Hero mucks A 3
BTN wins $108.10
(Rake: $3.00)

Yes, he hit running gutshot straight cards without a fucking spade hitting. I can't even begin to pretend to understand why he called on the flop...

That is all.

Grunt.

It was inevitable

2009-01-16T11:48:00.000-08:00

Doom switch activated:

The move to 100NL did not go well. Every time I won a stack, I'd quickly lose two, either shipping KK into AA or running AQ into 78s in a 3bet pot when fish calls flop, turn with his OESD+8 high flushdraw vs my TPTK and gets there on the river. Lots of crap like that.

So after going up 200$ and then down 700$, I dropped back to 50NL (which had a 4 buyin slide this graph doesn't capture), and had more of the same. My favorite thing to do now (apparently) is run made flushes into two pair which always boats up on the turn if we get it in on the flop, and on the river if we get it in on the turn.

Fun times.

So I'll be taking a couple days off for tilt management, after which I'll have to decide if I'll keep playing 50NL on a 15bi roll, or move to 25NL to make this variance a little more absorbable.

That is all.

Stacking donks like it's nobody's business

2009-01-08T02:32:00.001-08:00

Today was a good day (starts around hand 6500).

Went on a 6.5 buyin tear thanks mostly to hands like this.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 509
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Clover23 (MP): $60.85
StevenPerDiem (CO): $71.80
Flushrush2 (BTN): $120.20
MaxmumMunny (SB): $33.20
Hero (BB): $108.05
dudals727 (UTG): $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with T T
2 folds, StevenPerDiem calls $0.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $2.50, StevenPerDiem calls $2

Flop: ($5.25) 4 2 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $5, StevenPerDiem calls $5

Turn: ($15.25) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $15.25, StevenPerDiem raises to $64.30 all in, Hero calls $49.05

River: ($143.85) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $143.85
StevenPerDiem shows 2 Q (a pair of Twos)
Hero shows T T (a pair of Tens)
Hero wins $140.85
(Rake: $3.00)

There we just soooo many donks running around the tables, and of the 9-10 uberdonkeys I ran into tonight, I remember stacking at least 7 of them. Didn't get sucked out on once as you can tell from the almost-unbreaking vertical jump, but most of the time I was getting it in as a prohibitive favorite.

Tonight leaves me appropriately rolled for 50NL ($1,125). I'll probably start shooting at 100NL when I crest 1500$. Maybe sooner. My bankroll management has been somewhat lax because of how comfortable/confident I am playing at these stakes.

Rollin' on!

Since school doesn't start for a week...

2009-01-05T04:01:00.000-08:00

I've actually been putting in some volume the last couple days.

I tell ya, after grinding 100NL for that long, playing 25NL is pretty much taking candy from babies. The only thing I've struggled with is it's tough not to spew since a lot of air lines at 25NL look similar to monster lines - and I love to snap bluffs.

I did something tonight I hadn't done yet this month ... I sucked out!

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $21.40
MP: $24.75
CO: $25.40
Hero (BTN): $32.25
SB: $25.00
BB: $30.20

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with Q J
UTG raises to $0.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.85, SB calls $1.75, 1 fold, UTG calls $1.35

Flop: ($5.80) Q J 3 (3 players)
SB bets $4, UTG folds, Hero raises to $11, SB raises to $23.15 all in, Hero calls $12.15

Turn: ($52.10) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($52.10) J (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $52.10
Hero shows Q J (a full house, Jacks full of Queens)
SB shows 3 3 (a full house, Threes full of Jacks)
Hero wins $49.50
(Rake: $2.60)

Pretty rigged hand. I just happened to decide to run goot.

Here's the month:

Probably be some more volume before I start school on the 12th. I'll make a decision about getting a 100NL stake around the end of the month. In the meantime, I'll keep donking it up in the micros.

Soon to be 4200 USD richer

2009-01-02T01:18:00.000-08:00

I made the withdrawal today. $4200 and change which translates to ~5100$ CDN. (Left myself 600$ to play with.) Pretty happy about that. Obviously it would have been nicer to have made a bigger pull before my 200NL disaster when my roll was flirting with 6k, but hey, I'll take it.

With school starting in 10 days, I'm really not planning to play a lot. Instead of playing 4-5 days a week for 3-4 hours, I'll be playing more like 1-3 hours once or twice a week.

I'll still be updating the blog. The content will be back to cheeseburger stakes though. Although... I am considering getting a stake through one of the CP Forum members that would get me close to being able to play 100NL, albeit slightly underrolled... We'll see how the next few weeks go.

That's all for this update! Haven't really played much since the last post.

Happy New Year! Hopefully Christmas was good to all of you.

Sigh

2008-12-13T04:05:00.001-08:00

After making it back to break even, I went on another turbo slide at 200NL, worse than the last. This graph tells the picture rather well I think.

Since I got back to break even the EV line has split pretty hard. I've yet to win a flip for 100bb this month. My last session of 200NL saw me ship AmexCenturion about 4 buyins thanks to him always having the nuts against me. Had AK < JJ on xxKJA. Obv he peels the flop with his underpair and turns a set. Then later he got me with KT when I held AQ on a QJ9xA. There were a LOT of hands like this.

After the 2nd slide I moved back to 100NL (even played some 50NL HU for +110$) and have recovered some of the losses. Going to give my head a break from the mindfuck that 200NL was turning into. If I can keep breaking even at 100NL I'll be back some time next week.

Here's the highlight of the night against a 60/40/5 spazmonkey.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: $139.00
CO: $207.35
BTN: $100.00
SB: $137.50
Hero (BB): $176.65
UTG: $122.60

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A A
1 fold, MP raises to $3.50, CO raises to $10, 2 folds, Hero calls $9, MP raises to $139 all in, 1 fold, Hero calls $129

Flop: ($288.50) 5 8 6

Turn: ($288.50) 8

River: ($288.50) 4

Final Pot: $288.50
MP shows K 7 (a straight, Eight high)
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Eights)
MP wins $285.50
(Rake: $3.00)

Lovin' life this month.

We return you to your regular scheduled programming

2008-12-08T03:45:00.000-08:00

So me and 200NL kissed and made up. After my 3rd session I was down 1700$ and just about to go back to 100NL with my roll teetering around 4k. I am now crushing 200NL for a solid 0.07ptbb.

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

youknownot (SB): $216.00
Hero (BB): $200.00
malumdeus1 (UTG): $276.90
SirFelixCat (MP): $200.00
BamYeah (CO): $263.30
Speedin (BTN): $405.70

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with 9 8
malumdeus1 raises to $6, 1 fold, BamYeah calls $6, 1 fold, youknownot calls $5, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($24.00) 6 7 7 (4 players)
youknownot checks, Hero checks, malumdeus1 bets $9, BamYeah calls $9, youknownot folds, Hero raises to $42, malumdeus1 folds, BamYeah requests TIME, BamYeah calls $33

Turn: ($117.00) T (2 players)
Hero bets $72, BamYeah raises to $215, Hero calls $80 all in

River: ($421.00) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $421.00
Hero shows 9 8 (a straight flush, Ten high)
BamYeah shows 7 6 (a full house, Sevens full of Sixes)
Hero wins $418.00
(Rake: $3.00)

I stopped my session a little early because I felt like I was starting to play overconfidently, if that makes any sense. 3700 hands left to give Luske some competition in our winrate contest.

December's Disaster

2008-12-04T01:35:00.001-08:00

200NL is not my friend.

That is all.

NYRPS II Kicks Off

2008-12-01T14:09:00.000-08:00

Personally, I'm in Rambler's latest series for bragging rights (I have ~100$ riding in various prop bets). It should be fun regardless. Event #1 goes tonight at 10PM EST, deepstack NLHE. Sign up and make me work for this prop bet!

Also, to recap November's goals:

- 10k hands of 100NL @ 5 ptbb
16k hands at 10.6ptbb!
- Get above 3k for good
Brushing with 6k
- Don't get doomswitched
Check
- Be patient and save next 200NL shot for December
Check
- When I bluff, take lines that make sense
Mostly check
- Bluff less
Check

November was definitely one for the books.

Here's the big picture graph updated

On Fiyah

2008-11-28T03:56:00.000-08:00

This is really becoming quite surreal for me.

Yes, that means I'm up 35 buyins for the month of November over a mere 16k hands. Today was a 10 buyin grind...okay, heater. I got AA all in pre vs KK and held for probably the 4th session in a row. I also had a good suckout w A7dd > 66 on a K63dd board. Beyond that it was just playing what I think was solid poker. I played this one kind of weird, but not as weird as the 30/5 villain.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: $227.25
CO: $101.95
BTN: $134.85
Hero (SB): $166.45
BB: $107.95
UTG: $118.15

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with J A
2 folds, CO raises to $3.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $13, BB calls $12, 1 fold

Flop: ($29.50) 5 J 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $17, Hero calls $17

Turn: ($63.50) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks

River: ($63.50) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $35, BB raises to $77.95 all in, Hero calls $42.95

Final Pot: $219.40
Hero shows J A (a pair of Jacks)
BB shows 3 A (a pair of Threes)
Hero wins $216.40
(Rake: $3.00)

I was concerned on the flop that he might be on a monster, hence the c/c, when he checked back the turn, his range suddenly became a lot more friendly to me. When he shoved the river I actually snapcalled without thinking too much. His line made no sense so I figured he was on air or.. well, honestly I couldn't put much of anything in his range. Ya gotta lol at cold calling a 3b w A3s...

Got into an interesting spot w AA too. Thankfully, I'm a station.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $77.50
Hero (BB): $227.35
UTG: $128.05
MP: $175.15
CO: $155.00
BTN: $74.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A A
1 fold, MP calls $1, CO calls $1, 2 folds, Hero raises to $5.50, 1 fold, CO calls $4.50

Flop: ($12.50) Q J 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $9, CO calls $9

Turn: ($30.50) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $18, CO raises to $40, Hero calls $22

River: ($110.50) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $49, Hero calls $49

Final Pot: $208.50
Hero shows A A (a pair of Aces)
CO shows Q 9 (a pair of Queens)
Hero wins $205.50
(Rake: $3.00)

I went with the common thinking that "nobody raises a made flush on the turn", which obviously isn't entirely true but does carry some weight. After the river totally ragged I decided that he had enough things like AQ, KQ, busted straights, AhX hands, etc that calling was okay. I laughed when he showed me that hand.

Comments on both hands are welcome.

So with all this, I've now shattered 3k, 4k, and 5k, all in one month and now sit at just under $5700. Damn. If I would just stop mucking around in tournaments and running like crap (see below) I'd probably be over 6k now.

Full Tilt Poker $18,000 Guarantee No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t20/t40 Blinds - 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: t3465
SB: t5125
BB: t2880
UTG: t6785
UTG+1: t3615
Hero (UTG+2): t3435
MP1: t2900
MP2: t1630
CO: t3075

Pre Flop: (t60) Hero is UTG+2 with 2 2
2 folds, Hero raises to t120, 3 folds, BTN calls t120, 2 folds

Flop: (t300) 5 2 8 (2 players)
Hero bets t200, BTN raises to t500, Hero calls t300

Turn: (t1300) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets t600, Hero raises to t2815 all in, BTN calls t2215

River: (t6930) Q (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t6930
BTN shows 5 J (a flush, Queen high)
Hero shows 2 2 (three of a kind, Twos)
BTN wins t6930

And that's in a 75$ MTT. Well played dork.

Oh well :)

Hiccup, but back on track

2008-11-25T00:05:00.000-08:00

My godliness ended over my last 2 (undocumented) sessions. I dropped from my peak of 4600 all the way to 3750 by running monster into bigger monster and playing a couple hands really bad. Today I got back to the grind, and over ~2k hands I clawed my way back up to almost where I was. I think I just played really solid today. I never got my money in behind for big pots, I won the only flip I was involved in, and managed to get paid with some mediocre hands that hit big. Case in point:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $81.50
SB: $64.10
Hero (BB): $226.65
UTG: $225.10
MP: $100.00
CO: $110.30

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with 6 5
UTG raises to $3.50, 2 folds, BTN calls $3.50, SB calls $3, Hero calls $2.50

Flop: ($14.00) 6 6 3 (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG bets $10, BTN folds, SB folds, Hero raises to $31, UTG calls $21

Turn: ($76.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $49, UTG raises to $190.60 all in, Hero calls $141.60

River: ($457.20) 2 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $457.20
Hero shows 6 5 (a full house, Sixes full of Fives)
UTG shows Q Q (two pair, Queens and Sixes)
Hero wins $454.20
(Rake: $3.00)

Pretty happy to get paid off there. I dunno if I get away from this if I'm him. I certainly don't shove the turn cuz it's a way ahead/way behind spot I think.

I've been using HEM and LOVING it. The popup HUD is amazingly informative and has helped me in a lot of spots. Bye bye PT3. According to HEM, November is definitely my month.

I'm honestly not sure how I'm 13 buyins above expectation. I haven't been sucked out on much this month, so that obviously helps. And I've had a couple major suckouts of my own. You already saw the QQ > AA > KK hand. Here's a couple other doozies.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $100.00
UTG: $243.75
CO: $203.00
BTN: $159.45
Hero (SB): $133.30

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with K A
2 folds, BTN raises to $3.50, Hero raises to $13, 1 fold, BTN requests TIME, BTN raises to $42, Hero raises to $133.30 all in, BTN calls $91.30

Flop: ($267.60) 7 5 2

Turn: ($267.60) 7

River: ($267.60) 8

Final Pot: $267.60
BTN shows A A (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
Hero shows K A (a flush, Ace high)
Hero wins $264.60
(Rake: $3.00)

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: $171.05
CO: $0.00
BTN: $121.05
SB: $118.45
BB: $80.45
Hero (UTG): $117.10

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG with K A
Hero raises to $3.50, 3 folds, BB raises to $6, Hero raises to $19, BB raises to $80.45 all in, Hero calls $61.45

Flop: ($161.40) 7 Q T (1 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: ($161.40) J (1 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($161.40) 2 (1 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $161.40
BB shows A A (a pair of Aces)
Hero shows K A (a straight, Ace high)
Hero wins $158.40
(Rake: $3.00)

In both cases I had 6.8% equity. So obviously that helps my all-in luck. But beyond those 3 hands, I can't recall really getting it in bad.

Oh well, I'm not complaining. November rolls on!

More monies

2008-11-17T01:54:00.000-08:00

Is this theme getting old yet? I am absolutely destroying November

Here's where the roll stands:

Tonight was a mostly nondescript night. No fancy spots. Here's a nice HH for you junkies though.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $164.50
Hero (UTG): $262.70
MP: $100.00
CO: $199.80
BTN: $205.30
SB: $71.10

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG with 8 8
Hero raises to $3.50, MP calls $3.50, 2 folds, SB calls $3, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($14.00) 8 5 A (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $12, MP folds, SB calls $12, BB calls $12

Turn: ($50.00) K (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $33, SB folds, BB calls $33

River: ($116.00) J (2 players)
BB bets $116 all in, Hero calls $116

Final Pot: $348.00
BB shows A J (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
Hero shows 8 8 (three of a kind, Eights)
Hero wins $345.00
(Rake: $3.00)

And here's the first time I've folded AA postflop in a while.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $110.40
Hero (CO): $200.00
BTN: $100.00
SB: $77.00
BB: $88.90

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with A A
1 fold, Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50) T T 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5, BB calls $5

Turn: ($17.50) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $13, BB calls $13

River: ($43.50) K (2 players)
BB bets $67.40 all in, Hero folds

Final Pot: $43.50
BB wins $41.35
(Rake: $2.15)

That's all for now!

[x] Hit and run session

2008-11-11T00:17:00.000-08:00

Haha, good lil 500 hands (starting around hand 5000)

This hand helped (first big suck of the month). BB was a 50/5 drooler to this point so I didn't give his cold-call of my 3bet any thought.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $191.65
Hero (SB): $102.95
BB: $110.90
UTG: $90.55
CO: $202.15

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with Q Q

1 fold, CO raises to $4.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $13.50, BB calls $12.50, CO raises to $40, Hero raises to $102.95 all in, BB calls $89.45, CO raises to $202.15 all in, BB calls $7.95 all in

Flop: ($324.75) Q 3 9

Turn: ($324.75) 8

River: ($324.75) J

Final Pot: $324.75

Hero shows Q Q (three of a kind, Queens)
BB shows K K (a pair of Kings)
CO shows A A (a pair of Aces)
CO wins $15.90
Hero wins $305.85
(Rake: $3.00)

I'm pretty happy about my non-showdown winnings so far this month. Since I got serious into cash, the "red line" had dropped well below 0$. It looks like I'm learning to pick the good spots to apply aggression to win pots without needing the best hand.

Roll stands at $3840!!! That's definitely a new best :)

Goooooooooooooo November!!

Haha, I went thru my archives and found my 2008 goals post.

Some of them are pretty lol and illustrate my lacking knowledge when it comes to cash. Some of my old posts in general were pretty terrible around January (haven't gone further back in the archives than that yet). Surprising how much I've improved in just under a year.
A highlight of the goals:

1. Quit Smoking [fail. I won't be quitting any time soon.]
2. Increase roll to be sufficient for 50NL [haha definite pass and then some]
3. Final Table at least one MTT [pass]
4. Run at 10BB/100 or better [if you include my mostly terrible 20k hands of 25NL, I've run at 1.94ptbb (3.88BB/100), if you track from when I stopped sucking, I've run 6.25ptbb (12.5BB/100)]
5. Get better at dealing with beats [mostly pass. occasional fails]
6. Increase Readership [Pass. while my readership isn't huge, it's definitely a darn sight better than it was at the beginning of this year]

Target Bankroll: $1500 [hahahahahahahahahaha]

Just thought that was kinda neat.

November Update

2008-11-10T03:33:00.001-08:00

In the form of a graf:

Since my early upswing it's become a fairly ~meh 4000 hands.

One of my favorite hands of this month:

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $180.85

UTG: $238.95

MP: $83.70

Hero (CO): $200.00

BTN: $118.75

SB: $209.05

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with A K

2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, BTN raises to $12, 2 folds, Hero raises to $32, BTN calls $20

Flop: ($65.50) K 5 6 (2 players)

Hero bets $37, BTN raises to $86.75 all in, Hero calls $49.75

Turn: ($239.00) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($239.00) A (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $239.00

Hero shows A K (two pair, Aces and Kings)

BTN shows 8 8 (a pair of Eights)

Hero wins $236.00

(Rake: $3.00)

Nov continues well

2008-11-05T02:37:00.001-08:00

Have played 3 days, 2800 hands at 15 ptbb (still high because of my 33 ptbb first day). Gone 3/3 winning sessions, up $840 at this point with the roll fully repaired at 3240$. I'd post a graph, but its basically just a squiggly line with a slightly positive slope starting from the tail of the graph in my last post. Nothing thrilling.

I was up 500$ in tonight's session at one point until I ran KK into a flopped straight (guy limp/called w 65o .. ugh), AKs into KK (OTB villain vs me in BB), and then ran JJ into an LAG that obv had AA. But oh well, I'm up so I can't complain.

Hallo November

2008-11-02T02:42:00.000-08:00

Pleased to meet you!

A 140$ rakeback deposit has me back just under 3k.

And just to put things in perspective, here's the big picture from the beginning of September (since I stopped being a 25NL spewtard)

lol swongs

November Goals:

10k hands of 100NL @ 5 ptbb
Get above 3k for good
Don't get doomswitched
Be patient and save next 200NL shot for December
When I bluff, take lines that make sense
Bluff less

- Crush

Gross fucking finish

2008-10-30T01:32:00.001-07:00

I'm so disgusted right now... I got my money in good every time post-doomswitch (minus one terrible bluff that I folded on the river after spewing 110bb at 200NL) and just couldn't fucking hold (except AA > QQ aipf). Just sick.

That's it for October. After peaking at 3200$ I'm back to reality with 2300$. The entire month I ran sub par (aside from 1600-2100 obv), but the last week was just grotesque.

Here's hoping November produces better results.

- Crush

3K imo

2008-10-23T03:11:00.001-07:00

After a disaster of a week that saw me go 1/11 in 26$-50$ MTTs and -150$ in 50NL heads up (villain got slapped by the deck hard), my bankroll was in need of some love. Just finished a 4 hour session at 100NL. Started really strong, hit a rough patch, kept trucking, and BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

It's been a +1000$ month in cash

Here's a fun hand vs a very bluffy villain that I bled for a total of 400$ on the day.

Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $152.50
CO: $254.00
BTN: $100.00
SB: $192.75
Hero (BB): $198.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with Ac 2h
3 folds, SB raises to $4, Hero calls $3

Flop: ($8.00) As 5h Kd (2 players)
SB bets $5, Hero calls $5

Turn: ($18.00) 3h (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $9, SB raises to $40, Hero calls $31

River: ($98.00) 2d (2 players)
SB bets $143.75 all in, Hero calls $143.75

Final Pot: $385.50
SB shows 9s 8c (Ace King high)
Hero shows Ac 2h (two pair, Aces and Twos)
Hero wins $382.50
(Rake: $3.00)

I was planning to call the river regardless. The 2d certainly made it that much easier though.

That's all for this brag! Bed time.

Cruise Control

2008-10-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

Had a ~2 hour session today at 100NL and managed to squeeze 5.5 buyins out of the field. Wow. I ran pretty good, not gonna lie.

That's the month of October. Started off pretty break even, running kinda meh. Today started around hand 1700. Yeah... The tail off at the end is me going down to one table wrapping up my session trying to stack the villain idiot and spewing off a few more chips than I should have.

So my BR that was 1k a couple months ago?

Yowsah!

Broke 2K

2008-10-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

It was actually a rakeback deposit that officially put me over, to $2011. I played some 100NL last night and ran pretty well except for one 200bb pot where I ran bottom set into an overpair and watched the river give them their two outter. So while it's disappointing to have won just over 100$, it woulda been so much sweeter to be sitting on 2300...

Good month!

2008-09-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

End of the month update:

This is purdy:

Hope to keep it up in October. Time to crack 2k!

October goals post soon.

50NL Cont'd, Shot at 100NL

2008-09-25T00:16:00.000-07:00

So after a ~breakeven start at 50NL, I suddenly felt curious to try a shot at 100NL. At first I was pretty comfortable and had some big hands go my way, but after that I quickly found I was chickening out of some standard shoves/calls/etc and generally not playing optimally. So I've dropped back down to 50NL, where I'll stay until I crack 2k, at which point I'll take another shot at 100NL, hopefully with more confidence.. September continues to be successful:

150$ in rakeback doesn't hurt either.

Roll at just over 1,800$

50NL Continues (Well)

2008-09-12T04:04:00.000-07:00

So far 50NL has been a blast. A bit of a rollercoaster, but I always manage to find a way to finish up, even though there's been a couple sick beats including getting 76s vs QQ all in on the turn of 4458 only for the river to come a 4. Blech. After ~3000 hands of 50NL I'm up 140$. Here's the updated graph. Swong city!

Roll continues to rise: $1,615

September Keeps Rollin'

2008-09-09T05:12:00.000-07:00

And so do I. BR up to it's highest ever: $1,441. Back to back winning days for the first time in as long as I can remember certainly helps.

To be continued...

Back to 25NL

2008-09-04T02:43:00.000-07:00

I'm determined to beat 25NL. I've posted a chunk of my stats and HH's for the viewing pleasure of the regs at CardPlayer where I've gotten some good advice. So far September has had mixed results, but overall things are good.

I'm over-rolled for it (50 buyins), but I found out pretty quickly I'm still not comfortable with 50NL, so I'll stay here until I've worked some of the bigger kinks out of my game and hopefully grind out enough profit that I'll have more buyins to work with for the next level.

Yesterday was fun, going on a 10 buyin heater, despite losing with a flopped boat all in on the turn only to see my opponent one-outter quads for a stack. Meh.

Tonight was "AK sooted sucks balls" day as I stacked off with it 3 times and all 3 times it lost: twice preflop, (once to QQ, once to KK) and once postflop where my opponent flopped a straight and I missed the NFD.

Will continue to post hands and try show a profit over a large sample.

NYRPS #12 Winnah!

2008-08-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

Haha, small brag. Just took down NYRambler's latest event, the 2$ rebuy. I was in for 11 buyins total. Kudos to Mondogarage for puttin' up a helluva heads up battle.

Sick Bubble + Good cash

2008-08-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

This was gross

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 3 Players
http://www.leggopoker.com]leggopoker.com/

Hero (SB): 3,580
BB: 5,640
BTN: 31,280

Pre-Flop: (300) A:spade: K:heart: dealt to Hero (SB)
BTN raises to 3,400, Hero raises to 3,580 and is All-In, BB folds, BTN calls 180

Flop: (7,360) J:heart: 4:diamond: 7:heart: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (7,360) J:spade: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (7,360) 9:diamond: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 7,360 Pot
Hero showed A:spade: K:heart: (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-3,580 NET)
BTN showed 7:club: 7:diamond: (a full house, Sevens full of Jacks) and WON 7,360 (+3,780 NET)

Leaves me here.

With these stacks I don't really have a choice here right?

I also went on a tear in a 26$ 45-man. I ran like a god and couldn't lose no matter how bad I got my money in (worst was 25%, twice). That is, until we were 4-handed. Then I rammed AQ into AK and couldn't improve, and ended up the tourny with this hand.

Full Tilt Poker, $24 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 500/1,000 Blinds, 2 Players
http://www.leggopoker.com/

Hero (SB): 29,123
BB: 38,377

Pre-Flop: (1,500) Q:heart: K:heart: dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to 3,000, BB calls 2,000

Flop: (6,000) 8:heart: 2:heart: J:diamond: (2 Players)
BB bets 4,000, Hero raises to 26,123 and is All-In, BB calls 22,123

Turn: (58,246) Q:spade: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (58,246) A:club: (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 58,246 Pot
Hero showed Q:heart: K:heart: (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-29,123 NET)
BB showed 8:club: A:diamond: (two pair, Aces and Eights) and WON 58,246 (+29,123 NET)

Pretty sick. This guy was not good, and I really shoulda been able to take it down. I was probably a favorite on this flop and I fist pumped the turn... But the river denied me my shot at the $410 first prize, and I had to settle for 270$.

I'll take it!

Roll is actually peaked right now at $1203 and change. Why did I ever stop playing tournies??? I'm over +$600 in the last 7 days. For some reason I thought that would excite me more.

Better than a kick in the face

2008-08-04T03:40:00.001-07:00

But sooo disappointing. I was card dead and had to suck out 3 times as a result to get this far. I make a probably ill-advised shove w about 14bb and AJo UTG and woke up QQ and couldn't get my 4th suckout. Still, I'll take it.

On a side note, I turn 25 today!

My last two pair over pair spots

2008-08-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

Seriously?

This song got old a long time ago full tilt...

Clutch: I don't have one

2008-07-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

The kind of hand that just leaves you wondering what if... If I win this I'm double the average stack not far off the bubble and in great shape to make a run. Instead I'm down to 20bb and with my usual card-dead ways, run A8 into AA, and A7 into the monster K3 and he turns a king.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7406994374: $17,000 Guarantee (55582540), Table 3 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:30:27 ET - 2008/07/28
Seat 1: Precious632 (6,050)
Seat 2: deezero (6,185)
Seat 3: CPCFSD (8,520)
Seat 4: alf123 (5,655)
Seat 5: aisya (2,145)
Seat 6: ChiTownGambler (6,492)
Seat 7: lexvegasfish (3,210)
Seat 8: CheckinMyAA (6,510)
Seat 9: moneycentral (2,550)
ChiTownGambler posts the small blind of 100
lexvegasfish posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Kh Kd]
CheckinMyAA raises to 600
moneycentral folds
Precious632 folds
deezero folds
CPCFSD folds
alf123 calls 600
aisya raises to 2,145, and is all in
ChiTownGambler folds
lexvegasfish folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 6,510, and is all in
alf123 folds
CheckinMyAA shows [Kh Kd]
aisya shows [Qc Ah]
Uncalled bet of 4,365 returned to CheckinMyAA
*** FLOP *** [4d Qh 6c] Hold...
*** TURN *** [4d Qh 6c] [Th] HOOOOLD
*** RIVER *** [4d Qh 6c Th] [Qd] ...standard
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Kings and Queens
aisya shows three of a kind, Queens
aisya wins the pot (5,190) with three of a kind, Queens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,190 Rake 0
Board: [4d Qh 6c Th Qd]
Seat 1: Precious632 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: deezero didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: CPCFSD didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: alf123 folded before the Flop
Seat 5: aisya (button) showed [Qc Ah] and won (5,190) with three of a kind, Queens
Seat 6: ChiTownGambler (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: lexvegasfish (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: CheckinMyAA showed [Kh Kd] and lost with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 9: moneycentral didn't bet (folded)

Also ran AA into KK in a SNG on the 3rd hand, K on flop obv. A few other annoying bustouts. I've simply given up on waiting for the day where I stop running like garbage consistently, because it seems like it's never going to come. It's amazing I still have a bankroll at all.

Lack of Love

2008-07-18T13:38:00.001-07:00

Sorry for not updating. Haven't really been playing poker (~3 weeks now) because I've found other things to occupy my time lately. I'll be back .. eventually. But seeing as I'm picking up a 2nd job, the updates will likely be fewer and farther between than normal. Good luck on the tables. But save some for me.

A Curious Question

2008-06-30T10:59:00.001-07:00

What Poker Forum, if any, do you frequent? I'm a regular poster over at Card Player, and I know most of my traffic here is generated from my sig link. But some of the people on my reading list (i.e. Fuel, JJOK, OhCaptain, Cayne, PokerFool, Hoy, 2BA, Recess, etc) who may or may not have stumbled across my blog aren't on the CP forums. So, do tell?

If you're a CP poster and I obviously know it, there's no need to respond, obviously.

Also, I just gotta give a shoutout to OhCaptain for a suggestion he made a long time ago. His advice was when going thru a bad run, the best cure is to play Guitar Hero until your fingers bleed. Needless to say, I've been playing a LOT of guitar hero lately, and have evolved to the point where I can pass ~30% of the songs on Expert and have 5 stars on most of songs at the "Hard" level. What a great game.

PT3 Is Sexy, But It Couldn't Break My Rut

2008-06-26T20:32:00.001-07:00

Played cash for the first time in a little over a week. Just got PT3 which destroys PokerOffice, for the record. It was a pretty short session (just got invited for drinks - couldn't be happier to quit) I dropped another 70$ (4th session in a row I've shipped over 2 buyins)

PokerTracker only could grab the hands from the last 30 days. I was surprised (not really) when I saw the tallies for my results over those 30 days.

-475$ after today.

That's 19 buy ins.

It's a shame PokerEV doesn't work for PT3 because I really want to see what my (total lack of) luck graph looks like.

Sigh. I'd post a graph, but it's just ugly...

Does JJ ever fucking win? I run good in June.

2008-06-24T23:00:00.001-07:00

For a top 5 hand, this one's sure been fucking me pretty hard lately.

Cash

Cash again. Thank you for checking the river villain. I could probably have gone for a 4b squeeze preflop, and I'd either fold to 5bet or stack off on the flop if he flats... *shrug*

And in a 26$x45 man SNG. Villain had AA last hand. If I ran like Loretta I would have rivered quads.

My lone cash of the day was coming in 2nd in a 10$ STT. I was dead for 35 hands. 2 of the last couple hands villain has limped, min bet flop and won uncontested, and shown me a pair of aces. So I pick up AJ, raise, call his shove and obviously he has AQ.

I hate poker.

Oh hey, wanna see something sweet? Here's the graph for June.

Can June be fucking over yet plz?

Fuck Cash

2008-06-19T18:43:00.001-07:00

This is fucking rediculous.

June Swongs, Deep Tournies

2008-06-16T02:46:00.001-07:00

To say June has been a tedious month for cash is a slight understatement. After my big upswing, I've hit another rut where I'm down about 6-7BI. I wouldn't mind a lil more consistency in the direction this line travels. Here's how she looks so far.

So I took a cash intermission tonight and played 2 MTTs. I actually made good runs in both. Here's your results.

And

Both pretty small fields, so not really recap worthy. But ~250$ is worth bragging about I suppose.

Cya next time!
- Crush

Saving Grace

2008-06-11T01:46:00.000-07:00

Had two ~2 hours sessions on Monday night, also had my rakeback go through. Between rakeback and a +200$ day, I've recovered all the loses and then some. I stacked a looot of donkeys that night. Didn't play tonight (my friend bought rock band and wanted me to help him break it in), but I will almost certainly be back tomorrow.

Also a quick pimp for NYRambler's mini-stakes Poker Series. It was tonight (Razz this week) and I managed to be the first out when I kept getting painted on 4th and ended up losing when I got it in on 5th with A345 vs A359, I went K5 and he went T7 and that was that.

Next Tuesday is shorthanded NL, which is always a blast. Buyin is 5$. I whipped up this lil doodad myself:

Hope to see ya there!

Ow...

2008-06-09T01:35:00.001-07:00

Variance? Me being a donkey?

Yeah, you did your math right. That's ~14 buy-ins. Do big aces suck this much for the rest of you?

Still looking for some feedback from my last post!

Cheers,
- Crush

June Improves, Playing AK for Stacks Preflop?

2008-06-07T01:21:00.001-07:00

This graph pretty much tells the story of the month so far. If you read the previous post, that's pretty much WHY this graph looks like that. I started today's session around hand ~1600 and played pretty hard. I actually laid a cooler of my own for the first time in ages, and had some big hands hold up.

Here's the hilight of the night.

On another note (Lets talk some strategy!!), it appears I've forgotten how to play AK preflop. Being a long time tournament player, I'm usually all about getting all the chips in the middle preflop. But when I'm playing cash for some reason I have a hard time doing it, and when I DO get it all in preflop, I usually lose a race to QQ or I'm dominated by KK/AA. So I'm gonna enlist any of my cash readers to help me out here. (Please?)

Here's the first one. The eff stacks are huge here.

Seat 1: inspekt0rgadget ($75.20) 26/21/2 over 112. No history.
Seat 2: betasheet ($25.80)
Seat 3: CheckinMyAA ($54)
Seat 4: henketico ($22.70)
Seat 5: CBornot ($25)
Seat 6: soso84 ($35.65) 18/12/1 over 96. No history.
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of $0.10
henketico posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Kd As]
CBornot folds
soso84 raises to $1
inspekt0rgadget has 15 seconds left to act
inspekt0rgadget raises to $4
betasheet folds

Do I 4bet here? Do I flat? For some reason I got lost. I wasn't thrilled about 4-betting because I would hate to call a 5bet shove from the CO who has me covered... And flatting seems crappy since we're OOP. WWYD?

Now here's another one, this time with nice 100bb stacks.

Seat 1: inspekt0rgadget ($62.30)
Seat 2: Jordanabanana ($0), is sitting out
Seat 3: CheckinMyAA ($25)
Seat 4: henketico ($22.95)
Seat 5: turning page ($25.35) 19/14/1 over 40
Seat 6: muck_it 16 ($5.25)
henketico posts the small blind of $0.10
turning page posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Kc Ah]
muck_it 16 folds
inspekt0rgadget folds
advizory adds $25
CheckinMyAA raises to $0.75
henketico folds
turning page raises to $2.35
CheckinMyAA raises to $6.50
turning page has 15 seconds left to act
turning page raises to $25.35, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls $18.50, and is all in

Is this ultimately standard?

Apologies if these are stupid questions, I guess I need some reassurance / refresher, and to stop thinking like a tournament player.

Cheers!
- Crush

I am a payoff wizard

2008-06-02T18:39:00.001-07:00

So far after 600 hands in June I've been as high as +60$, and down to -5$, and currently sit just above break even. Mainly because of hands like these.

And check out how this guy plays his rockets. Esp the open limp from the CO... wtf?!?

Kinda just shruggin' my shoulders here. Is it really THAT hard to run good consistently?

[Edit] Oh it's still goin! After 700 hands I flop my first set, and wouldn't you know it...

And more...

And more! 5-hi FD + Gutter MUST be good.

How the FUCK am I only down 2 buyins???

Ending May with a Thud

2008-05-31T00:07:00.000-07:00

So I've cracked 10k hands of 25NL finally. I'm back into the zone where I can't get anything going. Today I played for 2 hours and won one big pot and lost countless others to drop ~100$ for the second day in a row at the cash tables.

I could rant about how it's happened. But I know I'm not THAT bad at poker that I should have 15 losing sessions (tables) out of my last 18. OESD + FDs miss, TPTK falls to 2nd pair no kicker, I had a flush over flush today, and didn't hit a single set or pick up AA once.

Fun.

Hopefully June turns things back in the positive direction. I'm way too miffed to play anymore right now.

Mookie FT

2008-05-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

Final tabled the mookie. Busted in 3 hands when Astin open shoved A9 in MP into my QQ and turned an Ace, after which I shove A2o UTG with 6bb and Astin has 77 and I can't pay back the suckout.

Oh well. 85$ + 6 KO's is a decent cash.

Cash Venture Continues, Bankroll Adds a Figure

2008-05-26T23:33:00.000-07:00

Today my bankroll did something it's never done before. It became 4 digits.

This probably isn't much for a lot of people out there, but for me, this is beyond huge.

Needless to say, I'm finally getting my big hands to deliver consistently, and I've even seen a little bit of the plus side of variance after enjoying about a 4500 hand drought where I couldn't put anything together.

Here's a few more pics.

The hands that have won me the most:

Some of my stats. (I run ~21/16/2)

And of course one of those sexy profit graphs.

Hands 0-3000 is basically me getting my feet wet and seeing a nice early run. After that, disaster struck and I was mired in variance, marginal situations, and ocassionally bad play. I kept my composure though, posted a bunch of hands on CardPlayer, and right around 8300 I got my mojo back. I stutter again at 8600 when I suffer 3 suckouts in a span of 10 minutes (22 < AA on 6628, river is a 6, AA < 88 AIPF, AK < AQ AIPF). One of those was for a half stack, so it was bearable. I was so pumped up around hand ~8450 where I was back to break even. A little more patience and I finally ride some big hands and bad opponents for the last 3000 hands.

I've developed a system for tagging donkeys and I always hunt for em now. If they're especially juicy I write down their names and search em when I can. Opponent selection has helped me out a TON over the last 3000 hands. I can often find the right person to pay off my big hands now.

I promised myself I'd play 25k hands of 25NL before I moved to 50NL, so 17k to go!

Thanks for letting me brag a bit.

- Crush

10$ KO 2nd Place Recap

2008-05-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Like most tournys, this one started out pretty slow for me. I didn't see many cards, won a few pots without a showdown, and got moved twice before I sat down at the table where I would soon win my first big pot.

Needless to say, that's a gift from an EP limper. I don't know what he thought he beat when he called my 3b shove, but hey, I'll take it. That hand propelled me into solid chip position, but it was still early.

After that, I have a huge conflict in a blind vs blind situation. I probably could have (should have?) shoved the flop, but in the end it works out beautifully when he tries to go for the checkraise again on the turn and lets me river my flush.

The table I was at was pretty soft and I was able to steal pretty regularly, now that I had the entire table outstacked by a large margin. I kept chipping up until I finally get played back at here, and decide to gamble with one of the shortstacks, and get a gorgeous flop. (I was going to call a shove regardless)

Shortly after that, I get moved again. This time to a table where I'm covered by one player, and have many players that could put a serious dent in me. It was a far cry from the last table, where all 7 players combined barely covered me.

It doesn't take me long to win my first big pot here, although I played it horribly. I've had a bad habbit lately of thinking cbetters are bluffing a large quantity of the time, and therefore I play slow because I don't want to push them off the hand. Terrible thinking really. I need to be going for big pots, and I shoulda stacked this guy on the flop or turn.

The replayer doesn't like this one, and those of you who post on CardPlayer have already seen this, but here's the results.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6497908772: $10 + $1 Knockout (49286001), Table 4 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Holdem - 19:31:51 ET - 2008/05/20
Seat 1: lisacap (9,295)
Seat 2: Zapbeeb (22,779)
Seat 3: CheckinMyAA (20,929)
Seat 4: 13-SHARK (16,203)
Seat 5: RedSasquatch (19,871)
Seat 6: NML500 (14,860)
Seat 7: namgoong1982 (3,583)
Seat 8: LoKaL64 (26,395)
lisacap antes 50
Zapbeeb antes 50
CheckinMyAA antes 50
13-SHARK antes 50
RedSasquatch antes 50
NML500 antes 50
namgoong1982 antes 50
LoKaL64 antes 50
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 200
13-SHARK posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Jd 7d]
RedSasquatch calls 400
NML500 folds
namgoong1982 folds
LoKaL64 has 15 seconds left to act
LoKaL64 folds
lisacap folds
Zapbeeb folds
CheckinMyAA calls 200
13-SHARK checks
*** FLOP *** [7c Ah Js]
CheckinMyAA checks
13-SHARK checks
RedSasquatch bets 1,600
CheckinMyAA calls 1,600
13-SHARK folds
*** TURN *** [7c Ah Js] [5d]
CheckinMyAA checks
babblz sits down
babblz adds 12,415
RedSasquatch bets 4,800
CheckinMyAA calls 4,800
*** RIVER *** [7c Ah Js 5d] [6d]
CheckinMyAA checks
RedSasquatch checks
babblz is feeling angry
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RedSasquatch shows [Ks Ad] a pair of Aces
CheckinMyAA shows [Jd 7d] two pair, Jacks and Sevens
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (14,400) with two pair, Jacks and Sevens

So it was definitely frustrating when he turned over what he did. I was astonished he limped this hand UTG, no doubt going for the dreaded limp/reraise. This is why that's a terrible play. You give garbage hands a chance to clobber the flop. Of course, my play was no better in the hand, so I can't point fingers too much.

The next hand is a bit of scarey situation. When you raise UTG and UTG+1 INSTA-shoves, you gotta wonder. I decided to bit the bullet and make the call..

Winning races in spots like this is something I haven't been doing a lot in the last few months, so I knew that this was huuuuge. Suddenly I was in the top 5 in chips with less than 80 remaining.

I tried to stay aggressive, but I was getting played back at a lot. A couple of hands where I got shoved on left me down to 30k. I hover around there until I lose a big pot with JJ when OTB calls me with the monster QTo. The flop was AQx, and we both checked, I bet the rag turn and he called obv. Another ace on the river, we both check, and he drags a 14k+ pot. Blech.

The blinds were now at the point where any pot was a big pot. The next hand I played was ATs in MP. I raise, and get called by the 41/8/0 to my left. The flop brings two hearts on QTx and I cbet, he calls. I was slightly worried until an offsuit ace fell on the turn. I bet again (damn flush draws always get there vs me) and he folded, leaving me with a 14,600 pot which put me back over 30k.

I was starting to slip in relation to the field at this point. I think there were about 40 left and I was 17th or so.

The next hand is a gift from the Calling Station chip leader to my left, who I was having a hell of a time playing against until this:

So that was a huge double up that put me right back in it with 3 tables left. This is about the time where I made the rail call on the CP forums, after which Loretta, Champ (pureprophet), lilkimmer, and NYRambler all came to cheer me on, which was fun.

Then I lose almost a 1/3 of my stack on a OTB steal attempt vs the same guy that doubled me up. I have a really hard time playing against stations when I'm out of position... That left me at 37K which was still a respectable chunk of chips putting me around the middle of the pack.

An orbit goes by and this time I find JJ OTB. Eeeexcellent. I raise as per the norm, and to my delight the shortstacked SB shoves on me. The calling station miraculously folds, and I hold vs KTo. Of course, the very next hand I lose almost half my stack with the same hand.

When the calling station overcalled my shove, I froze. I was not expecting it at all, and I end up seeing a horrible flop and folding. It's sort of a relief that I would have lost the bet anyways.

All of a sudden I was a hurting unit, sitting at about 17 of 21 remaining. Thankfully, our table broke a few hands later and I was moved to the same table as the chipleader, but now I had position on him.

Problem was, I only had 14bb. So this is where I started having to make moves. I did manage to stay afloat, and actually chipped up from 28k to 45k until I make a huge resteal. The whole time Loretta is spamming "J J J J J J J" in the chatbox:

Again I double through the chipleader, and now sit on a comfortable 95K (30bb) putting me around 4th as we approached the final table bubble.

Of course, in true aggrodonk fashion, the very next hand it folds to me in the SB with J8s. The BB has been playing pretty tight so far and was sitting on just over 10BB, so I open shoved, only to be snapped by A7o. Back down to 61k and 20bb.

I won a bit of it back by open shoving AQ, and then shoving QJs over a CO limp. The blinds had gone up again, so now my 71k was only 17bb.

KK wins a nice pot when I bet it and take it on the flop to move up to 84k and 21bb.

Then I get a LOL gift from the BB. What the HELL was he thinking hahahaha. (Converter doesn't like this one either)

Full Tilt Poker Game #6499345615: $10 + $1 Knockout (49286001), Table 16 - 2000/4000 Ante 500 - No Limit Holdem - 21:27:10 ET - 2008/05/20
Seat 1: a1steak (41,096)
Seat 2: NoLimitToday (144,388)
Seat 3: Rognotic (150,295)
Seat 4: BPRANGERS76 (176,086)
Seat 6: MY DOGS RULE (200,558)
Seat 7: Bobnjul (137,410)
Seat 9: CheckinMyAA (75,944)
a1steak antes 500
NoLimitToday antes 500
Rognotic antes 500
BPRANGERS76 antes 500
MY DOGS RULE antes 500
Bobnjul antes 500
CheckinMyAA antes 500
Rognotic posts the small blind of 2,000
BPRANGERS76 posts the big blind of 4,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [9c Qd]
MY DOGS RULE folds
Bobnjul folds
pureprophet (Observer): but you are girly men <---- I don't remember what this was in reference to
CheckinMyAA raises to 9,100
a1steak folds
NoLimitToday folds
Rognotic folds
BPRANGERS76 calls 5,100
*** FLOP *** [5d 8d 9h]
BPRANGERS76 checks
CheckinMyAA bets 14,000
BPRANGERS76 calls 14,000
*** TURN *** [5d 8d 9h] [Jd]
BPRANGERS76 checks
CheckinMyAA checks
*** RIVER *** [5d 8d 9h Jd] [Tc]
BPRANGERS76 bets 28,000
CheckinMyAA calls 28,000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BPRANGERS76 shows [2c 8h] a pair of Eights
CheckinMyAA shows [9c Qd] a straight, Queen high
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (107,700) with a straight, Queen high

Again, maybe a hand I should raise, but the diamond on the turn unnerved me a bit.

Then I lose 1/4 of my stack when I call a raise with A7s in position. The QKTss flop got checked around, and a 6d turn got checked to me again, so I decided to lead. I got called by the raiser, and we checked a 7d river for him to show me K7o.

Kings again win me a nice pot to put me back up to 135k. The guy that called me was getting into the habbit of calling my raises from the blinds, and check/instafolding to my bets, so I continued to pound on him whenever I could and managed to build up to 180k doing that.

Finally, I get the last laugh with the former calling station chip leader and collect his bounty on an extremely clutch hand. I'm leaving it in text cuz of the chat.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6499563688: $10 + $1 Knockout (49286001), Table 16 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Holdem - 21:44:24 ET - 2008/05/20
Seat 2: NoLimitToday (229,984)
Seat 3: Rognotic (296,390)
Seat 4: BPRANGERS76 (38,323)
Seat 6: MY DOGS RULE (119,026)
Seat 7: Bobnjul (94,010)
Seat 9: CheckinMyAA (148,044)
NoLimitToday antes 750
Rognotic antes 750
BPRANGERS76 antes 750
MY DOGS RULE antes 750
Bobnjul antes 750
CheckinMyAA antes 750
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 3,000
NoLimitToday posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ah Qs]
Rognotic folds
BPRANGERS76 folds
MY DOGS RULE raises to 20,000
Bobnjul folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 147,294, and is all in
NoLimitToday folds
MY DOGS RULE calls 98,276, and is all in
CheckinMyAA shows [Ah Qs]
MY DOGS RULE shows [Jc Jd]
Uncalled bet of 29,018 returned to CheckinMyAA
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
*** FLOP *** [4c 3c Qh]
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
*** TURN *** [4c 3c Qh] [Kd]
Loretta8 (Observer): hold
*** RIVER *** [4c 3c Qh Kd] [Td]
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Queens
MY DOGS RULE shows a pair of Jacks
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (247,052) with a pair of Queens
Loretta8 (Observer): BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Rognotic: gg

Boom indeed! Shortly after, it was final table time!

I bounced around around 220k-300k, then got a few hands to get some pots and move up to 400k, putting me in the chip lead for the first time in the tournament. Things were looking good with 5 players left.

Seat 1: Legalizeit2 (279,286)
Seat 2: NoLimitToday (188,834)
Seat 3: Rognotic (321,949)
Seat 4: BPRANGERS76 (191,134)
Seat 9: CheckinMyAA (398,797)

I had been on a bit of a cards heater to this point, and suddenly the floor fell out and I stopped getting anything. Unfortunately for me, Rognotic got the wind in his sails and knocked out all 3 of the other players, leaving me a slight dog in chips heads up.

Seat 3: Rognotic (787,803)
Seat 9: CheckinMyAA (592,197)

I was taking it to him at first, winning 9 or 10 of the first 12 heads up hands. Then everything fell apart and he started taking it to me. Suddenly down 2-1 in chips, and getting tired of him pushing me around, I go out on this hand.

So it was a little disappointing. First place was 920$ and change, while 2nd was 570 and change. It's always nice to take down a whole tourny, but at the same time, this cash (580$ when you include roughly 5 KOs) is absolutely massive for me. I'm suddenly bankrolled comfortably for the stakes I like to play at (10$ MTTs, 25NL) and I've got my confidence back.

Hope you enjoyed the recap! I'll try to make another deep run soon. In the meantime, I'm rather enjoying chalking up a lot of 25NL experience. ...It's off to a bit of a rough start (AA, AKs, AQs are among my top 10 losing hands over 7000 hands) but I've started working my way back up to even. Sitting at -0.89 bb/100 so far (down ~1 BI). But I'll get there.

Thanks for readin'

Blog Surfing

2008-05-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

I was out snooping everyone's blogrolls as I often do, and just stumbled upon Katiemother's blog and found this gem

Definitely worth checking out IMO if you've got 10 minutes to kill.

Ship the biggest cash yet

2008-05-21T02:43:00.000-07:00

Finally my persistence in MTTs of late pays off and I actually win some clutch hands late. Unfortunately I couldn't take first, but 2nd + a few KOs nets me a cool ~580$ which is by far the biggest cash for me online. BR is sooo close to 4 figures.

Details later! Thanks to a bunch of the CP guys (george, lilkimmer, champ, rambler) for the rail support.

MATH frustration continues

2008-05-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Winning this would have put me at 10k with ~20 left. Instead I was left treading water till we got down to 13 players and my card death ended in calling a SB shove with A3 to his A9 with me sitting on 8bb. GG.

I had AA four times. FOUR! I didn't get called preflop ONCE despite running 24/19/2

To the Cas!

2008-05-16T01:30:00.000-07:00

So I went for some drinks with friends tonight to enjoy the amazing weather on a patio. Afterwards a bunch of them were going to the casino so I decided to tag along.

The casino we went to runs a poker room thats only limit. I'm pretty comfortable playing 4/8 kill, so I got my name on the list, and 30 minutes later I was in seat 2 at table 4 with 100$ in front of me.

Got off to a good start when I was dealt AsKs in middle position and raised. The flop came with an ace, and I bet all 3 streets to rake a decent pot. I won the next hand with something - I don't remember what. All I know is that it was my kill button the next hand and I was dealt T8o. There were 4 callers and we saw a 97K flop. Open endeeed! I called one bet on the flop to see a blank turn, I think a 3. There were 3 players in the hand at this point and it checked around. The river was a beautiful 6, with no flush on board giving me the nuts. I bet and got one caller to rake a massive pot.

After that I had a couple bad hands. Once I had 77 in a pot that got capped preflop. (I was between the two guys who ended up capping it so I kept thinking "well shit, I gotta call". The flop came something like T83 and it checked around (!?!?!). The turn was a K. The capper bet, the other guy called, and I reluctantly folded. The river was another blank and they both checked ... ace high. AQ high takes the pot over A5o ... ?!?!?!

I also lost a ~decent pot with JJ on a TKKxT board when my opponent rivered a 2-outter ten. That pissed me off a little.

I can see why Santi loves his live limit. Soooo many donkeys. There was some guy who bet all 3 streets of a raised pot with ten high and was calling raises with 32o (and then calling bets with no pair no draw). I mean really.

The very last hand as I was getting ready to leave, I was on the button and got Qc6c. There were a bunch of limps, so I tagged along for shits. The flop came T62. EP bet, it folded to me and I made an "aw fuckit" call. It was down to heads up already.. The turn was a ten. He bets again and I call, feeling better about my hand. The river rags off a 3 and he bets yet again. I announce "call" and before I even get my chips out he's mucked his cards. Sweet. That was a nice lil 80$ pot.

So I left up $155. Pretty sweet

If only I ran like this online...

I wanted to stay, but my ride was pushing me to leave. So I'll almost certainly be back at a casino some time hopefully soon. For now I've gotta pack my bags and get ready to road trip it down to Montanna for may long weekeeeend! It's gonna be a SHIT show and I am PUMPED.

Enjoy your weekend folks.

Running good late, AGAIN

2008-05-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

First hand of the final table

UGH.

Running Good Late, cont

2008-05-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

Played a couple tourneys this afternoon. Made a good run in the 2$ deepstack. Slowly built up, and then became huge with this hand with about 50 left.

Shortly after this, I got moved to the table I would spend the rest of the tourny at. I quickly found out the guy to my left would always, ALWAYS play back when I tried to steal in late position. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't really getting hands (again), so I had to slow down, and my 40BB stack quickly became a 30BB stack, then a 20BB stack. I managed to stay in that range only by well timed steals like this

And big blind specials like this

And then I get my first premium hand in roughly 100 hands, for this.

Ugh.

That is all. Cya in the Mook briefly.

Disappointing final tables

2008-05-14T00:54:00.000-07:00

Made a great run in the same 3$ turbo I took down a few days back the very next day (this was two days ago now). Unfortunately I picked up two big hands that dropped me on my ass and I was out in 6th for a minute cash.

Tonight I final tabled the 3$ KO

I got the perfect balance of cards leading up to the final 18 players and never got my money in worse than a 60% favorite, but as usual went totally dead. As much as I'd love to blame not winning on a lack of cards (my best hand for the last 150 hands was AKo once, then AJ twice), I really didn't have to go out when I did (in 5th). The chip leader in the SB was a calling station (45/5/0.5) and he'd already outplayed me for a few pots. I very briefly took the chip lead by repeatedly taking pots from other players, but then I just kept giving it back to him. It was incredibly frustrating, and my frustration got the best of me in the hand I busted on. I might share later, but it was pretty brutal, and he played the hand to perfection.

Oh well... 5th was worth 70$. Only got ~4 KOs. The only way I can ever seem to build my stack is to run huge steals/bluffs against players I know will let me get away with it. One of these days I'll get on a heater in the right time... One day..

Losing big flips late, and rigged heads up hands

2008-05-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

Since the turbo win, my roll has been close to what it needs to be for me to play those 6.50$ double heads up for tokens. I won my MATH token last weekend fairly easily. My first opponent and I got it all in on the first hand preflop and my AA held off his 77. I don't remember much about the 2nd game, but I do know I won.

That made way for the MATH. I got a bunch of cards early, and played them pretty fast. And one player gave me waaay too much credit. Once he raised in the CO with what he claimed was AK. I also had AKs in the SB, and I 3b pretty hard. He folded. Clearly he's not up to date on how most people play AK in shorthanded NL... A while later he raised from OTB and I was in the BB with AQo. I 3 bet him again pretty hard, and he called. The flop came something like JT7, all diamonds. I made a hard c-bet, and he thought for a long time before folding what he claimed to be QQ with no diamond. I'd probably call it a bad fold, but I did have a lot of outs. I had the Q of diamonds, so 3 K, 2 A, and 9 diamonds (Including Ad, Kd). Woulda been interesting if he called.

I ended up busting in a huge pot with around 14 players left. The winner of the hand ended up taking the tournament. Oh well.

Later I played another double heads up token satellite, and after winning the first match handily, the second match ended like this:

Pretty rigged imo

Thanks to Leafs (Steven) for the rail in my MATH run, and thanks to Duke for pointing out these lovely hand replayers.

Cya next time

Ship!

2008-05-10T23:22:00.001-07:00

Finally a take down. I ran pretty good at the end. Figures that just after I give up holding out on a W ..... haha

100th Post, The Home Game, Meeting a GBIFF

2008-05-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

So I was sorta hoping to hold out my 100th post for a decent cash or something, but that could take years, so instead I'll talk about the home game that until this week, I had been crushing.

Since I started this home game in late December, we've met almost every 2 weeks, with some exceptions due to scheduling conflicts. In 5 months after 11 get togethers for exactly 23 games, this is what the leaderboard looks like.

1. Ken C: 540$ <--- me
2. Eric T: 160$
3. Sean L: 145$
4. Sean M: 140$
5. Ben S: 130$
6. Ian: 130$
7. Steven L: 120$ <--- better known to some as "Leafs"
8. Evan W: 80$
9. Tristan: 75$
10. Alex M: 50$
11. Mark P: 30$
12. Jene W: 30$
13. Travis M: 20$
14. Shane: 20$

Needless to say, on the average, the field is pretty soft for a not-completely-shitty poker player like myself. The #3 player is my personal pupil. The problem with just about everyone in the game is they overvalue weak holdings, and don't know how to play aggressive properly. Since I took Sean L under my wing, he's gone from slightly below middle of the pack to #3. I told him after the game last night that he's not getting any more tips..

Now how about this Leafs character. A couple months ago I was welcomed into the +1 community. Shortly after my inception, I got acquainted with this "Leafs" person who had just moved out to Calgary. He caught wind of my game, wanted in, and offered free beer since he works at Molson. Needless to say, I got him out as fast as I possibly could.

The game last night was the first time he'd managed to make it out. Always strange to meet a gbiff. He quickly went to work on the weak field. I tried my best to take the winds out of his sales, but he got there twice against me, once with A9 vs AK (vs another AK) all in preflop, and then another time with K8s > A2o in resteal situation (he raised OTB, I shoved from BB). He took 2nd in the first game for 20$, and took the second, bigger buyin game down for 100$ when QJs beat 44 all in preflop.

It was fun havin' you out man, despite the fact that you took my spot as the master of suckouts. haha...

That's all for now. I've finally got internet at home again, and hopefully PokerOffice support has fixed the bug that basically makes it useless for FullTilt since the last update, so I'll be at the tables a bunch over the next lil while trying to chip up to a respectable bankroll.

Thanks to all my readers.. regular or otherwise. The first 100 posts were fun. I'll try to keep it that way.

Sampling the Skills Series

2008-05-06T20:36:00.001-07:00

I'm blasting away in the Skill Series playing Razz. I had a tough run to start, but in hour two I'm really making a lot of hands.

Here's a fun snap shot from mid hour 1.

I'm currently 5/31 and we just started the 2nd break

thebmore and I get into a pretty big pot with my (J5)A to his (xx)3 when 4th and 5th make us (J5)A75 (xx)3QK. I crack 11K.

Down to 3 tables. I'm 7/23 with 10,440

Big pot vs oossuuu, a good catch on 6th makes my A2569 the best hand (he's showing 3T2K). 13,440 and 7/21

Loretta hits 4th and I don't. 11,840

I've accumulated this stack without a single KO. Odd.

It's really easy to bluff in razz... see below.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6317337871: Skill Series (44660205), Table 6 - 800/1600 Ante 150 - Limit Razz - 0:02:37 ET - 2008/05/07
Seat 2: RNallin (10,044)
Seat 3: CheckinMyAA (11,740)
Seat 4: AlCantHang (4,439)
Seat 5: Loretta8 (11,846)
Seat 7: BamBamCan (22,659)
Seat 8: change100 (4,345)
RNallin antes 150
CheckinMyAA antes 150
AlCantHang antes 150
Loretta8 antes 150
BamBamCan antes 150
change100 antes 150
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to RNallin [2c]
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ah Jd] [5c]
Dealt to AlCantHang [Js]
Dealt to Loretta8 [Qc]
Dealt to BamBamCan [2d]
Dealt to change100 [6c]
Loretta8 is high with [Qc]
Loretta8 brings in for 250
BamBamCan folds
change100 folds
RNallin has 15 seconds left to act
RNallin completes it to 800
CheckinMyAA raises to 1,600
I decided he was trying to bluff his low card
AlCantHang folds
Loretta8 folds
RNallin calls 800
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to RNallin [2c] [Kd]
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ah Jd 5c] [Ad]
CheckinMyAA bets 800
RNallin folds
Uncalled bet of 800 returned to CheckinMyAA
CheckinMyAA mucks
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (4,350)

I've done that a few times tonight.

A few hands later of easy steals and I'm suddenly sitting on 17,390

Another big pot, this time with Loretta.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6317379804: Skill Series (44660205), Table 6 - 800/1600 Ante 150 - Limit Razz - 0:06:03 ET - 2008/05/07
Seat 2: RNallin (9,444)
Seat 3: CheckinMyAA (17,790)
Seat 4: AlCantHang (3,139)
Seat 5: Loretta8 (10,046)
Seat 7: BamBamCan (21,359)
Seat 8: change100 (3,295)
RNallin antes 150
CheckinMyAA antes 150
AlCantHang antes 150
Loretta8 antes 150
BamBamCan antes 150
change100 antes 150
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to RNallin [7h]
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Jc 4c] [2c]
Dealt to AlCantHang [5d]
Dealt to Loretta8 [3d]
Dealt to BamBamCan [Ac]
Dealt to change100 [5h]
RNallin is high with [7h]
RNallin brings in for 250
CheckinMyAA calls 250
AlCantHang folds
Loretta8 completes it to 800
BamBamCan has 15 seconds left to act
BamBamCan folds
change100 folds
RNallin calls 550
CheckinMyAA calls 550
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to RNallin [7h] [8h]
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Jc 4c 2c] [5c]
Dealt to Loretta8 [3d] [7s]
CheckinMyAA bets 800
Loretta8 calls 800
RNallin folds
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Jc 4c 2c 5c] [6d]
Dealt to Loretta8 [3d 7s] [9s]
CheckinMyAA bets 1,600
Loretta8 calls 1,600
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Jc 4c 2c 5c 6d] [7c]
Dealt to Loretta8 [3d 7s 9s] [7d]
CheckinMyAA bets 1,600
Loretta8 folds
Uncalled bet of 1,600 returned to CheckinMyAA
CheckinMyAA mucks
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (8,100)

That briefly put me over 22K before I get gayed on 7th street

Full Tilt Poker Game #6317392306: Skill Series (44660205), Table 6 - 800/1600 Ante 150 - Limit Razz - 0:07:04 ET - 2008/05/07
Seat 2: RNallin (8,494)
Seat 3: CheckinMyAA (22,540)
Seat 4: AlCantHang (2,989)
Seat 5: Loretta8 (6,696)
Seat 7: BamBamCan (21,209)
Seat 8: change100 (3,145)
RNallin antes 150
CheckinMyAA antes 150
AlCantHang antes 150
Loretta8 antes 150
BamBamCan antes 150
change100 antes 150
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to RNallin [3d]
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [5c 2h] [Kd]
Dealt to AlCantHang [9d]
Dealt to Loretta8 [4c]
Dealt to BamBamCan [Ts]
Dealt to change100 [3s]
CheckinMyAA is high with [Kd]
CheckinMyAA brings in for 250
AlCantHang folds
Loretta8 folds
BamBamCan folds
change100 folds
RNallin completes it to 800
CheckinMyAA calls 550
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to RNallin [3d] [Jd]
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [5c 2h Kd] [Jh]
RNallin bets 800
CheckinMyAA calls 800
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to RNallin [3d Jd] [Kc]
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [5c 2h Kd Jh] [Ah]
CheckinMyAA bets 1,600
RNallin calls 1,600
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to RNallin [3d Jd Kc] [8d]
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [5c 2h Kd Jh Ah] [2d]
CheckinMyAA bets 1,600
RNallin calls 1,600
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [5c 2h Kd Jh Ah 2d] [9c]
CheckinMyAA bets 1,600
RNallin calls 1,600
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CheckinMyAA shows [9c 5c Kd Jh Ah 2d 2h] J,9,5,2,A
RNallin shows [4h 4d 3d Jd Kc 8d As] J,8,4,3,A He hits the ace.. Fleh
RNallin wins the pot (13,700) with J,8,4,3,A

Back down to 15,490 .. 3/17

I make my first big suckout and bust Al. Up to 21k

Take a smallish pot off Fuel. 23,918 puts me 2nd of 15

Again I get sucked on 7th street, this time by Rambler spiking an ace, and I'm way back down at 14,368 (6/13)

Ugh. For the THIRD time, my opponent spikes an Ace on 7th. Down to 7618 (11/12)

I'm the tourny shortstack and I keep having to bring in .. These hands are great... (AA)Q,

Out in 11th when I pick a bad spot with (36)8 vs (25)3. GG me.

Ah well, it was fun. Running bad in endgame always kills me.

Blog-as-you-Go : Midnight Madness

2008-04-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

Just underway.
Hand #2: Call raise OTB w AJs, whiff, fold to cbet (1395)
Hand #3: Raise 9Ts from HJ, OTB, SB call. Cbet rag flop, OTB calls, SB crai, I fold. (1105)
Hand #7: Small BvB pot (unraised), I flop OESD and turn a FD but cant semibluff him off 2nd pair (1000)
Hand #11: QQ in HJ turns into bluff on KxKJ and I take the pot (1180)
Hand #16: 77 in BB, OTB raises, I 3b, he takes a while and calls. I shove for a little less than the pot on KJ6 and he folds (1605)
Hand #26: Lose a big flip vs CO from SB with 88 < AK, crippled (475)
- Double up OTB vs CO, A8 > K9 (860)
- Presto UTG flops a set 3-handed and I ~double up (1660)
- AQ in SB, MP limps, I raise, BB shoves for a tiny bit more, MP folds, I call and hold vs 8To (2160)
- Moved for third time >.<
- I have a donkey on my right I can't wait to take advantage of...
- 2 orbits of death at new table and it's break time (1860)
- Getting into desperation mode. Another orbit of death, just shoved K2o OTB (1700 ~14BB)
- This table is so tight... 18/9/1 overall
- Another dead orbit, got two steals in (1960, 12BB)
- I raise A8 on the CO, BB (just got here) shoves, I have to call and suck a river 8 vs his AK (4000)
- My first hand in ages! 22! I go set fishing and miss (3300)
- Bluff a raggy board w 5-high from BB in a limped pot, take it down (3600)
- Get a sooted ace in a small battle with a MP limping nit. He plays a pretty transparent flush and I fold my TPNK (2800, 14bb)
- Raise 66 UTG and get a friendly flop. cbet takes it. (4000)
- Antes just kicked in.
- Aces!! Scarey board (8QQ8K) and I win a decent pot vs 66 (5665)
- BB in a limped pot, checks all the way and a river jack makes my J2o good (5555)
- JJ in MP, I raise and BB calls. He c/f's a rag two-heart flop (6280, 21bb)
- Getting braver with my steals. 84s in the CO gets me back up. (6405, 16bb)
- AA picks up the blinds (7330)
- 2nd break. When we come back I'm gonna have 13bb. Need more love than JJ or AA every 20 hands. 135/222 (6 off the money)
- ITM! woot. My M is 5.
- Raise 66 UTG, no love on the flop 3-handed. Under 10BB
- Out in 201st. Flop gave me hope...but no.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6232042799: Midnight Madness! (46752161), Table 12 - 250/500 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:20:38 ET - 2008/04/30
Seat 1: CheckinMyAA (4,455)
Seat 2: bestbet86 (7,269)
Seat 3: _GibaS_ (26,402)
Seat 4: freerollzx (10,128)
Seat 5: thebigeasygas (8,680)
Seat 6: ImaBustYou (11,406)
Seat 7: KMK_LOC420 (2,655)
Seat 8: AA_RobotKiller (4,756)
Seat 9: aceswild444 (16,145)
CheckinMyAA antes 50
bestbet86 antes 50
_GibaS_ antes 50
freerollzx antes 50
thebigeasygas antes 50
ImaBustYou antes 50
KMK_LOC420 antes 50
AA_RobotKiller antes 50
aceswild444 antes 50
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 250
bestbet86 posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Td Ad]
_GibaS_ folds
freerollzx folds
thebigeasygas folds
ImaBustYou folds
KMK_LOC420 folds
AA_RobotKiller folds
aceswild444 raises to 2,000
CheckinMyAA raises to 4,405, and is all in
bestbet86 folds
aceswild444 calls 2,405
CheckinMyAA shows [Td Ad]
aceswild444 shows [Qs As]
*** FLOP *** [5s 4h Th]
*** TURN *** [5s 4h Th] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [5s 4h Th 4s] [Qh]
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Tens and Fours
aceswild444 shows two pair, Queens and Fours
aceswild444 wins the pot (9,760) with two pair, Queens and Fours
CheckinMyAA stands up

Considering the degree of card death I was experiencing, just cashing is a victory in itself. haha... Ugh.

Decent Cash

2008-04-25T01:31:00.000-07:00

Final tabled a 10$ 6-max tourney (I always seem to do well in these things)

Ran pretty good the whole way. Would have been nice to dodge the OESFD though. (Money in on the flop)

I'll take it!

Now Aces suck too

2008-04-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Played for the first time in over a week today. Feeling pretty confident. Now that my bankroll is crippled (I'm officially a loser on FT now), I'm down to 5$ SNGs and the ocassional 6.5$ double heads up for a token.

The token tourny was over in a hurry when I ran TPTK into a naked flush draw on the flop and in true fashion made it on the turn.

Then I get my first premium pair since my current 0/6 streak with KK/QQ

Full Tilt Poker Game #6073200864: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (46229176), Table 5 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:43:42 ET - 2008/04/17
Seat 1: CheckinMyAA (2,450)
Seat 2: setsit (6,595)
Seat 3: randallwayne (1,270)
Seat 4: benefactor89 (7,000)
Seat 6: terrywesley (3,465)
Seat 7: RobCo10 (1,425)
Seat 8: a reapers touch (4,530)
a reapers touch posts the small blind of 50
CheckinMyAA posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ah Ac]
setsit has 15 seconds left to act
setsit raises to 300
randallwayne folds
benefactor89 folds
terrywesley folds
RobCo10 folds
a reapers touch folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 950
setsit raises to 1,600
CheckinMyAA raises to 2,450, and is all in
setsit calls 850
CheckinMyAA shows [Ah Ac]
setsit shows [9c 9h]
*** FLOP *** [Ts 8d 8h]
*** TURN *** [Ts 8d 8h] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 8d 8h 7s] [Js]
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Aces and Eights
setsit shows a straight, Jack high
setsit wins the pot (4,950) with a straight, Jack high
CheckinMyAA stands up

Haha, as I'm writing this I finally break my streak on the last table I'm still playing

Full Tilt Poker Game #6073271640: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (46230333), Table 1 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:49:44 ET - 2008/04/17
Seat 2: jag84com1 (5,395)
Seat 3: cueminator (1,670)
Seat 4: roasty1266 (2,290)
Seat 6: phatbank2005 (1,495)
Seat 8: CheckinMyAA (1,420)
Seat 9: SAXONITE FT (1,230)
jag84com1 posts the small blind of 60
cueminator posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ah As]
roasty1266 folds
phatbank2005 raises to 420
CheckinMyAA raises to 1,420, and is all in
SAXONITE FT folds
jag84com1 folds
cueminator folds
phatbank2005 calls 1,000
CheckinMyAA shows [Ah As]
phatbank2005 shows [Qc Qh]
*** FLOP *** [4c Ts 9h]
*** TURN *** [4c Ts 9h] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [4c Ts 9h 3c] [8d]
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Aces
phatbank2005 shows a pair of Queens
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (3,020) with a pair of Aces

1/8 ain't bad I guess for top 3 hands.

Of course, 3 hands later, this happens.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6073303529: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (46230333), Table 1 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:52:28 ET - 2008/04/17
Seat 2: jag84com1 (5,175)
Seat 3: cueminator (1,730)
Seat 4: roasty1266 (1,980)
Seat 6: phatbank2005 (165)
Seat 8: CheckinMyAA (2,840)
Seat 9: SAXONITE FT (1,610)
jag84com1 posts the small blind of 80
cueminator posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ad Td]
roasty1266 raises to 1,980, and is all in
phatbank2005 folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 2,840, and is all in
SAXONITE FT folds
jag84com1 folds
cueminator folds
CheckinMyAA shows [Ad Td]
roasty1266 shows [5h Ah]
Uncalled bet of 860 returned to CheckinMyAA
phatbank2005: figres i get qq you have aa lol
*** FLOP *** [3c 7c 2s]
*** TURN *** [3c 7c 2s] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [3c 7c 2s 4s] [8h]
CheckinMyAA shows Ace Ten high
roasty1266 shows a straight, Five high
roasty1266 wins the pot (4,200) with a straight, Five high

2 hands later with 5 BB I run 22 into QQ.

See you in another week! ...this is rediculous.

Now you're just making me laugh Full Tilt

2008-04-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

Good times.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5960964342: Tier One $8+$0.70 (Turbo) (45384745), Table 2 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:51:23 ET - 2008/04/08
Seat 1: CrazyAssAdam (1,485)
Seat 2: nikkash (1,470)
Seat 3: danzku (1,500)
Seat 4: vegas6196 (1,500)
Seat 5: KD2552 (1,500)
Seat 6: CheckinMyAA (1,410)
Seat 7: Archimedean (1,635)
Seat 8: Turd Hurder 130 (1,500)
Seat 9: zeevette (1,500)
nikkash posts the small blind of 15
danzku posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Qc Qh]
vegas6196 folds
KD2552 folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 90
Archimedean calls 90
Turd Hurder 130 calls 90
zeevette folds
CrazyAssAdam folds
nikkash raises to 330
danzku folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 1,410, and is all in
Archimedean folds
Turd Hurder 130 has 15 seconds left to act
Turd Hurder 130 calls 1,320
nikkash raises to 1,470, and is all in
Turd Hurder 130 calls 60
nikkash shows [Ks Kd] <--- orly????
CheckinMyAA shows [Qc Qh]
Turd Hurder 130 shows [7s As] <--- well played...
*** FLOP *** [3h 2c Td]
*** TURN *** [3h 2c Td] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [3h 2c Td Tc] [Ac]
nikkash shows two pair, Kings and Tens
Turd Hurder 130 shows two pair, Aces and Tens
Turd Hurder 130 wins the side pot (120) with two pair, Aces and Tens
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Queens and Tens
Turd Hurder 130 wins the main pot (4,350) with two pair, Aces and Tens
CheckinMyAA stands up
nikkash stands up

Full Tilt Poker Game #5960995550: Tier One $6.50 + $0.40 Sit & Go (45384904), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:54:02 ET - 2008/04/08
Seat 1: CheckinMyAA (2,600)
Seat 2: Le fils a papa (400)
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 10
Le fils a papa posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Kh Ks]
CheckinMyAA raises to 60
Le fils a papa raises to 400, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls 340
Le fils a papa shows [Ac Ah] <---- KK no good heads up
CheckinMyAA shows [Kh Ks]
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 8h]
*** TURN *** [Jc 8s 8h] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 8s 8h 4h] [6h]
Le fils a papa shows two pair, Aces and Eights
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Kings and Eights
Le fils a papa wins the pot (800) with two pair, Aces and Eights
CheckinMyAA: bahahaha

First hand at the second table of the heads up match. Snag has good Omaha stats, but his NL is in the shitter. He just eliminated the other guy with 66 vs 9Ts

Full Tilt Poker Game #5961060207: Tier One $6.50 + $0.40 Sit & Go (45384904), Table 1 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:59:35 ET - 2008/04/08
Seat 1: CheckinMyAA (3,000)
Seat 2: Uncle Snag (3,000)
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 15
Uncle Snag posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ah Kh]
CheckinMyAA raises to 90
Uncle Snag raises to 3,000, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls 2,910, and is all in
Uncle Snag shows [6c 6s] <--- sweet.
CheckinMyAA shows [Ah Kh]
*** FLOP *** [6d 3c 2c]
*** TURN *** [6d 3c 2c] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [6d 3c 2c 8c] [2h]
Uncle Snag shows a full house, Sixes full of Twos
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Twos
Uncle Snag wins the pot (6,000) with a full house, Sixes full of Twos
toplayr (Observer): he's horrible
CheckinMyAA stands up

At this point, I'm laughing out loud.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5961276833: Midnight Madness! (44728209), Table 146 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:18:19 ET - 2008/04/09
Seat 1: joelbond (2,910)
Seat 2: JDM9 (1,790)
Seat 3: brojas47 (2,080)
Seat 4: phoenixdq (1,645)
Seat 5: CheckinMyAA (1,395)
Seat 6: ualuke (1,005)
Seat 7: element-zero (1,485)
Seat 8: callmeCHEF (3,900)
Seat 9: chip_her_up (2,665)
chip_her_up posts the small blind of 20
joelbond posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Kc Kh]
JDM9 calls 40
brojas47 folds
phoenixdq folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 160
ualuke has 15 seconds left to act
ualuke calls 160
element-zero folds
callmeCHEF folds
chip_her_up calls 140
joelbond calls 120
JDM9 calls 120
5 to the flop eh? Yikes... plznosetplznotsetplznotset
*** FLOP *** [Qh 9s 6c]
chip_her_up checks
joelbond checks
JDM9 checks
CheckinMyAA bets 620 <----- Obviously I'm going broke here
ualuke folds
chip_her_up has 15 seconds left to act
chip_her_up folds
joelbond calls 620
JDM9 folds
*** TURN *** [Qh 9s 6c] [4d]
joelbond checks
CheckinMyAA bets 615, and is all in
joelbond calls 615
CheckinMyAA shows [Kc Kh]
joelbond shows [9d 9h] <------- orly???!
*** RIVER *** [Qh 9s 6c 4d] [8s]
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Kings
joelbond shows three of a kind, Nines
joelbond wins the pot (3,270) with three of a kind, Nines
CheckinMyAA stands up

KK is 0/3 in its last 3 appearances (2/3 for running into AA)
QQ is 3/3 for running into higher pairs (AA x2, KK x1)

JJ and AA don't really show up anymore.

Gooooood times.

Fuck poker. Seriously.

2008-04-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

28K:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5947814516: $28,000 Guarantee (44619463), Table 17 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:23:32 ET - 2008/04/07
Seat 1: CheckinMyAA (6,460)
Seat 2: drhat13 (8,600)
Seat 3: boiling (4,470)
Seat 4: SUPERPRINCIPE (7,687)
Seat 5: Made_hand (4,880)
Seat 6: LuckyAdviser (2,240)
Seat 7: 17700JT (3,860), is sitting out
Seat 8: SchefferPG (7,700)
Seat 9: jefffly (7,270)
SUPERPRINCIPE posts the small blind of 80
Made_hand posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ad Kh]
LuckyAdviser folds
17700JT folds
SchefferPG has 15 seconds left to act
SchefferPG raises to 411
jefffly folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 1,300
drhat13 folds
boiling folds
17700JT has reconnected
SUPERPRINCIPE folds
Made_hand folds
17700JT has returned
SchefferPG has 15 seconds left to act
SchefferPG raises to 7,700, and is all in
CheckinMyAA has 15 seconds left to act
CheckinMyAA calls 5,160, and is all in
SchefferPG shows [Js Qs] Brilliant 4b shove for almost 50BB.
CheckinMyAA shows [Ad Kh]
Uncalled bet of 1,240 returned to SchefferPG
*** FLOP *** [Jd 5h 8c]
*** TURN *** [Jd 5h 8c] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 5h 8c 3s] [Td]
SchefferPG shows a pair of Jacks
CheckinMyAA shows Ace King high
SchefferPG wins the pot (13,160) with a pair of Jacks
CheckinMyAA stands up

MATH
Lotta history with Chippy here that made this a snap call on the turn.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5948129915: Mondays at the Hoy (45101230), Table 8 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:50:54 ET - 2008/04/07
Seat 1: Chippy McStacks (15,581)
Seat 2: CheckinMyAA (10,356)
Seat 3: HighOnPoker (3,374)
Seat 4: Schaubs (4,903)
Seat 6: Evy35 (10,395)
Chippy McStacks antes 25
CheckinMyAA antes 25
HighOnPoker antes 25
Schaubs antes 25
Evy35 antes 25
Evy35 posts the small blind of 150
Chippy McStacks posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Kc Js]
CheckinMyAA raises to 750
HighOnPoker folds
Schaubs folds
Evy35 folds
Chippy McStacks calls 450
*** FLOP *** [Qs Tc 4s]
Chippy McStacks bets 999
CheckinMyAA calls 999
*** TURN *** [Qs Tc 4s] [9s] I hold a spade and he's been playing a lot of shit against me. No way I can fold now.
Chippy McStacks checks
CheckinMyAA bets 2,600
Chippy McStacks raises to 8,582
CheckinMyAA calls 5,982, and is all in
Chippy McStacks shows [6s 7s] Offf course..
CheckinMyAA shows [Kc Js]
*** RIVER *** [Qs Tc 4s 9s] [9h]
Chippy McStacks shows a flush, Queen high
CheckinMyAA shows a straight, King high
Chippy McStacks wins the pot (20,937) with a flush, Queen high
Chippy McStacks: gg Yea, brilliant.
CheckinMyAA stands up

10$ MTT. Play a tight early game and am rediculously card dead. Pick up my first hand in god knows how long and

Full Tilt Poker Game #5947754091: $10 + $1 Tournament (45178510), Table 12 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:18:36 ET - 2008/04/07
Seat 1: sestinatim (3,730)
Seat 2: mrocklop (3,441)
Seat 3: CheckinMyAA (1,785)
Seat 4: CALIDOGS (5,861)
Seat 5: SHERMSTICK (5,888), is sitting out
Seat 6: SpiralOut04 (6,170)
Seat 7: i be TUCKFIELD (8,188)
Seat 8: thebrit46 (2,050)
Seat 9: jokericon (2,650)
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 80
CALIDOGS posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Qd Qh]
SHERMSTICK folds
SpiralOut04 raises to 560
i be TUCKFIELD folds
thebrit46 folds
jokericon folds
sestinatim folds
mrocklop folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 1,785, and is all in
CALIDOGS folds
SpiralOut04 calls 1,225
CheckinMyAA shows [Qd Qh] zomg a hand!
SpiralOut04 shows [Ad As] Ah. yes.
*** FLOP *** [5h 5c 3s]
*** TURN *** [5h 5c 3s] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [5h 5c 3s 8h] [2s]
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Queens and Fives
SpiralOut04 shows two pair, Aces and Fives
SpiralOut04 wins the pot (3,730) with two pair, Aces and Fives
CheckinMyAA stands up

That is all. I haven't had any kind of cash in two months now. And I don't think I'm playing badly...

EDIT: Once wasn't enough...

Full Tilt Poker Game #5948653492: $10 + $1 Sit & Go (45291166), Table 1 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:38:29 ET - 2008/04/08
Seat 1: Brazenraisin (1,650)
Seat 2: ak_bird_slayer (1,560)
Seat 3: mattwill40 (1,470)
Seat 4: TwoAce Carter (2,145)
Seat 5: jaymail34 (810)
Seat 6: ggosse (1,395)
Seat 7: CheckinMyAA (1,500)
Seat 8: Dirk Goldschap (1,470)
Seat 9: pokerman451 (1,500)
Dirk Goldschap posts the small blind of 15
pokerman451 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Qh Qs]
Brazenraisin folds
ak_bird_slayer folds
mattwill40 folds
TwoAce Carter folds
jaymail34 calls 30
ggosse folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 120
Dirk Goldschap calls 105
pokerman451 folds
jaymail34 raises to 810, and is all in
CheckinMyAA raises to 1,500, and is all in
Dirk Goldschap folds
CheckinMyAA shows [Qh Qs]
jaymail34 shows [As Ad]
Uncalled bet of 690 returned to CheckinMyAA
*** FLOP *** [2h 7d 8c]
*** TURN *** [2h 7d 8c] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [2h 7d 8c 5s] [Ts]
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Queens
jaymail34 shows a pair of Aces
jaymail34 wins the pot (1,770) with a pair of Aces

I run goot, cont'd

2008-03-26T22:19:00.000-07:00

Another session.. Another staggering series of hands.

The best of the night were a double heads up token sat. The guy has an OPR of < 1%, making him one of the worst ranked players on there. He makes it very clear early that he's willing to go all in with anything. So when I pick up TT, I raise, he min reraises, I shove, and he calls, turning over about what I expect: J3cc. The flop comes T-rag-rag, both rags are clubs, the turn of course completes his flush and I miss the reverse 9 outter for an early exit. NH sir.

The other was a 8$ 18 player token sat... I raise AT in LP and the button calls. We see a T74 flop with two diamonds. I lead, he minraises, I shove. He takes a while, but makes the call with 99. Nice call, sir. Turn in an 8, river is a 9.

It's nice to know that there's still fish in the sea, but man has it been a while since I've been able to take their money. After my 9 for 10 streak in token sats, I'm currently mired in a 1 for 7 slump, only two of which I would attribute to making poor plays.

I run goot. Often.

Lack of mojo is -EV

2008-03-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

Played my first decent session in a while last night with pretty much no success. I ran into a card rack in one of the heads up 6.50$ double heads up token sats and couldn't get past the first round for the first time in 4 attempts. Then I went out of a 18-man turbo token sat in a hurry when I ran out of room and shoved AT into KK. I bubbled the tokens in the non-turbo equivalent when I couldn't beat out the 2nd shortest stack's AQ with my AK (and then lost when I shoved A6 into AQ and couldn't return the favor).

I also tried the 28K. Got a decent start in the first half hour but didn't see a damn thing until late hour two when I open shoved 97 with 10BB in the CO and got snapped off by SB's TT.

I also went 0/3 in races, 0/2 when I got it in as a 75/25 favorite, and didn't record a single suckout. AK once, no AA, KK, but one QQ that flopped quads and won a small pot. No JJ, TT, and AQ/AJ were missing every time. One of those nights where you just have to shrug your shoulders and hope you run better the next time.

I'll probably play some tonight.

On the home front, ex is officially moved out, so I'm staying at the old place until Saturday when I move to my sweet new digs. I've actually had encounters with 3 different girls since we broke up, but none have resulted in anything worth bragging about. Hopefully that changes this weekend.

Out for now.

* Not saying "thanks for reading" at the risk of losing my #1 traffic generator *

Lack of Updates

2008-03-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone... Just a quick note to apologize for a lack of updates. The last week has been pretty close to hell for me, revolving mostly around the procedings of breaking up with a live-in girlfriend and some trips to the hospital when she tried to OD on sleeping pills shortly after. It's a mess, but I'll be up and running soon enough. I've missed the last 3 bloggaments, and I'll be missing the MATH tomorrow in leiu of St. Patty's day. Hope to be back for Mookie on Wednesday.

Thanks for reading,
- Ken

Good (frustrating) showing in the MATH

2008-03-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

Played my 3rd MATH tonight. Got off to a decent, but slow start.

I got moved to a tough table in hour 2.

A little bit later, my first big hand.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5586956424: Mondays at the Hoy (41405322), Table 11 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Holdem - 23:56:00 ET - 2008/03/10
Seat 2: TripJax (7,667)
Seat 3: a104l9 (2,790)
Seat 4: hoyazo (6,465)
Seat 5: columbo (18,281)
Seat 6: CheckinMyAA (5,899)
TripJax antes 25
a104l9 antes 25
hoyazo antes 25
columbo antes 25
CheckinMyAA antes 25
a104l9 posts the small blind of 150
hoyazo posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [6c 6h]
InstantTragedy (Observer): Aussie Aussie, HOY HOY HOY!
columbo has 15 seconds left to act
columbo raises to 1,000
CheckinMyAA has 15 seconds left to act
CheckinMyAA raises to 5,874, and is all in
TripJax folds
a104l9 calls 2,615, and is all in
hoyazo folds
columbo calls 4,874
CheckinMyAA shows [6c 6h]
a104l9 shows [Ac Ks]
columbo shows [Kh Ah]
*** FLOP *** [Qd Jd 6s]
*** TURN *** [Qd Jd 6s] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [Qd Jd 6s 7d] [3c]
CheckinMyAA shows three of a kind, Sixes
columbo shows Ace King high
CheckinMyAA wins the side pot (6,218) with three of a kind, Sixes
a104l9 shows Ace King high
CheckinMyAA wins the main pot (8,720) with three of a kind, Sixes
columbo: nh
CheckinMyAA: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
a104l9 stands up

From there I ~coasted into the money. And then I started getting card racked late. I had KK twice for decent pots w/o a showdown, and then Presto busts one of the shorties.

Then my nemesis shows up...

Full Tilt Poker Game #5587679684: Mondays at the Hoy (41405322), Table 12 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Holdem - 0:56:58 ET - 2008/03/11
Seat 1: jmathewson_III (31,596)
Seat 3: DaBag (14,686)
Seat 5: CheckinMyAA (34,833)
Seat 6: lucko21 (52,956)
jmathewson_III antes 150
DaBag antes 150
CheckinMyAA antes 150
lucko21 antes 150
lucko21 posts the small blind of 600
jmathewson_III posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Qd Qc]
DaBag has 15 seconds left to act
DaBag raises to 4,800
CheckinMyAA raises to 34,683, and is all in
lucko21 folds
jmathewson_III folds
DaBag calls 9,736, and is all in
CheckinMyAA shows [Qd Qc]
DaBag shows [Ah Th]
Uncalled bet of 20,147 returned to CheckinMyAA
*** FLOP *** [9h Td 6c]
*** TURN *** [9h Td 6c] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [9h Td 6c Qh] [4h]
CheckinMyAA shows three of a kind, Queens
DaBag shows a flush, Ace high
DaBag wins the pot (31,472) with a flush, Ace high

Yuck. That puts me almost in the chip lead if I win it.

A few hands later, sucko busts me.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5587694749: Mondays at the Hoy (41405322), Table 12 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Holdem - 0:58:22 ET - 2008/03/11
Seat 1: jmathewson_III (29,346)
Seat 3: DaBag (29,372)
Seat 5: CheckinMyAA (18,647)
Seat 6: lucko21 (56,706)
jmathewson_III antes 150
DaBag antes 150
CheckinMyAA antes 150
lucko21 antes 150
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 600
lucko21 posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [8s Qh]
jmathewson_III folds
DaBag folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 18,497, and is all in
lucko21 calls 17,297
CheckinMyAA shows [8s Qh]
lucko21 shows [5s 5d]
*** FLOP *** [3h 9h 8d]
*** TURN *** [3h 9h 8d] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [3h 9h 8d 5c] [Qc]
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Queens and Eights
lucko21 shows three of a kind, Fives
lucko21 wins the pot (37,594) with three of a kind, Fives
lucko21: gg
CheckinMyAA stands up

Good for an 8th place finish worth 62$, which ain't bad considering it cost me 8$ to get in. Bust still, with so much on the line (600+ for first, and of course the blogger freeroll, it's hella frustrating.

I got my money in bad once vs Katitude, who was lots of fun to chat up. We were "dancing partners" and at first I was nice, twice doubling her with KQ < Ax and TT < Q4 (bleh), but then later at another table we were reunited and my AT got there against her AJ all in preflop. Every other time I got my money in, I was at worst a race. So pretty happy with how I played.

I know some of you are probably thinking it... I think my shove in that 66 hand was warranted, even though columbo opened UTG. He'd been ~active and he'd raised a few times in EP and been bet off the pot. Maaaybe still sketchy? You tell me...

Out for now.

8$ Token SNGs are My Bitch

2008-03-09T00:04:00.001-08:00

Seriously, I'm destroying these things the last week and a half. I'm 7 for 8 (with no 6th places), and I haven't broken a sweat in any of them. It didn't take long to adapt a very, very simple strategy.

When people say the play in these things is attrocious, they're really not kidding. When we got to the FT, there was one guy with a huge stack. I OPR'd the table, and he was ~10%. He showed why pretty quick. With almost twice the chips of the next player, in 4 hands he went busto.

Hand one: 22. He raises, BB calls. BB shoves QJx flop, and he CALLS?? Loses to KQ
Hand two: K3. He limps, a ~small stack shoves in the blinds and he CALLS?? Loses to AK
Hand four: KJ. He limps along OTB, BB (new big stack) shoves, and he CALLS?? Loses to JJ.

Just gross. He shoulda just gone for a walk and hit "Sit Out".

Beating the Home Game (Part 3) and Hand Conclusion AND +1 Membership

2008-03-07T23:16:00.001-08:00

Lots goin' on today!!

+1 Membership!
First off, I'm a proud new member of the +1 forums. Apparently it was lucko that nominated me for being "drafted". Pretty flattering for a microdonk like me. I must have made some improvements from when I first showed up at Cardplayer because I had a new asshole torn for me a couple times early on. Cool stuff.

Hand of Interest Results:
So a couple posts ago I showed you guys a hand that I wasn't thrilled about. Some of you are in the fold the turn camp, others are in the shove the turn camp. Personally, I'm more inclined to side with latter. In this particular hand, it turns out I played it "perfectly", but not "correctly".

Results: Villain had A6o, no flush draws, nothin'. Just an unimproved ace. I won the hand, and I'm certain he would have folded if I shoved the turn - but that still doesn't excuse me from playing it the way I did. I went on to take first. I also took first in 2 out of 3 SNG's last night (once in a 20$) for a gross of $135. That was nice too!

The Home Game
The home game had another good turn out. Again I won both games - not for a lack of trying to lose (the second game). The first game was fairly standard. I didn't win many hands until we were 3-handed. I have Q5 in the BB and we see a cheap flop. It comes Qxx, my opponent in the SB check/calls a large bet. The turn is a 5, but it completes the flush draw. I shove, and he calls, showing a baby flush. I'm calling for a 5 on the river and sure enough....booom. I hit my 4 outter and double up. I don't remember the hand that won the first game, but I know I was ahead.

The second game was a walk. The hand I 'tried' to hang myself on was this. We're 5 handed with one guy nursing a tiny tiny stack.

Blinds 200/400
Hero (UTG) ~5000
V1 (OTB) ~5300
V2 (SB) ~5800
BB ~1200

Hero gets A9o, raises to 1000. V1, V2 call. BB folds.

Flop: A K T, rainbow.

Hero checks, OTB bets 1500, SB calls, Hero shoves, both players instantly call.

My thinking was one of them HAD to at least have a better ace or KT or SOMETHING. But:
V1: A3
V2: A6

The turn and river rag and my 9-kicker plays, and I cripple both of them and take a rediculous chip lead. I never looked back after this hand and ended it when I flopped a flush with Td9d vs J7 or something. He turned two pair, but I dodged the 4-outter that saved me in the first game, and that was that.

There was a lot of moaning about how lucky I am and such - and I won't lie, I certainly did get lucky. Every game it's getting easier and easier to play against these guys, so next time I'm going to voluntarily sit out and just deal for my buddies and let them play. The 120$ I won today puts my leaderboard profits at ~350, with the next closest person at ~140. I feel pretty bad...

But looking at this pile of 20's cheers me up :)

Thanks for readin!

Good run in the 11,500 KO

2008-03-06T21:59:00.001-08:00

Built up a nice stack early and bounced around a bunch towards the middle of hour 2. Two back to back beauties.

Villain is 50/40/3 over 20

Full Tilt Poker Game #5533176725: $11,500 KO Guarantee (41380072), Table 31 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Holdem - 0:57:34 ET - 2008/03/07
Seat 1: La Jolla Shores (7,216)
Seat 2: CheckinMyAA (10,007)
Seat 3: chirchy (15,730)
Seat 4: jdd5p (20,385)
Seat 5: cheesemonster (13,966)
Seat 6: popotito (10,944)
La Jolla Shores antes 25
CheckinMyAA antes 25
chirchy antes 25
jdd5p antes 25
cheesemonster antes 25
popotito antes 25
chirchy posts the small blind of 150
jdd5p posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Qd Jh]
cheesemonster folds
popotito folds
La Jolla Shores raises to 791
CheckinMyAA calls 791
chirchy folds
jdd5p folds
*** FLOP *** [7c 2s Jd]
La Jolla Shores bets 1,221
CheckinMyAA calls 1,221
*** TURN *** [7c 2s Jd] [Td]
La Jolla Shores has 15 seconds left to act
La Jolla Shores bets 5,179, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls 5,179
La Jolla Shores shows [Qs Kc]
CheckinMyAA shows [Qd Jh]
*** RIVER *** [7c 2s Jd Td] [Ac]
La Jolla Shores shows a straight, Ace high
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Jacks
La Jolla Shores wins the pot (14,982) with a straight, Ace high

Followed by the shorty busto vs the table maniac who runs 85/72/1

Full Tilt Poker Game #5533184493: $11,500 KO Guarantee (41380072), Table 31 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Holdem - 0:58:20 ET - 2008/03/07
Seat 1: La Jolla Shores (14,982)
Seat 2: CheckinMyAA (2,791)
Seat 3: chirchy (15,555)
Seat 4: jdd5p (20,060)
Seat 5: cheesemonster (13,941)
Seat 6: popotito (10,919)
La Jolla Shores antes 25
CheckinMyAA antes 25
chirchy antes 25
jdd5p antes 25
cheesemonster antes 25
popotito antes 25
jdd5p posts the small blind of 150
cheesemonster posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [9d 9s]
popotito folds
CheckinMyAA: nc..
La Jolla Shores raises to 757
CheckinMyAA raises to 2,766, and is all in
chirchy folds
jdd5p folds
cheesemonster raises to 13,916, and is all in
La Jolla Shores folds
cheesemonster shows [7s Ac]
CheckinMyAA shows [9d 9s]
Uncalled bet of 11,150 returned to cheesemonster
*** FLOP *** [6h 4c 3s]
*** TURN *** [6h 4c 3s] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [6h 4c 3s 3h] [As]
cheesemonster shows two pair, Aces and Threes
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Nines and Threes
cheesemonster wins the pot (6,589) with two pair, Aces and Threes
CheckinMyAA stands up

Did get 5 KO's though. Sick way to go out though. If he bricks his 11 outs in that first one, I'm back into the top 30.

Oh well. Still had fun. slamjam came by to give me props early on which was cool. Thanks for the support dude, wish I coulda done the deed for ya.

Keep the comments coming on the previous post! I'll post results in my next post.

Thanks for reading

Comments Needed! One Hand of Interest.

2008-03-05T22:56:00.000-08:00

Talk to me! haha. According to google analytics, there's been about 150 hits in the last week and not one comment! *sniff*

So in an effort to turn this around, here's a hand that you can all crucify me for!

At this point we're three handed, the money bubble broke only a couple hands ago, and I have a bit of a chip lead. Both my opponents seem to be pretty standard players. Haven't got any notes that are out of the ordinary.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5520289892: $10 + $1 Sit & Go (42011033), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Holdem - 1:13:16 ET - 2008/03/06
Seat 1: imaliveru (3,900) : 27/14/0 over 40
Seat 7: CheckinMyAA (5,460)
Seat 9: ReiLeao (4,140)
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 40
ReiLeao posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Kd Jc]
imaliveru has 15 seconds left to act
imaliveru raises to 240
Obviously everyone's opening ranges have gotten wider at this point. I'm out of position, but I don't hate seeing the flop here vs a possible button steal. Who's reraising here? Folding??
CheckinMyAA calls 200
ReiLeao folds
*** FLOP *** [Kh 5d 4c]
CheckinMyAA checks
imaliveru has 15 seconds left to act
imaliveru bets 380
CheckinMyAA calls 380
I thought about raising, but the board was pretty dry, so I figured I'd give him a chance to fire again.
*** TURN *** [Kh 5d 4c] [Tc]
CheckinMyAA checks
imaliveru has 15 seconds left to act
imaliveru bets 1,080
As somewhat expected, he fires again. The pot is officially large, and I still have TPGK ... will he fire again if I let him? The way he's going at it, I'm either majorly raped by AK, in which case I'm prepared to go broke. But I could also be against A-rag, AQ, AJ, AT, maybe a mid pair? KQ could have me in a bind too.
CheckinMyAA calls 1,080
At this point I'm sort of praying he checks the river because I'm done putting the money in myself... I'm gonna call the river, obviously, but I'm a little reluctant about it. Thoughts on that?
*** RIVER *** [Kh 5d 4c Tc] [Qc]
CheckinMyAA checks
imaliveru bets 2,200, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls 2,200
I'm either effed or crushing a bluff (I think?)
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Coming soon...

I kinda hate how I played this hand to be honest, but I'm not entirely sure where I could have fixed it. Do I reraise preflop? I do like my c/c on the flop, since I think that flop misses a ton of his OTB opening range (which is probably at least top 30 + some air). Raise the turn, maybe? Help! All your comments and flames are welcome and appreciated.

Cheers!

- Crush

This is your brain on Tilt

2008-03-05T14:49:00.001-08:00

So the roll dipped under 400 last night. Yeah. Where'd the 450$ go? That's a gooot question. I haven't left the confines of my bankroll management (except playing a few more 10$ tournies after the roll dipped under 500$). I don't THINK I've been playing horribly. There's a couple suspect hands here and there, but nothing that I feel deserves being beaten down for.

I had a brief session last night. My token winning streak came to an end when I went out in 8th in a 18-man 8$ after shoving a rag ace OTB into BB's 88. I played another of the 6.5$ double heads up matches, won my first match after a hellishly long battle, and then got off to a bad start in the 2nd match. It seemed like he was hitting one too many hands...

The hand that ended it was pretty nice. I raise OTB with JT, he calls. The flop is 999. Yehaw. We both check. The turn is a 3. He checks, I lead about 2/3 the pot, he calls. The river comes a T (woot!) and he bets. I don't have a lot left, so I happily shove, he calls, and there it is... Q9. Flopped quads do not deliver this time...

I also played a 5$ 45-man SNG and was doing pretty well.. I was getting good cards, making good plays, and had built up a a nice stack, and was sitting comfortably in 3rd out of 16 about half way through hour two. Then the chip leader gets moved to my table, and on his 3rd hand at the table, I do this. Don't ask, because I don't know. I was feeling frisky, and I felt like he would lay down a lot of the hands he's raising here since I figure he's probably being a bit of a bully, making his range wide, and my stack represents about 2/3 his stack, so my FE is huge.

Hero has K8 in the SB. Folds to hero who calls (first mistake). Villain raises 3x to 1200. (Hero has ~6500, villain has 10K). Hero shoves.

Shoves? I literally hit myself in the face for this afterwards. What's funny is it seems like my play almost worked - because he took a LONG time to call. (He was about half way through his time back). But he did make the call, and he won a massive pot when I couldn't suck out on his QQ.

I could have so easily just folded... Why mess with the chip leader when you're not far off yourself. Just dumb. Dumb dumb dumb.

A win (or even just a half decent cash) is badly needed.

Out of the MATH in a hurry

2008-03-03T19:27:00.001-08:00

Donkette thought it would be fun to raise UTG with 7d2d. I 3-bet with AA and she snapcalls. Flop comes KdJd-rag, I bet almost the pot, she calls, and shoves a diamond turn. I couldn't fold.

Nice hammer, Donkette, and thanks for your best efforts to give me your money. Sorry for turning you down.

Ugh.

Blog-as-you-go Daily Doubles & CP Weekly

2008-03-02T18:01:00.000-08:00

Just underway!

[DD A] JackAce sooted in EP. UTG minraises, I call. Flop is K44, 2 my soot, I raise UTG's cbet, he calls. J turn, he bets, I call. A river, he minbets, I shove, he calls, and I double up!
[CPW] KJ raises, takes it down
[CPW] AT < K5 vs JP's girl. She zeeboed me! I tried to bluff river to no avail
[DD B] KQ good for a big pot
[DD A] A7 makes river flush, good for decent pot
[CPW] Tony loses a race JJ < AK and I'm not out first!
[DD A] This is goin well! QQ > 99 for a full stack
[CPW] Win a decent pot when I double barrel an unimproved ace
[CPW] Lose a big pot when I try to steal w 66 vs Martyr
[DD A] AKs loses a decent pot on a rag board
[DD B] QQ loses a big pot vs a flush drawing moron who pairs his K on the river
[CPW] AA takes the blinds

PokerOffice is only picking up one of the doubles (B) ... I hate playing without my datamining... :(

[DD B] 22 sets up and quads river vs AQ, big pot
[DD A] I get shoved into when I flush the turn with K-rag in the BB. Big pot.
[DD B] AQ < AK, double up a shorty. back to 2400.
[CPW] Emetjr has my # in these things... I (getting redic short) shove A2 UTG+1, he snaps me off w JJ
[DD B] Donkey shoves Q9 over my cbet with KQ on a Qxx flop. I double to 5100.
[DD A] Sittin' pretty at 7955. (42/978)
[DD B] Still at 5046 (143/869)
[DD B] AK < AJ for a big pot (3750)

I'm closing PokerOffice because it can't tell which tourny is which and its pissing me off

[DD B] I call a raise w 9c7c, see a 2 club flop (with an ace) and I have a gutshot to. I end up taking a shorty in and his AK holds up. 1765

Break!

[DD B] 58 < 59 on a 55xxx board. I'm out
[DD A] I raise AT in the SB, BB shoves w A4 and I hold (8790)

I can run PO again now! (Always an optimist i am...)

- I 3-bet KK and don't get called. 9450
- I make my first steal in the SB with Qx on a KKJ flop (raise pre, cbet takes it) 50 short of 5-digits.
- AT opens and wins. 10,190
- 33 turns into a bluff and I get a small pot (10,910)
- Resteal w A8, villain folds. (11,610)
- I limp along w SC and call some min bets with gutterball/BDFD and end up having a pair of 7's > 66. (13,210)
- Blinds go by a couple times (12,360)
- I raise UTG w KQs, but two people shove behind me and I fold. AA takes it down (11,265)
- Win a few uncontested pots prf with QT and AK. (12,565)

2nd break. 75th out of 371 with 31BB and 12,565

- I fold 77 on a T9x flop for a bit of a hit (10,400)
- I raise KQs with a bunch of limpers in LP. Nobody calls (12,265)
- I just got moved :( I liked that table.. (12,115)
- I open QJ and get 3bet, so I fold. (10,715)
- 20 BB... I'm in need of some big hands that will hold
- Another orbit with nothing playable (9515, 16BB)
- I pull a steal in the SB behind a OTB limp. (10,565)
- I try to squeeze with KJs and fail. (8000)
- We just made the money. I'm holding on (9490)
- A4 open shoves OTB for a steal (9450)
- Blinds up again. I have 11.5BB now.
- Moved again, this time it's +EV because I missed the blinds :)
- I've gotten 23o 6 times in the last 20 hands
- I pick the WRONG time to try a squeeze w T7s and KK / A8 bust me. I almost found the fold... Should have. Bah.

15 bucks. Woot.

More Tokens - Running 'Better'

2008-03-01T01:27:00.000-08:00

I'm 3 for 3 now this week in the 8$ SNGs. So that's nice.

I actually got a really good session in tonight. I think I was playing well for the most part, I found my new favorite play, sucked out a few times, got sucked out on a few times, and so on. My "new favorite play" which isn't really new at all, but worked tremendously tonight, was to bet/bet/check on boards where the draw obviously missed. I did it twice, both with an overpair to the board where the OESD/FD blanked. Both times my opponents shoved into me and I beat them into the pot. Some people are so predictable.

My suckouts included, among other things, flopping quads in what looked to be a hand on its way to cooler town.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5452607795: $10 + $1 Sit & Go (41490534), Table 4 - 120/240 - No Limit Holdem - 3:28:04 ET - 2008/03/01
Seat 1: firefox00 (1,960)
Seat 2: cjgogo (19,575)
Seat 3: MsMissyX (3,060)
Seat 5: propmod (24,505)
Seat 6: Groundhob (4,395)
Seat 7: jekeke (12,345)
Seat 8: CheckinMyAA (1,660)
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 120
firefox00 posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Qh Qd]
cjgogo folds
MsMissyX folds
propmod has 15 seconds left to act
propmod raises to 720
Groundhob folds
jekeke folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 1,660, and is all in
firefox00 folds
propmod calls 940
CheckinMyAA shows [Qh Qd]
propmod shows [Kd Kc]
*** FLOP *** [Qs Qc 7d]
*** TURN *** [Qs Qc 7d] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Qs Qc 7d 7s] [6h]
CheckinMyAA: :O
CheckinMyAA shows four of a kind, Queens
propmod shows two pair, Kings and Queens
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (3,560) with four of a kind, Queens

This was at the final table of a 45 man SNG. I coasted there, and the reason I got there is because of the two monster stacks. They made quick work of the field. Now that's running goot.

Suckouts against included my A8 losing to AK on an AJ8 board where we got the monies in. He turned a K. TT lost to KK in another tournament. Both these beats were stingers because I was sitting on a top 25% stack in both tournies with 100 players or less remaining when they happened. I would have easily gone on a massive run had I won either. But I guess I was meant to just win tokens today. That's okay with me. The roll stayed pretty static (~550$), but now I've got 3 tokens, which if u count em sits me back over 600. One of these babies is reserved for the MATH and my first shot at the TOC next week. The other two will probably get used on a 17K / 28K / 24K or something like that. Maybe the 11,500 KO... *shrug* We'll see.

Today could have been a lot better, but I'm just feeling very relieved that I was actually winning my share of showdowns and had a few big hands that held up. There were also three points today where I had OESD + FD + overcards. Three times! Guess how many times I hit? ...Yeah, zero. All 3 times, money was in on the flop. Even if you count that I was once against AA, I dodged a collective (quick math, I'm tired) ...like 50-some outs. That's intense.

Thanks for reading, and bearing with me through my drought.

BBT: Props for Loretta

2008-02-29T17:14:00.000-08:00

BBT3 is coming, and with it a lot of people are starting to make predictions.

Loretta has already made Hoyazo's list of 40 players. Hopefully the prediction comes true and Lor gets back 2 back entries to the ToC.

I won't be able to play in nearly as many of these as I'd like to, since life is hugely demanding this semester, but I'll definitely get a few cracks at it.

Cya there!

Getting a little tired of this (again)

2008-02-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

I'm getting tired of posting about how bad I run, but there's nothing else to fucking post.

Playing the riverchasers, I just had 33 call me unimproved on a T-high flop (He minraised, I 3bet OTB). I wimp out turn and river because I don't really have a read and my AJ doesn't cut it. After that, JJ sees a Q on the flop and an A on the turn and I lay it down. A couple hands later...

Full Tilt Poker Game #5437366969: Riverchasers Online Tour (35918033), Table 2 - 30/60 - No Limit Holdem - 21:32:43 ET - 2008/02/28
Seat 1: GottaWinSum (7,525)
Seat 2: muhctim (3,380)
Seat 3: DaBag (5,960)
Seat 4: Drizztdj (2,760)
Seat 5: IlliniFan (4,380)
Seat 6: wwonka69 (2,410)
Seat 7: cndycarr10 (4,715), is sitting out
Seat 8: lightning36 (7,960)
Seat 9: CheckinMyAA (1,780)
cndycarr10 posts the small blind of 30
lightning36 posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Kh Kc]
CheckinMyAA raises to 180
GottaWinSum folds
muhctim folds
DaBag folds
Drizztdj calls 180
IlliniFan folds
wwonka69 folds
cndycarr10 folds
lightning36 folds
*** FLOP *** [Jc 5s 7c]
cndycarr10 has returned
CheckinMyAA bets 350
Drizztdj calls 350
*** TURN *** [Jc 5s 7c] [2s]
CheckinMyAA bets 1,250, and is all in
cndycarr10 is sitting out
Drizztdj calls 1,250
CheckinMyAA shows [Kh Kc]
Drizztdj shows [Js Jd]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 5s 7c 2s] [2c]
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Kings and Twos
Drizztdj shows a full house, Jacks full of Twos
Drizztdj wins the pot (3,650) with a full house, Jacks full of Twos
CheckinMyAA stands up

In a 26$ token frenzy I ran JJ into QQ on a T-high flop. (Called my raise IP pre, called flop bet on a wet board... Shoved it into him on the turn FTL.

Also played both daily doubles (Still alive in Double A), but double B ended in a lesson on how to dodge a lot of outs when AdTd was no good vs QQ on a T-high, two diamond flop. I turned a gutshot too, but everything missed, and there goes 12 bucks for a whopping 2 hands of tournament play. Wheee.

I run goot.

Roll is under 600 for the first time since shortly after winning the 3$ KO. I need to turn something around soon.

==================================
EDIT: Crippled in the Double A by this

Full Tilt Poker Game #5437529423: Daily Double - A (40675475), Table 111 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:51:00 ET - 2008/02/28
Seat 1: CheckinMyAA (3,635)
Seat 2: fish001 (2,060)
Seat 3: cvthull (2,710)
Seat 4: Minus Orange (2,760)
Seat 5: CivicSi02 (2,065)
Seat 6: saintpimp (5,735)
Seat 7: duclover (1,628)
Seat 8: mesars (9,660)
Seat 9: CrunkPIMP (3,937)
fish001 posts the small blind of 30
cvthull posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [As Ad]
Minus Orange folds
CivicSi02 calls 60
saintpimp folds
duclover folds
mesars folds
CrunkPIMP folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 260
fish001 folds
cvthull calls 200
CivicSi02 calls 200
*** FLOP *** [2c Kd Td]
cvthull checks
CivicSi02 checks
CheckinMyAA bets 700
cvthull calls 700
CivicSi02 has 15 seconds left to act
CivicSi02 raises to 1,805, and is all in
CheckinMyAA raises to 3,375, and is all in
cvthull calls 1,750, and is all in
CheckinMyAA shows [As Ad]
cvthull shows [Js Qs]
CivicSi02 shows [Ts Ks]
Uncalled bet of 925 returned to CheckinMyAA
*** TURN *** [2c Kd Td] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [2c Kd Td 9h] [Tc]
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Aces and Tens
cvthull shows a straight, King high
cvthull wins the side pot (1,290) with a straight, King high
CivicSi02 shows a full house, Tens full of Kings
CivicSi02 wins the main pot (6,225) with a full house, Tens full of Kings

Trying to Turn a Profit on Tier I SNGs

2008-02-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

So after last mid-week's debacle of running somewhat (extremely) crappy, I had a ROI on the 8$ Tier 1 token sats of about -30%. Not terrific, considering these things are supposed to be supremely beatable.

I had a very brief amount of time to try on this evening and went 1 for 1, despite running KK into the monster AQ early. Here's your key hands (for all the hand history junkies out there .. I know I'm one):

First hand of the tourney, I get a gift from the SB.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5415442313: Tier One $8+$0.70 (Turbo) (41202240), Table 2 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:10:08 ET - 2008/02/26
Seat 1: ktowngamblr (1,500)
Seat 2: CheckinMyAA (1,500)
Seat 3: LemonRooster (1,500)
Seat 4: Mission74 (1,500)
Seat 5: Diamond King 2 (1,500)
Seat 6: pokinator2000 (1,500)
Seat 7: xTheory (1,500)
Seat 8: Danuska54 (1,500)
Seat 9: runnergunner (1,500)
ktowngamblr posts the small blind of 15
CheckinMyAA posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Jd Ad]
LemonRooster has 15 seconds left to act
LemonRooster is sitting out
LemonRooster has timed out
LemonRooster folds
Mission74 has 15 seconds left to act
Mission74 is sitting out
Mission74 has timed out
Mission74 folds
Diamond King 2 has 15 seconds left to act
Diamond King 2 is sitting out
Diamond King 2 has timed out
Diamond King 2 folds
pokinator2000 folds
xTheory folds
Danuska54 folds
runnergunner folds
ktowngamblr calls 15
CheckinMyAA raises to 120
ktowngamblr calls 90
*** FLOP *** [Ah 7s 2h]
ktowngamblr checks
CheckinMyAA bets 200
ktowngamblr calls 200
*** TURN *** [Ah 7s 2h] [Qc]
ktowngamblr checks
CheckinMyAA bets 500
Diamond King 2 has returned
ktowngamblr raises to 1,180, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls 680, and is all in
ktowngamblr shows [As 8c]
CheckinMyAA shows [Jd Ad]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 7s 2h Qc] [6d]
ktowngamblr shows a pair of Aces
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Aces
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (3,000) with a pair of Aces
ktowngamblr: gh
ktowngamblr stands up

Less than an orbit later, KK is no good.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5415519720: Tier One $8+$0.70 (Turbo) (41202240), Table 2 - 25/50 - No Limit Holdem - 23:16:22 ET - 2008/02/26
Seat 2: CheckinMyAA (2,915)
Seat 3: LemonRooster (1,450)
Seat 4: Mission74 (1,820)
Seat 5: Diamond King 2 (1,500)
Seat 6: pokinator2000 (1,310)
Seat 7: xTheory (1,745)
Seat 8: Danuska54 (1,260)
Seat 9: runnergunner (1,500)
xTheory posts the small blind of 25
Danuska54 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ks Kd]
runnergunner folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 150
LemonRooster folds
Mission74 folds
Diamond King 2 folds
pokinator2000 folds
xTheory folds
Danuska54 raises to 1,260, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls 1,110
Danuska54 shows [Qs Ac]
CheckinMyAA shows [Ks Kd]
*** FLOP *** [As Ts 9s]
*** TURN *** [As Ts 9s] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [As Ts 9s 6d] [Ad]
Danuska54 shows three of a kind, Aces
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Aces and Kings
Danuska54 wins the pot (2,545) with three of a kind, Aces

So that definitely takes the wind outta the old sails, but I kept on trucking. I didn't do much until I decide to gamble with a below-average stack.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5415798611: Tier One $8+$0.70 (Turbo) (41202240), Table 2 - 120/240 - No Limit Holdem - 23:39:10 ET - 2008/02/26
Seat 2: CheckinMyAA (2,040)
Seat 3: LemonRooster (1,240)
Seat 4: Mission74 (1,430)
Seat 6: pokinator2000 (1,950)
Seat 7: xTheory (3,480)
Seat 9: runnergunner (905)
pokinator2000 posts the small blind of 120
xTheory posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Th Qd]
runnergunner folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 640
LemonRooster folds
Mission74 folds
pokinator2000 raises to 1,950, and is all in
xTheory folds
CheckinMyAA: sick gambooooooool .. lol
CheckinMyAA calls 1,310
pokinator2000 shows [As Js]
CheckinMyAA shows [Th Qd]
*** FLOP *** [Qh 6h Qs]
*** TURN *** [Qh 6h Qs] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 6h Qs 7c] [8d]
pokinator2000: ha
pokinator2000 shows a pair of Queens
CheckinMyAA shows three of a kind, Queens
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (4,140) with three of a kind, Queens
pokinator2000 stands up

And that was enough for me to coast to the final 6. On the token bubble it was a little worrisome. With the blinds at 200/400 and all the stacks at the table between 3000 and 5000. I was 2nd lowest stack, and in danger of being the bubble boy.

Fortunately for me, some dingus thought it would be cool to shove his #3 stack in the CO with 22. Even more fortunately, the donkknob big stack in the big blind called it off with AT. Ace on the flop and that's that. Questionable play in a satellite, IMO. Yeah, we were already in the money. But both those players could have eeeasily coasted to a token.

Works for me!

See you next time, and thanks for reading.

Beating the Home Game (Part 2), 10$ KO final table recap

2008-02-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

Ahh, sweet victory. Last night was another addition of "Poker Night at Ken's" and we had our best turn out yet, filling the 10-seater table for the first time on the first 10$ game. There were a lot of intense moments, one of which included a fairly early 3-way all in with me holding TT on a 3-rag board with two diamonds up against an unimproved 66 and AdJd. I dodged all 3000 outs and was sitting on a massive stack early. I got myself in trouble later when I underestimated how much another guy at the table had an pushed him in when I raised K8 OTB and he called me in MP with 89. The flop was 892 and from how he'd been playing, I thought he was weak, but ended up selling him almost my entire stack. I then doubled up about 4 times and went on a tear in the final 3 and ended up winning when KJ > JT heads up all in preflop.

The second game we upped the stakes to 20 bucks. I took the lead in this one when I ended up rivering a flush in the BB with 5s2s vs a poorly played top pair of aces. He told me "if you go all in, I'll call", so what the heck, I have to figure my flush is good... Early double up. I rolled from there, beating K4 with KJ on a K-high flop for another big pot, and ended up heads up with a massive chip lead. The money went in preflop with A5 vs my AJ, and that was that.

Back to back titles for the first time since the first games (2 months ago) feels good. The game is definitely a hit. The attendance has gotten better every time, and the vibe from everyone is that they love it and would do it more often if they could, so I might have to move the game to weekly, or twice every three weeks, or something to that effect.

In my mega-tilt of online play the last 3 days, I've been reluctant to do the 10$ KO recap. So I hope you guys can forgive me for just doing a brief final table recap.

So when we got to the final table, I was among the chip leaders. Chips looked like this:
Seat 1: Mike Litt (57,388)
Seat 2: FiveTenPlayer (21,570)
Seat 3: brspuppy (35,433)
Seat 4: boozinbill (47,110)
Seat 5: CheckinMyAA (52,559)
Seat 6: TenPennyDub (14,410)
Seat 7: allyrchips (21,857)
Seat 8: Jason9 (10,968)
Seat 9: LeCharognard (8,705)

The first big hand for me came about 6 hands in, when I got dealt 8dTd OTB. And I get a gift from a limper with AK.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5314755355: $10 + $1 KO Sit & Go (40410650), Table 7 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Holdem - 2:24:28 ET - 2008/02/19
Seat 1: Mike Litt (30,855)
Seat 2: FiveTenPlayer (36,590)
Seat 3: brspuppy (71,366)
Seat 4: boozinbill (26,190)
Seat 5: CheckinMyAA (58,259)
Seat 6: TenPennyDub (10,860)
Seat 7: allyrchips (20,307)
Seat 8: Jason9 (3,113)
Seat 9: LeCharognard (12,460)
Mike Litt antes 250
FiveTenPlayer antes 250
brspuppy antes 250
boozinbill antes 250
CheckinMyAA antes 250
TenPennyDub antes 250
allyrchips antes 250
Jason9 antes 250
LeCharognard antes 250
TenPennyDub posts the small blind of 1,000
allyrchips posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [8d Td]
Jason9 folds
LeCharognard folds
Mike Litt folds
FiveTenPlayer folds
brspuppy calls 2,000
boozinbill folds
CheckinMyAA calls 2,000
I don't mind limping along with this hand... Horrible?
TenPennyDub folds
allyrchips checks
*** FLOP *** [5s 7c Tc]
More often than not, if you flop TP in these things, you've got the best hand.
Jason9 is feeling confused
Jason9 is feeling angry
allyrchips has 15 seconds left to act
allyrchips checks
brspuppy bets 8,000
CheckinMyAA calls 8,000
I don't think I want to raise...
allyrchips folds
*** TURN *** [5s 7c Tc] [8c]
brspuppy bets 12,000
CheckinMyAA calls 12,000
A couple draws get there .. but I make my 2nd pair .. I decide to go into station mode and hope for no 4th club on the river
*** RIVER *** [5s 7c Tc 8c] [4d]
brspuppy bets 16,000
CheckinMyAA calls 16,000
I wasn't thrilled making this call. With what I thought villain was playing, I thought he was going to check the river to me... Oh well, gotta call.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
brspuppy shows [Ks Ac] Ace King high Nice open limp, sir.
CheckinMyAA shows [8d Td] two pair, Tens and Eights
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (81,250) with two pair, Tens and Eights

Now the chips are:
Seat 1: Mike Litt (30,605)
Seat 2: FiveTenPlayer (36,340)
Seat 3: brspuppy (33,116)
Seat 4: boozinbill (25,940)
Seat 5: CheckinMyAA (101,259)
Seat 6: TenPennyDub (9,610)
Seat 7: allyrchips (18,057)
Seat 8: Jason9 (2,863)
Seat 9: LeCharognard (12,210)

Pretty good position.

A few hands later I get TT OTB and the CO shoves 15K into me behind a HJ limp. I reshove and flop top set and move up to 120K

Then I get frisky with 87 in late position and have to call when a shorty in the SB shoves for twice my raise. His AK holds up and I'm back down to 100K.

Then I shove QT in the SB into short BB's AT and I don't suck out. 75K

I squeeze in the BB a bit later with A5 and get one caller, but a cbet takes it down vs the SB. 95K

JQ loses a big pot when I raise UTG and end up vs BB on an Ace high flop. I cbet the flop, he calls. We check the turn, he bets the river and I let it go. It's possibly he was on a flush draw and missed (two spades on flop), but I doubt he hasn't paired. 62K

In the SB, I shove A9 into BB's A7. Good for a double up. 92K

What a frickin' rollercoaster. End up all in with 99 vs JJ (something that seems to be happening a lot to me lately) and I don't improve. Crippled at 28K (6BB). But since these things are turbos, the chip leader only has ~24BB.

For the 3rd time, I shove 8T from the SB into BB's QJ. I flop a ten, and he rivers a jack, but the jack completes my straight. Back up to 71K. If I wasn't so young I would probably have suffered at least 3 heart attacks by now.

I polish off the guy I just sucked out on with A3 vs his 9T. 86K

We're now 3 handed, and the chips look like this
Seat 2: FiveTenPlayer (59,274)
Seat 3: brspuppy (124,922)
Seat 5: CheckinMyAA (85,804)

At this point, brspuppy went into psycho aggro mode and pretty much open shoved every hand. FiveTen saw his tournament end when he got in with the best hand, 99 vs J9, but a J on the flop meant me and puppy were heads up. It lasted 3 hands.

Heads up chips:
Me: 114,354
Him: 155,646

The 2nd hand of heads up, I flop another shitty top pair and go to the house with it:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5314921192: $10 + $1 KO Sit & Go (40410650), Table 7 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Holdem - 2:47:08 ET - 2008/02/19
brspuppy: gg
Seat 3: brspuppy (155,646)
Seat 5: CheckinMyAA (114,354)
brspuppy antes 750
CheckinMyAA antes 750
brspuppy posts the small blind of 3,000
CheckinMyAA posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Tc 5d]
brspuppy calls 3,000
CheckinMyAA checks
*** FLOP *** [3s Td 6h]
CheckinMyAA bets 13,500
brspuppy raises to 148,896, and is all in
This could be just about anything with how he's been playing the last 10 hands.
CheckinMyAA calls 94,104, and is all in
brspuppy shows [6s Kh] 2nd pair isn't goooot??
CheckinMyAA shows [Tc 5d]
Uncalled bet of 41,292 returned to brspuppy
*** TURN *** [3s Td 6h] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [3s Td 6h 4s] [Qh]
brspuppy shows a pair of Sixes
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Tens
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (228,708) with a pair of Tens
Boooom

The next hand was the last hand.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5314924061: $10 + $1 KO Sit & Go (40410650), Table 7 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Holdem - 2:47:33 ET - 2008/02/19
Seat 3: brspuppy (41,292)
Seat 5: CheckinMyAA (228,708)
brspuppy antes 750
CheckinMyAA antes 750
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 3,000
brspuppy posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [6d Ad]
CheckinMyAA raises to 227,958, and is all in
brspuppy calls 34,542, and is all in
CheckinMyAA shows [6d Ad]
brspuppy shows [Th 4h]
Uncalled bet of 187,416 returned to CheckinMyAA
*** FLOP *** [8h 6s Kd]
*** TURN *** [8h 6s Kd] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [8h 6s Kd 3s] [Qh]
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Sixes
brspuppy shows King Queen high
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (82,584) with a pair of Sixes
brspuppy stands up
CheckinMyAA stands up

So it took getting lucky a few times, and ending up heads up with the easiest player I could have hoped for. Getting lucky is something I could use more of this week (you hear that, poker gods?)

I also played a 60$ live tournament at one of the local casinos. The blinds went up reeeally fast, and I couldn't get much going. I ended up getting cripped with about 50 players left when 88 < KQs. I was all in the next hand with J6 and two players called, and the chip leader at the table showed a T with the board showing AKJ5Q and that was all she wrote. It was fun, but I don't think I'll do it again. It was faster than a pokerstars turbo, which is already too fast for me. Maybe I'll try to find a live tournament with slower blinds...

That's all for now! Thanks for reading.

Good night...

2008-02-20T22:10:00.001-08:00

Off to a good start:

Midnight madness: AA loses to T9 on a KJT flop. Runner boat.
3$ KO: Flop nut straight with J8 vs KK and QJ on a T97 board. Even though he only has 5 outs, he finds a 8 on the turn
10$ SNG (45 player): Raise otb with K9s. Villain who has raised 3 of the first 6 hands 3 bets and I shove. Maybe a bit sketchy, but normally when I see people doing this, its with garbage. He has QQ and I dont improve.
17K Guarentee: KK (one spade) in a raised pot, I bet a Q-rag-rag board with 2 spades, get minraised, and shove. Called by 7s9s for the naked FD and he connects on the turn, I miss the river.

All these hands are within the first 10 minutes of their respective tourneys.

What.

The.

Fuck.

EDIT: And it kept on going. I finally laid a beat of my own, but I also had TT < AQ, a royal flush draw blanked vs a pair, and I missed every FD / OESD I chased. I'm tilting a bit looking at my roll right now (Have pissed away over 1/2 my winnings from the 10$ KO tourny in the last two nights).

Roll: $699 :(

Blech. I can be such a donkey.

2008-02-19T23:50:00.000-08:00

Roll: $763 + $26x1 = $789 (It was $845 this morning .. *sad face*)

I started off the day running badly but playing well, and finished the day playing piss poor and still running bad.

I jumped out to an early chiplead in a 10$ KO tourney with ~600 entrants. Then things started to slow down, but I stayed in the top 20 in chips. Then I lost a massive race with ... you guessed it, the dreaded ladies vs AK. K on the turn was good. So instead of vaulting back into a dominant chiplead (villain had almost the same amout of chips as me), I'm crippled and donk out a few hands later.

QQ also lost another huge pot in another tourney when I couldn't fend off JT's 5 outs when we got the money in on a jack high flop.

I finished the day making a couple donktacular moves. In an 8$x18 Token SNG, I decided (when I had the #3 chipstack) that it would be fun to call all in vs the chipleader when I raised KQ in MP and he called in LP. The Q high flop saw us get it in, and AQ railed me, when I probably could have easily coasted to a token. Dumb stuff.

Twice I overplayed 99. Once I don't think it was that bad. CO opened for 3x, I shoved my 13bb stack and he beat me into the pot with JJ. Pretty standard there, I think. The second overplaying was totally avoidable. An EP tightwad makes it 3x. He's running about 12/8, and the last time he opened in EP (for the same raise), he ended up running over someone with KK. So I decide to shove my 15BB stack into him from the CO, it folds to him and he snaps it off with - again - JJ.

Another day of losing a lot of races and running a lot of pairs into bigger pairs. Some of it was my fault. Some of it wasn't.

I leave you with one of the only times I've attempted a slow play in the last few days. You have to figure that most of the hands calling my raise haven't connected with this flop, and holy HELL do ya gotta like it if you're me. I'm still angry at myself for not betting the flop.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5326760343: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (40412543), Table 27 - 30/60 - No Limit Holdem - 1:32:34 ET - 2008/02/20
Seat 1: CRAFT-Club 5 (1,645)
Seat 2: LeonardWashingt (1,125)
Seat 3: CheckinMyAA (2,585)
Seat 4: DaToken (2,250)
Seat 5: PageUpV (3,675)
Seat 6: scoop you (1,280)
Seat 7: Mardy Mar (1,815)
Seat 8: finishing1st (1,755)
Seat 9: willy3006 (4,395)
PageUpV posts the small blind of 30
scoop you posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Kc Ac]
Mardy Mar folds
finishing1st folds
willy3006 calls 60
CRAFT-Club 5 folds
LeonardWashingt folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 240
CRAFT-Club 5 is sitting out
DaToken folds
PageUpV calls 210
scoop you folds
CRAFT-Club 5 has returned
willy3006 calls 180
*** FLOP *** [5c Ah 2c]
PageUpV checks
willy3006 checks
CheckinMyAA checks
*** TURN *** [5c Ah 2c] [5h]
PageUpV bets 420
willy3006 calls 420
CheckinMyAA raises to 2,345, and is all in
PageUpV folds
willy3006 calls 1,925
CheckinMyAA shows [Kc Ac]
willy3006 shows [5d 6d]
*** RIVER *** [5c Ah 2c 5h] [8h]
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Aces and Fives
willy3006 shows three of a kind, Fives
willy3006 wins the pot (5,890) with three of a kind, Fives
CheckinMyAA stands up

Yuck.

I did win a couple 26$ tokens. I just finished donking one off in the 17K. Ugh did I play that thing badly. Would have helped to get more than 3 premium hands over 2 hours.

I still plan to recap the 10$ KO win. I'll do that soon.

Thanks for readin'!

BOOM!

2008-02-18T23:51:00.000-08:00

So instead of getting to the final 15 with a shortish stack, I arrived in the final 20 with the chiplead and stayed there (or very close to it) until the final table when all hell broke loose since the blinds were so massive. This was a gift from the guy who finished 2nd... I'll detail this tomorrow.

After running so bad to start the week, this feels gooooot!

Oh, and about 7 KO's.

Thanks for readin'!

Shout Outs, MATH debut, LJ runs goot

2008-02-18T19:26:00.000-08:00

Roll: $621 (no more tokens atm)

Not a ton to report today. First of all, a shout out to self proclaimed avid reader "slamjam027" from the CP forum for a big score in a 10$ 6-max tourney that he apparently entered after looking me up on FT and seeing I was playing one. It's flattering for a microdonk blogger like me to know that this wordy bag of drivel I call my blog has helped some people. So I guess I'll just have to keep doing it! Dang.

After 3 weeks of anticipation, I finally got to play in my first MATH tournament. I was absolutely riddled with cards from the get go, but failed to get paid well for any of them. Then I get moved to a table with LJ. She's raised my BB the orbit before and I had made a successful resteal. I'd also seen her overplay a flopped top pair in a limped pot where she sold a fair chunk of her stack to a BB special two-pair. So she tries it again, and here's the results...

Full Tilt Poker Game #5312005366: Mondays at the Hoy (38875755), Table 3 - 20/40 - No Limit Holdem - 22:18:56 ET - 2008/02/18
Seat 1: dnasty13 (2,590)
Seat 2: a104l9 (4,005)
Seat 3: ChapelncHill (3,685)
Seat 4: pvanharibo (2,545)
Seat 5: chitwood (2,295)
Seat 6: CheckinMyAA (2,880)
chitwood posts the small blind of 20
CheckinMyAA posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ks Qs] Loretta's favorite hand. Hasn't been good to me lately.
dnasty13 folds
a104l9 folds
ChapelncHill folds
pvanharibo raises to 100
ChapelncHill: tyty whew
chitwood folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 320 Standard.
pvanharibo calls 220 Ooh, she means business this time.
*** FLOP *** [9c 7d Kd]
CheckinMyAA bets 560
pvanharibo raises to 2,225, and is all in
Since she'd overplayed a TP earlier and this was consistent with a drawish play, I figure I'm either a big favorite or a very slight favorite.
CheckinMyAA calls 1,665
pvanharibo shows [Ad 8d] Yikes. I'm only a 54% favorite :(
CheckinMyAA shows [Ks Qs]

*** TURN *** [9c 7d Kd] [As] ..They never wait for the river, they always get me on the turn.
*** RIVER *** [9c 7d Kd As] [Jc] ..I don't resuck and that's that.
pvanharibo shows a pair of Aces
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Kings
pvanharibo wins the pot (5,110) with a pair of Aces

After stealing like a mother for a few hands, here's how it ends.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5312093124: Mondays at the Hoy (38875755), Table 3 - 25/50 - No Limit Holdem - 22:25:17 ET - 2008/02/18
Seat 1: dnasty13 (1,830)
Seat 2: a104l9 (3,925)
Seat 3: ChapelncHill (6,620)
Seat 4: pvanharibo (5,160)
Seat 6: CheckinMyAA (465)
pvanharibo posts the small blind of 25
CheckinMyAA posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ks 8h]
dnasty13 folds
a104l9 folds
ChapelncHill folds
pvanharibo raises to 5,160, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls 415, and is all in Insta-call
pvanharibo shows [Th Jc] Another 55/45
CheckinMyAA shows [Ks 8h]
Uncalled bet of 4,695 returned to pvanharibo
*** FLOP *** [Qs Ts 2d] Bleh.
*** TURN *** [Qs Ts 2d] [As] Oooh, 4 flush?
*** RIVER *** [Qs Ts 2d As] [Td] I have a nasty habbit of never pulling off a resuck.
pvanharibo shows three of a kind, Tens
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Tens
pvanharibo wins the pot (930) with three of a kind, Tens
pvanharibo: gg ..lucksack.
CheckinMyAA stands up
pebble78 sits down
pebble78 adds 3,480

In all seriousness I don't hold any of this against LJ. She played them exactly like I (or anyone else, I think) would.

So my recent trend of losing in spots where I have a slight edge continues. This horse ain't winning races this week, which is unfortunate since I have so much time to play.

It'll turn around soon. Hopefully before the end of reading week.

Poker is making me angry tonight

2008-02-18T03:45:00.000-08:00

That is all *goes off to steam some more*

Roll: $623 + 1x$26 : $649