In the last couple of days, I have been running unbelievably well. Flopping well, sucking out when behind and just hitting cards at the right time. I dont really have hand histories to show. Just thought Id let the world know.
Good Luck everyone
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Jeffrey Lisandro Is An Absolute Beast
Every morning for the last few weeks, I've opened my computer and logged on to Cardplayer.com to check what happened the night before at the 40th WSOP. This summer, I have seen a lot of pretty incredible stuff that hasnt happened in the last 6 years since the Moneymaker boom, when fields got drastically larger. Frankie O'Dell won the same event (Omaha/8) that he did the year before, and finished runner up the year before that. Phil Ivey (aka God incarnate) took down two bracelets. Brock Parker took down two events within one week of each other in No Limit and Limit Hold'em. Ville Wahlbeck has dominated all 10k events in a variety of different games. Those are just a couple of examples of incredible feats that occurred at this years WSOP, but this morning I logged in to see Jeff Lisandro do something that topped them all.
Lisandro did win a stud bracelet in 2007, at a final table that was televised an included Nick Frangos and Daniel Negreanu, but most poker fans know Jeff Lisandro from his appearance in the 2006 Main Event (Jamie Gold's year). He is most known for a confrontation with fellow poker pro Prahlad Freeman. For those who don't remember, late in the Main Event, Lisandro and Freeman were seated at the feature table. Before a random hand, the dealer noticed that an ante had not been paid. Everyone at the table said they were sure they had paid their ante. Prahlad then stated that he believed it was Lisandro that had forgotten, but Lisandro disagreed. Rather then letting the issue pass, Freeman kept stating his belief that Lisandro tried to shortchange the pot by not paying his ante. Lisandro was understandably upset at being called a cheater and became visibly enraged at Freeman, and had to be restrained. After reviewing the tape, it was determined that it was not Lisandro who forgot to pay his blind, but another player that absent-mindedly did not pay.
Although many people know Lisandro as the hot headed Australian from 2007, he has shown that he is a damn good poker player. Jeff Lisandro has won three bracelets in this year alone, an incredible feat in and of itself, but what is more impressive is which games he's won them in. Lisandro won a bracelet in stud hi, stud hi/low and razz. All stud games, all limit and all games I am bad at. To me, Jeffrey Lisandro proved himself to be the BEST stud player in the world (stud meaning all 7 card games) without question. Obviously, the games are similar, but in my experience playing them, they all require different skills and reading abilities, making this feat even more impressive. This WSOP has been historic, but Jeffrey Lisandro's accomplishments this year will be recorded in poker annals for generations to come.
On a completely different note, I got my monitor today and will likely have it set up by the weekend for some multitabling fun :). Look for me to be playing a bunch in the coming weeks.
Good Luck everyone!
Lisandro did win a stud bracelet in 2007, at a final table that was televised an included Nick Frangos and Daniel Negreanu, but most poker fans know Jeff Lisandro from his appearance in the 2006 Main Event (Jamie Gold's year). He is most known for a confrontation with fellow poker pro Prahlad Freeman. For those who don't remember, late in the Main Event, Lisandro and Freeman were seated at the feature table. Before a random hand, the dealer noticed that an ante had not been paid. Everyone at the table said they were sure they had paid their ante. Prahlad then stated that he believed it was Lisandro that had forgotten, but Lisandro disagreed. Rather then letting the issue pass, Freeman kept stating his belief that Lisandro tried to shortchange the pot by not paying his ante. Lisandro was understandably upset at being called a cheater and became visibly enraged at Freeman, and had to be restrained. After reviewing the tape, it was determined that it was not Lisandro who forgot to pay his blind, but another player that absent-mindedly did not pay.
Although many people know Lisandro as the hot headed Australian from 2007, he has shown that he is a damn good poker player. Jeff Lisandro has won three bracelets in this year alone, an incredible feat in and of itself, but what is more impressive is which games he's won them in. Lisandro won a bracelet in stud hi, stud hi/low and razz. All stud games, all limit and all games I am bad at. To me, Jeffrey Lisandro proved himself to be the BEST stud player in the world (stud meaning all 7 card games) without question. Obviously, the games are similar, but in my experience playing them, they all require different skills and reading abilities, making this feat even more impressive. This WSOP has been historic, but Jeffrey Lisandro's accomplishments this year will be recorded in poker annals for generations to come.
On a completely different note, I got my monitor today and will likely have it set up by the weekend for some multitabling fun :). Look for me to be playing a bunch in the coming weeks.
Good Luck everyone!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The streak continues
Last night, Ferocious Kitty, his friend and I went to Seabrook Greyhound park to play some live poker. Due to some travel complications, we ended up having to go separately I left left a little late. Unfortunately, there was a bunch of traffic on the way up and I didnt get there until 20 minutes after the tournament started. Luckily, they were still taking alternates and I immediately signed up. Eighty dollar buy in, and 5k starting stacks and 34 people started. I get my seat assignment and I end up being seated directly to the right of Ferocious Kitty. I wanna say hi, but he's already involved in a big hand.
As I take my seat, I hear Kitty call a bet on the flop. The board reads AKx rainbow, the turn comes out another low card. Kitty checks, his opponent bets out and Kitty shoves for a little bit more. The guy tanks and starts talking: "I have a good hand. I dont know if I can fold this. I guess I gotta gamble that -- (at this point I assume hes got a pair with a flush draw or some mid-ace) -- you dont have an ace or a king." WHAT?! He just put his whole stack in, you think he doesnt have an ace or a king? He finally calls, turns over QQ and Kitty shows him AJ. Luckily the guy still has a bunch of chips left over for the taking.
I get dealt my first hand in early position and look down to AKcc, nice first hand. I raise it up and take it down with a cbet on the flop. The very next hand I pick up AQhh. I raise it up and get called in 3 places. The flop comes out AK3 rainbow. I cbet 3/4 pot and the villain from ferocious' hand minraises me. Everyone else folds. I start thinking, I have TPTK, a bunch of my stack committed but this is just my second hand, do I really wanna go broke here? But, I did just see him overvalue 3rd pair and show that he clearly has no idea what he's doing. I decide to go with it and shove. He insta-calls. Crap. He flips up his cards and shows A9. Wow. He doesnt suck out and I barely cover him, so I double to over 10k in 2 hands. After that I dont have many hands of note for a little while. I raise and take it down a bunch either preflop or on the flop with cbets. While I'm accumulating chips I witness some of the worst poker playing I have ever seen. Calling over 80% of their stack and folding to a river shove of 1/8 pot. Betting 2.5x pot because even though they had top two pair, they "didnt wanna get sucked out on" and other absurd moments.
I also witnessed something that I had never seen at Seabrook, or any other cardroom Ive been at before even though I've played live a bunch. Someone was thrown out of the cardroom. Basically the guy was being a douche to everyone at his table and was inconsiderate to both his opponents and his dealers. Finally, both an opponent and the dealer warned him that he should calm down. The guy responds: "What? Are you two F%#$ing?" The dealer immediately called the floor and had him thrown out, no refund no nothing. After talking to that dealer later, apparently the player had a long history of being out of line and this was the 3rd or 4th time he had to be removed.
A little after this occurred, I had my next big hand. I had about 13k with blinds at 200/400. Im in the BB, the SB calls (stack of 8k) and I look down at A8 suited. I pop it up to 1.6k and my opponent calls. The flop comes down AA7. The SB instashoves and I instacall. He flips up 87 and I have him pretty much drawing dead. He doesnt hit his miracle and Im up to 21k.
I didnt really have any other hands of note until the final table, which included a couple of short stacks, some regulars and Kitty's friend Joe who skillfully ninja-ed his short stack to the final table. Coming into the final table I was probably 4th in chips with 23k but 1st and 2nd must have had at least 45k each. Unfortunately, the short stacks kept doubling and I wasnt picking up any hands. The structure at Seabrook is not great and blinds were getting HUGE. Finally, some shorties busted, and I was able to keep myself afloat by stealing some. The two huge stacks got into a big pot with 7 people left (4 paying) in which the CL tanked for like 5 min and eventually called with the 3rd nuts (J hi flush) vs the other guys set. The CL was a nice guy, but he could not stop talking about how great of a call he made, even after a majority of the stacks were in the middle on the turn.
At the final table I was unlucky enough to have Joe on my right. Usually its good to have a good player on your right, but when blinds are big and the only moves are shove or fold, its not good to have someone who understands stack dynamics in the SB to your BB. He would correctly shove into me on my BB and I wouldnt have the cards to call him with. It was getting frustrating. Luckily I was able to pick up a hand against one of Joe's shoves when I was in the SB. He shoved on the button, I look down at KK and over shove. He shows A9. I hold and I send Joe to the rail. Very impressive first showing for Joe (Kitty and his roommates have all final tabled their first time at Seabrook, maybe its something in the water in Woo). With 5 left, we discuss a chop but cant figure anything out. A couple hands in the massive CL gets his stack chopped down twice by a competent player on my left who then became the CL. One was a cooler, one the CL got outplayed (he wasnt too hard to read). We knocked out a sweet older woman on the bubble and made it into the cash. We again discussed a chop but nothing could get worked out. We went around a couple orbits (avg stack 42.5k, blinds 3/6k!) and I stole some from the CL. After whittling the CL down some, he offered a chop where he got a little more than 2nd and us 3 would split the rest (each would get $460, a little less than 2nd place money). We happily agreed and the tourney came to an end.
I dicked around at blackjack for a bit and then treated Joe and Kitty to a fine meal at McDonalds (a tradition for my poker crew: if anyone cashes for more than 100 profit, they buy everyone else McD's).
All in all, it was a very fun tournament (always more fun to win money) and Ill definitely be doing it again soon.
Good Luck Everyone!
As I take my seat, I hear Kitty call a bet on the flop. The board reads AKx rainbow, the turn comes out another low card. Kitty checks, his opponent bets out and Kitty shoves for a little bit more. The guy tanks and starts talking: "I have a good hand. I dont know if I can fold this. I guess I gotta gamble that -- (at this point I assume hes got a pair with a flush draw or some mid-ace) -- you dont have an ace or a king." WHAT?! He just put his whole stack in, you think he doesnt have an ace or a king? He finally calls, turns over QQ and Kitty shows him AJ. Luckily the guy still has a bunch of chips left over for the taking.
I get dealt my first hand in early position and look down to AKcc, nice first hand. I raise it up and take it down with a cbet on the flop. The very next hand I pick up AQhh. I raise it up and get called in 3 places. The flop comes out AK3 rainbow. I cbet 3/4 pot and the villain from ferocious' hand minraises me. Everyone else folds. I start thinking, I have TPTK, a bunch of my stack committed but this is just my second hand, do I really wanna go broke here? But, I did just see him overvalue 3rd pair and show that he clearly has no idea what he's doing. I decide to go with it and shove. He insta-calls. Crap. He flips up his cards and shows A9. Wow. He doesnt suck out and I barely cover him, so I double to over 10k in 2 hands. After that I dont have many hands of note for a little while. I raise and take it down a bunch either preflop or on the flop with cbets. While I'm accumulating chips I witness some of the worst poker playing I have ever seen. Calling over 80% of their stack and folding to a river shove of 1/8 pot. Betting 2.5x pot because even though they had top two pair, they "didnt wanna get sucked out on" and other absurd moments.
I also witnessed something that I had never seen at Seabrook, or any other cardroom Ive been at before even though I've played live a bunch. Someone was thrown out of the cardroom. Basically the guy was being a douche to everyone at his table and was inconsiderate to both his opponents and his dealers. Finally, both an opponent and the dealer warned him that he should calm down. The guy responds: "What? Are you two F%#$ing?" The dealer immediately called the floor and had him thrown out, no refund no nothing. After talking to that dealer later, apparently the player had a long history of being out of line and this was the 3rd or 4th time he had to be removed.
A little after this occurred, I had my next big hand. I had about 13k with blinds at 200/400. Im in the BB, the SB calls (stack of 8k) and I look down at A8 suited. I pop it up to 1.6k and my opponent calls. The flop comes down AA7. The SB instashoves and I instacall. He flips up 87 and I have him pretty much drawing dead. He doesnt hit his miracle and Im up to 21k.
I didnt really have any other hands of note until the final table, which included a couple of short stacks, some regulars and Kitty's friend Joe who skillfully ninja-ed his short stack to the final table. Coming into the final table I was probably 4th in chips with 23k but 1st and 2nd must have had at least 45k each. Unfortunately, the short stacks kept doubling and I wasnt picking up any hands. The structure at Seabrook is not great and blinds were getting HUGE. Finally, some shorties busted, and I was able to keep myself afloat by stealing some. The two huge stacks got into a big pot with 7 people left (4 paying) in which the CL tanked for like 5 min and eventually called with the 3rd nuts (J hi flush) vs the other guys set. The CL was a nice guy, but he could not stop talking about how great of a call he made, even after a majority of the stacks were in the middle on the turn.
At the final table I was unlucky enough to have Joe on my right. Usually its good to have a good player on your right, but when blinds are big and the only moves are shove or fold, its not good to have someone who understands stack dynamics in the SB to your BB. He would correctly shove into me on my BB and I wouldnt have the cards to call him with. It was getting frustrating. Luckily I was able to pick up a hand against one of Joe's shoves when I was in the SB. He shoved on the button, I look down at KK and over shove. He shows A9. I hold and I send Joe to the rail. Very impressive first showing for Joe (Kitty and his roommates have all final tabled their first time at Seabrook, maybe its something in the water in Woo). With 5 left, we discuss a chop but cant figure anything out. A couple hands in the massive CL gets his stack chopped down twice by a competent player on my left who then became the CL. One was a cooler, one the CL got outplayed (he wasnt too hard to read). We knocked out a sweet older woman on the bubble and made it into the cash. We again discussed a chop but nothing could get worked out. We went around a couple orbits (avg stack 42.5k, blinds 3/6k!) and I stole some from the CL. After whittling the CL down some, he offered a chop where he got a little more than 2nd and us 3 would split the rest (each would get $460, a little less than 2nd place money). We happily agreed and the tourney came to an end.
I dicked around at blackjack for a bit and then treated Joe and Kitty to a fine meal at McDonalds (a tradition for my poker crew: if anyone cashes for more than 100 profit, they buy everyone else McD's).
All in all, it was a very fun tournament (always more fun to win money) and Ill definitely be doing it again soon.
Good Luck Everyone!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
More multitabling success
So lately I have been experimenting with adding more tables to my repertoire in my 6max game. To say it has been going well is an understatement. I dont know what it is, but when I play 6-8 tables, I seem to run ridiculously well. Maybe it has something to do with me not overthinking things and gettting myself in trouble with FPS (fancy play syndrome), or maybe I'm just maximizing the amount of donks I play against, regardless, its all going well.
I played a session last night that ended very similarly to the last two I have played. I played just over 1k hands, and finished up 338 bucks. I definitely caught some cards when I needed to and made some good reads, but I wasnt imune to suckouts. Luckily I was able to keep myself from tilting (which may be a result of the amount of tables I was playing) and stay on task.
I finally purchased a 21" monitor to help me keep my tables organized. Im pretty excited about it since I can now fit 8+ tables on screen comfortably. Hopefully this will only improve my multitabling experience even more.
Lastly, my good friend, Ferocious Kitty, and I will be heading up to Seabrook Dog track tonight to play some live cards. We'll be playing a 80 dollar tourney and hopefully one of us will be able to get a nice score. My poker friends (ferocious kitty, deliver4nce, boater2071, psutennis11 and jdress18) and I have done pretty well in live tourneys: if more than one of us signs up for a tourney, one of us makes a final table, every single time. Look for a recap tomorrow...
Good Luck Everyone!
I played a session last night that ended very similarly to the last two I have played. I played just over 1k hands, and finished up 338 bucks. I definitely caught some cards when I needed to and made some good reads, but I wasnt imune to suckouts. Luckily I was able to keep myself from tilting (which may be a result of the amount of tables I was playing) and stay on task.
I finally purchased a 21" monitor to help me keep my tables organized. Im pretty excited about it since I can now fit 8+ tables on screen comfortably. Hopefully this will only improve my multitabling experience even more.
Lastly, my good friend, Ferocious Kitty, and I will be heading up to Seabrook Dog track tonight to play some live cards. We'll be playing a 80 dollar tourney and hopefully one of us will be able to get a nice score. My poker friends (ferocious kitty, deliver4nce, boater2071, psutennis11 and jdress18) and I have done pretty well in live tourneys: if more than one of us signs up for a tourney, one of us makes a final table, every single time. Look for a recap tomorrow...
Good Luck Everyone!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Call me Jack Bauer...
..cause I've been destroying so many people in the last 24 hours.
The last 24 hours have been awesome for me pokerwise. After having a long stretch of break even tournament play, I decided to go back to my ol' friend 6max; and boy did it work. I played a nice little session yesterday afternoon while hanging out. I really wanted to see how well I could massively multitable on my small laptop so I opened 6-8 tables and played 100NL. I played exactly 999 hands and was up 456 dollars, for a whopping 45.6 dollars per 100 hands. WOW!
Later that evening, after busting out of another HU shootout, I fired up 6 more tables of 6max cash. I started very slowly quickly going down over two buy ins over 250 hands but I continued to fight and quickly won 4 buys in back over the next 300 hands. I was also lucky enough to find quite possibly the biggest fish I ahve ever played against. He would overbet every pot and call down any raise with anything. I played with him at the 100NL table, but wasnt able to take advantage. He got stacked 3 times in 20 minutes and left. I looked for him and he was sitting at 6max 50NL. I immediately got on the waiting list for his table and sat down shortly. My first hand in he tripled up by backing into a flush on the river. Luckily over the course of 3 hands, I had basically his entire stack. First there was this, then two hands later there was this. Both times, the guy gets his money in with no pair and no draw and drawing completely stone dead. He left after those hands and I finished for the night. Overall last night I played 928 hands for 311 dollars for 33 dollars per 100 hands and 48 BB/100. Clearly I ran like the sun but it was nice to get back to the winning ways at cash.
Final tally for the last 24 hours:
1927 hands
+767 dollars
39.8 $/100 hands
My roll is back to around 4k and Im feeling really happy about my play the last 24 hours. I know now, however, that Ive activated the doomswitch for writing about running so good. If I were you, expect a rant about bad beats in the near future.
Good luck everyone!
The last 24 hours have been awesome for me pokerwise. After having a long stretch of break even tournament play, I decided to go back to my ol' friend 6max; and boy did it work. I played a nice little session yesterday afternoon while hanging out. I really wanted to see how well I could massively multitable on my small laptop so I opened 6-8 tables and played 100NL. I played exactly 999 hands and was up 456 dollars, for a whopping 45.6 dollars per 100 hands. WOW!
Later that evening, after busting out of another HU shootout, I fired up 6 more tables of 6max cash. I started very slowly quickly going down over two buy ins over 250 hands but I continued to fight and quickly won 4 buys in back over the next 300 hands. I was also lucky enough to find quite possibly the biggest fish I ahve ever played against. He would overbet every pot and call down any raise with anything. I played with him at the 100NL table, but wasnt able to take advantage. He got stacked 3 times in 20 minutes and left. I looked for him and he was sitting at 6max 50NL. I immediately got on the waiting list for his table and sat down shortly. My first hand in he tripled up by backing into a flush on the river. Luckily over the course of 3 hands, I had basically his entire stack. First there was this, then two hands later there was this. Both times, the guy gets his money in with no pair and no draw and drawing completely stone dead. He left after those hands and I finished for the night. Overall last night I played 928 hands for 311 dollars for 33 dollars per 100 hands and 48 BB/100. Clearly I ran like the sun but it was nice to get back to the winning ways at cash.
Final tally for the last 24 hours:
1927 hands
+767 dollars
39.8 $/100 hands
My roll is back to around 4k and Im feeling really happy about my play the last 24 hours. I know now, however, that Ive activated the doomswitch for writing about running so good. If I were you, expect a rant about bad beats in the near future.
Good luck everyone!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Tiny Bubbles....
The last couple of days I've been playing a little of everything. Some tournaments, some HU cash, some 6max cash and some SnGs. I have been almost entirely break even over that stretch. A big reason for my lack of profit is my penchant for running super cold on the bubble in HU shootouts. Over the last two days, I have played two HU shootouts, one 20 dollar and one 10 dollar. I play well in the early rounds and get to the point where I am one match away from cashing. In the 20 dollar shootout last night, I have my opponent on the ropes when I get this hand, which to me is pretty difficult to get away from. Ok, I can recover from that... Until I get massively coolered on this hand. Again, even with the monotone board, I dont think I cant get away.
Just minutes ago I played a 10 dollar HU shootout. I was playing well again and smoothly made it through the first couple of rounds. I get to the bubble match, when on the first hand this occurs. An ugly hand for sure, and a pure set up card on the turn. Again, I dont know if I can let this go, especially since he led into me on the flop which I did not expect from a made straight. Yuck!
End rant
I did end up running really well in an Omaha super turbo for 58 bucks, coming in 7th of 174. Strangely, I didnt get a single knockout. Weird.;
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Good luck!
Just minutes ago I played a 10 dollar HU shootout. I was playing well again and smoothly made it through the first couple of rounds. I get to the bubble match, when on the first hand this occurs. An ugly hand for sure, and a pure set up card on the turn. Again, I dont know if I can let this go, especially since he led into me on the flop which I did not expect from a made straight. Yuck!
End rant
I did end up running really well in an Omaha super turbo for 58 bucks, coming in 7th of 174. Strangely, I didnt get a single knockout. Weird.;
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Good luck!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Sometimes doing things wrong can go so right
So I was having a pretty rough day overall on the poker front. I had played a bunch of tournaments and everything ended poorly. No deep runs, no big cashes, no seats from satts, it was ugly. I lost a big chunk of my winnings from last night, which was very frustrating. I signed in late (around midnight) to sign up for a few tourneys just to kill some time. I didnt really find tournies that stood out, but I signed up for a 45 man and a 24+2 stud8 tourney. I played VERY badly in both to get low in chips, then proceeded to get sucked out on to get knocked out. Somehow, I can convince myself that I got unlucky to be out of the tourney, when in actuality I should have gotten my money in better early and then wouldnt have needed to get all in when I did. Tournies like those (play bad + run bad) tilt me to know end.
Both tournies ended around the same time and I looked in the tourney lobby for something I could play, preferably a higher buy in (cause nothing goes better with tilt than hundreds of dollars). I spotted my prey, a 69+6 satt into sunday brawl. There were only 2 other people signed up when the tourney started, so there was a small overlay (overlays = +EV). The second hand in I pick up JJ on the button. I raise, and get called by the BB. The flop comes 974 two diamonds. The BB leads into me, I raise, he shoves I call and he tables A2dd. Obv diamond on the turn and i go home 2 hands in.
Now I am tilting. Tilting for me is weird, unlike many people who are out of control and sometimes arent even aware of the consequences of what they do, I often tell myself I am tilting and that I shouldnt be playing but just ignore it. I look for some tables that will spew the most chips the quickest. I sit down at a 50NL HU table and a 100NL HU table ("But Toots, didnt you just lose 1000 dollars playing 100NL HU like 2 weeks ago?" "Yes, yes I did. But this time, I'm in the zone obv"). On the 100NL table, my opponent and I end up basically being even after the session, even after I stacked him with my quads vs. his boat. On my 50NL table I had an epic battle going after a shortstackers 20 bucks, but eventually grinded him down and took his money minus rake (so probs like 10 bucks). After stacking the 50NL player, I did what any logical person does: I opened ANOTHER table of 100NL HU (did I mention that I also had 2 6max tables running as well, ended down approx 20).
Not only was I playing at a table I shouldnt have, but before even sitting down, I knew who my opponent was. He was a poster on CardPlayer forums, one that I frequent, and is a writer of a blog I follow in which he details his forays into the world of HU poker. Not only that, but he is a strong winning player at 100NL HU.
A game I know is too big for my bankroll? CHECK
Playing against a player who I know wins and is thinking and competent? CHECK
Tilting off my ass and not in a great mindset? CHECK
That's three for three folks. Some call it the "perfect storm". I'm sure all of you can guess what happens next: I proceed to stack the guy for 4 buys ins in 81 hands. Wait......what?! Yeah, I didnt see it coming either. Heres the story:
Five hands in
Snapping a triple barrel bluff
Suck-Resuck
Passivity FTW
Value Bet-aments
I knew my opponent to be very aggro and I think I was very good at using this to my advantage. I defintely ran REALLY well and picking up a bunch of good cards and hitting flops, but I think I maximized value well. I think he was on tilt even before playing me, and I felt bad since I kinda knew who he was. I almost wanted to tell him to sit me out after he lost the first 2 buy ins, but I was not about to turn down free money.
I hope I've learned my lesson, and if any of my readers see me at 100NL HU please tell me to get off. I am not to play 100NL HU until I announce on this blog that I feel I am ready (bankroll wise and skill wise).
Good Luck everyone!
PS I gotta find a new sign off phrase, mine is lame. Any good suggestions are welcome in the comments
Both tournies ended around the same time and I looked in the tourney lobby for something I could play, preferably a higher buy in (cause nothing goes better with tilt than hundreds of dollars). I spotted my prey, a 69+6 satt into sunday brawl. There were only 2 other people signed up when the tourney started, so there was a small overlay (overlays = +EV). The second hand in I pick up JJ on the button. I raise, and get called by the BB. The flop comes 974 two diamonds. The BB leads into me, I raise, he shoves I call and he tables A2dd. Obv diamond on the turn and i go home 2 hands in.
Now I am tilting. Tilting for me is weird, unlike many people who are out of control and sometimes arent even aware of the consequences of what they do, I often tell myself I am tilting and that I shouldnt be playing but just ignore it. I look for some tables that will spew the most chips the quickest. I sit down at a 50NL HU table and a 100NL HU table ("But Toots, didnt you just lose 1000 dollars playing 100NL HU like 2 weeks ago?" "Yes, yes I did. But this time, I'm in the zone obv"). On the 100NL table, my opponent and I end up basically being even after the session, even after I stacked him with my quads vs. his boat. On my 50NL table I had an epic battle going after a shortstackers 20 bucks, but eventually grinded him down and took his money minus rake (so probs like 10 bucks). After stacking the 50NL player, I did what any logical person does: I opened ANOTHER table of 100NL HU (did I mention that I also had 2 6max tables running as well, ended down approx 20).
Not only was I playing at a table I shouldnt have, but before even sitting down, I knew who my opponent was. He was a poster on CardPlayer forums, one that I frequent, and is a writer of a blog I follow in which he details his forays into the world of HU poker. Not only that, but he is a strong winning player at 100NL HU.
A game I know is too big for my bankroll? CHECK
Playing against a player who I know wins and is thinking and competent? CHECK
Tilting off my ass and not in a great mindset? CHECK
That's three for three folks. Some call it the "perfect storm". I'm sure all of you can guess what happens next: I proceed to stack the guy for 4 buys ins in 81 hands. Wait......what?! Yeah, I didnt see it coming either. Heres the story:
Five hands in
Snapping a triple barrel bluff
Suck-Resuck
Passivity FTW
Value Bet-aments
I knew my opponent to be very aggro and I think I was very good at using this to my advantage. I defintely ran REALLY well and picking up a bunch of good cards and hitting flops, but I think I maximized value well. I think he was on tilt even before playing me, and I felt bad since I kinda knew who he was. I almost wanted to tell him to sit me out after he lost the first 2 buy ins, but I was not about to turn down free money.
I hope I've learned my lesson, and if any of my readers see me at 100NL HU please tell me to get off. I am not to play 100NL HU until I announce on this blog that I feel I am ready (bankroll wise and skill wise).
Good Luck everyone!
PS I gotta find a new sign off phrase, mine is lame. Any good suggestions are welcome in the comments
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Getting off the schneid
Since coming home from college, I've been playing much more tournaments. Lately, I've been making deep runs but havent had anything materialize. Luckily, last night I was able to finally pick up a win in a 45 man 24 dollar SnG. I know its not a huge score, 410 bucks, but it feels good to know that I can run good deep and close a tourney out with a victory. I think I played pretty well throughout, and when it got down to 5 handed I abused everyone at the table, becoming a super stack (my stack equals all other stacks combined) with 4 people left by noticing that everyone was playing far too tight for a short handed situation with huge blinds. It should have been smooth sailing from there, right? Not....at....all.
When it got to be three handed, blinds at 800/1600, the stacks looked as follows: me 36k, V1 17k, V2 12k. I then proceeded to double one of the short stacks, build my stack back up, double the other shorty, build my stack again, double the first shorty leaving me with 6.5k with blinds at 1k/2k. All the while, I was talking to my friend, Ferocious Kitty (who has a great blog going now that everyone should check out) who told me to keep fighting. I took his words to heart and continued to run over the table even with my short stack. My two opponents did not seem to realize that I couldnt have a good hand every time, and just folded to my shoves over and over. Using this strategy, I built my stack back up until we were all pretty even (22k-ish each) and then busted one of my opponents. I ended up getting it in on the first hand of HU with my K8 vs his A4. I hit my 8 and took this mofo down. Feels good to get a win after so long.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Back in Beantown
So I'm back after a great week in DC. I didnt play much poker, save a couple tourneys that I snuck in while my gf was reading or whatnot. Nothing really materialized in any of em but I shook some of the rust off. While in DC, I got to thinking alot about the mindset Ive been having recently when it comes to poker. I have been pretty down on poker recently, especially after my epic HU loss. This was due to my belief that I wasnt really ever going to get to the upper level of thinking that is required of a high stakes player. I figured that if I was incapable of that thinking, grinding the low stakes was pointless since I would just be treading water for the entirety of my career. Taking a step away from the game, though, did help me put things into perspective. I realized that I'm not playing poker to be the best in the world (although I would love to get to this point, its obviously either impossible or very far away), I'm playing poker because it is fun and because I can make money. If Im going to be playing the low stakes games, and possibly grinding up to the mid stakes. I really do not need to be considering the nth level thinking that great players like psyduck, gobboboy or durrrr employ. I just need to be at least one step ahead of my opponents to beat them and take their money.
I also realized that I cant really feel sorry for myself for not being at a skill level I wanna be at if Im not willing to put in the time to watch videos or take notes. Im a member at DC and have downloaded probably 150 hours of videos onto my computer, but have watched approx 15 of them. If Im going to be committed to learning this game, I need to put in the hours to learn. I will not be upset if I dont watch the videos, I just cant be disappointed when I dont improve at the level I want.
I was recently introduced to a blog, AD/AT, written by adamsapple119 that reiterates a lot of what I am talking about. Not only is the blog a great source of tourney and SnG material, it also has some great commentary on poker mindset and thinking. Its really good stuff, if anyone is reading this out there, they should check that blog out. I was planning on doing a tourney review right now, but this post is getting long and I think Ill leave that till tonight or tomorrow.
On a completely different note, I was lucky enough to go see a red sox game last night. It was an epic victory for the Sox, in which they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth to overcome a 3-1 deficit. After the game last night, the red sox went to 8-0 vs. the yankees on the year. I'm loving it!
Good Luck everyone!
I also realized that I cant really feel sorry for myself for not being at a skill level I wanna be at if Im not willing to put in the time to watch videos or take notes. Im a member at DC and have downloaded probably 150 hours of videos onto my computer, but have watched approx 15 of them. If Im going to be committed to learning this game, I need to put in the hours to learn. I will not be upset if I dont watch the videos, I just cant be disappointed when I dont improve at the level I want.
I was recently introduced to a blog, AD/AT, written by adamsapple119 that reiterates a lot of what I am talking about. Not only is the blog a great source of tourney and SnG material, it also has some great commentary on poker mindset and thinking. Its really good stuff, if anyone is reading this out there, they should check that blog out. I was planning on doing a tourney review right now, but this post is getting long and I think Ill leave that till tonight or tomorrow.
On a completely different note, I was lucky enough to go see a red sox game last night. It was an epic victory for the Sox, in which they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth to overcome a 3-1 deficit. After the game last night, the red sox went to 8-0 vs. the yankees on the year. I'm loving it!
Good Luck everyone!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Deep run, but sick ending
So I stayed up till 7:13 to finish the 5 dollar rebuy that i mentioned earlier. I played/ran well, if I do say so myself I played theis tourney excellently but did win some crucial races when I needed to. I ended up final tabling and playing pretty well. Once it got down to 4-5 handed I felt like I pretty much outplayed my opponents constantly. I got to heads up against a player who had been on my left the whole tourney. He was decent but definitely not great. We traded steals for a couple of hands until this happened. His big leads were often good hands, but with blinds this big and top pair ok kicker, I was pretty confident I was ahead. I was right, but it wasnt meant to be. I cashed for 319 but I was in for 9 rebuys and an add on. Still a nice profit. Ill probably do a review of the whole thing once Im back from DC.
Have a great week everyone!
Have a great week everyone!
Now this is just freaky
I know I said I was done posting for the week, but I had to show you guys this. So Im dicking around in a 5 dollar rebuy when I happen to stumble into this:
This was during the rebuy period so I went crazy with my second nut draw and overs on the flop and got the money in. The turn was good, the river was better. Two royals, within hours of one another. What are the odds???
This was during the rebuy period so I went crazy with my second nut draw and overs on the flop and got the money in. The turn was good, the river was better. Two royals, within hours of one another. What are the odds???
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Nice win, a big first and a short term hiatus
What's up every one. Not too much to report on the poker front. Some some tourneys, mostly 24+2 sngs and MTTs. I ran pretty deep in the 35k, getting 79 of 1130. I also ran pretty deep in a 2 dollar rebuy. I was 2nd in chips with 25 left when I did this. The guy was opening some from UTG and when he checked to me twice, I really didnt think he had it. But he played it well, so kudos to him. I was knocked out the very next hand in 24 which sucked. I was hoping for that big score, but it wasnt to be.
Luckily, today my only positive cash was a pretty significant one. I won a 45 man sng for 410. I obv ran pretty well at the final table, including cracking KK with Q8, but Ill be the first to tell you that the only way to win an MTT is to run good and maybe suckout once or twice (or thirty times).
Ill be going to DC this week to see my girlfriend so I wont be writing or playing much if at all. Good luck to all and I'll leave you with this little nugget to show that we all get there sometimes (no betting was done until the river so I didnt suck out :P). My first royal!
Luckily, today my only positive cash was a pretty significant one. I won a 45 man sng for 410. I obv ran pretty well at the final table, including cracking KK with Q8, but Ill be the first to tell you that the only way to win an MTT is to run good and maybe suckout once or twice (or thirty times).
Ill be going to DC this week to see my girlfriend so I wont be writing or playing much if at all. Good luck to all and I'll leave you with this little nugget to show that we all get there sometimes (no betting was done until the river so I didnt suck out :P). My first royal!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Getting back to basics is hard when the basics arent as fun
So I know I've said that Id be trying to get back to my old bread and butter of 6max 50NL, but I, like many addicts, havent been entirely truthful. This afternoon, I played some HU 50NL and some -ev tournaments (even some, GASP, super turbos ugh) and it all went pretty badly. I ran deep in some of the tournaments but none went well at all, none of my hands were holding and I lost my races deep. I definitely havent been playing anywhere close to my A game.
Currently, I'm stuck in a weird spot in terms of my bankroll and preferred choice of game. After tournament buy ins and losses at cash, my bankroll has dropped all the way down to 2500. At this point, the tourneys I should be playing according to the bankroll management I know, should have buy ins from 20-45 dollars. Unfortunately, many of the tournaments in this bankroll range are massive fields. Ive never been great at the massive field tourneys, they are a huge time commitment and often end in terrible heartbreak and not much cash. When my bankroll was higher, I would play 75 dollar satts into $216 events which were quick, easy and fairly profitable. These types of tournaments arent as readily available at the buy in I'm currently playing at (there are satts to these events, but they pay 1/9 and are usually turbo so you really cant play much and have to get lucky to get a seat). If anyone has good ideas for tournaments at my bankroll level, I'd greatly appreciate it.
When talking about cash, with 2500 I'm comfortably rolled for 6max 50NL and probably rolled for HU NL50. The problem, especially with 6max, is that I've been playing 100NL and moving down in stakes is tough because I thought I had moved passed it. Now, the money doesnt seem as significant and I feel like Im wasting my time to a certain extent. Also, going from playing alot of HU to playing 6max is a huge switch because HU has so much more action. In HU youre playing so many more hands (even when 4tabling 6max) so firing up 6max games is somewhat less appealing. Its like going from driving a Ferrari to getting in a Toyota. The Toyota is fine, its always there when you need it, and probably can go pretty fast; the Ferrari, the other hand, can go much faster, is much more exciting and better looking, but its so much more dangerous. I dunno, I really gotta get back to 6max and build up the roll, but will probably play some tourneys as well. I just gotta be smarter in my tourney and table selection and hopefully things will turn around.
Good Luck Everyone!
Currently, I'm stuck in a weird spot in terms of my bankroll and preferred choice of game. After tournament buy ins and losses at cash, my bankroll has dropped all the way down to 2500. At this point, the tourneys I should be playing according to the bankroll management I know, should have buy ins from 20-45 dollars. Unfortunately, many of the tournaments in this bankroll range are massive fields. Ive never been great at the massive field tourneys, they are a huge time commitment and often end in terrible heartbreak and not much cash. When my bankroll was higher, I would play 75 dollar satts into $216 events which were quick, easy and fairly profitable. These types of tournaments arent as readily available at the buy in I'm currently playing at (there are satts to these events, but they pay 1/9 and are usually turbo so you really cant play much and have to get lucky to get a seat). If anyone has good ideas for tournaments at my bankroll level, I'd greatly appreciate it.
When talking about cash, with 2500 I'm comfortably rolled for 6max 50NL and probably rolled for HU NL50. The problem, especially with 6max, is that I've been playing 100NL and moving down in stakes is tough because I thought I had moved passed it. Now, the money doesnt seem as significant and I feel like Im wasting my time to a certain extent. Also, going from playing alot of HU to playing 6max is a huge switch because HU has so much more action. In HU youre playing so many more hands (even when 4tabling 6max) so firing up 6max games is somewhat less appealing. Its like going from driving a Ferrari to getting in a Toyota. The Toyota is fine, its always there when you need it, and probably can go pretty fast; the Ferrari, the other hand, can go much faster, is much more exciting and better looking, but its so much more dangerous. I dunno, I really gotta get back to 6max and build up the roll, but will probably play some tourneys as well. I just gotta be smarter in my tourney and table selection and hopefully things will turn around.
Good Luck Everyone!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
