Been playing a lot of limit these last 2 months. NL was just bleeding me and I think it's because I haven't been playing often enough and I'm getting rusty - then I go to the casino, get cleaned out, get discouraged, don't want to play, get even rustier, etc., etc., etc. Anyway, the switch to limit was rather serendipitous, but it has worked well for me.
I was in Vegas for a 6-day training seminar last month, and got to play all six nights I was there - but the casino only spread their 3/6 limit table with any regularity, so that's what I played. Also, since I wanted to have a beer or 2 while I was playing, I stuck with limit - I won't play NL while I drink.
Anyway, I won 5 of the 6 nights I played there (+220, +25, +30, +90, +210) on my first 5 nights, then lost 6 on the last night for a +570 to the poker drawer - yay!
I don't remember much of the hands from the winning days, but I do remember 1 (losing) hand from the last night...
I was in seat 7 in the cutoff and picked up pocket 5's. Now the table had recently changed when 3 maniacs sat down and opened the game way up. This also (unfortunately) coincided with the demise of my chip stack - I went from 300 to 94 in the space of 45 minutes, and this hand was during that span. Seat 3 (maniac) raises from UTG, super maniac in seat 5 reraises, 6 calls, I call, 8 calls, 2 calls, 3 raises, 5 caps it and we all call. Flop is 78J rainbow giving me nuttin'. It gets bet and raised to me and (in my typical donkey ways) I call. It gets capped again and there's still 6 of us in. Turn is a 6 giving me a single card to the dumb end of the straight, and we all do the same song and dance - now there's like 300 in the pot and I'm hoping for a 4... River is a J and I bail out. The quiet woman in seat 6 ended up taking it with 6's full (3 had JT, and 5 had kings).
I also played a session of 3/6 at the Chu last month, came out +120. Yay!
Went to Pechanga this past weekend while visiting my mom-in-law, and played a 4/8 there. Didn't get many hands and ended up down 25 for my 3-4 hour visit. Only 1 donkey hand sticks out...
In seat 4 and pick up 4h, 4c from late position and limp in - it gets raised by the Call-With-Any-2-Cards-guy in seat 10 (BB) and 5 of us see the flop. Flop is Ah, Kh, 7c. 10 bets and we all call. Turn is the 8h, and I notice that no one really likes that card - so I figure it's time to bluff. 10 still bets out and seats 1 and 2 fold, I raise, 5 folds and 10 calls. River is the 5h, 10 checks and I see that he's holding his chips above the table ready to call my bet - which I've seen players do to try to scare someone from betting... Now I figure that my baby flush is probably good and I bet it - he calls and shows a set of Kings and I scoop it with my lucky 4h.
So, poker drawer is ~1450-1500 (I don't remember exactly - it took some hits over the summer, but the Vegas trip really helped).
I've changed my game a bit while playing limit (more drawing hands, only pursue draws when there are at least 3 others in the pot, push with big hands but be more willing to lay them down when in doubt, etc).
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Long Time - Little Pokering
Yeah, yeah - I know... I've been delinquent in my blatherings about my exploits. But the truth is that I've had very few exploits to discuss - and those that I have had haven't been that great. I've been playing so infrequently that I'm making dumb mistakes and losing $$ from my poker drawer; which makes me want to play even less; which means that I fall even further 'out of practice', etc...
Anyway, since last I posted, I've played $60 NL at the Chu, 1/2 NL and 2/4-3/6 Limit in Vegas and at the Chu, and some 4/8 Limit on the Avenue here in Ventura. All of which have generally been losing sessions. Yeah, I'll win some, but the trend in the poker drawer is mirroring the economy => crappy. I haven't counted it recently, but I think it's in the $1,500 to $1,700 neighborhood.
Like the pain of childbirth, I've forgotten many of the hands I've played, but a couple from recent ventures stand out:
1) My buddy Darryl and I went to the Chu and got seated at the same table (me in seat 2, him in seat 5) and we'd been there a for while. I was up a bit (~$90) and a youngish guy moved to seat 1 from a busted $60 NL table nearby - he had about $130 and was fairly agressive. He'd been there for about 15 minutes when I picked up 2c2h in the SB and called the $6 of his $7 raise - along with 2 other limpers. Flop is a lovely 2s, 8d, Td - to which I check (hey, he's the aggressive one, I'll let him bet it). He does as hoped and puts out $10. I raise it to $30 cuz I don't like flush draws - the limpers fold and he ponders, "huh, you raised that pretty quickly... I call." Turn is the Qc and he moves all-in - I'm pretty sure I'm ahead (unless he's got queens or slowplaying a set on the flop) and I call. He flips over the QhTh, and the river is the Js, and I'm happy.
2) From a recent outing at the Chu... last hand of the evening, I'm short stacked, and I've got 99 from UTG - this is the best hand I've seen in 2 hours so I raise it to $7 in seat 3. Seat 4 calls, seat 6 calls, seat 7 calls and the BB calls. Well, so much for respecting the UTG raise. Flop is 2h, 6s, Td - BB checks and I bet $12 of my $25 stack (which was dumb, the pot had $35 in it and I should have just moved in). Seat 4 calls and everyone else folds. Turn is the 8h, and I push my last $13 in - and seat 4 calls. I say, "If you've got a ten, you're good." and flip the nines over. River is the Qh and he flips over the Jh6h for the flush. I just stare, I can't believe that someone would call an UTG raise with J6 suited in early position, and then called the flop bet with bottom pair and a back door flush draw - wow! I just get up and leave - I was sorely tempted to say, "I should buy back in, cuz those chips aren't going to be yours for very long." - but I didn't...
I've been trying to stay away from drawing hands when I'm heads-up. Most people get out of the way when the 3rd straight card hits or the 3rd diamond lands - and it's tough to get your draws paid off in these situations when you do actually make your hand...
Anyway - the wife is taking me (or, actually, she's allowing me to take her) to Vegas for my B-day in 2 weeks. I'll report back after that.
Anyway, since last I posted, I've played $60 NL at the Chu, 1/2 NL and 2/4-3/6 Limit in Vegas and at the Chu, and some 4/8 Limit on the Avenue here in Ventura. All of which have generally been losing sessions. Yeah, I'll win some, but the trend in the poker drawer is mirroring the economy => crappy. I haven't counted it recently, but I think it's in the $1,500 to $1,700 neighborhood.
Like the pain of childbirth, I've forgotten many of the hands I've played, but a couple from recent ventures stand out:
1) My buddy Darryl and I went to the Chu and got seated at the same table (me in seat 2, him in seat 5) and we'd been there a for while. I was up a bit (~$90) and a youngish guy moved to seat 1 from a busted $60 NL table nearby - he had about $130 and was fairly agressive. He'd been there for about 15 minutes when I picked up 2c2h in the SB and called the $6 of his $7 raise - along with 2 other limpers. Flop is a lovely 2s, 8d, Td - to which I check (hey, he's the aggressive one, I'll let him bet it). He does as hoped and puts out $10. I raise it to $30 cuz I don't like flush draws - the limpers fold and he ponders, "huh, you raised that pretty quickly... I call." Turn is the Qc and he moves all-in - I'm pretty sure I'm ahead (unless he's got queens or slowplaying a set on the flop) and I call. He flips over the QhTh, and the river is the Js, and I'm happy.
2) From a recent outing at the Chu... last hand of the evening, I'm short stacked, and I've got 99 from UTG - this is the best hand I've seen in 2 hours so I raise it to $7 in seat 3. Seat 4 calls, seat 6 calls, seat 7 calls and the BB calls. Well, so much for respecting the UTG raise. Flop is 2h, 6s, Td - BB checks and I bet $12 of my $25 stack (which was dumb, the pot had $35 in it and I should have just moved in). Seat 4 calls and everyone else folds. Turn is the 8h, and I push my last $13 in - and seat 4 calls. I say, "If you've got a ten, you're good." and flip the nines over. River is the Qh and he flips over the Jh6h for the flush. I just stare, I can't believe that someone would call an UTG raise with J6 suited in early position, and then called the flop bet with bottom pair and a back door flush draw - wow! I just get up and leave - I was sorely tempted to say, "I should buy back in, cuz those chips aren't going to be yours for very long." - but I didn't...
I've been trying to stay away from drawing hands when I'm heads-up. Most people get out of the way when the 3rd straight card hits or the 3rd diamond lands - and it's tough to get your draws paid off in these situations when you do actually make your hand...
Anyway - the wife is taking me (or, actually, she's allowing me to take her) to Vegas for my B-day in 2 weeks. I'll report back after that.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Spring Pokering
I got to play some poker on a couple of days last week (Limit and NL), and ended 'up' by a combined $119 ($44 at Limit, $75 at NL).
With the exception of 1 hand (which I'll talk about), I tried to play a 'softer' style of poker. Less jamming with big hands and just trying to dink away at others' stacks when I felt I had the best of it. It worked OK and I felt like I got some extra playing practice by continually reading my players, rather than trying to move them off their hands.
Anyway...
Hand 1 - I had just sat down and only seen 2 hands at this table when I picked up KK on the button. It was raised to $12 from EP, re-raised to $24 from MP/LP, and I see my hand. Hmmm - I figure that my opponents would make these moves with AA thru TT, and AK. Based on that, I reluctantly moved all-in for $56 ($60 buy-in table). EP player folded but the other called and flipped over AA. Luckily for me, a K was in the flop and I got to play on.
Hand 2 - This crazy lady sat down at our table (yes, she's nuts, I've played against her before) and I tried to avoid her as best as I could. She eventually ended up being short stacked and re-raised my semi-bluff raise (I'd popped it with A9s from the cutoff). I made it $8, SB called, and she moved in from the BB for $17 total. $9 back to me and we both call. She flips over AK and I'm hosed.
I need to remember that even nut-bags can catch cards now and then...
Short post, but my lunch break is over - poker drawer is up to $2440 or $2450 (I'm reimbursing the $160 I pulled out to start my home cash-game bank - which was part of that ~$800 hit my drawer took 2 months ago)...
Off to Vegas next week for the American Society of Safety Engineer's conference - Woohoo!
With the exception of 1 hand (which I'll talk about), I tried to play a 'softer' style of poker. Less jamming with big hands and just trying to dink away at others' stacks when I felt I had the best of it. It worked OK and I felt like I got some extra playing practice by continually reading my players, rather than trying to move them off their hands.
Anyway...
Hand 1 - I had just sat down and only seen 2 hands at this table when I picked up KK on the button. It was raised to $12 from EP, re-raised to $24 from MP/LP, and I see my hand. Hmmm - I figure that my opponents would make these moves with AA thru TT, and AK. Based on that, I reluctantly moved all-in for $56 ($60 buy-in table). EP player folded but the other called and flipped over AA. Luckily for me, a K was in the flop and I got to play on.
Hand 2 - This crazy lady sat down at our table (yes, she's nuts, I've played against her before) and I tried to avoid her as best as I could. She eventually ended up being short stacked and re-raised my semi-bluff raise (I'd popped it with A9s from the cutoff). I made it $8, SB called, and she moved in from the BB for $17 total. $9 back to me and we both call. She flips over AK and I'm hosed.
I need to remember that even nut-bags can catch cards now and then...
Short post, but my lunch break is over - poker drawer is up to $2440 or $2450 (I'm reimbursing the $160 I pulled out to start my home cash-game bank - which was part of that ~$800 hit my drawer took 2 months ago)...
Off to Vegas next week for the American Society of Safety Engineer's conference - Woohoo!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Downs, Ups, and Unintentional Bluffs
I know, it’s been a while since I put down any thoughts here… I didn’t play much during March, and then had a couple of very harsh losing sessions in April that disheartened me so much that I actually switched from no-limit to limit for a while.
Anyway, I feel that I found my feet again and am ready to jot down some recent hands and some of the things that I learned the hard way a month or 2 ago.
Recent hands played:
1) I’d been at the table for about 20 minutes and had only played 1 hand (AKo that I had to fold to a bet after a crap flop came), and I looked down at AdKd in the BB. There’s 7 limpers so I pop it to $12 to clear some of the dead-wood – only 3 of them fold, hmmm. Flop is 7c, 6d, 7h giving me nothing but some overs and a back door flush draw. The SB checks and I move in for my last $17. Everyone folds to the SB who mutters about “even if I hit my king, you’ve got aces and I’m screwed”, and folds. Yay for me.
2) I’d moved to seat 7 after hand 1 (my favorite spot after seat 2) and I was short-stacked again. I limp UTG with 2c2h and seat 9 raises to $7 – 2 callers later and it’s back to me. I ponder for a half-second and move in for my last $22 ($17 more). 9 moves all-in for ~$100 more and it’s folded back to me. I yell for chips, the table laughs, and we flip our cards over – 9 has AdQc and it’s a coin flip. Flop is K73 all clubs – crap. Turn is another 3 and now I’ve got even more cards to dodge (A, Q, club, K, & 7). River is the Js and I breathe a big sigh.
3) Not too long after hand 2, I picked up deuces again – and limp along with 3 others. Flop is 2d, 5d, 8h and we all check call seat 2’s $6 bet. Turn is the 3d and I hate poker. We all check. River is the 9c and I bet out $8, seat 1 calls, and seat 2 raises $20 to $28. Crap. Like a donkey I call and he shows the Ad8d for the nut flush. Poop – what a donkey I am sometimes.
4) From middle-position, I limped with AcTs along with 4 others – flop was 5h, 9c, Tc and seat 6 bets $8. I raise to $22 (why $22? It was ~1/2 of seat 6’s remaining stack), and it’s folded to 6 who calls – hmmm. Turn is the 4c and I’ve got lots of outs if he doesn’t have the flush, and some outs if he does… He checks and I move him in for his last $15 – which he calls. He shows 9d5c and I have 15 or 16 outs – river is the Ah and I get to taste the sweet nectar of ‘suck-out’.
5) I’d been playing for 3 hours and folded at least 95% percent of the junk tossed my way for the last hour and a half. I had ~$85 and was wondering if I should just leave since I was getting nowhere… UTG I looked down at a relative monster 5d5s and limp with it – no raises and 5 of us to the flop, which is an amazing 5h, 3h, 5c for flopped quads! OK, how to get the most $$ into the pot… It’s checked around to the button who bets $8. I call and seat 2 calls. Turn is the Ah (putting a possible straight flush out there), and we all check to the button again – who bets $10, and we call. River is the Tc and I decide that I can’t get the buttons stack if I bet, so I we both check to him again – and he bets $11. OK. I know from the past 3 hours that he’s pretty ego-driven, so I think there’s a decent chance he’ll call my all-in with a good flush, but he’s not so crazy that he’ll re-raise me if I just raise him for ~1/2 his stack… I move all-in and 2 bails out. Seat 4 ponders for a moment, and then forcefully says, “I call” and flips over 7h9h for a mediocre flush. I show the 5’s and more-than-double-up to ~$190. Woo hoo!
6) From another visit to the Chu, I was in seat 6 and picked up KhQh from UTG and raised it to $6, and got 3 callers including the blinds. Flop was Td, 8d, 3c for a whole lot of nuttin’ but a couple of overs. Seat 4 (a very tight young player) led out with $5 and I called (I’ll tell you why in a second). Everyone else folded. Turn was 2s and we both checked. River was the 9c and he again bet out $5. I looked over at his stack, saw that it was ~$15 and very confidently said, “All-in”. After I put my $$ in front of me, I realized that I didn’t have the QhJh that I thought, but I only had king-high. Uh-oh. He pondered for a bit, counted out his chips, looked back at me, and then finally folded. Wow – what a lucky donkey I am…
Lessons that I paid good money for (and learned the hard way) over the past 2 months:
1) Pay attention and learn (quickly) the tenacity of your opponents – I generally don’t give my opponents the correct odds to chase their hands (a bet of half the pot will generally give a person the wrong odds to chase their straight or flush draw), but some people will stick to their hand like glue. Nothing aggravates me more than putting my guy on a draw, betting 1/2 of the pot on the flop – call, betting 2/3rds of the pot on the turn – call, and seeing a third diamond hit on the river and having them move all-in on me. If I’m up against 1 of these players, I will now tend more to check the flop and bail out if a straight, flush, or over-card hits the turn and I get bet into – NOTE – only if it’s an unraised pot, if there’s a lot of $$ in the pot after the flop, I’ll push hard. Anyway, if a safe card hits the turn, that’s when I’ll come out firing – most of these tenacious morons will not call for the chance at seeing just 1 more card.
2) In relation to #1 – if there is another person in the pot, account for the fact that if they call your ½-pot bet, the drawing opponent may now be getting the right pot-odds to chase – so bet (or wait) accordingly.
3) Loud players who spend a lot of energy bitching or moaning, or blame the dealer for their failed hands, seem to fall into this category of tenacious drawing-hand players (there are others too). I don’t know if these are long-time limit players who’ve never really adjusted to no-limit or what... But they can’t seem to resist the lure of playing any 2 suited or connected cards. So beware of them (in line with the above 2 lessons) when the board is flushing or straightening.
4) Such players can be moved off their hand when a scare card comes on the turn or river (if you’re willing to push a bluff that far with them). They assume that you’re chasing and made your hand (just the way they like to play), so a bet has a decent chance of getting them off a hand like top pair (for a perfect example of this – see Hand #1 description on my 9/1/07 posting).
5) I still need to play good defense and not donk off chips because I want to see if he really has the hand he claims to…
6) During my stint that I switched to limit, I got much more proficient at it. I’ve always thought that limit kind of sucked, but I have experimented with changing up my starting hand requirements and am playing more drawing hands with limit than I used to. This seems to have helped – and I’ve shown a modest profit from my last 7 or 8 limit sessions.
Poker drawer took a big hit in April (~$800 down – youch!), but I’ve bounced back recently and it’s now at $2,270.
Anyway, I feel that I found my feet again and am ready to jot down some recent hands and some of the things that I learned the hard way a month or 2 ago.
Recent hands played:
1) I’d been at the table for about 20 minutes and had only played 1 hand (AKo that I had to fold to a bet after a crap flop came), and I looked down at AdKd in the BB. There’s 7 limpers so I pop it to $12 to clear some of the dead-wood – only 3 of them fold, hmmm. Flop is 7c, 6d, 7h giving me nothing but some overs and a back door flush draw. The SB checks and I move in for my last $17. Everyone folds to the SB who mutters about “even if I hit my king, you’ve got aces and I’m screwed”, and folds. Yay for me.
2) I’d moved to seat 7 after hand 1 (my favorite spot after seat 2) and I was short-stacked again. I limp UTG with 2c2h and seat 9 raises to $7 – 2 callers later and it’s back to me. I ponder for a half-second and move in for my last $22 ($17 more). 9 moves all-in for ~$100 more and it’s folded back to me. I yell for chips, the table laughs, and we flip our cards over – 9 has AdQc and it’s a coin flip. Flop is K73 all clubs – crap. Turn is another 3 and now I’ve got even more cards to dodge (A, Q, club, K, & 7). River is the Js and I breathe a big sigh.
3) Not too long after hand 2, I picked up deuces again – and limp along with 3 others. Flop is 2d, 5d, 8h and we all check call seat 2’s $6 bet. Turn is the 3d and I hate poker. We all check. River is the 9c and I bet out $8, seat 1 calls, and seat 2 raises $20 to $28. Crap. Like a donkey I call and he shows the Ad8d for the nut flush. Poop – what a donkey I am sometimes.
4) From middle-position, I limped with AcTs along with 4 others – flop was 5h, 9c, Tc and seat 6 bets $8. I raise to $22 (why $22? It was ~1/2 of seat 6’s remaining stack), and it’s folded to 6 who calls – hmmm. Turn is the 4c and I’ve got lots of outs if he doesn’t have the flush, and some outs if he does… He checks and I move him in for his last $15 – which he calls. He shows 9d5c and I have 15 or 16 outs – river is the Ah and I get to taste the sweet nectar of ‘suck-out’.
5) I’d been playing for 3 hours and folded at least 95% percent of the junk tossed my way for the last hour and a half. I had ~$85 and was wondering if I should just leave since I was getting nowhere… UTG I looked down at a relative monster 5d5s and limp with it – no raises and 5 of us to the flop, which is an amazing 5h, 3h, 5c for flopped quads! OK, how to get the most $$ into the pot… It’s checked around to the button who bets $8. I call and seat 2 calls. Turn is the Ah (putting a possible straight flush out there), and we all check to the button again – who bets $10, and we call. River is the Tc and I decide that I can’t get the buttons stack if I bet, so I we both check to him again – and he bets $11. OK. I know from the past 3 hours that he’s pretty ego-driven, so I think there’s a decent chance he’ll call my all-in with a good flush, but he’s not so crazy that he’ll re-raise me if I just raise him for ~1/2 his stack… I move all-in and 2 bails out. Seat 4 ponders for a moment, and then forcefully says, “I call” and flips over 7h9h for a mediocre flush. I show the 5’s and more-than-double-up to ~$190. Woo hoo!
6) From another visit to the Chu, I was in seat 6 and picked up KhQh from UTG and raised it to $6, and got 3 callers including the blinds. Flop was Td, 8d, 3c for a whole lot of nuttin’ but a couple of overs. Seat 4 (a very tight young player) led out with $5 and I called (I’ll tell you why in a second). Everyone else folded. Turn was 2s and we both checked. River was the 9c and he again bet out $5. I looked over at his stack, saw that it was ~$15 and very confidently said, “All-in”. After I put my $$ in front of me, I realized that I didn’t have the QhJh that I thought, but I only had king-high. Uh-oh. He pondered for a bit, counted out his chips, looked back at me, and then finally folded. Wow – what a lucky donkey I am…
Lessons that I paid good money for (and learned the hard way) over the past 2 months:
1) Pay attention and learn (quickly) the tenacity of your opponents – I generally don’t give my opponents the correct odds to chase their hands (a bet of half the pot will generally give a person the wrong odds to chase their straight or flush draw), but some people will stick to their hand like glue. Nothing aggravates me more than putting my guy on a draw, betting 1/2 of the pot on the flop – call, betting 2/3rds of the pot on the turn – call, and seeing a third diamond hit on the river and having them move all-in on me. If I’m up against 1 of these players, I will now tend more to check the flop and bail out if a straight, flush, or over-card hits the turn and I get bet into – NOTE – only if it’s an unraised pot, if there’s a lot of $$ in the pot after the flop, I’ll push hard. Anyway, if a safe card hits the turn, that’s when I’ll come out firing – most of these tenacious morons will not call for the chance at seeing just 1 more card.
2) In relation to #1 – if there is another person in the pot, account for the fact that if they call your ½-pot bet, the drawing opponent may now be getting the right pot-odds to chase – so bet (or wait) accordingly.
3) Loud players who spend a lot of energy bitching or moaning, or blame the dealer for their failed hands, seem to fall into this category of tenacious drawing-hand players (there are others too). I don’t know if these are long-time limit players who’ve never really adjusted to no-limit or what... But they can’t seem to resist the lure of playing any 2 suited or connected cards. So beware of them (in line with the above 2 lessons) when the board is flushing or straightening.
4) Such players can be moved off their hand when a scare card comes on the turn or river (if you’re willing to push a bluff that far with them). They assume that you’re chasing and made your hand (just the way they like to play), so a bet has a decent chance of getting them off a hand like top pair (for a perfect example of this – see Hand #1 description on my 9/1/07 posting).
5) I still need to play good defense and not donk off chips because I want to see if he really has the hand he claims to…
6) During my stint that I switched to limit, I got much more proficient at it. I’ve always thought that limit kind of sucked, but I have experimented with changing up my starting hand requirements and am playing more drawing hands with limit than I used to. This seems to have helped – and I’ve shown a modest profit from my last 7 or 8 limit sessions.
Poker drawer took a big hit in April (~$800 down – youch!), but I’ve bounced back recently and it’s now at $2,270.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Mar. 16 & 17, 2008 – Vegas
Amy & I went to Vegas over the weekend for a friend’s wedding, and I got to play poker – yay!
I played at Binion’s, Golden Nugget, and at Red Rock. Overall, +$160 for the weekend. A couple of hands stand out…
1) Binion’s (seat 2) – I’d been at the table for ~20 minutes and hadn’t played a hand except for 1 unraised pot when I was the BB, after another circuit of the button I picked up KdQc in the BB; there had been 2 limpers, so I raised it to $12 (which seemed to be standard for this table). Only caller was a loud asshole in seat 8. Flop was Ks, 8s, 5h – to which I bet $15, and he insta-raises to $30. Hmm, I figure that my top pair is probably good and I put him on a flush draw – and move all-in for my remaining ~$69. He calls. Turn was the Th, and the River was the 7d. I show the KQ and he flashes As5s before mucking. He then goes on to comment to the guy next to him how “no one on that side of the table [my side] knows how to play.” Right.
2) Nugget (seat 2) – I got into this game and knew it was a mistake; it was very late-night / early-morning and everyone had between $300 and $700 at the table. So I sit down with my wimpy $100 and I’m getting blown out of every pot I try to enter. I sit and wait – finally get AQ, raise, get called in 4 places, flop is 9, 7, 3. $30 bet, call, call, I fold… Anyway, I get KdTd in the SB and raise it, and get called in 3 spots. Flop is Tc, 9s, 7c, and I bet $20; fold, call, call. Turn is the Kd giving me 2 pair on a worrisome board – I bet $25; call, call. River is the Qs –and I decide that if I check, one of these 2 will bet to move me off the hand – whether they have the J or not (besides, is someone really going to be looking for the Q on the river?) – so I move all-in for ~$40; fold, call. He says, “I was going for the flush, and caught the straight on the river.” Poop. I’m done and going off to bed.
3) Red Rock (seat 2) – Picked up AA in 3rd position. UTG raises to $10, guy next to me calls, I pop it to $30 and everyone folds. I show the Aces and scoop the pot. Very next hand I get KK and raise it to $10 from 2nd position. Seat 6 calls and the flop is J, 7, 4 rainbow. I bet $15 and he calls. Turn is a T, and I make a dangerous check (6 was pretty aggressive, so I figure he’ll probably bet here). 6 bets out $25 and I move all-in for another ~$50. He thinks for a second and calls. River was a 6 and he shows Jc9h and I double up with the Cowboys.
4) Red Rock (seat 2) – I picked up Ah5h on the button and limped with 3 others (plus the blinds) and it’s 5 to the flop. Flop is a very nice Kh, 8h, 2h for the nut-flush. 6 bets out $10 and only I call. Turn is the 2c – 6 bets $15 and I call. River is the Kd (crap!), and 6 bets out $20. I ponder for a long time trying to see how my flush can still be good – and I can’t. So I say, “I think you got a king.” and toss my hand into the muck face-up. Everyone is saying, “wow, I can’t believe you’re laying that down.” Etc., etc.. 6 mucks his cards and says, “No king, just trip deuces.” Umm, if you’ve got a deuce, you’ve got a boat dummy, not just trips. Anyway, I didn’t lose any sleep over laying that one down.
Lessons from the Nugget:
1) I have to remember that people can back into winning hands and not just assume that there’s no way they could’ve been playing to a gutshot – especially with a flushing board.
2) I should not be buying into a game where I am soooooo short-stacked. If there are a bunch of large stacks (or all large stacks), I need to go elsewhere.
Poker drawer is at $2,560 (I went to the Chu a couple of times in early March and forgot to post for those visits – but I did manage to eek out another $240; which brought the poker drawer to $2,400 before we left for Vegas).
I played at Binion’s, Golden Nugget, and at Red Rock. Overall, +$160 for the weekend. A couple of hands stand out…
1) Binion’s (seat 2) – I’d been at the table for ~20 minutes and hadn’t played a hand except for 1 unraised pot when I was the BB, after another circuit of the button I picked up KdQc in the BB; there had been 2 limpers, so I raised it to $12 (which seemed to be standard for this table). Only caller was a loud asshole in seat 8. Flop was Ks, 8s, 5h – to which I bet $15, and he insta-raises to $30. Hmm, I figure that my top pair is probably good and I put him on a flush draw – and move all-in for my remaining ~$69. He calls. Turn was the Th, and the River was the 7d. I show the KQ and he flashes As5s before mucking. He then goes on to comment to the guy next to him how “no one on that side of the table [my side] knows how to play.” Right.
2) Nugget (seat 2) – I got into this game and knew it was a mistake; it was very late-night / early-morning and everyone had between $300 and $700 at the table. So I sit down with my wimpy $100 and I’m getting blown out of every pot I try to enter. I sit and wait – finally get AQ, raise, get called in 4 places, flop is 9, 7, 3. $30 bet, call, call, I fold… Anyway, I get KdTd in the SB and raise it, and get called in 3 spots. Flop is Tc, 9s, 7c, and I bet $20; fold, call, call. Turn is the Kd giving me 2 pair on a worrisome board – I bet $25; call, call. River is the Qs –and I decide that if I check, one of these 2 will bet to move me off the hand – whether they have the J or not (besides, is someone really going to be looking for the Q on the river?) – so I move all-in for ~$40; fold, call. He says, “I was going for the flush, and caught the straight on the river.” Poop. I’m done and going off to bed.
3) Red Rock (seat 2) – Picked up AA in 3rd position. UTG raises to $10, guy next to me calls, I pop it to $30 and everyone folds. I show the Aces and scoop the pot. Very next hand I get KK and raise it to $10 from 2nd position. Seat 6 calls and the flop is J, 7, 4 rainbow. I bet $15 and he calls. Turn is a T, and I make a dangerous check (6 was pretty aggressive, so I figure he’ll probably bet here). 6 bets out $25 and I move all-in for another ~$50. He thinks for a second and calls. River was a 6 and he shows Jc9h and I double up with the Cowboys.
4) Red Rock (seat 2) – I picked up Ah5h on the button and limped with 3 others (plus the blinds) and it’s 5 to the flop. Flop is a very nice Kh, 8h, 2h for the nut-flush. 6 bets out $10 and only I call. Turn is the 2c – 6 bets $15 and I call. River is the Kd (crap!), and 6 bets out $20. I ponder for a long time trying to see how my flush can still be good – and I can’t. So I say, “I think you got a king.” and toss my hand into the muck face-up. Everyone is saying, “wow, I can’t believe you’re laying that down.” Etc., etc.. 6 mucks his cards and says, “No king, just trip deuces.” Umm, if you’ve got a deuce, you’ve got a boat dummy, not just trips. Anyway, I didn’t lose any sleep over laying that one down.
Lessons from the Nugget:
1) I have to remember that people can back into winning hands and not just assume that there’s no way they could’ve been playing to a gutshot – especially with a flushing board.
2) I should not be buying into a game where I am soooooo short-stacked. If there are a bunch of large stacks (or all large stacks), I need to go elsewhere.
Poker drawer is at $2,560 (I went to the Chu a couple of times in early March and forgot to post for those visits – but I did manage to eek out another $240; which brought the poker drawer to $2,400 before we left for Vegas).
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Feb 23, 2008 – Chumash, $1/$2 NL ($60 buy-in)
I talked Josh into coming back with me, and we played for ~3 hours – me at poker, Josh at poker and blackjack. Ended the day at +$120.
Some hands that I can remember…
1) I just couldn’t help myself… I got Ac6c in mid-late position and limped in with Josh in the BB in seat 7. Flop was Kc, Jh, Tc giving me the nut-flush draw, but Josh bet out $10 – seat 8 called and I decided to chase, and I called; everyone else folded. Turn was the 5c (yay), and we all checked. River was the Jd and only I called Josh’s $15 bet. He’d flopped a straight and I ran it out on him.
2) In middle position I picked up 8’s and just limped with them, and ended up with 5 to see the flop. Flop was Qh, Qd, 8h and we all check to seat 4 (the cut-off) who bets out with $10. Seat 8 calls and I call. Turn is the Jd, - which seat 8 checks to me. I decide that I’m going to bet hoping that it looks like I’ve got a Q and am afraid of the flush draw, so I bet out with $20. Seat 4 immediately raises to $50. 8 folds and I move in for another <$10. He calls and while the dealer is straightening out our stacks, he gets nervous and says, “you got a boat?” I just nod and he disgustedly flips over QsTc. River is a red 7 and I pull in nearly $140.
3) I made a bad move on another hand … I limped from UTG with 9’s and had several in the pot – and the last to act was BB in seat 1, who just checked. Flop was Q, J, 7 and I decided that I was going to try to bluff at it. Seat 1 bet out $8, and I raised it to $25. Everyone folded, and Seat 1 called. Turn was a blank, 1 checked to me and I bet another $25 – 1 then moved all-in for another $40 or so, and I had to muck. He showed KK – nice trap I fell into…
4) From EP, I call the $2 with Ah9h after seat 1 limps from UTG, and there’s 5 of us to the flop – which is a very nice Th, 7c, 6h giving me nut-flush and gutshot straight draws. Seat 1 checks, and what do I do with them – I check. Huh? I check because I can see that seat 3 wants to bet. He bets out $8, which is called only by me and seat 1. Turn is 5h, and we both check to seat 3 again – and he bets $8 again, and again, we both call. River is the Js and seat 1 checks again. I take a risk in my assessment of 3 that he’s willing to bet one last time, and I check – and (yes!), he bets; another $8. Seat 1 calls and I pause, then raise it to $20. Seat 3 grumbles and folds, but seat 1 calls and I roll over the nutter. I’m fairly sure 1 had the straight, seat 3 says that he had 2 pair. ~$100 to me – woohoo!
Donked off $50 on that poorly-timed bluff – but, on the bright side, I still ended ‘up’ for the day. I have trouble reading players right next to me, and I think that was one of my problems with that hand – I could only see half of his face and so I wasn’t really looking for baseline tell behavior. Anyway, like I said, bad move on my part and a nice trap on his part.
Poker drawer is at $2,160.
Some hands that I can remember…
1) I just couldn’t help myself… I got Ac6c in mid-late position and limped in with Josh in the BB in seat 7. Flop was Kc, Jh, Tc giving me the nut-flush draw, but Josh bet out $10 – seat 8 called and I decided to chase, and I called; everyone else folded. Turn was the 5c (yay), and we all checked. River was the Jd and only I called Josh’s $15 bet. He’d flopped a straight and I ran it out on him.
2) In middle position I picked up 8’s and just limped with them, and ended up with 5 to see the flop. Flop was Qh, Qd, 8h and we all check to seat 4 (the cut-off) who bets out with $10. Seat 8 calls and I call. Turn is the Jd, - which seat 8 checks to me. I decide that I’m going to bet hoping that it looks like I’ve got a Q and am afraid of the flush draw, so I bet out with $20. Seat 4 immediately raises to $50. 8 folds and I move in for another <$10. He calls and while the dealer is straightening out our stacks, he gets nervous and says, “you got a boat?” I just nod and he disgustedly flips over QsTc. River is a red 7 and I pull in nearly $140.
3) I made a bad move on another hand … I limped from UTG with 9’s and had several in the pot – and the last to act was BB in seat 1, who just checked. Flop was Q, J, 7 and I decided that I was going to try to bluff at it. Seat 1 bet out $8, and I raised it to $25. Everyone folded, and Seat 1 called. Turn was a blank, 1 checked to me and I bet another $25 – 1 then moved all-in for another $40 or so, and I had to muck. He showed KK – nice trap I fell into…
4) From EP, I call the $2 with Ah9h after seat 1 limps from UTG, and there’s 5 of us to the flop – which is a very nice Th, 7c, 6h giving me nut-flush and gutshot straight draws. Seat 1 checks, and what do I do with them – I check. Huh? I check because I can see that seat 3 wants to bet. He bets out $8, which is called only by me and seat 1. Turn is 5h, and we both check to seat 3 again – and he bets $8 again, and again, we both call. River is the Js and seat 1 checks again. I take a risk in my assessment of 3 that he’s willing to bet one last time, and I check – and (yes!), he bets; another $8. Seat 1 calls and I pause, then raise it to $20. Seat 3 grumbles and folds, but seat 1 calls and I roll over the nutter. I’m fairly sure 1 had the straight, seat 3 says that he had 2 pair. ~$100 to me – woohoo!
Donked off $50 on that poorly-timed bluff – but, on the bright side, I still ended ‘up’ for the day. I have trouble reading players right next to me, and I think that was one of my problems with that hand – I could only see half of his face and so I wasn’t really looking for baseline tell behavior. Anyway, like I said, bad move on my part and a nice trap on his part.
Poker drawer is at $2,160.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Feb 16 & 17, 2008 - Chumash
I busted up my ankle 4 weeks ago and haven’t, until recently, been able to sit with my foot “down” – so no poker for me (boo-hoo). Been doing lots of reading (about poker) and been trying to work on my game even though I haven’t been able to play…
Anyway, ankle is doing better and decided to try over the weekend and the ankle didn’t bother me at all – so I went back the next day & played some more.
I’ve been reading McKenna’s Beyond Tells and Beyond Traps – he’s got a few good points buried in his books – and I was looking to see if I could implement some of them. Played for ~5½ hours on Sat. and walked away + $240 for the day. Played for ~5 hours on Sunday and came away +$11. I had gone to the little poker room on the Avenue shortly before I ruined my ankle and just got clobbered (lost my $200, and didn’t really feel like writing about it, so no post on that one), so the poker drawer is currently at $2,040. Anyway, some hands that stood out…
1) Sat. – played a couple of high pockets (got KK, QQ, and AA within the first hour) without too much action after making a decent raise after the flop – so I was up to ~$100 from my first $60 buy-in, when I picked up AsQd in the SB, and raise it to $10 to try and chase out at least some of the 6 limpers – got all but 2 to fold. Flop was Qc, 8d, 2d – and I bet out $15 from seat 2. Seat 7 moves in for $37, and seat 1 raises it to $67. I wasn’t really that concerned about either player, both were a little too loose in their “raise-requirements” (I’d seen seat 1 call an all-in with just second pair and 7 was in nearly every hand). I obviously don’t want to see either player with a set, but I figure 1 has a flush-draw (he’d bet his draws aggressively all day) and 7 could have KQ. So I ponder all this and decide to move-in on seat 1 for another ~$40 (he had me covered). He was not happy and I knew that he was on a draw. He thought it over and called. Turn and River were both blanks (low and black) and 7 flipped over 99, while seat 1 just mucked to my AQ. I asked him, “Flush draw?” He just nodded and looked sick. >$200 to me – Yay.
2) Sat. – the next round of the button after hand 1, I picked up Ac3c on the button and decided to limp along with 5 others. Flop was Jc, 9c, 6c, for the nut flush. It’s checked to seat 5 who bets $10, folded to me and I call – the blinds then fold. Turn was Qh, and 5 bets out $15. Hmm. 5 is a pretty solid player and at this point I figure that he’s either got a King-high flush, or a set or 2-pair – I couldn’t see him betting with less. The more I think on it, the more I’ve got to put him on a set and I decide that he’s not getting to draw for free – so I put him in for another $33. He ponders for a good 20 seconds and then calls – he flips over 99 and I show the nut-flush. River brings the Qs and a boat for him – and I just have to pat the table, say “nice hand” and move on. Right read, but I didn’t have enough $$ behind to push him out (4:1 dog getting ~2¼:1 on his call, but still not enough – meh).
3) Sat. – Another round of the button after hand 2, I picked up AsKs under the gun and pop it to $7 – 3 callers from seats 6, 7, and 1. Flop was all babies with 1 spade (2s, 5h, 9d), and seat 1 checks. I decide that I’ll check & hope for a free card and that maybe an over will hit. 6 & 7 both check and the turn is the 4s. 1 bets $5 and I raise to $15 – 6 and 7 fold, and 1 decides he doesn’t want to tangle and bails out too.
4) Sat. – After playing very little for the next 45 minutes or so, I picked up AJ in late position and raised it to $7. The SB in 4 and seats 7 and 8 call. Flop is a very cool T, Q, K rainbow for the nut straight to me. 4 bets out $20 and 7 & 8 fold – now I consider what he’s got. 2-pair? KJ for top pair and straight draw? I decided that I wanted to try to get his whole stack here (~another $65) – if he had a J, I didn’t want to let him draw to a split pot. So I moved him all-in. He thought for a bit and dumped his hand. I probably should have just min-raised him and moved him in on the turn if he just called. He was a bit of a calling station and called my pre-flop raise then bet into me – again, my image is pretty tight. If he was paying attention, he probably shouldn’t have done that with any hand that wasn’t worth and all-in there (unless he had a read on me that said my hand was really strong… - maybe, I don’t know).
5) Sat. – A few hands after hand 4, I picked up the two red 9’s and limped with it from late position. Flop was Kh, 9c, 3c. Seat 4 bet out with $5, seat 9 (who was pretty tight and solid) raised to $15. Again, it’s back to me and I’m not sure the best way to go about getting all their chips into the middle. I figure that 4 will probably fold (since 9 had only shown down good cards) – so do I just call or re-raise? I finally decide to re-raise and make it $50 to go. They both fold as if their cards are so hot they're burning holes in their hands – Crap.
I played fairly tight throughout the day and only stole 1 or 2 pots that my tight image allowed me to get away with uncontested (busted flush draw on one, & got a guy to show & muck a weak ace to my K8 and an AK5 flop with strong betting). I need to force myself to make efforts to steal more pots, but most of the time I content myself with semi-bluffs (like hand 3).
I also need to re-examine the best way to go about trapping when I have a monster. I don’t know if it was because I was giving off a tell, or if no one really wanted to tangle with me, or if I’m not betting the right amounts based upon the player’s personality. I’ll work on figuring out some guidelines for the latter, I’ll also see if there’s anything I can do about the first…
On Sunday, I called my buddy Josh and the two of us headed up for some more poker. We got seated at the same table and it was pretty cool. Played for several hours, I ended up +$11 and Josh was at -$9 when we called it a day. I got some good cards at the start, but got a bunch of crap over the last 2 – 2½ hours – nothing really playable. Only 1 hand stands out…
6) Sun. – Made some bad decisions on this hand… Picked up Js9h in the SB and called the $1 – 8 people to the flop. Flop was Qc, Ts, 4d for an open-ender, and I decided to push it – I bet out with $20 in an attempt to make it look like I had a solid hand and didn’t want people drawing. It’s folded around to 9 who thinks for a bit and calls. 2 of us to the Turn and it’s the 9d. I check and he moves in for $33 more. At this point I figure that he’s got to have a Q and that if I can catch a 8, 9, J, or K I’ll probably be good. $33 to call with ~$85 in the pot… 2½ : 1 with 13 outs… And I call. I’m not getting the right odds, but I call anyway. River is the Jh for 2 pair – and he shows that goddamn KJ for the straight. He made a mistake in calling my bet, but I made 2 mistakes – 1. chasing a draw without the odds to make it worthwhile, and 2. assuming that my opponent wouldn’t chase a draw without the odds to make it worthwhile…
Anyway, had fun & the ankle felt OK, so I’ll probably come back next week (unless Amy has something for me to do around the house…)
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