The renaissance continues...

When things start to go your way, my advice is to try and mine as much out of that vein of good luck as humanly possible. Work is still crazy, but even though the recent changes there weren't entirely to my liking, things are calming down and I'm getting some projects that I can sink my teeth into. Soccer was going so badly at one point that I was about ready to quit in frustration of my complete incompetence. But, I had three good efforts in a losing cause before this Friday, where I got a shutout and two very creditable 2-2 draws. Tonight, I went to my friend's house in Chelsea and won a tournament against six players...all of whom are strong except for one (but Conn knows this, though!).

I've talked here in this space before about how the first couple of hands will usually serve as a barometer for how my night is going to go (it works that way for me in soccer, too...if I don't stop the first couple of shots in the warm-up before we start, I usually get frustrated and play poorly). The reason I keep mentioning soccer is because it isn't all that different for me than poker, especially with the mental aspect of it. Last night at the soccer field, I just kind of let my instincts take over and the effects were amazing. My body did everything I asked it to...shit, I saved one shot that I didn't even consciously know was coming. My brain just basically told my left leg to shoot out, and sure enough a shot deflected off it harmlessly wide. I never saw it, but I let my muscle memory do its thing. Tonight, I pretty much just played my normal game, but I made some strong laydowns and stuck to my guns with my continuation bets. Everything fell into place tonight.

Right from the first hand, I picked up 10-10. A bunch of people all limped, but I raised it on up and the rest went right into the muck. From there, I was off and running. I don't remember most of the hands, but I was definitely the early chip leader. Conn went out first, and I was content to sit on my lead. I wasn't getting tons of good hands, and I was never so far ahead where I could start really swinging the Bully Stick. Between the blinds and some speculative limps with suited connectors and Ace or King-high flush draws, I found myself down towards the middle of the pack again. I kept at that level though pretty much on nothing but continuation bets...I made sure not to do it so much where people would start figuring me out, but it was enough to maintain the health of my chip stack.

Finally, our gracious host Morgan was blinded down, and had to go all-in. Greg (I think) called her, and with J-5 in my hand and my blind already in, I figured I'd speculate and call as well. I don't remember what she had (it was a legit hand though...maybe A-10 or something?), and I think Greg had K-Q or something like that. Anyway, a Jack came off on the river, and I fairly sheepishly took down the pot and sent Morgan to the rail.

From there, I kind of sat out again for a while...most of the entertainment at that stage was some fierce battles between Greg and his wife Tami. Tami eventually had to go all-in and Greg was the one to bust her, so now we were one away from the money. Greg had built up a huge chip lead at this time, and I believe it was Heath who was way down. My biggest laydown of the night came here, with Greg re-raising big. I had A-10 and the flop was 10-high, but I put Greg on a big hand (he played fairly tight all evening) and with Jon still to act, it was a pretty easy fold.

I don't remember the exact order, but Heath and Jon were both on life support at one time or another, but they kept doubling up against each other - then Heath rivered me on what I think was a 5-outer. After that, Heath was in great shape, and then doubled up again when Greg went all-in and his hand didn't get there. As for me, I still was winning pretty much on continuation bets, though I did make a set once with 5-5 (actually, I think that's why Tami was on life support), and I rivered a flush somewhere in there. That put Greg in the red zone, and Heath was the one to finish him off.

Long story short, we're in the money...yay! Heath then busted Jon, so he must have had a 7-to-1 or 8-to-1 chip lead on me going into heads-up play. By now, the blinds were 50/100, and there were only something like 2500 chips in play. In the past, I have been very passive in heads-up situations and have had an abysmal track record because of it. However, my good friend Action Al was dead-on when he pointed me in the direction of Harrington on Hold 'Em, and it really did the trick here. Any time I had paint in my hand, even just one card, I went all-in. Heath caught a run of abysmal cards (8-2, 9-4, etc) and couldn't really call me. Soon enough, I doubled up when I think it was K-10 that held up (King-high won, we both whiffed), and took the chip lead.

Maybe 8-10 hands later, I woke up with Q-Q in the BB. Heath called, and I checked. The flop was 7-x-x with two diamonds, so he went all-in. I called, and he showed 7-2, both diamonds (not sure of the exact suit, he had a pair and a flush draw). My hand held-up, and thus A WINNAR IS ME! I know this was just a friendly home game where my opponents were playing for fun and I was playing to win, but it was nice to actually play well and win the thing. I'll take any win where I can get it right now, and to beat a pretty good field to do it was satisfying.

Again, I don't know if I could have done this online. I had time to think, and I was able to exploit a tell to win a bunch of hands off of Jon (he's a friend, so I did tell him what he was doing afterwards - staring hard at a missed flop as if willing the cards to change denominations, suits or both). I'm almost at a point where I want to say "fuck you" to online poker until I can afford to play at higher limits...especially because what I do depends so much on having opponents who are actually willing to fold. We'll see. Anyway, a win is in the bank, $30 profit for 3 hours' worth, and now I'm off to hit up my DVR...Canadiens-Ducks, baby!

I've about had it with these SNGs

$5+$0.40 Double-up SNGs: Record: 1-2, Loss: $6.20

Stupid cunting fucking things. Like I said the other day, I was a total luck box in the second one and made it to the money going away. In the other two, I was so fucking unlucky, I wanted to punch something. And so it goes...between this and soccer, NOTHING is going well right now.

Here's the particulars (I only played 10% of hands in all three, so this won't be long):

1st one:

- I folded everything until Hand 7, where I had A-K. I raised to $210, got one caller, and bluffed them out after a 9-7-4 flop.
- I didn't play another one until Hand 32 (folded 8-8 to a raise, A-10 suited, and A-10 unsuited twice). I was down to $1250 with 100/200 blinds, so I went all-in with A-J suited. No one called, so I picked up the blinds.
- On Hand 40 (100/200/25, down to $1150), I was all-in again with J-J, and again met no resistance.
- Hand 49 (200/400/25, on the bubble with $700) was where I went out. I had A-10, a big stack called with 7-4. Q-9-8 on the flop, so far so good...the turn was a 7 and no help came on the river. Fuck's fucking sake.


2nd one:

This one was the slowest fucking one ever for some reason...like 1 hand every 3 minutes for the first level or two. It did speed up though, and laugh along with me as I get ALL MY FUCKING LUCK AT ONCE.

- Hand 9: J-9 suited in the BB, and the flop came 9-9-7. It was only the 15/30 level, and despite my slow-play, I couldn't extract much money out of it.
- In Hand 19 (50/100), I got Q-Q in the BB. Someone raised up to $200, another guy went all-in for $645, and I went all-in to isolate him. The other guy folded, so I was heads-up against a guy with Q-2. The ladies held up, and I take down a nice one.
- Picked up the blinds in Hand 22 with A-J, but then folded it in Hand 31 because at that point, I was cruising. Hand 32, I got A-Q and no one wanted to play.
- Hand 35 was just fucking rad, but why did this have to come when I didn't need it? I saw Q-3 in the BB, and someone went all-in for $20 more. I call it of course, and the other guy shows K-10. Too bad the flop came Q-3-3, and another Queen came off on the river, huh?
- I was a total luck box on Hand 42. Again in the BB, I had J-5. The SB called, and I checked. The flop came J-8-5, and the other guy went all-in! If he had a set, I still had $1,800 left at 100/200/25, so it was an easy call. Turns out he had 10-5, and that was that. I was now at $5,050!!!
- Just for shits and giggles, I did the same A-K bluff a few hands later similar to the one in the first SNG. I sat out for the next 10-12 hands until the bubble boy busted.


3rd one:

This one wasn't nearly as shitty as the first one...just had the second-best hand at the worst times.

- Hand 1, I folded Q-J and the flop came Q-J-4. I knew where this one was heading right there. The next hand I folded K-10, and the flop was 10-high. *sigh*
- Hand 9 (15/30) was one where I could have won way more chips, but I overplayed the best hand badly. I had A-Q, and raised to $120. Two guys called and saw a flop of A-10-6 rainbow. Everyone checked, and the turn was a 2. One guy bet $195, and I went all-in. The other two guys peaced out...the bettor there showed A-3. I should have let him donk off more chips on the river and maybe raise him there.
- Hand 20 (50/100), I got K-Q and since I had been so rocky, I raised to $400. I was stoked to see everyone fold, but then the blinds BOTH went all-in. Well, cunting fucking hell. Turns out it was A-Q vs. 8-8, and an Ace came off. Picked the wrong time to steal there.
- On Hand 29 ($1,220 left, 75/150), got J-J and went all-in. No one called.
- After Hand 37 (100/200), things were looking pretty good. I had Q-7 in the BB, and someone went all-in for another $290 or so. I call, and he had Q-9. The turn gave me a 7, and it held up. Awful. At that point, I had $2,187 and was 3rd out of 7th.
- Hand 38, I flopped a set, went all-in, and no one called. That was just fucking stupid...I should have checked it and then perhaps check-raised them all-in.
- I lost some chips on Hand 44 ($2,587 left,100/200), but I think I had to make the call. I was in the BB with K-10 and someone went all-in for $365 more. I called, and they showed A-J. The turn, of course, was an Ace.
- Conversely, I was too tight on Hand 50 ($1,747 left, 100/200/25). I got K-Q and folded it...at that point, it's probably good enough to go all-in with since I was just barely in 5th place out of 7.
- I went out on Hand 57 (200/400/25) - was blinded down to $1,272. Someone raised to $800, and I figured I had to push here. At that point, I'd take a race against The Usual Suspects. Well, turns out the prick had 10-10. Dammit, dammit, son of a fucking bitch.


So yeah, that's that. Whee.
-

A few days off

Sorry for the lack of posts, I was away from the virtual felt for a bit due to soccer playoffs (which I will never speak of again, both my undefeated teams turned into the Bad News Bears at the worst time) and my brother's weekend-long bachelor party.

I have a soccer game tonight, but I'll blog about last night's SNGs when I get home. I went 1-2, bringing me to 8-6 overall. Reader's Digest - I went super-tight, only playing about 10% of hands in all three of them...I got horrendously unlucky in the two I lost, and ridiculously lucky in the one I won. In fact, I got so many good beats in the second one that I ended up with almost $6000 in chips. If I could have taken just two of them and sprinkled one of each in the other two, I would have went 3-0.

Anyway, I'm disgusted with how it went, and I think I'll need to go at least 4-1 the next time I play in order to justify continuing to play these.

What is it about the 5th SNG?

5 $5+$0.40 Double-Up SNGs - 3 wins, 1 8th place, 1 7th place - Profit: $3.00

UGH. UGH UGH FUCKING UGH. I started out with three cashes in a row, and then the bottom really fell out in the last two. Once again, I didn't get a whole ton of very good hands...though the ironic thing is that when I did, that's usually where I ended up losing. Admittedly, the horror show that was the 5th SNG was partially deserved karma-wise with the Poker Stars level of river suckouts I amassed in the first three. I also had quite the undeserved win early in the 5th, but come on Poker Gods, how much penance do I have to fucking do here?

Klopzi commented on the earlier posts on this subject advocating a super-tight game plan. I don't know if I can bring myself to follow it to the hilt (AA or KK only until you're at < 10 BB, then push with pocket pairs or high aces), but I did slow down quite a bit...especially in the first one. Speaking of which:

1st one:

This one took fooooooorever - 64 hands, in fact. As it turns out, I played in just eight of them. I think I'm starting to adjust my game to the proper way to handle these tournaments (so far, overall, I'm 7-4 for +$10.60), but I can't help but wonder about what happens once I get my bankroll back to where I can play actual NLHE. Am I going to remember what to do? Klopzi is right - this shit may be cards, but it ain't poker.

On hand 7, my raise with J-J went uncalled...that basically just about paid for a bad play on hand 15 (25/50), where I had 9h-7h and limped with two others. The flop was 8h-5h-4s. One guy bet the pot, and I called. I was only getting 2:1 on my money, and had 12 outs (9 hearts, 3 non-heart sixes) or 2.83:1. If he was drawing to a higher flush (a possibility since he limped in), it was only 3. Terrible. The turn was another 8, and after he checked, I checked too. The river was the 3s, and he fired out $450. To me, in retrospect, it looks like once there was no flush out there, his 6-6 or 7-7 or whatever was probably good. I folded, naturally.

By hand 22 (50/100), I was down to $1140. I got 6d-3d in the BB, and was happy to check my option with two limpers. The flop came 9c-8d-7d. One guy bet $100 into a $300 pot, which seemed like a steal attempt to me. With my various draws, I called it (and I'd defend this as a better call than hand 15 since I don't think they had much of that flop). The turn was a beautiful 9d, and I checked along with the other guy. I know I was giving a free card to someone with one higher diamond, but I was hoping my river move would work if it looked like I didn't have a flush. Also, if they made a large bet at it, I could at least have the possibility of dodging a larger flush. The river is a Ks. I was praying that the guy had Ad-K(not-d), and went all-in. He mucked, unfortunately.

Three hands later, I had Q-J and stupidly limped with it (raise or fold, you moron). The flop was 5-4-4 rainbow, and my $300 steal attempt was looked up by one. The turn was a 5d, and I checked it (I interpreted his flop call as him either having a pocket pair or a 4). The river was a 6c, and I went away to his $562 bet (I never ever trust it when someone hits the 1/2 pot button...they should just put "Value Bet" on it). I was down some now, and maybe this is tight, but on hand 29 I folded 4-4 when no one had yet opened ($940 left, 75/150). A middle position person raised, so it was a coin flip at best, I'm sure.

I got a walk in hand 31 with 4-3 (LOL), and another one in hand 40 with Q-3. That kept me afloat, and I re-raised a $600 bet all-in on hand 41 ($940 left, 100/200) with Ks-10d. I was up against 4-4, and rivered a diamond flush to stay alive. It was undeserved but well-appreciated! That got me up to $2480, so I could relax a little. The only downer was that it was still 9-handed heading to the first ante level. That is, I could relax a little if I weren't a total idiot. With K-J (I learned my lesson with this fucking hand) I raised up to $800. Someone else went all-in for $968 on top, and at least I recovered enough brain cells to get out of the way. It ended up 9-9 vs. Q-10, and a queen came on the flop.

I folded Q-10 on hand 44, two went all-in on a flop with a 7 in it. It ended up being K-7 vs. J-7, but a 10 came on the turn. I wouldn't have called the all-in bets, but man, that's just a cock-tease. On hand 48, I got Kd-Qd and called a short stack's all-in bet (1530 vs. 825, 200/400/25). He showed Q-10. I flopped a flush draw, and it got there cruelly (for the other guy) when the 10d came off. I was back up to $2705 after that, and resolved to not get too cute with shit like K-J unless I had to.

We were on the bubble after that, and I didn't play a hand for 9-10 hands. I got Q-J, and since I was blinded down to $1655 (300/600/50), I went-all in. Everyone folded, and I more than doubled-up just through the blinds and antes. Yes kids, this structure is bonkers. Oddly enough, I got Q-J the very next hand, but now I was in a much safer position. So, I just mucked the fucking thing. Annoyingly, a few hands later, the short stack doubled up when his 10-2 flopped trips against 5-4. However, the other short stack was snipered away by your dashing protagonist - I called his all-in (just $194) with 7-7, and it held up against 10-3. So, one for one at this point, though I didn't deserve it.


2nd One:

This one was a little different from the first in that there was not nearly as much pre-flop raising. I couldn't even play my blinds in the first one (hence 8-64 hands), but this one was more my speed at 10-46. That said, it only took three hands to make me start to give more thought to Klopzi's point. I had 3s-2s in the SB, and since it was just $10 more I decided to see it with five others. The flop came As-Js-6c, and I was more than happy to see it check around. The turn was a 7s, and I checked it for some reason (thinking back, I don't know what was going through my mind). The next-to-last person to act bet $140, a little more than the pot. I didn't take long to fold...it seemed like a higher flush to me. Maybe I'm giving the dude too much credit, but a paired Ace or Jack didn't seem plausible with two spades out there. A steal with one spade might have been the case, and honestly I should have bet out to see where I was at. But, what happens with a baby flush or the sucker end of the straight when someone else is showing strength? Sure, it's probably just a pair or less likely two pair or a set, but what if it's a flush-over-flush or straight-over-straight? It could very well cripple you with a fucking 3 in your hand or whatever. Not good. I'll have to reconsider Klopzi's point...

My 9-9 got re-raised out on hand 5, and the blinds/one or two limps had me down to $1155 on hand 17 (50/100). I got A-10 in UTG+1, and raised to $300. One person called, another went all-in for over $3000. With just $895 left and an Ace in my hand, I felt I had to call. Well, of course, the person had A-K. Shit. The board came J-J-9-8-7, so I donked out on him on the river. At this point, I was thinking of putting a hundred or so (of money I just don't have right now) into Poker Stars. Heh. I got A-10 again on hand 20, and limped this time with four others. The flop came A-8-7, and I bet $400. One guy called. The turn was another 8, and my $800 bet was called. Now, I was worried...what the fuck is he calling me down with? Did he just spike trips? The river was a King, and in my confusion, I checked. Thankfully, he did too...so I was privy to the unusual setting of A-10 chopping with A-4. Should have raised him out pre-flop.

On hand 25 (75/150), it may be risky, but I called a $525 bet from a big stack with A-Q. The flop came A-9-9, and if he had me beat, so be it. I went all-in, and he peaced out in nanoseconds. I wonder if it was K-K or Q-Q that I was up against? Anyway, in hands 30 and 34, I folded K-Q and K-Q suited (I have gotten that, K-J and 7-7 a crapload of times in the last two sessions, but I've gone over 650 hands without A-A). No need to mess around with it as the in 2nd chip position with 8 people left. In fact, I sat on my big stack, and didn't play another hand until I made the money when the bubble boy went busto on hand 46. Two for two, and I was feeling good...


3rd One:

This was almost a doppelganger of the second one, as I played 11-45 hands and rivered a bunch of stuff. :)

On hand 6, I got Ad-10d, and limped along with 5 others. The flop came Kd-Jd-7s, so I had a gutshot to go with the nut flush draw. I bet $50, one customer stayed. The turn was a 5s, and I checked. The other guy's $100 shell felt like a steal, so I called (in retrospect, maybe a re-raise would have been better since I had have 12 outs to win it...maybe more if a paired Ace would be good). The river was the 5d, but sadly my $400 river bet didn't get paid off. Still, $400 in the stack early isn't a bad thing! What is a bad thing though is my flop re-raise on hand 7 with 7-7 on a Q-Q-2 board was called, and I had to fold on the turn. Dammit! He must have had a queen or a pocket pair to call that...chastened, I folded A-10 in the BB on the next hand.

On hand 11, my A-Q and another A-Q both called an all-in bet for $115. The guy had 3-3, and we chopped him up with a Broadway straight. Of course the other prick had to have the same hand, though. *sigh* Hand 17 (50/100), on the other hand, was just me donking off chips. With J-3 in the BB, I got a free play against just the SB (note that in a cash game, this is an insta-raise with any two cards from me 9 times out of 10). The flop was Q-6-3 with two spades, and my $100 steal attempt was called. I checked it down the rest of the way (5 and 8), and he showed 7-7 to win. I'm undecided here - would another shell on the turn convince him I had a Queen, or would he stubbornly call until the the end of time?

Hand 26 (75/150) worked out better - I re-raised a $300 bet all-in for $1330, and took down $675 without a fight. Two hands later, I was all-in again after limping in with Qd-Jd and saw a Q-10-8 flop. Again, no takers, and $600 more came my way. I seriously tightened up after that, and folded just about everything (including Q-10 on Hand 37 to a $700 raise). I was down to $1280 on Hand 40 (100/200/25, 7 players left). I pushed all-in with 10-10, and took down the blinds and antes. The next hand gave me Q-9 in the BB, just the SB came along. The flop came Q-9-7, and my $575 bet took it down. I was back up to $2080 and looking in decent shape. Three hands later, some guy's Q-Q held up against some other prick's A-K, and I was in the money for the third straight time. At this point, I was thinking about nothing other than 5-for-5.

As Marsellus Wallace would say: "That's pride, fucking with you...FUCK PRIDE." Well, the Poker Gods would fuck me pretty good in the next two of these...


4th One:

This one lasted just 18 hands for me...my shortest outing of the evening.

I got one small win early with 7-7 (yes, AGAIN). Other than that, I tried to keep it tight - even folding K-J to just a 2X BB raise on Hand 12 (good thing, too: K-K beat A-9 in an all-in showdown). I got it again on Hand 17 though (50/100), and my 3X BB raise was called. The flop was all rags, and I uncharacteristically didn't make a continuation bet, and perhaps my fold was a little weak to a $350 bet. Then again, I was probably beat anyway.

Down to $1085, I get K-J fucking AGAIN on the next hand. I go all-in, and some fucking bitchfuck has A-K. Of course he does. Both of us whiff, but his kicker of course plays. I'm still 3-1 though, and confident heading into the last one of the evening. Yeah, and I bet most horror-movie teens are confident of surviving the day too when the movie starts. *Sigh*


5th One - Horror Show Special:

I lasted a little longer in this one...24 hands to be exact. I was the beneficiary of one ridiculous suck-out, but then paid for it over and over again. Note how many times rockets appear in this one, never for me. Like I said, 650 hands and counting. Suck my left one until the right one gets jealous, Sportsbook.

- Hand 2, I get 10-10 and raise it 3X BB. I get one caller, and see a flop of Q-8-5 with two clubs. The caller bets $105, and I peace out.

- Hand 6, I get A-10 and raise to $120. Two people call, and the flop is A-J-3. One guy bets $60, he gets called, and I raise to $180. The first guy goes all-in. Why, dummy? You could have extracted a lot more by getting one of us to bet at the turn...he shows A-J.

- Hand 7, I'm down to $1080, and get Q-Q. Well shit, an almost-premium hand! It's only been about TWO WHOLE SESSIONS since I've seen one of those! I go all-in, and get called by A-A. I repress the urge to punch something. That urge is lessened when a Queen hits on the flop, and holds up. What a sick beat for the other guy, though.

- Hand 9, I get K-K. I raise to $120, and a guy goes all-in for $1505. I still have $700 left with 15/30 blinds if I lose, so I call even though A-A is a possibility. Did I say "possibility?" OF FUCKING COURSE, HE HAD FUCKING A-A. FUCK YOU, SPORTSBOOK! Two motherfucking hands in a cunting row...ARGH! Needless to say, the rockets hold up. In fact, another Ace came on the river. Sure it did, why fucking wouldn't it? On the next hand, I wasn't in it, but some dude ended up getting trip Aces, then quads on the river. Is this taunting really necessary?

- Hand 19, with Q-Q, I go all-in and get no customers. My urge to kill is rising.

- On Hand 24, I go all-in with A-J. A dude calls with A-9, and a fucking 9 comes right in the door. No help was forthcoming, and I was out in 7th. All I can say is that if a Sportsbook representative was within 100 feet of me at that moment, I'd be in jail right now for assault, battery and any other kind of grievous bodily harm that you can imagine.


I guess going 3-2 again isn't bad, and 7-4 overall is OK under the conditions. If I keep up a 7-4 ratio, my bankroll will soon be back over triple digits, and if I can get it to $200 or so, I can quit playing this nonsense and go to .5/.10 NLHE. I think I'm getting pretty decent at these SNGs, but man oh man am I starting to hate them. Playing them for me right now is a necessity because I'm doing well at them to a greater extent than my cash game play had been.

More $5 Double-Up SNGs

5 $5 Double-Up SNGs - 3 money finishes, 1 bubble finish, 1 last-place finish. Profit: $3.00

Well, that wasn't quite the world-beating profit that I was expecting. I went out in the bubble on the first one in a horrendously frustrating run of cold cards, moneyed in the next three, then came back to play one more (after watching Raw) that I probably shouldn't have played in. However, I was just as cold-carded in that one as I was in the first. So, a decent profit became a barely-passable one just like that. I know I have to play with the long view in mind, but with just having to finish in 5th as the target, 3 cashes out of 5 seems to me like it's just not fucking good enough.

Here's the deal with these things - the tournament fee is a fairly lenient .40 for a $5 buy-in, considering that the $1 SNGs come with a .20 fee attached (AND you have to finish in the top three...AND you only profit .80 if you go busto in third). I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations, based on the truths that a loss nets you a loss of $5.40, while a win profits you $4.60. Of course, you have to win more than you lose - going one-for-one will have you 80 cents in the red for each round of two that you trade wins and losses. So, how much more do you have to win than lose to make a profit? It turns out that winning 6 for every 5 losses (55% winning percentage) will net you a whopping $.60 for each round of 11. Making that just one more each - 7 wins for every 6 losses (54%) will cause you to lose $.20 for every round of thirteen. Of course, I figure a player of my caliber (such as it is) should win 6 out of 10 minimum (If I have another 3-2 day when I do this again, I'd be at this mark), maybe more like 7 out of 10. The former is a $6 profit per round, the latter is $16 per round. So, my fellow micro-grinders, you may feel like the difference between one win and one loss is splitting hairs, but as you can see, the profits rise and fall very quickly among such small margins.

Anyway, some highlights from the five (I'll keep it short):

1st One:

- Got A-K in the first hand, My raise was called by two. Flop is J-high, my continuation bet is re-raised, and I muck quietly. The guy shows A-J. Well, shit.

- With 8-7 and a 9d-8s-5d board, my pot-sized bet is called. The turn is 10s, I make a bigger bet, and am check-raised all-in. If he did that with nothing (or even semi-bluffed with a flush draw), that's a hell of a play. I figure at best I'm up against a made straight, and even if I'm up against a flush draw, I don't have as many outs as I'd like because some of two of those 10s and two of those 6s would fill a potential flush. Fuck all that.

- I re-raise with K-J (and just $860 left, blinds still 15/30) to $120, and get tiny re-raised to $180. I have to call it, but the flop is total rags, and I'm just not bluffing at someone who re-re-raised before the flop. I check-fold. Good thing too, cause he showed A-A (which I haven't seen in a million billion years by now...400 hands or so and counting).

- I'm down to $535 (50/100) with A-J, and go all-in. The table can't muck fast enough. Of fucking course. I win some and get blinded down some, now it's 75/150 and I get Kh-Qs. I go all-in for my last $660, and get called by A-J. I end up rivering a spade flush to stay alive. We're on the bubble now, and I'm STOKED. I'm not even the short stack anymore.

- Finally, I go busto by probably overplaying 7-7. I was honestly hoping to just catch the blinds since we were up to 100/200, and I had the short stack at $1095. Some guy calls with A-Q, and FLOPS A FUCKING STRAIGHT. Gross. Then again, this is the same guy I rivered 8-10 hands ago, so I probably deserve it. Still, to be one away from the money...UGH. I should have went 4-1 AT MINIMUM tonight.


Second One:

- I did just enough over 21 hands to stay at around the starting $1500 mark. Hand 22 ended up unjustly rewarding my passive play where I had A-5 in the BB, bet $200 at the flop of A-K-2, then it was checked the rest of the way by my opponent and me to a 10 and a 8. All he had was a J-3 with one diamond, and three on the board. I gave him free cards like an idiot, but didn't pay for it.

- I did much better on Hand 32 (75/150) though, but probably should have profited more. With A-K and my pre-flop raise of $450, the flop came Ah-Ad-3s rainbow. First guy bet $150, call, I just click-raise. One fold, one call. The turn gave a 2h, so I answer his check with an all-in bet. I probably overplayed that one, too. Still, That pot got me to $3205, which is juuuuuuuuuuuuust about Easy Street in this scenario.

- I didn't seriously play another one until Hand 50 (100/200/25). I pick up K-K, 3X BB raise, and a short stack went all-in for about $400 more. Easy call, easy win against A-K. That got us to the bubble, and I had $4618. I wish they all could be like this!

- Then again, I doubled someone up when my A-Q lost to his A-5 when he rivered a four-on-the-board flush. Fuck's fucking sake. It was all over by Hand 56 though, and I had moneyed. Yay me.


Third One:

- Three go all-in on the first hand, and we're down to 8 right away. You can't ask much more than that in this setup.

- Brendan thought this was an overly-tight fold, but tell me what you think. It's Hand 10 (15/30), and I find Ad-Qc. I raise to $120, two more see the flop of Qs-8s-7s. First guy checks, I bet $180, and am immediately click-raised. Honestly, that feels like a value bet to me, and I peace out in relatively short order. It just seems to me like a great way to get busted out of the tournament very early. If I call that, I'm down to around $1000 chips, with the turn still to come. What happens if another Queen or an Ace come off? What the fuck do I do then? What if a fourth spade comes on the board? Brendan reckoned the guy likely had one spade in his hand and was stealing...my point was I don't want to find out when hopefully I can find a better spot later on.

BUT...now that I think about it, wouldn't a donk at this level just smooth-call if he had a made flush? I don't know. I think the four-flush was possible, but now my brain is telling me that he probably had something like 6s-5s, and didn't want another spade to come off in case I had one higher spade.

- We were on the bubble already by Hand 15-16 or so, and I just folded the waves and waves of shitty cards I got until I coasted into the money. Whoo...go me.


Fourth One:

- Once again, my cards were ice-cold to begin with. For much of the night (not just this tournament), I found myself limping in with unsuited connectors under the gun just so I didn't look like a total Rock of Gibraltar. I found myself down to $1000 or so when I couldn't call a huge post-flop raise with A-10 against a board of Q-Q-7.

- On Hand 20 (50/100), I gambled my tournament on firing a second continuation-bet shell at a scary board. Thankfully, the other bloke blinked first. I had A-4 in the BB, and saw the flop with 3 others. It came 7-5-4. I thankfully at least recognized that I didn't have a straight, and after one check, I fired $200 to try and take it down. One caller stuck around for the turn, which was a 6. They checked, and I went all-in for my last $720. It was right about the size of the pot, and if I was facing the usual check-call routine, I was probably dead. However, they mucked, and my stack was looking a lot better at $1520 after that.

- I traded one or two wins with some blind-downs until Hand 31 (75/150) when I picked up A-K. Well, fucking FINALLY. My pre-flop raise of $450 got one caller, and they mucked to a continuation bet on a 10-high board. Thank you for your donation.

- On the next hand, I picked up 9-9 and limped with it. The thing is, if I'm in a decent chip position, I don't want to get too crazy with these things. Remember, I'd already gone busto with 7-7 in my first tourney of the evening. The flop came A-K-6 with two diamonds, and everyone checked. The turn was the As, and now there were two draws out there. I figured that if no one else wanted the pot, I guess I'd go ahead and take it...and that's exactly what happened. I should have done it on the flop, though.

- By these standards, this thing was lasting FOREVER. One or two continuation bets and one or two timely walks kept my stack at around the high 2000s, but Hand 54 (200/400/25) sent me to La Rue de Facile. I got Ah-Jh, and flopped the nut flush! Score! Two had come along to the flop, and imagine my delight when the other guy bet into me! As Vince Van Patten would say on the World Poker Tour: "Showtunes are going off in his head, Mike! He can't believe his luck!". I gave it the Hollywood routine, even going so far as to dip into my Extra Time. I finally called. He checked the turn (a 5), and I did as well. The river was a Q, and he bet $400. I thought about it some more, and I figured with a bet that small, he didn't have much. I didn't think I could extract too much more out of him unless I looked weak as well, so I figured the weakest I could look was a click-raise. I was hoping he'd re-raise me all-in, but he just called. He probably didn't do so based on the fact that he had 8-7 with one heart. Holy donkey show, Batman!

- One hand later, someone went busto, and I was in the money for the third time in a row.


Fifth One:

- And then this fucking horror show happened. I was out in 10th, and I defy any other micro-grinder to do better. Since nothing of note for me really happened, I'm just going to list the starting hands I got:

Blinds 10/20: 10-4, 3-2, 9-3, 7-2, Q-8

Blinds 15/30: J-10 (limped, tried a continuation bet on a board of all hearts, was re-raised out), J-3 suited, 10-7, A-5, 3-2 suited, 9-4 suited

Blinds 25/50: 7-6, Q-4, Q-9, 7-7 (limped, flop was Jd-9-6d, folded to a bet and raise)

Blinds 50/100: J-9, Q-3, K-5, 10-5, K-5, 8-5

I still had $850 when it got to 75/150. I got A-K, went all-in, and 3-3 held up. Fuck you, Sportsbook.


Overall I guess I did all right with what I got. I don't really have the bankroll to play my normal aggressive game, and besides...the format does favor somewhat cagey play. You kind of need to get a decent hand somewhere (as Joe commented in the post below), but I think it's more about adjusting to the table. The loose, wild ones are rough for me because I depend so heavily on continuation bets. I probably won't do well at those until I get better at recognizing when someone is bluffing. The tighter tables though, the ones where I can continuation bet someone out every now and then (especially with a well-timed all-in bet on a scary board), those are the ones I'll do well at though. Will I get more of the latter (plus the odd one where I actually get some fucking cards to play with) outweigh the former enough for me to hit that 6-4 margin (or even better, the 7-3 split)? We'll find out as I do this more...5 tourneys is a shit sample size, but let's see where it's at when I'm up to 50 or so.

Double-up tournament

Some good news and bad news this evening...

First, the bad news: I thought my bankroll was in the $80 range or so, but it looks like it's actually in the $65 range. I don't know how that happened, as I have no major losses recently that I can recall. However, the good news is that I have been alerted to what should be a consistent moneymaker barring the occasional bad beat, lost race or mental fuck-up (foreshadowing!). Sportsbook has these SNGs where you put in $5, and you double up if you finish 5th out of 10 or higher. That's it. It's a neat concept, but I wish they'd just end the tournament when the 5th person busts out...instead, everyone left has to go through the formality of going all-in every hand until everyone's done.

I played one today, and my god was that 61 of the most stressful hands I've played in a long time. Knowing that my bankroll was lower than I thought, my sphincter really shriveled for some reason, which is very uncharacteristic of me. There were several times I came back from the dead to stay in the tournament, and honestly I didn't deserve that luck. I made one major fuck-up mentally where I honestly deserved to have had Kings vs. someone else's Aces on the very next hand. I'll get to that.

So yeah, Brendan had reported that there were a lot of loose idiots attracted to these things, and it's usually a simple matter of waiting for 3-4 of them to donk away their chips, cling to life until one or two more go busto, and voila...$5 turns to $10, presto chango. Well, that wasn't my experience at ALL - this table was so fucking tight, it was squeaking. We're talking virgin cheerleader tight, kids. Now, I was able to take advantage in the early levels with some continuation bets (including one time I whiffed with A-10, but bluffed someone off of 5-5, which he was dumb enough to show), and that kept me alive despite my brain fart later on.

Then again, outside of those few hands where I showed aggression, I was waaaay more timid than I usually am. I suppose I have to find the balance between "just stay alive, you moron!" and "everyone else wants to stay alive too...attack!". Keep in mind, the blinds go up EVERY FIVE MINUTES in these things - good thing too, or else I'd have had to call in sick from work tomorrow to finish this fucking thing.

My first dose of ridiculous luck happened on Hand 25, 50/100 blinds, 1570 in my stack. I find 9s-8s in the SB, and limp along with two others. The flop comes Ah-Js-5c, and it's checked around. The turn is 8c, and so I fired out $200 at it. One person called - the biggest donk at the table, actually. The river was a 7c, and ONCE THE FUCK AGAIN, I just assumed that the other person had a made flush cause the third one came out. If this were a better player, I could feel better about that read. But, this nimrod could have been calling with 5-3 and I wouldn't have been that surprised in retrospect. I should be charged with illegally possessing two testicles for my check on the river. Luckily, the donk show had computer problems or something, the timer expired, and they were force-checked (I highly doubt that they were in the tank so long that they didn't make a move). My eights actually held up, as she had Qc-10d.

Hand 30 was the one where apparently nothing above the brain stem was functioning. 75/150 blinds, 1970 in my stack (2nd place). I find 4s-3s, and fuck it, I'll splash around and see a flop with this. It won't kill me if it doesn't hit...I can outplay these guys if something marginal hits and I sense danger, right? Five others limp along with me, so there's $800 in the pot to start. Nice implied odds! The flop comes A-4-2, no spades. Immediately, my eyes light up: "Woot! I can has straight!" NO, YOU IDIOT, YOU CAN NOT HAS STRAIGHT, YOU HAS SECOND FUCKING PAIR AND IT'S FOURS AT THAT, YOU FUCKING RETARD! One guy bets $150, and I bump it up to $750. The good news is the original raised folded (mid-range pocket pair, probably), but the bad news is that *two* others call. I then realized what happened, and my heart sunk down to my toes. The turn was a 7, and it checked around. The river was a 10, and I of course check. One of the others goes all-in for $675, the second calls with their last $315, and I of course peace out. The one with 315 had A-6, and lost out to A-Q. So, you had someone stick around with that shitty of a kicker, get busted out with it, and they were only the SECOND-dumbest person in the hand thanks to me. I was still alive, but I think the Poker Gods were sleeping when they let me cash in this one.

It was at that point where I knew I wasn't playing a second one. Duh, right? Tomorrow, Brendan and I are going to play in shitloads of these things to get the bankrolls to a healthier state. Anyway...

More ridiculous luck on Hand 34 - with just $1070 left and the blinds at 100/200, I got a walk with 9d-7d in my hand. That basically paid for the SB, which I folded immediately. Two hands later, I'm into triple digits when I limp with 7s-6s, and have to fold after a flop of As-8d-4c. Sorry, but I'm not risking my tournament life on a gutshot or runner-runner for a flush.

At this point, the blinds were still 100/200, but now with a 25 ante. Uh-oh.

On Hand 42, more undeserved luck in the BB when I found Kd-Jd, and someone bet $900 before me. I knew I was probably behind, but hoped I had two live cards. The other guy rightly called with Ah-3h. A King came right in the door, but so did a flush draw for him. Just for fucking once, it didn't get there, and neither did an Ace...it actually held up. Isn't that something?

So, up to $1890 and I get K-J again a few hands later. I limp, but then quickly muck when someone goes all-in for $1000. At that point, I'll wait for a better spot. We're still 8-handed at this point, FYI.

Hand 45 looked to have that better spot, as I found A-Q one off the button. One guy goes all-in for $1124, and he got a call for the guy's last $637. In this situation, I wonder if my call was the right play or not. I don't normally entirely like A-Q vs. an all-in and a call (with both coming from moderately-solid players), but I also figured that if I won it, I could sit on Easy Street and fold everything that wasn't A-A or K-K on my way to the money. I call, and find myself up against 1124's A-10, and the other guy's 6-6. The board showed 7-5-3-9-K with three clubs. A fourth club would have given me a Q-high straight and won it for me, but instead, the sixes held up. Luckily, the guy with the pair was the short stack, and the other guy was dominated instead of me being up against A-K, something which hit the board at all, or even chopping it with A-Q. But, I was down to an M of 2 or so with just $1065....not good.

The antes chomped away at my useless hands, and the blinds went up to 200/400 just in time for me to get 8-4 off-suit in the BB, which I had to muck to a raise. I was now facing a SB of $200 + $25 ante with just $540 left. I had to play whatever hand came up, and I was gambling that it was better than 8-4. As it turns out, it was 9d-7d. There were three folds, one gutless prick was sitting out (I'll rant about that in a second), and one to go. I would have gladly taken the walk, but instead they went all-in. Well, in that case at least I'm sure to have two live cards...so I made the mandatory call. The other player turned over 4-4...could be a lot worse! The flop came 10-10-7, leaving them dead to two outs. They didn't come, and I was back up to $1605 and 4th chip position! Again, I had a horseshoe rammed up my ass tonight, apparently.

Now, I know that there is some strategy behind sitting out and risking getting blinded down when you're in a safe chip position. But, how fucking much of a worthless pussy do you have to be to actually do it and not play? I know that folding everything you get isn't too much different, but here's the difference - if you're still actually playing, you may get K-K, A-K, A-A or something else irresistible. And, you could either really go out to a big lead, or maybe you get drawn out on. Or, perhaps you show some fucking skill and muck it if you're sure you're beat. But no...they go fucking hide because they don't feel they're good enough to trust themselves to actually play the game...and so they desperately cling on in hopes of making the money. I know there's not much the rooms can do about it, but god I want to fight these fucksticks in the Octagon. That said, on to the denouement.

Hand 53 showed me K-Q, and my all-in move took down the blinds and antes, along with one caller...up to $2730 now, and that may have been the only legitimately skillful play I made the whole time. The next hand was frustrating for a new and different reason - the micro-stack went all in for less than the BB, but won with K-4 when the caller only had 7-3. They were crippled on the next hand when a mid-stack's 7-6 beat his A-9, and he went busto the hand after when the same girl's 3-2 (the same hand I folded, incidentally) caught trips and beat his A-3.

So, on the bubble, and this is how it looked (200/400/25):

Seat 2: $3500
Seat 5: $522 (one of the gutless sit-out pussies)
Seat 7: $2676
Seat 8: $3020
Seat 9: $2627 (the other gutless sit-out pussy)
Seat 10: $2655 (your charming, dashing hero)

While Seat 9 was one of them, at least he played well when he did deign to grace us with his presence at the table. The nimrod in 5 was the short stack, and he deserved at least to lose his money. Of COURSE he was the one to go, right? No, he goes all-in with Qs-6s, I call with 7-6, another guy calls with K-9. Sure enough, a Queen comes right in the door, and he triples up. Ugh. This game is such a bitch sometimes. Incidentally, I was now the second-short stack...Prick Boy was still on the bottom of the pile.

It's now 300/600/50...real nut-cutting time now. My A-6 isn't good enough to play on Hand 59, and good thing too because Prick Boy won again and doubled up with J-4 against Q-2 when he rivered his four. Oh...my...fucking...god...please...die...you...fucking...piece...of...shit...shaking...with...rage...

Hand 60 gives me 7-4, which I have to fold. I'm actually now the short stack.

Hand 61 gives me 8-3, as I'm planning to go all-in as soon as I get a decent hand. Luck is on my side once more though, as Prick Boy goes busto (YAY!) to get the rest of us into the money. Ironically, it was the other Sit-Out Sam who raised to $1200. Prick Boy goes all-in, and SOS calls him. Either we were in the money, or SOS was down to $300 or so. Prick Boy had A-K, SOS had A-Q. A Queen came on the flop, and no help was forthcoming for PB...on that ridiculous suck-out, I lucked my way into doubling my buy-in. Unreal.

So yeah...tomorrow's plan is to hit the gym when I get done with work, as I usually am revitalized by doing 30 minutes or so on the bike. Then, hopefully with the capability of recognizing 5 numbers in sequential order, I will go back to these things and really hopefully make a solid positive impact on my bankroll. Watch this space...I'll let you know how it goes.

Home Game Fun with 7-2

Last night was another fun home game session...it wasn't at the normal one in Queens - sometimes we host one here in the BKNY, too. It was a bit short-handed at 5 people, but to tell the truth, that fits my style a lot better. The four other guys are among the tighter players in our group, so I turned on the aggression big-time and turned $5 into $14.

First, at my roommate's suggestion, we played a few hours of Omaha to kick things off. Not that I'm the world's leading expert or anything, but I have at least played it a bit and read the chapter in Super System...meaning I had more experience with it than most of the rest of the group. I gave them a short tutorial about what kinds of starting hands they should be looking for and some basic concepts to know. With that, we spent about 3 hours or so at it. Oddly, it was a fairly tame Omaha session in terms of winning hands. What I mean is that there weren't any gross instances that I can remember of boat over boat or boat over flush, shit like that. I wasn't writing things down this time because honestly, it's a huge distraction to my play. I made much more of an effort last night to watch the other players at the table and try and pick up minor tells to help me out. Sorry guys, but I'm not saying shit about what I did or didn't see. I'll just say that I won one or two pots that I wouldn't have won had I not been paying attention, and I mucked one or two probable second-best hands that I may have lost more with.

After a dinner break, the guys wanted to move back to Hold 'Em. However, my roommate had another fun idea, which was to play out a tournament using our current chip stacks to make paying out a lot easier (we had two $10s and a $5, and breaking that up would have been a bitch). Joe (who you may remember from my last home game post as being quite the survivor) decided to try a new tack, which was to Hoover up any chips he could find. You ever play Hungry Hungry Hippos as a kid? You know how sometimes, for whatever reason, all the little marble things ended up with one kid for whatever reason, like the board was tilting that way or something? That's what playing against Joe was like last night!

Still, your dashing protagonist doubled up the $5 buy-in by finishing second. Joe had a monster chip lead, while Al (the other survivorman) uncharacteristically busted out first (we're taking advantage of his Omaha inexperience while we still can!). Brendan and I were on horrifically short stacks, so it became a battle of who can cling on the longest. Brendan ended up getting a hand that he was pretty much contractually obligated to go all-in with. I ended up using that time to take a leak, and by the time I came back, I found that I had made the money. Isn't that rad? It's like taking a piss at a restaurant and coming back to find that your food has arrived. Anyway, the heads-up battle ended up lasting all of one hand - I too got something had to go in with, and Joe I think had a better hand and it held up. Still, it was fun for a change to play some Omaha in a setting where I was comfortable and not up against much-more experienced players. I think I may try that against online competition later on, if Sportsbook has some micro tables.

Oh...now I remember a weird one from the Omaha portion. I had K-K-4-4, and raised it up. Only Joe called. I fired at every street, and Joe called every time. The board on the turn was 5-6-7-8, so I had the ignorant end of the straight. I figured it was good for some reason though, so I kept going (I had Joe on a set or two pair, with a small chance of him on a flush draw where my Kings would still be good - this was only five-handed after all). The river was a 9, and the board played. Incidentally, he had Q-Q-5-5.

Once it turned to hold 'em, I had a hot streak for quite a while. I turned into a total card rack...and while I didn't win any super-mega-monster pot that I can remember, the combination of winning with solid hands and a constant stream of continuation bets had me up at around $22 for a while ($10 buy-in). Unfortunately, I got a little too loosey-goosey at that point and ended up losing $8 of it. Of course, one has to be a little more relaxed with starting requirements five-handed, but it got to the point where my continuation bets were being called 100% of the time, and I wasn't catching anything where I could actually win the hands.

All in all, I'm happy with my play in both disciplines. One last thing - we always play the 7-2 game, and as it turned out, 7-2 cracked K-Q THREE TIMES, and I think it beat K-J once as well. I was the beneficiary once when I caught trip 2s against Rob KGB. But, it was only fair - he called a raise with 10-2, and caught two pair to beat my high pair (I forget what I had). So there.

The first annual KGB Millions...

...well, maybe not millions, but there was a bracelet.

Sadly, the author did not take that particular piece of jewelry home. There were 10 players, and I ended up finishing in 7th. Believe me, I was NOT happy about how I played in the slightest. While I do think that taking down all the info to blog about it hurt my concentration a little, I don't want to use that as an excuse. I got felted because I was only half-focused, and I once again ignored my read and what I believed to be a tell. Ugh.

Anyway, since my cash-game homies wanted to be famous, here you go, guys. Let me introduce you to the principals:

Seat 1: Mike - Part of Team Ballin'. I first met him in AC back in May, but I had never had the chance to play against him before. He had lost a few bucks at the tables there...and that was all I had to go on other than a pre-game scouting report of "he's aggressive". I hate to admit this now, but Brendan (my roommate) and I had a side bet as to who would go out first, and I guessed Mike due to his aggressive nature.

Seat 2: Brian - Solid player, but a guy who craves action...sometimes to his detriment. He knows the right plays and in general is pretty good at changing gears and mixing up his play. But, where he gets into trouble is his "inklings"...which usually translate into fairly loose calls with, oh, how do I say this charitably? Umm..."less-than-premium hands". Yeah, that's it. I'm going to regret giving this advice I'm sure, but dude...less calls, less hands, more re-raises. That's all you're missing.

Seat 3: Matt - Just met him that night. Drank nine beers during the course of play.

Seat 4: Other Rob - He's the "other" Rob because a) I also just met him that night, and b) He wasn't hosting. He turned out to be a solid, quality player.

Seat 5: Joe - One of the two tournament specialists at the table. Remember my post from a while back where me and my two friends finished 1-2-3 in a $1 SNG? He was the zombie dude who just wouldn't die.

Seat 6: Rob - Our gracious host. Rob KGB is, by my estimation, the best overall player at the table. His knowledge of odds and the proper play to match them is unmatched by any of the rest of us there, and he has the courage to go along with it. I'm not going to regret giving this advice because I've already done it, but he rarely loses because of outright mistakes...when he does lose, it's due to going on tilt and/or talking himself out of hands he'd probably win otherwise.

Seat 7: Me - You know about this guy by now. Crap tournament player, overplays medium-high holdings, has a super-aggressive reputation even though I really don't play that many hands, etc and so on. The "maniac" of the home game.

Seat 8: Al - The other tournament specialist. To an even greater extent than Joe, he will go into what we call the "beserker rage" when he's down some in chips...before you know it, he's doubled up twice and right back in the hunt. He used to sarcastically be called "Action Al" due to being a tight player - especially by this game's standards. Honestly, he plays just enough hands, and plays them well. He has an amazing talent of folding when the other guy has a monster, and often extracts the maximum when he has one. Like Rob, when he loses, it's because he's probably beaten himself. Is WAY too hard on himself, and has to learn to recognize sometimes that losing doesn't mean you played incorrectly.

Seat 9: Brendan - My roommate, as mentioned. Considering he has only intermittently played for a few short months, he's astonishingly good. No joke, he's made me look like a rookie more than once in our home games. Great actor (in terms of portraying false tells), great at spotting tells...just a little too tight-passive at times.

Seat 10: Niko - Another good, solid player. He has a reputation of ALWAYS hitting his straights and flushes, but that's because he has the stones to play the drawing hands in the first place. If you really watch him, you'll notice that he's good about only drawing when he has the correct odds (or close to them) to do so. He does an excellent job of taking advantage of his reputation, too.

So, without further ado, I'll get into the notable "TV" hands. I know this is going to be long and probably tedious reading if you aren't a) my friend or b) someone who played in this game, so I'll try and be as brief as I can.

Hand 1: Robbie KGB takes down a big pot right away, at Joe's expense (and Brian's somewhat, but he bailed on the turn). The board was 8-5-5-5-J, and Rob showed 4-5. Yep...quads on the first fucking hand.

Hand 5: Rob loses this one, but not a lot considering the board was K-K-K-Q-6, and Brendan had A-K. That's right...that's the SECOND time quads were hit within five hands.

Oh, by the way, this game was sloth-like for the first few hours. By the time we were three hours in or so, we had only played like 25 hands. With the usual home-game stuff (rabbit-hunting, people not realizing it's their turn, etc), I suppose that was inevitable. It made it a little weird in that the blinds had gone up and up and up, and we were playing maybe 3-4 hands per level. This was the first time we've done a home-game tournament though, so we'll figure it out for the next time. Anyway...

Hand 7: The good guy takes down his first pot, catching two pair with 7-6 off-suit.

Hand 8: Had middle pair with Q-10, but couldn't stand the heat of Mike's $80 bet with three flush cards out there.

Hand 10: Rob KGB loses to Other Rob. Other Rob calls 4X BB raise pre-flop, and then calls Rob's flop and river bets. The board was J-10-2 (all spades) - 4-2. Rob shows A-8 off-suit, Other Rob had Q-10.

Hand 11: I accidentally exposed a 4 when I folded the State Patrol hand. That helped out Rob quite a bit, as he ended up having 4-4! Matt and Mike play a fairly big pot, which is taken down by Matt's king-high flush.

Hand 12: Rob isn't so lucky this time - his A-Q is beaten by Matt's 4-3. His call of Rob's pre-flop raise is likely partially due to the fact that he was 2 beers in at that point. Rob is now steaming.

Hand 13: Mike takes control with this one. I call with 10s-7s, a couple of other limpers are driven out along with me by Joe's raise up to $200. Rob goes in the tank forever, but goes away (he showed me 9-9). Niko then enters the tank, and eventually comes to the same conclusion. Mike goes all-in for $315 more, which Joe calls. Joe shows Ad-Ks, Mike shows 9s-8d (see what I mean about the aggression?). The flop comes 7-6-5, the King on the river is obviously no help to Joe. Joe is below $500 in chips, so he is the first to utilize the one re-buy.

Hand 15: I build up my stack at Niko's expense. I call with 6-5 in the SB, Niko and Matt are along for the ride. The flop is a gorgeous 6-5-2, to which I immediately fire out $80. Niko calls, Matt bails. I get another $200 when a 7 hits on the turn, and the river was a 9. We both checked it down, and he showed A-7.

Hand 16: I get A-K on the button, and call Rob's raise along with Al and Brendan. The flop is 10-4-3 rainbow, and my continuation bet takes it down.

Hand 19: Rob, still steaming, goes all-in with 9-9. Brian makes what I think is an excellent fold with A-Q. If he had lost, his stack would have been crippled.

Hand 20: Rob wins again with 8-8, Brian had made a "very bad call", but didn't stick around to the river. Matt did with 6-4, having paired the latter on the flop.

Hand 23: Mike takes it down when Brendan calls his $250 raise with Ah-Q, only to see it lose to Mike's J-9. The flop came out all-hearts, so Brendan would have taken it if one more came out.

First Break - Going up to 50-100. This was the leaderboard at the time:

Mike - 2560
Other Rob - 2535
Me - 2285
Matt - 1975
Brendan - 1630
Al - 1600
Brian - 1480
Niko - 1390
Rob - 1375
Joe - 705

Hand 25: Other Rob takes over the chip lead as Mike's $200 raise is called, but he folds on the flop of 8-4-2 to Rob's $400 raise. It ended up being a great fold, as OR showed K-K.

Hand 29: Mike takes it back by calling Joe's $300 raise, then taking it on the flop with a continuation bet.

I win hands 30 and 34, and all of a sudden it's looking real good for your boy.

Hand 35: For the second time today, someone with a pocket pair lucks out as the third of that denomination is accidentally exposed. Joe goes all-in for his last $760, Matt calls. Having seen the third Jack go bye-bye, Brian wisely folds J-J. Joe's A-Q beats out Matt's 4-4 when a Queen comes on the flop. Unfortunately for Brian, if that Jack hadn't been shown, he'd have won as the board was K-9-10-Q-9.

Hand 39: Fucking Niko. I call with Ks-8s, and Niko immediately goes all-in for his last $815. Matt goes all-in for $700, and Mike calls. Niko has A-8, Matt 8-7, and Mike A-J. Mike's Ace plays on a board of 10-5-5-K-6. Dammit, dammit, sonofabitch. Matt and Niko are felted in 10th and 9th.

Hand 40: I get A-K, and raise to $300. Mike and the Other Rob call. The flop was Q-10-8, two diamonds. I raise to $500, Rob re-raises to $1250. Well, shit. With only one diamond and a gutshot straight draw, I'm not risking my tournament life here.

Hand 41: Joe heads to the rail in 8th. I wasn't expecting that one, that's for sure. I'm splashing around with 3h-2h, Mike calls. Joe bets $400, Mike calls. The flop is 8-8-7, two diamonds. It's checked around, turn is the King of diamonds. It's checked again, and the river is the 4c. Joe goes all-in, and Mike calls. It was a gutsy call on Mike's part with 5-5, but he had the best hand - Joe shows A-Q. If Joe had went all-in on the turn, there's no way Mike could have reasonably called him, I think.

Hand 42: Rob puts his name in for the Laydown of the Night competition that seems to be going on. Brendan goes all-in for $1,010. Rob counts his chips and thinks hard about making a stand, but elects to fold his 7-7. Brendan is courteous enough to show his J-J.

Hand 43: Brendan doubles up through Mike - Brendan held A-Q and paired on the flop. Unfortunately for Mike, he had to call with Q-Q, and was a bit unlucky. Still, he could afford it, dammit.

Hand 46: Three hands later, Brendan's stack is crippled. This hand DEFINITELY was a television hand. Rob limps in...Al goes all-in for $725, Brendan goes all-in for $2090. Everyone else bounces, as you'd imagine. Rob shows The Weapons of Mass Destruction...Brendan shows Q-Q, Al shows 7-7. Immediately, Al starts berating himself (dude, it's getting late in the tourney, you're short-stacked, you had to make a move. He could have been limping with 3-2, for fuck's sake). Flop is 10-9-6, no help to anyone. Wouldn't you know it, but the turn is a 7. The river is a Jack, sending Brendan out. Al is STILL berating himself despite tripling up, and now Rob is absolutely spitting fire that his bullets didn't hold up. He told me afterwards that he would have won the tournament if he had won that hand, and honestly, he's right. I'd be pissed, too.

Hand 47: Yep - your hero crashed out of the tournament in 6th place. You will be shocked and amazed to know that it was from overplaying a medium-high holding. I wake up with 10-10, and bump it up to $600. Mike can't get his chips into the pot fast enough. The flop is 5-4-4, and I'm only thinking of that rather than what Mike is possibly holding. He bets $500, and like an idiot, I call. He's leading into the pre-flop raiser on a nothing board...what could he have that I was ahead of? I know he's aggressive and all, but I had barely played a hand all night...out of 47, I think I was seriously involved in the 5-8 range. The turn is a Queen, and I go all-in. He insta-calls, and of course shows A-A. I couldn't believe that they showed up in two consecutive hands, but I should have known I was beaten. I head to the rail, and deservedly so.

Hand 48: We're dropping like flies - Brendan is out in 6th. He goes all-in with 9-9, Other Rob calls with K-J. Sure enough, a King comes right in the door.

Hand 51: Brian doubles up through Mike. They had limped in, and saw a Qs-7c-5h flop. It's checked around through the turn and river, which are Ac and 5d. Mike tries to steal it for $500, Brian goes all-in for his last $930. Mike is pretty much pot-committed and had to call. Mike shows A-7, Brian shows 8-5 to the shock and laughter of the whole table. Long story short, Brian had his A-A cracked in Atlantic City by some douche-rocket that called a huge pre-flop raise with 8-5 off-suit.

Hand 52: Other Rob loses a decent amount of chips to his namesake when the Polish/Russian dynamo hit trips with his A-5.

Hand 55: Three hands later, the aforementioned dynamo is WAMBOOZLED and out in 5th (incidentally, Al does an amazing solo Chad Ford and Lon McEachern act). Brian opens for $500, Rob goes all-in. Brian calls with A-Q, which has A-J dominated. A Queen on the flop ends the tournament hopes of our host.

Hand 58: A further three hands later, the tournament all of a sudden finds itself Rob-free. Mike opens for $1000, Al and Other Rob call. The flop is Js-10d-7d. Mike bumps it to $2000, Other Rob is all-in for $1450 more. Mike calls and shows Kh-Jh. Other Rob showed Qs-Jc. The turn and river were no help, and Other Rob became the bubble boy in 4th.

Mike was pretty much a lock to at least make the money, but Al really caught fire after catching lightning in a bottle with that third 7. As for Brian, he wasn't in a ton of the "TV hands", but he kept his gambling tendencies in check and really picked his spots beautifully. He earned his spot in the money, that's for sure. At this point, the stacks looked like this:

Mike: 11,515
Brian: 3,510
Al: 2,475

Hand 62: Brian doubles up to make a contest out of it. Mike raised Brian's BB to $800, Brian goes all-in. Brian's Q-10 is comfortably ahead of Mike's 10-7, and as a big middle finger to the poor chip leader, Brian gets top two on the flop of Q-10-9. The turn was a 6, making it interesting...but a King fell on the river.

Hand 67: Al's tournament ends with a solid 3rd-place finish. His all-in is called by Mike, who must have been stoked to finally be dominating a hand after the last 3-4 times when he was on the other end of it. A-Q vs. A-10, and the Queen ended up playing.

Sadly, there was no Shana Hiatt or other gorgeous women to bring out the money and the bracelet (yes, Rob bought a bracelet online for the occasion). That said, luckily (as it was late and I was exhausted), the heads-up match didn't last long. Brian made it more interesting on Hand 70 when his K-6 held up for another $1000 in chips, but it was all over two hands later:

Final Hand - Hand 72: Mike goes all-in, Brian calls. Again, Mike is dominated, K-Q to Q-J. The flop is Q-10-9, and the turn is an Ace. The river is a King, winning the bracelet for the proud member of Team Ballin'.

All in all, it was a fun time and some good poker was played. Sooner or later, I want to get one of those bracelets as well and host the Pot-Limit Omaha event. THAT should make some interesting reading, anyway!

The overwhelming strength of J-5 off-suit...

Sorry for the lack of updates in the last few days – I ended up having a busy weekend that didn’t involve much playing of poker (though I did read a chapter or two of Harrington and watched some on television), and last night I was super-tired and figured that wasn’t the best time or frame of mind to be playing. I did play in one $1 SNG on Sunday night though, and was fairly unlucky not to cash.

On the third hand of play, I found 3-3 in middle position. There was one raise in front of me, but only up to $40. For just 2X BB, I’m definitely calling that. Imagine my joy to see a flop of A-Q-3. The two picture cards were both clubs, so I was resolved to either take it down right away with a big bet, or get all the chips in there and see what happened. One of the pre-flop callers raised to $200, the original raiser just called, and I popped it up to $1000. That set the first guy all-in, and he called. The original raiser was the big stack (he had tabled someone on the first hand with a full house) then went all-in himself, to which I quickly called.

- The post-flop raiser showed Q-8 off, no clubs.
- The pre-flop raiser showed A-4 off, no clubs.

Thank goodness for the stupid. As if it were a message from the poker gods, the river was the case 3 to give me quads. Of course, I wish I had gotten quads on the river in a cash game against a big stack who had the nut flush, but I’ll take them in this case too!

That brought me up to $4,050 in chips, and admittedly I didn’t play my big stack well. I could have probably bullied some people around, but I generally prefer to semi-bluff rather than straight-out bluff against loose opponents. You saw what people were raising and calling with above, so I didn’t want to get too cute raising with absolute garbage.

I didn’t seriously play another hand until Hand 21, with 10c-8c. I figured I hadn’t played in a while, so let me pop it up to 3X BB (I was the initial raiser) and see what happened. Of course, I got four customers. The flop came Qs-Js-2h. One player checked in front of me, so I put out a continuation bet of $388 (1/2 the pot). One person folds, then another went all-in for their last $920. Well, shit. I of course muck, and so did everyone else.

Six hands later, it was down to four-handed. I only played one of those hands, won about $100 with Ad-9d. So, under the gun, I call with Jh-10h. I know I should have raised or folded…that was the kind of mental error that I made because I was tired…and least I was smart enough to only play a $1 SNG rather than risk any kind of money playing a cash game. The SB folded, so it was three-handed with me, the genius who raised with A-4 from the hand where I had my set, and one other player. The flop came 5-5-2 with no hearts, and was checked around. The turn was the 10d, Mr. Genius bet $175, and I called…the other person mucked. In truth, I had no idea what he had. The river was the 6h, and Mr. Genius bet $525. It looked like a steal attempt to me, so I raised up to $1,600. He re-raised me right back to $2,675, and given how much of an idiot donkey this guy was, I should have given up the hand right there. But no, I went all-in and he of course called.

Of course, he shows J-5 and sends me to the rail. This is why I try not to play when I’m exhausted, but even if I had raised pre-flop, this guy probably would have called me anyway. I’ll call it 60% poor play on my part and 40% shit luck.

$1 SNG with some friends – WE OWN IT, BABY!

My first inclination after last night’s success was to get right back on the .10/.20 horse and hope for some good hands to really get myself paid off. However, I got a text from my friend Joe right as I was about to sign on, so off to Sit-N-Go land I went. Honestly, I am a mediocre tournament player, as I mentioned yesterday. I’m not terribly comfortable with ever-escalating blinds, and most of my strategy is based on how I handle playing against a full table. I have ventured into SNGs before, and the best I’ve ever done is 3rd. Today, I went one better, but was absolutely clowned heads-up against my other friend, Josh.

Oh, and as you’ll see, I ended up being a total card rack tonight, and a run of cards like this in a ring game would have been like printing money in all likelihood. At the end of the day, though, this is supposed to be fun. And, I’d rather have some fun with friends if the opportunity is there…I think I’d be a rather sad excuse for a person if I didn’t.

On to some crucial hands:

Hand 3: Two off the button, guess what I wake up with? I haven’t held the weapons of mass destruction in ages, but here I am with Ac-Ad. The player in front of me raises to $140, and I am loving life. I call, everyone else folds, and we see a 7c-4d-3s flop. I knew right away I probably wouldn’t get donked out on with 6-5 or 7-4 or something…not with that pre-flop raise. Full speed ahead, captain! Mr. Aggressive bets $310, I call. Normally I don’t slow-play monsters, but there is absolutely nothing scary about that board. The turn is 6c, so now with two clubs out there, I’m resolved to get all the chips in. If he’s donking out on me, he’s going to pay for it. He saves me the trouble though, and bets $930. Interesting…why not all-in if that much? Typically, I consider that to be a sign of weakness as they want to at least have something if things don’t go their way. I had him on a lower pair or A-K here, so I put him all-in. He calls, and shows Qc-Qs. Awesome! He’s dead to two outs, and the 6s sends him home. On one hand, unless he put me on K-K or A-A, there was little for him to be afraid of out there. Then again, what did he think I called $310 with? I think the trouble is that a lot of donks do the all-in thing with A-A hoping that someone has a hand they like. It’s just that hand, really…any other monster is usually cause for check-calling all the way. So, I double-up nice and early...up to $3010!

Hand 5: The guy to my left, “skimwater”, calls my 60-cent raise (I had 8-8), as does Josh. Flop is A-Q-4, Josh bet $60 and skim raised to $120 on each street thereafter, with Josh calling each. My homie shows A-K, skim showed A-9. Wow. What do you think he was calling you with, bro? I pretty much had my read on this guy right there, and as I’ll explain later, he became quite the irritating little lunatic.

Hands 8-11: Skim goes nuts, betting and raising with ludicrously-high turn bets on all these hands. He’s up to $1953 for hand 11. I fold my awesome J-2, four callers to a 10s-9s-9c flop. Early-position guy pops it up to $150, skim calls, everyone else flees. The turn is 6d, the original bettor puts in $225, skim goes all-in, other guy calls. The original bettor shows 4c-4d, skim shows 10h 7c. The river is As, and the first guy is gone. I have no words…how did he not put him on A-10, K-10, Q-10 or J-10? He liked his 7 kicker that much? Really? Anyway, Skim won hand 12 as well, so he was at $3430 at that point to my $2840.

Hand 14: I didn’t win as much with them this time, but I see Ac-Ad in early position. I raise to $60, with visions of Skim raising all-in in my head. He folds, and Joe is my only customer in the BB. Let me just say that he and my friend Al are almost incapable of being trapped. Al has dodged bullets on quite a few occasions in my presence, and Joe is a survivor…his instincts (and Al’s) are almost always spot-on (especially in comparison to the author). The flop comes 5s-2s-2d. I have no idea what Joe has, as he checks. I don’t want him catching anything with random spades, so I bet $60 to see what happens. He goes away, leaving me with just a $75 profit. Every time I get a monster against those guys, I feel like a vaudeville villain trying to tie them to the railroad tracks. Curses, foiled again.

Hand 15: OK, this is almost not fair. Under the gun, I get Ah-Ks. I raise up to $90, and a previously-quiet player calls a few seats ahead of me. Everyone else bids adieu. The flop comes Jh-3s-2s. With two overcards and the potential for a runner-runner second-nut flush, against one caller, the continuation bet is automatic. Quiet Man calls. The turn is an absolutely beautiful Ad. I bet $360, he calls. What the hell is he calling me with? I have no idea, but I’m confident in my standing in the hand. The river is the Qs. I admit that I was a little cavalier here and wasn’t really thinking too much about what he had…if he had A-J, Q-J or J-J, I was just going to have to pay him off. In retrospect, I’m amazed that I wasn’t a little more frightened of the flush draw that was completed on the river…you can see how I overplay the shit out of top pair-top kicker sometimes. I bet $240 (OK, guess I was at least a little nervous), he calls and shows 5s5c. Man, thank fucking goodness for the stupid. On the next hand, the Skim All-In Special sent him to the rail when his 9-6 beat Quiet Man’s K-9 when the 6 came on the flop.

Hand 21: The guy directly to my right is knocked out by, well, Guess Who. He held J-J, the flop came J-7-2. The other guy ended up having A-J, so the result was inevitable. When another 7 hit on the turn, Skim’s ridiculous over-bet was called and that was that. That’s great, but what about the other 90% of the time when the other guy quietly deposits his hand in the muck? He and I are the big stacks, he leads $5,670 to $3,710.

Hand 22: My 10c-10s is good enough for a $150 raise (25/50 blinds), which Skim calls. The flop is Jh-8h-7s. I bet $325, he raises $650, and I insta-call. Honestly, I didn’t believe he had much other than maybe a flush draw or perhaps second or third pair. The turn comes Js, and he immediately throws in $1,625. Well, that made my decision easy, didn’t it? If he had put out a teaser bet, I almost certainly would have called (with two Jacks out there, there was less chance he had the third), and I maybe even would have raised. Instead, this was an easy fold…I’m at least tournament-savvy enough to wait for a better spot when I’m safely in second chip position with 74 BBs. I show my 10-10 to let him know I’m capable of folding it, and he was kind enough to show his J-2. Yes, he called a 3x BB raise with J-2 off-suit. No, I don’t know why either. At this point, our boy Skim is starting to royally get on my tits. It’s $6,495-$2,910 now, but I’m still in decent shape.

Hand 24: Skim raises to $100 pre-flop, Random Anonymous Guy 2 is his only customer. The flop is 9-4-4, RAG2 checks, and Skim goes all-in for $6,295. Err, OK. What exactly was he going to call you with? The inevitable fold is met with a showing of Ks-Qs. Cheers, thanks for the free information.

Hand 27: Skim wins the next two (I have to give it to him, in a crazed sort of way he’s playing his big stack pretty well), and he raises this one to $100. I re-raise to $250 with Kc-Qd, he calls. Flop is 6s-5d-3h, and he checks. Huh, that’s odd. I throw out $575, and he goes away. Well, that was uncharacteristic. At this point, I was beginning to think that he had a deliberate game plan and as much as I hate to admit it, it was working. It was hard as hell to put him on anything, that’s for sure. It’s not how I’d play because all it takes is someone waking up with a monster hand to send you packing, but he was accumulating chips like mad. The smart thing to do at that point would probably be to change gears and slow it down for a few orbits before picking up speed again. He wasn’t that smart, though.

Hand 28: Speaking of changing gears, Josh starts to pick up speed, and wins a nice pot off of Random Anonymous Guy 1. With that, he overtakes me for second place.

Hand 29: My lucky number is 29, it was my hockey number in high school, it’s my soccer number now. It also was the hand where RAG2 proved to be…a bird? A plane? No, it’s SUPERDONK! I find Qs-Qc in the BB. RAG2 calls, Joe raises to $150, I pop it up to $600 (I really, really don’t want A-x beating me). RAG2 calls, Joe (having possession of a brain) goes away. The flop comes 6c-5h-3s. While you do have to spare a thought for what this guy is calling with, this is a tournament and you do have to accumulate chips sometime. I still had $1,220 if all the chips went in, so I figured this was a good spot to go on the attack. I bet $500, and he goes all-in for $1,140. I go into the tank for just about the whole 15 seconds, and I considered using my extra time. However, at the end of the day, I was still 24.5 BBs to the good if I guessed wrong, so I couldn’t justify a fold. Good thing too, because Mr. Genius shows 2c-2h. Now, if a 4 had come off, I wouldn’t be writing this right now as I would have probably had a stress-induced heart attack. Instead, the turn and river were 9s and As, leaving me with a clean bill of health and an extremely healthy chip stack. Down to 5 players, I was second again - $6,470 to $4,775.

Hand 33: Joe was down to his last $495, but Skim doubled him up when his A-Q unluckily got beat by 10-7 when the 7 paired. Seriously, you can’t kill this guy.

Hand 34: Chip leader, baby! Still at 25/50, I get 5c-4c in the BB. Skim calls out of the SB, everyone else bolts. The flop comes Kc-7c-6c. Wunderbar! However, who the hell knows what this maniac next to me has, so let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks yet. I bet $100, he raises to $400. I was slightly concerned, but also fairly certain that he was capable of re-raising with total squadoosh. The turn was 10h, Skim bets $450 and I call. I suppose at this point, I made the decision that he didn’t have a higher flush. The river was 3s, and he bet $900. Normally sequentially-increasing bets are a fairly reliable indicator of strength, but I just didn’t buy it for some reason. I trusted my read and called (notice I didn’t re-raise, hedging against the possibility that I was being roped in). He showed Kh-7d for two pair, so my flush was good. I took down a monster pot, and now led $6,625-$4,175.

Hands 35-41: Josh changed gears brilliantly once it became four-handed, and he basically traded these with Skim. I ask him via this very public forum whether he’s also a disciple of the Harrington school, as he seems to advocate the “tight early, loose late” strategy. Skim had $4,375, but Josh was knocking on the door with $3,360. Joe was on life support with $640.

Hand 42: Speaking of Joe, he went all-in (it’s now 50/100). I had Ad-8d, and figured it was probably ahead of Random Desperate Short-Stack Hand. Well, not exactly. He had Ac-8c, and not surprisingly we chopped it. Apparently, you have to shoot the creature directly in the head, or else it keeps on shambling towards you in its quest for delicious brains.

Hand 44: Joe raises again in hand 43, and my J-2 isn’t worth a call. This time, Josh calls his all-in raise, and it was the classic race: Josh with 8-8, Joe with Q-J off-suit. A Queen hit on the flop, and Joe doubled up once again. This hand has been brought to you by the Umbrella Corporation.

Hand 47: Josh closes the gap on me with a timely all-in bet. I got 10-10 in the BB, and he raises to $300 from the SB. No one else plays, so we’re off to the flop which comes K-8-5 rainbow. I check (I don’t know why, that’s almost always continuation-bet time from me), he bets $300, and I call. I don’t know why that was worth a call if it wasn’t worth a bet in the first place. The turn is a 7 – I bet $700, and he goes all-in with his last $2,195. I’d still have $3,005 if I called and lost, but it didn’t seem like a great spot to risk relinquishing the chip lead. If I remember correctly, I figured there was a 25-30% chance he was on a total bluff, and a 70-75% chance he had 5-5, 8-8 or any King-Other Picture Card hand. Risking $2,195 into a pot of $1,900 when I could very easily be dead to two outs (or drawing dead if he had K-K, a reasonable holding in this scenario) is not something I generally look for in a hand. I gracefully made my exit, and he took over second place with over $4,000 in chips for the first time. If that was a bluff, I take my hat off to you…it was a great one. And, because it’s not every other hand like SOME people in this tourney, I’m much less likely to call if you were bluffing. Well done.

Hand 49: Josh raises first to $300, Skim calls. Flop is K-5-3 with two clubs. Skim bets $650, Josh re-raises to $1,500. I was shocked, but Skim went away. As much as I was picking on him before, I think he was really a pretty good player, and we were just all irritated by the success of his style. He smartly folded here, and Josh was now less than $500 behind me.

Hand 50: One of Josh’s few mistakes – he called a re-raise from Skim on a Q-10-10 board. Interestingly, Skim checked it down the rest of the way, and showed J-10. Josh showed 3-3, which I think were slightly over-played after the flop. That worked for me, though…I was $1,000 ahead again.

Hand 52: With 8-8 on the button, only Joe calls my $300 raise. I hit my set on the flop with a Q-8-6 rainbow board, and it went check-check. The turn was a 7, and with two hearts out there I picked up a little speed (I think I pick up too much speed on the turn in this situation…maybe?). Joe bet $400, and my re-raise to $1,200 chased him away. That would have set him all-in, and I suppose it would be hard to expect him to have A-Q or K-Q when he checked the turn.

Hand 53: With K-10 off-suit under the gun, I raise to $300. Joe goes all-in for $980, and I fold. In retrospect, that’s probably virgin-cheerleader tight before the flop. Skim calls with K-3 off-suit, and Joe’s A-J off-suit holds up when all five cards miss them both. Joe is now past normal zombie status and now resembles that fucking thing from Resident Evil 2 (or is it 3?) that shows up more often than Jason Vorhees and mumbles “Staaaaaaaaaaaars”. Ugh. Moving on…

Hand 54: I get K-10 again in the BB now, and fold it again to Joe’s $400 raise. Josh calls, but can’t stand the heat of Joe’s continuation bet (flop was J-7-3 with two spades). Don’t look now, but Joe’s in third!

Me: $5,550 – Josh: $3,695 – Joe: $2,910 – Skim: $2,845


Hand 55-57: Skim re-awakens, and wins all three hands with some solid continuation bets and re-raises. He goes from 4th to 2nd just that quick.

Hand 58: I call people donkeys pretty often here, but as much as I can dish it out, I can take it too. The name of this blog is what it is because at different points in my poker career (hell, even in one session), I feel I have been all three of those. This time, I was a lucky, lucky donkey, and the shamrock-covered horseshoe up my ass sent Skim to the rail.

I found Qs-9d in the BB, and called Skim’s raise from the SB up to $300. The flop was Ah-Qc-7d. He checks, I make the $300 information bet, and he goes all-in for his last $4,645. Now, I’d like to say that I went into the tank for ages and came up with some brilliant thought process to justify my call. As it turns out, I just felt like he had done this too often for my liking in the second quarter of hands that were played, and he had shown in the past that he was capable of doing so with bluffing. I also felt he was capable of doing so with third pair, or a tiny pocket pair. This was a hand where the math went out the window, and I went entirely on my gut about the player. As it turns out, I was dead wrong...I called damn near instantly and my heart sank when I saw his Ac-3h. With no flush or straight possibilities, I was dead to 5 outs, meaning he was an 82% favorite to win the hand. Well, for fucking once, I got to donk out on someone else for a change, as the miracle 9 spiked on the turn, and the river was a blank. I would have been down…I DESERVED to be down to my last $155, but instead Skim was out and I rejoiced in the fact that not only did I definitely cash, all three friends had survived into the money. Nice.

Hand 67: I sat on my giganto-stack for a while, resolving not to play unless I had a strong hand. Joe and Josh traded some wins, until Joe re-raised Josh’s $450 pre-flop bet (75/150 now) all-in for his last $1,860. Josh called, and showed Kc-7c against Joe’s Jd-10s. Two Kings came out on the flop, and just to add insult to injury, the last two streets both were fives to fill up Josh’s boat. Joe went to the rail, as Hogie finally found the rocket launcher to slay the zombie-demon-beast-awful metaphor-beast.

Hand 68: I won a heads-up hand! I really, really did it! All by myself, with no one else’s help! Sadly, this was the last one. I raised to $450 pre-flop with Qd-6h, Josh folds.

Hand 69: I have Jd-5c in the BB. Josh raises to $450, I decide not to be pushed around and call. The flop is A-4-4 rainbow, and I decide to check-fold and wait for a better spot. I probably should have looked into that strategy in the next hand as well.

Hand 70: I have Qh-2d in the SB. He raises to $450, I call. The flop is 10-8-5 with two clubs. He makes the $450 continuation bet, and at this point, I kind of lost my mind and decided that OMG MUST MAKE STAND. I re-raise to $1,350, and at the very least he went into the tank for a bit. Unfortunately, when he came out, he re-raised to $2,750. Dammit shit fuck motherfuck shit shit shit. I can’t take the heat, and fold. He now leads $8,855-$6,145.

Hand 71: I have 4c-3h in the BB. He raises to $450, and I muck quickly. I am getting frustrated now.

Hand 72: I call with Ac-2h in the SB. He actually does not raise, so the flop comes Qh-5c-2s. He checks, and that won him the tournament right there. I bet $150 as a kind of teaser type bet because heads-up, it’s so hard to hit flops that I was sure I was ahead (especially with no pre-flop raise and the post-flop check, I at that point eliminated any Queen holdings). Josh re-raises to $450, and I immediately double it to $900. I imagine Josh knew right here that I was hooked on the line, and not going anywhere. Yes kids, I decided to go to war with third pair despite the maxim “Never go broke with a Queen in your hand”. Don’t look at me, I never make it to heads-up so I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing here! Josh re-re-raises to $3,000, and I call. Yep, at this point, I’m pot-committed. The turn is a 5h. At this point, I eliminate any holding Josh might have that has a 5, just going by the odds. Again, I was convinced he didn’t have a Queen for the reasons already stated. Josh set me all-in, and really, at this point I should have changed my mind about the Queen, mucked this piece of shit hand, and set about trying to grind my way back into it. Instead, I called, and took it on the chin when he showed Qd-4c. Just as a big, giant middle finger to your fearless correspondent, the river was another Queen. Well fuck you too, Sportsbook.

Honestly, Josh played an almost flawless tournament and deserved to win it. I remember him posting some hands he played to the message board we all post at last year, and thinking he had a loooooooooooong way to go. Fast-forward a year, and here he is teaching me a lesson in heads-up tournament poker. I think I’m getting better at this version of the game, but I feel like a UFC fighter that has the tools but doesn’t know how to finish fights. Josh seems to be a fairly deadly finisher, and that was about as one-sided of a heads-up match as you’ll get. It had some shades of Fedor vs. Sylvia, really. Heh.

Anyway, I profited almost as much with this as I did in my 90-minute session at .10/.20 last night, so it’s not all bad. Until next time!