Did I deserve better? (to steal a quote from Phil Hellmuth)

I had Eddie's freeroll last night, and all in all it was alot of fun with some good, albeit interesting, poker action. I'm looking forward to season 3.

Eddie took an idea of mine for the final table and he decided to have everyone have descending chip counts from 1st ranked to the 11th seat (yes we played 11 handed). I moved up from 7th to 4th in recent weeks, so I started with 32,000 in chips. 1st started with 50K, and 11th had 7500. I thought it put an interesting feel to the game, and with the blinds starting at 100/200, the top people got to play with deep stacks for the first time in a while. They held a satellite earlier in the night with all the money going towards the prize pool. Final pot = $1050. Top 5 pay out.

Somewhere in the first 4 hands, I picked up KK in middle position. There was a raise UTG by the satellite winner to 600, and a caller 2 seats over. I made it 2400 to go, and it folded to the raiser who called as well as the original caller. I like this raise alot because if the flop comes with no Ace, which is what I put the raiser on, he would have to call if he hit the flop because he has 5K left or so, and there's 7500 in the pot. Flop comes Q 10 7 rainbow. Action is check, and the middle player bets 2000 into me. I decide to raise to 4000 and the original raiser goes all in for 5100 which doesn't open the raising. We both call, and check down the turn and river, and I say "just kings". I never saw what Anthony, the middle player, had. The original raiser had AQ, and I took down the pot and eliminated a player early on.

In fact, the first 4 players gone were the 11th, 10th, 9th and 8th in a row. Anthony built up a huge chip lead (pushing 100K) early on and was seated 2 to my right. He put alot of pressure on me when he had the button or was in the cutoff. At the first break i had 55K in chips for 2nd place so far, and with blinds going up to 800/1600, some people were going to have to make moves, and I'd have to be careful where to gamble. If there was one crazy thing about the game, it was that most people were scared to play postflop, so they would go all in for like 20x the BB preflop, and usually have like A 10 or something, but get no callers. I was waiting for a hand that I could pounce on.

Tim, who finished first overall, and started with the most chips had a healthy stack and raised in middle position to 8K. I wake up with QQ in the small blind, and having about 32K left after taking a hit, I decide to go all in to make it look like a semi-weak hand like everyone else was showing. Now, Tim's a smart player and I could tell he thought I was up to no good, but he called the extra 2300 or so, and flipped over AJ. No Ace for him and I won a really nice pot. Tim was soon out after I crippled his stack. Down to 5 people now, we were all in the money, the next one out would get $50.

We played for well over an hour, and with the blinds at 1600/3200 and a 400 ante, I raised to 8000 UTG with 66. Anthony, who granted had my number all night, called in the SB, and we took a rainbow flop of 6 9 Q. He immediatly bet 10K into me, and finally the situation I had been dreaming of all night came about. There was 18K plus the 10K that he bet, and I had 32K left. Just for Tieds, I did my best acting job, and said that I didn't have enough to fold, and went all in. He thought about it for a while, but I guess he felt since he hit, he'd have to call if I was bluffing. He flipped over K 9 for middle pair, and actually hit a K on the river, but it didn't matter. I had taken a nice chunk from the chip leader who was now down to 83K and I had upwards of 72K or so.

I was waiting for one of the short stack to die, but she wouldn't, she would keep surviving her all-ins, then ante her chips to death, then survive again. Everyone seemed to be playing for the money, and being very timid. I felt like Negreanu in Paris last year, NO ONE would go broke, so I volunteered myself....

I'll be damned if I don't remember this hand for the rest of my life. I'm in the SB and pick up AA. One player there had been all-in for a ton of chips preflop many times. He raised under the gun to the minimum of 6400. I decided to just smooth call (we'll discuss this play later, and Ditty/Tieds/Will, feel free to leave comments on what you think I should have done). Flop comes As10h8c. I check and he goes all in!!! I call before he can push his chips, and he flips over Jd6d. Turn brings a Qc, and I joke with Eddie that if he flips over a 9 or a K, I'll punch him. The river brings the 9s, and I lose 38,000 chips due to a perfect runner runner. I had him covered but with blinds at 2k/4k with a 500 ante, I had to make a move soon. I picked up A 10 on the button and went all in and the guy who took my chips before called my with AJ! Oh well, it was not meant to be, and I finished in 5th for a winning of $50.

After the game, I kept thinking about that hand. Obviously, if I bet the flop I win, but I really wanted the big score there, and to also send a message to the other players that I can trap them easily too. I was an 80% favorite to win that hand preflop and an 85% favorite on the flop. I think I'll get my money in there the same way every time.

After my exit, I gave Eddie $5 that he's collecting from people for the purchase of a table for the next season. I look forward to it.

Some ramblings, and a much needed break

I have decided to take a break from playing cards for a week or so. After tonight's freeroll at Eddie's, which I'm trying to get excited about, but lacking enthusiasm, I will not play until next week in St. Louis. Honestly, the thought just isn't that exciting anymore. This all stems from a beating I took at the 5/10 game the other night. I was pissed about losing my buy in, and I've just been in a funk ever since. Also, I haven't been feeling well lately, just very run down, but I know why. A good break from the game will hopefully invigorate me, and I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing 5 days in St. Louis. Oops, then I have Hall's freeroll the Tuesday after that.

So anyway, shopping in the mall I came across the conclusion that FYE and Saturday Matinee are in fact the same goddamn store. FYE focuses more on music, but carries movies, while the latter just carries movies. The prices there are absurdly expensive compared to Best Buy and even Amazon sometimes, but it apprears that people don't know any better and are price fixed into spending more money, regardless of which in-mall store they choose. I guess they figure, kids are going to hang out in malls anyway, so they'll pay whatever prices we tell them too. You don't see kids congregating at Best Buy to shoot the shit.

Well, for the 6 people that actually read this, have a happy holiday and the best of luck to everyone in the new year. I will post after Eddie's game tonight, but after that I probably won't have anything until '05. Rock, rock on!

Calling me down with 10 high, and destroyed by quads.

Phil invited me to a local 5/10 limit game near his house in Lindenhurst, so having no SPT this week at Ditty's I took him up on his offer. He assured me the game was easy, but no way did I expect what happended. We arrived and I sat down in the 2 seat, and they have a nice rule where as long as you come in behind the button, you don't have to post. I got garbage for a while and never even limped but I studied the players for a while to see who plays too many hands, who keeps winning, and more importantly, what they're showing down.

I sat patiently, and my first big pot was when I had QQ, and made it $10 to go. 5 callers and the board had all undercards by the river, and I won a $180 or so pot. The weird thing is that only one player called my river bet, and I shit you not, he had 10 high.....no pair.....just 10 high...The dealer told me I won a kill pot and now I had to throw $10 bux in forced, and it was essentially a $10/$20 game. Phil raised UTG to 20 and I folded my J 6, but oh boy, I could've spent that one bet when the flop came J 6 6. Phil ended up spiking a Q on the river and he took it down with AQ but still, I question whether or not I made the right play in such a loose game for 1 bet. Anyway....

I had doubled up my $200 buy in to $430 or so and I AA in middle position. Of course, there was a raise before me so I 3 bet it making $15 to go. 4 callers see the flop of 6 7 8 with 2 spades. Locke, a tight player (but I didn't know that at the time!!!!) in 1st position bets out, and I raise. 3 callers and Locke see a turn of a Kh. Locke checks, I bet 2 callers. Last card comes a 6d, Locke bets, I raise, and he pops me again! I have to call, and he flips over 66 for quads. What a friggin hand and I had my blinders on the whole time...didn't even pay attention to what was going on. I learned not to deal with him anymore and focus on the other players.

I turned trip Q's another hand with QK and got sucked out when an 8 hit the river and I had to pay off 2 bets to a guy with Q8. At one point I was down to $60, but I fought back to $160 and decided to cut my losses. Phil also bought Super System 2 off some guy there for $100, but he didn't care cause it wasn't his money from being up $500. Phil is a very good limit player, and I respect his game alot. We've talked about hands many times as we feel that we complement each other's game well, as he thinks I'm a better no limit player. A fun game with profitable players, including the bookie in the 4 seat who bought in for $100 10 times, and had no profit. The game is on Mondays and Thursdays, and since I have SPT on Thursdays, I think I know where I'll be on some mondays. Till next time!

Poker--->Free Pizza--->Poker

Eddie's game on Wednesday night started with 27 players, and everyone was vying up for the freeroll which takes place next week for over $1k. Players were fighting for position to crack the top 10 who have the chance at the freeroll. Already placed 5th, I didn't think I had much to worry about. Most other players higher ranked than me busted early for some reason, and I picked up a good stack in the early beginnings, up to around 5K from our 2300 chip start. My table was super tight, so I stole as often as I could. There was a real quiet guy to my right who raised in the cutoff +1 and I called with 6h9h, everyone else folded. The flop came 8h7d2s. He bet out half the pot, I raised it to double the bet and he called. Turn came a Jh. He bet into me this time, I thought, and had seen him check raise the nuts before so I figured he didn't have it now. I called. River was a 5c. He bet a nice chunk of his stack, about 1500, and I had a decision to make. Do I raise with my made hand? I looked at him and said, "I can't raise you, I only have the 2nd nuts", and called. He flipped over 4c8c for a busted straight draw and a busted 2 pair draw (like that Tieds?). After than hand, my table got broken up and I went downstairs to a new table. I was 2nd or 3rd in chips at this table, but I picked up 0 hands and got anted to death. 2 action players love a raise before every flop, so seeing some cheap hands is not an option here. I picked up KcQc in the BB. I had enough of these raises and needed to take control of the game back. I got one caller, and the flop came As9c4c. I pushed it all in on a semi-bluff, and got called by A10, which held up. This happened to be my last hand and I finished somewhere on the bubble of not making the final table, somehwere around 11th or 10th.

Whenever I get knocked out before 11pm, I take the 10 minute drive to Phil's pizzeria to pick up some free food before the 2nd game. We talk about stuff and I eat as much as I can before they close. When I got there, they were playing some kind of baseball game in the back with some large spatulas. Phil, his friend Danny, and I went back for the 2nd game.

13 people in this one and I ran really really well all the way. The same guy with the 4c8c and I got tangled again. I called his raise in position with Jc9s. Flop came 10 7 6 which gave me a straight draw and he bet and I called, putting him on overs and making a move on the turn if I thought he missed again. Turn was a 4 which he bet again, and i raised him this time, and I could tell he reluctanly called. He checked the river when a 4 paired the board. I bet 1000, my only way to win the hand, and he mucked KdJd face up in disgust and said, "you have me" to which I showed him the bluff, and stole a line from E-dog, "you folded, but you should have called." I like to advertise in this game as people will later look you up for big pots when you have a hand.

Well, onto the VERY next hand. I raise in middle position with KK. 4c8c calls in the SB. Flop comes 10 4 2 rainbow. 4c8c goes all in! I quickly call and he flips over Ac4s. No improvements and I'm glad that I showed him the previous hand and put him on tilt. We then combine to one table and in the 3rd hand, Tommy and I get into a big big hand.

First off, let me tell you a little about Tommy. He just seems to have a bad attitude about everything. He's really irritable and the smallest things piss him off, plus he thinks he's Jesus of the felt. Oh, and he thinks I'm gay. That or he likes to call me "fag" as a friend. I don't know, I could be reading it wrong. Well, this sounds like bragging, but I've had Tommy's number for about a year now, and he could never really beat me at Phil's house. Until last week, he beat me 2x in a tournament in one week, and I've never seen him happier. So he's seated directly to the left of me and the following hand comes up.

75/150, I have the button and it folds to me, and I raise to 475 with A6 offsuit. Tommy looks and quickly calls in the SB and the BB folds. Flop comes J 6 6. Tommy bets 500, and I think how I can possibly get more out of him. I figure calling is best here, maybe he'll hit 2 pair on the next card. Turn comes a 4, and he bets out 1000. I have 5200 left and wonder if he'll call it all. I make a minimum raise to 2000 and he quickly goes all in, which I call. He flips over QJ and has an expression like "I gotcha", but I show him my hand and he's disgusted. I double up leaving him with 1K to my 12000 or so.

This sounds terrible, but sometimes I play personal poker against him because I know he dislikes me so much. I honestly didnt' play another hand for 2 levels because i didnt' want to risk my tournament, and take the chance, let other people gamble. Eventually I took Eddie out in 3rd when I decided to coin flip him with my deuce deuce against his AdJd, and won. I then went heads up and the girl who I was playing and I had a 1K chip lead. We should have chopped, but she had done the "I'm so tired right now, I just want to go to sleep" routine for 90 minutes that I figured I could out play her. When she raised it to 3K with blinds of 500/1000, I found A5 and decided I had the best hand. I moved all in for 17K. She called with A7.....wow how wrong you were Gregg. Board came AKK, I prayed for the board to pair. It didn't and I was left with 1K in chips. I went all in blind the next hand and doubled up when I flipped over QQ! I went all in again with K high, she called with 10 high to try and end it, flopped a 10, and I turned a K to double up again! Next hand I had KJ and went all in again, and she had A 7 and called again, and this time, Greggers got knocked out and came in 2nd for $80 and a guaranteed spot in the $1K+ freeroll next week. I need to get my game on for this one, as this would be good Xmas spending money. Right Karen???

Next up when I get the chance, my 5/10 game last night. Later

Lots to write about

So, I haven't posted in a week, and there's been 3 sessions to talk about. First off, Hall's game on Tuesday.

Tuesday being a very special night and all, my birthday, since Karen isn't around, what better way than to play cards all night? So, I go to the first tournament of the night, and this is the last one to accumulate points for the freeroll which will take place in a couple weeks. I get cold decked the whole time, and miss all of my flops with good starting hands. I finally get all my chips in with AK and get called by AK and 88. An 8 on the turn sends the birthday boy home to watch "The Passion of the Jew" and other religion based South Park episodes. I get a call during the last episode from Phil to let me know there's a 10/20 game in Lindenhurst. I say it's too much for me, and I'll see him tomorrow at Eddie's. Back to Hall's I go for a 2nd shot at the tournament.

I run pretty smoothly and finish up chopping heads up against Big Daddy again. Someone gets the idea that it's time for a cash game, and it being 2AM, I'm not going home, so I oblige. 5 handed, everyone buys in for like 10 bux (I buy in for $16 to get rid of my singles) and we play .25/.50 NL. I call a preflop raise in the small blind with AA and the flop comes K high. I check call, then check raise the turn, which sets him all in. Raiser has AK, and I take the pot. Eventually players were buying chips from me, and I soon had $60 underneath my $35 or so in chips.

UTG I raise with 88. (Typical pre-flop raises were to around 1.25, 1.50) 3 callers and the flop comes 8s6s3d. I bet 3.00 and get raised to 6 by Maltese. Honestly, this is the situation I have been waiting for all night. Getting raised with top set and nut hand right now is a dream come true. Now, in his defense I did get caught playing with garbage a few times that night, but that's why this play worked so well. So, it's $3 back to me, and I reraise, and take a $10 bill out from under my stack and make it $13. Perhaps this was a poor raise as he doesn't usually push a draw so hard. I found out later that 2 people in the hand had made 2 pair on that flop. Wow, if the board had paired, it would only have been a better birthday.

One other hand. I got 3d6d the BB and the flop came Kd4s5h. I was into betting my draws in the cash game as it was very profitable. Pushing my pot equity edge right ditty? Turn brought the 10d giving me 9 extra outs and Maltese bet strongly, but way not enough for me to fold. 2h on the river for another nice pot. My $16 buy in found it's way up to a $115 cash out. Combined with the 2nd tournmaent chop it put me ahead $115 for the night. Only at Hall's.

Why you shouldn't call raises with KQ

Eddie's Wednesday night game, and I'm feeling confident with how I've been playing there the past few weeks. Lots of final tables, and I feel like I know everyones tendencies there, well, almost everyone. More on that later. *side note-I had a weird feeling going into the game that I didn't want to make an embarrassing play and lose on the first hand or something. I want to get into that freeroll at the end and ranked 7th out of 65 or so, I wanted to advance my spot*

We started with a whopping 33 players on 4 tables. I feel comfortable with the large fields at the game because I've won the previous biggest turnout, 32 players. One table that we usually use downstairs is having the floor redone, so that left with us 3 indoor tables, and yup, one table of people who played outside in the cold. There was only one person at my (inside) table who I had never met or played with before, and boy did we tangle from the get-go.

I'm high-carded the button, and find 9-9. At 25-50 UTG (new guy)limps, middle player limps, I raise to 200. Both blinds and UTG call. I verbally declare to the guy to the right of me that "I hope I hit my set." Wish granted! with a flop of K 9 2, but the thought of my "embarassing finish" loomed in my head. The action is checked to the UTG and he bets out 300. I know now he has top pair, but how much more will he call? Action folds to me, and I raise to 700. He just calls and now as long as a K doesn't come he's drawing dead. Turn comes a 4 with no draws. He checks and I go all in for my last 1400. Looking back, this was a huge bet, but the pot was huge too, around 2000. He asked me how much more it was, and I reminded him that this was the first hand, so our chips were equal. I was hoping he would think I was bluffing and would call. He did, and turned over AK. A J completed the board, and I doubled up and elimnated a player. Play is fairly loose in this game, as we regularly clear half the field out within the first hour. As long as you can survive that hump with some chips, I've found you can have great success.

A player was eliminated in the 2nd hand as well, and the chips went to a player who is looooose aggressive and will play any 2 cards if he has chips, and somehow hit 2 pair all the time. He was directly to my left, so I didn't like this too much. I was able to move my stack up to 6K without showing down a hand for the first 30 min or so. Blinds 50-100 I'm dealt 88 in the SB. Action goes around with 3 limpers and the button calls. I raise to 375 and just the button calls. I know he only called because of the position, I don't know, something about his reluctance and frustation to just see a flop. Flop came Q 9 6 with 2 clubs. I made about a half pot size bet and he calls. Turn comes another 9, and I check, and he fingers his chips, thinks about betting and checks. Now I'm feel like he has trip 9's, but wants to trap me. Thank god he checked, because the river came with the 8 of clubs. Ta DA! I think about it for a second then push all in, which is more than him. He calls with K 9 and no clubs! Mind boggling...but now I have a huge advantage on the table with about 9K.

A few hands later, I'm dealt 26H in the small blind. Action comes around and a fairly straightfoward player who likes to bluff in the button calls, blinds check and we see a cheap flop. Flop comes A 3 4 with 1heart. Checks around and the turn comes a 9 of hearts. I bet out 200 and the button calls, with what I feel is Ace rag. River is a 5, and I check it to him, and he bets out 600. I feel that maybe he'll call the rest of his chips, so I push it in with the 2nd nuts. He calls with what I think was A 4 for 2 pair. Another trap attempt gone wrong at my benefit.

I run well till we make a final table. I try to look at the other table next to us and see who's sitting well and who I'll need to look out for. When we get to the final table, I have about 20K for 1/3 of the chips in play. I start off in the cutoff, don't play the first 4 hands, and a player is eliminated in EVERY hand. First hand Anthony, who came to the final table with 2200 or so triples up when his KK meets AK and A9. I tell him that I folded 99 which is true, and now small stack is right in the middle of it. He then elimnated another player and get more chips. Pretty soon, without even playing a hand, we're 6 handed and I have lost the chip lead.

Blinds 300-600 with a 50 ante. Middle position I get KQ (see the title!!) of clubs and there is a raise from a tight normal player to my right. He only ever raises the minimum, one time he raised more, and had AA. So I hope I have 2 live cards, and call the 1200. Sof, who I've played with once, but didn't know his tendencies, bumps it to 2400, adn the action folds around to the raiser. We both call, even though I HATE my hand right now, but I figure, if I miss, I can get out, and if I hit, I'll have a monster. To tell you the truth, the flop of Q high with no clubs was not my first choice, but I'll take it. Raiser bets out 1K, I call, and Sof pushes all in for another 1700 more. Raiser quickly calls, and now I hate my hand even more. STUPIDLY, someone talk some sense into me, I call. Turn comes a blank and he bets again which I call. On the river the raiser goes all, so now I think he might have a worse Q to shut me off the hand. It races through my head also that we're tied and he wants the side pot. I decide that I'll call, and yup, we were tied. Then Sof flips over AQ and I know I made a 5000 chip mistake. Oh well, last time I'll make that mistake against Sof.

Few hands later I call Danny's all in with QQ from the BB. He says "you got me, I wanted the blinds" and flips over J7 of hearts. But the board read K 8 6....turn 9....river 10...Lost another 5K right there. I was able to get Randy out when I called his all in steal of K 3 with A Q. Flop came 6 3 9. And I asked him how much he had left, and the turn came an A to take the pot! My JJ got busted at the end by K rag and I ended up finishing in 4th place for $75. Just as important, everyone else left in the game was lower than me on the stat sheet.

The 2nd game I went card dead forever and I made it somehow to the final table with 775 and the blinds at 100-200. I ended up doubling through a few times and finished 4th again, but with a field of 19, only top 3 paid out.

Ditty's game last night was Pot Limit Omaha, admittedly NOT my best game. I was 2nd out of the tournament in an 11 person game, very disappointing, but I came in 2nd in a NL hold'em game to Ditty at the end of the night when my 44, got CRUSHED by Ditty's AQ when 4 clubs hit the board and his Q gave him the flush. I broke even last night, buy my spirit was broken. (Like that one?)

Wed-Thurs Poker Time 10 hours. +$35 Sleep: not enough

American Idiot for Best Album

I'm happy to see Green Day get some Grammy nominations. Their new record reminds me of why I like listening to music, and I haven't listened to an album so much since The Marshall Mathers LP and Rift. I hope they win their fair share of awards and beat out Kanye West who in my opinion is overhyped.

In TV news, Lost just keeps getting better and better. Besides 24 and Alias, this is one of my favorite shows, as it just keeps you wanting more each week, giving you more and more pieces of the puzzle. But it IS JJ Abrahms after all, so we'll learn nothing of substance for at leat 10 years.

Post upcoming for Wednesday night game.

Put your hands in the air, if you think you're a playa....Poppa

Long time, no see, I know. I finally got motivated to start this up again after having some good sessions lately, and reading Daniel Negraneau's blog over at www.fullcontactpoker.com. It would be a shame for him to lose the POY this close to the end. But what a story it would be if Juanda came back. Judging from Daniel's posts, he seems to have lost interest in the big picture, which could be his undoing.

Anyway...

Tuesday night game at Hall's, which is funny cause it's not even his house, but he runs the game. The game had 20 players and I was at a pretty tough starting table with loose aggressive players. Dycka had a better table and would've traded in a hearbeat. For some reason I always have Greg Maltese to my left, and he always always always calls me down with bottom pair if I'm making a move, and it's usually good. I made a vow to not let this happen at this particular game. I was sick of playing scared against certain people. I didn't have to worry long as he busted out of the tournament while we were still at 3 tables. Erod wanted to play Worlds of Warcraft and didn't last long either. I went a little card dead for about 30 min, and was blinded away, and didn't even make the final table.

And then the fun began.

Some of the elminated players decided to have a NL cash game with .25/.50 blinds. High stakes, I know, but getting people to buy in for 10-15 bux at this game is like pulling teeth. We started 5 handed, and I only had 8 dollars to play with. I lost it fairly quickly, and borrowed 10 from Hall.

After winning some pots, I found KK in the BB. The raise was usually to about 1.50 or so pre-flop, so with 3 limpers, I raised it up to 2, middle position and the button called. The flop came 10 high, and i put about 4 bux in my hand, and decided to make it look like a bluff, so I checked with the other hand. I got someone to bite with a 2.50 bet or so, and Hall called, so he could have anything. I popped it to 6.50, not leaving me with much but I knew I was getting it all in anyway. Big Daddy (Eric) called and Hall folded, and a blank hit the turn so I went all in for 6 more. Long story short, I won this hand and couldn't really miss a pot. Players would sit down and play for about 10 minutes and I would get their chips.

One hand I should not have even won. 4 players in an unraised pot. After action on the flop and turn, I miss my straight on the river, and Ralph bets out in 1st position. Only other person besides me mucks, and Ralph doesn't know I'm in the hand and says something about how he had a straight, and mucks face down. I announce that I'm still in the hand, but we can't discern his cards from all the ones in the muck. The fair decision is that I win the pot if the cards hit the muck. I guess action out of turn is still action.

5 handed, I got QQ and Maltese was SB, I was BB. Finally on my right. He raises, I smooth call, hoping for all undercards on the flop. Flop comes J high, and bets, I raise, and he thinks for a second and pushes all in. I call quickly, and he has QJ. He had about 15 or so, but didn't realize I had over 25. He muttered something about not knowing I had that much when he bet.

Eventually it was heads up with Hall and I, but we decided to finish it after we played our 2nd tournament of the night.

12 person tourney, and the cards kept falling for me. No notable hands that I really remember well, but I ended up chopping up 1st and 2nd with Big Daddy. Then it was back to the cash game with Hall to finish up business. At this point Hall was in for about $35 , and I had about $40 in front of me, and even gave him back his 10. I had him by 2-1 here. After a few hands, Hall succesfully swayed people to play in the game. But eventually it was he and I heads up again, and I had $85. He threw me a $20 when he busted out, and I gave him chips and off we went again.

I lost some of my chips and almost cashed out at $50 when the following hand came up. I'm dealt KJo and I have the button. I raise to 2, and Hall just calls. I decide for some reason that I'm making a move on this hand regardless of how I hit it. Flop comes 2 9 3 with the 3 being a diamond. (This is important for later) Hall bets $4 very quickly, and I think and raise to $8, he re-raises to $12, and now I'm in a pickle. He hasn't been this agressive all day, and with Hall he's usually very aggressive when he protects his crappy hands, or when he has a monster. So now I think A9 or A 3. or 44?

I keep thinking...

I say what do you have? A 3? and his brow lifted with a maybe??? and a very honest face told me that yes he did have A3. I call knowing I can outplay his bottom pair. Qd comes on the turn and he fires out $5 immediatly, I call. Last card was the 7d and he checks so I think about it and go all in for $22 roughly on a bluff. I know he didn't have the flush cause the 3d was on the board. He thinks for a long time, and shows me the As, then flips it back over, and says "i fold". I show him the bluff because I know in about 10 minutes I can get the rest of the chips if I tilt him enough.

circa 10 min later, I get KJ again and this time Hall raises to 4, and I call. Flop comes Q 7 4. Hall fires out $4 again, and I just call. A J comes on the turn, and he bets out $5, I raise to $10, and he goes all. "Just Jacks" I say, and he curses while flipping over 99. No help on the river and I ended up taking every dollar in the pot. I look forward to the action next week. Post for Wednesay night's game at Eddie's soon to follow.

Playing time: 8 hours. +$140 Sleep: 4.5 hours

I need a haircut...

Here the Chort, have a trohpy....

Hey all, I've been meaning to update this so here goes:

Real busy these past few weeks, not much time for online poker, but the bankroll keeps going into positive digits, which is always good.

Live games I've played a few of, and as of late, things seem to be turning around for me. This past week alone, I made $152 from two tournaments that I spent $30 to play total.

I've been real happy with my play this past week. Past 3 weeks I was playing awful and didn't know what the hole was to my game. I think I've discovered what it is.....although I can't divulge that information on my site.

Wednesday night was the usual game at Casa de Guillame and it was a rebuypaloozafest. 20 entries, 21 rebuys, total prize pool of $410. Prolly not alot to some other people out there, but for our game, that's alot of money. I rebought right away (Ditty and I were the only two to use this strategy) so we started with 8K in chips. Things went well, right from the getgo, and I never had to worry about position at all.

A couple of frightening moments when some calling stations got ENORMOUS chip leads, but they gave them back very quickly to everyone, so all was well in the world. I came in 2nd to Artem that night, heads up I had 58K in chips, and he had over 120K. First hand heads up we both had the same 2 pair....but he had a higher kicker, so it was over pretty quickly at the end.

The next night there was an impromptu game at Hall's store. Again, things seemed to go my way, and I played my cards almost perfectly. I made a semi-bluff bet on the turn in 1st position against 3 people who I knew would call anything I bet. Then on the river they missed their flush I could tell, so I bet out again with A High. Basically the first one in that pot wins it. I ended up tying for 1st in that game (12 people) and we chopped the pot.

Overall, I'm happier about the way I've been playing lately. I went through the coldest spell I've ever gone through, so it's great to be making final tables and being in the money.

Last night was Will's going away party. Much drinking, fun and carousing was involved and a good time was seemed to be had by all. From people throwing up in the porch, and then mysteriously disappearing, to Ditty's random comments about only playing 15/30 Limit ring games, and Donnie bouncing around in his sleeping bag, it was honestly a great night.

In all seriousness, I'm going to miss my friend a great deal. While I wish him the best of success, it will be weird to not have one of my oldest friends right around the corner anymore. I love ya buddy, all the best.

So I spent the better part of 13 hours at Foxwoods yesterday. Shockingly, the tables weren't nearly as crowded as I expected them to be. Still packed, yes, but no 4 hour wait for a table.

I put my name on a 2/4 list to start. When I sat down, I got some ribbing for not posting right away, instead I opted to wait for my BB. They were like "c'mon man, it's 2 friggin dollars...besides, they call this 'no fold 'em hold 'em." So my first hand as the BB is QQ, and I raise a limped pot. I get 3 or 4 callers, I forget. Flop comes 10 2 3 rainbow. I'm first, so I bet out, and I get 2 callers. Turn is a blank, I fire out 4, 2 callers. River is a 4, I bet, seat 1 raises, I call, he has a straight. Stayed in on a gutbuster the whole time. Hey, that's the name of the game right, no fold em? Anyway, I took a little bit of a pounding at this table, so this guy Jared I met, and I get transfers to a 4/8 table.

Having never played anything else but 2/4, my instincts told me that this game would be better i.e. tighter. Hmmm, kinda right, but still a pretty loose game. I don't know why, but I was intimidated at first of playing higher stakes. I got over it.

My table had your usual charachters. The college kid with sunglasses, the foreign guy (usually eastern european), the middle aged guy with a big stack of chips, but it's because he bought in for that amount, not won them, and the quiet guy who never says a word and just takes your money.

Well, once I sat down, the cards got so cold, you'd get frostbite. I couldn't hit a card on the board, even my mucked hands which were about 93%. I counted a few hands in when I realized it, and i got up to 43 hands without touching a board card, till I hit trip 3's, which I had folded. The next hand I hit 2 pair which boated on the river, but alas again, I had folded preflop. So, I said that whatever 2 cards I get next, I'm going to play. I got 7 9 of hearts. I hit my straight on the turn, and raked in a 50 dollar or so pot. I went on a bit of a rush here for about 3 hands, then things got cold again.

It was then that I heard them announcing an Omaha 8/b game that changed to Hi Lo Stud every 1/2 hour. Jared and I signed up for it and switched tables. Quickly, the game was good, Jared got 3/4 of a pot one time when a guy was quartered on the low. I scooped a pot with the wheel one time. I had pocket Aces in the Stud portion and i had another pair showing, and they got cracked by a straight. Only time I saw AA all day.

After having enough of this I went back to a 4/8 table and sat down. Different table and right to the right of me was this Asian girl who had never played in a casino before. Some guy was explaining the betting structures to her cause she had played home games before, but not like this. Well, she was your basic, I bet really strongly, and raise really strongly when I have the best hand, but people didn't realize this, and her 100 dollar buy in tripled in 4 hands. She had 4 pocket pairs that tripped up on the flop, J's, 7's, and 4's. Then she had pocket 9's, and she quadded on the flop, and people had straights and flushes and everything you could possibly want in that situation. I was so jealous of all those pots she raked in. 2 kids at the table, I really respected. Tight, aggressive players who only really played when they had premium starting hands, and their chip stacks showed it. I too, was up around 200 bux when the following hand occured:

I had J 8 o in the BB, and no raises. Flop comes J 8 2. I bet out, there's a raise, a call, and I call. Turn comes a 4, I bet again, another raise (now to 16) another call, and I call. River comes a 10, I bet, call, now the 3rd guy raises! I call and flips over 9 Q offsuit, another gutbuster straight draw that he paid almost 30 bux for a 4 outer. The original raiser had AJ, which is what I had figured on. What really annoyed me is that my stack is now depleted a bunch. I spent about 60 bux or so on that hand, but "that's poker".

Well, that annoyed me, so let me continue on to 2 more hands. First off, I get 77 and I raise, and I get no callers except for the BB, which is that Asian girl. She brings her cards up to her face, kinda giggles and says, "I NEED to see a flop". Flop comes J 3 2. She can't stop laughing, bets first, I'm forced to muck, and she flips over 33.

My last hand was A 3 in middle position. Flop comes 2 4 5 rainbow. Golden. I bet, there's a raise, 2 calls and me. Turn comes a goddamn 3, the worst card I could possibly see. 6 high straight sends me back home.

I noticed things that I have to change about my ring game playing. I'm used to too many tournaments and I was rusty in the beggining of my 12 hour stretch yesterday. Believe it or not, it's kind of a different game, and I know what I need to do to make myself a better player. No more 2/4 though, I think 4/8's a better game, but that's just me.

Ok, off to more SNG's on Party Poker. I have 3 Firsts in 2 days. Till next time....

-Gregg-

Game in Selden last night...

Well, where do I start? I've been running into some unlucky cards lately, really bad beats, and fish who outdraw till the end of time. Usual Tuesday crowd last night, NL Hold 'Em but with a 20 person field, a little bigger than usual. I noticed some new faces, including a much older chap and some kids who couldn't have been older than 17. It smelled like Long John Silvers in there.

We had 3 tables (7,7,6) and I was seated at the small table with the older fellow, 2 EXTREMEMLY tight players, Erod (who has tightned up considerably lately) and a loose raising person. *side note-this last person was the person who in a previous game was raising with garbage to get out of the game because he was tired. He effectively dumped his chips to whoever called him, he had 10 7 offsuit so pretty much anybody beat him*

I couldn't hit a face card, and most of my cards were 6 2, 9 7, 10 3, etc. Even though the blinds were 5/10 and we started with 1000 in chips, I folded folded folded, only to find I hit monster flops 96% of the times I bailed. So, I played a couple hands with crap, hit 2 pair, and would get sucked out on river to a gutbuster straight. I chilled out again for a while. The older player hadn't really played hold 'em before and I instructed him when it was first time to deal. When I told him to burn one and turn one, he thought that each player got another card, or was exchanging one like 5 card draw or something. I thought he would be easy money.

Cut to Erod, raising UTG with pocket 10's, and everyone folding but the elder. Flop comes A 9 7, Erod bets, guy calls. Check the turn, check the river, old guy flips up pocket Q's and asks "Is this good?" hmmmm...

I found something in here to be a huge hole in the game in Selden. Well first off, no one understands the idea of a sizable raise. If the blinds are 5/10, why would you raise to 250 preflop and expect callers? That's a quarter of your stack just to see a flop, and the raiser picks up 15 to 25 in blinds. The huge hole, is with all the betting preflop and on the flop, the turn is almost ALWAYS checked, and the person who was ahead could have won the pot right there but instead gets rivered or outplayed when a flush or something hits.

Well, after 2 levels at this game, we switch tables. I lost 140 in chips at the first table and went in with 860 against a fish who had a HUGE chip lead, prolly around 3K. Luckily he was directly to my right, and was one of the more respectable players in the game, ironically. He actually wasn't a fish at all.

The most memorable hand of the whole tournament was at this table. Everyone folded to me and the BB, an extrememly tight player who check raises everything and puts you all in on every river if he's in. Knowing this, i called in the SB with KJ offsuit. BB checked and the flop comes A K 10. I bet 100 and he string bets all in. He puts the chip in reaches back and says "eh, I'm all in". I immediately looked at the leader of the game and said, "I'm pretty sure that's a string" and that's when all hell broke loose. Apparently, some other guy had been talking trash with the stringer, and it escalated into expletive laden outbursts. The stringer then insulted a woman there who turned out to be the guy's wife and poker turned almost turned into a fistfight.

Anyway, back to the hand. The string was ruled just a call, and thinking I was behind, I did my ol' "check before the card hits" check. The turn was a Q, and the board being a rainbow, it gave me the stone cold nuts. He looked at it pensively forever, and fingered his chips. I thought, if he had been willing to put me all in on the flop, why not do it now? After what seemed like a week, he checked and the worst possible card came on the river, a J. Now the board had a straight, and we split. I couldn't have been more pissed off if I tried, but it was my fault for checking blindly. He later told me he had a 10 on the flop.

With the blinds going up to 50/100, I had no choice but to sit back go all in and pray for a double up. I eventually went all in with K 10 in the big blind for about 400. The small blind called with QJ, and I was quite excited when the flop came 4 J K. Turn however was another J, and the river paired the 4, giving her a full house and me a seat on the couch. Overall, I was dissappointed with my play, but my lack of any decent starting hands had something to say about that too.

Erod ended up taking home the tournament, and I was quite impressed with some laydowns he made. Not typical Erod style at all, I give him kudos.

In other news, I came in 2nd in a $10 SNG before the Selden game, and was pleased with my ability to finish in the money, being a serious short stack 4 handed. I had pocket 8's and pushed all in and got called by QQ. Flop came 9 6 7, blank turn, and a magical 10 on the river, and I was right back in it. I made him go all in on his next blinds and outplayed the 3rd place player to finish 2nd. Till next time, Monteith, out!

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