Pencils Down!
Ok so now it's answers time. Just to note that these answers may not be the best ones at the time, but they're what I did. Ok, here we go!
1. Ok everyone go this one right. Sit next to the woman of course. I hate to use stereotypes in life, but when faced with a decision like this, it's always good to let crazy people go before you. And also, the women that I've played with historically, are never very good, and having people like that to your right can be a huge advantage, as money usually travels clockwise around the table.
2. So on the board of T63TK, holding A6 after my opponent had check called me on the first 2 streets, he then led out to me on the river. Well, let's think about this one for a second. People gave very good answers, but no one gave the answer to what I actually did...
Ok, if he had a T, I would have definitly found about it on the turn. So if he had a 6 I had him out kicked. If he had a K it would have to be K 6, but what are the odds of that. He didn't reraise me before the flop so I can count out a hand like AK or any big pair. I know that he doesn't have a Ten, so I ask myself what can he have that would make him bet? He either has a K randomly or has a busted draw. I leaned towards the busted draw personally. Because he and I were friendly, I remember saying "that bet SCREAMS 'I can't win unless I bet!'" So I raised him and he mucked. I can only imagine him having a hand like 78, 79, 45, or 46.
3 a and b. I played the nuts kinda weak here. I agree with Pete that I should usually check raise the flop, etc, but I didn't. I check called the flop, and when the Q came on the turn, making me the 2nd nuts, I foolishly decided to check again. When the original bettor checked also, I felt my heart sank, but the older guy fires out a bet! I then raised to $24 since it was a kill pot. If he reraised me there, I'd get rid of the hand. But he just called, I then led out on the river, and he called with a Q6 for one pair. I got kind of lucky that he bet the turn, otherwise I lose $24 right there.
So there ya go, there's my answers...take them as you will.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
POKER TIME!!!
Ok guys, it's time for what this blog was originally intended, poker poker poker. Well, Karen left Thursday morning in Tucson, so Thursday afternoon I found the Desert Diamond casino, a short little 25 minute jaunt from our hotel. Honestly, I was not interested in playing great poker that day, I just wanted to get my feet wet and play some hands, and, at most as really possible, gamble.
That being said, I was probably the best player at my table, but boy did I not show it. I started playing tight, but thought that was boring and played every hand for 3 rotations, limped, called raises, everything, I just didn't care. It was a 3/6 full kill game (meaning some hands could be 6/12), and all things considered, I wasn't THAT big of a loser in the game, losing $156. The way I was playing, things probably should have been a lot worse.
But, losing money sucks! So I vowed the next time that I would play there, I'd play my "A" game. It didn't take me long to get back there, as Friday provided another opportunity. Now, this time unfortunatly we didn't have access to our vans as they were checked out for the day. So I called the casino shuttle, and they came to pick us up!
Now, if I knew then what I know now, I definitly would not have gone with this idea. But that's for the end of this particular story. So I get to the card room, play the same game, and wouldn't you know it, it's 4 of the same people that were there yesterday. Now, just because I played like an idiot doesn't mean that I didn't watch what others were doing! I was on a tight schedule of 1 hr and 45 min for that session and I evened everything up living a winner of $154. Ok, that's still -$2. Nothing really special happened this session it was just a matter of the best hands holding up. Things got a little crazy though the next session.
I skipped Saturday as it was Carrie's birthday and we went to a bar called Dirtbags, prolly the best name for a bar ever. It was nice though, oddly enough. Had a few drinks, went back to the hotel. Sunday we had 2 more shows, the 2nd one being a 6pm show, a time I don't think I've ever performed at, and loaded out my drums right after the show, as usual. I had to go back to the cardroom though as it would be the last live game I'd play for probably a month. I knew that I owned that game as I hoped some of the familiar faces were there that I knew.
I drove on down after the show and sure enough there were 2 people that I had played with. Let me set the scene, the game had a lot of money on the table. There were 2 seats open, they play 9 handed, and the seats were the 3 and the 9 seat. Let's go though seat selection shall we?
The 3 seat would mean that the "chipleader" and I hate using that term in a limit ring game, would be my big blind when I had the button. He was one of the players that I had played with in my previous sessions and EVERY time I'd seen him he had a mountain of chips that he then lost about 40% of. He wasn't a very tricky player, but he would flop 2 pair like crazy and people paid him off.
The other seat was to the left of a woman who had a mountain of chips! Prolly close to $380-$400. Which is alot of the game we were playing. I will say that I had to go with a kind of stereotype for me here. Also, the player to the right of that person was a foreign man who had about $45 and was very anxious about pots and kind of half standing half sitting on his chair like every pot was instrumental to him. Very neurotic player.
So this blog is in the form of a quiz. Not to say that I'm right, or smart or even good, but question 1) Where would you sit?
Question 2. You are in MP with A6. Folds to you. You raise as your image has been portrayed as tight aggressive. You get 2 callers in the blinds. SB is a very loose passive player, bets and check raises draws all day. BB is an older fellow who is tight passive. Flop comes T63 rainbow. They check to you, you bet, get 2 callers. Turn is a another T. Check to you again. You bet again, get 1 caller in the SB. River is a K. The SB now leads out! What do you do? What range of hands can he have? Should you call, fold or even raise?
Question 3. You have won 2 pots in a row and the game is now a kill pot. You then win another 2 pots on top of that for 4 in a row and people are really starting to fear you at the table it seems. You post $6 and happen to be in the BB anway, which is fortunate. You look down at the ol' Gus Hansen T8o. There was a limper UTG and the older tight passive player limped as well. You check. Flop comes 79J rainbow giving you the nut straight. A quick glimpse around the table reveals that the UTG player has started to load up on chips perhaps not realizing that he doesn't go first. You obviously check, he bets, and tight old guy calls. What do you do? How do you play the nuts in first position when people fear you?
Regardless of that first answer let's call that 3a). You're obviously not folding. Now a Q comes on the turn making KT the nuts. What do you do now? How do you extract maximum value? This is question 3b).
Post your comments, I'll be back in a couple days after hearing responses with my answers. They might not be right, but at least I'll tell you what I did. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Thanksgiving blog to follow this one!
Ok guys, it's time for what this blog was originally intended, poker poker poker. Well, Karen left Thursday morning in Tucson, so Thursday afternoon I found the Desert Diamond casino, a short little 25 minute jaunt from our hotel. Honestly, I was not interested in playing great poker that day, I just wanted to get my feet wet and play some hands, and, at most as really possible, gamble.
That being said, I was probably the best player at my table, but boy did I not show it. I started playing tight, but thought that was boring and played every hand for 3 rotations, limped, called raises, everything, I just didn't care. It was a 3/6 full kill game (meaning some hands could be 6/12), and all things considered, I wasn't THAT big of a loser in the game, losing $156. The way I was playing, things probably should have been a lot worse.
But, losing money sucks! So I vowed the next time that I would play there, I'd play my "A" game. It didn't take me long to get back there, as Friday provided another opportunity. Now, this time unfortunatly we didn't have access to our vans as they were checked out for the day. So I called the casino shuttle, and they came to pick us up!
Now, if I knew then what I know now, I definitly would not have gone with this idea. But that's for the end of this particular story. So I get to the card room, play the same game, and wouldn't you know it, it's 4 of the same people that were there yesterday. Now, just because I played like an idiot doesn't mean that I didn't watch what others were doing! I was on a tight schedule of 1 hr and 45 min for that session and I evened everything up living a winner of $154. Ok, that's still -$2. Nothing really special happened this session it was just a matter of the best hands holding up. Things got a little crazy though the next session.
I skipped Saturday as it was Carrie's birthday and we went to a bar called Dirtbags, prolly the best name for a bar ever. It was nice though, oddly enough. Had a few drinks, went back to the hotel. Sunday we had 2 more shows, the 2nd one being a 6pm show, a time I don't think I've ever performed at, and loaded out my drums right after the show, as usual. I had to go back to the cardroom though as it would be the last live game I'd play for probably a month. I knew that I owned that game as I hoped some of the familiar faces were there that I knew.
I drove on down after the show and sure enough there were 2 people that I had played with. Let me set the scene, the game had a lot of money on the table. There were 2 seats open, they play 9 handed, and the seats were the 3 and the 9 seat. Let's go though seat selection shall we?
The 3 seat would mean that the "chipleader" and I hate using that term in a limit ring game, would be my big blind when I had the button. He was one of the players that I had played with in my previous sessions and EVERY time I'd seen him he had a mountain of chips that he then lost about 40% of. He wasn't a very tricky player, but he would flop 2 pair like crazy and people paid him off.
The other seat was to the left of a woman who had a mountain of chips! Prolly close to $380-$400. Which is alot of the game we were playing. I will say that I had to go with a kind of stereotype for me here. Also, the player to the right of that person was a foreign man who had about $45 and was very anxious about pots and kind of half standing half sitting on his chair like every pot was instrumental to him. Very neurotic player.
So this blog is in the form of a quiz. Not to say that I'm right, or smart or even good, but question 1) Where would you sit?
Question 2. You are in MP with A6. Folds to you. You raise as your image has been portrayed as tight aggressive. You get 2 callers in the blinds. SB is a very loose passive player, bets and check raises draws all day. BB is an older fellow who is tight passive. Flop comes T63 rainbow. They check to you, you bet, get 2 callers. Turn is a another T. Check to you again. You bet again, get 1 caller in the SB. River is a K. The SB now leads out! What do you do? What range of hands can he have? Should you call, fold or even raise?
Question 3. You have won 2 pots in a row and the game is now a kill pot. You then win another 2 pots on top of that for 4 in a row and people are really starting to fear you at the table it seems. You post $6 and happen to be in the BB anway, which is fortunate. You look down at the ol' Gus Hansen T8o. There was a limper UTG and the older tight passive player limped as well. You check. Flop comes 79J rainbow giving you the nut straight. A quick glimpse around the table reveals that the UTG player has started to load up on chips perhaps not realizing that he doesn't go first. You obviously check, he bets, and tight old guy calls. What do you do? How do you play the nuts in first position when people fear you?
Regardless of that first answer let's call that 3a). You're obviously not folding. Now a Q comes on the turn making KT the nuts. What do you do now? How do you extract maximum value? This is question 3b).
Post your comments, I'll be back in a couple days after hearing responses with my answers. They might not be right, but at least I'll tell you what I did. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Thanksgiving blog to follow this one!
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Greetings from Tucson!
Now, I don't really like this picture of me, but considering that I haven't posted a picture of me since I left, I felt like I had to at some point. Besides, the really nice part of it is the sunset anyways...
It didn't come out nearly as good as the picture of Karen there:
So we flew into Tucson on Monday morning, after leaving Texas at 645am, flying to Dallas for a 3 hour layover, then off to Tucson. We got in at 12:15pm and Karen was also flying in from NY. Her flight landed right after mine and we got our rental car and headed up to the hotel. They gave us a mid-size car, and told us they had a Chevy HHR. Karen had never seen one, but I glimpsed one last month in Indiana and thought it looked pretty cool. Kinda cheap-futuristic-ish, but I liked it. Karen warmed up to the car over time as it handles really well.
Nothing really exciting happened on Monday, just did some laundry and got lost trying to find the mountain trail that would bring us to a good view of the sunset. Tuesday we went to the mall and did some damage. I guess it's an inherent feeling of living out of a suitcase looking at the same clothes over and over again. Oddly though, I only bought a couple shirts, a pair of jeans, a black fleece for when we play in cold pits, and a pair of black sneakers, as I only have one, and I wear them every day. "But Gregg", I can hear some of you asking..."where did you get that track jacket from the first picture?" The answer may shock you. Urban Outfitters had a mega sale starting on Wednesday and I got that jacket for $5!!! Yup yup, $5. (This is more of an inside joke as people on tour are sick of me talking about my $5 jacket.)
Tuesday night, Karen sat in the pit with me for act II and afterwards we went to a local bar people raved about called "Frog and Firkin". The kitchen closed like .23420390 seconds before we got there, so we had a beer and relaxed outside at one of the outdoor tables. On the other side of where we were, there was a free poker tournament going on. Apparently there is a Pub League out here and it travles from bar to bar. It had also started before we got there, and couldn't get a seat.
Wednesday we went back downtown to eat at Frog and Firkin. We met up with Jeff (trumpet player) and Steve (trombone player) for lunch. Afterwards we walked around the college downtown, went to Urban Outfitters and later went to the aforementioned mountains you see above you. Karen came to see the show that night, and although there were technical malfunctions that night, the show went off well and everyone seemed to have a great time.
Thursday morning we woke up and watched Lost and South Park from the night before that SOMEHOW magically appeared on my computer. Oh the internet, you do everything...It was then that Karen had to go to the airport to go back to NY. It was certainly a great visit and I can't wait to come home in a month!
Thursday night there was a cabaret by the perfomers in the show here at IBT, the gay bar here in town. It was a great time with everyone singing songs NOT from Oklahoma, thank god. The locals weren't really having it though, but that didn't ruin the night at all. Afterwards, Steve, Jeff, Andy (who plays Judd) and I went out to the straight bars. Stuff closed kinda early though so we only had till about 1:30 before heading home. A very fun night indeed.
I found the casino on Thursday too. I'll post soon about Thurs and Friday's sessions. I'll leave it in a new post so my family can weed through it as it will have poker jargon they won't understand/care about. Some very interesting play indeed, and in my opinion, the best poker that I personally have played in a while. Wow, this is a long post, it took all of Act II today!!
Now, I don't really like this picture of me, but considering that I haven't posted a picture of me since I left, I felt like I had to at some point. Besides, the really nice part of it is the sunset anyways...It didn't come out nearly as good as the picture of Karen there:
So we flew into Tucson on Monday morning, after leaving Texas at 645am, flying to Dallas for a 3 hour layover, then off to Tucson. We got in at 12:15pm and Karen was also flying in from NY. Her flight landed right after mine and we got our rental car and headed up to the hotel. They gave us a mid-size car, and told us they had a Chevy HHR. Karen had never seen one, but I glimpsed one last month in Indiana and thought it looked pretty cool. Kinda cheap-futuristic-ish, but I liked it. Karen warmed up to the car over time as it handles really well.
Nothing really exciting happened on Monday, just did some laundry and got lost trying to find the mountain trail that would bring us to a good view of the sunset. Tuesday we went to the mall and did some damage. I guess it's an inherent feeling of living out of a suitcase looking at the same clothes over and over again. Oddly though, I only bought a couple shirts, a pair of jeans, a black fleece for when we play in cold pits, and a pair of black sneakers, as I only have one, and I wear them every day. "But Gregg", I can hear some of you asking..."where did you get that track jacket from the first picture?" The answer may shock you. Urban Outfitters had a mega sale starting on Wednesday and I got that jacket for $5!!! Yup yup, $5. (This is more of an inside joke as people on tour are sick of me talking about my $5 jacket.)Tuesday night, Karen sat in the pit with me for act II and afterwards we went to a local bar people raved about called "Frog and Firkin". The kitchen closed like .23420390 seconds before we got there, so we had a beer and relaxed outside at one of the outdoor tables. On the other side of where we were, there was a free poker tournament going on. Apparently there is a Pub League out here and it travles from bar to bar. It had also started before we got there, and couldn't get a seat.
Wednesday we went back downtown to eat at Frog and Firkin. We met up with Jeff (trumpet player) and Steve (trombone player) for lunch. Afterwards we walked around the college downtown, went to Urban Outfitters and later went to the aforementioned mountains you see above you. Karen came to see the show that night, and although there were technical malfunctions that night, the show went off well and everyone seemed to have a great time.
Thursday morning we woke up and watched Lost and South Park from the night before that SOMEHOW magically appeared on my computer. Oh the internet, you do everything...It was then that Karen had to go to the airport to go back to NY. It was certainly a great visit and I can't wait to come home in a month!
Thursday night there was a cabaret by the perfomers in the show here at IBT, the gay bar here in town. It was a great time with everyone singing songs NOT from Oklahoma, thank god. The locals weren't really having it though, but that didn't ruin the night at all. Afterwards, Steve, Jeff, Andy (who plays Judd) and I went out to the straight bars. Stuff closed kinda early though so we only had till about 1:30 before heading home. A very fun night indeed.
I found the casino on Thursday too. I'll post soon about Thurs and Friday's sessions. I'll leave it in a new post so my family can weed through it as it will have poker jargon they won't understand/care about. Some very interesting play indeed, and in my opinion, the best poker that I personally have played in a while. Wow, this is a long post, it took all of Act II today!!
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Greetings from Galveston, TexasOk, so I'm not in this picture, but this is the hot tub from our hotel in beautiful Galveston, TX. Most of you don't know who these people are, so from L to R: Karyn, Jillanne, Heidi, Matt (back) and Kasey. This was this afternoon before we got to the theater, where I am currently, typing in my dressing room.
We got here yesterday, had a show last night, and some of us stuck around town to hit up a local bar, Molly's. Last call is around 2, but we left around 1:30 and headed back to the hotel. I got the brilliant (albeit slightly drunk) idea that going in the hotel hot tub area would be a great idea. So I went up to my room to get a towel and headed to the hot tub which was lit up very nicely.
Had a great time just relaxing with some people in the hot tub till about 330, then passed out asleep. Little headachey this morning, headed down to Wendy's for some food, and afterwards bought a new hat and sunglasses. I'm at the theater now for a 3:00 and an 8:00 show. Well, we have one more show tomorrow night in Texarkana, TX, then we fly off to Tucson where we'll be all next week. Updates might be slow next week as Karen will be visiting and we plan on doing some day trips and having the show at night. See ya soon!
Friday, November 11, 2005
Hey all. So this week after having a great time in Fayetville, we had a day off on Monday, a "golden day" as it's known. This is a day with no show and no travel. Had to enjoy it as it is our last day until the end of the leg where we clearly have all day off to do whatever we like. On that day, I headed up to Walmart and bought the new Star Wars: Battlefront II game, and the new James Bond game, From Russia With Love.
People were going to "On the Border" for dinner and margaritas around 630ish, then seeing Chicken Little. I however, not over my sickness yet, was exhausted. I took some Sudafed and passed out from 6-10pm. This was the worst time ever to do this as we had a really early bus call the next morning and I had napped and would likely be up all night. Well, I was up till 430 and we had a 7am leave, which meant a 630 load time for the bus.
To those who are not familiar with a typical day for me, it goes something like this. Depending on how far the venue is from where we are the night before, we leave anywhere from 7-10am. We stop for lunch in between 11 and 12 for an hour, then back to the road. We usually arrive at the hotel around 2 or 3, have time to shower or whatever, then back on the bus to bring us to the venue around 5ish for soundcheck, fight call, and then, have a little time off, do the show, pack my drums up, get on the bus back to the hotel, sleep, get up, repeat.
That's only when we're at a venue for 1 night. Granted there's alot of nights like this on this tour, we have 3-7 day sitdowns which is nice. Another nice perk for me specifically is that my drums travel with the trucks for the show, and there's someone who has the job of setting up the pit in each city, including my drums. Tonight was the first night that everything was more or less perfect, just a couple tweaking things here and there, but it was great tonight.
Tuesday and Wednesday we played Monroe, LA. Man does that place ever smell! They claimed it was on swampland and that was the reason, but whew! That place was just nasty, nice venue though. Today we drove to Tyler, TX and did a show at the University of Texas. What a beautiful space that is. The hall had amazing acoustics, everything just sounded amazing. 2,000+ seats, we filled them all, and they had a great time. I'm also getting amazingly good at loading out my drums (packing them up). I've discovered that since the book scenes can get a little long, I can pack up any unnecessary percussion instrument that I don't use in the show anymore. By the time the show is really over, I have only half of what I started with in front of me. I got a little self concious of people in the balcony being able to see the drummer packing up equipment DURING the show, but hey, we're only here for 1 night, oh well!
Tomorrow morning, really today as it's 2:45am when I'm writing this, we're driving down to Galveston, TX. BUSH COUNTRY INDEED!!! Ironically, I bought the new Al Franken book today The Truth (with jokes). I plan on putting it on my drums tonight so I might get shot by a curious audience memeber!
So yeah, I don't really WORK that hard on this job. I get driven around to places across the country, have someone set up my gear and transport it for me, play a show that's not terribly hard, and go to Walmart on my days off. Ok, maybe that's just positive thinking as I AM on a bus with 28 other people that I say EVERY day for the next 6 months. I do the SAME show every night, and Walmarts look generally the same. Also, family, friends and Karen are sorely missed. But hey, I'm an optimist.
Once I get more pictures taken, they will be put up. I apologize for my laziness in this matter.
People were going to "On the Border" for dinner and margaritas around 630ish, then seeing Chicken Little. I however, not over my sickness yet, was exhausted. I took some Sudafed and passed out from 6-10pm. This was the worst time ever to do this as we had a really early bus call the next morning and I had napped and would likely be up all night. Well, I was up till 430 and we had a 7am leave, which meant a 630 load time for the bus.
To those who are not familiar with a typical day for me, it goes something like this. Depending on how far the venue is from where we are the night before, we leave anywhere from 7-10am. We stop for lunch in between 11 and 12 for an hour, then back to the road. We usually arrive at the hotel around 2 or 3, have time to shower or whatever, then back on the bus to bring us to the venue around 5ish for soundcheck, fight call, and then, have a little time off, do the show, pack my drums up, get on the bus back to the hotel, sleep, get up, repeat.
That's only when we're at a venue for 1 night. Granted there's alot of nights like this on this tour, we have 3-7 day sitdowns which is nice. Another nice perk for me specifically is that my drums travel with the trucks for the show, and there's someone who has the job of setting up the pit in each city, including my drums. Tonight was the first night that everything was more or less perfect, just a couple tweaking things here and there, but it was great tonight.
Tuesday and Wednesday we played Monroe, LA. Man does that place ever smell! They claimed it was on swampland and that was the reason, but whew! That place was just nasty, nice venue though. Today we drove to Tyler, TX and did a show at the University of Texas. What a beautiful space that is. The hall had amazing acoustics, everything just sounded amazing. 2,000+ seats, we filled them all, and they had a great time. I'm also getting amazingly good at loading out my drums (packing them up). I've discovered that since the book scenes can get a little long, I can pack up any unnecessary percussion instrument that I don't use in the show anymore. By the time the show is really over, I have only half of what I started with in front of me. I got a little self concious of people in the balcony being able to see the drummer packing up equipment DURING the show, but hey, we're only here for 1 night, oh well!
Tomorrow morning, really today as it's 2:45am when I'm writing this, we're driving down to Galveston, TX. BUSH COUNTRY INDEED!!! Ironically, I bought the new Al Franken book today The Truth (with jokes). I plan on putting it on my drums tonight so I might get shot by a curious audience memeber!
So yeah, I don't really WORK that hard on this job. I get driven around to places across the country, have someone set up my gear and transport it for me, play a show that's not terribly hard, and go to Walmart on my days off. Ok, maybe that's just positive thinking as I AM on a bus with 28 other people that I say EVERY day for the next 6 months. I do the SAME show every night, and Walmarts look generally the same. Also, family, friends and Karen are sorely missed. But hey, I'm an optimist.
Once I get more pictures taken, they will be put up. I apologize for my laziness in this matter.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
So where did I leave off last time. Ahh yes, Halloween...
We stayed in College Station until Thursday. We drove to Shreveport, LA that morning and got to the hotel around 2PM. Left for the theater around 445 to go to sound check. Did sound check, signed a few autographs for the collectible posters, and then did the show. Loaded out my drums because we were only there for the one night. Funny story for the night though:
In the Overture, when we hit the "Oklahoma" theme, there's an orange "OKLAHOMA!!" logo that comes up on the front scrim. However, when it came up this night in Shreveport, the logo was upside down. Some quick thinking from the projectionist decided to flip it but apparently it got stuck and then stayed vertical, not even fitting at all on the scrim. After some more flipping, they probably decided that if we made it correct now, it would appear as though this was all a giant mistake. So how do we through the public off from thinking such a thing? The brilliant move of just rotating the logo VERY quickly for the rest of the overture. Spin Spin Spin Spin Spin etc. A good laugh was had by all.
The company manager, stage manager, and reed player walked with me down the streets to the El Dorado Casino. My first live game in 2 weeks! The 1/2 NL game was 11 people deep, but the 4/8 limit HE game was open seating so I sat on down. We could only afford to stay for an hour as we had to be back on the bus by 7am the next morning. So the 4th hand I'm sitting for I get the ol, QJs in the cutoff. The game was very passive, and this is a hand I play anyway in this type of game so I limped in. 5 way action, we took of flop of KT9 with 2 clubs. Jackpot! No scare cards came off and I had 2 people paying me off on every street for a nice little pot. This would be the only hand I'd win for the session. A few bad beat stories that no one wants to hear, so I'll just give you the net result. Poker session = 1 hour. -$16 for the session. Not bad really, but I'm sure I could've beaten that game up if I had more time. There was only one person to worry about and he looked like Chau Giang. The person to the left of me just called with the nuts on the river because he didnt' realize he acted last in that particular hand.
The next day we drove to Fayetville, Arkansas, which is where I am now. Fayetville is a kickass town with some great bars and shops. Had dinner tonight inbetween shows at the Hog Brewery, or something like that. Had the beer sampler which had all different kinds of beers. Banana Wheat something, one had a carmel taste, one a blueberry taste, one was a stout, another was a red ale. Good place, good service, and real close to the performing venue which is gorgeous! We've had really good sales so far for the past 2 weeks, playing venues no smaller than 1200 seats, and selling no less than 80% of tickets. This weekend alone in AR, is booked at 98%. Everyone seems to love the show and we get treated really well wherever we go.
We have these cool backstage passes and there's always rooms with free foods and drinks in each city. Each place usually sets out 5 posters for everyone in the show to sign so they can display it after we leave as well. Listen to me, I sound like such an idiot. Also, being on tour is pretty cool, because you NEVER have to clean up after yourself. You're in town for one day? Housekeeping will clean it up, not a problem. This may turn into a really bad idea for later in life when I return home. (It may already be, just has to be decided)
In other news, I'm still kinda sick. Just really congested, it's been about a week now. More people are getting it now too, so people are just breaking down. Also, I'm getting lonely sometimes and miss people from back home. Karen's coming out in a little over a week to Tucson though, which will be much needed time to hang out and relax as I only have night shows for the time she's here. Also, there's a casino 2 exits away.....but that's not for another 8 days. Thanks you guys for reading, whoever is actually reading this mess. I'll be back after the weekend with another update as we go back through Louisiana and Texas again. Later!
We stayed in College Station until Thursday. We drove to Shreveport, LA that morning and got to the hotel around 2PM. Left for the theater around 445 to go to sound check. Did sound check, signed a few autographs for the collectible posters, and then did the show. Loaded out my drums because we were only there for the one night. Funny story for the night though:
In the Overture, when we hit the "Oklahoma" theme, there's an orange "OKLAHOMA!!" logo that comes up on the front scrim. However, when it came up this night in Shreveport, the logo was upside down. Some quick thinking from the projectionist decided to flip it but apparently it got stuck and then stayed vertical, not even fitting at all on the scrim. After some more flipping, they probably decided that if we made it correct now, it would appear as though this was all a giant mistake. So how do we through the public off from thinking such a thing? The brilliant move of just rotating the logo VERY quickly for the rest of the overture. Spin Spin Spin Spin Spin etc. A good laugh was had by all.
The company manager, stage manager, and reed player walked with me down the streets to the El Dorado Casino. My first live game in 2 weeks! The 1/2 NL game was 11 people deep, but the 4/8 limit HE game was open seating so I sat on down. We could only afford to stay for an hour as we had to be back on the bus by 7am the next morning. So the 4th hand I'm sitting for I get the ol, QJs in the cutoff. The game was very passive, and this is a hand I play anyway in this type of game so I limped in. 5 way action, we took of flop of KT9 with 2 clubs. Jackpot! No scare cards came off and I had 2 people paying me off on every street for a nice little pot. This would be the only hand I'd win for the session. A few bad beat stories that no one wants to hear, so I'll just give you the net result. Poker session = 1 hour. -$16 for the session. Not bad really, but I'm sure I could've beaten that game up if I had more time. There was only one person to worry about and he looked like Chau Giang. The person to the left of me just called with the nuts on the river because he didnt' realize he acted last in that particular hand.
The next day we drove to Fayetville, Arkansas, which is where I am now. Fayetville is a kickass town with some great bars and shops. Had dinner tonight inbetween shows at the Hog Brewery, or something like that. Had the beer sampler which had all different kinds of beers. Banana Wheat something, one had a carmel taste, one a blueberry taste, one was a stout, another was a red ale. Good place, good service, and real close to the performing venue which is gorgeous! We've had really good sales so far for the past 2 weeks, playing venues no smaller than 1200 seats, and selling no less than 80% of tickets. This weekend alone in AR, is booked at 98%. Everyone seems to love the show and we get treated really well wherever we go.
We have these cool backstage passes and there's always rooms with free foods and drinks in each city. Each place usually sets out 5 posters for everyone in the show to sign so they can display it after we leave as well. Listen to me, I sound like such an idiot. Also, being on tour is pretty cool, because you NEVER have to clean up after yourself. You're in town for one day? Housekeeping will clean it up, not a problem. This may turn into a really bad idea for later in life when I return home. (It may already be, just has to be decided)
In other news, I'm still kinda sick. Just really congested, it's been about a week now. More people are getting it now too, so people are just breaking down. Also, I'm getting lonely sometimes and miss people from back home. Karen's coming out in a little over a week to Tucson though, which will be much needed time to hang out and relax as I only have night shows for the time she's here. Also, there's a casino 2 exits away.....but that's not for another 8 days. Thanks you guys for reading, whoever is actually reading this mess. I'll be back after the weekend with another update as we go back through Louisiana and Texas again. Later!
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Halloween 2005
This is my favorite costume from last night
Mr. Slave!!!! Brilliant...
This is how we roll to the movies...rockstar parking always. Actually, wherever we go we get rockstar parking, no walking ever...
Saw Saw II last night, having never seen Saw I, I went in fresh. I really enjoyed it, even though Karen said Saw I was awful, and she had no intrest seeing the sequel. It was mindless entertainment with a novel twist. I have to go back and see Saw I now. Well, that's all for me right now, we have our official opening in a couple hours here in Texas. Go Aggies!!!
This is my favorite costume from last night
Mr. Slave!!!! Brilliant...
This is how we roll to the movies...rockstar parking always. Actually, wherever we go we get rockstar parking, no walking ever...Saw Saw II last night, having never seen Saw I, I went in fresh. I really enjoyed it, even though Karen said Saw I was awful, and she had no intrest seeing the sequel. It was mindless entertainment with a novel twist. I have to go back and see Saw I now. Well, that's all for me right now, we have our official opening in a couple hours here in Texas. Go Aggies!!!
Monday, October 31, 2005
Sunday, October 30, 2005
After our 2nd preview in Indiana, we were invited to a very rich man's house in Wabash, the town we were in. His company is Honeywell Industries, who do all the meters for houses or something. They also do all the manhole covers all over the country. His house was huge and had an atrium down to the bottom floor...
He also
had an indoor pool.
He also just recently finished a waterfall in the middle of his property. The only way out there is on a golf cart ride in the woods. I'm not making this up.
Houston-
is a very fun city. We flew into Dallas from Indianapolis on Saturday. After a quick layover, we got on our 45 minute flight to Houston. It was there that we met our bus, our "home" for the next 6 months. We drove to our hotel, and had all day off which was nice. Another trip to the Walmart brought 2 funny picture moments, pics to come soon.
We partied it up in Houston, going to Slick Willie's Family Pool Hall, a great pool bar with awesome tables. We had a few drinks there and took a cab back to the hotel where I went to a Jack in the Box for the 1st time. Only the drive-thru was open, but I lacked the necessary device of a car. With quick thinking, I saw an employee leaving in her car, and flagged her down and gave her the sob story about how I'm from NY, where they don't have any Jack in the Box's. I pleaded for her to get us some food, and she obliged. I made my way back to the room and drifted off to sleep.
Today we went drove to College Station Texas to Texas A&M Univ. Just hung out here pretty much all day, got some food, some Coldstone Creamery (Cookie Minster...yum). Then I started feeling sick. My allergies are awful, eyes all swollen, congested, feel like crap basically. Also my lips are insanely chapped, and hurt like crazy. It's been 70 degress all the time here in Texas, maybe the dry air is doing it? Discuss....
He also
had an indoor pool.He also just recently finished a waterfall in the middle of his property. The only way out there is on a golf cart ride in the woods. I'm not making this up.
Houston-
is a very fun city. We flew into Dallas from Indianapolis on Saturday. After a quick layover, we got on our 45 minute flight to Houston. It was there that we met our bus, our "home" for the next 6 months. We drove to our hotel, and had all day off which was nice. Another trip to the Walmart brought 2 funny picture moments, pics to come soon.
We partied it up in Houston, going to Slick Willie's Family Pool Hall, a great pool bar with awesome tables. We had a few drinks there and took a cab back to the hotel where I went to a Jack in the Box for the 1st time. Only the drive-thru was open, but I lacked the necessary device of a car. With quick thinking, I saw an employee leaving in her car, and flagged her down and gave her the sob story about how I'm from NY, where they don't have any Jack in the Box's. I pleaded for her to get us some food, and she obliged. I made my way back to the room and drifted off to sleep.
Today we went drove to College Station Texas to Texas A&M Univ. Just hung out here pretty much all day, got some food, some Coldstone Creamery (Cookie Minster...yum). Then I started feeling sick. My allergies are awful, eyes all swollen, congested, feel like crap basically. Also my lips are insanely chapped, and hurt like crazy. It's been 70 degress all the time here in Texas, maybe the dry air is doing it? Discuss....
Friday, October 28, 2005
It's Opening Night.....
Well, it was last night. The show went really well with only one minor hiccup, but alls well that ends well. There was a party at a local restaurant around the corner with some good music and the always good, free drinks. Stuff gets shut down pretty early 'round these parts, so we continued the party at another bar....only it was 20 miles away. Luckily for me, I brought the new South Park Dvd's and popped one into our Dvd Minivan. I've never been so happy to ride in the backseat of a minivan of my life. I forgot how funny these episodes are to watch in a group of people, and I can honestly say I enjoy everyone I'm with so far. Well, kind of a free day off today, we have a show tonight, and then we load out, and fly to Houston tomorrow morning. Hopefully no Astros fans will be looking to jump off buildings when we arrive.
Well, it was last night. The show went really well with only one minor hiccup, but alls well that ends well. There was a party at a local restaurant around the corner with some good music and the always good, free drinks. Stuff gets shut down pretty early 'round these parts, so we continued the party at another bar....only it was 20 miles away. Luckily for me, I brought the new South Park Dvd's and popped one into our Dvd Minivan. I've never been so happy to ride in the backseat of a minivan of my life. I forgot how funny these episodes are to watch in a group of people, and I can honestly say I enjoy everyone I'm with so far. Well, kind of a free day off today, we have a show tonight, and then we load out, and fly to Houston tomorrow morning. Hopefully no Astros fans will be looking to jump off buildings when we arrive.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
It was a big day....Sad that this actually made me excited, and gave me motivation to get through rehearsal. But I managed to get the new Grand Theft Auto game for my new PSP.
Things are going really well out here I must say. I miss home a bit, but I think this whole thing will turn out to be alot of fun. Of course I say that now, I'll probably be bitching when we're on a bus all day to the venue.
On other news, I got the best care package ever from Karen today. Had everything I like, damn is she good! Well, I'm off to work (pokerstars), then other work (Oklahoma). Later!
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Monday, October 24, 2005
First day of rehearsal is in the books.
Had 6 hours of rehearsal today, and I thought it went really well. Great group of players in the group and they're all alot of fun. Which makes me really happy as I have to see them all for the next 6 months.
I don't know why this part is in bold, but I can't change it back. We had dinner at Ponderosa which is a steakhouse and a buffet. We had a good meal and went back to have the 2nd half of rehearsal. After rehearsal I got some snacks and checked some email. Simpson then challenged me to a heads up match for $5 on Pokerstars. I said no, but then agreed. He beat me real quick as I didn't put up much of a fight and made a lot of stupid calls when I knew I was beat.
My roomate Ira, who coincidentally has the same laptop I do, just with the one size bigger screen, and also plays online poker. What are the odds that I would be paired with someone like that? Anyways, he was multitabling on Pokerroom and I made some phone calls and such. I decided to play a $38 6 handed SNG where the top 2 cash. I finished 4th with no real exciting play. Just missed some draws and ran low on chips, pushing in with K4o on the button and the BB woke up with 88. I missed, and was out.
To make my buy-in back I logged a couple hours on the 1/2 NL tables, my bread and butter the past few weeks. I only played for 30 min on first table, made $28 and then people left and the game essentially broke.
I moved over to another table where while waiting to post my blind saw a guy get hit with the deck and make over $300 on 2 hands. I got KK 3x in 7 hands and made $110 from that player alone.
That's where I stand right now. Taradise was just on E! and I feel dumber having watched it. It's amazing I'm somehow winning at this game. The Outer Limits is on now, but time for bed soon. Thanks for reading, I'll put pictures up as soon as I take some!
Had 6 hours of rehearsal today, and I thought it went really well. Great group of players in the group and they're all alot of fun. Which makes me really happy as I have to see them all for the next 6 months.
I don't know why this part is in bold, but I can't change it back. We had dinner at Ponderosa which is a steakhouse and a buffet. We had a good meal and went back to have the 2nd half of rehearsal. After rehearsal I got some snacks and checked some email. Simpson then challenged me to a heads up match for $5 on Pokerstars. I said no, but then agreed. He beat me real quick as I didn't put up much of a fight and made a lot of stupid calls when I knew I was beat.
My roomate Ira, who coincidentally has the same laptop I do, just with the one size bigger screen, and also plays online poker. What are the odds that I would be paired with someone like that? Anyways, he was multitabling on Pokerroom and I made some phone calls and such. I decided to play a $38 6 handed SNG where the top 2 cash. I finished 4th with no real exciting play. Just missed some draws and ran low on chips, pushing in with K4o on the button and the BB woke up with 88. I missed, and was out.
To make my buy-in back I logged a couple hours on the 1/2 NL tables, my bread and butter the past few weeks. I only played for 30 min on first table, made $28 and then people left and the game essentially broke.
I moved over to another table where while waiting to post my blind saw a guy get hit with the deck and make over $300 on 2 hands. I got KK 3x in 7 hands and made $110 from that player alone.
That's where I stand right now. Taradise was just on E! and I feel dumber having watched it. It's amazing I'm somehow winning at this game. The Outer Limits is on now, but time for bed soon. Thanks for reading, I'll put pictures up as soon as I take some!
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Greetings from...Wabash...
You remember Wayne's World when they're doing the different cities and they say "Welcome To ...Dela...ware". But they have lifeless looks on their faces? Yeah, that's pretty much Wabash, Indiana. Literally, farms to the right of me, and soon to be farms behind me. Yup...that's how I roll apparently.
Got in today after flying from Islip to Baltimore, waiting 3 hours then flying to Indianapolis. Then a 98 minute car ride later, and here I am...in the middle of nowhere. Single tear...
Well, it's off to the first theater to set up my drums for rehearsal tomorrow. Expect pics of reeeal flat land and whatever funny stuff I can find later. Enjoy!
You remember Wayne's World when they're doing the different cities and they say "Welcome To ...Dela...ware". But they have lifeless looks on their faces? Yeah, that's pretty much Wabash, Indiana. Literally, farms to the right of me, and soon to be farms behind me. Yup...that's how I roll apparently.
Got in today after flying from Islip to Baltimore, waiting 3 hours then flying to Indianapolis. Then a 98 minute car ride later, and here I am...in the middle of nowhere. Single tear...
Well, it's off to the first theater to set up my drums for rehearsal tomorrow. Expect pics of reeeal flat land and whatever funny stuff I can find later. Enjoy!
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Friday, May 06, 2005
Too Much To Say
There's been so many games lately, I don't have time to write about all them what with traveling and working, and all that jazz. But some interesting times have come up and I thought I'd share them with everyone.
Well, after struggling for a while to get my foot in the door in a Broadway show, or a touring company, the roof fell in on me this week. First off, musicians are different than actors as far as how we get jobs. Actors audition for the casting department and are seen and therefore hired as to how they look. Musicians get calls from other musicians based on how they performed in another show. Now, politics can come into play here, as if I were on a show, I'd want my friends to be there too. So, you have to break the barrier and get in there somehow. Well, I've been trying all different tactics. Calling people about their friends, calling people that are in the shows themselves, calling production offices. Nothin'.
Well, I went to go pick up my paper work for my job in the city, and a woman was there, and somehow it came up that her friend was the drummer at the new B'way show at Lincoln Center. I jokingly said "we should get in touch" and she was like "ok!" Before I knew it, she took down my info and now it was time to play the waiting game. Flash forward to the next night, and I get a call from a 212 number. I think "maybe it's broadway" and wouldn't you know it, it is! So she talked to him and he agreed to meet with me and I called him the next day. He later called me and we decided to meet up on Saturday at the theater so that I could sit in the pit and watch the show.
That same day, I got an email from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to go out and do a show on one of their ships for 4-6 months! This, and Gateway starts next week! So I've got all these options lined up in the air right now, and last night, I get a call from Billy, the b'way guy. He tells me that he has to cancel our plans for Saturday as another guy is coming in to watch, because he's playing the show for him next week. So, broadway cancelled on me, but next week we'll be back on. I also have to make a deicision about Royal Caribbean. I don't know how long I want to be out of NYC if i finally start making my rounds as a Broadway Sub. This decision can wait however for a bit longer....
Ok, now what you all came here for...some poker stories!!
Well, Eddie's game has been up and down. 3 weeks ago, I was in the zone, really ran into no trouble whatsoever and cruised on to a victory. The key hand was when we were 5 handed and it folded to me on the button. I loved my position and I would've tried to steal, but I picked up a hand ATs. With the blinds at 400/800 with a 100 ante, I raised to 3000. The SB called me and he had so far liked to check raise all in with any piece of the flop. He had done it 2x so far at the final table alone, and 3x at the table we were at before. We took a flop of Ah9s6h. He checked and I bet 9000. He thought and said he'd put me all in, and has me covered. Now usually he just does it without thinking, so I got confused as he threw a monkey wrench in there. I figured I was good and I had to call here. I did, and he turned over KTh! Well, I've just gotta sweat the flush draw. Board finishes out club club, and I get a huge chip lead.
2 weeks ago, I come in 12th place out of 31, nothing exciting. This past week, I make the final table, and make a bonehead play of opening UTG with KJo and calling an allin for double my bet. Eddie pushes in also on the shortstack and has AK, the allin player has QQ, I can't win. Well, I flopped a J just to be cute, but it was not meant to be. Out 10th/27. On a good note, I firmed up my 2nd place spot on the overall points list, and get to start the freeroll with 170K with blinds starting at 500/1000 and the levels change every 45 minutes! I expect to do well in this kind of situation.
Well, at the Gateway last night, I had asked a couple of the regulars that are back, if they wanted to play some cards, and we had about 6 people for a game, which is great. Usually, we have to struggle for a 6 person game. When I got to the theater, 15 people wanted to play, and we ended up starting with 2 tables. Final table would be at 7 and top 3 pay out. We made it to the final table and there were 4 of us left. With 6900 chips I raised to 2400 in the SB with 6s6c, one caller. Flop comes 3s7s7c. I move in for my remaining 4500, and get called immediatly by 2h2d?!?!? Ok, that's cool, turn is the 9s. Very good, now he has to catch the one deuce that isn't the 2s, giving me a flush. Well, the 2c peels off on the river, and I bubble. I shook his hand and wished them luck, thems the breaks. Honestly, what could I do different?
Then this morning, I watch a little more of the World Poker Open from WPT this week. I decide to splash around a little 1/2 NL on Bodog before my shower, and the first hand I flop middle pair and a flush draw. Turn is no help, and the river makes my 2 pair with J5, and I call a bet to a made straight. Well, -$15 now. 3 hands later, I get KsKc and an early position player goes all in for $7. Another player calls and the next player makes it $32. I decide to flat call thinking everyone else will fold. Well, the button calls, as do both original callers. Hmmmm...this pot is huge. Flop comes 3c6c7c. One player bets 12.50, 2 callers including me and another player pushes in for my remaining $139. Fold Fold (after all that they've invested??) and I decide to call, if he has Aces, then what can I do? He has QhQs. It's ironic that I have to sweat anothe 1 outer just like last night, although this is for 42x more money...Turn is in a 8 to give the original all in player the sidepot with his straight (910). River is a blank and I collect the $427 side pot. Not bad for just waking up! I cashed out soon thereafter and went to work...which is where I am now. Leave your comments for me as usual. Later!
There's been so many games lately, I don't have time to write about all them what with traveling and working, and all that jazz. But some interesting times have come up and I thought I'd share them with everyone.
Well, after struggling for a while to get my foot in the door in a Broadway show, or a touring company, the roof fell in on me this week. First off, musicians are different than actors as far as how we get jobs. Actors audition for the casting department and are seen and therefore hired as to how they look. Musicians get calls from other musicians based on how they performed in another show. Now, politics can come into play here, as if I were on a show, I'd want my friends to be there too. So, you have to break the barrier and get in there somehow. Well, I've been trying all different tactics. Calling people about their friends, calling people that are in the shows themselves, calling production offices. Nothin'.
Well, I went to go pick up my paper work for my job in the city, and a woman was there, and somehow it came up that her friend was the drummer at the new B'way show at Lincoln Center. I jokingly said "we should get in touch" and she was like "ok!" Before I knew it, she took down my info and now it was time to play the waiting game. Flash forward to the next night, and I get a call from a 212 number. I think "maybe it's broadway" and wouldn't you know it, it is! So she talked to him and he agreed to meet with me and I called him the next day. He later called me and we decided to meet up on Saturday at the theater so that I could sit in the pit and watch the show.
That same day, I got an email from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to go out and do a show on one of their ships for 4-6 months! This, and Gateway starts next week! So I've got all these options lined up in the air right now, and last night, I get a call from Billy, the b'way guy. He tells me that he has to cancel our plans for Saturday as another guy is coming in to watch, because he's playing the show for him next week. So, broadway cancelled on me, but next week we'll be back on. I also have to make a deicision about Royal Caribbean. I don't know how long I want to be out of NYC if i finally start making my rounds as a Broadway Sub. This decision can wait however for a bit longer....
Ok, now what you all came here for...some poker stories!!
Well, Eddie's game has been up and down. 3 weeks ago, I was in the zone, really ran into no trouble whatsoever and cruised on to a victory. The key hand was when we were 5 handed and it folded to me on the button. I loved my position and I would've tried to steal, but I picked up a hand ATs. With the blinds at 400/800 with a 100 ante, I raised to 3000. The SB called me and he had so far liked to check raise all in with any piece of the flop. He had done it 2x so far at the final table alone, and 3x at the table we were at before. We took a flop of Ah9s6h. He checked and I bet 9000. He thought and said he'd put me all in, and has me covered. Now usually he just does it without thinking, so I got confused as he threw a monkey wrench in there. I figured I was good and I had to call here. I did, and he turned over KTh! Well, I've just gotta sweat the flush draw. Board finishes out club club, and I get a huge chip lead.
2 weeks ago, I come in 12th place out of 31, nothing exciting. This past week, I make the final table, and make a bonehead play of opening UTG with KJo and calling an allin for double my bet. Eddie pushes in also on the shortstack and has AK, the allin player has QQ, I can't win. Well, I flopped a J just to be cute, but it was not meant to be. Out 10th/27. On a good note, I firmed up my 2nd place spot on the overall points list, and get to start the freeroll with 170K with blinds starting at 500/1000 and the levels change every 45 minutes! I expect to do well in this kind of situation.
Well, at the Gateway last night, I had asked a couple of the regulars that are back, if they wanted to play some cards, and we had about 6 people for a game, which is great. Usually, we have to struggle for a 6 person game. When I got to the theater, 15 people wanted to play, and we ended up starting with 2 tables. Final table would be at 7 and top 3 pay out. We made it to the final table and there were 4 of us left. With 6900 chips I raised to 2400 in the SB with 6s6c, one caller. Flop comes 3s7s7c. I move in for my remaining 4500, and get called immediatly by 2h2d?!?!? Ok, that's cool, turn is the 9s. Very good, now he has to catch the one deuce that isn't the 2s, giving me a flush. Well, the 2c peels off on the river, and I bubble. I shook his hand and wished them luck, thems the breaks. Honestly, what could I do different?
Then this morning, I watch a little more of the World Poker Open from WPT this week. I decide to splash around a little 1/2 NL on Bodog before my shower, and the first hand I flop middle pair and a flush draw. Turn is no help, and the river makes my 2 pair with J5, and I call a bet to a made straight. Well, -$15 now. 3 hands later, I get KsKc and an early position player goes all in for $7. Another player calls and the next player makes it $32. I decide to flat call thinking everyone else will fold. Well, the button calls, as do both original callers. Hmmmm...this pot is huge. Flop comes 3c6c7c. One player bets 12.50, 2 callers including me and another player pushes in for my remaining $139. Fold Fold (after all that they've invested??) and I decide to call, if he has Aces, then what can I do? He has QhQs. It's ironic that I have to sweat anothe 1 outer just like last night, although this is for 42x more money...Turn is in a 8 to give the original all in player the sidepot with his straight (910). River is a blank and I collect the $427 side pot. Not bad for just waking up! I cashed out soon thereafter and went to work...which is where I am now. Leave your comments for me as usual. Later!
Thursday, April 28, 2005
My take on Tieds' Poker Game
Tieds had a really nice 8 person tourney on Tuesday, and what a better way to relax than playing a little poker. The structure was nice and deep starting with 5K in chips and blinds at 25/50. The first hand of the night i picked up 7h8h. I raised it in MP to 150, and just Ditty called. The flop came 7s3s3c. He checked, I bet 300, and he flat called. The turn came a blank and he checked. I think I bet around 500 or so, and he folded. He later claimed to have had a 7, but figured me for an overpair. Wbew.
I ran into some cold cards after that, and came into a cheap pot with 59d on the button. Dennis called in the SB and Bob checked. The flop came 743 with one diamond. It checked around, and a 2 came out on the turn, checked around again. Finally a 9 came out on the river and Bob bet out 600. I didn't think this was a play that could net me more money if I raised, I'd either get re-raised or he'd fold, so I decided to call. Bob mucked before I could show my pair, I assume he had a hand like K high or something. As I wrote this, I realized it was really boring.
Long went on a pretty cold streak apparently, and never really entered any pots. When he did, he was able to triple up, but then was soon eliminated. Ditty went quickly as well. Dennis had built up quite a stack at this point and was being quiet, followed by patches of agression. I figured he would try to steal whenever, but I had a hard time picking up a hand to counter with. We'll deal with Dennis at the end of this blog.
The swing hand of the tournament came after Tieds busted Bob (who for having a lot of chips to start with, played quite quietly.) It was only fitting though because Tieds and Bob love to tangle, never played a hand against each other all night, and then the one hand they DID play together, one of them was eliminated.
Anyway, the swing hand went like this. The action folded to Tieds on the button and he raised to 1200 with blinds at 200/400. Simpson folded in the SB and I wake up with 66 in the BB. I elect to call, after thinking about re-raising in this spot. I did some math and didn't want to get pot commited to the hand before a flop with this hand out of position. I called the 1200 and we saw a flop of AJx. I ran through the possibilities on this hand and decided that it could go 3 ways: I check (I lose), I go all in (It looks too obvious, I probably get called by a better hand), or I make a modest bet (in which I put him to the test, and can fold if he moves in.) I decided to bet 2400, but then took one $500 chip and make it $1900. The pot now was around 2800. Tieds had about 7K left so I figured this would be a good play. Also, the J gave me some cover if he had an underpair to it. My only way to win this hand is to bet, and hope for the best. Tieds actually looked like he was going to move in on me, but folded his 9's face up. I did the same just for advertising for later.
This gave me a nice stack and Tieds wound up exiting in 4th place. Now onto Dennis. He had quite a stack going in and was being really agressive whenever he had the button and in the blinds preflop. I had to make a stand to let him know I wouldn't let him control the table all the time. Dennis was on the button, and raised it to 2500 with the blinds at 400/800 and a 100 ante. Simpson folded and I found AQo in the BB. I had 8400 left. I thought about it for a while and decided that calling was a very weak play here, and I certainly couldn't fold. Based on the amount of times he was raising per round, I had to take a chance that I had the best hand. I moved in for a raise of 5900. Dennis pondered and folded.
Next hand, I have AK in the SB and I raise it to 2600. I collect the blinds again. Then when Dennis was on the button again, he raised it to 2500 again, and I find 99 this time. Again, I go all in hoping that he'll call this hand with A rag hoping I was just setting him up for before. He folds again, and is now the short stack. 2 hands later, on the button, I find A5 and raise it to 2600. Dennis now decides to go all in after much deliberation, and I immediatly called as I knew I had the best hand. He had K10 of clubs, and the door card was an Ace. Now it was down to Simpson and I, heads up.
We played many hands just with limping and checking it down, and I realied that he didn't want to play any big pots with me, so my best bet was to flop a monster and hope to trap. He probably had the same thing going through his head. Hopefully I could try and steal as much as I could. Turns out I didn't need to as I picked up a pair, AJ, and AQ all fairly quickly and won some pots preflop uncontested. The last hand went like this: Simpson raised double the blinds and I called with 57d. The flop came J46, and I was first to act. I decided to bet 3500, and win it right there. Then Simpson moved in on me! Hmmm well, I know 7 high can't be the best hand here, but Simpson is offering me all his chips if I can draw to the nuts. I have him covered so if I lose, the tournament is not over. I rationalize that Simpson will not give me another opportunity to get his chips like this in such a spot where I have enough outs, so I decide to call. He has JT and the turn is a 5. Ok, so now I have 14 outs instead of 9. The river is another 5, and my trips win the pot, the tournament and I go home $100 winner.
I liked my play tonight as I didn't need to bluff alot, and got cards when I needed to, but made the correct plays with the cards I was given. Well, that's all from me now, on a short note, I placed 12th in Eddie's last night out of 31 players. I really padded my lead a bit for the top spot, with only one week remaining. If I'm on my game next week, I could be hard to pass for the chipleader of the freeroll. Let's all hope so anyways.
Ditty, thank you for posting, it makes me feel as though people actually read this mess. People should follow suit and say what's up!
Tieds had a really nice 8 person tourney on Tuesday, and what a better way to relax than playing a little poker. The structure was nice and deep starting with 5K in chips and blinds at 25/50. The first hand of the night i picked up 7h8h. I raised it in MP to 150, and just Ditty called. The flop came 7s3s3c. He checked, I bet 300, and he flat called. The turn came a blank and he checked. I think I bet around 500 or so, and he folded. He later claimed to have had a 7, but figured me for an overpair. Wbew.
I ran into some cold cards after that, and came into a cheap pot with 59d on the button. Dennis called in the SB and Bob checked. The flop came 743 with one diamond. It checked around, and a 2 came out on the turn, checked around again. Finally a 9 came out on the river and Bob bet out 600. I didn't think this was a play that could net me more money if I raised, I'd either get re-raised or he'd fold, so I decided to call. Bob mucked before I could show my pair, I assume he had a hand like K high or something. As I wrote this, I realized it was really boring.
Long went on a pretty cold streak apparently, and never really entered any pots. When he did, he was able to triple up, but then was soon eliminated. Ditty went quickly as well. Dennis had built up quite a stack at this point and was being quiet, followed by patches of agression. I figured he would try to steal whenever, but I had a hard time picking up a hand to counter with. We'll deal with Dennis at the end of this blog.
The swing hand of the tournament came after Tieds busted Bob (who for having a lot of chips to start with, played quite quietly.) It was only fitting though because Tieds and Bob love to tangle, never played a hand against each other all night, and then the one hand they DID play together, one of them was eliminated.
Anyway, the swing hand went like this. The action folded to Tieds on the button and he raised to 1200 with blinds at 200/400. Simpson folded in the SB and I wake up with 66 in the BB. I elect to call, after thinking about re-raising in this spot. I did some math and didn't want to get pot commited to the hand before a flop with this hand out of position. I called the 1200 and we saw a flop of AJx. I ran through the possibilities on this hand and decided that it could go 3 ways: I check (I lose), I go all in (It looks too obvious, I probably get called by a better hand), or I make a modest bet (in which I put him to the test, and can fold if he moves in.) I decided to bet 2400, but then took one $500 chip and make it $1900. The pot now was around 2800. Tieds had about 7K left so I figured this would be a good play. Also, the J gave me some cover if he had an underpair to it. My only way to win this hand is to bet, and hope for the best. Tieds actually looked like he was going to move in on me, but folded his 9's face up. I did the same just for advertising for later.
This gave me a nice stack and Tieds wound up exiting in 4th place. Now onto Dennis. He had quite a stack going in and was being really agressive whenever he had the button and in the blinds preflop. I had to make a stand to let him know I wouldn't let him control the table all the time. Dennis was on the button, and raised it to 2500 with the blinds at 400/800 and a 100 ante. Simpson folded and I found AQo in the BB. I had 8400 left. I thought about it for a while and decided that calling was a very weak play here, and I certainly couldn't fold. Based on the amount of times he was raising per round, I had to take a chance that I had the best hand. I moved in for a raise of 5900. Dennis pondered and folded.
Next hand, I have AK in the SB and I raise it to 2600. I collect the blinds again. Then when Dennis was on the button again, he raised it to 2500 again, and I find 99 this time. Again, I go all in hoping that he'll call this hand with A rag hoping I was just setting him up for before. He folds again, and is now the short stack. 2 hands later, on the button, I find A5 and raise it to 2600. Dennis now decides to go all in after much deliberation, and I immediatly called as I knew I had the best hand. He had K10 of clubs, and the door card was an Ace. Now it was down to Simpson and I, heads up.
We played many hands just with limping and checking it down, and I realied that he didn't want to play any big pots with me, so my best bet was to flop a monster and hope to trap. He probably had the same thing going through his head. Hopefully I could try and steal as much as I could. Turns out I didn't need to as I picked up a pair, AJ, and AQ all fairly quickly and won some pots preflop uncontested. The last hand went like this: Simpson raised double the blinds and I called with 57d. The flop came J46, and I was first to act. I decided to bet 3500, and win it right there. Then Simpson moved in on me! Hmmm well, I know 7 high can't be the best hand here, but Simpson is offering me all his chips if I can draw to the nuts. I have him covered so if I lose, the tournament is not over. I rationalize that Simpson will not give me another opportunity to get his chips like this in such a spot where I have enough outs, so I decide to call. He has JT and the turn is a 5. Ok, so now I have 14 outs instead of 9. The river is another 5, and my trips win the pot, the tournament and I go home $100 winner.
I liked my play tonight as I didn't need to bluff alot, and got cards when I needed to, but made the correct plays with the cards I was given. Well, that's all from me now, on a short note, I placed 12th in Eddie's last night out of 31 players. I really padded my lead a bit for the top spot, with only one week remaining. If I'm on my game next week, I could be hard to pass for the chipleader of the freeroll. Let's all hope so anyways.
Ditty, thank you for posting, it makes me feel as though people actually read this mess. People should follow suit and say what's up!
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Welcome to Florida
So I'm here in the lovely state of Florida, visiting my parents. It's a great vacation and I spend the mornings at the pool catching some sun, listening to my Ipod and going for a swim. But...I found some card rooms too! First stop was on Thursday all the way down in Hollywood to visit the Hard Rock Casino. Fun little place, but it was then I realized some major differences with how we gamble up north.
First off, there's no table games. None. So you're probably thinking, Gregg, what do they have? Well, they have slot machines. But they're not really "true" slot machines. They're basically video bingo. Picture this: A bingo card above the animated slot graphics. Then you put your money in and hit the button. You see what happens and get paid accordingly. But...if you just look above at the bingo card when you hit the button, you can see before the graphics ever load, if you have a winner by seeing if the line is complete with red marks. So, it's instant gratification if that's what you like, but to me it just felt cheap.
So, blackjack is illegal, which I hear they're working on, so the only other thing they have is poker. Perfect! So what game did I play? Let's see, was it 3/6, 4/6, 5/10? Well, after looking for a game higher than 2/2, I was told that Florida only allows a max bet of $2. $2? WTF?
I put my name on a list and get one of those beeper/pager dealies that lights up and vibrates when you have a table at TGI Friday's. I waited for about 20 min and got a seat at the 2/2 game. It's weird just saying it...2/2.
So how do you play a 2/2 game? Well, the blinds are 1/2 and you bet $2 on every street. No doubling on the turn and river here folks, no way to trap anyone for extra bets or check raise on the turn for value...nope, just bet it out, and hope your good hands hold up. Well, we were kind of on a time restraint at the Hard Rock so I could only play for 90 min or so. In that time period, I made a profit of $165 in a game where you can only bet $2. It was crazy, and I didn't make a flush or a straight at any time. The best hand I was was a set of Queens. Top pair was ALWAYS good and you got overcalls like crazy. This is a new thing I try not to do, as it's a loose part of my game. Well, I got paid off like crazy, and it was time to go.
The next day, not much was going on and I decided to go down to West Palm Beach to go to the Palm Beach Kennel Club. Yes, a dog track, but the signs on I-95 told me they had a poker room with "new, higher limit games!" So I went on down, and signed up for....oh shit, they lied 2/2!!!
I began to think that maybe they had run .50/1 at one point, and this was their "new higher limit game." Well, I sat down at a 1/2 game first while I waited for a "straight 2" game to open up. Well, the 1/2 game threw me for a loop too. First off, there's only 1 blind....I'll repeat that. In a 1/2 game, there's only 1 blind. The Small Blind for $1. Then I figured you can raise up to 2 preflop. Ok, then the button raises from 1 to 3! Huh? I ask the dealer and you can raise in 1 or 2 dollar increments. Ahhh so up to $7 preflop, and you can lead out for either 1 or 2 on the flop, and raise in that increment. Gotcha. Well, I won $14 on this table and got called to my other game. This one was brutal. The long and short of it was that I got beat up and was a $85 loser. I guess it was beginner's luck.
Funny story I actually read online at Josh Arieh's website today that said he lost $1000 playing 2/4 the first time he played. And he only had $1100 to his name....haha..
I went back again today, Sunday. Again, nothing really going on. I decided to play a tournament as they're offered Sun-Thurs. Everyone who reads this is going to rib me, but it was a $45 tournament where you start with 800 chips, the blinds start at 25/50 and they go up every 10 min. Oh, and the fee works out to be 32+13, for about 29% juice!!!!
They call them "Turbo Tournaments" and I can see why. I wanted to try a strategy of "if i get a pair and there's action before me, I move in." Basically the same thing with any 2 big cards. It was definitly a gamble, I won't lie. Ok, on to the action!
The first hand I pick up 2 black Q's. Only having 800 chips and I'm UTG +1, I raise to 225. The player to my left quickly calls and everyone else folds making the pot 525. The flop comes A96 rainbow, and I hate this flop. I plan to check/fold, and the player checks behind me! The turn came a J, and I bet 300. The player folds, and I win the first pot. I'm in the BB 2 hands later a bunch of people limp and I have KJd. The SB bumps it another 100 and everyone calls. The flop comes K89 and the SB checks. I bet 300 and the guy to my left calls, everyone else folds. The turn is the Ad, and I push all in. The guy only has 100 left and he couldn't reach for it faster, it's now obvious he had A9 and I say "I think you got me, and he has AJ! Called 3/4 of his chips with no pair on the flop!!! WOW...the river is no help and I'm in trouble now.
Only having 450 left, I need to pick up a hand. The blinds have now gone up to 50/100 and I fold for a couple of hands. I eventually get AhQs in the cutoff and one player goes all in for 150, I push in for 450, I get called by that pesky player to my left, who I want a call from now, based on his crappiness earlier, and the SB goes all in for 275. Side pots a plenty and here's what I'm up against. SB has K2, MP player has A2, and the pesky guy has KJ, 2 live cards. Well, the flop came QJ3 alll clubs. The guy to my left has the Kc and honestly, I didn't even see that I had flopped the best hand, all I saw was that he paired his J and had a club draw. When the club draw hadn't gotten there, I announced that I was done, and started to get up. The dealer informed of my tomfoolery and I felt like an ass.
After busting 2 players getting a nice stack, I went on a run on the motormouth of the table in the 8 seat. The player in the 10 seat raised to 300, and I looked at 88 in the BB. I had to keep to my strategy and reraise with any hand I thought had value in it. I asked how much he had left, and he had another 300, which was definitly going in on the flop. I took a bunch of chips out of my hand and proceeded to make it 600, but I had 7 chips in my hand. The dealer told me that all the chips I brought out played, so the bet was 700. I was not too happy but obliged to the rules. The motormouth, who was the chipleader at this point, called quite smugly, and now I was concerned. The flop came KdJd8c. I was first to act, and no doubt had the best hand in my mind. Here's where the other guy made a cruicial mistake in my eyes. I only had 700 left roughly and would he call all of it here? It was then that I noticed him eyeing my stack and putting chips in his hand. Why would he do that and let me know he would call? I've seen plenty of people do that and be bluffing to get a free card, shit I've done it. But it was here that I knew I had to push in, no sense to trap, the pot was 2K. I pushed in and he called quickly with....99....yes, 99. Now why woud he call so quickly with 9's when those overcards came out and I had reraised before the flop. He almost seemed proud when he did it too, which made the next moments all that much sweeter. The dealer asked us what we had, to which I replied "just a set." The dealer lost it, apparently never hearing that one before. The other guy told me he had a set also, he was just gonna get it on the river, with no joking in his voice at all. Well, he didn't get it, and thankfully so. I then busted the pesky player to my left when we were 3 handed and I found A5c and moved in. He called with Q9o. The flop came A43, and it as over for him. After playing a few hands we decided to chop the pot, with both of us taking $160. We each tipped the dealer and with the cash game I played for 2 hours, I was a $101 winner today. Well, I leave on Tuesday, and I'll finally tell all about Eddie's game 2 weeks ago, and this past week, (one is more interesting than the other). Later, and leave comments dammit!!
So I'm here in the lovely state of Florida, visiting my parents. It's a great vacation and I spend the mornings at the pool catching some sun, listening to my Ipod and going for a swim. But...I found some card rooms too! First stop was on Thursday all the way down in Hollywood to visit the Hard Rock Casino. Fun little place, but it was then I realized some major differences with how we gamble up north.
First off, there's no table games. None. So you're probably thinking, Gregg, what do they have? Well, they have slot machines. But they're not really "true" slot machines. They're basically video bingo. Picture this: A bingo card above the animated slot graphics. Then you put your money in and hit the button. You see what happens and get paid accordingly. But...if you just look above at the bingo card when you hit the button, you can see before the graphics ever load, if you have a winner by seeing if the line is complete with red marks. So, it's instant gratification if that's what you like, but to me it just felt cheap.
So, blackjack is illegal, which I hear they're working on, so the only other thing they have is poker. Perfect! So what game did I play? Let's see, was it 3/6, 4/6, 5/10? Well, after looking for a game higher than 2/2, I was told that Florida only allows a max bet of $2. $2? WTF?
I put my name on a list and get one of those beeper/pager dealies that lights up and vibrates when you have a table at TGI Friday's. I waited for about 20 min and got a seat at the 2/2 game. It's weird just saying it...2/2.
So how do you play a 2/2 game? Well, the blinds are 1/2 and you bet $2 on every street. No doubling on the turn and river here folks, no way to trap anyone for extra bets or check raise on the turn for value...nope, just bet it out, and hope your good hands hold up. Well, we were kind of on a time restraint at the Hard Rock so I could only play for 90 min or so. In that time period, I made a profit of $165 in a game where you can only bet $2. It was crazy, and I didn't make a flush or a straight at any time. The best hand I was was a set of Queens. Top pair was ALWAYS good and you got overcalls like crazy. This is a new thing I try not to do, as it's a loose part of my game. Well, I got paid off like crazy, and it was time to go.
The next day, not much was going on and I decided to go down to West Palm Beach to go to the Palm Beach Kennel Club. Yes, a dog track, but the signs on I-95 told me they had a poker room with "new, higher limit games!" So I went on down, and signed up for....oh shit, they lied 2/2!!!
I began to think that maybe they had run .50/1 at one point, and this was their "new higher limit game." Well, I sat down at a 1/2 game first while I waited for a "straight 2" game to open up. Well, the 1/2 game threw me for a loop too. First off, there's only 1 blind....I'll repeat that. In a 1/2 game, there's only 1 blind. The Small Blind for $1. Then I figured you can raise up to 2 preflop. Ok, then the button raises from 1 to 3! Huh? I ask the dealer and you can raise in 1 or 2 dollar increments. Ahhh so up to $7 preflop, and you can lead out for either 1 or 2 on the flop, and raise in that increment. Gotcha. Well, I won $14 on this table and got called to my other game. This one was brutal. The long and short of it was that I got beat up and was a $85 loser. I guess it was beginner's luck.
Funny story I actually read online at Josh Arieh's website today that said he lost $1000 playing 2/4 the first time he played. And he only had $1100 to his name....haha..
I went back again today, Sunday. Again, nothing really going on. I decided to play a tournament as they're offered Sun-Thurs. Everyone who reads this is going to rib me, but it was a $45 tournament where you start with 800 chips, the blinds start at 25/50 and they go up every 10 min. Oh, and the fee works out to be 32+13, for about 29% juice!!!!
They call them "Turbo Tournaments" and I can see why. I wanted to try a strategy of "if i get a pair and there's action before me, I move in." Basically the same thing with any 2 big cards. It was definitly a gamble, I won't lie. Ok, on to the action!
The first hand I pick up 2 black Q's. Only having 800 chips and I'm UTG +1, I raise to 225. The player to my left quickly calls and everyone else folds making the pot 525. The flop comes A96 rainbow, and I hate this flop. I plan to check/fold, and the player checks behind me! The turn came a J, and I bet 300. The player folds, and I win the first pot. I'm in the BB 2 hands later a bunch of people limp and I have KJd. The SB bumps it another 100 and everyone calls. The flop comes K89 and the SB checks. I bet 300 and the guy to my left calls, everyone else folds. The turn is the Ad, and I push all in. The guy only has 100 left and he couldn't reach for it faster, it's now obvious he had A9 and I say "I think you got me, and he has AJ! Called 3/4 of his chips with no pair on the flop!!! WOW...the river is no help and I'm in trouble now.
Only having 450 left, I need to pick up a hand. The blinds have now gone up to 50/100 and I fold for a couple of hands. I eventually get AhQs in the cutoff and one player goes all in for 150, I push in for 450, I get called by that pesky player to my left, who I want a call from now, based on his crappiness earlier, and the SB goes all in for 275. Side pots a plenty and here's what I'm up against. SB has K2, MP player has A2, and the pesky guy has KJ, 2 live cards. Well, the flop came QJ3 alll clubs. The guy to my left has the Kc and honestly, I didn't even see that I had flopped the best hand, all I saw was that he paired his J and had a club draw. When the club draw hadn't gotten there, I announced that I was done, and started to get up. The dealer informed of my tomfoolery and I felt like an ass.
After busting 2 players getting a nice stack, I went on a run on the motormouth of the table in the 8 seat. The player in the 10 seat raised to 300, and I looked at 88 in the BB. I had to keep to my strategy and reraise with any hand I thought had value in it. I asked how much he had left, and he had another 300, which was definitly going in on the flop. I took a bunch of chips out of my hand and proceeded to make it 600, but I had 7 chips in my hand. The dealer told me that all the chips I brought out played, so the bet was 700. I was not too happy but obliged to the rules. The motormouth, who was the chipleader at this point, called quite smugly, and now I was concerned. The flop came KdJd8c. I was first to act, and no doubt had the best hand in my mind. Here's where the other guy made a cruicial mistake in my eyes. I only had 700 left roughly and would he call all of it here? It was then that I noticed him eyeing my stack and putting chips in his hand. Why would he do that and let me know he would call? I've seen plenty of people do that and be bluffing to get a free card, shit I've done it. But it was here that I knew I had to push in, no sense to trap, the pot was 2K. I pushed in and he called quickly with....99....yes, 99. Now why woud he call so quickly with 9's when those overcards came out and I had reraised before the flop. He almost seemed proud when he did it too, which made the next moments all that much sweeter. The dealer asked us what we had, to which I replied "just a set." The dealer lost it, apparently never hearing that one before. The other guy told me he had a set also, he was just gonna get it on the river, with no joking in his voice at all. Well, he didn't get it, and thankfully so. I then busted the pesky player to my left when we were 3 handed and I found A5c and moved in. He called with Q9o. The flop came A43, and it as over for him. After playing a few hands we decided to chop the pot, with both of us taking $160. We each tipped the dealer and with the cash game I played for 2 hours, I was a $101 winner today. Well, I leave on Tuesday, and I'll finally tell all about Eddie's game 2 weeks ago, and this past week, (one is more interesting than the other). Later, and leave comments dammit!!
Friday, April 08, 2005
Strong showing in 2nd Bohemia Game
I went to Simpson's Bohemia game again last night, and enjoyed a 10 person deep stack tournament. At this game, you can pick wherever you want to sit, and with the other players probably not too keen on the art of position, I sat myself to the left of Tieds, and the most aggressive player that I remember from Tuesday. After noticing that I was on Tieds' left, he smoothly stated "You know what, this chair isn't that comfortable, I think I'll sit over here" and sat down directly to my left. Pretty funny stuff if you're Long, Simpson, Tieds or I.
The game as they see it, consists of hanging out and drinking beer and being loud. I almost think that some people think that if they lose a pot, their masculinity is in question, and are forced to call to "be a man." One guy did it with 5 high last night after Tieds went home.
I never drink anymore when I play cards, too many losing sessions. I prefer to play the game as well as I can, whenever I can. This being said, the beer started flowing promptly, and off we went to start the game!
I waited patiently for a little bit to see what kind of hands were being showed down. I caught alot of hands being won with middle pair, little kickers. I then raised every time I got 2 picture cards, KT, any Ax (with x being above 7). Funny that I mention KT, but I bluffed off alot of my chips when I got called down on the river with 4th pair! Tieds and I then conferred that why should I bluff off my chips here? They're going to call anyway, just don't get impatient. So, I buckled down and played some boring ass poker for a while.
The aggressive player from my right opened up with a raise to 14 with the blinds at 2/4. It folded to the player to the right of Simpson who re raised to 24. The button then went in for 165. He got 3 callers, and we only started with 265 chips. There was a side pot, then another side pot for another player who went all in with a flush draw that missed. The original raiser showed QJh, another player showed AJ, and the all-in player showed 89o!!! The AJ took it down when he turned an A.
Now, this player was obviously very late to a date with his girlfriend and she would keep calling him during the game. It was obvious that he was going to dump his chips eventually, I just had to be there to pick up the pieces. The problem was, he had so many, that playing recklessly with him could get costly.
Tieds would eventually raise with JJ and Long would move over the top with AA. They got it in and Tieds was eliminated.
I was now the short stack at the table, and when it was time for the blinds to go up, Long mentioned it. The owner of the house said that they should stay where they are because "we were betting." Knowing that I would be crippled if the blinds went from 5/10 to 10/20, and I only had 135 chips left, I thanked him verbally. To this he said "why are you thanking me?" It was then that I realized that he didn't know the logic of raising the blinds. I proceeded to say something in jibberish and shut up about it.
I managed to pick up some hands and had a slightly less than average stack when we lost another player. Now we were down to 4 people, and I found 7's in the SB and decided to call a raise from the HUGE stack with the girlfriend problem. I figured If I found a favorable flop, I could move in. The flop came 885. I moved in for 435, and it folded to the big stack who thought for a bit, and decided to call!!! The only problem was he flipped over 99!! DOH! I thanked everyone for the game and grabbed my jacket, and a 7 peeled off on the turn!!! No 9 came, and I was right back in it.
He was eliminated soon thereafter going in blind with J6 against Long's AQ. I had 7's again, and called his all-in, but Long pushed me out with a re-raise to 400. I questioned him on it at the time, but my 7's would've been no good as he flopped a J and Long turned an A.
Now we were down to 3. Long, myself, and the owner of the house who was...drunk....Well he had at least 9 beer cans behind him. Well, this hand came up and changed alot of things.
I got KhJs and decided to raise 3x the blind to 60, we were at 10/20. Both players called and the flop came Qh9h4h. I liked my hand here as to me, I had 15 outs that would give me the best hand. 9 hearts, 3 10's and 3 K's. I checked here, hoping to get a free card but would call any modest bet. It checked to the button and he bet 200, which was a huge bet so far. With the pot laying me a little less than 2-1 and my odds being close to 55%, I made the call. The turn was the Kc. I instantly moved in now for 435, and the button began to think...and think....and think...I figured I was good now, but he waited and waited and made the call. He flipped over J6h for a flopped flush!!! Geez....well, now I was down to 7 hearts in the deck giving me a 12% chance to win. Well, the 2h came on the river, and I took out the other player as I had him covered by 50 chips. Talk about getting lucky!
Heads up now between Long and I and we traded blinds like no tomorrow, rarely seeing a flop. The last hand went a little something like this. I called on the button with J6, and Long raised me 150 more. I called because this was his standard play. I planned on taking this hand away from him later. Well, the flop came TJQ rainbow and he bet 400 and I moved in. Questionable play? Probably, but I felt it was the best move at the time. He thought about for a long time and decided to call and flipped over AJ! Wow, that whole time he thought he was beat. I guess he gives me more credit than I thought. Well, the turn was a 8h, and the river was a 6s giving me two pair and the win for the evening. I got lucky 3 times exactly when I needed to last night, and it paid off in dividends. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.
I went to Simpson's Bohemia game again last night, and enjoyed a 10 person deep stack tournament. At this game, you can pick wherever you want to sit, and with the other players probably not too keen on the art of position, I sat myself to the left of Tieds, and the most aggressive player that I remember from Tuesday. After noticing that I was on Tieds' left, he smoothly stated "You know what, this chair isn't that comfortable, I think I'll sit over here" and sat down directly to my left. Pretty funny stuff if you're Long, Simpson, Tieds or I.
The game as they see it, consists of hanging out and drinking beer and being loud. I almost think that some people think that if they lose a pot, their masculinity is in question, and are forced to call to "be a man." One guy did it with 5 high last night after Tieds went home.
I never drink anymore when I play cards, too many losing sessions. I prefer to play the game as well as I can, whenever I can. This being said, the beer started flowing promptly, and off we went to start the game!
I waited patiently for a little bit to see what kind of hands were being showed down. I caught alot of hands being won with middle pair, little kickers. I then raised every time I got 2 picture cards, KT, any Ax (with x being above 7). Funny that I mention KT, but I bluffed off alot of my chips when I got called down on the river with 4th pair! Tieds and I then conferred that why should I bluff off my chips here? They're going to call anyway, just don't get impatient. So, I buckled down and played some boring ass poker for a while.
The aggressive player from my right opened up with a raise to 14 with the blinds at 2/4. It folded to the player to the right of Simpson who re raised to 24. The button then went in for 165. He got 3 callers, and we only started with 265 chips. There was a side pot, then another side pot for another player who went all in with a flush draw that missed. The original raiser showed QJh, another player showed AJ, and the all-in player showed 89o!!! The AJ took it down when he turned an A.
Now, this player was obviously very late to a date with his girlfriend and she would keep calling him during the game. It was obvious that he was going to dump his chips eventually, I just had to be there to pick up the pieces. The problem was, he had so many, that playing recklessly with him could get costly.
Tieds would eventually raise with JJ and Long would move over the top with AA. They got it in and Tieds was eliminated.
I was now the short stack at the table, and when it was time for the blinds to go up, Long mentioned it. The owner of the house said that they should stay where they are because "we were betting." Knowing that I would be crippled if the blinds went from 5/10 to 10/20, and I only had 135 chips left, I thanked him verbally. To this he said "why are you thanking me?" It was then that I realized that he didn't know the logic of raising the blinds. I proceeded to say something in jibberish and shut up about it.
I managed to pick up some hands and had a slightly less than average stack when we lost another player. Now we were down to 4 people, and I found 7's in the SB and decided to call a raise from the HUGE stack with the girlfriend problem. I figured If I found a favorable flop, I could move in. The flop came 885. I moved in for 435, and it folded to the big stack who thought for a bit, and decided to call!!! The only problem was he flipped over 99!! DOH! I thanked everyone for the game and grabbed my jacket, and a 7 peeled off on the turn!!! No 9 came, and I was right back in it.
He was eliminated soon thereafter going in blind with J6 against Long's AQ. I had 7's again, and called his all-in, but Long pushed me out with a re-raise to 400. I questioned him on it at the time, but my 7's would've been no good as he flopped a J and Long turned an A.
Now we were down to 3. Long, myself, and the owner of the house who was...drunk....Well he had at least 9 beer cans behind him. Well, this hand came up and changed alot of things.
I got KhJs and decided to raise 3x the blind to 60, we were at 10/20. Both players called and the flop came Qh9h4h. I liked my hand here as to me, I had 15 outs that would give me the best hand. 9 hearts, 3 10's and 3 K's. I checked here, hoping to get a free card but would call any modest bet. It checked to the button and he bet 200, which was a huge bet so far. With the pot laying me a little less than 2-1 and my odds being close to 55%, I made the call. The turn was the Kc. I instantly moved in now for 435, and the button began to think...and think....and think...I figured I was good now, but he waited and waited and made the call. He flipped over J6h for a flopped flush!!! Geez....well, now I was down to 7 hearts in the deck giving me a 12% chance to win. Well, the 2h came on the river, and I took out the other player as I had him covered by 50 chips. Talk about getting lucky!
Heads up now between Long and I and we traded blinds like no tomorrow, rarely seeing a flop. The last hand went a little something like this. I called on the button with J6, and Long raised me 150 more. I called because this was his standard play. I planned on taking this hand away from him later. Well, the flop came TJQ rainbow and he bet 400 and I moved in. Questionable play? Probably, but I felt it was the best move at the time. He thought about for a long time and decided to call and flipped over AJ! Wow, that whole time he thought he was beat. I guess he gives me more credit than I thought. Well, the turn was a 8h, and the river was a 6s giving me two pair and the win for the evening. I got lucky 3 times exactly when I needed to last night, and it paid off in dividends. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
NOT...the King of Clubs...
Well, quite a hefty update for today. Since our last chat, many events have taken place. Let's start with some live ring game action the night after the heads up tournament.
I went to Hall's and played for a while and had a losing session. Probably around -$30 or so in a 3/6 game. After working in the city for most of the week I was home on Wednesday and went to Eddie's game as per usual. I forget how many people he had, probably around 26 (that's the danger in me taking time off during reports, I forget details and stuff.) Actually, after checking his website, http://www.freewebs.com/lpt1 there were 26 people. Nothing really eventful happened and I made the final table, and was busted out first, coming in 10th. I seem to be having trouble in these events lately. Overall, I'm just about even in my winnings/event fees, cashing 2 times with one win. The win was $265 and I had a 3rd place for $90. So I'm +25 for this season so far. Oh well, better than being down $330.
I came home again on Friday night and ended up playing a tournament at Hall's for what reason I'm not sure. I don't know why, but it seems to me that I feel like every time I play there I feel rushed. I asked Mike to raise the chip amount to play some more solid poker as I felt like we were moving in every hand after an hour. He agreed, and we played a good game actually. I had a big hand where I had 2 black aces 2 off the button. With the blinds at 75/150, I raised to 525, and Hall just called, but looked like he wanted to raise. I'm guessing he didn't put me on a big hand and was going to try and take it from me later. We got one other caller, a very loose guy in the SB. Flop came 3 rags with all spades. I decided to bet 2/3 of what Hall had left so he had no choice but to push in if he wanted to call. He pushed in and I called. Hall showed QsQh. I had him down to the last 2 queens because of my As. No help for him, and Hall made an early exit. I made it down to the final 4, and was knocked out after my 6's did not hold up against AJ.
Now on to Tuesday of this week. I did not go to Hall's season tournament because I don't like the idea of paying extra money that I can't compete for later in the freeroll as I am not available for the whole season. (Run on sentence maybe?) Instead, Simpson brought me to a new game in Bohemia that is detailed on http://www.tieds.com/pn. I had a hard time adjusting to the game and the way that it was run. In my opinion, they took the action out of the game, by increasing the blinds when they felt like it instead of at predetermined times. I got bored and antsy about 2.5 hours sitting through and bluffed off alot of chips with KJ and someone called on the river with A2 for top pair but no kicker. The horror was that as he was calling he said "I know I'm beat." I don't know why you would put money into a pot if you "knew you were beat." That's just assinine to me, I don't mind anyone calling me down, but don't say you're beaten as you do it.
I left there and went to Hall's 3/6 game around 11:30. I sat down and was stuck about $84 out of my $100 buy in in about an hour. I then went on a run of cards like you wouldn't believe and went from having $14 to $245 at my highest peak. I had KK and the flop came K33, and I couldn't get any action. But my good hands held up most of the night, and I was able to get paid off most of the time. I went down to even for the night, and thought about cashing out. I decided to stay however, and ran my stack up to $180 and cashed out.
Now....Eddie's last night. Well, I ran well in the tournament and the field was pretty deep, 29 players. I got Aces in the first level of the tournament and there was a raise before me to 250. I decided to smooth call it in MP with hopes of action before me to build a pot. This being the relatively smart game it is, people respected the action, and got out of the way. Flop came KQ7 rainbow. He led out 200 and I thought about a good amount I could get out of him, but the KQ scared me as this was the only 2 pair I could see him having if he had me beat. I decided to find out and raise it to 600. He eventually folded, and he asked the dealer to run out the cards. He was happy to see the 10 on the river and said he would've won, so I assume he had AJ. Good way to win that pot when I did.
I then ran into the force that is Joline, Eddie's girlfriend at the table. She has an uncanny way of getting a huge amount of chips early on in a tournament, and where was she? Directly to my left. She lost a couple of big pots by calling all ins with AJ when she was dominated and other assorted situations. So, I think mentally she decided her only move was all in. However, I didn't find this out until I opened 2 pots with a 3-4x raise, and she went over the top for like 15x more. I had to wait for a hand where I could trap her into doing this again, but I literally could not pick up a hand until we made a final table.
So down to the final 10, I have 5500 with the blinds at 300/600 with a 100 ante. It's costing me 1900 this orbit alone, and the blinds are going up to 400/800 in 6 minutes. I have to double up or go home. I basically just want to find an Ace and move in. Well, it didn't take long. Sof went out in 10th place after having a nice stack and getting decimated by Eddie in a hand before and losing with his JJ the very next hand. Down to 9, I found an A in MP. There were 2 folders and I saw the Ac, and didn't look at the next one, ala Doyle on the WSOP freeroll. I moved in for 4800 and got a short stack of 600 and another short stack of 2000 to call me. Now Joline, my archnemesis in the BB, goes all in!!!! We all flip over and short stack #1 has A2o. Short stack #2 has A10o. I have A4c...well...er...they're suited...and Joline?? Well of course she was KK! The flop comes 993 with 2 clubs!! I couldn't ask for a better flop, cause I'm dead to any A. I scream for a club, but NOT the King of Clubs. Well, almost like I had asked for it to appear, the turn was the Kc, and I nearly lost it. I was dead to her full house. I left in 7th place because of all the short stacks, I had the most chips. What I didn't like was that there were people below me on the stat sheet who will now catch up to me and now my ranking is perhaps in jeopardy. Well, that's all for me. I'm going to Simpson's friend's crazy game tonight. I have to make a better showing this time. Later!
Well, quite a hefty update for today. Since our last chat, many events have taken place. Let's start with some live ring game action the night after the heads up tournament.
I went to Hall's and played for a while and had a losing session. Probably around -$30 or so in a 3/6 game. After working in the city for most of the week I was home on Wednesday and went to Eddie's game as per usual. I forget how many people he had, probably around 26 (that's the danger in me taking time off during reports, I forget details and stuff.) Actually, after checking his website, http://www.freewebs.com/lpt1 there were 26 people. Nothing really eventful happened and I made the final table, and was busted out first, coming in 10th. I seem to be having trouble in these events lately. Overall, I'm just about even in my winnings/event fees, cashing 2 times with one win. The win was $265 and I had a 3rd place for $90. So I'm +25 for this season so far. Oh well, better than being down $330.
I came home again on Friday night and ended up playing a tournament at Hall's for what reason I'm not sure. I don't know why, but it seems to me that I feel like every time I play there I feel rushed. I asked Mike to raise the chip amount to play some more solid poker as I felt like we were moving in every hand after an hour. He agreed, and we played a good game actually. I had a big hand where I had 2 black aces 2 off the button. With the blinds at 75/150, I raised to 525, and Hall just called, but looked like he wanted to raise. I'm guessing he didn't put me on a big hand and was going to try and take it from me later. We got one other caller, a very loose guy in the SB. Flop came 3 rags with all spades. I decided to bet 2/3 of what Hall had left so he had no choice but to push in if he wanted to call. He pushed in and I called. Hall showed QsQh. I had him down to the last 2 queens because of my As. No help for him, and Hall made an early exit. I made it down to the final 4, and was knocked out after my 6's did not hold up against AJ.
Now on to Tuesday of this week. I did not go to Hall's season tournament because I don't like the idea of paying extra money that I can't compete for later in the freeroll as I am not available for the whole season. (Run on sentence maybe?) Instead, Simpson brought me to a new game in Bohemia that is detailed on http://www.tieds.com/pn. I had a hard time adjusting to the game and the way that it was run. In my opinion, they took the action out of the game, by increasing the blinds when they felt like it instead of at predetermined times. I got bored and antsy about 2.5 hours sitting through and bluffed off alot of chips with KJ and someone called on the river with A2 for top pair but no kicker. The horror was that as he was calling he said "I know I'm beat." I don't know why you would put money into a pot if you "knew you were beat." That's just assinine to me, I don't mind anyone calling me down, but don't say you're beaten as you do it.
I left there and went to Hall's 3/6 game around 11:30. I sat down and was stuck about $84 out of my $100 buy in in about an hour. I then went on a run of cards like you wouldn't believe and went from having $14 to $245 at my highest peak. I had KK and the flop came K33, and I couldn't get any action. But my good hands held up most of the night, and I was able to get paid off most of the time. I went down to even for the night, and thought about cashing out. I decided to stay however, and ran my stack up to $180 and cashed out.
Now....Eddie's last night. Well, I ran well in the tournament and the field was pretty deep, 29 players. I got Aces in the first level of the tournament and there was a raise before me to 250. I decided to smooth call it in MP with hopes of action before me to build a pot. This being the relatively smart game it is, people respected the action, and got out of the way. Flop came KQ7 rainbow. He led out 200 and I thought about a good amount I could get out of him, but the KQ scared me as this was the only 2 pair I could see him having if he had me beat. I decided to find out and raise it to 600. He eventually folded, and he asked the dealer to run out the cards. He was happy to see the 10 on the river and said he would've won, so I assume he had AJ. Good way to win that pot when I did.
I then ran into the force that is Joline, Eddie's girlfriend at the table. She has an uncanny way of getting a huge amount of chips early on in a tournament, and where was she? Directly to my left. She lost a couple of big pots by calling all ins with AJ when she was dominated and other assorted situations. So, I think mentally she decided her only move was all in. However, I didn't find this out until I opened 2 pots with a 3-4x raise, and she went over the top for like 15x more. I had to wait for a hand where I could trap her into doing this again, but I literally could not pick up a hand until we made a final table.
So down to the final 10, I have 5500 with the blinds at 300/600 with a 100 ante. It's costing me 1900 this orbit alone, and the blinds are going up to 400/800 in 6 minutes. I have to double up or go home. I basically just want to find an Ace and move in. Well, it didn't take long. Sof went out in 10th place after having a nice stack and getting decimated by Eddie in a hand before and losing with his JJ the very next hand. Down to 9, I found an A in MP. There were 2 folders and I saw the Ac, and didn't look at the next one, ala Doyle on the WSOP freeroll. I moved in for 4800 and got a short stack of 600 and another short stack of 2000 to call me. Now Joline, my archnemesis in the BB, goes all in!!!! We all flip over and short stack #1 has A2o. Short stack #2 has A10o. I have A4c...well...er...they're suited...and Joline?? Well of course she was KK! The flop comes 993 with 2 clubs!! I couldn't ask for a better flop, cause I'm dead to any A. I scream for a club, but NOT the King of Clubs. Well, almost like I had asked for it to appear, the turn was the Kc, and I nearly lost it. I was dead to her full house. I left in 7th place because of all the short stacks, I had the most chips. What I didn't like was that there were people below me on the stat sheet who will now catch up to me and now my ranking is perhaps in jeopardy. Well, that's all for me. I'm going to Simpson's friend's crazy game tonight. I have to make a better showing this time. Later!
Friday, March 25, 2005
Heads Up Tournament, and some reckless play...
I drew Dennis in the first round of the Heads Up tournament. The brackets were:
Dennis/Gregg
Long/Lehman
Tieds/Moneymaker
Simpson/Dycka
I had said going in that our match would be the longest. I would think that the Simpson/Dycka match would be long too, and most people were done within 40 min. But not us...nope, we played for just over 2 hours! It was grueling, and Dennis is a tough opponent as he bluffs a hell of alot more in heads up, I guess you have to. I hit a couple of rough spots early on and lost confidence and was done about 700 chips. I then went on a spree of 2 pair flops and nut draws that developed and worked my way to be up 50 chips.
It was then that Dennis slowed down finally and I got to play my game, or at least control how it would be played. As long as I stayed patient I was sure that I could win this game. I eventually raised 4x the BB 7 hands in a row, regardless of what I had and wore him down until he came back at me preflop one hand and I had Q9. I called his raise this time and the flop came A94. I checked, he went all in, and I called. He said "oh...shit" and that's when I knew it was pretty much over. He had J8 i believe and almost hit runner runner straight, but did not.
I then played Long and was quite frankly tired. We battled back and forth, and I set the tone early with my aggressiveness. Against Long, I think you have to because he loves to push chips around when he has them. I turned a straight against him and went all in on the river after he raised my bet. I bet 250, and he raised to 700. I could have MAYBE gotten a little more out of him, but the play looked too strong in retrospect.
I got 99 and won a nice pot, and out of nowhere, I seemed to lose a lot of chips. I don't even know how it happened, but he must have chipped away at me, and I didn't even realize it. I guess calling too many preflop raises and folding when I miss. He raised typically preflop and I had AK. I decided not to go all in, but raise 700 more. He called, and the flop came all spades with no picture cards. I had no spades but pushed all in, and he called instantly with A6s for the nuts. I was drawing dead and that was it.
I then jumped into the NL cash game which was .25/.25 blinds and a max buyin of $20. I played almost every hand and actually won some of them, but for the most part I was the big loser. I just couldn't focus on the game when a raise preflop was cheaper than the BB for the game I usually play. But Tieds was right, and by calling that many hands, I wasn't leaving myself enough to play after the flop for the most part. Oh well, these things happen.
I drew Dennis in the first round of the Heads Up tournament. The brackets were:
Dennis/Gregg
Long/Lehman
Tieds/Moneymaker
Simpson/Dycka
I had said going in that our match would be the longest. I would think that the Simpson/Dycka match would be long too, and most people were done within 40 min. But not us...nope, we played for just over 2 hours! It was grueling, and Dennis is a tough opponent as he bluffs a hell of alot more in heads up, I guess you have to. I hit a couple of rough spots early on and lost confidence and was done about 700 chips. I then went on a spree of 2 pair flops and nut draws that developed and worked my way to be up 50 chips.
It was then that Dennis slowed down finally and I got to play my game, or at least control how it would be played. As long as I stayed patient I was sure that I could win this game. I eventually raised 4x the BB 7 hands in a row, regardless of what I had and wore him down until he came back at me preflop one hand and I had Q9. I called his raise this time and the flop came A94. I checked, he went all in, and I called. He said "oh...shit" and that's when I knew it was pretty much over. He had J8 i believe and almost hit runner runner straight, but did not.
I then played Long and was quite frankly tired. We battled back and forth, and I set the tone early with my aggressiveness. Against Long, I think you have to because he loves to push chips around when he has them. I turned a straight against him and went all in on the river after he raised my bet. I bet 250, and he raised to 700. I could have MAYBE gotten a little more out of him, but the play looked too strong in retrospect.
I got 99 and won a nice pot, and out of nowhere, I seemed to lose a lot of chips. I don't even know how it happened, but he must have chipped away at me, and I didn't even realize it. I guess calling too many preflop raises and folding when I miss. He raised typically preflop and I had AK. I decided not to go all in, but raise 700 more. He called, and the flop came all spades with no picture cards. I had no spades but pushed all in, and he called instantly with A6s for the nuts. I was drawing dead and that was it.
I then jumped into the NL cash game which was .25/.25 blinds and a max buyin of $20. I played almost every hand and actually won some of them, but for the most part I was the big loser. I just couldn't focus on the game when a raise preflop was cheaper than the BB for the game I usually play. But Tieds was right, and by calling that many hands, I wasn't leaving myself enough to play after the flop for the most part. Oh well, these things happen.
Heads Up Tournament, and some reckless play...
I drew Dennis in the first round of the Heads Up tournament. The brackets were:
Dennis/Gregg
Long/Lehman
Tieds/Moneymaker
Simpson/Dycka
I had said going in that our match would be the longest. I would think that the Simpson/Dycka match would be long too, and most people were done within 40 min. But not us...nope, we played for just over 2 hours! It was grueling, and Dennis is a tough opponent as he bluffs a hell of alot more in heads up, I guess you have to. I hit a couple of rough spots early on and lost confidence and was done about 700 chips. I then went on a spree of 2 pair flops and nut draws that developed and worked my way to be up 50 chips.
It was then that Dennis slowed down finally and I got to play my game, or at least control how it would be played. As long as I stayed patient I was sure that I could win this game. I eventually raised 4x the BB 7 hands in a row, regardless of what I had and wore him down until he came back at me preflop one hand and I had Q9. I called his raise this time and the flop came A94. I checked, he went all in, and I called. He said "oh...shit" and that's when I knew it was pretty much over. He had J8 i believe and almost hit runner runner straight, but did not.
I then played Long and was quite frankly tired. We battled back and forth, and I set the tone early with my aggressiveness. Against Long, I think you have to because he loves to push chips around when he has them. I turned a straight against him and went all in on the river after he raised my bet. I bet 250, and he raised to 700. I could have MAYBE gotten a little more out of him, but the play looked too strong in retrospect.
I got 99 and won a nice pot, and out of nowhere, I seemed to lose a lot of chips. I don't even know how it happened, but he must have chipped away at me, and I didn't even realize it. I guess calling too many preflop raises and folding when I miss. He raised typically preflop and I had AK. I decided not to go all in, but raise 700 more. He called, and the flop came all spades with no picture cards. I had no spades but pushed all in, and he called instantly with A6s for the nuts. I was drawing dead and that was it.
I then jumped into the NL cash game which was .25/.25 blinds and a max buyin of $20. I played almost every hand and actually won some of them, but for the most part I was the big loser. I just couldn't focus on the game when a raise preflop was cheaper than the BB for the game I usually play. But Tieds was right, and by calling that many hands, I wasn't leaving myself enough to play after the flop for the most part. Oh well, these things happen.
I drew Dennis in the first round of the Heads Up tournament. The brackets were:
Dennis/Gregg
Long/Lehman
Tieds/Moneymaker
Simpson/Dycka
I had said going in that our match would be the longest. I would think that the Simpson/Dycka match would be long too, and most people were done within 40 min. But not us...nope, we played for just over 2 hours! It was grueling, and Dennis is a tough opponent as he bluffs a hell of alot more in heads up, I guess you have to. I hit a couple of rough spots early on and lost confidence and was done about 700 chips. I then went on a spree of 2 pair flops and nut draws that developed and worked my way to be up 50 chips.
It was then that Dennis slowed down finally and I got to play my game, or at least control how it would be played. As long as I stayed patient I was sure that I could win this game. I eventually raised 4x the BB 7 hands in a row, regardless of what I had and wore him down until he came back at me preflop one hand and I had Q9. I called his raise this time and the flop came A94. I checked, he went all in, and I called. He said "oh...shit" and that's when I knew it was pretty much over. He had J8 i believe and almost hit runner runner straight, but did not.
I then played Long and was quite frankly tired. We battled back and forth, and I set the tone early with my aggressiveness. Against Long, I think you have to because he loves to push chips around when he has them. I turned a straight against him and went all in on the river after he raised my bet. I bet 250, and he raised to 700. I could have MAYBE gotten a little more out of him, but the play looked too strong in retrospect.
I got 99 and won a nice pot, and out of nowhere, I seemed to lose a lot of chips. I don't even know how it happened, but he must have chipped away at me, and I didn't even realize it. I guess calling too many preflop raises and folding when I miss. He raised typically preflop and I had AK. I decided not to go all in, but raise 700 more. He called, and the flop came all spades with no picture cards. I had no spades but pushed all in, and he called instantly with A6s for the nuts. I was drawing dead and that was it.
I then jumped into the NL cash game which was .25/.25 blinds and a max buyin of $20. I played almost every hand and actually won some of them, but for the most part I was the big loser. I just couldn't focus on the game when a raise preflop was cheaper than the BB for the game I usually play. But Tieds was right, and by calling that many hands, I wasn't leaving myself enough to play after the flop for the most part. Oh well, these things happen.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Ahhhh, the swings
Part 2 of what I started last week but never finished. Later that night, Karen and I decided to play craps. Well, I've decided that I don't really like or hate this game. When I win, I love it, when I lose, I hate it with a passion. One of the fastest ways to lose $100 and your confidence all in one. The dice passed ONCE while we were there, and they crapped out 5 times out of 7 before a point was thrown. So, we decided to play some blackjack. Admittedly, these are not my games, but Karen feels more comfortable playing them, so I obliged. All in all, down $100 in less than 30 min. Not good.
I go off to a 7 handed NL table with $250, and Karen goes up to bed. First hand I pick up is in the 4th hand I see. 2 black Aces. I raise it to $12 preflop, and actually get a re-raise from 2 seats down to $24. It passes back to me, and I don't even fuck around, moving one stack of nickles to the center for $100. He knows what I have and flips over 2 black 7's. I show as well.
Granted, this is not the best way I could've played this hand, but god forbid he hits a set and all undercards, I'm gonna lose a fortune.
Next rotation, I get QQ, and raise to $12 again. I get 4 callers this time. Flop comes Jc9h2c, and it's first to me. I bet $25 and get a raiser from the seat next to me up to $50. It passes back to me and I call, putting him on KJ. Now watch what a retard I develop into. The 4d comes on the turn, and I check. He bets $60, and with the best hand I JUST call. I should've gone all in as the pot was about $220 now. The Kc comes on the river, completing the flush and my imaginary 2 pair. We both check, and he shows KdJh. I lost about $130 in that hand, and could've won $220 right there on the turn, but I played it like an idiot, and quite frankly, deserved to lose.
Another hand, I flopped top two pair on a board of 467 with 67d in the BB, and lost to bottom set from the button. Another killer. I even got all my chips in with A9 on the flop for like $16 and hit top pair, but another guy flopped a straight. It was just one of those nights.
I get back to NY, and hit up Hall's 3/6 game on Friday night, and make $130 in a pretty short time. No game on Saturday, and I go back on Sunday for the NL at night. I make another $150 and I'm close to even for the week. Then Tuesday, after the tournament, I play a little 3/6 and see the biggest pot I've ever seen in that limit, the pot was $300+! Was I involved? Hell yeah!
I get 44 (a hand I would get a total of 5 times that night) and there's a preflop raise and I'm in the cutoff. The button is quite conservative and I figure he'll fold, thus giving me the button. I call the raise and Mike Hall in the BB 3 bets it. The original raiser caps it, and since there's 6 people in, I'm getting a good price to flop my set. The flop comes 4d6c7h. It gets bet by Hall, raised by the original raiser, call call, and I 3 bet it. Casey who is by far the tightest player at the table, cold calls the 3 bets and it gets capped around. A 3d comes off on the turn, and it's bet and 3 bet by the time it gets to me! Hmmmm, someone snuck in with A5 I'm guessing. I call, hoping to pair the board on the river, and the 2c comes off. I get checkraised into paying off 2 bets on the river and Maltese has A5 and Casey of all people got involved in the hand with J5d. He did turn a flush draw though. They chopped it up and got $150+ each. That kind of killed me and I never recovered, leaving down $100.
Eddie's on Wednesday night was a joke. I got there 20 min late, and never made it past the 2nd level. I played 7s9s to see a cheap flop and checked then folded. I raised with A9 on the button after everyone passed to me, and the BB went all in for 1700 more. No thanks. My last hand I called a raise with Ad9s. The flop came KdTd8d. The pot was 1200 and checked to me and I was last to act. I bet 800 and got one caller in the SB who is very conservative. The As came on the turn and he checked, I bet 1200 not leaving me much more, about 625 to be exact, making it look like I had a good hand but not going all in. He put me all in right away, and I called with the nut draw and top pair. He had QdJs for the nut straight. No diamond, and I was gone in the blink of an eye. At least my car was still warm.....
Part 2 of what I started last week but never finished. Later that night, Karen and I decided to play craps. Well, I've decided that I don't really like or hate this game. When I win, I love it, when I lose, I hate it with a passion. One of the fastest ways to lose $100 and your confidence all in one. The dice passed ONCE while we were there, and they crapped out 5 times out of 7 before a point was thrown. So, we decided to play some blackjack. Admittedly, these are not my games, but Karen feels more comfortable playing them, so I obliged. All in all, down $100 in less than 30 min. Not good.
I go off to a 7 handed NL table with $250, and Karen goes up to bed. First hand I pick up is in the 4th hand I see. 2 black Aces. I raise it to $12 preflop, and actually get a re-raise from 2 seats down to $24. It passes back to me, and I don't even fuck around, moving one stack of nickles to the center for $100. He knows what I have and flips over 2 black 7's. I show as well.
Granted, this is not the best way I could've played this hand, but god forbid he hits a set and all undercards, I'm gonna lose a fortune.
Next rotation, I get QQ, and raise to $12 again. I get 4 callers this time. Flop comes Jc9h2c, and it's first to me. I bet $25 and get a raiser from the seat next to me up to $50. It passes back to me and I call, putting him on KJ. Now watch what a retard I develop into. The 4d comes on the turn, and I check. He bets $60, and with the best hand I JUST call. I should've gone all in as the pot was about $220 now. The Kc comes on the river, completing the flush and my imaginary 2 pair. We both check, and he shows KdJh. I lost about $130 in that hand, and could've won $220 right there on the turn, but I played it like an idiot, and quite frankly, deserved to lose.
Another hand, I flopped top two pair on a board of 467 with 67d in the BB, and lost to bottom set from the button. Another killer. I even got all my chips in with A9 on the flop for like $16 and hit top pair, but another guy flopped a straight. It was just one of those nights.
I get back to NY, and hit up Hall's 3/6 game on Friday night, and make $130 in a pretty short time. No game on Saturday, and I go back on Sunday for the NL at night. I make another $150 and I'm close to even for the week. Then Tuesday, after the tournament, I play a little 3/6 and see the biggest pot I've ever seen in that limit, the pot was $300+! Was I involved? Hell yeah!
I get 44 (a hand I would get a total of 5 times that night) and there's a preflop raise and I'm in the cutoff. The button is quite conservative and I figure he'll fold, thus giving me the button. I call the raise and Mike Hall in the BB 3 bets it. The original raiser caps it, and since there's 6 people in, I'm getting a good price to flop my set. The flop comes 4d6c7h. It gets bet by Hall, raised by the original raiser, call call, and I 3 bet it. Casey who is by far the tightest player at the table, cold calls the 3 bets and it gets capped around. A 3d comes off on the turn, and it's bet and 3 bet by the time it gets to me! Hmmmm, someone snuck in with A5 I'm guessing. I call, hoping to pair the board on the river, and the 2c comes off. I get checkraised into paying off 2 bets on the river and Maltese has A5 and Casey of all people got involved in the hand with J5d. He did turn a flush draw though. They chopped it up and got $150+ each. That kind of killed me and I never recovered, leaving down $100.
Eddie's on Wednesday night was a joke. I got there 20 min late, and never made it past the 2nd level. I played 7s9s to see a cheap flop and checked then folded. I raised with A9 on the button after everyone passed to me, and the BB went all in for 1700 more. No thanks. My last hand I called a raise with Ad9s. The flop came KdTd8d. The pot was 1200 and checked to me and I was last to act. I bet 800 and got one caller in the SB who is very conservative. The As came on the turn and he checked, I bet 1200 not leaving me much more, about 625 to be exact, making it look like I had a good hand but not going all in. He put me all in right away, and I called with the nut draw and top pair. He had QdJs for the nut straight. No diamond, and I was gone in the blink of an eye. At least my car was still warm.....
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
After starting my new job in the city last night, I decided to take Karen down to Atlantic City this morning so she could get to her 2pm show. I hit up the NL tables of course, and went on the coldest streak of cards I've hit in a while. Actually, I've been cold decked for the past 10 days, and granted in the grand scheme of things, I have to accept it, it's just a part of the game. I only won 2 pots in 3 hours and those I completely bluffed at with K high both times on the flop after I got in fairly cheap in multiway pots.
After that, I was down about $50, and Karen got back from the show to sweat some action, and brought a friend who I haven't seen in about a year and a half. When they got there, I picked up some hands. I got 99 and raised and got one caller, the BB. Flop came 744. He check/called me 2x and then I checked on the river too, and he had 88! He had me nervous for a bit.
Same thing happened later with TT. I caught a flop 9 high and he check called me all the way down again, and I never saw his cards. By now I was up $96. I probably should have left but Karen said she was going to go to the room, come back and we'd get some dinner. I'm starting to believe in good luck and karma because as soon as she left, I got A10 in the BB and the pot was unraised with 5 players. The flop came T75. I bet $10, 1 caller. This guy was a crazy Asian guy who had a Scotty Nguyen-like attitude. He called and the board paired 5's. I bet $20 and he called again and did a little dance with his arms in his seats, pretty funny. Another 7 peeled off on the river, and I checked, and he said "no, no more checks, I bet $40." He then proceeded to say that we had the same hand and he's like "i have a 10" blah blah blah. I decided to call and he flipped over J7. Oh well, lost $70 in the hand. Overall, after a few more beats, I was down $25 and went to dinner. More info later as I go back for my next session.
After that, I was down about $50, and Karen got back from the show to sweat some action, and brought a friend who I haven't seen in about a year and a half. When they got there, I picked up some hands. I got 99 and raised and got one caller, the BB. Flop came 744. He check/called me 2x and then I checked on the river too, and he had 88! He had me nervous for a bit.
Same thing happened later with TT. I caught a flop 9 high and he check called me all the way down again, and I never saw his cards. By now I was up $96. I probably should have left but Karen said she was going to go to the room, come back and we'd get some dinner. I'm starting to believe in good luck and karma because as soon as she left, I got A10 in the BB and the pot was unraised with 5 players. The flop came T75. I bet $10, 1 caller. This guy was a crazy Asian guy who had a Scotty Nguyen-like attitude. He called and the board paired 5's. I bet $20 and he called again and did a little dance with his arms in his seats, pretty funny. Another 7 peeled off on the river, and I checked, and he said "no, no more checks, I bet $40." He then proceeded to say that we had the same hand and he's like "i have a 10" blah blah blah. I decided to call and he flipped over J7. Oh well, lost $70 in the hand. Overall, after a few more beats, I was down $25 and went to dinner. More info later as I go back for my next session.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
I got called in to play drums as a sub for a show last night in Smithtown. The show went well, and afterwards I went to Hall's for a little 3/6 action. It was 2 rounds of Hold em, and 1 round of Omaha high. After 20 min, I was up $105.
In Omaha, I had Ad6d8c5h in the BB. I checked in a 5 way pot and the flop came 8s8d5s. Having to check my cards as did everyone, I made sure I had top full house and the SB bet. I raised and everyone called. The Kh came on the turn, I bet again, and everyone called. I cried out "NO SPADE" on the river and the beautiful 6s came off the deck. The SB then bet out, and I thought about it for a minute, then realized I had an even better full house now and raised. Everyone folded and he called with As2s for the nut flush. While I would have liked if he got there on the turn, at least he got there and gave me 2BB on the end.
Same rotation, I picked up AKQT. I limped in from the cutoff and Pete raised on the button. 4 others called, as did I and we saw a flop of J96 rainbow. Gregg bet out in the SB and was raised by a MP player, Bill. I called the 2 bets and Pete did as well and Gregg. The turn was the Ks giving me the nuts right now. Gregg bet again, Bill raised, and I 3 bet it. Gregg capped it and Bill called the cap as did I. The 2h came on the river and Gregg bet again, and Bill raised, I 3 bet it and Gregg capped it. I expected a 3 way chop, but it was only 2 ways, as Gregg and I had the QT. Bill had flopped top set with JJ. It was a $220 that was chopped up, probably the biggest I've seen in a 3/6 game.
Well, I lost some pots here and there too. Bad preflop calls and chasing too much, so I got up and got a drink and came back to the table. All in all, I was up $40 when I left and I played for 3 hours for a profit of about 2.2BB/hr. I approve.
In Omaha, I had Ad6d8c5h in the BB. I checked in a 5 way pot and the flop came 8s8d5s. Having to check my cards as did everyone, I made sure I had top full house and the SB bet. I raised and everyone called. The Kh came on the turn, I bet again, and everyone called. I cried out "NO SPADE" on the river and the beautiful 6s came off the deck. The SB then bet out, and I thought about it for a minute, then realized I had an even better full house now and raised. Everyone folded and he called with As2s for the nut flush. While I would have liked if he got there on the turn, at least he got there and gave me 2BB on the end.
Same rotation, I picked up AKQT. I limped in from the cutoff and Pete raised on the button. 4 others called, as did I and we saw a flop of J96 rainbow. Gregg bet out in the SB and was raised by a MP player, Bill. I called the 2 bets and Pete did as well and Gregg. The turn was the Ks giving me the nuts right now. Gregg bet again, Bill raised, and I 3 bet it. Gregg capped it and Bill called the cap as did I. The 2h came on the river and Gregg bet again, and Bill raised, I 3 bet it and Gregg capped it. I expected a 3 way chop, but it was only 2 ways, as Gregg and I had the QT. Bill had flopped top set with JJ. It was a $220 that was chopped up, probably the biggest I've seen in a 3/6 game.
Well, I lost some pots here and there too. Bad preflop calls and chasing too much, so I got up and got a drink and came back to the table. All in all, I was up $40 when I left and I played for 3 hours for a profit of about 2.2BB/hr. I approve.
Friday, March 04, 2005
Well, since the last posting some 2 weeks ago about, I've been playing quite a bit of poker. I've been to Eddie's twice, Hall's a bunch of times, and the SPT championship event. Where do I begin? I guess from the beginning.
Starting with Eddie's after my last post, I busted out early when I made a huge bluff for a huge pot and I got called by bottom set. Good trap on the other guy's part. The following week I went to see 2 shows in NYC. Saw Wicked at 2PM then saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at 8PM. Having seen Wicked before, I realized that I didn't really need to go see it again, although I love the show. DRS though was quite a surprise. Much funnier than I imagined it to be, and I was thoroughly entertained the entire time. Look for it to be nominated for some Tonys in June.
There have been some cash games at Hall's as well, mostly 3/6 limit. I had a couple of losing sessions in the game at about $10-$20 at a clip, and then an $11-$25 profit here and there was well. It's funny how people view the game and if they don't make $100 dollars when they only start with $60, the view it as a loss, or just poor. The times where I made $20 bux in 3 hours, I was slightly better than average when you think about it, I was thrilled, and considered it to be a successful day.
I seem to be on somewhat of a good roll in the month of February. I made a nice comeback to take 2nd place in the SPT overall rankings, finishing just 150 chips short of Tieds. I won the Saturday tournament, came in top 5 in the next game, and then won the Omaha 8/b tourney the following week. I showed up to deal the satellite only to gather information from who would win and how I could play against them the next night. Lehman ended up winning and my gameplan going into the Championship table was clear. Get involved in pots with Lehman and hopefully trap him as he was the most inexperienced player at the table. (Sorry Lehman, nothing personal, just strategy!) It turned out to be in my favor as I flopped the 2nd nut straight against him and trapped him for almost all his chips. Ditty finished him off the next hand with TT.
From there, I got real real lucky. I was dominated against Tieds in a hand when he called my all in with AQ and I held AT. (I believe I had AT, Tieds help me out) I ended up flopping my undercard and doubled through. I got it all in again with KQ and Ditty called with 77. Flopped a K to stay alive again. Eventually I tumbled in 3rd place when my AJ went up against Eddie's A5 and the board came 7755x. It was time for me to lose when I was in a dominant position, it was only fitting.
I then went to Hall's game and dropped around $100 at his 3/6 game. Poor poor play on my part, I should have never gone. I said that I probably wouldn't go back on Sunday for the tourament, but I showed up for the cash game at night. Not enough people decided to play a cash game, so I played a 10 person tournament, and won, beating my arch nemesis Gregg Maltese (another Gregg M).
Then I had the dreaded task of taking Karen down to Atlantic city which is like throwing Brer Rabbit in the Briar Patch. I played 1-2 NL from 11-4am on Sunday night and from 12:30-7 on Monday. I made $425 and look forward to playing again when I go down there. I bluffed a guy off a hand, but it cost me a lot to do it. The risk/reward was enticing.
I raised in the cutoff with 9Td to $15. There was a European guy who had sat down at my table and he was calling every bet cold to the turn and then usually folding. I figured I could get him in and just try to outplay him to see what happens. He called as did 1 other. With a pot of $48 the flop came J64 with 2 diamonds. The action was checked to me, and since I had a pretty tight image to people who were paying attention, I bet $35. The one player that I wanted to call, called, the other folded. The turn came a 8c, giving me an inside straight draw for 6 more outs. He checked again and with the pot at $118, I fired $60 and thankfully he folded. He asked the dealer to rabbit hunt the last card to see if he hit his draw. I said to go for it, and flipped over my cards to show my bluff. The guy was irate and played super aggressive on every hand I was in, but I showed him the nuts 3 times in a row and he paid me off every time. I flopped a straight one time when he had QQ and didn't raise preflop. Then I slowplayed my flopped set of 9's and took out his AA. All in all it was a great experience. I'll probably get my ass kicked the next time I play this game. Karma...
Then I've been back to Hall's and I won his tournament this past Tuesday for $130 payout, and then played a shorthanded $3/$6 game on Wednesday night, waiting for Karen to get home from AC. I played for about 100 min or so and won $130, or as I like to thank about it, 21.5 BB. Damn, I would've been happy being up $9 or $10 bux, but I'll take it! The game was perfect really, people raising me on the river with an underpair when I have top two, or even just top pair. He tried it on me 2x, and I just called, so every time he did it to me again, I would just 2 bet him and consider it a value bet in my mind, because he was so weak.
One hand of note: I was in the SB with ATh and it was raised by Maltese, and 3 bet by Frank. Normally I wouldn't play this hand here, but a) we were shorthanded, b) the players are weak. So I just call the 3 bet and so does Maltese and 2 others. The comes 653 with 2 hearts. Normally I don't bet out here, but the implied odds are that a)Frank will raise in the middle, thereby trapping 2 other people for 2 bets and b) if everyone just calls, I'm getting 5-1 on a draw that I'm going to get there 1 in 4 times. Sure enough, Frank does raise it up and everyone calls 2 bets, which is perfect. The Jh on the turn shows up and I think if Frank will bet this hand. I decide to not risk it and just bet. Frank raises it again! and it comes back to me and I 3 bet it and everyone calls. The 5c comes on the river to pair the board and I still bet and it's just call call call call. I show my nut flush and everyone folds, but Frank says he had 88. Wow what a pot. As my friend Phil says "you just need a pulse in these easy games and people will pay you off through the nose"
Ahhh, if all days could go as well as this. I'm going to hit up the cash game tonight and then tomorrow he's spreading a 1/2 NL game. I'm interested to see how the competition is for this game. Well, that's all for now. I'll post tomorrow during work. Seacrest, out!
Starting with Eddie's after my last post, I busted out early when I made a huge bluff for a huge pot and I got called by bottom set. Good trap on the other guy's part. The following week I went to see 2 shows in NYC. Saw Wicked at 2PM then saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at 8PM. Having seen Wicked before, I realized that I didn't really need to go see it again, although I love the show. DRS though was quite a surprise. Much funnier than I imagined it to be, and I was thoroughly entertained the entire time. Look for it to be nominated for some Tonys in June.
There have been some cash games at Hall's as well, mostly 3/6 limit. I had a couple of losing sessions in the game at about $10-$20 at a clip, and then an $11-$25 profit here and there was well. It's funny how people view the game and if they don't make $100 dollars when they only start with $60, the view it as a loss, or just poor. The times where I made $20 bux in 3 hours, I was slightly better than average when you think about it, I was thrilled, and considered it to be a successful day.
I seem to be on somewhat of a good roll in the month of February. I made a nice comeback to take 2nd place in the SPT overall rankings, finishing just 150 chips short of Tieds. I won the Saturday tournament, came in top 5 in the next game, and then won the Omaha 8/b tourney the following week. I showed up to deal the satellite only to gather information from who would win and how I could play against them the next night. Lehman ended up winning and my gameplan going into the Championship table was clear. Get involved in pots with Lehman and hopefully trap him as he was the most inexperienced player at the table. (Sorry Lehman, nothing personal, just strategy!) It turned out to be in my favor as I flopped the 2nd nut straight against him and trapped him for almost all his chips. Ditty finished him off the next hand with TT.
From there, I got real real lucky. I was dominated against Tieds in a hand when he called my all in with AQ and I held AT. (I believe I had AT, Tieds help me out) I ended up flopping my undercard and doubled through. I got it all in again with KQ and Ditty called with 77. Flopped a K to stay alive again. Eventually I tumbled in 3rd place when my AJ went up against Eddie's A5 and the board came 7755x. It was time for me to lose when I was in a dominant position, it was only fitting.
I then went to Hall's game and dropped around $100 at his 3/6 game. Poor poor play on my part, I should have never gone. I said that I probably wouldn't go back on Sunday for the tourament, but I showed up for the cash game at night. Not enough people decided to play a cash game, so I played a 10 person tournament, and won, beating my arch nemesis Gregg Maltese (another Gregg M).
Then I had the dreaded task of taking Karen down to Atlantic city which is like throwing Brer Rabbit in the Briar Patch. I played 1-2 NL from 11-4am on Sunday night and from 12:30-7 on Monday. I made $425 and look forward to playing again when I go down there. I bluffed a guy off a hand, but it cost me a lot to do it. The risk/reward was enticing.
I raised in the cutoff with 9Td to $15. There was a European guy who had sat down at my table and he was calling every bet cold to the turn and then usually folding. I figured I could get him in and just try to outplay him to see what happens. He called as did 1 other. With a pot of $48 the flop came J64 with 2 diamonds. The action was checked to me, and since I had a pretty tight image to people who were paying attention, I bet $35. The one player that I wanted to call, called, the other folded. The turn came a 8c, giving me an inside straight draw for 6 more outs. He checked again and with the pot at $118, I fired $60 and thankfully he folded. He asked the dealer to rabbit hunt the last card to see if he hit his draw. I said to go for it, and flipped over my cards to show my bluff. The guy was irate and played super aggressive on every hand I was in, but I showed him the nuts 3 times in a row and he paid me off every time. I flopped a straight one time when he had QQ and didn't raise preflop. Then I slowplayed my flopped set of 9's and took out his AA. All in all it was a great experience. I'll probably get my ass kicked the next time I play this game. Karma...
Then I've been back to Hall's and I won his tournament this past Tuesday for $130 payout, and then played a shorthanded $3/$6 game on Wednesday night, waiting for Karen to get home from AC. I played for about 100 min or so and won $130, or as I like to thank about it, 21.5 BB. Damn, I would've been happy being up $9 or $10 bux, but I'll take it! The game was perfect really, people raising me on the river with an underpair when I have top two, or even just top pair. He tried it on me 2x, and I just called, so every time he did it to me again, I would just 2 bet him and consider it a value bet in my mind, because he was so weak.
One hand of note: I was in the SB with ATh and it was raised by Maltese, and 3 bet by Frank. Normally I wouldn't play this hand here, but a) we were shorthanded, b) the players are weak. So I just call the 3 bet and so does Maltese and 2 others. The comes 653 with 2 hearts. Normally I don't bet out here, but the implied odds are that a)Frank will raise in the middle, thereby trapping 2 other people for 2 bets and b) if everyone just calls, I'm getting 5-1 on a draw that I'm going to get there 1 in 4 times. Sure enough, Frank does raise it up and everyone calls 2 bets, which is perfect. The Jh on the turn shows up and I think if Frank will bet this hand. I decide to not risk it and just bet. Frank raises it again! and it comes back to me and I 3 bet it and everyone calls. The 5c comes on the river to pair the board and I still bet and it's just call call call call. I show my nut flush and everyone folds, but Frank says he had 88. Wow what a pot. As my friend Phil says "you just need a pulse in these easy games and people will pay you off through the nose"
Ahhh, if all days could go as well as this. I'm going to hit up the cash game tonight and then tomorrow he's spreading a 1/2 NL game. I'm interested to see how the competition is for this game. Well, that's all for now. I'll post tomorrow during work. Seacrest, out!
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
This will be a quick update for today. On Sunday, I went to Hall's. He had a $40 tournament with $20 rebuys, and an optional $20 add-on at the end of the 3rd level. I generally am not a fan of this for many reasons. 1) The loose style that people play are favorable to the better players, but it leads to flipping coins for $20 a pop, in the first hour or so. 2) By the end there are SO many chips in play that the final 3 or 4 take hours to complete because of the blinds. 3) I just think that once you're out in a tournament, you're out. Yes, it creates action and the house can take more of a cut, but I think the game is just plain different (read worse) because of the style of the game. Should you take more chances to build a stack so you don't have to addon at the end of the period? Otherwise you turn a $40 tourney into a $100 or $100+ tourney. I myself got knocked out once and got back in and then took the addon, for an $80 tournament. I thought to myself, this is ridiculous. I'm much more a fan of one buy in and for god's sake, a slow structure. Again, back to flipping coins for your entry fee. I could've done that in the parking lot with an actual coin.
But I digress...
So I had the loosest player I've ever played with to my left to start the tournament, and Dycka to my right. It always seems like we end up sitting next to each other. The rest of the table was fine. I lost an occasional pot here and there, nothing really to make a note of. Then in the 2nd level, the loose guy just keeps going all in. I assume that he knows he has to make a move before rebuys are over, but he's goin all in for like 11x the BB. I really want to get him and I find 88 in the BB and he goes all in UTG, everyone folds like usual, and I call. He flips over AK, great! now he has a hand...He flops a K and it's rebuy time. I made it to the final table after taking an add-on and have about 6Kin chips, below average by all means.
Now Dycka is to my left when we start the final table. Right off the get go, I get 10's in MP and go all in. It was for a good amount, about 10x the BB, so it was enough to hang around and play or go home. After much thinking, a smart player who I respect, Kevin, called me with AK and everyone else folded. Flop came K high. But the turn peeled off a 10, and I was right back in it with a nice double up. Dycka would later get involved in a similar spot with Kevin, who again had AK against Dycka's 44. Again Kevin flopped an A, but Dycka rivered a 4 to stay alive. He couldn't catch a break it seems in coin flips that night.
Blinds 300/600 with a 50 ante, I get JJ and re raise all in after Frank had made it 2500 to go. It folds around to the loose guy to my left at the first table. He's now down the table from me and can't decide what to do. If it was anyone else I'd be worried that he has QQ, cause he can't make a decision. But it's this guy so I put him A10 or some other hand that a guy like him can't get away from. He decides to call eventually, and Frank folds for another 10K. Frank folded 77, and the loose guy flips over 910D!!!! What a call! Well, the flop came 8K2. The turn was a 6, and now he needed 1 of the last 2 7's in the deck. Well, of course the river was a 7. I had him covered so I was able to stay around.
Then I played the biggest pussy in the game. I just waited for blinds to come around and eat other people up so I could get in the money. Eventually it worked and I ended up chopping 2nd and 3rd's prize money to take home $160. I'm sorry I don't have more hands for this time of the game, but nothing really happened with me, or really worth writing about. Another cash, and tonight I have Eddie's game that I won 2 weeks ago. Let's see if the ride continues....
But I digress...
So I had the loosest player I've ever played with to my left to start the tournament, and Dycka to my right. It always seems like we end up sitting next to each other. The rest of the table was fine. I lost an occasional pot here and there, nothing really to make a note of. Then in the 2nd level, the loose guy just keeps going all in. I assume that he knows he has to make a move before rebuys are over, but he's goin all in for like 11x the BB. I really want to get him and I find 88 in the BB and he goes all in UTG, everyone folds like usual, and I call. He flips over AK, great! now he has a hand...He flops a K and it's rebuy time. I made it to the final table after taking an add-on and have about 6Kin chips, below average by all means.
Now Dycka is to my left when we start the final table. Right off the get go, I get 10's in MP and go all in. It was for a good amount, about 10x the BB, so it was enough to hang around and play or go home. After much thinking, a smart player who I respect, Kevin, called me with AK and everyone else folded. Flop came K high. But the turn peeled off a 10, and I was right back in it with a nice double up. Dycka would later get involved in a similar spot with Kevin, who again had AK against Dycka's 44. Again Kevin flopped an A, but Dycka rivered a 4 to stay alive. He couldn't catch a break it seems in coin flips that night.
Blinds 300/600 with a 50 ante, I get JJ and re raise all in after Frank had made it 2500 to go. It folds around to the loose guy to my left at the first table. He's now down the table from me and can't decide what to do. If it was anyone else I'd be worried that he has QQ, cause he can't make a decision. But it's this guy so I put him A10 or some other hand that a guy like him can't get away from. He decides to call eventually, and Frank folds for another 10K. Frank folded 77, and the loose guy flips over 910D!!!! What a call! Well, the flop came 8K2. The turn was a 6, and now he needed 1 of the last 2 7's in the deck. Well, of course the river was a 7. I had him covered so I was able to stay around.
Then I played the biggest pussy in the game. I just waited for blinds to come around and eat other people up so I could get in the money. Eventually it worked and I ended up chopping 2nd and 3rd's prize money to take home $160. I'm sorry I don't have more hands for this time of the game, but nothing really happened with me, or really worth writing about. Another cash, and tonight I have Eddie's game that I won 2 weeks ago. Let's see if the ride continues....
Friday, February 11, 2005
Just a quick note, after sticking up for Phil Hellmuth for the past couple of years, I'm done with him. Does he still play poker? I honestly haven't read a NEW article from him on cardplayer since Tobey Maguire won his tournament. This week's article is from his book and from Foxwoods 2003!!! The past few weeks of his posting has been articles or stuff from YEARS ago against TJ, and even that was a horribly written hand. Has he not played recently and can't dwell on recent events? His lack of work ethic is terrible. Shit, even I'm doing more posting than him, granted he has a lot more bracelets.
He who makes the least mistakes...(or how to win a NL Hold 'Em tournament)
I apologize for stealing your format of title Ditty, but you stole it from Dr. Strangelove anyway.
Poker @ Ditty's last night...good times. 3 handed I had more than 1/2 the chips in play. Did I win? No. How did I lose all my chips? Well, like a good episode of Alias, let's flashback to the beginning and go over some key hands of how I amassed my chips before getting to the terrible end.
At the first table, blinds 25/50, Hall raised from MP to 175. Rich calls, and I find AQh in the BB and call as well. Flop comes Kh9h3s. I bet out 350 to take it right there and/or find out if Rich has AK. Hall just calls (a weak play imo) and Rich raises it up to 700. I decide to call because with Hall's money I've got some good odds here. Hall ended up folding. The turn is the 4h and I lead out with a weak 600 into a 2300 pot. Rich didn't bite though, and just called. I wouldn't have minded another heart on the river but the Kc came for a final board of Kh9h3s4hKc. With not much else to do I went all in with the hope that he didn't have a boat, and he had AK.
I had a side bet with Dycka that for every pot Hall and Maltese were in, if they were heads up by the turn, I would lay 2-1 that Maltese would win the pot. Unfortunatly, they only got into one pot and Hall won. I slid $2 under the table to Dycka.
Another pot, Dycka raised UTG while I was in the BB. Blinds were 50/75 and he went up to 275. I found AK in the BB and just called. I didn't want to be on the losing side of a race, out of position, and especially with the comfy stack I had. We took a flop of 10 rag rag. I checked and Dycka bet 300. I called with the hopes of pushing him off the hand on the turn. Another 10 came to pair the board, and it was decision time. Would he fold to a bet here? Would he believe that I check called top pair? I decided that this was the worst card for my previous action and decided to check again, bascially giving up on the hand. Dycka bet 300 again, a smallish bet, which I commented on, but folded. He flashed 2 rockets at me, and I felt better. That one's filed away in the mental filing cabinet.
Artem and I got involved in a hand soon after. He raised from LP and I got AJ in the BB. I wasn't re-raising alot in this game for some reason, prolly cause I didn't think I could get Artem to fold preflop. I'm not saying anything about his game, but last night he seemed to want to play alot of pots and I figured if I could get in cheaper and hit it hard, I could make more money. Anyway, the flop comes A34. I check hoping for a bet, and Artem fires out 300. I go all in for about 1275 more, and he calls instantly.....with 34o!! What a steal gone good! Well, I spiked a J on the turn, and then an A on the river.
Later on, I got pocket 10's in UTG +1 and raised it up to 4x the BB. Jack had limped in before me and called the bet. Flop came 8h9s3c. Jack checked, and I bet 800, about the size of the pot. Jack thought about it and I told him to roll the die and see what happens. He did roll and got a 20! I don't know much about it, but that's the best possible roll I believe. So he decided to call. Turn came the 7h. Even better for my hand, Jack checked again and I decided to go all in for another 2250, now that I picked up a redraw in case my hand went bad. Jack decided to call because the die had rolled a 20 previously and flipped over A6h! Now if I hit my set, I lose to a straight, and any heart beats me too. The 4s came on the river and I won a huge pot as Jack was 2nd in chips next to me at this point.
Now I sat well at about 7800 chips. Artem went on a little bit of a tear before we broke for the final table and he was sitting well also. Final table was a little tough, I enjoyed Tieds' sarcasm about the situation. I had CK and Ike to my left, Ike I've never played with. He took the place of DGlove with his methodical calls and deliberate actions. To my right, I had Artem and Bob with Tieds and Long in the middle.
No real craziness here. I ran well and got some big pots here and there. There was one hand where I may have had a winner, but I folded preflop. UTG CK raises to 925 with blinds 150/300. Long asks how much to re-raise and makes it 2K to go. I look down in the BB to find AJ. I would've played against CK, but the re-raise here makes me hate my hand. I force it into the muck. Flop comes KJ7. They both check the flop and and after a deuce hits the turn, CK checks and Long puts CK all in. CK mucks Q 9 and the more I think about it, it's very possible for Long to have QQ there.
Artem goes all in on the button and I find 88 in the SB and re-raise all in to push CK out. He folds and Artem tables A6o. No help for him and we are down another player. CK and Ike got involved in a hand as well where the action folded to them and CK went all in. Ike thought about it and decided to take a stand and call. CK has 23h and Ike has 103d. Flop comes 102x I believe. Turn is another 2. River? Case deuce. CK doubles up with 23h!!
Ike was down to about 4x the BB and I picked up ATd in the SB and planned to get him all in but Bob raises in front of me. Hmm I wanted this pot, so I call and not play back at him, but I put him on a weak ace. Flop comes JTx. With a sidepot of 400, I checked hoping that Bob wouldn't bet me out of a sidepot when a player elimination is one the line. He checked as well. I spiked an A on the river and thought about betting because I figured I'd get some action. But I did not, and I took the pot down with 2 pair, and eliminating Ike.
Eventually we are 3 handed with Long and Bob. We were really trading blinds back and forth with no real action. I got K9c on the button and decided to raise 1/2 of Long's 6K chips to see if he wanted in. I figured he's not going to call, he'll go all in or fold, and for some reason, I had a good feeling about the hand, call it intuition if you will. Long decides to go all in and Bob folds and I call. Long has 5h5s and it's race time. Flop comes Kh9hx. 2 more hearts come on the next 2 streets, and Long's flush beats my hand. 3 hands later, on the button again, I got A3o, and I went all in for 8K, a GROSS overbet on my part, but I was rattled for the first time in weeks and decided to push it in. Long didn't want to right away, but he did call with 77, and eliminated me when the flop came 232 and no more help.
About 5 hands later, Long won the whole thing. I wasn't watching the final hand because Ditty put in an awesome Ali G DVD with Borat in the Hamptons. I can't really complain except that I wish I had played the hand slower to get away from it at the end. But I hate taking stands now with 4x or 5x the BB. I wanna double up big or just stop. I think that was my problem before, I would just whittle away and not be afraid to gamble. As much skill as there is in this game, it's still gambling and you must treat it as such in certain situations. Another cash and more points to move me up the leaderboard as well. I'm very happy with the way I've been playing lately and that A3 is the real only big mistake that I've made in the last 3 weeks. Tonight, is a 2/4 game at Hall's. I'll prolly go to work on my limit game as the aquarium is fresh to be tapped.
I apologize for stealing your format of title Ditty, but you stole it from Dr. Strangelove anyway.
Poker @ Ditty's last night...good times. 3 handed I had more than 1/2 the chips in play. Did I win? No. How did I lose all my chips? Well, like a good episode of Alias, let's flashback to the beginning and go over some key hands of how I amassed my chips before getting to the terrible end.
At the first table, blinds 25/50, Hall raised from MP to 175. Rich calls, and I find AQh in the BB and call as well. Flop comes Kh9h3s. I bet out 350 to take it right there and/or find out if Rich has AK. Hall just calls (a weak play imo) and Rich raises it up to 700. I decide to call because with Hall's money I've got some good odds here. Hall ended up folding. The turn is the 4h and I lead out with a weak 600 into a 2300 pot. Rich didn't bite though, and just called. I wouldn't have minded another heart on the river but the Kc came for a final board of Kh9h3s4hKc. With not much else to do I went all in with the hope that he didn't have a boat, and he had AK.
I had a side bet with Dycka that for every pot Hall and Maltese were in, if they were heads up by the turn, I would lay 2-1 that Maltese would win the pot. Unfortunatly, they only got into one pot and Hall won. I slid $2 under the table to Dycka.
Another pot, Dycka raised UTG while I was in the BB. Blinds were 50/75 and he went up to 275. I found AK in the BB and just called. I didn't want to be on the losing side of a race, out of position, and especially with the comfy stack I had. We took a flop of 10 rag rag. I checked and Dycka bet 300. I called with the hopes of pushing him off the hand on the turn. Another 10 came to pair the board, and it was decision time. Would he fold to a bet here? Would he believe that I check called top pair? I decided that this was the worst card for my previous action and decided to check again, bascially giving up on the hand. Dycka bet 300 again, a smallish bet, which I commented on, but folded. He flashed 2 rockets at me, and I felt better. That one's filed away in the mental filing cabinet.
Artem and I got involved in a hand soon after. He raised from LP and I got AJ in the BB. I wasn't re-raising alot in this game for some reason, prolly cause I didn't think I could get Artem to fold preflop. I'm not saying anything about his game, but last night he seemed to want to play alot of pots and I figured if I could get in cheaper and hit it hard, I could make more money. Anyway, the flop comes A34. I check hoping for a bet, and Artem fires out 300. I go all in for about 1275 more, and he calls instantly.....with 34o!! What a steal gone good! Well, I spiked a J on the turn, and then an A on the river.
Later on, I got pocket 10's in UTG +1 and raised it up to 4x the BB. Jack had limped in before me and called the bet. Flop came 8h9s3c. Jack checked, and I bet 800, about the size of the pot. Jack thought about it and I told him to roll the die and see what happens. He did roll and got a 20! I don't know much about it, but that's the best possible roll I believe. So he decided to call. Turn came the 7h. Even better for my hand, Jack checked again and I decided to go all in for another 2250, now that I picked up a redraw in case my hand went bad. Jack decided to call because the die had rolled a 20 previously and flipped over A6h! Now if I hit my set, I lose to a straight, and any heart beats me too. The 4s came on the river and I won a huge pot as Jack was 2nd in chips next to me at this point.
Now I sat well at about 7800 chips. Artem went on a little bit of a tear before we broke for the final table and he was sitting well also. Final table was a little tough, I enjoyed Tieds' sarcasm about the situation. I had CK and Ike to my left, Ike I've never played with. He took the place of DGlove with his methodical calls and deliberate actions. To my right, I had Artem and Bob with Tieds and Long in the middle.
No real craziness here. I ran well and got some big pots here and there. There was one hand where I may have had a winner, but I folded preflop. UTG CK raises to 925 with blinds 150/300. Long asks how much to re-raise and makes it 2K to go. I look down in the BB to find AJ. I would've played against CK, but the re-raise here makes me hate my hand. I force it into the muck. Flop comes KJ7. They both check the flop and and after a deuce hits the turn, CK checks and Long puts CK all in. CK mucks Q 9 and the more I think about it, it's very possible for Long to have QQ there.
Artem goes all in on the button and I find 88 in the SB and re-raise all in to push CK out. He folds and Artem tables A6o. No help for him and we are down another player. CK and Ike got involved in a hand as well where the action folded to them and CK went all in. Ike thought about it and decided to take a stand and call. CK has 23h and Ike has 103d. Flop comes 102x I believe. Turn is another 2. River? Case deuce. CK doubles up with 23h!!
Ike was down to about 4x the BB and I picked up ATd in the SB and planned to get him all in but Bob raises in front of me. Hmm I wanted this pot, so I call and not play back at him, but I put him on a weak ace. Flop comes JTx. With a sidepot of 400, I checked hoping that Bob wouldn't bet me out of a sidepot when a player elimination is one the line. He checked as well. I spiked an A on the river and thought about betting because I figured I'd get some action. But I did not, and I took the pot down with 2 pair, and eliminating Ike.
Eventually we are 3 handed with Long and Bob. We were really trading blinds back and forth with no real action. I got K9c on the button and decided to raise 1/2 of Long's 6K chips to see if he wanted in. I figured he's not going to call, he'll go all in or fold, and for some reason, I had a good feeling about the hand, call it intuition if you will. Long decides to go all in and Bob folds and I call. Long has 5h5s and it's race time. Flop comes Kh9hx. 2 more hearts come on the next 2 streets, and Long's flush beats my hand. 3 hands later, on the button again, I got A3o, and I went all in for 8K, a GROSS overbet on my part, but I was rattled for the first time in weeks and decided to push it in. Long didn't want to right away, but he did call with 77, and eliminated me when the flop came 232 and no more help.
About 5 hands later, Long won the whole thing. I wasn't watching the final hand because Ditty put in an awesome Ali G DVD with Borat in the Hamptons. I can't really complain except that I wish I had played the hand slower to get away from it at the end. But I hate taking stands now with 4x or 5x the BB. I wanna double up big or just stop. I think that was my problem before, I would just whittle away and not be afraid to gamble. As much skill as there is in this game, it's still gambling and you must treat it as such in certain situations. Another cash and more points to move me up the leaderboard as well. I'm very happy with the way I've been playing lately and that A3 is the real only big mistake that I've made in the last 3 weeks. Tonight, is a 2/4 game at Hall's. I'll prolly go to work on my limit game as the aquarium is fresh to be tapped.
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