Finding the Pokerstar in me

Well, I never did get the $100 owed to me by my landlord, I did however, make a strong showing in a $5 donkament last night, placing 19th (out of 2033) for $25. Used that to play at Pot limit omaha tables (one of the reasons I moved from Bodog) and after about an hour and a half of play, I'm up $10 from those as well (at the .01/.02 pl level). Yeah, really really soft.

Me, combuboom, and kesc sat at a .01/.02 nl hold em table earlier and all left with nice profits just for the hell of it. Played a $1.20 sng just now (stt) and I blow at those, as was evidenced when I was knocked out in 8th (two pair got rivered for a big pot, so that didn't help).

Well, I've gotta finish up some homework right now, so this is a bit of a short (and late update).

I've got the hand history from the tournament, Hopefully I'll find some hands worth posting.

Well I played my first real MTT above a $2 buy in, but I basically satty'd into it witha $3 investment.

Played in the $3,000 guarunteed last night on Bodog. Got aces three times and had to come rom behind twice the whole tourney but on the whole I'm extremely proud of how I played.

Out of 337 players I eventually got 11th, which really sucked because a) I've never made a final table and b) I was knocked out by a guy who overplayed his hand a bit (In my and af ew other playes opinions at least).

Cashed for about $40 so I guess I can't complain too much. Bodog doesn't have real HH's so I can't provide any, but no worries, blog readers! I'm finally getting all my money put onto stars where I'll finally be able to use poker tracker and hopefully plug some holes in my game! The account I play on is in my brothers name so he's just going to pay me for it and I'll be depositing on to stars where I will continue to follow proper br management with some cheap sng's and $10max games. I'll probably play a few out of br MTT's every once in a while, because if I can run like I did last night, I could land a big cash (First place got $750 last night, I had just around chip average for FT when I busted).

That's all for now though folks.

Well I played some limit and sucked

Played some no limit (oops) and ruled. Up $8 for the day.

Played $500 gtd yesterday, out in 109th to a one outer for a top ten pot. Oh well

(sorry, can't type much, in a hurry)

Wow, I suck at this whole "blogging" thing.

So the last two weeks have been pretty hectic, since I've been able to spend more time with friends and have had a bit more homework, and of course some time with the lady, I didn't have TOO much time for poker.

First, the Soaring Eagle experience:

First of all: I LOVE CASINOS. I'm sitting there at the poker table (10 handed--blegh) and this guy orders a Mountain Dew from a waitress. Two hours later (and two MD's later) I ask him "When do you have to pay for that? They don't seem to be keeping track" and he said "No, it's free. Anything that isn't alcoholic is free." Re-he-heeealy. So I head straight up to the bar and get a Mountain Dew,, and that's when I learned why it was free. I took one sip and my mouth felt so dry I felt like I was in the middle of the desert. But it's ok, because they had a shitload of other pops and things like Hot chocolate that were also free.

So I left for Soaring Eagle Friday night and got to my hotel around 11. Unfortunately, Iwas alone, so it was a little empty. But I went up to my room to make sure the key worked and all (it was this indian place, not too shabby, but wanted to make sure everything was in order) and turned on the air conditioning. I left for the casino at about 11:15 (pm) and decided to just check it out for a while before going back to the hotel to sleep. I played a few slots and won like $10 on a penny slot machine. I was kind of pissed, because right after I switched over to penny credits on a video poker machine (from 25c credits) I was dealt KKKKA for like 350 credits. Then I dropped the A and was dealt a freakin' wild card for five of a kind, worth 500 credits. So instead of $125, I won $5. Good job douche.

I went up to the poker room to check it out and see how everything was organized. They were tenhanded tables. They had 1-2 nl, 5-10 nl, and 3-6 limit and 6-12 limit. Obv. I'm a nl player, and the waiting list was really short, so I decided to buy in for a while and get a feel for live poker. I got called up and went to buy the chips, and to my surprise, was asked to give the dealer $3 when I sat down. So I gave him $3 in chips and waited for the BB. I wound up folding BB and SB, so that was another $3 down, then accidentally called a raise-re-raise with 66 (Called the $15 because I thought it was one donkey raise and was hoping to flop a set). The original raiser pushed for another $40 and I naturally dropped my 6's.

So after my 3rd hand at the table, the dealer gets up and says "thanks for the tips" and all that bull, then walks away and a new dealer sits down and says "Ok, $6 from everyone please" and I said to him "..I just paid $3" and he said that they were seat fees, and that each player was required to pay $6 per half hour to play and $3 for latecomers. So I buckled down and paid the damn $6. Over the next half hour I didn't get much action (only saw 15 or so hands) but was up about to about $230, when the dealer gets up. So I thought "fuck this I'm not paying another $6 to play, I'll just save it for tomorrow." So I got up and cashed out. To my surprise, my whole three hour trip inside the casino that night never saw a security guard or even a cashier carding me. I was quite disappointed.

I went back to the hotel and turned on the WSOP ME re run that was on, and fell asleep, anxiously awaiting the next day. Woke up around 10, checked out, and went straight back to the casino.

I signed up for the waiting listfor 1-2 nl again ,and a half hour later I was seated with 6 of the shittiest players I've ever seen (one of the others was a local pro and the other two were jsut the average donk)

And I don't mean shitty because they chase draws and call down light. I mean shitty because they call down with nothing but high cards, make the most absolutely transparent plays while ON a draw, and exhibit so many false tells to the point where they are actually giving off real tells.

I bought in with $206 to pay off the dealer.

First hand of the game: I'm dealt KQs in the cut off, with 4 limpers. So I raise it up to $12 and get 3 callers (button and blinds folded, as well as the local pro). Flop comes K86. It's checked to me, and I bet $35 (a little over half of the $61 pot) and get two callers. The turn brings an absolutely beautiful card, that card being the Queen, making it a rainbow board and giving me top two pair. The first guy checks and MP bets about $45, so I figure him to have a crappy King or Queen, and I call, the other guy folds. The river brings another beautiful card, that being the deuce (which everyone LOVEs to see on the river when they're ahead on the turn), and he checked, so I pushed the rest of my chips in and he called me... with K5. I loved it. I dragged in about $467. It's going to be a good day :)

After the nice and easy double up I continued to play my planned strategy of Tag, and playing almost the same way I do at $10nl (since I heard that 10nl online is equivalent to $200nl live).

After abgout 4 hours I was up to about $800. I was having the time of my life, naturally.

Now I'll stop right here to explain a little bit about the bad beat jackpot. The jackpot was sitting at about $105,000 and some change. 25% goes to the winner of the pot, 50% goes to the loser (had to have Aces full of anything using both hole cards and lose to quads or better--also using both hole cards), and the other 25% would be evenly distributed throughout the table.

So, now that I've said that, if anyone sees Sklansky, tell that fucker he owes me about $42,000.

I was one card off the bb jackpot TWICE, once I knew I was beaten. I had a set of 6's against a very tight player who pushed $140 on the flop of A63 over my flop bet of $30. I literally said to him "I know you probably have Aces, but even then I'm getting the right odds" So, I call $140 in order to win a little over $26,000. Considering that I'm about 3% to hit my quads, it's the correct call. I only ahve to call $140 to win over $26,000, which is about .05% I only have to call this 33.3 times in order to win over $26,000. So lets do some math, shall we?

(33.3)*(140)=4662
(26k+)-(4662)=21,338+

Therefore, I have an EV of $648.70 per call that I make: (21,338)/(33.3)=648.7

Why does he owe me $42,000 then? BECAUSE IT HAPPENED TWICE!!

That's right ladies and gentleman, you read that correctly. Two times I was one card off the bad beat jackpot, and neither time did I catch it. The other time was with a set of 9's vs. a set of Aces for approx. $150 or so.

Some other sick shit that happened to me the rest of the day: Flush over flush (K-high vs. A-high) for a -$120, a beaten-on-the-flop two pair that I invested an extra $100 that I didn't need to in for -$170*, TT
*I have KJ in the sb with two limpers, I raise it up to $10 and bb+2 limpers call. Flop comes KQ9, I checked, someone bet $15, two callers, I raised to $70, and all three call (WTF???) And ehre's where I invested the extra $100 that was unnecessary.

What is calling my check raise on that flop (even with idiots..one drunk as fuck)?

No one can drop a goddamned draw of course *no flush draw*, so: AT, 8T, AJ, QJ, etc.

Sets: KK, QQ, 99

Two pair: KQ namely

MADE STRAIGHTS: JT (even though this is what my check-raise was suppose to telegraph for me)

Turn comes a Jack. Now that I look back, I'd be a total idiot for doing anything but check-folding. That's a terrible card for me. It completes just about every single straight draw. Unfortunately on the tables, I wasn't thinking like that. I bet out for $100, and the drunk guy min-raise me to $200, and BOTH THE OTHER PLAYERS CALLED ALL IN.

So I threw my cards in face up exclaiming how I probably would've still been ahead with just the Kings.

The drunk guy flips over 8T for a straight, one of the ladies shows AT for a higher straight, and the other one shows K9 (lol).

Now, I felt pretty good, even though it's a very easy fold for a lot of people, it wasn't for me because it was my first live game and I'd been getting coolered to death for the last 4 hours. So after I saw I was beat I was pretty happy, and then the river was dealt: yes, you guessed it, another jack.

Now, I know you don't get much more results oriented than this, but I was pretty pissed. That pot was easily over $1,000. Who doesn't get a LITTLe upset when they miss out on that?

By this point I'm still up about $20. So I get my chips, and say good bye to everyone. I cash out and walk around a bit to clear my head.

Now, I"m not going to detail the rest of it, because I really don't remember. Mostly justa bunch of failed c-bets and card-deadness, not to mention the $108 I paid in seat fees throughout the day in order to sit down. Left with only $40.

After I got home, I felt extremely well with how I played at SE. Not as much for the last bit, but the first few hours I played very well to get to where I was (notice another $300 or so on top of my double up).

Usually after Sunday night games with friends I'll go home pissed about a play I made where I lost the $5 tourney. But here I am on a very thought provoking 2 and a half hour drive home after losing $160, and the only thing I could think is how well I played, and how I pictured myself swimming in a sea of Sklansky bucks.

So when I got home, I was still pretty proud.

I played a 10nl session that night, and lost a buy in after about an hour in the usual coinflip AK
Five days later I played in the CC bodog buy in, and felt really good about my chances.

The entire tournament I showed down ONE hand, but was up to about 5k when we got the final table, then went card dead. Got down to 6 players and the blinds were rather large, (6 players is bubble) when I finally see JJ with one limper. I was excited to push in my chips, hoping to pick up the blinds and antes, but got two callers instead. The one guy who called had both of us covered, and I wss the short stack of the the three. One of them hit two pair (and neither pair was an ace, nor higher than a jack) to take out my JJ and the other guys AK (no A or K on board). So I got donked out of that tourney in 6th because I had less chips than the other guy. This brought my br down to like $100 on bodog, if even.

I was tilting pretty bad from that, because I played perfect up to that point, then got sucked out on like a motherfucker. I quit poker for the day.

The next day I went to another 10nl game and the table died aftera few hands, and I left with about 11.71, and joined up another table with $10. AA was then cracked about a half hour later by KT (AIPF) so I was out another $10.

Later that day, I was down to about $95, after those beats, so I decided to stop with the NL because of the swings.

I played a 25c-50c limit table (25c-50c is where I built my roll in the first place) and was about $10, and wound up ending the session when I donked off about $20 like a total tool, for a net loss of $9. I quit poker again.

A week later (today) I decided to jump back on the limit tables, and played halfway between TAG-LAG. That's why I like short handed limit: A lot more hands=A lot more pots.

I'm up $20 for the day. No really notable hands.

Hopefully this is the start of a very large upswing. I'm only playing limit until I hit $150, then I'm playing SNG's, and I'm not playing NL again till I hit $200.

Wish me luck!

P.S. I also played Halo 3 with Hevad Khan the other night :)

I know, my blog sucks :)

I've had two winning days in a row ($20 on thursday, $10 earlier)

SO I decided to play the CC $10 buy in.

Was sitting pretty with arond 1800 12 people left, 5 get paid.

Got dealt KK in the BB, it was folded around to the infamous JD in the sb, he raised it up to 120 (blinds were 15/30) so I re raised him to 250, he re-raised BACK to 750, so I shoved, he called, he had QQ

Naturally, the flop brought a Queen, and I was out. But JD is a great player, so I don't mind being beaten by him :) But yeah, I can kiss those $10 good bye.

Heading off to the casino right now with about $300, wish me luck!

Sorry long time no update :(

Haven't played much poker. And here's why:

Last night I played in an event with 17 other skilled CC-ers with a kindly stake by Vanq, but I bubbled it for 4th place

Today I went to play a cash game and lost $16 to me generally sucking. I trapped myself playing less quality hands (QJo FTW!!) and forgot you can't bluff players at 10max.

My next post will be more informative, I swear.

So, I've had my Aces cracked twice today, My set of fours sucked out on by a two outer, and I'm down $35 for the day. Poker sucks

:)