Poker Skilz

WSOP 2009

2009-08-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

Cashing in the Main Event, what else can I say....

It was by all measures a very enjoyable and satisfying tourney this year. Moving to 30,000 starting chip stacks was a critical and much-appreciated change, and IMHO reduced the luck factor as compared to previous years. One only has to look at the final table as evidence.

England was well represented in the money this year, and obviously with James on the final table, it could be a major break-through.

There are a lot of hands that I could discuss, but I actually only had my tournament at risk twice before the money. The first was with AA vs. KK, which took me from 41k to 85k. The second was about 50 spots BEFORE the money.....

My stack is 350k and blinds 2k/4k. With KK from middle position, I raised 6k. Table folded around, and the button raised it 20k. I re-raised to 80k and the button calls. I'm putting him on AK suited or QQ/JJ. Pot is 160k. Flop comes 247 with 2 hearts (I don't have one). I have 275k behind and am SO sure that he is on AK or QQ/JJ that I just move all-in. In hind sight, this was stupid, and could have cost me the whole tourney. He ASKS FOR A COUNT, which is SHOCKING to me, but as I start to figure out the possible hands he would call with, I'm down to just AKhh, QQ or JJ, because I gotta believe he pushes pre-flop with AA. If he had hit the set, he's insta-calling me. So....he ends up calling me and flipping over the other two KK's. I have to sweat a back-door flush draw, but we end up chopping the pot.

The money came at #648 and I was sitting at above-average 425k, feeling GREAT. Unfortunately, that was the peak moment for me. I got ZERO cards and the blinds were rapidly eroding my stack. I came back to Day 5 with 175k in chips and played short-stack poker. I lost JJ vs. AK and went down to 75k. I won 77 vs. TT, and went up to 150k. I survived the money bubble and another 300 people dropping out before my exit hand...AhQh vs. TT and I got no love after flopping a flush draw.

Was a fab week with James on the final table, Karl and CC cashing.

I'm sick of blogging, it's a waste of time....

2008-11-11T06:12:00.001-08:00

Well, really, I'm just sick of the randomness of life. The financial markets are insanely random right now. And since poker epitomizes that randomness, I am just really bored by it, really. Maybe I'll randomly start wanting to blog again.

World Series of Poker 2008

2008-07-06T05:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I didn't go to Vegas this year, but I did play in FullTilt's "Mini" World Series of Poker 2008. "MSOP", so dubbed.

Main Event was last night. 4,140 runners. I played a single $14 + $1, 9-way Sit 'n Go to win my entry into the $100 +$9 main event. So, I had $15 invested for 1st prize of $75,000.

The payout structure was top 545 players, a bit more flat than normal, but I was focused on giving myself the best chance to get into the top 50, where the payout started getting juicy ($2000+). The final 8 all get $10,000+.

Played really really great. Most of my success came playing small pots with strong cards and getting opponents to push hard, too hard, when I had made hands. For example, calling 3x raises pre-flop with AK and JJ doubled me up each once. I did play QQ and KK much stronger, re-raising pre-flop raises to 9x the BB. Was called a few times and folded to after the flop when I bet 75% of the pot.

I took my starting stack from 5,000 to 41,000. The field had shrunk from 4,140 people down to 750, with average stack of 26,000. I was well-above average, and in comfortable shape with blinds at 750/1500/100.

As seems customary, I exited this tournament with a bad beat. Found AA, American Airlines under the gun (UTG) and raised it up 2.5x the BB to 3,800. The table folded around to the button who called. Thankfully, the SB and BB folded, so it was heads-up. The pot stood at 10,000. I had 38,000 behind and my opponent had 39,000.

FLOP: 2h7s8s. I led out with a 7,000 bet. My opponent "thinks" for 30 seconds, calling the clock. He re-raises all-in. FUCK! Now, I'm pretty sure that he has KK/QQ/JJ or he is on a draw. If he flopped a set, I'm sure he plays this slower.

So, I call the all-in. He flips over KsQs for the flush draw. Getting all my chips in as a 2:1 favorite is all I can ask for, but I had a sinking feeling. When the 9s comes on the turn, my tournament is over, ending in #743. Painfully close to the money (545), but even more painful that I would have been in the top 25 if my AA had held up.

And so ends my "MSOP" 2008.

FullTilt $107,000 Tourney

2008-06-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

711 Runners, Top Prize is $26,000, 72 players paid

20:00: Start with stack of 3,000. 72 off....that's easy. Blinds 20/40, pickup KJcc with a flop of QJJ pays off for 300. Raise from the SB with KQss and BB folds. Riase with TT from mid position, table folds around. STACK: 3500

20:30: Bluffed off 1000 when a straight developed on a board of 89TJ. Player re-raised me all-in, so I guess he had the QQ or KQ. I flopped two pair with 89 and called a pot-sized continuation bet. I put him on an over pair, so wanted to make sure the board didn't pair up. Oh well! STACK: 2200

21:00: Blinds 25/50. From the small blind, called a 3x raise to 150 from the SB with AT. 3 callers saw the flop of A2T. BINGO. I check, assuming someone has Ax. Button bets 300 into a 500 pot. I raise to 800 and he pushes for 2000 more. I call to see AJ and I sweat the turn/river...blank, blank. STACK: 5000
PLAYERS REMAINING: 526 (74%)

21:30: Blinds 60/120. CARD DEAD....but did find 88 from the button and called an early position raise. BB calls. Pot 1000. Flop of 679 rainbow. BB checks, bettor bets 50% of the pot. I call with up and down and pocket pair. Turn is A. Bettor checks. He's either scared of the A or slow playing it. So, I check. River is a 2. Bettor checks and I check to see his 44. STACK: 5900
PLAYERS REMAINING: 410 (58%)

22:00: Blinds 100/200. Find AK and get called by AQ. Flop of 882. I bet he calls. Turn of 2. I bet he calls. River Q. He takes me down. STACK: 4500
PLAYERS REMAINING: 325 (45%)

22:30: Blinds 150/300/25 ante. I pick up A9ss on the button and after the table folds around, raise 3x. BB is a large stack and pushes all-in. I've only got 2400 behind and the BB has been pushing people around, my stack is dwindling, so I call to see 77. I win the race with a flopped A. Pick up a couple pre-flop with 3x raises. STACK: 7000
PLAYERS REMAINING: 225 (31%)

23:00: Blinds 200/400/50. AA from mid position. Raiser to my right to 1200. I make it 2800. Table folds around. STACK: 7800. Blinds 250/500/50. Find A9ss on the button. Table folds around and I push all-in. SB has AK and a flop of AKA closes me out in #145 (top 20%).

LOVELY

GutShot 100

2008-06-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

CC and I finally got together for some poker after a long drought. GutShot's Saturday 100 freezout. It proved to be a fairly aggressive group of well-versed poker players mixed with a sprinkling of wannabe newbies.

Started off playing ABC poker and ran the starting stack of 8k up to 20k. Found KK in early position and raised to 1k, 2.5x the BB. The cutoff pushes all-in for 12k with AhQh. Flop of K52 rainbow looks harmless as I flop the set. Someone quickly yells out "runner runner"! The turn falls J and the same guy yells out "TEN TEN!!"....the nasty river delivers, and my 97/3 after the flop turns into defeat. Trying not to think about it, I count my stack and realize I'm still at a starting stack of 8k, despite the wicked suck out. It did cross my mind that I would have been up to 32k, near if not THE chip leader following that hand, but only for a moment.

The next notable hand came from the BB. The SB was played like Mike Matusow - crazy loose and idiotic. For example, he moved all-in against me when the board read AKQJT rainbow, which is pretty disrespectful (I called, of course). Soon after that, the table folded around and he limped in the SB and I checked (400/800/50) with 78. Flop comes 257. He insta-All-In's me, which I think about for 1/2 second given I only have 7k chips left and can't ask for much more than top pair. He flips over 74 and my 78 holds up to bring me back to 16k and back in the tourney.

Another hand against "Mike-the-mouth-II", I was UTG with 6s8s and decide to mix it up a bit, raising 2x the BB. I had played TIGHT all night, so it raised suspicion from the table. The cut-off calls and the two blinds call. Flop comes J-T-6 rainbow. I check, the cut-off bets 1/2 the pot and "Mike" calls. I decide to call and see another card. Turn is a blank. I check, cut-off checks (was trying to steal), and "Mike" bets out 1/3 the pot. I raise the 2/3 the pot, looking like I want a call. Cut-off folds and SB mucks saying: "you hit your set, eh?"
..... Not quite, but I sure was pleased with that setup and spike.

Later in the night, the blinds got to be a major issue, and "Mike" moved all-in no less than 15 times, taking down the blinds and selectively showing various A-high hands when he had it and saying he had pocket pairs the other times (right!). He was causing a lot of tension on the table. I made a move from the button, raising 3x the BB with KT and had the SB push all-in with 8k. I was back up to 25k, and had pot odds to call if my K was live, so I did. He had TT and the flop of AKK quickly ended his night. Stack grew to 35k and I was feeling pretty good.

The field of 50 players quickly shrunk as the blinds got up to 1k/2k and we were nearing the bubble (8 players paid). My table was playing short-handed with 6 players and it was a battle of the blinds. I find 66 in the cut-off and raise to 8k, 4x the BB. It folds to the BB and he calls the 8k and says: "I bet 10k blind". He pulled this maneuver half a dozen times earlier in the night, and each time had AK or AQ. The flop comes QQJ. My thinking is as follows: first, I eliminate the Q, since two of them came on the flop, so I'm just thinking the J is all I have to worry about. I have 25k behind and a pot of 26k. So, I move all-in, hoping he didn't hit the J. I assume he calls and is behind with AK/AT/KT/TT and probably folds 99 or worse. Instead, he calls and flips over AJ. No hope for me on the turn/river and I find out that I busted in #9 place, 1 spot from the money, which is really irrelevant, since the top spot was my goal.

Fun night all around, and was a good opportunity to fine-tune the skills on a rather aggressive table/format.

Congrats to The Hitsquad and James...ROCKING WSOP 2008 already

2008-06-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here....

802.11N Wireless - Adding a Second Wireless Network

2008-05-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

I added a second wireless network at home. Specifically, the new 802.11N 2.0 draft compliant router made by Newertechnology. Reading about all the issues with the new technology, I decided to try and keep my existing 802.11(g) network for all the devices that do not have "N" capabilities and add a parallel N-capable network for hopefully faster speeds for those devices.

Specifically, I have the following 5 devices: Macbook pro(N - Expresscard adapter), MacMini (N - usb adapter), Apple TV (N), Sony Vaio (G - internal card), PS3 (G), Xbox 360 (G).

The setup was actually very simple. My primary wireless router (G) is a BTHomeHub, which acts as the DHCP for the network. The second router (N) is the Newertechnology brand and needed to flip a hardware switch on the back to be set to "router" instead of the default "AP" which means access point. I used the automatic settings on the N router, after flipping the hardware switch to "router". The N router picked up the DHCP from the G router. I made a new SSID name for the N router and forced my N devices to join the N wireless SSID network, instead of the previous G network.

THE RESULTS:
My previous G network was transmitting data at 1.1 MB/sec and so far, I have achieved a 300% improvement in transfer rates to ~4.0 MB/sec with the N devices. This is equivalent to ~35Mbs, or roughly 15% of the theoretical 270-300 Mbs speed promised by 802.11(N) standards. Previously, a 1GB file took 22 mins to transfer across the network. Now, 1GB over the N network is taking 7 mins. So, the 300% improvement works in real life. NOT BAD.

WHY?
Transferring large video, picture and music files back and forth between computers and AppleTV can be time consuming. Additionally, I am utilizing Apple's Time Machine for constant backup of my data, which routinely needs to send multi-GB files to my network USB drive connected to my MacMini.

CONCLUSION:
Upgrade to 802.11N if you transfer large GB files. But, remember, your internet download speeds are unlikely to increase. My DSL connection runs at ~300-400 KBs (3.0 Mbs), so even the 802.11(G) was not maxed out. The internet connection is still the bottleneck to faster online networking.

Appendix

2008-05-14T02:25:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd be WANTING someone to cut me open, but after 5 days of abdominal pain and being in a hospital ward, that's exactly how I felt. They took out my appendix with no fanfare, and I'm recovering. Will be back in action in a few days.

I Love Poker, I Hate Poker

2008-04-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

The love is obvious, so let's focus on the hate, well that's obvious too....

Tourney tonight was a great example of both. 45-way SnG with the final 6 places in the money. Played such a tight-aggressive game that I wish I could bottle up and ration over the next 20 years, it would be highly profitable.

Built a stack of 1,500 gradually up to 6,000 with no risk* (i say that because I was never at risk of losing all my chips). Anytime I was all-in after the flop, I had the nuts, and was never called pre-flop when I went all-in. The tight table image helped.

However, the hate that every poker player shares of the game reared its ugly head on the final table. Entered the final table with 6,000 and picked off a couple smaller stacks to build up to 9,000. Blinds were at 200/400 and I find KsQs on the BB. Table folds around to a small stack on the SB with 4,000 and he 3x raises to 1,200. Flat calling for the additional 800, the flop comes a perfect rainbow 9,T,J. SB hesitates and goes all-in for another 2,800 into a pot of 2,400. Holding the nuts, I call to see his ridiculous 66. Now, I was fearing a flopped set, so the 66 was a beautiful relief. Barely even watching, the turn came (of course) the 6 for a good sweat, and in the split second before the river, I quickly calculated he was STILL a 20/80 dog. The painful river J flashed, and a nasty 8,000 pot lost to a 96/3 suck out.
With only 7 players remaining and 6 paid spots, I played tight for the bubble. Finding QQ in mid position, I could wait no longer and went all-in for my remaining 5,000 with the blinds at 300/600. A big stack with 20,000 and nothing invested in the pot called with Ad5d (wtf?). I won't even bother to explain, but the blank flop and harmless turn were cruel teases for the river ace that fell.

75 Freezout at Gutshot

2008-03-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

CC and I played the 75 pound freezout at Gutshot last night. 42 runners at 5 tables with 4,000 chip starting stack. Played well, and in hindsight can't fault any decisions. Ended up making the final table with CC and cashing in #9 after a disappointing final hand. Congrats to CC on the #3 finish.

Key to the decent result was establishing a very tight table image early in the touranment. For example, I picked up KK UTG and raised to 600 3x the 100/200 blinds. Middle position calls. He was playing a lot of games, re-raising continuation bets and stealing a lot of pots without showing his cards. I had pegged this guy for trap, knowing he'd commit chips. Table folds around. Flop comes Q73 rainbow, which looks lovely. I bet 800 into the 1500 pot, looking like a feeler bet. Middle calls. I'm assuming he is going to make a play on the turn, to try and take it away. Turn is a blank 2. I lead-out with another 1200 into the 3100 pot. He starts counting out his chips for a raise, looks up at me as I feigned fear, sipping my beer, and he decides to muck. Have to work on my "nervous" look! After the hand, I decided to show my KK.

That one hand, combined with folding 90% of hands over the next hour gave me a lot of fold equity in the middle part of the tourney. As the blinds got to 300/600, I started using position effectively and picked up 6-8 easy pots pre-flop, committing only 2,000 chips to pick up 900. Each time, the table respected the play and either pre-flop folded or quickly dropped to c-bets (that I actually hit).

Average stack (and mine) was around 8,000 and blinds up to 400/800 with 20 runners left. Found a series of wired pairs and went all-in 5-6 times over 12-15 hands. The first one, I called a short-stack's all-in of 3,000 with TT (he had K9ss), which held up. Took down blinds with 77 and 88, raising to 4,000 from position and covering my opponents both times. Then, UTG find American Airlines (AA) and raise it to 2,200. My tight image is my downfall here as the table folds around to the button, who agonizes with only a 5,000 stack, and eventually folds his AJ. He comments: "I probably had you", which I use as another opportunity to build my table image and flip over the AA, soliciting a round of "I told you he had it!" from the table. Following that, I re-raised twice pre-flop with AQ and AK and was folded to both times.

My stack was up to 17,000 after this sick run of no action to my bets. Then, came the start of my demise. I will call him "Dumb A$$", because he was by far the worst player remaining of the 12 people left. So, "DA" heretofore is sitting two seats to my right and raises my BB 3x. He has played and showed some awful cards pre-flop, so I'm pretty sure my QQ is good here, so I shove all-in and he calls for his 5,500 chip stack, flipping over AJo. Of course he flops the A and my comfortable 17,000 falls to 11,500. With only 3 players to the bubble, I sat back and waited, successfully making the final 9 players.

FINAL TABLE: Started on the BB (never good), which were up to 600/1200 and I'm sitting with 11,800. I was forced to fold both of my blinds to strong bets, knocking me back to an even 10,000 chips (average was 17,000, but skewed with two guys at 35-40k). Then, from the button, the two big stacks folded to "DA", who was still miraculously alive. He limps in for 1,200 with 11,000 chip stack. Now, I normally would be leery of this move, but knowing this guy, I was putting him on a completely crappy hand. He had made so many mistakes, that I just assumed he was making another one. The table folds around (strangely) and I look down at 99 with just the SB and BB behind me. Pretty sure this is the right move here to push all-in for 10,000 with 3,000 in the pot. Blinds fold and "DA" decides to call with QJo (WTF?!). Flop comes KK6...K...K and Q-high takes me down.

Friday Night at the Empire

2008-03-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

CC and I ventured down to what has become a bustling Friday night poker scene at the Empire Casino in Leicester Square. We both had early nights planned, so we had a 4 hour window to do some damage.

Night started auspiciously when an old guy (later we learned he was 45) sat down to my right and started asking how much he had to put in every time the action came to him. He was the definition of a calling station. He had 150 pounds in front of him. CC and I had silently both called "dibs" on his chips, and we started probing, trying to siphon them off this dope.

I had tried a couple pre-flop raises from position to push the action, but missed the flops. Watching the old guy call EVERY bet post-flop, I knew I'd have little chance to bluff him off a pot, so I sat tight, patiently waiting.

A few hands later, I find AsQs from the button. A tight player limped in mid position and old guy called. I popped it 4x the BB to 8 GBP, tight player reluctantly calls and old guy asks: "how much do I have to put in?". FLOP comes AK7 (2 diamonds). Tight player makes a feeler bet of 12, old guy bets 25, as he has no idea how to size his bets. Figuring I'm ahead here, I raise it to 75 GBP. Tight player mucks, and old guy calls the 75 with only 50 behind. At this point, I'm sure he's on a diamond draw or has A-rag. TURN is a blank. He checks and I put him all-in for the remaining 50. He calls. When I see the RIVER Qd, my face cringes, knowing this guy probably just sucked out a flush on me. As suspected, he turns over Td2d as he announces: "It's my birthday!"

It was actually his birthday, and he put an 18% suck-out on me to prove it. Despite having half my stack stolen from me by this old guy, I worked back up to about even before CC and I moved over to the main game, which was 1/2 NL with 250 GBP buy-in.

Couple interesting hands of note. CC made a couple good laydowns in the face of strength and asked me to flip him a 100 chip from my pocket to re-stack to the full buy-in. On the next hand, I had straddled for 5. CC was on my left, and as was usual, he called my straddle from UTG. Middle position raised to 15, button calls and it folded around to me. I had the lovely J2 suited and promptly folded, knowing CC might re-pop this with virtually anything, which he did, making it 50 to go. Middle position makes the call, showing a lot of weakness and button folds. Middle asks CC how much he has behind (implying he his pot-committed). FLOP comes JJx. I don't remember if CC lead-out or checked, but all the money went in after the flop and CC turns over AA only to see middle position had called 25x the BB pre-flop with JQo and flopped the trips. (1) bad timing of getting the 100 pounds from me (2) bad timing of me straddling and CC was UTG (3) BAD play by middle position trying to squeeze the straddle with "JACK shit".

CC took off after working his way back to a reasonable stack. Table was not particularly good or bad, but was reasonably ABC poker. The cards were kind to me, finding QQ twice and KK once. All three times, I raised pre-flop, got 1-2 callers, and won the pot after the flop. By this time, I had a profit of 400-500 GPB and was feeling good.

But, the apex of the night was NOT a pot won, but rather one of the best laydowns I've made in recent memory. There was an American guy who was obviously drunk and talking non-stop. He was annoying to say the least, and appropriately held up the negative stereotype of US attorneys, which he was of the commercial, restructuring type. He had made some really obvious over-bet bluffs and showed the bluffs proudly. One was against me when I held top pair (9's) and pushed all-in with a gut-shot straight draw. That annoyed me slightly.

Then, came the hand of the night (my last). I found AsJs UTG and limped. Annoying lawyer raised it 12 (6x BB), which looked like a blatant steal attempt targeted at me. The table folded around to me, and I called. FLOP comes J58 rainbow. I checked, he bet 15 and I just called. TURN was another J, giving me trips and top kicker. I checked again and he bets 25 into a pot of 55. I promptly raised to 75 and he "insta-all-in" for 400 ish. Now, my instincts were 99% sure I had this guy NAILED on another bullshit bluff, but something held me back from insta-calling. As I stared down this guy, to get some read from him, his face turned white, as he completely expected me to fold immediately. My confidence went from 99% to 99.5% and I almost pulled the trigger to call him. Right then, he flashes his cards to his end of the table (away from me). THIS IS SO BIZARRE, that I freeze, trying to figure out what he has by the reaction of my fellow players. One of the guys on my left calls over the pit boss and complains that he is breaking the rules by exposing his cards to a few players before I act. The controversy quickly settles down and the bit boss just tells him to "not do it again" and play out the hand. I was hoping he'd declare his raise invalid and we could just show-down the hands, but to no avail. As I spend another minute contemplating the decision, I start to realize he is getting more and more comfortable as the time passes. I conclude the only thing this guy can possibly have is 55 or 88, making a full house for him. So, I fold my AJ and he flips over J5, the second nuts.

I am still reeling from that laydown, which saved me all of my profits for the night. I would have never put him on J5 given the pre-flop raise, but that's what you get with a maniac drunk.

Running Cold

2008-03-10T05:08:00.001-07:00

I've been playing some high limit SNG's ($200-500) and running cold. I broadly see 3 "phases" in these tourneys. Phase #1 is "early play", which tends to be ultra-tight in higher stakes SNG's. Phase #2 is when blinds start to become an issue, around 75/150 level because the average stack is ~10x the big blind. This phase is characterized by frequent all-ins and a lot of coin flip/race/suck-out situations. Phase #3, which is the bubble/final is self-explanatory.

My strategy has been to play relatively loose at the beginning, trying to steal blinds and check-raise or steal/continuation bet from position. The idea is to go from a starting stack of 1,500 to 2,000-2,500 chips in 9-ways during Phase #1. Then, switch gears, tightening up in Phase #2 to opportunistically take out small stacks as they become blinded out. The reasoning is that in my experience, most SNG's of this level are so ultra-tight early, that it's easier to pickup "loose change" and give yourself a better opportunity to race against smaller stacks in Phase #2.

Phase #3 strategy requires a further shifting of gears. What has been working is opening up a pot with only 2 to 2.5x BB raises. This coaxes players into re-raising to steal back from you. I create a pattern of folding to these big bets, showing discipline. Even if I pick up AK or a big pair, I only raise 2 to 2.5x the BB and find that I will often get an inferior hand re-raising me all-in frequently enough to make it profitable. Also, you tend to pick up a lot of blinds with only a small raise to keep you afloat, offsetting the dsiciplined folding to all-ins (as noted above). Unless I am short-stacked, I rarely move all-in to open the pot, even if I have less than 10x the BB.

So, the results have been fairly positive in the early and middle phases. I've routinely gotten down to 4-5 players with average or above-average stacks. The problems have come in Phase #3. Most of the time, I'm calling all-in's after small lead-out raises with my exit hands, but losing the races. I went back to my logs and here are the last 8 SNG's I've played and the exit/final hands:

BK vs. Donkey, result
AA vs. K4, lost (finish 3rd)
99 vs. A6, lost (3rd)
AQ vs. AJ, lost (2nd)
AA vs. A3, lost (4th)
KK vs. 9Ts, lost (4th)
AK vs. TT, won (1st)
KQ vs. KJ, won (1st)
KK vs. Q6, lost (4th)

What is not included above are hands earlier in the tourneys that were race situations won, but it's encouraging that the exit hands were all >50% probabilties. Comments welcome.

Online bankroll: $4,930

No News is Good News

2008-03-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

Overdue for an update: Been playing 1-2 hrs sessions recently in between trips to LA, Switzerland, and Chamonix. Mostly full table $110 SNG's and a side HU table to keep my attention. Good results last month with P&L +$1,100. It feels better than that, but I went on a -$1,800 streak over 2 days. Can only analyze it as "bad mood" or "wrong state of mind". Bascially, lacked patience in that streak. So, as CC says "DISCIPLINE" is the name of the game.

Thinking about WSOP 2008 and getting very excited to give it a Sophmore try. Better equiped, more experience, and most importantly: MORE PATIENCE.

Commerce - Los Angeles

2008-02-07T23:46:00.000-08:00

Played the $5/10 NL tables at the famous Commerce Casino in Los Angeles tonight. It was super loose. $50 raises pre-flop would get 4-5 callers routinely, which sucked. I lost with AA early in the night, raising to $90 from the button after 5 limpers and subsequently 2 callers of my $90 bet, both from middle position. Flop came T4T. It checked around to me. Had bought in for $400, leaving me $300 behind and a $300 pot. I had no option, and went all-in getting called by JT. Such a crappy situation.

After re-buying for $600 more, it was all up from there. Played relatively loose pre-flop and tight post-flop. The table just wouldn't fold pre-flop, with plenty of loose steal/weak post-flop play. Made it up to $1200 profit ($2200 in chips) when the following hand happened:

Crazy Asian guy raises it to $40 in mid position, 2 callers, and I'm on the button. I call with Jh9h, expecting I can either catch a flop of steal from position. Flop comes 9c6s4s. Crazy Asian guy continuation bets $100 into the $170 pot. Fold, Fold, and I decide to raise to $350, thinking he missed or is on the flush draw. He thought for 10-15 seconds, and calls saying in barely understandable broken English, something like "I'll pay for one more card". He hadn't lied all night, and was relatively an ABC poker player without particular care for money (he was down about -$2k already). Turn comes 4h, no flush which I didn't see as a big threat. He checked to me, and I figured his flush or straight draw missed. So, I put him in for his last $400 into a pot of $870. He agonizes and calls, and I am closing my eyes, hoping a spade doesn't hit. When I see the 9s hit the river, I'm actually happy to see the spade, which made my full house. He flips over AA and is completely dejected to see I hit my 2-outter on the river, beating his Aces-up, two pair. SICK. Took down the $1700 pot on a miracle card and having mis-read my opponent completely. Sometimes luck comes your way, making up for the countless bad-beats that I have been experiencing lately. So, I'm sitting at the table with nearly $4,000, barley able to reach over my tower of $5 chips.

Took down a few more pots with strong bluffs, riding the rush and the table fearing me. Cashed-out +$3,300 profit. I can see how a tight player could make a living at the Commerce, but the swings would be WILD. There were no less than 20-30 instances of All-Ins and calls with both players drawing to a 35% chance or less of making a straight or flush. If I had it to do over again, I'd just wait for primo spots and milk it since people were committing chips to pots with weak hands ALL NIGHT.

Fun times.

$900,000 FTP Sunday Tourney

2008-01-27T19:11:00.000-08:00

Finished #510 of 4,430 runners, in the money for a +50% gain. Such a bummer as my suited AdKd went down to AQ-off on my exit hand. I was sitting pretty with 32k chips, above the average of 21k and picked up the AK from the cut off. I had been sitting quiet for about 50 hands, so I expected my 4x BB raise would have elicited folds. Made it 5,400 chips with the blinds at 600/1200/150. The SB re-raises me to 18,500 with another 12k chips behind. Was worried I was up against AA or KK, but decided to put my tourney on the line here. He turns over AQ - what a donkey. Flop comes 982....Q....Q. Lovely. Gonzo.

Couple interesting notes. I cracked AA twice in the tourney. Once flopping a set and then getting it all in. The second, I flopped middle pair and flush draw and got it in only to turn the flush and take the aces down again.

Oh well, I had my fair share of luck getting into the money, but as usual, my exit hand in the tournaments are good decisions, with winning hands, only to be out-drawn. That's poker.

Playing the $1,125,000 tourney on FullTilt

2008-01-20T15:16:00.000-08:00

I decided to try a BIG way tourney tonight and keep a running blog.

23:00 GMT
2,252 starting players. Start with 5,000 chips. From the button I raised with Ad9d and got called by the SB. Flop comes 9h8c3h. I lead-out with a pot size bet after a check from the SB. He raises the pot. I call, putting him on the over pair. Turn is a blank 2, no flush. I check, he bets 750 into a 1500 pot, I decide to make a play and re-raise to 1,500. He thinks for an eternity, calling time. He folds, and asks: "Kings or Aces?"

To make him feel better, I tell him "AA". After a long discussion of the hand, he is thoroughly convinced I had AA and was afraid of the flush draw.....CHIP STACK 6,500.

23:30 GMT
2,128 players remain. No action...folded all hands. There have been 20 hands so far. Won 2 pre-flop plus the one above. CHIP STACK 6,340. I am #337, top 20%.

00:00 GMT
#672 of 1879 remaining. 6,235 CHIPS. I raised pre-flop with AK and got one caller (the same guy I bluffed off in the first hand). Flop comes QT4 rainbow. I checked, looking to check-raise, but he checked as well (and made commentary to the sort: "you check?"). Turn comes a blank, 7, but two diamonds on the board. I check, he checks. River comes the money card J, but it completes the possible flush. So, I check, expecting to call anything he bets (his chip stack is 2k, mine is 3x this). He checks with a pair of 33's.

00:30 GMT
Had QhQd in the SB with 5 limpers. I raised to 400 (80 limpers) and got one caller. Flop came 7c8d9d. I led-out with 750 into a 1000 pot. Got called. Turn was the 2d, making 3 to a flush. I checked. He checked. River was the Js. I checked, he checked and mucked his hand. Not sure what he was drawing to, but I was scared my QQ was going down. CHIP STACK: 7,100 in place #533 of 1772 remaining.

01:00 GMT
#716 of 1,449 CHIP STACK: 6,700. Lost a hand after raising with AsKs and one TIGHT caller. Flop of 832 rainbow. I checked it. He bet the pot with JJ. I folded, thinking rightly so that I was behind against this tight player.

Played AQ from the small blind, but somehow felt really wrong about it. Called a middle position raise of 475. Flop was middle connecting cards with 2 clubs. Check check. Turn was another connector with another club. I considered making a bet here, representing the straight/flush, but wimped-out. River was the Ac, 4 to a flush, and I checked. AK checked and took down the pot.

Played 88 from UTG with a 2.5x raise. I had been getting huge respect from the table as a "tight" player, so I figured I had a decent shot at picking up the blinds. BB called me to a flop of AQ9. He checked, I bet 720 in to a pot of 900, figuring he would put me on the A. He called. Turn was another A and he checked. I really wimped-out here, should have fired bullet #2, but checked it down to see he had hit his JhQh and I am down to 6,000 at break #2. #828 of 1,362 remaining.

01:30 GMT
Facing a raise of 500 from early position, I find AK suited and raise to 1,500. It folds around to the raiser and he bumps it to 4,000 with only 1,500 behind, nearly my whole stack. I deliberated and folded. Stack down to 4,500.

02:00 GMT
#750 of #785 CHIP STACK 3,400. CARD DEAD.

02:30 GMT
Find AhKh in the SB. Middle position raised it to 1200 (200/400 blinds). I go all-in for 3,400. He f#*&$%cking calls me with Ad5d. Flop comes JQ5...A...7. I'm OUT in #737. Super sucky.

Gutshot Wednesday

2008-01-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

CC and I went down to Gutshot, a poker hall in East London. The game there is 1/2 pot limit (50-no limit buy-in), which I don't like. You have to adjust your game to the lack of pre-flop raising potential. But, it does force you to play more small-ball poker and get better reads post-flop.

The bottom line is CC had the sickest run of cards I have ever witnessed. He flopped sets 3 times in less than an hour when I was watching and got paid every time. Apparently he had this hot hand the whole night because his stack was a small Eifel Tower of 25 pound chips by the end of the night.

My night was really simple: I had three hands in 6 hours that were noteworthy and was card dead the rest of the time.

Hand #1: Maniac loose player raised to 11 from the button after I limped from mid position with 7h5h (yes it was a slow night for cards and I was forced to play some really weak hands just to stay awake). Small blind folds, big blind calls, and I call for value. Pot is 32. Flop comes 468 rainbow, the nuts. BB bets 25, I raise to 75, button maniac raises to 200. BB calls all-in for 150 and I move all-in for 350. Button calls with 84 off suit (like I said, maniac) and BB turns over the set of 666's. My nut straight some how holds up and my stack is up to 800 (from 300 buy-in).

Hand #2: About 5 minutes later I decide to mix it up a little and from late position raise the pot to 23 with pocket 33's after someone had straddled for 5 and there were 3 callers. The button calls me and the limpers check out. Heads up to the flop of J53, two-suited. With the set of 333, I lead-out with 25 in the pot of 60, looking like a weak continuation bet. He raises me to 50, I re-raise to 200 and he pushes all-in for 400. SICK, I have a sinking feeling as he turns over his 555 set and the all-too cliche´ "set over set" costs me all of my profits up to that point.

Hand #3: After a stretch of 2 hours with hardly a playable hand, I finally got moved over to the main game, which CC had reported was action-packed with at least one deep-stacked fish to fillet. On my second hand I found KK and called a guy down to the river after a flop of 852 rainbow, only to find he had flopped the 52, two-pair "monster" and my slow playing KK was actually a milk job by him. Anyways, that's not the hand I wanted to talk about, but I did go a little on TILT after that. Fortunately, I got my typical-for-the-night run of 92, 73, 62, 25, J4, Q3 and didn't play a hand for half an hour until I found AsQs UTG. I limped, knowing this table would raise the action. Fish Fillet raised to 11 and middle position (semi-loose pre-flop raiser) raised the pot to 28. Folded around to me and I decided my AQ was at worst a 50/50 in the hand and re-raised the pot to 100. Fish Fillet calls and middle position throws his 100 in with only 50 behind. Fish Fillet had about 500 behind. FLOP comes QdJd8c. I push all-in for another 175 into a 300 pot, unable to protect my hand. FF calls and middle throws his last 50 in the pot. The TURN is another 8, which I wasn't too worried about. At this point, FF turns over is pocket 10's, conceding defeat as does middle, who has pocket 9's. RIVER comes the 10, which makes the straight for middle and boats-up FF. I lose the 700+ pot on a 9:1 favorite after the flop/turn.

Not a very fun night and another example of why poker can really be a love/hate relationship.

UK Driving License

2008-01-14T15:59:00.001-08:00

So, I moved here to London in May of 2006 and my driver's license is only good for 1 year. Since I drive everyday to work, figure it is a necessity. There is no reciprocity for US drivers like there is for EU citizens. For some reason, Britain thinks Polish, Italian, and Bulgarian drivers are better than those from the United States!?! What a joke, #1. Anyways, I had to get a UK license, so I took the written test back in May 2007 (it took me two tries to pass, which is another joke, #2). Then, I signed up for the practical (actual driving test) in June. Unfortunately, something came up at work and I had to reschedule. However, I was leaving for the States and the WSOP last Summer, so had to postpone the driving test for August, when I came back from the Summer in the US.

My first trip to the driving center, I left 75 minutes before my scheduled test, which was at 9:12 in the morning, far too early for me to actually be awake, but that was the only time available. On my way to the test center, which was only 6.2 miles away, I got stuck in some of the worst traffic I've ever seen. Long story made short, I arrived at 9:17, 5 minutes late for a 55 minute scheduled driving exam and the instructor "instructed me" that I'd have to reschedule the exam for a later date. WHAT A JOKE (#3).

My second trip to the driving center, I schedule BSM (British School of Motoring), which is supposed to be a reputable teaching school that increases your odds of passing the damn test. They took me down to the driving center two hours early and we practiced the course, did all the "tricky" test moves, etc. Again, long story made short, I had 6 "minors", which you are allowed 16 before they fail you. The "instructor" still failed me because he said "I think you can work on your observation skills a bit more". What a joke #4! The funny thing is I have been driving for over 17 years with ZERO accidents. I've NEVER had a claim on my insurance. So, I found it ridiculous. Basically, this is another form of taxation on the people.

My third and final trip today was more successful. I got this really nice Irish guy who I bonded with immediately. Within 10 minutes he was telling me about how his wife died last year and his goal for 2008 was to stay positive on life. It was a sad story, but that got me thinking about my life, how lucky I am, and even poker -- just keeping a good attitude is all you can do to maximize the quality of your days and the results on the table. Oh, yeah, and it made me relaxed driving. So, ended up with only 3 minors and he passed me for my UK drivers license - FINALLY.

Cost of my license:

Studying for practical exam = 8 hours
Written driving test 40 pounds (x2) = $160 plus 6 hours
Practical driving test 50 pounds (x3) = $300 plus 12 hours
BSM pre-test lessons: 8 hours x 20 pounds = $320 plus 12 hours
BSM test costs: 220 pounds = $440

TOTAL COST: $1220 and 38 hours, almost a week of my life (I won't tell you what I get paid weekly, but the grand total makes me sick)

Now I'm finally legal on the roads. So, I suppose this is where all my problems will start - Murphy's Law.

I've been suffering from Entourage atrophy, so I found this "Best of Ari" clip...classic stuff

2008-01-13T02:59:00.001-08:00

Poker Sucks - Bubble Boy

2008-01-10T16:20:00.000-08:00

Played a 145 person, $30k tourney tonight and placed #19 with top 18 cashing. What a joke!

Took 2k chip stack up to 15k with very solid play, winning all 5 show-downs and getting the money in with the best hand every time. I was playing small-ball, raising 2x to 2.5x the BB, forcing a lot of action and re-raising pre-flop with position and forcing lay downs when I had playable hands.

I doubled up early when I raised 3x BB UTG with AK suited and got 2 callers, the BB and SB, so I had position. Pot was 2.4k and flop came a rainbow K72. SB leads-out for 1.5k and BB folds. I flat call. Turn was a blank 6. SB pushes all-in with TT. Nice slow play, I think.

I also won a big hand with JJ vs. TT all-in pre-flop and the board comes 23T...J...A. Was sweating that one.

My exit hand was so frustrating. I find QQ UTG and I checked the leader board, noticing there are only 20 people left and 18 spots cashing. My stack was a healthy 16k and I was in 6th place overall. I was focused on winning the $8k top spot, rather than just making the money, which started at $400. So, I raise 3x the BB to 2.4k with my QQ. It folds around to the big stack, who was only 1k more than me, and he pushes all-in for 17k. It's a huge overbet and I am pretty sure I know what I'm up against, AK. Little chance he pushes with AA or KK. Was hoping it was a "move" rather than a race, but my instincts were right. Flop quickly squashed my hopes with a K. Blimey.

Two big tourneys and nothing much to report....

2008-01-07T03:47:00.000-08:00

Full Tilt has great tourneys on Sundays and I won seats at the two big ones in satellites for $24 each ($200-240 buy-ins). The first one was a guaranteed $60k first prize with 1,500 runners and the second $160k top prize with 4,600 runners.

First tourney I ran the stack up to 11k from 3k starting and caught a straight flush on the river when my 8s8d hit yahtzee on a board of 9dTdJdQsQd....unfortunately, my opponent was holding the AsKd. I called the pre-flop raise of 4x BB from position. He pot bets the flop, which I called, reluctantly. Hit my straight on the turn, but was leary of the K, so when he checked the turn, I was pretty sure he didn't have the flush. I checked behind. The Qd on the river gave me the straight flush (low-end). He bet the pot. I min-raised, thinking I could get a full house or even the A-high flush to call me. Instead, he had hit the higher straight flush and fleeced me. I finished in the top 25%, but far off the money.

Second tourney was 4,600 runners and I made it to the money at #550. I took a bad beat early in the tourney when I flopped a set against AsKs and he rivered the flush. Had taken the starting stack of 3k up to 12k and dropped back to 4k. Clawed my way back up to a below-average 11k and then over-played a pair of 88's when the board came 7-high against AA for the exit hand.

Played heads-up $1/$2 against a much better player than I and dropped $1000. Was on TILT most of the time as all my big hands failed to win any money and all of my bluff attempts were being called by made hands. So, I slow-played KK and AA and he flopped trips once and then rivered a flush after heavy betting on the turn. Played very poorly overall and based on CC's recent heads-up victories, I need some consultation and focus to improve in heads-up. Most of my time has been spent in the big-way tourneys and that has really effected my heads-up play (especially pre-flop betting strategies) for the worse.

Online bankroll: $6,000

If You're Reading This: LEAVE A COMMENT! Subject is KK vs. AA/AK

2007-12-27T16:50:00.000-08:00

I went deep in two more big tourneys tonight and exited with KK both times. Once against AK and once against the dreaded AA. Since this has come to be far too common for me lately, I'm soliciting some feedback from the collective genius out there.

First tourney was $20k guarantee purse with 420 runners and I made it down to #44. Was at an average chip stack of 22k and found KK in mid position. Player directly to my right raised it 3x the BB, I bumped it to 9x (4.5k chips). Table folded around and he pushes all-in for 25k. I quickly called to see AK unsuited. Flop comes A and I'm gonzo.

Second tourney was a re-buy tourney with 200 runners and $20k purse. I wiggled my way down to 26 players remaining. Was slightly below average stack with 15k chips, but the chips were highly skewed with the top 5 players at 80-100k chips and I was #10 in chips despite being below average. I found KK in mid position again and raised it to 4x the BB (2k chips). The chip leader (100k chips) just calls me with 2k and the table folds. Flop comes Ts7s2d and I bet the pot of 5.5k chips, leaving me with 8k behind. He moves all-in, which I see as a blatant top pair or flush draw and quickly call. Instead, he flips over AA.

Any advice on how I could have avoided getting knocked out of either of these tourneys? Better play these big pairs? Have been getting deep in these tourneys but somehow finding the wrong situations at the wrong times.

BK = AK (or maybe its BK = KK)

Bankroll: $7,000 (won a couple SnG that I won't detail because I rocked 'em)

Baloney - Just Flip a Coin, It's Quicker

2007-12-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

Played another $4,000 tourney ($69 buy-in) and was the bubble boy at #7 exit from 50 starters. Again, very happy with the play. From position, I slow played Ax after flopping the A and having position 3 times. All 3 times, the out-of-position player moved all-in after the turn. The key each time was the flop was not scary, so when I check from position after the flop, and gave a free card, it convinced the opponent that I was afraid of the A. Instead, I took down big pots with made AA hands. This is something I will be using more often.

My exit hand was very frustrating. With only 7 players left and 6 paid spots, I suppose I could have thrown away my QQ with no money invested in the pot, but it didn't seem right. Here's the setup. I have 8k chips from the button with QQ. Early position small stack moves all-in for 3.5k. I push all-in to deter the blinds from coming along, but instead the small blind (big stack) pushes all-in for 14k. They flip over AJ and AK and I'm feeling relatively good at 57% favorite to 2.5x my stack and be in contention to win.

Instead, they both suck out on me when the board comes TJKJ2 and I'm out as the bubble boy. Another 2 hours wasted (in financial terms). Ugh.

Online Bankroll: $7,100

Big-Way Tourney

2007-12-21T15:08:00.000-08:00

Played a $32,000 guarantee tourney that attracted just under 975 players. HUGE field. Ran very strong and took 3,000 chips all the way to 90,000. 97% of field was gone, down to only 32 players remaining when I find the following:

From the small blind I pick up KK. Table folds around to middle position who pushes all-in for 27k (blinds/ante are now 9k in total). Folds to the button, who has 110k in chips and he calls the all-in. I don't see how I get away from KK here, so I pushed all-in for 90k. The button flips over AA and the all-in flips over AQ. The board comes Q2QJ4 and I go out in 32nd place. FOUR HOURS OF WORK. UGGGGGGGGGGGGGH.

I was multi-tabling on another $25,000 tourney that attracted 300 runners. I made it up to 50th with an average chip stack and was pot-commited with QQ, but went down to AK after he out-drew me.

The night was satisfying, but the tourneys are so top-heavy, you need to get to the final table to make them worthwhile financially. Encouraging play, but the big cash will have to wait....

Home Game - Rock 'n Roll

2007-12-19T13:57:00.000-08:00

Hosted the last home game of 2007 last night. We had 9 people playing with some new faces and sans our resident Pro, Karl.

It was a loose game with lots of crazy pre-flop raises, calls, and action flops. One notable hand was as follows: CC, Jonny, and myself out-lasted the rest and were playing past 3am. Blinds were raised to 50/100p and from the button I raised my AcJc to 3 pounds, getting called by both CC and Jonny. Flop came QsJs9c. CC led out with 6, Jonny calls, and I re-raised to 25. CC pushes all-in for about 40, Jonny contemplates and moves all-in for 60 and now priced-in, I call. CC has the AhQd, Jonny has the nut flush draw As3s. The cards wasted no time turning the flush with 4s and Jonny took down a nice 125GBp pot.

The night ended in positive territory with both Jonny and myself cashing back in for ~300-350. I was net +260 after I donk'd off about 150 in the last hour of beer-induced risk-taking. CC and I went head to head no less than a dozen times in 50GBp+ pots, and I was catching cards on the turn regularly, making 2-pair, flushes, and straights. Alternatively, CC was getting some strong starting hands but missing the flops, which ended up antagonizing him, I think, and inducing some steal attempts that he doesn't usually make. We both agreed the "home games" take on a life of their own and play is not exactly the high quality we'd like to be practicing to hone the skills for the Tuesday Empire game.

Online update: I played $3,000 worth of tourneys last week and had a very poor run of cards, putting me on TILT. I feel a bit frustrated with my response, and need to handle the inevitable reality of "bad beats". The most frustrating of last week was the $1,000,000 guaranty FULL TILT tourney that attracted over 2,000 runners ($500 buy-in). I was rolling, playing very well and had tripled-up my starting stack of 5,000 chips to 15,000 when I found AA UTG. I raised the pot 2.5x to 900 chips. Middle position raised to 2700 (12,000 behind) and late position calls (25,000 behind). I have no choice but to push all-in here, happily and see middle position fold and late position call with KK. The turn kills me when a K hits and knocks me out. This was the start of my downward spiral.

Played four $500 9-seat sit 'n go's. Was knocked out of all four, no cashes. Two of them I was eliminated with AA (KK again and AQ) and a third I ran my KK into AA. These were all pre-flop all-ins and was out-drawn (or out-played in the KK situation). The final exit was a mistake on my part when I called a big raise out of position with QcJc. The flop of KcTc2s gave me the up 'n down straight flush draw. I checked to the raiser and he led-out 75% of the pot to which I min-raised with 1/3 of my stack (this was a weak move to which I solicit any comments) and he re-min-raises me back, which I call. The turn is a blank, and I lead-out with 1/3 the pot bet again (as both of out stacks are dwindling) and he pushes all-in to which I have to call now, getting paid 7:1 and 30% chance to hit my hand. I miss the river and see I was up against AhAd. Other than this last hand, I can't blame anything but bad luck for this week's drain on the bankroll. COMMENTS WELCOMED.

Online bankroll: $7,800

Another Cash....

2007-12-14T06:51:00.000-08:00

Ran another 150+ big tourney and cashed for about $700 in 13th (ish) spot. The reason I don't know exactly is my unfortunate exit really irritated me and I logged off in disgust.

Played very well again, getting all my chips in the middle with dominating hands versus opponents. My unfortunate (and typical) exit from the tourney came when I paired both my 7d5d on a flop of 7s5cAd rainbow. I was pretty sure I was up against an A and my opponent had an equal chip stack to me. The pot was 1/3 the size of my stack. I short-bet the pot for 1/3, hoping he would raise me, which he did (3x - pot size). I called. The turn of 2d was a fourth diamond for me, giving me a flush draw as well as middle two pair. I checked, He pushes all-in for an overbet of the pot. This gave me pretty good confidence he is on AK (with no draw because the Ad is out on the board). So, I called the overbet. He turned over AsQd and is a 4:1 dog to my made two pair. Unfortunately, he hit his Q and I was out.

Bankroll: $11,000

Empire Tuesdays

2007-12-13T02:28:00.000-08:00

CC and I played Empire on Tuesday and it lived up to its reputation of a loose, fishy game. I unfortunately made 2 mistakes, costing me 350 GBP and left with only a +100 GBP profit, while CC had a much better night despite me mucking up an opportunity for him to take another +200 off a very fishy Italian mobster ("IM") with his bodyguard at tableside.

"IM" was the definition of a calling station. He wouldn't lay anything down. My mistake was trying to out-play him when I raised the 1/2 blinds to 15 from the button and he was the only caller. Flop of TQ2 rainbow hit my As2s. He bet out 25 and I raised to 75. He called. Turn was harmless 7. He checked, I moved him all-in for another 150. I correctly identified he was VERY weak and did not want to call, but this calling station would not lay down a hand. So, he calls reluctantly with AT, and I puked off 250 to this guy. BIG MISTAKE #1.

A bit later "IM" called my button raise of 12, along with 3 others at the table, including CC. I held KsTs, and played agressively from position. Flop was 78T rainbow. "IM" leads out with 40. I was pretty sure "IM" was on a draw or had paired the T with a worse kicker. "IM" only had about 50 behind. Foolishly, I didn't see CC deliberating on my right, thinking he had thrown in his hand, and I raised it to 100 to push out the two players on my left. CC, rightly so, was flaberghasted and he ended up throwing his 2nd-nut 69 straight away after I bet out of turn. I'm so pissed off that I mucked up that hand, because if CC had bet, I definitely would have folded. Instead, "IM" calls along with one other player. In a stroke of lightening, "IM" actually had hit the same straight the CC had thrown away, the 6-9. So, I puked another 112 quid off to "IM", and prevented CC from taking down half the pot. BUMMER and my bad, sorry CC!!

Overall, Tuesday confirmed that Empire is a hotspot for loose, crappy players and will be a regular Tuesday night venue.

Sweet Victory - Won $9k

2007-12-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

My slump is officially OVER! I called up CC tonight, begging to go play in some live cash games. But, he had other plans, so I opted to jump online and play a bigger tourney. I had $50 left in my FTP account (see blog entry: "Ever hit the wrong button?") and I uploaded an additional $150 to enter a $200, $20k guaranteed prize event. 15 mins before the start there were only 55 players signed-up. The thought process was anything under 100 and it was "free money" (55 players * $200 = $11,000 in entry fees versus $20,000 prize money). However, by the time the tourney started, there were 160 runners for $32,000 prize money!!

Anyways, starting stacks were 2,000 chips and there were 7 pros entered, including Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. One pro named Aaron Bartley was sitting at my starting table. I ended up knocking Bartley out after I called his button 3x raise from the BB with KhQh. I checked the money flop of KsJh4h and he continuation bet the pot with only the same amount behind, so I pushed him all-in to see JT and took down a big pot. I also got my entry fee of $200 back as a "bounty" for knocking off a pro. NOT BAD!!

So, I was free-rolling after the first 45 minutes. Having that $200 bounty under my belt and 3x starting chip stack in front of me provided the confidence and patience to play SOLID POKER. For most of the middle portion of the tourney I was chip leader or near the top. The field of 160 was shrinking and now down to 50-60 with 18 spots paid. I was sitting on 17,000 chips with the average around 6,000.

Had a very bad beat when my flopped set of 888's went down to a middle-pair and gut shot straight draw (which he hit) after all the money had gone into the pot. I shrunk from 15,000 down to 5,000. Thankfully, on the next hand, I doubled up with KK and quickly got my patience back.

Decided my goal was to just limp into the money, which was now only 15 spots away. and I was just under the average stack of 11,000 chips. First goal was achieved when I slow-played KK and got an over-eager player to commit his chips when he paired a T-high board.

Having made the money, the next goal was to move up the pay spots, 15, then 12, then FINAL TABLE. I limped into the final table as the short stack with 10,000 chips. Average stack is now 35,000, so I only have one move. I find KK on the second hand, UTG. Instead of pushing, I just raise the 1,500 blind 3x to 4,500. Mid-position re-raises 35k, all-in, and the button pushes all-in for 25k. Was sure SOMEONE had AA, but NO! AQ and QQ go down to my KK and I TRIPLE-UP BABY!! Standing at 35,000 chips and at chip average, I have new life.

Final table was CRAZY with 80% of hands involving an all-in move, so I just sat patiently folding. Found AA, QQ, AA, in a series of luckily cards. Twice, I took down 10k without being called and then eliminated a short-stack with QQ against AT.

Making it down to the final 3 players, I found AK and called an all-in by the short-stack who turned over AQ. Flop comes xxx and then QQ to go runner runner and my stack shrunk to 10k chips. With 320k chips in play, I'm basically SCREWED. Instead, I survived all-ins with 66, T9, and was heads-up with 60k chips versus his 260k. Several times, I took down the blinds, which had climbed to 8k/4k/1k, moving up to 85k in chips. Then, I found TT and called an all-in move after position raising. He turns over 33 and I move into a virtual tie in chips. GAME ON!!

The last few hands, I just got lucky with the cards, finding AK and As9s, which both held up. The first place prize money was $8,600 plus the $200 bounty for a cool $8,800 victory!

Will update with screen shot and more specifics (corrections) on some of the hands tomorrow.

GIDDY UP!

Played a few cash games on the rush and finished strongly:

Online Bankroll: $10,574

Colombia

2007-12-03T03:54:00.000-08:00

Just back from a week of traveling around in Bogota/Cali/Cartagena. The country is amazing. With neighboring Venezuela's lunatic Chavez losing a key referendum, I can't see why Colombia and its South American neighbors won't continue their rapid pace of improvement.

Ever hit the wrong button?

2007-11-07T16:06:00.001-08:00

So unbelievably true that I hate to write this post. Playing $10/20, I worked a $1100 starting stack to $4500. Played just great. Really really solid. Then, just now, I was involved in a pot that went as follows:

From the BB, I called a raise of $70 from the big stack at the table with AJs. He had been pushing people around, raising about 30-40% of the pots, so I figure I'm ahead. Flop comes QJ2. I went to make a pot-size lead-out bet of $150, just to see where I was. Instead, my cursor wandered over to "max" instead of "pot" and I automatically hit "enter" after clicking the wrong button. So, here I sit with $4400 bet into a $150 pot. The guy sits there, ponders what the f&*$£ck this guys is doing and thinks for 20 seconds before calling me with QQ, having hit his nut set. I HAVE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE and the one time I do it, the guy has hit the NUTS. SO SICK. It is so stupid, I can't even get mad. Please, someone tell me you've done this before.

I think God is telling me something....give it up son!

Bankroll: $50

Frustrated with Poker

2007-11-07T03:09:00.000-08:00

Bankroll is down to $1293, but I actually am very happy with my play. I guess that's poker. One lesson I'm taking to heart is don't be afraid to leave a table if it's packed with tight players.

I too often stick it out at a table, trying to trap the tight players and make a big hit. But this is a tough strategy. Case in point:

I had been folding to pre-flop re-raises about 75% of the time, knowing the table is tight. A couple times, finding AKs and JJ, I called $63 re-raises on 3/6 tables. First flop of AJJ cost me my $600 stack when player flopped A's full against my AK. The second flop of AJ2, I slow-played my set, only to see the turn of A, ruin my hand and cost me $400 when player hit his A2 boat. Bad luck, maybe, but I stuck around to keep playing.

Feeling a bit frustrated, I called a couple $21 raises with TT and 88 and each time hit top set. Both times, I called continuation bets and the board didn't look scary. But, the problem was I couldn't get my opponents to committ any more chips. So, taking down mid-size pots was nice, but not what I was looking for to get back to even.

One might say this opens the opportunity to call-steal against these guys, but I just found it frustrating everytime I tried the move.

So, I moved to another table, and found a much better rhythm that suited my style. It was like a breath of fresh air. Should be more flexible and move tables when it's just not working well.

Bad Beats Galore

2007-10-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

$5/$10 NLHE action on FTP. I've been playing these higher stakes without much progress for the past 10 days, +/- 1,000. Up until last thursday, all was fine. Then I had another setback. So, I reviewed my hand logs. Can see the opportunities to make consistent progress, but I am missing the bit of luck (or absence of bad luck) to take a leap ahead. Each session has been ~250-500 hands with the following patterns:

(1) Feeling out table/players for pre-flop strategies. Have needed to adjust quite dramatically to various conditions. Have tried everything from only limping pre-flop to always re-raising ($120 pre flop) in order to enter a hand. Style depends on the level of maniacs on the table (which seem to be more prevelent lately).

(2) Post-flop has been a mix between playing very tight (disciplined folding) and call-stealing only selectively. Identified two problems (Problem #1) correctly putting players on hands based on betting patterns and then failing to get them to laydown hands when the board says they should. MUST READ CALLING STATIONS BETTER. I have bluffed some big money away when I get a chip-lead on the table and see an opportunity to call-steal. For example, call a $120 re-raise pre-flop with QcJc to see a board of 9s8s7c. Call $180 continuation bet. Turn is the flush card. Tight player checks the turn with AA and won't lay it down to a $400 bet with straight and flush on the board (which I too missed). (Problem #2) very aggressive players that always raise pre and then continuation bet. What I have been doing is probing them to see if they will lay anything down to re-raises post-flop. If not, I tighten up, slow play big hands and try to hit some suited connectors. But, am finding even after several hundred hands of setting them up (folding consistently - giving them license to bluff-off their stack), I fall to the almighty Poker Gods ruthless suck-outs.

With all this said, I have suffered some really painful bad-beats that have kept me from moving significantly ahead in the P&L.

Situation 1: Worked $1000 starting stack up to $2500 using the strategies above. Find QsQc in BB and re-raise to $120 after the very aggressive maniac cut-off raises to $35. Maniac min-raises to $240 (with $1500 behind). I call, worried he might have AA/KK. Flop comes Qh2s3s. I bet out $500 into the $500 pot. He pops me to $1500, all-in. I call to see As4s for the 11-outter draw (spades and 5's). He hits the 5 on the turn and the 9h missed my opportunity to boat-up. Loose a massive $3500 pot getting out-drawn.

Situation 2: Another maniac aggressive player on the BB has been continually re-raising my button raises. Maniac takes a hit to his stack in the previous hand and has $800 left. I find AK on the button and again raise, knowing he will probably re-raise me based on history and he is on TILT from previous hand. Sure enough, my $35 raise gets popped to $120. Now, with only $650 behind, I'm pretty sure he is continuation betting the flop, so I decide to put him all-in pre-flop. Against a tighter player, I'm not making this move, but odds that he has AA/KK are low based on his pre-flop aggression. He calls, flipping over AJ. Now I'm a 3:1 favorite with $1650 in the pot. He spikes a J on the flop and another on the turn to suck-out.

Situation 3: Same player, about 12 hands later. Same situation. From the button I find KK. Raise to $35 gets re-raised to $120. I 3x-raise to $540. He flat calls. Flop 9h3c6d. I've never seen a better flop for KK. He leads-out $650 (with $750 behind) into the $1100 pot. I push all-in for $1300, covering him. He calls for a total pot of $3800. Maniac flips over TT. I'm 9:1 favorite here. Turn and river are running 7,8 for the straight. Loose another $3800 pot.

Not really sure how to take these recent events, except to acknowledge that $5/$10 is a much bigger game than I should be playing with my bankroll. Haven't been that worried, since the opportunities to jump up to $10k bankroll have been right in front of me. From this level, I'm more confident I can ride out the ups and downs of "luck", which seems to be far too big of a driver lately to give me confidence in sticking to these higher limits. I am contemplating either boosting my bankroll to $10k or stepping back down to $1/2 or $2/4.

Bankroll: $2,017

FTP SnG Victory

2007-10-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

Was talking on the phone for an hour tonight, so I jumped on to play a $100 Sit 'n Go. Find it very therapeutic to be doing something else while playing these donk-fest SnG's. Much easier to just fold 90% of the time and pump your big hands when your busy doing something else. Funny, you'd think it would be the same thing if I'm 100% focused and playing multi-table, but it isn't. Somehow, when I'm distracted with something better to do, I make better decisions on the tables, since I will only play in position with strong hands and avoid trying stupid steal attempts that are usually my death knell.

Anyways, I won the $100 SnG for $495, which was nice. The key was winning a few small pots early and sitting back, waiting for good spots to play aggressive. There were a couple interesting situations.

First, I limped in early position with AdKd. One caller and then the BB decided to push all-in, sensing weakness, I guess. He was only 1/2 my 4,000 stack, so I called and got up to 6,000. Mental note to self. AK is the kind of hand I don't mind seeing a flop with, so there's little risk of limping in early position.

Another great play (not by me) was when I was in the big blind with KsTd. It folded around to the small blind (c. 3500 in chips) and he min-raises me (c. 6000 in chips), which I always read as a steal attempt. Instead of just popping it up right there, I called to see a flop. It comes A-high rainbow. He checks to me, I check. Turn is the (not so) beautiful K. He bets 1/3 the pot and I min-raise. He calls. River is a blank. I check, hoping he surrenders and instead he bets 1/3 of the pot again, which I call to see trip AAA's. NICE PLAY on his part, sucking out as many chips from me as possible. The key was I had 2x his chips, so I could afford calling him down.

I survived that debacle to find Ad7d on the button. There are only 4 players left and I have 4,000 chips left. I push all-in on the SB and BB who are both c.1000-1500 chips. Reasoning here is that they are both on the bubble with similar chip stacks and neither want to be the first all-in, right? WRONG. Eric Froehlich who is a "Pro" on FTP calls me from the SB with A8. What a donkey! Yes, he had me beat, but why would you risk the bubble from the SB with A8?!? He can easily fold there and give the other guy an opportunity to lose before him. Instead, the board fails to throw up over cards and he takes me down. I'm still left with c. 3,000 chips, so I'm fine. I looked up Eric on http://www.Sharkscope.com, which I highly recommend for SnG players. Here's his profit/loss record. Not much of a "Pro". He's lost over $10,000 in the last 1,500 games. Anyways, it was a nice bite-size win, especially after last night's debacle at the Empire.

Online Bankroll: $4,131

Fish Fish Everywhere and Nothing to Eat....

2007-10-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Just back from Empire, which proved to be an action-packed night. Finished -750 quid and seriously questioning my will to keep playing (at least for a while).....

Night can be summed-up in 3 hands. Besides these, I'm very happy with the night, which is to say: "besides that, how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln?"

To set the tone, there are 3 fish and one calling station fish on a table of 10. 1/2 NL with 50-500 buy in. Our crew (CC, JL, and BK) are 3 of the 6 remaining. There's two tight players and 1 bomb to round out the table.

Hand 1: From the button I find KK and raise it up to 20 after 5 limpers. Two callers and myself go to the flop of QcTc8d. It checks around to me and I bet the pot, 60. One of the tight players calls me and the calling station fish calls too. I'm pretty sure these guys are on draws, so when the turn comes 3h, missing everything, and get checked to again, I fire out another pot-sized bet of 250, which has everyone covered. Tight player calls me, having hit his 888 set, and I lose a 700 quid pot, getting out-flopped.

Hand 2: From early position I find KhQs and raise to 12. Getting 3 callers to the flop of KsTs3d, I'm feeling good and lead-out with 50. I get called by tight player 2 and a fish on the button. Turn is the 6s, which gives me pause and I check, which was a mistake. Both players check. River is another spade, 9s. Tight player bets 20 into a pot of 200. I made another mistake and raised to 60. Not sure exactly what I was thinking, except that I felt my Q-high flush was good. Fish hesitates and folds and tight player comes back over the top for 150. I lay down the hand and he shows the As (and 9-off suit), nut flush, which he hit on the river.

Hand 3: The final hand of the night. Tension was high and everyone wanted a piece of the final pot, which promised to be an action-packed bluff-fest. I find 44 in late position and call a 7 raise. The button (JL) raises it up to 32. I'm prepared to fold, but with 3 callers, I'm getting pot odds and call. Flop comes 954 rainbow. Tight player 2 leads out for 50 into the 150 pot. I decide to slow-play, as the flop looks harmless, and just call the 50. JL, the original raiser, pops it up to 200 to go, which I read as an over pair (I'm licking my chops at this point). Tight player 2 moves ALL-IN for 700+ and announces "I never bluff, I'm all in!" I did for a moment contemplate laying down my bottom set, but with 450 behind, and 700 more in the pot, I felt I had to make the call. JL, to his credit, laid down QQ after putting 232 in the pot. Tight player 2 flips over the nuts 999 set, and completed his miracle run of cards taking down the 1150 pot. He had the nuts no less than 5 times in big pots.

So, there it is: a crappy night of cards. Lovely.

New Bike for the Cost of Two

2007-10-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

It took me a week to write this entry, because I have been so pissed off, I tried to wipe it out of my mind. My brand new Kona mountain bike got ripped off ("nicked" in Brit lingo) last week. The full suspension golden beauty was devlivered last weekend, and I quickly assembled it and went for a great ride through Battersea Park to test it out. Come Monday, I figured the CO2 my M3 pumped into the atmosphere everyday on my 10 min drive to work could use a breather, so I opted for the eco-friendly option and rode my new bike into work. Now, it was probably more about having a new toy than being green, but that's my excuse. Anyways, a group of my former colleauges from Boston were in London for the day and wanted to grab a drink after work. So, I rode down to Aldywych, central London, securely locked my bike with an equally shiny new Kryptonite lock, even removing the front tire and seat to avoid those being "nicked". The bike stand was 10 yards from the front door of the hotel and I was inside for a total of 30-40 minutes. That's all it took. I came out and saw an empty space where my Kona once was. Those b*stards left nothing behind - the lock was completely gone along with the bike. All I had left was the saddle, still in my work bag.

Nothing compares to the violatin of having something stolen. About six months ago, I had dinner at The Woolsley, parking just 40 yards up the street in Mayfair. I returned to see my window smashed and my glove box open sans the Tom Tom that was the thief's target. Gotta love London!

So, I decided it would feel worse to again have no bike and decided on buying a new one right away. Similar to my decision on flats, I went with an upgrade to soothe and swap the pain of loosing something you once cherished with a little bigger pain in the wallet.

Solid Session

2007-10-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

I rolled a 9-way $220 Sit 'n Go for $990, which was nice, to get back close to $4k, the starting stack before my recent roller coaster ride and eventually on my way to $5k.

Here's the setup. $5/10 NLHE at FTP. Playing VERY tight on a table that is full of absolute aggression pre-flop. I find AK on the button and raise to $40 after UTG had limped for $10. Blinds fold and UTG, who has $390 stack re-raises to $120. I decide I'm going to be pot committed on almost any kind of flop with $240 in the pot (UTG only has $270 behind and is going to go all-in after the flop, for sure). So, I push him all-in. He flips over 33 and we have a race. The flop comes AK3xx. So, at least I got the money in before he hit his set, which I would have lost anyway. Then, I find KK from the BB and the same (previous short stack) guy had raised to $35. I re-raise to $120 and he pushes all-in for $750, which I call. Happily, he flips over AK and flop comes AAxxx. Ok, so I drop $1200 on these two bogus hands and am not feeling very well. But, revenge is mine....

Here's the setup: Staying patient, I raise from the button 4 times and have the small blind ("Yawning Boy") re-raise me to $120 every time. Since I'm holding KQ-suited, AJ, AT, 99, I fold each time, throwing $35 away x4. But, he is playing very aggressive, so I figure I can catch him. On the 5th time, I raise with AK suited and Yawning Boy immediately raises me again to $120. I push all-in for $1,100, partly in frustration and partly to teach him to STOP F*CKING PUSHING ME AROUND BIZATCH! He calls time and waits 45 seconds, eventually folding. Then, an act from the Poker Gods.... I get AA in the cutoff and raise to $35. Stupid twat Yawning Boy re-raises me to $120 AGAIN. Now usually, I'll play this a little smoother, but I know the only way I'll get this guys chips is to move all-in again and hope he has something. So, I re-raise to $1250. Again, he calls time and "thinks" about it. Eventually he calls, flipping over AK off-suit and I take down a $2500 pot, turning Yawning Boy into WHIPPING BOY.

From there, I moved over to the $220 S'nG tourney. Nothing too crazy here, just played tight and got my money in with the best hands routinely. Had a couple bad beats, laid down some big hands pre-flop when the situation was bad, and generally survived to get to 4 players left, the bubble. This was a knock-down drag-out battle to get past the bubble with all players swapping the lead to last at least a couple times each. I survived all-in calls with 66, 88, A4, A6, and eventually won the $990 pot. The screen shot above shows the last hand. I had over 11k in chips and was on the big blind of 800, so calling another 1000 with J9 was a no-brainer.

Online Bankroll: $3,879.

Sunday Skilz

2007-10-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

Reeling from my big down day on Wednesday, I sat down to play two tables of $2/$4 NLHE at FTP, vowing to play tight and commit money to the pot only when I was strong. I finished +$1300 with little/no drama. Finally, a solid session with no bad beats (either way). Every time I was betting and raising, I was in the lead. Importantly, I let rather loose players commit money when they were trying to steal and quickly squashed with pot-sized re-raises, sometimes getting called and mostly seeing laydowns. Here are the stats:

238 Hands played
12% pre-flop steals (28)
Saw 20% of flops (47)
I won 26 of 47 flops seen, broken down by:
10 on the flop
7 on the turn
2 on the river
and 7 showdowns (of 8 seen)

That calculates to 136 BB's per 100 hands, which is pretty close to perfection, so I quit early, before my 500 hand typical session. Happy to get 60% of Wednesday's debacle back tonight and ready to start a strong run to $5,000, putting the recent set back behind me.

Bankroll: $3,100

GutShot

2007-10-12T06:51:00.001-07:00

The anticipated home game unraveled due to constituents' laziness and schedule conflicts, which drove CC and I to hit up GutShot for some cash games instead.

The night started rough for me. The game was 1/1 pot limit, which proved to be calling stations' dream. Finding KK, QQ, QQ, AK, AQ, I raised the pot everytime and got 3-7 callers. Everytime, I was met with post-flop calls/raises and either threw hands away or called down bettors to find they had hit hands. In one case, the flop came 9K7 rainbow while I held AK. I had raised to 13 pre-flop and bet 40 after the flop, getting called. The seemingly harmless 5 on the turn gave me confidence to re-raise a lead-out bet of 40, only to see my opponent move all-in with her 95 off-suit two pair proving victorious.

I was quickly down 250-275 and licking my wounds. Thankfully, the game loosened up even more and I tightened up, playing only premium drawing hands pre-flop and getting all the chips in when I hit. For example, KsTs from the button, I called a pre-flop pot bet of 11 to see KdTd9c. With a continuation bet of 50 and one caller, I re-raised to 200 and got called by a flush draw, which failed to hit.

Then, similarly hit the second-nut with KcTc after calling a 23 pre-flop bet and slow-playing to get the aggressive/loose player to commit all his chips to win a pot of 200+.

After 2am, the game turned into a testosterone battle with an average of 100-150 committed to the pot pre-flop. Post-flop, there was incredibly loose calls with middle pairs winning. There were three of us playing "good poker" and 5 maniacs. Good players were raising and pushing hard with AA/KK hands pre-flop, or flopping the nuts and getting all the money in from the maniacs. One memorable hand saw "good player 1" deliberate for 2 minutes, even having time called on him as he faced a 3x raise from a maniac pre-flop. His acting job was just too obvious (to me, at least) to be anything but AA. So, when he 4x raised all-in for an additional 400, I thought even the maniac would lay down his hand. But, NO! He calls with 73 suited and hits a straight when the board comes 6654K. SICK STUFF.

Unfortuantely, I caught very few cards and ended the night +250. With even normal cards, should have left GutShot with +600-1000, like my good playing counterparts did. A wins a win, as they say, but could have been much better.

Sheepish update

2007-10-10T08:07:00.001-07:00

Ran KK into AA and dropped $1,000 last night with the first 5 minutes. This put me on tilt, but I battled emotions and worked back to even. Then, after all that work to come back, I got squashed again. Called a very aggressive player's pre-flop raise to $70 with AcQc, playing from BB. The flop came QsQdTs. I check-raised to $220 and was immediately 2x raised to $650. Pretty sure I'm up against AA/KK or a flush draw, I pushed all-in for $2,000. Aggressive player thinks for 30 seconds and calls with As4s. The board wasted no time putting up the flush on the turn with 6s and blanked the river. I tilted for a bit before logging off. Hard to swallow the cumulative effort wasted when combined with my online balance. Will gather my patience and get back ASAP.

Bankroll: $1,823

Here fishy fishy fishy....

2007-10-08T03:40:00.000-07:00

....was the call at the Empire last Tuesday. My early exit from the 250 GBP freezout was disappointing, but the cash games afterward made up for it.

The freezeout was a one-table, 10-man game with 5,000 starting stacks, 30 min levels 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 150/300....so very playable. Stayed out of the way for the first 2 1/2 hours, picking up a handful of pots, virtually uncontested as my tight table image paid off on some nice semi-bluffs. Worked up to 9,000 without fanfare. With blinds at 200/400, there were 9 players left with 3 very short stacks with me on the button. UTG short stack limps, middle position calls, table folds to me with QsTs. From the button, I raise to 1,500, given my tight image and position. SB folds, BB is short stacked and goes all-in for 1,200 (another 800 more). The limper (short stacked) calls all-in for another 1,000. Middle position calls the 1,500 getting pot odds. SO MUCH FOR PUSHING THEM OFF!! Pot stands at 5,500 and it is now heads-up for a side pot. Flop comes QcJdTs. Middle position checks to me. I bet 2,000, a weakish bet, hoping to get a re-raise back at me. Middle takes the bait and pushes in for 4,500. I call and see I'm ahead of his JhTh. The turn brings the 7s and river a 9h. I take down the side pot of 9,000 but lose the main pot to a short stack's 98-off suit straight. Stack stands at 13,500.

Continued to stay very tight with 5 players remaining now, blinds at 200/400. From BB , the table folds around to the SB, another American at the table. He was a bit of a maniac, but not a scary player. He limps from the SB, which makes me a little nervous. I look down at AhTh and want to find out where I'm at, and raise to 1,500. He flat calls. Flop comes Ts4s7h rainbow. Pot at 3,000, he checks. I bet the pot of 3,000. He calls. I'm putting him on the spade draw, so when the turn comes 4h, I'm feeling very good and have picked up a flush draw of my own. He checks. Pot at 9,000, he has 5,000 behind and I put him all-in. He calls and turns over As4d for trips. Unfortunately I miss my 25% chance at flush or T and am on life support with 2,500 chips left.

Exit hand: From the button, facing one limper, I move all-in with A8. Blinds fold and limper calls with JJ. Fail to improve, and move over to the cash game.

Cash Games

1/2 game with 500 buy-in limit. Seeing an average stack of 100-150, I make the full buy-in. There were 8 people playing, 5 absolute fish, 2 average players, and 1 reasonably good. I was forced to mix it up after a couple of strong hands get 2-3 callers after I bet 20 pre-flop. I'm forced to throw QQ and KK away after an A flopped both times. So, instead, I chose to limp on drawing hands and only small raise strong hands. Regardless, there are usually 4-6 players going to the flop. Out-playing the table after the flop proved very easy with calling stations all around. For instance, played 2s4s from the button, calling a raise of 10. Four players to the flop of 3s5sAd. Original raiser (fishy) bets out 15 into 40 pot. I call the 15. Turn is the money card, As, making the straight flush (and probably trip A's for fishy). He bets 30, I call. Turn is the Jh. Luckily, he confidently pushes another 50 in the pot with AT-off. Not even needing the straight flush, his trips go down and rake a 230 pot. Besides that, was winning 50-100 GBP pots consistently and only losing 2-6 GBP to get looks at flops. After 90 minutes, I was +400 GBP, making back my freezeout buy-in and then some.

CC was running very good over at the freezeout, placing 3rd eventually and doubling up my 50% equity stake in him. Was happy to see him cash, as I know he's been laying low of late. When he finally made it over to the cash game, the table was pretty well cleaned-out with re-buys coming at the table minimum of 50 GBP pretty consistently. This changed the dynamics of the game considerably and the action slowed.

Left the game at 3am, net +465 cash and +300 on the night after CC's equity paid off despite my cold showing in the freezeout.

Online update: Been playing $2/4, $5/10 a lot. Ran the stack up to $5,550 this weekend, when I hit a nasty streak of suck-outs. The worst ones were my QQ going down to JsTs after pre-flop $1,000 pot all-in from a total D-bag drunk fish. In another travesty, I called $70 raise on $5/10 table from the the button with AhKh to see a flop of KK7. Got all the money in the middle, $2,000+ against AA only to see the final A fall on the river and blugeon my fingers as I metaphorically raked the pot too early. In the end, I'm back to even par, despite the $3,000+ in absolute B.S. above.

Online Bankroll: $4,372

Last few days were NOT PRETTY....

2007-09-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted this week for a couple reasons (in sequential order): (1) I had a very bad run on the $5/10 when I decided to step it up. Ran my QQ into AK and lost $1000. Then, on tilt, I ran AK into KK on a AK2 board, losing another $1000. (2) Traveled all over this week for work. In the process took a beautiful two hour helicopter ride across Ireland. Was also in Paris and the Champagne region, tasting the finest vintages of Dom Perignon, Veuve Cliquot, and Moet Chandon. Was a pretty spectacular week overall. (3) Came back to get "unstuck" from the earlier card trauma I mentioned. Was working the $10/20 table for about 5 hours tonight and ended up victorious. The big hand that doubled me up to my previous bankroll was QQ vs. AQ. The betting went like this:

$10/20 table and I'm BB with QQ. The button raised to a standard $70, which looks like a steal attempt. I re-raise to $240. He re-re-raises me to $750. I'm not feeling good about this, but I push all-in for $2000 and get immediately called by AQ...WTF!!?!? This is SUCH A BAD CALL. Luckily, he misses his 30% chance for the A and I'm right back up to $4,300, where I started the week. I'd write more, but i'm off to bed, feeling good. Call me the "come back kid", which is my name on PS3 "Friday Night Fights". The graphics are amazing, just like a real boxing match.

Oh, one more thing....I ordered a FTP ice hockey jersey with "BK HAS AK" on the back. A little taste of home for the boyz when they come over for my next home game (Oct 11th re-scheduled).

Bankroll: $4,327

Quick update...

2007-09-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

Getting back into the swing of things with $2/4 NLHE on FTP. Played for only about 50 hands and just played solidly, so it was a quick night. Check raising was working very effectively after calling pre-flop raises from position. This is one of the most profitable strategies I've found, especially when used sparingly.

One such example that worked well, getting a free card for $20, which eventually led to winning a $410 hand that I may have thrown away if I had just called the flop. From the button I was facing a raise to $14 with Ah6h. This is the kind of hand I don't like playing because of the weak kicker and even in the rare cases where you flop a flush draw, it is either expensive to complete the flush or the action is dead when you flop the nuts. But, from the button, I figured I had a decent chance to push the raiser off the pot even if I didn't hit my flop. 2 players to the flop of ATQ rainbow. The raiser took about 15 seconds to make his bet, which I read as "crap, he (me) probably has an A". He bet $20 into a $30 pot and I raised to $40 to see if he was bluffing. Raiser makes the call. Turn was 7h, giving me a flush draw and top pair. Raiser checks and I am happy to see another card, hoping to make my nut flush. Instead, the 6 hits the river, giving me Aces-up. After I checked the turn, I'm sure he thinks he's ahead with something like KQ. He value bets the river with $75 into a $110 pot. I raised to $150 and he calls me with QT, having hit two pair on the flop. I was behind, but for a $20 re-raise I got a free card on the river, which paid me off.

Bankroll: $4,371

Back in Action....

2007-09-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

BT came through with a 3.5GB broadband line, so I finally got back online playing. Felt a bit rusty for the first hour, losing $200 on some bad "moves", but managed to hold my own after that on the $2/4 and then $5/10 NLHE cash games. Played a bunch of heads-up SnG's which proved to be slightly negative on the P&L. I was tuning up on the $30 and $50 SnG's, having some success, but got a bad beat when I stepped up to $100. Got a bad opponent to commit all his chips against my QQ with A3, but he flopped the A. Slow start, but a necessary step back to get into the groove.

One observation on HU action: played "repomann7" deep into the 7th level of blinds. It was a really good match, but in the end, he was easy to beat because of one thing: PREDICTABILITY. Repo played very tight and capitalized on his strong hands as I donked off some chips on re-raises when he was strong. Basically, after about 50 hands I realized he would fold to any bet if he didn't have anything and would bet the pot if he had something. So, it was pretty easy to pick him off, re-raise his small bets, and generally wear him down for an eventual win. But, the point is that predictability is the absolute worst quality to have as a poker player. You have to switch gears and keep 'em guessing or you're dead.

Just as I write this entry, I was involved in a very interesting hand: The action on this table was very loose and I was playing Dan Negreanu (keep the pot small pre-flop) style. UTG I find AcKc on a $2/4 table and LIMP. Mid position small stack pushed all-in for $51 and the BB flat called (with $350 behind). With the pot at $115, I decided to push all-in for $675 ( I was basically free-rolling as I was up $275) as I thought 80% sure the BB would fold facing my all-in. Instead, BB calls with TT and small stack had 44 (no clubs for either). I failed to improve the AcKc after 5 low cards came and lost $400 on that pot. Welcome any comments on this one.

Again, just now I had two consecutive pots of $350-400 with AK and 9T suited. I just called pre-flop raises both times and made the flush on the turn after calling pot bets on the flop. Each time, the same guy "browerkid" (a very good, tight player I see often) called my $100-150 river bet, paying me off. A fair bit of luck, but I did maximize the hands.

Bankroll: $4,056

England has defeated me...

2007-09-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Finally got moved-in to the new flat, which is a great sense of relief. However, with it brings all the challenges of dealing with the monopoly utilities, namely SKY and BT, that to most Brits are accepted frustrations, but to this American are infuriating inefficiencies that drive me absolutely CRAZY.

BT(1): try to outsmart them and pre-order my phone line 1 week in advance. They refuse to turn it on for the day of arrival, and instead insist I take residence and then call them. Then, I'm supposed to wait for 48 hours for the phone to be turned on. I call back 2 days before I'm legally a tenant and tell them I'm moved in. AHH HA! I got them. Phone line supposed to be active Friday, Sept 8th.

SKY(1): I out-wit those nitwits and pre-order 2 weeks ahead for SkyHD installation (on the new 52" 1080p Samsung) and happen to get assigned Sept 10th, 3 days after move-in, which is fine. I don't understand why Sky insists on sending someone to your house for an "installation", which amounts to a "technician" plugging in the power cable, coax and turning the box on. This time there were two "technicians" --- WTF?!?! Anyways, the "technicians" insist my phone line isn't working and they need to activate my box via the phone line. Since I don't even have a phone (the line is for broadband), I can't argue with them and begin cursing BT. Then, the "technicians" tell me they can't leave the SkyHD box with me, and that another installation will have to be booked when I have a working phone line. WHAT A CROCK!

As I muster all my self-control to not erupt into explicatives, the gents leave. I just then remember I have a BT phone stuffed away. So, I grab it, plug it into the phone jack and voila, A PERFECT DIAL TONE. Those FRIGGIN IDIOTS! Quickly dialing the "technician" on his mobile, I catch him before he leaves and he says it's too late, he's closed the job out of the computer. ARE YOU FRIGGIN KIDDING ME?!?! Just give me the damn box and I'll plug it in. NOPE, he drives off.

BT(2): Needing to sign up for broadband, I call them, having waited the perfunctory 48 hours after the phone is active to order broadband. Nope, they can't just do this in one phone call. You have to order the line, then wait 24 hrs for it to be active then wait 48 hours more before calling back in, queuing for 20 mins and ordering broadband.

BT Broadband (1): They tell me my line is "amber", which means they might not be able to provide me broadband at all, but if they can, it may take 7-14 days to confirm. So, I wait, to hear my fate.....until I get a line working at home, my poker is on hold.

SKY(2-8): After 6 phone calls to Sky/Install people, I realize I'm screwed. They don't care that the dial tone was overlooked by the "technician", it was not verified, so it was a failed install. On the 8th call to sky, the customer "service" rep tells me to cancel my first order, refund my money, and start all over again with the new sales department. WTF!?! She hangs up on me when I ask her my options, since there were none. I give up for the day. Call back the following day, newly refreshed and promising myself not to blow-up on the phone. The sales rep tells me he can't offer me a SkyHD box since I had cancelled my order the previous day. I have to wait 30 days to re-order.....OK, NOW I'M STEAMING !£")$&^("£%( MAD.....hang up.

Sky(9): Get a sales rep on the phone after queuing for 53 minutes. He tells me the same thing the last guy said....wait 30 days to re-order. I take a deep breath and tell him my story. Miraculously it works, he puts me on hold for 37 minutes (NO EXAGGERATION, 37 minutes)....I'm sure he has me on perma-hold, but he comes back saying that his supervisor has approved my re-order. He starts the process, takes my payment details and tells me it will be 299 pounds. I explain my first order was 199, why the price hike? He tells me to hold....another 23 minutes (SERIOUSLY). What do these guys do, take a coffee break, work one out in the toilet, catch up on some reading, and then come back to me? He comes back saying, no problem, 199 pounds. OK!!! Now we're getting somewhere! Finally. The final stake in the neck was the "next available install date" is SEPTEMBER 24th....That's nearly 2 weeks!!! Completely exhausted, I accept and again, I'm waiting......for the glorious experience of HD TV.

Virgin Media(1): I forgot to mention that in the middle of all this I decided Virgin Media (the old NTL cable) would be a better option. In short, they offer cable service to my building, but NOT my flat. WTF?!? You spend all the money to run infrastructure to the building, but don't wire up the whole thing? This would never fly in the States, it just doesn't make economic sense.

So, England has defeated me, the inefficient monopoly (dare I say communist) utilities have brought me to my knees. I have accepted defeat, embraced the arcane culture, and reduced myself to accepting: "that's just the way it is"....say it ain't so!

Weekly Riddle #1

2007-09-06T01:40:00.000-07:00

A 1-6 number cube is sitting on a table. Lenore counts 17 dots on all the sides she can see.

Which face of the number cube is resting on the table? (There's only one possible answer)

Local Tourney

2007-09-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

20 GBP re-buy tourney attracted 11 players and a 420 GBP purse. Winner took 250, I placed second at 120, and third at 50. Was very patient in this extremely chaotic tourney with a lot of bull$shit play. Never found a hand better than AJ, but still managed to wait it out (3 1/2 hrs). Starting stacks were 2,000 with 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 300/600, 400/800, and the final 1k/2k blinds very manageable.

Got lucky with A9 when CC went all-in with 2500 after my 1200 raise and a caller behind. I called and checked it down to take a 3-way pot with A-high.

Other than that, it was pretty unmemorable. Final hand I was in the big blind and check a limp with 96 off. Flop was QJT. 1/2 pot bet looked weak, so I pushed for 3x the pot and got called by Q3. I failed to hit the open ender and was out. The guy had 3x my stack, so it was as good as ever to push there. Pretty boring night.

SnG's Strategy

2007-09-03T01:57:00.000-07:00

Been playing a bunch of HU and 4-way shoot-outs lately. One thing that I noticed is the level of aggression is VERY high. To offset this, I've adopted a winning strategy (so far) that employs Dan Negreanu's lessons. Keep the pot small pre-flop!!! It almost never pays to play pre-flop super aggressive, in my opinion. Disguising big hands and re-raising after c-bets seems to be a much better chip extraction method.

Why? Pre-flop, in a HU's game, if you raise 3x BB, a call gives you almost no information about your opponent's hand. Calls tend to be a lot looser (or they are slow playing HUGE hands -- which is my style when facing super aggressive players), and you run the risk of facing a pre-flop re-raise and having to read a player's cards blind to make a call. I think one of the worst plays in poker is calling an all-in pre-flop. Going all-in pre-flop is certainly a strong play, that can be wise when used infrequently. But, the more you can avoid pre-flop all-ins (unless you have AA), the better your results will be over the long-term if you have above-average skilz. Which is the point of poker, no?!? I much prefer dictating the action and forcing/facing the all-in decision AFTER the flop. It gives you a lot more information about where you stand and creates additional fold equity, as many players will be forced to throw away strong starting hands after a wrong flop that they would have gone all-in with pre-flop (e.g. AK, AQ, JJ, TT). In this way, it reduces the randomness of HU action and brings more skill into the game.

Plan on developing this line of thinking in subsequent posts. Next installment: HU post-flop play.

Bankroll: $3,923

$2/$4 boredom

2007-08-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

With KTss the button raised me to $14. He had been raising my blinds EVERY time, so I called him. Flop of QJ2 gave me an open ender. He continuation bets $30 and I call. Turn of K, I check, he C2's $60 and I call. River drops 5. I check, he C3's $150, I call to happily see rags. This donk, "FastAssLexus", should learn something about switching gears.

Bankroll: $3,755

$0.50/$1.00 HU NLHE -- $700 on the table

2007-08-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

I sat down with $100 to play 50c/$1 heads-up against "Frani" on FTP. About 15 minutes later, there was $700 on the table, $100 of which was mine, the rest my opponent's 6 re-buys. Never seen anything like it. He raised pre-flop EVERYTIME. It was sick. I was up to $500 in about 5 mins after catching AK, TT, QQ preflop and slow playing to get him all-in.

Unfortunately, he caught some cards and I ended up quitting this maniac +$300, but it was the craziest thing I ever saw.....i'll look him up from now on.

Sharkscope.com

2007-08-31T03:08:00.000-07:00

So, if you haven't tried this site, it is a MUST. It tracks all SnG players/games at most poker sites. You can search on a user name (5 free searches per day) and see their track record. I use it for heads-up, checking the track records of players sitting, waiting for action.

Yesterday, I noticed a guy sitting on the $220 NLHE heads-up table who had a combined -$10k in losses and an average ROI of -18%. So, I sat down and won within 15 minutes. Not a bad way to pick off bad players.

Bankroll: $3,375

Macbook Pro and Another Roller Coaster Ride

2007-08-26T19:16:00.001-07:00

I spent 2 hours moving my iTunes from my PC to my intel-based Macbook Pro today. Although my Mac 100GB hard drive is almost full with over 20GB of songs/movies/videos, 25GB of pictures, and 25GB of American TV (HBO's Entourage - best show ever) I've downloaded, having all of your stuff spread between two machines is a big hassle. So, I decided to upgrade my MBP HD to 250GB. The new drive is in the mail, and should offer some breathing room, although I'm told the upgrade process is less-than-fun. Not to mention is voids my Apple warranty. After a year with the Mac, I'll never go back to the PC for a home machine. Took a while getting used to, but MBP is super slim and has a brilliant LCD widescreen panel. It's fast, never freezes up, and virus issues are almost non-existent. The widescreen is perfect for multi-tabling as well. I can run Windows XP on the Mac, but I never do, as everything I need is available natively on the Mac. Enough of my MBP sales pitch....

While I was watching the progress bar on my iTunes transfer, I jumped onto FTP for some action. Little did I know it would be another MEGA rollercoaster day. Started by losing $400 in four SnG's, which were pitiful. Got all my money in 2x with AA and got sucked-out both times. My TT went down to JJ and AK failed to improve over 88. Pretty standard crap sandwich.

So, I went back to the bread 'n butter cash games. I've settled into the $5/$10 game and basically play very tight, avoiding the sharks that swim in theses waters. Think I'll permanently stay at this level, provided my bankroll is healthy. Anyways, my tailspin continued in the cash games. Lost $1500 on two hands that I'll detail below:

(1) From the button I pick up 55 and see UTG limp, middle raise to $35 and late calls. This is the kind of value I like to get with 55, so I call, as does the limper. 4 players to the flop of Th5h2s looks great. Pot is $140 and it checks around to middle who continuation bets $100 (probably an over pair or AK). Late position calls $100. Pot is now $340 to me with a set of 555, which I'm 90% sure are ahead. I raise to $400. UTG folds, middle folds, and late makes the call. When the 3h falls on the turn, I know I'm in trouble. He moves all-in for another $400. I call with the pot at nearly $1500, and see he made a QhJh flush. River misses the board (and my full house). $2k pot kaputz.

(2) Find 8s9s UTG and limp for $10. A maniac raises it to $45 and the big blind calls, making my call easier. Flop of 9c8c5s looks pretty good. Check check to the raiser who continuation bets $100. BB folds. I raise to $300 and Maniac calls. Turn brings the 4c, making flush possibilities. I check the scary board and Maniac bets out $250 (?). I re-raise him again to $550, trying to find out where I'm at. He calls. At this point, I'm totally screwed, as I have no idea what he has and the pot is up to $1400. Side note: Maniac had been calling EVERYTHING, chasing cards, so I figure he was/still is on a draw, but I don't give him credit for a made hand at this point. However, the river is a painful 7c, making 4 clubs and only a 6 needed for a straight. I check the disaster hand to Maniac and he pushes all-in for $2k . I've only got about $600 left, but I fold having no club and a worthless top two pair. Pretty sure he had Ac and was chasing the flush....I should have stood on it harder on both the flop and turn, but didn't have the cajones.

That was the low of the night (thank goodness). I still had a full buy-in of $1,000 plus a little in reserve, so I kept playing. There were several donkeys at the table (not to mention the Maniac), so I waited patiently for a shot to double up. Worked my way up to $1,400 on some good flops and a couple strong steal plays and then found QQ UTG. I limped with it, knowing I'd get raised on this loose table, which I did immediately. It folded around to me and I limp/re-raised to $125 and got called. Now, if he was sitting on AA/KK, he would have three-raised me, so I'm damn sure the flop of J83 rainbow is money. I continue the charade and check. He takes the bait and bets the pot $250. I min-raise to $500 and he pushes all-in for another $800, which I call. I'm happy to see QJ and nearly double-up to $2600.

Played for a while longer, but the table disapated, so I moved over to a $110 SnG, which I won for $450. Played very well at this one, getting all my money in with KK twice, knocked out a donkey with TT vs. A4 and then used my big stack to push people around pre-flop. All-in, it was a lot of sweat/tears/pain for not a lot of gain, but again, it ended in the black.

Bankroll: $3,042

414 hands P&L = zero

2007-08-25T17:36:00.001-07:00

It was a roller coaster of a session on $2/$4 NLHE on FTP and I ended even, frustratingly so.

The first big loss came when I found AA in the big blind. I re-raised the button to $56 and got called. Flop comes A26 rainbow. BINGO! I bet straight out $115 pot and got called ?!? I'm putting him on either AK/22/66 or a call-steal attempt. Turn comes 3. I bet out $100, looking weak and hoping to entice an all-in from my opponent. It works! He pushes in for $350 and I of course call, only to see the friggin 45 straight. I missed the river, which still had 20% chance to pair the board to boat me up. I can't believe he called $56 pre-flop and called $115 for an inside straight draw. -$521 as I lose a $1k pot on a suck-out.

I suffered multiple $200-250 losses in the following hour. Raised with AK and got called by 56. Flop came A65 and then turned another 6 and the painful river brought a K, which gave me top two pair. Then found QQ twice against a small stack ($200 or less) and pushed in when they had AA.

After the first 90 minutes, I was down nearly -$1000 and really felt like crap. I tightened up and waited it out. Vindication came in the following scenarios:

(1) Limped with AhQh and saw 4 callers. Ad9c5h board checked around. Tc on the turn made straight and flush possibilities. I raised a $20 bet from player with $120 behind to $60 and he pushed all-in with Qc8c for the gut shot straight flush draw, which he missed.

(2) Flopped a set of 8's on a board of KcJc8s and got $400 in the pot and called by K8. I boated up when the J turned.

(3) Multiple $100-150 wins as I played my position aggressively, allowing me to call continuation bets and steal effectively when straight/flush possibilities developed after strong pre-flop betting activity.

All together, it was a nice recovery after some painful hands early. I'm going to sleep.

Bankroll: $2,734

Bankroll

2007-08-25T01:39:00.000-07:00

I'm not too particular about tracking my "bankroll" as some other players, simply because (1) I'm not playing for the money and (2) i'm fortunate enough that poker won't move the needle on my bank account, either way. In the end, I'm a student of the game. Yes, the money is nice :-) but it's just a way of keeping score in my eyes. Also, keeping an accurate count of live games also complicates the issue of an accurate bankroll calculation. However, to justify putting up the buy-in for the WSOP, I withdrew my entry fee from my FTP account and I realized that I shouldn't let FTP hold a big chunk of cash that I'm not using, because I'm very happy playing the levels I'm at. Now that I'm back from Vegas, playing online, it got me thinking about the money management aspect of this game. So, yesterday, I decided to clean out my FTP account for a healthy 5-digit amount and put it in my money market account. I left myself $3,000 to play, which might prove a little optimistic, but I hoped I would have a good start. This should force me to play and report as if money did matter. So, from here on out, I'm going to report a "bankroll" figure as my online account balance, just to keep a running scorecard of my online success. All of the cash games will be ignored (for now). Current bankroll ($2,163 - after the big loss below AA vs 4s5s). I'm online now, so hopefully will get un-stuck!

Bankroll Addendum: $2,705 after a guy on TILT went all-in with 88 against my JJ.

Interesting Hand AA vs. 54 suited --- Bad Ending

2007-08-25T01:15:00.000-07:00

Playing against a very tight player, I call a $35 bet ($5/$10 NLHE) from big blind with 5s4s. Flop comes 236, 2 spades. Tight player continuation bets the pot $70. I raise to $225 as I don't want the spade draw to ruin my nuts. He calls and I'm putting him on AA/KK/QQ. Turn brings another 2, no flush. I move all-in for $725 (pot is about $550). He calls and shows me AA. He rivers another A, giving him the full house. I'm just so friggin PISSED right now. That's exactly why I call tight players with suited connectors, and I didn't even slow play (which is usually how I donk off a lot of chips, letting them catch up). I just don't know how AA calls $725 with that board.

SnG Revenge

2007-08-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

If you read my blog entry "SnG Delight", you can reverse everything that I wrote for this entry. Sat down and played 3 tables of 100, 55, 50 Sit n' Go's and WON ALL OF THEM. I don't know if it was the being in the right frame of mind, or just a lot of luck at once. But, it was a very nice boost of confidence just when I was about to quit playing SnG's all together.

Quick overview of my strategy is as follows. One table I was dominating after I slow played AA and found another slow playing KK, and doubled-up early. Never looked back and wrecked the table, playing tight but aggressive after that initial lottery ticket. The other two tables I was medium stacked nearly the whole tourney and was forced to utilize the "All-In" move no less than 20 times. They were almost always strong hands AA/KK/QQ/JJ/AK/AQ, or I was re-raising in good spots pushing players off continuation bets. I also found a really nice groove by calling pre-flop raises from position, then calling continuation post-flop bets and then stealing on the turn/river when there were straight and flush options where I was pretty sure the bettor was not drawing.

All together, it was a nice reversion to the mean day, and my nearly $800 gain made up for a lot of bull$hit that I wrote about earlier. I took my winnings to the $5/10 NLHE table and sat patiently, promising myself I would just look for strong starting hands and play conservatively. After 124 hands played, I was up another $1225 and am calling it a night. Annualize that and I can quit my day job (well, not really, but it's fun to think about). The key hands in the cash game were the following:

(1) AQs playing from the small blind I called a button raise of $35. Flop comes A98. I checked and called a pot bet of $75. Turn was a blank and I bet out $200 into $225 pot. Raiser moves all-in for $450 with AT and I took it down.

(2) I semi-bluffed a $800 pot off a guy who I'm sure had AA or KK, but he was a VERY tight player and I used this to my advantage. Called pre-flop raise of $35 from late position with 7d8d. Flop of 8s9dTs gives me the open-ended straight draw and third pair. I called a $75 pot bet. Turn was a 2h, no help. Bettor led out with $200 into a $225 and I called "time".......and then just called, setting up a steal. When the 9s falls on the river, I have not improved, but there are flush and straight possibilities on the board, and I can't believe this "tight" player has made much of anything. After firing two bullets, he fires a third of $250 into $625 and I move all-in for another $700. He folded in agony and says he had AA, which I believe. More and more, I'm seeing the very good players (which I aspire to be someday) can make a lot of money calling and stealing if they can get a good read on the player and the kind of hands he/she plays. This guy was transparent, only playing very strong hands (and multi-tabling - I noticed him on at least 4 other tables), so with a board that has so many possibilities, he couldn't make the call.

Ups and Downs

2007-08-22T02:17:00.000-07:00

Just had a sick session running two $5/10 tables from $1000 buy-ins to $2300 and $2700 for a +$3000 net. Was playing the US West Coast late-nights and they were just donks. However, I got a big cooler on each table, which is why I'm writing this blog and not still playing.

(1) KsKc: I raised to $35 was re-raised to $120 and I re-raised to $375, getting called. Flop is Td9d3h. I push all-in and get called by AdKd. He hits his A on the turn and I lose a monster, $2000 pot.

(2) QsQh: I raised to $35 and am re-raised by the big blind to $120, I re-raised to $375. He pushes all-in for $750 total with AdQd (!?!) Of course he hits the A on the flop and lose a $1300 pot. Those bloody diamonds.

Anyways, I went on TILT for about another 800 and quit, +1350. I'm just bummed because those tables were ROCKING.

Addendum: I jumped back on after posting this entry and got killed for 1000, bringing my P&L back down to Earth. Here was the setup: UTG I have AsKs and raise to $35. Early position re-raises to $100, the button re-re-raise to $250. Now, maybe I should throw this away, putting either one of the re-raisers on AA or KK, but I'm a sucker(?!?). Instead, I call for another $215, as does the re-raiser. Pot stands at $650. Flop comes Kc5s2s. I've got top pair and nut flush draw and am first to act. I've got just more than the pot left and push all-in from early position. Middle folds and the button calls with KK, having hit his set on the flop. I fail to improve and lose a monster. Would love to hear any comments from the peanut gallery on this pre and post-flop play. In hindsight, I should have thrown it away, but at the time felt pretty good about taking a gamble and then even better after the flop.

Bad Beat Saturday

2007-08-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

Played 700 hands and made only $100 playing FTP $2/$4 NLHE ($400 buy in). Players are really bad at this level, which is why it remains my bread n' butter. However, a good dose of bad beats really yank my chain. A couple outlined below:

(1) From the button call $44 re-raise with AA. Three players. Flop comes QJ3 rainbow. UTG bets pot, player 2 folds, I re-raise the pot of $265, all-in. Get called by KT (unsuited) drawing for the open ended straight. Miracle 9 on the river costs me over $850 pot, despite being a 2:1 favorite.

(2) From late position call $14 raise with JTcc. Flop comes 7s8c9c, giving me the nuts, nut open-ended straight flush draw, and J-high flush draw. Raiser bets the pot, bringing it to $70. I min-raise to $70. He moves all-in for $400 !?!? Of course I call to see 89, top two pair...BRILLIANT move you donkey. Well, the turn brings the 9h, completing his full house. I guess I'm the donkey. Another $900 pot lost as a 3:1 favorite.

(3) I limp in with A6hh from early position and call a $18 raise from the button. Flop comes As6c2c. Again, I get all my money in the pot after I raise the pot, and he moves all-in with As2s. Again, BRILLIANT move by this ass-munch....I was nervous about a set. He hits the 2 on the turn and 2 on the river for quads. $600 pot vanishes into FTP's "random" number generator.

If a blog isn't for bitching and complaining, than I don't know what it's for!

SnG Delight

2007-08-17T16:14:00.001-07:00

I don't know what it is about SnG's lately....But, I STINK! I've played 8 in a row and no cashes.

For instance: Early in the tourney, it folds around to me and I raise 4x from late position with J9 suited. Button calls. Flop of 994. I bet 1/2 the pot, hoping he thinks it's a continuation bet. He calls. Turn comes T, no flush possibilities. I check, giving him a chance to steal. He bets 1/2 the pot. I go all-in. He calls with 44. The river, an unnecessary 4, giving him quads. I'm out.

Latest example: Get down to 4 players (3 paid spots) and the big stack is 7000 chips, with the rest of us at 2000-2500. I fold 15 hands consecutively, waiting for a good moment, as it is a game of survival to make the money. I have the big stack on the big blind when I'm the button, so I can't be too careless trying to steal blinds. Despite my tight table image, I get called after moving all-in with TT by another stack of equal size. Apparently he waited an hour to go all-in with K9 suited (!?!?). Of course the K comes on the turn and I'm out.

Empire Tuesdays

2007-08-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

CC calls me at 7:05pm and asks if I'm up for a game. Of course I am, when is it? About 5 mins ago. Luckily, it was 10 mins from work, so I rolled over and we played 5-handed 30 quid freeze-out with some music industry folks. Busted in the first one fairly quick as one guy had my number. Every time I re-raised him pre-flop (pocket 8's, pocket 9's, and AJ suited), he moved all-in. I folded and was hamstrung. The second tourney, I look down at 67-suited and decide to mix it up, raising 4x the big blind. Guy to my left makes the call. When the flop comes JT7, I continuation bet the pot. He moves all-in on me. Having been bullied around the whole night, I made a sick call with third pair. He was pissed to turn over his A9-off, and I doubled-up. Picking up a couple of nice hands (QQ and AK), I increased my stack to 3x the starter and was dominating against the remaining 2 players at roughly 1x. I proceeded to get beat thrice on all-in's with the best hand....AK lost to AJ, KK lost to A9, and AJ lost to QT. I finished second, and was very disappointed to lose 20 quid on the night.

So....CC and I headed over to Empire where the usual Tuesday 1/2, 250-max cash games following the re-buy tourney were about to begin (~10pm). There was one well-financed fish at the table who provided my first double-up to 500 when I flopped a flush with J8-suited...somehow I got him to commit his whole stack when an A turned.

After the fish had re-bought 3x and quickly dropped 750 quid, he left, to the disappointment of the whole table.

After a strong start, I overplayed AT in position against AQ. I just didn't put him on a big hand, and lost 250 quid.

There were a few decent players at the table, but they were all very predictable/readable (sans the hand above). So, I played suited connectors, calling raises, when I was pretty sure these guys were on big cards. Got back on track with a hand of 89-hearts. I called a $15 raise and happily saw a flop of 839 2-suited. I led out with $15, knowing he would re-raise me, which he did for $40. I "agonized" and called. When the turn came 9, I checked to him. He bets $50. I call, looking like I need the flush draw. River 2 misses the flush, and I bet out $30, looking weak. He raises to $60. Again, I "agonize" for 90 seconds and re-raise for another $100. He ends of calling me with A9, trips, and I took down another sizable pot.

Final victory hand happened from the button. UTG lays down a live straddle for 4 quid (amazing what 2 pounds will do to the action on the table). UTG+1 raises it to $14, 3 callers later, re-raise to $35. It folds to me on the button and I look down at the rockets AA. With so many players possibly in this hand, there's only one thing to do, "ALL IN" (i had everyone covered at the table). The original straddler goes into the tank for 2 mins and announces a call. Everyone folds around to the $35 raiser and he mucks JJ. AA vs. KK and they hold up. I walked out at 2am +580 quid.

SNL - Digital Short - A Special Christmas Box

2007-08-12T10:04:00.001-07:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=N_gKAhXRl0Q

This aired on USA TV, so I figure it is fair game for the blog. Seriously, one of the more ridiculously funny skits I've ever seen on SNL....

Sailing Away....

2007-08-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

I'm looking forward to posting some more POKER action very soon as I just got back from a week of sailing in Croatia. It was the 4th year with a group of 5 buds, and this year proved to be no let down. We sailed a 45' Beneteau sailboat this year, named Larisa. She was slightly smaller than the 49-51' we have had in the past, which made maneuvering in over crowded ports more manageable. Highlights from the week include a Lingerie and Fashion show sponsored by Palmers underwear on the island of Hvar. I've never been to one of these kinds of things before, and always thought it would be full of gawking dudes, but it was actually very classy (if not a little boring). The runway was a catwalk around and over the Adriana Hotel's new indoor/outdoor rooftop pool with vistas onto the glistening Adriatic Sea and under glimmering stars. The finale shocked everyone as 10 seemingly uptight Eastern European models dove into the pool to finish the show. Sitting poolside, I got soaked as the infinity pool edge offered no splash guard, but somehow I didn't mind. Couple observations: models don't drink and they don't eat. When the food started circulating and complimentary Slovenian wine "Simcic" corks were popping, we quickly forgot about the half-naked anorexics in the pool, well almost. After downing a dozen double RedBull Vodkas, it seemed natural to follow it with 3 (very overpriced) bottles of 1998 Dom Perignon after we asked them "this the best you got?" Apparently it was, as the bill was eye-popping.

Along the way we hit the islands of Brac and Vis, visiting the ports of Bol (known for its phallic beach), Komisza (very scenic old-style Croatia fishing village, now teaming with tourists), and Milna (sleepy half-way-to-home port). On our final afternoon, we set off from Vis, heading to our home port of Split, which was about a 4-5 hour sail. We would spend the night in Split and fly out on Saturday morning (today). However, after the first hour, someone remarked that it was strange we hadn't seen ANY boats, not a single one. That was our first clue. During the month of August, the Adriatic is filled with boats, and you can usual observe a good 10-20 in some areas. So, as the sky started darkening and the sea swells began worsening, we could only blame ourselves for not being more cautious.

Que the tape of Gilligan's Island theme song: ".... the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of fearless crew, the minnow would be lost....."

But seriously, this was THE WORST storm I've ever been through. About 1 1/2 hours from the nearest shore, we changed course and headed for Milna, the closest harbor. We could see a squall line a few miles away approaching rapidly. Seas swells were at least 2 meters and the rain became solid, with no discernible drops. That's all fine, wet/wind/waves, but this was an electrical storm and we had a 50 foot mast sticking up in the middle of a wide-open sea. Lightning bolts were striking every 5-10 seconds within the visible 7 mile radius, and it was heading directly for us. As the heart of the storm hit our boat, we had autopilot engaged and everyone was below deck, far away from the mast's center rod that ran down the center of cabin to the keel. There were 45 minutes where I was seriously seeing the headlines about the tourist charter boat where all aboard were lost after a lightning strike. Instead, we rode it out safely and the intensity gradually declined by the time we reached our safe-harbor, Milna. Uneventfully we made our way to Split at 5.30am this morning, after anchoring in safety as the storm fully passed us by. One of the younger guys on the boat summed it up by saying: "God was chasing someone else...I wonder what they did to deserve that!?"

Can't wait for next year!

Empire on Tuesday

2007-08-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Short story: -210 tourney, -300 cash games....quite a poor showing.

Tourney (100 GPB re-buy)
Played a very bad table with 2 rocks, 3 maniacs, 2 calling stations, and 3 donks. My first mistake was calling an all-in against the Russian maniac (guy who threatened no less than half dozen people during the night). I held QQ and I knew he had an A, based on his eradict play, but I was hoping he had a low kicker, which he did (a 6). So, I lost the 70/30 against him, and was out of the tourney soon after topping-up. "say-la-vie" as the American paraphrases French. That's poker.

Cash (1/2 NLHE, 250 max buy-in)
This one is more painful. The guy to my right was a self-proclaimed "professional", which I didn't mind having him there to tell me when to fold. The guy two to my left ("big blind" when I'm the button) was just a bad player, and fairly easy to read. I raised/called him with suited connectors, knowing that he was raising/calling with high cards. I caught a couple flops with 4c2c and 7h8h and took about +200 off this guy early. Three hands led to my demise. (1) Holding Q9 off-suit, where I flopped an open-ender and hit the straight on the river. "Big Blind" raised pre-flop, pot-bet the flop, which was a rainbow. I called putting him on top pair. Unfortunately, when I hit my straight, it completed "Big Blind's" runner-runner flush, losing +500-600 pot. (2) "Professional" raises 30 into a 7 pot and I smooth call with AT and position. Flop of AQT (2-suited) gives me aces up, and I'm SURE I'm in the lead. He bets 25 into the 65 pot and I call. Turn blanks, and he bets 50 (115 pot), I raise to 150, putting him all-in. He calls to show KJ, having flopped the NUTZ. F**K!! That sucks. (3) Holding JsTs, "Professional" raises to 30 pre-flop and I call with position again. Flop comes 2sKhQs, giving me flush and up and down straight draw. "Pro" bets 50, I call. Turn of Ks is gorgeous, making my K-high flush and giving me the up-and-down Royal Flush draw. At this point, I'm pretty sure he has AK and hit his trips, but knowing the Ks is already on the board, he doesn't have the flush (maybe the As with a draw - 18%). "Pro" bets another 75 (170 pot), and not wanting to see another spade fall, potentially ruining my hand, I raise all-in for another 150ish. He calls with KQ, the full house, F**K**G CRAP! So wrong.

My Full House vs. Ace-up
One noteably positive hand came against "Pro" when I called his 10 raise pre-flop with A8. Flop of Q88 was golden. He bet-out 10 and I call. Turn is a K. He bets 15 and I raise to 30. He calls, and I'm pretty damn sure he has AK or AQ. When the river Ace comes, I'm licking my chops, and pretty sure he has Aces-up. He can't possibly put me on a full house?! Can he? When he bets out 25 (pot is 100), I'm sure he is setting a trap (or thinks he is). I think about it for about 5 seconds and push all-in (350, covering him), as one of the most obvious over-bets of the night. I'm gambling that he won't laydown AK, having hit it on the turn/river, and no inkling that I flopped trips. After about a minute and my best nervous acting job, he instead proves his "Pro" worthiness and lays down his hand. I don't know if he truly had AK and made the laydown, or was just 3-times continuation betting. I was half-expecting him to turn over AA/KK/QQ, just to spite me, but there's no way he would have bet 10 pre-flop with those hands, so I was willing to "shoot the moon" and go for the over-bet.....HOW DID HE LAY DOWN THE AK?!?!? Sucks.

Late-night, two Frenchies made an entrance, and quickly zero'ed in on the fact that I was American and started heckling me straight-away. So, my second mistake of the night was loosening up, playing pots trying to hit some big flops and embarass these pricks. I was running pretty well otherwise, picking up more than my fair share of pots, but kept donking off too many chips to the Frenchies. For example, calling him down with a pair of 4's, knowing he was weak, only for him to flip over 6's. Should have pushed harder, I guess. I threw away several more 100 GBP pots in this fashion...such a waste.

Considering those big 3 losing pots above, which failed to win about 1500-1700, and felt very good about when the money went in, having finishing the night at -300 wasn't so bad. I can only fault too-loose play, and maybe the 4 guinness, which probably didn't help my patience either. On the other hand, CC was playing to my left and was a ROCK, yes, a ROCK, which is totally out of character for him. He claimed he was "card dead", but I hope it was more than that -- a new-found appreciation for GOOD POKER. Given his results were significantly better than mine, let's hope we can all take a lesson from this session.

Late-night Sunday Action

2007-07-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

Stepped it up to the $5/$10 NL from my usual $2/$4 game after losing two $55 SnG's in frustration (AK, AA, KK all lost with all-ins despite being significantly ahead each time). I made my $110 SnG losses back +$2600 in about 90 minutes.

Key to the night was SLOW PLAYING, keeping pots small, just calling pre-flop raises and limiting myself to 1/2 pot bets after the flop if there wasn't an obvious draw. This worked two-fold: (1) took down pots with minimal risk, playing from position and (2) Induced several raises from aggressive opponents when I was holding the nutz. My post-flop play is responsible for the big session, and it highlighted an area that I need to explore further.

Holding AA from the small blind, I just call a $35 raise and check the flop of J76, which induces a pot-sized continuation bet. I "think" about it for 20 seconds and just call. After the turn of Q with no flush draw, I check again and then min-raise another pot bet of $240 to $480. He calls. Blank on the river and I bet $200 into a $1200 pot, he calls with KJ suited.

I bluffed a pot of $600 with 6c7c after playing the check, call, and bet-out rope-a-dope on an aggressive player after the Turn brought flush/straight possibilities (not for me though) when I was sure he had a medium-high over pair. I bluffed VERY few times and played only 19% of hands, so I had a tight table image, allowing me to selectively steal pots where I had missed.

Overall, despite watching TV and playing two tables, I had a good feel for the table. Playing very tight, keeping the pot small (allowing others to try re-raise steals), and slow-playing big hands was a leathal combination.

Homelessness....

2007-07-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

As I wrote June 15th, I became homeless. Traveling for 5 weeks in the US, playing the WSOP, and a quick trip back to homeland Wisconsin, I almost forgot about it. This being my first week back to London, reality set in. Thankfully, good friends have let me crash at their place, making it not so bad. But, being homeless, plain and simple, just SUCKS. My stuff is in storage, in my office, in my car, in my friends' house, etc... Hard to keep track of it all. So.....

This week I looked at a dozen places, hoping to find something more interesting than when I last looked, two months ago. I'm crossing my fingers on a place I saw on Friday, after putting in an offer over the weekend. Should know by Monday if it works out. It's the first place that I'm actually excited about, and would make a good poker venue for the crew.

Back in Action

2007-07-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

Finally got my Mac back up and running and sat down at FullTilt for some action. Felt great to play again, but it was also a reminder of how damn BORING and at times, FRUSTRATING poker is when you're playing correctly.

$110 SnG
Thought a good start would be a nice little sit n' go (SnG) for $110. Nothing crazy, I worked my way up to 2,500 from starting stack of 1,500. Re-raised a mid-position 150 bet to 450 from the button with QQ. Flop came K-high, rainbow...caller checks to me and I bet, 800. He pushes all-in and has me covered. I fold (he shows KQ). I've got 1300 still, not a bad spot. A while later, I'm in late position and wake up to AA. It folds around to a small stack, who pushes all-in with 700 into a 400 pot. I push my remaining 1200 in. The big blind pushes 2200, all-in with AQ (WTF!). Short stack has 8d4d (WTF!). Flop comes 744 - LOVELY! I'm out, in typical SnG bull$shit.

$2/$4 NLHE
This is my bread 'n butter. But, started out badly. I hold KK from the button and raise to $14. Big blind is a calling station...so he calls, for heads-up. Flop is a harmless 626. He checks, I bet $30 pot. He calls. Turn is 9, no help. He leads-out with $90 (WTF!), I raise to $200. He calls (WTF!). River is a blank, T. He checks (WTF!). I check it down. He flips over 63 off-suit for the trips. LOVELY.

Session became profitable after losing $110 SnG + $250 on the KK (above). I patiently kept winning smallish pots, playing aggressive with big hands. Got back up to $700 (from $400) and was close to breaking even after the crappy start. New player sits down on the big blind when I'm on the button. He is an absolute MANIAC (with $300). He donks off $100 over the next round. On my button, I raise to $14 with AsQs after the table folds around. SB folds and the MANIAC pushes all-in for $191 (WTF!). My spidey-sense goes off. I'm about 50% sure this donk has NOTHING. The other side of me is grappling with the possibility that he may actually be playing me for a fool. Throwing caution to the wind, I call to gleefully see he has Q4 off-suit. I take down the pot of nearly $400 as he swears with every explicative imaginable (took some notes, actually)...he clearly has had experience with getting called-out when he pulls his pants down! Anyway, I was back +$200 for the session, and really didn't feel like playing much more. Not a huge win, but it was a moral victory of sorts.

Quietly back in London

2007-07-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

Got back Monday on a redeye from Chicago after a great weekend of golf in good 'ole Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Having been gone for 5 weeks in the States (LA/SF/Vegas/NYC/Chicago), my office has a 4-foot high stack of mail about to tip over. I missed my credit card payment this month (such a waste of 30 quid on the late payment). I have to get my UK taxes done, which are due to my accountant Monday.

I'm still homeless, and looked at another 10 properties this week (on top of ~30-35 before I left in June). Seems the housing market has slowed ever so slightly, which is a positive sign. Saw one place that I will hopefully get locked-up soon. It is the only one in over 40 places I've seen that I actually WANT. A few others "would do", but absolutely zero excitement. The vast majority are just CRAP. The problem is this place is the most expensive I've seen (of course), and it is DOUBLE the price I was paying last year. So, my stomach is turning just thinking about the $$$ that will be flying out of my pocket every day. It's equivalent to renting a room at the Four Seasons nightly....just silly real estate in London. Stupid, but what's the alternative?!? Purchase prices are $2100-2500/sq ft, which is at least 50% higher than NYC. Renting yield is ~3-4%, so I can't see why renting isn't still the best option. The place is unfurnished, so will be looking for a big dining table to host poker (we'll have to raise the stakes though).

Haven't played any poker in over 2 weeks, and it feels good. But, am looking forward to next week, when "the crew" is heading to Empire (Leicester Sq) for some cash games.

Cash Games in Vegas

2007-07-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

Although the tournaments didn't provide any cash winnings this week, the cash games have been quite productive, +$3,400 in total playing $2/$5 NL. The action is a lot looser, so patience is rewarded, but sometimes tested.

Played at the Venetian a couple nights ago with my buddy CC, after he made it deep into Day 3 of the WSOP. Although he didn't cash, he had a great tourny (see his blog at right, ex-snowman, for details). The night was painful as I dropped $400 in about 4-5 hours of "play", which amounted to calling $25 raises and folding about 90% of the time as my hand missed the flop. Finally, in the early hours of the morning, I called a $40 raise with 3 callers in front of me with 4c3c, hoping to catch a flop -- I was DUE. Flop of 474 rainbow was the money. After a $100 bet from the original raiser, I smooth called. A T on the turn was not threatening, so he lead-out with another $100, short-betting the pot. I raised it to $200, and he pushed all-in for $600 more. I called to see his AA, and took down a monster pot.

Soon after, I had an interesting hand where I had built a pre-flop pot of $160 pot with a $40 pre-flop raise from the button with AdJd and got 4 callers who had all limped-in. When the flop came J72 with 2 diamonds, I had top pair with the nut flush draw. Surprisingly, the tightest player on the table leads-out with $90 and gets called by the next two players with action to me. I'm absolutely puzzled, and am sure the original bettor hit a set. I pondered for 2 minutes. I knew I couldn't lay down this hand (although better players may have), so I called out his hand, telling the player "you hit your set of 2's, eh?" and "I raise to $400". He was flabbergasted and went into the tank for a few minutes. Somehow, I got him to lay down his 2's (or maybe 7's) and he wanted to see my JJ, that he was convinced I had hit. The other players mucked, and I flipped over my AdJd and the tight player went NUTZ cursing and yelling.

The Day After....

2007-07-10T02:48:00.001-07:00

Instead of sulking after being one of the many bust-outs at WSOP 2007, I got right back at it, playing $2/$5 NL at the Mirage. After only 3.5 hrs of play, I was up $1500 on a very bad table. It was brilliant. After the three fish had lost all their money, I cashed in and headed over to the Billagio where they have a super-satelite for the World Poker Tour (WPT) tourney called "Bellagio Cup III" that is a follow-on to those who bust out of WSOP. It's $10k to enter, but these super-satellites cost $1,500 and for every 7 players, they offer one entry into the "Bellagio Cup III" tourney.

Super-Satellite
130 runners started with 3,000 chips. That means 18 Bellagio cup seats ($10,500 each) are up for grabs. The tourney ends when there are 18 players remaining. The size of your stack doesn't matter, you just need to finish in the top 18 and it's pay-day. There is an aggressive blind structure with 40 min levels starting at 50/100 then 100/200 then 200/400, then 50 ante 200/400....and so on.

Within 2 hours, the blinds start to become a big factor, so building a big stack early is key. I sit down and notice the play is VERY LOOSE. Early in the second level, three limpers ahead of my big blind where I find 22, and I gladly check to see a flop which comes 9d5s2h. Raiser bets 1200 into an 800 pot and I put him on A9 or maybe an over pair. With only 3,000 in chips, I push all-in. Ideally, I would like to min-raise here, but I'd be left with virtually nothing behind. He calls me with J9 and I'm sitting pretty at 6,000 chips. After the first break (3 levels deep), I find a good spot to play 5h3h, from the big blind and facing an 800 raise and 2 callers. This hand can be a monster against big hands. The flop is perfect, Jh2s4h, giving me 15 outs for a straight or flush (60% to hit). The original raiser goes all-in after the flop for another 1,600 (I'm putting him on AK/AJ, or maybe even a big pair. It folds around to me and I call, getting pot-odds (5000 pot and 1600 to play). Luckily, I hit the 6 on the river and his AJ-off suit is no match for my little 53.

I nurse my 9.5k stack, knowing that all I need is one solid hand to double-up on and I'll be looking pretty to win a seat at the $10k Bellagio Cup. Our table is broken as players begin dropping like flies early in the 4th level (200/400/50 ante). On my first hand on the new table, I glance down at the mighty KK from early position. Not knowing any of these players, I limp in for 400 and get 6 callers around to the button. The button raises to 2,400, which I read as a possible steal given all the limpers or maybe AK/AQ/KK/QQ/JJ/TT. I can't tell you how excited I was to push him all-in for another 7k, as I thought this was my pot. Instead he calls, flipping over AA!!!! F****! I fail to improve and am on life support at 2k chips. Bad luck? Bad play? I don't know, but that's definitely POKER.

The story doesn't end there. I'm most impressed with my short-stack play that ensued. Patiently waiting for the right opportunities, I build my stack back up to 6k with a couple of all-in calls. 55 (held-up against KJ-off) and As8s against another short stack who pushed all-in with 33, spiking an A on the flop. I selectively steal blinds with my semi-threatening short-stack. We get down to under 40 players left in the field (remember 130 starters and 18 get entries while 19 gets $6,000). Blinds have increased to 300/600/50 ante and are a big factor now. I dodge a bullet folding AsJs after a huge stack (50k chips) raises ahead of me. There is no reason for him to play a hand unless he has AA/KK/QQ/AK since he only needs 21k chips to make the money, so I folded. He turned over QQ, and that could have put me out. Instead, I waited patiently with my 4.5k stack for a better spot. Finally, woke up with AQ after a pre-flop raise of 1200 and thought this was my spot. She calls me with AJ and I am THRILLED as I have her dominated, 70/30. But, instead of doubling up to new life and 10k in chips, she catches the J on the turn and I'm out in 34th spot. Although I didn't make the money, I feel really good about the decisions made. No complaints whatsoever.

Tomorrow night they have one last super-satellite, which I am definitely playing, hoping to get another shot at the BC III, which should be worth ~$5m purse, or ~$750k first-prize.

11 1/2 Hours and WSOP 2007 is over. Busted in 1090 place (1750 starters Day 1c)

2007-07-08T23:49:00.000-07:00

Neither happy nor disappointed right now. I played tight, aggressive all day, which worked well, but I couldn't get it going after an amazing start, bad-beat, and ever-increasing blinds eroding my stack. A few hands are noteworthy, which I'll outline below.

The scene: 1,750 players started Day 1c (the third of four starting days). 1a and 1b had about 1,500 each and 1c is expected to have 1,500+, so there is likely to be 6,500 total players (vs. 8,800 last year). I'm sitting on table #90 in seat #9. The table next to me has Chris (Jesus) Ferguson and Robert Varkonyi (WSOP 2002 champ) sitting at it. There's a big ESPN boom camera hovering overhead, catching the action. There are over 3,000 people circulating, as they let spectators into the main walkways. It is utter chaos.

Everyone started the day with 20k in chips, blinds 50/100. Finding ThTd from the button, I called a pre-flop super-raise of 1100 for heads-up action. This guy had been bullying the blinds, so I wasn't too convinced of his raise. Flop comes AsTs9s. Scary board, but I put the raiser on AK/AQ/KK/QQ (at best), so it's unlikely he has the nut flush. Raiser bets out 1,500, I raise to 4,000. He says: "I don't think you caught that flop" and pushes all-in for over 16,000. Feeling the heat, I'm hoping I'm a 2:1 favorite, so I make the call. He turns over AcKh. He's drawing virtually dead (3.1%), needing runner-runner. My stack grows to 35k as I bust out my first player and I am feeling GREAT. This is exactly where I wanted to be. In the next hour, I find QQ twice and KK three times. Each time, I raised a customary 3-4x the blind and was folded to every single time. I knew this run of cards was going to end, and the unfortunate lack of action was killing me inside. Run my stack up to 40.5k with a good run of cards, but very little action.

The turning point of the tourney came late into the second level (2 hrs of play, then 20 min break). The blinds increased to 100/200. I'm in seat #9 and the guy in seat #7 has been raising my big blind relentlessly. I'm playing tight and folding most of the time. Finally, I get sick of his crap, and call his 800 raise with Ad7d. Flop comes AsQh3d rainbow. I check to him and he continuation bets 1500. I re-raise to 4000 to see where I'm at. He just calls. Pot is a healthy 9,500. 6d on the turn misses, but I've got a flush draw. I check to him and he bets 4,000, I call. At this point, I don't know where I'm at, but feel like my pair of A's is ahead. River comes K, no flush. Pot is 17,500. I make a stupid bet of 5,000 to see if he will lay down his A rag (if that's what he had) because I also have a weak kicker (with Q and K on the board, I'm hoping he believes I hit two pair). Instead, this ass-munch flips over QK-off suit, hitting the winning two-pair on the river (less than 10% chance). How the F%^*! does he call my 3x check-raise on the flop!?! He had no draw and second pair. Stack falls back to about 19.5k from my comfy 35k and I am just steaming. I rarely ever play A-rag, and if the board misses my flush draw, I will usually throw it away, but I felt this guy was weak and my play was justified. CRAP SANDWICH for me!

Over the next four-five hours, I'm just scraping by, trying to stay alive as the blinds increase to 200/400 and 50 ante. That's 1,100 pot everytime and 110/hand cost to play. My stack falls down to about 13k as all of my pre-flop raises are being called and I'm hitting NOTHING and folding. I find QQ UTG and raise it to 2200 and get called. Flop comes AT4. It goes check check. Turn misses with a 7. I bet-out 3000 and get re-raised to 8000, putting me all-in....I muck the QQ (he shows an A). My stack is dangerously low at 7,500 when I find As7s in the small blind and raise 2000 after the table folds, trying to steal the blinds. Big blind puts me all-in, and I call, on life support. He turns over KJ-off suit. My ace holds up, and I have new life at 13,000, surviving my first all-in of the night.

For the next hour I played tight, waiting for a spot to double-up as my stack dwindled to 10k. I wake up with TT on the button. The cut-off raises a standard 2,200 to steal the blinds and I move all-in. He calls me with JJ. My tourney is looking grim. Instead, I hit the miraculous T on the flop and survive my second all-in, doubling up to 20,000. Dodging that bullet and looking down at a starting stack of 20k felt SOOOOOO GOOOD.

We went on break again and blinds increased 300/600 and 75 ante. That's 1,650 cost per round. My stack was shrinking again as a painful run of J2, 63, 72, 94, etc. continued to eat away at my lonely chips. With 12.5k chips left, I find 88 and raise to 2500 after the button limps. Mr. seat #7 (the limper) calls me. Flop comes Jd9h3h. Check check. I'm thinking he has A-high at this point. When the turn comes Tc, I've got an open-ended straight draw with my 88. He bets 3000, and thinking he is weak, I push all-in for 10,000 more into the 8,000 pot. He flips over AhJh. The river misses my straight, and I quietly get up and head to the "Milwaukee's Best Hospitality Bar" for a $2.50 can of the "beast", watching the remaining 1090 players battle it out.

My only consolation is 650+ players busted before me, including the likes of Greg Raymer (2004 WSOP), Phil Ivey (one of the best), Mike "The Mouth" Matasow, Amir Vahedi, Phil Laak, Shannon Elizabeth (ok she's not good, but a she's hot), Andy Bloch, Scott Lazar, and even Jennifer Tilly.

Thanks for everyone that has been texting/emailing best wishes. It was really cool to have so many folks interested in my progress.

One final note: my buddy CC (see ex-snowman blog at right) was in GREAT SHAPE when I left the building at 11:30pm. His stack of about 65k was well-above average (34k) and he was dominating his table. I've got an equity stake in him, and feeling good about WSOP 2007 not being a complete financial bust. Bring it home CC!!!

Slow Playing AA...special edition for CC

2007-07-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

OK, now I know this raises a lot of debate, but I wanted to describe one situation where I think slow-playing AA is almost always a good idea. That is FROM THE BUTTON. The first point is that you already get a good read on what others are playing given the pre-flop raising activity. Second, you get a look at the flop to see if it is dangerous. Third, you will often get the raiser to continuation bet when he misses the flop. Finally, it disguises a monster hand, enticing KK, QQ, JJ to push all-in if the flop comes right. One example:

From the button, the table folds around to a pot raise ($14) and I just call with AA. Flop comes Tc4c2s. Raiser bets the pot, $35. I just call. Turn is the 8h. He bets out $105 with $325 more behind. I min-raise to $210 and he pushes all-in with JJ. When I turn over my AA, I'm feeling pretty good. There's probably no way I get his $500 off him any other way.

Thoughts?: I expose myself to the guy hitting his set (16% of the time by the turn), but I still like these odds as opposed to winning the blinds + one, maybe two raises pre-flop.

My Nightmare First Hand at WSOP

2007-07-01T23:26:00.001-07:00

Credit to "Check in the Dark" for this one.

Cue the tape....

2007-07-01T22:21:00.001-07:00

From "Check in the Dark"....Click HERE. Something everyone can relate to...but strives to avoid reliving.

When the Button Limps....

2007-06-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

Be wary. Lesson of the day.

Playing a $200 SnG on FTP (1500 starting chips). First hand, I'm playing from the SB, the table folds to the button. Button limps and I just call with KdTd. BB checks. Flop comes Kh9c4c. I check, BB bets out the pot of 100. Button calls, and I raise to 500, thinking my K is ahead and not wanting any flush draws. BB folds as his steal attempt is thwarted. The button calls, which confuses me...maybe KQ, KJ? Turn of Ts gives me top two pair and misses the flush, which gives me confidence I'm ahead now, even if I was out kicked before. So, I check, feigning weakness and hoping to get all the chips in the pot. Button pushes all-in for 900 more into a 1200 pot and I call. He flips over AA!!!! I am absolutely stupified. When the river comes 9s, and he makes AA-up to beat me, I'm still working back through the hand to figure out how I was so surprised to see the AA. Limp from the button, call the flop, call the re-raise, push all-in after the turn. This was one of the craziest AA I've ever seen. It was complete crap that he hit his 8-outter on the river, but I would have bet a lot of money that he didn't have AA based on the play. Ok, maybe a set of 999 or 444, but not AA! After lots of thought, I am summarizing with the title: "When the Button Limps...BE WARY".

Flopping the Nutz

2007-06-28T17:26:00.000-07:00

I wish it happened more, but when it does, maximizing your winnings can be the difference between a profitable night and a monster session.

Playing the the $2/$4 NL FTP 6-way table, which has become my staple "just-a-few-hands-before-bed" lullaby, I called a button raise of $14 from the BB with QdTd. I sometimes would re-raise in this situation if the button was abusing me, stealing blinds, but at this table, he raised only about 25% of the time. So, I put the guy on least a medium to strong hand. Flop comes 89J rainbow, giving me the nut straight. NOW WHAT? I want to suck every drop of cash out of this situation without slow playing myself broke. (1) How likely am I to be out-drawn from here? At best he hit a set, and there's 30% chance he makes the boat. Anything else, and he has a 16% chance to improve ( KQ is 10% to make a better straight or two pair is 16%). So, the only thing I have to be careful of is if the board pairs or the T falls. So, post-flop, he leads-out with $30 pot-bet. I min-raise $60, which he is going to call if he caught a piece of the flop, and come over the top if he hit the set, 2-pair, or maybe even had AJ. When he just calls, and then checks the blank 3 on the turn, I'm pretty sure he has a draw, but not much more, and unless the T falls on the river, I'm 95% sure I've got a winner. So, I short-bet the pot, trying to entice a steal attempt. He thinks for a minute and raises the pot. BINGO! I'm all-in. To my surprise, the turns over his two pair, Jh8h. The river misses his 4-outter and I'm whistling Dixie.

WSOP T-minus 11 days

2007-06-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

Been laying low in L.A., not playing much since my internet connection is absolute shite. You'd think a 4/5-star hotel on the beach in Santa Monica would be able to fix a damn network in 3 days.

Anyways, played a couple $110 SnG's to switch gears into WSOP mode. Basic stuff, playing tight and picking spots to bluff at missed flops/continuation bets. Finished 2nd in both of the tourney's, picking up about $400 on the short night.

Most interesting hand was my AhAd from the button. I re-raised a late position 3x raise to 9x the BB and got called. Flop of Qs 9h 3s. He checks to me and I half-pot bet expecting to get re-raised and move all-in. Greedy, but necessary on this way-too-much-bluffing-table. He just calls me, which I'm not happy with AT ALL. Turn of Kh misses the flush. He bets out the pot, which looks like the second part of a call/steal attempt. Not wanting to risk another flush/straight card, I move all-in and get promptly called with KJ of spades. Thankfully, his 32% outs don't hit the river and I maximized my AA, but risk-adjusted, it was only a marginally positive hand. Looking back on this one, I'm pretty sure this guy calls any bet on the flop with 12 outs (he's thinking 15), so my half-pot bet was actually a cheap way to get off this hand if the spade fell on the turn. But, it's a dicey hand for AA, and I am questioning my slow-play after the flop.

Frustration

2007-06-21T08:58:00.001-07:00

Still working the $2/$4 NL 6-man FTP tables. Last night they were particularly LOOSE. Over 50% of players in each pot and after 500 hands I won only 2% pre-flop (i.e. nobody folding to raises). Two hands in particular drove a loss of about $2,000 and a lot of FRUSTRATION....

AA vs. 66
I limped UTG with AA knowing I'd be raised on this loose table. The button raised to $18 and both the SB and BB called. I re-raised to $60 and the button calls, fold, fold. Flop comes Q52 two-suited. I led out with a pot bet of $150 and got called. Turn was 6 and missed the flush. I checked and button bets the pot of $450. I pushed all-in for $1000 and he calls with 66, having hit his set on the turn. Unbelievable.

QQ vs. 99
This was an all-in for nearly $1000 and I wasn't feeling great until the SB turned over 99. He had pushed after my $54 re-raise, which seemed a bit hasty, so I correctly called his over-eager push. Again, I got smoked by the cards which came 954, making his set. Turn/river missed my over pair.

Combined, these two hands ruined a night that could have just as easily doubled my stacks rather than ending in disaster. Licking my wounds.

Los Angeles

2007-06-20T11:20:00.001-07:00

Haven't been playing much as I'm in LA for a few weeks of work and sun. It's amazing here, perfect weather almost everyday. Although the mornings are early with 6am conference calls with London, it's great to get out of the office by 3pm and have some time for the beach or whatever. Yesterday, we went down to the Chinese Theather on Hollywood boulevard and saw Oceans 13 on DLP/THX. It is an amazing picture/sound, and I was getting pumped up for WSOP seeing the Vegas setting, but the movie is a bit weak otherwise.

My cousin, Jonny lives out here, having moved from his home town, St. Louis. He is the lead guitarist in an emerging band called Lojic. Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/lojic. They won the U.S. Battle of the Bands and went on to Hong Kong and won the World Battle of the Bands competition. Pretty impressive, and hopefully a stepping stone to even greater things.

Solid Session

2007-06-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

+$600 after going down $400 early. My weakest play of the night was calling an extra $125 into a $230 pot with AKs from an all-in 3-raise (KK) after I had re-raised $54 from the button. I knew I was dominated, but still rolled the dice. No, we aren't playing craps BK!

But, after I settled down, I resumed my tight play, which has been working very well on FTP $2/$4 NL tables. Took $400 down after I flopped AJA with my AJ and slow played it to make the chick's flush. Another big hand was slow-playing AA from the button with a raise and re-raise in front of me. The flop of AK7 hit everybody, and I took down a pot of close to $1200 against 77 and KK. Not too often you see 3 sets!

Outside of those two monsters, I tested some tactics, but overall had bad timing and threw a couple hundred away being re-raised on stupid semi-bluffs.

One other interesting hand was AA vs. KK and a flop of AK3. Both checked their monsters. When the turn revealed QUAD A's, I think the KK's knew something was up, but he lost his $1000 stack in the end. Nice to win a big one with quads, which doesn't seem to happen much when I hit them.

One project I am working on is the suited connector vs. overs/AK. One frustration I have with this strategy is the tendency for badbeats. Because your opponent can often have the K or A of the flush draw, you can be particularly exposed to getting outdrawn. Now I know, this is precisely the kind of situation you want, all your money in the pot with an advantage, but it is nerve racking, knowing these guys have live draws to suck-out on you. It's a double edged sword, getting them to commit all their chips when you have them 2:1, 3:1, or worse. My point is that as I prepare for WSOP, I'm not sure I want to have all my chips at risk with only a 2:1 advantage with little or no chance to get your opponent to fold if they have the A-high draw. Here's a couple of situations where I got out-drawn after I was significantly ahead in the hand.

5h6h vs. AsKh
I called the raise of a very tight player (less than 10% of hands) from the button. Although he was tight pre-flop, he played VERY aggressive post-flop. So, my reasoning was that I had a great read on his hand, so it would be easy to throw a loser away, and if I managed to hit it, I'd get paid off. Flop gave me the flush draw, so I called his $30 pot-bet on the flop. When I hit the flush and had an up and down straight flush draw on the turn, I was feeling very confident with a 4:1 advantage. He led-out with a half-pot bet of $40 and I raised to $120. Putting him on AK, I was pretty sure he didn't have the nut flush. He pushed all-in, making me question my read, but I called and was pumped to see his AsKh. Unfortunately the river brought the 9h, missing my SF and bailed him out. This is a perfect example of a situation that I'd like to avoid in the WSOP, even knowing I have great odds, it's a horrible suck-out risk as they are rarely going to lay this down.

QdTd vs. Ad7s
Now, I would rarely play this hand too aggressively given the two higher flush cards, but the particular circumstances gave me confidence I was in the lead. My opponent defended his blinds EVERYTIME, and had shown some weak cards earlier -- not very disciplined. He would always raise aggressively pre-flop if he had something. Several times I even saw him raise with A rag and get beat. So, when I raised his SB and he just called, it felt like he had a marginal hand and was defending. The flop came Kd7d3d, so I was pretty sure the best he had was the K or one diamond. When the turned missed, he pushed all-in for $100 into a $30 pot after we both checked the flop. In this case, it was the latter, and he was willing to risk it all to hit his flush. 85% to 15% is a pretty good situation, but I imagine a weaker player doesn't realize his Ad flush draw is that badly dominated against a made flush. So, as I noted before, this is a tragedy not a comedy, and this story ends badly when the fourth diamond fell on the river. It's the equivalent of a bad blackjack player splitting 9's against a T and makes 21 on both. The end justifies a bad play and he'll probably make the same play 3 more times and loose to three other more fortunate souls.
Congrats to KARL!! Third place and ($25k winnings, but made a 3-way $40k deal) in the $2,500 NL Bellagio Cup (WPT)...inspirational. 78 players started and first prize was $69k. See his link at right "Hit Squad"----------->

Homeless in London....

2007-06-14T01:17:00.001-07:00

As of tomorrow, I will officially be homeless. It sounds worse than it is, but true none-the-less. My riverside, 1100 sq ft, quasi-penthouse flat was sold from underneath me when I rejected the $2.4m price tag. I thought $1600/wk in rent was ludicrous, but $2.4m is even worse. It's going to cost the new owners over $2800/wk in interest/fees to live here. London real estate is CRAZY!

The last 2 months, I've seen well over 40 flats to rent, but nothing has piqued my interest. The best place I've seen is a 3-bed, 1700 sq ft unit over looking the river and Parliament for $2400/wk, but I balked today, last-minute, and can't bring myself to do it. It's a combination of sticker shock and a lack of excitement that are keeping me from doing it.

The movers are packing my stuff up today and taking it to storage, and my lease ends on Friday. I leave for L.A. on Saturday for 3 weeks and then I'll be at the WSOP for 1-2 weeks (hopefully playing most of the time!). So, I have about 5 weeks before I return to London to arrange a place upon my return. Interesting times.....

It Ryhmes with "Stunt"....

2007-06-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

One word and the Empire erupted into melee. A monsterous drunken beast was barely being restrained from squashing one of our crew after he ignited this idiot with a word that starts with "c"....

Background: 1/2 GBP NL table was full of fish. This British guy ("Big Bruce") was getting pretty smashed after 5 or more pints of Stella. He mead a standard raise of 12, whenever he got bored. With a stack of just over 200, I was eyeballing his chips and waiting for the moment to pounce. He was UTG and made his standard "i have nothing" raise of 12. With 3 callers, all conscious of this douche-bag's antics, I raise to 50 on the button with TT. He numbly throws in the 50 with his eyes half-closed. Everyone else folds. Flop is Qh9s2d. He bets 25 into a 150 pot. I raise to 150. He looks down at his chips and realizes he only has about 160 left, so he motions to throw away his cards, but bizarrely says "call" as he throws his cards over the line. There is some confusion and a ruling by the dealer, rightly so, that he has to call after announcing it. So, I'm SURE I'm in the lead here, and happy to take this guys chips. After a harmless turn of 7h, I put him all-in for his remaining 39. Again, he can barely even stack his chips to push them into the pot. The dealer flips over an 8h on the river. I'm a bit scared that this dolt might have actually made a hand that beats my weak TT, but he looks at his cards briefly and then hesitates for 30-40 seconds. As he is about to throw away his cards, rather than show his absolute SHITE pre-flop raise and 150 call, he gets a moment of lucidity and announces "i think i have something, a flush". The friggin drunk turns over Kh3h, making a runner-runner flush after I put him all-in. Now, I was frustrated, but was already focused on the next opportunity to take my money (and the rest) back. One of our crew, CC, sitting on my right was watching in delight, that I was going to take this guy down, finally. Instead, CC saw this 40 second drunken stupor as a hollywood slowroll. Being there, I don't think it was intentional -- he was just THAT DUMB! So, as CC reacted, he muttered the word that rhymes with "stunt". When CC realized his mistake, he politely offered a handshake and apologized. However, Big Bruce was apparently raped by his mother at a very young age. That term sent him off the deep end, and what followed was a penetrating, visceral response. You could see the anger surging inside, and as his threats began to escalate. He was screaming threats at a volume you'd find at a Chelsea vs. Arsenal match, and the security people began to converge to stop this madman. After 10 minutes of struggling to get this guy physically restrained, they escorted Big Bruce out and eventually asked CC to leave. I'm not happy about this whole situation, especially since my Guinness was knocked over (for the second time) and it took 45 minutes for the casino to get me a replacement!

When the game got going again, it had thinned to only 6 players. 5 absolute FISH and myself. My 900 stack had fallen to about 650, and I was DAMN SURE that I was getting my money back. For the next 2 hours, I patiently waited for some cards, and watch these fish throw money away calling each other down to the river with low pairs and many times K or A high. I couldn't believe how easy the money was, but my string of rags continued. The best hand I had was a pair of QQ, which I raised aggressively, +15 on the flop and got EVERYONE calling. When the flop came AK7, I threw them away. Winner was A2 off! This table was a dream, but my cards were a nightmare. Slowly, I built my stack back up to about 850 when the floor manager notified us that we had only one more round, or 6 more hands to play. I decided it was NOW or NEVER. In desperation, I suggested we ante 10 GBP to make it more interesting for the final hand. I was happy to get Jd9d (second best hand in 2 hours), and I raised it to 30. EVERYONE CALLS!! So, the pot is already 180 with 6 players. Flop comes 9s6s6c. Not perfect, but I was damn well going to take down this pot. I was UTG, so I bet 100, expecting everyone to fold and I'd leave with my 1000, happy to have survived a bad string of cards and a little disappointed that I missed taking advantage of a fish table. Instead, one of the guys from Malaysia, who could barely speak English and continually asked the dealer if he could check after someone had bet ahead of him, called my 100. FISH ON! Fearing another bad beat, I was estatic to see the turn come as a harmless 4h. I put him all-in for another 140, and he called(!). The river came as a dangerous K, and I was sure this idiot hit his over card when he clapped his hands and let out a little yelp. But, with no chips left, it didn't matter. I flipped over my pair of 9's, fully expecting a K2 to be flipped over and ruin my night. Instead, he ended up mucking his cards after the dealer had to pry them out of his fingers after 60 seconds of looking at the board to try and make a hand.

Night ended with my stack at 1200 chips, +850 GBP for the night. It was a nice finish to an otherwise weird night. I'm definitely going back to Empire with all those dumb players around. I just have to adjust my game to assume NOBODY is folding when they don't understand the game.

Set Over Set is Magic

2007-06-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

The last 24 hours has been magic. +$2.6k on the $2/$4 FTP tables. My game has epitomized the slogan "tight, but aggressive". The biggest downside improvement is increased discipline of not throwing a lot of chips away on bluffs. Achieving an early table image of a tight player, and then being selective in choosing spots to bluff has generated a big improvement in profitability. But, on the upside, my play of big hands has been the bread winner. It's a lesson that is not fully formed, and I welcome your thoughts on how to improve.

Playing a lot tighter pre-flop, even with big hands is a better strategy on the $2/$4 lower-stakes tables. These tend to be a lot looser, with more inexperienced players. So, when you do get a truly big hand, you tend to get a higher percentage of calling stations, paying you off. I am finding it also disguises your big hands, and people just don't give you credit when you hit your set against their AK or PP. Also, these lower-stakes games tend to get a lot of AJ or lower raising/calling raises pre-flop. So, I am throwing away AT and below a lot quicker on these tables and playing the AK/AQ more aggressively, knowing that I'm usually ahead when the A comes on the flop.

Secondly, the strategy that seems to be working best for pocket pairs, especially QQ and below, is to slow play them. So many people will call your $18-30 raises with A-rag, that it just isn't worth pushing hard pre-flop. 35% of the time (and 54% with two callers), they hit their A, K, or Q on the flop. So, instead, when I do hit my set (1 of 8 times), I find that I make more than 8x the $10-20 that I would have made taking down the blinds + a limper/raiser. AND, you disguise your hand, so they have no idea what you're playing. By the time they realize you have hit your set, there's usually $200++ in the pot. Two examples of this are below:

My JJ vs. TT vs. AK
I'm on the button facing a $14 raise and a caller, pot is $34. Usually, I would pot-raise with JJ, hoping to push off over cards. But, instead I just call the $14 and am ready to dump my cards if overs come and/or facing a strong bettor. Flop is JT4 rainbow. The original raiser checks, caller bets the pot of $48. I min-raise to $96. First position calls (AK I'm told after the pot) and the bettor raises to $192. FISH ON!! These tables are not particularly tight, and it probably doesn't matter how I play this as this guy is pot-committed, but instead of pushing, I raised it again to make sure first position folds any straight draw. Second position goes ahead and pushes all-in, and I call to see my Set of JJJ versus his TTT, a one-out wonder. Cha-ching! The Q came on the river made the AK his straight, which he quickly noted after the hand. But, he can't call for the gut-shot, unless he thought a big pair was going to win the hand.

My QQ vs. AK
Pre-flop, facing a raiser and re-raiser, I can see why one would argue that a pot-sized third raise may be in order. However, if I'm against AA or KK or AK, I'm definitely getting called and probably throwing away my hand after a scary flop or a re-raise. This gets expensive. So, instead, I'm calling these bets and getting to the flop as quickly (and cheaply) as possible. If I hit the set, or get a low flop, I'm still going to make enough to warrant the call. In this particular case, I saw the flop for $32 and had position. (Now, in order to make this worthwhile, I need to make at least 5x my money (12% to hit the set and 8% to get a low flop) to justify a call. So that's $192 pot (5x $32 plus my $32). After the flop, the pot stands at $102, so all it takes is a pot-sized bet from an opponent to make the numbers work.) Flop comes 923 two-suited. He leads-out with $51, half-pot bet, which gives me pause, as I may be up against AA or KK. But, with a flush possibility, I don't believe he has a hand (yet). Instead of testing the waters here, I just call, allowing me the ability to throw this hand away if a spade comes on the turn. And, I doubt that he'll fire another bullet on the turn, unless he has me beat. I hit my QQQ set on the turn (this will happen 16% of the time). Now, I could have just been bailed out against AA or KK, but based on his half-pot bet after the flop, I'm pretty sure he is on the flush draw, had top pair on the flop, or still has two overs. He bets $75 into the $208 pot and I raise to $225 (making sure he's not getting odds to call the 18% flush draw), and he quickly calls. The K on the river misses the flush. He bets $150 into $658 pot, which looks like desperation. Now, on the assumption he didn't have KK (flop 1/2 pot bet), I raised to $300 as a value bet. He pushes the remainder of his chips in ($200), calling with suited AK and I took down a $1250 pot. I have been going over this hand in detail, and I could have been more aggressive on the flop with a pot-raise, but with AK suited, there's no way he lays that down. So, again, I think the slow, cautious play can really pay off and prevent being pushed-off a winning hand, even when your opponent is ready to call all of your chips. The bottom line is that avoiding 50/50 races is a long-term positive, because you can play strong hands and only lose about 1/3rd of your chips if the wrong board hits, but still win 100% if you methodically analyze the situation and keep betting when you're ahead.

Loosey Goosey v2.0

2007-06-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

I sat down at the $2/$4 NL table at FTP with $400 and 20 minutes later had $1635, thanks to m'boy "mrPark1". You 'da man! What an absolute FISH. You couldn't dream up a better opponent. I'm going to follow this guy around FTP for the next month (if he lasts that long).

I observed some ridiculous betting from mrPark1 (raising, pot-bet the flop, pot-bet the turn, and then all-in on the river) with 94 off suit. The flop was AQ7, so it's not like the caller was going to be scared away if he played a reasonable hand pre-flop. This guy lost $400 with stupidity equivalent to those fellas that blow themselves up in the Middle East everyday.

So, I got AA and was pot-betting everychance I got, for my first double-up on this douche. He did have something better, KQ suited. The flop was 2 clubs, so he called it all the way broke, even when he missed the river. What a donk!

Second $400 win (as he kept re-loading) was with 57 suited. The flop came 668 with two spades. I checked and then re-raised him the pot, when he, as usual, bet out. I was happy to see the 9 fall on the turn, making my straight. So, I bet the pot, and he raised all-in. I called to see his A8. The river missed his 9% get-out-of-jail card, and I'm at $1200.

Final hand before this absolute pin-head left the table broke was another AA. Again, I pushed very hard, the whole way. Only to find on the river that this imbicile was pulling for a gut shot straight against my AA. The river was a lovely A, just to put the nail in the coffin. Voila, $1635. I think I'll take a break....

Loosey Goosey

2007-06-06T01:48:00.000-07:00

We have a burgeoning poker crew in London, and I say that aspirationally. But, it is a good crew that are students of the game. So, a few of us, John L, Andy, CC, and myself went down to a new casino in the heart of Leicester Square. It's at the Empire http://www.thecasinolsq.com/. We played in the first cash game there (1/2 GBP, 250 max buy-in), opting to wait for the action after the 100 GBP re-buy tournament started spewing losers. My lesson for the night (because I lost 460 GBP) is the following: When you can hear your opponent thinking the word Yaaaahtzeee! as he ponders calling your all-in, TIGHTEN UP!!! more than a Mormon virgin.

Twice tonight, I was playing a guy, who clearly had no idea what he is doing, and was called by a pocket pair of 99 to lose the pot. My bad for letting this guy take me down twice, but in both situations the board flopped over cards to his nines. The action made it clear he did not have the nutz, or even pair the board, so I tried (and failed) twice to push him off the pot. Each of these hands, he painfully agonized making a call with overs, straight and flush possibilities on the board. These were costly mistakes, and I regret letting such a chump take my money off the table.

One other notable hand was my AA slow-play. I've been experimenting with slow-playing AA and I think it is more profitable than raising in certain situations. The key, in my opinion, is knowing when to throw them away and not be pissed off. This strategy is clearly risky, but it can really pay when your opponent over plays their AK or PP. So, back to the hand in question: 4 players limp, I called in second position, hoping to get a raise from behind. Five players go to the 567 rainbow flop. Lead position throws 75 GBP into an 11 GBP pot and I agonizingly call. Not a great board for AA with 4 limpers, but based on her body language, she did not hit the flop, but was keen to leave. CC, one of our crew, pushes all-in behind me for another 225. With the action back to me, I even more painfully decide to respect m'bro and fold. The first raiser turns over JJ and CC has top two pair, the 67. Board comes KK and she takes down the pot, away from CC. I was a little pissed by CC's move because I wanted to isolate the raiser with two of us playing against her, but I can't fault CC for pushing with top two pair. Problem is, that JJ walked with 235 GBP of our money. It was a bad night for the crew overall, but the word of the night was YAAAHTZEEE! I'm sure it will be a valuable lesson in future sessions.

Reversion to the Mean - My Favorite Math Theorem

2007-06-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

So, Bad Beat Sunday turned into Reversion Monday. I know I said "a couple days off", but I had to sit down and play just a few hands before bed. So, I was in early position and dealt AA in the first 5 minutes on the $2/$4 NL table. The table was very loose, so I limped in and to my joy was raised and a re-raised, I bet the pot for $150 and was called by the original raiser, the re-raiser folded. Flop comes 26K rainbow and I checked to the caller. He bets the pot, and I just called. I know, I'm greedy, but I am sure this guy will put all his chips in with AK. I checked the turn, which came as a blank, 8. He pushes all-in and I call to see a pair of TT. The river, unlike yesterday was no miracle, and I took down a $1,000 pot within the first round of betting.

About 10 minutes later, I am on the button and call a raise with suited T9h. Again, this table is pretty loose, so I'm not sure what my opponent is raising with - at all! I usually play tighter under these circumstances, but with my position, I took a flop for $14. To my surprise, the flop drops T3T. He checks, I check. Turn comes the magical 9. He bets the pot and I min raise. He pushes all-in with KT. My full house rides as the river comes 7 for a $650 pot.

Good start to the night, but I did have an unbelievably bad beat to finish the night and temper my enthusiasm. I am the big blind with suited 68h and call a button raise of $14. Flop comes AT3 of hearts. I hit my flush cold. He bets the flop, telling me he has an A, but certainly hasn't hit the flush. I re-raise the pot, and he goes all-in. When he calls, I'm estatic to see an As9c turned over. No flush draw. But I painfully watch an A on the turn and a 9 on the river to make his full house. SO FRIGGIN PAINFUL!!! He had a 2.8% chance of hitting that, and took down a $650 pot after being completely OWNED. He never should have called my pot re-raise after the flop with his weak A9 and no heart. But, he was determined to give his money away. Fate just wouldn't have it tonight......

End of the night tally: BK +$1800 with $400 buy-in and one unbelievable bad beat. That partially makes up for the terrible Sunday, but again, I can't fault any of my plays tonight. I just don't want to see one of these MIRACULOUS BAD BEATS in the WSOP!!!!!

4:1 Bad Beats

2007-06-03T11:15:00.001-07:00

Today is my bad beat day...I'm just going to take a few days off. After building from $400 to $500 in about 10 minutes, I get this hand. It ends in a $1000 pot gone into bad beat land. Pre-flop raise, no bet after the flop. Hit my set on the turn and get raised all-in at a $2/$4 table. He's a 4:1 dog and hits the Kc on the river. FUN WEEKEND!!!!

Sundays are for BBQ

2007-06-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

Heading over to a friend's house for a couples BBQ. So, I ran out to get some American-style Jell-O chocolate pudding from this great store in Chelsea that imports feel-good food from all over the world. Made a chocolate pie with raspberries on top. Not bad for kid from Wisconsin. It has been the most amazing weekend in London with L.A. type weather. When the sun shines in London, it is one of the best "working cities" in the world. I say that because it offers such a wide array of professional opportunities, culture, and night life, despite the inconsistent weather. The obvious negative is the lack of ocean. But, when the sun shines, it's a pretty fun place. Everyone gets outside and pounds the pavement. The shopping areas are crawling with urban glitteratzzi -- you know those folks who dress so that you can't help but look at them. I love people watching.

Anyway, I have an hour before the BBQ, so I just sat down to play some SnG's. $50 9-ways, where I have found that playing ultra tight usually gets me in the money. $225, $135, $90 payout. So far, after better than 100 tourneys, I'm 40-50% in the money, so these are profitable....and you avoid the volatility of cash games. They are just a little boring, because you have to play SO TIGHT. It is also good training for the WSOP, since the style is a lot closer than cash games.

Here's my results: 1 for 3, $60 profit, typical, although I can't fault my play

GAME 1: LOST in 6th place. I moved all-in with 77 from the small blind after everyone folds and button makes a ridiculous all-in move to take the 40/80 blinds with a 1400 bet. He turns over 83 off-suit and hits the 8 on the flop. I miss on the turn and river despite 10 outs (up and down straight and the other 7's). I'll call that a bad beat.

Game 2: LOST in 4th place. My AJ goes down to AT. We both caught the flop of AK3 rainbow. He over-bet the pot by 1.5x with his all-in, so I had to call him. I wouldn't have minded seeing AK or AQ, but when he hit the f*cking T on the river, it really irritated me.

Game 3: WON in 1st place. I got paid off when the big stack made an all-in move against by AK after the board read A3A rainbow. He flipped over K7...what a donkey! Other amazing action here: Had a 6-way all-in pot with AQ, KK, 66, 88....guess which won? the 88 with a diamond flush. Just shows you how random this game can be. I folded my 92 of diamonds, which would have been the winner. Lovely.

Bad Beat Table

2007-06-03T06:43:00.001-07:00

Managing your emotions is crucial in poker, but sometimes you just have to get up and leave when things are not going your way. Last night, I had a hard time sleeping, so I got up about 4am and logged on to Full Tilt. Playing at this time is perfect, because you get a lot of action from drunk guys in the USA. The action tends to be loose, which requires extra patience.

My basic strategy is to selectively play suited connectors when I know that I can just call a pre-flop raise and see a flop, or slow-play big pairs by just calling a raise. I will quickly throw the connectors away if the board isn't friendly and I usually check my big pairs, hoping to re-raise the pot. The idea is to try and trap big pairs, since I find drunk guys on TILT will give all their money away when they have AA, KK, QQ, despite the board offering straights and flushes. The up and down straight with flush draw is nice combo, offering 15-17 outs, so a pot-sized bet usual justifies a call when I'm sure they are on AA or KK.

So, applying this technique, I found myself absolutely burned 3x last night and lost $3k in three all-in pots, despite having seriously out-played my opponent. A bad beat now and then is understandable, but 3x in about 2 hours was my breaking point. I logged off in disgust and went back to bed, licking my wounds. Here are the three hands:

AA vs. my KQ suited
Playing $5/10 9-way table, I'm on the button and call an early $35 raise. Flop comes Jc,10h,4h and gives me the up and down straight draw and flush draw. He makes an $85 pot bet and I call, thinking he has KK or AA, but conscious that he could be drawing to the A-high flush. When the Ah falls on the turn, I'm GOLDEN. I have the nut flush, and I hope my opponent was sitting on AA, not KK. He bets 1/2 the pot, $135, which looks like a feeler bet from KK. I min raise $270 and he pushes all-in, I call for a pot of ~$2,000. He turns over AA and I show my nut flush. I quickly realize I'm a 4:1 favorite, despite his set of A's. The river......oh, the river. He hit his 20% outs, pairing the T on the board to give him the full house.

QQ vs. my KK
Same table, same opponent. I am in late position again, and face two callers of $35 raise, so knowing my KK could be in rough shape against AA, I raise to $105, seeing who is real and who is looking for a flop. Everyone drops, except the second caller. I'm sure he's on a draw, but certainly doesn't have AA, maybe AK or QQ/JJ. Flop comes Js,4h,8c and he bets 1/2 the pot, $150. If I hit top set with no draw, I'm not going to lead-out betting. So, I raise to $300 and am sure he's bluffing with AK or testing the waters with QQ. He quickly calls, probably in frustration, knowing he is beat by AA or KK. When a blank comes on the turn, he makes a puzzling bet of $100, hoping I go away. I push all-in, not feeling 100%, but think the betting pattern justifies my 80% confidence. He pauses and right before time expires, calls. $2,000 pot and he flips over QQ. Feeling good and a little relieved he didn't have JJ or 88, we watch as the river comes Q and I face my second bad beat from this table and player.

AQ vs. my AK
The third and final bad beat that snapped me and sent me to bed was AK vs. AQ. My pre-flop $105 re-raise was called by the button, so I'm pretty sure he has a strong hand. Board came AQ2, and I called a pot bet. The turn was my K. He pushed all-in, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't have the nutz with his hasty all-in and I called. And, as I had seen 2x before, the river delivered a nasty blow with the second Q, making his absolutely dominated hand, magically delicious.

Looking back....the road to WSOP July 7th 2007

2007-06-02T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have played poker for about 10 years, but never took it very serious until about 4 years ago when I started playing in an underground cash game in Boston. The room was a loft apartment that got converted to a poker den twice a week. The "host" took a 5% rake and paid his rent (and then some) this way. The average night was two to three tables of NL $100 1/1 and $200 1/2 games. The neighborhood was seedy and crowd was full of mafioso types. Had the feeling that I would either lose my wad or they'd just mug me upon exit.

Not being the wisest Irishman, I picked a table argument with some Gibroni, a 240 lbs guy with a crusted smear of remnant marinara sauce on his face from the meatball sub he had for dinner. He started critiquing my play, and yes, he was right, I did over play my QQ when the board came K23 rainbow. But, I wouldn't admit it. After I re-rasied him pre-flop, he led with a pot bet and I carelessly went all-in. Still young in my poker training, I thought bravado and courage were the traits of a great player. He of course called with his AK and was understandably irate with the turn and river came Q....and then Q. Stupidly, I stoked the fire of his frustration by mentioning I didn't need the quads and lamented that it should have come when it counted. For the rest of the night, he played when I played, waiting to catch me in a moment of weakness and get his money back. Instead, the run of cards that followed was epic, although I didn't realize it at the time. Walking out of that poker lair with a gangsta bankroll, I wondered if I'd make it to my car without a tire iron to the back of the head. As I drove off feeling like Matt Damon when he took down Teddy KGB for $60k, I planned my next visit and started calculating how easy it would be to play poker for a living. $1,400/week, yeah, I could live off that, I thought...or at least it sounded sexy: "Professional Poker Player". I'm not crazy, so I didn't quit my job, but that experience warped me for years, as I tried to replicate that streak of amazing luck.

In the ensuing years, my poker game was good, but not great. I kept a decent tally of my profit/loss and thanks to my weekly game and some really bad work colleagues, was solidly in the black. But, it was that bravado, built playing against weak players that set me up for an eye opening experience when I started driving 2 1/2 hours down to Foxwoods Casino with a buddy of mine, V. Foxwoods is one of the biggest poker halls in the world, a sea of green felt and clicking chips. It's filled with people from NYC and Boston and about 20% leather-asses. They are typically 20/30/40-somethings that want the title "Professional Poker Player", but by the looks of them, they aren't enjoying the "grind". V and I would go down every couple of weeks and spend 10-12 hours playing the $2/$4 and I would consistently lose $300-500 per trip. No, these weren't big stakes, but I was concerned by the routine bleeding of cash, and frustrated by my apparent lack of skills. What happened to me? I always win!, I thought. Well, after a couple of months and about $2k less in my bank account, I came to the conclusion that I just wasn't very good. So, I bought every book on poker that Amazon had, and each night would read for an hour before bed. Every single night, the text would expose some facet of my game that I began to realize another players were taking advantage of me. Over the next month, that reading gave me perspective. It honestly embarrassed me that I had played for so many years with the equivalent of a kindergarten degree in poker. Thank you, Mr. Sklansky, Malmuth, Brunson....etc....for saving me from a life of losing.

As I emerged from a short, but intense month of poker study, I started playing online to test the theories. What I realized was that most of these guys online were REALLY SKILLED players. The same patterns I had studied were being demonstrated hand after hand online. Even the $1/$2 games were about 60% sharks. It took me quite a while to digest this, and for the next few months, I played very little poker. But, when the opportunity to go out to Vegas for work came, I dusted off the books and revived my training. I spent three days in the hallowed poker halls of the Mirage, Binon's, and Bellagio, and made about $5k playing $2/$5, $500 buy-in NL games. The fire was lit.

My friend V and I began going down to Foxwoods more regularly and that's where I started feeling a lot more comfortable that I had a winning strategy. It is also when I started getting the WSOP fever. Although I'm sure 75% of the players there are better than me, I think it's the only way to take the next step to becoming a truly great poker player. To see them in action, to see the plays, and more importantly the laydowns they make will be truly worth the $10k entry fee. Hey, and if I surprise myself, catch a good run of cards, and don't blow-up, maybe I'll even cash. Wait wait wait....there's that bravado again. July 7th is only 5 weeks away, need to work on that....