Still running hot.
Last week, I busted early in Flatline.
This week, I finished second.
Again, felt great against the group. Ran into good cards just often enough to really pile on the aggression towards the end and reap the benefits of big stack poker. Still, there were a couple of hiccups along the way, that while not successful in their outcome, were good learning experiences.
First, I had to crawl back from a crippling blow at the hands of Sven (an oft lauded opponent here on this blog, who is a damn good player and also a friend and poker confidante). I flopped a monster with junk - two pair, and was so determined to felt him that I didn't raise the turn and instead smooth called my way right into his rivered straight.
I don't think my play was way out of line, but it was probably less than ideal. Sven likely would've tanked long and hard if I'd reraised the turn, and very possibly folded if I had given him the wrong price. Ironically, if he had called, even though I would have been far worse for wear chip wise (probably felted in fact) it would have at least been correct. I didn't have enough of a "monster" to justify my play of trying to get Sven to spew chips. In the end he had too many outs on a scary board, and he hit one, much to my chagrin. Thankfully, he didn't put me all in with the nuts, I likely would've called.
I bounced back quickly though, and then managed to spew some more against my other good friend (and sometimes quasi-poker confidante) Cali. Cali, along with Titan, are the two guys who I KNOW if they raise in early position always, ALWAYS, have something. Usually aces or kings.
Cali was kind enough not to put me all in when I flopped top pair queen kicker, but he did just about value bet me to death - and I let him. If I had been savvy enough I suppose I could have raised his lead out bet on the flop (though I would've been nearly short stacked with this move) and then put him on AK when he shoved. I really should have put him on this though with his pre-flop raise, and folded my trap hand (which was KQos).
Thanks to a couple of lucky breaks I pounded my way to the finish line, stealing mercilessly and quite simply outclassing a lot of my opponents with c-bets and cutoff/hijack stealing. It felt GREAT.
Then it was 3 handed. Sammy Ro proceeded to implode with ill timed steal attempts out of position, twice I swatted him down with the goods and then a third time with air when he was ridiculously short stacked.
Finally it was me and a new guy. I had him on the ropes, then he rivered a four outer and I found that I suddenly didn't have the will to wait him out. As far as I could tell he was fairly solid, though pretty ABC poker - I know if I hadn't let myself get a bit tilty I could have bore down and outplayed him.
As it was - with the blinds enormous, I made an ill advised steal attempt on a harmless looking flop that turned out to have hit his computer hand (Q7) perfectly. When he smooth called my button raise (I had J9) I should have readied myself to release the hand if I blanked. A normal c-bet was out of the question, I was short stacked.
At any rate, I feel GREAT about Flatline right now. I'm also excited about this Wednesday night of Worldline, a series of tournaments we're running to award a single winner a seat at this years World Series of Poker! I feel I have as good a chance as any, and frankly a better chance than most.
Speaking of Vegas, that's where I'm going a week from this Friday - for some serious tournament poker immersion. I have 5, yes 5, tournaments scheduled for me on the trip. I'd be pretty bummed if I didn't cash at least once, but I have to be realistic, and also go first and foremost for FUN.
If there's one thing that I've learned about poker, that it's ABSOLUTELY not worth doing if I'm not having fun - first and foremost. I would love to cash in Vegas, but I'm going to approach the whole venture with a sense of fun and a chance to hang out with my buddies, shoot the shit, see the sights, and laugh.
Speaking of laughing - I've been up and down on Full Tilt, but slightly more of the latter. I really believe that it's a bit of variance, a bit of being out played (especially at the $5 sit-n-go stakes and up) and a bit of a savage rake that is omnipresent at all low and micro stakes.
Still, I will persevere, and lower my BR requirements as needed. Full Tilt just recently added micro cash games (1c/2c blinds) which I've enjoyed a handful of times to great success by simply turning off my brain and playing only premium cards and betting monsters for value.
I need to stay away from SNG's that are technically bankroll safe but at the limit - $2.25 a pop seems to be about right. I've really had the most success (even when I don't cash) at the larger MTT's. I've gone deep, many, many times. I've qualified for the double deuce tournament in 60c satellites 4 TIMES. So clearly, I'm not stinking up the joint.
Ah well.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
I run good. I crush.
Happy to say this.
Flatline league. Three weeks, three tournaments, three cashes.
Including a first place finish last week.
Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing all that different - save for one piece of advice I took to heart over a month ago from a player I greatly respect.
"Chris, you've got to have patience."
Sounds simple. Some would probably say - simply stupid. I'd say my rediscovery of the most important trait of a poker player has improved my tournament game immensely.
Of course variance has helped as well - especially last Monday where I found myself all in bad a few times (and crushed one time) and managed to be on the right side of a suckout or two. Or three. Or seven.
To be fair, I also got in ahead many more times and got rivered, or runner runnered, and even flushed away - though managed to still have enough chips to crawl back.
Last Monday's first place finish was especially dramatic. With a starting stack of 5000 whittled down to less than 1100 (thanks to a terrible call by an opponent who naturally turned his middling flush draw) I somehow released my despair into the ether; and bit by bit, little by little, built my stack back up.
Tight. But VERY aggressive. Again and again, I used my MAXIMUM fold equity. While other players, including one or two whom I love dearly as friends, continue to bet out a quarter or even a third of their stack (in the vain hope of somehow getting away from a hand) pre-flop. I simply pushed all in - with expertly timed, SELECTIVE aggression.
Sometimes I had a premium hand. Sometimes I was stealing with marginal cards. Sometimes I had trash. No one at the table was able to distinguish which hand was which.
And then I ran into cards. JJ All-in. No callers. AA. All-in. No callers. AK. All-in. Called by A6. Sweet.
By being almost hyper-aggressive when I did have good cards early on, I was able to maintain this tone - and get paid when people woke up with slightly better than marginal holdings.
I love that people think I'm maniacal, when in reality I've tightened my game considerably.
Here's hoping they've stopped reading this.
If this isn't the case, I do have to mention one thing, and give credit where credit is due to ProfGrif who managed to outplay me heads up after sucking out on me about mid-way through our battle.
I was indeed tilted, and only by the grace of the poker Gods was I able to put a brutal runner-runner straight on him and then put him away by getting lucky. You had me sir - next time I hope I play better in the end, and if you outplay me again, I hope you take it down.
Flatline league. Three weeks, three tournaments, three cashes.
Including a first place finish last week.
Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing all that different - save for one piece of advice I took to heart over a month ago from a player I greatly respect.
"Chris, you've got to have patience."
Sounds simple. Some would probably say - simply stupid. I'd say my rediscovery of the most important trait of a poker player has improved my tournament game immensely.
Of course variance has helped as well - especially last Monday where I found myself all in bad a few times (and crushed one time) and managed to be on the right side of a suckout or two. Or three. Or seven.
To be fair, I also got in ahead many more times and got rivered, or runner runnered, and even flushed away - though managed to still have enough chips to crawl back.
Last Monday's first place finish was especially dramatic. With a starting stack of 5000 whittled down to less than 1100 (thanks to a terrible call by an opponent who naturally turned his middling flush draw) I somehow released my despair into the ether; and bit by bit, little by little, built my stack back up.
Tight. But VERY aggressive. Again and again, I used my MAXIMUM fold equity. While other players, including one or two whom I love dearly as friends, continue to bet out a quarter or even a third of their stack (in the vain hope of somehow getting away from a hand) pre-flop. I simply pushed all in - with expertly timed, SELECTIVE aggression.
Sometimes I had a premium hand. Sometimes I was stealing with marginal cards. Sometimes I had trash. No one at the table was able to distinguish which hand was which.
And then I ran into cards. JJ All-in. No callers. AA. All-in. No callers. AK. All-in. Called by A6. Sweet.
By being almost hyper-aggressive when I did have good cards early on, I was able to maintain this tone - and get paid when people woke up with slightly better than marginal holdings.
I love that people think I'm maniacal, when in reality I've tightened my game considerably.
Here's hoping they've stopped reading this.
If this isn't the case, I do have to mention one thing, and give credit where credit is due to ProfGrif who managed to outplay me heads up after sucking out on me about mid-way through our battle.
I was indeed tilted, and only by the grace of the poker Gods was I able to put a brutal runner-runner straight on him and then put him away by getting lucky. You had me sir - next time I hope I play better in the end, and if you outplay me again, I hope you take it down.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Flatline League 2009
"Flatline" is my online poker league. A group of friends who gather every Monday night at 930 to play a rake-free two, or sometimes three, table tournament of No Limit Hold-em on the virtual felt.
This is our third year. The first year - I basically crushed the league. The second year - not so much. So far this time around, we've had two tournaments; I've cashed in both. Finishing second last week and fourth this week.
I feel much better about my chances to turn a profit this time around; I really think my newfound patience, combined with staying aggressive at the right times, will help me avoid a disastrous run like I had just a couple of months ago.
The very best thing about the league, is that out of 20 or so regulars, there are only a handful of half decent players among them, and not one in the bunch that I would consider better than me by any serious degree.
This should quite simply = profit. If, and this is a big if, I stay patient and focused. More to come.
This is our third year. The first year - I basically crushed the league. The second year - not so much. So far this time around, we've had two tournaments; I've cashed in both. Finishing second last week and fourth this week.
I feel much better about my chances to turn a profit this time around; I really think my newfound patience, combined with staying aggressive at the right times, will help me avoid a disastrous run like I had just a couple of months ago.
The very best thing about the league, is that out of 20 or so regulars, there are only a handful of half decent players among them, and not one in the bunch that I would consider better than me by any serious degree.
This should quite simply = profit. If, and this is a big if, I stay patient and focused. More to come.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Oh my...
Well they say good things come in threes - or is that celebrity deaths? Anyway, I hit my third big tournament cash in under two months, and this time it was online.
Full Tilt has a Sunday tournament called the 100K Double Deuce. It's a $20 + $2 entry fee with a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. The entry fee is way above my microscopic bankroll (currently at about $40 total) so once a week I have been entering a .60 satellite to gain entry.
I won a seat two weeks ago and was unable to play as I had a date with my little girl at the aquarium. So I tried again the next day, plunking down another whopping 60 cents (it actually is whopping when your roll is only 40 bucks) and promptly winning a seat for the following Sunday.
This time my schedule remained open, so I was able to log on and sit down with 9001 other players, including 13 Full Tilt "Red" pros. Professional poker players who are either fully or partially sponsored by the site. Incidentally, I outlasted them all, including WSOP bracelet winners Scott Fischman and Lee Watkinson.
In keeping with my strategy of monk-like patience sprinkled with the occasional burst of selective aggression, I managed to hang on for over seven hours - finally finishing in 42nd place and collecting $360 for my efforts.
Wow.
In dollar amount, this was not my biggest cash (that would be the $2330 I pocketed in December at Hollywood Park) but it was by FAR the biggest return on my investment. To get $360 for .60 cents, the mind truly boggles.
Incidentally, the hands I saw and took place in, were a roller coaster of suck-outs and monsters. A very large (probably over twice, perhaps three times, the number of hands that would have occurred in a live session) smorgasbord of poker. Some typically horrible online poker players, and surprisingly some very good players. So good in fact, that for the first time in a MTT, either live or online, I really had moments where I felt completely outclassed by a couple of my table-mates. Sobering, yes, but also refreshing in a way. This game still has so much for me to unlock.
Most notable hands - I had my aces cracked, twice. I was at-risk and basically crushed with my AQ up against AK with an ace on board. I caught runner runner for a broadway straight. But for that one exception, I always managed to get all my money in good or at least in a race. My final hand of the night was of the latter category, my KQ suited push got looked up by a small pocket pair and failed to improve. I was not thrilled with this play on my part, but it was acceptable. It was technically a race, with me on the slightly underdog side of the equation.
As I mentioned, I used selective aggression - most of the time small balling my way to taking down pots about every other orbit or so if I wasn't catching cards. I would make a standard raise, and follow it up with a c-bet of about 2/3 the pot even if I didn't connect. It worked often enough for me to keep accumulating chips.
A few times, I found myself getting short stacked, and I had to abandon the small-ball approach - taking a deep breath, closing my eyes and shoving all my chips in. I almost always tried to make my move without junk - almost. A couple of times, the blinds were approaching and the time (meaning my targets) were just right so I went all-in with trash. Thanks to my reads and a bit of luck, I managed to take down those pots without showdowns.
A couple of times when I had better starting cards (suited connecters, small pairs) I did get called. Two of these incidents stick out in my memory. Once with AJ and another time with pocket tens. Both times, thankfully, my hands won the day, flopping two pair with my AJ and trips with my tens.
Despite my apparently relentless success in large MTT's of late, I'm still very much aware, that one has to get lucky multiple times to go deep in these things.
And so there it is. As of January 12, in less than four months, I have built an online bankroll from 0 dollars, to just over $407.
I've contemplated withdrawing most of it, but instead have decided for now to 'let it ride' so to speak, and see if I can grow my roll even more. Sticking with Chris Ferguson's bankroll guidelines, I plan to step up a little bit in stakes with Sit-N-Go's, where hopefully I can fare a little better than I did against the devastating rake and unequivocally retarded players of the $1.25 level.
As for MTT's, I don't think I'll play that much more expensive events than I have - I love the concept of spending very little and winning very big. I don't know that I'll ever beat my mark of turning .60c into $360! But I would love to try!
Full Tilt has a Sunday tournament called the 100K Double Deuce. It's a $20 + $2 entry fee with a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. The entry fee is way above my microscopic bankroll (currently at about $40 total) so once a week I have been entering a .60 satellite to gain entry.
I won a seat two weeks ago and was unable to play as I had a date with my little girl at the aquarium. So I tried again the next day, plunking down another whopping 60 cents (it actually is whopping when your roll is only 40 bucks) and promptly winning a seat for the following Sunday.
This time my schedule remained open, so I was able to log on and sit down with 9001 other players, including 13 Full Tilt "Red" pros. Professional poker players who are either fully or partially sponsored by the site. Incidentally, I outlasted them all, including WSOP bracelet winners Scott Fischman and Lee Watkinson.
In keeping with my strategy of monk-like patience sprinkled with the occasional burst of selective aggression, I managed to hang on for over seven hours - finally finishing in 42nd place and collecting $360 for my efforts.
Wow.
In dollar amount, this was not my biggest cash (that would be the $2330 I pocketed in December at Hollywood Park) but it was by FAR the biggest return on my investment. To get $360 for .60 cents, the mind truly boggles.
Incidentally, the hands I saw and took place in, were a roller coaster of suck-outs and monsters. A very large (probably over twice, perhaps three times, the number of hands that would have occurred in a live session) smorgasbord of poker. Some typically horrible online poker players, and surprisingly some very good players. So good in fact, that for the first time in a MTT, either live or online, I really had moments where I felt completely outclassed by a couple of my table-mates. Sobering, yes, but also refreshing in a way. This game still has so much for me to unlock.
Most notable hands - I had my aces cracked, twice. I was at-risk and basically crushed with my AQ up against AK with an ace on board. I caught runner runner for a broadway straight. But for that one exception, I always managed to get all my money in good or at least in a race. My final hand of the night was of the latter category, my KQ suited push got looked up by a small pocket pair and failed to improve. I was not thrilled with this play on my part, but it was acceptable. It was technically a race, with me on the slightly underdog side of the equation.
As I mentioned, I used selective aggression - most of the time small balling my way to taking down pots about every other orbit or so if I wasn't catching cards. I would make a standard raise, and follow it up with a c-bet of about 2/3 the pot even if I didn't connect. It worked often enough for me to keep accumulating chips.
A few times, I found myself getting short stacked, and I had to abandon the small-ball approach - taking a deep breath, closing my eyes and shoving all my chips in. I almost always tried to make my move without junk - almost. A couple of times, the blinds were approaching and the time (meaning my targets) were just right so I went all-in with trash. Thanks to my reads and a bit of luck, I managed to take down those pots without showdowns.
A couple of times when I had better starting cards (suited connecters, small pairs) I did get called. Two of these incidents stick out in my memory. Once with AJ and another time with pocket tens. Both times, thankfully, my hands won the day, flopping two pair with my AJ and trips with my tens.
Despite my apparently relentless success in large MTT's of late, I'm still very much aware, that one has to get lucky multiple times to go deep in these things.
And so there it is. As of January 12, in less than four months, I have built an online bankroll from 0 dollars, to just over $407.
I've contemplated withdrawing most of it, but instead have decided for now to 'let it ride' so to speak, and see if I can grow my roll even more. Sticking with Chris Ferguson's bankroll guidelines, I plan to step up a little bit in stakes with Sit-N-Go's, where hopefully I can fare a little better than I did against the devastating rake and unequivocally retarded players of the $1.25 level.
As for MTT's, I don't think I'll play that much more expensive events than I have - I love the concept of spending very little and winning very big. I don't know that I'll ever beat my mark of turning .60c into $360! But I would love to try!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Good News Bad News
Mostly good news actually.
I outlasted over 500 players last night at HPC's Poker Derby tournament Event #1, a deep stack NLHE $125 freeze out. I finished 17th.
That's the good news.
The bad news - I only pocketed $490 total for my ten hours of work and walked out of the casino at 5 in the morning. And although it was a non-smoking room, people were cheating in the hallways because it was so cold outside, so my eyes and lungs burned throughout the event.
I did have fun, but talk about a grind. I said aloud when I sat down, after glancing at the structure and seeing how many players there were, "This will last till 7 in the morning." The table mate to my right (who it turned out would bust me over 10 hours later) said something to the effect of "Oh no, this will be shorter than that. Fast structure here."
Wrong. I nailed it - I knew what had to be done to go deep. And I almost made it just right, I just didn't get lucky at the end when everyone was virtually short stacked anyway. The real money was in the top 6 players. That would have been sweet.
Still, it was nice to more than double my money I guess - there were plenty of others who played for over 9 hours and made 30% on their investment or less - and even those who played for 8 hours and made nothing.
And don't think that this is a regular thing for me now. I had planned for almost two months to play in this event; the other tournament I played on 12/21 was an impulsive getaway. Sven and I had been talking about going to this event together for awhile and it was kind of fun to make it happen. Though he felt the same way about the smoke and the grind - he busted at about 100th place, and was one of those who had invested cash and substantial time only to walk away with just smelly clothes and burned lungs.
I love live poker, but I won't be doing one of those again. I'll be sticking to the 10K guarantee on Sunday at 1130 in the morning. HPC's regular tourneys are in a much less ghetto and much less smokey area of the casino. If I do ever another deepstack in the smoke room (I did in fact love that the structure favored skill, plus there was a chance to win real money for a low buy-in) it will have to start in the morning.
Not much to say about my play - except super tight with an occasional move thrown in seemed to work out pretty well. I got paid with my monsters, especially when I was deceptive (limping with Aces, etc.) and I did manage to c-bet successfully on a number of occasions despite my lack of connection with the flop.
I feel good about my game and play, but I know I still have lots to learn. What I don't want to be is what the majority of players are when they get a big stack - aggressive without selection. Time after time I saw a big stack sit down, and then splash around without a plan of escape or even worse, without an aggressive follow through.
I had a big stack through the last third of the tournament, and I basically folded my way to the second table, before once again I was eaten alive by the monster blinds. Not great, but so much better than imploding with A7 suited the way a lady with a mountain of chips did, tangling with the only other big stack at our table who woke up with kings. And then she got mad at the dealer. Classless and just plain stupid.
Not for me. My goal is that when I get the stack, to EFFECTIVELY bully with SELECTIVE aggression. There were a couple of guys who had it right, and accumulated rather than spewed their chips. Someday, I'll get there. For now, I'm just having a blast.
I outlasted over 500 players last night at HPC's Poker Derby tournament Event #1, a deep stack NLHE $125 freeze out. I finished 17th.
That's the good news.
The bad news - I only pocketed $490 total for my ten hours of work and walked out of the casino at 5 in the morning. And although it was a non-smoking room, people were cheating in the hallways because it was so cold outside, so my eyes and lungs burned throughout the event.
I did have fun, but talk about a grind. I said aloud when I sat down, after glancing at the structure and seeing how many players there were, "This will last till 7 in the morning." The table mate to my right (who it turned out would bust me over 10 hours later) said something to the effect of "Oh no, this will be shorter than that. Fast structure here."
Wrong. I nailed it - I knew what had to be done to go deep. And I almost made it just right, I just didn't get lucky at the end when everyone was virtually short stacked anyway. The real money was in the top 6 players. That would have been sweet.
Still, it was nice to more than double my money I guess - there were plenty of others who played for over 9 hours and made 30% on their investment or less - and even those who played for 8 hours and made nothing.
And don't think that this is a regular thing for me now. I had planned for almost two months to play in this event; the other tournament I played on 12/21 was an impulsive getaway. Sven and I had been talking about going to this event together for awhile and it was kind of fun to make it happen. Though he felt the same way about the smoke and the grind - he busted at about 100th place, and was one of those who had invested cash and substantial time only to walk away with just smelly clothes and burned lungs.
I love live poker, but I won't be doing one of those again. I'll be sticking to the 10K guarantee on Sunday at 1130 in the morning. HPC's regular tourneys are in a much less ghetto and much less smokey area of the casino. If I do ever another deepstack in the smoke room (I did in fact love that the structure favored skill, plus there was a chance to win real money for a low buy-in) it will have to start in the morning.
Not much to say about my play - except super tight with an occasional move thrown in seemed to work out pretty well. I got paid with my monsters, especially when I was deceptive (limping with Aces, etc.) and I did manage to c-bet successfully on a number of occasions despite my lack of connection with the flop.
I feel good about my game and play, but I know I still have lots to learn. What I don't want to be is what the majority of players are when they get a big stack - aggressive without selection. Time after time I saw a big stack sit down, and then splash around without a plan of escape or even worse, without an aggressive follow through.
I had a big stack through the last third of the tournament, and I basically folded my way to the second table, before once again I was eaten alive by the monster blinds. Not great, but so much better than imploding with A7 suited the way a lady with a mountain of chips did, tangling with the only other big stack at our table who woke up with kings. And then she got mad at the dealer. Classless and just plain stupid.
Not for me. My goal is that when I get the stack, to EFFECTIVELY bully with SELECTIVE aggression. There were a couple of guys who had it right, and accumulated rather than spewed their chips. Someday, I'll get there. For now, I'm just having a blast.
Monday, December 29, 2008
KAPOW
Well my online league (Flatline Poker) had to postpone our Tournament of Champions because the website for the server that we use, Poker Academy, was inexplicably down for the entire month of December.
So what is an action junkie to do with no poker to play, other than the usual brain numbing grind of micro-stakes on Full Tilt? Go to Hollywood Park Casino naturally!
On Sunday, December 21, I had to work. But instead of going for 8 hours at once, which is so common and boring - I skipped out halfway through my day, planning to return in the late afternoon to finish my shift fully. I figured once I spent a couple of hours and donked off my chips in the HPC Sunday Tournament, there would still be plenty of time to be a responsible adult.
The Sunday 10K Guarantee at HPC is the largest regular NLHE tournament in Sourthern California. The Commerce has a bigger poker room, The Bike is more prestigious, but Hollywood Park has the lowest buy-ins and the most regular tournaments. Typically, the Sunday 10K features about 30 tables of ten, with a $35 entry fee (plus another $20 when you sit down) with ulimited $30 rebuys in the first hour and an option for up to a $30 add-on at the break. I budget $120, but rarely reach that limit.
So there I was, excited to shuffle some chips and have a grand old silly time with my fellow degenerates. I wasn't especially planning on cashing, I was there for fun. But over five and a half hours later, I found myself not back in my office, but looking at a shot to make some real money.
Everything started out as it usually does, with the re-buy period encouraging frequently catastrophic aggression. I managed to stay above the fray for the most part, but I doubled up when my checked big blind special AJ hit an ace on the flop. I led out a 2/3 of the pot bet, it folded around to the button who pushed all in. I insta-called and his A7os was crushed to my Top Pair Good Kicker.
Why the snap call for all of my chips?
I had developed a pretty good read on this guy as a fish who was trying desperately to double up, no matter how many times he had to plunk down $30. His mentality was not that uncommon in this tournament, but his propensity for less than good play was definitely high on the donkey scale. So when he pushed after my raise, after limping pre-flop, I knew my call was automatic, and not just because my gut was screaming that I had the best hand.
1. It was the rebuy period, if I got felted I had budgeted ahead to rebuy if neccessary. 2. He had been raising with pocket pairs, not limping. 3. He had frequently pushed his chips in with the worst of it up to this point, he was stuck for probably close to $300, and was quite a bit tilted. I was happy to tilt him some more.
In hindsight, I also see that this play of mine actually had a bit of deception nicely built in. By checking AJ in the BB, not something any book would probably ever recommend, I was sure to get action if I hit an ace, as most (including said fish) would conclude that I would bet a big ace pre-flop.
A short while later I gave fishy back some of his chips, when my JJ failed to hold up against another one of his ace rags. I was okay, not seriously wounded, and I managed to win a couple of more pots before the break to be slightly ahead of the chip average at my table.
I plunked down another $30 for my add-on, and I was ready to go after the break, with only $85 spent - actually pretty good for a patently absurd re-buy tourney with an equally ridiculously fast blind structure in the second half of the day.
I managed to play actual poker for about a half hour or so, I raised and took a couple of pots here and there, in position with decent cards. Besides my AJ double up, I don't recall ever getting to showdown. My standard raises either got everyone to fold, or my continuation bets after the flop did the job - even when I didn't connect. Then our table broke and I moved my pretty average stack to a table that was heavy with chips on the opposite end.
I ran pretty dead for a little while, and before I knew it, the antes had kicked in. This is the time in a single day tournament where if you don't steal, you quickly get eaten alive. I was game to do some thieving, but unfortunately, even though I was technically above the "danger zone" of having only 10 big blinds in my stack, any "standard" raise on my part would essentially commit me to the hand. Barely 3 hours into the day, I found myself almost at the binary mode stage - all in or fold, pre-flop.
This was especially true because the two big stacks on the opposite end of the table from me, were applying pressure to all comers on just about every hand. They would flat call behind an out of position raiser, and take the pot away from him if he didn't fire a second barrel. Sometimes, they would even re-raise and get the job done, either before the flop or after. They had the chips to do it, and they did it well.
Just before I switched over fully to desperate mode, I found I did have one last standard raise in me, with JQ of hearts in middle position. It was essentially an ill-advised steal attempt. I am not normally fond of such trap hands, but when I do bet them I'm almost always in better position than I was here. This was really me tilted a bit, at my recent dearth of playable cards, a suited connector kind of looked like aces at this point.
It was folded around to the tables resident jumbo stack, who flat called. Before the flop hit, I had already decided to push all in if no over cards came. Risky, yes, but I wanted to represent a higher pair and get jumbo to go away - I knew he would fire if I checked, and if I blanked I would have to get away, with nearly an 8th of my stack pissed down the drain. Incidentally, and probably obviously, if I hit the flop in any way shape or form I was also pushing.
The flop came a beautiful two baby hearts and a queen. Top pair with four to a flush. I thought for a moment, and pushed all in. Jumbo tanked for a long, long time, talking to himself the entire time. I didn't say one word or move a muscle. Finally, he convinced himself that I had Ace King. He called me with pocket fours. He was basically crushed, with only one out that mercifully didn't come.
As I counted my now much healthier stack, he remarked "I knew he didn't have shit before the flop." Well, I have to say he was right, but honestly I don't believe that he really knew that.
So I was going to stick around for a little while more. The table broke, rather soon after my double up, and I found myself in a much better environment. I sat down to a table full of senior citizens, a couple of middle eastern chaps, and best of all - no jumbo stacks.
My very first hand, I looked down at AJ suited from UTG +2. I pushed all in. I figured my fold equity was pretty high, they didn't know me at all - and as I sat down I had quickly sized up all the chip stacks and was happy to discover that there wasn't one player that I couldn't hurt severely.
Sure, what I did had some risk, but in hindsight, I think that was one of the best instinctive plays that I've ever made at a live game in a card room. The old codgers literally sat their with their mouths open at my move - and folded around. Sure, if I'd had bad luck and ran into a high pocket pair, that would have been it. But I took a good risk I think, in stealing what amounted to almost a quarter of my stack in blinds and antes AND sending the table a message. "Hi there, good to be here. DON'T FUCK WITH ME."
At this point, well over 3 hours into play, the blinds and antes were hefty - so as to render a "standard" raise by most players at the table into a hand committing maneuver. I had played the majority of the day pretty tight, recognizing the unsophisticated tenor of most of the players - and also recognizing my own limitations against the bigger stacks who were effectively using selective aggression. But now I tightened up even more. I waited patiently for the right cards, and/or the right situation to make a move.
It turns out, I never got the cards at this, my third (and I'd say, my most crucial) table. But it didn't matter. I stole the blinds and antes about a half a dozen times, always with an all-in pre-flop. Not ONCE did I get called. That tells me two things. One, I was very lucky to not run into a monster hand. Two, my selective aggression and reading my targets (I knew who to avoid, and who to steal from) was spot on.
Then, just as things were once again getting desperate, and I dipped below the ever important x10 BB level in my stack for the first time, I looked down at pocket queens. My first pocket pair since my jacks in the rebuy period. I was on the button and one player raised in front of me. I pushed all in.
The small blind to my left, was on a mini-heater, and I'd also say slightly on tilt from winning the last 2 hands (strange, but it does happen). He pushed all-in over the top, the initial raiser folded and I found my queens up against - AQ. Sweet. Again, I mercifully avoided a three out bitch slap.
The double up was much needed, as the bubble (the cutoff point as to who makes the money and who doesn't) approached. I could tell pretty quickly, that I literally could fold my way to the money. And I was fine with this, I was happy, in such a fast structure at this point, to walk out with $130, $45 in profit.
I decided ahead of time at this point to fold everything but Aces or Kings. Thankfully my resolve was not tested, as I got nothing but utter junk until the bubble burst. Now I was ready to go to war without fear.
I was utterly card dead as we went to four tables total (which also happened to be my fourth table of the afternoon) but it didn't matter too much. I was able to steal - all in pre-flop, every other orbit or so, just enough to stay ahead of the game. My craziest move was an all-in shove from the cutoff with Q7os (the computer hand - the very last starting pair that is a favorite to beat any two random cards). I also stole with pocket 10's, and yes, another AJ.
One by one the players dropped around me. I had been a short stack, along with most other players, for well over 2/3 of the tournament. But I was fine with it, especially after the bubble. I honestly was happy with all my moves, even the ones with less than great cards. I was putting my fold equity to the max, not crippling myself ahead of time and letting other players call me and then outplay me on the flop. I had a healthy enough stack to put a real decision to all but the biggest of stacks, which I happily avoided.
Finally, we drew for the final two tables. I sat down with again, less than ten times the big blind. Actually, FAR less than ten times - because the blinds were now CRAZY big. It was that time of the tournament, time to get everyone out before the minimum wage dealers went into overtime pay. I knew I was going to have to take the plunge with garbage cards, I was NOT going to punk out and get blinded off. I had played too well to go out like a biznatch.
But my cards were SO ugly, a 49, a J3, and then UTG I looked down at Q4. I almost pulled the trigger, but then for some reason thought I'd take my chances on the next hand which would be a devastating big blind.
I put almost half of my chips in for the BB, and the player to my immediate left led out with a "standard" raise which was a big chunk of his chips. For some reason, I took that moment to look at my cards. Throughout the tournament I had been very good about not looking until it was my turn to act. But I think I was so eager to see what I would have to call with (I was pot committed with my blind) that I looked down at what I had.
Aces.
I could barely contain myself as the cutoff called the UTG raise. "All in." I calmly announced. UTG got a count and called, as did the reluctant cutoff - who had foolishly priced himself in with, as it would turn out, a very mediocre holding.
So the main pot would triple me up, if I could avoid getting my bullets cracked.
A queen high flop. UTG bet out. Cutoff, hemmed and hawed, and hemmed and hawed for eternity before finally folding his pocket nines face up. UTG quickly turned up his AQ, I proudly showed off my pocket rockets. The table was aghast as I avoided a two outer and scooped up a substantial pot. With the big ass blinds, the chunky antes, PLUS three times my remaining stack, I was officially off of life support.
Two hands later, I looked down in the cutoff, with one caller in front of me, at AK. I pushed all-in. My stack was okay, but I didn't like a call here. The blinds were just too crazy big. I had to put that caller, who I had covered, to the test. It was folded to him and he called quickly. Ugh, I didn't like that speed. He tabled pocket sixes. Meh, not crazy about that call - but I was happy to race.
If he won, I'd be crippled. The flop and the turn didn't look good, I had only six outs. One of them (the case king as it turns out, two others said they folded king-rags) spiked on the river.
Now I had a stack, a real big ass stack. Though, believe it or not, not so big as to let me bully the table - lest I follow in the footsteps of the former big stack in the cutoff during my aces hand. He, through badly timed aggression, was now a mere nub of his former self - all in the space of less than an orbit.
I could see clearly, as we drew for the final table - that all of us (including a "monster" stack who had me at 2 to 1) were actually short stacked. It would be almost entirely luck that determined who won what from this point on.
And that, my dear friends, is why HPC always does a chip count at the start of the final table, and presents an option to chop, based on the relative sizes of the remaining stacks. They don't pressure, they don't cajole, they are very sly about it. They run the numbers and offer very nice pay-outs, and only on very rare exceptions does someone object.
In this case, we were almost all amiable - especially me. I stood to take home $2330 in cold cash, for my fourth place finish. The chip leader was the one potential hold-out. He would be taking the biggest cut of all, receiving 4K instead of 7K. I had been chatting with him a bit during this process, and very gently remarked (a couple of times in a couple of different ways) how quickly the chip standings could evaporate with the blinds the way they were.
It seemed to sink in, as he agreed to the terms just before we were due to sit down. He had to be sure though, that his name would go up on the wall. I laughed inwardly at this. To me, all that mattered was that I had turned $85 into over $2000 in less than six hours. Talk about intoxicating!
But I was a good boy. I went straight back to work and got done all that I had to do.
Needless to say, it was pretty easy to break the news to my wife that I had impulsively snuck away a bit for some poker - when I dropped 20 c-notes in her lap! Yes, all the winnings went to the boss, as they should. My bi-monthly live game is NOT part of my poker bankroll as of yet. It is purely for entertainment - yes, gambling. When I start to crush the HPC tournaments on a regular basis, I might reconsider, but for now I am happy to treat it as a little treat for myself that I get to have every 60 days or so.
I thought I played great, but the cold reality is that I was VERY lucky. I managed to avoid any catastrophic suck-outs for once and I also had good luck in getting more than my fair share of especially good starting cards when I needed them the most.
On the other hand, in all honesty, I don't think I got my money in bad a single time. Every time that I can remember, when I was all in pre-flop (and this was quite a few times as HPC's blind structure gets a bit ridiculous after 3 hours) I was ahead before the board came. I did play very well. I played very tight, maybe too tight occasionally, but I was so hyper conscious of the blinds in relation to my stack - that I know that at least 90% of all my decisions were correct.
I outlasted 290 other players, 29 full tables of ten, by far my best finish ever at HPC. (Although looking back at the year, this was actually my 5th final table, 2 in the admittedly small H.O.R.S.E. tournaments and 2 in the much bigger Hold-em events).
End result - I finished live card room poker for the year ahead well over $2000. My home game also showed a modest profit, and as you all know my online game (with the exception of the Flatline league) went from zero to in the black. Even the Flatline league, in which I am down for the year, I am overall up just slightly.
All in all, a great year - especially great to cap it with such a big win. Ah well, so much for getting over this sickness!
So what is an action junkie to do with no poker to play, other than the usual brain numbing grind of micro-stakes on Full Tilt? Go to Hollywood Park Casino naturally!
On Sunday, December 21, I had to work. But instead of going for 8 hours at once, which is so common and boring - I skipped out halfway through my day, planning to return in the late afternoon to finish my shift fully. I figured once I spent a couple of hours and donked off my chips in the HPC Sunday Tournament, there would still be plenty of time to be a responsible adult.
The Sunday 10K Guarantee at HPC is the largest regular NLHE tournament in Sourthern California. The Commerce has a bigger poker room, The Bike is more prestigious, but Hollywood Park has the lowest buy-ins and the most regular tournaments. Typically, the Sunday 10K features about 30 tables of ten, with a $35 entry fee (plus another $20 when you sit down) with ulimited $30 rebuys in the first hour and an option for up to a $30 add-on at the break. I budget $120, but rarely reach that limit.
So there I was, excited to shuffle some chips and have a grand old silly time with my fellow degenerates. I wasn't especially planning on cashing, I was there for fun. But over five and a half hours later, I found myself not back in my office, but looking at a shot to make some real money.
Everything started out as it usually does, with the re-buy period encouraging frequently catastrophic aggression. I managed to stay above the fray for the most part, but I doubled up when my checked big blind special AJ hit an ace on the flop. I led out a 2/3 of the pot bet, it folded around to the button who pushed all in. I insta-called and his A7os was crushed to my Top Pair Good Kicker.
Why the snap call for all of my chips?
I had developed a pretty good read on this guy as a fish who was trying desperately to double up, no matter how many times he had to plunk down $30. His mentality was not that uncommon in this tournament, but his propensity for less than good play was definitely high on the donkey scale. So when he pushed after my raise, after limping pre-flop, I knew my call was automatic, and not just because my gut was screaming that I had the best hand.
1. It was the rebuy period, if I got felted I had budgeted ahead to rebuy if neccessary. 2. He had been raising with pocket pairs, not limping. 3. He had frequently pushed his chips in with the worst of it up to this point, he was stuck for probably close to $300, and was quite a bit tilted. I was happy to tilt him some more.
In hindsight, I also see that this play of mine actually had a bit of deception nicely built in. By checking AJ in the BB, not something any book would probably ever recommend, I was sure to get action if I hit an ace, as most (including said fish) would conclude that I would bet a big ace pre-flop.
A short while later I gave fishy back some of his chips, when my JJ failed to hold up against another one of his ace rags. I was okay, not seriously wounded, and I managed to win a couple of more pots before the break to be slightly ahead of the chip average at my table.
I plunked down another $30 for my add-on, and I was ready to go after the break, with only $85 spent - actually pretty good for a patently absurd re-buy tourney with an equally ridiculously fast blind structure in the second half of the day.
I managed to play actual poker for about a half hour or so, I raised and took a couple of pots here and there, in position with decent cards. Besides my AJ double up, I don't recall ever getting to showdown. My standard raises either got everyone to fold, or my continuation bets after the flop did the job - even when I didn't connect. Then our table broke and I moved my pretty average stack to a table that was heavy with chips on the opposite end.
I ran pretty dead for a little while, and before I knew it, the antes had kicked in. This is the time in a single day tournament where if you don't steal, you quickly get eaten alive. I was game to do some thieving, but unfortunately, even though I was technically above the "danger zone" of having only 10 big blinds in my stack, any "standard" raise on my part would essentially commit me to the hand. Barely 3 hours into the day, I found myself almost at the binary mode stage - all in or fold, pre-flop.
This was especially true because the two big stacks on the opposite end of the table from me, were applying pressure to all comers on just about every hand. They would flat call behind an out of position raiser, and take the pot away from him if he didn't fire a second barrel. Sometimes, they would even re-raise and get the job done, either before the flop or after. They had the chips to do it, and they did it well.
Just before I switched over fully to desperate mode, I found I did have one last standard raise in me, with JQ of hearts in middle position. It was essentially an ill-advised steal attempt. I am not normally fond of such trap hands, but when I do bet them I'm almost always in better position than I was here. This was really me tilted a bit, at my recent dearth of playable cards, a suited connector kind of looked like aces at this point.
It was folded around to the tables resident jumbo stack, who flat called. Before the flop hit, I had already decided to push all in if no over cards came. Risky, yes, but I wanted to represent a higher pair and get jumbo to go away - I knew he would fire if I checked, and if I blanked I would have to get away, with nearly an 8th of my stack pissed down the drain. Incidentally, and probably obviously, if I hit the flop in any way shape or form I was also pushing.
The flop came a beautiful two baby hearts and a queen. Top pair with four to a flush. I thought for a moment, and pushed all in. Jumbo tanked for a long, long time, talking to himself the entire time. I didn't say one word or move a muscle. Finally, he convinced himself that I had Ace King. He called me with pocket fours. He was basically crushed, with only one out that mercifully didn't come.
As I counted my now much healthier stack, he remarked "I knew he didn't have shit before the flop." Well, I have to say he was right, but honestly I don't believe that he really knew that.
So I was going to stick around for a little while more. The table broke, rather soon after my double up, and I found myself in a much better environment. I sat down to a table full of senior citizens, a couple of middle eastern chaps, and best of all - no jumbo stacks.
My very first hand, I looked down at AJ suited from UTG +2. I pushed all in. I figured my fold equity was pretty high, they didn't know me at all - and as I sat down I had quickly sized up all the chip stacks and was happy to discover that there wasn't one player that I couldn't hurt severely.
Sure, what I did had some risk, but in hindsight, I think that was one of the best instinctive plays that I've ever made at a live game in a card room. The old codgers literally sat their with their mouths open at my move - and folded around. Sure, if I'd had bad luck and ran into a high pocket pair, that would have been it. But I took a good risk I think, in stealing what amounted to almost a quarter of my stack in blinds and antes AND sending the table a message. "Hi there, good to be here. DON'T FUCK WITH ME."
At this point, well over 3 hours into play, the blinds and antes were hefty - so as to render a "standard" raise by most players at the table into a hand committing maneuver. I had played the majority of the day pretty tight, recognizing the unsophisticated tenor of most of the players - and also recognizing my own limitations against the bigger stacks who were effectively using selective aggression. But now I tightened up even more. I waited patiently for the right cards, and/or the right situation to make a move.
It turns out, I never got the cards at this, my third (and I'd say, my most crucial) table. But it didn't matter. I stole the blinds and antes about a half a dozen times, always with an all-in pre-flop. Not ONCE did I get called. That tells me two things. One, I was very lucky to not run into a monster hand. Two, my selective aggression and reading my targets (I knew who to avoid, and who to steal from) was spot on.
Then, just as things were once again getting desperate, and I dipped below the ever important x10 BB level in my stack for the first time, I looked down at pocket queens. My first pocket pair since my jacks in the rebuy period. I was on the button and one player raised in front of me. I pushed all in.
The small blind to my left, was on a mini-heater, and I'd also say slightly on tilt from winning the last 2 hands (strange, but it does happen). He pushed all-in over the top, the initial raiser folded and I found my queens up against - AQ. Sweet. Again, I mercifully avoided a three out bitch slap.
The double up was much needed, as the bubble (the cutoff point as to who makes the money and who doesn't) approached. I could tell pretty quickly, that I literally could fold my way to the money. And I was fine with this, I was happy, in such a fast structure at this point, to walk out with $130, $45 in profit.
I decided ahead of time at this point to fold everything but Aces or Kings. Thankfully my resolve was not tested, as I got nothing but utter junk until the bubble burst. Now I was ready to go to war without fear.
I was utterly card dead as we went to four tables total (which also happened to be my fourth table of the afternoon) but it didn't matter too much. I was able to steal - all in pre-flop, every other orbit or so, just enough to stay ahead of the game. My craziest move was an all-in shove from the cutoff with Q7os (the computer hand - the very last starting pair that is a favorite to beat any two random cards). I also stole with pocket 10's, and yes, another AJ.
One by one the players dropped around me. I had been a short stack, along with most other players, for well over 2/3 of the tournament. But I was fine with it, especially after the bubble. I honestly was happy with all my moves, even the ones with less than great cards. I was putting my fold equity to the max, not crippling myself ahead of time and letting other players call me and then outplay me on the flop. I had a healthy enough stack to put a real decision to all but the biggest of stacks, which I happily avoided.
Finally, we drew for the final two tables. I sat down with again, less than ten times the big blind. Actually, FAR less than ten times - because the blinds were now CRAZY big. It was that time of the tournament, time to get everyone out before the minimum wage dealers went into overtime pay. I knew I was going to have to take the plunge with garbage cards, I was NOT going to punk out and get blinded off. I had played too well to go out like a biznatch.
But my cards were SO ugly, a 49, a J3, and then UTG I looked down at Q4. I almost pulled the trigger, but then for some reason thought I'd take my chances on the next hand which would be a devastating big blind.
I put almost half of my chips in for the BB, and the player to my immediate left led out with a "standard" raise which was a big chunk of his chips. For some reason, I took that moment to look at my cards. Throughout the tournament I had been very good about not looking until it was my turn to act. But I think I was so eager to see what I would have to call with (I was pot committed with my blind) that I looked down at what I had.
Aces.
I could barely contain myself as the cutoff called the UTG raise. "All in." I calmly announced. UTG got a count and called, as did the reluctant cutoff - who had foolishly priced himself in with, as it would turn out, a very mediocre holding.
So the main pot would triple me up, if I could avoid getting my bullets cracked.
A queen high flop. UTG bet out. Cutoff, hemmed and hawed, and hemmed and hawed for eternity before finally folding his pocket nines face up. UTG quickly turned up his AQ, I proudly showed off my pocket rockets. The table was aghast as I avoided a two outer and scooped up a substantial pot. With the big ass blinds, the chunky antes, PLUS three times my remaining stack, I was officially off of life support.
Two hands later, I looked down in the cutoff, with one caller in front of me, at AK. I pushed all-in. My stack was okay, but I didn't like a call here. The blinds were just too crazy big. I had to put that caller, who I had covered, to the test. It was folded to him and he called quickly. Ugh, I didn't like that speed. He tabled pocket sixes. Meh, not crazy about that call - but I was happy to race.
If he won, I'd be crippled. The flop and the turn didn't look good, I had only six outs. One of them (the case king as it turns out, two others said they folded king-rags) spiked on the river.
Now I had a stack, a real big ass stack. Though, believe it or not, not so big as to let me bully the table - lest I follow in the footsteps of the former big stack in the cutoff during my aces hand. He, through badly timed aggression, was now a mere nub of his former self - all in the space of less than an orbit.
I could see clearly, as we drew for the final table - that all of us (including a "monster" stack who had me at 2 to 1) were actually short stacked. It would be almost entirely luck that determined who won what from this point on.
And that, my dear friends, is why HPC always does a chip count at the start of the final table, and presents an option to chop, based on the relative sizes of the remaining stacks. They don't pressure, they don't cajole, they are very sly about it. They run the numbers and offer very nice pay-outs, and only on very rare exceptions does someone object.
In this case, we were almost all amiable - especially me. I stood to take home $2330 in cold cash, for my fourth place finish. The chip leader was the one potential hold-out. He would be taking the biggest cut of all, receiving 4K instead of 7K. I had been chatting with him a bit during this process, and very gently remarked (a couple of times in a couple of different ways) how quickly the chip standings could evaporate with the blinds the way they were.
It seemed to sink in, as he agreed to the terms just before we were due to sit down. He had to be sure though, that his name would go up on the wall. I laughed inwardly at this. To me, all that mattered was that I had turned $85 into over $2000 in less than six hours. Talk about intoxicating!
But I was a good boy. I went straight back to work and got done all that I had to do.
Needless to say, it was pretty easy to break the news to my wife that I had impulsively snuck away a bit for some poker - when I dropped 20 c-notes in her lap! Yes, all the winnings went to the boss, as they should. My bi-monthly live game is NOT part of my poker bankroll as of yet. It is purely for entertainment - yes, gambling. When I start to crush the HPC tournaments on a regular basis, I might reconsider, but for now I am happy to treat it as a little treat for myself that I get to have every 60 days or so.
I thought I played great, but the cold reality is that I was VERY lucky. I managed to avoid any catastrophic suck-outs for once and I also had good luck in getting more than my fair share of especially good starting cards when I needed them the most.
On the other hand, in all honesty, I don't think I got my money in bad a single time. Every time that I can remember, when I was all in pre-flop (and this was quite a few times as HPC's blind structure gets a bit ridiculous after 3 hours) I was ahead before the board came. I did play very well. I played very tight, maybe too tight occasionally, but I was so hyper conscious of the blinds in relation to my stack - that I know that at least 90% of all my decisions were correct.
I outlasted 290 other players, 29 full tables of ten, by far my best finish ever at HPC. (Although looking back at the year, this was actually my 5th final table, 2 in the admittedly small H.O.R.S.E. tournaments and 2 in the much bigger Hold-em events).
End result - I finished live card room poker for the year ahead well over $2000. My home game also showed a modest profit, and as you all know my online game (with the exception of the Flatline league) went from zero to in the black. Even the Flatline league, in which I am down for the year, I am overall up just slightly.
All in all, a great year - especially great to cap it with such a big win. Ah well, so much for getting over this sickness!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Running good...
My online roll is back up a bit, after taking down two 9 player SNG's in a row.
I was the big winner last night at my home cash game, more than doubling my buy-in.
I finished second in my home game tournament on November 22. (My brother, who has been playing the game all of 2 years, took down the whole thing. It was his THIRD tournament win at my home game this year. In the 4 years I've been hosting, I've won exactly ZERO tournaments.)
I haven't played in a card room since my H.O.R.S.E. second place finish. I'm anxious to get back under the fluorescent lights soon, though it will probably have to wait until next year.
Likewise, my home game is finished until January as well. But my home poker situation promises to be even bigger and better in 2009. Check it out.
For now, this is the time for family and friends. I plan to enjoy it and ignore that constant nagging voice in my brain that craves action.
Oh wait, we still have our online league Tournament of Champions this Monday. Big prize pool. Yep, as soon as I take that one down, I can put poker on hold.
There's also rumblings about a trip to Vegas next year - I had planned to take a poker pilgrimage this year (see my resolution post 12 months ago) but it never materialized. Maybe in 2009 I'll get my chance. I would love to be in town for the WSOP, but even just to go for a long weekend and play tournaments everyday would be fantastic.
The other thing I'd like to accomplish with my game next year, is to finally keep a completely accurate track of my bank roll. I have a pretty good idea of how I did in 2008 - a much better idea than previous years. But I still don't have exact numbers.
I'm not a math guy, and I'm lazy. I need to be precise this next year.
I was the big winner last night at my home cash game, more than doubling my buy-in.
I finished second in my home game tournament on November 22. (My brother, who has been playing the game all of 2 years, took down the whole thing. It was his THIRD tournament win at my home game this year. In the 4 years I've been hosting, I've won exactly ZERO tournaments.)
I haven't played in a card room since my H.O.R.S.E. second place finish. I'm anxious to get back under the fluorescent lights soon, though it will probably have to wait until next year.
Likewise, my home game is finished until January as well. But my home poker situation promises to be even bigger and better in 2009. Check it out.
For now, this is the time for family and friends. I plan to enjoy it and ignore that constant nagging voice in my brain that craves action.
Oh wait, we still have our online league Tournament of Champions this Monday. Big prize pool. Yep, as soon as I take that one down, I can put poker on hold.
There's also rumblings about a trip to Vegas next year - I had planned to take a poker pilgrimage this year (see my resolution post 12 months ago) but it never materialized. Maybe in 2009 I'll get my chance. I would love to be in town for the WSOP, but even just to go for a long weekend and play tournaments everyday would be fantastic.
The other thing I'd like to accomplish with my game next year, is to finally keep a completely accurate track of my bank roll. I have a pretty good idea of how I did in 2008 - a much better idea than previous years. But I still don't have exact numbers.
I'm not a math guy, and I'm lazy. I need to be precise this next year.
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