The wife and kiddo had a Girl Scout weekend camping trip and I wasn't invited, so what's a degenerate gambler to do? Haul ass to Vegas natch.
Booked once again for four days and nights and the fabulous Harrah's Hotel and Casino right smack dab in the middle of the strip, I touched down Friday morning, dropped off my bag at the bell desk and made a bee line across the street for the Mirage.
Their 11am tournaments are soft but fast, just how I like 'em. I call their poker room the Time Warp, because after playing with the daily grinders at Commerce, who know how to 3 bet light and bomb the river no problem - it really is like stepping back into another era.
Free diet cokes are also a plus. Too bad I gave them up for my New Years resolution.
The dealers are crusty but capable and friendly enough. And the competition, oh the competition, is friendly and mostly fishy.
With just 35 runners and only $600 for first place, there was very little pressure and I had a great time splashing around in the early levels. By the second break I was thoroughly short and ecstatic to get my chips in pre-flop with AA. Unfortunately they got cracked and I was out, with not even the Aces Cracked promo that the Mirage runs applying to tournament play. Boo!
Had a bite to eat and headed back to my hotel. Checked into the room and er... relaxed. Headed back downstairs just in time for Harrah's 3pm donkament, also $60.
Chipped up quite a bit early on. I was excited to see that the structure was just fine for the price point and had no antes. Best of all, they didn't race off the green chips, they rounded them up! Just like I do in my garage.
As my stack shrunk a bit and the money approached, I managed to get called by check raise jamming a flop of Qs9s7h holding Js8s by an opponent who had a red Q10. I blanked and I was crippled. Happy to get my money in this way with two ways to win (hit or get opponent to fold). I was a bit of an underdog only because the villain had one of my outs, it was a coin flip otherwise.
With 4 bigs in my stack it wasn't long before I hit the rail.
Ah well, no monies yet. I had it on my schedule to play the Planet Hollywood 7pm - but walked down there to discover that they had a $1000 guarantee for first and the $500 guarantee for 2nd, which is great but it also meant for sure that much tougher players would show up. As poker these days is all about game selection, I was pretty tired and for sure knew that I would be negative EV. So I walked all the way back, grabbed a pizza at CPK in the Mirage and signed up for the 7pm in the Time Warp.
Alas, as it was Valentines eve, all the nice friendly tourist poker players were out with their significant others - and the only ones in attendance were degenerates who knew how to play the game in 2014. I tightened up a bit and went into SoCal playing mode.
I made a great squeeze move against the capable TAG on my right with 710os, my one good spot that I picked to chip up. Otherwise my timing was off and I was out in less than 2 hours. I was card dead, but really I didn't see that as THE reason for busting. It was one of many factors and not even the most important one - that the table was full of capable rec players and 2 semi-pros was really why I headed back to the room early, Granted, my bust out hand was pretty gross, my 99 losing AIPF to the not quite monster stack with Q9. Oh well.
All in all it was a fun day, results notwithstanding. Good decisions just about all, no major mistakes.
I met my homies Sven and Dan the next morning at the 9am Bally's. The good news was, it was a $65 tournament with a $1000 guarantee. The even better news was is that there was quite an overlay with only 3 short handed tables.
I was firing on all cylinders and my timing was fairly awesome, picking on the right tight/passive targets and gave the handful of loose/passives a wide berth. Again I got my money in good several times, and this time my better hands held up.
The money quickly approached, we were 4 handed and Dan was one of the shorties. I floated the idea of taking $65 off the top for the bubble - the two other players declined as they had both re-bought. Okay fine. Needless to say, while I never soft-play a friend, I certainly didn't go out of my way to tangle with Dan as he struggled to hold on.
In the end it worked out for him, he managed to outlast the spewy long haired tourist on his left and was in for some monies. After he busted the lady across from me offered an even money chop, which I politely declined as she had refused my bubble offer and I also had a 3 to 1 chip lead.
Things were looking great as I wore her down a bit more; she would shove with any decent hand and I could easily fold. When I had a hand I was willing to go with I would simply min-raise and she would fold. The latter happened more than the former when I had KQ on the button and min-raised; she finally jammed over the top and I happily called off.
She had KJ and the board ran out harmlessly, until the river when her 3 outer hit. Sigh.
I was now of course happy to chop as she took over the chip lead. She stalled a bit on this through a few hands, which I happened to win. As I dragged my 4th pot she finally caved to my offer of an extra
$25 for her. She got $450 I got $400.
Nice to book a win and get that out of the way. Dan tried to persuade us to have a sit down lunch but the stubborn degenerate in me took hold and we kept focus on heading directly to the Aria for the 1pm $125.
158 runners, and many of them half decent. I have to say overall I played well. Less than an hour in this hand unfolded.
The table had been fairly passive to this point - I had avoided limping except to check through on my big blind or once in a blue moon on the button. This has become my general rule of thumb - I have gotten into more trouble speculating from out of position so many times, I've pretty much given it up.
But on one hand I had a suited 65 on the button. The button in my mind is different, especially if you have inactive blinds, as I did at this table. On the button you get maximum information and have the best chance of getting away when you are beat. So I flat called.
The fresh faced young player to my direct right didn't know it, but I had played with him before and I knew he was typically an aggressive and dangerous player, especially if he had chips. Here he had been whittled down a bit.
With four limpers seeing the flop of 652 rainbow, I was happy to bet half the pot when it was checked to me. Fresh face was my only customer and a heart 3 rolled off on the turn putting a four flush out there. He checked again, I did as well for pot control, the flush didn't concern me too much as I had already given the wrong price on the flop to draw for it. I was also hoping to induce a bluff if the river blanked - which it did.
A black queen hit fifth street and my opponent abruptly shoved. I had him covered but not by much. It was a line that didn't make sense at all, and I called fairly quickly. He was too embarrassed to show, though the dealer did flip over his cards as he walked away. He had complete air and I had dragged a huge pot.
I was surprised that he spazzed out so thoroughly, if he had put out a chunky value bet there was a chance I might have talked myself into a fold, but realistically not a very big chance.
Though I made the decision too quickly, once again - I was very pleased that it was clearly the right one; and it gave me a boost to know that I could snap off such a tricky and aggressive regular.
Nearly 3 hours later I had been moved when this amazing hand happened.
Sitting on 65 bigs, I had AA under the gun, and raised my standard 2.5x. A shortish stack of just under 20 bigs on my direct left jammed. The next player on her left re-raised about half of his 60 big blind stack. Yay.
I took a short hollywood moment, and then slid out my whole stack. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the player two to my left reach back to shove the rest of his chips in. I fast rolled my aces too quickly. He stopped mid-move, his chips clearly behind the betting line.
"Oh shit." he exclaimed. The floor was called. He was allowed to decide. He folded his kings face up.
A king came right in the window and he groaned. I was apologetic. My aces held against the short stacks AJ and I dragged a 50+ blind pot. I was relieved that things had worked out, but I felt bad for exposing my cards early. I apologized again and the floor gave me a one round penalty, my first ever in poker!
I had to stand at the rail for 8 hands, but it was worth it to be sitting on over 100 bigs so late in the tournament. Crazy.
Another hour passed and I was doing okay - thoroughly card dead with multiple aggressive players; a tough spot even with ammunition. The structure at Aria is great, but it's still a one day event. I had dipped under 100 bigs when a Euro aggro 3 bet my QQ. I calmly cut out a hefty four bet and he quickly five bet shoved. I pondered for a moment, and then decided he had been way too active for me to worry about two hands, I was happy to flip with AK for a chance at big money and would be crushing almost everything else that he had. I called off, he had aces and they held.
Back down to reality, I managed to nurse my 25 bigs stack for a long while, eventually getting down to 2 tables. At one point I woke up with KK and they held for a very nice double up. Other than that it was a lot of folding to a super aggressive and massively stacked table, until my 17 big blind stack found JJ in the small blind and 3 bet jammed, only to run into QQ in the big blind who was now the same Euro aggro who had crushed me earlier with his rockets.
He was very sweet about it and I gladly offered my hand to shake as I made my way to the counter and a $390 payday for 12th place. Later I heard that the final table chopped at 5 players evenly for $1200 apiece.
I was done for the night as I was mentally spent - I think I did go back to Mirage for their 10pm turbo, but I certainly wasn't going to count it if I got lucky and cashed. I didn't.
Sunday came early and I dropped by to see Sven at the Bally's 9am, though I didn't play as I was meeting Dan for the 11am Mirage. Sven did end up cashing I believe. The overlay at 9am was sick and I vowed to return on Monday morning.
As for the Mirage, it was fun. I laughed, I cried, I kissed my $60 goodbye. I made a great call to snap off a bluff early on but got crippled in an ill advised hand against someone who didn't know his ass from his elbow. When he slow rolled me, I smiled and tapped the table, thoroughly and genuinely unperturbed. A kid across the table exclaimed "Wow he slow rolled you." "No he didn't." I responded in a friendly matter. "That would imply that he knows what he's doing" I said to myself. No big whoop.
I did make the final table, but I busted in 10th place when my AK lost to KJ aipf. If it wasn't for luck I would win them all honey.
Dan had busted earlier so I joined him at the 2pm Bally's along with Sven. I was out in under an hour, so I made my way back to Harrah's for the 3pm.
Again, I played pretty awesome. Very soft and friendly table - plenty of chances to pound with big three betting and aggressive c-betting.
Three tables quickly became one and I found myself in a massive pot, AIPF with AA. Miraculously my rockets held against AK and KK and I had a monster stacken. We played for another hour or so until it was three handed and we were all about even. I was happy to take a 3 way chop for first, $350 into the wallet and another great time in the books.
Finally the evening approached - I returned to CPK to dine by myself on some pesto pasta. Dan was done for the day and for the weekend with teh pokerz. Sven was eyeballing the 7pm Aria after not cashing at Bally's. He was a bit tilted in his texts to me about being "the worst player ever" so I talked him out of the Aria tourney. It is not an event to enter if you're not feeling good about your game.
Unfortunately he took this to the next level and then hopped on a jet to go back home. Dan also flew back to L.A., but he had always planned to do so. Now I faced being alone on Monday.
After I busted the very friendly and fishy 7pm Mirage, I got back to my room and simply collapsed. I was burnt toast and didn't wake up until some drunk asshole in the hallway decided to have a one person conversation at four in the morning.
After he left, and I didn't have a chance to do something stupid like confront him, I showered. The prospect of a full days grind without Sven wasn't all that appealing. On top of this, my girls had sent me pics of their camping trip and I was genuinely sad about missing it. Even worse, they had gotten back Sunday night; when I booked my trip I had just assumed they wouldn't be back until late on Monday as it was a holiday.
So missing them terribly, knowing they were just an hour away by air - I packed my bag, checked out, returned my car and ate the hundred extra bucks (which happened to be covered by my poker winnings) to get back home. A great +EV decision all around.
Speaking of great decisions - I really think that that was what this trip was all about. Primarily in game selection. I went after the softer targets, with the one exception of the Aria, which is a great value not because of the competition but because of the prize pool and the structure. I have to say, when approaching the game these days, it really is all about choosing the right targets.
The learning curve has steepened more than ever before; if you enter a big event, with a lot of money at stake, you're going to not only get semi-pro regulars, but also serious rec players who are nearly as good.
The trade off is of course, if you stick to smaller events you will likely get weaker players, but you'll be faced with much smaller prize pools and much shittier structures. In other words, you have to get a lot luckier to have a chance at winning smaller amounts of money.
But I really do prefer this - primarily because the game is a lot more fun for me if I genuinely feel like I'm one of, if not the, best player at the table. I get to do so much more and get a lot more creative and have a lot more fun if I know I'm not going to get outplayed. Simply put; folding all the time until I wake up with a decent hand is not a fun time for me. I'd much rather play more hands, tangle and be challenged a bit, putting my skill set to good use against opponents who don't quite grasp position or stack sizes.
Come the summertime though, I'll be looking to dip into the WSOP - a much larger and more challenging arena. This vast event is it's own reward for the experience, even though it likely will involve a whole lot of the aforementioned and dreaded folding and waiting.
With any luck I will bink one of the satellites in my garage. This year I plan to have one for a bracelet event and one as a satellite for a satellite into the Main Event. It has been a long time dream now, percolating in my brain, to sit down in the greatest poker tournament on earth, and a Step 1 satellite is a great way to try and do it.
In the meantime, it will be the occasional home game, and maybe a WSOP Circuit event at the Bike in March if I get the time. If I do, you can bet you'll be able to read about it here.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
Going for the jugular.
I have a leak in my game. In a poker tournament, especially in the early and early-mid stages; I typically play very well, and often (especially lately) I have found myself making very good decisions and dragging big pots. The problem though is the mid-mid and later stages; my play is okay, but mentally I psyche myself out. Really, I wimp out.
Case in point - in the absurd LAPC event #1, the $75 coinflip, I mean... er Facebook tournament; I made two plays against the same opponent to take a big portion of his stack.
Hand 1 - I raised 3 limpers big (6x I believe) with Ah6d from the cutoff. This was a soft table overall, and all 3 limpers were passive; I would have been happy to isolate one of them. Instead I got heads up with the small blind who had a gang of chips and decided he was going to be the poker sheriff. Everyone else folded.
I was reading a lot of heat off of him, so when the flop came ragged with an Ace I checked behind to induce; he obliged nice and chunky on the turn which put a third club on the board, I called. The river of course was a fourth club and he barreled again, a good sized value bet. Instead of insta-folding, as is my usual course of action, I actually went into the tank and replayed the hand in my head from the beginning. I also considered what I had seen from him so far at the table. He was rather pathological in his defense of his blinds and had twice failed with wonky bluffs out of position.
I cut out the chips I would need to pay him off. My stack was still viable. His story was rather credible, but something just didn't smell right. I tossed in the chips and waited for him to show. He didn't want to. I quickly turned up my naked pair and he disgustedly mucked. Gasps around the table. I dragged a substantial pot. I did see out of the corner of my eye that he had turned up 2 low red cards, complete air.
Hand 2 - My memory is a lot hazier on this one. It was a couple of orbits later, he had been very active since our tangle, winning and losing a few pots. He raised it up UTG+2. All folded to me on the button, I defended. This is a habit I've gotten into, and I think it's a good one - I defend my button a whole lot more than I defend my blinds. I'm especially happy to do so if someone is a donator, which so far this fellow was. My cards didn't matter too much, but for the record they were 108.
Flop came ragged with a king, he c-bet, I floated. Don't remember what the turn was. He checked and I bet half the pot. He folded, clearly rattled and flustered, muttering under his breath.
I dragged the chips again, but I couldn't lift my head and look him or anyone else in the eye.
THIS is my leak.
I'm afraid of making people feel bad. I'm afraid of being confrontational. I just want to be anonymous at the poker table.
This is wrong. I should embrace being intimidating. I've had more than one person that I didn't know confide to me away from the table that I CAN be a bit scary. This is okay. Not mean or nasty, not rude - but people should be more than a bit afraid of tangling with me.
But there I was, self-doubt enveloping me. I had completely outplayed this guy now, twice. He was not a good player - he had somehow stumbled into a big stack, but now he was in the business of getting rid of it. He played way too much out of position, his bet sizing was kooky - he massively over bet a lot, which insured he would get minimal value with made hands and zero bluff value with air if his opponent had hit their hand.
I should have been going out of my way more often to get into pots with him - as well as several others. But as the tournament continued, and I was now flush with a big stack, I began an internal monologue that was very unhelpful.
"Did I deserve that first pot? Did I play it right? Am I just a calling station that randomly caught someone bluffing? Better shift gears and wait for a premium now that everyone thinks I'm a maniac."
WRONG.
Everyone thinks I'm a maniac - this is great. Keep the pressure on. That's right bitches, this is MY table. Hi there, how are you? Good, glad you're having fun. I'M ALL IN.
I need to let go of my fear, fear of being ostracized or looked on askance or whatever. I must never lose my friendliness - but it's okay to have that edge of intimidation, to strike a little fear into peoples hearts when it comes to the cards and the chips.
I really need to work on giving myself credit when I make one of my "lucky" decisions - as I've been making more and more of them lately. These aren't necessarily lucky, I've worked very long and very hard in developing the skill set of reading people. It is starting to pay off and I need to have faith that even if I can't quite put my finger on why I made the correct decision, I HAVE made it, and it almost certainly wasn't just dumb luck that I did.
Two tournaments ago in my home game - I was going to quickly muck my second pair on the river, but then I hesitated. Something about my opponents bet just didn't seem right. I thought for about 30 seconds, and then finally talked myself into folding. He showed the bluff. Fuck.
I need to listen to that inner voice more often - as lately it is usually correct. My first instinct is sometimes right sometimes wrong, but in taking time to rethink the hand is where I almost always get on the path to getting it right.
So to plug this leak of intimidation - this leak of uncertainty; I need to do two things much more often.
1. TANK. As much as I hate tankers, I need to become one, in bigger tournaments in big pots. STOP. TANK AND THINK.
2. Embrace the beast. It's okay to be a force at the table. I've worked hard at it. I deserve it. This is a tournament. I'm not taking mortgage money. I'm not taking food off of their kids plates. They're going to go hit the cash game after they bust. I'm providing a service. Tournaments are all that I do. This alone gives me an edge against a lot of recreational players.
As an exercise, the very next tournament I play here is what I'm going to do.
As soon as I drag a big pot, the VERY NEXT HAND, regardless of what I have, I'm coming in for a raise no matter what. Either opening the pot, raising limpers big, or three betting a raiser. That's what I'm doing. Now if I have trash I'm of course shutting it down if I whiff completely and am out of position. But if I connect in any way or have position, you better believe I'm fighting for that pot.
I must shake this nonsense idea that I'm not good enough. Against most amateurs I'm more than good enough - and that's what these low buy in big guarantee events are full of.
Case in point - in the absurd LAPC event #1, the $75 coinflip, I mean... er Facebook tournament; I made two plays against the same opponent to take a big portion of his stack.
Hand 1 - I raised 3 limpers big (6x I believe) with Ah6d from the cutoff. This was a soft table overall, and all 3 limpers were passive; I would have been happy to isolate one of them. Instead I got heads up with the small blind who had a gang of chips and decided he was going to be the poker sheriff. Everyone else folded.
I was reading a lot of heat off of him, so when the flop came ragged with an Ace I checked behind to induce; he obliged nice and chunky on the turn which put a third club on the board, I called. The river of course was a fourth club and he barreled again, a good sized value bet. Instead of insta-folding, as is my usual course of action, I actually went into the tank and replayed the hand in my head from the beginning. I also considered what I had seen from him so far at the table. He was rather pathological in his defense of his blinds and had twice failed with wonky bluffs out of position.
I cut out the chips I would need to pay him off. My stack was still viable. His story was rather credible, but something just didn't smell right. I tossed in the chips and waited for him to show. He didn't want to. I quickly turned up my naked pair and he disgustedly mucked. Gasps around the table. I dragged a substantial pot. I did see out of the corner of my eye that he had turned up 2 low red cards, complete air.
Hand 2 - My memory is a lot hazier on this one. It was a couple of orbits later, he had been very active since our tangle, winning and losing a few pots. He raised it up UTG+2. All folded to me on the button, I defended. This is a habit I've gotten into, and I think it's a good one - I defend my button a whole lot more than I defend my blinds. I'm especially happy to do so if someone is a donator, which so far this fellow was. My cards didn't matter too much, but for the record they were 108.
Flop came ragged with a king, he c-bet, I floated. Don't remember what the turn was. He checked and I bet half the pot. He folded, clearly rattled and flustered, muttering under his breath.
I dragged the chips again, but I couldn't lift my head and look him or anyone else in the eye.
THIS is my leak.
I'm afraid of making people feel bad. I'm afraid of being confrontational. I just want to be anonymous at the poker table.
This is wrong. I should embrace being intimidating. I've had more than one person that I didn't know confide to me away from the table that I CAN be a bit scary. This is okay. Not mean or nasty, not rude - but people should be more than a bit afraid of tangling with me.
But there I was, self-doubt enveloping me. I had completely outplayed this guy now, twice. He was not a good player - he had somehow stumbled into a big stack, but now he was in the business of getting rid of it. He played way too much out of position, his bet sizing was kooky - he massively over bet a lot, which insured he would get minimal value with made hands and zero bluff value with air if his opponent had hit their hand.
I should have been going out of my way more often to get into pots with him - as well as several others. But as the tournament continued, and I was now flush with a big stack, I began an internal monologue that was very unhelpful.
"Did I deserve that first pot? Did I play it right? Am I just a calling station that randomly caught someone bluffing? Better shift gears and wait for a premium now that everyone thinks I'm a maniac."
WRONG.
Everyone thinks I'm a maniac - this is great. Keep the pressure on. That's right bitches, this is MY table. Hi there, how are you? Good, glad you're having fun. I'M ALL IN.
I need to let go of my fear, fear of being ostracized or looked on askance or whatever. I must never lose my friendliness - but it's okay to have that edge of intimidation, to strike a little fear into peoples hearts when it comes to the cards and the chips.
I really need to work on giving myself credit when I make one of my "lucky" decisions - as I've been making more and more of them lately. These aren't necessarily lucky, I've worked very long and very hard in developing the skill set of reading people. It is starting to pay off and I need to have faith that even if I can't quite put my finger on why I made the correct decision, I HAVE made it, and it almost certainly wasn't just dumb luck that I did.
Two tournaments ago in my home game - I was going to quickly muck my second pair on the river, but then I hesitated. Something about my opponents bet just didn't seem right. I thought for about 30 seconds, and then finally talked myself into folding. He showed the bluff. Fuck.
I need to listen to that inner voice more often - as lately it is usually correct. My first instinct is sometimes right sometimes wrong, but in taking time to rethink the hand is where I almost always get on the path to getting it right.
So to plug this leak of intimidation - this leak of uncertainty; I need to do two things much more often.
1. TANK. As much as I hate tankers, I need to become one, in bigger tournaments in big pots. STOP. TANK AND THINK.
2. Embrace the beast. It's okay to be a force at the table. I've worked hard at it. I deserve it. This is a tournament. I'm not taking mortgage money. I'm not taking food off of their kids plates. They're going to go hit the cash game after they bust. I'm providing a service. Tournaments are all that I do. This alone gives me an edge against a lot of recreational players.
As an exercise, the very next tournament I play here is what I'm going to do.
As soon as I drag a big pot, the VERY NEXT HAND, regardless of what I have, I'm coming in for a raise no matter what. Either opening the pot, raising limpers big, or three betting a raiser. That's what I'm doing. Now if I have trash I'm of course shutting it down if I whiff completely and am out of position. But if I connect in any way or have position, you better believe I'm fighting for that pot.
I must shake this nonsense idea that I'm not good enough. Against most amateurs I'm more than good enough - and that's what these low buy in big guarantee events are full of.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Mini LAPO Report
Played two entry flights to the L.A. Poker Open (LAPO) event #12 a few weeks back. Didn't play particularly fantastic, but the tournament was indeed a turbo and I can't be too hard on myself for failing to accumulate and busting out in both flights in short order.
My first starting table was fairly soft, until all the soft players busted and then I got a few decent regs who came in and made it all but impossible to get frisky.
Based on his play, I would not put the fellow to my immediate left in the category of a decent regular. His name was Lance, I knew that because he did the whole awkward introduction handshake thing that you run into at the tables sometimes. He talked a whole hell of a lot, nice guy, but rather annoying after about 20 minutes of non-stop chatter. Finally he simmered down a bit.He was drinking the entire time. He didn't do anything special poker wise, except speculate badly and spew off down to a nub of a stack.
My first starting table was fairly soft, until all the soft players busted and then I got a few decent regs who came in and made it all but impossible to get frisky.
Based on his play, I would not put the fellow to my immediate left in the category of a decent regular. His name was Lance, I knew that because he did the whole awkward introduction handshake thing that you run into at the tables sometimes. He talked a whole hell of a lot, nice guy, but rather annoying after about 20 minutes of non-stop chatter. Finally he simmered down a bit.He was drinking the entire time. He didn't do anything special poker wise, except speculate badly and spew off down to a nub of a stack.
Then another guy, don't remember his name, younger, showed up on my right and he knew Lance and they both got super chatty and reminisced about their days on the tournament circuit, talking about all the fun they had, all the women, all the big cashes - Lance said his biggest was 300K, the the other guy said his biggest was 500K on the WPT.
Whatever. Neither of these guys impressed me with their play. Lance continued to stack off and he was gone within an hour. The other guy luckboxed huge - twice. AIPF with his QQ he binked a Q on the river to drag a monster pot - and did the same thing later with 1010 vs. JJ. Then he woke up with Aces not once, twice, but three times and got paid every time. His stack was gargantuan when I finally busted.
So as I said, Lance didn't impress me too much. He drank a lot at the table, he was a bit of a goofball.
Then I saw this.
Yep, that's him in third place for 100K plus in the LAPO main.
Sure enough, his personal Hendon mob page shows multiple six figure scores including the 300K one he talked about.
The lesson? Stop trying to make correct decisions and start drinking heavily. Easy game.
OR
Remember that I do this for fun, on a part time basis. As drunk and as bad as Lance seemed, his stories involved his struggles to provide for his family by playing poker. When the stakes are that high, a human being finds a way - no matter how absurd he might seem at first.
**********
I probably have very little poker left in me in 2013, I have my home game tournament on Saturday and then after that I may or may not squeeze in a home cash game to socialize before Christmas. I will likely be working through most of the holiday break and will probably have an opportunity to make one or two local daily tournaments at Commerce or the Bike before the year ends or just after.
In any event, it looks like I will finish the year up just over 2K, which is a very satisfying result, especially after being stuck not much less than that last year.
2014 is looking bright as well, as I have booked a 4 day Vegas weekend in February to gamble it up in the Venetian Deep Stack as well as some other local dailies. Can't wait for that!
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Cruising along...
Having a fun year of teh pokerz, and once again feel my game is growing leaps and bounds.
Last Sunday for my birthday weekend I treated myself to the nooner at the Bike, a $40 2K guarantee that typically doubles that number.
I love these "small" events at the Bike, a great turbo structure and a $40 price point - plus a lot of very soft players. I had a great first two hours, basically running over the table and getting paid when I hit. By the second break I had over 20K up from my 5K starting stack.
Then the blinds escalated and two tough players sat down to my left. I started to bleed a bit as I went completely card dead. Not a big deal, but I found it hard to accumulate with two seasoned, sticky and tricky players to my immediate left. Then this hand happened.
I've got about 40 bigs. I'm in the big blind with Q9o. UTG (clearly someone who fancies himself a poker wizard) min raises. The button calls and so does the small so I come along hoping to flop 2 pair or better.
The board is 479 rainbow - a big reason why hands like Q9 suck ass. I check and it is checked around. A Jack peels off on the turn. I check and the wizard bets incredibly small, maybe a quarter of the pot. The button and SB fold, I flat. The river is an 8, which is a terrible card for me if wizard barrels. I check and indeed he does fire, only this time a big, nearly pot sized bet.
I take a moment to reflect and cut out my calling chips. The rest of my stack is still viable - so there's that. Then I think, if I were he - what would I be doing with a ten in my hand. Betting for value no doubt - but perhaps not so large against a decent player, which is how I would have pegged myself by now. If I had wanted to get him off a hand like middle pair however, I very well might bet a painful amount. Other, shittier players, typically over value bet the river if they have a monster - I've learned the hard way that these fish are never bluffing.
Better players, like this wizard and myself will occasionally over bet the river against good players - to make it seem bluffy, but more often than not the trend is to give the right price for a call and get good value. Better players also though, will absolutely bomb the river big time against a fish - I often use a massive over bet on the river with a big hand against weaker players who see me as a lunatic and are dying to snap me off with top pair or worse.
Nope, my mind was made up. If I were in this guys shoes, I would have put me on top or middle pair and the 8 was a perfect card to bluff at with a big painful bet.
I shrugged and threw the chips in. And waited.
"I just have a 7" he said sheepishly showing A7s. I flipped up my cards and dragged the pot.
Felt pretty good about that one - I had for once taken my time and really dissected the play. That I was able to do it by getting into another players head and imagine it from his perspective, is a new development in my game that I think has been a long time coming. This game is all about the player - and very much less so about the cards.
About an hour later I was still bleeding slowly. The UTG wizard had been deflated by my pwnage and had been inactive, and eventually he was moved to another table. The second sticky tricky who was now directly to my left had been more difficult to handle.
Three times already he had floated my cutoff raises and taken the pots away from me by three betting the flop or jamming the turn. I was primed to stack off to him - and that's exactly what happened.
KJ suited was what I chose to take a stand with, raising 2.5x from the hijack - he again floated and the flop came out QJ8. I c-bet, with a pre-planned intention of calling off to any of his nonsense. He eyeballed my stack. A three bet for him didn't make any sense, so he of course jammed on me. I pondered briefly - I did have a back door flush draw and of course could also catch running cards for a straight. I called off, he had me well covered.
Yep, he had flopped the nuts with 910o. It would have been easy to put him on a draw as there were two hearts on the board, but honestly I didn't even think that much about that. I simply had had enough of his aggression and chose to make my stand with second pair and very little equity.
A big mistake, no doubt. I had about 25 bigs at the time, and if I was going to play KJs from the hijack (7 handed) I needed to min raise and then c-bet fold the flop if I only got a piece. Or check fold if I blanked. There is even a decent argument for mucking KJs in the first place - especially with big stack sticky on my immediate left.
Oh well.
Overall I still feel really good about my play on Sunday - and felt even better after last night watching one of the best live tournament players in the world, JC Tran, make a call for half of his stack with A7o pre-flop against the nittiest player at the table. Truly horrific - but understandable being that JC had been card dead for over 5 hours and was in a pressure cooker event in front of millions of people.
Nice to know that stone cold killers like Tran are human too.
Looking forward very much to my home game this Saturday - I took second last month and would've had first locked up if not for a nightmare beat from a player that called off to stack off with bottom pair against my TP good kicker and turned her 2 outer.
I've also got the LA Poker Open at Commerce coming up - I hope I get a chance to plunk down $150 for their 200K guarantee the following weekend.
Last Sunday for my birthday weekend I treated myself to the nooner at the Bike, a $40 2K guarantee that typically doubles that number.
I love these "small" events at the Bike, a great turbo structure and a $40 price point - plus a lot of very soft players. I had a great first two hours, basically running over the table and getting paid when I hit. By the second break I had over 20K up from my 5K starting stack.
Then the blinds escalated and two tough players sat down to my left. I started to bleed a bit as I went completely card dead. Not a big deal, but I found it hard to accumulate with two seasoned, sticky and tricky players to my immediate left. Then this hand happened.
I've got about 40 bigs. I'm in the big blind with Q9o. UTG (clearly someone who fancies himself a poker wizard) min raises. The button calls and so does the small so I come along hoping to flop 2 pair or better.
The board is 479 rainbow - a big reason why hands like Q9 suck ass. I check and it is checked around. A Jack peels off on the turn. I check and the wizard bets incredibly small, maybe a quarter of the pot. The button and SB fold, I flat. The river is an 8, which is a terrible card for me if wizard barrels. I check and indeed he does fire, only this time a big, nearly pot sized bet.
I take a moment to reflect and cut out my calling chips. The rest of my stack is still viable - so there's that. Then I think, if I were he - what would I be doing with a ten in my hand. Betting for value no doubt - but perhaps not so large against a decent player, which is how I would have pegged myself by now. If I had wanted to get him off a hand like middle pair however, I very well might bet a painful amount. Other, shittier players, typically over value bet the river if they have a monster - I've learned the hard way that these fish are never bluffing.
Better players, like this wizard and myself will occasionally over bet the river against good players - to make it seem bluffy, but more often than not the trend is to give the right price for a call and get good value. Better players also though, will absolutely bomb the river big time against a fish - I often use a massive over bet on the river with a big hand against weaker players who see me as a lunatic and are dying to snap me off with top pair or worse.
Nope, my mind was made up. If I were in this guys shoes, I would have put me on top or middle pair and the 8 was a perfect card to bluff at with a big painful bet.
I shrugged and threw the chips in. And waited.
"I just have a 7" he said sheepishly showing A7s. I flipped up my cards and dragged the pot.
Felt pretty good about that one - I had for once taken my time and really dissected the play. That I was able to do it by getting into another players head and imagine it from his perspective, is a new development in my game that I think has been a long time coming. This game is all about the player - and very much less so about the cards.
About an hour later I was still bleeding slowly. The UTG wizard had been deflated by my pwnage and had been inactive, and eventually he was moved to another table. The second sticky tricky who was now directly to my left had been more difficult to handle.
Three times already he had floated my cutoff raises and taken the pots away from me by three betting the flop or jamming the turn. I was primed to stack off to him - and that's exactly what happened.
KJ suited was what I chose to take a stand with, raising 2.5x from the hijack - he again floated and the flop came out QJ8. I c-bet, with a pre-planned intention of calling off to any of his nonsense. He eyeballed my stack. A three bet for him didn't make any sense, so he of course jammed on me. I pondered briefly - I did have a back door flush draw and of course could also catch running cards for a straight. I called off, he had me well covered.
Yep, he had flopped the nuts with 910o. It would have been easy to put him on a draw as there were two hearts on the board, but honestly I didn't even think that much about that. I simply had had enough of his aggression and chose to make my stand with second pair and very little equity.
A big mistake, no doubt. I had about 25 bigs at the time, and if I was going to play KJs from the hijack (7 handed) I needed to min raise and then c-bet fold the flop if I only got a piece. Or check fold if I blanked. There is even a decent argument for mucking KJs in the first place - especially with big stack sticky on my immediate left.
Oh well.
Overall I still feel really good about my play on Sunday - and felt even better after last night watching one of the best live tournament players in the world, JC Tran, make a call for half of his stack with A7o pre-flop against the nittiest player at the table. Truly horrific - but understandable being that JC had been card dead for over 5 hours and was in a pressure cooker event in front of millions of people.
Nice to know that stone cold killers like Tran are human too.
Looking forward very much to my home game this Saturday - I took second last month and would've had first locked up if not for a nightmare beat from a player that called off to stack off with bottom pair against my TP good kicker and turned her 2 outer.
I've also got the LA Poker Open at Commerce coming up - I hope I get a chance to plunk down $150 for their 200K guarantee the following weekend.
Monday, July 29, 2013
WSOP 2013
Great trip, once again, and this year I had the pleasure of finishing up nearly 1K in profit for a change!
There's lots of pictures and fluff over on my home poker blog, but here I'll just stick to the long and short (mostly short) of how my tournaments went.
I played in three Daily Deep Stack events at the Rio, and didn't cash once. I found myself tired and unfocused on the second day, but really there was no excuse otherwise not to bink. I mainly lost patience at a few key times, and also failed to win critical races.
I remind myself, and my poker compatriots, that the DDS', as great as they are, are at the end of the day, turbo events, where you MUST accumulate early and greatly to have any chance at final table money where the payouts are awesome and incredibly steep.
So I'm not going to waste time beating myself up over my drought at the Rio. But I did find time to get unstuck at other softer venues.
On my third day, in the hole for just under $500 I managed to recoup my losses on a day and a half in the middle when I took down a Mirage 11am daily (3 way chop for 1st place monies of $660) as well as a T.I. 10pm silly fest for just under $600. There was also a $300ish cash somewhere in there at a different Mirage tournament as well.
Really, this trip more than any other in recent memory, was a great illustration to me of how my game ebbs and flows almost entirely on the strength of my opponents. My twitter feed from my big Mirage cash is pretty hilarious.
And run good I did.
Truly, this was one of the softest tournaments I've ever played in. I was able to pillage to my hearts content, and I was able to read precisely from more than one player exactly when they'd had enough and were ready to pay me off. A great afternoon.
A great afternoon also turned into a great evening when Sven and I sough out the super shitty structure but super fun room of T.I.
There's lots of pictures and fluff over on my home poker blog, but here I'll just stick to the long and short (mostly short) of how my tournaments went.
I played in three Daily Deep Stack events at the Rio, and didn't cash once. I found myself tired and unfocused on the second day, but really there was no excuse otherwise not to bink. I mainly lost patience at a few key times, and also failed to win critical races.
I remind myself, and my poker compatriots, that the DDS', as great as they are, are at the end of the day, turbo events, where you MUST accumulate early and greatly to have any chance at final table money where the payouts are awesome and incredibly steep.
So I'm not going to waste time beating myself up over my drought at the Rio. But I did find time to get unstuck at other softer venues.
On my third day, in the hole for just under $500 I managed to recoup my losses on a day and a half in the middle when I took down a Mirage 11am daily (3 way chop for 1st place monies of $660) as well as a T.I. 10pm silly fest for just under $600. There was also a $300ish cash somewhere in there at a different Mirage tournament as well.
Really, this trip more than any other in recent memory, was a great illustration to me of how my game ebbs and flows almost entirely on the strength of my opponents. My twitter feed from my big Mirage cash is pretty hilarious.
Table is the nicest, sweetest bunch of fellows ever. #fisharefriendsnotfood
Top five softest card room table I've ever played at. 2005, thank you so much for sending me your finest poker wizards. #timewarp
No one is deep in this thing but I'm way above avg. Just have to win a couple of flips to cash I'm guessing. #pleaserungood
And run good I did.
Truly, this was one of the softest tournaments I've ever played in. I was able to pillage to my hearts content, and I was able to read precisely from more than one player exactly when they'd had enough and were ready to pay me off. A great afternoon.
A great afternoon also turned into a great evening when Sven and I sough out the super shitty structure but super fun room of T.I.
I played damn well, save for one catastrophic call with a small pair near the money that thankfully only crippled me temporarily - it is awful tough to stay disciplined when the average stack is 8 bigs and I have 12.
But it all worked out, I again dragged a good amount of cash simply because I understood inflection points and was able to put players on fairly narrow ranges of cards because of their obvious betting tells and patterns.
It felt great to be one of the best players in the room in these little turbos - and it was also humbling to play in the big room and realize that lots and lots of people were better than I was, though not necessarily all at my table at the same time.
I often was in the top third of ability at any particular table in the Rio, but I feel like I was tilted to an extent in the DDS tournaments, simply by virtue of the fact that the monster stacks that surrounded me seemed mostly to luck-box their way into their riches. Why couldn't I flop the world and get paid in a multi-way pot? It was my tilt that was my down fall in these - I need to remember that the most ferocious tournament sharks in the world also play with short stacks, some of them on a regular basis, and do just fine and aren't intimidated or rattled.
Overall, for once, I don't feel like I over extended myself too much - it was four days of card playing, but as I said, one day I opted out of the big DDS and had my best results. Four days is a good number, with a break in the middle somewhere from any major events.
Hopefully I can get back around the holidays, in the mean time I'm on a bit of a break from card rooms, and my home game doesn't fire up again until the middle of next month. It's all good - I'm enjoying my time with other pursuits, the best of which of course is family.
Next year for the WSOP, I think I really need to give consideration to giving myself a fair shot to go deep in a well structured tournament. Yep, I think rather than spend $300 on satellites at home, I'd rather set that amount aside every other month or so and save up to a 1K bracelet event and perhaps the $1500 millionaire maker, which Sven informs me was the poker playing experience of a lifetime - that I would be remiss to miss.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Best of both worlds.
Looks like I was a bit premature saying I won't be at the WSOP this year!
I've managed to swing a few days off from work and the wife is on board for a 3 or 4 day visit with her folks around the fourth of July, soooooo.... the weekend before that I plan to drive out to Vegas with my homies Sven and Cali for a few days of degeneracy. Mikey P. will also be there tackling his first ever WSOP bracelet event, using a seat that he won in my home game. Should be a grand old time!
Myself, I plan to stick to the 3pm Rio Deepstacks, and an occasional silly late night (but not too late) turbo. If I happen to bink a monster cash I will certainly partake in a bracelet event; perhaps the July 3rd Little One for Little Drop $1,111 charity event, or maybe the noon July 5th $1500 last chance donkament.
Of course I'm especially excited, after a good long time with my family of course, to swing back to the Rio on my way out of town on the weekend of July 6/7 and take in, for the first time in my life, the full glory of the greatest poker tournament on the planet - The Main Event.
Hopefully I'll bink a super mega-cash and actually get to play in it, but just checking it out will be well worth it. The atmosphere no doubt will be electric as always, plus there should be plenty of opportunity for star gazing. Not that that's my big thing, but it should be cool just to chill and check out who's there.
I've been eyeballing the other events around town -
The Venetian Deepstack is going on, and is certainly prestigious and well run, but the price points ($400/$600) are a little too steep and the fields are notoriously a little too tough.
Both the Aria and the Wynn are running series, but both will be concluded by the time I roll around.
Binion's Classic is an actual possibility, as there is an Omaha/8 tournament that is reasonable on Monday and will be great fun, if not actually profitable.
Caesar's has it's Megastack Series, and I love these because the structures are the right kind of shitty - meaning they are genuinely one day events that won't have me playing till 2am and not cashing. It could happen.
The Nugget of course has it's grand series, which is also well priced and also happens to be soft - it too is a very real possibility for Monday or Tuesday, especially if I don't cash in the Rio DS's.
I am in fact planning in advance to play both 3pm Rio Deep Stacks, on Sat and Sun; as well as to be prepared to play the 6pm or the 10pm if I bust. (Not both - if I bust the 6pm I'm done).
I would like to get up early enough on Sunday to hit a $75 mega at 9am, but I say that every year so who knows.
But beyond the first two days, I'm pretty much up in the air. If I don't cash I'm more inclined to play smaller events such as the Nugget nooners or perhaps even the downright cheap Orleans events which include a tasty looking $60 Omaha/8 tournament on Monday.
We shall see!
I've managed to swing a few days off from work and the wife is on board for a 3 or 4 day visit with her folks around the fourth of July, soooooo.... the weekend before that I plan to drive out to Vegas with my homies Sven and Cali for a few days of degeneracy. Mikey P. will also be there tackling his first ever WSOP bracelet event, using a seat that he won in my home game. Should be a grand old time!
Myself, I plan to stick to the 3pm Rio Deepstacks, and an occasional silly late night (but not too late) turbo. If I happen to bink a monster cash I will certainly partake in a bracelet event; perhaps the July 3rd Little One for Little Drop $1,111 charity event, or maybe the noon July 5th $1500 last chance donkament.
Of course I'm especially excited, after a good long time with my family of course, to swing back to the Rio on my way out of town on the weekend of July 6/7 and take in, for the first time in my life, the full glory of the greatest poker tournament on the planet - The Main Event.
Hopefully I'll bink a super mega-cash and actually get to play in it, but just checking it out will be well worth it. The atmosphere no doubt will be electric as always, plus there should be plenty of opportunity for star gazing. Not that that's my big thing, but it should be cool just to chill and check out who's there.
I've been eyeballing the other events around town -
The Venetian Deepstack is going on, and is certainly prestigious and well run, but the price points ($400/$600) are a little too steep and the fields are notoriously a little too tough.
Both the Aria and the Wynn are running series, but both will be concluded by the time I roll around.
Binion's Classic is an actual possibility, as there is an Omaha/8 tournament that is reasonable on Monday and will be great fun, if not actually profitable.
Caesar's has it's Megastack Series, and I love these because the structures are the right kind of shitty - meaning they are genuinely one day events that won't have me playing till 2am and not cashing. It could happen.
The Nugget of course has it's grand series, which is also well priced and also happens to be soft - it too is a very real possibility for Monday or Tuesday, especially if I don't cash in the Rio DS's.
The Rio also is putting on an additional poker series called the Carnivale of Poker, which is pretty weird to me because really, where are they going to put everyone? The price points and structure seem to be really similar to the WSOP Circuit events, which I have very little interest in because I get two of them every year here in L.A. and they tend to have tough fields and endless structures along with mid-sized buy-ins that don't come close to matching the prestige of a bracelet or the payoff of a Rio DS. (Though at least the circuit events do have a spiffy Circuit Ring you can win.) And yes, they are 2 day events and yes they start at 11am. Meh.
I am in fact planning in advance to play both 3pm Rio Deep Stacks, on Sat and Sun; as well as to be prepared to play the 6pm or the 10pm if I bust. (Not both - if I bust the 6pm I'm done).
I would like to get up early enough on Sunday to hit a $75 mega at 9am, but I say that every year so who knows.
But beyond the first two days, I'm pretty much up in the air. If I don't cash I'm more inclined to play smaller events such as the Nugget nooners or perhaps even the downright cheap Orleans events which include a tasty looking $60 Omaha/8 tournament on Monday.
We shall see!
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Summer is here!
And it looks like there's a very good chance that I WON'T be going to Vegas for the WSOP after all.
Life has just been too hectic, both work and play and family, and I'm perfectly fine with that. The good news regarding poker though, is that my game has been sharp and I've had some nice results recently.
Two weeks ago I played the 6pm $65 daily at Commerce. I love these turbos. There's no rebuys or re-entries and there's a $2500 guarantee. Best of all, you get 10K in starting chips and they rarely go past 5 hours. Unlike the endless Quantum Reloads at the Bike. This means I can play for a thousand bucks and still be home before midnight, as opposed to playing to 2am for $400 or less.
Alas, too much time has passed for me to recall specific hands, but I dimly remember that I played well and made mostly good decisions. I'm still battling to stay away from limping, it sure is tempting when everyone is doing it at the table. I don't mind once in a blue moon to set mine, but I really have to lay off the calling with a suited queen crap. If it's in position okay, but there's really no excuse for me to do it anywhere but the button or the cutoff.
Thankfully, I am still keeping meticulous track of my results - and my spreadsheet says I finished fourth in chips out of 60 for $440. I do remember that if we hadn't chip chopped 5 handed and I had busted out in fifth place, it would have been just over $200, so I was happy to double my guarantee.
Five days ago, Memorial Day, I managed to get away in the early evening, to once again play the same event.
This one I remember quite a bit more.
First, the nasty bad beats. I have KK in the cutoff and a healthy stack. Two limpers, I raise it up 6x and all fold but the medium stacked BB who defends.
Flop is xKA and he donk jams. I snap and he turns up A9. Turn A. River 9.
The table about had a conniption fit, I was fairly placid and calmly counted out nearly half of my chips and slid them over.
Until this point I had been playing very well and gotten the better of several regulars, who clearly thought that they were the shit. I was happy to prove them wrong by smashing flops and letting them hang themselves by betting air.
On one hand, that I am just now recalling, I check raise jammed a four flush board with two good overs. The super awesome regular tanked and tanked and finally called with the better hand - middle pair. He was ahead, I was the favorite, and when I "binked" one of my 15 outs he was incredulous and heavily steamed. Ship it.
Anyway, post nasty bad beat I got fairly zen - reflecting on how well I had played and how this small tournament was what I was doing for fun. It was no big whoop were I to go out after a couple of hours. $65 is a small price to pay for such a good time.
Our table broke and I was a shorty. I sat and watched, card dead, some truly dreadful play as a doddering old guy cracked a young hot heads aces. The hot head was soooooo angry, that had I been a much greener player I would've guessed he had barely played. Alas, I have enough hours at the table now to clearly recognize a full time grinder, and that's what he was.
It seemed clear that the dodderer to my right, and another geezer to my left (who sounded Russian) were my bestest greatest hope for a climb back. Now flush with chips, the dodderer indeed became my salvation.
First, I watched his game closely as he "shifted gears" - meaning, he got super spewy. He loved to stop and go jam, often very light. He did it again against the hot head, who laid down bottom two pair, and then he showed his bluff. Sticking the needle in, but giving the rest of us confirmation that yes indeed, he had very little self control with a lot of bullets.
No, it wasn't a crafty codger who was bluffing to get paid off later - this guy was a knuckle head who couldn't take his foot off the gas.
I was in the big blind with JJ. From the cutoff he raised small, just under 3X. I had been paying attention and knew that he didn't have what I had, that is, an overpair. He had overbet with JJ, QQ and AA. He had raised smaller with AK and with suited broadway cards. I knew this because he loved to show.
The board came all low cards, I checked, he jammed. I snapped, because I had been paying attention and had seen him rip with air several times, once with AK and he had hit a K on the river. Sure enough, he turned up AK.
The turn was an Ace and he fist pumped and exclaimed in triumph. The river was a Jack and the rest of the table whooped for joy. I was calm as a milk pond.
He was hurt but not crippled. I had more than doubled up as the antes and blinds were so large. Best of all I had gotten it in way ahead and was pleased to see that there was indeed a bit of justice in poker.
The very next hand he shoved with 1010 and I called off with QQ on the button and busted him.
Now I was healthy again, but time was short and stack after stack open shoved. There was little I could do without cards.
Finally I was in the SB with A10 and it was folded to me. I eyeballed the Russian's stack to my left in the BB. He had about a third of my stack. Easy shove. He tanked and tanked and tanked. Uh oh, he has a hand. Finally he called with A4. 4 in the window which held.
Sigh.
Oddly enough, this one for some reason really stung. Not because the buffoon did a fist pump and whoop almost identical to the dodderer, but because it was such a God awful call and I had him at almost a four to one dog. I didn't mind getting beat earlier with KK when I was a 98% favorite, but for some reason this one rattled me.
Thankfully, I was card dead enough not to just dump it all in afterwards. I managed to climb back as we got to a final table, but using expert timing and experience for my jamming. Having the occasional QQ didn't hurt either, which is what I got called with after shoving by TWO players, one the original guy who beat me with A9 earlier. He had AQ, sayonara. The other fellow, a monster stacken had Q10 and he almost got there with an 8 and 9 on the flop, but thankfully a nasty jack did not appear on the river this time.
As the players fell one by one, and we all finally agreed to a safety for the bubble (paying 9 instead of 8) I managed to stay healthy and by the time the last nub busted I was barely third in chips out of the 4 good little children that remained. The guy behind me had maybe 2/3 of what I had. The other two fellows probably had twice my chips each. I suggested we run the numbers for a chip chop and the dill-hole who was second in total chips (with a whopping 16 big blinds) poo-pooed the idea.
Fine, I thought. Clearly you are just too awesome at super short stack play. Clearly I suck at variance.
The next hand I woke up with AA in the small blind. Dill-hole raised from the button and I ripped, he snapped with A7. GG sir, you're doing it.
Now he was crippled and thankfully didn't have the stones to suggest a chip chop. I was the chip leader for one hand until the other monster stack busted dill-hole with a bigger ace which held, AIPF.
Once DH had departed I turned and smiled to the slightly bigger stack than myself. "Well, you and I are both under 20 bigs and the blinds are set to double. Should we run the numbers?"
I could see the wheels turning in his degenerate brain, but finally he put it together and agreed to look at the figures. He stood to take home $1080, I was due $1008 and the Russian $875. I could tell the chip leader wanted more, but he was smart enough to agree, especially after the Russian saw that the number was double his guarantee should he exit. $1008 was 400 more than the 2nd place payout as well, so I was thrilled when "big" stack agreed. Plus, I reminded him, he got the title! Big whoop.
So happy to take down four figures for the second time in 2013, and I'm also happy to say I'm up over 2K overall this year as well, cashing in almost 40% of the tournaments I've played in.
So I'm a little sad that Vegas is looking unlikely this summer, but happy enough to be providing for my family and spending more time with them as well.
My game is good, but my life is even better.
Life has just been too hectic, both work and play and family, and I'm perfectly fine with that. The good news regarding poker though, is that my game has been sharp and I've had some nice results recently.
Two weeks ago I played the 6pm $65 daily at Commerce. I love these turbos. There's no rebuys or re-entries and there's a $2500 guarantee. Best of all, you get 10K in starting chips and they rarely go past 5 hours. Unlike the endless Quantum Reloads at the Bike. This means I can play for a thousand bucks and still be home before midnight, as opposed to playing to 2am for $400 or less.
Alas, too much time has passed for me to recall specific hands, but I dimly remember that I played well and made mostly good decisions. I'm still battling to stay away from limping, it sure is tempting when everyone is doing it at the table. I don't mind once in a blue moon to set mine, but I really have to lay off the calling with a suited queen crap. If it's in position okay, but there's really no excuse for me to do it anywhere but the button or the cutoff.
Thankfully, I am still keeping meticulous track of my results - and my spreadsheet says I finished fourth in chips out of 60 for $440. I do remember that if we hadn't chip chopped 5 handed and I had busted out in fifth place, it would have been just over $200, so I was happy to double my guarantee.
Five days ago, Memorial Day, I managed to get away in the early evening, to once again play the same event.
This one I remember quite a bit more.
First, the nasty bad beats. I have KK in the cutoff and a healthy stack. Two limpers, I raise it up 6x and all fold but the medium stacked BB who defends.
Flop is xKA and he donk jams. I snap and he turns up A9. Turn A. River 9.
The table about had a conniption fit, I was fairly placid and calmly counted out nearly half of my chips and slid them over.
Until this point I had been playing very well and gotten the better of several regulars, who clearly thought that they were the shit. I was happy to prove them wrong by smashing flops and letting them hang themselves by betting air.
On one hand, that I am just now recalling, I check raise jammed a four flush board with two good overs. The super awesome regular tanked and tanked and finally called with the better hand - middle pair. He was ahead, I was the favorite, and when I "binked" one of my 15 outs he was incredulous and heavily steamed. Ship it.
Anyway, post nasty bad beat I got fairly zen - reflecting on how well I had played and how this small tournament was what I was doing for fun. It was no big whoop were I to go out after a couple of hours. $65 is a small price to pay for such a good time.
Our table broke and I was a shorty. I sat and watched, card dead, some truly dreadful play as a doddering old guy cracked a young hot heads aces. The hot head was soooooo angry, that had I been a much greener player I would've guessed he had barely played. Alas, I have enough hours at the table now to clearly recognize a full time grinder, and that's what he was.
It seemed clear that the dodderer to my right, and another geezer to my left (who sounded Russian) were my bestest greatest hope for a climb back. Now flush with chips, the dodderer indeed became my salvation.
First, I watched his game closely as he "shifted gears" - meaning, he got super spewy. He loved to stop and go jam, often very light. He did it again against the hot head, who laid down bottom two pair, and then he showed his bluff. Sticking the needle in, but giving the rest of us confirmation that yes indeed, he had very little self control with a lot of bullets.
No, it wasn't a crafty codger who was bluffing to get paid off later - this guy was a knuckle head who couldn't take his foot off the gas.
I was in the big blind with JJ. From the cutoff he raised small, just under 3X. I had been paying attention and knew that he didn't have what I had, that is, an overpair. He had overbet with JJ, QQ and AA. He had raised smaller with AK and with suited broadway cards. I knew this because he loved to show.
The board came all low cards, I checked, he jammed. I snapped, because I had been paying attention and had seen him rip with air several times, once with AK and he had hit a K on the river. Sure enough, he turned up AK.
The turn was an Ace and he fist pumped and exclaimed in triumph. The river was a Jack and the rest of the table whooped for joy. I was calm as a milk pond.
He was hurt but not crippled. I had more than doubled up as the antes and blinds were so large. Best of all I had gotten it in way ahead and was pleased to see that there was indeed a bit of justice in poker.
The very next hand he shoved with 1010 and I called off with QQ on the button and busted him.
Now I was healthy again, but time was short and stack after stack open shoved. There was little I could do without cards.
Finally I was in the SB with A10 and it was folded to me. I eyeballed the Russian's stack to my left in the BB. He had about a third of my stack. Easy shove. He tanked and tanked and tanked. Uh oh, he has a hand. Finally he called with A4. 4 in the window which held.
Sigh.
Oddly enough, this one for some reason really stung. Not because the buffoon did a fist pump and whoop almost identical to the dodderer, but because it was such a God awful call and I had him at almost a four to one dog. I didn't mind getting beat earlier with KK when I was a 98% favorite, but for some reason this one rattled me.
Thankfully, I was card dead enough not to just dump it all in afterwards. I managed to climb back as we got to a final table, but using expert timing and experience for my jamming. Having the occasional QQ didn't hurt either, which is what I got called with after shoving by TWO players, one the original guy who beat me with A9 earlier. He had AQ, sayonara. The other fellow, a monster stacken had Q10 and he almost got there with an 8 and 9 on the flop, but thankfully a nasty jack did not appear on the river this time.
As the players fell one by one, and we all finally agreed to a safety for the bubble (paying 9 instead of 8) I managed to stay healthy and by the time the last nub busted I was barely third in chips out of the 4 good little children that remained. The guy behind me had maybe 2/3 of what I had. The other two fellows probably had twice my chips each. I suggested we run the numbers for a chip chop and the dill-hole who was second in total chips (with a whopping 16 big blinds) poo-pooed the idea.
Fine, I thought. Clearly you are just too awesome at super short stack play. Clearly I suck at variance.
The next hand I woke up with AA in the small blind. Dill-hole raised from the button and I ripped, he snapped with A7. GG sir, you're doing it.
Now he was crippled and thankfully didn't have the stones to suggest a chip chop. I was the chip leader for one hand until the other monster stack busted dill-hole with a bigger ace which held, AIPF.
Once DH had departed I turned and smiled to the slightly bigger stack than myself. "Well, you and I are both under 20 bigs and the blinds are set to double. Should we run the numbers?"
I could see the wheels turning in his degenerate brain, but finally he put it together and agreed to look at the figures. He stood to take home $1080, I was due $1008 and the Russian $875. I could tell the chip leader wanted more, but he was smart enough to agree, especially after the Russian saw that the number was double his guarantee should he exit. $1008 was 400 more than the 2nd place payout as well, so I was thrilled when "big" stack agreed. Plus, I reminded him, he got the title! Big whoop.
So happy to take down four figures for the second time in 2013, and I'm also happy to say I'm up over 2K overall this year as well, cashing in almost 40% of the tournaments I've played in.
So I'm a little sad that Vegas is looking unlikely this summer, but happy enough to be providing for my family and spending more time with them as well.
My game is good, but my life is even better.
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