Looking forward to a trip to Columbus to play in Galaxy's Home Game. Not as many dbs will appear at this game as at our AC and Foxwoods misadventures, but it should be quite fun nevertheless.
Because I used my birthday Best Buy cards to get my video editing system up and running in anticipation of having lots of videos of my children in the near future, I have been charged with videotaping the event and editing a final product.
I will certainly do a trip report here.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Live Game Fun
I have not played much poker lately, so I have not posted too much. My wife can feel the babies moving now, and that's awesome fun to know. I can't wait until I can.
Looking forward to spending some time with the DB Poker crew in early December -- we're invading a comrade's "home game" in Columbus. Should be a good time.
I played live on Friday and booked a pretty good night.
I played a warm-up SNG and busted early, then played another and got my money back. Then I played a third one (they started way late) and chopped it three ways. After paying for the survivor pool (a decent investment because 35 people sign up and it invariably gets chopped at around 5 so if you make last 4 tables or so you're getting some good cash) and the main event, I am stuck only a little on the night. That's fun. I went with Bob (rjs162) and rather than swap percentage, we do a "safety" (cash for more than twice the buy-in pays the other their buy-in back).
In an online tournament, other than a rebuy, I am looking to stay patient for the first 5-6 levels or so, and get my money in good because someone will inevitably pay me off with a shitty hand. I'll see cheap flops, but will only spend a certain portion of my starting stack speculating before I start hunkering down. This works well, and much of the time I will roll 1500 into 10k or so within the first two hours if I am not card dead. Then I have some chips to make reads and play power poker (whether I am doing that effectively is a question for another post)
I have a slightly different philosophy in these live "charity" tournaments, because of the structure. 5k in chips, 20 minutes levels live are like 5 or 10 minute levels online with 1k in chips. You don't have ANY time to wait for a good hand, so in these tournaments I think you have to go big or get to the cash game. So I will see a lot more flops, and go with my reads (wrong or right). If that means in the first hour people think I am a "donkey," all the better later. There are 178 runners, so getting paid off because of image could result in a big payday.
So that's how I find myself all in on about the fourth hand with nines on a 87710 board with two clubs. I had him on a flush draw (he overraised preflop which screams AK in these games and raised my flop bet in a way that shouted draw), and his turn push made me add maybe an overpair to the list of possible holdings, but the money in the pot was too attractive to turn down even if he showed me AA, because I had an OESD and may be ahead (this was not a pot odds calculation, but a determination that I had half my stack in at this point and I would rather go play the cash game than fold and nurse a short stack).
Bad read -- he had J7 and was blind stealing (at 25/50 level, blind stealing is stupid but nevertheless) then hit his gin flop. Instead of 10 outs to beat him I had 6. Thanks 9 on the river. Boy was he mad, and I don't blame him. I did not have time to explain my "go big or go home" philosophy to him nor would he have listened.
However, as is often the case, a suckout on my part leads to a ridiculous rush. I call an open push of 8BBs with A8 because I know the player would have not pushed with a big pair and it holds up against KQ. Queens hold up. Jacks hit a set. I call a shorties' all in with tens, the other player gets called for a string raise of his last 1800 (not by me, I will never call a string unless it's ridiculous) and has to wait for the flop, where I hit my ten against his Aces and the shorties' King, and on and on until I am at 35K before the first break.
Then this hand happened. I don't think it plays much differently, but I always appreciate thoughts. Blinds 400/800, I am in late position with Queens. 1 limper, it folds to me, I make it 3000. OOP limper calls. about 7200 in the pot. Flop comes 10 10 7 rainbow, check, I bet 6000, he calls. He has 8500 behind. Turn is a deuce, he checks, I put him all in. He calls with A10, and i don't hit my two outer. Down to 17k. I know I could play that differently, but don't we get to the same place? I don't see how I could fold in that spot given the stack sizes. It's not like his Ace hit -- then I might get away, but I would appreciate any thoughts.
We go on break, I put on my IPod and refocus for a couple of minutes. I grind for a while but am able to chip up to 30K without having to risk too much, and we chop the survivor pool in the meantime. However, the blinds are now at "go pay us some rake, dammit" level, which means that I approach and then dip below 10BBs. But I am able to steal for my survival for a while, and then double up a couple of times until a flush draw calls me all in with my pair (nines again lol) and hits.
I am crippled again (about 20k), but win a couple of 60/40s (one as the 60, one as the 40) and get it up to 90k. I have to fold on a flop to a BB special (I was 100% positive I was behind with my top pair and in retrospect should not have bet the flop), and make the final table of 11 (they paid 15) with 50k and the blinds at 5k/10k. Obviously I push my first decent hand A10, which runs into Queens and IGH in 11th for 200, 20 for the dealers. So, after paying Bob his safety and paying $10 for the sucker bet 50/50 raffle, I end up up on the night. As always, a piece goes to my wife for a massage.
It was fun to play again, and even more fun to play well (obviously I made mistakes, but I was reading well and not playing too crazy). The money was gravy.
Speaking of gravy, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Looking forward to spending some time with the DB Poker crew in early December -- we're invading a comrade's "home game" in Columbus. Should be a good time.
I played live on Friday and booked a pretty good night.
I played a warm-up SNG and busted early, then played another and got my money back. Then I played a third one (they started way late) and chopped it three ways. After paying for the survivor pool (a decent investment because 35 people sign up and it invariably gets chopped at around 5 so if you make last 4 tables or so you're getting some good cash) and the main event, I am stuck only a little on the night. That's fun. I went with Bob (rjs162) and rather than swap percentage, we do a "safety" (cash for more than twice the buy-in pays the other their buy-in back).
In an online tournament, other than a rebuy, I am looking to stay patient for the first 5-6 levels or so, and get my money in good because someone will inevitably pay me off with a shitty hand. I'll see cheap flops, but will only spend a certain portion of my starting stack speculating before I start hunkering down. This works well, and much of the time I will roll 1500 into 10k or so within the first two hours if I am not card dead. Then I have some chips to make reads and play power poker (whether I am doing that effectively is a question for another post)
I have a slightly different philosophy in these live "charity" tournaments, because of the structure. 5k in chips, 20 minutes levels live are like 5 or 10 minute levels online with 1k in chips. You don't have ANY time to wait for a good hand, so in these tournaments I think you have to go big or get to the cash game. So I will see a lot more flops, and go with my reads (wrong or right). If that means in the first hour people think I am a "donkey," all the better later. There are 178 runners, so getting paid off because of image could result in a big payday.
So that's how I find myself all in on about the fourth hand with nines on a 87710 board with two clubs. I had him on a flush draw (he overraised preflop which screams AK in these games and raised my flop bet in a way that shouted draw), and his turn push made me add maybe an overpair to the list of possible holdings, but the money in the pot was too attractive to turn down even if he showed me AA, because I had an OESD and may be ahead (this was not a pot odds calculation, but a determination that I had half my stack in at this point and I would rather go play the cash game than fold and nurse a short stack).
Bad read -- he had J7 and was blind stealing (at 25/50 level, blind stealing is stupid but nevertheless) then hit his gin flop. Instead of 10 outs to beat him I had 6. Thanks 9 on the river. Boy was he mad, and I don't blame him. I did not have time to explain my "go big or go home" philosophy to him nor would he have listened.
However, as is often the case, a suckout on my part leads to a ridiculous rush. I call an open push of 8BBs with A8 because I know the player would have not pushed with a big pair and it holds up against KQ. Queens hold up. Jacks hit a set. I call a shorties' all in with tens, the other player gets called for a string raise of his last 1800 (not by me, I will never call a string unless it's ridiculous) and has to wait for the flop, where I hit my ten against his Aces and the shorties' King, and on and on until I am at 35K before the first break.
Then this hand happened. I don't think it plays much differently, but I always appreciate thoughts. Blinds 400/800, I am in late position with Queens. 1 limper, it folds to me, I make it 3000. OOP limper calls. about 7200 in the pot. Flop comes 10 10 7 rainbow, check, I bet 6000, he calls. He has 8500 behind. Turn is a deuce, he checks, I put him all in. He calls with A10, and i don't hit my two outer. Down to 17k. I know I could play that differently, but don't we get to the same place? I don't see how I could fold in that spot given the stack sizes. It's not like his Ace hit -- then I might get away, but I would appreciate any thoughts.
We go on break, I put on my IPod and refocus for a couple of minutes. I grind for a while but am able to chip up to 30K without having to risk too much, and we chop the survivor pool in the meantime. However, the blinds are now at "go pay us some rake, dammit" level, which means that I approach and then dip below 10BBs. But I am able to steal for my survival for a while, and then double up a couple of times until a flush draw calls me all in with my pair (nines again lol) and hits.
I am crippled again (about 20k), but win a couple of 60/40s (one as the 60, one as the 40) and get it up to 90k. I have to fold on a flop to a BB special (I was 100% positive I was behind with my top pair and in retrospect should not have bet the flop), and make the final table of 11 (they paid 15) with 50k and the blinds at 5k/10k. Obviously I push my first decent hand A10, which runs into Queens and IGH in 11th for 200, 20 for the dealers. So, after paying Bob his safety and paying $10 for the sucker bet 50/50 raffle, I end up up on the night. As always, a piece goes to my wife for a massage.
It was fun to play again, and even more fun to play well (obviously I made mistakes, but I was reading well and not playing too crazy). The money was gravy.
Speaking of gravy, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Thoughts
1/2 is definitely the way to earn my bonuses, but I think I have been doing it at the wrong places.
When I am grinding, I get bored, so I tend to play the specialty games -- O8, HORSE, etc. However, I think that I need to get back to LHE. I sat down for a while last night, and if it weren't for soemone chasing a gutshot the whole way against my Aces, I would have doubled up in twenty minutes instead of cashing out for 1.5 buyins. It's like wiffle ball, as they say in Rounders.
Meanwhile, the HORSE games are now populated by three groups of people:
1. The solid regulars
2. The tilting whiners who think they are good
3. The fish.
The fish pool is shrinking and shrinking. Although you can make good money off the tilty whiners, it's not worth the headaches. LHE it is.
Looking forward to my anniversary trip this weekend. See you all next week.
When I am grinding, I get bored, so I tend to play the specialty games -- O8, HORSE, etc. However, I think that I need to get back to LHE. I sat down for a while last night, and if it weren't for soemone chasing a gutshot the whole way against my Aces, I would have doubled up in twenty minutes instead of cashing out for 1.5 buyins. It's like wiffle ball, as they say in Rounders.
Meanwhile, the HORSE games are now populated by three groups of people:
1. The solid regulars
2. The tilting whiners who think they are good
3. The fish.
The fish pool is shrinking and shrinking. Although you can make good money off the tilty whiners, it's not worth the headaches. LHE it is.
Looking forward to my anniversary trip this weekend. See you all next week.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Well, I Need to Start Posting Again
But I have not had much to report. Cash games are going OK, and I keep getting close in tourneys but have not broken through in a few weeks.
I think my game is almost there. I still need to stop and think more, but my reads are improving a ton. I have been real happy with some of my calls and some of my raises in the past couple of weeks -- I've been picking off continuation bets and bluffs pretty well. That's a nice zone to be in.
We're going away this weekend, and it will be great. Krissy is 12 weeks along, and she could use some relaxation out of town. So far everything is great.
I think my game is almost there. I still need to stop and think more, but my reads are improving a ton. I have been real happy with some of my calls and some of my raises in the past couple of weeks -- I've been picking off continuation bets and bluffs pretty well. That's a nice zone to be in.
We're going away this weekend, and it will be great. Krissy is 12 weeks along, and she could use some relaxation out of town. So far everything is great.
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