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Happy Halloween

Sleeping

My little boy hates to go to sleep for the night. Anyone have any wisdom?

Slump

Facing a bit of a live poker slump. The last two Fridays, I have had losing sessions. Two weeks ago, most of my loss could be chalked up to a one-outer and resulting mild tilt.

Last week, I just couldn't hold onto a lead when I had one and misplayed one hand the put me down a bit more than a buyin. I thought I played much better though.

I am hoping to get into a writing frame of mind soon. I definitely have a lot to say, just need to clear my head to say it......

.

Poor Little Boy

Can't sleep myself because much of the time I was to be working this evening was instead spent worrying about my boy.

He's teething, and boy he's suffering quite a bit. I had heard this was hard but I guess I had no idea. It breaks my heart sitting in my office right next door and hearing the poor little boy whimper. Oh how I wish there was something I could do for him that could make it easier.

Sorry for the absence over the past couple of weeks. Got busy at work and at home, and lost two weeks in a row (which always makes me less willing to write about the poker). Won Friday night again (+575). The difference between now and six months ago is even when I play unevenly, my best is so much better than it was that I can still win if my big hands hold up -- just need to work on my worst.....

More to say later.

And, yes the below is about as close to "peaking" as I'll get.

Patient Explanation

This will indeed take time. For how are they to understand why, after two full days in the mountain air away from all technology, we would be watching a TiVo'd recording of a performance quite so terrible as a 33-3 drubbing at the hands of lowly Georgia Tech?

This is the lot of the long-suffering Irish fan. They'll learn.

(Yes, Dawn, that is my sad panda face at the end there)

Another Wild Ride

Up a buy-in, down three, up one, down 2, and finally up 2 1/2 to finish the night with another winner.

It is clear to me that playing every week is really helping my game. Even when I play too swingy now, I am more able to contain my emotions when I know the next session is not all that far away. I still have some tiltable moments, but the severity is very lessened.

I have an exploitable tendency right now, however, that I must correct before my next session. I am continually reraising too much with draws and second-best hands -- the result is people calling me very light. I actually had someone call all in with top and bottom pair on a straightening and flushing board when I reraised representing the set. In fact I had bottom two and an openender, and I hit, but these light calls of my raises will continue, and I better have the nuts or stronger draws next week or I will get eaten alive.

I will ponder which hands are worth discussing. Big pots are unavoidable in this game, but I need to be less willing to play them so often.

I did get the third best player at the table to fold top two to my reraise with bottom set -- resulting in his boat coming against a straight draw and letting me win the pot with my underboat. He flashed us the cards by mistake (forgetting there was another player, which of course meant that I could push the turn with impunity.....

It's About the Story

The beauty of the game I play in regularly is the mix of people and players it gets. Much like a casino, we have younger people who thought poker was like it would be on TV, older guys who had the younger guys, lawyers, doctors, professionals, college professors, carpenters, waiters. People buy in for the table minimum every time, or deliberately lose their first buyin so they can buy in for the real max. That makes it more fun in my mind, because there is a challenge to learning the nuances of each new player.

Sometimes you get it through their stories. I know the lawyer on the other end will gamble if he's stuck, and go into "lockdown" if he's booked a big win. I've observed it, but I also predicted it because he's a criminal defense lawyer, and that's just how one think – if you can't plead out, gamble when your client has nothing to lose, play it safe when you've got a great case.

These stories make this game my absolute favorite, even when there are the inevitable swings.

The gentleman two seats to my right was telling me quite a story, and in the end I profited from just listening to what he wanted to tell me.

First, he had a habit of speaking Italian to the man between us. They were friends. Second, he softplayed his friend and the gentleman to his right, his roommate. He would check it down with them once all the other players were out. He valued his friends more than he valued the money he might win from his friends.

I have often said I hate softplaying, even in circumstances like this, and it would have bothered me a lot more if it did not become passionately clear that he also valued the social aspects of poker and the thrill of the gambol over the money he might win as well.

He requested Omaha every time the button was on him. This despite the fact that he recognized he had no clue how to play it – but it resulted in enormous pots and you could just see him get a thrill out of the chance to drag a big one. And he dragged a few of them. Omaha is a variance-ridden game, but he redefined variance. Up 4 buyins, down to the felt, 5 buyins in front of him, and so on. He was the very rollercoaster I try to avoid in my own play.

We had two big hands together, the results of the first leading to how I played the second. But these two isolated hands were part of a much wider spectrum of crazy play. Pushing the pot with nothing but a weak draw or Ace high when his opponent showed strength. Bluffing calling stations. Overvaluing big pairs. This gent was the quintessential "gambler." And I had position on him, and I made almost every dime of my almost 12 buyins from him (I was in for 3 because of the Hulk thing if you're wondering why I said 7.5 won earlier). Yes, I won other pots, but my two big double-ups were a result of him and him alone.

First hand: small raise to me on the button, I call with a weak holding, but it's going to be at least 6-way action because no one folds in Omaha so I am willing to see a flop – these folks pay off sets even when they don't have a redraw. (Q 6 10 10). Flop is Q 6 6. Bingo. Our friend bets, I raise. Turn is a blank – makes no straights or flushes. Our friend checks, I bet, he flat calls. River is the case 6. I look at him, he instapushes (3 buyins) and naturally I call with the best hand ("Call. I have quads."). He shows me two Aces rag rag. Yum.

Second hand – I've now built my stack up to about 6 buyins – I've gambled a bit, but usually only against the smaller stacks. Our friend has gone on a heater of his own (since he plays every pot he made some money back quickly), and is developing a healthy stack again. I have most of the table well-covered.

I am dealt J 10 9 5 double suited. Early position (a very tight professor who knows the math well) limps, two callers, and our friend raises pot. I elect to call because I can get away from the hand unless I nail the flop against these two players – Professor is almost certainly not going to repop it preflop, preferring to see a flop even with a premium hand. I figure our friend has aces. Plus, this makes it a big pot preflop, and I don't have to put in too much to win a lot, so I call. I know, I know, the siren song of the person who's way ahead on the night, but nevertheless.

Flop is 5 5 6. Bang. Professor checks, our friend bets pot, I repot it. Yes, I repot it. I know he could have me beat already, but he also was betting and raising with one pair all night (and slowplaying his monsters), and I am proceeding with my read. Against a better Omaha player, I probably fold to the pot bet, but repotting seemed like the right thing to do at the time. He pushes, and it's less than my pot raise so I call. I am only behind 56, 66, and a 5 with a better kicker now, and while the repot of mine was probably ill-advised in retrospect, I really could not put him only on those three hands, especially since he would not have played 66 fast. Once I am in for that much, I am now facing a bet that is giving me more than 3-1 on my money, and except against 66 I have 9 outs twice. I decide I need to call – too big of a chance I have the best hand.

He did have the Aces. Unfortunately he also had 5-6, and his rags put him ahead in the pot against my rags (not as far ahead as you think – Professor had the other two Aces, so he has no Ace redraw, just the sixes). As I am saying "well, I have a lot of outs" the Jack hits. It's one of those suckouts where you had the odds to chase, but the player will remain convinced you're the bad guy because he had you beat and then you won. It's also one of those hands where I played my read, built a big pot because of my read, gave myself the odds to chase by over-raising, and got lucky that I hit my gin card on the turn and it held. I make the same amount of money if I smooth call the flop – he's not getting away from the hand. But he told me a story, and I listened.

Sometimes stories are a whole lot of fun. Even if maybe you misheard them.

Wow

7.5 buyins in less than 6 hours. Nice night. Got it in once ahead and lost, once behind and won. Otherwise people were just paying me off. Quite a good feeling.

Unfortunately, my Hulk card cap was wagered and lost in a pot. So I feel alone and sad.

The Next Gen of Smashing

Roller Coaster

That's the only term to describe my Friday night. Long story short: I was in for 5 buy-ins before I cashed out for 6 and a half. Crazy night.

I was up and down so much the night seems like a blur. Consequently, it's a bit hard to learn from your mistakes if you're not sure where you made them, but let me give it a go. Yes, I believe Imade may mistakes given the swings I had. No game where you're in for 5 buy-ins and swing back to up on the night can possibly represent optimal play.

1. I called too much. Often I made the right read to call, but I needed to raise in some more spots, and fold in quite a few as well. There's just a few guys in this game I love to play pots in position with, and it bleeds over into other players I should be re-popping or folding against.

2. I tilted for a period. At one point I got it in way good in a couple of spot against the loosest player at the table, and he ran me down with maginal calls both times. I knew he was going to give me action, I just couldn't believe he caught up both times. As a result, there was at least one 45-minute period where I was playing angry. That's silly and needs to stop. I am getting better at absorbing beats, but this is one of the worst leaks in my game right now -- I need to keep striving.

3. I probably played a little too sociably. In a couple of spots, I "pulled up" because I was playing someone I knew and liked. While I don't mean I softplayed them, I probably raised more with the winner, because I had won enough of their money and didn't mind if they folded. I understand why I did this, but I'm not sure it's a very good idea (the people I like tend to be the better players).

At the end of the day, I played longer than I was accustomed. One of the usual producers hit the game big and cashed out early. That took a lot of money off the table, and I was not able to make a comeback because the worse players were extremely short. Finally, one of the best producers of them all came by late and I got involved in a huge hand with him.

To set things up, I had made about 2/3 of my money back, and flopped top two pair on a two-diamond board (PLO). Based on my read and past experience, I was convinced that I had the best hand, and the producer knows me to be a good player, so I thought I would represent my hand as stronger than it was. I bet pot, he raised, and I re-potted. He called. The third diamond came on the turn, gave me a better two pair, and I pushed representing the nut flush (knowing this plyer could not call without the Ace of diamonds in his had for the nut flush, but also know he would have called my flop raise with an inferior two pair, a crappy flush draw, and a straight draw). Unfortunately, he did have the nut flush draw (with nothing else with it, so my initial read was confirmed) and had hit it, so obviously he called. I rivered another King to win a massive pot. It was a misread on my part that paid off -- I took a shot and made a play, and got extremely lucky. The producer was pretty steamed, but I felt like I was striking a blow for all of us who had been sucked out on by this guy over the last couple of years......


Anyway, I cashed out about an hour later and headed home. While all the adrenaline was fun, I need to work on my game not being so swingy.

Is that a broken record I hear in the background? ;)

Just a Couple of Hours

I played poker for a couple of hours Saturday night.

Here's the set-up: my family was in town two weeks ago, and I suffered the usual burnout that provides. I love my family, but as an introvert I need time to myself sometimes to recharge the batteries. With the whole weekend taken up with family events, that did not happen.

So, I sheepishly begged to go play poker Friday night, and my wife graciously agreed. She even proposed a new deal (described in )her blog) -- I can play on the weekend if I watch the kids for her to go do something she likes). She had no reason or need to do this, she's just that much of a rock star!

I look forward to playing my usual Friday game, and hoping to avenge the loss I took the last time I was there. However, as the week marched on, we got something in the Pittsburgh area we've avoided for a couple of years -- large scale flooding.

Some of you may recall the bad floods we got in 2004 in the areas known as Millvale and Sharpsburg. A lot of people lost homes and possessions, and it even made national headlines (especially when Teresa Heinz Kerry came down from her mansion not to give money, but to say "I'm not in a position to do anything much other than to find out...I want to find out"). Fortunately the flood wasn't as bad this time, but as my main game is in Sharpsburg they cancelled it because of issues with the roads and the air conditioning.

So, I went to my "backup game" -- it's in fact closer to my house, but no Omaha. It runs out of a closed restaurant at the bottom of the hill I live on. They spread a number of games. I started at the smaller game, and quickly got stuck a bit where I turned two pair and called two half-pot bets from a guy who slow-played his better two pair on the flop. Then they called the bigger game.

The reason I am willing to play a slightly bigger game at this place is because they don't spread Omaha, and therefore the pots actually stay much more manageable. Also, it's less likely that people will get much deeper stacks than I will have because of the lower amounts of "gambooling" that will go on without the pot limit and Omaha elements.

In any case, I topped off my stack and got to work. I did not play particularly long, and I also played pretty cautiously. The result was a steady grinding. I evaporated my loss at the smaller game and made a decent profit on the night (about half my buyin).

There weren't too many notable hands. I picked off what I thought to be a fairly obvious bluff on the river with Jacks on a King-high board. I flopped an Ace with AK against a short stack with Jacks who pushed preflop. I called a small river raise with two pair against a gentleman who hit runner runner second nut flush and checked it to me (huh?)

Nice night, ended early, and I made enough that Kris gets a pedicure. Fun.

Getting It in Good and Bad

The goal, of course, is to get your money in good. Regardess of you ability to read and calculate, however, sometimes you get your money in good and still lose, get your money in with a great draw with odds but still miss, or get your money in bad. That's just the way poker is.

Nevertheless, it is ubelievably frustrating to have all of the bad happen collectively in one night, like two weeks ago.

The scene is the usual one: No-limit hold'em and pot-limit omaha, capped 100BB buyin (you can buy in double if you bust). Recently I have been playing well and running well. It's been fun.

I don't think I played terribly, but upon relfection I now think my reads were a bit off. I also was willing to play too many big pots, mostly because the hyper-agressive players were on my right instead of my left (meaning I was calling their raises instead of raising myself). Thats' the temptation of Omaha, of course -- it's so draw happy that you will often have odds (or convince youself you have odds) to run after your nut hands.

In any case, every time I got it in ahead, they caught up. Every time I got in behind (or with the worst hand that was a favorite with two cards to come), I missed. And every time I got it in with the second best hand in HE or PLO, I was shown the nuts. Very ugly.

Here's hoping next time goes better!

Quasi-wordless Wednesday II (To Borrow a Phrase)

I will try a new post in the next few days. I got crushed the last time I played cards, and it merits some discussion, but let me try to have a good session first to get the taste out ;)

Wordless Wednesday (To Borrow a Phrase)

My wife told me to post

And she's right, I have not been putting my thoughts out there for a while.

I suppose it's because the pace of my life has picked up, or at least is flowing much differently than before. While certainly Krissy is much busier at home than I am, at work and at home there's always a little something to do these days. The twins are just getting so big, and now that they're playing more they simply demand more of our attention.

Further, I have not been playing much poker. I am playing about three times a month live (which is only because I have an amazing wife who lets me sneak out of the house), but I am playing even less than that online. Online poker just does not work for me with babies in the house -- I can't focus on poker when the twins are there and may need my attention (I had concentration issues already!). Therefore, I play bad and I've lost interest. Maybe when they are sleeping more soundly and can entertain themselves a bit more I will pick it back up, but until then nothing but games with a pause feature for me.

Live poker is a different story. That's probably because I am able to get out of the house to do it, and thus distractions are at a minimum. Since early April I have only had two losing sessions (of nine), and both were only for about a buy-in. Every other session has been a win (in two cases big wins), and I have been very pleased with my ability to play better poker. Hey, in the grand scheme of things this is ultra-low stakes, but if I can't beat this game I can't beat anything bigger, either.

There are two things in my life, however, that need some work. One is my health. I'll probably always be a big guy, but I need to get focused on being a healthier big guy. I am trying to watch what I eat, and Krissy encouraged me to ride my bike more often. Hopefully this will be the start of something good.

The other thing is relationships. The poker players I play with are generally good people, but they are not friends I can turn to in need or people to share deeply with. Several of my real friends have gotten tied up in their own lives, kids, etc. lately, and I need to push through that and make sure we're connecting more frequently. I also really owe my best friend a call.

Poker? What?

I played poker Friday night. It was great. My wife is the greatest person ever.

I booked a 2 and a half buy-in win, putting me on quite a nice hot streak (up 7 buyins in the last three sessions played). Was great getting back into the swing of things. It helped that I couldn't miss -- literally flopped four straights, three flushes, and got a couple of people to push into me drawing dead.


And finally, more baby pictures!

Baby Shots!

Some Pictures

They're Here

And they're perfect. Will update with pictures, etc. soon.

On Their Way

My children are being delivered tomorrow at noon. Please bless us with any thoughts and prayers you can spare.


This blog will likely return to active status this summer, as my game is improving a bit. Plus I will have pictures galore to share!

Be Nice Over There

adventuresintwinparenting.blogspot.com

Hiatus

This blog will be on a brief hiatus. After tonight's cash session, it has become apparent to me that I need to focus on improving my game, not talking about it. I lost several buyins, again, and it stings quite a bit.

I will post baby updates, of course, but I am going to lay low on poker content until I have a better grasp of where my leaks are coming from.

Soon They Shall Emerge and Destroy Tokyo

My wife's most recent e-mail update about the little ones!

Hi All!

Jay and I are pleased to tell you that the twins are growing and thriving! Our ultrasound showed Faith weighing in at 4lbs, 14 oz., and Jonathan at 5lbs, 11oz.! Apparently in twin world we are having little giants! In fact, Jonathan was in the 90+ percentile!

They are both growing very well, have lots of fluid around them, and their heart rates are great. Unfortunately, Jonathan is now head up (breech) and may or may not turn around. If he remains in the breech position, there is a 100% chance that I will have a c-section.

They also did an internal ultrasound which revealed I am slightly dialated. I will go back next Tuesday for another internal ultrasound to see if there is any change. At which point they may give me the steroid beta-methazone (not sure about spelling) to increase the twins lung maturity.

Everything looked good on the non-stress test, and I will have another one next Tuesday as well.

Physically, I am doing pretty well. Lost two pounds this week which the doctor's say is due to the babies sucking up all the nutrients that I feed them! My blood pressure was 102/62, and I have minimal swelling. My abdomen is measuring 46 weeks! I have gained 37 lbs.

Typically, the doctor's do not intervine in twin pregnancies (via induction or scheduled c-section) until 39 weeks when they know the lungs are mature. But because the twins are so large, they don't think they would follow that guideline for me. They may want to do a double (two seperate sacks) amniocentisis at some point to determine lung maturity, but at the same time they may not -- it's risky and to be avoided if possible.

Today I am exactly 32 weeks. If I go into labor at 34 weeks or after, they will not try to stop labor. But it is always possible I could go 36 (my goal!) or more.

I am to take it easy and really restrict my lifting to about 10-15lbs. Good thing Monty only weighs 11.5! If I have more than 3 braxton-hicks contractions in an hour, or 3 an hour for several hours, then I will need to go to the hospital to be monitored. Needless to say, I am going to finish packing my hospital bag!

I think we are pretty much ready for the twins....car seats are in, cribs are ready, diapers and wipes are ready....it is getting much more real now. Exciting but scarey at the same time.

Please continue to pray for Faith and Jonathan. The best thing for them would be for them to stay inside for at least 3 more weeks-I really don't want to have them in the NICU at all.

New Feature

Since I don't often have time to write articulate thoughts in this here blog, I have decided the cut and paste button can be my friend. I've been playing poker, after all, so why not let you see some of the things I have been doing? That way I provide content, and maybe some folks can comment.

I make no illusions that these are wholly indicative of my day. The first took place during my wife's baby shower, and the last two took place Saturday night (yay insomnia). All in all a very good day, almost a ful buy-in to the good. I had a bad night last Tuesday, and I have erased the two buy-in loss from set farmers and bad play. And yes, this time they are all winners and probably play themselves, but that won't always be the case.

So here they are.



Seat 2: Gydyon (204)
Seat 3: ohcowboy12go (157)
Seat 4: Dhanamjaya (250)
Seat 5: juicyjc (156)
Seat 6: alexmdm (52)
Seat 7: gmbenz5885 (80)
Seat 8: Jared Jon (96)
Seat 9: jhazen (142)
jhazen posts the small blind of 1
Gydyon posts the big blind of 2
gmbenz5885 posts 2
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Gydyon [Kh Kd]
ohcowboy12go calls 2
Dhanamjaya folds
WiredTwos sits down
juicyjc calls 2
WiredTwos adds 200
alexmdm calls 2
gmbenz5885 checks
Jared Jon folds
jhazen calls 1
Gydyon raises to 14
ohcowboy12go folds
juicyjc folds
alexmdm folds
gmbenz5885 folds
jhazen calls 12
*** FLOP *** [Qs 3h Qc]
jhazen checks
Gydyon bets 30
jhazen has 15 seconds left to act
jhazen raises to 128, and is all in
Gydyon calls 98
jhazen shows [9h 9s]
Gydyon shows [Kh Kd]
*** TURN *** [Qs 3h Qc] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 3h Qc 2s] [6c]
jhazen shows two pair, Queens and Nines
Gydyon shows two pair, Kings and Queens
Gydyon wins the pot with two pair, Kings and Queens
jhazen is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Board: [Qs 3h Qc 2s 6c]



Seat 1: billydeee (900 in chips)
Seat 2: sidelineskid (4090 in chips)
Seat 3: Gydyon (2255 in chips)
Seat 4: cardman61 (315 in chips)
Seat 6: beast5454 (1370 in chips)
Seat 9: scrubbyz (1570 in chips)
Gydyon: posts small blind 15
cardman61: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Gydyon [5c 5d]
beast5454: folds
scrubbyz: raises 60 to 90
billydeee: calls 90
sidelineskid: folds
Gydyon: calls 75
cardman61: raises 225 to 315 and is all-in
scrubbyz: calls 225
billydeee: calls 225
Gydyon: calls 225
*** FLOP *** [5h 3s 5s]
Gydyon: checks
scrubbyz: bets 1255 and is all-in
billydeee: folds
Gydyon: calls 1255
*** TURN *** [5h 3s 5s] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [5h 3s 5s Tc] [7s]
beast5454 said, "wtf"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Gydyon: shows [5c 5d] (four of a kind, Fives)
scrubbyz: shows [8c 8s] (two pair, Eights and Fives)
Gydyon collected 2510 from side pot
cardman61: shows [Qs Kd] (a pair of Fives)
Gydyon collected 1260 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3770 Main pot 1260. Side pot 2510. | Rake 0



Seat 1: karl422 (1700 in chips)
Seat 2: statsman33 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: JLGob (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: Lega (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: UnluckyPlyr (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Gydyon (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Mongonian (1920 in chips)
Seat 8: RyGmoney (1360 in chips)
Seat 9: IDAHORAMS (1480 in chips)
Seat 10: allen393 (1040 in chips)
IDAHORAMS: posts small blind 10
allen393: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Gydyon [Th Td]
karl422: calls 20
statsman33: folds
JLGob: raises 40 to 60
Lega: folds
UnluckyPlyr: folds
Gydyon: calls 60
Mongonian: folds
RyGmoney: calls 60
IDAHORAMS: calls 50
allen393: calls 40
karl422: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [4h Ts 9d]
IDAHORAMS: checks
allen393: bets 140
karl422: calls 140
JLGob: raises 360 to 500
Gydyon: raises 940 to 1440 and is all-in
RyGmoney: folds
IDAHORAMS: folds
allen393: folds
karl422: folds
JLGob: calls 940 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [4h Ts 9d] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [4h Ts 9d 2d] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JLGob: shows [Qd Qc] (two pair, Queens and Deuces)
Gydyon: shows [Th Td] (a full house, Tens full of Deuces)
Gydyon collected 3520 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3520 | Rake 0

Multiple Poker Personality Disorder

/1

We're approaching a year on this humble poker blog, and I am unfortunately noticing that I seem to be blogging about the same leaks and issues in my game.

What's that they say about the definition of insanity?

Had a lot of fun at the game Friday night despite losing tons. There's more where the tons came from, but I can't sustain this loss rate in the long term. My post-babies poker break may be perfectly timed after all.

/2

I can't miss. I sat down for an hour and made a full buy-in. At .50/1 NL no less. Heck, if I had not lost to a set with Aces, I would have made much more!

And even when I miss, I still make money. Saturday I played for two hours, and despite totally overplaying a hand for my whole stack against a donkey who was dying to give his money away, I still made half a buy-in. Thank you, guy who tilted his whole stack in two hands.


/1

It's a matter of priorities. I spend a lot of time with my wife and our unborm twins and with family these days gearing up for fatherhood. That's awesome time, but when I get out into a different circle, I relish and enjoy the differeing social contact. I spend my time chatting and laughing and being social, instead of focusing on position, avoiding limping with bad hands, and reading faces and betting patterns.

The result is playing too many hands, playing out of position, and putting too much money in the pot when weak. It also is exploitable through bluffs at me when I am not certain of where I stand.

/2

I have some rigorous guidelines, because as it's been said it's like wiffle ball out there and much of the play is automatic.

I don't limp, with the occasional exception of suited connectors or small pairs. If I stay at a table long enough that people could pick up on that trend and exploit it, I stop doing it and raise with these hands if I decide to play them.

I play my position, but also demonstrate some patience to wait for good cards. I continuation bet strong, especially in position, and I fold if I am raised and I don't think a reraise will get them off the hand.

No set, no bet is not weak poker if you also mix up your play with other holdings.

/1

Sometimes as I fold I lament "what are those set odds again" as I muck my small pair out of position after calling a preflop raise on an Ace-high board. Other time I get caught overplaying Jacks because I am stuck or I am misreading my opponent.

Don't even ask why I'm playing those four cards in Omaha. Got a great nut low working in a non-split pot game though.....

/2

It will take a while because I can't do it as often as others, but playing is fun and I am not currently facing a mountain of variance. As I gain confidence, however, I will start playing a more aggressive style. As it is however, it's easy to play in position and cherry-pick.






Yes, those are both me right now. Personality 1 is my live game, 2 my online game. Why they are not the same is something I am struggling with.

Honestly, I think I may exude some tells in a live cash setting I don't throw off online (obviously) or in live tournaments. Of course, in tournaments, I have on an IPod, I am very rigid in my movements, and I know the structure and resulting strategy shifts intimately and have a system in place to ride the swings of tournament play. I've become adept at riding a short stack patiently until it's time to start moving.

I just can't get myself to hunker down that way when it's the same price every hand and I am enjoying myself with friends. Plus I like to straddle.

I have maybe three live games left. Next time I am going to set some overly strict rules for myself and see if it has an effect:

1. Polite chat, but no yammering on.
2. Do not look at my cards until action comes to me (I never violate this in a tourney, EVER, but I do in cash with people I know).
3. No limping under any circumstances. No exceptions.
4. Don't watch the flop, watch the opponent.
5. Continuation bet when checked to in position and when head's up. Otherwise watch the players before deciding.
6. Remember that percentages, pot size, pot odds and implied odds are relatively easy to calculate on the fly, and DO IT.
7. Play less Omaha and more Hold'Em.
8. Decide if this is a social outlet or a learning experience, and play that way.

Time to dust, I guess

Wow. I have been bad at updating lately. I will do a quick update now and try to add some thoughts on the weekend.

1. Kids are doing great and growing. About 6 weeks to go.
2. Kris is managing the pain well. I am proud of her. She's doing everything an expectant mom should be doing -- not overworking, eating well, avoiding stress. She doesn't even ice cream binge!
3. I am doing fine. My cold went away, but a week later I got some sort of bronchitis-type crud that's just now dissapating.
4. I've been playing very little poker. I lost at my local game two Fridays ago by playing tired (I should read my rules again), and won online pretty consistently. I love those middle stakes NLHE games on FTP.
5. Probably going to play some more this weekend, if I finish the nursery up. Have a couple more small things to do in there.
6. Work is kind of frantic, as I am being pulled in a couple of different directions. Managing it OK though.


That's all for now. I will try to take notes when I play so I can make some interesting posts. Enough of this "once a week or less" crap ;), although this may become a parenting blog before too long haha.

Aggggggg

I have a horrible cold that's really making me very uncomfortable.

It sucks!

Far Too Late

It's far too late for me to blog about poker in New York. I had a great time, but have been occupied since and simply have not had the chance to write about it. I won 32 BBs, though. Hey, eight dollars in profit almost paid for, like, one fourth of the cab!

Not only has there been quite a bit of work going on, I also got a Nintendo Wii. It pretty much rules. Even my wife is having some fun with it -- she's really good at tennis.

We're snowed in pretty well here today. Took me an hour to get my car deiced and to the office. I'm basically the only attorney here. Yay.

Crackhouse for ME

I am pleased to report that the fine folks at I Had Outs have agreed to let this humble poker blogger into the Crackhouse for a special Monday game!

I look forward to the opportunity to pit J3 against Kx suited, 72o, and J2.

I may not be a full-fledged part of the poker blogger community (due to my infrequency of play and posting), but I relish this chance to meet some people whose writing I admire and enjoy.

Foxwoods Trip Report (And Tourney Win Report)

I look forward to this trip because it feels like a milestone. First, of course, it's my last trip for a while. The babies leave me Pittsburgh-bound until probably the fall.

Second, however, I have been playing poker seriously for about two years. When I played Friday night, however, I felt like I was really able to put everything together. I was playing my game and really reading players pretty well. Therefore, I expect that things will go well for me, and I hope I will be demonstrating I actually have learned something on this journey.

January 25, 2007.

I like that quote more now.

I have said that while I am by no means a great poker player, I believe I have two things that work well for me when I am focused and well-rested: 1) I can read players well and have a good idea of where I stand in any given situation and 2) I can usually wait as long as I need to for a hand in a live poker game, particularly a tournament.

I am pleased to report that everything came together in one incredible weekend. As posted below, I booked a very positive net win in a 72-player tournament at Foxwoods on Saturday. The stack of high society is now safely deposited, and it's neat to have a real poker bankroll. Makes the hard work feel justified -- I have accomplished a big goal.

But first, on to the trip report -- with a series of bad beat stories!

 I get stuck at the office until midnight Thursday (meeting my friends Bob and Don at 5:30am for our flights)
 Bob's flight gets cancelled and rerouted.
 Our flight has "unspecified maintenance" and computer issues that result in the entire plane being rebooted. Seriously.
 Wind on the highway has me trying to keep a rented Magnum on the road. Don't worry, I kept it under 80 for safety.
 FINALLY we arrive, just in time to eat lunch with our friend Screech and for the 2:00 tourney. I last 50 minutes.

Start with 5000, I get down to 2350 after losing a race, missing a draw, and generally playing merely "OK" poker. However, I had not shown down any awful hands, and had just shown Aces two hands prior.

Last hand: Blinds 100/200, no antes. Middle position (7s) makes it 800 -- middle-aged woman who's made some questionable calls, and likes to go to war with one pair. 10s pushes for about 1600 or 1700. He just lost a good bit with top two versus a set, and seems to be a good player. I am in the 1s and find two Kings. As I suspect every else sitting on 11.5 BBs here would do, I put it all in. I try not to burn the felt.

7s hems and haws, asks if it is 2350 total, I nod, she says "of course you're nodding, you have Aces again." She calls.

She tables two tens, 1s says "Do you have Kings, Hulk?" I say "Yes sir," he tables Queens. I love that he has Queens and that he called me Hulk. Nearly 7k pot.

Guess how many players in this hand hit sets?

Not all 3 anyway.

I go back to the room and take a nap. Then we wander down to the poker room and try to set up a 2/4 HORSE game. Time to donk it up. I play 4/8 O8 for a while, but get really sick of the nits and hope the HORSE game starts…it does finally.

The table consists of 7 friends, 2 nits, and some younger guy who obviously plays on the Internet and is sure he has the edge. He doesn't. The best part against him was raising in middle position with J3 sooted, flopping bottom pair on a monochrome board, turning, tens and threes, and rivering a boat only to have him show me a flopped flush he was getting cute with. He made a lot of these stellar plays.

I believe in the power of J3. Forget the hammer, it's nothing.

We get to bed by 2 and determine sleeping in is the right play. We get up around 10:30 and I decide after my fairly unpainful Friday I will take the shot at the bigger tourney. Mostly because of the 30 minute levels and the 10,000 in starting chips at 25/50. Although you know the results, let me share some highlights.

I swap 5% with the only other DB to play (love you Moe).

7 people to every flop because of the large chipstacks, and I bleed down to about 6000 by the first break. I have gotten no hands and am just not feeling it. Moe is at 13k or so.

By the second break I have been able to chip up a bit, and double up to 15 or 16k with an all-in with Queens. In an internet or typical tournament, I would be all-in all the time, as I usually follow the 10BB danger rule. However, this tournament has two factors that make me decide to play a slightly more patient game: 1) the players to my left are maniacs/calling stations and are more likely to call if I push and 2) I just felt like my reads were good enough to wait for better hands because the level of play was poorer than I would expect form the $500s I have played in before (Borgata, etc.). As a result, I let myself slip a bit lower than I usually would and just keep waiting for hands.

With about 30 left, I double up to 40K or so with Kings versus KQ on a Q10x board. We get it all in on the flop, he hits a Jack on the turn and I vomit on the felt, river blanks and I survive. I get rags for a while, and other than the occasional steal I am maintaining at about 10BBs.

Next thing I know, we're down to about 16. I am still pretty short, but I note two shorter stacks on the other table and decide that patience is still a good thing. While I usually don't have any interest limping into the money, bottom cash is significant enough and the play is weak enough that I decide I can cash and then get things working with the final 10.

As we reach 11, I get that "OMG I WILL BUBBLE" lump in my throat. Nevertheless, I push through and make some good decisions. I raise once with 3s and fold to the push based on a read (and the fact I had 3s). I push once with AK and get no callers, to the delight of the 30 railbirds I now have. They're loud and actually get chastised by the floor. They head up to dinner once the bubble is burst by a guy who called an all-in with Kings to be shown A10 on a J1010 board, and imploded 2 hands later despite being very healthy. I love that guy.

So I arrive at the final 10 table with less than 10BBs and the blinds at 2000/4000. Naturally, now I start getting aggressive. I open push a few times and get no callers, I get it in with a big pair and survive, and chip my way up to almost 100k with no real danger. In the meantime, folks are beginning to drop. I wish I had more detail and had written more down, because I think the play was interesting. You had pretty much every prototype tournament player left in the game. To my immediate left, an old guy who played solid and kept his mouth shut. To my right, a mouthy old nit. To his right, an IPod-wearing 24 y.o who refused any and all deals. To his right, Mr. LAG himself, who had a lot of chips mostly because he pushed over a raise and a smooth call with 58d to get heads up with tens, and rivered a straight against mouthy old nit. Mouthy Old Nit bounced right after that. Far end of the table, bad player who got here by reraising like he sees on TV, with a mountain of chips. I made a point of staying out of his way.

As we approach the next break and nearly 8 hours of poker, I am at around 75k with 5 left. Blinds are at 4/8 or 5/10 at this point, I push with AK and am called by LAG with nines. A on the river gets me to $175k, chipleader or right there with 5 left. That was the first and only time I had all my chips in behind, and it was a coin flip. AWESOME. Now I can play my game. Nice old guy pushes, I wake up with Kings, he has AQ. He spikes an Ace, but I river a set to knock him out 4th. I forget how LAG bounced.

So it's 3-handed with 720,000 in chips in play, and I have about 230,000. Internet kid got under 100k due to a couple of bad flops against lucky to be here guy, and limps on the button (6/12/2k or 8/16 at this point I think). I find 79d in the SB, look at lucky to be here, and limp because he's not raising. He knocks, flop comes 77x, 2 hearts. I have not slowplayed once all tournament, especially at the FT, so I check, lucky to be here checks, internet pushes for 100k. I beat him into the pot and he shows KQh, no pair heart draw. He misses, and I have slightly over half the chips in play headsup despite never having to tangle with lucky to be here too much.

At this point I would usually offer some sort of deal despite what I perceive to be an edge, because I am a nice guy and I like to reduce variance with that much money in play. I am about to open my mouth to offer said deal, when lucky to be here throws his blind in and says "Hey, good luck!" I decided to take that as a no deal policy and posted my blind.

Heads up lasted about 4 or so hands. I called his raise in position with A2, flopped an Ace, and bet him off the hand. I lost a couple of small pots. The last hand has me at about 380k to his 340k, blinds at 8/16 with a 2k ante). I find AQ suited in the small blind. I raise to 60k, he hems and haws and reraises. I know the best he has based on his play all day is a small pair. He would have instapushed otherwise. I push, he calls. With K4. Ace high scoops it. He asks me at the cage if I think he overplayed his King in that spot. I of course told him no.

After my win, I go get paid to discover nearly all of the DBs have come down to see me from dinner just a little too late. But they heartily congratulate me and it's great to have a rail, even after the tourney. I go upstairs, hide the money in my room, and call my wife. I go back downstairs, buy a round, and play blackjack. Why not. In bed by 3.

Up at EIGHT to get ready for the big tourney. I actually need sunglasses because I am so tired.

Nothing real remarkable about the tourney. You can read about a million trip reports at DBPoker. I chip up early by raising, mostly with trash, and hitting a few flops. I also knock out a player with AJ v. Queens. I priced myself in with a late position raise and hit my 3-outer. Then I lost all of my stack in two hands. Not sure about my play, but there it is. First hand, I am in the small blind of 150, and MP makes it 900. I call with AQ. Flop comes AJx, I bet out the size of the pot, I am raised less. I call and see AK, I don't catch. Just like that, I am down to 975. Two hand later, I reraise 75 chips more allin with AJ to find AQ. And that ends my run in about the middle of the field.

13 of us grab some lunch at Hard Rock. After we settle up, we find we overpaid by $40. The decision is made to put it all on black. We do so, win, press, win, take $120 off and win again to chop up $200 among the lunchgoers. Always bet on black.

Heather (Devil) wins the tourney. We all grab naps/dinner and head back down to the poker room. We get a 2/4 HORSE game going again, and the same young donkey, convinced he'll beat us THIS time, comes along for the ride.

That was a mistake. First, I have 10K, so I decide we're going to play HORSE a bit differently. I buy into a 2/4 game with 400 in $2 chips and 500 behind in bills. I also raise every hand in HE and O8 blind, and cap when given the opportunity. Despite this, I only lose $30. Second, of course, the kid who thought he had an edge is in fact playing against a table with hundreds of thousands of poker and tens of thousands of HORSE hands under their belt. He loses a rack and a half.

Next morning, I play the 10AM tourney. Out in less than an hour after chipping up through Bob when I flopped two pair to his overpair. People who pay $80 to play in a tournament cannot fold top pair, and they kept catching/I kept missing. We spent the rest of the day playing table games, and I of course won due to residual luckboxing.

We drive back to Boston, and I get an urgent e-mail. Apparently I am needed in PHILLY in 12 hours. I have no suit and no case materials, so I am forced to go back to Pittsburgh. I get home by 11, in bed by 1, up for my next flight at 3. What a day.


Thanks for reading this far. It was a remarkable weekend and a great validation. I'm going to go buy something for my wife.

Shameless Brag Placeholder

I won the Saturday Foxwoods tourney this weekend. I have so much to say, but I will wait to say it until I can think clearly again.

The Woods

Well, I leave for Foxwoods in less than 24 hours. Very exciting. I will be there from Friday to Monday.

I look forward to this trip because it feels like a milestone. First, of course, it's my last trip for a while. The babies leave me Pittsburgh-bound until probably the fall.

Second, however, I have been playing poker seriously for about two years. When I played Friday night, however, I felt like I was really able to put everything together. I was playing my game and really reading players pretty well. Therefore, I expect that things will go well for me, and I hope I will be demonstrating I actually have learned somethign on this journey.

Look forward to seeing my friends from DBPoker, and enjoying the largest casino in the world (at least until they finish development of Macau I would guess).

Fortunately, my wife is also spending some time away, so I feel a little less bad leaving her for four days. Her back has been hurting her as she pulled a muscle. We tried putting her in the recliner last night but it did not seem to help much.

Post over. Nothing below here.

I Was Right

Unfortunately, I still lost about half a buy-in.

Played last night in a local cash game with some old friends. Great to see them again, and overall I think I played pretty well. However, I have noted a couple of issues with my game (I suspected these issues previously, hence the "I was right" above), I think in a timely fashion for a trip to Foxwoods....

1. I do better with 100 Big blinds than I do with 50. I should never buy in short, and I am glad my game increased its limits.

2. My game is well suited to playing in postion and calling preflop. It is also suited to making my raises on the turn, rather than on the flop.

3. I can't play for more than about 6 hours straight without needing a break.

I was in for 2 and a half buy ins, got back up to 3 buyins, cashed out for 2 buyins. If I had left after 6 hours, I would have had a decent profit despite getting drawn out on a few times.

4. As usual, if I deliver a beat, I go on a sick rush immediately thereafter.

I would have cashed out pretty good if one hand had turned out a bit better...

I am in the BB with 887J, two clubs. Flop gives me middle set, a straight draw, and backdoor clubs. Turn give me the club draw as well. The pot grows so that I am all in. Although I have a decent idea that I am behind to top set, I knew no one was in for runner runner clubs and the pot was so big that I decided it was worth the risk (I was being offered more than 3 to 1 with 9 clubs, three nines, and the 8, plus the chance that I was wrong about the top set and a board pair would also get me there). I was right about top set and I bricked on the river. I don't think I played the hand great, but overall once I got where I was I felt I had to call.

Not Sure I Understand

I have apparently broken my short post setting in the translation to the new template. so I apologize that older posts now have links to nowhere......


What is the continued purpose of cracking down on online wagering? The Republicans who sought to crack down on that "evil" are out of power now, aren't they?

Nevertheless, for those in the fold who play mostly online poker, you likely have heard by now that the feds arrested the founders of Neteller this week, and this has resulted in Neteller pulling out of the US market earlier than expected.

I simply don't get it. Let me note a few salient points.....

I pay all my taxes. I vote every term. I give thousands of dollars to churches and charities. I donate my time to worthy causes. I do not smoke. I rarely drink, and just about never to excess. I have never cheated on my spouse. I don't steal office supplies. I've never visited a prostitute or done an illegal drug of any sort, ever.

I brush my own teeth. I wipe my own ass. I balance my checkbook and provide for my wife and upcoming kids. I visit the doctor when necessary, and look in on my family members. I do my own home repair and improvements.

Despite those facts, the United States Government is zeroing in on someone like me as a 1) criminal and 2) someone who cannot take care of himself or make his own decisions.

Why in the hell can poker sites be publicly traded, celebrated companies across the sea, but are the source of modern evil here? I understand some of the concerns over sports betting, but why is playing poker something the US Attorney thinks is worthy of so much time and energy?

I hate to sound like Nancy Pelosi, but we are fighting a war of vital national importance on three fronts, and yet we are using tax dollars to go after and restrict folks who throw fifty bucks on a poker site. How can that ever make sense?

No need to get into the legal particulars, as others have done better than me already. I simply expected more from my government, especially from a lame-duck law enforcement arm trying to cram square pegs into forty-year old round holes.

I certainly hope this wakes the PPA up.

And don't even get me started on Neteller itself. It shut down InstaCASH. Fine. But now to get money out you have to use a Neteller card. Which carries a sizeable fee per use. It's Firepay all over again. Disgusting.

I know I am just venting to vent now. Calling my Congressman will do little good -- he's been in office two weeks and it's the Justice Department taking these steps anyway.

It's stupid, stupid, stupid.

I got HOSEd

My boy RJS at DBPoker decided to resurrect our private tournaments -- this promised to be lots of fun. So many "questionable" people had our passwords in the past, a fresh start should be good!

Last week was NLHE, and I bounced out right quick. This week's game was HOSE (UConn fears Razz), and I bubbled. I wish I had some brilliant insight for you, but there is none -- the private tourney structure for HOSE is so bad that at the first break no one had more than 6 big bets. The final table all arrived with about the same bumber. I hit a few sets and made it to 4th, where my straight draw lost to someone else's straight draw in stud.

Next week is Razz. Now that should be fun.

Brutal

Oy.

Had just a brutal Sunday at the virtual tables. Could not get anything going. I played way too loose, especially against the bad players, which is of course the exact opposite of smart play for my style. I got too cute post-flop consistently. Glad that most of it was $T, not real cash. How I bounced out of the Sunday million with middle pair and the blinds at 200/400 is something I don't want to discuss....

Not exactly the outing I wanted before I geared up for Connecticut. I hope any time I get to play in the next couple of weeks goes much better.

My apologies for posting so infrequently these days. The babies plus a monstrous appellate brief have kept me mute and away from the tables for the most part.

KJGDSAKJKJSADGSKJAGJSKA BVDSNF

Just bubbled in a horse tourney because some monkey decided calling a raise OOP on the bubble was a good idea with 10 9 sooooooted, and his no pair 5th flush draw was good enough to get it all in with.

I am so mad I could spit. What a night.

Happy New Year

Went to Connecticut for four days and spent time with family. It was pretty awesome to spend time with my cousins (9 and 12). Makes it neat to anticipate that my own kids will be here relatively soon.

I am going to have a very busy week this week at work and at home. Once I make it through, however, we'll be in pretty good shape. I certainly intend to get at least a little poker in before I set out for Foxwoods. Can't believe that date is approaching so quickly.

The "Last Ride" for a while, will, I hope, be lots of fun.

I'll have more later. Hopefully I'll be able to post some interesting hands in the next couple of weeks. I''d love to get a chance to have some people critique my game for me.