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.