Meh, not much to report. Started at 4k chips and dwindled down to 2.2k in the first 1.5 hours by just missing everything. Then raised AK big pre-flop and some funny-lookin' dude limp-called. Flop is 9 high and I just jam for what I have left (sort of no-brainer play with my stack size). He instacalls with QT flush draw, which turns out is a favourite against my A high, but I turn a non-flush K and hold. At break I'm at 5.2k, so not bad, probably a little above average.
But then shortly after the break I limp with QsJs in the cutoff with just under 5k in chips. I flop a flush draw and gutter and just decided to gamble with it. I ended up getting all-in versus a set and medium stack's straight. It was the short stack being in there too that convinced me to go with it (plus half my stack was in with the hopes I had live cards too which obviously wasn't the case). So, if I hit I'm huge at around 15k, but I miss and am out. I dunno, I could have gotten away from the hand and made a tight fold (probably didn't really have the odds to do what I did, but it was close). I've always tried to chip up early and it's always worked well for me in tournaments, but it's just not happening for me in Vegas. I wouldn't say it was a donkey play, but not the greatest. I won't lose much sleep over it though.
I didn't do much else today. Went to Mirage to eat with Angst and Quentin and ended up goofing around in a little $5/$10 Omaha Hi/Lo Limit. Got a great comped buffet at Mirage. Then, went over to Caesar's Forum shops and got a Elmo doll and cool outfit for Owen. Also got some Cirque de Soleil Mystere tickets for Sarah and our Moms, and some Danny Gans tickets for all of us. Sarah and I are also planning on checking out the Tropicana Comedy Stop with everyone here, I've heard it's a blast.
I got back to the room at 10:30 and I'm just exhausted. The past few days is catching up with me and I just need one non-stressful night. Going to watch a bit of the movie Apocalypto and just crash. I'll get up as early as I feel alert and head over to Wynn to see if I can find any tilty, tired, and stuck players still grinding away. Then, I have the $1500 WSOP event at noon. Maybe I can make the second break in a tournament on this trip....but, this one will be the biggest crapshoot of them all as we only start with 3k in chips.
Later guys!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Vegas #3: more Wynn and 1st WSOP tourney
I'm exhausted. I'm averaging about 4 hours of sleep per night, less last night. I stayed at the Wynn last night until about 5am and had to start today's $5k 6-handed WSOP event at noon.
Anyway, last night at Wynn was insane again. May as well call it the Lamont Jordan show (Oakland Raiders running back). He decided he wanted to go drink with his wife for a bit and says "These are my last few hands, it's gonna get off the hook. Like I mean insane". His last 10 hands of the night took over an hour to play there were such big decisions to make and he was goofing around and taking him time (of course, no one said a thing about it). Picture this....all-in.....blind.....$15,000. It was absolutely disgusting. I had about $11k on the table.
Unfortunately for me, I ended the night about 4-5k down, sort of lost track. I wasn't too concerned about this because I simply didn't catch a damn hand during all the craziness and got coolered a couple times by a couple of other players. 4k down was nothing in this game anyway. My biggest decision was Lamont looking at his hand, quickly announcing "all-in" and I find A9 of spades in the big blind. I didn't know what the hell to do. If it were for 2k, no problem, snap call. But 11k, I dunno. I'd also feel very stupid if he showed up with AT or better which is totally possible. I folded. As it turns out, he had 87, they ran the board, and he would have hit a 7 and busted me if I had called.
I don't think this was a bad laydown by me though, I can find a better spot. Some people might say I shouldn't be playing in that game if I'm too scared to call that hand, but I don't agree. It's really cheap to sit there and fold (we're only playing 10/20 after all), and we got opportunities to limp and see if we flop a monster, then hope Lamont did something goofy. Like this one: the whole table limps. Flop is Jh4h4c (I flop a flush draw which is irrelevant because I miss). Swedish kid bets $80 and the whole table pretty much calls. Turn is 3c. Everyone checks. River is Jc making running clubs. Lamont goes all-in for $12k into a $400 pot. Swedish kid says "Ugh, call" with his JT. Lamont says "Full house is good" and flips over Ac8c for the nut flush on the double paired board. Holy freakin' Merry Christmas sweden.
Me and one other guy were pretty much the only ones who didn't cash in on the stupidness. But that's okay.
I am very disappointed by how I played the tourneys today. I didn't play very well. I didn't get very lucky either, but I didn't deserve any luck anyway. In the $5k 6-handed WSOP event I started out real nice and built a decent little stack of 12.5k (starting stack was 10k). I was getting great value from my hands and making chips from 2nd pair, etc. My table was so terrible, I really lucked out. Then who sits down in the one open seat that was being blinded? PHIL IVEY! This was super cool and I really enjoyed playing with him. It was pretty surreal staring across the table at Phil Ivey. The only hand I played with him I flopped a huge open-ended and flush draw and semi-bluffed him off the pot. He was pretty quiet, busy on his phone, and got coolered early on for half his stack by an really obnoxious kid who wouldn't shut up about beating Phil in a hand. Phil didn't last very long and was the first off the table (knocked out by the same obnoxious punk, I sure hope he didn't get far). Then, I proceeded to donkey bluff away a huge part of my stack. So stupid. I have no excuse. I bluffed the wrong players with bad cards on terrible board textures. I'm pretty disappointed with myself. I hit a few hands early, had a real aggressive image. I could have sat back and waited for hands and got paid by the 3 idiots at the table.
The hand I get knocked out on I have just under 5k in chips left. I haven't played a hand in almost an hour because I decided to wait for my spot this time. One of the donkeys limps on the button and I decide to raise Q7 hearts out of the small blind and try to take down some dead money (I know I just said I was waiting for my spot, but I had already dwindled 2k and I was getting too short). I raise from 200 to 1000. The donkey calls which actually surprised me. Flop is 224 which is perfect for me to bluff since I know he's not trapping (he's not smart enough for that). I push all-in, he says "sorry" and rolls over 24 offsuit. Unbelievable. I know I was making a move and I hate going out with a stupid hand, but geezus. To make it even more hilarious, the turn is a 4 and the river is a 2 making a 22244 board. Can you please find anymore cards for him in the deck?!? I don't really regret this short stack move too much since this would work 95% of the time, but my previous moves were stupid.
Then I played the Caesar's $330 and played horribly in that too. I doubled up early on, then made a stupid fold which would have made me huge early on. I guess it wasn't stupid because I thought I was beat, but in hindsight I should have made the call because I was getting more than enough equity from the unknown Texan. It's a long story and not that interesting, so forget it. Point is: I sucked in the tourneys today. The end.
I have the $2k WSOP event tomorrow and plan on being way sharper. No donkey moves against bad players. I've been playing so much cash game that my tourney game is weak and impatient.
Tonight I went back to Wynn and sat in the "must move" 10/20 NL table, waiting for a seat in the game that had Elky, Lamont, crazy asian kid, and a couple other action players. Honestly, I'm not sure I even felt like that crazy game and ridiculous swings, so it was okay I never got on. I did pretty well on the other table though. Made almost $4k on my very first hand with a KK full house, and ended up almost $6k which pays for my tourneys for the day. I was very satisfied with that, and very tired, so I decided to pack it in and enjoy one cash night with minimal stress.
This Vegas trip has been an interesting experience so far. I've spent a huge chunk of it alone. Besides hanging out with Quentin and Angst a little bit, I've pretty much been with my own thoughts in a strange, weird, town for 5 days. I'm around people all the time, but feel very alone. I have met a lot of very cool folks though from all over the world, I love that aspect of poker. This is all very hard on the body though: weird and irratic eating habits, tons of walking around in blazing heat, very poor sleep. Plus, I've got a chest cold and can't seem to shake it. But, when I wake up in the morning I'm ready to go and excited. This is the World Series, and this is my two weeks out of the year where I live and breathe poker (though I won't play as much when my family arrives on Sunday). I feel like I'm in a completely different world out here, it's sort of eerie sometimes, but exciting too. I'm not really partying it up and all that, but just taking it all in...
I really miss my wife and son. I walked around Caesar's forum shops for over an hour today trying to find a Grover doll for Owen (he loves Grover!). No luck yet, but will check Fashion Mall tomorrow. I want something to give him at the airport on Sunday. Sarah tells me about the stuff he's doing and saying while I'm gone. I can't wait to show him around Vegas, he'll love it. Sarah really likes it in Vegas too, so we should have a blast.
Anyway, that's enough for now. Thanks to everyone who has sent me encouraging comments, I really do appreciate it. Feel free to email me any questions you have about Vegas and I'll respond as soon as I can.
I'll try to start getting some tourney results, I simply haven't deserved any as of yet. My luck has been crappy too, but I can't blame bad luck when combined with bad play. I'm going to really try and last a while tomorrow in the $2k WSOP event.
Anyway, last night at Wynn was insane again. May as well call it the Lamont Jordan show (Oakland Raiders running back). He decided he wanted to go drink with his wife for a bit and says "These are my last few hands, it's gonna get off the hook. Like I mean insane". His last 10 hands of the night took over an hour to play there were such big decisions to make and he was goofing around and taking him time (of course, no one said a thing about it). Picture this....all-in.....blind.....$15,000. It was absolutely disgusting. I had about $11k on the table.
Unfortunately for me, I ended the night about 4-5k down, sort of lost track. I wasn't too concerned about this because I simply didn't catch a damn hand during all the craziness and got coolered a couple times by a couple of other players. 4k down was nothing in this game anyway. My biggest decision was Lamont looking at his hand, quickly announcing "all-in" and I find A9 of spades in the big blind. I didn't know what the hell to do. If it were for 2k, no problem, snap call. But 11k, I dunno. I'd also feel very stupid if he showed up with AT or better which is totally possible. I folded. As it turns out, he had 87, they ran the board, and he would have hit a 7 and busted me if I had called.
I don't think this was a bad laydown by me though, I can find a better spot. Some people might say I shouldn't be playing in that game if I'm too scared to call that hand, but I don't agree. It's really cheap to sit there and fold (we're only playing 10/20 after all), and we got opportunities to limp and see if we flop a monster, then hope Lamont did something goofy. Like this one: the whole table limps. Flop is Jh4h4c (I flop a flush draw which is irrelevant because I miss). Swedish kid bets $80 and the whole table pretty much calls. Turn is 3c. Everyone checks. River is Jc making running clubs. Lamont goes all-in for $12k into a $400 pot. Swedish kid says "Ugh, call" with his JT. Lamont says "Full house is good" and flips over Ac8c for the nut flush on the double paired board. Holy freakin' Merry Christmas sweden.
Me and one other guy were pretty much the only ones who didn't cash in on the stupidness. But that's okay.
I am very disappointed by how I played the tourneys today. I didn't play very well. I didn't get very lucky either, but I didn't deserve any luck anyway. In the $5k 6-handed WSOP event I started out real nice and built a decent little stack of 12.5k (starting stack was 10k). I was getting great value from my hands and making chips from 2nd pair, etc. My table was so terrible, I really lucked out. Then who sits down in the one open seat that was being blinded? PHIL IVEY! This was super cool and I really enjoyed playing with him. It was pretty surreal staring across the table at Phil Ivey. The only hand I played with him I flopped a huge open-ended and flush draw and semi-bluffed him off the pot. He was pretty quiet, busy on his phone, and got coolered early on for half his stack by an really obnoxious kid who wouldn't shut up about beating Phil in a hand. Phil didn't last very long and was the first off the table (knocked out by the same obnoxious punk, I sure hope he didn't get far). Then, I proceeded to donkey bluff away a huge part of my stack. So stupid. I have no excuse. I bluffed the wrong players with bad cards on terrible board textures. I'm pretty disappointed with myself. I hit a few hands early, had a real aggressive image. I could have sat back and waited for hands and got paid by the 3 idiots at the table.
The hand I get knocked out on I have just under 5k in chips left. I haven't played a hand in almost an hour because I decided to wait for my spot this time. One of the donkeys limps on the button and I decide to raise Q7 hearts out of the small blind and try to take down some dead money (I know I just said I was waiting for my spot, but I had already dwindled 2k and I was getting too short). I raise from 200 to 1000. The donkey calls which actually surprised me. Flop is 224 which is perfect for me to bluff since I know he's not trapping (he's not smart enough for that). I push all-in, he says "sorry" and rolls over 24 offsuit. Unbelievable. I know I was making a move and I hate going out with a stupid hand, but geezus. To make it even more hilarious, the turn is a 4 and the river is a 2 making a 22244 board. Can you please find anymore cards for him in the deck?!? I don't really regret this short stack move too much since this would work 95% of the time, but my previous moves were stupid.
Then I played the Caesar's $330 and played horribly in that too. I doubled up early on, then made a stupid fold which would have made me huge early on. I guess it wasn't stupid because I thought I was beat, but in hindsight I should have made the call because I was getting more than enough equity from the unknown Texan. It's a long story and not that interesting, so forget it. Point is: I sucked in the tourneys today. The end.
I have the $2k WSOP event tomorrow and plan on being way sharper. No donkey moves against bad players. I've been playing so much cash game that my tourney game is weak and impatient.
Tonight I went back to Wynn and sat in the "must move" 10/20 NL table, waiting for a seat in the game that had Elky, Lamont, crazy asian kid, and a couple other action players. Honestly, I'm not sure I even felt like that crazy game and ridiculous swings, so it was okay I never got on. I did pretty well on the other table though. Made almost $4k on my very first hand with a KK full house, and ended up almost $6k which pays for my tourneys for the day. I was very satisfied with that, and very tired, so I decided to pack it in and enjoy one cash night with minimal stress.
This Vegas trip has been an interesting experience so far. I've spent a huge chunk of it alone. Besides hanging out with Quentin and Angst a little bit, I've pretty much been with my own thoughts in a strange, weird, town for 5 days. I'm around people all the time, but feel very alone. I have met a lot of very cool folks though from all over the world, I love that aspect of poker. This is all very hard on the body though: weird and irratic eating habits, tons of walking around in blazing heat, very poor sleep. Plus, I've got a chest cold and can't seem to shake it. But, when I wake up in the morning I'm ready to go and excited. This is the World Series, and this is my two weeks out of the year where I live and breathe poker (though I won't play as much when my family arrives on Sunday). I feel like I'm in a completely different world out here, it's sort of eerie sometimes, but exciting too. I'm not really partying it up and all that, but just taking it all in...
I really miss my wife and son. I walked around Caesar's forum shops for over an hour today trying to find a Grover doll for Owen (he loves Grover!). No luck yet, but will check Fashion Mall tomorrow. I want something to give him at the airport on Sunday. Sarah tells me about the stuff he's doing and saying while I'm gone. I can't wait to show him around Vegas, he'll love it. Sarah really likes it in Vegas too, so we should have a blast.
Anyway, that's enough for now. Thanks to everyone who has sent me encouraging comments, I really do appreciate it. Feel free to email me any questions you have about Vegas and I'll respond as soon as I can.
I'll try to start getting some tourney results, I simply haven't deserved any as of yet. My luck has been crappy too, but I can't blame bad luck when combined with bad play. I'm going to really try and last a while tomorrow in the $2k WSOP event.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Vegas #2: freakin' insanity at Wynn (part 2)
If you haven't read the first part to this post, scroll down first.
So, anyway, i went for a walk, took a breather, and got ready to come back to the table with 17k knowing I was covered by 4 maniacs. For the first time in my life I felt like I wouldn't mind taking some money off the table, but of course I can't, and probably wouldn't anyway I guess.
I wanted to be very careful of Rekrul (I got the spelling right now) because he had position on me all the time and seemed really out to stack me. I started getting involved more once I had a little stack and jumped around between 18k and 13.5k. Got unlucky a few times and missed one huge draw I paid almost 2k for total (but worth it considering how big the pot was).
Then, I get 99 and raise to $240. The previous hand I had raised some suited connector, got reraised by Rekrul and folded. This time he reraises me again to $900 and I call. The flop is AQ9. This is the first set I've flopped all day. I check, Rekrul quickly tosses in 2 yellow chips ($2000). I instantly don't like it, but I call pretty quickly trying to represent an AK type hand so I can judge his strength better on turn. Turn is a K (not the best card really). I check, and he pretty quickly pushes all-in. While I'm thinking I get the impression he didn't realize I had 16k behind (later he said he thought I only had 6k or so). I turn to Rekrul and say "I knew you'd overset me at some point". And he says "You have a set? Sick life.". I think for about a minute and fold face up. He said "I can't believe you fold that hand" and mucks shaking his head. I asked if he flopped it and he just nodded. He continued to quietly shake his head and other stuff like that for a few more hands afterwards, so I figure he was telling the truth. I just knew he was trying to stack me that hand.
Another hand against Rekrul I raise with Kc9c in the cutoff, Rekrul calls, Elky calls. Flop is AJ8. Checked around. Turn 9. Elky checks, I check, Rekrul bets $400, Elky calls, I call (thinking there is a good chance I have best hand, I almost raised). River is a 6 making a AJ896 board. Elky checks, I check, Rekrul bets $2300, Elky folds, and I thought a bit and called. Rekrul showed K4 and I caught him in a decent bluff. I was pretty confident about this one and happy to make a big fold followed by a big call against him.
With that hand I get back to $18k and the game is just getting crazier and Elky is going on massive tilt. In fact, it seems everyone is on massive tilt except maybe Rekrul (though he's annoyed by me laying down a set). Lamar Jordan had left for a good 3 hours, however the table insisted to leave him sitting there. There were tons of players complaining but there was no way the houseman was taking him off the table if he wanted his spot saved.
So, he gets back and first had I raise A8 in mid-position. He sits down and re-raises to $750 BLIND. I decide to just call and see what happens. Luckily for me I flop an A on a AQ4 board. I check (I don't want this hand to get crazy), and he checks blind. The turn is an 8 making me two pair. I bet $800 as he looks at his cards, he snickers and calls. The board is rainbow with no draws period, so he's got some touch. The river is another Q. I almost check then decide to bet a tiny $600 for value. He thinks a while, laughs, asks if I have an A, then I ask if he has a 4. He says "yah" and grabs a flag ($5k chip) and is about to throw it in the pot. I'm thinking "God, please don't" as I've seen him do the same thing with a hand like a Q here, but then he fakes the throw and laughs at me. He then grudgingly calls and my counterfeited A is good. I guess he did have a 4. So, little donation to me.
A little after this, some pro offers me $20k for my $17.5k of chips and my seat. I didn't really think the house would allow this anyways since the players waiting for a seat were standing around the table anyway and would make a huge fuss over this guy buying my seat. Otherwise, I might have taken the deal.
Now for the biggest hand of my life. I have just under $19k and get 9h7h on the button. Elky raises to $280, I call, Rekrul calls, one other caller. Flop is 8s6h5h. Nice flop! Nut straight with gutter straight flush draw. Rekrul checks, Elky bets his standard $560. I decide to just call because I'm internally freakin' I'm so scared and I think he probably has nothing (or very weak) anyway. Rekrul check-raises to $2k, Elky thinks a bit and casually tosses in $6k. I'm thinking "Oh God". I sit quietly for a bit and say "I'm all-in" and just grin at Elky for a while. Rekrul folds pretty quick and Elky stands up with his hands on his hips and shakes his head. "So sick" he keeps repeating and I'm afraid he has a set. The longer he thinks the more I think AT BEST he has two pair, maybe a combo flush draw. I'm really hoping he just has an overpair and is almost drawing dead.
I'm not sure I really want a call, I guess I did. The more he thought the more I wanted the call, but the pot was already huge so either way I'd be happy. Rekrul and the asian kid both leave the table as does Lamar who busted out to the asian kid again just a few hands before. Now Rekrul and the asian kid are standing behind Elky as he decides what to do. He thinks for at least 3 minutes, but of course no one is saying a thing to him. A new guy next to me in Rekrul's spot quietly asks me if I want him to call time on Elky, but I say "Naw, it's okay", I was sorta enjoying the moment. Elky asks how much I'm playing with, I say "almost 19 thousand before this hand" and he realizes we have almost identical stacks.
Someone behind me says "just gamble" and Elky finally says "okay, I gamble, call, two pair". I stand up and pray harder than I ever have for no board pairing. I don't know which 2 pair he has, but I know the 8 of hearts is dead cuz it makes my straight flush. Turn 3s, river...9c. He flips over 56 and I pretty much collapse in my chair realizing I just won a $40,000 pot. A bunch of people in the crowd that gathered think I sucked out with a open-ended draw not realizing I flopped it, but I didn't care. I could barely count my chips as the dealer was counting my $100 bills. It took me 3 attempts to get the chip count right. I just pulled in the chips in a heap and was stacking chips for a full rotation. Best poker moment of my life but I could barely think about anything. A guy asked me for change for a $1000 chip and I gave him $10,000 back by accident.
At this point, the game was basically over and a bunch of new pros who had been waiting for hours sat down with huge stacks. I played two rotations, broke even, and decided to get the hell out of there.
I could only cash out under $10k so the IRS wouldn't ding me for US taxes. I can get them back, but it's a pain in the ass and takes forever. So, I chipped up to $5k and $1k chips and will get friends to cash them out later.
I walked around Vegas after storing my cash and chips in a safety deposit box. I was in a complete daze and kept thinking about that KK hand which changed everything. I know I was lucky and this makes up for every bad beat I've ever taken. I have no plans of playing bigger and if I find that crazy game again, I'll probably just shortstack it since I'm too intimidated. But, shortstacking it is very profitable since it only costs $30/rotation to sit and wait for a huge hand.
Anyway, off to play a little mini-craps with Angst and Q at Riviera and have a couple drinks. Might hit up the Wynn again tonight. $5k 6-handed WSOP event is tomorrow.
So, anyway, i went for a walk, took a breather, and got ready to come back to the table with 17k knowing I was covered by 4 maniacs. For the first time in my life I felt like I wouldn't mind taking some money off the table, but of course I can't, and probably wouldn't anyway I guess.
I wanted to be very careful of Rekrul (I got the spelling right now) because he had position on me all the time and seemed really out to stack me. I started getting involved more once I had a little stack and jumped around between 18k and 13.5k. Got unlucky a few times and missed one huge draw I paid almost 2k for total (but worth it considering how big the pot was).
Then, I get 99 and raise to $240. The previous hand I had raised some suited connector, got reraised by Rekrul and folded. This time he reraises me again to $900 and I call. The flop is AQ9. This is the first set I've flopped all day. I check, Rekrul quickly tosses in 2 yellow chips ($2000). I instantly don't like it, but I call pretty quickly trying to represent an AK type hand so I can judge his strength better on turn. Turn is a K (not the best card really). I check, and he pretty quickly pushes all-in. While I'm thinking I get the impression he didn't realize I had 16k behind (later he said he thought I only had 6k or so). I turn to Rekrul and say "I knew you'd overset me at some point". And he says "You have a set? Sick life.". I think for about a minute and fold face up. He said "I can't believe you fold that hand" and mucks shaking his head. I asked if he flopped it and he just nodded. He continued to quietly shake his head and other stuff like that for a few more hands afterwards, so I figure he was telling the truth. I just knew he was trying to stack me that hand.
Another hand against Rekrul I raise with Kc9c in the cutoff, Rekrul calls, Elky calls. Flop is AJ8. Checked around. Turn 9. Elky checks, I check, Rekrul bets $400, Elky calls, I call (thinking there is a good chance I have best hand, I almost raised). River is a 6 making a AJ896 board. Elky checks, I check, Rekrul bets $2300, Elky folds, and I thought a bit and called. Rekrul showed K4 and I caught him in a decent bluff. I was pretty confident about this one and happy to make a big fold followed by a big call against him.
With that hand I get back to $18k and the game is just getting crazier and Elky is going on massive tilt. In fact, it seems everyone is on massive tilt except maybe Rekrul (though he's annoyed by me laying down a set). Lamar Jordan had left for a good 3 hours, however the table insisted to leave him sitting there. There were tons of players complaining but there was no way the houseman was taking him off the table if he wanted his spot saved.
So, he gets back and first had I raise A8 in mid-position. He sits down and re-raises to $750 BLIND. I decide to just call and see what happens. Luckily for me I flop an A on a AQ4 board. I check (I don't want this hand to get crazy), and he checks blind. The turn is an 8 making me two pair. I bet $800 as he looks at his cards, he snickers and calls. The board is rainbow with no draws period, so he's got some touch. The river is another Q. I almost check then decide to bet a tiny $600 for value. He thinks a while, laughs, asks if I have an A, then I ask if he has a 4. He says "yah" and grabs a flag ($5k chip) and is about to throw it in the pot. I'm thinking "God, please don't" as I've seen him do the same thing with a hand like a Q here, but then he fakes the throw and laughs at me. He then grudgingly calls and my counterfeited A is good. I guess he did have a 4. So, little donation to me.
A little after this, some pro offers me $20k for my $17.5k of chips and my seat. I didn't really think the house would allow this anyways since the players waiting for a seat were standing around the table anyway and would make a huge fuss over this guy buying my seat. Otherwise, I might have taken the deal.
Now for the biggest hand of my life. I have just under $19k and get 9h7h on the button. Elky raises to $280, I call, Rekrul calls, one other caller. Flop is 8s6h5h. Nice flop! Nut straight with gutter straight flush draw. Rekrul checks, Elky bets his standard $560. I decide to just call because I'm internally freakin' I'm so scared and I think he probably has nothing (or very weak) anyway. Rekrul check-raises to $2k, Elky thinks a bit and casually tosses in $6k. I'm thinking "Oh God". I sit quietly for a bit and say "I'm all-in" and just grin at Elky for a while. Rekrul folds pretty quick and Elky stands up with his hands on his hips and shakes his head. "So sick" he keeps repeating and I'm afraid he has a set. The longer he thinks the more I think AT BEST he has two pair, maybe a combo flush draw. I'm really hoping he just has an overpair and is almost drawing dead.
I'm not sure I really want a call, I guess I did. The more he thought the more I wanted the call, but the pot was already huge so either way I'd be happy. Rekrul and the asian kid both leave the table as does Lamar who busted out to the asian kid again just a few hands before. Now Rekrul and the asian kid are standing behind Elky as he decides what to do. He thinks for at least 3 minutes, but of course no one is saying a thing to him. A new guy next to me in Rekrul's spot quietly asks me if I want him to call time on Elky, but I say "Naw, it's okay", I was sorta enjoying the moment. Elky asks how much I'm playing with, I say "almost 19 thousand before this hand" and he realizes we have almost identical stacks.
Someone behind me says "just gamble" and Elky finally says "okay, I gamble, call, two pair". I stand up and pray harder than I ever have for no board pairing. I don't know which 2 pair he has, but I know the 8 of hearts is dead cuz it makes my straight flush. Turn 3s, river...9c. He flips over 56 and I pretty much collapse in my chair realizing I just won a $40,000 pot. A bunch of people in the crowd that gathered think I sucked out with a open-ended draw not realizing I flopped it, but I didn't care. I could barely count my chips as the dealer was counting my $100 bills. It took me 3 attempts to get the chip count right. I just pulled in the chips in a heap and was stacking chips for a full rotation. Best poker moment of my life but I could barely think about anything. A guy asked me for change for a $1000 chip and I gave him $10,000 back by accident.
At this point, the game was basically over and a bunch of new pros who had been waiting for hours sat down with huge stacks. I played two rotations, broke even, and decided to get the hell out of there.
I could only cash out under $10k so the IRS wouldn't ding me for US taxes. I can get them back, but it's a pain in the ass and takes forever. So, I chipped up to $5k and $1k chips and will get friends to cash them out later.
I walked around Vegas after storing my cash and chips in a safety deposit box. I was in a complete daze and kept thinking about that KK hand which changed everything. I know I was lucky and this makes up for every bad beat I've ever taken. I have no plans of playing bigger and if I find that crazy game again, I'll probably just shortstack it since I'm too intimidated. But, shortstacking it is very profitable since it only costs $30/rotation to sit and wait for a huge hand.
Anyway, off to play a little mini-craps with Angst and Q at Riviera and have a couple drinks. Might hit up the Wynn again tonight. $5k 6-handed WSOP event is tomorrow.
Vegas #2: freakin' insanity at Wynn
Geezus, I have no idea where to start. I'll try to keep this a reasonable length, but it was an unbelievably crazy day and I want to tell it right.
So I get to Wynn just before noon and get added to the 10/20 NL list of interest (no game started yet). I just into a 5/10 game for a bit and pretty much break even. This somewhat crazy aggressive asian kid sits down at 5/10 just before 10/20 starts. He moves to 10/20 when it starts, and so do I.
I was in seat 8 of 9 players. In seat 3 was Lamar Jordan from the Oakland Raiders. He was the ultimate calling station. Pretty much any two cards for any raise pre-flop and would call pretty much every bet on every flop. He was watching 24 season 2 on his portable dvd player the whole time. Hilarious. Evidently he's a Wynn regular and one of the biggest cash game draws so I was lucky to get an early seat at this table.
Early on I limped with K9 suited in the cutoff. Limped around. Flop was QJT two hearts. Checked to me, I bet $80, BB calls, rock calls, older asian dude calls (no reads), and asian kid calls. Turn 6, no heart. BB fires out $380, rocks calls, old asian thinks a little as counting his chips and calls, asian kid calls. I make a huge raise to $2100. I figure I might get someone along for the ride, the pot is already big, and I need to chase out the heart draws or give them terrible odds to call. BB thinks for a while and makes an obviously big laydown (I thought it was 89 probably), rock folds, old asian goes all-in for another $300, young asian thinks for a long time and folds Q6 after saying I'm probably on a combo draw (terrible read). I think I'm winning and just hope for no heart. River is a blank, old asian dude says "nuts" and flips over AK. So, he limped with AK pre-flop. If I had any read on this guy I would have been more cautious, but I just didn't know he was the type to limp with AK pre-flop. The BB said he folded K9 and I believe him, he was a solid player and said he figured he was chopping at the very best and was worried about the asian. Oh well, bad start. Down to about $2,500 in chips from my starting $5,000.
A while after that, as I was considering getting more money from my hotel across the street, I got AA in big blind and raised to $220. 4 callers! Flop came A93 two hearts. I think a bit and bet $500, Lamar calls, old rock raises to $1400, I jam all-in for $2500. He has 99 and I overset him which is great, but I'm cursing inside that I didn't have more chips because he had at least 10k.
THEN, the action REALLY begins. Reckul from PokerStars sits to my left. He's a 21 year old kid (who doesn't come off as a "kid" since he's very confident, aggressive, and good). He just finished winning the WSOP $5k heads-up event. Then shortly after Elky from PokerStars sits in seat 4 next to Lamar. Absolute freakin' maniac! He raised between $250-$450 pre-flop every other hand. It was insane. Often the asian kid of reckul would re-raise to $900 or $1000 or so. This is 10/20! I couldn't even see a flop for hours. I am an loose aggressive player and these guys turned me into a rock! I had no choice as my bankroll doesn't warrant tangling often with these guys.
Anyway, shortly into it, I raise A4 (to see a flop you HAD to raise and hope not to get re-raised or else Elky would just raise to $400) to $140, few callers including Lamar. Flop is A43. I bet $400, Lamar calls. Turn Q. I bet $1200, Lamar calls. River Q. Damnit. I have to check, Lamar checks and shows A2. Gah. At least I still chop. But if the river is a blank I would have doubled up. Annoying hand.
Then for the next 5 hours these guys go at it like i've never seen in my life. It was insane, there is no other way to describe it. I dwindled a little below even for hours. I couldn't hit anything on the few $250+ raises I called and didn't get many hands to re-raise. It was so dangerous to bluff re-raise or make any sort of bluff on the flops. I managed to pick up $1k here and there to stay alive. Jammed all-in with AK suited once and picked up $1.5k since the asian kid decided to fold JJ.
I eventually decided to get the rest of my Vegas bankroll and just take a shot at this game. I don't know if this was wise or not, but I figured I wouldn't see a game like this very often. So, I took a break and walked to the hotel and got another $3.5k. There had already been at least 10 pots between 15k - 25k, and I wanted to have as many chips as possible if I ever picked up a hand.
You should have seen some of the battles between reckul and elky. These guys are sick. Reckul is awesome, elky was good too, but playing very recklessly and tilty at times. There was this one hand where Reckul called a $1,300 bet from Elky on the river with 34 (no heart) on a 4-heart board of AJT42. Elky had 45, no heart, and they chopped. This wasn't a big pot compared to most, but still an insane call.
I had stayed alive around $8k for a while. Then came my big hand. I raised KK to $280 pre-flop under the gun. I got about 5 callers. Flop was J76 two clubs. I have K of clubs. I bet $900, Lamar calls, Elky raises to $2500, fold to me. I have no idea what to do, Elky could have anything including a draw. The problem is, I know he knows I have an overpair, so it smells fishy. I could go into analysis for hours, but I decide to jam all-in. Lamar says "you stole my move" and folds, Elky calls and shows J7. God. I pictured myself having to get money from Reckul for an online transfer, walking away with my tail between my legs, and grinding it out in 5/10 and small tourneys the rest of the trip. Turn is 4 of clubs giving me a flush draw and about 15 outs. RIVER IS A KING!!!!! WOOOOOOO! Finally, finally, finally. Definitely the biggest suckout of my life, and the biggest pot of my like. 17k. Given the context of this game, I can't say I made a bad play and reckul said he'd do the same thing in my position all day. So, unlucky flop, VERY lucky river! :)
After that I take a break and walk around a while and try to get my wits about me back. I realize how lucky I got and how close I came to going busto with my Vegas bankroll in 2 days. I feel a little foolish about this, but when you get a chance to take a shot, I think you have to do it. It wasn't my entire bankroll, just my Vegas roll. But trust me, I didn't want to scrounge more money from an online transfer, so this was sweet.
But, now I have 17k and am still covered by half the table! So, I knew if I kept playing I had to be sharp.
I think I'm going to play the Venetian $340 today with Angst and it starts in 45 minutes, so I don't have time to write more. But, trust me, there is MUCH MUCH more story to come about yesterday (including the new biggest pot of my life), so I'll post more next chance I get.
Peace!
So I get to Wynn just before noon and get added to the 10/20 NL list of interest (no game started yet). I just into a 5/10 game for a bit and pretty much break even. This somewhat crazy aggressive asian kid sits down at 5/10 just before 10/20 starts. He moves to 10/20 when it starts, and so do I.
I was in seat 8 of 9 players. In seat 3 was Lamar Jordan from the Oakland Raiders. He was the ultimate calling station. Pretty much any two cards for any raise pre-flop and would call pretty much every bet on every flop. He was watching 24 season 2 on his portable dvd player the whole time. Hilarious. Evidently he's a Wynn regular and one of the biggest cash game draws so I was lucky to get an early seat at this table.
Early on I limped with K9 suited in the cutoff. Limped around. Flop was QJT two hearts. Checked to me, I bet $80, BB calls, rock calls, older asian dude calls (no reads), and asian kid calls. Turn 6, no heart. BB fires out $380, rocks calls, old asian thinks a little as counting his chips and calls, asian kid calls. I make a huge raise to $2100. I figure I might get someone along for the ride, the pot is already big, and I need to chase out the heart draws or give them terrible odds to call. BB thinks for a while and makes an obviously big laydown (I thought it was 89 probably), rock folds, old asian goes all-in for another $300, young asian thinks for a long time and folds Q6 after saying I'm probably on a combo draw (terrible read). I think I'm winning and just hope for no heart. River is a blank, old asian dude says "nuts" and flips over AK. So, he limped with AK pre-flop. If I had any read on this guy I would have been more cautious, but I just didn't know he was the type to limp with AK pre-flop. The BB said he folded K9 and I believe him, he was a solid player and said he figured he was chopping at the very best and was worried about the asian. Oh well, bad start. Down to about $2,500 in chips from my starting $5,000.
A while after that, as I was considering getting more money from my hotel across the street, I got AA in big blind and raised to $220. 4 callers! Flop came A93 two hearts. I think a bit and bet $500, Lamar calls, old rock raises to $1400, I jam all-in for $2500. He has 99 and I overset him which is great, but I'm cursing inside that I didn't have more chips because he had at least 10k.
THEN, the action REALLY begins. Reckul from PokerStars sits to my left. He's a 21 year old kid (who doesn't come off as a "kid" since he's very confident, aggressive, and good). He just finished winning the WSOP $5k heads-up event. Then shortly after Elky from PokerStars sits in seat 4 next to Lamar. Absolute freakin' maniac! He raised between $250-$450 pre-flop every other hand. It was insane. Often the asian kid of reckul would re-raise to $900 or $1000 or so. This is 10/20! I couldn't even see a flop for hours. I am an loose aggressive player and these guys turned me into a rock! I had no choice as my bankroll doesn't warrant tangling often with these guys.
Anyway, shortly into it, I raise A4 (to see a flop you HAD to raise and hope not to get re-raised or else Elky would just raise to $400) to $140, few callers including Lamar. Flop is A43. I bet $400, Lamar calls. Turn Q. I bet $1200, Lamar calls. River Q. Damnit. I have to check, Lamar checks and shows A2. Gah. At least I still chop. But if the river is a blank I would have doubled up. Annoying hand.
Then for the next 5 hours these guys go at it like i've never seen in my life. It was insane, there is no other way to describe it. I dwindled a little below even for hours. I couldn't hit anything on the few $250+ raises I called and didn't get many hands to re-raise. It was so dangerous to bluff re-raise or make any sort of bluff on the flops. I managed to pick up $1k here and there to stay alive. Jammed all-in with AK suited once and picked up $1.5k since the asian kid decided to fold JJ.
I eventually decided to get the rest of my Vegas bankroll and just take a shot at this game. I don't know if this was wise or not, but I figured I wouldn't see a game like this very often. So, I took a break and walked to the hotel and got another $3.5k. There had already been at least 10 pots between 15k - 25k, and I wanted to have as many chips as possible if I ever picked up a hand.
You should have seen some of the battles between reckul and elky. These guys are sick. Reckul is awesome, elky was good too, but playing very recklessly and tilty at times. There was this one hand where Reckul called a $1,300 bet from Elky on the river with 34 (no heart) on a 4-heart board of AJT42. Elky had 45, no heart, and they chopped. This wasn't a big pot compared to most, but still an insane call.
I had stayed alive around $8k for a while. Then came my big hand. I raised KK to $280 pre-flop under the gun. I got about 5 callers. Flop was J76 two clubs. I have K of clubs. I bet $900, Lamar calls, Elky raises to $2500, fold to me. I have no idea what to do, Elky could have anything including a draw. The problem is, I know he knows I have an overpair, so it smells fishy. I could go into analysis for hours, but I decide to jam all-in. Lamar says "you stole my move" and folds, Elky calls and shows J7. God. I pictured myself having to get money from Reckul for an online transfer, walking away with my tail between my legs, and grinding it out in 5/10 and small tourneys the rest of the trip. Turn is 4 of clubs giving me a flush draw and about 15 outs. RIVER IS A KING!!!!! WOOOOOOO! Finally, finally, finally. Definitely the biggest suckout of my life, and the biggest pot of my like. 17k. Given the context of this game, I can't say I made a bad play and reckul said he'd do the same thing in my position all day. So, unlucky flop, VERY lucky river! :)
After that I take a break and walk around a while and try to get my wits about me back. I realize how lucky I got and how close I came to going busto with my Vegas bankroll in 2 days. I feel a little foolish about this, but when you get a chance to take a shot, I think you have to do it. It wasn't my entire bankroll, just my Vegas roll. But trust me, I didn't want to scrounge more money from an online transfer, so this was sweet.
But, now I have 17k and am still covered by half the table! So, I knew if I kept playing I had to be sharp.
I think I'm going to play the Venetian $340 today with Angst and it starts in 45 minutes, so I don't have time to write more. But, trust me, there is MUCH MUCH more story to come about yesterday (including the new biggest pot of my life), so I'll post more next chance I get.
Peace!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Vegas #1: not a great start...
Got into Vegas late Sunday night. Walked around a bit, checked out the Venetian poker room, but was so tired I just hit up a sushi place in the Fashion mall, then went to bed.
Got up early Monday and went to the Venetian to register for the $550 tourney starting at noon. $10k starting chips, 30 min levels, card shufflers (so fast hands), good tourney. Played a little $2/$5 NL (biggest NL game available that early) and broke even (was up $300 but lost a big pot to a gay flush draw, folded river and he proudly showed his suckout).
Played decent in tourney, lost a huge pot early with an overpair to touch and flush draw, he rivered trips. Grinded back to about 7000 chips, then flopped trips with T2 out of the SB on a J22 flop, got all-in on flop vs a flush draw again and got rivered again. So much for that...
Then went to Rio with Angst and Quentin, they played the WSOP $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo (no results unfortunately, Q was close to money). I jumped in a $5/$10 NL game and ran cold for 6 hours. I didn't win a single significant pot whatsoever, which is unusual given the image I usually develop (as I did yesterday). I got caught on one big bluff (the only bet I'd made over $200 in 4 hours, bet $700 on river in a $600 pot and got called by KQ top pair). Then my Q high flush got overflushed. Then I didn't win any hands for 2 more hours. Boo.
I really want to start staying up later so I can play cash games at night when they are a lot better typically. Really weird for me to be super tired at midnight. I guess I've been getting up by 8am for almost a week now. I was asleep by midnight last night. Today I'll force myself to play late even if I'm exhausted.
The $5k 6-handed WSOP event is on Thursday. I'll need 2 good days of poker in order to play it because I haven't started very good and I have a limited bankroll (it'll be a pain to try and get more cash). There are also $2k and $1.5k WSOP events on Friday and Saturday.
My plan today is to play cash game at Wynn. There is a $2.5k tourney at Bellagio at 1pm, and a $1k tourney at Bellagio at 8pm. I'm not sure if I'll play either, we'll see how cash goes. If I make some money this morning I might take a shot at the $2.5k at Bellagio then go back to cash game later tonight.
The main lesson I learnt yesterday: DRESS WARM! Holy crap it's cold in the casinos! 40 degrees outside, freezing cold inside. I was shivering in both Venetian and Rio (especially Rio). So, basically, I'll have to boil my ass off for the 20-30 minutes I spend outside, but that's better than spending 10+ hours of freezing. And I'm getting a blister under my left foot from my new sandals. Wah wah wah.
One bright note: up in craps. At the tourney break at Venetian, I messed around at the craps table and caught a super-heater roll by a huge black football player. He was hilarious, gave me the knuckle stab (is that what you call it? I'm so white) about 10 times.
Anyway, hopefully things pick up. Pretty frustrating first cash game session. I'll try to update again tomorrow (with better results!).
Got up early Monday and went to the Venetian to register for the $550 tourney starting at noon. $10k starting chips, 30 min levels, card shufflers (so fast hands), good tourney. Played a little $2/$5 NL (biggest NL game available that early) and broke even (was up $300 but lost a big pot to a gay flush draw, folded river and he proudly showed his suckout).
Played decent in tourney, lost a huge pot early with an overpair to touch and flush draw, he rivered trips. Grinded back to about 7000 chips, then flopped trips with T2 out of the SB on a J22 flop, got all-in on flop vs a flush draw again and got rivered again. So much for that...
Then went to Rio with Angst and Quentin, they played the WSOP $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo (no results unfortunately, Q was close to money). I jumped in a $5/$10 NL game and ran cold for 6 hours. I didn't win a single significant pot whatsoever, which is unusual given the image I usually develop (as I did yesterday). I got caught on one big bluff (the only bet I'd made over $200 in 4 hours, bet $700 on river in a $600 pot and got called by KQ top pair). Then my Q high flush got overflushed. Then I didn't win any hands for 2 more hours. Boo.
I really want to start staying up later so I can play cash games at night when they are a lot better typically. Really weird for me to be super tired at midnight. I guess I've been getting up by 8am for almost a week now. I was asleep by midnight last night. Today I'll force myself to play late even if I'm exhausted.
The $5k 6-handed WSOP event is on Thursday. I'll need 2 good days of poker in order to play it because I haven't started very good and I have a limited bankroll (it'll be a pain to try and get more cash). There are also $2k and $1.5k WSOP events on Friday and Saturday.
My plan today is to play cash game at Wynn. There is a $2.5k tourney at Bellagio at 1pm, and a $1k tourney at Bellagio at 8pm. I'm not sure if I'll play either, we'll see how cash goes. If I make some money this morning I might take a shot at the $2.5k at Bellagio then go back to cash game later tonight.
The main lesson I learnt yesterday: DRESS WARM! Holy crap it's cold in the casinos! 40 degrees outside, freezing cold inside. I was shivering in both Venetian and Rio (especially Rio). So, basically, I'll have to boil my ass off for the 20-30 minutes I spend outside, but that's better than spending 10+ hours of freezing. And I'm getting a blister under my left foot from my new sandals. Wah wah wah.
One bright note: up in craps. At the tourney break at Venetian, I messed around at the craps table and caught a super-heater roll by a huge black football player. He was hilarious, gave me the knuckle stab (is that what you call it? I'm so white) about 10 times.
Anyway, hopefully things pick up. Pretty frustrating first cash game session. I'll try to update again tomorrow (with better results!).
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Vegas, baby!
I leave for Vegas in 4 hours. I love Vegas! Haven't played poker since my last update, enjoyed a few days with my wife and son at a friend's cabin in Lake of the Woods. I really bonded with my son and had a great time with him. He fell asleep on a sea-doo ride I took him on! Pretty funny. How do you sleep on a sea-doo?!? I think this short trip was good for me, and I'm ready to play hard and scoop some pots in Vegas.
I feel nervous, mainly because I've been running really bad my last 8-10 sessions. But, I've made a bunch of horrible plays which I don't believe I would have made live. I think my edge will be greater live and I'm looking forward to it.
If I'm up money come the $5k 6-handed event, I will play it. I have a limited amount of money for this trip and it might be tough to obtain more cash through online transfers while out there (plus I don't want to go scrounging for more), so I have to manage my bankroll carefully.
I'm staying with Angst and Quentin at the Frontier, then I move to Desert Rose Resort with my wife, son, and our Moms when they arrive on July 1. If anyone would like to hook up out there, shoot me an e-mail! I'll try to post regular updates when I get a chance. Wish me luck! I could freakin' use it! Peace!
I feel nervous, mainly because I've been running really bad my last 8-10 sessions. But, I've made a bunch of horrible plays which I don't believe I would have made live. I think my edge will be greater live and I'm looking forward to it.
If I'm up money come the $5k 6-handed event, I will play it. I have a limited amount of money for this trip and it might be tough to obtain more cash through online transfers while out there (plus I don't want to go scrounging for more), so I have to manage my bankroll carefully.
I'm staying with Angst and Quentin at the Frontier, then I move to Desert Rose Resort with my wife, son, and our Moms when they arrive on July 1. If anyone would like to hook up out there, shoot me an e-mail! I'll try to post regular updates when I get a chance. Wish me luck! I could freakin' use it! Peace!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
NOT how I wanted to enter Vegas...
Well, things haven't gotten much better for me online. I just can't get away from sick beats or horrible setups/coolers in cash games. I've had a few decent heaters here and there, but then shortly after I just keep getting hammered again. I leave for Vegas on Sunday running the worse I have in at least 8 months. So, not good...
I played some tourneys and WSOP qualifiers last Sunday. I thought changing it up to tourneys for a bit could help swing things back in my favour. What a big, fat waste of time and money that ended up being. At least the US Open golf was good. In the PP $550 tourney I got all-in in 2nd rotation with 88 vs. A8 on a AT83 board, river A. In FT $550 WSOP qualifier, I get all-in 3 hours into the tourney on flop with KsKc vs. 9d9h on a Ts8s7s board (notice my flush draw to boot, I'm so far ahead), river 6h. I am virtually guaranteed a main event seat if that hand holds up. In the end, I just end up blowing a little over $2k on Sunday tourneys and get donkeyed out of everything.
I finally got things turned around in cash last night, then lost almost the exact amount back today. The stuff that happened on Betfair tonight just makes me want to puke, I'm not even going to start explaining it...
So, to make a long story short, I'm pretty bummed about poker right now and my confidence is at one of it's lowest levels in a while. Pretty disappointing considering how much I've been looking forward to this Vegas trip. I have confidence in my live game, so I'm just going to put this past week or two behind me try to make something happen in Vegas.
I will probably play the $5k 6-handed event a couple days after I get there. One day I feel like I'll make a big score, hopefully it's in these weeks coming up! I'll be posting updates on the PCH message board and a little here.
I really hope I have some good news to report because I'm sick of just talking about running bad. I won't be playing much, if any, online before Vegas because we're going to a friend's cottage for a few days, and I need a break from cards before I jump into some serious playing in Vegas.
Oh yah, and I chipped my front fake tooth biting into chocolate this past week. I got the tooth from playing hockey almost 10 years ago. I chipped it (receiving a mouthful of tooth chips as the broken part disintegrated) about 10 seconds after getting oversetted. Going to the dentist tomorrow afternoon. Good times...
Peace! And good luck to everyone already in Vegas or leaving soon!
I played some tourneys and WSOP qualifiers last Sunday. I thought changing it up to tourneys for a bit could help swing things back in my favour. What a big, fat waste of time and money that ended up being. At least the US Open golf was good. In the PP $550 tourney I got all-in in 2nd rotation with 88 vs. A8 on a AT83 board, river A. In FT $550 WSOP qualifier, I get all-in 3 hours into the tourney on flop with KsKc vs. 9d9h on a Ts8s7s board (notice my flush draw to boot, I'm so far ahead), river 6h. I am virtually guaranteed a main event seat if that hand holds up. In the end, I just end up blowing a little over $2k on Sunday tourneys and get donkeyed out of everything.
I finally got things turned around in cash last night, then lost almost the exact amount back today. The stuff that happened on Betfair tonight just makes me want to puke, I'm not even going to start explaining it...
So, to make a long story short, I'm pretty bummed about poker right now and my confidence is at one of it's lowest levels in a while. Pretty disappointing considering how much I've been looking forward to this Vegas trip. I have confidence in my live game, so I'm just going to put this past week or two behind me try to make something happen in Vegas.
I will probably play the $5k 6-handed event a couple days after I get there. One day I feel like I'll make a big score, hopefully it's in these weeks coming up! I'll be posting updates on the PCH message board and a little here.
I really hope I have some good news to report because I'm sick of just talking about running bad. I won't be playing much, if any, online before Vegas because we're going to a friend's cottage for a few days, and I need a break from cards before I jump into some serious playing in Vegas.
Oh yah, and I chipped my front fake tooth biting into chocolate this past week. I got the tooth from playing hockey almost 10 years ago. I chipped it (receiving a mouthful of tooth chips as the broken part disintegrated) about 10 seconds after getting oversetted. Going to the dentist tomorrow afternoon. Good times...
Peace! And good luck to everyone already in Vegas or leaving soon!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Getting killed
Of course, like always, I step up to a bigger game, run super cold, and take more beats in the past week than I did in the month previous. The reason I jumped up to some $10/$25 and even a little $25/$50 was because I had a couple horrible sessions at 5/10 and 10/20 and got impatient. Never a good idea.
Last night was brutal, then to top it off I lose a $6,000 pot in 10/25 all-in pre-flop with AA vs. 88. Just sick.
Anyway, this was NOT the way I wanted my play leading up to Vegas to go. On UB, PP, and Betfair combined, I've been down $12k in the past week or so. In reality, this isn't very many buy-ins at some of the stakes I was playing, so I guess it's not a huge downswing, but it sucks royally. Good thing late April and May went really well. But, it's really disappointing I'm down all the money I wanted to spend on tourneys in Las Vegas soon. I'll still play them, but hopefully I can make some or all of this downswing back before the trip on the 24th.
Oh yah, and I went to the Regent re-buy tourney again, pretty much only to try and final table for the 4th week in a row. But, didn't happen this time. Just quietly donked out somewhere around 45th. I had decent chips at the first break, but then basically had no opportunities to do anything before the next break, and just blinded into desperation mode. I probably won't be going to Regent as much unless I really, really feel like some live poker. I heard something about a $200 buy-in plus $100 re-buy tourney Regent is having on a Saturday afternoon coming up soon. Not sure about the details or if it's even true, but I'll go for sure if I can. Will probably only be 20-30 players I imagine though.
It's hard to say if I'm playing badly. I know I've made bad plays for sure, but I figure I'd be down a pretty decent amount no matter what. Good ol' variance. I just need to tighten it up a bit. Whenever you develop new strategies that work out the gates, it's easy to over-do it.
It's amazing how tough it is to step down after just a little taste of a bigger game. I wish one day I'd take a stab and just fly out of the gates for once. Never happens, maybe one day. Anyway, my confidence needs a couple winning sessions so I'm going to try and play some smart poker at 5/10 and a little 10/20 again. The 10/25 game on UB can be so crazy aggressive sometimes. On one table last night I went from $2500 to $8500, back down to $2000, then up to $11,500, then I lost that stupid $6k AA hand above, and finished the table at $7,500. That was unfortunately one of the only winning tables I had last night.
It's so hard to shake that "blah" feeling in the back of your mind when running bad. But, everything else in life is good. My boy is growing fast and talking up a storm now, he'll be 2 years old in October. I'm really excited about Vegas, but like I said, I really want to go there on a winning note.
I really miss the huge group of people from Barca, Player's, etc. Players, dealers, everyone. I guess it had become a big part of my social life at those live clubs. I see the odd person here and there at the casino, but not many, and it's not nearly the same. I miss good live poker already, but even more I miss a lot of friends I made over the past few years.
Last night was brutal, then to top it off I lose a $6,000 pot in 10/25 all-in pre-flop with AA vs. 88. Just sick.
Anyway, this was NOT the way I wanted my play leading up to Vegas to go. On UB, PP, and Betfair combined, I've been down $12k in the past week or so. In reality, this isn't very many buy-ins at some of the stakes I was playing, so I guess it's not a huge downswing, but it sucks royally. Good thing late April and May went really well. But, it's really disappointing I'm down all the money I wanted to spend on tourneys in Las Vegas soon. I'll still play them, but hopefully I can make some or all of this downswing back before the trip on the 24th.
Oh yah, and I went to the Regent re-buy tourney again, pretty much only to try and final table for the 4th week in a row. But, didn't happen this time. Just quietly donked out somewhere around 45th. I had decent chips at the first break, but then basically had no opportunities to do anything before the next break, and just blinded into desperation mode. I probably won't be going to Regent as much unless I really, really feel like some live poker. I heard something about a $200 buy-in plus $100 re-buy tourney Regent is having on a Saturday afternoon coming up soon. Not sure about the details or if it's even true, but I'll go for sure if I can. Will probably only be 20-30 players I imagine though.
It's hard to say if I'm playing badly. I know I've made bad plays for sure, but I figure I'd be down a pretty decent amount no matter what. Good ol' variance. I just need to tighten it up a bit. Whenever you develop new strategies that work out the gates, it's easy to over-do it.
It's amazing how tough it is to step down after just a little taste of a bigger game. I wish one day I'd take a stab and just fly out of the gates for once. Never happens, maybe one day. Anyway, my confidence needs a couple winning sessions so I'm going to try and play some smart poker at 5/10 and a little 10/20 again. The 10/25 game on UB can be so crazy aggressive sometimes. On one table last night I went from $2500 to $8500, back down to $2000, then up to $11,500, then I lost that stupid $6k AA hand above, and finished the table at $7,500. That was unfortunately one of the only winning tables I had last night.
It's so hard to shake that "blah" feeling in the back of your mind when running bad. But, everything else in life is good. My boy is growing fast and talking up a storm now, he'll be 2 years old in October. I'm really excited about Vegas, but like I said, I really want to go there on a winning note.
I really miss the huge group of people from Barca, Player's, etc. Players, dealers, everyone. I guess it had become a big part of my social life at those live clubs. I see the odd person here and there at the casino, but not many, and it's not nearly the same. I miss good live poker already, but even more I miss a lot of friends I made over the past few years.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Oh, the drama...
Been a couple interesting days involving these poker raids in Winnipeg. I won't write of it here because I've typed my figures numb on the PCH message board, but needless to say it continues to be a gong-show and just rather depressing. I truly hope the casino gets its shit together and makes at least a half-ass effort at servicing the tremendous poker community in our city. There may be more that can be done by myself and others in the months to come, but we'll have to wait it out a bit I think. But, it doesn't hurt to start badgering the casino repeatedly for the types of games and services you want to see.
Anyway, I haven't played much the past couple days, but before that I strung a few winnings together. Donked away $400 I got transferred to me on FT ($215 of it on a WSOP qualifier), then I dropped $680 on UB. But, Party has continued to go well and I've picked up another $4,020 across two sessions. I'm feeling confident in my recently improved online strategies, and hopefully I can continue to run decent.
I hit up the Tuesday Regent tourney and managed to final table for the 3rd week in a row. This one was a $225 freeze-out. I guess I run sick good at Regent, haha, I should start playing limit! Yah right! Never! Unfortunately, even though I was 2nd chip leader at start of the final table, I couldn't find any cards or a single opportunity to steal blinds at the final table and finished 6th again like the previous week. Literally got blinded out. Boo. Sort of anti-climatic finish when you manage to final table with lots of chips. Just like the re-buy tourney, the blinds are sick at the final table and the huge antes don't help. I horsied with Nord for 25% (guess I felt bad for him), so I ended with just a $550 profit. It's not a great investment of time, however I'll probably go back next week just to see if I can keep the streak alive. It's fun seeing everyone though, and now that the clubs are gone, it's the only opportunity.
I've had the book "Zen And The Art Of Poker" recommended to me from a few people, think I'll check it out.
I'm getting pretty excited for Vegas, just over 2 more weeks!!!!
Anyway, I haven't played much the past couple days, but before that I strung a few winnings together. Donked away $400 I got transferred to me on FT ($215 of it on a WSOP qualifier), then I dropped $680 on UB. But, Party has continued to go well and I've picked up another $4,020 across two sessions. I'm feeling confident in my recently improved online strategies, and hopefully I can continue to run decent.
I hit up the Tuesday Regent tourney and managed to final table for the 3rd week in a row. This one was a $225 freeze-out. I guess I run sick good at Regent, haha, I should start playing limit! Yah right! Never! Unfortunately, even though I was 2nd chip leader at start of the final table, I couldn't find any cards or a single opportunity to steal blinds at the final table and finished 6th again like the previous week. Literally got blinded out. Boo. Sort of anti-climatic finish when you manage to final table with lots of chips. Just like the re-buy tourney, the blinds are sick at the final table and the huge antes don't help. I horsied with Nord for 25% (guess I felt bad for him), so I ended with just a $550 profit. It's not a great investment of time, however I'll probably go back next week just to see if I can keep the streak alive. It's fun seeing everyone though, and now that the clubs are gone, it's the only opportunity.
I've had the book "Zen And The Art Of Poker" recommended to me from a few people, think I'll check it out.
I'm getting pretty excited for Vegas, just over 2 more weeks!!!!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Sweeeeeeeet Night
Just wrapped up a great session on UltimateBet. Played a bunch of short-handed and heads-up 5/10 and 10/25. I started it off with a terrible play and I get lucky (as you'll see below), then after that I ran well and played some of the best poker I have in a while I think. I've gone from cold calling pre-flop way too much to hardly doing it at all anymore, meaning a lot more folding and 3-betting. It's really working for me.
I scored a sweet $10,250 tonight. My head is pounding and I'm tired beyond belief, but it was worth it. Some hands, not too many because UB's hand history window is an ugly pain in the butt:
Yikes, I would have been pretty annoyed with myself on this play, except, WOOPS, I nail it. Once in a blue moon I suck out on someone in a huge pot. WHHHHHEEEEEEEEE. On a side note: what was I thinking? oh yah, gambooooool. This is a pretty big pot for the stakes I've been playing, so pretty fortunate here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142433
Here is a play I plan on doing much more in my attempts to 3-bet pre-flop more often: re-raising out of BB after a loose button raiser raises and the SB cold-calls with some mediocre junk. You'll hardly ever get a call from SB unless he's trying to peel off a set (in which case he usually folds to continuation bet on flop anyway.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142438
I'd been 3-betting this guy pretty hard in the past while, so I didn't respect his 4-bet as much as I usually would, so I decided to give it a go all-in with AK and ended up getting donated to...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142502
Sweet little catch here..
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142582
Another nice hit against the same guy...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142584
I loved this guy!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142596
Slow down with AA (little risky), but I get paid...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142602
I scored a sweet $10,250 tonight. My head is pounding and I'm tired beyond belief, but it was worth it. Some hands, not too many because UB's hand history window is an ugly pain in the butt:
Yikes, I would have been pretty annoyed with myself on this play, except, WOOPS, I nail it. Once in a blue moon I suck out on someone in a huge pot. WHHHHHEEEEEEEEE. On a side note: what was I thinking? oh yah, gambooooool. This is a pretty big pot for the stakes I've been playing, so pretty fortunate here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142433
Here is a play I plan on doing much more in my attempts to 3-bet pre-flop more often: re-raising out of BB after a loose button raiser raises and the SB cold-calls with some mediocre junk. You'll hardly ever get a call from SB unless he's trying to peel off a set (in which case he usually folds to continuation bet on flop anyway.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142438
I'd been 3-betting this guy pretty hard in the past while, so I didn't respect his 4-bet as much as I usually would, so I decided to give it a go all-in with AK and ended up getting donated to...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142502
Sweet little catch here..
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142582
Another nice hit against the same guy...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142584
I loved this guy!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142596
Slow down with AA (little risky), but I get paid...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1142602
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Sad day for Winnipeg poker
As I'm sure most of you have heard, Barca, Player's, and Hong Kong were all raided and shutdown. I've been talking about this on the PCH message board, so I won't babble on here. But, needless to say, this has really disappointed me. I really enjoyed playing live occasionally in the local private clubs and I'm made countless friends who I see in these clubs regularly. We'll see what happens, but this really doesn't look great for the poker community. I'll wait it out a bit, but hopefully PCH can aid in getting the word out about home games and such. I really hope none of my many close friends involved with these clubs get in "serious" trouble over this. My guess is everything will work out alright legally for most involved.
Anyway, despite the bad news about the local clubs, I've been running alright online still. I also joined cardrunners.com and am finding all their instructional videos (with pros basically just playing online and talking) quite helpful, I've barely begun wading through them all. I paid $250 for 6-months, but if it can make me play just a little better, it's obviously more than worth it. If you decide to ever join Cardrunners, put my account "GroovyT" as the member who referred you when signing up, I'd appreciate it!
I'm pretty tired, and it's late, so I'll just give a quick summary of what I've been up to.
Started a few days ago with a UB 5/10 session and scraped together $800. Then, final tabled the Regent re-buy tourney for another $800 CDN. Played a couple sessions at Barca (didn't realize they'd be my last there) and was down $265 CDN total. Followed that with a sweet little PP 5/10 and 10/20 session for $2920. Did a little hit-and-run on Betfair for $590. Made $40 showing my Mom how to play two PP $55 SNGs (she might be a pro in the making). Next, I dropped $520 in a short PP 5/10 session where this happened (this is what I wrote immediately after the hand):
The hand. Why? Gah, why? He obviously has AA and I can't let go of KK. Fucking amateur play by me. This majorly makes me feel like a tool. How obvious do I need it to be to fold KK pre-flop? I was handed the opportunity to get out of this cheap and I screw it up. This is the type of stuff that makes me the most angry: having the opportunity to make an exceptional play and not having the discipline to follow through (though like I said, this is pretty obvious). I'll say it one more time: stupid!
Finally, tonight, I had an interesting Betfair session. I started good taking $1k off a fish in 10/20 heads-up, then another super-passive calling station fish (NIK777 or something like that) sat with $2k against me and proceeded to suck out the ugliest hands against me. I don't have hand histories, but this is one example: I raise KJ, flop KT9, I pot, he calls, turn 8, I almost pot, he calls, river Q (making KT98Q board), I shove all-in he calls with AJ. Must be nice. Before that I also got a little carried away with AK and lost a race versus QQ for my stack. He worked his stack all the way up to $7,200 from the initial $2k. However, I knew I was ridiculously outplaying this fish and tried to keep playing strong. I grinded up to around $3,500 then wavered between $3k-$4k for over an hour, still feeling like I was controlling the match. Eventually, his luck ran dry and I busted his entire stack. Feels good to get unlucky against an idiot, keep plugging away, and score all your money back plus a bit. During that match I also (maybe unwisely) hopped on a 25/50 table with $2k versus a guy I played before. He got me down to $1200, then I ran it back up to $2k again and pulled off a big 3-barrel bluff, and grinded it up to $3,500 after that. Then, I started feeling uncomfortable against this guy and started thinking he wasn't as bad as I thought. As soon as I start getting this feeling, even if I'm up, I just get the hell out of there. I pissed around with 5/10 tables a little and probably lost a few hundred. So, to make a long story short, I booked a nice little $3,900 win on Betfair.
Hopefully I still manage to see many of you around town now that the clubs are gone. We'll see what happens in the weeks ahead...
Anyway, despite the bad news about the local clubs, I've been running alright online still. I also joined cardrunners.com and am finding all their instructional videos (with pros basically just playing online and talking) quite helpful, I've barely begun wading through them all. I paid $250 for 6-months, but if it can make me play just a little better, it's obviously more than worth it. If you decide to ever join Cardrunners, put my account "GroovyT" as the member who referred you when signing up, I'd appreciate it!
I'm pretty tired, and it's late, so I'll just give a quick summary of what I've been up to.
Started a few days ago with a UB 5/10 session and scraped together $800. Then, final tabled the Regent re-buy tourney for another $800 CDN. Played a couple sessions at Barca (didn't realize they'd be my last there) and was down $265 CDN total. Followed that with a sweet little PP 5/10 and 10/20 session for $2920. Did a little hit-and-run on Betfair for $590. Made $40 showing my Mom how to play two PP $55 SNGs (she might be a pro in the making). Next, I dropped $520 in a short PP 5/10 session where this happened (this is what I wrote immediately after the hand):
The hand. Why? Gah, why? He obviously has AA and I can't let go of KK. Fucking amateur play by me. This majorly makes me feel like a tool. How obvious do I need it to be to fold KK pre-flop? I was handed the opportunity to get out of this cheap and I screw it up. This is the type of stuff that makes me the most angry: having the opportunity to make an exceptional play and not having the discipline to follow through (though like I said, this is pretty obvious). I'll say it one more time: stupid!
Finally, tonight, I had an interesting Betfair session. I started good taking $1k off a fish in 10/20 heads-up, then another super-passive calling station fish (NIK777 or something like that) sat with $2k against me and proceeded to suck out the ugliest hands against me. I don't have hand histories, but this is one example: I raise KJ, flop KT9, I pot, he calls, turn 8, I almost pot, he calls, river Q (making KT98Q board), I shove all-in he calls with AJ. Must be nice. Before that I also got a little carried away with AK and lost a race versus QQ for my stack. He worked his stack all the way up to $7,200 from the initial $2k. However, I knew I was ridiculously outplaying this fish and tried to keep playing strong. I grinded up to around $3,500 then wavered between $3k-$4k for over an hour, still feeling like I was controlling the match. Eventually, his luck ran dry and I busted his entire stack. Feels good to get unlucky against an idiot, keep plugging away, and score all your money back plus a bit. During that match I also (maybe unwisely) hopped on a 25/50 table with $2k versus a guy I played before. He got me down to $1200, then I ran it back up to $2k again and pulled off a big 3-barrel bluff, and grinded it up to $3,500 after that. Then, I started feeling uncomfortable against this guy and started thinking he wasn't as bad as I thought. As soon as I start getting this feeling, even if I'm up, I just get the hell out of there. I pissed around with 5/10 tables a little and probably lost a few hundred. So, to make a long story short, I booked a nice little $3,900 win on Betfair.
Hopefully I still manage to see many of you around town now that the clubs are gone. We'll see what happens in the weeks ahead...
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