Sunday, October 23, 2005
You put your bad cards in, you pull the poker chips out...
It's called the suckout, and that's what poker's all about...
At least that's what I feel like lately. And I have been just as guilty of it as the people I've been up against. I don't think I've seen any particularly good hands played but I have seen a whole lot of one and two outers hitting for the people around me.
I got whored out pretty good in the Blogger tourney on PokerStars, but I felt like I played the hand exactly right, so oh well. That's what happens when you go up against a bad player with a lot of chips.
I felt like I owed at least a small blurb and hopefully I'll have something a little more of note for discussion by Tuesday. I'll keep my eyes open for an interesting cash game hand tonight and tourney hand tomorrow.
At least that's what I feel like lately. And I have been just as guilty of it as the people I've been up against. I don't think I've seen any particularly good hands played but I have seen a whole lot of one and two outers hitting for the people around me.
I got whored out pretty good in the Blogger tourney on PokerStars, but I felt like I played the hand exactly right, so oh well. That's what happens when you go up against a bad player with a lot of chips.
I felt like I owed at least a small blurb and hopefully I'll have something a little more of note for discussion by Tuesday. I'll keep my eyes open for an interesting cash game hand tonight and tourney hand tomorrow.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Hand Discussion #1, Continued...
Well, I had hoped for more than 2 comments, but they both get right to the chase of the mistake I made.
The original raiser is a very tight player so his leading right off with a bet sent alarms off in my head. My first reaction was that he had hit a higher set than me, unfortunately I just didn't listen to my gut and smooth called his bet. There was one more caller behind me.
Flop: 9c 8d 5c
Turn: 8c
Dammit! Paired the board... why did you have to pair the board, dealer!?!?!
Raiser leads out for $50 and I still couldn't get the fives out of my hand.
The river was a brick and he ended up having 99 in his hand for a better boat which cost me an additional $87 after the flop to see.
I completely misplayed this hand as I should have raised the flop to figure out where I was at. I still don't know that I wouldn't have called his reraise as I would have had him on either an overpair or a higher set, and I think it's incredibly hard to absolutely give credit for him having a higher set. But the action should have been dictated on the flop and not past it. I got myself pretty much stuck on the turn when I picked up a full house.
It was an $80 lesson in how to play a set with that kind of board, so I suppose I'd rather learn that lesson at these stakes than make the same mistake playing 5/10 NL.
The original raiser is a very tight player so his leading right off with a bet sent alarms off in my head. My first reaction was that he had hit a higher set than me, unfortunately I just didn't listen to my gut and smooth called his bet. There was one more caller behind me.
Flop: 9c 8d 5c
Turn: 8c
Dammit! Paired the board... why did you have to pair the board, dealer!?!?!
Raiser leads out for $50 and I still couldn't get the fives out of my hand.
The river was a brick and he ended up having 99 in his hand for a better boat which cost me an additional $87 after the flop to see.
I completely misplayed this hand as I should have raised the flop to figure out where I was at. I still don't know that I wouldn't have called his reraise as I would have had him on either an overpair or a higher set, and I think it's incredibly hard to absolutely give credit for him having a higher set. But the action should have been dictated on the flop and not past it. I got myself pretty much stuck on the turn when I picked up a full house.
It was an $80 lesson in how to play a set with that kind of board, so I suppose I'd rather learn that lesson at these stakes than make the same mistake playing 5/10 NL.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Hand Discussion #1
NL Hold'em:
You are late position with $170 in front of you.
Game is eight handed, blinds at $.50/$1. One early position raiser ($107 in front of him), generally a tight player; to $5, you look down at pocket fives.
Assuming a smooth call (please comment is you'd do something different), you get two callers behind you (both with stacks comparable to yours) and take a flop of:
9c 8d 5c.
First to act is the original raiser who makes it $15 to go. What do you do?
Will follow up with more of this hand after the first round of discussions. Please chime in...
You are late position with $170 in front of you.
Game is eight handed, blinds at $.50/$1. One early position raiser ($107 in front of him), generally a tight player; to $5, you look down at pocket fives.
Assuming a smooth call (please comment is you'd do something different), you get two callers behind you (both with stacks comparable to yours) and take a flop of:
9c 8d 5c.
First to act is the original raiser who makes it $15 to go. What do you do?
Will follow up with more of this hand after the first round of discussions. Please chime in...
Thursday, October 06, 2005
A decent beginning...
...of the week.
I've been feeling very confident with my game the last couple weeks, even though there has been a dearth of actual playing. Sunday night I popped in to one of the local games and actually had a pretty decent night, racking up a little more than $200 in wins for the night. That game is actually pretty interesting as we play a good mix of games from NL hold'em, NL Omaha Hi and Hi/Lo, $1/2 Stud and Razz. I lost a few big pots in Omaha Hi, which at No Limit is fairly insane, when Matt kept ringing me up with nut flushes to my second nut flushes or set over my set. I did get a measure of revenge when I had rolled up queens in stud to his rolled up tens. That was an action pot all the way to the river.
The next night we played the usual $40 sit-n-go and we were 11 handed. Here are the notable hands:
-Didn't play anything until I got AcJc on the button during the second orbit and I limped in with about six others. The flop came down Jack high with two clubs and checked around to me. I made a 2/3 pot bet and got called in two places. The turn was a brick and checked to me again, this time I bet about 30 and got called by both again. River is another brick, they both check, and I bet 45 this time and only get called by one. Turns out I was up again AJ and KJ, but the other AJ folded and I took down a decent sized pot
-Didn't play much for the next thirty minutes until I got pocket three's and tried to limp in with four other players. The BB was shortstacked and pushed for his remaining T100, he got called by the original raiser and the other three of us folded. Here's how the hands had shaken out:
AK - JJ - 44 - 55 - 33.
The flop came KK4, turn was 5, river was J. That was pretty interesting to watch, I would love to have seen that betting play out differently.
-Got bluffed off a decent hand and was getting shortstacked when I got Ah3h on the button and called with three others with blinds at 5/10 . Flop came with a 7h6h3c and PokerDon made it 75 to go from the BB, I pushed my remaining 131 into the middle and spiked an Ace on the river to make a better two pair than his 67 offsuit.
-Got aggressive and picked up some pots, made some very good reads and then the big hand of the night came when I raised five-handed with two black Aces. Footloose was the chipleader over me by about 80 chips and pushed his whole stack in. My heart rate accelerated to about 200 on that move, and the shortstack also moved in his last 130 in chips and I called. Footloose had Jacks and the shortstack had fours. My Aces held up and I had T1400 of the 2200 in play.
Got heads up pretty quickly with an 1800-400 advantage and was wearing him down with pressure when we got the money in with K4 suited, he had clubs and I had spades. Of course he made his flush but I was able to wear him back down and finally took him out about ten minutes later.
I had had a pretty good feeling about the tourney and was lucky to finally get cards at the end of the tournament instead of the beginning as had been the case as of late. Tonight I will be back at Lucky's to try and earn some more points toward their freeroll.
The next post will be a hand analysis in a few of the different games we've played lately, hopefully to get away from this monotonous crap I've been mostly posting lately.
If there's anything any readers might want to discuss, I'd love to hear about it, maybe generate some worthwhile discussion on here.
I've been feeling very confident with my game the last couple weeks, even though there has been a dearth of actual playing. Sunday night I popped in to one of the local games and actually had a pretty decent night, racking up a little more than $200 in wins for the night. That game is actually pretty interesting as we play a good mix of games from NL hold'em, NL Omaha Hi and Hi/Lo, $1/2 Stud and Razz. I lost a few big pots in Omaha Hi, which at No Limit is fairly insane, when Matt kept ringing me up with nut flushes to my second nut flushes or set over my set. I did get a measure of revenge when I had rolled up queens in stud to his rolled up tens. That was an action pot all the way to the river.
The next night we played the usual $40 sit-n-go and we were 11 handed. Here are the notable hands:
-Didn't play anything until I got AcJc on the button during the second orbit and I limped in with about six others. The flop came down Jack high with two clubs and checked around to me. I made a 2/3 pot bet and got called in two places. The turn was a brick and checked to me again, this time I bet about 30 and got called by both again. River is another brick, they both check, and I bet 45 this time and only get called by one. Turns out I was up again AJ and KJ, but the other AJ folded and I took down a decent sized pot
-Didn't play much for the next thirty minutes until I got pocket three's and tried to limp in with four other players. The BB was shortstacked and pushed for his remaining T100, he got called by the original raiser and the other three of us folded. Here's how the hands had shaken out:
AK - JJ - 44 - 55 - 33.
The flop came KK4, turn was 5, river was J. That was pretty interesting to watch, I would love to have seen that betting play out differently.
-Got bluffed off a decent hand and was getting shortstacked when I got Ah3h on the button and called with three others with blinds at 5/10 . Flop came with a 7h6h3c and PokerDon made it 75 to go from the BB, I pushed my remaining 131 into the middle and spiked an Ace on the river to make a better two pair than his 67 offsuit.
-Got aggressive and picked up some pots, made some very good reads and then the big hand of the night came when I raised five-handed with two black Aces. Footloose was the chipleader over me by about 80 chips and pushed his whole stack in. My heart rate accelerated to about 200 on that move, and the shortstack also moved in his last 130 in chips and I called. Footloose had Jacks and the shortstack had fours. My Aces held up and I had T1400 of the 2200 in play.
Got heads up pretty quickly with an 1800-400 advantage and was wearing him down with pressure when we got the money in with K4 suited, he had clubs and I had spades. Of course he made his flush but I was able to wear him back down and finally took him out about ten minutes later.
I had had a pretty good feeling about the tourney and was lucky to finally get cards at the end of the tournament instead of the beginning as had been the case as of late. Tonight I will be back at Lucky's to try and earn some more points toward their freeroll.
The next post will be a hand analysis in a few of the different games we've played lately, hopefully to get away from this monotonous crap I've been mostly posting lately.
If there's anything any readers might want to discuss, I'd love to hear about it, maybe generate some worthwhile discussion on here.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Hot damn...
Two poker posts in a row.
First, a few housekeeping measures. A big thanks goes out to Professional Poker Player™ Chris Halverson who seems to be sending me the most traffic of late. Also, I signed up for the PokerStars Internet Blogger tourney... it came with the correct price tag. So here's the necessary mojo for that:
Okay, so onto local poker news. I have moved on from playing poor poker to taking horrible runner-runner beats when I'm a 90% favorite in hands. That's a lovely change. After reading PokerGrub's blog, I can at least take a little solace in the fact that I'm not alone.
Tuesday I played one of the local ring games and was a little rusty. Tried playing a little Power Poker, forgetting of course that when you play PowerPoker against people who call with anything, you are up against the PowerPoker kryptonite. But I was at least happy with the fact that my reads were usually on point, even if I ended up on the wrong end of things a few times. Thursday night I went to play in the weekly tournament series at Lucky's. I had come in 23rd out of 56 the week before when I got absolutely no cards. It's become very apparent that if you have at least tripled up by the time you get to level two in this thing, you are in serious trouble. This time I came out on top of my game. I went out on level two when I got my first real hand of the night, pocket Aces. I raised and got called by a girl who had somehow accumulated a lot of chips, but I was new to the table. Flop came Q94 and felt a sense of impending doom. She was first to act and moved me all-in. I called and she turned over J9, spiked another nine on the turn and that was all she wrote for me. I watched a little longer and figured out she had gotten all those chips by bad beating people all night. I'd love her move if I thought for even a minute that she knew she was making a power play. Oh well.
So on Thursday's first hand I get a small suited Ace in the cutoff with five other limpers. Ten high flop checks all the way around so I try and take it down and get one caller. He stays with me to the river and my Ace high takes it over his King-Queen. I bluff the next two pots with draws and still take them down. So in the first three hands I've basically doubled up. At that point James comes over to let me know he's busted out already. The very next hand I get Ace-King in middle position. There's an early position raiser who gets called by the guy sitting next to me. Blinds are 25/50 and she's made it T200. I've played with her a few times now and she's a very solid player (and #1 in the points standings overall) but I sense a little weakness in her hand. I reraise up to T500, she calls and the other guy moves in over the top of that with his last 100 in chips. We both call and the pot is laying at T1875. The flop comes K 4 3 rainbow and I have about T900 remaining so when she checks, I move all-in. I had her on a pair between 77-JJ and after my push she gets out of the way. The other guy turns up QJ offsuit and after she sees my hand she kind of acknowledges she was beat after the flop, so I feel good about my read on her. He proceeds to run out 10-Ace for Broadway and I'm left with my 900 which is about what I started with.
He gets wild and takes down a few more big pots from other people and someone gets moved into the seat on my left, suddenly I'm stuck between two big stacks. For the next two hours I never get my stack above T1400 but manage to duck and weave my way out of trouble until I just miss the final table, going out in 11th. I went out with Ace-Jack versus Ace-five suited, and he hit his five on the flop, picked up his draw on the turn and I never improved. At least I'm accumulating enough points to get into the final freeroll.
I then went over to play some more ring game with the guys and promptly had Aces cracked by pocket tens when I got Richard to move into me and he caught a running Q-9 to make a straight. A few more tough beats and I was busted to the tune of about $175, so I decided I'd had enough. Still happy to be playing generally well, and definitely a marked improvement over my play from August.
Still dealing with some illness in the family and whatnot, so poker has been about the last thing on my list which has contributed to a lack of posting. Hopefully things can get back to normal soon.
That's all for now, I'm sure I'll have something more constructive than bad beats to post soon.
At least I hope...
First, a few housekeeping measures. A big thanks goes out to Professional Poker Player™ Chris Halverson who seems to be sending me the most traffic of late. Also, I signed up for the PokerStars Internet Blogger tourney... it came with the correct price tag. So here's the necessary mojo for that:
I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!
This event is powered by PokerStars.
Registration code: 2058511
Okay, so onto local poker news. I have moved on from playing poor poker to taking horrible runner-runner beats when I'm a 90% favorite in hands. That's a lovely change. After reading PokerGrub's blog, I can at least take a little solace in the fact that I'm not alone.
Tuesday I played one of the local ring games and was a little rusty. Tried playing a little Power Poker, forgetting of course that when you play PowerPoker against people who call with anything, you are up against the PowerPoker kryptonite. But I was at least happy with the fact that my reads were usually on point, even if I ended up on the wrong end of things a few times. Thursday night I went to play in the weekly tournament series at Lucky's. I had come in 23rd out of 56 the week before when I got absolutely no cards. It's become very apparent that if you have at least tripled up by the time you get to level two in this thing, you are in serious trouble. This time I came out on top of my game. I went out on level two when I got my first real hand of the night, pocket Aces. I raised and got called by a girl who had somehow accumulated a lot of chips, but I was new to the table. Flop came Q94 and felt a sense of impending doom. She was first to act and moved me all-in. I called and she turned over J9, spiked another nine on the turn and that was all she wrote for me. I watched a little longer and figured out she had gotten all those chips by bad beating people all night. I'd love her move if I thought for even a minute that she knew she was making a power play. Oh well.
So on Thursday's first hand I get a small suited Ace in the cutoff with five other limpers. Ten high flop checks all the way around so I try and take it down and get one caller. He stays with me to the river and my Ace high takes it over his King-Queen. I bluff the next two pots with draws and still take them down. So in the first three hands I've basically doubled up. At that point James comes over to let me know he's busted out already. The very next hand I get Ace-King in middle position. There's an early position raiser who gets called by the guy sitting next to me. Blinds are 25/50 and she's made it T200. I've played with her a few times now and she's a very solid player (and #1 in the points standings overall) but I sense a little weakness in her hand. I reraise up to T500, she calls and the other guy moves in over the top of that with his last 100 in chips. We both call and the pot is laying at T1875. The flop comes K 4 3 rainbow and I have about T900 remaining so when she checks, I move all-in. I had her on a pair between 77-JJ and after my push she gets out of the way. The other guy turns up QJ offsuit and after she sees my hand she kind of acknowledges she was beat after the flop, so I feel good about my read on her. He proceeds to run out 10-Ace for Broadway and I'm left with my 900 which is about what I started with.
He gets wild and takes down a few more big pots from other people and someone gets moved into the seat on my left, suddenly I'm stuck between two big stacks. For the next two hours I never get my stack above T1400 but manage to duck and weave my way out of trouble until I just miss the final table, going out in 11th. I went out with Ace-Jack versus Ace-five suited, and he hit his five on the flop, picked up his draw on the turn and I never improved. At least I'm accumulating enough points to get into the final freeroll.
I then went over to play some more ring game with the guys and promptly had Aces cracked by pocket tens when I got Richard to move into me and he caught a running Q-9 to make a straight. A few more tough beats and I was busted to the tune of about $175, so I decided I'd had enough. Still happy to be playing generally well, and definitely a marked improvement over my play from August.
Still dealing with some illness in the family and whatnot, so poker has been about the last thing on my list which has contributed to a lack of posting. Hopefully things can get back to normal soon.
That's all for now, I'm sure I'll have something more constructive than bad beats to post soon.
At least I hope...
