Thursday, August 31, 2006

I Hit The Wrong Button

Hit the Wednesday live game with Kat and Guin last night. Didn't last too long in the tourney, but I liked my play. I upped the aggressiveness a bit, but not enough to kill me on stupidity. Didn't get much in the way of hands, and at the end I raised all-in pre-flop with QJc in LP with two limpers ahead of me. Turns out one of them was limping with ladies... that did it for me. I regret nothing, I had to make a move before my stack was too small to be intimidating, and there was already one or two players who were developing bully-size stacks at the table.

So, with me out, a cash table was able to be started. I sat down and quickly took control. We were 5 or 6-handed, which is ideal for me. I also happened to be the only one who went for the max buy-in ($200, 1/2 NLHE). Beat up on a few guys when I had solid hands. Stole one okay pot from the short-stack... and when we moved to the main room about 20min in, I had almost doubled my starting stack.

We sat down at the new table, and I kept the pressure on while the numbers (and cards) were in my favour. Took down a huge pot when I had the nut straight and the calling station across the table couldn't figure it out (solid player actually, more on him later). Sucked out on one poor guy when his slow-played trips ran into my rivered full boat (he got sucked out of the tournament, and after I took all his chips here, he bought back in to get sucked out on again... then he left.) Then I took out the guy who knocked me out of the tournament. I flopped top pair (9's), and turned the set. I put out decent-sized (but not scary) bets that he kept calling, until he tried to bluff on the river with an all-in that I insta-called. His missed straight draw obviously wasn't enough. I told him that's what happens when you knock me out. (It's been a couple days of revenge play for me).

So at this point I'm up $360 in the cash game, and it's still early. The table is filling up though, so I tighten up a bit. I'm still willing to pay nominal amounts to see the flop if I have a hand I like, but I'm not chasing nearly as much. Not too long after comes my favourite hand of the night. Kat and Guin had sat down next to me by this point, and the mood at the table was good (or maybe I was just seeing the world through rose-coloured chips). I see 23s in my hand, and end up seeing the flop (honestly can't remember if I limped, raised, or called a small raise). Flop comes Ts-3d-xs. I bet, and get a call. Kd falls on the turn, check, check. Tc on the river, I check, and then get raised $17 (let's call it about 1/3 of the pot). I go into the tank. Board has two Tens, a King, and two failed flush draws on it. I have another 3 in my hand. I finally decide the guy is stealing after his flush failed and call. He flips over an A-high spade draw, and I take it down with my 3's. The stack was nice to get, but the respect the call got was better. Helped change my "lucky guy on the river" image I'd somehow received (from 2 rivered wins on hands that were decent to begin with).

I suppose I should also mention this hand against Guin. I'm sitting two down from him, and have QsJc in EP. I put out a small raise, and he raises bigger. I'm the only caller. I give him a wave. Flop comes TcQcKc. Uh-oh Guin, someone has an open-ended Straight/Royal Flush draw and middle-pair. I check, as does he. 9c comes on the turn and I somehow manage to keep a straight face. I check, as does he. 7s on the river, and I ask him how his Ac is doing. I bet a decent, but not scary, bet, and he quickly folds. I show my Jc... and then the Q just cuz.

After that, not much in the way of hands. I got weaker as the night went on. Par example (French for "for example"): I get AKs in the BB, raise all the limpers and get 4 callers. Flops missed me (let's call it 3-5-7). It checks all around, Q on the turn. Checks to the guy behind me who puts in a small bet. I'm the only caller. River is junk. Bet of $14. Not a big bet really, but I stop to think for awhile anyway. I stare at the board, and figure there's no way he has 64 to fill out the straight... I also don't think he has the Q. I put him on the 5, or MAYBE the 7, but can't discount the possibility of a missed draw of some sort. My stack is still the biggest, $14 won't make much of a dent, and I want to know, so I call. Sure enough, he flips over 45o (why he called the initial raise I don't know). So at least I know my read was right. In hindsight, I should have raised him big. I had an image of either a solid player or a riverstar, depending who was doing the thinking, and he had a low pair and a failed straight. A re-raise to $50 would have probably have been enough to win it... don't know why I didn't take the stab.

Now we go back to that guy I called a calling station earlier. He's been there every time I have, and I can safely assume he's a regular. He loves to play his draws, and he'll bet big at anything scary on the board if he senses weakness. He seems to have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to big hands that are in the middle though (ie.- two pair, sets, non-painted straights, etc.). He also likes to slowplay his big hands, unless he's challenged. In fact, I had a discussion about him with another player earlier in the night as we watched him win with Aces full of Kings. He's got an interesting image at the table... he's got respect, but not "respect" (ie.- people know he's good, but they also play him as a bluffer).

I committed the cardinal sin of poker when I was against him. I overplayed top pair. Which is something I almost NEVER do... but I'd gone and gotten cocky (Kat says I was smug when she sat down... I was just having fun... here, 15 min before I was calling it a night, I got smug). I have KTo in my hand, small raise pre-flop with some limpers behind. This gets 4 calls. Flop comes 8-K-4. I bet $15, and our good friend "calls because it's cheap". This set off some distant alarm bells in my head... but I put him on a K, unsure about his kicker. 4 on the turn... and I check, as does he. Bells still going, I'm still thinking K, but am wary of the 4... not sure if the check was a tactic or because he thought *I* had the set. I believe the flop may have filled out a flush draw, but it was runner-runner if it did, so I know he doesn't have it. I bet $20, and he thinks briefly and re-raises another $50. Damn. I open the door of the tank and stroll on in. I have top pair, with at best an okay kicker. The guy I'm playing against could have just about anything. I stare at the board... and think he maybe has the 4. MAYBE K4... but I highly doubt the flush. The thought crosses my mind "I shouldn't call this." Which of course gets that devil on my shoulder going "call! you're unbeatable! he's got K-CRAP!" I should listen to myself, and not my devil. I idiotically call... and he flips over pocket 8's for the full boat I didn't see coming. So that's around $100 I didn't really want anyway.. yah, that's it.

Squat for the next few hands and the button lands in front of me, signalling my last hand for the night. (which should have been one orbit earlier, when I was richer). AJo in front of me. I raise, get some calls, and the flop comes T-K-x. Checks around to me and I check with the comment of "I'll let everyone get a free card." J on the turn, checks around to me again, and I bet out $20 and say "but only once." Everyone folds and I take down a medium-sized pot to end my night up $105 on the cash game... or $65 overall for the night... amazing how quickly I donked off that huge stack. I imagine I also tipped around $50 to the dealers throughout the night, so that's got to be good for my karma, right?

Regardless, it was the most fun I've had at this game so far... obviously, and it looks like my roll is continuing. Almost a shame I'm not playing tonight. I was seriously tempted to walk away after 30 min of playing, and again after an hour, so as to keep my winnings... but I was just short of covering all my losses at the club and wanted to get that done. I should learn not to set goals in poker... I never reach them :). Still, walking out ahead, even if it was $260 or so below my high of the night, is a good feeling.

-----------------

I get the feeling my list of poker sites is going to grow soon. Currently I'm on Stars and Full Contact Poker regularly, with an account on Absolute that I used to bonus whore. I've got a $50 free, no strings attached offer for another site, and Full Tilt seems to be the place to be these days. With the Tanner Evers Tournament coming up next week on Tilt, and the Mookie moving there, it seems like a good time to join. Coincidentally enough, I started playing real money online poker for a charity tournament. Guess I could TRY for the bonus-whoring method while I'm at it, but FT's requirements seem a bit stiff.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Fire at Wil

WWdN tonight. Was feeling good last night at the Hoy... feeling good going into tonight too. Let's take a walk down memory lane. As usual, I apologize for no hand shots... I always forget to take them until it's too late.


Knocked out Maudie early on (2nd hand actually, my A8 two pair beat her AJ), which gave me 1st. This was 40min in, still there.


At the break.

I Was fighting with GRobman for 1st until I knocked him out when he ran his pocket 7's into my pocket Aces, and another A hit the flop to make sure. That made things a bit more authoritative.

I'd also crippled Sires earlier. First I flopped trip queens to his slow-played Aces. Then the next hand, my 65c turned a straight to beat his pocket 8's. I felt kinda bad.

Anyway, shortly after busting G-Rob, I was moved to the TV Table (Wil, Guinness, Loud, and a host of others). Here I was chided ever-so-gently. Wil was kind enough to nominate me to double him up... so he then went all-in with his KQo on a T-high flop when I had a nut flush draw. I got the A on the turn, and the flush on the river... meaning that next week:



So to continue my gloating. I was back and forth between 1st and 2nd for the bulk of the rest of the tourney. NewinNov at some point decided to start accusing me of bullying and stealing blinds. Perhaps he shall become my nemesis. I need one of those. If only he could see my hands. Poket pairs, lots of paint... not that he'd believe me ;).

Things started getting tight as we were coming up to the final table.


I held fast, moving up and down among the top 4, and got to the final four:



Let's say that getting there took a while... but getting to 3 took even longer, with the lead moving all around the table. When I got to heads-up with TransFish, we hit the 3rd break.



Heads-up was a disaster that didn't last too long. I don't know what she had against my A5d that I got on the first hand, but she raised all-in, and I just wasn't ready to go to war with that yet. That put Trans in the lead and she kept it. She'd call or raise my draws, and fold to my pockets. It finally came down to me having KQo when I was short, and going all-in into her pair of sixes. They held up.



What can I say? I think I played solidly, folded when I needed to, called at the right times, had the cards I needed when I needed them, and dominated for most of the tourney. It's my best WWdN finish to date, AND I get next week's named after me. All-in-all... pretty sweet. Congrats to TransFish for the win, it was well-deserved. As I said, I felt good last night, I felt good tonight, and it's nice to cash again and see my bankroll go up for a change. Staves off the next reload at least ;)

Forgive the gloating from a second-place finisher, but you take what you can get :).

Methinks I'll be missing the Mookie tomorrow night to play live with Kat, and maybe Guin if he shows up. The Donk2Shark looks interesting on Thursday, but I think I'll actually go play some games with flesh-and-blood friends that night instead. Maybe next week.

Astin out.

Whoops

Well... I wasn't PLANNING on playing in the Hoy last night. Nooooo! I was going to go to bed early. Foolish mortal, what made me think I could escape the neon clutches of Gamblor, the gambling monster?

Went out in some horrible position, which is a shame, because I felt ON. Held 1st for a good chunk of the 1st hour, and then found pocket Jacks. These were overpairs to the flop, the turn, and the river. There was a straight draw when the river hit, but I'd been betting the whole way, so I knew my opponent didn't have the straight. Turns out he WAS playing his draw, did NOT hit, but DID get his two pair on the turn and river. Crippled me. A few hands later I was all-in with ATd, A hit the flop, and the after the turn and river there were 4 clubs on the board, so the guy with the 7c knocked me out. Tres sucky, as the French say.

Played some cash on FCP as I watched the Hoy in the background. Left that game when I jumped into a 18-player $5 SnG with the newly returned Kat. Finished 5th when the top 4 paid. I regret nothing... except folding my K7o to a 3x BB raise when I was short stacked, because 2 7's hit the flop. But that's results-based anger, not decision-based. Fired up an FCP cash game again while I watched Kat finish in 2nd, and then called it a night... down about $60 on the night. These extended loss streaks can make one question whether slowly becoming a degenerate gambler is a good idea.

-------------

I was reading Hoy's blog. He talks about the Poker books he's found helpful, and it just drove home how lazy I truly am. I have a shelf full of poker books... off the top of my head:

Harrington Vol I and II, Theory of Poker, Caro's Tells, Hellmuth's Play Poker Like the Pros, Lee Jones' Winning Low-Limit Hold 'em, Gordon's Little Green Book, and maybe a couple others. I have DoubleA's Pressure Poker on order after all the endless blogger recommendations, and I keep thinking I should pick up Super System (I or II) sometime... you know how many I've read cover-to-cover? None.

You know how many I've OPENED? Two. Sure, the stack is intimidating to any friends who see it just before a home game, but their knowledge is still trapped within their pages. What little I DO know is mostly picked up from playing, reading blogs, and running certain hands through odds calculators.

Why? Because these books are treated by me the same as any text books I've had to read. I've always been a terrible studier. Throughout school (especially University), my semesters would go like this: Do work that needs to be done, take notes in class, and just before the exam, crack open the text book and read it all the night before. This worked suprisingly well, and was often accompanied by me slapping my forehead and asking "WHY DIDN'T I DO THIS EARLIER?" As an Engineer, this wasn't the best way to spend a night... hundreds of pages of Calculus isn't exactly light reading.

So I guess I need some sort of poker exam. Maybe plan a trip to Vegas and force myself to study up before going. I mean, I'd read all those books NOW, but I'm too busy playing poker.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Crash and Singe

Played in the Hoy last night. Final tabled again (20 players), but went out 9th. I had 1st for a while, but a move I made that failed to come through (raise an uncalled pot with 86s, followed by an all-in that I HAD to call based on odds, and everything BUT the 7 falls on the board), started my downward spiral. Oh, I was still strong at that point, but my cards started dying and my draws weren't hitting. I don't think I did much wrong, just the luck o' the draw.

Then for some reason I decided to throw $40 into a ring game. Watched my stack slowly drop, then got it all back in a couple hands, and then donked it away when I should have gone to bed. I really need to work on walking away. Or maybe just not play cash on Stars, and stick to Absolute and FCP. Regardless, my roll is down again. Going to have to reload for the WWdN tonight.

Also played in the Moneymaker for the 3rd time. This time I just sat out for the first level, since it's a donk-fest for the first hour anyway. By the time I sat down (about 20 min in) 3,000 people had already gone out. That's nuts. Apparently though, all my cards came before I sat in (started with QQ, got Aces later on, all before I sat down). I went out about 30 minutes later when my AQ suited failed to improve against 66... another 1,000 were gone. Next time I play, I think I'll try the donkey-method... it's only 10 FPP after all.

I've decided that I really need to figure out how the hell to play a cash game. Tournament-wise I'm not terrible, but my cash game sucks, and as anyone will tell you, the real money's in them.

See you at the WWdN tonight.

Monday, August 21, 2006

And Now For Something Completely Different

Let's try this out - a post that's not about poker. What to write about though? Since I leave my personal life out of this, that limits things. So I may as well write about.... SNAKES ON A PLANE!

Yah, me and the rest of the world. Like I've said in the past, I'm crazy original that way.

So I, like many, have been aware of this cinematic tour de force for a while. I knew the stories about the title, Samuel L. Jackson, and all that other stuff before it hit the mainstream media. I mean, I LOVE so-bad-they're-good movies, how could I not know? My only fear was that my expectations were too high.

I'm happy to report that no, they were not. The movie delivered in spades. Over-the-top scenes, dialogue meant to make the audience cheer, a bit of gore and some cheesiness... they were all present and accounted for. What really and truly made it though was the audience participation. The hisses from the crowd when the titles came up, and whenever the movie wasn't moving at the right pace (ie.- touching, human moments... or tense ones... or boring ones); the shouted lines of commentary ("Get on the plane!"); the rubber snakes thrown in the audience; it was all good. This is a movie destined to follow in the footsteps of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. True, there aren't nearly as many costumes to choose from, but there could be an entire script's worth of bon mots and question-response lines to be added by the audience. Many a drinking game will also be played I'm sure.

The most unexepted part though? That it wasn't actually THAT bad. There were one or two legitimate "jump" moments when you got surprised. The acting, while not great, was far better than most B movies you'll ever see. There were jumps in logic, but the movie plowed through them so they didn't destroy suspension of disbelief. To be fair, there were even some scenes that were smart, and made you think "Right! Of course! I can't believe I didn't think of that." It was fun, and I hope it does well.

It'll be in my DVD collection when it comes out. Right there with Death Race 2000, Return of the Living Dead, Revenge of the Killer Tomatoes, I'm Gonna Git U Sucka, and all the Evil Dead movies. Now if I could only find Nice Girls Don't Explode....

Thursday, August 17, 2006

That just seems so close to how I've felt on the tables recently... if I'm not thinking it about someone else :)

Hit the local live game again tonight. Was card dead for most of the tournament. I think I saw one showdown (when I went all-in short-stacked), and maybe won 1 or 2 hands before that. The end to that came when my AKd ran into AJo... I knew I was dead. A on the flop, J on the turn... K nowhere to be found. Just the way my luck's been running in these things. At least it wasn't Guin who knocked me out. He went out before I did, and we never got a chance to play eachother.

He did, however, give me his seat in the cash game when he took off early. Put my $200 in, and played for the next 4 hours (about 2 1/2 hours longer than I'd planned.. whoops). Never saw $200 again, and ended up going home empty-handed when this happened:

I get dealt snowmen in LP, raise to $15 (1/2 NL, unraised pot, loose-aggressive table). Two callers. Flop comes 656 rainbow, right of me bets $10, I call, so does the 3rd guy. Turn comes 5, putting two pair on the board, and a couple possible boats. I know nobody has 'em because despite the LAGiness of the table, a $15 pre-flop is enough to scare off the crap. I bet $20... fold... and the question "How much you have there?" I get put all-in, and I call.

He flips over AKo. Someone calls the suckout (note: calls it, doesn't call FOR it), and the K hits on the river, sending me home far past my bedtime. FYI:

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=1910661
pokenum -h 8s 8d - ah kc -- 6h 5d 6c 5h
Holdem Hi: 44 enumerated boards containing 6c 5d 6h 5h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
8s 8d 38 86.36 6 13.64 0 0.00 0.864
Kc Ah 6 13.64 38 86.36 0 0.00 0.136


It's all decision-based, right? Screw the results if you make the right decision. Still is teh sux.

Even though I lost, I left confident. Tired, but confident. This is a generally loose-aggressive group, with a range of abilities, too much money, and over-confidence. The two table captains weren't nearly as solid as they pretended to be, and nobody was able to get a read on me all night. I'd have pockets, they'd think I was drawing or coming in with A-high. I stayed quiet and in the corner, and nobody had any clue what I'd been playing, even though I'd fold limps to raises, and only saw a river if I had a hand. I think the ONE time I went to the river with a pair of 3's, and my esteemed opponent turned over a turned J, labelled me as weak-passive. No need anybody needed to know that 3 had a suited A behind it with 2 suited cards on the board. All-in-all, I'll cash big eventually, I just need some time to finish reading everyone... and some cards.

I SHOULD have left at by midnight, if not earlier... and the poker gods were letting me know by a variety of means:

(a) Not giving me any cards
(b) The odd occasion I got cards, missing the flop entirely
(c) Winning only a couple times, to bring me CLOSE, but not to my starting stack... just a test to see if I would leave with a not terrible loss.
(d) Sitting Mr. B.O. on my left around 11:30. Yah, it's summer.. but is it so hard to apply a little deodorant before coming out?
(e) Sitting the drunk & stoned guy who had no clue what was going on on my right not too long after. Almost every hand "$2 to call? Somebody raised? No? What's the blinds? I'm going all-in..." with an eventual fold. Or folding pre-flop, and then showing his Ace to the table so we'd be impressed he folded A-junk with a family pot, and THEN arguing with the dealer that it wasn't bad etiquette, because he's read books on etiquette. Or my favourite, with two big raises pre-flop, and much deliberation on his part, and the second raiser TELLING him he has Queens, calling... followed by a flop with a Q, and then eventually going all-in with QTo. Kudos to the dealers for not throttling the guy even though he'd forget to tip, would put his beer on the felt, and held up the game. I can take LAGs, I can take assholes who are full of themselves and their mad poker skillz, but I have a hard time with people who take forever on EVERY. SINGLE. HAND. Especially when they're in no state to be playing.

Anyway, had fun, made the right decisions most of the time, but rarely with the right results. I'll be back.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Seems my place to finish in these massive things... mid 300's. Gotta work on that.

DQB

Absolute gives me these.. yet I keep losing money? I must really, and truly suck.

Friday, August 11, 2006

+EV

Yes, that's a link up there.

Ain't nothing Finer...

Than knocking an ass-monkey off your table. Missed the WWdN - Not by about 15 min last night, so I jumped onto Absolute to continue my bonus-whoring (halfway there after a rake-filled game last night). Plunked down at the $0.50/$1 NLHE table and decided to play loose-passive pre-flop (since tight-passive and tight-aggressive weren't working with the particular type of player at these levels). Post-flop I tightened up.

Anyway, up and down cash-wise, until some tool sits down with a good stack (>$100.. maybe $200?). Let me break down his play style:

Pre-flop: occassionally limp, more often min-raise, and fold to any big bets (but there were none, everyone was limping last night).

Flop: Call or put out small ($3) bets. On the odd occasion, min-raise a bet.

Turn: Check, or possibly bet $1. Call really small bets, fold to larger ones.

River: Check-raise, or if in postion, raise. The raise was always large ($25-$60). Usually more than the pot, or enough to put his opponents all-in.

Oh.. and lest I forget - HE WOULD WAIT UNTIL HIS TIME WAS ALMOST OVER. I'm not positive what the limit is on Absolute, but it's between 30 and 60 seconds, and he'd do this on EVERY. SINGLE. CARD.

He scared me off a big pot when I had 2 pair (Qs and Js), with the K on the board, when the A hit the river. A 10 wasn't out of the realm of possibility, and I'd have been out. Actually, I was going to call him based on what I'd seen so far, but my time ran out as I agonized over the decision.

He was pissing off the whole table, and once I finally clued in he almost never had anything, I went to town. I beat him for a $90 pot with a pair of nines (not pocket) against his K high when a straight draw and a flush draw were on board. This put me ahead of him chip-wise, so he was toast after that. Scared him off a pot when I had a straight, and then baited him into his usual style when I had 2 pair and knocked him off to cheers from the otherwise silent table.

So, with the deposit bonuses I've received so far and last night's visit by Mr. ATM, I'm now up about 44% on Absolute. Much better than being down a ton.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Against my better judgement, I played in the Mookie last night (signed up as seats were being doled out). 45 entrants, top 5 paid. I went out 15th I think, my Jacks, strangely enough, didn't hold up against Kaellin's Hilton Sisters. I'm not afraid to let Jacks (or anything else for that matter) go, but I thought I was good with the overpair after the flop. Silly wabbit.

I then got rid of the last of the donor money in a $1.50 Turbo... standard story there.

Then I decided to pick up the pace on my bonus whoring at Absolute. Blew through the last of my initial bank, and then reloaded and joined a $0.50/$1 NLHE cash game. Ups and downs, but in the end I gave away my $40. I've obviously lost more than whatever bonuses I would gain. Highlight of the night was of course the Royal you see below, although I only won about a $23 pot on it. The low was when my all-in Queens met another guy's Eights, and the flop came down 8x8 in record time (seriously, it's like they all dropped at once). I'm still sore.

I'd love to get into a tourney on Absolute... once I get my raked hands done, then I'll be in there.

Further coincidences:

I've "re-met" Kat through the blogger tourneys, and discovering that we were on the same talker many, many moons ago. From there I met Guin, and we all met to play live in Toronto. Here, I find out Guin knows the guy who sits next to me at work. Today, another guy at works walks up to the guy next to me and says, "I was playing poker last night, and this guy said he knew you guys." "Oh, you mean (Guin)?" "Yah!". While I was playing the Mookie, Guin was down the road meeting more co-workers of mine. Soon, he'll have all our money.

You always remember your first time...

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

How to turn $10 into $1.70

I took Kat's advice with the $10 I found donated in my Stars account and played a bunch of $1 SnG's (and a couple $1.50 Turbos), and played them ultra-aggressively. It was fold or raise... calls or checks were only to be used when trapping. I learned a few things.

- When my thought-process shifted to ultra-aggressive, it forgot to bring along hand selection. Suddenly everything but absolute crap looked playable as long as nobody was in before me.
- Raise-or-fold works to a degree, but I had to add checking when out of position or in the BB with crap to the list. I was throwing away too much by betting post-flop with nothing, and getting called all the way down. It did no good for my table image.

That said, I wasn't doing too badly. I wasn't winning anything mind you, but I was dominating the tables I was at. Even though the majority of the $1 players are either new, or weak-aggressive, they clued in that I was making it unprofitable for them to play against me. Especially after I won a few hands with things like flushes or sets vs their small pairs. It was more often than not a "why are you calling my pot-sized bet with that crap?" that would take me down.

So then I tightened up my hands. Still looser than I'd normally play, but not in the "K3o in the BB is a good hand" mode. Watching boards come and go that my folded hole cards would have hit became routine, but when I was in, more often than not I was killing. Again though, the suckouts would kill me.

Which brings me to a point. I haven't played in a $1 in months... and I'm amazed at how far my game has come since I started. I used to be that guy that thought any two suited cards was great. I lived and died by the suckout. Now, I look at these players and hope only for the best for them. I saw maybe two players in the 5 or 6 games I've played that had any idea what they were doing. The rest might as well have been playing roulette with the game they were playing. Unfortunately for me, sometimes you actually win in roulette.

I've also seen that as far as I've come, I've still got a ways to go. I've turned up the agression in the last couple months, and luckily have had the hands to be aggressive with. That said, I've found some holes in my game that I intend to address. At least one of them I've been trying to deal with for a couple weeks, but have yet to fall into the habit of patching it.

But it's been fun, and I have enough for one more $1 SnG... then I'll have $0.50 to blow somewhere. Wish me luck.

Wheaton and Godard

Played in the WWdN last night. No, I didn't turn my $10 into enough for buy-ins, I added $100 to my account. As usual, had fun, played decently... and was the bubble boy, going out 10th. To be honest, I don't remember the hand that crippled me... there might not have even been one. I *THINK* I just had a case of having to walk away from flops and the blinds going up as my chips went down. Regardless, called Garth's all-in with KJo and an M of maybe 2 if I was lucky. Turns out it was a coinflip against his medium pocket pair. Figured when I put it all in that I was either going to suck out or make 9 other people happy. It's a good feeling to be so giving ;).

Enough of that. I picked up this baby on Monday. I first saw Michael Godard's art when I was in Key West a few years back. I loved it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any prints of his in Toronto. Then, last week while walking in Yorkville, I came across the gallery that previous link goes to. It happened to be open on Monday, and I walked in to find the largest collection of Godard in Canada. While I didn't feel like dropping $1200 on a limited edition print to put on my wall, the poker set was too awesome to pass up (especially when they offered it with no tax). I imagine I'll be getting the glasses and coasters at some point in the future too. For the gamblers, I highly recommend you take a look.

Friday, August 04, 2006

A New Beginning

A couple days ago I decided I was going to lose the last $60 in my Poker Stars account. Why? Because I'd completely lost track of how much money I'd put into the thing. It's definitely more than I'd like. I also wanted to see what my play would be like if I wasn't actually trying to win. Well.. it wasn't pretty.

Went out 14th in the WWdN - Not (congrats Slb and Kat). Not from bad play, per se... no cards to raise with, and outflopped when I did. I only partly remember one hand... the one that took me out.

I had some crap hand I either limped or raised with in a blatent steal attempt. T8o (maybe suited) I think. Flop came KJx... one heart. Bet.. call. Turn is where the 9 fell. Check.. check. Qh hits the river. Yay me! Straight! But wait.. flush draw on the board.

My thoughts: Naw... doesn't have the flush. No way he calls my bet on the flop with two hearts. Has a pair, maybe two. I totally have him beat. Well... I was right, he had two pair. King and Jacks... hearts. Sonofabitch, totally didn't see that coming. Was the hand that well hidden, or am I just a complete donkey? Wait, don't answer that.

Anyway, then to the cash game, against my better judgement. Won back my WWdN - Not buy-in, and then promptly gave it away. Then decided to dump my last $19.70 into the game and donk that off.

Then a donor who shall remain anonymous had to go and put cash into my account. There it sits still. An appreciated, but completely unnecessary, donation. I decided this morning though, that I shall, in fact, use it. I just have to figure out how. Since it isn't my money, I shall have to play well with it. Do I use it on a blogger tourney? No, those are -EV. Do I dump it in a SnG? Perhaps. It definitely won't be in a cash game. I'm leaning towards $1 SnGs. I SHOULD be able to do well in them... if I avoid les artistes de river. One thing's for sure, I shall play each dollar as if it was my last.

You see, I wanted to drop to $0 for a reason. I plan to now keep track of my Stars progress. Bankroll, w/l record... maybe I'll even give some of that tracking software a try and see how horribly I'm really playing (I think I'm too tight, and not aggressive enough). Now if I go and do it with someone else's hard-earned cash, I have added incentive to stick to it.

All that being said, I still have a healthy amount sitting in my FCP account... I should really play there more, even if I don't like the Pokerroom software. I do fairly well there, and the competition is good and keeps me on my toes. Plus, the smaller fields tend to work to my advantage (final position in the 7,000+ WSOP qualifier not withstanding).

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Played live with Katitude and Guin. Good eggs both of course. Had a blast, but next time I've got to bring some game. Was card dead for most of the night. I think I got to make one move the whole night, and didn't see too many hands I could do anything with. To top off the tourney, Guin just HAD to suck out on me twice. However, as I always hope, he put my chips to good use and won the tournament. Way to go Guin!

The cash game after was a tough. Between further card death and uber-aggressive loose players, I couldn't do much. At least I had Kat next to me to talk to. Speaking of whom, while she was out first from the tourney, she ended up up for the night after the cash game wrapped up . Yay Kat!

Anyway, I'm up for more. Guess I should up the agressiveness a bit and increase the bankroll. Thanks for the fun night guys.

Like chocolate in my peanut butter, or perhaps, like peanut butter in my chocolate, I present a combination of things I like. Origami + Cards + Money = The 3-card monte wallet!

Really simple to make, and creative commons licensed.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Images don't seem to want to upload. So I'll keep this short and sweet.

MATH

2nd at 1st break
Then 1st... held onto for a while (until 5 left)
Then 1st bounces around between me and everyone else until 4 left.
2nd in chips.

- Dealt AJo on the button. Raise 3x BB. CC Hoys it. I call. AT3 rainbow hit. CC puts in his last 2 chips. I call. CC flips Cowboys, I'm ahead. Get the "gg" of death though. Q on the turn. J on the river. CC wins with his straight over my two pair.
- 3 hands later, I call an all-in I have covered with KQo. CC shows TT. 77T hits the flop. I'm crippled.
- 3 more hands later, I call a raise from BobRespert/Bobby Bracelet that puts me all-in in the BB (with 200 chips left). Q8o. SB shows Q5o. AQQ flop. 5 Turn. T river. I'm out 4th. Yay bubbleboy!

Tourney went quick after that. CC continued his best CJ impression somehow and luckboxed like mad (and, I suppose, outplayed everyone). He got a well-deserved 1st place in a tourney he decided to play because the WSOP day 1D was on dinner break. I shouldn't have made the crack at him at the beginning about him leaving soon to get back to writing. Stupid Karma. Wait... I'm sorry karma, I didn't mean it. Nice karma... pretty karma... crap. At least my chips were put to good use.

Ah well, I had fun as usual. My showing wasn't anything to be ashamed of. But my roll could have used the infusion a bit. WSOP qualifiers cost me a pretty penny the last few months. Not that I can't refill, but I hate seeing money go out faster than it comes in.

WWDN tomorrow? Perhaps.

*Edit: Just looking back at the past couple weeks. I give full credit to the fact the WSOP is going on so the field is thinned, but I believe I've had 5 final table appearances in 8 blogger tourneys... not too shabby (although to be fair, the WWdN - Not from last week shouldn't count) . 3 for 3 for the MATH if I'm right (1st, 5th, 4th). Now if I could just turn these into more money...