Off to Vegas?

Maybe, it's a huge SNAFU, it seems like to get anything organized with gamboolers, who live by the moment with no penchant for advanced planning of any kind. Hopefully I will be on the road within the hour. Thanks to my mother-in-law for visiting and my understanding wife for giving me a 72 hour junket.

Happy Holidays

It's that time of the year again. Things have slowed down at work fortunately this year. Looks like we are going to be able to sample our part to customers without any issue meeting our targeted December 2010 commercial sample release date. We have two tape outs early next year, which means things will be getting interesting/busy early next year.

I got a promotion at work to being officially a manager, even though I have been doing technical management and project management for a quite a while now. But now I have people officially reporting to me, and I get to see/write their reviews, see how much they make, etc, etc. Weird stuff.

On the work front, I also had one of my guys working on my project resign because he was not performing up to par, was on a performance improvement plan, and wasn't meeting expectations and was on the road to involuntary termination. I have certainly had better days in my life, and I question whether or not there was more I could do as leader/mentor/coach to help him. But I suppose there's only so much I can do, before it really becomes his responsibility. But still, it is tough, particularly with the holidays and the job market so tough. In some ways I feel like I failed, and failure is always tough to swallow.

Picked my mother-in-law and nephew up from the airport today. They will be staying with us until New Years Eve. My kids and my nephew get along great and they play really well, and my wife loves it since they are so preoccupied with each other, she doesn't really have to do anything, except make sure that they are not doing anything to kill themselves.

I got out and played last night. I never got an opportunity to play the 20/40. I haven't played on Tuesday evenings for a while and I forgot that Tuesdays are Alan nights at Oceans. The board was deep and nobody was moving. The 20 game was one of the better games I have seen in a long time. Instead I played 8/16 and ran like god, and won 4.5 racks in 4 hours. Plus I got an extra $40 for offering to roll my name on the 20/40 list so that the next name on the list, who happened to be sitting to my right, could take the game sooner. This transaction took place around 10pm, and since I knew that the list wasn't going to move, and I was planning on leaving at around midnight, it was a good move on my part. I collected the $40, and at around 11:45pm, his name got called. The must move 8-16 which we were playing short broke a little after midnight and I went home.

Sooooo, I thought I was going to get to bed fairly early around 1am, but NO, my kids had to go and download Angry Birds on to my iPad. I got home and started playing it for a little bit, just to relax a bit, but silly me I get hooked on the game and play until 3am. Go figure, guess I should have taken the 20 game anyways. Would have gotten to bed at the same time.

Double down

Not much in the way of poker to report. I have been very busy at work the last couple of weeks. I wanted to play last night but when I called the casino around 8 pm there was a bad short-handed 40 and no 20 game going. So instead a buddy of mine and I want to Pala casino instead and ate at the buffet and played blackjack. I won 600 bucks.

That was a waste of time

On Thursday, I went to Oceans-11 and got there approximately 9:00pm. No 40/80, no 8/16, and only one 20/40. Apparently the 40 got started earlier in the day and then broke, and they had two 20 games instead. By the time I got there the second 20 had broken and I was like 6th up on the list. I got myself something to eat, food showed up around 9:30 or so, I ate and chit-chatted with some people I know. I wait around to 11:00pm before I give up and leave.

Apparently right after I left, two seats opened up too. That figures.

Friday, I get into a 40 game with Gavin Griffin. I had played with this guy one time before, and I thought he looked familiar. I asked him if we had met before, and he said that we had not. In any case, I talked with some other people I know, and eventually I figured out who he was. Not sure, why he is playing limit at Oceans, but whatever.

Back to the Grind Stone

My paternity leave is officially over and I am back to work full time starting today. Lots of things to catch up on and really get the real work started once again. Poker is going to have to take a back seat for a while. I'll try and get out once every couple of weeks, but we'll see how that holds up. Hopefully with the holidays coming up, I will find some free time, but we shall see.

All's Quiet on the Western Front

I have been off work mostly since August 31st or so. We went to the hospital on September 1st and the baby was born on September 2nd. My mom came and helped out with baby, and I was off for the most part for three weeks. Then I started going into the office one day a week on Mondays only, and I plan on doing that for another couple of weeks. Come November 8th, I am back to work full-time. Good luck to my wife. I think she can handle it, though. Right now, we just need the baby to sleep more at night.

On the poker front, I had two winning 20/40 sessions and one losing 40/80 session, in which I was killing it, but then two superLAGs joined the game and it went into a hyped-up animal fest and I ended up dropping 3 racks before quitting.

Good Luck Charm

Apparently, my new daughter is my new good luck charm. I have played three days since she was born and I have won :

$500 8/16 and mostly 20/40
$2500 20/40
$3900 20/40 and mostly 40/80

For a total of $6900 in about 15 hours of play for a staggering $460 per hour rate. And here's the thing, I don't feel as if I have been particularly running hot, or that the other players have been horrific. I have been just playing my normal game, and seem to be value betting correctly, slowing down when I need to, and bluffing where it makes sense.

Well that was quick

So my wife and I were having a discussion the other night about our newest daughter and Lego Land here in California. Both of my other daughters have lifetime memberships to Lego Land, and needless to say, we spend a lot of time there. Back in 2007 or so, they announced an increase in the price for the lifetime membership from $1000 to $2000. We had already bought the membership for our eldest, and we went ahead and bought it for our second daughter, before the price increased.

Fast forward to today, and Lego Land here in California has expanded, adding their SeaLife aquarium and a water park. And they jacked up the price of the lifetime membership too!

I told my wife, we didn't really have a choice, that we need to buy one for our 3rd daughter too. I told her not to worry, that I would buy it from my poker winnings. Well, it only took two sessions. I won $500 on Thursday evening, and I got out again last night and booked a $2450 win in a particularly soft 20/40 game in about 5 hours or so. I put the winnings in an envelope with my scribble indicating what the money is for and handed it to my wife this morning, kind of sheepishly, since I kind of overslept, since I got home a little late last night. But the game was good . . .

I have a very very very UNDERSTANDING wife. I still think that's an understatement.

Cool thread on 2+2

Don't follow this link, unless you like looking at ginourmous pictures of money in the form of outrageous chip stacks.

Back in the pit.

Got out for a couple of hours last night. Had to attend a parent function at my daughters school in the evening, and then got to put in a shortish session at Oceans-11. Haven't played in over a month obviously, and was a little tentative at first, but quickly got back into the swing of things. Booked a $500 win, and got to say hi to all my chip-slinging friends that I had not seen in a while.

Read this book, if you want a good laugh.

Sh*t my Dad Says. Freaking hilarious. And I somehow found enough time to read it while, having a 3-week new born in the house, along with 2 other ones. It was that funny, that I spent every free moment reading a bit here and there.

Hiatus

My wife gave birth to our third daughter a couple of nights ago. She was born at 3:41am on September 2nd, weighing in at 6 pounds 13.5 ounces, and 19 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great, albiet everyone is sleep deprived.

Big Pot!

Hand I played a little while back at Oceans-11.

20/40 full ring game. Bunch of bad players. Fish1 opens UTG+1, UTG+2 [tighty] 3-bets, UTG+3 [loose aggro/maniac] 4-bets, I call on the button with 9c8c, SB [Fish2] calls, BB folds, everyone calls. 4-bets 5-way action. [21 SB]

Flop comes Kc Th 7c. Bingo. I currently have 9 high however, if you are an astute reader, you will have noticed that I have flopped the mother of all draws, with an open-ender and a flush draw, and I am more than willing to shovel many bets into this pot.

Action goes:
Fish2 : check
Fish1 : check
Tighty : bet
Maniac : raise
Me : 3-bet
Fish2 : cold-call 3
Fish1 : cold-call 3
Tighty : cap

all call. [41 SB]

Turn is 8s. The astute reader now realizes that I now have a pair, plus all my draws, but clearly I am behind, and tighty likely has AA with Ac, AK with Ac, KK, or TT. Maniac probably has AA, AK, AT (Ac Tc very possible),KT, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, or 77. Other fish, likely draws such as QJ, AJ, AQ, Kx, Tx, or other weird possibilities.

Action goes:
Fish2 : check
Fish1 : check
Tighty : bets
Maniac : raises all in to 13 chips
me : call
Fish1 : call
Fish2 : call
Tighty : 3-bets
me : call
Fish2 : call
Fish1 : call

[Main pot = 57.25 SB, Side Pot = 8 SB]

River is the 6c. The astute reader now realizes that I have hit both my draws and would have preferred the 6h, 6s, or 6d, as then I would have the likely stone-cold nuts, but this will have to do. Final board reads [Kc Th 7c 8s 6c]

Action goes:
Fish2 : check (no flush)
Fish1 : check (no flush)
Tighty : bets (no way he has a flush)
Maniac : all-in, so can't do anything (might have a bigger flush)
me : raise
Fish2 : folds
Fish1 : folds
Tighty : calls

Final Pot Sizes, Main Pot = 57.25 SB ($1145), Side Pot = 16 SB ($320). I table the winner of course, and get shipped both pots. Tighty flashes a set of kings, and maniac angrily throws his red aces into the muck. I collect the huge pot $1465, of which $1120 are my winnings from the hand or over 2 racks of red birds. So from my initial preflop investment of $80, I got a huge return even though this is probably a bad call from a purely expected value perspective, but given the table dynamics and the players, I knew that if I hit a big hand, that I would get plenty of action, and it worked out just perfectly.

Discount!

So I roll into Oceans-11 late last night, get there about 10pm. I have Tuesday morning (today) off, since I need to pick my mother-in-law up from the airport, so I don't need to worry about getting up too early. As I am walking in the 20/40 is 4 or 5 handed, and two players are racking up to leave. The resident prop, who owns just about everyone heads up, but who I constantly own heads up is willing to play heads up with me. So I buy in my two racks, and away we go. Another guy that I am friendly with, is sweating the game, since he and the resident prop have a bet going on the Giants-Cubs game, where the resident prop layed 3:2 on the Giants, i.e. $150 to win a $100.

Before the game gets started, I negotiate with the floor man the drop, and get us $3 per person per half-hour, with the drop being collected at the end of the match. The resident prop and I agree that the winner of the match will pay the drop for the duration of the match.

As we are playing, the sweater blurts out, $150 of that doesn't play, referring to the resident prop's chip stack. The dealer busts out laughing, since the Giants and Cubs are tied, and the sweater is giving us running updates on the game that he is checking on from his cell phone. Eventually the sweater gets tired of waiting for the game to be resolved since they went to extra innings, and just ships the resident prop $100 and they agree to square up later if the Cubs end up winning, since he wants to leave since he has to be at work at 4:30 am this morning.

At 11:30 pm, I have procured all the chippies, including the extra $100 that was won from the baseball game, and the resident prop calls it quits on me. We call the floor over, and he indicates that I owe $15 for the drop. His math must be funny, since I figured I owed $18, but I'll take the $3 discount, anytime. So in 90 minutes of heads up play, I won $600 dollars or $400 an hour.

Since it was still early, I played 8/16 till about 2:00 am, and called it quits and came home. I won $40 playing 8/16 or $16 an hour, and I was extremely bored and playing marginally crazy since I was so bored. I probably should have just left at 11:30 pm, but at least I got to eat an ice cream.

Justice is served!

Played about a five hour session on Saturday night, from 10pm to 3am. I won my first two hands, in the big-blind, and the small blind, so I thought it was going to be a good night. After that, things fell apart, and it was a very good game. Eventually I had to buy another rack, and power my way through it. There was one guy, sitting two to my right, who was getting insanely lucky all the time, although I did overplay a few hands against him, but still J5o, T7o, 74s, ok let's limp under the gun. Of course he was winning, while I was getting pummeled, particularly when I 3-bet him with AQs, after he opened raised with J9s somewhere in the EMP. Don't worry he peels the QJ5 flop, and binks a 9 on the turn.

However sometime around 2 am or so, justice was finally served. My hands finally started holding up, and him limping will all manners of trash, and calling in spots he's not supposed to. By 3 am, he was busto, and I was up $800. Since I had bought in for 3 racks, I have almost 6 racks of chips in front of me. Justice, isn't it sweet?

$500 an hour, sustainable?

Played a shortish session last night, after my San Diego staycation. Family and I stayed at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego for the weekend, even though it's only like 15 minutes from my house. Funny thing is, Saturday night, I went home and slept in my own bed.

Sunday evening, after dinner at Tsuruhashi I rolled up to Oceans-11 a little before 10pm. Played 8-16 for a little while and lost a little under a benjamin. Then get seated in a new 20/40 limit game that started 6-handed. By 1:30 am, when I quit, I won 1545, in little over 3 hours. Would have been more if my AJ had beat Q7 SB versus BB, where Q7 peeled the J92 rainbow flop, and binked a queen on the turn. Or if my TT beat A2o, which peeled on a Q74 rainbow flop, and binked an ace on the turn. Both hands I had position and got to 3-bet preflop. Oh well.

Blast off!

It's kind of funny sometimes when you are playing and you know you have an edge and despite everyones best efforts to give you their money, instead you incinerate your own. That was occurring to me last night. Fortunately I eventually turned it around particularly when it got short handed. In a relatively short amount of time I found myself 6k into the game. In the next 3 hours or so I ran it all the way back up to over 7 racks. Ship the package honey.

Still the heads-up King

I like playing heads-up poker. It's mentally very exerting, but it's a lot of fun to be able to play almost every hand. I killed my buddy last night playing heads up 40/80 limit. I started off the match with about $400, intending to buy more if I needed it. I quickly won $1700 off of him, then he won a big pot off of me, where he flopped a set of sevens while I flopped a queen high flush, and he ended up rivering a full-house. From there I bled off quite a bit, and then I had to rebuy a rack. From there I simply soul-crushed him, he ended up rebuying another 3 racks or so which I promptly beat him out of.

So overall on the night I bought-in for 3k, and cashed out 5.4k. So overall on the night, I only won 2.4k, since I lost $1600 playing 40/80 in the full ring game. Against my buddy though, I won 5.4k-1.4k = 4k. Hope he's not too mad at me.

Time's up!

I hit my 600 hours last night. Got paid $900. Only cost me 5 racks.

T minus 20

20 more hours or so to go . . .

MAYBE, this weekend, but I kind of doubt it. Visitors are coming my sister-in-law and her husband and kid are on their way from northern California for the long weekend.

New Toy

I got a new toy for Father's day from my wife. My first truly interactive Apple product, an iPad. Been messing around with it, downloaded an e-book from Amazon, and various other free applications. So far it's been useful, but not life changing. We'll see how much usefulness I actually get out of it, unlike my Sony Clie that I bought many years ago and after about 6 months, let it collect dust in my office drawer.

There are some maddening very unintuitive things about the interface that I don't like, but since I am not a Appleholic, I suppose that eventually I will learn about all its quirks eventually. The graphics and speed, and ease of use have been impressive however, so I am fairly psyched about that. I'll keep playing more with it and see how it goes.

A Tale of Two Flops

I played an long session on Saturday for me at Oceans-11. About an 11 hour long session. I booked a $2800 dollar win in the 20/40. This was a very special game, with some very special players.

2 very interesting hands that happened.

3 or 4 limps, SP included, I overlimp on the button with 7d2d. Flop goes off 5 or 6 ways, including the big blind.

Flop comes T 7 2, with a club flush draw that I don't have plus 1 diamond. Big blind leads, SP raises, I 3-bet, big blind calls, SP caps. Turn is a blank. SP leads, I raise, big blind calls two cold, SP 3-bets, I call, big blind calls. River is another blank. SP leads, I call, big blind calls.

The hands?
SP: KTo, without the flush draw
BB: T7s, who takes down the pot

Not sure if I should have raised the river, as I am positive I have the SP beat, but not so sure about the big blind.

Later in the session, a limper, a TAG 2-bets in MP, I raise in the cutoff with 7h7d, both blinds call, TAG caps, all call. 5-way action to a flop of:

T 7 2 with a club flush draw! Same exact flop, essentially. Flop ends up capped 4-ways with only the limper dropping out. Turn comes an offsuit 4, and SB check/raises me. Big blind calls, TAG calls, I 3-bet, SB caps, all call. River is a T, giving me essentially the nuts, but technically I lose to TT, T7, T4, and T2, none of which are likely. Anyways SB leads, big blind folds who was drawing dead on the flop with the non-nut flush draw, TAG folds the nut-flush draw, I pop the river and the SB calls all-in, and I proudly show my full house and SB reveals his ducks for the loser.

Reader Check

Just curious how many regular readers, if there are any, that I have. So if you read on a semi-regular basis, how about posting a comment, and just say from what part of the world you are reading from.

Almost there!

Oceans-11 is finishing up their Racing for Dollars promotion. Last time around I got to 800 hours and cashed in for $2500. I don't think I am going to make it this year. I checked last night and I need 46 more hours for 600 hours and a $900 payout. With the baby due in early September, I will be not getting many hours to play poker after that until the baby gets older.

This being Father's day weekend, we'll see if I can put in a marathon weekend session and get all of my hours this weekend. If not, it probably won't be until July 4th weekend at the earliest then.

I did play for 4 hours last night, and booked a $500 win in the 40/80. Took some standard bad-beats and what not, but I did get to play Evan almighty heads up which was interesting.

It's that time of year again

WSOP in Vegas. Once again I will be absent by choice. I'm not much of a tournament player anyways, and tournament play is much different than cash game play anyways. That and most tournaments these days are no-limit affairs, which is another reason for me not to play them.

I guess I am a dieing breed, a mid-stakes limit holdem player. Oh well, I like the game that I play, and as long as I can find a reasonable game, that will be okay with me.

This time of year, Oceans-11 is always a little slower than usual. This year has been really slow however. There has been a change in management recently at Oceans, and from the looks of things and things I have heard from employees, the changes are not for the better . . .

Soul-Ownage!

Slow Sunday night at Oceans-11 last night. I thought it would be busier given the Memorial holiday weekend. I roll in around 9:15pm or so, and get into a full 20/40 game. By 10:30 or so I was playing heads up with the resident virtual prop.

I totally crushed him and owned his soul repeatedly. It didn't hurt that I ran like god, and flopped like a pair, a strong draw, or better like every time. It certainly didn't hurt either that I got him totally gun-shy and was able to get free cards when I needed and could get him to fold when I didn't have it. I suppose that happens when your opponent flops sets and quads, or starts with a big pocket pair like every 4 hands or so. I crushed him for 5 racks or so before we quit at 1:00 am or so.

He's a super nice guy and I like playing with him. He might not want to play me heads up any more, given that I have beaten him every time now except for once when we played any length of time.

Agua Caliente

Just got back from the road trip. Wife and I decided to take the family to Palm Springs in honor of our 10 year anniversary. Thursday night, I got out to Oceans-11 after work, and booked a 50 big bet win in about 4 hours in the 20/40 game, with the majority of it coming in the last 90 minutes or so.

Friday, drive out to Palm Springs, actually Desert Hot Springs, but close enough to Palms Springs for me. We have been to this hotel before, it's the same one we went to last year.

I got out to Agua Caliente casino Friday night. Poker room was full, but the biggest limit game they had was 4/8, and the mid-stakes no-limit had a long list. So I ended up playing blackjack in the Primrose room, or something like that, in their high-limit salon.

I was playing with two Chinese gambolholics and some Armenian/Russian/Ukranian gun-runner/mobster or at least it seemed like that. The Chinese player with big gambool was betting table limit on two spots, and doubling down in all kinds of spots where he wasn't supposed to. For example, A2 against a dealer 3, double down! 53 against a dealer 4, double down! The other Chinese player, I nicknamed him little gambool, for 2 reasons. One he was flat betting $200 a hand, and he was making mistakes the other way. For example, start with A4 against a dealer 9? Hit, brick a ten, hit again get an ace, and then he would stay? Huh? Whatever.

At least the Armenian/Russian/Ukranian mobster was playing mathematically correct. He was betting table limit as well in two spots as well. So each round of play, there was at least $83000 or more in play against the house. The Chinese gambolholic probably had $25,000 or so in chips, while the gun-runner had at least $60,000 or so at one point.

In any case, I got buried early, made a spectacular comeback and booked a $1125 win at about 3:30 am, and got my ass back to the hotel room.

Wouldn't be surprised to hear the next time I go back there, that the house eventually busted the gambolholics and the gun-runner. They looked like they were in it for the long-haul. Sometimes you can just look into a gambooler's eyes and see it. Yes, they are there until they are busto, or have busted the table and have every chip under the dealers control.

See, I'm not like that, usually. I just wanted to get back to even, book a small win, and get the hell out of there.

Mission Accomplished.

Unlimited holdem

Rolled into Oceans-11 last night and no 20/40 limit game happening. So I decide instead to play the 5/5 no-limit. I put in the longest no-limit session I have every played in my life last night. In all I ended up winning $600 in about 7 hours.

I got a lot more comfortable playing it the longer the session went on. I had one player who seemed to own me repeatedly, and I kept running into his pocket aces. He totally misplayed a hand, however, that ended up saving him a ton of money. I open QsQd UTG to 35. He calls in UTG+2 with pocket sixes. Everyone else clears out. I have about 1200 behind and he has me covered.

Flop comes Qx6d5d. I bet 55, he just flats. Turn is the Td, and we both check. River is another diamond, and we both check again. I don't really understand his flop play, he is supposed to raise to protect against the flush and straight draws not flat there. Then I would have ended up re-raising, and we might get it all in on the flop. As it is, he misplayed his hand and ended up losing the minimum. That sucked. Oh, and I finally won with pocket aces in this game, in which I successfully got it all-in preflop. Too bad my opponent only had like 400 total to start the hand with.

Crushing it!

81 big bet win in the 20/40 last night. Unfortunately, I played a little too late into the night and didn't get home until 6am. Nothing like a ten hour session on top of a full day's work. Fortunately Friday wasn't too bad of a day in terms of work schedule. But I did have to go to a funeral/memorial mass this morning at 10:30am. That was pretty emotional. All in all, I guess I can say I have had better Fridays in my life.

Not much to report . . .

I have been crazy busy at work. We got our silicon back from TSMC in Taiwan and we are in the process of bringing it up for the first time. As expected every day there are fires to fight and put out. So far things like promising, but we definitely are still having issues. Sometimes it sucks to be in charge.

Heads up Death Match!

Got to play an extended heads up session at Oceans-11 40/80 game on Friday night. This guy is the virtual prop at Oceans and plays the 20 and 40 regularly and makes a living at the game. Friday night the game was ok, but it got short pretty early.

We have played heads up before and I have won both of our previous matches, nothing huge, but I am definitely the winner so far. So we started our heads up match a little after midnight and played for about 3 hours or so.

He started the match with 14 stacks. 2/3 of the way through the match, I had him down to 4 stacks, thus I was up 25 big bets on him. In the last 40 minutes or so, he turned it around and won most of the big pots, and when we quit I ended up winning something like $65 dollars off of him, so it was essentially a draw.

We've talked about playing a heads up death match online, using the play money tables, and then squaring up in real life later. Sounds like fun to me, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am playing him heads up on the internet. I'll have to think it over.

I'm Back!

Back from a week in Hawaii. It was nice, went with the family to Oahu. I was in Maui ten years ago, and I like Maui better, but with kids this time around, I think Oahu was probably the better choice.

Going to put in my first session of poker since my return. Let's see if I still remember how to 3-bet the ten high pre flop.

Free Roll!

I nailed it!

Poor Girl!

I played the 40/80 last night at Oceans-11. There was this nice pretty Korean girl playing. I normally see her playing no-limit, but recently she has been playing limit. She is horrible at limit poker, too. She must have lost around 10k last night. I don't think she can afford to lose that much in a single session. She was getting beat repeatedly, and even when she had big hands someone seemed to make bigger ones. Plus she doesn't really understand the nuances of limit and doesn't know how to protect her hand or what lines to take. It was pretty bad, and I felt really bad for her. Plus I beat up on her repeatedly. Does that make me a bad person?

Tasty Treats!

That's what some of us like to call the little plastic tokens that represent how we keep score in a poker game. I got into a great 20/40 game last night and booked a 3 rack win. The lineup was awesome!

This was the lineup most of the night:

Seat 1: Dave the cab driver, puts in lots of action with marginal hands. He capped it preflop with Ah4h against me, when I 3-bet him on the button with pocket jacks.

Seat 2: Reasonably tight good player

Seat 3: Good old Wayne

Seat 4: The local virtual 20/40 prop

Seat 5: Alan the millionaire

Seat 6: Another good player

Seat 7: me

Seat 8: Chuck the farmer, who will play any two cards that he feels like playing at any time

Seat 9: Young Chinese guy, who thinks he is way better than he really is, and can't hand read at all.

Bad Week

Tuesday night lost 6 racks in an awesome 20/40 game.

Friday night get in for 7 racks in a 40/80 game, crush it short-handed and get all of it back except for 1.5 racks.

Saturday night, crush the 20/40 for like 4 racks in the first two hours, get some big hands cracked in huge pots by absolute trash in the middle, and then finish up only 1.5 racks, while it easily could have been an 8 rack night if my big hands held up.

Value Bluff

I played a real interesting hand the other night. I posted it on 2+2, a couple of days ago. I haven't revealed the results there, but I will here along with my thought process.

This happened at Oceans-11 on Saturday night in a short-handed 40/80 game. I think were 6-handed at the time. One of my poker friends, Joe, opens UTG +1, and it is folded around to me in the big blind. I have two black kings. Now Joe is a tough player, plays pretty tight, and is pretty foldy post flop. Against an aggro maniac, or someone who plays too loose, or can't read hands I would probably 3-bet this hand, but against Joe, deception here and being out of position, I decide to just flat call with a plan to check raise most flops.

Flop comes 753 all hearts. Now this is not a good board to check raise, since if he bets and I raise he will likely get away from all his marginal hands, along with his ace-highs. Letting him barrel off is better in this case. So I check he bets and I call.

Turn is a black 9. Again, if he doesn't have much, leading here is not a good proposition, plus the flop check/call, turn lead looks very weird and Joe will likely fold here if he doesn't have anything, but will call if he has a piece or a flush draw. That's really my only fear, is that he will check behind the turn and take a free river, but Joe is fairly aggressive and I would expect him to value bet any pair, plus his good ace-highs here. So I check with a plan of check raising if he bets. He dutifully bets, and I spring my check raise in, and now he 3-bets.

Ok, time to re-evaluate. What hands will he open with, bet the flop, and then 3-bet my turn check raise? Big pairs AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, sets 77, 99, flushes AhXh, KhQh. Would he 3-bet big pairs with a heart? AhAx, for sure, QhQx, JhJx, maybe but doubtful. AhKx, AhQx, very likely not, as I have already shown that I am pretty showdown bound at this point, and he would not want to charge himself to draw to the nut flush. So according to PokerStove, if I give him a 3-bet range on the turn of 99+, 77, AhKh, AhQh, AhJh, AhTh, KhQh, I have 44.918% equity in the pot and I am slightly behind, so I call, planning to check/call most rivers.

River is a very interesting card, the King of Hearts. That eliminates at least two of his possible holdings, AhKh and KhQh. That and I don't think that he 3-bets one card flush draws on the turn, unless it is specifically the AhAx, means that I should only be losing now to the nut flush that he flopped, which is very rare, less than 1% chance that happened.

So I make a very thin value bet, that also can look like a bluff. I expect to get raised by all flushes, and it has to be nut-flush from him to raise. A raise from him and my hand hits the muck. I don't think he can even raise the second nut flush with the Qh, since I could easily have the Ah in my hand. But the fact that there's a 4-card flush on board, and he knows that the last heart is a great bluff card, I can expect to get called very light. Checking and calling is a horrible option, in that he will check behind all the hands that I beat, and confidently value bet all of his flushes. The bet goes in way better by forcing him to the decision. In any case, he crying calls, I open my rivered set of kings, and he disgustingly mucks pocket 7's for flopped top-set. Clearly the river value bet was best, as there is no way he is betting the river with that hand and that board, since he does not want to get check raised on the river by me.

Ooops, I must not like money

I folded a chop by accident the other night. 20/40 game a couple of limpers, cutoff raises, and I call from the big blind with Qc9c. Flop comes AQJ with 1 club. Checked to the pre-flop raiser who bet, I called, everyone else cleared out. Turn was a low club, and I check/called again. River was a Q. I considered donking, but decided to check and see what he would do and he bet. I considered what hands he would do that with, then considered what hands would call a check/raise, and further considered what hands would 3-bet me if I check-raised, and decided to just call.

He rolled QsTs, and I reflexively mucked my hand, which was good for half the pot . . .

Different Day, Different Results

Played 40/80 on both Friday and Saturday nights.

Friday get tortured, get in 2 racks in less than 45 minutes, and end up a 3100 loser before I called it quits.

Saturday can do no wrong, although there are a couple of hands I wish I could have replayed, but in all book a 4150 win.

Go figure, limit holdem, hello variance.

New Ride

Bought a new 2010 Nissan Altima 2.5S last night. Finally time to give up my truck, says the wife, particularly with a new one on the way!

Birthday!

Had my birthday last week. Turned 35. Guess I'm getting old. Got in a fair amount of poker, since I had most of the week off of work. Will recap later, but I won all three days I played. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Wednesday was weird, killed the 40/80, but got killed in the 20/40. Friday all over the place, but picked up a package after the carnage was done, and Saturday won $22.

Tilt!

Don't do it. I lost 50 big bets in the 20 game, and 25 big bets in the 40 game. Total damage -$3999 in 7.5 hours.

Must not tilt, must strive to become tiltless, thus I will tilt less.

I can bluff with the best of them!

Pulled off two great bluffs last night.

One I had pocket 2's and the board read J 9 3 9 J (in that order).
I don't totally remember the preflop action, but I was in the small blind and I called a raise playing 4 or 5 handed. Flop came J 9 3 rainbow, and it checked around. Turn was a 9, and the BB bet, folded around to me and I called. River was Jack, and I donked. Big blind looked at me, looked at the board, looked at his cards, and say I can't call with 4-high and open mucked 43s. Dealer mucked his cards and I opened my bluff.

Make up your Mind!

It was a busy week at work, and I didn't play any poker all week. I finally got some free time yesterday after the kids were put to bed. I head up to Oceans-11 and they have a 20/40, a 40/80, and a 50/100 game going. There's an open seat in the 20/40 while the 40/80 has a long list and I am 1st or 2nd up for the 50/100. I go to the cage and get some chips from my player's bank and put my chips on the table for the 20/40 game. I talk a walk to the restroom and when I get back to the table, they are calling my name for 50/100.

So I pick up my chips from the 20/40 table and head back over to the cage to change my chips into quarters when I find out that they decided to change the stakes of the game from 50/100 to 100/200. Ok, whatever. It's not on the board as 100/200, but I don't really care. It turns out everyone was playing overs anyways, so it was really 100/200 with mini-blinds anyways.

I did all right and booked a $4300 win in a shade under 7 hours. At one point I was down to 7.5 big bets and was about to buy another rack when I went on a rush and started winning.

Eventually the game got shorthanded and the main proponent of getting the 100/200 game going got super lucky on me like 5 hands in row. Here's a small smattering of the preflop matchups:

Qh3h versus Ah9h
Td8d versus AdKh
Ks9s versus KhTh

She is one of the more emotional players in the game, and she swings like crazy. She was felted more than once and had to rebuy a couple of times. I was getting frustrated and I quit around 3:30am since I wasn't having fun anymore. And according to Tommy Angelo, if you're not having fun anymore you should quit doing the unfun activity immediately. So I did.

Good Start

Off to a nice start for 2010. Since January 1st, I am up 10500 and change. I have been really lazy lately and haven't been tracking my hours or results by session. Guess I'll start again next time. I'm actually up more than that, but since I never deposit into my players bank anything less than an even hundred, and I just pocket the rest for daily spending money, I don't know the exact amount I am up for the month. I got my players bank transaction report the last time I played, so that's the only reason why I know my approximate net winnings for the month. Although I already had a good idea of where I was obviously from just buying in and cashing out.

A win is a win, I suppose

Booked 2 shortish sessions over the weekend.
Saturday won $1460, split over 3 games. $880 in the 50/100, 75/150 and 580 in the 20/40.
Yesterday won $30 in the 20/40, against some of the biggest fish ever. Didn't seem like I got my fair share . . .

The Customer is right?

Sometimes Oceans-11 confounds me. They don't seem to let the players play what they want. For the past couple of months or so, we have been playing bigger limit holdem games than 40/80. We have gotten a 100/200 game spread, usually on the weekends.

Now recently, the floor has been reticent to start this game. Why? Presumably to protect the player base. Since there is a limited player pool of high limit players, I guess the floor doesn't want the better players to bust the weaker players faster . . .

But, I mean we are all adults here. Everybody knows the risks involved and should know how to play within their means, and if they don't well then that's their fault. I've heard that Commerce is so much better in this regard. If two players want to play a heads up match, they have a dealer and a table, and the players are willing to pay the house fee, away they go.

Now, get this on Saturday night, they get a 50/100 game going. Don't ask me how or why, but whatever. I eventually get a seat in this game, and everyone but some spaceship wants to kick up the stakes to 75/150. I don't say anything, but I don't care either way. Eventually the spaceship does bust, and supposedly Chuck the casino operations manager, said as long as there was no list and no objections, we could kick up the stakes. So as soon as the spaceship busts, the table captain tells the dealer that we all agreed to play 75/150, and they take the blinds as such. Now two hands later, the oblivious incompetent floor man comes over and says what are you guys doing? And tells the dealer that we are playing 50/100. We of course object, and the floor man goes back into Chuck's office again to sort things out. Clearly, since we have already started a round of 75/150, at the very least we have to finish the orbit to make it fair for the players who have already posted the blinds at 75/150. We sort of all agreed that we would sit out and just break the game if Chuck didn't acquiesce to our demands. He eventually said ok, let them play.

So we continued the game. Now get this, they wanted to charge us $12/half hour per person to play! That's the same time charge we were paying for 100/200? And back in 2007 when they spread the game they took $5 per hand! WTF? They should have charged us like $10/half hour and I think everyone would have been happy with that. Obviously the game broke pretty quickly after that.

Funny

Hours, hours, hours

Oceans-11 started their Racing for Dollars promotion back on November 1st, 2009. I think it will be a stretch for me to reach 800 hours this year before the money runs out. I am somewhere around 180 hours or so, since November 1st, and I have some things happening in my personal life that is very likely to prevent me from logging any significant hours later this year . . .

Zig-Zag

So last week was interesting. I came back from Minnesota early to work, and the family stayed back there. So I was essentially a bachelor for the entire week, until my family flew back into town last night.

I had to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but had Thursday and Friday off. So I got to play every day last week.

Monday -> win small
Tuesday -> win small
Wednesday -> win medium
Thursday -> win small
Friday -> lose big
Saturday -> win big
Sunday -> lose medium to big

Overall, I am up for the week, but not by a whole lot. Makes me wonder that's for sure. I have jury duty this week on Thursday, we'll see if I get assigned a trial. I have never had an opportunity to actually serve on a jury and I think it would be an interesting thing to do.