Thousand Dollar Scan!

Oceans-11 is having a promotion where your player's card gets scanned every hour and as you accumulate hours you can get cash back. It's sort of the Brick+Mortar equivalent to the rake back deal of on-line casinos.

So on Saturday night (really early Sunday Morning) at 1:55 am, I decide that I'm going to get the 2am scan and then call it quits and head home. At that point I had 3 racks and 2 stacks in front of me in the 40/80 game. I was up $1400 and was having a good night. Unfortunately, the girl who does the scans for whatever reason was inexplicably late doing the scans for this hour. Normally, the scan happens right around 5 to 10 minutes after the hour. In this case she came by at 2:25 am instead.

Don't worry in the half an hour I played while I was waiting for the damn scan only cost me a thousand bucks. I flopped a set of 4's on all spade board while I was in the BB. I called a raise from early position after a few other callers, including the SB. I think there was a total of 5 of us. In any case the flop came Qs 4s 8s. Long story short, many bets went in. I lost to the small blind's AKs who flopped the nuts and it held up. I was drawing totally live though. Then I lost a few other pots where I flopped TPTK, and ended up losing by the river.

So I still went home a winner, but not nearly as big as I would have if I had left earlier. I know that in the long-run it won't really matter as it's just one big long game, and I should be focused on performance, not results.

Jackpot!

I won the jackpot sort of on Wednesday night. I was playing the 20/40 when a player from a 4/8 game who had won a table share of the jackpot (about 2k) decided to take a shot at the 20/40 game I suppose. In any case he snapped me off in back to back hands where I had pocket queens (he rivered two pair) and ace-king where I flopped TPTK (he rivered a flush) when he first sat down. So I buckled down and before the night was over, he was felted and I was up about $1200. So I didn't win all of his money, but I got more than my fair share because it appears that he was gunning for me for some reason. This guy was in way over his head and didn't stand a chance in the 20/40.

Free as a Bird

My wife took the kids to visit her sister and Mom in Sacramento for the weekend. So as soon as I leave from work tonight, I am officially on a 72 hour free pass until Monday morning when I have to come back to work. A bunch of my buddies are out in Vegas for Big Smoke this weekend, and I was tempted to go along, but to tell the truth I'm kinda Vegased out. I've been to Vegas like 5 or more times in the last 2 years (I lost count), which is more than enough for me.

So, I have some things around the house I'd like to take care of as well, but I hope I'll be spending quite a bit of time at the poker tables. We'll see, since I have been feeling a little bit under the weather since Sunday, and playing poker for significant amounts of money while not feeling well is not a good recipe for the bankroll.

Killing the 20/40

It's been slow at Oceans 11 the last month or so. The 40/80 game has been pretty weak, and the bad players seem to have moved on. So I've been playing a lot of 20/40 this month and have been killing the game to the tune of 123.41/hour or a little over 3 big bets per hour over 27.25 hours of play.

The fires we had here in Southern California were scary. My family and I had to evacuate our home and we spent the night at our friend's house in Mission Bay. We were glued to the TV all day. Fortunately the fires got no closer than 5 miles to my house.

Lately there have been some 8/16 players playing in the 20/40 game attempting to move up. One of them, this younger Asian girl is getting her ass handed to her, because she hasn't adjusted to the 20/40 game properly yet, she's still playing with an 8/16 mentality.

I'll give an example. I was playing the 8/16 the other night while waiting for a 20/40 seat when I got dealt pocket aces in the big blind. Couple of limpers, the button raised, and I 3-bet from the big-blind. All called. Flop comes A T rag. I bet, get called by UTG+1 and the button. Turn was a Jack. Now KQ just got there, but I don't want to give a free card, plus I should value bet this till I hit resistance, so I bet again and get called in both spots. River is 9. Again, if I was beat before I'm still beat, that card changed nothing. But since I wasn't raised by the button, I'm 95% sure I have the best hand so I bet again. CALLED in BOTH SPOTS. I turn over the winner, and inexplicably both other players turn over their hands. What did they have? UTG +1 had t/9 suited for a rivered two pair. Button had pocket queens. Now this is an 8/16 game with some god-awful players. Let's look at the flop calls. UTG+1 called with middle pair and runner runner straight draw. Button called with an underpair to the ace and a runner runner straight draw as well. Remember I 3-bet before the flop, from the big-blind and bet the flop when the ace hit. In the 20/40 or 40/80 game I take this pot down on the flop with my bet. But in the 8/16 game, I get called by weak hands all the way to the river.

Now this young Asian girl is playing in the 20/40 but still playing as if she was in the 8/16 game. Raising in early position with trash like ace/ten off, ace/jack off, q/t suited, etc. I played a hand against her last time out that went down like this. I raised in MP with ace-king, she called in the big-blind with King/Jack. Flop comes K Q rag. She checks, I bet, she check-raises, I 3-bet, she calls. At this point she's down to 8 chips, and bets the turn which is a blank. Of course I call, and she sucks out when a Jack hits the river. Now let's think about this hand. Maybe, since she was close to being all-in she decided to play the hand out no matter what. But if you think about it, the only hand she could be possibly beating at that point was king/ten or pocket jacks. Unless you think that a) I would raise in MP with king/ten, and b) 3 bet the flop with king/ten, she should fold to the 3-bet. Any reasonable hand that is willing to 3-bet that flop has her killed: AK, AA, KK, QQ, KQ. I think she's too used to the 8/16 players. If she doesn't learn to adjust soon, she's going to go busto.

Whoops - Bad Read

20/40 game playing 6 handed. UTG raises, cut-off calls, I call on the button with Ace - 4 of hearts. Flop comes 3h 5d th. I flopped the nut-flush draw, plus a gut-shot wheel draw. UTG bets, cut-off folds, I raise, UTG 3-bets, I 4-bet, UTG calls. Turn is the 2s. UTG checks, I bet, he check-raises, I re-raise, etc, etc until a total of 8 bets go in (with me calling the final raise). Hands I have UTG on : pocket tens for a set, ace-4 suited for a wheel, 4-6 suited. I originally put the raiser on pocket tens after the 4-bet went in on the turn, but when he reraised again, I thought hmm, he must have a straight, but he wouldn't raise UTG with 4/6, must be the same hand I have, which means I'm free-rolling. After the 8th bet went in, I was oh crap he really does have 4/6. No worries, 8 of hearts on the river, he check-calls and I drag a massive pot. Wasn't a huge suckout, I had 9 clean outs for the win and 2 chop outs as well.

On the flop I was the huge favorite anyways, but I got lucky on the river. Like I said, whoops bad read by me, but that's why they deal a 5 card board.

Third Quarter Results

Well I finished the month on a positive note, but I'm still in the red for the quarter. I've been playing well lately, so hopefully the positive trend will continue. In any case here are the results (not pretty by any means):

8/16 8 -349
20/40 43.834 -4172
40/80 129.25 -3123
75/150 16.16 1313
2/3NL 1 206
totals 198.244 -6125
Hourly loss = -30.90/hour

Overall for the year I'm still up quite a bit, but I hate losing!

Here's hoping the holiday season brings out the drunks, loose players, and maniacs to the tables!

Ouch!

Bad September, Bad September. I wish it was August again.

After battling my way back to almost even for the quarter in the month of August, September has been killing me! Down over 7k for the month. He's just a smattering of the hands that have beaten me:

Pocket Aces versus King 7 offsuit -> Nicky turned two pair in the big-blind after calling my raise from middle position, and she checked-raise me when the king hit. I really wanted to fold the river, as I couldn't put this one together until too late.

Pocket Kings versus King Queen offsuit -> I flopped an overpair to the board, when I capped it with pocket kings in the small blind. Bet it the whole way, until the river when I get raised: Board read 9 10 4 4 J, yep I got beat by a gut-shot straight draw.

Pocket Jacks against Pocket 4's -> I got raised on the turn, on a king high board, turn was a 4, and I layed it down. Raiser showed me his turned set.

Pocket 10's against Pocket 4's and 67 suited -> Flopped a monster! T 4 5, river was an 8, no full-house for me, actually didn't pay off the river either.

Ace-Queen diamond versus T9 diamond -> Queen high board two diamonds. Don't worry running two pair takes me out!

I also made one "bad" lay down. I flopped a set of sixes, on a board with 2 clubs. Running clubs, put 4 clubs on board and a singleton straight possible. Opponent check-called the flop, fired the turn, fired the river, and I folded on the river. Opponent shows 73 offsuit for a rivered two-pair! Gutsy bet I suppose. I misplayed my hand, by not raising the turn I suppose.

Let's hope I can turn it around in the final weeks of September. Holidays are coming up, the games are going to slow down, and I'm not sure how much time I'll get in at the tables.