100k Barrier!

I've played poker for a long time. I started back in 2002 playing limit holdem, and that's what I cut my teeth on. I now feel comfortable playing limit holdem up to the 100/200 level. One of the monuments of a limit holdem player is when they break the 100 big bet win in a session. In a 4/8 chip structured game 100 big bets is winning 8 racks of chips.

I almost broke the 100k barrier last night playing blackjack. Last hand of the night for me, since I had already decided to go home. Deck is positive, count is good, and I have my max bet out there.

I pick up two sevens, against a dealer upcard of a 5. I split, pick up a 3, double, get a 7, resplit, get an ace, double, 7, resplit, ace, double, 10. So 4 active hands, 3 with doubles, so basically 7 times my max bet. If I win this hand it's going to be a huge win.

Dealer opens, has a 3 under, binks an ace for 19, and all of my doubles blank off.

Sick Hand!

Count was extremely positive with a strong ace count, late in the shoe. I had my max bet out there, playing two hands.

First hand, I get two aces and split. Get another ace, split again, get a 4th ace and split again. Hands come out paint, paint, ace, paint. Can't resplit to more than 4 hands, so I have 21, 12, 21, 21 in that order.

Other hand I have ace-8. Dealer upcard is a 2. Dealer opens, has a total of 12 and binks a 9 for a 21!

Radio Check

Just curious, if I still have an audience out there. I know that I don't post too frequently, maybe couple times of month, but I am wondering if I am just wasting my time or if there are others out there who actually read this stuff.

So, if you are a regular reader, or just an occasional visitor, leave a comment indicating what part of the world, you are reading from.

Based on responses, I may decide to retire from this.

So Sexy!

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Man, it's been a brutal stretch here the first couple of months playing blackjack at Barona. I started off on a fairy large hot streak, ran sort of even for a little white, and then recently went on a massive downswing. Then just killed it last night. I had my largest ever win last night in terms of gross and net. I cashed out gross 63k. I cleared the rack of yellow (1k) chips and black. I forgot to take a picture though.

However, I made the most spectacular comeback ever last night. I was down to my last 1k, before I started winning, and never looked back before I quit and cashed out. During that streak, and I had about 5 or 6 amazing shoes. In one shoe, near the end, I had my max bet out there for 5 consecutive hands. I won 4 of them and lost one. Of the 4 hands I won, one was a double, and I hit two blackjacks as well. It is an amazing feeling, putting out a large bet, knowing that you have the advantage, and getting paid. Before I went on my amazing run, I had other big swings last night as well too. Easily, had 25k plus/minus swings in the manner of 30 minutes or less. Mr. Toad's wild ride indeed.

In other news, I got back from the Bay area, late Friday night. Got an opportunity to play some pokers at the Bay 101 on Thursday night and Friday evening before my flight home. Man, I am a huge (relatively speaking) lifetime loser at the Bay 101, so far. I am obviously not a regular there, as I only get up to the Bay area, once a month or so. But so far, in calendar year 2011 and the first part of this year, I am down over a cumulative 7K over 28 hours. I'm currently on a losing pace of 250/hr!

Ridiculous, and I am not sure why that is yet. Not sure if it's because I haven't adjusted to the players at the Bay 101, or they don't know me or what. In 10 sessions, I have booked just 2 wins, and 8 losses.

And away they go!

Good start to the new year. I played the 40/80 on Friday night and picked up 4.5k in a about 7 hours of play. Then played the 20/40 on Saturday night and won 500 in about 7 hours of play. On Saturday, I got buried early and ended up losing 3+ racks before I bought another 2 racks, putting myself 5 racks into the game, before I made a raging comeback, and then in the last 30 minutes or so pulling ahead before calling it quits early in the am hours.

I played a couple of interesting hands, this one being the most interesting. Helen, the semi-regular Chinese player, who got killed in the 40 on Friday night, was playing again on Saturday night. She was losing again, and on massive tilt. Helen is a massive LAG, but when not on tilt, plays a decent game. Lisa a very nice caucasian woman, is like the polar opposite of Helen. Very tight pre-flop, and very cautious post-flop, and will only raise the nuts post-flop, and does other things to lose value post-flop.

In any case, early Sunday morning, we are playing 4-handed, when this hand came up. Helen opened, I 3-bet 9s9h on the button, Lisa capped the small blind, Freddy folded his big-blind, Helen and I both called. Flop comes 2s 4s 6h. Lisa bet, Helen called, and I called. Turn was the 7d. Lisa bet, Helen raised, and I folded. River was the 9d, and the river checked through. Lisa rolls As6s and Helen had pocket eights to win the pot.

Later that night, I either played this hand like an expert or a massive fish, not sure which yet. Down to 3-handed, and Helen and I both have overs, so we're playing 40/80 when it gets heads-up between us. Freddy folded his button, Helen raised the small blind, and I called with 65o in the big blind. Flop comes Js 5s 2d. Helen bet, I called. Turn comes Jh. Helen bet, and I called. River comes 7c. Helen now checks, I bet, Helen check-raises, and I tank for a good minute or so, before finally calling. Helen rolls As4s for the massive draw that blanked off, and tried an elaborate check-raise river bluff, that I snapped off. Had Helen, just bet the river, I think there's a very good chance I fold on the river. I originally value-bet the river, expected to get called by good ace-highs, some king-highs, and possibly pocket 3's or 4's. Also, I was trying to fold out better 5s if possible. When she check-raised me, her line at that point made no sense to me, and I was trying to figure out what she thought my hand was, and if she actually thought she had a value check-raise, or was trying a river check-raise bluff. Her being on tilt and losing, also certainly played a factor in my deciding to call. She even insulted me after the hand, telling me that I am such a calling station. :-)

Happy New Year!

Hit a another royal flush on New Year's Eve for 20k. That's my second royal flush this year, so I think I am way ahead on expectation for hitting royals playing Jacks or Better video poker.

Haven't played any poker since the new year started. Will probably get my first session in tonight.

Got to play at Canterbury Park while out in Minnesota for the holidays. Played 3 sessions while I was out there. Won 374 in the 15/30 one night, had a big score of 5330 in the 30/60 followed up by a big loss of 3991 in the 30/60 a couple of days later. Overall ended up 1713 after leaving Minnesota, so wasn't a bad trip in the end. Mostly paid for the 4 plane tickets I had to buy for the family to get out there.

Going over the black jack results for last year, turned out kind of meh. I finished up, but not by a ton, relatively speaking. As I was going through the results, I noticed that if I had stuck to a 10k session loss limit, I would have ended up with a 65k positive swing. Not that it matters, as that is just looking into the past and data mining with a bias, which doesn't account for much.

In any case I have been on a mini-rush of late gambling wise. From poker since December I have picked up $1967, and in blackjack 27.5k, in video poker 20k, and in craps another 11k, or so for a total of 60.5k to finish off the year. Not too shabby.