Interesting session yesterday. After it was all said and done I finished down exactly $300, so basically that's like breaking even in a 40/80 game. The game started short, filled up, stayed full most of the day, and then started to get short later in the evening and into the early morning hours. I eventually got to put in an extended heads up session against Cecil. I ran pretty good against Cecil and I could tell that he was getting a little frustrated particularly since it seemed like I flopped a pair or a draw like almost every time, and whenever I needed to would bink the 3 outer no problem.
I finished the heads up match with 23 and 1/2 stacks for a cashout of $4700. Now I can't totally recall what I started with when we started our heads up match, it was either 11 stacks or 6 stacks. I think it was 11, but I'm not totally sure. I just recall Helen running hotter than the wind as usual, particularly when were playing 3-handed with Cecil and I. Some more Helen delights, 3-betting me with KTs out of the SB when I had AK. Don't worry she binks a T on the turn. QJo against my 88, where she held a singleton diamond against my 8 of diamond. Board runs out pretty bad for me and she gets the maximum as the way the hand played out, she's never supposed to have an unpaired hand there on the river when the 4th diamond hits, but apparently when Helen tilts she literally have any two sometimes. She got another guy really good with T6 suited for a big pot too. Playing 3-handed she pulled off an animal raise with 22 on a 6555 board. I opened the button with AK, she 3-bet the SB, Cecil folded and I 4-bet. She check called the 655 flop, and then check raised the 5 turn. I am really regretting not 3 betting her on the turn, in any case I called. River was a 2 and she fired, and I snap called. Cecil and I both think, that she thought she was bluffing on the turn, and that the river card "improved" her hand, when in reality her hand could not improve further after the turn. I had 7 outs for the win and 3 outs for a chop.
In full ring play I got up as much as 2 racks or so, but then went on mini-tilt or as I like to call it raiseitis, and started raising a few too many hands. I eventually got cured of that but ran into some cold decks. KQ versus AQ on a queen high flop, turn Q. I opened preflop, got 3 bet by the button, check/raised/called a 3 bet on the flop, and then bet/3bet the queen turn, and fired the river only to get looked up by AQ of course. I even announced AQ good after getting called on the river so quickly.
I got to check raise Cecil with A4 against his AQ on the river on a like a a 87284 board. I opened short handed he correctly 3-bet, I called. I check called both his flop and turn bets. Then I check/raised the river and he snap called, and then I wasn't sure that my hand was good. At the time I thought I had a good value check/raise until he called so fast, but my hand was still good.
Later on in the evening playing I think 5 or 6 handed I pulled off a masterful river check raise. Lam open-limped UTG, I over limped with 87dd, Helen limped, Cecil raised the button, can't quite recall if one of the blinds called or not. In any case flop comes Q79 one diamond. Checked to Cecil who oddly checks behind. Turn is an 8. Lam now bets, I call, Helen folds, Cecil calls. River is a king. Lam now checks, I check, Cecil ponders for an unusually long time for him and then bets. Lam calls, I raise, Cecil frowns and calls, Lam hates it and folds.
Also, someone tried to buy me a beer and I had to respectfully decline otherwise Cecil would have pounced and collected his free $50.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
White Christmas
Got out to Canterbury Park for a total of 5 days in my 11 day trip to Minnesota. Overall finished up enough to cover my family's plane tickets costs plus a little extra. Had a couple of brutal sessions where I dropped 10 racks combined, but then also had two very good sessions where I won almost 15 racks combined, and everything else was just meh. The two sessions where I got killed, I also got very inebriated, celebrating the holidays. Which brings me to my next point, I think for the year 2013, I plan on playing poker without drinking. I did this before for a while, and then kind of fell back into drinking again without really thinking about it. But here lately it seems like every time I drink and play poker, I just can't seem to hold it together. So from here on out I will be offering a $50 bounty, collectable only once per night per person, if you see me drinking in a 20/40 limit or 5/5 no limit or 2/5 PLO game or higher game payable on the spot and you mention that you saw the bounty posted here. 8/16 and lower games do not count, also if I decide to have a beer at the bar that does not count either. You must physically spot me at the table drinking an alcoholic beverage of any sort and discretely notify me of such. Bounty is open, unless I officially call it off publicly here.
Hooked up with Urkel while I was in Minnesota. Urkel, his cousin, and I caught the week 17 matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers at the Hooters in the Mall of America. Urkel got very very smashed and was hitting on everything with two legs and breasts. It was a funny sight to behold, but Urkel was very gracious and welcomed me with great hospitality to his home state and I had a great time with him at the restaurant. I sweated his bet on the money line (he took the Vikings of course, even though they were getting 3.5 points at home), and I told him and his cousin even though the Vikings looked very good early, that the game was going to come down to a field goal, and I was right. I tried to pick up the tab for two young Army guys I saw in uniform at the restaurant anonymously, but Urkel made a big scene when the waitress came over to drop off their bill thinking it was ours. They were gracious about it and came over to thank me and shake my hand.
Some gripes about Canterbury and some positives as well about the place. First, the card room itself is pretty well-run. I didn't see any major disasters, card throwing, fisticuffs, or anything major like that. So I think they run a pretty clean place and don't put up with a lot of bull crap there and dealers for the most part are pretty good. Complaints, first the food is expensive and not comped for the bigger games, and isn't that good. This is partially made up for by giving back cash comps to the players. $1 an hour for games below 20/40 and $1.50 an hour for bigger games. Also if you play at least 1200 hours a year, they will give you a GOLD member card that gets you 50% off of food. The action is great there, and they consistently had at least one 20/40 game going whenever I was there or checked on Bravo Poker Live, and it was accurate. I really wish Oceans-11 would get on that system. Most of the time there was also a 40/80 half holdem half Omaha 8 or better running. One night they kicked up the mixed game to 50/100. I am not an Omaha specialist, particularly not at high-low split, but do know how to play the game. I have spent much more time playing PLO and prefer that. Minnesota recently changed the law which enabled CP to spread bigger games. The max bet allowed by law used to be 60, so that's why the spread 15/30 and 30/60. Now it's a 100, so now they regularly spread 20/40 and 40/80, with the occasional 50/100 thrown in. They also have pseudo no-limit cash games disguised as mini sit and go tournaments to get around the no no-limit law in Minnesota. The place appears to have a thriving poker economy and CP doesn't employ any proposition players. Other complaints valet parking isn't free. It's normally 6 dollars, but is 3 dollars if you have an MVP card, and you can use your comp dollars for that. That's what I did each time I went out there. You are supposedly only allowed one alcoholic beverage every 30 minutes, but that is pretty loosely enforced and pretty easy to get around even if someone calls you on it. They don't sell Red Bull. Beer was expensive $4.25 for a bottle of Coors Light. Jackpot was up to like $105,000 or so. Takes quads over quads to hit, both hole cards for both players must play. There was actually a hand where quads over quads happened on my table, but unfortunately the kicker didn't play. It was 99 versus 75 on 99555 board and quad nines checked the river in position?!? Other odd complaint, if you have broken game status but sit in another (smaller) game you lose your broken game status. Wish they would have told me that before I sat and played an orbit in 8/16 only to discover that I had to post when I got called for the 20/40 main game!
Well I think that about wraps it up for this update. I did many other things with my family while I was in Minnesota, but outside the scope of my poker playing and I figure those sorts of mundane things are probably not of great interest to my readers, so I won't bore you all with the details.
Run good in 2013!
Happy New Year!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Guess Complaining Works . . .
The session started off looking like it was going to be more of the same. Cold decks and suckouts galore. Eventually things turned around, particularly when the game got short handed which is my specialty. But first things first.
I played a very interesting hand against Armor32, that I posted about here. I opened with AQo in fairly early position and then David T cold called me in the cutoff and then Armor called in the big blind. The flop came 66T two diamonds and Armor donked. This is an extremely peculiar bet, and is both out of tempo and out of character for Armor. If he did indeed have a big hand, I think it's still better to check/raise and he gets the cutoff trapped in for at least one bet, but by betting if I raise, he loses the cutoff from the hand. So in my mind his range is very polarized to weak T's, big combo draws 87dd, 98dd, 97dd, or a made monster 76s, 65s, 64s, or 66. So I call, David T calls in the cutoff and we see a turn, which is an off suit queen. Armor bets again.
Now, I have a real decision to make here. I can raise and try and blow David T out of the hand, but I am going to get 3-bet here a lot in my opinion by both made hands that I beat, made hands that crush me, and huge draws of Armor. Given the combined range of hands that beat me plus hands that have huge draws, I'd rather just call and let Armor barrel through. I should be ahead of David T here, as he doesn't have many sixes in his pre flop range other than 66 exactly, and shouldn't really have a ten here either with the flop action. He could easily have a queen, but if he does, it's going to be KQ or QJ here every time, which I am clearly crushing. The one hand that I am a little worried about is KQdd, which would give David T, top pair good kicker and second nut flush draw, and with me just calling both flop and turn, my hand is clearly under represented.
So I call, then the hand gets interesting. David T now springs in a raise. As soon as that happens I narrow David T's hand to almost exactly KQdd. I was planning on 3-betting David T if Armor called or folded. However Armor now 3-bets, and I have to fold. David T calls, the river comes a black ace, Armor bets, and David T folds. I have a sneaking suspicion that Armor had QT, that I have beat on the river, but can't handle the pressure on the turn. If I raise the turn, unless it somehow gets capped backed to me, I am going to see the river and a showdown. Now if Armor actually did have 66, he misplayed the turn, as he only get 4 big bets on the turn and river combined. If he just calls the raise, I am going to call too, and then he can donk the river again, and get at least 5 or 6 or more big bets on the river. Plus I'm sure Armor's range analysis of both David T's and my hand at game time speed is fairly accurate, and I did agonize over the turn fold, but eventually made it.
Later on Helen continues to run like a god against me. Just a small smattering of hands. I cap 99, when she light 3-bet with KTo. Don't worry flop comes 9QJ with a flush draw, that doesn't get there and I don't fill up. She played it perfectly post flop and got 5 big bets out of me on the turn and river. Then I 3-bet her late position open with 77, while she has 87s. Flop comes A45, and she check calls. Turn is a 6 and she check raises me. River is an A, just to insure that I pay off, since now I can beat a counterfeited two pair of 54, 65, and 64.
After this hand, I have to buy more chips and then I am finally allowed to start winning. As the table got shorter, I kept applying more and more pressure both pre flop and post flop, and kept winning hand after hand.
I finally got to be on the good side of a cold deck. I opened with QQ and got called by the big blind with Q5s. Flop comes QT8 rainbow. I got check/raised and 3-bet the flop. Turn comes a 5, I get check/raised-4bet and I just called and J9 is certainly in the big blind's range. River comes another 5, and I get to raise/4bet and drag a monster.
Bout time, variance runs the other way in my opinion.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
And Knowing Is Half the Battle!
In my last approximately 30 hours of play, I am up 76.975 bets, but still down real dollars. Huh? Sometimes, it REALLY does matter the stakes you are playing and which games you run well in, and which games you don't.
In the 8/16 and the 20/40 when it goes, I have been running like a god. But in the 40/80 I have been getting my teeth kicked in. Now of course there is a difference in the player pools and the caliber of play, particularly when you go from 8/16 to 20/40. However, the 40/80 player pool and the 20/40 player pool are essentially the same at Oceans-11, with a few extra people who show up to play 40/80, but nobody I can't handle. I just can't seem to catch a break in the 40 game.
In my last ten 20/40 sessions, I am up 148.325 bets in 28 hours of play. In my last ten 8/16 sessions, I am up 213.9375 bets in 35.5 hours of play. In my last ten 40/80 sessions, I am down an obscene number of bets in only 127 hours of play. Part of the issue with the 40/80 is that it only goes once a week, and so it is difficult to keep any positive momentum or energy flowing easily from session to session, and makes it hard to turn it around, since I have to wait another week before I get a chance to play at that level again. Possibly, since I have been playing a lot more 8/16 this year bad habits from playing that game are creeping over and causing me to make mistakes that get magnified and punished in the 40/80 game that the 8/16 players are not capable of doing. So I am going to be much more aware of that this week when I play.
I got out for a rare Tuesday session last night. The 20 game got fired up around 5:30 starting 4 handed. The game eventually filled up and we had a ramming jamming chip flinging affair. At some point in the evening, overs buttons got passed around and everyone at the table took one. So we were basically playing 40/80 with mini blinds and $20 preflop wagers. It was a very fun game, and I simply got to run over it to the tune of 92.5 bets ($40 bets). Not sure exactly how to book this game in my stats, since it was technically a 20/40 game, and I don't remember what time the overs came into play. Hmmm, I'll figure something out here eventually.
In the 8/16 and the 20/40 when it goes, I have been running like a god. But in the 40/80 I have been getting my teeth kicked in. Now of course there is a difference in the player pools and the caliber of play, particularly when you go from 8/16 to 20/40. However, the 40/80 player pool and the 20/40 player pool are essentially the same at Oceans-11, with a few extra people who show up to play 40/80, but nobody I can't handle. I just can't seem to catch a break in the 40 game.
In my last ten 20/40 sessions, I am up 148.325 bets in 28 hours of play. In my last ten 8/16 sessions, I am up 213.9375 bets in 35.5 hours of play. In my last ten 40/80 sessions, I am down an obscene number of bets in only 127 hours of play. Part of the issue with the 40/80 is that it only goes once a week, and so it is difficult to keep any positive momentum or energy flowing easily from session to session, and makes it hard to turn it around, since I have to wait another week before I get a chance to play at that level again. Possibly, since I have been playing a lot more 8/16 this year bad habits from playing that game are creeping over and causing me to make mistakes that get magnified and punished in the 40/80 game that the 8/16 players are not capable of doing. So I am going to be much more aware of that this week when I play.
I got out for a rare Tuesday session last night. The 20 game got fired up around 5:30 starting 4 handed. The game eventually filled up and we had a ramming jamming chip flinging affair. At some point in the evening, overs buttons got passed around and everyone at the table took one. So we were basically playing 40/80 with mini blinds and $20 preflop wagers. It was a very fun game, and I simply got to run over it to the tune of 92.5 bets ($40 bets). Not sure exactly how to book this game in my stats, since it was technically a 20/40 game, and I don't remember what time the overs came into play. Hmmm, I'll figure something out here eventually.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Unbelievable!
Another losing 40/80 session. Lately seems like I have been having a ton of these and it's really starting to suck. Last night was no exception, with me never getting more than 800 winner and really for most of the night hovering around even, until I lose two pots, one in the most absurd ludicrous fashion.
I open AQo in early position, Ramzi cold-calls, and then Helen 3-bets with Q8dd the rest clear out, and both Ramzi and I call. Flop comes AQx 2 diamonds. Checked to Helen, I c/r, Ramzi calls two cold, Helen 3-bets, I cap, Ramzi calls again. Turn is a rag diamond. I bet, Ramzi calls, Helen raises, I 3-bet. Ramzi calls again, Helen caps, we both call. River is an off suit king, and I pay off in the massive pot to see Helen's flush. I actually think I misplayed this hand. I am not second guessing the turn 3-bet, but the river payoff. As I thought Helen's range prior to her capping was heavy in large pocket pairs with a diamond, KdKx, AxKd, AxQd, AxJd, etc. So with me not filling up on the river, and the river being a king, I am now behind a huge portion of her range and can really only beat a bluff which should never be present at this point, so I really need to just be disciplined and check/fold. I mean really, if she can cap the turn and bet the king river into two players really what can I beat?
Then later in the evening the biggest most passive mega fish ever sits in the game. I have played with this guy before, and everyone was salivating when he sat in the game and it quickly became obvious that no one was leaving as long as this guy was in the game. He came over from a short handed no limit game and bought in short into the game for like 600. Don't worry he proceeds to win like the first 5 pots with powerhouse hands like Q5o, T7s, A2o, 33, and some other cheese.
Then the following atrocity happens. I post in the cutoff. Helen opens the pot, mega fish does as mega fish is supposed to do and cold-calls. Folded to me and I call with pocket 3's. Button and small blind fold and Ramzi calls in the big blind. So 4-way to the flop for 9 small bets. Flop comes 973 all hearts. Ramzi donks, Helen calls, mega fish calls, I raise, Ramzi calls, Helen now 3-bets, mega fish eats two, I cap, Ramzi eats two, Helen calls, mega fish calls again. 25 small bets going into the turn.
Turn 9. Ramzi donks again! Helen smooth calls again! Mega fish does as mega fish is supposed to do and calls. I raise, Ramzi calls, Helen now 3-bets again. Mega fish as he is cutting out chips asks how much do I owe? How much to cap? And finally just calls. I of course cap, and everyone calls again. 28.5 big bets going into the river.
And the dealer burns and turns and brings what? The ace of spades. Normally the most beautiful card in the deck, although in this case it is the ugliest card for me. Checked to the mega fish, who fires right in. I throw up, wet my pants, cry call and I am prepared to see my destiny. Ramzi calls and Helen calls for a final pot size of 32.5 big bets minus the $4 drop for a total pot size of $2596. Mega fish rolls the A9o for the win of course. Ramzi had 98 and Helen had the ace high flush of course. I am told later by the gentleman in the 1 seat that he folded an ace pre flop, so I need to dodge 3 sevens, 3 eights, and 1 ace to scoop the ginormous pot in which I had over 82% equity going into the river. Our friend the mega fish literally had one out for the scoop and 3 outs for a chop with Ramzi, which ironically also will allow me to save $80 on the river as with a double paired board, my hand will now be trash. Ramzi has the clean 3 outer with an 8. But just imagine what happens if the river is 3! It will be capped again and I will collect an extra 8 big bets on the river. I am certain Helen will fold the river if the board pairs again with either a 7 or a 3. I can easily fold to a river 7 as well.
Thanks to this giant pot the mega fish has now run his $600 buy in into well over 3 racks of chips. He sticks around continues to play the worst possible poker ever, wins in the most absurd fashion, and finally decides to quit, with most of his win intact. I am disappointed in both myself and my table mates in that we allowed him to leave the table with any chips at all. Fortunately for him, he realized that he was the chum in the water and that the longer that he stuck around that he eventually was going to lose it all back. It was inevitable. I mean he open-limps the button with 52o! He literally played 90% of his hands preflop, and never raised preflop and rarely post flop unless he had the actual nuts or the stone cold virtual nuts. Like he didn't even raise pre flop with pocket kings, AK, or AQ which were at least 3 of his actual good hands that I saw him win with.
It was a sight to behold and unfortunately Ramzi and I got destroyed by the mega fish. I probably should have just quit after he quit around 3 am, but I didn't and it didn't get any better for me. I think I need a break from playing the 40/80 or something. It's really starting to bug me and that's not a good recipe for success.
I open AQo in early position, Ramzi cold-calls, and then Helen 3-bets with Q8dd the rest clear out, and both Ramzi and I call. Flop comes AQx 2 diamonds. Checked to Helen, I c/r, Ramzi calls two cold, Helen 3-bets, I cap, Ramzi calls again. Turn is a rag diamond. I bet, Ramzi calls, Helen raises, I 3-bet. Ramzi calls again, Helen caps, we both call. River is an off suit king, and I pay off in the massive pot to see Helen's flush. I actually think I misplayed this hand. I am not second guessing the turn 3-bet, but the river payoff. As I thought Helen's range prior to her capping was heavy in large pocket pairs with a diamond, KdKx, AxKd, AxQd, AxJd, etc. So with me not filling up on the river, and the river being a king, I am now behind a huge portion of her range and can really only beat a bluff which should never be present at this point, so I really need to just be disciplined and check/fold. I mean really, if she can cap the turn and bet the king river into two players really what can I beat?
Then later in the evening the biggest most passive mega fish ever sits in the game. I have played with this guy before, and everyone was salivating when he sat in the game and it quickly became obvious that no one was leaving as long as this guy was in the game. He came over from a short handed no limit game and bought in short into the game for like 600. Don't worry he proceeds to win like the first 5 pots with powerhouse hands like Q5o, T7s, A2o, 33, and some other cheese.
Then the following atrocity happens. I post in the cutoff. Helen opens the pot, mega fish does as mega fish is supposed to do and cold-calls. Folded to me and I call with pocket 3's. Button and small blind fold and Ramzi calls in the big blind. So 4-way to the flop for 9 small bets. Flop comes 973 all hearts. Ramzi donks, Helen calls, mega fish calls, I raise, Ramzi calls, Helen now 3-bets, mega fish eats two, I cap, Ramzi eats two, Helen calls, mega fish calls again. 25 small bets going into the turn.
Turn 9. Ramzi donks again! Helen smooth calls again! Mega fish does as mega fish is supposed to do and calls. I raise, Ramzi calls, Helen now 3-bets again. Mega fish as he is cutting out chips asks how much do I owe? How much to cap? And finally just calls. I of course cap, and everyone calls again. 28.5 big bets going into the river.
And the dealer burns and turns and brings what? The ace of spades. Normally the most beautiful card in the deck, although in this case it is the ugliest card for me. Checked to the mega fish, who fires right in. I throw up, wet my pants, cry call and I am prepared to see my destiny. Ramzi calls and Helen calls for a final pot size of 32.5 big bets minus the $4 drop for a total pot size of $2596. Mega fish rolls the A9o for the win of course. Ramzi had 98 and Helen had the ace high flush of course. I am told later by the gentleman in the 1 seat that he folded an ace pre flop, so I need to dodge 3 sevens, 3 eights, and 1 ace to scoop the ginormous pot in which I had over 82% equity going into the river. Our friend the mega fish literally had one out for the scoop and 3 outs for a chop with Ramzi, which ironically also will allow me to save $80 on the river as with a double paired board, my hand will now be trash. Ramzi has the clean 3 outer with an 8. But just imagine what happens if the river is 3! It will be capped again and I will collect an extra 8 big bets on the river. I am certain Helen will fold the river if the board pairs again with either a 7 or a 3. I can easily fold to a river 7 as well.
Thanks to this giant pot the mega fish has now run his $600 buy in into well over 3 racks of chips. He sticks around continues to play the worst possible poker ever, wins in the most absurd fashion, and finally decides to quit, with most of his win intact. I am disappointed in both myself and my table mates in that we allowed him to leave the table with any chips at all. Fortunately for him, he realized that he was the chum in the water and that the longer that he stuck around that he eventually was going to lose it all back. It was inevitable. I mean he open-limps the button with 52o! He literally played 90% of his hands preflop, and never raised preflop and rarely post flop unless he had the actual nuts or the stone cold virtual nuts. Like he didn't even raise pre flop with pocket kings, AK, or AQ which were at least 3 of his actual good hands that I saw him win with.
It was a sight to behold and unfortunately Ramzi and I got destroyed by the mega fish. I probably should have just quit after he quit around 3 am, but I didn't and it didn't get any better for me. I think I need a break from playing the 40/80 or something. It's really starting to bug me and that's not a good recipe for success.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Freaky Friday
Sometimes there are players who just seem to run super good against you. Andy W, ran super good against me in the 40 game. Plus there was a surprise visit from the spaceship again, and Armor32 superbly outplayed me on the seat change list, and we had a surprise visit from Persian LAG master Alex, and CC is still running well, too.
Let's start at the beginning. I went into the office to take care of some work things along with meetings I had, so I wasn't able to get up to Oceans-11 until around 4pm. Traffic sucked at that time of course and what is normally a 30 minute commute, doubled into one hour. By the time I arrived I was like 5th up for the 40 game, but got an open seat in the 20 game. I ran well in the 20 game, when the spaceship arrived. Here's where the table change games begin. The spaceship and the 20 game in general was better than the 40, so I decided to roll my name for the 40 when it was called. Well it turns out, the seat opened because Armor32 was vacating it to get into the 20 game. So he arranged for his name to put on the 40 game before leaving it, thus when I rolled he would be above me. Since the spaceship was also on the 40 board, that meant when the spaceship left the 20 for the 40, he would be able to bum hunt him sooner than me. Seems dirty, but what are you going to do? Next time, I will need to pay more attention to who left the 40 game and why, and whether or not he relisted himself for the game he is exiting.
In any case, I ran well at 20, the players were generally weak and I won little more than a rack in about 4 hours while waiting for the 40 game. Eventually I get called over for the 40, but the spaceship has busted. He eventually comes back, but busts again in short order. In the 40 game, I actually am getting reasonable hands and flops, but Andy W is again in god mode against me and letting me have it. Let's see K6 vs A7 where I posted in the cut-off for my first hand. I opened, he 3-bet, I got to check raise a king high flop, and he proceeds to double bink an ace on the turn and river, just to guarantee that I pay him off.
Then he beats my KK with QQ that binks a set on the turn. Then KK versus his AQs, that flops a flush draw and binks an ace on the river. Then there was AK vs A7, that rivered a pair of 7's against me. Oh well, what are you going to do? It happens, and I'm used to it. I ended up with a little more than a 3 rack loss, so nothing I can't handle, but it gets frustrating that's for sure.
Oh and Persian LAG master Alex got me with 8d7d on a 763 two diamond board where I held 54 for the flopped nuts. I got to six-bet him on the flop too. Don't worry diamond peels off on the river.
I am used to Andy running well against me. He had a stretch earlier this year where he could do no wrong against me. When he was behind he caught up, when he was making a move it worked or he caught what he needed, when I was ahead the perfect card for him to fold would show up and he wouldn't pay off, when he would've flopped a monster he folded preflop when I had the bigger monster. In general he ran good in all the ways one can run good, winning with the hands he should, winning with the hands he shouldn't, and not losing with hands he could've played, etc. Fortunately, that eventually turned around and I had a good one month stretch where the tables were turned and I ran very good against him. So maybe there is something to the yin-yang of a poker table and its players.
Let's start at the beginning. I went into the office to take care of some work things along with meetings I had, so I wasn't able to get up to Oceans-11 until around 4pm. Traffic sucked at that time of course and what is normally a 30 minute commute, doubled into one hour. By the time I arrived I was like 5th up for the 40 game, but got an open seat in the 20 game. I ran well in the 20 game, when the spaceship arrived. Here's where the table change games begin. The spaceship and the 20 game in general was better than the 40, so I decided to roll my name for the 40 when it was called. Well it turns out, the seat opened because Armor32 was vacating it to get into the 20 game. So he arranged for his name to put on the 40 game before leaving it, thus when I rolled he would be above me. Since the spaceship was also on the 40 board, that meant when the spaceship left the 20 for the 40, he would be able to bum hunt him sooner than me. Seems dirty, but what are you going to do? Next time, I will need to pay more attention to who left the 40 game and why, and whether or not he relisted himself for the game he is exiting.
In any case, I ran well at 20, the players were generally weak and I won little more than a rack in about 4 hours while waiting for the 40 game. Eventually I get called over for the 40, but the spaceship has busted. He eventually comes back, but busts again in short order. In the 40 game, I actually am getting reasonable hands and flops, but Andy W is again in god mode against me and letting me have it. Let's see K6 vs A7 where I posted in the cut-off for my first hand. I opened, he 3-bet, I got to check raise a king high flop, and he proceeds to double bink an ace on the turn and river, just to guarantee that I pay him off.
Then he beats my KK with QQ that binks a set on the turn. Then KK versus his AQs, that flops a flush draw and binks an ace on the river. Then there was AK vs A7, that rivered a pair of 7's against me. Oh well, what are you going to do? It happens, and I'm used to it. I ended up with a little more than a 3 rack loss, so nothing I can't handle, but it gets frustrating that's for sure.
Oh and Persian LAG master Alex got me with 8d7d on a 763 two diamond board where I held 54 for the flopped nuts. I got to six-bet him on the flop too. Don't worry diamond peels off on the river.
I am used to Andy running well against me. He had a stretch earlier this year where he could do no wrong against me. When he was behind he caught up, when he was making a move it worked or he caught what he needed, when I was ahead the perfect card for him to fold would show up and he wouldn't pay off, when he would've flopped a monster he folded preflop when I had the bigger monster. In general he ran good in all the ways one can run good, winning with the hands he should, winning with the hands he shouldn't, and not losing with hands he could've played, etc. Fortunately, that eventually turned around and I had a good one month stretch where the tables were turned and I ran very good against him. So maybe there is something to the yin-yang of a poker table and its players.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Rounders
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