Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Memorial Weekend Poker

Had a great weekend playing poker. Got out 3 times over the holiday weekend starting on Thursday night. Overall finished up $8661 over 24 hours of play. Some notable happenings this weekend:

On Saturday night, I lost the biggest pot I have ever played. I was in the 40/80 game, playing overs. Overs means the limits double to 80/160, if everyone who is left in the hand has an overs button after the flop. Steve the fish was in the game, and EVERYBODY took an overs button. Steve had been running hot and had about 6 racks in front of him. As soon as the overs buttons came out, I bought another rack of chips.

So about an hour into playing overs, I got involved in the following hand. I was in the small blind with 58o. 3 limpers and I completed the bet, thinking to myself if I don't flop a monster I'm done with this piece of cheese. Flop comes 4, 6, 7 rainbow. I just flopped the nuts. This was an overs pot, so preflop there was 5 40 bets, for a pot size of 200. I bet, BB raised, UTG 3-bet, I smooth call, BB calls. 3*3*80 + 200 = 920 in the pot. Turn comes an Ace. I check, BB bets, UTG raises, I check-raise, BB calls, UTG caps, I call, BB calls. 4*3*160+920 = 2840 in the pot. River comes a 6. I check, BB checks, UTG bets. I make a crying call, BB calls. BB had 3/5 for the lower straight, UTG slowplayed pocket aces before the flop and filled up on the river. Final pot size was 480+2840 = 3320. I lost 40+240+640+180 = 1100 in that pot. Took me a while to recover after that beat, but I grinded it out and went home a 200$ winner in that game. That was a massive pot. The only thing I think I marginally did wrong was call the river. BUT, the pot was so huge and it was only going to cost me 160 more to win a pot of 3000, I was getting nearly 19-1 on a call. I figured that UTG must have flopped a set, and rivered a full house, but with the pot so big, I don't think there's any way I can lay down.

On Monday night, I played 75-150 for the first time at Oceans-11. Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers was in the game. That's the only reason I sat in that game. I have the bankroll for 75-150, but the game is a little bigger than I feel comfortable playing in normally. However, I have played with Jerry before, and I know that he's an action player, so I decided to take a shot. Jerry had been playing all day at Oceans-11. There was a poker tournament in the morning at 11am, that he played in, and when I showed up at 9pm he was in a short-handed 75-150 game. Jerry had been drinking and it clearly showed. He was playing very fast, and very loose. I finished that game up 6305, most of it courtesy of Mr. Jerry Buss. Thank you sir!

Jerry did put a couple of brutal beats on me though. One hand I had pocket aces in the small blind. Jerry limped with K4o. I raised and the BB called with guess what? K4o as well. Flop came king high. I bet, Wayne in the BB, called, Jerry raised, I 3-bet, Wayne and Jerry both called. Turn came a rag, bet-call-call. River a frigging King! The two of them were drawing to 3 freaking outs for a split pot! I checked, Wayne bet, Jerry called, I mucked my aces face up knowing that I was beat on the river.

One funny hand that Jerry played, Wayne tabled T-7 one the river. Jerry asked the dealer if the 7 played. It barely beat the board, and Jerry mucked, saying he had a ten too, but couldn't beat the 7 kicker. I think he called a bet on the turn too. That's why I like playing with Dr. Buss.

Monday, April 9, 2007

What a Rush!

Played last night, won 3430 in 5 hours of play at the 40/80 game. Won most of it in about 1 hour, where I went on a huge rush. Pocket aces, pockets kings x2, pocket queens, pocket jacks, pocket tens, ace-king suited, ace-queen suited, ace-jack suited, all held up except pocket tens. Been a long time since I went on a rush like that, and had a 3+ rack night. I guess this is one of the reasons I like to play poker. I felt like I totally owned that table and was invincible. I should have played more hands than that, because even the rags I was throwing away would have won.

I made one play last night on Ryan, where even though I got lucky, I still think I played it well. I raised UTG with 5,6 offsuit. I was just coming off my rush, and was feeling spunky. Guy to my left calls, Ryan 3-bets in the small blind, big-blind folds, and the 2 of us call. Flop comes 2,3,5 rainbow. Ryan bets, I call, guy to my left calls. Turn comes 9h, still rainbow. Ryan bets, I raise, guy to my left calls 2 cold! My raise here is a semi-bluff, playing my image. I have been known to smooth-call a preflop 3-bet with pocket kings or pocket aces, so I know Ryan should respect my raise here. Ryan 3-bets, so I know he has a big hand at this point, but I figure I have 9 clean outs, 2 fives, 4 fours, 3 sixes to beat Ryan. I call. I thought the guy to my left called, but it turned out he mucked when I called Ryan's 3-bet. I put the guy on my left on a wheel draw, with something like ace-ten/ace-jack. I was praying for a 4, so I could nail him. I was sitting in the 9 seat, while he was in the 1 seat, so it was difficult for me to see him. I should have payed more attention. River comes a six, giving me two pair, but putting a 4 card straight on board. Ryan bet. I just called, because I thought the one seat still had a hand. I looked over to the dealer, and asked did the 1 seat call? The dealer replied, he mucked on the turn. DAMN! Had I known he mucked on the turn, I would have raised the river. Ryan shows pocket queens, and I take down the pot. Ryan was a little upset, asking how I could play that hand. I didn't say anything at the time. Later I asked him what he thought I had on the turn, and he said he didn't really think about what I had. Thus I learned that Ryan, is still pretty much a 1st level thinker, doesn't consider the texture of the board, the action up to that point, and what hands the other players could possibly have. If I did have pocket kings or pocket aces, I play it very similar, although I probably would have raised the flop, instead of calling. As always in poker, everything depends. There's never only one-way to play a hand. Guess that's one of the reasons I like to play this game.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Quads - Odds & Ends

Had a great 1st quarter of the year. Here's the breakdown of 2007 so far:
8/16 -330$ 4.25 hours
20/40 +4772$ 65.25 hours
40/80 +10696$ 94.5 hours

Totals = 15138$ 164 hours for an hourly rate of 92.30$/hour

Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Played twice over the weekend. On Friday night, a new guy I have never played with before kept the 40/80 game alive and revived a short-handed 75/150. Spewed chips left and right. He runs into quad 8's, when he makes a full-house and lost the maximum. Approximately 10 minutes later, he runs into my quad kings. Here's how it went down, he raised UTG. Folded to me, I 3-bet with pocket kings. All folds, he calls. Flop come king-ten-rag. Check-bet-call. Turn king. Check-bet-call. River rag. Check-bet-call. He says I can't beat a king. I say how about two of them, and open my quads. He shows queen-ten offsuit. He chats with me a couple of minutes later, saying I really liked that king on the turn, I thought my ten with a good kicker might be good. Ummm, yeah buddy. There's no hand that I would be willing to 3-bet before the flop, and bet that flop that doesn't have your queen-ten crushed at that point. He burned up his chips faster than a twig in gasoline fire. He eventually moved over to the short 75-150 game, and as soon as he left, the 75-150 game suddenly got healthy again, as quite a few people suddenly put their names on the list for the game. As soon as he left, I racked up and took home my profit.

On Saturday night in the 40/80 game, I would have flopped quad deuces on the button if I hadn't mucked preflop. David raised 1 before the cut-off after 2 limpers. I looked down and saw two red ducks. I probably had odds to call, but I mucked it not wanting to get involved with such a piss poor hand, especially against David. David is one of the more solid players in the 20/40 and 40/80 games. Flop comes 2 2 9. David bet the flop and got 1 caller. Ace on the turn, David bet and took down the pot. Juicy, I think I could have got at least 2 bets on the flop and turn from David. Maybe more, depending on what he had.

Brenda was in the house Saturday night. She pounded on me for a while, before my cards started holding up and I started winning my fair share. Ended up on the night +1515, after grinding it out for 7 hours. Didn't get home till 5:00 am. That's too long for me, but as long as Brenda was in the game, I really didn't want to leave. Sleep is overrated I guess. If I didn't have kids and I didn't need to wake up and be functional on Sundays, I guess I would have stayed later. As they say, you never know when the fish is going to be in the pond.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Lucky Beer

I've been playing at Oceans-11 for quite a while now, since early 2003 or late 2002, I don't quite remember. In any case, I go there enough that I am a regular in the casino, and I know most of the employees who work the night and swing shifts, the times that I am usually there.

In any case, on Saturday-St. Patrick's day, I get to the card room a little later than usual around 9pm. The beginning of the night, starts off very choppy and I can't get into any kind of rhythm. Before I left home, I called ahead and got my name on the 8/16, 20/40, and 40/80 games. All three of these games are usually must-move games, and you can call ahead to get on the list. I arrive and there are two 20/40, and two 40/80 games running, along with three 8/16 games. I get a seat in a 20/40 game, lose some and move into a 40/80 game. As usual, before I sit down into the 20/40 game, I look around at the games that I usually play to see if there is any particularly hard table that I'd like to avoid playing, or a particularly soft table I want to get on.

I notice that Brenda, the rich accountant fish is in the room. I haven't seen Brenda around in a while, and I mentioned to Moke, sitting next to me, that I saw Brenda in the room. Moke responded that he saw Brenda about a month ago and she dumped off somewhere around 15 racks in the 40/80 game. The 40/80 game is played with $10 chips and 1 rack is $1000, you do the math. Brenda is playing 40/80 and I tell Moke that I can't wait to get into that game. Moke says I'll be lucky if I get into that game before 2:00 am at the earliest. Moke is on the list for 40/80 as well.

Part of my lack of rhythm problem was that I never seemed to be at any one table long enough. I started at the 20/40 and after 1 hour got called for the 40/80 game. Brenda had already moved to the main game however, so I still needed to make it to that game to play with her. I played for an hour and a half before the game got really short and broke. While I was playing, Jessica, the cocktail waitress I usually order from, bought me a "lucky" beer for St. Patrick's Day. I thanked her and hoped it would come true. After the second 40/80 game broke, I went back to 20/40 and played for half an hour, before a seat opened up in the main 40/80 game at around midnight. So far, I was down 655 on the night played on 3 different tables and put in 3 hours of play.

I get to the 40/80 with Brenda. Unfortunately, she's short-stacked, although over the next 2 and half hours I played, she dumped off 3+ racks because she was re-buying chips so often, but I don't know how much she was in for total. A lot I imagine. I could never imagine losing 15 racks in a single session of poker. I realize that it's all just one big long game, and that I am an overall winning player, but if I have a bad night I call it quits. There will always be a poker game another time. In fact I would never take that much money with me to play with. I have a pretty strict 3 rack loss-limit at whatever level I am playing. If I lose that much, I quit and go home. In any case, I don't get involved with Brenda in too many pots, so I don't seem to get my fair share of her chip spewage, but there's always next time.

In any case, as I am sitting down to the 40/80 game, Jessica who is sweating her boyfriend in the game asks me if the beer she bought me was lucky. I reply "Not so far", she replies "Don't worry I feel it coming". After about 30 minutes in the following hand comes down:
I have qd 8d in the big blind, 5 limpers and the SB completes. 7 players take a flop of js 9d 7d. SB checks. I think to myself, I don't want to get raised out of this pot. I have a flush draw, and gut-shot straight draw. If I check, and it comes back raised to me, I'm going to have to dump it. So I bet out. UTG, Lem calls, everyone else folds. Jd on the turn, completes my flush. I bet, Lem calls. Td on the river. I have the absolute, stone-cold, immortal nuts, a queen-high straight-flush. I bet, Lem raises. I 3-bet, Lem 4-bets, I 5-bet. Everybody at the table, except maybe Lem knows that I have the straight-flush. Hell, there's a single card straight-flush possible on the board, with 7d, 9d, td, jd on board. Lem says "one more time", and 6-bets. I 7-bet and Lem finally just calls. I open my hand, dealer announces queen-high straight flush. Lem had the nut-full house with jc tc. It went perfect-perfect for me to get that much action from Lem. Even on the flop Lem was the slight dog:
http://twodimes.net/h/?z=2515355
pokenum -h qd 8d - tc jc -- js 9d 7d
Holdem Hi: 990 enumerated boards containing Js 9d 7d
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
Qd 8d 498 50.30 492 49.70 0 0.00 0.503
Jc Tc 492 49.70 498 50.30 0 0.00 0.497

So, as I rack up to leave a couple of hours later, Jessica says to me
"See I told you that it was a lucky beer!"

Happy St. Patrick's Day indeed!

Thursday, March 8, 2007

My own personal ATM

I went to go play poker last night at Oceans-11. The kids went to bed early and my wife gave me her blessing. I arrive and I get a seat in a short handed 40-80 game. I look at the line-up and it's a tough game, not sure I really want to play. Then before I get dealt in a seat opens in the 20/40 game. I look at the lineup over there, and boy is it juicy. I jump on the seat immediately and leave the 40/80 before ever getting a hand.

In the 20/40 game here was the lineup:
Seat 1 - unknown to me
Seat 2 - Sye, calling station. His idea of mixing it up is raising under the gun with 4-8 suited and then when he missed the flop, check-call to the river.
Seat 3 - Abol, never saw an ace he didn't like. Thinks Ace-Ten is a 3-betting/cap it hand.
Seat 4 - unknown to me
Seat 5 - unknown to me
Seat 6 - Marty, plays any two suited, any two connecting, any two paint, any ace.
Seat 7 - Daryl, never saw any two cards he didn't like
Seat 8 - me
Seat 9 - Alan, don't bother trying to put him on a hand, because he plays any cards he feels like it. He's a multimillionaire so he can afford to do it and he's awesome.

Overall, I finished up +1000 after 4 hours. Had some nasty suckouts on the river by some of the other players, but with that lineup it was expected. I wish I could play that lineup every night I played.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Fancy-Schmancy

So I was reading the local computer magazine, called ComputerEdge, dated February 23rd over lunch today. Had a lot of articles about GPS, applications, new devices, etc. As I was reading one article I read the following, "Using some fancy-schmancy mathematical hocus-pocus, a GPS receiver can determine location, speed of movement, and direction."

WHAT?!?

Not only as an engineer am I insulted, but I think anybody who has ever taken a college level calculus class should be insulted too. No wonder the educational system in our country, especially in math and science is so poor. When a computer magazine, albiet it's often light in the technical details, makes a statement like that . . . I should write a letter to the editor.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Afraid of the Nuts

So I was playing 20/40 at Oceans-11 on Thursday night when the following hand came up.

I had pocket kings UTG+1, and I raised. Roc, a very aggressive player, who usually plays in the bigger games in LA, like 100/200 or bigger, was slumming in the 20/40 game. He 3-bets me before the flop, we get 1 or 2 other callers and I just call pre-flop. At this point Roc could have a wide range of hands, from any pocket pair, ace-face, king-queen, etc. Flop comes 10, 10, Jack. I check-raise Roc, on the flop, and he 3-bets me. Turn is a rag, and I check raise Roc again, and again he 3-bets the turn. River comes a king, giving me second nuts. I check-raise rock on the river again, and again he 3 bets me. I 4-bet, he 5-bets, I 6-bet, he 7-bets. What to do now? On the river, I know that he has either pocket tens or pocket jacks. For either the nuts or 3rd nut. I just call, half expecting him to show me quads. He shows me pocket jacks and I drag the pot.