I'm still on a roll. Either I am running extremely well, people are playing very badly, my game has tremendously improved, likely a combination of all 3.
Here's the stats for the second quarter of the year:
6/12 +116 4.5 hours
8/16 -84 3.667 hours
20/40 -3784 25 hours
40/80 16468 110.75 hours
75/150 6305 3.5 hours
Total = 19021 147.417 hours for an hourly rate of 129.03!
Better than my first quarter average!
The results are partly skewed because of my big win in the 75/150 against Jerry Buss. If I remove that the hourly rate comes down to 88.36 an hour, pretty close to my 1st quarter average.
Also, seems like for whatever reason I haven't been playing well in the 20/40 game. Granted I didn't put in too many hours, but over 25 hours of play I would normally expect to show a profit, not a loss. Not sure if it's me playing too loose in that game, or the players have gotten better. I cut my teeth on the 8/16 game at Oceans 11, before they spread 40/80 regularly. It seems to me that the game right below the regular biggest game in the house, is usually the toughest. It has the lower limit players trying to move up and the better higher limit players who have stepped down to rebuild a bankroll. Possibly that's what is starting to happen to the 20/40 game at Oceans 11. When I was playing the 8/16 at Oceans 11 I thought that was the toughest game in the house, after I had made the move to 20/40.
Next time I play the 20/40, I will really bolt down and see how it goes.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Funny Quote
From some reading I was doing today:
"Why waste time learning when ignorance is instantaneous?"
- Hobbes
(I am assuming that this is from Hobbes of Calvin and Hobbes fame from B. Watterson II)
"Why waste time learning when ignorance is instantaneous?"
- Hobbes
(I am assuming that this is from Hobbes of Calvin and Hobbes fame from B. Watterson II)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Father's Day Weekend Poker
Had a great Father's Day weekend of poker. Played 9 hours over Friday and Saturday Night for a profit of $2295, for an hourly rate of $255 an hour, and in terms of BB/Hr 2.69.
On Saturday night, I played with a funny character. Some young Navy guy, who called himself Crazy Mike, was playing in the 40/80 game. He bought in for around 7k, and left with around 2k. Every time he won a pot, he'd throw a $1 tip to the dealer in to the tray and say call me Crazy Mike. He played pretty horribly, however. He kept bragging and challenging people to play him heads-up. He claimed to be a heads-up limit holdem specialist and would play anybody up to 200/400 stakes. Maybe he's a good heads-up player, but he wasn't so good in the full-table ring games. One hand he capped it pre-flop with ace/ten offsuit. The two other hands I saw were pocket aces and pocket kings. He ended up chopping the pot with the pocket aces when they both made a wheel on the turn.
I had pocket aces 3 times in ten hands, with 2 of those pocket aces coming back to back. All 3 held up for good size pots as well.
On Monday night, I played my local home game with buddies and coworkers. I finished up $62! That's a huge win, given that we were playing .10/.25 blinds no-limit texas holdem with a $20 buy-in. I busted the resident rock who called off all his chips with a straight draw/flush draw on the turn, after I made top two pair. Not a horrible call, but a push on the flop by him would have gotten me out of the pot.
I think I will probably take a break from playing poker at the casino for a week or two. The last couple of times out, I wasn't really having too much fun. Seemed too much like a grind and work, then having fun like it used too. Maybe just too many hours under my belt. I've logged 297 hours at the poker table since the start of the year. Either that, or I should play some 3/6 or 4/8 just for fun and not worry about the money. We'll see.
On Saturday night, I played with a funny character. Some young Navy guy, who called himself Crazy Mike, was playing in the 40/80 game. He bought in for around 7k, and left with around 2k. Every time he won a pot, he'd throw a $1 tip to the dealer in to the tray and say call me Crazy Mike. He played pretty horribly, however. He kept bragging and challenging people to play him heads-up. He claimed to be a heads-up limit holdem specialist and would play anybody up to 200/400 stakes. Maybe he's a good heads-up player, but he wasn't so good in the full-table ring games. One hand he capped it pre-flop with ace/ten offsuit. The two other hands I saw were pocket aces and pocket kings. He ended up chopping the pot with the pocket aces when they both made a wheel on the turn.
I had pocket aces 3 times in ten hands, with 2 of those pocket aces coming back to back. All 3 held up for good size pots as well.
On Monday night, I played my local home game with buddies and coworkers. I finished up $62! That's a huge win, given that we were playing .10/.25 blinds no-limit texas holdem with a $20 buy-in. I busted the resident rock who called off all his chips with a straight draw/flush draw on the turn, after I made top two pair. Not a horrible call, but a push on the flop by him would have gotten me out of the pot.
I think I will probably take a break from playing poker at the casino for a week or two. The last couple of times out, I wasn't really having too much fun. Seemed too much like a grind and work, then having fun like it used too. Maybe just too many hours under my belt. I've logged 297 hours at the poker table since the start of the year. Either that, or I should play some 3/6 or 4/8 just for fun and not worry about the money. We'll see.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
San Jose
Just got back from a business trip to San Jose/Bay Area. Got out to play poker on Wednesday night with a buddy of mine from Canada, who also happened to be in the Bay area on business. We went to Garden City casino in San Jose after work, getting there around 7:00 pm or so. We sat together in the 6/12 game there. It was a fun little table, smaller than I usually play but I was just looking to have fun and get a chance to talk to my friend. I did end up 115, actually 116 dollars up, but one of those is the 1 dollar chip I took as a souvenir. I have a dollar chip from pretty much every casino I have ever played poker at.
Overall I was not impressed with Garden City casino much. It was a fairly large casino, but it seemed dirty and grungy. Texas Holdem games being spread were 2/4, 3/6, 6/12, 8/16, 20/40 and 40/80 along with some spread-limit games. No-limit games are not allowed in San Jose by law, apparently. I've been to the Bay 101 before, which I much prefer to Garden City. Next time I go to the Bay area, I'll probably go back to the Bay 101 before I visit Garden City again.
As far as actual poker play goes, nothing significant really happened. I forgot how bad the low-limit players as far as starting hand selection was. I saw some crazy hands being played in awful position. I made a couple of mistakes, but overall I thought I played pretty good, especially considering that I tend to play on the loose side before the flop, as the bet sizes are considerably smaller than what I usually play. 5-7 suited for a raise, ok I'll play. Normally in the 20/40 or 40/80 I would muck that without a second thought. Last night, I played it and won a fairly large pot. I flopped a flush draw, raised the flop, turned an open ender, bet it, and rivered the flush, bet it and got paid off.
I know that the bet size really shouldn't dictate whether or not you should play a hand. But I felt that I could afford to play some speculative hands since I figured I definitely played better than just about everybody at that table post-flop.
Overall I was not impressed with Garden City casino much. It was a fairly large casino, but it seemed dirty and grungy. Texas Holdem games being spread were 2/4, 3/6, 6/12, 8/16, 20/40 and 40/80 along with some spread-limit games. No-limit games are not allowed in San Jose by law, apparently. I've been to the Bay 101 before, which I much prefer to Garden City. Next time I go to the Bay area, I'll probably go back to the Bay 101 before I visit Garden City again.
As far as actual poker play goes, nothing significant really happened. I forgot how bad the low-limit players as far as starting hand selection was. I saw some crazy hands being played in awful position. I made a couple of mistakes, but overall I thought I played pretty good, especially considering that I tend to play on the loose side before the flop, as the bet sizes are considerably smaller than what I usually play. 5-7 suited for a raise, ok I'll play. Normally in the 20/40 or 40/80 I would muck that without a second thought. Last night, I played it and won a fairly large pot. I flopped a flush draw, raised the flop, turned an open ender, bet it, and rivered the flush, bet it and got paid off.
I know that the bet size really shouldn't dictate whether or not you should play a hand. But I felt that I could afford to play some speculative hands since I figured I definitely played better than just about everybody at that table post-flop.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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