Sunday was an interesting day. My wife took the kids and me up to North County and dropped me off at the casino while she took the kids shopping.
I played the 5/5 NL for 20 minutes, played 2 hands in the blinds that I check/folded either the flop or turn, and then left for the 20/40 that just started. I played for 3 hours and booked a 515 dollar win. Then my wife called and we left and picked strawberries at the fields in Carlsbad and then went home for dinner.
After dinner, my wife gave me her blessing to return. So I played 20/40 again, some of the same people were there, some new faces too. This time I played for only 40 minutes and picked up $68, when the game got short handed and broke, so I'm not entirely unhappy with that. Since it was early, I decided to play 8/16.
I got into a very interesting game. There was a TAGfish nit, a maniac, a couple of calling stations, one other solid player, and some other randoms. The other solid player had about 5 or 6 racks in front of him. He eventually went busto when he moved 2 seats to my left to try and get position on me and the maniac who was mostly 2 to my right for most of the time, and then on my immediate right after the nit TAGfish moved to my left.
This maniac was a true maniac, check raising bluffing the river with air, 3-betting the river with bottom pair top kicker, etc. So of course, I run into his aces twice when I have big hands as well and he gets lots of bets out of me.
In a couple of pots I nailed him good. In one pot, he limped UTG, I 2-bet QsJs UTG+3, and got it heads up. I flopped the nizzles, when the board came 89T rainbow. 5-bets went in on the flop, 3-bets went in on the turn, and 4-bets went in on the river, with me holding the nuts at the end. Another time I rivered a full house with QQ on KT44Q, 3 club board on the turn, with me holding the Queen of clubs.
He did however, get atrociously lucky in a kill pot against me. I had 48 suited in the big blind in a kill pot. Unraised preflop I put in the 4 chips and saw a flop of A88. I bet, only he called. Turn was a blank, and I bet/3-bet him and put him all in. River came the case ace, as the TAGfish nit told me he folded an ace preflop. Joy, he should have been busto at that point. Unfortunately he seemed to take those chips and sprinkle them around the table. I ended up losing 2 racks in the game, but I would love to play with this fella again.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Not afraid of the Nuts!
So I put in two sessions over the weekend. Friday night, where the 20/40 game was really weak, and I ended up playing Helen heads up for like an hour and a half. I told Helen she could quit at any time. Twice I had her down to the felt, less than 5 big bets left, and twice she made a comeback. In fact she ended up taking 200 bucks off of me. That's typical heads up limit poker for ya.
On Saturday night, I got to the casino rather late and had to wait around for a bit before I got a seat around 11pm or so. For the first two hours I ran like a god. I didn't lose a showdown.
My first two hands, I mucked in my big blind and small blind preflop. My 3rd hand, Helen limped, Peter 2-bet, and Chi completed out of the small blind out of turn. I called time, Chi took back his call, I looked at my hand and 3-bet two nines. Chi and the big blind folded, Helen called, Peter called. Flop came 822. Checked to me I bet, Helen folded, Peter called. Turn was 7. Peter c/r me, and I 3-bet. River was a J. Peter checked, and I checked, hating the Jack, and knowing that he won't call with any hand that I am beating. He tables KTo, making a move on the turn. I collect my first pot of the night.
An orbit later, it's folded to me in the small blind. I don't chop, so I 2-bet pocket sevens. Chi calls in the big-blind. Flop comes 533 rainbow. I bet, Chi calls. Turn is a 7. I bet/3-bet/5-bet/7-bet. Chi finally just calls. I tell the dealer, no 5 please. River brings an ace, I bet and Chi calls. Chi had the pocket fives that I knew that he had to have. I was just calling an 8-bet. 8-bet is my limit with the top-full house with one card to come.
On Saturday night, I got to the casino rather late and had to wait around for a bit before I got a seat around 11pm or so. For the first two hours I ran like a god. I didn't lose a showdown.
My first two hands, I mucked in my big blind and small blind preflop. My 3rd hand, Helen limped, Peter 2-bet, and Chi completed out of the small blind out of turn. I called time, Chi took back his call, I looked at my hand and 3-bet two nines. Chi and the big blind folded, Helen called, Peter called. Flop came 822. Checked to me I bet, Helen folded, Peter called. Turn was 7. Peter c/r me, and I 3-bet. River was a J. Peter checked, and I checked, hating the Jack, and knowing that he won't call with any hand that I am beating. He tables KTo, making a move on the turn. I collect my first pot of the night.
An orbit later, it's folded to me in the small blind. I don't chop, so I 2-bet pocket sevens. Chi calls in the big-blind. Flop comes 533 rainbow. I bet, Chi calls. Turn is a 7. I bet/3-bet/5-bet/7-bet. Chi finally just calls. I tell the dealer, no 5 please. River brings an ace, I bet and Chi calls. Chi had the pocket fives that I knew that he had to have. I was just calling an 8-bet. 8-bet is my limit with the top-full house with one card to come.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Variance sucks!
So I get to Oceans-11 on Saturday night around 8:30pm. I took the kids out for dinner and then to the mall for candy. The wife had the night off. After I dropped the kids off at home, I hit the road to the casino to attempt to make some money for my kid's tuition (that's what I use my poker winnings for, at least if I have any winnings).
Oceans-11 is dead, which is not entirely surprising, since the WSOP is going on in Vegas right now. In any case, there's no 20 game, and only a short-handed 40 game going. So I take a seat, and end up getting buried 2 racks in like 45 minutes. I'm in seat 9, seat 2 is a tight old man, seat 4 is bad, and seat 5 is awful. Eventually seat 5 goes busto, and the 3 of us agree to keep playing until at least 10:15pm or so. Well I eventually start running over the table and build it up to 5+ racks. Of course, the game keeps going.
Then, the hour from hell starts, and I get massively cold-decked for like the entire down, and don't drag a pot for like over an entire hour. Every draw missed, TP no good, etc, etc. I eventually quit when I'm a 5 rack loser, saying enough is enough. I quit, and the table breaks at about 1:30 am or so.
Whee, variance.
Oceans-11 is dead, which is not entirely surprising, since the WSOP is going on in Vegas right now. In any case, there's no 20 game, and only a short-handed 40 game going. So I take a seat, and end up getting buried 2 racks in like 45 minutes. I'm in seat 9, seat 2 is a tight old man, seat 4 is bad, and seat 5 is awful. Eventually seat 5 goes busto, and the 3 of us agree to keep playing until at least 10:15pm or so. Well I eventually start running over the table and build it up to 5+ racks. Of course, the game keeps going.
Then, the hour from hell starts, and I get massively cold-decked for like the entire down, and don't drag a pot for like over an entire hour. Every draw missed, TP no good, etc, etc. I eventually quit when I'm a 5 rack loser, saying enough is enough. I quit, and the table breaks at about 1:30 am or so.
Whee, variance.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Heater definitely over
Ugh. Last three sessions, 40/80 -5000, 20/40 -3000, 20/40 -2500. Lost 200 BB's in 3 back to back to back sessions. Doesn't feel good.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Trifecta!
I did this yesterday online and saw it pulled off by another person yesterday live in a 40/80 game.
I got pocket aces (AdAc) in the small blind in a 1/2 6-max online table currently playing 4-handed, I was playing for fun while watching TV. I check-raised all 3-streets!
In fact it was even better than that. Preflop button open-raises, I 3-bet from the SB, he capped. Having watched this guy's play, he sucked, was overaggressive in bad spots and couldn't lay down a hand. I check-raise the flop on a board of 4c 8d 5h. He 3-bet, I called. I check-raised the Ks turn, he 3-bet, I called. I check-raised the Td river, he 3-bet, and I called. My aces were good, he had QcTc, that finally made a pair on the river. I had him drawing stone dead on the turn, and he put in 6 BBs! It's not often that you can have your opponent drawing stone dead on turn with just a single pair. Actually, the river check-raise by me is kind of suspect. He easily could have had KT, K8, T8, 45, and made two pair on the river. The better play is to bet and then call a raise. But with this guy so bluff happy, I was willing to let him bluff one more street. On the river I really hated calling the 3-bet, but now I have to given the pot size, which is why bet-call would have been better.
Another player did it to a really bad player in a live 40/80 game where he had pocket queens and she had AJ, on a JJxQy board. He check-raised the flop, turn, and river. It was pretty awesome.
I got pocket aces (AdAc) in the small blind in a 1/2 6-max online table currently playing 4-handed, I was playing for fun while watching TV. I check-raised all 3-streets!
In fact it was even better than that. Preflop button open-raises, I 3-bet from the SB, he capped. Having watched this guy's play, he sucked, was overaggressive in bad spots and couldn't lay down a hand. I check-raise the flop on a board of 4c 8d 5h. He 3-bet, I called. I check-raised the Ks turn, he 3-bet, I called. I check-raised the Td river, he 3-bet, and I called. My aces were good, he had QcTc, that finally made a pair on the river. I had him drawing stone dead on the turn, and he put in 6 BBs! It's not often that you can have your opponent drawing stone dead on turn with just a single pair. Actually, the river check-raise by me is kind of suspect. He easily could have had KT, K8, T8, 45, and made two pair on the river. The better play is to bet and then call a raise. But with this guy so bluff happy, I was willing to let him bluff one more street. On the river I really hated calling the 3-bet, but now I have to given the pot size, which is why bet-call would have been better.
Another player did it to a really bad player in a live 40/80 game where he had pocket queens and she had AJ, on a JJxQy board. He check-raised the flop, turn, and river. It was pretty awesome.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Spaceship!
Last night one of the stranger things happened to me at Oceans-11. The 40/80 game broke really early like 7:15 pm. I got there around 7, and got into the short-handed 40/80 and then the game broke, mainly cause I ran really lucky and everybody was trying to give me their chips. I made almost $1500 in less than 15 minutes.
I think I won every hand I played postflop, and only lost my BB or SB once or twice, when I either folded preflop, or just check folded on the flop. So, I played the 20/40 for a couple of hours, and then they started back a 40/80 game. At least I got to play with Dan Dreger, one of the part owners of the casino. He's a super nice guy, super friendly, and a bad poker player. Everything you want from my point of view! He was drinking last night too, so it made it even better.
However, since it was late at night, the only free table they had was one of the worst tables in the casino in terms of location, and it didn't have a shuffle master. The location is the first table you hit as you walk in from the main entrance, and there is literally no space around the table as it is against a wall and the stairwell leading down into the main casino floor.
Well, a spaceship sort of just landed at our table. Some guy out of the blue, who just happened to walk in, see that our table had empty seats and decided to sit down and play with us. He had some cash on him and at least bought a rack of chips (later after he lost most of first rack, he purchased another), but it was obvious he had very little experience playing casino poker, as he played super slow on fairly easy decisions, counted out his chips 1 or 2 at a time, didn't know how many chips to bet or raise with on each street. At first it was excruciatingly painful, but since he was donating, I think everybody put up with him.
I knew that eventually he would pick up a monster and snap someone off by accident, and of course it happened to Joe sitting to immediate right, who I am friendly with. He beat Joe with pocket kings, on a very scary board that 99/100 times Joe will have him beat, but he doesn't know that. However, in a different hand this guy took one of the strangest lines I have ever seen before. He called from the big blind Joe's cutoff raise. On the flop he check raised, Joe reraised and he called. On the turn he bet, Joe raised, and he called. And then on the river he check - folded!
Then I played the following hand with him.
One other fishy limper, all folded to me on the button, I raise Ad7d, SB folds, spaceship calls in the big blind, limper calls.
Flop came 8x 5d 6d. Checked to me, I bet, both call.
Turn comes 2d. Spaceship checks, limper bets, I look left and I see what looks like the spaceship getting ready to raise, so I just call. Spaceship raises, limper folds, I 3-bet, spaceship calls.
River is a blank. Spaceship checks, I bet, he check-raises, I 3-bet, he 4-bets, and I ponder a 5-bet, but realize that if this guy 6-bets I will throw up and call, I just call his 4-bet and I announce straight flush good. He says, uh, I don't have a straight flush, I table my hand and he flips over his hand, Kd 3d. So I guess I should have just kept raising, as this guy thought he had the nuts or something, but I didn't want to be his second victim of the night, plus anytime I get 4-bets on the river I'm pretty happy.
I think I won every hand I played postflop, and only lost my BB or SB once or twice, when I either folded preflop, or just check folded on the flop. So, I played the 20/40 for a couple of hours, and then they started back a 40/80 game. At least I got to play with Dan Dreger, one of the part owners of the casino. He's a super nice guy, super friendly, and a bad poker player. Everything you want from my point of view! He was drinking last night too, so it made it even better.
However, since it was late at night, the only free table they had was one of the worst tables in the casino in terms of location, and it didn't have a shuffle master. The location is the first table you hit as you walk in from the main entrance, and there is literally no space around the table as it is against a wall and the stairwell leading down into the main casino floor.
Well, a spaceship sort of just landed at our table. Some guy out of the blue, who just happened to walk in, see that our table had empty seats and decided to sit down and play with us. He had some cash on him and at least bought a rack of chips (later after he lost most of first rack, he purchased another), but it was obvious he had very little experience playing casino poker, as he played super slow on fairly easy decisions, counted out his chips 1 or 2 at a time, didn't know how many chips to bet or raise with on each street. At first it was excruciatingly painful, but since he was donating, I think everybody put up with him.
I knew that eventually he would pick up a monster and snap someone off by accident, and of course it happened to Joe sitting to immediate right, who I am friendly with. He beat Joe with pocket kings, on a very scary board that 99/100 times Joe will have him beat, but he doesn't know that. However, in a different hand this guy took one of the strangest lines I have ever seen before. He called from the big blind Joe's cutoff raise. On the flop he check raised, Joe reraised and he called. On the turn he bet, Joe raised, and he called. And then on the river he check - folded!
Then I played the following hand with him.
One other fishy limper, all folded to me on the button, I raise Ad7d, SB folds, spaceship calls in the big blind, limper calls.
Flop came 8x 5d 6d. Checked to me, I bet, both call.
Turn comes 2d. Spaceship checks, limper bets, I look left and I see what looks like the spaceship getting ready to raise, so I just call. Spaceship raises, limper folds, I 3-bet, spaceship calls.
River is a blank. Spaceship checks, I bet, he check-raises, I 3-bet, he 4-bets, and I ponder a 5-bet, but realize that if this guy 6-bets I will throw up and call, I just call his 4-bet and I announce straight flush good. He says, uh, I don't have a straight flush, I table my hand and he flips over his hand, Kd 3d. So I guess I should have just kept raising, as this guy thought he had the nuts or something, but I didn't want to be his second victim of the night, plus anytime I get 4-bets on the river I'm pretty happy.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Jackpot!
Really, this time. So when I was out in Minnesota, I got out to Canterbury Park on Thursday evening the 14th of May. It turns out that day is also my anniversary. After going out to dinner with my wife, at this nice restaurant Chambers, my wife gave her blessing for me to go play some pokers at Canterbury Park. I'm never one to say no to a good time gambling, so off I went.
A little after 1am Minnesota time, I was still on California time, I never bother to change my watch whenever I go to Minnesota, I got a player share of the bad beat jackpot in Minnesota. Fitting, that the place I rarely play I got a piece of something I hardly pay into, but at the place I play all the time (Oceans-11), I have never won the bad beat. In any case, the bad beat jackpot was a little over 32k, and at Canterbury Park they split it up 50/25/25. We were 7 handed, so I got a little over 1600 for being a lucky sap occupying space at a poker table. The hand in question was a weird way to win it too. I forgot the exact position and details, but one guy, flopped the nut flush, while another guy flopped top two pair. The nut flush check/raised the flop, and lead in on the turn when he turned the royal. The two pair guy, almost mucked, but decided to make a bad call drawing dead, but with 2 possible outs to a bad beat jackpot. He hit it on the river and I think 5 bets went in before the full house just called, he said later he was actually afraid that the other guy had AQ, for a bigger full house. The guy with the royal knew it was a jackpot, because he told the other guy when he just called, don't muck your hand, you have aces full right? He did indeed and we got paid, eventually, like 30 or 40 minutes later. Not sure what took them so long to pay us off. Now the only thing that sucks, is I'm not sure if I need to file a Minnesota tax return now for this year, since they issued as a W-2 for the winnings. That part kind of sucks.
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