Back Into Frustration

I got home from work today and decided to blow through the $72 I picked up on Stars the other day.

This hand sums up how this session went:

Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50)
Table 'Rimito' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: nVINCEable ($19.50 in chips)
Seat 2: GHCC PRO ($23.05 in chips)
Seat 3: Hero ($23.05 in chips)
Seat 4: hoops128 ($67.75 in chips)
Seat 5: Camby92 ($16.60 in chips)
Seat 6: UKJ71 ($33.35 in chips)
Camby92: posts small blind $0.25
UKJ71: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [As Qd]
nVINCEable: folds
GHCC PRO: raises $1.50 to $2
Hero: raises $21.05 to $23.05 and is all-in
hoops128: folds
Camby92: folds
UKJ71: folds
GHCC PRO: calls $21.05 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Th 6h Jh]
*** TURN *** [Th 6h Jh] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [Th 6h Jh Jc] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GHCC PRO: shows [Ah 5h] (a flush, Ace high)
Hero: mucks hand
GHCC PRO collected $44.55 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $46.85 | Rake $2.30
Board [Th 6h Jh Jc Kc]
Seat 1: nVINCEable folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: GHCC PRO showed [Ah 5h] and won ($44.55) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 3: Hero mucked [As Qd]
Seat 4: hoops128 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Camby92 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: UKJ71 (big blind) folded before Flop

My opponent put in 46BBs preflop with A5! He didn't even hesitate with the call either.

In a weird way I'm happy, 'cause I know that there are still people out there who are basically trying to give their money away to me. It just sucks that I'm not able to take it. I need to play these NL cash games more often I think.

Home Game Summary

I played the home game tonight and took 3rd for $0. There were some interesting situations that I will share. I was playing incredibly loose and aggressive early, losing a decent amount early but picking it up as things progressed. Here are some hands.

Blinds at100/200. All fold to me, I make it 550 from the Hijack with AdKd. The SB (Clark) calls. Flop comes Ks8c5h. Clark check-calls 775. Turn comes the 4h, check, check. River is the Qd, Clark bets 1500, I call and am shown 55 for the flopped set. I'm quite happy with myself for checking the turn. What's with everyone slow-playing sets these days? He could've won a shit-load more if he'd played it faster on the flop.

Blinds at 150/300 (with stacks of about 20K each). UTG makes it 900, I reraise to 1800 with AA, UTG calls. Flop comes KdKhQd (I have the Ad). UTG checks, I get the distinct feeling that I'm being slow-played and check behind. Turn comes the Th, check, check. River comes Kc for a final board of KKQTK, UTG bets 3000. I decide to just call and scoop against UTG's QQ. I'm not sure if I should have raised the river here. UTG looked like he really liked his hand when he bet the river, so calling probably wasn't that bad.

I ended up with the chip lead for a while, but got my hand caught in the cookie jar a couple of times when we were 3-handed to make me the short stack. Then after being ridiculously card-dead and hanging around for about 1.5 hours, I move in with 66 from the button for about 26000 with blinds at 1500/3000. I am called by the SB's KJo and I lose to the K on the turn. I'm not sure why he called -- I thought I was patient enough to deserve a little more respect than that. The SB guy and the other guy end up getting in when they were heads up with KQ vs. KQ where the SB guy made a flush to win it.

I think I played well for the most part, but I probably played too tight when we were short-handed. I just treaded water for about that hour and a half while I was card-dead, not really trying to make any moves and chip up. I had fun though, and that's the most important part. Yea, right.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhaahaha, I almost forgot about the best hand of the night -- when I knocked out Clark with the 3c4c. From the cutoff, I limped behind two other limpers for 500 with the 3c4c. Button folds, Clark limps from the SB, button check his option. The flop is the beautiful 336 rainbow. Clark bets 1000, all fold to me, I make it 4000 after a little but of deliberation, he instantly pushes for something like 8 or 9K more, I instantly call, and he instantly says "oh shit". He has the 56o and misses his boat. This hand was quite satisfying after him beating up on me for he last few times we played heads up.

I love sitting there watching him steam after he loses. It hasn't been happening too much lately because he's been winning, but God damn it's funny.

Stars Double-Shootouts

I played 2 double-shootouts after finishing up my work for the day. A while ago, I accidetly left myself registered for one of the $650 WSOP ME qualifiers that I'd won my way into even though I fully intended to withdraw from it and use the $W to buy into a preliminary WSOP event. This was stupid of me, and it wasted $650. In any case, I want to win another of these to either get to a WSOP event or (more likely) sell the $W so I can sort of make up for this mistake. I got knocked out of one and I'm waiting for the final table to start in the other. Here are the results so far.

In the first, I got all my money 5-handed with AhQh vs. KhKs on a 2h5h9c flop. I whiffed my 11-outer and I was gone.

In the second I'm actually doing well. I couldn't have scripted the first table any better. I was hitting hands, slow-playing at the right times, snapping bluffs at the right times and getting paid when I had the goods. And I also got really lucky (in the final hand) to win the thing. Here are some hands from the first table:

$15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20)
10-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: TXT04 (2770 in chips)
Seat 2: PsychoDoc (1460 in chips)
Seat 4: Hero (1370 in chips)
Seat 5: Larry J (1930 in chips)
Seat 10: OnlineRuss (1470 in chips)
PsychoDoc: posts small blind 10
Hero: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [As 9c]
Larry J: folds
OnlineRuss: calls 20
TXT04: calls 20
PsychoDoc: calls 10
Hero: checks
*** FLOP *** [9h 2c 8s]
PsychoDoc: checks
Hero: checks
OnlineRuss: bets 80
TXT04: calls 80
PsychoDoc: folds
Hero: raises 220 to 300
OnlineRuss: calls 220
TXT04: folds
*** TURN *** [9h 2c 8s] [4c]
Hero: bets 600
OnlineRuss: calls 600
*** RIVER *** [9h 2c 8s 4c] [Kh]
Hero: checks
OnlineRuss: bets 550 and is all-in
Hero: calls 450 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OnlineRuss: shows [7h Th] (high card King)
Hero: shows [As 9c] (a pair of Nines)
Hero collected 2860 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2860 | Rake 0
Board [9h 2c 8s 4c Kh]
Seat 1: TXT04 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: PsychoDoc (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Hero (big blind) showed [As 9c] and won (2860) with a pair of Nines
Seat 5: Larry J folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 10: OnlineRuss showed [7h Th] and lost with high card King

Guy calls off 2/3 of his chips on a straight draw and bluffs the rest off on the river. I really like the way I played the river.


$15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level III (25/50)
10-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: TXT04 (2780 in chips)
Seat 2: PsychoDoc (1810 in chips)
Seat 4: Hero (4410 in chips)
TXT04: posts small blind 25
PsychoDoc: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [4c 4h]
Hero: raises 100 to 150
TXT04: folds
PsychoDoc: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [6c 4d Ks]
PsychoDoc: checks
Hero: bets 150
PsychoDoc: calls 150
*** TURN *** [6c 4d Ks] [Tc]
PsychoDoc: checks
Hero: bets 350
PsychoDoc: calls 350
*** RIVER *** [6c 4d Ks Tc] [2d]
PsychoDoc: bets 450
Hero: raises 3100 to 3550
PsychoDoc: calls 710 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [4c 4h] (three of a kind, Fours)
PsychoDoc: shows [Kd Td] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
Hero collected 3645 from pot
Hero said, "gl"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3645 | Rake 0
Board [6c 4d Ks Tc 2d]
Seat 1: TXT04 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: PsychoDoc (big blind) showed [Kd Td] and lost with two pair, Kings and Tens
Seat 4: Hero (button) showed [4c 4h] and won (3645) with three of a kind, Fours

Here I get slowplayed by top two pair. Oops, I have a set.


$15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level III (25/50)
10-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: TXT04 (2230 in chips)
Seat 4: Hero (6770 in chips)
Hero: posts small blind 25
TXT04: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [8h Ts]
Hero: calls 25
TXT04: raises 100 to 150
Hero: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [4c Td 7h]
TXT04: bets 200
Hero: raises 500 to 700
TXT04: raises 1380 to 2080 and is all-in
Hero: calls 1380
Hero said, "gh"
*** TURN *** [4c Td 7h] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [4c Td 7h Tc] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TXT04: shows [Js Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Tens)
Hero: shows [8h Ts] (three of a kind, Tens)
Hero collected 4460 from pot
Hero said, "srry, gg"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4460 | Rake 0
Board [4c Td 7h Tc As]
Seat 1: TXT04 (big blind) showed [Js Jc] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Tens
Seat 4: Hero (button) (small blind) showed [8h Ts] and won (4460) with three of a kind, Tens

Here I get pretty lucky to win the final hand and end the damn thing. This guy liked to bluff and was over-playing some marginal hands (much like I do here). Here he has the goods, but fortunately I get lucky on him to win it.


I'll edit this later and talk about how the second table went.

********* EDIT **********

I ended up getting 3rd at the final table of this thing for a whopping $72 (1st place pays $W 650). I ended up losing a race against the chip leader for a little over 1/2 the chips on the table. The 3rd guy at the table was REEEEEEALLY bad too, so that pot was pretty much the whole tournament. Oh well. I played well and ran well (except for the last hand) so I have to be happy about that. I also had fun while I was playing, which hasn't been the case for a while.

$15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level IV (50/100)
10-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: Hero (4060 in chips)
Seat 7: HIR17 (4642 in chips)
Seat 10: stunna954 (6298 in chips)
HIR17: posts small blind 50
stunna954: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [As Qd]
Hero: raises 200 to 300
HIR17: folds
stunna954: raises 400 to 700
Hero: raises 3360 to 4060 and is all-in
stunna954: calls 3360
Hero said, "gl"
*** FLOP *** [6s Th 9h]
Hero said, "AAAAAAAAA"
*** TURN *** [6s Th 9h] [4s]
Hero said, "A"
*** RIVER *** [6s Th 9h 4s] [5s]
Hero said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
stunna954: shows [Jh Jd] (a pair of Jacks)
Hero: shows [As Qd] (high card Ace)
stunna954 collected 8170 from pot
stunna954 said, "gg"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8170 | Rake 0
Board [6s Th 9h 4s 5s]
Seat 3: Hero (button) showed [As Qd] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: HIR17 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 10: stunna954 (big blind) showed [Jh Jd] and won (8170) with a pair of Jacks

A Poker Potpourri

As expected, I haven't been playing too much poker recently. Work keeps me pretty busy, and there is also the World Cup to take up any other time I have. I still play my home game every week, and I have played a couple of other things since my last post.


Two thursdays ago I played the home game and got 2nd to Clark. He played well and deserved to win. I played pretty well until we got heads up, but ended up running into hands every time I decided to make a move at a pot. For example, I got in preflop with A9 vs. AJ and ended up getting incredibly lucky to chop on a KQTxJ board (I rivered a 3-outer to split). On my final hand, I called a raise out of the BB with J7 and check-raised all-in on a KJx flop only to be inst-called by Clark's AJ.

I remember one interesting hand from when we were 3-handed. The blinds were (I think) 1K/2K. Clark opened from the button to 5500 or something. I had about 33K in my stack and decided to make it 14K with KK. Clark tanked for a while, showed AQo, and folded. I really think I should have just moved in here to give myself a much better chance of getting action. Re-raising 1/2 my stack there is just silly, and it looks like exactly what it is -- a monster. Shame on me.


I played a $20 MTT sometime during that following weekend and ended up going bust pretty quickly when I got about 40BBs in preflop with QQ vs. KcTc vs. AKo. Obviously the dude with the KcTc KO'ed both of us by making 2 pair.


Then I played the home game again last thursday. We were playing at Clark's, so we had starting stacks of about 1700. I got off to a pretty bad start with the following hand: blinds at 3/6. A couple of limpers, MP (who is loose and plays pretty poorly post-flop) raises to 18, I call in the CO with 6d7d, button calls, BB calls, limpers call. Flop comes 4d5hQd, which is a pretty huge flop for my hand. Everyone checks to the original raiser, who bets 100. I make it 375, all fold to one of the limpers, a girl who is very inexperienced and is very passive. She cold-calls the 375 and the original raiser calls 275 more. At this point I'm pretty sure the girl who cold-called has a monster and I have no idea what the original raiser has. The turn is an offsuit T and they both check to me, I don't think I can fold them so I check behind. The river is an offsuit K, the girl checks, the original raiser bets 500, I fold, the girl thinks for a while and folds 45 for flopped 2-pair. The original raiser shows 88 before mucking. I think I was the only person in this pot who shouldn't be shot in the nuts (or ovaries) for how badly they played the hand.

I then lost another pot for about 1/3 of my remaining chips where I bluffed off a bunch of chips with a small pair. I don't really remember the details of it. As a result of these two pots, I had lost about 1/2 my chips during the first two levels.

I ended up picking up a bunch of pots by re-raising the loose, bad player from the original hand a bunch of times. By the time we got down to 7 players, I was in 2nd chip position behind this same guy. I ended up holding my position until we got to 4-handed when the following hands went down.

4-handed, blinds at 80/160. I make it 475 UTG with AQo. The button moves in for about 2000. I have about 4200 in chips, I call, and I lose to his KdJd on a QTxQ9 board.

On the very next hand, the button raises to 600 and I wake up in the BB with AdKh. I moved in, got called by QdQh, got no help, and lost the rest of my chips. I think folding this hand may have been correct, since I have only seen the button make a preflop raise ~10 times in the 2 months or so that I've been playing with him. This guy limps with Jacks all the time, seriously.

I think the absolute loosest range I can give him is {JJ+, AKs, AKo} (and more realistically it's probably {QQ+, AKs}), and I don't think he'll fold anything when I move in. I'm a 3:2 dog against this weaker range (2:1 against the stronger range) and have no fold equity. As weird as it sounds, I really should be folding AKo to a button raise in this situation. I thought about it for a minute, but I ended up moving in anyway. I was just thinking "Folding AKo to a button raise is crazy talk, no matter how tight the button raiser is." It's really not that crazy, so shame on me again.


I also went on vacation this weekend and got to play $3/$6 for a couple of hours. I won exactly one pot, which was when I had 5dTd in the BB and made a flush. I picked up KK twice (and lost both times). The first time I had it, some guy defended his BB with Q6o in a multiway pot and hit a 2nd Q on the turn. A few hands later, I open-raised from 2 off the button and only the SB called. The flop came 345 two spades. He bet, I raised, he called. Turn was an offsuit A, he bet, I folded, he showed A3s. I was pretty much card-dead the rest of the time and never really picked up any other playable hands.

It's kind of sad when you can't even pick up a JTs to play, but that's how things have been going for me lately. I guess when you only play for 4 hours a week, a bad streak can last for months. My bankroll is still relatively healthy, but my confidence has taken a severe beating. I'd like to start getting back into playing online, but that almost certainly won't happen before the World Cup is over (and maybe not even then).

Not Winning

I've played a few SNGs and small tourneys this weekend and early this week and have had zero success. Fortunately I've only been playing a little bit while running this badly.

I'm not winning when I'm a 3:2 favorite, when I'm in a race, or when i'm a 3:2 dog. Basically, I can't seem to win a showdown. Ever. It's pretty depressing to watch somebody limp in for 1/3 of their chips UTG with KTo, call the rest of them off preflop, and proceed to beat up my A7 for 1/2 my chips. It's even more depressing/aggravating that the same guy called me "dopey" after I got knocked out.

I'll play a few more SNGs today and see if I can turn things around. After that, I'll get back into working hard on school stuff tomorrow.

*** EDIT ***
I was playing a SNG just as I got done writing this. I got all in with Top pair + open ender against a flush draw and lost to the flush for a bunch of my chips. Then on the next hand I flopped a pair of A's with A9s, got in against KK, and lost to the river K.

I think I'm going to quit for the day.

This Week's Home Game

I played my regular home game tonight. We only got 5 players so we decided to do a shootout. We also decided to randomly select a game out of {NL Holdem, NL Omaha H/L, H.O.R.S.E., H.O.S.E., NL Crazy Pineapple H/L}. We put 5 cards down, shuffled them, and ended up picking the card that corresponds to NL Holdem. So much for variety!

I ended up picking up some hands early and keeping the chip lead almost the whole time. My big hands were the following:

Blinds 300/600, 5 handed. CO raises to 1225, I call on the button with 88, SB calls, BB calls. Flop comes 3h8h9d. All check to me, I bet 3500. SB check-raises to 7500, all fold, I move in covering his ~9K. He calls with As9s, and misses his runners. This was sort of a weird play on his part. He's certainly capable of folding in this spot, but for some reason he insta-called. That's sort of the problem with a hand like that. Given the action on the flop, he's likely to be either a small favorite or a huge dog. He also raised enough to let himself get away from it but didn't. I don't understand.

In another one at the 400/800 level, I limp behind the CO with Kc7c and end up seeing the AA2 flop 4-handed. All check to me, I bet 1500. SB calls, all fold. Turn comes K, we both check. River comes an offsuit 6, the other check calls 3K with 65o and loses. I had absolutely no idea what this guy was doing. He normally plays fairly well, but obviously not here. He probably wanted to check-raise the turn as a bluff, but couldn't when I checked behind. Then he actually made something on the river so he couldn't bluff there. I really can't think of any other reason he would call.

Then at the 1K/2K level, we were 4 handed. I moved in UTG for about 80K (150K in play, next guy had about 35K) with JJ. Button folds, SB calls for about 18K with 99, BB calls for the 35K with Kd7d. The guy with Kd7d plays an extremely weird style. He plays a ton of pots, rarely fold any kind of hand, but likes to bet and bluff a lot when he gets the chance. He seems to do well for himself when we're deep-stacked, but he always gets killed when the blinds get higher. Just like tonight I guess.

I end up winning this pot and going into heads up with a 130K to 20K lead. We traded small amount for a few hands, then I ended polishing off the other guy when he jammed from the button with QJ and I call when when I see the prettiest card in the deck (the As). The other one happended to be the 7s, and it won unimproved.

That's all the poker I've played in the last week or so. I've been incredibly busy working on a homework assignment and a take-home final for the hardest class I've ever taken. My schedule should be a little better starting around next week -- hopefully I can play/write some more.

Good luck to all!

Last Home Game

I played my home game on thursday and we actually got 11 players this week, which we played as a single table. I played several interesting pots throughout this tournament. I'll see if I can remember them all.

11-handed, blinds 100/200. I raise a limper to 800 from 2 off the button (a position sometimes called the Hijack) with AhJc. My friend Rik calls in the SB, BB folds, limper folds. Flop comes Q42 rainbow, we both check. Turn comes Tc, SB checks, I check. River comes Qh, SB bets 1000, I make it 3200, SB calls with 33 and scoops. It was a little upsetting to be called there by such a weak hand, but it really wasn't a bad play since there's no way I'd play anything that beats 33 that way. Good call, Rik.

In the same level. I limp UTG with Ah7h, next 3 fold, Rik makes it 900, all fold, I call. Flop comes Jh8c5h, I check call 1200. Turn comes an offsuit 4, I check, Rik bets 3200. I was pretty sure that if I hit I could double through for the ~7500 more I would have if I called this bet. Rik doesn't like to get bluffed, and he seems to get a special charge out of snapping MY bluffs in particular. We also had another friend in town who feels the same way. The result is that it makes it tough for me to bluff, but that I should also get paid well when I make my hands. I got some flack from some of the other guys for making the call, so I'll try to quantify how good or bad a call it is.

I had to call 3200 on the turn and there was 7700 in the pot. Let's assume that all the flush and straight outs are good 95% of the time when they get there (12 outs) and that an A is good 25% of the time when they get there (3 outs). We'll also assume that I'll get called 85% of the time when I jam on the river. It's tough to be exact with these kinds of figures, but I beleive them to be fairly accurate. Then my equity by calling 3200 on the turn is (0.85)(0.95)(12/44)(7700+7500) + (0.85)(0.25)(3/44)(7700+7500) + (29/44)(-3200) = 3347.5 + 220.3 - 2109.1 = 1458.7. I guess I just can't fold a draw on the turn when I'm pretty sure I'll get paid when it gets there. Anyway, the 3h hit on the river, I jammed with the nuts and got called by what Rik claims to be top pair.

Then there was another pot where I flopped Qc4c2s with Ac2c from the BB and ended up hitting the flush on the river for a nice pot. I also got some flack for the way I played this pot, but I called the turn getting like 4:1 with what was probably 14 outs.

In another pot, I ended up losing about 1/3 of my chips when a guy check-called me all the way with a flush draw and ended up calling a large river bet with KdJd on a Qd8d552 board (no flush) to beat my K7o.

Then as things got short-handed I stole a lot of pots for a while. After that I ended up losing a ~70K pot at the 1K/2K level with ATo vs. A6s (all in preflop) to Clark. I then doubled up with ATo vs. KQs to cripple the guy who ended up getting knocked out in 3rd shortly after. When I got heads up with Clark I had ~95K to ~65K. We ended up getting in on one of the first flops with my Qd5d vs. Js4s on a Qs4c6s board where I lost to a flush on the turn.

The left me with about 30K, which I eventually got in with A7o vs. A2o and lost to a 2 on the flop. Good job on the win Clark. As long as you keep beating me when I have you dominated, I'm sure you'll keep getting there.


After the home game was over, my friend from out of town and I played a series of 4 heads up mathes for $5 each while we drank and chatted it up. I won 3 out of 4.


Last night I also played some $1/$2 Draw for a small win and some $0.5/$1 NL holdem for a win of about $40. Later I went to sleep when my out-of-town freind was still playing. I was a little surprised when I actually woke up with a few more dollars in my account than when I went to bed. Good job Jimmy!


I'm sure I'll play some more poker later today. I'll post about anything cool.