Hit the 9:00 Railbirds freeroll. It was on PokerStars.
Again, I put my full effort into it.

My only regret was calling a guy's hand and making the call anyway. I even asked him if he had A/Q before calling with my A/J after he shoved all-in after a A/2/6 flop. I had better than 3/1 on my money to call, but still.

Other than that I'm fine with my play.

1,671 players
1st break I was 150/556 with $6k and an average stack of $4.5k.
2nd break I was 2/140 with $66k and an average stack of $18k.
3rd break I was 16/23 with $60k and an average stack of $109k.

Blinds at that point were 4k/8k with $400 antes, which gave me an M of less than 4.
I ended up shoving all-in with Q/9 into an unraised pot and losing to someone who had 10/10, knocking me out in 23'rd place for $.90.
It was the right move for the situation.

Laak & Eslami Vs Machine

The human resistance to the domination of the machine hoard was victorious.
I'm sure this is just a temporary setback for our future computer overlords.

A good rundown here.

Birds Part Deux

Played my second Railbirds NLHE freeroll.
Okay, technically I was in another last night, but I wanted to go to bed so I was all-in with any decent cards so I could bust out early.

Tonight I finished 183 out of 1,712.
I could have folded my way to the money, but I don't play for the minimum payout.

Final hand, I had an M of 8 with over 8k chips.
I made a 2k raise with 10/10.
The table leader (big blind) called.
Flop was 5/4/7 with two spades.
He checked.
I shoved all-in. He called with K/6.
He hit the K on the turn, busting me.
Dang.

Had I shoved all-in pre-flop, the correct move, he'd probably have folded.

The game, like yesterdays, was really soft. Very few continuation bets. My continuation bets almost always paid off.

Last night I had one suck out, which would have only cost 1/4 of my chips. Tonight I don't think I sucked out against anybody. I played the odds, bullied the weak, and trapped the aggressive.

I had a hot streak in the beginning and a dray streak after the first hour.
That is, I had 7,000 at the first break and 8,900 at the second break. (The average stack at the second break was 13k at the second break.)

Railbirds.com

If you want some good freerolls, try signing up for Railbirds.com and making some posts in their forums. They have daily $200 freerolls which are very nice.

I played a Railbirds 5 card draw freeroll on Poker Stars. I'd never played 5 card draw online before, so there was a big leaning curve. Most winning hands are "two pair."
I didn't totally embarrass myself, finishing 898/1,336.

This afternoon I hit my first No Limit Texas Hold'em Railbirds tournament.
Thiry minutes in I disconnected. When I finally reconnected I had a countdown asking if I should fold/call/raise... with A/A. It turned out well.



1,558 entries. $200 in prize money. Pays to 150-something place I think. Winner gets $43.
48 minutes in I was 1/695 with 19k. Average stack was 3.4k.
1st break I was in 4/550 with 19k, average was 4k, and largest 25k.
2nd break I was 6/171 with 42k, average was 14k, and largest was 72k.
2:42 in I was 2/118 with 63k, average was 20k, and largest was 83k.
3rd break I was 45/61 with 21k, average was 38k, and largest was 122k.
3:31 in I was 11/47 with 63k, average was 49k, and largest was 219k.
Then I disconnected for over 12 minutes with 77.5k (11th place with 31 remaining)
When I got back on I had 44.6k remaining, (17th place with 18 remaining).
4:10 in I was knocked out in 17th place.

Payoff was $.82.
Two more places and I'd have made $1.19.

Of course, the cheapest sit & go on FT is $1 + $.25 (yuck), and the cheapest table games are $.05/$.10 with a minimum $2 buy-in.

No blog freeroll for me

I went to my in-law's to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday instead of playing in the Pokerstars blogger freeroll thingy.
No biggie. No real disappointment. I wouldn't have been able to play my best anyway, as there would have been too many distractions going on.

I had a little success moving up in stakes on Pokerstars, but got creamed while playing dumb so I'm taking a break. I didn't play at all last night. Instead I rearranged my music and cleaned up my computer.

Pokerstars tournament

I've been a regular on Pokerstars for quite awhile now. I decided to hit the blogger freeroll.
Will I do well? Probably not, but it should be fun.
At least it will give me more to talk about.

I'll have guests coming over that evening, so if I'm still in it when they arrive I guess we can sit around and watch me try to win my way to glory.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 8062047

Joe Hachem

Aug 31, 2007

I watched Joe Hachem play some HU (heads up) matches on Pokerstars.
I watched him lose the first heads up match.
Then he played another... it lasted two hands!

PokerStars Game #11800404072: Tournament #59887385, $110+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2007/08/31 - 20:45:49 (ET)
Table '59887385 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: JoeHachem (1400 in chips)
Seat 2: GARBANZITO (1600 in chips)
GARBANZITO: posts small blind 10
JoeHachem: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
GARBANZITO: raises 20 to 40
JoeHachem: calls 20
*** FLOP *** [4s Qc 7c]
JoeHachem: checks
GARBANZITO: checks
*** TURN *** [4s Qc 7c] [6d]
JoeHachem: checks
GARBANZITO: bets 80
JoeHachem: raises 140 to 220
GARBANZITO: raises 480 to 700
JoeHachem: raises 660 to 1360 and is all-in
GARBANZITO: calls 660
*** RIVER *** [4s Qc 7c 6d] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JoeHachem: shows [8h Th] (high card Ace)
GARBANZITO: shows [4d Qd] (two pair, Queens and Fours)
GARBANZITO collected 2800 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2800 | Rake 0
Board [4s Qc 7c 6d Ad]
Seat 1: JoeHachem (big blind) showed [8h Th] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 2: GARBANZITO (button) (small blind) showed [4d Qd] and won (2800) with two pair, Queens and Fours

Someone learns a lesson:

brooklyncyc: posts small blind $0.01
SvgePenguin: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SvgePenguin [As 2d]
Vittgenstein: folds
Sneakers: folds
Yoda: folds
Phishphunk1: calls $0.02
Mercedes CH: calls $0.02
cbruponone: folds
brooklyncyc: folds
SvgePenguin: checks
*** FLOP *** [8d Qs 8s]
SvgePenguin: checks
Phishphunk1: checks
Mercedes CH: checks
*** TURN *** [8d Qs 8s] [7s]
SvgePenguin: checks
Phishphunk1: checks
R@y1980 joins the table at seat #4
Mercedes CH: checks
*** RIVER *** [8d Q s 8s 7s] [Ks]
SvgePenguin: bets $0.05
Phishphunk1: raises $0.17 to $0.22
Mercedes CH: folds
SvgePenguin: raises $0.33 to $0.55
Phishphunk1: calls $0.33
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SvgePenguin: shows [As 2d] (a flush, Ace high)
Phishphunk1: shows [5s Js] (a flush, King high)
SvgePenguin collected $1.12 from pot

Then the guy started bitching at me about me being a "river rat."

Ha ha ha ha! His complaints were the icing on the cake! ...that he gave me.

Hand of hands

Most of the table left so I was heads up with this guy.

How's this for a hand?
Ha ha!

I wasn't able to milk him for anything post flop though, so the joke was on me I guess.

Here's another:

Aug 10, 2007

Sometimes aggression pays:


This was in a freeroll. I was at a table where everybody except myself and one other player were sitting out.

Dumbest call ever?

Aug. 9, 2007

Here's a hand that scared me, then left me with confusion:
Dealt to SvgePenguin [As 8c]
treework: folds
Da_Bear1: folds
bruiser73: folds
321704686: folds
SvgePenguin: raises 400 to 500
Farin321: folds
freespirit96: folds
Dr Bling1: folds
VITAMIN QUE: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [Ac 5h Kh]
VITAMIN QUE: checks
SvgePenguin: bets 500
VITAMIN QUE: calls 500
*** TURN *** [Ac 5h Kh] [Kc]
VITAMIN QUE: checks
SvgePenguin: bets 1000
VITAMIN QUE: raises 1900 to 2900
SvgePenguin: raises 13980 to 16880 and is all-in
VITAMIN QUE: calls 10280 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Ac 5h Kh Kc] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
VITAMIN QUE: shows [Td Qh] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
SvgePenguin: shows [As 8c] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
SvgePenguin collected 28410 from pot
Dr Bling1 said, "??"
SvgePenguin said, "What's with that call???"

July 26, 2007

I was a railbird for a Joe Hachem heads up match.
Hit2hit shoved all-in on the turn.

Poor guy.

Here I am after finally getting a hand after a long cold streak in a freeroll tournament.

I was all-in pre-flop. Whah! Whah! Whah!
Oh well.

Since I'm bratting anyway, how about this hand? (It's another Pokerstars freeroll) How could I not call an all-in on the river? Before the river hit I was chanting "Ace or club! Ace or club!"

July 23, 2007

Back in July I watched Negreanu's first games on Pokerstars. Previously he played on FullContactPoker, but during the WSoP he switched to Pokerstars, which is my preferred site.

I felt bad for Negreanu at first. Every game he went to would be *full* of onlookers, many of whom would try to chat it up with Negreanu. I think Daniel tried too hard to be nice to the chatters. I'm sure it affected his game.

I copied the following chat because I thought it was interesting. I cut off the comment at the end, so I had to go back and type it in. I don't remember who said it, but it made me laugh.

Poker

Long time no post. I've been pokering more than ever. I'll post some of old emails in a bit.

Last night I got brutalized. I lost around 300 BB's, much of it due to making a *stupid* play with K/K. If I'd have shoved all-in pre-flop I'd be fine with losing it. But the flop was A/Q/Q and someone shoved all-in. Yeah, I had better than 3/1 odds to call, but I should have folded. I just couldn't get off the hand.

I played two tables at once and I'm not sure if it hurt me. It was my biggest loss in months.

Eventually I made 50bb's back at one table, then quit the second after a small come back there (the table had gone cold).

Then I hit a new table and managed to make 150 BB's there. So I didn't totally tank, and I'm up overall since yesterday morning.

Two hands I had fun with.

#1 A guy with a The Matrix avatar had $1.01 left and shoved all-in. Someone called.
I wrote, "Someone with a Matric avatar bet 101? How can he possibly lose?"
He won... of course. I mean, that's like calling "H4X0rZ's" 1337 bet in a tournament. You just don't do it.
(BTW, he had K/J so I made note of his aggression)

#2 With more than $2 to his name, I checked as BB with A/2.
The flop was A/A/Q, and I checked.
He shoved all-in.
I called.
The other cards were rags. The Matix guy had 6/7, a stone cold bluff.
The table had a good laugh at that.