Oops and downs

Played some €10 NLHE yesterday.
I went up a buy-in, then took a break.
I came back and lost three buy-ins. One buy-in because of tilt, two because of bad luck.
I cam back and won two buy-ins.
I quit the day at about even.

Tonight I hit €5 6-max NLHE, and just dominated the table.
The one good guy left, and I'm pretty sure it was because I was causing him a headache.

This was one of my last hands of the game:

PokerStars Game #36977515755: Hold'em No Limit (€0.01/€0.02 EUR) - 2009/12/20 23:06:59 ET
Table 'Merope IX' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: SvgePenguin (€6.24 in chips)
Seat 2: the-biquet (€4.92 in chips)
Seat 4: Stefan-Key (€5.93 in chips)
Seat 6: kiito99 (€9.70 in chips)
Stefan-Key: posts small blind €0.01
kiito99: posts big blind €0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SvgePenguin [5d 5s]
SvgePenguin: raises €0.04 to €0.06
the-biquet: folds
Stefan-Key: raises €0.04 to €0.10
kiito99: calls €0.08
SvgePenguin: calls €0.04
*** FLOP *** [5c 5h Kh]
Stefan-Key: bets €0.78
kiito99: folds
SvgePenguin: calls €0.78
*** TURN *** [5c 5h Kh] [Qh]
Stefan-Key: checks
SvgePenguin: checks
*** RIVER *** [5c 5h Kh Qh] [Kc]
Stefan-Key: checks
SvgePenguin: bets €5.36 and is all-in
Stefan-Key: calls €5.05 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (€0.31) returned to SvgePenguin
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SvgePenguin: shows [5d 5s] (four of a kind, Fives)
Stefan-Key: mucks hand
SvgePenguin collected €11.37 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot €11.96 | Rake €0.59
Board [5c 5h Kh Qh Kc]
Seat 1: SvgePenguin showed [5d 5s] and won (€11.37) with four of a kind, Fives
Seat 2: the-biquet (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Stefan-Key (small blind) mucked [Qc As]
Seat 6: kiito99 (big blind) folded on the Flop

I thought the guy had the King or flush and was doing the rope-a-dope on me. I had been pretty aggressive, but the way I played this hand, I figured that he'd only call if he was trying to trap me so I might as well bet big.

I'm glad I was wrong and won a a pot that translates into about $17.

So what am I doing with € anyway?
PokerStars now has Euro games, and for a 2% fee will exchange $ chips for € chips. I wanted to play the new tables, so I transferred $98 into €65 or whatever it was. Now I have a short term goal of turning that into €100, so I'll hit the micro limit games on occasion to build it up.
One I get there, I don't know. I'll probably just leave it there until something interesting comes up.

Euro in trouble

I exchanged some $ for Euros.
I've been tinkering with the PS Euro games. I did really well, because people play dumb.

But today I'm getting killed. The two buy-in profit is gone, and I'm about 2 buy-ins down from where I was. Sick sick stuff.
Like, I'll snap off a bluff...

PokerStars Game #36913180667: Hold'em No Limit (€0.05/€0.10 EUR) - 2009/12/19 15:37:22 ET
Table 'Lavonne V' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: masterbluf02 (€18.39 in chips)
Seat 2: Talker26 (€12.44 in chips)
Seat 3: SvgePenguin (€14.09 in chips)
masterbluf02: posts small blind €0.05
Talker26: posts big blind €0.10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SvgePenguin [Qd Ac]
SvgePenguin: raises €0.20 to €0.30
masterbluf02: raises €0.90 to €1.20
Talker26: folds
SvgePenguin: raises €2.30 to €3.50
masterbluf02: calls €2.30
*** FLOP *** [4h 3d 7c]
masterbluf02: bets €14.89 and is all-in
SvgePenguin: calls €10.59 and is all-in

masterbluf02: shows [6c Ad]
SvgePenguin: shows [Qd Ac]

*** TURN *** [4h 3d 7c] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [4h 3d 7c 5s] [Qh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
masterbluf02: shows [6c Ad] (a straight, Three to Seven)
SvgePenguin: shows [Qd Ac] (a pair of Queens)
masterbluf02 collected €27.28 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot €28.28 | Rake €1
Board [4h 3d 7c 5s Qh]
Seat 1: masterbluf02 (small blind) showed [6c Ad] and won (€27.28) with a straight, Three to Seven
Seat 2: Talker26 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: SvgePenguin (button) showed [Qd Ac] and lost with a pair of Queens

G'morn'n

CardsChat is having a Guys VS Gals event, where a team of guys plays a team of girls. The girls win this thing every year.

The women have some good players, but the men have the best players. With 25 boys and 25 girls in the first event, even after one of the best males dropped out the men still have the top three, maybe even the top 5 players.

I assume it's been this way each year. But the women consistently beat the guys.

Women tend to play more conservatively, and I think (especially in this Guys VS Gals event) the men are just pushing too hard and overplay their hands against women. Then the women wait for someone to stick their neck out at an inopportune time, then chop it off.

In other words, if you scored a typical tournament men would win most of the time. When you make it a men vs women thing, then the guys will shoot themselves in the foot trying to outplay the women.

Let's put this another way. If you take the average female and the average male player, I think the woman will be go father in tournaments than the male. But if you take the top male players and the top female players, the males are better. The males draw from a larger pool, and they are more apt to be the loners willing to spend all day at a table (or computer) to get the thousands of hours experience it takes to be a top player. Women tend to have distractions like friends and family that eat their valuable poker time.

Anyway, I'll be on the guys team this year (I missed last year) and we have a new player that

---------------------------

I traded $100 off one site to another last night, so a moderator will have funds to trade with people who need it to play the Guys VS Gals event. I sort of like keeping my money on this site, and it moved me down so I'm no longer rolled for $50NL, so I decided to play some $25NL to work my way back.

I played a short session this morning, which was my first ring session in a long time.
It went well.

Fist pump

I had a not-so-good run in some games lately. The right moves, with bad results. You know, stuff that is *supposed* to happen as a part of normal variance.

Last night in the $27 Step 2 game I won a ticket to, I got all in with K/K pre-flop and lost to A/K for 2/3 of my stack. I managed to finish with a Step 1 ticket after shoving from the button with J/Qs and losing to the SB and BB who had A/x and K/x on an A/K/x flop.

Anyway, today I ran very well.

I played a $5.50 tournament and came in 3rd.
I played a $3.30 super-turbo and won it.
I played a freeroll and got to the final table.... getting KO'd just in time for...

The Big One:
Since August I've been playing the CardsChat Heads Up tournament.
Tonight I played the final matches... and won!


This is my favorite win of the year. I've won a lot more money in other tournaments this year, but having the title of Heads Up Champion is worth more to me.
I consider myself a better than average heads up player, and believed I had a pretty good chance of winning this, so it was gratifying for this to come into fruition.
Yeah, I cold decked a couple people, but I don't think I did any crippling suckouts.

Rings

I mix it up with a shorty.

Feh!

I knew this guy was weak. I totally knew it.

Good freaking call.

Anyway... keep losing monies.

2 Sunday Games

I played the OFC game on FT.

Early on I have 7/8s on a 4/5/6 rainbow flop. Someone raises, I re-raise, somone shoves, the original raiser folds, and I call.

He shows A/5.

Turn is a T, river is a 2.

Then the chips move over to him. What the... ?!?!?!

Ends up I misread the flop. It was really 5/5/6. Ugh!

I don't usually play with my daughter up, and I was chatting with a guy who was in the same game at another table, so I just got distracted and misread it.

It was a stupid mistake, and cost me the $5.50 buyin.

Later I played the weekly CardsChat.com Sunday game, and played it with extra effort. :)
Here's a spot where I get tricky:

...I can dodge with bullets, Baby!

I ended up getting heads up when the other person had a 3-to-1 chip lead on me.
I caught up a little but just wasn't able to make it happen. I think I was about 50/50 to win in that situation, but it just didn't work out this time.

The winner was the person with the straight flush in the other hand. My $5.50 investment paid $73.80 for the 2nd place, so I can't complain.

I cleared my third step in the Take Two bonus on Thursday I think. I have $25 in bonuses guaranteed, and I'll unlock the last $25 on Saturday assuming I play every day this week.

I'm getting enough on Full Tilt that I'm considering making a deposit so I can cash it out if I want to. I guess I'll wait until I get to a point that I feel like I'll play a lot to unlock the 1s time deposit bonus.
I always considered my FT account a play account, but it keeps getting bigger, so I'm starting to care about it. ;)

Continues...

The slump continues.
I had unchecked the "post blind" option because I had decided it was my last round of the session. I was up $7 at the time:


A few hands later I had J/J and only lost $4.50 even though someone else had Q/Q, as the turn had 6/7/8/9 on the board.

A few hands later I pop three limpers up to $4 with A/9s on the button. A shorty-limper shoves back (after the first two folded) and I call the additional $4. He has 8/8 and I fail to hit.

Down a full buy in ($50). Feh!

Then I get TPTK against a 42% VPIP'er and he has a set. -$7 (This guy was the short stack from earlier, but he beat others to have a full stack)

Ok... just now... same guy that sucked out on me in that replay hand.
I have A/K. I raise flop, from button with A/K and he calls from button.
4h/7c/Qh flop.
Check/check.
Kh turn (giving me 4 to the nut flush and TPTK).
He bets, I re-raise, he calls.
Rag on river. He checks, check.
He has Th/Jh for the flush.
-$25 more for me.

This game sucks.

Ugh

I'm on a cold spell.

Last night I lost 1.5 buy ins at $25NL in my fist (two table) session.

After midnight I went back on and got K/K really early... VS pocket vowels. Ugh. Down $25 the first round.

I cashed for a whopping $3 in a freeroll, but otherwise nothing has been happening lately.

With an hour until I have to pick up my daughter I meant to sit at a turbo double-or-nothing (35 minute game) but accidentally sat at a standard one, which can take 50 minutes.

I had a nice stack when a short person opened in early position and I called with J/J. The flop was T/T/7. He had A/T and I was down to $1k. :(

A little later a guy who VPIP'd 60% limped in. I shoved with my 5/5. He called.... with 8/6! We blanked the flop. The turn was a 6 and the river was an 8.
Game over for me.

Computer woes

I do computer repair and took an abandoned laptop with a busted screen and replaced the screen & video cable. At the same time my PC has developed disconnect issues. It just won't maintain a connection and I don't know why.

Since my old laptop is an *old* laptop I installed poker software onto this new one and have been using it for the past few days.

The other day I got a phone call from a friend that my Twitter account (which I had never used before) was advertising "legal marijuana" and posting it to my Facebook account. I logged in and changed my password.

Well, in the middle of play last night I had some severe lag. I noticed that there was a lot online activity even after I quit all online applications (including Windows Updates).

Installed Norton Antivirus and got a warning that the hosts file was tampered with. For those not in the know, to go to a website your computer uses a DNS (domain name service) that converts "Google.com" into a numeric address. The hosts file on your computer overrides that. It can say that "Google.com" is the wrong numeric address, in which case every time you try to go there you are redirected to the wrong address. Malware (viruses and trojan horses and advertising software) likes to tamper with to send you to their sites, and keep you away from antivirus sites.

So anyway, I found out that this computer has a backdoor trojan on it and it was most likely sending off anything I typed to a third party.

Once I removed the trojan I changed my poker passwords (they use the extended security anyway, so key logging will not work), changed my Twitter account again, and changed any other password thing I could think of that I may have accessed on this computer.

Such a hassle.

I'm still having trouble where my Symantec won't update. I'm assuming that something in the registry is locked or something like that. I probably had to use the Symantec uninstall tool to remove it all, and start over. But until then I'm using a free alternative.

Oh, here's my entire ring career on this laptop. As you can see, I just do short sessions to unlock the bonus. That Truly table where I won $17 is the one where I lost $25 in hand #2 when my 6/6 and his vowels both made sets on the flop.


Ok... off to bed.

Oh yeah.... I railed a game with Phil Ivey, Durrrr, and Patrik Antonius. The latter two tangled, with Durrrr calling PA's shove on the river.
Result: Patrik Antonius wins the pot ($581,070.80) with a flush, Ace high

BOOOooooOOOWOOoooWOOoo!

I played the $25+$2 satellite to the game in Aruba. I was totally card dead. If it wasn't for some desperate stealing my stats for the game would have been 5/5.
Anyway, nothing happened and I got blinded 50-something'th out of 120-something people.

I had a 20% stake in a friend who was down to 130 chips early, and managed to finish the game in 4th place. Not bad. This was a winner-take all tourney, with $1,000 paid manually to people who cashed. I heard it's paying 63 places, but have no idea how it breaks up. I'm sure the 20% I get of his cut will be more than whatever scaps of the $1k are left by the time they get to me.

Take 2 Progress
I forgot to two-table yesterday to get my points toward the Take 2 bonus. That's two missed days. I only need 25 days, so I've still got wiggle room.

Hand #2:

He left a short time later... not that I saw any bad plays that I was hoping to exploit. I just dislike it when big stacks leave the table.

So I'm down a buy-in ($25) right off the bat. Doh!

Later I made a bluff vs someone who I think had middle pair ($9 pot)
Followed immediately by a 6/6 making a set for a ($19 pot, he folded on the river).
Then a little later I do this and show the guy the bluff afterward:


Four hands later:

8/8 is not normally in my all-in range for 6-max, but this was a special case (because everyone hated me at this point) and I'm glad it worked out.

Ok

Hit some rings and made more than I lost yesterday. Blah blah blah.

I enjoy heads up play and the last two years I got sucked out on to lose way too early in the CardsChat annual tournament.

Well, tonight I became the first finalist. (Pardon the old bracket)


Games are set up and played by the participants. They just have to be completed by a certain date.
Anyway, I cleared the left side of the bracket and will play one of four possible people in the finals. I know of the quarter final games is Sunday at 5:00. Hopefully I'll be to busy winning the Aruba satellite to watch it. I don't know about the other quarter-final game. And there's no telling when the winners of each of those game will play the semi finals. (The semi-finals + are a best of 3 series, while all earlier rounds are single elimination).

Oh, and there's some money added, giving increasing bonuses to 4th - 1st, so since I'm guaranteed at least 2nd place I'll either get $35 or $75 depending on how the games go.

Anyway, I'm off to bed.

Bloop!

I unlocked the $10 bonus today. It only cost me $11.50.

Early on I got into a blind VS blind hand when my A/Q flopped TPTK and he flopped a set of 4's.
With the aggro betting after the flop, I should have folded instead of putting that last $10 in. I knew better. Oh well. :(

A bit later I had a chance of redemption. When we got all-in and I saw his cards, I started counting the money:

Ugh.
I lose $.70 to the rake.

Then this hand came up and I just knew the river would bend me over and have its way with me:

That guy was aggro (81/63) and was shoving a lot, taking pots without a challenge. I didn't think twice about calling.

Making that $8.14 on the coin flip helped get me back on track, and I whittled my $25 loss down to $11.50.

I didn't even have to use my A-K... I got to say it was a good day!

Yesterday there was a "shooting stars" event where a $5 bounty was put on my head as one of the stars. I put an additional $5 on my own head, and then offered $50 to anybody who declared me the prettiest (posting it in that thread) before the game, then knocked me out.
About half the field admitted I was prettiest.

It was a $5 buy-in tournament so going all-in on me paid nearly 11 times your buy-in. That means that shoving on me with any two cards is a +EV move.

Obviously I wasn't playing coin flips VS people I can lose $50 to so I played pretty tight. I did get it all-in vs people who could have claimed the bounty twice, but I won both.

I had a lot of "raise with A/Qs, get shoved on, then fold" situations. It stunk, and was far less fun than I anticipated.

I was eventually whittled down to almost nothing and had 4:1 to call a shove with my J/6, and I'd be blinded out soon anyway, so I called and lost to two overcards. The guy I lost to did not have a claim on the bounty.

Anyway, that game was a miserable experience. I felt shackled.

Today I slacked around the house all day. I was actually up early (well, 8:00 AM) but I was literally in nothing but my boxers until after 1:00.
I had planned on going kayaking, but I decided not to. I'd gone Saturday and the river was so low I had to carry it more than I liked.

TODAY:
...was a good day. As I stated earlier, at midnight I won some $ and cleared a $5 bonus.

Also...
PokerStars Tournament #193256615, No Limit Hold'em Buy-In: $7.00/$0.50 USD 90 players Total Prize Pool: $630.00 USD Tournament started 2009/09/06 14:46:40 ET Dear SvgePenguin, You finished the tournament in 1st place.

Weeeee!
Well, don't get too excited. It was a satellite, so 20 other people got first place. I won a $27 ticket to a Step 2 game. I've never won one of those. I mean, I've won more Step 2 tickets and some Step 1 tickets from Step 2 games, but I always get sucked out on and can't make it to Step 3. It's a tiny sample size though, so no biggie I guess.

After that, this:


So I'm batting 100% today.
Oh... well... I lost $2 at one of my ring games when I quit after midnight. But if you consider I only got the $5 bonus because I was at that table, that's $2.50 equity right? So 100%. ;)

Anyway, today was better than I deserved.

EDIT: I meant to just quote Ice Cube with the title to this, never thinking that A/K is a poker hand. Come to think of it, I did *not* have A/K all tournament. Weird coincidence.

Looks like I won't be going to Aruba: Link

Update as of September 6, 2009:
UltimateBet has not set up any of the Ultimate Aruba Experience Tournaments as of yet. There have been some problems with the tournament set up, and to be honest, they are refusing to simply communicate with us. We are trying to resolve this issues as best we can, but it is very hard to reach a solution when none of our contacts follow up with us. We have been attempting to fix the issues several times a day for over a week, and will let you all know what the situation is once we hear back from them. As of right now, there are no satellites for the Aruba Events, nor a Freeroll Event, nor the Main Event. We apologize for any inconvenience, but until we hear back from someone at UB, there is nothing we can do.

I'm guessing this means that UB had tentatively agreed to pay for a large chunk (if not all) of the $8,500 prize package ($5,000 +$500 tournament entry, plus $3k for travel/food/hotel expenses) and now that they see that they are going to lose a lot of money on this so they are balking. I'd guess that 300 would play this satellite, and they'd be making $2 in rake on each player. Plus 75 tickets were handed out (I won two). It all adds up to a big loss for UB.

My guess is that this event will not happen. The OFC does a lot of stuff and assuming they continue to operate they'll have to make some sort of amends to the 70-something people who won tickets. I'd be happy with getting some sort of equal value for my two $25 +$2 tickets I won. I don't have a lot on UB so that'd be a nice boost.

Otay

I waited until midnight to two-table and hit my day 5 of the Take 2 promotion.
I figured I'd play pretty conservatively, but on hand #1...


A little while later I tangled with another shorty.

The shove on the flop made little sense unless he had A/K, so I called.
My read was wrong, but I'm not complaining.

Anyway, I got into two iffy pots that I'll lose about half the time and I won them both so I'm happy.

On the second table I lost a little over $2. Nothing really happened there. My big blind middle pair lost me $1 to a top pair/no-kicker and my 7/7 failed to hit after I opened and someone with A/A min-raise-3-bet me and the caller. He showed his vowels after we folded to his flop bet but I figured vowels or K's were most likely.
Anyway, nothing interesting happened on that table.

Today is day 6 of the Take 2 promo, and I missed day 1, so today I unlocked my $5 bonus. I haven't received it yet, but I should have it by the time I wake up tomorrow.

Full Tilt full schmilt!

I decided to participate in the Take-2 promo on FT. It has various levels.
If I two table for 5 days this month, I get $5.
If I two-table 10 days this month I get an additional $10 ($15 total).
If I two-table 15 days this month I get an additional $10 ($25 total).
If I two-table 25 days this month I get an additional $25 ($50 total).

Well, I 4-tabled today. I played three $25NL tables, and one $50NL.
Guess which one I got felted on!

The hand:

Tight player raised to $2 UTG+1.
I call with 7/7.
It's folded to the BB, who calls.
The flop is 3/7/Q, all diamonds.
Opener raises to $4.
I raise to $13.
BB folds.
Opener shoves.
I call.
Opener shows A/A, with one diamond.
Turn 5d.
River Jh.

Ugh. I'm out $50.

At'll teach me to play above my bankroll limit on FT.

I still have $180-something, (and never deposited), but bummer. :(

Yatta yatta

On Monday I played a CC $ added event and got a little too aggro, which put me out in 7th or 8th. I still cashed for a few bucks profit, but I was disappointed because I picked 5 people to make the top 5, and they were all in (including myself) until that hand.

I hit the CC FT freeroll tonight. 144 players.
I played 369 hands and was dealt 7/2 nine times. I think on average I'd get 7/2 4.5 times.
I got A/K twice, which is about half as many times as I should have got it.

I got HU and my K/T hit a T high flop. The turn put a flush draw up and the river put the third spade *and* gave any 4 a straight. I was able to fold when he raised, and he showed the T/rag of spades, so I got out just in time. It still cost me $21k though.

I had about 130k to his 85k. Then I disconnected for a long time.
When I got back, he had 130k and I had 85k. :(

A bit later...
I opened with A/Q of hearts, he min-raised me, I shoved, he called:


I figure that bad beat cost me $20. Oh well. It's not like the game cost me anything but time.

The play in the freerolls isn't very good, but it was a good supliment to the WSoP I was watching on TV.

Tinkering with UB again

Played the new 7-2 game on UltimateBet. It was a $.05/$.10 game, with $.15 from each person put into a side pool that they can win if they win a hand with 7/2.

It was wild!




The villain was 86/57.


Same villain, and the other guy was 77/32.

I suck out.

These players..... ugh!



I left because the biggest donk left, but finished ahead:

UB

Played the CC game on UB.
Won the CC game on UB.
No euber suckouts. The only time I remember sucking out was when my A/4 beat A/9.

Oh... one time I had 2/2 and someone had J/K on a A/J/J flop and slow player it, which allowed me to hit my third 2 for the full house. *Then* he stacked. :) But he totally let me get there.

Total prize pool : $215.00
9 places paid
1st $64.50
2nd $43.00
3rd $25.80
4th $21.50
5th $17.20
6th $13.97
7th $11.82
8th $9.67
9th $7.52

Split?

Hand #4. 1rishgir15 was 100/0/0 over three hands and 1ittleT0m was 0/0/0 (the other guy was 67/0/0). I've been getting in similar situations a lot lately, where I get all-in and have the best hand in a huge pot (though not necessarily dominant) and fail to get the win.
Runner/runners have been hurting me.

Woot! I expected a flush draw and maybe A/9. Maybe a straight draw. But not those terrible hands.

Anyway, I was chip leader for most of the tournament.
With three of us left (Yea! I cashed!)) the shorty was a luck-box. I made top pair on the flop anc checked, he shoved, I called, and he had second pair but made runner/runner straight! The very next hand the shorty made a runner/runner straight to suck out against the other big stack as well, only that time "shorty" had a lot more chips and doubling up made him chip leader.

Shorty was an idiot and I got his chips.
HU I couldn't catch a card. After the 4th loss in a row we were almost even in chips and I offered a deal.

Full Tilt has the option to make deals now! I really like their software update. This was each of our first tries at making a deal. He was dealer, so he got to pick the terms, but it's mostly automated.
He accepted and we split the pot according to chip percentages. He had maybe $250 more chips than me so he got a few cents more than me. But we both got better than 2nd place money, which was nice.

Played a couple S&G's.
Got sucked out on in 10th the first game.

The second game, I went out as bubble-boy:


Oh well. Play is terrible at that level.

Played with a friend because I was bored...

Played a game with a friend at the table.
We never really tangled (I stole his SB once I think)
I was bored, and playing a bit... a bit less than optimal.

Worst turn ever...

But worst call on the river ever! Did he think I had pocket 3's??? Ha ha ha!

I'm a liiiiittle aggro... and lucky:



Standard play IMO:

Or I was getting bored.

Left the game down $.44. Totally worth it IMO. :)

G'night!

I enter a satellite that pays 4 places.
The dude on my right has shoved on me the last two times it was folded to him on my BB.


Crippled, I'm all in and loooooooooove the flop:

Micro slump

I had a great vacation with my family at the beach in L.A. last week. I didn't play any poker, and came back refreshed and eager to play. Although, I think I came back with a bit of homesickness.

Anyway, the games have been a bit frustrating.

I lost my $27 steps ticket with some bad luck (my middle pair vs his gutshot that hit runner/runner flush). Well, I won a Step 1 from it, but I tilted that off.

Then I played a game I really wanted to win, the CardsChat HU game. I even went to my ex-in-law's place to use their DSL.
I played about a dozen hands, with K/2 being my best hand, when I got knocked out of the game. I could sometimes see my hands, but I couldn't click the button to return. It was miserable.
Occasionally I'd be active for a second, but before I could click bet/fold I'd be cut off again.
When I was down to $700 in chips I decided that my only chance of winning was to shove any two cards if I could access the game, and hope to get lucky.
I got in with J/T, I shoved, he won with a pair of kings.
It was a crushing game. To see my cards (A/Q, J/J, etc) and not be able to play... it was painful. And I love HU play and I love CC games.
I'd seriously rather have lost a regular $20 game via suckout than that particular $5 game the way I did.

The next day we had the deep stack CC tournament. This is another one that I really wanted to do well in. Redemption time, right?
Player #3 is a smart player and I crush his range at that point. He's shoving almost any pair, and A/7+ I think as he's down to less than 10 bb's.

The whole time I was thinking "No Ace! No Ace!" so I didn't even notice the two 9's on the board. So after the hand I said "GG" and was surprised to see "my" chips go his way. Ugh!

A bit later:

I hate it when I lose with the worst hand. :)
This was against the same player. I figured he pot committed himself with his T/T+, A/Q+ so I shoved. Oh well.
Of course, I was unable to come back from that and was out two hands later.

So today I decided to go to UB and try to build my BR. It was really slow at first (not a turbo like I'm used to), but when the bubble is close I kick it into gear and get aggressive and go from short stack to big stack.
Then I work my way to HU.
Then I get all-in on the turn with the nuts:


Then I flop top pair with an open ended straight draw:

Zoink! I fail to suck out and game over.

...but at least I finally made a profit.

Anyway, I plan on playing in a money added game tonight on UB. It has a nice overlay, and is at 7:00 which is a good time I think.
GL to me!

Bleh

I played some FaceBook poker, and had some bad beats (A/K vs A/Q all-in-pre and he hits a Q, and all-in with my top pair/top kicker vs his weak flush draw, and he hits). So I was tilting some.

First I played a $2 S&G. The bubble seemed to last as long as the rest of the game.
Anyway, I went out on the bubble when I shoved a limper with my T/T, and he had A/K, and he paired both cards.

Then I did some $10 NL.

Pesky river gets me to commit chips:

Yeah, should have c-bet more. On the river I figured he had a J as well. Oh well.

Wimpy check/raise was bad. Fold was good:

I don't know what I was thinking. He was a calling station. I should have just raised pre-flop. Guess it saved me money, but still a bad play.

The villain here had a VPIP of 60%. IE< he voluntatiy put money into the pot 60% of the time. I was in 20% for comparison.

I basically tilt off my stack with a singly pair. I was bound to lose money, but it didn't have to be that much.

Ok...
So I'm tilting and don't care about losing that last $5.

Guess he was bluffing.

Blah blah blah it's late and I was up early

I have a Raketherake account, so I can get 30% of my rake back from Ultimate Bet.
I wish I signed up through them, because then I'd get 27% back with Full Tilt. Sites only give rakeback on your *first* account, so if you don't use the affiliate code when you sign up the first time you're pretty much screwed for life.
Anyway, using this link will get you rakeback,and gets me a tiny smidgen too:


Ok, that stuff aside, I'm still having deposit issues. Checks and check cards aren't working to play this game of skill that so many people misunderstand.

Hey...
I had some hands I wanted to post but the file is gone. Tha desktop cleanup I did last night must have swept them away.

Anyway, all I played yesterday was a $6 S&G on UB. I forget how many people started, but it paid to 60-somethingth place and I went out 90-something. It was a "sniper" tournament, so I got $1 for each of the three people I knocked out, which took some of the sting out of losing.
My final hand was a 3-bet shove with Q/Q against what ended up being K/K. I failed to suck out. Had he had A/K or J/J I'd be a virtual lock to make the money.

There were some weird hands early on. Three people all in pre-flop. The chip leader had K/2s, #2 in chips had Q/Q, and the shortest guy had 4/4.
The shorty doubled up with quad 4's, and the chip leader stacked the middle-stack with a flush. Totally sick.

Meanwhile I got burned with A/K doubling up a guy with K/K in a small blind vs his button raise and a couple other similiar scenarios (not as painfull chip-wise).
But then I got K/K and doubled up, followed immediatly by A/A where I stacked two people.

Anyway, this is the most boring post ever.

UB

Not a good night, and I blew a huge chunk of my roll.
I'm playing under-rolled, and just doing it for fun until I actually deposit and grind, but it's still a bit of a bummer.
But at least I have way more than the $10 seed UB gave me.

I mean, I'm fine with losing, I just lose in frustrating ways, and all the players I thought were good seemed to be losing on the river as well. I don't think I ever made a set.
One guy with a brain had K/K and despite a Q on the board he got a guy with J/J to commit 1/2 his stack on the turn. The river was a J, and he shoved FTW.


I suspected that he has A/Q, but he and others were calling down with weak kickers so I just bet it. Had he bet $10 there on the river I'd have folded, as I smelled a rat.

At least I smiled after this one.


Anyway, UB money is like FT money. I don't consider it "real" because I never deposited.

I still have plenty of BR to play with, but man, I lost like half of it. If *only* I can manage to flop a set...

I have several online friends in Vegas now. I'm jealous. You know, I think I'll pick an online account and designate it "Vegas 2010 Fund," then grind it up and cash it all out (sans a couple hundred bucks to tinker with) to go next year.
Maybe I will.
:)

It's late and I've been sleeping at 3:45-4:00 the past several nights so I'm going to try to get to bed early tonight.

Running good on UB

Played the CC buy-in on UB.

I got HU.
Then I got crabs:

Feh!

So I worked my way back...

Oh well. Draw-city on the flop.

I didn't come back after than and finished in 2nd. Oh well, that's the game.
The $47 payout was nice, and puts me at $130-something on UB. (I won a bit in rings today). Not bad considering I started with $10 a couple weeks ago.

Blah blah blah

I decided to tinker around with my small bankroll on FT.

I was dominating $10NL on UB... then bad stuff started happening.
Every time I went up against a short stack he'd murder the flop. I didn't hit a set all night. None of my OESD's hit. And flushes... phooey! I hit one, and I'll talk about it later.
I remember one hand where I had 7/7 told the screen "Okay 'm due for a set already!" Two others were in the pot with a Q/2/3 rainbow flop and the shorty checked, the big stack made a tiny raise, I called, and the shorty shoved (doh!). The shorty had Q/x and the big stack had A/Q. Of course, the turn and river were 7/7.

Anyway, I lost $16 at one table and won $8 at the other despite having my K/K and Q/Q folded to in the BB. Oh, and this...


Anyway, I went back a little later, played one table, won $12 really quick (thanks to a flush *finally* hitting). The dude called me with Ace/rag too, when he paired his Ace. I think he thought I was bluffing. Everyone else on UB calls down my bluffs, so it was nice to experience that behavior when I actually hit. :)

I played two tournaments on Full Tilt earlier today, and didn't do so well. I lost the CC tournament when someone limped UTG, I raised on the button with A/Q and he shoved on me. He had K/K. Typically that move means a small poket pair. I didn't expect the UTG limp with K/K in a CC game (the guy was an unknown).
Now, in the OFC game something similiar happened. A *tight* player limped UTG, I made heft raised on the button with K/Q, and he min-raised me back.
I folded that fast! I guarantee he had A/A.

Anyway, not the most successful of days.

Randon stuff

Things go good:

I'm still tinkering at $25NL when I do play rings. I'd been pretty aggressive, and folded my three bet in the same position the previous round. Action begets action.


Things go *really* good:

Runner runner FTW!
Cripes! I was only calling for an Ace so we could tie.

Rigged!

Just kidding about the rigged. :) But man, that was a dazzling bad beat.
The worst part about that game was that I thought I was joining a regular $10 tournament, but it was a rebuy. When I realized my mistake it was too late to unregister. And since I was playing I did the instant $10 rebuy. I did not rebuy after this loss though.
Has I won that hand I'd have been the early chip leader, but oh well. At least I didn't bubble.

SP the FRW

PokerTracker ring trouble, so no rings lately. Well, I played some $2NL. I made $2 really quick, then finished the session down $1.
I was only in to play with a friend, so no big deal.

Played about 7 $1 S&G's, purposely playing bad to be funny in a video. I don't think I was that funny.

Played some for real, and got brutalized. I was in a $16 S&G, make trips in a BB vs SB scenario, and his small pocket pair turns into a full house to KO me first. Feh.

Today I played a freeroll on UltimateBet. Well, let's start at the beginning...
I tried to deposit on UB but it didn't work. They gave me $10.
I turned that into $12 in the rings.
I played a big $5.50 tournament and cashed to bring my bankroll up to $28, *and* a side bonus was that I finished in the top 25 so I won a $27 satellite ticket where the winner gets a trip to Aruba.
Then today I played a freeroll, and won it for $45 more. So, now I have $70-something which is not bad for three days worth of play.

One problem is that you can't do observer chat if you have not deposited, so as soon as I am knocked out of the tournament I can't say "GG" or anything like that.
So when I won the freeroll today, I couldn't talk afterward.

I'd get a 111% deposit bonus *and* rakeback if I deposit, so depositing would be nice.

...played more.

I went back and played some more.
I got pummeled.
Pummeled.

I'm down $28 for the day now.


Bummer. Not much I can do there.

I'm 2:1 or so, all-in pre-flop.


I lost $16 in a hand with A/Q where a guy turn/rivered quad 10's.
He check/shoved the river and I folded. Then he turned over the pocket T's. Whew.

This one is interesting:

A short stacker pops in and posts a blind out of turn. I'd been pretty aggressive and pop it up from the small blind. The smart-player 3-bets me which I think he'd do with a pretty wide range so I'm willing to stack against him.
The evil short-stacker shoves, which doesn't mean much.
I'm happy getting it in vs what is probably A/K with the BB, so I limp, figuring I can bail if one of those two cards hits the flop.
I get shoved on, so I call.
I probably played it bad, but it was a weird situation.

Anyway... finished the night on a bummer.

'Nother night

Hit the ring games again. I felt I played a little smarter.


I coax a majority of the evil short stacker's chips in and he rivers his gut shot. I don't know what he was doing in the hand so long... or at all.

That was my second A/A. The previous one I slow played pre-flop, made a set on an all-diamond flop, and took it down when I bet-pot. Feh.

My favorite hand of the night:

Hurray for him not rivering his gut shot!
This was definitely a play based on the player, not the strength of my own hand.

This was nice too:

I fold this a lot of the time, but I didn't buy that I was much of a dog. With the limp-a-holic in he pot the button is probably stealing there a ton.
If I had more info on the button I'd have three-bet him (a lot of buttons can't let go of Ace/rag and K/J and such pre-flop because they don't believe the blinds can have a real hand), but it worked out well.

With the other losses I finished up $33 for the night, with a 34bb/100 win rate.
It was nice to win some.

Ptttt!

A/A twice, and both times I lose stacks.
K/K once, and I took the blinds.
All in, and the dude rivers his flush.
All but one bluff called.
Down around $120 for the day.

Feh.

Hooks

I 4 tabled some $25NL today. I felt like actually building my bankroll instead of playing for fun.

Anyway, I meant to type in $.80 for this bet, but accidentally put in $8.
As soon as I did I hoped that everyone would just fold to me.

As you can see, my bet was only the second stupidest play that hand.

Whatever.

Feh.
Played a $20 and was out really freaking early when I raised UTG with A/Qs and was called by 4/5s. He min bet the 4/5/9 flop and I called. Q on the turn and he shoved. I called. Oh well.

Lost a couple S&G's as well.

Played a cash game and I was down around $54 for the night. This dude on my right loved chasing people off pots when this happened:


Boo-ya!

Zzzzz...

Not much going on. I have not been playing the Last Player Standing games on CardsChat, because I haven't felt like committing the time to the game.
I've hit a few ring games for short sessions and always seem to come out a winner.

In my last ring, I was down maybe $20 when I had 9/9 on a Q/T/9 flop. I got all-in against another full stack, and he showed Q/T.

I've been playing the $2, 1 table S&G's on Full Tilt. I keep getting 3rd place (which pays $3-something), but last night I managed to change my luck and land 2nd.

Only one hand sticks out in my mind.
4 left, so we're on the bubble.
I have $1,200 and the blinds are $75/$150.
The lady on my right was tight, and I had shoved on the button the previous three rotations when she folded, which hurt the BB who was now down to $2,000. I had legit hands each time (Ace/rag'ish).
I get K/Qs on the button and shove.
The SB folds, and the BB calls... with 4/5 suited!
Wha? Did he assume that I had 2/3 or 3/4?

Anyway, my hand somehow held and he was left with $800 and went out a few rounds later.

Update

EDIT: Looks like PokerHandReplays is screwing up and showing the same hand (not mine) for every hand. Hopefully this will be corrected on their end, as all the posted hands have different PHR #'s, yet a completely different PHR hand is displayed.

Not much has been going on.
I've played a few hit & run ring games, leaving after about 20 hands each time and with a pretty big profit. Last night I played a total of 17 hands at $50NL 6-max and left $27 in the green. I had about three other sessions, making about $10 in each.
The sample size is tiny though, so the incredibly high bb/100 is just luck, but it still feels good.

I have not been doing well in the 90 player S&G's I've been playing. Last time I lost a couple coin flips to the same person to get KO'd (my underpair vs his AK AIPF, then I rebuild stack to get APIF with him again with my AK vs his underpair).

Blah blah blah...

I played one $2 +$.25 9 player S&G on FT, because I had a few beers and didn't want to risk "real" money. Besides, I think the S&G's are softer on FT.

I ran hot.

Check out these three hands I had in a row:


Followed immediately by:


Followed immediately by:


Yeah, K/K three hands in a row! And two of them make sets!

You know, I *thought* he had an overpair here. But I figured I was just paranoid.

Guess my gut < my luck.


Do you hear that loud sucking sound?

Zoink!

A coin flip was the last meaningful hand of the game:

After that he was all-in every hand, and my SB insta-called me. He had a pretty good run, but I finally won 5 hands later! :) It would have been hilarious if he could have made a comeback. But man, those first 4 hands I was laughing because he couldn't be killed.

Edit: If you see the same hand for all, then PHR hasn't fixed their stuff yet. I had K/K three hands in a row (sets twice). Then I had A/T on a T high flop, and stacked vs J/J, only to make trip Tens.
Then I get AIPF with Q/T vs A/A and make the straight.
Finally I get AIPF with A/7 vs his 6/6 and hit my Ace.

Post #199

The LMS (last man standing) game yesterday was a turbo, as per my suggestion. Unfortunately I joined a freeroll at 8:00 and decided to VPIP every hand, so I was distracted and missed the announcement to register for it. So I missed it.
The 90 player games fill in about twelve minutes. This 180 player game filled in 6 minutes. Cripes! I guess the turbos are popular.

I felt like playing so I pulled up two $10 DoN's.
On hand #1 I was dealt A/Js on the button and called a min-raise with a caller. 4 of us in the pot.
The flop was J/9/3. It was checked to me, I bet, and one guy called.
The turn was a 5. He checked, I checked.
The river was a 7. He bet, I called.
He had Q/Q.
I'm down $600, so I go from $1,500 to $900 on hand #1.

On the other table the same sort of thing happens. This time I have J/J and he has 6/9. The flop was 6/9/9.
There was a missed staight and missed flush draw on the river, so I was more apt to call. :( So I was down to $500'ish on that table.

A bit later at that second table I was down to $400 in late position, so I shoved with A/6s and the SB had A/A, to knock me out.

On the first table, I got low and shoved on the button with A/3s. The BB called with A/5o. It looked like we were going to split, until a 4 hit the river. Weee! $1,400 pot put me back in it.
The very next hand I had J/J. I shove, and the same guy calls with T/2 suited. He flops a T but I end up making a straight (not that I needed it) to knock him out.

The guy four seats to my right was up to 3,600 chips at one point, but he was in way too many pots. I saw him tangle with the chip leader several times when he didn't need to. Really, with 3,600 that late in the game he could have folded to the money.
He ended up being the bubble boy, and it was a much deserved loss.

So 2x $10.40 in buy-ins = $40.80
One win at $40 = $40
Loss of $.80
Could be worse.

I've abandoned my attempt to achieve SilverStar status this year. The Full Tilt thing distracted me, and I'm more entertained by tournament right now.
Playing rings without a drive is dangerous.

MTT

I played a $2.20 MTT with friends at CardsChat. 12 of us put $1 into a pool, which the last player standing takes.

3 of us cashed, but I won the last player standing pool finishing 37th out of 2,745 entrants.

The sick part? I paid $2.20 to play, played for nearly five and a half hours, did better than 2,708 players, and was paid $9.89. That's $7.69 for, or about $.72 per hour.

That doesn't count the $12 I got from the pool ($11 profit).
The other two people who cashed were paid $3.84. Of course, they spent $2.20 for entry and $1 for the last man standing pool and four and 4:30 or whatever playing.

Anyway, I thought I'd post some interesting hands, though they're only going to be interesting to me.

Yay to yuck to doh to whew:

The guy was obviously a tard making a bet like that. Two pair is *nothing* on that board.


Late in the game, near the bubble, I get a dream hand. I totally expected a call, but...

After that he wrote "I am so stupid" in the chat.

The very next hand:

After that he quoted himself.

I told him that we were just about on the bubble and that he might cash. Despite this subtle warning he shoved two hands later with junk and lost. The first paying spot was something like 396th and after a long pause (as PokerStars calculated who finished where) he finished 396th. Lucky!

Woot:


My downfall wasn't too painful. My raises kept getting shoved on so I'd have to fold which whittled me down. Then I got all in with 9/9 vs someone's A/K and lost. Oh well, that's the game.

Bleh

I haven't written in awhile. Let's see...

On Saturday I played my friend's family's tournament and came in 2nd. It was smaller than average so it only paid $80.
I got head's up with my friend's dad. Early on I turned two pair (he was all-in) and that turn gave his unpaired cards a gut-shot, which he rivered. Doh!
We had maybe 7 all-ins, tying once, and the short stack winning all but the last one.
He won the last one. :( I think I had A/7 and he had A/T or something.

When I went home it was past midnight so I played a couple ring games to get my final point to unlock the additional $20.
It was brutal.
On one table I had a marginal profit. On the other, these two guys kept three-betting me. Every time I bet they three-bet me, and it tilted me.

I lost $100 and rebought for $100.
I had 8/8 and raised, got three-bet, and called. The flop had all unders. He bet, I called.
The turn was junk, he bet, I called.
The river was a three. That put 2/3/4/6/7 on the board I think. He bet, and I shoved.
He called.
He had 3/3, for a rivered set.
Doh!
-$200 for the night.

So despite the bonuses, I think I'd down $35 because I tried to unlock the bonus. Really, had I not had the tilt-fest, giving away $200, it'd have been +EV. Oh well.

Oh... I played a live game last night.
It was frustrating. Early on (hand #1) there were two limpers and I had A/4s in the BB.
The flop was A/Q/x. I raised, one lady called, and the other folded.
The turn was an X. I raised, she called.
The river was a Q. I checked, she raised, I folded.
I lost $180 of my $1,000 stack that hand.
I figured that she was either calling me down with Q/x because she didn't believe that I had an Ace, or she had an Ace, in which case I was most likely out-kicked.

I limped in a few hands with draws (8/8 with three limpers, A/x suited on the button, etc.) but didn't win a single hand.

Close to the break I was down to 460 chips with 40/80 blinds. The two players on my left were talking to each other about how they were both short (~500-600 chips and needed to double up soon).
UTG+1 I looked down to see Q/Q. I bet more than half my stack, $300. Now, online that'd look way suspicious at this live game I don't give people credit for paying attention and I wanted to be able to shove any flop and get called with anything.
The guy two seats to my left shoved his ~$600 in, and everybody else folded.
He turned over vowels. :(

My friend was doing well in chips, but not too long after the break he had A/K and raised. Someone called. The flop was K/T/T and he shoved. The guy called with his Q/T.
Game over, and we both went home early.

I didn't play online last night. I probably will hit an online tournant tonight.
I'd wanted to make Silverstar this month but it's not going to happen. I'm just not playing much.

Ouch

I sat at a table, and this was my first hand:

What a nice start to the evening. Too bad my my good fortune didn't continue.

Quite a bit later, at the same table, I figured the guy had something like T/T:

Bummer.

The very next hand...

Why couldn't he have A/K? :(

Standard aggro:

I can has chips? Nom nom nom! I figured he had < Q/Q and I was right.

Let the tilt begin:

Argh!

And here... total tilt. I pretty much give him my money like a tilting donkey.


Bah. I should have check/called this river:

He makes the straight and the flush. :( I didn't even notice the flush draw until the river.

Well, I get a little lucky, and this guy totally... totally misplays his hand post-flop.


One of the last hands of the night.


So basically, down $127 for the night. Brutal.

Oh... on FullTilt I got me $5 bonus and am winning there. I think I made about $12 two tabling for a little bit.

FT

I didn't hit PS, but I spent some time on FT to get that bonus. I didn't do all that well.




Anyway... I finished down $20. :(
But today I unlocked the $5 and I'm half way to unlocking an additional $20 and I think I'm in the green overall for rings on Tilt.

Oh... I also had a whim to play a Matrix (4 table) tournament. I was out on a table in hand #1 when my J/J (on the button) got all in pre flop VS A/Ko in the BB. The flop was A/A/x.
I forget how I was out at the other two tables, but they were early as well. I made good plays, but had bad results.
I flat out won the last table. So, $.90 return on a $1.25 investment, for a $.35 loss. Oh well.

Good day

It was a very good day.
I didn't play much poker, just some hands on Full Tilt to unlock their "Take 2" bonus. I'll probably play every day to unlock the $20. Though, I'm playing way under-rolled.
Yesterday I did a full stack bluff check-shove and was called by someone who had paired his 6 (K/6), so I lost $50. I'm a tard.
I did OK on Full Tilt today, making $9+ profit. On one of the last hands of the night I cut my profit in half though:

Do I even need to explain what kind of player he was?
I should have made it more pre-flop, but my HUD is messy for FT and I'm new to it so I didn't realize that many people were in the pot.

Anyway, poker had nothing to do with it being a good day. I did some house work, I watched my daughter play soccer on a beautiful sunny day, I played soccer with her when we got home from the soccer game, we played in the house, we made dinner together, I tucked her in at night.
Really, I only played poker to do the daily bonus requirement.

Poker is less and less a factor in my life, which is a good thing. But when I do play, I'm happy with how I've been playing.