Working in the +

I love keeping my Full Tilt account above 100k.
I had 100,3xx early last night but decided to plat anyway. I lost a few thousand up front, only to finish the night with 100,59xx in my account. Sweet! When I logged off I saw that I was online for 1:30, and I think I spent 20 minutes checking email and such, so I was doing pretty freaking well.
Also, I was dealt A/A, got someone to go all-in post-flop, and won! That's two wins in a row with pocket aces! When the turn hit I screamed "No!" as saw the 4567 and I thought that he might have caught a straight. Seriously, I've lost AA to straights on the river *most* of the time in the past month. Luckily it was just paranoia that saw the straight, and I raked in the pot.


I've been reading Daniel Negreanu's blog and have paid attention to his views on strategy. I've been working my way up from the beginning, and just reached his 2006 entries. I hope to be current in a week or so.
I credit a lot of last night's winnings to stuff I picked up in his blog. I used to play super-tight, and then got super aggressive with big hands to. DN advocates a more aggressive style, which I tried to use last night (and seemed to work well).
I like playing more pots. It's a lot more fun. However, I don't know what I'll do in my next real (sitting at a table with humans) game.
Previously online I'd sit back, wait for premium hands, then bet big because I knew people would break themselves against my big hands. But last night I played a lot more pots, which allowed me to outplay people post-flop.

I found a screencap of a 90k pot that I lost on my cold streak a couple weeks ago. We were all-in before the Turn. Also, I was #2 in chips, with something like 27k. The guy on my right was #1, with maybe 29 or 30k. Man, that 90k would have done a lot to my morale.

Granted, with all those players my chances of winning after the flop were in the low 30% range, but that's still about twice as much as any other player. But after the flop I was better than 40%. I guess my biggest disappointment was that I'd have still come out ahead for the hand (thanks to the huge side pot) if I beat the guy to my right. But no, he went from 20% pre-flop to 15% post flop, to 25% post turn, to winner. Doh!
Oh well. At least the Jack of hearts didn't hit the river. That would have been insulting.

A/A streak is broken!

A/A has been a cursed hand for me the past month or so. The last ten times (could be 11, as I started keeping track after I lost 4 or 5 times with that hand). I had that hand, and someone played back, I lost. In most of those situations I was all-in pre-turn and I lost to a runner-runner straight. Occasionally someone would pair the flop and get a set on the river though. It was sick.
During that time period I did win a small blind with A/A when everybody folded to me (when I was BB), and I won another time when I made an all-in bet online and nobody called (netting me the blinds).

Well last night the streak ended!

I was all-in pre-flop. You can pretty much guarantee a call when you go all-in pre-flop in the free online play.

Thursday's game

There's a Thursday game that's pretty local. When I played (for the first time) last month it has 70 players and I got the to the final table, second in chips, only to get knocked out in 7th.

After that game I told my friends that the tournament was beatable. I figured that if I played once a month I'd make a profit.
I figured that 2/3 of the time I'd get a bad beat that sent me home, but 1/3 of the time I'd get to the final table.

Last week was my second crack at the game. I got bad cards all night. The one time I had a good hand the guy on my right had trip 10's. He checked the river since I was firing at the pot each time, but I picked up that he had me so I didn't re-raise, thereby stopping the action. He undoubtedly would have re-raised me and it would have been a tough fold.

One hand I limped in with A/10 (normally I don't play it early on, but there were few callers so I decided to limp in) and the flop was A/A/5. I raised and only the aggressive woman to my right (who was playing all sorts of crap) called.
The turn was a Queen and I went all-in.
She called, showing an A/J.
Doh! My A/10 was dominated.
Luckily the river was a King, counterfeiting her Jack high, so we split the pot.

The cards continued to be lousy. There were a lot of people in the pot so I folded a K/10 pre-flop that would have given me the nut full house on the turn. The pot ended up being a monster too... and totally loading up the guy directly on my left.

I folded my way down to 420 in chips (from a thousand). It was my turn to cut the cards, so I cut them shallow, as that seems lucky to me. I'm not big on lucky, but it really gets under one of my friend's skin when I cut shallow (maybe 12 cards), so it's something I'd occasionally do to annoy him.
Well, that cut gave me A/A!
The BB was 80, and there was about 200 in the pot, and people were too aggressive, so I went all-in before the flop knowing I'd get one or two calls. Only the small blind called and he had with K/J off suit. When we revealed cards the guy on my right told me that he had folded K/10. Sweet! I couldn't have asked for a better situation.

The flop was K/10/5. (I bet the guy to my right was grinding his teeth)
The turn was a Queen.
The river was an Ace, giving him the Ace high straight.

So at that I was knocked out of the tournament, early.

It happens. I'm at peace with that loss. I made the correct play.

Last month I made some stupid newbie errors, like folding when I was the BB and was only checked to, and mucking my live cards when I was dealer. I made no such errors this time. Also, there wasn't a single move that I would have redone had had a chance to ponder it an additional ten minutes. That is, given my read of the players, pot, cards, and position, I feel like I consistently made the best moves for that situation.

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For the past month I've been tutoring the friend that I go to that tournament with. He told me that the tournament was full of tight players, and I corrected him, saying that they were too loose. He was the one playing too loose.
I told him that playing only top ten hands in that game would get him most of the way to the final table. I gave him some advice on how/when to raise, the value of table image, when to go prospecting, and some tips on catching tells.
I explained to him big tell that I caught most of the players exhibiting. He really impressed me with some good questions, and what especially impressed me was that he printed out some of the emails I sent so he could re-read them.

When I was kicked out I went to his table and saw that he was the chip leader at the table. I was proud of him. It was a big difference from last month where he's limp in too much and get blinded off.

Well, the schmuck went on to win the entire 80 player tournament! Technically he was chip leader when they agreed to split the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place prize money three ways, but that still puts him in first place.
I'm so proud of the guy.

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I'm not sure when I'll hit that big tournament next. In a little bit my friend will host his own big annual tournament, and my budget is keeping me to one tournament per month. I think there were around 30 players last year. It was my first tournament after I started reading about poker. I ended up getting third place... quite a contrast to the 180 player tournament I was in before, when I went out on hand #5.

Here's the deal I've made with myself about tournaments. I'm pretty sure that in the long run I can come out ahead on that semi-local 70-80 player game. I set aside enough cash to play a game per month for the next year. If I earn more than what I have set aside, that's play money that I can use to go in more games. So if I set aside $300 for a dozen $25 tournaments, and win $450 for first place, that puts me $150 over breaking even for the year. So if I want to play an additional 5 games with that $150 I can. I don't think I'd play that many games though. Once per month seems good.

For now I'm looking forward to my friend's tournament. He'll be moving out of state in a couple months so it'll probably be the last of his annual tournaments. He's a good poker buddy, and I'll be sorry to see him go.

Home game

Played in a home game on Friday.
There were six of us. I played a lot wilder than I normally do. With a small group it was more about playing hands than playing to win.
We played three short Hold'em tournaments. I won the third one. I think I won it because I was itching to win by that point, so I tried a bit harder.

For the final game we decided to mix it up and play Omaha. I'm lousy at Omaha, and my friend does well, so I figured he'd win.
Well, it ends up he went out first when his trips were beat by a full house, or something like that.
At that point I figured I had a chance. My pocket King of hearts gave me a King high flush (when a third heart came on the turn). At that point I tried to extract as many chips as I could from my opponent. After all, out of the 44 cards I couldn't see, he only had 4 of them. So the odds were great that he didn't have the once card (the Ace of hearts) that could beat me.
He had it, and took all my chips. Doh!

I broke even for the night. Again, it wasn't about winning so I'm not kicking myself in the head for my performance. If I'd put my nose to the grind stone I'd have come out ahead.

Home game

In my last post I mention that I'd posted about the home game before. Glancing though my posts, it looks like I failed to mention it.

A friend of mine hosted a home game. He lives about an hour's drive away. Three of us carpooled to his house.

There were 13 players, who ranged from very experienced, to one who didn't know she could mix her hole cards with the cards on the table until I pointed it out to her mid-way through the first game.

On hand #1 a ton of people limped in, including myself. On the flop everyone checked until it got to me, so I raised with *nothing.* I didn't even have paint. Several people folded, a couple called.
On the turn they checked so I raised again, this time several big blinds.
One guy folded, one called.
On the river he limped in again so I fired a larger bet at the pot. I still had nothing.
He folded, and I won. (Chip leader!)

Hand #2 was pretty similar. I had nothing but was able to bluff everyone off the pot.

On hand #3 someone fought back so I folded and started playing a bit more conservative.

I ended up getting knocked out of the first game about half way through. I wasn't playing my A game. I completely forgot to look for tells. I pretty much just played my cards, and played according to people's moves. It was early and I just didn't have my head in the game.

Half way through game #2 I started looking for tells, so I made a few good calls to keep me in the game. I was still gambled too much, but I wasn't as bad as in game #1.
The woman on my right won a *monster* pot. Several people got knocked out at once, giving her half the chips at the table. By the end of the game there were three of us left. I had about 2 big blinds, and the woman to my left had 1.5 big blinds. We only paid first and second place so it was pretty much a game of waiting, and Russian roulette between the other short-stack and I. It was a battle for second place.
I survived an all-in first.
She survived the second.
I folded a big and small blind.
Then, thankfully, she went all-in and lost. Whew!
I went all-in the next hand with King/rag. The chip leader called with 10/rag, and there was a 10 on the flop. The turn and river were uneventful, so she won... not that I had much of a chance anyway.

In game #3 I forced myself to pay attention to reading people. I was going to hunt for tells if it killed me. And you know what? I picked some up!

The guy who had been beating me up all night (he took me out of the first game, took half my chips in the second came, and took half my chips in the third game when my pocked K/K didn't beat his river flush) had a big tell. I didn't see it until I slid over to across the table after the guy to my left was knocked out. But there it was, as plain as day.

We were in a hand together, I noticed that he gave a classic "I missed the flop" tell, and I re-raised him with my second pair. He re-raised me all-in and I called, much to his chagrin.
I doubled up that hand.

A few hands later the same thing happened. I won with second pair when I saw that he was bluffing.

A few hands later I saw he was weak, moved him all-in, and he called. I felted him!

By the time that game got heads up I had a 3/1 chip lead on my competition, my designated driver. It was 1:00am and the host had fallen asleep on the sofa. Everyone else had left, so I offered to split the payout 50/50, which he accepted.

I made a profit for the night, my friend (thanks to the split) broke even, and the other carpool buddy was down for the night. But combining our wins and losses, as a group the three of us broke even.

Full Tilt

I played Full Tilt a couple nights ago. I had just over 10k in chips, not enough to a full buy-in in the 100/200 games I like to play, I went to the low stakes tables.

I ended up burning through all my cash and having to rebuy for 1,000 at the cashier. At my peak that account had 130k. I can't believe how quickly I've burned through it.

The bad beats I've been getting were crazy. Going all-in with QQ pre-flop meant I had 4 callers, a queen on the flop, and someone hit a straight on the river. This stuff kept happening over and over again. I'd get full house and someone would get quads. It was brutal!

Easy come, easy go. It's only play money anyway.

* * * * * * *

I have a home game with friends this Friday. I think we're planning on two games. It should be fun. It's the same game I mentioned in an earlier post, but there won't be 13 people this time. I think we're hoping for around 8 guys.
I loaned the host my Phil Hellmuth poker book. He's an OK player. I hope the book will bring some stability to his game. He had a habit of limping in too many pots, thereby getting nibbled to death and playing pots with a lot of other limpers who happen upon weird monster hands.

Larg(er) 70 player tournament

I went to a poker game held by a local non-profit entity. They have the game every week, but it was my first time in the place.

The tournament had 70 people, and paid the top 5 players. I was told that it was a small crowd, and when they have 75 players they pay more positions (I think to 10).

I played solid, conservative poker. I picked up some tells and used them to my advantage. I figured out who the good players were and did some great semi-bluffs against them. (You can only bluff good players, because bad players don't know that all the signs say they should fold).

I did a bit of acting too, and it paid off. One of the players even cited my "accidental" tell when he folded. Ha ha!

When I played poker several weeks ago at a friend's house we played three games. In the first game I wasn't all that concerned with tells. Putting it simply, I just forgot to look for them. In the second game I realized that I should be looking for tells. I picked up a few, and ended up getting second place. Before going into game #3 I decided to force myself to pick up tells. I would watch my opponents like a hawk.
I won that game. Mainly because I picked up a tell on a guy who'd been hurting me all night long and I exploited it for all of his chips (I went against him three times to break him, winning all three hand when I had second pair and he was bluffing).

I had a long drive to the 70-player tournament. I was stuck behind a slow moving truck. rather than pass it I decided to stay behind the frustratingly slow truck as a warm up for poker. Seriously. I stayed the course, not letting the slow pace push me off kilter. When I passed a sign that gave the mileage to my destination I compared it to my speed and calculated that I would still make it there in plenty of time. Once the truck turned off the road I figured it was time to make my move, so I sped up.
I also had a terrible radio station on. I left it there to increase the frustration I was trying to work though.

I vowed to play to the best of my ability in that tournament. I declined a beer that was offered to me (Pale ale too! My favorite!) and vowed to do everything I could to pick up tells. I was warned that many of those people have been playing every week for years, so the competition would be rough and the tells would be slim. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
I could pretty much read the table. I set a tight image and stole the blinds when I saw people were weak. With a lucky first hand (AJ suited that became two pair on the flop) I started off with the chip lead at my first table I don't think I ever lost it.
I played few hands, but despite my tight image people still played into me when I had great hands.

After about 3.5 hours I made the final table. I believe I was second in chips. Unfortunately the chip leader (who had more than twice my chips stack) was seated to my left (so she can challenge me by putting me all-in) and the good player (who wins a lot of chips off people) who I'd been able to steal tons of chips off all night was sitting to my right. Normally that's good, but I picked up a monster tell on him, and I couldn't see it from such a close position.

Final table: I started out as the big blind. I had A/10 suited the first hand and a few people limped in. I decided to raise twice the big blind, putting 2 of the thee callers all-in. They folded, but the third one raise me all-in. I had the correct odds, so I called. She ended up having 10/10, and neither of us connected with the board, so she won half my chips.
The next hand I had A/8 suited. Again there were several limpers. I limped in as well.
The flop was K/8/2 and I could read the three people on my left... they all missed the flop. I *knew* they missed the flop (classic tells). I couldn't see the guy on my right though (the dealer at this point). It was checked around to me, and I raised. Fold... fold... fold... "All in." Crap. The guy on my right... the good guy who'd I'd been stealing from all night just went all in. If I called I'd have less than a big blind left, because he was directly on my right I couldn't see his tell so I didn't know the strength of his hand.
He pretty much moved to every table that I was moved to, so I played with him all night long. I'd stolen a lot of pots when I saw he was weak and forced him out. However, the last few times I did that I ended up having to show my hand because a third player would call. And each of those times he said he groaned when he saw that he'd have had me beat.
So while I'd normally fold an unknown all-in with only second pair, I figured that he saw my raise as another stealing opportunity and was pushing back with nothing.
I called.
He had K/rag, and we failed to improve with the turn or river so his top pair beat my second pair.

Two hands into the final table I went from #2 to #10 (dead last) in chips. Since I didn't even have a big blind left I folded and folded and folded until I picked up a King/rag just before I was big blind. I went all-in, and someone beat me with a pair of 6's. Game over.
By then two people had been knocked out, so I finished 7th.

I probably could have folded myself into the money (only the top 5 were in the money), but I was playing to win. I think I did the right moves given the cards and the psychology of the players involved.

I'll do better next time. I plan on hitting that game again in a month. I really enjoyed it, and I'm sure I can do better. My goal is to play every month. I'm pretty sure I can about break even over the course of a year.

I made a few dumb mistakes which cost me about $1,500 in chips total. Of course, those mistakes pegged me as a newbie, so they probably caused more people to play into my good hands, so the damage wasn't all that bad.