Never Immune To Tilt

Sometimes in poker you do things just right and everything goes wrong. Conversely, sometimes you do things all wrong and everything turns out just right. I just played two $10 buy in heads up tourneys with my friend Mike. Mike is a great player and I didn't suggest we do this because I wanted to make $20. I wanted to play because I knew it was going to be a challenge to beat him. I was right and he won both tourneys in about 20 minutes. Now $20 is not a lot of money, but just losing pissed me off so I decided I was going to recoup my losses by playing a little $100 NL at Party. I had 20 minutes to do it, since a bunch of friends (including Mike) were going to the local bar at 9:45 and there was no way I was gonna miss out on that. Now this is never the right mindset to enter a poker game, but sometimes you just get lucky. Here is the second hand of my 6 hand session. I basically played it like a maniac, but the funny thing is that I probably would have made a lot less $ had I played it more reasonably.

***** Hand History for Game 3123157677 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Wed Nov 30 22:10:19 EST 2005
Table Table 69813 (Real Money) -- Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: dabutman ( $93.30)
Seat 2: nkurita ( $101.67)
Seat 3: JTM45 ( $107.75)
Seat 4: Beat_N_Aces ( $48.95)
Seat 5: honkey ( $98)
Seat 6: Tutex111 ( $19.28)
Seat 7: U_HateMoney ( $91.30)
Seat 9: BonitoKing ( $99)
Seat 10: KILLER4094 ( $217.35)
nkurita posts small blind (0.50)
JTM45 posts big blind (1)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ Ac, Kc ]
Beat_N_Aces folds.
honkey calls (1)
Tutex111 calls (1)
U_HateMoney folds.
BonitoKing raises (5) to 5
KILLER4094 folds.
dabutman folds.
nkurita folds.
JTM45 calls (4)
honkey calls (4)
Tutex111 calls (4)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 7c, Th, 4h ]
JTM45 checks.
honkey checks.
Tutex111 checks.
BonitoKing bets (7)
JTM45 calls (7)
honkey calls (7)
Tutex111 folds.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 8c ]
JTM45 checks.
honkey checks.
BonitoKing bets (25)
JTM45 folds.
honkey calls (25)
** Dealing River ** : [ 4c ]
honkey checks.
BonitoKing bets (50)
honkey folds.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $138.50 | Rake: $3
Board: [ 7c Th 4h 8c 4c ]
dabutman balance $93.30, didn't bet (folded)
nkurita balance $101.17, lost $0.50 (folded)
JTM45 balance $95.75, lost $12 (folded)
Beat_N_Aces balance $48.95, didn't bet (folded)
honkey balance $61, lost $37 (folded)
Tutex111 balance $14.28, lost $5 (folded)
U_HateMoney balance $91.30, didn't bet (folded)
Dong_Ki balance $100, sits out
BonitoKing balance $150.50, bet $87, collected $138.50, net +$51.50
KILLER4094 balance $217.35, didn't bet (folded)

Very Strange Things

Last night I decided to take a shot at a few $200 NL tables. This turned out to be a big mistake, as I ended up dumping over $300 in a few hours. Contrary to my intuition, the competition actually appeared to be a lot tougher than at $50 NL, though it could be that I was just intimidated by the higher stakes. The main disaster came with QQ in early position. I made a standard 3.5x bb raise and got called in three spots. The flop came T 6 6 r and I led out with $20 into the $30 pot. One dude folds, the next dude raises to $40, and the third guy folds. Now I'm thinking what could this guy have? I can see he's a loose aggressive aggressive (maniac), so I feel that with JJ, KK, or AA in position he would have reraised me preflop. I couldn't imagine he had a 6. More likely was something like AT. But to be safe I just smooth called and decided to see what the turn brought. It was a 9 and I checked. He fired $50 into the pot and that's where I lost my mind. There's a saying in NL. Big hand, big pot. Small hand, small pot. Yeah, seems pretty obvious, but sometimes I forget. I knew if I called this bet I would be pretty much committed to getting the rest of my chips in on the river. I wasn't going to let this punk push me around so I went all in for my last $150 and knew I was fucked because he called instantly. The river was another T and he showed me Q6. I couldn't stop thinking "how the hell could you cold call a $7 raise with Q6?!!" I never typed it in since his response would be too painful: "because I knew if I flopped a big hand I could take your entire stack."

Then a few very odd hands went down. In the first hand I should have won a lot more than I did. In the second hand I should have lost a lot more. I'll never know what these people were thinking.

***** Hand History for Game 3112490382 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Mon Nov 28 22:18:41 EST 2005
Table Table 69181 (Real Money) -- Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: zonker8 ( $392.94)
Seat 2: prflash ( $212.80)
Seat 3: BonitoKing ( $271.80)
Seat 4: oakridgevol ( $254.75)
Seat 5: JaimiHois ( $128.35)
Seat 6: tHaPuNiShEr ( $264.65)
Seat 7: Smith93 ( $79.55)
Seat 8: shortmarket ( $410)
Seat 9: gfk91 ( $197.60)
Seat 10: Korop ( $198.50)
Smith93 posts small blind (1)
shortmarket posts big blind (2)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ Qc, Qd ]
gfk91 calls (2)
Korop raises (8) to 8
zonker8 folds.
prflash folds.
BonitoKing raises (14) to 14
oakridgevol folds.
JaimiHois folds.
tHaPuNiShEr folds.
Smith93 folds.
shortmarket folds.
gfk91 folds.
Korop calls (6)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 5c, Qh, 4d ]
Korop checks.
BonitoKing bets (5)
Korop calls (5)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ac ]
Korop checks.
BonitoKing bets (10)
Korop calls (10)
** Dealing River ** : [ Ad ]
Korop checks.
BonitoKing bets (15)
Korop calls (15)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $90 | Rake: $3
Board: [ 5c Qh 4d Ac Ad ]
zonker8 balance $392.94, didn't bet (folded)
prflash balance $212.80, didn't bet (folded)
BonitoKing balance $317.80, bet $44, collected $90, net +$46 [ Qc Qd ] [ a full house, Queens full of aces -- Ac,Ad,Qc,Qd,Qh ]
oakridgevol balance $254.75, didn't bet (folded)
JaimiHois balance $128.35, didn't bet (folded)
tHaPuNiShEr balance $264.65, didn't bet (folded)
Smith93 balance $78.55, lost $1 (folded)
shortmarket balance $408, lost $2 (folded)
gfk91 balance $195.60, lost $2 (folded)
Korop balance $154.50, lost $44 [ Kc Ah ] [ three of a kind, aces -- Ah,Ac,Ad,Kc,Qh ]

Here's what I was thinking during the hand: he just called me preflop after I reraised him so that basically ruled out AA or KK from his range of possible holdings. Since this guy was tight aggressive that left AK, JJ, and maybe AQs or TT. Of course, if that's the range I put him on when he made his initial raise then perhaps I shouldn't have reraised him in the first place, but oh well. Since I figured he was likely to be drawing stone cold muthafuggin' dead after the flop I decided to slowplay it, but I didn't want it took look like I was slowplaying it so I fired a fake bluff into the pot. I think Doyle calls this a "post oak bluff." He says it's a gutless bet and never does it, but he abuses people who do. Well in this case I wanted the guy to think he was abusing me by check raise bluffing the hell out of my pseudo post oak bluff. No luck, he just called. Fine, the turn was an A. Great card for me. Now if he's got AK or AQ, he's gonna put some money in. But he checked. OK, so I fire in another small bet and hope he check raises me. Again he just calls. WTF? The river brings another A. In some ways, this is great, but I no longer have the nuts. I decide that if he goes all in I'm calling. If he as AQ, then nice suck out, bud. If he has AK then I make a ton of money. But he just checked to me yet again. What the hell did he think I had? Did he really put me on QQ or was he just being a big wuss? Now here I made a big mistake. I should have realized that this guy did not have an ounce of aggression in him, at least not after I repopped him preflop. But if he had a big ace he was going to have a very hard time laying it down. An all in was called for. I decided to get cute and made another small bet, again hoping to get check raised all in. No dice. So I guess the guy really must have thought I had QQ. I don't know how he could play it that why without thinking so. On the river he had a kick ass hand, and QQ was the only plausible holding that could beat him. What sucks is that I was pretty much dead on with my read yet failed to get much money out of him.


And the 2nd hand:

***** Hand History for Game 3112836483 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Mon Nov 28 23:11:03 EST 2005
Table Table 68966 (Real Money) -- Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: DeeepAnglur ( $220.75)
Seat 2: honkyboy ( $129)
Seat 3: Teletran1 ( $221.50)
Seat 4: Korop ( $312.20)
Seat 5: Rackemup ( $159.80)
Seat 6: BonitoKing ( $193)
Seat 7: DanVeaudry ( $210.65)
Seat 8: carlls2 ( $149.70)
Seat 9: jockokelly ( $728.80)
Seat 10: firebreath ( $131.90)
Teletran1 posts small blind (1)
Korop posts big blind (2)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ 6c, 6h ]
Rackemup folds.
Javancho calls (2)
carlls2 folds.
jockokelly folds.
firebreath folds.
DeeepAnglur folds.
honkyboy raises (4) to 4
Teletran1 folds.
Korop folds.
Javancho calls (2)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 4h, 6d, 9c ]
BonitoKing checks.
honkyboy bets (5)
BonitoKing calls (5)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5s ]
BonitoKing bets (2)
honkyboy calls (2)
** Dealing River ** : [ Kh ]
BonitoKing bets (5)
honkyboy raises (15) to 15
BonitoKing raises (25) to 30
honkyboy calls (15)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $82 | Rake: $3
Board: [ 4h 6d 9c 5s Kh ]
DeeepAnglur balance $220.75, didn't bet (folded)
honkyboy balance $170, bet $41, collected $82, net +$41 [ Ks Kd ] [ three of a kind, kings -- Ks,Kd,Kh,9c,6d ]
Teletran1 balance $220.50, lost $1 (folded)
Korop balance $310.20, lost $2 (folded)
Rackemup balance $159.80, didn't bet (folded)
BonitoKing balance $152, lost $41 [ 6c 6h ] [ three of a kind, sixes -- Kh,9c,6c,6h,6d ]
DanVeaudry balance $210.65, sits out
carlls2 balance $149.70, didn't bet (folded)
jockokelly balance $728.80, didn't bet (folded)
firebreath balance $131.90, didn't bet (folded)


First of all, I was not at all pleased with this hand. I didn't care about the money so much, but I played it pretty badly. Perhaps I'm just thinking about it from too much of a results-oriented perspective, with "the result" in this case being that the dude had pocket kings. Had I any clue that the dude was so strong then clearly the correct move on the flop would have been to lead into him and hope to get raised. But his preflop raise was so wimpy that I figured he was just trying to eliminate the blinds and get the pot heads up with me at minimal risk. If I were in his shoes with KK I would have raised quite a bit more, but clearly it was my mistake to assume he would play like me. So again, after the flop I figured he had something like AT and was drawing dead. I check called hoping to see an A or a K on the turn. Nope, just a 5. Though I had absolutely no clue at the time, this card must have saved me from losing my entire stack. I fake bluffed $2 here, hoping he would sense weakness and raise me. He probably found this to be a very strange little bet after calling his $5 bet on the flop, and he must have been suspicious that I just turned a str8 with 87 in the hole. And then the river, that fateful king. I thought it was a great card. There was no doubt that I had the best hand, and now there was a least a chance that I was going to get paid. Again I made a small bet, again hoping to get raised. And boom, he took the bait!! At that point I put him on KQ or KJ. So I had to figure out how much I could get him to call on a reraise. His stats indicated that he was fairly tight, so I just doubled the bet. When he called me and I saw his hand I couldn't believe it. I was fairly shocked that he hit his two outer on the river. I was also pretty shocked that he had played KK like that preflop. But by far the most shocking thing was that he didn't put me all in after I reraised him. I would have called him instantly. What a wuss. He really thought there was a good chance I had 87. I'm going to have to pay more attention to the texture of the board when dealing with observant opponents, and start focusing more on the third level of poker thought: what does he think I have? Haven't had to worry too much about that at $50 NL but perhaps $200 NL is different. We shall see.

Pitfalls of The Limp Reraise

Often times you'll see a guy limp in from early position and then when a late position player raises the early guy decides to reraise. In my experience most of the time the early guy is just annoyed that he has been raised so he sticks it to the raiser by raising right back with tenuous holdings like small pocket pairs. However, if the early player is good then the limp reraise is more likely the result of sound strategy and the player can be put on a big pocket pair like aces or kings. I use the limp reraise at NL most of the time when I get aces under the gun. Perhaps I should vary my strategy a bit because if someone gets a read on me it could prove extremely costly. The following hand demonstrates the issue. Based on my experience playing with this guy I knew he was pretty strong, allowing me to immediately put him on a hand. My plan was to fold on the flop if I didn't hit. Fortunately it didn't come to that.


***** Hand History for Game 3101850540 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 23:47:55 EST 2005
Table Table 65000 (Real Money) -- Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: adam5757 ( $28.30)
Seat 2: GordoGato1 ( $67.15)
Seat 3: Seawolf1388 ( $18.15)
Seat 4: UTramz ( $49.15)
Seat 5: Chance7711 ( $38.50)
Seat 6: QQ988 ( $91.18)
Seat 7: SpyGlass13 ( $40.35)
Seat 8: BonitoKing ( $54.85)
Seat 9: WishinWell ( $50.30)
Seat 10: BluePig ( $15.60)
UTramz posts small blind (0.25)
Chance7711 posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ Qd, Qc ]
QQ988 calls (0.50)
SpyGlass13 calls (0.50)
BonitoKing raises (2.60) to 2.60
WishinWell folds.
BluePig folds.
adam5757 folds.
GordoGato1 folds.
Seawolf1388 folds.
UTramz folds.
Chance7711 folds.
QQ988 raises (5.50) to 6
SpyGlass13 folds.
BonitoKing calls (3.40)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 3d, Qs, 4s ]
QQ988 bets (5)
BonitoKing raises (15) to 15
QQ988 raises (80.18) to 85.18
QQ988 is all-In.
BonitoKing calls (33.85)
BonitoKing is all-In.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Th ]
** Dealing River ** : [ Js ]
Creating Main Pot with $107.95 with BonitoKing
Creating Side Pot 1 with $36.33 with QQ988
** Summary **
Main Pot: $107.95 | Side Pot 1: $36.33 | Rake: $3
Board: [ 3d Qs 4s Th Js ]
adam5757 balance $28.30, didn't bet (folded)
GordoGato1 balance $67.15, didn't bet (folded)
Seawolf1388 balance $18.15, didn't bet (folded)
UTramz balance $48.90, lost $0.25 (folded)
Chance7711 balance $38, lost $0.50 (folded)
QQ988 balance $36.33, bet $91.18, collected $36.33, lost -$54.85 [ Ah As ] [ a pair of aces -- Ah,As,Qs,Js,Th ]
SpyGlass13 balance $39.85, lost $0.50 (folded)
BonitoKing balance $107.95, bet $54.85, collected $107.95, net +$53.10 [ Qd Qc ] [ three of a kind, queens -- Qd,Qc,Qs,Js,Th ]
WishinWell balance $50.30, didn't bet (folded)
BluePig balance $15.60, didn't bet (folded)

Chronicles of the mighty 2 4 offsuit

The last time I checked, 2 4 was not considered to be a powerhouse hand by many poker authorities. It would seem that the players at Party Poker missed that memo.


***** Hand History for Game 3101209342 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 21:52:55 EST 2005
Table Table 65635 (6 max) (Real Money) -- Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: Zerander ( $48.45)
Seat 2: BonitoKing ( $49)
Seat 3: mausercris13 ( $72.10)
Seat 4: chanda001 ( $111.35)
Seat 5: bomaja ( $147.95)
Seat 6: binh0012 ( $58.65)
BonitoKing posts small blind (0.25)
mausercris13 posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ Ad, Kd ]
chanda001 calls (0.50)
binh0012 folds.
Zerander folds.
BonitoKing raises (1.75) to 2
mausercris13 folds.
chanda001 calls (1.50)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Tc, 5s, Ah ]
BonitoKing bets (2)
chanda001 calls (2)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 7d ]
BonitoKing bets (2)
chanda001 calls (2)
** Dealing River ** : [ 6s ]
BonitoKing checks.
chanda001 bets (6)
BonitoKing calls (6)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $23.30 | Rake: $1.20
Board: [ Tc 5s Ah 7d 6s ]
Zerander balance $48.45, didn't bet (folded)
BonitoKing balance $60.30, bet $12, collected $23.30, net +$11.30 [ Ad Kd ] [ a pair of aces -- Ad,Ah,Kd,Tc,7d ]
mausercris13 balance $71.60, lost $0.50 (folded)
chanda001 balance $99.35, lost $12 [ 2s 4c ] [ high card ace -- Ah,Tc,7d,6s,5s ]
bomaja balance $147.95, sits out
binh0012 balance $58.65, didn't bet (folded)

I guess he was looking for a 3. I woulda been pretty pissed had he hit. Here's another one:

***** Hand History for Game 3101216454 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 21:54:18 EST 2005
Table Table 65324 (6 max) (Real Money) -- Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: Spunk__ ( $30.66)
Seat 2: glogan ( $21.50)
Seat 4: Yes27OffSuit ( $36.95)
Seat 5: BonitoKing ( $49.50)
Seat 6: allindave41 ( $91.21)
BonitoKing posts small blind (0.25)
allindave41 posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ Td, Qc ]
Spunk__ calls (0.50)
glogan calls (0.50)
Yes27OffSuit folds.
BonitoKing calls (0.25)
allindave41 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Qh, 7d, Th ]
BonitoKing bets (2)
allindave41 calls (2)
Spunk__ folds.
glogan folds.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 2s ]
BonitoKing bets (4)
allindave41 calls (4)
** Dealing River ** : [ 8c ]
BonitoKing checks.
allindave41 checks.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $13.30 | Rake: $0.70
Board: [ Qh 7d Th 2s 8c ]
Spunk__ balance $30.16, lost $0.50 (folded)
glogan balance $21, lost $0.50 (folded)
Yes27OffSuit balance $36.95, didn't bet (folded)
BonitoKing balance $56.30, bet $6.50, collected $13.30, net +$6.80 [ Td Qc ] [ two pairs, queens and tens -- Qc,Qh,Td,Th,8c ]
allindave41 balance $84.71, lost $6.50 [ 2h 4h ] [ a pair of twos -- Qh,Th,8c,2h,2s ]

Alright, so his 2 4 was actually suited and he did have a heart draw but still, calling pot-sized bets with nothing but a tiny flush draw just can't be right.


Now 4 6 offsuit IS a powerhouse hand as demonstrated by the following history:

***** Hand History for Game 3101478912 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 22:41:50 EST 2005
Table Table 65324 (6 max) (Real Money) -- Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: BR0WNSUGAR ( $70.20)
Seat 2: glogan ( $16.20)
Seat 3: jinkster99 ( $31.40)
Seat 4: bills217 ( $29.60)
Seat 5: BonitoKing ( $70)
Seat 6: fool_proof ( $47.50)
bills217 posts small blind (0.25)
BonitoKing posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ 4d, 6d ]
fool_proof folds.
BR0WNSUGAR folds.
glogan raises (1) to 1
jinkster99 calls (1)
bills217 folds.
BonitoKing calls (0.50)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 4c, Qs, 4h ]
BonitoKing checks.
glogan bets (3)
jinkster99 folds.
BonitoKing calls (3)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 3s ]
BonitoKing checks.
glogan bets (4)
BonitoKing raises (8) to 8
glogan calls (4)
** Dealing River ** : [ 4s ]
BonitoKing bets (5)
glogan calls (4.20)
glogan is all-In.
Creating Main Pot with $32 with glogan
** Summary **
Main Pot: $32 | Side Pot 1: $0.80 | Rake: $1.65
Board: [ 4c Qs 4h 3s 4s ]
BR0WNSUGAR balance $70.20, didn't bet (folded)
glogan balance $0, lost $16.20 [ Kh Kd ] [ a full house, Fours full of kings -- Kh,Kd,4c,4h,4s ]
jinkster99 balance $30.40, lost $1 (folded)
bills217 balance $29.35, lost $0.25 (folded)
BonitoKing balance $85.80, bet $17, collected $32.80, net +$15.80 [ 4d 6d ] [ four of a kind, fours -- Qs,4d,4c,4h,4s ]
fool_proof balance $47.50, didn't bet (folded)

I find it amazing that so many people just refuse to put in significant (if any) preflop raises with their premium pocket pairs. It's like they begging you to hit your hand and unknowingly trap them into lossing their entire stack. How someone can maintain the attitude that it's best to just check call with your hand when it's ahead and then get all your money in when you're behind is just beyond me. In this case, I just felt bad for the guy with KK. He really didn't deserve to get buried by 4 6 o. Oh well, he had it coming playing like that.

Time to eat my words

"AK is a sucker hand at NL." Did I say that? It sounds familiar. But it just so happens that I had my best return ever with it just now. Just check out this gorgeous action:

***** Hand History for Game 3101314166 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 22:13:00 EST 2005
Table Table 65635 (6 max) (Real Money) -- Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: Zerander ( $52.75)
Seat 2: BonitoKing ( $48.05)
Seat 3: mausercris13 ( $116.45)
Seat 4: chanda001 ( $39.30)
Seat 5: bomaja ( $113.95)
Seat 6: binh0012 ( $126.60)
mausercris13 posts small blind (0.25)
chanda001 posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ Kd, Ac ]
bomaja calls (0.50)
binh0012 calls (0.50)
Zerander calls (0.50)
BonitoKing raises (2.50) to 2.50
mausercris13 calls (2.25)
chanda001 calls (2)
bomaja calls (2)
binh0012 calls (2)
Zerander calls (2)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ts, Qd, Jc ]
mausercris13 checks.
chanda001 bets (5)
bomaja calls (5)
binh0012 folds.
Zerander raises (20) to 20
BonitoKing raises (45.55) to 45.55
BonitoKing is all-In.
mausercris13 folds.
chanda001 calls (31.80)
chanda001 is all-In.
bomaja calls (40.55)
Zerander calls (25.55)
Creating Main Pot with $159.20 with chanda001
Creating Side Pot 1 with $26.25 with BonitoKing
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 8d ]
bomaja checks.
Zerander bets (4.70)
Zerander is all-In.
bomaja calls (4.70)
** Dealing River ** : [ 7c ]
Creating Side Pot 2 with $9.40 with Zerander
** Summary **
Main Pot: $159.20 | Side Pot 1: $26.25 | Side Pot 2: $9.40 | | Rake: $3
Board: [ Ts Qd Jc 8d 7c ]
Zerander balance $9.40, bet $52.75, collected $9.40, lost -$43.35 [ Js 9d ] [ a straight, eight to queen -- Qd,Js,Ts,9d,8d ]
BonitoKing balance $185.45, bet $48.05, collected $185.45, net +$137.40 [ Kd Ac ] [ a straight, ten to ace -- Ac,Kd,Qd,Jc,Ts ]
mausercris13 balance $113.95, lost $2.50 (folded)
chanda001 balance $0, lost $39.30 [ 9s 8c ] [ a straight, eight to queen -- Qd,Jc,Ts,9s,8c ]
bomaja balance $61.20, lost $52.75 [ Jd Tc ] [ two pairs, jacks and tens -- Qd,Jd,Jc,Tc,Ts ]
binh0012 balance $124.10, lost $2.50 (folded)


I think I also said that slowplaying sux. Well, I guess there are exceptions, like flopping the nut full house:

***** Hand History for Game 3101260820 *****
Just1Pot has left the table.
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 22:02:51 EST 2005
Table Table 64703 (Real Money) -- Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: bklackz ( $18.80)
Seat 2: imnewhere2 ( $137.50)
Seat 3: jcm894 ( $98)
Seat 4: BigBird3000 ( $88)
Seat 5: WildWink ( $59.90)
Seat 6: BonitoKing ( $99)
Seat 7: JBong56 ( $61.50)
Seat 8: CometKid ( $171.50)
Seat 9: ZonaEagle ( $58.50)
ZonaEagle posts small blind (0.50)
bklackz posts big blind (1)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ Ah, Ac ]
imnewhere2 folds.
jcm894 folds.
BigBird3000 calls (1)
WildWink calls (1)
BonitoKing raises (5) to 5
JBong56 folds.
CometKid folds.
ZonaEagle folds.
bklackz folds.
BigBird3000 folds.
WildWink calls (4)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 3s, 3d, As ]
WildWink checks.
BonitoKing bets (1)
WildWink raises (6) to 6
BonitoKing calls (5)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4d ]
WildWink bets (12)
BonitoKing calls (12)
** Dealing River ** : [ 8d ]
WildWink bets (36.90)
WildWink is all-In.
BonitoKing: lol
BonitoKing: you better have 33
BonitoKing calls (36.90)
Creating Main Pot with $119.30 with WildWink
** Summary **
Main Pot: $119.30 | | Rake: $3
Board: [ 3s 3d As 4d 8d ]
bklackz balance $17.80, lost $1 (folded)
imnewhere2 balance $137.50, didn't bet (folded)
jcm894 balance $98, didn't bet (folded)
BigBird3000 balance $87, lost $1 (folded)
WildWink balance $0, lost $59.90 [ 4s Ad ] [ two pairs, aces and fours -- Ad,As,8d,4s,4d ]
BonitoKing balance $158.40, bet $59.90, collected $119.30, net +$59.40 [ Ah Ac ] [ a full house, Aces full of threes -- Ah,Ac,As,3s,3d ]
JBong56 balance $61.50, didn't bet (folded)
CometKid balance $171.50, didn't bet (folded)
ZonaEagle balance $58, lost $0.50 (folded)
FatHobbit balance $20, sits out

More crazyness to come...

Crazy characters.

OK, I don't feel quite so bad about my horrific short handed session today. The knowledge that people play this badly will keep me very optimistic about my prospects for a long time:

***** Hand History for Game 2885947788 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 20:13:55 EST 2005
Table Table 36544 (Real Money) -- Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Ernie357 ( $40.65)
Seat 2: cdads ( $53.25)
Seat 3: Cagliari4 ( $6.95)
Seat 4: BR56kg ( $51.75)
Seat 5: Stoffeiam ( $16.65)
Seat 6: fishboy7 ( $52.40)
Seat 7: cujmang ( $115.49)
Seat 8: SirTobbe ( $107.70)
Seat 9: hankz ( $26.75)
Seat 10: nice_boy ( $109.64)
SirTobbe posts small blind (0.25)
hankz posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to fishboy7 [ Qc, Qs ]
nice_boy folds.
Ernie357 calls (0.50)
cdads folds.
Cagliari4 calls (0.50)
BR56kg raises (2) to 2
fishboy7 raises (3.50) to 3.50
cujmang folds.
SirTobbe folds.
hankz calls (3)
Ernie357 folds.
Cagliari4 folds.
BR56kg calls (1.50)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 8s, 9d, 5c ]
hankz checks.
BR56kg checks.
fishboy7 bets (6)
hankz calls (6)
BR56kg folds.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ac ]
hankz checks.
fishboy7 bets (7)
hankz calls (7)
** Dealing River ** : [ Td ]
hankz checks.
fishboy7 checks.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $35.90 | Rake: $1.85
Board: [ 8s 9d 5c Ac Td ]
Ernie357 balance $40.15, lost $0.50 (folded)
cdads balance $53.25, didn't bet (folded)
Cagliari4 balance $6.45, lost $0.50 (folded)
BR56kg balance $48.25, lost $3.50 (folded)
Stoffeiam balance $16.65, sits out
fishboy7 balance $71.80, bet $16.50, collected $35.90, net +$19.40 [ Qc Qs ] [ a pair of queens -- Ac,Qc,Qs,Td,9d ]
cujmang balance $115.49, didn't bet (folded)
SirTobbe balance $107.45, lost $0.25 (folded)
hankz balance $10.25, lost $16.50 [ Qh Th ] [ a pair of tens -- Ac,Qh,Th,Td,9d ]
nice_boy balance $109.64, didn't bet (folded)

Yeah money sucks. I hate money.

Then a hand went down where I had A6 and the flop came A 3 3. Some guy slowplayed his 53 and took and extra $1.5 off of me.

Here is the very next hand. My comments, combined with the results, are pretty funny.

*** Hand History for Game 2885953149 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 20:26:38 EST 2005
Table Table 36607 (6 max) (Real Money) -- Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: ucfire ( $29.95)
Seat 2: DougieBaby ( $21.48)
Seat 3: PrinzFFvB77 ( $74.09)
Seat 4: Deelar ( $25)
Seat 5: MrRichie1 ( $31.80)
Seat 6: fishboy7 ( $20.75)
DougieBaby posts small blind (0.10)
PrinzFFvB77 posts big blind (0.25)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to fishboy7 [ Js, Qd ]
MrRichie1 folds.
fishboy7: nice slow play
fishboy7 calls (0.25)
ucfire folds.
DougieBaby calls (0.15)
fishboy7: i love that
PrinzFFvB77 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Jh, Qh, 7d ]
DougieBaby bets (0.25)
fishboy7: i was completely fooled
PrinzFFvB77 folds.
fishboy7 raises (1) to 1
DougieBaby calls (0.75)
fishboy7: slowplaying is really good strategy.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 9d ]
DougieBaby checks.
fishboy7 bets (2.65)
DougieBaby calls (2.65)
** Dealing River ** : [ 8h ]
DougieBaby checks.
fishboy7 checks.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $7.65 | Rake: $0.40
Board: [ Jh Qh 7d 9d 8h ]
ucfire balance $29.95, didn't bet (folded)
DougieBaby balance $17.58, lost $3.90 [ As Ad ] [ a pair of aces -- As,Ad,Qh,Jh,9d ]
PrinzFFvB77 balance $73.84, lost $0.25 (folded)
Deelar balance $25, sits out
MrRichie1 balance $31.80, didn't bet (folded)
fishboy7 balance $24.50, bet $3.90, collected $7.65, net +$3.75 [ Js Qd ] [ two pairs, queens and jacks -- Qd,Qh,Js,Jh,9d ]

fishboy7: lol

Then I got lucky as all hell and pulled a 2 outer out of my ass on the river. But how was I to know I was behind? The guy didn't reraise me preflop, so I couldn't put him on his hand. Had he come back over the top of me preflop, I would have given him credit for aces or kings and folded. But he just had to be sneaky.

***** Hand History for Game 2885958565 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 20:39:27 EST 2005
Table Table 36544 (Real Money) -- Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Ernie357 ( $30.70)
Seat 2: cdads ( $56.15)
Seat 3: Cagliari4 ( $18.25)
Seat 4: BR56kg ( $71.65)
Seat 5: sax308 ( $20.15)
Seat 6: fishboy7 ( $61.35)
Seat 7: WildMonty ( $59.30)
Seat 8: SirTobbe ( $93.50)
Seat 9: hhhillyer ( $43.05)
Seat 10: GreenKronik ( $57.65)
SirTobbe posts small blind (0.25)
hhhillyer posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to fishboy7 [ Qc, Qs ]
GreenKronik folds.
Ernie357 calls (0.50)
cdads calls (0.50)
Cagliari4 calls (0.50)
BR56kg folds.
sax308 raises (3) to 3
fishboy7 raises (6) to 6
SirTobbe folds.
hhhillyer folds.
Ernie357 folds.
cdads folds.
Cagliari4 folds.
sax308 calls (3)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 7c, 7h, Js ]
sax308 bets (3)
fishboy7 raises (50) to 50
sax308 calls (11.15)
sax308 is all-In.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5d ]
** Dealing River ** : [ Qh ]
Creating Main Pot with $40.45 with sax308
** Summary **
Main Pot: $40.45 | Side Pot 1: $35.85 | Rake: $2.10
Board: [ 7c 7h Js 5d Qh ]
Ernie357 balance $30.20, lost $0.50 (folded)
cdads balance $55.65, lost $0.50 (folded)
Cagliari4 balance $17.75, lost $0.50 (folded)
BR56kg balance $71.65, didn't bet (folded)
sax308 balance $0, lost $20.15 [ Kd Kc ] [ two pairs, kings and sevens -- Kd,Kc,Qh,7c,7h ]
fishboy7 balance $81.65, bet $56, collected $76.30, net +$20.30 [ Qc Qs ] [ a full house, Queens full of sevens -- Qc,Qs,Qh,7c,7h ]
WildMonty balance $59.30, sits out
SirTobbe balance $93.25, lost $0.25 (folded)
hhhillyer balance $42.55, lost $0.50 (folded)
GreenKronik balance $57.65, didn't bet (folded)


I'm an idiot. I actually thought I was beat here. Someone please shoot me.

***** Hand History for Game 2885963229 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 26 20:50:44 EST 2005
Table Table 36607 (6 max) (Real Money) -- Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: Ranbar007 ( $40.33)
Seat 2: msniaiu ( $2.75)
Seat 3: PrinzFFvB77 ( $74.14)
Seat 4: Deelar ( $23.15)
Seat 5: MrRichie1 ( $65.68)
Seat 6: fishboy7 ( $28.19)
Ranbar007 posts small blind (0.10)
PrinzFFvB77 posts big blind (0.25)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to fishboy7 [ 7c, 8c ]
Deelar calls (0.25)
MrRichie1 folds.
fishboy7: wow
fishboy7 calls (0.25)
Ranbar007 calls (0.15)
PrinzFFvB77 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ac, Tc, Kd ]
Ranbar007 bets (1)
PrinzFFvB77 calls (1)
Deelar folds.
fishboy7 calls (1)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4c ]
Ranbar007 bets (4)
PrinzFFvB77 calls (4)
fishboy7 folds.
** Dealing River ** : [ 2d ]
Ranbar007 bets (4)
PrinzFFvB77 calls (4)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $19 | Rake: $1
Board: [ Ac Tc Kd 4c 2d ]
Ranbar007 balance $31.08, lost $9.25 [ 9s 6c ] [ high card ace -- Ac,Kd,Tc,9s,6c ]
msniaiu balance $2.75, sits out
PrinzFFvB77 balance $83.89, bet $9.25, collected $19, net +$9.75 [ Jh Qh ] [ a straight, ten to ace -- Ac,Kd,Qh,Jh,Tc ]
Deelar balance $22.90, lost $0.25 (folded)
MrRichie1 balance $65.68, didn't bet (folded)
fishboy7 balance $26.94, lost $1.25 (folded)

I'm Awesome, I Suck

I haven't written a post in a while and part of that probably has to do with the fact that I've been running pretty well lately. I had nothing but winning sessions at $50 NL for more than a week and cleared a few juicy bonuses. But the shit really hit the fan today so here I am to bitch and moan about it.

The story starts with this: I'm still trying to figure out my best game. I've narrowed it down to hold 'em, but that's about it. You got limit vs. NL, short handed vs. full ring. The difference between these types of poker are huge. Limit is a high card game where you just pound away with hands like AK and in the long run wear away at fish who overvalue hands like KJ and KT. NL is a game of cat and mouse where AK becomes the sucker hand and small pairs and suited connectors become the ass pounding hands. In full ring you wait around for premium hands and then go nuts. In short handed you are forced to play a lot of marginal hands since you are paying a lot more in blinds, so there are many more confrontations that give strong players a larger edge over weak players. For that reason, I've decided to give short handed a try. I figured NL might be a little too volatile for me, so I'm trying limit. As for stakes, I'm going with $1/2 until I make 150 big bets, then will move up to $2/4 and so on. I haven't been playing any $3/6 full ring lately due to the $400 spanking I took over a few sessions that left me dreading that game.

So things started off pretty well. After some 800 hands I was up like $80 and felt like I had a decent grasp of the game. I had read Matt Maroon's section on short handed in his book as well as the short handed part in "Weighing the Odds in Hold 'em Poker" by King Yao. Plus, every time I played there were at least two donkeys per table, and today was no different. But that didn't stop me from getting destroyed. In about three hours I managed to drop $155. I never went on tilt, but finally the growing losses overwhelmed me to the point where I had to get up. The most frustrating thing was that most of the people (I assume they were human though if you told me that some sort of marsupial were at the controls it wouldn't surprise me) at my two tables were just horrendous. They would do things like preflop raise from the small blind with A3s after three people had limped, or limp reraise with KQo. Sure they were hard to read, but they gave up so much EV with these plays. And the suck outs were awful. I think the following hand may be the all time worst suck out of my life. Note that Bob preflop raised from the big blind (something he did just about evertime I completed from the small blind) against three opponents, raised me on the flop, called my reraise, then folded on the turn. Hard to imagine a holding that would make such a play correct.

***** Hand History for Game 2885884614 *****
1/2 Texas Hold'em Game Table (Limit) - Sat Nov 26 17:54:29 EST 2005
Table Table 31044 (6 max) (Real Money) -- Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: bobheck28 ( $80.20)
Seat 2: Langen66 ( $45.25)
Seat 3: bonan5 ( $28.25)
Seat 4: golfnutpar ( $99.38)
Seat 5: fredster2005 ( $81.75)
Seat 6: fishboy7 ( $95)
fishboy7 posts small blind (0.50)
bobheck28 posts big blind (1)
golfnutpar posts big blind (1)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to fishboy7 [ 8c, Qc ]
Langen66 calls (1)
bonan5 folds.
golfnutpar checks.
fredster2005 calls (1)
fishboy7 calls (0.50)
bobheck28 raises (1) to 2
Langen66 calls (1)
golfnutpar folds.
fredster2005 calls (1)
fishboy7 calls (1)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Qh, 8d, 9h ]
fishboy7 bets (1)
bobheck28 raises (2) to 2
Langen66 folds.
fredster2005 calls (2)
fishboy7 raises (2) to 3
bobheck28 calls (1)
fredster2005 calls (1)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 2c ]
fishboy7 bets (2)
bobheck28 folds.
fredster2005 raises (4) to 4
fishboy7 raises (4) to 6
fredster2005 raises (4) to 8

Now right here I'm starting to think, oh shit, maybe he's actually got a JT or a set (even though he had already demonstrated himself to be a maniac), so I decided to check/call the river...

fishboy7 calls (2)
** Dealing River ** : [ 2d ]
fishboy7 checks.
fredster2005 bets (2)
fishboy7 calls (2)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $37 | Rake: $1
Board: [ Qh 8d 9h 2c 2d ]
bobheck28 balance $75.20, lost $5 (folded)
Langen66 balance $43.25, lost $2 (folded)
bonan5 balance $28.25, didn't bet (folded)
golfnutpar balance $98.38, lost $1 (folded)
fredster2005 balance $103.75, bet $15, collected $37, net +$22 [ Qs 2s ] [ a full house, Twos full of queens -- Qs,Qh,2s,2c,2d ]
fishboy7 balance $80, lost $15 [ 8c Qc ] [ two pairs, queens and eights -- Qc,Qh,9h,8c,8d ]

fishboy7: unreal

So I'm back in "what the hell is my best game?" mode. This pounding makes me want to return to NL full ring where the suck outs are much less common. Of course this was a really bad session card wise, but still it makes me wonder if I'm playing any where close to optimally. Guess I'll give it a few more thousand hands and then reevaluate.

Moving up the food chain

My first exposure to no limit hold 'em came back in 2003 when a bunch of grad students would meet every Wednesday night and play a couple of $10 buy in tables with 10 and 20 cent blinds. I had little clue of what I was doing and played a very weak tight game, rarely bluffing even when heads up with an opponent who showed weakness. Actually, playing weak tight was enough to beat that game at first, since most of the competition was loose and passive and would often call 1/2 pot sized bets with middle or bottom pair at a 9-handed ring game. There were a few guys who had read some books on poker and they just cleaned up, occasionally winning 5x the buy in over a few hours. That inspired me to improve my game, and I took out a few books on poker from the public library. Most notable was "Hold 'em Poker" by Sklansky, from which I learned some key concepts like starting hand value, position, pot odds, and semi-bluffing. I also got "The Theory of Poker" but that was a little too much for me and I couldn't extract much of its wisdom. Those books don't really address no limit poker, but they still provided me with a good foundation for thinking about general poker concepts. Over time, reading those books and getting more experience at the tables certainly boosted my income, yet a funny thing started to happen. People who hadn't done any reading and who had been huge loosers earlier on started getting better - a lot better. They were learning a ton simply by watching the better players work their magic. These people may have been poor poker players to begin with but they were all pretty intelligent people on their way to getting Ph.D.s and could quickly identify what the winners were doing differently. Plus any table talk about stuff like position and semibluffing, concepts that few people intuitively understand, was rapidly assimilated. So basically it was impossible to dominate that game for long. Occasionally some of the people from that era still get together and play for the same stakes, but it is for fun and not for money, since nobody (least not me) seems to have that big an edge.

So it was with some surprise that I entered a $10 buy in no limit hold 'em tournament in at the University of Michigan a few weeks ago with a bunch of people I had never met. I was up there to collaborate on an experiment with a former post doc from my lab and a bunch of students from the department asked if I wanted to play in their game. There were 14 people in all (and about 12 of them were Germans) and I figured I would be quite a dog since I didn't know how any of them played and only the winner got paid. But then some funky things started to happen. First of all, even at the very beginning of the tournament their was an ante. That didn't bother me too much but I prefer that the antes kick in later if at all so you have a better chance to build up a stack. Second and more telling, the dealer had to start by burning the first card before dealing the hole cards!!! Wow, that I had never heard of, let alone seen in person. If you forgot to burn the first card (which I did about half the time) you were fined 10 cents. Of course that annoyed the crap out of me so I tried to explain the real purpose of burning cards but whether or not anyone understood me, the rules were not going to change. Whatever. I settled in to the game and played tight at first while assessing the texture of the table. It didn't take long to realize that I was playing with a bunch of tighties who had had little if any formal poker education. I don't think they had watched any poker on TV either, as the result of that type of "training" is to become a complete maniac. One poor guy limped in from early with AA only to get busted by a late position player who hit two pair with JT. I really like limping from early with AA at NL, but only when I know there's a good chance that some thief is going to raise, giving me a chance to come over the top of him. At this table nobody was raising. So I changed gears from tight passive to loose aggressive, blind stealing from the cutoff or button with rags and raising from early with AK-AT, KQ-KJ, and pretty much any pocket pair. People kept asking me why I raised so much. I guess they were confused as to how I could value my cards so highly without even seeing the flop!! Their thought process was that if you have a marginal hand you need to get help from the board, and if you have a big hand you don't want to raise cause you might scare everyone out. Clearly a lot of confusion about the benefits of an aggressive style. I was also shocked by the number of times I saw someone open limp from the button. The power of position was just not grasped at this table.

Anyway, I finally got called down by a late position player after making one of my typical raises with questionable holdings. I had 44 and the flop came all high cards. I knew I was probably screwed but had to go for it, so I bet half the pot. The dude called me instantly. I was prepared to check fold the turn, but luck struck hard and I hit my set, allowing me to milk the guy for a few nice bets. I think that was the first time the table got to see the crap I was raising with and I knew they were not going to keep letting me get away with it. No prob, I just tightened up a bit. A few rounds later I got JJ and raised. One guy called and the flop came T high. I bet out and the guy raised all in. He had definitely noticed my flagrant raising from earlier and I knew he didn't give me credit for a hand, meaning he could make that play with any piece of the board, so I immediately called him. He showed 87s, giving him an inside straight draw. I dodged the turn and the river and KOed my first opp of the night.

The next few hours were pretty uneventful but I guess you could say that I got lucky in never getting unlucky and built up a nice stack. Apparently I was in for a huge treat when it came time to consolidate down to one table, since a guy at the first table said all of the "good" players were at our table while the "newbies" were at the other one. Lol. Well it turned out he was right. The level of tightness of some of these people was just unreal. There was one hand when I had AdTd and made a 4x bb open raise from middle position. The super tight German girl behind me went into the tank, meaning she must have a MUCH better hand than I. Lol. She ended up calling, and we saw a flop of As Jd 2d. I thought that was a pretty sweet flop and immediately pushed all in, which of course would put her all in since she only had about 5 bbs in front of her. Again she thought for a while and said "OK, I'll try it," flipping over AhJs. DOH!!! "Gimme a diamond!!" The dealer was not so kind as to produce such a card on either the turn or the river, but that was OK. He did produce running queens which, after some explanation of how to make a 5 card poker hand, were enough to give me half of the pot back. Yeah so I got lucky. What's poker without a good semibluff here and there? A few hands later I got QQ, made another standard raise, and tight girl again thought for a while before calling.
The flop came down T high and I immediately went all in again, knowing that it would look like a huge bluff based on my previous play. She reluctantly called and showed AJ again. My two ladies held up nicely, KOing the one to my left.

A brief degression here. There were a number of weak tight players, and one in particular, who felt that I was getting insanely lucky. If that meant that I was raising with my big hands preflop and thereby not trapping myself and getting sucked out by T2o, then yes I was getting lucky. And if that meant semibluffing my draws (a totally alien concept), getting called, and occasionally hitting, then for sure I was lucky. But I thought it pretty interesting that some of these people, who were clearly taking the game far too seriously given how badly they played, could not even entertain the notion that they could lose without undeserving players such as myself getting so lucky. Oh well. People like that are always fun to bust.

By the time it got down to four handed there were two German guys who were both cool and were also among the better players of the group, and one girl who had little experience but was having a darn good time. Money was just bouncing back and forth for a while, and I took a few bad beats that had me worried I would get myself eliminated if luck didn't come back to my side. At one point I picked up AsKs in the cutoff and made a big raise. This guy Florian called me down and the flop came T high. He check called me on the flop and turn, which was passive but he played it just right given my overly aggressive style. He had AT and I managed to bluff off a nice chunk of my stack there. Retribution came later when I preflop raised again with AKs and flopped the nut flush, which in a 4 handed game was just so ridiculous I could barely contain myself. Not only that, but I slow played it to the river, allowing Flo to hit his set, and milked him for a nice chunk of change.

But the real kicker came when I peaked down at KK in the hole. That was my best starting hand of the night and there was a good chance I would get action since everyone thought I was such a maniac. I raised it up and the guy in the big blind reraised me!!!! "Fuck yeah," I thought and went all in. I had him covered substantially but he had a significant proportion of the chips and was definitely still a contender at that point. When he instantly called I thought maybe I was behind because he had played pretty tightly at first. "You got aces?" He said no and flipped over AQ. Oh yeah baby!! The flop brought rags. The turn was a rag. The girl then burned the last card and before she had lifted the river an inch from the deck I could see it for all its uglyness. The ace hit the table and everyone exploded. My opp couldn't believe it. Had this been a year ago I think I would have been pretty upset. Winning that hand would have given me a huge chip lead with only two inexperienced players left to bully out of the rest of their stacks, making me $140 richer. But since the guy was nice and played it right I was almost happy for him. At that point it was around 3:30 am and everyone was getting tired. We decided to play until 4 and break up the prize pool with proportion to chip stack size. It wasn't looking too good for me and I don't remember having any more big hands but things couldn't have gone all that badly because by 4 am I was heads up with Flo with $80 in chips. He had the other $60 and we called it a night.

Thinking back on this tournament and the ones I played years ago makes me realize how far I have come as a player. That may sound arrogant, so I will say that I am fully aware that compared to people who have really studied poker for a long time I still suck ass and have yet to emerge from the kitty pool. But I used to play just like those folks in Ann Arbor, and now I know why I had no chance in hell of ever winning a tournament. I would always get down to the final 5 with about 6 bb and was so afraid of getting eliminated I would never put any chips on the line without a big hand. And when I did go out I got all pissed off and blamed bad cards and lucky opponents. I'm fairly sure that my learning curve has flattened out substantially by now, but it is still exciting to imagine that in a few years I might look back on my current level of skill and think that I was a complete fish. If the poker ecosystem continues to be populated by people who have never read any Sklansky then getting rich shouldn't be much of a challenge.

When it rains...

Well, I can hardly remember the last time I had a winning session, and yet I keep coming back for more like a punching bag. Thank god for bonuses. Without them I would be down like $500 this month. I felt like I played pretty well for the most part tonight and got a lot of good cards. But one bit of bad luck combined with a momentary lapse of reason cost me my whole stack at a $100 NL table. I had some other good hands but didn't win any money on them - the only decent size pots I was involved in went to the villain. Here they are.

***** Hand History for Game 2879440372 *****
$100 NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, November 15, 22:59:19 EDT 2005
Table Table 36573 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: RLC1969 ( $135.95 )
Seat 2: VeggyFish ( $78 )
Seat 3: BonitoKing ( $99 )
Seat 5: Shetal21 ( $108.40 )
Seat 6: hjian ( $106.70 )
Seat 7: DD2k5 ( $95.30 )
Seat 8: Eye_Spel_Gud ( $107.35 )
Seat 9: Mikaze ( $125 )
Seat 10: KevinM11 ( $143.45 )
VeggyFish posts small blind [$0.50].
jwtyner123 posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ Qh Qc ]
Shetal21 folds.
hjian folds.
DD2k5 folds.
Eye_Spel_Gud folds.
Mikaze calls [$1].
KevinM11 folds.
RLC1969 folds.
VeggyFish calls [$0.50].
>You have options at Table 36597 Table!.
BonitoKing raises [$3.50].
Mikaze calls [$3.50].
VeggyFish folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2s, 8h, 9s ]
BonitoKing bets [$6].
>You have options at Table 36597 Table!.
Mikaze raises [$12].

Just for the record, I'm hoping he's got something like TT or A9s right now and assuming there's no way he could have called my preflop raise and then gotten so lucky as to flop two pair or a set.

>You have options at Table 36597 Table!.
BonitoKing raises [$19].
Mikaze calls [$13].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4d ]
BonitoKing bets [$35].
>You have options at Table 36597 Table!.
Mikaze raises [$70].

Oh yeah, I shoulda known right here I was beat but there was too much cash in the pot to let go.

BonitoKing is all-In.
** Dealing River ** [ 8c ]
Mikaze shows [ 9h, 9c ] a full house, Nines full of eights.
BonitoKing doesn't show [ Qh, Qc ] two pairs, queens and eights.
Mikaze wins $0.50 from side pot #1 with a full house, Nines full of eights.
Mikaze wins $196 from the main pot with a full house, Nines full of eights.


Here's another fat two outer for ya. At least this time I only dropped a $25 stack.


***** Hand History for Game 2879430492 *****
$25 PL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, November 15, 22:46:03 EDT 2005
Table Table 36563 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 2: ELLIX_ROCKS ( $46.85 )
Seat 3: Dahooud ( $0 )
Seat 4: LFERN ( $7.30 )
Seat 6: scootdiddy76 ( $30.64 )
Seat 7: SixGunSid ( $16.35 )
Seat 8: wacky97 ( $24.60 )
Seat 9: BigMacInMO ( $4.65 )
Seat 10: Majestew ( $20 )
Seat 5: BonitoKing ( $25.60 )
scootdiddy76 posts small blind [$0.10].
SixGunSid posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to jwtyner123 [ 5h 5c ]
wacky97 folds.
BigMacInMO folds.
Dahooud has left the table.
Majestew folds.
ELLIX_ROCKS calls [$0.25].
LFERN calls [$0.25].
BonitoKing calls [$0.25].
fruutbat has joined the table.
scootdiddy76 calls [$0.15].
SixGunSid checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ac, 4h, 5d ]
scootdiddy76 checks.
SixGunSid checks.
ELLIX_ROCKS bets [$1].
LFERN folds.
ThisGuy724 has joined the table.
BonitoKing calls [$1].
scootdiddy76 calls [$1].
SixGunSid folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3s ]
scootdiddy76 checks.
ELLIX_ROCKS bets [$0.60].
BonitoKing calls [$0.60].
scootdiddy76 calls [$0.60].
** Dealing River ** [ Ah ]
scootdiddy76 checks.
ELLIX_ROCKS bets [$5.75].
BonitoKing raises [$11.50].
scootdiddy76 folds.
ELLIX_ROCKS raises [$18.25].
BonitoKing is all-In.
ELLIX_ROCKS shows [ 5s, Ad ] a full house, Aces full of fives.
BonitoKing doesn't show [ 5h, 5c ] a full house, Fives full of aces.
ELLIX_ROCKS wins $0.25 from side pot #1 with a full house, Aces full of fives.
ELLIX_ROCKS wins $50.90 from the main pot with a full house, Aces full of fives.

BonitoKing: Oh no you didn't.

My Life as a Dartboard

Was just playing some NL at Empire to clear their November bonus. Two comments on the following hand: 1) I hate it when this happens. 2) I hate it even worse after trash talking.

***** Hand History for Game 2876798175 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Nov 12 17:16:13 EST 2005
Table Table 36576 (Real Money) -- Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: levi4th4n ( $100)
Seat 2: Guru7777 ( $105.15)
Seat 3: AcidRain25 ( $113.85)
Seat 4: Grundlebear ( $95)
Seat 5: Ajaxkicker ( $135.20)
Seat 6: ddddaaaa ( $104.80)
Seat 7: Mudd40 ( $86.85)
Seat 8: sweabris ( $194)
Seat 9: cnickell2727 ( $65.35)
Seat 10: drhanl ( $66.40)
Guru7777 posts small blind (0.50)
AcidRain25 posts big blind (1)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Ajaxkicker [ Ad, As ]
Grundlebear folds.
Ajaxkicker raises (3) to 3
ddddaaaa folds.
Mudd40 folds.
sweabris calls (3)
cnickell2727 folds.
drhanl raises (5) to 5
Guru7777 folds.
AcidRain25 folds.
Ajaxkicker raises (17) to 20
sweabris folds.
drhanl raises (61.40) to 66.40
drhanl is all-In.
Ajaxkicker: i got rockets
Ajaxkicker: lets roll
Ajaxkicker calls (46.40)
Creating Main Pot with $134.30 with drhanl
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Kh, 4h, 2h ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Jc ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 2c ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $134.30 | | Rake: $3
Board: [ Kh 4h 2h Jc 2c ]
levi4th4n balance $100, sits out
Guru7777 balance $104.65, lost $0.50 (folded)
AcidRain25 balance $112.85, lost $1 (folded)
Grundlebear balance $95, didn't bet (folded)
Ajaxkicker balance $68.80, lost $66.40 [ Ad As ] [ two pairs, aces and twos -- Ad,As,Kh,2h,2c ]
ddddaaaa balance $104.80, didn't bet (folded)
Mudd40 balance $86.85, didn't bet (folded)
sweabris balance $191, lost $3 (folded)
cnickell2727 balance $65.35, didn't bet (folded)
drhanl balance $134.30, bet $66.40, collected $134.30, net +$67.90 [ Kd Ks ] [ a full house, Kings full of twos -- Kd,Ks,Kh,2h,2c ]

drhanl: dang, sorry man
Ajaxkicker: not as sorry as me

Pot odds and morons

About the only way to get infinite pot odds is to be given a free card. Since you don't have to put any money in, you're getting x/0, which is infinity. But apparently on Monday night, the players at a $0.5/1 table were given virtually infinite odds in a very different way, and boy did they F it up.

Party poker was offering to give away $10,000 to everybody at the table who got dealt cards in their 3 billionth hand. That's a sweet score for sure, but the person who won the hand was set to get another $50,000 on top of that. Yet 4 out of 6 of the players at this table folded before the showdown. At least one of these jokers knew exactly what was going on, as evidenced by the fact that he typed "we did it" preflop, then folded when he didn't hit. I don't care if he had frickin' 32 o on a Q J T board. Lets think about the worst possible effective odds he could be getting after the flop: if the betting were capped on all three postflop rounds, he would have to put in $10. 50,000:10 = 5,000:1. Next time I'm getting 100,000:1 immediate and 5,000:1 effective (in the worst case scenario) you better believe I will be raising your ass with my 23 on that Q J T board and doing everything in my power to get you to fold. Against top pair I would only need running 2/3s for the win. 6 outs out of 47 unseen cards = 12.7%. 5 outs out of 46 unseen = 10.8%. 0.127x0.108 = 0.0138. Since I would win this pot 1.4% of the time, my pot equity after the flop would be just shy of $700. Not bad for $0.5/1.

Sapping My Will To Play

Right now I'm somewhere in the midst of a nasty losing streak (hopefully last night marked the end of it but who knows). It started when I was up $220 in my $3/6 experiment. In one night of playing my usual tight aggressive game (which is becoming more selectively aggressive as I adjust to limit), I lost about $200 in about an hour and a half. I was three tabling, and for the most part playing well but getting hijacked by river after river. Keeping me at the tables were the usual mix of maniacs and fish. I had the pleasure of sitting with Big Bien http://pokerhangover.blogspot.com/), and made an effort to stay out of his pots (VPIP 10, PFR 10, maybe that SN should be "Ineverlimp"). At one point I confused a fish with a maniac, with the following distasteful result:

***** Hand History for Game 2961204228 *****
3/6 Texas Hold'em Game Table (Limit) - Mon Oct 31 20:41:19 EST 2005
Table Table 65288 (Real Money) -- Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: BonitoKing ( $130)
Seat 2: Lazaparty ( $112.13)
Seat 3: Shepoker_ ( $173)
Seat 4: daedalus81 ( $131)
Seat 5: blocprty ( $169)
Seat 6: cuyahoga ( $167)
Seat 7: LoveOasis ( $141)
Seat 8: CptSpencer ( $98)
Seat 9: bakerydog ( $270.23)
Seat 10: Dadrocks222 ( $73.54)
Lazaparty posts small blind (1)
Shepoker_ posts big blind (3)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to BonitoKing [ Kc, As ]
daedalus81 folds.
blocprty folds.
cuyahoga calls (3)
LoveOasis calls (3)
CptSpencer folds.
bakerydog folds.
Dadrocks222 raises (6) to 6 (VPIP like 50, PFR like 2)
BonitoKing raises (9) to 9
Lazaparty folds.
Shepoker_ folds.
cuyahoga folds.
LoveOasis calls (6)
Dadrocks222 raises (6) to 12
BonitoKing calls (3)
LoveOasis calls (3)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 2c, 5d, Qs ]
LoveOasis checks.
Dadrocks222 checks.
BonitoKing bets (3)
LoveOasis calls (3)
Dadrocks222 calls (3)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ah ]
LoveOasis checks.
Dadrocks222 bets (6)
BonitoKing raises (12) to 12
LoveOasis folds.
Dadrocks222 raises (12) to 18
BonitoKing calls (6)
** Dealing River ** : [ 2d ]
Dadrocks222 bets (6)
BonitoKing raises (12) to 12
Dadrocks222 raises (12) to 18
BonitoKing calls (6)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $121 | Rake: $3
Board: [ 2c 5d Qs Ah 2d ]
BonitoKing balance $79, lost $51 [ Kc As ] [ two pairs, aces and twos -- As,Ah,Kc,2c,2d ]
Lazaparty balance $111.13, lost $1 (folded)
Shepoker_ balance $170, lost $3 (folded)
daedalus81 balance $131, didn't bet (folded)
blocprty balance $169, didn't bet (folded)
cuyahoga balance $164, lost $3 (folded)
LoveOasis balance $126, lost $15 (folded)
CptSpencer balance $98, didn't bet (folded)
bakerydog balance $270.23, didn't bet (folded)
Dadrocks222 balance $143.54, bet $51, collected $121, net +$70 [ Ac Ad ] [ a full house, Aces full of twos -- Ac,Ad,Ah,2c,2d ]

Whoa!!! Seems like I must have been on tilt here right? No, it's just that I got confused between this guy and a guy at the same position of one of my other tables who was a complete maniac and who would have played the same way this guy did with Q8. Had I realized that this guy's PFA was around 1 (and it was right in front of me so I don't know why it didn't register), I most certainly would have played it much more passively. In fact, I might have even folded preflop. Wow. What a huge difference stats can make. But you gotta read 'em!!!

After dropping the $200 at $3/6 I decided to recover mentally and economically with some $1/2 at Bet365, which has a nice monthly bonus of $100/500 raked hands. Only problem is that the place is totally infested with bonus whores, kinda like the Crypto sites before they changed their definition of a raked hand. Here are the stats of your average $1/2 player at Bet365: VPIP = <15, PFR >5, PFA = 3. Basically these are good players. I suppose their post flop play isn't stellar, but I'll bet these games don't differ too much from your average $30/60 game at Party. So on Saturday night I'm on a miniroll. I take my JJ up against some tightass with KK and hit my J on the turn (which was about when I became sure he had QQ, KK, or AA. Then I got AK and raised under the gun. I got reraised by this dude on the button with a VPIP of 9 and a PFR of 2. Hmmm, what could that mean? I really didn't care what it meant when the flop came Q J T rainbow. He raised me on the flop but when I made it three bets (hoping he had QQ or JJ) he just called and then called me down again on both the turn and the river. He showed AA and didn't say anything, but I was feeling buzzed (off Miller High Life no less) and sassy so I couldn't resist a little trash talk. I think the conversation went something like this:

Fishboy77: wow, that's gotta hurt.
Fishboy77: you wait around all day for one of the two hands you actually play and then I suck out on you.
Unlucky tightass: no class.

Hey, it was like a $20 pot. I think he'll be OK. By the time we hit the bar, I was up a nice $50 or 25 bb.

But then Sunday it was back to bad beat bidness as usual. I must have set a Guinness book of world records for most consecutive times anyone raised preflop with KK, QQ, or JJ only to hit an A on the flop. Here's a typical hand:

Fishboy raises to $2 from MP with QQ
Jackass cold calls $2 from LP with A7s/KT

dealing flop Ac Kd 2c

Fishboy77 bets $1
Jackass calls $1

dealing turn 3h

Fishboy77 checks
Jackass thinks, then bets $2
Fishboy77 curses, pounds beer, and folds.

By the time I cleared the bonus I had lost the $50 from Saturday night plus another $35. With the $100 bonus I'm in the black, but it definitely feels like a loss. If you can't win at $1/2 where can you win?

The other day my boss was complaining about how hard it is to get grants for biological research these days. He looked at me straight in the face and said "Why would you ever want to go into this business?" My answer: "I don't know how to do anything else." Well, that's not entirely true. I am learning how to play poker. But after this run of cards I found myself asking the same thing about poker. Loosing a hundred big bets in a row is enivitably gonna happen over and over if you play on a regular basis. I guess I just gotta get used to it. This run has shown me yet again how volitile poker can be. Therefore I have decided to revise my plan. I'm not gonna move up a limit until I have won 150 big bets. That's $900 at $3/6. Right now I'm at +$17. Damn, I have a long, long way to go.

Response to comments

Was thinking about your KK hand you played against the BB who had AK. I think the BB played it well. If you were the only one in the hand and he was the BB he may have put you on a blind steal. When the flop was farely low he felt he could take it away from you on the turn by a Check'R. However you called the turn raise, which meant he figured you had a piece and when the ACE fell - he tried to get sneaky again. You just got unlucky.

That may be a good play at the higher limits, where blind stealing is more rapant and people know how to hit the fold button, but to me his check raise on the turn was imprudent given that he didn't even have a pair and the average $3/6 player (ie, me) is not going to fold and reasonable hand for one more bet when there is $35 in the pot.

Was thinking, if I played the KK- I would have 3 bet the turn and possibly check the river when the Ace fell.

I like that play too (given that he wouldn't cap with AK). When he check raised me on the turn I thought there was a decent enough chance that he was ahead with a set or a funky two pair that I opted not to three bet. However, given his stats (very loose aggressive), that was certainly the right play. He was likely to have check raised with any J (the board was J high at that point). When he checked the river I figured he didn't like the ace and would call me with KJ or QJ, but he was just being sneaky. I think that play was bad too because he should not have expected me to bet given that I only called his check raise on the turn.

If I was AK. I would have 3 bet preflop. Bet out flop. You would have raised. I would 3 bet. If you capped it- regardless I would still bet out turn and muck to a raise. If you just called my 3 bet and just called my turn bet, I would check fold the river unapproved if you bet. Chip spewage? People play AK like pocket aces when limits increase especially in the 100-200.

I like your play of three betting preflop and betting out on the flop regardless of what fell. I would have just called and then raised on the turn. You would know you were behind and folded as any thinking and observant player would. You would also have my stats and know that I'm a tight ass. What really bugs me about this hand is that he played it so badly that he confused me into giving away more money that I would have had he played it right. Of course, all of this would be a moot point if the dude hadn't hit his three outer on the river. Not much you can do about that.

Update/Results

A few weeks ago I came up with some goals for my poker game: play 15 hours/week starting at $3/6 full ring and work my way up the limits until I'm bringing in $200/hour at $30/60. Well, looks like this is going to be one hell of a long road. According to my Poker Tracker data, since October 14 I've only played for 14.7 hours. That's about half of what I'm shooting for. Seems so hard to make time for poker amidst science and social responsibities (that is, maintaining friendships!!). My first few sessions of $3/6 this month were phenomenal. I would make some shady play like open raising with 55 from mp3, get two callers, then hit my set on an ace high flop. That first week I was up around $400, but after that the shit really hit the fan. Everything turned around and I dropped $300 in my next two sessions. Some of that was due to tilting and bad plays, but the cards were really not cooperating. For example, one hand I open raise with KK from late, and only the big blind calls. The flop comes jack high and I bet out and get called. The turn is a blank and I bet and get check raised. There's nothing too scary about the board and I see the guy's aggressive so I call. The river brings an ace, which doesn't scare me at all based on the turn action, and the guy checks to me. Figuring he must have something like QJ and that he's scared of the ace (but not so scared that he's gonna fold), I fire one last bet into the bet. Of course the bastard check raises me again, and I'm like WTF? I'm confident he has me beat but I need to see what the hell he has (yes I know that's bad poker but I didn't care at the time). So he shows AK and takes down the pot. Bastard got 4 big bets off me by playing it about as bad as you possibly can and then hitting the three outer on the end. That had me pretty smoked. After that session I stabilized a bit and won another hundred or so, which brings me up to today. So here are the current stats: total won since beginning of adventure: $211.75. Multi table ratio: 1.91. Hourly rate: $14.44. BB/100 = 1.74. VPIP = 12. PFR = 6.5. PFA = 2.81. More to follow.