I may play here...

The Borgata Winter Poker Open.

Check that structure! It effing pwns!

Well, that was nice

I won the rd 3 on Bugsy's. So, I get a 10K seat to anywhere of my choosing. As of now, I'm leaning towards the LA Poker Classic, but we'll see. I'll talk it over with Debbie, we'll figure out where she might like to go, and where I might like to go, and all that.

It was fun. Damn fun. I was the best player at the final table, in my exceptionally humble opinion, and I only throw that qualifier in there because it'd be cocky to extend it to the whole tourney. I was playing very well. And I got lucky. My favorites held, and on the rare occasions that I needed to come from behind, I was able to.

I am exceptionally proud, because twice I could have let the tourney away from me. I bluffed off about 8K about 90 minutes in, and misread 5K shortly after that, but I tightened up, played a little more disciplined as I knew I would need to, and righted myself. Then, after I took the chiplead to 2 tables at 200K, nothing went right. I was getting reraised right and left (by legitimate hands, for hte most part), was failing to hit any draws, wasn't connecting in the least. Despite this, I never once felt as if I lost control. At the time, the player who I ultimately beat heads up was destroying the other table, getting big hands v. not quite as big hands, big hands v. bigger hands and drawing out, that sort of thing. He knocked out my brother as a 2-1 dog. I knew that this rush of his could not continue, I also played with him earlier and had a solid read on him. I figured the key for me was to get to the final table with a reasonable stack, and I could then work from there. I was able to do so, bringing about 80K of hte 1.65 million chips in play to the final table. The other player had about 700K.

Again, I followed a plan. I had a good seat, three to the left of the big stack. I was only planning on accumulating chips at a reasonable rate - if a big pot came my way, I would take it, but I would play a little tighter than normal, but playing aggressively when I got involved. This strategy worked out particularly well, as I was able to slowly pick up chips, winning a big one with KK v. AK. I continued along this line, getting myself in position to win. When we were four handed, I was about equal with the another player in 3rd position, the big stack was still way out there, and another player was between us. The key hand of the tourney occured the first hand back from break.

I raised from the SB with Q9 of hearts, as you'd expect from me with Q9s. The other player called from the BB. The flop came Kd 8h Jh. I led with a bet, as this was a very good flop for me. The other player moved in for 180K, leaving me a choice to call 180K to win 289K. With such a strong draw, potential outs to the queen depending on his holding, I made the call. I was in fact a dog to his KT, 43 to 57, but I was getting the proper odds for the call. The King of hearts fell on the turn, and the board did not pair the river.

The response from the railbirds was entertaining though. When playing to win, a call of this magnitude is clear. I needed about 38.5% equity to make it a correct call, and against the hand he actually had, I had 42.7% or so equity. Clear call. Against his range of hands, I would say I had about 45-48% equity. It was an easy call. It was the right call. And, I won't lie. The fact that it was Queen Nine suited played just a bit of a role.

I lost some of the momentum 3 handed, but I brought my focus back to where it needed to be. Tight and aggressive. No loose calls, make sure my bets were intelligent. I doubled through the 2nd stack with AK against his AQ when he decided to play preflop poker when we both had 40 big blinds. Two hands later, my 99 beat his KT, and I was heads up for a seat. It was essentially winner take all - 2nd got an attaboy and $200. He had 899K, i had 750K going heads up.

As I said earlier, I had played with this guy before. I felt I had a solid read on him, but I don't think he had a read on me. My focus heads up was to mix up my play. I didn't want my opponent to know whether I had the hand or not. I wanted to show enough good hands playing in many different ways (aggressive, passive, leading out, letting him hang himself) that he never would be able to get a read on me. Also, he would follow a particular line of betting when he generally did not have the hand. I encouraged this by calling the first bet, then folding to the next one. I would sacrifice a couple of small bets in order to pick up a very big one when I would pick off his bluff. I couldn't do this all the time, as he would pick up on it and knock it off. But I did it enough to make it profitable for me in the long run. Eventually, I did this with a hand, and he got mad and made a loose call on the end when I had it. Essentially, I had a read on him, he didn't have one on me, and he never adjusted.

Again, I don't mean to sound overly cocky, but unless I got unlucky, I didn't see how I would lose the heads up battle. The end came as it seemed he stopped hitting, and I was hitting very hard. I made trip jacks, and he paid me off with a small pocket pair. This is the hand I mentioned above, I had come over the top of this betting pattern of his a couple of times, and he got sick of it. The next hand, he limped with aces, I checked my K9, the flop came KT9 rainbow, and we got it in. The K9 held, and I get to go play poker somewhere.


I'm also very tired. And very happy. I recognize that I very much got lucky, as my favorites held, and I did come from behind twice. I know that in poker you HAVE to get lucky to win. I've embraced this fact, that's why I no longer get too upset when I lose with the best hand, nor get terribly giddy when I draw out. Having said that, I also played very well, I made a plan, stuck to it, and it worked out tremendously for me.

And I'm going to bed now.

Dinner was actually pretty good

I was very pleased. Debbie and I teamed up to make dinner, and it was quite good. I mentioned yesterday that I got some turkey breast cutlets from the grocery. Well, we sauteed those up real nice in some Olive Oil, and had the rest of the standard Thanksgiving fixins, less Cranberry Sauce, which I've never liked. Mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, crescent rolls and gravy all featured. It was really very good. Obviously, it wasn't quite the same as a roast turkey for dinner, but for having to come up with something in a pinch last night, it really worked out well.

I'm not really sure how the weather was up in Cleveland, but down here it was pretty mediocre. Cold and windy as hell, but not very snowy. I probably could have made the trip without too much difficulty, but I'm pretty exhausted right now, and I haven't driven anywhere today. I'm glad I stayed. We were safe, and we really had an enjoyable dinner, if a bit different from every other Thanksgiving I've had.

I hope yours was well, and if you're the sort that goes shopping on Black Friday, have fun. I'm not, but I get to work, and then work on a project for school.

Thanksgiving!

This will be my first Thanksgiving where I won't be coming home. I was planning on going up to Cleveland tomorrow morning, eating roast turkey, mashed potatoes, crescent rolls and gravy, then coming down again that evening, but unfortunately the weather does not agree that this is a good decision. A nasty storm is supposed to roll in here while I sleep, and I don't want to make that round trip in a snowstorm with 40 mph winds. So, I went to the store tonight and bought some turkey cutlets, and Debbie and I will have our own little Thanksgiving here. It won't be quite the same, but sometimes you've just got to adjust and make it work. Again, we're good for each other that way. While both of us certainly have places in our heart for traditions we enjoyed as we grew up (she more than I, admittedly), we're not bound to them. We're flexible enough to be able to enjoy something like what we'll do. Debbie, myself and our dog - that's our family now. And we'll be together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword

Went out in 51st in tonight's FT tourney. I was about 12th or so, but I took two shots at an aggressive player, when he raised the turn I ran. I then lost a flip, and lost a dominating hand to bust. Frustrating, but I played very well and kept getting into good spots.

Also screwed around in a turbo tourney on stars, finished 137 when 135th paid (paid fricking $2.10 profit, so f that), with AT v. T7 who made trips. That pretty much sums it up.

Tom McEvoy has said about NLHE tournaments... all you can do is get yourself into a position to get lucky. I find myself more often than not getting into positions where all I need is to avoid being unlucky. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And sometimes the board double pairs and you chop.

bleeaach.

Misplayed two hands due to fatigue in the 14K guaranteed this evening, then KK ran into AA, and I went out in 17th. Was looking good for a very high finish, but I've been up for way too long today, and it wasn't to be.

I play reasonably well when tired, but I just make the wrong 50/50 decision it seems. I don't know if there's a recipe for beating that other than 1) not being tired and 2) practice.

I often times say I play to win. I think I overlook a few of my misplays by saying this. However, in this situation it was clear: if I don't misplay those two hands, I'm very close to guaranteed a final table.

Of course, if I took KK v. AA in that situation, I wouldn't have that many chips (though I'd have more than none).

As promised

Tying up the loose ends...

Let's start with the steroid policy. People are way too happy about this. Ok, great, steroids aren't going to be in the game, you know it's going to be all natural. That, I won't argue, is good. What's bad, is that this is all a public relations scam. That's right, I said it. A public relations scam.

Until Major League Baseball and the MLBPA convene and determine a safe list of supplements, a safe list of over the counter medicines for illnesses - this is a scam. Players can lose a third of a season because they took a cold medicine that they had no idea contained a banned substance.


Now, with the poker.

I have discovered that in poker you can make the wrong play for the right reasons and the right play for the wrong reasons. I have no idea if my play was correct or incorrect. I still think that there are very compelling arguments for calling and equally compelling arguments for folding. I've been having those arguments for a week now.

Some of the reasons you can make the wrong play for the right reasons are usually mathematically related. You miscalculate your pot odds or implied odds. You put your opponent on a correct range of hands, but you miscalculate your equity against those hands. Those sorts of things.

You can make the right play for the wrong reasons for, largely, the psychological aspects. You're getting anxious, you act without thinking, you miss a key element of your opponent's play.

Here, I made a couple of errors. First, taking the time to do the math, I was only getting about 4.5-1 implied odds. Had I put my implied odds at 4.5-1 instead of 5-1, I may well have folded. There is no doubt in my mind that I made this play out of anxiousness. I was very antsy because I'd gone cold carded for several orbits, which had eaten almost half of my stack away. While on the one hand clearly something needed to be done, I was not in the proper position to raise with a hand like 97s.

Even though my opponent flipped over aces, I think my range of hands was accurate. AA-JJ, AK, AQs were all reasonable holdings for my opponent. I put him on a looser range than normal as the player doubled through me when I LP raised with 9Ts and he woke up with Kings.

I clearly made errors in the decision making process, but I'm not sure if those errors led me to make the wrong play or merely were responsible for having me make the correct play with faulty logic. If you have any thoughts, feel free to weigh in.

Sometimes, you just can't do anything...

I feel I played quite well this weekend, but I just couldn't get any service whatsoever. In the PCA satellite, I had a couple of very cold deck situations, and in the two big tourneys I entered today I just flat out could not get service. There's really only so much you can do when you're not getting any cards. I tried very hard to make chips, and I was doing so reasonably, but occasionally you've got to have hands to back those efforts up. I just couldn't find those hands.

It happens. It's just frustrating.

Hopefully this week I'll tie up a couple loose ends. I've thought through my hand from last Sunday, I'll share my thoughts on that. I've also got an opinion on the steroid policy. I'll discuss that as well.

To those that have expressed concern: thank you for your offers of help, your thoughts and your prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

yay

Fuck Michigan.

an unusual opening up

There comes a time in a married man's life when the primary thing he has to focus on is simply being there for his wife. Yesterday, the wife and I received undoubtedly the worst news we have received in our time together. And that's what I've mostly been doing since then.

My wife and I are very good for each other. We are in many ways opposites, which helps us out. When things are going well, I'm usually wanting to surge forward without much thought, she's more likely to be the voice of reason and slow down. When going on a trip, she likes to at least plan a little bit, while I'm all for spontenaity. We're also very similar in ways - our personalities, despite these differences, are very much in tune. Neither of us is a morning person, neither of us are party animals. Given our druthers, we'd prefer to just chill out at home rather than go out unnecessarily.

But, when times of crisis arise, that is when my responsibility to the marriage particularly kicks in. My personality leads me to largely compartmentalize the pain, generally using an advanced tactic known as "not worrying about it." I'm generally a very happy person, on the whole, and I hate dwelling on downers. My wife, however, is much more emotional. Not that she's prone to drama or tears, but when bad news comes, she'll dwell on it. My job, over the past day and a half has been to let her mourn what could have been, but never really was, while at the same time being the voice of reason. We knew there was a chance this could happen. We know there's a chance that it'll happen again. It sucks, it hurts, but we can't change that. We need to accept it and move on.

Well, that's about enough opening up from me for a few months. Until then, I continue to be an enigma that I always have been...

It's been a while...

...Since I've even followed professional wrestling, let alone watched it. Despite that, the death of Eddy Guerrero really hit me hard. He was a tremendous wrestler and had seemed to conquer immense demons. It doesn't matter if his death is a byproduct of the excesses of his life, or because he had fallen back, it's still tragic to me.

another strong 500k tourney

Finished in 180th place. I'll admit it, I got lucky to get there, then had a string of poor cards. Three straight orbits without raking a pot, while doubling up a couple of short stacks eats away at your stack. I made an interesting decision with 97s that I have to look over. I raised in MP, got reraised a reasonable amount. I was looking at 3-1 odds, 5-1 with the implied odds. This was one of the shortstacks I doubled up earlier when I raised him AI with 9Ts, and he had since picked up a few hands to build his stack up to respectability.

I weighed my options and decided that with the odds the way they were, I could call here and either push a very good flop or check/fold. I figured his range for this reraise wasn't completely restrictive, it could be pretty wide. A fold was certainly the safe play, but I was playing to win this thing, and with the range of hands I had him on, I certainly think my play is defensible.

Long story short, I called, pushed on the AQx, two diamond flop, he miraculously called with AA and I did not hit my flush, though he didn't fill up, either. The next hand, I pushed with just over 2BB with KTo, and ran into aces again.

I'm going to have to think about this 97 hand some more. I think clearly two things were at work here: One, I was antsy because I'd gone three orbits without raking in a pot, and we were at the point of the tournament where that takes about 40% of your stack. If I had recently taken down a pot or two, I would have thrown the 97 away because I would not have felt the need to take one down. Secondly, I think that my decision to go after the big money is correct. Now, does that mean I take these extremely marginal edges, or do I leave discretion for the better part of valor, and try to find more solid edges? The question about that, then, is what if I don't even find an edge as marginal as this one that will enable me to get to 100K?

This is what I'll be mulling in my head tonight and tomorrow.

Weeeeeellll, I guess I got what I deserved

Out of the satellite that I finally got into. I wans't close to teh money. I got up to 5K early, then paid a couple of donkeys, one whose PFR with A8 turned golden on the A87 flop (I paid with AK), and one who donkplayed a flush. I donkpaid him with 2pair. I busted against the same player who tried to give me a double up, but spiked a 3 outer on the turn.

I wasn't playing very well, and my agitation is more with that than the scenario under which I busted. If I was very close to the seat, I would absolutely be more agitated with busting in the way I did. But I wasn't, and I shouldn't have had fewer chips than this guy.

Oh well. Just another one to file in the "don't ever do it again" folder.

Why do you hate me, PCA satellites?

Well, the question is actually:

Why do you draw out repeatedly, donkeys?


That's all, I'm done.

You have question, I have answer. Ish.

Rowebote axed me:

Are you ever going to fill us in on the news you learned or leave us hanging?

The answer is, simply, I'll leave you hanging. For now. Hopefully I'll be able to disclose the news within the near future.

On a related note, y'all can feel free to post comments if you want. I know there are at least like 3 or 4 of you that read this. So tell me how friggin awesome I am! Or, alternatively, let me know that you think I suck. Whatever.

I'm just all sorts of linktacular lately

Sometimes, when you go to the restroom at Home Depot, you get what you ask for. That is all.

I'm moving to Dover, PA.

It's my new favorite city.

Why do people still listen to Pat Robertson? Prophesizing doom on a city because they essentially voted agianst a feeble substitute for creationism that supposedly isn't religious in nature? And who is Pat Robertson to speak for God, anyway?


Thirty years ago today, the Edmund Fitzgerald went down. For years all I'd known about it was what came from the song, and that's still largely true today. But for the men that died on that boat, and their families, it serves as a memorial. I will always know of the good ship, and I think that, on many levels, is comforting to those families.

Quick turnaround

Two hands, and I feel much better.

Thanks, mac-dee!

A gift, from me to you

Really, it's funny. I promise.

in my last orbit

The donkeys fucking draw. Jesus Christ.

They know I'm running badly this evening so they reraise with nothing and catch a miracle.

Just fucking awful.

It was bound to come to a crashing halt

And did it ever.

KK < AA. JJ < AA. On the extraordinarily rare occasions that I had monsters, no action. When I had good hands I ran into monsters, and when I was just betting to take it down, I got raised.

Awful, awful night.

update on the storms

So, flipping through the local channels here. One station just says "TORNADO WARNING" in the bottom right corner during King of the Hill. Apparently we're all warned.

The other channels are talking about the tornado warning to our southeast. The weatherman says that if a tornado is coming, you need to seek shelter immediately. Do not go outside and look at it.

On the one hand, duh. On the other hand, we don't have a basement, so if a tornader is on the way, I might as well stand outside and watch it until it's right next door, since that's something I've wanted to do before I died, anyway. Just not as I died.

I love thunderstorms

We've got a solid one going now. Lots and lots of lightning, heavy rain, pleasant thunder. No hail yet. The storm was enough that I decided to stand up from the tables a couple orbits early. The last thing I wanted was to get involved in a big hand and have my power flash.

I'm reading Ace on the River by Barry Greenstein. Very different from any poker book I've read thus far, and very good. In fact, I'm gonna go read a bit before I go to bed.

Night!

Adventures in Stakesraising

Played some 3/6 NL tonight, was two tabling it. Spent about two hours at each table, finished net up $200. If it had not been for a move I foolishly made, I'd be up rather significantly more. I need more of those foolish moves to work out. Of course, I also made a very key laydown where a lesser player would have gone broke. Money saved is money earned.

Although I've been normally playing 2/4, I moved up to 3/6 for a couple of reasons. First, seats opened there sooner. And secondly, although I don't have the roll to consistently play that level (if things turn sour, they'd put a real dent), but dabbling at that level is not a bad thing at all. Getting used to the higher betting structure before making the consistent transition is a good thing.

Interestingly, my play was significantly tighter at these stakes today, seeing a little over 19% of the flops, as opposed to the 24.5% or so I otherwise see. I think this was more because I was getting long strings of unplayable hands than any subconscious decision to play tighter. One of the benefits of playing tourneys for as long as I did before coming back to the cash games is that once I sit down, it's no longer money. They're chips, and I'm playing to gather the most chips, regardless of the stakes. And yet, I'm also grounded enough to be sensible about my game choices.

At one point in this session, however, I was down a couple hundred, and I told myself I either needed to play better or stand up. I recognized that I was not playing as well as I could. Again, I don't think it was the stakes, I think it was the string of poor hands induced passivity on my part. Once I made the corrective actions to get back on my proper game, the session turned from a loser into a winner.

I think this is another step in my development as a player. This is the first time in my memory that I can recall doing this. In the past, I've noticed that over several sessions I didn't play well, and definitely within the course of a tournament or cash game session I've misplayed a couple hands in a row and gotten on myself, but this was completely different. This was simply and quickly rehashing the session in my head, identifying a problem and correcting it. I'm very pleased.

If it weren't for luck, I'd win every one

Played the Stars 500K today. Played very well, despite not having a lot of hands. I made chips where I could, won a flip, got lucky (A8 v. AQ), and did not get lucky vs short stacks several other times. Basically just playing my style very well.

And then I took two 2 outers in 45 minutes (JJ < 99, 9 on the flop, KJ < QQ after we got it in on the K high flop), and I went out in 200th. I took two horrid beats, and I still moneyed. I guess I'm doing something right.

I'm still strangely satisfying. The cash payout is all right, but not tremendous since I bought in (though a month ago I'd have been awfully ahppy with it), but I was playing for that big prize.

I know I can win one of these things. So, two new goals by the end of the year: Get to Atlantis, and Final Table a major online tournament.

I have them written down here. Hopefully I remember to check in before I leave for Atlantis to see how I did.

And another one

I dropped two buyins real quick at FT tonight. KK v. AA, and a hand when I unusually paid a callstation, who hit a two outer on the turn. Sufficiently chastened, I busted some ass. I got lucky with another one of those postflop coinflips that I've been running so well on lately, I admit, but yet again, I managed to get my monsters paid and avoided almost all of the traps (except for the 2nd buyin one), and ended over one buyin to the good.

My mission now is to find an ideal line for these postflop coinflips. I'm struggling to come up with one. On the one hand, being a coinflip, I wouldn't mind getting it into the middle on the flop. But, on the other, I know where I stand while my opponent has no concept. It's a tough one.

Of course, as long as I keep winning them, it doesn't much matter how I play them...

wtg me

Another positive session for me. I avoided paying a player who flopped a set on my kings. I'd have had double my profit, but I pished half of it earlier in the session by reraising a guy who I felt was getting too uppity. He wouldnt' fold his cowboys, but I stopped short of pushing it all in. I gave up after the turn. He did calm down a bit afterwards. I don't know if maybe he just got good cards for a stretch or perhaps he was sufficiently humbled that I'd play back with 36s bigtime, I'm not sure.

I didn't get into the Saturday PCA qualifier this week. I was tempted to buy in because I've been running well, but I ultimately decided not to, as there will be plenty more Saturdays to go. It was very frustrating trying to get into it, as they were TRYING to give me their chips, trying very hard.

Still, it's another postive day. This is quite a few in a row.

Pondering about Phil Hellmuth

I think I've mentioned on here that I've been listening to Cardplayer's Audio Coverage of the Final Table of the Main Event. The majority of the time Phil Hellmuth was on the mic, along with a number of other players. Listening to about 10 hours of Hellmuth (It ran like 14.5 hours, we'll give him some time off) gives you some insight into the man.

I'm avoiding giving spoilers here, in case you've lived under a rock for 4 months.

• Phil is genuinely agrieved when someone plays badly. I know Phil realizes that bad play gives him money, but that doesn't make it any easier for him to stomach. An awful play is made at the final table, and Phil kept talking about it over and over and over again.
• Phil is genuinely agrieved when superior play goes unrewarded. A player comes from way behind (after Phil believed that he played badly, no less) to double through a player who made a sensational call. Phil's reaction is great, he just can't STAND it.
• Within 2 minutes of the final card hitting the table, Phil congratulates the champion, presumably on stage. We saw what he did to Raymer this past week on the telly, where he went up to him at the feature table and told him how impressed he was. My theory is: Phil Hellmuth is not doing this because he has an inflated ego. I think Phil's doing this because he feels that he is an ambassador for poker to the outside world. He's appointed himself this position, and genuinely means well in all of these situations.

Well, hopefully that's the last ponderings I do on Hellmuth in this space for quite some time. Maybe I'll ponder busting him in a tournament one day. If I'm lucky, I won't even be able to spell "poekrr"

Acceptable Tradeoff

I have not moneyed in any of the past 8 or so tournaments in which I've played. I got kinda close tonight in the stars 45K rebuy, but it was not to be.

However, I've absolutely DEMOLISHED the 2/4 games during this time.

If I am going to run cold in the tournaments, having me run over the cash games is, in fact, an acceptable substitution. Winning the postflop coinflips helps immensely.

I just bought Poker Tracker. I'm not sure what took me so damn long, but I finally broke down and did it. It's kinda fun, though I certainly am still quite remarkably clueless about the whole thing. It considered me Semi-Loose-Aggressive/Aggressive, which is pretty much right. Give just enough action to get my monsters paid, but avoid giving the action to pay theirs. It's a tight balance.

Basically, I ask myself "What would Layne Flack do?"

Chat log from 2/4 NL Cash game

After I drew out on a player's two pair (with correct odds, of course) to win a big pot...


LarryDavid33 said, "your awful"
LarryDavid33 said, "i over raise don turn to prove your a complete moron"
LarryDavid33 said, "THEOSU your so awful"
LarryDavid33 said, "your a comlete moron"
THEOSU said, "the nice thing about being called a complete moron is i tend to quit ahead"
THEOSU said, "good night all"
LarryDavid33 said, "get hit by a bus"

At which point I stood up, wrote this out, and headed to bed.

Stunning

Played the stars rebuy tonight. During the rebuy period, KK < AT and AA < AT on consecutive hands, then I busted with AA v. JJ. And yet I made tons of chips with shite.

In theory, it works this way. Make chips with shite, get action on your monsters. Oh well.

declaration

I'll get to the PCA yet, damnit!

That's all.