Came close to a TOC seat last night but I couldn't close it out and instead spewed chips unnecessarily. Thanks to all who railed me. Sorry Jamy for not being able to put your chips to good use. Considering all the sucking out I did, I probably didn't belong at the final table to begin with so as much as it sucks to not be able to win on a night when everything was going my way, it probably serves me right. Aside from the TOC seat, there's a lot of money riding on winning a seat as well as continuing to do well with all the side bets going on. I think the amount in total side bets that could be won is close to $3k. Yeah, we're pretty sick degenerates. It's more than the $2k WSOP package. Good stuff. Oh, and bone-daddy, I believe you owe Corron10 a whole year's worth of beer. He's the one that busted me last night. Stupid bounties.
Alright, so did I say something about not posting hand histories? HA HA HA HA HA... if I stopped posting HH's, I will have nothing to post. I think Gnome said it best...
"I feel like posting strategy advice helps me as much as it helps anyone reading it. Writing out my thoughts solidifies them and improves my game."
So, I think the direction (unless I get specific requests) I would go with is that I would continue to post questions from hand histories and my thoughts in a hand as it pertains to the question. If that helps the reader, great. If not, that's fine too. Again, if you have any specific questions, I will be happy to address it. There is one another topic I'm supposed to get to in regards to collusion and cash game play but it's still a work in process (or more like thought in process). Sorry!
Anyways, here's a hand with AK and I want some thoughts on how you might play it differently.
Full Tilt Poker Game #5771352171: Table Alta (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:05:33 ET - 2008/03/24
Seat 1: dirtyfolder ($761.90)
Seat 2: jiggyji ($469.60) <--- SB
Seat 3: Lvl18Wizard ($578.15) <--- BB
Seat 4: Doornail8 ($591.85)
Seat 5: RecessRampage ($458.50)
Seat 6: Billy Lexington ($891.40)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ah Kh]
Doornail8 folds
RecessRampage raises to $14
Billy Lexington folds
dirtyfolder has 15 seconds left to act
dirtyfolder raises to $48 <--- from the button
jiggyji folds
Lvl18Wizard has 15 seconds left to act
Lvl18Wizard folds
RecessRampage calls $34
Ok, preflop, how often do some of you repop here knowing that you're gonna be OOP? This is one aspect where I think I need to change up my game. One thing that came to my mind was if I had QQ, KK, or AA, it would be very rare for me to repop it here. No particular reason, it's just rare that I do. So, I didn't want to play AK differently. Now that I look at it though, I think I need to incorporate 4 betting into my preflop strategy. Any thoughts? How often do you 4 bet in a full 6 max situation and what range?
*** FLOP *** [5c Tc Kd] <--- obv, great flop for me
I'm actually gonna make this a two part post. I want to know how everyone would play this. The flop is as seen above and the villain just reraised you preflop. However, you did flop TPTK. So the question is, how do you play this? Do you bet out, effectively telling the opponent you have a K? Do you check, with the intention to raise, again, indicating that you have a K? Or did you think check call? Check fold? Of course, I jest. You're not check folding here. If you are, you would be folding AK preflop.
Also, keep in mind, if you bet, how much? And why (not why $x bet but rather, why bet out?). What do you do if you bet and the guy shoves? What do you do if you check raise and the guy shoves?
I know I threw out a lot of questions but I want you to think of the texture of this flop as well as what you would do on the turn and/or the river. I think that thought should always enter your mind when you are playing a hand since in a cash game, it's not always preflop or flop poker.
Oh, and for those of you that said depends on the villain and his stats. I don't have a software so I don't have any stats but I was fairly new to this table so I don't know this guy. But a typical 2-4NL 6 max players are fairly aggressive and squeezes and resteals are generally in most people's arsenal. Considering his stack size, I have no reason to believe any different.
I would love to hear your thoughts. I'll recap the hand tomorrow.
Showing posts with label MATH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MATH. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thoughts appreciated
Ok, so I'm either clueless about what goes on or I'm not paying attention or I'm still not in the loop. Whatever is the case, I discovered last night that the next blogger gathering is tentatively scheduled (?) for 12/6-12/9 in Vegas. Barring any major setbacks (like I'm paralyzed from the neck down, all flights are cancelled for the entire month of December, Vegas implodes before December, etc), I'll be there. Usually, my friends and I schedule an annual trip out there and yet this year, we have yet to go. Between bunch of us getting married or having kids and stuff, it appears that those annual gatherings are getting harder and harder... which is ok with me. I know that generally, when we do have these "annual gatherings", I tend to go out a few days earlier so I can play poker. My friends don't play poker. They like to donate via blackjack, craps and roulette. I'm personally not into blackjack or roulette. I mean a game of chance? Who likes that??? :) But craps, I love. Hey, that's no game of chance. I mean after all, YOU are throwing the dice. ALL SKILL BABY!!!! just like poker... (hopefully, my HEAVY sarcasm is conveyed).
Well, last night, I played in the MATH, $75 token frenzy, tier 2 token sng, and a cash game... all at the same time. Not to make excuses (and you know that when a sentence starts with that, excuses are coming), but I really couldn't focus on MATH at all. I wanted to. But aside from this weird chat going on between ScottMc and WhatSarahSaid (basically, wishing death, rape, and all other hatred on each other), I really couldn't put forth my effort into MATH and so I donked out very soon after the tournament started. Don't get me wrong. Even if I focused on it, I'm not saying it would've been any different. But of the 4 tables open, I was focusing the least on MATH, namely because I was doing well in the other 3 tables and I'm not quite a 4 tabler... So, during that time, I did take down the tier 2 token SNG and I was up about quarter of a buy-in at 2-4NL when this hand came up in the token frenzy.
NewinNov and Smokkee were at my table... well, New was at my table, don't know what happened... maybe he got moved? Told you, I had 4 tables up. But anyways, I was doing well in this thing. I was making good reads and my hands were holding up in situations where I sensed I was ahead and made moderately tough calls.
Anyways, I was in 8th with 53 remaining and top 21 winning the token when this hand came up. Initially, I thought, I would love to get everyone's thoughts but now, the thought is clear for me at least. This was a clear fold situation, only because this was a token frenzy (where coming in 21st is no different than winning the whole thing).
Full Tilt Poker Game #3107378826: $75 Token Frenzy (23212487), Table 3 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:28:00 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: RecessRampage (5,775)
Seat 2: SashaPup (2,585)
Seat 3: Donkeyfish33 (8,295)
Seat 4: yeahok (4,295)
Seat 5: mooreparty (3,005)
Seat 6: macthespoon (4,100)
Seat 7: b_lotheafguy (950)
Seat 8: iamthematador (1,030)
Seat 9: smokkee (4,030)
yeahok posts the small blind of 100
mooreparty posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ad Kc]
macthespoon raises to 700
b_lotheafguy folds
iamthematador folds
smokkee folds
RecessRampage calls 700
SashaPup folds
Donkeyfish33 raises to 8,295, and is all in
yeahok folds
mooreparty folds
macthespoon folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
What would you do? One can argue reraising, etc but please, that's kinda not the point here. I think I reraise if I were shorter but I'm ok with calling in position here with AK. So, aside from that point, when the big stack on the button shoves, what are your thoughts?
Following is my thought process:
a) He's pulling a squeeze resteal - I mean is this not an ideal spot to do so? Two players with decent stack sizes are in the hand, the only guy who can bust them comes in for all his chips, basically, you can't call unless you had a monster holding like a high pocket pair, right? And if I had a high pocket pair, I would reraise more often than not, right?
b) He's got a middle pair and trying to protect it.
c) He's accumulated a decent stack so he must be an action player capable of moves like this (he moved fairly recently so I haven't seen him do much though it's possible I missed it)
d) If he's going for a resteal, worst case scenario for me is that I'm on a bad side of a flip. I could be up against AQ, AJ, or maybe even KQ. If I win, I can pretty much fold to the token.
e) But I'm currently 8th in chips. If I fold, I'm still top 15 for sure.
After weighing these thoughts, but not carefully enough, this is what I did.
RecessRampage calls 5,075, and is all in
Donkeyfish33 shows [Ah As] <--- doh!!!
RecessRampage shows [Ad Kc]
Uncalled bet of 2,520 returned to Donkeyfish33
*** FLOP *** [Jc 5h 6c]
*** TURN *** [Jc 5h 6c] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 5h 6c 4c] [Kd]
RecessRampage: damn
Donkeyfish33 shows a pair of Aces
RecessRampage shows a pair of Kings
Donkeyfish33 wins the pot (12,550) with a pair of Aces
RecessRampage: nh
smokkee: ouch
RecessRampage: gg
RecessRampage stands up
I think the key here was that I was still healthy in chips so I shoulda folded and waited for a better spot. I think I kinda rushed to accumulate a big chip stack which really doesn't matter since you're not really going for the win. Can you say resteal paranoia??? :) Nonetheless, any thoughts you might have are appreciated!
Well, last night, I played in the MATH, $75 token frenzy, tier 2 token sng, and a cash game... all at the same time. Not to make excuses (and you know that when a sentence starts with that, excuses are coming), but I really couldn't focus on MATH at all. I wanted to. But aside from this weird chat going on between ScottMc and WhatSarahSaid (basically, wishing death, rape, and all other hatred on each other), I really couldn't put forth my effort into MATH and so I donked out very soon after the tournament started. Don't get me wrong. Even if I focused on it, I'm not saying it would've been any different. But of the 4 tables open, I was focusing the least on MATH, namely because I was doing well in the other 3 tables and I'm not quite a 4 tabler... So, during that time, I did take down the tier 2 token SNG and I was up about quarter of a buy-in at 2-4NL when this hand came up in the token frenzy.
NewinNov and Smokkee were at my table... well, New was at my table, don't know what happened... maybe he got moved? Told you, I had 4 tables up. But anyways, I was doing well in this thing. I was making good reads and my hands were holding up in situations where I sensed I was ahead and made moderately tough calls.
Anyways, I was in 8th with 53 remaining and top 21 winning the token when this hand came up. Initially, I thought, I would love to get everyone's thoughts but now, the thought is clear for me at least. This was a clear fold situation, only because this was a token frenzy (where coming in 21st is no different than winning the whole thing).
Full Tilt Poker Game #3107378826: $75 Token Frenzy (23212487), Table 3 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:28:00 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: RecessRampage (5,775)
Seat 2: SashaPup (2,585)
Seat 3: Donkeyfish33 (8,295)
Seat 4: yeahok (4,295)
Seat 5: mooreparty (3,005)
Seat 6: macthespoon (4,100)
Seat 7: b_lotheafguy (950)
Seat 8: iamthematador (1,030)
Seat 9: smokkee (4,030)
yeahok posts the small blind of 100
mooreparty posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ad Kc]
macthespoon raises to 700
b_lotheafguy folds
iamthematador folds
smokkee folds
RecessRampage calls 700
SashaPup folds
Donkeyfish33 raises to 8,295, and is all in
yeahok folds
mooreparty folds
macthespoon folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
What would you do? One can argue reraising, etc but please, that's kinda not the point here. I think I reraise if I were shorter but I'm ok with calling in position here with AK. So, aside from that point, when the big stack on the button shoves, what are your thoughts?
Following is my thought process:
a) He's pulling a squeeze resteal - I mean is this not an ideal spot to do so? Two players with decent stack sizes are in the hand, the only guy who can bust them comes in for all his chips, basically, you can't call unless you had a monster holding like a high pocket pair, right? And if I had a high pocket pair, I would reraise more often than not, right?
b) He's got a middle pair and trying to protect it.
c) He's accumulated a decent stack so he must be an action player capable of moves like this (he moved fairly recently so I haven't seen him do much though it's possible I missed it)
d) If he's going for a resteal, worst case scenario for me is that I'm on a bad side of a flip. I could be up against AQ, AJ, or maybe even KQ. If I win, I can pretty much fold to the token.
e) But I'm currently 8th in chips. If I fold, I'm still top 15 for sure.
After weighing these thoughts, but not carefully enough, this is what I did.
RecessRampage calls 5,075, and is all in
Donkeyfish33 shows [Ah As] <--- doh!!!
RecessRampage shows [Ad Kc]
Uncalled bet of 2,520 returned to Donkeyfish33
*** FLOP *** [Jc 5h 6c]
*** TURN *** [Jc 5h 6c] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 5h 6c 4c] [Kd]
RecessRampage: damn
Donkeyfish33 shows a pair of Aces
RecessRampage shows a pair of Kings
Donkeyfish33 wins the pot (12,550) with a pair of Aces
RecessRampage: nh
smokkee: ouch
RecessRampage: gg
RecessRampage stands up
I think the key here was that I was still healthy in chips so I shoulda folded and waited for a better spot. I think I kinda rushed to accumulate a big chip stack which really doesn't matter since you're not really going for the win. Can you say resteal paranoia??? :) Nonetheless, any thoughts you might have are appreciated!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Trying something different
This weekend pretty much sucked. I had to work quite a bit this weekend which always puts a damper on to the weekend. But, even on the weekends, I generally play poker in the evenings so I guess it didn't really affect my poker playing too much. I recently decided that I wanted to focus more on tournaments so I've been playing in a few of those $26 tourney with 1000+ entrants but really haven't done anything. I came close to the money a few times with a pretty decent stack, only to lose before we make the money. But I've never been short around the bubble and since I'm not trying to cash, it really doesn't matter. General tendency seems to be that I medium stack reraises and I have AK, it's a race situation and I lose, crippling me. Shortly after that, I'm out. If I win the race in any of those situations, I'm at least top 20 in chips. I'm actually pretty happy with the way I've been playing.
Now I also figured that maybe playing a few SNG's might be good. I remember when I first started, that's all I used to play. And back then, you just had to be tight and you won your few share of the low buy-in SNGs. So, since I haven't played in a while, I decided to play a few low buy-in SNGs again. Now, my version of "a lot" of sng's is like 5... below is the screenshot from sharkscope.
This weekend, I played in 6 (I hear people laughing...). I won 3, came in 2nd on 1 and lost the other two. The games were incredibly soft... now of course, 6 is not enough of a sample size... and admittedly, sng's are not all that fun for me. But, it's a good way to learn to play short handed tables and such. Though with this competition, I'm not sure I'm learning...
One variation that I enjoyed is to have two of my friends jump in on the same table and do a last longer bet. I'm 2 for 2 on those, collecting $5 each from PouringReign and InigoMontoya76. It's always fun to celebrate a bad beat on your friends. What? Yeah, so I'm shallow. Hey, it's $5 in my acct. SHIP IT!
***NONPOKER***
On a side note, Mrs Recess is going to Savannah, GA this weekend with all the girls in the family (her mom, her aunt, etc). She leaves Thursday and comes home Sunday. This means 3 days of total degeneracy by yours truly. I don't even know if I'll ever leave the house after work on Friday... maybe order in pizza, etc... Or I might host poker night again... But one thing I am going to do for sure. I'm gonna go buy NCAA 07 for my PS2. I love the NCAA football series and so as a part time video game junkie, I'll be playing that a lot. Hell, maybe I'll even start updating how my college career is going in the game. Always torn between the dynasty mode and the college legend mode. But I can't wait to play it.
Oh, and I almost forgot... don't forget tonight.
Now I also figured that maybe playing a few SNG's might be good. I remember when I first started, that's all I used to play. And back then, you just had to be tight and you won your few share of the low buy-in SNGs. So, since I haven't played in a while, I decided to play a few low buy-in SNGs again. Now, my version of "a lot" of sng's is like 5... below is the screenshot from sharkscope.
This weekend, I played in 6 (I hear people laughing...). I won 3, came in 2nd on 1 and lost the other two. The games were incredibly soft... now of course, 6 is not enough of a sample size... and admittedly, sng's are not all that fun for me. But, it's a good way to learn to play short handed tables and such. Though with this competition, I'm not sure I'm learning...
One variation that I enjoyed is to have two of my friends jump in on the same table and do a last longer bet. I'm 2 for 2 on those, collecting $5 each from PouringReign and InigoMontoya76. It's always fun to celebrate a bad beat on your friends. What? Yeah, so I'm shallow. Hey, it's $5 in my acct. SHIP IT!
***NONPOKER***
On a side note, Mrs Recess is going to Savannah, GA this weekend with all the girls in the family (her mom, her aunt, etc). She leaves Thursday and comes home Sunday. This means 3 days of total degeneracy by yours truly. I don't even know if I'll ever leave the house after work on Friday... maybe order in pizza, etc... Or I might host poker night again... But one thing I am going to do for sure. I'm gonna go buy NCAA 07 for my PS2. I love the NCAA football series and so as a part time video game junkie, I'll be playing that a lot. Hell, maybe I'll even start updating how my college career is going in the game. Always torn between the dynasty mode and the college legend mode. But I can't wait to play it.
Oh, and I almost forgot... don't forget tonight.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Hey tourney players, dead money lives here
Well, an unfortunately early night for me when my 99 lost to Jeciimd's AQ on a rivered straight. Strange how that feels so much worse than say if an A were to fall on the flop. Almost worse cuz I flopped a set... only to see it come runner runner straight. I think I cried a little... So anyways, I couldn't go deep in what I thought was a tournament that I really had the chance to take down. I'm so pissed right now. So painful to have 2 hrs invested and then have nothing to show for while some others could do it day in and day out. I played in 2 other tournaments and busted out in both. The 28k, I was crippled early when my KK ran into AA and I never quite recovered. In the end, I had a chance to get back to my starting stack but I lost the coin flip. In the $75 token frenzy, I don't even remember... I lost some other close call or something... oh yeah, I had AK, couldn't catch up to the 66 and lost.
Sorry, this is a short post. I'm in no mood to type right now. I'm going to sulk and go to bed.
Sorry, this is a short post. I'm in no mood to type right now. I'm going to sulk and go to bed.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Another late night... at the MATH!
Well, I was gonna go play basketball tomorrow morning (Tuesday morning) before work but as I sit here and type this blog at 1:30am, I realize that's not gonna happen. Instead, I'm gonna struggle through work with multiple trips to the coffee machine... and it's almost worth it...
Yes, I came in 2nd place in the MATH. After winning the Mookie a few weeks ago, I really really wanted to take down the MATH. I felt like if I took down both of those blogger tourneys, I would gain some more respect. Huh? What, play poker for money? I already told you tournaments are -EV for me. :) Anyways, I wanted to join the ranks of what I assume is quite a good number of bloggers who have taken down both of those tourneys. Well... so close.
After this hand, I honestly thought I had it.
FullTiltPoker Game #2902738828: Mondays at the Hoy (21375318), Table 1 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:55:13 ET - 2007/07/10
Seat 4: RecessRampage (47,679)
Seat 5: PokerBrian322 (66,321)
RecessRampage antes 150
PokerBrian322 antes 150
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 600
PokerBrian322 posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [9s 9d] <--- IG was money tonight!
RecessRampage raises to 3,900
PokerBrian322 raises to 12,000
RecessRampage raises to 47,529, and is all in
PokerBrian322 calls 35,529
RecessRampage shows [9s 9d]
PokerBrian322 shows [7h Ah]
*** FLOP *** [3h 4s Kh]
*** TURN *** [3h 4s Kh] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [3h 4s Kh 8c] [Qs]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Nines
PokerBrian322 shows Ace King high
RecessRampage wins the pot (95,358) with a pair of Nines
PokerBrian322: nh
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 95,358 | Rake 0
Board: [3h 4s Kh 8c Qs]
Seat 4: RecessRampage (small blind) showed [9s 9d] and won (95,358) with a pair of Nines
Seat 5: PokerBrian322 (big blind) showed [7h Ah] and lost with Ace King high
With this hand, I took a commanding chip lead. Then few hands later, another preflop all in where I had A6 and pokerbrian322 had Q3 sooted, I thought maybe that was it... until the Q hit on the river and doubled him up. No problem. I still have the chip lead. And I find AQ sooted. Pokerbrian322 raises so I shove, overbetting the pot. He calls... with K3 (I think he has a thing for 3's). :) Flop comes 2-3-3. Next thing I know, he's got the chip lead. And my last hand? I have 9-10 sooted. He raises, I call and the flop comes A-8-2 with two spades. No spades for me. Check, check and the turn comes a J, giving me an OESD. So I shove. He thinks for a second and calls with a Q high flush draw. Blank on the river and his queen high is good. And I get this message...
I will say though... considering that I'm a tournament donk, I was pretty happy with my performance. One thing about me is that I think I soak in a lot of stuff that other people tell me... very quickly. So, when other bloggers mentioned stealing and restealing, I took it to heart. Especially the restealing part. And I was active from early on. I had position on the K.O.D. himself and I was able to use my weak tight image to steal some pots from him early on. Which is why I love the deep stack. In a regular tournament, a reraise basically becomes a shove. In a deep stack, reraise doesn't necessarily commit you. Big difference.
So, I was able to actively chip up until a big hand came up that put me in the top 3 in chips.
FullTiltPoker Game #2901723188: Mondays at the Hoy (21375318), Table 4 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:14:56 ET - 2007/07/09
Seat 1: PokerBrian322 (8,216)
Seat 2: rpinner (14,139)
Seat 3: Rake Feeder (1,010)
Seat 4: cracknaces (11,155)
Seat 5: lightning36 (5,456)
Seat 7: Mattazuma (1,954)
Seat 8: RecessRampage (5,863)
Seat 9: a104l9 (2,162)
a104l9 posts the small blind of 60
PokerBrian322 posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qs Js]
rpinner folds
Rake Feeder folds
cracknaces raises to 240
lightning36 folds
Mattazuma folds
RecessRampage calls 240
a104l9 folds
PokerBrian322 calls 120
*** FLOP *** [Ks 4s Th]
PokerBrian322 checks
cracknaces checks
RecessRampage checks
*** TURN *** [Ks 4s Th] [7s]
PokerBrian322 bets 480
cracknaces calls 480
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 1,600
PokerBrian322 folds
cracknaces has 15 seconds left to act
cracknaces raises to 10,915, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 4,023, and is all in
cracknaces shows [Tc Qd]
RecessRampage shows [Qs Js]
Uncalled bet of 5,292 returned to cracknaces
*** RIVER *** [Ks 4s Th 7s] [3h]
cracknaces shows a pair of Tens
RecessRampage shows a flush, King high
RecessRampage wins the pot (12,506) with a flush, King high
I'm guessing that Chad thought I was putting on a squeeze play and that if I had a flush draw, I was likely to bet on the flop. Either case, he was drawing dead and I was able to double up which was huge.
From there, I never looked back. And I actively started restealing. Even Schaubs called me out on one of them via girly chat. Hey, it was 8-10 sooted. I love that hand (though apparently, it's dubbed the mookie... I hate it when these things are taken). I continued to attack the short stacks and caught cards when I needed them. I would see the flop, reraise if I caught any piece of the board and was actually surprising myself with a) how aggressive I was and b) how well it worked... It definitely helps though if you catch the cards when you need it. And so a combination of good cards, good timing, and good karma by the FullTilt "Random" Number Generator allowed me to come to the final table very healthy. I had 5x the second highest stack.
The fact that I couldn't close this out probably says something about my end game. But still, I was pretty proud of the way I played the final table as well. I continued to be aggressive on the final table, trying to use my stack to attack the other stacks. I had my ups and downs but fortunately, with a stack like that, I was never threatened as the money bubble came and went and again, it helps to get good cards. I guess you could say that I was Astinized last night.
Well, once it got down to 3 handed play, it was apparent that LJ was getting tired of my raising and I knew that sooner or later, we were gonna tangle in a big pot. And then this came up.
FullTiltPoker Game #2902679165: Mondays at the Hoy (21375318), Table 1 - 500/1000 Ante 125 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:48:46 ET - 2007/07/10
Seat 4: RecessRampage (53,179)
Seat 5: PokerBrian322 (28,176)
Seat 8: pvanharibo (32,645)
RecessRampage antes 125
PokerBrian322 antes 125
pvanharibo antes 125
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 500
PokerBrian322 posts the big blind of 1,000
PokerBrian322: lol
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ts 9d]
pvanharibo raises to 3,000 <--- from the button, steal right?
RecessRampage raises to 9,000 <--- 9-10 is a monster to resteal with, right?
PokerBrian322 folds
pvanharibo calls 6,000 <--- I've been raising a lot so she's gotta call.
*** FLOP *** [6d 6c 3d]
RecessRampage checks
pvanharibo bets 9,000
RecessRampage raises to 44,054, and is all in
pvanharibo folds
Uncalled bet of 35,054 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (37,375)
That was big because she was second in chips and for a little while there, it seemed like we were just passing chips amongst the three of us. I wanted to make sure that I stayed aggressive and that I was in control so I took a chance. Plus, I figured, if she calls and I lose the pot, I wasn't out yet. I felt like I set it up perfectly in the sense of I played it like I had a big pair the whole way. Sure, my reraise looked like a resteal but after the check raise on the flop, she had to think I actually had a hand this time. Again, this helped me gain a significant chip lead and eventually, Lana would be sent to the rail by the evil pokerbrian322.
And as they say... the rest is history... Congrats again to pokerbrian322 (who's not even a blogger, dammit!).
Thanks to everyone who railed me and left comments and gave me tourney pointers. Schaubs and Sia (aka Pouring Reign), thanks for the rail. Hoy, Chad, and Anguila, your comments on my posts and the posts that you have on your blogs have definitely opened up my eyes and soon, I'll take Hoy's advice and watch Chad play to learn more. As usual, thanks to BuddyDank for the kick ass radio show and for Sean to join in at the final table for the added entertainment value.
Wow, that sounded like a victory speech... and I didn't even win. And now, it's 2:30am... even a night owl like myself is getting tired...
Yes, I came in 2nd place in the MATH. After winning the Mookie a few weeks ago, I really really wanted to take down the MATH. I felt like if I took down both of those blogger tourneys, I would gain some more respect. Huh? What, play poker for money? I already told you tournaments are -EV for me. :) Anyways, I wanted to join the ranks of what I assume is quite a good number of bloggers who have taken down both of those tourneys. Well... so close.
After this hand, I honestly thought I had it.
FullTiltPoker Game #2902738828: Mondays at the Hoy (21375318), Table 1 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:55:13 ET - 2007/07/10
Seat 4: RecessRampage (47,679)
Seat 5: PokerBrian322 (66,321)
RecessRampage antes 150
PokerBrian322 antes 150
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 600
PokerBrian322 posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [9s 9d] <--- IG was money tonight!
RecessRampage raises to 3,900
PokerBrian322 raises to 12,000
RecessRampage raises to 47,529, and is all in
PokerBrian322 calls 35,529
RecessRampage shows [9s 9d]
PokerBrian322 shows [7h Ah]
*** FLOP *** [3h 4s Kh]
*** TURN *** [3h 4s Kh] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [3h 4s Kh 8c] [Qs]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Nines
PokerBrian322 shows Ace King high
RecessRampage wins the pot (95,358) with a pair of Nines
PokerBrian322: nh
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 95,358 | Rake 0
Board: [3h 4s Kh 8c Qs]
Seat 4: RecessRampage (small blind) showed [9s 9d] and won (95,358) with a pair of Nines
Seat 5: PokerBrian322 (big blind) showed [7h Ah] and lost with Ace King high
With this hand, I took a commanding chip lead. Then few hands later, another preflop all in where I had A6 and pokerbrian322 had Q3 sooted, I thought maybe that was it... until the Q hit on the river and doubled him up. No problem. I still have the chip lead. And I find AQ sooted. Pokerbrian322 raises so I shove, overbetting the pot. He calls... with K3 (I think he has a thing for 3's). :) Flop comes 2-3-3. Next thing I know, he's got the chip lead. And my last hand? I have 9-10 sooted. He raises, I call and the flop comes A-8-2 with two spades. No spades for me. Check, check and the turn comes a J, giving me an OESD. So I shove. He thinks for a second and calls with a Q high flush draw. Blank on the river and his queen high is good. And I get this message...
I will say though... considering that I'm a tournament donk, I was pretty happy with my performance. One thing about me is that I think I soak in a lot of stuff that other people tell me... very quickly. So, when other bloggers mentioned stealing and restealing, I took it to heart. Especially the restealing part. And I was active from early on. I had position on the K.O.D. himself and I was able to use my weak tight image to steal some pots from him early on. Which is why I love the deep stack. In a regular tournament, a reraise basically becomes a shove. In a deep stack, reraise doesn't necessarily commit you. Big difference.
So, I was able to actively chip up until a big hand came up that put me in the top 3 in chips.
FullTiltPoker Game #2901723188: Mondays at the Hoy (21375318), Table 4 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:14:56 ET - 2007/07/09
Seat 1: PokerBrian322 (8,216)
Seat 2: rpinner (14,139)
Seat 3: Rake Feeder (1,010)
Seat 4: cracknaces (11,155)
Seat 5: lightning36 (5,456)
Seat 7: Mattazuma (1,954)
Seat 8: RecessRampage (5,863)
Seat 9: a104l9 (2,162)
a104l9 posts the small blind of 60
PokerBrian322 posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qs Js]
rpinner folds
Rake Feeder folds
cracknaces raises to 240
lightning36 folds
Mattazuma folds
RecessRampage calls 240
a104l9 folds
PokerBrian322 calls 120
*** FLOP *** [Ks 4s Th]
PokerBrian322 checks
cracknaces checks
RecessRampage checks
*** TURN *** [Ks 4s Th] [7s]
PokerBrian322 bets 480
cracknaces calls 480
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 1,600
PokerBrian322 folds
cracknaces has 15 seconds left to act
cracknaces raises to 10,915, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 4,023, and is all in
cracknaces shows [Tc Qd]
RecessRampage shows [Qs Js]
Uncalled bet of 5,292 returned to cracknaces
*** RIVER *** [Ks 4s Th 7s] [3h]
cracknaces shows a pair of Tens
RecessRampage shows a flush, King high
RecessRampage wins the pot (12,506) with a flush, King high
I'm guessing that Chad thought I was putting on a squeeze play and that if I had a flush draw, I was likely to bet on the flop. Either case, he was drawing dead and I was able to double up which was huge.
From there, I never looked back. And I actively started restealing. Even Schaubs called me out on one of them via girly chat. Hey, it was 8-10 sooted. I love that hand (though apparently, it's dubbed the mookie... I hate it when these things are taken). I continued to attack the short stacks and caught cards when I needed them. I would see the flop, reraise if I caught any piece of the board and was actually surprising myself with a) how aggressive I was and b) how well it worked... It definitely helps though if you catch the cards when you need it. And so a combination of good cards, good timing, and good karma by the FullTilt "Random" Number Generator allowed me to come to the final table very healthy. I had 5x the second highest stack.
The fact that I couldn't close this out probably says something about my end game. But still, I was pretty proud of the way I played the final table as well. I continued to be aggressive on the final table, trying to use my stack to attack the other stacks. I had my ups and downs but fortunately, with a stack like that, I was never threatened as the money bubble came and went and again, it helps to get good cards. I guess you could say that I was Astinized last night.
Well, once it got down to 3 handed play, it was apparent that LJ was getting tired of my raising and I knew that sooner or later, we were gonna tangle in a big pot. And then this came up.
FullTiltPoker Game #2902679165: Mondays at the Hoy (21375318), Table 1 - 500/1000 Ante 125 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:48:46 ET - 2007/07/10
Seat 4: RecessRampage (53,179)
Seat 5: PokerBrian322 (28,176)
Seat 8: pvanharibo (32,645)
RecessRampage antes 125
PokerBrian322 antes 125
pvanharibo antes 125
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 500
PokerBrian322 posts the big blind of 1,000
PokerBrian322: lol
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ts 9d]
pvanharibo raises to 3,000 <--- from the button, steal right?
RecessRampage raises to 9,000 <--- 9-10 is a monster to resteal with, right?
PokerBrian322 folds
pvanharibo calls 6,000 <--- I've been raising a lot so she's gotta call.
*** FLOP *** [6d 6c 3d]
RecessRampage checks
pvanharibo bets 9,000
RecessRampage raises to 44,054, and is all in
pvanharibo folds
Uncalled bet of 35,054 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (37,375)
That was big because she was second in chips and for a little while there, it seemed like we were just passing chips amongst the three of us. I wanted to make sure that I stayed aggressive and that I was in control so I took a chance. Plus, I figured, if she calls and I lose the pot, I wasn't out yet. I felt like I set it up perfectly in the sense of I played it like I had a big pair the whole way. Sure, my reraise looked like a resteal but after the check raise on the flop, she had to think I actually had a hand this time. Again, this helped me gain a significant chip lead and eventually, Lana would be sent to the rail by the evil pokerbrian322.
And as they say... the rest is history... Congrats again to pokerbrian322 (who's not even a blogger, dammit!).
Thanks to everyone who railed me and left comments and gave me tourney pointers. Schaubs and Sia (aka Pouring Reign), thanks for the rail. Hoy, Chad, and Anguila, your comments on my posts and the posts that you have on your blogs have definitely opened up my eyes and soon, I'll take Hoy's advice and watch Chad play to learn more. As usual, thanks to BuddyDank for the kick ass radio show and for Sean to join in at the final table for the added entertainment value.
Wow, that sounded like a victory speech... and I didn't even win. And now, it's 2:30am... even a night owl like myself is getting tired...
Monday, June 18, 2007
Weekend of Futility
Before I start, today is Monday and that only means one thing (aside from the fact that it sucks cuz it's the first day of the work week)... Mondays at the Hoy! So, bloggers and nonbloggers alike, come on out. $24+2 tourney at 10pm EST, password is "hammer" on FullTilt.
Next, go congratulate this sicko. He, unlike my whiny ass, played well and is WSOP bound! It would be great to see some of the bloggers make some serious noise at the Main Event... and I think we are putting up a solid line up. Couple that with the fact that I think the Main Event will have less donkeys than last year because Harrah's no longer accepts third party buy-ins, this could be a good thing. Again, Fuel, congrats!
As for me... well, what a weekend. Losing those two KK hands and being busted out of the tournament really did a number on me... especially given the fact that I didn't think the players were all that great and I felt that I could win my way into the 100 seat guarantee, that beat put a little hurtin on me. Now, I know bad beats suck and believe me, I'm generally not one to complain about it. But for me to be saying it the following morning, I think clearly illustrates how much it hurt. LJ, on the other hand played well but unfortunately was bounced from the tournament with about 10 players left for the seat, maybe less for some cash. She made a comment about how she'd rather bust out early than bubble. And I agree... when I bubble... but when I bust out early, I find myself saying I'd rather bubble because then I have a fighting chance... :) I guess that just means that I'd rather not get bounced at all.
On the flip side, I felt that I played well on my cash games. I posted a few hands but all in all, it was a pretty good weekend... unfortunately, it was one of those weekends where I don't have much to show for. I played well but I got sucked out on couple of big pots and so after playing a lot of poker this weekend, I was back to where I started on Friday... nothing like playing well and breaking even... so rigged.
So, I am hoping that instead of my usual hateful Mondays, that this is the beginning of the new week where maybe I could go on a rush, take down a BBT or two, but definitely make some serious cash at the cash tables. Hey, I can hope.
Next, go congratulate this sicko. He, unlike my whiny ass, played well and is WSOP bound! It would be great to see some of the bloggers make some serious noise at the Main Event... and I think we are putting up a solid line up. Couple that with the fact that I think the Main Event will have less donkeys than last year because Harrah's no longer accepts third party buy-ins, this could be a good thing. Again, Fuel, congrats!
As for me... well, what a weekend. Losing those two KK hands and being busted out of the tournament really did a number on me... especially given the fact that I didn't think the players were all that great and I felt that I could win my way into the 100 seat guarantee, that beat put a little hurtin on me. Now, I know bad beats suck and believe me, I'm generally not one to complain about it. But for me to be saying it the following morning, I think clearly illustrates how much it hurt. LJ, on the other hand played well but unfortunately was bounced from the tournament with about 10 players left for the seat, maybe less for some cash. She made a comment about how she'd rather bust out early than bubble. And I agree... when I bubble... but when I bust out early, I find myself saying I'd rather bubble because then I have a fighting chance... :) I guess that just means that I'd rather not get bounced at all.
On the flip side, I felt that I played well on my cash games. I posted a few hands but all in all, it was a pretty good weekend... unfortunately, it was one of those weekends where I don't have much to show for. I played well but I got sucked out on couple of big pots and so after playing a lot of poker this weekend, I was back to where I started on Friday... nothing like playing well and breaking even... so rigged.
So, I am hoping that instead of my usual hateful Mondays, that this is the beginning of the new week where maybe I could go on a rush, take down a BBT or two, but definitely make some serious cash at the cash tables. Hey, I can hope.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
MATH recap
The Battle of the Blogger Tournaments enter the final home stretch with I think 10 tournaments (maybe 9 after MATH) left and yours truly right in the middle (6th) of a grueling battle for the top 3 (measly 83 pts separate the 3rd place spot, currently occupied by NewinNov and the 7th place spot, occupied by jeciimd). After a weekend of decent showings in the MTTs I played in (which I know is very few compared to other MTT players), I was fairly confident that I was gonna do well. Well... I did... sort of. Early on, I was able to chip up thanks to a good mix of good cards, decent reads and decent aggression. Having good hands when it went to showdown helped me steal some pots in position. And by doing so, I was able to build a big stack and I was in the top 3 for a long time as I look to really take over this tournament. Well, I started losing focus because what I also wanted, along with winning was also knocking out the others who are in the top 7 points to ensure that I could make up some ground... and because of that, this was the first hand where I knew it was going to be a bad move and yet, I donk-raised...
There were 6 of us on the table with NewinNov as the shortstack and I really wanted to knock him out. He starts with T2,870 in chips and the blinds are 150/300 ante 25 (so the pot starts with 600) and he minraises from the CO. That screamed a big hand... my gut instinct was he has a big hand. I am in the SB, look down to see 44. I tell myself he's got a big hand. And next thing I know, I'm shoving my 19K+ stack into the middle, now hoping for a race... well, it was a race that I was losing badly as he showed JJ... Nothing like doubling up the one guy that I wanted to bust mainly on a donkish move by me.
Well, I didn't let that affect me and just kept up my aggressive ways and I started targeting the other big stack at the table... wwonka69, thinking that he wouldn't want to go up against the other big stack at the table without a good hand. So, every time he posted his big blind, I put in a raise from the CO. I think I went 3 or 4 orbits in a row where I did that... and then this came up...
FullTiltPoker Game #2643750853: Mondays at the Hoy (19464466), Table 1 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:00:48 ET - 2007/06/12
Seat 3: RecessRampage (19,362)
Seat 4: bayne_s (9,260)
Seat 6: wwonka69 (10,720)
Seat 7: leftylu (14,526)
Seat 8: NewinNov (4,340)
RecessRampage antes 50
bayne_s antes 50
wwonka69 antes 50
leftylu antes 50
NewinNov antes 50
leftylu posts the small blind of 200
NewinNov posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ah Qc]
RecessRampage raises to 1,650
bayne_s folds
wwonka69 raises to 5,800
leftylu folds
NewinNov folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 19,312, and is all in
wwonka69 calls 4,870, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [Ah Qc]
wwonka69 shows [6d 6h]
Uncalled bet of 8,642 returned to RecessRampage
*** FLOP *** [Kd 8h Ts]
*** TURN *** [Kd 8h Ts] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 8h Ts Th] [2s]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Tens
wwonka69 shows two pair, Tens and Sixes
wwonka69 wins the pot (22,190) with two pair, Tens and Sixes
Man, why couldn't the river be K, T, or 8, or A, or Q.... so many outs... And honestly speaking, when I reraised all in, I thought this was a case where he finally felt like he had enough so I thought he would reraise me with a hand like AJ, AT (of course, with also hands like AA, KK, AK, QQ, JJ, TT - all of which beats me).... Now that I look at this, it almost seems lucky that I was just a dog on a coin flip. This was clearly the turning point. If I take that pot, since we went to the final table during this hand, it would have been down to 8 players and with 30k+, I would have been a dominating stack. Instead, I was down to approx 9k and then I went card dead... and my stack was a little too short to make any moves aside from pushing all in... eventually, I did, actually right after I made sure NewinNov busted and I end what could've and should've been a monster run at the MATH in 8th place... that was a shitty finish to an otherwise well played tournament by me. Couple of questionable moves by me jeopardized my stack and eventually, I forced myself into a situation where I had to push with J9o... That sucked. Well, at least there is the Mookie tomorrow.
There were 6 of us on the table with NewinNov as the shortstack and I really wanted to knock him out. He starts with T2,870 in chips and the blinds are 150/300 ante 25 (so the pot starts with 600) and he minraises from the CO. That screamed a big hand... my gut instinct was he has a big hand. I am in the SB, look down to see 44. I tell myself he's got a big hand. And next thing I know, I'm shoving my 19K+ stack into the middle, now hoping for a race... well, it was a race that I was losing badly as he showed JJ... Nothing like doubling up the one guy that I wanted to bust mainly on a donkish move by me.
Well, I didn't let that affect me and just kept up my aggressive ways and I started targeting the other big stack at the table... wwonka69, thinking that he wouldn't want to go up against the other big stack at the table without a good hand. So, every time he posted his big blind, I put in a raise from the CO. I think I went 3 or 4 orbits in a row where I did that... and then this came up...
FullTiltPoker Game #2643750853: Mondays at the Hoy (19464466), Table 1 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:00:48 ET - 2007/06/12
Seat 3: RecessRampage (19,362)
Seat 4: bayne_s (9,260)
Seat 6: wwonka69 (10,720)
Seat 7: leftylu (14,526)
Seat 8: NewinNov (4,340)
RecessRampage antes 50
bayne_s antes 50
wwonka69 antes 50
leftylu antes 50
NewinNov antes 50
leftylu posts the small blind of 200
NewinNov posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ah Qc]
RecessRampage raises to 1,650
bayne_s folds
wwonka69 raises to 5,800
leftylu folds
NewinNov folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 19,312, and is all in
wwonka69 calls 4,870, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [Ah Qc]
wwonka69 shows [6d 6h]
Uncalled bet of 8,642 returned to RecessRampage
*** FLOP *** [Kd 8h Ts]
*** TURN *** [Kd 8h Ts] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 8h Ts Th] [2s]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Tens
wwonka69 shows two pair, Tens and Sixes
wwonka69 wins the pot (22,190) with two pair, Tens and Sixes
Man, why couldn't the river be K, T, or 8, or A, or Q.... so many outs... And honestly speaking, when I reraised all in, I thought this was a case where he finally felt like he had enough so I thought he would reraise me with a hand like AJ, AT (of course, with also hands like AA, KK, AK, QQ, JJ, TT - all of which beats me).... Now that I look at this, it almost seems lucky that I was just a dog on a coin flip. This was clearly the turning point. If I take that pot, since we went to the final table during this hand, it would have been down to 8 players and with 30k+, I would have been a dominating stack. Instead, I was down to approx 9k and then I went card dead... and my stack was a little too short to make any moves aside from pushing all in... eventually, I did, actually right after I made sure NewinNov busted and I end what could've and should've been a monster run at the MATH in 8th place... that was a shitty finish to an otherwise well played tournament by me. Couple of questionable moves by me jeopardized my stack and eventually, I forced myself into a situation where I had to push with J9o... That sucked. Well, at least there is the Mookie tomorrow.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Dammit!
I'm really in no mood to update the blog tonight. Just been in a crappy mood all day but I was getting ready for the MATH and I actually felt ready when it started. But one bad play and then an unfortunate hand right afterwards ended my MATH in 16 minutes. And to summarize how my tournament went down? I play like a F*CKIN P*SSY. Sometimes, I really hate myself. See below:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2585583866: Mondays at the Hoy (19464432), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:12:06 ET - 2007/06/04
Seat 1: TripJax (2,625)
Seat 2: Blinders (2,875)
Seat 3: Misterd2U (3,140)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (2,805)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (3,415)
Seat 6: jeciimd (2,955)
Seat 7: columbo (2,930)
Seat 8: lucko21 (3,255)
columbo posts the small blind of 20
lucko21 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kh 3c]
TripJax folds
Blinders folds
Misterd2U folds
wwonka69 folds
RecessRampage raises to 140 <--- from CO... so I was going for a steal. what's your problem???
jeciimd calls 140 <--- uh oh
columbo folds
lucko21 folds
*** FLOP *** [4c 2h 5c] <--- nice flop!
RecessRampage bets 250 <--- cbet
jeciimd raises to 500
RecessRampage calls 250
*** TURN *** [4c 2h 5c] [Td]
lucko21: nah, havent played that in about a week
RecessRampage checks
jeciimd bets 500 <--- looks awfully weak doesn't it?
RecessRampage calls 500
*** RIVER *** [4c 2h 5c Td] [2c] <--- completes the flush! Perfect scare card!
RecessRampage checks <--- *chicken noise*
jeciimd checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jeciimd shows [Ks Ac] (a pair of Twos) <--- I could have easily bluffed him off
RecessRampage mucks
jeciimd wins the pot (2,340) with a pair of Twos
If I can't make a play against the tightest player in the blogger world, I really have no business trying to steal with garbage hands like that...
Yes, guys, I know! You don't have to tell me. No comments necessary. WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK! *sigh*
And the very next hand Blinders sent me packing with this beauty:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2585596069: Mondays at the Hoy (19464432), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:13:27 ET - 2007/06/04
Seat 1: TripJax (2,625)
Seat 2: Blinders (2,875)
Seat 3: Misterd2U (3,140)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (2,805)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (2,275)
Seat 6: jeciimd (4,155)
Seat 7: columbo (2,910)
Seat 8: lucko21 (3,215)
lucko21 posts the small blind of 20
TripJax posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ah Qs]
Blinders raises to 120
Misterd2U folds
wwonka69 folds
RecessRampage: don't say it
RecessRampage: you guys all think it and I know it
RecessRampage calls 120
jeciimd folds
columbo folds
lucko21 folds
RecessRampage: <--- p*ssy
TripJax calls 80
*** FLOP *** [6c Tc Qd]
TripJax checks
Blinders bets 240
RecessRampage raises to 620
lucko21: heh <--- thanks Lucko :)
TripJax folds
Blinders raises to 2,755, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 1,535, and is all in
Blinders shows [Qc Kc]
RecessRampage shows [Ah Qs]
Uncalled bet of 600 returned to Blinders
*** TURN *** [6c Tc Qd] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [6c Tc Qd 3c] [7h]
Blinders shows a flush, King high
RecessRampage: gg all
lucko21: gg
RecessRampage shows a pair of Queens
Blinders wins the pot (4,690) with a flush, King high
RecessRampage stands up
Blinders: gg
In case, anyone here thinks I shoulda folded my TPTK because Blinders could have had so many hands to beat me, I hope you are joking. But here's my justification. A) It happened right after I missed the bluff attempt because I was too scared to take a swing at it so it could seem like I was on semi-tilt and B) Blinders know that everyone think he's uber-tight so he might think he could try to semi-bluff me off with a draw and C) if I fold here when my stack is half of what it used to be, what am I even doing playing in a tournament?
Again, I will listen to many different theories. Aaaah, what a night.
Full Tilt Poker Game #2585583866: Mondays at the Hoy (19464432), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:12:06 ET - 2007/06/04
Seat 1: TripJax (2,625)
Seat 2: Blinders (2,875)
Seat 3: Misterd2U (3,140)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (2,805)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (3,415)
Seat 6: jeciimd (2,955)
Seat 7: columbo (2,930)
Seat 8: lucko21 (3,255)
columbo posts the small blind of 20
lucko21 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kh 3c]
TripJax folds
Blinders folds
Misterd2U folds
wwonka69 folds
RecessRampage raises to 140 <--- from CO... so I was going for a steal. what's your problem???
jeciimd calls 140 <--- uh oh
columbo folds
lucko21 folds
*** FLOP *** [4c 2h 5c] <--- nice flop!
RecessRampage bets 250 <--- cbet
jeciimd raises to 500
RecessRampage calls 250
*** TURN *** [4c 2h 5c] [Td]
lucko21: nah, havent played that in about a week
RecessRampage checks
jeciimd bets 500 <--- looks awfully weak doesn't it?
RecessRampage calls 500
*** RIVER *** [4c 2h 5c Td] [2c] <--- completes the flush! Perfect scare card!
RecessRampage checks <--- *chicken noise*
jeciimd checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jeciimd shows [Ks Ac] (a pair of Twos) <--- I could have easily bluffed him off
RecessRampage mucks
jeciimd wins the pot (2,340) with a pair of Twos
If I can't make a play against the tightest player in the blogger world, I really have no business trying to steal with garbage hands like that...
Yes, guys, I know! You don't have to tell me. No comments necessary. WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK! *sigh*
And the very next hand Blinders sent me packing with this beauty:
Full Tilt Poker Game #2585596069: Mondays at the Hoy (19464432), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:13:27 ET - 2007/06/04
Seat 1: TripJax (2,625)
Seat 2: Blinders (2,875)
Seat 3: Misterd2U (3,140)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (2,805)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (2,275)
Seat 6: jeciimd (4,155)
Seat 7: columbo (2,910)
Seat 8: lucko21 (3,215)
lucko21 posts the small blind of 20
TripJax posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ah Qs]
Blinders raises to 120
Misterd2U folds
wwonka69 folds
RecessRampage: don't say it
RecessRampage: you guys all think it and I know it
RecessRampage calls 120
jeciimd folds
columbo folds
lucko21 folds
RecessRampage: <--- p*ssy
TripJax calls 80
*** FLOP *** [6c Tc Qd]
TripJax checks
Blinders bets 240
RecessRampage raises to 620
lucko21: heh <--- thanks Lucko :)
TripJax folds
Blinders raises to 2,755, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 1,535, and is all in
Blinders shows [Qc Kc]
RecessRampage shows [Ah Qs]
Uncalled bet of 600 returned to Blinders
*** TURN *** [6c Tc Qd] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [6c Tc Qd 3c] [7h]
Blinders shows a flush, King high
RecessRampage: gg all
lucko21: gg
RecessRampage shows a pair of Queens
Blinders wins the pot (4,690) with a flush, King high
RecessRampage stands up
Blinders: gg
In case, anyone here thinks I shoulda folded my TPTK because Blinders could have had so many hands to beat me, I hope you are joking. But here's my justification. A) It happened right after I missed the bluff attempt because I was too scared to take a swing at it so it could seem like I was on semi-tilt and B) Blinders know that everyone think he's uber-tight so he might think he could try to semi-bluff me off with a draw and C) if I fold here when my stack is half of what it used to be, what am I even doing playing in a tournament?
Again, I will listen to many different theories. Aaaah, what a night.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
MATH - Furious comeback!!!
It ain't over till it's over!
As I try to better myself in tournament play, I obviously read a lot of blogs and forums to try to educate myself. But naturally, you have to play in order to gain experience and get even better. I'm still working on the fine points of deep stack play but I feel that generally, when I'm a short stack or when the blinds are high, my timing is pretty good. Of course, it helps to get lucky but hey, we're playing cards right?
So, last night, there was another sick beat that took a chunk out of my bankroll but I grinded hard on the cash tables to pretty much erase that deficit after several hours of play. In the meantime, I donked around some sng's and a couple of MTTs. Cashed in some but nothing worth noting... and of course, after watching the final episode of Heroes, I hunkered down to play in the MATH (Mondays at the Hoy).
Well, things didn't start off so well. I tend to be fairly tight but I also knew that that's my downfall so I wanted to open my game up a little. So I took a few stabs here and there but nothing was really connecting and I didn't get involved in big pots until this came along... Still early (double stack so we all started with 3000 chips)
FullTiltPoker Game #2480348419: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 5 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:26:35 ET - 2007/05/21
Seat 1: jeciimd (2,545)
Seat 2: a104l9 (3,200)
Seat 3: MiamiDon (2,815)
Seat 4: LookyMyHooky (2,915)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (2,380) <--- already a little down with few bad bluff attempts
Seat 6: NewinNov (2,530)
Seat 7: BuddyDank (4,420)
Seat 8: summer_babe (3,725)
Seat 9: Kajagugu (1,555)
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 25
NewinNov posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jh Kd]
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe calls 50
Kajagugu folds
jeciimd folds
a104l9 folds
MiamiDon calls 50
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 25
NewinNov checks
*** FLOP *** [8d 2c Jc]
RecessRampage bets 200 <--- bet out top pair
NewinNov folds
summer_babe folds
MiamiDon calls 200 <--- don, as we all know is a player, so I wanted to be careful after this call
*** TURN *** [8d 2c Jc] [Ad]
RecessRampage checks <--- controlling pot size
MiamiDon bets 500
RecessRampage calls 500 <--- here, I thought he was trying to steal the pot from me since I showed weakness by checking. I thought I was still good.
*** RIVER *** [8d 2c Jc Ad] [As]
RecessRampage checks
MiamiDon bets 1,100 <--- clearly a steal attempt, right?
RecessRampage calls 1,100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MiamiDon shows [Js Ah] (a full house, Aces full of Jacks) <--- WRONG
RecessRampage mucks
MiamiDon wins the pot (3,800) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
RecessRampage: damn...
That took a huge chunk of my stack. Now I'm down to 530 in chip stack from the starting 3000... and we're like 15 minutes into the tournament with 47 runners. Not looking good at all... I'm sitting at 42nd out of 42 remaining runners...
10:51pm - I somehow keep surviving with my meager chip stack until about 10 minutes remaining till the first break, I get A9 of hearts in the small blind. Button raises to 300 (blinds are 50/100) and I go all in for 255 more... again, short stack and this is probably as good as it gets. As the button calls I type "time to get lucky" into the chat box... he flips over AQ but I catch my nut flush on the turn and double up.
10:54pm - That propelled me to 40 out of 42 remaining. And then I go on a mini rush... UTG raises to 350 (blinds still at 50/100) and I'm sitting at UTG+2 with pocket jacks. So I push my still small stack of 1,210. Goes back around to UTG who calls with AQ. JJ holds up. Another double up. Stack at 2,570.
10:55pm - Very next hand. I find AK from UTG+1 so I raise to 350. Jeciimd (our top points player who hasn't cashed in the BBT events) who has been called by many to be maybe a little too tight pushes his stack for 1,770. I personally didn't have any opinion on him in terms of tightness (believe me, if I peg you as a tight player, then you're folding everything but AA and KK) but based on his rep, I thought at best, it was a race. But I couldn't fold and I said as much in the chat box. Actually my quote was "I'm such a donk, but I can't fold this." He flips AQ and my AK holds. My stack is now at a healthy 3,640.
10:57pm - Folded one hand and then this came up. I'm in the big blind...
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Kh]
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe folds
Kajagugu folds
willwonka raises to 300
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 200
*** FLOP *** [7h Kd Ac]
RecessRampage checks
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka bets 500
RecessRampage raises to 2,150 <--- this is not a play I would have made a while ago but now, I wasn't sure if willwonka had the ace. I figured, if he did, then so be it. It was only half my stack at this point and I now wanted to pressure him.
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka folds <--- phew
Uncalled bet of 1,650 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (1,650)
That took my stack to 5,290 which made me the chip leader at the table, only for a hand or two until MiamiDon won a monster pot right before the break.
11:22pm - I don't know what happened... very donkalicious moment for me. I call this guy's all in with pocket 5's on a board where there were three higher cards (turns out he had top set) so I lose 1,845 of my chip stack. However, that kinda snapped me back into playing tight again.
11:31pm - 10 minutes later, Schaubs and I go at it in this crazy hand where it was 3 handed going into the flop (after a raise and a reraise).
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qs Qd]
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage raises to 600
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
Schaubs has 15 seconds left to act
Schaubs raises to 1,500
OtisDart folds
JoeSpeaker folds
smokkee calls 1,300 <--- ??? I would love to know what he had here
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 2,575, and is all in <--- what else can I do with QQ here?
Schaubs calls 1,075
smokkee calls 1,075
*** FLOP *** [8c 5d 5c]
smokkee checks
Schaubs bets 3,811, and is all in
RecessRampage: hmmm
smokkee: i knew u were gonna do that
smokkee has 15 seconds left to act
smokkee: damn
smokkee folds
Schaubs shows [Th Ts]
RecessRampage shows [Qs Qd]
Uncalled bet of 3,811 returned to Schaubs
*** TURN *** [8c 5d 5c] [Td] <--- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RecessRampage: damn
*** RIVER *** [8c 5d 5c Td] [Qh] <--- YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Schaubs shows a full house, Tens full of Fives
RecessRampage shows a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage wins the pot (7,825) with a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage: oh damn
NewinNov: lol
JoeSpeaker: gotdamn
The ol' suck, resuck. So much drama... lol
Well, not much happens after this but as antes kick in, it becomes imperative that I stay alive and relatively healthy. So this comes up...
11:56pm - Smokkee at this point has me covered by approx 1800 chips but we're both about average chip stack overall. Smokkee is in the small blind and I'm BB. (blinds 150/300)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Js Qd]
everyone folds
smokkee raises to 900
RecessRampage calls 600 <--- gotta protect my blinds
*** FLOP *** [3s Kh 2c]
smokkee bets 975 <--- half the pot? I sensed weakness here so...
RecessRampage calls 975 <--- I call, to see what he does on the turn
*** TURN *** [3s Kh 2c] [Qh]
smokkee checks
RecessRampage bets 4,275, and is all in <--- if he slowplayed a king, I at least have outs if he calls but I wanted to make a statement here... if I'm wrong, I'm gone
smokkee folds <--- phew... he later claims he folded KT here... not sure if he's telling the truth though... :)
Uncalled bet of 4,275 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (3,925)
That was a pretty rare bluffing moment for me and that definitely helped. When the blinds start escalating in a hurry, every little bit helps, obviously.
Fast forward to 1:15am and this hand happens which is probably one of the most critical hands for me... It's down to 5 of us so we're in the money...
ullTiltPoker Game #2481723019: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 4 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:15:59 ET - 2007/05/22
Seat 2: TripJax (44,525)
Seat 4: OtisDart (11,919)
Seat 5: MiamiDon (23,600)
Seat 6: Mike_Maloney (40,088)
Seat 8: RecessRampage (20,868)
TripJax antes 250
OtisDart antes 250
MiamiDon antes 250
Mike_Maloney antes 250
RecessRampage antes 250
TripJax posts the small blind of 1,000
OtisDart posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Jc]
MiamiDon raises to 5,500
Mike_Maloney folds
RecessRampage calls 5,500 <--- I call in position, with decent cards, and with the blinds so high and at a short handed table, I either reraise here or call but folding, in my opinion, was not an option
TripJax folds
OtisDart raises to 11,669, and is all in
MiamiDon has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney: big hand
MiamiDon folds
RecessRampage: damn
RecessRampage: don, I was hoping you'd call...
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
MiamiDon: sandwich play
RecessRampage: got to
RecessRampage: I'm a donk
RecessRampage calls 6,169
OtisDart shows [Kc Kh]
RecessRampage shows [Qc Jc]
*** FLOP *** [2c 5s 7h]
*** TURN *** [2c 5s 7h] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [2c 5s 7h Ts] [2s]
OtisDart shows two pair, Kings and Twos
RecessRampage shows a pair of Twos
OtisDart wins the pot (31,088) with two pair, Kings and Twos
MiamiDon: nh
Mike_Maloney: ouch, nh
It was 6,169 more for me to call in a pot that already had close to 25,000 in chips. As I keep replaying, I feel like it was inevitable for me to lose chips here... Would you have folded? Would you have folded to the initial raise? I would love to hear it, esp if there are ones out there who think this is a hand that I should have folded. Well, this made me a short stack so few hands later, I pushed with 6-2 of hearts (I was gonna push ATC) and got called by Otis with AJ and that ended my tournament life. However, being at 42 out of 42 at one point, it was nice to see this...
And 4th place finish in this tough company was definitely something that I am proud of...
And by the way, stop by and congratulate OtisDart for eventually taking down the whole thing.
I'm gonna be hurting tomorrow at work...
As I try to better myself in tournament play, I obviously read a lot of blogs and forums to try to educate myself. But naturally, you have to play in order to gain experience and get even better. I'm still working on the fine points of deep stack play but I feel that generally, when I'm a short stack or when the blinds are high, my timing is pretty good. Of course, it helps to get lucky but hey, we're playing cards right?
So, last night, there was another sick beat that took a chunk out of my bankroll but I grinded hard on the cash tables to pretty much erase that deficit after several hours of play. In the meantime, I donked around some sng's and a couple of MTTs. Cashed in some but nothing worth noting... and of course, after watching the final episode of Heroes, I hunkered down to play in the MATH (Mondays at the Hoy).
Well, things didn't start off so well. I tend to be fairly tight but I also knew that that's my downfall so I wanted to open my game up a little. So I took a few stabs here and there but nothing was really connecting and I didn't get involved in big pots until this came along... Still early (double stack so we all started with 3000 chips)
FullTiltPoker Game #2480348419: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 5 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:26:35 ET - 2007/05/21
Seat 1: jeciimd (2,545)
Seat 2: a104l9 (3,200)
Seat 3: MiamiDon (2,815)
Seat 4: LookyMyHooky (2,915)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (2,380) <--- already a little down with few bad bluff attempts
Seat 6: NewinNov (2,530)
Seat 7: BuddyDank (4,420)
Seat 8: summer_babe (3,725)
Seat 9: Kajagugu (1,555)
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 25
NewinNov posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jh Kd]
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe calls 50
Kajagugu folds
jeciimd folds
a104l9 folds
MiamiDon calls 50
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 25
NewinNov checks
*** FLOP *** [8d 2c Jc]
RecessRampage bets 200 <--- bet out top pair
NewinNov folds
summer_babe folds
MiamiDon calls 200 <--- don, as we all know is a player, so I wanted to be careful after this call
*** TURN *** [8d 2c Jc] [Ad]
RecessRampage checks <--- controlling pot size
MiamiDon bets 500
RecessRampage calls 500 <--- here, I thought he was trying to steal the pot from me since I showed weakness by checking. I thought I was still good.
*** RIVER *** [8d 2c Jc Ad] [As]
RecessRampage checks
MiamiDon bets 1,100 <--- clearly a steal attempt, right?
RecessRampage calls 1,100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MiamiDon shows [Js Ah] (a full house, Aces full of Jacks) <--- WRONG
RecessRampage mucks
MiamiDon wins the pot (3,800) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
RecessRampage: damn...
That took a huge chunk of my stack. Now I'm down to 530 in chip stack from the starting 3000... and we're like 15 minutes into the tournament with 47 runners. Not looking good at all... I'm sitting at 42nd out of 42 remaining runners...
10:51pm - I somehow keep surviving with my meager chip stack until about 10 minutes remaining till the first break, I get A9 of hearts in the small blind. Button raises to 300 (blinds are 50/100) and I go all in for 255 more... again, short stack and this is probably as good as it gets. As the button calls I type "time to get lucky" into the chat box... he flips over AQ but I catch my nut flush on the turn and double up.
10:54pm - That propelled me to 40 out of 42 remaining. And then I go on a mini rush... UTG raises to 350 (blinds still at 50/100) and I'm sitting at UTG+2 with pocket jacks. So I push my still small stack of 1,210. Goes back around to UTG who calls with AQ. JJ holds up. Another double up. Stack at 2,570.
10:55pm - Very next hand. I find AK from UTG+1 so I raise to 350. Jeciimd (our top points player who hasn't cashed in the BBT events) who has been called by many to be maybe a little too tight pushes his stack for 1,770. I personally didn't have any opinion on him in terms of tightness (believe me, if I peg you as a tight player, then you're folding everything but AA and KK) but based on his rep, I thought at best, it was a race. But I couldn't fold and I said as much in the chat box. Actually my quote was "I'm such a donk, but I can't fold this." He flips AQ and my AK holds. My stack is now at a healthy 3,640.
10:57pm - Folded one hand and then this came up. I'm in the big blind...
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Kh]
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe folds
Kajagugu folds
willwonka raises to 300
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 200
*** FLOP *** [7h Kd Ac]
RecessRampage checks
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka bets 500
RecessRampage raises to 2,150 <--- this is not a play I would have made a while ago but now, I wasn't sure if willwonka had the ace. I figured, if he did, then so be it. It was only half my stack at this point and I now wanted to pressure him.
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka folds <--- phew
Uncalled bet of 1,650 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (1,650)
That took my stack to 5,290 which made me the chip leader at the table, only for a hand or two until MiamiDon won a monster pot right before the break.
11:22pm - I don't know what happened... very donkalicious moment for me. I call this guy's all in with pocket 5's on a board where there were three higher cards (turns out he had top set) so I lose 1,845 of my chip stack. However, that kinda snapped me back into playing tight again.
11:31pm - 10 minutes later, Schaubs and I go at it in this crazy hand where it was 3 handed going into the flop (after a raise and a reraise).
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qs Qd]
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage raises to 600
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
Schaubs has 15 seconds left to act
Schaubs raises to 1,500
OtisDart folds
JoeSpeaker folds
smokkee calls 1,300 <--- ??? I would love to know what he had here
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 2,575, and is all in <--- what else can I do with QQ here?
Schaubs calls 1,075
smokkee calls 1,075
*** FLOP *** [8c 5d 5c]
smokkee checks
Schaubs bets 3,811, and is all in
RecessRampage: hmmm
smokkee: i knew u were gonna do that
smokkee has 15 seconds left to act
smokkee: damn
smokkee folds
Schaubs shows [Th Ts]
RecessRampage shows [Qs Qd]
Uncalled bet of 3,811 returned to Schaubs
*** TURN *** [8c 5d 5c] [Td] <--- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RecessRampage: damn
*** RIVER *** [8c 5d 5c Td] [Qh] <--- YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Schaubs shows a full house, Tens full of Fives
RecessRampage shows a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage wins the pot (7,825) with a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage: oh damn
NewinNov: lol
JoeSpeaker: gotdamn
The ol' suck, resuck. So much drama... lol
Well, not much happens after this but as antes kick in, it becomes imperative that I stay alive and relatively healthy. So this comes up...
11:56pm - Smokkee at this point has me covered by approx 1800 chips but we're both about average chip stack overall. Smokkee is in the small blind and I'm BB. (blinds 150/300)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Js Qd]
everyone folds
smokkee raises to 900
RecessRampage calls 600 <--- gotta protect my blinds
*** FLOP *** [3s Kh 2c]
smokkee bets 975 <--- half the pot? I sensed weakness here so...
RecessRampage calls 975 <--- I call, to see what he does on the turn
*** TURN *** [3s Kh 2c] [Qh]
smokkee checks
RecessRampage bets 4,275, and is all in <--- if he slowplayed a king, I at least have outs if he calls but I wanted to make a statement here... if I'm wrong, I'm gone
smokkee folds <--- phew... he later claims he folded KT here... not sure if he's telling the truth though... :)
Uncalled bet of 4,275 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (3,925)
That was a pretty rare bluffing moment for me and that definitely helped. When the blinds start escalating in a hurry, every little bit helps, obviously.
Fast forward to 1:15am and this hand happens which is probably one of the most critical hands for me... It's down to 5 of us so we're in the money...
ullTiltPoker Game #2481723019: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 4 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:15:59 ET - 2007/05/22
Seat 2: TripJax (44,525)
Seat 4: OtisDart (11,919)
Seat 5: MiamiDon (23,600)
Seat 6: Mike_Maloney (40,088)
Seat 8: RecessRampage (20,868)
TripJax antes 250
OtisDart antes 250
MiamiDon antes 250
Mike_Maloney antes 250
RecessRampage antes 250
TripJax posts the small blind of 1,000
OtisDart posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Jc]
MiamiDon raises to 5,500
Mike_Maloney folds
RecessRampage calls 5,500 <--- I call in position, with decent cards, and with the blinds so high and at a short handed table, I either reraise here or call but folding, in my opinion, was not an option
TripJax folds
OtisDart raises to 11,669, and is all in
MiamiDon has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney: big hand
MiamiDon folds
RecessRampage: damn
RecessRampage: don, I was hoping you'd call...
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
MiamiDon: sandwich play
RecessRampage: got to
RecessRampage: I'm a donk
RecessRampage calls 6,169
OtisDart shows [Kc Kh]
RecessRampage shows [Qc Jc]
*** FLOP *** [2c 5s 7h]
*** TURN *** [2c 5s 7h] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [2c 5s 7h Ts] [2s]
OtisDart shows two pair, Kings and Twos
RecessRampage shows a pair of Twos
OtisDart wins the pot (31,088) with two pair, Kings and Twos
MiamiDon: nh
Mike_Maloney: ouch, nh
It was 6,169 more for me to call in a pot that already had close to 25,000 in chips. As I keep replaying, I feel like it was inevitable for me to lose chips here... Would you have folded? Would you have folded to the initial raise? I would love to hear it, esp if there are ones out there who think this is a hand that I should have folded. Well, this made me a short stack so few hands later, I pushed with 6-2 of hearts (I was gonna push ATC) and got called by Otis with AJ and that ended my tournament life. However, being at 42 out of 42 at one point, it was nice to see this...
And 4th place finish in this tough company was definitely something that I am proud of...
And by the way, stop by and congratulate OtisDart for eventually taking down the whole thing.
I'm gonna be hurting tomorrow at work...
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Cashed at the MATH!
Even though my poker playing hours have been fairly low this month, I still try to make it to some of the blogger tourneys because it's fun and it forces me to play more tourneys rather than cash games. Having said that, I discovered what would be otherwise very obvious... playing cash games while playing in a blogger tourney is definitely -EV. I was too busy chatting and playing the tournament that I was literally just playing cards at the 2-4NL table I had open... and since I wasn't catching them, I just gave away money at the cash tables. Lucky for everyone else at that table I suppose.
On a more positive note, however, I finally cashed in one of these blogger tourneys! Considering that I truly consider myself a tournament donk (unlike some others who claim they suck as they continue to final table big MTTs), outlasting the other bloggers to come in 5th overall (out of 52 runners) at the MATH was certainly an accomplishment and quite a proud one at that. I, unfortunately, don't have a screen shot of the tournament lobby but here's the link to the results. The only thing I'm upset about is that I really didn't give myself a chance to win. Towards the end, I wanted to cash more than I wanted to win and I truly believe that Astin was stealing my big blind from MP every time. I KNEW it. And yet, I did nothing about it because I did not want to bubble out of the money. But it was literally a situation where lucko has described in his post here. That's where I learned the term "ATC" (any two cards) which is very frequently used by the bloggers (aka the hammer). The presence of the low stack (islandbum1) who eventually lasted to the money made me not want to bubble and as such, I tightened up... at the same time, went relatively card dead (there were marginal hands that I could have played back with but again, I was too scared to bubble). So, needless to say, I let him steal most of my blinds... by the time the bubble burst and we were all in the money, I didn't really have a chance to win. The only chance was maybe if I can finish 4th instead of 5th, etc but unless I got crazy cards, I was no longer a threat to anyone and as such, I pushed with J4 soooooooted, only to be called by the eventual winner with KJ and I'm out in 5th place. Astin, in case you read this blog, since I let you steal my blinds, I stole your screen shot. Thanks! Yours truly in 5th place. Next up, the Mookie!
On a more positive note, however, I finally cashed in one of these blogger tourneys! Considering that I truly consider myself a tournament donk (unlike some others who claim they suck as they continue to final table big MTTs), outlasting the other bloggers to come in 5th overall (out of 52 runners) at the MATH was certainly an accomplishment and quite a proud one at that. I, unfortunately, don't have a screen shot of the tournament lobby but here's the link to the results. The only thing I'm upset about is that I really didn't give myself a chance to win. Towards the end, I wanted to cash more than I wanted to win and I truly believe that Astin was stealing my big blind from MP every time. I KNEW it. And yet, I did nothing about it because I did not want to bubble out of the money. But it was literally a situation where lucko has described in his post here. That's where I learned the term "ATC" (any two cards) which is very frequently used by the bloggers (aka the hammer). The presence of the low stack (islandbum1) who eventually lasted to the money made me not want to bubble and as such, I tightened up... at the same time, went relatively card dead (there were marginal hands that I could have played back with but again, I was too scared to bubble). So, needless to say, I let him steal most of my blinds... by the time the bubble burst and we were all in the money, I didn't really have a chance to win. The only chance was maybe if I can finish 4th instead of 5th, etc but unless I got crazy cards, I was no longer a threat to anyone and as such, I pushed with J4 soooooooted, only to be called by the eventual winner with KJ and I'm out in 5th place. Astin, in case you read this blog, since I let you steal my blinds, I stole your screen shot. Thanks! Yours truly in 5th place. Next up, the Mookie!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Weekend recap, FTOPS IV, MATH, and PAPT (or the lack thereof)
I don't even really know why I wait till the weekday to blog. I think this is relatively common in that I usually visit other blog sites on the weekdays so it makes sense that I update mine on the weekdays as well. Having said that, it would seem like it would make a lot more sense if I actually did the weekend recap on a Sunday night or something when I feel like I have time. But then again, I use that time to play poker so I guess it's almost a catch 22. Anyways, this weekend was really not all that exciting on the poker front. On Saturday, I only played for like an hour and got killed. Well, my "getting killed" is about $600. This is the hand that especially sucked when Presto wasn't so gold this time...
FullTiltPoker Game #2210341074: Table Karina Jett - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:02:21 ET - 2007/04/14
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to RecessRampage [5d 5h]
UTG calls $4
RecessRampage calls $4 <--- from the button (yes, Fuel, I realize now that this is a raising hand)
SB calls $2
BB checks
*** FLOP *** [5c 7s Tc]<--- uh oh, Presto is gold!?
SB bets $8
BB calls $8
RecessRampage raises to $36 <--- slow playing trips is overrated
SB calls $28<-- must be on a draw
BB folds
*** TURN *** [5c 7s Tc] [8h]
SB bets $80<--- wtf!? did he make a straight? 4-6? or did he now catch a pair with his 8-9?
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $307, and is all in <-my hand is still good right!?
SB calls $227 <--- oh f***
RecessRampage shows [5d 5h]
SB shows [4d 6h]
*** RIVER *** [5c 7s Tc 8h] [9s]
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Fives SB shows a straight, Ten high
SB wins the pot ($707) with a straight, Ten high
That sucked. And admittedly, that was a situation where I should have just called on the turn. I'm not sure that pushing was the right move. However, I will say this. In terms of his likely holdings, I thought he would do that with 7-8, 8-9... 4-6 did cross my mind because he was also deep so I knew that he knew that he had enough odds to make that call on the flop... and admittedly, I wanted that call on the flop. Still, probably a poor play. Sometimes, it's such thin line between "Presto is Gold" series that Fuel does on his blog and this type of disaster (mainly found on my blogs).
Fortunately, like lucko mentioned before in his blog during his sick run last month on the cash tables, the weekends at FTP are softer than usual. There are sooooo many bad players who buy in short at these tables so, on Sunday, I made up everything I lost. It would be better if I can say I made up what I lost on Saturday and then some but then again, I'm not as sick as some of the other bloggers here. But, making up the $600 loss from Saturday still felt good. This hand came up on Sunday, when I got involved with a guy who took some of my money with a total donkish but lucky hand. But based on what I saw on Saturday, I had notes on him... a very simple one that said this "total calling station - will call down with any piece of the board regardless of the size of the bet."
So, when this hand came up, I decided to trust my note, even though my hand was definitely vulnerable.
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Ks]
EP calls $4
3 players fold
RecessRampage raises to $18 <-- from late MP
CO-1 folds
CO (cutoff) calls $18 <-the aforementioned donk
Button folds
Both blinds fold
EP calls $14
*** FLOP *** [Kh 4h 8s]
EP checks RecessRampage bets $50 <- pot was like $55-57
"the donk at CO" calls $50 <- here he comes.
At this point, I wasn't really worried about a set. He'd make this call with a hand as bad as 4-5.
EP folds
*** TURN *** [Kh 4h 8s] [5s]
RecessRampage bets $120 <-- now the board is starting to look dangerous with str8 possibilities and double flush possibilities so maybe I should've bet more here. The pot was like $150 so he was getting better than 2-1. However, I actually put him on a weak king so I felt like this was a good amount.
"the donk at CO" calls $120
*** RIVER *** [Kh 4h 8s 5s] [Jd]
RecessRampage checks <-- the river felt safe but now, I'm not too crazy about my hand. Plus, if he simply missed the flush, maybe he'll take a stab at it
"the donk at CO" bets $80.90, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $80.90 <--- my only thought here was "man, if he has KJ, that's so sick."
*** SHOW DOWN *** the donk shows [8h 7h] (a pair of Eights) <-- actually had more outs than I gave him credit for
RecessRampage shows [Qc Ks] (a pair of Kings)
RecessRampage wins the pot ($558.80) with a pair of Kings <-- thanks for holding on to my money but I'll take back what's mine!
The MATH hosted by Hoy last night had another good turn out with 49 bloggers. Yours truly, in true tournament donk fashion, busted out 21st as my stack steadily dwindled down. I'm such an uber weak tight tournament player, it's almost funny. I let my stack steadily dwindle down until the blinds increase or my stack dwindles (or the combination of both) to the point where my M is around 5 and then I just become a push monkey, pushing all in with half decent cards and sometimes not so half decent cards. I'm bound to get caught and eventually, I do... alas, my exit at 21st place when my 33 ran into a 99 in the small blind... I need to switch things up for the Mookie tomorrow night.
Speaking of tournaments, it must be that time of the year again. Already!? FTOPS IV Schedule is out so FullTilt is now running a bunch of satellites to qualify for the events. I need to start playing in these satellites as well as the WSOP satellites that I have been kinda neglecting...
And speaking of neglecting, I haven't talked about PAPT (Park Avenue Poker Tour) in a long time.... that's because I haven't been to it in a long time. I feel like the past several Tuesdays, something was always up whether it was work, family visiting, basketball league games, etc where I just wasn't able to make the 8pm starting time. As such, I still only have a meager 3 points on my quest to a PAPT POY which Tyke is furiously trying to get. And consider this. He was the second place finisher last year after Sia who decided to graciously move down to FL to give the rest of us a chance so Tyke is definitely picking up right where he left off. Hopefully, he'll be like the hare in that story and me the tortoise... funny how comparing myself to a turtle is never all that exciting...
Alright, time to start working! (read: check out other people's blogs!)
FullTiltPoker Game #2210341074: Table Karina Jett - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:02:21 ET - 2007/04/14
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to RecessRampage [5d 5h]
UTG calls $4
RecessRampage calls $4 <--- from the button (yes, Fuel, I realize now that this is a raising hand)
SB calls $2
BB checks
*** FLOP *** [5c 7s Tc]<--- uh oh, Presto is gold!?
SB bets $8
BB calls $8
RecessRampage raises to $36 <--- slow playing trips is overrated
SB calls $28<-- must be on a draw
BB folds
*** TURN *** [5c 7s Tc] [8h]
SB bets $80<--- wtf!? did he make a straight? 4-6? or did he now catch a pair with his 8-9?
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $307, and is all in <-my hand is still good right!?
SB calls $227 <--- oh f***
RecessRampage shows [5d 5h]
SB shows [4d 6h]
*** RIVER *** [5c 7s Tc 8h] [9s]
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Fives SB shows a straight, Ten high
SB wins the pot ($707) with a straight, Ten high
That sucked. And admittedly, that was a situation where I should have just called on the turn. I'm not sure that pushing was the right move. However, I will say this. In terms of his likely holdings, I thought he would do that with 7-8, 8-9... 4-6 did cross my mind because he was also deep so I knew that he knew that he had enough odds to make that call on the flop... and admittedly, I wanted that call on the flop. Still, probably a poor play. Sometimes, it's such thin line between "Presto is Gold" series that Fuel does on his blog and this type of disaster (mainly found on my blogs).
Fortunately, like lucko mentioned before in his blog during his sick run last month on the cash tables, the weekends at FTP are softer than usual. There are sooooo many bad players who buy in short at these tables so, on Sunday, I made up everything I lost. It would be better if I can say I made up what I lost on Saturday and then some but then again, I'm not as sick as some of the other bloggers here. But, making up the $600 loss from Saturday still felt good. This hand came up on Sunday, when I got involved with a guy who took some of my money with a total donkish but lucky hand. But based on what I saw on Saturday, I had notes on him... a very simple one that said this "total calling station - will call down with any piece of the board regardless of the size of the bet."
So, when this hand came up, I decided to trust my note, even though my hand was definitely vulnerable.
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Ks]
EP calls $4
3 players fold
RecessRampage raises to $18 <-- from late MP
CO-1 folds
CO (cutoff) calls $18 <-the aforementioned donk
Button folds
Both blinds fold
EP calls $14
*** FLOP *** [Kh 4h 8s]
EP checks RecessRampage bets $50 <- pot was like $55-57
"the donk at CO" calls $50 <- here he comes.
At this point, I wasn't really worried about a set. He'd make this call with a hand as bad as 4-5.
EP folds
*** TURN *** [Kh 4h 8s] [5s]
RecessRampage bets $120 <-- now the board is starting to look dangerous with str8 possibilities and double flush possibilities so maybe I should've bet more here. The pot was like $150 so he was getting better than 2-1. However, I actually put him on a weak king so I felt like this was a good amount.
"the donk at CO" calls $120
*** RIVER *** [Kh 4h 8s 5s] [Jd]
RecessRampage checks <-- the river felt safe but now, I'm not too crazy about my hand. Plus, if he simply missed the flush, maybe he'll take a stab at it
"the donk at CO" bets $80.90, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $80.90 <--- my only thought here was "man, if he has KJ, that's so sick."
*** SHOW DOWN *** the donk shows [8h 7h] (a pair of Eights) <-- actually had more outs than I gave him credit for
RecessRampage shows [Qc Ks] (a pair of Kings)
RecessRampage wins the pot ($558.80) with a pair of Kings <-- thanks for holding on to my money but I'll take back what's mine!
The MATH hosted by Hoy last night had another good turn out with 49 bloggers. Yours truly, in true tournament donk fashion, busted out 21st as my stack steadily dwindled down. I'm such an uber weak tight tournament player, it's almost funny. I let my stack steadily dwindle down until the blinds increase or my stack dwindles (or the combination of both) to the point where my M is around 5 and then I just become a push monkey, pushing all in with half decent cards and sometimes not so half decent cards. I'm bound to get caught and eventually, I do... alas, my exit at 21st place when my 33 ran into a 99 in the small blind... I need to switch things up for the Mookie tomorrow night.
Speaking of tournaments, it must be that time of the year again. Already!? FTOPS IV Schedule is out so FullTilt is now running a bunch of satellites to qualify for the events. I need to start playing in these satellites as well as the WSOP satellites that I have been kinda neglecting...
And speaking of neglecting, I haven't talked about PAPT (Park Avenue Poker Tour) in a long time.... that's because I haven't been to it in a long time. I feel like the past several Tuesdays, something was always up whether it was work, family visiting, basketball league games, etc where I just wasn't able to make the 8pm starting time. As such, I still only have a meager 3 points on my quest to a PAPT POY which Tyke is furiously trying to get. And consider this. He was the second place finisher last year after Sia who decided to graciously move down to FL to give the rest of us a chance so Tyke is definitely picking up right where he left off. Hopefully, he'll be like the hare in that story and me the tortoise... funny how comparing myself to a turtle is never all that exciting...
Alright, time to start working! (read: check out other people's blogs!)
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Birthday weekend and MATH (not much poker content)
Quick note: I am experimenting with the title and such because as it stands now, there's no correlation between my screenname on FullTilt (RecessRampage), my blog address (pokertachi), and my profile (Alan). Basically, I'm all over the place so I'm trying to bring it together for less confusion...
This past Saturday was my birthday... I remember when I was a lot younger, I used to be very excited about my birthday. My parents would have parties, I'd invite all my friends (basically all my classmates because when there's a party, all of a sudden, everyone becomes your friend) and we'd have a fun time with presents and all... and then you get older and it's still kinda cool because you go out, maybe get drunk with your friends and most of the time, you don't have to pay for those drinks... and then you get older than that and basically it starts sucking... because it's another year that's gone by and that's about it. So, for my birthday, my wife took me out to dinner at this italian restaurant which was really good. But aside from that, we spent it like we do every other Saturdays... her napping while I play poker all day... I have to admit though, that's pretty much what I wanted to do so it worked out great.
Speaking of birthdays, in my previous job, I used to work in this office with about 50 people. And at one point, we had 4 people with the same birthday... I remember thinking that was so crazy... I mean what are the odds!? Well, few years later, I heard an interesting theory. William Chen was talking about this quantum theory "joke" about the odds of a person having the same birthday as yourself. The way it goes is this (and by the way, it's not a ha ha funny kinda joke... those quantum analysts, their crazy!!): If you grabbed 20 random people, the odds of them having a certain birthdate that you pick out is very low (20/365, right?). However, the chance that 2 people out of that 20 have the same birthday is actually not that unlikely. The reason? Because for each person that you ask in that group of 20, the odds increase. In other words, after you ask person A and person B what they're birthdays are, person C has to have a birthday that's either A or B. But by the 15th person, if there hasn't been a repeat at that point, there are 14 birthdays that are already "taken." When I heard that theory/joke, I remember thinking that that was very interesting (bringing out my inner nerd).
On Sunday, we had a family Easter dinner at a nearby upscale steak restaurant. They had a breakfast buffet that was fantastic. I love those things. Nothing like good food in unlimited quantities. So, even though there was no particular significance for me, Easter was enjoyable. Growing up, all I did was color eggs and go on egg hunts... I still want to know how that thing started. I watched Southpark the other day and they sorta addressed that... by saying that St Peter was actually a rabbit (ie Peter Rabbit)... hilarious.
Last night, I played in my first ever MATH (Mondays at the Hoy) on FTP (I did play the MATH on PokerStars once before). I generally played a straight up tight aggressive game which got me to the final table with my M around 7 or 8 which was the case with like 6 out of the 9 of us at the final table. Well, after my KK loses to AQ (all in preflop), I was crippled but a few all ins later, I was pretty much back up to where my stack was before that unfortunate beat... and then I'm in the big blind with AA. My stack was around T11,000 (again, M is probably 6 around this point). Our chipleader raises to T2500 and the button calls so with blinds and antes on top of that, it was a good amount in the pot so I pushed all in to get called by our chipleader who shows pocket 9's. Funny thing is, I felt a bad beat looming over my head.... and sure enough, a 9 flops and with no help on the turn or the river, I bust out in 8th place despite my valiant effort. Oh well, at least he put the chips to good use by winning the whole thing.... again.
All in all, a very fun time. I'm also glad that this tournament started at 10pm because it gives me time to do everything else I need to do before I could sit down and play.... the only downside is, I'm up till like 1am so I'm exhausted this morning....
This past Saturday was my birthday... I remember when I was a lot younger, I used to be very excited about my birthday. My parents would have parties, I'd invite all my friends (basically all my classmates because when there's a party, all of a sudden, everyone becomes your friend) and we'd have a fun time with presents and all... and then you get older and it's still kinda cool because you go out, maybe get drunk with your friends and most of the time, you don't have to pay for those drinks... and then you get older than that and basically it starts sucking... because it's another year that's gone by and that's about it. So, for my birthday, my wife took me out to dinner at this italian restaurant which was really good. But aside from that, we spent it like we do every other Saturdays... her napping while I play poker all day... I have to admit though, that's pretty much what I wanted to do so it worked out great.
Speaking of birthdays, in my previous job, I used to work in this office with about 50 people. And at one point, we had 4 people with the same birthday... I remember thinking that was so crazy... I mean what are the odds!? Well, few years later, I heard an interesting theory. William Chen was talking about this quantum theory "joke" about the odds of a person having the same birthday as yourself. The way it goes is this (and by the way, it's not a ha ha funny kinda joke... those quantum analysts, their crazy!!): If you grabbed 20 random people, the odds of them having a certain birthdate that you pick out is very low (20/365, right?). However, the chance that 2 people out of that 20 have the same birthday is actually not that unlikely. The reason? Because for each person that you ask in that group of 20, the odds increase. In other words, after you ask person A and person B what they're birthdays are, person C has to have a birthday that's either A or B. But by the 15th person, if there hasn't been a repeat at that point, there are 14 birthdays that are already "taken." When I heard that theory/joke, I remember thinking that that was very interesting (bringing out my inner nerd).
On Sunday, we had a family Easter dinner at a nearby upscale steak restaurant. They had a breakfast buffet that was fantastic. I love those things. Nothing like good food in unlimited quantities. So, even though there was no particular significance for me, Easter was enjoyable. Growing up, all I did was color eggs and go on egg hunts... I still want to know how that thing started. I watched Southpark the other day and they sorta addressed that... by saying that St Peter was actually a rabbit (ie Peter Rabbit)... hilarious.
Last night, I played in my first ever MATH (Mondays at the Hoy) on FTP (I did play the MATH on PokerStars once before). I generally played a straight up tight aggressive game which got me to the final table with my M around 7 or 8 which was the case with like 6 out of the 9 of us at the final table. Well, after my KK loses to AQ (all in preflop), I was crippled but a few all ins later, I was pretty much back up to where my stack was before that unfortunate beat... and then I'm in the big blind with AA. My stack was around T11,000 (again, M is probably 6 around this point). Our chipleader raises to T2500 and the button calls so with blinds and antes on top of that, it was a good amount in the pot so I pushed all in to get called by our chipleader who shows pocket 9's. Funny thing is, I felt a bad beat looming over my head.... and sure enough, a 9 flops and with no help on the turn or the river, I bust out in 8th place despite my valiant effort. Oh well, at least he put the chips to good use by winning the whole thing.... again.
All in all, a very fun time. I'm also glad that this tournament started at 10pm because it gives me time to do everything else I need to do before I could sit down and play.... the only downside is, I'm up till like 1am so I'm exhausted this morning....
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