Pokerblawg

2007-04-29T15:44:00.000-05:00

Decent Start...

2005-08-01T15:14:00.000-05:00

So, my return from poker excile has gotten off to a decent start. The 3-6 Game at party is quite good, if you exercise good game selection. Buddy listing, datamining and, most notably GameTime are going to be keys for me here. Of course hitting rivers vs. maniacs also helps. So far up just under $400 since the ed of the evil last Wednesday. Trying a new plan where I pack up and start to leave at the first inkling of the anger/frustration feeling which sometimes gets m in trouble if left unchecked. Left some pretty decent tables today because I felt that short-tempered feeling coming on...

In other news, FullTilt finally announced that they do hand histories, so I may have to go put some money in over there to see how it is. Of course, they have the slowest bonus clearing mechanism in human history (worse then UB's for my money...), so maybe not. They still do have the best commercials. I love the Phil Ivey one where he folds, says something about knowing you're beat, and cocnludes with "Poker is about everything but the cards." Brilliant.

Rambling Reading Post

2005-07-31T20:12:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that I haven't played much poker recently due to the now departed bar exam, I've still been reading a bit. A few of my more recent selections.

Mastering No Limit Hold 'Em - I'm not even going to link to this one, because as much as Chris, Joe and myself like our Amazon affilitate income, I can't in good faith recommend spending any amount of money on this one. I actually had expectations of learning something from this one, as there really haven't been that many books which specifically cover No-Limit Hold 'Em cash games with any degree of detail. Unfortunately, this book cannot be said to have remdied that situation. Any player of reasonable experience will find every single thing here to be completely remedial. I suppose if you've never played poker before, it might be useful for some basic fundamentals. But if you are a beginning poker player, why start with NL Holdem, where the skill advantages of a better player are maginified far above what might be the case in limit. (There's a reason that NL was a dead game outisde of tournaments pre-WPT: all the fish went broke too fast...).

In all honesty, if you DO want to learn how to play NL cash games, then the short intro section in Getting Started In Holdem combined with Harrington on Hold 'Em, Vol. I and II, (though I think Vol. I is probably more instructional in these regards, as the early stages of a tournament more resemble cash games then do the hyper-aggro endgame and bubble scenarios.) will serve you much better then MNLHE.

Which brings me to the greatness that is HOH vol. II, truly a spectuacular work. While it is clear upon even casual analysis that you have to play a tiny stack very aggressively, Action Dan is very persuasive in detailing why one needs to get aggro with even medium sized stacks. He also does an excellent job of discussing how different hands change values depending on the relative stack sizes of you and the entire table. (For example, small pairs suck if you have a medium stack, or are playing against a medium stack, but they are good big stack vs. big stack, or whenever you have a small stack....).

His chapters on "Structured Hand Analysis" are also very strong. In fact for the analytical (rather then feel-based) player, I haven't really seen a better look at the factors one needs to consider.

Similarly strong in this framework is King Yao's Weighing the Odds in Hold 'Em Poker, where the analytical rigor is directed at limit hold 'em. Though the book is dense and slightly wonkish (what would you expect from a former derivatives trader, as Yao is?), it is a fantastically useful resource. Though many of the calculations Yao performs are not especially difficult in the abstract, it is still startling to see just how valuable the "free-card" flop raise can be.

As for books I'm planning on reading soon, Barry Greenstein's Ace on The River: An Advanced Poker Guide has been getting excellent reviews. While not a strategy book, per se, it is supposedly similar to one of my favorites, Feeney's Inside the Poker Mind, in terms of dealing with the factors extraneous to poker (emotioanl, romantic and poker) which may interfere with bringing the proper 'professional' attitude to the table. Clearly, I need this book, as evidenced by my occassional meltdown...

I've also been hearing good things about How Good is Your Limit Hold 'Em by Brier and Jacobs.

As far as non-poker, I recommend Freakonomics heartily, if you want to feed your brain...

That's all I got for now. Yay for Party's new 3-6 short handed!

Post Bar

2005-07-29T21:31:00.000-05:00

I'm sure Chris and Pooh feel the same (and the rest of you examinees): i feel about 500 pounds lighter. From now on, assuming we pass, we will never do any more work for free, besides the 30-50 hours of pro bono depending on your state. No more studying. From now on we get PAID.

I lost about $4.7 million Thursday nite celerating the end to the misery. I probably lost another 4.7 million brain cells in the process, but they were all the weakest ones, so I am now actually smarter. My non-poker winning streak is over and I am once again retiring from non-poker. Tonite i return to the low-limit tables, trying to build a bankroll for more interesting play.

And I will finally have more time to read normal books! Here's a couple more recent orders from Amazon:

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt (Pooh posted about this book but I can't find the post to link to).

and, of course...

Harrington On Hold'em: Volume II by Dan Harrington

Once More Into The Breach...

2005-07-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

I love the smell of Shakespeare in the morning. Feels like....hangover. Any way, now that I've survived BarExam '05 (and, not insignificantly, the afterparty from said event. Exclusive invite list, let me assure you...), it's time to pay for things such as BarBri. Side note, any Minnesota examinees who feel we have a class action against BarBri, let me know. (For those non-MN, non-bar types, the Tuesady afternoon essay exams where on 4 of the 5 LEAST tested subjects, according to the BarBri brain wizards. Numerosity, typicality, commanality and fairness indeed...).

So, in order to pay off such things, I need to start playing again. My plan of action is to hit up the party 1/2 for a few thousand hands to shake off the rust before attacking the new 3/6 6-max games, which are, by all accounts, soft and tasty. Updates forthcoming...

Hiatus

2005-07-16T16:12:00.000-05:00

Now that I can't justify study breaks by checking in on the WSOP, I'm completely cashed out online now, and with the bar exam in just over a week, I won't be posting for a while (I have a feeling the same goes for Pooh and Joe). I suppose I may post something in August, but I'll be looking for an apartment just after the exam, moving to Chicago in early August, and then leaving for a long vacation without my laptop in mid-August. I wouldn't expect to see any posting from me until mid-September at the earliest.

I know I'll be missed, but don't cry. After the bar exam I'm sure Joe and Pooh will pick up their poker careers where they left off (Pooh winning, Joe losing), and I'm sure they'll have lots of Pokerblawg tourneys without me so they can try to get some wins in before my dominating return.

I admit it will be tempting to find some places to play while I'm on vacation, so it is possible that I might have a poker-related story or two, but I'm going to try and stick with sightseeing and refrain from playing too much.

Later.

Alright, I'll ask...

2005-07-16T13:31:00.000-05:00

Who has more cash on hand today, Joseph Hachem or JK Rowling?

In re Matusow

2005-07-15T16:56:00.000-05:00

To follow up on Pooh's post re: Matusow, I'm torn as to how I feel regarding Matusow making the final table.

On one hand, Matusow provides a certain level of entertainment value that most of the other guys at the final table won't. Also, it is good to see at least one pro make it to the final table. I think Matusow might be good for the game in the sense that his personality can entertain people on TV and draw more players in. He's also poker's version of the wrestling heel - the guy everyone loves to hate. That should be good for the overall popularity of the game on TV.

On the other hand, I can't stand his antics, and it would suck if more players start acting out in live games. It is bad enough in online poker where players say things they'd never say when the other person is face to face with them, but that thing tends to bleed into the live games, and if Matusow becomes an idol, we'll see more and more idiot 21-year olds trying to needle everyone at their 2-4 table. It's great if it doesn't bother anyone, but I have a feeling such behavior will drive away a lot of players that show up just looking to have some fun playing cards, i.e., the people that throw their money away because they want to play in every hand, i.e., the people I like to see at my table.

Returning to the positive part of Matusow's presence, once the final table gets down to three players, the action could grind to a complete halt. Based on what I've read about how he played/acted late last night, he may be the only one willing to force the action in the game. The others may be content to just wait for ultra-premium hands, especially if my suspicion that the stacks of the final 2-3 players are huge relative to the final level of blinds is confirmed. They could just happily trade blinds/antes for hours while they wait for AA, KK, and maybe QQ. I think Matusow would play more aggressively.

As to his personality outside of the table, Matusow said the following semi-redemptive things in an interview last night:

- "I'm never gonna play any big pots. I've watched a lot of pros today that I was very disappointed with - just playing huge pots; you don't need to play huge pots against these people."

- "I know [Phil Ivey] played bad [today]. Everytime I looked he was playing a two million pot. I mean, why does a guy with his greatness have to be playing huge pots?"

- "I'm a little upset at what happened to Raymer. That's just the sickest thing I've ever heard. I mean a guy worked so hard to get this far with a shot to defend his championship and some idiot loses his mind and tries his hardest to go broke. I think that bothers me more than anything. ... How about throwing your hand away when you flop no pair/no draw, has that ever come into your mind?"

Shameful Admission

2005-07-15T15:59:00.000-05:00

Part of me is happy that Matusow has made the final table. I think there are two reasons for this. First, (and sadly) I share more then a little with him in the personality department. Despite his TV personna, many pros speak fairly warmly about him, so he can't be an awful guy, just someone who likes to needle, while losing a certain degree of self-control under stresses of competition.

Second, he seems to get this whole tournament poker thing. I remember reading (In Positively Fifth Street, IIRC) that he was inconsolable after getting knocked off the final table from the main event in around 1999-2000. Not because he didn't win (though that sucked for him, I'm sure) but because, to paraphrase, "I could play perfect poker for the rest of my life and still never get back here". He probably hasn't played perfectly this week, but he has gotten back here. Well done, Mouth, well done...

And Finally, Raymer

2005-07-15T02:59:00.000-05:00

Post-bustout video here. Two quotes:

"When I look at those players, we have Doyle, Johnny Chan, Stu Ungar, Dan Harrington, I can't say I'm as great a player as them, so I don't see how this can be a greater accomplishment."

"If we want a tournament that will only be won by the greatest player in the world, then this format isn't going to work. Unfortunately, if we wanna make sure the greatest player wins the tournament, it's gonna have to be about six months long."

Apparently he also was asked to write a book based on his 2+2 posts even before he won last year, it was revived after his win, and he's still working on it.

Tiffany Williamson

2005-07-15T02:46:00.000-05:00

A good interview with Tiffany Williamson after her bustout. She's a relatively new player (playing, it seems, about as long as I have, so it puts me to shame), and a lawyer - of course - with Davis, Polk, and Wardwell in London.

End of the Night WSOP Post

2005-07-15T02:34:00.000-05:00

It appears that someone is finally drawing Mike Matusow's emotions out. I don't know if it is related, but as I post this Matusow has sunk to 7th out of 11 in chips (although the guy he has been battling with, Shawn Sheikhan, is the short stack). Apparently some supporters of Sheikhan had to be escorted out by security after some comments by Matusow, and penalties have been meted out to the two players during the day as a result of their verbal sparring. Is this the blowup everyone has been waiting for? ESPN has to be loving it.

Also at that link, you can see that which "Day One" a player drew doesn't appear to have affected anything. The supposed worst day (the third day) actually had the most representatives (11) in the final 27.

If Matusow doesn't make the final table, the final 9 will be a pretty fresh set of faces, as the Hendon Mob Database supports. I'm pretty sure that Full Tilt had a "Piece of the Pros" for Matusow, so the player that won that (and the 10% of Matusow that came with it) has to be sweating the Cardplayer.com updates pretty tightly.

Cardplayer says that 11 of the 27 finalists qualified online. I haven't seen much on where the remaining players qualified online as of yet (though I haven't looked that hard), but I do know that two of the final eleven qualified via Poker Stars. That's nearly in line with the percentage of total players that qualified via Stars. What would really be interesting is finding out if anyone of the remaining players qualified through Full Tilt, as that would mean they are playing for an additional $10 million if they take home the bracelet (which would mean that the insurer Full Tilt employed is sweating cardplayer.com updates tighter than anyone). If such a player is still alive, I'm sure whatever insurance premium Full Tilt paid will be more than made up for by all the free advertising they get when ESPN keeps talking about how the player is actually playing to win $17.5 million (although I could imagine ESPN stupidly just ignoring the angle altogether). I'm sure Party Poker will let us know if the eventual winner qualified through their site, although probably in a way destined to make the software even more clumsy than it is already.

I just saw that Matusow knocked out Sheikhan and did a celebration dance that is unlikely to be left on the editing room floor. 10 left.

Hot off the newswires...

2005-07-14T12:29:00.000-05:00

For some reason, I found this extraordinairily funny:

'Cooter' urges fans to skip 'Dukes' movie
Associated Press
ATLANTA -— If a former star of TV's "Dukes of Hazzard'' has his way, fans of the show will skip the movie version.

Ben Jones, a former Georgia congressman who played the mechanic Cooter on the series, says profanity and sexual content in the film essentially trash what was a family-friendly show. He read a script of the movie, which comes out next month, and likens it to taking "I Love Lucy'' and turning Lucy into a "crackhead.''

Jones called the film a sleazy insult in an open letter posted on his Web site. He's urged fans to "hold their noses'' and stay away unless the studio cleans up the movie before its release. A spokesman for Warner Brothers did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Is a show really family friendly if the female lead is the model for a whole generation of strippers? Does he get called Congressman Cooter? Lucy wasn't already a crackhead? Discuss.

Looking Good.

2005-07-14T11:59:00.000-05:00

So far, my predictions from earlier are looking pretty good. Assuming Dutch made an ass of himself, that is. Like I said, my predictions are looking prety good, even if Matusow is a self-proclaimed "superstar". (from Cardplayer's coverage,

Derek Dix raises all-in preflop with As-Js, and is called by Mike Matusow with Ks-8h. Matusow notices his chances and says "I'm behind, I'm behind." The flop comes Qd-7d-Qc. Matusow: "I'm way behind." The turn is the Jh. Matusow: "I'm dead." The river is the Kd. Matusow: "I'm a superstar!" Matusow catches his King to beat out Dix's Jacks and Matusow is up to $2,500,000.

You know, this guy is beginning to grow on me, but I still hope Raymer busts him...again (ok he didn't really bust him last year, but he did cripple the mouth...)

Ivey, Raymer and the Mouth the only "names" left, with Juanda, Watkinson, and Bonyadi falling late in the day yesterday. As an example of the idiotic times we live in, there was a 90 minute "discussion" on sports radio last night as to how, assuming he repeats, Raymer's feat would match up with Lance's soon-to-be 7 straight. To prove that such programming works, I almost called in to tell the host what a moron he was.

The one guy who agreed with him used the following argument: I can learn how to play poker by watching on TV, but I can't learn how to cycle, therefore poker on TV is better. Needless to say, I feel there are more errors then words in the above statement (and I was kind enough to clean up the grammar and remove the numerous "uh's".) I am disgusted by humanity.

Or maybe I'm just pissed because I have to learn the rule aganst perpetuities. Again.

Less then 2 weeks til I can start playing again, I'm so excited.

What is a Bluff?

2005-07-14T00:31:00.000-05:00

Paul Phillips mentions a hand that Greg Raymer played, suggesting that the use of the term bluff was incorrect in describing a play by a guy that probably held the best hand. Commenters at his site seem to agree.

I'm not the most experienced poker player in the world, but it seems to me that just because you're bluffing with the best hand doesn't mean you're not bluffing. Here is the dictionary definition of bluff.

The point of bluffing is to display strength so that your opponent will not call, right? If you have 88 on a AAATK board, and your opponent has 77, you're still bluffing if you bet in a manner intended to convince your opponent that you have something better than 88. You might have a heart attack when the opponent calls - only to realize you had the best hand anyway. But if you weren't bluffing, then you wouldn't have had the heart attack. I think that all that matters in a bluff is what you think you have and what you think your opponent has. Whatever your opponent actually has in their hand is irrelevant as to whether you are bluffing.

To me, if you bet and re-raise with King high on a board of J55A5, that's per se bluffing. Anyone else disagree?

Audio Feed

2005-07-13T17:19:00.000-05:00

Cardplayer announced that they will be streaming live audio of the WSOP Main Event starting on Friday with professionals like Negreanu, Hellmuth, and Harman providing commentary.

In other news, Jeff Shulman announced he is king of the mathletes, thinks Vulcan women are hot, and challenges all comers to a match of Dungeons and Dragons.^*

*Watch the video I linked to - you'll understand.

Wasting Time

2005-07-13T13:35:00.000-05:00

Well, the final table picks I made toward the beginning of yesterday held up well (I'd love to say that I picked them at the beginning of the whole thing, but come on). Tim Phan is the chip leader heading into the day, and Ivey is picking up steam. Juanda seems like he has been treading water for two days, but I love the way he plays, and I'm confident that if he can stick around with a reasonable stack he'll eventually make a couple big plays. Mike Matusow, however, continues to do well, despite my (and everyone else's) prediction of a meltdown (in his video interview yesterday he seemed to be oddly calm and composed). Raymer, as I predicted, has begun to struggle. He still has a big enough stack that he can contend, however. There are only a handful of chip stacks that can legitimately be said to be short stacks relative to the blinds at the beginning of today, although the big stacks are big enough that they might be able to pressure some of the smaller stacks into more desperate play. With 55+ million chips in play, and the last listed level at 100k/200k +30k ante, I'm curious whether once the final table gets down to 2 or three players the battle could go excruciatingly long (unless someone limps into heads up with a very small stack). Then again, with $3.25 million separating first and second, I wouldn't be surprised to see play "loosened up" a bit by a deal (I still wonder about the speed of last year's heads-up play). The wildcard in any deal is this: the extra value of winning, beyond just pride, i.e., any money that might come from being the champion (I feel fairly certain that we wouldn't be seeing Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer commercials if they had finished second). One other factor to consider today: the payouts have one of their biggest jumps up until the final two tables between the 45th finisher and the 46th finisher. It is a difference of almost $62k. It will take two payout levels after that to surpass that kind of jump in prize money. Since they'll only be playing down to 27 today, 45th-46th should be an interesting sticking point worth watching today (translation: I'm taking too many study breaks).

Juanda Between the Lines

2005-07-12T18:54:00.000-05:00

Latest interview I'll link to, this time with John Juanda. Read between the lines to see if you agree with me that Juanda is insinuating the following: (1) Howard Lederer misplayed AJo in the hand that Juanda knocked Lederer out, and (2) Juanda thinks there are still quite a few weak players left in the field.

That's why Juanda was on my list as of earlier today to make the final table (I've now said it twice, so hopefully I won't jinx him with my bad poker luck).

By the way, pokerpages is still a good place for consistent chip counts, but Card Player has a distinct advantage in overall coverage, as it is the official magazine of the WSOP and has been given more extensive coverage rights than any other outlet than ESPN (which is all but pretending that the WSOP isn't happening). With Harrah's limiting most media outlets to just rotating and intermittent access to the floor, it seems that Cardplayer is pretty much alone in having continuous access. They don't do well enough in keeping up with chip counts, but their coverage is more well-rounded.

Gettin Hot in Herre

2005-07-12T18:17:00.000-05:00

I still haven't played any poker out here for the last couple weeks. But I did finally find a good place for after-hours study (the UNLV libe closes at 11 pm, which doesn't cut it) - the Binion's coffee shop. As a bonus, they have double-deck, standard rules Blackjack (BJ pays 3-2!) with a minimum bet of only $5 less than 100 feet away! I sat down around 3am this morning and left at 5am $200 richer. The non-poker winning streak continues; I haven't kept records but I'm pretty sure I'm up about $1k playing craps and BJ since becoming a Las Vegas domiciliary. I'm yet to have a losing BJ session and I've had exactly 2 (out of 10 or so) losing craps sessions. awesome.

Lawyers, Guns, and Poker

2005-07-12T14:55:00.000-05:00

Question: How many of the world's best poker players went to law school?

I ask that because Greg Raymer appears to be leaving a path of destruction in his wake through the early part of day 6, and the guy ranked third in chips at the start of the day is a law student at UPenn. Dan Harrington was a lawyer. Rich and Pooh's favorite poker player, Mark Seif, is also (or was) a lawyer. Joe's idol, Dutch Boyd - who just busted out, went to law school. I'm sure there are many others.

Next question: If Raymer wins two WSOP main events in a row (for a total of $12.5 million), how much money will he give to The University of Minnesota Law School?

WSOP Main Event - notable names still going strong.

2005-07-12T13:39:00.000-05:00

According to Mike Paulle's wsop blog, several big names are still around at the start of play today. Joe's Daddy, Dutch boy, is still hanging around with just under t100k (average stack approx -t450k.), alogn with Paul Darden. First day leader Lee Watkinson seems to have spun his wheels for a few days, and has T180k. 2003 4th place finisher Jason Lester has T280k. Johnny Juanda, my boy, the drug runner (Matusow) as well as Lederer arealove with around avergae stacks. Ivey is sitting pretty at 700k. But the big news is that after being down to something like 4800 on day one, Fossilam Raymer is in the lead at just over T1mil. Ski-U-Mah, my friends...

Predictions: Ivey finsihes tenth, losing with AQ. Raymer takes out Matusow, who's head implodes. Dutch makes an ass of himself on the ESPN telecasts. That is all.

Seif on Cameras

2005-07-11T22:10:00.000-05:00

An interesting interview with Mark Seif, in which he suggests that the effect of being on a table featured by ESPN is that some players entered into pots that they wouldn't have otherwise in order to be involved in hands that would be featured on TV. He suggests that the effect was to neutralize his game as a relatively loose/aggressive player.

Somebody sucks...

2005-07-10T20:30:00.000-05:00

It's this guy....

I'm re-retired, for 3 weeks at least...

Oh yeah, who plays this differently?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (2 handed)

Pooh (t1845)

Button =#A500AF(Chris B.)/ (t4155)

Preflop: Pooh is BB with Kh, 6h.

Button =#A500AF(Chris B.)/ raises to t90, Pooh calls t60.

Flop: (t180) 7h, Td, Ah (2 players)

Pooh checks, Chris B. bets t240, Pooh raises to t600, Chris B. raises to t1920, Pooh calls t1155 (All-In).

Turn: (t3855) Kd (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t3855) Jd (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t3855

Results in white below:

Pooh has Kh 6h (one pair, kings).

Chris B. has Ad 8h (one pair, aces).

Outcome: Chris B. wins t3855.

Pokerblawg #6

2005-07-07T22:00:00.000-05:00

Due to popular demand (or Miles's demand), we have finally scheduled our sixth tournament. Here's the info:

Pokerblawg #6
Where: PokerStars
When: Sunday, July 10 at 8:00pm central time
Game: NL Hold'em
Buyin: $10+1
Password: gopher

Go to the PokerStars lobby, click on the "Tourney" button, then click on the "Private" heading. The tournament is listed as "Pokerblawg #6".

Be sure to spread the word.

WSOP & Canterbury Trip

2005-07-07T19:55:00.000-05:00

"Just" 5600 in the WSOP main event this year. Clearly a record (and more than twice last year's mark), but about 1000 players short of the number of seats that Harrah's had made available.

I disagree with Joe. The best source for Main Event info is Cardplayer.com. Not only do they have the most organized information, but they feature video interviews with players.

---

To say farewell to laziness as I begin buckling down for bar study, I went to Canterbury last night. I played about 2 hours of 2/4, and about 6 hours of 3/6. I finished +$190. I would have finished up another $60-70, but the last couple hours I was very tired and started playing like crap. Unlike the last couple trips to Canterbury, the high pocket pairs were flying my way. Like Internet poker, they were getting cracked left and right. I had AA four times, and won twice (losing to 23s(!) when a guy turned a full house and QJo when the same guy rivered a third queen - just so you know, in limit poker I do not ever believe in slow-playing a big pair pre-flop; they just kept calling and hitting). I had KK twice, and won once (lost to 58o). I had QQ four times and won twice (one loss coming to the same guy that cracked my kings when he got his flush with 57s). I had JJ twice and won twice. My biggest hands were winning with QQ when I flopped a set and my opponent (well, one of them) flopped a set of Jacks, and when I flopped quad jacks (though by that time people were a little more wary of my aggressiveness so they weren't re-raising as much, and the size of the profit came from the fact that there were five other players that saw a flop in a raised pot, and there were three other players that saw a showdown). In the hand I will regret for a long time, the very next hand after hitting the quad jacks, I mucked 55 pre-flop from MP when there was a raise and re-raise in early position and the flop came 558! Man my heart sank. My winning percentage with AK was terrible. I need to study my play of big slick for a leak, because it hasn't been profitable for me online, either.

After some early success, and realizing that there really weren't many decent players in the game, I was very relaxed and enjoying myself (which was nice after a nice stretch of brutal beats online). When my aces were cracked by 23 I just laughed and told the guy not to keep apologizing. When he rivered my aces with his third queen about ten minutes later, I called his bet and threw my aces down with some steam, but I got over it in about ten seconds. The world is so much nicer when you can look down and see you've tripled your buy-in even after suffering some bad beats.

Oddly, I think the 3/6 game is worse than the 2/4 game. I would characterize my playing abilities as better than decent, but I wouldn't call myself a truly good player. I have a long way to go. I'm honest enough with myself to know that my Hold 'Em skills are easily the least polished of the three bloggers on this site. My feeling, however, is that it is fairly easy to go from being a terrible player to being half-decent. I consider half-decent to be decent enough that you aren't wildly hemorrhaging chips. Well, it is amazing to me how many downright terrible players there are at the 3/6 games at Canterbury. It is rare that there is ever more than one other player that is solid. There will often be a couple of players at the table that are extremely loose but play well after the flop (often older players). Then there will be a few players that just absolutely suck. Oddly, a disproportionate number seem to be college age men.

Of course, you may ask why my wins aren't even bigger if there are so many bad players at the table (though I think I've done OK at Canterbury). Well, part of it is my own leaks (I need to improve some in my betting after the flop, such as saving a bet on some hands and extracting an extra bet in others), but I believe the bigger part is that with so many people in every hand, it trims your edge so that you have to grind out wins, not assume that the chips will just automatically fall in your stack.

There is a fairly good chance that last night will have been my last ever visit to Canterbury. A pretty good place to play poker. Now if they'll just build a poker room in Chicago.

We are all Britons today

2005-07-07T18:25:00.000-05:00

Players to Watch

2005-07-07T18:05:00.000-05:00

Lee Munzer writes about his Top 100 Players to Watch in the WSOP main event. Via Rich in comments.

Check out the Tao of Poker for the best liveblogging of the main event, including our favorite D-list ex-Trekker, Wil Wheaton.

I got 135 on the Bar/Bri practice MBE. What did ya'lls get?

Handicapping SCOTUS

2005-07-05T20:46:00.000-05:00

Tradesports has their markets running for next SCOTUS nominee. Emilio Garza (5th Cir; UT Law) and Alberto Gonzalez (AG; Harvard) are the two faves, both at about 3 to 1.

I don't think there's any way Bush nominates Gonzalez. The rabid left refers to Gonzalez as the "torture czar" (silly, silly people) and he is not enough of a Blanchard disciple for the "Christian right."

On the other hand, I don't know anything about Garza. He's Latino, so that's a plus!

Reading Rainbow

2005-06-29T16:17:00.000-05:00

I'm finally going to actually take the time to order several of the books I've been meaning to read. Here they are, in no particular order:

Weighing the Odds in Hold'em Pokerby King Yao (NOT Yao "I already got them" Ming)

Getting Started in Hold'emby Ed Miller, author of Small Stakes(where you at Goebbles?)

Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axisby Bat Ye'or, author of The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)by Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch

Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high!

Take a look, it's in a book - Reading Rainbow.

I can go anywhere!

Friends to know and ways to grow - Reading Rainbow.

I can be anything!

Take a look, it's in a book - Reading Rainbow.

Reading Rainbow, Reading Rainbow,

Reading Rainbow, Reading Rainbow!

UPDATE: Super Saver Shipping Sux

Team Poker Stars

2005-06-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

Poker Stars has announced their team of players. It is a fairly odd group (Moneymaker, Raymer, and McEvoy are understandable, but Erin Ness and Wil Wheaton?).

Hansen at the WSOP

2005-06-29T12:23:00.000-05:00

Gus Hansen has finally arrived at the WSOP. As Pauly said, here's proof.

BarryGreenstein.com

2005-06-28T15:53:00.000-05:00

Check out Barry Greenstein's site, especially his surprisingly candid analysis of the poker skills of some top pros.

Give Me A Hand

2005-06-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

I'm back after a couple of days out of town (under sad circumstances unfortunately, but that's not for this space).

I played for a few minutes this evening at the low stakes games, and the following was one of the last hands I played. Comments on my action at any stage are appreciated.

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Chris B. is UTG+2 with Td, Tc.

2 folds, Chris B. raises, MP1 3-bets, MP2 calls, 1 fold, CO calls, 3 folds, Chris B. calls.

Flop: (13.40 SB) 5c, 2c, Js (4 players)

Chris B. checks, MP1 bets, MP2 calls, CO calls, Chris B. calls.

Turn: (8.70 BB) 3d (4 players)

Chris B. checks, MP1 bets, MP2 calls, CO calls, Chris B. folds.

River: (11.70 BB) Jc (3 players)

MP1 checks, MP2 bets, CO folds, MP1 calls.

Final Pot: 13.70 BB

Results:

MP1 has Ks Ac (one pair, jacks).

MP2 has Ad 2d (two pair, jacks and twos).

Outcome: MP2 wins 13.70 BB.

Loan Consolidation

2005-06-26T20:02:00.000-05:00

Law students / graduates: Remember that you must consolidate your loans by July 1. I urge you to go here if you have not yet consolidated.

Pro Sports in Vegas

2005-06-25T18:53:00.000-05:00

I have quietly advocated for a major league baseball team to come to Vegas. Whether it be the Royals or, more likely, the Marlins, I always thought one of MLB's crappy teams would do better in Vegas because of (a) Vegas' population approaching 2 million, (compare the KC metro at 1.4 million), (b) its status as the "fastest growing city in America," (c) the obvious millions of tourists (I figured people visiting from NY would go to see the Yankees play while they were in town, especially if the ballpark was close to the Strip, which it obviously would be after Kelo), and (d) Vegas' successful bid for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game (although there will be no betting on the game).

I will no longer so advocate .

The 51s game on Thursday was sweet, but only for the $1 beers (which were 12 oz. and the limit per trip was 2, twice the expected limit). Well, it was also sweet for the grand slam in the 1st inning by the 51s' opponents, the Sacramento River Cats. The Cats loaded the bases through various inneptitude by the 51s (who suck), and the cleanup hitter cleaned up by jacking a linedrive off the Anderson Dairy billboard in right. All we were missing was a giant "MOOOOO."

What was not awesome about the game was the attendance. The official number was 4,400 but there is NO F'IN WAY there were over 2k there, probably closer to 1k. It was pathetic. Maybe the people would come if the 51s were better, but what more do these people need than $1 12 oz. beers?

That said, count me in for every Thursday home game at Cashman Field despite the suckiness of the 51s and the lack of fans. But all bets are off regarding any of the "Big Four" acquiring Vegas representation.

Retirement...

2005-06-24T01:00:00.000-05:00

So Pooh's days of poker semipro-dom are over, at least until after the bar exam. I just can't mentally take it right now, since the past week I have suffered near continuous "session killers." Everytime I win a couple hands and feel like I'm getting some kind of groove, this happens:

Villain is turbo aggressive on the button:

Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is BB with 9h, Ad.

3 folds, Button raises, 1 fold, Pooh 3-bets, Button caps, Pooh calls.

Flop: (8.50 SB) Ts, As, Ac (2 players)

Pooh checks, Button bets, Pooh calls.

Turn: (5.25 BB) 3s (2 players)

Pooh checks, Button bets, Pooh calls.

River: (7.25 BB) 8d (2 players)

Pooh bets, Button raises, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 11.25 BB

Results:
ooh has 9h Ad (three of a kind, aces).

Button has Td Tc (full house, tens full of aces).

Outcome: Button wins 11.25 BB.

Ok that's just a little unlucky, but then...

Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (6 max, 4 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is SB with Ad, Tc. UTG posts a blind of $1.

UTG (poster) checks, Button calls, Pooh raises, BB calls, UTG calls, Button 3-bets, Pooh calls, BB calls, UTG calls.

Flop: (12 SB) As, Jh, Ah (4 players)

Pooh checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Button bets, Pooh raises, BB folds, UTG folds, Button calls.

Turn: (8 BB) 4h (2 players)

Pooh bets, Button calls.

River: (10 BB) Kh (2 players)

Pooh bets, Button calls.

Final Pot: 12 BB
Results:
Pooh has Ad Tc (three of a kind, aces).

Button has 8h 8d (flush, ace high).

Outcome: Button wins 12 BB.

Or

Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (6 max, 4 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is BB with Ad, As. UTG posts a blind of $1.

UTG (poster) checks, 1 fold, SB raises, Pooh 3-bets, UTG folds, SB calls.

Flop: (7 SB) 9c, 3c, Ac (2 players)

SB checks, Pooh bets, SB calls.

Turn: (4.50 BB) Tc (2 players)

SB checks, Pooh bets, SB raises, Pooh 3-bets, SB calls $1.50 (All-In).

River: (10.25 BB) 5s (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: 10.25 BB

Results:

Pooh has Ad As (three of a kind, aces).

SB has Js Jc (flush, ace high).

Outcome: SB wins 10 BB. Pooh wins 0.25 BB.

Or

Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (6 max, 5 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is Button with Th, Tc. MP posts a blind of $1.

UTG calls, MP (poster) checks, Pooh raises, SB calls, BB calls, UTG calls, MP folds.

Flop: (9 SB) 9h, Ah, Td (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Pooh bets, SB folds, BB calls, UTG folds.

Turn: (5.50 BB) Qd (2 players)

BB checks, Pooh bets, BB calls.

River: (7.50 BB) Js (2 players)

BB checks, Pooh bets, BB raises, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 11.50 BB

Results:

BB has 8c 8h (straight, queen high).

Pooh has Th Tc (three of a kind, tens).

Outcome: BB wins 11.50 BB.

But the worst is what happened to me with AK...this is representative...

Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (6 max, 5 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is MP with Ac, Ks.

1 fold, Pooh raises, Button 3-bets, SB calls, 1 fold, Pooh caps, Button calls, SB calls.

Flop: (13 SB) 6c, 3s, As (3 players)

SB checks, Pooh bets, Button raises, SB folds, Pooh 3-bets, Button caps, Pooh calls.

Turn: (10.50 BB) Js (2 players)

Pooh bets, Button raises, Pooh 3-bets, Button calls $0.61 (All-In).

River: (15.81 BB) 5d (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: 15.81 BB

Results: :

Pooh has Ac Ks (one pair, aces).

Button has 6d 3d (two pair, sixes and threes).

Outcome: Pooh wins 15.81 BB.

or...

Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (6 max, 5 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is MP with Ad, Kh.

1 fold, Pooh raises, 2 folds, BB calls.

Flop: (4.50 SB) 5d, 4s, As (2 players)

BB bets, Pooh calls.

Turn: (3.25 BB) Th (2 players)

BB bets, Pooh raises, BB 3-bets, Pooh calls.

River: (9.25 BB) 2s (2 players)

BB bets, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 11.25 BB

Results:

BB has 2h Ac (two pair, aces and twos).

Pooh has Ad Kh (one pair, aces).

Outcome: BB wins 11.25 BB.

These all occured within about 300 hands...I quit for now...

Final
Hands: 6,776 (total: 36,990 + 13)
Results: -$25.76 (total: + $2,345.73)

Yay bar exam...

Tigerboard

2005-06-23T12:26:00.000-05:00

Tigerboard, everyone's favorite place to talk Mizzou sports, now has a poker forum. Check it out.

Viollette-Greenstein, Jr.

2005-06-22T20:27:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted for awhile due to a number of factors:

Somehow got logged off of Blogger for the first time ever last week, was not able to re-login, and could not receive an email from Blogger on how to get my login and password. Today I finally realized that Blogger had joe@mondalestwin.com as my email address (I haven't checked that address in months). So now we're good.
I spent last weekend at a wedding in Iowa with pokerblog-readers Mick E. and Dick. Mick E. and I visited the neighborhood casino in Des Moines (we called it Dez Mo after our Nigerian cabby) and I won $190 in 2 hours of 3-6, then another $160 in 1 hour of craps. Could not miss a draw (or a come bet). Don't ask Mick E. how he did. Following the wedding, I left my computer's power cord in Chicago, so I have been sans computer for the last 3 days. The horror!
I spent the weekend before last visiting friends in LA, including Dick. I visited Commerce Casino on my way outta town. Nice place if you like incompetent dealers and rude players. And yes, I do. I won $30 in 3 hours of 2-4. Woohoo!

Not going to be playing much poker in the upcoming days because I have a lot of Bar/Bri and Vegas hangin' to catch up on. Tomorrow night I will be visiting Cashman field to catch the Las Vegas 51s, the local AAA Dodgers affiliate, for Dollar Beer Night. Yes, that's right, professional baseball with DOLLAR BEERS. And no, I won't be driving.

Oh yeah I almost forgot. I was playing at a 4-8 table at Rio last week and Cyndy Viollette walked up. I was wondering what the f she was doing worrying about a 4-8 table; turned out I was playing with her daughter, Shannon! Shannon was calling way too many bets and never raising.

About 5 minutes later, the dude next to me checks a text message and says "Damn, my dad was leading the 7-stud tourney [going on in one corner of the Rio's football field-sized poker room], but now he's down to 2800 chips." I'm like "Who's your dad?" And this guy says to me, "Barry Greenstein; you know him?" I almost fell out of my chair. Here I am at a 4-8 table playing with Cyndy Viollette's daughter and Barry Greenstein's son. Greenstein Jr (I forgot his name even though he told me twice. I know he's not the other Greenstein's son who is currently deep in the Omaha event) was also calling too many bets, but not as many as Shannon, and he would also occassionally raise for good measure. We talked for awhile about how rich his dad is. awesome.

The Turnaround Commences?

2005-06-22T18:26:00.000-05:00

So, in an effort to rebuild confidence after this:

I've dropped back down to 1/2 at Party for the time being. It's actually gone quite well, as I'm up about 150 BB's in 1500 hands. Hopefully, I can keep that up, get both some confidence and some bankroll back, and get going again...

An Interesting Play

2005-06-21T22:14:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try and reduce the amount of complaining about my continuing poker death spiral, but a hand I experienced yesterday has stuck with me. Although I was furious about it when it happened, I'm now more astonished by it than anything. No hand history since it is Full Tilt, so I'll try to remember it as best as possible.

It was a NLHE sit and go. Fairly early, I believe the blinds were 20/40. I was UTG+1 with AcKc. UTG limps. I raise to four times the big blind. The big blind calls, and UTG calls. The flop comes 10c8d3c. BB and UTG check. I bet the pot, leaving myself with about 800 chips. BB folds, and UTG check-raises all-in. He has me covered, but maybe by 50 chips. His behavior suggests an overpair, although there is a wide range of possibilities. Quite frankly, my guess as to range of hands is either something like AA or KK (slowplaying pre-flop) or something like 810, 9J, 5c6c (play like this, as you will see, is fairly common in these games). But a drawing hand is less likely because most players in these games will call a lot (even against the odds), but not raise. A10, 1010, or 88 seem less possible, because players tend to raise pre-flop with these hands, not slow play them. 33 is a possibility, I suppose. So AA, KK, 33, or 810 are my leading possibilities.

I pause for a bit. He's got to have a good hand to check-raise me, right? Figuring the odds trump all, I decide to call. And he turns over 89o! Second pair/middle kicker, and he check-raises all-in! Although I was behind, I was happy to see that I had even more outs than I figured were likely. In fact, I was actually still a slight favorite. Of course I lost. The more I thought about it, the more astonishingly dumb his move appeared to be. Brave, sure, but dumb. He's up against an early position raiser who bets the pot on the flop with a flush draw on the board, and he check raises with second pair? Even against some great hands, I figure I'm getting odds to call - which he let happen by going for the "I want to be a maniac and I like to think I'm always trapping" check raise. In essence, he priced me into a pot with a very weak hand. Even writing about it now I'm awestruck.

Of course, maybe I'm just not seeing the beauty of his play. After all, he was still in the game after the hand.

PokerStars Outage

2005-06-20T23:34:00.000-05:00

Poker Stars had a major outage this evening, and they had to cancel a couple dozen tournaments that had been in progress. Is it just me, or have the poker sites all been having some problems lately? Denial of service attacks, perhaps?

WTF

2005-06-20T00:31:00.000-05:00

I can't even win at the 2 cent games now? I sit down at a .2/.4 limit heads-up game with 80 cents and manage to lose it in 22 hands. And I was playing the stupid game to gain some confidence! AA cracked by 33 (naturally he picked up quads). Every dominating hand I started with he hit his pair while I failed to improve. My last hand I lost with A8 against A6. He won 17 pots in 22 hands.

I guess I should just concede that I've become the single worst poker player in the world.

Ugly

2005-06-19T19:15:00.000-05:00

I hate poker sometimes...I might be taking a couple days off to lick my wounds, I'll just let the numbers do the talking...

Since my last post

Hands:8,211 (total: 30,214 + 13 hours)
Results: -$1,677.5 (total: + $2,371.59)

To make myself feel better, I try and look at my years spreadsheet, which still shows me up $18k. Somehow, i's not working.

This doesn't even help:

I don't think I'll ever win again...

Next Pokerblog Tourney Soon

2005-06-17T19:40:00.000-05:00

We're working on coming up with a new pokerblog tourney soon, and some improvements to the site (yes, I know we've mentioned it a few times; soon). As promised, we'll be using a bit of the money we've drummed up to pay for some of those improvements, and we'll have money left over to add value to the pokerblog tourneys as well.

I assume most of our readers are on Stars and Party, but I wanted to ask how many of you (besides the bloggers) are on Full Tilt (for the purposes of determining whether it would be feasible in the future to have a pokerblog event on that site). Any suggestions for improvements, the tourneys, or other, please post comments below.

This just sounds painful...

2005-06-17T19:21:00.000-05:00

A post on 2+2 about a guy 8-tabling brought a reference to this post about a guy 20-tabling.

20 tabling is intense I must say:) . . . My initial impression of it after playing for about 1 minute was that it was not humanly possible, but things started to even out and I got better and faster the more I played. There seemed to almost be waves of hands lol, I remember it being almost relaxing at one point, like I was in a trance and then all of a sudden a load of 8 tables would start blinking and I be extremely stressed for the next 1-2 minutes holding it back. Same thing if I had to answer the phone or something, I would have to spend the next couple minutes catching up. I found that on average I had about 1 table that was timed out, it was usually in the part of task bar where I couldn't see it blinkin easily.

7,000 hands in one night...

Datamining Heaven...

2005-06-17T18:33:00.000-05:00

For those of you who play on stars and want to get tons of data on future opponents, try this baby on for size. You can observe 40+ tables at a time. Only downside is that you have to manually twiddle with it every 20 minutes or so to get your hand histories. Yet another leap forward in the batlle for online information...

Poker Gods' Revenge

2005-06-16T22:05:00.000-05:00

During the Stud Hi/Lo tourney I was in a $5 Horse tourney as well, and was in first place shortly after the Stud Hi/Lo tourney was over. I was dominating. Then I lost a couple thousand chips when a razz hand went bad. But I was still in fine shape (I lost about 1/4 of my stack and still was in 5th place).

Then my 10-A straight was beaten when a guy reluctantly called on sixth street (I had 10JQK showing and was firing away), and he then caught a full house on seventh street. Then a couple hands later my two pair (made on 4th street) was beaten when a guy caught a better two pair on sixth street. I was now the short stack.

Hold'em started, and I, for a number of reasons, decided to risk my 1000 remaining chips with QJ. 4000+ chips in the pot, and what else but QJx flops? I'm back! Another player raises the third player out of the hand, and shows KK. Can you guess what turned? Yep, a king. Now that's what I'm accustomed to.

Stud Hi/Lo Victory

2005-06-16T21:48:00.000-05:00

Apparently Stud Hi/Lo is my game. I just took first place down in a $10+1 Stud Hi/Lo multi on Full Tilt. Granted, there were just 38 entries, but I'm still pretty psyched about it. It produced a $152 first prize.

More than the prize money, I am really happy about how I played. I started on a table with a couple of maniacs, and so I was treading water for a while. Eventually they busted out, and I moved to another table. By the end of the first break, I was still hovering in the middle of the remaining players. At one point I looked at where my chips were and where the antes/limits were and started to feel the pressure to scoop, which I hadn't done in some time. But I stuck around, and with about 10 players left something clicked. I scooped a couple pots when some people missed their draws.

I scooped my way into the final table just slightly in the chip lead. I hovered around the same number of chips for a while, not picking up much in the way of anything more than stealing the antes a couple times. I was playing fairly tight at the final table, but when I started getting some halfway decent cards and had the slightest inkling I was ahead in the hand, I fired away. There were some players risking a lot of chips for weak lo draws, and I capitalized. Hello chips. Pretty soon I had 40,000 chips with five players left - and there were just 57,000 chips total. By the time we were heads-up I had picked up another 9,000 or so chips and was in the neighborhood of a 5:1 chip leader. It took about 10 minutes before I dispatched my opponent.

Now if I can just translate that into any success in any other game/tourney.

By the way, I'm willing to give a great deal of credit to that all-time classic Revenge of the Nerds, which was on TV for much of my run in the second half of the tourney. What else could happen but inspiration when watching that movie?

NutBar

2005-06-16T14:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday may have been the single strangest experience of my poker life. After a succesful morning 2/4 session, I decided to play some 5/10 in the early evening. It did not start well. I was down over 80bb's at one point, which isn't a ton, but when you convert it into $'s, felt like a lot...but, I didn't tilt. I changed gears to playing very tight-solid poker (since my table image was for shit since I had been getting beat up and down...) and mounted an enormous comeback. I decided to quit a few hundred hands later, thinking I had come back to down about $20, which was acceptable. Then I loaded the hands into pokertracker. +$1, for just over 1,000 hands. A whopping .01 bb/100. I play goot.

Then I played with some kids from Anchorage last night, won about $40, despite sucking enormously. Example, playing PLO8, I have 35xx and the board is 246x with 2 diamonds, so naturally I jam the turn. It's down to me and the SB heads up. River is Ad, he checks and I....check? I've never felt so stupid scooping a pot in my life...

hands: 1,820 + 3 hours live (Total: 22,003 + 13 hours)
Results: $+199.5 + $43.25 Live (Total: +$4,032.09)

Mike Paulle on WSOP

2005-06-14T20:26:00.000-05:00

"These players are awful. If you can play tournament No Limit Hold'em, and you can find some spare change, please come here and play against these maniacs. You can't be worse than these players are."

Robot Poker

2005-06-14T20:23:00.000-05:00

They're Planning a World Series of Poker...for Robots.

That Cool Northern Air

2005-06-14T19:56:00.000-05:00

As Steve pointed out, I have been lax in my posting. I apologize, but I've been busy packing, etc. I'm in Anchorage now, and I wanted to bring as much stuff with this trip so I have as little as possible to fit in my car when I drive. Anyway, the last week has been very eventful pokerwise. Last tuesday, had a fine old session, winning about $350 in a couple hours. Then I played in Ry4an's regular first Tuesday game. Things did not go well. I did not win a hand all night. Literally not one. In the $10 buy-in NL tourney, I got dealt crap for an hour and then got knocked out when a guy trying to play like a maniac (but not doing it succesfully, nobody is going to fold to minimum re-raises, dude) reriased me all with QT on a 467 board and me holding K6s. River = Q, etc.

Then during the 'open play' while waiting for the first tourney to finish, I continued to win zero hands. This game is $.25 ante, $1 max dealers choice, so we play some really goofy games, like Cincinnatti. For those of you that don't know, Cincinnatti is Omaha with the "2 card, 3 card" requirement removed. Anyway, during one hand, I was dealt AKJ2 all of spades, giving me the one card AKJ flush draw. When the flop came AK2 rainbow, I figured I was in good shape. As it turned out, I was drawing dead to a girl who had limped in, and then never raised with AAKx.
Finally, since we had more players then spots available for the 2nd tourney, a $5 heads up - bracket, we had to draw cards to see which two players did not get seats. I win again... -$28 for the night.

This began a harrowing couple of days where my bankroll went through continuous $500 swings in either direction. I finished the week up $90 over 4,500 hands. That's less then .5 bb/100, and is not going to get it done...

Thnkfully, the worm turned, as it usual does, with LAGgy nutcases overplaying hands vs. me. The following two hands left me scratching my head. (Hint, I won both of them, guess what the villains held and win a prize...maybe even a PS Toque!)

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is UTG with Ah, Qd.

Pooh raises, MP calls, CO calls, Button (Super Lag Boy) 3-bets, 2 folds, Pooh caps, MP calls, CO calls, Button =#A500AF(Super Lag Boy)/ calls.

Flop: (17.50 SB) 6d, 3s, 4s (4 players)

Pooh bets, MP calls, CO calls, Super Lag Boy raises, Pooh calls, MP calls, CO calls.

Turn: (12.75 BB) 6c (4 players)

Pooh checks, MP checks, CO checks, Super Lag Boy bets, Pooh calls, MP raises to $7 (all-in), CO folds, Super Lag Boy 3-bets ($8), Pooh calls.

River: (18.50 BB) 3h (3 players)

Pooh checks, Super Lag Boy checks.

Final Pot: 18.50 BB

and

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (5 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is SB with 8s, 8d.

UTG calls, 1 fold, Button raises, Pooh 3-bets, BB calls, UTG calls, Button calls.

Flop: (12 SB) 4d, Kc, Ah (4 players)

Pooh checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Button checks.

Turn: (6 BB) Ac (4 players)

Pooh bets, BB folds, UTG calls $2 (All-In), Button folds.

River: (7.50 BB) Kd (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: 7.50 BB

Then I got to Alaska, and the skies parted, the light shined, and I started playing 5/10. To demonstrate some of the good times:

PokerStars 5/10 Hold'em (5 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is UTG with Td, Qc.

Pooh raises, MP calls, Button calls, 1 fold, BB calls.

Flop: (8.40 SB) 8c, Jc, Jh (4 players)

BB checks, Pooh bets, MP calls, Button folds, BB folds.

Turn: (5.20 BB) 9d (2 players)

Pooh bets, MP raises, Pooh 3-bets, MP caps, Pooh calls.

River: (13.20 BB) 4h (2 players)

Pooh bets, MP raises, Pooh 3-bets, MP calls.

Final Pot: 19.20 BB

Results:
Pooh has Td Qc (straight, queen high).

MP has Kd Js (three of a kind, jacks).

Outcome: Pooh wins 19.20 BB.

or, even better

PokerStars 5/10 Hold'em (5 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is BB with Qh, Kc.

UTG calls, 1 fold, Button calls, SB completes, Pooh raises, UTG calls, Button calls, SB calls.

Flop: (8 SB) Kd, Qs, Ks (4 players)

SB bets, Pooh calls, UTG folds, Button calls.

Turn: (5.50 BB) 6s (3 players)

SB bets, Pooh calls, Button calls.

River: (8.50 BB) Kh (3 players)

SB bets, Pooh raises, Button folds, SB calls.

Final Pot: 12.50 BB

Results:
SB has Qc Th (full house, kings full of queens).

Pooh has Qh Kc (four of a kind, kings).

Outcome: Pooh wins 12.50 BB.

Not sure how much of my time I'm going to spend at 5/10 vs. 2/4, but certainly some while the games look so good. Obviously, I'm running good but, my 5/10 stats for today:


Hands VP$IP PFR% W$WSF W$SD BB/100
737 31.21 21.3 43.41 54.17 11.62

Week 3
Hands: 8,268 + 2 hours live (Total: 20,983 + 10 hours)
Results: +$1695.50 - $28 at Ry4an's. (Total: +$3,789.34)

How bout dem Cubs Pooh?

2005-06-11T19:40:00.000-05:00

Booyah

The Usual

2005-06-10T01:21:00.000-05:00

It seems like every time I play I have at least one major brain fart (for lack of a better way of phrasing it). Tonight I had two in the span of about five minutes on Party Poker. First, I was playing a Stud Hi/Lo Sit and Go. A king of hearts hit me on 7th street. There was one other player in the hand. It wasn't the card I had been looking for, as I had started the hand looking to hit a straight or take the lo, and both had continued developing. The only problem? That was my fifth heart. King high flush, and I fail to extract an extra bet from my opponent because I'm an idiot, and had completely missed all that red sitting in my hand (yes, this kind of stupidity is becoming a recurring thing).

Not two minutes later I'm involved in a hand in a low limit Hold 'Em ring game. I have AJo from the small blind. A person in middle position raises. Hoping to isolate the MP raiser by forcing out the omnipresent limpers in this kind of game, I three bet. It returns to MP raiser, and he four bets. OK, the classic read right here is that MP has a big pocket pair - 10's or above. Players rarely four-bet at these low limits with anything worse - there is a small chance he could have AK, but I certainly don't like that any better. Flop comes down AsQsJh. I lead out with a bet, MP raises, I re-raise, and he caps. At this point, I have him completely read: QQ. The odds that he has AA or JJ are extremely low since I know that four of those cards are out of the deck, and he wouldn't cap post-flop with KK or 10/10 with cards on the board that beat him and facing a three-bet. AK is still a slight possibility, but I'm guessing he would have slowed down to a three-bet on that board with just top pair top kicker. He's not a maniac pre-flop bettor (at least he hasn't been so far), so he doesn't have two spades or K10. No, QQ is what he has. I just know it. I call, figuring I'll call down to make sure he just doesn't have AK or something, or to hope for a magic Ace. Turn comes down a blank. I check and call his bet. The river comes another Jack. Now what on earth do I think this does for me? Sure, it gives me a full house, but remember that I am convinced that the guy has QQ, so I should have been convinced that he had a bigger full house. What do I do? Bet, re-raise, call his capped bet. He turns up QQ. Sure, I suppose I could have read him wrong and lost out on bets had I not been aggressive on the river, but that wasn't what I was thinking. No, I saw that jack hit and I suddenly forgot all about the fact that I was so certain prior to that card that he had QQ (when the jack hits pretty much the only other possibility that I could put him on would be AA, and I'd certainly be beaten then, too). I simply forgot everything that happened in the hand prior to that card, and I lost three extra big bets because of it (thankfully I ended up making my money back, though I went out early in the Stud Hi/Lo game to throw $11 away - setting aside Joe and Pooh's sentiments that I was throwing it away the second I entered that game in the first place).

Some day I will remember how to think.

AA cracked again, cool mud soothes

2005-06-09T20:28:00.000-05:00

I have played for about 30 hours since moving to Vegas, which is probably about 1200 hands. I have had AA exactly twice and lost both hands. The first time cost me a $300 pot playing NLHE live, which was just unlucky.

The second time, Tuesday night at Sahara $42 + 20 RB (1) NLHE tourney, was my own dumbass fault. Level IV with 100-200 blinds. EP raised to 600, I am in MP with AA and just call, playing second-hand low. Table had been pretty tight once the pot was raised preflop, so I figured his raise and my call (I had a very tight image because I had just accidentally exposed my AJ as I mucked it) would get us heads-up or three way at the most. I was wrong - 2 people behind me also called and we saw the flop with me out of position and a pot of about 2500. Flop: TT4. At this point, I have to absolutely shut down, especially with only T1700 left. Instead, I follow the EP preflop raisers check with an all-in bet, immediate called by a guy with TJ.

What was I thinking? I'm not sure, but I think I figured I would have to call down a bettor, and since I only had T1700 left with a pot of T2500, I might as well just push it in. The problem is I'm only going to get called by a player with a T (maybe KK or QQ). He had me covered and my tourney cashless streak continued.

Last night I watched mud wrestling at Gilley's with $15 all-you-can-drink cans of High Life, the champaign of beers. Reichert and Tim from Chicago are in town - I plan on playing some 4-8 with them at Binion's or Nugget this evening after Bar/Bri (Gilley's + High Life = no morning Bar/Bri for Joe). Maybe I can start chipping away at the $500 dent in my bankroll.

What Pokerblog looks like . . .

2005-06-07T15:42:00.000-05:00

. . . to a non-poker player:

Introducing...

2005-06-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

my brand new blog, Laws - Vegas - Poker. It will be about being a lawyer in Vegas (cross fingers), Vegas itself, and poker.

Some changes to the Pokerblog are in the works and would already be done if only Chris B. could find his ass with both hands.

Theory vs. Practice: Just What Is A "Good" Bluff.

2005-06-06T19:40:00.000-05:00

First off, I can really tell the the biggest impediment to meeting my summer goal is going to be playing enough. Between moving, Bar/Bri (oh yeah, the Bar itself) and just not being very fired up right now, it's really hard putting in the hours...

Moving on to the main thrust of this post. What is a good bluff? One the gets the opponent to fold you might say? Well yes and no. That has been a successful bluff. But it doesn't follow that every bluff that works is a good one and every one that gets called is bad. Basic theory tells us that for bluffing to be correct, the percentage that the opponent(s) fold(s) is equal to your pot odds. (For simplicities sake, I'm assuming you will never get raised or called by a worse hand, while a better hand will only call or fold)

The problem I have is detemining what this magical percentage is. There are times when I bet the river with rags, get called and say "Gee, that was stupid", while others where I check behind with KQ and the BB shows me some kind of janky A3o that turned a wheel draw and decided to stick around, and I wonder if a bet on the river wins the pot for me...

One easy spot for me is with a hopeless hand in a decent sized pot:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (3 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is Button with 9h, 8h.

Pooh raises, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: (6 SB) Ks, Jc, 3d (3 players)

SB checks, BB checks, Pooh bets, SB folds, BB calls.

Turn: (4 BB) 3c (2 players)

BB checks, Pooh bets, BB calls.

River: (6 BB) 6d (2 players)

BB checks, Pooh bets, BB folds.

Final Pot: 7 BB

Now if I get called here, I look pretty damned silly, don't I? But he only needs to fold more then 1 time in 6 here. He's on a busted draw at least that often.

Unfortunately, just about any other spot becomes much murkier for me, especially as the bluff/value-bet line begins to blur...

I find myself doing things like this:

Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (6 max, 2 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is BB with 4c, Kh. Button posts a blind of $1.

Pooh raises, Button (poster) calls.

Flop: (4 SB) 3d, Jd, 8c (2 players)

Pooh bets, Button calls.

Turn: (3 BB) Js (2 players)

Pooh checks, Button checks.

River: (3 BB) Ad (2 players)

Pooh checks, Button bets, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 5 BB

Results in white below:
Pooh has 4c Kh (one pair, jacks).

Button has Qs 7c (one pair, jacks).

Outcome: Pooh wins 5 BB.

Actually, I'm quite proud of that one, but still...

In other news, three book reviews coming soon, I hope, including a NL cash game book which is either ok or crap, I haven't decided yet...

Days 11-14
Hands: 2,768 (60% at party 1-2 clearing a bonus) (Total: 12,715 + 8 hours)
Results: $+ 296.04 +$150 bouns (Total: +$1,986.54)

Crew Update

2005-06-05T18:25:00.000-05:00

Rolling Stone has an article on "The Crew", including a bit on Dutch Boyd's issues.

Another Full Tilt Score

2005-06-05T00:40:00.000-05:00

Major credit again to Full Tilt Poker for coming up with a great promotion. This time they are having the "Greatfull Red" daily tournament. The $50+5 daily multi will award, in addition to regular prize money, 1% of all the money made by Full Tilt's 26 pros in the next day's WSOP event. The list of pros is here, and includes Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, Hoyt Corkins, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, and a number of other solid pros. I have to give credit to Full Tilt for coming up with the best promotions for the WSOP. Too bad they have 1/20 of the players of the far inferior Party Poker (someone, some day is going to have to please explain why Party is the most popular site when it has just about nothing going for it in terms of software, tournaments, or customer service) and 1/10 of the players at Poker Stars. I could only imagine the frenzy that would surround this kind of tournament at Poker Stars, while just 121 players entered the first of these events at Full Tilt.

Poker Tournaments Now Legal in Minnesota. Sort of.

2005-06-03T22:18:00.000-05:00

Info here. They are allowed in bars, so long as the bar doesn't profit "directly" from the tournaments, and so long as "bets don't result in direct financial loss or gain among players."

Mike Paulle

2005-06-03T17:14:00.000-05:00

The best bet I've seen so far for keeping up with the WSOP as it happens is Mike Paulle's Poker Blog.

In the first bit of news, the first open event, $1,500 NLHE, garnered more than 2200 entrants (nearly eclipsing the WSOP record set by last year's main event), and Paulle suggests that the first prize may top $1 million. That would be more than 3 times the award for first prize in the same event last year. I think the 6,600 seats for the Main Event stand a good chance of being filled, and I imagine the estimates for the total prize pool of the entire World Series may end up on the low side.

UPDATE: First prize for WSOP Event #2 is actually in the $725,000 range.

I Fold the Flop For One Bet..Controversy Ensues:

2005-06-03T16:22:00.000-05:00

This hand has sparked some serious discussion over at 2+2, with all three options (fold, call, raise) being advocated forcefully. My reads where that SB was overaggressive with even the weakest draw, and MP was complete Tazmanian maniac. Other players were all not very notable (meaning, standard loose-passive LL players...)

Thoughts?

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is BB with Ah, 8d. UTG posts a blind of $2.

UTG (poster) checks, MP calls, 1 fold, Button calls, SB completes, Pooh checks.

Flop: (5 SB) 4s, 8s, 6s (5 players)

SB bets, Pooh folds. . .

News & Notes

2005-06-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

Pauly has arrived in Vegas and is taking pictures of passed-out bloggers (he should check on me tonight).
Dutch Boyd is planning on "tearing up" the $175 Rio satellites. I have no doubt that he could/would do so; just don't go all-in for 1/2 the pot when the guy behind you called your 4x preflop raise and 1/2 pot flop contination bet and you hold AQ (hint: the guy has at least AK and will call again).
The weather here is ridiculous:

Joe, This is What's REALLY Right With The World...

2005-06-02T19:36:00.000-05:00

Day 10
Hands: 1,580 (total: 9,947 + 8 hours)
Results: +$131 (total: +1,540.5)

We like to party...

Hypo

2005-06-02T13:47:00.000-05:00

Since I don't want to play right now, I've been experimenting with hand holdings to check pre-flop Omaha odds.

Playing PL Omaha Hi heads up, you are dealt the following: AhAdAs3c.

Which would you rather face:
QdQc8d9c, Jd8sQd9s, or 7c8c9h10h.

The quality of the hands on a pure odds basis versus the AAA3 hand goes in reverse order from how they are listed above, so you would most want to face the QQ89 double suited and least want to face 78910 double suited. You'd be the slightest of favorites versus QQ89, and a dog against the other two. I suspect this isn't too surprising to Hold 'Em players, who'd rather face Aces with middle suited connecters than a lower pair (though the difference is relatively small; and differences that small matter more to Omaha players).

The better question is what you do with AAA3 rainbow heads up. If in the small blind, do you call? If in the big blind, and your opponent just limped, do you raise in the hope of forcing the opponent to lay down, or just check? Of course there are a lot of other factors to consider that we don't know from just the basic hand holdings (would he lay down to a raise? are you a big chip leader or small stack?). The question, however, is really whether it is ever a good idea to play a hand like that aggressively. My opinion is that without at least one flush draw or without it being Hi/Lo, there is never a time to play that hand aggressively pre-flop (I suppose if you were absolutely convinced your opponent would fold...).

Going back to the Hold 'Em example, my question is as follows (it may remind you of something Pooh once asked about). Suppose you are dealt 9h10h in a multi-table tourney a good distance from making the money. Through some skillful pre-flop maneuvering by an opponent, he has managed to build up the pot quite a bit and force out everyone but you. While you are considering what to do, your opponent, sitting one spot to your left, sloppily lifts up his cards and reveals two black aces. You now know you are a big underdog - just a 22.8% chance to win. The problem? You have just 1000 chips left, and there are 6000 chips sitting in the pot already.^* Do you call?

* Forget how things went or how poorly you might have played to get yourself into this position.

And all is right with the world....

2005-06-02T11:39:00.000-05:00

(besides my bankroll)

Why Me?

2005-06-02T01:24:00.000-05:00

Played in a $10 Stud Hi/Lo multi on Pokerstars. Was in excellent chip position before losing a couple thousand chips when my opponent caught up to my hand and took a nice pot down. I was still in decent shape with about 4200 chips when I went out on a huge hand in which I had an open-ended straight draw on 4th street (10-K), then made trip tens on sixth street, multiple people betting and calling all the way, went all-in with multiple people staying in the hand, then saw my opponent turn up the fourth 9 he hit on 7th street to rake in almost 14000 chips (only qualifying lo was someone that had been all-in after the flop). Yes, I indeed had been ahead of everyone with my tens after 6th street, which I know thanks to PokerStars new Instand Hand History feature and my desire to torture myself further by studying the hand.

I now officially hate the number 9. And I'm now more than willing to accept anyone's argument for Internet poker being rigged.

I surrender.

Brutal

2005-06-01T20:40:00.000-05:00

Played in Full Tilt's PL Omaha Hi bracelet race satellite this evening. I finished in 25th place out of 109 entrants - only 4 spots paid; one ticket to a $1500 WSOP event. I went out as the short stack on the following hand (no converter for this that I know of; in the spirit of the WPT and to milk my hurt, I've posted the percentage odds at each stage of the hand):

Blinds 100/200
Preflop: Chris B. (1760 chips) is BB.

4 Folds, CO raises to 400, Button calls 400, Chrisdoc raises to 1,700, CO folds, Button raises to 3000, Chris B. calls 60, and is all in

Button shows [As 5h 9s 9h] (32% chance of winning)
Chris B. shows [Qc Qh Ah Jh] (68% chance of winning)

The flop is [7c Kd 3h] (Chris B. 87%; Button 13%)

The turn is [6d] (Chris B. 85%; Button 15%)

The river is [9c]

Button shows three of a kind, Nines
Chris B shows a pair of Queens
Button wins the pot (4,020).

Chris B. is out.

I can't fault the call pre-flop, as there are worse hands (the 5 is a little weak, but at least it was suited), the guy had a good amount of chips, and I had the short stack. Given my style of play, the guy had to (I hope) know that he was a dog going into the flop, but probably hoped that his A was live, I didn't have a higher pocket pair, or that his flush cards were live (in other words, hoping for at most a coin flip). As it turns out, only his spades were good, and I was left to turn from pumping my fist when I saw what he turned up to yelling an expletive when the 9 hit on the river. I would have had a lot of work to do, but doubling up would have given me enough chips to have a shot. Alas, I lose again. Barring a miracle, I think I've pretty much given up on participating in any WSOP events this year.

How about an update on the WSOP quest from Pooh?

Canterbury/Blind Calling

2005-06-01T03:06:00.000-05:00

Took a trip down to Canterbury this evening. Played 3/6 for 6 hours, and ended up +114. The place was really slow tonight. When I arrived at 6pm there were empty tables and no waiting (at least for 2/4, 3/6, or 4/8). My table was short-handed for much of the evening.

I played decently for the most part, and quite frankly got some luck (cracked Aces twice; once with A4 (!) and another time with J8; the As4s I played on tilt and hit my gutshot straight on the turn; the J8 I trapped myself into playing to a two-bet on a gut feeling, the guy with AA smooth called my bet to an 8 high flop, I turned a jack, and then when I re-raised his check raise on the turn, he announced what he had in frustration).

On the other hand, my run of not getting sets at Canterbury continues, and the only pair I had above 9's all night was a pair of jacks (an Ace flopped and a King turned, but I pushed the only other player out of the hand). I also left some massive pots on the table - sometimes because I didn't go with my feeling pre-flop and sometimes because I simply made the right pot odds call knowing I was way behind and then watching as one of the two outs I would have needed hit on the river (I love spending the next few minutes recalculating pot odds to see if I somehow made a mistake - as if I could pull my cards out of the muck and do it over). Tonight was a night of trying to play well without the benefit of a lot of great hole cards, and taking the luck that eventually came my way. Nevertheless, one of my most profitable hands of the night was the always welcome AK (always welcome unless you are Joe). Low pocket pairs were brutal for me. I was +60 after an hour, then -100 after three hours, then I won some big hands to catch up when people stopped catching trip threes with their 37o. During my rough patch, I just loved taking down a small pot and listening to a super-loose player that had been bleeding money to other players for an hour say, "Haven't seen you win one of those before." Bastard.

The funniest moment of the night: me over-acting a bit and having my action seen by the dealer as a check. You can only imagine the looks from other players when I show the nuts and they see I let them off the hook without an extra bet on the river. Note to self: don't be so histrionic in pretending like you're about to bet with a mediocre hand because you're "so surprised" everyone else is checking after you smooth called the turn. Hearing people confusedly ask other players, "Were there three of a suit on the board," or, "Did the board pair or something," is not fun. I tried to convince myself I was just setting everyone up for a later hand - how I don't know, but I really felt like a huge idiot. I eventually and lamely offered that I wasn't paying attention.

Beyond the rambling over my night, I wanted to mention a phenomenon that I'm sure all of you have noticed, and that I have been acutely aware of since I started playing more low-limit hold 'em lately. This is the reflexive call of the player with money in the pot pre-flop. I can't understand why people in the blinds feel so compelled to call a raise when they wouldn't think of limping in with the same hand (I'm discounting for the people that limp with every hand; my bankroll thanks you). It seems to me that at the lower limits, the only way to get the big blind out of a hand is to three-bet it - and even that's not always a sure thing. The small blinds, even in 3-6, will almost always call if they are not facing a two bet.

Now, if I limp in with a hand, I do so only with the understanding that I am prepared to call an additional bet with that hand (depending on the size of the pot and the nature of the players, I may very well fold to a three-bet). Calling raises in the blinds goes well beyond protection. When the big blinds in my ring games are seeing some 90+% of the flops, I simply must conclude that they feel some magnetic pull to the chips they've already placed in the pot. But why do these players see nothing wrong with folding to a single bet when they don't hit the magic flop? Say we're at a 3-6 table. I'm in Middle Position, and I raise. To a moderately attentive person, this might scream, "decent hand in middle position!" Let's say one other person calls before the blind. Let's also say we have a decent player in the small blind, and he folds. The Big Blind holds 38o (don't want to tempt him with The Hammer). Call. Without hesitation. Why? Because he already has three chips in the pot. The flop comes K62 rainbow. I lead out with a bet. The other player calls. The BB folds without hesitation. OK, now I know he (correctly) thinks he is behind in the hand, but didn't he realize he was behind before the flop? Why is he willing to call with junk just because he has three chips in the pot, but not when he has six? I realize the psychological and odds difference, but I would argue that the difference really isn't as great as it is made to be by the players. The concept of protecting blinds is meaningless when everyone is protecting their blinds. If there's no stealing, then there's no need for protection. To make matters worse, the person calling with these hands is out of position. So not only have they chased their blinds with junk, but they've done so in junky position.

My question is this: how does your perception of the quality of your hand change when you are in the big blind? More specifically, are you more willing to call a raise from the big blind with a hand that you wouldn't limp with? Am I wrong in thinking that reflexively calling in the big blind is one of the more basic errors indicating an inexperienced player? Finally, do you find yourself three-betting hands that you would prefer not to simply because you know it is the only way to force out the blinds and isolate another player?

Daily Dose: Waldorf and Statler Ride Again.

2005-06-01T01:50:00.000-05:00

Having not been to the 'bury in a while, I forgot why live poker is often fun. While I was in Vegas a couple weeks ago, I was reminded, as I fun conversations with various dealers, and a guy who was moving his daughter out of the UNLV dorms for the summer, as well as hit on a cutie who had just graduated from Texas and was heading to law school next year. (While her boyfriend was at the table. And he couldn't stop me, since I was PWNing him.)

Last night, I was bored and sleepless, so I decided to drive down. Sat down at a 4-8 table, and proceeded to have a great time. It helped that the two guys on my left could both play a bit (so we could talk poker) and were good guys to boot. One guy, Tony, made a nice read right after he sat down. He wasn't in the hand, but it was a multi-way raised pot with a board of Qc6c2sAh. When the Jc came on the river, the guy who had been leading at the pot the whole way looked disgusted. When the UTG player bet, Tony said "Ace-Queen doesn't look so good right now, does it?" Then gentleman proceeded to fold AQ face up (a nice laydown actually) and the pot was scooped by Qc7c.

In any event, Tony and I became like the two old muppets who sit up in the balcony of the theatre cracking jokes. "I've seen better film than that on my kitchen floor, har, har, har." We became Waldorf and Stadler (one dealer suggested that Bert and Ernie were more appopriate, but I think he was mocking us), Played for about five hours, booking a +65. Would have been more had I not gotten rivered in a huge pot with Qh9h on a board of Ah3s2h4hAd, as the gentlemen on my right held A2o. (all the more amazing considering that the 2c was exposed during the deal, becoming the burn card.)

Two hands later I did have some fun, flopping a straight with QTd on a board of AKJ all hearts. One very tilted and slightly drunk gentlemen went five bets with me on the turn (an offsuit 3) with A3, putting himself all in (no way I play it that aggressively if he had more in front of him...), when the river blanked, I was pretty much ready to leave.

In book news, I'm curretly reading James McKenna's Beyond Tells: Power Poker Psychology. So far it's a litte heavy on the pop psychology. (You must be a response-able player to be a winner in poker and life, etc.) Though there has been one quote that I find to be a very positve lesson: "Twenty years of experience is much different then one year of experience twenty times over." I'll review it fully in a couple of days (as well as Getting Started in Hold 'Em, which is fabulous).

As for today's online play, it was somewhat of a battle, as I was insanely swingy (going from +$150 to -$150 and back repeatedly) before finishing +$86.5 for the night.

Two interesting hands:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is SB with Qd, Ad.

3 folds, Button raises, Pooh 3-bets, BB caps, Button calls, Pooh calls.

Flop: (12 SB) 7s, 7d, Qh (3 players)

Pooh checks, BB bets, Button calls, Pooh raises, BB calls, Button calls.

Turn: (9 BB) Jc (3 players)

Pooh bets, BB raises, Button folds, Pooh 3-bets, BB caps, Pooh calls.

River: (17 BB) Qs (2 players)

Pooh bets, BB raises, Pooh 3-bets, BB caps, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 25 BB

Results:
Pooh has Qd Ad (full house, queens full of sevens).

BB has 7h 7c (four of a kind, sevens).

Outcome: BB wins 25 BB.

and

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed) converter

Preflop: Pooh is BB with Jd, Qc.

1 fold, MP calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB completes, Pooh checks.

Flop: (5 SB) Ks, 8h, Ah (5 players)

SB checks, Pooh checks, MP checks, CO bets, Button folds, SB calls, Pooh calls, MP folds.

Turn: (4 BB) Tc (3 players)

SB checks, Pooh checks, CO bets, SB raises, Pooh 3-bets, CO calls, SB caps, Pooh calls, CO calls.

River: (16 BB) 4c (3 players)

SB bets, Pooh raises, CO folds, SB calls.

Final Pot: 20 BB

Results:
SB has Kc Ad (two pair, aces and kings).

Pooh has Jd Qc (straight, ace high).

Outcome: Pooh wins 20 BB.

Button claims to have folded AQ.

Thoughts on either hand?

Day 9:
Hands: 2,059 +5 hours live (total: 8,367 + 8 hours live)
Results: +$86.50 online and +$65 live (total: $1,410.50)

Fine, Specifics

2005-05-30T18:57:00.000-05:00

Ok, here are the 3 hands I played in the $175 satellite. 10 players started with T800, and these hands all occur in level I with 25-25 blinds (level II woulda been 25-50). I have notated decision points at issue with letters. Please discuss by noting the hand # and decision letter, i.e. "I think you should have done x at 1(b)."

Hand 1: I am in SB with TJo. MP raises to 75, (a) I call as does the BB. Flop has all undercards, (b) I check, BB checks, raiser makes a continuation bet, (c) I fold, as does the BB. I now have 725 in chips.

Hand 2: I am in LP with AKo. EP (the raiser from last hand) raises to 75. He is clearly the aggressor of the table and has the most chips at this point. (a) I call, everyone else folds. Flop is all rags and (b) we both check - I decide to put the breaks on because he failed to make his standard continuation bet. Turn is a Q and he checks again. (c) I decide to bet 100, about half the pot, and he raises to 325. (d) I fold. I now have about 500.

Hand 3: I am in MP with AQh. (a) I'm first in the pot with a raise to 100 and the guy right behind me calls. Everyone else folds. Flop is rags with 1 heart. (b) I bet half the pot and the other guy calls. Turn is blank, (c) I move in for my remaining 300 on the pot of about 500 and the other guy calls, showing AKo which holds up. I put my tail between my legs, wish everyone luck and get the f outta dodge asap.

Now listen up you bastards - I have decided on at least 4 mistakes I made in these 3 hands, so there is no need to pile on. I also know that I suck - my plan to play poker in Vegas is an attempt to buck the odds rather than an attempt to capitalize on them.

Day 8: Adventures in Peen Waving.

2005-05-30T18:15:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I feel bad about taking people's money. Not when they are jackasses though. Today I met perhaps #1 dipshit of all time. Now some of the better players I know are a little snippy or are trash-talkers in an effort to induce tilt. This guy was neither that smart, nor that skilled. A random sampling of his ramblings:

. . .

Well, actually, decency prevents me from printing any of them, as they involved variations of the F-bomb, moms, and inanimate objects. The best part was him attempting to show his superiority by dumping his entire bankroll onto the table: $239!. I, maturely responded by bringing what I had available to the table....$2,559. He left the table shortly thereafter, much to everyone's relief.

Remember, if you are going to get into a pissing contest, better bring the big guns.

As to specifics, seemed like there were a fair few Tazmanian Devils playing the poker on Memorial day. Two of my favorite bluff catches of the day:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is BB with Qh, Ah.

UTG (Aggro Donk) raises, 4 folds, Pooh 3-bets, UTG (Aggro Donk) caps, Pooh calls.

Flop: (8.50 SB) Ts, 6d, 8d (2 players)

Pooh checks, Aggro Donk bets, Pooh calls.

Turn: (5.25 BB) 2c (2 players)

Pooh checks, Aggro Donk bets, Pooh calls.

River: (7.25 BB) 2s (2 players)

Pooh checks, Aggro Donk bets, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 9.25 BB

Results:

ooh has Qh Ah (one pair, twos).

Aggro Donk has Qd Js (one pair, twos).

Outcome: Pooh wins 9.25 BB.

And

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is SB with 4c, 4d.

UTG (Semi-Skilled Maniac) raises, 3 folds, Pooh 3-bets, 1 fold, UTG (Semi-Skilled Maniac) calls.

Flop: (7 SB) 3h, Ts, 7h (2 players)

Pooh bets, Semi-Skilled Maniac calls.

Turn: (4.50 BB) Tc (2 players)

Pooh bets, Semi-Skilled Maniac raises, Pooh calls.

River: (8.50 BB) 2h (2 players)

Pooh checks, Semi-Skilled Maniac bets, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 10.50 BB

Results in white below:

ooh has 4c 4d (two pair, tens and fours).

Semi-Skilled Maniac has 8s Ah (one pair, tens).

Outcome: Pooh wins 10.50 BB.

Though sometimes (oddly opponent is same guy from hand 1):

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is MP with Ah, Kc.

1 fold, Pooh raises, 2 folds, SB (Aggro Donk) calls, 1 fold.

Flop: (5 SB) 6d, 6c, 5d (2 players)

Aggro Donk checks, Pooh bets, Aggro Donk calls.

Turn: (3.50 BB) 5c (2 players)

Aggro Donk checks, Pooh bets, Aggro Donk calls.

River: (5.50 BB) 5s (2 players)

Aggro Donk bets, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 7.50 BB

Results in white below:
Aggro Donk has As Ac (full house, fives full of aces).

Pooh has Ah Kc (full house, fives full of sixes).

Outcome: Aggro Donk wins 7.50 BB.

Day 8:
Hands: 1,112 (Total: 6.308 + 3 hours live)
Results: +$184 + $110 bonus (Total: + $1,267)

Canterbury could also happen tonight...

Satellite Strategy? Never heard of it.

2005-05-30T17:11:00.000-05:00

I took my first shot at a WSOP berth by entering a $175 single-table satellite at Rio yesterday and it occurred to me that I have absolutely NO idea how to play these things. So I'm getting a copy of McEvoy's Championship Satellite Strategy today. I don't even want to get into any specifics because it is embarrassing. I will say that I know you have to beat AK and win with AK in order to do well in NLHE and right now I can do neither.

To contrast with Pooh, my running total is: -330 in 23 hours. I hate poker.

Day 7: Well Maybe...

2005-05-29T18:37:00.000-05:00

It COULD be that easy...(ducking the impending lightning bolt).

Short session today after driving Mama Pooh to the airport: This was typical of my opposition today:

Both villains are clear buddy-list material as overly aggressive in inappropriate spots.

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is CO with Qc, Ks.

2 folds, Pooh raises, Button (LAGgy Donk #1) calls, 1 fold, BB (LAGgy donk #2) calls.

Flop: (6.50 SB) Qs, Qd, 9h (3 players)

LAGgy donk #2 checks, Pooh bets, LAGgy Donk #1 raises, LAGgy donk #2 calls, Pooh calls.

Turn: (6.25 BB) 3s (3 players)

LAGgy donk #2 checks, Pooh checks, LAGgy Donk #1 bets, LAGgy donk #2 calls, Pooh raises, LAGgy Donk #1 3-bets, LAGgy donk #2 calls, Pooh caps, LAGgy Donk #1 calls, LAGgy donk #2 calls.

River: (18.25 BB) Kh (3 players)

LAGgy donk #2 checks, Pooh bets, LAGgy Donk #1 raises, LAGgy donk #2 calls, Pooh 3-bets, LAGgy Donk #1 calls, LAGgy donk #2 folds.

Final Pot: 26.25 BB

Results in white below:

Pooh has Qc Ks (full house, queens full of kings).

LAGgy Donk #1 has Jd Ts (straight, king high).

Outcome: Pooh wins 26.25 BB.

Donk boy #2 claimed to have folded JT also, (which I doubt, since he would have bet/raised with a hand as good as an OESD at some point in the hand).

Stars also has a 20% redeposit bonus at present, so that's another +$120 as soon as I bang out a few more hands tommorow.

Amazon is finally getting of their collective (and undoubtedly substantial) asses and sending me more poker books, one of which I am VERY much looking forward to is about the more mathematical aspects of Hold 'Em descision making. An excerpt can be found here

Day 7
Hands: 703 (total: 5,186)
Results: + $508 (total: + $963)

Disjointed, rambling Vegas update

2005-05-29T17:32:00.000-05:00

Good news on Thursday - not only is The Firm reimbursing me the $3k+ for bar application and Bar/Bri, but it is also paying me 1 month's salary between June and July. Plus the auction went for $710. So, with my newly-padded "bankroll," I headed off to the tables.

Tourneys at Binion's and Craps at the IP

I started where I booked my biggest win last summer (2nd for $2k) - the $70 NLHE with 1 $40 RB at Binion's. 138 players started with T1000. After the first hand I felt like I was destined for the final table. With blinds at 25-50, UTG limped and MP made it 100. I was in the SB and called with TJo, so did the BB and the limper. Flop was gin: AKQ rainbow. I checked and so did everyone else. I bet 200 on the blank turn, only the MP raiser called. He also called my 500 bet on the river, showing AJ for top pair top kicker. First hand and I had almost doubled-up! But I couldn't get anything going after that. I took a guy all-in when I had TT but his Aks improved. Then I got knocked out with JJ against K6d when a K rivered. Oh well.

I immediately sat in a $60 "satellite" (they were calling them satellites but they were really SNGs) and got smoked when I got it all in with AKs against JJ and 22. Cantwinracesitis has reared its ugly head.

Friday night really healed my wounds. Went to the Pink Taco at Hard Rock with a dude from Bar/Bri, his brother, and some girls he knows. Then talked to hookers at the Hard Rock casino bar. Then played craps at the IP and got wasted. Yes, I know playing craps drunk at the IP is not the way a Vegas resident is supposed to roll, but I won $200 so it worked out.

Saturday - Bally's and Bellagio

After nursing my hangover till about 4:30pm, I headed back the Strip. I parked at Bally's planning to go to Bellagio and was surprised to see Bally's poker room with about 15 tables packed. I sat at 1-2 NL and got my ass kicked. I busted out with AA against 88 and A2d when we all got it all in before the flop of QsQc6d. You know you're running bad when you are in that situtation and still know that you are going to lose the hand. Running diamonds was what did me in.

After that humiliation I continued on to Bellagio to play 4-8. I would play 8-16 but I don't have debit cards for either of my accounts right now (long story), so I'm kind of stuck with the $400 that I have in my wallet when I leave my checkbook at home.

Bellagio made a major renovation to their already-best-in-Vegas room to add 10 tables. It is very nice, but there are probably about 2 or 3 too many tables in there now. Very crowded, especially in the corners. Jennifer Harmon was playing in the high limit room. When I was cashing out she was too. I made eye contact with her, smiled and said "how are you?" she replied "good, how are you?" I said "good." I'm so smooth. She looked a lot better than she has on TV and has a nice little shape to her.

My 4-8 table was perfect for the first 6 hours or so and I was up $300. I was about the only player raising preflop and was in charge of the table. Then the drunks came and the game became a crapshoot, more of what I remember from 4-8 at Bellagio last summer. I gave $100 back to the drunks and left at 4:00am; even for the day and swearing off live NL in favor of tourneys and good ol' limit holdem.

Thru Saturday: Down $115 in 21 hours.

Day 2-6: No, it's not that easy

2005-05-29T16:22:00.000-05:00

Hubris. That's what my dad likes to call it. Except he pronounces it Huberis, like it's a bone in your arm. This is going to be harder then day one would indicate. First, sometimes the bear gets you. These two hands pretty much some up how I feel about day 2:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is Button with Qh, Kd.

UTG calls, MP raises, 1 fold, Pooh 3-bets, 2 folds, UTG calls, MP caps, Pooh calls, UTG calls.

Flop: (13.50 SB) Js, Ac, Th (3 players)

UTG checks, MP bets, Pooh raises, UTG folds, MP 3-bets, Pooh calls.

Turn: (9.75 BB) Qc (2 players)

MP bets, Pooh raises, MP 3-bets, Pooh caps, MP calls.

River: (17.75 BB) As (2 players)

MP bets, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 19.75 BB

Results:
MP has Kh Ah (straight, ace high).
Pooh has Qh Kd (straight, ace high).

Outcome: Pooh wins 9.87 BB. MP wins 9.87 BB.

And

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is MP with Ac, Kd.

1 fold, Pooh raises, 2 folds, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: (6 SB) 8c, Qs, Qd (3 players)

SB checks, BB checks, Pooh bets, SB calls, BB calls.

Turn: (4.50 BB) Kc (3 players)

SB checks, BB checks, Pooh bets, SB folds, BB calls.

River: (6.50 BB) 6c (2 players)

BB bets, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 8.50 BB

Results:

B has Jc 5c (flush, king high).

Pooh has Ac Kd (two pair, kings and queens).

Outcome: BB wins 8.50 BB.

This is why the games are good, but also why they are high variance...oh well.

The other hard part is simply going to be putting in the hours. Today is Sunday, and I haven't played since Tuesday. Of course, my Mom was in town to help me prepare for the August move to Anchorage, so that cut down to zilch my internet time. Thanks mom.

No seriously, thanks. I just have to not disorganize what we have succesfully organized. In any event, back to the tables today.

Before I finish, I have a few book recomendations, neither of which are "instructional" the first is The Professor, The Banker and The Suicide King. Some of you may have heard about "the Big Game" in CardPlayer Magazine or elsewhere. This is the story of that game. In a nutshell, a billionaire Texas banker showed up one day in early 2001 The Bellagio and wanted to play heads-up hold 'em with some of the best players around for high-stakes. Really high-stakes. At the biggest the game got, they were playing heads up at $100,000-$200,000. (Yes, I meant to put five zeros). The book is similar to many"season" sports books that gives us background on the important players well as describing the events themselves

First the story of Andy Beal (the banker) and his quest to be able to compete with top notch poker pros is riveting. Second, its a fascinating look at the lives of some of the biggest name stars at the beginning of the poker boom. The players who joined the syndicate to face Beal are a murderers row of todays superstars: Lederer, Brunson (father and son), Greenstein, Forrest, Reese, Chau Giang, Phil Ivey and others. Perhaps my favorite stories in the book revolved around Jennifer Harman-Traniello, and her "non-gambler" husband, Marco.

I read it in about 6 hours straight. It's that fast-paced.

The second book is not really related to poker at all, but is great for two reasons. One the title, and two, the quasi-academic treatment of the subject matter.

Days 2-6
Hands: 2,390 + 3 hours at Canterbury (4,483 total)
Results: - $253 online, +$32 at the 'bury. (+$455 total)

Mirage Poker Showdown - Day 2

2005-05-26T13:30:00.000-05:00

Not. Now that the final table is almost underway, I'm not going to write a full story after all. Another broken promise.

The girl from Rhode Island was just a red herring to pique your interest - she's just the person I have decided came the farthest for Bar/Bri in Vegas: 2745 miles, putting my 1725 miles to shame. She travelled 2745 miles to take a bar with a 60% pass rate, and she did this without having a job lined up. Only in America.

I played cards last night for the first time as a Vegas resident. I started at Wynn playing 1-2 NL, which is a much more widespread game on the strip then it was last summer, when most NL games were 2-5. I lost $30 in 2 hours at a very tight, fairly skilled table.

Then I decided I wanted to play a tournament and thought I would give Aladdin's nightly $110 NLHE a shot. So I drove down there and found out there would be exactly 11 people in the tourney. BS. While waiting for a seat at 1-2 NL at Aladdin (2 tables going!), I played 3-6 shorthanded for about 1/2 hour and won $100. Those people did not know what hit them - playing shorthanded games online has really made me a good, aggressive limit player, even if (1) I can't beat Pooh and (2) I no longer have any idea how to play limit 9- or 10-handed.

The 3-6 game broke down when the tourney started and I got a seat at one of the 1-2NL tables. It was quite loose - regularly 2 or 3 callers of a pot-sized bet on the flop. I went down $100 then up $100 but ended up even after 3 hours. Only 1 interesting hand to report. I had ATo and raised 4x from MP. Both blinds called so the pot was $24. Flop: 2s6sTc and both blinds check. I bet $16, SB made it $32, and BB folded. I interpreted SB's raise to be either (1) a "see where I'm at" raise with a hand like A6 or TJ; or (2) a semi-bluff with a flush draw. I just called, planning to put him all-in on the turn unless a spade fell. Turn: 8h. SB bets out $30 into the $88 pot and I raise all-in. He calls immediately and turns over T6 which holds up. Comments?

Day 1: +$70 in 5.5 hours

Lamest First Multi Win Ever?

2005-05-25T22:12:00.000-05:00

I took down my first multi-table win this evening - triumphing over 94 other entrants at Full Tilt Poker. What makes it lame? It was a $1 Stud Hi/Lo Multi. I won a whopping $28.50 for my nearly four hours of play (I entered for practice).

I caught some cards early, then tightened up and played about as well as I ever have in Stud Hi/Lo. I went into the final table with a decent chip lead. I was nearly crippled with 5 people left when my king high flush lost to a full house. I came back with a vengeance, but went into Heads Up outchipped nearly 2:1. Within about 20 minutes I had won, playing absurdly aggressive and being thoroughly surprised at what my opponent was calling my bets with. I crippled my opponent with the nut lo/2-6 wheel, and then took the rest of the chips on the next hand.

Yay. What a victory.

Mirage Poker Showdown - Day 1

2005-05-25T01:39:00.000-05:00

(I know this is a day late but I don’t have internet access at home until Wednesday afternoon, which has seriously hampered my surfing regimen. I post this from the parking lot of the local wireless coffee shop, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf across from UNLV.)

I arrived at the Mirage around 5:30 Monday (Day 1) and found only a few people watching the action, which is set up entirely in the half of the sportsbook closest to the poker room. 317 players put up $10,000 one way or another, yielding a prize pool of just over $3 million. The $10k bought T$20k with 90 minute levels. It was Level 4 when I got there with blinds of 200-400.

Tobey Ma-fuckin-Guire

The first table I noticed featured Tobey Maguire in the 2 seat and John Juanda in the 5 seat, both right on the rail, with only a couple railbirds watching. Eskimo Clark then took the 9 seat of what was obviously the “feature table.” Eventually there was a Maquire Buzz and about 30 people made their way over to catch a glimpse before the table broke and the crowd dissipated. I don’t have any hands to report from this table because there really was no action and very little table talk.

Jesus Drops the Hammer?

I scanned the tables and noticed Dan Harrington, Layne Flack, Chris Ferguson, Eric Seidel, and Ted Forrest. I decided to watch the table with Jesus and Flack and see whether I could catch Jesus dropping the hammer. By now it was Level 5, which introduced a 50 ante with 300-600 blinds, and I was treated to a big hand almost immediately. One MP limped and Ferguson made a 3x raise from the CO while I silently hoped for the hammer. The SB doubled Ferguson’s bet and the MP limper called. By now the pot was up to about 10k. Ferguson responded to the reraise and call by pushing all-in for about 17k more (so much for the hammer). The MP limper had Ferguson covered and quickly called, turning over KK. Chris B. would’ve played the hand better than MP, because Ferguson showed AA and with another A on the turn he more than doubled-up.

Poker is Hott

Around this time I noticed a nice young lady on the rail wearing a zip-up sweatshirt that was hardly zipped up, highlighting some nice cleave. She is either Ferguson’s daughter or girlfriend. I hope it’s the latter.

Speaking of cleave, poker is really hott right now, in more ways than one. While I was at the bar getting beers for my dad and I, two very classy and morally upright young women ordering apple martinis asked me what was going on “over there.” I told them it was a poker tournament and they were both like “ooooooh, we love poker!” “are there any celebrities” etc. They were quite titillated when I told them that Maguire was playing along with several of the best pros in the world, so I took them up to their room and taught them how to bet the come. (Fine, I did no such thing; my dad was with me so give me a fucking break.)

Random Notes (as if the above is not random enough)

“Minneapolis” Jim Meehan was exiting after Day 1 ended. I asked him how many chips he had and he made the “this many” signal with his thumb and forefinger while telling the few of us standing around that he had T$17k (the average stack at that point was around T$40k). I shook his hand and wished him luck. This white trash dude next to me then goes, “Hey Jim, I like your gold chain” and kind of showed off his own similar bling. Jim leans in to the white trash dude and his buxom wife and says, “Yours is bigger, but mine is harder” while he scopes the dude’s wife’s breasts. Hilarious.
As we were leaving, my dad and I were admiring the view of The Venetian from the Mirage parking garage walkway when I heard a ridiculous belch behind me. I turned around to see none other than Eskimo walking to his car. I told him good luck tomorrow and he stopped and told us a bad beat story from the day, which I don't remember. It wasn't very good.
"Only 1 hand writeup? wtf?" Yeah, I know. I was only there for a couple hours, and I'm new to this anyway. Besides, there really was very little action. I promise that tomorrow's Day 2 post will have several hand writeups and plenty of intrigue. I can say this with confidence because I have already experienced Day 2, and while there are no hotel poker lessons for hot Jesus-groupies, there is a girl from Rhode Island and much more actual poker action.
Mike Paulle is omnipresent around the tables, counting chips and watching the action. Maybe it just seems like he is omnipresent; he goes about 6'10" 350 (ding). Anyways check out his pokerpages blog for better (and real-time, as opposed to a day late) updates.
OT: Huge Lot of Records for Sale! is up to $560, with 2+ days to go!!! Thanks to everyone who has linked to it, especially Rich. No thanks to Chris B. for the conspicuous lack of linking; furthermore, as the prime example of a "South Park Republican" (the actual term in the zeitgeist is "South Park Conservative"; you may be confusing it with "9/11 Republican"), may I say that your hatred for the term is misplaced, sir. I find it to be fairly descriptive of a large demo which almost includes yourself if you weren't such an anti-choice freak.

Day 1: Is it this easy?

2005-05-23T18:48:00.000-05:00

I hope so, but I somehow doubt it. Anyhoo, just decided to pack in in for the day. It started poorly, but ended very well. As with every time I play now, it seemed like I was down $200 likethat. In my first 2 orbits (5-tabling of course), my KK ran into AA on a 8 hi board, and I got hit with this fun one:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is BB with Ks, Kc.

UTG calls, MP calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB completes, Pooh raises, UTG calls, MP calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB folds.

Flop: (11 SB) 2d, 2c, 7s (5 players)

Pooh bets, UTG folds, MP folds, CO folds, Button calls.

Turn: (6.50 BB) Th (2 players)

Pooh bets, Button calls.

River: (8.50 BB) 7d (2 players)

Pooh bets, Button raises, Pooh calls.

Final Pot: 12.50 BB

Results
Pooh has Ks Kc (two pair, kings and sevens).

Button has 9c 7c (full house, sevens full of twos).
Outcome: Button wins 12.50 BB.

The low point was this guy. It was like playing at Canterbury on a Tuesday afternoon (when aces never lose):

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (5 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is Button with Jh, Kd.

UTG calls, 1 fold, Pooh raises, 2 folds, UTG calls.

Flop: (5.50 SB) Kc, Ad, Jc (2 players)

UTG checks, Pooh bets, UTG calls.

Turn: (3.75 BB) Kh (2 players)

UTG checks, Pooh bets, UTG raises, Pooh 3-bets, UTG caps, Pooh calls.

River: (11.75 BB) 4d (2 players)

UTG bets, Pooh raises, UTG 3-bets, Pooh caps, UTG calls.

Final Pot: 19.75 BB

Results:
UTG has As Ah (full house, aces full of kings).

Pooh has Jh Kd (full house, kings full of jacks).

Outcome: UTG wins 19.75 BB.

But then it started to turn around...I flopped a set with 99 in a big pot vs. a 2+2er (interesting discussion of both my play and the other guys). Here's the hand, BB claims to have folded QQ, which I buy:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is SB with 9s, 9d.

UTG calls, MP calls, 2 folds, Pooh raises, BB 3-bets, UTG calls, MP calls, Pooh calls.

Flop: (12 SB) Td, 6h, 9c (4 players)

Pooh checks, BB bets, UTG raises, MP folds, Pooh calls, BB 3-bets, UTG caps, Pooh calls, BB calls.

Turn: (12 BB) 7s (3 players)

Pooh bets, BB folds, UTG calls.

River: (14 BB) 6c (2 players)

Pooh bets, UTG calls.

Final Pot: 16 BB

Results:
Pooh has 9s 9d (full house, nines full of sixes).

UTG has 7d 8d (straight, ten high).

Outcome: Pooh wins 16 BB.

Then a bunch of maniacal types sat down at all of my tables, I started making hands, they started overplaying their garbage, and voila:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (4 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is Button with Qd, 9d.

1 fold, Pooh raises, SB calls, 1 fold.

Flop: (5 SB) 2h, Qc, Qh (2 players)

SB checks, Pooh bets, SB calls.

Turn: (3.50 BB) 6d (2 players)

SB checks, Pooh bets, SB raises, Pooh 3-bets, SB calls.

River: (9.50 BB) Th (2 players)

SB checks, Pooh bets, SB calls.

Final Pot: 11.50 BB

Results in white below:
Pooh has Qd 9d (three of a kind, queens).

SB has Qs 3s (three of a kind, queens).

Outcome: Pooh wins 11.50 BB.

And:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Pooh is MP with Tc, Kc.

UTG calls, Pooh raises, CO calls, 1 fold, SB calls, BB 3-bets, UTG calls, Pooh calls, CO calls, SB calls.

Flop: (15 SB) 3c, 7c, Qc (5 players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Pooh bets, CO calls, SB folds, BB raises, UTG calls, Pooh 3-bets, CO folds, BB caps, UTG folds, Pooh calls.

Turn: (13 BB) Jc (2 players)

BB checks, Pooh bets, BB calls.

River: (15 BB) 4h (2 players)

BB checks, Pooh bets, BB folds.

Final Pot: 16 BB

Outcome: Pooh wins 16 BB.

Day 1
Hands Played: 2093
Results: + $676

Of course, those results are tentative since I'm making the mistake of going to the 'bury in about an hour...

WPT Mirage Poker Showdown

2005-05-23T17:42:00.000-05:00

The $10k Mirage Poker Showdown started a few hours ago. I will go down to the Mirage in a bit to check it out and I will post here with an anecdote or three.

Haven't played since being here but will start in earnest tomorrow after dropping off my dad at the airport. It's not that he doesn't approve of the poker but that I feel bad for him standing there with nothing to do, watching something that he doesn't understand and, even if he did, is boring as hell anyway.

Checked out Wynn last nite. Obviously the place is fuckin' a'. The poker room spreads $1-2 NL, which is pretty rare these days; usually the lowest NL tables have $2 and 5 blinds.

Freud Out.

Records for Sale

2005-05-23T14:03:00.000-05:00

If anyone knows someone who collects or sells records and might be interested in buying my 1300+ records that are for sale in Minneapolis (but must be picked up by May 31), kindly refer them to this auction:

Huge Lot of Records for Sale!

And give me a hand getting the word out by linking to my auction with the text "Huge Lot of Records for Sale!" (this especially means you, Chris B. and Rich).

Poker Semi-Pro: Day 0.

2005-05-23T13:33:00.000-05:00

So, since I have absolutely nothing to do for at least the next two days (and just Bar/Bri courses after that until July), I think I'm going to be playing a lot of poker. Which is good since the stupid student loan people atually expect me to pay it all back. WTF is that? Anyway, daily updates forthcoming.

I hear goal-setting is good, (never tried it myself, you see), so I'm going to set myself a target of making $15k by the time my job starts in September. Crazy? Maybe. But I promise not to fold pocket kings preflop once in that period.

Buckle up...

Day 0
Hands played: 0
$ Won: 0

Liveblogging Bar/Bri

2005-05-23T08:56:00.000-05:00

Although I post this from the first day of Bar/Bri, I will not be liveblogging the class. So you better register for it yourself.

I stayed in Beaver, Utah the other night en route to Vegas. Just thought I'd let ya'll know.

The Fake Raise

2005-05-18T14:55:00.000-05:00

One of the things I saw a bit last night that really bothered me was players peeling off four (or more) chips, moving their hand with the chips into the betting area, and dropping two chips for a call without announcing their action beforehand. In some cases - the cases that would really bother me - they would set the five or six chips down with their hand still on them, and pull the extra chips up, leaving the two or three chips on the table for a call. As tempted as I was after the second or third time that the dealer announced a raise only to correct himself when the player pulled back the chips, I didn't ask for a ruling because I was winning and didn't want to poison the atmosphere. This action really bothered me. I don't know the rule about this, so I'm curious to hear what everyone else thinks. Is this action fine, or should they be forced to leave the extra chips in the pot as a raise?

Canterbury Trip (Tired and Rambling)

2005-05-18T04:29:00.000-05:00

Since I had rented a car, and it hadn't been nearly as useful as I assumed (for various reasons), I decided to forgo doing the work I should be doing and went to Canterbury for some poker this/last evening. I wasn't feeling that great, so I wasn't sure if I would stay more than a couple hours. I ended up playing for around nine hours (about two hours too long). I went home +140, which makes up for a little of the bleeding I've been doing online over the last month or so. I played around 6.5 hours of 2/4 Hold 'Em (up $200), and about 2.5 hours of 3/6 Hold 'Em (down $60). I was really tired by the time I hit 3/6, and played some hands horribly. I caught a few cards to limit the damage, but I lost way too much money on the last couple hands I played just calling for the sake of calling with low pocket pairs that were obviously beaten. I had been destroying the 2/4 table all night, but the table became incredibly tight (on the last hand before I left the table I took the blinds down with a raise from the button - not common in the 2/4 games in which I've played), and I figured I'd see if the 3/6 table was any better before I left for the night. It was also extremely tight (with a couple dealers trying to prod people into betting more). Anyway, after playing well overall - I was winning despite not hitting a set all night or winning with a flush all night - I feel as if I am playing my best limit hold 'em ever. Unfortunately I've been playing terribly recently in No Limit and fairly mediocre in Omaha and O/8 (I've spent some more time recently improving my Stud and Stud Hi/Lo game, but I'm still very weak in those games). It may sound silly, but I attribute a lot of my quality Limit Hold 'Em play recently to watching the World Poker Tour Season 2 DVD with commentary from Erick Lindgren and Daniel Negreanu over the Party Poker Limit Hold 'Em tourney. Although a lot of what I saw was not new to me, it was eye-opening to actually see it in action. I highly recommend checking it out.

Now, finally, to bed.

Happy Gradumatation

2005-05-15T19:22:00.000-05:00

Happy gradumatation to me, Chris B., Pooh, Black Widow, Crusher, Viper, Brando, Max (even though he doesn't read this), and Stork. Hope this explains the lack of posting.

This blog will soon have a considerably wider geographical scope; Vegas, Alaska, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Urbana, Guelph, and Boston (even though Max doesn't read this) will be represented by our contributors and regular readers.

If anyone has a graduation pic of me with a pokerblog reader, preferably in full regalia, please email it to me at joeschmitt@gmail.com.

LAG-fest '05

2005-05-11T14:28:00.000-05:00

The other night, while taking a break from writing The-Worst-Paper-I've-Ever-Written, (great thing about having low goals is that you seldom disappoint yourself), I wandered into a $.02/$.04 game on Stars mostly populated by 2+2 Shorthanded regulars. Naturally the game was a full steam gamb00ling capfest. Perfect territory for DR. Aggro. I did feel a little bad for the two or three normal kids who were in there trying to play some 'real' poker. It's $.02/$.04 fellas. If you want to start making moves you have to get out of the kiddie pool. My stats for the session:


VP$IP PFR WTSD% W$SD BB/100
73.68 23.68 50% 73.43 330.92

And me demonstrating how to play the rush:

PokerStars 0.02/0.04 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 2d, Qc.

UTG raises, Hero 3-bets, UTG+2 caps, 1 fold, MP2 calls, 1 fold, CO calls, 3 folds, UTG calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (21.50 SB) Qs, 2h, 5h (5 players)

UTG bets, Hero raises, UTG+2 3-bets, MP2 caps, CO calls, UTG calls, Hero calls, UTG+2 calls.

Turn: (19.75 BB) Jd (5 players)

UTG checks, Hero bets, UTG+2 calls, MP2 raises, CO 3-bets, UTG folds, Hero caps, UTG+2 calls, MP2 calls, CO calls.

River: (35.75 BB) 7d (4 players)

Hero bets, UTG+2 calls, MP2 calls, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, UTG+2 folds, MP2 folds, CO caps, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 45.75 BB

PokerStars 0.02/0.04 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Joe Is My Bitch is UTG with 7d, Qh.

Joe Is My Bitch calls, UTG+1 raises, 1 fold, MP2 3-bets, MP3 calls, 4 folds, Joe Is My Bitch calls, UTG+1 caps, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, Joe Is My Bitch calls.

Flop: (17.50 SB) 4d, 6s, 3c (4 players)

Joe Is My Bitch checks, UTG+1 bets, MP2 raises, MP3 calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (11.75 BB) Js (4 players)

Joe Is My Bitch checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 bets, MP3 calls, Joe Is My Bitch raises, UTG+1 calls, MP2 folds, MP3 calls.

River: (18.75 BB) 7c (3 players)

UTG+1 calls, MP3 folds.

Final Pot: 19.75 BB

PokerStars 0.02/0.04 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Dr. Aggro is BB with Qs, 9d.

1 fold, UTG+1 raises, UTG+2 3-bets, 1 fold, MP2 caps, 4 folds, Dr. Aggro calls, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 calls.

Flop: (16.50 SB) Ah, Qh, Qc (4 players)

Dr. Aggro checks, UTG+1 bets, UTG+2 raises, MP2 3-bets, Dr. Aggro caps, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 calls, MP2 calls.

Turn: (15.25 BB) 7s (4 players)

Dr. Aggro bets, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 raises, MP2 folds, Dr. Aggro 3-bets, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 calls.

River: (24.25 BB) 2c (3 players)

Dr. Aggro bets, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 calls.

Final Pot: 27.25 BB

That's How I Do.

Guerrilla Bonus Coding

2005-05-09T17:13:00.000-05:00

Dr. Pauly has returned from his Tour of the Midwest and posted one the most amazing pictures I've seen in a while:

The Cincinnati Reds Welcome
Dr. Pauly & Snailtrax

(Presented by Bonus Code Iggy)

Response re: Name

2005-05-08T03:00:00.000-05:00

as most of you probly know, I am in favor of this blog being called "pokerblog". here's my case.

1) google search results: if the word "pokerblog" ever comes into vogue, we will have a legit claim to the #1 result if the name of our blog is or contains "pokerblog".

2) the name/word is unique, as evidenced by the fact that one measly link to the site as "pokerblog" (from Mondale's Twin) catapulted us to the #1 spot. It is likely that NO SITE is linked to as "pokerblog" more than once, besides this site. Yes seth, I know and understand that there are many poker blogs. in fact, clicking on "Did you mean poker blog" (google's helpful little hint) reveals all of them, with Iggy's Guinness and Poker Blog being first.

3) We can compromise, as Iggy himself has done. He is linked to an awful lot as "Poker Blog" (he must be to be the #1 result out of almost 4 million; by contrast we are #1 out of 5,000) despite the fact that (a) there are many other and better poker blogs, e.g. Tao of Poker, which is the #1 result for "tao of poker" despite the fact that there is a major book (which I recommend) of the same name that Pauly of Tao of Poker did not himself write; (b) "Poker Blog" is even more unoriginal than "pokerblog"; and (c) his blog is not called "Poker Blog".

So here's my compromise. I say we (a) put some of the money we have made from the site (probably approaching $300, all of which is dedicated to the site, especially the ptlb) into a domain name, e.g. pokerblogging.net or some such bastardization of "pokerblog"; (b) invent a name to put in the banner that contains the word "pokerblog"; and (c) request to be linked to as all of the following: (i) "pokerblog", (ii) whatever our domain is, and (iii) whatever stupid name is in our header, e.g. "The Pokerblog Group," which is how Joanne links to us.

Joe Likes "The Dudes"

2005-05-07T20:38:00.000-05:00

First, my recap of last night's tourney is forthcoming. I need some distance and perspective.

But here's the real issue. A few people have expressed interest in link-swapping. And we like that. However, to pull back the curtain on the great and powerful Oz, there is internal dissension between the three of us about how we should be listed. Obviously, "pokerblog" is, as we law students might say, void for vagueness. (Even though we are #1 on the google results list for "pokerblog". Not that Joe likes to remind me of this on an daily basis.)

So I'm opening up the floor for suggestions, since the best we (and by we, I once again mean "Dutch" Freud) could come up with is "The Dudes." Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Recap

2005-05-07T17:46:00.000-05:00

Pokerblog was well-represented last night at Steve K.'s tournament. By well-represented, I mean that many Pokerblog contributors and regulars attended (7 of the 19 attendees - myself, Pooh, Black Widow, Viper, Brando, Miles, and Max), not that we represented well.

The first tourney, a $20 buy-in with 19 entrants, wasn't too bad for the group, although I was the victim of a pretty ridiculous beat. In Level 3 with 10-20 blinds I was in the BB with the speed limit, 55. Two limped and I made it 60 more; both called. The pot now had T240 and I had about T250 left. Flop: 459 rainbow. SB checked and I bet 50. Chad went allin for 50 more, SB folded, I called. He showed A7o, which means he needed either 3-6 or 6-8 to come off. I was about a 20 to 1 favorite to win the chips and be about even with the chip-leader and eventual winner, our host Steve K. OF COURSE, 6-8 rolled off the deck and I was crippled.

Others fared better though; Brando got 4th for $20, Black Widow 3rd for $60, and Viper 2nd for $100.

The second tourney, also a $20 buy-in but this time with 18 entrants (we lost Max), was not pretty. The 6 remaining Pokerbloggers made a side-bet: $10 each and 25 ptlb points to whomever lasted the longest out of the group. Black Widow and Viper were gone quickly (wtf?). Then Pooh got overcalled and was busted by a gutshot, telling the dude he was an "idiot" as he disgustedly left the table. Miles was shortstacked the whole tourney and finally left it between me and Brando. We split the cash and I eventually got busted in 4th place, winning the 25 ptlb points and $20 4th place prize. Pathetic.

Ride

2005-05-06T15:55:00.000-05:00

Ride from school to the tourney? Anyone? Bueller?

Long Awaited, Never Duplicated

2005-05-06T15:25:00.000-05:00

Once again, courtesy of the Slat Rat, we have an up-to-the-minute tilt update.

Make of this what you will.

WPBT WSOP satellite.

2005-05-05T19:57:00.000-05:00

From the World Poker Bloggers Tour website:

What: No Limit Satellite for the $1500 WSoP Event
When: Wednesday May 11th
Time: 9pm EST
Where: Noble Poker
Buy in: $30 + $3
Password: dahammer
Attire: Uber-casual with pants optional

Not sure If I'll play. Though my laptop certainly could use at least one more poker client program. (I currently have 5, and at various other times have had 4 others, plus PokerRoom's web based interface.

"For Someone Who Doesn't Play Cards..."

2005-05-05T18:47:00.000-05:00

For starters, first person who can finish the above quote, name the movie, scene, speaker, etc. wins. You get 5% of me in my next MTT with a buy in of $30 or more. Whata Bahgain!

Anyhoo, for not playing poker right now, I sure am playing lots of poker. After my complete joke of a Comparative Criminal Procedure Final (hopefully the Professor whose name rhymes with Tichael Monry doesn't read this blog...), I decided: "Let's try razz." Which meant signing up for Full Tilt, home of many pros, and no hand histories. Query, if you are a poker pro and spend a significant amount of your time online, and you decide to start a poker site, isn't Pokertracker compatability, like item #3 on your to do list? (After "Advertise lots" and "Open Bank Account in Cayman Islands for all the fishies money") But I digress.

Anyway, I signed up for Full Tilt and played razz. Razz is stupid. So I stopped playing razz and played a few sit'n'go's, moneyed in both. Then, I wanted to check out how the ring games were. First, there ain't many of them. But those that there are, are as soft as Joe's logic. The 5/10 6-max game had a 52% plaers seeing the flop. The .50/1 game at stars is often about that loose. So I made $180 in about 30 minutes there. Now I just need to play a ton to get the 100% matching deposit bonus.

In other Bonus-whore news, BadCommercialStars (if you want to see good poker ads, see Jesus swinging the Hammer, and the other FT ads). Has a 20% deposit bonus, up to $120 going on there, so if you have spare change lying around like I know you all do (especially if you got in on the Coke machine while the getting was good)...

What Am I Doing With My Life Again?

2005-05-05T12:25:00.000-05:00

A senior CS major at the U here and regular poster to 2+2 posted the story of his poker life. Basically, he started playing 5 or 10 dollar buyins with his buddies two summers ago and now, this is how he describes March of this year:

Started playing 100/200 and broke about even in that. 50/100 I kicked the [censored] out of though. 8300 hands, +35k. The month was good for another 87k. I'm a luckbox. I definately deserved my name.

Why am I in Law School again?

Tourney on Friday May 6 - Hopkins, MN.

2005-05-05T12:14:00.000-05:00

Some of you may know my former college roommate Steve K. from a few PB tournies, well anyway, he sent me this and said the PB crew is invited as long as we RSVP:

All are welcome. Buy in will be $10 or $20 and we
will split up the money between 1-3 place or 1-4 if we
have enough people. The game will be No Limit Texas
Hold Em. Blinds will be set up so that the game will
last about 2-3 hours (assuming between 10-20 players).
I want to make it short enough that people who get
knocked out first aren't sitting doing nothing for too
long, but long enough that it isn't a complete
crapshoot at the final table. Hopefully we can get
two games in.

I'll have a case of beer and some snacks but feel free
to bring some more beer or food if you would like.
Feel free to stop by at 7:00. I want to start the
first tourney by 8:00 at the latest.

I didn't have everyone's e-mail address, so please
forward on. Just let me know if you plan on coming so
I can get the blinds set up appropriately.

-Steve K

So RSVP in the comments if you are playing. Joe, you are coming. Dr. Aggro demands rematch.

I Can Definitely Relate

2005-05-04T14:54:00.000-05:00

Bill Rini dug up this life-imitates-poker story from an Aussie newspaper:

Sydney - In a fishy tale with a different ending, an Australian angler on Tuesday described how a five-foot mackerel jumped into his boat, knocked him down and injured him - and then got away.

Glen Hopper said he suffered bruised ribs and cuts to his face and arms when the 1,5 metre mackerel flattened him in what he dubbed a case of "fishy's revenge".

"It felt like I'd just run into a brick wall, because I was going 20 knots one way and it was speeding the opposite direction," Hopper, from Queensland state's Sunshine Coast, told the Australian Associated Press.

"I remember it coming out the water and the next thing I knew I'm in the back of the boat winded, trying to get my breath."

Hopper, 43, who was fishing on the Mooloolah River, estimated that the mackerel weighed about 30 kilograms. It shot into his boat, hitting him in the chin and chest, before spearing back into the water.

"It's fishy's revenge I suppose. It's been a bit of a laugh with my friends," he said. - Sapa-AFP

As Bill Fillmaf might say, if it wasn't for luck...