Jay311md 4 - Donks 1

I've played in 5 home games now, over the past month and a half. I have won 4 of them, and lost 1 due to my own stupidity. If only I didn't push with AK against a really tight player. So, all is going great. The one I won last night was really great though.

So my sister in law calls me and asks if I want to play in a little home game they were getting together. So I decided that I needed to stretch my poker muscles and not just sit around and bitch about not playing. Things were going great for the first hour. I was slowly chipping up and had a little lead. Then I overplayed KK against a huge donkey. The table had been playing extremely weak-passive and very, very loose. They would limp just about every hand. Against players like that, you have to play position and wait for the right spots. They will call raises with all kinds of goofy hands and push with second or even third pair. SO I get KK and raise the 5 limpers. Sure enough, two of them call. The flop comes 8-4-4. Player out of position overbets the pot by 2X's. I call in position. The turn brings a 9. He bets even bigger, I shove in and he calls. He tables A4...GG me. So I had to rebuy.

From there, I just couldn't really pick up many hands, and went to my small ball approach. Basically, I would raise a lot of hands from the hijack, cutoff and button, and look to catch some reads. If I got any resistance, I would shut down. So I kept my chips around 20,000, but couldn't seem to get anything going. Long story short, we get down to 3 handed and I'm the super small stack. I still have about 20,000 and the other two each have about 90-100,000. The loose idiot makes a move with QJ off out of position in a raised pot and went broke to the nut flush. So I'm now heads up with an 11:1 chip deficit.

I had caught a few reads on my opponent, and had some good opportunities to double through. The first one came down like this. I only have about 10 BB's left. He flat calls, I check in the BB. The flop comes K-10-8, giving me a 10 with no kicker. I check it to him and I catch the read I had on him. He bets the flop, and I check raise him all in. He calls and tables J9 for the straight draw. He gets no help and I double through. We play a few hands and I take a few pots down. I'm now sitting at about 45,000. I get AK and he flat calls on the button. The blinds are 1,000-2,000 with a 300 ante. I raise OOP to 7,000. He flat calls. The flop comes 10-8-4 with two clubs. I bet about 2/3 the pot, he flat calls. The turn brings a Queen. I check with the intention of calling, depending on his bet. He checks behind, very interesting. He was an aggressive player and would have bet just about any hand, except for a draw. He would have bet any pair, but with one card to come I think my read and double would have made him check a draw and hope to get there. The river brings another 8. I check it to him and he shoves all in. Holy ape shit. Again I had caught a few reads on him and went through the hand in my head. There really wasn't any kind of hand that made sense. I decided to go with my read and my instincts and called. He showed A9 suited for just a flush draw, and I doubled through again with AK high.

So we play for another hour and a half, and I slowly chip him down. I knew once I doubled through the first time that I had the advantage. So I ended up pushing him with small raises and cbets. If he played back, I would re-evaluate and either fold or look to get good pot/implied odds. The final hand was pretty standard. Button shove with Q8 off, and I called with A3 suited. No pairs hit and Ace high was good. Not a bad result, so I need to keep it up.

I have been watching a lot of videos on Poker VT. Boosted J's videos were kind of boring and he played really poorly, I thought. Hopefully his next videos will be better, because he is a good player and I was not impressed with the sessions he was putting together. JC Alvarado is a great cash game player. His videos were quite informative and impressive. But the coup de grats was Negreanu's Small Ball videos. By far worth the price of admission. I am going to go through and review them one more time. They are so great.

There's a few players blogs that I wonder why they took them down. Goldseraph and Jimmythehat19 I'm looking in your directions. I looked forward to reading your musings, rants, and bragaments. Wonder what happened to the "great" Jimmy. He didn't lack for confidence, but for some reason he took his blog down....hmmm.

Getting Back on Track

I'm back, and ready to start playing again. I had Pokeroffice for a long time, and loved the program. I thought it was great and was very useful. That was until I found Hold'em Manager. Hold'em Manager is an unbelievable program. It has a much better interface and HUD. It has stats that PO didn't have, such as three bet/four bet percentage, and a lot of other ones to gauge how passive or aggressive your opponents are playing. So I decided to buy the new program, and now I just have to get it set up. I need to set up the HUD with the right stats and filters. So it may take a little while until everything is tweaked to my liking, but at least I'm getting back into the game.

I haven't played any poker since my last blog. It's been about 2+ months now. I didn't feel the urge or fire to play. But I'm getting back into the groove. I also joined Poker VT. Poker VT has been wonderful so far. I am a big advocate of small ball, and there is nothing better than learning how to play from some great players, like Daniel Negreanu, Paul Wasicka, and JC Alvarado. Boosted J and Adam Junglen, as well as the one and only Annette_15 are associated with the site. I have been going through some of the beginning strategy videos ad some of the thought analysis hands. So far it has been not only entertaining, but also very informative. I took the test of poker knowledge, and did worse than I thought I would do. SO I am going to take it again and start to focus on the areas that I didn't score very well in. So everything is coming together on the poker front.

Well, now that I think about it, I have played in a few home games over the past month. I played in four home games. I won the first three outright, then finished in fourth in the last one. The first three were cake walks. Not because my competition was totally useless, some of them were. But I was playing my A game. I was making timely bluffs and three bets, and didn't have to show down many hands. I knew I could make some moves and had some very solid reads on the players. However, I forgot that I was playing against some very rank amateurs. Here's a perfect example. Against loose passive players, who usually raise minimum or limp too much, I like to take suited connectors and small pairs to flops a lot more often even if I'm out of position. SO I limp 67 suited in second position. Sure enough, most of the table limps behind. The flop comes 66K. Great flop for my hand. But I got lost in the fact that the player in the squeeze could have had a bigger 6. We get it all in, three way, on the turn to see the following hands. I have 67, the player behind has 610, and the player on the button has K5??? I know. That's a lot of action for some crap hands. I wasn't too proud of the way I played that night and just wrote it off as a bad night and just plain poor play. I couldn't catch a hand to save my life, c'est la vie.

So I'll be getting back to the grindstone real soon. I'm almost done with Professional Hold'em. As soon as I finish that book, I'll be starting Harrington on Cash Games. I got both Volume I and II. So hopefully I can be done with those in no time.

I've been married for about 2 months now. It's been great. We are getting a couple of dogs in the not too distant future. She wants to get a golden retriever and I want to get another beagle. We already have the names picked out. She wants to name hers Molly, and I'm thinking about either Fred for a boy, or Aliza for a girl. I'm a big Audrey Hepburn fan, and my first beagle was named Audrey. SO I thought it would be kind of cool to either name the new one after another character of hers, Aliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady, or Fred, the name of her brother in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Holly Golightly also named George Pappard's character Fred. So that's about all that's new on this front. I have taken on a couple of students from work and am trying to get a regular game together.

Don't Know What's Wrong

I have been writing e-mails and complaining for quite a while about not being able to get rakeback on my account. I finally get my wish and Full Tilt gives me rakeback, so what do I do? I haven't played a single hand since I got it. Go figure. I don't know what the hell my problem is right now. I'm just not motivated to play and have been reluctant to sit down and put in some volume. I can feel myself slowly getting back into grinder mode, so maybe taking a short break will be a good thing. So rakeback should start to help out a little, even if it just levels out some of the short term variance. I'm still playing at the same level, and am just a few buy-ins short of moving up. Again, if I take a shot at the next level and drop below 50 buy-ins at the previous level, I'll drop down and take another shot some other time. The brief session I did play at the higher session was productive, so I just need to stay TAG and keep my head in the game and read players well.

So poker is going great, outside of the lack of will to play right now. I got my check from Full Tilt last week and it hasn't bounced yet. So hopefully the checks will start to flow again. I just got the Harrington on Cash Games series, so I'll be reading that. I'm almost finished with Professional No-Limit Hold'em. So far it has been a great book. I really love how it has gone into aspects that other books really don't cover. It focuses more on the odds (pot, implied, tilt), SPR (stack to pot ratios), and other topics. It is more about the way to think through hands and about your opponents. It's not your typical, raise with XX in such and such position and how to play big hands or draws. Poker is so complex, yet so simple. Poker is a game that can make you decent amounts of money if you play pretty straightforward and mix up your game. It can make you ridiculous amounts of money if you can add exploiting your opponents and position to your game.

My plan is to finish the Harrington series, then get done with some of the books I have on reading players and the math behind the game. Then I will go through the books I have on Omaha and Seven Card Stud. Once I've finished all of these, I want to re-read all four Harrington books, Negreanu's Power Hold'em, and the Zen of Poker. So that is pretty much it for the poker front.

The wedding is coming along and only a month away. My fiancee and I talked about the reception and ceremony and such. We pretty much have everything planned and just need to get through the final details. I still have some things to get done. I do have a few secret projects and things I want to get done for the wedding. I want to get a photo slideshow together that she doesn't know about. It will feature pictures from us as kids to today. The best one is going to be the dance. I have a special song that really represents her, to me. We will have our first dance together, which we both agreed on. Then I want the DJ to announce to the crowd that I have requested this song for just her and I. So I have to coordinate with him to get that taken care of. We get fit for our suits this sunday, so other than that, all is well.

The job is going well. It sucks that to stay employed with the company, you have to join the union. But whatever. I'm not a big supporter of unions, especially for teachers and some segments that always seem to hijack production for wages. Boeing engineers and teachers are perfect examples of why unions are not what is in their best interests. The boeing employees threaten to strike every year. They get great compensation, and forget that the company needs to procure orders to maintain workforce. If the employees price themselves out of the market, it simply leads to layoffs and firings, usually the higher or more senior employees. Teachers unions protect horrible teachers and our school systems have way too many administrators.

Adminstrators are the ones that make all the money when you pass the levies. They might tell you that the kids need the money or the schools need to be refurbished. But a small percentage of that money goes to the kids or schools. My ex's parents were both administrators, and let me tell you, they both made over 100k a year. The average teacher makes about 45k a year. The administrator to teacher ratio is about 4:1 (T:A), you do the math. If we eliminated more administrators, we could hire more teachers, lower classroom sizes, and pay them more. But anywho. I'll get off my soapbox.

We need to get our priorities straight in this country. We need to value our money and our free time more. We need to stop paying athletes millions of dollars, and stop going to movies and paying actors millions to entertain us. We need to spend more time reading, instead of watching TV and movies. We need to spend more time with our kids, not just sitting with them in front of a TV. The average consumer has a lot of pull against the inequities of society. The only problem, is that one alone can't do it. It has to be a collective. We have to get together and decide what is important and what is not. If paying athletes $5 million a year to hit a baseball, or an actress $20 million for one movie is important, than keep doing what your doing. If making sure your kids have a great education and your neighborhoods are safe and clean, than we need to find a new solution. I can't wait for the new election cycle. HONESTLY, I don't think we could go wrong with either McCain or Obama.

I'm Such a Bad Player

I played incredibly bad tonight. I played about 1700 hands, and I'm down almost 3 buy-ins. I spewed pretty bad tonight. I kept running into passive, tight players and a ton of calling stations. For example, I raise in late position, first in the pot with A10. Guy behind calls. Flop comes 9 high, no flush draw and no straight draw. I cbet the flop about 2/3 the pot. He calls. Jack of diamonds on the turn, giving me a flush draw to go with ace high. I bet again, he calls again. The river brings a 10, I make a defensive bet, he calls one more time to show KJ off. UGH!!! It went that way most of the night.

During the first session, I ran like total ass. Way too aggro and way too spewy. I was leaking chips for the first hour. My hands never hit, and when I did get a big hand, some idiot would check raise with nothing. Here's another fun one. I have KK in the BB with the UTG making it 3X's to go. A shortstacking cockroach flat calls, leaving himself about 20 BB's. It comes to me, I raise more than the pot to isolate and get the shortstacker to committ. Sure enough, he pushes in and it's an easy call for 4 BB's. He flips QJ off, and hits two pair. GG me.

During the second session, I was running well and was slowly chipping up and was almost even. Then the wheels fell off and I ended up down for the second session as well. I get 55 in late position and the button raises. It felt like a squeeze from the button, so I flat call after the early limper calls. The flop comes 9-6-5, sweet. There's two clubs on board, and we both check to the button who makes a very small bet, around 1/3 the pot. The early player flat calls. I check raise, and sure enough, I run into the nuts. The early limper had 78 suited. The board blanks out and I lose my stack on a pretty dumb play. Sure there were a couple of hands he could have had, like J10 of clubs or two pair. But with the board coordinated, there were only a few hands I could beat. I should have been willing to take a card off and see what happens on the turn. There was really no reason why I needed to push with bottom set like that. But you have to live and learn.

The bankroll is at 56 buy-ins right now. I've been 6 tabling and lately I have been playing way too LAGish. I really need to buckle down and play position a lot better as well as get back to the small ball approach. I have run into so many bad players and calling stations, it's just sickening. Normally, I want those players at my table, they are the true ATM's. However, lately I just can't get my hands to hold against them. It doesn't matter if I'm a huge favorite or a slight dog, I just can't get a hand to hold or catch my draws with the right odds. Normally at the level I'm playing at, you can get players out with a simple cbet, sometimes you have to double barrel them. But today was quite different. Here's a tip. If you flop a strong hand and you have position, just check the flop on a benign board. Then bet the turn. If they have any pair, they will call you down or push on you. It's just amazing.

So I need to find the leaks in my game right now. Most of my losses have come from losing with big hands versus some very weak players who overvalue some very marginal hands in very marginal situations. So hopefully AK, AQ, QQ, JJ, KK, and 10's will hold for once. So here's a few things I need to work on before the next session.
1. I need to focus on 3 betting loose players IN POSITION.
2. Make better value bets with strong hands.
3. Stop overvaluing hands and thinking they are always bluffing.
4. Focus better at the table and trust your reads more.
5. Stop worrying about the money you are up or down. Just play and let the rest fix itself.
6. Work on your small ball approach and stealing blinds to set up plays later on.

So those are a few of the things I need to work on. I think today was just one of those downward spirals of variance. Hopefully tomorrow night will go much better than tonight. Time to get some sleep. GL.

Life...Other Than Poker

I haven't really played much in the past couple of days. The little bit I did play, I was too impatient and a little to loose/aggro. I was up, then down, and ended up a small amount in the negative direction. I played a couple of hands really poorly. One of which I went against a read I had on the villain and the note I had written on him. I ended up losing a buyin on a dumb call when I made a defensive bet on the river with trip aces with a jack, when he shoved I decided to pay him off. From my notes and my read, I knew he had AJ beat and probably had either a flopped set for a boat on the river or the more likely hand, AK. GG me...way to trust your reads. So I haven't put in much volume the past two days. I'll get it going soon though, so stay tuned.
On other fronts, I started orientation for the new job. I'm starting with Macy's West as a divisional associate. When I got hired, it was under the assumption that I would eventually enter the management training program. So that will be exciting, especially since the future wife wanted me to get a "real" job and more regular income and hours. I love her and if she wants me to do it, I pretty much have to. The wedding plans are coming together. We just sent out the invitations and are almost done with the registry and most of the major tasks have been taken care of. Reserved the reception hall and church, hired the DJ and caterer, hired the photographer and cake designer, and hired the wedding day coordinator.

Some of the minor details have been taken care of, like choosing the cake design and flavors, wine and beer list, music selection for the ceremony, guest list and groomsmen/bridesmaids. There are some things that really need to get taken care of in the next few days though. First, I need to pick the suits and ties for the groomsmen, especially since she has already got the bridesmaids dresses picked out and delivered. We still have to pick out the flowers and decorations for the reception and ceremony. I still need to find some bartenders to do the reception and find people to do some of the different things for the ceremony (i.e. ushers, guest book attendant, etc.)

So all is going well on that front. I just finished reading Power Hold'em Strategy by Daniel Negreanu. It is a great book, probably one of the best books written on the subject of poker in a long time. There are some chapters that can be skipped or aren't that great, but for the most part, it is a great read. If you really think about the small ball section and try to approach the game the way he prescribes, you'll be surprised. I've been a big advocate of small ball for a long time, and have strayed from time to time, but really see the benefits from playing in that style. I started reading Professional Hold'em by Ed Miller. It's not a strategy book, per se. The book mainly focuses on decision making, odds considerations and some of the metagame processes to think about. It is a good book so far.

I have read a ton of poker books, and have continued to try to only add tools to my arsenal that I think are beneficial for MY GAME. I don't try to play like Goldseraph, Damnringer, Splitsuit, Negreanu, Chris Hinchcliffe, or any other player. I try to play position, sometimes I play out of position as if I have a monster, but for the most part try to play most of my hands in position. I think my reads are really great, I just need to trust my reads more often and not convince myself that they are always bluffing. Here's a great example from last night. I raised a few hands in position and the player on my left kept calling every raise. I started with AQ, he called, I bricked the flop and cbet. He called, I checked another brick on the turn, he fired, I folded. This happened again a couple of orbits later. Everytime I raised the same amount and cbet about the same amount. Everytime he would float the flop and fire the turn. I noticed a pattern and his data was horrific. He was running 56/12/5 over 326 hands. So the very next hand I pick up AA. I raise the exact same amount, and he must have thought that he could just keep doing what he was to me. It sucked because he had position on me, so I had to do what they always tell you to do with a Loose passive player pre and loose aggressive post. I cbet the flop again, it was 995 with two hearts, again, the exact same amount I had been. I don't like to vary my bets much to give away free information. Sure enough, he calls. I check the turn, just like I had been doing. He fires, like he was, it was almost robotic. I check raised more than the pot to make it look like a frustration play or bluff. He bit, but just called. A blank came on the turn, he only hand about 7 blinds left, so I pushed him in and he called off with J4 of hearts for just a pair of jacks....what a bad player. I made notes on him and can't wait to get him again on a table.

So all is going well right now. I'm getting plans together to build a poker room/poker office/game room. I am going to put a flat screen in there hooked up to my computer and different game consoles. It will also be used as the poker timer and info center when we get our home game together again. So I'm getting those plans together. So time to call it a night. Gonna hit the tables tomorrow, not sure for how long though.

Quick Update

The bankroll is still growing, and I'm almost ready to jump to the next level. I've been doing well at the current level, and have continued to have winning days. My big problem has been putting in volume. I just can't seem to get myself to sit in one spot and play for longer than an hour or two. I was playing in some really juicy games tonight, and I just didn't want to sit and play. I was up about two buyins for the hour that I played, but just wasn't feeling like playing. I don't know what my problem is right now. I love playing, but just couldn't put the time in. To be successful in this game, you have to put in the hours.

Ever since I switched to cash games, I have been doing really well. I'm still running into some coolers from time to time, but playing small ball has really helped to lower the variance. Here's one way to think about small ball. If you are normally betting the pot, you might get paid off by a really bad or inept player. However, when they do suckout on you, you are pretty much committed by the river to call off your money drawing really thin or dead. By playing small ball, you get a lot more value for your winning hands that may have been very marginal in other games, and are losing smaller amounts when they do get lucky. Another thing about small ball, is that you don't want to overvalue one pair, and you don't want to get in the habit of paying people off. If you think you are beat, or at best, in a very marginal situation, don't hesitate to fold. This is good for a couple of reasons. For one, it keeps you out of tough situations where you just don't know what to do. Secondly, it will make the other players think you were drawing at a hand or are a weak player. I don't know how many times I folded top pair or second pair to a check raise on the turn. Then in a later hand, they think they can run me over and pull off the same move....WRONG! Again, you have to know your opponents and know what they are thinking about and what they are capable of.

Whenever a LAG would make a move against me in a marginal situation, I would simply tighten up in pots against them and wait to drop the hammer on them. I try to remember how much I raised and what I did on the flop or turn in that marginal situation. I will then do the same thing and they bite because they have been trained like Pavlov's dog. So, things are going well, I just need to keep it up. A few more wins and I will be taking a shot at the next level. Hopefully I can be at the next level by the beginning of the month. Good luck at the tables.

Weekend Update

So I played a little this weekend. I didn't play the volume I wanted to, but I had some things I had to get done around the house. Friday night I put in a small volume, only about an hour or so, while 4 tabling. I won a very small amount, nothing to really mention. Saturday night I put in a little more volume and decided to take a brief shot at the next level. I only two tabled that session and was just testing the waters. I didn't want to play too aggro, and probably played a little nitty, but I thought it was the best way to play. Especially because it was a weekend night and most of the players I have played on weekends tend to play way too LAG.

I ended up about 1 buyin, which was a good result for the short session. I always wait for the big blind. I don't like posting, then feeling like I have to defend my money if somebody raises behind, especially with no read yet. So I try to come in late and watch the table for a few hands. I usually will play really tight when I first get to a table to see who the LAG's are, find out where the shortstackers and nits are. So the first hand out I get AK suited in the BB with the SB raising. I three bet him, and he four bets me. I flat call, again with no read yet. The flop comes K-K-9 with two diamonds. He checks, I bet a little less than half the pot, he folds. It was a really weird play. He put in half his money before the flop on a four bet, then folds on the flop to a small bet. I ran into a few tough decisions and probably made some good folds, not sure though.

On the other table, one guy kept three betting my raises. I would raise with a good steal hand in position and he kept three betting me. Again, I wasn't sure what kinds of hands he was playing. The only info I had was that he had solid numbers and seemed like a winning player. A few hands later I get AK suited and raise and the same player three bets me again. There was a calling station that was playing about 80% of the hands and flat calls in the SB. I four bet to iso the calling station and the three bettor folds. Then the calling station re-raises. It was a really weird play. He has a hand that's not strong enough to re-raise, but then five bet before the flop? The only thing I could put him on was 66-QQ, maybe AA or KK but not likely. He didn't have much left, and against a loose player like this, I'm not folding. SO I push him in and he calls. He has QQ and I have AK of hearts. The flop comes all hearts and he is left broke. So I decided to end the session a little later. I was up about a buyin, and considered that a good night.

I tried to stick to my small ball approach, and never raised more than 3X's the BB. I kept the pots small to keep weak hands in and was reading players well. One thing I noticed is that the players at the next level were a lot more aggressive on the flop then at the previous level. It led me to start to think about the different things you need to master as you move up the cash game ladder.

In the micro limits, the players are generally bad and the thing you need to master is preflop hand selection. You want to play your hand strong and play good hands in good position. The players do not really consider what you have and will usually only play their hand. If they have a pair or a draw they will call down or raise. They don't consider whether they are beat, they usually think they are being bluffed and will call down. That is one thing I have noticed about bad players, they put way too much value on bluffing and think it is a major part of the game. Yes bluffing is a part of the game, and can be profitable. But it should only be used in the right situations and usually heads up or at most three handed.

In the low limits, the players are a little better, but there are new skill sets you need to master. Again, you want to focus on preflop hand selection, but now you are also looking to play flops and isolate weak players. Raising in position with a good hand, and protecting hands on the flop are a big thing to master. Your opponents will usually play pretty straightforward. They will call OOP with top pair or better and they tend to try to slowplay a little too much. If they are OOP I have noticed that they love to check raise with strong hands. So you need to really focus on playing position and really start refining your hand reading skills. You will learn to spot weakness in checks and player profiling becomes important.

In the next levels, I have noticed that preflop aggression and isolating is becoming more important. Bluffing is rare and you are looking to play a hand in position against LAG's. So that's my brief observation so far. I'll keep the education going. But that is just my brief read so far.

Tilt or Just Bad Play?

I have had the worst day of my young career so far. I'm down about 8 buyins today. UGH!!! The few big hands I had got beat by some really lose plays and shortstacking cockroaches. I had a guy four bet shove on a half stack with KJ suited against my AA. Of course he flopped the flush. It makes perfect sense, shove 50 BB's with king high, of course you'll get there. So it was just disgusting how bad the people were playing, but getting rewarded.

One of my nemesis players was playing 56% of the hands. His VPIP was 56%, that is ridiculously loose. He called raises OOP with just about any ace, any broadway hand, any pair, it was hilarious. And again, he would get there on the end. I know I was playing a little too aggressive, but I'm working on that. I need to idle it back a little and really focus on isolating players with a good hand, or at least a hand with some potential. But the big key is POSITION. I need to play position much better. Part of me keeps telling myself that I'm playing great, but just not getting there in the end or holding out the draws.

The sheer number of calling stations and players that always think you're bluffing is funny. You can have top pair with the nut draw, or a set and people will call you to the river with some really weak hands. Here's another great example. I had been somewhat active at the table, but really playing position well. I get 77 in late position with an early limper. I raise, the BB re-raises pretty small and the limper folds. I have the BB on AK or a smallish pair, maybe 66-JJ. He was the kind of player that pushed the size of the pot when he had AA or KK. But a little more than a min raise looked fishy. I call, and the flop comes Q-6-4 with two hearts. He bets into me, only smaller than his re-raise. Right there I knew he was weak, so I pushed him in and he called off the rest of his money with AK and only one heart. Of course he got there on the end when he spiked a king on the river. Just my luck tonight.

I just got done reading the new book from Negreanu. Some of the sections are pretty worthless, but the section written by Negreanu is GOLD. I have gotten away from my typical small ball approach as of late. I tried to impliment my game, but it just wasn't working. I would get drawn out on constantly. So I went to big ball approach, to the same conclusion. I need to find out what is wrong with my game right now. It is just really frustrating. I'll run up a good session, then suddenly hit cooler, cooler and have a losing session. In an earlier session I was up a good amount, and decided to leave the tables. I played out two of the tables to UTG. I get KK on one and AK on the other. On both tables I hit coolers. AK vs. KK and of course the case king hits the flop with no draws. And of course you can guess what KK was up against. YUP, AA. So a decent win turned into a small loss.

I'll stop ranting now. Here is what I am going to focus on for the next session. First, I need to really focus on hand selection pre-flop. Make sure to play stronger hands up front and look to isolate limpers or steal blinds when possible. Second, I need to idle back the aggression a little. I need to get back to my small ball approach. Think about it. Most players are passive with weak hands. So if you make smaller bets, they are more like value bets. You want players in there with weak hands against you. Instead of trying to play big pots in marginal situations, I need to make smaller bets, keep the pots small and look to play my hands in position. I think if I can do this, it will turn my sessions around. Finally, I need to think through the hands and analyze the kind of players in the pot with me. Don't try to run a marginal hand through a bunch of players. Don't go broke with one pair, and don't let overly aggressive players control pots. I'll figure out what I'm doing wrong and get back on track. I just need to get my head together.

On a final note, I got a JOB.....woohoo. So that's one thing done on my list of goals. Just a few more to go.

Can't Wait

I just read the announcement about Rock Band 2 coming out in a couple of months. OH MY GOD! This is going to be awesome. They have included 84 tracks on the disc, and with their history, there will be new songs every week. It will be backwards compatible with Rock Band, so all of your downloaded songs will already be in the game. Not only that, but they also announced that you can pay a small fee to transfer all of the songs on the Rock Band disc to the game, so you don't have to switch discs.

The also said that there will be new peripherals, including a better drum kit and guitar. The old drum kit was good, but broke way too often. Some of the artists that have been included (all master recordings), include; Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Offspring, System of a Down, Steve Miller, Guns N Roses, Metallica, Bon Jovi, and others. The soundtrack is very diverse including just about every genre you can think of. They even included Duran Duran and the Go-Go's. So overall this is probably going to kill Guitar Hero: World Tour when it comes out. The drum kit for GH seems a little better, especially with the cymbals, but I'm still a huge Rock Band fan. Mainly because they stay on top of new downloadable content.

The game comes out in the middle of September, so I will definitely be on top of the list to get my copy. It should retail for around $180 with all of the peripherals. Such a great value for the entertainment and fun factor.

Setting Goals

This weekend, I went to a friends wedding and spent some time with my fiancee. If I haven't said it, she is the best thing to ever happen to me. She is independent, yet still loves to spend time together. She is working on her PhD right now, so time is a little sparing, but I'm sure she'll get annoyed with me soon enough...lol. So I was thinking about some of the goals I want to set for myself for the rest of the month.

Goal #1 - I want to play a minimum of 2,000 hands a day that I play. I will not be playing everyday, but the days that I do play I want to get a good volume in. If I lose a couple of buy-ins and just don't feel like I'm playing well, I'll call it a short day. If I'm running well and sitting at some juicy tables, I'll obviously put in longer sessions.

Goal #2 - To play the next level, comfortably, I need to win about 10 buy-ins. So I hope to be playing the next level by the end of the month. Right now I am booking small wins. Hopefully that will change I will have some big days. I'm booking small wins because of bad beats towards the end of sessions and overplaying a few hands. SO I need to make the right adjustments and hopefully the wins will come. For the most part, I need to put in some serious sessions and get the proper volume.

Goal #3 - Get a workout routine together. I have been slacking on this one. I have a gym membership that I haven't really used lately. I want to schedule at least 3 days a week. My routine will be 10 mins of warmup cardio, lift for about 30-40 mins, then another 30 mins of cardio to finish. I did this routine about a year ago and not only lost quite a bit of weight, but put on some good lean muscle. So I need to get back to the routine.

Goal #4 - Help with the plans for our wedding. We only have about 2 months to go, so I need to finish some of the tasks that my fiancee gave me. I've finished the tasks she gave me last week, I just need to be more proactive and get things done early.

Goal #5 - I need to find a decent day job. Don't get me wrong, I love poker and have been successful playing. However, going into a marriage, I need to have some reasonable regular income. Nothing will strain a marriage more than one person making money, then I go on a sick cooler and lose money. So until I make enough playing at the bigger levels to make up for my part of the bills, I will have to find a good job. I should have found one earlier, but I'm a degenerate....lol.

So those are my goals for the rest of the month. I have to get these done. GL to me. :)

More of the Same

Still grinding out the cash games. It has been really juicy, I just haven't been able to maximize on my great hands. Most of my profits have come from outplaying people on flops, and three betting LAG's. While I don't mind booking wins, which I have booked a win everyday. I hate only booking small wins. My wins should have been really big. But it seems like I just can't nail them down, even when they are drawing really thin.

Here's a perfect example. This happened to me last night. It was really disgusting. KK vs. QQ. His VPIP and pre-flop raise percentages were 9.5 and 8, respectively. I knew he was only raising QQ+ and maybe AK. SO I didn't want to overplay KK just to stare down AA. SO against an extremely tight player, I'm looking to see what they do on the flop and turn. If I get some resistance with this kind of player, I will fold KK, even on a 9 high flop. What else could he be playing? So this pot chopped me down for the night. If I win this hand, and the others, I book a really good win.

It's just amazing. Last night I lost 4 hands with bigger pairs to smaller pairs, and twice with dominating hands. I lost AK vs. A10 and KQ vs. K8. So I just have to keep my game up and go from there. I'm playing well, playing position with aggression and using my HUD, so I'm trying to stay on my present goals I set. I need to keep it up and the wins will come.

My BB/100 is OK, but not great. If I could just win the hands I get with KK, QQ, and AK, this number would be much higher. Finally, if I can win about 6 buy-ins, I'll have enough to move to the next level. So hopefully I can keep booking wins, and not minimal wins. The biggest key to winning for me so far, has been playing small pots with LAG's OOP with marginal hands and not overvaluing my hands; and maximizing my value bets against the calling stations. So it's time to get back to the grind. I might take a book from Goldseraph and take a shot at making a couple of videos. It could be a great way to get some critiques on my play and maybe I'll find some leaks to work on. Good luck at the tables.

Just Wanna Puke

Over the past two days I have had my big hands cracked by some complete garbage hands. I was running a little aggro, but still, to call raises out of position with J8 and K10 is just funny. Not only that, but I am running into the COCKROACHES of the poker world, the short stackers.

I have noticed that a majority of the short stackers are from Europe, mostly Germany. They are the most frustrating and infuriating players on the internet. Not because there are so many of them, but because they only have one move and don't play poker. They just wait for big hands and shove. That's all they do. You can try to steal their blind, but if they come over the top, you are pretty much pot committed. It is just disgusting.

So I spewed about two buy-ins tonight. I played way too loose and aggressive. I was getting called down light and on dangerous boards players were chasing longshots and weak hands. For example, I'm in the big blind with Q5 off in a limped pot. The flop comes 6-4-3 all hearts. I have the queen of hearts, and since it's limped, there is probably no ace out. I decide to float any bet on the flop and go for the raise or lead on the turn, just depends on action. It checks and the button bets, I just flat. Being out of position, you might flat with a flush draw or a straight draw. So I check the turn when the board pairs 4's. He bets again, now I go for the check-raise. This is the time when I would spring the trap if I had flopped the straight or the flush. He just calls. The river brings a 5, so I finally get a pair. But the hand I've been representing isn't really dependent on a 5. So I bet enough to put him in, which is about the size of the pot. He snap calls with 97 off for the high straight. ???? It was just funny. I kept getting cold decked and coolered it was so disgusting. KK lost to A3 suited all in pre, JJ lost to AK, everytime I had AK a shortstacking cockroach woke up with a pocket pair and would double through. SO only being down two buy-ins isn't too bad.

Here's my plan for today. First, I need to idle back the aggression and really stop and think about the hand. Playing at the lower stakes, I am going to run into a lot of players who will call raises with very marginal hands, and there will be a ton of limpers. So I need to wait for positive EV situations. Second, I need to three bet and isolate more with strong hands and position. Lastly, I need to use my HUD and really get into my opponents head. There was one guy tonight that played 90% of the hands, over 120. 90% is just a ridiculously loose number of hands to be playing. Ironically, he was the one that called the 4 bet shove with A3 suited and flopped an ace. GO FIGURE. So that's what I need to work on and get my bankroll back on track.

Weekend Update

I'm continuing the current trend. I'm playing nothing but cash games right now. I have been building my bankroll pretty steadily and am just about done clearing my mid-year bonus. It's only $100, but that's better than nothing. Now if I could only get rakeback going on my account, that would really help to boost the bankroll. If I had rakeback, I would be playing 2/4 by the end of summer, at the rate I'm going right now. So things have been going well, a little slow, but a small win is better than a big loss.

So I've dropped a couple buy-ins here and there, but have had winning days 6 out the last 7 days. The problem is that I'm just not putting in the volume I should. I'm 4 tabling, and have had one session of 6 tabling, but have only put in about an hour or two for each session. I usually play two sessions a day, but I really need to amp it up and put in some serious hours. I need to find 4-6 tables, and just grind the hell out of them. So far this month, I have only put in about 4700 hands. I've read blogs of people putting in that kind of volume in one day. SO I am going to get it going.

The competition at the current level is extremely soft, for the most part. I've run into some good regs and some tricky players. But for the most part, most of the competition has been extremely loose, very passive, and overall just bad players. I've had players make moves at me with some really strange hands. I had a guy call a raise out of position with J9 suited, when I had AK. I flop a king, he turns a flush draw and moves with it. Of course he got there, but I'll take being a big favorite any day of the week. I just find it funny that if you don't bet the pot, everybody thinks you're bluffing.

Here's a funny hand as well. I have 63 suited in late position. Nobody comes in the pot, so I raise with only one player behind and the blinds. The game has been really passive and they telegraph their hand on the flop. If they make a donk bet, they have top pair with a weak kicker, if they check-raise they have a monster. Most of the time they just fold to a c-bet. So the button and the big blind both call. The flop comes GIN. 6-6-3. Part of me wants to slowplay to the river, then spring a trap. However, I have been playing so aggressive up to this point, because the table was so passive, that I knew nobody would believe me if I bet the flop. SO I made a pretty small bet, compared to my standard bets. Sure enough, the button raise 2.5X's. He only has about 3X's left. Again, part of me is saying "Just call, then push the turn". But another part of me said just put him in now. SO I did, and he folded, I should have listened to the first voice.

SO overall this week, I'm up about 6 buy-ins and just need to put a lot more volume in. If my win rate continues I should make a hell of a lot more than grinding sit and go's. This will then allow me to play whatever tournies I want. So I just need to get my ass in gear. My goal is to be playing the next level by the end of the month. I want to have 50 buy-ins, so I need to get my bankroll up to $5000. I can't guarantee anything, but we'll see how it goes. I might have to take some money out for expenses, but hopefully I can go on a sick heater and get there.

Quick Update

I'm still playing cash games right now. I'm trying to get away from strictly playing sit and go's and tourneys. So I've been multi-tabling cash games. It's been good and bad so far. I had a little period tonight where I ran into some very LAGGY players that were hitting their draws. In one hand, I had AK off on the button, with three limpers. I raise it up to eliminate some of the limpers. The UTG limper calls, and the flop comes A-6-6 with two clubs. He checks, and I bet a little under the pot. I did that because if he has an ace, he is a big dog, but if he has a flush draw, he is making a mistake to call. Sure enough, he calls. So I put him on a flush draw, maybe a weak ace. The turn brings an offsuit 8. He checks again, so I bet damn near the pot again. He calls again. The river brought the flush and he pushes for $10, into a pot of $65. I couldn't see folding in this spot. I called and he tabled K7 of clubs. It went that way for about an hour. People would chase and get there. So I dropped about two buy-ins during this period.

Later, I went on a pretty good heater and won it all back plus some. I had AA hold up against a straight and flush draw, all-in on the flop. I also won with some well timed bluffs and value bets. So all was going well and I just kept adding to my stack. There was a couple of funny hands, where I had pocket pairs over the board and two different opponents shoved with just ace high and no draws. One hand I had 10's, and got it all in on the turn on an 8 high board. There were three clubs, and I had the 10 of clubs. We got it all in and he flips A10 off, no club. The same kind of situation came up on another table and he showed AQ off. No ace, no queen, no draw. He had 4 outs and thankfully didn't hit.

So I'll just have to keep rolling.

A Few Tips

Here's just a few tips for playing low limit cash games. So take what you will from it, it's just my two cents of advice. I may not be the best player or the biggest name, but I have found a few of these things to be 100% accurate.

First, don't try to bluff through a lot of players. I have seen a lot of the low limit players willing to call two and three barrel bluffs with top pair/weak kicker, or second or third pair. So you have to know what kind of player you are up against and their tendencies. Second, don't overvalue marginal hands out of position. If you are in early position, you should pretty much play just the strongest hands, and loosen up as you get closer to the button. Again, it's pretty standard poker theory. However, what you should be looking to do, is exploit any weakness you see before the flop. You are looking to pick up as much dead money before the flop as possible. Then play, pretty much, ABC poker after the flop. You can make a few moves and some more intricate plays. But you have to remember, that you are going to be facing a lot of weak or bad players that are going to either chase or push with some weak hands and draws.

Finally, you want to re-examine your hand with each street and each bet or raise. You want to try to put your opponent on a hand and play it accordingly. I have noticed that some players will minimum raise marginal aces, small pairs and broadway hands. If I know that they are not that fond of their hand, I will usually try to either squeeze them, or three bet them in position. If my pre-flop play doesn't work, then I try to re-evaluate my hand after the flop and whether or not the flop might have helped my opponent. For instance, I'm sitting on the button with 89 off. A weak player opens the pot for the minimum. I repop it to $4.50, the big blind and he both call. The flop comes 7-4-3. This is a pretty dry flop for just calling a three bet before the flop. They both check it to me, I c-bet the flop and take it down. If I get check-raised or if somebody bet into me, I would have to re-evaluate my hand and go from there. So these are just a few tips, I'll be writing more tips in a later blog.

On a side note, I have been doing well so far in the cash games, even though I haven't had a lot of quality hands. I made a dumb move with AK to lose a buy-in, but other than that, I have pretty much stayed out of trouble. I have won pots when I sensed weakness and made some pretty decent laydowns when I thought I was beat. So I'm going to try to keep the train rolling. Good luck at the tables.

Testing the Waters

I'm trying to get Pokeroffice set up right now. I'm getting the settings for the HUD and the live statistics filter set for both tournament and cash game play. I only played a few hands so far in a cash game setting. All went well, for the most part. Goldseraph has some really good videos you should check out. You will need to download the divx codec, but I highly recommend them.

SO tonight went pretty well. I was playing a pretty typical, aggressive style. Early on, I was trying to get a sense of the quality of players and get off on a good foot. I raise in early with AQ suited and get two callers, no surprise. I have position, and sure enough the flop comes Q-J-6. I make a continuation bet and get called by the big blind. I'm pretty sure he has a weak queen, so I fire a second barrel on the turn, and he calls again. A 10 hits the river, I hate that card, he checks and I check behind. He shows Q7. SO I take down a couple of early pots and then later pick off a very LAGGY player. He had three bet me twice already, so I limp in late with A10 off. I know his range is going to be pretty big. He raises the size of the pot, and I just call out of position. The flop comes K-10-7 with two hearts. I have the ace of hearts and plan on check calling his c-bet, then firing on the turn if a scare card hits. Sure enough, a 2 of hearts hits the turn, and I fire $9 into $13.50, he insta calls. I don't like the insta call, it is screaming a decent king or a made small flush. The river brings a blank and depending on what he does, I'll either fold or call. He checks the river, and I win with A10 versus J10.

So I won a few pots and finished up a little less than a buy-in. I'm testing the settings and preparing to make a good run later today. I just have to keep the LAG's at bay and continue to play aggressively.

Change of Scenery

So I decided to play some cash games tonight, instead of the usual tourneys and sit and go's. It's been a while since I had played in cash games, so I took it slow at first. I wanted to test the waters, and see how they were going to play. I wanted to scout out the tables and get my cash game together again. There are differences between cash games and tourneys. In a cash game, most of the stacks are pretty deep, so you have to be able to see and play flops well. Post flop play is a major part of cash games. Just because you play squeeky tight and wait for the top 5 hands, doesn't mean you are guaranteed to win. You have to be able to play flops, and know when you are getting the right price, when to push on weak bets, and when to three bet properly before the flop to win pots uncontested.

Cash games are a lot of fun, but can also be very frustrating at the lower levels. This is because you will find a lot of very loose calls both before the flop and on the flop. Here's a classic example. A player just joined the game and decided to post in early-late position. He was sitting in two behind the button. Personally, I don't post until it's my big blind. I don't like putting money out there, then trying to protect money that I didn't have to. That might be a pretty tight image, but that's what I want to set up early in the game. I want players to know that I'm playing tight, then prepare to change gears pretty often. So back to the hand. I get KQ suited, and decide to raise with nobody ahead of me coming in. For a tourney, it's a marginal play. However, in a cash game, with some dead money out, it's a good idea to try and eliminate a few players. The player who posted called, as did the small blind. The flop came A-K-8 with two hearts. I had KQ of hearts, so with second pair and the nut flush draw, I fire $4 into the $6.50 pot. The poster called and the blind folded. The turn brought a 9, so I checked, which was probably a mistake, and he checked behind. I should have bet the turn, but when he called my bet on the flop, I thought he had a weak ace and was another player that can't find the fold button. The river brought a 10 of spades. I hated that card most of all. There was a little over $14 in the pot, so I fired a defensive bet of $6, he just called. He showed QJ of diamonds. He called on the flop with a gut shot straight draw, no pair and no other draw. Just gross.

I made a dumb move against a good player. He limped UTG and I limped in the SB with AK off. The flop came A-Q-8, and I check raised when he bet the flop. He flat called the flop. A 10 came on the turn, so I fired out, and he pushed. I thought about it for a minute then called. I should have folded. Another thing to remember about cash games, is that most players will play very typical to position. If you see an early limper, most of the time they are limping with a strong hand, or at least AK or AQ. Of course, you have to watch the players and try to determine who the LAG's are, but if a tight player is limping, watch out. Bluffing is a part of cash games, and should be utilized, but under specific conditions and from time to time. My point though, is that most players in cash games are waiting for strong hands. If they are calling bets, they probably have top pair with a good kicker. If they are raising, take a second and try to determine a range of hands that are beating you and a range that you are beating. Try to put the player on a hand, and decide how to proceed from there. Don't go broke with one pair, and if you are facing big bets, don't be surprised if you're up against the nuts. Most cash game players are not willing to fire most of their money off without a very strong hand. So anywho, back to the hand. He showed QQ for second set, and I bricked the river and was down a buy-in. I eventually won it back from a pretty tricky play.

I was in the big blind and the button had been raising every single one of my blinds. He was a very aggressive player, but I hadn't seen what he was raising with, he didn't have to show down any hands. SO I get 63 suited in the big blind, and I had decided before the action that if one of two players raised my blinds, both of whom were attacking my blind, I was going to try and put a play on them. You want to pull off plays from time to time, but with any play, you have to watch out for who you are doing it to and how often. If you try to get too cute too often, you will just hurt yourself and your table image. Remember, you want to get respect and not hurt your ability to steal when you can't pick up any hands. So the button raised me again, and I three bet him with 63 suited. Some people will say that it was a dumb idea out of position. But look at the rationale. First, he had been raising a lot from position, good play on his part. Second, I hadn't made a play at him so far, good on my part. Third, by three betting I am telling him I have a strong hand and trying to take control of the action away from him. So he flat calls before the flop. The flop hits me hard, it comes 6-4-3. The great thing about my hand, is that it is very easy to get away from if I miss the flop. But if I hit the flop, like I did, I can win a really big pot. SO I fire about 2/3 the pot. He flat calls. When he flat called the flop, I knew he had a big pair. Think about it, how could a flop of 6-4-3 help his hand out? Unless he called with 44 or a hand with a 5, this is not a good flop for him. The turn brings an 8, so I fire $20 into the pot, at which point, he shoves on me. I had to think about it for a second. Did he hit a set of 8's on the turn? Did he slow play the flop? I decided to go with my initial read, that he had a big pair, and called. Sure enough, he had QQ, and I won a huge pot. Let me explain one more thing.

First, by three betting out of position, and him not four betting, he allowed me to take control of the hand. Sure he had the better hand pre-flop and he had a big pair, but think about the hand for a second. If an ace or king flops, I am going to make a continuation bet, and he will probably fold. If the flop comes down like it did and hits me hard, I'm going to make the same bet and he will think that he is ahead with his big overpair. But if the flop comes coordinated like 8-10-J, I can get away from my hand. There are a lot of flops that I can either bluff and win the pot on the flop, or get away from for a very minimal amount. Again, if he had four bet me, I would have folded before the flop. He raised to $2, and I re-raised to $6.50. If he made a standard re-raise, he would have made it $16-$20, I would not invest that much of my stack with 63 suited. Because he was either trying to slowplay the hand, or played the hand too tentatively, he let me catch my flop and he couldn't fold to the action. By the way I was betting the flop and turn, I had to have a big pair beat. I thought he would fold thinking I had AA or KK, or had hit a set, but he just kept coming. It was just too hilarious.

So I won a few small pots the rest of the way and ended up + for the night. So it was a fun night, and I learned my first lesson all over again. Don't go broke with one pair, and don't put too much money in the pot with a lot of resistance without a strong hand. So anywho. Time to get to bed and get ready for another fun night. Good Luck!

Train Keeps Rolling

Well, the cold decks and late tourney suckouts keep on going. In time, this will have to end. I will have to break through eventually. I can't keep getting late in tourneys, then lose to somebody with a very marginal hand. Tonight was business as usual. I played a satelite to get into the $750,000 Guarantee. The top 12 got tourney entries, then 13-15 got paid cash. We were down to 16 people, on the bubble. I hadn't seen a single hand worth playing in a long time. I'm not talking about waiting for aces or kings. I mean not having anything at all to play. I didn't see any kind of suited connectors, big ace, big king, two face cards, nothing. Just to illustrate, I was getting short and pushed with QJ off from under the gun. It was by far the best hand I had seen in a long time and got called in two spots. One guy had 910 suited and the other had pocket 4's. I hit a jack and tripled up. I was feeling good and had a few chips to play with, well a little over 10X's the blind. A few hands later, I get AJ suited and am sitting on the button. Nobody comes in the pot, so I raise. The small blind calls, and the flop comes A-6-5. Sweet, top pair, good kicker. He checks it to me, so I fire a little over half the pot and he then proceeds to shove in. I know he might be making a play here, knowing that we are on the bubble, and nobody wants to go broke on the bubble. He could have a draw, weaker ace, but I know that I'm pretty much committed to this pot. So I call, and he shows AQ. Just my luck. Sure enough, I go out on the bubble, AGAIN.

So later, I decide to play the $17,000 Guarantee. I had a few good hands, but for the most part, I had to bluff and three bet my way to some chips. I had QQ UTG and raise. I get called in two spots, one of which was in the big blind. The flop comes K-6-4. I fire a continuation bet, and get called in both spots. I knew the guy behind me didn't have a king, he probably would have re-raised. However, the guy in the blind had to have one. How could he overcall without a king? So I pretty much shut down there. I knew that in the lower limits, there are a ton of calling stations and players that will overplay hands. So they end up checking it down after a turn bet from late position. Sure enough, the late player had 77, and the blind had K9 off. WOW. The rest of the way pretty much went the same. I had QQ hold up against two all ins, one with 99 and the other with A5. But it wasn't meant to be. The button shoved for 20X's the blind, and I'm sitting with about 12 X's the blind. I have A10 off and thought about it for a second. The button was probably shoving one of couple kinds of hands. 1) Two big face cards, like KQ, KJ, QJ 2) Just about any ace, if he had a good ace like AK, AQ, or AJ he wouldn't shove for that amount. or 3) small pair, like 44-99. Again, if he had a good pair like JJ or QQ he wouldn't shove for that much, he would want some kind of action. So I put him on group 1 and decided to call. Sure enough, he shows KQ. I survived the flop and the turn, but then the king hit the river and I was gone.

I just really sucks to get deep in a lot of tourneys and not cash and not hit a big score. The above picture shows how my finishes have gone this month. If you notice, I have made it deep in just about every tourney I have played. I had to get lucky a couple of times to survive, but that's part of poker. However, once I have gotten deep, one of two things have happened. 1) I go card dead and end up getting overcoated when I finally pick up a hand. I have tried to play off my image and raise and re-raise to try and steal, but it just hasn't worked out. 2) I take some kind of sick beat or have somebody shove and I make the obvious call, then have my hand get beat. Just about everytime I have had my tourney on the line, I have been a substantial favorite. A few of the times, I was either a 3:2 or 2:1 favorite. But most of the other times, I was a very clear favorite. So I'll just have to play through it and hopefully things will turn around soon.

I hope it doesn't last too much longer, this is getting sick.

BRRRRRR!!!!

I can't believe how cold decked I'm getting right now. Everytime the game gets short handed, or I get deep in a tourney, I go completely card dead. Not only that, but people are drawing out on me left and right. I have had so many people drawing to 4 or fewer outs and getting there. I was in the Fifty-fifty tonight. I have 99 in the small blind and it's relatively early in the tourney. Everybody at the table is playing pretty tight. There's a small raise from middle position and 3 people call. It comes to me and I can either fold (not with the odds I'm getting), raise to eliminate weak hands (how many are going to fold? I then have to play a small pair OOP, not a good reason to raise here), or flat call (best choice). I flat call and know that being out of position with so many people, if I flop a 9 I can double through. So I flat call, as does the big blind. The flop comes 9-6-4...GIN!!! A lot of players would check-raise in this spot. However, I believe that leading out is by far the best play. Most people will put you on a draw or a hand like A9 or K9. So I lead out and everyone folds but the last guy, he flat calls. The turn brings a 2. I only have about 2/3 of the pot left. So I shove all-in and he calls. I show top set, he shows AA. It's just funny how people don't think about the hand and just seem to play on auto pilot. So sure he has AA, a very strong hand PRE-FLOP. However, you have to play the hand after the flop. AA against 6 people on that kind of flop, you might as well chuck your AA out the window, especially if somebody is betting out and leading on the turn to your flat call. The only hands he could be beating are a draw or an overplayed 9. So, long story short, he rivers an ace and I'm gone.
It has been going that way for about a week now. I just checked my stats and I have lost so many sit and go's and tourneys to weak draws and overplayed hands. I got check-raised by a LAG with third pair and no draw. Of course he got there on the end. What's funny is that everytime the money has gone in, I have known that I had the best of it, but the little hairs on the back of my neck keep tingling. Then BAM, there's the suckout card. It's been so frustrating. 2:1, 3:1, 21:1, I have lost just about everyway possible. The other big frustration has been going card dead deep in tourneys. I have made it to the top 1/3 of tourneys and just can't pick up any kind of hand. I've tried playing off my image, but it seems like everyone else is getting my share of the cards. I was sitting about average and raised from middle position. I hadn't raised a hand in about 3 orbits, so I thought my raise would get some respect, WRONG! I get shoved for 10X's my bet. HMMMM, he obviously has a hand like 77-JJ, maybe AK or AQ. It's just annoying and frustrating. In the last tourney I played, the final 65 hands I had, the best hands I saw were 33, A4 suited, and QJ off. That's it, everything else was 23 off, 73, 84, K4, 104, and other trash hands. I didn't see any suited connectors or gappers, didn't see two big face cards, no aces what so ever, and no pocket pairs. Hopefully things will turn around soon, my luck has to turn around sometime soon.
In a multi-table tourney you have to catch cards sometime, preferably at the end of the tourney. If you catch cards early in a tourney, you might double through or build a chip lead, but the chip leader usually does not last. You have to get some hands. There is nothing you can do about it otherwise. You can bluff some pots and you can steal blinds from time to time. But eventually, you have to put some hands together. A lot of low limit players put way too much emphasis on bluffing. I saw one guy, Bigranger777, go from a very big stack to out because he kept calling allins with very marginal hands, called a lot of raises OOP with very marginal hands, and overvalued pairs and draws. If I could have caught any kind of hand, I probably would have made some good runs tonight. But it just wasn't meant to be. So hopefully tomorrow will go better. Things have to turn around soon.

Another Typical Day

OMG....I can't believe the sheer number of suckouts and beats I have taken today. It is unreal. Below I am going to post some of the beats I have taken and maybe I'll find a way I could have played the hands better. For the most part, I have just run into some very loose players, who I trapped badly by the way, and they get there in the end. Most of the hands the villain was a HUGE underdog to win. Not just a coin flip situation, but a really big dog to win.
HAND #1
I came in for a standard raise, and got re-raised by the big blind. The big blind had been three betting quite a bit and I didn't really want to get too frisky with the hand before the flop, especially with the hitchhiker. His re-raise was really small, so I decided to see the flop. Sure enough I flop a 10. There's no draw out, except 89, but I know he's not raising with that. More than likely he has exactly what he had. He overbets the pot and shoves and gets there in the end.
HAND #2
This one was probably the most frustrating. We are on the bubble. Again, very loose player. I three bet him a few times, once with KK and got shoved then rivered by A9 off. The other times I was light, so I had to drop the hand to his shove. So I started playing flops with him. Then this hand came up. He makes a pretty standard raise from the button. So his range is pretty much any two big cards, any ace, any pair, probably any connected cards above a 7. I get KJ suited and since I'm out of position, want to see the flop. Again, I flop top two and decide to check-raise all in. I ususally don't check-raise, but I know he will bet just about any flop. There's a couple of broadway draws, but I know I'm a huge favorite to win. So we get the money in, and sure enough, he gets there on the river.
HAND #3
This one is simply hilarious. First, look at the chip stacks. There is a short stack with only about 4 big blinds left, and he's going through the blinds shortly. The short stack has been playing very passive and is sure to blind out soon. Second, I have the big blind covered, and have not made many moves at him. So I get a pocket pair and looked over at the short stack. I knew that without AA or KK, maybe even QQ, JJ, or AK, he's not going to call. So I push on him, and to my surprise he calls. At first I was shitting myself. Did I just run into a monster? How could he put his tourney on the line without one? The cards flip and it's 66 vs. 55. Of course he spikes a 5 and it leaves me crippled. Ironically, the short stack is the one that eliminated me. Such a horrible play on his part. To put your tourney on the line with a short stack and not even pay attention to the situation is pretty typical of low limit players.
HAND #4
This one is pretty typical of how I've been running lately. I know it's a race from the get go, and I don't mind racing at this point. I have been running really cold lately, and when I get a hand, I'm prepared to go with it. So I make a standard raise under the gun with AQ. I get re-raised by a player I have played against numerous times. I know he is capable of making this play with just about any pair and most of the time, he will fold to a three bet shove. So I push, and he calls with JJ. Not so bad, it's a coin flip. I turn a queen, then he gets there on the river. Gotta love it when you are getting nothing but frozen cards.
So, it's been an up and down day. The day started out well, but just got progressively more worse. I couldn't believe how many times I would get a big pair, and some loose idiot would shove, then hit their set. I'm not kidding, I had an overpair to their underpair 6 times, and each time they hit their set. Other than that, 3 out of the 5 times I had KK and got called by a weak ace, and each time an ace hit the flop. KK, QQ, JJ, 10's, nothing was holding and whenever I got AK or AQ, the flop would come 8 high or 3 to a flush. SO hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.
On another note, I made another deep run in the $32,000 Guarantee and made a dumb mistake at the end. I just barely went out before the money. But, what can you do? It just seemed like everybody who called my raises was going to flop the nuts. That's pretty much the way it went today. I raised with AK, the flop comes A-K-10, and of course they called with QJ. The only thing I have to remember, is to play small ball and keep the LAG's at bay.
So time to get my head back in the game, and make a good run. Good luck at the tables.
UPDATE: I played a couple of multi-table tourneys, and I ran like total dog shit. I couldn't get a hand to save my life. Then when I did get a hand, it either didn't connect with the flop or they drew out on me. I went out in both tourneys with two very dumb moves that I shouldn't have made. The first, I raised the big blind and checked the flop, then moved on the turn. I didn't even stop to think about what he might have or whether or not my hand was good. Sure enough, he flopped the nuts, go figure. In the second tourney, I limped in the small blind, the big blind raised, I flat called. The flop came Q-9-8 with two clubs. I had KJ with the jack of clubs. I check called the flop then pushed the turn when another club hit. Sure enough, he had AA with the ace of clubs. I had 3 outs to the straight, but that's it. I shouldn't have made either one of these moves.
In the low limit tourneys you will find so many loose aggro's and calling stations it gets ridiculous, especially if you're not catching any kind of playable hand. You see them showing down K5 and Q6 and winning pots, while you get sucked out on with AK and QQ. Here's a good one for you. I'm in the BB with AK off, and the button raises my blind for the third orbit in a row. Every other time I had 52 and 84 so there wasn't much I could do, because I knew he was the kind of player that overvalued two big cards and would go with it. So I just had to wait. So he raises me again, and I three bet him 2.5X's his raise. He shoves for about 4X's my raise. He has me covered but I know that worst case scenario we're racing. He had K10 off. He lost the pot and I was in really good shape in the tourney, until I pulled the complete moron play. So, I just have to keep my wits and brain in the game. Don't run on auto pilot or try to bluff a player off a hand I know they won't get rid of. Most players just cannot release top pair, no matter what they have. The sheer number of times I saw pots getting jammed only for one guy to show AQ and the other to show A4 or A5 was totally insane.

June Ironman and MTT

I played in the Silver Ironman freeroll last weekend. I finished in the money for the fifth time in a row. I was making a good run in the tourney but eventually went card dead and players were shoving my raises which left me no options. I finally pick up AK and raise. The small blind shoves and I call it off. His 77 held and I was out. I also played in a couple of multi-table tourneys this week.
The tourney last night went horribly. Early in the tourney I just could not pick up a hand. The blinds were at 25/50 and I was sitting on 1500. I pick up AK and a weak passive player limps under the gun. I had him on AJ+ and 6's-10's. So I raise to 200 trying to get it heads up and eliminate anyone else from coming into the pot. It folds around to the limper and he limp-shoves. I have seen a few players do this with AA and KK. However, since I have AK it eliminates some of the possibilities and the odds that he has one of those hands are diminished. Most of the time, whenever I see this play, they show a small pair. So I call of my stack and he shows KK. I guess it was a good play on his part. I was only a 2:1 dog and hit my ace on the river. I did flop an inside straight draw and turned a flush draw, so all was not lost. So I double through and eventually build my stack to about 44,000.
Within 3 hands, I was out and went from the top 25 to out in 104th. The first hand was a basic coin flip situation. Short stack shoved for 8 big blinds, I have AK in the big blind, his 77 held. The very next hand I pick up JJ in the small blind. Another short stack shoves and I call again. He shows AQ and turns a queen. Now I'm one of the shorter stacks. I get K10 suited in the cutoff. I'm the first in the pot and with a stack of 18,000 I raise to 2300 with the blinds at 400/800 with 100 ante. The small blind calls and the flop comes Q-J-4 with the face cards diamonds. I have K10 of diamonds. The small blind checks to me. There is 6300 in the pot, so I bet 4500. He check-raises all in. I had a feeling he didn't have a queen or a jack, I can't explain why, sometimes your instincts will guide you. I just felt that he was making a move with either an underpair or a 4. So I thought I could hit 9 diamonds, 3 kings, 3 10's, 3 aces, or 3 9's. 14 outs would make me a favorite. I had 21 outs to make my hand, which was pretty much half the deck. Even if I could only count the straight and flush draw I would still be a slight favorite. So I call, he shows 77, so I'm about 74% to win. The turn pairs the jack which give me more outs. I can now hit an ace, king, queen, 10, 9, or diamond. A brick hits the river and I'm gone. So minor cash but still frustrating. If I win any of those races I might have been able to make a good run.
The sheer number of loose aggro players I have run into is pretty shocking. I don't mind playing loose aggro players. The problem is when they are hitting decks and flops and you can't get dealt anything. Just to give an example. I have QQ in middle position on a very loose table. Come in for a raise of 3 times the blind. The big blind calls, and the flop comes 664 with two spades. BB checks to me. I'm getting short and decide to push my hand. He check raised me after I put about 1/3 of my chips in the pot. Of course he has K6 off and I was gone. AA lost to AK SOOTED, QQ lost to K6, JJ lost to 45 off, AK lost to A3, and AA lost to QJ on a runner runner two pair. So I'm down a couple of buy-ins, but nothing substantial. I'm going to take a break for the next day or two and get my head together. Hopefully the cards will start to cooperate. I don't need to get AA and KK everyhand to win, I just need the LAG's to miss their longshots. But, that's what I want from them. I want them to put their money in as substantial dogs. If they keep doing that, I will win in the long run. They might suckout once or twice, but I'll win in the end game.

Low Limit Player Profiling

Low limit players have to be some of the worst players I have ever seen. By low limit, I mean, players between the minimum stakes and $30 sit and go's, tournaments up to $50, and cash games up to $200 NL. These players play two card chicken more than they should. I can't count the number of times I saw some really goofy plays. For example, the game was six handed and I get dealt 88. I open for 150 with the blinds at 25/50, I have about 1300 behind. The player to my left shoves for 2120. I have been seeing plays like this for the last few days more than normal. Usually you will find plays like this from time to time. However, I have been running badly over the past few days and just can't seem to find a way to win.
I keep getting cold decked or outdrawn. Which brings me to the reason for this post. I have been trying to not only tag players when I see them play, but I have been profiling low limit players in general. This is a little of what I have come up with. First, low limit players will generally overvalue top pair, no matter what pair it is. They could have a pair of 9's in a raised pot, and they will usually go to the river or go for a check-raise with it. Second, they tend to overvalue very marginal hands and call raises out of position with them. They will play broadway hands, any suited face card, suited connectors, almost any ace, and some suited connectors and gappers for raises. I have seen two big card hands call a lot of raises from early. In fact, I had a guy call me to the river with KQ on a 10-5-2 board while I was holding KK. It's just hilarious.
Low limit players don't think about what you might have. They usually only think about their hand. You can raise with a premium hand or big pair, and they usually won't put you on a hand. They will call and play their hand if they hit a pair or draw. Some players cannot get away from their hand if they hit a primary draw. I have noticed a sort of pattern in low limit players, in general. If they have a primary draw, like a straight or flush draw, they will usually check to you out of position and go for the check-raise. I have noticed that a lot of players love to check-raise all in with these kinds of draws. The problem with these draws is that if that is all you have, you are a 2:1 dog to get there. If you have pair or multiple draws, that is a different story.
On to two card chicken. Two card chicken is what I like to call the game of all-in preflop when you have more than 20 big blinds. It's one thing when the blinds are high and players are getting short. That is the time when you just have to pick a hand a go with it. Those are the times when you will see some very marginal situations. Short stack shoves with A8 and gets called by K5 or Q10. Those situations are understandable. I'm talking about early in the tournament when the stacks are relatively deep and there is a lot of play. You will sometimes see a player open for 3-4 times the blind, and suddenly a player behind him shoves or re-raises. If they re-raise the original raiser pushes in. I have also seen some very weak three bets and some very weak shoves early in tournaments.
Finally, I have noticed that low limit players play sit and go's and tournaments in some very wrong ways. They usually play sit and go's too loose in the beginning stages and too tight in the end. Or they will play too tight in the middle and just start shoving marginal hands when it starts to get short. Just watch them and you will know what they are doing. In tournaments, I have noticed that if the bad players get to the later stages, they usually play marginal hands in some really bad spots. Most of the field by the end stages are solid players and some loose aggressive players. But I saw some very weak plays by a number of players who just kept getting very lucky to stay in the tourney. So anywho, I'm having a rough week and just need to get my game back. I'll get there.

Final Table $17,000 Guarantee

I made the final table of the $17,000 Guarantee tonight. From the start of the tourney, I was playing my typical small ball style. I didn't want to get into too many difficult situations early, so I tried to keep pots small and control the action when I was in the hand. My philosophy is that when the blinds are small, you should play pretty tight. I'm usually waiting for a big hand, and looking to build a stack over the first few levels. I'll take some drawing hands to the turn with the right odds, and hopefully hit my draws. If I have more than 15 outs I will usually play my hand very aggressively and try to win it on the flop and not wait for the draw.
So back to tonight. It was early in the tourney and I pick up AA. I hate getting aces in the early stages of a tournament. Don't get me wrong, I'm not folding, but I know that most of the players early in a tournament are playing really loose and are usually very weak if they are calling big bets and raises. So I raise to 120 with the blinds at 15/30. I get three callers, which I was expecting. The flop came K-10-6 with two diamonds. Both blinds check to me, so I fire 320. I want to find out who is drawing, and who has a real hand. The button calls and the big blind calls, the small blind folds. So I have a little more information on the hand. I put the big blind on a decent king, like KJ, KQ, maybe K9, or a marginal 10. I put the small blind on the very typical flush draw or straight draw. So I figure as long as another paint card, heart, ace, or nine hits the board, I figure I'm probably in good shape. Just my luck, the 4 of diamonds peels off on the turn. The blind checks, so I check behind. Suddenly the button checks as well. So now I knew the button probably did not have the flush. He was the kind of player that would bet when he hit his hand. So unless he is slow playing the nut flush on the turn, again, I figure I'm probably good. The river brings a 3 of clubs. Now the big blind bets about 1/2 the pot. I have a quandry now. I know the rags didn't help his hand, so he probably has a naked king. But what about the button? If I call and he raises, I'm done with the hand, but at the same time, I can't get any equity from my read. So I decide to take the gamblers route. I flat call, and decide that if the button makes a move I'm going to fold. The button folds, and the big blind shows KQ of hearts. Top pair with no draw and a decent kicker.
From there, I slowly built my stack to about 5,000. I was rolling along and playing position and my opponents' well. Just to put the tourney in perspective. I played a total of 447 hands and had AA once, KK once, AK 3 times, and AQ 4 times. I had a few suited connectors and some small pairs, but for the most part, it was a hot and cold run. I would hit a hand then go card dead. Another key hand was much later in the tourney. We were down to about 60 players. I'm in the big blind with K10 off. The player UTG min raises, mistake number 1. He gets 5 callers, so it comes around to me. The blinds were 500/1000 and I'm sitting on about 27,000. There is 11,000 plus the antes, and it's costing me 1,000 to call. There is not one single hand that I could fold for the price I'm getting. So I flat call. The flop hits me hard. It comes K-10-7 with two clubs. The small blind bets 1/2 the pot, and with that many players left behind I only have one choice. I shove for the rest of my chips and the player UTG re-raises all-in. I know what he has, I'm sure you can figure out what he has too. Of course he has AA, mistake number 2. He gives me protection, the small blind folds and I win with two pair on an unimproved board. That jumps me up to the ranks of the chip leaders and I have a healthy stack I can play with. The reason why I consider these mistakes are very simple. For one, to min raise under the gun, you are just begging for a waterfall of calls, which is what happened. As soon as the first person calls, everybody else thinks they are priced in. So AA has to dodge all kinds of hands. In a 5 or 6 way pot, you can go ahead and toss your AA out the window. For the other reason, when the action after the flop goes bet, raise, you have to ask yourself what possible hands could have called. When the board is coordinated like it was, you need to re-evaluate what kinds of hands could have called. If the board was 10-6-2, that would be a different story. But with a board of K-10-7, or the dreaded 9-10-J, you have to proceed cautiously with one pair.
So anywho. We get down to 10 handed and on the final table bubble. I haven't seen two cards that are even in the same area code, much less even playable. I like to play aggressively and play small ball. But when my raises are getting shoved, I'm getting short and can't pick up a hand there's nothing I can do. So we get to the final table and I'm sitting 6th in chips. I'm prepared for a battle and looking to play some flops. All was going well. We lost a couple of players pretty early on and I'm in the big blind. For some reason, I played this hand horribly and ended up finishing 7th.
The hand came down like this. I have 85 off and the small blind limps. I was talking to my friend on the phone and even said outloud to him, "I should raise him to find out how much he likes his hand." He was playing really tight passive, so I knew his limp was weak. He wasn't limping a monster to try and trap. He was a pretty straightforward player. He would raise with a decent hand and limp trash and marginal hands. So I made a mistake and checked it down. The flop came Q-8-2 with two hearts. He bet the minimum on the flop. I thought he might have had a queen, but thought if a scare card came on the turn I could get him to fold. A 5 hit the turn. He bet half the pot now. Again, I thought he might have a naked queen or maybe a draw, but I thought my two pair would be good. I pushed on him and he quickly called my all-in. I knew I was in trouble. Of course, thanks to my good luck lately, he turns over Q2 for a flopped two pair. I'm out in 7th for a decent, but not good score.
I played in the 50-50 the other night and made a good run as well. I ended up finishing 51st out of 981. I've only played a handful of multi-tables this week, so not bad for the week I've had so far. Hopefully tomorrow will go much better and I'll final table another one. I just have to keep playing small ball and let the LAG's hang themselves.

PokerVT

I have been waiting for a long time for this. Daniel Negreanu has been putting together a training site since last year. He has signed quite a few top professionals; including Annette_15, Paul Wasicka, JC Alvarado, Adam Junglen, and Kirk Morrison. From what I have read of the early reviews, this is going to be a great teaching tool. Unlike Cardrunners and some of the other sites, this site is going to be more interactive.

With most of the other sites, you are given a selection of videos and you basically get to see what they are doing while they talk about their hand and their opponents. However, with PokerVT, they are going to have quizzes and games that will also teach you different aspects of poker. There will also be ways to determine your personal poker knowledge, and it will then guide you to different sections to teach you what you need to know. I am really excited about taking the site out for a test run and seeing how much it can help my game.

I feel that I am playing well, just unlucky right now. Last night, I donked off quite a few tourneys and am down about 7 buy-ins. I was pretty card dead throughout most of the tourneys, and after taking a beat in an early tourney, I was playing too tight and too timid. The hand came down like this:

I have AA in middle position. A loose passive player limped, like he had been doing with most hands. I raise to 300 with the blinds at 25/50. The player to my left calls, as does the limper. The flop came J-6-7 with two diamonds. I had about 1800 when the hand started and the limper was the chip leader with 2200. He checked the flop, and I bet out 650. The player behind me called and the early limper minimum raised. I pushed in and the limper called. He showed QJ off. A jack hit the river and I was gone. It was a bad play on his part for two reasons. First, by limping out of position, then overvaluing top pair on that flop, there are not many hands you can be beating against two players. The only hand he can really be beating is a bluff or two overs like AK. If I have AK of diamonds he is a big dog, if I have AA or KK he is a big dog. If I have 89 of diamonds, again he is a big dog. The only real hands he can beat are J10 or a flush draw with no other pair or draw. Sounds reasonable, but remember that this is a raised pot from a player who has only shown strong hands and hasn't played back at him. Second, if he misses his hand, he has risked most of his chips on a play out of position. I knew what he had when he checked it to me. I knew he probably had a hand like KJ, QJ, or possibly a flush draw. I would have been happier if he showed at least QJ suited for the top pair and the flush draw. At least then he would have been the favorite to win the pot. But to make this move with QJ off is just stupidity. So that put the wheels in motion for the rest of the night.

For the remainder of the night, I kept getting the money in with second best, which is not like me. I was not three betting like I should and was playing too timid. I kept seeing players call my raises with very marginal hands and started limping too much. In the blink of an eye I was down almost 10 buy-ins. I would get short and push with AQ, AJ, QQ, JJ, and kept running into AK and KK. It was so sick. SO I played one final game and ended up winning that one to be down about $160 for the night. I decided to call it a night. I am still well within my bankroll to be playing at this level, so hopefully tonight will go better. I just have to remember to play position better and stop playing so damn timid if I take a beat. If they want to call my raises with marginal hands, we'll just have to play a flop.

On a final note, I noticed that while I was playing tentative, I was not three betting and shoving like I should have. I had this little voice in the back of my head that kept yelling at me, "You're going to lose." One hand in particular, I have 10's in middle position with 5 players left. UTG raises the pot. I don't know if it was intuition or just stupidity. I decided to fold the hand, figuring the best I could hope for was a race. Nobody called, but I just thought he had AA or KK. I don't know if it was a good fold or not, but the old me would have at least called and seen a flop, possibly would have re-raised or shoved. That's just what last night did to me. I kept getting second best, so I thought it was going to be second best again. So I'll just have to play aggressive and keep watching my opponents.

Antonius versus Brunson

This is going to be the most interesting story throughout the summer. In case you haven't heard, Patrik did an interview with Card Player magazine late last year. During the interview, somebody told him that Doyle had said he would swim across the sea to play him heads up. Basically saying that he thinks Patrik is a fish. So Patrik shot back in the interview, which then got published, by saying he would play him any game for any stakes. Big mistake Patrik.
Patrik Antonius is one of the great players on the planet. He is without a doubt one of the most talented and feared players. However, he is letting Doyle pick the games and the stakes. Patrik is a no-limit hold'em and pot limit omaha player. He can play the other games well, but not to the level that Doyle can. If you saw the WPT tourney that Doyle won, he had a hell of a call against Patrik. The hand came down like this:
Three handed, Doyle is the short stack. He has a little over 4 million, and Patrik has about 6 million. The blinds are 150,000/300,000 with a 50,000 ante. The button folds and Doyle limps with 33. Patrik takes a second, then declares all-in. It appears that Doyle snap calls him with 33. Patrik has this look on his face like somebody shot his dog. He then whines about the call. He even goes so far as to say, "How can you make that call with threes?" He says it over and over and is almost indignant. Finally, Doyle quips back, "We're playing poker son, not solitare." Classic Doyle comeback. The flop and turn brick, but on the turn the board pairs, giving Patrik 6 more outs. He bricks the river and is still befuddled by the call. I'm sure there were a couple of factors that influenced the call by Doyle. The first of which is that he knew Patrik is a maniac, loose player and he was probably in a race situation. The second factor was that he was sick and tired of Patrik trying to run him over. If you have read Supersystem, you will know that if you push on Doyle, he will push back. He'll let you get away with it once or twice, but he is coming if you keep it up.
So, they are working on a heads up match. Rumors are floating around that they will be playing for a minimum of $1 million, and some have even speculated that it will be a series of 7-10 games for $1 million each. In his blog, Doyle said that it will be a cash game and not a freeze out. So that is another big plus in Doyle's corner. He plays the biggest game in the world on a regular basis and I'm sure he will not pick Omaha or Hold'em. So that is another big plus for Doyle. So it will be interesting to see if they televise this landmark event and who wins. Doyle has also stated that if Patrik beats him, he will retire from poker. He said that he will move to Montana and live the rest of his days on his 110 acre ranch. That will be a sad day. But the new guard has to take over someday. I personally think a match between Ivey and Brunson would be more fitting.
I just read tonight, that the Antonius-Brunson feud is also spilling over onto the golf course. Brunson challenged Antonius to a round of golf for $100,000 a hole. He told Patrik he has from now until the end of August to accept the challenge. The verbal sparring going on between these two is very fascinating. You should read both of their blogs. It is quite good reading.

Ironman Freerolls

I just got done playing the Ironman freerolls. I played in the Bronze Ironman and the One-a-day. In the one-a-day freeroll, not many players actually played. The total field was almost 1,000; however, about 70% of the field didn't even sit in. The same went for the bronze ironman. If you pull up the hand history, it will tell you who is sitting out. 6 of the 9 people at the table were sitting out. So it made the opening stages of both tournaments kind of hairy.
In the one-a-day, I slowly built a decent sized stack and was doing well. I sat at the same table for most of the tournament and built my stack to over 6,000. We got down to the money bubble and I just sat out for about 10 minutes waiting for all of the people who were sitting out to get blinded out. Once that was over, I got back to business as ususal. I ended up running my JJ into A10 and losing. I cashed for a whole $3....woohoo. I am never going to play this tourney again. The prize structure is not worth the time or effort. First place was about $200, and they paid out way too many places.
The Bronze Ironman went a little better. I final tabled the ironman. I was playing really well, especially for not getting many hands. I got a few premium starting hands, but got most of my chips from playing position and from 3-betting before the flop against weak opens and making timely c-bets. I don't know how many times I saw somebody open the pot, then check the flop. Suddenly they bet the turn when a rag falls. They would eventually show down a decent ace but no pair or just two big cards. You have to tell a story with your bets. Don't check the flop, then suddenly try to portray strength with a rag. I had to two barrel a guy who floated me. I had AJ suited. He limped on the button, and I raised him from the BB. He limped for 1,000, so I raised it to 3,600. The effective stacks were about 125,000. He called, the flop came K-6-6 rainbow. I bet out 6,400, he flat calls. I knew that if he had a king or pair, he would have raised me on that flop. So I bet out 12,500 on the turn, he thought about it and folded. SO I was cruising along a doing well.
Until, I ran into a LAG....lol. I had about 150,000 and raised to 28,000 with AK. The blinds were 5,000/10,000 with 1,000 ante. We were 7 handed, and he shoved for 92,000+. I called, he showed 44 and I had AK. I lost the race and was crippled. I shoved the next hand with KJ suited and lost to AJ...I hate it when you are playing well. Lose a race and then out within a hand or two. I can understand his play with 44 but I think it's a little too risky for his effective stack size. The best he could hope for was a race. I know that might sound a little too tight, but seriously. If I'm raising with 77+, or any two cards bigger than a 5. But, you have to win those races to win tournaments. I could have folded and waited for a better spot, but I knew the range of hands he had, and knew that you have to win the 60/40's and 50/50's from time to time.
So I cashed for a whopping $3 in the one-a-day and $175 in the bronze ironman. SO hopefully I'll do better in the next one. Like I said though, I am not playing in the one-a-day ever again. That was such a joke of a freeroll. Anyway, good luck at the tables.