Turning of the tides??

Not a lot going on lately.  I've been playing a lot of poker online since the poker room is still being built.  Looks like it could be November before it is done.  

I finally cashed in on a MTT.  First one ever.  It was a $5 R + A NL Hold em tournament.  There were about 750 entrants and I finished 60th.  The payout?  $29.  You may say, that's nothing and if you know rebuy and add on tournaments, you are probably thinking I didn't make any money.  However, I didn't have to make any rebuys and I did the add on just because.  So $10 was my total buy in.  I saw one guy make 9 rebuys while I was at his table.  So I did pretty damn good.  I played a bit conservative once we got to the 10th level and higher.  I had to, I was always around 10 BB's.  No matter what, I'm happy to finally cash in a MTT (multi table tournament).    This was probably my 15th MTT.  Very stressful.  

While I was waiting for the MTT to start, I played some cash game and doubled my buy in.  Always nice.  I don't remember the big hand where I doubled up, but I remember one hand where the player that lost went crazy on me.  

First of all, I hate it when people take it out on me because they played a hand bad.  But maybe you'll agree with him.  Here's the hand:

I'm in BB with KJo.  He is in the cutoff and raises to $0.75.  A raise to $0.75 in a $0.10/$0.25 game is pretty standard these days.  This guy had been doing this a lot and I wanted to catch him.  So I called.  

Flop comes down 4c Js Qc.  I have middle pair but do fear the Q.  I check and he bets $1 into a $1.55 pot.  I look at this as a scared bet.  I take this bet as a "I think you might have a flush draw but I have top pair and don't want to lose a lot of money if you hit it".  I also take this as "I have a draw and might not hit it".  So I call.  

Turn is a blank.  I act first and bet $2, which is about half the pot.  He calls me.  River is a Jc.  So there are 3 cards to a flush on the board now and I have a set.  I check thinking he hit his flush.  He checks.  He turns up Qs10s and proceeds to tell me how horrible of a call it was I made with middle pair on the flop.  Then tells me I'm lucky and blah blah.  I fight back.  I hate it when this crap goes on.  I usually keep my mouth shut so I don't give away information about the way the player plays or how I'm playing, but this guy wouldn't stop.  

So we went back and forth for awhile.  Then a few hands later, I have A6o in the BB and it comes around to me with 4 limpers, he is one of them.  Flop comes down 6 J 6.  I flop the set.  I check, being I'm first to act.  Everyone else checks and he bets.  I raise.  He calls.  I put him on a jack.  Turn is a blank.  I bet the pot and he just calls.  I know he has a 6 now, but my ace will help me win the pot.  On the river, the board pairs, full house.  I check, he checks and turns up 6c2c.  I remind him about his "lucky" comment and he says "Agreed.  Let's drop it".  And that was it.  

In poker, remember you will sometimes be on the end of bad luck and sometimes be on the end of good luck.  It depends on what you do with it.  

On a even better note, I hit quad 2's, quad 10's twice, and quad Q's at the casino on video poker last week.  Then I hit a royal flush.  Walked away $1200 up.  Here's proof:

Roller Coaster

I was just able to win a $6 8-game SnG.  Games played were the following:

2-7 Triple Draw Lowball

Limit Hold Em

Limit Omaha H/L

Limit Razz

Limit Stud

Limit Stud H/L

NL Hold Em

Pot Limit Omaha

It was a fun game and a good win.  

Then I went and lost in the first hand of a $13 NLHE SnG.  See, I got dealt QQ on the first hand and raised it to $60 in the $10/$20 Level.  It was reraised by the BB to $160 and I made it $400, knowing he had AK or any pocket pair of JJ or lower.  And you are asking, how do you know that?  

Here's how, he pushed all in after my $400 raise.  See, if he had AA or KK, he would have pushed all in to my $60 raise because he obviously was ready to get all the chips in the center.  So I call.  And he had 99.  God I'm so fucking smart!  

Then a 9 hits on the flop.  I'm out.  Time to hit the cash game tables.  

Cheers

$1/$2 NL

I'm writing you from Cumberland, WI which is about 15 minutes north of Turtle Lake, WI.  In Turtle Lake, there is the St. Croix casino which houses a nice poker room and No Limit Hold Em, which cannot be found in Minnesota due to laws.  

This was the first time I have ever played live No Limit cash game with people I have never played with.  And at $1/$2 blinds, pots can reach $100 pre flop, so you have to be ready to play.  I bought in for $200 and had an extra $100 waiting in case of a reload.  I sat down a the table and the button was 1 seat to my left.  Dealer asked if I wanted to by in for $2 and I declined.  The look he gave me was amazing since I would have to wait 7 hands before I could play 1.  What did I do in these 7 hands?  I watched and learned.  I learned a lot of about some of the players there.  The 65 year old woman with about $100 in chips, sunglasses, and white hair who would cold call you if she had the nuts and would fold if she missed.  Or how about the middle aged man that would raise a lot of pots in early position and then check if he missed.  Or the guy that raised to $14 EVERY time he had a pocket pair.  Idiot.  

OK, so I played from 9PM to 11PM and in this time, I walked away up $123.  So now the stories.  The first hand I played, I had 10h 9 h in late position and called a preflop raise of $10.  On the flop, I flopped a King high flush with a straight flush draw.  The preflop raiser bet and I called.  On the turn was a Qh, which gave the board 4 cards to a flush, but there was now a royal flush draw on the table.  Preflop raiser checked and I bet $30 and he folded.  

Next big hand was where I was able to limp preflop with As 7c.  4 other players in the game limped and the flop was Kc Ah 7c.  BB bet $8 and UTG + 1 called.  I raised in middle position to $24.  It was folded around to UTG + 1 and he called.  Guess what he has, flush draw.  I knew it.  I'm not an idiot.  So the turn is a 10s and it is heads up and checked to me.  I bet $40.  $40 into about a $56 pot I think.  UTG + 1 calls.  Turn is his club and he goes all in.  Now why the hell would I call?  Idiot.  Seriously.  I fold, stating that I know he hit his flush and I showed my Aces up and half the table knew this guy was possibly the luckiest guy in the world.  However, only me and 1 other guy knew the guy should have folded after the turn.  Not too bad of a hit to me since I was up going into the hand but I wasn't too happy.  

Final big hand that needs to be talked about is where I got KK in UTG + 1.  I raised to $10 preflop and got 1 called.  Flop comes down 3d 2s 2d.  I bet $16 and this guy in late position went all in.  I knew he didn't have a 2 because he was a very tight player.  Probably had Ad 10d or something, but I never really looked at his hand.  I called after much thought and told him he was drawing, flipped over my Kings and they held up.  HUGE POT.  In all, I think it was about $170.  This put me at $300.  I hung around for a couple more hands and the last hand I had was Ad Kd, raised $10 preflop with 3 callers.  Bet $20 on the turn when my King hit and everyone folded.  2 people called out that I had AK, it was sick.  

So none the less, I had a successful night with my first attempt at $1/$2 NL.  It was a good night.  I'm sure I will make my way back for some more action.  

Now I'm off to bed...

See you at the tables.

SnG's, family games, and the WSOP

Hello to the one person that reads this.  

Just some quick updates for you and where I am at right now and what I am doing.  Been playing a lot of Sit N Go's online lately.  Played games ranging from $5 to $13 for the buy in.  Haven't had a lot of success until today where I was able to take down two $13 6-handed games.  Both games I had to concentrate and play good poker, no mistakes.  I was actually short stacked early in both games but got my money in right and made some good moves.  

One thing I've learned on PokerStars is that you have to expand your hand requirements, which isn't too difficult for me, but when K6o hits a set of 6's on the flop and you can get the best value out of it, you know you have to switch things up.  

What else has been going on?  Well let me tell you this now, never make a bet with me that you will last longer in a poker game than me, especially when I have played with these people for more than 2 years.  See, Chad Hurst made a horrible mistake of putting $10 on the line that he would outlast me in the latest Hurst house game.  I took the challenge of course and took full advantage of this bet.  See, knowing that Chad Hurst wanted to last longer than me in this game told me that he would play tighter than normal, because one screw up by him would mean he was out $5 for the game and another $10 to me.  The worst part about it though would be the fact that I could brag about this victory.  

So I was aggressive towards him and made crazy moves, like all in with 10c 2c.  I knew he would fold unless he had a monster and his body language will tell you a lot.  

Long story short, I won and he finished 2nd and it was a great heads up match and I was happy to share it with Chad Hurst.  He can be a good poker player, when he had side bets on the line.  Larry Pfost once again did not win and that has got to irritate him greatly.  It makes me laugh.  He taught all of us this game and then we sat down, practiced, read books, and watched TV and now we destroy him.  

Finally, I want to share some thoughts on the most recent WSOP event aired on ESPN.  It was the $50K HORSE event and Scotty Nguyen won.  On paper, this all appeared fantastic, but when ESPN showed us what really happened, I think it left a lot of amateur poker players sitting there wondering "What?".  

The attitude that was shown at the final table by Scotty Nguyen was horrible and I think uncalled for.  He was dropping the F bomb non-stop, he was showing the crowd his cards, and just acting like an ass.  I hope he sees this and doesn't allow it to happen again, but I have read that this is the true Scotty Nguyen when he drinks and that it will not change.  We will see.  

Attitude aside, I think he played ok.  I got lucky a lot and needs to realize that, but he is an amazing tournament player and will go down as one of the greatest when it's all said and done.  

That's my time.  I'm out.

Update

So again it has been forever since my last post and I apologize. I haven't been playing a lot of poker, but have still been getting my share of games in.

In the last post I talked about how I was going to get rich by playing nothing but SnG's. Well, I still play nothing but SnG's but I'm not rich yet. Full Tilt was not very good to me in the $10 SnG's. I dominated the $2 SnG's, winning like 8 out of 9 that I played and having a 5 game win streak. It was crazy. Then I'd move up and nothing. Eventually, I ran out of my money on Full Tilt. However, I played 30 SnG's with an average by in of about $7 approximately and I ended up spending over $200 on SnG's, but I only won like, $180, so back at zero.

Since then I have taken a break from Full Tilt and moved on to Poker Stars. I have put in $116 in my account and right now am at $98. I was down to $0 at one point and had to reload. Poker Stars is a completely different site. The players are aggressive to the point they are silly. I've seen raises with 92o, calls of 4x raises with 86o, all-in with 72o and they still had 8 BB's. I know the standard is 10, but with 8, you can wait for better cards. These people tend to give up easily and will call with Jack high and hit their miracle card.

You can't control them, but you can control the way you play, which is what I have been trying to do. I just finished up a 9 man $11 SnG where I took 1st place for a nice $45 payout.

Onto the live game, Season 2 of the Poker League will be starting September 9th. $12 buy-in with $10 going to the prize pool and $2 going to the end of the year pool. 18 games total to be played. Should be fun. I hope we have at least 6 a week. Played some cash game at my place a couple weeks ago and I cleaned up. I sat down with $40 and had 4 other people. 2 bought in for $20, 1 for $40 and 1 for $18. 1 person walked away with $23 and I walked away with the rest. You do the math.

It's a $75 profit for me.

I guess that's it for now. I'll try and update more often.

I'm back

It was brought to my attention weeks ago that I have not blogged lately concerning the poker life.  There's a few reasons for that.  I've been busy, I've been watching a lot of baseball as the Cubs are on fire, and I've been getting my ass kicked in poker.  3 weeks ago, I was up to $200 available to play.  2 weeks ago I was at $44 and yesterday I was at $27.  What a swing right?  Cash game has been killing me so I have decided to go back to what I know and I have a plan.  6 handed SnG's and that is it.  I started last night and here are my stats so far:

$10 + $1 NLHE - 4th

$10 + $1 NLHE - 2nd

$10 + $1 NLHE - 1st

$10 + $1 NLHE - 3rd

$10 + $1 PLO - 1st

The 6 handed games pay out the top 2 and it's $39 and $21.  So you can do the math or I will do it for you.  I have invested $55 and have made a profit of $44 (1st, 1st, 2nd = $99 in winnings).  So yesterday afternoon I was at $27 and now, about 36 hours later, I am at $71.  I'm on the comeback trail.  

I have been playing very conservatively and waiting for the right move.  I'm not taking risks and am getting my money in good.  My goal is to cash in 2 out of 3 games a day.  If I can do that, I could be close to $1000 by the end of the month.  

I'll keep you posted.  

Chip and a chair

"There's an old saying in poker that all you need is a chip and chair" - Doyle Brunson

Tonight I was not supposed to play poker.  I didn't feel well and probably should have gone to sleep around 12midnight.  However, I had a high class meal of 2 frozen burritos with cheese and salsa on top and a coke.  Then I started watching "Poker After Dark" and decided to fire up a little Sit N Go action.  

My first choice was a $5  + $0.50 6 handed game.  Sat down and started watching the field, taking my notes of their different betting patterns and tendencies.  A lot of poker is played when you watch your player and read what they do.  Online, you can't see the person reacting.  You can't see the twitch or the "look away" when they are trying to make you believe they have nothing.  However, you can watch a played limp in a pot and then re-raise a raise with AA, KK, QQ, or AK.  But don't forget, people are watching you too.  

Back to the game.  

A few hands in, I'm in the big blind and everyone folds to SB.  SB calls so I make an attempt to see where I'm at, so I raise.   SB folds and so I know where I stand and I begin to steal some blinds and punish the limpers.  Then I got punished.  

I woke up with Jc 8d in the BB and UTG and SB call.  I check.  Flop comes Jh Qs 8c.  I flop 2 pair.  Very nice hand.  Not a total monster as the Q can hurt me.  SB bets 40 and I raise to 160.  UTG raises to 280.  SB folds and I call because its only 120 to call into a 500 pot and I have two pair.  I'm putting UTG on an Ace.  Maybe AK, maybe AJ or AQ.  

Onto the turn, an As.  I check, UTG bets 255, half the pot.  So now I'm thinking, does he have a flush draw?  I call.  Bad move #1.

River is Qh.  No flush draw on the table and the pot is a little over 1000 and I have about 1100 left.  I push.  UTG calls and has Qs Js and he wins.  Bad move #2 was moving all in before he could make a move.  

So this leaves me with 65 in chips and blinds at 20/40.  From here, I picked the right spots to go all in, I got some great hole cards and I started doubling up.  Eventually, I got back into the chip lead and was able to win the tournament.  This was probably my best comeback ever.  It was a good win for me.  

From there I went on to a $6 turbo 6 handed SnG and didn't do to well.  I think the turbo games are not for me anymore because I spend the first few levels watching instead of playing and you can't always protect your blinds and stay around the starting stack.  

---------------------------------------------------

Cash game was good to me tonight, sat at a $0.10/$0.25 6 handed table and took advantage of a lot of sloppy players.  It also helped that I got KK, KK, QQ, JJ, 44, AK, AK.  Got nice hands.  

Best hand was waking up with AK and flopping the nut straight.  I was heads up with a very loose player and I bet half the pot.  He doubled it.  I raised the pot.  He went all in.  Only thing I was concerned about was a flush draw that he could hit.  I called.   He turned up 9h Kd and I took down the $45 pot.  

I was about to get up to $53 and walked away.  Not bad when I sat down with $25.  

So now I'm going to go to bed, get zero sleep since it's storming outside and get back to it tomorrow.  

Ciao