USA Day 14 & 15

Yes, I skipped a day. Not much different to other days ... it was more poker!
Played in a 7pm tourney at the Bike & took the now standard bad beat with myself and another player all-in pre-flop 3-ways. I have KK, the short stack has TT & the guy who has us both covered has JJ. Of course the J hits on the flop & I'm out just after the first break.
Also played the $335 at the Commerce (event 19 of the Cal State Champs) & had Jerry Yang (2007 WSOP Main Event winner) sitting directly to my right. After folding for the first level or so I went on a rollercoaster for the whole tournament, which didn't end until I busted (yes, I lasted longer than Jerry Yang!). To give you an idea, here are some of the highlights:
doubled up with J8cc v KQo on a flop of Qc9h6c when I rivered a flush; doubled an opponent up the very next hand with AQ v 33 on a Q43 flop; doubled up another short stack All-in pre-flop with AQ v KT on a QJ9Q6 board; tripled up with AJ v AQ (after a slowroll when all-in pre-flop) when I flopped top 2 pair; finally eliminated when I ran AK into 77 on a board of A747T.
Ah, love this game. Hopefully the main event will be somewhat smoother sailing.
Also played some cash as well, with mixed results. It seems like I run horribly in many of the bigger pots in the hi-lo mix game at Hollywood Park, whether it is Omaha or Stud & somehow my opponent(s) always seem to find the card(s) they need to scoop or quarter me.
Also getting psyched up for Vegas ... LOTS of poker awaits & plenty of mixed game tourneys to try and take down!
Oh, and I'm hoping to do another podcast episode in the next day or two.
Next: more poker ... hopefully with some run good!

USA Day 13

Another cash in an 8 game tournament!
Decided to fork out for the $1k 8 game tourney at Commerce today. The event ended up having 19 starters, including 'Miami' John Cernuto & David 'Chino' Rheem to name just two. I thought I played pretty well, doing my usual thing of trying to pick my spots, as well as finding some run good when needed. Also managed to stay out of the way of trouble hands & spots for the most part, even if it meant I may not have accumulated as quickly as I did. Maybe its just my risk-adverse nature that makes me want to avoid the 'gambling' spots.
Anyway I managed to make the final table & when we got down to 4-handed after eliminating the short stacks we started talking about deals. Personally I preferred the option of reducing the prize money for 1st & 2nd to crate a 4th place prize (the original payout was 1st-3rd with 4th being the money bubble), though one of the players was strongly against that. That player was talking about a chop based on chip count that ended the tournament (rather than playing it out). Of course this was all put on hold as one of the players got shorter & shorter ... but talks were resumed when the short stack managed to survive 2 or 3 all-ins & clawed his way back to close to average.
In the end I officlally took 2nd place, which saw me collect the main event seat & around $2700 in cash (yes, after the silly 7% 'out of state' tax withholding).
I guess that means I'll be playing the main event in a few days. Might also consider another tourney or two in between, but it definitely lifts my mood from the horrible run at Hollywood Park the previous day.
Next on the agenda: more poker ... and a main event later in the week!

USA Day 12

Run bad has hit!

After an afternoon shopping (where I picked up some CDs & DVDs) I returned once again to the Hollywood Park $20/40 Omaha/stud hi-lo mixed game. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but it seemed everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

Not only did I find myself in what turned out to be the worst seat at the table (directly in front of the two crazy aggressive Asians), but it seemed like almost every worst river card hit ... repeatedly. Highlights included running into a low straight flush (and of course making two pair myself, so I paid off on the end); having people raise & re-raise with the bare nut low (A2 with no redraw) in multiway pots, so that they simply end up losing more money when I join the calling party with another nut low; getting counterfeited a number of times on the river - its generally never good to see an A or 2 on the river in )8 when you have the nut low without a redraw; opponents catching miracle (often running) cards to scoop pots;

Of course what made it even more frustrating was so often these pots went to players who were horrible. Cold call 2 bets with 369J ... of course! 3 bets with 459T single suited ... a surefire winner! I had intended the evening to be something of a practice session for the 8 game at Commerce tomorrow, but I'm now reconsidering whether I should play or not. I suspect I will, but I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Next on the agenda: Possibly the 8-game & some tourist time

USA Day 11

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes, today was my birthday. After responding to many messages on Facebook, I made a brief stop at Walmart on the way to the evening's poker. Picked up some groceries & a DVD about Jam Master Jay (Run DMCs DJ who was killed in 2002) which looked interesting - full report to come when I get around to watching it. After the brief shopping trip, I headed off to Hollywood Park for some more of the usual cash game grind. This time I sat briefly in a $2/3 No limit Holden game while waiting for a seat in the mixed game. Here the buy-in is $100, which makes for a pretty short-stacked game. In the brief period I was at the table I didn't pick up anything of note & basically folded most hands, leaving with a slight deficit when I was called to the mixed game.

Of course I started off playing like an idiot & was quickly down a bit. 'Evil brain' was at work, with thoughts of 'of well, its only one more bet to see the flop'; 'I've got a gutshot, so I can take a card off on the flop' and the like. By the time my senses had returned & I started getting back some of these earlier losses, the game broke. Just what I wanted to happen! Of course I could go on the list for the main game (I was at the must move table, which was part of the reason for the game breaking - 2 players moved to the main game), but being third on the list would most likely mean a wait of at least an hour ... so I left.

Seeing as it was still early, I decided to head to Commerce to see if they had any middle-limit mixed games running (being Saturday night & all I figured this might be the most likely time). Of course there was nothing going that interested me as far as mixed games were concerned (the only games going were much bigger than I was comfortable playing), so I headed to the low-limit area to play some Omaha hi-lo. After playing for about half an hour, picking up very few playable hands (think I managed to split one or two pots in the time I was there), the game broke! This was getting ridiculous! I finished out the evening playing some limit holdem & again found a string of unplayable hands, with the occasional playable hand (say a suited ace) which invariably missed the flop by a mile, which saw my stack slowly dwindle. Of course the final insult was my final hand for the evening, when I only had 2 big blinds remaining. Of course I picked up my first premium hand for the night in QQ, so in went my remaining stack. Of course I was called by 4 others & we saw a flop of 246 with two spades. Checked around, so things were looking good. The turn brings the ugly offsuit king & there is a bet, which sees the others in the hand fold. This isn't a good sign & I announce that I might have 2 outs to win. Of course there is no queen on the river & my opponent in the hand turns over KQo for top pair & its time to head home for the night.

Next on the agenda: A visit to Fat Beats in Hollywood is in order & I'll probably stop off at Best Buy (the US equivalent of JB Hi-Fi) while I'm there. I'm thinking the 8 game tourney at Commerce on Monday is looking like a possibility ...

USA Day 10

Back on the HORSE ... or at least the OE

Spent some time this afternoon at Commerce. Played some Omaha hi-lo (and didn't win a hand or see a river in the hour + I was there) before playing a satellite for the California State Champs main event. They got just over 20 runner, so 2 seats up for grabs. I was sitting just below average when a move I made didn't work. I had opened from the button & was called by both blinds. I bet the JT4 rainbow flop (called by the BB) & shoved the offsuit K turn. Thought it seemed like a very good board & spot to bluff - the J & T hit a large part of my range & even if I missed the flop, the K turn is also a scare card which could very well be in my range of hands. My opponent agonised for over a minute before calling with AT & my A9o had 4 outs to chop, but without the required Q on the river, I left the tournament & Commerce for the evening.

After leaving Commerce I headed over to Hollywood Park, hoping to play some more of the hi-lo mixed game that I played the other night. Of course with there being horse racing on at Hollywood Park Racetrack (right next to the casino) the carpark was packed. Once inside the casino itself, there was actually two OE games running & a list, so I put my name on the list. Of course rather than doing the simple thing & just waiting for my seat, I heard the call of 15 Holdem, seats available. I decided to sit in at the $15/30 game while waiting for a seat in the OE game. Of course this game soon became shorthanded & its been a while since I've played much middle-limit holdem, and longer still since I've played shorthanded, so I went to my default tight-passive approach, which works well in low-limit no-foldem-holdem games, but not so much in this game. As a result I finished down more than I was hoping to be before my OE seat was available.

After getting some more chips, I took my seat at the $20/40 must-move OE table & tried to avoid making some of the mistakes I had made previously with 'evil brain' taking over periodically. Unfortunately for me, I still made some mistakes, however I still managed to make a tidy profit, more than covering the earlier holdem losses & making it a decent night out.

I think there will be more visits to Hollywood Park in the future ...

Next on the agenda: More cash games

USA Day 9

Crushing Hollywood!

After a relaxing start to the day that included some episodes of Cold Case & a trip to the laundromat, I decided to head to Hollywood Park Casino for the evening to have a crack at the higher-limit mixed game they have there.

The game of choice for the evening was $20/40 limit Omaha hi-lo/Stud hi-lo, with a half kill, with the game changing every 10 hands. In the case of a kill (scooping a pot in Stud8 or Omaha8 over $200) the game became a $30/60 game. Would have been nice to know in advance, but I only discovered this when the dealer pulled a kill button from his tray & the player posted $30 blind after scooping an Omaha hand about 10 minutes after I had sat down. There were actually two tables going, so I started at the must-move second table (and left before I would have been forced to move to the 'main game') & began with Omaha hi-lo. ABC poker seemed to be good enough in this game, with most players (myself included) being fairly passive, though there was one player who seemed to be raising every second or third pot, often with rather junky holdings. I felt that I played well for the most part, though there were probably about 4 or 5 hands that I misplayed (anywhere from missing a value bet or two, through to complete butchery) & this is definitely one area I still need to improve in my game. This is because limit poker (of whatever kind, be it holdem, Omaha, stud, or something else) is as much about saving bets as it is about winning bets. To give you an idea of how this is a problem, I'll run through one Omaha hand I managed to butcher completely. I have just scooped a pot, so have posted the $30 blind (on the button mind you, so I have position!) & there is a limper, a raise from the loose guy & 3 calls before it gets back to me. I have 3479 double-suited, which is pretty much a piece of cheese in Omaha hi-lo. The flush draw is nowhere near the nut flush, the low will rarely be best & if I make a straight, it will either be for half the pot (because there will be a low possible) or will not be the nut straight. In short, I should simply be happy to have scooped a sizable pot on the previous hand & let the $30 go without a fight ... next hand. Sounds simple, right? Yes, but of course my logical brain disappears for that few seconds of thought between the action being on me & folding my hand & 'evil brain' decides to call the raise, obviously because there is so much money out there already ... and of course if the flop is A25 rainbow I'll scoop the pot ... so why not see a flop?? Anyway, rather than flopping me the nuts, the dealer puts out the flop of 764 rainbow, which seems at first glance to be one of the more reasonable flops for my hand. The big blind (a lady who had been playing fairly conservatively) lead out at the flop & everyone called, so why not join the fun & see a turn ... evil brain at work again ... I have 2 pair, a gutshot, a live 3 (yes, it is a low draw, though not a great one!) & a backdoor flush draw ... SOOOOO much potential ... of course the turn further entrenches the thinking of evil brain ... the Ten of diamonds, so I now have a flush draw with my powerhouse 93 of diamonds! The big blind leads again & this time everyone gets out of the way ... except me! I've picked up a flush draw now! I HAVE to call ... and the river makes my downfall complete, with an offsuit 5. I've improved again! I have a 7-high straight, which doubles as a low & the big blind bets again. Of course it is about this moment when logical brain returns & I ponder my river decision. I'm fairly certain that the big blind has one half of the pot locked up, most likely the low with A2 given that she was betting into the entire table on the flop & turn. Of course logical brain considers the possibility that she has a better high hand ... its definitely possible, though she would need an 8 & another card near it to make a straight higher than my monstrous 7-high one, which is a somewhat less likely holding because middle cards are usually bad in Omaha hi-lo (for the reasons mentioned above). Of course logical brain considers other possibilities, that she could be betting a hand like A2 with a flopped set (say A266) into the field, so with so much in the pot already, even logical brain finds a crying call, only to see my opponent turn over A248 for the 8-high straight & the nut low ... so I get scooped & my soul is crushed briefly (until the next hand is dealt) while I try to remove evil brain from my head for future hands.

In spite of these occasional setback, I managed to chalk up a reasonable win (roughly 15 big bets in a 3 hour session), which made for a good night out.

Next on the agenda: I'm thinking in the next few days that I'll play some more cash games, probably go on one of those hop-on-hop-off guided bus tours of the city & maybe play a tournament or two ... but in no particular order.

USA Day 8

Relaxing mostly ...
A relatively quiet day today after the third place finish yesterday. Turns out Rusty beat Jeff heads-up to take down the 8 game in spite of Jeff's chip lead when beginning heads up.
Had a quiet day catching up with things online & played a bit of limit holdem & Omaha ;ate at night, first at Normandie Casino & later at the Bike. Obviously I'd used up my run good in tournaments & it proved to be a frustrating night ... a seemingly never-ending run of 2s & 3s in holdem, followed by 8s & 9s in Omaha hi-lo make for a very uninteresting night.
Next on the agenda: Hit the laundromat & maybe have a crack at 7 card stud tourney, so I can work on my worst game in the HORSE mix.

USA Day 7

3rd in the 8 game!!
FINALLY a cash in the USA! Played the 8 game event today (which rotated between Pot limit Omaha, No limit Holdem, 2-7 triple draw, limit holdem, limit Omaha hi-lo, Razz, Seven card stud & Seven card stud hi-lo every 6 hands) & finished 3rd in a field of 39 for just over $1500.
I felt I played well, picking good spots & making good value bets where needed. My starting table was good & I accumulated chips well, apart from a period of about 30 minutes where I played about 4 hands horribly & went from an above average stack to just below average. Managed to recover from this hiccup & stayed around average stack until the final table.
The final table saw a lot of action early, with Eskimo Clarke being very active early with another player on the table & these two traded a lot of pots. They both found themselves on the wrong end of Jeff (who I think ended up winning the event) & some miracle rivers, eventually being knocked out in the same hand (Eskimo Clarke had a shorter stack at the start of the hand, so finished 7th & missed out on the money altogether - something he was VERY unhappy about!). I managed to stay afloat & made a big call in stud hi-lo with (K9)KJQ8(K) against an opponent showing a board of 2345 when we were both short. Thankfully he had only had 2 pair & my trip kings scooped a sizable pot. Managed to knock out both the short stacks on back-to back no limit holdem hands when KT beat A9 & JT beat K9. This left both myself & Rusty (who finished in second I think) with fairly similar stacks (35k or thereabouts) against Jeff's 80k+.
Much of the three handed (for me at least) came down to two critical hands where I found myself on the wrong side of the nuts. The first was a 2-7 triple draw hand against Rusty. He had played fairly aggressively in 2-7 previously & often stood pat with a relatively weak hand (87, 97 or worse), so when I picked up 86532 on the first draw (after drawing 2) I bet out with confidence, only to have Rusty raise me (after he had also drawn 2). Knowing how he had played previously I called & we both stood pat on the remaining streets & I called bets from Rusty on each street to see him turn over 75432!!! This seriously dented my stack & made me the short stack by quite a margin. The final blow for me was a hand with Jeff when I was short & saw a flop in the BB with T852 with 2 clubs. The flop was 337 with 2 clubs which was checked around & when the Th hit on the turn I bet out, thinking my top pair might be good for high, with the low draw & club draw as re-draws if needed. Jeff then raised me & with less than 2 big bets remaining I committed my stack, only to see Jeff turn over TT73 for the uber-nuts! This still left me with the low draw, so any A2456 or 8 would see me take half the pot, but with the Q appearing on the river I was done. $1500 is a decent payday for a tourney with only 39 players, however once again its a case of close but no cigar for me in a major tournament series. Lets hope I can break through sometime later on this trip!
Next on the agenda: Cash game grinding & maybe some sightseeing

USA Day 6

H.O.R.S.E. at the Commerce.
Played the HORSE tournament in the California State Poker Championships today. There was a total of 89 runners & I managed to finish 20th, which was a reasonable result, but still 2 tables short of the money (top 8 got paid), so somewhat disappointing. Very much a rollercoaster day. Got off to a reasonable start, then fell into a bit of a slump before the second break, but hit a purple patch shortly afterwards, going from a stack of around 4k to about 13k (4k starting stack).
Two big hands turned my tournament in the opposite direction - the first was a Razz hand where it was 3-ways to the river & I had 6542A to my opponents 6532A (the third player mucked their 7 on the river without calling) for a pot of about 10k! This was compounded shortly afterwards by a slowroll in Stud hi-lo. With my opponent's board showing A4A6 I had a pair of aces and 4 to a flush on 6th street (no low). I paired up on the river to have Aces & 9s. After I turned over my hand, my opponent turned over a 6, then a 4 ... and then paused for about 3-4 seconds ... before turning over his river card ... which was a 6 to give him the winning hand (sixes full of aces), which dropped my down to around 4k again. After making the final three tables (where everyone redrew for seats) with just 3.6k (and playing 800-1600) I managed to hit some hands & dodge some bullets to build it up to almost 10k by the time Omaha hi-lo had finished. Stud however was not kind to me & I dropped a large pot to another player which left my with only 600 in chips! I would survive another 3 all-ins before finally getting my money in badly in Razz with Q42 v 43A ... eventually drawing a pair of kings & another queen (yes, I did make a queen-low), only to be crushed by my opponent's 7-low.
The play varied greatly, with some decent players in the field, however there were still a large number of total fish playing, many of whom luckboxed their way to the final few tables. Either way I think it puts me in a good frame of mind for tomorrow's 8-game tournament (the first held at Commerce) as I suspect the 2-7 triple draw will be one of the worst played games in the mox by a long way & could be a great time to pick up some chips if things go my way.
Next on the agenda: crushing 8-game

USA Trip Day 5

Bustouts & disliking shallow no limit holdem ...
Played 2 tournaments ... first the Omaha hi-lo at the California State Championships at the Commerce Casino. There were 146 players & I finished in around 100th place. Interesting table talk with Jerry Buss at the table, so quite a lot of talk about the NBA (Buss is one of the owners of the Los Angeles Lakers). Of course this meant that the TV nearest to Jerry was changed to the Suns v Spurs game (Suns won to win the series 4-0 & likely play the Lakers in the Western Conference finals), and Jerry was consulted whenever someone wanted to do anything to the TV.
I played too weak-tight early & didn't adjust to the structure until it was too late. The small starting stacks (4k) mean that you need to pick up chips early so that you can survive & have a stack to play with through the middle stages. I tended to call much more in multi-way pots in order to minimise any damage caused by bad river or turn cards (which can be particularly brutal in Omaha hi-lo), meaning that the pots I won (or split, being hi-lo & all) were relatively small. This would not be so bad in a cash game, but with the blinds continuing to go up in a tournament this is much more of an issue. Of course when I did adjust & play more aggressively, I managed to find the brutal turns & rivers that you hate to see in O8 & my stack went south ... In particular I am starting to develop a dislike for Barry Greenstein's book, not because of the content, but because of the number of times the dealer managed to find an ace on the river, which inevitably conterfeited what would have been a winning low hand, which at the same time often gave me a decent high hand (the old 'I have top pair/two pair now ... I have to call'). Of course the beneficiaries of these 3-outers were invariably horrible players who would most likely find a way to donk off these chips well before the money (for example one player on the button called my raise from early position, with another tight player calling in between with the O8 monster 5678 with one suit. Of course the flop is Q95 & he calls my bet & the other player's raise (I have a bunch of low cards & a short stack, so get out of the way while the damage can be minimised) to bink the magical 7 on the turn, get in a raise & take down the pot on the river against the opponent's AAxx hand. Love them tournaments ...

Decided to play some No Limit at the Commerce after busting, and sat down at a $100NL table (blinds $2 & $3), thinking it would play similarly to the $2/3 game at the Bike (which has a $100-300 buy-in) or Crown (which has a $50-200 buy-in), however because people call with all sorts of hands & you don't have a deep enough stack to get them to fold, you simply can't play post-flop. This means that if you want to get chips you either have to play very LAGgy & try to hit flops & stack people (but obviously take the risk of being stacked yourself) or be a total nit, wait for a huge hand & hope you get paid off & dodge whatever outs your opponent might have. Either way I find this frustrating & think in future I will stick to limit games at Commerce (unless I can somehow find a big enough bankroll to play in bigger games where you can buy-in for around 100BBs). Needless to say, in spite of a promising start (picked up KK early & won a decent pot), the session was not a good one for the bankroll.

Decided to have a crack at the midnight Bike tournament & had a rollercoaster night, dropping from the 4k starting stack to just over 1.5k before doubling up, then busted some players & was up to almost 10k by the time my initial table broke. My new table proved to be horrible, which wasn't helped by an ill-timed bluff early (flopped a flush draw, played it fast & was called down by QQ on a 7-high paired board). Eventually finished in 15th place from 45 starters.

Next on the agenda: HORSE at Commerce ... and a much more aggressive approach! Methinks it will either be a short night or a very long one. Lets hope for the long night!

USA Day 4

Hollywood!!
Yes, I spent the evening in Hollywood ... Hollywood Park Casino that is, in Inglewood, quite a distance from the ACTUAL Hollywood ... but I digress!
I went to Hollywood Park in the hope of playing in the $4/8 mix game that I played one evening last time I was in LA (earlier in the year). The mix is H.O.E., with games rotating between limit Holdem, Omaha hi-lo & 7-card stud hi-lo. I found the game to be very soft (and profitable) last time & was hoping for a repeat performance.
Alas, as I arrived & went to the board, there was only an interest list up for the $4/8 mix, with only one set of initials on it. Hopefully I added my initials to the board and joined a $4/8 Limit Holdem (with kill) game in the meantime. The game was pretty much what I was expecting - players who either overvalue their hand, or can't fold when they are beaten, and as a result I left some $120 to the good.
Two fun hands I'll quickly mention:
There's a raise & about 4 callers to me in the BB & I look down at AA, so make it 3-bets. Of course everyone who was already in the hand calls, and then the initial raiser caps the betting, so its 5 or 6 players to a capped flop, and I have AA in the BB ... good in some ways, not so good in others. Flop is 245 with two hearts. I bet (yes, I have the ace of hearts) and all but one player calls until it gets around to the woman on the button (who has mostly been a horrible calling station), who raises. Obviously this isn't a good sign for my hand & I figure if she's going to raise the field in a capped pot that she must have a real hand (for once!), with any two pair + hand being possible. I decide to call (heck I have a gutshot & backdoor hearts), as does everyone else! The turn brings the 7 of clubs. Not the best card in the world for my hand, but its limit holdem & there's one more card to come ... so its checked to the raiser who bets, and everyone in the hand puts in some chips & hopes for a miracle. The river is the 8 of spades ... which is a miracle for one player, who bets the river ... cue the violins & the crying calls ... of course I'm coming third by the river, with the flopped set of 2s from the woman on the button being overtaken by the rivered straight of Mr Miracle, who called down with 66, and the pre-flop capper lamenting his bad fortune as he asked for sympathy when turning over his QQ ... ah, limit holdem ... LOVE THIS GAME!
Of course I'm on the recieving end again towards the end of the session, this time with 77 on the button. I decide to limp and see a flop, as raising simply bloats the pot when I am generally without any idea of where I stand in the hand post-flop, which is something I prefer to avoid if at all possible. Anyway, the flop comes down 78T with two hearts ... good & not-so-good at the same time. Its quite likely that I have the best hand now, but with such a board there's not too many turn cards that I can really love (yes I was calling for running deuces, with the order being non-heart deuce, followed by the deuce of hearts on the river!). I decide that the only way I'm going to get anyone to fold in this hand is to raise it right away, and after the much-expected bet from the fairly active player in middle position & a call from the hijack, I make it 2-bets to go ... which EVERYONE who was in the hand called ... and the player who was next to me (he had folded) commented 'well that scared them into calling!'. At this stage the inner monologue was getting louder ... black deuce, BLACK DEUCE! ... but alas, the turn brought the jack of spades, so I was now behind any 9. Of course the BB now leads out, the flop bettor calls & the hijack raises! Once again its FML time & I call 'time' (explanation to follow). Eventually I decide to fold, figuring that I probably don't have 10 clean outs to improve (ie: the board pairing) as someone with a 9 in their hand might also have a 8, T or J with it, as well as the fact that I might face further raises on the turn from the BB who lead out at the pot. Anyway, the other two players both call, the river brings an offsuit 3 (one card too late for me!) & all three players check the river & turn over their 9s to chop the pot.
Thankfully there were other hands in the session that were far less painful (and far more profitable), so all-in-all a decent night out.
A quick explanation of 'time' ... over here it is something that you call on yourself when you have a decision to make & want more than the 'standard' few seconds to make it. Generally its used when someone has a tough decision (such as my folding of a set), or if someone has been ordering drinks, food, etc & hasn't had a chance to look at their cards & make a decision before the action is on them. It is also used by dealers if a player acts out of turn to prevent others from acting out of turn. For example, lets say seat 3 is still thinking & seat 4 folds their cards. The dealer will often call out 'time' to let seat 5 know that even though seat 4 has just acted, it is not actually his turn yet.
What we Australians usually refer to when calling time (apart from that horrible 'the casino is going to take their free money this hour after the next hand') is known as calling a clock on someone (ie: when they have already been thinking about a decision for a substantial amount of time & a player at the table would like them to make their decision immediately - or at least in the next minute).
Next on the agenda: Omaha hi-lo at the Commerce. One of the many non-holdem donkaments I plan to play while in LA!

USA Day 3

Coolers at the Bike, grinding at Commerce ...
Started late after a long sleep & decided to head to the Bicycle Casino for some poker. Sat at a $2/3 NLHE game & it was one of those nights ... The first hand I played saw an UTG limper, a mid position raise to $20, a caller, and I look down at KK in the BB, so raise to $75. The UTG limper shoves for $90, the initial raiser folds & the caller & I see a flop of J52 with two spades. I shove the flop, which leads the other player to fold & the player who is all in says 'I think I have 2 outs' and asks me what my hand is. I tell him I have kings, just as the dealer turns the Queen of spades. Of course my opponent has QQ & even though a fourth spade comes on the river, my black king is a club, so I'm off to a great start!
I tread water for a while, until the next big cooler lands in my lap. This time there is a pre-flop limp, a raise to $15, a call on the button & I look down at 77 in the SB. I really hate playing small-mid pairs when out of position, so just call, hoping to flop a set or get away cheaply. The BB comes along for the ride as well. The flop comes down Q72 with two spades. I lead at the pot for $26, the BB calls & the pre-flop raiser makes it $75 to go. Perfect spot for me, right? ... Ordinarily the answer would be yes, but this is coolers at the Bike ... so I shove for about $170 total, the BB folds & the raiser insta-calls ... because he has QQ! FML indeed! The dealer then announces 'chips to table 7', in case the rest of the casino was unaware of my plight ...
Of course the rebuy starts off fantastically when a short stack raises pre-flop, I re-raise with AK & move him in on the flop for a little extra. Of course he has JJ & in case I thought of finding an ace or king, he turns a jack to seal the hand & my torture continues. I then run into another short stack who has a straight flush with JTs on a board of 9s8s6c7s3s & of course I pay off with AK with the king of clubs, thinking my hand was good after the turn went check-check. To complete my wonderful evening at the Bike I pick up 99 in the BB when short & raise to $20 with only $40 behind. Of course 4 of the 5 pre-flop limpers decide to call & I decide to shove pretty much any flop. Its A55 & I get one caller ... and I fear the worst, only to have my suspicions confirmed by the dealer pairing the ace on the turn & the caller turning over AJ for the winning full house ...
I decide its time to go find some food & jump in the car to see what I can find that isn't a McDonalds drive thru & before I find anything that fits my criteria I'm driving past the Commerce Casino & decide to go in ... of course a great way to overcome a tilt-inspiring session is to sit down in a limit Omaha hi-lo game ... but sometimes I break the rules!
Anyway, I decide to sit down in a $4/8 limit Omaha hi-lo (with a kill) game & proceed to play an 8 hour session & leave with a tidy $275 profit, simply by playing a tight ABC game & waiting for the many donkeys in the game to give me their money. Thankfully they mostly obliged. Of course the Omaha game with a kill occurs when a player scoops a pot that is over 5 big bets. After a long session, I leave at 9am with the sun already beating down ...
Next on the agenda ... sleep ... and a sense of de ja vu

USA Day 2

Today was a big day of poker.
Started at the Commerce with the $220 NLHE Event 1 (Day 1B) of the California State Champs. Today had 670 entrants & eliminations were fast & furious with a 3k starting stack (though with 40 minute levels & starting at 25-25 its not a complete shove-fest). I started well & was up to around 4500 when I ran into a set with QQ on a J74 flop, with one of my two opponents in the hand having 44. I struggled on with a short stack for a while, but eventually shoved with K8 suited just before the break & had a player wake up with JJ, which held to eliminate me.
I then headed downstairs for some $4/8 Limit Holdem (with a Kill) action. After a reasonable start I found my mind wandering after a few beats & my play suffered as a result. After a few hours, my buy-in had gone, so I left the Commerce to get some dinner & consider what to do for the evening.
After grabbing some food I found myself heading to Gardena & the Hustler Casino. I found a seat in a $2/5 NLHE game, and after a promising start I found some cooler hands (QQ v 99 on a 944 flop & JT v 77 on a AT7T board after it was checked on the flop) & my initial buy-in of $300 had dropped to just over $60. Thankfully I picked up some hands & picked up some chips, eventually finishing a little over $200 ahead after a marathon 8 hour session.
I think I'll avoid re-entering event 1 of the California Champs & save my tourney time for my preferred events, HORSE, Omaha hi-lo, 8-game & the like.
Agenda for tomorrow: sleep ... and maybe some other stuff later!

USA Day 1

Arrived in the early evening & picked up my car (Toyota Yaris), then after picking up some supplies & checking into the hotel it was off to the Bicycle Casino!
Arrived around 10.30pm & after a short wait, found a seat at a $4/8 Kill Limit Holdem table. The Kill part involved the stakes being doubled if a player wins two consecutive pots (they are then forced to post an $8 blind & the hand is played as an $8/16 game). Played fairly tight & managed to win a big pot when I decided to join the limping train when I had K3 suited on the button. Flop came down K73, and after a bet from the SB & almost all the table calling, I raised from the button, and was then re-raised by the UTG played. I called hiim down to the river & he had successfully botched playing AA, much to my benefit & I scooped a healthy pot. After a little over an hour, and just before the Midnight Madness tourney began, I racked up my chips & left with a tidy $65 profit.
The Midnight Madness tournament had 40 runners (which seemed to be a little down from the last time I was here when they usually had around 50-50 runners). This time they played the tourney in the Events area at the bike, which is a large room with 54 poker tables ready for tournament play. I picked up a few chips early by playing position & doubled up when my AA held against the QQ of the table big stack. Didn't really pick up many hands & continued to try to use position to pick up pots to stay afloat. Made the final table with about average chips, though there were 2 players who had very big stacks at the final table, and without opportunities to pick up blinds & antes I found myself as one of the short stacks fairly early on. Of course a tourney would not be complete without a bit of drama, and this was provided when two players got into a verbal slanging match, which resulted in the TD having stern words to both players, before having one of the offenders removed from the premises when they were eliminated. Although initially paying only 5 places, the TD suggested taking some money off 1st place to add a 6th place prize. As one of the two short stacks I was not going to object to this, and when I found my A9 & shoved, I figured that the $75 would be mine when I was called in 2 spots ... one with 88 & the other with AA. Of course the one reminaing ace hit the flop, and my unlikely chance to triple up was killed by a J pairing on the turn, locking up the hand for the AA.
End result: 6th place for $75 ($25 profit).
Given my lack of tournament cashes on my previous trip to the USA, this cash, even if it was a min-cash, certainly puts me in a positive mood for the remainder of the trip.
Tomorrow: Commerce & Event 1 of the California State Championships!

Episode 2 now online!

I've just finished a new episode of the Donkcast, and its available to download and listen here:


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q9LXEPFG


Its a bit longer than the previous episode, with this one coming in at around an hour in length (file is an mp3 file around 55Mb in size).


The main thing I want from people that listen to the podcast is some feedback. Hopefully I've fixed up some of the audio issues from episode one, but mostly I would like feedback about the content itself and the presentation. Do you like the format? Do you find the show interesting and/or informative? What would you keep and what would you change or add to future episodes?


Remember to direct all feedback to thedonkcast@hotmail.com


Also keep checking this blog - I'll be using it as an online diary while I am in America, which is where I'll be for the next few months!