I have finally turned one of those corners that you always want to turn ... the run good one! The last few cash sessions I have played at Crown have seen most of my 80-20s hold up & I've even managed to win my fair share of my races. I've also played well & won a decent number of other pots to walk away with more than I started with on my last few visits. Maybe its because I've been playing a bit of online poker lately (largely inspired by a bonus offered from Full Tilt Poker), perhaps its the more frequent forum posting & watching of videos at Deuces Cracked, or maybe its just that time when the stars align and you actually run at or slightly above expectation.
Tournaments of course have continued to be standard fare, with Thursday's tournament coming to an early conclusion in a hand where I raised there was a limper (at 50/100 blinds with a 3k starting stack) before I raised to 350 in middle position. The lady to my immediate left who had played very few hands then re-raised to 700 before the big stack to her left called (he had doubled up on the second hand when he hit a gutshot after calling a small flop bet, only to have the guy with the overpair move all-in & he had around 7000 to start the hand). It folded back around to me & I moved all-in for another 2400 ... and the lady to my left immediately moved all-in as well (1700 more, so I had her covered by 700)! The big stack then thought it & eventually called. We turned over our hands & I was rather happy to see my KK up against QQ (lady) & AJo (big stack). As it turns out I was well in front, with the equities being 58% (KK) v 17% (QQ) v 25% (AJ). Of course that meant nothing as there was an ace in the window & I headed to the cash tables. Of course I think the overcall with AJo is horrible, as it is in awful shape against the shoving ranges of both myself & the lady who had both been playing super-snug. Assuming a range of TT+ & AQ+ (which is probably a bit generous), the AJ has only 16% equity. If it changed to QQ+ & AK (more realistic for myself), AJ slides to 14%. Of course it means little when your opponent gets there & you have to do the walk of shame ...
The ANZPT Melbourne schedule & structures have now been released & its good to see another 8 game event in the schedule, along with the regular dose of NLHE events. Bring on October!
Showing posts with label run good. Show all posts
Showing posts with label run good. Show all posts
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The Aristidou Factor!
Today's Sunday tournament finished in my now standard non-cash after running QQ into AA (and of course still losing in spite of flopping a set of queens, because another ace managed to appear on the river) and then losing my remaining stack when I took 88 up against TT. However the highlight for me was provided by Peter Aristidou. Midway through level 3 or 4 he wandered over to my table to say hi ... asked me if I'd won any hands yet (I was slightly below starting stack) & when I said I'd only won one, he said he had a good feeling about this one & that I would make it two! There was a raise and a call in front of me & I looked down to see AQo! I had the 'Aristidou factor' on my side, so I 3-bet & everyone folded & I took down a decent sized pot pre-flop! Peter later came over to see me after losing a big pot (this was just after I lost the QQ v AA hand) & we briefly lamented our plights. Shortly afterwards I busted & decided to join the rail to watch Peter in action for a while. He was joking around in spite of his short stack & folded for an orbit or two without finding a suitable spot to put his chips in. He eventually found one & was called by both blinds & they saw a flop of AJ6. The SB then shoved all-in, prompting a fold from the BB. Peter turned over his KJ0, to be up against his opponent's KQo! In spite of the domination, Peter manages to find the jack he needs to take the lead! Of course the BB said he folded 33 ... and what arrives on the turn ... a 3! Not only does he spike a 3-outer against a dominating hand, but the guy with king-high decides to semi-bluff the flop, forcing the hand that would have knocked Peter out, to fold ... what a charmed life Mr Aristidou leads! That triple-up (plus change) got him back to starting stack & he was never headed from there, eventually taking the tournament down (though I think there was some sort of deal made when it was three handed).
The session I played on the $2/3 table following the tournament bustout was successful, but was my now-standard slow grind, with no huge hands of note that I was involved in (though there was a crazy 5-way all-in at one point, with the big stack claiming three victims before chopping the main & one side pot with a short stack).
I'm hoping to eventually get Peter on the podcast ... though I'm not sure he's keen to divulge his run good secrets!
The session I played on the $2/3 table following the tournament bustout was successful, but was my now-standard slow grind, with no huge hands of note that I was involved in (though there was a crazy 5-way all-in at one point, with the big stack claiming three victims before chopping the main & one side pot with a short stack).
I'm hoping to eventually get Peter on the podcast ... though I'm not sure he's keen to divulge his run good secrets!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tim Duckworth Interview amongst other things
I Interviewed Tim Duckworth of PokerNews/PokerNetwork today at Crown. It was a fun interview & will be a part of the next episode of the Donkcast, which should be up in the next few days, once the Victorian Champioships have finished up.
Today's highlights at the $1/2NL table included losing AA to A4 all-in pre-flop against a short stack (there was a raise to $7 & three calls in front of me & I made it $25 to go, with all but the short-stack who had $19 total, folding) ... J9352 being the method of loss. Later I managed to lose the rest of my (relative) short stack when there were two limpers, a raise to $8 & three callers. I shoved with TT, only to be called by the UTG limper, who of course had KK ... I run well!
Today's highlights at the $1/2NL table included losing AA to A4 all-in pre-flop against a short stack (there was a raise to $7 & three calls in front of me & I made it $25 to go, with all but the short-stack who had $19 total, folding) ... J9352 being the method of loss. Later I managed to lose the rest of my (relative) short stack when there were two limpers, a raise to $8 & three callers. I shoved with TT, only to be called by the UTG limper, who of course had KK ... I run well!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Two tourney cashes at Crown
I've played two tourneys at Crown in the last few days - the Wednesday night pot limit Omaha & the Thursday 'Thriller' & made the money in both events.
In both cases there was a critical hand where I found the necessary run good to go deep. In the PLO I was in the BB (200/400) & a short stack shoved for 1100. Another player called on the button & I looked down at QQ97 double suited. The player on the button had about 4k behind & I had him covered ... and of course I also thought that he might be willing to fold to an over-shove, figuring my chances were much improved in a heads-up pot. Of course he deliberated for quite a while before eventually calling. He had AQTT with one suit, while the all-in player had KKJ6 with no suits. Not such a horrible spot to be in, but I'd definitely prefer to be against one or the other hand rather than both. Of course things got worse on the flop when it was ten-high ... but my run good kicked in & I binked the last queen on the turn & dodged the outs on the river to add a sizable chunk to my stack. Of course the run good came ot an end when it was 5 handed when I went to war with the big stack (who had almost half the chips in play) who had been running like a Kenyan on drugs .. and my KQJT double suited proved no match for his AT52 with one suit when we got it in on the flop of Q52 (I had about half my stack in pre-flop anyway with the blinds as big as they were) & I didn't improve.
The Thursday Thriller turned out much the same. With three tables remaining I got involved in a big hand with AQo ... against AQo. The pot was around 15k total at a time when the average stack was just under 10k ... and of course I managed to take it down with the good old four-card flush (runner-runner mind you!) & took the stack to the final table. Eventually we decided to chop the prizemoney when we were 6-handed, which left those remaining with a tidy profit for the night (it actually worked out to be slightly more than 3rd place prizemoney). I was sitting 4th at the time, with a stack that was just above the chip average, but with the average stack being 10 big blinds & the big stack at the table having only 15, it was simply going to come down to who got the better cards at the right time.
Perhaps the run good that deserted me in Las Vegas (with the exception of the HORSE tourney) has returned! Either way I'm happy to be doing well - its always good to be able to put some tourney results up, especially when cash games are going well too!
In podcast news, I'm hoping to be able to interview Peter Aristidou in the next few days & should have an episode of the Donkcast out just before the Victorian Championships begin.
In both cases there was a critical hand where I found the necessary run good to go deep. In the PLO I was in the BB (200/400) & a short stack shoved for 1100. Another player called on the button & I looked down at QQ97 double suited. The player on the button had about 4k behind & I had him covered ... and of course I also thought that he might be willing to fold to an over-shove, figuring my chances were much improved in a heads-up pot. Of course he deliberated for quite a while before eventually calling. He had AQTT with one suit, while the all-in player had KKJ6 with no suits. Not such a horrible spot to be in, but I'd definitely prefer to be against one or the other hand rather than both. Of course things got worse on the flop when it was ten-high ... but my run good kicked in & I binked the last queen on the turn & dodged the outs on the river to add a sizable chunk to my stack. Of course the run good came ot an end when it was 5 handed when I went to war with the big stack (who had almost half the chips in play) who had been running like a Kenyan on drugs .. and my KQJT double suited proved no match for his AT52 with one suit when we got it in on the flop of Q52 (I had about half my stack in pre-flop anyway with the blinds as big as they were) & I didn't improve.
The Thursday Thriller turned out much the same. With three tables remaining I got involved in a big hand with AQo ... against AQo. The pot was around 15k total at a time when the average stack was just under 10k ... and of course I managed to take it down with the good old four-card flush (runner-runner mind you!) & took the stack to the final table. Eventually we decided to chop the prizemoney when we were 6-handed, which left those remaining with a tidy profit for the night (it actually worked out to be slightly more than 3rd place prizemoney). I was sitting 4th at the time, with a stack that was just above the chip average, but with the average stack being 10 big blinds & the big stack at the table having only 15, it was simply going to come down to who got the better cards at the right time.
Perhaps the run good that deserted me in Las Vegas (with the exception of the HORSE tourney) has returned! Either way I'm happy to be doing well - its always good to be able to put some tourney results up, especially when cash games are going well too!
In podcast news, I'm hoping to be able to interview Peter Aristidou in the next few days & should have an episode of the Donkcast out just before the Victorian Championships begin.
Monday, August 2, 2010
A weekend at Crown
Another weekend at Crown, with a mix of results.
Saturday proved largely frustrating, with very little going my way after a decent start. I then went on a run of second-best hands & riverings that became frustrating. Eventually I left the no limit tables & headed to the $10/20 Omaha game (yes, that's limit omaha hi for those who don't know of this game at Crown - yes, its played as hi-lo pretty much everywhere else ... but not Crown!). Got off to a decent start before being moved to the 'main' game (yes, they eventually got two tables going, with the second being a 'must-move' game, so that the first table was always full). I had some ups & downs in the main game, but left with the small profit I had brought from the second table, which somewhat compensated for the earlier no limit losses, but didn't quite make up for it in dollar terms.
I managed to make it through more than an orbit this week in the Sunday Series event this week. I had very few hands early on, and folded 99 pre-flop early when there was a raise to my left after 3 limpers. I called the raise, only for the big blind (a fairly tight woman who is a regular at Crown) 3-bet, putting about half her stack in pre-flop. I decided to wait for a better spot & folded. I picked up some chips with 55 when I c-bet on a flop of AQT & the pre-flop caller in the small blind folded 99 face up. I later picked up AA & returned to above starting stack after winning a decent pot on the turn. As you may have realised, this meant that I had not shown down a hand the whole tournament when I got involved in what would be my final hand. There were two limpers before the button (the big stack at the table who had been involved in a lot of pots) raised to 2000 (200/400/50 level) & I looked down at A8dd in the SB. Figuring he could be doing this with any kind of hand, I thought I had a decent chance to take the pot down with a 3-bet & made it 5200. It folded back around to him & after asking how much I had behind (about 5500) he made the call (he had me covered & had about 25k to start the hand). The flop came down 873 rainbow & I shoved (as I was planning to do with pretty much any flop - top pair top kicker was simply a bonus). He snap called and showed 33 for bottom set! Oh well ... off to the cash games. I guess the move would have worked about 85% of the time ... it just happened that he flopped a set to send me out of the tournament!
The $2/3 cash game proved to be a great success. No huge pots, just lots of smaller pots picked up over the nine hours I was at the table. The biggest pot of my night was a hand that ended up all-in three ways. I was in the BB with KdTd & checked my option after 4 limpers. The flop was Qd7d4c & I check-called a $10 bet from the small blind, which was also called by UTG+1. The turn was the Jc, giving me a straight draw to go with my flush draw & this time I called the $15 bet from the SB, only to have UTG+1 shove for $80 more. The SB then shoved his remaining $90 & after a short think I called (I had a stack of around $900 by this stage) & saw the Ah hit the river to give me the nuts! The SB had Q7 for two pair & the initial shover had 56 for a straight draw. Not much to my play in that hand as I was seeing the river after the flop & turn, but that was how my night was. Nothing remarkable to speak of, but lots of hands that played themselves & took down pots.
Maybe I should just play cash games on Sunday & skip the tournament altogether!
I want to put another podcast out in the next week or so, but would like to have an interview for it, so will see what I can do about finding a guest or two in the next few days.
Saturday proved largely frustrating, with very little going my way after a decent start. I then went on a run of second-best hands & riverings that became frustrating. Eventually I left the no limit tables & headed to the $10/20 Omaha game (yes, that's limit omaha hi for those who don't know of this game at Crown - yes, its played as hi-lo pretty much everywhere else ... but not Crown!). Got off to a decent start before being moved to the 'main' game (yes, they eventually got two tables going, with the second being a 'must-move' game, so that the first table was always full). I had some ups & downs in the main game, but left with the small profit I had brought from the second table, which somewhat compensated for the earlier no limit losses, but didn't quite make up for it in dollar terms.
I managed to make it through more than an orbit this week in the Sunday Series event this week. I had very few hands early on, and folded 99 pre-flop early when there was a raise to my left after 3 limpers. I called the raise, only for the big blind (a fairly tight woman who is a regular at Crown) 3-bet, putting about half her stack in pre-flop. I decided to wait for a better spot & folded. I picked up some chips with 55 when I c-bet on a flop of AQT & the pre-flop caller in the small blind folded 99 face up. I later picked up AA & returned to above starting stack after winning a decent pot on the turn. As you may have realised, this meant that I had not shown down a hand the whole tournament when I got involved in what would be my final hand. There were two limpers before the button (the big stack at the table who had been involved in a lot of pots) raised to 2000 (200/400/50 level) & I looked down at A8dd in the SB. Figuring he could be doing this with any kind of hand, I thought I had a decent chance to take the pot down with a 3-bet & made it 5200. It folded back around to him & after asking how much I had behind (about 5500) he made the call (he had me covered & had about 25k to start the hand). The flop came down 873 rainbow & I shoved (as I was planning to do with pretty much any flop - top pair top kicker was simply a bonus). He snap called and showed 33 for bottom set! Oh well ... off to the cash games. I guess the move would have worked about 85% of the time ... it just happened that he flopped a set to send me out of the tournament!
The $2/3 cash game proved to be a great success. No huge pots, just lots of smaller pots picked up over the nine hours I was at the table. The biggest pot of my night was a hand that ended up all-in three ways. I was in the BB with KdTd & checked my option after 4 limpers. The flop was Qd7d4c & I check-called a $10 bet from the small blind, which was also called by UTG+1. The turn was the Jc, giving me a straight draw to go with my flush draw & this time I called the $15 bet from the SB, only to have UTG+1 shove for $80 more. The SB then shoved his remaining $90 & after a short think I called (I had a stack of around $900 by this stage) & saw the Ah hit the river to give me the nuts! The SB had Q7 for two pair & the initial shover had 56 for a straight draw. Not much to my play in that hand as I was seeing the river after the flop & turn, but that was how my night was. Nothing remarkable to speak of, but lots of hands that played themselves & took down pots.
Maybe I should just play cash games on Sunday & skip the tournament altogether!
I want to put another podcast out in the next week or so, but would like to have an interview for it, so will see what I can do about finding a guest or two in the next few days.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
A weekend of highs & lows ... and an online self-challenge
Spent some time at Crown this weekend, playing cash games & a tournament ... and it was chalk & cheese ... swings & roundabouts ... or whatever your favourite cliche is for such a situation.
Saturday turned into a horrible session of $2/3 NL. After getting off to a reasonable start, I managed to find a number of second-best hands (which is never good for the chip stack) & was treading water slightly down when a novice player sat down at the table. As seems to happen so often, he managed to run like God & in no time had his $150 buy-in up to around $700! Given the number of 4 (or less) outers he hit, myself & the others at the opposite end of the table could not wait to get our hands on some of this, when the inevitable end to the run good happened. Of course the other problem that the beginner's presence created was that everyone else wanted to get in on the action. I managed to find myself on the wrong end of this in a big hand where I had TT in the big blind. After most of the table (including the beginner) limped, I made it $20 to go, which was called by 6 players! The flop came down J43 & I lead into the field for $40. The only callers were the beginner & the player to his immediate right. Although not the ideal situation, it was still not such a bad result, though obviously the jack was a little concerning. The turn brought a 5 & I bet $60 this time, which was called by the beginner & the other player moved all-in for just over $90. Obviously this was not ideal, but I called the extra amount (as did the beginner) & checked the repeat jack on the river. I showed my TT, the beginner showed 87 (yes, he called the flop with 87 & the turn with a gutshot!) & the all-in player showed his A2o for the wheel to take the $400+ pot! FML! I played poorly for the remainder of the session, getting more frustrated by the horrible play of the beginner, as well as his chipping up, then redistributing these chips around the table. My final hand for the evening saw my horribly misplay AK. It was folded to middle position (this was about an hour after the beginner had left ... with no chips & a lighter wallet) & a tight player raised to $15. This was the first time he had raised pre-flop & only a few hands earlier he had called a pre-flop raise & called flop & river bets in position with QQ to take down a pot worth around $100 on a K-high board, so I thought he had to have something pretty reasonable to be doing this. The button, who had been playing solidly & was the major beneficiary of the recently-departed novice player, called & I decided to just call from the small blind. I generally do this for a few reasons - it disguises the strength of my hand; AK can be a difficult hand to play out-of-position with the betting lead if you miss the flop; it keeps the pot size manageable - technically my hand is just a big drawing hand at present, so I don't feel the need to make the pot overly big (yes, I tend to go for the 'big hand, big pot; small hand, small pot' type of mentality). Three to the flop & it was KT7 with two diamonds. Expecting a c-bet from the pre-flop raiser, I decided to check, only to see it check around. The turn brought an offsuit 4 & I bet $30, which was called by the PFR, only to be min-raised by the button! Of course because I had played the hand so strangely/badly to this point I had no idea what kind of a hand he might have (although I knew it was decent), though it could be anything from a combo straight/flush draw (QJdd, 89dd) to top pair, two pair or a set. I decided to call, as did the PFR. The turn was a horrible card for me (in hindsight), an offsuit ace, giving me top two pair. I only had about $90 left, so shipped it, to see the PFR insta-muck & the button insta-call ... and I knew he had a set & I was heading home. Of course when he showed his 44, it simply made me more frustrated with myself for playing the hand so badly, as he most likely would have folded the hand on the flop to a bet. Oh well ...
Today I turned up late for the $125 Sunday tournament ... and it made no difference! I didn't even survive a round! After folding my first few hands, I looked at 66 in the BB & checked my option after 5 limpers. I check-folded the J75 flop & was just about settling into my table, which had quite a few familiar faces at it (yes, the Sunday tournament definitely brings out the regulars!). Of course on the very next hand there were again 5 limpers to the big blind (a regular who tends to overplay marginal hands) who made it 1300 to go (blinds were 100/200). I looked down at AK in the SB & re-raised to 3200 (we started with 10,000 & I'd only lost 350 in blinds prior to this hand, so pretty much had a full starting stack, with the button having me covered). It folded back around to the button, who moved all-in fairly quickly. I called & he showed his QQ. The dealer dealt the flop ... ACE! ... queen, four ... groan, FML, etc ... Of course I was drawing dead by the turn, but picked up a consolation ace on the river (what a lovely book title Mr Greenstein) before heading to the cash games.
The cash game proved to be great. In my first 2 orbits at the table I picked up AA twice! The first time I doubled-up (with change) on an AJ9 flop when I got it all-in against 99. I then stacked an opponent on a king-high flop when he got it all-in with K6 & did not improve. Obviously this was a great start to have my $200 buy-in up to over $600 within 30 minutes! I kept my stack around the $600 mark for the next few hours, with a few minor fluctuations, until another big hand came my way. This time I picked up AK in the big blind after 7 people had limped in, so made it $20 to go. Two players called to see a flop of A75 with two hearts. I bet $35 & they both called. The turn was an 8 & I bet $55 & was again called by both opponents. The river was a T (flush did not complete) & I checked, intending to check-call (I had the ace of hearts, but was concerned about one of my opponents having two pair). It checked to the player in the cutoff who bet $75 (about half of his remaining stack). With the pot being so big, I could not possibly fold, so I called his bet. After the other player mucked, the bettor insta-mucked & I took down the $450+ pot uncontested! I left about an hour later with a healthy profit that well and truly made up for the previous night's forgetable performance.
I've also decided that this week I will play a minimum of 25 hours of online low-limit holdem, playing at least 4 tables at a time. I was hoping to do this by Wednesday (roughly 8 hours per day on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday), though this may not be possible, as I am actually going to be playing chess (for Elwood) on Tuesday night. Will see how things go (both the poker and the chess) & I will update my progress here. Lets hope it turns out well!
Saturday turned into a horrible session of $2/3 NL. After getting off to a reasonable start, I managed to find a number of second-best hands (which is never good for the chip stack) & was treading water slightly down when a novice player sat down at the table. As seems to happen so often, he managed to run like God & in no time had his $150 buy-in up to around $700! Given the number of 4 (or less) outers he hit, myself & the others at the opposite end of the table could not wait to get our hands on some of this, when the inevitable end to the run good happened. Of course the other problem that the beginner's presence created was that everyone else wanted to get in on the action. I managed to find myself on the wrong end of this in a big hand where I had TT in the big blind. After most of the table (including the beginner) limped, I made it $20 to go, which was called by 6 players! The flop came down J43 & I lead into the field for $40. The only callers were the beginner & the player to his immediate right. Although not the ideal situation, it was still not such a bad result, though obviously the jack was a little concerning. The turn brought a 5 & I bet $60 this time, which was called by the beginner & the other player moved all-in for just over $90. Obviously this was not ideal, but I called the extra amount (as did the beginner) & checked the repeat jack on the river. I showed my TT, the beginner showed 87 (yes, he called the flop with 87 & the turn with a gutshot!) & the all-in player showed his A2o for the wheel to take the $400+ pot! FML! I played poorly for the remainder of the session, getting more frustrated by the horrible play of the beginner, as well as his chipping up, then redistributing these chips around the table. My final hand for the evening saw my horribly misplay AK. It was folded to middle position (this was about an hour after the beginner had left ... with no chips & a lighter wallet) & a tight player raised to $15. This was the first time he had raised pre-flop & only a few hands earlier he had called a pre-flop raise & called flop & river bets in position with QQ to take down a pot worth around $100 on a K-high board, so I thought he had to have something pretty reasonable to be doing this. The button, who had been playing solidly & was the major beneficiary of the recently-departed novice player, called & I decided to just call from the small blind. I generally do this for a few reasons - it disguises the strength of my hand; AK can be a difficult hand to play out-of-position with the betting lead if you miss the flop; it keeps the pot size manageable - technically my hand is just a big drawing hand at present, so I don't feel the need to make the pot overly big (yes, I tend to go for the 'big hand, big pot; small hand, small pot' type of mentality). Three to the flop & it was KT7 with two diamonds. Expecting a c-bet from the pre-flop raiser, I decided to check, only to see it check around. The turn brought an offsuit 4 & I bet $30, which was called by the PFR, only to be min-raised by the button! Of course because I had played the hand so strangely/badly to this point I had no idea what kind of a hand he might have (although I knew it was decent), though it could be anything from a combo straight/flush draw (QJdd, 89dd) to top pair, two pair or a set. I decided to call, as did the PFR. The turn was a horrible card for me (in hindsight), an offsuit ace, giving me top two pair. I only had about $90 left, so shipped it, to see the PFR insta-muck & the button insta-call ... and I knew he had a set & I was heading home. Of course when he showed his 44, it simply made me more frustrated with myself for playing the hand so badly, as he most likely would have folded the hand on the flop to a bet. Oh well ...
Today I turned up late for the $125 Sunday tournament ... and it made no difference! I didn't even survive a round! After folding my first few hands, I looked at 66 in the BB & checked my option after 5 limpers. I check-folded the J75 flop & was just about settling into my table, which had quite a few familiar faces at it (yes, the Sunday tournament definitely brings out the regulars!). Of course on the very next hand there were again 5 limpers to the big blind (a regular who tends to overplay marginal hands) who made it 1300 to go (blinds were 100/200). I looked down at AK in the SB & re-raised to 3200 (we started with 10,000 & I'd only lost 350 in blinds prior to this hand, so pretty much had a full starting stack, with the button having me covered). It folded back around to the button, who moved all-in fairly quickly. I called & he showed his QQ. The dealer dealt the flop ... ACE! ... queen, four ... groan, FML, etc ... Of course I was drawing dead by the turn, but picked up a consolation ace on the river (what a lovely book title Mr Greenstein) before heading to the cash games.
The cash game proved to be great. In my first 2 orbits at the table I picked up AA twice! The first time I doubled-up (with change) on an AJ9 flop when I got it all-in against 99. I then stacked an opponent on a king-high flop when he got it all-in with K6 & did not improve. Obviously this was a great start to have my $200 buy-in up to over $600 within 30 minutes! I kept my stack around the $600 mark for the next few hours, with a few minor fluctuations, until another big hand came my way. This time I picked up AK in the big blind after 7 people had limped in, so made it $20 to go. Two players called to see a flop of A75 with two hearts. I bet $35 & they both called. The turn was an 8 & I bet $55 & was again called by both opponents. The river was a T (flush did not complete) & I checked, intending to check-call (I had the ace of hearts, but was concerned about one of my opponents having two pair). It checked to the player in the cutoff who bet $75 (about half of his remaining stack). With the pot being so big, I could not possibly fold, so I called his bet. After the other player mucked, the bettor insta-mucked & I took down the $450+ pot uncontested! I left about an hour later with a healthy profit that well and truly made up for the previous night's forgetable performance.
I've also decided that this week I will play a minimum of 25 hours of online low-limit holdem, playing at least 4 tables at a time. I was hoping to do this by Wednesday (roughly 8 hours per day on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday), though this may not be possible, as I am actually going to be playing chess (for Elwood) on Tuesday night. Will see how things go (both the poker and the chess) & I will update my progress here. Lets hope it turns out well!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Final Table at Crown
Decided to play the Thursday night tournament at Crown tonight & managed to finish 4th out of a field of 119. Its not the greatest structure in the world, with a 3k starting stack & 25 minute levels, but there are plenty of tournaments that are worse.
If there was one thing that my experiences in America taught me, it was that you need to go about accumulating chips right from the start of the tournament. This was my excuse for a key hand early in the tournament. I was in the BB (100/200) & there was a raise to 500 from UTG+1. The cutoff called & I defended with K3hh. The flop was 763 rainbow & I checked to the pre-flop raiser who bet 700. The cutoff folded & I considered my options. I had already committed 500 to the pot & had just over 1500 behind. There was a decent chance that my opponent had overcards to the board (in which case my pair of 3s would be in front) and even if he had an overpair (it seemed unlikely that he would have a set or straight here) I still had 5 outs to improve. Of course the opposing view had me with 1500 still in my stack after folding, which although short, was definitely not at the 'any two cards' stage, so all would not be lost. Eventually I decided to shove, hoping my opponent either folded (unlikely) or called & turned over AK, KQ or some other hand with a king & no pair. Of course neither of these eventualities happened & my opponent snap-called & turned over QQ to have me drawing thin. However given that the heading is not 'Early exit from tourney' I managed to bink a king on the turn to double-up, and this, combined with some run good & well-timed stealing allowed me to get to the final table as one of the chip leaders (of course I managed to crack KK with QT just before the final table when the money went in on a Q98 flop & I binked a T on the river ... but that's the punishment for my opponent not re-raising pre-flop with such a big hand). The final table was going reasonably smoothly & I managed to keep my stack at a healthy level, in spite of the most aggressive player at the table sitting to my direct left. This player would take the chip lead early on the final table & it was a big confrontation with him that would lead to my demise. We had got down to four handed, with the aggressive player to my left having just under half the chips in play in his stack. The hand in question saw me raise to 14k (blinds 3000/6000) with 55 on the button. My opponent in the SB re-raised to 32k after some thought & I decided to move all-in for an extra 51.5k on top of the re-raise. Ultimately my opponent decided to call, with the classic 'you're in front, but I have to call' line & turned over A7o. Of course there was an ace on the flop, as well as one on the turn for good measure & the 160k+ pot was shipped to the aggro guy as I collected my prizemoney and left.
I suppose its a good sign that I final tabled my first tournament back at Crown. Lets hope the run continues on Sunday & into the Victorian Championships!
If there was one thing that my experiences in America taught me, it was that you need to go about accumulating chips right from the start of the tournament. This was my excuse for a key hand early in the tournament. I was in the BB (100/200) & there was a raise to 500 from UTG+1. The cutoff called & I defended with K3hh. The flop was 763 rainbow & I checked to the pre-flop raiser who bet 700. The cutoff folded & I considered my options. I had already committed 500 to the pot & had just over 1500 behind. There was a decent chance that my opponent had overcards to the board (in which case my pair of 3s would be in front) and even if he had an overpair (it seemed unlikely that he would have a set or straight here) I still had 5 outs to improve. Of course the opposing view had me with 1500 still in my stack after folding, which although short, was definitely not at the 'any two cards' stage, so all would not be lost. Eventually I decided to shove, hoping my opponent either folded (unlikely) or called & turned over AK, KQ or some other hand with a king & no pair. Of course neither of these eventualities happened & my opponent snap-called & turned over QQ to have me drawing thin. However given that the heading is not 'Early exit from tourney' I managed to bink a king on the turn to double-up, and this, combined with some run good & well-timed stealing allowed me to get to the final table as one of the chip leaders (of course I managed to crack KK with QT just before the final table when the money went in on a Q98 flop & I binked a T on the river ... but that's the punishment for my opponent not re-raising pre-flop with such a big hand). The final table was going reasonably smoothly & I managed to keep my stack at a healthy level, in spite of the most aggressive player at the table sitting to my direct left. This player would take the chip lead early on the final table & it was a big confrontation with him that would lead to my demise. We had got down to four handed, with the aggressive player to my left having just under half the chips in play in his stack. The hand in question saw me raise to 14k (blinds 3000/6000) with 55 on the button. My opponent in the SB re-raised to 32k after some thought & I decided to move all-in for an extra 51.5k on top of the re-raise. Ultimately my opponent decided to call, with the classic 'you're in front, but I have to call' line & turned over A7o. Of course there was an ace on the flop, as well as one on the turn for good measure & the 160k+ pot was shipped to the aggro guy as I collected my prizemoney and left.
I suppose its a good sign that I final tabled my first tournament back at Crown. Lets hope the run continues on Sunday & into the Victorian Championships!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Welcome home ... here's a one-outer for you!
Don't you love coming home, back to what you know and familiarity?
Since I've been back in Melbourne I've been to Crown twice ... the first time booking a small win & the second running into a one-outer, culminating in a loss which was a bigger swing in the wrong direction.
The hand in question saw me raise to $10 UTG+1 in a $2/3 game with QQ. The cutoff puts in $3 for the call, only for the dealer to tell him its actually $10, so he calls. The big blind comes along for the ride as well. The flop is 998 (with two clubs), which is decent for me (as long as no-one has a 9), so I lead for $17. The cutoff calls & the BB folds. I figure that the caller has some kid of hand - an 8, a flush or straight draw, or possibly a 9. I have about $70 behind at this stage (yes, it had been one of those nights) & am delighted to see a queen on the turn. I decide to be tricky (though in hindsight it would make no difference) & check-call my opponent's $25 bet. The plan is to shove the river for my remaining $40+ & with the pot so big my opponent pretty much has to call, insuring a double-up for me ... but things didn't go according to plan. River ... 9. I slide my small stack forward & as soon as I release it, my opponent says call. I know he has the 9! My heart sinks, I announce 'a 9 is good' as I dejectedly turn over my queens full. Of course he turns over J9o to take the pot, to the 'oooohs' & 'ahhhs' & other comments of those at the table. Of course the villain in the hand then proceeded to tell the table how that sort of thing never happens to him & how he is always on the receiving end of bad beats & never gives them ... of course having played with him on multiple occasions, I know the opposite is true, though perhaps he doesn't consider it a bad beat if his opponent's cards are not shown.
Poker is fun ... for everyone ...
Next: Back in the saddle ... oh & if anyone knows where to find some run good, PLEASE let me know!
Since I've been back in Melbourne I've been to Crown twice ... the first time booking a small win & the second running into a one-outer, culminating in a loss which was a bigger swing in the wrong direction.
The hand in question saw me raise to $10 UTG+1 in a $2/3 game with QQ. The cutoff puts in $3 for the call, only for the dealer to tell him its actually $10, so he calls. The big blind comes along for the ride as well. The flop is 998 (with two clubs), which is decent for me (as long as no-one has a 9), so I lead for $17. The cutoff calls & the BB folds. I figure that the caller has some kid of hand - an 8, a flush or straight draw, or possibly a 9. I have about $70 behind at this stage (yes, it had been one of those nights) & am delighted to see a queen on the turn. I decide to be tricky (though in hindsight it would make no difference) & check-call my opponent's $25 bet. The plan is to shove the river for my remaining $40+ & with the pot so big my opponent pretty much has to call, insuring a double-up for me ... but things didn't go according to plan. River ... 9. I slide my small stack forward & as soon as I release it, my opponent says call. I know he has the 9! My heart sinks, I announce 'a 9 is good' as I dejectedly turn over my queens full. Of course he turns over J9o to take the pot, to the 'oooohs' & 'ahhhs' & other comments of those at the table. Of course the villain in the hand then proceeded to tell the table how that sort of thing never happens to him & how he is always on the receiving end of bad beats & never gives them ... of course having played with him on multiple occasions, I know the opposite is true, though perhaps he doesn't consider it a bad beat if his opponent's cards are not shown.
Poker is fun ... for everyone ...
Next: Back in the saddle ... oh & if anyone knows where to find some run good, PLEASE let me know!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Being a tourist & a sick, sick hand
I started the day with some exhibits around Las Vegas. First stop was the MGM for CSI: The Experience. Not a bad exhibit overall, where you are presented with a crime scene (there are three to choose from), and then after going through a series of labs, need to come to a conclusion about what happened at the crime scene based on the evidence you have examined. The type of things you look at include text messages on a phone, DNA reports, drug testing and a range of other forensic tests that are recreated for you to examine in a hands-on environment. Worth a look, but not something that I would call a 'must see' if in Vegas. After leaving MGM I headed to the Luxor for the Bodies exhibit. This had a range of exhibits showing pretty much everything about the human body, from bones & muscles to organs & artiries and everything in between. If I had more of an interest in biology or medicine I might have found it more engaging, but as it was it kept me amused for the 40 or so minutes it took me to get through the exhibit. Of the three exhibits I saw (Titanic, CSI & Bodies), I would be happy to see the Titanic exhibition again, wouldn't mind the CSI exhibit, though could go without it, while the Bodies exhibit is something that I would probably skip.
After leaving the Luxor I headed to Planet Hollywood for dinner (yes more Earl of Sandwich for me) before heading to the Hard Rock to see if the Pokerati/PokerNews/Deuces Cracked $1/2 NLHE/PLO game was going, but it wasn't, which was a bit disappointing. Rather than stay & play in the $1/2 NLHE game I decided to head back to the Strip & found a seat in one of the biggest games going around on the Strip ... 50c/$1 at Bill's Gambling Hall! I took a seat with $100 & had all but one player at the table covered & proceeded to lose almost every hand I played ... raise with 99 & I get one caller and we see a AQ8 flop & they shove over my c-bet; raise with AJ & get 3 callers with and 8-high board & there is a bet & a raise before it is my turn on the flop ... until a HUGE hand came up! I look down at red kings UTG+1 & make my standard 3-times-the-blind raise to $3 (yes, $3 is a raise at Bills & quite a few people raised to $2 throughout the night!), only to see one caller before the cutoff re-raised to $11. It folded back to me & I made it $25 total, which got the caller to fold, but the re-raiser called. The flop was pretty good for my hand - KKJ & I lead out for $15. The other player asked the question that is often a bad one to hear ... 'How much do you have behind' & I showed my remaining stack & cut it down to show the $33 I had behind. After this enquiry I figured he had a big hand when he just called the bet. Of course given that I had all the kings, this means that he either had a hand like AA (unlikely given that he didn't 4-bet pre-flop), JJ or a royal flush draw like QTcc. The 6h on the turn changed nothing & I checked it to my opponent, who bet $12 (yes, as Bills we make our bets smaller on later streets ... because that's how you roll at Bill's), which I called. The turn was another jack & I put my remaining $21 in the middle & my opponent couldn't wait to put his chips in the middle as well! He wasn't so pleased when I turned my hand over however ... I had quad kings ... which beat his quad jacks!! The whole table, myself included, were stunned, as the dealer called out 'high hand ... and bad beat' to the floor. As a bonus (and something of a consolation to the loser), we both recieved an extra $50 for the high hand bonus (quads using a pair as your hole cards), though there was no bad beat bonus. The dealer reminded us of this, saying that if this was a Station casino, the players in the hand would recieve $40k & $20k each, with others at the table getting $5k ... and everyone in the casino getting something as well! Quite a jackpot by the sounds of it. I must admit that I have never played a hand like that before in my life & its the first time I've had quads over quads. Guess it was somewhat similar to the infamous Sammy Farha hand from the WSOP a few years ago, when Oliver Hudson flopped a full house & was drawing dead! Of course just to rub it in, I managed to crack the same guy's kings a few hands later with tens when I turned a set (with another player at the table saying they folded a ten) ... One of my own MBN monents ... and yes it was! The table died down shortly afterwards, with a few players leaving, so I left with a $130 or so profit ... not bad for a few hours at 50c/$1, even if I do say so myself!
Next on the agenda: A haircut, some more poker (might try to get to the other places on the Strip that I haven't played at) & an evening of tenpin bowling with the Deuces Cracked guys! Should be fun!
After leaving the Luxor I headed to Planet Hollywood for dinner (yes more Earl of Sandwich for me) before heading to the Hard Rock to see if the Pokerati/PokerNews/Deuces Cracked $1/2 NLHE/PLO game was going, but it wasn't, which was a bit disappointing. Rather than stay & play in the $1/2 NLHE game I decided to head back to the Strip & found a seat in one of the biggest games going around on the Strip ... 50c/$1 at Bill's Gambling Hall! I took a seat with $100 & had all but one player at the table covered & proceeded to lose almost every hand I played ... raise with 99 & I get one caller and we see a AQ8 flop & they shove over my c-bet; raise with AJ & get 3 callers with and 8-high board & there is a bet & a raise before it is my turn on the flop ... until a HUGE hand came up! I look down at red kings UTG+1 & make my standard 3-times-the-blind raise to $3 (yes, $3 is a raise at Bills & quite a few people raised to $2 throughout the night!), only to see one caller before the cutoff re-raised to $11. It folded back to me & I made it $25 total, which got the caller to fold, but the re-raiser called. The flop was pretty good for my hand - KKJ & I lead out for $15. The other player asked the question that is often a bad one to hear ... 'How much do you have behind' & I showed my remaining stack & cut it down to show the $33 I had behind. After this enquiry I figured he had a big hand when he just called the bet. Of course given that I had all the kings, this means that he either had a hand like AA (unlikely given that he didn't 4-bet pre-flop), JJ or a royal flush draw like QTcc. The 6h on the turn changed nothing & I checked it to my opponent, who bet $12 (yes, as Bills we make our bets smaller on later streets ... because that's how you roll at Bill's), which I called. The turn was another jack & I put my remaining $21 in the middle & my opponent couldn't wait to put his chips in the middle as well! He wasn't so pleased when I turned my hand over however ... I had quad kings ... which beat his quad jacks!! The whole table, myself included, were stunned, as the dealer called out 'high hand ... and bad beat' to the floor. As a bonus (and something of a consolation to the loser), we both recieved an extra $50 for the high hand bonus (quads using a pair as your hole cards), though there was no bad beat bonus. The dealer reminded us of this, saying that if this was a Station casino, the players in the hand would recieve $40k & $20k each, with others at the table getting $5k ... and everyone in the casino getting something as well! Quite a jackpot by the sounds of it. I must admit that I have never played a hand like that before in my life & its the first time I've had quads over quads. Guess it was somewhat similar to the infamous Sammy Farha hand from the WSOP a few years ago, when Oliver Hudson flopped a full house & was drawing dead! Of course just to rub it in, I managed to crack the same guy's kings a few hands later with tens when I turned a set (with another player at the table saying they folded a ten) ... One of my own MBN monents ... and yes it was! The table died down shortly afterwards, with a few players leaving, so I left with a $130 or so profit ... not bad for a few hours at 50c/$1, even if I do say so myself!
Next on the agenda: A haircut, some more poker (might try to get to the other places on the Strip that I haven't played at) & an evening of tenpin bowling with the Deuces Cracked guys! Should be fun!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Quiet day, then hit by the deck!
Had a relatively quiet day today, watching some videos in my room after I woke up. The Pokerstars Big Game is looking like an interesting show, with the 'Loose Cannon' concept working fairly well with the first two Loose Cannons doing well for themselves.
I decided to head to Planet Hollywood for dinner, getting my usual order from Earl of Sandwich before what was intended to be a quick stop in the Poker Room before heading to O'Sheas for the Deuces Cracked drinks night. After a slow start I was down roughly $120 playing $1/2 No limit when I started to think about leaving. Of course as soon as this happened, I looked down at QQ after two limpers. I raised to $12 & was called by the button & one of the limpers. The flop came down J65 & the limper lead at the pot for $20. Having only $65 behind I decided that I needed to gamble to try and win a big pot, so just called the $20. The button also called the $20. The action happened on the turn, which was a repeat 6. The limper moved all-in for $80. I took a little bit of time before moving my remaining $45 into the middle as well. The button then went into deep thought & eventually called the $80. Quite a pot up for grabs! The river was another 6 & my QQ took the main pot, with the limper's JT chopping with the button's AJ for the side pot. Excellent ... now I am back in the black & ahead enough to cover my dinner! Time to head to O'Sheas obviously ... but not wanting to be *THAT GUY*, I decided to play another round at the table before leaving. Of course just as I was about to leave (I was UTG & planning to leave after the hand) I look down at AA! Guess I'm playing this hand ... so I raise to $8 & get called by the player to my left (who had been playing fairly tight) & the big blind. The flop came down 873 with a club draw (I had the Ac) & I lead at the pot for $17 & was called by the player to my left. The turn brought the Js & I bet $25, only to be raised to $50 by the player to my left. I thought it was unlikely that my opponent had two pair (like 87) as he had been playing fairly standard. I was a little worried about T9, but was more concerned about a set (33, 77 or 88). I also thought he could be doing this with a hand like AJ or a pair above 88, so decided to call, with the intention of check-calling on a safe river & throwing up before check-calling on a not-so-safe river. Part 1 of the plan went fine ... offsuit 2 on the river & I checked. My opponent then put out a $100 bet! Of course a smaller bet would have been an easy call & an all-in would have also been relatively easy (double-up or go home & it was part of the plan on the turn), but $100 was an awkward amount. It was about half of my opponent's remaining stack & if I lost the hand I would be left with about $50. Ultimately I decided that the river didn't change anything, so I had to go with my turn read. If my opponent had a set, so be it ... if not, my hand should be good. I eventually called, to be me with a 'good call, you've got it' & I turned over my aces & my opponent showed 55 for a bluff. Over $400! So now the plan from before came into effect ... play another round, then head to O'Sheas ... but plans rarely go as planned! On the next round there was a limp & a raise in front of me to $12 when I looked down to see AcKc. I decided that I didn't want to play a big pot pre-flop, so just called. Another player called & we saw a flop of 6c5c2d. Not a bad flop! The pre-flop raiser lead out for $25. I considered raising, but decided to just call & the other player got out of the way. The turn was a great card for me, 4c meaning I had the nut flush (though not the absolute nuts with the straight flush possibilities). My opponent bet again, this time $45 & I did a bit of fake thinking before calling. The river was another excellent card for my hand, an offsuit 3, putting a 6-high straight on the board. My opponent checked & after a short while I put out a $90 bet. Of course there are a number of hands that I would play in a similar manner that make the river bet logical - a hand that is big, like the flush that I have, or possibly a hand like 77 that rivered a straight after being an overpair on previous streets ... or a hand like an overpair that was now counterfeited by the straight on board, or a complete bluff. My opponent thought for quite a while before finally calling ... and I showed the nut flush to take a sizable pot! Ultimately what was intended to be a brief stop became a longer session, though definitely a profitable one.
I decided to drop into O'Sheas briefly (I was a few hour late for the intended 10pm start) & saw a few DC shirts around the place, including Chris 'DeathDonkey' Vitch at the Craps table, but ultimately decided to head back to the hotel.
Next on the agenda: possibly a tournament at the Venetian (if I wake up in time), otherwise I might go for the bookstore or Titanic options ... or maybe just some cash games somewhere.
I decided to head to Planet Hollywood for dinner, getting my usual order from Earl of Sandwich before what was intended to be a quick stop in the Poker Room before heading to O'Sheas for the Deuces Cracked drinks night. After a slow start I was down roughly $120 playing $1/2 No limit when I started to think about leaving. Of course as soon as this happened, I looked down at QQ after two limpers. I raised to $12 & was called by the button & one of the limpers. The flop came down J65 & the limper lead at the pot for $20. Having only $65 behind I decided that I needed to gamble to try and win a big pot, so just called the $20. The button also called the $20. The action happened on the turn, which was a repeat 6. The limper moved all-in for $80. I took a little bit of time before moving my remaining $45 into the middle as well. The button then went into deep thought & eventually called the $80. Quite a pot up for grabs! The river was another 6 & my QQ took the main pot, with the limper's JT chopping with the button's AJ for the side pot. Excellent ... now I am back in the black & ahead enough to cover my dinner! Time to head to O'Sheas obviously ... but not wanting to be *THAT GUY*, I decided to play another round at the table before leaving. Of course just as I was about to leave (I was UTG & planning to leave after the hand) I look down at AA! Guess I'm playing this hand ... so I raise to $8 & get called by the player to my left (who had been playing fairly tight) & the big blind. The flop came down 873 with a club draw (I had the Ac) & I lead at the pot for $17 & was called by the player to my left. The turn brought the Js & I bet $25, only to be raised to $50 by the player to my left. I thought it was unlikely that my opponent had two pair (like 87) as he had been playing fairly standard. I was a little worried about T9, but was more concerned about a set (33, 77 or 88). I also thought he could be doing this with a hand like AJ or a pair above 88, so decided to call, with the intention of check-calling on a safe river & throwing up before check-calling on a not-so-safe river. Part 1 of the plan went fine ... offsuit 2 on the river & I checked. My opponent then put out a $100 bet! Of course a smaller bet would have been an easy call & an all-in would have also been relatively easy (double-up or go home & it was part of the plan on the turn), but $100 was an awkward amount. It was about half of my opponent's remaining stack & if I lost the hand I would be left with about $50. Ultimately I decided that the river didn't change anything, so I had to go with my turn read. If my opponent had a set, so be it ... if not, my hand should be good. I eventually called, to be me with a 'good call, you've got it' & I turned over my aces & my opponent showed 55 for a bluff. Over $400! So now the plan from before came into effect ... play another round, then head to O'Sheas ... but plans rarely go as planned! On the next round there was a limp & a raise in front of me to $12 when I looked down to see AcKc. I decided that I didn't want to play a big pot pre-flop, so just called. Another player called & we saw a flop of 6c5c2d. Not a bad flop! The pre-flop raiser lead out for $25. I considered raising, but decided to just call & the other player got out of the way. The turn was a great card for me, 4c meaning I had the nut flush (though not the absolute nuts with the straight flush possibilities). My opponent bet again, this time $45 & I did a bit of fake thinking before calling. The river was another excellent card for my hand, an offsuit 3, putting a 6-high straight on the board. My opponent checked & after a short while I put out a $90 bet. Of course there are a number of hands that I would play in a similar manner that make the river bet logical - a hand that is big, like the flush that I have, or possibly a hand like 77 that rivered a straight after being an overpair on previous streets ... or a hand like an overpair that was now counterfeited by the straight on board, or a complete bluff. My opponent thought for quite a while before finally calling ... and I showed the nut flush to take a sizable pot! Ultimately what was intended to be a brief stop became a longer session, though definitely a profitable one.
I decided to drop into O'Sheas briefly (I was a few hour late for the intended 10pm start) & saw a few DC shirts around the place, including Chris 'DeathDonkey' Vitch at the Craps table, but ultimately decided to head back to the hotel.
Next on the agenda: possibly a tournament at the Venetian (if I wake up in time), otherwise I might go for the bookstore or Titanic options ... or maybe just some cash games somewhere.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
USA - Golden nugget Omaha8
Same again ... beginning to become a grind.
Played the Omaha hi-lo at the Golden Nugget & again came away with another mid-field non-cash finish. Things were going great until the dinner break. I'd had a combination of good play & good running to build my stack from the 12k starting stack up to about 32k. Of course after the break it all went downhill. I was moved to a different table & with the blinds continuing to rise (after dinner the average stack was just over 6 big bets) any pot that you lost became significant. Of course I managed to find a few hands where my huge draws missed & others where my nut hand was counterfeited on the river (the good old river A or 2). I eventually finished around 50th out of the 138 starters.
After leaving downtown I went back to the Imperial Palace to find that they had a $3/6 mixed game up & running. I put my name on the list & sat down at a $1/2NLHE table in the meantime. Of course I ran fantastically there, with the highlight being picking up kings in the small blind. The table had been playing fairly loose, but of course when I pick up a hand there was only 1 limper & when I made it $6, even the big blind folded. The limper came along & my c-bet on the J-high flop took the pot without a fuss. Of course most other draws missed, but proved costly, combined with some uber-slowplay in one hand. There were about 5 or 6 limpers & I decided to call on the button with JT suited. The flop was 7-high & it was checked through. The turn was a J & the cutoff bet $6. I called & everyone else folded, so I thought there was a decent chance my hand was good. Another low card fell on the river & I called his $16 bet, only to be shocked to see him turn over KK!! Yes, I run good!
Anyway, I eventually got a seat at the mixed game & was dealt into a baduci hand. No problem, I've played it a bit since I got here ... and following Deathdonkey's tips I'd been making some money. Anyway, I managed to end up with an 87 low with a 7 badugi, only to see my opponent (who had been betting all the way) turn over AJ642. What a great start ... a scoop ... but no! It seems that at the Imperial Palace they play baduci with the ace playing low for the badugi half of the pot! WTF??? This meant that my opponent's 642A badugi took half the pot! At least I didn't get scooped ... of course I mentioned the fact that this was the only place where the ace played low for half the pot & how it was stupid from a strategy perspective because you could never have a nut-nut hand, only to have some of the players respond with comments like 'but the ace is low in badugi'; 'well that's part of the strategy - to keep the ace or not' & other silly comments. Of course this meant that the game would be good, but it also meant that I would need to stay focused to avoid becoming one of the other donkeys at the table. Anyway, the game was fairly uneventful for the most part, with a reasonably standard mix of games being played - Baduci, razz, stud8, Omaha8, badugi and the 'novelty game' double-board Omaha, with my run good continuing to mean I was down a little, until the table I was at broke & I was moved to the other table (yes, there were 2 tables of this game running). Of course they were on a different part of the rotation & I found myself playing 3-2-1 Omaha. Of course this prompted the standard 'how do you play this' question & I went & got myself one of the Mixed Game sheets they had around the room. In 3-2-1 Omaha, there are 3 flops, 2 turns & 1 river card dealt (so all up a total of 12 'board' cards on the table) & being Omaha, you must use 2 of your 4 hole cards, combined with 3 cards from the board to make the best 5-card poker hand. The catch is that you can only use one of the flops, one of the turns & the river to make your hand. Sounds simple, but its a little confusing when trying to play this for the first time. To give you an idea, lets say you have a J in your hand & there is a J on each of the three flops, this means that you have one pair (of jacks), which can not improve to three jacks because all the jacks are out & you can only use one of the flops in your final hand. Of course as I soon realised, this means that the winning hand is almost always a straight or better (often being a flush or full house), which makes high suited cards the most valuable in this game, with high pairs also being good to have.
Of course the game broke before we got to the next odd game in the mix - 4 card ocean crazy pineapple! My first thought was WTF? Turns out you get 4 cards to start the hand & a flop is dealt & there is a round of betting. Sounds normal so far, but after the round of betting, players discard one card from their hand. This leads to the flop & another round of betting and another discard. The river is dealt & there is another round of betting. This isn't the end of the hand however, as there is another board card (the ocean) & another round of betting. At the end of the hand there are 6 cards on the board & 2 cards in the hands of the players' hands, with the best 5-card hand from any combination of the 6 board cards & the 2 hole cards of each player. Sounds interesting, though I didn't get a chance to play it.
Anyway, I finished the night with a small loss ... another case of run good!
Next on the agenda: A day off from tournaments, possibly playing cash games at the Rio or elsewhere, with the possibility of an episode of the Donkcast in the works as well.
Played the Omaha hi-lo at the Golden Nugget & again came away with another mid-field non-cash finish. Things were going great until the dinner break. I'd had a combination of good play & good running to build my stack from the 12k starting stack up to about 32k. Of course after the break it all went downhill. I was moved to a different table & with the blinds continuing to rise (after dinner the average stack was just over 6 big bets) any pot that you lost became significant. Of course I managed to find a few hands where my huge draws missed & others where my nut hand was counterfeited on the river (the good old river A or 2). I eventually finished around 50th out of the 138 starters.
After leaving downtown I went back to the Imperial Palace to find that they had a $3/6 mixed game up & running. I put my name on the list & sat down at a $1/2NLHE table in the meantime. Of course I ran fantastically there, with the highlight being picking up kings in the small blind. The table had been playing fairly loose, but of course when I pick up a hand there was only 1 limper & when I made it $6, even the big blind folded. The limper came along & my c-bet on the J-high flop took the pot without a fuss. Of course most other draws missed, but proved costly, combined with some uber-slowplay in one hand. There were about 5 or 6 limpers & I decided to call on the button with JT suited. The flop was 7-high & it was checked through. The turn was a J & the cutoff bet $6. I called & everyone else folded, so I thought there was a decent chance my hand was good. Another low card fell on the river & I called his $16 bet, only to be shocked to see him turn over KK!! Yes, I run good!
Anyway, I eventually got a seat at the mixed game & was dealt into a baduci hand. No problem, I've played it a bit since I got here ... and following Deathdonkey's tips I'd been making some money. Anyway, I managed to end up with an 87 low with a 7 badugi, only to see my opponent (who had been betting all the way) turn over AJ642. What a great start ... a scoop ... but no! It seems that at the Imperial Palace they play baduci with the ace playing low for the badugi half of the pot! WTF??? This meant that my opponent's 642A badugi took half the pot! At least I didn't get scooped ... of course I mentioned the fact that this was the only place where the ace played low for half the pot & how it was stupid from a strategy perspective because you could never have a nut-nut hand, only to have some of the players respond with comments like 'but the ace is low in badugi'; 'well that's part of the strategy - to keep the ace or not' & other silly comments. Of course this meant that the game would be good, but it also meant that I would need to stay focused to avoid becoming one of the other donkeys at the table. Anyway, the game was fairly uneventful for the most part, with a reasonably standard mix of games being played - Baduci, razz, stud8, Omaha8, badugi and the 'novelty game' double-board Omaha, with my run good continuing to mean I was down a little, until the table I was at broke & I was moved to the other table (yes, there were 2 tables of this game running). Of course they were on a different part of the rotation & I found myself playing 3-2-1 Omaha. Of course this prompted the standard 'how do you play this' question & I went & got myself one of the Mixed Game sheets they had around the room. In 3-2-1 Omaha, there are 3 flops, 2 turns & 1 river card dealt (so all up a total of 12 'board' cards on the table) & being Omaha, you must use 2 of your 4 hole cards, combined with 3 cards from the board to make the best 5-card poker hand. The catch is that you can only use one of the flops, one of the turns & the river to make your hand. Sounds simple, but its a little confusing when trying to play this for the first time. To give you an idea, lets say you have a J in your hand & there is a J on each of the three flops, this means that you have one pair (of jacks), which can not improve to three jacks because all the jacks are out & you can only use one of the flops in your final hand. Of course as I soon realised, this means that the winning hand is almost always a straight or better (often being a flush or full house), which makes high suited cards the most valuable in this game, with high pairs also being good to have.
Of course the game broke before we got to the next odd game in the mix - 4 card ocean crazy pineapple! My first thought was WTF? Turns out you get 4 cards to start the hand & a flop is dealt & there is a round of betting. Sounds normal so far, but after the round of betting, players discard one card from their hand. This leads to the flop & another round of betting and another discard. The river is dealt & there is another round of betting. This isn't the end of the hand however, as there is another board card (the ocean) & another round of betting. At the end of the hand there are 6 cards on the board & 2 cards in the hands of the players' hands, with the best 5-card hand from any combination of the 6 board cards & the 2 hole cards of each player. Sounds interesting, though I didn't get a chance to play it.
Anyway, I finished the night with a small loss ... another case of run good!
Next on the agenda: A day off from tournaments, possibly playing cash games at the Rio or elsewhere, with the possibility of an episode of the Donkcast in the works as well.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
USA Day 21
One tourney, one cash!
Today was the Omaha hi-lo at the Orleans. 168 players & I managed to make it to the final 15 who will return tomorrow to play the tourney out.
I'll keep it brief as I need to get some sleep, but the summary is horrible structure (chip leader at the moment has lass than 10 big bets!), horrible dealers (with a few exceptions), some strange rules (one guy arrived late & had to wait for 25 minutes to be big blind before he was dealt in!) & a bunch of nitty, grumpy old men ... oh, and some run good for me! Highlight of the run good was shipping a 70k+ pot when all-in with levels of 4k/8k with ace high! Also managed to follow that effort up a few hands later by making quad kings for a large scoop!
Lets hope the run good continues for the final two tables!
Today was the Omaha hi-lo at the Orleans. 168 players & I managed to make it to the final 15 who will return tomorrow to play the tourney out.
I'll keep it brief as I need to get some sleep, but the summary is horrible structure (chip leader at the moment has lass than 10 big bets!), horrible dealers (with a few exceptions), some strange rules (one guy arrived late & had to wait for 25 minutes to be big blind before he was dealt in!) & a bunch of nitty, grumpy old men ... oh, and some run good for me! Highlight of the run good was shipping a 70k+ pot when all-in with levels of 4k/8k with ace high! Also managed to follow that effort up a few hands later by making quad kings for a large scoop!
Lets hope the run good continues for the final two tables!
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