Home Games and Shit Rain

Well I got back into the juicy home game scene last night. I walked into my old fraternity house and saw that they were starting up a game. $20 with .25/.50 blinds. I tried to get it down to .10/.25 blinds, but they wanted bigger stakes. Not really that big of a deal, it's just that there were some people buying in for $10 and I wanted to give them more play. A guy to my immeadiate right had bought in for $10 and was doing advanced Mathmatics at the table. I was trying to tell him how to play his stack, but he didn't just quite get it with him limping in or folding when he should have pushed. Sigh..math majors...

There were some horrible players at the table, though they were nice guys so I tried to keep the game friendly. This one guy was red-green blind (which caused some trouble with our red-green chips, but I helped him organize his chips so that he could tell the difference) who was the biggest calling station. And I do mean calling station. Flop the nut straight? Call the flop, check the turn, and call the river. Full house? Call Call Call. He eventually got a nice stack and then busted out - twice.

I was building up my stack nicely, making some sick calls with A-high. And I don't mean post-flop I mean preflop where I knew that AT BEST I was the winning side of a coinflip. A2 vs. KQ. A6 vs. K9. Some people just liked to get it in and if I felt I had the best hand, I obliged. Of course, I was at the losing side of this in the biggest pot of the night. I had built up to about $80 and the only other guy who had made some traction had $40. He raised the button to $2, I reraised on the SB with KcKs to $6, he reraised to $16 and I thought about it and pushed. He hesistates to call off the rest of his chips and I can just feel the bad Ace he had. Of course he calls (can't lose a big pot unless he calls) and the worst part was that the flop was Axx all of spades. I don't get the K or the spade and fate mocks me once again. It's very annoying when someone out flops you, but you flop a strong draw and don't catch up. However, I did win those other 2 coinflips so I can't really complain about bad luck, just bad timing. The game broke up soon after that and I cashed out with $55. Not bad, but it sucks to see $80 walk out of the room that could have been in your stack. However, I will be playing with these guys again, so I will have a chance to let the long run come out.

I woke up this morning to a "drip-drip" and realized that my room was leaking. I scramble to find some leak-prevention devices (i.e. buckets) and was able to get most of it. And then it starts leaking over my bed. It's not raining, so I have to assume that it's the upstairs bathroom (which is right above my roome). Further inquery lead me to discover that aomse guy living upstairs had flooded the toilet and I was getting shit water leaking onto my room. Yay what a great way to wake up.

Everything else is starting to come together and my big plan is to raid the home games. I just need to find my hookup and I should be set. Hopefully my room has stopped leaking.

Time to do some cleanup.

Slow Restart

Well, I've pretty much taken the last week off of poker. I went home to Tahoe and stayed with my Mom and sister. Most of the time I spent lying around and watching TV. I watched most of Rounder with my Mom, but we didn't get all of the way through. My mom really wants to know if Mike finishes Law school (I'm not telling Ma!). There are a few parallels in that movie to my life except of the whole KGB/Mafia angle. I wish I had a Knish in my life because it can be frustrating to have to make all of these mistakes on my own and not have someone help me through this.

I just remembered a hand from the HORSE tourney that I 4thed in. In the beginning, during the RAZZ section there was this guy on my immeadiate left who had no idea how to play and said as much. I decide to bluf with a KJ in the hole and a 3 up and he's calling with obviously having no idea what's going on (he had a JT something). I explain the rules to him and get him to fold during the hand. As I think back on the hand, I think it's a pretty funny bluff: teach your opponent about the game early in the hand to get him to fold later.

Rebuilding is not going very well because I've had bills to pay and through some bad luck/timing in deposits, in the last month I've faced $280 in overdraft fees with Bank of America. It seems that everytime I withdraw money to shore up my account, I become overdrawn and then have to deplete my bankroll even more to cover that. So it's been frustrating. This month I start my job so I will have an income that will allow me to stabilize.

*SHAMELESS PROMOTION*

I'm working with this company that's putting on the college world series of poker (or something like that) which is a free tournament for college students for prizes (like free tuition). I get paid by the hour and on a commission basis so if you want to help me out, just leave a little comment and I can get you registered. The rep who gets the most signups gets to go the WSOP Main Event so I'm looking forward to winning my 2nd seat and selling it :D. Once the promotion starts, I'll probably post more details.

*END SHAMELESS PROMOTION*

As some of you may remember, last Spring I said I was writing a script and frankly, I'm stuck on page 16. I know where I want it to go, but I can't seem to move to the next scene. I haven't really focused on it that much to not sound like I have the worst case of writer's block, but I haven't made much progress. I've also been distracted because I started writing another script for the show Futurama (which is one of the greatest shows of the last few years) in which the Professor runs against Richard Nixon for President. I've also started outlining a short story called "Five Hands". I just need to finish one of these stupid projects.

Right now I'm watching Garden State. I like Zach Braff, but I think that he only can play Zach Braff. To be fair, there's not much to his body of work ("Last Kiss" should be an interesting way to prove/disprove my feelings). However, I really in the film. The soundtrack is great, and the characters in the movie I can see in some of the people that I know. Plus I have a super-crush on Natalie Portman so it has that going for it.

Thanks for reading.

More HORSE Goodness

So yesterday, on a whim, I signed up at the last minute for a $20+2 HORSE tournament with 96 people playing. I instantly regretted it because I've been avoiding tournaments because they are such a long run thing and I can get a more immeadiate return on my money by playing ring games or SnGs.

I proceeded to play flawlessly until I busted out in 4th for $168. Well, not quite flawlessly. This one guy who placed in 2nd, hit a gutshot in 7 card stud on the river and I paid him off with Kings and 8s. I felt that I was beat with a hidden straight or flush (his board was non-threatening), but I was getting 11-1 and couldn't lay it down. I lost my chip lead that hand with 14 people left.

I make it to the final table with about the same number of chips (good for 5th) and I played perfectly. I made the steals when I should have and played my hands well. As the idiots knocked themselves out, I managed to get up to the 20K mark (good for 1/7 of the chips and 3rd place with 4 left) when in 3/6K Holden, I raised on the button with A8o, got reraised and I called. Flop came blanks and I folded. I lost 9K out of 20 there and my inexperiance playing short stack and short handed limit holdem came through. I just couldn't pick a spot. I made some bad folds until I got down to 6.3K with half of that in the BB. I was determined to go with this as I had the math on my side, but UTG raised and the SB (same idiot who rivered a gutshot) called and I had 92o. I took up all of my time trying to estimate my equity in the hand and I figured that I was probably around 9% against 2 players, or at least 8-1.

I folded and I can't figure out if it was the right move. It was one of the rare situations in poker that I hadn't ever come up against yet. The next hand I had 34o (a much better hand IMO than 92o), got 3-way action against the same 2 people and missed a straight draw to bust out.

Overall I was very happy with my final table play and with the way the chip count was at the beginning of the final table, I really can't complain about a 4th. The play was just so terrible that a guy with a lot of chips knocked himself out and the swings in the chipstacks of other players were wild. If I had gotten a hold of a few more chips (or hit on that A8o flop), then I probably could have won it. All of the decent players were knocked out by the time we had gotten 4 handed and I just need to get something going. However, I did make all of the right steals and all of the right folds to keep me in contention. I don't think I ever played those Stud games as well as a short stack than as I did at that table.

Overall it was rewarding and it's nice to final table the 2nd tournament I played in August.

Thanks to all of my buddies who railed me!

Insaneo Headsup

So I return to my apartment from my friends' place and I decide to see what's going on at Full Tilt. Look at the Stud window, the 2/4 game is full. Check the Headsup SnG, nothing really going on. And then I go check the Holdem window. 2/4 Holdem is a bit high variance for me to be playing right now, so I look at the 1/2. And I see this guy with 3 tables open, obviously looking for headsup action. I was tempted and I saw that he was playing against this guy at one of the tables. So take a gander at this guy.

Now this guy's name is 100KorBust. Sounds like someone who is determined and maybe a bit too agressive (Anyone with a big goal likes to get there as quickly as possible). I watch and this guy is very aggressive and he's raising every hand he can and calling down if he connects with ANYTHING. So I sit down.

Now I prefer 3 handed action with a maniac to headsup because maniacs are high variance and when I feel I have the best hand, I can knock the other guy out for the dead money. Essentially, unless the 3rd guy is a maniac or a very good player, he just sweetens the pot and lessens my variance. After a bit, 100K sits out, this guy leaves and I beat up on a 4th guy who showed up for 2 hands. I end up being down $3.

So I see 100K sitting at these other tables. I know he's a juicy player, but headsup is so much variance that I don't want to slug it out against him. I decide to sit down with $30 and either lose it or double up. Here are some choice hands against him.

Seat 2: XA_kid ($27.25)
Seat 6: 100K or BUST ($99)
XA_kid posts the small blind of $0.50
100K or BUST posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to XA_kid [5s 4d]
Fresh Fly sits down
XA_kid raises to $2
100K or BUST calls $1
*** FLOP *** [2d 3s 6s]
100K or BUST bets $1
XA_kid raises to $2
100K or BUST raises to $3
XA_kid calls $1
*** TURN *** [2d 3s 6s] [Th]
100K or BUST bets $2
XA_kid raises to $4
100K or BUST calls $2
*** RIVER *** [2d 3s 6s Th] [9c]
100K or BUST checks
XA_kid bets $2
100K or BUST calls $2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
XA_kid shows [5s 4d] (a straight, Six high)
100K or BUST shows [5h 2s] (a pair of Twos)
XA_kid wins the pot ($21.50) with a straight, Six high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $22 | Rake $0.50
Board: [2d 3s 6s Th 9c]
Seat 2: XA_kid (small blind) showed [5s 4d] and won ($21.50) with a straight, Six high
Seat 6: 100K or BUST (big blind) showed [5h 2s] and lost with a pair of Twos

FullTiltPoker Game #891604276: Table Serafina - $1/$2 - Limit Hold'em - 1:57:55 ET - 2006/08/13
Seat 2: XA_kid ($48.50)
Seat 6: 100K or BUST ($55.50)
Seat 9: Banjo_K ($100), is sitting out
XA_kid has 5 seconds left to act
XA_kid posts the small blind of $0.50
100K or BUST posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to XA_kid [4d Jc]
XA_kid raises to $2
100K or BUST raises to $3
XA_kid calls $1
*** FLOP *** [3s 5d Ac]
100K or BUST bets $1
XA_kid calls $1
*** TURN *** [3s 5d Ac] [7c]
100K or BUST bets $2
XA_kid calls $2
*** RIVER *** [3s 5d Ac 7c] [3h]
100K or BUST bets $2
XA_kid calls $2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
100K or BUST shows [8s 2s] (a pair of Threes)
XA_kid shows [4d Jc] (a pair of Threes)
XA_kid wins the pot ($15.50) with a pair of Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $16 | Rake $0.50
Board: [3s 5d Ac 7c 3h]
Seat 2: XA_kid (small blind) showed [4d Jc] and won ($15.50) with a pair of Threes
Seat 6: 100K or BUST (big blind) showed [8s 2s] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 9: Banjo_K is sitting out

That's right, I called down with Jack High. I thought about raising him on the turn since I had position, had the draw, and I was calling down anyways, but I didn't want him to 3-bet me. At the river I was 75% sure I had the best hand.

I made it to $62 in 36 hands and called it quits. Another guy had sat down in the middle of our match and he beat 100K for $20 bucks and then left. I wanted to play more and I knew I had an edge, but his style could result in a big come back and negative variance for me. Normally I advocate staying in a game as long as it was good and if we were 3-handed I would, but I set myself a limit and stuck to it. If my bankroll was a bit healthier I would have definently tried to bust him. Also at that point I had him outchipped $60-$40 and therefore I had more to lose than him. Not a great decision to set a stop-win, but it felt right for this situation.

A good day overall for. The only disapointing thing was that I was playing in a 18 Man SnG, make it 3 way with about even stacks and this donkey decides to push all-in against my flopped 2 pair with the flush draw. He hits, becomes the monster stack, and I'm out in 3rd. Still, if tomorrow goes as well as today, then it will be a nice weekend for me.

Well That was a Bust

For the record, that was a bad strategy. Never going to do that again.

Rough Friday

Man was yesterday a long day. I was awake at 6 AM to study (I do all of my best studying the morning of and I just try to get to bed early the day before). I just exhausted by 8 annd fell asleep at 9.

I've taken a bit of a hit bankroll wise, but that's mostly because I've had to withdraw a lot so that I can have food to eat. Not eating is no fun, let me tell you. So I've had to drop down a limit, but I found a fun easy, no risk game in 7 Card Stud. Man there are a bunch of donks there on Full Tilt.

Probably going to sleep again before the Pokertips Tourney today. If anyone reads this before the tournament starts, my strategy is going to be to play very tight during the 1st blind level, loosen up a lot during the 2nd, and play tight for the 3rd. The fun part will be seeing how many people read this and make the proper strategy adjustments.

Movin' On Up

So I've graduated a bit. I'm now playing full ring 2/4 and 1/2 Limit and $10-$20 SnGs. The 2/4 game is a bit of a risk since I have about 150 BB, but I find that I am playing my best in those games because of the pressure and I've been practicing very good table selection at those games. I've stopped playing $25NL because for some reason my play deteriorates at that level and I can see myself making some bad decisions.

Everything is going better. I'm still in a tunnel, but I can see the light. Hopefully I should be back up and running by the end of the month at the 5/10 Limit and $100 NL Games.

I've got finals tomorrow, so wish me luck!

HORSE Results

To update my HORSE SnG stats: I have 3 Wins 1 2nd and 2 losses. My ROI is 119%.

Obviously this is not a great sample set, but I am going to update my HORSE stats in this post. So look for updates.

Another 3rd to add. Would have been higher except for my last hand. 300/600 Holdem. In the BB with KJh. Button raises SB calls and I call. Flop is J52 with the 52 being hearts. SB bets, I raise, Button reraises and SB folded and I cap. I go all-in on a 9c turn and he calls, showing pocket 9s. How brutal is that?

New Stats: 3-1-1-2. New ROI: 107%

Another 3rd to add and like the last one, it was decided my stupidity. Final 3, chip leader. About to go to the games where I have the biggest edge, Razz and 7 card stud. And my internet goes out.

Crap, crap, crap.

So I am going to count this one as a 2nd. Sure, my actual finish may be different, but unlike someone turning trips, this one was not part of the normal poker luck. My ROI will reflect this as well.

New Stats: 3-2-1-2. New ROI: 109%.

Okay, add 2 more loses. I think my run is over.

New Stats: 3-2-1-4 New ROI: I'll figure it out later. Probably 85%-90%.

Small Ball Poker

So right now I am experimenting with small ball poker with some heavy hits added into the mix for my tournament.

Small ball is a style most famously used by Phil Helmuth. In a single sentence, it is picking small pots, while avoiding big ones. Of course, I modified it to include some big pots.

What I would usually do is do my standard raise to 3x the BB and play relatively conservative poker. Sure I would raise up front with 44 if I felt that I could get away with it, but I really never got out of line unless I was in late position and the blinds were worth stealing.

So today I entered a 50 FPP tourney on Full Tilt to test something out. I sort of didn't really want to play it out (200 entrants and a 1st prize of $24+2 Token doesn't really seem like a good use of my valueless time). I got involved in a big pot were my QTo beat KK and then I just started chopping away. I would raise to 2.5x the BB and take down many pots without contest. I am pretty sure that I played 90% of my hands. I soon got my chip stack up to 4500. And then, I sort've lost it and played big pots when I shouldn't have. I didn't really care, but it was a fun experiment and when I miss 5 outer after 5 outer, I just can't win. :D

Emboldened by this strat, I decided to test it out on a SnG. I signed up for a $11 Turbo and doubled up my 1st hand when my AA outran 22 when the 2s open pushed on a 635 flop. And then I continued to chop away at pots (entering about 40% of the pots), but I added something new to my strategy. I was playing my draws hard, pushing all in and overbetting the pot. Here's a good example of me bringing out the big guns:

FullTiltPoker Game #867642582: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (5795208), Table 1 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:24:40 ET - 2006/08/05
Seat 1: RandomHero38 (1,645)
Seat 2: ponch3 (1,305)
Seat 3: UWEC OB (1,815)
Seat 4: ACTablerake (2,010)
Seat 5: CHEEKS (1,260)
Seat 7: AzBgPete (1,725)
Seat 8: allaboutheu (1,435)
Seat 9: XA_kid (2,305)
XA_kid posts the small blind of 25
RandomHero38 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to XA_kid [6c Tc]
ponch3 calls 50
UWEC OB folds
ACTablerake folds
CHEEKS calls 50
AzBgPete raises to 100
allaboutheu folds
XA_kid raises to 300
RandomHero38 folds
ponch3 folds
CHEEKS folds
AzBgPete calls 200
*** FLOP *** [8h 9c Qs]
XA_kid bets 2,005, and is all in
AzBgPete folds
Uncalled bet of 2,005 returned to XA_kid
XA_kid mucks
XA_kid wins the pot (750)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 750 | Rake 0
Board: [8h 9c Qs]
Seat 1: RandomHero38 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: ponch3 folded before the Flop
Seat 3: UWEC OB didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: ACTablerake didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: CHEEKS folded before the Flop
Seat 7: AzBgPete folded on the Flop
Seat 8: allaboutheu (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: XA_kid (small blind) collected (750), mucked

I was fairly sure he was weak preflop so I made a position reraise, not really looking for either a call or a fold. I just wanted to make him make a mistake. He checks to me and I realize that I have a double gutshot. And what better way to win than to push all-in? I get maximum fold equity and people really start to fear me. While I was raising a fair amount of pots, the only big pot I played I showed AA, so I get a little bit of respect.

Pushing all-in with both your draws and your made hands is actually an interesting bit of game theory that is (or at least was) used by a famous online player, Spirit Rock. While I don't like to do that in cash games were you are a lot of blinds, I think that a small-ball approach in combination with these heavy hits might prove to be very effective in tournaments.

Of course, I'm sure that better players than me have prefected this method, there's really no place where I can just learn it, so I am having to learn it on my own. This will probably prove to be better because then I will be able to use it more effectively because I learned by doing.

I finished that SnG in 1st, having knocked out 6 of my 8 opponents in the process. Even though it was a turbo, I went heads up at the 100-200 level and finished it off at the 120-240 level.

One last thing. I am 2-1 in HORSE SnGs. Not heads up, but 8 person games. And by 2-1, I don't mean 2 cashes, I mean 2 1sts and 1 5th. Sure, it's a small sample size, but I feel pumped!

Getting Back on the HORSE

Well, I've moved from Stars to Full Tilt and man do I feel better. I don't know what it is, but I just beat the players on Full Tilt like redheaded step children. I've never had any problems with any game at any limit that I've played. I like the software and I like the games.

And I've found a secret goldmine. Headsup HORSE Sit and Gos. The play is so bad that I think that my win rate is about 4 out of 5. And I can usually hook someone to sit down with me. Of course, what helps is that I am good at all of the games with Holdem, Razz and Stud being my best and Stud H/L being my worst (I hate playing it headsup. It's like banging your head into a brick wall). My limit Omaha 8 game has improved since I started playing HORSE 5 months ago, but unless I face tougher competition, it's going to be hard to improve.

I played in a $20 Razz tournament today and man was my unlucky streak just brutal. I lost 4 out of 5 pots I played to the river. Each one was a suckout except the one where I busted when I stuck with the hand because I was short and my A84 didn't improve against a 235. I had this one guy complete with an Q23, I reraise with a 234 and he gets perfect perfect perfect for the wheel, while I bailed out on 6th when my 89 wasn't going to win. The same guy called a raise with a K as his door card and proceeded to call down to the river to beat my 8 low with a 7.

I am pretty sure that if you took all of the players from the online Stud games and put them in a tournament, it would be called "The Special Olympics of Poker."

Adventure. Excitement. A Jedi craves not these.

Well I do. One of my best friends joined the Peace Corp recently and was keeping a blog without telling me. He's in El Salvador and he has soem interesting stories.

Check it out.

http://carlosmundo.blogspot.com/