2 years ago
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Crap cops are alive and well
A break from my boring idle poker ramblings for a bit. First off I would rather be writing about what a wonderful time I had at Eh-Vegas. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Not that there wasn’t a wonderful time, I’m sure there was, just that I wasn’t able to make it. When I got back behind the wheel 2-3 weeks ago I was sorely tempted to make the run. Hell it was the thought of making the trip that was one of the motivating factors to start retraining the arm that quickly. WTF, it’s only a 7 hour run, a walk in the park in my old traveling days compared to when I was nonstopping to Chicago, Sheboygan, WI, or Whitewater Lake in WI. Well this weekend showed me it was a wise decision not to attempt the trip. I’m not even ready for an AC poker run let alone a real road trip. Most of my driving since I started again has been mainly really local, to work, the store, the local RPT game, nothing really over 15 mile. While I feel the arm gaining strength there are still times I have to get it out of the way because it has grown tired or it hits me with a bit of pain. Saturday I took it up a notch. I went to a game a bit more than just a 5 min ride from the house. When I got knocked out of there early I decided I wanted to hit the farmer’s market. They have a lot of great stands there but in particular there is a dried fruit and nut stand with exceptionally cheap prices and a candy stand that is the same not to mention it is one of the only places left to buy Jujubes. They are only open on Fridays and Saturdays and I usually head up there when I am jonesing for black licorice, nuts or jerky. Saturday I was jonesing for fruit and nuts so off I went after the poker game. Well between the poker game, the trip to the farmer’s market and a few other odds and ends I wound up putting about 50-60 miles on the car and by Saturday evening my right arm, the good one was tired. So if the right arm got tired with that little bit of driving because the left on can’t spell it yet I’m definitely not ready to hit the open road. On a brighter note however I hit the gym on Sunday and was able to get in a whole raft of exercises on the arm. I’m paying for it today but it felt good.
Now here is whatall two the throngs of my loyal readers have been waiting for. The crap cops are alive and doing well. No shit. This weekend I get a call from the rehab hospital I was in that didn’t have to do about money. Now that they are finally paid off they decided that it was OK to do a follow up study. They wanted to know how I felt about their services and how satisfied I was. In addition they did a follow up on me asking questions about my progress. How was I walking? Any problems getting in and out of the tub to shower? Was I shaving? Didn’t know how to answer this one. Shaving for me can be problematic at the best of times. I might not be shaving but it’s probably more because I’m lazy and hate to rather than any result of the stroke. Then, at the very end, they actually asked it. It shouldn’t have surprised me but it did. Out came, The Question! Was I having any problems moving my bowels? Cripes, these people just don’t give up. Couldn’t help it, I totally cracked up. Makes me wonder if I said yes if they would have Fed Exed a laxative over. It must be ingrained. I mean, I can understand them worrying about it while I’m in the hospital. They have to play CYA, make sure no one is suffering and they don’t have complications on their hands but to ask it in a follow up survey? Sheesh. It was good for a laugh though.
OK, time to wrap this one up. Will be back with more boring poker stories in the days to come now that I’m out and about. Thanks for lending me your eyeballs.
Now here is what
OK, time to wrap this one up. Will be back with more boring poker stories in the days to come now that I’m out and about. Thanks for lending me your eyeballs.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
A lot of poker, though nothing special
Back online for the Skillz game tonight. Ok, Ok, I did play the Brit game Sunday but was gone so fast I don’t think it should count. Kept running flopped sets into turned flushes and straights. Not good if one wishes to go far. Should probably take tonight and tomorrow off too but I like PLO so just couldn’t resist. Not really feeling it just yet but we’ll see how it goes.
Played a little free bar poker with RPT last night. Haven’t been out to one of them for awhile. Never know how I’m going to do in these games just because you never know who is going to be at the table. You have some very good players, you have the chasers and calling stations and you have some folks who haven’t a clue, they are just sitting down to try it out. Making it even better is that it’s free so the tendency to donk is magnified. Combine this with the blind structure which, after the first hour or 90 minutes starts to turn the game into a push fest against the big stacks and you aren’t getting classic poker here. Hey, it’s free poker, not the WSOP, so who cares. It’s a way to kill a few hours, have a few drinks and, if lucky enough to sift thru the mine field maybe win a few bar tab payments. Rigg’s company runs the games and does a damn fine job of it.
So I’m out for the first time in awhile for one of these and first hand I’m BB, structure is 200 to start with 1-2 being the opening blinds, and I get Qs-Ts, a hand worth playing in the blind and even defending against a standard raise. First two fold but MP goes 12. Now, for a lot of RPT players that would be a regular raise but I don’t get that impression from her. That big a raise signals a large hand, A-Q at least, big pair more likely so I figure I’m tossing. Before it gets to me however there a 3 more callers so with 51 chips in the pot I figure it’s worth my 10 to call. Normally I don’t give a rat’s patoot about pot odds when it comes to tournament play but here I figure if I smack the flop I’m going to stack one of these people. Chipping up early is important in these games because after about 90 min it turns into a bingo fest and also you get a lot of young kids who watch a lot of poker on TV and believe the game is played by bullying people off their hand and there are usually a few of them sitting with big stacks and if you are at their mercy if you don’t have the ammo to go with them. Two of these callers give me this impression and I get the impression that the original raiser is going to have problems letting go the big pair unless an ace hits the board and she’s not playing them. I smack the flop. It comes Q-x-T rainbow. I check. Normally I won’t slow play two pair, especially with the draw on the board but I just know one of these characters is going to bet so I want to see what happens, planning to check raise depending on the bet and the players. Well, the original raiser leads out for 25 and all the callers fold so since there is no sense pot building by smooth calling I raise to 75 figuring to try and take it down. After all, if she should be playing A-K why give her the chance for a J although she doesn’t strike me as the type to C-bet if she misses the flop. When she calls I figure A-Q or pp paint, likely Ks. As or Js are likely but might have brought a bigger preflop raise. A lot of people in these games hate to play them. Q’s or T’s also possible but since I had one of each it’s not as likely plus most people in these games would check that flop with a set. Just to let you know, I never have played with these particular people so I have no real reads, just going by my gut and the way they talk and acted before the game giving me impressions to mark up against the general type of player in RPT. Hell, I could be wrong as hell and be going home real quick. The turn put an end to that; it comes a Q giving me the nuts to that point. I value bet another 50 and she calls. River is a brick and I shove, she thinks then calls saying if I have a Q I win. I say I have the Q, along with the T, and she’s the one leaving early. That and one other hand have been the high point of the week. Everything else has been downhill. After that pot I took a few smaller ones but wound up bleeding most of my chips off to the chasers. Three times during the course of that game I spiked a set against a flush draw flop. All 3 times I went pot on the flop and pot on the turn after it bricked. All 3 times I got called down and lost to the flush when the third suited hit the river. Swore that I was forgetting the pot the next time, I was shoving against flush draws from now on. Wound up going out in 8th or 9th place thanks to the chasers. You figure it in these games. At least I made it to the free munchies but even they were a disappointment, no corn dogs so I consoled myself with chicken fries. No sense getting upset, it’s free; had a few drinks, played some poker, got some munchies, saw some friends. Life is good.
If you look at the opening statement you will realize I started this on Tuesday while waiting for the Skillz game to start. Got knocked out of that one so fast that I never got around to finishing it and have stayed away from the computer the rest of the week so working on it today. In the intervening days I played a couple of more RPT games and, last night went back online for a bit. Live recaps first, then cyber.
Thursday I went to another RPT game. Used to like this game even if the prize was smaller than that at other venues. Place is close to my house, they run 3 nights a week. And they were reasonable on drinks and pizza, not to mention I usually do well here. Thursday is making me rethink playing here in the future however. Not the game, the play was donkish but that’s nothing new. The waiter that used to be there is no longer there and his replacement has some attitude problems. I have been playing there for over two years 2-3 times a week before my stroke, was never asked for a credit card to secure my tab, never had a problem getting a drink or food, Keith, the waiter, was always around checking if everything was OK. It’s not a big place and getting up and going to the bar ain’t a big deal but when I’m sitting at a table I resent having to go to the bar to get my drink especially since I’m going to be expected to leave a tip there. I don’t mind tipping but not when I’m doing my own walking. The bartender gets tipped when I’m drinking at the bar, at a table it’s the waiter. So back on track the new waiter asks for my credit card and when I sigh and remark about how sad it is to be gone so long that they start asking for the card I get a whole lecture on how she’s responsible for skipped tabs and how she’s working 3 jobs to pay the bills, etc. I don’t mind giving the card, I was just expressing a regret, more to myself, I didn’t need the attitude. The course of the night would show why this lady needed 3 jobs to pay the bills. I was there two hours and think I saw her twice. She seemed more interested in chatting with the bartender and those customers that either she knew, or were younger and better looking than a crippled old, ugly fat man, than she was in serving said fat man. I was at least two drinks and maybe a slice or two of pizza under my normal level that night. If that is going to be the state of service there in the future I may have to pass on games there.
The poker was no better than the service but that is to be expected at this place. It’s a bigger Donkament than the Numbblowme. I really knew I was in trouble when a certain player sat at the table. I had played with this guy quite a bit, some at RPT but more often at a game run by a different company. I won’t say a competing company since comparing them there is no competition. I usually went to this game for two reasons; one a change of pace because they ran a different structure than RPT and two, I loved the drink and munchie specials at the place it was held. Number two is always an important factor here. In the other group his guy was considered a really good player since he was always near the top of the points standings. Maybe he was different at other games but when ever I played against him he was a total calling station and chaser. He also happened to be one of the luckiest chasers I ever saw. More than once I watched him call off his stack with nothing more than a mid-level flush draw and catch and near felt some poor bastard with top 2 or a set who would try to chase him off that draw. More than once I was that poor bastard. So I knew it was going to be an interesting night. As on Monday night I chipped up early on a bit of a donkey play. I was otb with K-Ts with 5 limpers in front so I call figuring the blinds are going too also so might as well see a flop. Again I smack the flop pretty well, A-K-T with a flush draw. It checks to me so I throw out a pot sized bet figuring it’s pretty useless because with that many people and that many possibilities I’m getting callers, someone may even have the Q-J but one needs to see where one stands. I get 3 callers but no raisers so either they are all drawing or someone is playing it cagey. That is rendered moot when the Q hits the turn. The blinds check and utg leads out for 25 which is about 1/3 the pot. The other two call which makes it about 150 in the pot so I throw my quarter in figuring I might as well take a chance on the 4 outer. Boooom, the river comes a K and I’m set. This is where my brain glitched. UTG bets out for 25 again and again the other two call. Me, not thinking that, in this game at least one of these characters isn’t going to fold that straight no matter what and more likely none of them will, only value bet another 50. I should have shoved and I know I would have had at least one of those stacks if not all three, especially after they all call and they all had that J and all seemed dumfounded when I announced boat. I guess they figured we were all chopping and I was just an idiot for raising. In a sense I was if you phrase it raising it so little. Of course that was about it for the night. I bled most of those chips back the same way I did Monday night though it was thru all ins rather than pot sized bets, I did learn that lesson. However I should have realized even all ins weren’t good enough with my “buddy” at the table. He’s willing to call off his stack with a draw and he did it a number of times. Couple of people got him but both times he was against me he hit his draws taking a large portion of my chips. He eventually got knocked out but someone else took his place, in more ways than one, and I headed home fairly early. Well, it was a fairly cheap night thanks to the service or lack of it. Well there’s more poker and actually a story about the poop police in the offing but this thing has run a bit long, I’m a tad tired and bed beckons.
Hope your eyeballs haven’t gotten too dry getting this far. I appreciate the effort. Thanks.
Played a little free bar poker with RPT last night. Haven’t been out to one of them for awhile. Never know how I’m going to do in these games just because you never know who is going to be at the table. You have some very good players, you have the chasers and calling stations and you have some folks who haven’t a clue, they are just sitting down to try it out. Making it even better is that it’s free so the tendency to donk is magnified. Combine this with the blind structure which, after the first hour or 90 minutes starts to turn the game into a push fest against the big stacks and you aren’t getting classic poker here. Hey, it’s free poker, not the WSOP, so who cares. It’s a way to kill a few hours, have a few drinks and, if lucky enough to sift thru the mine field maybe win a few bar tab payments. Rigg’s company runs the games and does a damn fine job of it.
So I’m out for the first time in awhile for one of these and first hand I’m BB, structure is 200 to start with 1-2 being the opening blinds, and I get Qs-Ts, a hand worth playing in the blind and even defending against a standard raise. First two fold but MP goes 12. Now, for a lot of RPT players that would be a regular raise but I don’t get that impression from her. That big a raise signals a large hand, A-Q at least, big pair more likely so I figure I’m tossing. Before it gets to me however there a 3 more callers so with 51 chips in the pot I figure it’s worth my 10 to call. Normally I don’t give a rat’s patoot about pot odds when it comes to tournament play but here I figure if I smack the flop I’m going to stack one of these people. Chipping up early is important in these games because after about 90 min it turns into a bingo fest and also you get a lot of young kids who watch a lot of poker on TV and believe the game is played by bullying people off their hand and there are usually a few of them sitting with big stacks and if you are at their mercy if you don’t have the ammo to go with them. Two of these callers give me this impression and I get the impression that the original raiser is going to have problems letting go the big pair unless an ace hits the board and she’s not playing them. I smack the flop. It comes Q-x-T rainbow. I check. Normally I won’t slow play two pair, especially with the draw on the board but I just know one of these characters is going to bet so I want to see what happens, planning to check raise depending on the bet and the players. Well, the original raiser leads out for 25 and all the callers fold so since there is no sense pot building by smooth calling I raise to 75 figuring to try and take it down. After all, if she should be playing A-K why give her the chance for a J although she doesn’t strike me as the type to C-bet if she misses the flop. When she calls I figure A-Q or pp paint, likely Ks. As or Js are likely but might have brought a bigger preflop raise. A lot of people in these games hate to play them. Q’s or T’s also possible but since I had one of each it’s not as likely plus most people in these games would check that flop with a set. Just to let you know, I never have played with these particular people so I have no real reads, just going by my gut and the way they talk and acted before the game giving me impressions to mark up against the general type of player in RPT. Hell, I could be wrong as hell and be going home real quick. The turn put an end to that; it comes a Q giving me the nuts to that point. I value bet another 50 and she calls. River is a brick and I shove, she thinks then calls saying if I have a Q I win. I say I have the Q, along with the T, and she’s the one leaving early. That and one other hand have been the high point of the week. Everything else has been downhill. After that pot I took a few smaller ones but wound up bleeding most of my chips off to the chasers. Three times during the course of that game I spiked a set against a flush draw flop. All 3 times I went pot on the flop and pot on the turn after it bricked. All 3 times I got called down and lost to the flush when the third suited hit the river. Swore that I was forgetting the pot the next time, I was shoving against flush draws from now on. Wound up going out in 8th or 9th place thanks to the chasers. You figure it in these games. At least I made it to the free munchies but even they were a disappointment, no corn dogs so I consoled myself with chicken fries. No sense getting upset, it’s free; had a few drinks, played some poker, got some munchies, saw some friends. Life is good.
If you look at the opening statement you will realize I started this on Tuesday while waiting for the Skillz game to start. Got knocked out of that one so fast that I never got around to finishing it and have stayed away from the computer the rest of the week so working on it today. In the intervening days I played a couple of more RPT games and, last night went back online for a bit. Live recaps first, then cyber.
Thursday I went to another RPT game. Used to like this game even if the prize was smaller than that at other venues. Place is close to my house, they run 3 nights a week. And they were reasonable on drinks and pizza, not to mention I usually do well here. Thursday is making me rethink playing here in the future however. Not the game, the play was donkish but that’s nothing new. The waiter that used to be there is no longer there and his replacement has some attitude problems. I have been playing there for over two years 2-3 times a week before my stroke, was never asked for a credit card to secure my tab, never had a problem getting a drink or food, Keith, the waiter, was always around checking if everything was OK. It’s not a big place and getting up and going to the bar ain’t a big deal but when I’m sitting at a table I resent having to go to the bar to get my drink especially since I’m going to be expected to leave a tip there. I don’t mind tipping but not when I’m doing my own walking. The bartender gets tipped when I’m drinking at the bar, at a table it’s the waiter. So back on track the new waiter asks for my credit card and when I sigh and remark about how sad it is to be gone so long that they start asking for the card I get a whole lecture on how she’s responsible for skipped tabs and how she’s working 3 jobs to pay the bills, etc. I don’t mind giving the card, I was just expressing a regret, more to myself, I didn’t need the attitude. The course of the night would show why this lady needed 3 jobs to pay the bills. I was there two hours and think I saw her twice. She seemed more interested in chatting with the bartender and those customers that either she knew, or were younger and better looking than a crippled old, ugly fat man, than she was in serving said fat man. I was at least two drinks and maybe a slice or two of pizza under my normal level that night. If that is going to be the state of service there in the future I may have to pass on games there.
The poker was no better than the service but that is to be expected at this place. It’s a bigger Donkament than the Numbblowme. I really knew I was in trouble when a certain player sat at the table. I had played with this guy quite a bit, some at RPT but more often at a game run by a different company. I won’t say a competing company since comparing them there is no competition. I usually went to this game for two reasons; one a change of pace because they ran a different structure than RPT and two, I loved the drink and munchie specials at the place it was held. Number two is always an important factor here. In the other group his guy was considered a really good player since he was always near the top of the points standings. Maybe he was different at other games but when ever I played against him he was a total calling station and chaser. He also happened to be one of the luckiest chasers I ever saw. More than once I watched him call off his stack with nothing more than a mid-level flush draw and catch and near felt some poor bastard with top 2 or a set who would try to chase him off that draw. More than once I was that poor bastard. So I knew it was going to be an interesting night. As on Monday night I chipped up early on a bit of a donkey play. I was otb with K-Ts with 5 limpers in front so I call figuring the blinds are going too also so might as well see a flop. Again I smack the flop pretty well, A-K-T with a flush draw. It checks to me so I throw out a pot sized bet figuring it’s pretty useless because with that many people and that many possibilities I’m getting callers, someone may even have the Q-J but one needs to see where one stands. I get 3 callers but no raisers so either they are all drawing or someone is playing it cagey. That is rendered moot when the Q hits the turn. The blinds check and utg leads out for 25 which is about 1/3 the pot. The other two call which makes it about 150 in the pot so I throw my quarter in figuring I might as well take a chance on the 4 outer. Boooom, the river comes a K and I’m set. This is where my brain glitched. UTG bets out for 25 again and again the other two call. Me, not thinking that, in this game at least one of these characters isn’t going to fold that straight no matter what and more likely none of them will, only value bet another 50. I should have shoved and I know I would have had at least one of those stacks if not all three, especially after they all call and they all had that J and all seemed dumfounded when I announced boat. I guess they figured we were all chopping and I was just an idiot for raising. In a sense I was if you phrase it raising it so little. Of course that was about it for the night. I bled most of those chips back the same way I did Monday night though it was thru all ins rather than pot sized bets, I did learn that lesson. However I should have realized even all ins weren’t good enough with my “buddy” at the table. He’s willing to call off his stack with a draw and he did it a number of times. Couple of people got him but both times he was against me he hit his draws taking a large portion of my chips. He eventually got knocked out but someone else took his place, in more ways than one, and I headed home fairly early. Well, it was a fairly cheap night thanks to the service or lack of it. Well there’s more poker and actually a story about the poop police in the offing but this thing has run a bit long, I’m a tad tired and bed beckons.
Hope your eyeballs haven’t gotten too dry getting this far. I appreciate the effort. Thanks.
Friday, March 6, 2009
So much to do, so little time
Online poker vacation started around 10:30-11 last pm. That’s when I donked out of the Sniper on AP. Cashed another though just barely. Between KOs and money I got back my buy ins for the Sniper and the Shark game with maybe a buck or two extra. My play in those two was even worse than it has been lately. Could not focus at all.
Opening table at the Shark was ok with Mojo and 36Lightening there. Bit of chatter making it enjoyable. Was on a roller coaster ride for the most part, donk off, chip up, donk, chip. Just before the table was broken I chipped up to put me in the top 10. Lost Mojo somewhere along the way and Lightening got moved to another table with the break and I just didn’t feel it at the second table and playeddonkey, jackass while there and was soon gone.
The Sniper I played more out of habit and to give me something to do while waiting for the Shark to start. Doubled up early and then sat there and piddled around for a couple of hours. Didn’t even get a KO for about an hour and a half. Lost about half my stack then doubled again, this time getting my first KO. Bled some chips and then hit a double KO on a couple of shorter stacks. Again up and down for awhile, never really getting a decent stack or getting much above 40th place. Finally went out when I ran my A-J into the table bully who actually had a hand when I shoved. To show how much apathy had set in, or how unmemorable either game was outside the banter, I can’t even really remember any significant hands. Definitely thinking the break is necessary. Hoping I feel up to the Brit game on Sunday but might not make it back until Skillz on Tuesday. If I don’t feel like playing that it’s definitely going to stretch until next Sunday’s Brit game. Can’t imagine going that long without poker but if the funk lasts that long it’s gonna happen. See you around, sooner rather than later I hope.
Thanks for at least pretending to pay attention.
Opening table at the Shark was ok with Mojo and 36Lightening there. Bit of chatter making it enjoyable. Was on a roller coaster ride for the most part, donk off, chip up, donk, chip. Just before the table was broken I chipped up to put me in the top 10. Lost Mojo somewhere along the way and Lightening got moved to another table with the break and I just didn’t feel it at the second table and played
The Sniper I played more out of habit and to give me something to do while waiting for the Shark to start. Doubled up early and then sat there and piddled around for a couple of hours. Didn’t even get a KO for about an hour and a half. Lost about half my stack then doubled again, this time getting my first KO. Bled some chips and then hit a double KO on a couple of shorter stacks. Again up and down for awhile, never really getting a decent stack or getting much above 40th place. Finally went out when I ran my A-J into the table bully who actually had a hand when I shoved. To show how much apathy had set in, or how unmemorable either game was outside the banter, I can’t even really remember any significant hands. Definitely thinking the break is necessary. Hoping I feel up to the Brit game on Sunday but might not make it back until Skillz on Tuesday. If I don’t feel like playing that it’s definitely going to stretch until next Sunday’s Brit game. Can’t imagine going that long without poker but if the funk lasts that long it’s gonna happen. See you around, sooner rather than later I hope.
Thanks for at least pretending to pay attention.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Break Time
OK, last night told me that it’s time to take a few days off from poker, online style at least. Even though the hot streak continues with the Sniper on AP, cashed another one last night for a small amount, I made some real boneheaded plays in it, the Skillz and the Mookie. Time to give my eyes a rest. Some of the plays were pure dee jackass, others, at first glance, might seem to come under the category of “that’s poker” but upon further review I decided that they were plays I could, and should, have gotten away from. Been playing online every night for almost two weeks now, which is a long run for me, and during the run the last week has consisted of some late nights, so combine that with the aforementioned donkery and it means that, after tonight, it’s time for a few days off. Would start to night but there is a regular game I play in, more for the enjoyment than the win, so I’ll go donk off in that one before I shut it down. Maybe I’ll catch up on some reading, maybe go see Watchmen this weekend.
Speaking of the Mook, I found it a frustrating game last night (another reason I’m taking a break. Frustration is not good). The table was a tight as a bull’s arse in fly season. Typical deal went, fold, fold, raise, everyone fold. It was mostly a preflop game, seemed like very few pots were actually played and when they were they wasn’t hotly contested. Seems like the only time someone called my raises were when I was playing position more than the cards. Every time I raised with suited connectors one of the blinds reraised, usually big enough that I had to dump them. Yet I had A-A 4 times and got action once and the same for K-K and that was from a short stack. That kind of thing does nothing to lower the frustration factor. I’m not making any indictments here either, hell I was as guilty of the same style of play and did more than my share of folding to the raises rather than mixing it up though I did defend a couple of blinds with less than premium hands but which I considered playable enough to see the flop. Got lucky with them too. No. just stating a fact, that it was a slow table and not much could be done about it. Of course the general distractedness I have felt the last couple of days also plays into my feelings on the situation. Anyway, we’ll take a couple of days off, recharge the batteries and be ready to bounce back into the BBT in a few days.
The Sniper was also frustrating even though I did cash it. It was frustrating for the opposite of the Mookie. Instead of a TAG table it was LP. I think I was the only one raising preflop unless someone had aces or kings but once they limped they had a strangle hold on that bet. If I had 5 limpers and raised pre I had at least 4 callers to the flop. I was getting creamed coming and going. If I had A-Q in a late position and raised and spiked my A I would get some guy in EP have A-K, who limp called to start, and check called it all the way down. OTOH, I had aces and kings cracked a couple of times by guys calling the preflop raise with hands like K-7 or J-8 and catching 2 pair. Now obviously it wasn’t all the time since I lasted a while but it seemed every time I chipped up I’d wind up bleeding off a quarter to a third of my stack in that sort of situation. The water torture at the poker table, slow death, chip by chip by chip. I felt I was going crazy trying to figure what I could do to get someone off a hand and make my hands hold up but when I guy is willing to call off a third of his stack to a preflop raise with K-7 off just because he already limped in; there ain’t much you can do. Of course, what the hell he’s doing limping in OOP with K-7 when he has less than 10 BB left any way is probably a better question. I realize people do these things, especially in lower limits online, and have lately come to take a Zen approach to it. Learn to keep myself calm, accept that it happens and just hope my hands hold up. Nothing else you can do about these players. Trying to throw punches at them in the form of increased aggressiveness is like trying to punch Jell-O, it’s just going to give and do its own thing anyway. You can only play your game and hope they slowly slip away. If it’s their night to catch cards, so be it, move on to the next game, the next night the whatever. One game does not a career make and $4-5 ain’t gonna bust me. I’ve gotten pretty good at taking this approach and think it’s improved my game some as it allows me to think more about it without the “I’m gonna kill that stupid bastard” attitude screwing up the rest of my game. So the fact that I found myself in exactly that attitude tells me it’s time for a couple days away from it.
Of course I will admit that last night was almost the perfect storm on the frustration front. Between the tightness of the Mook when I actually have caught A-A and K-K at least 8 times between them in one game, the general ‘tardness of the Sniper, the fact I could not win one race when I was behind and my tiredness all combined to try and drive my BP thru the roof. I relaxed and didn’t go off the deep end but still felt frustrated and let it affect me. Timeout. So I’ll play the Shark game tonight, have some fun and spend the next couple of days relaxing and catching up on some things, maybe even getting out to an RPT game to have a few drinks and play a live game. Haven’t done that for awhile except for their team heads up match last Sunday, which, while fun, ain’t exactly your typical game. I mean after all, if one doesn’t notice CK sitting by one’s side something is definitely wrong.
More boredom later. Drop in again
Speaking of the Mook, I found it a frustrating game last night (another reason I’m taking a break. Frustration is not good). The table was a tight as a bull’s arse in fly season. Typical deal went, fold, fold, raise, everyone fold. It was mostly a preflop game, seemed like very few pots were actually played and when they were they wasn’t hotly contested. Seems like the only time someone called my raises were when I was playing position more than the cards. Every time I raised with suited connectors one of the blinds reraised, usually big enough that I had to dump them. Yet I had A-A 4 times and got action once and the same for K-K and that was from a short stack. That kind of thing does nothing to lower the frustration factor. I’m not making any indictments here either, hell I was as guilty of the same style of play and did more than my share of folding to the raises rather than mixing it up though I did defend a couple of blinds with less than premium hands but which I considered playable enough to see the flop. Got lucky with them too. No. just stating a fact, that it was a slow table and not much could be done about it. Of course the general distractedness I have felt the last couple of days also plays into my feelings on the situation. Anyway, we’ll take a couple of days off, recharge the batteries and be ready to bounce back into the BBT in a few days.
The Sniper was also frustrating even though I did cash it. It was frustrating for the opposite of the Mookie. Instead of a TAG table it was LP. I think I was the only one raising preflop unless someone had aces or kings but once they limped they had a strangle hold on that bet. If I had 5 limpers and raised pre I had at least 4 callers to the flop. I was getting creamed coming and going. If I had A-Q in a late position and raised and spiked my A I would get some guy in EP have A-K, who limp called to start, and check called it all the way down. OTOH, I had aces and kings cracked a couple of times by guys calling the preflop raise with hands like K-7 or J-8 and catching 2 pair. Now obviously it wasn’t all the time since I lasted a while but it seemed every time I chipped up I’d wind up bleeding off a quarter to a third of my stack in that sort of situation. The water torture at the poker table, slow death, chip by chip by chip. I felt I was going crazy trying to figure what I could do to get someone off a hand and make my hands hold up but when I guy is willing to call off a third of his stack to a preflop raise with K-7 off just because he already limped in; there ain’t much you can do. Of course, what the hell he’s doing limping in OOP with K-7 when he has less than 10 BB left any way is probably a better question. I realize people do these things, especially in lower limits online, and have lately come to take a Zen approach to it. Learn to keep myself calm, accept that it happens and just hope my hands hold up. Nothing else you can do about these players. Trying to throw punches at them in the form of increased aggressiveness is like trying to punch Jell-O, it’s just going to give and do its own thing anyway. You can only play your game and hope they slowly slip away. If it’s their night to catch cards, so be it, move on to the next game, the next night the whatever. One game does not a career make and $4-5 ain’t gonna bust me. I’ve gotten pretty good at taking this approach and think it’s improved my game some as it allows me to think more about it without the “I’m gonna kill that stupid bastard” attitude screwing up the rest of my game. So the fact that I found myself in exactly that attitude tells me it’s time for a couple days away from it.
Of course I will admit that last night was almost the perfect storm on the frustration front. Between the tightness of the Mook when I actually have caught A-A and K-K at least 8 times between them in one game, the general ‘tardness of the Sniper, the fact I could not win one race when I was behind and my tiredness all combined to try and drive my BP thru the roof. I relaxed and didn’t go off the deep end but still felt frustrated and let it affect me. Timeout. So I’ll play the Shark game tonight, have some fun and spend the next couple of days relaxing and catching up on some things, maybe even getting out to an RPT game to have a few drinks and play a live game. Haven’t done that for awhile except for their team heads up match last Sunday, which, while fun, ain’t exactly your typical game. I mean after all, if one doesn’t notice CK sitting by one’s side something is definitely wrong.
More boredom later. Drop in again
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Even more poker
What's this world coming to, some consecutive posts on topic.
On a mini run the last couple of days, mainly on AP but some on Tilt and even a few bucks playing ring on UB. Mostly they have been small cashes, $15 -20 with a few bounties added in but there has been a couple of wins for some bigger bucks also. The Shark game mentioned a few posts ago and the screen shot in the post below this. The Sniper was actually chopped so the payout was a tad less than the $300 shown. We got to heads up around 2 in the am and while I had him out chipped by better than 5-3 and think I was the better player (don’t we all) and could have taken him it wasn’t going to be easy or quick barring some ungodly big hand over big hand situation. Since I had to get up at 7, and had been up late the night before also when he suggested some sort of chop I was agreeable. Can only go so long on these 4 hour nights. Not as young as I used to be and my teeth are already weak enough.
The $4 Sniper on AP has been very good to me lately. In addition to the win I have another 4-5 middlin cashes in the last 4-5 days. Don’t sound like much and in real terms actually not a great amount but considering that it’s a $4 buy in and I have been making that back on the bounties, I’m getting a 400-500% return on my money. If I could get that on my Roth and 401K I’d be happy as a pig in shit. So while it ain’t a whole lot of bucks and the bankroll could probably handle a bit of a rise in level I’m going to stay where I am at for awhile, for various reasons. First, I want to see if I can keep consistently navigating these tourneys before making any changes. Second, I play online to have something to do, not to make money. While making money is all well and good and I’m trying my damndest to do it I am not going to pressure myself with it by playing bigger tourneys. I’m in my comfort zone right now and why make myself uncomfortable if the object is to enjoy myself. I much prefer the live game to online so I’ll save my money for the time I can start traveling to AC again and for those visits to the Manor. My run on the Cerus network has been so hot that I even went over to UB and picked up $25 playing a .05/.10 ring NLHE table. It’s been a bitch since the officially combined AP and UB. I used to like to play ring games on Ultimate while playing SnGs on Absolute. They kept me patient with each other so that I wasn’t making donkey plays out of boredom on one table or the other. Not to say I’m not still being a donkey, just that I wasn’t doing it out of boredom. Since they combined however you can only open up one site at a time which has left me reaching for other ways to multi. While I have been doing it somewhat with Tilt I don’t feel as comfortable with it, not to mention Tilt’s variety of low level ring isn’t as extensive as UB’s.
Speaking of multi tabling AP and Tilt I wound up doing a bit of that last night during the Skillz game. I am happy to say I got cashes in both the Sniper on AP and the Stud 8 Skillz. While I can’t multi table plain stud, need to pay total attention to the board, I find it really helps me with the hi/lo version. I have a tight range of hands I play in Stud 8 until I reach a certain point in the tourney and I try to be as robotic about them as possible. For this reason, while I think it is my best game, at least in tourney, I also find it to be the most boring. By playing another table I find I don’t keep justifying why I should play certain hands that might come along that I don’t feel I should not be playing. If I don’t see a potential playable hand right from the start I check the fold box and return to the other game. If I see something playable the other game is usually a low enough buy in that I can relegate it to the back burner for the moment without worrying I might miss something. If I do, no biggee.
I have to say that my play last night was distracted and not by the Sniper. While I was playing that I did fairly well in the Skillz but once I got knocked out I made some horrendous mistakes. The worst was at the final table when I failed to recognize the lovely CK. My vision was a bit blurry from the long hours, I was up early yesterday also, and the time spent staring at the screen and I saw her name as dk, not ck and the distractedness never put it together. Ooooopppps, sorry about that ducks. Almost as bad was a hand where I dropped about 5K into the pot and folded to a 191 bet on the river. Holding a pair of 9s from the get go and catching a couple of draws I did a bit of chasing against what I presumed was a pair of aces. When I saw I had missed my draws and heard the click of the bet I folded without even really looking and after I hit it I saw it was for her final 191. Now I still think I was beat but at that point another 191 didn’t matter, especially since I didn’t KNOW I was beat. Chalk one up to bone headedness. Considering how stupid I played I’m surprised I got so far.
I didn’t get to sit at the final table long. I grabbed split As on my final hand with a deuce to accompany them. So I complete the bet. And 125 Will was my only caller. I grab a Q on 4th street while Will has suited connectors showing. I bet out and he calls. On 5th I grab another 2 to Will’s 5 and I bet. Will doesn’t seem to believe my A is representative of anything but its self and decides to try and run me off with a raise which I promptly reraised and he caps. I’m thinking that there may be a 6-7 in the hole but by this time I’m too far gone to worry about it with only 2-3 bets left. He pops my 2 on 6th and thinking he might have the lo and we are chopping I check, he bets and I call. (Another boneheaded play. I should have bet out since I was already going to the wall with the hand. Don’t think it would have made a difference at that point since I only had a bet and a half left, not enough to force him off but I have to get out of the habit of checking down when I have the high and only think someone has the lo. There is always the chance it ain’t there.) 7th street brings me a Q for a higher two pair but will catches the card he needs, a 6 which completes both his straight and lo draws and I’m gone on the first or second hand of the final table. Well I’ll take the cash and the BBT points, I hope I got some there, and will be at the Mookie tonight to see if I can keep this streak alive.
Well the boredom hour is over for now and you can allow your eyeballs to breath again. Thanks for the attention.
On a mini run the last couple of days, mainly on AP but some on Tilt and even a few bucks playing ring on UB. Mostly they have been small cashes, $15 -20 with a few bounties added in but there has been a couple of wins for some bigger bucks also. The Shark game mentioned a few posts ago and the screen shot in the post below this. The Sniper was actually chopped so the payout was a tad less than the $300 shown. We got to heads up around 2 in the am and while I had him out chipped by better than 5-3 and think I was the better player (don’t we all) and could have taken him it wasn’t going to be easy or quick barring some ungodly big hand over big hand situation. Since I had to get up at 7, and had been up late the night before also when he suggested some sort of chop I was agreeable. Can only go so long on these 4 hour nights. Not as young as I used to be and my teeth are already weak enough.
The $4 Sniper on AP has been very good to me lately. In addition to the win I have another 4-5 middlin cashes in the last 4-5 days. Don’t sound like much and in real terms actually not a great amount but considering that it’s a $4 buy in and I have been making that back on the bounties, I’m getting a 400-500% return on my money. If I could get that on my Roth and 401K I’d be happy as a pig in shit. So while it ain’t a whole lot of bucks and the bankroll could probably handle a bit of a rise in level I’m going to stay where I am at for awhile, for various reasons. First, I want to see if I can keep consistently navigating these tourneys before making any changes. Second, I play online to have something to do, not to make money. While making money is all well and good and I’m trying my damndest to do it I am not going to pressure myself with it by playing bigger tourneys. I’m in my comfort zone right now and why make myself uncomfortable if the object is to enjoy myself. I much prefer the live game to online so I’ll save my money for the time I can start traveling to AC again and for those visits to the Manor. My run on the Cerus network has been so hot that I even went over to UB and picked up $25 playing a .05/.10 ring NLHE table. It’s been a bitch since the officially combined AP and UB. I used to like to play ring games on Ultimate while playing SnGs on Absolute. They kept me patient with each other so that I wasn’t making donkey plays out of boredom on one table or the other. Not to say I’m not still being a donkey, just that I wasn’t doing it out of boredom. Since they combined however you can only open up one site at a time which has left me reaching for other ways to multi. While I have been doing it somewhat with Tilt I don’t feel as comfortable with it, not to mention Tilt’s variety of low level ring isn’t as extensive as UB’s.
Speaking of multi tabling AP and Tilt I wound up doing a bit of that last night during the Skillz game. I am happy to say I got cashes in both the Sniper on AP and the Stud 8 Skillz. While I can’t multi table plain stud, need to pay total attention to the board, I find it really helps me with the hi/lo version. I have a tight range of hands I play in Stud 8 until I reach a certain point in the tourney and I try to be as robotic about them as possible. For this reason, while I think it is my best game, at least in tourney, I also find it to be the most boring. By playing another table I find I don’t keep justifying why I should play certain hands that might come along that I don’t feel I should not be playing. If I don’t see a potential playable hand right from the start I check the fold box and return to the other game. If I see something playable the other game is usually a low enough buy in that I can relegate it to the back burner for the moment without worrying I might miss something. If I do, no biggee.
I have to say that my play last night was distracted and not by the Sniper. While I was playing that I did fairly well in the Skillz but once I got knocked out I made some horrendous mistakes. The worst was at the final table when I failed to recognize the lovely CK. My vision was a bit blurry from the long hours, I was up early yesterday also, and the time spent staring at the screen and I saw her name as dk, not ck and the distractedness never put it together. Ooooopppps, sorry about that ducks. Almost as bad was a hand where I dropped about 5K into the pot and folded to a 191 bet on the river. Holding a pair of 9s from the get go and catching a couple of draws I did a bit of chasing against what I presumed was a pair of aces. When I saw I had missed my draws and heard the click of the bet I folded without even really looking and after I hit it I saw it was for her final 191. Now I still think I was beat but at that point another 191 didn’t matter, especially since I didn’t KNOW I was beat. Chalk one up to bone headedness. Considering how stupid I played I’m surprised I got so far.
I didn’t get to sit at the final table long. I grabbed split As on my final hand with a deuce to accompany them. So I complete the bet. And 125 Will was my only caller. I grab a Q on 4th street while Will has suited connectors showing. I bet out and he calls. On 5th I grab another 2 to Will’s 5 and I bet. Will doesn’t seem to believe my A is representative of anything but its self and decides to try and run me off with a raise which I promptly reraised and he caps. I’m thinking that there may be a 6-7 in the hole but by this time I’m too far gone to worry about it with only 2-3 bets left. He pops my 2 on 6th and thinking he might have the lo and we are chopping I check, he bets and I call. (Another boneheaded play. I should have bet out since I was already going to the wall with the hand. Don’t think it would have made a difference at that point since I only had a bet and a half left, not enough to force him off but I have to get out of the habit of checking down when I have the high and only think someone has the lo. There is always the chance it ain’t there.) 7th street brings me a Q for a higher two pair but will catches the card he needs, a 6 which completes both his straight and lo draws and I’m gone on the first or second hand of the final table. Well I’ll take the cash and the BBT points, I hope I got some there, and will be at the Mookie tonight to see if I can keep this streak alive.
Well the boredom hour is over for now and you can allow your eyeballs to breath again. Thanks for the attention.
Monday, March 2, 2009
More poker
Playing some more online poker Saturday. Now that I’m back behind the wheel AC ain’t in the far too distant future but until the arm hardens up a bit, online is still where it’s at. I still need practice with MTTs and my Tilt bankroll could use a little stiffening so I decided to play a deep stack there. Things started looking up fairly quickly when I caught a 6-8 in the BB and the flop hit 6-7-8 rainbow. Led out with a half pot bet to see where I stood and got 3 callers. The turn brought another 8 and I’m doing flips of joy figuring at least one of those callers was drawing to the straight if they weren’t already slow playing it. At one time I would probably have checked that turn giving the chasers a free card hoping to get paid off on the river but getting maximum return on my big hands has been a problem for me, a definite hole in my game, and I have decided to try some different things to try and fix that. Figuring that one of those callers might already have made the straight, and given the tendency of players at this level to chase open enders if the price isn’t too bad I decided to lead out with a bet a tad bigger than my flop bet. This way I pick up a few more chips if the river totally bricks. It worked as I got a caller. The river was beautiful, a 10. I decide if he caught his straight he’s going to have problems letting it go. He’s got to think he’s getting a chop at worst and that maybe his hand might be good if I’m playing a low end straight or if he’s playing a J-9 and has the over card so I pot it. Like a trout to a fly he’s all in and I’m right behind him. He turns over K-9 and I double up.
The next hour I’m up and down between 10 and 15K. Picked up another decent pot when I’m OTB with A-A and I get the player’s dream in that situation, a raise and reraise in front of me. I pot it, first raiser folds and reraiser shoves. I call and the As hold. Gotta love when you can get it in good and get paid. Next hand I pick up As again and again a raise in front of me. This time though the pot bet brings a fold. This guy was a pain in my butt, having a habit of raising oop with marginal hands, forcing me off some hands and sucking out when I actually had something that I could play with. Just couldn’t get a hold on him and it cost me big time a bit later. I was up to about 16K and pulled ppJs. It limps around to me and I raise with one caller, the pain in my butt. Flop comes 9 high with straight and flush draws and I bet out and he calls. The turn bricks and I go pot and he shoves. Warning bells go off but he only has about 2K more and he has been pushing with crap at times so I call and he shows 9-9 for the set. Cost me about half my stack. We go on and I get my stack back up to about 16K again when I spike a small set against A-K and he shoves the A on the flop. Couple of orbits around and I drop a couple of thousand chips in blinds and a failed bet or two. Then Mr. Pain gets generous and decides to give me my chips back and then some. When he shoves his Ts into my Qs and the Qs hold. A few small pots and I’m up to about 30K sitting around tenth or so with about 100 players left of the 600 + that started. Was starting to think I might actually win enough to buy into the Riverchasers game Monday or maybe even the Sunday night game in the BBT when I got smoked.
I get A-Ts, raise and get called by the BB. Flop comes T-8-3 giving me top, top and BB bets about half the pot. He didn’t strike me as the type to bet a set into a preflop raiser so I figured him for either hitting middle pair or having a big A and trying to force me off the pot. I come back with a pot sized bet and he calls. Turn comes a J and he shoves what’s left of his stack, about 4K and I call. He has K-Q for an OESD but hits the Q on the river to suckout and leave me short. He then goes on to boast about have a pair of solid copper ones and then makes a remark about me not being afraid of the overcard and potential flush. Hell, there is already over 32K in the pot at that point and I’ve committed around 16K. I’m going to fold for a 4K bet? By then the 4K made no difference one way or another. I eventually doubled back up but by then the blinds were high enough that I still only had about 10 BBs left and when I shoved my mid pair pre they lost to A-K with the flopped A and I fell a tad short. So much for my adventure on Full Tilt. The site hasn’t been very kind to me lately. AP now has been a much different story but more of that later.
I’m starting to bore myself let alonemy loyal reader or two, I mean massive fan base (I’m talking you Hank) so we’ll wrap this one up for now and Thank You all for letting your eyeballs wander around here.
The next hour I’m up and down between 10 and 15K. Picked up another decent pot when I’m OTB with A-A and I get the player’s dream in that situation, a raise and reraise in front of me. I pot it, first raiser folds and reraiser shoves. I call and the As hold. Gotta love when you can get it in good and get paid. Next hand I pick up As again and again a raise in front of me. This time though the pot bet brings a fold. This guy was a pain in my butt, having a habit of raising oop with marginal hands, forcing me off some hands and sucking out when I actually had something that I could play with. Just couldn’t get a hold on him and it cost me big time a bit later. I was up to about 16K and pulled ppJs. It limps around to me and I raise with one caller, the pain in my butt. Flop comes 9 high with straight and flush draws and I bet out and he calls. The turn bricks and I go pot and he shoves. Warning bells go off but he only has about 2K more and he has been pushing with crap at times so I call and he shows 9-9 for the set. Cost me about half my stack. We go on and I get my stack back up to about 16K again when I spike a small set against A-K and he shoves the A on the flop. Couple of orbits around and I drop a couple of thousand chips in blinds and a failed bet or two. Then Mr. Pain gets generous and decides to give me my chips back and then some. When he shoves his Ts into my Qs and the Qs hold. A few small pots and I’m up to about 30K sitting around tenth or so with about 100 players left of the 600 + that started. Was starting to think I might actually win enough to buy into the Riverchasers game Monday or maybe even the Sunday night game in the BBT when I got smoked.
I get A-Ts, raise and get called by the BB. Flop comes T-8-3 giving me top, top and BB bets about half the pot. He didn’t strike me as the type to bet a set into a preflop raiser so I figured him for either hitting middle pair or having a big A and trying to force me off the pot. I come back with a pot sized bet and he calls. Turn comes a J and he shoves what’s left of his stack, about 4K and I call. He has K-Q for an OESD but hits the Q on the river to suckout and leave me short. He then goes on to boast about have a pair of solid copper ones and then makes a remark about me not being afraid of the overcard and potential flush. Hell, there is already over 32K in the pot at that point and I’ve committed around 16K. I’m going to fold for a 4K bet? By then the 4K made no difference one way or another. I eventually doubled back up but by then the blinds were high enough that I still only had about 10 BBs left and when I shoved my mid pair pre they lost to A-K with the flopped A and I fell a tad short. So much for my adventure on Full Tilt. The site hasn’t been very kind to me lately. AP now has been a much different story but more of that later.
I’m starting to bore myself let alone
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