tales of microdonkery

Bad Beat / Good Beat / Dumb Beat. My Night

2009-01-08T00:04:00.000-08:00

Drove up to UW85's for the monthly tournament. btw, it takes me 70 minutes to get there, and tonight was worse b/c of the torrential rain. that's cool b/c i play goot and normally make deep runs at it.

tonight i started out in the BB with 52k stack and 100/200 blinds. nothing big happens in the first round. then this happens the second time i'm in the bb. blinds are 200/400. i have about 49k and the villain has me well covered. he's loose/passive and tends to trap with a monster. btw, last month, after a minraise to 1000 and a jojo shove to 11k, the villain snap called on the button with QJs. so that's what i'm dealing with.

6handed, there are 4 limpers to me in the bb. i have Ah10c which is plenty good enough, and i plan to raise it. there's 1600 in the pot and i'm liable to be in bad position, so i make it 3k. i get called by loose villain in the co.

flop comes 8h 9h Jh. the pot is 7200. my hand is golden here, especially if i can get it in soon. i raise 4k, which i hope may look weak and induce a raise. last month i saw him flat call raises with 2 pair more than once, and figure him to only raise with hands like AJ, QQ, or maybe a set.

he raises to 12k. i have 'bout 41k behind and so i'm happy. this is basically teh perfect spot to get it in with some fold equity and a million outs.

he thinks for maybe 30 seconds and calls with QTo. i brick off and good night.

anyhow, whatever, it's not a bad beat (that's for the bad beat cops you know you're out there). but it's a cooooold one, b/c there's simply no way i do anything but shove there, and he has the worst possible hand for me. i'm 42% against top set, 55% against AJ, 53% against QQ, and blurg 35% against this hand.

so i'm insta-out, i get on the highway and it's the great flood on the highway. when i go over 55 my car threatens to hydroplane, so i'm kinda steaming and plotting my next move. a slight detour takes me to snoqualmie and the new card room there. i have $475 in me pocket (plan ahead yo!) to play the 300 buyin 2/5 game.

i come in utg +2 (b/c you don't need to post as a new player) and fold my way around to the button. there are 3 limpers to me and i limp with 5h 7h. flop comes 6h 4h 3c omg and w00t. better still the first guy to act (stack right at 300 with me) who has played 3/4 hands so far bets 20. a short stack with 100 calls. i make it $55 b/c i'm sneaky like that (omg the smaller raise is more likely to get action!). first to act shoves for $300 and i'm like omg. short stack puts in his hundred and i have my chips in like super fast yo.

first to act says "someone's got a draw and it aint me" which i don't like much when the board pairs. i ask if he's got a set and he shakes his head like i'm crazy. so booyah no flush comes (short stack shows ace-rag of hearts) and i rake the $650 pot.

Finally, my dumb beat. i literally fold every hand for an hour, then make it 20 to go utg with QQ. button calls. flop comes QQ5 with two hearts. i say to my self "self...w00t." but i keep it inside b/c i'm tricky like that. i check and call $30. maybe i shoulda just bet, but what can i get him to call with on more than one street? i dont' know this guy and prefer to see if i can get him to spazz off. btw, he's shortish with about $200. so the pot is $100 and effective stack is now 150.

turn is the :6h bringing the flush. again, now, i have to figure out how to get his stack. he obv doesn't have a Q. one pair hands no longer pay me off, i guess, with the scare card out there. he could have a boat which would be nice or the flush which would prolly stack off at this point. but most likely he has nothing much. i check again he bets $30 again which of course is superpolarizing. i think now he can't have anything but a flopped underboat or nothing at all. so what do i do? i raise him to $75 like a tard and he folds.

now, as if that wasn't dumb enough, i muck it. also, there's an hourly high hand payout of $200, only 3 tables are running and so quads are golden.

w/e in any event i cash out up $400, am over my uw85 tournytilt (sorta, till now when i think about it), and mosie on home. to type.

werd. also, i'm putting this on my blog b/c GD it why else have a freakin' blog?

WTF Am I Doing? New Years 09

2009-01-05T12:12:00.001-08:00

I played a ton over the summer, had a rough September (bah didn't even lose much), and kinda gave up for a bit. I was much less able than i thought to grind hands at home with the baby (duh?), and didn't end up with the numbers I was after.

The result, I guess, has been a virtual retirement for October and November. I started playing again a bit in December, came up a couple days short of Silver status, and now need to figure out what i'm going to do. When last I made goals (Sept), they included 25k hands and 2ptbb/100. I'm going to seriously scale back and see what I can do this month.

So, yeah...that's something. It'll get me playing, in any event.
Goals for Jan:
NL 6max cash
15k hands
Silver status
1ptbb/100

Tournaments
3 days of at least a few big field online tournies (one down already a couple days ago) with ROI > 0.

Yes, starting small. But, that's something, eh?

Farewell to Bankroll, and Political Gambling

2008-11-06T07:12:00.000-08:00

So, there are times when bankroll management is a strength of mine (risk aversion, compartmentalization), and there are times like this month. I guess it started when the new ipod touch was rolled out. I had recently earned enough FPPs to purchase it via onecall.com gift certificates, but they never got them in stock. It's been nearly two months and they still don't. Eventually I think I may have lost my mind, and decided to pay cash for a 32g. I withdrew some money from p*, and reasoned that I'd just eventually do a cash bonus to make up for the $400.

Then I decided I'd take a shot at 3/5 at muckleshoot. And 2 hours later, my roll was down another $600 woo. I got a little unlucky ($300 flip, and then KK < AA), but mostly it's just what happens when you're underolled, okay. So I'm down $1000. Then I bought Guitar Hero World Tour ($200) b/c wifey was out of town for a week and I was a bit miserable. Down $1200.

My downturn could have gotten much worse when I took a pretty strong position on Obama winning the election. I ended up laying $600 to $200 across several bets. Of course I loved the price I was laying...by the week before he had to have been 10:1 or better, but obviously losing the $600 would have been much worse than winning the $200 would have been good. link to wiki article on utility

A couple of minor upticks along the way: I won the chiptalk QTOC, had small wins at 4/8 limit and online 50nl, cashed last night in the weekly CT. But in general I'm down, and may need to hunker back down at p*.

Anyhow, here's my update, which was apparently a requirement to get paid for the Obama bet by a certain Washington CT'er. Peace.

Yeah, that's right, I'm not posting.

2008-10-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

You know why? B/c I'm a bitch and last month sucked. I'll post stats later, but I finished down a few buyins. Nothing catastrophic, but yeah it sucked.

Issues:
1) timing.
Seamus started kindergarten, so I stopped playing so much in the afternoon when the family is home (they were pissed at me about it), and started working on getting in all my hands noon-3 or so. These hours are packed at P*, but they suck. I mean...they suck. Usually 2 platinum grinders at every good table I find, and of course they have as many hands on me as I do on them, and blah blah blah. I long for the days of playing in the evening, but I'm gonna have to figure out how to start playing those hours again.

2) variance (?)
Who fuckin' knows? All I know is that I played 18k hands and had something like 6 swings of 7 buyins or more last month. I mean...really?

3) the fuckin economy
I'm discouraged about my chances to get in more than a year of real volume. With the way things have turned, we're seriously concerned about our prospects for a really good refinance deal in 2 years with only one income. Chances are I'll be teaching again in the fall, which means my days of even 10k+ hands/month will be over. Which turns what I'm doing now back into dabbling, fucking around. sigh...

Also, J-fuckin-M and my headup match, of course, got down to a shovefest in the 5th match of five. Of course I'm bitching now, and of course it's prolly an exaggeration, but he basically did what I figured he'd do, which is to call down in most big pots with any piece of the board. With a minute to go, I brick out the river, have 1300 behind, JM has 1000 behind, and there's 700 in the pot. I decide to bluff it so that I can run him over at 50/100, knowing there's a really good chance he'll call with a single pair on a scary'ish board. So yeah, he calls, I'm handcuffed with the big blinds, game over. blurg. I'll see if I can find some hands later.

Phil Hellmuth, Village Idiot

2008-10-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

thanks to dangerlion

Chiptalk HU Tourny

2008-10-01T17:35:00.001-07:00

16 player field, run over the course of a few weeks, with matches scheduled on our own. The great news about this is that we can set them up at our discretion. In other words, we can play 2 out of 3, 3/5, 4/7, whatever floats our respective boats.

I played scottwire in my first match and beat him 2/3. Last night JM and I played 4 of our best of 5. He crushed me in the first, I had him down 2:1 in the second until A7s < 78s aipf. He went up 2-0, and I had to work hard to get even at the end of the night.

The rubber match is tonight at 9pm local. I'd like to comment and put up some hands, but I'm too paranoid about potential foes reading up. I'll do that after I take it down.

PS: Our quadrant of the draw was scottwire, JM, mrticsay and me. No offense to the rest of the field, but these are possibly the strongest 4 players of the 16, and I've already filed an official complaint to the appropriate regulatory body.

Why Do I Run So Good?

2008-09-29T09:29:00.001-07:00

http://www.holdemmanager.net
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Poker Stars Game#20789010612

fragio007 ($16.60)
winniwy ($12.10)
jayboy16 ($13.95)
Talon2000 ($12.30)
GJBRADLEY ($47.10)
thejojobinks ($51)

fragio007 posts (SB) $0.25
winniwy posts (BB) $0.50

Dealt to thejojobinks Jc Js
call, fold,
GJBRADLEY raises to $2
thejojobinks raises to $7.50
fold, fold, fold, call,

FLOP ($16.25) 6h 4c Jd
check,
thejojobinks bets $6.85
GJBRADLEY raises to $39.60
thejojobinks calls $32.75

TURN ($95.45) 6h 4c Jd 2c

RIVER ($95.45) 6h 4c Jd 2c Tc

GJBRADLEY shows Ac 7c
(Flop 5.9%, Turn 15.9%)

thejojobinks shows Jc Js
(Flop 94.1%, Turn 84.1%)

GJBRADLEY wins $92.45

The New Ipod Touch: or, Come On, Onecall!

2008-09-24T12:44:00.000-07:00

Two things happened last week. One, I got past the 24k fpps, which is what I need for $400 in onecall gift certificates. And two, the new touch was rolled out, which is 32gigs for $399.

So...Onecall...WTF????!

They still don't have it in stock, and although they claim they do customer service right or some such nonsense, in chat they claim they have "no idea" when it'll be in.

Um...why am I torturing myself at the grind, if not to get cool gadgetry? We're going to DC in October and I best have meself a touch by then, or there will be repercussions. Oh yes, there will.

Late Night Poker Tour: Quarterly Tournament of Champions

2008-09-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

Worst QTOC ever, b/c basically entries are based on performance over 3 months but there are only about 6 or 7 regulars, so as a regular it'd be embarassing to not make it.

That said, I rarely play tournaments anymore, and I won last night, so...you take your victories as they come.

It was an FTP 2-stacked thing, and since the field tends to be loose/bluffy early, well, I did what I always did and blew off a buncha chips right away.

I call this first hand "hey there's a really good player on the button. let's pump up the pot so he can take it away from me."

I got 3bet by the tightest living human and layed down AJ, and nowI'm down to 2500 and nit up. My image is horrible with those that aren't solid (about half of them) to begin with, and now it looks like I'm playing maniacally. So I wait.

P.S.: Woo for waiting! Although given the board, I'm not sure how Seitz gets away here, unless he checks the turn which is probably 74% too nitty for words.

Yay, I'm riiiiich. Oh wait, there was this hand. I hate the way it went down, but I wonder, given the weird flop action, if there was any way out for me.

Now I'm back to 2300 and self-flagellation. I know that against whataboutj, tdog, lucky, and hoffa I'm likely to have to play for stacks if we play a pot. littlebu and fsu88 are solid but will play back at me. And osumike will sometimes allow himself to be bullied. So I'm going to work on his blinds, and in the meantime try not to get out of line.

I forget about not getting out of line a bit later. In this hand, there were so many limps I wanted to raise just on principle, but didn't. Anyhow, on the flop hoffa put out that ridiculous probe bet, which I noticed he does quite a bit. And, having thought about raising preflop, the dry flop, et cetera, I figured it might be a good time to take it down. It was.

I hate this hand, b/c villain is 26/10 and has folded to 3bets 2/11 times in the 800 or so hands I have on him. So I know he's not raising with 22, I think he's not raising with AT, and I KNOW he's calling with every single hand that beats me. But I'm just so inclined to be aggressive that I make these dumb shoves. I hate it, it's a horrible move, and I got super-donk-lucky.

On the other hand, there's this hand. Lucky is a similar player to tdog...he limps a lot, raises little, and gets spewy later in hands. This looked to me like the classic limp in with a little sumthin sumthin and then reraise b/c what the hell might as well. I may have had a hard time with TT, but I don't think so...and this was a pretty easy fistpump snapcall.

Now I'm at 6600 and I can play.
Stacks:
Seat 1: littlebu ( $5935.00 USD ) <-- to be feared. we have a lot of history, and he's a strong player
Seat 2: FSU88 ( $3546.00 USD ) <-- to be feared. similar to littlebu, but in addition i'm not sure the stt is his strength, which is even more scary. he does weird stuff and I'd prefer to not get involved.
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $6659.00 USD )
Seat 5: osumike11379 ( $1350.00 USD ) <-- will play very solid. target for abuse.
Seat 8: whataboutj ( $6640.00 USD ) <-- likes to defend his blinds, slowplays maybe a bit too much, otherwise pretty tight. very reluctant to open pots.
Seat 9: Hoffa13 ( $2870.00 USD ) <-- pretty aggro/weird. not sure what's up with him, even though i have a lot of hands with him. too lazy to look up numbers now, but last night was the same. i have most my hands with him at p*, and HEM isn't good at combining usernames from diff sites. So I didn't have his #s up from p*. At FTP, in limited action, he's 33/24/9 (!).

In all, I like my seat a lot, with the two most dangerous players on my right and the very tightest player on my left.

This hand is weird, b/c...well obviously. I check behind the flop b/c I don't think he has any outs. His call on the turn, I think, mostly has to do with my flop check. I feel like he's value betting a nine or 66-88 type hand on the river. I was pretty sure he wouldn't call, but I feel like there was some chance he would, and there was pretty much 0% chance he had me beat.

I double up osumike with J4s (wooooo!), and chop away at the blinds for awhile. Here's osumike's hand, btw. I want to put it up b/c I think it's a pretty big mistake on his part.

Seat 1: littlebu ( $3995.00 USD )
Seat 2: FSU88 ( $3386.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $9319.00 USD )
Seat 5: osumike11379 ( $1110.00 USD )
Seat 8: whataboutj ( $6400.00 USD )
Seat 9: Hoffa13 ( $2790.00 USD )
osumike11379 posts small blind [$80.00 USD].
whataboutj posts big blind [$160.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mwfeldman [ 4s Js ]
Hoffa13 folds
littlebu folds
FSU88 folds
mwfeldman raises [$430.00 USD]
osumike11379 raises [$1030.00 USD]
whataboutj folds
mwfeldman calls [$680.00 USD]
osumike11379 shows [4d, Ad ]
mwfeldman shows [4s, Js ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, 5d, Jd ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 2d ]
osumike11379 wins $2380.00 USD from main pot

Mike only has 1030, my raise is to 430, so he knows I'm not folding. Let's say he gives me 30% on my button raise. Then...
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 48.028% 44.85% 03.18% 1108882084 78652760.00 { A4s }
Hand 1: 51.972% 48.79% 03.18% 1206379372 78652760.00 { 55+, A2s+, K5s+, Q7s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s, A7o+, A5o, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o }

Yeah, that's right...he's a dog. Why guarantee a race in which you have no edge? BTW, if he gives me 40%, then he's 50.5% woooooooo...

So basically it's a really bad play to reshove with a bad ace hi if you can't get the guy to fold. He tells me in chat he thought I was making a move, et cetera. I bide my time.

Then I make the crush.

I bust hoffa with JJ > QK aipf, and we're 3 handed, blinds 120/240 and a 50ante.
Seat 1: littlebu ( $11107.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $10927.00 USD )
Seat 8: whataboutj ( $4966.00 USD )

I consider this to be far from an optimal situation. whataboutj gets sik aggressive shorthanded, and littlebu is the player I feared most at the table since hand one. And whatabout j may be short, but at 20bbs is still plenty deep enough to play back and get me to lay down. My plan is to pick up AA v KK like 3 times. Also, it's to be aggressive as always, lay down when necessary, and have them make bigger mistakes than me. If I nit up they'll know it and run me over. If I play my game, they'll sometimes get a little too wrapped up in the joy of getting me to fold. That said, I'd still like AA v KK.

The first hand of note: god-bless-america that I started playing cash games. I think I'm like 66.4% more creative now, and I basically would never 3bet in the past. Not that this hand is particularly creative, but still...

So 3handed I open then fold 3 times, which means (maybe) that I'm getting played back at, which is a good thing according to my plan. Since I know they're not gonna let me run them over, I want them ramping up aggression and making big mistakes. But then this hand comes up, and I think it's my mistake. My shove offers him 2:1, so unless I think he's pretty far out of line, I'm taking a race. And, of course, it'll cripple me to lose the pot. Which I do.

Down to m<3, I just log out and let myself blind out.

Yeah, no. Not really.
I get a walk the very next hand (?). I fold k2 in the sb, shove rags on the button and pick up another set of blinds. I fold my bb, then steal the button and sb and get another walk. Alrighty then! I've doubled up, and whataboutj can spew. Can I sneak into h/u play? Yes sir, yes I can. I see what happened there, but I think J was missing some key points. Mostly...it wouldn't really hurt bu to double him up, but it hurts J a lot to go bust here. The board is pretty scary, his hand is of moderate strength, and I'm really short. I think it's a pretty easy fold (for a slightly tough fold, that is). I think J's pot sized bet is the real problem. It made him feel trapped. Not necessary, imo. 1000 does the trick, I guess, and makes it easier to fold.

In any event, woo h/u!!!
Seat 1: littlebu ( $24643.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $2357.00 USD )

Two double ups would be nice. If only I could pick up aces on my first hand. If only...
***** Hand History for Game 8174760892 *****
$30000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, September 22, 12:49:48 ET 2008
Table Chiptalk LNPT (61893922) Table 1 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: littlebu ( $24643.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $2357.00 USD )
littlebu posts small blind [$150.00 USD].
mwfeldman posts big blind [$300.00 USD].
littlebu posts ante of [$25.00 USD].
mwfeldman posts ante of [$25.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mwfeldman [ Ac As ]
littlebu raises [$24468.00 USD]
mwfeldman calls [$2032.00 USD]
littlebu shows [Td, Ks ]
mwfeldman shows [Ac, As ]
littlebu wins $22286.00 USD
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9d, 7d, 3h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 9s ]
mwfeldman wins $4714.00 USD from main pot

w00t. We go back and forth for 20 hands or so with small pots and flop takedowns, and on HEM it looks like I'm running him over but I've only grinded up to 5400. Flopping 2 pair is always nice. I'm happy with the way I played it, and I'd like to have not shown my hand down but there's no way he folds a better hand if I raise the river and I don't think he calls with much of anything worse. The board cooperated and I was able to check two streets, otherwise I don't think I make an additional chip on this pot.

New stacks:
Seat 1: littlebu ( $10622.00 USD )
Seat 4: mwfeldman ( $16378.00 USD )

We go back and forth, with smallish pots, I flop one pot huge, he donks and then folds (drats), and then we finish it off with a good old-fashioned cooler.

This is a pleasing result for me. Then, today, I resumed the torture of 50nl. We're taking a 4 day trip to DC in November, followed by 5 days in Chicago, so my streak of big volume months will likely be over. It kinda looks to me that it won't be a moment too soon.

Some "Valuable" Information From a Poker "Professional"

2008-09-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

This guy is using words that I understand, but isn't saying anything that I can then interpret to have meaning. How does a guy like this get money to play? Seriously, he plays all the 10k tournaments. WTF? Just watch.

Last Night, WSOPME

2008-09-17T10:54:00.001-07:00

Only watched the first episode, but this was my favorite hand. I wonder why?

I Run Bad, Carry On

2008-09-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

I've got 10.8k hands for the month, which looks like I'll fall short of 25k, but it's certainly not out of reach, depending on how things go. The last two months I did significant volume the last 10 days or so, and I tend to get mmore hands in when I run well. When exactly will that happen?

My allin EV for the month is +$150 (which is a bad enough 1.5ptbb/100), but my results are worse, at -$26 for the month. Some examples of how I get to this point.

From today:

Ah yes, a mere 95.5% equity when the money get in.

Here's another from my favorite fish of all (anonymized to protect my monies):

This one is also close to my heart:

For balance, here's my biggest suckout of the month. (Going to look now...not sure what it'll be. I sure hope it's a big one to cheer me up)...oh yes. Yes it is.

Take that you donkey! That'll learn you for playing QQ. It is just top set, you know.

Some Wicked Hands From the WSOPME

2008-09-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

The coverage is great this year, despite the two mongoloids doing "commentary" and "analysis." But there were some awesome hands on Tuesday night's shows, and here are some.

Some guy lays down (correctly) with a monster. I don't know whether to agree with Matusow (he's unlucky to draw players like this in such a weak field) or disagree (dude, you have a guy at your table that's slowplaying a set of jacks and then laying down after filling up).

Ivey bluffs out top two and a set. Again, the board is scary and stuff, but again we have a player slowplaying a set and then laying down when things get worse. How badly do these guys want to make the money?

Ivey shows disdain for the mere mortal who fearfully calls with, basically, the nut. This one is really interesting, as someone who also gets testy with the n00bs. He realized a few seconds after snapping that the guy is just, sorta, hopelessly scared/stupid, and calms down. The "we just see things different ways" is a smooth insult, and deserves appreciation.

Also, of course, he doesn't have THE nut and could be coolered here, but how weak/scared do you have to be to respond that way with J8 in that spot?

Recent Tournament Stuff

2008-09-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

Finished 3rd at uw85's tournament on the 4th. 3 handed i'm in the bb, blinds 8/15k with an ante and i have 120k. I'm covered by both villains. Button limps, SB completes and I check my option with K7o. Flop comes KT4 rainbow. SB checks, i bet 45k into 48k and the button calls. Turn is a 6 to complete the rainbow. I move in for my last 60k and he calls nearly without hesitation with AT. Wheee, river ace.

I'm down, but I catch the points leader for the year, and October is the final month. I'm now up 10 points. The thing is, you get 10 for a final table, and his tournament is often like 15 players. The guy right behind me is a real tight fuck, so there's a lot of pressure on me now to FT. Uw85 uses a weird non-weighted system, 100/80/60/40/20/10s for the rest of the FT. So...you see. If he finishes 6-9 and I don't FT we tie for the year. If we both FT i need to keep him close and if he finishes 4th or better and ahead of me I'd be dead.

Took down the CT Thursday tonight for the 8th time, tying poker god fsu88. Here are some hands that mattered...

In my first hand of any consequence, I 3bet a guy I've never seen before but is shaping up to be the table captain lagtard. I lay down here but I'm looking for opportunities against this guy.

Next hand of consequence, shockingly, against the same player. He limp/calls and I think there's zero chance he has an ace or a big hand there. He donks the flop and this seemed like an easy shove to me. Also, I may have been feeling slightly tilty. But I'd bet $100 he had 55(ish).

This is another example of the fairly retarded lagtard stuff he's doing. I remember at this point to be looking for stacking opportunities against him, not chances to steal small pots.

It's hard to imagine, but I basically play no pots of consequence until 50/100. I raise 44 and cbet scottwire, which is always scary b/c he loves to CR the flop. I pick up blinds with QQ and 3bet JJ v my archnemesis but get no action.

My first big pot comes at 75/150. It's against...yes, kalhan. I 3bet AQ, shove it b/c it's about right and I don't want him getting any ideas about me laying down. Winning races is nice.

That hand put me in the chip lead with 18 to go. There were some medium stacks and some players that I knew wouldn't reraise light, so I got to work on stealing blinds. I pick up the blinds 4 of the next 11 hands unopposed, including a QQ that left me sad and unsatisfied.

I dropped 1k when i opened 66 and matty minraised allin with QQ. It looks like I sat really tight for a few rounds after that, prolly b/c of the awkward stack sizes. I can't open small enough to be able to fold to a shove by a shorty at that point, and they're all shorties.

My next big hand is here, v joserijo. He's a pretty good lag. He plays 50nl and is really aggressive. He's been stealing liberally, and I shove here b/c my stack is at that point. He INSTAcalls with that hand, which tilted me in anticipation of a bad flop. Hand holds up, big chipleader now with two tables.

This hand is a big blurg, but I think is basically necessary at this point in the tournament.

So I'm getting exactly 2:1. I stoved it against broadway, aces and pairs and figured I had 35%. I call, he shows A8 and I brick out.

Speaking of chronic check-raisers...I think Raiderjoe might be the worst. I swear this guy has CR'd me on the flop several hundred times. I feel 100% sure I dodged one here, and it pleased me. In other times I would have ALWAYS bet the gutshot on the flop.

I bust joserijo with QQ > Q7 aipf. Flopped a set but had to sweat a flush draw on the turn. Was happy to see him gone b/c I prefer weak-tights a the table, not lags.

FT now. I bust some guy with AJ > KJ aipf w00t.

Chiptstacks and evaluation of the situation:
Seat 1: thejojobinks ( $13758.00 USD ) <-- animal
Seat 3: vrecksler ( $7393.00 USD ) <-- fundamentally sound. maybe too patient. glad to have him behind me, i think he's a bit scared of me.
Seat 4: mattythatguy ( $1989.00 USD ) <-- can spew, but mostly tight.
Seat 5: RaiderJoe40 ( $2085.00 USD ) <-- very tight, tricky after flop (won't matter unless he gets some chips though)
Seat 6: julesdAA ( $8325.00 USD ) <-- unknown
Seat 7: scottwire ( $5346.00 USD ) <-- very good player, will shovebot well.
Seat 8: cdnmoose07 ( $12104.00 USD ) <-- he plays pretty tight, but find him to be a bit of a spewer. we play regularly on monday nights and i see him do some crazy stuff. he also steals like crazy and i'm happy to be behind him.

Some more hands:
Jules gets crippled and i bust him aipf KT > A3. I double up raiderjoe (drats) with a dominated ace aipf.

From 6handed to 4 handed my stack goes from 12k to 18.5k without seeing a flop. Not getting great hands, but I have the chips and they're waiting on big hands, I guess. Cdnmoose makes a huge mistake whatever he had here...I think this is just horrible.

Eh, the replay doesn't do it justice, but he's getting like 3:1, and half his stack's in the pot. He claimed he had 3 outs, which I guess means he had A9 or something. But seriously? He leaves himself 5k at 400/800, which I find really silly. The good news (for him) is that he starts shoving like a maniac and no one wants to play with him. He doubles up without a flop, and then busts raiderjoe with a small ace aipf v joes Kx.

Stacks and situation:
Seat 1: thejojobinks ( $25320.00 USD )
Seat 3: vrecksler ( $13386.00 USD )
Seat 8: cdnmoose07 ( $12294.00 USD )

So vrecksler will be looking for good opportunities, but will undervalue steal opportunites and bad broadway hands to open. cdnmoose won't have that sort of hesitancy, and will apply pressure. It's my job to steal from vreck and not let cdnmoose run over me.

No action with AK, KQs. Vreck doubles up through moose with AK > A5 aipf, and moose is down to 3k.

The very next hand I double him up to 6k with Ax v 33 and he's off to the races again. Is this getting long now?

I make another raise/call with Q9, and again lose a 40/60 to cdnmoose. Now stacks:
Seat 1: thejojobinks ( $14746.00 USD )
Seat 3: vrecksler ( $20272.00 USD )
Seat 8: cdnmoose07 ( $15982.00 USD )
blinds 400/800

Gonna speed it up now, b/c i'm tired as shit.

Vrecksler busted with this hand and was really disappointed, but come on. Moose makes a ridiculously spewy shove for 20+bbs with a bad ace and sucks out. Vrecksler got it in silly good, and that's just how it goes.

HU went 11 hands. He started with a 2:1 chiplead and I'm proud to say I lost exactly 0 chips but for my blinds in the match.

lol not true now that I actually look at the HH. This hand nearly blew my head off. I really thought he was pretty strong, and I obviously was gonna lose at showdown if I checked, but could I really shove this river? He takes a big pot and I'm in trouble, nearly down 4:1

These are the last two hands. Of course I flop it sik hard but he makes another redonkulous spew with king hi, then we race off for the rest. I win my 8th woo.

Seitz's Hammer Hand

2008-09-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

This sicko is headup for a wcoop event and bluffs a hammer just for the CT'ers. You can't see it in the replay below, but he showed the hand for the rail. w00t.

Here it is:

Not Much to Report

2008-09-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

Still playing every day. The wife and baby are out of town and the kid is off to kindergarten for 3 hours a day, but I'm not really seeing an increase in volume. I thought I'd be able to, but really I'm still cranking out about 1k per day. I'm having some wicked swings, and am working again on being less spewy with medium-strength hands.

Results have been blah, I haven't been studying much with DC vids. I Have to maybe figure out how to regiment things a bit better.

w00t seitz! 46k score.

2008-09-09T08:57:00.001-07:00

Good friend and former team member seitz333 takes down 46k and second place in the wcoop 8 game, a tournament structure he's played exactly once before.

read about it here.

He's been playing the bigger tournaments for close to a year, I guess and this is big time, imo. Congrats and stay away from our microtournaments, bitch!

Urm...okay

2008-09-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

Niiiice...

First, I induce a giant spew from a nitty regular.
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($50.75)

SB ($54.45)

BB ($70.25)

Hero (UTG) ($63.75)

MP ($58.90)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K

Hero raises $2, MP calls $2, 1 fold, SB calls $1.75, BB raises $13.25, Hero raises $33.50, 2 folds, BB raises $56.50 (All-In), Hero calls $28.25 (All-In)

Flop: ($131.50) 2, 5, A (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($131.50) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($131.50) 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $131.50

Results in white below:

BB had Q, A (two pair, Aces and fives).

Hero didn't show K, K (two pair, Kings and fives).

Outcome: BB won $136

This one was a barrel of fun:
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($90.55)

SB ($26.40)

BB ($50)

Hero (UTG) ($49.25)

MP ($99.25)

CO ($50)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K

Hero raises $2, 2 folds, Button calls $2, 2 folds

Flop: ($4.75) 5, 3, 2 (2 players)

Hero bets $3.80, Button calls $3.80

Turn: ($12.35) 6 (2 players)

Hero bets $7.75, Button calls $7.75

River: ($27.85) A (2 players)

Hero bets $17.25, Button raises $77 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $62.35

Results in white below:

Button didn't show

Outcome: Button won $119.10

To round off the big hands, we had kk < AA, JJ < AA, KK v flopped set and AA v 48 (dooooh, NOT 48!!!??!).

For the day: 704 hands, 21/20/6, -36ptbb/100 w00000000000000000t.

Tonight: the Bothell tournament. Confidence booster or soul crusher? More later.

Sorta an ugly day and AHK scripts make their first appearance

2008-09-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Got in a good number of hands today, like 1500, but tilted for a good part of it and was lucky to get out only down 1.5 buyins. Lost 3 huge pots with a pair when an overcard came on the flop against lagtards. I really need to figure out what to do when I'm frustrated, b/c I only get so much opportunity to play and I really don't want to just walk away when I have the chance.

On the good news front, I found some really useful AHK scripts at 2+2 software that I started using. Betpot uses wheel click to bet pot (preflop, sometimes flop, sometimes river), and rightclick to bet 2/3 pot (more likely on the flop/turn). Also messed around with starsplanner, which places tables and autobuys in, and stars reload, which makes sure all the tables are topped off. Unfortunately, one of the latter two seems to turn away new tables when seats open, so I've laid off them for now. Finally, I started using theopener, which is set up to open p*, HEM, and betpot with a single click.

I'm pretty optimistic despite a rocky start to September. Even though I got in 20k hands last month, it was less than 40 hours, and I ended up averaging $25/hour. Theoretically, this means I can consider it a possibility that it might be realistic for me to make some real money this year.

Notice the use of theoretically, possibility and mightberealistic. I'm guardedly optimistic.

Folding When Beat: I did it!! (??)

2008-09-02T15:00:00.001-07:00

I think this is a good lay down but, as a payoff wizard, it pains me.

The guy is 16/12/4 over 50 hands. Small sample, but the line he takes is strong like bull, no? I just can't see calling there and then folding to a massive river bet if it bricks out.

Feedback, por favor.

I Love This Game!

2008-08-31T17:50:00.000-07:00

Played some more. Was just treading water, when I played this monstrosity. Don't even know what to think about it, except when the action goes like this I tend to be drawing just about this dead.

I was buzzing, and started to shut down tables. Then, in the next few minutes, these two hands happened.

I was sick when he called, of course, and dumbfounded when they pushed me the pot.

Then, finally, this:

99 lol. Also, the replay's not working, but the short stack had 67o w00t.

THEN I shut down the rest of my tables and ran for it. Good month. :D

End O' The Month

2008-08-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

Family out of town today, and I took the opportunity to play against the big Sunday crowd and finish the month strong. Had a great day, then flopped set under set, stacked off, felt the tilt buzz, and logged off (victory!).

Probable final numbers for the month (assuming I'm done for the day):
Total hands: 21324
ptbb/100: 3.4

But... I'm putting a big asterix on this result. Maybe I'm just rationalizing, but here goes. At the end of last month I had that nasty downturn, and I switched to .1/.25. Results remained bad into August. And I just couldn't win at .1/.25. On 8/24 I realized I needed to play .25/.5 if I wanted gold, and...I wanted gold, so I switched over to 50nl exclusively. Since then I've done great, winning 7.5ptbb/100. So, breaking it down for stakes...

25nl: 9362 hands, -.15bptbb/100
50nl: 11962 hands, 6.15ptbb/100

So, kinda, sorta, I met my goal of 5bb/100.

I met my goal of 20k hands. I met my goal of signing up for a training site. I haven't done any coaching, and me/bu/scottwire have shared hands only once. :(.

For next month:
[ ] 25k hands.
[ ] 6.5ptbb/100
[ ] Fold when beat. Specifically, when c/r'd by a nit with less than two pair.
[ ] Regulate DC viewing. Specifically, I'd like to watch after peak hours, at least 2 hours/week, at the computer. Been using the ipod, but it's more scattered, b/c I'll be all over the house. Also, on the ipod it's impossible to read hole cards.

In the end, I'd like to ramp up my play volume. Just crunching some #s, I figured I'm getting 321 hands an hour at 50nl, with mostly 4 tables but sometimes 5 and very occasionally 6 when transitioning. At that rate, I'll need to up my play from 15 hours/week to 20 hours/week to hit 25k hands this month. That seems really reasonable to me. And if my month goes as planned, I'll be a couple of weeks away from having 50 buyins to 100nl.

Stay tuned.

Ick, Bad Day

2008-08-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

Flopped a boat and guy rivered a bigger boat. Stacked off with tptk v a flop min check/raise (like duh). I turned a set against a turned straight. This and much much more. The good news, I think, is that even with those three hands, and one brain fart donk off of a bluff, I still finished only 1.5 buyins down in 900 hands.

And then there was this:

mmmm...it warms my heart looking at it.

Oh well. Didn't mind booking the loss, but I was a bit tilted and I wasn't at all happy about that.

Here's the set v straight hand. It's so gross, b/c it's one of two cards to which
I even put in one more chip.

Also, an update on yesterday, and my point about chumps refusing to bet their hands. yay for losing the minimum here.

Getting More Value

2008-08-25T16:21:00.000-07:00

I've been watching all sorts of stuff at DC, but one of only two series I've been watching in its entirety is Real Life Micro NL-Grinder: Unlimited Texas Hold Them, which is basically comprised of Wilt on Tilt doing sweat sessions and HH reviews with his student, a 50nl grinder. They've been great, and one of the concepts that's really basic that I've been working on is getting more value out of medium strength hands against calling stations. In the past I would check behind on the turn for deception or to keep from stacking off or whatever, but really I was just not getting value. And Wilt argues that, basically, you should keep betting until your straightforward opponent indicates that the situation has changed.

Amazingly (not really), it works. I mean, hands come up where goofballs slowplay AA and end up doubling through me, but much more often he's just calling down with something dumb b/c he doesn't believe me and he has tpbk or because he thinks he's slowplaying a worse hand.

In any case, this leads to situations where I'm just bet bet betting, even when semi-scare cards come later, and I'll have to occasionally bet fold assuming these guys aren't incredibly tricky. The fold part...I'm working on that.

The good news, and I've reported on this before at CT, is that a lot of the really bad players at these stakes can't bear the thought of losing a customer, and as a result will often play very slow and then make tiny value bets later in the hand when they flop a monster. The result is that I seem to be winning big pots and losing small ones.

Today: 900 hands. Hands in which I won 40+ bbs, 11. Hands in which I lost 40+ bbs, 3.

Had another great day (and hope to get in another session later during the CT Monday night tourny), +$289. w00t.

More on The Benefits of DC

2008-08-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

Bought my subscription on 8/15, and since then have watched about 10 videos. I believe it's helped tremendously, and now I have some semi-anecdotal proof. Here's my chart since then. Notice the thin line is my allin EV (took a couple of aipf beats in this time). Even given the variance, though, I'm at 6ptbb/100 in this time, comfortably ahead of where I wanted to be for the month. Woo, I say.

By mwfeldman