So there is good news and bad news.
I played Day 1 and Day 2 of the SCOOP and will be playing likely every day for the rest of the series. On Day 1, I had nice stacks in both the 5 rebuy and 55 rebuy, but cashed in neither. I cashed in both the 11 and 109 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or better and made a grand total of $21 on Day 1. Fortunately, I've been using all W$ that I won initially off of a $44 satellite. Basically, I just keep playing tourneys to win W$, which can buy into any of these major events. In essence, I'm paying no cash out of my bankroll to play, but I get paid in cash.
On Day 2, I cashed in the PL 5 card draw $11 and failed in the 109. I played all 3 NL Hold 'em tourneys or 16.5, 162, 1575 (I won a w$ satellite into this one through a 280 turbo). I got around 420th in the 162 good for $0 as it paid 414. I ran AQ into AK in both big ones in completely standard plays with under 10 bb and with the blinds going up at such a rapid pace. All in all, it was a negative day, but Day 2 is probably the biggest joke games of the series as it's on a Friday when no one plays anyway.
I'm also in a leaderboard contest on Pocketfives with over 40 teams. It is 3 man teams with the top 15 scores of the group counting towards a final point total. It is for all the Low events. There are really two links to this. The most important one is probably here with the final scorings even though it is lagging behind. My name on there is iacog4.
SCOOP contest scoring
SCOOP contest rules and team listings
Showing posts with label poker tournament. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poker tournament. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2009
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Michael Phelps, Caesar's 1k, Props to PPA
I must admit that I'm extremely excited to see someone as much of a public figure as Michael Phelps begin to enter poker tournaments as visible as the Caesar's tournament. Not only was there a buzz in lots of poker rooms in Las Vegas that may create short term interest in tournaments, but I think lots of long term effects can help poker. Poker has been shunned by legislatures and federal agencies all across America lately. We have done the standard American thing and pretended like it's simply not there. Millions of people don't play online every day and if you just put a .net at the end of your poker website, it removes all the legal problems your poker site can face. When someone as visible and loved as Michael Phelps takes up the game seriously, it can easily make more people understand that the game is more than just your standard gamble. Of course, there will always be people that don't understand poker is a long term skill game. I hope more people that are visible, intelligent, successful people replace the obnoxious people we have in our game today. I was pretty sad to see Phil Hellmuth parading around with Michael Phelps at the Bellagio. Talk about two completely different people for the game. While Hellmuth has progressively lost his mind with each tournament, blog post, commercial, whatever he's embarked in, Phelps maintained the standard swagger of a champ without being too cocky, but just backing up his swagger with golds. Of course, Hellmuth has many WSOP bracelets and those can't be taken away from him. I just find the contrasting demeanors funny. So anyway, good luck to Michael Phelps and other public US figures that can do positive things for our game.
I voted yesterday before heading to Caesars to finish 23rd in the 1k with 18 getting paid. I got knocked out at 12:15 over 12 hours after beginning to play with nothing to show for it. It was one of those tournaments where you are just put to the test so often. On the third hand of the tournament I had AQ and called from the SB the 150 raise in a 5 way pot. Flop came Q 4c 5c. It checked to the raiser who bet 250 into the 750 pot. I called out of position because I don't raise for information or play huge pots with top pair this early in the tournament. David Plastik called behind. The turn was an A of hearts. I checked to the raiser again and he bet 1500 this time. Now, I had the option to raise here, but really didn't see much value in doing that. My hand was disguised. I was a little intimidated by the size of the bet because it felt at worst he could have AK of clubs or AK. AA or QQ or 55 or 44 were the really concerning hands in his range here. The river was an 8 of spades. I checked to him again and he fired 4000. I hated my hand but called and he showed 55. I don't know if I can fold here. I call online all day and even get it in on the turn sometimes. I've actually struggled with this hand a lot because there really isn't much I'm beating here.
I folded with my 4k stack for about an hour and a half then raised to 600 UTG with AQ to get called by a tighter nice old man UTG+1. The flop came QJ5. I bet 800 and he moved in with AK. I held. I basically then didn't play any big pots. I played the ultimate small ball game and eventually built my way from that 4k stack to 20k after the 4th level. There really weren't that many notable hands, but I did make some lay downs where players would show and I was right 3 times. When I got moved to a new table, I played the short stack for about 3 hours. I probably put my stack in the middle 10 times without getting called in this period of time. There was one pot where a player raised to 2400 with probably 6500 total chips. I had about 10k in chips at 400/800 and looked at KK in the big blind. I just assumed that he couldn't fold, so I pushed in and he mucked. I mean I guess I can flat call here, but come on people. I eventually pushed with KJ off in the cutoff with 16k at 800/1600 with 200 ante. I got called by 88 and won the race. At this point, I felt I was picking up steam and started opening finally. I had a great image . Now for purposes of the fact that I haven't told anyone what I had on this hand. I opened for 4k under the gun with 800/1600 and I had around 40k. I was flat called on the button. The flop came K Q J. I bet 5500. I was soon raised 13000 more. So at this point, I had either AK AA AQ QJ. I was on the verge of pushing my chips in when the player said "I'll show." At that point, the alarms went off in my head. I just felt like I was actually being leveled into a call. Why would anyone ever say that to someone? One the first level, they want you to fold. On the second level, they want you to think they want you to fold to get action. On the third level, they know you think them saying that means you will think they think they want you to fold. So before I confuse myself anymore, I really felt like he was saying this to get me to put my chips in. I folded my hand and he showed KJ. After blinds go up, I'm again around 10bbs and we get to shoving time. I played the patient short stack again until I shoved A5 of hearts and was finally called after like shove 15 with 99. I lost that and still had 2 bb's when I no looked 6 9 of diamonds and was isolated by 66. I can't even be angry about anything. I really think I played well. Confidence in live tournaments can go a long way. After playing at the WSOP this year, I kept making consistent good decisions without many results to back it up. Then I would come home and play online and had my best month of the year in June with big wins. I'm hoping the same theme continues. I'm still deciding what to play next at Caesar's. They have a 2k on Wednesday, but I really want to play the 500 HORSE on Thursday even though they have another great 1k. The 2k on Wednesday has 20k in starting chips and hour levels which means we could play down to the time of 2am and still not be at the final table. By the same token, I'm really pissed about how HORSE worked out at the WSOP.
Props to the PPA (Poker Players Alliance) for putting out the Congressional scorecard. It literally changed my vote to support the Republican in my district. He's in a tight race and his A rating by PPA changed my mind. If more voters follow these things, I can see PPA making a big mark in many tight races that hopefully lead to the proper changes in poker legislation in America.
I voted yesterday before heading to Caesars to finish 23rd in the 1k with 18 getting paid. I got knocked out at 12:15 over 12 hours after beginning to play with nothing to show for it. It was one of those tournaments where you are just put to the test so often. On the third hand of the tournament I had AQ and called from the SB the 150 raise in a 5 way pot. Flop came Q 4c 5c. It checked to the raiser who bet 250 into the 750 pot. I called out of position because I don't raise for information or play huge pots with top pair this early in the tournament. David Plastik called behind. The turn was an A of hearts. I checked to the raiser again and he bet 1500 this time. Now, I had the option to raise here, but really didn't see much value in doing that. My hand was disguised. I was a little intimidated by the size of the bet because it felt at worst he could have AK of clubs or AK. AA or QQ or 55 or 44 were the really concerning hands in his range here. The river was an 8 of spades. I checked to him again and he fired 4000. I hated my hand but called and he showed 55. I don't know if I can fold here. I call online all day and even get it in on the turn sometimes. I've actually struggled with this hand a lot because there really isn't much I'm beating here.
I folded with my 4k stack for about an hour and a half then raised to 600 UTG with AQ to get called by a tighter nice old man UTG+1. The flop came QJ5. I bet 800 and he moved in with AK. I held. I basically then didn't play any big pots. I played the ultimate small ball game and eventually built my way from that 4k stack to 20k after the 4th level. There really weren't that many notable hands, but I did make some lay downs where players would show and I was right 3 times. When I got moved to a new table, I played the short stack for about 3 hours. I probably put my stack in the middle 10 times without getting called in this period of time. There was one pot where a player raised to 2400 with probably 6500 total chips. I had about 10k in chips at 400/800 and looked at KK in the big blind. I just assumed that he couldn't fold, so I pushed in and he mucked. I mean I guess I can flat call here, but come on people. I eventually pushed with KJ off in the cutoff with 16k at 800/1600 with 200 ante. I got called by 88 and won the race. At this point, I felt I was picking up steam and started opening finally. I had a great image . Now for purposes of the fact that I haven't told anyone what I had on this hand. I opened for 4k under the gun with 800/1600 and I had around 40k. I was flat called on the button. The flop came K Q J. I bet 5500. I was soon raised 13000 more. So at this point, I had either AK AA AQ QJ. I was on the verge of pushing my chips in when the player said "I'll show." At that point, the alarms went off in my head. I just felt like I was actually being leveled into a call. Why would anyone ever say that to someone? One the first level, they want you to fold. On the second level, they want you to think they want you to fold to get action. On the third level, they know you think them saying that means you will think they think they want you to fold. So before I confuse myself anymore, I really felt like he was saying this to get me to put my chips in. I folded my hand and he showed KJ. After blinds go up, I'm again around 10bbs and we get to shoving time. I played the patient short stack again until I shoved A5 of hearts and was finally called after like shove 15 with 99. I lost that and still had 2 bb's when I no looked 6 9 of diamonds and was isolated by 66. I can't even be angry about anything. I really think I played well. Confidence in live tournaments can go a long way. After playing at the WSOP this year, I kept making consistent good decisions without many results to back it up. Then I would come home and play online and had my best month of the year in June with big wins. I'm hoping the same theme continues. I'm still deciding what to play next at Caesar's. They have a 2k on Wednesday, but I really want to play the 500 HORSE on Thursday even though they have another great 1k. The 2k on Wednesday has 20k in starting chips and hour levels which means we could play down to the time of 2am and still not be at the final table. By the same token, I'm really pissed about how HORSE worked out at the WSOP.
Props to the PPA (Poker Players Alliance) for putting out the Congressional scorecard. It literally changed my vote to support the Republican in my district. He's in a tight race and his A rating by PPA changed my mind. If more voters follow these things, I can see PPA making a big mark in many tight races that hopefully lead to the proper changes in poker legislation in America.
Monday, August 18, 2008
9. Win the Sunday Night HORSE tournament on Full Tilt.
Goal number 9 for 2008 is complete. In a thrilling comeback victory, I won the Sunday Night HORSE tournament on Full Tilt.
Here is the first hand heads up chip counts.
Seat 2: kice32 (106,800)
Seat 8: Diego Cordovez (469,200)
Diego Cordovez posts the small blind of 5,000
kice32 posts the big blind of 10,000
I have 10 BB's to his 46BB and end up coming back to win. I was thrilled. Not to mention I get the $200 pro bounty and t-shirt as Diego Cordovez is in red on Full tilt. It was a little over $10,000 for the victory giving me a decent Sunday as I played fewer tournaments. I had a great weekend with my girlfriend and family and this topped it all off.
I'm heading back to Las Vegas tomorrow to get back to business for a while. I'll hopefully have more good poker updates. The FTOPS is over and I don't think I cashed in a single event. Despite this victory, everything else over my break in Cleveland really didn't go that well. I plan to have a great WCOOP. I'm playing tons of games well and should be playing a good amount of events.
Here is the first hand heads up chip counts.
Seat 2: kice32 (106,800)
Seat 8: Diego Cordovez (469,200)
Diego Cordovez posts the small blind of 5,000
kice32 posts the big blind of 10,000
I have 10 BB's to his 46BB and end up coming back to win. I was thrilled. Not to mention I get the $200 pro bounty and t-shirt as Diego Cordovez is in red on Full tilt. It was a little over $10,000 for the victory giving me a decent Sunday as I played fewer tournaments. I had a great weekend with my girlfriend and family and this topped it all off.
I'm heading back to Las Vegas tomorrow to get back to business for a while. I'll hopefully have more good poker updates. The FTOPS is over and I don't think I cashed in a single event. Despite this victory, everything else over my break in Cleveland really didn't go that well. I plan to have a great WCOOP. I'm playing tons of games well and should be playing a good amount of events.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Through Day 2
I thought I would give a quick update for everyone interested. I ended the day with 61,600 after starting with 37,525. I was quickly down to 22k after losing blinds, antes, and one small pot against an all in player. Then I rallied back to 50k. Then I crumbled down to 16k at one point. There were tons of hands none of which I really want to detail right now. The day was long and I fought hard the whole way. Entering the 500/1000 level with 17000 chips and fighting to eventually win a big pot to double up felt great. The last two hours were also part of the ESPN feature table even though I spent most of the time folding. Maybe I'll get some TV time or something.
One hand before I go to bed. The biggest pot of the tournament for me.
Early position limps for 1000. I complete the bet from the small blind and the big blind checks. I have K9 of diamonds. Flop comes Qh 8d 3s. Everyone checks. The turn is a Jd giving me a flush and gut shot straight draw. I decide to take a stab at it and bet 2500. The BB folds and the original limper raises to 5500. This raise size felt real strong to me, so I called hoping to hit one of my outs and get paid off. The river was a beautiful 2d. At this point, I had 27k left and I had seen this guy make one big call earlier in the day, so I thought that if he really was strong like I suspected when he made the raise that he would pay me off. He did with 9 10 of spades for a turned straight. I was on the lucky draw for a big pot. Nothing exciting happened after that except for a nice round of shots at the ESPN featured table. I doubt there will be much brought in for TV from our 2 hour session there.
One hand before I go to bed. The biggest pot of the tournament for me.
Early position limps for 1000. I complete the bet from the small blind and the big blind checks. I have K9 of diamonds. Flop comes Qh 8d 3s. Everyone checks. The turn is a Jd giving me a flush and gut shot straight draw. I decide to take a stab at it and bet 2500. The BB folds and the original limper raises to 5500. This raise size felt real strong to me, so I called hoping to hit one of my outs and get paid off. The river was a beautiful 2d. At this point, I had 27k left and I had seen this guy make one big call earlier in the day, so I thought that if he really was strong like I suspected when he made the raise that he would pay me off. He did with 9 10 of spades for a turned straight. I was on the lucky draw for a big pot. Nothing exciting happened after that except for a nice round of shots at the ESPN featured table. I doubt there will be much brought in for TV from our 2 hour session there.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Day 1 Complete
I just got back from Day 1 of the WSOP. I'm at 37,725 chips from the starting stack of 20,000. I was as low as 9,700 and as high as about 49,000. It was really a strange day as I felt aggression and pressure against me almost all day. I can't count on two hands even how many times I was three bet preflop. The caliber of play is different to say the least. While I sit with some players that are incredibly tough to play against at times, there are others that shouldn't be in a ten dollar rebuy tournament. All in all, I think I played pretty well today, and I had a strategy going in that I was going to play careful and solid. I doubled up when I was at 17,500 when I called a late position raiser from my UTG limp with 44. Flop came 4 10 K. I checked dark and he bet 2600. I just sensed a lot of strength so I went ahead and raised hoping to get it in. He put me in and showed AK and the turn card 3 sealed the deal. I was up to 35,000. Then, I just played a bunch of small pots until the last level. I raised to 1100 with 200/400 blinds 25 ante with AA in late position to be called by an old man out of the big blind. Flop was a scary Q 9s 10s. He checked and I checked behind. Turn was a 6. He bet 2,000 and I called. River was a 9. He bet 6,000 and I called. He showed A7 and I won. That was the only other real big pot I played in. I had a couple of smaller all ins when I had 20k. One I lost to AQ with 55 and the other I won with AK vs J7. I can't complain though as surviving day 1 is the first step towards winning the tournament. I'm happy with how I played and can't wait to start again on Monday Day 2A.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Las Vegas happiness
So I haven't played much online except for a few heads up cash games where I always seem to get involved in enormous pots, but either way end up $100 each time I play. Don't ever complain about small profits. I also haven't played much online because I had my first official Las Vegas visitor, avid comment poster, Mike Z.
Here is the summary of the game of poker Mike and I played. We started off playing usually the NL game with a 500 max and trying extremely hard to win. Usually, we make good moves and win a little bit of money. Then we tend to have a few cocktails and deciding that we really need to see every single flop, and if we ever sit at the same table, the dealer tries as hard as possible to cooler us. So, I want to run through some of the exciting hands.
Some character of a Rush Hour 3 shoved for 10 BB into Mike Z. AA at the Orleans $105 tournament to show A9 and jam Mike Z. out of that tournament. Everyone knows that A9 can make three of a kind and frushes. Yes, I said frushes.
I played the H.O.S.E. event at the Wynn for 1k even though I really don't enjoy buying into big events when I'm not destroying online poker. At the same time, I really enjoy HORSE/HOSE events online because I feel I have a very good understanding of every game and have had success in HORSE tourneys online along with my 16th?? or so finish in the Stud Hi/Lo WCOOP. Anyway, it wasn't meant to be for me. I can honestly say that I did make a few mistakes here a few times made a couple bad river calls in Hold Em. Limit Hold em is not a very strong game of mine, but I think I usually have a good mentality in these tournaments. I just always want to be the aggressor, and it's something that can give you action in other games as well.
Anyway, I had a very interesting hand come up with a player that always seems to have my number when we play. That player is gank AKA Brett Jungblutt. I'm fully aware he is no slouch certainly in the game of Omaha Hi/Lo. The hand that really set me back though was a Stud Hi hand.
99 Q
XX 5
I completed to 150 and he called.
99 Q J
XX 5 4
I bet he called. At this point, I was trying to narrow down his hands to a possible hand like a 3 flush that decided to peal another one off or maybe just a 5 5 or maybe even 4 5 6 or something like that and it just picked up a pair.
99 Q J 9
XX 5 4 2
I bet 300 he calls.
99 QJ9 X
XX 5 4 2 2.
At this point he leads out into me and I'm almost positive I'm ahead, but he only has 2.5 bets left I think, so I believe I raised and we put the rest in.
He turned over a 5 in the seventh card giving him 5's full of deuces and I failed to boat up.
After that I think I played poorly because I just don't know how to play short stacked limit hold em. Stud Hi/Lo was extremely cold as well.
I tried to get my last 900 chips in when I completed with an A showing and I really didn't even look at my hole cards at that point but I got two callers so I decided to look.
KK A
XX 5
XX 2
KK A Q
XX 5 9
XX 2 10
Really just an absolutely perfect 4th street. I bet 150 and both still called.
KK A Q A
XX 5 9 A
XX 2 10 J
I bet 300 and the A 5 9 showing put the rest in there which wasn't much.
He flipped over 5 5 A 9 7 to put me in great shape to scoop outright, but he went 2, 6 I think to get half the pot.
It was still a great experience to play a different game and I enjoyed a different dynamic.
So, I usually never gamble in Las Vegas, but when friends come in town, it's really time to put that rule aside and throw a few hundreds out there for the entertainment.
I was at the hottest craps table in the world at MGM with Scott Storch look a like and two hot women shooters. Women shooters are simply the nuts and we'll get back to that in just a bit. Anyway, we were hitting everything and I believe I left up about 800 units. Take some of that to the roulette wheel where thanks to some super coolers that would simply not get on our team in roulette I gave back about 300 units. If you are at the roulette wheel and everyone in on a number, you have to get on board. You must focus all karmic energy on that one number in order to beat the house. It's that simple.
We also went to a comedy show at Tropicana earlier that night for $20 bucks and a show that was certainly worth the value. Earlier we played 1/2 NL at Tropicana where I have evidence of the dealer cooling us off.
Some guy moves UTG for $29 I think. I call with K2 of clubs because why not. Mike Z. calls and two other players call. So with approximately $150 in the pot, flop comes KQ7 with two spades. I immediately push a stack in and Mike Z. immediately calls and shows K5 of spades, uh oh.
The initial pusher flips over the A5 without the A of spades. Turn is a card that ensures Mike and I split the pot if a spade doesn't come, river is A of hearts sending the main pot to the $29 utg raiser.
We ended up at Planet Hollywood in a 1/2 NL game with strizzaddles and $25 blind bets. I picked off a bluff with Q 10 on a 10 7 2 5 J board when AK pushed hard and that gave me a little money. I'm really not trying to play these things as serious as possible, but rather as an experiment for different styles of play and to have some fun.
That night ended as a fun one and the next day was fun as we played 1-4 spread limit Stud because the Mirage would just not call our names to get into the no limit game. After losing around 50 units, I decided to hit the craps table one more time. Earlier in the night, we hit the $5 craps at O'Sheas for a little bit of fun and a little bit of winning. So we start at the Mirage and there is a high roller on the table betting close to about 2k on various places on the board per round. After a few rolls around and being up a little bit of money, the high roller comes up when two young attractive girls walk by the table. He calls the two girls over to the table and asks the one cute blonde girl to the table to say "honey please roll these dice for me." She looks a little tentative, but of course, obliges to the man's request. She immediately rolls a 7 on the opening roll and the high roller gives her 100. Then she does it again, another 100. At this point, Mike is just freaking out and I'm trying not to explode in laughter as the jealous friend is looking at her with the most jealously calm stare. Then she rolls a number and hits the point for another 200. At this point, we are now just about freaking out. He puts up 50 on the 11 or 12 and she rolls a 12!! Another 100. Then she puts up a 5 on the point and the place was just ready to erupt because he had about 1200 on 5 and said "Honey, if you hit that five, you will get five hundred." After probably 10 rolls, she finally hits the 5 and everyone is cheering and going for high fives. He flips her a nice purple chips and now she has a stack of around 1400. Then the table got cold as ice and he certainly gave a lot back as did I. We decided to go play blackjack with this guy and these two girls and suddenly ran into the most ruthless dealer I've ever met. This lady was not only making a horrible argument for Penn St. football vs. Ohio State, at one point we all had decent hands to when she flipped up something like 13, ran out a 2 and a 6 and said something like "YEAH right there." I've never heard a dealer do that, but I gave back about 400 units to really just kind of break even on gambling for the weekend. Either way, I'm still scared of this dealer and her ruthless interrogations at the table. She kept asking me if it was my first time to Vegas and when she found out I lived here, she wanted to know what I do. I never gave her the pleasure, but she destroyed what could have been a positive gambling trip.
Now I have all the gamble out of me and am certainly ready to get back to a normal schedule, but it was great to have a great time and a visitor and whoever comes out, you are in for just as much fun as it all sounds.
I'll take Jay's question about American Idol. Jay basically asked if David Archuleta was unstoppable. David is the youngest guy on the show and while I'm crossing the line admitting I've actually watched every episode this season as the first time I've ever done that with this show, I don't think this kid is stoppable. He is the best, and the class of girls is completely weak. I think Jason Castro, the guy with the dreads is second best or more like something I would probably listen to. I don't really like what these shows produce in the end most of the time because I don't listen to that music, but I think this season has promise. Obviously, in a voting game though Jay, anything can happen, but expect him to be in the top 4 for sure.
That's all for now, it's been a good time being away from playing so many tournaments online and my new article is up on Pocketfives.
Here is the summary of the game of poker Mike and I played. We started off playing usually the NL game with a 500 max and trying extremely hard to win. Usually, we make good moves and win a little bit of money. Then we tend to have a few cocktails and deciding that we really need to see every single flop, and if we ever sit at the same table, the dealer tries as hard as possible to cooler us. So, I want to run through some of the exciting hands.
Some character of a Rush Hour 3 shoved for 10 BB into Mike Z. AA at the Orleans $105 tournament to show A9 and jam Mike Z. out of that tournament. Everyone knows that A9 can make three of a kind and frushes. Yes, I said frushes.
I played the H.O.S.E. event at the Wynn for 1k even though I really don't enjoy buying into big events when I'm not destroying online poker. At the same time, I really enjoy HORSE/HOSE events online because I feel I have a very good understanding of every game and have had success in HORSE tourneys online along with my 16th?? or so finish in the Stud Hi/Lo WCOOP. Anyway, it wasn't meant to be for me. I can honestly say that I did make a few mistakes here a few times made a couple bad river calls in Hold Em. Limit Hold em is not a very strong game of mine, but I think I usually have a good mentality in these tournaments. I just always want to be the aggressor, and it's something that can give you action in other games as well.
Anyway, I had a very interesting hand come up with a player that always seems to have my number when we play. That player is gank AKA Brett Jungblutt. I'm fully aware he is no slouch certainly in the game of Omaha Hi/Lo. The hand that really set me back though was a Stud Hi hand.
99 Q
XX 5
I completed to 150 and he called.
99 Q J
XX 5 4
I bet he called. At this point, I was trying to narrow down his hands to a possible hand like a 3 flush that decided to peal another one off or maybe just a 5 5 or maybe even 4 5 6 or something like that and it just picked up a pair.
99 Q J 9
XX 5 4 2
I bet 300 he calls.
99 QJ9 X
XX 5 4 2 2.
At this point he leads out into me and I'm almost positive I'm ahead, but he only has 2.5 bets left I think, so I believe I raised and we put the rest in.
He turned over a 5 in the seventh card giving him 5's full of deuces and I failed to boat up.
After that I think I played poorly because I just don't know how to play short stacked limit hold em. Stud Hi/Lo was extremely cold as well.
I tried to get my last 900 chips in when I completed with an A showing and I really didn't even look at my hole cards at that point but I got two callers so I decided to look.
KK A
XX 5
XX 2
KK A Q
XX 5 9
XX 2 10
Really just an absolutely perfect 4th street. I bet 150 and both still called.
KK A Q A
XX 5 9 A
XX 2 10 J
I bet 300 and the A 5 9 showing put the rest in there which wasn't much.
He flipped over 5 5 A 9 7 to put me in great shape to scoop outright, but he went 2, 6 I think to get half the pot.
It was still a great experience to play a different game and I enjoyed a different dynamic.
So, I usually never gamble in Las Vegas, but when friends come in town, it's really time to put that rule aside and throw a few hundreds out there for the entertainment.
I was at the hottest craps table in the world at MGM with Scott Storch look a like and two hot women shooters. Women shooters are simply the nuts and we'll get back to that in just a bit. Anyway, we were hitting everything and I believe I left up about 800 units. Take some of that to the roulette wheel where thanks to some super coolers that would simply not get on our team in roulette I gave back about 300 units. If you are at the roulette wheel and everyone in on a number, you have to get on board. You must focus all karmic energy on that one number in order to beat the house. It's that simple.
We also went to a comedy show at Tropicana earlier that night for $20 bucks and a show that was certainly worth the value. Earlier we played 1/2 NL at Tropicana where I have evidence of the dealer cooling us off.
Some guy moves UTG for $29 I think. I call with K2 of clubs because why not. Mike Z. calls and two other players call. So with approximately $150 in the pot, flop comes KQ7 with two spades. I immediately push a stack in and Mike Z. immediately calls and shows K5 of spades, uh oh.
The initial pusher flips over the A5 without the A of spades. Turn is a card that ensures Mike and I split the pot if a spade doesn't come, river is A of hearts sending the main pot to the $29 utg raiser.
We ended up at Planet Hollywood in a 1/2 NL game with strizzaddles and $25 blind bets. I picked off a bluff with Q 10 on a 10 7 2 5 J board when AK pushed hard and that gave me a little money. I'm really not trying to play these things as serious as possible, but rather as an experiment for different styles of play and to have some fun.
That night ended as a fun one and the next day was fun as we played 1-4 spread limit Stud because the Mirage would just not call our names to get into the no limit game. After losing around 50 units, I decided to hit the craps table one more time. Earlier in the night, we hit the $5 craps at O'Sheas for a little bit of fun and a little bit of winning. So we start at the Mirage and there is a high roller on the table betting close to about 2k on various places on the board per round. After a few rolls around and being up a little bit of money, the high roller comes up when two young attractive girls walk by the table. He calls the two girls over to the table and asks the one cute blonde girl to the table to say "honey please roll these dice for me." She looks a little tentative, but of course, obliges to the man's request. She immediately rolls a 7 on the opening roll and the high roller gives her 100. Then she does it again, another 100. At this point, Mike is just freaking out and I'm trying not to explode in laughter as the jealous friend is looking at her with the most jealously calm stare. Then she rolls a number and hits the point for another 200. At this point, we are now just about freaking out. He puts up 50 on the 11 or 12 and she rolls a 12!! Another 100. Then she puts up a 5 on the point and the place was just ready to erupt because he had about 1200 on 5 and said "Honey, if you hit that five, you will get five hundred." After probably 10 rolls, she finally hits the 5 and everyone is cheering and going for high fives. He flips her a nice purple chips and now she has a stack of around 1400. Then the table got cold as ice and he certainly gave a lot back as did I. We decided to go play blackjack with this guy and these two girls and suddenly ran into the most ruthless dealer I've ever met. This lady was not only making a horrible argument for Penn St. football vs. Ohio State, at one point we all had decent hands to when she flipped up something like 13, ran out a 2 and a 6 and said something like "YEAH right there." I've never heard a dealer do that, but I gave back about 400 units to really just kind of break even on gambling for the weekend. Either way, I'm still scared of this dealer and her ruthless interrogations at the table. She kept asking me if it was my first time to Vegas and when she found out I lived here, she wanted to know what I do. I never gave her the pleasure, but she destroyed what could have been a positive gambling trip.
Now I have all the gamble out of me and am certainly ready to get back to a normal schedule, but it was great to have a great time and a visitor and whoever comes out, you are in for just as much fun as it all sounds.
I'll take Jay's question about American Idol. Jay basically asked if David Archuleta was unstoppable. David is the youngest guy on the show and while I'm crossing the line admitting I've actually watched every episode this season as the first time I've ever done that with this show, I don't think this kid is stoppable. He is the best, and the class of girls is completely weak. I think Jason Castro, the guy with the dreads is second best or more like something I would probably listen to. I don't really like what these shows produce in the end most of the time because I don't listen to that music, but I think this season has promise. Obviously, in a voting game though Jay, anything can happen, but expect him to be in the top 4 for sure.
That's all for now, it's been a good time being away from playing so many tournaments online and my new article is up on Pocketfives.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Strictly Poker Blog
OK, so I just got knocked out of the Venetian Deep Stack $540 event in 30th place for a $864 cash. I'm in a really bad mood because I played for 12 hours and made $300 when the winner was at $60K, but that's just how it goes. What really irritates me is that this tournament prides itself on the "great structure," but that's a joke. Every single online tournament has a better structure than this one except the turbos. When you get up to 3/6k blinds with 1000 ante and the average stack is 120K, that's 20 big blinds, but an M of between 6-7. There is just no play allowed at that point. I hate being in these situations because most decisions are standard and the cards will dictate all the action.
Let's run through the key hands. For the first 3 levels, I again could get nothing going and basically just played solid looking for a good spot. The thing I hate about playing solid early is that there are 6/10 monkeys looking to gamble and blow off all their chips, so if you take the solid approach, you just kind of let the monkeys give other people chips. That doesn't make much sense, but I had that idea today and it's right.
So I played pretty solid until two breaks in when I had around 11K in chips with 4/800 blinds. A pretty good player raised in mid position and I shipped it in with 99. He reluctantly called and showed AQ when I destroyed the 9 4 3 flop. I was able to open up a few more pots and get up to about 27k when I raised UTG+2 with KK to 3200 with 6/1200 blinds. The big blind shipped me in and had me covered, I quickly called and he showed AK. I was up to around 60k. Then nothing very spectacular happened except winning some blinds and hanging right around that mark. With blinds at 1k/2k, I raised to 5k on the button with AK when the BB shoved in and I snap called. He showed A7 and it wasn't long until he boated up on the 7 4 4 7 x flop. I was basically crippled now as blinds soon moved up to 1.5k/3k with a 500 ante and I had around 24k. I was able to double up when I picked up JJ and reshoved my chip tree who called with 5 5. I call this player the chip tree because he was unfortunate to pretty much be holding under me with big hands all day long. It kind of sucks for him because he played pretty decent all day and had a monster stack. The next hand was crucial when I picked up AA and the chip tree raised under the gun to 8k with 1.5/3k blinds 500 ante. I had about 65k at this point and was in the small blind. He was opening lots of pots and never really got a strong vibe from him until this hand. I can't even explain it and it is just a big cooler in a lot of ways, but I shipped all my chips in for an extremely large raise. He called with AK suited and I had an easy Q 8 2 2 board to lock it up. The very next hand I completed the harvest of the chip tree when I raised with Ac9c on the button and he put the rest in with A8 again being just a little worse. Then I tried to open more pots, but didn't really get many hands for a while and when I did open it cost me 11k to raise and 12k to continuation bet and with 140k in chips or so, that's a decent percentage of your stack. I'm really upset because I felt like I had played very well and patiently all day long. When the blinds and antes moved up to 3k/6k with a 1k ante, everything was just taken out of my hands in a lot of ways. I raised to 16k on the SB with A4 and got pushed all in and I folded. I was down to about 80K at this point and picked up 33 on the button. I really don't know the answer to this hand. I raised to 16k here and the same guy pushed in again from the SB. I easily could have shoved here with the M being 4 and all and only having a little over 13BB, but I had the thought in my head that raising would open up his range to wider than calling. In essence, he might think he could resteal lighter this time and I would obviously be racing but have a chance for a big double up. It's probably a bad play, but I wonder what everyone else thinks. The guy showed JJ and I lost.
Anyway I'm not too upset because I felt like I played very solid and confident for the whole day, but just very unsure on the last hand.
Let's run through the key hands. For the first 3 levels, I again could get nothing going and basically just played solid looking for a good spot. The thing I hate about playing solid early is that there are 6/10 monkeys looking to gamble and blow off all their chips, so if you take the solid approach, you just kind of let the monkeys give other people chips. That doesn't make much sense, but I had that idea today and it's right.
So I played pretty solid until two breaks in when I had around 11K in chips with 4/800 blinds. A pretty good player raised in mid position and I shipped it in with 99. He reluctantly called and showed AQ when I destroyed the 9 4 3 flop. I was able to open up a few more pots and get up to about 27k when I raised UTG+2 with KK to 3200 with 6/1200 blinds. The big blind shipped me in and had me covered, I quickly called and he showed AK. I was up to around 60k. Then nothing very spectacular happened except winning some blinds and hanging right around that mark. With blinds at 1k/2k, I raised to 5k on the button with AK when the BB shoved in and I snap called. He showed A7 and it wasn't long until he boated up on the 7 4 4 7 x flop. I was basically crippled now as blinds soon moved up to 1.5k/3k with a 500 ante and I had around 24k. I was able to double up when I picked up JJ and reshoved my chip tree who called with 5 5. I call this player the chip tree because he was unfortunate to pretty much be holding under me with big hands all day long. It kind of sucks for him because he played pretty decent all day and had a monster stack. The next hand was crucial when I picked up AA and the chip tree raised under the gun to 8k with 1.5/3k blinds 500 ante. I had about 65k at this point and was in the small blind. He was opening lots of pots and never really got a strong vibe from him until this hand. I can't even explain it and it is just a big cooler in a lot of ways, but I shipped all my chips in for an extremely large raise. He called with AK suited and I had an easy Q 8 2 2 board to lock it up. The very next hand I completed the harvest of the chip tree when I raised with Ac9c on the button and he put the rest in with A8 again being just a little worse. Then I tried to open more pots, but didn't really get many hands for a while and when I did open it cost me 11k to raise and 12k to continuation bet and with 140k in chips or so, that's a decent percentage of your stack. I'm really upset because I felt like I had played very well and patiently all day long. When the blinds and antes moved up to 3k/6k with a 1k ante, everything was just taken out of my hands in a lot of ways. I raised to 16k on the SB with A4 and got pushed all in and I folded. I was down to about 80K at this point and picked up 33 on the button. I really don't know the answer to this hand. I raised to 16k here and the same guy pushed in again from the SB. I easily could have shoved here with the M being 4 and all and only having a little over 13BB, but I had the thought in my head that raising would open up his range to wider than calling. In essence, he might think he could resteal lighter this time and I would obviously be racing but have a chance for a big double up. It's probably a bad play, but I wonder what everyone else thinks. The guy showed JJ and I lost.
Anyway I'm not too upset because I felt like I played very solid and confident for the whole day, but just very unsure on the last hand.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)