running good

I'm now working on more aggressive play at .05/.10, and if tonight is any indication, it's going well. I decided that instead of just limping into pots with medium cards (or junk), I'm going to raise with them. By "medium" I mean middle suited connectors and gappers, and even unsuited connectors and gappers.

In position, I was raising with suited gappers, suited connectors; I was calling raises in position with a fairly wide range, with plans of taking down pots by raising or betting out if checked to. This worked perfectly. Maybe I just lucked out and found two super-soft tables. Eh, who am I kdding - these tables are soft.

Here's the flop of the night:

Folds to me in the cut off minus 1 with 45o, so I pop it to $0.30; button raises to $0.60, folds to me - what the heck, he's playing position or has big cards, I'm live and connected - I call.


If he's got a big pair, I'm gold. No need to slow-play, as if he doesn't have anything OR if he does have a big pair, he'll probably raise here, or smooth call: I want money in the pot NOW, so I hope he can raise! I bet pot, he min-raises, I re-raise, he shoves... and, of course, I call :)

I don't fault the guy, except that if he put in a larger raise preflop he could have won it preflop. I'm not sure, if I were him, I don't get felted there either. Correction: at this level, I know I lose a lot of money here. Granted, I may have not shoved the flop, but tried to wait until the turn to get it all in, but maybe not.

Here's another hand I floated preflop: MP raises to $0.30, one caller before me. 64o on the button, I call, and the BB calls. He bet, I raised the flop; he bet, I raised the turn; he checked, I put him all-in on the river:



This next player was the ultimate calling station. After tangling in four hands, I knew there was no way a bluff would work if they had connected at all, so I needed to wait until I had a monster. They were in practically every hand anyway, so it was almost certain we'd tangle again. AKo UTG. I hate being OOP with AK, but I'm raising. Standard $0.30, calling station does what calling stations do: calls.

In previous hands, I had made smaller bets (1/2 pot, 1/3 pot, 3/4 pot), but now with TPTK, I'm building the pot for myself. SO, I bet the pot on the flop. And, of course, calling station calls. I am slightly worried about K9 or A9, but not too much (I couldn't put them on a range for anything) - I'm pretty sure I'm way ahead here. The turn is my money card, and I bet just under pot, insta-called. On the river, I bet enough to put them all-in, INSTA-call.

Not sure when 44 is good on this board; however they'd already won two hands against me when I bet throughout the hand with nothing and they'd hit bottom pair on the flop and called me down.. they'd also won a hand or two where I raised pre, I bet the flop, and checked the turn and river once they called me (I'd decided to not try to bluff them anymore), so there's a good chance that they remembered me showing down losing hands to them 4 times. That, or they just can't lay down a pair for anything.

Besides these hands where I connected, there were plenty that I just won by firing: raise preflop with something like a 79s, fire at a ragged flop (or a scary flop!), and take it down... played much more aggressively , and much more "poker" than "cards."

Here was a fun one: I raised pre, I got called on the flop, turn was check / check; and I pot-bet the river:

When the river was dealt, I was checked-to, and I almost gave up, but then saw that if they had a Q, they'd have bet the turn; if they had an ace, they'd probably bet the river (a small bet, since they probably don't have a flush). So I just fired, and they went away. :)

A few weeks of this as I tweak my selection and aggression, and if all goes well I'll move up to $0.10 / $0.25.

Got my kicks with 66

$0.05 / $0.10 NL
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gsw61515 [6c 6h]
UTG folds
gsw61515 calls $0.10 <- no raise from EP: want to encourage a multi-way pot to maximize set-mining value
player 1 folds
Player 2 folds
Player 3 calls $0.10
Player 4 folds
ToughLuck raises to $0.20 <- min-raise after 2 limpers? OK sure.
suitntie2000 calls $0.10
gsw61515 calls $0.10
Player 3 calls $0.10

*** FLOP *** [4d 6s 9d] <- MONEY!!
ToughLuck bets $0.20
Player 5 folds
gsw61515 calls $0.20 <- don't want to give away my strength
Player 3 folds

*** TURN *** [4d 6s 9d] [2c]
ToughLuck has 15 seconds left to act
ToughLuck bets $0.50
gsw61515 calls $0.50 <- keep betting for me, dude

*** RIVER *** [4d 6s 9d 2c] [Qh]
ToughLuck bets $1.50
gsw61515 raises to $3 <- bad raise on my part, but I didn't want to chase him away
ToughLuckhas 15 seconds left to act
ToughLuckraises to $4.50 <- hmmmm...
gsw61515 calls $1.50 <- paranoia: did he have QQ?
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ToughLuck shows [Ks Kh] a pair of Kings
gsw61515 shows [6c 6h] three of a kind, Sixes
gsw61515 wins the pot ($10.10) with three of a kind, Sixes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $11.20 | Rake $1.10
Board: [4d 6s 9d 2c Qh]
Seat 1: gsw61515 showed [6c 6h] and won ($10.10) with three of a kind, Sixes
Seat 7: ToughLuck(small blind) showed [Ks Kh] and lost with a pair of Kings


Yes, I missed out on some money on this hand. My call on the river is the only time in months and months and months where I suddenly worried about set over set. I thought he could possibly have QQ. I figured calling here would be the safest play: it was a decent sized pot as it was.

I need to work on extracting more value on my monster hands. I tried a little trapping tonight, which allowed me to get a little more value on a couple hands.

Here was a hard call:

I was pretty sure I was ahead, but he was betting all the way, and made a decent-size bet on the river. I worried that he had the case 5, or spiked a K. It was my own fault: after 2 limpers and the sb, I checked my option pre-flop. I had no way of putting anyone on any hand. I check / called on each street.

There were other interesting hands: my soooted AJ hits 2 pair on the flop and looses to flopped Broadway. My Q9 felted an opponent holding KK when I flopped top 2. Somehow my KK held up on a paired, ace-high board. With KK from the SB that I popped to $0.50 after 2 limpers, I felted my opponent holding KQo when they flopped top pair (Q)....

2 tables, ~ 200 hands; averaged seeing 34% of the flops; ended up 1 buy-in total. Yea, I know: if I'd seen less flops I'd have earned more. I've been purposely trying to see tons of flops to help my flop & turn play: I can play big hands (of course), but medium-strength hands, or hands like suited-gappers I'm not quite as confident playing. Well, I'm much more confident now than I was, say, a month ago.

Next to work on:
- extracting more value from my big hands (or my hands that connect in a big way, I should say)
- narrowing my hand selection, and playing the hands I choose more aggressively: less limping and more preflop raising. Though this may not work at .05/.10: often a raise will win the hand preflop - players there (including me!) like seeing cheap flops.

...and again...

$0.05 / 0.10, very first hand, I'm in the cut off and posted. Dealt 66; MP raises to 0.40, I (obviously) call. Again, I'm not folding a pocket pair here to any semi-standard raise: I flop a set and I'm probably stacking my opponent.

FLOP: 6s Qh 10c

Sweet.

MP bets pot, I call (not raising here: no reason to chase him away).

Turn: As

I don't like this, as KJ just hit a straight, so I'm not going to be raising. MP bets approx. 1/2 pot, I smooth call.

River: Ac.

Money card! MP checks. This surprised me; I wondered whether they just whiffed and gave up. I hoped they were going for a check-raise, so I made a bet that was a little less than what I'd put in as a value bet, and MP just called:


Kudos to chou13: tons of opponents go broke here; his check / call saved him money.


Next big hand: 4h 7h from SB. Suited, not quite connected - but with 4 limpers, I'm not folding for half a bet. BB checks, and 6 see the flop.

FLOP: 7d Ac 4c.

Flopped 2 pair, but 2 suited cards. I'd be happy to take this down here, so I bet the pot. Folds to JayDubious, who min-raises. OK, cool, they have an ace, hopefully with a good kicker. I call.

TURN: 4d.

No worries about the suits, my attention now turns to how to extract the maximum. I decide to check, JayDubious bets all but $0.30. If he's got A4, I'm just going broke, so I shove, he calls:


Top pair, medium kicker, and pushing. LOVE IT!


I should send JayDubious a thank you card. In the BB, K4o, it's limped so I check.

FLOP: Kh 6h 4s.

I'm not getting fancy here, I'll bet out and hope someone has hit top pair to0. JayDubious, quite short-stacked here, shoves for a bit less than $2. And again, of course I call with two pair:



This is around a $50 run over the past week and a half at $0.05 / $0.10. No fancy plays necessary; no crazy plays; no hero calls / hero lay-downs... here's been my strategy, distilled:
- find a table where everyone has less than 2x's buy-in, with mid-sized average pots
- see cheap flops with a wide range of hands (my stats have me seeing approx. 30% of the flops)
- with at least one deepish-stack at the table (and especially if they're in the pot), don't fold any pocket pair preflop to any semi-standard raise
- be patient and wait for big hands or wait to connect in a big way

How do they do it?

3 of the first 4 hands at a table, I had 44, 55, and 44 again. Limp / called a preflop raise with the first 44; all overs flopped, BB pot bets, I fold. 55 I raised from UTG+2, player to my left re-pops, I smooth call for set-mining odds. Overs with 2 clubs hit the flop, I bet 1/3 pot, guy shoves, I fold. I don't even remember the 3rd 44 hand. I had trouble at this table, though: my raises weren't getting respect, and I dropped from $10 to $7 quickly. I bailed, and found another table. Well, 2 actually, and figured I'd play until I decided which was more comfortable.

Not long after I sat down, sitting with approx. $9.50, I find 44 (again!) from late position. I join a couple limpers, then the button pops it to $0.50, and it folds back to me. Of course, I have to call: he's got $9.30 left, and I know if he's got a big pair, and I hit my set, it's all going in. $0.40 to flop a set and get the remaining $9.30? Of course I'm calling.

FLOP: Kc 2d 4c.

"I love it when a plan comes together."

I'm not gonna check-raise to give away the strength of my hand. I bet what I'd bet if I were on a flush draw: a little more than 1/2 pot. I bet $0.60. He raises to $1.60. Unless he has KK, I'm golden here. For these stakes, online, with very little information to go off of, I cannot start making psychic reads or hero laydowns because it may be a set over set deal. If he's got any sort of hand here, I know it's all going in.

I re-raise pot: $5 or something. I don't remember exactly, and am not clear on how to do the math for that (I just clicked the pot button), but I do know that it only left me a couple bucks left. The other guy shoves, and of course I'm calling:

How is top pair good here? How can you think, if someone has re-raised enough to only leave him a buck or 2 behind, that they're not completely dominating you? I hoped to god the guy had AK here and wanted it all in. He didn't even have that!

Over the summer I was getting pummeled at these micro-limits, and I know why now: I was playing like that dude was, figuring top pair would be great, and if not, oh well, it's only ten bucks. That's a great way to develop bad habits. Playing these limits like they mean something is a great way to play profitable poker (albeit small profits) against bad players.

I recently read an interview with Doyle Brunson, and he talks about playing poker at different levels. Here's a guy who's played $1,000 / $2,000 games, and he says that he knows players at that level who can't play well at $100 / $200 because they don't treat the game the same way. Your chips are betting units, not money. Treating the betting units as that, then you should be playing optimally at whatever level you choose.

Of course, you'll have to make adjustments to the skill of your opponents, and you may need to play a much more straightforward game at small levels, but you make that adjustment at any table you're at.

While I started out a tournament player, I am much, much more interested in cash game play. Much more interesting IMHO.

Sometimes you just need that one hand

Played 2 tables, was up $6 on one, and was down 6.50 on the other. In retrospect I should have closed the losing table way before I got to this point: I just didn't have the rhythm of that table.

The table I was up on was then joined by two players who, if it weren't .05/.10, I'd have thought were in collusion. They were also in the habit of making $3 preflop raises. I sat a few orbits but never picked up anything I could take advantage with, so I went to find another table. After about 30 minutes, I was hovering a buck or two up. Was going to go to bed, when I got this had: KQo in mid-late position. I joined a couple limpers, and 4 saw the flop: QJ8, 2 hearts. I was in position, and facing a check, a min-bet, and a call. I pop it to .60. One fold, original min-bettor min-raises (what's with the min's?) to $1.10. The original caller called.

What's going on here? AQ or AK would have been raising hands for either of them; obviously the caller is on a flush draw (nut probably), but what about the min-bettor? Unless he has 910, I'm thinking I'm in the lead. I decide to call.

Turn comes Kc. No heart, which is good (I'm not holding a heart). And I have top 2 - am I good here? If he does have AQ or AK I'm way ahead; 9 10 I'm so far behind. With the action the way it went, I think I should have put the guy on 9 10, but I didn't. When I hit my second pair, both players checked to me. I bet the pot. First called, 2nd guy (probable flush-draw), called all-in (for less than my bet).

River came 4c. While there are now 3 clubs on the board, I can't fathom either of these guys chasing runner-runner flushes; if they luckboxed and caught a backdoor straight then so be it. I was trying to decide on what a good value bet would be on the river, when first to act shoves all-in. While I'm again worried about the 9 10, that doesn't stop me from calling.

So I end up taking down a pot worth $24, which pushed me to +$13.50 for the night. I don't think I played the hand well, though -- when I'm check-raised on the flop, I couldn't put the guy on a hand. When he check/called the turn, I was more surprised. The one dude I figured for a flush draw from his action on the flop, and the turn. The other guy had me perplexed. I had no idea just how behind I was on the flop. I really didn't like calling the all-in at the end. At that point I honestly was running on instinct: I thought for a second, I closed my eyes and just felt "call," so I did.

I'm wondering when I'm going to have a losing session; if you look at dollar amounts over the past 2 weeks it's not a lot, if you go by percentage or # big blinds, it's pretty good (20 - 50 big blinds per 30-90 minute session). I'm feeling quite comfortable with my play, yet am still just a touch nervous to move to the next micro-level (which, btw, is absolutely hysterical given that I'd have no problem walking into a casino tomorrow and playing $1/2, $1/3, $2/5, $3/5 NL. Yet online, $0.10 / $0.25 makes me nervous.

I'm in Arizona now, so it's doubtful I'll get to the RPT game on Thanksgiving. If everyone crashes early, maybe I will. But that's doubtful - that'd be 7pm out here.

Another Aussie run:

Played in 3 of the Aussie free rolls this morning; busted out of one somewhere around 40 of 600+; busted out of the second one in 14th of 315, then made a deep run in the 3rd one.

Up until the final table, I had seen something like 16 flops, and 12 rivers, winning 10 of the rivers that I saw. And almost all winning hands on the river were all-ins. Even by the end of the tournament, I had seen only 18% of the flops. I played premium hands, and just a few speculative hands (and released them to any action if they didn't hit big or hit a big draw).

It's amazing what people will call you with. This one I got raised all-in on the flop:


Top pair / weak kicker. I raised preflop, too.

This hand was great: I pushed all-in preflop from the BB after 4 limpers; all but one of the limpers called me, and I got a MASSIVE chip stack:

How, I wonder, do you think K3o is good here? JJ I kind of understand (kind of), but K3o? And K10s after a push all in and 2 callers? Wow.

Here's another flopped set that I got raised all-in on the flop:


Top pair / crap kicker - I dunno. I mean, I know it's a free roll, but I guess people don't understand that if you actually play well you stand a better chance of winning the damn thing. Relying on luck will only get you so far.

On that same note, though, you just have to get lucky at least once in a tournament to take it down. I had barely played any hands, and had seen TrackStar488 raise preflop with A6o, 22; I saw him push with 88, so I'm thinking there's a damn good chance I'm ahead here. Since I hadn't played many hands at this table, I thought a tight image would get an "OK" hand to fold for his tourney life. I pushed after his raise, and he insta-called:


I had already typed "nh / gl ev1" in the chat...THEN the turn came. WOOOOO! I then revised my comment to "I mean...gg :)" That sent him spewing obscenities. Oh, well. One suck out is pretty good at this point.

Final table, I'm 3rd in chips. I push preflop after a very aggressive raiser put in a raise & it folded to me in the BB. A9s is no monster, but against his probable range I thought I was ahead, and I had enough fold-equity that I thought without a monster he'd go away. Proverbial coin-flip that was all but over on the flop:

I don't know who makes this call with 22 here. Oh, well - doubled me up.

I'm realizing now that I was behind more than I thought: that hand, and the next one were pretty much coin flops preflop. The one above I pushed; the next one I limped on the button and called the sb's shove. I can't tell you why, I just didn't think he had a big hand, and thought I may be in the lead, or another coin flip (at worst). That's what it turned out to be:

This catapulted me to the chip lead with 4 left.

We got down to 3-way, I was short-stacked due to a lost coin-flip (had to happen sooner or later). My M was at around 4 or 5, which meant I had one of two moves: push, or fold. Finding K3s in the SB, when the button folds, I wanted to just take the blinds and move on, so - I shove. He can't call there without a real hand, I'm assuming. Who'd have known he woke up to a real hand:

Oh, well - gg me. Bad timing. Chances of him waking up to aces there? I dunno... guess I could have folded and waited 'till my button, but I was getting so low on chips I figured chances were he wouldn't have a calling hand there.

Aussie freeroll sickness

These hands happened about 4 minutes apart in separate Aussie freerolls:

First one didn't bust me, just crippled me down to <300; dude pot-bet the flop, I jammed (one player to act behind - wasn't really trying to close them out, ppl call with insane hands in these things; I was more over betting for value. I don't have a monster, but if I'm against a flush draw I'm favored; no preflop raise so no AK, and if he has KQ then bad luck). Other guy folded:


Gotta love the runner-runner.

Wait, what's that? Runner-runner, you say? Well, let me just show you what happened about 3 minutes later in the other tourny:

After a min-bet on the flop, I jammed (again - over betting for value in these things, at least until the final table, is essential as people will call you when they're WAY behind often enough. And again, I'm not holding a monster, but due to preflop action it was safe to assume I was ahead here, and possibly against a flush draw, which apparently I was). When the cards were shown, I said (aloud) "Two more clubs would do it." I got my wish.

J10o

Short micro-limit session tonight. Made one bad call on the river on my 2nd hand, where I was 97% sure I was beat, yet still called the min-raise. That hand brought me from $10 down to $7. I hovered around there for a while. Thankfully, though, there are players who always believe top pair is the nuts.

On the button, J10o. Connectors are great to see a cheap flop with, so after a couple limpers I limped on the button, SB completed BB checked.

Cut-off pot-bet for $.50, I used the convenient "Bet Pot" button and bumped it to $2. I was worried that was too much, but no problem - all others folded, he called. When he bet the turn I shoved, and was called:


I wasn't worried about him holding an ace, as he'd have raised preflop with AnyAce. I thought there was a good chance we'd be splitting (after the flop action I put him on KJ, KQ or QJ), so I figured it was perfectly safe to get it all in, as if he's got the dumb end too then he may worry about the ace. No choppy-chop this time!

Grinding away

Maybe I should play higher stakes online. Played .05/.10, and due to a couple early suckouts, I was down about half a buy in for a while. I didn't screen cap those, and I'm having issues with my hand histories not getting saved (it may be due to some security features on Vista I think), so I can't go back and retell those tales.

I did get caps of a number of interesting hands, though:


The dude check / called my pot-size bet on the flop (the button had min-raised preflop). I know I'm not the best at calculating pot odds, but I do know that calling a pot-size bet on the flop with what is probably only 4 outs is NOT going to be profitable in the long run. He only had like a buck and a half left after the flop bet, the pot was already more than that, so he check/called the turn when I put him all-in.

I hovered between $5 and $7 for what seemed like forever. I was quite happy with my play, though I was seeing a TON of flops: the table was VERY limp-friendly.

Funny, I just looked at my screen caps, looks like I saved mostly winners. :)


This guy check / called on the flop (when he was ahead); checked the turn, as did I (when he was ahead); and bet the river (after I caught my flush). I couldn't raise with the paired-board out there, but I took down a decent pot.

Here's the hand where I started my climb up the ladder: after it folds to me, I make my standard raise to $0.30, tiltsthename calls.


With $0.70 in the pot, I led out with .30. The dude raises to $1.50. With the two clubs, I'd be happy to take this pot down now, so I bet enough to put him all-in (raised another $3 or so), which he INSTA-calls. I don't get it; I just don't know how you make that call there! With no club in your hand, how do you think top pair is good here? Not that I minded of course...

Here's another great example of insane play: I saw the flop here, but when the BB bet and UTG raised, I'm not going chasing after a gut-shot:


The BB re-raise shoved this flop. Again, how do you think your Top pair / no kicker is good here?!

This was a sweet win: I got this guy to call a pot-size bet on the flop, and a 3/4 pot bet on the turn:

...and after the first two bullets, I gave up: I was no longer confident that my 4th pair was any good, and decided to wimp-out and check. Poor guy, he bets anything of significance here and I go away. But he missed his flush and wussed out even more than I did.

Here's where I think I made a good laydown: I'd been limping with hands like KJo all night: it's an OK hand, but I'm happier seeing a flop with it and seeing what develops.. With top pair and a flush-draw on the board, I bet about 1/2 the pot on the flop. The turn comes, SB checks, I bet about 2/3 pot, and SB check-raises:


Doubtful I was ahead here: I'm facing either a 68 or some random 2-pair combination (which, of course, is the danger of limping with KJ: if I had popped it preflop, I may have chased out any J4 or 74). I thought it through, and don't see how top pair would possibly be good here.

Here' the last big hand I won: MP dude pops it to $0.30; on the button I call (shut up - I know it's a weak hand, but I'm playing more poker and less cards here). Cdn Chris pot-bets the flop, stressure pushes all-in for about $1 more, I call, Cdn Chris calls:


Cdn Chris checks the turn; with something like $3 or so in the pain pot, I bet $2 on the turn, and get a call. When he checks the river, I'm happy to check behind: if he's slow-playing a set of jacks or KJ I'll get away losing the minimum here, and would probably only get called (or raised) by a monster hand. I just don't see how you call two large bets on the flop and turn with 6 clean outs (the 9h or Ah I wouldn't consider "clean" outs as there'd be a possible flush out there). That pot was worth approx $5.

All-in-all some "running good" hands, some well-played hands; I saw a lot of flops, made a lot of probing bets; I'm getting quite comfortable playing unconventional hands from position against weak players; I usually have a good idea where I'm at in the hands. I'm very, very happy with the way I'm playing. The small bankroll increases from these micro-limits are good. I'm going to play at this level for a little while longer before stepping up. Unless I just "feel it" one of these days.

I may try to satellite into FTOPS main event this week. While I'm not too thrilled about playing huge tournaments, there's no denying that with a $2million guarantee a deep-run could prove to be a significantly life-changing event.

The Law of 5

I fulfilled the law of 5's in the RPT weekly tonight: came in 23rd. Got home late from work, so didn't get started until about 6:15 or 6:20. I didn't play particularly well, I waited for cards and tried to play big pots when I had big hands. Moved me up nicely, but my luck ran out.

My first big hand came with QQ:

By the turn I'm all-in, as I wouldn't have enough ammo left for the river if I get called on the turn. iam23skidoo tanks, and apparently puts me on aces according to his chat. Not surprising, as it was the first pot I put any significant amount of chips into.


Here's where I doubled-through with AA double-suited:

I raised preflop, MiamiDon calls from the small blind. The two queens hit the flop and he shoves. I just cross my fingers and pray he doesn't have a Q. I didn't think he did, as I'd seen him check-raise a number of hands from OOP, and assumed if he hit that flop he'd let me take the lead. He seemed an observant player, probably observed I was not in many hands and made c-bets almost 100% of the time if I raised preflop. That was I believe during the first hour, so if I busted then so be it. I just didn't think he'd really have pushed if he held a queen, he'd probably let me lead out.


I didn't screen-cap my 10 10 v 99 double-through in a battle of the blinds. Folded to me in the SB, and I put in a raise with 1010. Smooth-called. I didn't particularly like the flop, as I think it was suited and had a jack (and maybe a Q or an A), but trusted my read that if he was that strong he'd probably have popped it pre. I shoved, and got an INSTA call. I'm almost positive if I'm him there, I don't call my shove with 99. Again, I played so few hands that the chances of me having a big hand are pretty good. Turns out it was just big enough.

I made a few little steal-raises here and there; however, not nearly enough. Not NEARLY enough. I did get to outplay the small blind in this hand, though:


I checked my option. With the double-gut-shot straight-flush draw, I bet about 2/3 the pot on the flop when checked to, and got a call. Turn went check/check. River was checked, and I took some time, figured out how much I'd have bet if that queen helped me, and fired off 1/2 pot bet. leftylu folded.

Mostly, I folded until I got big hands, which was not often enough to stay afloat. I hovered around the average chipstack most of the time (even when i was 10 out of 50+ left, I was still right near the average chip stack!), and just didn't try to pick up enough dead money. I've loosened my cash-game playing to a comfortable level, I just don't know why I couldn't do the same in this. Hell, it's my first tournament in over a month, so I guess I should be happy with making it to the top 25%.

The end came quickly; after raising with AK sooted, there was a shove after me; folds back to me and, esp. being that low in chips, that's an instacall for me. 99 v AK; flopped a 9 which crippled me down to just over 2x's the BB. Pick up J9o next hand, might as well give it a go:


Damn river. Knocked me out here; gave a split to leftylu when her shove with A5o from the sb met my AQo in the bb and the river gave us a chop. Oh, well, that's poker.

Just say no to PL Hi/Low

for me at least... I suck at Omaha, but this dude and some RPT donk were playin' so I figured it'd be fun. My short buy in lasted all of 5 minutes I think.

Back to the micro-limit NLHE tables.

Things didn't look so good at first, as I quickly whittled down to just under $7. Then I opened a 2nd table (the erratic play on the first table was kind of annoying), and was going to see cheap flops in position, & play premiums otherwise 'till I decided which table to stay at. Turns out both were sweet, mostly due to some super-skillful card racking. ;)

I got these hands, between the two tables, within about 4 minutes of each other (listed here in no particular order). One was a double-up, one a big pot, and 2 I got to felt my opponents; too bad they didn't have more cash on the table:



I knew that flop was beautiful, but was still 3-way to the turn. I slowed down on the turn, figuring I'd try to conserve my cash if there's a 6 out there. Turns out the guy who turned the straight gave me a free card, though. Thank you , Mr. 62o, calling a 2/3 pot bet with a gut-shot. I 1/2-pot-bet the river, was min-raised, I "tanked," then overbet-shoved for value. Called, thanks kind sir :)







I had to call a min-raise to see this flop. I love the min-raise (such a weak move!), and yes - I don't mind playing a sooted ace in position against weak fish. Oh, how I loved that flop. Oh, how I adored that turn. On the river I was afraid we got a chop, but just to be sure in case he wasn't holding an ace I jammed, and was called. I still don't know how the guy called my flop bet and turn bet. I had no reason to ask him ;)







Again, had to call a min-raise to see this flop. Sure I could have popped it preflop, but with middle pairs I'd rather lay low and set-mine. And as soon as I saw that flop I was worried about the straight. That didn't stop me from betting, though - more of a blocking-bet than anything: I bet out about 1/3 the pot so I could hopefully catch a cheaper boat (if I checked and he pot-bet, I'm not sure what I'd do ). I can't remember the turn action, but the guy was smart on the river: when I bet 3/4 the pot or so, he didn't raise (even with the nut straight - smart play, dude).







Yet again, only had to call a min-raise to see the flop. Yep, junk hand, OOP... but my stack was healthy, there was enough in the pot that calling the extra 1.5 bets was worth it. Poor guy had no way of knowing just how far behind he was on that flop. Hoping I was up against a flush, I got it all in on the river and was called. And while I'd love to say that it was a horrible call on his part (hard to see how QQ is good on that board), it's about up there with my worst call ever - just cost this guy $3 and not the $300+ it cost me...

I'd post some bad beats, but tonight wasn't about taking bad beats - it was about giving them ;)

I do love this game. It's nice to get in the swing of things again. Wednesday or Thursday will be a tourney-night for me, depends on the work schedule at this point: it's shaping up to be a busy week already. I'm still more interested in cash games than tourneys. I've loosened up my hand requirements big time in cash games... I mean, if they're gonna let me keep limping in, I'll do it with not complete junk (I wouldn't call with a 62o for example), and hope to get lucky. Not sure the same would be a great idea in a tournament, though. I've gotten more aggressive, though, when not holding much of anything, which is imperative in MTT's.

another short session

I'm still uninterested in tournament play; though I do have Wednesday slated for the Mookie, as long as work doesn't get crazy. I'd like to try to get to Australia.

I'm going to keep playing this short micro-limit sessions for a while, and when my roll hits a certain mark I'm moving to the next level. I'm astounded at times how soft the tiniest limit games at tilt are. Over last summer when I was playing I was getting clobbered in them; I think I wasn't playing well - or overcalling because it was "only 4 more dollars" - never mind that $4 was 40% of my stack. When I treat the game as if the money does mean something, then I play better. I've never had a huge online roll, so even the $10+ increase over my last two 20-30 minute sessions makes a difference.

When I looked at the tables, I found one with 8/9 seated, big stack was around $11, and a full 50% were seeing flops! Sounded like a juicy table that will cave to a little aggression.

I've gotten better at pricing value-bets I think. One hand I had the nuts, and one I had 2nd nuts, and was able to get my opponent to call 2 nice turn & river bets (both hands my bet was raised on the flop, so they did part of my work for me). Those may have been the only two hands that I won at showdown; all else were won with bets.

There was one guy who was trying to be the bully; I didn't let him. I can't remember the hand, but it was limped preflop, and I checked an innocuous hand from the BB. Flop came out paired, I fired 1/2 pot bet, folded to wannabe-bully who popped it to like $1.50; folds back to me and (this is only my 2nd orbit at the table) I want to make sure the table knows I'll put pressure on them if they pull shenanigans. I raised it to $5, which would put him all in....he folds. I should have shown my bluff.... or maybe not...

Wow, and I just found out my hand histories aren't being saved.... gotta go correct that.

Anyway, ended the session up 60% from my start... I played well, but against such weak opponents it's easy to get a false sense of security. I want to make my bankroll goal, then step back up a level and see how I do there. If I can play a similar style and be as fearless, I'll do well.

What it comes down to is basic: I'm playing more poker and playing less cards.

Surprising Tourny HH

This is not one of my HH's, but one from a blogger I watch online from time-to-time. This is in a satellite to a FTOPS tourney (names changed to protect the idiocy):

Player A raises to 210
xxx folds
Player B calls 210
yyy folds
zzz folds
*** FLOP *** [Jd 8h 2h]
Player A bets 300
Player B raises to 1,410
Player A raises to 1,510, and is all in
Player B calls 100
Player A shows [Qh Td] <------ HUH?!?!
Player B shows [Jh Ad]
Bwinkle53: gl
*** TURN *** [Jd 8h 2h] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 8h 2h Tc] [Kd]
Player A shows a pair of Tens
Player B shows a pair of Jacks
Player B wins the pot (3,530) with a pair of Jacks
Player A stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,530 | Rake 0
Board: [Jd 8h 2h Tc Kd]

Seat 3: Player A showed [Qh Td] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 5: Player B (button) showed [Jh Ad] and won (3,530) with a pair of Jacks

Did Player A really think Player B would fold for an extra 100? When is queen high good here?! Or maybe it was a shove with the gutshot? All I was thinking was: "wow."

I'd think about giving up poker if I made a move like this.

Workin' my way back

I've played a couple short sessions over the past few nights. I've had no desire to sit down to a sit n go or mtt (and haven't been able to get to any of the Blogger / RPT games to try to win my way to Australia); however I've had fun at the mini-micro-limits. In the past I think I was over-calling at these limits because it's....well.... it's cheap. I mean I can go all in on my first hand, lose, and only be down ten bucks.

Approached it from a different perspective, though, and it's just like the $3 / $5 game at the Tulalip, only less money. Well kind of. The players may be better at the $0.5 / $0.10 game, though. *grin*

I only had one hand this session (~ 30 minutes) that I won with cards; the rest I either picked-off bluffs, or just fired at the pot against weak players. I only had 2 showdowns; one where I lost a small pot to a flopped flush vs my 2 pair, and then this one:

Setup: this guy had been playin' fairly standard poker, when all the sudden I noticed that he had won the last 5 pots, and only saw 2 flops. It was a soooooper-tight table, which I was taking advantage of post-flop (and he was pre-flop). Finally, when he raised from UTG to $0.35, I decided to smooth call from UTG+2 with my MONSTER 56o. Why 56o? Simple: 1) I was probably live, b) with 2 EP players in the pot it may coax others in, building a nice pot which I may be able to take down with either skill or luck.

Didn't quite happen that way - only one caller, in MP, the rest folded.

Flop: 5Q6 rainbow. Gin! UTG fires $0.9, I pop it to $3 (hoping he's got AQ); MP folds, UTG shoves for a buck and a half more. Of course I call. :)


2nd pair? Nice move dude, nice move.

I do love this game. And I am also glad that I have slowed down my playing. When I play it feels much more exciting; I feel like I'm much more on top of my game, too. I know, I'm practically playing with play-chips, but still - if I can't be a winning player at this limit, then I have no business even thinking about playing the $3 / $5 game.