Almost there:

I'm about 1 micro buy-in away from the big event: taking a stab at (gasp!) $0.10 / $0.25! It will take some adjustment, I know, as currently I'm multi-tabling 2 or 3 of the $10 tables. I won't be doing that a level up for a little while I know. I'm enjoying the multi-tabling, though, so again - no big rush to move up as I typically have about as much in play at once across 2-3 tables as I will at the next step up on one table (which helps minimize variance, yet also isn't able to make as big of a one-time score).

Two big hands: aces, and 56o :)

We got it all-in preflop here: I raised, he re-raised, I re-re-raised, he shoved I called:


2nd time in a half hour this table saw AA vs KK, and AA held up both times! Just unfortunate luck for him, really: there's no way you're getting away from KK preflop (hardly ever at any level, and especially at this level).

Next hand: 56o from the button. A couple limpers before me, I'm in position so I'll take a flop. I'd prefer suited connectors, but connectors are fun to play in position for a cheap flop (one of those hands that's easy to get away from on scary flops or lots of action):

*** HOLE CARDS ***
EP calls $0.10
MP calls $0.10
Victim calls $0.10
gsw61515 calls $0.10 with 5s 6d
SB folds
BB checks

*** FLOP *** [3s Ks 6c]
BB checks
EP checks
MP checks
Victim bets $0.20 <-- flush draw? taking a stab?
gsw61515 calls $0.20 <-- one pair, if he checks the turn I'm probably good
BB folds
EP folds
MP folds

*** TURN *** [3s Ks 6c] [5h] <-- MONEY!
Victim bets $0.50
gsw61515 has 15 seconds left to act
gsw61515 raises to $1.50
Victim has 15 seconds left to act
Victim raises to $7.05, and is all in <-- hope he's not overbetting the nuts
gsw61515 calls $4.30, and is all in
Victim shows [Kd Qh] <-- Top pair 2nd kicker all-in!
gsw61515 shows [5s 6d]
Uncalled bet of $1.25 returned to Victim

*** RIVER *** [3s Ks 6c 5h] [2c]
Victim shows a pair of Kings
gsw61515 shows two pair, Sixes and Fives
gsw61515 wins the pot ($11.25) with two pair, Sixes and Fives

Was a big raise to call on the turn, but I had to go with my gut (which, btw, was wrong: I thought nut-flush draw).

The benefits of tilting opponents

Just a few hands ago, Victim called an all-in when he hit top pair / 8-kicker on a Q97 board. Opponent had KK, and this really irked Victim. The player with KK was quite tricky, min-raising UTG, and smooth calling a pot-size flop bet by victim, and shoving the turn. Here is some chatter from Victim after that hand:

Victim: wtf are you talking about my call was good i justdidnt have the right cards
Victim: i had no way to know you had KK dumbass
Victim: because you just call preflop and call the flop
Victim: learn how to bet proper
Victim: and maybe people will take your cards seriously


Clearly, this guy is not quite as good as he imagines.

While the other players at the table were egging him on, I was consoling him a bit, telling him it was a tough beat and he couldn't have played it any differently. I like to make friends with the fish; makes them think I'm on their side and gives them further justification for their bad play (which hopefully will continue in future hands against me).

He's destined to tilt off some money, so if someone can get lucky and pick up a monster, he's probably getting felted. Thankfully, I got to be that someone:


*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gsw61515 [Kh Ks]
Victim raises to $0.30 from UTG
gsw61515 raises to $1.05 from UTG+1 <-- no need to slow play from EP: he won't respect the raise anyway


Victim: im sick of this table anyway
Victim: im all in
Victim: when its my turn
gsw61515: I call <-- only reason I said this was b/c the only 2 ppl who hadn't folded yet only had like $1.

Victim raises to $5.65, and is all in
gsw61515 calls $4.60

Victim shows [Jc Ac]
gsw61515 shows [Kh Ks]

*** FLOP *** [3s Qh Qs]
*** TURN *** [3s Qh Qs] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [3s Qh Qs 7s] [3h]

Victim shows two pair, Queens and Threes
gsw61515 shows two pair, Kings and Queens
gsw61515 wins the pot ($10.35) with two pair, Kings and Queens
Victim is sitting out

The only unfortunate thing was this guy left the table. I really wish he'd reloaded, but I'll be looking for him...

A while ago I said something about moving up a level after my roll got to a certain spot. Well, I hit that spot, but what I want to do is log another couple buy-ins at this level, and use that for one shot at the next level, and see how the play is there. If it's as horrid as at the lowest of the low, then I'll probably stay there.

I have no need to move quickly, I'm in no rush - so I want to ensure my comfort before moving up one.

Rivered

I didn't do anything special here; I figured I had the best hand all the way through:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gsw61515 [8s Kc]
PeregrineSol folds
JackarandaD folds
Brebro checks ..........<-- posted, first hand at the table
Micha262 folds
bad excuxe folds
CrazyDeer folds
tupelony calls $0.10
gsw61515 calls $0.05 <--- loose call? eh, maybe
tnrnmedic checks

*** FLOP *** [Kd 5c Kh]
gsw61515 checks
tnrnmedic checks
Brebro checks
tupelony bets $0.20
gsw61515 calls $0.20 <-- no need to reveal the strength of my hand
tnrnmedic folds
Brebro calls $0.20

*** TURN *** [Kd 5c Kh] [7d]
gsw61515 bets $0.60
Brebro raises to $1.40 <-- diamond draw?
tupelony folds
gsw61515 calls $0.80 <-- I have trips; I'm not goin' anywhere

*** RIVER *** [Kd 5c Kh 7d] [8h]
gsw61515 has 15 seconds left to act
gsw61515 bets $1.50
Brebro raises to $2.30, and is all in
gsw61515 calls $0.80

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Brebro shows [5d Ks] a full house, Kings full of Fives
gsw61515 shows [8s Kc] a full house, Kings full of Eights
gsw61515 wins the pot ($7.60) with a full house, Kings full of Eights
Brebro is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $8.40 | Rake $0.80
Board: [Kd 5c Kh 7d 8h]
Seat 1: Brebro showed [5d Ks] and lost with a full house, Kings full of Fives
Seat 6: gsw61515 (small blind) showed [8s Kc] and won ($7.60) with a full house, Kings full of Eights


There was no way it wasn't all getting in on this hand; I luckboxed out of this one. He slow-played his boat on the flop, but I wouldn't have gone away if he shoved anyway.

Friggin' nines

f'n mookie. Did the best I ever did in one, which unfortunately was out in 27th (9 away from a cash).

Early near double-up:


Raised from in position; flop was check / bet / check-raise / call; turn check/check; river check / bet / SHOVE / INSTAcall - gg Ikkak. Why insta with a 4-high flush? Because I decided on the turn I'd have to call a shove. I'm either good or I'm gone; also why else would I play suited connectors unless a flush was a possible winner?

This hand I got called a donk for calling an all-in on the flop:

emptyman said "I got rivered," someone said "nh," I said "I think you were beat before the river" and emptyman said something like "nh? I had tptk donk." Hopefully he was not serious, or he was just drunk...

I got outplayed in a hand that dropped me down a bit (I had been in the top 10 - 15 most of the tourny after the first posted hand), raised with 99, called a shove:


This got me shortish. Then there's a late position raise, I have 99 in the sb, I shove for only 1200 more; stack size / pot-size pretty much forced a call from the raiser with 78o. This got me up a bit. Few hands later, AQs in the sb, button shortstack shoves, I reshove, folds: AQ v Q10, I survive and back up to 16th.

I find 99 again in EP; standard raise; button big-stack re-raises. Hoping he's stealing I shove:


I almost folded, as the re-raise seemed smaller than I expected. Oh, well.

9's three times, and twice up against AA.

I'm goin' back to my little cash tables to win my buy-in back...

Play less hands

First up: more RNG weirdness. First hand after opening the second table:


The human mind is known for imposing patterns where there are none in order to "understand" or even "create meaning." I guess I'm doing just that, or just happen to be in the midst of a string of coincidental occurrences. I mean, there are 1,326 starting hand combinations (OK, 169 if you get rid of suits), so I guess it's bound to happen once ever... uh - 169 times or so.

My % of flops seen was 22%, with only 4 hands won preflop. Less swingy, less chaotic; not as much action of course (preflop raises seemed to gain lotsa respect). I like the tighter approach, as well as the loose approach I've been using. I'll be trying to incorporate both of these into my sessions from here on out.

What I'm working on:
- hand selection
- hand reading
- adjusting to my opponents

Only two hands of note:
Raise from the cut-off with QJs after it folds to me; BB calls. BB check/calls the flop, check-calls the turn, and shoves the river. I momentarily hesitate, but even on a board like this (possible boat, bigger straight), this is a must-call, especially at this level:


He was playing the double-gutter, I just don't understand the river-shove. Check/calling while planning on shoving me off my hand no matter what hit the river? What did he put me on? I had him on a jack with a weaker kicker, and was (obviously) most worried about J8. That would probably have been a check/raise on the flop though. Again, this is, IMHO, an insta-call at this level (and probably also at the Tulalip $3 / 5 game, and only occasionally at the MSFT game)


Next hand was 8-way action, limped, so of course with all those limpers I'll jump aboard in late position with Q9s. The sb led out on the flop. He was aggressive on his draws. He bet about 2/3 pot on the flop ($0.50), I popped it to $1.50 (only one card beats me, and b/c he plays his draws aggressively I wanted to get more money in while I was fairly certain to have the best of it), and he just called. "Hmmm" I'm saying to myself. Turn check/ check. River check / check. Did I miss a bet?

His call of my raise made me think he had the Kd. Why didn't I bet the turn? I didn't want to get check/raised. Why didn't I bet the river? He'd probably call with a lesser flush, but would certainly raise with the Kd or a boat. I'll take a showdown and avoid the check/raise when I'm not super-confident.

What would you have done here if the 7d fell on the river and he shoved? The pot is just over 3 bucks, and your stack is around $12.

Too much elfin' time

Perhaps this is as funny as it is because I've been up for close to 20 hours and am running on about 4 hours of sleep:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1158312601

But alas, no need to leave you feeling too cheery; it's just too damn early for that:

133,681 People

FINALLY... a losing session

So after about 2 straight weeks of winning sessions (earning a total of approx $80), I had a long, losing session tonight. I overplayed a couple hands, and probably got outplayed a couple hands.

Here's one I don't think I could help going broke on:

JackAce offsuit in the BB; I call a standard raise from the button. We get it all in on the flop.


Should I have put him on QJ? or QQ? Trips with an ace kicker was too good to consider laying down at this level.


Here's another that I just got outdrawn on:
Again, JackAce preflop, I make standard raise, called from MP. Ace on the flop, MP is a shorty, so I bet enough to put him all in. He even says, "ah, you got the ace," then calls:


They guy says, "Sorry." I then say thank you. "What for?" he asks. Well, I say, did you really think I had the ace? "Yes," is his reply. So I thank him again for putting all his money on the line for a 2-outer. I then try to encourage him that he's finally starting to get lucky, and that he should top-off since it'll be easier to get unstuck if he's got more cash on the table (he never did).


Here's one I just can't understand... I raise preflop with KQo (not a powerhouse, I know - I've been raising with connectors - big, mid, and small - all day), I get called by the big blind. I don't connect on the flop, but the BB checks, so I fire about 3/4 the pot. He calls. Turn pairs the board; it's checked to me and I fire again - about 3/4 pot, he calls. River puts 2 pair on the board, it's checked to me; I tank for a few seconds, then shove. Tell me: would you make this call?


Whether it was right to play my hand is irrelevant; if I'm checked to on each street, I've got to think he's either weak, or trapping. From earlier play he didn't seem sophisticated enough to trap; I honestly figured him for AK here (I'm amazed at how many people will call all the way down to the river with AK hoping to spike either). I'll make that play 100 times. I showed strength the entire way, and then at the end the guy check / calls all in with ace-high. Insane.


Here's a big pot: I'm in the BB with KKo. Cut-off raises to .35, button and small blind call; I pot-raise to somewhere around $2, button 9who'd been playing quite LAGGY, calls - what I was expecting). I bet the flop, button raised; I shoved, figuring he'd call with top pair or even a straight draw, which he did:



Next, 89o from the SB, flop was check/check; I bet the river, and was called by the button. I made a bit of a gutsy bet at the end, as there are a ton of cards that had me beat; however, if he had a Q, then he'd most likely have raised the turn to guard against the flush draw, so I put him on a draw (straight perhaps), or an under-pair. I pot bet the turn and the river:





NOW for the RNG weirdness: 4 times today, over 2 tables, I had the same hand on each table:

The first two were the same suits (but were reversed:):





I dunno what's up with that; if there's some weird RNG glitch going on, or just simple coincidence... I've been noticing it often lately (and have seen it written up on other blogs), so I don't think I'm making this all up.

SO - I ended up down about 2 buy-ins, after rallying back a little at the end of the session. I have to start seeing less flops (I'm hovering around 30%). That was supposed to be on my agenda for today, but I was having fun with all the action. :)