Presto is Platinum (part 1)

(a lá fuel55 :) )

6-man STT; I'm 2nd short stack and need to shove ASAP:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
jcn75 folds
Daniel80 raises to 280
gsw61515 raises to 783, and is all in with [5h 5d]
BIAHH1025 folds
smonsss calls 72, and is all in
Daniel80 calls 503

*** FLOP *** [5s 6h 3h]

*** TURN *** [5s 6h 3h] [5c]

*** RIVER *** [5s 6h 3h 5c] [9h]

gsw61515 shows four of a kind, Fives
Daniel80 shows [Ah Ad] for two pair, Aces and Fives
gsw61515 wins the side pot (1,262) with four of a kind, Fives
smonsss shows [As Ts] for a pair of Fives
gsw61515 wins the main pot (496) with four of a kind, Fives

Saturday Night Live

...well, not really live: the same "whatever" that pushed me to head to the Tulalip last weekend decidedly kept me at home tonight. At 8pm I had my jacket on, CDs in my pack, Flexcar reservation set up - just had to click "reserve." I got my cash from its 'spot,' and all the sudden had the same feeling that prompted me to leave the game last week: I can't call it 'nervous,' but... just something that told me I wasn't going to be playing at 100%. No matter, the Tulalip will be there next weekend too. I work on Saturday, so perhaps after work I'll head up there.... heck, I'm going to the symphony tomorrow afternoon, so better to be in bed early and well-rested so I don't doze off during one of the Rachmaninoff's.

Instead I dove into a $10+1 STT. I used to wile away many-an-hour at the $10+1 tables last spring and summer.... for some reason since moving out here, I've been playing teeny stakes instead. The odd thing is my bankroll is fatter now than it was a year ago when I was working retail, yet I still find myself playing $2.25 STT's.

Anyway, the results were good:


I played super-squeaky tight for most of it, changing gears to steal some blinds. Got more aggressive as we got shorter -- you know, the usual.

Two hands stick out for me: first one I just earned the damn pot. 3 handed, the button folds, and I have 43o. Powerhouse, I know. But this was the first time 3-handed the button folded, so my first "test" of how the dude plays in the BB. I raise 3x's bb, he calls. FLOP: Qd8d6s. I fired about 2/3 pot bet, he folds. Standard, I know, but it's nice to remind myself sometimes that I do know how to play aggressively while holding squadoosh.

2nd hand that stands out: I have AA in the SB. Button limps, I pop it to 4x's; BB folds, button calls. FLOP: A66 rainbow. Now, I flopped the nuts (well, 2nd nuts), and I wished I were in position on this one. The dude on the button LOVES to check-raise... LOVES it...matter of fact, I even got him to slow down on his check-raising by talking about it when I burned him on a hand. But I'm first to act, so I figure - if he likes to check-raise, I'll put in a small bet and hope he can raise me. I bet 1/4 pot. He folds. I was caught here -- I was trying to use his aggression against him by making a pitiful looking stab at the pot. Maybe therein lies my problem: maybe the pitifully small bet sounded alarm bells to him. Still, though, I guess I could've checked and hoped he caught up a bit on the turn. There are no cards that would scare me off on the turn or the river, so perhaps I should have slowed down.

There's another part of my game I need to work on: I rarely ever slow-play. Rarely. So rare in fact that when I do in a live game it's probably obvious due to physical manerisms. Not being used to slow-playing I'm sure I move and hold myself a little differently than normal. But online, too - I just don't have much practice trapping. I rarely ever do. And I think because of that I'm not as effective as I could be. It's a tool I just don't readily have at my disposal. I always think if I've got the strongest hand that I should get chips in there. Or maybe that's just my style. But in the hand I mentioned above, if he had caught up even a little on the turn, I know I could have gotten him to commit some chips.

Part of my decision to play the $10+1 tonight was inspired by this post by Katitude. Specifically, the part where she writes "stop treating it like a video game." I'm good at this poker-thing. Not great yet, but I'm pretty darn good most of the time; yet it's so easy for me to treat it like - well, like a video game I dumped a couple quarters into. I mean - the bigger tournaments I can focus in on well; however my sit n go playing is often unfocused and undisciplined. Tonight, I cleared off my desktop of all stray icons, turned off the music, closed the browsers, and focused. And it's amazing the little tendencies I noticed that I've been missing out on playing online.

Focus is good. Focus is +EV. +EV=better play; better play=$$; $$=$$$$.

I've read at least a couple blogs lately (including Katitude's, mentioned above) of people trying the Chris Ferguson challenge; and while I'm not formally following that particular challenge, I decided to mostly follow Chris's bankroll management suggestions. I'll be sticking to $10+1's until I can either "afford" $20+2 or unless I have to drop down to $5.50 again. Here's the gist of the bankroll management stuff:
- can buy into a cash game or sit n go for up to 5% of my bankroll (exception: can buy into any game $2.50 or less)
- if at any time during NL or PL cash game, the money on the table is more than 10% of my bankroll I have to leave when the blinds reach me
- can't buy into a MTT for more than 2% of my bankroll

My own tweak to this:
- I can buy into a MTT of any size by either earning the buy-in at a cash game or by a satellite. Satellite buy-in rules will follow the same rules as sit n go. At most, I will only attempt one $24+2 MTT per week, and will only give myself one shot to earn a token
- I can buy into a "special" MTT (blogger event, Riverchaser's event) by earning my buy-in through either a sit n go or cash game (my own "satellite" system)

2 done, 2 won

Played so horribly yesterday (except the 2 HU games, which I won) - 2 sit n go's, both played horribly (though one I busted on one of those "bad beat" things). I played the 2 HU games at the same stake as my 2 stt's (2 & 5), so I won my buy-ins back (less a few cents of course), but I was supremely disappointed in my tourny play. I'm becoming MUCH more comfortable heads up, that's for sure -- I need to track my HU stats, but I'm pretty sure I'm around 70% or so.

Tonight, I thought I'd play a quick $2.25 turbo before bed. And, of course, as soon as one started I figured "what the hell, I'll just start another one too." And yea, I took 'em both down :) Both completely differently, though.

The first, I dominated from early on: wasn't superior play, I was a major-league card rack! Q5 in the bb, only sb calls; flop 55x, sb bets, I call; turn a 5 (I'm ready to slow play here); sb shoves with...A9. No pair, no draw. Thnx, gg. Aces twice (though cracked once); queens flopping a set; AKs, AQs, 99, JJ... I was chip leader until 3-way when my AA got cracked by a rivered set of 6's. I battled back to 2nd in chips, and found AKs in the BB; sb raises (was super-aggressive, raising most hands); I shoved.... hesitate, then....calls with presto. Rivered an ace, thnx gg. HU I had a major chip lead, lost it to a suck out, battled back to about even, stole a bunch of pots to get a nice lead again, then finished him off with a suckout: Ad5d, raised from the sb, he re-raised, I called. Flop: 8s 8d Qd. I shoved. INSTACALL by... AcQc. Turned a 9d for the win.

The other one, I looked at the hand history at around 20 hands, and I had only won one. About 10 hands later, I had won one more... was super-duper-patience on this one. Then I noticed that, while the other game was 3-way, this one was still 7-WAY! Way too tight, so I started raising from position with middle connectors, middle gappers, K2 - anything... and just stole a bunch of pots. Enough raising and eventually someone's gonna look you up... which is nice when you have aces when they happen to look you up! Catapulted to the chip lead with now 6 to go. Took out a couple more players; down to 3-way took out #3 with AQ v QJ (AQ held); HU lasted about 4 hands as I had 12,300 vs 1,200 chips. Last hand was 10 3 s vs A 4 s (hey! I couldn't fold for 400 chips!), hit a 10 on the flop.

Played well; in the uber-tight one I waited 'till the pots were large enough preflop to matter and started attacking them. Hard to say the first one was much skill (I mean, I did nothing fancy - even when I planned on slow playing my opponents led out for me!).

OH, just for kicks - in the last one, when 3-way I was shortstack for a bit. I needed chips desperately (and had just won the other one so was already happy!), and I shoved with:

...no callers :)

Feel a little better after 2 wins in a row, though I'm honestly still hung-up on that horrible, awful, horrendous call I made Saturday night at Tulalip. At least I learned; and an after-analysis made me realize I just got blinded and didn't perform well under pressure. Must focus more next time.

interesting graphics

This is what my ROI% graph looked like on Sharkscope about two months ago. Looking at this told me that I should steer clear of the $5 games, as those were my weakest. I hadn't been playing many $10 games at that point, so those results really reflected last summer/fall when I was concentrating mostly on $10 games.

A few months ago, I was playing the $2 18-person games, and cashing in those regularly. I didn't like all that work for such little reward, so I moved to the $5 18-person games, about a month or so ago. Here's what my ROI% graph looks like today:


...see any difference? ;)

I'd attribute that to playing better, and playing the 18-seaters, where there's a bigger prize pool (and, thus, better ROI when cashing). IMHO they seem easier than the 9-seaters (I've become unfond of the 6-seaters), and typically only take a little bit longer than a 9-seater. I've stepped up to the $10 ones a couple times, but just got smacked around (I don't attribute that to better players, I was just very card dead the 3 I've tried).

I've run kinda bad lately. Well, runnin' bad, and playing poorly. Thankfully my roll hasn't suffered much, as the past 3 nights I've made up most of what I've lost in sit and go / tourny buy-ins by playing .25/.50 limit HU / 3-way. I don't have a huge online roll by any means (though my riverchaser's win from a few weeks back has been super-cool cushion); I'm down $30 from after my RPT win, which isn't great, but the way I've been playing in tournys the past few days it could be a lot worse. Thank god for the fish playing HU limit! Wonder if I should move to .50/1... I think after my next STT win or decent MTT cash I'll give it a whirl.

...the more I think about it, the more excited I get about hitting the Tulalip Casino next weekend!

2-table sit n go's

Started to really dig these. The $5.50 18-person sit n go's are either super-duper-fishy, or I'm simply on a heater. I swear, though, something has "clicked" in my tournament play, and I wish I could put my finger on it. I've cashed in the last 5 or 6 18-seaters I've played, including one win, 2 2nds, 1 4th, and the other 2 or 3 were 3rd. I took one seriously awful beat last night; an uber-aggressive guy holding about 70% of the chips in play was big-betting everything; when I was shortstacked and he shoved in the SB, I figured my J10 was probably already ahead, but either way I couldn't fold at that point. Here's how the hand played out:

Alright, I'll spare ya the details: dude had like 20K, I had like 2500, he bet 3K I called with J10o; he's got 8 3. Hits an 8 on the turn and a 3 on the river (or vice-versa). Thnx, gg.

I've found one of the strategies I use is to basically let people make mistakes, and then capitalize on them. There are so many players that will play and overplay hands like 2nd pair that I just wait for opportunities where they overplay a hand and I take it from them. Bunch of the players around this level don't know how to bluff at a pot: they'll min-bet 100 on the river into a pot of 800; I have anything I'm calling but most likely I'm raising. Too many players over-use the check/raise too, which I'll use to my advantage when I have a big hand and when I have a drawing hand (I swear if every player I played at this level lost the check/raise from their repertoire, they'd get more chips from me - honest! I'm willing to pay a certain amount for certain draws, but if they bet me out they don't stand a chance to take more chips from me on the turn).

Look, I'm not saying don't check-raise: in fact I actually use it slightly more today than I used to (I used to almost never use it), but it's got its places.

Anyway, the poker playing is going well for me lately. Even ventured back into the $10 stt world last night (where I used to almost exclusively play), and took 2nd. As usual, one boneheaded move heads up crippled me, but I was happy with the 2nd. I think I'm ready to tackle the $10 18-seaters next. Just hope I don't run into Riggstad, but I guess that's expected since I think he spends most waking hours in those games.

I'm tired; I'm going to bed real soon. I forgot about the MATH; hopefully one of these weeks I'll remember. Wednesday is The Mookie:
When: Wednesday. 10pm ET
Game: NLHE Deepstack
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

Don't forget to visit my writing blog as well; not much creative-stuff flowing recently but some thoughts (and questions) about Life, the Universe, and Nothing. Comments are always welcomed.

Donks ITM

So very early in Sit n go's if I get AA or KK I raise BIG, to either win the small pot preflop, or narrow it down to exactly one person who's willing to gamble (got this from Scott Fischman's book). SO, first hand of a 6-seat sit n go:

Dealt to gsw61515 [Ac Ah]
COSMIXLIDES folds
Tree Smacker folds
gsw61515 raises to 300
Be-like-Billy folds
og monster76 folds
penny1550 has 15 seconds left to act
penny1550 calls 270

This is an interesting development, as I should soon be winning a bigger pot, or even doubling through.

*** FLOP *** [Js Tc 3d]
penny1550 bets 30 <--- What's with the bet of 30?
gsw61515 raises to 1,200, and is all in <--- overbet in hopes of doubling
penny1550 calls 1,170, and is all in <--- woops - pocket jacks? oh well...

gsw61515 shows [Ac Ah]
penny1550 shows [8d Jd] <-- that's right, top pair WEAKASS kicker, gutshot str draw

*** TURN *** [Js Tc 3d] [2h] <---- safety
*** RIVER *** [Js Tc 3d 2h] [Jh] <-- heartbreak

Done and done, thanks to the awesome preflop and flop calls of penny1550. In hindsight I could have raised instead of just shoved, but I would them shove the blank on the turn, and I believe this dude would still probably have called. Maybe not. Next time I'll play this type of situation differently, and wait for the turn to shove.

-----------------------------

NEXT UP....built up a big lead, and I've been folding for the last 2 levels (except for one flop that I mucked after a min bet). Finally, get something decent, especially 3-way: AJ. I raise 3x's the BB, other guy shoves. What do I do? Of course I call - he's been playing every other hand, there's nothing that says this hand is anything special... I'll spare you the description, see for yourself:



Sure, someone who hasn't played a single hand in 10 minutes comes to life, and you shove queen fucking eight?! Brilliant move, Norsker, brilliant. For the hell of it, I asked what made him decide to shove back at me? He said he knew his cards were live, and that was all he could ask for. Hey, man, whatever you need to believe to justify your play - go for it.

So just a tad later, preflop action, the shortstacked button shoves, Norsker smooth-calls. I've got AQs, I reshove hoping to isolate, and calls Norsker calls with...... ahh, I don't even wanna say.... see for yourself...




Norsker & penny1550: god BLESS you and I hope to see you at my table again SOON!

Multi-table maddness

I just started multi-tabling sit n go's. First I tried 2 9-seat turbo's. One problem there was that I only decided to try the second one after like 10 minutes of the first; I think that actually hurt my performance, since blinds and all were staggered a bunch; and the time it took to get the windows set up right, to register, etc... I took 3rd in one, and the other one, where I was 2nd in chips, when tragedy struck:

I had gotten into the habbit over making huge preflop overbets with KK or AA - enough so that if a shorty called me they knew it was for their tourny life. I'm fine with that, in the turbo's they gotta start taking a chance, and I want them to feel like they can double-through right quick. Well, this time the other big stack shoves. Hoping he was just getting sick of my overbets (was really man-handling the table on the flop too), and/or picked up AK, I instacalled, and saw this:




Yea. Bummer. Doubt I could have gotten away from it; if I had made a more standard raise, and the guy came over the top, I would have had to call/shove. At the levels I'm playing I can't assume that the 4th raise means aces -- it could mean QQ, JJ, 1010, 99, A5s, AQ, AJ, A9s... given this guy didn't let on to me that I should peg him for anything other than the typical lower-limits player, and plus the fact that I had been such a bully that I thought he was trying to take control of the table from me. Oh, well.

Next, I decided to register for 3 6-seat turbo's at once. That was FUN! One of them, I literally did not win one hand- not one! And still went out 3rd! The other two I (ahem!) won! One was great - I got a decent lead fairly early, and pressured the table whenever I could. With the 6-person format only paying 2, it encouraged me to play faster, more aggressively... I played to either win or bust trying. I'll tell ya, players hate to be constantly beat-up on. I found a good balance between pressuring with big bets, and not over committing chips to the pot or willy-nilly doubling up shorties. The other one I won, though.... sweeeeeeet!!!!

The sweetest part of it is the chip count when we started heads up:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (1,150)
Seat 3: award623 (7,850)

That's right - I was outchipped almost 8-1. Remember: never count yourself out. What I had to do here was pressure whenever I could. After winning a small checked-down pot with a high card, next hand gave me A9 on the button, so I shoved. I almost expected him to call with ATC, but he actually had a hand:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (1,150)
Seat 3: Villain1 (7,850)
Villain1 posts the small blind of 150
gsw61515 posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gsw61515 [9s Ad]
Villain1 calls 150
gsw61515 raises to 1,150, and is all in
Villain1 calls 850
gsw61515 shows [9s Ad]
Villain1 shows [6s 6c] <--- a pair, but thankfully I have overs
*** FLOP *** [Ah 4d 8d] <--- kaBOOM!
*** TURN *** [Ah 4d 8d] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 4d 8d 3s] [Jc]
gsw61515 shows a pair of Aces
Villain1 shows a pair of Sixes
gsw61515 wins the pot (2,300) with a pair of Aces

So, one coinflip won, doubled up. Need to keep applying pressure. He knows one more double-up and we're basically even. Next hand QJo, min-raised to 600. When the flop brought a Q I shoved, he folded. Gave me a walk the next hand (side-effect of constant pressure: they're less willing to play marginal/atc-type hands). Next hand I have Qxo, raise to 900, calls. Flop is K high, Villain1 checks, I shove - FOLD. Constant pressure. I was playing to win, and win only. I pressured enough pots that I got to this point w/o a showdown since the A9o hand:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (4,450)
Seat 3: Villain1 (4,550)

Yep, by applying constant pressure, I got to even. I also, of course, got lucky that he didn't have a hand during this time (or not a hand big enough he was willing to gambool with it). But most of the flops I was shoving were ragged enough that it was doubtful he would have hit them. Once I got a few chips, too, I didn't shove anymore -- raises, and flop bets, but no shoves -- I never bet enough to be committed to a pot unless I wanted to be called. The one time he played back, I folded - he so rarely did I figured he had the goods that time. I dunno if he did.

At this point, the following hand happens:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (4,450)
Seat 3: Villain1 (4,550)
gsw61515 posts the small blind of 200
Villain1 posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gsw61515 [Kc Ks] <--- yippee!!
gsw61515 raises to 1,200
Villain1 calls 800 <--- double-yippee!!
*** FLOP *** [2h 3d Qs]
Villain1 bets 2,400 <--- yes! he hit a Q & pot-committed himself!
gsw61515 raises to 3,250, and is all in
Villain1 calls 850
gsw61515 shows [Kc Ks]
Villain1 shows [9s 7h] <--- wait - where's the queen?!
*** TURN *** [2h 3d Qs] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [2h 3d Qs 2c] [5d]
gsw61515 shows two pair, Kings and Twos
Villain1 shows a pair of Twos
gsw61515 wins the pot (8,900) with two pair, Kings and Twos

This turned out to be quite an unlucky hand for my opponent. I was at first surprised to see no pair/no draw, but honestly he made a great play - if I didn't have a real hand, the stop n go here would have worked great. Unlucky for him. But this is the part where if I had raised with rags, and had no pair/no draw, I don't call him. He only had made a play at one or two other pots HU, which I conceded to him.

One of the great things about being involved in two HU matches at once was that the pressuring became instinct. I didn't think much at all; I didn't agonize over decisions -- while I concentrated on some more intricate play in the more evenly matched HU game, the short-stacked one became about pressure only: I pressed when it seemed like I should, and then used most concentration to out-maneuver the guy in the other match.

Multi-tabling seems to lead me to make more automatic decisions, letting instinct and already learned-skills take over... playing 4 limit cash games I was more successful than playing one higher limit cash game.. why? Less fancy thinking, less time to concentrate on "what ifs" and my brain gets to a bit of an auto-pilot mode, and less playing marginal starting hands (still a big weakness in my limit playing).