Well Saturday night we played a 20 man tourny up in san mateo.
1 rebuy per person.
I played fine for the first hour, then at the beginning of the third round i made a pretty silly mistake.
I floped top pair, turned two pair, and was all in on the river.
Unfortunatly my opponent flopped a set, and called the whole way.
He checked it to me on the river when i went all in, so it was just stupid on me.
I didn't want to re-buy so i just sat around for 30 minutes waiting on a cash game, but it appeared to be several hours away.
So the group let me re-buy during the break. i came back with 20 times the big blind.
Ended up with first.
_~~~~~~~~~~~
Noteable Hands :
1. My Q3 of hearts, versus Keiths QJ offsuit.
Flop : 10 K A Rainbow.
I check, he bets 5,000. I call.
turn put up a heart giving me the flush draw.
I bet 5,000. He raised to 15. I called assuming i had 9 hearts and 3 jacks.
Heart hit the river and I got paid off 5, 000 more chips.
2. Jason and Z got a little destructive later in the tournament. blinds were about 3k/6k and jason held 50k in chips and Z 40k. i was at about 160.
Well during this blind period there was an all in preflop about 1/4 hands. Generally from them.
Well Jason's big blind i pick up J 7 of Diamonds. I limp. He goes all in.
I figure he is prolly sitting on AK. The blinds had just hit 7,000. there was (his 7000, the small blinds 7,000, my 7,000 and mike's 7000) so 28,000 in the pot. and it was approximently 40,000 to call.
I figured it was a 60/40 so i called. He flipped up AK of diamonds. so im ok with it, just waiting on a J or 7 to hit.
Bam, a K of hearts in the window, followed by a 10 8 of diamonds. what a flop for him, top pair and nut flush draw.
i got to hit runner runner J, or 7, or a 9. Practicly 4 outs. 16%ish.
str8 flush hit the turn.
Sucks that he hit the flop so hard and still get beat. But the money was put in when it was a 60/40 so im fine with it. Flop coulda just been a 7 5 2 for all i cared.
3. 3 handed. Poor phil. Now i had been playing the cards right and catching some luck here and there as you can see above. But up till ol phil's hand i hadnt actually sucked out to win a hand.
i got J 7, poetic hand for the night.
Phil has QQ.
He slow plays preflop and i get to see it. J 5 2.
He bet, i raised him all in. He called of course. 7 hit the river and he got 3rd :(

First hand of heads-up was actually hilarious to me.
i lost it and ended up winning like 15 minutes later but if this doesnt make u smirk then nothing will.
So i peel up AK first hand of heads up.
blinds are 4k/8k.
He calls the blind. I raise to 24k.
He calls.
Flop comes out 2 diamonds and all low cards nothing special.
I didnt think he hit so i bet out 16,000.
He called. Turn came a 3 of clubs.
he bets out 24k.
Obviously he hit the 3.
I call hoping for an A or a K on the river, but plan to bet the flush if it hits.
Well the river hit and its the 3 of Diamonds.!!!
now i had him on a 3 so i know he hit trips, so i was just gunna muck if he bet.
but i said "your first to act" well he thought the hand was over so he flipped up K3.
and i told him that its his turn to bet not show.
so of course he checks.
i go all in.
so now he is sitting there looking at a flush draw that hit on the river and already knows i know he has trips.
so after like 2 minutes he shook my hand and said second place is good enough. so he calls.
he grabs the second place envelope and hears me say "count it up, how much do i owe you?"
lol

that so worked better in my head :)

so i won the tourney later on some 8's followed by a 56
then played cash game till 6 am and took down a bite more

B

I had made up my mind early in the day to play as close to perfect as i could. No recklessness.
I was bringing my A game and would settle for nothing less.
The night started with me in the worst spot on the table, Rick's right. Rick generally raises alot preflop which puts that seat into some heat.
I play the table like a fiddle. Before my Dramatic downfall I had only missplayed one hand, and i lost very few chips on it.
I caught AA preflop and limped, ended up losing a small pot to trip 3's. figured i was beat so i paid it off.

After a night of monster laydowns and farmer status milking. I look down and i am in second place for chip lead.
Rick S. has 31% of the chips in play.
Brian has 28%.
Brent has 23%
Rick W. has 12%
James has 6%

I look down at 45 offsuit in the big blind. It goes unraised and i allow a flop.
2 3 6 rainbow. Yes i flopped the nutz.
James, whom is first to act checks.
I make a small bet.
Everyone folds to james. he calls.
Turn comes a 2, so now the board is 2 3 6 2, i no longer have the nutz, i am beat by a full boat or a 4 of a kind.
James goes all in.
i weigh the hand in my mind and decide he has no boat. I call.
James has 2 4.
At this point there is a 2, three 3's, two 4's, and three 6's to beat me. With three 5's for a split.
He has 9 outs to take my money. 1 card to go. 18% chance.
River is a 3. He now has 12% of the chips in play and im down to 22%.

3 hands later I catch QQ preflop.
I raise. Everyone folds to the BB.
James Calls.
Flop comes 3 6 8.
James bets 1/5 his stack.
i go all-in.
he calls.
He has J 8. The Flop is 3 6 8. He now has 3 J's or 2 8's to beat me. 5 outs. 2 cards coming. 20% chance to win.
8 falls on the river.
James now has 22% of the chips in play and i have 10%.

Shortly after i catch KK preflop.
I waste no time. ALL-IN.
James calls me with A 4 of clubs.
Hits the 7 high str8 flush.

Perfection. Mutilation. Devastation.

B.

Something new here.
I am going to do the post for tonights game because i already know what is going to happen.
1 of 3 possabilities

1. I am going to dominate the feild and take home first place after mantaining chip lead the entire night.
There will be several coin flips im sure will have to be won since most of the table goes in preflop late in the game. Rick will bust out after putting his money all in with a K 7 offsuit or a 5 4 suited, getting called by my 66, or AJ suited.
2. I will get sucked out on dramaticly when i am an 80% favorite to win. It will be on the river, and by the only person on the table with more chips then me.
chances are i will have the nutz and be against 2 pair or a a set.
3. I will be so bored with being able to see only 10 hands an hour i will go all in with my first premium hand, lose, and retreat to a more suitable location. a bed

we will see if im right tommorrow

B

Friday night i played a friendly lil 7 man game over at Dan's place in San Jose.
First tournament was fine. Luke had collected a massive chips stack, without playing a single hand with me.
I was basicly card dead, seeing very few flops.
When my stack got to low to defend itself against the blinds, i bombed out to grab the last rebuy.
Soon after I caught myself in 3 all-ins in a row. I knew exsactly where i was in all 3 hands. I just had no choice.
first hand i had AA. doubled up against 44.
second hand i had AJ doubled someones smal PP up.
third hand i had 66, doubled up dan's 10's
2 hands later im on the big blind for half my stack, i get K9 suited, dave puts me all in with AA.
im out.

i was fine with it. i knew where i was on all 4 hands. just had to play the blinds/ and the $ in the middle.

second tournament was awful.
i bombed out so i could leave.
Warner and his girlfriend had just shown up to play.
She had never played poker before, it took a complete blind round to see 3 flops
by the time it got around the table 1 time, 2 people were out and blinds had gone up twice.
i had to get out of there, i would gladly pay 30 bucks to avoid a migrane.
I catch 77. someone raises. i call.
flop comes 9 10 j. original raiser checks, i check, ken bets half his stack. Put him on Q10. I push all in thinking he will most likely find himself pot committed and call, and unless i get a 7 or an 8 i can be h ome by 12:30.
he flips over 10 8, bout the same thing except one of my 8's are gone.
he wins with a Q high str8
i leave quickly.

game over

90$ loss.

B

One of the first live games i had ever played was at Rick's, about 3 1/2 years ago. I have been going back every week since. Its a friendly group of people, but by no means a tight group.
I think everyone there hates how everyone else there plays.
Its not just holdem, we do 2 rounds of holdem, 2 of omaha hi/lo, 1 of stud hi/lo.

Now I consider myself pretty knowledgable at NL Texas Hold'em, but at omaha im novice, and stud im practicly a beginner.
I know how to play the games well mainly because its just poker. But the strategies are not the same at all.
With a group of people who love to draw at anything I find the best thing for me to do is to put all my chips in the pot when i have the better hand, and let the cards do the rest.
I am more cagey at a hold'em game, but with omaha and stud, if i have you beat my chips are going in the middle and u can draw at whatever u please.

I have always had some unnatural power to piss people off at the poker table without saying a word. Guess im just lucky that way.
So the hand.....
7-Card Stud Hi/Low Pot Limit
I have a king on the board.
I peal up K8 Suited.
Now 3 people have folded for the bring - in of 25.
I raise the pot.
One caller to my right.
Rick, who is notorious for playing for the Low side of a hand has a 3 showing and reraises me the pot.
Rick W. (Rick's Brother-in-law), who is notorious for chasing all day long, has a 5 showing. Calls the pot that was raised 2 times.
Action is on me. Now i know i have a better hand then both of them, since Kings are a favorite here, so unless one of them has rolled up 3's or 5's for a set im definatly ahead.
I re-raise the pot.
Craig calls.
Rick calls.
After my raise Rick W. starts bitching. "this is bullshit raise raise raise, on the first card lets just f*cking gamble its a coinflip anyways".
Rick W. throws in all of his chips which is reraising me 10 bucks on top of the 5 i just rereaised.
I call.
Craig folds.
Rick calls.
I hit a 8 on the next card for 2 pair.
I go all in.
Rick calls.

Now at this point Rick has 4 Low cards, and is most likely going to hit the low side of this hand and get half the pot.
Rick W. has nothing, he needs runner runner flush, runner runner trips, or runner runner str8.
Yeah what a coin flip.
Well i get runner 99's and end with KK99A as my hand, Rick gets high cards till his last card which gives him the Nut low, And Rick W. Hits runner runner flush. I split the side pot with Rick, and both Rick's split the mainpot.
I lose approximently 20 bucks.
And i would do it again 100 times.
_~~~~~~~~~
I won 55 bucks for the night. I lost a big omaha hand where i had the nut high and ended up in a 4 way all in pot. I had everyone covered in chips, but the guy second closest to me had the nut high and the nut low.
he got 75% of the pot. So i lost about 30 bucks there.
_~~~~~~~~~
Best hand of the night for me was in Omaha Hi/Low. It occurred after the 7-Stud hand mentioned above. So i got all my chips back.
My hand is J953 all black.
The board comes 10d 8h 2d. I get to see the turn relativley cheap, small bet from position 1. 1 caller before me, and i call on the button.
The turn, Qh. Now at this point i have the nutz. Q high str8. There are 2 flush draws on the table.
Craig whom is first to act bets 5 bucks.
Rick W. Calls.
I raise to 15.
Craig goes all in for 19.
Rick W. goes all in for 14.
I call.
Craig has the nut Heart flush draw, and Rick W. has the nut Diamond flush draw.
Neither of them have any low cards. So if the river is black I win it all, if the river is a low Diamond or heart i get half of a 3 way pot. So i'm pretty happy.
River is a 9 of spades. My pair of 9's beat them, but i decided to play the straight. :).
_~~~~~~~~~
I ate some ribs that rick had cooked while i was there. I woke up at 2:30 and threw them back up. So now im home from work today. So technicly i lost 8 hours of my paycheck from going to the game. Reckon i will still call it a profitable night for a 10 dollar cash game.
James (ace of james) went with me. I think he had fun, its good practice for stud and omaha.

B

When I moved to california at the end of 2003 I couldnt tell you if a full house beat a flush, and the word flop is just the word that follows flip. Growing up my dad had always played in a friendly family game with trips to tunica every so often. But my knowledge of the game was that of an infant.
Since then my mind has been revolving around cards.
In the beginning I just wanted to be profitable.
Then after I learned more about the game..... I just wanted to make the best decisions.
Now I generally just want to have fun.
I have been trying to force myself back to the previous goal of making correct decisions.

So. Friday. I was not in the mood to play poker friday, nor drive 90 miles to do anything, but for some reason I bit the bullet and did it anyways.
The first hand of the night i get 10/8 offsuit. That hand haunts me. Ive never had any big wins or losses on it. It just honestly follows me around. I get it far more then any other hand.
I end up all in with it against an overpair. Now i distictfully remember telling myself.... she has an overpair.

Yet i still pushed my chips in. So i figured, eh, ill just go in with some coin flips.
I soon lose with QQ against K10.
after the break i go out with AK versus QQ.
Not a entertaining story. I didn't play alot.

In the cash game i played most of my hands blind. When i did look i folded my KK preflops, or top pairs on the flop. And only called with my preflop junk or my draws on the flop.

My chances of a return on my investment were 0%.
I knew it before i went there.

So i am asking myself. As a self exclaimed poker player. If my goal is to make correct decisions, profitable decisions. Why would I force myself to play when I didn't want to? Honestly, Because when I signed up 2 days before.... i did want to.
Not a good enough answer for me.

So this blog here is my new tool. I plan to use it to curb my desire to have fun at the poker table, and promote the goal.
The goal is and should always be to make correct decisions.
Whether that be folding your pocket Aces, un-Rsvping, or playing in the styles of game which compliment your style of play.

B