Annoying Icons Vol.3

Don't quit your day job...which I can only assume is thuggin'


Am I the only one who finds this ironic? I'm pretty sure Christianity is against gambling...although I can't speak for Mr. Gibson.


I feel bad for people who have nothing more interesting going on in their life than their job. I actually talked to this guy, and (s)he seemed nice enough. But why would you do this to yourself???


This one is so annoying I don't even want it on my blog. I apologize to anyone who is so annoyed that they can't stand to read my posts anymore.


If I were you, I'd save those 2 chips. I'm pretty sure you'll need em.

Recent Images/Happenings

Absolute finally posted some of the results for the raked hands contest they've been running. The 1300 hands I played was only good enough for 10th place and $30, ah well. Today I plan on winning it! I played 400 hands last night after midnight to get a head start and am gonna play through the day today at shorthanded tables. I hope that will be good enough.

The next image is from StatCounter. Occasionally I like to check what keywords people are putting into search engines to find my blog...often its hilarious things. But this one is actualy a little disturbing.

Worst?



If you can't read that, click on it. If you're too lazy for even that!...it says "absolute poker blog worst dragon." Someone apparently doesn't think too highly of me. But is the word "worst" really necessary? How about just "sub par" or "mediocre." I could even settle for "really really bad." But the worst! Now that just hurts.

But that's ok, this next picture makes me feel a lot better.



That's me sitting $586 at one table...which is the most I've ever had at one table I think. Perhaps the guy I busted out did a search for me afterwards.

What's funny about all of this is that I should have had quite a bit more. Now I'm not trying to be greedy but I took a horrific beat for over $200 an hour earlier. I had AK and the flop came K76 I believe. I got all my chips in against someone whom I knew to be ultra weak, and sure enough he just had K9. The river brought him 2 pair though, and he won the pot. But I got the last laugh taking a $420 pot from him later on when I hit a flush against his set of Q's. (Which was the biggest pot I've ever won in my life...as far as I can remember.)

Sadly, no one was around for me to brag to, so I'm just gonna brag here. To any people still reading this, I apologize. This blog no longer has any worthwhile content.

::

I have a few more annoying icons to post, but I gotta get more hands in on Absolute. I really wanna take down the $300 for the last day of the raked hands contest.

GL to everyone at the tables.

Art of the Week, 11

Epegenesis by Roman Verostko

Sour Grapes

Last night's game was rather interesting. I finally got around to starting up the ring game and Don was the only person to show up for a while, so we played a few heads up freezeouts. Then Majdi and Ryan showed up so we played 4 handed nl holdem. I was up a 5 or 10 bucks when I was all in against Majdi with just a flush draw...which didn't come through, making me even for the night. Ryan was having a tough time, he busted out twice and with his last 10 bucks him and I went all in blind. He turned over T6s and I had 52o. But I flopped a 5 and the pot was mine!

At 7 we played our normal SNG and with the $10 buy in, I was the only one to rebuy. I also took a side bet with Ryan that he wouldn't win, and I gave him 4.5 : 1 odds. He bet me $5. Meaning if he won I would have to pay him $22.50. It got down to 3 of us, Matt, Ryan and myself. Ryan and Matt were about even in chips and I was way shortstacked. For the umteenth time in a row, I was ice cold. No AA, KK, QQ, JJ or AK. Wait, when it got down to heads up and Matt had an enormous lead on me, I picked up KK and got the blinds. I've only seen A's once in the last 2 months of our live play. I'm getting really sick of this shit.

So anyways, Ryan was getting into his ultra aggressive mode and I was getting ultra shorstacked. He raised my blind and I looked down at KQo. I had maybe $45 in chips and he probably had 3 times that. Flop came down ten high I think and he checked, and I put out a small bet, he called. Turn blank, I put out a decent bet, maybe $12-$15...to which he called. River, blank, I move in for my last $30. He folds and I show him my king high. My thinking was that if I couldn't get ahold of any chips, maybe I could tilt him with a bluff. Ryan HATES getting bluffed, and takes a preverse sort of pride in being almost impossible to bluff (even though any pro would be quick to tell you, the weaker players can't be bluffed, but you can bluff a good player.)

I kept sitting back hoping Ryan and Matt would bump heads and finally they did. Ryan raised Matt's BB. Flop came down K high with 2 hearts. Ryan bet, Matt called it. Turn brought the third heart and Ryan led out again, to which Matt called. River was a brick and Ryan moved in and Matt quickly called with the nuts, A3 of hearts. Ryan showed K2, and I made the money! Not only that but I got $5 more from Ryan for the side bet. I also cleared another $10 in the cash game, so it was a pretty profitable night. Matt ended up taking down the tourney and that was that.

There's something to be said for tight play. I didn't see a hand the whole night, I won less than 10 pots the whole game I'm sure (not counting heads up) and yet I still finished 2nd. Yes, it's boring as hell just sitting there, but if I'm getting shit hand after shit hand, I'm not gonna just throw the tourney away on garbage.

::

Absolute still refuses to post who won for the most raked hands from 2 days ago! I want to know if I should even bother trying to play a ton of hands today or not. Their site says the results will be posted within 48 hours...they've got 9 hours to go before exceeding the 2 day mark.

I like that they're trying to do more cool things, but they didn't organize this so well. If you can't see how far you are behind the leader (like Party does) it's not as fun. Being completely in the dark as to where you stand in the competition makes it more like playing pin the tail on the donkey than any real sort of competition. Absolute is a small site, but I still can't keep tabs on 100+ players.

I only ended up playing about 1300 hands but I'm hoping that will be enough to finish in the top 5, maybe even top 3. Who knows though.

::

I've been looking over on Stars a lot lately to see what's going on for the WCOOP. I'm kinda bitter that I probably won't be able to play in any of those events. I don't have any FPP's and all my money is tied up on Absolute for the time being. I love the structure for the final event for 2.5 million. Apparently you get to start out with T5000 and the blinds go up every half hour, so it's more like a live tournament. GL to any of the bloggers playing in it. I saw Wil Wheaton in every event, gl man. I'm gonna be railbirding most likely. Anybody wanna make a last-longer bet?

::

I started reading Phil Gordon's book, The Real Deal. I like how he doesn't really bother talking strategy much. There are plenty of strategy books, no need to hash out more of the same old crap. Interesting read thus far. The only thing that pisses me off is I've already noticed several typos and misspelled words. WTF is that? It's not a big deal, but this seems to be the case in half the poker books I read. Doesn't anyone bother to make sure there are no mistakes like that? If I had a book out and there were errors in it, I'd be pissed. I usually don't like it when I have errors in this lame ass blog, and when I spot them I fix them...let alone a fucking book that is gonna be read by perhaps millions. Ah what's the use.

Raked Hands Contest on Absolute

Last time I tried to write a long post, Blogger ate it up, and I was too frustrated to rewrite it up again. I also forgot what I was talking about. But I have all day today to write up a long post. Absolute is running a raked hands contest today through Wednesday, which I am currently participating in. The good thing about this contest, as opposed to Party is that there are 5x less players...and microlimits don't count towards raked hands. I think the number of players on this site playing the requisite limit for the competition is less than 100...and I'm playing shorthanded, so I like my chances of winning.



So far today has gone unbelievably well. I guess my very first hand should have been an omen. I bought in for $80 and in the BB the first hand I saw was 44. The flop came 432, and I was all in against 2 other people on the flop. One guy had A5 and the other 56. Turn card, 4! So I take down a $200+ pot through a nice suckout. It's been a while since I've put one of those on anyone, and it feels great!

What's interesting about hitting quad 4's is something perhaps unbelievable to my readers (aside from the people who were there to witness it.) At Don's weekly game (where I bubbled yet again) I hit quad 4's in consecutive hands. What's even more amazing is that every bet and raise I put in for both hands was called...which should tell you just how much of a waste of time it is for me to ever bluff in this game, because people constantly think I'm full of shit for some reason. Which is, as I've said before, great when I'm hitting cards, but sucks bad when I'm running cold...like I have been of late in the weekly game.

Anyways, a little bit later I bust someone's ass with top set. Guy got all of his chips in on a flush draw, which didn't hit, and gave me another $150 pot. And on the other table I was on, I took down K's with A's for $180.

So yeah, it's been a nice run of cards. I haven't done anything skillful really, so I realize pretty much anyone getting these cards probably would have made just as much. But it's still mighty sweet. And I deserve to have A's against K's finally...since the previous 2 times with this matchup, I was the one with K's.

::

Don sent me this link about poker bots. A lot of it I've already read before, especially about WinHoldem. The thing which stood out to me most was the recommendations by the author of WinHoldem in the last paragraph.

"As the bot folds onscreen, Bornert leans back in his chair and soaks it in. Though he's watched this scene countless times, he's still impressed with his own technology. He imagines a day when sites acknowledge the presence of bots and when players embrace them as part of the action. But this won't happen, he says, until players take up the cause. "You've been woken up," he says, as the bot rakes in its chips. "Now what are you going to do?" Bornert hopes they reach the obvious conclusion: Use a bot, too."

Yeah, let's all use bots. Nevermind the fact that it would make online poker basically pointless. If everyone was using bots, no one will make any money aside from the few geniuses who program it better. But even with a superior program, how much money can you possibly make against a table full of other bots who don't really make any mistakes. The best you could probably hope for would be a fraction of a BB per hour. And that probably won't even cover the rake. But yeah, let's all use bots! Poker is boring anyways.

::

As I said before in my last post, but I'll reiterate here...I'm starting a cash game this Sunday. And the format will be as follows, we will play from 5pm - 7pm. NL Holdem, but I'm also cool with a dealers choice style game playing holdem, omaha, razz, stud and hi/lo variations. The blinds will be .10/.25 and the buy in will be $5min - $50max. It will also be first come first serve, so if all the seats are taken when you get here, sorry! At 7pm we will play the normal SNG, but I think I'm gonna up the stakes to $10. This will also be first come first serve.

A note about the TLB. Since our Tuesday night game is no longer running, I'm gonna try and make the Sunday night game the one where the TLB points come from. But not this week. I'm gonna see about getting a folding table and how many people I can fit here. For the time being, the TLB will be on hold. But this shouldn't last too long.

Blogger better not eat my post.

Fuck You Blogger

FUCKING BLOGGER! I wrote out this long as post, my first in a while, and it fucking eats it and gives me an error when I try to post. I fucking hate this shit. I'm not rewriting everything, so I'll just say what is important.

To all my poker playing buddies, this week I'm starting a cash game before the 7pm SNG. 5pm - 7pm, we're playing .10/.25 NL, min buy in $5, max $50. Probably all holdem. First come first serve. Leave me a comment or IM me if you wanna play.

Art of the Week, 10

After by Tomasz Trafial

Well That Was Fast

Only 2 short weeks ago I posted about making the jump up to .50/1.00 NL because my bankroll was over 2k. Since then I've already boosted my roll over 3k and am going along rather strong. I thought I'd have to spend 3-4 months at this level but I think I might be able to cut that time in half. I could feasibly make the jump to 1/2 NL with 4k but I'm going to be more conservative and wait till I have atleast 5k. I hope I'll be able to post shortly that I'm regularly playing 1/2NL. The only problem is that Absolute doens't have too many tables. So I'm coming to a crossroads. I said before I was going to switch to Stars and take shots at the the big tourneys and satellites to WPT events, etc. But I don't want to leave behind the lucrative Absolute bonuses. I'm making $400-$600 a month just in bonuses on this site. It evens out the bad beats nicely, so even during shitty streaks, I'm usually no worse than even.

However, if I made the jump to 1/2 and was doing well, I would be making more than what the bonuses cover. So it might be worth it to switch anyways.

But that is all idle speculation. I'm still playing .5/1.00 and will be for atleast another month, possibly longer if I have to withdraw funds to pay bills.

Quick Stats Since the Jump

Hands :: 4,035
BB/HR :: 8.15
VPIP :: 23.59%
$ Won :: $844.84

I know 4000 hands isn't enough to prove much of anything...but I don't think I've had great cards or anything. In fact, I've felt rather unlucky for a lot of the time. So I think I can keep up this kind of winrate. I guess I'll find out.

::

I started reading The Professor, The Banker and the Suicide King. I'm halfway through it and it's quite entertaining. In fact, it's one of the few poker books I've read that I think would make a good movie. But if that ever happened I'm sure whoever made the film would fuck it up somehow. Poker movies basically suck.

::

Tonight is the last Tuesday night game at the normal place we play it. Everyone is moving out of that house and we're gonna have to relocate and figure out how to continue to play. The problem is that no one really is gonna have a big place and I think we might try and play it here, which should be interesting to say the least.

So tonight I really wanna try and bring my A game and get a win under my belt, if for no more reason than to prove something to myself. Sadly, it's getting to the point where I'm no longer interested at all in the stakes we play. (No offense to any of the players I play with.) But winning or losing $10 or even winning the $70 for first place doesn't matter a whole lot to me anymore. That makes it harder to win, I've come to realize. Apathy is not a good weapon at the poker table. I still get mad when I lose but I don't give a damn about the money, I just hate losing! So I suppose I'm not completely apathetic. I also still enjoy beating Ryan, but he's been the one doing the beating of late.

Oh well, GL to me.

It's True

Poker is a frustrating game. Anyone that says differently hasn't played enough. This much I am sure of. Tonight I had my weekly game and it was, as usual, a bad beat fest.

There were several hands which came up which were of interest, but in my current drunken state, I don't feel like recalling them all. But 2 deserve mention.

The first one had me raising preflop with K8s. We were 6 handed and I was taking a more aggressive approach. Ryan called and the flop came 8xx. I bet out a pot sized bet and Ryan called. The turn was another low card, a 4 perhaps, and Ryan led out at me. I called. The river was a J and Ryan put out a huge overbet. The kind of bet which says "please don't call me." I was pretty sure my read was correct, that he was either on high cards or a lower pair...possibly he turned 2 small pair, but I was willing to take the risk, so I looked him up and 8s were good.

The hand I lost most of my chips came a bit later. I found 88 in early position and decided to limp with them. My raises were getting no respect, so I'd rather save as many chips as possible for when I decide to put them all in. It got called by Jerad and in the BB Ryan moved in. I knew he thought Jerad and I were both weak and was trying to take down the pot, but I still am coinflipping with shit hands like Q9. I decided to call anyways, fuck it. I was sure he was weak. He turns over A8. Flop? You know it...Axx. That was pretty much it for me. I had him covered, but only by a few chips. I was pissed off for a few minutes, but that subsided. I got my money in with the best hand, I'm happy.

::

Again, my apologies for not updating the TLB, I was out of town all weekend, visiting Alex's family. I'm gonna just wait until we play this Tuesday's game and do the whole updating then. If I had to take a guess, I would think Jerad is still ahead in all the relevant categories! Way to go JRad.

::

I kinda want to write a bit about "playing by statistics," but I dunno how much I'll be able to delve into the topic. I hear a lot of players say things like "you can play by statistics..." and go on to give some reason why they aren't important. On any given hand, this is certainly true, anything can (and will) happen. What does statistics have to say about this? Well, first off, statistics never say that one hand WILL win on this given try. They say how often it can be EXPECTED to win, and how likely that occurrence is.

I think some players see how often bad beats happen and think "statistics mean nothing, AK was supposed to beat AQ there!!"

While I can defintely relate and sympathize...the sentiment is a bit naive. Everyone knows that AQ is going to win sometimes...in fact, just as often as it supposed to.

Going back to "playing by statistics." I promise you, dear reader, that every single pro making a living at this game is playing this way. There is no other way to win at poker. If more of your plays are -EV than are positive...you WILL lose in the long run. This is the reason there are no professional roulette players. All plays are -EV in that game. Likewise, if you are making moves which are -EV in poker, you will lose all the same. The gods of randomness don't shine down upon anyone.

The point of all this? "Playing by statistics" boils down to nothing more than having an edge over your opponents and it is the only way to win. If you have the edge, you win. If your opponents have an edge over you, they win...regardless of what happens this hand or this session or this month. That's the beauty of poker.

Food time.

We Didn't Plan on Sucking, We Just Do

Sometimes I'm amused by so many things at once in life, that I just have to write a post about everything on my mind.

::

The Kansas City Royals are on an 18 game losing streak, one of the worst in baseball over the past 40 years. In an interview, Jose Lima said...

"This is tough,'' Lima said, packing to get ready to go to Oakland with the rest of the Royals. "This is something we didn't plan. Nothing is going our way right now.''

Get the fuck outta here! You mean you guys didn't write this whole losing streak up in the preseason scouting report? That'll make you scratch your head.

::

A quick apology to my poker playing buddies, I've yet to update the TLB, due to lack of sleep and basic functioning capabilities. I'll probably get to it tonight or tomorrow morning.

::

The biggest problem online poker players have is NOT playing shitty cards...though that is a close second. It's not knowing how to bet! Yesterday I raked in about 4 pots from this one player who refused to bet anything higher than min bet. So I called him down each and every time with bottom pair or 2nd pair or a weak draw (cause the odds on min betting are so nice.)

A rule of thumb I use is, if someone is minbetting me and I have ANYTHING, I'm calling it. Maybe next betting round they'll put in a real bet, but I'm not letting anyone take anything off of me for the minimum amount. It's like we're playing limit holdem.

Another problem people face is not incrementing their bets. One hand I was involved in had me calling down $3 on each street. By the river, the pot was over $20 so I had to call the $3 with my 2nd pair, even though I was damn sure I was beat. He turned over some rags without even a pair. Post oak bluffing at low stakes holdem...does that ever work?

::

I just finished reading One of a Kind, the Rise and Fall of Stuey Ungar. That link is to a good review by Chris Halverson, so I won't bother reviewing it. But it's a helluva a book, and I couldn't put it down once I started it. It should be required reading for anyone who considers himself a card player. So go read it!

I also started reading Phil Hellmuth's last book...which is so hilariously bad that I couldn't read past the 2nd page. The following is the opening sentence to the 2nd paragraph of the book.

"With poker strategy books like Doyle Brunson's Super System and my Play Poker Like the Pros (available at philhellmuth.com) flying off the shelves in record numbers;..."

He can't even avoid shameless self promotion in an introduction to his own book! Now only that, he compares his piece of garbage poker book with the fucking Bible of Poker. To top it off, he can't write at all, the book is written the way you'd imagine he would be talking to a video camera. It's hideous, I have no idea why I picked this book up.

::

Damnit! I had more to write but it's now approaching 10am and I have to get to Burger King before they stop serving breakfast. GL at the tables.

Hand History Dissection, 2

Hello again. Here is another few hand histories which I will be looking at in depth in order to propel myself along as a player, and hopefully, provide some insight to the reader. This first hand was a really tough loss for me, and I was pissed for atleast an hour afterwards.

STAGE #168505021: HOLDEM NO LIMIT $0.50 [ 2005-08-10 20:30:00 ]
Seat 6 - DRAGONYSTIC $126.75 in chips
Seat 8 - JUICYJC $177.80 in chips
Seat 1 - BRAVES31 $101.70 in chips
Seat 2 - JOSHPITT $200 in chips
Seat 4 - COJAK1 $62.69 in chips
*** BLIND [dealer 6] ***
JUICYJC - Post small blind $0.50
BRAVES31 - Post big blind $1
DRAGONYSTIC - Pocket [10d,10c]

Here I am on the button with tens. My buddy Matt loathes pocket tens, but not me. They're a very strong holding 5-handed and I can get away from it should a bad flop hit. And for some reason, no one ever puts you on tens.

JOSHPITT - Raises $1 to $4

UTG raises 4x. This is the same guy that busted me on a huge pot a month ago. I had an overpair of jacks, to his flopped set. He's a very tight player with a less than 20 VPIP. I know he has a hand if he's coming in from the one hole with a raise and I'm gonna be very cautious the whole way. Right off the bat I was thinking he had a big pair.

COJAK1 - Calls $4
DRAGONYSTIC - Calls $4
JUICYJC - Folds
BRAVES31 - Folds

COJAK1 (a maniac LAG) calls and I just call as well. Tens are defintely big enough to reraise with, but what's the point? I'm trying to catch a nice flop and bust someone out, not scare them away for a small preflop pot. I also have position, since I'm the button, and will be able to exploit that throughout the hand.

*** FLOP [5d,5h,5c] ***

That's a damn good flop for my hand. I've got a boat, and a pretty good one, and position. But I was originally putting JoshPitt on a big pair as well. So I'm not exactly loving my hand.

JOSHPITT - Bets $12
COJAK1 - Calls $12
DRAGONYSTIC - Calls $12

MISTAKE. Calling here is a mistake. I still am not sure where I am in the hand. And calling leaves me in the dark. Not only that, but the pot is now plenty big and worth trying to take down. I also must note that I was not the least concerned with what COJAK1 had.

I also should put in a raise here if Josh has a AK or AQ. Since he would have 6 outs to beat me and I shouldn't let him see that for so cheap.

My thinking at the time was that I wanted to keep the pot as small as possible until I could get a better idea as to what Josh had.

*** TURN [5d,5h,5c,6h] ***
JOSHPITT - Bets $22
COJAK1 - Folds

JoshPitt comes out with an even higher bet on the turn, and feels strong to me. I'm positive he has a boat. And there aren't a lot of boats I can beat. I don't think he's dumb enough to lead out at me again with a small pair, all I can really beat is 77, 88 and 99.

I called him on the flop, and (mistakenly) assumed that he knew I was a solid player and wouldn't be calling him with ace high. I was really torn up about this bet. I hate calling it cause I'll have to call $40 more on the river to have him turn over A's or K's or Q's just like I thought, and I hate folding with the boat here, and no overcards. This is such a nice board for tens. I hate raising too, especially now that I am convinced he has a big pair.

DRAGONYSTIC - Folds
JOSHPITT - returned ($22) : not called

I muck and let him know I folded tens.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
JOSHPITT - Show cards [9s,9d]
*** RESULT ***
Total Pot($49.50) Rake ($2)

Ahhh, fuck! He did have a smaller pair. This sent me on major tilt for an hour...which usually doesn't happen. I was pissed that this same guy got me again, now with the worst hand (which he was way too overzealous with.) He was ready to go broke with that hand, I'm sure of it. If I had reraised, he woulda instacalled me and I woulda dragged a nice $200 pot, but I psyched myself out.

I know what happened too. I remembered all too well this guy taking my J's down with his set, when I knew he had a set. I wished I listened to myself that time, and I didn't want to make the mistake twice, of calling when I knew I was beat.

Looking back, it's not a horrible lay down. 9's (and maybe 8's) are really the only hands I can beat, and I lose to A's through J's. So my odds here are not good. And also keep in mind, this guy was an extremely tight player, and still raised big coming out from UTG, and bet it hard the whole way. He just as easily could have had J's to my T's. My position on him actually hurt me, since he got to act first each time and bet his hand. Otherwise, I would have been betting.

As you can see, acting last is not always good; especially shorthanded...where betting aggressively is key to winning. Also, it's very important to realize when tight players have put themselves into marginal situations, and pounce on it...which I didn't do.

Sidenote:: This hand history is almost identical to the hand Jeff Lisandro and Phil Ivey got involved in in the last WSOP broadcast. Lisandro had TT (well, atleast that is what the TV said, even though he probably did NOT) and Phil had 9's and took the pot down after a 444 flop. If you saw this hand on TV, you should read this post by Paul Phillips. It's funny, I never stopped to think that possibly they had the hands wrong. But it makes sense looking back.

Anyways, that's it for this hand history dissection. I'm too tired to do another hand.

About Time

After running cold for a while, barely breaking even, I finally busted a few people this morning. I woke up around 5am and drank some tea and wasn't feeling sleepy afterwards, so I decided to see how the tables were lookin' on Absolute. Sometimes I'll go on there in the middle of the week and see 5 rocks sitting there, and will just say "fuck it" for the time being. But the game looked really loose, so I sat down. I was quickly in the hole almost $40 but made it back on the aforementioned hands, and then some.

The $380 pot had me holding a set of jacks on a AJT board. I got it all in on the turn and the river was a frightening K, but the pot came my way. I was about to be sick if he had some garbage like AQ.

::

I haven't been posting much of late, dunno why. I suppose I have had less to say about poker. Or I've been lazy.

I've just noticed that I've had far more fun reading other peoples blogs for a change. I seem to go through cycles where I will write an entry every single day for 2 weeks, then I'll just sit around and read other blogs and comment on them. I sorta wish I had intelligent interesting things to say on a daily basis, but I don't.

::

I've noticed that quite a few fellow poker bloggers have been having a really hard time with poker lately. I don't want this to come off as sounding like I'm happy that they're struggling, but it's nice to see some good players going through ups and downs, as I have been for a while. Makes me feel less like the poker gods hate me, and more like they hate everyone (aside from Tuan Le and Danny Nguyen) equally.

I wish them all the best of luck breaking out of the downswings, I know what they are like, and how it can mess with your head.

::

Speaking of lucky players, I watched the repeat of the WPT event where Tuan Le wins his first event. I forgot how sickening it was to see him suckout time and again.

I remember reading Negreanu, I think?, defend Tuan Le...saying something along the lines of "since when did it become a crime to suckout." Fair enough. No crime there, everyone gets lucky from time to time in poker. But I know this much, that anyone who got THAT lucky at a final table, would most assuredly win as well, regardless of how poor of a player they were. In all honesty, I don't think I could get my money in as such a dog so repeatedly if I was trying my best to lose.

::

I've also noticed that I'm enjoying the WPT a lot less these days. A LOT less. I remember watching the 2003 season with final tables full of top notch pros playing smart tactical poker. I still like some of the old episodes the best.

This past season has been mostly a crapshoot. I don't particularly care to see a bunch of weak players donkey it up against each other to determine the winner. I don't care about 'all ins' and I don't give a damn if an amateur Cinderellas himself a WPT Title. I know enough about the game of poker to know that anyone on any single given day can beat the very best, and that's just the nature of the game.

I'm sure it does kudos for the growth and popularity of the WPT tournaments though. Everyone and their brother wants to get into one of these events because they see idiots like themselves littering the final tables and occasionally winning. Hell, I can do that!

What's perhaps the most humorous about all of this is the sick delusions garnered by some of the unlikely winners. I think Danny Nguyen said he was gonna play professionally after his win. LOL. Humorous might not have been the right word, maybe the word I'm looking for is sad. To play in most of the big buy in events throughout the year as a tournament professional can cost somewhere in the neighborhood of half a million dollars. I think Nguyen won almost exactly a million dollars for his victory. Probably 1/3 of that will go to taxes...give or take. Say he has $700,000 after that.

Now this poor bastard...I think he used up all of his luck to win that one event, I don't foresee him winning any more. In fact, his cashes will be few and far between, if I had to venture a guess. Meanwhile he's paying for travel and accommodations, and most tourney pro's play in side games as well. How long till his million dollar victory is completely erased?

That probably depends on his money management skills, but he looks like a gambler to me, so I give him 3 years tops, and in all likelihood...much much sooner.

I'll probably never be able to find out, unfortunately. If nothing more, it is an interesting experiment. Any fellow bloggers/readers who by chance run into him sometime, do some snooping! Paul Phillips, if you ever come across this, find out how good he's doing on your next WPT event please!

::

I've been getting into Omaha8 lately. I started reading a book on strategy by Mike Cappelletti. It's not the greatest poker book, but I'm learning from it. The good thing about learning a new game is that books can actually help you again. I felt like every Holdem book I read was just rehashing of the same stuff for beginners. DoubleA's has some really good posts on serious NL strategy for intermediate+ holdem. Things that books just don't talk a lot about for some reason. Perhaps most poker authors don't want to give away their secrets and would rather make an easy buck offering rehashed advice for noobs. Who knows? I wish someone would write a serious NL (nontournament) strategy book. Ted Forrest or Phil Ivey need to write a book damnit.

Art of the Week, 9

Butterfly by Julia


Lights by Julia

Recent Happenings, Moneymaker Book

I've now played 1200 hands at $.50/1.00 NL (6max.) For a while I was down pretty good, thanks to some bad beats and a few unfortunate situations, but I have mostly been very pleased with my play. One of the best things about moving up in limits is retesting yourself, finding out leaks in your game, making yourself even stronger. I think these first 1000 hands haven't been too bad, all in all, I'm down $20, which is not very significant.

The biggest stepping stone I've had to overcome thus far has been seeing through the magnified bets for players who are actually weak. When someone bluffs you for their whole stack of $200 it can be fucking stressful. The following hand came up earlier this morning, where I was put to a decision for my whole stack, and it was not an easy one.

I have the time, so I think I'll dissect the whole hand here.

STAGE #168787812: HOLDEM NO LIMIT $0.50 [ 2005-08-11 10:57:03 ]
Seat 4 - JVNF18 $197.10 in chips
Seat 5 - RCSKIER86 $69.10 in chips
Seat 6 - DRAGONYSTIC $78.50 in chips
Seat 9 - HOT DOG KING $64.25 in chips
Seat 1 - OHSOHOTTIE $101.45 in chips
Seat 3 - NJPOKERMAN $213.90 in chips
*** BLIND [dealer 4] ***
RCSKIER86 - Post small blind $0.50
DRAGONYSTIC - Post big blind $1
DRAGONYSTIC - Pocket [5c,7h]

Here I am sitting on $80, what I bought in for. I was in the BB and was dealt a very lackluster 75o.

HOT DOG KING - Folds
OHSOHOTTIE - Folds
NJPOKERMAN - Folds
JVNF18 - Raises $1 to $3

I didn't particularly care for this raise. JVNF18 had been raising my blind way too much...not only that, my notes on him say he tends to simply raise too much in any position. And I was sick of folding to him.

RCSKIER86 - Folds
DRAGONYSTIC - Raises $2 to $11

75o isn't really a calling hand, so I pop it up to $11, see how much he likes his hand against a reraise from me. I also must point out that him and I have played a few hundred hands together, and he should have some idea that I'm a fairly solid player.

JVNF18 - Calls $8

He still decides to call though. I know he was on a mediocre hand, a small pair or something connecting. Not only that, but I think he was putting me on a very big hand, and called in the hopes of flopping big and taking my whole stack. (I don't reraise often at all.)

*** FLOP [Js,9c,8c] ***

This is actually a pretty nice flop for me. Gives me a double gutter, so I have some room to maneuvre, should any action break out. I thought about putting in another big bet here on the flop, but thought a check would look puzzling to him, and perhaps get me a free card. And even if he does bet, I can always come over the top. I've got a solid draw, and the lead in the hand, since I put in the reraise preflop.

DRAGONYSTIC - Checks
JVNF18 - Checks
*** TURN [Js,9c,8c,6s] ***

Very fortunate turn for me, the 6s makes my straight...and is nicely cloaked as well. He can't put me on 75 here. So I lead out for about 3/4's of the pot.

DRAGONYSTIC - Bets $15
JVNF18 - Calls $15

He called very quickly. And I didn't give it much thought. Maybe he had a pair, or a draw, or both...or just thought I was FOS. I don't particularly care at this point.

*** RIVER [Js,9c,8c,6s,10c] ***

Now I do. That's probably the single worst card in the deck for me. It completes a flush draw, and makes any Q a higher straight. I'm no longer sitting very pretty on the sucker end of a 4 card straight with 3 clubs on the board.

DRAGONYSTIC - Checks

I decide to check to him, see what he wants to do. If he doesn't have anything, betting will serve little purpose since he can't really call unless he has me beat. Atleast I might be able to get him to bet into me if he now thinks I'm weak with the river check.

JVNF18 - Bets $171

Just as I thought, he moves in. But this was no ordinary move in, he was INSTANTLY all in. Well that's an odd move! If he has the Q for the higher straight, then he would have to be somewhat concerned by the third club. And even if he isn't putting me on that hand, if he does have the higher straight, and doesn't think I have the flush, moving all in makes no sense, since I probably won't call. I'd figure him to value bet a Q. The flush is what had me worried. Was he really on the club draw? I didn't think so, so my hand must be good.

DRAGONYSTIC - All-In $52.50

I call and pray...

JVNF18 - returned ($118.50) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JVNF18 - Show cards [Jd,10d]
DRAGONYSTIC - Show cards [5c,7h]
*** RESULT ***
Total Pot($157.50) Rake ($3)

Whew, the river made him top two, and he overplayed his hand bigtime. It certainly put me in a tough spot, but the way everything happened in the hand, I was pretty sure my hand was good.

Anyways, I'm not exactly thrilled with having to make tough decisions like that, but at the same time, I don't mind too much. The reason I like 6max so much, and seem to do well, is I am usually very good at knowing when my hand is good, and thus, make better decisions than my opponents. And the 6max tables provide a constant flurry of action and close decisions...which I think gives me a nice edge.

That pot brought me back to about even since making the jump to .50/1.00NL. Could be a lot worse, so I'm not upset at all that I haven't made any money over the past few days. I have a feeling on my good days at this level I'll be making quite a bit.

::

I read Moneymaker's book yesterday. I'm not gonna bother with a review, since there are a million out there. I'll just say this, I have a lot more respect for him as a player now, and a lot less as a human being.

If you haven't read it, Chris goes into details about how involved he was with gambling his whole life...and how he became riddled with debt from it. He lost $60k in one day in college betting on college sports. That's pretty bad. Anyways, the sad part about it is, I can almost see the book continuing on about how Chris then loses all the money he won at the world series on future gambling. It seems to be ingrained in his DNA.

But the point is, it's a damn good book, and if you have time, you should find a copy and read it. It only takes about 5 hours or so to read, and it is quite entertaining and enlightening, especially since everyone has seen the ESPN episodes over and over...now you can get a glimpse at everything that wasn't on TV. Good shit. (And he wasn't as lucky as everyone thinks he was.)

::

On a tangeant topic, I was thinking quite a bit about how TV has really portrayed some of these players who have recently won the WSOP. Moneymaker and Raymer have each, rather unjustly, gotten quite a bit of shit flown their way over the amount of luck they had to win.

Here's a better explanation. EVERY main event champ has gotten really really lucky to win but most players these days have only seen the last 2 main event's on ESPN. They see a suckout and say, "hey, there's no skill in that." Overlooking the fact that over the course of the entire tournament, every player who made it to the final table had to play thousands of hands, and go through 12 hour days against a top class field of opponents. Is it really possible to win without getting lucky?

I'm sure that sentiment has been said many times by others, but the point seems to be lost on the general TV-Poker watching populace. I think I read that Johnny Chan won 13 out of 13 coinflips the 2nd year he won the main event. But you'd never hear anyone say "oh, that Chan is just a luckbox, anyone can win a tourney when they win every coinflip." Now I'm not trying to compare Chan to Raymer or Moneymaker, the point was that I don't think most people understand just how much luck is involved in a poker tournament, and conversely, just how skilled you have to be on top of being lucky to make it to the end. In a way I almost feel bad for Moneymaker. I would hate it if I won the main event and people everywhere were trashing me cause I got lucky to win a few hands. (I'd still enjoy the money though!)

You Can Count on Slippery Pete

I don't mean this to be a dis post, I enjoy the fact that there are fish at the tables I play at. Purely out of academic interest though, I post the following: that today I ran into the worst poker player I've ever seen in my life.



Such statements may be taken as hyperbole, but I assure you that I am dead serious! Again, I'm not trashing Keizerp. He can gamble all he wants, I'm fine with that. He even busted me in a $200 pot and I didn't say a word about his hand selection.

I am merely remarking here about how amazing it is to me that one could possibly play the game of poker so poorly.

Evidence:
hands played :: 209
vpip :: 81.82% (that means he played 4 out of 5 hands)
$ won :: -$176.13 (this after being up over $200)

Hand Histories:

STAGE #167860864: HOLDEM NO LIMIT $0.50 [ 2005-08-09 14:52:57 ]
Seat 1 - BOXROVERSUK $168.99 in chips
Seat 3 - DRAGONYSTIC $187.35 in chips
Seat 4 - YADDEL $101.35 in chips
Seat 5 - KEIZERP $102.70 in chips
Seat 6 - HENHUM $54.10 in chips
Seat 7 - CHICAGOJL $111.65 in chips
*** BLIND [dealer 3] ***
YADDEL - Post small blind $0.50
KEIZERP - Post big blind $1
DRAGONYSTIC - Pocket [9d,9c]
HENHUM - Folds
CHICAGOJL - Calls $1
BOXROVERSUK - Calls $1
DRAGONYSTIC - Calls $1
YADDEL - Calls $0.50
KEIZERP - Checks
*** FLOP [8s,7d,Qh] ***
YADDEL - Bets $4
KEIZERP - Calls $4 (At this point, he has A3, for ace high, no pair no draw.)
CHICAGOJL - Folds
BOXROVERSUK - Folds
DRAGONYSTIC - Folds
*** TURN [8s,7d,Qh,3h] ***
YADDEL - Bets $9
KEIZERP - Calls $9
*** RIVER [8s,7d,Qh,3h,Ah] ***
YADDEL - Bets $20
KEIZERP - Raises $20 to $40
YADDEL - Calls $20
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KEIZERP - Show cards [3s,As]
YADDEL - Show cards [7c,8c]
*** RESULT ***
Total Pot($111) Rake ($3)

___


STAGE #167845735: HOLDEM NO LIMIT $0.50 [ 2005-08-09 14:14:01 ]
Seat 1 - BOXROVERSUK $126.69 in chips
Seat 3 - DRAGONYSTIC $200 in chips
Seat 4 - CHICAGOJL $82.65 in chips
Seat 5 - KEIZERP $325.85 in chips
Seat 6 - TIGER44 $43 in chips
Seat 9 - MORRIS21280 $53.60 in chips
*** BLIND [dealer 3] ***
CHICAGOJL - Post small blind $0.50
KEIZERP - Post big blind $1
DRAGONYSTIC - Pocket [Ad,Kh]
TIGER44 - Folds
MORRIS21280 - Folds
BOXROVERSUK - Folds
DRAGONYSTIC - Raises $1 to $4
CHICAGOJL - Folds
KEIZERP - Calls $3
*** FLOP [Kd,9h,9c] ***
KEIZERP - Checks
DRAGONYSTIC - Bets $5
KEIZERP - Raises $5 to $10
DRAGONYSTIC - Calls $5
*** TURN [Kd,9h,9c,4d] ***
KEIZERP - Checks
DRAGONYSTIC - Bets $7
KEIZERP - Raises $7 to $14
DRAGONYSTIC - Calls $7
*** RIVER [Kd,9h,9c,4d,3s] ***
KEIZERP - Checks
DRAGONYSTIC - Checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KEIZERP - Show cards [9d,5h]
DRAGONYSTIC - Lost mucks
*** RESULT ***
Total Pot($56.50) Rake ($2.80)

___

Yep, he called my preflop raise with 95o. It also may look obvious in hindsight that he had a 9. But he was betting and raising on pretty much EVERY single hand. On another hand, he got my whole stack. This was a brutal hand against a maniac, because there's no way in hell I can lay it down. I only lose to 2 hands, and one of them is the pure nuts (which would make it a puzzling reraise,) and he had it.

STAGE #167843193: HOLDEM NO LIMIT $0.50 [ 2005-08-09 14:07:04 ]
Seat 1 - BOXROVERSUK $131.69 in chips
Seat 3 - DRAGONYSTIC $101.55 in chips
Seat 4 - CHICAGOJL $85.15 in chips
Seat 5 - KEIZERP $221.80 in chips
Seat 6 - TIGER44 $50 in chips
Seat 9 - MORRIS21280 $45.85 in chips
*** BLIND [dealer 9] ***
BOXROVERSUK - Post small blind $0.50
DRAGONYSTIC - Post big blind $1
TIGER44 - Post $1
DRAGONYSTIC - Pocket [Ah,Kh]
CHICAGOJL - Calls $1
KEIZERP - Calls $1
TIGER44 - Checks
MORRIS21280 - Calls $1
BOXROVERSUK - Calls $0.50
DRAGONYSTIC - Checks
*** FLOP [As,6s,Ac] ***
BOXROVERSUK - Checks
DRAGONYSTIC - Bets $6
CHICAGOJL - Folds
KEIZERP - Raises $6 to $45
TIGER44 - Folds
MORRIS21280 - Folds
BOXROVERSUK - Folds
DRAGONYSTIC - Raises $39 to $100
KEIZERP - Calls $55
*** TURN [As,6s,Ac,10d] ***
DRAGONYSTIC - All-In(Raise) $1 to $0.55
KEIZERP - Calls $0.55
*** RIVER [As,6s,Ac,10d,5d] ***
DRAGONYSTIC - Show cards [Ah,Kh]
KEIZERP - Show cards [6h,Ad]
*** RESULT ***
Total Pot($207.10) Rake ($3)

Sometimes donkey moves can really work out. He raised me to $45 with the absolute nuts. I have no idea why he's trying to push me out of the pot when he's got such a lock on this hand, but as I said, he was betting and raising pretty much every single hand. He would have made the same move with any ace, or a draw for that matter, or K6, he was that bad. But no, he had A6 and got all my money. Pretty sickening.

This was at the height of his hot streak. He was a card rack for about a half hour and worked his $150 up to $400 really fast! It was perhaps the single greatest hot streak I've ever witnessed at one table in my life. He flopped trips about 3 times, drew to 3 of a kind to beat 2 pair another 2 or 3 times, outdrew 2 pair with a higher 2 pair on the turn or river several times, and hit a never ending stream of flushes and straights. Really something to see!

He then proceeded to give every penny back, a lot of it to me, on hilarious hands.

STAGE #167852933: HOLDEM NO LIMIT $0.50 [ 2005-08-09 14:32:58 ]
Seat 1 - BOXROVERSUK $171.54 in chips
Seat 3 - DRAGONYSTIC $190 in chips
Seat 5 - KEIZERP $228.85 in chips
Seat 6 - TIGER44 $71.10 in chips
Seat 7 - CHICAGOJL $53 in chips
Seat 9 - MORRIS21280 $59.15 in chips
*** BLIND [dealer 6] ***
CHICAGOJL - Post small blind $0.50
MORRIS21280 - Post big blind $1
DRAGONYSTIC - Pocket [10s,Ah]
BOXROVERSUK - Folds
DRAGONYSTIC - Calls $1
KEIZERP - Raises $1 to $2
TIGER44 - Calls $2
CHICAGOJL - Calls $1.50
MORRIS21280 - Raises $1 to $59
DRAGONYSTIC - Folds
KEIZERP - Calls $57
TIGER44 - Folds
CHICAGOJL - Folds
*** FLOP [Qd,7d,5h] ***
MORRIS21280 - All-In(Raise) $1 to $0.15
KEIZERP - Calls $0.15
*** TURN [Qd,7d,5h,9h] ***
*** RIVER [Qd,7d,5h,9h,8c] ***
KEIZERP - Show cards [Kh,Jh]
MORRIS21280 - Show cards [Ac,Ad]
*** RESULT ***
Total Pot($123.30) Rake ($3)

___

$18 for a gutshot?

STAGE #167878498: HOLDEM NO LIMIT $0.50 [ 2005-08-09 15:37:08 ]
Seat 1 - BOXROVERSUK $118.69 in chips
Seat 3 - DRAGONYSTIC $193.65 in chips
Seat 5 - KEIZERP $211.50 in chips
Seat 6 - HENHUM $31.50 in chips
Seat 7 - CHICAGOJL $127.42 in chips
Seat 8 - VERDUCI $173.07 in chips
*** BLIND [dealer 3] ***
KEIZERP - Post small blind $0.50
HENHUM - Post big blind $1
DRAGONYSTIC - Pocket [Kc,7d]
CHICAGOJL - Calls $1
VERDUCI - Calls $1
BOXROVERSUK - Folds
DRAGONYSTIC - Folds
KEIZERP - Calls $0.50
HENHUM - Checks
*** FLOP [5d,10h,6h] ***
KEIZERP - Checks
HENHUM - Checks
CHICAGOJL - Bets $6
VERDUCI - Folds
KEIZERP - Calls $6
HENHUM - Folds
*** TURN [5d,10h,6h,4d] ***
KEIZERP - Checks
CHICAGOJL - Bets $12
KEIZERP - Calls $12
*** RIVER [5d,10h,6h,4d,2h] ***
KEIZERP - Checks
CHICAGOJL - Checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KEIZERP - Show cards [7h,9d]
CHICAGOJL - Show cards [Jc,10c]
*** RESULT ***
Total Pot($40) Rake ($2)

___

Anyways, it was a helluva time. Made for an odd game, becaue preflop raises no longer did anything. After a half hour at the table with this guy I stopped raising preflop, and was just looking to turn the nuts on him. This actually ended up costing me dearly on one hand, which I would have gotten his whole stack had I raised preflop.

The hand went as follows: I was dealt KK on the button, and limped. The whole time at the table I was just looking for a set to punish him with, but was unsuccessful in about 20 tries. The flop came down ten high, and as usual, he bet out. Unfortunately, the BB reraised him and I knew he had it, so I chucked my hand. As it turns out, the BB had flopped bottom 2 pair with 74. The flop was T74, and KEIZERP was on KT, for top pair. Had I raised preflop, I would have gotten the BB out and the river brought the case King, making KEIZERP top 2. I'm positive I would have gotten his whole stack on that hand, which was $150 at the time.

That's the only hand I'm really salty about today. Other than that, I was happy with my play. Pretty card dead most of the time, once again, I think I ended up -$60, which I can live with, considering a few of the beats I took. That $200 pot was rather costly.

So for the 2 days total, I'm down $100 since making the jump. Not good, but not really bad at all. That's a normal swing for these stakes, and I've been so cold, I feel actually rather fortunate to not be down more.

Alright, I gotta run. GL at the tables everyone.

The Jump

My foray into .50/1.00 NL has begun. I had $2020 sitting in my Absolute account, so I decided to make the leap.

I played about 400 hands today and got somewhat used to the magnified bets. But I made a few mistakes today that I'm not happy about, and took a shitty beat on another to end the day down $40. Which isn't really bad at all, but I could have done better.

Memorable Hand #1 : Dealt to Dragonystic [9h 8h]

I was in the SB. UTG limps, the button calls, and I complete the blind, BB checks. Flop comes T98, giving me bottom 2. I bet out $3 and UTG min raises me to $6...he only had another $15 in his stack so I moved in on him. He calls quickly and turns over J5o for the up-and-down straight draw. River brings the Q and he drags the $40 pot. Ugh. Not a particularly good start for me.

Memorable Hand #2 : Dealt to Dragonystic [As Qc]

Everyone folds to the button, and he raises $4. He's a very solid player and I figure he probably has a decent hand. In full ring, I'd lay AQo down, but not at a 6max table. I call and the BB also calls. Flop comes Axx. Button pushes out $8, which is a reasonable bet, and I thought he might have a good ace, possibly even AK, which I have to worry. But I want to find out where I am in the hand, so I min raise to $16...BB folds, and original bettor calls. Turn brings a K, and I bet out $10. Perhaps this bet is too weak...the pot had almost $40, so $10 doesn't look so strong on hindsight.

This is part of the learning curve of stepping up in limits.

Now the button comes over the top for $25. I didn't think he'd do this without aces up or a set, I really thought he had AK and just hit 2 pair...so I mucked.

He told me he had AQ. Who knows if that is true, but I don't think he'd lie to me. We've played a lot of hands together at the tables, and respect each others play, from what I can tell.

I think I made 2 mistakes in this pot. First, I min raised the flop. This is good for getting more money into the pot, but leaves me in the dark about the strength of his hand. He could have been smoothcalling with a lot of hands. I should have either called on the flop and see what move he makes on the turn, or raised to about $22 - $28.

The second mistake was leading out weakly into that pot. Like I said, I believe the pot was $40, and I only put $10 out there. If the guy did have AQ like he said, he probably was planning on putting out a bet of around $25 anyways. Seeing that I put out a weak bet he pounced on it with what he was gonna bet anyways, and gets the added benefit of appearing even stronger than he was, since he got to put in a raise.

But I've analyzed this hand, and am still happy with my play, aside from those 2 minor details. I also think he really overplayed his ace there. He did have a good kicker, but there are few hands I would raise him on the flop with that he can beat...if there are any at all. If I was on 2 pair or a set, which was defintely inline with my play, then he opened himself up badly with his reraise on the turn.

Memorable Hand #3 : Dealt to Dragonystic [Qh Jh]

I limp in from the cutoff and the flop is taken 3 way. It comes As Qs Qd. I put out a pot sized bet and only the big blind calls. The turn is an offsuit ten. I bet out $10 this time, and get yet another smooth call. At this point I'm putting him on an ace or 2 spades. Turn brings the 6 of spades, and I check it to the big blind. He puts out a very smallish $6 bet into the $30 pot. A please-call-me bet. I figure I should pay this draw off since even calling this doesn't make up for the poor odds my opponent had on this draw. So long as I can pay off my opponent for less than what he would need to make up for the implied odds of the draw, I usually call.

He turns over KJo (no spades.) WOW!

That's right, he called a pot sized flop bet on a paired board with 2 spades on a gutshot straight draw. At first I was mad, but then I thought "I'm glad there are still plenty of idiots at this level." Unfortunately, there's more rocks and other solid players. Not much action today.

I was pretty card dead the entire day, so I'm not particularly upset at having a losing day. I just wish I could have started the move with a strong day, to keep my confidence up.

Serenity Now

I'm still killing Absolute...I'm scared outta my mind. So far for the month I'm over $400 (in 6 days at .25/.50 NL.) And I've won over 80% of the sessions I've played thus far, I think 25 total. I probably should just enjoy the good run of cards and continue to play my best (which I will) but I'm also anxiously awaiting what sort of misfortune the cards will bring soon to even the score.

This is a neverending theme in poker. Good runs...then bad runs, and vice versa, atleast that's the way it's been at the 6-max tables; much more variance.

I only hope the bad beats which are sure to come won't be too costly, since I've started sitting with the full $100 buy in lately. Perhaps that has partially helped the heavier influx of money.

::

I was going over some PokerTracker data. It's amazing how much more I win on the weekends compared to normal weekday play. Of course this makes sense, more recreational donkeys play on the weekends, but I never really stopped to think about it.

My win rate on Fri, Sat and Sun is over 5x higher than the rest of the week. That's quite a jump. And this isn't over some small amount of hands. I'm talking about 50k atleast.

I'm gonna start squeezing in more hours on the weekends to pick up as much of the action as possible.

Tonight the tables were a madhouse. Frequently 3 (or more) players would be all in on the flop at one table I was at. I cleaned up rather nicely, getting several people to call me down after flopping good hands/draws.

::

Well I made it! My goal was 2 grand and then moving up to .50/1.00 NL. My rush over the past week has put me over the mark and I think I might make the jump on Monday. Wish me luck.

::

Speaking of luck, I wish there was a feature in PokerTracker that calculated how lucky you have been; a luck factor, if you will.

This is actually very easy to calculate. There are 2 forms of luck in poker, 1 is getting better than average cards. And the second is getting better results with the cards you have than statistics would dictate.

The first luck factor, for what cards you are dealt, is simple. Take AA for instance. AA will appear once in every 221 hands. If you have recorded 15,000 hands, you should see AA approximately 68 times. Now you compare that number to how many actual times you have seen AA...and likewise for every hand, to determine how good your cards have been compared to what is statistically average.

The second part is basically an EV problem. For each bet you make, you determine what EV you have, the pot odds, and how much you should get in return for that bet VS how much you actually got back.

I'd do an example if I wasn't feeling so lazy.

The point is, this is very easy to calculate (though you could only do it on hands that went to a showdown.) And yet I don't think I've ever heard of anyone or any piece of software (not even PT) doing these simple calculations.

I wish they would. Not only is it good for pointless skill v. luck discussions. But I'd really just like to know how much of my current streak (whether bad or good) is due to normal fluctuations.

I can't be the only person who has ever thought of this...

Too Good Not to Post

This may be the worst played hand in history. Well, atleast it's up there.

STAGE #165717599: HOLDEM NO LIMIT $0.25 [ 2005-08-05 11:12:45 ]
Seat 5 - OLDDUDE1 $56.65 in chips
Seat 7 - DRAGONYSTIC $94.45 in chips
Seat 9 - SOWERSUNCC $112.50 in chips
*** BLIND [dealer 5] ***
DRAGONYSTIC - Post small blind $0.25
SOWERSUNCC - Post big blind $0.50
DRAGONYSTIC - Pocket [Kc,Jc]
OLDDUDE1 - Raises $0.50 to $1
DRAGONYSTIC - Calls $0.75
SOWERSUNCC - Calls $0.50
*** FLOP [4d,Jh,Js] ***
DRAGONYSTIC - Checks
SOWERSUNCC - Checks
OLDDUDE1 - Bets $29.50
DRAGONYSTIC - Raises $29.50 to $59
SOWERSUNCC - Folds
OLDDUDE1 - All-In $26.15
DRAGONYSTIC - returned ($3.35) : not called
*** TURN [4d,Jh,Js,8c] ***
*** RIVER [4d,Jh,Js,8c,Ah] ***
OLDDUDE1 - Show cards [Qd,10h]
DRAGONYSTIC - Show cards [Kc,Jc]
*** RESULT ***
Total Pot($114.30) Rake ($1)
Board [4d,Jh,Js,8c,Ah]
OLDDUDE1 - HI:One pair, jacks [Qd,10h - B:Js,B:Jh,B:Ah,P:Qd,P:10h]
DRAGONYSTIC - Total ($113.30) HI:($113.30)Three of a kind, jacks [Kc,Jc - B:Js,B:Jh,P:Jc,B:Ah,P:Kc]
SOWERSUNCC - Folded on the FLOP

A 9 on the river would have been pretty shitty. HA!

::

I read an article by Linda Johnson on Cardplayer that a judge in NorthCarolina ruled that poker is "too heavily influenced by chance" to be considered a game of skill.

I guess poker pro's are just luckier than everyone else.

Lower Uncton

I finally got around to updating the TLB. Jerad took over 1st place with a nice victory this week. I bubbled for a second week in a row, but was happy with my play, so I don't really care. I was almost busted in the first orbit, so to finish 5th out of 13 is good enough for me.

The hand I lost most of my chips with was with AKs on the button. We were 5 or 6 handed. I raise standard, 4x I believe. Majdi comes over the top in the SB, tripling my bet. I still didn't give him credit for much of a hand, possibly a mid pair or a decent ace. So I push in and he insta calls. Uh oh, maybe I had a bad read. No, he had 99...he was instacalling off all of his chips in the first level with 9's. Door card, K. Yes! Brick brick...turn, 9. And that was most of my stack.

::

I'm scared outta my mind right now because I'm winning so much money on Absolute. As a poker player, I'm not very superstitious...but I feel a sort of Bundy Curse at the poker table for some reason. If things are running too good...be weary of trouble ahead! So far this month (4 days) I've won 12 out of my 14 sessions. I'm up $300 over the last few days which is pretty good for .25/.50.



I had to take $100 out of my BR for food money unfortunately...so I'm not quite up to the $2000 mark yet. But I hope I will hit it within the next few weeks so I can finally jump up to .5/1.00 NL and see how I do. I've been anxious to jump for a while...but want to make sure I have enough money. Also it's kinda scary leaving my .25/.50 cash cow.

...figures, as I'm writing about winning so much I just lost a $60 pot on the river. Had the nut straight on the turn against top 2 pair. Rivers the 4 outer. Oh well.

The guy who took down the pot asked me why I played at .25/.50 and not higher, I responded "BR issues." Odd syncronicity, but I hope he is right that I will easily beat .5/1.00.

::

We got a new recliner yesterday which is comfy as all get up! But getting it home was a nightmare! For one, the chair is rather large, so just getting it into the car was difficult. Alex just has a small Cavalier and this is a full sized recliner. Wasn't fitting in the backseat. Ok, let's try the trunk and tie it up with some twine. That worked with a bit of elbow grease, onto the fun ride home.

Can't take the freeway home, don't want the chair flying out the back going 65, so I had to take Morse to High St, both roads having quite a bit of construction going on around them. This was also at noon, which is one of the worst times to be on the road in Columbus. Took me 40 minutes to get home (8 miles, give or take.) I ran 2 lights, one in front of a cop, cause I was too afraid of slamming on the breaks. Thankfully the cop didn't see or care, one or the other. And to top it off, I had to maneuver around some idiot student driver in our parking lot who unwittingly blocked my parking spot, but was waving me to drive through. NO! You're in my way, I can't go until you move. *points fingers, flashes lights* Eventually this Einstein moved. Then I had to procure some help from a neighbor to get the damn thing up the stairs. I knocked one of the wood pillars loose next to the railing and chipped paint and various tree debris onto my nice new chair before I even got it into the house...this was all in 96 degree weather mind you.

Ahh, but it was so nice to finally sit down in it.

"From the mightiest pharoah to the lowliest peasant, who doesn't enjoy a good sit."

Art of the Week, 8

Theistic Dawn by Gary Tonge

Gamboool

I do so much better when I'm having fun at a table. I realized this awhile ago, but it never really set in until last night. I remember a few of my biggest scores on Party, and how I wasn't even paying attention to how I was doing cause everyone was just talking so much...a few times I left with over 12 buy ins ($300 at the $25NL tables.) Last night wasn't that profitable, but I did leave with a nice chunk of change. There's something to be said for keeping a loose image and having fun. I recall reading a post by Negreanu about how he used to play in this live game with several other tough players, but they all made the game so much fun, that the same fish would come back time after time and give them their money. Daniel said he'd raise everytime he got the button without even looking at his cards. And they gave each other high fives when someone would give a really bad suckout to someone.

I like that kind of atmosphere, but it's almost impossible to attain online...actually it's probably just as hard in real life. But sometimes things will come together in such a way to make a crazy fun table online.

It all started with this one player on Absolute, Keziacore. The first time I played with him, he was giving people some really bad suckouts...several on yours truly. I made a comment to him and he responded "I don't know about you guys, but I'm here to GAMBLE!" For some reason, when a player is gambling, and knows it, it no longer bothers me in the least if he wins. So I'd have fun with him and play silly hands. He got a few gutshots on me, and I'd chase my draws down on him too.

So last night I sat down at a table and he was there too, and he was really handing some bad beats to this know-it-all on my left, who was not very happy about it at all. I decided I was gonna get in there and gamble a few hands myself...really loosen up the table. The good thing about doing this is, you really don't have to gamble much to set up an image, and then you can sit back and play tight, and reap the benefits of a gambling table.

STAGE #164043974: HOLDEM NO LIMIT $0.25 [ 2005-08-02 03:22:02 ]
Seat 2 - RAYZOR55 $20 in chips
Seat 3 - KBC008 $26.40 in chips
Seat 4 - KEZIACORE $59.08 in chips
Seat 5 - MYZTECAL $18.50 in chips
Seat 6 - DRAGONYSTIC $66.45 in chips
Seat 7 - FPC4EVER $5.05 in chips
*** BLIND [dealer 4] ***
MYZTECAL - Post small blind $0.25
DRAGONYSTIC - Post big blind $0.50
RAYZOR55 - Post $0.50
DRAGONYSTIC - Pocket [3h,7h]
FPC4EVER - All-In(Raise) $0.50 to $5.05
RAYZOR55 - Folds
KBC008 - Folds
KEZIACORE - Folds
MYZTECAL - Folds
DRAGONYSTIC - Calls $4.55
*** FLOP [4d,Qc,5d] ***
*** TURN [4d,Qc,5d,2h] ***
*** RIVER [4d,Qc,5d,2h,Jh] ***
DRAGONYSTIC - Show cards [3h,7h]
FPC4EVER - Show cards [Kc,As]
*** RESULT ***
Total Pot($10.85) Rake ($0.50)
Board [4d,Qc,5d,2h,Jh]
RAYZOR55 - Folded on the POCKET CARDS
KBC008 - Folded on the POCKET CARDS
KEZIACORE - Folded on the POCKET CARDS
MYZTECAL - Folded on the POCKET CARDS
DRAGONYSTIC - HI:queen high [3h,7h - B:Qc,B:Jh,P:7h,B:5d,B:4d]
FPC4EVER - Total ($10.35) All-In HI:($10.35)ace high [Kc,As - P:As,P:Kc,B:Qc,B:Jh,B:5d]

That's me calling an all in with 73. It was only $5, but it's still a horrid call. I almost got him too! Ha. I gladly parted with $5 to set up a crazy image for later. Now I must quickly note, I don't think advertising is a valuable tool online in most cases. People move in and out of tables so quickly, it's a complete waste usually. However, Absolute is a smaller site, so it's not as bad as advertising on Party or Stars. Also, the same players stuck around on that table for a solid 2 hours, so the advertising wasn't lost on them.

Anyways, this sort of gambling atmosphere really paid off for some of my bigger hands. I busted a guy with AA, and another time picked up AA and raised preflop 11x! Still got a caller and took down a nice pot on the flop. 5x raises were being called by 3 or 4 players usually (at a 6max table.) And it's true that you will get outdrawn more often with more players, but when you do take down a pot, they are massive.

::

This coming Sunday is another $50 game. Last one was taken down by Jerad, and I came in 2nd. I'm equally optimistic for this one...especially since Don told me that he can't play because he's gonna be out of town. Reid also said he isn't playing, I think due to lack of funds...which is sad, but good news for me. Don and Reid are 2 of the toughest players in our weekly game. So I think that helps my chances.

Gotta Run.

Shit! Wish I Had Bet

I never saw anyone "check in the dark" before Marcel Luske and David Williams did it on TV. I sorta understand this play. The idea is it will keep your opponent completely unaware as to how strong or weak you are...it's good for its deception, or atleast that is what they might say.

The move, though fun, is probably almost always -EV. And here is why.

You can only check in the dark when you are first to act...so you leave the door wide open for free cards to hurt you if you hit a flop...and this is true of almost any hand you could have.

Examples of checking in the dark hurting you:

87s :: Flop comes A87. You, like the moron that you are, have already checked in the dark. Your opponent, holding JJ, is more than happy to take a free card. The turn brings another ace. Aww fuck man, your 2 pair is ruined! Even worse if a J hits, your 2 pair won't be good, and you probably won't even know it. Shame you had to watch WSOP reruns earlier in the day.

...another 87s. :: Flop comes 843. Again, like the FPS addict that you are, you've already checked in the dark. Your opponent, with hands like AJ, KQ and J9 is more than happy to take off a free card. Also 56, 57, A2 and A5 all have free shots at hitting their straights. The turn is an Ace. Christ! Why did I check in the dark. I just lost that pot for no reason whatsoever. Sucks.

JJ :: For some unknown reason, you have checked in the dark with JJ. Your thinking might have been "I want to see what he does, and also, keep the strength of my hand unknown." Flop comes down a beautiful J83...all clubs. DAMNIT! I'm gonna let this guy draw on me for free, cause I already checked. Turn, club. Wow, my set is worthless and my idiot opponent with K5o with the 5 of clubs took down the pot. That really sucks man. Don't you wish you could go back in time and avoid making a play for no apparent reason?

AK :: Here you are, checking out of position in the dark with big slick. If the flop comes Axx your opponent will be trapped like a sitting duck! HA! Flop comes AQT. Perfect...I got my opponent right where I want him. "I'm gonna put in a large bet on the turn and he'll be clueless..." you think to yourself. Turn brings a K. Oooo, shit. Now you lose to any jack. What's worse, you are first to act, so your opponent can slow play you for all it's worth. You could test the waters and put out a bet. If he lays it down, you've gained nothing by checking in the dark. If he calls, you're almost certainly in trouble.

As you can see, checking in the dark is frought with trouble. I could easily think of many more scenarios where this ploy gets you in trouble, but can't really think of any where the move has helped you in any way.

Wait, I take that back. I can think of one, and only one...and it's arguable whether or not checking in the dark actually helped at all. Someone raises in mid position and you find 88. You call a raise in the SB with your mid pair and decide to check in the dark. The thinking behind this move might be: 1) I'm only gonna play this if I hit a set, and if I hit a set, I don't mind checking 2) Otherwise I'm folding, and might get a free card since my opponent doesn't know whether or not the flop hit me.

That's still not really good reasons for the move. You could look at the flop and check, and your opponent still shouldn't know whether or not you hit it, if you are any sort of poker player. What's better, you could check in the dark without your opponents knowing, by avoiding looking at the flop, and merely check after the flop has been dealt. That sounds like a better option.

And you still run into the same problems of giving free cards to your opponent(s) who have position on you.

Anyways, this whole post came to mind as I saw Ryan do the move 3 or 4 times in tonights game. This post wasn't directed at you though Ryan, you simply provoked the thought about the move. I abhor it equally when professionals do it too, not just you. I also must note, it's probably even a worse move in multi-way pots, as the likelihood of getting outdrawn rises with each opponent you add in the hand. But by all means, keep checking in the dark, and giving me free chances to turn the nuts on you. I wish this option was available online, because I know every hot shot wannabe would be using that button all the time in an effort to look knowledgeable about the game of poker.

I can imagine it now...

Dealt to HeeHawDonkey [As, Ad]
HeeHaw Donkey Raises $1 to $5
Solid Opponent calls $5
HeeHaw Donkey checks in the dark
Dealing Flop: [Ah, Jd, 3d]
Solid Opponent bets $21
HeeHaw Donkey raises all in $79 to $100
Solid Opponent calls $79
HeeHaw Donkey shows [As, Ad]
Solid Opponent shows [Jc, Jh]
Dealing Turn: [2d]
Dealing River: [2s]
HeeHaw Donkey Wins $200 with three of a kind, aces
HeeHaw Donkey says: check in the dark worked to perfection!!
Idiot Friend says: you totally smoked that guy with the check in the dark
Idiot Friend says: nh man
HeeHaw Donkey says: ;) thats what separates the men from the boys
*******************

Now that I think about it, maybe I don't want that option. Anyways, leave the check in the dark move for poker players on TV, and your bankroll will thank you.