Home Game Recap

Well, last night we had a few people over for a home NL tournament. There we only 10 of us this month, but still plenty for a good game. The game was much tighter than normal this time. A couple of regulars couldn't make it due to other commitments, and those happened to be the ones who played like maniacs. We decided to have top 3 pay and it was a $10 buy-in. I ended up out early. I couldn't catch a card and I was slowly getting blinded out. I ended up with QJs and since I had less than 10xBB, I pushed. The BB called and turned over A8o. He caught his Ace to solidify his beat against me. Rob ended up second. He decided to push with the hammer when he was HU and his opponent called with K6s. Rob didn't improve and since none of our guests were also bloggers, they didn't understand the significance.

I Love Freerolls!

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 5072836

Made Some Points

Well, another league game is over. Made it to fourth place, which is good for points, but not enough to make money. I think I could have gone further if I hadn't let TP bluff me off a huge hand. It was all my fault though. Check out the thread here for what happened.

I really want to win one of these league games, but I'm finding it very difficult. For the most part, everyone playing is about the same skill level as me or just a little better. But then there are a few people like TP, Zybomb, JD who are just way over my head when it comes to poker. It will be a long time yet before I can even compare to their skill level. And anytime I get into a hand with them, I get "stuck". Especially TP, see the above paragraph. I kinda freeze up whenever I enter a pot with them. I think it's because I'm trying to think at their skill level and I'm just not ready yet. Maybe, I should continue to play my game and keep learning from these games. But then, if I don't try to think like them, I'm not getting any better am I?

TPFL II: Game 5

I actually lasted much longer this time. Actually made it past first break and to final table. I ended up 8/15. I was doing well, but then I was dealt AA. I got all-in against KK and lost. I will post the HH. Part of the reason I came over the top of lightfungus' raise, is I figured a re-raise would commit me, so I might as well get all in PF. I almost re-sucked out too. I'm definitely enjoying the league games, it really pushes me to improve my game, but man are they -EV for money. Fortunately, they are +EV for fun, so I don't mind losing money over them.

POKERSTARS GAME #4979812443: TOURNAMENT #24047955, $10+$1 HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - LEVEL V (75/150) - 2006/05/18 - 22:50:33 (ET)
Table '24047955 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: N1kita (2755 in chips)
Seat 2: mayhem45 (2247 in chips)
Seat 3: Rogue23 (1355 in chips)
Seat 4: Bunnyki$$ (3723 in chips)
Seat 5: eeejit101 (4430 in chips)
Seat 6: PShabi (2815 in chips)
Seat 7: lightfungus (2600 in chips)
Seat 9: Robbie Robb (2575 in chips)
Rogue23: posts small blind 75
Bunnyki$$: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to N1kita [As Ad]
eeejit101: folds
PShabi: folds
lightfungus: raises 450 to 600
Robbie Robb: folds
N1kita: raises 2155 to 2755 and is all-in
mayhem45: folds
Rogue23: folds
Bunnyki$$: folds
lightfungus: calls 2000 and is all-in
Rogue23 said, "well, so much for me pushing here...."
*** FLOP *** [4d 9d Kd]
Robbie Robb said, "oooh"
Rogue23 said, "YIKES"
lightfungus said, "teehee"
Robbie Robb said, "OUCH"
*** TURN *** [4d 9d Kd] [5c]
Robbie Robb said, "re-suck!"
eeejit101 said, "dmds?"
*** RIVER *** [4d 9d Kd 5c] [8c]
N1kita said, "ouch"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
lightfungus: shows [Kc Kh] (three of a kind, Kings)
N1kita: shows [As Ad] (a pair of Aces)
Robbie Robb said, "doh"
lightfungus said, "yuck"
eeejit101 said, "KOD"
lightfungus collected 5425 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5425 | Rake 0
Board [4d 9d Kd 5c 8c]
Seat 1: N1kita showed [As Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: mayhem45 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Rogue23 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Bunnyki$$ (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: eeejit101 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: PShabi folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: lightfungus showed [Kc Kh] and won (5425) with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 9: Robbie Robb folded before Flop (didn't bet)

A Quick Session

So, I played a little more limit today. I actually decided to sit down at a $.10/$.20 table. Honestly, when I started to test the limit waters, I figured I would fail miserably and would never move up any limits. At first, I did start out awful, but I seem to be getting the hang of this thing. Or, I could be a complete donkey and I'm just on an upswing.

Part of the reason for moving up at Stars was at Party I was playing the .10/.20 limit. It was the only way I could clear the raked hands and not completely bust my bankroll. As well, after the last league game, a bunch of us from the forum joined a table. Anyway, in both cases, I seemed to do fairly well. Even against those donkeys from TalkingPoker.

And the final and biggest reason I moved up, was hand #4,960,000,000 was coming up at PokerStars (if you don't know what this is, check out their website for their latest promotion). It looks like because of this promotion, all the micro limit and NL tables are jammed with 15+ people on the waiting list. These are 1 cent up to 5 cent limits. I guess there are a lot of people out there who want to win the money at little to no cost. To be honest, while I was playing, in the back of my mind I was hoping one of my two tables whould hit that all important hand. But, if it didn't, Oh well. So, .10/.20 limit, was the lowest tables that didn't have a waiting list.

I played for about an hour. I would have played longer, but once the payout hand had passed, both my tables immediately emptied. I guess, they were all chasing the prize too. I had a good run again though. At my one table, I ended up in what had to be the best seat. To my right was a loose passive player. Entered almost every pot and liked to call down to the river. I ended up in a couple hands against him and he just couldn't wait to give me his money. I ended up plus over $3 at that table and I think 90% of it was his money. The other table was just okay. I was up and down at it. I'd win a pot, then lose a pot. Still ended up plus though and that's the most important thing.

Well, that was fast...

So, I'm already out of the league tourney that started at 9:30 PM. I was getting great hands too. Within those 15 minutes I was dealt KJ twice in late position. Pocket queens twice. A7s in LP. But, I was also getting out drawn. The final hand was the queens. I flopped a set, but so did a flush draw. Mayhem called my flop bet and a third club came on the turn. I just knew Mayhem had a caught the flush, but I kept betting into the pot. I think because he just kept calling, I figured I had to keep betting. Either way, I'm pretty sure I played the hand poorly. I'm thinking after the turn, I should have checked it down. Anyway, posted the hand in the forum.

Bonus Complete

So, I cleared the Party bonus and ended up plus $8.12 (not including the $20 bonus itself). I guess I should have kept track. No big deal, I plan on withdrawing the money anyway. Not sure what I want to do with it. I might keep it in my Neteller for future deposits.

I also played a little NL $.05/$.10 at Stars. I had a great run. The cards were definitely being dealt in my favour. I was dealt pocket pairs a few times and every time I flopped a set. In fact the last hand I played was the best. I had TT in late position. One guy in EP raises 4xBB. There is a caller in front of me, I call and the SB calls. The flop comes 96T rainbow. Very nice flop for me. SB bets 20 cents (wow, how weak a bet is that?), the initial raiser raises to 80. Next guy just calls. I considered slow playing, but I had been at the table for a while and there was always one person who couldn't get away from his hand. There had been a ton of all-ins and even with crap hands, there were callers. So I decided to raise it to $3. SB folds, initial raiser folds. The last guy only has $1.25 left so he goes all in. I, of course, call. Turn comes A, river a J and my opponent flips over KK. Sucks to be him for not re-raising PF. Although, depending on the size, I might still have called. After the rake, I collected $10.65.

Today's Win/Loss: $10.50
Bankroll: $786.13

Sorta Hiatus

Ok, haven't played too much poker in the past couple days. I've been at work. Short but crappy shift, 7 PM to 12 AM.

But before I've gone to work I've been doing some bonus whoring. Nothing too time intensive, just the easy to clear ones. The first one I did was download Titan poker from TalkingPoker.com. You deposit at least $20 and TP will give you $40 to your Stars account. Just clicky this link to see how it works, I highly recommend it for any bonus chaser (If you don't have an account there, you may need to sign up to see the thread). The nice thing, once there, Titan will offer you a bonus, that has to be cleared and some free money as well. At least they did for me. I took their free money and blew it right away. I'm not worried about clearing the other bonus, I was more interested in the money on Stars.

I also decided to deposit into PartyPoker. Someone from TP.com mentioned a new bonus and I'd figured I would try to get it. Only $20 for me, but it'll do. Once I got the bonus, I've withdrawn the money I put in and I'm going to try and clear the bonus for the $20 they gave me. I have to play outside my bankroll, but if I bust, it hasn't cost me anything. And if I don't, I have the money I won from the tables and the $20 they gave me.

No update on my bankroll for these games, as you can see, I'm not really taking the money seriously. Actually, before this week, I only had ever deposited money on Stars. I didn't play at any of the other sites.

WWdN Tourney

I joined the weekly Wil Wheaton dot net tournament tonight. I play them about every other week or so. It's a nice change to the donk-fests I play in the low limit buy-ins.

Again, I started off well. Doubled up a few times and got my stack to about 5k. Then after first break, when blinds were starting to creep up (75/150 and higer), the tables start to tighen up. I stay fairly tight myself, but raise a bit more. This is interspersed with a few all-in plays pre-flop from the short stacks. Then what I feel was the hand that marked the end for my game....

I raised from MP to 800 with 66. More often than not a raise led to a fold at this stage. But someone in LP decideds to raise all-in. It's only another 250 more for me to call so I have to. I've got the odds. He shows KTo. I'm ahead, but the river laughs at this and brings on the K. Two hands later, I get dealt TT. Someone ahead of me raises all-in. It's a short stack, but it's still about 2k to call. I hit time to think about it. It's half my stack and TT isn't that great. But, a short stack is likely to go all-in with any A or any K, they could even have a small pair. I decide to push all-in to isolate. I think I should have folded, TT is just too marginal a pocket pair to make a call for half your stack like that. Anyway, my opponent flips over big slick. Guess what comes on the river. If you picked the king, pick the other card.

So now I'm a short stack. In fact, in a couple hands I went from 6th, to second last (23 left at this point). So now I'm in all-in or fold mode. I have to wait a couple orbits for a hand, hands like 64o and T2o, just don't cut it. When I get A6o. Well, it's the best I've had and an Ace is something at least. I push. I get one caller, he has A2o. Well, at least the 2 came on the flop rather than the river and I'm out. Grrrr...

Today's Win/Loss: $-11
Bankroll: $775.63

PL $1.10

So joined a PL tournament. I was aware that it was PL when I joined, I just felt like playing in a tourney and it was the next micro limit one to start. I also figured PL isn't too much different than NL, so I should be able to do well.

There were a few differences that were hard to get used to. For example, early in the tournament, there was no all-in donk fest like in NL tournaments. There are no antes. This was weird for me. I like in NL when antes come in. It really makes stealing blinds that much more important. And, when you get short-stacked. It's a lot harder to double up. Unless you have several limpers or it's raised in front of you, you can't go all-in pre-flop.

I caught a lot of flops early. Usually from one of the blinds as well, so it was easy to disguise my hand. Got up to about 3k in chips, then went no where. At least I kept picking up a few hands here and there so my stack size stayed the same, but with the blinds going up, I really needed a monster hand. Then came the bubble. I didn't make it past. I was crippled because of the blinds and decided to push when I was dealt 66 in the BB (that's how few chips I had that I was able to do that). An early position limper called with ATo. He caught a T on the flop and that was that. Out in 38th, 36 places paid.

Today's Win/Loss: $-1.10
Bankroll: $786.63

Suggestion

Ok, I got a good suggestion from a fellow blogger/TP.com member. He thinks I should post a running tally of my bankroll at the end of each post. I like the idea and had intended on adding it. I think I was just procrastinating.

I've been tracking my stats since I started playing for money anyway, so why not post them here as well? Here it is below. Tell me what think.

Today's Win/Loss: $0
Bankroll: $787.73

TPFL II: Game 2

Game #2 of the TPFL was small. Only 5 of us showed up. I lucked out early and caught quads and was able to get ROC to go all in. He had me covered, so he didn't end up going out. Besides that, nothing exciting. I finished 2nd. So I ended up winning some money and some more points for the league.

Working on the Limit

Ok, I think I have the hang of this limit thing. I'm actually semi-enjoying it. I've moved up to $.05/$.10 today. I had a good couple of sessions. Of course, it helped that in one hand I was dealt TT. I flopped a set with no possible straight or flush draw. Myself and another guy end up capping and two people come along for the ride. The turn and river get capped as well (all four of us are still in), both streets were sevens, so my set turned into a boat. The pot is now over $5. The only hand I'm worried about is 77. The guy who was raising with me flips over 55, a five had come on the flop, so he had good reason to be in the hand. The other two? One had KQo (don't ask, I have no idea what he thought he had, he even made a, "nice river" comment after I won the pot) And, the fourth, 67o. So semi-bad call. He had to figure he was beat with us capping each street. So final tally, up $4.09 for today's sessions.

WSOP $16 Double Shootout

Tried one of these today. I had some W$ and enjoyed the last DS I played so figured, "Why not?" Not many people joined, only 44, so the tables were very short-handed. Our table started with 4 people. One guy was eliminated within a few hands and we played with 3 of us. It was a very good table. Chips were passed back and forth for quite some time. All of us were short-stacked at least once and were able to build back up.

I became short stacked at 75/150 blinds. I'm in the SB and get dealt J5s. I complete (I play very loose this short, not sure if that is a good idea). Flop comes J5T. I bet, my opponent raises. I move all-in. Time to double up or get knocked out. He flips over AA. I'm in the lead for now. Then the turn comes a T and the river doesn't help either of us. I'm out.

I think as long as I have the funds, I will play these every once in a while. I may not have got past the first stage yet, but I have enjoyed playing.

TP.com HU Tournament

Well, it was a small field. Only six people registered and Mark (TP himself) must have forgot about it because he never played a single hand.

Two people received a bye. Boobie Lover and TP. I was up against Studiopet and Rob was against JD. My match with Studio was very good. The blinds almost got to 75/150 we played for so long. And we were passing chips back and forth for the most part. Finally, I got Studio down to a small stack. Of course in HU I find that harder to play against. You have to be careful of what you play because you never know when that short stack will decide to go all-in. When he finally did, he flipped J9s and I called KTo. And that was it for Studio. Once again, it was a really good game.

Then Boobie was matched with TP. Lucky bastard, all he had to do was watch TP fold his blinds and he'd be taking down at least 2nd. I was matched with Rob. Man, was it weird playing HU with him sitting in front of his computer on the other side of the couch. Of course it doesn't help that I have monster tells at the computer. I have a tendancy to talk to and shake my head at things going on at the screen. As well, we could hear each others mouse clicking. So we usually knew when a raise was coming.

I didn't last long against Rob. He goes all-in on a chance a lot more than I'm willing to. The last hand, he raised PF, I re-raised and he pushed. I had AQ and figured with Rob willing to move in with any pocket, any A and any K, I had a decent chance with my hand. I called and he showed 44. Sigh, I didn't catch a Q or an A. Ah well, it was fun to play against him.

And of course, the luckbox Rob went on to take out Boobie and win the whole damn tournament. But the good thing is, he is having a better month this month than he did last month (so far).

Talking Poker Forum League II

Well, I would have posted this last night, but my computer sucks ASS!! If it's been on for an extended period of time and I've been running a few programs, it tends to over heat and then it shuts itself down. Yup, just as I started logging the events of yesterday, POOF, my computer was off! Fortunately, it's only done this once while I was actually in a tournament, but I was being a dumbass and trying to do too many things at once, so it was my own fault.

So, for the League Tournament. It was a nice turn-out, 14 people registered. I started out well. I caught a set of sixes on the flop against lightfungus. He bet, I raised, he re-raised all-in, I called. He turns over QQ. I leave him with 20 chips. That was the BB.

It was nice to double up early, but I didn't end up doing anything with it. I did loosen up a bit, playing a few more drawing hands than I usually do, trying to catch a nice flop, but never did. I just ended up whittling away my lead and having to tighten up again. In fact, by final table, I was short stacked. And soon the blinds were such that I was all-in or fold. Crappy.

Nothing much else happend for me. I moved all-in alot and stole a few blinds, but just never seemed to move my stack up. Of course, I was the person who just wouldn't die. Bigger stacks just kept getting eliminated before me. When I did get a bit of a stack where I didn't need to push, I was dealt 55 and decided to just raise. EsqWire (Aeq), called. I bet the flop (642) and he raised. I thought about it hard, I really wondered if he had an over pair. I did notice he paused before raising, so I suspected he was either trapping or was trying to get me off my hand. I put him on two over cards and figured that since I had a gut-shot and the 2 fives as outs, I'd take the chance and hope that I was ahead. I moved all-in. Well, I was right, he had K9o. Unfortunately, the 9 came on the river and I was finally eliminated. I finished in 5th. No money, but I did get league points. Woohoo, a whole 7 of them!! :)

Aeq ended up winning and Rob came in second. GG.

In the money!

Well, not counting the satellite seat I won a few days ago. I've finally made it to the money in a tournament. It's a $2.20 and started with 721 players. I definitely wasn't playing well. Very tight passive, but I also wasn't catching anything. Before first break and a micro limit tourney, you just don't bluff. It'll only cost you chips. There is always one person at the table that will call you to the river with any two cards.

After second break, blinds had caught up to me, so I went all in with A8s, got called by AQ. Booo. Down to 400 chips (blinds 300/600 plus 50 ante). BB gets to me and I can even post the full amount. Surprisingly, I'm dealt AKs. Unfortunately, there are 3 limpers. A guy with A5 catches a five and I'm out in 91st. Pay-out $2.88. Sigh, I guess it's better than nothing.

I hate AA

At least when it comes to limit. I can win with them at NL, but I don't think I have ever won with them when I've been at a limit table.

Today, for example, I was able to cap preflop, the flop and turn and then by the river it was a scary board so I just called. Yeah, good thing, the guy who called me all the way down had pocket jacks, the river was a jack. The funny thing was, a guy with 76o also came along for the ride. He had caught middle pair on the flop. Well, at least I was still able to leave up $.50 for the session.