Poker Night Recap

It was poker night at Nikita and Robbie Robb's house again last night. There were ten of us in total. Mostly the regulars, but there were a couple new players. Denise was able to come down from Windsor and she brought a friend. And Rob invited someone from work that also plays poker online. There were a few regulars missing, making for a different game last night. Mooney and Liz both couldn't make it. The are donkeys when it comes to poker. Well, with neither of them playing, the tournament moved a little... slower. Slower is not a bad thing. Mooney likes to go all in. This means he usually gets himself or someone eles eliminated very quickly, usually during the first bling. Last night, I think it was something like 3 or 4 blind increases before anyone was eliminated. And bets and raises definitely received a little more respect.

Rob ended up being eliminated in 8th? He can correct this if I'm wrong. His pocket tens ended up getting in against pocket Kings. My stack was up and down. Early in the game, I start out short. I was dealt KJ in the BB and when I catch a King on the flop, I play it aggressively. I raise the SBs bets on both the flop and the turn when he bets into it. On the river we both check. I have TP middle kicker. I know if he has a King, I could have a better kicker, but he is also capable of betting out on middle or bottom pair and that's why I was raising to hopefully get him out of the hand. But at showdown, it turns out he has hit his set on the flop. He had 66 and a 6 had flopped. My hand is no good.

I don't play too many hands after that. I was at best getting limpable cards. I was still in the game for final table. I did end up building up a decent stack once at final table though. I completed in the SB when I had 55. I get an amazing flop 757. I just pray one of my opponents has a seven. I check and there is a bet into the pot. I'm pretty sure he's got that seven, this works for me. I call and the turn comes a Q. I check again and when my opponents bets again, I go all-in. He calls and turns over that seven.

I doubled up again after that, but it was as exciting, it was just an all-in push pre-flop that held up against a caller. Finally, I have a decent stack. It doesn't last long though. The blinds have increased to a point where they are starting to hurt even the chip leader. My chips start getting whittled down again. There are five of us left and it there are two of us who are fairly short. Based on the blinds, I'm in push or fold mode again. Finally in the BB I have Q2s. It folds to the SB who just calls. Well, here is my chance to steal, so I push. No good, the SB calls and flips QTo. Ouch, that is not good for me at all. And I am out in 5th. Mike soon goes out after that. The final three are Adam (Rob's friend from work), Tim and Jason. Adam is the next to go out, after taking two bad beats. He gets all in with the best hand and he's out drawn by a flush both times. Then Tim and Jason are heads-up. I didn't end up seeing any of this. Alex had woken up and was screaming. We had Rob's mom taking care of him, but she was struggling to get him calmed down. So I head upstairs and help her. When I finally get Alex back to bed, the game is over. Jason takes down the tourney!

UB kinda SUX now

Ok, so I logged into UB today to play a little at the ring tables. I start up Pokertracker and PokerAce, find a table I like, sit down and open up the hand histories. What's this? I get an error. I've reached the maximum hand histories I can load. Huh, what is going on here?

Well, it turns out the last update UB did, put a restriction on the HHs you can load. This makes it hard to import data into Pokertracker. I didn't even bother playing once I figured that out. I'm going to wait for a bit then check the Pokertracker and the PokerAce forums. Hopefully, one or the other will come up with a fix.

Some new Micro MTTs at Stars

So, I haven't been playing much at PokerStars. I really only log in to play league games and that one +EV tournament. But last night after work, I opened it up to see what type of tourney I might get into. The cash games are getting to me again, so I figured a switch for a while would do me good. Well, when I log in, I notice a couple of new micro tourneys. Yay, for me! There was a $0.50 and a $0.25-$100 added, showing on the list. The 50 cent one was already registering. Both are sure to be donkaments, but they are both better than the dime tourneys.

I register for the 50 cent one and keep the 25 cent one open. There ended up being just over 1900 people registered when it finally gets going. I didn't want to play both tournaments, but I wanted to see how the prize pool ended up for each. Turns out for a micro grinder, first place in either of them is a decent boost. The 50 cent tourney first was $198 and the 25 cent tourney ended up at $168 (over 2500 players in that one though).

Well, as for the tournament I was playing. It was decent. By the first break only about 600 or 700 people were left. I was still in with a 4600 stack. And that was with playing only about 3 hands. These tournaments are definitely great for opponents pushing you all in when you have a great hand. It was about another 45 minutes before the money bubble broke. Unfortunately, I didn't last much longer after that. I ended up at a table of loose callers. Everyone limped into the pot and a raise received absolutely no respect. I was dealt JJ in MP, I raise and as expected get 3 callers. Then the next guy goes all in. He has me covered. I'm happy to push since 90% of the time, JJ is the best hand in tournaments of this level. Not sure if this was a surprise, but after I call, there were 2 other callers. So there are 4 of us all in. So, we all flip over our cards. The guy who pushed all in first has AA, OH OH. Then there is another JJ, CRAP, and then the last guy has 23s--BWAHAHAHA. But he was the worst player at the table and the only reason he was still in the tournament was due to luck. Anyway, since it was almost impossible for me to win the hand with no Jacks as outs. I was eliminate. I made a cool 30 cents ;).

I'm seriously considering grinding these two tourneys and the dollar tournaments until I get a big win and boost my roll again. I think for a player like me, they are definitely +EV.

So, out of curiosity, I added a screen shot of the odds of that hand. I knew I had a slim chance of winning and it was actually better than I thought. At least I was better off than than the other JJ guy.

+EV Tournament

The +EV comic has been having weekly tournaments at Pokerstars. Rob and decided to join in at the last minute. Besides, one of my goals from this month was to play in more tournaments, so this was the perfect opportunity.

There ended up being seventeen players. There was a bounty on Snagglefood's head (the comic creator) and first place would also get a copy of his comic.

So the game starts of mostly uneventful, especially for me. CARD DEAD. I was not getting dealt anything, not even limpable hands. Then in the SB, when the blinds are 15/30 I'm dealt 9Ts. It's folded to me, so I raise. The BB calls. I catch a nine on the flop, but there is also an ace. I CB 3/4 of the pot and he calls. The turn is a rag card. I bet out again and get raised. I fold. My stack is down to just under 700 chips. Finally, four hands later, I'm dealt QQ. Well, let's see what I can do with these. I raise and get a re-raise from the BB. I don't have much of a stack, so my choices are limited. I go all-in. He flips over AA. I don't catch another queen and I'm out in 15th place. Well, at least, I wasn't the first one out.

Some Poker at Ultimate Bet

So I've been playing the micro limits ($2NL) at UB a lot lately. When I had taken the break from poker, I had withdrawn all but a couple dollars from the site. Since I don't have any bonuses on the go right now, I figured I work on getting some of my bonus dollars from UB. I did start out at the limit tables seeing as my "bankroll" could easily disappear after one bad beat at the NL tables (I have more money elsewhere, but I don't want to deposit into UB unless they are offering a reload and even then, I withdraw right away so I have the funds available if another bonus comes up). Anyway, with the combination of winning and earning ultimate points (which convert my bonus money to real money) I get up to almost $10. This is around the time I'm getting sick of limit. It was a long slow grind even getting that far. So, I decide to risk it at the NL tables. I start out on a sick run. Any table I join I win a couple bucks pretty quickly. At one table, an all-in maniac joins. Every hand he goes all-in. I doubt I'd see this very often even at the $25NL tables, but it's not too uncommon at the penny tables. So, I wait while others call him with mediocre hands and end up doubling him up several times to about $11. Finally, I get the Kiss of Death, KK. Well, it's time to press my luck. I have about $3 in front of me, I call his all-in and surprisingly, the hand holds up! Even more surprisingly, I wasn't the only caller. There were four people in this pot and the Kings survive against all of them. So, just from that hand alone, I get a huge boost to the bankroll on UB. Of course, since it's only $2NL, it's went from $12 to about $22. Unfortunately, variance has now kicked in. My bankroll seems stuck around the $25 mark at the site. I will have a few winning sessions, then next session, I'll lose several buy-ins equaling about what I won in the previous sessions. Bah, stupid poker. I just have to remember to stay patient and wait for variance to once again be in my favour.

Poker Coming to a Cab Near You

Not that I take very many cabs, or even live in the UK, but this is a very cool thing. Why talk to your driver when you can watch poker instead? Check out this link here.

Site Broken

So a while ago (couple months now) I broke my site. It was frozen, where any posts or changes I made wouldn't be added to the site. Rob fixed it so my new posts would show, but he never got around to fixing the rest of the site.

So today, since I was making a post anyway, I decided to work on fixing it. I figured instead of trying to fix what was wrong, I would start from scratch. So I've switched to the new blogger beta. It meant changing my template and I'm still figuring out how to use all the features, but at least my site is working properly again.

Naked Poker

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Poker Night Recap

Well, Rob and I hosted yet another home game last night at our place. As usual, it was a $10 buy-in NLHE tournament. There were only 11 of us, but it was still a great night.

Since, I was schedule a 4 day week-end, I decided I would enjoy the night with a few beers. I'm sure this affected my game, but it's all for fun anyway. Neither Rob or I made it to the money this time. I'm not sure when Rob busted, but I bubbled. The big stack at the table, had the other three of us covered and was using that to his advantage by bullying. He was in the SB and I was in the BB. When the flop came, he bet out as usual and since I had caught bottom pair, I figured I would push. It just so happens that this hand, he actually had a piece of the flop, a top pair piece. Oh well, I was half drunk by that time and I'm surprised I made it even that far with my senses clouded.

By this time, there was a 5c/10c cash game going on at the other table, so I decide to join. The money was just flying back and forth across this table. And there were alot of all-ins. This meant rebuying back in. I have no idea how much money was on that table after it was all said and done, but I'm wondering if there was more money being played for in the cash game than the tournament. Final tally, Craig Mooney left with about $20 or $30 bucks, Brent left up about $14 (plus he came in second in the tourney), and Rob did us well and won about $30 at the cash game. I was down a $5 buy-in.

League Game Last Night

Well, I convinced Rob to back me last night for the Talking Poker Forum League III. It was just a NLHE game. We've added a few other game types and I've been hoping to crash one of those just for the practice and the fun.

Anyway, 13 people ended up signing up; Boobie Lover just made it in before registration closed. We had the usual attendees. Although, TP was there, but as we found out later, he had forgotten about it. He was sitting out the whole tournament. Although, it may have worked well for him. He placed in 4th for not even playing a hand which also gave him points.

I basically went into the tournament hoping to steal some points away from legitimate league members. If the points don't count for me, I might as well try to make them not count for someone else. I think going in thinking like this really helps my game. I'm playing the way I usually play, but I'm not thinking about trying to get to the money. I just focus on the hand I'm playing, trying to win that pot or not lose all my chips in that pot.

So, the first really big pot I get into was with Rob. I limp with KT suited in MP (although I think there were only 5 or 6 of us at the table). I didn't raise because I didn't want to deal with a re-raise, but depending on the size, I would call a raise. From the SB, Rob only raises it to 3XBB (we are only on the first level of the tourney). I call and eejit calls who had also limped from the CO. The flop comes 9sQsKh. A great flop for me. Rob leads out for only 40 the pot is 180 now. I raise him another 140. Uhoh, he re-raises me to 750. I'm worried now. I know what types of hands Rob will preflop raise with in the SB and most of them have me beat. I'm thinking the worst hand he would raise with is AK, which still beats me, but I also have a gutshot. It was tempting to call, but was it worth it to risk half my stack on a chase. I was 75% sure I was behind. After delving into a few seconds of my time bank, I fold. Rob shows his pocket Aces. Good fold? I'm not sure, I think I will have run the odds later.

Next big hand for me was again against Rob. We are now down to the final 9. He raises and I re-raise him with JJ. We are sitting across from each other in the living room and he looks up at me and asks "You got aces?" I shrug and say, "I did re-raise". He starts typing on his computer and I see that he has decided to re-re-raise. Well, this could definitely mean Rob has KK or AA. I knew that. But I also know that Rob and I know how each other play very well. He could have very well pushed with a hand less than that to make it look like he had those hands, knowing my first thoughts would be kings or aces. I was willing to press my luck, I push and he insta-calls. Crap, it was KK that he had. But then I suck out on the flop and catch my J. Rob is down to 185 in chips. Crippled but not too badly since we were still only at level 2 for the tournament.

The jacks were good for me tonight. At level 3, I was dealt them again. In the CO I raise 4xBB. KURN calls from the BB. The flop comes 7s2dJs and KURN pushes his entire stack in. I, of course, quickly call. He flips over 8h7h and in the chat says, "Bad timing for a stop and go." KURN's hand doesn't improve and I eliminate him from the tournament.

The tournament moved fast. We were down to three players even before first break. But once down to myself, JD and eejit. The game really slowed down. We were playing 3 handed for quite some time. I think the different styles helped stall the game. JD is an incredible poker player and amazingly successful, agressive and smart. He built up his bankroll from playchips to something ridiculous like 100k and he's not even legal to play poker live yet. Eejit is a chaos factor. A big bluffer. But if you pay attention, you can tell when he's bluffing. Then there was me. A little too tight, especially for a short handed game, but at least I can be aggressive when I get into a pot. I was hoping that the styles of JD and eejit would clash just right to get one or the other eliminated. JD would be aggressive, eejit would bluff and JD would catch him and take him out, or something similar to that. Although, it didn't quite happen that way. JD's laptop started to lose power. His AC adaptor had stopped charging his computer and soon it would turn off. He started to push with a lot of hands. I'm sure he was just trying to get eliminate or take us both out quickly before the laptop died. He seemed to be pushing more after I raised. I'm thinking that JD was hoping I had a big hand and I would take the chips to have a lead over eejit going into heads up. Anyway, I finally did call one of JD's pushes and my hand held up. I actually forget what the two hands were.

Now I'm heads up agains eejit. We play a few hands back and forth, nothing too big. I'm mostly waiting. From previous tournaments, eejit will try a huge bluff, so I was waiting for that moment. Then I get A4o. I'm in the SB and I decide to just complete rather than raise. Eejit does raise from 200 to 800. I just call. The flop comes 9sAsAd. Eejit acts first and bets 800 into the pot. I think this may be the hand to get all of his chips. I've got a monster hand for heads up and eejit is putting money in to the pot. I'm thinking he caught the 9 on the flop. Or he raise with a pocket pair. So, I think the best thing to do is look like I want to steal the pot. I push all in. Eejit calls and I think to myself, "Please don't have a better Ace." Nope, eejit turns over Td7d. WHAT?? Eejit says in the chat, "I'm a little drunk now." I'm okay with that. And the hand holds up and I win the tournament.

WOOHOOO! This was the first league tourney I won. I've been getting deep in almost all of them, but I couldn't seem to crack that first place. I'm happy with my play. I lucked out a few times and the all important factor, I was getting good cards.

Banning US players

This has already been posted by Boobie Lover and talked about on the Talking Poker Forum, but even though I'm a Canadian poker player, I'm sure it will have a huge impact on me as well.

Party and Stars are probably THE biggest poker sites out there. And the reason they are big is due to the number of US poker players they have. I can't imagine what it will be like if all the american players disappear on these sites. If this happens I can see it being very hard to find a table to play at online, well actually, there will probably be lots of tables, but they will all be empty. Sure, us Canadians and Europeans are still playing, but our numbers just don't compare.

Well, we will have to wait and see once the storm clears.

Quad Nines

Although, I decided not to join the league, I played in the opening league game tonight. I registered just as the first hand gets dealt and what do I see before me? The kiss of death, pocket kings. Well, I think to myself, here's to going out first hand. Surprisingly enough, my all in on a rag flop gets my opponent to fold and I jump to an early chip lead.

Later in the tournament, I get dealt pocket nines in the SB. I had actually been dealt a few raising hands in the SB prior to this hand, so I raise as I figure New Guy who is sitting in the BB, might think I'm just stealing. He calls and amazingly, I flop two nines. That's right, quads on the flop. I check, he bets. Turn I check, he checks--damn I was hoping for another bet or push. River I have to bet out. He folds and I have to show.

Then with only five people left, I'm dealt AJo in EP. Now the final table has been agressive pre-flop. There was rarely a flop seen since almost every hand, the first person to enter the pot, entered it with a raise. I raise, but Boobie re-raises me all-in. Now, I know he is quite capable of of re-raising with a broad range of hands. I'm pretty sure I'm not dominated. So, I decide I'm okay with risking the tourney on this hand. Well, Boobie flips over pockets nines. I flop a J, but he catches a 9 on that same flop. Not good for me. Funny thing, the turn gives him the fourth nine.

Early in the game, I win with quad nines only to be eliminated later in the game by quad nines.

Back to Playing

Well, I'm back playing poker. Not a lot and actually, not tournaments either. I haven't deposited any money, but someone was offering $50 on Stars for depositing in a sports book. So I did that and then withdrew the money to Neteller. Then, yesterday, Poker.com offered a 100% reload bonus.

So, I was able to deposit $60 in total there and will slowly grind my way to getting an additional $60 from the bonus.

I played a few hands last night. It was NL since all their Limit tables were full. It wasn't that exciting. Basically, I folded my hands for about 3 orbits until I was dealt AA in the cut-off. There were 3 limpers in front of me, so I raise. Only about 4xBB, I should have raised more, but I guess I was expecting too much from the table to notice this was the first hand I had played since sitting at the table. I, of course, get four callers. Lovely, I didn't narrow the field at all. The flop comes 865, two are spades. Neither of my aces are a spade. Although, not too bad of a board, at $25NL, there are plenty of donkeys that will call a raise with hands that could have hit it. There is a min bet from the first position, a couple of folds and a caller. I, of coure, pot raise it. It's the only way to see where I am. Both players call--Great. The turn is and eight, I forget which suit, but it wasn't a spade. All I'm thinking is one of them has to have an 8. But they both check it to me. This was tough, do I bet or check? I bet half the pot, thinking if one of them move all in on the river, depending on the card, it would be very hard for me to call that. Fortunately, both folded and I scoop the pot. And that was it for me, Lost was on last night and it was time to watch some TV.

Amusing

While surfing I came across +EV. It's an amusing comic about poker. I've read a few of them and they weren't bad. Good enough to start reading on a regular basis, but I wouldn't cry if he stopped creating them.

Break's Over

So, it's been a month since I decided to take a break from poker. I'm glad I did it. It was needed and I think I feel better about my poker game. When I get back to playing, I don't think I'm going to play as much before I stopped. I think I will also go back to playing tournaments more. I enjoy them and have been quit successful as well.

Next decision is do I deposit more money? I have a few dollars spread throughout a few sites. Some sites won't let you withdraw the change. I also have approximately $25 in Neteller. Not much of a bankroll, but that's what I started with when I first began playing for money.

I also think I should start posting HHs more on TalkingPoker. It's really the best way to improve my game and I never did it enough in the first place. I just never know which ones I should post, which would create a good discussion.

Well, back to playing poker, maybe. I haven't even really felt like playing the last week. The only time, I think of the game, is when Rob opens up a table at Party.

Talking Poker Radio

Well, I'm willing to shill for Rob.

He's just launched a new side-project, in conjuction with the Talking Poker forum. It's called Talking Poker Radio and he's hoping it will be a weekly podcast bringing you the latest in forum news, poker news and gossip, and poker strategy from around the internet. You can download the first episode by visiting the forum and looking for the Talking Poker Radio thread. It should be right at the top.

There will soon be a RSS feed up that you can subscribe to using iTunes or your choice of Podcast aggregator as well.

Article

Since this was both poker related and interesting, I figured I would post this article here.

Clicky.

New Look

Well, since I'm not playing poker all day now and I was looking for something to do, I decided to update my blog. My page should no longer be broken in IE. If you use IE and see anything amiss, please leave a comment, I'll try and fix it.

I've also switched templates. Since I'm making changes, I might as well, change everything. I like the new template, but Rob says he prefers the old one. What does everyone else think?

Taking a Break

I've been having a really bad run of cards lately and losing quite a bit of money due to suck outs. Since this was pissing me off to no end and I've been playing poker non stop for a year now, I decided I would take a break. I have qualified for a couple freerolls at Poker.com for Wednesday and Sunday this week, so I will play in those, but other than that, no poker for a month (at least). I've withdrawn my entire bankroll from all online poker sites. I'm even moving that bankroll back into our bank account from Neteller. That way I have no way of depositing.

I'm hoping a break will do me good and clear my head. I also hope to make sure that I'm not addicted to the game. Hopefully, I don't struggle to not play, but if I do, I have Rob to kick me in the ass to smarten me up.

IE is crap

Ok, so I didn't realize until I tried pulling up my site at work, but in Internet Explorer my site is slightly broken. All the links to the right have been pushed to the very bottom after all my posts. I think it has to do with where I've put the google ads. I'm not going to worry about fixing it right now as once the WSOP is over, I'll be moving them back to the top of my page and things seem to work fine that way. So, if you are using IE, scroll down if you need the links or better yet, switch to Firefox, it's a much better browser.