there's a new sheriff in town...

...and his name is Johnny LaRue.

Last night's balance sheet:

Marius: -20
Will: -20
Mat: -15
Jeff: +5
John: +50

John's gotten much stronger over the last few home games. I think he just got tired of losing, didn't want to stop coming, and decided to do something about it. I take a little bit of pride in the fact that (as far as I can tell) he's learning by watching us. It almost makes up for the fact that he's not dead money anymore. Almost. :)

slumming

I blew my last 50K of play money last night.

In retrospect, it might have been a better plan to play five 10K tournaments instead of blowing the whole thing on one. It was a 27-seater and I finished a couple of spots out of the money, which left me with 190 chips in my play money bankroll. I rebought for the first time in weeks and settled down for some 300+20 action.

I can't play with these people.

I'm having a very hard time adjusting my game to tables full of people who will play any two cards down to the river thinking they will catch. You get enough of them in one hand and the odds start to favour that one of them will. You can't bluff anyone off anything unless you're willing to risk it all. I have no idea how I ever won a SnG at this level. It seems incredible that I did at all.

Is it possible I imagined it? No.

I've done this before, I can do it again.

This is exactly why Rob and I had so much trouble with Marius and Tim when we got together a couple of weeks ago. We're too used to playing people like ourselves. I'm dancing around the obvious here, which is that the fault does not lie with the fish, but with my inability to adjust. It's (relatively) easy to take advantage of a couple of loose players in a tight game. Now I feel like I'm dangling the hook out there with a big, juicy worm, and instead of one good bite I'm getting five and their combined weight snaps my line.

I will do it again.

I just need stronger line.

greed

I was playing the best poker I've played in a while. 27-seat 50K SnG. Doubled through a fish who overplayed his top pair. Crippled him with a set of kings (with two on the board) when he couldn't fold a straight draw and rivered a pair of queens. Another guy slow-played a set of fives and let me suck out a straight playing 42 in the big blind - doubled through him, too. Busted a short stack when the river ace made him top pair and me two pair. I was riding high with the chip lead.

I lost about a quarter of my stack on two hands, including one where I gambled that my opponent did not have the one hand I could put him on that beat me, and he did: K9, with a queen-high straight on the board. The river nine counterfeited the nine in my hand, he bet half the pot after I checked, and based on his earlier betting I figured there was no way he had a king unless he also had a nine. There were two left, I called, and he had one of them.

I won a few and lost a few, never for much, and found myself at the final table in 2nd chip position. I picked up a couple of pots and was drawing closer to the chip lead. On the fifth hand of the final table, the chip leader (8365) min-raised to 400 in UTG+1. I held AK in the cutoff with 6847, and raised it up to 1200. It folded around to him and he went all in.

I don't know if this is just 20-20 hindsight, but I feel like I should have folded. There were eight of us left with five cash spots, I would have still been in good shape, and my 1200 wouldn't have given him a commanding lead or anything. Most importantly, I hadn't seen him play enough to judge what he had in his hand. I instinctively felt that the hands that beat me would have been raised higher in the first place, and I hadn't had a chance to see how this guy played strong hole cards. It felt like a steal.

I could feel the warm embrace of chip dominance around my shoulders.

I could taste the heady bouquet of victory.

I got greedy.

I called and he turned over AA. Scheisse.

Atlantic Seafood Festival

Another 50K SnG, another finish out of the "money". To be fair, it's not like a big streak or anything (I placed 2nd in one yesterday) but the manner in which I went out in this one was frankly stupid.

9-seat tournament. When I get to the table, I notice I have notes on one of the players already - a loose aggressive type. True to form, he goes all in on the flop on the fourth hand. A hand which saw the first preflop raise of the tournament by someone other than himself. 1550 to win 120. In first position with two guys to follow. With a flush draw. A Jack high flush draw. The unfortunate preflop raiser looks him up with a set of jacks. Fish rivers his flush. Stupid fish.

At this point, I'm licking my chops and looking for an opportunity to pick up some chips off this guy. Opportunity comes a-knocking, and as I happen to know that opportunity only knocks once, I open the door. There are seven of us left. I pick up KK in middle position and limp in. Fishboy has been stealing with big preflop raises off and on and he raises to 6.5xBB from the small blind. It folds to me and I reraise to 13xBB. One other guy gets out of the way and Fishboy calls.

2-4-5 rainbow flop. Fishboy immediately puts me all in. I think for a second, figure he's just representing a straight, or better yet, betting a draw (which I've seen him do in the past, according to my notes). One second. That's really all it takes. I call, he turns over AQ, and doesn't improve.

Damn, the adrenaline starts pumping watching those last two cards come up when you're all in and the other guy has outs. :)

My double-up puts me in the chip lead by a sizeable margin. Unfortunately for me, I will win just one more pot on this night. I don't know this yet.

I've got about 4K when Fishboy and I have another flop to ourselves, A-4-5 rainbow. He puts his last 675 in. I should just let him have it - I've only put 100 in the pot at this point - but I forget Rose's Poker Law #1: Sometimes the fish have cards. I call him with pocket tens and he turns over A3. Oops.

I sit out several hands in a row, then double up another short stack who hangs around a pot on a straight draw and makes a pair of Kings on the river to beat my Jacks.

I sit out several more hands in a row, then pick up AQ in the small blind. Best hand I've seen all night besides the cowboys. The back-to-back double-ups have me on reverse tilt - I'm playing too tight and I've come back to the middle of the pack, still seven strong. I have a little over 2K, the blinds are 50/100. Two guys limp in, including my buddy Fishboy. I raise to 500, hoping to a) take the pot right there, or b) see a flop with one more player. Everyone, including the big blind acting after me, calls. Great, 4-way action. 2000 in the pot. Flop comes 5-2-4 with two diamonds. I check. BB checks. Fishboy goes all in (1372). The next guy calls all in (1075). My turn. I'm not thinking about my neighbour. I'm thinking about Fishboy and his loose fishiness. I'm thinking he's on another idiot draw. I'm thinking my Ace high is good. I'm not thinking about the guy to my immediate right, who has not shown signs of fishiness, who has just called all in. I'm also tilting like a son-of-a-bitch, having watched my stack dwindle down to half its former might. I not only call, I raise all in (1624), giving the BB the opportunity to bust me completely. With Ace high and an inside straight draw.

BB folds.

Fishboy has 67d. Predictable.

Neighbour has pocket Jacks. Shit.

Fishboy makes his straight on the turn. Words fail me. Actually, I somewhat bitterly type "500 pf with 67d?" Fishboy ignores me.

With 252 left, I actually outlast one other player and pick up AK before I can be blinded off. The other short stack (705) goes all in and Fishboy, by now the chip lead, calls. With no other choice, I call. Maybe I'll triple up. Fishboy also has AK and the short stack flops top pair (Queens). Oh good, I've got four outs just to chop. Bleah.

Fishboy wins the tourney. Tonight, I am the fish.

And it seems I've started pulling poker laws out of my ass.

Glub glub.

best. game. ever.

I just won a 50K SnG and it feels like the WSOP.

Going in I felt like my biggest challenge at the high buy-in tables was that I was playing so tight that I was ending up short-stacked once I made the final table. It put me in good position to cash but not to win. I played a lot more hands this time out, and once I got to the final table in second place, I was able to use my chip advantage to win a lot of pots preflop with crap cards. It was a really tight table and I was often able to push everyone out by raising one bet, plus I didn't lose much when someone did have a hand.

The tide really turned on the following hand. I want to preserve this one for the ages:

PokerStars Game #2406921258: Tournament #11661971, Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2005/08/23 - 19:15:18 (ET)
Table '11661971 2' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: jaelpa (3760 in chips)
Seat 3: mentalmadnes (2925 in chips)
Seat 5: mathers (4565 in chips)
Seat 8: JeffRose (15355 in chips)
Seat 9: BubbaPearse (13895 in chips)
jaelpa: posts the ante 50
mentalmadnes: posts the ante 50
mathers: posts the ante 50
JeffRose: posts the ante 50
BubbaPearse: posts the ante 50
BubbaPearse: posts small blind 300
jaelpa: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JeffRose [Jc Qc]
mentalmadnes: folds
mathers: folds
JeffRose: calls 600
BubbaPearse: calls 300
jaelpa: checks
*** FLOP *** [Kc Tc Ac]

(Fireworks start going off in my head. I must extract as many chips as possible, like water from a rock. Slow play is called for.)

BubbaPearse: checks
jaelpa: checks
JeffRose: checks
*** TURN *** [Kc Tc Ac] [Ad]
BubbaPearse: bets 600

(We've got a live one! Let's see if we can reel him in.)

jaelpa: folds
JeffRose: raises 600 to 1200
BubbaPearse: calls 600

(So far, so good.)

*** RIVER *** [Kc Tc Ac Ad] [Js]
BubbaPearse: checks

(How much will he call?)

JeffRose: bets 1200
BubbaPearse: calls 1200

(Sweet.)

*** SHOW DOWN ***
JeffRose: shows [Jc Qc] (a Royal Flush)
BubbaPearse: shows [Ts Jd] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
JeffRose collected 6850 from pot
jaelpa said, "vnh"
BubbaPearse said, "ha"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6850 | Rake 0
Board [Kc Tc Ac Ad Js]
Seat 2: jaelpa (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 3: mentalmadnes folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: mathers folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: JeffRose (button) showed [Jc Qc] and won (6850) with a Royal Flush
Seat 9: BubbaPearse (small blind) showed [Ts Jd] and lost with two pair, Aces and Jacks

I never had a Royal Flush before! Even with wild cards in home games. If you have the opportunity I highly recommend it.

I took a couple of big pots from the same guy and started manhandling the four remaining players with my chip lead - raising almost everything preflop. Busted two guys in a row and had a 10:1 lead over the last one standing. It took seven hands to take him out.

For all of the notes I take, I haven't really been referring to them much. A couple of times tonight I made mental notes about betting patterns and used them to my advantage later. Occasionally I will get into a situation where I need to make a decision for all of my chips and I certainly appreciate having something to go on. Tonight, I was pretty much playing by gut feel. I was in the zone.

Current balance: 618,585. I will now play 1,933 300+20 tournaments in a row. :)

comme çi, comme ça

Played a couple of 50K SnGs tonight.

Early in the first one, I cracked pocket kings with pocket eights after a very short stack reraised me preflop - I'd bet 120 and it cost me 285 more to see the flop, where I made a set. I played middle suited connectors a couple of times, enough to make me not want to do it anymore... called one bet preflop and ended up calling a one-bet raise because I was already in the pot - not very tight/aggressive. :) I called the big blind with pocket sixes under the gun and folded when a guy went all in for about a third of my stack. The table was pretty tight and I called with a marginal hand on the button a couple times and managed to steal some blinds. I was crippled by a hand where I got outdrawn on the river. In the big blind at 25/50, I raised to 300 with AQo and two guys called. (Not sure why I always assume online players with gender-neutral nicknames are guys. Whatever.) The flop came J64 rainbow and we checked around. The queen turned (the second heart) and I bet 450 in first position. The next guy folded and the button re-raised all-in to 1210. I figured pocket aces or pocket kings would have been raised preflop, and if he had a queen I had a better one, plus I dominated a straight draw or a flush draw. I called and he turned over ace-eight of hearts. Excellent. I suppose I don't really need to tell you what suit came on the river. That hand took me down to 135. I quadrupled up a few hands later to 440, but got busted when I called all-in preflop with KTd and lost to a suited AJ. I think I went out 14th of 27.

I picked up some chips early in the second one for a change - caught AK on the first hand and took about 800 from a guy with pocket queens. I picked up a couple of small pots early with semi-bluffs - it was another tight table. I bet AA strong preflop and didn't get any callers but did pick up 650 in blinds and calls. Not getting any action I decided to slow play KK a while later and went all in over the top of a guy who bet the JT6 flop - he didn't call me. I didn't catch any cards for a while and was down to about 1700 at 100/200 when I caught AK in the small blind. Someone bet 600 and I raised all in. They called with 99, I caught an ace on the flop and ended up doubling up with aces full. I tightened right up at this point - I was getting close to cashing. Didn't play a pot for quite a while. Doubled up when I flopped two pair with 42s in the big blind. It was just me and the small blind - he bet 800 and I waited a second to call, hoping he would think I was reluctant. He put me all in on the turn and I called - he just had top pair. That was the last pot I won.

Looking back on the hand where I busted, I see that I busted myself by not paying close enough attention. It's funny, in the first game I was taking a lot of notes and ended up getting crippled on a hand I was favoured to win. In the second game, I was talking on the phone for a good portion of it and didn't have many notes at all. Anyway, it was down to four players and I was the short stack with 3850 at 100/200. I'd been playing super tight hoping that the next shortest stack might get busted first - there was quite a bit of difference between 3rd and 4th place - but he'd picked up some chips recently and had almost 7000. I was in the small blind and he raised to 1200 on the button. I had 66 and called. The flop came T73 with two hearts. I checked and he put me all in for my last 2625. I didn't put him on a pair and I called. He turned over nines. Oops. He called for all his chips (my chips, damnit! :D) on the next hand with KJs before the flop and busted - I guess he was playing for 3rd, too.

So, went out early in one, cashed in another, and came out ahead about 30K for the night. I'll admit I was intimidated by the 50K games going in - I was going to just play another 10K when I sat down, but I remembered Andrew's advice from last week. Gotta play the good players to get better, and presumably the good players are where the (play) money is at.

I'm pretty sure we're playing cards at Rob's this Friday night - we'll see where all of this practice has gotten us. Drunk, probably. :)

just what the world needed...

...another poker blog. Goody.

As I've written recently on driving sideways, a bunch of us at the office have been playing a lot of PokerStars lately. We've been sharing our bad beats and lucky draws amongst ourselves but I thought it would be entertaining to keep a record. I'm sending everyone an invite, but if no one else wants to contribute, I'll just continue on my own.

I have to thank Andrew for encouraging me to play 10K SnGs. We were talking as we were leaving the office the other night. I mentioned that my play money bankroll was up over 10K, but I was going to wait to start playing 10K tournaments until I was consistently placing in the money at 2K. I'd played a couple at 10K at that point, with crappy results. He suggested the best way to improve was to play the highest level my bankroll would accommodate - it's not like it's real money to be lost, you can always rebuy when you eventually bust yourself out. I took his advice and played two 10K tourneys that night, cashing in one and losing to a lucky river card in the other.

I've definitely adjusted my play compared to the first couple of 10K SnGs I sucked out in. I was basically playing the same way I did in the 2K games, and the quality of opponents at 10K is high enough that you can't bluff as often or play marginal hands. So, I've tightened up my preflop hand selection a lot. I'm folding K-rag a lot and even A-rag occasionally, depending on how many people are in the pot already. Before I was trapping a lot, and of course that cuts three ways - sometimes you bust someone, sometimes no one bets, and sometimes you bust yourself against a stronger opponent. Lately, I've started hitting my strong hands hard. I'm finally playing the tight/aggressive game I thought I was playing before.

Anyway, the adjustments I've made have paid off. I played two SnGs tonight and won one and placed third in the other. I'm particularly proud of the first one, as I was down to 505 chips at 100/200 with seven people left at the final table. I battled my way back until I got heads up as a 2:1 underdog. We played a couple of hands and the chips swung my way until I had a 2:1 lead. We then played a hand where the guy went all in on the flop with bottom pair and three to a flush. He'd been pretty loose the whole game, so I called him with top pair. He made some kind of a comment about how could I call that bet, to which I didn't bother asking why he made it in the first place. Anyway, he made the runner-runner flush, and then immediately starting sitting out. The guy thought he lost! So I basically sat there for 5 minutes stealing his blinds until I busted him. LOL.

I had over 100K in my play money bank at that point, so I checked for the guys and found Will playing a 300+20. I transferred him 10,325 so he could try a real tournament... hehe. (Says the guy who isn't playing for real money.)

I was doing reasonably well at the final table in the 2nd game until I pulled a play out of Andrew's book and misread the board. Andrew told a story the other day about playing while lying in bed and being sleepy and/or distracted enough to think there was an ace on the board, pairing his pocket ace, when in fact he was playing ace high. I had a similar experience:

PokerStars Game #2369469538: Tournament #11465327, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2005/08/18 - 20:52:46 (ET)
Table '11465327 3' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 4: vpatrick (28819 in chips)
Seat 7: eduben (4519 in chips)
Seat 8: JeffRose (7162 in chips)
vpatrick: posts the ante 25
eduben: posts the ante 25
JeffRose: posts the ante 25
eduben: posts small blind 200
JeffRose: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JeffRose [4c Ts]
vpatrick: folds
eduben: calls 200
JeffRose: checks
*** FLOP *** [9h Qs Jd]
eduben: bets 400
JeffRose: calls 400
*** TURN *** [9h Qs Jd] [6c]
eduben: bets 400
JeffRose: calls 400
*** RIVER *** [9h Qs Jd 6c] [Qd]
eduben: bets 3294 and is all-in
JeffRose: calls 3294
*** SHOW DOWN ***
eduben: shows [Kd 5d] (a pair of Queens)
JeffRose: shows [4c Ts] (a pair of Queens - lower kicker)
eduben collected 9063 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9063 | Rake 0
Board [9h Qs Jd 6c Qd]
Seat 4: vpatrick (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: eduben (small blind) showed [Kd 5d] and won (9063) with a pair of Queens
Seat 8: JeffRose (big blind) showed [4c Ts] and lost with a pair of Queens

I swear I saw a King. I called him down so fast he must have been shitting himself. And he ends up outkicking me with the board queens. Inconceivable!

I won one more pot, then caught ATo in the small blind with 3K left and the blinds at 200/400. All in. The chip leader called me with J9c and made nines on the flop. Nothing I can do about that. At least I read my hole cards correctly. :)

Current balance: 136,485.

I wonder if anyone else is going to write anything here. Or read it, for that matter. Heh.