Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded in D's LiveJournal:

Saturday, April 3rd, 2004
11:54 pm	One easy squeezy tournament I played my first $5+1 single table tournament at Party Poker today. I have been taking a break from poker, for a lot of reasons really, but sat down to play because Party put $20 into my account for me. I need to play 140 raked hands within a month to keep the cash. That is less than two hours work so I will get it done for sure, but wanted to play some tournaments to build a little stake so I can have a full buy-in for a $1/2. I might still play $.50/1, but I won't need to decide for a while. Anyway, I bought in to the tournament and was SB in the first hand. I got dealt 55, had about 3 callers, I completed, and the flop came 5c-6d-3s. I bet T50 into a T75 pot hoping to encourage some callers, and everyone stayed. My plan was to bet big on the next card, assuming the turn wasn't a straight card. Turn was Ks, I bet T400 and got two callers. Final card was 8s, completing the 3-flush on the board. I ended up checking here, and that really had to be the wrong play. When I did it, I was intending to fold to a bet of any size, but I didn't give it enough thought before making my decision. If I was playing at a higher stakes table, where the average level of play was better this might have been the right play. But on the first hand at a table notorious for insane players it is really tough to get away from this hand. Anyway, the player to my left made a stab at the pot for T50 (sigh...please) and the final player went all-in. Here, I am sad to say, it occurred to me that I was playing on the house's money, and that swung me over to calling. Hell, there was another tournament waiting to start. He turned over a busted straight draw and I was good. I had over 1/4 of the chips at the table after one pot. From there, I really felt destined to win. I got good cards and my cards hit often. On two occasions I got my money in when I was behind, mostly with small stacks, but I got a winner on the river. All the good cards aside, I did some good playing as well. I was the chip leader for every single deal of the cards, a first for me, and I really got aggressive when we approached the bubble and everyone tightened up. It sure is nice to play with the chip lead. I don't often get to bully people around. My tight-aggressive style usually means I am fending off the aggression, but today - total bully. I did some lose some pots, but it never phased me and I kept coming. In the end, the aggression and the cards hitting just couldn't be stopped. 04.03.04 $19 Current Mood: content Current Music: Firehouse - Don't Treat me Bad (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2004
11:44 pm	Tourney Report 3.3 I played in my first $20+2 at Pokerstars today. I had really nothing but success at $10+1 so figured it couldn't hurt to try one out. Man, oh, man were these players a lot better than I was accustomed to. They were still seeing a bunch of flops, but no one was loose post-flop, no one was overly aggressive and I didn't see any bluffs. I happened to finish in 9th, but it was just a horrible turn of events, I believe. Blinds were 25/50, I was in MP. EP raises, folds to me, I rr [edit: with AKo], and it folds back to him who calls. Flop comes J-T-5 rainbow. He bets T300 into T400 pot, and I call. Turn is an A. I bet T600 and he raises me all-in for another T250. I called and he turned over KQ. It was a good play by him to bet the flop, and his miracle card came. I would have folded to another bet on anything but a K or A. He came out ahead on that one. Maybe I have should have seen it coming, and I was certainly considering KQ. I am not sure I could have played it much differently. I am considering finishing out my PokerStars bonus in some ring games and then going to try the tournaments at Party Poker. 3.3.04 [$22] Current Mood: calm (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2004
10:33 pm	Tourney Report 3.2 I didn't really feel like playing poker tonight. I was a little tired and a little overstimulated from the day and I didn't feel like I would be at my best. But DW was sure I was going to and so I sat down and registered for a $10+1. There were really no maniacs at the table tonight. I made a call I wouldn't usually make for about T600 early in the tournament. That was a little less than half my stack, but I had just seen this guy bluff at two pots. This time, however, he had top pair to beat my mid pair. I waited and waited for my turn to come. I was not very involved in the game, speaking both of my cards and mentality. But at some point, I realized we were down to 6 players and except for the chip leader, no one was that far ahead of me. The players left were very passive, even the chip leader, so I was looking for opportunities to snatch pots with well timed raises. The chip leader took out two more players and we were down to 4. I was low man with about T9000, the two above me were T1000, and T1200, while the chip leader was Tthe-rest-which-was-an-awful-lot. I got really interested in this game now because I was right in the heart of the competition and the game was ready to be taken advantage of. I played selectively aggressive, paying particular attention to raise my competition and not so much the chip stack. I had a few all-ins unanswered, as did one of the other guys. The chip leader was doing a poor, poor job of keeping players honest, which was good news for me. I actually was in position to do fairly well, but many times I had it fold around to me when I was in the BB with big hands. The big play come when I was in the BB, and got two calls to my A9s. I raised all-in, got one fold from the chip leader, and a call all-in from another player who turned over KTs. He flopped a K, but I turned an A and everything was OK. And we were down to three with me having the second chip stack, but still about 1/5th of the chip leader. I made one play at a pot, when the flop came Kxx with 3 diamonds. He checked. I had Q high flush draw and bet about 1/4 of my stack, doubling the pot, thinking the other short stack would fold. But it turns out he had the diamond flush draw, T, with an ace to boot, so he stuck around. He probably would have folded to an all-in bet there, but I think that is a bit too aggressive for me right now. EDIT: After thinking about this for a while, I don't think I like making that play at the pot right then. We had only recently gotten down to 3 players, and I made that bet mostly on the texture and playing style of the other player. It makes all the sense in the world that he would loosen up some after we got down to three people and he was in the money. In fact, he was knocked out just a few hands later when he got heads up with the chip leader. He was not the picture of patience after we left the bubble. I really needed to take some time and see how the flow of the table was going to change when we got down to 3 people. [/edit] I ended up going all in with TT and got called by QJs from the chip leader. (The same hand that abandoned me just a few short days ago) He turned a Q and that was that. Right now, I like to be pretty excited to sit down and play poker before I put the money on the table. I will go to my live game with less enthusiasm than that because it inevitably gets turned around there. Tonight at least, I discovered that I can play respectably, if not my best, without feeling in top shape. That's good to know and something I need to get better about if I intend to play for income at some point. People don't feel like going to work all the time. 3.2.04 $7 Current Mood: good (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 28th, 2004
12:29 am	Tourney Update 2.28.04 I played my first two table $10+1 today. I have heard a few people say they enjoy playing the two table tournaments for a couple of reasons. You get roughly the same number of terrible players, and you get longer to make your hands (i.e., it lowers the variance) The second reason at least made a lot of sense to me, so down I sat. Now it could be that maybe it was just this one particular tournament, but there were way fewer insane players at this table. There seemed to be one at each table, and of everyone else, the average skill level was WAY above the single table players, at least in my experience. And honestly, I expected the Friday night crowd to be a bit on the lower end of the talent curve to start with. Maybe that was wrong. So anyway, I won a good hand early on when I got 99 UTG, doubled the blinds, and I got one caller in the BB. Flop was nothing but undercards, he bet T100, I raised T300, and he called. Turn was a T, and we repeated the same process. River was some undercard that didn't seem to matter, he bet T100 again, and I just called thinking there was a lot that could beat me. But he turned over 89s and I dragged the pot. From there nothing much happened until the tables came together. I was in the bottom three stacks, but not behind that much. I made a couple of plays and moved up a bit. A couple of players dropped out, and we were at 6 players when this wonderful hand hit. I was in the BB and got 88. UTG raised 3xBB, it folded around to me and I completed. Flop came Ah-8d-5s...wonderful. I checked, he bet 3/4 pot, and I raised tripling his bet. He called. Turn was 9c and I went all-in. He called me and turned over A5o and went out 6th. I looked down and I was in second chip position with about T11000 chips. Moreover, I had at least 5X as many chips as anyone other than the chip leader. From here, people were tightening up and I got a little aggressive. I was able to buy some pots here and there. Once, I raised with A3o from the cutoff, and the BB went all-in with about T1500 chips, and it was just like the books say. Calling that measly T1500 would barely dent my stack so I called and he turned over KJs. Flop paired my A and his J and off he went. Hello chip lead. A couple of hands later, the 4th player was knocked out and we were down to 3. Jon We had about T4000, DrEvil666 had about T10000, and I had about T11500. We were all pretty solid players, all selectively aggressive, and all patient players. I had beaten Jon We in a tournament earlier this week when we were the last two in. Jon We got in trouble fairly soon, and survived two all-ins, both as the underdog but nothing crazy. We pushed chips around for a little bit and I made what I think is a huge mistake. Jon We went all-in, and I called with QJs. The first mistake was the QJs. I am just not sure I like that hand to call an all-in in very many circumstances, but especially combined with the second error. I guess I dropped concentration for a minute because I didn't realize he still had about T4000 in chips. That is a significant number for me to be calling. Anyway, he turned over K4s and beat me. I dropped to about T8000 and second chip position. A bit later I raised with 88s, and Jon went All-in over the top with about T3000. I called thinking he had overcards or a smaller pair. He had been going all-in with 33 and 44 since he had been in trouble. But he turned over TT and I was in trouble. When I lost I had about T2500. I doubled up when I went all-in with ATo and won. So I am at T5000, in 3rd chip position. Again, not too long afterward I went all-in with A7o. I am not positive that is the right play, but let me give you my thinking. First of all, I was pretty sure they would fold. That was a fair amount to call. Secondly, if I did hold up, I had enough chips to be immediately in contention. Finally, it wasn't too far removed from my rash of above plays and tilt looked like a possibility to them, and if so they would be willing to call with less. Sure enough, DrEvil called with Q8s. I was the favorite but no one wanted to hear it and an 8 spiked on the flop. So in the end, I think I could have been a little more patient at the very end of my time at the table. But overall, it was about cards. Jon We got them when he needed them and I missed when I was the favorite. It was a good final three players and it went down about as I expect it to with the cards being the biggest determination of success. No one was outplaying anyone else. So 3rd place. I am ok with that. 2.28.04 $25.00 Current Mood: calm Current Music: White Snake - Afterglow (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 26th, 2004
1:31 am	ok, one more tourney report Christ almighty...I have one goal in the early parts of a tournament and that is not to get involved. It doesn't seem like so much to ask, really. Traditionally, AQ is my temptation and it seems to come up all the time. In this tournament, I didn't get AQ, but I did AJ, and I laid it down. Then I got KQ, and laid it down. And then finally, I got QQ UTG and I said screw it. You want me to play it, I'll play it. I raised it T300 on 15/30 blinds, and got 3 callers. Unreal. Flop came Td-6c-2h. I put my remaining T1100 in the T1200 pot, and they all folded to me. So that was a nice, early boost. Then the cards never really came again. I would get some decent starting cards but never hit a flop and had to bail. I also played a bit more loosely than I usually do pre-flop and it almost cost me. We got down to 4 players. A maniac who bet and raised on anything but was the chip leader at by far, because he was filling up with 34o, with T7000 or so. Another player with T3500 who had announced his plans to play premium hands and coast. Then there were two of us at around T1500 or so. We played for a bit, and everyone but the maniac was super tight, so he was buying lots of pots. I was content to let it go because I was ahead of the other guy, though only barely. If I had monster, I would have played it, but otherwise I was content to let the other guy blind out. At one point, he inched ahead of me, but then gave it all a couple of hands later. I was just folding and folding. He eventually went all-in on 99, got called by the maniac with JTo, and he hit a J on the flop. Very next hand, I got ATo, raised all-in and the maniac called with KTo. He flopped the straight, and I never got my split card. Ah well... I didn't really have a chance to win, but I am happy I was able to hang on for the money. I suspect that is my best course of action right now. Hang on for the money, build up some bankroll, move up to some more expensive tournaments. The wins will come when I have the cards for it, or when the players are looking to give it away. 02.26.04 $7 Current Mood: sleepy (3 Comments |Comment on this)
12:02 am	Two more tournament results I played in two more $10+1 Sit&Go tournaments this evening. Both of them were a bit more tame than my first experience so maybe the money isn't just being handed out for free. In my first tournament, first hand, somebody went all-in on a bluff, got called, and lost. From there on out it settled down a little bit. People were still playing much more loosely than me, but not as crazy as the first tournament. There really isn't an awful lot to say. I played tightly, and picked my spots. I got the chip lead around the second half of the tournament and never gave it up. I did get some good heads-up experience which I am very light on. But we were both playing conservatively and I was getting good cards so he never had much chance. The second tournament was the same, but my cards didn't hold up as well. Two times, the person to my left paid terrible odds for her draws, but made them and I folded the river. Then this spot came up and I want to get some advice on what to do here. We are at four players, so the next player out loses out on the money. I am dealt KK UTG, I raise, my left calls and it folds around. Flop comes 8d-9h-Td. I bet T600 into a $200 pot and she calls. I have her on a draw. Flop comes 4c, and I know she missed. Now here is where I am not sure what I should do. In a limit tournament, the answer is to bet to keep her from getting the free draw. But no limit, on the bubble, it is a much different story. I really suspect she is going to call no matter what I do. If I check she will check and get the free draw. In this case, I decided to go all in, she called, with the straight draw, and rivered the 6 to knock me out. Anyone have thoughts about the "right" play there? ---- Tournament results to date: $10+1 02.25.04 $7 02.26.04 $34 02.26.04 [$11] Current Mood: determined (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 25th, 2004
12:24 am	Just a quick poker update After my big weekend of poker, I forgot to put in my deposit to Paradise this week. There's $50 I won't be getting back. I haven't been anxious to hop back on the horse, but I did sit down and play a $10+1 NL HE tourney on PokerStars. I have a $120 deposit bonus there that I need to play off, and word on the street is Stars is where to go for tourneys, so there I went. I went in with the plan to mostly not play the first round or two. So right of the bat, first hand even, I get AQo. And just like on Saturday, I just laid it down. Winning hand? AA. Second hand, I get dealt AA, raise it up a bit, flop comes blanks, and one caller pays me off until I show the winner. Third hand, board has three 3's after the river, someone goes all in with TT, and gets called by QQ. One man down. Fifth hand, board has K-Q-T-x-x no flush, someone goes all-in with A9o, and gets called by KTo. Another one down. Late in the second round, someone with about T500 goes all-in and it fold around to me. I really was weary about this call, but I called with QJs. He showed AKs...ugh. I actually turned a J, but he rivered the flush. Fortunately, this guy gave it all back and more to my second AA a bit later in the match. It eventually got down to four of us, two big chip stacks, and me and another guy with roughly the same stack. I had a tight image so my occasional raises got respect, and he had to win his fair and square. Evetually he went all-in out of boredom or something (he gave us a two hand warning) and lost so I was in the money. Both other players had about 5x my chip stack so it wasnt looking promising. I ended up going out when I was down to about T700, raised with QJs, got a caller, flop came T-6-Q and I went all-in. The other caller had QTo and he took it down. Nothing to be done about that. Overall, the play was crazy. Nearly everyone was way loose, but no one was very aggressive. Everyone was quick to go all-in, and it seemed like they were all planning on doubling up or going on to the next tournament. Easiest $7 I ever made. Does anyone play any sit-and-go's? What are the players like in the $20+2 games? I know a guy who had great luck at the $50+5, and he and I play a very similar game. Current Mood: curious (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 22nd, 2004
6:38 pm	A fun, but less interesting day 2 Well, this is going to be much less interesting than day 1. ( More poker specifics ) Current Mood: content (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 21st, 2004
11:12 pm	wow...what a day. I just got finished with my first ever multi-table poker tournament. I have played in a few single table tournaments online, plus the many tournaments with our regular group, but this tournament featured 144 players with 16 tables of nine players each. It was mentally exhausting and I would need to make a lot of adjustments before I was able to do it with any regularity. ( Lots of specific poker chat ) So I have another good long day ahead of me tomorrow as well, and we will see how that goes. I do know that I am really tired and heading to bed soon. If you read the whole thing, I am terribly impressed. Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Theme to "Angel" (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 15th, 2004
11:22 pm	Results Sun 2.15 Date played - Sun.2.15 Site played at - Paradise Limit(s) played - 1/2 Final money result - $54.25 Starting money - $1126.75 Ending money - $1181.00 Starting time - 16:20 Ending time - 22:40 number of players at table - 10 number of concurrent tables played - 2 Paradise Stats: Flops seen: 23% Showdowns Won: %57 Win % if flop seen: %31 --- Seemed to be a below average night for cards and making hands. Most of the pots I won were small, and I lost many, many big hands on hands I should, statistically, have won. However, I will not be complaining because of this freaking monster. I had been at this table for a little over an hour. It started off nice and loose, but about 45 minutes in I noticed that the table had just tightened up tremendously. When I check the stats, the pot average was $11 and plyr/flop was %25. So I got a little more aggressive and was able to pick up some small pots with middle pair and the like. Then this hand hit. I was UTG with 99. I raise thinking I could limit the table a bit and have a better chance of holding up. Guy to my left, fold, next player calls, someone behind makes it 3 bets, another player cold calls 3 bets, and it folds around to me. Me and the other guy complete. I assume I am behind pre-flop, and am all ready to fold.($13.50 in the pot) Flop comes 9d-4d-8c. Wee! I bet, guy to my left raises, next guy re-raises, and the next guy calls 3 bets again. Right now, I am best and have two raises and a caller behind me. I put someone on two pair, someone on an overpair, and the caller on the flush draw. Well, I cap, and everyone calls. (29.50 in the pot) Turns comes (9d-4d-8c) Qh. I am not really that worried. I am only in trouble if the someone with the overpair has Q's - definite possibility, but I am prepared to lose if that is the case. I bet, guy to my left raise, two player between us call. I re-raise, he caps, everyone calls. ($61.50 in the pot) At the time, I didn't see the straight on the board. In retrospect, I should have seen it. If a new player had re-raised, I would have stopped and looked for it, but I was sure the raiser was on made cards. Finally, the river is (9d-4d-8c-Qh) 6h. I did notice this straight, but put it out of my mind. I bet, guy to my left raises again and I am a little scared of trip queens now. Next guy calls, drawer folds, and I just call. I don't often root for hands anymore, but I was sure as hell rooting for anything but QQ. He turns over Q8o, next guy exposes AA, and get the wonderful "Show Hand" button. My trip 9's are good for a $72.50 pot, or 36 big bets. YEEHAA! Overall, I made some big improvements in my play tonight. Early in the evening, I was perhaps paying off a little much. After the first 1.5 hours, though I realized what was going and was able to lay down some hands. Once, as a matter of fact, I lost a big pot when I folded my KK to A on the flop, and A on the river. Their betting the scare card shooed me away and I lost a big 'ol pot. (If I had realized how big the pot was, I would have called) It's ok though. That is going to happen from time to time. I made a little over $100, including the bonus, for my 6.5 hours of play. That is certainly an acceptable return. My next few rounds will come from PokerStars because I have $120 in bonus waiting for me there. Then I am finally geared up to play the affiliate game at Empire. I will write more about that when I know more. Current Mood: calm (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 11th, 2004
2:08 pm	Smoked...and I mean SMOKED!! Date played - 2.10.04 Site played at - Paradise Limit(s) played - 1/2 Final money result - [$85.00] Starting money - $661.00 Ending money - $576.75 Starting time - 21.15 Ending time - 2:15 And from Paradise Poker: Flops seen: 25% Win% if flops seen: %30 Showdowns won: %46 Last night was simply terrible. It was one of those nights that people talk about that hadn't happened to me in a good ling time. I got plenty of cards, and made plenty of hands, and just lost to better hands every time. This happened for about 2.5 hours. Here are some of the notable instances. No hands, just the pain. My flopped two pair AJ lost to 2 pair AK when K came on the river. I lost my nut flush when 2 pair made full on river. My top pair, mediocre kicker in BB, lost to top pair, better kicker. I called to river because they never showed aggression. AA got cracked on runner, runner straight. Flop came AQx, I had AK, he slows plays trips makes me think I have the winner. That happened twice. JJ lost when UTG runner-runnered two pair...7's and 3's These are all hands that I am pushing hard and when they get beat down that just means extra losses. And even when I did win, they amounted to nothing. As an example, I had AT in the BB, flop comes ATT, and I never saw another bet. I slow played and nobody cared. Blech I played about 5 hours total and lost about $85. I was down about $140 at one point, but the tables turned around a bit. In the last hour, I won a few pots, but nothing big. The $15-$20 pots just added up at the end. During the bad stretch, I really felt helpless. Everything single had was going bad. But the thing is, I don't know that I could have improved my play at all. I just had great hands that got beat over and over again. Towards the end of the bad stretch, I made some questionable calls to see the end of the hand when I suspected I was beat. It might have been decisions made on tilt. As I came out of the fog, I came to a couple of realizations about my game. First, I need to take more breaks. I have gotten a lot better about avoiding tilt and playing with a lot less emotion. However, my defition of tilt is shifting. I don't think I will ever again be the insane guy making insane plays, but tilt is sneaky. Sometimes just a small shift in your attitude toward the game will make a big difference in your results at the end of the session. I suspect taking breaks will help me recover my center more quickly. Secondly, much of my reluctance to lay down hands that I think are beaten stems from me not wanting to get labeled as a folder, or someone who can be pushed of hands. That is bad logic for two reasons. First of all, the people in these games aren't paying enough attention to notice that, I believe. Some people may, but for the most part, it isn't a concern. I really should be calling just often enough to keep them honest. Secondly, I never show my cards, so they don't know that I have a great hand. They just know I went to the river and folded. This is all stuff that has occurred to me logically before, but became very real last night. I might have saved $15-20 not needing to see the river at times. During the night. That is a big number in retrospect. Current Mood: calm (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, February 9th, 2004
12:18 am	Poker results: 2.08 Date played - 2.8.04 Site played at - Paradise Limit(s) played - 1/2 Final money result - $40.00 Starting money - $601.00 Ending money - $641.00 Starting time - 21.15 Ending time - 0:00 Paradise Stats: Flops seen: 25% ! Win% if flops seen: 34% Showdowns won: 58% I had a lot of good cards tonight. I made some smart plays, and got better as the night went on, but the 25% flops seen speaks more to my cards than how loose/tight I played. It was as high as 28% at one point. I did add Axs a few times tonight, so that contributed some as well. I had one very interesting hand. I was MP with AQo. Two players call ahead of me, I raise, and get 4 total calls including the blinds. Flop comes Jh-Ah-6h. Well, hmmm. Everyone checks to me, and I bet, and the player behind me raises. He gets 1 cold call from BB, and I call as well. Turn is 5c. I am not sure what to do about this, after thinking on it for a while. But if I show weakness, he is going to bet for sure, so I quickly check, and when the other two check I know I am in the lead. River is 5s, not likely to mean much, so I bet, and both people call. It turns out the flop raiser had QQ with one heart. In retrospect, it was a classic attempt at a free card, and it worked. I really love his raise. The BB had KhTc, and had odds to draw in every instance. Everyone played the hand properly, in my mind, except for maybe me. What about that bet on the flop? I feel like you can't live your life in fear of the flush, and most people had checked to me with only one person to act. If anyone check-raised, I was ready to dump the hand, but the position raise could mean a lot of things. I think everything else was the right decision. I discovered that I am having issues falling in love with over cards, most often AK. I need to review some reading about what to do with AK. At low limits especially, it is so easy for anyone to match the tiniest piece of the flop and be ahead of you the entire time. It also occurred to me that there are 3 ways to win with AK. 1. Win outright with the best cards. This is easiest to play. 2. Win by having the best hand when no one hits. Pots are likely to be small 3. Win by bluffing someone into think you have something. If there is any pot to speak, it is likely a bunch of your money. So one of those is good, and two are bad. Like Barry Switzer said: "I hate passing the ball. Only three things can happen and two of them are bad." The answer really has to be play the odds, and don't try to get tricky. When you miss out on a pot by folding to early or when someone else wins with AQo no pair, you just have to let it go. The pots were likely pretty small anyone, and you stand to lose more than you stand to gain. Any opinions on that? Current Mood: Inquisitive (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 5th, 2004
12:13 am	A Little More Poker This Evening I played for just shy of 2 hours, and here are the stats: Date played - 2.4.04 Site played at - Paradise Limit(s) played - 1/2 Starting money - $567.25* Ending money - $601.00* Starting time - 22:10 Ending time - 00:05 Number of players at table - 9-10 Number of concurrent tables played - 2 *These numbers are a little rigged. I have adjusted them to reflect play results, but now include bonus money. We'll get to that in a sec I limited play to two hours because I was getting sleepy and am nervous about playing online when I am not at my best. Traditionally, I have my worst losses when it gets late and I get sleepy. It got so bad that I forbade myself to play after midnight. When I get sleepy, I just don't have the self-control to keep myself from making the stupid, stupid, stupid plays that I really want to make online. There are two examples below. The play started out amazingly slow. It was 39 hands before I voluntarily put money in the pot, and it was this gem. I get AA one off the button. Two people call in front of me, I raise, both blinds plus the other two call. Flop comes: 9c-Jd-Qc and I can just hear the snap in the distance. Blinds check, two in front bets, one in front calls, I raise, both blinds call two raises, two in front calls, one in front raises, I cap, everyone calls. Anyone have thoughts about this play? If it helps the guy one in front of me is...well, just kind of bad. He sees about 80% of the flops, but isn't real aggressive. He will always bet scary pots, and that is about all I can say for him. Everyone else is a pretty average player for the 1/2 tables. Turn is 4c, checks to one in front, who bets, I raise, everyone calls. Then the river is Ks, SB checks, BB bets, two in front folds, one in front raises, I fold, sb folds, BB calls. One behind turns over TT, and BB has JTo for a a split pot. SNAP! I am interested in feedback about this hand. One other hand of note, then I have two points I need to make. First, the hand. I am dealt Kh5h in the BB, there are 4 calls, and I check. Flop comes Kd Ts 3c. It checks around. I pretty much always check here, when I have top pair but a bad kicker and I am out of position. Is this the right play at 1/2 tables? Turn comes 4d and it checks around again. I have to think that my check here was just bad. I pretty much always bet there, but didn't in this instance. River is Qc, SB checks, I bet, and get raised by the next player. It folds around to me and I stop and think. I check pokertracker, and this guy is nothing special. I keep going back and forth wondering if he had AJ. There is really nothing to base my decision on, so with a few seconds to spare, I decide that if he AJ he would have raised pre-flop so I call. He turns over Q9o, and I drag a $20 pot. I really like his raise there because it made me think about laying down the winner. Overall, I am not sure about my play, but maybe someone can give me some insight. Ok, my two points of note. Two different times this evening, I just threw money away because of what I call "Darin Should Not Play Online" syndrome (Dizzenpo) In both instances, on different tables, the table got shorthanded, everyone folds to the SB, who raises, and I call. Both times, I would normally fold easy. The flop comes, he bets, I have nothing but raise anyway, and he calls or raises. One time I took it to the river and lost $10 to his top pair, and the second time, I fold after the turn losing $6. The deal is, when I play shorthanded, I seem to have an unnatural fear of getting bullied out of a pot. In my mind, people will play most anything shorthanded so my most anything is just as good. Then if I get even bottom pair, I am doomed to see the river and lose. Sometimes my tenacity pays off, but mostly I just lose money. It is this reason that I don't play shorthanded right now: I have some demons to exercise. My losingest live sessions have come shorthanded, but I have learned to show some restraint and just play smart. Apparently I haven't learned online yet because I lost $16 before I knew what hit me. Anyone else do this? Also, my night started off very slow. I got no cards at all, and what I did play, I lost for low limit reasons. At my worst, I was down $26 on one table and $15 on another. Then all of a sudden, I won about 4 pots, nothing crazy, just a few pots, and I look down and I am down $4 on the first table and up $20 on the other. It really drove home to me what can happen at low limit tables when you play smart and tight and the table do the work. I never dragged a big pot, but I refrained from making bad plays, and let the odds work themselves out and I was up $35 or so for the evening. It was nice. One last thing about the bonus money. Paradise is offering up to $50 deposit bonus every Sunday in February, and I have played my hands and received the bonus for the past Sunday. So I am up $50 in bonus, and $50 in poker over the last two days, 6 or so hours. Final Paradise stat block for today: Flops seen: %19 Win % if flops seen: %29 Showdowns won: %64 [editted to correct the lingo] Current Mood: calm Current Music: Kids PC game music (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 4th, 2004
2:14 am	First of the Poker Posts Alrighty, first the germaine stats: Date played - 2.3.04 Site played at - Paradise Limit(s) played - 1/2 Starting money: $500 Ending money: $517.25 Starting time: 21:30 Ending time: 2:05 number of concurrent tables played: 2 I should start by singing the praises of PokerTracker. If you aren't using it and you are playing online, you are literally throwing money away. I have no take in their success at all, and this will be the last time I mention it without great reason, but please...won't you think of the children? I played right around 4.5 hours tonight without really even blinking. It's good to know that I can do that. I probably should have taken more breaks, just for good measure. I stayed one round longer than I meant to when I couldn't find the "Auto post blind" check box, and I anti'ed one time too many. It cost me $11.50 because this happened. I was MP and dealt QQ. UTG calls, I raise, it folds around to one off the button who cold calls, then UTG completes. Flop comes 8-9-T no suit. UTG bets, and I think for a second and raise. If he reraises, I am ready to throw it away. The guy behind me then calls two bets, and UTG completes again. I put UTG on JT, which is top pair with a straight draw. Turn comes A - hmmm. I am not sure what to do about that, but UTG checks, I bet, and other guy calls. River brings a 4. Blank. UTG bets, I call, other guy calls. Not sure if I am winning but I feel like a have pretty good shot. UTG turns over 84s, rivering the two pair. Well, that's too bad. I all prepared to be miffed about getting beat on the river, then the 3rd player turns over J7s, for the straight. He had us the whole time, and never raised. Sure it wasn't the nut straight, but we weren't showing tremendous power or anything. I don't know if I should be glad that I didn't lose more money, or miffed because of the slowplay. If he had shown strength, I was prepared to fold, but he played it just right. I still don't know about not raising the river, but more power to him. He took down a good pot. Any thoughts? On the whole, I took a bunch of beats. I played solid, tight/aggressive poker, didn't give away many bets, and just took the beating that you sometimes get at low level ring games. For example: I have AKo on the button, have some callers, I raise, and a few people complete. Flop comes 4s-8h-Ks, BB bets, two people call, I raise, BB and another call, one guy folds. Turn is Tc, BB checks, I bet, he calls. River is the 4c, he bets, I grit my teeth and call, he turns over Ad4d for the winner. What are you gonna do. Stats from Paradise Statistics counter: Flops seen: 21% Win $ if flop seen: 29% Showdowns won: 59% I did have one miracle flop that held up for a $50 pot. I am BB and get 89o. UTG raises, lots of cold calls, and I decide to call for no great reason other than UTG is steaming and complaining about the bad cards he keeps getting beat with. Flop comes Jh-Th-7s....JACKPOT! I bet, UTG raises and then some craziness happens where we are capped 5 way on the flop and I never raised with the nuts. I just sat and bet out, hoping it held up, and it did. So that was my miracle that offset my whole bunch of beats. When I did have odds to draw, not very many came through. Overall, I was pretty happy with my play. Early in the evening, I found myself calling to the river expecting I had 2nd best hand, which is a bad online habit of mine, but I got rid of that by the second half of the evening. As I sit here reflecting, I am just struck by how easy it is to lose a lot of money with just a little bit of questionable play here and there. Like when you start with an iffy hand, and you call anyway, then it makes a possible something on the flop, so you call, then it gets raised, and now you have odds to call so you do, and it turns into something like two pair, so you raise, then you get beat by the better two pair because they started with real cards. I had at least one of those situations tonight, and it cost me about $13 in that one hand, all because I couldn;t lay down a questionable hand. So listen the pros, boys and girls, and play good hands. I also did a good job of avoiding tilt play this evening. I have recently been redefining to tilt for myself. I used to think of it get a couple of bad beats, getting steamed about it and playing without really thinking for a while, mostly throwing money away. But now I think of it not playing your best on every single hand, and I mean EVERY single hand. Like calling an extra bet because this guys has been playing crap all night, and you really can't believe that he hit his river trips again. (ignoring the fact that he has never raised without good reason) Or getting down to the last $15 of your buy-in and pissing it away because you are probably going to lose it anyway. Or any number of excuses or rationalizations that you allow yourself to make in the name of getting that one more bet in the pot. I think I will wrap it up. That turns out to be pretty long and I don't want to scare anyone off. I am hoping people will continue to straggle in. Thanks to all of the early adapters. I hope we can do some good work. Current Mood: satisfied Current Music: None (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004
2:13 am	Link to davidross posts compilation This is really just a compilation of posts from twoplustwo. This is likely copyright information and if someone asks me to take it down, I will. This is all from the twoplustwo forums, which I encourage everyone to read if they can, and is just an easy way to get that data that is freely available. I sure hope I don't upset anyone by making this available elsewhere. The file is a zip compressed .rtf file. So you will need to be able to unzip it then read a .rtf. I am hoping most everyone can do that. (4 Comments |Comment on this)