Why you should always raise a big hand preflop

Playing this online tournament the early position player failed to raise with his big slick. The suited KQ also failed to raise my big blind "flat tire". We saw the flop 4 handed and I flopped two pair. With 2 clubs out, I bet pot and was called by both kings. The turn filled me up, I shoved all in and they both called me for a triple up. I held the lead in the SNG until the end when I came in 2nd. Was pretty card dead the whole time so just folded my way to the money.

Slow Drain

Sometimes the online game is a slow drain. Lately I have been playing terribly and unlucky to boot. I cannot really blame luck as much as just playing poorly. I am not using my big stack when I have one to punish limpers and steal blinds. I am not picking my spots carefully when I am a short stack. And, I am really calling raises and defending blinds too liberally.

My bankroll is taking a slow drain as well with not enough cashes to make up for all my losses. I did have one big win today in PL Omaha. After losing my first minimum buy in decided to max buy in. I then got into a monster 3 way pot with a flopped set and my open ended nut straight and wheel draw. It came in and I felted 2 players.

One decision I have made is to bite the bullet and play in higher $ buy in tournaments. The lower levels are just too donk-infested to win consistently, though I do pretty well, the time it takes is just too small a payback even with a win.

Final Table + No Chips = 5th Place

One of the regular dealers at the American Legion tournament frequently says to me, "You are always on the final table". And yes, I do make the final table with great frequency, however I am having a very hard time winning it all. Last Friday I was running particularly card dead. One player at my first table just ran over it, playing every hand and winning probably 12 of the first 15 hands. Once he got a lot of chips he raised most pots. I tangled with him once with a flush draw that did not come in and ended up bluffing off 1/3 of my chips on the river in a futile attempt to salvage the hand. Never once during the course of the evening did I have more than twice the starting chips, and got to the final table with about starting chips (2200). The only way I survived was by massive bluffs on scary boards.

An interesting thing happened at the final table. The dealer, Carl, was down to a single $100 chip in the big blind which was $200. He tripled up on that hand with a 9/2 offsuit, then did it again. At the end of the day he was chip leader....a classic "chip and chair" story. Me, I ended up 5th for a $101.00 win ($55. net after buyin and tip).

Comeuppance

After running very good this week with 5 cashes in 5 sessions I finally got brought back to earth with a bad loss at the Omaha game (only my 2nd since they started it). Great starting hands failed to connect with the flop, draws did not come in, big hands gotted snapped, split or quartered, and monsters appeared (lost with a full house once against quads and another boat against straight flush). The hands (darned few) that I threw away would have won big pots and even misread the board once and another time threw away the best flop at showdown cause i also misread it. Probably not my finest hours at the table.

Snapped With The Best Hand

Part of poker maturity is accepting that if you are playing well, you will usually get your chips in with the best hand, but not necessarily the best draw and furthermore you will often lose when players catch their 1,2 or 3 outers against you.

This morning at the Moose I raised under the gun with AQ with blinds at 100/200 making in 600 to go. I was reraised allin to 1200 (I had about 600 behind). He had A/10 and caught his 10 on the turn. I folded my big blind the next hand and then picked up 6/7 offsuit in the small blind with my nemesis in the big blind. I raised all in for the additional 200 when it was folded to me. He calls with Q5 offsuit...can't blame him, only 200 more. I flop a 6 with two kings. O.K. The river brings another king for the full house. Back in business, sort of.

King 10 suited raises my next BB and I defend with KQ and double up. I then pick up 9/9 with an allin with KQ which I have covered. He makes a straight and I am down to $300. Moved to another table I find AJ offsuit under the gun, throw my last 300 in (blinds at 200/400), Sal calls from the button with A/2 of spades and small blind, Dirt Farmer, reraises all in with A/8 offsuit. Unfortunately Sal calls and his everyone covered. The flop brings my jack, hope......The turn 2 spades, and the river the eight of spades for Sal's flush. Dirt and I are both gone with better starting cards than the winner.

TJ Cloutier Chocolate Chip Cookie

Does this cookie look like TJ or what? Very funny.

Card Dead at the Legion

Tonight was a card dead night for me. I mucked nearly every hand for the first 45 minutes, playing only one to the river which I folded. After we combined to 3 tables I went all-in once, everyone folded, and my chips went from 1000 to 1500.

My last hand was in the big blind with one limper who was not deep stacked at all with the small blind just calling. I had 4/6 suited, a decent hand, but checked my option (200/400 blinds). The flop was 4/8/8 and the small blind checked, I went all in and am called by the limper who has unexpectedly called with K/8 offsuit. WTF was he doing in this hand? I think my better play would have been to raise all in out of the blind, which may have induced his fold, but anyone playing that bad probably calls anyway.

Muy Caliente

Have been running very hot today with 5 tournament cashes (1 first, 2 seconds, and 2 thirds) and a triple up in cash game. My new plan is playing in bigger buy in tournaments because frankly they have better players which works to my advantage. You just don't get as many donk calls at higher limits, but they are still there.

Omaha has been my bread and butter lately. Am doing well seeing a lot of flops then either playing strong or folding. Where i do the worst is with the maniacs who seem to want to get all their chips in preflop with AA or A2. Better to see what the flop brings and play small ball.

Bad Luck Against One Player

How about this for a bad beat. I am playing in a single table sit n go, down to 6 players, I am 2nd in chips. I limp on the button with J/9 offsuit. The flop is 10/Q/x with two spades. Check around with 4 players in. The turn is an offsuit 8 and the small blind bets, a short stack calls, and I reraise pot to drive out the flush draws with my straight. The original bettor folds and the short stack reraises all in with his flush draw. The river.....a spade, he wins.

The very next hand I again have J/9 offsuit in cutoff. Call. Same player that caught his flush on me bets, I reraise on the J/9/6 flop (two diamonds), and he reraises all in. I call, he has pocket Jacks!!!!!!

Sick action against the small stack.

Quick Pasco Trip

I made a quick trip to Pasco this week. My daughter asked me to drive there with her for business. We arrived Wednesday afternoon about 2:00 and Matt had sent me a text message about the Omaha game starting at 4:00: sign me up sir!!!

I was extremely lucky in the game and after getting stuck $100 I cashed out 3 hours later for $545.00. Nice day at the office. Big hands: flopped quad queens with someone else doing all the betting. Flopped quad 4's, same bettor.

Tonight at the American Legion I managed to limp into the final table short stacked, avoid the bubble and cash out in 6th place for $71.00. Not a big win, but with the cards I was dealt not a bad outcome. Final hand: Big aggressive stack at the table bet enough to put me all in. He had been raising with a variety of hands, including big suited cards, small pairs (saw him lose 5's vs. 6's), and calling big raises with A/10 offsuit. I had pocket 5's and figured at least 50% chance for a race. He had pocket 8's vs. my pocket 5's. Oh well, given my chipstack it was an o.k. call, had only 2 more hands before my big blind of 1/3 my stack.

Omaha Tournament at Wildhorse

My final tournament at Wildhorse was the Omaha. My day started well, playing the 4/8 game was up about $80 and feeling good. Two hours into the game, I had won 2 hands, small pots, and gotten a quarter of another. I was extremely short stacked the entire tournament and really had some bad luck. Flopped top set twice and lost to rivered straights. Just bad cards and bad luck.

After busting out, played in the 4/8 again and got up about $100, but steadily lost my chips and left down $20. Disappointing days at Wildhorse.

Pendleton Roundup

The Fall Pendleton Poker Roundup brings a lot of professional players into town. The cash games are pretty wild, with a lot of big bucks floating around. My first tournament was the opening day, last Wednesday. My friend Bob and I got their early enough for me to lose $200 in a 4/8 omaha game prior to the noon start. I had a chance to get back in the cash games soon enough with a horrible table draw. I was two seats to the right of a Las Vegas pro who knocked me out of the horse tournament last year when she flopped an open ender and I flopped two pair. I knew there would be precious little blind stealing going on in my position, especially after she doubled up through the dumbest player at the table (two pair all in vs a 4 card straight on the board...duh).

So, the start of my finish was a steal attempt from the cutoff with J/4 of spades. She calls from the small blind. The flop is jack high with one spade. She checks and I continuation bet 1,000. She check raises to 2,000. Rut Row. I call to see the turn, planning to fold to a bet or check behind if my hand does not improve. The turn is the king of spades giving me a sneaky backdoor flush draw. She bets big, 5000 into my 7000 stack. After some deliberation I decide that this hand is pretty much for my tournament life. If I hit my spade I double up with the bonus of taking her back to near starting chip stack and curbing some of her aggression. If I miss, well, I will still have a chip and a chair. I of course miss and a few hands later after 2 all ins I get my pocket 7's snapped by KJ suited. My misery of the day continues with more losses in the cash games. Bad day of poker, but that said a bad day of poker beats most good days doing other stuff.

Saturday I play most of the day earning $224, just enough for my buyin on the Sunday tournament. I play fairly well, take a hit just before the 1st break and end up getting knocked out on the first hand after the break. I am in the small blind and complete to 200 with 9/10 offsuit with the button limping. The big blind checks behind. The flop is 8/J/x with 2 of a suit, giving me the openender.I lead out with 600, which is a pot size bet, and the big blind calls, the button....short stacked, folds. The turn is my dream card, queen giving me the straight. I lead out with 2000 and the BB shoves all in, having me covered. I beat him into the pot with my cards face up showing the nuts. He shows Q/8 offsuit for two pair. The river? Obvious, queen for the full house. I felt like someone sucked all the air out of the room and kicked me in the gut, or a little lower.

Next up....Omaha tournament on Wednesday.

Running Hot & Cold

I really can't decide if I am running hot or cold these days. I alternate between cashing in tournaments and donking out or getting really bad beats. Today was typical of that. I cashed (4th) in a 45 person SNG, but could have come in 3rd if able to fold a weak suited ace against raise (AJ, and bigger stack with QQ). Decided the risk/reward was good and flopped the four flush. The queens knocked us both out, but it was a good opportunity to triple up and have a chance to win. I only had about 3500, with the bigger stacks at 10,000 and 17,000 and the leader at 30,000. Oh well.

Tournament number two cashing was a PL Omaha 8 tournament and I was up and down, down early, later chip leader and ended up 3rd.

The disappointing tournaments were a freeroll with 3383 players, coming in 375th. I really was never in good chip shape until later, doubling up a few times and ultimately with about 12,000 in chips with average around there. The UTG player with more chips raised and I see 10/10, so I repop the pot and he calls with AJ offsuit???? Not a great hand to raise with in early position and then call a reraise with no position. The flop is good for my hand, but not great. 10/J/A. With bottom set I am going all the way and hoping he doesn't have JJ AA or KQ. He bets and I reraise all-in. He calls and the turn does me in....Jack for his flopped two pair and turned full house. I am drawing dead to the case 10. Out!!!

My other tournament beats were with QQ. An early position player raises and is reraised by a 2nd player. I smooth call and the early position player goes all in and we both call. The flop is KQX and I get all-in (had both players covered...barely). 2nd raiser has KK and I am very short stacked. The very next hand I have AQ suited, a few limpers, I reraise from the blind all in and one caller...with AA. Done!

Just a run of incredibly bad luck mixed with some not brilliant play. I am reading a couple of new poker books by the internet geniuses....pearljammer, apestyles, and rizen. So far some good tips and I see how much I have to learn. Another new book came in the mail today on small buyin tournaments....watch out Moose!!!

Playing Well, but Still Losing

Last night at the legion was a night of playing well, but still losing. I played very tight, opening few pots and at my top about 3x starting chips. Late in the tournament I commented to the dealer, Carl, that I had not gotten aces to be cracked yet. The next hand he dealt I got QJ suited in middle position. Made a min raise to 1200 with my 5000 stack and blinds at 300/600. An argument could be made here for just open shoving, but thought the min raise did not pot commit me and did show strength. I had been opening for 2.5 times the BB as my new standard open. Anyway, the player to my immediate left who was extremely active, playing every hand very aggressively and had the biggest stack at the table, says, "How much do you have, I put you all in". The dealer reminded him that the entire table needed to act before me, so he goes all in. Everyone folds to me and I respond, "Do you know what I say when someone says I am putting you all in?" "I fold". He tables pocket aces. Definitely had the hand to crack them, but oh well.

The aggressive player ended up going out before the final table, overplaying his hands and getting unlucky. Another big stack overplayed his hands, raising big with A10 offsuit, calling an all in who had AK suited. I missed my big opportunity when the same AK player raised all-in on the button with AK, being insta called by the small blind with AK, and me folding the winner 66 in the BB. I will basically never call in this situation unless severely short stacked, which I was technically, but could not dream that I was in that good a situation. Figured either every face card was out there or bigger pair.

My next to last hand was limp UTG with 99 for 2000 and push on the flop with my last 500. You might ask, why not just push with the 0ther 500? My strategy was to induce more limpers as I am never getting my big stack BB to fold, and it is very scary to see that, as someone remarked. I wanted a volume pot or someone else coming over the top with their big cards to isolate me. I really like this play and will do it again in similar situations. I see short stacks give up all the time and shove when they don't need to. I could have folded if I hated the flop and still played another hand. Anyway, everyone folded to the BB who checked. The flop was queen high, I shoved, he called for $500 more with his 4/10 and missed his 10: double up!

My last hand, down to 3000 with blinds at 1/2000 and I am UTG with AK suited. The BB is the second shortest stack at the final table with 8 players remaining, 6 places paid, having me covered by only 1000. I decide to raise here all in, wanting the BB to call. This was a mistake as my earlier strategy would have been better, but still would have been a loser. I get called by a good player (won a seat online to WSOP main event) with j/10 suited, and then the other short stack somewhat oddly reraised all in with q/2 offsuit!!!!!! Call with j10 and the flop is 8/9/j rainbow. Dang. Turn, ace!!!! Hope!!!! River? 10 for the gutshot straight for the the shortstack and 2 pair for the other guy.

Clearly, if I had done a "stop and go" instead of shoving the BB would have checked on the flop and I would have shoved then with a call by the big stack with top pair. He may have folded with his gutshot and then the 2 pair would have won. In any case it is bad luck for me and good luck for the other guy. The lesson here: Don't let yourself get short stacked.

Unluckiest Player at The Table

How does it feel to be the unluckiest player at the table? Just ask me. Playing in a Pot Limit Omaha tournament this morning I turned the nut low and 2nd nut flush, I end up all in with 2 other players, one of whom has the nut flush and the nut low. Quartered! With the other player's money in the pot I am below starting stack, but not short.

Later, I get knocked out when I flop the third nut flush, turn a set, and get all in on the river against a weak flush that hits a straight flush.

Quad Day at Spirit Mountain

Yesterday I made my trip to Spirit Mountain (1 hour 50 minutes) for the day. I had hoped to catch a high hand for $250 every hour, but was disappointed to learn that they had abandoned it for a Monte that seemed unfair. $800 for straight flush, using both cards. $500 for one card straight flush. $300 for two card quads (did not need to be pocket pair, kicker must play), and $100 for quads without kicker play. A dealer friend (Was...prounounced waz) assured me that this was better since you could get nothing for quad that got beat. I was sceptical until.....I hit quad 10's with my pocket pair! Then later, hit quad 7's with another pocket pair! Sweet. Downside: I had to fill out a tax withholding document since I hit the $600 mark. Missed a $100 quad when I folded my 7/9 on the flop with two overcards to my 9, only to see runner runner 9's. It was also a very good pot, as were my other two quads.

My only disappointments of the day, leaving with "only" $250 over my buy in (my draws did not come in, everyone else's did against me) in a 4/8 kill game, the snack bar being out of mushroom veggie pizza forcing me to eat the hawaiian pizza leading to a major upset stomache later that night.

Why I am a crybaby a-hole

I have to admit it. I am a crybaby a-hole when I play games. My wife now hates our "friendly" spite and malice game. Last night at the Legion I whined about someone relatively short stacked calling my reraise with his AQ vs my JJ and catching lucky. My last hand was against a truly clueless player who called my all in with a hand I wouldn't play in the small blind with no raise (A/3 offsuit). The point is that my behavior is indefensible. I whine about my bad luck, my opponents lucky catches, and poor play in general. I am a very poor loser, however someone once said, "show me a good loser and I will show you a loser". My extremely competitive streak is what pushes me in poker, in my old career, in general. Years ago, I played in a flag football league. I was one of the older, slower players on any team. Yet, I played very hard and aggressively against some great players, including one former NFL lineman, several college stars, one future CFL pro, and one future NY Jets pro. One of the players said to me, "Phil, you have the competitive spirit and heart to have played pro football, (that is if you had more athletic talent)".



Anyway, not to excuse bad manners, I just sometimes want to win too much.

Omaha Tournament Slow Start

The second hand of an Omaha Hi/Low tournament online I am playing pocket 10's and the flop is KK10. I bet pot and am raised pot. I should have folded my underfull, but reraised all-in to see one of the two hands I am behind, either KK or K10. He had K10, but either way I am drawing dead. Down to $50, I go all in and survive, eventually becoming chip leader and coming in second only because of two massive suckouts heads up.

I have been on a major roll lately, winning two tournaments yesterday, and placing 2nd in 3 more. Today I played only 3 tournaments, winning one, 2nd in another, and two off bubble in the third. My sad tale was tonight at the American Legion. I was on a good roll after the break, probably in top 5 with 3 tables of 10 remaining. An online player who is usually pretty astute raised UTG with AQ offsuit. He made it 1200 with a 400 BB. My cards in the hijack slot was JJ. He had 2600 behind, and I had about 6000. I re-raised him all in and he called. The door card was a queen. I am back to starting chip count. I was pretty upset and questioned his sanity calling with AQ.

After some ups and downs, including a good fold with an all in, an overcall, my call, then a bigger all in. The two all ins showed QQ and 99, I folded 55 and the queens improved to a boat.

I had 3000 with blinds at 400/800 and I shoved in the cutoff with A6 suited. Button folds and the small blind, probably chip leader....a clueless rookie calls with A3 offsuit. She spikes a 3 on the turn and I am gone. Overall, two very bad calls did me in. I would "never" call in their chip positions with their cards.

Who Says I Never Get Lucky?

Slow Play Friends- Part II

Recently a friend opined that he was no longer doing friendly check downs with friends, or at least friendly players. The rational is that good players don't play that many hands, and when they do they need to get maximum value from them due to the many horrific bad beat suck outs. I generally agree with this. I wrote a while back about a friendly check down that turned bad and its aftermath. I recently was "guilty" of not soft playing a very good friend, also my roommate in the Tri-Cities and a fellow employee.

Here was the situation. We were playing in the morning Moose tournament and were down to 3 handed at the final table. An out of town visitor, who was a major luckbox and kind of obnoxious had more chips than both of us combined. My friend and I were heads up in a blind vs. blind situation. Honestly, I cannot remember if I completed the small blind, or if we were both in a big blind due to the loss of a player. The blinds were significant, maybe 2000/4000 and represented a big chunk of our chips. Anyway, the flop came down with Q/9/X with me having a queen with no kicker (3). As first action I went all in. My friend looked very annoyed at me and called for all but a couple of his chips. He had a 9. My hand held up and I was in fairly good shape to take on the chip leader. However, I was upset at myself for betting into him, and for his dumb call. The very next hand I ended up raising with A/4 offsuit and was reraised by AA, which I idiotically called, feeling I was pot committed. My friend ended up in 2nd place which was worth an additional $90, so it had a happy ending for him.

My rationale.....remembering that man is a rationalizing, not rational creature.......was that I wanted one of us to have a shot at taking him down. Neither of us had enough chips individually. If I checked down top pair and he drew out the chips won would make the difference in my chances, but we were both at a huge disadvantage. The upshot was that my friend was ticked off at me for a while, I was upset that I had been disloyal to him. Also, I feel that for a while I had very bad poker Karma, which is about the worst punishment one can earn.

Just an update on a super bad beat....Went all in with a raise before me with AA, called by QJ suited and original raiser with AA. Naturally a straight hit for him and knocked both aces out.

A corollary to AA from a tournament yesterday. I saw a guy misplay them as bad as I have ever seen. He was in the bb and there were at least 6 limpers, including me with 10/J suited. He raised.....$20 from the $20 limp!!! Naturally everyone called. He flopped a set, but the flop was all diamonds. He bet like $30 and the flush draws called. He ends up going all in on the river, calling the all in nut flush, and also the player with 3rd nut when a diamond hits. super dumb.

The Crab Shack

A little known game is played at the Crab Shack Restaurant in Wheeler, Oregon on Wednesday nights. I finally tried the game tonight after hearing about it for a couple of years. It is basically the same guys who play Friday nights at the American Legion in Cannon Beach. We had a turnout of only 14 players and I was disappointed to get only 1100 in starting chips. The blind structure was 15 minutes, starting at 10/20. I got lucky early, limping with 99 and flopping a set. I bet, was raised by K/Q on the queen high 2 heart flop, and I shoved all in with a third player mucking the nut flush draw. Queens called and was out when my set held up.

My problems revolved around QQ. I raised from the big blind fairly large ($250, with 25/50 blinds and several limpers). Got two callers and saw a flop with ace high. Check/check/check. Turn pairs 8's and I check, one player bets $200 and I call. River, another 8, check, bet $400, I fold face up, he shows A/3 offsuit::::????? Nice call, idiot.

Later, after losing two big pots to the same clueless guy with a straight draw one time and a flush draw the other, I see pocket jacks in the big blind with a very good player raising 4x BB from the button. I decide to reraise all-in to push out AK, AQ, AJ, and smaller pocket pairs. He says, "Oh, no, a cooler", but calls anyway. I have him covered by only $25. He shows pocket Queens and the door card is.... a queen, leaving me drawing pretty dead. The clueless player takes my last chip when he flops top pair 8, with his 7/8 and turns another 8 against my Q/2 offsuit in the small blind. Good night.

Addendum to the above: After sleeping on the thoughts above I decided that I kind of like the shove with jacks. Here is why.

1. The player was a good, and thoughtful player, not a donk. Even strong bluffs will be effective a large percentage of the time when you are playing for your tournament life.
2. I am ahead of all but 3 hands, and in a coin flip or ahead of against a very large range (pocket pairs, face cards, suited connectors, all hands that he would raise with from the button).
3. The person going all in rather than calling all in has a huge advantage. He can win 3 different ways. By getting the other person to fold, by showing the best hand, by getting lucky on the flop, turn or river (random sets, straights, flushes).
4. So, all told, the correct play with bad results. Gotta make the play every time except when playing with deep stacks. Then, I probably smooth call and reevaluate on the flop. In this situation had I done that, all the chips would have gone in anyway with a queen high flop (one overcard and less likely to have hit his range). So, same results minus the benefits mentioned of shoving preflop.

Please comment on my thoughts.......thanks.

Good Riddance Spade Club

I cashed out of Spade Club website about a month ago. There were some disturbing signs. They had reduced the payouts, but had more frequent smaller payout tournaments. After cashing out I canceled my premier membership and played a few basic (very small prizes and not many tournaments). I managed to win $6.00 in one before quitting and received my last check a couple of weeks ago. Then, by email I was informed that they had sold the site to "Zen Poker" and we had 30 days to cash out. Good riddance. The next thing will probably be canceling my cardplayer magazine subscription that I won.

Pay Attention, Donna!

Some games you look around the table and say "s--t". This morning was a prime example. Three of the country's premier calling stations were seated, along with two of the biggest bluffers known. A couple of hands happened that caught my attention. The first one, Frank, a solid player who was short stacked pushed all-in (with A/8 suited). Donna, a.k.a. ATC does not realize he has pushed and says call from the small blind while throwing in a chip to complete the blind. Sorry, verbal binding. In go another 600 chips and she turns over 7/9 offsuit. A 9 on the flop seals Frank's fate.

A few hands later, I check my big blind with 9/5 offsuit with 4 limpers, including "ATC". The flop is A/J/5 for bottom pair. Checks around. Turn is a 7, checks around. River is another 7. I bet $200, fold to ATC who says "I will keep you honest" and throws in 1000. She says, "I just wanted to call". Too late, pay attention next time. I reluctantly fold the best hand as the call would have cost me nearly all my chips. TRY PAYING ATTENTION!!!!!

I am knocked out of the tournament on my all-in by Sarge who has me exactly covered. I have KQ suited, he calls with.....A/8 offsuit. Two of my suit on the flop with his ace, and both a flush draw and gutshot miss. Bye bye nightmare table.

Is it just me, or am I being cold-decked?

Originally the term "cold deck" was used to describe a rigged deck used to cheat players. It's common usage now is to describe improbable cards coming which beat hands, like flopped quad kings on a KKA flop with runner aces for another player's quad aces. I have been the victim of this for a couple of days.

Example 1. In the Omaha game Wednesday only one hand got really wild with a capped preflop kill pot with multiple players. The pot had to be at least $150 preflop. I held 10/10/xx, and the flop was 10/9/4 rainbow. With top set, in early position, I bet out and was called by two players or more. The turn was an ace, I bet and am called in two spots. The river, another ace for my tens full of aces. I am raised by one of the original preflop jammers. I call, he turns over A/9 for the back door overfull. Cold deck! He irritates me by saying, "but I flopped two pair (9/4)", with which he was drawing almost dead.

Example 2. I am playing in the morning tournament today and raise all-in on the button with 7/7 with one mid position limper. The blinds fold, and he calls for 3/4 of his chips. I say, "Nice call, pair?". Nope, K diamonds/J offsuit. Well, at least it is a coinflip situation. The flop? Ace/queen/10 of diamonds. WTF!!! Donk call and unbelievable flop for the straight, but wait, it gets better? At this point I am drawing dead anyway, but the turn brings the Jack of diamonds for the Royal Flush!!! Cold Deck, sir!!!!

Example 3. I am playing in 45 person SNG with 14 remaining. I raise all-in with AK red cards offsuit and am called by......AK black cards offsuit. Chop city coming, except for the 2 clubs on the flop. Yep, turn club, river club, I am gone due to .......THE COLD DECK!!!! I am so done with poker at least for the day.

New Year's Resolutions

1. I resolve to not defend my blinds as much with really weak hands.

2. I resolve to play back hard at those who raise all the time on the button.

3. I resolve to raise more in late position.

4. I resolve to not open limp.

5. I resolve to not play with scared money in cash games.

6. I resolve to play within my bankroll at all times.

7. I resolve to trap more.

8. I resolve to read more tournament books and study more.

9. I resolve to quit showing hands unless called.

10. I resolve to play squeeky tight under the gun.

11. I resolve to not chase unless given proper pot and implied odds.

Donk Table at The Legion

Tonight was evidently donk night at the American Legion. The first hand dealt the player who chopped first with me last week was knocked out. She raised preflop with JJ and was called with 7/9 suited. The flop was jack high with two of his suit. She bet big, he reraised all in and hit his flush on the turn.

The third hand of the tournament I raised UTG with KK and was called with 6/4. The flop contained a 6, I bet he called. Turn blank, I bet big (600) and he called. The river.....a 4, I bet he called. I am now down to 1/2 my starting chips. The same player almost knocked a player out with 6/4 with a set of 3's flopping and him hitting his straight on the turn. Sick-O.

I ended my tournament by missing a big flush draw in a giant pot, then going all in with KQ suited and was called by the donk in big blind who loves 6/4, with his 2/4 and the other donk with A/7 offsuit!!! The donk #1 hit a 4 on the flop and I failed to improve. They both had me beat.

Playing online later tonight I came close in a couple of tournaments, finally winning a single table SNG and coming in 4th in a 45 person SNG. Think I about broke even.

Here are some interesting hands I captured during my play tonight....

The first one is just dumb luck on my part. I flopped two pair with my Q9 and my opponent flopped the straight with his J/10. I then went runners for the kings full.

The second one I raised preflop with my suited J/10 and was called by the weak ace. As you can see I ended up with quads. Sweet.

The last one is a suck resuck situation where my opponent flopped a straight and I flopped a set of 5's. We both ended up all in and I hit my quads.

Night of Everyone catching their 3 and 4 outers

Wow, how can people continue to catch you with their garbage. QQ vs K9 and they catch their K. AA vs J9 and they hit trip 9's. Flopped a set of 9's vs. AK and a straight ends up on the board with a river gutshot 8 for the chop.

The screenshot above is one hand that they did not catch up with me. Nice flop for my QJ vs. pocket jacks. We ended up all in on the river.

bag of bad beats

Playing in a 45 person SNG I have AJ suited on the button with blinds plus 4 limpers. I raise all-in and everyone folds to the hijack who calls and the cutoff who reraises all-in and has both of us covered. Highjack calls and our cards are revealed. The big stack has 22, the other guy has QJ. The flop......Q22 for flopped quads. Turn is a queen and river a blank, we are both gone.

Playing a single table SNG on the first hand, J7 raises and I call with JK, along with several others. The flop is J/7/x and when it is checked to me I bet the pot. He goes all in and I call. Turn is a 7 and I am drawing dead. First one out.

Next SNG, I raise with 22 (note earlier successful raiser), called by SB with K/10 offsuit. He hits king on flop. But, I am not out. Next I raise all in with AQ and am called by KJ suited. He hits the flush (I also have his ace in his suit, so one more spade he loses). Very short stacked I push with QJ suited and am called by 10/5 in big blind. He hits his 10 and I am gone. Punished by the donks.

I go all in with KK, am called by 44 and a donkey overcall of our two all-ins by A/10 offsuit. He makes runner runner straight (which means that I hit set of kings).

I have KK in big blind, donk in small blind raises all in with K/10. Flop is 9/J/Q. Gone.

Raise by K/10 offsuit, I call with QJ suited. Short stack calls with suited weak ace of spades. Flop is QJ10 with two spades. I bet big, both of them call with their straight and flush draws. Turn is a 9 of spades, completing both of their hands. River is a blank, Short stack triples up, bigger stack takes the side pot, I am gone.

I push all in with JJ, am called by A/4 offsuit with a shorter stack, and Q/5 offsuit with a bigger stack. Flop has an ace, river queen, I am out.

Public Stats

Here is a screenshot of my latest UB statistics and an Omaha hand. As you can see, my flops seen is very ugly (should be in low 20's), but reflects mostly playing in omaha games with average of 50-60% of players seeing the flop so it does distort it hugely. In fact, lately been playing more holdem and dropped the stat from 43% which is tough to do with over 24,000 hands played. If that sounds like a lot of hands, it is really not. I have cleared my statistics many, many times, so that is just a small sampling of how many hands played. I plan on posting more screenshot in the future as I have discovered how to easily save them.

UB is doing a promotion right now where you save a screen shot of any pocket 5's and post it on facebook for an entry into a big satellite for a million dollar tournament. Sounds fun. Here is a screenshot of pocket 5's in the wrong game.....

Poker With Maniacs

Lately I have been seated with maniacs in both online cash and tournament games. Last night playing pot limit omaha was a prime example. The player 2 to my right was raising every hand, in every position by pot when it was his action. It was a deep stack game and I had decided to buy in for the maximum. I tried playing really really tight, but will never fold AA23 preflop to any bets. Sure enough when I would play my premium hands the flop would come out all of one suite, or high only cards, etc. Getting stuck with high buy ins is no fun. Finally, he whittled his own stack down and seemed to calm down. My worst hand came when I flopped the nut straight and nut low. It got jammed and rejammed with a different player and he rivered the perfect card to chop chop the entire thing. Here is the bad part. We both lost money on it due to the 5% rake imposed by Ultimate Bet. With a high low split game this is totally BS.



Finally, I got a big scoop pot, made some money and quit. I am thinking seriously of quitting the omaha games due to the rake factor. It is just too difficult to beat the rake. This is true about poker in general. Those that play too many hands in particular contribute more than their fair share to the house. My overall stats show a 40% see the flop rate, but I play a whole lot of omaha with an average of over 60% seeing the flop.

Today's players, worst luckiest ever. Lots of limpers, me in a blind with QQ, I shove get 2 callers. 1st has 6/8 suited, the other has K/10 offsuit. Flop comes with a 6 and another on the river. I am down 1/2 my chips. Another tournament, I pick up AA under the gun, I raise, am called by a bigger stack with Q/7 offsuit, another player reraises me, I go all-in, and am called by Q/7 who manages to hit trips. Just not my day against the donks.

Poker Dream

Last night I had a very bizarre dream. I was playing a game of Omaha, and had pocket 10's (can't remember the other 2 cards). The flop was A/10/10 and another player bet, with a second player coming over the top all-in. I quickly called with the quads and the dealer shoved the entire pot to me. I know that this does not sound strange except for the fact that the "chips" we were betting with were Jelly Bellies! I scooped this giant pile of candy in front of me, and many of them fell on the floor, which was shag carpeting. Occasionally I would eat one of them, and if I needed more chips, I would pick them up from the floor. Hmmm, what could this dream mean?

Speaking of quads, hit a Monte last week at the Moose, AAAA. Hit the first one on the flop, bet, called by one player. Turn, blank, bet again to protect against the flush draw, called all-in. River, the case ace. Sweet. Had just called for a "scramble" by the previous dealer cause I was running really card dead and hate the time taken by a set-up. Had to tip him as well as the current dealer for the $200 pot plus bonus.

Royal Flush in Tournament

Playing an online tournament today hit a royal flush. I was short stacked playing A/3 of clubs against a small raise when the flop hit 10/J/Q of clubs. Nice to flop the nut flush. An aggressive better with a queen bet into me for 1/2 my chips. Call. Turn is K of clubs for the royal. Bet to put me all in. Call. Nice Hand Sir!!!! This was a 325 plus person guarantee on UB, ended up in 6th place for 15x my buy in!!! I really should have done better, but tightened up too much in order to rise in the money. Laid down pocket jacks to ensure survival to final table as payouts dramatically increased.

Placed first in single table SNG stud hi/low today. I really like stud, but it takes a while to get used to playing it when you are used to omaha and hold em. The hi low is a killer game due to the jamming effect of the single possible low hand with 2 questionable high hands. Would rather have a low than a high in that game.

Profitable Week in Pasco

My goal when I make my monthly trip to the Tri-Cities is to pay all my expenses. I made my goal this month starting with a tournament chop on Sunday morning, small loss on Monday, good win on Wednesday. I bubbled one tournament with a total donk move. I was the short stack with about 3600 after tripling up. I was in the small blind with folds around to me. I had 10/J offsuit and the big blind was 2nd in chips, a very loose ATC player. With blinds at 300/600 I decided that the hand was too strong to fold and a small raise left me fairly pot committed, so I decided to shove. Bad timing. BB wakes up with AK suited, and despite hitting a jack, he hits two aces. Your thoughts?? There was probably a better spot for my money, but I did have two live cards and 10/J plays very well against a large range of hands.

Last night was my online night to crack aces. Did it twice in a single table sitngo with K7 and KQ, hit two pair on one and a four card flush on the board with the other. Should never complain about other players drawing out or getting lucky again. NOT!!! By the way, won that SNG and also final tabled another big tournament. Lost a coin flip 99 vs AK on the river or I would have been chip leader ( was 3rd at the time) and coasted to the win. Left me as a short stack and went all in with Q/10 in multiplayer all in situation. Ended up 9th.

Had a nightmare flop at the Moose morning tournament. I raised on the button with KQ offsuit, I am called by AK and AQ. Flop is queen high and checked to me, I am all-in drawing dead. Sheesh.

Ups and Downs

I have been running pretty good in tournaments lately. Got to split first with my friend Lynne on Sunday at the Moose. I got really stupid in today's tournament shoving from the small blind with 10/J offsuit into the loosest player at the table, who also had me outchipped 3/1. He wakes up with AK suited, and despite hitting a jack, he hits two aces.

Cash game not so good, stuck about $200 early (QQ vs. AA) and another one against a very weak player who happened to have KK. I had two pair, with QJ but board pairing 4's counterfeited me. Came back with a nice heater to end up stuck "only" $80 and moved to Omaha game where I made it back, only to lose it on a bad streak of 2nd best hands plus a board misread, " I have the nut low", dealer, "There is no low", me, "Oh" after I raised the winning boat out and a donk called with lower full house (I also rivered trip kings).

Pretty Good Weekend

Friday American Legion tournament with my friend Bob. Chopped 5 ways for a win of $237 on $40 buy in.

Saturday, trip to Spirit Mountain casino with Bob. Knocked out with 25 players remaining in $120 buy in tournament (set of queens ran into royal flush), but recouped my loss with cash game win....

My online wins have been pretty spectacular. I just reviewed my wins this week and have cashed in 18 tournaments or cash games in 7 days. My best day had 5 cashes. Tonight I played a turbo and ultra turbo simultaneously and won both of them.

Getting on a Roll

Lately I have been doing very well in both single table and multi-table (mostly 45 person SNG's) tournaments online. I have either won or placed in the money in 5 tournaments in the last 24 hours...probably played in 8. I have been getting lucky at times, but generally just playing tight poker.

Some notable action:

Got all-in with 88 vs KK on a K/8/x flop with 2 clubs. I had the eight of clubs. Runner runner clubs made my winning hand with a flush.

Had my aces snapped by KJ. My set on the river gave him a straight.

I had a very sick suckout against the big blind with my button raise 7/6 offsuit against the QQ. Flop came Q/5/7, naturally I bet he smooth called with his set of queens. The turn is an 8, giving me the open ender. I bet he raises all-in, I call. River 4 for my straight.

Big stack raises preflop with Q/10 offsuit, I reraise all-in with AA, he flops two pair.

Short stack all-in with 6/9 called by my AJ, he flops trips and turns quads.

My AA cracked by AK, flush.

There are probably dozens of other sick things I could mention, but you get the idea.

The Legion Beats

My first hand was a disaster. There is usually a lot of passive play, early limping going on, so I decided to join in. With connectors, 6/7 offsuit I raised in late position. One of the calling station luckboxes called with Q/9 offsuit. The flop was J/10/x. He checked, I bet, he called. The turn another 10. He checks, I bet, he calls. The river, a 9. He checks I bet, he calls and takes the pot.



Later the same guy totally puts a player on tilt. The other player raised with pocket kings. Luckbox calling station calls with 9/2 offsuit. Flop is rags with a 2, he checks, player goes all in and he calls. A two on the turn sends player to the rail ranting and raving.

Bad Beat For Bob

Today was the first round for the Moose freeroll tournament. I got a sleepy start when I got locked in the night before in a deepstack tournament which ultimately ran for 6 1/2 hours. I ended up in third out of 253 players, but oh dear I paid today. My game was not up to "A" level and I kept running into stronger hands and draws coming in. I played intermittently aggressive which is not a good idea. At times I would bet into check pots and take them, other times I would passively check it down in position and give it up. Early on I tried a play against the player to my immediate left. I had nothing, but called his raise out of position to go for the steal. The board had a possible straight when I check raised his $500 bet to 1500. He then reraised to 3500 and I folded.

Later, I lost a fairly big pot to super dave who called my bet on a Q/10/10 flop (I did have a queen, no kicker). I then bet the turn which he also called, and gave it up on the river, checking and folding to his bet. Definitely hard to bet out of position with a semibluff.

Latif snapped me twice with flush draws when I flopped an ace with a decent kicker. He is not a tournament player and does not understand card odds vs. pot odds. I never gave him the correct odds to draw.

My final hand was A9 offsuit all in with Dave limping and me with 5 BB's.. Latif also called and the flop came KK9 which I thought could be a great flop for me, but Dave had overcalled the bet with KQ offsuit, despite Latif's call. I didn't see Latif's hand, but assume I was ahead of it.

Bob's bad beat was terrible. He called me to let me know that he was the first player eliminated from his flight with KK vs AK with an AK flop and a rivered ace. Doesn't get much worse than that.

Expensive Tournament Hours

Being on the bubble for hours in the upcoming tournament I made the early drive from the coast to play some. Got in a game around 2:30 and played enough to qualify. Only problem it cost me $300.

I was cruising along with a small loss until the cowboy moved to the table. A very good player to my right told me that he was a complete donkey, calling down with bottom pair every time, sometimes betting it. He ended up costing me $200 or more. I snapped him early with a turned straight but he raised in early position with 7/2 (seven dewey!!!), Twee calls the $5 raise and I see my pocket jacks, just calling. It was not intended as a bluff opportunity, he was way too dense for that. They were sssoooooted! The flop came with a 7 and he bets $15 which Twee calls, I raise to $35 and he calls, Twee folds. Turn, small card, he bets $20 and I raise. River a 2, he bets I call and lose to his two pair.

Later, I get aces snapped, good player raises big with pocket kings, I reraise. He hits his king on the flop.

My last hand, agains the cowboy, he raises $10 under the gun with A/4 offsuit. I have pocket kings. I reraise $20 to isolate him. He calls. The flop.....A/4/x. All the rest of my chips ($10) goes in. I quit.

Unrelated story, but a super bad beat was in an omaha game online. One player has JJAQ, the other is playing KKQ2. The flop is: JK8. The turn K, the river J. Quad over quad. The jacks guy was totally stunned.

Random Poker Thoughts

1. Playing in two simultaneous tournaments I had pocket 7's in one and pocket 6's in the other. The flop on one included a 7, while the other flopped a 6. Did I flop two sets? Nope, they were on the opposite tournaments, go figure.

2. A donk move gets lucky. I move all in with K9 suited, shorter stack calls with 9/3 suited and catches his three outer 3.

3. The previously mentioned donk gets knocked out the very next hand, along with another donk calling the all-in with 9/3. Hah Hah.

4. I suck out with 44 all-in vs. AA by catching my 4.

5. I heard a very bad beat story last night at the Legion. Playing in a WSOP final qualifier on line a guy was 5th in chips (paid 4 places entry in main event) with only 50 remaining players. He was all in with pocket aces vs. pocket aces and got beaten by a flush. A few hands later the same thing happened again. Very bad luck.

6. Two regular players at the Legion won WSOP main event seats. One sold his for $11,500....12,000 value prize. I think the other one is going to play. That is pretty amazing for a small group, probably 60 regular players. Shows the level of competition at the local level.

7. Knocked out of tournament this morning with pocket queens. I push all in with a fairly large stack. I am called by a smaller stack who has KK, a bigger stack with AK, and a very small stack with 5/9. Unbelievably there is a king on the flop (one outer for the largest stack...not counting the 3 aces).

Kings at the Legion

Kings were my salvation and my undoing tonight at the Legion tournament. The first time I got them an early position player raised and I flat called to make sure there was no ace on the flop. With a 9/10/3 flop the early raiser bet and I raised 3x his bet and he called my raise. The turn was another small card, he checked and I bet 300 into the 700 pot, he called. River brought a jack and he declared all-in. I questioned him, jacks??? 10's??? With a possible straight on board with KQ I folded my kings face up and he showed.....pocket queens. Bad fold as you will learn later.

My next experience with pocket kings was an aggressive young player raising big in early position. I check my cards and hmmm, pocket aces. I re-raise all-in and he tanks but finally calls (I have him covered) and he shows.....pocket kings. My aces hold up and he is gone. Our table breaks down shortly afterwards and I go to a new table. A few hands in I look at .....pocket kings in the big blind with about 4 limpers. I raise big (to 1700 with blinds at 100/200) and an early position limper reraises me all=in. Everyone folds except for the small blind who goes into the tank. Finally someone calls time on him and he folds sheepishly, since he thought it was my action. I call having the reraiser covered, and he shows....pocket aces. They hold up and I am back to original chips.

A few hands later, I am in the big blind again with 3/5. The pocket ace guy, Don, limps again and I am suspicious. Erik, the guy I should have knocked out earlier also limps on the cutoff. The flop comes queen/3/4. I check and so does everyone else. The turn is a 6 which gives me an open end straight draw plus my pair of 3's. I go all-in for 1500 with the pot at 1400 and both limpers call. The turn is a 9, they both check, and the early limper shows JJ (another trap), while the button who I should have knocked out earlier takes the pot with AQ.

One last KK story. I am playing tonight after getting knocked out of the live tournament in an online tourney. I am down to almost nothing and pick up KK in the blind. My allin is called by JJ and 33 and A5 suited. The jacks hit the two outer and I am eliminated. Two tournaments out with pocket kings.

Good Beats for a Change

I know that it can be very tiresome for my small but dedicated blog followers to keep reading about me whining about my bad beats, so in the interest of fair and balanced reporting, here are some good beats from today.

1. I am all-in with AQ and called by AK. Queen on the flop saves me.

2. My all-in with AA holds up against KQ and 3/6.

3. My all-in with KQ suited is called by AA. I flop an open ended straight draw and two hearts. River the heart for the flush. Aces cracked.

4. Not really a bad beat story, but my AK is called all-in by Q/8. Flop is JJA, with turn an ace.

5. Last story not a bad beat, but just a horrible situation. 3 all-ins, I have KK, bigger stack has AA, and biggest stack has QQ. Flop is 8/8/Q. Youchers!

How to fail at poker

I am actively finding new ways to lose at poker. Some examples:

1. In the blind I am playing 9/2. The flop is 2/2/6. A player bets, another raises, I go all-in and they both call. They have JJ and 5/6. There is a 6 on the river and I am gone.

2. Player goes all-in with 9/9, I call with K/Q. He catches a 9 on the flop, I get my king on the turn. I am gone.

3. I flop a straight with A/10 on a K/Q/J flop early in tournament. JJ hits a queen on river for full house. I am gone.

4. 9/10 hearts raises (big stack), I reraise all in with KQ hearts (small stack). He hits a 10 on the flop and....I am gone.

5. I raise all-in from the button and a short stack with Q/10. Small blind (barely covering me) calls with Q/6 suited. Flop is Q/6/x and .....I am gone.

Lest you think this is just some bad beats accumulated over a long time, they are not. They all happened to me today..........WTF!!!

Finding Pocket Aces

My WSOP dreams were crushed yesterday. First off, it was Father's Day, and my kids were visiting. Not a good scenario for uninterrupted concentrated play. I got off to a slow start and lost 20% of my chips to a big stack with top pair, good kicker (KJ with king high flop) when he flopped two pair playing a suited 10/3. My next hit came from an ill timed bluff on the cutoff with 5/2 suited. The button stayed with me on a 2 barrel bluff (raise preflop, bet on flop and turn). I gave it up on the river as only an all-in would possibly have won. My last hand came when I was down to about 2500 in chips with 100/200 blinds and I pushed with A/8 suited in clubs. The massive big stack came over the top and another player called. I considered folding, but with the other caller went for pot odds, realizing that I needed to chip up fast to have any chance at this point. The big stack found pocket aces with the ace of diamonds. Running diamonds with two on the flop found me drawing dead, and he eventually made the flush as well.

Later, playing in another tournament I also ran into a big stack with pocket aces. Go figure. My other two tournaments were unusual in that I ran into bad luck with the same player in different tournaments. Jimtrout is a very good player, and as it turns out very lucky against me. In the first tournament, I was cruising along with a good chip count, but he had me slightly covered. Playing pocket 8's I flopped a set with a 10,8, 5 flop. I bet, he raised, we go all-in. He is playing j/9 for the open ended straight draw and he hits a queen on the river to knock me out. Later, in another tournament basically the same thing happened, I went all-in with a made hand and he caught runners for another straight. Sometimes one player just is super lucky against me. The second tournament where he knocked me out I did cash for 4th, but it was my only cash of the day.

WSOP Tournament Finals

Today I am playing for my World Series of Poker $10,000 seat plus $2,000 in expenses. I won entry into the semi-finals yesterday by winning a satellite tournament, then finished 66th in the semi's (top 100 won a seat). The placement didn't really matter after the 101st was eliminated, and everyone just sort of started going all-in...I was eliminated with 3 others with my A/9 offsuit.

Anyway, there are 343 finalists so my odds aren't really that bad. It would be awesome to win the seat and achieve my dream. I played last year in a cash game with someone who had won an online seat like that and he ended up cashing for $27,500, so it can happen. The top 600 or so at the WSOP get their buy in back, so even $10,000 isn't bad. You can even sell the seat for face value if you want, which probably isn't a terrible idea. But, I just want the experience.

Examples of weak play/ combined with luck

1. Player limps in with A/4 offsuit.
2. Same player calls my 4x blind raise (pocket 9's).
3. Same player callls pot size raise with 2/3/4 flop. (Hey, I've got top pair! and a gutshot draw!)
4. Same player gets lucky when a 4 comes on the river after reraising me all in.

Example 2:

1. Player with a big stack calls my pot size bet with KJ on a QJx flop (I have QJ). Also called by Q4.
2. Both players call my all-in bet on turn with a blank.
3. Big stack knocks us both out with a 10 on the river for his gutshot.

Very Unlucky

The morning Moose tournament has been cruel to me. I started well, with lots of small pocket pairs, some good bluffs, and an early decent stack. I then ran into trouble with an early position raise with JJ. I am called by a very loose aggressive player who calls with A/10 offsuit. The flop is 10/10/9. I continuation bet and he calls. I bet the turn as well with another small card, commenting that one of us is stringing the other along. With the straight draws, I then fire a final bet which he raises on the river. I foolishly call. Down to about 1/2 original stack. My next debacle comes with J10 hearts. I flop a double gutshot straight draw with an AQ8 flop and one diamond. Dr. Dave bets and I call. The turn gives me a pair of jacks and another diamond on board, Dave bets, I call. The river is the 10 of diamonds and I figure, two pair and I can bluff for the straight. I bet 500, leaving me 475 behind and Dave raises me all in. I fold face up and he shows the Q/9 diamonds for a straight flush. Good fold. Good hand. Very unlucky.

My last hand I go all in with K/Q offsuit and get 3 callers (why not call the unluckiest player at the table if you are loose with A7 offsuit?). The flop is AA6 and they all check. Hope. The turn is a king and checks around. More hope. The river pairs the 6 and checks again. Sick.

Good News for Lynne

O.K. Lynne, here is the good news. I know that I am a big crybaby whiner about my bad beats, so here is my take on it. I am playing good poker lately and am up about 500 or so in cash games. Tournaments continue to be bad for me, but am probably money ahead even if I had cashed a couple of times. My cash results tell me that I am playing o.k. The problem with tournaments is one bad beat or decision and you are out permanently. With the cash game you can either rebuy or just watch your stack take a hit, then come back.

To try to improve my tournament results, I am studying a "new" poker theory on short stack play called "push-bot charts". It basically analyzes your position on the table (blind, button, cut off, UTG, etc.), your chip stack "M" (number of big blinds), and the card holding, as well as whether the table is loose, tight or average. It sounds much more complicated than it actually is. For instance: pocket 8's or any larger pockets in any position against any table are a good shove with 10 BB's (down to pocket 4's except for tight tables), pocket 2's only on the button (shove 2's in any position with 2 BB's). You can google poker push bot and download the entire PDF file if you are interested.

Not Playing on the Final Table at American Legion Tonight

Busted just before the final two tables. Let me tell you of my sad tale. First off, there are players there that will call any raise with cr-p! Secondly, the same players will call you to the river with any bet if they get any piece of the flop or any draw. So, I had a wild ride with my pocket pairs. Got down then back up with a flopped set of 10's and was around 3000 chips when a 2400 stack raised with his AQ. I reraised all in with KK and another short stack calls with AJ. Perfect scenario for me. But, the dealer finds one of the two remaining aces, plus a queen and I am down to 600 in chips. The table then breaks down, I am moved to another table and yippee, move right into the big blind (200). With action I fold my 2/3 offsuit. In the small blind with only 300 behind I shove with AQ suited. The big blind folds, and I am back to 600. I call the 400 big blind (they went up the next hand) with Q10 hearts. With a queen high flop, the small blind bets, big blind, down to 200 as well, calls, and I call. Showdown I win 1800 with queen and best kicker.
Next hand I pick up A9 suited and push. The guy who found his two outer on the other table calls with JJ. The flop comes ace high and I am happy until the turn when the jack peels off. Unbelievable. Same guy getting lucky two times.

Bad Luck Streak

In tournaments today, I have just flat out been running unlucky. For example: First hand in a big tournament a middle position player raises about 12 times the big blind. I have pocket queens, so I min-reraise him. He pushes all in and I call. He has aces and I am gone first hand.

Tournament number 2: Early raiser, I reraise with pocket 10's. He flat calls. 9 high flop, he checks, I bet pot, he check raises all-in, I call. He has pocket 9's and flops top set. But wait, it gets better. The turn is the case 9 for quads and I am drawing dead. How can he hit the set (2 outer against me), then I fail to hit my 2 outer, and have him hit the very long shot?

Tournament number 3: I am running fairly good and raise 5x big blind (there are limpers)with AK, genius next to me calls with A/10 offsuit. I bet pot with
top pair, top kicker on a A/10/x flop. Genius sitting next to me calls. The turn...another 10. I am now crippled with about 1000 in chips (had about 4000), and he is chipped up. A few hands later I have QQ and shove. He instacalls with A/7 suited. There are 2 other callers, one with AK suited, the other with KK. Ace on the flop toasts me, then he hits running clubs for the flush. Nice, huh?

Last tournament today: 7 card stud, down to 12 players. One player has been sitting out but had a big stack and had me covered. I am about 7th in chips. I pick up a pair of jacks on the flop and come out firing. He chooses that hand to sit back down and calls with 3 connected (1 gap) cards. He hits the gutshot on 3rd street and the straight on 4th. I pick up 2 pair and keep firing till all in. My hand fails to fill up and I am gone.

Bad luck, bad calls and Spade Club is BS

Knocked out in 28th place, my KK vs 6/4 suited, huge raise preflop, all-in by bigger stack (barely), makes flush on river.



Called all in with QJ suited, AK suited makes quad aces.



My all-in with A/10 finds KK in big blind.

I could go on and on, but I digress. Today, I played in a big tournament and was the undisputed chip leader on the final table. I played too tight, especially against a frequent and light raiser, missing opportunities to knock my no. 2 and 3 rivals out (had both outchipped by 3 to 1). Ended up missing some giant draws and running into monsters slow played, also chipped one guy up big time when I attempted to trap in the small blind vs. bb with queens, he had 7 dewey, Lynne. Flop came small, with two deuces and a 7 on the river.

I am trying to determine if I am playing poorly, inconsistently, or if this site is just bs. Am starting to think it is all of the above. If I play super tight, the donks do me in. If I play loose, the rocks get me. If I mix it up I seem to pick the wrong spots. The flops are truly devastating as well with seemingly the wrong player making the right call against me most times.

How Spade Club is Ruining My Game

I have been a member of Spade Club for almost a year now. I am happy to report that I have won back my annual fee plus a year's subscription to Card Player magazine. That said, I am going to let my subscription lapse. Why? It is ruining my game. Because it is a subscription site, all the games are essentially freerolls. With entry based on points, you are under constant pressure to enter "point builder" tournaments or "blue or red token" tournaments to enter the cash award tourneys. Despite having lots of points (48,000), with maximum entry "cost" of 5,000 points, but lots of 10, 25, or 100 point enries, you still must accumulate points. They used to be much easier to get. My easiest strategy was entering late night tourneys and since I am on the West coast, there would be few entries....then just go to bed and sit out, coasting into some point increase. They closed that loophole by kicking you out after 42 hands of sitting out. So, now like the proverbial hamster on the wheel, I must enter tournament after tournament to get points to play in the bigger payout ones. But here is the rub. Because of the huge fields, the tournaments usually start out as donkfests with 3 or 4 people going all-in first hand on multiple tables. So, with a big hand you join the donks and get busted by the inspired 7/5 offsuit donk who triples up and keeps donking his way to the final tables.

Now, the way SC is ruining my game is by multi-tabling too many tournaments. I am just not able to play all of them well, and rely too much upon waiting for big hands, not just good opportunities. Plus, with a high "donk factor" I find that I am getting very frustrated. The temptation to join them is overwhelming at times and just can't be good for my game.

New example, guy raises with crap, I reraise with QQ and get 4 callers...unbelievable. I flop set of queens, but two spades on flop. All-in by AQ, everyone calls....two flush draws with the big stack having KJ of spades. Naturally, a spade comes on turn and the board fails to pair.

Donk Calls

Don't you just love it when you get the donk call? Playing online today, I had a fair chip count and found pocket 8's. My all-in shove was called by small blind with a Jack/five suited. He caught a jack and a 5 on the flop. Go figure. Later, another tournament my JJ shove gets called by A/8 suited. He catches an ace. Why is it that the donk with the hand that catches is the one that calls you?

Coolers

Have you ever noticed that some days you just keep running into coolers? I was playing on the final table, short handed in a big online tournament today. I was second in chips when a the third largest stack shoved. I called with 6/6 to see his K/4 offsuit. He naturally caught a king, and a 4. Now the short stack with 3 players remaining I again catch 6/6. I shove and he calls with another weak king, and again catches a king. Definitely a cooler.

Legion Success

The Friday night American Legion tournament has gotten a lot juicier. Since having to relicense in February, there is no longer a rake being taken at all, nor are the dealers given any discount. That meansthat more money goes to the winners. I started off pretty slow, with very few hands played. This is a tournament that usually sees a lot of weak limping early, but the table had some good players on it, and often it was raised preflop. My big hand came against Clydene, a player who had knocked me out a few weeks ago when she 4 bet with AK versus my AQ reraise of the initial raiser. In terms of "playing the player" the one thing I knew about her was that she often overplayed her hands, particularly immediately after taking a beat, bad or not. She had just lost a hand when I found AK suited and popped it up 3x the BB. She reraised me all-in and I insta-called. She showed down the cursed AQ offsuit. The flop was very good for me, with a king, but she caught a queen on the turn and with a 10 showing, a jack would chop/chop. With a blank on the river I knocked her out and she fled quickly (the same thing I usually do). With my double up, I was in great position and actually about 3x the original chip starting. When our table broke down I moved tables to encounter a loose cannon who should have been knocked out with my K/6 vs. Q/6 on a 7/6/3 flop and me putting him all in. But the cards ran to a straight on the board and we chopped. He was out shortly afterwards and I moved on to the final table. Making the final table with any reasonable chip stack for me is like guaranteeing a payday. They play 6 places, with 6th getting about 1 1/2 time the $40 buyin back. The final table was shorthanded since two players got knocked out at once, and there were two short stacks. The play was pretty routine, with my only scare coming from a shove with A/10 suited and the big stack going into the tank, and finally laying down what he said was AQ suited. Respect!! We finally got down to 3 of us, all online regulars and decided to give the big stack an extra $100 while we each took $260.

Grady Issues

Playing in this morning's Moose tourament I was on a major heater with pocket aces twice, a monster 3 barrel bluff against the second biggest stack, and many small pots. When it came time to chip up the green chips, I had nearly all of them on the table. Grady can be a very loose and sometimes too aggressive player, so when I raised UTG with pocket 9's to 1800 (blinds 300-600), and he reraised from the big blind to 3700, it was not too tough a call. I had position, a fairly strong hand, and had him well covered with chips. I decided immediately upon calling that if the flop was small, I was all-in. If it held an ace or king I would check/fold. The flop was unbelievable to me....Queen/9/8. When Grady checked, he made some hollywood type of comment. Normally that would set off bells for me, but I then believed that he probably had aces or kings and I did not want him to catch up with me, so I pushed all-in. He insta called with his pocket queens. Ouch, set over set. I won another pot on a push, and got back to 4000 in chips. Grady limps in with K/J and I push all in for 3000 more with QQ, Holly calls with A/9 and only 1500 in chips, then Grady calls. If she hits her ace, that is o.k. with me, but Grady manages to find a king and we are both gone. How sick is that...beaten by queens and with queens.

Donkeys, Luckboxes, sixty nine

This morning's Moose tournament was going fairly well for me. Sal knocked a player out with an all-in call with his 6/9 soooted! The other player had flopped a set of 5's. Runner runner brought a straight and Sal doubled up. Old Ray got moved to our table, fairly shortstacked and doubled up against Vickie, then the next hand he limps in with (drum roll please), 6/9 suited. I raised the 100 blind to 700 with my pocket queens. Everyone folded except Ray who called. With a 9 high flop he checks to me, I go all-in, and he calls (with only one chip remaining). A 9 on the turn seals my fate and another lucky donkey player doubles up. Unbelievable.

Last night's Omaha had mixed results for me. I 4 way chopped in the tournament for a $120 gross win (minus buy-ins and my rebate program with Bob, and dealer tip....a very small win) and lost $100 in the cash game. Great cards, bad flops.

Pair over Pair

One of the most devastating matchups you can have in poker is pair over pair. With a pair vs. overcards you are in a coinflip situation, but pairs are just very tough. This weekend I saw 3 examples of this, two in which the bottom pairs got extremely lucky. The first was unfortunately against my friend, Lynne (sorry again, Lynne). She raised in early position with pocket queens, and I re-raised with my pocket kings. She flat called and we saw the 8 high flop. Her first action was all-in and I quickly but reluctantly called, fully expecting to see aces. I was a little surprised to see queens as I thought she might even check to see how I liked the flop, then fold to an all-in (or quickly call with aces). I was surprised at the action as I do not see how she could put my big reraise at anything but aces or kings. I would never reraise with anything less. Anyway, a king on the turn sealed the hand.

The second pair over pair that day was Roland vs. "villain" on the final table at the same tournament. Roland went all-in with kings and was snap called by aces. I commented on the hand saying that I had folded a king. Roland found the case king on the river and a big stack was suddenly a short stack.

My last example was from the tournament this morning. I had 3100 in chips with blinds at 300/600 when another player announced all-in. I looked down at pocket 7's and called, leaving me one $100 chip. I was happy when he asked me if I had a pair, and he showed his pocket 6's. Sweet. The flop was low and all around both of us. The river brought a 7 for me, giving me a set, but unfortunately giving him a straight. If a 6 had come, I would have made the straight. Go figure, whoever hits their set loses, and I was over a 9 to 1 favorite. Oh, well.

Vegas Day 2 & 3

Day two in Vegas was uneventful. I played in the 11 a.m. Mirage $60 buy-in and went out on the final table bubble. Average results playing no limit and some luck at the table games left me slightly ahead. I wandered off to the Venetian, where they were having a deepstack tournament with a $550 buy-in. I sat down at the 4/8 half kill omaha game and got on a real heater, cashing out for about $250 over my buy in. I had been down to only $16 at one time from my $110 starting stack. Great night and a very nice poker room.

Day 3 (Thursday) again started with the Mirage tournament. I was seated with the most annoying player you can imagine. He was a big, tall Swede who was sh_t faced drunk when the game began. He annoyed everyone at our table by taking forever to muck his cards...hmmmm, shall I call, hmmmm....nope....fold. However, he was drunk lucky and kept wiping people out or doubling them up. I commented to the guy sitting next to me that he "probably will win the tournament" as he was fairly clueless and either made horrible folds or lucky all-ins. I was catching lots of pairs, but all small ones. Pocket 7's 5 times, 4's, 3's, 10's twice and my big pair....jacks. When we got to the final 4 in the tournament I suggested that we do a 4 way split of $300 each, but Mr. Drunk lucky would not hear of it, being the chip leader. At this point he had been cut off from more alcohol by management and everyone was completely annoyed, particularly the dealers. I ended up heads up with him and just anxious to be done. Second paid around $260 and when I suggested a chop....he again refused. I decided to just shove every hand and get it over with. Miraculously I became the chip leader when my Q/5 hit two pair against his A/9. He had me with the same hand later and I was on the very short stack. We then jumped up in blinds (8/16,000 with 1000 antes) and he wanted a quick break. I reluctantly agreed since I was outchipped only to see him head for the bar (cut off in the poker room). I complained, they went to get him, and I proceeded to shove until I finally got him. The dealers all thanked me, and I won $560 for first.

vegas part 1

Day one in Vegas is always very exciting. You are rested, filled with enthusiasm you can hardly wait to hit the tables, and are not bloated from eating at the buffets. The weather was a big disappointment. It had been in the low 80's but dropped to the 50's for two days, only warming up today as we left. Staying at Treasure Island was a minor inconvenience. Their poker room is small and not very active (for reasons I will get into later), so we started playing at the Mirage, which is a convenient tram ride next door. It is one of my favorite places to play, small and fairly intimate with fair table service and usually lots of easy tourist pickings. I jumped in to a 1/2 no limit game and just traded dollars most of the time. I got all-in with a big hand pocket aces only to have the other player have the other two aces. I survived a near disaster when he almost rivered a flush. One other all-in doubled me up and decided to drop out of the game and relax with a simple 3/6 game. There were bonus quad and straight flush opportunities and lots of easy tourists, but my cards were pretty dead and I just broke even.

Unbelievable

I had a very bad feeling when I got my table draw on Friday night. The dealer was Clydene, who I have had problems with before on my right and a guy who has won many tournaments on my left. He is a noted ATC luckbox just so you know. Early on I played 4/5 suited in the blind. He limped UTG with 6/7 offsuit. The flop? 6/6/7 giving me the open ender to draw dead to. I bet small twice, missing thankfully, then when a 5 came on the river I check called his 200 bet. Oh well, it could have been much more painful.

The painful hand came later when I looked down at pocket kings in the small blind with about 5 limpers at $80 BB. I raised to $340 and everyone folded except ATC in the BB. The flop was 8/9/J rainbow. I bet $600 into the 880 pot and he reraised all-in. I thought for just a second (not long enough) and called. He turns over Q/10 offsuit for a flopped straight. I am the first one out of the tournament. What I should have done is take time to run through the hands he may have called with preflop: 88, 99, 1010,JJ, AA, QQ, AK, AQ, AJ. I really cannot imagine anyone calling a big out of position raise with Q/10 here, but I should have given him credit for flopping a set. Of those hands, I think the most likely shove would be 10/10 with the one overcard and open ended straight draw. Any flopped set, you let the other guy bet it for you. Aces probably shoves, and queens too as they would be afraid of straight cards coming. Anyway, an unhappy ending for my quest for Vegas cash. Leaving Tuesday morning and planning on playing mostly tournaments.

Online Freeroll

The first money I ever made online was in a freeroll. I won a pot limit omaha tournament with several thousand players and won the princely sum of $7.00. This enabled me to play in very low limit cash games and eventually into larger buy in tournaments. I have never deposited into my account and have been playing off the original money ever since. Have even been able to "sell" some of my winnings by taking cash and transferring money into other people's accounts.

Yesterday I came very close to cashing in another freeroll. There were 3,883 entrants and I ended up 27th (paid 18 places). What was interesting was that I took a dinner break late in the tournament and was surprised to come back with around 100 people left and still having 15,000 chips ( I left with 40,000). My first hand back was pocket 3's and decided to just shove with 2/4000 blinds plus antes. I doubled up when they held up against AK. Back in the hunt I ultimately shoved with pocket 5's and was called by another short stack with A/9 that had me covered. Here is the sick part. The flop was Q/6/x, the turn was a 6, the river....queen.... for two higher pair on the board, counterfeiting my two pair with the ace playing. I hate freerolls.

My friend Bob is in Salem this week visiting and called to see if I wanted to meet him at Spirit Mountain today. Does Frosty have snow balls? I was all over the invite until I realized that tonight is the American Legion tournament plus next week Bob, Geoff, Ron and I are going to Vegas, so decided to try to build up my bankroll here.

Online Success

Playing in some small online tournaments (45-300 players) I have been meeting some success this week with 3 final tables (one second, one 8th, and one 9th place finish). Would have (couldhave,shouldhave) won the second place finish...had the guy covered when he slow played pocket aces. I flopped the open ender with flush draw...which hit on the turn. He rivered another club to get me with his ace of clubs. Oh well.

I am meeting with mixed results in my omaha cash games. They are just nuts with people jamming preflop with inferior hands. Example: pot raises with A/3, or QQ stuff like that. I pretty routinely just call preflop, even with monsters like AA23 double suited. The flop just destroys so many great starting hands.

Nemesis

There always seems to be one person who really hurts you in poker. Tonight at the American Legion I ran into one. The evening started poorly with me being asked to deal one of the four tables. I really hate that as it distracts from my play, but i reluctantly agreed. The table was pretty good to me, and being on table 3 I finally got to be a regular player when we got down to 2. I made the final table, but was fairly short stacked. I finally go really lucky when I pushed with A/8 offsuit in the small blind and was called by the big blind with KQ offsuit. I caught an 8 on the flop and runner runner 8's for quads, which knocked off the high hand of AAAKK. It pays $88 and with only 7 players left, looked like it would stand up. This is where my nemesis comes in. One guy flops quad aces and kicks my 8's off the board. A few hands later he raises to 6,000 (blinds 1 and 2,000) with AQ. I reraise with pocket 10's all in for 5000 more and he calls. The flop was low, but an ace hit on the turn and I am out of the tournament in 6th place for a $92 win. It was bittersweet since there were two short stacks at the table that probably would have gone under first, and I would have moved up substantially in the money.......but, I was playing for 1st place and not just a few bucks more.

Tough Tournament Decision

Playing in the final last night for the 10 day Wildhorse Poker Roundup package I got on an early heater. Beginning the final with 35,000 in chips with 500/1000 blinds I was in average or slightly above chip count. I had decided early on to play aggressively and took down the first pot with pocket 4's against the tournament leader. I then went on a heater, getting pocket 7's (lost), pocket 10's (won), pocket queens (won) and AK (won). I had almost doubled up in the first 1/2 hour and was now around 4th in the tournament with about 60,000. That is when my trouble hit.

In middle position I look down at AQ of diamonds. I raise to 3500 and get two callers ....both big stacks that have me covered. The flop? Hallelujah! Q/J/10 with two diamonds. I think briefly about my bet sizing and decide to bet 10,000 into the 12000 pot, representing a big hand, but perhaps fearful of diamonds...which would be my dream turn card if someone was on a diamond draw, also protecting against the flopped open ender of 9/10 or AK gutshot. The first limper announced raise and the button quickly mucked. To be honest, I can't even remember what his raise was, a minraise here is 10,000, but I looked at the board and too quickly reraised all-in.

What went through my mind was:

1. He probably thought I caught air and was playing too aggressively.
2. He probably has the same hand, but I have a backup plan with the flush draw.
3. He was slow playing a monster AA or KK against my raise, but I still have 12 outs against kings and 9 against aces.
4. He flopped a set, same outs as kings.
5. He had AK for a flopped straight (really not that, since I think he slow plays it a little but perhaps fearful of flush draw.)

Anyway, the pot was offering me tremendous odds against any of these hands as the total pot size was 40,000 without my reraise and I was not a huge dog. With my all-in I was getting 3/1 with about 2/1 against me. I had a chance to become the massive chip leader and almost knock out one of the big stacks.

He turns over Q/J offsuit!!! for two pair. I fail to improve and he has me barely covered. I am the first one out. Wow!

In reviewing this I see several mistakes on my part.

1. Pot Control. With a huge hand and bigger draw I should have made a smaller continuation bet. This would have shielded me from the big reraise. If I bet 5,000 on the flop and he reraises me to 10 or 15,000 I have excellent odds to call and go for the flush on the turn without risking my stack. Also this would give good odds to the last limper if he had a draw.

2. Not being able to see the forest for the trees. This is hand I can lay down this early and still have a lot of chips. The deck has been kind to me so far, so why risk my tournament on one hand. This is the most compelling mistake I made.

3. Not taking enough time for big decisions. I should have taken more time, asking for chip counts, exactly figuring odds, making him think more. I might have changed my mind about my shove.

4. Realizing the impossibility of me hitting a 15 outer.

Anyway, I was disappointed and disgusted with my play. If I had hit my flush or bigger two pair I would have looked like a genius, but that is poker. That said, the prize package was nice, but really only worth about $3500 and would not have been able to use much of it as I will be in Vegas that week, baby!

Monday Morning Tournament

Just returned from the morning tournament. Just a quick note about an unusual hand. On the final the under the gun player raised to $700. I have pocket 8's and flat call. The small blind and big blind both call. The flop is 2/2/2. The small blind checks, BB (Clark) shoves for 1300 more. UTG flat calls, I call, and small blind shoves for 3000 (he is big stack at the table). UTG ponders, then calls. With everyone else all in, I fold my pocket 8's face up. Small blind shows QQ, Clark has 55, and UTG has AA. Great fold except I had unbelievable pot odds, two outs, and am left with only a couple of blinds. The aces hold up and he becomes the massive chip leader.

Online just had a horrible beat. I was cruising along with great chip count, only 150 players remaining out of 455 when the player to my right raised. I had 7's and thought about shoving to isolate him (had twice his chips), but just called as did another player. The flop is small, original raiser bets, I reraise, limper calls for all of his chips and better calls. Turn pairs the board with 4's, I put better allin. Limper calls. Limper wins main pot with full house (he had 4/5 offsuit), side pot goes to original better with his q/9 hearts flush. I screwed up big by not reraising him, but not sure that it would have made any difference with the donkey. The limper knocked me out a few hands later when I shoved with a bunch of limpers (him included) with my Q/10 suited. He had pocket 8's and they held up.

Random Thoughts

1. The good news is that I came in 3rd in Sunday Moose Tournament ($420 win).
2. The bad news is that it only partly made up for my losses the previous 2 days.
3. Running pretty card dead.
4. I think that I am making fairly good decisions most of the time....again trying not to focus on the money or the results. Example: folded pocket 3's to Tim the Postmaster's usual $7 raise and Tu's $20 re-raise (he showed pocket aces). Flop came small....with my 3. Probably would have made well over $100 on the hand, but think it was the best decision, although the thought of cracking both of those guys is very tempting. The problem is not the calling of the $27, it is getting in the crossfire of a raiser and reraiser. It could have cost me much more to see a flop with a probable 2 outer. I showed my hand to Miguel, sitting next to me, and after the hand was over he went nuts...said I should have played it (he definitely would have). But you see this is the problem with Miguel's game. He does not respect raises and reraises and thus usually gets his money in with the worst of it. He was up $1200 on Saturday and lost it all (plus whatever he had bought in for). Again, got to focus on making good decisions.

Best Online Tournament Win

Last night I had my best ever online win. I was running very good in Omaha cash games, which I have been playing mostly, but decided to enter a dreaded rebuy turbo tournament while playing the cash game. This type of tournament does not favor my type of play. First of all, I hate rebuying because unless you finish very high you often don't even get your rebuys back. Secondly, I like to play a patient game and it is pretty wild in rebuys. I saw one player rebuy 3 times in a half hour, then do a double add-on. I just refuse to play that way. The other thing I don't like is the turbo. Blinds and antes just go up too fast to wait for premium hands. That said, I bought in once...got lucky on a pocket queens all-in against two players, tripling up early. I was as high as 6th early on but saw my stack slip down quickly (139 total players). They were paying 27 spots and I was hovering around 30th with 40 players left, but knew that many players would gamble and get knocked out, so I just hunkered down determined to get into the money (paid 3X buy-in). Once I got "in the money" I loosened up a little, went all-in several times and won every coin flip except one...but had them covered extremely well. By the time I hit the final table I had bounced back and forth to the payout schedule many times, calculating that if I could just outlast one or two players I would move up in payout.

On the final table I was the 2nd or 3rd shortest stack, with the big stack around 15x my stack. With several all-ins with pocket pairs I climbed up finally ending up heads up with a 2 to one advantage. The final hand I had pocket 4's (my least favorite pocket pair), but great heads up. He had AQ and the flop came x/q/4 and he was drawing almost dead. After the turn he was. My win? 100 times my buy-in. Awesome! I am making progress on the Chris Ferguson $10,000 challenge (taking online bankroll from $0 freeroll to $10,000). Will let you know when I get there.

Terrible Play, mine especially

Sometimes I am just amazed at the level of bad play that I see in tournaments. Last night was a great example. I saw people needlessly going all in with K/8 offsuit ( I knocked her out with KJ), another player failing to call a mini-raise early with pocket 9's (the raiser had 8's, and the flop was 9/8/x. He would have gotten all the chips.

My bad play was reraising an early position raiser (he had demonstrated poor judgement and was raising light usually). I had just won a couple of pots and had about 4000 from a very short stack earlier. The blinds were 100/200, and when he min-raised, I reraised on the button to 1200 with AQ suited. The big blind, an excellent player, who was also dealing, reraised me all-in. My problem was not taking time to see how "pot committed" I really was. Had I thought longer about what she would need to reraise, and realizing that I would still have 3000 left, I would have folded. As it turned out, I am not sure who was dumber, me for calling her reraise (she had AK suited), or her for not flat calling and seeing what the flop brought (none of her suit, and the king came on the turn). Dumb and dumber. I have seen this with her before though, she takes a bad beat poorly and donks off her chips quickly, so maybe I am giving her play too much credit. I just know that in a similar situation with AK I am not putting in the third raise.

More information on my poker buddy who passed away. They think he died 5 days before his body was found. Another reason not to be a loner.

RIP Mike

Over the past 3 years it has been a sad thing to watch some poker players fade away and die. I am thinking of Jim, Old Jim, Dick, Mr. Wilson, Ray Ray and others who I have forgotten. Early this week I was driving home from the coffee shop and noticed a couple of policemen and others in front of Mike Taylor's house. I was concerned because I did not see Mike, but did not stop. The next day I found out that he had passed away. Mike was fairly regular at our American Legion Friday night game and was an avid online player. He was the one who introduced me to Spade Club, telling me of his regular monthly checks. We had talked many times about doing a day trip to Spirit Mountain together, but had never done so. He retired from roofing and siding work a couple of years ago and was pretty much a loner. He loved his dog, even removing the front seat of his car to accomodate it. I will miss talking poker with him.

Felting

I really love the phrase coined by Phil Laack, "I got felted". It really summarizes what happens to you when you lose all your money at the poker table; you get taken down to the felt. Playing Omaha today that happened to me twice. The first time I flopped a full house with my pocket 6's on a AA6 flop. O.K., no lectures on underfulls, but the action was bet, raise to me so I knew no one had quad aces, and with only the case 6 out, did not think that I was facing a made full house, so I reraised all in. They both called me with their A/5, and of course a 5 came on the turn. Granted, I was walking a mine field as any of their kickers were live, but jeesh. They both hit.

Second felting took place when I got a great flop for my pocket 10's with a 10/8/5 . I bet pot and got one caller. He was playing an A/3 of clubs and I really didn't understand the call with only a low draw. However the turn brought another low card (2) and a second club, so he had the nut low and flush draw. I bet pot again with him calling. The river.....a lousy 4 giving him a wheel and a hogger. Sick. He had to go runner runner to get there. You can argue for his outs, but on the flop he was drawing to half the pot at best. On the turn he locked the low, so I can understand the call, but he really doesn't have a ton of outs for high since I have one ten, 3 8's, 3 5's, and 3 2's to fill up or make quads.

On a more positive note, I did recover my lost felting by tripling up later, so it was a break even day for me.