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).