The Bat Cave

11:13 PM: I was thinking about not blogging today, but why not! I was debating playing some of the Grizzly Games tournaments on Global Poker while I played live today, but they are running 4-max NL tourneys and that is definitely NOT what I want to do while I’m playing live poker.

A little late start for $15/$30 today even though there were 14 names on the list, but we are full now and cards are in the air.

Starting lineup today (s1 to s9): Radio Mike, Elmer (a palace reg long overdue for a name… he’s rather sticky, not quite Super Glue but definitely a regular Elmers), Chief Wiggum, me, older reg, Muffin, Game Genie, and two splashy $8/$16 regs.

This game is actually pretty good, but it’s gotten off to a slow start over the first few orbits. A decent amount of chops, a couple turns, and I don’t think there’s been a showdown yet.

11:27 AM: A little donation on my part in the interest of spicing up the game a little: I open JTss (normal), s5 3-bets and I call heads up. Flop is 854 with two clubs and one spade. I check-call and I’m planning to bluff any 6 or 7. If he has big cards he probably folds, but if he has an overpair I don’t really expect this player to lay it down. Turn is 7c, so I bet, as is my plan, and he calls. I would probably give up on river if the turn wasn’t a club, but the three clubs on board might give him a flush draw with unpaired overcards. So when the river comes an ace, I punt another $30 and lose to AA.

More punting: Elmer opens button, I defend K9. I check-raise the JT7 two heart flop and barrel the 3h turn (I have 9h). River is a King and I bet even though I think I’m losing a decent amount of the time here and he calls with AQdd, the nut straight.

Solid -$300 start already.

11:36 AM: I’m not planning the full marathon today. I fly to L.A. at 2 PM tomorrow and I haven’t even unpacked from my last trip – let alone washed any clothes. I can probably still play until 10 PM or so though and get what I need to get done.

12:04 PM: Standard terrible start in these Palace red chip games. I open A9hh, someone three bets, both blinds defend. Flop is QJ8 with two spades and one heart. Elmer donks, Wiggum calls; it’s a bad spot but I can’t fold here. The PFR raises and we all call. Turn is a blank and it checks to PFR, he bets, two calls, and I’m still priced in. River Ts and Wiggum leads. Bleh. I call and lose to his 95ss. -$600 already. Beautiful.

12:26 PM: QQ holds from SB in 4-way 3-bet pot and I get value on all streets on J6325 runout, my first sexy pot of the day.

1:00 PM: Limp fest in front of me. I come along from cutoff with 85ss, button calls, and blinds call and check. Flop 853 with two diamonds. UTG bets, folds to me, I raise, button calls, BB calls, UTG 3-bets, I cap, all call. Turn queen and UTG is still betting. Against a reasonable player I might think I’m beat here – and I still could be – but this player is splashy and could be overplaying something I’m beating, so I raise. Button and BB both call $60 cold and UTG calls also. I’ve seen the button play sets like this, where he waits until the river to play aggressively, so I’m not 100% confident I’m good here. River is a 9, but not a diamond. It checks to me on river and I think it’s pretty close here. The flush draw missed but 76, the most likely straight draw, got there, and JT (unlikely) got there, plus a number of possible two pair hands have improved. I have no interest in bet-folding the river or calling a raise, so I just check and hope I’m good. BB has J9dd and UTG has J8hh (total overplay) and my hand is good.

1:12 PM: Radio Mike opens from MP and I 3-bet black kings and get it heads up. He calls. Flop is QJx all clubs and he check-calls me on flop and turn, before donking the river when the board texture hasn’t changed at all: QJ264. It’s very tempting to raise here because his line is so weird and it’s hard to imagine what hand he plays this way that I’m losing to, but I decide on call and he shows me A8cc for the flopped nut flush. A mini-victory for me as I lost the absolute minimum I could have on that connection.

1:47 PM: Sigh.

Five hand sequence:

AQss capped pot under the gun. Flop is TT3 and I don’t even make it to the turn (KK, JJ, Tx)

JJ small blind, peel ace high flop and check-fold turn vs AQ, A9.

JJ cutoff, I 3-bet and a non-aggressive player caps button. Flop is AJx. I check-raise because how do I not? Button flats and Wiggum is hanging around. Turn king. I should probably check-call this card knowing what I know about the button, but my hand says I must bet. He could have QQ. I don’t think he has AK. He raises and I just call down and lose to AA.

Poker is fun.

My success rate with big pairs in Palace red chip games has been laughable. On the bright side I’ve shown a win rate both in the $15/$30 and $30/$60 here so far despite running far below average (in my estimation).

2:15 PM: Wiggum opens and I 3-bet AA from MP, Radio Mike is stubborn in the big and three of us see the QTx flop. Wiggum donks, I raise, Mike is out, Wiggum calls. Turn K, Wiggum donks again. The ole double donk, eh? I probably should be raising this bet. This line smells more like KJ than KQ, but this board is not ideal for aces facing a decent amount of action. I just call. River is a T and now he checks. I doubt he’s getting tricky here so I have an easy value bet and my aces win showdown.

2:49 PM: Pretty cool to win a pot with aces above, but we’re back to normal: TT vs QQ; AQ whiff. KQ vs AQ and 99 on QJ9 when I’m the only preflop raiser. ATdd whiff QQJd6d. AQdd whiff J97d4d. AQcc 3-bet SB and whiff.

My image is amazing right now. Raise a ton of hands, whiff or lose every pot, and never show anything. Just looking like a total spewtard.

-$1000

3:19 PM: Elmer limps, I raise TT from MP, button calls, Radio Mike defends big. Flop 854. Mike donks, Elmer calls, I raise, both those guys call. Turn 9 and they both check-call. River jack, Elmer donks and I cry call and cry fold after losing to QJo. I told you he’s sticky!

I’m not running as bad as Peter is running good in these games but it’s a claim I’m really wanting to make!

3:37 PM: Woah. I got lucky. Two limps in front of me, I limp along with A4dd which elicits some razzing from my table mates that are shocked that I’m not raising. I tell them they’ve beaten me into submission. 7-way action to Q54 two hearts. I believe Elmer bets, Wiggum calls, I call, Muffin raises, and four of us see the turn for two bets. By gosh, it’s a 4 and I think I’m going to be able to check-raise the field. Elmer and Muffin call. River double pairs the board with a 5 and I feel like I should always still be good here so I bet and only Muffin calls and my pending reload goes on hold for the time being.

4:18 PM: A few noteworthy items:

Four players limp, I raise QTcc from the big and five opponents call. Flop is A84 with two clubs. I c-bet and everybody folds. Holy crap. Talk about the unexpected.

Muffin is racking up and it just dawned on us. No one that started this game has left yet. All original nine are still here. Almost five hours straight with no movement. Incredible!

Unfortunately, I have a feeling because the list has been locked out for five hours Pain-In-My-Ass Pete is about to go from 7th on the list to in the game.

And, oh my God, that is what just happened.

4:53 PM: New developments as there has been some movement.

Peter is in, The Human Torch is in, and another very live player is in. This game is still very good.

First clash with Peter goes my way. He opens, I 3-bet 88, one hitchhiker. Peter donks Q54 two club flop. Doesn’t need to have a queen here, I raise and he goes into Passive Pete mode. Turn 8. Hey now! Peter check-calls turn and can’t find a fold when clubs get there on river either. It’s a new day!

5:48: One limper, Radio Mike raises, PayBack Pete calls, I defend 76o. Flop is Q77. I check, Mike bets, Peter raises, I 3-bet because the jig is up if I call, Mike caps, Peter folds. Mike calls me down with KK. A little big pair bad luck reversal!

Typical Dark Knight MO: I am somehow down less than $200 now. At my worst I was my -$1200.

6:06 PM: New additions to the game:

Humpty Dumpty: the action player I mentioned earlier. It’s too good. I can’t help it.

Grumpy: Not many players I genuinely dislike at Palace but this is one of them. Big time whiner, criticizes other players… just an all around dick. Never seen him in $15/$30 but I’m glad he’s here because he’s my absolute favorite kind of person to beat.

Taz

Punish-Me Pete: Same guy, different day. Peter is getting smashed.

6:26 PM: Game Genie can’t fold the K4cc in a raised pot from the small blind, I 3-bet QQ from the big, and he gets the KK67A runout. On the bright side, he check-called flop and turn and let me check back river.

6:38 PM: In case my description of Grumpy wasn’t sufficient enough… Peter and I have never talked about Grumpy and I just got a text from Peter saying I’m tempted to 3bet any opens from s2 with atc. Atc means ‘any two cards’ and this message means Peter thinks he’s a dick too and wants to inflict punishment.

6:59 PM: Everyone is taking turns treating Grumpy like a punching bag. Humpty Dumpty had 88 vs Grumpy’s KT on T84K and got max action on the turn. Radio Mike had AQ vs AJ on 722Ax and took this line postflop: check-call, check-call, check-RAISE! Wow.

Peter is openly congratulating anyone that beats Grumpy on how well they played their hand.

7:06 PM: Grumpy has been bludgeoned to death. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief – except me. I can listen to that whining all night.

7:22 PM: Limper, Taz raises, Game Genie cold calls, I 3-bet KT suited on the button, Peter calls, Taz caps and five us see 664 flop. Everyone hates it and it checks around. Ten on turn, Peter leads, two calls, I raise, three calls. River Ace. Taz donks. I pay off his AQ.

Back to -$700.

7:39 PM: Prolix Pete (look it up) has left us – he’s going to Commerce for LAPC tomorrow also – and I might be able to listen to some music now.

8:17 PM: Five limpers, I have KK in the small blind. Obviously I didn’t win this pot.

9:43 PM: I’m still playing. I made a set of tens against Radio Mike where he thought it would be a good idea to donk an ace river. Also had JJ on A75AJ run out. I never got raised so I have to assume I was good all the way – although he did tank-call turn and snap-call river. Down about $700 still.

9:58 PM: Today Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall and watched videos on his phone all day. And that was enough to keep his attention on something other than playing every hand, falling over and cracking open.

He’s racked up now, but his phone is put away and he’s suddenly played three hands in a row. Could be trouble for Humpty soon.

10:08 PM: Capped pre with QQ and three different players raise on the T96dd flop. Humpty is still coming out guns blazing against two people that look like they have overpairs, so I’m calling down and I’m pretty relieved to be the only caller at showdown and I’m good against his ATdd.

Humpty Dumpty has remembered there’s a poker game going on around him and all that pain that goes with it. The wall is shaking!

10:41 PM: High variance poker alert. Mega-Maniac on my direct right. He’s raising at least 50% of hands (I’ve seen J9o and Q5s from MP), so when he raises here I try to iso with 55 but I get two hitchhikers, maniac caps. Flop 632dd. We cap it three ways. Turn 5d. It checks to me. I just can’t see any good reason to check this card against these players, so I bet, shake the caller, but the maniac raises again, I call. River is 4d and he leads out. I obviously can’t call and win so I turn my hand into a bluff and I definitely have fold equity against this guy. Unfortunately he has the least maniacal hand of all: AJ of diamonds. He tries to raise me but only puts out $60 so I feel like I have to roll my hand first and table it. Ugh.

11:12 PM: Maniac goes 4-4 against me and cashes out. Solid.

I open JTss, Radio Mike 3-bets, another player calls and three of us see JT6cc flop. I check-raise flop and both players call. I consider check-raising turn but I’m glad I don’t. I bet, Mike raises and I get to three bet. He calls me down with AA.

Radio Mike is flustered now. Right after those aces lose, he loses to 85dd after a KT7 two club one diamond flop to a running flush.

He can’t even contain himself: “Every time I get even I lose a bunch of stupid hands.”

I say, “What does even feel like?”

11:48 PM: Free play with K4o. Flop KQ3. It checks around. Turn 5. I check, someone bets, someone calls, I raise… and lose to A5 on the river. YAWN. I really love this line for this reason exactly. You induce someone to bet third pair and they can’t lay it down in a micro pot, even when they are getting check-raised.

12:27 AM: Cashed out -$618. Another ho-hum red chip session where not much goes right for me.

I land back in L.A. around 5 PM tomorrow but probably won’t be playing any poker.