The Bat Cave

It’s currently 2:30 PM and my wife is no where near ready to leave the house, so I might have to head to the casino without her. There are three 8/16 games going at Palace with five on the list for 15/30.

This has been a week of other priorities. Live poker has not been my focus. On Monday I played another house game with a dealer’s choice structure and had a much better performance than my first time playing in that game, finishing with a +$309 result.

Tuesday I had my dog neutered and that meant I stayed home with him while he was in pain over the next few days. That didn’t stop me from participating in Global Poker’s Rattlesnake Open, however. I only played one event on Monday and busted pretty quickly and then I went 0-3 in the Tuesday events (and 0-5 overall). Not a great start. Wednesday I went 1 for 6, but the one I cashed was a pretty good one as I finished 2nd of 416 entrants in the $11 PLO-Medium for $596.96 and put myself in the top 25 of the Player of the Series leaderboard.

With a hefty cash under my belt already, I decided to bring my iPad with me to Palace and attempt to multitable the 4-max NL rebuy events last night while also playing live poker. Seems like a bad idea, right? Well, I realized I had my hands full playing two 4-max NL tourneys while also playing 8/16 LHE and I ended up skipping the 4-max NL-High. Playing on an iPad is difficult enough just playing one table. You either have to type in every bet you make or bet half pot, pot, or all in. It’s pretty annoying. Somehow I managed to make deep runs in both tournaments I was playing – without rebuying in either of them – while crushing the 8/16 game. I ended up busting the 4-max-Low event somewhat near the money, but the deep run was on in the Medium.

Meanwhile, the staff was trying to start a 15/30 game and I honestly didn’t really want to move up. My focus was completely sapped and I was crushing the 8/16 game on total cruise control. I made a bad, unselfish decision and started the 15/30 game – not because I actually wanted to play in it, but because I didn’t want to be the reason it didn’t start. That game is my game and I sort of feel I need to do whatever is necessary to make it go.

Bad call.

I finished 8/16 at +$769 and while I was going deep in the 4-max-Medium event it was hard to ignore the fact that I was getting absolutely throttled in the 15/30 game. I played for 3.5+ hours and I think I won one or two small pots and lost every single big pot I played. I remember losing with KK to A6 on the T6266 run out and then with KK again when the button decided to randomly cold-4 bet with T7hh and made a full house. It was all bad.

But I was playing some amazing poker on my iPad, navigating my way to the final two again. I had the chip lead in my heads up match on Wednesday and I once again had a pretty sizable chip lead over my lone remaining opponent. With two agonizing second place finishes in Global series events already, I really, really wanted to close this one out. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. I got all in with 44 vs A9 for the match and he flopped top pair and I whiffed my club redraw. Then I had him all in again for the match with AJ vs his A9 and he flopped two pair. He had me all the way down to a 6:1 disadvantage and I evened the stacks again, but eventually I ran out of steam and finally he KO’d me when I snap-called my remaining ten bigs with KJ and his J9 flopped trip 9s.

Still, it was my best cash on Global to date: $1278.03. That puts my online bankroll at a new peak and also puts me in 9th place on the Player of the Series leaderboard. Needless to say, I will be bringing the iPad with me to the live game again tonight. I am going to the Kendrick Lamar concert in Auburn tomorrow and then the Mariners game on Sunday, so I’ll be missing the next twelve Rattlesnake Open events after tonight. That’s not going to help my POTS push, but I can’t stop living my life for this thing.

Also, this finally happened:

Yup. Only took me 239 tournaments to get a shark icon next to my name. About damn time! And I plan to keep it there.

As I mentioned, my 15/30 session was pure torture and threatened to undo all my good accomplishments for the day. The final damage: -$1492. Absolutely disgusting and, honestly, maybe I deserved it. With my focus completely on the online tournaments, I should have just stayed put in 8/16 and not moved up in limits over five hours into my session.

I’m heading to Palace shortly and I’m not exactly sure what kind of blog I will be doing today because I will be 3-tabling on my iPad while playing live poker starting at 5:30 PM, but I will try to post an update every hour or so. I don’t mind playing 15/30 if the game starts immediately, but if it struggles to get off the ground again and my focus is elsewhere, I’ll probably just play down tonight. I don’t mind splitting my attention, but what I do mind is getting destroyed in a short time period when I’m at the end of my day and feeling like I’m ready to leave a big loser when the game is primed for me to get my money back. The days of me chasing my losses into the wee morning hours are behind me. I typically like to be in bed before 3 AM, at the latest.

4:10 PM: Woof. Had to fight through some of the worst traffic I’ve faced in a while to get here. I’ve written about my issues with anxiety, traffic and being diabetic in the past – and I’d link it here if I could but I’m on my phone now and can’t. Search for it and check it out.

Link added: Anxiety: A New Mental Game Challenge

It’s still a thing. I can’t enter traffic without thinking about the possibilities of a panic attack. This has been going on for about 7 months now and I’ve been off and on medication to help me with this problem. Currently I am off it, hoping to fight my way through it with pure grit. I called my wife and she kept my mind occupied elsewhere for my drive and here I am.

The good news is I didn’t feel any real anxiety on my way here. There’s a difference between the threat of anxiety and actual anxiety and it’s pretty empowering when I can get through these situations without any real panic.

Anyways, starting 15/30 6-handed with Fleabag (Flea isn’t insulting enough), Chief Wiggum, Rocksteady, and a couple of non-regs.

I’m up a little bit after turning a flush on the first hand and then losing to a flush draw (that made two pair instead) on the third hand.

4:26 PM: Hopefully this game fills up. It would be really difficult to play 6-max poker while also trying to multitable on my iPad.

I’m already fed up with The Flea. I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing annoys me more than repeated tanking in limit hold’em. There are definitely some spots that require some real thought in LHE but they are few and far between. Taking 15 seconds every time it’s your turn to act just means you’re an asshole.

4:40 PM: On the bright side, the Snake Open events are all turbos tonight so shouldn’t take 5+ hours even if I make deep runs.

4:48 PM: Action Bronson makes us 7-handed and that’s good because it helps fill the game up and it’s bad because now I have to turn on my personality and I’m kind of in a mood to mind my own business today.

4:59 PM: So Palace got rid of one of their best promotions: Rakeback. Basically it amounted to $1.50/hour back to those so inclined to pick it up. Not much, but it’s MUCH better than not getting anything back, which is the new way of things. When you’re playing 160 hours a month, getting an extra $200+ back each month isn’t negligible. That’s our cell phone bill! Or with my wife’s hours it’s half our mortgage payment!

Instead of rakeback, Palace will be hosting a $5k freeroll every Tuesday at 7 PM. That’s my day off and my interest level in planning my night around it is 0% so… definitely not thrilled with the change.

I realize first place will probably be $2k or more and the field will be insanely soft, but I’m sure the structure will be garbage and I like having at least one day a week where I don’t feel compelled to play poker.

5:19PM: Everyone agrees to do a round of straddling at Action Bronson’s insistence… and then one player flakes on his turn. How stupid can you be? Dude’s name is ACTION for a reason and you don’t do things that upset people named ACTION. Put the fucking money out there.

Pro tip: if the whole the table is straddling and you don’t want to do it because you’re a nit or you think good players don’t do things like that, I have news for you: you are not a good player – you are a fish.

Sometimes you have to play loose once an orbit to keep everyone else playing loose every hand. The trade off is worth it.

$11 Rattlesnake Low starting in three minutes.

6:40 PM: Basically impossible to update right now. I’m out of the Low. Off to a bad start in the High. 20 bigs in the Medium.

7:01PM: Jammed like 12 bigs with 99 into 55 and QQ in the Low and the fives made quads.

Just jammed a little less than ten bigs in the High with 99 and got called by AK and AQ and they both flopped pairs and busted me.

I’m 29th of 70 left in the Medium, currently on break. I have 21.5k heading to 800/1600 and I thought we were ten spots off the money, but it’s actually 34 spots! Quite a ways to go.

I am honestly somewhat relieved to have less to focus on.

7:30 PM: Cashed the Medium. 12 of 32 left. Jammed my last 4.5 bigs with K8o and sucked out on 99 – and then got berated for my standard shove from the cutoff. I love how clueless some people are.

7:35 PM: Sigh. Crippled with AK vs A4 on K523 runout. Down to less than two bigs. Pretty annoying.

7:39 PM: Wow. All in in my big and double with Q7o. Then double again next hand with ATss. Back up to 8 bigs.

Down to 18 left.

7:49 PM: And I bust in 15th when I call off my last 4.5 bigs with AQ vs QJ and can’t fade another gutshot. That’s a cash of $117.85, which doesn’t even get me even for the three tournaments I played. 🤦🏻‍♂️

That cash bumps me to 7th on the POTS leaderboard, but who knows where I’ll be when all these events wrap up.

7:57 PM: Took a walk around the building… now let’s see how autopilot did for me in the 15/30 game.

8:00 PM: Answer: Uhmmm… +$1434

I can beat these people in my sleep…

…when they aren’t crushing me.

This has been an auto-straddle game. Basically. I haven’t suffered much negative variance. I’ve lost some decent pots but most of my big hands are holding up and I’ve done exceptionally well on my straddles.

Oh oh. Action Bronson just busted and left. That could change the game dramatically.

And we chop the first hand after he leaves.

😴

And the next one.😴😴😴

9:33 PM: I’ve dwindled a bit as I’ve been mostly card dead since my tournaments ended. I did have one shitty connection where I got four bets in pre like 4-ways with AQ suited and the flop came down AK8 and everyone check-calls. The turn card pairs the 8 and I bet without thinking and as soon as I did I thought maybe checking was the better play. Notice I’m beating NO aces now. Rocksteady ends up check-raising the other guys out and I call down and lose to AK.

11:04PM: Straddle variance: button straddles, a blind calls, Rocksteady 3-bets, I 4-bet 99, button and blind call, and Rocksteady 5-bets. Flop is 864 two spades. Rocksteady leads, I raise and everyone calls. Nice development, although Rocksteady did check-raise me on the turn in a similar spot earlier. Turn pairs the 8 and everyone check-calls me again. River is a jack and I lean towards betting this but something about this situation seems more likely than others for naked overcards to call down, so I check, the button bets, the other guys fold and I wind up losing to J6. Yay!

11:19 PM: I open QTss and five players call. Flop is QJT all clubs and I end up bet-calling the flop. Not the kind of board I’m trying to jam on with two cards to go. I’m actually planning to lead out on the turn if it bricks so when I end up making a full house with the ten, I stick to that plan and get raised again. I 3-bet. He caps. River is the ace of clubs. I check. It’s a mistake. He checks back. I’m not worried about my hand being no good but I should be concerned about how weak his hand is. I could see him taking this line with hands as weak as straights on the turn… and now I can see him taking this line with AQ… because I have now seen him take this line with AQ.

No. They don’t torch their chips to me at all.

11:44 PM: Same player opens, there some calls, I defend with two spades, one with a border (a face card) and the other a three liner (an 8, 7, or 6) – yes, we are playing this hand sweat style. Flop is Q72 with one spade. The queen is the spade, so I don’t have top pair, but I could have a 7. It becomes moot when the flop checks around and the turn comes ten of spades and the small blind leads out. Now I take a look and I call with J6 of spades. The PFR now suddenly wakes up with a raise and the small blind folds. I’m getting 8 to 1 so nothing to think about here. I call. River 4 of spades. I donk and he shows AA as he’s calling.

Good flop check.

12:09 AM: After maybe a month of passing on 15/30, Taz makes a return to the red chip arena.

12:13 AM: God. Of all the people I lose a super cooler to… Fleabag? Fucking FLEABAG? Dude is having a dream session and opens from mid, a bad player calls and I call on the button with A7ss because I’m trying to play pots in position against these yahoos. Flop is K97 one spade. I overcall. Turn is gin: a 7! Flea and I go four bets. If I had any respect for his game at all, I would just call his 3-bet on the turn, but torchers torch and I feel my hand is too good to call with. But then the river comes an ace and he still leads. Okay. I go into the tank. The ace doesn’t really change anything unless he’s in there donking around with K7 or 97. I finally just slide the call in and lose to 99.

A few hands later I run QQ into 98 on JT7.

A nice late session slide.

12:52 AM: My wife asked me to take her home and I was fizzling out anyway so I called it a session. Final score: +$1340

Going to see Kendrick Lamar and the rest of TDE tomorrow and I will probably put in a small session at Fortune beforehand.