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Marathon Monday: $15/$30 @ Palace – 2/12/2018 (LIVE BLOG)

February 12, 2018

I swear one of these times I’m going to blog a session and post one of the signature wins that have defined my poker career the last several years. Hopefully today is the day. To say I’m overdue is a bit of an understatement. I’ve certainly had faster and more violent downswings and I think I’ve even had longer stretches of losing, but it has to be getting close now. We are on day 43 of 2018 and I’m still solidly in the red for the year.

I did some research and since the beginning of 2011, I’ve had back-to-back losing months four times total and half of them were during my worst stretch ever – from August of 2013 through October 2013 – when I lost between $1200 and $1550 three months in a row – the only time that’s ever happened. So yeah, I’ve been through worst months and worst overall stretches and I got through them and crushed like I always do. That’s something I’m able to keep in mind when I’m not playing, but it’s been harder and harder lately to remember that while I’m actually at the poker table. The accumulated tilt is real. For instance, I feel fine right now – excited even. I can’t wait to play. But I’m fragile. Not letting rough starts and bad sessions affect me emotionally has been harder and harder. It’s definitely made me realize that working on my mental game again needs to be more of a priority.

I took my wife to see “Hamilton” last night and we double-dated with The Man (Palace poker room manager) and his wife. It was a blast! I’ll put a bigger review of “Hamilton” on my list of things I may or may not ever do, along with every T.V. show I’ve seen in the last six months. But I’ll say this now: “Hamilton” is an absolute masterpiece in the field of creative writing. Yes, it’s all based on actual history and adapted from someone else’s book, but as someone that used to write rap lyrics, I can’t stress enough how monumental Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s achievement is. To take a biography about one of America’s founding fathers and turn it into an elite hip-hop musical is truly mind-boggling. It’s not just fun… it’s not just surprisingly good and palatable… it’s ELITE song-writing from top to bottom and, from my perspective, one of the greatest works of writing in modern history. Yes, the prices are outrageous, but that wasn’t going to stop me from seeing this masterpiece. A true can’t miss.

Yoga in 25 minutes. Poker in 90. See you then.

11:15 AM: When I said poker in 90, what I really meant was 2.5 hours my bad.

Slow start here. Six names on list but two of them backed out of starting the game because they just don’t understand how you build a poker game. Looks like we are going to start 4-handed though.

Starting lineup: Radio Mike, Chief Wiggum, the unknown player that rocked the 80% VPIP on Friday in a full game (yum yum) and myself.

11:21 AM: So I didn’t really play poker on Saturday. I showed up at Palace around 4 PM, hoping to play $15/$30 but no one was willing to start a short game and after losing $160 in 14 minutes of a bad, short-handed $6/$12 O8 game I just decided to go home and fire at some online tournaments. I bricked out in six events and final tabled the last one to basically break even.

11:25 AM: Cards will be in the air shortly. We picked up two players, both of them loose and borderline maniacal. Marlo is one of them. So six-handed with three players that play 50% of hands in full games.

Leggo.

11:26 AM: Marlo sitting down with $300 but has lost over $3k last two times I’ve played $15/$30 with him.

12:08 PM: Decent start. I’ve won a lot of small pots with little resistance. No real clashes. Atlanta Braves SS Dansby Swanson makes us 8-handed so I’m going to fire up my stat tracker after I finish eating.

12:37 PM: Game Genie makes us full. I’m done eating and firing up my stat tracker. Game on!

12:38 PM: Marlo actually cashed out his last few chips from that initial $300 buy-in and… left. That’s unfortunate.

12:44 PM: First big clash: s3 opens, 80% calls, I 3-bet 99 from small blind, big blind and other two call. Flop 853 two hearts and it gets capped. Turn 8h and it checks around. River pairs the 5 and it checks to s3 the original preflop opener and he bets, 80% calls, and I’m very happy to overcall, expecting to win this pot the vast majority of the time against two super wide players. I don’t though – s3 has the J8 of diamonds.

12:51 PM: Radio Mike opens, 80% calls, I defend Q7. Flop is 653, I donk, Mike raises, other player cold calls, I call. Turn is a 9 and Mike bets, the other guy folds and I really consider raising, but go with call instead. River is a 7 and I lead out and Mike goes into the tank and asks me “how do my aces look?” and I’m thinking “they look like shit! Muck em!” But he knows I’m capable of bluffing here and maybe he’s just never folding big hands against me anymore. He calls. Nice hand.

I did 3-bet the 80% player with 87hh and got the 86539 run out and a call on every street so it’s not all bad.

1:18 PM: Picked up AA vs QQ to chip back up.

1:33 PM: TT < AA.

Dansby runs so good against me: I raise a limper on button with QQ and lose to his AT from SB on KJxxA.

1:49 PM: Just won a big pot flopping quad fives and made everyone pay, and got a $499 jackpot. Hopefully that’s not my entire MO for the day.

2:15 PM: I open KT and Radio Mike defends and check-calls T739 before check-raising queen river. I expect to never be good here but I’m curious and he shows 33.

2:23 PM: Heater! AA, AA, ATcc, QTdd all win showdowns four hands in a row. Radio Mike takes a trappy, confusing line with JJ against my first aces and I suck out vs Wiggum’s KT on KQTJx the next hand.

3:03 PM: By God it’s a sexy start. I’m up over $1300. I’ve had AA four times and won with all of them.

Happy Hour Hand is AcKc for $1700 from 3 PM to 6 PM. Someone is gonna hit that.

The 80% player is rocking a 67/11 today. There’s another player over 50% VPIP. There are only two players with a PFR > 11% – one at 14% and me at 26%. 😂😂

3:11 PM: 11 minutes for that $1700 Happy Hour Hand to get hit.

3:14 PM: Humpty Dumpty in the game. Let’s see if we get the hard-boiled version or the cracked, spewy one.

3:47 PM: Palace just started a second $15/$30 game, 7-handed. And we are 8-handed. Eh. They are better off starting another smaller game and using them as feeder’s for this one. It’s not like the demand was overwhelming.

3:54 PM: Dansby limps UTG, another limp, SB raises, I defend K2ss, Dansby 3-bets, other limper folds and SB calls. I call too. Flop AKx with two spades. I flopped the nut flush draw and a pair, but this isn’t the kind of board I’m looking to pound against two preflop raisers. I’m drawing to the nuts but hitting a king or a deuce is questionable. I check-call. Turn is a 2 and I consider raising because I have outs no matter what, but I go check-call again. Heads up with Dansby now and the river is a queen, which is a definite check-call card. He has basically the only hand I beat: AJ suited.

4:17 PM: Well I’m still crushing this game, but this is pretty familiar: guy with a 13%/4% opens, someone calls, I think this is iffy but I 3-bet 99 (small sample and all) and we are five ways to 983 and the PFR bet/3-bets me. I flat to raise turn and three of us see the 8 pair. He leads, I raise and we are heads up. River jack, and he check-raises. A player this nitty just has JJ 100% of the time so I just call and lose this monster pot to the 2-outer.

Ugh. Hopefully this is a blip and not a sign of things to come. Still up $1300 but that $600 pot would have looked sexy in my stack.

4:33 PM: 14 big bets in the pot on the turn; I have KQdd on AK3d2d in a 4-way pot. Whiff. AJ and A7 are in there.

5:35 PM: Might need to stop making thin value bets against Radio Mike. He opens hi-jack, I defend QTss and check-raise J86 one spade. He calls. Turn ten, I bet he calls. River 2. I bet and he raises. The dude is just never bluff-raising here (he doesn’t have the gall!) but I just want to see what hand he played this way. Hey, it’s another set!

Humpty Dumpty limps early, I raise AQ… he beats me on A8563 by taking a check-call, check-call, donk line. I guess it could be worse.

5:55 PM: Humpty Dumpty opens (4% PFR), s4 3-bets (11% PFR) and I cap it with TT. They both call. Flop KQT. I bet they fold. What.

6:11 PM: Missed another backdoor flush draw in a substantial pot.

I’m up a little over $1100 and my momentum seems to have halted for a bit.

7:15 PM: I wasn’t paying attention to the action on this hand but the board is 984ccT6 and Radio Mike tables 75cc and his opponent tables JJ. Dealer pushes Mike the pot and then… Mike pushes the pot into the other player’s stack. Not sure I’ve ever seen that before. Everyone else is like wtf are you doing? Finally he realizes that he did, in fact, have the best hand and the game stops for an hour while everyone tries to figure out how much was in the pot! Well played, Mike! Your Uber is on its way.

In other news, the reciprocality of hitting draws has been severely lopsided lately. For a while actually. The trend is continuing today. My hot start has turned into like +$900 as I consistently lose to draws while never hitting my own.

7:40 PM: Sick hand vs Dansby Swanson: I open AJo middle position, he calls next to act, no one else joins. Flop is 962ddh, I bet he calls. Turn is 9h. I feel like Dansby is heavy in pocket pairs and suited Broadways, so I bet and… he raises me. I think he would fold a lot of the small/medium pairs that aren’t boats if I reraise and if he has a draw then I have the best hand. I 3-bet, he calls. River 2d. We both check and I’m good vs KJhh.

8:32 PM: Here’s a hand that really makes you wonder: Punty Pete opens cutoff and I defend AQ. Flop K55 and I check-raise in Overs. Turn 2, I bet and he tank-calls. River 4, I check, he checks. I didn’t think he would fold a pair here so I didn’t see much point in betting. I table and he tables 32 like he’s some kind of genius.

Eh. I don’t get it.

8:58 PM: I open cutoff with Q5dd. Flop A95dd. 3-handed pot and Peter wins with 52o. Sometimes the variance is just comical. I am so close to even now I can’t even believe it. It’s so disgusting.

9:06 PM: I picked off a double barrel bluff with 55 when they 3-bet me but checked back QQ2 flop.

But then I get 3-bets in three ways pre with QQ and on the JTx8 board I find myself check-folding because I’m in last place (TT and J8).

I’m racked up and I’m leaving on my big blind. I’ve already played 8+ hours today and I’m not about to get stuck after being up $1500. Plus I’m beyond annoyed now. I’m going to leave with less profit than I won from the jackpot.

Final score: +$236 and it might be the worst $236 I’ve ever won.

GODDAMMIT.

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, limit hold em, poker, poker strategy, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | 1 Comment »

2017 Poker Results

February 6, 2018

Volume Goals:

-Play 1800 live hours
-Play 600 hours of 20/40 or higher
-Play 100 hours of Omaha 8 or Better

Comments: My final live hours tally was 1729.5 hours, so I came up just short of that goal. However, I did add another 1100+ hours in online play, which sounds massive, but can actually be reduced somewhat because each table I play at is accumulating time in my app tracker. So one hour while 4-tabling is actually four total hours. Still, if you include the online volume, I easily played 160+ hours a month in 2017. In addition, 85% of my live hours were in cash games and 15% were in tournaments. Online, my volume is closer to 50/50 between cash and tournaments.

I only played 239 hours of $20/$40 LHE, but I did add 74 hours of $15/$30, 98 hours of 1/3/5 PLO, 11 hours of $30/$60, and 15 hours in bigger mix games. Add all that up and that’s 437 hours in bigger games, which is still short of my goal – and this would have been much worse if Palace didn’t start spreading bigger games in the last couple of months of 2017. When it came down to it, I just preferred to commute 5 minutes to play poker rather than 30+, even if it sort of hurt our bottom line.

I played 35 hours of live Omaha 8 or Better, far below my goal – and only an additional 21 hours online. I did play 90 hours of O8 tournaments though, so I guess this goal is somewhat of a wash. On the bright side, I didn’t plan to become a Pot Limit Omaha player in 2017, so that was a fun development. I played 96 hours of live PLO and 234 hours of online PLO, plus another 111 hours in PLO tournaments. So all in all, I played 587 hours in four card games, which seems like a check mark for this goal. I imagine I will be playing even more PLO in 2018, but Global Poker currently doesn’t offer O8 games and the only live casinos with O8 are either too far away or spread it too small for me to want to play consistently. I did hear Muckleshoot brought back a $20/$40 O8 game on Saturdays, but I’m yet to play it.

Win Rate Goals:

-1.5 BB/HR @ $8/$16
-0.75 BB/HR @ $20/$40 or higher
-1 BB/HR @ Omaha 8 or Better
-50% ROI in live tournaments

Comments: I came up just short on my $8/$16 goal. After posting a win rate of 1.12 BB/HR in 2015 and 1.8 BB/HR in 2016, I thought somewhere in the middle for 2017 would be reasonable, and I was right. I didn’t quite hit 1.5 BB/HR, but I did finish at 1.41 BB/HR for 2017.

My goal for bigger games went much better. After finishing 2016 with a disappointing 0.5 BB/HR in $20/$40 LHE games, I wasn’t sure if I was really capable of putting up the numbers I’ve become accustomed to in smaller games, but I’m happy to report that I finished 2017 with a 1.19 BB/HR win rate in $20/$40 (and 1.47 BB/HR in the Fortune $20/$40) and 1.23 BB/HR in LHE games of $15/$30 or bigger.

As I mentioned earlier, my Omaha 8 or Better volume was really small for 2017, so individual sessions had a really big impact on my final results. I won $29/hour playing O8 in 2017 while posting a win rate of -0.05 BB/HR! How did this happen? I played a seven hour $30/$60 O8 session and won $1300 and that accounted for more than 100% of my profit for the year.

I didn’t set a Pot Limit Omaha goal for 2017, but since I played so much of it, I figure I should share my results. As I’ve mentioned many times on my blog, I don’t think I’m a particularly good PLO player, but the game that’s spread on Wednesdays at Palace is so incredibly soft that I’ve managed to put up some monster results. I won over $100/hour in a 1/3/5 structured game. I don’t really know how to express that as a win rate since big bet games are usually expressed as big blinds per hour and this game has a $3 big blind but it’s $5 to call. Shrug. $100/hour is pretty much all you need to know – and it’s totally unsustainable. I actually lost money in PLO cash games online, to the tune of -$12/hour in over twice as many hours as my live volume and this is why I’m pretty sure I’m not that great. In fact, I lost $14/hour in $0.25/$0.50 6-max PLO, which is 28 big blinds/hour. That’s BAD. I seem to do better in full ring games than I do in short-handed PLO. I know I have run bad in online PLO, but I also know I’m not that good. On the other hand, I did really well in online PLO tournaments. I cashed in 23 of 65 events (35%) for an ROI of 119% with six wins and three seconds in fields that typically had 50-120 players, which means I finished in the top two of nearly 14% of the PLO tournaments I played. That’s either dominant or super lucky… or both.

I once again crushed my ROI goal for live tournaments, thanks to another WSOP final table and a new career high score for my 5th place finish in the $1500 H.O.R.S.E. event.

I ended up playing 37 events with a buy in of $100+ and an average buy in of $476 and finished with an ROI of 256% which smashed my goal of 50% I set for the year. As I noted in my 2017 Goals, I guessed I would play about 3 live tournaments a month and that was a spot on estimate. All my success basically came in the WSOP where I cashed 4 of 5 tournaments and found myself in the WSOP Player of the Year running before deciding not to play any more events.

It’s worth noting that I whiffed completely in the Muckleshoot Classic series, posting an overall 0-9 effort. I still have zero final tables in that series to date and it remains a location that I am yet to have a breakout in.

I only had two notable cashes outside of the WSOP – I took 4th of 188 in my first tournament of the year back in January at the LAPC at Commerce in the $350 Omaha 8 or Better for $5600 and then I took 1st of 75 in the $125 All In Or Fold tournament at Run It Up Reno in October for $3900.

I played many, many more tournaments online. This is basically what I did on my “days off.” I played in 500 total tournaments with an average buy in of $21.50 and I cashed in 106 (21%). Despite a decent cashing percentage, I actually finished with a -8% ROI and lost $1.25/hour overall. LOL. To be fair, I did punt the majority of my bankroll on Ignition when the future of that site went into question. In July, I switched over to Global Poker and cashed in 82 of 303 tournaments (27%) with I think about ten wins, an overall ROI of 11%, and a sexy hourly of $1.56!

Training/Study Goals:

-read through MG1&2 and do all the work
-do APT weekly challenge every week
-memorize all the typical LHE drawing odds
-watch at least one WSOP FT a month
-play at least four hours of PLO and four hours of NLHE every month
-play at least ten tournaments a month

Comments: Most of my studying is in the form of playing micro stakes cash games and tournaments online. Basically my goal is to stay sharp or gain experience in no limit hold’em tournaments and pot limit Omaha cash games. With that said, I crushed the bottom two goals listed above. The rest of my study goals didn’t go nearly as well. I never finished Jared Tendler‘s books and as you can tell from some of my recent blog posts and my mind state at the end of my last LAPC trip this is an area that I could still use considerable work on. I subscribed to PokerGo and there’s tons of content on there – and I’m even watching the $25K Mixed Games Championship in the U.S. Poker Open as I type this (Go DeathDonkey!) – but most of my poker watching has been on the streams and vlogs of Lex Veldhuis, Andrew Neeme, Brad Owen, Tonkaaa, and JNandez. There is so much good poker content out there right now that it’s overwhelming at times. I also read Tommy Angelo‘s Painless Poker and while I prefer his older work, it did spark some lifestyle changes.

Top 5 $8/$16 Sessions:
1. +$1867 @ Palace
2. +$1808 @ Palace
3. +$1550 @ Palace
4. +$1530 @ Palace
5. +$1465 @ Palace

Worst 5 $8/$16 Sessions:
1. -$905 @ Palace
2. -$887 @ Palace
3. -$873 @ Palace
4. -$857 @ Palace
5. -$758 (x2) @ Palace

Top 5 non-$8/$16 Sessions:
1. +$4010 in $1/$3/$5 PLO @ Palace
2. +$3535 in $1/$3/$5 PLO @ Palace
3. +$2907 in $20/$40 LHE @ Fortune
4. +$2725 in $15/$30 LHE @ Palace
5. +$2540 in $15/$30 LHE @ Palace *$2352 Royal Flush
6. +$2348 in $30/$60 LHE @ Palace

Worst 5 non-$8/$16 Sessions:
1. -$2265 in $15/$30 LHE @ Palace
2. -$2100 in $1/$3/$5 PLO @ Palace
3. -$1442 in $20/$40 LHE @ Commerce
4. -$1242 in $20/$40 LHE @ Fortune
5. -$1191 in $20/$40 LHE @ Fortune

Posted in poker | Tagged 2017 poker results, 2017 wsop, Commerce, gambling, gambling for a living, LAPC, limit hold em, no limit hold em, Peppermill, poker goals, poker strategy, Poker Tournaments, poker win rates, professional gambling, professional poker, Rio, run it up reno, WSOPc | Leave a Comment »

Super-Sized Saturday $15/$30 LHE (Live Blog)

February 3, 2018

Yesterday I played a 16+ hour session (+$312) like a true degenerate sicko without blogging so I feel like I should do one today. I’m going to be a little less crazy today. I’m currently on alert for when the game is about to spread and I’ll be leaving my house as soon as that happens. But honestly, I hope that’s not for another hour.

Palace in Lakewood has had a sick High Hand promotion the last three days – $500 every 20 minutes for 12 hours each day – and yesterday they managed to fill every table in their brand new 15-table room. For those of you that don’t know, I worked at Palace from August 2015 to October 2016 and while we did get all eight tables full on occasion, it was more of a 5- or 6-table room during my tenure. So seeing all 15 tables full with big lists was kind of mind-blowing. I couldn’t be happier for The Man, for poker in this area, or for myself really. It seems like the last few days it has been accepted that a $15/$30 game can be spread every day (yesterday there were five $8/$16 games and a $15/$30 with a big list at one point) and if that happens to be true, I have no good reason (except variety) to travel to Renton to play $20/$40 at Fortune anymore. I still might go a few times a month, but it won’t feel like something I need to try to make a bigger priority.

I missed the new promos on the 1st because I decided to go to the University of Washington vs Arizona State college basketball game. And what a great decision that was. I had a BLAST! Here’s a really dumb fact: I initially enrolled at UW in fall of 2003 and I eventually graduated in 2010 (that’s another story) and in 14.5 years of UW affiliation (and a stretch of college basketball obsession – I used to do my own Top 25 Rankings), I had never been to a Husky basketball game. I never saw Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Isaiah Thomas, Quincy Pondexter, Tony Wroten, or Terrence Ross play basketball in a UW uniform (except on T.V.) and being at the game on Thursday, as great as it was, made me feel the pain of all those missed opportunities. And it also reinvigorated my passion for Husky basketball. I’ve been reluctant to get back into it because I have a tendency to overindulge (see above link) and feel like I need to watch every game for every relevant team… but I’m just going to be a Husky fan. I think I can do that. And I want to go to another game ASAP. In fact, though I will be live blogging my session today, I will also be bringing my iPad to watch the UW-Arizona game at 8 PM. I’m invested now.

I did something else yesterday that was bittersweet – I bought tickets to the Broadway musical Hamilton playing at The Paramount in Seattle on February 11th. This is a total bucket list item for myself and the $250 tickets I saw on StubHub were by far the cheapest I’ve seen them anywhere. I only say bittersweet because this happens to be the same day as the Main Events in the Grizzly Games on Global Poker, so I won’t be playing in those. Another tournament getting scratched off my list.

Welp. Palace already has ten tables running with five names on the list for $15/$30, so I’m going to hop in the shower and head that way in about 20 minutes. Stay tuned!

1:23 PM: Just arrived at Palace. They have 12 tables going with 6 names on the list for $15/$30 and these other players don’t seem to grasp the concept that you can’t start a game… without starting a game. I can see up to 5-6 more people that might jump in $15/$30 if it actually got off the ground.

And… that list is down to 5 now.

I’m 4th up for $8/$16 and I really have no desire to sit in that game for an hour.

1:38 PM: Sitting down in $8/$16 with $2000 and people can’t help themselves but make comments: “that don’t mean nothing” and “just because he bought a lot of chips.” Like… I can’t hear you?

1:50 PM: I rated my first album of 2018. SiR‘s November is really, really good. He’s a TDE product (same camp as Kendrick Lamar), so the expectations are high and SiR doesn’t disappoint. This is an R&B/Soul album, not a hip-hop one, but it’s high quality stuff: elite production with great songwriting. “D’Evils” and “Something Foreign” are the first two songs on my Best of 2018 playlist and I more songs are catching my ear as I listen. Check it out!

2:22 PM: I have voluntarily played two hands in almost an hour of action so far. I won a pot with TT.

There are still only five names on the $15/$30 list and Radio Mike just text me and said he’s not playing today. There are only two open tables left. This could be a problem. I really don’t want to play $8/$16 with $2000 in chips in front of me all day. Whoops!

2:53 PM: Three limpers, I raise AA from SB, five of us see flop. Q42 with two diamonds. I bet, a player totally unknown to me raises, there’s a cold caller, I three bet and the unknown caps. Still three of us to black 9 turn and I’m still leading. I’m happy to see both of them just call. River is a 4 of diamonds and I’m definitely one to go for thin value, but I don’t know what’s going on here and one of these guys could easily have a flush. I’m not bet-folding so I check and it checks around and I’m good.

3:56 PM: Still no $15/$30 (7 on list, two open tables). No blog regulars at my $8/$16 table. I’m tired. I haven’t slept well in a few days and added a 16-hour session to that mix. If the $15/$30 doesn’t fire in the next hour or so, I’m just going to relax and watch the UW-AZ game from home.

5:23 PM: I’m still here and now I’m rethinking my decision to leave. The $15/$30 game isn’t going to happen. I’ve accepted that.

But check this hand out: multiple limpers, button raises, I 3-bet AQ from the small or big, button caps, everyone calls. 5- or 6-ways to A75 two hearts (I have none) and I check-raise the button. The players two my left cold call and the button calls. Turn is Kh. I bet, two call, button raises, I fold, and only one player calls. River Th. It checks around and… button tables TT.

That’s the kind of chip-torching that keeps me up at night wondering if someone like that is playing in a casino near me while I’m sleeping.

7:34 PM: I’m at home now watching the game. After 5.5 hours of $8/$16 I cashed out $2066 which, if you recall, means I won $66. Another very ho hum session.

I suspect tonight will be one of the 5-10 times I fall asleep before midnight in 2018.

GO DAWGS!!

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, hamilton, hamilton musical, husky basketball, limit hold em, NCAA basketball, poker, poker blog, poker strategy, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | Leave a Comment »

A Reprieve & PLO Pressure (Live Blog)

January 31, 2018

Anyone following my blog knows that my second trip to California for the LAPC did not go well. In fact, it was the worst poker trip I’ve ever had – from a money lost standpoint. Maybe I’ve had worse trips. Back in 2009 – in the middle of a relapse – I basically punted my entire bankroll to Cherish Andrews in a no limit hold’em cash game at the Fall Round Up in Pendleton, Oregon. For some reason, she was incapable of folding top pair against a drunk dude putting max pressure on her. Stubborn! She has gone on to be a known quantity in the poker world – she has over $570K in lifetime scores, including two big WSOP final table cashes ($210k, $142k) – and I went on to call my parents to tell them that I was drinking again, I was officially broke, and I was in another state and needed gas money to get home. That was one of my many rock bottoms, so maybe it was a worse trip, but I did lose less money than I did last week.

When I got home from Los Angeles on Sunday, I was down $4700 for the month, with three days to go and in serious jeopardy of having my worst month ever (last August I lost a little over $4200). As someone that makes their living playing poker and understands the big picture and the various swings that can happen in the short term, I’m not really sweating losing sessions, weeks, or even months. These things happen – it’s part of the gig. But it’s obviously preferential to win, regardless of whatever your arbitrary stopping point is.

When I arrived home Sunday, my wife wanted to go play live poker, so I decided to stay home and check out what Global Poker had going that night for their Grizzly Games series. I played all three pot limit Omaha events scheduled and took 2nd of 174 in the $11 rebuy for +$638.20. Global gives out trophies, hats and shirts to winners of their series events, so I was pretty disappointed to not take it down, especially since I had five times as many chips as anyone else at the final table. But one player knocked the whole final table out and pulled even with me and then basically won every critical pot heads up. Oh well. I was pretty happy to have some tournament success after my terrible week and getting a little less stuck for the month.

The next day I returned to my home court at Palace and booked a decent +$386 win in the $15/$30 game, but the game broke super early (at 3:15 PM) and I had to play $8/$16 the rest of the day. I guess that’s a good thing because now that I was playing in the smallest limit I play regularly, my run good switch was officially activated and I had a very good session, to the tune of +$1339.

I did whiff on all three limit hold’em events in the Grizzly Games on Global Monday night, which was extremely disappointing because I was looking forward to those events so much I had them written down on my personal calendar. I have to say it was pretty difficult to 3-table on an iPad while playing live poker, but I gave it a shot. Unfortunately, the wifi at the casino went down when I was short in one of the tournaments and by the time I got a connection back, I was out! I had to resort to playing on my iPhone 5 using my Verizon connection for my last event and it was pretty brutal. I couldn’t figure out how to size the table properly and I accidentally folded KK preflop in a hand I would have quadrupled on against JJ, KQ, and some other random hand. I picked up KK again a few hands later and ended up busting after losing to a full house on a queen high board against a hand I never even saw because my opponent’s hand was off the screen. So yeah, a pretty shitty experience of something I was really looking forward to. My own fault for trying to multi-table while playing live poker.

Regardless, it was a good Monday and I could actually see potential for a complete redemption. I’m playing some small stakes PLO on Global Poker right now as I get ready for my day, but I am now down about $2300 for the month with one live PLO session at Palace to go. And winning $2300+ in that game is a real possibility. I’ve played 19 sessions of PLO at Palace with an average win of +$592 and two sessions where I have won more than $2300. Pressure’s on!

I’m heading to yoga in a few hours and then I’ll be live blogging my PLO session at 6 PM. Check back then!

6:06 PM: Just got to Palace and this game is struggling to get off the ground. I won about $110 in my online PLO session so my magic number tonight is +$2300.

Anyone that thinks yoga is not much of a workout take this into consideration: I left my house with a blood sugar over 200 and by the time yoga was over, I was below 80 with a down arrow – or on the verge of passing out, even after drinking a full Gatorade. So yeah, pretty intense stuff, especially after taking a couple weeks off.

Starting lineup for PLO: The Riddler, His Royal Airness, Megaton (reconsidering that nickname), Action Bronson (still MIA), and a PLO-only regular. Blackjack is standing on the sideline watching the game and my guess is he’s gonna fire some bullets at it some time tonight.

I’m sitting down with $500 ($1000 max buy) while I see who sits with what and feel the game out. I’ve already picked off a river bluff from His Airness and then called a river check-raise in a stupid spot against the PLO reg.

6:26 PM: I have $1500 in big chips in my pocket but no one sat with more than $500 so they remain there for now.

I just “sucked out” in a decent-sized limp pot from the SB with AJ83dd vs A874 on A93d4dJ.

6:30 PM: The Riddler has felted already and Blackjack sat down just like I thought he would.

6:38 PM: Thanks to the overlay from The Riddler, I have now topped off to nearly $1K to cover the players he donated his stack to.

6:57 PM: The Riddler has felted again and he’s all but defeated. Action Bronson is trying to be encouraging: “If [Megaton] and I can play in this game, you can play in this game too.” I can’t help but chime in: “Yeah man. If [Action Bronson] can hold on to his chips for 20 minutes you should be able to also.”

7:04 PM: The Riddler doubled up and got max action on the river in a spot where he should never be getting called. He is back over $1K.

7:08 PM: It’s so tempting to want to play every hand in this game because half the table has no fold button. It is painful to watch from the sidelines as people pay off massive river bets with hands that are bluff-catchers at best.

7:42 PM: Unfortunate spot: Pot is pretty decent-sized already and I called $50 with QdJdKc3c on KQ9dTd and Blackjack check-raises to $150, which is over half his remaining stack, and His Airness makes it $300. I have top two with an open-ended straight flush draw. My current straight is clearly no good, but I think all my redraws are. I reluctantly call and the river pairs the board… with a ten. Blackjack is all in and His Airness makes a wimpy $50 bet that I just can’t fold to against him… just in case, by some miracle, I am getting half of the side pot. Raising here is a consideration but I’m almost certainly losing the main pot and Hia Airness isn’t exactly a candidate to fold AJ here. I call and they split the pot with AJ. Ugh. Blackjack did have AJ with the nut flush draw so maybe this is closer to a fold than I think.

8:23 PM: Megaton booked a solid win and immediately bounced. As I mentioned earlier I don’t love my name for him and I’m not sure why it took so long for this to click, but he’s the hit and run king… so he will be Hit-Run from now on.

An $8/$16 reg is trying PLO out for the first time. And the poker room manager, aka The Man, is also in the game now, in full suit and tie.

8:57 PM: Clashing with His Royal Airness like I’m aiming to do. I put in $10 from the small blind in a 7-way pot with Kh3hTd3d, which is an absolutely terrible hand. I should be folding here but I’m seeing a flop for some reason. It comes down 642 two hearts and one diamond. Since I have the second nut flush draw and two nut straight blockers I lead out for $40 and only His Airness calls. The turn is Qd and I decide to check-call. I don’t expect to shake him and I have two flush draws and neither of them are to the nuts. I’m going to try and make a hand and go from there. So I call $75 or whatever he bet. River is beautiful: ace of hearts. I have the nuts! His Airness is reckless so I go for a check-raise here. He bets $175 and doesn’t take long to call my max raise to $475 with QJhh.

9:22 PM: I just folded the second nuts in a really weird spot. I’ll come back to that hand later tonight.

9:33 PM: His Airness is felted. Action Bronson cashed out. The $8/$16 player felted a bunch and then won a monster pot when I was gone and now has around $1800 in front of him. I can’t call what his next move will be: booking the win now that he has sugar in a game he’s never played or play out the current adrenaline rush he’s feeling right now.

10:19 PM: I defend a raise with KT88 with spades and the flop is AQ2 with two spades, giving me the nut flush draw and a gut shot. I check-call a 60% pot bet and three of us see the turn. It’s the 5c and the overcaller bombs it for $290. I’m planning to fold if Blackjack folds, but he calls and I now have twelve outs but three of them are dirty (Qs, 5s, Jc), and I think it’s pretty close here. With implied odds, against two players new to PLO, I lean call, but against experienced players I would probably fold here. I call and brick and they both had 43 but one of them rivers a club flush.

11:16 PM: Just punted $400+ with AQ95 spades and diamonds on J86sd4s2 against a player brand new to PLO that probably wouldn’t even consider folding two pair here. Probably should have just saved the $250 on the river bluff though.

11:28 PM: Just 3-bet The Man to $40 with AQQ6 double suited and he immediately makes it $120. I call and the flop is K54 and we both check. Turn pairs the king and we both check again. River is a jack and he bets $100, less than half the pot and I think if he has me beat here, he’s earned a call with this super passive line. I call and he has the hand he repped pre with AAxx.

11:44 PM: A fun $8/$16 player with no PLO experience opens to $15, I call with KK53 one suit, another player calls. Flop is KT4 and it checks to me. I bet $25 and only the fun player calls. Turn pairs the 4, I bet $60 and he check-raises me to $200. Yum yum. I flat because if he is bluffing then I want him to fire the river when he misses or when he gets there and if he’s not bluffing, I’m going to get $600 on the river anyway. If he has 44, bless his soul. River is a blank. He bets $300, I make it $600 and he calls with TT.

He lost another pot after that and left and we are now 5-handed. I’m playing with the PLO reg, The Riddler, The Man, and a fun, new player. The reg is racked up and looks like he’s ready to go, but it’s unlikely this game will break if the fun player wants to play 4-handed. Also, The Riddler still has chips in front of him. He’s no longer losing at the impressive $1500/hour clip he started the session out with, but it’s been a steady $50/hour drip since his double up.

12:03 AM: The Man just filleted the fun player and he left for $8/$16 and the reg said he doesn’t want to play with the remaining three of us. And I made sure he saw that The Riddler still has chips and he still wanted to quit for some reason.

Game over.

Didn’t meet my goal. I’m starting off 2018 with a loss. Final update when I get home.

Thursday, 1:50 P.M.: So I ended up doing something unexpected last night. The PLO game ended around midnight, but I wanted to eat before I left, so I ordered pho and then found myself sitting in a $4/$8 game. I was just going to eat and go home, but the Happy Hour High Hand from 12:00 AM to 2:00 AM was $600 and two black queens and then Captain America, The Riddler, and Blackjack all gravitated to my table and I felt compelled to play a mini-session and found myself leaving a little after 3 AM. I ended up making $51 for my troubles but when I woke up after noon today, I have to wonder what the heck I was thinking.

I finished my PLO session at +$645 which was okay, but far below my goal and thus I have started out 2018 in the red with my first losing January since at least 2010. But a -$1700 tally is far better than the -$4700 I was at a few days ago, so… bright side?

Back to the hand I mentioned earlier but didn’t type out – where I folded a king high flush in a tough spot. Here’s what happened:

Someone opens for $10, there’s a call, another player makes it $35, there’s another call, and I call with KK double suited (I can’t remember my side cards anymore). At least five of us see the flop for $35. The flop is QJx with two clubs and it checks around. The turn is the 8 of clubs, which gives me the third nut flush (T9 of clubs is a straight flush). It checks to His Airness and he makes a rather puny bet of $50. I call next to act. I expect to have His Airness beat and drawing dead most of the time, but raising doesn’t make a ton of sense. I’m willing to take my chances and let some players overcall with worse hands. One player does call and then the preflop 3-bettor – after checking both the flop and the turn – now bombs it for like $300. His Airness quickly folds and action is on me. Calling two max bets (he has at least another $300 behind) with the third nuts in PLO is generally not a good idea, but I’m sitting there asking myself if this guy would really 3-bet preflop and then check the flop in a 5-way pot with a good draw to the nuts and then check it again on the turn after making his hand when no one showed any interest on the previous street. That’s a really hard sell. But then I have to ask myself if this player is capable of bluffing in this spot. Meaning, if he has the naked ace of clubs, is he capable of bombing the pot here knowing how reckless the player that bet the turn is? I don’t think so. His Airness is not folding many flushes here and I think this player has to realize that. I sized him up and he looked uncomfortable. But he looked like he wanted to look that way. I folded and I felt good about it, but I was curious. I decided to ask that player when he was leaving about that hand to see what he would say and he said he had it. I believed his story.

I decided to go to the University of Washington vs Arizona State basketball game tonight and I’m excited but kind of sad about it because Palace has some sick promotions going on the next three days. Starting today at noon, they are giving away $1500 an hour in high hands until midnight (and doing it again Friday and Saturday) and added $10,000 to their highest Royal Flush which was already over $10,000. Not a great day to have other plans, but I will be putting in the marathon sessions on Friday and Saturday!

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, PLO, poker, poker strategy, pot limit omaha, professional gambling, professional poker | 2 Comments »

LAPC Day 6: $350 Limit Hold’em @ Commerce

January 26, 2018

This tournament had the same structure as the events I played last week: 10k starting stacks, 30 minute levels. Blinds started at 50/100. Speaking of which, whenever I play flop games I always list the current level as what the small and big blinds are. In Stud formats, I list the level as the betting limits. This is worth noting since I will be playing a H.O.R.S.E. tournament next. Anyways, a nice feature of this LHE event is that all tables were 8-handed. Anyone that thinks 9-handed poker is better than 8-handed really doesn’t have a clue. Please stop griping about that open seat – it’s going to be okay!

My table started 5-handed with three unknown opponents and one guy I have played with here and at the WSOP. Through a little research I finally got a name: Adam Kipnis. He has $126k in lifetime cashes, almost all of which have come in the annual SoCal series. His biggest cash is $18k for a second place finish in a Deep Stack Extravaganza PLO8 at Venetian last June. Kudos to him. He seems to be doing well and is definitely someone I have recognized over the last few years. The rest of my table seemed pretty soft, including a middle-aged lady in a visor that open-limped 86 suited on the first hand of 5-handed play.

Notable Hands L1-L4

Blinds 100/200, I open with KK and the button 3-bets. I call to disguise my hand and trap later but when the flop comes ace high, I just check-call flop and turn before inexplicably getting a free showdown against AA on the river (one card wheel and backdoor flushes got there, but come on).

Blinds 100/200, I 3-bet a cutoff open from Adam with 66 from the small blind, he calls. Flop is 543 with two clubs (I have one) and I bet and 3-bet. It’s hard to imagine I’m doing poorly against many hands here. I barrel the 8c turn and check the 7c river, not really looking to value bet a six high one card flush. Adam checks back and shows me how “lucky” I got to outdraw his A2.

Blinds 150/300, I bust a player after we cap pre and get it in on the flop when my AK outflops his JJ.

I forgot to mention that Pheels-Bad Pete followed me out to LA and is playing this event as well. I will track his progress also.

First Break: Dark Knight 12.4K, Peter 1.8K

Notable Hands L5-L8

Peter busts his first bullet pretty quickly after the break and fires a second one.

Blinds 200/400, UTG opens, I 3-bet AA next to act, the field clears out and he calls. Flop 632 and he check-calls. Turn 8 and he check-raises now. In retrospect, this is probably a clear 3-bet. I’m really only losing to 88 and a bunch of hands that are typically not raising UTG at an 8-handed table. But I took the cautious route and called him down and he showed… AA! Wow.

Blinds 200/400, a middle position player opens and I defend J9dd. Flop is Q95 and I feel my hand plays a bit better as a check-raise than a check-call, so that’s the line I take. He calls and then calls again on K turn. River bricks and I think if I bet again I might as well be bluffing. This board is better for his range than mine so I just give up, but he checks back and… beats me with A9.

Blinds 200/400, hi-jack opens and I 3-bet QThh from the cutoff. I’ve seen this player open T7s from an earlier position so not 3-betting this hand would be criminal. The small blind and hi-jack both call. I bet flop and turn on T997 and the small blind is calling. Final board reads T9977 and he checks again. At first glance it might look like I should be betting, but what hands can he call with that I beat? All his small pairs have been counterfeit. Maybe he calls A8s? Maybe he hung around with AK or AQ? He would probably call those hands. I think he might play JJ this way and probably ATs and KTs. I can’t imagine him calling a 3-bet with too many other Tx combos. I think most of the time he calls I probably lose, so I check back and beat his JTs. And then he says “you 3-bet with queen ten suited?” The guy that calls three bets with JT suited, from the small blind, says that. I love poker players. They never cease to amaze me with their weird and faulty logic.

Blinds 300/500, I open A8ss UTG (a little frisky, but table is mostly playing tight and straightforward) and only the big blind defends. Flop is 754 one spade and it’s not surprising when I get check-raised on this board texture. My hand actually has disguised equity so I’m happy to continue here. The turn pairs the 4 and I call again. The river is a king and creates an interesting dynamic. If he checks here, I expect to never win. If he bets, I like my hand a lot more. Reason being, if he had a pair, it’s unlikely he would value bet it on this river. He would typically check-call and hope he’s good. But if he’s been bluffing, he has to bet to win, so a river bet is way less scary than a river check ironically. Of course, he could have really strong hands like trips and straights, but a river bet has a lot of bluffs too. I’m pretty happy when he bets and I snap-call and win the pot vs queen high.

Blinds 300/600, button opens, I 3-bet QJo and the big blind caps it. We both call. The big blind is all in for another 300 on AKx and we both call, check the A turn, and button folds when I bet my straight on the T river. Big blind reveals JJ and I bust that player for the second time – both times when he had JJ, something he’s telling anyone listening as he’s exiting the tournament area.

Blinds 300/600, I defend an open with K8. Flop is KT4 and I decide to encourage future betting by taking a passive check-call line. The turn pairs the T and it checks through. River is a 6 and I don’t see how I can’t bet here. I bet, he calls, and I lose to KJ.

Shirley Rosario, a 50+ white lady, joins my table wearing a Wu-Tang Clan “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)” jacket and it kind of blows my mind.

Blinds 400/800, a disaster hand. I think my line and thinking here is fine, but the result is miserable. I defend a hi-jack open with KQo and then check-raise the 962 flop. This is a spot where the board hits my range better than it hits his and I will have some disguised outs if I make a real hand. He calls though and then calls again on the 8 turn. I catch a perfect river to continue my bluff when the final board reads 96285 and instead of a fold, I get raised. I’m so perplexed by this turn of events that part of me wants to call just to see and part of me is wondering if I should 3-bet. It’s not impossible for him to have hands like 77 or A7s though, so I eventually toss it in the muck.

Blinds 400/800, I open button with Q6o and a new player in the small blind 3-bets. I call. Flop is QT5 two clubs (I don’t have one), he bets, I raise, and he calls. Turn is Ac and we both check. River is 4c and we both check again. He rolls his hand and says “that’s it” and I see two red fives, so I table my hand and after a few seconds I realize he said “SET.” Awesome.

Ten minutes before registration closes, Rip Van Winkle strolls in with a fresh stack looking like he just got out of a game he sat in the evening before – standard Rip. But I don’t love that name. I thought of a better one. From now on the character formerly known as a Rip Van Winkle will be known as The Sandman. Yes, that’s better.

Second Break: Dark Knight 11.4K, Peter busted (twice)

Notable Hands L9-L10 (spoiler alert)

I go all of level 9 with a VPIP of 0%, meaning I didn’t voluntarily put money in the pot a single time for the entire 30 minute level.

My table breaks and I’m down to 5.5 bigs when I get moved to Sandman’s table. I had been playing for 5+ hours and Sandman had been playing less than 40 minutes and I joke that I’m probably going to bust before he does. Sure enough, first hand at his table I get KJ and the action folds to me, I raise and one of the blinds 3-bets and we eventually get all in. He has AJ and my sweat is over pretty quick after an AJx flop and no equity on the turn.

I busted with about 40 left. 16 ended up cashing. Another brutal tournament. I peaked around 29K and almost immediately lost half of it back.

After the tournament it as was early enough and the games looked good enough that I decided to play some $20/$40 LHE and I just got murdered. None of my premium hands were capable of winning and I found myself stuck $1300 in less than two hours. I made a couple of comebacks where I got up to -$500 and it looked like I might be able to salvage the session, but the shit storm returned and I couldn’t stomach any more brutal negative variance and called it a night at -$1135 after 5.5 hours.

That makes me 0 for 4 in LAPC events, -$2942 over my last four cash game sessions, and officially in the red for the month of January.

Who wants to be a professional poker player?

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, limit hold em, poker, poker strategy, Poker Tournaments, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | Leave a Comment »

$30/$60 @ Palace (1/21/2018 – LIVE BLOG)

January 21, 2018

9:10 AM: Backpacks and meditation are back! The $30/$60 game @ Palace is supposed to start at 11 AM, but who knows if that will actually happen. What did happen was this game went until 5 AM last Sunday when I was in California. That’s impressive!

I played a very short and unhappy $8/$16 session last night. It was 9 PM before we headed to the casino and I needed to be up early today, so my head and heart weren’t in it. What I really wanted to do was play some $6/$12 Omaha 8/Better for a few hours until my wife was ready to go home, but somehow I went from 2nd on the list when I put my name up to 4th on the list and then I got slaughtered for -$300 in less than an hour in a short-handed game. Playing short sessions is one of my pet peeves and when I know it’s going to happen (like when I’m waiting for a seat in a game I want or we are on a time restriction like last night) I typically drop down in limits ($4-$8) or play a lower variance game (like Omaha 8). So after donating $300 and watching the game disintegrate before my eyes (like my chip stack), I was still third up for O8 and I didn’t want to play full ring LHE, so I just went home.

When I left there were 7 names on the list for $30/$60 today. The question is, will those seven names be there at 11 AM when the game is supposed to start, or am I waking up early for no reason? Probably the latter. I’ve suggested a later start time for this game, but so far it hasn’t happened. I think a 2 PM start would get off the ground much more successfully. We’ll see though.

I think this is a good time to thank everyone for their support. My decision to start blogging my poker exploits has been a pretty huge one. I have long felt like reviewing movies is somewhat of a chore to me, but I find that I thoroughly enjoy writing about poker and the people that follow me certainly seem to prefer poker content. January 2018 is already the busiest month my blog has ever seen – and before that, December 2017 and November 2017 were my best months ever. In fact, January 2018 has been such a huge month that it has already surpassed the total amount of views my blog got in all of 2016 and will pass my total for 2015 by the end of the month. The increase in traffic has been insane and I’m happy that so many people seem to be enjoying what I’m doing. It’s pretty cool. I believe there is a way to follow the blog and be notified each time I make a new post if you wish to have updates sent to you. Thanks again!

I’m going to spend the next 90 minutes meditating, doing a little exercising, drinking coffee and getting ready and then I’ll go see what’s happening at Palace.

11:02 AM: Batman can always count on The Riddler for genuine assistance. He said he’s playing at Palace, so I text him and ask him to tell the floor I’m on my way but might be a few minutes late because I don’t want to lose my seat and he replies: “I will make an announcement to the room.”

No shock here. 10 names on the list to start the game and so far three of us have showed up. Of the seven current no shows, I feel like only one of them is guaranteed to walk in the door in the next thirty minutes, so it could be a while before this thing takes off.

Trying to assimilate my wife to this new limit for us, as I’m about to leave the house I say, “Welp. Time for me to go win or lose thousands of dollars!”

11:27 PM: Only five us here and no one is excited about the lineup. One of them doesn’t want to start 5-handed and another doesn’t want to start 4-handed. I’m not sure a sixth player is going to trickle in within the next thirty minutes and one of these guys is already talking about taking off.

This game might not happen today.

11:49 AM: Cards are in the air. Playing 4-handed. Nothing like some high stakes short-handed variance to wake you up in the morning!

Hopefully the game going will be noticed on Bravo and bring some players in.

As usual, playing short-handed isn’t very conducive to live blogging, so probably won’t post many hands until we start to fill up.

11:57 AM: The game just got a little less sharky. A Palace reg that has only recently stepped up to $8/$16 just sat down with $1000. Rooting for him against these Fortune regs!

12:31 PM: We are 6-handed now. A rundown of my opponents: there are three regulars from the Fortune $20/$40 game – one of which I think is one of the strongest players there – and two Palace regs, both of which I suspect are playing above their comfort level.

Notable hands so far:

-I open SB with QJ and the big defends. Flop is KTx and I bet-call. I don’t suspect this player to raise this flop and fold at some point so I’m just check-calling and trying to make something now. I turn a jack, which makes me showdown bound and check-call again. The river gives me a straight and I lead and do not get called.

-Button opens, I 3-bet KJ from SB, big calls, button calls. Flop QT9 with two clubs. I bet, big raises, button calls, I call. I reraise here a lot – especially since the board is wet – but I suspect I will get a check-raise in on the turn the majority of time, so I take that line. The turn is the deuce of clubs (and I don’t have one) and I don’t love the situation but I execute anyway and both players fold when I raise.

-I open AK from cutoff, button and small blind call, big folds. Flop is KQ5 rainbow. I bet and both players raise. The small blind is a very good player, so I expect him to have KQ a lot here. Maybe 55. He definitely could have hands like KJs and KTs though, so I’m never folding. The turn card solves most of my problems though as I make top two pair and the good Fortune reg check-calls me down.

12:50 PM: The most recent player already quit. He sat down and played one orbit and then moved to $3/$6! LOL. You don’t see someone move from a $30/$60 game to a $3/$6 game every day.

1:00 PM: Super Dave is here to save the day! He just sat down with $2000 and these guys have no idea how much this game just changed.

1:08 PM: We are 8-handed! Rooting for Super Dave vs The World!

1:22 PM: Super Dave button straddles, I 3-bet TT from the big, a non-reg is not phased by the $90 cold from MP, and three of us see the 864 flop. I bet, MP raises, and Super Dave calls. 3-betting here is fine, but I just call, planning to bet safe turns and possibly fold to a raise from MP. The jack is pretty safe, so I bet and they both call. River pairs the jack, I bet, MP calls, and Super Dave makes a miraculous fold with K8. I win the pot.

Just lost a big one: Super Dave opens, there’s a call, I 3-bet AQdd and it gets capped. I get it capped on the 865dd flop, with all three of us still in. I check back the 6 and fold on the river when Super Dave bets and the other player calls. Dave shows Q7o and the caller wins with A8.

1:41 PM: Super Dave straddles, SB folds, I have QT in the big. I’m always defending this hand but this table isn’t super active and I think I’m better off 3-betting and trying to get heads up with the maniac. Mission failed. UTG 4-bets and Super Dave 5-bets. Flop is AQx with two diamonds. It checks around. Turn is the Qd. I think UTG probably has an ace, so I opt for a check-raise here and it works spectacularly. Both players put in two big bets on the turn. The river is the 8d and I check-call to induce bluffs. UTG bets and shows KQ with no diamond. Oh, so that’s why my turn check-raise worked? Whoops!

Edit: I forgot to mention I had the Td. I won this pot.

2:48 PM: Sorry, I was focusing on eating for a bit there. It’s been a pretty solid start for me. I’ve made the nuts twice with AK in showdown pots and I’ve been getting premium hands in my big blind when Super Dave button straddles (and sucking out with QTo when I’m not!) and I’ve only lost one of these scenarios.

As is, I’m up about $1500 after taking my first break.

Pesky Pete is first up on the list and he’s already been waiting an hour and if there’s any justice in this world, any justice at all, he will wait two more hours and take Super Dave’s empty seat.

3:10 PM: Super Dave is torturing two of the Fortune regs. I haven’t lost any meaningful pots to him yet and he appears to be up about $1500 playing about 85% of hands dealt.

3:12 PM: The $8/$16 shot-taker got a nice little bink and Pesky Pete gets to gamble with Super Dave. Boooooooo!

3:37 PM: UTG+1 opens, I 3-bet 77 on the button, he calls. I bet flop and turn before checking behind river on 9868Q and my hand is good vs KT. Where’s a 7 when you need one? Nothing too exciting but I just felt like I should post a hand.

3:53 PM: This game is in trouble. Two players have left and a very key player passed on his open seat – even though he was unimpressed with Pesky Pete’s +$9000 win from a few weeks ago because, you know, he’s “won $10,000 in $30/$60 many times.” But as easy as winning $10k in this game is, he’s decided to play $8/$16 instead today.

If Super Dave cashes out, this game is dust.

4:22 PM: I’m getting Super Dave’d now. He button straddles, Peter 3-bets SB, I 4-bet BB with AQcc, both call. Flop J76cc and I wind up lose to Dave’s 33.

I open KJo and only Super Dave defends and I can’t beat his A3o after flopping KQT.

4:46 PM: Super Dave cashed out a little less than $3k. That leaves us 4-handed. I thought the game was over but these guys still want to play. Eh. I think I’m a very good short-handed player, but that doesn’t mean I’m invincible from variance and none of these guys are slouches.

5:04 PM: Battling with Pesky Pete.

I can’t lay down the JT on J77ccTK after we cap flop and I call down. His A7 is good.

I can’t lay down the JT on 862T after getting check-raised on the flop and getting 3-bet on the turn. Fortunately, the river comes a 6, counterfeiting his 82. Obviously, I check back, perplexed, and on a mission to put in $0 with the best hand this pot.

We picked up two players. Game on!

5:12 PM: MP opens, I 3-bet QQ, big blind and opener call. Flop T73 with two diamonds, I bet, big raises, MP calls, I 3-bet, and they both call. Turn is 9d and I don’t have one. I lead, big calls, MP raises, I snap fold, big calls. River 4d, big donks, MP raises, and the big goes deep into the tank before calling with… red aces! Wth.

5:27 PM: Peter is so annoying. He opens cutoff, I 3-bet K9cc, big blind is all in for $35, Peter calls. Flop is QJ3, two diamonds, one club and Peter check-calls. Turn is Kd and he check-raises me. My first instinct is to pay this off in frustration but he’s just never bluffing here and I’m probably drawing dead and I find my zen moment and toss it in the muck. Peter shows T9o and the big blind has 87dd but loses to Peter when the river comes a fourth diamond.

5:40 PM: Peter opens button, I 3-bet with Q8hh, the big blind comes along, and Peter calls. Flop is J32 rainbow with one heart. I bet and both call. Turn pairs the 2 and we check to Peter and he bets. He’s never flatting with a jack on the flop and I would check-raise big pairs here a decent amount, especially since I’ve been missing a lot lately, and I pull the trigger on the total airball check-raise… and they both fold.

6:22 PM: We’re playing a fun game called everyone gets to get there against me. Open 84cc? River a flush. Nice hand. Open 97hh and flop middle pair when I have top pair? Turn trips. Easy game. Open A6o, flop trips 6s, let me turn top pair with KJ and get a check-raise in? Pretty unreal.

6:33 PM: Peter has almost beaten me into submission. And now there’s another player in the game that I seem to be incapable of making a winning hand against. As much fun as it is to lose basically every pot I play in a game that isn’t particularly good anyways, I think I might head home soon.

6:50 PM: KK holds up against Peter. He’s not totally immune to losing pots to me!

The other player I can’t beat is pretty new to me but he’s been playing in the bigger games at Palace since we started spreading them and seems to be a new regular. Since I think I’m yet to win a showdown against him over multiple sessions, this player – who I have previously referred to as Cubs hat – will now be known as Game Genie.

Flopped a set of 7s in a 3-bet pot, so, you know, it’s not all bad.

I’m not going to go out of my way to do this, but we are playing 5-handed and it seems like beating Game Genie in ONE showdown is something that could happen.

8:15 PM: My bad. My good friend (and former roommate) just walked into Palace and I spent the last half hour talking to him on a break.

8:24 PM: First hand back I can’t shake Pesky Pete off ace high on the QQ7Jx run out. I defended the big with K8 and raised the flop and barreled turn which seems optimistic against a probable ace high, but Peter has seen me take this line with a Queen so many times I think he folds a decent amount here. When he tank-calls turn though I know he’s calling river, so I check back that street.

I did the impossible. Pesky opens cutoff, I 3-bet JJ, and four of us see the flop. The board runs out 76297 and I bet all streets and win a showdown against… GAME GENIE!

I deed it!

Game Genie is almost felted and our 5th player just left.

8:43 PM: I quit the $30/$60 game when it got 3-handed. I have to admire the tenacity of one of the remaining players. He’s taking on Peter heads up – even though Peter is basically incapable of losing any pots.

His run in the $30/$60 here has been unreal. Palace has spread the game four times now and he’s had two sessions so good they typically only happen once or twice a year. He won $9k once and I’ll report what tonight’s final total is when he’s done. It’s truly disgusting. One player commented “even he’s irritated by it” referring to me, which he said “is a compliment about your emotional stability” and is definitely a testament to how absurd Peter is running.

Peter plays really well though, so I don’t want to take anything away from his ability. He’s a good player -my toughest regular opponent in the greater Tacoma area – but, my God, the deck is slapping him across the face in these big games.

As for me, I finished $30/$60 at -$685.

I am now playing $4/$8 with my good friend and I’ll be going home as soon as he’s done playing.

UPDATE: Pot-After-Pot Pete won $5780, which he says brings his $30/$60 hourly win rate to $500/hour after four sessions. Incredible!

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, limit hold em, poker, poker strategy, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | Leave a Comment »

Pot Limit Omaha – Where Nobody Knows What They’re Doing

January 13, 2018

The PLO game at Palace on Wednesdays has $1/$3 blind structure but it is $5 to come in, so it plays more like a $2/$5 game. The max buy in is $1000. My strategy when I initially sit down is to buy $500 in green and red chips and keep $1500 in black chips in my pocket. I like to start with a shorter stack while I get a feel for how the game is playing and see what the other stacks look like after a few orbits. If some of that action players double up or max buy, I will top off myself, unless I’ve already doubled up. Also, Washington state law has a cap at a bet and three raises and the max bet in Washington is $300, so while the game is pot limit, it does have some restrictions.

I don’t think I’m an expert PLO player. Shoot, I don’t even think I’m proficient – I think I would struggle in a lineup full of competent players. Fortunately, the typical Palace lineup is ultra juicy and I’ve been able to murder this game even though I don’t think I’m particularly good. I make some really dumb mistakes at times and in the interest of authenticity, I will usually post those hands.

Session 1 – January 3rd, 2018

I limp along on the button with TT95 double suited. This is a pretty poor hand. I’m only playing it because there are people in the pot I want to gamble with and it’s $5 to call. I’m definitely not looking to play a big pot with a flush. The flop comes down T96 rainbow, giving me top set and a backdoor flush draw. One of the limpers leads out for $20 – which is probably near pot – I call and so does the small blind. The turn is the Qc, giving me a flush draw to go with my set and both players check to me. I think this is a good spot to bet in a typical PLO game, but the thing I love about the Palace game is that these guys are simply incapable of folding. I really think the flop bettor has 87 and I don’t think he’s going to fold it, so I decide to check back and see a free river. I brick, the flop bettor makes it $45, I fold, the small blind calls and the bettor wins with 87xx.

I raise in MP with AQT2 double suited and four of us see the KT9 two spade flop. I have no spades in my hand and this board is super wet, so I check and it checks around. The turn is the As and it checks to me again. I only have one player to act behind me and I would imagine he would bet his straights and good flush draws, the two players in front of me have checked twice, so I bet $60 and wind up taking it down. Not too interesting except I’m surprised to get zero resistance on this board.

Someone makes it $15, His Airness (one of my all-time favorites) calls and so does the other action player. I call with KK73ss on the button and 5 of us see a flop of 954 with one spade. It checks around. The turn is the 6 of spades, giving me the second nuts and a king high flush draw. His Airness leads out $60, it folds to me, I make it $140, it folds to him, he makes it $280, and I call. The river brings my flush in, he makes a blocker bet of $80 and I make it $260, worried that I might lose him if I go for max value. He calls and my flush is good.

I can’t remember who my opponent was in this hand, but I wish I did because it’s a classic. I forgot to note where I am in this hand, but I’m guessing I was in one of the blinds. I call $20 with JTss88. Four of us see the flop and I lead $50 on T96 rainbow. One player calls me and I bet $130 on the 2 of club turn. He calls. The river is the Qc, giving me a straight, but completing a backdoor flush. I decide to check and pick off bluffs or misguided value bets. He bets $205. I call. He shows… Ac7cK7.

A player I will refer to as Slimer (for reasons that need not be mentioned) makes it $15 blind from UTG, His Airness calls, I make it $50 with QcJcJs9s from middle position and both of them call. The flop is Tc8cXs and it checks to me. I have a wrap, straight flush draw, and an overpair, so I bet $100. Only His Airness calls and then he donks $120 when the ten pairs on the turn. I’m not buying it. I make it $420 and he folds 7c6c face up. 9 of clubs on the turn one time?! I wrote these notes a week ago, so I don’t remember all the particulars. I’m sitting here typing this and wondering if raising the turn is really my best line, but I’m guessing the stacks were shallow enough that I determined I was willing to play for everything and didn’t want to do any guessing on the river.

This was a totally insane hand. I didn’t choose to write about it because I was in the pot, but because of how crazy it was and some of the questions it raises. Someone makes it $10, the pot is already mulitway, and I call with AJ75 with a suited ace on the button. The flop comes down 432 rainbow giving me the second nuts with a redraw to the nut straight and a backdoor nut flush draw. It checks to the player on my right and he bets $35. I call, Pay-Off Pete calls in the small blind, and now the big blind makes it $235. It folds to the flop bettor and he makes it $535 ($300 max bet in play now). I snap muck and it folds back to Peter. In a shocking development, Peter makes it $835 and the flop betting is now capped. The other two players both call. The turn is the 8h, Peter goes all in for $202 and both players call again. The river pairs the 8 and the big blind bets $300 and the other player calls. The main pot has ~$3200 in it and the whole pot is now $4000! The big blind scoops it all with 44xx. He flopped a naked set of 4s and turned a flush draw before filling up on the river. Peter and the other player both had 65xx with no redraws.

Just bonkers. The big blind had the opportunity to close the action on the flop for $35 with two possible straights on board and three players invested in front of him already. Instead, he raised with the 4th best hand on the flop (granted, I’d rather have his hand than mine) and wound up having to pay $800 more to see the turn! And over $1000 total before he finally made the best hand. Just sick.

And I think Peter should have folded on the flop, as played. He opted to check-call with the nuts originally to avoid a high variance line before seeing the turn and by the time it came back to him it was $535 to go and it was obvious that at least one – if not both – of his opponents had the same hand he did. And while he had a pair of 4s with his straight, he had no actual redraws. He had $45 invested at this point and had to risk over $1000 to win, at best, half of what was in the pot – with basically no chance to win it all. There is just no way that’s a profitable play. Sometimes you flop the nuts in PLO and the best play is folding.

We are playing 4-handed at this point, Peter limps in, I limp on the button with KQ93dd, one of the blinds makes it $15 and everyone calls. The flop is AJT with two diamonds giving me the nut straight and the nut flush draw. It checks to me, I bet $25, and only Peter calls. The turn is a king and I bomb it because I want to charge Peter the max if he turned a straight and I’m freerolling. The river bricks though and he leads pot, I go all in, etc. and he escaped with half the pot with his ugly QTxx or whatever he had… all I remember is that it was super gross!

I ended up finishing this session +$1380

Session 2 – January 10th, 2018

This session had all the potential to be my biggest losing session in any game ever.

In my first disaster hand, Action Bronson limps, another action player limps, a good player makes it $25, and I call with AKJ5 with a suited ace. Five of us see the QT5 rainbow flop. I have bottom pair, a broadway wrap, and the backdoor nut flush draw. Action Bronson pots it for $125 and it folds to me. I’m only $600ish deep at this point, so I make it $425 to commit, he puts me all in. He has KJT9 which is actually a big favorite over my hand. I just ran the odds and he’s 50% to scoop and 23% to tie, which means my scooping chances are only 27% (and I did this calculation assuming has no backdoor flush draw). So I actually got it in pretty bad here and wound up getting stacked.

This is right after that last hand, so I’m on a fresh reload and reconsidering my approach. I don’t 3-bet in this game a lot, but by this point, it’s clear to me that the good player is constantly trying to isolate Action Bronson and the other active player and doesn’t necessarily have great hands when he’s doing this. So when Action Bronson limps and this guy makes it $20 again and another player calls, I decide to 3-bet with AQQ5 double suited to $85. Action Bronson folds, but the last two players call. The flop is T32 rainbow and since there is over $250 in the pot and I started the hand with $500ish and the board is super dry, I just bomb it to commit myself. They both fold. Eh. Maybe not the right line of thinking on the flop. The board is super dry, so a pot-sized bet is kind of ridiculous, as I’m only likely to get action from hands that flopped sets or big straight draws. I suppose I was just happy to take the pot down right there and not have to do any guessing on future streets, but I’m not sure it’s the right approach.

Active player (a major regular – I just haven’t thought of a good name yet) felted a hand or two ago and reloaded for $200 in red and opens to $15, the good player tries to isolate from the button to $35, the small blind calls, and I defend JJT7 double suited from the big blind. The flop comes down T85 giving me an overpair, a bad gutshot, and two backdoor flush draws. The active player leads out for $50 and the good player just calls. It folds to me. Since the good player is just calling here, I don’t expect him to have a hand that can stand a raise and the active player could literally have plenty of hands I’m doing well against and started with $200 and only has $115 behind now, so I decide to make it $225 expecting to get all in with the active player in a heads up situation. It almost goes to plan. The good player does fold… after the active player calls with $200 in green chips that he had hiding behind his stacks of red! So now I’m playing against a $400 effective stack instead of a $200 effective stack! Turn pairs the 5 and gives me a flush draw, so I put him all in and he calls me with… JJT7! The exact same hand! Minus a flush draw. I miss my freeroll and we chop the pot up. I had told this player last week that he needed to keep his big chips visible at all times so I now take this opportunity to give him a friendly remind of why he’s supposed to do that.

I call $15 on the button with JTT8 double suited and it checks to me on the JT6 all club flop. I don’t have clubs, but I do have a set and I like the fact that everyone checked to me. I bet $50 so I’m guessing there were four or five of us that saw the flop. I get called in two spots. One of the players is a bad LHE player that I’ve never seen play PLO and the other guy is a PLO reg that I don’t expect to have a big hand here. The turn is an 8 and now the second player leads out for $50. I thought they both might have weak flushes on the flop and now that one of them has checked twice and the other is making a very weak bet, I decide to put the pressure on with a raise to $250. It feels like a stroke of genius until the first player goes all in for $519 and now I’m sitting there wondering how I can possibly be so bad at this game. The second player folds and it’s back on me. I ended up trying to do some math while at the table, but I have to admit it’s not a strong suit of mine. I ended up calling it off, but I’m almost sure this is a fold. I’m blocking my outs pretty hard, having both a ten and an 8 in my hand. I’ll do the math now though. I will assume there was $75 in the pot preflop, $150 more on the flop, $300 plus $519 on the turn for $1044 total and it costs me $269 more to call. I’m getting roughly 3.88 to 1 to call and I have 8 total outs (the third player in this pot actually folded 66, so I’m in much worse shape than I think). I need 5 to 1 to call, so I’m coming up short. He always has the nut flush here and I’m not getting the right price. If all my outs were clean, calling is close enough to correct that it would be fine to continue, although finding myself in this predicament at all seems like pretty poor hand planning. I called it off and whiffed. I think my line of thinking on the turn is reasonable, but I had played less than an orbit with this guy and I really have no clue what his tendencies are. You just don’t see someone flop the nut flush in a multiway pot and check it twice very often in PLO. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Another disaster hand: I didn’t write details for this hand, but I can paint a picture. I have KQJ9 with a suited king and I believe I 3-bet this hand preflop. The flop was 953 with two spades, giving me top pair with three overcard kickers and a king high flush draw, and I made a bet of probably 60-75% pot and only the player on my right called. The turn was an offsuit 6 and I decided to bet again and he check-raised me $300 more. I called it off and we both checked when the 3 paired on the river. He shows A42x with no spades.

I’m running pretty pure at this point and find myself in the game for $2000 and I have $150 of it left in front of me. I did buy another $1000 in black chips, but they are still in my pocket, but I haven’t put any of them on the table yet because I’m unsure if I’m really willing to lose $3000.

I end up finding a spot to 3-bet with AKT7 from the small blind and commit myself before the flop in a 3-handed pot. I bet the rest of it in the dark and manage to go runner runner flush with the T7 in my hand to triple up.

I eventually build that $150 stack up to $1450, without reloading, before my next catastrophe.

I have AA54 with a suited ace and I decide to limp in UTG. A 3-bet in this game is super rare, so if I make it $15 UTG what will usually happen is I’ll be playing out of position in a 5- or 6-way pot. So by limping this hand (and I have a limping range in this game), I might have an opportunity to make a big 3-bet if someone else raises. The next player to act makes it $20 and he picks up two callers. I can only make it $100 and I feel like all three players are going to call and my hand will be kind of face up, so I just call. The flop is K32 with one spade. The PFR has never played PLO before, so I expect him to c-bet his entire range here – he does. The other two players fold and I am very happy to play for stacks (~$400 effective at hand start), so I pot it and we end up getting it in. Unfortunately he has KK in his hand and I whiff everything even though I turn a spade draw as well.

This was the last hand of the night. I’ve built back up at this point and I open with KK66 double suited. I get some callers and the big blind makes it $70. I call and so do the others. The flop comes down T82 with two spades and one club and it checks around. The turn pairs the deuce and gives me a flush draw and it checks to me. I bet about 70% pot and it folds back to the big blind. After 3-betting pre and checking twice postflop, he now decides to pot. He had around $600 to start the hand and his line doesn’t really make any sense, so I don’t see any way I can consider folding here. After his pot-sized raise, there’s not enough left behind for decision-making, so I put him all in. He calls and the river doesn’t change the board texture. He tables AsJs9X and my KK is good. So he flopped the nut flush draw and an open-ended straight draw in a bloated pot and decided to check on the flop… and it cost him the pot. And his stack. I would have folded to any reasonable bet on the flop.

Thanks to that last hand I managed to finish the night -$111 after being stuck $1850 at one point. Felt like a huge win for me. I realize some of these hands are pretty unconventional, but I’m constantly playing this game with inexperienced players with questionable card sense. I would play much tighter and take different lines against a lineup of competent players, but the money just splashes around so fast in this game, I feel like I have to try to get it while it’s there. It’s pretty rare for the PLO game to last more than four hours and it’s not uncommon for someone to double up and leave after playing for less than an hour. I can’t really say that I know what I’m doing but I think I make good adjustments in this game texture and my results in it have been tremendous.

Posted in poker | Tagged card games, gambling for a living, limit hold em, omaha, poker, pot limit omaha, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | Leave a Comment »

First Friday $15/$30 Session (LIVE BLOG)

January 12, 2018

11:10 AM: Today marks the first day of $15/$30 on a Friday at Palace. This game is starting full which is pretty cool because I left here last night with four names on the list and also because the game usually doesn’t start full on Mondays.

Palace also decided to start spreading PLO on Saturdays. So now I have the option to play $15/$30 twice a week, PLO twice a week, and $30/$60 once a week – less than ten minutes from my home! A year ago the biggest game they had was $8/$16.

I used to think that playing most of my hours at Palace was costing me money (and it certainly was – even though the $20/$40 at Fortune is a much tougher game than $8/$16 at Palace, my hourly is significantly higher in the bigger game). I’m happy to feel good about playing on my home turf. If the $30/$60 game takes off – and I’m not sure it will – then I really won’t have a reason to go to Fortune unless I want to play on a Thursday.

That’s a pretty cool turnaround from this time last year. It’s possible that I will spend less than 25% of my total hours in 2018 playing $8/$16, which has been my primary limit for three years now. I have to say I’m really excited about the opportunity and it wouldn’t surprise me if Palace eventually starts spreading $15/$30 every day.

11:23 AM: Starting lineup consists of Chief Wiggum, two $15/$30 regulars, one semi-regular, one action player, and three players I haven’t seen play this limit yet – one of which is a nitty $8/$16 regular.

I’m starting with $2000 – $800 in green, $1180 in red, and $20 in white. I have Overs button on my stack and so far no one has asked me for one.

11:45 AM: First significant pot: four limpers, SB calls, I check KJo. Flop is KJ3 rainbow – SB leads, I raise, maybe someone else calls, nit on the button raises, SB calls, I cap it. Three players see the 4c on turn – I bet, the nit just calls (ruling out 33 now), and SB calls. River is a 9c, bringing in a backdoor flush and completing QT, which is what I think the button has after capping flop and calling the turn. So I check-call and that is what he shows me.

It’s pretty uncanny how I get off to a rough start every time I play this game.

12:01 PM: One limper, I raise cutoff with QJcc, Chief Wiggum cold calls, maybe the big defends. Flop Kc9d6d – I bet and Wiggum and the limper call. Turn is a beautiful Tc, giving me the nuts with a Royal Flush draw. I bet, Wiggum calls, the limper check-raises, I 3-bet, Wiggum still calls (I’m thinking a diamond beats me now), and the limper caps. I miss my flush on the river, but it’s not a diamond, and I raise when the limper bets – and then I get the briefest glimmer of hope when he decides to do the let’s-not-waste-anymore-time-I’m-just-gonna-call-with-the-nuts move.

12:14 PM: Woah. Something good happened in my first two hours of playing. One limper, I raise AJo from MP, Wiggum cold calls (hmm… might need to change seats), and four of us see a J98 rainbow flop. The limper donks, I raise, Wiggum calls, and the limper 3-bets. Eh. The limper is capable of having Tx here. It’s definitely not always a straight. I could cap, but I decide to call and re-evaluate on the turn. It’s an ace. He still leads and I think my hand is too good to call down with, especially with a player still behind me. I raise and I’m pretty happy to see Wiggum fold and the limper just call. River is a 3 and I get another big bet in and win the pot.

Then I defended KTss from the big and outflopped the PFR and got paid off on all the streets.

A rare good early start for me in this game!

1:03 PM: The blinds just ran the board out and paid $6 to see if the big blind could hit a $250 High Hand that has to hold up for 17 minutes with 7 tables going. He missed… the small blind won the pot and I swear I saw him give the big blind $15 back. I actually get to play poker with these people.

1:23 PM: One limper, I raise with KK, button cold calls and three or four of us see the J88 two spade flop. I bet and only the button calls. I consider check-raising a blank turn but I opt to bet instead. He raises me. I think 3-betting here is plenty reasonable but I don’t know this player super well and decide to call. The river is a king. The standard line here is to check-raise but I think he will check behind a jack and there’s a chance he will raise me if he has an 8, so I bet… and he folds.

1:50 PM: Last night I fell asleep with The Roots discography on shuffle and it inspired me to make a special playlist for today. I added every Roots album, every Mobb Deep album, most of Prodigy’s solos, every Tribe Called Quest album, all three Q-Tip solos, every Pharaohe Monch album, and Organized Konfusion’s Equinox. I’ve been enjoying the hell out of it.

It also made me realize that Black Thought is probably the most underrated rapper of all-time. I think a number of people would leave him off their top 10 all-time list – and that’s simply inexcusable. I’ve been going through Eminem’s discography recently and while many would consider Eminem a top 5 rapper, his discography pales in comparison to that of The Roots. Black Thought has simply been rapping at an elite level for 25 years now and has arguably been the most consistently great rapper over that time span. If someone wanted to argue that he’s the best to ever do it, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. His loyalty to The Roots crew is pretty amazing. 25 years and he’s never made a solo album. Dude is incredible. Can we please show this man a little respect?

Now back to the pokers.

2:18 PM: Open cutoff with KcJo, both blind call. SB donks on the K74 two club flop, BB calls, I raise, SB calls and BB folds while thanking me for raising. Turn is 2c and now the SB check-raises. I call, whiff my flush draw, and wind up losing to K4hh.

Fellow blogger playing $15/$30 again. I guess if he’s going to be playing in my games regularly I should give him a name. I will call him BlackJack.

2:43 PM: Back from a break and I post in the big blind. Chief Wiggum limps under the gun, MP raises, and I defend J4cc. Flop is J43, one club and I check-raise the PFR, he calls, and we are heads up. Turn is a 6 and it goes bet and call. River is a King and I’m pretty sure he has AK, so I check and my check-raise goes according to plan.

That player limps under the gun on my button and it folds to me. I decide to iso with the 97cc, but the big blind defends and three of us see the J83cc flop. The limper donks, I raise, the BB 3-bets, limper calls, and I cap for value. The turn is a 7 and the limper donks. That’s annoying – I was definitely checking behind. We both call. River bricks and I fold and the limper wins with a set of 8s.

3:11 PM: My desired seat finally opened up and I am now on Chief Wiggum’s direct left and can put a stop to that cold calling every raise I make nonsense.

I have to say this game is pretty amazing right now.

3:21 PM: I open UTG with QJcc, MP cold calls, and Wiggum defends. Flop is Q76 with two clubs, flipping me the world. It’s probably unbalanced to check here because I’m basically betting my entire range here but I decide to check for a little deception and because I don’t hate too many turn cards. It checks around. Turn is 5c and I get four bets in against Chief Wiggum and another big bet on the river and he flashes me T2cc.

3:31 PM: Folds to me in the small blind and the big blind asks me to call so we can run the board out for a possible High Hand and I say no.

😂😂😂

3:41 PM: Radio Mike is in the game!

And get your personal fans out because THE HUMAN TORCH is on the list!! He is sixth up though and it is highly possible that he will be bust long before he gets in this game.

Taz also just got a seat. That makes The Torch fifth up now.

I’m on a bit of rush. I outflopped JJ with AQ in a 3-bet pot and bets went in on every street and I played a rather large pot with 77 on an 8822x board vs 44. I think I’m up about $900 overall at the moment.

3:51 PM: Spoke too soon: AA < KQ.

4:03 PM: Private exchange between Radio Mike and me.

Mike: Consider yourself lucky. I only have 2.5 hours to try and kick your ass. Me: If you even have chips in 2.5 hours I will be surprised. It’s nice to have poker friends!

(Sorry about the formatting up there. No matter how many times I try to correct it, it just goes right back to that.)

4:15 PM: These are back-to-back-to-back hands:

Taz limps, I raise button with KJdd. Flop is QJJ and Taz pays me off all the way.

Taz limps, I raise with KK from cutoff. Flop is K73 and Taz pays me off the whole way.

Chief Wiggum limps and I raise hi-jack with KK. Taz folds his big blind. Dang it. Flop is K82, Wiggum check-folds and I give the table a courtesy show.

4:25 PM: Chief Wiggum open-limps the cutoff, I raise with AQ, and both blinds defend. Flop is AJ5, all spades, and I have none. The small blind donks (which means little) and the big blind, an $8/$16 reg playing $15/$30 for the first time, raises (this means something). Wiggum folds and I call, but I’m not loving this spot. The small blind also calls. The turn pairs the 5 and two of us call again. The river is a red deuce and they both check to me. I like this development and I’m debating whether I should be betting or not, but I ultimately decide to check and the big blind tables 98ss.

5:04 PM: Unknown raises UTG, I 3-bet JJ and get it heads up. Flop is K87 and he check-calls. Turn is a 3 and he check-calls again. River is a 2 of clubs, completing a backdoor flush. He checks to me again and I don’t think he has a king so betting feels pretty mandatory. He check-raises me and with no history I call to see what he has and he shows me QJcc. Yowza.

5:11 PM: Hi-Jack and cutoff limp, I limp with A5hh and five of us see the flop for one bet. It comes 874 with two diamonds and one heart. The big blind bets, HJ calls, and I call. I’m thinking in my head that the 6h would be my perfect card and somehow that’s exactly what comes. The big blind checks, hi-Jack bets, I raise, the big blind folds AA face up (😮😮😮), HJ calls. River is the Jh, making my flush and he check-folds.

5:25 PM: Running hot. Solid sequence: open AT UTG+1 and only big blind defends and he calls me down with QJ on QTxxx.

Then he opens button, SB calls, I 3-bet AQ, whiff, and lose to button’s 98.

Then I open button with QJhh and both blinds defend. I whiff my overcards and flush draw and fold the river. Pretty cool! That puts me close to even.

5:34 PM: Next orbit. Same player that went runner runner flush with QJcc on K87c flop also beat my AT with the QJ and AQ with the 98. He opens cutoff this time. I 3-bet SB with AQ. We are heads up. I bet the K85 flop. He calls. Turn 6; we both check. River 8; we both check. He wins with A5o. He’s already proven he’s not folding hands so I’m not trying to power through these whiffs.

No. He’s not annoying me at all right now.

6:00 PM: They showed me some mercy after I lost like 10-12 pots in a row and folded on the turn when I had TT. But the very next hand I get six way action with QQ and get outflopped by 77, which can’t beat 43 at showdown.

6:07 PM: Well my tilty image isn’t going to improve with this hand. Folds to me on the button and I raise with T9o, small blind 3-bets, and big blind calls. Flop is K74, SB leads, BB folds, and I can’t just fold here getting 10-1, can I? Seems like my pair outs should be live a decent amount of the time so I peel flop and the turn is a 6. Well, I certainly didn’t call the flop so I could fold on the turn when I picked up nut outs. River is an 8. Oh boy. He still bets, I raise and he snap calls and tables AA before I even show my hand.

I guess I should probably stop complaining now.

6:24 PM: Radio Mike has left and, as expected, The Torch did not survive long enough to make it in this game. Fortunately there is no shortage of people I want to play with on the list.

Action Bronson and Part-Time are in the game now.

Finally have some Overs going. Part-Time, Taz, Action Bronson, and a bad semi-reg (with $500 lol) are now playing $25/$50 with me.

6:39 PM: Part-Time straddles button, I 3-bet KQdd, Taz calls from MP and the three of us go to the K87 one diamond flop. I bet, Taz folds, Part-Time raises and I 3-bet. Turn is a 2 and now he raises me. I call and we both check on the river and he gives me a free showdown with K7 for some reason.

6:46 PM: Currently walking around outside on a break. I looked at my time stamps and I have shown one winning hand in the last 2.5 hours and that was T9 on a K74 flop. And I’ve been raising a lot of hands. I can’t even imagine what my image looks like right now, but since I probably look like I’m on mega steam I’m going to open tighter and c-bet less often for a while.

It has been a pretty brutal stretch. I think I was +$900 at my peak three hours ago and I’m probably down at least $500 now.

7:03 PM: Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do. You just get to lose. Part-Time limps UTG, I’m next and raise AK, the dude that’s been torturing me from the seven seat defends his big blind. I finally flop a pair on ATx and both players call. Then I get check-raised on the Q turn by the big blind and he winds up showing me KJ. The good news is he has an Overs button now too, so I got to lose even more on this hand. Holy hell.

7:21 PM: Seat 7 has like $2000 in front of him. He sat down with $400 and I’m the only person he’s winning pots against. So sick. He’s not a regular but we are playing a lot of hands against each other and he has a Cubs hat on so that will be his identifier today.

I open JJ, cutoff 3-bets, big blind all in, I call; then check-call flop and turn on Q high board before getting a free showdown against AA.

8:20 PM: Nothing exciting the past hour. I flopped a set of aces and got one small bet after the flop. I ate dinner. Street tacos. Yum. I’m down $800.

8:41 PM: Cubbies button straddles, I 3-bet AA from the big, everyone else folds and he folds on the Q82 flop. I mean come on. I guess little wins are better than large losses. Bright side!

8:50 PM: I can see a light! Folds to a regular action player in the cutoff I’ve mentioned many times before but have yet to give a nickname, but I will now. Megaton raises, I decide to 3-bet the Q9o on button and the big blind caps it. Flop is JTx, big bets, and we both call. Turn is an 8 and I get two big bets from both of them and the big blind pays me off on the river.

Just saw this line from Action Bronson: four players limp, SB calls, he raises in the big; it checks around on the flop and then he just power folds on the turn. I get to play with these people every day. 8:56 PM: I didn’t expect this game to be in jeopardy this early in the night but we are currently 8-handed and it looks like 2-3 of these guys could be leaving any minute.

9:06 PM: Sigh. Whole table just evaporated. 5 players literally just left at the same time.

Playing 3-handed with Taz and one other player. This is a pretty good spot but who knows how long they’ll play with me. Honestly, I expect Taz to eject as soon as he loses a couple hands.

9:20 PM: Unlikely to post any hands while we are playing this short.

10:15 PM: On a break. I’ve been straddling on the button every orbit. Playing 3-handed I don’t really see a down side to doing this.

In the straddle with Qd5x. Taz defends. I check. He check-calls me all the way down on K96dd-4d-J with… J5o, no diamond. Scratching my head on that one.

I call SB with 93hh. Other player checks big. Flop T83. I bet and he calls. Same on 9 turn. But when the 9 pairs on the river, he raises. I 3-bet and he calls with J9. What a runout!

I guess 3-handed play has been good for me. I’m down $600 overall now.

11:12 PM: Epic comeback. I crushed it 3-handed. Ended up finishing +$265.

I’m not going to lie. I ran really really good, but my opponents were making it pretty easy too. I won’t go into the constant mistakes they were making but I will give an example of just how pure I was running.

I straddle T4hh on the button. Both players call. Flop is T76 one heart and two diamonds. The small blind leads out and raises me back when I raise. The turn is the 7h and I raise him again. I don’t think I have the best hand, but I don’t think he will raise back unless he has a full house and I can check back if I don’t improve on the river – and I’m planing to call a river bet anyway. But he does 3-bet me. I call. River a flush and call again while saying “I might have gotten lucky.” He tables 98 and my flush is good.

Eh. Not a great session. Lots of hours of torture but, as usual, short-handed play was good to me and I’m pretty happy to finish with a win.

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, limit hold em, poker, poker strategy, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | 5 Comments »

Marathon Monday – 1/7/18 (Live Blog)

January 8, 2018

11:50 AM: Struggled to wake up this morning. Missed yoga. Skipped meditation. Showed up thirty minutes late for $15/$30. I wasn’t even sure it would go today. There were four names on the list when I left last night. But I received texts asking where I was so I headed on in and four players were sitting around the table not playing.

Staring lineup consists of Chief Wiggins and Radio Mike and three other Palace regs, one of which never plays very long.

Pretty great start. I’ve VPIP’d four hands and lost all of them, including this gem: I open UTG with ATcc and only the big blind defends. Flop is KJ4 with two clubs and I double barrel and get check-raised unimproved on the turn. I call, whiff, fold, and the big blind kindly shows me J4o. Solid defend.

12:16 PM: Four players limp, I limp A3dd on the button, blinds call. Flop 876ddd. Checks to second to last limper and he bets, fold, I just call. I would raise here a lot but I have four players yet to act and I think calling makes me more than isolating usually. I do pick up two callers and the turn is 2d. Checks to me and I bet. Only the flop bettor calls. He ends up having K5dd. Brutal turn.

I raise one limper from cutoff with KQo. Four ways to K97 flop. Chief Wiggum donks from the big blind, folds to me, and I raise. He calls and check-calls the turn before donking a 9 on the river. Pretty weird for him to lead flop with a 9, so I’m tempted to raise but I land on call and he shows 98cc. Okay.

More fun: two limpers, I raise QQ on the button. Flop is 998 and both limpers call. Turn is a 6 and only one of the calls. River is a king, I bet and he calls with… KJo.

At least the game is good.

Trying to give off a tilty vibe:

12:44 PM: Full game now. The player to my right’s breath is launching an attack on my nostrils so ferocious I’m considering the rare seat change that has no strategic purpose – except maybe tilt reduction?

12:50 PM: One limper, button raises, I defend 22. Three ways to T62 with two clubs; I check-raise and call a 3-bet. Turn is an ace and I check-raise again. He calls. River pairs the ace, he calls, and shows KK. Pretty lucky to get a check-raise in on this turn, which makes me wonder if I’m taking the optimal flop line. I think it’s fine but I should at least consider leading this turn since it seems like he has an overpair most of the time. His flush draws are usually to the nuts though, so I dunno.

1:05 PM: Battling with s7 today. He had the J4o, KJ and KK earlier. He opens HJ, I 3-bet AA on the button, and Chief Wiggum caps from the big. Flop is Q53 and they both check to me and call. Turn pairs the 5 or 3 and the action is the same. River is a 6 and now the s7 donks??? Comical. I mean it looks like 66 to me and his lead is hilarious because I’m obviously betting the river most of the time on this run out (my entire range – not this specific hand, which I’m always betting). I call and he shows 66.

Very next hand he opens in the lo-jack and now that I’ve seen he’s opening medium pairs I’m 3-betting KQo here. Chief Wiggum caps from the small blind and I say, “didn’t we just play this hand?” Flop is KQ3 and for the second hand in a row Chief Wiggum caps out of position and checks the flop. You don’t see that everyday. This time the board runs out KQ3Q and s7 check-calls me down with AK.

1:49 PM: Radio Mike opens UTG, Wiggum cold calls next to act, someone else calls and I defend A4ss from the big. Flop is A43 two clubs and I check-raise a bet and call from Radio Mike and Chief Wiggum. Turn is a 5 and they both call again. River is an 8. I bet, Mike folds, and Wiggum calls with… 55. I guess losing in weird and unexpected ways is the theme today.

3:19 PM: Radio Mike opens UTG, one or two call and I defend J9o. Flop is AT7 and I peel with one other player in. Turn is a queen giving me additional straight outs. Mike bets, Wiggum calls, and I call, planning to lead kings and check-raise 8s. River is an 8! I check-raise and Mike pays it off.

4:05 PM: Nothing too exciting to report. The game is kind of dull at the moment, with two players sitting out, and more chopping than normal – like three in a row as I’m typing this. Players have been filtering in and out of the game and we haven’t really had a 9-handed game for a few hours probably.

I’m floating around even at the moment. We are recently joined by a spazzy Palace reg I will call Taz because he reminds me of the Looney Toons character both in demeanor and in body shape.

4:50 PM: Multiple limps, Radio Mike raises cutoff, I 3-bet AK on the button and six of us see a JTx rainbow flop. It checks to Mike and he donks. I opt to raise since I’d rather clear some players out and calling really telegraphs my hand – also Mike is less likely to 3-bet than most players. Three players cold call and Mike calls. Sheesh. Turn is a king which is good because it gives me top pair but it improves a lot of other hands and I will have to bet-call if I get raised. Only two players call. I feel like my hand is good. But the river is an ace and it goes lead and call in front of me. I fold and they chop it up with QJo and Mike’s QThh.

5:05 PM: JJ holds in a button straddle pot and I believe I have sugar for the first time today.

6:08 PM: Back to a full game. Radio Mike and Taz still in the lineup. One of the bigger action Palace regs is also in the game and a 4/8 player that also writes a blog (link later – AJ’s Blog) is taking a shot in this game. It will be interesting to see if we clash and write about the same hands.

6:33 PM: Action Bronson – my name for the active Palace reg I mentioned earlier – straddles. I didn’t play or pay attention to this hand but at showdown Action is scooping a big pot with J3o after making a full house.

He says to Radio Mike: “You see that, Mike? I straddled and won a big pot!”

Mike says, “Oh wow, I missed it.”

I say, “Look at everyone’s face and guess who he beat,” as his opponent is sitting there with steam coming off his head (oh stop – some people deserve a little needling).

7:08 PM: Fun sequence of hands:

Hand 1 – I post my big blind coming back from a break. Five players in before my action and I decide to check AJo. Flop is AQJ rainbow. I lead out, the guy that’s been in s7 all day raises me, heads up now, I 3-bet, and he calls. I’m happy about that. I think he would cap the flop with KT and since he limped in he never has sets and probably not AQ. Turn is an 8. I bet and he calls. River is a ten, which seems bad, but I think he has QJ exactly and I don’t think he ever has a king and probably doesn’t have A9. I bet, he calls, and my hand is good.

Hand 2 – Two hands later on the button, I open with QTo and the big blind 3-bets me. I call. Flop is QJ8. He bets, I raise and he calls. Turn pairs the jack and he’s telegraphing a check-call, but my Spidey senses are tingling. I check back. River is a ten. We both check again and he wins with AA.

Hand 3 – A few orbits later, but happened as I was typing this. Two limpers, small calls, and I raise JJ in the big. Four of us see a 765dd flop. I lead, new player calls, Action Bronson raises, fellow blogger in the small calls two cold, I 3-bet (Jd in my hand) and everyone calls. Turn is a 3. Pretty bad. I decide my best line is bet-fold, so I fire into the field and no one folds, but no one raises. The river pairs the 3 and I think for a bit and determine my hand is good. I bet, two folds, the blogger calls, and I win the pot.

Reading good.

8:47 PM: Player announces he’s going to raise every hand now and does so UTG, folds to me and I 3-bet QQ, next player caps and it’s three of us to the Q64 flop with two hearts. Bets go in. 8h on turn and UTG still leads. I still raise. He calls. River 3h, he checks, I check and announce set of queens and he rolls A9o with the ace of hearts.

9:28 PM: Not much movement in the game or with my chips for a while. Action Bronson left after the NCAA championship game and was replaced by one of the most solid regs at Palace. Not ideal. We have managed to lock Peter out of the game for about two hours now which is pretty cool. He’s next up though.

I am currently up about $140. Radio Mike is up over $1500 hitting basically everything and sucking out like it’s his job. In fact, Radio Mike is running so pure that he’s completely tuned out of the game and timing out basically every time it’s his turn to act while he strolls Twitter and reads messages on his phone. Not a single care in the world. He’s won pots he didn’t even know he was in.

10:11 PM: Pay-Off Pete has made it into the game!

Pretty inactive on my part. I opened AA from the button and won a showdown. I defended my big with 22 heads up, flopped a set on an ace high board, whiffed my check-raise on the flop and got called on the two big bet streets by JJ.

10:20PM: Doesn’t take long for Peter and I to clash. He buys the button to come in and then on his button I open UTG with 88. Taz and another player cold call and Peter 3-bets. We all call. Flop is QT2 rainbow. Checks to Peter, he bets and I decide to peel getting 18-1. The other two call also and I bink my set on the turn. I check-raise, Taz cold calls, and Peter 3-bets. Really? I call down and he shows TT.

10:35 PM: I come back from a break and post in the cutoff. I’m still getting situated and the dealer prompts me and I ask “did it fold to me?” He says, “yes.” And I respond “then I’m probably going to be raising.” I give my cards a courtesy look, see 96o, and raise it up. The button cold calls and Peter defends. Flop is KQ5 and the button calls my flop bet. He’s been pretty sticky today so I’m surprised to see my double barrel on the 8 turn get the job done.

11:28 PM: Peter waits two hours to get into the game and an hour later we are five handed and it’s not a good five. I have flopped sets twice in the last 20 minutes and got no action. I will be leaving shortly.

But I’m giving action! Folds to SB and he raises. I defend T8ss. Flop is Js7s4 and we are in Overs. He bets, I raise, he raises. I estimate my fold equity at 0% so I just call. Whiff turn and call again. Whiff river and fold. Blah.

11:57 PM: Quit the $15/$30 game and finished -$324. There is a $3/$6 game going with some loud and rambunctious players and I decided to convert some chips to white and sit down in it with my $1676. I thought it would be hilarious to sit down with a massive amount of chips and play super serious. I couldn’t stomach a full game but it is 6-handed with me.

12:03 AM: Everybody limps in and I raise with A6ss for the big blind. Flop is Q87sss. I don’t win. KQ way too strong.

12:14 AM: One of the players just noticed that all the chips under my top rack are red and green and says “damn, he has money we can’t even fathom!” 😂

12:23 AM: Drunk kid limps on the button, scared money (I know this because I floored here for over a year) raises in the small blind and I 3-bet AK. They both call and then call me down on QJT73. Small blind has AA. 😂. Ruining people’s nights now.

12:34 AM: Not gonna lie. I broke the game. One of the players wanted to have raising wars with me but I always had something and he never had anything and I busted him and the game crumbled beneath my $45 win.

1:20 AM I was curious when the last time I even played a hand of $3/$6 was and discovered that I played zero seconds of $3/$6 in 2017, but I did used to prefer sitting in $3/$6 games in 2016 while I was waiting for a seat in something else as opposed to sitting around doing nothing. But then I lost 11 times in a row. My longest “session” in that span was 31 minutes. Most of them were 15 minutes or less. I would usually post my blinds a couple of times without playing a hand and move on. I decided it was a better use of my time to do literally anything else. Especially since the wait was never very long. I enjoy warming up in $4/$8 LHE and $1/$3 NL though.

Not much to say about the $15/$30 session. I have run really mediocre in that game so far. The competition is not necessarily stiffer at the higher stakes. The games have been very good, but my results have been really ho hum. I am running at $29.27/hour overall but that’s inflated because I hit a $2300 jackpot while playing $15/$30. Take that away and my win rate has been $6.09/hour over my first 100 hours of Palace $15/$30. Yuck!

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, limit hold em, no limit hold em, poker, poker strategy, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | 4 Comments »

$30/$60 Limit Hold’em (LIVE BLOG [maybe])

January 7, 2018

9:30 AM: Today is supposed to be the first day of $30/$60 limit hold’em at Palace on a Sunday, but I’m honestly not sure what to expect. Long term, the game definitely has a chance to succeed on Sundays if players from outside of the Lakewood area come to play in it. That’s obviously more likely to happen on a Sunday than on a Tuesday at 4 PM when everyone would have to drive through traffic to get there.

When I left Palace last night, there were nine names on the list. Now there are ten. I think the game will probably happen though. I know for a fact at least three players will be there and two of them are allegedly bringing friends that will play. I’m guessing about 30-40% of the list are guaranteed flakes, so chances are the game will be starting with 5-7 players and hopefully they will play long enough for other people to venture in or for existing players to take their $500 shots at the game.

I’ve had an odd weekend so far. I played in a $10/$20 house game on Friday night that featured a ton of games I either have zero or little experience in. It’s impossible for me to pass up this opportunity to learn new games – especially since the other players aren’t particular experienced either – but learning at the $10/$20 level isn’t exactly ideal. I think our lineup of games looked something like this: double board omaha, razz, stud hi, stud 8, omaha 8, limit hold’em, badugi, badeucy, archie, drawmaha, and 2-7 triple draw. It was a blast, but I got cooked. We spent the last 60-90 minutes playing only double board omaha, archie, and drawmaha – all games I’ve never played a hand of before Friday. I lost $1115 which is kind of absurd, but I had fun and I’d go back in a heartbeat. Obviously learning new games is fun and I like to have all the skill sets in my repertoire and if there’s a mix game option available when I travel, I would usually prefer to play in those games.

Yesterday, as I was getting ready to head to the casino I started to wonder if I really wanted to play. The answer was unclear. I’ve been pushing myself lately. I sort of took the 2nd off, but I did stop in the casino to eat something and I played $4/$8 for 90 minutes and my last day off before that was Christmas Day. Since the 26th of December, I’ve played 108 hours of poker – almost three weeks of work in a 10 day span. That’s an average session length of 12 hours for 10 days with only one day off.

So I guess I hit a wall yesterday. I decided to go to the casino anyway and it didn’t take long for me to start thinking it would be a short day. The two biggest action players in the game smashed me over the first 30 minutes and immediately racked up and left. The game is rarely bad at Palace, especially on a Saturday, but I was in one of the worst $8/$16 games I’ve played in there. The main game looked really good, but my wife was in that game and so was the Palace cornerstone who I have a long-standing agreement to never bet against – the only poker player in the world I have this arrangement with. And I really don’t enjoy playing with either of them. Well, I actually do enjoy playing with my wife – because we play hardcore poker against each other – but after being accused of collusion somewhere around 3-4 times, I’ve grown wary of it. I mean sometimes she has AK when I have AA and the board runs out KxxAx and other people are in the pot with us. Plus, we have a ton of experience with each other and know each other’s ranges and tendencies pretty well, but I feel like I can’t exploit that knowledge without occasionally raising an eyebrow. So I try to avoid playing with her these days.

After a while of playing in a bad game, running mediocre/bad, and realizing I wasn’t going to be table-changing, I just decided to go home instead and potentially rest up for the $30/$60 game today. I’m not exactly sure how much sleep I got, but I was in bed by 7:30 PM. I fell asleep pretty quick, but I woke up later for several hours and then basically every 90 minutes or so all throughout the night. I hit snooze a number of times this morning, but I feel pretty great now.

Just finished my coffee and I’m about to jump in the shower, head to the Palace, and see what’s going on.

11:25AM: As expected, most of the names on the list didn’t show up. 14 names on the board and six of us are here playing.

Starting lineup:

Chief Wiggum – my WSOP backer that I gave a different name in a previous blog post.

Jesus (not my nickname for him; everybody’s nickname for him): a Fortune reg that hasn’t cut his hair or shaved in 5 years.

Bill W – a local recovery center owning I’m naming after one of the AA founders.

Unknown – one of the action players that torched me in 8/16 last night – obviously playing way over his head and sitting down with $500.

Regular – another Fortune reg that I’ve seen all over the place when I travel. Lots of experience and has played higher limits. I run into this guy everywhere so he needs a nickname. I’ll think on it.

11:47 AM: Picked up player #7. Another unknown random sitting down with ~$700.

11:58 AM: First notable hand: Bill W limps early, unknown raises, I 3-bet QQ from the SB and they both call.

Flop is J94 with two diamonds. I bet, Bill W raises, unknown folds, I 3-bet, and he caps it. I call down and he wins with J9ss.

12:14 PM: We are joined by an 8th player, a Palace regular that plays all the bigger games here and is in and out of the building all day long every day. I will call him Part-Time.

12:42 PM: Folds to me in the small blind – with a $3 total rake at these stakes I don’t see any reason to chop – and I raise with KJo. Chief Wiggum defends his blind.

Flop is 942 rainbow and I bet-call.

Turn is a T and since his most likely hands are pairs of 9s or worse, I feel like I have good equity against his range and possible double barrel fold equity, so I check-raise. He calls.

River is an 8; I bet and he calls. I roll my hand and The Legend is in the box and snap mucks my hand and I’m like “What?”

Apparently, Chief Wiggum raised the river and I didn’t see it and the assumption was that I was folding, which would definitely be true. A little unnecessary advertising and image-building on my part.

1 PM: The random that sat down with $700 is felted and gone so we are back to 7-handed.

The unnamed reg from Fortune looks pretty alert today but he usually appears on the verge of sleep, so tired he can barely keep his eyes open. He will be Rip Van Winkle.

The other unknown player is stacked up – sat down with $500 and probably has $2k now.

1:22 PM: Good orbit:

A few limpers, I raise KK in SB, Wiggum defends, others call.

Flop J63cc. Chief Wiggum pops me, I 3-bet, he caps it. Hmm… he’s pretty straight forward. I guess I’m calling down now.

Turn T; check-call.

River T; now I’m ahead of all the random two pair hands and only losing to 66 and 33. JJ is not in his range and I doubt he’d play JT like it was the nuts on the flop, so I lead and he calls and shows AJ.

One limper, Part-Time raises cutoff, I 3-bet AK on the button and Chief Wiggum caps from the SB. Three of us see the flop.

Board comes down K32, Wiggum leads, PT calls, I raise, and only Wiggum calls – and then he calls down when the board runs out clean and I’m good.

I open KTo, button calls, Rip defends BB; flop 987 and I check to balance my non-c-betting range. It checks around. Turn is a 6 and Rip leads out, I call and the button folds. River is a king and he check-calls and my straight is good.

1:43 PM: The other random player just left with about $1k, so we are back to 6-handed with one call in on the way.

I’ve been running white hot. I’ve had TT four times, KK twice, QQ. I’ve lost with three of those hands but I’ve definitely been run really well overall. I haven’t counted but I might be up $1500 already.

2:08 PM: Momentum halted. Part-Time opens JTo and outflops my AJdd and then limps in with KTo and outflops my JJ.

Lots of premium starting hands so far today and even though I’ve lost with nearly half of them I doubt anyone at the table is feeling any pity for me. I’m certainly running better than anyone else in the game so far.

We are joined by a good friend of mine. He has crazy amounts of money invested in Crypto currencies and convinced me to throw down on Ripple. I will call him The Crypt Keeper.

2:33 PM: This happened a while ago but it was significant. There’s action in front of me, I 3-bet JJ on the button, Bill W takes three cold from the Big and five of us see the flop.

I think some players check-call me on the 932 rainbow flop and then Bill W check-raises me on a blank turn. I decide to call down since we are heads up now, but I’m not sure it makes sense. He’s a reasonable player and he’s so set-heavy here with no two pair hands in his range and only TT as a possible overpair that I’m beating. Plus he reeked confidence. But I called down and he had 99.

2:46 PM: Only up like $400 now. I’ve had TT-KK an absurd 11 times and I’ve lost with six of them. That’s pretty bad playing 6- or 7-handed.

3:03 PM: I open QQ utg, Rip Van Winkle three bets from the SB, Part-Time calls, and I cap.

Flop comes K83 rainbow and I decide to check back. Way ahead or way behind here.

Turn is a blank and only Rip check-calls.

River bricks and I’m confident he never check-calls a king twice so I bet, he calls, and I win.

Two hands later Part-Time opens on the button and I 3-bet JJ from the SB. Flop is T83 with two spades and I bet-call.

Turn is 7s and I check-call again. Whiff my flush draw and gut shot and bluff catch on the river but he has Q4ss for a flush.

Yes, that’s TT+ 13 times in four hours now and I’m barely up.

A few hands later I open KJo from the cutoff and The Crypt Keeper defends. Flop is QT3 all clubs and I have none. He check-calls. Turn pairs the 3 and we both check because I don’t think triple barreling this hand is going to work.

River double pairs the board with the Q, he leads out and I snap-call. He has a naked ace and I reward his misguided value bet. I’m never folding KK, JJ, or any boat, or ace high. And what am I calling with? Basically nothing and somehow I have literally the only two card combo I would call and lose with.

3:39 PM: And now, amazingly, I am stuck, after running AK into AA on an Ace-high board in a 4-bet pot vs Bill W. Wonderful. Running like white hot lightning preflop and somehow finding a way to be losing.

4:10 PM: We are 5-handed now. Bill W lost a couple of big hands back-to-back and apparently that was more variance than he could handle cause he immediately racked up and left us for $6/$12 O8.

We are one player leaving away from having a really bad game.

4:30 PM: I have now had 99+ somewhere around 20 times today and I am stuck over $1000. That would be hard to do in a full game but we have been 6-handed most of the day. Insane.

5:15 PM: This hand feels like my last few hours in a nutshell: I open QQ utg, Crypt Keeper 3-bets the button and Part-Time cold calls from the big. I just call.

Flop is K83. Checks to Crypt Keeper, he bets, Part-Time raises, and we both fold. Just gross.

Or this one: I open JTcc, Crypt Keeper cold calls from the SB and Jesus defends his big.

I c-bet the Q87 flop and give up when the they both call and the turn bricks. I miss my gut shot plus backdoor flush draw but Crypt Keeper hit his backdoor flush draw with J9ss.

5:45 PM: Shocking development: we have a full game now and it’s not bad. Pay-Off Pete is on the table and is currently NOT on pace to match his $9k win the last time we played this game.

6:26: And we’re back to 7-handed. Part-Time actually played a reasonably long session for him and Jesus had a family emergency.

The game has gotten kind of limpy with the recent additions. No complaints from me. I haven’t really played any interesting hands recently but I did stop getting big pairs every orbit and I’ve actually ran a little better. Go figure!

6:32 PM: And just like that we are 6-handed again. One of the more splashy Palace regs sat down for like 15 minutes, beat Peter out of three big pots, and cashed out. Ouch!

The game is hanging by a thread all of the sudden.

7:22 PM: 4-handed now. I open SB with AKcc. Peter defends.

Flop JcTc3. Peter calls. Turn pairs the Ten and I think he never has anything here and will bet his air a lot so I plan to check-raise. He checks back though. River is a 4 and I check-call. He has Q4o.

We will all be looking forward to his thoughts on that one in the comments section.

7:38 PM: Fortune reg opens, I 3-bet button with ATo, he calls.

Flop AJ8 with two spades and he check-calls.

Turn is a Ten giving me two pair and now he check-raises. I hate it. Definitely not the kind of board texture I’m happy about this situation. I call.

River Ace! Bink. He still leads and I get two big bets from him.

8:12 PM: Game is over. I’m headed home. I’m going to hang out with my wife for a bit before she goes to sleep and then I will post a wrap up.

10:13 PM: Ended up finishing the session -$839. Pretty unfortunate. I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking this sounds like an exaggeration but I had 99+ around thirty times today. Thirty. And we played short-handed for most of the day. And I lost money? Seems ridiculous, but poker loves to bring out the seemingly impossible. I had about an hour of walking on water before losing most of the big pots I played throughout the day.

I won’t be playing in this game next week so I don’t know if it will go or not. I’m flying to Burbank to play in the LAPC at Commerce next Sunday.

Not sure if I will be posting a Marathon Monday live blog tomorrow. There were only four names signed up to start the game at 11 AM – by far the least I’ve seen heading into game day. I will be there at 11 but if it doesn’t look like it will start, I’m going to head home and get some other things done and have someone text me when they are ready to play.