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Marathon Monday – The Santa Claus Game: $10/$20 with automatic button straddles!

November 12, 2018

12:14 PM: Rough game start here: we are 5-handed with Frankenstein propping the game like a true sicko. When I was flooring here I didn’t even prop 8/16 games because it was too volatile and expensive for such short sessions. So… good on you, Big Frank! I hope he doesn’t get barbecued… not saying he’s at a disadvantage, but these things happen and I know from experience that is substantially more irritating when you are on the clock and have to give up your seat when the game fills.

Starting lineup: Frankenstein, a Kitsap County regular, dude that has been coming in recently, and Part-Time.

There were three other players that were signed up for the game but are still playing 8/16 because they “don’t want to play short-handed.” Uh, okay. If you idiots sat down we’d be 8-handed and the game would be even likelier to fill up and create a list.

12:32 PM: So… I had AA three times in the first 15 minutes of this 5-handed game. Here is how each hand played out:

#1 – I 3-bet AA, Kitsap guy 4-bets the straddle and I call. I check-call 975 flop and check-raise 9 turn and bet blank river to cooler his TT.

#2 – I 3-bet AA and all four opponents call. Flop is TT6 rainbow and they all call again. Turn is a queen and I’m very concerned about being beat here, but I want to show my hand down, so I check to see what happens and the button straddler bets. I’m the only call, so I check-call 8 river and lose to T4o.

#3 – I 3-bet AA and there are a couple callers, including Part-Time. Flop is A32 with two clubs, I bet and PT calls. Turn is an 8 and I expect Part-Time to bet way more often here than is reasonable, especially since I have the deck crippled. So I check-raise and we end up capping the turn. I swear if this dude shows me 54… River is the king of clubs, so the flush gets there, but my hand is worth at least one more bet and I still get raised. Fuck. Really? Considering the events of last week’s PLO game, I just might blow a gasket if I lose this pot to fucking Part-Time.

So I call and he rolls his hand super confidently and the first card I see is the 8 of clubs and I assume that I lost to a flush and I actually have to get out of my seat and look at his hand to see that he has a set of 8s. I win! And, even though I was super irritated with Part-Time’s invincibility against me last week, I still apologized for the mini-slow roll.

1:02 PM: We are now 7-handed and The Joker is in the game. And after all the credit I gave Frankenstein in my initial write up, I have now learned that he is actually off the clock. So I’m less impressed, but it’s still cool that he’s playing.

I’ve mentioned my friend Daniel O in my blog before. We traveled to Chinook Winds together last year and I see him at various local tournaments. He has started his own poker blog. He’s a part-time player that focuses on no limit hold’em, both tournaments and cash games.

He has a background as a professional writer and used to cover the World Series of Poker (and other series) for PokerNews, so his writing style is extremely articulate and insightful.

For someone that plays recreational hours and works a full-time job, his understanding of no limit concepts is impressive and I feel like reading his thought process has improved my own game.

I highly recommend checking his blog out:

Daniel’s Poker Shenanigans

1:24 PM: One more hand from earlier in the day:

I defend 63 suited and three of us see a flop of T63 rainbow. I lead out, Kitsap dude calls, button raises, I 3-bet, and the button calls, with Kitsap guy coming along.

Edit: button capped the flop

Turn is a king and I’m planning to check-raise the button here, but it inexplicably checks through.

I’m planning to bet for value on most rivers, but I’m wary of the 54 straight draw, so I’ll probably check-call 7s and 2s here. However, the river crushes my hand anyway and pairs the king. So I check, the Kitsap player bets and gets called by the button (weird), I fold face up to show how unlucky I got and then TT gets tabled!

Wow! What an escape!

1:50 PM: Forgot to mention how my sessions over the weekend went.

I ended up +$609 in the 20/40 O8 game at Muckleshoot on Saturday in 9 hours of play. It was bittersweet. On one hand, I booked a win and that was cool. On the other hand I was up at least $1800 at one point so the final result was super disappointing.

It’s funny how one hand can stick out as a turning point, but I was running pretty pure until this one came up and steadily dripped from that point on… a total momentum killer.

I had AQ43 double suited in a kill pot that I raised and got multi-way action on.

The flop was AQ2 rainbow… and I only got one caller, but he found a way to scoop me with 9765.

What?

The flop call is pretty mind-boggling. I usually refer to this player as a nit, so… I don’t know what’s going on here. He has zero scoop potential and his low draw is very suspect. He’s basically praying for half the pot.

He actually has a surprising amount of equity against my specific hand:

But when you consider the object of the game is to scoop the whole pot and you see that I scoop 605 times compared to his 28, or 95.5% of the total scoops, maybe it is as disgusting as I thought it was.

I wasn’t planning to play poker last night, but one of my best long-time friends messaged me and inquired if I wanted to play. He never plays poker, so even though I really wanted to take the night off, I agreed to meet up.

That led to me playing the longest 4/8 session that I’ve played in almost 18 months… back when I took a “day off” with my wife during the 2017 WSOP and we played a super casual 12+ hour marathon session with white chips.

So how did my 6.5 hours of of 4/8 action go? I finished +$897! A perfect time to run hot. I played a shit ton of hours of 4/8 before early 2015. I mean thousands and thousands of hours. Maybe 15,000 hours. It’s gross, I know. So a $900 win is far from the best I’ve ever done, but it’s big enough that I did some research to see when the last time I posted a 4/8 win like that was.

I couldn’t find it. I lost my phone in the Yakima River in July of 2014 and lost all the poker data I had logged from summer of 2011 to that point because I didn’t have it saved in any sort of cloud.

I do have spreadsheets with my cash game results dating back to January 2013 and I had to go all the way back to May 31st, 2013 to find a likely $900+ win in what was probably a 4/8 game. It’s just listed in my “cash games” section, but since it was a Friday night in 2013, there’s about a 97% chance I was playing 4/8 LHE.

So maybe my biggest white chip win in 5.5+ years.

Sick!

3:01 PM: We picked up Radio Mike to make us 6-handed but we’ve had no traffic and this game has almost no chance to survive the typical lull that occurs from 3pm to 6pm.

I have an invite to a 5/10 mix game at 7pm and I was on the fence about it, but now it’s looking like I’m at about 95%.

4:12 PM: Hard to post hands while we are short-handed, but here’s one:

I get 5-bets in 6-ways with two red kings. Flop is 753 with two spades. I bet, Joker raises – as the PFR 4-bettor so he has all the big pairs in his range – and Radio Mike calls two cold. I 3-bet and they both call. I’m quite happy to reduce the field by 50% and I know I have Joker beat, so I’m liking this situation.

The turn is the 8 of spades, which is a really good card for Radio Mike’s range. I very reluctantly check when it’s my action and Joker checks behind.

The river pairs the 8 and Radio Mike leads out. I would be shocked if he’s ever bluffing here but I didn’t check back the turn to fold the river, so I call, Joker folds, and Mike tables A2 of spades.

I know I won with aces a couple times earlier and I just flopped a set of kings and got max flop action and two more big bets from Frankenstein on K32AT, but my big hands in straddle games have been killing me. I’ve booked two small losses and one huge loss in three tries – and I’m stuck about $350 right now – and it’s largely because I can’t string together these key pots with my big hands. It feels like a lot of win one and then lose three going on.

It’s pretty frustrating.

4:53 PM: Building back up so I get the standard, momentum-killing 4-bet pot with QQ and the T64A2 runout vs AJ.

Interesting development: Twinkie just made us 6-handed, sitting down with $900. Since he’s the host of the mix game I’m invited to tonight, I’m not sure what to make of it. Granted, he’s not actually sitting down. His chips are just sitting there and he’s MIA, but… I wonder. 🤔

5:43 PM: Twinkie is officially in the game, but I do think he’s still planning on hosting. This game has never been full and isn’t particularly great right now so I’m not committed to staying here. Playing some different variants sounds a lot more fun.

Interesting hand: I defend with 98o, Joker 3-bets and five of us see the QJ3 two club flop. Joker checks to the button and he bets, so I’m getting around 16 to 1 to call with my gutshot… but my gutshot also makes AK and K9 a straight, so it’s pretty sketch. I also have the 9 of clubs in my hand for some backdoor flush possibilities. It’s a clear call but I am wary of the dangers. Joker also calls.

Turn does give me the straight with a ten and I opt to check-raise the button and am very happy to see Joker fold. Button calls.

River is an ace giving any king a better straight. I think I’m okay bet-folding this spot. I’m already repping a straight on the turn and it’s highly likely my straight has a king in it, so it would be a really sick spot for him to bluff-raise the river. I think he has to always have it if that happens. So I fire a value bet and he calls and shows the set of 3s I sucked out on and I win the pot.

6:11 PM: Fun/annoying spot vs Radio Mike. I 3-bet with TT and pick up two callers, including Mike on the button in the straddle.

Flop is K94 with two diamonds and I bet and call when Mike raises me and we go heads up to an ace turn.

This time we both check.

River is a blank and I’m pretty sure he has a king and I’m pretty sure he will call one bet with it, so I check it over and now he bets. Here comes some fancy play syndrome: I think if I check-raise here he might fold a king, thinking that I whiffed my turn raise and now I’m unleashing the trap. It’s not an unheard of line from me and Radio Mike is more prone to trying to make good folds than some people so I go ahead and pull the trigger. He starts tanking and nodding is head while looking at me, so I flash a big smile back that says, “yep, that just happened.”

And he folds… then asks to see the bluff and I go ahead and oblige him.

6:23 PM: Twinkie just left but we picked up four players and now have a full game for the first time all day. And… His Royal Airness is on the list as a call in. Nope. We aren’t going anywhere.

6:41 PM – JOKER TAKES A WALK

I’m pretty sure I have the preflop details right but it is bewildering if I do. Joker 3-bets from SB, there are three callers, and I 4-bet with KT of spades from the cutoff and Joker 5-bet caps it, so six of us have put in $50 preflop.

The flop is AQQ with one spade. Joker leads, seat 8 raises, Radio Mike and seat 2 cold call and it’s on me. I could be drawing dead here, but the pot is so massive that I’m just going to take my chances… plus I do have a backdoor Royal Draw that I’m going to hit once every ten years or so. I call and five us head to the turn.

It’s the king of clubs. A pretty damn good card for me. This time it checks to s2 and he bets and we all call.

The river is a blank and now s8 bets when Joker checks.

So… Joker 3-bet and 5-bet pre and then bet the flop and called a raise. Seat 8 called 3-bets pre, raised the flop, check-called the turn, and now he’s donking on a total blank on the river.

But wait! Radio Mike calls and now seat 2 jacks it up, prompting folds from me and Joker (who flashes Q8 – lol what?). Seat 8 calls, Mike folds, and seat 2 tables… AJ! Then seat 8 tables QJ to win the pot.

The very next hand I have J9 of clubs and check-call Joker on flop and turn before check-raising river on QTxx8 – the second time I’ve check-raised him on the river and shown him J9 suited in a very short amount of time…

That prompted him to fire his cards into the muck like a 53 mph fastball and sprint out the front doors.

We didn’t see him again for 20 minutes.

It was during that time that I realized the mega punty raise from the AJ on the river of the previous hand actually cost him half of that massive pot. At the time, I saw QJ and assumed he folded a loser, but then I remembered the kickers didn’t play.

Yikes. No wonder he’s pissed.

But seriously… what’s up with that Q8 5-bet?

7:09 PM: Sick hand. Bloated pot pre. I’m out of position against four players that all look like they are punting in a 5-bet pot. So I check-call with AK on 943 and there are three of us to the king turn. I bet out at the exact same time as the player behind me but it ends up staying at one bet and it is still 3-handed. River pairs the king and I bet and the aggressor starts complaining like I just sucked out. I assume he was punting with 43 or something (he just showed me 73ss in a 5-bet pot) but turns out… he had aces!

Eek!

7:29 PM: His Airness is in the game and the Bravo app has attracted Snowflake to the building.

8:38 PM: Snowflake is in the game now and as he sits down he’s on the phone talking about he can outshoot Michael Jordan from the free throw line.

Of course I’m not letting him get away with that nonsense so I call him out and he claims MJ didn’t even shoot 80% from the line and I call bullshit on that and somehow I end up losing $5 because I took the over on 84%. Wait, what? How did we go from 80% to 84%? Pretty dumb, but I still liked my side and MJ shot 83.5%.

Come on.

8:58 PM – NICKNAME CHANGE ALERT

Due to recent events and popular demand, I am forever changing Snowflake’s nickname on my blog to Free Throw.

It seems fair. I’ve played maybe 30 hours with him lifetime and I think he’s talked about how good he is at shooting free throws for 25 of those hours.

10:21 PM: This game has been off the chains for hours now but most of the hands I’ve played have been pretty straight forward. Here’s one that had potential to get ugly:

I’m the straddle with 52o and it’s $40 back to me, I defend, and it gets 5-bet like four or five ways.

Flop is 532 rainbow and it gets capped again without me putting in a bet or a raise.

Turn is an ace and I’m calling one bet here but someone leads out and His Airness blows me out.

The river pairs the ace to crush my hand anyway, but His Airness has 64o for the flopped nuts!

It would have been interesting if the turn was a blank. If there was action in front of me, I am just calling down, but if it checked to His Airness and he bet… well, I’m raising his ass… so… disaster averted!

11:05 PM: Free Throw defends small blind, I call with JThh, there are multiple callers, His Airness raises from the straddle, I 4-bet and we get 5-bets in a billion ways. I am pleased.

Flop is K94 with one heart and I have to check-call three bets cold to stay in this monster. The 3-bet comes from Free Throw in the small blind and that winds up being the last aggressive action on the flop…

…so when I drill the fucking queen on the turn and Free Throw checks I take the betting lead. There are some calls and His Airness jacks it up. I 3-bet and get two callers. The board is total rainbow so I’m only vulnerable to board pairs.

It’s a clean 5! I bet and cooler His Airness’ pocket nines for a massive pot.

I’ve won a series of pots since then and have momentum in a straddle game for the first time in four straddle sessions.

Also, that JT vs 99 hand sent His Airness out the door, which is pretty unfortunate. We still have a full game but there is no list now.

12:33 AM: I am done blogging for the night. I definitely seem to lose writing steam around ten hours into my sessions.

We are currently 7-handed with Joker, Free Throw, and some randoms.

Not sure how much longer I will play. I am seeing Overlord at 11am tomorrow, plus I’d like to be otherwise productive… like making my wife a dinner and, for goodness sake, going to the damn gym.

I will post a final score when I cash out.

2:35 AM – Final Score: +$1400

Edit: In the hand at 1:24 PM, the button capped the flop, which is why I tried to check-raise the turn and was surprised it checked through.

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 »

Chinook Winds $600 No Limit Hold’em Main Event (Stack Updates)

October 27, 2018

I wasn’t going to blog at all because I’m still sick, but I’ll at least post stack updates here. I might post a hand here and there but I won’t be posting any in depth analysis.

Starting stacks are 40k with blinds currently at 50/100. Massive amounts of play in this one. Plus there is a $200 add on for 30k more chips if you make it to level 7.

I’ve already seen a 6x and a 12x (from the cutoff!) open at my table, which is just absurd.

1:09 PM: A7ss > AA on T7476 in a 42k pot.

He min-raised my open pre and put minimal pressure on me before I turned the best hand.

2:09 PM: 64k coming back to 150/300/50.

2:34 PM: Notables in the field: Tormund, Flexxx, Solomon Grundy, Frankenstein, three Muckleshoot dealers, Kitsap local, Oregon superstar Max Young…

Twinkie BUSTED

3:46 PM: 54k after L4.

Tormund 52k

Frankenstein 110k

5:51 PM: 67.6k heading to dinner break. Also made it to the add on period so I paid $200 for another 30k in chips.

Dark Knight 97.6k

Frankenstein 200k

Tormund 60k

7:13 PM: Huge pot. I get a free play with KT and get the TT5 flop vs QT. We end up putting in like 50k each on the turn. I didn’t love it because that is heaps and the dude was playing tight and scared but I couldn’t discount the fact that he might be overplaying worse tens.

I was in the big blind and I can have a bunch of weak tens in my range, so I jammed and prayed he had something slightly worse.

He did. The 2 bricked the river and I now have over 160k.

8:21 PM:

Dark Knight 160k

Frankenstein 97k

Tormund 40k

9:00 PM:

Tormund BUSTED

Kitsap Player BUSTED

Solomon Grundy BUSTED

2 of 3 Muck dealers still in

9:52 PM:

Frankenstein BUSTED

10:12 PM: 184k after 10 levels coming back to 1500/3000. Two more 50 minute levels tonight.

375 entrants

268 add-ons

$242,961 prize pool

45 players cash

$1360 to 45th

$51,022 to 1st

Board says 224 left, but it said that a long time ago so I’m sure that’s not accurate.

11:57 PM: Right as TD pauses the clock to announce it’s bagging time, I open 2.5x with 22 bigs on button holding 77 and I’m never folding pre. The big 3-bets to 7 bigs and I jam. She mini-tanks and calls it off with ATss and binks a ten on the river.

A little bittersweet. I basically busted on the last hand of the day but it could be worse. I could come back tomorrow and play for several hours and still not cash… now I can at least wake up and immediately head back to Tacoma.

Posted in poker | Tagged Chinook Winds, gambling, gambling for a living, Lincoln City, no limit hold em, poker, poker strategy, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | Leave a Comment »

My Nightmare Week of Poker

October 22, 2018

“And it just continues…”

That’s a quote from Dave Niehaus, long time radio guy for the Seattle Mariners, during their epic run to the playoffs in 1995.

I swear every time I lose a hand I can hear Niehaus saying that in my head. But it doesn’t have the same good vibes. Not even close.

I’ll dig a little deeper into what’s going on later, but I have already done some research to see when the last time I had four straight losing sessions of -$450 or worse and I had to go all the way back to January when I was at Commerce and the negative variance drove me away from poker to a day at Disneyland by myself instead.

So yeah, it’s once or twice a year level downswing going on.

I know I had a miserable WSOP this year, but tournaments are tournaments – you are going to go through insane cold stretches. Cash games are much more consistent. Plus I did well in the cash games while I was in Vegas and that helped ease the pain.

I decided to take a break from live blogging in the hopes that I could turn things around by increasing my focus rather than constantly writing between hands. I took notes though so I could post some of the more interesting and critical pots.

Thursday I went -$82 in 4/8 LHE while waiting for PLO to start.

We started PLO short-handed so this first hand takes place 6-handed.

Aggro player opens to 10, I call from the cutoff with KJhh55 and 3 of us go to the flop.

I flat his 20 lead on the AT5 with two clubs flop. The PFR is overly aggressive so he isn’t heavily waited towards sets here, but I don’t want to play a massive pot with bottom set. If we end up getting a bunch of chips in, it will basically never be a very good thing for me. So I call.

Turn is an offsuit 7 and now he bets $25 into $70. That’s way too weak not to raise. I make it $80 to go which is pretty small also but I’m sort of gambling here, hoping to keep him in the pot and planning to navigate the river well. He calls.

No need to worry about tough decisions on the river because a queen gives me the nuts. He check-calls $150 pretty quickly. I have to imagine my set was good but I’m very curious about what he had here. Maybe AQxx?

Someone makes it $15 and I call from the small blind with AKQT double suited. It’s a hand I can 3-bet with, but my recent studying argues that you should prefer to keep the pot multi-way before the flop, so while I could make a small raise here and probably still get multiple calls, flatting here guarantees everyone will call and reveals almost nothing about my hand strength, so I just call and we do see the flop multi-way.

The flop is K54 with two diamonds, so I have top pair with the nut flush draw and three good kickers. Sets on this board are unlikely; I’m blocking KK and 55 and 44 shouldn’t be in many hand combos, although some of this guys are absurdly loose. I don’t mind playing a big pot against straight draws or kings up here. I lead out $35 and I’m willing to play for my whole stack here, I think. Crypt Keeper and the worst player at the table call.

Turn is a jack, so now I have top pair and a MASSIVE draw: a broadway wrap and the nut flush draw. I bet $150 and Crypt Keeper makes it $450. Other dude folds and I started the turn with just over $700 and I’m never folding, so I stuff it in there.

He immediately hates it. How could he? Let’s examine this situation: there is around $1325 in the pot and it costs him $261 more to call. He’s getting over 5 to 1 to call with a hand he thought was worth raising the turn. He only needs to win about 17% of the time to break even here.

So obviously he folds. What a gift. Can you even imagine what kind of hand he would take this line with? I haven’t run any sims but I doubt there’s a hand he could possibly do this with that doesn’t have at least 17% against my exact hand.

Just crazy.

I call $15 with 6544 double suited (so there are some hands that produce small sets) and it goes multi-way to K84 with two clubs. There are a couple players that have position on me, so I check and it checks around.

The turn is an ace and a tight player (that wasn’t the PFR) bets $55. I call and so does Crypt Keeper.

River is a 3 and they both check to me. The flush draw missed and the only straight is 52, so a bet feels pretty mandatory. It’s hard to imagine either of them playing a bigger set this way, but I’ve seen the player that bet the turn make some ridiculously tight river checks, so I do consider knuckling back… but I can’t do it. I bet $100, TCK folds, and the nit calls with KK.

Sigh.

Joker makes it $20 after at least one limper and I call on the button with AQ86 with clubs.

I believe five of us see the T42 with two clubs and a spade flop. I have a naked nut flush draw here, which isn’t much of a hand, but when they all check to me on the button, I bet $80 because it seems unlikely I won’t be able to barrel my way to victory here with this much weakness in front of me. I’m quite surprised to see Joker call. You’d think as the PFR if he had any semblance of a hand he’d probably bet the flop and if he has a draw I know it can’t be much of one. Another player also calls.

The turn is the 7 of spades, so now I have a double gutter to go with my flush draw. It’s a pretty good card because it gives me extra equity, but it does open up a spade draw. This time I bet $300 when they both check to me. My line makes sense. If I had a good made hand here I would want to charge the max to draw out on me. Joker calls again.

The river is the 3 of spades, leaving me with ace high. I’m not sure what I would do here if Joker checked it – the backdoor flush and some straights got there – but he decided to lead out for the $300 max. It’s a decent spot to bluff in. How much do I like a set of tens now? Not much. But it doesn’t matter because I have nothing, so I just fold rather than torch $600 trying a potential rebluff.

Those are the only hands I thought were worthy of sharing, but I was basically ice cold all night long. Even with the $450 gift from The Crypt Keeper I finished -$498 after nearly nine hours of play.

Friday I was hoping to show up to Palace around 4 and get the 15/30 game off the ground. I ended up getting there around 5 and 15 minutes later I was pulled out of an 8/16 seat because Flea agreed to play 3-handed with Radio Mike and me to help get the 15 game off the ground and hope seats would eventually fill up. There were probably four or five other guys that play 15/30 in the building but none of them like to play short-handed. They’d rather sit in small games than play short-handed for 15 minutes so we can get a bigger game going. It’s honestly pathetic.

Well, Flea did play with us. For about 30 minutes. I managed a small profit, but Radio Mike was stuck $600 and Flea had basically all of it. So he smacked us for +$600 and then said he wanted to take a break. He disappeared for about 15 minutes and then sat back down and acted like we were all waiting for more people to sit down before we started playing again. No, motherfucker, let’s go. I’m not going to lie. I started lighting him up, saying how I gave up my seat in 8/16 because he said he wanted to play 15/30 with us and now I’m sitting there with my thumb up my ass sixth up on the list instead of playing poker. I was pissed. More so for Radio Mike. If I was the one stuck $600 and he abruptly quit on me like that… man… I can handle bad beats, horrible variance, people being idiots extremely well – at least externally – but stuff like this I cannot abide. It’s a total chickenshit dickhead move. Just when Flea was starting to seem like he might not be a total scumbag, he pulls this move.

So since we are sitting there and not playing and Palace only has one open table left, The Man brings over a bunch of a blue chips and asks if he can start an 8/16 game. I’m fine with it because we obviously aren’t going to play red chips and no one was filling seats. I just want to play poker. But as soon as Radio Mike and I agree to the 8/16 game, Flea starts saying he wants to keep playing 15/30 and acts like Radio Mike is the reason we aren’t playing anymore.

Then he says, “fine, I’ll just play Mike (that’s my name) heads up.”

Yeah fucking right buddy. Sure you will.

So that 8/16 game got off the ground and I got absolutely pummeled to the tune of -$600 before switching tables twice and making a comeback. The Leak and I had something come up and ended up leaving after only four hours and I somehow managed to finish at -$12 which felt like a miracle and ended my stretch of $450+ losses.

When you consider -$12 as a turnaround, you know things have been going bad.

Saturday my motivation was seriously lacking. My plan is to alternate between playing 20/40 O8 at Muckleshoot and 20/40 LHE at Fortune on Saturdays and this past weekend it was time for a Muckleshoot appearance. However, as late as 2 PM there was no one on the list and only a couple players on the list just after 3, so I took the easy route – like I do way too often – and went to Palace in the hopes of playing in the 1/3 no limit hold’em game.

What I didn’t know was that the game started at 5 PM. I thought as soon as the list got long enough they fired off, so when I got there at 3:15 PM I was informed that it would be almost two hours before that happened. Ugh. So I ended up playing 4/8 for almost two hours. Gross. I won exactly $1.

Here are some of the notable hands from my NL session:

Lady opens to $20 and another player flats. I have QQ on the button. I don’t know any of these players well enough to know their tendencies, so I can’t think of many good reasons not to reraise with QQ here. I make it $75 to go and I will not be folding to jams and it would have to take some serious evidence for me to fold after the flop. They both end up calling. I started the hand with less than $300 and they both had less than me.

Flop is 872 with two diamonds and they both check. There is around $225 in the pot and I have $190 left, so a jam is reasonable here. I’m not sure it’s the most profitable line. I actually can’t make any reasonable bet on the flop without making the turn extremely awkward, so I size very small at $50 hoping to get some action and taking my chances that I might get outdrawn. The lady check-raises to $100 and the other player calls. Woah. Wasn’t expecting that. But as I said earlier, I’m never folding, so now I have a clear jam spot and ship all $190 in and they both call!

The turn is a diamond (I have the queen of diamonds) and the river is a queen, so I end up with top set. The lady turns over KK and the other guy mucks, but eventually claims he had AA. He never showed his hand to anyone, so who knows. Everyone else at the table seemed to take his word for it, but I find it very hard to believe – especially after his opponents table KK and QQ. Most people are going to show their AA when they get cracked at these stakes, but even more so when KK and QQ are both out in the same hand. Mark me up as a nonbeliever.

This hand caused quite a stir at the table, with some of the players acting like I just successfully landed on the moon by winning this pot and the lady looking at me like I’m the biggest idiot she’s ever laid eyes on. Meanwhile, I’m sitting there wondering if I’m the only one that’s ever played poker before. What am I supposed to do with QQ on an 872 after getting called in two spots pre with less than a pot-sized bet left after the flop? It’s about as standard as standard gets.

Don’t worry, folks! Punts incoming.

It was basically all downhill for me from there. I lost almost every pot I got any resistance in and I doubled barreled with QJ after checking back the flop as the PRF on the 965T2 board. I bet a little less than pot on the river so it stung a bit when I got called by JT.

And just as they were starting a 15/30 game, this hand came up:

I open to $10 with A2hh and the player on my left makes it $20 and everyone else folds. I suppose I could play chicken here and repop it but I’m happy to play a flop for such a good price.

The flop is K32 with one heart. I check and he bets $25. I have enough that I can’t really fold here, but I don’t think my hand plays very well as a check-call. I have bottom pair and every card that isn’t an ace or doesn’t pair the board is going to be an overcard to my hand. I think this is a good hand to bluff with, especially on this board. I have found that attacking king high, disconnected boards is a good strategy in no limit hold’em. Think about what hands he can 3-bet with pre that are happy to call a check-raise on this board. AA, KK, and AK are the top ones. I suppose he can have some KQ and maybe KJ in there. Even hands as strong as QQ are going to have a hard time calling. I think that’s a pretty narrow range of hands that are happy to continue. Meanwhile, I’ve shown that I’m capable of having hands like K2 suited here. I make it $80 to go and he does end up calling.

I think that weights him towards a pair of kings so I’m planning to give up on the turn when I don’t improve or pick up outs. The turn is the 4 of hearts, giving me a pair and a straight flush draw. The pot has just under $200 in it now and his stack is slightly bigger than that. I put him all in. I think I’m going to get a lot of folds here, maybe even from hands as good as AK, but even when I do get called, I’m going to win the pot around 25% of the time by making two pair or better. He ends up tanking forever and I really think he’s going to end up folding, but he finally calls it off with KQ and the river pairs the 4, so I end up turning an early +$500 start into a -$349 finish.

The 15/30 game was AMAZING. There were no less than four players having a competition to see who could torch off their chips the fastest and in the most hilarious fashion. It was a total zoo. I won a large pot with KQ on a QJTccXXc runout where I had four opponents on the river and somehow still had the best hand after the flush got there and I won another decent one where I rivered a straight with AK. The rest of my time in this game was pure torture. I loosened up a little in some spots to play pots in position with the spewers, but for the most part my starting hand selection was pretty rigid and basically every time I played a pot I flopped absolutely nothing. When I flopped something as good as a gutshot it felt like I had a set. Not really, but I was just excited to have some piece of the board. I kept getting quality big ace hands (AJ+, ATs+) and all they did was cost me chips. I’d put in four bets before the flop, pay one or two bets to see the turn in a bloated pot when I flopped nothing, and just fold, fold fold folfdlfa=ffold fol! It was brutal.

Also, this happened:

Someone sent me that video and I wish they had let roll a little longer because I was seconds away from saying, “uh, I’m not leaving.” Like I’m going to leave $2500+ in an abandoned poker room because someone burnt some toast. Pffffft.

This hand pretty much defines my week:

I open with A7dd, there’s a call, Joker 3-bets, spewer caps on the button and we all call.

Flop is 743 with two spades and one heart. It checks to the button, I raise, one fold, Joker calls two cold, and the button calls.

Turn is the 9 of hearts. I bet and they both call.

River is the 7 of hearts. I bet, Joker almost looks like he’s going to raise, but ends up calling and the other guy folds.

I roll my hand and he rolls the AQ of hearts. I don’t really understand the flat call on the river and when he does call, it makes me think my hand is good, so it felt like a mini-slow roll. It’s pretty obvious the button doesn’t have anything so there’s no reason to go for an overcall. While I’m capable of showing up with sets of 4s and 3s here, I think rivering the nut flush still warrants a raise in this spot. Anyways, it’s pretty sick to flop a 7, make him call two bets cold on the flop, hit another 7, and still find a way to lose to AQ. But that’s my gift lately.

I finished that 15/30 session at -$674, which put my total losses for the day over $1000.

So this is what my last 8 days look like now:

10/12 -$790
10/13 -$1440
10/14 OFF
10/15 OFF
10/16 OFF
10/17 -$449
10/18 -$580
10/19 -$12
10/20 -$1022

-$4293 over an 8 day stretch. I’m not 100% positive about this, but I think that’s my worst week of poker ever, as far as cash games go.

I’ve been studiously tracking my results since June of 2011 and even though I had a day job until fall of 2016, I’ve basically played full-time hours for 7.5 years now. The worst month I’ve ever had was -$4219 in August of last year. I’ve only eclipsed -$2000 one other time. So that kind of puts this past week in perspective. This last week was worse than the worst month I’ve ever had. That is pretty sick.

This is what October cash games look like:

I had a +$2k PLO session earlier this month and I took second in that tournament on Global last Tuesday, so it hasn’t been all bad. I currently sit at -$1100 for the month so I’m not in serious jeopardy of challenging my all-time worst result.

Also, when I go through stretches like this, it’s important to remind myself of the bigger picture. Here’s what that looks like:

This brutal stretch is just a little blip on the radar of the poker life.

I will be headed to Lincoln City, Oregon tomorrow though and I’ll be playing in about $1500 worth of buy ins, so I have a chance to save the month of October or keep piling up the negative results.

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, limit hold em, no limit hold em, palace poker room, poker, poker strategy, pot limit omaha, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | Leave a Comment »

$20/$40 Limit Hold’em @ Fortune (Live Blog) and the Best Night of Radio Mike’s LIFE

October 13, 2018

I will be playing some 20/40 limit Hold’em at Fortune tonight, but first I’m sitting on the sidelines so I can recap the last couple of nights.

On Thursday, I stayed home to play the LHE events in the Eagle Cup on Global Poker.

It was a nightmare session. My plan was to play the three Eagle Cup events (with $11, $33, and $55 buy ins), the nightly $5 no limit rebuy, a 6-max PLO rebuy, and the dinky nightly $11 LHE.

First off, in the $5 rebuy, I got in 8 bullets, which is somewhere near my all-time record for that event. I think I may have been in 9 bullets previously but I’m positive I’ve never been in 10. My strategy during the rebuy period is to go all in preflop with any reasonable hand until I double up at least once and if that doesn’t happen as the rebuy period nears its end, I start jamming super light and sometimes it gets pretty ugly.

I didn’t have much of a stack after adding on after the rebuy period closed and in the first orbit after the break, my KK got outflopped by a big blind defend with 97 and that was GG for me.

In the $11 Eagle Cup I busted out without ever winning a hand. I actually ran pretty good, flopping extremely well, but I couldn’t fade a river. Not once. The draws got there… every. single. time.

I was crushing in both the $33 and the $55, sitting on a top 10 stack for most of both tournaments. I can’t remember what happened in the $55, but as we were approaching the bubble of the $33, a player with about 7bb opened from the lojack, the cutoff called, I 3-bet AJ of clubs on the button and they both called.

The flop was QT7 with two clubs – about as good as I could ask for without flopping a made hand. It checks to me, I bet and the shorty check-raises me and I get him all in for a little less than 4bb on the flop. He has K7o. It holds.

What.

With 28 players left and 27 making the money, the same player opened from the lojack again and I 3-bet with JTcc on the button.

We went heads up to a flop of JJ2 with two spades and he check-raised me again. I flatted the flop to raise the Kd turn and he bet-called.

The river was the 4s and he leads right out. I have 1.25 big bets left so if I raise and he has me beat, I eliminate myself in 28th place. So I call and he has the AQss.

Fortunately, I folded my way to the money with less than half a big blind. I ended up quadrupling up with T9o under the gun before busting in 22nd with the same hand from my big blind.

Meanwhile the dude that walked on water against me in those two critical pots went on to finish in 2nd. Of course!

I can’t remember any brutal connections in the $55, but I fizzled out after the bubble burst and finished in 17th place for $100. Yippee.

Even with the two cashes in the two biggest events I played, I still booked a small loss for the night.

Last night we got the 15/30 going around 6:45 PM and the most notable thing about that session was this:

Radio Mike had the best night of his life. Not just in poker, but best night of his entire life. Period. He searched through his mental Rolodex and said he couldn’t think of a single day in his life that made him happier. Not his first wedding night. Not his second wedding night. Not the day he opened his acceptance envelope to the University of California. Not the times he filled in for Rick Rizz to call some Seattle Mariner games.

This is it. This is the pinnacle. He managed this personal best 15/30 win even after running KK into QQ on a KQQ4J board. I went to grab him some empty racks after that hand and he was like, “NO. I can do this.”

Congrats buddy.

Meanwhile, I have nothing interesting to say about my session. I was mostly floating around even for many hours before the wheels just fell off completely.

It did make me think as I was driving to Fortune today. What adjustments should one make when you are running atrociously? Basically what I’m thinking of is when I’m getting a normal or above average distribution of good hands before the flop and raising a lot of pots, but never connecting with the board and almost always having multiple opponents to deal with.

Do you start raising less hands? Do you play less exploitively? Do you start checking your entire range on the flop since you never have a hand?

I do not think it is correct to stop raising hands I would otherwise always raise. It is gross… to be consistently aggressive before the flop and feel like you never have something you can bet after it, but playing passively isn’t making a proper adjustment, it is simply playing poorly.

I do think it’s okay to play less exploitively when your credibility is shot and your image is horrible. When you are playing exploitively, you are playing a wider range and you need to get folds more often than when you are only playing a tight-solid range. But when it seems like you are spewing chips left and right, you aren’t going to get those folds and opponents will be more emboldened than usual to make plays at you.

Anyways, that’s what I was thinking about last night as I was getting smashed on and again as I was driving out here. I lost about $800 overall last night.

I’ve been in this 20/40 for an hour now and lots of interesting things have happened: I’ve already established myself as a maniac and as the table alpha and put someone on tilt after we played this hand:

I have the small on the button and there are two big blinds. We are short-handed so when under the gun raises here it’s similar to a hijack open, except there is more dead money than usual and his range should be even wider. So when I look down at A8hh on the button it looks like a clear 3-bet to me and we go heads up to the flop.

It is 973 with one heart. My image is already bad so I elect to check back here and see if I can get a sexy turn card. Also, my hand is one I’d prefer to show down most of the time so by checking back I don’t have to call three barrels, plus I induce bluffs.

The turn is an 8 and this feels like a clear bet when he checks to me, but I know my range looks super weak here (whiffed big cards) so when I bet, I’m almost expecting this: he check-raises me. I call and I’m planning to call river too.

The river is an ace and he check-calls and does that thing where he’s in disbelief so I twist the needle by saying, “oh don’t act like my 8 wasn’t good. If you can beat that show it.” He says something back mockingly and shows his neighbor his hand (which means he probably had me beat) but doesn’t show me. On the bright side, he’s clearly steamed. He asked to be dealt out the next hand.

5:51 PM: I spent the first hour of play writing this post and I spent the last hour in contact with Apple Support trying to connect a new earbud to my AirPods. That was a no go.

It has been a very active two hours for me, as I have been playing a very high variance style, opening a lot of hands and bluffing more than usual because the pots are almost always heads up or 3-handed.

It hasn’t gone that well. I ran K2ss into A2 a few orbits ago on Q9224. That was annoying. I’m down a little over $500 at the moment.

It’s a little harder to write updates in this game because it is super fast-paced and there always seems to be one or two players walking, so I almost always seem to be involved in pots.

We’ll see how it goes though.

6:24 PM: I’m not sure if the main game is any better than the one I was in, but I was having a hard time at that other table.

So now I have some players I know on my left: FanBoy and Sgt. Rock.

FanBoy is immediately threatening me: “Guess what we’re having for dinner tonight? Barbecue Bat!”

Normally the thought of him doing stupid things behind me would be music to my ears but I’m running so cold and my decisions have been so difficult my last several hours of play that I’m not really embracing this promise of high variance poker action.

Of course, he’s probably all talk and will play his normal, boring abc game. Well, until he reads this!

I just raised three hands in a row and got very little resistance. Ah yes. This is more my speed.

7:40 PM: I am frustrated. This has been a tiresome session. I have spent all of it between -$500 and +$100, but almost all of it on the stuck side of things. Every time I get back over the hump stupid things happen.

I just got rivered in big pots by the same player in the same orbit. First my K9hh loses to A5cc on 954T5 and then he opens early with T9ss, caps the 987 flop, check-calls the king turn, and donks the 6 river to beat my AA.

Pretty damn annoying.

8:18 PM: Q8ss vs Q4 on Q8675. TT < 44. Approaching -$800 now. This is so silly.

8:32 PM: Here’s a win if I’ve ever seen one: I open early with QQ and FanBoy 3-bets me. I call and we are heads up to a flop of 975. I check-raise and he flats.

Turn is a jack and he raises my bet. I call down on a brick river, sighing openly while saying, “I can only beat AJ.”

The bad news is he doesn’t have AJ.

The good news is he does have QQ.

For those of you counting at home, that’s a net profit of $12 for the hand.

The comeback is on!

8:49 PM: Highlight of my night right here: there’s a limp fest in front of me and get hyper speculative with the ole K8o on the button. The blinds are cool and decide not to punish me.

The flop is KJ8 with two diamonds. One of the limpers bets, I raise, the blinds fold, and two of the other limpers cold call. So does the initial bettor.

Okay, now we need to dodge.

8 of clubs on the turn. Wonderful. Now I need them to hit their draws! I bet and only one of them calls. What the hell? One of the cold callers and the flop bettor folded. Wtf is that? Cold call two and the 8 pairs and we can’t continue now? I guess they both had jacks, a holding that just got substantially worse against top pair.

River is the 4 of clubs and my opponent just power folds.

That got me up for High Hand… which amusingly held up for 12 minutes but now JJJAA is up there. Damn.

8:58 PM: FanBoy finally showing how he got the name:

9:15 PM: Woah. I am heating up.

QQ good, AK gets lucky vs KJ on QJx9T, and then AA wins a huge pot that was capped 3-ways pre and 3-bets 3-ways on the flop.

Almost even again!

Just needed The Legend in the box to activate my run good.

9:41 PM: Well I worked my way all to the black but this is why I can’t have nice things – and also why you shouldn’t poke the bear.

Folds to my button and I open 84cc because I have FanBoy and Sgt. Rock in the blinds and they fold around 130% of the time, but FanBoy 3-bets and says, “put this on the blog!”

I call and we go to a flop of Q63 with one club. He leads, I raise, he 3-bets and I call because I can smell something and I can turn good cards.

The turn is an ace and I decide to give it up and he tosses the J9 of diamonds in my face.

Goddammit.

10:57 PM: Bring The Legend back! Seriously. I can’t win a meaningful pot with anyone else, but I won like $1k while he was here. Back to whiffing everything!

Stuck around $300 now.

11:07 PM: What the fuck. Folds to me with small blind on button and I raise without looking.

Big blind check-calls me on flop and turn on AA8Q before donking on the 4 river.

I guess it’s time to look. I have A3o. Part of me wants to call but how the hell do I not have the best hand here? I raise it and he snap-calls with A9, a kicker that plays.

Stuck over $500 again. This is a total joke.

Defend KQ heads up and run into AQ on Q526T. It’s honestly comical sometimes.

11:35 PM: A raise and three callers in front of me and I have AA in the big. I jack it up.

Flop is K62 with two clubs and it gets capped.

She rivers a flush.

HOW THE FUCK DO YOU MAKE A FLUSH?

They make it look so easy. I’ve missed 100% of my flush draws tonight.

Very next hand I have 88 in the small blind against a button open. He’s all in for 3 small bets with AK.

J625… K

I actually thought I was going to win that one because the pot was so small.

I am now stuck over $1k… again.

What a fucking nightmare this is.

11:42 PM: Open AThh, someone 3-bets, and we go to a T82 flop. I check-raise and he flats.

Turn is a 4 and I bet and call his raise.

River is a King. I check-call and he shows AK. Granted, he turned a flush draw so it wasn’t a total punt, but still.

And then as I’m being shown this fucking hand on the river the waitress comes up and tells me they can’t make the food I ordered.

That officially sent me outside to clear my head. I am seriously debating if I even want to keep playing. I’ve already played 8+ hours which is usually my goal, so it’s not like if I reload I’m going to grind it out for six more hours.

I have to admit I’m kind of peeved right now. Which makes me think I should maybe call it a night.

12:11 AM: I was making a little bit of a comeback so of course this hand comes up to fuck things up.

Open A9cc, one flat in position and both blinds defend.

Flop is AK8 with two clubs. It’s the fucking world. What can go wrong?

I bet and they all call.

Turn is a brick and now the in position player raises when I bet. The blinds both fold and I’m sitting there thinking about rage 3-betting because how the hell can I be beat every single meaningful pot? And can I possibly miss another flush draw?

Of course I can. And I will. I don’t pull the trigger on the torchy 3-bet but I do call and whiff and then pay off AK on the river.

Great flat pre. Very expert. You got me.

12:19 AM: Just got an “F bomb” warning because I guess that’s where I’m at right now.

Spewer opens, there’s a call, I 3-bet AQ, and FanBoy calls it cold.

It’s like 5-way action for 3-bets to the AK3 two heart flop and I bet and of course FanBoy pops me, a blind calls, and I just call also.

Turn is a brick and we check-call again.

The river is a Queen and I check, FanBoy bets, other dude folds and I turn to him and say, “I’m at the very top of my range but I’m sure I’m still losing” and check-call. He rolls over AA and I say, “it’s so fucking sick.”

I’m back outside. The only reason I didn’t cash out yet is because I wanted to type this up before telling The Leak we are leaving.

So you want to be a professional poker player?

Final Score: -$1440

The bad run at Fortune continues. This is what my 2018 looks like here:

-$2135 in 5 hours

-$2226 in 6.25 hours

-$808 in 4 hours

+$97 in 10.5 hours

-$1440 in 9 hours

It’s a super small sample. Totally meaningless. I’m sure I’ve had similar runs many times in my years of playing poker.

But I can’t help but feel like every time I come here I just get TORTURED.

And I do. That’s a spewing rate of -$189/hour playing poker at Fortune this year.

No wonder I’ve been staying away.

Goodness.

UPDATE: I really want to put these results in perspective. In the grand scheme of things, they are utterly meaningless, as I mentioned before. But I want to clarify. Those five sessions add up to 34.5 hours for the entire year. That’s less than one week of playing poker for me. That’s less than 2% of the total volume I will put in for an entire year. So as ugly as it looks, it is just noise.

My volume at Fortune has gone from semi-regular to nonexistent. I have played 5 sessions of 20/40 at Fortune this year. Last year I put in 25 plays and overall I have put in 45 sessions of 20/40 at Fortune lifetime. My first session of 20/40 there dates back to May of 2016, so in the roughly 29 months Fortune has been open, I have put in only put in around 10% of my total 20/40 volume there in the last 10.5 months.

In other words, this “year long” torture chamber is only a blip on the radar of my total volume at Fortune. There’s definitely a lingering affect going on, but when you take a step back, it’s easy to see that it is just variance.

My overall results, despite this horrendous run, are still pretty good. My win rate in the Fortune 20/40 has gone from a sexy $47.26/hour to a still respectable, but not very attractive $23.42/hour. I would wager that I’m more likely to be a 1 BB/hour player than a 0.6 BB/hour player, but my overall sample size is still too small to really determine much of anything.

I’ve mostly been able to justify not driving 30+ minutes to play in a tougher 20/40 game by having games close to home that I can expect to earn as much or more in. Unfortunately, since I’ve been back from the WSOP the 15/30 game that was running almost daily before summer has become more of a once a week game. On the other hand, we are now playing PLO twice a week and the 20/40 O8 game at Muckleshoot has become a good opportunity on Saturdays. That gives me four playing days a week where I don’t even need to consider driving out to Fortune.

Still… I’m not really one to back down from a challenge. I know the game is tougher at Fortune. The crazy thing about this year is that I have been experiencing insane variance whenever I play there. While that is not notable in itself, what is notable is the fact that 20/40 pots are generally heads up or 3-handed affairs. It’s not like games at the Palace where every pot is contested with 5+ players. Games like that have high variance. When every pot is heads up or short-handed, the variance should actually be less severe. But I have had the opposite experience this year. Clearly. The vast majority of the time I have been in a heads up pot with a strong hand at Fortune, I have found a way to lose – and it has been messing with my head.

I don’t really plan to increase my volume at Fortune going forward, but it does seem like I should try to play there at least twice a month. One thing is for sure: I definitely need to get this monkey off my back… with a signature Dark Knight huge win!

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

15/30 Limit Hold’em – 10/5/18 Live Blog

October 5, 2018

Today is starting off better than I expected already. The Leak and I were driving to Palace and there were only two players on the 15/30 list @ 3 PM. That’s not very promising. I would have guessed a game start of around 6 or 7 PM. But then I walked in the door and the game was starting!

We are currently 8-handed with a starting lineup of: total maniac, Part-Time, nit, Fleabag, Rain Man, nit, non-reg.

Heads up vs Part-Time: I open AQss and double barrel AQ5ddd after he cold calls preflop, but he raises me on the turn and I call down and lose to K4dd.

Pretty cool!

3:22 PM: Yesterday I went -$170 in 1.5 hours of 4/8 limit O8 and then +$925 in 6 hours of PLO.

Here are the two most interesting pots I played in PLO yesterday and they happened on back-to-back hands:

I limp early with JTdd77, there’s another limp, Big Baby makes it $20 to go on the button, and one of the blinds and both limpers call.

Flop is 854 with two diamonds. I have a decent flush draw and two blockers to the nuts so it seems like a good hand to bluff the flop with. I lead out $55 into $80 and the player on my direct left makes it $110. Everyone else folds. Let’s think about this: what kind of strong hand makes a min-raise here? I would say not many. So my plan is to call this bet and re-evaluate on the turn. I don’t want to bloat this pot on the flop against someone I think is highly unpredictable and might go crazy with a naked ace high flush draw. Also, it is feasible that I would play some naked straights this way.

Turn is the Queen of clubs, giving me some actual straight outs. I do not think my opponent has much and I can still rep the straight so I bet $175 and he tanks forever and eventually calls.

I don’t particularly want to make my flush here. I think if the board bricks off I will usually win this pot with a max-sized river bet.

The 4 pairs on the river and I would say that qualifies as a good card for my plan. I bet $300 and this time he tanks even long than he did on the turn but… calls it off… with… A832 no diamonds.

That was enough for The Crypt Keeper to blurt out, “what the hell?” after I showed and he tabled his hand.

So I lost nearly $600 on that pot and then this hand comes up:

There are two limpers, Crypt Keeper makes it $25, Big Baby makes it $90, and I have AA98 with clubs on the button. I make it $390 to go (more on that in a sec), which gets about 40% of my stack in the pot before the flop with Aces. That’s a pretty good result. Big Baby is my only caller.

The flop is pretty decent for my hand: JT8 with two clubs. Big Baby leads out $200 and I make it $500 trying to get all the chips in. He just calls though.

The turn is a blank and I have a little less than $200 behind. He checks to me. It seems like my hand should not be good after he bet-calls $500 on the flop and I brick the turn. So I check behind and take a river before deciding if I want to put the rest in.

River is the 9 of clubs. Yay! I bet the rest of it and he calls it off with AA62 and no clubs. I guess it makes sense that he has AA, but what a crazy hand to bet-call off $500 on the flop with.

So yeah, after losing a big pot to a crazy bluff catcher, I felt like I was one club away from turning $1500 into $0 in two hands.

Fortunately, I was freerolling in that last hand and got there – a session saver!

Ugh. Flea just cashed out. That left us 6-handed (plus Part-Time MIA) with two nits in the game. That’s what I call the Danger Zone.

Fortunately, a random dude just sat down with $700.

4:42 PM: Rough start today. I’m down about $400 after winning a couple small pots. Here’s the highlight of my day so far:

Maniac limps, I raise cutoff with K2dd, button calls, so does a blind.

Four of us to the Q97 with two diamonds flop. That’s good enough for me to bet and I get popped by the button and the rest fold out. I call.

Turn is a blank and he does that rapid fire bet where he’s not even thinking about what’s going on (because he has a draw) so I’m already thinking about calling the river if it comes bricky.

The river pairs the 7 and I don’t have to make the call because he just gives up and my king high is good.

4:53 PM: This game is pretty bad now. My last four blinds have been chopped (I had AA in one of those hands). Radio Mike replaced the maniac and we are 8-handed now.

5:19 PM: First battle with Radio Mike: he opens cut, I 3-bet K2 of spades from small blind and he calls. I double barrel on 997-5 before checking the Queen on the river. He checks back… with QJo.

😐✋🏻🧢

5:48 PM: Radio Mike 2, Dark Knight 0

Open 55, Rain Man cold calls, Radio Mike defends.

Flop is 882 with two spades and only Radio Mike calls.

Turn is a 4 and I still feel like I’m good here. My plan is probably to check river if he calls because I’ve seen him slow play big hands to the river in heads up spots, especially against me. He calls.

River is a third 8 though. Can’t imagine what hands he’d play this way that I’m losing to and it seems like I should go for value against 2x and Ax hands, so I bet and he check-raises and I’m pretty sure that is always quads but I’m not folding here either. He shows the 86.

In other news, Rain Man has flopped a set on me three times already, which seems like every time I’ve played a pot against him. I’ve had top pair all three times and twice I rivered trips so he’s basically owning me today.

And then this happens: I open Q8ss and button and Rain Man call.

We check down on J985J and I go for value on the river after Rain Man checks a third time because how the hell can I ever be losing here, but Rain Man has A9 and calls.

Good lord.

Open AJ and a nit 3-bets me and of course I get a jack high flop and clean run out so I’m forced to call down, knowing I’m rarely ever winning with the top of my range here. He has QQ.

Yup. I’m really annoyed right now.

6:06 PM: Sigh. Now we are 6-handed with two nits in the lineup and I am stuck almost $700.

Where are the 9-to-5ers?

6:39 PM: We are down to 4-handed and the first hand of non-chopping I have AA in the big blind and get the Q9958 board against the small blind’s 95.

Yup. I’m over it. I’m going to go watch the 7:20 showing of A Star Is Born.

I might be back later.

Final Score: -$881 in 3.5 hours

I will continue this later if I come back and play after the movie.

Update: The next two showings of A Star Is Born are both sold out so I will not be seeing that tonight but I am also not going to be returning to the casino.

I think I woke up roughly five times during the night and never felt well-rested today. Radio Mike suggested making a trip to Fortune but I’m tired, steamy, and buried – and none of those things suggest I should keep playing poker tonight. I was willing to gut it out at 15/30 locally, but I have no desire to travel or play 8/16, so I’m just watching playoff baseball at home now.

I will be back in action at Muckleshoot for some 20/40 Omaha 8 tomorrow around 3 PM.

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

Muck Fall Classic – $750 No Limit Hold’em Main Event (Stack Updates Only)

September 29, 2018

Vitals: 20k starting stacks, blinds at 25/50, and levels are 45 minutes today. We are fast approaching 200 entrants and registration is open for another 4.5 hours!

My starting table currently has seven seated players and two dead stacks. I’ve seen all these guys around but I only know one of them, a nitty, predictable guy from Kitsap County.

Yesterday, I talked a lot with Adam Coats (a non-blog reader) and he was telling me about this 30 Day Cold Shower Challenge he did and how liberating it was and I was like, “stop judging me, Adam! I’ll start it up again tomorrow.”

So today was Cold Shower Challenge Day 1.

Again.

For the third time.

I’m seeing it through this time, dammit.

Speaking of Adam, I prefer to refer to people anonymously via nicknames on the blog, but since he’s been in the public eye at the World Series of Poker every time I’ve talked about him, I haven’t really felt it was necessary. However, after having the name ChowMein suggested to me and discovering that it was an old online screen name of Adam’s, I asked for his blessing to call him that and got the okay.

Welcome to the club, buddy!

Alright, time to focus up. I’ll post updates on breaks and maybe if a really big pot happens.

Leggo.

Notables I’ve Seen: ChowMein, Solomon Grundy, Flipper, Green River Gary (no explanation needed), and Billy Dubs (my new twist on Bill W)

Punt Attempt: Under the gun opens to 600 at 75/150 and it folds to me on button with AQ. I just call and so does the big blind.

Flop is AQT with two diamonds (I have none) and the big blind leads out for 1200 and the PFR calls. The big has a little over 15k total and the PFR has about 7k. The board is pretty wet so I make a sizable raise to 5k and I’m not folding to a jam. Big blind tanks for quite some time and eventually stuffs it. PFR folds and I kind of hate it because when we get in 100+ bigs each on the flop I really shouldn’t be good here, but I call and…

He has AJo with a diamond.

Turn 8d

River 4d

So much pain.

I’m down to 9k now and I’m pretty damn sad about it because I was dominating this table and I should have over 45k now.

Sick. Sick sick sick SICK.

Re-entry is open for another 3 hours, but I also still have 60 bigs.

First Break: 8.7k

More Notables: Slimer, Sandman, Joker, Minh Cash

Second Break: 18.1k

I am playing above the rim right now and have been running pretty brutal. Basically all my chips have been accumulated through well-timed bluffs. I feel like I’m seeing situations really well and I’m executing on how I think I can exploit what’s going on.

Registration is closed after this break. I’m pretty happy to get back near starting stack without having to re-enter.

Update: 55.4k

I’m putting on a clinic. Meanwhile the guy that devastated me earlier… is out. He shoved his last 11 bigs over a 3.5x open from another small stack with… 65ss. What in the world?

Prize pool is posted. There were 341 total entrants. 174 remain. Total prize pool is $237,175, which means $25,575 was raked, or 10%. Not bad. 51 spots get paid, with a minimum payout of $1200. First place is $49,000.

Let’s get it.

Dinner Break: 47k

Play resumes in 70 minutes.

I watched Joker get it all in on the last hand before break with AA against JTss on 952ss but the 8 of spades on the river busted him.

143 players left. Average stack is 47.6k so I’m right there. Blinds will be 600/1200 when we come back so I have 39 bigs when we restart.

My goodness, I’ve already used the bathroom and had a full meal and sat bullshitting for 10 minutes and we still have 40 minutes of break left.

7:41 PM: I am absurdly card dead. I called a raise with JThh and someone jammed (so I folded). That is the extent of my involvement since dinner ended. Pretty silly.

Down to 36.6k.

7:52 PM: 88 < AK all in pre for ~12 bigs.

Down to 18.1k – jam or fold territory.

8:28 PM: Doubled A9 > 88. Back to 11bb.

Fourth Break: 33.3k

I think I was peaking around 55k before I opened to 2.5bb on button with A8dd and big blind defended. We both checked Q98 flop. I called 5bb on 3 turn and then we both checked 5 river. He had 94o.

Because you just have to defend with that one.

Coming back to 1200/2400 blinds.

72 players are left and 51 of us will cash. Average stack is 94k so I’m an underdog but so what.

Let’s go.

Update: Busted in 70th AT < AJ. I will not be playing the Shootout tomorrow as it looks like I’d have to win it outright to get in the Player of the Series spots.

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, muckleshoot, no limit hold em, poker, poker strategy, Poker Tournaments, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | 1 Comment »

Muck Fall Classic – $400 No Limit Hold’em (Stack Updates Only)

September 28, 2018

Vitals: 15k starting stack, sitting down at start of L2 with blinds at 50/100, and 186 players registered so far.

I recognize a couple players at my table from local cash games.

I’m playing in the banquet area for the first time. No shuffle machines but it’s pretty nice in here.

First Break: 16.9k

I’m happy about that considering I bluffed off a third of my stack and got called down by Q4dd on 6648T. I’m praying to make anything against that player.

12:53 PM: Doubled with AK vs Jc9c on QcJT-8c-J.

33.9k at 150/300 blinds.

Second Break: 34.7k

Registration is closing after this break.

Update: 300 entrants. $102k in the prize pool. $18k taken out for rake, or 15%. $20.4k up top for 1st. 45 spots pay. ~205 left.

I have 42.6k at 300/600 with 600 big blind ante. Average stack is ~22k.

Third Break: 42k

Weird last hand before the break. Player I think is competent makes it 1700 with blinds at 300/600 after an under the gun limper. That’s not strange but what is strange is that the raiser started the hand with less than 4000, so he’s making a small raise after a limper when he’s starting the hand with less than six big blinds.

I don’t get it. Even if I had a hand as strong as AA, I would expect the limper to call a lot.

Anyways, it folds to me and I look down at AJo. I wouldn’t even think about calling a 6bb jam with AJ and the under the gun player has shown some loose-passive tendencies so I’m not too worried about him having a big hand. So I go ahead and make it 4000 to put the raiser all in.

The limper folds and he calls it off with A9o.

I really don’t get it. The call here is fine but the initial raise is mind-boggling.

Fortunately for him the board runs out K88-K-9 and he got lucky on me twice in rapid succession and doubles up.

So… I have 42k now instead of 51k.

Coming back to blinds of 400/800 with 800 big blind ante.

Dinner Break: 88.4k

My bad. We’ve been on break for 40 minutes already. I just forgot to post something.

Cards back in the air in 35 minutes.

More Info: 79 left. Average stack is 57k. 45 spots get paid.

7:21 PM: Flopped top two with KQ in a raised multiway pot and then busted someone with JJ > 99.

203.5k

58 left.

Fourth Break: 145k coming back to 2500/5000 with a 5000 big blind ante.

We are in the money. 45 are left and everyone is guaranteed at least $630.

Average stack is 100k.

Adam Coats and Chief Wiggum both still in also.

Update: We have three hours of play in between breaks this time for some reason, so I should probably mention that things have been going really poorly. I am down to about 80k with blinds now at 3k/6k.

There are 36 players left now.

9:14 PM: Doubled with 66 > AK.

143k

Fifth Break: Peaking at 220k coming back to blinds of 6k/12k.

20 players remain.

Update: It’s been rough. I have 165k and we are combining to a 10-handed final table.

I appear to have the shortest stack. $2500 locked up.

Chief Wiggum here with me. He has about 280k.

9 left.

Update: Early position makes it 42k at 8k/16k and it folds to me in the big. I jam for 149k with AQ and… he starts tanking? Wtf. Didn’t expect that. He thinks for about two minutes and now I’m thinking I want a call, realizing I’m probably doubling up over 70% of the time. He eventually does call… with AJ.

Flop: JJ4

Turn: 4

9th for $3000.

Sigh.

Main Event tomorrow.

Muck Fall Classic is Here! $200 LIMIT Hold’em (Live Updates)

September 23, 2018

Already messing up. Even though my phone calendar and my online poker schedule both listed this tournament as starting at 10 AM, I somehow got it in my head that it started at 11 AM… so here I am showing up exactly on time… an hour late!

Starting stacks are 12k and blinds are now 75/150 as I sit down at the beginning of level 3.

I hear the defending PLAYER OF THE SERIES is in the building now. Oh wait, that’s me! I already spotted the whole field a two event head start, so it’s probably going to take an extraordinary run to get into contention this time.

Cards in the air! Let’s go.

11:17 AM: Notables in the field: Radio Mike and Joker at the same table, Chief Wiggum, some other regulars… but honestly, not a lot of recognizable faces.

And on that note, Sandman hits the registration desk.

11:27 AM: First pot I play at my table is a doozy. Five players limp and I jack it up with the KQhh from the big. Gambol!

Flop is K52 with two spades and one heart. I lead, there are two calls and two folds, and a lady on the button raises it. This was not the kind of flop I was expecting to get much action on so I’m kind of bewildered, but I prefer to play heads up here so I raise it back and the first caller caps it! The other guy calls and so does the button. Not really sure how I can ever have the best hand here, but I’m going to hang on.

Turn is the jack of diamonds and I’m happy to see it check to the button and she bets. When the flop capper checks here, he’s basically always on a draw and the other player’s range is capped and weak. So I’m dodging spades and hoping I can beat the button now. We all call.

River is the 8 of clubs and everyone checks. Button looks like she wants to table out of turn (or maybe it is in turn here) so I let her show a K3o before I table the winning hand and collect the pot.

11:44 AM: Wow, my table is clueless. I limp early with the A6ss and UTG+1 raises, bad and loose player 3-bets button, lady from before calls small blind and I call also. It’s a bit loose from up front but I want to play pots against this field while the blinds are small.

Flop is 775 with two spades and the small blind leads right out, I call, UTG+1 calls, button raises, small blind 3-bets, I call, other guy folds and button calls.

Turn is the 8 of clubs. SB bets and we both call.

River is 9 of spades. Flush got there and so did a one card straight (and I have both draws) and the small blind still bets. I already have zero respect for either player in this hand and I fully expect my hand to be good most of the time but it seems like a clear spot to go for the overcall from the likely overpair on the button rather than raise and possibly face a 3-bet when I’m beat. I call and so does button. Lady turns over JJ. Button snap-rolls KK before I can table my hand.

Very next hand, I defend an UTG raise in a 6-way pot with 84 of hearts.

Flop is 652 with two hearts. We has MONSTER. I check-raise the field, they all just call, and five of us see the turn.

It’s an ugly, ugly brick: the ace of clubs. I would bet a lot of turns but this is not one of them. I am keeping a check-raise in my back pocket depending on how the turn plays out. If UTG bets and everyone calls, I have about a 30% chance of improving and my fair share of pot equity is 20% and I make money by raising, even if only three players call. A clear value raise in a cash game, but maybe not great in a tournament where pushing every edge isn’t as important as maintaining a chip stack. As it turns out, UTG bets and only the loose player in the cutoff calls, so I just call also.

River is the 2 of clubs. Boo. UTG bets and wins with AKo vs A7o. Sheesh.

That’s 61% assuming I never get either of them to fold better and actually, from what I’ve seen, they are probably not folding on bricky run outs, especially the dude with A7.

~17k on first break.

12:19 PM: Pretty sure this is a career first for me: antes in a limit event (Stud variants excluded). Interesting. I think I like it. I’m curious to see if anyone adjusts their stealing and defending strategies, especially as the blinds get large.

Stack updates at first break:

Chief Wiggum 19k

Joker 17k

Radio Mike 13k

Sandman 11k

12:27 PM: Woah. Daniel O, no limit hold’em specialist, making an appearance in the limit hold’em event! And he sits at my table!

“I’m just warning you,” he immediately cautions, “I don’t care at all.”

Punting words if I’ve ever heard them.

12:50 PM: UTG opens, I 3-bet AKo next and cutoff calls.

Three of us to the KJ7 flop and they both call my bet.

Turn is a ten and I go into check-call mode because I think my hand is doing not great against the cutoff’s cold-calling and continuing range. Other guy also calls down and the cutoff shows AQ.

1:09 PM: Forgot to congratulate Joker on his 9th place finish in yesterday’s no limit Hold’em event. He picked up $2800 and got himself on the Player of the Series leaderboard.

1:12 PM: Sandman is hitting the registration desk for a re-entry.

Some non-poker run bad that has happened to me lately:

•on what I believe was our last hiking trip before this vacation to the southeast, I went to use the restroom in an outhouse and ever-so-slightly tilted my head downwards and watched in horror as my $250 sunglasses slid off my hat, right down the toilet and disappeared into, well, somewhere quite disgusting. The hole was so deep they were completely unrecoverable and I’m not sure I wanted them back anyway.

•at the Mariners-Rangers game on Friday night I was once again using the restroom and my AirPods fell out of my jacket into the stall next to mine. I thought I heard the sound of multiple things hitting the ground and that is a thought that haunts me now. But at the time, my charging case landed closed and I didn’t bother to look inside it. I didn’t use them again until we boarded our plane late last night and realized that that other sound was one of my ear buds falling out and disappearing forever. So now I have AirPods with a single ear bud.

•and then I left my current favorite Mariners hat on the plane last night.

•PLUS I lost my driver’s license before we left for our trip, a fact that Joker just reminded me of as I was standing here typing this on break. Speaking of losing my driver’s license, that got me a full – and I mean FULL – body pat down at the airport last night when I tried to sneak by security with an expired ID.

Stack updates on second break:

Dark Knight 16.1k

Daniel O 14.5k

Chief Wiggum 17k

Joker 22k

Radio Mike 14k

Sandman 12k

1:34 PM: First hand back I open KK UTG and get two callers.

Jack high, uncoordinated flop and I bet and get one call.

Queen on turn and I check-raise and get called on blank river for a nice pot to start level 7.

That puts me over 20k.

2:19 PM: Widening my opening range as the blinds increase and my table doesn’t seem to be adjusting too much. I opened 95dd and c-bet total air and got a fold. Then I opened T9o from the lojack and got a big blind defend and the 876 flop. Not bad. He called flop and turn before folding river.

Finally, under the gun limps, I raise AA, and two players call.

Flop is AT3 with two clubs and only UTG check-calls.

Turn is the 3 of clubs, so the flush gets there and I fill up. Dreams! He leads out and I get two big bets on the turn.

Then I get unlucky…

…by making quads!

Because now he loses to any random Ax hand and finds a check-fold as he shakes his head with whatever he bet-called the turn with.

Peaking at 26.1k.

Not sure if player count is accurate, but it says 129 entered and there are now 84 left.

That makes an average 18.4k.

Updated counts on break:

Radio Mike 15.3k

Daniel O 14.6k

Joker 6.8k

Chief Wiggum 22k

2:53 PM: Folds to me in small blind and I raise KTo and the big defends.

Flop is K95 with two spades and we go four bets and I’m not happy about it. First flop raise doesn’t mean much, but when he caps it, I’m in trouble.

I check-call a bet on a blank turn and we both check the 4 of spades river and I get a ridiculous free show down vs 95hh.

Down to 18k though.

Sigh. What a set up.

Also, I should point out that Radio Mike is largely responsible for Joker’s diminished chip stack.

3:12 PM:

Joker BUSTED

3:34 PM: Sheesh. Lose one pot and all my momentum is gone. Blinds have gone through me a couple times and I’m down to 13k.

Meanwhile, Daniel O calls a raise on the button in a multiway pot with 33 and gets the 322 flop against an overpair and somehow gets four bets on the flop and still gets bet into on the turn.

That hand puts Daniel around 38k.

MUST BE NICE.

3:40 PM: Just got moved. I recognize no one at this table and I have the shortest stack. I opened ATo and whiffed and defended KTss and whiffed.

I am on fumes. Just like that.

3:50 PM: Raise one limper in button with 77 and 4.8 bigs. We are looking to get all the chippies in, but a blind and the limper call and then both check-fold on J76. What a waste!

Very next hand, early open and I 3-bet KK from the cut. Early player calls and then checks dark so I bet dark.

He calls on QQ5 rainbow and checks to me again on a blank turn. I have less than three big bets left, so my decision on the turn is essentially for my tournament life. If I bet and am not winning, I am out, so I check back since I’m either way ahead or way behind and betting could eliminate me.

River is a blank and I pick off a bluff and am back up to 19.8k after having less than 5k a few hands ago.

4:01 PM: Unreal. Table breaks after hand I pay my big blind and I get moved to a new table where I have to post the big blind again. Yes. Back-to-Back. In a structure where the big blind antes for everyone.

🤦🏻‍♂️

I didn’t win either of those pots so there goes four critical blinds.

Radio Mike and Sandman at my new table. This is easily my worst table draw of the day.

4:36 PM: And I have dwindled down to one big blind about to have the button after playing zero notable pots in 3+ orbits.

4:42 PM: This is gross. Nothing but rags. Someone enters the pot before me every hand. It is going to be really, REALLY sick if I have to take a 75-minute dinner break with less than one big blind.

2 minutes, 45 seconds…

4:49 PM: I went all in on the last hand before dinner and did not win.

Dark Knight BUSTED

Radio Mike has a small stack and Sandman, Chief Wiggum, and Daniel O are all still in.

I’m not sticking around but I’ll post some updates if someone sends them to me.

✌🏻

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

Live Blog From Oklahoma: $1/$3 No Limit @ Winstar!

September 20, 2018

Even though I’m pretty tired after driving a solid 5 hours or so from Houston to Waco to Dallas, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to a) drive one more hour and cross another new state off my “places I’ve been to” list and b) play some more poker!

I got immediate seating in a 1/3 no limit game and since it has a $300 maximum buy in, I sat with $300 on the table and an extra $500 in my pocket. I’m on the list for a 1/2/5 PLO mix (high/hi-lo split) game but there are ten names (three as call ins) and it hasn’t started yet, so…

Pretty cool start!

I raise one limper to $12 with AJ and the big blind and limper call.

Flop is T93 with two diamonds and I check behind.

Turn is the jack of diamonds and the big leads for $22. I call.

River is another diamond. It’s probably worth pointing out that I do not have a diamond. So when he checks to me, I’m firing this $50 bullet as a pure bluff. I put up with the tank stare down for about a minute before going to my phone to type and as soon as I do that, he folds. Interesting.

Next notable pot: someone opens to $15, very green (“what do I need to put in?”) dude calls, and I make it $61 from the small blind with AKo. The opener folds but the noob is trying to figure out what he needs to do to call and eventually just gives up and says, “let’s just put it all in there.” The dealer objects, a player starts talking and I say, “let’s do it.”

Unfortunately, the dealer allows us to do this and my AK loses to his TT and I owe this man $207.

10:02 PM: There’s a limper or two, I make it $15 with QQ just after I’ve been called for the PLO game, one player calls in position, and the noob from the previous hand reraises me to $30 from a blind and a limper calls. I make it $115 of a stack of $373 and only the noob calls.

The flop is 752 with two spades and he immediately leads out for $40. I don’t waste much time before jamming the rest of my $258. He starts tanking and eventually says, “you have no idea, man” and I respond, “you’re right, I have no clue.”

He eventually decides to call it off and tables the 43hh and the 6 on the turn leaves me drawing dead.

Solid -$475 in minutes! All to the same guy… how could I leave that game?

Then I walk over to the PLO table and there are two people sitting there with chips in front of them.

I bit the bullet and sat down. I bought another $700 in chips and put $500 on the table (max) and $525 in my pocket.

Monday: We said goodbye to New Orleans and the Mississippi River and made the 5+ hour trek to Houston.

And arrived at the tiny house we booked for our Houston stay:

I thought it was a novel idea and that it might be fun to try out, but yeah, I’ll never be doing that again. I like my space. How many times did I hit my head on the ceiling? Too many.

Tuesday: We started off our day by having our best meal of the trip at LA Crawfish. The Leak had some very good crawfish and I had some excellent chicken pho.

And then we headed downtown to get our first glimpse of Minute Maid Park, home of the World Champion Houston Astros.

My first glimpse:

Craig Biggio statue throwing to Jeff Bagwell statue:

This is what banners look like:

Home plate entrance:

The Leak sizing up with Carlos Correa:

First glimpse of the field:

And one of our coolest moments as Seattle fans – getting the autograph of a Mariners legend and future Hall of Famer:

And this is what a World Series ring looks like:

This dude was giving a girl in Mariners gear hell as they were airing it on the Jumbotron. I was like two spots down in all M’s gear and did not think I would escape unscathed, but he showed me mercy:

Fresh after getting Dee Gordon’s autograph:

Our actual seats:

A video my mom shot of Root Sports in Seattle airing some loyal Mariner fans in Houston:

Unfortunate timing to be looking at my phone the whole time, but it was between innings!

Sick poster:

Future MVP:

Some cool street art inside the stadium:

And my last looks at a very cool ballpark!

10:49 PM: Well, I’d much rather play PLO mix than no limit, but… the action is forcing me back. This game is kind of lame and, uh, that last table was amazing.

10:58 PM: Back in 1/3 but not the table I’m aiming for. I’m keeping a hawk eye on that table to make sure they don’t give the next open seat to anyone but me.

I lost $131 in my brief time in the PLO game. I made it $20 with JT98 and c-bet $35 on KJ7 and another $65 when the king paired on the turn. After he called that bet, I was done with it unimproved and I let him show down a naked AA hand. Uh, okay.

11:41 PM: Finally! A hand I can talk about.

Middle position opens to $15, button calls, I call QJhh from the small, and the big also calls.

Flop is Q63 with two hearts. I has monster. I’m looking to check-raise here a lot, but the PFR checks along. Fortunately, the button bets $30. He’s been pretty aggro so this bet doesn’t surprise me at all and I certainly don’t give him credit for much. I’m torn between calling and raising here so I actually go for a limit hold’em almost min-raise to $70. That will likely get me heads up and keep a LAG’s range wide.

Bingo. They fold and he calls.

Turn brings my flush in and I bet $100 with another $164 behind. Seems okay. He tanks forever and finally jams for like $160ish total. I call and my flush ends up being good.

Someone makes it $6 and there’s a call. I make it $25, button calls, and an older white lady in her 60s or early 70s repops me to $95 and she only has like $100 behind that. Folds back to me. I’m annoyed that this is happening because I really like my hand, but I’m looking at her and her stack size and my hand just shrivels up. She has me crushed. She just has to. I fold.

Surprisingly, the button calls. That’s surprising because the button has like $75 behind.

They see a flop of 532, all clubs. Sigh. And then they get it in.

Her AA holds up.

Another $6 raise and a call and I make it $25 again with TT. Only the original raiser calls.

Flop is 975 with two clubs and he check-calls $35.

Turn is an ace and we both check.

River is a 6 and he takes forever to figure out what size to bet and settles on $50. Now it’s my turn to tank. I’m not great at ranging hands, so as I’m sitting there thinking about how likely it is that he has an 8, I’m also taking note of his body language and dude is just staring daggers at me. I stop thinking about it and put the call out.

He taps the table and I win the pot.

12:17 AM: Back at my original NL table and I’m limping along on the button with the T9o and the big blind makes it $25 to go. Only the psycho from the earlier hands calls and I look at the big blind and say, “nope” and put $25 out there.

Flop is 872 with two spades and he leads out for $55. He only has like $200 total and I think he’s capable of trying to steal in this spot preflop – even though it’s a terrible spot because the psycho has position and he’s always calling – so I put him all in. He eventually calls.

Turn is ace of spades and river is jack of clubs so it seems pretty good until he turns over the 53 of spades.

12:27 AM: Flop a set. Lose to a flush. Almost felted again.

Raise button with KJ. Check back flop. Turn top pair against two pair and almost felt again.

This is BRUTAL.

12:28 AM: And now I’m sitting here with $35 and I’m all in with JJ preflop like an idiot. Psycho and dude that had the flush against my set both call…

K43 with two diamonds… I have Jd… psycho leads $71… other dude calls… this is probably not good.

9 of clubs… psycho $30… call again…

10 of spades… $40 and a call… and….

A9…

vs…

JJ.

Fuck.

12:39 AM: Topped off to $300 again. I bought $1500 in chips tonight. I have less than $600 left.

12:45 AM: I have trips. Someone makes a flush. There goes another $150.

How is this real? Every hand they get there?

12:48 AM: Psycho opens $25, there’s a caller and I’m all in for $140 with KT of spades. He’s already called with A8 of hearts and turned his hand face up. Other dude is in the tank. And calls. Sigh.

He shows JJ. Super tank. Against psycho loose cannon and dude that has felted four times in the last half hour.

Woah. Flopped a king for the triple!

Punt fail. I was just trying to flip with the idiot but that was the nut result.

I want to update my Wednesday and Thursday activities but the hands have been fast and furious.

My boy is about to felt though. He had like $1500 at one point. Hopefully he has some deep pockets, otherwise my interest level is going to decrease dramatically.

He doubles with Q5!

1:07 AM: With blinds of 1/3, I open to $25 with AKo because I think it is probably advisable with this goof at the table. Let’s try to get as much money in pre as possible.

They all fold.

Wednesday: Still in Houston, we start off with breakfast at a place called The Breakfast Klub, the highest rated breakfast place in Houston according to TripAdvisor. It was great! The Leak got catfish and grits and I had a Belgium Waffle.

After breakfast, we headed to Nassau Bay to check out the Houston Space Center and the Johnson Space Center at NASA.

We got there about 2:30 and trams stop running at 3 so that was our top priority.

Here’s Historic Mission Control, the actual room where they monitored most (maybe the said all) of the Apollo missions:

They are remodeling it and sending the consoles out to be worked on so they start functioning again and NASA can include an operational version in their future tours:

The VIP viewing room:

Astronaut training center:

Rover they plan to use on Mars:

Pictures can’t do this rocket justice:

Dried ready-to-eat… ice cream sandwich? Wait, how did I not buy one of these?

This is a space toilet:

After NASA, we headed to Kemah Boardwalk and it was a bit disappointing. It felt more like an abandoned amusement park than lively social spot. They couldn’t even justify paying an employee to man every ride and basically all the snack stands were shut down.

But we did ride the Boardwalk Bullet, a wooden rollercoaster:

The Leak’s review: “that was the worst rollercoaster I’ve ever ridden.”

That was the only ride we did, but we did search for a good seafood place and GPS basically told us to walk two feet because we were sitting right in front of the restaurant we decided on without realizing how close we were.

Dinner at Landry’s:

This next picture is notable because…

…as we were eating, a dude and his lady were standing here and dude had a drone that he started flying and it hit the rail…

…and just fell right into the water.

The Leak audibly gasped when she saw it happen. I couldn’t stop laughing. What a bad beat.

The guy was on his phone while we ate and I wondered what his game plan was. Is he contacting the Coast Guard? Trying to get a warranty replacement?

The current was not soft so I’m guessing they never saw that thing again. I resisted the urge to conduct an interview after dinner.

1:39 AM: Open to $20 under the gun with TT and get two calls.

Flop is T64 rainbow. I bet $15 and a self-proclaimed nit (same guy that deep tank-called with JJ) makes it $55. Other dude folds. I’m going over all the possibilities in my head. I think it’s pretty standard to call here, but if he’s not real strong, how often does he check behind on the turn? Like with his Tx hands or JJ even? Not sure. It seems like he should be weighted to strong hands so I end up making it $125 and… he folds. Sigh.

I suck. Just like the Seahawks.

1:43 PM: Oh my. Psycho felted and just pulled out a huge wad of $100 bills and reloads another $300.

Uhm, go get a coffee, honey.

2:04 AM: Sigh. This night has been more vulgar than a viewing of Pulp Fiction with no consequences for anyone, but my dude just called the waitress that cut him off a “B-word” and now he is getting kicked out.

That probably spells the end of my night here.

2:37 AM: Cashing out now but I’ll report on one more hand:

Button open-limps, I make it $15 with KQo and he calls.

Flop is QQ5 rainbow. I lead $10 and he grabs a handful of chips and puts them in the pot. It ends up being $85 total. This is a bit different than the set of tens spot because this guy has way more garbage in his range and this board is absurdly dry. Calling is the only option.

Unfortunately he checks back the turn.

I try to induce on the river by sizing super small at $30 and he does not oblige.

Final Score: -$617 all sessions

I just asked a guy in all Texas Rangers gear how likely the game is to be rained out tomorrow and he said “100 percent.”

Ugh. Mariners vs Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington tomorrow is the only reason we are in Dallas right now.

I’ve never had tickets to a baseball game that got rained out. No clue how that works. I suppose if tomorrow got rained out they could schedule a doubleheader for Saturday and we could go watch the first game, or at least part of it, before flying back to Seattle later that night.

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

$1/$3 No Limit Hold’em @ Harrah’s in New Orleans

September 14, 2018

Checking out Harrah’s in New Orleans and immediately slip into a 1/3 no limit hold’em cash game.

I have some other things to report but before I publish I’ve already played a significant pot.

Hijack opens to $10 and I have KTdd in the cutoff. I think raising could be okay here but he’s pretty shallow. I have some decent stacks behind so isolating someone with < $100 holding king high seems bad and getting it in here for 30+ bigs seems real bad. I flat and so do the button and both blinds.

Flop is QJ5 all diamonds. It checks to me and I bet $30 into $50. Everyone folds except the PFR and he tanks before jamming for $86. I snap.

The turn is the 4d and I lose to AdJx.

Nice start!

2:06 PM: Eminem finally responded to MGK. Check out his response “KILLSHOT” here:

Eminem – KILLSHOT (MGK Response)

2:15 PM: We landed in New Orleans around 5:30 PM local time.

Our first meal was at The Gumbo Shop somewhere in the French Quarter:

We got to our AirBnB around 8 PM and stayed in for the rest of the night, but we are staying so close to the Mississippi River that I had to go check it out:

But as I was standing in the grass in the pitch black I started thinking about how I had just read that the Mississippi is inhabited by alligators, copperhead snakes and a slew of rattlesnakes and I started to feel a bit uneasy.

Everything was much more visible this morning:

Breakfast this AM at the famous Cafe du Monde:

River views from the other side:

I thought we would be exploring the city today but it is 90 degrees and extremely humid. It feels like we are walking around in a steam room. So now we are in an air conditioned casino.

Here’s the poker room:

2:59 PM: Not sure how long I’ll be playing in this game. I paid for nine hours of parking but The Leak isn’t even playing poker. She’s roaming around the casino.

Notable hand:

New younger woman makes it $20 after one limper and a white man in his early 40s calls. I have AKo in the small and decide I want to 3-bet and possibly play for stacks. I make it $65 to go. She folds but he calls and has less than $200 behind. 🤦🏻‍♂️. Unless it’s a trap it’s already wacky.

Flop is J43 with two diamonds and one heart. I do have one diamond in my hand and I go ahead and lead for $75, imagining I’m not folding ever. If he wants to play for stacks here we are going to see all five board cards. Fortunately he just folds and I win this decent pot without a fight.

3:30 PM: There are multiple limpers and someone makes it $15. I call with 75cc from the big, expecting it to go multiway to the flop, but the first limper makes it $53 to go. The other limpers clear out, but the initial raiser calls and… I call? We all have at least $400 behind. Not sure if this is a good spot to speculate but I’m in there.

Flop is 655 with two hearts. I check and UTG bets $125. Other guy folds. No need to be coy here – he’s never folding. I jam and he stacks off immediately. The turn pairs the 6 and I send him out into the sultry Louisiana air.

4:05 PM: The Saints line up in punt formation and the visiting Dark Knights await the kick by raising a cutoff straddle of $6 to $16 with the AThh. It folds to the Saints in the hijack and they boot the rest of their $71 stack downfield. The straddler folds and I’m waiting for the ball, licking my lips to run this shit back for a touchdown.

JJ8. I’m waiting patiently, no defenders in sight.

JJ8-9. I’m reaching for the ball…

JJ8-9-T. “I have a straight.” He turns over the Q9.

Oh my God! The ball is loose. The punters recover!

Sigh.

4:52 PM: Oh boy. One limper, I make it $15 from cut with KQdd, button calls and small blind makes it $55. The limper calls and this is an ultra weird spot, as both the 3-bettor and the limper both have less than $200 behind. Obviously a jam isn’t going to get through here but my hand feels too good to fold. I guess the plan is to call and get it in on favorable flops? Shrug. Button folds.

Flop is KT6 with two hearts and one diamond. The blind jams for like $180 or whatever he has left. Other dude folds and I snap call.

He has AJ. I don’t win.

Very next hand, I raise a series of limpers to $25 with the J6dd (steaming?) and get three callers.

Flop is Q98, all diamonds. Well, hello there! The big blind immediately reaches for chips and looks like he wants to put the rest of his small stack in, but ends up checking instead. I bet $80 into $100 hoping to play a big pot and deny equity to the bigger one card flush draws. The big blind ends up jamming for $5 more and everyone else is a folder.

He has KTdd. I don’t win.

I raise one limper to $13 with the KTss and multiple players call. The limper ends up jamming for $134 and he’s the same dude that jammed on me with the Q9 so I’m not folding. No one else looks strong so I just jam to make sure I isolate and the others clear out.

He announces, “pocket queens” and I nod, letting him know that’s good.

The flop comes out ace high and everyone else is already like, “not anymore” but they are wrong.

The turn and river are both kings though and now they are right.

He thinks I have AK and when I table my hand he’s like, “king ten?!?!” I decide not to bring up his Q9 jam earlier and roll with my current maniacal image.

I’m not done yet. On my big blind a competent and experienced player makes it $20 to go and gets way too many callers. I feel completely justified defending with the K4 of spades.

Flop is KJX with two hearts and one spade and UTG checks and so do a few people downstream. That’s when the player after UTG says, “I didn’t do anything” and winds up betting $75. Everyone folds to me and I’m definitely not worried about UTG here. Considering all the variables – UTG check in 7-way pot and this dude betting weakish into a big field with people checking behind him out of turn – I am not folding. I call $75.

The turn is the ten of spades. I have top pair and a flush draw now. I check and he bets $100 into what is now a $300 pot on a very wet board. He only has a few hundred behind and I’m not convinced he is strong. I jam. He starts tanking and I already love it. I also discovered a way to handle the all in stare down/tanking situation: just start updating my blog. You go ahead and think about this and try to get a read. I’m going to be productive.

He folds.

I just cashed out of the NL game +$517 and I am now sitting in a 15/30 limit Omaha game.

High only.

I have very little experience at limit Omaha High, but I have tons of experience at limit poker and I think I am adept at PLO, so I should be very comfortable in this game.

5:36 PM: I haven’t been here very long but this game is super loose. It is 10-handed and I’m the only player that folded in the current hand.

🤤

6:10 PM: Approaching the one hour mark in Omaha and I have won zero pots. I think I’ve played three hands and I’m playing too loose. Seriously. I think you really have to nit it up in this game – especially with everyone playing so loose – and make sure all four of your cards are working together to make nut type hands. I’m sitting here thinking about a hand like 8876 double suited and how rarely your flushes will be good against a field and how often your sets and straights get outdrawn.

The Leak is in the game now too. Hopefully she can make the proper adjustments as well. We are waiting for the next dealer to push so we can take a 75-minute dinner break.

6:22 PM: Middle position straddles (which you can do from anywhere), cutoff calls, button 3-bets, I 4-bet AAK6 doubled suited, there are two more callers, straddle calls, and the button makes it 5-bets. So six of us end up with $75 in the middle.

Flop is J84 rainbow with one of each of my suits. Betting seems bad. Check-raising the button has appeal but it is probably overly optimistic. I likely just end up bloating the pot even more with a marginal hand and rarely limit the field. It checks around.

Turn is the queen of clubs. We have two nut draws! Leading out here probably isn’t great. I’m looking to show down a winner and that’s it. I check-call the hijack and four of us see the river.

5 of clubs! The nuts! I bet and get two callers for my first Omaha High pot in the state of Louisiana.

6:53 PM: Limpers. I raise AQT3 double suited. Lots of callers.

Flop is KT5 with two spades and a club. I have a pair, a gutter, nut flush draw, and a backdoor club draw. I’m happy to put lots of bets in here but they only oblige me with one.

Still multiway to a red 9 on the turn. That’s not good. I’m not going to barrel this card but someone leads into me anyway. Five of us to the river.

8 of spades! The nuts again! The turn bettor leads again and I’m torn. I have two players behind me and they might call one bet. Raising will probably only net me one more big bet. I think I should probably call but I end up raising and everyone folds, even the river bettor! Whoops.

7:21 PM: Dinner break.

7:35 PM: Not sure how great a choice jambalaya was for a diabetic. I’ll be aggressively bolusing to keep my BG under 200. We’ve been to three places so far and I have to say I haven’t been floored yet.

8:00 PM: Just heard the dealer say, “put a lid on it” to announce the betting has been capped. First time I’ve ever heard that. Dealers that read my blog, feel free to use.

8:46 PM: Under the gun raises and there is lots of cold-calling, including me on the button with A3ccKQ.

Seven of us see the KT3 with one club flop. The PFR bets and there are some calls and I’m hoping a raise on the button will let me take control of the pot, but the PFR 3-bets and there are still at least five to the turn.

5 of clubs and we all call again.

The river is an offsuit 2 and now a player that has been calling all along bets after the PFR clearly waves the white flag. I’m perplexed, so I call and everyone else folds.

He announces, “I can’t win” so I table my K3 and this dickbag shows a set of tens and then says, “I guess I can win.”

Wow. One of my biggest pet peeves in poker. Losing huge pots when someone makes their hand on the river is part of the game. Losing a big pot after showdown because someone tells you that you won and then… turns over a better hand makes me Hulk angry. It’s not like he was even purposefully slow-rolling me; he’s just a dumb ass that doesn’t know what’s going on.

“I thought you had a set of kings.”

After I just call flop and just call turn on KT35.

🤬🤬🤬

9:38 PM: Now I’m just flustered. I have AAK5 double suited and get it capped like six or seven ways.

Flop is pretty good: 432 rainbow with one of each of my suit. The slow roller from the last hand donks, I raise and two players cold call. The slow roller also just flats.

The turn is the 9 of clubs, putting two clubs out (not my suits). It checks to me and I let this dweeb check-raise me. I should just fold here. This player simply doesn’t have the balls to raise me with less than 65 here.

Not only do I call the turn but I call the river when the board pairs the 2. He shows me the 65 and I slow fold while thinking about how I wish I had a full house and still hadn’t shown my cards yet.

Calm.

Down.

10:08 PM: Cold call with A2hhQJ.

Flop KT9 rainbow. All the bets. Five players.

6 of hearts, still rainbow. All the bets. One guy put in two bets but we end up heads up.

River 8. He also has AQJx.

Well shit.

10:33 PM: Raise some limpers with the QT98 double suited. Not sure if that’s good or not, but hand seems pretty solid against ranges that are rarely folding pre.

Flop is QJT rainbow and only one of my flush cards. I think it’s probably marginal to bet here, but I do have a straight, two pair and a backdoor flush draw. I can stand a raise here but I just get some cools.

That’s encouraging enough that I fire another barrel on a turn card that bricks but gives me the flush draw. This time the player on my left does raise, a splashy bad player calls cold and I call also.

River pairs the ten and I just donk out. He calls me and shows the AK but my full house is good.

12:39 AM: Very card dead the last several hours. We are calling it a night.

Final Score: +$723

Total Score: +$1240

Posted in poker | Tagged gambling, gambling for a living, Harrah’s, new orleans, no limit hold em, poker, poker strategy, professional gambling, professional poker, texas hold em | Leave a Comment »

The Bat Cave

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