Around this time last year I was in something of a reeling mood as an engineering contracting position in Iowa was cut short after only a month thanks to an upper-level asshole that had an issue with my looking for an apartment online while at work with nothing work-related to do. I remember thinking that that would be a month I wouldn't mind wiping from my memory banks, Eternal Sunshine style. Now, I'm thinking something of the same sort of thing with the entire past year, which was completely wasted in Wichita, an area I might have actually gotten to enjoy had I had any desire to meet people or do anything other than learn my new trade.
The good news is, I'm out. Like, totally out. I rented a moving van, a car hauler upon which to put my Malibu, I had my friend Brian fly down to Kansas City for work, picked him up on Thursday night, drove him back to my place, and had him help me pack up the moving van on Friday. Saturday morning he jetted out, driving back up to Wisconsin in my 350Z, while I finished with the packing, made my final preparations, and drove the hell out of there. About 6pm I closed my garage door for the final time (on the fourth try; that goddamn thing never did want to stay down) and pimped on out in a 26' van with a car hauler towing behind it.
I only made it four hours that night, before exhaustion pretty much set in; I found a Super 8, paid with a hard-earned $100 bill from a night out at the casino some time past, called Brian to let him know where I was, and collapsed on the bed. I got a reasonably early start the next morning (~7:00) and drove just about straight-through, with only the occasional stop for gas and food, until arriving at Brian and Cam's house, where I will be living for the foreseeable future, at around 6pm. What is normally an 11 hour drive in a car took me around 15 in the van, as the damn thing started to shake if you got it up to 65 or so, making me just about the slowest thing on the road.
Then began the chore of unpacking. As, in the past year and a half, I have progressed from a 3 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment to renting a room in a friend's house, I have a great deal of stuff accumulated, and that amount of stuff will in no way fit chez Brian, meaning a storage locker. So I had to unload the van into Brian's garage, separate out the stuff going into the house from the stuff going into the locker, then load back in the stuff going into the locker (obviously I didn't unload it completely, but a lot of locker-destined items had to be moved out of the way). Then I had to drive to the storage locker and unload my stuff there, then return the van to a U-Haul place, and work on getting my room habitable while clearing the stuff out of Brian's garage. I'm about a third of the way done with that job, but yesterday, after three full days of hard labor and a full day of packing, my body was finally saying to me "All right, listen up mother FUCKER, enough is enough, and if you don't knock this shit off, you'll have a full-fledged insurrection on your hands." Camille could see I was totally spent and said I should probably take the day off. I didn't disagree. Instead I got my computer up and running, connected to Brian's wireless, and put my room into some semblance of order.
So, there's maybe 20 boxes (some of them heavy) I need to get into the house and split between my room and his basement, and eventually Brian and I are going to move my couch and loveseat down to the basement as well, which will be a hell of a production.
Poker isn't really on my mind, even, right now, and I don't want to get back into it until I can feel I'm focused. I haven't played in a couple of weeks and am a little sketchy to just hop back in.
I did, however, order a 24" flatscreen monitor from the Full Tilt store which should arrive some time in the next 6-8 weeks. So that's good at least.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Sometimes I hate this fucking game
I haven't been playing much over the past few days, and by "much" I mean pretty much "at all", as I've been busy getting ready for my move, which is coming up in just over a week. However tonight, while bored and watching the Olympics, I saw that there was late reg for a $50+5 tournament and figured I'd hop in.
It was only after I was at the table that I realized it was a fucking $50+5 rebuy, which is frankly a bit above my pay grade. Those things can get bloody expensive if played right.
Still, I'm not just going to piss away $50 by playing it like it wasn't a rebuy, so while I didn't play like a complete maniac, I did man up and put up the initial rebuy. Getting knocked below 1500 by a guy that rivered a flush in the face of extreme value betting on my part with TP, I rebought again. I then took an atrocious beat with AA < 68s, all in pre, and manned up and rebought again, twice.
That rebuy stuck, and I made it to the first break with a healthy 7500 chip stack, manning up for the add-on that took me to 9500, considerably above average.
I played very snug for the majority of the tournament, not getting fancy as it was a very reraise-happy crowd and generally very good and aggressive. The good news was that a lot of the aggression was frankly blind, and the players didn't realize that I was playing very tight, so when I did have a hand I usually got paid off. I won with AK against AJ all-in pre, AK against an unknown hand that called two near-PSB's on an A high flop and folded to my river bet, AA > AQ all-in pre, and KK > AT all-in pre. Playing snug took me to the bubble. Top 18 spots paid.
We actually languished at 19 for a while and I had a nervous moment after calling a minraise from the BB with TJ suited in a BvB, flopping TP and a gutshot, facing a c-bet and shoving; dude tanked forever before folding, but by the end I was convinced I definitely wanted a call. That put me in a healthy spot and I caught crap and folded before we finally eliminated a bubble boy.
The bubble was $300, which apart from the rake was exactly what I was into the tournament for. That's nice enough, except that I played very snug from there on out as I caught crap, until finally stealing the blinds a couple of times with JT, then AK, then AA. We eliminated 18th and 17th place finishers after a very long while and I was sitting at a low-but-not-critical stack of 33,000 chips with 1500/3000 blinds.
Finally I caught AA utg and raised to 7800. A MP player instashoved his 45k stack in and I called. He shows TT; the flop is a harmless K96, but the river is a fucking ten. I miss my 2-outer on the river and am sent packing, having played for over three hours to lose $5. Could have been worse, I could have lost $300, but still, completely fucking soulcrushing.
Every donkament I've been in lately has been the same. I go deep, and either get knocked out on the bubble or just after in a ridiculous cooler or horrible beat. I know, I know, if you get it in 5 times as an 80/20 you're only 40% to win all 5, so in a sense I was on borrowed time, but every fucking time it's a pot that if I manage to avoid the suckout I'm among the chip leaders and in a good position to go deep. Winning that pot would have put me over 70k in chips, which was 4th place, a very respectable spot (particularly since the chip leader was only at like 110k; very much in striking distance). The others at the table were decent, but I had built up a nice nitty image that I felt I could really take advantage of. It seems like it's been forever since I final tabled a tournament, and while I don't play many of them, it's still disheartening as hell.
I suppose I shouldn't complain. I made a mistake and bought into a tournament I wasn't really rolled for, and rebought several times when I could have cut my losses, and it didn't turn out that badly as I did make my money almost all back. But first prize was $8800; that would make my month and then some.
If I play enough of these donkaments I will break through eventually, I'm sure. The play is so terrible, particularly in the early rounds, that I feel the edge of a good player is pretty enormous. But keeping a level head about them can get tricky at times.
It was only after I was at the table that I realized it was a fucking $50+5 rebuy, which is frankly a bit above my pay grade. Those things can get bloody expensive if played right.
Still, I'm not just going to piss away $50 by playing it like it wasn't a rebuy, so while I didn't play like a complete maniac, I did man up and put up the initial rebuy. Getting knocked below 1500 by a guy that rivered a flush in the face of extreme value betting on my part with TP, I rebought again. I then took an atrocious beat with AA < 68s, all in pre, and manned up and rebought again, twice.
That rebuy stuck, and I made it to the first break with a healthy 7500 chip stack, manning up for the add-on that took me to 9500, considerably above average.
I played very snug for the majority of the tournament, not getting fancy as it was a very reraise-happy crowd and generally very good and aggressive. The good news was that a lot of the aggression was frankly blind, and the players didn't realize that I was playing very tight, so when I did have a hand I usually got paid off. I won with AK against AJ all-in pre, AK against an unknown hand that called two near-PSB's on an A high flop and folded to my river bet, AA > AQ all-in pre, and KK > AT all-in pre. Playing snug took me to the bubble. Top 18 spots paid.
We actually languished at 19 for a while and I had a nervous moment after calling a minraise from the BB with TJ suited in a BvB, flopping TP and a gutshot, facing a c-bet and shoving; dude tanked forever before folding, but by the end I was convinced I definitely wanted a call. That put me in a healthy spot and I caught crap and folded before we finally eliminated a bubble boy.
The bubble was $300, which apart from the rake was exactly what I was into the tournament for. That's nice enough, except that I played very snug from there on out as I caught crap, until finally stealing the blinds a couple of times with JT, then AK, then AA. We eliminated 18th and 17th place finishers after a very long while and I was sitting at a low-but-not-critical stack of 33,000 chips with 1500/3000 blinds.
Finally I caught AA utg and raised to 7800. A MP player instashoved his 45k stack in and I called. He shows TT; the flop is a harmless K96, but the river is a fucking ten. I miss my 2-outer on the river and am sent packing, having played for over three hours to lose $5. Could have been worse, I could have lost $300, but still, completely fucking soulcrushing.
Every donkament I've been in lately has been the same. I go deep, and either get knocked out on the bubble or just after in a ridiculous cooler or horrible beat. I know, I know, if you get it in 5 times as an 80/20 you're only 40% to win all 5, so in a sense I was on borrowed time, but every fucking time it's a pot that if I manage to avoid the suckout I'm among the chip leaders and in a good position to go deep. Winning that pot would have put me over 70k in chips, which was 4th place, a very respectable spot (particularly since the chip leader was only at like 110k; very much in striking distance). The others at the table were decent, but I had built up a nice nitty image that I felt I could really take advantage of. It seems like it's been forever since I final tabled a tournament, and while I don't play many of them, it's still disheartening as hell.
I suppose I shouldn't complain. I made a mistake and bought into a tournament I wasn't really rolled for, and rebought several times when I could have cut my losses, and it didn't turn out that badly as I did make my money almost all back. But first prize was $8800; that would make my month and then some.
If I play enough of these donkaments I will break through eventually, I'm sure. The play is so terrible, particularly in the early rounds, that I feel the edge of a good player is pretty enormous. But keeping a level head about them can get tricky at times.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Hrm
I took Friday night off. Not sure why. Just didn't feel like playing. Didn't feel much like playing tonight, but I made myself, if only for just under 1k hands. Did very well, winning $440 in those hands despite dropping a stack to an overset. Was down almost $300 right away but won steadily from 200 hands on. The 60 or so hands after I decided to uncheck my auto-post button were pure boomswitch, winning $77 with TT (great decision to push against a ~40bb stack on a J79J board against an opponent that pot-potted with A7), winning $24 with 77 (raised an oop flop bet that made no sense on a J high board), won $100 with AQ on a Q high board (flatted pot bet, was c-minraised on a brick turn, pushed, dude had QJ), then caught AA on my very last hand of the night, raising from EP and getting 3bet from a guy that really likes to 3-bet; I over-4bet to $87 and he called; turn came a disastrous A high and I couldn't squeeze another dime out of him).
Back in the black for the month, at least.
Back in the black for the month, at least.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Back to hating life
2300+ hands for -$557 tonight. Totally gross spots.
Lost 200 in a totally fucked up hand. 7 handed, literally 3.5 dead blinds in the pot at the start. UTG (one of the dead blinds) raises to 18 (stack was $80), 1 caller, a player I thought was straightforward (cull stack). I 3bet the button to a committing $78, original raiser pushes for $2 more, cold-caller pushes for $120 more, I puke a little in my mouth and call. Original raiser had QQ, cold-call-shover had AA. FUCK. I actually threatened to hit a flush by the end, no such luck.
QQ < KK for a full stack against an FPS spewmonkey that limp-called and tarped me on a 442 flop (he very quickly gave it all away)
AK utg 4-handed, I raise, BB defends, we are 160bb deep. Flop 36K w/2 spades, he checks I check (don't want to play for stacks with TP against this player, he's a nit). Turn Kc, he checks I bet 8 he raises to 24, I call. River Td, he bets $70, a slight overbet of the pot. I puke in my mouth a little and call. He has 66.
26bb donkey limps from MP, I iso from the HJ with JdQd, donkey calls. Flop Kd Qs 9d. He checks I near-pot, he shoves for a paltry $28 more, I instacall. He has KQo, I miss.
I have QQ in the bb, same donkey on the button, now with 45bb, raises, I 3bet, flop comes K high, he stacks off with KQ.
And so on.
Only full stack I won was with a set of deuces against a mouthbreather that hit trips on the turn with TJ. Caught a set with 77, milked it for a half-stack. Squeezed a maniac with ThKh, check-called two bets on a Kxx flop, villain showed K8. Won 40bb with KsAs against AKo AIPF, flopped a flush. JJ squeezed from the button, 1 caller, a dumbass; flop came QKA (lol ouch), check/check both flop and turn, river brought paired 8's, I made a sick $20 river call, he showed 99. AKo got away with a nice 3barrel bluff on a 94388 board for $50. QJ flopped top 2 against a nit who called my flop CR, folded to my turn bet; certain he had AA/KK. JJ squeezed and a good reg cold-called the raise and the squeeze. Flop came A high, I bet, he called, turn bricked, I fired again, he folded. Figured I'm up against AQ and can push it off, or a pocket that just figures I'm getting out of line, quite often.
And so on. I had to earn virtually every pot I won, and stacked off in spots where I am more or less supposed to be. So much for my profit so far this month.
Lost 200 in a totally fucked up hand. 7 handed, literally 3.5 dead blinds in the pot at the start. UTG (one of the dead blinds) raises to 18 (stack was $80), 1 caller, a player I thought was straightforward (cull stack). I 3bet the button to a committing $78, original raiser pushes for $2 more, cold-caller pushes for $120 more, I puke a little in my mouth and call. Original raiser had QQ, cold-call-shover had AA. FUCK. I actually threatened to hit a flush by the end, no such luck.
QQ < KK for a full stack against an FPS spewmonkey that limp-called and tarped me on a 442 flop (he very quickly gave it all away)
AK utg 4-handed, I raise, BB defends, we are 160bb deep. Flop 36K w/2 spades, he checks I check (don't want to play for stacks with TP against this player, he's a nit). Turn Kc, he checks I bet 8 he raises to 24, I call. River Td, he bets $70, a slight overbet of the pot. I puke in my mouth a little and call. He has 66.
26bb donkey limps from MP, I iso from the HJ with JdQd, donkey calls. Flop Kd Qs 9d. He checks I near-pot, he shoves for a paltry $28 more, I instacall. He has KQo, I miss.
I have QQ in the bb, same donkey on the button, now with 45bb, raises, I 3bet, flop comes K high, he stacks off with KQ.
And so on.
Only full stack I won was with a set of deuces against a mouthbreather that hit trips on the turn with TJ. Caught a set with 77, milked it for a half-stack. Squeezed a maniac with ThKh, check-called two bets on a Kxx flop, villain showed K8. Won 40bb with KsAs against AKo AIPF, flopped a flush. JJ squeezed from the button, 1 caller, a dumbass; flop came QKA (lol ouch), check/check both flop and turn, river brought paired 8's, I made a sick $20 river call, he showed 99. AKo got away with a nice 3barrel bluff on a 94388 board for $50. QJ flopped top 2 against a nit who called my flop CR, folded to my turn bet; certain he had AA/KK. JJ squeezed and a good reg cold-called the raise and the squeeze. Flop came A high, I bet, he called, turn bricked, I fired again, he folded. Figured I'm up against AQ and can push it off, or a pocket that just figures I'm getting out of line, quite often.
And so on. I had to earn virtually every pot I won, and stacked off in spots where I am more or less supposed to be. So much for my profit so far this month.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Moral victory
Finished +$80 in cash games today, though I crashed out of a $50+5 donkament so it's just barely a profitable day. However, it's a significant victory of sorts to turn a profit despite:
1) Being oversetted for a full 100bb
2) Losing 75bb with the 3rd nut 2-card flush to the nut flush
3) QQ < AKo for 90bb
4) QQ < AQo for 30bb
...and having no significant beats or coolers in the other direction. Flopped a straight against a guy that turned TP and decided to stack off for 65bb, hit a straight in a 4-way pot to drag it on the river w/o a showdown, had AA > TT AIPF (dude 3bet my EP raise from the blinds and then called my shove; what a maroon!), had QQ > JJ against a limp-RRAI for 50bb, and had JJ > A3o against a dude that defended his blinds against an mp raise, check-minraised a T53 flop, and called off his last $48; had AJ > A7 both flopping TP for 44bb, had JJ > 6Ts against a dude that limp-called and then stacked off after flopping TP for 40bb.
The only hand that could be called a cooler in my favor was flopping a flush against bottom set with 5c 6c, having the dude play it like the biggest pussy on the planet (check-called two streets), then losing any value on a club river (check-check). Won 30bb in that hand, and if my opponent wasn't a wussling would have won much more.
I prefer actual victories to moral ones, but this will do.
1) Being oversetted for a full 100bb
2) Losing 75bb with the 3rd nut 2-card flush to the nut flush
3) QQ < AKo for 90bb
4) QQ < AQo for 30bb
...and having no significant beats or coolers in the other direction. Flopped a straight against a guy that turned TP and decided to stack off for 65bb, hit a straight in a 4-way pot to drag it on the river w/o a showdown, had AA > TT AIPF (dude 3bet my EP raise from the blinds and then called my shove; what a maroon!), had QQ > JJ against a limp-RRAI for 50bb, and had JJ > A3o against a dude that defended his blinds against an mp raise, check-minraised a T53 flop, and called off his last $48; had AJ > A7 both flopping TP for 44bb, had JJ > 6Ts against a dude that limp-called and then stacked off after flopping TP for 40bb.
The only hand that could be called a cooler in my favor was flopping a flush against bottom set with 5c 6c, having the dude play it like the biggest pussy on the planet (check-called two streets), then losing any value on a club river (check-check). Won 30bb in that hand, and if my opponent wasn't a wussling would have won much more.
I prefer actual victories to moral ones, but this will do.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Thuth beginneth Augutht
2,024 hands tonight, +$348 for 4.30PTBB/100. Good start to the month. Bankroll is back to an all-time high.
Ugly start to the session, dropping as low as ($480), but holy fuck are Friday nights profitable:
...maybe he put me on KT?
...seems reasonable... UTG said he folded QQ.
The thought of doing anything other than repopping pre never occurred to me, because villain was an absolute spewbot, as proven by the extraordinarily strong hand he repopped an UTG raise with, and then decided to stack off with when said UTG raiser came back over the top. Of course somehow I doubt that this villain knows what "UTG" means.
I also took a huge pot (135bb) with QQ, raised in EP, donkey coldcalled with AJ, flop came the brutal TKQ, all the money gets in, and I sucked out when the T paired. Villain was the same one that stacked off with AQ, he had rebought back in for 80 and tripled up. He left after that hand. Not sure why :)
Jesus the tables were good tonight. It hurt to leave but I'm sleepy as hell...
Ugly start to the session, dropping as low as ($480), but holy fuck are Friday nights profitable:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (9 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)
MP3 ($220.40)
Hero ($467.15)
Button ($413.25)
SB ($243.55)
BB ($212.25)
UTG ($256.60)
UTG+1 ($102.70)
MP1 ($184.10)
MP2 ($351.20)
Preflop: Hero is CO with Ah, Ad.
UTG raises to $4, 1 fold, MP1 calls $4, 2 folds, Hero raises to $22, 3 folds, UTG calls $18, MP1 calls $18.
Flop: ($69) Ks, 3h, Qc (3 players)
UTG bets $92, MP1 folds, Hero raises to $445.15 (All-In), UTG calls $142.60 (All-In).
Turn: ($748.75) 3d (2 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($748.75) 6h (2 players, 2 all-in)
Final Pot: $538.20
Results below:
UTG has Jh Kh (two pair, kings and threes).
Hero has Ah Ad (two pair, aces and threes).
Outcome: Hero wins $748.75.
...maybe he put me on KT?
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (9 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)
UTG ($241.50)
UTG+1 ($201)
MP1 ($260.55)
MP2 ($200)
MP3 ($218.90)
Hero ($200)
Button ($103.70)
SB ($198)
BB ($46.35)
Preflop: Hero is CO with Ah, Ks.
UTG calls $2, 3 folds, MP3 raises to $6, Hero raises to $23, 3 folds, UTG calls $21, MP3 calls $17.
Flop: ($72) 6h, 4s, 6d (3 players)
UTG checks, MP3 checks, Hero checks.
Turn: ($72) Ac (3 players)
UTG checks, MP3 checks, Hero bets $35, UTG folds, MP3 raises to $195.9 (All-In), Hero calls $142 (All-In).
River: ($444.90) 5h (2 players, 2 all-in)
Final Pot: $426
Results below:
MP3 has Jh Jc (two pair, jacks and sixes).
Hero has Ah Ks (two pair, aces and sixes).
Outcome: Hero wins $426.
...seems reasonable... UTG said he folded QQ.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (9 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)
BB ($203)
Hero ($220.70)
UTG+1 ($203)
MP1 ($247.45)
MP2 ($109.35)
MP3 ($85.50)
CO ($114.70)
Button ($336.60)
SB ($282.75)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with Qc, Qh.
Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, MP2 raises to $18, 1 fold, CO calls $18, 1 fold, SB calls $17, 1 fold, Hero raises to $112, MP2 calls $91.35 (All-In), CO folds, SB folds.
Flop: ($259.35) Kh, 5d, Ks (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: ($259.35) 7h (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($259.35) 2h (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: $256.70
Results below:
Hero has Qc Qh (two pair, kings and queens).
MP2 has Ad Qs (one pair, kings).
Outcome: Hero wins $259.35.
The thought of doing anything other than repopping pre never occurred to me, because villain was an absolute spewbot, as proven by the extraordinarily strong hand he repopped an UTG raise with, and then decided to stack off with when said UTG raiser came back over the top. Of course somehow I doubt that this villain knows what "UTG" means.
I also took a huge pot (135bb) with QQ, raised in EP, donkey coldcalled with AJ, flop came the brutal TKQ, all the money gets in, and I sucked out when the T paired. Villain was the same one that stacked off with AQ, he had rebought back in for 80 and tripled up. He left after that hand. Not sure why :)
Jesus the tables were good tonight. It hurt to leave but I'm sleepy as hell...
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