Tuesday, December 27, 2011

WSJ.com - States Cleared for Online Bets

 
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Does this mean there is light at the end of the tunnel?

 
   
   
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

HOLY SHIT I miss online poker.

Played in my monthly tournament tonight. I felt lost. I was betting then second guessing everything. It wasn't fluent like it used to be when I practiced 5-7 nights a week. I play one time a month now and it makes a difference. My thought processes, my betting amounts, my starting ranges: it's all questionable now. Whereas before it was instinctual. I did it so much that I didn't have to think.

Well now I have to slow down and think and I'm not used to that.

I had AA first hand and raised preflop. Got 1 caller and saw J97 flop 2 to a flush. I bet out he calls. Turn is a 9. I bet again and he raises; I call. River is a J that completes a flush draw. I check and he bets out 1/3 of my remaining stack (first hand you know?). I fold AA up and he shows 88 for the bluff. Ouch! What a way to start.

I bluffed the wrong times, I lost a big hand to AA and suddenly I had 5 BB only 3 levels into the tournament. I missed an opportunity when I folded 88 to a raise and a call when I had 11BB. I would have tripled up. Next hand blinds went up so I had 5BB with Q10 sooooooted and 2 hands till the BB. I shove and it folds to the BB who tanks..... "I guess we are racing he says as he flips over 22. 2 on the turn and river sends me home with Quad fever.

Oh well. Maybe some day. But I don't know if we will ever see tournaments like the Mookie, the Dank, and the BBT again.

HOLY SHIT I miss online poker.

Hope all is well with you!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

What Would Jamyhawk Do

Or better yet, what would you do?

Level 5 of a tournament that usually lasts 12 levels, so almost halfway there. You have been playing great. You make a few tough laydowns, you make a few reraises with air at the right points and get paid off. You have 35 BB's with 200/400/50 blinds. There are 25 people left of the 36 that started. 5 get paid, but every spot higher you finish you do get points towards end of the year prizes.

UTG raises to 800. You have KsKh. You make it 2000. It folds back to UTG who just calls.

UTG player is loose aggressive. He rarely wins a tournament; he is usually out before the 4th level; he plays questionable all the time.

Flop comes 8910 rainbow. He bets out $4,000 into a $4600 pot. You count out $12,000 left. What do you do?

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Super weird (and tragic) thing happened yesterday.

My wife was in a wedding for her best friend. During the photo shoot right after the wedding, the bride's phone rings. Caller ID shows it is the DJ for her reception. She figures it can wait till she gets to the reception to speak to him.

30 minutes later she arrives at the reception and someone comes out to tell her the DJ is not there yet. He was supposed to set up at least an hour before.

Just then her phone rings again but this time it is the state highway patrol. He says he found paperwork in an accident vehicle regarding her wedding. He was calling to tell her the DJ was just killed only 2 minutes away from the reception.

She gags and almost throws up.

True story. As I said: I was there.

Makes you appreciate life a little more. I know it happens every day but not usually right at such a joyous occasion.

One of the guests works at a bar and knows their regular DJ pretty well. He calls him and he is on the golf course but planning on date night with his wife. That DJ calls his wife who says "I couldn't imagine how horrible that would be".

He fills in just in time after dinner is finished. Everything went well from there.

Really bizarre.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Home Tourney

So I had a home tourney this past weekend. I really pressed everyone to commit if they are going to play. I said I would take 36 players only (4 tables of 9). But I had 39 show up, so I sat 3 tables of 10 and 1 table of 9. I did make the tables become 9 players each after 3 people went out (instead of keeping 10 player tables).

We did 15K starting stack with about the same blinds as the RIO 2pm Deepstack (30 minutes starting with 25/50).

I played poorly. No excuses (my kids, entertaining others, checking on tables). I bluffed a couple of times and next thing you know I was down to 11K at the first break.

I got moved after the first break to a table with "Super Aggro Roy". I watched him raise 7 hands in a row. He was playing super loose and hitting cards like crazy. So when I got AQ, I shoved all in over his raise. A middle position player called, then SAR called. The flop came 10J2rainbow. I was hoping for a King to triple up. SAR went all in. "Uh-Oh".... But when MP folded, Roy showed the J10 for two pair, I thought I was sunk. But now worries, I'm the original luckbox...  9 on the turn and an 8 on the river gave me the straight to triple up.

The next hand I have JJ. I now have everyone at the table covered except SAR. SAR raises again, so I shove to win the blinds and SAR's raise. But the player to my left shoves with AA and I lose almost everything I just won. I still have chips and play on.

I get moved again (who is running this ridiculous tournament?) . I am in the BB when a pretty aggro kid limps and the SB limps. I have Q5off, and check. The flop comes 552. It goes check, check, check. Hmmmmm. Turn is a 7 with rainbow on the board. I figure I'm good but need action, so I check after SB check. Player behind checks. The river is a J. It is checked to me, so I bet out the pot. The person behind me raises, the SB folds and I go all in. He insta calls (I say "uh oh") and he shows 57 for the turned boat.

I stood up and felt good knowing there is never a situation where I can fold that hand. Oh well, It was great fun.

My new chips were very well received. Some interesting notes here: We had 1 player go all in on the first had. He had AKoff and was bluffing, and got called by quad 5's. Really? The board pairs and you shove with Ace high? He said later he put the wrong chips in .... uh, you said "all in". Whatever. Weird situation (he also took his side dish for the dinner break and took it home).

We played till 1:30 am. Super Aggro Roy won. Several people commented on how many times he got incredibly lucky. I know I saw him take someone out with 97off. He was just running hot. $60 buy in and he got $1010.

Another interesting note for you: If you have 40+ people in your house, it's never going to cool down while it's 98 degrees outside. Holy Crap my house was hot. But we grabbed a box fan and played through. We had a great cash game after the tourney. Hope you can make the next one...

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Live tournament

Time to try out my new chips.I'm doing a deepstack so starting stacks will be 15K with 25/50 starting levels. I copied the blind structure from the RIO deepstack and then made adjustments based on my players needing to go home eventually.

With a $60 buy in and 36 max players, I am giving first place $900+

And I'm playing too..... we shall see how it goes.

Feel free to contact me if you want to schedule your own poker fundraiser.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Live Coverage of the Main Event

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the live coverage of the main event. It is addicting and it makes me sooooooooooooo want to play.

What do you think?

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Happy Birthday to me

OK, my birthday isn't for another 6 weeks, but I finally pulled the trigger on some new chips. I have been thinking of customizing chips with a logo that I design on it, but the cost is just too high. I picked these up online pre made. They aren't bottom line or top of the line chips, but I really like the look and feel. At 14grams, 1,000 chips and an acrylic case weighs 41 pounds. I'll play with them a bit and if I like them, I'll pick up another 4,000 chips to use in my charity tournaments.

What do you think?

Friday, July 8, 2011

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Big Brother is back!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Internet Poker Legislation

Anyone have any feedback on this bill: HR2366 ?

The PPA is pushing it hard, but I'm not so sure about it.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Making it to DAY 2 in the WSOP

Let me preface this with reminding everyone of how big of a donkey poker player I am. I mean, I play as a hobby only, and then take a shot at a big tournament once a year. It amazes me how the professional poker player does it. Not only do they have to endure the hours and hours of sitting at a table (as much as 14 hours a day), but they also have to endure the sickening suck outs by lesser skilled players that I'm sure could make them want to go crazy.

That being said, I played the $1500 NLHE WSOP Event #18 a couple of Saturdays ago. This was my second attempt at a $1500 event, and I did watch my wife cash in a $1500 event last year. If you want to skip the details: I felt I played great the first day, then lost focus and couldn't close the deal on Day 2.

The first few levels (1 hour each) are filled with donkeys. People with huge tells, people shoving with draws, and people who fold to any aggression. If you take your time and get to know your table, you should be able to chip up pretty easily. When I played three years ago in a $1500 event, I played way too tight (after the advice of Dan Nassif), then I got delusional (not a metaphor) as the time sitting at the table wore me down (because I was super hungover from the night before), and eventually was out by the dinner break.

This time, I prepared myself and felt like it was worth it. I got plenty of sleep the night before. Ate a big breakfast.  I got to know my first table, carefully picking my spots and chipping up nicely the first 5 hours. I was well over the chip average going into the second half of the day. As the day grew on, the competition became tougher and tougher. I was at table 15, and we never broke all day. So I saw bust out after bust out as I sat and eventually became one of two original players left at #15.

One thing that you have to get used to is the "new" betting style by the internet kids. At my starting table I had the old time Navy guy (raised 4x whenever he came into a pot), the old crabby guy that has read every book (raised exactly 3x every time he came in), the young "dude" (who had two moves: raise 1400 into a 500 pot or shove -and we found out his shoves were always draws which eventually led to me taking him out), the rest of the guys raising 3x BB's, and then the internet kids raising 2.1-2.5x BB's. The internet kids will drive you crazy. I tried to adjust but I just don't have enough experience doing it yet to be that good at it. The great thing for them is that they seem overly aggressive, but they have severely widened their range. A widened range helps when you hit a pot, but since their raises are smaller, it doesn't hurt as bad when they miss. It's a hard style to play back against -for example, one of the guys down there with me went out to a J4 when an internet kid raised his big blind 2.2x, my friend just called with a marginal hand that hit the flop (admitted later he would have folded to a 3x bet), but the internet kid flopped two pair. It invites you to widen your range as well. I think this style forces you to play even better post-flop -which is not what an amateur like me wants to do.

Anyway.....

Around level 7, an internet kid (could tell by bet sizes) sat down next to me and picked me apart. I must have folded to a 4 bet and he picked up that and 4 bet almost every single 3 bet I made. At first, I was picking on the BB when I was the cutoff and he was re-popping me. I picked up on it, and tried to vary the BB's I was going after. But he kept at it. He would even shove, when it was twice in a row or the third time I raised. I thought about playing back at him, but never had the right hand.

This caused me to tighten way up and eventually start to bleed off chips. I was outplayed beautifully. I'm sure in his mind, he knew he owned me.

With about 15 minutes left in level 10 (the final level of the day), I started counting chips against the BB's of the next day. So when I was down to $5,000 in chips I figured I had 5 BB's to start the next day (500/1,000/100). I didn't want to come back the next day with only 5 BB's, so I announced to the table that very thing. "I'm not coming back tomorrow with this many chips, so you are going to see my chips all in very soon".

The very next hand, another internet looking kid who had been very aggro and had just lost a huge hand to an "MMA fighter dude" that had 27off, shoved all his chips in ($11,000). I made the donkey call with A8off. It was probably a bad call, but it just looked like he was frustrated shoving weak. I was right, when he flipped over K7 and I doubled up. The very next hand, he shoved again, and I called with A10. This time his K5off hit a K on the river and took me back down to about $12,000 or 12 BB's. I was happy going into day 2 with that, so watched as the clock ticked off 4 more minutes and we were going to day 2. I had $11,900.

All night, and the next morning, I was channeling my luckbox skills. "AA", "KK", "AA", "KK" I kept thinking. One double up and I can play poker again. I will be losing 2500 chips every orbit and I need about 1 1/2 hours of play to get to the money. There were 469 left and 324 pay. I can't fold to the money.

First hand, I look down to AA. Unbelievable. What to do? I'm in middle position. I'm thinking shove with any premium hand, but I really want action. It folds to me. The big stack to my left has not arrived yet (that turned out to be a bad beat for me because he surely would have played with me) so I had 3 to act after me. I raised to 2.5x BB and got 3 folds. I win 2.5 BB's.

Fold, Fold, Fold for awhile.

The winner of this event last year (Pascal LeFrancois) is sitting two to my right so is the button on my BB. He is raising about 40% of the hands and is chip leader at my table. He raises EVERY BB I have. I get down to 9 BB's and shove from MP with AJ. No callers. Back up to 11BB's.

I get QJ off in the BB and LeFrancois opens the pot for 2.1xBB. SB folds, and I decide to flat. Flop comes A23rainbow. I check, he checks. I don't think he's being tricky, so I assume no Ace, but still a lot of possible hands ahead of me. Turn is a 2. I think long about betting out, but decide to check. He checks pretty quick. River is a 3. I wait a bit and bet out 3K (almost a third of my stack). I figure there is a good chance we chop here, but I didn't realize at the time that there wasn't a single hand he would fold to my bet there. Again, I'm the donkey still learning. He thinks a long, long time. Finally he calls and shows 66 FTW. Only thing I figure could have happened was I check it down. A preflop shove and he surely calls and I'm out. Even if I shove after the flop, I think he calls. He has 50K vs my 10K at this point.

Pretty soon I'm down to 5 BB's figuring I have to make a move soon. There are 360 players left but I figure it will be at least 30 more minutes or about 4 orbits and I only have 2 orbits of chips. Still can't fold to the money. I get an unopened pot with 4 to act behind me and look down at A7sooted. I ship it and get called by AQ. Out about 350th with 324 getting paid.

So I beat myself up the rest of the day. How could I not have been more patient on day 2? I folded A7 sooted plenty of times on Day 1. I even folded AJ plenty of times. I decide I'm just way out of my league to even be playing there, but then I figure a couple of different outcomes and I'm sitting on plenty of chips to make a run on Day 2. Who knows?

I do know it was a blast. I learned a lot making it to Day 2. Now looking back, I feel even more confident that I could make a Day 2 again. It takes some physical preperation, some patience, some good play, and of course, some "run-good".

I can't wait until next time. I hope you run good. Thanks for visiting.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Let the donkfest begin

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

WSOP attendance up

So far, it looks like the people that predicted that the end of online poker would increase the number of live players in the WSOP are correct. I wonder if it will hold true for the main event?

One quote I read somewhere and I'm sorry I didn't grab it to give credit, was: The combination of no online poker and the fact that the online players are not completely broke yet is contributing to the increased attendance. A year from now, with no online opportunities to make money, I guess we could see a big decrease in WSOP attendees. Who knows?

More people now, equals bigger prizepools. And since I'm playing this Saturday, that's good for me.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Poker this SUNDAY

I may or may not make it back from KC in time. If I can, I would like to. I did take down the first NLHE event of this (<--pats self on back) and so I know I have enough play money chips to afford to play.