High On Poker

Hey everybody! I’m not usually one for sloppy seconds, but I’ve followed in Kipper’s footsteps and have become Blog of the Week at BestPokerBlogs.com! And much like sloppy seconds, I’ve found BestPokerBlogs fortunately desperate enough after Kip to choose this humble blog. I’m going to put this one in my trophy case, next to my 5th most popular blog title from BlogsOnPoker.com and my best dressed poker blogger award from ClownPenis.fart (ten gold stars for anyone who knows where THAT reference is from).

Why aren’t I BestPokerBlog’s blog of the month?! Well, I really shouldn’t say anti-semites . And if you can’t take that joke BestPokerBlogs and/or readers, you’ve obviously chosen the wrong blog to read. Of course, I’m usually not this offensive.

So, potential new readers, here’s a rundown of what you’ll get here at High on Poker!

First off, you’ll get this genius web design, but only for a couple of more days, after which my main man TripJax (another fine blogger, and future Blog of the Month), hooks it up. A HUGE thanks to Trip.

Second, you’ll get to read all about my desperate attempt to win some money in the hopes of bettering myself and getting out of the mundane life of a lawyer. Yep, NYC lawyer to be exact. But don’t be fooled. Ally McBeal it ain’t (except for my cute business mini-skirts).

Third, you’ll get my You Decide posts (see side bar with links). Speaking of You Decide, here is an unofficial one that literally just happened. I was playing a $20 MTT on Carribean Poker (where I am earning my PSO bonus points for more Best Buy gift certificates; oh, and new readers, check out PSO…it’ll blow your mind. Highly recommended!). It was early in the game but I wasn’t paying attention. I held KJ and raised in MP because the table was only 6-handed (only 12 people in the MTT!). The flop was K93 or something, with two hearts. I bet again and one guy in the BB pushes all in. I learned a while ago from reading the Poker Grub that when a player pushes all-in with a lot of chips after the flop, the player is usually playing a weak hand. So, I called. I was wrong. His K9, two pair, took down the hand, and now I’m typing. I’m too smart for my own good.

Fourth, er, there isn’t a fourth. I mean, there is a fourth, and a fifth, sixth and seventh, but you’ll have to find those gems for yourself. Until then, I’ll be donking my money in MTTs and trying to half-ass a motion to amend a complaint by tomorrow morning. Yipee! Thanks BestPokerBlogs! You’ve made my day!

You may have heard it before, and I’m sure you’ll hear it again, but I’m a Man of Leisure. I like my free time to do important things like play poker and sit on my ass. Unfortunately, at times, leisure time is in short supply. Welcome to the Weekend from Hell!

Tonight, at about 6pm, I’ll leave the office and head to the movie theatre, where I’ll meet wifey Kim for Harry Potter 4. Yep, I’m seeing it on openning night, mostly because wifey Kim is a big fan. The only problem is that my authentic replica Hogwart’s uniform is at the dry-cleaners. Yes, folks, dry humor at its best.

So, after the movie, wifey Kim and I will probably grab some grub and drinks at everyone’s favorite mass-produced neighborhood restaurant, Applebees. I love dem Applebees, mostly because the food is very adequate for generic deep fried crap. Those 22 oz beers ain’t too shabby either.

So far so good, right? Well, buckle up. Saturday morning, I will come to the office to prepare a motion that needs to be drafted by the end of the day Monday. I’ll leave there and get to the train station at about noon, where I’ll meet wifey Kim and head to LI. Once I’m at LI, I’ll go to Fortunoffs and return our last unused wedding gift. Hopefully, I’ll use the store credit to get me some new pillows. The new one’s we have are so thick, they are essentially useless. Go figure!

Ok, I can do this for an hour, so let’s do the Cliff Notes. Pick up the proofs from the wedding. Pick up the framed marriage contract and wifey Kim’s degrees. Do some more work, this time on LI. Start to choose proofs for our wedding album. Dinner with wifey Kim’s Dad and step-mom (chore), drinks and partying with wifey Kim’s friends for one of their birthdays.

Sunday drive from LI to NYC and drop off the framed items. Pack and pick up summer clothing and anything else we don’t want filling up our apartment. Set up e-bay or craigslist to sell a bunch of books we have taking up space. Drive to LI and empty out the car. Do more work. Play poker (THANK GOD!) hopefully by 4 for the US v. UK III match. More work. Sleep.

Monday attend a deposition on LI where I will be doing nothing but listening. Go to the Courthouse in between and review the Court’s file on a certain case. Email my boss with the motion, completed. Return to LI home and do more work. More depositions on Tuesday.

Ahhhh. This was very therpuetic. It’s a fucking lot. But I guess there is nothing to it but to do it. Man, this is why I need to be a professional poker player.

Well, I played another 18-person SNG with GCox last night, and once again busted out relatively early. The odd thing is, I don’t remember the exact hand. All I know is, I flopped a set of6s (one 6 in my hand), and got top pair to call me. He hit his set on the river and I’m out! I have to figure out what I’m doing wrong in these things. I think it is my risk taking. I don’t know how G did, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended in the money. He had a huge hand early in which his AK hit an AKQ board, and his opponent held AQ. You better believe they were all-in on the flop.

Anywho, after losing, I decided to play some .25/.50 NL on Titan. Well, actually, I was 2-tabling, something I have been avoiding lately. But regardless, while playing on Titan, I made (what I must say are) two amazing calls and some sweet plays. In an early hand, I pulled a strong bluff on my opponent, betting well over the pot on the river after small betting the whole way. After he laid his hand down on the river, he said, “I had you.” So, on the next hand, when I flopped a set with my J3, I bet hard the whole way, with him calling the whole way. When I showed my JJJ, he was floored. I remember the 1st one perfect. I held T4o in the BB. The flop was AxTs6s. Pre-flop I had bet from .50 to 1.00, and the only other player in the hand was the button. These numbers are loose, but on the flop, I bet $1. He called. On the turn, a blank, I bet the more than the pot, $4, or so. He called again. On the river, 9x, I didn’t know what to do. I checked. He paused and bet the pot. I sat there for a while looking at what he was doing. He had to be bluffing. Otherwise, he would’ve bet lower to induce a call. I called and he showed 9s7s. He was shocked that I called with a pair of tens and a shitty kicker. I wasn’t going to give him any indication either way as to what I was thinking. A little while later, another player made a nearly identical play, but this time, he bet $20+ on his bluff. That was a lot of frijoles, but I felt he was bluffing. Sure enough, he only had 45o, and he hadn’t even paired the board. I believe my low pocket pair took that hand.

But then something else happened. After these two calls, I should’ve left the room, because people now knew I was willing to call big bets. So, I’m dealt 79, and the flop is 778. I bet, he bets (same guy I bluffed), and soon we are all-in. I rivered a 9. His hand…78. I sucked out on his full house. It’s nice to be on this side of variance!

So, I gotta go. I’m uber busy at the office. See you all soon.

You want the straight? You want the STRAIGHT? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE STRAIGHT!

Here we go with the twentieth installment of You Decide! This one is a doozy. Basically, the question it asks is whether a +EV move should still be avoided in the early portion of a 2-table SNG. Here’s the basic set-up.

You Decide #20

I was playing in an 18-person SNG with GCox and TripJax. I had one player fairly read as desperate. He was likely to push crappy cards hoping to pick up chips where he may.

I was in the BB with AhQh. The blinds were 15/30, and I had 1300. My Opponent had 1000. The board folds to the Opponent in MP, about three off from the button. He limps for 30. Everyone else folds. The small blind called. I raised it from 30 to 120. Opponent goes over the top all-in. I know I have him beat. I KNOW this. Just take it as a given. My reads were good (I early called G’s opponent’s JJ exactly) so far and I could tell by his push that he DIDN’T want action. So I called. He had Ks6s and rivered a flush.

So here is the question. Facing such a large raise, assuming that you KNEW that your opponent had the worst of it going in but still had two live cards, was it a foolish move to call? Overall it’s a +EV move (that is positive expectation value, for you non-poker speaking readers), but some may say that you do not want to play for that many chips so early in the tournament unless you have him completely dominated. I’m partial to that theory, but I also feel like there are times when you have to take advantage of situations like this.

Please leave your comments. I think this is one of the more interesting topics, since it is more about strategy and style than simply how to play a particular hand generally.

I’m going to do my best not to play at all tonight. It shouldn’t be too hard with wifey Kim and my usual Thursday night television shows, Survivor and the utterly disappointing Apprentice. Thanks to our new DVR, I’m also looking forward to seeing Everybody Hates Chris. Hopefully these things will keep me off of the computer. A day away could be good for my game and for my girl.

Do you hear that Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of pokerability.

The Good and the Bad. They often come together. Like tonight at work. I just found out, at 5pm, that I will be in charge of an important motion opposition. That’s good, because they trust me. That’s also bad, because it needs to be done ASAP. Oh well oh well.

The Good. I am now th 5th Most Popular Blogger in All of Bloggerdom, according to BlogsOnPoker.com. When I checked their site, I had a feeling that was going to be case before I looked at the site. I’m just that damn good.

The Bad. It looks like the HUCTM was copied by Talking Poker. Check out this post by BadBlood. Theives! They even call it the HUC.

Man, I love railbirds. I realize I play better, or at least have more fun, when there is someone else sharing in my play. I guess this is why I prefer the casino to online poker (or even home games). Generally speaking, I cozy up to one or ten of the players, and I turn it into a fun experience. We share insight and compliment each other on our successes. There is usually one or more designated nemesis at the table, but even when there isn’t one, I can often find a “pal” at the table to attack and still laugh with after I show my blatant bluff or monster hand.

So, it was great signing online last night in good ole LI to see DP (aka fluxer) and Aussie Dave online. Aussie and I agreed to play an SNG and DP decided to join for the ride. TripJax was also online, but he had cashed out of UB and Titan, and I think had no money on Stars, so he was out of the SNG-seeking clan.

After some discussion, we decided to play at Stars, which was a mistake. After attempting to jump into three different SNGs which filled up faster than we could coordinate, I ended up jumping the gun and entering an SNG that filled up without my compadres. To make matters worse, my Internet connection stopped working and I had to restart my computer. By the time I was back online, I had given up 200+ in chips. I played tight and made it to 5th place, but lost to a suckout. I’m not too upset. I knew one player was willing to gamble, so I pushed after he raised. I held A2 and he held K3. He hit his K and I went to the 4-person HU SNG on Stars.

Now, Aussie Dave and Fluxer would eventually find me and railbird my 4-p HU SNG, but first, I lost 2 consecutive 4-p HU SNGs in no time. As soon as I lost I registered for the next match. The thing was, I knew that if I just kept at it, I’d win. I ended up playing against xcharlesx or something thereabout, and had a great time. Fluxer and Aussie Dave jumped in. I openned a 2nd chat window via Yahoo IM with fluxer and we had fun playing with my opponent’s head. I’d talk smack or show my suited hammer (which rivered a flush) and fluxer would jump in laughing and talking smack. I told fluxer to do it so that it’d piss off my opponent. Humorously, my opponent started firing back at me and won a decent pot soon after. My response to fluxer, “Well, I was right. He’s pissed.” In the end, I took the lead and didn’t give it up. At 35 hands into the tourney, I predicted, publicly in the Stars chat window, that I would win by hand 50. It actually took me to 52, which I take as an omen.

I next went against Trof, who joined us early on as a railbird in my match v. xcharlesx. I was talking smack to him before our match even began, asking him “You want a piece of this?” and telling him to “See what I’m going to do to you.” Another of my favorite lines that I used at the beginning of all 3 HU SNGs, “Are you ready?” When they respond, “Yeah” I say, “Then what are we waiting for!” The SNGs take 1 minute to start when you are sitting there watching the clock. I like this banter because it opens the opponent up to talking and often gets a laugh out of them. Like me, opponent, and then give me your money!

Oh yeah, so I’m playing Trof and I’m doing the same thing. Once I have him beat in chips, I just lay on the pressure. In one hand, Trop raised 150 after the flop and 150 after the turn. I folded after the turn, to which fluxer said, on the private IM, “Why’d you fold! He bet 150 before the flop and you calle d it.” I replied, “If I folded, I was beat.” I don’t remember the hand specifically, but I called post-flop with crap, hoping to catch an overpair or something or to see an opportunity to steal. But when the turn came, I didn’t want to pay anymore. In these cases, you really want to keep your chip lead and wait for the hand where he is frustrated and pushed with 66 and you can call his all-in with 99 or even KJ, secure that if you lose you aren’t out of the tournament.

So, I won. In the end, I was up a little less than $5 in the 4-p HU SNGs (after vig) and down $10 or so overall (after losing the $10 10-p SNG and $5 on Titan playing .25/.50 NL. It’s funny. I lost $10 and I was happy. I had fun and $10 isn’t anything to worry about.

I got an email from Roose that Hole is having a home game tonight. I didn’t intend to play, but wifey Kim will be out with the girls, so I’m heading over to the Hole-y Land for some Hot Poker Action. Wish me Luck!

Stay tuned to an excellent surprise thanks to TripJax. He’s my hero.

Last night, at about 12:30 am, lying in bed in my parents’ house I turned on the TV to see the AFI Top 100 Movie Quotes. Most I didn’t know, but it brought a smile to my face. I’m running out of movie quotes to pokerize. With that said…

“You had me at ‘Hi/Lo’.”

Man, I love railbirds. I realize I play better, or at least have more fun, when there is someone else sharing in my play. I guess this is why I prefer the casino to online poker (or even home games). Generally speaking, I cozy up to one or ten of the players, and I turn it into a fun experience. We share insight and compliment each other on our successes. There is usually one or more designated nemesis at the table, but even when there isn’t one, I can often find a “pal” at the table to attack and still laugh with after I show my blatant bluff or monster hand.

So, it was great signing online last night in good ole LI to see DP (aka fluxer) and Aussie Dave online. Aussie and I agreed to play an SNG and DP decided to join for the ride. TripJax was also online, but he had cashed out of UB and Titan, and I think had no money on Stars, so he was out of the SNG-seeking clan.

After some discussion, we decided to play at Stars, which was a mistake. After attempting to jump into three different SNGs which filled up faster than we could coordinate, I ended up jumping the gun and entering an SNG that filled up without my compadres. To make matters worse, my Internet connection stopped working and I had to restart my computer. By the time I was back online, I had given up 200+ in chips. I played tight and made it to 5th place, but lost to a suckout. I’m not too upset. I knew one player was willing to gamble, so I pushed after he raised. I held A2 and he held K3. He hit his K and I went to the 4-person HU SNG on Stars.

Now, Aussie Dave and Fluxer would eventually find me and railbird my 4-p HU SNG, but first, I lost 2 consecutive 4-p HU SNGs in no time. As soon as I lost I registered for the next match. The thing was, I knew that if I just kept at it, I’d win. I ended up playing against xcharlesx or something thereabout, and had a great time. Fluxer and Aussie Dave jumped in. I openned a 2nd chat window via Yahoo IM with fluxer and we had fun playing with my opponent’s head. I’d talk smack or show my suited hammer (which rivered a flush) and fluxer would jump in laughing and talking smack. I told fluxer to do it so that it’d piss off my opponent. Humorously, my opponent started firing back at me and won a decent pot soon after. My response to fluxer, “Well, I was right. He’s pissed.” In the end, I took the lead and didn’t give it up. At 35 hands into the tourney, I predicted, publicly in the Stars chat window, that I would win by hand 50. It actually took me to 52, which I take as an omen.

I next went against Trof, who joined us early on as a railbird in my match v. xcharlesx. I was talking smack to him before our match even began, asking him “You want a piece of this?” and telling him to “See what I’m going to do to you.” Another of my favorite lines that I used at the beginning of all 3 HU SNGs, “Are you ready?” When they respond, “Yeah” I say, “Then what are we waiting for!” The SNGs take 1 minute to start when you are sitting there watching the clock. I like this banter because it opens the opponent up to talking and often gets a laugh out of them. Like me, opponent, and then give me your money!

Oh yeah, so I’m playing Trof and I’m doing the same thing. Once I have him beat in chips, I just lay on the pressure. In one hand, Trop raised 150 after the flop and 150 after the turn. I folded after the turn, to which fluxer said, on the private IM, “Why’d you fold! He bet 150 before the flop and you calle d it.” I replied, “If I folded, I was beat.” I don’t remember the hand specifically, but I called post-flop with crap, hoping to catch an overpair or something or to see an opportunity to steal. But when the turn came, I didn’t want to pay anymore. In these cases, you really want to keep your chip lead and wait for the hand where he is frustrated and pushed with 66 and you can call his all-in with 99 or even KJ, secure that if you lose you aren’t out of the tournament.

So, I won. In the end, I was up a little less than $5 in the 4-p HU SNGs (after vig) and down $10 or so overall (after losing the $10 10-p SNG and $5 on Titan playing .25/.50 NL. It’s funny. I lost $10 and I was happy. I had fun and $10 isn’t anything to worry about.

I got an email from Roose that Hole is having a home game tonight. I didn’t intend to play, but wifey Kim will be out with the girls, so I’m heading over to the Hole-y Land for some Hot Poker Action. Wish me Luck!

Last night, at about 12:30 am, lying in bed in my parents’ house I turned on the TV to see the AFI Top 100 Movie Quotes. Most I didn’t know, but it brought a smile to my face. I’m running out of movie quotes to pokerize. With that said…

“You had me at ‘Hi/Lo’.”

Damnit! Have you ever had one of those days where you have 100 things to do, but each one has it’s own individual road block. I’ve got a handful of work projects going on, and nothing is easy lately. It’s either a client who won’t call me back, a legal theory that can’t be fleshed out, an expert doctor who is ignoring me completely, or a case that has so much to do, there is no way to know where to start. Man, this is making my brain hurt.

At least tonight I can hopefully play some poker online. It’s definite that I will be heading into Long Island. The question now is whether I will swing by my apartment first. If I can get out of here around 6, then I can make it to my apartment and to a LI train within a reasonable time, but otherwise, I might go direct. I miss wifey Kim already, which is kind of odd, since I live with the girl. I just can’t get enough. There is nothing like waking up groggy on a Tuesday morning and seeing my beautiful woman getting ready for work. She’s quite a work of art.

If I play tonight, it’ll be an interesting change of pace. In my home on LI, the main computer is in a room with little else in it (aside from Mother High’s absurdly large collection of romance novels). So, I don’t anticipate any distractions at all. My father has a laptop and the house has wifi, but his laptop is used for work, so I can’t readily justify downloading to it Yahoo IM, Titan Poker, and the myriad of other things I use while playing poker.

Also, without the headset, chatting will have to be of the typing variety. Heaven forbid!

All that said, I am looking forward to playing. At home, I can probably play a large MTT without anyone bothering me. It’ll still be dicey though. As supportive as my parents have been, I might look like a tool if I’m back on LI for one night (after not being home for a month at least) and spend all of my time staring at a screen gambling. Damn me and my desire to fit within social norms!

Here is something random. Before heading to NJ yesterday for work, I realized that I didn’t have any book to read. I just finished Stephen King’s Dolores Claiborne, which was kick-ass. I was all out of comics (don’t you judge!). So I went to my bookshelf and grabbed something random, How to Play Poker Like the Pros by Phil Helmuth. I think this was the first poker book I ever bought. The book isn’t bad, but the beginners’ guides are just that. I should probably review the Omaha and Stud beginner guides while I’m at it. It might help my hand selection. I still hate Omaha, but I’m a blatant masachist. I also find Hellmuth’s classification of players by animal types. Looking at his animal types, I think I was more of a jackal, very aggressive and taking big swings. I think I’m moving more toward the lion (tighter hand selection, aggressive when he holds it), and maybe even, dare I say, the eagle (swoops down to pick up pots when the timing is right). But I’m thinking that Hellmuth should’ve also included a new type of player, the Bull, who charges whenever he has anything decent and doesn’t have the common sense to nuance his play. Kinda like Bill Gates from AC, or any of the new variety of all-in crazy tournament players.

Hey, did you hear? GCox told me his wife and him are into S&M. She Sleeps and he Masterbates! HAHAHAHA

While I’m at it, here’s one the whole family can enjoy:

A police officer saw a man driving around with a penguin in his passenger side seat. The cop pulled over the man. “Excuse me sir, but you can’t drive around with a Penguin in your car. Take him to the zoo immediately!” “Yes officer.”

A couple of hours later, the cop sees the same can and the same penguin riding shotgun. He pulls the guy over again. “Hey buddy, didn’t I tell you to take that penguin to the zoo.” “I did, officer, and now I’m taking him to the movies.”

Yuck Yuck Yuck!

It’s official, I’m brain dead.

Well, I’ve moved a step closer to my dream blog, thanks to the help of Donkey Puncher. Thank you to TripJax who also offered to help. The next step, which, I imagine, will be conceivably more difficult, is to get that banner to cover the entire top area instead of being an inset pic. That said, etards can’t be choosers.

When it rains, it pours in blogger land. I signed on last night to find GCox and Trip in the middle of two tournaments. Trip was playing an 18 person SNG, in which he placed 2nd turning his $5 Poker Stars bankroll into considerably more. GCox was having a tough night, so he did what any player would do…enter a $20 600+ player MTT. Last I checked, he was down to less than 30 people, and was well in the money.

I, on the other hand, played a 4-person Heads-Up SNG on Poker Stars and didn’t make it past match #1. For anyone who hasn’t heard of these arrangements, it’s like a mini Heads Up Challenge. Four players enter and play heads-up. The two winners of the first heads-up matches play heads-up against each other. For a $5 buy-in, you can win $20. It’s akin to entering a $5 HU SNG, winning, and rolling the profits over into a $10 HU SNG. The only difference is the lack of vig (casino fee) on the second game. If you like HU matches, this is your thing. Just ask Veneno.

Unfortunately, while I was initially outplaying my opponent, he began to catch cards and suddently I couldn’t get anything going. After he took me out, I was trying to decide what to play. I’ve finished my VPP and PSO promotions and am awaiting 1 gift certificate for $50 to Best Buy in the mail. I’ve already received my gift certificate from one of the promotions, but since they send you their items from some generic company name in Ontario, I couldn’t tell which one sent it. Either way, my new TV is going to have a nice discount thanks to PSO and VPP. So far, I have $300 in Best Buy gift certificates and another $50 on the way. If you are interested in free gift certificates or need poker supplies, including chips, tables, and quality cards, check those sites out. And if you are kind enough, you can even use my links and referral code HighOnPoker for PSO.

I decided to play on Titan, since I still am working off my 100% bonus there. I’ve already earned $70 out of the $240, but I have a ways to go. Fortunately, there is no time limit on this promo, and I’ve already finished the PSO promo for Titan (netting myself another $50 Best Buy gift certificate). I also have been really enjoying Titan’s .25/.50 NL game. I lost about 1/2 of my $100 at Titan playing 2/4 and 3/6 (which is admittedly too high for $100, but not too high when you consider my total bankroll). I’ve been inching my way back to even there with the NL game. So far, I’ve posted at least three winning sessions in a row. Last night was for a whopping $5.50, which covered my 4-p HU SNG at Poker Stars. So, it was an even night, but not necessarily uneventful. At least I gots me some poker action.

I am now trying to decide the next stop in the HighOnPoker Bonus Whore World Tour. I’ve already completed (deep breath) Titan, Noble, Bodog, Absolute, Paradise, Royal Vegas, Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet, and I think one or two others that I can’t remember and are no longer offered. All that is left is Pacific Poker (on PSO or VPP), Hollywood Poker (VPP), Carribean Sun (PSO), and Gaming Club Poker (PSO). I have also been thinking of trying to sign up through PokerRoom or GoldenPalace through the sites. I’ve had accounts at both of those locations, but I haven’t used them for a while and would ideally want to start a new account with my new address anyway. However, these things probably work by Social Security Number or name, so this might be a problem. When I get real desperate for freebies, maybe I’ll get wifey Kim to start signing up for sites…

Tomorrow, I have to attend a Court conference in Nassau County, Long Island. As a result, I plan on going back to LI tonight. Wifey Kim will be in NYC, so I’ll be missing her (sincerely). But if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you are with…Poker. I’ll see you around tonight, but probably without a headset.

Killian, you have what you want, give the people the poker! <---What movie? Anyone?

That’s all for now. I’ve got much work

So, can anyone help me figure out how to put this banner at the top of my webpage? I’ve tried and failed.